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Thanks for following me on my journey through the highs and
lows of the international teaching experience in Puerto Rico. I didn't realize that there would be so many cultural
differences that I would have to accommodate when I moved down here. When I told people that I was going to teach overseas,
the standard response was, "Puerto Rico! That's not overseas!" Well, you don't need a six hour trip to get a
culturally different experience.
So in order to follow me, you'll need to take a look at the navigation bar on the left.
Each month of entries will have a different link. Following those links, is the photo album. And absolutely positively
imperative...you must leave comments. But, if you don't, I won't block your IP address from accessing my site.
(or will I??)
one more thing...A few people have left a few comments, but
when I tried to follow the link (in the email message) to respond, Tripod lead me to a bad connection everytime. So,
if you left a comment, thanks. I did read and appreicate it.
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READ THIS FIRST
First things first, lemme tell you how I got here. My
first thoughts of teaching were generated around the new year 2004:
I teach. And I live in Philly. Which means that I'm am constantly reavaluating
if this is all worth it. i wanted to be that dedicated new teacher that vowed not to fail the students that needed me most:
the economically disadvantaged, the music video generation, the consumers, the teenage mothers, the misguided...
but it
was draining. veteran teachers talk about burnout--when you just can't do it anymore. and at the end of my first year of teaching
in North Philly, i realized that there was too much politics and too little support for me to keep 'doing it'. When 158 of
the 162 failing eighth graders walked across the stage in june and beamed that "i did it" smile to their mom and dad sitting
somewhere in the audience, i decided that something was tragically wrong with the education system. and i couldn't do anything
about it.
was this a defeated attitude? probably. but something is desperately wrong when the principal of a middle
school ignores the below basic grades of a whole eighth grade class. what's the point anymore? can these students read? somewhat.
can they calculate the tax on sale price of a pair of jeans? maybe some could. the truth was that these students have zero
respect for education and nothing that i could instill in them in ten months was going to change ten years of false ideals
about life. these kids were looking for the easy way out and i refused to let them have it.
so what happens to the
underappreciated teacher? she leaves. not just the district, or the state, but the country. last summer i decided that this
american way of life didn't support my ideals. this country can destroy the impressionable.
"Advertising has us chasing
cars and clothes, working jobs we hate, so we can buy shit we don't need." Thank you Tyler Durden.
And these students
that I saw everyday, have lost sight of what's important. And i didn't think that i had what it took to get it back for them.
at one of my previous jobs where i provided employability skills to under-advantaged high school drop outs, we had
a coach. someone who would come in once or twice a month and tell us what we were doing wrong (or sometimes what we were doing
right). she told us, "never work harder on someone else's life than they are willing to work on their own." Thank you Ann.
So thanks to Ann and Tyler Durdan have prompted me to flee this country. too many people need work here.
And
so, i started preparing for a teaching job elsewhere.
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