BHL week 3

The third Wednesday I went to BHL was March 3, 2010. I arrived at 8a.m. and was informed by Mr.Corley that the majority of the day would be spent on a field trip to visit Clarke Central. Oh boy. First period was normal, the ELT class was continuing Lord of the Flies. Second period through fourth was to be spent at Clarke Central. We were to load the buses at 9, be there at 9:30 for a brief presentation and then a tour of Central (to acquaint the rising 9th graders with their new school). There was a very tight schedule to adhere to... so of course everything was running late. Classes began boarding buses starting from the end of the 8th grade hallway going down, but by halfway down the hallway there was no more room on the buses. Enough buses were there to accomodate students sitting three to a seat, as is technically possible, but these are not elementary kids, they're 8th graders who take up as much room as adults. So we get to wait out (in the cold wind) for more buses. Finally, half an hour later, more buses were there, but not quite enough. I was with a group of teachers and a few students who didn't fit on the bus, so we got to wait for one more bus. It was actually kind of nice not being on a totally full bus.

In all the chaos of loading students onto buses and keeping up with everyone, Mr. Corley had gotten on a bus to control restless students while I was waiting with my former middle school literature teacher Jesse Thompson, and Mr. Slovert, an 8th grade teacher who helped during the collaborative classes. We finally got to Clarke Central, where students were brought to the Mell Auditorium where counselors introduced themselves and talked about Clarke Central. It felt really weird being back, after not having been there since 9th grade. I did get to see the super awesome drama teacher, Harriet.

After the brief assembly, students were broken off by classes for tours led by current Clarke Central students. There were over 60 kids in each group, so it was more of walking around following the people ahead than a tour. Jesse and I joined the group of Mr. Joiner and Ms. Jordan's classes to round up the back and make sure everyone stayed together. Along the hectic "tour" Ms. Jordan teasingly asked, "still want to be a teacher?" Um... no comment.

At the end of it all we loaded back on the bus and were ready to go, when a teacher cam up short on a head count. We thought there were only two kids missing, when two whole classes walk up from the back of Central.

Finally back at BHL, two hours late, is lunch and planning period. Sixth period Mr. Corley let the students go to the computer lab to work on a social studies project for another class, to avoid them getting ahead of the other classes.

This day's excursion to Clarke Central and all the mishaps along the way highlighted many problems and aggravations teachers face everyday. Public schools are a bureaucracy, as one teacher pointed out. It's difficult to simply do things in the most practical way possible. I didn't get to do much in the classroom this week, but it was atleast another interesting experience.