Dear Elizabeth,
Do you mind that I'm calling you Elizabeth? Somehow, I always thought that you'd rather we called you Elizabeth than Ms. Rosenberg.
I'm really sorry that it took me nine years to get around to writing you this letter. In fact, I found the first play I ever wrote on an old computer a few years back; it was the one I wrote in your class. Yet I didn't write to you then. And now that I finally remember to write to you I can't actually find you. Turns out the Internet, though a wonderful source of information, isn't complete. Maybe it is and I just couldn't find anything about you because you share a name with a famous textile artist.
Eight years ago, I heard that you left our school and went to teach at a small private school in the Village. I was actually rather happy that you left; I heard that you left because you couldn't teach the way you wanted to where we were and so you left to find a place where you could do what you needed to do. Knowing that whatever small amount of actual, innovative education you squeezed into our class made me realize that school didn't have to be the way we thought it was. The fact that you found some place that was different told me that there was this completely disconnected world that I was not aware of; I would probably enjoy myself in that world.
So now, here I am in the world were I get to teach and educate the way I would love to teach. In the back of my head there's this image of a young woman trying to do the best job she can despite a hostile administration, draconian rules, and her allergy to chalk. Somehow, somewhere in there, is a whole batch of inspiration. There's a voice telling me that “hey, it's okay to abandon the urban public education scene; it's a battle you don't have to fight.” That may or may not be a lesson that you want to teach me, but then I've grown up enough to realize that the best lessons are often those that we don't intend to teach.
With love, warm wishes, and memories of your voice,
Wing
[ add comment ] ( 1261 views ) | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink
Archives
