#2: Becoming a teacher

Okay, okay, nowadays being a teacher is more of a mark of shame than a point of pride for most people and even me sometimes. Many days in fact. I'm regularly told that I'm too smart to be a teacher and should take a job that will pay me what I'm worth. I agree in so many ways, but it's true that I'm good at what I do. It's taken me five years to do it, but I have accomplished this.

Once upon a time, I sat in a nice cubicle from 10 am to 6 pm on the Upper West Side of Manhattan answering the phone and directing emails to the correct person. I attended lavish fundraisers with some of the most fascinating people in the world--Wynton Marsalis, Dr. Skip Gates, Shahara Ahmad-Llewellyn, Peter Norton, Bob Dylan, Caroline Kennedy, Sarah Jessica Parker, Diana Ross, David Stern, etc. This list could go on. Glamor. Some would say, "Why give this up? Eventually you'll get the job you deserve." I gave it up to hang out with more glamorous people--teenagers.

Teenagers are glamorous in their own way. They enter the classroom each day waiting to embark on a new knowledge journey. They soak up whatever you give them, if you sell and package it properly. Much like the donors we tried to secure in my last life. That's all people really want--to be treated fairly, honestly and with respect. Knowing that I was capable of this, and often find myself with too much energy, I needed to become a teacher.

Using the English degree that I worked my butt off for, I applied for and was accepted to the Philadelphia Teaching Fellows. One month of intensive training and I was then placed in a classroom that hadn't seen a full-time teacher in over six months. Sounds like failure, right? Nah, the moment I walked in, I said to myself, "I got this." Again, teenagers are just mini-adults waiting to be treated fairly, honestly and with respect.

Five years later, I no longer need to tell myself, "I got this." My students show me the evidence every day that I got it. Are there days that the haters get to me? Yes. Are there days I think I work in an industry that pays me my net worth? YES. At the end of the day though, there are sacrifices that must be made in order to continue the American democracy.

Philadelphia Teaching Fellows