Posted by: Dominique D.
Today was the last day of the job that has been the bane of my existence for the past 6 
weeks. I have been in labs, daycares, and school offices, but this summer introduced me to the life of a teacher in Baltimore City Public Schools. I have so much more respect for what some teachers in urban school districts have to go through. But teaching is really a labor of love in any location.
So, I wasn't really a teacher--I was supposed to be a co-facilitator with a guidance counselor at a youth program, talking about attendance issues in the city for 6 weeks, a period of time that was to end with the creation of a project that included student-created solutions to the attendance problem in Baltimore City. The attendance problem being--habitually truant students. Students don't come because they are tired. Or because they have to 
take care of family members. Or because they wake up late, or because the weather is too poor for them to go...or just because there isn't anything to look forward to.
Confused as to why students seem to use such silly reasons to not come to school? I agree, they are not all great reasons and most are terrible excuses in many contexts. In your schools, did you ever have to worry about not being able to make it to school? Baltimore city provides transportation to middle and high school students via the MTA, the public transportation system in Maryland. Not the nice cheese buses that take you from your stop directly to your school. Students sometimes have to take 2 or 3 buses to get to school, and then have to 
walk some to get to the front door. Imagine doing this in inclement weather. Or what if your community is unsafe, ravaged with gang members? Or if you wake up late and miss the buses (which have an unfortunate rep. for not always being on time), do you still try to go?
And when you mix that with family problems and lack of motivation or inspiration, you get poor attendance. Some students just don't have parents who stress the importance of schools, and they don't have enough influential community leaders to whom they can look up.
Ok, so that's the kind of stuff we talked about/worked on for the past 6 weeks (we had to stretch the topic out for 6 weeks!) And teachers have to come up with lesson plans everyday for a whole school year, not just 6 weeks. AND they have to make sure that the lesson plans are enjoyable, while getting the job done so that students stay engaged. That was a common theme I heard throughout the 6 weeks...many teachers are not qualified and they hate their job, so it shows in the teaching. (Good) teacher retention is a huge problem that has been plaguing the city for years.
But the reason I disliked my time here so much was mainly because of the disciplinary issues. See, although I graduated from a Baltimore City school, it was one that did not have HALF of the problems other schools did, like kids roaming the hallways all day (one student mentioned that at her school, there were sometimes more students in the HALLWAYS than in the classrooms). And I was not well-equipped for dealing with that.
Teachers must have a thick skin. Very thick. Because students have no shame in talking about teachers to their faces or while they are still in the classroom. If a standard of behavior is not established from the beginning, then it all goes downhill. Unfortunately I got to experience this first hand. I wrote a FaceBook note about the things I learned from this job, some of which are:
-Don't let students know your age, esp. if you're not much older than they are (I am 18; they were 14-17, so it was pretty uncomfortable for me)
-Don't do something for one group and not another; otherwise, you will be hearing about it forever.
-Just because a student likes you one day does not mean they will like you next week.
-Each classroom has leaders to whom they will respect more...use that!
-Don't take things personally. Students act out on you and disrespect you for seemingly no good reason, but they probably have issues of their own and you're an easy target.
-Don't bluff with punishments, and sometimes you need to embarrass one to get the attention of others.
And I have a whole lot more. I even got to witness a fight in my classroom, that unfortunately, I couldn't prevent/break up in time.
But, all is well, as the program is over and I survived. It didn't kill me, so it must have made me stronger. I learned a lot about my weaknesses and my strengths, and about students with backgrounds different from mine. Plus, it paid nicely. Would I do it again? I think I would, but in a different context. Teaching is a short-term career that I have been thinking about, and I am glad I got some exposure to it. I learned a lot, and I think when I volunteer at CIVITAS charter school this year as a TA for middle school students, I will be more informed. A.k.a. fool me once, shame on you...fool me twice, shame on me. ;)
But besides the job, I got to enjoy buying some fireworks for our Fourth of July cookout. My stepfather spent like $100 on rockets and other things with odd names I can't think of at the moment.
And my family went on vacation to Ocean City, a nice city on the eastern shore of Maryland. It was breezy and refreshing to get out of the city for a little while to a more relaxed atmosphere.
I just got back from a drive in theater in northeastern Baltimore called Benjie's, and I wish that there were more drive ins because it was so cute! 8 dollars for a triple feature, and the movies are only about a month or 2 behind regular release time. Seems worth it to me.
So I shall fill the last month of summer with helping out some of my colleagues at Baltimore City Schools headquarters, and buying books and other things for my new on campus apartment.
Until next time!!
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