The Path [A Reflection On My Tenth Year of Teaching]
My taxi was driving down Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles, a warm breeze with my windows down, a contrast from what felt like fall weather that fell upon New York before I left. Outside of Google Maps, I couldn’t verify whether the car was going in the right direction because it was my first time in LA proper, an oversight I corrected this past weekend. On my way to the United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA) building for a community event, I happened upon this picture:
LA is world renown for its open walls where artists craft extensive murals like this. Of course, this specific mural sang to me. To the right in the mural is the late Jaime Escalante, at one time considered the greatest teacher in the country. To the left, Edward James Olmos, world-renown actor who played Escalante in the movie Stand and Deliver (1988). I’ve met Olmos, never Escalante, though I and millions of us felt like we met Escalante through Olmos.
Between the time it took to see this mural and getting to the event, I had enough time to remember that I never reflected on the last school year. Perhaps with good reason.
This last year was tough. I wrote about the overarching themes here, but I didn’t get to mention a The Path [A Reflection On My Tenth Year of Teaching] | The Jose Vilson: