 Lesson Plan for Young Professionals:
Teach, Change Lives
By Robert Waddell, June 4, 2009
Twenty-seven year-old Stephanie Rosado remembers being enthralled by her mother, a teacher who seemed to mesmerize her students with her every word. The impact of that impression was so lasting that Rosado decided that she too would become an educator.
To be sure, life for a young teacher like Rosado can be daunting yet careers in education continue to attract talented professionals who are opting for what they consider highly rewarding jobs despite the low pay. Such is the case for Rosado, Shannell Downer and Jennifer Figuereo.
Downer, a professional dancer, injured her knees several years ago and had to stop performing. Since she had always been interested in counseling and teaching, she visited the Department of Education’s website for job openings and landed a position in 2008 as a substance abuse prevention specialist in New York City junior high schools. Today, she’s looking into earning a masters degree in counseling.
Figuereo, 31, began teaching biology and environmental science at Hudson County School of Technology, a high school in New Jersey, two-and-a-half years ago; her younger brother, who teaches music production and math at the same school, encouraged her into the profession.
A young teacher today has to move beyond the concepts of education and put new as well as established tools of the trade into practice: classroom management; writing lesson plans; and inspiring young minds to learn. Traditionally these standard tools have not changed but young teachers today must compete for their student’s ever dwindling attention spans. In spite of a high attrition rate amongst new teachers, young educated professionals are dedicated, feeling a sense of duty to give back to students.
 “There are lots of reasons someone would want to become a teacher,” said Abagail McNamee, chairperson of CUNY’s Lehman College’s school of childhood and early childhood education. “Their parents were teachers, students work well with children and they want to make a difference in someone’s life.”
Last year 5,725 new teachers were hired last September 2008. Out of that number, 1,317 came out of the New York City Teaching Fellows, a program designed by the Department of Education to recruit professionals from other occupations into teaching, said the DOE. However, of today’s first-time teachers, many quit the profession within the first three years they’ve been hired.
Although a teaching job has built in security and flexible hours for individuals with families, there is a high turn-over rate. According to McNamee, there are two qualities that go into making a good teacher: relating well to others; and knowledge of the subject matter to make it active and engaging to students.
However, a 2004 report conducted by the New York City Council’s Investigative division on “Teacher Attrition and Retention,” revealed that 18 percent of new teachers leave after one year. Twenty-five percent leave after 2 years and 50 percent of first time teachers leave within 5 years. In rural areas, the statistic was 10 percent.
“There are a lot of negatives to teaching,” McNamee said, “but it’s really a profession for someone who enjoys trying to make a difference and who wants to deal in creative ways with what is good for children.”
Figuereo and Rosado both feel that new teachers must be committed to teaching and not only devoted to earning a paycheck. They both agree that many enter teaching with unrealistic expectations about the profession thinking it’s easy with summers off.
“Teaching is not for everyone,” Rosado said, “it's a difficult profession and there are instances where people assume that the job is easy until they realize that it's a 24/7 occupation. With planning, grading, communicating with parents, kids, and other professionals there is very little time for self and it's not easy especially in the first couple of years. Those first 3-4 years are by far the hardest that a teacher will ever have to work.”
 Having summers off, many holidays and benefits, Figuero said that, people go into teaching because they perceive educating as a “comfortable and secure” job, without considering the work involved.
“What they don't realize is that the biggest perk of all are the kids,” Figuero said, “There's so much responsibility that comes with teaching…. trust me there are tons of bad characters among today’s youth and as a teacher you have to know how to handle that; you always have to be one step ahead, you have to be …their parent, their mentor and never take it personal.”
In spite of turn over rates and negatives that may lead to a new teacher to quit within the first 3 years, there are those young professionals who keep coming to classrooms ready to teach, armed with the determination to make an impact on student’s lives. In spite of the volume of teachers who quit, these teachers are in it for the long haul like someone who knows that most marriages end in divorce but are ready to make a commitment any way.
Growing up in New York City, five-year-old Rosado mimicked her mother, using chalk to scribble on the ground outside as though heading her own class. That childhood pastime became Rosado’s passion as an adult, and she earned her bachelor’s in English and her Master’s degree in education from the City University of New York’s Hunter College. Rosado now stands in front of her own classrooms, as a high school English teacher at the Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics in East Harlem.
“I have always known that I wanted to teach,” said Rosado who received her teaching license in 2005. “When I saw my mother teaching her fourth grade class, I watched how kids looked up to her and wanted to gain her respect.
“I love the fact that my students look up to me,” Rosado said. “It keeps me focused on the goal of getting as many minority students into college and beyond as possible.”
 Since 2007, Jasmine Perez, 31, has taught at Public School 5 in Washington Heights in Manhattan. She said that she felt the impact of this lack of creativity that McNamee speaks of, on her teaching style. School administrators adhere to strict guidelines that mandate how and what a teacher does in their classrooms. Perez said that the school system “suffers from a lack of thinking outside the box.”
“You have to do things in a protocol,” Perez said. “Sometimes these procedures can be constricting. If you want to teach someone, just as an example, how to tie their shoes, you want to do it one way, but (if) they say you have to use the butterfly tie, then you have to do it their way even though the result is the same.”
In spite of Perez’s complaints she called her work “absolutely rewarding.”
For Rosado, a rewarding experience came during a visit from a former special education student. She remembered that the student’s home life had been difficult, which effected his school work. The student was persistent, she said, eventually graduating. The student thanked Rosado for giving him the life skills to go on and make something of himself; living on his own, finding gainful employment as a construction worker, and most of all, said Rosado the former student is happy with himself.
“He was proud and I was proud of him,” Rosado said. “It was a tremendous experience because his success story might not seem like much to someone else but it was his. He truly found what makes him happy, and what else can success be, if it does not equate to happiness?”
Downer echoed the same sentiment. She said that her commitment to her students meant she would never give up on a profession she’s drawn to and she wouldn’t want to quit on her students either.
“My job is so exciting,” Downer said. “To see kids struggling but learning at the same time. If you love teaching and want to give back, teaching can be so much fun.”
For the last 4 years, Jorge Vazquez, 33, has worked as a school aide at M.S. 223 in New York. For 3 of those years, he has taught music in the Multi-Cultural Music Group’s after-school program.
Vazquez said that teaching in the South Bronx allows him to develop his student’s creativity and see their potential grow. A dividend for students learning music, he said, is self-discipline and self-awareness. Enthusiastic, Vazquez pointed to several of his students who won musical competitions last June.
 “I love to see people progress,” Vazquez said. “I like the idea of planting a seed and watching kids grow and do good.”
Justin Wedes, 23, a first-year teacher at Good Shepherd School in Red Hook, Brooklyn, graduated from the University of Michigan in the spring of 2008 with a bachelors degree in physics. He didn’t want to work in a laboratory right away.
Wedes said that his biggest challenge is connecting to his inner city students, since he grew up in the suburbs of Detroit.
“In my case, after 4 years of university,” said Wedes, “by the end of college I wanted to share the knowledge I had. I wanted to share the love of my subject with underprivileged students.”
Despite the challenges, and huge turn over rates, more young adults are lining up to be at the head of city classrooms. These are aware and dedicated individuals who know what they’re getting themselves into.
For example, Angelique Imani Rodriguez, 24, will begin studying at Lehman College for a teaching certificate in August.
“After a lot of soul searching, I (decided) I want to make a difference in a person’s life,” The aspiring English teacher said, “I want to do something where I’m not forgotten, something where I’m not just earning a paycheck.”
Figuereo said for her, teaching science goes beyond the classroom to a place where she can spark creativity and ideas within her students. A truly committed teacher must be selfless and not think about the perks of the job instead concentrate on the hard work and commitment young teachers must dedicate to educating, she said.
“I wish I had a teacher like me,” Figuereo said. “I would have exposed myself to new things….I’m not only a teacher of education but a teacher of life. A text book is a text book but life changes all of the time.”
This story was developed through the Education Beat Writing Fellowship at the New York Community Alliance. |
