Winter Break Teaching Reflection

And it’s half-time for the 2011-2012 school year. The kids are off to their respective wherevers, and it’s just me and a quiet classroom full of papers and folders, bulging trashcans, and piles of books.

It’s also nearly the one-year mark for this gig (I started just after MLK day last year). The last year went REAL fast!

When I showed up at Job Corps almost 12 months ago, I had no idea what to expect, but I took a huge leap of faith and decided to throw my lot in with the good people of Lincoln County, Oregon. Based on the prosaic position description (Reading Teacher), I knew I’d probably be teaching Reading to 20 -year-old boys, but beyond that I had no idea what to expect. But after four years of subbing, I figured no matter what it entailed, I could probably do it.

I felt pretty sure I’d be teaching somebody something, but as far as who the somebodies where, and what we’d be doing, that part fell into place over the next 12 months.

This time last year I was in a profoundly stressful and rather miserable place in my life. I had to move out of my house on Christmas. On top of that, factor in all of the stress and hassle you could possibly imagine. The task was immense because I had lived in my own home for the past 3 years (and had not envisioned moving out anytime soon). And just for fun, throw in an 11-month-old baby who definitely didn’t understand why nobody was paying any attention to him for the better part of two months. (What could possibly be so compelling about cardboard boxes, right?)
When the clock struck midnight for 2011 I was in a completely unfamiliar place, didn’t know up from down, and most of my underwear was still in a box somewhere, but I was psyched about the year ahead. Because for the first time in a while, I knew where I was going to be working every day, and could hear and smell the ocean from my front door.

My students learned a lot this year. Whether they wanted to or not. The proof was in the huge volume of paper that I am dutifully recycling before they come back from winter break. We studied all kinds of things: biology, geography, history, culture, ecology, health, social skills, career preparation, literature, driver’s education, you name it. The nice thing about teaching Reading (versus Literature) is that you can read a ton of non-fiction as well. Half the time, I asked the students what they wanted to learn about, and half the time, I came in with the things I thought were important. Looking over my curriculum files, we covered a lot of ground in the last 12 months. But they probably learned just as much from each other. And to be honest, I learned a lot from them.

Students are full of surprises, and in spite of the groaning and complaining, often do care, and provide a lot of their own energy and life to the classroom experience. Sometimes an offhand remark or a simple discovery could turn into a powerful learning moment.

Another thing that’s been driven home over the course of the past year is the importance of people, relationships, and belonging to a community.

Over the course of the year I’ve watched countless kids come and go. It happens faster at Job Corps than it does in a standard public school setting because it’s an open-entry, open-exit program. So people come when they’re ready (or so they think!) and leave when they finish (or when life has other plans). For some it takes a few months (6 months), for others it takes a couple of years. Some kids come and decide right away that Job Corps is NOT for them, and they’re only in my life for a handful of days. Others get homesick after a month and go AWOL (run back home to mama). Others get kicked out for using drugs halfway through the program. The rest stay long enough to finish an unfinished high school diploma, or get a GED, or complete their trade apprenticeship.

So in an environment like this, people come and go. Friendships form and dissolve. Relationships are often fleeting and brief. It’s hard to form deep bonds, but for what it’s worth, I try to use what I know of community building where I can carve out a little space in my classroom for people to feel comfortable, accepted, and welcome regardless of who they are or where they came from. Whether they only have me for two-week mandatory, or their entire stay at Job Corps, I try to create an environment within my classroom that is open to hearing their stories, and that will hopefully awaken some curiosity about the world within everyone who walks through the door.

If there is one lesson I hope that my student took with them from my efforts this year it would that reading is really just a reflection of the world. I think we all need a place and time to tell our stories (and make sure they’re heard), and that the process of learning doesn’t have to be mysterious, difficult, or boring. That reading is a lot like life, and there’s something out there for everyone. What I’d ultimately like to see is them take this attitude with them and let it grow beyond the walls of my classroom.

One thing I love about teaching is that it’s more than a job, more than a career, it’s basically a “path”. Teaching is not something you “do”, it’s something you “are”. It’s more like being a samurai. That probably doesn’t make sense, but ultimately it’s a convoluted way of saying you don’t start being a teacher when the bell rings, and stop when the kids walk out the door. You are always looking at the world in terms of what lessons it holds for you and others.

The beauty of teaching, and the things that makes it so difficult at times, is that it is something that you have to be “real” in order to do it well. You can’t separate yourself from it. It’s not a part of your life—it IS your life. So you can’t pretend to be anything other than who you are, or the kids will know right away that you’re a fraud. And once they come to that conclusion, you can be sure they will reject ANYTHING that you have to offer.

The past year has been full of a lot of talk about reform. There’s an intense political battle going on in this country over education. There’s a lot of taking sides, and pointing fingers. Regardless of how it all shakes out, I will continue on as always. I am one of those people who is willing to be a positive deviant, and keep on teaching by any means necessary. I’m not going to be sitting around waiting for permission to do things that I think are necessary. I just hope this country doesn’t have to hit rock bottom to find the courage to do the right thing.

My students remind me on a daily basis that we all need to be courageous. We all need someone to care about our stories. And we all could use a little unexpected magic and joy in our lives.