Graduation is normally a bittersweet time of year for me. I get emotional, and start thinking about the potential of each of my kids. I completely forget about how hard it was to get them to work all year. How often I had to fight against their cell phones for their attention. How I caught one kid cheating on an essay. How another was tardy EVERY single day. I drive J nuts with the reminiscing and story telling. I forget all the bad stuff, and focus on the good stuff. How proud I am. How kind, sweet, smart, and giving all my kids are. How much they deserve everything good in life. How much I already miss them. I can't help but love them. (The photos in this entry are of this year's graduation. I got them from the local newspapers web page, so please forgive the grainy quality.)
While every year is bittersweet, this year was especially hard. Never before have I been on such an extreme emotional roller coaster. I only had two sections of seniors this year, and one of my classes was small. By the end of the year, I only had 21 kids in my first hour class. Seems like a lot, but with an average class size of 28, only having 21 kids was a real treat. We really got to know each other well.
Each of the kids in that class was so different from the others. One student lived in Plymouth and rode the bus 45 minutes each way to come to SHS. Another lived in Canyon Lakes, a wealthy area of Kennewick that is 2 minutes from the school, and drove himself to school 10-15 minutes late every day. One of the girls battled health problems all year long, and was absent almost as often as she was in school. One boy was openly gay. One girl got married three weeks ago. One boy wore cowboy boots every day, and is the kindest young man I've ever known. One girl is working to overcome drug addictions and checks in with her parole officer weekly.
Each kid has his or her own story, and they are all unique. One student, though, has a story that I'd like to share. His name is Hiren, and he comes from India.
Last year, there was a flood in Hiren's hometown which is near Mumbai, India. There was seven feet of water in his house, and he and his parents were stranded on the second floor for several days until the water receded. When they were able to leave the house and see what kind of damage had been done to the town, they found out that Hiren's school was to be closed for at least the next four months.
Education is important to Hiren's family: his mother is a principal at a middle school. He did not want to miss out on four months of schooling, so he begged his parents to be allowed to come to the United States and stay with his sister. Gita is 17 years older than Hiren, and has been living in the U.S. for 15 years. His parents were reluctant, but agreed to let him come when Gita said he could start school immediately.
Hiren came to Southridge, and started classes. He was immediately overwhelmed by his experience. His English was, according to him, not good, and he was so worried about looking foolish that he didn't want to talk to people. He overcame this fear quickly, though, and acclimated to the culture at SHS.
He had some ups and downs like any normal kid, but seemed to be doing well. Until it was time to take the WASL. Last year his ELL teacher was told that he did not need to take the WASL because it was his first year in the country. So he didn't take it. During WASL testing we have a three week window of weird scheduling, and classes that are 20ish minutes long to accommodate for the testing times. Hiren took advantage of this crazy school time, and the fact that Spring Break was right after the WASL testing and went back to India for a month. This was not a pleasure visit - he had to go back and take a test and apply for a student Visa so he could stay in the country. He chose that time so that the least amount of classtime would be affected.
We thought everything was good. Then this year started, his senior year, and he was on track for graduation. Until we found out that he had to take the WASL. Last year when the school district told his ELL teacher that he didn't have to take the test, apparently what they should have said was that he did not have to take it last year, but that he would have to take it and pass it this year in order to graduate. If he didn't pass, he wouldn't graduate.
Hiren was not our only ELL student in this situation. Fardi (pronounced Farthi) from Turkey / Russia, and Paul from Sudan were as well. None of the boys were happy about it, but they took the test. Unfortunately, two of them did not pass the writing section. Fardi was successful and did pass, but Paul and Hiren did not. They did a Collection of Evidence (which is another way to meet the requirement of passing the test), but were not successful there, either.
I can't even begin to describe all of the drama that went on on behalf of these young men. We wrote letters to the school board, the superintendent, and OSPI. We talked to the television news, and the newspaper. We filed an appeal with OSPI. We helped the boys write letters to the school board, and Laurie went with them to present their case in person to the superintendent and the school board.
Here's the story the Tri-City Herald printed. I don't think they did the boys' story justice, though. We talked to the reporter for an hour. We said much more than was printed...much more. (If you read the article, I was indirectly quoted...I'm one of the teachers who said they have made great gains since coming here.)
Unfortunately, the drama continued all the way up to the last minute. Fardi passed and was allowed to graduate. Both Paul and Hiren understood that they were not going to graduate, and that they had to retake the WASL. They wanted to be allowed to walk at graduation (this is what all the appeals to the school board were about) with their class. They were told no several times, and finally were allowed to appeal in person.
When all was said and done, though both boys were in nearly identical situations, the outcome was not the same for each. Paul was allowed to walk at graduation even though he was not graduating, but Hiren was denied that privilege. The school board said that Paul was close enough to passing that had someone else graded his test it is possible he may have passed. Hiren was further away from passing, therefore they reasoned that he would have failed even if someone else had scored his test.
Sometimes I hate my job. There is nothing worse than seeing kids experience heartbreak. I don't like crying, and I really don't like crying with 18 year old boys. I hate feeling helpless, and there really was nothing else I could do.
Graduation was very bittersweet this year.
While every year is bittersweet, this year was especially hard. Never before have I been on such an extreme emotional roller coaster. I only had two sections of seniors this year, and one of my classes was small. By the end of the year, I only had 21 kids in my first hour class. Seems like a lot, but with an average class size of 28, only having 21 kids was a real treat. We really got to know each other well.
Each of the kids in that class was so different from the others. One student lived in Plymouth and rode the bus 45 minutes each way to come to SHS. Another lived in Canyon Lakes, a wealthy area of Kennewick that is 2 minutes from the school, and drove himself to school 10-15 minutes late every day. One of the girls battled health problems all year long, and was absent almost as often as she was in school. One boy was openly gay. One girl got married three weeks ago. One boy wore cowboy boots every day, and is the kindest young man I've ever known. One girl is working to overcome drug addictions and checks in with her parole officer weekly.
Each kid has his or her own story, and they are all unique. One student, though, has a story that I'd like to share. His name is Hiren, and he comes from India.
Last year, there was a flood in Hiren's hometown which is near Mumbai, India. There was seven feet of water in his house, and he and his parents were stranded on the second floor for several days until the water receded. When they were able to leave the house and see what kind of damage had been done to the town, they found out that Hiren's school was to be closed for at least the next four months.
Education is important to Hiren's family: his mother is a principal at a middle school. He did not want to miss out on four months of schooling, so he begged his parents to be allowed to come to the United States and stay with his sister. Gita is 17 years older than Hiren, and has been living in the U.S. for 15 years. His parents were reluctant, but agreed to let him come when Gita said he could start school immediately.
Hiren came to Southridge, and started classes. He was immediately overwhelmed by his experience. His English was, according to him, not good, and he was so worried about looking foolish that he didn't want to talk to people. He overcame this fear quickly, though, and acclimated to the culture at SHS.
He had some ups and downs like any normal kid, but seemed to be doing well. Until it was time to take the WASL. Last year his ELL teacher was told that he did not need to take the WASL because it was his first year in the country. So he didn't take it. During WASL testing we have a three week window of weird scheduling, and classes that are 20ish minutes long to accommodate for the testing times. Hiren took advantage of this crazy school time, and the fact that Spring Break was right after the WASL testing and went back to India for a month. This was not a pleasure visit - he had to go back and take a test and apply for a student Visa so he could stay in the country. He chose that time so that the least amount of classtime would be affected.
We thought everything was good. Then this year started, his senior year, and he was on track for graduation. Until we found out that he had to take the WASL. Last year when the school district told his ELL teacher that he didn't have to take the test, apparently what they should have said was that he did not have to take it last year, but that he would have to take it and pass it this year in order to graduate. If he didn't pass, he wouldn't graduate.
Hiren was not our only ELL student in this situation. Fardi (pronounced Farthi) from Turkey / Russia, and Paul from Sudan were as well. None of the boys were happy about it, but they took the test. Unfortunately, two of them did not pass the writing section. Fardi was successful and did pass, but Paul and Hiren did not. They did a Collection of Evidence (which is another way to meet the requirement of passing the test), but were not successful there, either.
I can't even begin to describe all of the drama that went on on behalf of these young men. We wrote letters to the school board, the superintendent, and OSPI. We talked to the television news, and the newspaper. We filed an appeal with OSPI. We helped the boys write letters to the school board, and Laurie went with them to present their case in person to the superintendent and the school board.
Here's the story the Tri-City Herald printed. I don't think they did the boys' story justice, though. We talked to the reporter for an hour. We said much more than was printed...much more. (If you read the article, I was indirectly quoted...I'm one of the teachers who said they have made great gains since coming here.)
Unfortunately, the drama continued all the way up to the last minute. Fardi passed and was allowed to graduate. Both Paul and Hiren understood that they were not going to graduate, and that they had to retake the WASL. They wanted to be allowed to walk at graduation (this is what all the appeals to the school board were about) with their class. They were told no several times, and finally were allowed to appeal in person.
When all was said and done, though both boys were in nearly identical situations, the outcome was not the same for each. Paul was allowed to walk at graduation even though he was not graduating, but Hiren was denied that privilege. The school board said that Paul was close enough to passing that had someone else graded his test it is possible he may have passed. Hiren was further away from passing, therefore they reasoned that he would have failed even if someone else had scored his test.
Sometimes I hate my job. There is nothing worse than seeing kids experience heartbreak. I don't like crying, and I really don't like crying with 18 year old boys. I hate feeling helpless, and there really was nothing else I could do.
Graduation was very bittersweet this year.
1 comment:
Your posts about your kids touches my heart and I always find myself teary eyed. Thank you for sharing!
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