The night before the first day of school

 



Today is Monday, July 4. Tomorrow, I start student teaching at a school I admire very much. The faculty and staff might be somewhat different from those I met on the two occasions I visited. The first occasion was an event that the NYC Teaching Fellows and the Bronx recruiting office of the NYC Department of Education (DOE) ran. They offered tours of several schools. I visit four, and they all impressed me for various reasons. At this particular school, I went back for a demo lesson and an interview. I didn’t end up getting an offer there but they gave me very useful feedback which I will use in my upcoming interviews.


In other words, I’ll be at this school only through the end of August. By then, I should have an offer from another school. The other will also be in the Bronx, since I have made a commitment to teach in the Bronx for at least two years. Thereafter I can move to another job. This is in exchange for the support I get from NYC Teaching Fellows. And who knows: I might find myself in a place where I feel I’m making a difference and I will want to stay.


I don’t know much about what I will do starting tomorrow. But I am assured I will get a lot of guidance. There are people at many levels to guide and mentor all of us Fellows.


Speaking of mentoring, I should mention a bit about the two weeks that just ended. I was in a class with about 16 other fellows, all at the same point I’m at. We were spread around The City and met over zoom. Our teacher joined the fellowship program several years ago. I don’t remember exactly how long he has been teaching; I think it is about 15  years. He’s very energetic and mind-blowingly encouraging by nature. He may have picked up that aspect of his nature while teaching, or maybe he has always had it. Either way, I will use it as inspiration, as I think it’s a good way to inspire young people. He normally teaches Chemistry in high school. He didn’t say so explicitly, but he implied in many ways that teaching is a performative art. I have plenty of experience performing music and a bit of drama. I know what it is to perform and learn from it in order to perform better next time, so I’m looking forward to this kind of learning. It’s scary that I have the responsibility of young students as I learn, so I must try not to damage them or even bore them too much.


Comments

  1. DebJuly 7, 2022 at 10:21 PM

    I love thinking of you teaching over there. All the very best!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tom ReingoldJuly 12, 2022 at 10:18 PM

      Thanks for writing. I think of you often. Please send me an email. I'm at tom@noglider.com

      Delete

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