BACKGROUND
CAROLYN
BEITZEL
Eighth Grade Social Studies
Beverly Hills Middle School, Upper Darby PA
I
teach in a "suburban" school located in one of the largest school districts
in Pennsylvania, Upper Darby School District. The school is in Upper Darby
and I live in Drexel Hill, a small area within the township. So I live
and work in the same place, exactly what I wanted.
I have an 11-year-old daughter who is going into 6th grade this year. She'll attend the other middle school in our system, the one on the "right side of the tracks" (as most people around here describe it). So, yep, I work in the school on the wrong side.
Beverly Hills Middle School has 1670 kids this year, and about 46 percent of our students are low income. BHMS is located less than a mile from the boundary of Philadelphia and we get many "illegal" kids from the city. It is really an urban school in a suburban setting. We had 91 classroom teachers last year, and 13 of them were brand new. I was one of the new ones. Just four days before school started this year, we lost a dozen teachers. Our teacher absentee rate is one and a half times the district norm. I guess you can read between the lines.More than
one third of our 8th graders scored below basic in math and reading on
last year's state assessment test. We have kids from over 60 countries
and have a strong refugee teaching program for children immigrating from
war torn countries, such as Africa.
A path
to teaching
I was a RN for 17 years and getting tired of managed care dictating how
I should care for my patients. I started to feel superfluous in my profession.
I remember taking those job tests in high school that said what you should
be when you get out of school. Mine always said I should be a social worker
or a teacher. Never a nurse. Funny how life rolls around!
I decided
after speaking with some of the professors at the University of Pennsylvania
Teacher Education Program that I would double certify in general science
and social studies. Social studies was what I enjoy, and science was what
I know. Of course there are always problems. I ended up having to take
astronomy, earth science and two physics courses as well as my graduate-level
course work, all while student-teaching full time (let alone pretending
that I was a wife and mother). But it all worked out.
So, how did I get to BHMS? I needed to work in the district to make my
family life a little less crazy, so when I was offered the position of
8th grade science (not my 1st choice), I jumped at it. I knew that the
kids at BH were going to be tough, but I never realized exactly what those
words meant.
A hard first year
This past year as a new teacher was probably the hardest time of my life. I felt so lost and utterly unable to cope. The teaching and planning was easy, but the heartache and dysfunction I witnessed every day was not. How could my kids learn and focus when they were carrying the baggage of a lifetime of emotional and physical scars? Their home lives are still unimaginable to me. Just to get themselves out the door and to school is the first miracle of their day. How do you teach science when your students can't read a ruler? Or read the text? Or when you have almost no resources available to you as a teacher and must purchase supplies yourself so you can conduct a lab? It was all too much. I was really burned out by Christmas and seriously thought of chucking it and going back to nursing (where, by the way, there is a shortage and many bucks to be made). But, you know, it's not about the money (we all know it is a pittance). It's about what I think I can do for the kids. As December turned into January, I decided content was not the top priority. I wanted to teach them how to survive in the world, give them clues and goals, let them find out they were bright and smart and creative. I wanted to give them the tools to be successful -- something many of them had never had before. So I came back renewed and had a great time in the process. Pitfalls abound, administration blocks your every move, peers tell you to lower your expectations (and keep your resume current), but in the end I knew that I would come back this fall.How do I fit?
Sometimes I feel like a square peg in a round hole. I have such great ideas and they are so hard to implement. Not because I can't do it or don't have support (we'll save that for a later entry), but because the kids come to school with so little motivation to succeed and are so afraid of trying something if they are going to make a mistake. This year I need some tight goals and expectations. First and foremost, I want my kids to be embraced in an environment whre they feel confident and comfortable, knowing their individual voices will be heard and actually listened to. I want them to feel that our classroom is one which stands for social justice and fair play -- a place where they will not be put down or ridiculed, a place where every idea will have value. Second, I need to create a class of risk-takers. That begins with rules and procedures. This year I have actually written nine pages (so far) of classroom procedures how to sharpen a pencil, how to disagree politely, where does homework go, what if it's late? All kinds of scenarios. I want my expectations to be clearly stated where there are no misunderstandings. I also want to incorporate positive discipline techniques. Last year I felt I raised my voice too much and was too strict. Finally, one of my biggest pet peeves about education is we lose parent involvement in middle school. I want to make parent participation a priority. I would like to get parents into the classroom and help draw them into their child's learning. Whew! This year is going to be a good one. I feel confident in my abilities and am looking forward to working on a team that I helped design. This year I also have the good fortune to be teaching 8th grade American History. Getting the chance to write for Middleweb can only make me a more effective practitioner. I am looking forward to sharing my year with you.
