Thursday, April 11, 2013

I Hope She Can Be The Teacher She Thought I Was



I was cleaning up some old papers yesterday and came across this card from a former student.  Just reading it made me smile. 

The student who wrote this got interested in teaching when I asked her to tutor a young algebra student I met in the library.  She worked with this girl all year and it was rewarding for both.  The girl did well and this student ended up going to college to become a teacher.  She is currently teaching math in a middle school in Westchester.

I hope the school she is teaching in is one like the one I taught in when she was in my class.  I hope it is a school that allows and encourages nurturing, where emphasis is on teaching, not test scores.  I hope it is not a school where the AP insists on idiotic methods like left hand, right hand raising and writes insane memos to the staff.  I hope it is not a school where the teacher is always wrong unless that teacher is one of the AP's chosen ones.

I hope I really was as good as her words say but I have my doubts.  I know if the administrators in the school she works in permit it, she will be the teacher she describes.

3 comments:

Robert Rendo said...

This was a powerful piece, and a depature from your wry, biting sense of humor.

The student's comments on you are also something that does not and should not get measured, yet it is a narrative that goes unreported to the state.

The state does not care about the narratives that lead up to numbers; it only looks at the number.

Congratulations to you for receiving such a lovely note from your student.

You should send a copy to your former "bitchy chiuaua" administrator. . . .

Anonymous said...

I don't tink you understand Robert. It is not the lives that Ms. Pissed Off touched but rather if she taught transposing or not-that is what makes a GREAT teacher!!

Pissedoffteacher said...

Robert--thanks for kind words.

Anonymous--you must know my former AP! I didn't teach transposing and it is obvious what he thought of me.