Time to work!

AZTF Fellow - Kelsey Alhamark

Can I say that what does not kill you will make you stronger and not sound trite? Well, I will say it even if I do—What does not kill you will make you stronger.  My second year teaching is proof of that, because I am still going strong teaching in the desert of Southwestern Arizona.

Last week Arizona high school students who didn’t pass last year, retook the required AIMS exam (Aptitude Inventory Measurement Service) used to determine grade level proficiency. My freshmen homeroom at Kofa High School in Yuma took the practice tests in preparation for next year’s AIMS.  I work to invest my students in the importance of the practice tests so that they can succeed on the AIMS test next year but, like a lot of 14-year-olds, my students sometimes have a hard time seeing past the coming weekend.

Often on days like the ones we’ve had during state testing I hear, “But why do we have to work?”  I tell my students that they must learn so that they can graduate, so they can get well-paying jobs, so that they don’t fall into the gap of poverty and crime. I know, and they really do know too, that I care, “That’s why!”

So much of why the achievement gap may exist is because our students are not being told to work amongst other things.  Like today, our freshmen team counselor came in and spoke to each class about credits, transcripts, getting into college, and attendance. As she is talking to the kids about our schools attendance policy, she asks for students to raise their hands if they missed more than 10 days of school last year. More than half the class in each of my four freshmen classes raised their hands. I couldn’t believe it. For a brief moment I think, well this is one reason why so many of them are reading and solving math problems at a 5^th grade level, but then I remember, I, their teacher, am the most important factor in raising my students’ achievement. I am and should be accountable to raising my students’ achievement by more than one grade this year.

Despite the challenges that I have faced this year so far, and there have been many (Did I mention it’s only the first of November?), I feel good and ready to do my part to be that voice telling my students, “WE must work!”  Yes, it’s almost midnight and I still have papers to grade and lesson plans to write and coursework to finish, but I can’t wait to get up tomorrow and start all over again.