Why I Taught Alternative High School
I graduated in 2001, right after the dot.com bubble burst. As a result, I was deferred for a year from starting my new job in business at Accenture, formerly Anderson Consulting. After graduating with honors, I moved home and looked for a job. I interviewed with every company who was hiring. However, most of them \were not hiring. "We have already hired all of our college students for the year." This made sense because it was already the fall. So, I signed up to become a substitute teacher and took every job they called me with. I even took jobs at the alternative high school (or "Bad Boy" school as my dad like to call it). It started at 4 pm and ended at 10 pm. A lot of the students had been in trouble with the law, some of them had children and others simply could not get up early in the morning and took this as a second option. I guess I kept taking jobs others would not and I was asked to teach a Basic Writing. I took over the class after a Detroit Public School teacher quit because of the students. Did not know anything about teaching English except what I learned in high School.
"So, who is coming to the party from your family," my roommate Kori asked. She sat on the dirty shag carpet eating cereal on the glass table. Our roomate Dana acquired the seventies shag carpet from her dad. We all thought it was a good idea until we found some ants and discovered cleaning a shag carpet is deceptively difficult and expensive.
"Oh, I don't know. I haven't sent out my invitations yet. I know for sure my parents and my brothers." I smiled. "I just hope they all leave before the real party starts!"
Kori laughed, "I agree. Maybe we should set something up, like a word to tell them, when we want them to leave."
"I'll leave that one up to you," I promptly replied. "I'm not telling my dad to get out of here!" My dad is an imposing man physically, intellectually and emotionally. I never told my dad to do anything. He is the guy to tell you things.
The phone rang.
"I'll get it," Kori said as she jumped up to grab the phone in the kitchen. I smirked as she ran past me. Probably hoping that jerk of a "boyfriend" is calling, I thought. "Hello?" she asked hopefully. Her tone sank after a pause, "Oh, yeah. One second."
She handed the phone to me. "It's for you."
"Hello, may I speak with Irene Ostberg," a woman's voice said politely.
"Yes, this is she," I said smiling as I gingerly sat on the carpet.
"Well, Irene. I am afraid I may have some disappointing news." My blood went cold.
"Okay," I said reluctantly.
"As you know, the economy has slowed down due to the dot.com crisis." Duh, I thought. The stupid "dot-com bubble" was all over the news. Any idiot could tell you buying dog food over the internet is a pretty bad idea.
She paused. "This has affected our business as well. As a result, we are delaying all of our new hires."
I held the phone in silence. I wanted to say something intelligent, but words would not come out of my mouth.
The voice continued, "So your new start date is September 2002. We will be in contact and you should expect your new contract in the mail next week."
"Did you say a year?" I stammered.
"Yes, we are very sorry about this, but economic conditions have changed and we are not able to bring you on right now."
"Um, okay," I said meekly. I was starting to feel like an idiot. Should I just take this lying down? Shouldn't I be fighting right now for my job?
"We will be in contact, Irene. Again, I am sorry for the news." Sorry? Yeah, I bet you are lady. You are the one with a job, not the one planning a graduation party.
"Goodbye," I said.
I hung up the phone and stared at Kori.
"What's wrong?" She said.
"I don't have a job anymore. They are delaying my start date for a year."
"Can they do that?"
"I think they just did," I said.
"So, who is coming to the party from your family," my roommate Kori asked. She sat on the dirty shag carpet eating cereal on the glass table. Our roomate Dana acquired the seventies shag carpet from her dad. We all thought it was a good idea until we found some ants and discovered cleaning a shag carpet is deceptively difficult and expensive.
"Oh, I don't know. I haven't sent out my invitations yet. I know for sure my parents and my brothers." I smiled. "I just hope they all leave before the real party starts!"
Kori laughed, "I agree. Maybe we should set something up, like a word to tell them, when we want them to leave."
"I'll leave that one up to you," I promptly replied. "I'm not telling my dad to get out of here!" My dad is an imposing man physically, intellectually and emotionally. I never told my dad to do anything. He is the guy to tell you things.
The phone rang.
"I'll get it," Kori said as she jumped up to grab the phone in the kitchen. I smirked as she ran past me. Probably hoping that jerk of a "boyfriend" is calling, I thought. "Hello?" she asked hopefully. Her tone sank after a pause, "Oh, yeah. One second."
She handed the phone to me. "It's for you."
"Hello, may I speak with Irene Ostberg," a woman's voice said politely.
"Yes, this is she," I said smiling as I gingerly sat on the carpet.
"Well, Irene. I am afraid I may have some disappointing news." My blood went cold.
"Okay," I said reluctantly.
"As you know, the economy has slowed down due to the dot.com crisis." Duh, I thought. The stupid "dot-com bubble" was all over the news. Any idiot could tell you buying dog food over the internet is a pretty bad idea.
She paused. "This has affected our business as well. As a result, we are delaying all of our new hires."
I held the phone in silence. I wanted to say something intelligent, but words would not come out of my mouth.
The voice continued, "So your new start date is September 2002. We will be in contact and you should expect your new contract in the mail next week."
"Did you say a year?" I stammered.
"Yes, we are very sorry about this, but economic conditions have changed and we are not able to bring you on right now."
"Um, okay," I said meekly. I was starting to feel like an idiot. Should I just take this lying down? Shouldn't I be fighting right now for my job?
"We will be in contact, Irene. Again, I am sorry for the news." Sorry? Yeah, I bet you are lady. You are the one with a job, not the one planning a graduation party.
"Goodbye," I said.
I hung up the phone and stared at Kori.
"What's wrong?" She said.
"I don't have a job anymore. They are delaying my start date for a year."
"Can they do that?"
"I think they just did," I said.
Alternative High School
I was twenty one and I looked sixteen. I walked into the classroom with my interviewing business suit, the one I wore when I was offered my fancy consulting position, and looked out at the kids. They were smirking at me. Half of them looked older than I did. "You aren't going to make it one day," one of the kids told me while looking around at his buddies for agreement. Others nodded and laughed. A few girls shifted uncomfortably in their seats while others put their feet up on the desk in a physical act of defiance.
"Oh, I'll be here. I'm too broke to not be here everyday. You can bank on me being here!" I answered back. It was true. I had no money and this job was paying $21.50 an hour. Combat pay my dad called it. I started the class by asking the students what the other teacher had taught and what they had already learned. It was not much. I really wanted to be a good teacher for these students and excel in this as I had planned on excelling in business.
The next day I spend pouring over books at the library. I found books on poetry, drama, journalism, writing and began to make a plan. We read poetry and the students wrote their own. We read The Glass Menagerie in class together and wrote essays on characters in the play. I started a school newspaper where the students reported on activities that were going on at the alternative school.
I will never forget that class. They were the ones that inspired me to go back to school and become a teacher. I think I was one of the only people inspired in that building. Most of the teachers there were teachers during the day at another school. They took the second job for extra money. As a result, I joking called the school the AMC 20. Everyday in every classroom you could see teachers playing movies. A lot of times the movies had absolutely nothing to do with the content area. I remember talking to one of my teacher friends and visiting his room while he was playing Gia for a Biology classroom. My students were always so disappointed I would not do that also.
One boy who stands out to me now is a young man named Chad. He was one of the only students I had who was failing and I was unable to help him in any way. He was a senior and the first thing that struck me about his writing was I could not read it. As I probed more into why his writing was so poor and had him rewrite what he had done, I realized he was illiterate. He could not read or write at all. It astonished me this young man had came through 12 years of schooling and slipped through the cracks. I spoke with everyone about what to do with him. How can I pass a student in English who is illiterate? How does this happen?
The bottom line about these experiences is students do not disappear. These young men and women go out into our communities, drive cars, have children, hopefully get jobs, and so on. We need to make sure everyone has the ability to communicate verbally and in the written form.
"Oh, I'll be here. I'm too broke to not be here everyday. You can bank on me being here!" I answered back. It was true. I had no money and this job was paying $21.50 an hour. Combat pay my dad called it. I started the class by asking the students what the other teacher had taught and what they had already learned. It was not much. I really wanted to be a good teacher for these students and excel in this as I had planned on excelling in business.
The next day I spend pouring over books at the library. I found books on poetry, drama, journalism, writing and began to make a plan. We read poetry and the students wrote their own. We read The Glass Menagerie in class together and wrote essays on characters in the play. I started a school newspaper where the students reported on activities that were going on at the alternative school.
I will never forget that class. They were the ones that inspired me to go back to school and become a teacher. I think I was one of the only people inspired in that building. Most of the teachers there were teachers during the day at another school. They took the second job for extra money. As a result, I joking called the school the AMC 20. Everyday in every classroom you could see teachers playing movies. A lot of times the movies had absolutely nothing to do with the content area. I remember talking to one of my teacher friends and visiting his room while he was playing Gia for a Biology classroom. My students were always so disappointed I would not do that also.
One boy who stands out to me now is a young man named Chad. He was one of the only students I had who was failing and I was unable to help him in any way. He was a senior and the first thing that struck me about his writing was I could not read it. As I probed more into why his writing was so poor and had him rewrite what he had done, I realized he was illiterate. He could not read or write at all. It astonished me this young man had came through 12 years of schooling and slipped through the cracks. I spoke with everyone about what to do with him. How can I pass a student in English who is illiterate? How does this happen?
The bottom line about these experiences is students do not disappear. These young men and women go out into our communities, drive cars, have children, hopefully get jobs, and so on. We need to make sure everyone has the ability to communicate verbally and in the written form.
