Disillusionment

From this chapter “Disillusionment,” my own fears about teaching were confirmed within the pages. I worry about the economy and how it will impact my success at finding a job, getting the job I want, and keeping it, no matter how qualified and successful I am. After reading the Freedom Writer’s Diary, I had decided how I wanted to use it in my classroom, but after reading this chapter, I realize how many challenges I may face by doing so. I could not believe that a teacher was fired for using it in her classroom, and another teacher was attacked by parents and the community for having students read it, but in both situations the students had responded so positively to reading the book that the teacher deemed it worth it.

After reading the first story about Ema, the girl with dyslexia, I realized how little I know about accommodating students like her, just as her and her special education teacher/ case manager note about the general education teachers in her school. I feel like I will most certainly try my best to acknowledge and follow the modifications of each of my students IEPs, because I do not want to be another one of those general education teachers who seem to ignore IEPs.

Reading the story of the teacher who puts the students in his classroom first, and the other teacher who deems him or herself “undatable” due to their career as a teacher, I couldn’t help but ponder about my own future outside of the classroom. I hope to have a family someday, and I hope that I may have a supportive family that understands what it means to be a teacher, and that my job doesn’t end when I leave the classroom. I also hope that despite how it may seem that my students need me more, I always need to be a reliable and caring mother as well.