Next year, my school's schedule is changing and things will look very different. I'm not opposed to change. However, I sometimes wonder about the reasons, and the foresight and forethought that come along with these seemingly abrupt changes.

Our new schedule will have huge ramifications for the  ELL program here.  The other ELL teacher currently teaches 2 pullout ELL classes, and I teach 3. Next year, I will only have one of those classes to teach: pullout social studies; my colleague will be teaching pullout English. As this realization dawns on me, I feel like am in mourning for the classes I will not be able to teach. 

I love teaching my social studies class, but there is something extra special about my other 2 classes, Oral Communication and Academic Language. Since I can adapt almost anything to those categories, I have been able to do a wide range of units with my students. I adhere to the ELL WIDA standards,  but I have the freedom to develop my own curriculum. In this era of less and less choice for teachers,more scripted programs, and standardized testing, I have appreciated this independence.  We have covered everything from cross-cultural communication and culture shock, film, newspaper-making, civil rights and injustice, stereotypes, diversity, acts of kindness and empathy, with writing and speaking infused into everything the students do. I have been able to be creative with the curriculum, and do a variety of teacher-centered/student-centered lessons, multimedia projects, games, and more.

Next year, I won't have that luxury. While on the one hand I am looking forward to co-teaching and hoping it works well, on the other hand, I know that for my students, it will be a very different scenario. I don't think it's a bad idea to integrate them more into "mainstream" classes. But, I do mourn the loss of the space and time I have with them, in a place where they feel like they can be themselves, and be their best selves. 

It makes me wonder: are we keeping the best interests of ELL students at heart? Who is our new workshop/co-teaching/longer class model designed for? Who will benefit? And will my students be supported in the ways they need? I sincerely hope that the integrity and caring nature of our program will not suffer. 

It's only Tuesday, though it feels like I have been here at last 5 days already. I'm ready for Friday teacher nachos get-together NOW. It's MCAS week.

 My official duty is in the hallway. 

It's 9 AM. Students walk by me in the hallway with glazed-over eyes and shuffling feet. Boredom radiates from their bodies. As I monitor the hallway, the line for the boys's bathroom gets longer, now 5 restless boys waiting, cracking their knuckles, swinging their arms, and stretching. They can't go into the bathroom together - we have to make them go in one at a time. They might cheat in there, after all. 

Teachers sit at either corner of this hallway, laptops out, trying to get some work done in this atmosphere of quiet and seriousness. I sit right in between them, unable to focus on any school work. Other teachers sit inside their classrooms, proctoring the test, 25 bodies hunched over their desks, filling in tiny circles and calculating in their heads. 

At 10 AM, after 2 hours of intense test-taking, the actual school day begins. With a shortened schedule, but all classes meeting, the day feels endless. At first, my students arrive to the first class after MCAS subdued. They are tired from not only taking this test, but taking it in a language that isn't theirs. We go slowly in A period social studies, practicing the locations of European countries. 

I see the same students about 3 hours later. They are antsy and silly. One of them literally cannot stop giggling. Focusing and settling down takes twice as long as it usually does. When they finally do settle down, and are ready to start our reading for today in oral communication, we have only 25 minutes of class left. One student reminds me of this. Every 5 minutes. 

When the dismissal bell rings at the end of the day, the heat and noise in the hallway have both risen. It suddenly is very warm outside, and our building has not changed from heating to cooling yet. The building is stifling. The kids' energy somehow has come back after their testing, and now they are getting feisty and too energetic for school. 

I think about all the energy these kids spent on MCAS - preparing for it in class and taking it. Time lost in between MCAS days because of student burnout. All the class time lost I still fail to understand why THIS is better than discussing, learning, exploring, reading, and actually doing school. 

Hang in there, teachers.