Design Your Dream Teaching Job

Ilana Garon

Reading other participants' posts in this roundtable discussion about hybrid teacher roles, it occurred to me that I was in the minority for not daydreaming about a role that included administrative duties along with regular teaching. While other teachers envisioned roles in school leadership, instructional leadership, or professional development, the role that I envisioned was simply one that would give me more time to talk with the kids one-on-one.

Briefly, I felt guilty about my lack of administrative aspirations; shouldn't I be aiming higher? As a teacher, I'm interested in the effects of policy decisions at the state and national levels, but largely in terms of how they trickle down into my classroom. Though I regularly lament the fact that administrators at every level are out of touch with the realities of day-to-day life in the classroom, my aspirations to join them are pretty limited.

I think much of my reluctance stems from a sketchy vision of how this would actually look in a day-to-day way, particularly in terms of having enough time to incorporate these added roles into an already demanding teaching schedule, not to mention having appropriate planning time, professional development, and compensation for these extra duties. Indeed, the question of how all aspects of these hybrid roles can be balanced (and not involve the teacher-administrators regularly staying late into the night or short-changing some of their obligations) seems to be one that everyone thinks is important. But I haven't seen enough tried and true ways for teachers to simultaneously wear different hats that are replicable on the large scale. There are currently not enough "professional pathways," as Ariel Sacks put it, in place systemwide to allow teachers more flexibility in how they spend their days.

This question is compounded by the fact that small aspects of what would otherwise be administrative roles are, in many school-districts, rolled into teacher-time—without extra compensation and in ways that cut into planning or tutoring time. In NYC schools, these include mandatory outreach to parents (10 calls per week); weekly grade-team meetings, which include analyzing student work in a "target" group of students, trying different strategies, reporting on results, and taking minutes; required assignment of "periodic assessments" grade-wide so as to analyze data; and weekly meetings about top-down instructional changes and curricular alignment. And that's not to mention department meetings.

I suspect that some of these commitments, which are already built into my teaching schedule, overlap with the roles of "instructional committees" or "school-climate committees" or "enrichment committees" that Brooke Peters described as having been implemented at some schools where teachers wear administrative hats. In NYC schools, these commitments come with no extra administrative clout or sense of control over what happens in school leadership—but they do take up my prep periods, leaving students peering plaintively through my doorway wondering when I'll finish my meeting so I can offer them tutoring for their Julius Caesar essays.

In short, I need to see more pathways in place to allow actual hybrid roles for teachers, wherein these added duties represent professional development and growth opportunities—not merely onerous busywork (often designed to comply with some top-down mandate) that ultimately takes away from much-needed time with students.

Ilana Garon is an English teacher at a public high school in the Bronx, N.Y., and holds masters degrees in both English education and fine arts. She is the author of Education Week Teacher's View From the Bronx blog.

Posted by Ilana Garon at 1:41 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Lhisa Almashy

Have you ever bought a new car and then found that, all of a sudden, every car you see on the road is that kind of car? Or sometimes this type of thing happens when people are expecting a child and could swear that, wherever they go, they see pregnant women. Our consciousness is such that we tend to see and experience what we become aware of. The same has been true with my dream teaching job since my initial posting.

Of course, it has been on my mind, and in reading the other posts and comments in this forum, I have felt a sense of camaraderie and connection with my colleagues across the nation. Then this awareness was validated last weekend when a potentially rough day at school went as smooth as could be because I was recognized as a coach on campus. I was substituting at my school's Saturday Success Academy, a program designed to help students pass the state mandated tests in reading and math. As I walked in the room, I was greeted by a group of 9th and 10th graders who certainly didn't want to be in school on a Saturday, much less during spring break. As I geared up for "battle," one of the students shouted "Hey, aren't you the boys varsity soccer coach?" As I told them I was, another girl said "Yeah, my boyfriend is on the JV team. How can he get on varsity?" Within a minute, the whole feeling in the room changed. Suddenly, I was no longer seen as the "sub." I was validated as a coach and therefore worthy of the students' attention. I didn't have to spend the first hour earning their respect. Insteadm I could actually begin to teach them, infusing lessons with humor and life. We actually accomplished quite a bit that day.

So I just experienced what we have been commenting on: living my dream job, which included a hybrid job description combining coaching and teaching. All in all, I have had a renewed sense of hope and dedication to our profession, which all too often can become a quagmire of demoralization and negative rhetoric.

In reading the other posts and comments, I think all of the ideas expressed seem both reasonable and inspirting. So now I have more questions. Why don't teachers' roles change? Why can't they? The one factor that hasn't been elaborated on in this forum is money. Certainly that is a vital element of doing anything new schools, but, for purposes of hypothetical thinking, I don't think it's a bad idea to take that variable out of the equation for the time being. Too often in education, things don't get accomplished because people say there is no money ... and the discussion just ends there.

One of the things I have done my whole life has been to create things. My stepfather always told me to "make it happen, Lhisa." So, whenever I wanted to do something, that was always my bottom line. I had the power to make it happen. As a consequence, I've been a founder, co-founder, and creator of various organizations throughout my life, beginning when I was in high school. I also give seminars to young people on how to create what they want in life.

So, it seems as though we should be able to apply this philosophy to our career situations. Let's look at what we can control and take control of it. If we want to collaborate, let's find a group of teachers who are willing to change the definition of their roles and create pilots within our schools. If such initiatives are successful, as I suspect they would be, then we can take our successes to higher levels. At that point, we may be able to define the financial component of our new hybrid roles.

Certainly there are numerous possibilities that we can create with our colleagues. Teachers are an amazing group of professionals who tend, by definition, to be dedicated to improving education. The hard part is when we are given mandates and told what to do, which sparks pushback. But if we create and control our own mandates, then we can truly help ourselves as well as our students.

Lhisa Almashy is an ESOL teacher at Park Vista High School in Lake Worth, Fla. A 2012 winner of Teaching Tolerance's Cultural Responsive Teaching Award, she has more than 16 years of experience in teaching and administering multicultural programs in her district.

Posted by Lhisa Almashy at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Ariel Sacks

Ilana Garon's first post in this series, entitled, "A New Type of Hybrid Role: Teachers as Life Coaches," caught my attention. It is about teachers coaching students in their social-emotional development, something she'd like to have more time to do without leaving classroom teaching. As Brooke Peters puts it in her recent post, hybrid roles can fill gaps in schools. As these roles become more common, though, how will teachers and school leaders sort through the myriad options to maximize job satisfaction for teachers and serve the needs of the educational context?

When I first saw Ilana's reference to "life coaches," I actually got a picture in my mind of teacher leaders as life or career coaches for other teachers. Let me explain.

In a new educational landscape, full of opportunities for hybrid roles for teachers, flexible school structures, and differentiated professional pathways, teachers would have many more options. With greater options, teachers would have many more career decisions to make that would affect day-to-day and long-term plans. "Should I work on becoming an expert in project-based learning or in collaborating with parents, or should I spend my extra time writing about my teaching practice?," a teacher might ask herself. One's passions would definitely play a key role in such a decision about how to spend one's time, but career opportunities and the needs of the school community would be other influencing factors.

Most of us had a mentor in the beginning, who helped us through our teacher-preparation programs and coached us as we interviewed for our first teaching positions. After that, the formal support generally disappears. We may benefit from the informal mentorship of other teachers, coaches, principals, family members, or friends in our lives who helped us make important decisions, but finding someone to help us sort through career decisions can be difficult. It's easy to feel isolated. Union representatives are there when issues arise, but they are not currently set up to be career advisers.

I imagine—in a transformed profession and along the way there—a need for experienced teacher leaders who can coach teachers as they create their own unique professional pathways. Teachers could discuss their interests, strengths, and goals with these coaches and turn to them for help deciding which direction to take and what to do in preparation. Since our pathways would often not be straight but enjoy various twists and turns, the need for this sort of support would come up again and again throughout a career (though the right person to offer the support would not necessarily stay the same).

Teachers as career coaches could also help school leaders make use of the strengths of the teachers in their midst. The role of the school principal will be shifting to make room for many teacher leaders and hybrid roles, and principals will need to become skilled at understanding the skills and aspirations of the teachers on their teams. A hybrid teacher/career coach could be a valuable liaison between teachers and school leaders and outside organizations looking for teacher involvement, as educators at various levels attempt to maximize the skills and time availability of teachers to meet the needs of the students, schools, and districts.

How many of us would have liked to talk to someone in this role at key points in our careers? How many of us know someone who would be great in this role?

Ariel Sacks, a frequent contributor to Education Week Teacher, has been teaching middle school English in the New York City public schools for the past 9 years. Her new book entitled Whole Novels for the Whole Class: A Student Centered Approach, will be published by Jossey-Bass this year.

Posted by Ariel Sacks at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Linda Yaron

Deep change is systemic, sustainable, and cross-cuts multiple layers of educational structures. It comes from the top down, bottom up, inside out, and outside in. As it is becoming increasingly clear that cultivating teacher leadership is essential to improving our educational system, we need to institute teacher-leader structures on a wide scale so that teachers do not have to leave the classroom or burn themselves out to enact deep change. This means: 1) Teachers need to be a structured part of the solution; 2) Spaces need to be created for teachers to be part of the solution; and 3) Change needs to leverage and direct policy initiatives.

The hybridization of teaching positions makes teachers a structured part of the solution. It represents a significant shift in which teachers go from having a primary job title of teaching children to having a shared job of teaching children and leading school change. It respectfully legitimizes the work in this realm that teachers have been doing in their "free time," and enables change to come from those who are in the classroom daily. And this brings policies into greater alignment with needs.

Creating hybrid roles places teachers in leadership positions to shift education on their own terms. Rather than having change happen to us and our schools, we as teachers can shape the discussions and policies that have an impact on us and our students. We can begin to do this systemically by advocating for the need for hybrid leadership structures that involve the thoughtful elements discussed in Brooke Peters' blog.

One of the biggest realizations I had after my year fellowship at the U.S. Department of Education was that no one is coming to save our schools. If change is going to happen, it really has to come from within. The top may need to direct, support, and facilitate the change, but at the end of the day, change will be implemented from the ground floor by those in classrooms, schools, and communities.

Teacher leaders in hybrid roles can leverage change through their involvement and implementation of current policy initiatives, like the Common Core State Standards, teacher evaluation, building community schools, or other local initiatives. All of these intersecting policies, which are now ripe for implementation, need teacher voice, direction, and leadership. Hybrid positions can facilitate deep change and structure schools to better serve student needs by putting those closest to the classroom pulse in positions that can truly change the fabric of education.

Linda Yaron is a National Board-certified English teacher who has taught for the past 10 years in an inner-city community of the Los Angeles Unified School District. She is a former U.S. Department of Education Teaching Ambassador Fellow.

Posted by Linda Yaron at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Brooke Peters

I've been thinking a lot about possible hybrid roles for teachers that would be meaningful and would also fill often-unnoticed voids that are present in many schools. I started by considering some of the hybrid roles I've seen this year as I have traveled to 47 schools in 20 states with my colleagues as part of The Odyssey Initiative. I've also dreamed up a few roles that I would like to see in schools (and try out for myself if I ever get the chance).

Everyone Teaches: Many schools could possibly do more with less if everyone in the school building had at least some part of their day devoted to teaching. This is not only good practice because it would help to keep everyone current in their teaching, but it could also do wonders for the culture of the school. A range of teaching time and types of teaching could be offered in the form of intervention groups, co-teaching, half-time responsibility of a classroom, or working as a reading or math specialist.

Classroom Teacher/Environment Specialist: In addition to teaching, this educator would be responsible for maintaining the physical and emotional environment of the school. They would work to ensure that the mission and vision of the school are conveyed in the way people interact in the school building and in what is present in the physical environment. Displays would have consistency. School rituals and routines would be shared with everyone and would be consistent in all-school gatherings, classroom meetings, and family events.

Classroom Teacher/Community Liaison: In addition to teaching, this educator would help to connect teachers with resources in the community. Many schools are engaging in project-based learning and this usually requires a strong connection to the surrounding community. Making these connections is difficult for teachers to do during their teaching day because it takes a lot of time and requires them to know all of the available resources in the area. Sharing projects and the needs for each project would create a streamlined process and the Community Liaison could find resources to match specific projects in each classroom.

Every possibility I have dreamed up brings me back to the same question: Who is ultimately responsible for the academic and social growth of each child? Is the classroom teacher responsible? Are the school leaders responsible? In order for hybrid roles to even be considered in a school, the staff needs to do some soul-searching and aligning and ensure that they have a shared responsibly for the students under their roof. I'm not talking about just saying that there is shared responsibility, but really putting some steps into action. When a school is able to get to that place, I imagine the types of hybrid roles that were originally dreamed up may not be the most important. New roles that directly support students and teachers may be valued over sharing the job as head or assistant school leader. The possibilities really are endless and should be made within the unique nature of each school.

Brooke Peters is a former kindergarten and 1st grade teacher in Los Angeles and New York City. As co-founder of The Odyssey Initiative, she is traveling the country, along with two other teachers, to observe, document, and share what is working in American schools. Follow their progress at @OdysseyInitiative.

Posted by Brooke Peters at 12:21 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Ariel Sacks

I promised I would teach for at least ten years. Now, in my ninth year, I may never want to leave the classroom. Working directly with students is where the action is in education, and the challenges and rewards inherent in this work keep me engaged year after year.

No one teaches in a vacuum, though. There are several layers that surround and impact our teaching lives. Often, these layers don't connect, which frustrates teachers and stunts progress. My dream job is a hybrid role that would provide the dedicated time and space to focus on each layer—and work on connecting them. It may sound like a lot, but you asked for my dream, right?

Layer 1: The Classroom. In my dream job, I would continue teaching English Language Arts, probably in (my all-time favorite) 8th grade. I would continue my quest to create a truly constructivist, experience-based classroom. Building on the developmental-interaction approach I studied in depth at Bank Street College, I'm committed to co-creating with my students an inclusive learning community that allows them to reach their academic potential.

Layer 2: Professional Dialogue and Development Among Teachers.. For part of my day, I would be in dialogue with other teachers and educators about teaching practices—at my school, virtually, and through writing. I want to discuss with other teachers who are implementing student-centered methods in our various school contexts, amid the shifting educational landscape. These conversations and the professional experiences and reading that fuel them are an integral part of true professional development. At the same time, this kind of discourse about the work also fuels the development of the profession.

Teachers must be agents of our own professional development (just as students need ownership over their learning). On one hand, more teachers are sharing great practices through a variety of teacher-leadership and "teacherpreneurial" avenues. On the other hand, the structures of our profession still create a lot of top-down initiatives that can clash with the very students we serve or take us away from what helps our students most. I want to help identify and develop policies that encourage quality, innovative teaching and the authentic spread of teacher expertise. This part of my day would require that I advocate at school and local levels or beyond for the conditions and structures we need to do our best work.

Layer 3: Professional Pathways for Teachers. I cannot engage in layers 1 and , without voicing the need for more flexible professional pathways for teachers that allow us more self-determination in our careers. In my dream hybrid role, I would be one of many practicing teachers developing a presence within several layers of the education world simultaneously. Having a diversity of such roles for teachers is one of the few things that will propel the widespread progress educators at all levels dream of seeing for our students.

Ariel Sacks, a frequent contributor to Education Week Teacher, has been teaching middle school English in the New York City public schools for the past 9 years. Her new book entitled Whole Novels for the Whole Class: A Student Centered Approach, will be published by Jossey-Bass this year.

Posted by Ariel Sacks at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Brooke Peters

A hybrid teaching role has been a dream of mine for years, and as my colleagues and I continue to visit innovative schools across the country as part of our project, The Odyssey Initiative, the topic comes up over and over again. Throughout this year, we have also been envisioning our own dream school and have discussed several possible hybrid roles in an effort to create a school community that involves all stakeholders in decision making and empowers teachers to be leaders. We know this might not be the easiest way to structure a school, but we think it could be the smartest way. We believe it could help break down the barriers between teachers and leaders that exist in many schools.

As my colleagues and I worked on our dream school, we wondered if there were schools we could learn from that are already using hybrid roles. Hope arrived in February when we spent a day at Reiche Community School in Portland, Maine. Upon arriving, we met one of the three lead teachers, Kevin Brewster. He teaches kindergarten in the morning and is the acting school leader in the afternoon. He shares the role with Chris Keegan, who works as the school leader in the morning and the reading specialist in the afternoon. A third educator, Lori Bobinsky, works as a literacy coach and supports the school's curriculum. In addition to lead teachers, there are four teacher-led committees: the instructional leadership committee, the climate committee, the enrichment committee, and the professional development committee.

When we asked Kevin what he's learned from having this role, he said, "I love the hybrid position and the half-time teaching. Having a classroom of students keeps me grounded in the work of the class. For policy decisions, I know how it's going to affect my students and my time. Listening and not reacting immediately is important. We also work collaboratively, so if I don't know the answers, I can ask someone else and rephrase, reframe, and think through the question."

Trust is abundant at Reiche. The school district has trust in the staff to lead themselves and the staff has trust in one another as teacher leaders.

Based on our explorations, we've found that, in addition to building trust, educators need to consider the following when proposing hybrid roles:

• Use of time: An educator who is teaching half time and leading half time will still need to have access to collaborative planning meetings, professional development, and preparation time. Thinking about how this will fit into the daily and weekly schedule will ensure that the teacher remains an active part of his or her grade level team. Teachers in leadership positions will also need to be available to attend leadership meetings without compromising their teaching time.

• Respect for the educator: The workload must be manageable. The leadership portion of the job should not require the educator to work on the weekends and late into the evening due to additional responsibilities. Educators coming into these roles are often inexperienced as leaders and will need access to professional development to strengthen their leadership skills.

• Compensation: School leaders typically make significantly more money than classroom teachers. Considering the available budget and ensuring that teachers are compensated for their additional work is essential.

• Open communication and flexibility: Many educators are hungry to do more and learn more and must not be taken advantage of. If the original plan for responsibilities turns out to be unrealistic within the workday, then the roles should be adjusted. If the original plan does not provide as much leadership as the teacher envisioned, the role should also be adjusted.

• Kids must come first: Educators who teach part time and take on leadership roles need to be able to ensure that they are putting the needs of their students first. Setting up smooth transitions from the classroom to the leadership role, guaranteeing the teacher does not need to miss additional teaching time for meetings, and making sure the teacher has time to communicate with families will all help keep kids at the center of the hybrid role.

Brooke Peters is a former kindergarten and 1st grade teacher in Los Angeles and New York City. As co-founder of The Odyssey Initiative, she is traveling the country, along with two other teachers, to observe, document, and share what is working in American schools. Follow their progress at @OdysseyInitiative.

Posted by Brooke Peters at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Lhisa Almashy

I think that when anyone reflects on living their dream or working their dream job, they can't respond without including the word "passion". I am very blessed because, as a teacher, I am living my dream job at its core—teaching is my passion.

What I would like, however, is to expand the core of my job so that I can incorporate my other passions, creating a well-rounded dream job that utilizes my skills and talents while balancing the time commitments.

For example, I love coaching. I have been a coach for as long as I have been a teacher, leading soccer, swimming, and diving teams. I began coaching because, as a former student-athlete, I learned some invaluable life lessons and I cherish those experiences. Admittedly, I also needed more income, so the coaching stipend helped solidify my commitment to the extra position.

I also love the theater and have been involved with drama clubs throughout my career, although that is an after-school activity as well. In addition, I enjoy being involved with the school community at large. In this capacity, I volunteer as a host and co-producer of a local Spanish TV show. I also sit on the board of an event that raises funds for arts integration in the schools annually. Other boards I have sat on have included Hispanic alliances and multicultural activity boards.

I believe these passions are necessary in helping me be the best teacher I can be because they allow me to connect with my students in a real way and leverage personal resources that are vital in the classroom. Ultimately, everything I do is reflected back on my teaching and the students' learning.

The downside is that all of these "extras" are outside of my daily teaching schedule. This has been increasingly challenging for me because I am also the mother of two fabulous girls who need and deserve my attention.

So my dream job would be to incorporate my many roles into one position. I wouldn't be a teacher who coaches and is an active member of the community. I would be a teacher, with the coaching and community roles integrated into my position.

There are ways to achieve this, and I don't think they necessarily have to cost a lot or create union issues. Schools need to create well-functioning teams, with the philosophy that equal may not be equitable in all duties. Not every teacher has to teach the same amount of classes or have the same duties and responsibilities.

For example, I would love to teach three classes and instead of five classes, and then use the extra, non-teaching time for coaching duties and community affairs. To compensate for my time out of the classroom, another teacher, who was more focused on honing her instruction, could teach six classes. Still another could have administrative duties outside the classroom for one class period.

We could help each other through this arrangement. The one teaching full time could share lesson plans and organizational routines. The person with administrative duties could help with paperwork and logistics for field trips and activities. In turn, I could help them by monitoring the athletes and following up with their academic achievement and behavior. I might also have time to write grants for all the teachers to open up opportunities for their students—something I would love to do.

The point is, people have different strengths and interests, and by creating school positions based on those traits, teachers could do more of what makes them happy, collaborate more, and better address the full spectrum of their students' needs.

Lhisa Almashy is an ESOL teacher at Park Vista High School in Lake Worth, Fla. A 2012 winner of Teaching Tolerance's Cultural Responsive Teaching Award, she has more than 16 years of experience in teaching and administering multicultural programs in her district.

Posted by Lhisa Almashy at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Linda Yaron

There are countless gaps that exist in education: between policy and practice, research and practice, teacher-preparation programs and schools, districts and schools, schools and the communities they serve, teachers and administrators, achievement gaps, technology access. You name it, there is an identifiable gap holding our education system back from fulfilling its fullest potential.

Yet in the space between the gap, there is hope. That hope lies in the bridges that can be built between gaps by reconceptualizing the role and time distribution of an educator's work.

We need to blur the lines between not only classrooms and their communities and worlds, but also educators and education. This will not only lead to greater alignment across and within agencies; it will also provide career-development pathways for professional growth and teacher retention.

If we want a given result, we have to structure time accordingly. Hybridizing teacher time can happen in multiple ways, including:

• Splitting the time of a teacher within school roles (family and community liaison, teaching coach or mentor, coordinator). I personally would LOVE to have one of these positions built into my school day.*

• Splitting a teacher's time between the school and an organization outside the school (for example, a teacher-preparation program, state or national policy, district or community organization).

• Providing selected educators with a research or professional-development sabbatical for part of the year

• Providing additional time for teachers to plan and collaborate built into the school day.

*On a cautionary note, we need to be mindful when creating hybrid roles that they not encompass two full-time careers, but are a sustainable combination of positions.

One may cite budgetary reasons for the traditional compartmentalized role of a teacher. But we cannot afford to continue to silo the profession. Many other countries that experience high rates of education success, like Japan, have fewer teaching hours relative to the number of teaching hours in the U.S. school day. Though there are countless other systemic factors at play, this certainly makes a difference, particularly in light of the MetLife survey finding that cites the desire of teachers to have expanded career pathways and differentiated roles.

Education itself depends on bringing teacher voice into realms outside the classroom, yet we need to structure time to do so. This shift demands risk, budgetary creativity, and reconceptualizing what has been siloed for too long. Yet, in order to build the bridges we know are so crucial to the success of our children and schools, we need to take the leap and close the gaps.

Linda Yaron is a National Board-certified English teacher in an inner-city high school in Los Angeles. She is a former U.S. Department of Education Teaching Ambassador Fellow, and she is active in the Teachers for Global Classrooms program.

Posted by Linda Yaron at 3:27 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend

Ilana Garon

One week, the 10th grade girls in my school were having a lot of "drama" due to some rumor that one girl had said something about another girl; they were now split into two rival sides, and a parade of girls were coming tearfully to me between classes and during lunch because they were worried about getting "jumped," wanted to blow off some steam, or just had their feelings hurt. I felt like I was putting out many small fires, and I just didn't have enough time in a day to give these girls the attention they needed. The boys, of course, found the situation hilarious. I had a strong suspicion that some of them were stirring the pot, so to speak, either by being party to the incidents that started the drama, or by off-handedly trafficking gossip to see what the girls would do in response. They certainly had no right to a moral high ground, at any rate. Their fights, when they happened during school hours, would usually end in blows. At least the girls weren't at that point yet.

The thing was, if the girls had been resorting to blows regularly, probably more would have been done to help them out. In one of the previous schools where I taught, a program existed for boys who it was believed were susceptible to gang influences. In a targeted "intervention" of sorts, the boys were pulled into a weekly group meeting where they talked about the issues they were facing; they also had some special classes in which they watched movies and talked about definitions of masculinity, resisting negative influences, and resolving disputes in nonviolent ways. The program was not led by the guidance counselors or by social workers; rather, one of the deans (who also taught classes) and some selected teachers worked on it together. It was heralded as a success, and I wondered, now, why we didn't have something similar for the girls at my school—all girls, not just the "at-risk" ones.

In my "dream" role, I'd want to run such a program in addition to (or in exchange for) some of my current course-load, which is entirely 10th grade English due to the size of our sophomore class. I'd meet with these girls weekly in small groups, and we'd all talk about issues pertaining to young women—what things make us feel empowered (or disempowered), how to make healthy decisions about romantic relationships, how to resolve disputes (without all the in-fighting), how to set goals for the future, how to find role models and mentors, etc. A complimentary program could be implemented for the boys as well, preferably led by a male teacher. In my view, the kids in 9th and 10th grade would benefit from this type of support whether or not they are gang-affiliates: The fact that certain kids do fewer things that arouse the ire of the on-campus security does not negate their need for guidance.

Such a program could easily be implemented by teachers—perhaps by teachers who expressed interest in mentorship and were known to have the type of rapport with students that would make them good fits for the role. In short, we teachers would take on a dual role as "life coaches" and guides for small groups of students, as well as being their classroom instructors.

I'd like to be able to interact with the kids this way, in a setting dedicated to their personal growth, rather than squeezing it in between lessons on Julius Caesar and Lord of the Flies.

Ilana Garon is an English teacher at a public high school in the Bronx, N.Y., and holds masters degrees in both English education and fine arts. She is the author of Teacher's View From the Bronx blog.

Posted by Ilana Garon at 3:25 PM | Permalink | Leave a comment | Recommend