HE WAS DEPLOYED TO SAUDI ARABIA
Home, Queens New York
I was assigned to teach a second-grade class in my new school. The entire school despised and distrusted the Principal. She was an evil woman. I didn’t care for second grade. The teachers all seemed very cliquish, and I am not like that. Have I complained enough? Regardless, I was lucky to get the job it was a good commute for me, and it was the kids that really counted.
My students had complicated lives and the neighborhood boarded on the dangerous. The stately old homes were broken into bedrooms that transient people rented. Foster care was a cottage industry. Guns, shootings, robberies, and fights were everywhere. I took the job because I needed health insurance and a second salary, for my own family. Teachers teach, and that is what I did.
One of my immediate challenges was to improve the reading and writing scores of the class. They were sorely behind and I was determined to help them improve. Some of the parents were working two and three jobs to afford to move to a better neighborhood. The rest had given up or didn’t trust the schools to help their child. I needed a good motivation and I needed it fast.
We were having a class discussion and one of my more verbal students, Solomon, proudly announced he had a cousin who was in the Air Force. He told us his cousin lived…
