What does a good school look like?

           After teaching 14 years, I may have many ideas about what makes a good school, but I still have many questions and doubts about the topic. I read with interest chapter 3 of Deborah Meier’s book, The Power of Their Ideas: Lessons for America from a Small School in Harlem. While there were several aspects of the school that I questioned, I also found many of their ideas to be admirable. I was immediately drawn to their theory that “expertise in early childhood development is a good foundation for starting a school for adolescents.” I have taught adolescents for my entire teaching career, and, some time ago, I came to the conclusion that middle school students are very similar to preschoolers! They have a hard time keeping their hands off each other, are easily distracted, and often have to be redirected.

The Harlem school also understands that smaller class sizes shouldn’t be just for early elementary schools. A maximum class size of 20, as the article suggests, would be a dream for me.  My largest class is 32; we can barely fit all the students and desks in the room without running into each other. Sadly, as funding for education decreases, our class numbers have risen, making it more difficult to give each student the individual attention he or she may require.

The idea of only seeing 40 students per day is interesting. This year, I am seeing fewer students than before – only 93, as opposed to 175 or so last year – because all English teachers in our middle school are now teaching three two-hour blocks, daily, rather than six classes with a new group of students in each. Not surprisingly, I have found that teaching fewer students is much less stressful for me and, in turn, better for the students. Although 93 is more than double the 40 seen by the Harlem teachers, I do think there is a benefit to knowing more students in the school, especially in the hallways between classes; students are more receptive to direction from teachers they have built relationships with.

I liked the Harlem school’s emphasis on common planning times for teachers. When I first started teaching at my school in 2002, each grade was divided into three teams. All students on the same team had the same four core teachers. Special education teachers and elective teachers were assigned to be on teams with the core teachers. Collaboration was valued, and, in addition to our personal planning hour, we had a team planning hour every day. During those meetings, we were able to discuss our concerns about particular students, and we held conferences with the parents if necessary. In this way, students were not as apt to fall through the cracks because one teacher would bring an issue to the attention of the others, and we could all address it together. During our team planning, we also planned cross-curricular lessons and units. Sadly, as funding decreased, we lost our teams and began to look more like a miniature high school again. Having taught both ways, I firmly believe that teaming is the very best way to teach middle-school students.

I do have some concerns with the Harlem school. First of all, they seem to value the core subjects more than physical education, art, and music. The school teaches literature, but I don’t see where it teaches language arts. This suggests to me that they may not be spending enough time with writing instruction. Also, the idea that teachers are responsible for assessing their colleagues would seem to be a recipe for mistrust amongst coworkers. It also seems impractical that a teacher would have enough time to properly observe and evaluate another teacher without spending a significant time away from his or her own classroom.

            It seems to me that one would be hard-pressed to come up with the perfect school, especially when funding is an issue. As Louie CK’s PTA meeting clip so humorously illustrates, many well-intended people have their own ideas about how children should be taught. Even though there are bits of merit to many ideas, different perspectives show us that there is no one perfect way. We can only do the very best we can with the students, funding, and knowledge that we have. As we find out what works and what doesn’t, we will need to constantly be open to change and adjust as we strive to do what’s best for kids.