Proving People Wrong

Whites Creek has a reputation, or five. To start off with, the school was 'Fresh Started' this year. Which means all teachers were handed a pink slip on the last day of school in the spring. Thew new principal only hired back the ones he believed could prove people wrong.

Crips and Bloods are big at our school. My air conditioner told me so (in permanent marker--you better believe that's the only way I know how to spell 'Crips' insteand of 'Crypts')...along with everyone else in Nashville to whom you mention that's where you are teaching.

The average ACT score for our school this past year was a 16. For those unfamiliar with the ACT, the average for admitted students to University of Tennessee is a 23, the average at Vanderbilt is a 30. Our kids didn't have a chance.

But somehow, I think we are going to prove people wrong. Mr. Lang, our principal, has vision. He wants to turn this school around and he seems to really know what it takes to get there. The 50 odd faculty members, both veteran and brand new seem to have so much energy and enthusiasm, as well as a ton of ideas about how to make this school better than it has ever been.

Already students and parents have come into the school and noticed changes. It's cleaner, more open, more well groomed. Lockers are moving, libraries are moving digital, and Mr. Lang wants to build an internet cafe. Not too shabby.

Not that hitting rock bottom is really a good thing. But maybe it took that to shake the school and bring it back. We have so much opportunity here to make a difference. I certainly picked the right school in which to make a difference--not that I picked it at all, I was put there, but every day I'm there (so far anyway) I am glad about it.

I hope this continues when the kids come. I hope the palpable excitement and optimism in the faculty translates to the students fully understanding, and eventually realizing their potential.

For my part, my classroom is fully decked out in Cobra red and blue, my rewards system is almost in order, and I plan to be a hard ass for at least the first 2 weeks. I can't even imagine how far from my plan my classroom management and lessons will stray, or how many times I will need to call for help from the experienced teachers down the hall.

For now, however, I am optimistic that this is, in fact, Whites Creek High School's year to shine, that this is when we turn it around, and facing adversity never meant so much to me, to my students, and to everyone in the building.