For those of you out of the loop, I am currently employed as third- through sixth-grade general music teacher at Martin Luther King Jr. Multicultural Institute, a pre-K through 8th grade public school in Buffalo. It’s my first full-time position as a music teacher, and I am happy to be working there despite the many challenges facing me.
The Buffalo Public Schools were closed today due to -20 degree windchills, so I used my day off to return as a substitute teacher at the Maryvale Intermediate-Middle School complex in Cheektowaga NY, where I began the year as a long-term sub, and where I have subbed many times. Only a short drive down the expressway from Martin Luther King School, subbing at Maryvale Intermediate-Middle School is a very different experience than teaching at Martin Luther King MCI. I have a few minutes of downtime today, and I would like to blog about the similarities and differences between these two worlds.
School size, makeup and setup
The Maryvale Intermediate-Middle School complex serves approximately 1200 students in grades 3 through 8. Though technically two separate schools, each with its own administration, they are housed in one large school building which shares a campus with the Maryvale High School. The middle school classrooms are separated from the elementary school classrooms by a divided cafeteria. Each school has its own Gym, music rooms, art rooms, faculty rooms, etc. The student body is mainly White, and 28% of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The school serves the area of Cheektowaga between the main railway lines, the Airport, and I-90. The school day begins at 8:00 and ends a little after 3:00. There are eight 40-minute periods and two which are longer than that. The last period of the day is a “Plus” period, where students either do their homework, ask teachers questions, help to clean the school,visit the weight room, or have band/choir rehersal.
About 830 students attend Martin Luther King Multicultural Institute; it is one of many public schools the city of Buffalo serving all primary grades (pre K through 8.) There is one principal at the school and two assistant principals who are each in charge of a group of grade levels. The PK through fourth-grade classrooms are housed on the first floor, and the fifth- through eighth-grade classrooms are housed on the second floor. The majority of students who attend Martin Luther King school live on the city’s East side, one of the poorest Urban communities in the United States, but I have met students who live in other places (a student in the Buffalo Public Schools can attend most any school in the district no matter where he or she lives.) Most of the students are African American, and 93% of students are eligible for free or reduced price lunch. The school building itself is recently remodeled; the walls are full of color and each classroom has new facilities. My room is recently constructed and has its own drinking fountain, sink, and counter space. The school day begins at 7:55 consists of eight 45-minute periods, one 30 minute period, and one 20 minute homeroom period. Though the school day technically ends at 2:35, the students are out by 2:20, as are many of the teachers.
Classroom Sizes and Special Education
At Martin Luther King School, there are four or five homerooms per grade level. The average mainstreamed homeroom has about 23 students in it, although some have closer to 30. Each grade level has one class which is 15:1:1 — that is, a class of 15 special-needs students who have one teacher and one aide assigned to them during instruction. Some grade levels have an 8:1:1 homeroom as well — an even smaller class which is typically reserved for the most violent or emotionally disturbed students. When homerooms combine with 15:1:1 special education classes for their specials, I can have as many as 42 students in my room at a time (48 if noone is absent.) The special education aides usually use music class as their break times, so there is no extra support for students with special needs during my instructional time.
As a sub at Maryvale, I have never had a classroom exceed 23 students. Most have between 18 and 21 students. Special education students are integrated into the classrooms, and those who require extra help are accompanied by their aides to each core class. This does not include music class, but includes Science, Social Studies, English, and Math.
Student Behavior and Discipline
Violence, harassment and bullying are chronic problems at Martin Luther King school. My first day at school, I had a fistfight break out in my class before I had even introduced myself. At least 30% of students have been suspended at least once this year, be it for fighting, weapons possession, theft, or repeated disruptive behavior. Last week alone I had four fights in my room or in the hall outside of my room, one of which resulted in a bystander being injured. This does not include the countless cases of slapping, name calling and threatening that occur several times each day. The school’s handbook encourages teachers to immediately “write up” students who are violent or repeatedly defiant, but the administration has been inconsistent in supporting these referrals. Students who fist-fight are usually suspended, but I had a student punch another student in the sternum last month– without provocation — who was sent back to my room 15 minutes later with nothing more than reprimand from the principal. Referrals to the principal for lesser offenses like swearing, hitting, refusing to work, name-calling and leaving the room without permission are not treated seriously and are explicitly considered a nuisance by the administration, who encourage teachers to “take care of your own discipline.” Students’ poor behavior choices tend to rub off on the rest of the class and negatively effect the learning environment. There is no unified behavior management system, and teachers frequently express that they feel powerless to manage the most disruptive students. The only immediate recourse most teachers have is the Detention Room, which is sort of the last resort dumping ground for disruptive students. A teacher can send a student to detention for any reason, including swearing, yelling, verbal assault, refusing to work, etc., but the majority of students who come to detention come because they talked back to the teacher.
At Maryvale, each student with poor behavioral performance comes to class with a behavioral report card. Teachers sign the report cards at the end of each period. Most students are very well-mannered. Even as a sub, I have rarely had to ask a student more than once to start or stop doing something. Each class may have one or two students who is disruptive, but peer pressure seems to work the opposite way: in two different instances today, disruptive students were asked to stop talking/getting up by their peers.
This article is unfinished.
