Teacher’s Assistant

 

I have very good news. After three months of searching, I started a job in late November as a long-term teacher’s assistant at a charter elementary school in the Bronx. The assistant principal (AP) who hired me told me that my primary responsibility is to help one student. Eventually, this student won’t need my help, and the AP said there’s plenty of work for me here as a roving substitute or tutor. The student has had some severe behavioral problems, occasionally violent and often defiant. She has wide emotional swings, sometimes breaking out crying spontaneously.

I enjoy the work very much. I feel honored that the school expects me to be capable of doing this. I don’t even understand how they knew anything about me. In my work with the student, I’m getting results that none of the other teachers has gotten. My student is improving in reading, writing, math, and in her behavior. I’ve developed a relationship with her, and she trusts me and listens to me. I don’t know her story, but it’s clear she is traumatized. She’s six years old. I told her that eventually, she will work alongside all of her classmates and will keep up with the work. I said that rather than throwing her papers on the floor, rather than getting up out of her seat as she often does, she will be behaving like the rest. She asked me, “Do you really believe that?” It could break my heart that she asked that, but given her delayed language development, I’m impressed she formed that sentence. She is bilingual and has some other speech development delays, and every so often, she does things that are quite impressive.   

The AP said that she took some liberty in hiring me, paying me higher than the rate for paraprofessionals. “We have to educate every student.” I’m impressed with her entrepreneurial spirit and risk taking. I’m starting to see how a good charter school can do a better job than a typical public (non-charter) school.

I described my work with the student to an old friend of mine. My friend said, “that’s terrible,” and he sounded troubled. His response made it sound as if the work is an excessive burden. I’m sure it would be for some people. I’m so happy to make a difference in the life of a traumatized child. As Rabbi Shir says, we are all broken. Our job is to repair the world. This is what I’m here for.