February 24, 2015 - 11:47
On my first day at Hartwood Elementary, I was directed to a trailer about 100 feet from the school. I knocked on the door, unsure of what to expect. It was quickly opened by a short, stout Italian woman with a hurried air. She shook my hand quickly and handed me a textbook. "We're reading on page 172," she said, then immediately resumed addressing the class as if she had never stopped to admit me. I was thrown by this quick introduction and it took me several moments to adjust to the spacious, carpeted and colorful interior of the trailer. The students turned their heads to stare at me as I sat at the back of the classroom, trying to look like I was paying attention to the lesson.
Though I was concerned by Mrs. A's rather impersonal first encounter, it became quite clear throughout the day that my judgment of her in those few seconds as harsh and cold was quite the opposite. As she explained to me later in the day, she had been teaching for 30 years and, in her first year, she almost hadn't made it. She had come into the classroom with "all these cutesy ideas," but had soon adopted an “it's them or me” attitude that has stuck with her ever since. Now, she describes herself as scary (she apparently threw a desk across a room and recounted stories of her family in the mafia), but fair. As she said, “they know I’m really just a teddy bear.” And she is. She jokes around and compliments her students quite a bit, though most of her interactions with them are demanding directives, usually practically yelled. At one point, on our way to lunch, a student was playing in the ice. She told him not to do so, then when he didn't listen, she lovingly poked him and one of his friends in their sides, causing them to giggle and move back to the sidewalk.
Mrs. A embodies this idea of a "warm demander." In some ways, she reminds me of the representation of Mrs. Bronzic from the Dance reading. She has high expectations, but clearly cares about her students. She even holds an after school program, runs the student council and has developed a nutrition initiative for the school in her spare time. Mrs. A doesn't just tell her kids she cares about them, she clearly shows it in all her actions, making her one of those rare great teachers.