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In their own words
Anthony Jewett

Anthony Jewett is a 2003 graduate of the department of international studies and political science at Morehouse College in Atlanta. He is also a 2003 corps member currently teaching 3rd grade bilingual at P.S. 130 in the South Bronx.

September 16th, 2003

Two weeks into my new career as a teacher and I am feeling like I have enough energy, ambition, and ability to save the world and all the children in it. My school is supportive, my lesson plans are improving, and my students are adorable. Though I am told by the veterans that this will all soon wear off, I'm not so sure that will be the case for me.

After my period of initial assessments, only three of the 29 students in my class tested at or near 3rd grade level in reading and math, and only one was slightly above. The rest were sadly around the middle of first grade or even below. Though the results were somewhat discouraging, rather than feeling frustrated, I am feeling more motivated and connected than ever. The reality and immediacy of this movement to close the achievement gap has never been more apparent or tangible even though I was once a student at an urban school myself.

Though I think about all of my students all the time now, Marisela is the one whose face and future walks with me as I leave the building everyday and occupies my thoughts as I plan. While she is the kind of eager kid whose motor mouth tells everything under the sun in the greatest detail, she tested at only a kindergarten level, .3 and .8 respectively, in reading and math. What she turns in everyday for homework is a string of letters decipherable neither in English nor in Spanish. Unfortunately, today I think she saw the slightly puzzled frown I made when she turned in her work. With sadness in her eyes, she said, "I tried my best, Mr. Jewett."

My big goal for the class is for them to be extraordinary and adventurous writers and to make 1.5 grade levels of progress in reading and math. For Marisela, I am committed to extending that goal to 2.

December 2nd, 2003

Hard work is good for the soul, my mother keeps telling me. Though, I am trying to believe her, teaching 6 subjects in two languages for 29 children 5 days a week is a show schedule that would take its toll on even the best of us.

Not to mention that I need to tailor all of my lessons to the varying needs of my students. After the initial weeks of school, the real myriad of abilities and personalities rose to the surface. For that reason, I teach three topics on almost every subject to what I call the proficient, apprentice, and emergent groups.

My Marisela, of course, is a member of my emergent group of geniuses, authors, and mathematicians as I call them. A whole lot of praise and more patience than I really have mixed with some Hooked on Phonics and lunchtime tutoring has still not moved the group as a whole as much as I would like towards our big goal. But Marisela has certainly made some strides. In only three short months, she has already made .75 grade levels worth of progress in reading and .69 grade levels in math, the highest gains in the class. Her string of letters from the beginning of the year, have begun to take the form of words that begin and end with the correct sounds, even if the letters in between aren't completely correct yet. In math, she has breezed through practice with basic addition and subtraction, is memorizing her multiplication tables, and really grappling with the concept of borrowing and regrouping. I've sent home a flurry of fun sheets and flash cards, and Marisela, always begging for more homework, has really been putting in the effort. Today I received a special letter of thanks that said:

"G-R-S-U-S Mr. Jewett." It meant "Thank you Mr. Jewett" or gracias in Spanish.

"I didn't know how to spelled the word right...but I tried my best," she rattled quickly. That was her signature line. "How do you get so smart," I asked, mustering all the feigned amazement that I could. "I just try my best all the time," she said matter-of-factly.

April 25th, 2004

Nearing the controversial third grade test time, and I find myself extremely self-reflective about what this year has taught me and especially how I can use that to continue to work towards this amazing mission. I didn't mean for it to happen, but I think I have found a love affair with teaching, mostly because of my students.

This whole time I had been feeling as though my students were empty bottles just waiting to be filled up with facts and skills. I would often feel that I wasn''t filling them up fast or fully enough from day to day. But they, namely Marisela, reminded me the other day that they are people too, people to be respected and people who have just as much to teach me as I have to teach them.

You see, during our Meeting en la Manana, in a discussion about Whose Afraid of the Three Little Pigs, I confided in my class that I was always afraid that I wasn't going to be the kind of teacher they deserved, not because I didn't want to be, but because sometimes I felt overwhelmed and just didn't know how. They all raced to assure me otherwise of course, but Marisela, who is now experimenting with early reader chapter-style books and writing her own invented recipes for "China Chocolate Pie With Rice," complete with customary measurements, said something so simple, yet profound, that I will never forget.

"Mr. Jewett, you gotta just do like you tolded me. Before I feeled bad because I couldn't read and stuff like everybody else. I didn't wanted to read English either, but that was just cause I was scared. So like you said, sometimes you gotta slow down, breathe, and just ---"

"Try your best," chorused the other children with giggles. It was the line she was famous for by now.

It was quite a moment for me to realize that in addition to the significant academic headway we are committed to attaining in the learning laboratory known as "class 3-324," I have also managed to teach my students a sense of community and to appreciate themselves.

Note: Some names have been changed in order to protect the privacy of individuals.

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