On the Reservation

I thought by now I was tougher, cooler, or, at least more mentally prepared. But I wasn’t. And so I cried. And cried. And cried. I suppose it is only fitting that my time on the Navajo Nation ended much like the way it began.

During my last week at work, I would tear up every so often as I paused to absorb where I was, what we were doing and what was happening. I have a desperate need to remember.

I need to remember the casualness with which my 8th grader said, "Oh, I already know that stuff," when the high school transition specialist explained to her what 9th grade inclusion algebra included. I need to remember the way my eyes welled up when parents voluntarily went to the podium microphone during our end-of-the-year special education banquet just to say, "Thank you, Ms. Shyu. Thank you, Toby. Thank you. Thank you for all you have done."

I need to remember how irritated and proud I felt when "Elmer" kept disrupting class by chanting, "Too easy. Too easy. God, don't you have something harder?" when he was counting a combination of coins and bills. (He earned a 100%.) I need to remember how naturally my students grabbed crayons and scraps of paper to budget for their meal, including tax and tip, on our field trip to Cracker Barrel.

I need to remember how welcoming it felt to be handed a chubby baby to cradle during Navajo Culture Week when the community came to the school to cook traditional food. I need to remember the weight of hugs around my thighs from 3rd graders. I need to remember 8-year-old "Nathan" telling me that he is going to miss me soooooo much. I need to remember me telling Nathan with tears in my eyes that I am going to miss him soooooo much more.

I need to remember how hard my Navajo mothers laughed at my attempts to flip tortillas in my kitchen. I need to remember how hard I guffawed at them when they tried folding Chinese dumplings. (I admit, they now fold better than me.) I need to remember how I cried when the custodian laid on my desk two of his paintings from 1983 for me to keep.

I need to also remember the pang of guilt I felt when I realized that I should have started the new decoding strategy at the beginning of the year. I need to remember that feeling of wistfulness when I realized I should have begun holding Family Nights and Literacy Nights each month from August, instead of May. I will remember that look of disappointment from one of my 8th grade boys when I told him I couldn't make it to his graduation/birthday party, because I would already be in Texas by then.

Much like the beginning, I cried. But this time I cried because I have been blessed by children, good friends, surrogate mothers, grandmas and grandpas.

Posted by Jessica Shyu at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Dear Readers,

As the school year winds down, so will "On the Reservation." (Although there are several more entries to come!) But I will be starting another blog for "Teacher Magazine" beginning in June. Please stay tuned and check back often for the new link.

Thanks!
Jessica

Posted by Jessica Shyu at 12:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Functional Behavior Assessment: Refuses to write progress reports. Finds other ways to procrastinate. Gets irritable, talks back, abandons work when presented with assignment.

Measurable Behavioral Goal: Teacher will write 72 progress reports in 3 hours requiring no more than 3 reminders to stay on task.

Setting: Classroom. Door locked. Chained to the computer. Maybe some Brooks and Dunn on the speakers.

Positive consequence: Everytime teacher completes 10 progress reports, she will be rewarded with 10 grams of Ghirardelli's intense dark chocolate ("Citrus Sunset" flavor).

Negative consequence: If teacher does not finish progress reports, she will not go home. And she will probably not be paid by her employer.

UPDATE:

Results: Goal reached. 72 progress reports written by 3:10 p.m.

Modifications: One box of Jelly Belly beans.

Posted by Jessica Shyu at 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

... to be frantically grading, going on last-minute field trips, cleaning up, throwing together paperwork, tearing the posters off the walls, and checking out. It's the last week of school. I'm also in the middle of packing for my move. With all of these end-of-year events, I have tons of memories, insights and nostalgic bits and pieces swirling around in my mind. But right now, at 5:33 p.m., Tuesday, I am busy packing. In 22 hours and 34 minutes from now, the movers will be here to haul most of my belongings to McAllen, Texas. As soon as the movers leave, I'll be posting another entry.

Posted by Jessica Shyu at 7:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Dear U.S. Department of the Treasury,

Everyday around the world, people go hungry. Wars are fought. Lives are lost for seemingly pointless reasons.

It is indeed a cruel and unjust world.

So why make it any harder? Do you realize how difficult it is to count combinations of coins when you have to deal with quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies? Sure, it might not seem like too much of a headache for most people, but there are thousands of folks out there with (and without!) disabilities who struggle to figure out what 1 quarter, 3 dimes, 7 nickels and 3 pennies equals.

Why not keep it simple with just dimes and pennies? It’s a heck of a lot easier to count by tens and ones, and remember that the number of dimes go in the tenths place while the number of pennies goes in the hundredths.

And while we’re talking about tens and ones, why couldn’t we have just stuck with $1, $10, $100 bills, and so on? Trust me, it’s a lot easier to figure out correct combinations of bills and coins when you know which place each type of bill goes. Those $20 and $5 bills really just get in the way and make money more confusing. Thank goodness the $2 bill never caught on. Imagine the havoc that would have wreaked in special education classrooms.

Also, whose bright idea was it to make dimes smaller than nickels? If you just had to throw nickels into the mix, why make them bigger?

And if you were going to make money different sizes and colors, WHY don't you write its numerical value on it like other currencies around the world? Visitors to our country routinely have the same complaint.

I’m a special education teacher whose students with severe disabilities have struggled to count money and make change. They’re leaning it, but not without first taking away those darn $20, $5, quarters and nickels. It’s difficult for them to learn in general, and made even more difficult because our money system just isn’t very sensible. But they trudge along and learn it, because they know that otherwise they’ll continue to get cheated in stores, and that they’ll continue to rely on others to do basic things, like buy gum at the gas station.

I still appreciate everything you do for us, especially that tax return I just got. But I hope you realize the trouble you’ve caused. Don’t feel like you’re alone, however. I also have a beef with the American system of measurement and whoever set up the analog clock.

Yours truly,

Jessica Shyu

Posted by Jessica Shyu at 10:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Out here, the sky is wide, the land is big and the interstate seems to stretch on forever. It’s easy to feel alone in the fight to close the achievement gap. In fact, around my third month of teaching last year, I was feeling sort of alone in general. I had fallen into an unofficial depression over teaching as characterized by my continuous crying, loss of appetite, and growing pile of un-graded papers.

Luckily, it was around this time that I received a mass e-mail from a former journalism acquaintance. She was promoting a new international nonprofit that one of her friends was volunteering for: Rural China Education Foundation. This group works to better the education of children in rural China so that they receive a well-rounded education that is applicable in every day life, not simply on school examinations. While much of the traditional curriculum in China revolves around test-taking, RCEF aims to complement it by encouraging students to develop their own interests, problem solving skills and community involvement.

Immediately I was intrigued. Sure, I’m Chinese- (and Taiwanese-American), I’m into education, and I work in a pretty rural place. But more importantly, reading up on RCEF’s mission was a knock in the head that other educators worldwide sometimes face far more dramatic issues in the classrooms. As cheesy as it sounds, it reminded me that so many of us around the world are linked together by the shared mission of educating children. It made me feel less alone. My teaching slump had made me self-centered and overly focused on my own struggles in the classroom. Reading about the work of this budding nonprofit forced me to step back and refocus my perspective on the world.

RCEF channels its mission through a variety of programs, including a 3-week volunteer teaching program in rural Chinese villages, the Native Soil Education Project, the Weekend Education Project, and Rural Education Innovation Grants.

I spent my first year not volunteering much, dedicating most of my time to my own classroom. But I still kept up with the group’s growth and influence from afar. This year, I was determined to contribute. I help develop the curriculum for the Web-based Volunteer Teacher prep program, and assist in coordinating the online Volunteer Teacher training.

And now for the real point of this entry: I am looking for teachers who have taught in China, particularly rural parts of China, who could offer anecdotes or teaching advice to the new Volunteer Teachers. All of the volunteers are motivated and dedicated to RCEF’s mission, but many do not have an official education background. As I help develop a basic teacher prep curriculum, I find that the best way to teach how to teach is to hear how people how taught in the past. If you are willing to answer a few questions about your teaching experience feel free to leave a blog comment or e-mail me at teachfornm@gmail.com

Posted by Jessica Shyu at 9:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

For the past week, I had been mentally preparing a lengthy entry on international education reform. But as I finally sit down to write tonight, I can only think about how it's May.

I have 25 more days in New Mexico, 17 more days in school, 13 more days teaching my 6th and 7th graders who are not in the dorm, 8 more days teaching my 6th and 7th graders in the dorm, 7 more days with my 8th graders not in the dorm, a mere 3 more days with my 8th graders in the dorm, and just three more days of Art Club.

The dormitory and 8th graders will be taking a week off each to go on field trips. And to top it off, I just found out I'll be out for two days next week to get my wisdom teeth removed. The countdown has begun. I am very excited about my new job and my new home, but I am going to miss this one terribly.

I feel like I need to start saying good-bye. Some staff members already know I will be leaving, but how in the world am I supposed to tell the kids?

(That entry on international education will come later this week. Tonight, I'm wallowing in nostalgia.)

Posted by Jessica Shyu at 12:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)