A new Oakland teacher, no longer new
I’ve got half the class laughing at a short, overzealous attempt at direct instruction. I had just broken up a fight in the hallway, then comforted a crying teenage girl (don’t let that drama steal your future!). My students struggle with sitting still for more than two minutes, but here they are composing position papers on the Divine Right of Kings. I love my job — even with the headaches that come with it.Time has certainly passed quickly since Ifirst started in Oakland. I was placed as a social studies teacher at Explore Middle School with the help of Oakland City Teacher Corps, (OCTC).
It’s funny: At the training program they ran for us, accountability and teacher retention were repeated ad nauseam. I was brought in from Cleveland, Ohio to help a district that desperately needed highly qualified, committed teachers. So why, then, was I hired on a temporary contract? In my ignorance and naivety, I
