The School of Hard Knocks
| October 19, 2021My daughter's boss was watching her drown at her first job
Rivky: My daughter dreamed of being a teacher. Why did you throw her to the wolves by giving her the worst class?
Shayna: Your daughter begged for this job, and she’s a grown-up. You’re not helping her by advising her to back away from a commitment.
Rivky
Simi’s a born teacher — we’ve known that since she was six. Her favorite game back then was “school”: She used to spend hours playing Morah to her many dolls, as well as to her younger siblings (who, admittedly, weren’t always the best-behaved students). She loved teaching them Chumash and parshah, davening with them, marking attendance, and awarding points and prizes.
So it was really no surprise when she chose to apply for a teaching job just as soon as she was graduating seminary. It wasn’t so simple, though. There are several schools in our community, but teaching positions are notoriously hard to come by — especially for a girl without any experience.
Finally, she was offered a position as a permanent sub in one of the elementary schools. Although she’d had her heart set on teaching her own class, she was practical about her chances and decided to take what she could, and hoped she’d get a real teaching position in the future.
“They told me that when a teaching position opens up, the subs get first choice,” Simi explained. “And once I’m teaching, I can apply again to the other schools as well. I’ll be more likely to get in there with some experience. So it’s really the best option right now. But I told them how much I wanted to teach, you know, have my own class and everything. So hopefully when something comes up...”
I hoped so, for her sake. She really had so much to give.
“When will you get to meet the other teachers?” I asked. Bnos Shifra was on the other side of town, and I didn’t know anyone who worked there. But Simi was friendly and outgoing; she’d adjust easily.
“There’s going to be a staff meeting a day or two before the semester starts,” Simi said. “And I have a meeting that week as well, just me and Mrs. Cherns, the staff coordinator. She’s going to give me more information about the job.”
Simi had a pretty relaxing summer after that. Since she’d been hoping for a teaching job that would involve a lot of preparation, she hadn’t made too many plans for August. Now that she didn’t have anything to prepare for the school year, she had time to hang out with friends, go shopping, and best of all, stock the freezers with the results of baking marathons.
“See, Ma, there’s a silver lining in my subbing job,” she joked to me as she transferred oatmeal cookies onto a cooling rack. “I get to spend my summer baking. My friend Ruchie, who lives out of town — she’s teaching second grade next year. I barely get to speak to her, she’s so busy preparing.”
She was smiling, but I caught a wistfulness in her tone. She really wanted to teach. And honestly, she would be great with second-graders.
“Did you tell this Mrs. — Cherns, was it? — that you ran day camps for years, and that you really wanted a class of your own?” I asked.
“Are you kidding?” Simi said, half laughing. “Of course I did. She was really nice about it, and told me how the subbing can be a really good experience until a slot opens up... you know, see the different age groups, experiment a little.”
I could hear that. I did hope, though, that Simi would get her chance to prove herself in a real teaching capacity. She had so much to offer.
And then the chance came.
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