Three...two...one...

I am very nervous about beginning teaching this Fall. I was hired to teach English at Maya Angelou Public Charter School, a predominantly black school at which I did my student teaching and which bills itself as a "second chance" school for children with behavioral problems--although in a more official capacity, most administrators will tell you that it is a setting designed for children who "have a hard time functioning in a normal high school environment."

http://www.seeforever.org/

As I mentioned, I did my student teaching there for my certification, which is the main reason I took the job there, although not implicitly. It was really the kids. I think my rationale is illuminated by a quote from AS, one of the students in my 9th grade class. I was given a large posterboard folded in half like a card. One side said "Thank you Mister A!" On the inside, all of the students signed it, and some of them wrote short expressions of appreciation, not unlike a yearbook. AS wrote, "Thank you for all your help. You helped me alot even when I was playing and joning I appreciate what you did thank you. I hope you get that job here! your friend AS"

AS was one of the kids who did the most to make my job difficult. I was constantly after him to do his work, to not disturb his neighbors, to quiet down, etc. Not a week went by that I didn't have to pull him out of the room for a private conference, and not a day went by that I didn't have to remind him at least five times to stay on task. He usually waited until the very last minute to turn in his assignments, and as a result was frequently behind in his work. Quite frankly, I thought he hated me, especially considering the look on his face when I pulled him outside the classroom door.

AS is quite obviously ADHD. He can't sit still...at all. Neither can JS, the student I tutor who was kicked out of school for threatening a teacher. However, when I mentioned it to an administrator, I was told "not to tell the parents, the school has to pay for testing if someone from our end recognizes it as opposed to the parent."

Strangely enough, if these are reasons that would typically make someone leave, they turned out to be the ones that made me stay.

I mentioned my certification track, and my intention with this blog is to unobjectively document my triumphs, obstacles, and failures. I went to the University of the District of Columbia for my undergraduate degree in English, and since it was affordable and convenient, I also did my coursework towards certification there. The difference between the two experiences are polar opposites. Undergrad was great, but I have yet to receive a grade for my student teaching because while the education department insists that the English department is responsible for my grade, the head of the English department is firm in his belief that the education department is responsible for my grade. Its been going back and forth since the end of the school year, and I have been instructed by the chair of the education department to write to the dean. Fun stuff!

I know this entry has been a bit tedious and not as interesting as it could be, but its purpose was to provide some background and a bit of a reference point on which I may build. Trust me, it gets better...