I moved to Phoenix and started teaching because my friends were doing it. I came back my second year because I wanted to teach Economics. I came back my third year because I was on a mission; I had something to prove. If I had stayed for the fourth, it would have been for the seniors.
There are plenty of students, sections, teams, families, even co-workers(!) I formed connections with over my three years, but I always thought of the 2015-ers as my class. I am loyal to them as a whole, because they transformed me during that second year. Without their influence, I probably still would have gone to sporting events and chaperoned dances and whatever else young teachers with extra time do, but it would have been aimless. No purpose or vision to it beyond sheer involvement. The seniors won me over so strongly as sophomores that I was inspired to change who I was on their behalf.
When I first started teaching 10th-grade Economics, I realized two things 1) these kids are an amazing group, and 2) these kids are an unsatisfied group. I recognized they had an incredible mix of intelligent, creative, athletic, weird, fun, people. They had good leaders and a sense of independence from the upperclassmen. They also seemed more cohesive than any of the other classes.. they had fewer cliques and more mutual respect. I suspect, in a way, I was drawn to them because they reminded me of my class at Hillsdale.
When I first started teaching 10th-grade Economics, I realized two things 1) these kids are an amazing group, and 2) these kids are an unsatisfied group. I recognized they had an incredible mix of intelligent, creative, athletic, weird, fun, people. They had good leaders and a sense of independence from the upperclassmen. They also seemed more cohesive than any of the other classes.. they had fewer cliques and more mutual respect. I suspect, in a way, I was drawn to them because they reminded me of my class at Hillsdale.
Because Econ is only one semester, I taught four sections that year, every sophomore. My first high school classes. That was also the time when the most students left SPA mid-year, that I know of. I refer to it as "The Great Sophomore Exodus of 2012", but I'm not sure of its official designation..
As I was becoming committed to these students and this class and getting plugged into the high school scene, it was impossible for me to ignore they were dissatisfied. Their souls were not content. It was partly an unhealthy outlook and lack of direction as a group, and partly the way the school was run, but I was afraid to imagine where they would end up if they continued their trajectory.
Potential abounded, and much was going to be unfulfilled. The school had all the ingredients to be a great environment to learn and grow up, but they weren't being mixed properly. It had attained some of the most difficult requirements of becoming a special institution, but it was too formulaic.
So, I went all in. It was this group of seniors that motivated me on a daily basis.. it may have been borderline obsessive.. More than anything else, I wanted those students to enjoy their high school experience, and, in doing so, learn how to enjoy the pursuit of a good life. Sure, you can go ahead and study everything the classics have to say about living a good life, but if you're actively discontent with your day-to-day life in the long run? An unlivable life is not worth examining. I daydreamed about building a culture and tradition that could be upheld and passed down and nourish upcoming classes, making the mission of the school sustainable, but that was nearly impossible without more leverage and time, which I would never have had there. So, it had to be personal.
I recently took the Myers-Briggs test, for the first time since college. For the first time ever, it told me I was an extrovert. It was wrong; I'm not an extrovert. But, the mentality I cultivated during my time at Scottsdale Prep did change how I interact with the world, and how I see my role. I would be a much different, and inferior, version of myself if I had never been in that situation with those students. Teaching made me a better person, and my students had everything to do with it.
Put another way, my commitment to the school was merely a response to the undeniable value of the group of kids in front of me. I saw their goodness and it made me want to be good, because they deserved it. They changed me, and I am forever grateful.
They didn't just ignite my goal to build a positive culture, they recognized what I was trying to do and responded. If I had put myself out there and gotten nothing in return, it would have been a short-lived effort. But we made a good team. There's nothing like mutual respect as a basis for a lasting relationship..
They didn't just ignite my goal to build a positive culture, they recognized what I was trying to do and responded. If I had put myself out there and gotten nothing in return, it would have been a short-lived effort. But we made a good team. There's nothing like mutual respect as a basis for a lasting relationship..
In light of all this, I'm coming to graduation Saturday. I see it as my last grand gesture to a Scottsdale Prep class as a whole. My loyalty was always to the individual people at the school, not the institution itself. I'll still keep in touch with various students and families and teachers — I guess being gone has simplified the terms of the equation — my friends. And the juniors are already Ms. Fuller's group, in any case.. (ya'll are studs, especially 8B :-P)
I'm being dramatic and lame, but it is genuine. I'm also simultaneously being both congratulatory and self-congratulatory; I know. I didn't get here by a lack of self-awareness.. Looking back, I am predictably sentimental but also transparently proud of the time we had together. We didn't always know what we were doing, but a lot of it was good, and the run would have ended this year either way. I've spent 75% of my working life at Scottsdale Prep, and I don't expect to feel this way about any other group of high school graduates, ever.
Not only am I certain that I'll be friends with many of these graduates years down the road, I know that they're going to accomplish great things in the world and I'm excited to see them do it. I'm already proud of them, and they haven't even fully started living.
I'm being dramatic and lame, but it is genuine. I'm also simultaneously being both congratulatory and self-congratulatory; I know. I didn't get here by a lack of self-awareness.. Looking back, I am predictably sentimental but also transparently proud of the time we had together. We didn't always know what we were doing, but a lot of it was good, and the run would have ended this year either way. I've spent 75% of my working life at Scottsdale Prep, and I don't expect to feel this way about any other group of high school graduates, ever.
Not only am I certain that I'll be friends with many of these graduates years down the road, I know that they're going to accomplish great things in the world and I'm excited to see them do it. I'm already proud of them, and they haven't even fully started living.
And, don't worry, grads, I've curtailed my expectations for graduation weekend. In the same way you wouldn't fly to a wedding thinking you're going to chill with the bride and/or groom for the weekend, you shouldn't attend graduations under the delusion you're going to spend quality time with the graduate(s). You have to be content with a brief handshake/hug while saying "Congratulations" and hearing "Thanks for coming". Then it's on to the next one, right? I'm coming to show respect for who you are and what we've been through together; we can catch up later.
p.s. where the grad parties at
