Okay, folks, this is it until the book is ready. Enjoy! Working Title/Subtitle: My Final 40 Days In a Public School Classroom (And Why I Walked From the Failing System) Preface: True commitment to any cause, nurturing a life-long career, and sticking to your core values takes work. Loads of work which involve sacrifices. Sacrifices like giving up time spent with loved ones while you focus on career advancement, or sleepless nights and grueling days as you work tirelessly fighting for a cause you believe in with all of your heart and soul. This is the daily life of a quality teacher. Most work days begin before the sun rises, and they end well after the sun has set. After the work day “ends,” there are papers that must be graded, parents that must be called, students to answer on email because they are confused about the assigned homework, and lesson plans that must be prepared for the next day. Teachers don’t leave the “work” at work, because there’s never enough time in the school day to do all that is required. In fact, those teachers who are able to eat lunch and use the restroom during the school day, are the lucky few. I began my teaching career, straight out of college, at the age of 21. My first teaching job was in a second grade classroom located in a small town outside of Concord, North Carolina. I thought I wanted to teach the little ones, early in my career, but I learned rather quickly that my personality was much better suited to middle school students. After a few years in the elementary classroom, I made my transition to middle school, where I remained for the next twelve years. Throughout my years as a middle school teacher, I taught Social Studies and ELA (English Language Arts). I took students to the Grand Canyon, Canada, London, Paris, and Rome, and taught them firsthand how rewarding it is to learn while traveling. It was important for me to show them that learning doesnt just happen when sitting in a classroom. I coached sports teams, served as grade team leader, curriculum chair, student teaching supervisor, mentor to new teachers, and began many programs and clubs in the various schools I served between North Carolina and New York City. During the tenth year of my teaching career, I was ready for the adventure of city life. I began teaching in New York City, after meeting my husband, a Brooklynite. My first job in the city was in Spanish Harlem. There were days I wondered if I would make it from the school to the train station alive. But I fell in love with my inner city students, their strengths, their struggles, and especially their tips on how to survive life in the city. The last four years of my teaching career were spent in an excellent school on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. We arrived early, stayed late, gave up our lunch hours and provided endless support to not only the students, but to one another. I had never taught with a more dedicated staff in my life! The students were also some of the most kindhearted and intelligent I had the honor of teaching. If you have read thoroughly up until this point, you might be wondering why I left the world of public education, as everything you have read so far seems pretty pleasant. Unfortunately, like many aspects of life, things might seem perfect on the surface, or to those who are looking in at the situation from the outside. The truth of the matter is that our public education system is severely broken. It is governed by politicians who have no idea what goes on in a typical classroom. Standardized testing now accounts for close to one-fourth, if not more, of the 180 instructional days which comprise the school year. Teachers are working longer hours than ever, yet are losing their retirement pensions, their benefits, and opportunity for pay increases. Thirty minute lunch hours (at best), evaluations using rubrics where the opportunity to obtain the highest ratings will most likely never happen, and legislative changes and “education reform” movements that must be adhered to with each new election on both local and federal levels were just some of the work conditions I faced day in and day out that simply would not be tolerated by any other profession. The biggest issue of all, my why for writing this book, is that the teachers in the trenches who truly want to make a difference in education, are not at liberty to do so, at least while employed. Teachers who take a strong stance on issues are labeled as troublemakers. Superb teachers, those with true leadership ability and strong voices which posses the ability to rally the teaching troops, are a double threat to the already failing system. After fifteen years as a teacher in the public school system, I found myself faced with two choices. The first was to continue teaching, knowing that my spirit was dying a little each day, right along with the failing public school system. The second choice was to leave the public education system, so that I could begin speaking freely about education reform and how to change the system, ensuring better circumstances for everyone involved. I took the path less traveled. This is my story of what transpired in the final forty days as a public school teacher - the good, the bad, and the utterly inexplicable.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 01:01:17 +0000
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