Foreword

A little over a year ago, I was sitting in my middle school alternative education classroom during the last period watching in complete shock the events taking place and unable to do a thing.(Alternative schools are places students are sent when their home schools decide that they are too much to handle, even though I've seen similar behavior from"average" students in a "normal" setting.) A 14-year old girl was doing what should have been unthinkable in front of a group of boys with me looking on. I was told earlier that week: "We’re tired of Antonia too. If we can get five days of documented good behavior, we can send her back." My hands were tied. Everyone involved had enough of her so I was forced to tolerate any antics she could devise for one entire week to send her on her way. This type of incident has become common in many public schools. Instead of acknowledging a problem so a solution can be found, ignore it, play denial, and even cover it up so the problem will hopefully move on.

I went home feeling distraught and restless. I asked myself how I could ever be caught in such a situation. After a sleepless night it came to me: numerous teachers are placed in situations that society knows nothing about and many people would be outraged if they found out. That is a reason I decided to write this book. I started writing but didn’t get far. Between the pressures of being a mom, being pregnant at the time, and still teaching, I was overwhelmed and was forced to put my project on hold.

Schools have become a brutal place. Over the course of the past few years, there have been numerous fatal shootings in the public schools, the last being fifteen people killed and numerous wounded in a Littleton, Colorado high school. Over the past year, similar incidents have occurred in Oregon, Texas, Pennsylvania, and Arkansas among others. Violence is becoming so commonplace that it isn’t always hitting the front page anymore and some people are beginning to look at it as one more thing that must be accepted in our society gone bad. Many students, on the other hand, are seeing violence as a way to launch themselves into the spotlight and are copying these horrendous acts.

In every act of school violence that has occurred over the past few years, the students involved declared ahead of time that he was considering the act but nobody took him seriously or he was ignored. A comedian I watched on T.V. recently said, "The big difference between our society now and years ago is before, when a person acted strange or said strange things, people would pay attention and stay away, warn their children of him or even report him to the authorities. Now, they just say, "Don’t pay attention to him, that’s just Johnny talking silly again." Granted, we don’t want to ostracize people for personal peculiarities, but it is definitely in everyone’s best interest if we do start taking notice.

Many schools have done their part to ignore the problem or even deny that problems exist. Many times, I have been rebuked for writing referrals for "idle threats", and have been reprimanded for writing up too many kids even though every one was for a valid reason. Now, schools are beginning to take notice, no longer looking at every threat as idle, and are on guard for deviant behavior. My questions are: why has this not been common practice all along and why has such behavior ever been ignored?

There has been many distressing statistics and news concerning schools in recent years. It was reported that "Violence in middle and high schools is at an all-time high,"and "More children are now carrying weapons to school than ever before." A study did not have to be conducted to discover this. You can talk to anyone who works in our schools and discover the same thing. It is also reported that "Some schools are cutting recess because administrators believe it is a waste of time," "Schools are reducing the amount of classes in high schools to ease stretched budgets," and "Within the next few years there will be critical shortages of teachers throughout the country." These things don’t add up.

Our society often expects teachers to be miracle workers. In some cases, a teacher can take a disadvantaged child and help him change his life around by giving him a fresh start or being a good example amongst the bad. More and more commonplace, however, are situations which teachers and society appear to be fighting losing battles.

I have great respect for many teachers who have taught me and whom I have met as colleagues. Teachers are generally well-educated, respected little, paid meagerly to conquer the world one student at a time, carefully and sometimes unjustly scrutinized by people who have no idea what they face from one day to the next, given outrageous amounts of paperwork to be "accountable", and when things go wrong, teachers often get the blame. Just this morning, a local news station showed a special report on teachers leaving their profession because of the violence in today’s schools. According to it, 60% of new teachers leave within five years. As one polished teacher stated: "I am scared to discipline my students anymore. You never know when you might get shot by the student himself or if the parent will slap a lawsuit on you for being too rough."

Also today by coincidence, my local teacher’s union sent out a notice to all teachers. It read:

Last year, your certificate and a satisfactory evaluation meant you kept your job.

NOT THIS YEAR! The rules changed. Non-members have no chance of saving their jobs. Members have the help from us with them as we fight this change.

Last year, teachers falsely accused by students were kept on payroll until charges were fully resolved. NOT THIS YEAR!

Anyaccusation resulted in "non-renewal", (meaning you’ve just lost your job),you have no hearing, no due process, no representation UNLESS you are a member.

Because of my choice to become a teacher, I have gone into debt, been isolated from my family, have moved half-way across the country, have taught in more places than I care to think about, and have had many sleepless nights. Don’t take this the wrong way: I enjoy teaching and would not have chosen another profession if given the chance to go back. I have learned many things, met many people, and in a few cases have felt as though I made a real, positive difference in a child's life.

Our society is in an uproar over today's social crisis, not only taking place in the schools but as a whole. Students are continuing to drop out at alarming rates, the United States continues to trail other countries in being prepared for the technological society of the future, drugs are still a major problem, gangs and gang violence has become an on-going problem throughout the United States, and teen violence is at an all-time high with more hideous crimes being committed all the time. Most people are shocked at how such things could happen. What people need to do is take a good look at what is happening in our schools. The playground and classroom are turning in to battlefields with the allies very close to putting up the white flag.

Everyday, teachers come face to face with drug abusers, gang members, prostitutes, and all members of our adolescent society gone awry. What’s worse, these children are becoming younger all the time. While I taught at a detention center, I saw children as young as eight years old who were adjudicated for such crimes as armed robbery and attempted murder. Teachers cannot always help these children or make a real difference in their lives, not that they don't make a valiant effort 180 days of the year.

I am not writing to praise teachers or to put down every student in the schools. I have known my share of teachers who should have never been granted a certificate. Also, the students who want to learn and can be reached are the reason anyone who chooses education as a career gets in to the profession to begin with, and good-mannered, teachable students still outnumber the others. Teachers who stay for any length of time are eternal optimists and the children who can be reached make up for the ones who can’t.

Hillary Rodham Clinton published a book titled It Takes a Village. In it, she states that our children are inextricably intertwined with the society in which they live and that all people and facets society: parents, teachers, social workers, government officials, businesses.......must do their part to support and bring up our children to become responsible, caring, productive adults. People need to stop passing the buck and the blame and work together for the children.

My purpose for writing this is to show what it is really like inside the classroom - my classroom, and to offer insights of how we can work on raising our children, not because of any studies I’ve done or surveys I’ve taken, but from what I have gained from working with the children themselves. My classrooms have never been ideal, but I have had those moments that make teaching worthwhile. I have also had my share of times that have led me to seek alternative employment. I want to let you know what teaching children in these days and times is really like and be a consolation and possible inspiration to teachers who go through experiences similar to mine everyday.

A teacher's dream come true.

Book Forward
Chapter4
Resume'
Student Survey