Teacher Education
Alumni in Action
School of Education, Health, and Society
Drew Stricker has been teaching mathematics in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) since he graduated from Miami in 2002, first at Westinghouse Career Academy and now at Prosser Career Academy. He writes about the highs and lows of teaching, sharing his experiences with friends and former professors.
Here are excerpts:
Teaching Teaching
Every year teaching offers a new wrinkle or two. My second year it was double period Algebra and grad school. Year three had me teaching double period Geometry and junior-level Advanced Algebra with Trig. Last year: new school and a couple honors classes. This year I'm blessed to have a student teacher. My job's to teach him how to teach.
When I met Steven X in late August I was worried. He was a 25-year-old Chinese man who stood five-feet-nine-inches and weighed no more than 130 pounds. Concerning his weight I'm being generous. He was meek and indecisive but hard-working and sharp. Now Prosser isn't the toughest CPS; it’s not even close. But we have tough kids, kids who transferred from Douglass and Austin, Westinghouse and Farragut, kids who know how to cuss at teachers and pummel other kids, and do. Mr. X's gonna get eaten up, I thought. I'm gonna have to bail him out. Often. Daily. Every single period.
Within three weeks Mr. X was doing most the teaching in four out of our five classes. Within five weeks I was only responsible for one class per day. Easy street for me. My job, after 2nd period pre-IB, was to sit in the back of the class, take notes on how Mr. X was doing, help students with problems at their desk, break up an argument or two, daydream and solve math and logic problems I thought were interesting.
After his first few weeks of teaching I was amazed: Mr. X was not only handling himself well, he was already beginning to thrive. The kids took to him. They thought he was dorky, but they listened to him and, save for a few incidents, didn't give him trouble.
Jose
One of the best problem solvers in my first five years of teaching was 3rd period Honors Jose. Brilliant. A superb analytical thinker. One day I sit down next to him, curious.
"Jose, where do you want to go to college?"
Jose: Well . . . I don't have a social security number. I'm illegal.
The Lives They Lead
It's easy to forget Randall Postiglione's advice my first year of teaching at Westinghouse. He told me this after I'd just about had it with Charisma and the rest of the 8th period knuckleheads: They're just kids. He's right. Many of them are just kids, just kids who struggle to keep themselves and their families afloat.
For instance, there's 8th period Honors Evelyn. Through the course of the year she moved from Regular to Honors. Including hi and goodbye, Evelyn probably said 25 words in class the first three quarters of the year. In June she wanted me to take a look at an essay she was going to submit as part of her college application. This is what stood out:
"I began to work twelve hours a day on the weekends at a Flea Market."
"For a whole month I took cold showers and illuminated my room with unscented candles at night." Her family was having serious financial problems.
"Getting home from work at ten, tired, and sleepy, made it hard for me to finish my school work at home. I found myself completing it between classes and because I never felt satisfied turning in assignments without giving a hundred percent, I stayed home from school many days."
Amazing. How many students would do that? She stayed home from school to do school work. And I believed her. The quality of work she turned in was far superior to that of most her peers. Evelyn solved problems other students couldn't solve and wouldn't even attempt.
Weeks later "mom showed me my account balance; it was over six thousand dollars." Mom had given back all the money that Evelyn had given to her to help pay the family's bills. Here's a success story waiting to be realized.
June Boost
Ms. Bongiorno gave an assignment to her Contemporary American History class, with one of the questions being, "During your four years [of high school], who was your favorite teacher/who did you learn the most from?"
On the last day of school she was kind enough to share some of these spirit-boosters:
Oscar: "My favorite teacher is Mr. Stricker cause he made math easy to learn."
Celena: "I learned the most from my Algebra Trig teacher, Mr. Stricker."
Angelica: "Mr. Stricker... I finally passed a math class with more than a D."
Alejandro: "'White Lady' was my favorite teacher/ I learned the most from Mr. Stricker."
Nicoya: "Learned most from Ms. K. & Mr. Stricker."
Leticia: "For math Mr. Stricker he was good at explaining."
Jarvaras: "My favorite teacher other than Ms. B. it had to be Mr. Stricker and I learn the most from him."
Laura: "Mr. Stricker just because he taught me to think more logically."
Other than Alejandro, who failed 2nd semester, and Laura, these were some of the quietest kids in all my classes. They have no idea how valuable their thoughts are.
Not So Fast
But I'm not getting off that easily. No happy ending here. The compliments are spirit-boosting and appreciated, but student criticisms are what shape me as a teacher. Each year I give students a survey so they can offer me feedback. Many kids slough off the survey, but those that take it seriously offer some interesting thoughts. Here's what some of them wrote:
Edgar: "I usually love math but coming to this class I got confused and never got out." He gave me a "D" as a teacher.
Morgan: "I would like to see more personality."
Anonymous: "C, because you teach too fast and you side track too much."
Ashley: (What can I improve upon?) "His sense of humor."
Anonymous: "A 'B' because he knows a lot about math and knows how to teach but is unfair with grading."
Amanda: "It seems to take longer than any other period maybe because it's the last period."
Gonzolo: (What is the most valuable part of class?) "The end of class."
Anonymous: "He should improve on being more fun, and stop being so strict with everything loosen up a little and maybe the lesson will go better."
Anonymous: "'A+ because he explains, keep class as a conversation, add extra things to class, helps if needed."
Anonymous: (What can I improve upon?) "A complete overhaul... just playin'. Change your grading scale. Make homework worthwhile."
A complete overhaul. Got my work cut out for me this summer.