Although I wouldn’t discourage faraway teachers from working in a certain community, I personally preferred the community-based approach. I wanted to connect. So, when my charter school was catering to the Shaw neighborhood, I lived walking distance. Later on, I moved to NE (Hechinger Mall area—before H Street was cool) and used to ride the X8 and X2 bus with my students.
The early birds were always surprised and a little respectful when they would see me on the bus. And when their peers slid into class late with excuses about the busses being delayed, they were quick to back me up when
I said, “No, no – I know that bus; it was running without a problem!” Riding that crazy, smelly bump-mobile brought me a wee bit of street creds and helped them overcome my distinct Harvard accent.And over time, I started to know that R— was R—‘s little sister, and their mom was crazy, but would stay calm if you called regularly with both good and bad progress reports. I got to know that D— and A— were brothers, and A— was into crime, but really cared about D—-‘s academics… and that D—- was cousins with R—- so you had to be careful if ever there was a fight, because the whole family would swarm in. And sometimes I benefited from the kids looking out for me… warning me if that they saw me coming home from the grocery store in the dark and it was too late for me to be walking around by myself.
In DC, Kwame Brown and Kaya Henderson are going to face some challenges as they attempt to bring high performing teachers into some of DC’s low performing schools.
Not only will these teachers be outsiders, but they may be displacing community members who had held down those classrooms when educators wouldn’t be bothered with rough schools. It can’t be overlooked that teachers perform best when they deeply understand the community (see article). But the program will also be a healthy and unifying move for a largely divided (politically, racially, economically) city. IF (the big IF) this integration is well-supported.
Migrating teachers will need strong leadership who will support them as they bring new approaches to the classrooms. These teachers will also need peers to embrace them and partner with them in developing student relationships. And they will need to humble themselves and be willing to learn and respect the unique characteristics of the new community in which they will serve. Most of what they will encounter remains the same: families care about their children, children enjoy achievement… but these similarities will often become noticeable after the outsider appreciates distinguishing features of the new neighborhood.
As a person who has always stepped into other people’s environments, I expect it will be an enriching and positive experience for all of us.
