A letter to my student teacher

The other day at school, another teacher and I were talking about how little it takes to make us happy nowadays, about how we settle for very, very tiny victories to maintain some level of sanity.

I said, “If I ran into College Me-you know, the Me who wanted to change the world and thought teaching was the way to do it?-College Me would be so disappointed.”

And here you are, College You, ready to start your student teaching in the Milwaukee Public Schools. I don’t want to give you the wrong idea about the job, don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of rewarding and fulfilling things to keep you going as an MPS teacher. But there are some things you should know.

So in the spirit of commencement addresses and half-time pep talks and best-man toasts, here’s some basic stuff I think you need to know if you want MPS to be your home.

First, remember that, ultimately, you’re here to serve the needs of your students. It often feels as though you’re the skeleton from the “anatomy” entry in the encyclopedia-you know, the part that allows you to turn the clear acetate pages of more and more layers onto the opaque skeleton until you can’t see the bones anymore.

Everyone has a demand to layer onto you: principals, superintendents, curriculum specialists, parents, state tests, fellow teachers, a looming special education lawsuit, the taxpaying public. It’s like some kind of Wonderland onion that grows as you peel it, and your day can be pretty quickly filled dealing with all of that other stuff. Don’t let it-that’s the thing that has done the most to wear away what’s left of College Me.

Second, MPS students are often pretty angry-at their parents, at the rules, at you, at themselves, at the world. It seldom manifests itself obviously, though you will see fights and passive-aggression and some pretty clever attempts to wriggle out of doing the work you ask them to do. Instead, it mostly means that one of the most important things you can do for students is to be kind, to be patient. College Me didn’t care much for patience; he wanted everything right now, but students need their own schedule.

Students will want to be your friend, but that’s not your role. I have often said MPS teachers need to be activists for social justice, with a passion for things like closing the achievement gap and opening up opportunities traditionally denied to the urban poor. That means you can be-must be-your students’ ally and advocate and therapist and mentor. Students will have scores of good friends during their lifetimes, but they will only have one freshman English teacher. Make the most of that.

Finally, remember that whatever happens around you in this city and this district doesn’t change the fact that your students need a good teacher. Indeed, school, for all the upheaval and tension and debate we adults can’t help but stress over, is often the most stable part of a Milwaukee child’s life.

A few months ago I was asked to appear on a panel about MPS for Channel 10’s Fourth Street Forum program. During Q&A with the audience, a young man stood up and said, “For a long time I’ve been planning to become a teacher, most likely in MPS, but I’m afraid, to be honest. It’s a big mess and I don’t know if I want to even touch it.” That’s understandable.

Yet despite the continued avalanche of bad news for or about MPS-from threatened takeovers and looming bankruptcy to Detroit-level test scores-here you are. That already tells me something. You want to change the world, and I look forward to helping you start on this small corner of it.

Jay Bullock is an English teacher at Bay View High School who blogs at folkbum.com. Contact him at mpshallmonitor@gmail.com.

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