I've been teaching since 1973,when the Vietnam war was still going on.My first school was on Fordham Rd. in the Bronx with a population of 5,000.The very first day, I realized schools shouldn't be this big..small is better.I guess I was ahead of the curve regarding Charter schools.That school was once 50% Italian and 50% Black and Hispanic.Fighting was frequent with an assortment of bats and knives according to my mother.When I got there(she got me the job),the ratio was 5% white and 95% Black and Hispanic.I taught reading and eventually English for two years until the city laid off a large number of teachers.The school was fine(not very violent)and I enjoyed my stay.
I got rehired in a few months and landed at a new alternative school on West 93rd in Manhattan.This was one of the first alternative schools in the country. N.Y. had about eight of these schools around the city in the late seventies.I also believe it was a precursor for the "Harvey Milk School"in San Fran. for gay students who were being attacked in the large custodial schools around the city.It was the best education community I ever worked for.We had advisor groups and even taught Marxism as an elective.I witnessed the first rap poets there before they hit the airwaves.John Lennon lived in the neighborhood.I was even the "commissioner" of an integrated(men and women) alternative H.S. softball league.We played in numerous parks all around the city.
In 1982,I found a cabin to live in near Woodstock,N.Y.I wanted to move to the country with my wife and daughters and be close to a town that was an extension of Greenwich Village(art and music).Woodstock fit that bill and the move landed me at a small rural school in Columbia Co.I remember the school was surrounded by fields of corn and cows.It seemed like heaven for a city boy.But, unfortunately,I ran into major culture shock.I not only was an outsider but the rules and regulations of their system reminded me of my Catholic elementary days in the city.Discrimination was rampant and my time there lasted only two years.Luckily,I knew a administrator at a local BOCES that offered me a job to start an alternative school for Columbia andGreene Co.I started that school from scratch and eventually helped graduate more than a thousand students who were at-risk of dropping out.I've been a teacher with this organization since 1984.
Over my career,each year seems a get a little more complicated and full of committees,agendas and goals.For me,teaching has always been simple and about relating to people.You have to listen and make each individual believe they have your complete focus.It isn't always a simple task but it is one of the keys to good teaching.Another key is to accept the reality that is before you.Each day is different and one must be open to constant change.Eastern thought teaches one must avoid duality.This means, don't have a set view on what is good and attach value to any given situation.Both good and bad days should be thought of as one and the same.I have loved teaching at times because I enjoy people...I didn't learn that from my Masters in Ed.Psychology but from the projects in the Bronx.
No comments:
Post a Comment