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Home : 2008 : April : 2

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By anonybronx

I want to state something clearly. I did not go into the position thinking my ELL class would be easy and the other class would be hard. In fact, I expected teaching English Language Arts to be more difficult with the kids
in the ELL class, as they had been in bilingual the year before and it was their first year in an all English speaking class. There were kids with behavior issues in both classes, but there were way more in the second class.

In the ELL class I worked with two very supportive teachers. In the class with the predominately African American students, the teacher and I really did

not see eye to eye at all. She flat out TOLD me that SHE didn't trust white teachers and I would have to prove HER wrong. She had the kids all morning, and I joined her in the afternoon. On days she was not there, the kids would say she talked badly about me all morning and would say that I couldn't be a good teacher to them because I was white... this IS racism, and I faced it. I am not going to claim that it was my only problem. I also understand it, and believe that African Americans have suffered far more racism that my one year of it could ever possibly compare to.

Before going to teach in the inner city, I did my student teaching and worked in suburban public and private schools (as a TA and subbing)... schools with a hippie sort of feel. In fact, they called me the hippie teacher. I had been in schools where the kids call the teacher by first name and everything is project based. There were not really any discipline problems in the other schools. I was unprepared for how to manage the class. My previous private school experience had been in a Montessori school. Reading the books did not get me ready for the discipline problems and I did not handle them well in the beginning. Having an non-supportive and downright mean co-teacher who told the kids they didn't have to listen to me did not help.

BUT in all the stories I have heard from the inner city... my experience (and those at my school) is among the worst. I met many teachers working in NYC and most had horror stories, but my school paired a bad administration, bad teachers, angry people and no discipline plan in one building and it was a nightmare. I hope in your program they are smart enough not to do that.

And just so you can get an idea that I was not the only one... when the union laws changed and you no longer needed approval to get a transfer, over half the staff left that year. That school was down more than 50 teachers with a single rule change. It was BAD. I don't think it could get much worse. In fact, The Daily News ranked this school as the most violent elementary in NYC.