Comments on: A new teacher, against the grind

By: Katy Murphy

Katy Murphy — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:52:28 +0000

What a story, Debora. Thanks for sharing it with us.

By: Debora

Debora — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 17:39:24 +0000

About social studies in Oakland – We live in what used to be sleeping quarters for lumberjacks in Oakland. It eventually became a house. It was built in 1910 and is built from Old Growth Redwood.

The grandfather of my daughter’s best friend tells of his grandfather who arrived in Oakland as a slave (Although we did not have slavery in CA if the slaves were owned, the ownership remained until the “owner” granted emancipation or the slave paid for their freedom). He got written permission to work after his chores were done to earn money to buy the freedom of his wife and children. After earning the money, he got permission to travel to buy their freedom. He came back, got permission to continue working after chores to earn money for his own freedom.

Chanel’s grandfather bought the house in the neighborhood and under protest from the neighbors he was the first black man to have a house in the neighborhood. He still has the papers stating that no “black man” or “Chinaman” may own a house. Went to court and fought to be able to buy the house.

By: TheTruthHurts

TheTruthHurts — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:30:58 +0000

Wow, I agree with Cranky. Who woudda believed it?

I’m glad that we have hardworking teachers working with our students. Even though it’s your passion, you can’t neglect your “life” forever. Of course, one marking period is probably not extreme for anyone in a new career/job.

By: Cranky Teacher

Cranky Teacher — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 23:48:13 +0000

Remember that the goal is to be teaching 3-5 years from now. Don’t destroy your life in the first two.

Set a max workload per day — 8-10 hours, say, and maybe 4-6 more on the WHOLE weekend and try very hard to stick to it. Spend time with your wife, spend time doing nothing.

I see a lot of young teachers burn themselves out unnecessarily. You can not save every child, and if you don’t take care of yourself you will not even last long enough to become a good teacher.

By: Nextset

Nextset — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:28:49 +0000

Dan: I see you cover Social Studies. Economics will probably be a larger than normal thing in the lives of our middle school students. There are stories of how Economics affected social policy and living standards in various periods. I have seen some striking essays about the early 1930′s written by people who were high school-college aged at the time. Likewise articles, essays and short stories about life in the early 1940′s in both the UK and the USA (getting by during government rationing of consumer goods).

I recently had dinner with people who left home (as late teens) in the late 1930s and early 1940s – they discussed how much they were making (in Oakland) and how they handled housing, schooling, marriage and family formation. The stories combine history and social issues with economics. One of the things that struck me was that the same Nickel coin we use now existed in a time when people in Oakland were happy with $131/month. Having that Nickel in the pocket back then meant something. Even pennies were real money then. Same pennies. At least they looked the same.

They remembered Oakland as a land of full employment where people were moving in every day from the Eastern States. Kind of like Las Vegas in 2005.

History can be fun and interesting. And kids can relate to money.