Stuck in the Middle
Gary Malone, middle school educator and chapter leader, speaks to the various challenges middle school educators are facing in NYC schools and how A Better Contract is ready to lead us through them.
“Trying to make some sense of it all
But I can see, it makes no sense at all
Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor?
'Cause I don't think that I can take anymore”
If you’re at all a fan of Quentin Tarantino’s films, you likely recognize the above lyrics from “Stuck in the Middle With You” by Stealers Wheel which is prominently featured during a particularly graphic scene in his 1992 hit Reservoir Dogs. And if you’re a middle school teacher in New York City (or anywhere else for that matter) , some of those lyrics may resonate with you for other reasons.
When you tell someone you’re a teacher, there are a lot of different reactions you can get in response. Some may applaud you or tell you that they sympathize with you for being so overworked and underpaid. Others may think you have it too easy; after all, you’re done by 3 o’clock and you have summers off! What’s there to complain about? And sadly, there are even those who may think you are part of some grand conspiracy to indoctrinate their children into becoming America-hating socialists (at least according to some of the nonsense I see on my Facebook feed). But tell someone that you’re a middle school teacher and the reaction is a bit different. They just think you’re crazy. Even other teachers think middle school teachers are crazy. In many ways, they’re probably right.
Teaching at any level is a tough job, but I feel that good, bad, or indifferent, we don’t hear enough about or from our middle schools, so I wanted to use this space to address some of the key issues that our middle school members deal with on a daily basis. Despite my own two plus decades of middle school experience , I didn’t want to base this solely on my own ideas and perceptions. In preparation for writing this piece, I reached out and spoke to other middle school teachers I know in other schools and other districts. I shared a Google document with the members at my school and others that I know to allow them to share what concerned them the most. I want to stress that this piece is not intended to say that middle school teachers have it harder than our colleagues in elementary or high schools; we all have our own unique set of challenges. As a matter of fact, I am quite sure that there are many issues that are raised here that are not unique to middle schools at all: problems that teachers of all levels can relate to. The purpose of this piece is simply to shine a light on some of the bigger issues that middle school teachers are concerned with and to offer some suggestions on what we, as a union, can do to help address some of these problems. I hope and fully expect that at least some of this will resonate with teachers from all levels. What follows is not a complete list of grievances, but a basic look into the thoughts and concerns of a typical middle school teacher in the New York City Public School system. Buckle up.
Middle Child Syndrome
Not unlike the proverbial middle child (think Jan Brady), those who work in middle schools often feel like we are the forgotten child in this public school system. Think about it: on the first day of school, you’ll see a ton of coverage in the local media. Most of it focuses on our youngest students arriving wide-eyed at their elementary schools to meet their teachers and classmates for the first time. In similar fashion, at the end of the year, we see the other end of this long process as we celebrate our high school graduates who are saying goodbye to their schools as they prepare to embark on their next chapter. In both situations, we are sure to see some of the higher ups in the DOE or the UFT showing their faces, and there will always be some local politicians dropping by for a photo op with that cute little six-year old with the pig-tails or that kid from the Bronx who is Harvard bound. Meanwhile, the middle schools get lost somewhere in the shuffle. The middle of the process is not always as newsworthy. Not always as pretty. And not always as visible.
I have taught at the middle school level for my entire 23+ year career. As a teacher, that's all I know. I often say that what I do can simultaneously be the best and the worst job you could imagine. Middle school kids are a special breed. Mix together some Axe body spray, a bag of Takis, raging hormones, and total confusion and you start to get a glimpse of what a lot of middle school kids are all about. Now that’s a bit of a tongue-in-cheek generalization. We have some fantastic young people in all of our schools, but the reality is, middle schoolers are in a transition phase. No longer caterpillars, not quite butterflies, our kids are just starting to form into the people they will eventually become, and that comes with a host of unique challenges.
As middle school teachers, we often feel the pressure of being charged with getting children who may still be in an elementary school mindset (and ability level) to meet high school expectations. Middle school students don’t always have the wide-eyed innocence or eagerness to learn new things that they may have had in elementary school, nor have they reached the maturity level or focus that is expected of those in high school. This “awkward stage” can be quite demanding for those of us tasked with educating them. Many of the more “babyish” misbehaviors that occur in elementary schools are still common here. On top of that, we also deal with kids who are struggling with some of the real-world teenage problems that are more typical in high school, so we may be dealing with one kid complaining that “He took my Pokemon card!” while another is nursing a broken heart— in the same class.
Misbehavior is an issue in many schools across all levels, and middle schools are definitely no exception. To make matters worse, many teachers share similar frustrations over the lack of any real consequences for that misbehavior. A kid can bully a classmate, curse out a teacher, or engage in some other type of dangerous or disruptive behavior, and the repercussions for such actions often seem to be near non-existent. What can we do? To start, I think that we can take a closer look at the number of deans positions at the middle school level. Currently, a school with 1,000 students is only permitted to have two deans. 500 to 1 is an extremely difficult ratio. Most middle schools probably have a half dozen kids that could keep two deans busy all day long. Increasing the number of deans positions could definitely serve to help alleviate some of these issues. In addition to deans, we also need more school counselors available to our middle schoolers. The early teen years are often a time of crisis for our young people. As a union, we should be advocating to increase the ranks of our counselors. Not only would this benefit the well-being and mental health of the students we serve, it also would help to lighten the loads of our current school counselors who are often over-burdened and spread thin.
While the tween years can no doubt be a tough age group to handle, the stresses that weigh most heavily on most middle school teachers and other professionals do not come exclusively from the kids. Not by a long shot. In my discussions and interactions with my middle school colleagues, the issues most often cited were the ones that involve the work that we are expected to do as educators day in and day out, and the feelings of being undervalued, over scheduled and often unheard.
Lack of Autonomy
As middle school teachers, most of us are masters of one particular subject area. Whether you are teaching Math, Science, or History, a passion for that particular content area is most likely what guided you into this profession. And it can be quite gratifying (and beneficial to students) when teachers get to share that passion. Unfortunately, many middle school teachers have expressed a great deal of frustration at having their enthusiasm and creativity stifled by being forced to follow a mandated cookie cutter curriculum. Many of the educators that I spoke with feel a sense of being disrespected and undervalued by being forced to work from a script or by having all of their curriculum choices made for them. A master teacher is akin to an artist or a performer. Many of us have spent years crafting, revising, and perfecting lessons and units that we know can help our kids, but suddenly we are being turned into pre-programmed robots who must all follow the bouncing ball in lock-step. Fidelity is the new “F-word”.
I recently shared this analogy with my principal when discussing the frustrations of our ELA department with the rigidness of the mandated HMH curriculum:
Imagine that you’re in Hall & Oates (He’s a Hall & Oates fan; you have to know your audience, but feel free to insert the band of your choice here). You’ve spent decades crafting your songs and perfecting your live show. You’re killing it every night and your fans love it. Suddenly, someone steps in and tells you that you can’t play your hits anymore. You’re no longer Hall & Oates! You’re now a Nickleback cover band. In fact EVERY band is a Nickelback cover band. Nickelback. Every day! Everywhere! For Everyone!
He had a laugh and he appreciated the analogy. He got my point, but we are still expected to follow a pacing calendar and (literally) be on the same page as our grade partners. I can’t go for that.
A colleague at another school had shared with me the frustrations of the Math department at his school, who despite having helped their students earn some of the best test scores in the district on the state exam, were being forced to switch to some new, unproven mandated curriculum. Pardon the pun, but that doesn’t add up.
What happened to teacher autonomy? Why aren’t we fighting this? And even if that battle is lost and we are forced to go with district-wide or city-wide mandated curriculums, why is actual teacher input not even sought to determine which curriculums are best for our kids? Where is our union leadership on this issue? Rather than pushing back on these mandates, they are endorsing them. While some of us may exist in a place where you can simply block all of the nonsense out and just close your door and teach, that is not everyone’s reality. This is why teacher autonomy needs to be prioritized. As a union, we need to fight to make sure that our members are treated as the professionals that they are and are given the proper freedom to make instructional decisions for their classrooms.
The Training Disconnect
Another issue that was raised by many of the colleagues that I spoke with from various schools was the feeling that we are not provided with adequate training or professional development for all of the things that are expected of us as middle school teachers. From the aforementioned new curriculum mandates to a focus on social emotional learning, to working with online platforms like I-Ready, there always seems to be some new initiative that we are pressured to implement, but rarely is the proper training for these things provided. And while it is often stressed to us the importance of differentiating the material for the wide array of learning styles of our students, ironically, most teachers report that the professional development that they do receive is of the one size fits all variety, so a first year Phys Ed teacher, a self-contained Math teacher, and someone with 30 years experience who teaches Regents level Earth Science are all sitting through the same PD sessions, doing the same things at the same pace. Do as I say, not as I do. As one of my colleagues wrote:
“We need training that is more applicable to our jobs as teachers and paras -– things we can use on a daily basis to improve the environment of our classrooms and our rapport with our students. “
I feel that this is something that should be addressed more clearly in our next contract. Teachers need to have more of a say in the training they receive, and there should be more options available to address the diverse needs of the staff. In addition, perhaps it could be negotiated to provide opportunities for teachers to be allotted a certain number of days per year to attend outside professional development sessions that are suitable to their own individual needs as educators— trainings that are specifically relevant to the subject areas and student populations that they teach. This would not only benefit our members, but also the students that we serve. It’s a win-win situation.
More Teachers, More Problems?
Most middle school teachers often find themselves in co-teaching situations. This in itself is not a problem. Many of us truly enjoy being a part of a “dream team” or “dynamic duo”, but being part of a tandem or a trio often comes with added work, but usually not the added time to do it. Depending on the size and make up of the school, some ENL and ICT teachers may have to share classes with 3 or 4 different content teachers and usually have little time allotted to plan together. Making matters worse, many teachers report that the limited “common planning” time that is scheduled into their program is often micromanaged by the administration, and they spend the bulk of that time analyzing data to meet some district initiative rather than spending it planning actual lessons to benefit their students. Again, I think this is an issue that our union could take more action on. We need stronger contract language regarding the number of different preps that teachers can be assigned. We need to clearly define what terms like “common planning” actually mean and not leave it open to interpretation. In fact, common planning is something that should be in every teacher’s schedule. Whether we are teaching ICT classes, classes with a mix of Gen Ed. and ENL students, or even just trying to navigate the curriculum with our grade and department members, time to work together (and to do so as we see fit) is crucial to being part of a successful teaching team. This is another issue that I feel must be addressed in our next contract.
Final Thoughts
I have been an ELA teacher for nearly 24 years and a chapter leader for the past 13. As you could probably infer from the salt and pepper beard (I know; it’s mostly salt) in the headshot that accompanies this post, and the fact that I’ve made references to Reservoir Dogs, Jan Brady, and Hall & Oates, my career is quite a bit closer to the end than it is to the beginning.
So why bother running in a UFT election at this point? Simply put, I am concerned about the future of this union. I see what our newer members are dealing with. Tier VI is a disaster. The thought of being a twenty-something, just starting out and having to serve 40 years before retiring is, for lack of a better word, unthinkable. I see what our retirees have been struggling with in trying to fight against their own union, a union that they helped build, to preserve the healthcare they were promised. And I see how this job has changed over my own two plus decades of service: longer hours, more mandates, less respect, lower standards, higher co-pays, and raises that don’t keep up with the cost of living.
I am seeking a position on the UFT Middle School Executive Board so that I can be an advocate for those who often feel stuck in the middle.
I am running with A Better Contract because I believe that we need a union that is truly member-driven. Amy Arundell is a leader that actually listens to members and values their input, a leader that is ready to fight for what we deserve rather than telling us to be grateful for what we have, and most importantly, a leader that will help harness the collective power that we have within our ranks and help us to be the union we have the potential to be.