Down the path2
message to class of 09
It was a great honor to be your teacher this year. This is my ideal job. I wouldn't trade my students at PATH for any in the world. You challenge me every day with your wit, your skepticism and your honesty. Every time you tell me WTF, I get to think about how I could do things a little better next time. In a way I owe you for making me a better teacher.
I have a vested interest in having you all graduate from college. You see, I would rather have you running the world than most of the people who are running it now. I like the idea of your hearts combined with minds that have risen to there they're their potential. You will bring a sense of fairness and an needed perspective to the world.
Believe in yourself and fight for yourself as you make your way through college. Take risks. Your surest bet, the gamble that you have the most control over is the gamble on yourself. Don't necessarily blindly follow your advisers. Often they either tell you what you want to hear or tell you what is the safe path.
students whom I failed
All of you were capable of doing the work of Humanities 4. It is a tribute to you and to your teachers and parents that you could. There is a huge difference, however, between 'could have' and actually pulling it off. You were cheated if you did not write the papers and did not pass the final. You were cheated of the reward. You need to feel the reward so that in the future you will be willing take the risk of working hard again.
Your failure to complete the work of the course is my failure. I apologize for failing you. It is the responsibility of the adults in the building to provide you, as superintendent Carol Johnson directed, with "high expectations, high relevance, and appropriate support". If somehow you got the message that you didn't really have to understand and study and write about your relationship to history and the world, that doubt would give you an out. It is not in the nature of a healthy 17 year old mind to do anything unnecessary. You would be crazy to. Unless the adults in the building can be crystal clear about our expectations you are cast adrift. If there is a history of saying one thing and doing another, where some kids get away with not passing and others don't, where the very definition of passing seems subjective and random, that is a problem in the institution. You deserve better.
on the seminar "for no apparent reason"*
I want to address the observation that "because of a high level of stress in the last few days, I ask Mr. McKenna not be allowed to to give make up work the week of graduation."* The reality is, I don't set the schedule. (see copy of 5/18 email from headmaster to teachers below)
I don't really like stress. On most days of the school year that is why I sit in 366 till 3:30 or 4:00 reflecting on the day just passed and planning on the day to come. I don't leave until I have figured it out. I hate waking up in the middle of the night stressing about the next day. I get my stuff done.
And so I sat every day from May 13th till June 4th. It was I quiet space to work, to write your paper, to get help. There were computers. I saw very few of you. I was a little bored because I had stopped teaching, allowing you 10 hours of in-class time to write your papers and 6 hours to study for your final. In retrospect, it was a waste of time. There were many more things I wanted you to experience, to read, to learn. We missed Neruda, Gabriel Marquez, Valenzuela. This class didn't read and perform one act plays in the park.
I think I told you on the first day of school that in order to pass the 3rd and 4th term you would have to write papers. I think I told you a scores of times.
The research paper assignment was easier than the year before, 10% shorter. Compared to last year's class, far fewer of you completed it on time. The valedictorian didn't. Some of the best writers didn't even pass it in since they knew they would pass anyway. I guess I failed to reach you.
I was not impressed by your lack of effort, upset since you all had the ability. Perhaps it is the school culture. It seems to be getting worse every year.
All of the students who were invited to the 4 day seminar this week had a shot at passing. Students were asked to leave for solid, well considered reasons, like not having made progress on their paper or failure to prepare their questions by rereading the articles. They were living in a dreamworld where students don't really study.
*from former class president letter to my boss
May 18, 2009 from: Hilton, Pamela to: Mawakana, Yvonne, Tim, Maureen, Winifred, Anna, Jeanmarie, Zahida, Ivette, Steven, Jeanmarie, Matthew, Hamida, HamidaMerchant, Mark, Amy, Leo, Carole, Paige Dear ILT and Senior Teachers, .. In a letter about to go out to the seniors we have the senior finals as: May 27 to June 2 - Senior Finals June 3 - Make-up June 4 - Sign-out Usually we do it this way even in the past when we did not have as many snow days as this year. If we think this year will require more make-up time, we can adjust the schedule. Also we will allow seniors after June 4 with a final overall average between 60 and 69 a chance to do further make-up as we did last year and see if they can make up enough so they may 'walk' at graduation and not go to credit recovery for August graduation.
