“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 in math and
science. Four different types of tests are given ranging from time tests with
eighty questions in ten minutes to the more complex tests when calculators can
be used. Trophies and recognition go to the forty to fifty students in the
Math and Science team. At the early April statewide competition, J L Long
comes in at the top two or three positions every year. Dean of Instruction,
Dr. Wade admits that they have an advantage. “We have an outstanding faculty
who are committed to doing something different. Armelia King was asking higher
order thinking questions before high order thinking was in vogue. And
Sharon Morgan won’t tolerate mediocrity.”
“We insist on not plodding along,” says Morgan. “The kids know that we are
willing to give up our time for them. They know we don’t get paid for those
Saturdays we spend at competitions but we are doing it for them.” J L Long
also has the advantage that Principal Yolanda Gonzalez allows student to an
extra math and science elective. And Science Department Head Paul Daniel has
led them to a more hands-on approach. “They have a more inquiry mode,
doing science rather than reading about it,” says Wade. In fact, they opted
not to have a textbook but to use the computer system and measurement
instruments in Science 2000. Since most science texts are out of date by the
time they have been approved for student use, this allows a more ‘process
oriented’ approach.
Twenty-four of Armelia King’s thirty years of teaching have been at J L Long
but it wasn’t until the mid-nineties that she was introduced to the Texas Math
and Science Coaches Association. “One of the science teachers from Franklin
asked why he hadn’t seen me at the competitions and I told him it was because
I had never heard of them. He sent me the information and I got Sharon Morgan
in on it. When we showed up, Miss Scott from Franklin said we couldn’t
qualify because her kids practice all year. We had three students qualify for
state and one of those boys won second place in state that year!” King
asserts. Although every DISD school can participate, Franklin and Spence
Academy are the only ones joining JL Long. “It is extra work but we do
it because we love it. We have a busload of kids at six am on a Saturday
morning. There is nothing like it. People expect us to win. They know
about us! We are talking about an inner city school and we are competing with
suburban schools. And we win,” she says.
Given her background as a volleyball, basketball and softball coach it isn’t
too surprising that King enjoys the competition. She was coaching from the
second day of school in the fall to the last week of the spring semester when
she began her teaching career. “I was so excited to find the Texas Math and
Science Coaches Association after I had given up the athletic coaching,” King
admits. She has put her experiences into a recently published book, “Teacher
of the Year” that is remarkably enough about a science teacher who is also a
coach. “You can request it at Barnes and Noble but if you call me at Long,
I’ll get it for you wholesale,” she says with a wink. Even though she is
planning her retirement, she won’t be leaving J L Long. “I will retire from
the classroom but I will continue to coach the Math and Science,” King says
with determination.
With nearly four million children in the Texas public schools, the system
comes under a lot of scrutiny. The institution of academic testing has led
to an improvement of provable scores and yet, no one feels that the schools
are doing a good enough job. “Our communities sell the public schools short,”
says Wade. But he agrees with Morgan, “All our kids are gifted. We just have
to bring out the natural gift in them.”
