“In order to live, you must learn… and in order to save, you must serve.” Sometimes a quote can speak so soundly to your thoughts that it can become the very force that guides your actions. After graduating from Stanford University with my BA in Poltical Science and a minor in Human Biology, this quote is the best way that I’ve come across to explain why I decided to enroll in STEP (Stanford Teacher Education Program) to recieve my MA in Education along with my teaching credential. I spent the year student teaching everything from 1st grade to 6th grade in Santa Clara and East Palo Alto. I am now teaching a self-contained 6th grade class at West Oakland Middle School and strangely enough we are currently writing personal narratives, (so I suppose I’ll make sure to include a beginning, middle, and end to this blog.)

Why 6th grade? I wanted to be the one who helped students find ownership in themselves and their actions, especially at a time when they start asking questions, like “why should I care?” As a bi-racial child myself, I thought I would be able to help minority students navigate the cultural, social, and professional worlds that tug on them daily.

Instead I have found that no all-encompassing quote could possibly describe nor speak to the uniqueness of each day that my individually unique students bring to the classroom. In the first three weeks of school, my students and my principal have taught me more than I could have imagined. No classes can prepare you for a classroom of 6th graders — 2/3 of which are boys. No classes can prepare you for the behavior you see in and around a school in West Oakland. No classes can prepare you for the 25 knowing grins who are waiting to see if they can “own you” from day one, nor the 25 minds that have been accostumed to low expecations and are prepared to fight to keep it that way. Those ideals I had formed at Stanford flew right out the window. There would be no exploration learning because that lead to exploring the fists of the person across the room all because… “he insulted my momma.” If I tell my students “I noticed you’re slow to get started on your work,” they would probably reply with something like “and?” One. I would be lucky there was no four letter word uttered. And two. They would propbably be left confused. Rather than starting the year with “what is the best way to learn,” I started with “no fighting, no play fighting, no missed homework, no gum, no leaving the classroom without permission, no profanity, no tardies, no defiance of any kind, no weapons, ect. If you choose to engage in these activities you have a detention or a suspension.” It’s the only way to survive -and they have a right to know because I can already tell from their smiles that they don’t believe it. “At my other school, I did it…” permeates the air.

But you keep things positve and learn from those more experienced. Routines stay solid, and expecatations stay high. I started with a classroom of 14 and currently have 25 (and the number is growing.) School supplies are slowly arriving for student use. My class is starting to evaluate themselves on effective group work. Quite honestly, I’m finding that starting tough was necessary. I have survived. My students have survived, and now they are teaching me that I can teach them the tools they need to work in cooperative learning groups. Slowly, we’re both getting what it takes to create a positive learning envirnoment. My “ideal” class is the class I have recieved. The “ideal” teacher is still working on getting there. Maybe in 10 years I’ll have a better idea.

Nicole A. Pierce is a sixth-grade teacher at West Oakland Middle School