Anita Sagar

Everyone tells you about "Aha!" moments. You know, the ones where you are up there teaching and suddenly a student who may have been struggling with the content finally gets it? Teachers use exit slips, bell ringers, and whiteboards just to get students to show they understand; that they get it! What people forget to tell you is that you will "get it" when you least expect it.

"Rough" was an understatement to describe my first year of teaching. I was in a school in Washington, DC with exactly six weeks of teaching experience through an alternative teaching certification program. Ready to recreate the movie, "Freedom Writers," I walked into my resource classroom, on day one, with my field book and every motivational poster I could find; thinking, "how intense could my assigned course, Intensive Reading Intervention, really be?" Unlike the movie, I got eight students ranging from kindergarten to fourth grade reading levels, sitting on desks and wondering where their old teacher was. It was here that I met Tai. She towered over me by at least five inches and had attitude to boot. She had, what seemed to be, very little interest in me wasting her time teaching her how to read and felt the need to express it during every class. Within the first two months I was cursed at, had a desk flipped, broke up two fights, tore up seven pairs of hose, and tore through eight bottles of wine.

As fate would have it, I started a glorious Monday morning with another pair of torn hosiery and Tai in top form. She had gotten into a fight with her boyfriend and chose to replay it word for word throughout class as I tried to teach, for the 3rd time that week, digraphs. Have you ever heard of consonant digraphs? We use them all the time. Consonant digraphs are two (or three) letters that come together to make one sound; Words that have -sh, -tch, -sh, -wh, -th, -ch are all digraphs.

Since I was teaching from a prescribed reading intervention program, we had a script and explicit directions for the students to learn the various techniques. In this case, after I introduced a word, the students would write it down on their paper, and then underline the digraph. So, the word "PUSH" would be written, "PUSH." I had spent class upon class on this one concept and was in the midst of losing my patience because Tai refused to take part or show that she "got it." On days one, two, and three she stared at the board or doodled on her paper. Today, on day four, she decided to give a theatrical rendition of her lover's spat.

On the verge of a breakdown, I asked Tai to step out and wait for me at the door so I could "deal with her later" (mistake number 1). As she stepped out in the hall, by the door, I turned my back (mistake number 2) and finished my lesson and got my other students to begin independent work. When I walked out, Tai was sitting on the floor, arms crossed, and a look of pure satisfaction was on her face. Teacher instinct, or what little I had after a few months on the job, kicked in and I looked around to see what was amiss. As I looked up, I saw that all 32 (yes, I counted) lockers from the hallway door to my classroom had been sharpied with the word BITCH. Every. Single. One. As I simultaneously contemplated what I would do without a job, when I obviously got fired and tried to come up with disciplinary words for Tai, all I could muster was, "do you want to explain this to me?!" In the calmest voice I had heard all year, Tai said, "you said for us to write a word that had a digraph, right?" as she calmly underlined the "ch" in BITCH.

Moral of the story? Formative assessments are everywhere. Also, invest in pants.

Brianna Phillips2

Ever since I was young, I have always struggled in school. I never enjoyed reading, writing (especially spelling), science, or even recess. At the beginning of second grade I was diagnosed with dyslexia. It became clear to my parents why I detested school so much and why I was always going to the nurse complaining that I was sick. I was neither excelling at nor enjoying school, and like many children who have unresolved learning disabilities, instead of dealing with the problem I decided to avoid it all together. I have struggled with this disability my entire life. In doing so it has prompted me to study and become an excellent special education teacher.

Looking back at my educational history, I realized that if my difficulty had been addressed and if I had received the proper guidance, I would not have struggled through elementary, middle, or part of high school, as much as I did. If someone truly attended to me and was there for my social and psychological needs as well as my dyslexia, I could have had much more success, not only in school but also in life.

Therefore, I believe my role in society is to be that person for children who are struggling from similar conditions. It does not always have to be a learning disability that contributes to a child's dislike of formal education. Psychosomatic, social, and/or physical traumas are all causes that may contribute to a student's discomfort in the classroom. Studying and understanding all of these problems helps teachers to see the child and not the disability. I believe that teachers must be able to identify and take action against all dilemmas that affect the lives of their students.

Education is in a postmodern era. The demographics of American society have changed dramatically, and many more children from single parent families are being raised by single working mothers. In the words of Robert Jay Lifton (1993), schools need to act as "protean culture." They need to change and be re-shaped to fit current trends. If there are problems at home and a parent is not there to help out, then the school should provide services for that individual as a replacement. If schools can provide a calm, secure, and educationally rich milieu for the child, then the student will be capable of applying him or herself effectively in the classroom. As a teacher, I want to provide stable and reliable...