Read I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had for Free Online

education.”
    “I know just what you mean!” I exclaim. I want to hug this guy. “I was a slacker, too. If there’s one thing I want to do this year, it’s try to reach the kids who remind me of me and
wake them up
so they don’t make the same mistakes I did.”
    Joe runs a hand over his crew cut. “Sometimes when I tell my story, I feel like I’m being too dramatic.”
    “Hell, no! You’re not being dramatic, my friend, you’re being
real
.” And then I think again. “I take that back. It is dramatic, but it’s the kind of dramatic commitment we need to turn our schools around.”
    “So.” He glances at the cameras that, of course, are filming our every move. “You’re really here for the whole year … teaching?”
    “I really am,” I say, but then I remember Ms. Carroll’s warning and the two days so far. “Unless they throw me out.”
    Joe looks across the room as if seeing his first teaching attempts, too. “The kids don’t make it easy. Sam warned me.”
    “I think I’ve got to channel more of my father. He was a knock-around guy with a saying for every occasion. ‘Finish strong.’ ‘Two wrongs don’t make a right.’ ‘Keep your mouth shut and mind your own business.’ ”
    “Those would all work in the classroom,” Joe agrees.
    “He was a tough, honest, hardworking city sanitation man. I listened to him get up early, every morning—rain, shine, or snow—and leave for work. When it did snow, we might not see him for days. He would walk out of the house, down the snowy street, and then hitchhike to the sanitation garage in Brooklyn. On the kitchen table, he would always leave half of his egg sandwich for me. It was his way of saying good morning and letting me know he was thinking of me.”
    Joe smiles. “Sounds like you had a good dad.”
    “Any time you feel like coming up to my room for fifth period,” I say, “we can eat lunch together and discuss our day, school, the kids. I’ll give you half my sandwich.”
    “That’s nice of you—” Joe begins, but the bell rings and we both bolt upright. Enough shooting the breeze. Back to work.
    W HEN I GET HOME to my apartment at the end of the day, I realize that, in my haste to get to school this morning, I forgot to tear off yesterday’s thought for the day from the calendar on my desk. When I remedy the situation, today’s thought appears: “Encourage a good student to become a teacher.” Perfect, I think, but what about not-so-good students, like me?
    And with that I open an envelope that was sitting in my mailbox at school this morning. Talk about timing.
    From: Harry Gilbert
    To: Mr. Tony Danza
    English Dept
    Northeast HS
    Dear Sir:
    Here’s some free advice from a retired Public School teacher with over 35 years teaching 7th to 12th graders. My last position was teaching Math for 17 years at NEHS in room 6. I taught Math at Camden HS & South Philadelphia High School in addition to subbing in all subjects, teaching summer & special programs & teaching to the Scholastic Aptitude Test at over 10 different schools in the Delaware Valley
.
    I loved just about every minute of it, and if I had to do it over again, my choices would be very close to what I’ve already done. Being a teacher is part salesman, part actor & lots of compassion. You picked a great school that has fine students and some excellent staff members. Note, not all staff members are excellent all the time, but when I left, there were plenty of great educators & then there were some I wouldn’t trust walking my dog
.
    Some Advice, in no particular order:
            
• Get last year’s yearbook. Sit down with 2 or more people you feel “get it” at NEHS and page through. Let them be candid. Off the record. You will learn more about the school speaking to 2 or more staff members leafing through the yearbook over drinks than you will any other way (my opinion). Forget talking with the administration, although I am sure you will meet & interact