I got the same-old question today–are we your best class? It would be the same-old question if a class asked if they were the worst, which they sometimes do.
I’ve taught for 21 years full-time, and put myself through school and bachelorhood while substitute teaching. I student-taught at Gahr High in 1987, taught at Long Beach Poly from 1989 to 1993, taught a semester at Savannah High in the Spring of 1999, and have been at North High since Fall of 1999. Before and during and around some of those stints, I substitute taught in Los Alamitos, Long Beach, ABC (Artesia, Bellflower, Cerritos), Downey, and Paramount. I’ve probably taught every single class there is to teach, at least for a day.
And, yeah, some years are better. Class of 2005? Best class of kids (for APN, at least). Best class period? I had some amazing Creative Writing kids at Long Beach Poly. These were classes filled with PACE kids (some of the best in the district) all the way down to basic English kids. The mixes were so strange, but somehow they worked, in the sense that kids got along and complemented each other. At North High, my best class was a 6th-period Honors Sophomore English class, with 24 girls and 4 guys. That was in 2013 and I was lucky enough to get many of those students again in 2015, when they were seniors. Some of the nicest people I will ever have the pleasure of knowing.
But the bottom line, since I’m sounding nostalgic, is that kids are kids, high school is pain, and most go through that pain together. I told students today that I had seen everything, and I could see their little minds working–what can we do that he hasn’t seen?
Nothing. Just be like my class from years ago and be nice people. That goes for all of you.