There are a lot of reasons to quit this job. Kate did. I don’t blame her. But of all the reasons to quit this job, the three best are depression, humiliation and rage. A freshman turns in the homework. I look at his t-shirt, and see a disarming photo of a nice looking young man. …
This is not the poorest school I’ve ever taught in. Nor the most disorganized. Nor my first all Black school — I taught in the West Indies. But it is poor, disorganized, and located in my hometown. By far, these are not the worst discipline problems I’ve encountered. (I taught in a school for the …
A word about my prejudices. I’m a teacher of history and English; I know little about math and science; therefore, my list is geared toward the humanities. Many works are chosen as representative of an entire class of literature. Only one work is given for each author. For the sake of brevity, these works are entirely …
I got a call from the school’s front office. I haven’t fed the box. Actually, to be exact, I haven’t fed the box the right pieces of paper. How did I know anyone would read the box? The box is the storage bin for our lesson plans. These lesson plans take hours to create. …
I couldn’t make this up. I love this job. At the end of work on Monday, we’re told that “there will be a faculty meeting after school for fifteen minutes.” True to their word, it only took fifteen minutes to tell us that downtown just mandated yet another standardized test. This one test will …
My vice-principal is smart, charming and crazy. She’s pretty in that southern big haired sort of way. I have on any number of occasions found her helpful and insightful. Those would be the times I don’t want to strangle her. I am no diagnostician, but I believe her to be both narcissistic and borderline. She …
Samantha got locked in her classroom with thirty-three students. Since most of the janitors have been laid off as a cost-saving device, it was hard to find anyone who knew what to do. Aside from that thirty-four folks instantly needing to pee, Samantha’s problem was that her class was like an annual plenary session of …
Today is the last day of school. I planned on getting some pizzas delivered to my classroom. A gift for my students. But not a single pizza place will deliver to our neighborhood. Not one. I really feel bad about this. I explain it to the kids. They understand. But I’m still hurt. I say, …