While working at a large high school, I get an inside look at the educational scene. As a classroom instructor, I understand that teaching is only one facet of the teaching-learning process, a process whose success is centered on effective communication.
Communication is undermined when students feel that they are of little importance to the teacher or the school. What teachers do in the classroom is important because the people who come there to learn are important. This attitude toward students is expressed in a number of ways, including: careful design of a course that meets the diverse needs of students, dedication of energy to class preparation, clear expression of one’s involvement in the teaching, the respectful treatment of students in the give and take of classroom interaction, and the notion of classroom management.
Teacher expectations are equally important and are manifested in the attitude of teachers. Unfortunately, some students with darker skin, who are often followed in lower level courses, share stories of teachers who have lower expectations for them.
As an educator, I understand how stressful it can be to have what appear to be unresponsive bodies in the classroom, especially when there has been great care and planning. I found early in my teaching career that not everyone will get A’s and B’s, but it was also apparent as an educator, my obligation to instruct all students fairly and appropriately. I also refrained from forming preconceived opinions about students based on a previous teacher’s experience with a student. Each year several students don’t do well in other teachers’ classes, but get A’s, B’s, or C’s in my class. The former is not known until the student is in the home office receiving reprimands from an administrator.
Similar to some of the students who have negative experiences with teachers, my first year of teaching was quite a challenge, not the notion of teaching itself, but the people within the building made it very difficult for a new teacher to survive, thankfully the students supported me. afloat. My first year having my own classroom was a wonderful experience. I developed excellent relationships with my students and some of my colleagues. I also learned that some of the older and traditional teachers and faculty were not happy to see my young, dark face. I found out from the stars and the rumors of me doing drugs that often came back to me. I had my teaching credentials though – I started teaching with my Master of Arts in Teaching, something some teachers didn’t have – but it didn’t seem to matter. A master’s degree is usually required within five years of teaching. Also, all my reviews of the managers were good. Still, my colleagues found a way to make my life miserable. By the winter of my first year of teaching, I found myself in the vice principal’s office along with a union representative and the chair of social studies. The reason I soon found out about it was because I opened a learning center in my hometown, a completely different city and state.
When the center opened, a newspaper article about the opening day of the center appeared on the front page of the local section. The former president of the teachers’ union lived in New Fairfield and read the newspaper. He gave the article to some managers, which is rather ironic considering the union is supposed to protect its workers. The newspaper erroneously stated that the learning center opened its doors between 3:00 pm and 3:30 pm In reality, the center opened between 3:15 and 3:30, allowing for the allotted time of 30 to 35 minute drive from work. It was not possible to open the center at 3:00 p.m. because the work did not end until 2:35 p.m.
Once the coordinator asked me with conviction if I had left work early. She said, “Did you leave work early yesterday?” I said no.” She said, “Someone said they saw you leave early yesterday.” I thought about it and remembered that I went to lunch but came back. Fortunately for me, my future colleague, who was a student teacher at the time, asked me if my daughters (I was the coordinator of the girls’ step team) could participate in the Human Rights Symposium. I remembered this and told the coordinator about the conversation and told her to ask the student teacher. Of course I would. he did and then grudgingly apologized.
The story in the newspaper clearly raised concerns about me leaving work early, but it was unsubstantiated. In addition to teaching at the center, she was also starting a test preparation course in high school and had submitted copies for a test preparation session offered in the after-school program. To my surprise, one of the members of the social studies department took the copies from the copy room before they were finished and took them to the social studies chair, which led me back to the vice principal’s office. When they asked why I had sent multiple documents to the copy room, I reminded them that I was also teaching an SAT course in the after school program. No apologies were received, but the copies were returned.
My first year teaching was miserable and if it wasn’t for my mother I probably would have left the profession a long time ago. I called home almost every day in tears with stories like the one above. I was 21 when I started teaching and sometimes I wonder if I hadn’t listened to my mom where she would be, what she would be doing. I have discovered that helping others is my purpose.
That said, the harsh reception I received in my first two years should come as no surprise to others when complaints of mistreatment arise among students. The following discussion with a security guard named Jim* confirmed the mistreatment students of color sometimes receive from white teachers. Jim told me that one day at lunch, a teacher was walking down the hall and bumped into a Hispanic student. Although it may have been an accident, according to Jim, the teacher told the student, “Hit me again and I’ll spill my hot coffee on you.” Jim said that both he and the student were shocked by the teacher’s comments. Jim reported that the student had been talking to his friends and had not clashed with the teacher. The student looked at the white teacher and said, “Anyway, I didn’t hit you.”
Subsequently, fueled by what he had just witnessed, Jim approached an administrator to inform him of the event. The admin response was called according to Jim. He said the administrator told him that the teacher had threatened to go to the union and claimed that Jim had threatened his safety. Upon receiving this news, Jim told the manager what he had witnessed again and that he had not threatened anyone. The administrator told him: “You did not see anything, there was noise at lunch.” Jim said, “Yes, I did,” and repeated what he witnessed. Again, the manager said, “You didn’t see anything. There was a lot of noise at lunch.” Jim was irritated when he got the signal. Jim told me later that he just walked away in dismay.
Countless other incidents, according to Jim and other security guards, continue. Students aren’t the only ones finding disrespectful treatment, but teachers of color receive inconsistent reprimands. For example, two tenured teachers, one white and one Hispanic, had gone for a run at the end of the school year during their recess, and when they both returned to school, the Hispanic teacher received an email and was questioned about his whereabouts. and why he had come running. After the director asked him to go to the office, he proceeded and once there he looked around. He saw that the other teacher was not present and left the office. By questioning the other teacher, the Hispanic teacher learned that he was the only one summoned to the office.
Disrespectful encounters continue between white administrators and teachers of color and white administrators and white teachers with students of color. Talking to school security guards gives me the inside scoop on racial disparities in suspension, both in and out of school. Students of color are suspended at higher rates than white students nationally. According to Jim, when Caucasian students are caught with drugs, the response carries no punishment because their parents may be on the Board of Education, district employees, or lawyers.
Again, to draw a parallel with the racial inequities that exist in institutions, it took me three full years of teaching before I could teach a law elective, even though I enrolled in a criminal justice PhD program. starting in my third year, and for years there was a struggle to achieve equal teaching loads. On the other hand, the white faculty in my department, who are not in a doctoral program, begin their first year teaching law electives. If I can be treated this way as a polite adult, imagine how students are treated. There has been some improvement, but the list of injustices goes on (to be discussed later).
*Name changed.
honest talk
