About those 9th graders...

This fall will mark the beginning of my 4th full year of teaching. The past year was one of the most challenging, for sure. I'd say it was even more challenging than my first year, believe it or not. But that's really for a whole other post.

Each year I've been a teacher, I've taught a new prep. First year, I taught 10th grade, which I had never done before. Second year, I volunteered to do 11th as well as 10th (it gets really boring to teach the same thing 5 times over). This year, I was given 12th and continued to do 10th grade. I really love teaching English 10, so I'm glad that that prep has never changed.

Next year will be no different, but it wasn't really my choice. My AP came in one day to talk about my schedule for next year. He presented me with an opportunity that appeared at first to have two options: Yes or No. Turns out there was only one answer.

You see, at New School next year, they are changing things with the 9th grade, as they usually do. It makes sense to start with the incoming class because teenagers (and a lot of teachers) can't handle a lot of change at once and starting with the 9th grade means that those kids knew no different way of doing things. This year, we had three levels of English: Remedial, General (what I taught) and Advanced (AP in 12th). Next year, 9th grade English will have a Collaborative class, one or two General (I can't remember which, and I'm not sure why they're allowing that, but whatev), and the rest Advanced. They're trying to combine General and Remedial to avoid tracking, avoid lowered expectations (both teachers and students) and improved self-esteem and environment.

I was chosen to teach those 3 Collaborative English 9 classes. It was a compliment. I was chosen because they saw I was good at keeping all kids busy, differentiating, connecting to students, etc. I also have experience teaching a "collaborative" class. At Old School, we didn't have three levels like they did. We had Regular or Honors/Pre-IB/IB/AP. I taught five classes total, and two or three of them would have a co-teacher. It's nothing new to me and they know this. They also knew that I would not treat any of the kids in there as different or incapable of doing the work. My AP said they wanted the incoming 9th graders to start off their high school career with a "positive view of English class" (ooh, burn to those other 9th grade teachers! He probably didn't mean it that way, but still... word choice, man.).

I am excited about a few things involving English 9. A Raisin in the Sun. The Odyssey. Romeo & Juliet. Their text book has some of THE BEST short stories. Oh, and English 9 & 10 don't have a research paper, although they do have a research project. YES!! On the scheduling side of things, all of my English 9 classes are in the morning, English 10 every day (5th per) and one at the end of the day. That is a major plus, very smart scheduling.

Why did I not want to teach 9th grade? 'Cause it's 9th. I've never taught it before. They're 9th graders. I've taught middle school and it was tiring as hell. 9th graders are crazy. You get the idea.

Then again, it might be totally fun. Why not, right? A new challenge. Can't be any worse than teaching seniors in April & May. I told them I'd try it, but I did ask if I could get out of doing it if I really, really hated it. The answer? "We want you to try it for a few years... to get used to it... maybe you'll like it better the second year!" Uhh... right.