“Waiting for Superman” & First Quarter Teaching

Last night some coworkers and I went and saw “Waiting for Superman” with an audience of other 

underpaid and unappreciated teachers who are concerned about the education of America’s youth. 

And as a result, well… we had mixed views on the movie: 

Yes, the following of individual student’s stories was powerful (taking time to look at any 

individual student will always leave you feeling that way). Yes, we are behind globally in 

education and tomorrow’s tech companies will be recruiting more foreigners than Americas 

because our youth won’t be qualified. Yes, teacher unions don’t really want EVERY teacher to have 

an autonomous voice regarding reform policy and legislative possibilities. Yes, 1 in 5 charter 

schools are super effective… 

But no, they aren’t silver bullets either. No, teacher effectiveness wasn’t defined. No, the movie 

didn’t say how student growth or performance would be evaluated. No, it didn’t look at successful 

neighborhood schools but only ones with an application/ lottery = admissions process. No, it 

didn’t address teacher induction programs/ training. If even Geoffrey Canada was a bad teacher 

his 1st and 2nd years of teaching, then how and in what way can novice teachers hope to be 

effective teachers from the get-go? In short… the movie is worth seeing in theatre because with 

each ticket you get a $15 DonorsChoose gift certificate to use on any project you decide best. Our 

group is going to get DODGE BALLS for our school (since we don’t have P.E. classes and little 

team-based equipment). 

So again… the evening wasn’t a total waste, though I’m still not sure how or where educational

reform is going in this country. Will I join a union next year (since I’m not even eligible this year, 

nor are Teach for America participants)? Probably not because one can get liability insurance 

anywhere… and I’m still not exactly sure what the union does other than that… Some teachers 

want the possibility of earning six-figures or the freedom to work through their lunch break if that 

best helps their students… Hrm. Dunno. Shesh, I don’t really want to be political. I just want to be 

a good teacher and focus on that. 

*** In other thoughts on finishing first-quarter… I feel like my students when… 

• It’s Friday morning and I’m elated to sleep-in tomorrow morning 
• I haven’t started my graduate 8-page research paper due tomorrow and am instead writing this 
• journal 
• I have over an hour of homework every night (and believe me, I always do) 
• Oh, and if I had to guess, here are some of the common, constant, and controversial questions of all teachers: See Below:

Do we make excuses for our students? Does education set them up to fail by not enforcing 

organization (notebook checks, certain required materials)… and what if the students/ school 

don’t have the supplies? 

Is it right for students fail over homework? What about class-work that isn’t finished in class (and 

therefore becomes homework), should students be able to hold onto those papers an extra day to 

turn them in? And if students can’t hold on papers, how are they going to study or hold onto 

papers that are important to them? It’s as if organization is just as much a make or break point as 

timeliness of assignments. 

We say “High Expectations,” but what does that mean? Is that like trying to define “teacher 

effectiveness”? Is the subjective-ness of education its strength or weakness? ‘Democratic education’ 

might have something to say about that… 

Why do the same parents that purposefully chose a hard school for their students, then turn 

around and ask for exceptions on those expectations? How do can I be effective when there are 34 

kids all are varying levels? Does differentiation have to be chaos? And if not, what am I doing 

wrong that causes it to feel that way? 

As a result, I work to fight against – 

Apathy (un-energized empathy), it’s what you begin to feel when certain students start to piss 

you off. When students show even the least amount of appreciation, let along civility, it’s amazing 

how much harder I’m willing to work for them… but when students start like A-holes, well I want 

be a B-witch right on back. Obviously, as the professional I don’t, but I do count to ten, practice 

deep breathing, and then smile silently. I tell myself, it’s not the students that are dislikable, but the 

attitudes they’ve picked up from somewhere. How I would love to wipe off smirks, and force 

students to rescind their negative disrespectful twit comments. But no, I can’t FORCE them to do 

anything. I’m annoyed, but how do I turn my annoyance into productive, reflective, “your momma 

wouldn’t like that” guilt-trips?

Around Six or Seven Weeks (who knows?) of Teaching

Students bustle to and from class in the hallway outside my door. 

Some days I feel like a failure and other days, well, famously fantastic! Working with 

adolescents can sometimes make one feel like having their invariable mood swings. I ‘worry’ about 

so many things, like whether I offended my shy student for half-listening while dealing with other 

pressing concerns. Fortunately, she was warm towards me the next day, a fact I can only thank 

TEEN-RESILENCY for. I do believe kids forgive adults for not being perfect, but it certainly helps if 

they feel like adults are trying their best. “Kindness covers a multitude of sins,” hmm… or is that 

“a soft answer turns away wrath?” Eh, they go hand-in-hand. 

What a week! 

When a student says, “I hate this class,” do they say that for the same reasons I’m thinking? Hate 

is a strong word, but most teenagers seem to like STRONG words (especially those famous 

absolutes of no one, always, and never). Do the 34 students crammed around table groupings in 

our small room bother them? Or is it the ten talkers who shout-out, get up/ walk around, throw 

things, and interrupt the overall learning of the class with their impervious distractions? As the 

teacher, how do I allow such behaviors continue? What am I doing (or not doing) to maintain order for the 

students who want to get the most out of 8th grade English? How do I instill consistency when I only see 

students every other day? Does research suggest teenagers forget information overnight, or was that only my 

brain? 

Of course, the “I hate this class” statement might have nothing to do with the dynamics and 

everything to do with the content rigor. Currently 1/6th of my students are failing and mainly 

because they are missing multiple assignments. How can I give students a score for something they 

haven’t done? Which brings me back to the nature of grades – Do they measure a student’s 

preparation/ planning, organization, ability to follow directions, and engagement, or focus only on 

Language Arts standards like reading comprehension and writing protocols. YES. It’s nearly 

impossible to separate the two, and certainly in the work world we don’t. A boss can’t evaluate the 

quality of your project if you don’t possess the self-management skills to complete it (let alone on 

time). 

Still somehow, I see it as my awesome (fearful) responsibility to ensure students get their @#$* 

together. The ranges of student abilities challenges me enough and I’m unsure how to support 

students that don’t verbalize/ recognize their struggles in the class. Going through the grade book, 

I make a list of students and their missing assignments, wondering WHY – Did they not understand 

the directions? Did they not know how to do the assignment? Did they forget? Did something unrelated 

happen to them outside of class? The list of possibilities goes on… 

I think about schools that require students with missing assignments for the day to stay after school 

and make them up. Such a change would certainly place academics more at the forefront of school 

values.  I kind of wish my school had something similar – some may argue that it’s good to let kids 

fail in 8th grade before high school grades matter for college admittance, but the thing is, if they 

don’t learn good management skills in Jr. High, how are they going to suddenly change for high 

school? By not pushing accountability with a pro-active solution addressing the problem, the 

pattern will continue.

TIME isn’t only a student issue, but a teacher one as well. I better understand why teachers have 

summers off now; during school months they can average 10-14 hour work days depending on 

clubs, sports, parent-meetings/ student-conferences, returning email, planning, grading/ giving 

feedback, and inputting/ assessing data. It all adds up and I walk out of school befuddled as to 

where the time went. Choosing to take an online grad-level class this semester in addition to 

everything else was probably not the best decision (understatement inserted here). 

And how do I STOP thinking about my students when I’m not at school? 

Is it strange that I feel like they’re “mine”? Is it because I’m a female without local family, or does 

it have to do with the larger message from society placing students’ final failures and success on 

teachers? Could any other profession, would any other profession, accept such a charge? I don’t 

know. I kind of want to interview a police officer and ask whether he/ she is able to block out 

work-related ‘cases, faces, and places’ when away. 

Do teachers CRAVE busyness? I think I do to some extent… if I’m not researching, planning, 

writing, or thinking, then what am I supposed to be doing? Work is life. Life is work. Living in the 

in between moments, how does one really do that? I fear the un-planned, un-busied, quiet 

moments of the mind and soul. Because stress is better than depression, “I don’t have time,” feels 

like an easier response. 

One thing’s for sure, and I’ve probably said it before, I was made to teach… even if it’s messy, 

even if I’m clueless, overwhelmed, emotional when alone, and obsessive-compulsive trying to 

maintain structures/ organization… I love, love, love what I get to do every day!