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From Magic City Morning Star J. G. Fabiano
This is a tough time of year for young teachers especially those who are suffering through their first year. Teaching for the past 30 years I've watched many suffer through their first year. I've also had many ask why it is so hard and how are they going to be able to become a good teacher. I first advise them to forget all the philosophy and methods of teaching courses they learned in college or graduate school. They simply don't exist in their first year of teaching. Some states only offer teaching programs as part of their graduate school. This means a teacher who has never taught full time in a classroom is considered a 'master teacher'. I understand they spend a year with a teacher as an intern but they still teach under the mentor-ship of that teacher. They are not considered the primary instructor in that classroom. I've been teaching for over 30 years and do not have a 'Master's in Education" degree. During my time teaching I never had the time because of the time it took to teach. I would have fired me my first year in the classroom. I remember listening carefully about administration rules and how they should be used for any disruption in my classroom. I remember listening to the various special education and guidance people telling me I should go to them with all of my problems and concerns about my class. The one person I do remember during that first deluge of meetings was my department head who simply told me, "good luck". My first day with my students went well. I gave them the rules of my classroom and a copy of my curriculum I would follow. Most listened carefully at which time I thought I was the greatest first year teacher in the history of teaching. Within a week I found myself wondering where these animals came from. They did not do their work, they did not listen to anything I attempted to tell them. They all gave me their conclusion as to why they should listen to anyone as low as a teacher. When I contacted the administration who earlier told me I could never be a bother I found they were too busy with real problems and they wondered why I had not taken a class in classroom control. When I contacted the guidance people they told me they had little time for things I should be able to figure out. Finally when I attempted to talk to my department head, she just smiled and repeated her first advice by saying, "good luck" The world seems to be against the first year teacher. When I contacted the parents of my more unruly students they told me to not bother them because I was paid to both educate and control my students. They then reiterated the fact I was only a teacher and I would do if I could and teach if I could not. To this day I hate that comment. I must have changed my classroom rules and curriculum a hundred times during that first year. Most days I ran down to the teacher's room to make some copies of problem sheets to be worked on by some of my classes. The copy machine usually didn't work and there was never enough paper to complete the task. I once complained to the main office and was told that I use too much paper. I should try to conserve on supplies because the town's people are threatening to lower next year's supply budget; again. I tried to explain I use a lot of copying material because I don't have enough text or lab books in some of my classes. By this time the office decides to ignore me for, after all, I am only a teacher. Looking around my room I saw many of my student's eyes begin to half close. I used to think my teaching style put many of them to sleep. After many meetings with guidance and special education departments I discovered most of these students have full time jobs after school. Some students openly rebel by refusing to waste their time studying something they feel is useless. I tried to explain in their futures they will appreciate understanding various ideas and concepts so they can successfully make correct decisions in their lives. Most of the time I got comments about how an education is not worth anything except maybe for the fact that they can make more money if they graduate. They sometimes even brought up articles describing how the schools are bankrupting the towns and why a cut back in funding is necessary. They asked me why they should believe education is important when their own parents believe education is not worth their tax dollars? During my first year of teaching I had students sincerely believe they will not have the future their parents had because if the AIDS virus doesn't kill them, the growing public debt will eliminate any chance they had to attain a good life. These are the students who argue that if one doesn't take the opportunity to live for today, they will never experience life. They have a difficult time delineating between their present and their future. I also remember an extremely angry student. His language was fowl and his actions were aggressive. His horrified me and when I told him that it was extremely inappropriate he became violent. He finally left the room but before he did he looked back at me in disgust. What right did I have to delineate between what was appropriate and what was not. For after all, I was only a teacher. Lunch was rarely experienced. I only had a few minutes left of the thirty-minute block I am allotted because it was necessary to set up my afternoon classes. Instead of eating I went to my mailbox to find numerous questionnaires concerning special needs students. These are the students I feel most compassion for. They are never allowed to be free of the label they came into school with. I once asked one of the special needs teachers if any of their students evolved into becoming fully mainstreamed. I never received an answer. My frustration erupts when I am able to finally challenge these young men and women only to be told I am not following their IEP's (individual education plan) and I am not going along with the program as instructed. I sincerely believe these students yearn to be challenged like their peers and they would love to have their title of "special" put into their past. As we discuss these problems the new teachers are usually shocked by their choice of professions. Many have told me this is not the career move they expected. I told them it rarely is. I tell them that some days I even got letters from the parents of "overachieving" students asking why their child was not doing well in my class. Why I am not able to earn the money paid to me by correctly teaching their child. I tried to explain that students in many of my classes are being challenged and the constant perfect grades enjoyed by their children in earlier grades are not attainable in the higher grades. I also explained to many a parent their children can't be perfect in everything they do. I once told a parent that pure perfection is synonymous with nothing. Some are better in English than math and visa-versa. These parents never left convinced of my arguments. One of my favorite paraphrases is that "high potential is the heaviest baggage a young person can carry." A day never passed when I didn't see one or more of my students with their eyes dilated because of some drug or alcohol abuse. I desperately tried to reach these children in the hopes I could convince them to leave their bodies alone and give their minds a chance. They rarely answer me and only turn away for after all I am only a teacher. I then explain to the new teachers that our profession has become less teaching and more social work. If this is what it has to be, so be it. For we are the only people left that can help these children. After we are gone, society's enforcement systems take over. If I ever turned to the administration for help with these students, this only succeeded in having them suspended or expelled from school. This separates them from any possible help. But, on the other hand, I can't blame the administration for trying to protect the whole from the few. They are being perpetually frustrated in this cause because the state demands we educate all the youths in the community even if this means putting other children at risk. I finally explain to my new colleagues teaching is the best and the worse profession in our world. Sure there are many challenges but there are also many opportunities to help children become what they dream they want to be. I enjoy watching a new teacher's second year because they realize what the profession is and get better at it as the years pass. I also feel bad watching a first year teacher lose their job because I wonder how good they could be. I believe all first year teachers should be given a second contract because the first year will always be their worse and why take the chance in losing any remarkable person who survived their first year teaching. Jim Fabiano is a teacher and writer living in York, Maine © Copyright 2002-2008 by Magic City Morning Star |