Teaching the Public

Forward

I am a second generation educator who has chosen to stay in the classroom. That is where my soul is redeemed and where I make a difference.  Children, their minds, and their promise, is one of few things I find worthy of passionate discourse.  But first, we need to understand that there are no absolutes, save the numbers.  Our interpretation of the numbers, our experiences, and our hopes are worthy of engagement.  

This spirited essay is intended for multiple audiences.  I never really intended to write a book, but I started pulling on a thread and this is the result. I wrote this for the average citizen so that they can engage in the difficult work of exploring what teaching and learning means for them and their community.  If you are looking for simple answers, there will be no shelter here. I wrote this for educators and future educators, as our work means everything and our collective rites of passage must be celebrated.  I wrote this for lifelong learners, as curiosity is a cherished quality, and learners better than others, understand the quest.

I firmly believe privatization of our public institutions is a money grab, pure and simple. Privateers are those who seek to acquire public infrastructure and obtain the vast wealth of public expenditure on is our most valuable resource, public education.   I argue that there is a very powerful group of individuals who seek to undermine public education at the expense of the citizenry, for financial gain, and because they feel they know better than educators.   

As I forge a contract with my students at the beginning of each school year, I ask that you forge one with me.  If you remain open-minded, then I will do my very best to provide careful, rigorous insight from my journey as a teacher.  

So let me tell you my story intertwined with Maria’s story, which will shed light on the nature of teaching and learning. Maria is an amalgam of many of the young female students of color struggling through public education amidst poverty, racism, cultural norms, and my own shortcomings as a teacher.  I took their pros and thoughts from notebooks and memories I acquired along the way. Maria is strong, self-aware, curious about her world, and completely in touch with how challenging it is to be her.  I admire my young “teachers” and am better for knowing them.  I hope you hear their voices through the journal entries and conversations that occurred in my classroom over a twenty-year period.