Disconnections (Yang)
(I am writing two posts on disconnections, which are meant to be read in tandem. The other is here.)
The most jarring experience I have on a regular basis is the trip I take into the virtual world of education bloggers and tweeters.
Most days, I take leave of my physical presence on the 2 train or in my apartment, and enter a conversation with thousands of teachers and other education-minded folks around the world. It’s usually a thought-provoking conversation, but sometimes when I enter back to the reality of my Bronx school and classroom, the distance
Disconnections (Yin)
(I am writing two posts on disconnections, which are meant to be read in tandem. The other is here.)
The most jarring experience I have on a regular basis is the 70 minute trip I take once a month from my school in the North Bronx down the UFT headquarters in Downtown Manhattan.
I start on the fourth floor of my school, go down a stairwell that, by the end of the day, is often filled with food, condoms, or fresh graffiti, and head out to Gun Hill Rd. Across the street, I see an entire city block of shops that have been boarded up for the five years I’ve been working there, walk about ten minutes past littered filled gutters, past they YB gang that stands daily at the corner of Gun Hill and White Plains to terrorize our students, and take the 2 train.
I emerge from the train nearly an hour later at the Wall St. stop. I walk half a block, only to be met by the stair of
