I chose to read “Confessions of A Bad Teacher.” The fact that I chose to read this piece over the three other ones already shows a characteristic of good writing. The title alone caught my interest. “Confessions of a Bad Teacher,” “what could this story entail?” I thought in my head. “It could be about a teacher who did horrible things to her students, it could be about what it takes to be a good teacher, or it could be about a great teacher who people believed was a bad teacher.” I continued to think. Regardless of what the story is actually about, I was already interested.
This story was about one teacher’s journey through the New York City public schools system. The teacher, John Owens, encounters many hardships. His students are of the lower class, many immigrants or have parents in jail. The toughest students to teach are ones that do not want to learn, and many of these students fall under that category. Owens tries countless different techniques to reach out to the students and keep them under control. He makes a little progress by joking around with students and trying to punish them for messing around. However, whenever he begins to make serious progress all is ruined by the old school, I’d even say hard ass, principal. She constantly criticizes Owens’ teaching and puts bad marks on his record. She even calls the police on Owens one time accusing him of corporal punishment after he keeps his students in the classroom ten minutes late. Owens gets out of teaching when he has a chance to go back to writing, but on his last day it is extremely apparent that he was a stupendous teacher. His students make him cakes, give him letters thanking him and asking him not to leave. They were all very grateful.
The tension and conflict in the story was first, trying to find the best way to teach these troubled kids. Second, was dealing with the principal who obviously did not know anything about good teaching. Owens struggled with both of these throughout the story. The resolution is that Owens leaves, but not without impacting the lives of his students forever. Owens is trying to show that good teaching is not always conventional. I believe he is also trying to point out the many faults in the New York City public schools system. The story is relevant because education is vital for all kids. To go anywhere in life, kids need a good education. Also, the actions of schools like the one in the story are affecting these kids forever. The New York City public schools system needs to be fixed as soon as possible. Lastly, this article is from less than 2 weeks ago, making it even more relevant.
The author uses many descriptive details in the narrative. He describes numerous students in all of his classes. He talks about their background, their intelligence, and how they behave in the class. He describes personalities of the principal and of the students’ parents. Such detail is vital in my memoir. I plan on using a lot of detail to paint a picture of the slums of Mexico, and what the people there experience every day. The author also uses dialogue a lot. For example, he cites advice from another teacher, “oh you can’t hold them all for detention.” I believe dialogue will be very important in my narrative for the same reasons as the detail. It will allow the reader to feel as if he’s actually there, and can get a better understanding of the Mexican peoples’ lives. Lastly, Owens breaks his piece up into sections, titling the different sections. This is an interesting, but effective way to transition from scene to scene. “Confessions of a Bad Teacher” is an excellent personal narrative.
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