I subscribe to a Facebook page called Badass Teachers and I love it. I've actually found a group of teachers who are more militant than myself. A few days ago I came across a contest about hwy you became a teacher. The prize was a $700 Amazon gift card so how could I say no?
This is my entry which as usual I wrote on the fly. While I am not expecting to win in the least (my competition is pretty good), I am kinda psyched that I've entered my first writing contest. "First step in a larger world and all that, hopefully.
Anyway, while I watch the St Patrick's day Parade on the TV, Roni, Jude and I are loungin" about enjoying our last day of Spring Break. This might be the most productive result of that.
I got into to teaching for two reasons: 1. I was burned
out in my current job and wanted to do something new 2. The person who talked me into it convinced
me that I’d get to wear my beloved sandals to work every day.
The person who shared this tidbit was Robyn Rice. Robyn
and I were working at an Adults w/ Disabilities Program. Working directly with
the guys was awesome but I had grown very tired of the program director and the
politics involved in running the program. It was time for a change.
Robyn was working alongside me as she finished her
Masters in special education. She often tried to tell me how much happier I’d
be in a classroom and how awesome I’d be with the kids. As much as I enjoyed
having my ego stroked, I kept resisting. Looking back, I knew I was afraid. I
knew teaching was a serious commitment and I just wasn’t sure I had it in me.
But Robyn was relentless and eventually I caved. When I
had spare time during the summer of 2002, I canvassed the Atlanta area trying
to get my foot in the door. I figured I’d be able to start off as a parapro and
work my way up. Nobody was hiring.
By some stroke of luck I ended up in an interview through
several strands of friends of friends. It was a middle school in Gwinnett
County. I assumed I was there for the para pro job but in reality the principal,
Ms. Malone, l was interviewing me for a Special Ed resource teacher.
I have never been a religious man but higher forces were
at work because I was hired after a 30 min interview to be a classroom sped
teacher. Without a teaching certificate. This was a fact I was very upfront
about but Ms. Malone explained there were in dire need and my background made
me more than qualified. Besides GA had an accelerated teaching certificate
program and she could get me in. A certificate would be about a year away with
a little hard work. I walked into that middle school hoping to be a parapro. I
walked out a 7th grade Geography sped resource teacher.
My father always told me the story of how his father taught
him how to swim. It involved being tossed into the river and hoping for the
best. My first year was a lot like this but somehow I adapted and found that I
liked being a teacher. I’d spent years working with a variety of adults dealing
with their disabilities in day-today life. Switching over to children had its
moments but also provided so many rewards.
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Education isn’t just what I did as a teacher, I quickly
discovered. I also had other roles. I was a traffic director during bus call.
Police negotiator during conflicts in the hall with class dismissal. Curriculum
expert as I sorted through the textbooks to figure out how to scaffold my
lessons. Testing expert at the end of the year when we doled out all the
standardized tests. And I also learned I had to listen.
Middle school is a rough time for a kid’s self-esteem.
Being a sped student almost doubles that. Student feel singled sharing some
classes then having to switch. We spent almost as much time processing that as
learning about the economies of certain countries.
Over time my time my classroom, which my students
nicknamed “The Hobbit Hole”, gelled and my confidence in being called a teacher
began to grow. I figure I made plenty of mistakes but I also felt like I
learned from them. I wish I could say that every student I had in my seven
periods of World Geography passed but they didn’t. I do believe they left my
class at the end of May knowing they were just as valid as regular ed students
and had the coping skills to be just as successful.
Ms. Malone was good on her word and got me hooked up with
that accelerated teaching program. Unfortunately, my math skills were badly out
of practice and I didn’t score high enough on the Praxis Math portion to obtain
a provisional certificate. My contract was not renewed even though I missed
passing by one point.
It was a bitter pill to swallow and I spent a few months
upset with the world. Eventually that bitterness turned into something positive
and I found myself studying harder than I ever had before and passing the Math
portion of the Praxis. With my provisional in hand I eventually got hired at
another middle school and went right back to work.
The next few years would be a series of ups and downs as
I tried to find a school which would be the right fit for me ideologically. I
got married, divorced, and discovered I had end stage kidney disease but
somehow got through all that and finally got my teaching certificate in 2009
when I earned my Masters in Special Education.
I am happy to report that I’ve spent the past 8 years
teaching at the same high school my parents went to and even met at. I co-teach
social studies and Literature and have never been happier. Even with all the controversy
in merit pay and Common Core Curriculum, I look still enjoy this second career
and still swell with pride when people asked me what I did for a living.
I’m a special ed teacher. And I’ve still never worked at
a school that would let me wear my sandals to work.
