Monta Vista Verdadera 21840 McClellan Road Cupertino, CA 95014 April 12th, 2008
Dear Reader: Each year Verdadera continues to bring you the bluntly honest issues which Monta Vista students face every day to your doorstep. Every issue attempts to bring to the surface struggles and triumphs within our communi ty which would otherwise remain buried under a layer of protective emotion. What teenagers go through in their day to day lives is much more than meets the eye and each one of the students at Monta Vista have their own story to tell. Verdadera is that hidden story brought to life, a chance for all to be heard on some of the most difficult yet pressing subjects to voice. However, we cannot continue to provide issues without the continued support from gen erous readers such as you for Verdadera is a non profit organization financed entirely by donations. We ask for an aid so as we can continue our publication and hope we can count on you to help. With grateful appreciation, Monta Vista Verdadera Staff Please make any checks out to: ASB/Verdadera, and mail to: Verdadera Donation, % Kathy Fetterman, 22660 San Juan Road, Cupertino, CA 95014. Your donation is tax deductible: Tax ID# 770296140.
Teachers May 2008 Verdadera is a publication created by and for Monta Vista teens for the purpose of instigating communication concerning the 'real world' of high school within the community. Each month, an issue on a topic relevant to the lives of our students is sent home for reading by parents and students alike. We encourage you to discuss and explore the issues and stories, as the publication aims not only to offer an outlet for expression but to improve our lives. Keep in mind that the emotions that flow through the text and the feelings behind the words could be those of your child, your classmate, or your best friend. While we do not edit submissions, we aim to publish personal experiences, not opinion articles. Please utilize all the resources present in the publication. Also, feel free to email comments and feedback. The Verdadera staff thanks you for your interest and support. This issue includes stories about teachers and how our interactions with teachers affects not only our education, but our personal lives as well.
Student Submissions The thing with teachers is you are forced to look at them. A lot. This can either be a good thing or, you know, it could melt your eyeballs. For me last year, I had this one teacher where it was the former. But not in that creepy hitonyourteacher kind of way, just so we are clear. It was more of admiration for her, and the fact that she embodied so much that I wished I could be. Lets keep in mind that the
sophomore version of myself was amazingly awkward and gangly, I would think I was funny when I just wasn't, and honestly, I was pretty socially inept too. But I saw this teacher who everybody liked, who was so good at what she did, and did it with such joy and humor and class. I saw her and I would want to be her, not HER her, but just like her. How pathetic, right? Looking back it seems so dumb, but it was different then. I would
see her and I would think to myself, why can't I be like that? What is so inherently wrong with me? I haven't gotten answers to those questions yet but she taught me something important, and I guess thats to be expected, her being a teacher and all. Anyways I was talking with her one day, and she taught me that everyone is beautiful and poised and funny, all they need is the right person to make it shine. The difference between us, she told me, was that she had already found that one person who could maker her shine. I guess she's right, and I always thought she was better than my other teachers for teaching me that. I mean when I am 30 will I really care how many degrees are in pi radians? No. What I will care about is if I have met that one person to make me shine. So thank you. Thank you for being so good at you do, and for teaching me about life and love, I will never forget it. “The dream begins with a teacher who believes in you, who tugs and pushes and leads you to the next plateau, sometimes poking you with a sharp stick called "truth." ~Dan Rather
Just this week we’ve gone through WASC, and of course, we being MV, we passed. I supposed I should really be very grateful, but I’m not. Truth be told, I often get the feeling that there are quite a few under qualified staff members on campus. This may sound like heresy, but I’ve had a lot of trouble bringing myself to respect certain teachers I’ve had. Most teacher at MV are of course, more than competent, and some even exceptional. To me competent teachers know what they’re teaching, and that’s usually all I need to feel comfortable in their class. Exceptional teachers are the ones that not only make me feel comfortable and up to date with the material, but when I leave their rooms at the end of the year, I end up with a sense of having left something important
behind. These two kinds of teachers I really appreciate, and I often wish I could have shown more gratitude to them in the years that follow. That said, it drives me nuts to sit in a class where the teacher has no idea what he/she is talking about. It drives me crazy because it seems to be an abuse of our trust as students to be taught by someone who knows less than we do. Worse, sometimes the teachers who don’t know what they’re teaching are also the ones that are the most egotistical. Sitting through those classes really affected my enjoyment of the subject. It was a drain on my patience to sit through horrible lectures, often with the teacher reading from the book, followed by a shower of mandatory brown nosing comments made by students. the trick I hate most is when the teacher has absolutely no idea how to answer a question, and either asks the class to answer it, or beat around the bush with some ridiculously wrong and confusing answer. It seems to me that if a teacher can’t answer a question, isn’t it his/her duty to truthfully say that they don’t know the answer, as a matter of professional integrity? I hear teachers grumbling all the time about students becoming less honest, and while that’s probably true, I can’t help but feel it’s also being dishonest to teach incompetently, that somehow it’s an abuse of the trust of students and their families who often move or make sacrifices so their child can attend MV.
“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” ~William Arthur Ward
For me, the best way to understand any subject is through teaching. If one has mastered a topic to the point where it can be clarified to another, then one has truly understood oneself. I don’t mean just scrawling off the diagrams and being able to spurt back memorized information, but actually understanding everything for the
ground up. The greatest example I can think of is Mr. Birdsong. He understands his material, derives the formulas with the class, can explain nearly any phenomena (and is good enough to tell you in the rare occasion that he doesn’t know), and creates his own tests. As a student I can truly learn the subject, and I don’t feel like a bloated tick sucking information dry only to forget and learn something new. It sticks, and I feel greater for it. But talking about teaching and doing it yourself is very different. I have attempted to teach others on various matters, simple things such as explaining math or verb structure. I learned that people think differently, and none of us approach any problem the same way. Take counting for instance. If a bunch of dice were rolled out on a table, it might take a while to total them up. My brother would take then one at a time and slowly accumulate the result, others group the ones together, totaling, then add the total of the twos, and so on, and yet other group the dice into tens and add from there. No method is the best, but each person has their way. Many teachers at Monta Vista are good at appealing to all styles of learning, from assigning a wide variety of projects to various in class curriculum. That being said, overcoming this boundary in learning is one of the hardest points to teaching. One hard thing in teaching anyone is when a subject and explanation makes perfect sense to you, and the pupil just doesn’t get it. You repeat yourself. Nope. You repeat yourself again, louder. Still nothing. Eventually you either up or actually try another approach. Sadly there are have been occasions where teachers do not understand to see that another way may be required to have some of their students understand an issue. I don’t always get it either, and when my attempt to ask for clarifications are discarded or buffeted away, I get discouraged. I have been rebuffed plenty of times.
The one thing which irks me the most is when a question is asked and the teacher answers to something completely different, especially when it seems that they do it purposefully because they either do not want to address the issue of they don’t know the answer themselves. It happens in politics all the time. Dodging the question is a waste of everyone’s time. I have been told multiple times that molecules “want to” spread out, and further clarification was never given. Nevertheless, assigning human emotions to molecules never was a good idea in the first place. Overall the teaching strategies at Monta have been positive. Each teacher has their own teaching style, some which I don’t like but others which I enjoy.
“Teaching is leaving a vestige of one self in the development of another. And surely the student is a bank where you can deposit your most precious treasures.” ~Eugene P. Bertin
I guess this is more an apology than anything else. During my sophomore year, me and a few of my friends had the same lit teacher. He was new and kind of a pushover. We all took advantage of that by slacking off on our work, talking during class, and generally making fun of the poor guy. I would make mean jokes along with the rest of them. He wasn't a bad person, just not the best teacher. Day in and day out, he'd have to deal with us being completely disrespectful and making fun of him. So this is the only way I can really apologize to you. I'm sorry Mr. Sophomore Year English Teacher. I'm glad we didn't completely drive you away from MV, and I hope your classes aren't as bad as us for the rest of your time teaching.
"Teaching is not a lost art, but the regard for it is a lost tradition.” ~Jacques Barzun
Many people simply think of Price as that black man behind the red cart. But I, and hundreds of other athletes and students who have passed through Monta Vista know Price as a coach, a mentor, a wannabe dancer, and mostly importantly as a friend. I played for Coach Price during my freshmen and sophomore year on the JV basketball team. I've had various coaches throughout my shortlived basketball career but none of them had as big of an influence on me as Price. I was never the star of the team, I would actually only play when we were up by 20 points and had the game the bag. But Price appreciated every single member of the team and I remember plenty of games where we would be winning, but Price would still be telling the team that we would need to be up by more because our team consisted of 15 girls and all of them worked hard in practice and deserved some playing time. Price watched out for every single one of us: made sure we showed up to every practice, made sure our grades kept to our asian standards, and most often questioned who "them boys were" that we were walking around with us during brunch. Very few of my memories of Price even relate to sports. Sure there were those last minute buzzer beater wins and grueling practices, but along the way there were friendships built. Being on the team, I formed a bond with every single player and Price was pretty much the father to all of us from 3:00 5:30. Like a family, we constantly made fun of each other but were also there to support each other. I've become very close friends with people I would have never expected and we all share memories and stories of Price. We all seemed to have been able to bond by teasing Price, and he never took it seriously and just laughed along. Price taught me the important life lesson of work and play, not only in sports but in every aspect in life. A
win comes with hard work, but also a loss should never be taken too seriously. He left this world too soon. I still cannot accept the fact that he's gone and I probably never will. Next year as in college, I know I won't be able to come home to basketball games or a visit to school to see Price making girls run gasers while he was off trying to blast the heat in the gym. But I know that every time I pick up a basketball, each shot, each dribble will be for Price. I know he'll still be there fixing, always trying to make me the best I can be. Rest In Peace Coach Gary Marshae Price. You will always be with us. “One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.” ~Carl Jung
Although I am not a huge fan of Monta Vista as a whole, my experience with teachers here has been a largely positive one. I have felt especially strong connections with teachers from the English and Social Science departments, which I believe is due to the nature of their subjects being more focused on people and the interactions between them. I have had excellent math and science teachers, but the mindset in those disciplines is less people oriented and more concentrated on numbers and theories. For this reason, never really connected with any of my math or science teachers in quite the same way as I did with my English and history teachers. One relationship that stands out in my mind is my connection with Mr. Clarke. In his World Literature class sophomore year,
I found myself in a welcoming environment in which I was free to express myself, often in ways that related only marginally with the particular topic we were covering at the time. This freedom of expression fostered a feeling of trust and made his class one which I looked forward to each day. I still stop by his classroom during tutorial periods to talk to him, with subjects ranging from high school and college work loads to rock and roll. This type of teacherstudent relationship has been a very positive way for me to get the most out of my education here at Monta Vista. “The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.” ~Kahlil Gibran In my freshman year of high school, I was severely depressed. My dad had a sickness where the doctor only gave him a few months to live. I had so much pressure from that. I only had 3 months. That was the limit, the maximum, the doctor gave my family. And, that was already the most optmistic an swer we had received. I muddled through school. My grades failed. I was not happy. I felt severely depressed, and I was. But there was this one teacher I had, my art 1 teacher, who is now retired, who helped me through my difficult time. He was already my favorite teacher of that year and we had a special bond. He was my mentor and it was clearly visible that he poured his heart into teaching art. I loved his class. But even his bright smiles and art, could not help. One day, a month after my dad was diagnosed, my art 1 teacher, asked me to stay after class. He noticed that some thign was wrong for a long time, and he knew that my grades were slipping. I could n't find the strength to tell him what was go ing on with my life at home. No one knew, except for my family. I didn't want others to
pity me or treat me any different because of my dad's sickness. I wanted to be treated the same. I didn't even tell my best friend what was happening. I couldn't find the strength to. What do you do if you know your dad was dying? I cried in front of my art teacher. I couldn't stop. All my pain that I held for that month, started to flow out. And without speaking a word, my art teacher, just told me that he would be there for me, and wants me to be happy. It sounds cheesy, but that day was when I started to get out of my depressed mess. I had to take advantage of the two months, or even less, that I had left with my dad. I had to make him proud. I had to make my family proud. My art teacher gave me strength and courage. I don't know what I would've done without him. He showed me that I was not invisible. Sometimes, in my depressed self, I felt as if no one knew me and no one cared for my emotional health being. Did no one notice that I wasn't happy? Am I that alone? But no, he had no ticed, and I thank him so much. Thank you for bringing hope and happiness into my future. Although that teacher is no longer on campus, when he substitutes for classes, I always look forward to seeing him. Maybe someday, my senior year, if I 'm lucky enough to see him again before I leave for college, I will tell him the truth of what I was going through. And I will thank him, for helping me through. I don't know how to thank him enough. Thank you for noticing me. Thank you for letting me know that I am not invisible. Thank you.
“If kids come to us [educators / teachers] from strong, healthy functioning families, it makes our job easier. If they do not come to us from strong, healthy, functioning families, it makes our job more important.” ~Barbara Colorose
I had this teacher in middle school, whom I'm sure many of you will be able to identify by the end of the story, but I have always had very pleasant interactions with him. In fact, I was extremely close. Along with many other students, I would go to his class after school and hang out with other students or just talk to him. Some of my most cherished relationships with my peers were forged in his classroom. Although I've never thought it was weird, many students and even my parents would comment about his being to close to students. Honestly, I have seen occasions when he's crossed the line that is the studentteacher relationship. But society has put such vivid commentary on that relationship, and it makes us all much too volatile and judgmental towards a simple, innocent hug or question about our personal life. I honestly think he is just a genuine man who sometimes just does not see what he is doing. I would just like to say I think he honestly just cares about his students. He truly inspires me, and it makes me glad to know someone so compassionate and someone I will always be able to look for in times of need.
“A master can tell you what he expects of you. A teacher, though, awakens your own expectations” ~Patricia Neal
When I was looking for teachers to write me college recs I realized that I didn't have many that I wanted to ask. There were teachers who I liked and liked me but not very many. There were other teachers who I didn't like but liked me but I felt guilty ask ing them. There were also teachers who I worked with a lot but I hated and I would not give them a hand in my future. I like teachers who can communicate with me as a person, not just as a teacher. You don't have to be my friend, but I'd like to think that we could have been friends if I
had met you in another way. This doesn't mean though to interject your personal grievances into your teaching. I've had teachers who would spend hours ranting about their own problems or experiences (who would cry about their kids or their own sensitivity, etc) and honestly I don't need to hear that. There was one teacher who would spend all her time talking about how she was working towards another career and how she didn't really even like teaching. If she had been good at it, I don't think I would have minded as much but she wasn't. A bad teacher who couldn't convey the material and couldn't even tell us straight up she hat ed it (just implied it with lots and lots of semi selfpitying stories). That was a class wasted. This year I have another teacher who's kind of like that but there's a distinct difference. He doesn't do anything beyond what is nec essary to get paid and he'll tell us to our faces he's in it for the money not for us. But he's a good teacher he knows what he's talking about and can answer questions if we have them. Sorry this ended up being so scattered but I this is what I’m trying to say: Teaching used to be a selfless profession. For some teach ers it still is but I think some people now just use it as "their duty to society" and don't re ally want to be there. Which hurts everyone else if they can’t actually teach.
“Teachers are expected to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools. The miracle is that at times they accomplish this impossible task.” ~Haim G. Ginott
“Excuse me, Mr. XX, um, I have a question…” A girl, fidgeting with her fingers curled in a tangled fist inside her long sleeves. She stutters, her voice high an octave and a pitch, practically mewing. Her teacher gives her a weird look.
He knows that is not the way her usual tone sounds. She normally talks much lower. And less quavering. She smiles uncertainly, stumbles over her sentences, the “um’s” tripping her almost every five seconds. When she finishes the conversation, she grins again and squeaks a string of thanks and runs off. Her teacher glances at her, remembering her daily “Have a nice day, Mr. XX!” as she leaves the class. Meek but polite. That is me. Around my friends, I am a sarcastic figure, incredulous and biting. Around my teachers, I completely switch masks. I become a shy, squeaky, happy (if not hyper) girl. My friends tease me about my unusually (“freaky” is what they call me) high voice when I see a teacher. They mock my excess polite demeanor and jerky behaviors. I have come to term it “teacher phobia”. Back in my old school, our teachers were allowed to hit us. If we made a mistake, we got hit. In my school, teachers held high authority, and most of us were scared of our teachers. Of course, there were teachers that we liked and aspired to be become, but we steered clear from most teachers. So when I see teachers now, I still have that shadow of fear lingering over me. I bet teachers think I am really weird, but at least they like me and think I am polite. It’s not too harmful, It just makes me a completely weirdo.
“While we try to teach our children all about life, our children teach us what life is all about.” ~Author unknown
When I was looking for teachers to write me college recs I realized that I didn't have many that I wanted to ask. There were teachers who I liked and liked me but not very many. There were other teachers who I
didn't like but liked me but I felt guilty ask ing them. There were also teachers who I worked with a lot but I hated and I would not give them a hand in my future. I like teachers who can communicate with me as a person, not just as a teacher. You don't have to be my friend, but I'd like to think that we could have been friends if I had met you in another way. This doesn't mean though to interject your personal grievances into your teaching. I've had teachers who would spend hours ranting about their own problems or experiences (who would cry about their kids or their own sensitivity, etc) and honestly I don't need to hear that. There was one teacher who would spend all her time talking about how she was working towards another career and how she didn't really even like teaching. If she had been good at it, I don't think I would have minded as much but she wasn't. A bad teacher who couldn't convey the material and couldn't even tell us straight up she hat ed it (just implied it with lots and lots of semi selfpitying stories). That was a class wasted. This year I have another teacher who's kind of like that but there's a distinct difference. He doesn't do anything beyond what is nec essary to get paid and he'll tell us to our faces he's in it for the money not for us. But he's a good teacher he knows what he's talking about and can answer questions if we have them. Sorry this ended up being so scattered but I this is what I’m trying to say: Teaching used to be a selfless profession. For some teach ers it still is but I think some people now just use it as "their duty to society" and don't re ally want to be there. Which hurts everyone else if they can’t actually teach.
“Teaching is the greatest act of optimism” ~Colleen Wilcox
People told me about the horrors of high school, and droned on and on about how hard the teachers are. They told of evil graders who would tear up papers without names, masochistic graders, and boring lec tures.
Looking back, I realize that the teachers, (with slight exceptions), aren't anywhere near as bad as they are made up to be. The average teacher is awesome as long as one gets to known them, and at least attempts to work in their class.
I was nervous on my first day of school, circulating about my classrooms and seeing these teachers for the first time. My first im pression was something along the lines of “well, this curriculum is hard, but the teach ers aren't bad. This is only the first day, it might get worse.”
For me they are more than bringers of grades and letters of recommendation. They are friends, people, and a part of Monta Vista which I will never forget.
After a week it didn't get worse, nor after months. Teachers are people too. I have made many friends here at Monta Vista, not all of them students. I enjoy talking to both my peers and the staff, something I never envi sioned myself doing as an eighth grader.
“More important than the curriculum is the question of the methods of teaching and the spirit in which the teaching is given” ~Bertrand Russell
Resources An article on dealing with studentteacher conflicts: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art37082.asp
Tips for Avoiding ParentTeacher Conflicts:
http://school.familyeducation.com/parentsandteacher/parent teacherconferences/38580.html
Teacher appreciation ideas:
http://www.michiganprincipals.org/masc/staff_appreciation.htm
To get into contact with Monta Vista's Staff Appreciation Commission: staffrelation08@gmail.com
Relationships with Teachers By Maureen R. Johnston Marriage and Family Therapist
When the Verdadera staff asked me to write the essay for this issue, my thoughts immediately went to how my husband talks about his interactions with his students and how it seems so different from my recollections of high school. I have no memories of voluntarily going into teachers’ rooms at lunch or after school to just hang out and chat, but from the way he describes his days, casual, friendly visits from students sound like a regular occurrence at Monta Vista. And while I don’t think I’ve set foot in my high school since I graduated, my husband frequently tells of former students stopping by his room on their breaks to talk about their experiences at college. He even receives emails from some of them. This all seems to indicate the relationships many of his students have with him are very different than any I ever had with my teachers. If I thought about them at all, I probably viewed my teachers as creatures from another planet, not as living, breathing people with their own families, children, lives and histories of their own. They were just something I had to endure for a period of time in be tween the important, interesting parts of my adolescent day. Many of my hus band’s students seem to see him as a real person; they ask him questions about his likes and dislikes, they seek his opinion on books, colleges and movies, they are curious about his family, and (at least from his perspective) enjoy his stories about his son. There seems to be a more informal, friendly give and take in his classroom than I recall as a high schooler. Maybe it’s because I’m hearing about it from the teacher’s perspective that it sounds so foreign. On the other hand, my son’s relationships with his teachers appear to mirror more closely my own. While there have been a couple that he’s occasionally visited after school with his buddies, for the most part he seems to want to avoid contact with them as much as possible. He sees them more in their role as “the teacher” than as a person trying to perform a difficult job under less than optimal conditions. I have found it interesting that he has a habit of assuming his teacher doesn’t really like him at the start of the school year until we’ve met for the first parentteacher conference, at which time he hears many positive things about himself and his view of the teacher generally rises substantially. Not surprisingly, his initial (usually flawed) belief of his teacher’s opinion greatly influences both his interactions with the teacher, and with his enjoyment in the class. As a parent volunteer in all his elementary classes, I was able to form my own relationships with his teachers. Due the different role I played in the classroom (‘adult helper’ rather than ‘child student’) I saw them in a very different light. I
had a more objective perception of them as regular people whose job was to teach. Some did it better than others, and some enjoyed it more than others. Be cause I was able to follow my son and his classmates over a course of several years, I was able to observe how they interacted with different teachers in sometimes widely diverse ways. I saw how the more gentle, nurturing teachers helped the shyer, less confident students blossom, while these same children al most faded into the woodwork with some of their other teachers. At the same time, some of the more rambunctious boys were calmer and more focused with the more forceful teachers. The mix of student personalities within the class room also played a big role in how everyone, students and teachers, treated each other. Now, as a full fledged, supposedly “mature” adult I am once again in the role of student, enrolled in a professional certificate program through the UC Santa Cruz Extension. This is a challenge for me as I have been much more likely to play the role of teacher and mentor for the last fifteen years. So, for the first time since I received my Master’s degree in my midtwenties back in the 1980’s, I am worrying about things like readings, papers, exams, and grades. My five pound textbooks are cluttering up our living room, along with my highlighters, pens and notepads. The everpresent knowledge of reading waiting to be completed keeps me from fully enjoying moments of sitting and doing nothing. It is easy for my stress about getting all my work done to turn into re sentment at my teacher for ruining my weekend. While in the classroom, I find myself getting annoyed when the instructor goes off on tangents or appears disorganized. I feel irritated when the assignments are not clearly delineated, and I begin an internel critique of the professor’s teaching ability. Yet, I am also much more aware of my own processes now than I ever was before. I realize that at least part of my reaction is due to my own anxiety about appearing to be the “good student,” and this contributes to my annoyance and irritation with the teacher. I can see now how even though I may not have liked or even respected many of my teachers while I was in high school, I always wanted them to see me as the “smart student”. It was important that teachers respect my academic skills, and those who showed the least re spect for me, or at least left me the most confused (and thus feeling “stupid”), were always the ones I gave the most trouble. As a teen and even as a college student, I was not able to separate the individual teacher from the role and see who they were as a person. If I felt “stupid” in their class, they were a bad per son. Now, with the perception that comes with experience, it is getting easier for me to step back and take a larger view of things. At the same time that I am analyz ing my own personal reactions to my instructors and judging their teaching skills, I am also thinking about teachers in a much broader sense. Not only am I married to a teacher, several of my friends are or were teachers, I have had nu
merous teachers as clients, and I have worked in schools alongside teachers. I have been both a preschool teacher and a college instructor. I have also served as teacher to many therapy interns in my role as clinical supervisor. For years, I have been listening to teachers talk and this has given me many opportunities to think about them and their work. I wonder sometimes if part of the reason my husband is able to have the type of relationship with his students that he appears to have is not at least partially a result of the ethnic heritage of his students. From what I have learned, the view of teachers (and education in general) in China and India is very different from the traditional American view. The profession is held in much higher esteem and they receive much more respect. When my husband taught at other schools, he had to spend much more of his energy on discipline issues and attempts to motivate the students to simply complete their assignments. At Monta Vista, these are not concerns for him, and this seems to give him the opportunity to provide a more collegial environment for his students. While it may be difficult to see it as an adolescent, the relationship that devel ops between student and teacher is very much influenced by not just the partic ular individuals involved, but also by many factors outside their direct control. Each is playing out a role in a much larger drama which involves not just their individual personalities, but also the rest of the kids in the class, the culture of the school, and the view the larger society holds of teachers, education and learning.
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Teachers May 2008 Staff: Nita Chen, Paulina Dao, Gillian Decker, Natasha Desai, Dinah Drahluk, Hermes Huang, Kai Kang, Serena Lee, Gina Mawla, Yifang Qiu, Robert Rodine, Evelyn Shaw, Tim Wheeler, Vicky Xu, Matisse Yoshihara Advisors: Hung Wei Chien, Kathy Fetterman, Carol Satterlee Visit us at www.verdadera.org