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Can You Spell Overcrowded?

My story begins with a classroom of 22 kindergarten students.  Now anyone who has ever taught Kindergarten knows that kids that age can be a handful—even Arnold Schwarzenegger!  (And by the way if you can spell his last name without looking it up, you are either spelling bee material or you read too many tabloids!)  Anyway as with Arnold, when keeping a class of 22 focused, I have to admit that sometimes the hardest part is staying on topic.  The answer to one plus one is not Harry Potter, and the answer to a question is not another question like, “Do you have a boyfriend?”  It can actually take a lot of concentration to stay the course and not get side-tracked, and to keep things moving in a way that is conducive to learning.  Distractions like these can be amusing, but a full-out temper-tantrum is not.  One melt-down with a single student can kill the learning process real fast—and don’t even get me started about bathroom issues.  At times like that, an assistant is indispensible.  At least that’s what I thought, but apparently I’m wrong about that, because I am told that next year I am sharing my assistant with another class. Hmm…ok, let’s forget the assistant.  One of the most significant educational reforms in Texas was mandating lower class size. Substantial independent research shows that a lower number of students in an elementary classroom (PreK-Grade 6) has a profound impact on student learning right? (Research available from TEPSA.) This is common knowledge—you can’t effectively teach if there are too many students, right?  There should be a law.  Oh wait, I thought there was!  And yet, I have an administrator who tells me that 22 is not that large and if other teachers can do it, I can do it.  (I can also probably teach with one arm and one leg, but I won’t be as effective and I prefer not to!)  I double-dare anyone to take my class for one day and then tell me that a teacher aide is optional.  It’s not even the lack of money, the administrative mix-ups or the daily chaos.  It’s the disrespect.  It’s the administrators who don’t listen or even try to understand the challenges of what we do.  Well that’s it.  Now I am a mad teacher!  (However I am still an employed teacher, so I am not using my real name!)   ;)

Mrs. Emma Vickinson
Houston, TX

 

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