No, I am not a 19th Century woman. And perhaps my title is a bit misleading, because I am not going to riding an equine or any other 4 footed creature.
But after a full year off, as a result of moving from a house in Virginia to a life-care community in Pennsylvania, I am going back into the classroom.
Yesterday I went to 440 North Broad Street in Philadelphia, the headquarters of the Philadelphia Public School District. I provide my documents for the I-9 process (proving one is eligible to work in the US0, signed my contract, turned in sealed transcripts to get me placed on the correct salary scale (MA + 30), got my ID (which will now get me discounts at my local Staples for school supplies), got assigned a school district email, and received my school laptop.
I am, at age 79, going back to the role that underlies my user name here.
I am returning to teaching.
The school for which I have been hired is commonly known as AMY NW, which stands for the Academy for the Middle Years Northwest, which is on Ridge Avenue in the Roxborough section of Philadelphia, ust up a steep hill from the Manayunk section along the Schuykill River, As it happens, during my senior year at Haverford College and shortly thereafter I lived about a mile away.
As the name implies, AMY NW is a Middle School. It is a magnet, and it is very small, only about 150 students in grades 6-7-8.
I am the only Social Studies Teacher.
Let me say that again.
I am the only Social Studies Teacher.
I will teach every student in the school, and if I stay there for at least 3 years I will have taught some students for 3 years in a row.
This will be the first time I have taught 6th graders. I began in Middle School, and have over 5 years of middle school experience, in both 7th and 8th.
I will only have a student load of about half of the kids at a time, That is because I will teach that half for two hours / day to give them the equivalent of one year of instruction.
The first semester I will teach 6th (Eastern Hemisphere, primarily Asia and Africa) and 8th (1st half of US History). Second semester I will teach 7th (“World” History).
What will be challenging is I will probably do so without textbooks — the textbooks that are available are very out of date — 6th grade has a copyright date of 2006, 8th of 2005, which means a lot of the material such as tables and charts (and even some maps) is very out of date. In places the books are inaccurate, such as maps showing both Egypt and Saudi Arabia as totally Sunni Muslim when the former is perhaps 10% Christian (mainly Coptic) and is the seat of the origin of Christian monasticism, and the latter, while 90% Muslim (the rest being a mix), perhaps 10% of the population are Shi’a Muslim, and fwiw those mainly live in the regions that produce the oil (which is one of the reasons that the government is so hostile towards Iran). I have discussed this with the principal who hired me and she does not think I need to even issue the textbooks and may be willing to fund some other materials. The school district is in the process of changing how it provides instructional materials, and in the meantime I have already started to scramble to see what I can find online and produce at least class sets of things for my students (as well as the use of other materials, such as videos). Every student will have access to a computer in school which can help. Oh, and they are not allowed to have phones on them during class time, and may be not even during the school day.
Like one school in which I briefly taught in DC, it is a student body that is very much lower income — 100% on Free and Reduced Meals, with our feeding them both breakfast and lunch.
I am probably the oldest new teacher in the school system. And the question for many may be why am I doing this.
It is true that we have incurred expenses beyond what we had expected in moving to our life care community. Several thousand dollars of unexpected veterinary expenses for a now over the rainbow bridge elderly cat that we had adopted 4 years ago, and then having to replace one of our two cars. But we had sufficient resources that we could have made the necessary adjustments with just a little belt tightening.
But I miss being among young people. I know I can still be an effective teacher, and it is perhaps the one way I make te biggest difference in the world: I can inspire young people to see possibilities they may not have considered.
I am giving up the role that as brought me the greatest recognition in the community in which we live, that of being one of the 5 rotating presenters for a weekly zoom on current events, and when I am not the presenter offering comments during the discussion to help clarify some issues. Other than when school is not in session I will not even be able to participate in the discussions. And other roles I could play in the community, such as being on the board (a majority of which are supposed to be Quakers, which I am) are now not possible, at least while I continue to teach, which I expect to do for at least 3 to 4 years and then see.
I have found that it has been being around adolescents that has in some ways kept me younger, in appearance and energy. Yes, I tire more easily, I do need to make sure I get my rest, it will take time and energy to be the kind of teacher I can and must be.
The school is one of the Philly schools closest to where I live — it is about an 8 mile drive.
It rarely has openings — the person I am replacing was just promoted to a district level position.
From when the position was posted to when I was interviewed was only about 4 days, and I received the offer 8th day from the posting going live.
I consider myself lucky to have found this position.
I will from time to time update folks on how it going, especially given what the current national administration is trying to do to public education.
Peace.
