`Summer fellows' learn lessons teaching in city

Chicago Tribune ^ | July 21, 2003 | Ana Beatriz Cholo, Tribune staff reporter

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

Heather Hartz is a sun-bronzed 21-year-old who loves hanging out at the beach with her friends. But this summer the Florida State University student is teaching in the Chicago public schools, working with some of the city's most academically challenged pupils.

"This is a great thing to put on my resume," she said enthusiastically before her first day in the classroom. "It's only going to make me a better person."

Hartz and 146 other young adults are part of a six-week summer program, just out of its pilot phase, that is one of the Chicago Public Schools' efforts to lure quality teachers into the system.

All aspiring teachers, most of whom are still in college, these "summer fellows" seem to share Hartz's idea that, armed with knowledge and passion, they can the change the world--student by student.

It isn't long before Hartz is standing before more than a dozen rambunctious kids who are at risk of being retained in 6th grade for another year.

Some are blatantly insolent and loud. They snicker behind the young woman's back and, despite warnings to throw out their gum, the chewing is incessant. Others just can't seem to stop giggling.

But no matter what they do, Hartz's steely resolve does not soften, and her smile stays strong.

"These are my babies; these are my kids," she said, her eyes guarded against saying anything negative. "They all have bad days and good days, just like me. You just have to be sensitive to that."

The "summer fellows" represent schools as diverse as the University of Iowa, Chicago State University, the University of Tennessee and Harvard University. Most are female and white, although the recruiting effort visited historically black colleges.

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

I found this front-page article to be very uplifting - one of the few positive stories to actually hit the front pages of this paper these days.

[jmc813]

Some are blatantly insolent and loud. They snicker behind the young woman's back and, despite warnings to throw out their gum, the chewing is incessant. Others just can't seem to stop giggling. But no matter what they do, Hartz's steely resolve does not soften, and her smile stays strong.

I prefer the "Lean On Me" Joe Clark metod of dealing with the losers.

[Mr. Bird]

All aspiring teachers, most of whom are still in college, these "summer fellows" seem to share Hartz's idea that, armed with knowledge and passion, they can the change the world--student by student.

I've got a better idea. Teach the kids to read instead.

The article requires registration, so I'm going to comment without reading the entire article. I believe the teaching profession needs fewer Idealists and more teachers who are realists. I can't help but think our poor heroine is going to wake up in a few years and decide to change jobs because life isn't Dead Poets Society.

[ReagansShinyHair]

"These are my babies; these are my kids," she said, her eyes guarded against saying anything negative. "They all have bad days and good days, just like me. You just have to be sensitive to that."

Of course she's not stupid enough to admit that she really wants to be with kids who want to learn. This is the crap the educrats love to here people say. I've taught and enjoyed teaching in an inner city school, but the sad fact is that most new teacher cry constantly for the first month and end up quitting.

She says this "is great on (her) resume". Yes, it will be a blip on her resume, while she goes back to teach in a nicer middle-class school district.

Nobody wants to teach at these schools...but it's not the kids' fault. They are acting how they are allowed to act. They got away with murder in L.A. Unified. One of my first graders intentionally destroyed the P.E. teacher's expensive equipment...he got candy in the office! That's it! There were countless incidences of that type of thing going on.

[Neha8581]

I was a summer fellow and although it was hard work, it made me realize what a need there is in Chicago. I definitely want to teach there and will definitely go back. I think that this article may not have put us in the best light, but not all of us think this way. These kids are no different then any others, their problems at home just eclipse school issues. Most of my students (8th grade math summer school students) were intelligent and refreshing students that had goals and aspirations, just like the "nicer middle-class school district" kids, and I want to pull those out of them and help them achieve them. I am not being idealistic, I realize it's a tall task, but I feel that I have always wanted to teach, and all kids are reachable, you just need to find that common ground. I for one, want to teach these kids that they can change the world, AND happen to learn to read at the same time. Isn't that the kind of teacher we want in the classroom in the first place?

[NotJustAnotherPrettyFace]

I'm with you. Good for you. The schools of Chicago could use you.

My dad attended Chicago public schools back in the 1930's after his mom died and his dad couldn't take care of him, so he lived with his aunt who taught art in the CPS and childrens' classes at the Art Institute on Saturday mornings. And he turned out OK ;-).

And thank you for speaking up and contributing to this forum. Stay in touch.