Well, the blog has been on a bit of a hiatus during the August recess, but I'm finally back! I have my first day of class tomorrow at Western International High School in Detroit. I'm sad to report that my almost all of my relatives (whom I spent the majority of the break catching up/vacationing with) gave roughly the same response when I informed them that I would be teaching in Detroit:
"I hope you're bringing a flak jacket."
This sort of immediate aversion to Detroit schools seems to be a sad reality among many suburban Michiganders. Though my family failed to discourage me from student teaching in the city, I can only imagine how many other teachers the city has lost to this type of pressure. I hope that my experience at Western will allow me to have a more informed discussion about the real issues facing Detroit schools and dispel some of the damaging misconceptions surrounding them. This blog will play an integral part in logging my experiences and helping me analyze my viewpoints as they change to account for new teaching experiences.
My blog will really take off tomorrow evening, so check back if you're interested!
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Thanks for sharing this, Sam. The set of questions you raise about reactions to your placement frames a complex and *important* topic to investigate this year, both formally (great thing to ask other teachers about, once you've gotten to know them a bit and have established some trust) and informally. It looks like you're going to try to write regularly, so I'm looking forward to your sharing your thoughts, Sam...thanks.
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