[Al Skierkiewicz]

I recently heard a report from a TV person who met a teacher on the street. In talking the following story was related, told from the teacher's viewpoint.

As most teachers do, we tend to evaluate each other from the viewpoint of an administrator. i.e.When I get to be principal do I want that teacher working on my team. I choose to work in a difficult school because I want to be part of the solution. Well, one of the guys I teach with was never very impressive. It didn't seem he was interested in the students, didn't appear to be working for them. It looked like he was just coming in to fulfill his duties and leave. Certainly not a candidate for 'my team'. There was a student in his class that was struggling and was sure on the road to gang affiliation and worse. He was not a very good student and my fellow teacher didn't appear to be taking action. That student's brother was in one of my classes. I asked him one day how his brother was doing, did he like this fellow teacher. My student replied that if it wasn't for that teacher his brother wouldn't even be in school and may even not be alive. It seems that in the course of events, this teacher had found out that his student was experiencing severe beatings at home. He took it upon himself to go home with the student and confront the parents about the beatings. According to my student, the beatings stopped, home life improved and his brother became more interested in school. Now, it is not likely that this brother was going to become a outstanding student but he might actually finish high school. Each day he comes to school he is less of a target for the gangs. So in the scheme of things, I wouldn't have scored this teacher very high from daily activities. There certainly wouldn't be any metric that would have covered this kind of dedication. However, after hearing that story, I saw him in a much different light. I could see that the test I had been using didn't fit in the neighborhood we work in. That teacher was now on my 'dream team'.