Just Teach
Just teach.
I taught middle school in the New York City public schools for eleven years. The South Bronx for the first five years, the Upper West Side for the next six.
By the middle of year two, the question started:
“Have you ever thought about going into administration?”
No.
That was my answer from the start. It never changed.
No.
I couldn’t function in a school without being a teacher. It would be torture. I needed to be in a classroom.
I left teaching in 2005. The writing demands were too great. But it wasn’t a difficult decision. Thanks to No Child Left Behind. Testing had taken over. The classroom was no longer about creativity. It was about test scores.
But I needed to teach. I couldn’t just write. So I started doing author visits. Lots of author visits. Elementary schools. Middle schools. I began conducting “Writing Camps.” A way to teach creatively in the face of education gone awry.
Then I started taking teens down to New Orleans. Volunteers. We helped the citizens recover from Hurricane Katrina. Community development. Real world learning. Real world teaching.
I formed an organization. The NOLA Tree. A means to do more. A beautiful achievement. Made a difference. No doubt.
But instead of just taking teens down to New Orleans, I was also running an organization.
“Have you ever thought about going into administration?”
No.
But suddenly, I was. An administrator. It didn’t work. Inconsistent objectives. Divergent processes. I couldn’t teach. I was right. It was a torture.
This week, I left The NOLA Tree.
I write for kids. I want kids to like my books. I want kids to learn from books. I write for teachers. I want teachers to be able to use my books as vehicles for learning. I write for parents. So they can share the joy of reading. With their kids.
Teach. Learn. Like the tattoo says.
Just teach.
I taught middle school in the New York City public schools for eleven years. The South Bronx for the first five years, the Upper West Side for the next six.
By the middle of year two, the question started:
“Have you ever thought about going into administration?”
No.
That was my answer from the start. It never changed.
No.
I couldn’t function in a school without being a teacher. It would be torture. I needed to be in a classroom.
I left teaching in 2005. The writing demands were too great. But it wasn’t a difficult decision. Thanks to No Child Left Behind. Testing had taken over. The classroom was no longer about creativity. It was about test scores.
But I needed to teach. I couldn’t just write. So I started doing author visits. Lots of author visits. Elementary schools. Middle schools. I began conducting “Writing Camps.” A way to teach creatively in the face of education gone awry.
Then I started taking teens down to New Orleans. Volunteers. We helped the citizens recover from Hurricane Katrina. Community development. Real world learning. Real world teaching.
I formed an organization. The NOLA Tree. A means to do more. A beautiful achievement. Made a difference. No doubt.
But instead of just taking teens down to New Orleans, I was also running an organization.
“Have you ever thought about going into administration?”
No.
But suddenly, I was. An administrator. It didn’t work. Inconsistent objectives. Divergent processes. I couldn’t teach. I was right. It was a torture.
This week, I left The NOLA Tree.
I write for kids. I want kids to like my books. I want kids to learn from books. I write for teachers. I want teachers to be able to use my books as vehicles for learning. I write for parents. So they can share the joy of reading. With their kids.
Teach. Learn. Like the tattoo says.
Just teach.