My first professional contact with a school was as an observer, part of my credentialing duties. I then volunteered to stay there to help, and on the next year, I came back as a (paid) teacher aide, working in Special Ed and ESL classes. On the following school year, I was offered a position as a math teacher in the special education department, and after a long hesitation decided to take it.
And so, armed with all the tools and enthusiasm of a new teacher, and, thankfully, with ignorance about the well trained, fearless troops of high school students, I signed my first teaching contract at a well-respected high school in the neighborhood. Yes, I knew it is not going to be easy teaching an SDC class (Special Day Class), but I had an experienced teacher aide, classes were small, less than 15 students, and a supportive staff, so what could go wrong?
That year was an introduction to what was to come in the following years. Students who talk over you, completely ignore you and your teaching, who are so rude that you are taken a back because no one had ever talked to you this way before. Students who come to school without supplies, and abuse the supplies you give them; Flying paper airplanes, erasers, crayons or broken pencils. Books filled with graffiti, profanity in most cases. Parents that cannot be reached because they are not around, have moved away, didn’t pay their phone bills. Administrators who are overwhelmed with problems, limited by regulations, restricted by budget cuts; so burdened with their own difficulties that can hardly help you…
My aide, helper, would step in half an hour late and start a chat with students about shopping and sports, or would tell them stories about her family, ignoring my mid-lesson instruction. Of course, they liked her far better, and it did not help my standing with them, or with her.
Then there were the IEPs, Individual Educational Plan. It took me a long time to learn how to write them, until I realized that most recommendations are the same (a seat at the front, shorter homework, longer test time), but I resented spending conference hours catching up with the load.
However, despite all the difficulties, that year was my best teaching year. Not credentialed yet, but I had energy, fresh ideas, and the belief that all students are created equal. Bad behavior or inability to grab a concept was just not acceptable. I made the entire class retake the chapter on Solids because I could not believe that comprehending Volume and Surface Area is beyond any student’s capability. I sent students to the office, disregarding reprimands from the deans, made calls to non-existing numbers, had parents sit in the classroom with their misbehaving students…
At the end of the school year, though, I was quite sure what I do not want in teaching – no IEP writing, no helping aides, no special Ed! But I was not worried. I was on my way to becoming a math teacher, and with the shortage of math teachers, I would have no problem finding a job in the general education… I was practically expecting jobs to fall on my lap without any effort.
The first eye-opener came from that same school. I thought I did quite a decent job and was expecting an offer. It came, but only for special ed… Thus, I started my journey looking for a position in the general ed. “Math? you won’t have any problem…”, every one told me, so I applied at the district, answered few ads at teachers’ sites and was waiting for the phone calls to pour in, but only few job interview invitations came, mostly from charter schools. One school called back and offered me a position. They didn’t press me into signing the papers so I took my time, still waiting for the rush of calls from all those desperate schools…The summer almost wore off. I went on vacation and came back, and at last realized that the charter school offer is the only offer I have, and I’d better hurry up signing the papers before I lose this one too…
That year was some experience and at the end of the school year, I made every effort to complete my certification because I made up my mind never to be a full time teacher again… as one of my credentialing classmate said – “let’s get the certification so that we never have to teach again…”
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