Entry #24: We need to recruit teachers
from inside our own school communities

We had a Town Meeting at our school on Thursday night. Our new mayor, John Street, was the guest of honor and public education was his focus. The auditorium was packed with parents, teachers and students.

Everyone was anxious to hear what our new mayor was going to say about the schools. Some people came with specific problems about their individual child or school, but most were interested in hearing his overall perspective.

Our contract is up this summer, so lots of teachers came out to hear his views. We are all worried. As usual, rumors are flying and the reality is that we don't have enough money to fund our programs. We are woefully underpaid already and there's a teacher shortage so we have just cause for our anxiety.

On top of this, we hear that they might offer another early retirement package this year. These packages offer experienced teachers and administrators incentives to leave earlier than they normally would. It saves the District money, but it costs the schools and our children enormously.

If you add the early retirees to all those who are planning to leave anyway, the net effect is a huge disruption. We haven't recovered from last year's exodus yet. Many schools have longterm subs and apprentice teachers filling positions. Who will fill the next wave of openings?

I asked the mayor to look into incentives for parents who might be interested in returning to school to become teachers in our communities. I think we need to tap into this resource. While I have nothing against our hiring of young people who are willing to teach in our urban schools, there are not enough of them, and many don't last. To be honest, I don't know how I would have fared if I'd entered a classroom in my twenties.

Teaching is the hardest job I have ever had, and I've had quite a few. It's harder than packing cookies on an assembly line at Keeblers and harder than waitressing or cleaning hospital rooms. It's harder because it's never done and it's never done well enough.

It's the caring that gets you. Caring about the kids will keep you here, but it is also draining.

The caring isn't something you learn in college classes and it can't be bought by offers of signing bonuses, either. The kind of caring that keeps you coming back can be learned or maybe grown, it's not mystical or something you either do or don't have, but I don't think it can be bought.

If you come in because you want to be appreciated for doing good deeds, look out... Teaching causes self doubt, and teaching middle school kids magnifies those doubts in a very big way.

Adolescents are on an emotional roller coaster and can be very moody. It's not their fault, it's normal. Being a middle school teacher is exhilirating, but sometimes difficult, especially if you take the kids' mood swings personally.

If you add the problems inherent in an underfunded, urban system to the peaks and valleys of adolescent mood swings, you can get a pretty potent mix. Add a dash of teacher bashing in the press, stir in a few more reports about real and imagined escalating school violence, and you get our current crisis.

I'm not advocating an either-or-approach to teacher recruitment. We need new teachers, fresh out of college, but we need folks right out of our communities, too. We need parents who already understand what our children are facing on the streets and in their homes.

If the only time you enter the city is to drive to your school, it shows. I've had student teachers who have never ridden public transportation in their lives. It's not a criticism, it's their reality, and it makes it harder for them to understand the reality of our students' lives.

I've been in conversations with teachers who have never been in a fight in their lives. They're shocked that a parent would tell their child to fight back. They act like the parents are brutes. We have a peer mediation program in place, but we haven't had much success getting the word out into the community.

While, I understand the heightened danger of advocating fighting in today's world (and I've even come to understand the futility of fighting), I fought when I needed to as a kid. Saving face was important, and my parents taught me to fight back. Just telling kids to be nice doesn't cut it. Looking at them or their parents as alien, violent beings doesn't work either.

Sparking parent interest in teaching and volunteering

So how do we get parents interested in more active roles in our schools? How do we get our local officials to push for special tuition reimbursement programs for parents who want to teach? I'm not sure of all the answers, but I think I have some initial steps we can take.

I started teaching a computer class for parents yesterday. Ten people attended and we met for two hours. The parents were really enthusiastic and everyone asked their questions without hesitation.
The class was free and we will meet again next Saturday. The parents have already asked for more sessions.

I'm thinking that we should meet about twice a month and that we should ask the parents to volunteer in our tech classes as tutors, if they're available. Getting the parents into our classrooms would serve a number of purposes. We need the help and they need the practice, but even more importantly, we need the chance to work closely together.

Working side by side would break down the barriers which distance and false assumptions have erected. I think most parents want to be involved, but don't know how to go about it. I think a lot of teachers want help, but don't know how to ask for it or how to organize it. Maybe the tech classes can act as the beginning of a mutually beneficial relationship. It certainly can't hurt.

In terms of our elected officials, I could see a joint letter from teachers and parents to our mayor and City Council about our tech/tutoring program. A letter, followed by a visit and some press, might light a fire under some of our officials and the funds which they control.

I think our friends at IBM would be interested in supporting these efforts too. I'm having dinner with them on Tuesday and I think I'll float the idea then.

The present and future teacher shortage and the disconnect between our schools and our classrooms are two of the big problems which we are facing, but I don't think these problems are insurmountable. Maybe if we start small we can build support for a model that will turn the tide on these longstanding obstacles to our kids' success.

In a week when a six-year old killed another six-year old, I feel a need to try something new, something decisive. We can't keep losing our children to violence or to school failure.


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