teaching in inner-city schools

What would have made me stay at my first school? Well, I don't know. It might have taken a lot, because I was pretty disenchanted and stressed. I think I needed to do some self-exploration, development, and stress management, and also feel like I could have time to socialize, do other things besides spend time at school. But related to that, I think that a big factor I thought was missing at that school was mental health resources for students. And for that matter, for faculty as well. Not that I was asking for therapy for myself through the school, but I think many of my students could have used some counseling to deal with various situations they told me about. I didn't feel prepared to be a social worker or psychologist, and I felt as if my students could have benefited from more psychological support. One of the articles I just read discussed changing teacher education classes so as to be more supportive to pre-service teachers working in urban public schools. According to the author, this might include extensive journaling, reading, and small group discussions with teacher educators trained to help (mostly) White teachers challenge their "deficit views" about schools where the demographics are different from their own (Black and Hispanic) as well as develop a positive support system for implementing culturally appropriate, academically stimulating, effective teaching.

who was your favorite teacher?

In my 10th grade English class, my teacher, Mr. H. started each class by asking us to spend five minutes writing a response to whatever question or quote he had written on the blackboard. He would call these assignments "think-ays" instead of "essays" - I think this is funny now. I guess he just meant that we were supposed to get our thoughts out without worrying whether they were organized correctly, etc. He would post such general ponderings as “What is truth?” “What is hatred?” and “What is love?” or specific quotes such as Nietzsche’s “All things are subject to interpretation. Whichever interpretation prevails at a given time is a function of power and not truth.” Sitting in a classroom packed with rows of desks, we would write, retreating inwards, delving into words we may have heard repeatedly but never examined or unpacked. This teacher valued the creative connections that we made between our thoughts and the texts, and between our lives and the texts. He cared about our individual personalities and backgrounds enough to say to us that each one of us was a vital component of the group. He also chose questions and quotes that connected to his goal of promoting and exploring topics of social justice through teaching and discussion. Quality teaching supports individuals to create their own understanding of a topic by making connections with their own prior knowledge, experiences, or philosophies on life.

Yeah, so that is part of the last essay that I wrote for class. Here I start my second semester of this program. I'm off to read about teacher preparation programs (both traditional and "alternative" - like what I did) and why teachers don't stay in teaching...