Teachers are Human, too.

Excited, ignorant, naive, determined, confused, and hopeful are a few of the words that come to mind when I think about who I was on the first day, and ultimately, the first semester of teaching in public school. I held the belief that I was more important than the President because I literally held the future of the country in my classroom. It sounds a little corny, but I’m an idealist that way. It’s what drove me to home school for twenty-five years. If I didn’t believe passionately in the process, I couldn’t have completed the job. I learned very quickly that the same passion would be needed in a public school classroom.

On my first day at Inner City High School, I was so excited. I was entering in the middle of the year, but I showed no fear. The time I had been preparing for had arrived, and boy was I ready. They placed me with on level 10th graders, 11th graders, and one class of students who didn’t pass the state test. I had a co-teacher for two of my classes, but other than that, I was alone.

As the day wore on, I learned that my new students hadn’t had a teacher for the whole year, so they were behind and unmotivated. I was able to meet with the substitute who had led their class and hoped to learn more about lesson plans, grading, and how classroom behavior was managed. Instead, I was informed that the only thing students did was worksheets that accompanied an…