Hey, It's Me...

It is not a career. It is not a job. It is not a responsibility. And if others look at what I do, they would hardly call it a life. But urban education is me. Somehow the lifestyle of an urban educator has raptured my being, so now my identity has been morphed into: Mrs. Weber, an educator in the inner city. I never would have chosen this for myself. But you don’t choose the circle, the circle chooses you.

As educators, we must transfer knowledge from one brain to another, which in and of itself is a feat.
Think about it. When you are teaching, you must take what you have come to know and understand,
engrained inside of you by experience and exposure, and somehow take that something inside you and
move it through space and matter and skulls and nerves and hurts and pains…through all of that - and
try to get it inside of someone else’s brain. And it isn’t just knowledge: it is life skills and emotions and
priorities and values and beliefs.

How is this possible? How can I get someone to feel accomplished for understanding the classifications of triangles? How can I get someone to understand the joys of the agonizing relationship between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice, transcending out of their own body and language and country and time to fully appreciate their love story? How can I get a 12-year-old to understand the purpose of sitting still and listening so that they can learn when I, a 28-year-old, can’t even track my own colleagues’ dialogue if it does not interest me? How can I infuse a child with knowledge and understanding so when I am calling him or her a scholar, I actually believe it?

Teaching is not the type of job where you could ever keep an accurate time punch card. You could
never quantify nor qualify its value. You can’t master it. You can’t replicate it. And if you are doing it
right, I don’t even think you can ever really leave it. It happens to you. It becomes you. And soon you
are wrapped up in the impossible task of infusing knowledge and understanding to young minds... And
if you are doing it right, you find that you are actually giving yourself away. You share your experiences,
life, stories, personality, and being. You come to learn and understand your audience, connecting
with them so that the transfer can be complete. If this connection is not made, then the transfer of
knowledge and understanding will never happen. We must make the connection.

So, just like the rest of effective urban educators, I give myself away. I connect. And it will never be the
same for you as it is for me—but we all do it. Because, well, you know, it’s more than just me. It’s we.

Bio:
Sarah Weber is a teacher at St. Marcus Lutheran School. When Sarah is not teaching, she loves writing, hiking, reading, and enjoying coffee.