As long as we've got each other
Siiiiiigggghhhh...........
I got back from my internship a couple of hours ago. No, I'm not working as an assistant or observer of a surgeon, lawyer, engineer, investment banker, or assets manager. No no no, my friends. My internship, in some people's eyes would not be considered an internship, and even I question the validity of that title. However, there is no doubt that this summer I am learning A LOT about what teaching in the heart of New York City is all about. So far my student teaching experiences through NYU sent me to elementary schools in Manhattan and Brooklyn (the gentrified areas) and the children, while having issues of their own, were for the most part at no disadvantage in terms of socioeconomics. Just my luck that the Department of Ed decided to send me to Nowhere, aka somewhere in between Flatbush and Midwood, Brooklyn. My teaching experience is all the more intensified by the fact that I'm working with kids who were in the 6th grade last year, but failed to learn much of anything of the curriculum, and are spending their summer in a big stinky building trying to learn everything they didn't in five weeks.
If there's anything in this world that is absolutely positively untrue, it is the statement that some stupid people make, saying, "Oh, teaching is easy!" Actually, you crackpots of the Earth, if you knew anything about anything, you would believe it is not. And if you were working as a teacher at IS 240, school to almost 2000 pubescent, rebellious, bored-out-of-their-mind students, you would KNOW that teaching is never easy. Even so called "teachers" who are indifferent when it comes to their students' future and education, who read out of the textbook and call it a day, have a tough time teaching, because at some point, their students' boredom and resulting misbehavior wears them down.
Even though I hold much contempt for people in the education field who don't care one way or another about their kids, after teaching at IS 240 for the past two weeks, part of me has an found an inkling of empathy for these teachers. If I were a real first-year teacher at IS 240 with minimum support from the administration and faculty, I can honestly say that there is a good chance I would burn out within the first month and take an attitude of indifference toward my students. This is a REAL tragedy. These kids need so much help, but the adults around them give up on them. While some of the kids are real pains in the rear end (who am I kidding? they feed off each other, and sometimes the whole class becomes a sore), many of them are smart, beautiful kids who have soooo much potential, sooo much (shout out to my set of stars: Kadeem, Akil, Jomara: so much love and admiration -- because it's tough being good where they come from.)
In the end, one of the most important things I've learned is that there is nothing like keeping your cool in front of your kids. If you blow up all the time in front of them, you tend to acheive nothing. Perfect example: my cooperating teacher, Mr. Rios -- but I'll talk about him next time, because it's 1 am and I have to be outta the house by 7:30.
Peace in the Middle East pleeeeeease God.
I got back from my internship a couple of hours ago. No, I'm not working as an assistant or observer of a surgeon, lawyer, engineer, investment banker, or assets manager. No no no, my friends. My internship, in some people's eyes would not be considered an internship, and even I question the validity of that title. However, there is no doubt that this summer I am learning A LOT about what teaching in the heart of New York City is all about. So far my student teaching experiences through NYU sent me to elementary schools in Manhattan and Brooklyn (the gentrified areas) and the children, while having issues of their own, were for the most part at no disadvantage in terms of socioeconomics. Just my luck that the Department of Ed decided to send me to Nowhere, aka somewhere in between Flatbush and Midwood, Brooklyn. My teaching experience is all the more intensified by the fact that I'm working with kids who were in the 6th grade last year, but failed to learn much of anything of the curriculum, and are spending their summer in a big stinky building trying to learn everything they didn't in five weeks.
If there's anything in this world that is absolutely positively untrue, it is the statement that some stupid people make, saying, "Oh, teaching is easy!" Actually, you crackpots of the Earth, if you knew anything about anything, you would believe it is not. And if you were working as a teacher at IS 240, school to almost 2000 pubescent, rebellious, bored-out-of-their-mind students, you would KNOW that teaching is never easy. Even so called "teachers" who are indifferent when it comes to their students' future and education, who read out of the textbook and call it a day, have a tough time teaching, because at some point, their students' boredom and resulting misbehavior wears them down.
Even though I hold much contempt for people in the education field who don't care one way or another about their kids, after teaching at IS 240 for the past two weeks, part of me has an found an inkling of empathy for these teachers. If I were a real first-year teacher at IS 240 with minimum support from the administration and faculty, I can honestly say that there is a good chance I would burn out within the first month and take an attitude of indifference toward my students. This is a REAL tragedy. These kids need so much help, but the adults around them give up on them. While some of the kids are real pains in the rear end (who am I kidding? they feed off each other, and sometimes the whole class becomes a sore), many of them are smart, beautiful kids who have soooo much potential, sooo much (shout out to my set of stars: Kadeem, Akil, Jomara: so much love and admiration -- because it's tough being good where they come from.)
In the end, one of the most important things I've learned is that there is nothing like keeping your cool in front of your kids. If you blow up all the time in front of them, you tend to acheive nothing. Perfect example: my cooperating teacher, Mr. Rios -- but I'll talk about him next time, because it's 1 am and I have to be outta the house by 7:30.
Peace in the Middle East pleeeeeease God.
posted by Aqsa at 6:25 PM
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