PARENTS

Working at a high school in Jackson for my second year in the program is one of the bet decisions I have made for myself while in the program. Last year I was placed in the Delta teaching 7th and 8th graders. I will always be grateful for that experience, but there is absolutely nothing that I miss about it. This year I am teaching high school math, mostly pre-algebra to ninth graders, but it is so much easier and so much more enjoyable than any experience I had last year. The administration is better, the student’s – although, still difficult – are vastly better behaved and more willing to learn, and the community is just more welcoming and easier to become integrated into. The one aspect of the job that continues to surprise and frustrate me, though, is the family.

This past semester I created a project for the final exam. The students had a month to write, type-up, and hand in an encyclopedia of mathematical terms. Of course the majority of my kids turned in nothing. When this happened, I began making some phone calls. One the parents I contacted is a reverend at one of the larger Baptist churches in the community. He is a very nice man and has always seemed very supportive of teachers and educational institutions. When he found out that his son had a project due that had not yet been turned in, he dropped what he was doing an immediately drove to school, pulled his son out of class, took the boy home, placed him in front of the computer, and the encyclopedia was in my hand by the end of the day. That same evening I got e-mail from the father apologizing for his son and asking me to take off points for not having the exam turned in on time so that his son would learn the consequences of not being responsible.

It is such a rare experience in th past two years to have parents be concerned with their son/daughter’s education to the point that they will come to school to take care of it. It is even more rare, though, to have the blame be put on the child instead of the teacher. Too often I have had to listen to parents complain about my high expectations. It’s still unbelievable to me that parents believe that their high school students should not be expected to take responsibility for their actions.

This past semester I had a mother come to the school during my tutorial hour after school because her daughter was assigned detention. The detention was given because the young lady was leading the line and was asked to stop and wait at a certain point in the hallway on the way to lunch. The young lady kept talking and walking, while the students who were listening stopped and waited. The mother was pissed at me for treating her daughter like she was in Kindergarten. When I told her mother that a kindergartener would know how to listen to directions, she was really pissed. She actually said to me, “ If it wasn’t for people like me having kids, you wouldn’t have a job.”

How do you respond to that?

Favorite Student Story

It’s so hard to admit that I have favorite students – it just doesn’t seem fair. But, there are those students that I enjoy seeing more than others. This year I have a lot more favorites, and the ones that are actually rare are those that I don’t want to see (of course, they still exist).

There is a young man in one of my Pre-Algebra classes named D’Undra. When I first met him he was very quiet and soft spoken. Looking at him you can tell that he is not very up-to-date on the latest fashions or trends. He certainly tries to dress hip, but he never really succeeds. Looking at him, though, my heart just melts. He has one of those physical personas that makes you love him, but just feel sorry for him. I always want so badly to compliment everything he does as an effort to make him feel better and to make him feel more accepted – however, I usually catch myself – as the teacher, my compliments mean something different than a peer’s. Everything about D’Undra just adds to the adorable, but pitiful presence that his physical style exudes. He has terrible handwriting, is extremely klutzy, and misplaces everything. I love him so much, but at the beginning all I did was worry.

When I first met him I thought for sure that he would struggle throughout the math class, and would be lucky to pass with a 70. His grandmother called me early on in the school year to ask about calculators and tutoring. When we spoke on the phone she told me that D’Undra struggled with every subject but that she was spending the money to place him in an after school tutoring center, hoping that it would help bring up his grades. After 5 weeks of school it was time for all teachers to send out progress reports. Needless to say, I was shocked when D’Undra had the best grade in my class – and I don’t mean just his block, but out of all the pre-algebra students, his score was the highest. I almost started crying when I realized what a great job he was doing.

The day before progress reports were being handed out I couldn’t wait to deliver the news, so I called D’Undra’s grandmother and told her about D’Undra’s success. She was overwhelmed and was literally laughing so loud that it sounded like yelling. I asked her not to tell D’Undra because I wanted to see his expression at school when he found out. His smile was perfect! I have never felt better about being a teacher. Every bad day teaching was worth it after getting to see D’Undra’s face. He told me that day, “ I have never been able to learn math, but you teach it so easy.”