Student Moments to Remember

I was thinking today that I need to start writing down some of the brilliant moments I'm having in the classroom.

First thing happened a few weeks ago. I make some cheesy joke like the ones I'm always making, probably something about me being a big English dork. Joey P. chuckles at my nerdiness, looks up at me, and says, "Ms. G., do you ever watch The Office?" I have never been so flattered in my life. I pretend to be offended and ask, "I love it, but WHY? Are you saying my humor reminds you of Michael Scott or something?" As he started to react defensively, I laughed and said, "I'm just kidding! I'm SO thrilled you asked me that. Even if I DO remind you of Michael himself, no one could ever compliment me any better than by saying I remind them in any way of that show..."

Second thing happened last night. I had to go to BTSA, or SHITSA as my English department chair tells me her daughter calls it, the new teacher induction program of redundancy that California makes new teachers attend for four hours every other week. We were focusing on cultural/gender/religious/racial bias with the 200 nameless other new district teachers in some elementary school's crummy auditorium. After reading some cheesy Chicken Soup for the Soul stories about teachers who looked beyond the labels others place on their students, they told us we needed to start opening up and sharing our own feelings. They had four corners labeled accordingly:

1) Gender/Sex/Sexual Orientation

2) Race/Ethnicity/Culture

3) Class/Socioeconmic Status/Level of Education

4) Religion/Morality

We were told we would be asked questions and have to make one of the four choices. When we arrived in the corner, we were asked to talk to others around us who made the same decision about why we made that choice. You know, forcing us to talk about the main things people usually avoid in dinner conversation... Sound like an episode of The Office yet? I immediately wanted to describe the scenario to Joey and his class the next day to muster some empathy for my pain.

First question: Which of the four areas do you like to talk about the most?

I went to Class/Socioeconomic status/Level of Education because frankly, I'm tired of talking about gender as a girl who used to be a diehard feminist; I definitely didn't want to mingle with the diehard Christian evangelists from the Orange Curtain; and I didn't really want to be the white girl to say condescendingly that she LOVES racial diversity, even if I do. Thinking about the upcoming elections, I decided class issues are the biggest concerns I feel to be facing our nation and the biggest control factor for student approaches/attitudes toward learning based on a book I read last year, the name of which escapes me right now. Of course it didn't occur to me that a room full of teachers, at our salary, would be there because they like to talk about status and how much they can earn. WTF? I mustered my strength to keep a fake smile on my face as I listened to the superficial kids who grew up in Huntington Beach talk about how hard it is for them to understand the lack of motivation for upward mobility among our student population.

Next question: Which of the four areas influenced your home life growing up most as a child and how did it help/harm you? I thought about going to gender when I thought about how my mom used to make me feel like there were just certain things she felt my brothers could be trusted to do that I couldn't, like early driving and roadtrips for high school graduation, but I decided I couldn't say my parents were very deeply sexist, especially given the role reversal of typical gender roles I see in my family and among my siblings, since Mom supports Dad and I'm the only one as an only girl with a college education and a job that keeps me afloat (albeit only barely) among myself and my two brothers.

Third question: Which of the four areas are you least willing to change about yourself and why? Didn't want to hear what the homophobes had to say in gender/sex/sexuality, so I stayed where I was. Then a woman comes up to me and tells me I'm her son's teacher. And I don't know what to say, because I don't know WHY she's in this corner-- because she loves her religion, like most probably were, or because, like me, she's tired of people trying to convert her to their religious convictions and because my humanist principles are something I hope I will never waver from upholding. I tried to avoid the conversation as long as I could, chatting about the beautiful milagro necklace she had on (milagros, as in miracles that devout Catholics wear on rosaries) from her latest trip to Mexico City, talking about how impressed I am with Max, etc.

Finally, she asked, "So, why did YOU choose this? I myself am here probably for reasons most aren't. You see, I'm a socialist, even I'd say a Communist, and although I believe in God, I just don't understand the passion that people have about joining a congregation and going regularly." HUGE sigh of relief and instant recall of my impulse to comment on Max's Che Guevarra patch on his backpack the day before, which I restrained, not wanting to appear to be the teacher who tries too hard to be cool. Also an instant supercharge of energy and understanding of why I've liked the kid from the first day I met him. Yea-- more kindred spirits...