Confessions of a Former School Teacher, Part 7

Rule #8: Honesty Really is the Best Policy

I decided during my maternity leave with Isaiah that it was time to make a change. I would put in my applications at a few local private and charter schools to be a teacher. I didn't have my teaching license yet, but it was in progress, and I knew I could maybe get a job somewhere other than a public school. I was offered my first teaching job when Isaiah was just four months old. He wasn't even sleeping through the night yet. The con to this new career was that I'd be expected to teach all day (with no experience,mind you), and go to school two nights a week. Factor in grading, my own homework and a new baby- I was probably crazy for not returning to my office job! The pro of this situation though was that I could become a teacher while getting paid to be a teacher-most wannabe teachers have to student teach, with no income.

My first two days of teaching were pretty great, I was a natural... But then the third day came. The third graders were rowdy, rude and wouldn't listen. The fourth day was similar. I was thisclose to begging for my old job back. Now books will tell you all kinds of tips for being a new teacher. Be calm, be tough, never admit you're new. Bologna. The end of my first week I had a "chat" with my class. I told them they were wonderful the first two days, but awful the next few. I told them what I expected from them. I told them I was new, and perhaps it had been a mistake to become their teacher. The good thing about younger kids is that they were already getting attached to me (you spend all day with the same teacher!). They wanted me to stay. We came to an agreement- I'd be there for them and I'd be honest with them, but in return I needed respect. The next week I began Respect Boot Camp with my class. They earned individual rewards for acting respectfully, but they also earned a class party when everyone reached the goal. It took a few months of us focusing on behaviors I needed from them to earn that party, and there were a few stragglers that needed some positive peer pressure, but by the end of the year I was proud to hand that class to anyone. It took me being brutally honest with them to accomplish this.

The second year I taught third grade, I also taught one period of middle school science. They were a tough class, but I expected a lot from them. I'll never forget the day that an angry mother bypassed our office after school and came to yell at me. "Why is my son failing your class?" she yelled. Let me tell you, this woman was ready for a fight, but I stayed calm (it's hard to yell when no one is yelling back I find). "He hasn't turned anything in to me," I said. Well, Angry Mother proceeded to tell me that her son did homework every night while up in his room, and that I should just take her word for it. "Would you take my word for it that angry leprechauns stole two of my purple socks today?" I said..... In my head. I wanted to say it out-loud, but I needed to still have a job the next day. What I did say was, "I'm sorry, I can't grade something I haven't seen." Our discussion continued for a bit, and I made the audacious request that if she wanted to know her son was actually doing homework that he do it at the kitchen table instead of behind the closed door of a room that had an XBox. She was still furious. I actually got told by my boss (oh did we have a liking problem!) the next day that it looked bad to fail this kid. I responded to this by saying,"I'm sorry, but I find it would be unethical to give this kid a grade when I haven't been able to evaluate any of his work." Two things here: 1) bosses hate the implication they are asking for anything that is not ethically proper (even if they are), and 2) it's important to stick to your guns and tell the truth. That boy spent his lunches for the next two weeks making up assignments for my class.