What They Didn't Tell Me

They said it would be easy.  They said my students are great.  They said I would have a great year.

They said a lot of things, but they didn't tell me:

I wouldn't have room to fit 40 something students in my classroom.
I wouldn't have enough textbooks for my 40 something students.
I wouldn't have lab materials to teach a science lab.
I wouldn't have students that were ready to learn.
I wouldn't have to deal with two rival schools that would be located in the same building.
I wouldn't have to write detentions and suspensions on the first week.
I wouldn't have to worry about having a planning period.
I wouldn't have to prove to my students that I was here to stay.

Despite what they didn't tell me,  will it be easy?  Yes it will.  Are my students great?  Of course they are.  Will this year be great?  It has to be great because I can't afford to have the worst first year ever. Teaching in an inner city public school is something that I have wanted for so long.  I wanted it so badly that I didn't even apply for a teaching position in the suburbs (Don't tell my parents).

People ask me why in the world would you want to work at a school like that and truly I've been asking the same question to myself these days as well.  And the answer is why not?  If I don't teach those kids who will?  We talk about social justice and equal education but some of us never do anything about it.  I wanted to do something about it and thats why I teach.  I teach for  my students who ride the public bus and train everyday through neighborhoods that they have never been to so they can get a chance at an education.  I teach for those students who ask me, "Ms. Patel will you leave us like the other three teachers did last year?"  I teach for those students who I know will rise above their drug and gang consumed societies and do great things.  Because knowing that I was able to help one student overcome the hardships of an urban education outweigh the things that they didn't tell me.

Its going to be a long and challenging journey ahead, but a journey that I am fully prepared to take...

I think.

~ Ms. P