Challenges of a beginning teacher in a troubled society

The time is the year 2000, approximately 10 years after the America's goals 2000 report provided promise that education would improve. The place is a school in a suburb of any medium to large city, U.S.A. Teen violence and other crimes have continued to rise. The incidence of single parent families is more prevalent with teen mothers becoming more and more the norm. Therefore, the number of school children who are not prepared for school everyday is higher as is poor nutrition and homelessness. Geographic mobility is also on the rise due to the decrease in blue collar jobs created by information technology.

Schools have not changed. Students are not receiving an education that is relevant to their lives either in school or outside of school. They are not being prepared for the world in which they will work due to the fact that performance on standardized tests drives the curriculum. The directive to compete globally by raising test scores mistakenly has created an over emphasis on testing. There is decreased emphasis on genuine student learning and general dissatisfaction with schools, students, educators, and the general public.

The alarm went off, blaring some obnoxious song. Jessica looked at the time, 6:00 a.m. The temptation to lie in bed and recollect her weekend of peace was overwhelming. Just 10 more minutes couldn't hurt. She leaned over and hit the snooze.

From the kitchen, Jessica could smell the coffee begin to brew in her brand new timed coffee pot. All she could think of were the days and hours ahead of her until the next weekend. That was the clincher. "Ah, forget it" She shut off the alarm and slid out of bed. On her way to take a shower, she parted the blinds to see what kind of day the weather had in store for her.

It was still dark, even for an early December morning. The industrial fog was thicker than usual. "Great!" She let the blinds snap back together and headed for the bathroom. She thought maybe things would look more promising after her shower and morning coffee. Instead, she found herself dreading going to work for yet another disappointing, unrewarding week.

The traffic was worse than usual. Jessica turned on the radio to keep her mind busy while she waited behind a six car pile-up that would make her late for work once more. Meanwhile, overhead the surveillance helicopters hummed worriedly over the awakening city.

The weather report blared in stereo about the bad air and how people with health problems should stay inside as Jessica contemplated just how she would survive the day that was looming before her. Finally, the traffic began to move. The drive to the school where she taught tenth grade English was uneventful after the delay.

As expected, Jessica was 20 minutes late. The principal was waiting at her door when she arrived.

"What happened this morning?" Mr. Jacobs snapped.

"Traffic accident," Jessica replied with her head down as she ducked into her classroom.

Her students did not even seem to notice that she had entered the room. Bob was throwing paper airplanes armed with ink pens at the girl who always sat alone in the far corner. Suzy and Dillon were engrossed in some fateful conversation and John, ever attentive, was carving his name on the desk. The others were either sleeping or plotting what activity was to take place at lunch. To make matters worse, it seemed none of the classes she taught was any mare promising.

Heaving a great sigh and steeling herself, Jessica walked to the front of the room. Time for another curriculum dictated, seemingly irrelevant lesson on sentence structure. She had long before given up on the sleeping students and concentrated on keeping the others from walking out of her room to places more interesting. All of this committed in the name of survival! After all, for the school to receive funding and for Jessica to be offered a contract for next year, her students must show improvement on those ever critical achievement tests.

The bright spot in her day was when her best student, Mary Anne, seven months pregnant with her second child, joined her in the lunchroom.

"Hello, Mary Anne."

"Hi, Ms. Thatcher. How has your day been today?"

"The usual. How about you?"

"Same. Can I come in after school for some help?"

"Are things okay at home?"

"Yeah, I guess. Mom's boyfriend didn't come home til late, so none of us got much sleep. They'll probably still be fighting when I get home."

"I'm sorry. Yes, you may come to see me after school."

They ate lunch in companionable silence.

After lunch, Mr. Jacobs approached Jessica to inform her that three of her students had moved over the weekend and that she would have six new ones during the second half of the day. "Great," she thought, "just when I thought I was starting to catch up, I get more new students This new group would bring the grand total to 20 new students since September. That many had also moved away.

The time flew that day with minimal school violence. Jessica was sitting in her nom grading papers after Mary Anne left, feeling rather lonesome and depressed. Half of her first year of teaching had passed and she did not know any one of her colleagues well enough to share her concerns about the trouble she was having adjusting to this school. It was amazing to her how quickly her fresh-out-of-college ideals had disappeared here. She had to make it through at least one more school year in order to have the teaching experience necessary to work in a better school. She asked herself, "Are things this bad everywhere?"

As she was gathering the rest of her things to go home, Mr. Jacobs came into the room.

"Hello, Jessica."

"Mr. Jacobs?"

"I came to see how you are doing."

"Fine, I guess. I'm getting ready to go home."

"Um, actually, I need to inform you that we will probably not renew your contract for next year. You will be allowed to finish the school year and then we are cutting out your position. Budget cuts! You understand! We let the nontenured teachers go first."

Jessica was dumfounded. How was she ever going to accumulate enough experience to get a better job? She couldn't answer; she just stood there. Mr. Jacobs left saying something like, "If you need anything...," and Jessica began to cry. She had completed at least 100 applications only a year ago in order to get this job. Now, she would have to start all over again so that she could work in another place just like this.

The drive home was worse than the drive to work. Jessica could not see because of the snowstorm that had brewed up late in the day making for slow going. She had a long time to think.

Her first thoughts on her way home were concerned with her seemingly never ending bad luck, then, how Mr. Jacobs probably couldn't think of a better way to tell her that she was not a good teacher. She was convinced that she was not a good teacher. But by the time she flipped on the living-room light she had reached the conclusion that she was dismissed because she was a victim of circumstances and not due to lack of competence. She called her best friend from college days to ask for some advice.

"Stacey, I don't even want to go back there. I mean, why should I? It doesn't matter now what I do! I'm out of a job!"

"Jessica, stop feeling sorry for yourself and think. It always matters what you do. Those kids matter more than that school. Hard to tell from what happens sometimes, but it's true."

"But, it doesn't matter what I do now, does it I don't have to follow that terrible curriculum anymore. I can try some of the things we learned from our teacher education program. Would serve them right!"

"Yes, it would! Serve the students right, I mean. Why don't you do it?"

Jessica laughed at the thought and they changed the subject. Later, in bed, she rethought the idea. "Why not? I could try it. Maybe it would be more fun to go to work. Maybe someone would actually learn something. I could still follow that irrelevant curriculum so that I don't lose all chance of finding another job; just do it my way She got up, flipped on the lights, made a pot of coffee, and set to work planning for the rest of the week. As she finished, she watched the sun come up.

Jessica took the long way to work because it would not be congested with traffic. She stopped at a store and picked up bagels and juice for herself and the students because people always think better with healthy food to eat.

She walked hesitantly into the building at 8:00 a.m. on the nose. She slipped quietly into her room, laid out the fare, and waited for the students to take notice. One by one they all turned to look at her, even those half asleep, wondering what Jessica Thatcher was up to.

"Hello, guys. I thought you might like a little energy food this morning. You're going to need it. We've got a lot to do."

They descended on the food and within milliseconds it was gone. However, this morning, she had their attention. As they ate, she passed out the agenda for the day. They were to write a neighborhood biography. "No more boring grammar lessons," she promised.

She wanted them to make the stories as real as possible using examples of people, weather, occurrences, employment, and attitudes. She asked them to interview, read the paper, and cite personal experiences. They could work alone or in groups. After the first draft was finished, they would work on grammar problems that had surfaced. She gave them two weeks. During this time, she helped them learn to use the computer lab.

At first her students were skeptical. They were used to doing no more than the minimum. But, Jessica continued working with them and bringing breakfast day after day, hoping that her plan would make a difference.

At the end of two weeks, she was not disappointed The drafts began to come in, in all phases of repair; she had their attention. Jessica and her students worked on the papers until the students felt that they fairly represented their neighborhoods and passed grammar inspection. She displayed their work in the room.

She could't even believe that she was looking at the same group of students. They were interested, awake, and respectful. Going to work was no longer a dread. It was too bad that it would all be over in just a few short weeks. But, Jessica knew that she had stumbled onto a philosophy that she would live by far the test of her teaching career. She had to make education meaningful for her students. To ensure learning, she had to satisfy some basic needs first and then let students use experiences that they could apply to real life. She had discovered that she was a progressivist. Armed with this philosophy, she would move on to have a successful teaching career.

Angela M. Aguallo--M.A. Graduate Student in Education with a Specialization in Curriculum and Instruction, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie. Wyoming 82071.

Arnold L. Willems--Professor of Lifelong Learning and Instruction, College of Education, University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming, 82071.

Copyright Project Innovation Spring 1995
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