When I “played school” for my own amusement or with grade school friends, I am quite sure I did not realize that my future vocation was both a "calling" and “hard work,” to use the terms in “Inner-city teachers should know what it takes for the job" (Sept. 13). I would learn this as I grew in my teaching experience both at the high school and college levels.
I would also learn that many factors feed into effective teaching, discipline and just managing a classroom of small children. I observed this firsthand when I worked as a teacher’s aide for a kindergarten teacher at Cool Valley Elementary School in the early '80s. The teacher, an experienced veteran in her late 50s, never raised her voice and maintained excellent classroom control. I am still impressed by what I was part of so many years ago.
Despite my years of various teaching experiences and observations, I would be slow to throw stones at individuals who walk into teaching situations today that vary from district to district and school to school — even class to class. There are very real challenges in today’s classrooms, and I have seen some of those challenges that even successful and experienced teachers feel somewhat overwhelmed by. We adults all need to do our part in our families, in our neighborhoods, in our places of worship, to interact with children with genuine interest and with discriminating but thoughtful support of those who teach them.
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Kay Laughlin • Florissant