Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The Threshold of Revelation | toteachornototeach

The Threshold of Revelation | toteachornototeach:


The Threshold of Revelation

The Threshold of Revelation
beatbreakersi_jc_093
by Christian Clarke
I teach English at the Bronx Academy of Letters. It’s a small school and I’ve been there for eight years.
When I arrived the school was just two years old, a colt still getting its legs. But what a colt it was! Unlike the aging, sclerotic East New York middle schools where I began my career, Bronx Letters had inspiring leadership and young, bright teachers. It offered a sense of hope and was a place where dedicated teachers could see a splendid return on their investment of blood, sweat and tears.
Back then the theater program was palsied. The directors were working artists brought in from the outside. Rehearsals were poorly attended, the plays limply executed. Half the cast was still memorizing their parts on