Any Asian-American teachers here?

[jook]

This is probably a long shot but are there any AA teachers working in the US educational system in here?

The reason I ask is because I've been working as an IT guy in the finance sector for about 7 years now and for various reasons I've been entertaining the notion of switching my profession to teaching in a public school. My major in college was electrical engineering. I've thought perhaps I'd like to teach math in high school.

I've always been told by various people that I'd make a good teacher because I have a "good pedagogical style".

At this point its just an idea floating around in my head. Any advice, thoughts, or input from experienced teachers from an AA perspective would be greatly appreciated.

[lopan]

Actually, Jook, there are at least three teachers on this board who are also very prominent members. i'll leave it to them to speak up.

[xian]

I teach in inner city Chicago. It's actually "the toughest job you'll ever love". I was one of those over educationally priviledged kids who got bored at everything I tried to do in terms of work, and this is constant taxing of your skills.

If you decide to do it, just make sure you seek out other people in it for the right reasons who see kids misbehavior as a teaching opportunity not something to complain about and use to justify a lack of learning.

It's really a sky's the limit job, and if you decide to pursue it, we can definitely talk about how to prepare yourself in terms of being an Asian American teacher (as we have added issues involved). Basically, if you don't teach in a predominantly Asian American environment, you need to always prep yourself how you are going to teach to kids who have been indoctrinated with stereotypes, etc.

When someone is racist on the street, I have a whole stack of response that I can really take my pick from. With the kids it's more a "Well, I'm happy to answer that question honestly, but just know, if you said that to someone on the street, you're liable to get your ass kicked!" and then try to walk them through it empathetically.

I'm off to NO tomorrow to scout for taking kids on a service learning project.

Keep us updated. There are a ton of single year certification programs, and if you have the math background, you can probably get it all paid for. There are paid residencies if you are interested in teaching inner-city.

[jook]

Xian

If I were to pursue this more seriously, I'd most likely begin by applying to the NYC Teaching Fellows Program. This is a program that's specifically designed for working professionals in other fields, interested in changing careers and trains them as teachers for the NYC public school system.

What subject and grade level do you teach, btw?

I'm always hearing that there's a critical need for qualified math and science teachers especially in the urban school settings. Even when I was an EE major during college, I've suspected that while I'd make a mediocre engineer, I'd probably make a pretty good teacher.

The thing that always held me back from pursuing this fully was what you mentioned, racism on the part of the students. I know that as a teacher, chances are I'll wind up teaching mostly black and hispanic students. I know, even without having been a teacher, that these students WILL try to test me because that's how teenagers are. I'm a product of the NYC public school system myself and racism has always been a reality as an Asian student and I have little reason to believe that as an Asian teacher it'll be any different. If a troublemaker student were to say something stupid to challenge my authority as a teacher, which in all likelihood would be a racist remark, its not like I can just let that slide or ignore it because it would undermine my authority in the classroom and make my job a lot more difficult. I'm not even sure how I would or should handle such a scenario. As stupid as it sounds, its stuff like that that really holds me back. I wish I wouldn't have to be concerned about such stuff and just focus on the teaching itself, with reasonable students, but that's not the reality.

It's a real shame also because like I mentioned before the media is always going on and on about how there's a critical need for qualified and dedicated math and science teachers. It's an area where Asian-Americans can help make a real impact on society.

[xian]

You are right of course--you can't let it stand. However, if you initiate a battle, you will lose. This is where the technique of the good teacher is so important. Why do the students feel the need to test so much?

Well, mostly it's because they feel powerless in their daily lives and in the hours they spend in the classroom. If you respond by attempting to wrestle back control, that will only intensify their feelings.

So even though I teach Japanese language, I will give them some social studies background--namely who is it who is disenfranchising them. I tell them about how a lot of the anti-Asian slurs come from white American history and thus they are doing the dirty work of racist America.

Never get mad, only educate. Instead of yelling, I simply say, almost apologetically "You might not know it, but that's actually a slur." Say it not upset, but instructively--
"I'm telling you, so you won't foolishly be shooting yourself in the foot."

Oh, and I'm teaching 9-12 in High School.

[jook]

It's really nice to be able to discuss such matters with you.

My company sponsors a non-profit org called Junior Achievement, which allows interested employees to spend about an hour each week to go to a school and teach as a volunteer. I went to an orientation meeting today. I thought maybe this would be a good way to concretely explore my idea of possibly going into education. Unfortunately, it turns out that the volunteer work occurs during business hours and my manager had misgivings about me doing this, given the expected workload in the coming months. So I was unable to commit. But the JA program director told me that there's more opportunities in the spring so hopefully I'll be able to do it then.

This idea simultaneously excites and scares me at the same time. It's one of those things where conviction mixes with doubt.

[nskripchun]

hey jook... Wu-Tang is for the children. Like Xian and me. ;)

What's up? I'm an elementary school teacher. Just finished my master's last year and I teach at a public elementary school. Prior to that, I had experience teaching in Japan (mostly kids) and volunteering at my church's community kids program.

I can relate a lot to your situation - I also am an IT major (double majored in business:IT and communications:journalism as an undergrad), but after working in "that world" for a little bit, I decided that it wasn't for me. Xian has given a lot of good advice, so I don't feel a big need to echo what he's said except to throw in my own 2 cents.

-Get as much experience as possible working with kids -Junior Achievement, volunteering, tutoring. Try working with lots of different kinds of kids too - inner city, suburb, elementary, junior high, high school. Not only will the experience give you a better idea of what you want to teach, it will give you an idea of WHO you want to teach to.

-Another important point about experience: many grad school programs for teachers like candidates who have some experience working with young people.

-If you become a teacher, especially an Asian American MALE teacher, you're right in that you'll be dealing with racism from students. But be prepared also for racism you will encounter in other teachers, as well as the issue of your gender. In middle school and high school, there tends to be more gender balance, but elementary schools are dominated by white female teachers (inner city schools tend to have better racial balance, though). Teaching as a whole is still largely perceived as a female occupation.

-On the flipside, because you are a member of an underrepresented group (Asian American males) you will have the chance to directly combat racism with the best weapon I can think of (your own life experiences and the education you give) to an impressionable audience (the students and your fellow staff members). Just think ripple effect - if you influence the attitudes of a class of 25 kids, you influence not only them, but their whole families. If you change the attitudes of teachers at your school toward the issues of race and racism (that it's more than just about white people and black people), then you not only influence those teachers, but by extension, all of their students as well. That's hundreds of people... easily.

Feel free to ask questions!

Like Xian said... teaching is both the most challenging and the most rewarding job in the world.

[jaehwan]

Nskripchun and Xian:

Props to both of you. I can't think of a job as difficult (and scary) as teaching, especially for Asian American men. Props for both your tenacity and courage.

Jook,

We definitely need more teachers, so props to you too!

I don't know if this helps (it probably doesn't), but I have a good friend who joined that NY teachers program. He was in IT, and he got laid off during the dot com bust. He joined the teacher's program as a math teacher just because he needed a job. But then he fell in love with teaching, loved the kids, and though he still likes IT, he said that he wants to teach forever. (He's black, so his experience is probably different from yours.)

So best of luck!

[timmyhos]

-If you become a teacher, especially an Asian American MALE teacher, you're right in that you'll be dealing with racism from students. But be prepared also for racism you will encounter in other teachers, as well as the issue of your gender. In middle school and high school, there tends to be more gender balance, but elementary schools are dominated by white female teachers (inner city schools tend to have better racial balance, though). Teaching as a whole is still largely perceived as a female occupation.

-On the flipside, because you are a member of an underrepresented group (Asian American males) you will have the chance to directly combat racism with the best weapon I can think of (your own life experiences and the education you give) to an impressionable audience (the students and your fellow staff members). Just think ripple effect - if you influence the attitudes of a class of 25 kids, you influence not only them, but their whole families. If you change the attitudes of teachers at your school toward the issues of race and racism (that it's more than just about white people and black people), then you not only influence those teachers, but by extension, all of their students as well. That's hundreds of people... easily.



Being an Asian American male teacher has got to be one of the toughest jobs around. It's awesome to hear that.

[nskripchun]

^it is. But like I said... the job is its own reward!

On a funny note about being a teacher / sharing my own Asian American experience:

When I first started teaching my 4th graders at the beginning of the year, I did a "get to know you" activity where the kids could fill out index cards with questions they wanted to ask me. At different times during the day, I'd read the questions and answer them as a sort of break. Of course, one of the first questions the kids wrote me were the usual "Where are you from? Were you born in Japan? Are you Chinese or Japanese?-type questions. I explained to the kids that ethnically, I am Chinese, but I born in California and I consider myself Chinese American. The kids were really interested in this and it led to some good sharing - I have a lot kids from Mexico, Korea, SE Asia, Russia, etc.

Anyways, a few days later, I was walking my class to the lunchroom and a random kid from another class walked up to me and said, "Where are you from? Are you a teacher from Japan?"

Before I could answer, one of the Latina girls from my class jumped out of line and yelled in her most street "uh-HUH" voice:

"MR. (NSKRIPCHUN) is from CALIFORNIA... not China. DUH!"

I had to try hard to keep myself from laughing outloud too hard.

[bhkbjj]

I just started teaching this year.

Because I'm an Asian American male, a lot of people at work assume I am a math teacher, but I teach freshman English. I can only think of one Asian American guy who taught English, but he quit after one day of teaching at my school.

I work at a school in which most of the students are black and Hispanic. There are hardly any Asians at the school or in the community. So, as you might expect, I have experienced ignorance and racism. Sometimes, I wonder if I made a mistake by deciding to work at this school, but I've also met some great people as well.

I think a lot of people could make a living as a teacher, but it's hard being a good teacher. What I learned this year is that teaching is more than just giving instructions on a particular topic. Teaching involves so much more.

I'm not sure if I'm going to teach for the rest of my life, but I know that being a teacher, even for this short period of time, has helped me grow as a person and has been a valuable experience.

[nskripchun]

I just started teaching this year.

Because I'm an Asian American male, a lot of people at work assume I am a math teacher, but I teach freshman English. I can only think of one Asian American guy who taught English, but he quit after one day of teaching at my school.

I work at a school in which most of the students are black and Hispanic. There are hardly any Asians at the school or in the community. So, as you might expect, I have experienced ignorance and racism. Sometimes, I wonder if I made a mistake by deciding to work at this school, but I've also met some great people as well.

I think a lot of people could make a living as a teacher, but it's hard being a good teacher. What I learned this year is that teaching is more than just giving instructions on a particular topic. Teaching involves so much more.

I'm not sure if I'm going to teach for the rest of my life, but I know that being a teacher, even for this short period of time, has helped me grow as a person and has been a valuable experience.

hey bhkbjj,

Welcome to the F44s! Where in CA do you teach? NorCal, SoCal?

High school kids these days are definitely a challenge.

Close to the end of my master's degree course, we had some seminars on what to expect as a "first year" teacher. One of the funny things I enjoyed was the so-called "graph of a first year teacher":

http://www.weac.org/Resource/2006-07/beg_handbook/phases.htm

So I guess right about now is the time most of us first year teachers are in "disillusionment" I suppose...

[bhkbjj]

Hi, nskripchun.

I teach in socal, and I've seen the different phases before.

So, this is your first year as an elementary school teacher? Are you in Norcal?

[nskripchun]

Hi, nskripchun.

I teach in socal, and I've seen the different phases before.

So, this is your first year as an elementary school teacher? Are you in Norcal?

Yep, this is my "official" first year working FT as an elementary school teacher. I've had teaching experience before, but this is pretty much the full meal deal.

I teach in the south Seattle area. The demographics and socio-economics here are close to your typical AYP school - 72% free and reduced lunch; about 80% students of color or multiethnic heritage; lots of blue-collar and single parent families.

[SamuraiJack]

It would be great if APATA could come up with a curriculum to teach Asian students about Asian American issues. Something as simple as one seminar per semester during high school would immensely increase the awareness of young Asians, before their mind is cluttered with the bullshit worldview that gets instilled in them.

http://www.apata.org/

[xian]

I've actually finished a complete unit on how WWII propaganda infested our society and affects the way Asian Americans are seen today.

If someone knows a good way to host it, I'd be happy to upload it.

[nskripchun]

I've actually finished a complete unit on how WWII propaganda infested our society and affects the way Asian Americans are seen today.

If someone knows a good way to host it, I'd be happy to upload it.

Cool!

Maybe somehow the F44s can host it?

[lopan]

I think we can definitely do something here. Xian, i'll get in touch with you later tonight to discuss!

[SamuraiJack]

I've actually finished a complete unit on how WWII propaganda infested our society and affects the way Asian Americans are seen today.

If someone knows a good way to host it, I'd be happy to upload it.

Just curious, wasn't there an anti-Asian atmosphere prior to WWII though?

[howstrange]

here's the most baddest ass AM teach I know of, Roland Young. Actually he got the boot for mooning the students in class and pretty much said they sucked ass. Man those were the days. A great teacher and very familiar with Wilbers work I hear *hint hint*.. get front page interview.

The footage was taken undercover during a couple of his classes. Any artist here should watch these clips, he is so right on. http://www.dorkbrand.com/roland/

and the mooning incident:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqN67bSxXVQ

[xian]

Just curious, wasn't there an anti-Asian atmosphere prior to WWII though?

Definitely. The point was not that all anti-Asian/Asian American sentiment roots from WWII, but that the exact propaganda images long outlasted the war and continue to plague us today in addition to other racism toward people of Asian descent.