Reflections of an Educator's Summer

Did you ever see that really bad, yet really awesome 80's movie, Summer School?  Here are a few pictures of that fine film:

Call me nostalgic, but when I found out I was teaching Summer School this past June, this movie came to mind right away.  Funny how the mind works.  As I heard the words, "Summer School" ringing in my ears, I flashed first to this movie, then to my own summers as a youngster: riding bikes, playing soccer, swimming, and trips to the library.  Then I flashed to my summers as a teenager: working at a crappy restaurant, running in X-country, camping and fishing. 
Oh how life has changed.  Sure, I had a few opportunities to take a couple of quick trips,one to Boston and another to Billings, MT, however the majority of the summer was taken up with work.  Granted, I was the dummy who decided to sign a full-year contract and be a Dean, but what I have to say in reflection to the summertime,  I believe is worth sharing.
As mentioned in previous posts, I work at an inner-city school with under-resourced high school students.  This is the language white people use as a way of saying they work with poor brown and black kids as an attempt at being politically correct.  Personally, I think our students know they are poor, and most certainly that they are brown and black. So I think that type of P-C  lingo is used to help one set of white people feel better about telling another set of white people what they do. 
Anyway, working at this school has imposed a sort of nervousness for the start of school after the summer.  We have learned, that idle time is not necessarily a good thing for students of this demographic.  Often times accompanying the students in the Fall is a rush of misdemeanors and pregnancies.



"Why?"  you may ask. Well it doesn't take a genius to figure that those students with limited means need to find ways of entertaining themselves...often times, crime and sex are the easiest options because they are so cheap to partake in.  For you and me, it makes sense that crime is very costly to a person's future, and teenage pregnancies are costly for the single mom and the rest of society.  However for our students, sex and crime are cheap and easy, and in some cases, an immediately fun option for them. 
Now this may seem a bit simplistic, but let me put it out there like this.  Research shows, that when poor brown and black students are attending the best schools with the best resources being sent their way, all year long, they actually have an opportunity to stay at pace with their richer more affluent white counterparts at other schools.  In some cases, they are even able to surpass them.  Then the summer comes.  This is when the more affluent students either maintain their knowledge or grow, and when the poorer students' minds become stagnant and their lack of intellectual engagement causes their knowledge base to drop.  In educational geek speak, we call this the "Achievement Gap."  Once the summer starts, students with means are enrolled in summer camps, sports, trips to the zoo and museum...days filled with physical and mental stimulation.  For the brown and black kids, living on the other side of the tracks, their summer gets filled with TV, texting, video games and hot pockets.  To be fair, there is a lot of programming out there for the poorer folks, however unless you have a pro-active parent willing to seek out such programs, most just either fizzle out, or are filled with the same small number of kids. 
So that leaves us two choices at my school.  One, would be to offer summer programming for our students. The other, offer year-round-school.  We tried option one, with the second being developed as we speak. Here is what we offered:  Summer school for those credit deficit in their classes, English Proficiency Classes for English language learners, Summer Bridge Program for incoming freshmen and new students, work-study for anyone needing to pay off tuition, Freshmen Orientation, Soccer, and Open Gym Basketball.  To demonstrate our students' need for being fed (intellectually), we had half a dozen or so show up during summer school, even though they didn't have to be there. They just wanted to "help" the teachers or support their friends. I think they just were bored.  The Summer Bridge Program was designed for incoming freshmen who tested terribly, but showed potential.  However we, again had about half a dozen or so sign up voluntarily because they needed something to do.  Our summer was gone in a flash because of students that were desiring more.  Though most would never admit it, they wanted to be at our school because they not only had a desire to continue to learn, in the summer months off but also were able to go to place where adults, they knew cared about them, would engage them, challenge them, and laugh with them. 
So, as all of our students will be arriving this week for school, I am hoping for three things:  1. Minimal pregnancies (I already know of one).  2.  No wrap sheets or house arrests (So far so good).  3.  That the achievement gap that occurred over the summer will be more crack in the cliff than Grand Canyon.  If these three hopes are realized, I can go ahead and get to work on forming their Dangerous Minds.*




*Disclaimer : I ask your forgiveness for the terrible movie pun.  I just figured I started with a bad/great teacher-movie reference, I might as well end with the same.  If it helps I also could have said something like "I will be able to Stand and Deliver my message." or "I will be able to really write Mr. Holland's Opus."  Ok, maybe that doesn't help.