A Teaching Moment

A Teaching MomentHow I chose a career in teaching is a mystery to me at times. I was never a very good student; I was too occupied with pot, pills and pricks to pay much attention to school work and my reputation for being promiscuous was well known around the school. Yet I was able to avoid getting pregnant or busted and graduated with my class. Though my grades and SAT scores weren?t the best they were good enough to get me into a state college where I immediately picked up where I had left off with the partying and the indiscriminate sex. But eventually I had to declare a major and having three months off in the summer time sounded very attractive at the time considering other options thus teaching seemed to be in my future. If I hadn?t slept with a few of my professors and had a lesbian relationship with my student teacher mentor, graduating with a teaching degree might have been in peril. Thankfully I walked across the stage and got my degree along with a mountain of student debt. Teaching jobs were plentiful, bahis siteleri depending on the area and subject, but not having a degree from a prestigious university had me applying to urban schools that didn?t have study bodies with the best reputation. On the plus side they offered bonuses for signing a contract which would certainly help pay off my student loan. So George Washington Carver High School was to be my first attempt at teaching. To say the student body was diverse would be an understatement. The majority of students were Black and I was comfortable with that as I had been involved with Blacks since my early teens. But still, now being a teacher and in a position of authority I felt a bit uneasy. I was no longer one of the gang but an outsider, someone who was now in control as opposed to being controlled like I had been in the past. Needless to say I was in a quandary as how to proceed. Teaching English to a group of freshmen, juniors and seniors isn?t the most exciting subject and most met canlı bahis siteleri it with boredom and apathy. I tried my best to make it interesting and to ?connect? with the students but they not knowing me and me not really knowing them made it challenging. So day after day I went about the tedious task of presenting the curriculum and they seemed oblivious to my efforts. Now besides teaching other duties were expected, such as chaperoning dances, volunteering at school events and working in the dreaded school concession stand during sporting events. It was such an assignment that lead me to make a poor decision that I would later come to regret.Friday night football, the crowds; students, families and an unending appetite for junk food from the concession stand where I was asked to work with some other teachers. This went on for hours until the game was over and the stands had cleared. The cleanup was monumental and it seemed like it took forever but with the end in sight my co-workers, all who were canlı bahis older and had families, wanted to get home so I volunteered to finish cleaning and lock up. Almost another hour and I was done. As I walked to the parking lot to get in my car I spotted a small group of students still hanging out. Some I recognized from my junior and senior classes so I ventured over to say hello. As I approached the air hung heavy with the aroma of marijuana. When they saw me they made no attempt to hide their activity but instead greeted me with smiles. Nonchalantly they asked if I was there to ?bust? them. I casually replied I was a teacher, not a police woman. ?Cool? was their reply. What happened next was to be a milestone in my career. Since it seemed they all had a nice buzz going they thought nothing of asking me if I?d like to take a toke on a joint. Now I was faced with a dilemma, do I say yes to be accepted and one of the crowd, or no with the prospect of being identified as part of the establishment. I was no stranger to pot or partying, and they all were within a couple of years of my age, but, I knew it was ethically wrong where I could lose my job and even face criminal charges. I had to ask myself did I want to connect or disconnect?