Student Teaching - Week #5

by Kristin Trease - Kelvyn Park High School

Life in the City

The biggest complaint about the neighborhood we live in: lack of coffee shops that aren’t Starbucks. I had to travel on the bus for fifteen minutes to find a locally owned coffee shop this afternoon. Slightly annoying, but I can deal with it. Our neighborhood isn’t all bad; it is really central, so hopping on either a train or bus to get around the city is really easy. I also found out yesterday that we live three blocks from the original Playboy Mansion, not that it’s a huge selling factor for me personally, but still an interesting tid-bit.

The "Bean" at Millennium Park

What I love most about this city is the diversity that surrounds us. We live in the prominent, wealthy area of town. I work in a predominately Hispanic neighborhood. When I visit my friends in the Rogers Park neighborhood, I find myself in the most diverse community in Chicago. Yesterday we took a trip to Boy’s Town, the gay community. Friday night we were in the Loop going to an Opera being performed in a church. A few weekends ago we went to a giant craft fair in Wicker Park, the artsy, hipster part of town. Couple of stops south and you’re in Chinatown. Four stops on the Red line train and you’re in the sports hub of Chicago. Forty-five minutes south and you’re at the Museum of Science and Industry. Walk from our apartment to the Chicago Semester offices and you’ve passed some of Chicago’s best shopping. Within a ten or fifteen minute ride on the CTA, we can find ourselves in a completely different world. You can go on an adventure everyday if you let yourself.

Life in the Classroom

Almost every day I leave school with one thought: What in the world am I doing here?

Here I am, a young, white, country girl trying to survive in this huge, Hispanic, city school, pretending like I’m making a difference. And there is no real way at this point to know if I am actually doing anything for these kids that shuffle through our classes. My cooperating teacher tells me to stop worrying about it, that these things aren’t measurable and it may be years before I know the effect I have on these kids. I just can’t get over the need for just a little bit of instant gratification.

So every day on the bus, I try and think about the little wins of that day. Like on Wednesday when Maria told me I looked nice; previously I only got eye rolls and smart aleck remarks from her. Or on Monday when Adholl asked me to come to his soccer game, even though I couldn’t make it (the other team ended up not showing up, so I didn’t miss anything). And last Thursday when a table of four girls told me that I should be the real teacher after I told them I’d only be there until December. Then there was Nicolas who, on Wednesday, actually did all four parts of his assignment; granted, not with great quality, but when he doesn’t usually do anything, it was a big deal for me.

I need to keep in mind that I’m most likely going to learn far more from these kids than they will learn from me. And I need to be open to those lessons and okay with that reality. All those little moments, all the laughs as I stumble over chairs, all the jokes shared between students are silver lining. 

Eighth hour is my favorite class, mostly because they are overly-dramatic and funny. We aren’t supposed to give them hall passes during the last 15 minutes of class, and yet they always wait until then to decide they need to use the bathroom.