| A seasoned educator tells new teachers to stick with it. |
Celebrated 5th and 6th grade teacher Rafe Esquith鈥檚 first book, There Are No Shortcuts (Pantheon), serves as a kind of guidebook for young teachers hoping to make their mark at inner city schools. While the 20-year veteran insists, as his book鈥檚 title implies, that success doesn鈥檛 come easily鈥攈ard work is always necessary鈥攈e does offer wise counsel on a number of issues. These include surviving dictatorial administrators, teaching effectively in an age of standardization, and keeping one鈥檚 sense of compassion for students in a stressed-out environment.
Esquith became one of America鈥檚 most famous teachers after winning the 1992 Disney Outstanding Teacher of the Year award and an Oprah Winfrey Use Your Life award for his work with students at Hobart Elementary School in Los Angeles. Nevertheless, he remains humble, turning down Hollywood scripts because, he says, 鈥渢hey portray me as God鈥檚 hero when that鈥檚 not who I am.鈥�
For this interview, Esquith recently spoke by phone from his classroom, where he was still working with students at 5 p.m. on a Friday evening.
Q. What are some of the key things young teachers need to know about working at an urban school such as Hobart?
A. A lot of young teachers have a perception of what the job is going to be and get discouraged by how hard it actually is. You鈥檙e going to have a lot of bad days. Sometimes it鈥檚 not even your fault鈥攖hings just don鈥檛 work. In my school, the average teacher lasts two years; but you鈥檙e just not going to be that good in your second year of teaching. So number one, stick with it. I mean, we tell our kids to stick with it, not to give up; we must do that, too. My strength as a teacher hasalways been that I don鈥檛 give up. I鈥檓 a little tired of teachers who try it for a couple years and then quit and write their memoirs. The people I have respect for have been at it for 20 to 30 years and give it their best shot every day.
Young teachers also have to deal with administrators who are terrible to them. It鈥檚 a control issue, and it鈥檚 made worse [by] the current push for everyone to teach the same way at the same pace, from the same book. Gifted teachers are afraid to be creative.
Q. So what should the young teacher who wants to be innovative do?
A. I tell them that in the first year or two鈥攕ince they are going to stay, remember, [for] 10 to 20 years鈥攖hey should follow orders and maintain order. After a couple of years, when you鈥檙e established, you can start to rebel. I myself had horrific battles with administrators about why we should have Shakespeare in the classroom. But once I became the Outstanding Teacher of the Year, they stopped yelling at me. I went from 鈥渟tupid鈥� to 鈥済enius鈥� overnight.
Q. What mistakes did you make in your early years?
A. I didn鈥檛 listen well to the kids; I鈥檓 a much better listener now. I also understand that the process is every bit as important as the end result. This means I let kids fall more now鈥攚hether it鈥檚 a failed science experiment, a scene in a play that doesn鈥檛 work, a botched musical performance. And that鈥檚 OK. Because it works out best when kids learn from their mistakes.
Q. You often work with students 70 to 80 hours a week, including weekends. Do you expect other teachers to have your commitment?
A. No, I鈥檓 certifiable. But our expectations are too low, both for the kids and ourselves. We had a day here when our reading scores were 40 percent out of 100, and we celebrated. We used to be 39, and the national average is 60. We鈥檙e celebrating being 20 points behind? That鈥檚 ridiculous.
Q. How do you fight burnout?
A. I have a fantastic wife and four grown kids. I spend time with my family but don鈥檛 watch TV. I鈥檓 completely ignorant of pop culture, though I鈥檓 not against it. I鈥檓 sure The Simpsons and Friends are fine shows. But something had to give.
Q. Most educators complain that their schools don鈥檛 have enough money. You take issue with that.
A. That鈥檚 right. I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 a central issue in education. Like at my school鈥攚e have a lot of money here, we just don鈥檛 spend it wisely. I know one thing: It doesn鈥檛 go to good teachers. I鈥檓 at the bottom of the salary scale because I鈥檝e never taken any of those [continuing education] classes; I just teach all day. I think I should have been rewarded for that. I make $40,000 a year, and this is my 20th year in teaching. I think the money is disappearing into central administration.
Ten years ago, for instance, a company gave the school 25 grand in my name to honor me. I suggested to my colleagues that we divide it up: $10,000 would go to my classroom, $15,000 to the school. I saw $4,000 of the $10,000. When I put in requests for equipment, the administrators said they couldn鈥檛 find it. Other money was supposedly going to the district so that they could pay subs while other teachers came to visit my classroom. But I never had a single teacher visit.
Q. You also complain about professional development as mostly a waste of time.
A. I love the idea of development if it were developing. Now every Tuesday, we stop school early so I can go to a two-hour meeting. I could die in these meetings. In a recent one, for example, we were told that every time students get a grade, they should write a reflection on how they feel about the grade. Give me a break! But I鈥檓 required to go. Now, I鈥檝e also been to some great staff development, but too often it鈥檚 some bureaucrat downtown coming out with the new flavor of the month. In the last few years, for instance, we鈥檝e been shown seven different ways of teaching English.
Q. How long do you plan to teach?
A. I鈥檓 48 years old now, and I鈥檒l keep teaching until they carry me from the classroom. I鈥檓 not leaving. I have turned down a lot of money to leave Hobart. Really. But this is where I make my stand. I try to model myself after Atticus, in To Kill A Mockingbird, who continues to do the right thing despite all of the disappointments and incivility he encounters. When all is said and done, Atticus walks into that courtroom. I really do consult Atticus on how to be in the world. I鈥檝e adopted his code. I mean, there are kids I miss every day. Every day. I hope that鈥檚 something young teachers understand: You are sometimes going to miss kids. The key thing is not to focus on the disappointment, or to spend time feeling like a failure, but to just keep going the best you can.
鈥擠avid Ruenzel
