Chapter III: Holler

I bought my book for my class over the weekend. It's a non-fiction book called "Holler if You Hear Me: The Education of a Teacher & His Students", by Gregory Michie. The book is for one of my Elementary Education classes. It is a very inspirational book, not just about a teacher, but also his middle school students whose lives are mangled with inner city influences. Mind you, the book was written and published in the late 90's, but the ideas and behaviors today about inner city schools are pretty much the same.

I really like how he did not glorify successes that were made in movies such as "Dangerous Minds" or "Mr. Holland Opus". Dr. Michie spoke the truth and talks about the struggles that these children go through in school due to outside influences (low income neighborhoods, drugs, violence, etc.) In between chapters, he visits his students and reiterates their lives after middle school in the first person point-of-view. You would expect that all of these kids would have been successful in high school; but, more than likely, they weren't. There were maybe just a handful who seemed to have deterred from their neighborhood's negative influences. The majority of the kids he interviewed are of Latin descent whose parents immigrated from Mexico. These children had to face the everyday prejudices/segregation that you would not think that would even exist today!

Dr. Gregory Mitchie was one of those teachers whose heart and soul -- his dedication to those kids -- saw some kind of hope in inner-city children (blacks, caucaseans, Latinos, Asian, etc.). He allowed the children to reflect on themselves and work towards a goal so they have some kind of meaning in their lives. For some, it worked; for most, and sadly, his "magic" did not work. It has nothing to do with him. The negative influences were just too powerful, too great to defeat. He can only do so much in the little time he had with each child. It is up to us -- the teachers -- to reach out and help the kids such as the ones I read about. I'm not saying that we're totally responsible for the children's lives, but get this: where do the children spend the MAJORITY of their time five days a week?

We can only do so much, but we can try do as much as professional educators.

I'm really glad that I read through the entire book (2 days!) because it gave me an insight as to what I might expect during my practicum. Although my practicum is set for the younger age group (K-5th grades), I know and am well aware that I will more than likely will be dealing with children who are in similar circumstances.