The English Teacher – Reintroduction

“Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.”
From J. D. Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye

As a child growing up in Buffalo. NY, I matured pretty fast. In one way, I was pretty precocious in ascertaining the reality of many situations, and handled most of them with an adeptness that seemingly came out of nowhere. Part of this came as being not just being older than my two siblings or even being the eldest of thirteen plus grandchildren. My maturity came as something not merely taught, but somehow intrinsic just as my love for words is.
If there is anything that I stake my pride on, then it would it have to be my diction. This is not to say that I simply rely on knowing the right thing to say at the right time (who does?); but more to the point of being able to utilize the words to express and explain to and of “myself” and the world that I interface in. The old adage of “sticks and stones can break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is completely false. Words can hurt, but conversely they can also heal. They can be used to teach and help identify problems. When we are all children, the guttural shrill of crying is the only thing that we can do besides laugh to make our presence known in the world. It through our words and our subsequent actions that make us known to the world.

Growing up, I had never actually had an African-American male teacher. Not that that was a significant issue in my education, or even a deterrent; it just simply is a disappointing fact. The only people that looked like “me” were engineers, sport stars, or other people seemingly stuck in the typical “9-5” working world. While the “9-5” working world does keep the world turning, it doesn’t necessarily guarantee an impact on a world. This year, when I began teaching high school English at a Catholic High School in the Bronx, I realized I had the opportunity to do something amazingly beyond myself. I have had the chance to influence the minds of over 100 children on a daily basis, and while being in a low-income, high-risk area, I feel as if I have succeeded. Somewhere inside myself I have found the tenacity to create lesson plans and assignments that challenge my students. The reward has been the output I have received back. The level of craft and insight that most of the children have displayed makes me smile the largest smile possible.

Not to say that it hasn’t been extremely difficult. Some days I have found myself completely exhausted and I have had to coach myself onward.

I started this essay out with a quote from JD Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye to illustrate one point; “Life” is indeed a game. In the novel wthe protagonist (Holden Caulfield) receives this advice from one of his teacher’s. That teacher (Mr. Spenser) tries to help Holden better himself by explaining that education, and life are hand in hand, in the manner such that if one does not know how to read and understand the rules, then a body will most likely lose the game. As a teacher, I have learned to navigate the field, and I have thoroughly enjoyed sharing my knowledge with my students and letting them work their way to figuring out exactly how they want to play what is most definitely one of the most dangerous and crucial games around, that game being living.

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