A Day in the Life of a First-Year Teacher

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

There was Once a 22nd Year Teacher Named "Mr. Buchell"...

... he refused to teach his class, made discriminatory comments at his students, read the newspaper in class instead of teaching, had no lesson plan and sent all of his students to me to learn the material he was supposed to teach them. Yeah, that basically sums up my frustration with him right now.To be honest, I think there's something seriously wrong with this man. He has given more than two decades to such a honorable profession and actually had relative SUCCESS in his early years, according to my department chair. Up till this point, his students have literally been bombing the tests (our department gives the same test to every student in the 8th grade to check up on individual teacher practice and to collect testing data). When Miss Gonzalez and I took a look at his test results, we each almost had a heart attack. Yeah, they were that bad. Her classes outperformed his classes by an average of almost 30 percentage points; my classes outperformed his classes by an average of 32 percentage points. Sooo sad!
The sad part is that his students, already far behind for the NYS exams are desperately trying to seek extra help. But in the part of the Bronx where I teach, the parents here can't exactly afford a $45 a hour tutor from Manhattan. These kids want to try and do better for them, but their OWN TEACHER is hindering them from achieving the success and getting the opportunities they deserve.

And this teacher is a 22nd year teacher. You'd think that more experience = better teaching, but that's not the way it goes with Mr. Buchell. And it's more common than you think at my school and at neighboring schools.

Is that what we should be expecting from our educators? From NEW YORK'S BRIGHTEST?!
Lately, this, and the James dilemma (which, btw, is not getting much better after that in school suspension...) has been keeping me up late at night, on phone calls with friends from high school and college (who definitely don't want to hear this formerly happy and super-optimistic person go on and on about why his job is going perfectly) and causing much unnecessary distress.

I think it's just that I care soooo much about ALL inner city students. I genuinely believe that every student can and will learn and be able to lead successful lives. And middle school (especially in the CRUCIAL formative years of 8th and 9th grade) is one of the most crucial times for students in their academic careers. Teachers like Mr. Buchell can forever block a student's drive to learn and motivation to stay in school, and I fear for his kids so much.  I want them to succeed.

Is it fair that his kids have to suffer and my kids and Miss Gonzalez's kids get a fair chance at a high-quality education?

I didn't think so either.

I am now opening my doors to his students if they want to come in to go over material or need someone to talk to about personal matters (or, and most likely, both!). It came after I overheard a good number of my students telling their friends at lunch, "Oh, Mr. Yang is cool! He's tight bro. And he'll help you with anything." I think that as a teacher, it's my duty to help any student that comes and asks. Even though I don't get paid for extra tutoring, I do tutor my own students, so inviting Mr. Buchell's kids in won't really have that much of a difference. Also, some of his students are going to their 6th or 7th grade math teachers for help too, and I think I may have successfully convinced Miss Gonzalez to do the same today at lunch.

Together we can make a difference on Mr. Buchell's kids too. I know (and maybe it's my own personal drive... but I'm sure many teachers in NYC and in the world do too) that when teachers are truly dedicated to helping students realize what's out there for them and truly invested in closing the achievement gap, anything can happen.

Even if they aren't your students.

Even if you don't get paid a single penny for all your help.

Even though they are a good 5 months behind (which his kids are...).

I think I, a 21-year old first year teacher, may have outsmarted Mr. Buchell, a twenty-second year tenured teacher today. That's something most people don't get to say.

That really captures my days as one of "New York's Brightest" this month.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for lots more this year!

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