A New York City Teaching Experience

Over the past two years, I've in many ways sat on the outside of the New York City Public Education System looking at it with an observer's lens. As a graduate student in a traditional certification/masters program, I student taught in a variety of New York City schools, with much of the diversity of my experience stemming from fortuitous happenings and personal action rather than my graduate educational program's intention. In my last semester of my masters program, I did not have to student teach, so I took a job as a research assistant working on a study of an intervention program at several inner city schools in Brooklyn and started substitute teaching in several inner city schools in Brooklyn as well. To say a few days ago that I was ignorant of the realities of the inner city schools located in the borough of Brooklyn, most especially those realities as contrasted by student teaching experiences in urban schools in Brooklyn closer to Manhattan and an upper west side public school, would be far from true...or so I thought. It wasn't confidence in what I had observed and also experienced that set me up for a bit of shock on my first day in the hallways of the school I plan to start my teaching career in but rather my lens. I had heard about principals leaving schools, assistant principals leaving schools, and high faculty and staff turn over in the inner city public schools, but I didn't think the school I ended up in would throw all of these things at me on the first day I got to spend in my classroom and get myself set up for the year! So it goes.

For the past two years as a graduate student and part-time educator, my experience has been just that, part-time. The residue of that which was fluttering around me was data for me to ponder, but didn't feel like data that immediately affected me. While I want to hold on to my researcher/observer lens, as I know it is what makes me critical of myself and the system that I am within, I realize that as a new teacher, much of my reflection must come from my practice and really processing what I am doing and what I am living; and how, most importantly, this affects my students and school community. So, a new principal, a new assistant principal, a new literacy coach, new faculty and staff members, declining enrollment, minimal discussion around academic planning: this is what I'm experiencing right now.

What I am hoping in blogging my New York City teaching experience in an inner city public elementary school is that I can offer my story, give myself an opportunity to process my story, and create a forum around my writing in which folks who connect with it either in practice or in reading the news or otherwise can dialogue. All schools are important institutions that deserve significant attention. My hope is that in providing the a story from the largest public school system in the United States, a system that serves over one million students, we might all feel connected to this microcosm of the larger public educational institution in the United States.

Today, I am writing because I was not allowed in the school to sort the mess that is my classroom. No teachers were allowed in the school today: something about an administrator's planning day. Technically, no teachers are even supposed to be in the school under our UFT contract. It's okay. I'm planning to teach and planning to troubleshoot the system. I'm thinking about how once the dust settles, so long as it does even just a bit, things will be fine. I'm not worried, though I think that my writing such a decently long piece to introduce myself and my blog shows some signs of anxiety. Then again, some anxiety is actually good for performance.

Anywho, my goal is to introduce my situation further as much as I can and to initiate a practical use of sharing such through dialogue with those who find my writings relevant to their own teaching or interests. Please feel free to respond in open forum or email with any questions or follow up to this post and future ones. Again, my hope is that this might be useful, even if it's just to keep folks informed on a story about a new New York City school teacher so that it might allow them to have some perspective on things.

Thanks for reading! Good luck to all of those getting yourselves settled in this week, especially if you are sorting through a classroom that's bruised and battered and in need of some tender, love, and care! I'll be writing more soon!