What Makes an Urban Educator

handy is after you've made the effort to learn about your students home situations. Trust me, you do need this as an urban educator. I'm not talking about gossip-I'm talking about hard facts. Knowing that a student is the oldest of seven, no dad, mom is chronically ill and in and out of the hospital, leaving the student in charge of getting younger siblings home from school, making dinner, supervising homework and baths, doing laundry and getting everyone to bed certainly explains why the kid is having a panic attack in your classroom on the day that you have planned a test. How to cope with it? Be flexible. Make alternate arrangements for the student to take the test (when is the student's special class? Maybe there is an empty classroom with a teacher during their planning period who would be willing to monitor the student for a few days during that time that they need to take the test.) Letting the student know that you're there to help is imperative in surviving as an urban educator.

Is that all there is? Well, sort of. In addition to all of the above, you need to really love kids, be well organized, and be hard as nails. Being an urban educator isn't for wimps. But then again, what is?

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