“We refuse to lower the standards. You just have to figure out a way to keep
the standards high,”says Sharon Morgan, a veteran teacher with thirty-four
years in teaching andtwenty-four of those at J L Long Middle School. While
other teachers give up, give in or give out, she has keptthe Mathematics
students held to a higher standard and given them something toaim for.
Built in 1933, J L Long had a diverse population, evenbefore desegregation.
The currentstudent body is 60% Hispanic, 20% Anglo, 14% African-American and
6% Asian andNative American. Coming from fiveelementary schools in the inner
city, the students and their parents could beviewed as an obstacle but Wade
finds the atmosphere to be empowering toeveryone. “Every time I call a
parent,they are real receptive. We findtranslators when we have to and all
of the teachers are willing to talk toparents about anything,” Wade says.
Eighteen Saturdays a year, the students of Sharon Morgan andArmelia King
compete against other seventh and eighth graders around Texas inmath and
science. Four different typesof tests are given ranging from time tests with
eighty questions in ten minutesto the more complex tests when calculators can
be used. Trophies and recognition go to the forty tofifty students in the
Math and Science team. At the early April statewide competition, J L Long
comes in at the toptwo or three positions every year. Deanof Instruction,
Dr. Wade admits that they have an advantage. “We have an outstanding faculty
who arecommitted to doing something different. Armelia King was asking higher
order thinking questions before highorder thinking was in vogue. And
SharonMorgan won’t tolerate mediocrity.”
“We insist on not plodding along,” says Morgan. “The kids know that we are
willing to giveup our time for them. They know wedon’t get paid for those
Saturdays we spend at competitions but we are doing itfor them.” J L Long
also has theadvantage that Principal Yolanda Gonzalez allows student to an
extra math andscience elective. And ScienceDepartment Head Paul Daniel has
led them to a more hands-on approach. “They have a more inquiry mode,
doingscience rather than reading about it,” says Wade. In fact, they opted
not tohave a textbook but to use the computer system and measurement
instruments inScience 2000. Since most science textsare out of date by the
time they have been approved for student use, thisallows a more ‘process
oriented’ approach.
Twenty-four of Armelia King’s thirty years of teaching havebeen at J L Long
but it wasn’t until the mid-nineties that she was introducedto the Texas Math
and Science Coaches Association. “One of the science teachers from Franklin
asked why he hadn’tseen me at the competitions and I told him it was because
I had never heard ofthem. He sent me the information and Igot Sharon Morgan
in on it. When weshowed up, Miss Scott from Franklin said we couldn’t
qualify because her kidspractice all year. We had three studentsqualify for
state and one of those boys won second place in state that year!”King
asserts. Although every DISDschool can participate, Franklin and Spence
Academy are the only ones joining JL Long. “It is extra work but we do
itbecause we love it. We have a busloadof kids at six am on a Saturday
morning. There is nothing like it. Peopleexpect us to win. They know
aboutus! We are talking about an inner cityschool and we are competing with
suburban schools. And we win,” she says.
Given her background as a volleyball, basketball andsoftball coach it isn’t
too surprising that King enjoys the competition. She was coaching from the
second day ofschool in the fall to the last week of the spring semester when
she began herteaching career. “I was so excited tofind the Texas Math and
Science Coaches Association after I had given up theathletic coaching,” King
admits. Shehas put her experiences into a recently published book, “Teacher
of the Year” thatis remarkably enough about a science teacher who is also a
coach. “You can request it at Barnes and Noble butif you call me at Long,
I’ll get it for you wholesale,” she says with awink. Even though she is
planning herretirement, she won’t be leaving J L Long. “I will retire from
the classroom but I will continue to coach the Mathand Science,” King says
with determination.
With nearly four million children in the Texas publicschools, the system
comes under a lot of scrutiny. The institution of academic testing has led
to an improvement ofprovable scores and yet, no one feels that the schools
are doing a good enoughjob. “Our communities sell the publicschools short,”
says Wade. But he agrees with Morgan, “All our kids are gifted. We just have
to bring out the natural giftin them.”
