Change

When I worked in NYC, the teaching staff could be categorized in several different ways.  One of the most striking, for me, anyways, were the veterans and the newbies.  As a SU.R.R. (school under registration review), we had a lot of turnovers.  We had so many teachers go through our school that in under 3 years, I went from a new teacher to a veteran and grade level leader in under 3 years.  Grade level team leaders were usually the most experienced teachers and generally a coveted position but in my 3^rd year, it was forced on me because I was the only one (at the time) most qualified to do the job. 

In my 3^rd year, I taught 4^th grade with 4 other teachers.  All the teachers on my team were brand new to teaching.  All were dedicated but clueless about teaching in the NYC public school system which was a gargantuan and confusing maze of policy, rules, regulations, culture, personalities (from the principal down to the part-time custodian) that was damn near impossible for most new teachers to understand, much less handle without going nuts.  On top of that most new teachers were given the most difficult classes (both behavior and academic problems) when in theory the experienced teachers should have gotten those classes.  My first year teaching in NYC public (I won’t say which district) was truly baptism by fire.  My second year was a little better but still challenging. I survived it and was rewarded with a grade level team job. Whoppee.