Week 4 Reading

I liked this reading the best. I have taught in a Title 1 school for the last 8 years. My students come from homes where parents are in jail, working all hours of the nights, and there is little or no guidance in the way of growing up educated. The majority of my students do not come to school with clean clothes, well rested, or breakfast. So what to do? To many of my colleagues this environment is too much to bear. To many teachers today, with our pay about to be based on merit, this environment would not be possible. I have to admit, that if it comes to my pay being cut in half, and I have to compete with others in schools unlike mine, I too will have to abandon these children. I cannot choose them over my own family. However, at this point, without any pay laws being enacted, I wouldn't change my school for anything. When I began teaching, my oldest children were in second and third grade, at an affluent school here in Seminole County. (We were/are not affluent, just got the benefit of location!)I will never forget that year, my son's second grade class collected cash to make a cash tree for the teacher's end of the year gift. I received that letter from the room parent and quickly sent in my $10 contribution. This was a feat, seeing this was my first year ever working/teaching and I had 4 children at home, but it was so important that she know we appreciated her. I guess I either didn't receive a second notice or I forgot about it, but I was also to send in $3 for my son to have pizza and brownies for the last day of school party. I know you see where this is going, my son was left out for my failure to send in $3 for his lunch that day; he got in the car from extended day and just burst out crying. I was appalled that the teacher never called, email, even pitched in the $3. See, at my school, I paid for my 23 students to have a pizza party and back to the cash tree, that teacher received $380 cash as her end of the year gift. It's all perspective. She may have looked at my teaching situation and not realized the gift in itself, to teach these young people. I could have given the smallest of tokens and the kids thought I was the most amazing teacher ever. And that was enough for me. I am guessing she also never realized how important it was that we wanted her to know we appreciated her.

When I read Ben's story of traveling and needing two quarters and realizing it was all perspective in needing to ask to be given the quarters instead of asking for change, I thought of how we interpret students possibilities. We may see failing situations, and unhappy students and teachers, like at the Eastlea School. If you search hard enough you will find similar schools where the students are pushed to their limits and teachers are inspired. The teachers and students are working harder than those of their peers, but the reward and happiness cannot be surpassed.