Right after I received my teaching credential, I had the opportunity to commit to a long-term "sub" position at a low-performing school in the middle of town. The teacher had come to know me as I completed my final student teaching on the campus just a few doors down from where she taught.
Oh.
My.
Good-NESS!
My credential classes had not prepared me for this undertaking.
Those classes, as important as they had been, were like the misleading videos I had seen during my Lamaze classes: There was the expectant mother in labor glistening, relaxing, speaking calmly, breathing: hee hee hoo, hee hee hoo.
Hair perfect.
Make-up perfect.
When I was at the peak of labor, it was all I could do not to spew curses and obscenities at the doctor and family members, while my bloated face raged red, and all Lamaze training went out the window as I found myself nearly hyperventilating as I went through the unnatural breathing exercises.
Heterogenous class?
I could handle that.
I had done that.
I had seen that
This classroom full of students was something else!
One of my sixth grade boys was nearly six feet tall and was medicated for aggression and hyperactivity (I dealt with this directly when he began kicking his desk across the room, and I had to dodge it in order to make an emergency call to the office. [ Calm voice] "Um. Hello. This is Mrs. Cregor. Yes, uh, I have a student who is...kicking a desk across the room. I am afraid he is going to injure someone. Could you send some help, please?". Another boy had suffered a stroke in third grade, due to a rare blood disorder, and was just relearning to read, write, and walk. Yet another boy was autistic and low performing ( he used to scratch his scalp incessantly and relished in mixing the fallen follicles with the dandruff on his papers). A legally blind girl sat in the front of the class, along with her enormous stack of large print books. Two boys were reading and writing at a kindergarten level. In addition to this, I had several English Language Learners. Some spoke Hmong, but most were native Spanish speakers. And to top it all off...this class had the G.A.T.E. ( Gifted and Talented Education) cluster of students along with children whose parents were active drug users, gang members, wife and child abusers, and alcoholics.
Despite all of this, it was my job to "prepare them for the standardized test" at the end of the year because the school was in "program improvement" and high scores were expected.
Gulp.
How did I manage?
I followed the classroom teacher's advice and lesson outlines the best I knew how and prayed.
I prayed a lot. And, I thought about my colleague in public education. She was amazing to me. When I walked into that class, I would never have known these students were so...diverse...so...challenging. She was so absolutely incredible in regards to them, but if the state were simply to look at her scores, they might not have been as impressed as I was. To the state, she would not have been good enough. She would not have been seen as doing enough. And yet, those students responded to her. They wanted to learn from her.
What makes a good teacher?
What factors promote learning?
What makes a child want to learn anything, much less unentertaining information like graphing linear equations and using correct punctuation?
Does science know?... No.
Can philanthropists tell us? ...Not happening.
Do politicians or bureaucrats know?... Definitely not.
The people who have any inkling of a clue are educators.
As a teacher, there have been moments which have occurred in my class with students (individuals and whole groups), where a bit of pure inspiration has taken place.
During these fleeting seconds, the room seems to be infused with a type of light.
Not a visible light.
No.
It's more like an unseen element which permeates not only into the mind(s) [the intellect], but into the heart(s) [emotion/passion and motivation] of my student(s).
When this has happened, I know without a doubt, a seed of truth and knowledge has been planted, and I know learning has come to pass.
Not learning for a grade.
Not learning for a standardized test.
Learning for life.
Learning for the betterment of that child or those children.
Anne Sullivan, the teacher of the blind and deaf Helen Keller, said of the day Helen finally understood the hand signs she had so desperately tried to teach her for communication:
"My heart is singing for joy this morning! A miracle has happened! The light of understanding has shone upon my little pupil's mind, and behold, all things are changed!"
Sweet diligent Anne! She has been called the "miracle worker" for the brilliant way she "differentiated instruction" for Helen.
One child.
She taught one child with full support from the pupil's parents, and she is lauded as a miracle worker, and deservedly so.
This makes me think about teachers who are working in classrooms such as the sixth grade class my colleague not only survived in by taught in.
If Anne was a miracle worker, then teachers like this sixth grade teacher should be hailed as nothing other than Messianic!
But...they are not.
Instead, they are told they do not care enough, do not work hard enough, do not teach correctly, etc.
Movies have been made which have perpetuated these mistruths. You may have heard of one.
But I say, when there are so many "miracle workers" amongst our public school students, who needs super heroes? What good can they do for children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, we are trying to teach?
Let's see Superman can fly. He could get children to school on time, but he would have to do it one at a time, unless he carried a bus or two. Then there is his problem with kryptonite. Children can be incredibly savvy about finding a teacher's weakness. I think Superman wouldn't last a week in a classroom, but Clark Kent might make a good journalism teacher.
Wonder Woman would have to cover up before entering a classroom. Exposing cleavage would only go so far to keep the attention of a classroom full of students. And if they were first graders, it would not help at all. Those bullet ricocheting cuffs might aid her in some inner city schools, though I do not know how she would handle being thrown out a two story window ( it's happened). The Lasso of Truth would come in handy if a child said a dog ate their homework. Besides that, I do not think there is enough compassion in her 22 inch-waisted-torso to help a child overcome inner turmoil and self doubt.
Spiderman? If kindergarteners cry when their parents leave them with a smiling matronly figure, I am sure "Spidey" would have a difficult time talking children into staying with him.
Batman? Certainly not. He's much too morose and introverted. Maybe he could teach Poe to Honors English students.
But if super heroes are those who " help protect the safety of humanity or the universe by combating evil forces which stand in the way or outright attack what is good", then teachers need to hone in their "inner powers" in order to protect their profession from becoming the ultimate super scapegoat for the convenience of the powers-that-be who are obviously suffering from a host of ill-informed ulterior motives.
What kids need are humane teachers.
If I were to list the greatest teachers of all time, I would start with this list: Jesus, Buddha, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa. The one element I believe which would bind them all would be love.
There I said it.
A teacher must love their students ( disciple, followers,supporters) and a have a sincere love for the content they are teaching.
Love compels.
Love heals.
Love inspires.
Love teaches.
Anne Sullivan had it right: "Children require guidance and sympathy far more than instruction."
This is especially true for children from disenfranchised groups. They have so many issues which need to be administered to which are beyond grade level curriculum. Touching these students' hearts must take place before they will ever allow academics to enter into their brains, especially in the superficial irrelevant manner in which it is being doled out in public schools today, in the name of "fidelity to the program" and "test scores for accountability".
Reaching every student is possible!
But not in the new standardized, irrelevant content and curriculum, stay-on-pace, teetering-on-zero humanity world of public education which is being created before our eyes.
Miracle workers are being supplanted by workers: Teachers who work for a check; teachers who read their scripts, do not ask questions, administer their benchmark and standardized tests, do not deviate from the pacing calendar, stay emotionally and intellectually uncommitted to their students, and go home at the end of the day. Period.
I certainly would like to borrow some of Wonder Woman's gadgets. I would use her crown to chase down some ignorant politicians, lobbyists, and bureaucrats. They would then be gathered within my Lasso of Truth until they admitted their wrongs, and then I would fly away in her invisible jet to the Land of Sanity!
Miracle workers are being supplanted by workers: Teachers who work for a check; teachers who read their scripts, do not ask questions, administer their benchmark and standardized tests, do not deviate from the pacing calendar, stay emotionally and intellectually uncommitted to their students, and go home at the end of the day. Period.
I certainly would like to borrow some of Wonder Woman's gadgets. I would use her crown to chase down some ignorant politicians, lobbyists, and bureaucrats. They would then be gathered within my Lasso of Truth until they admitted their wrongs, and then I would fly away in her invisible jet to the Land of Sanity!
