Mike: Yikes. What a first question! For the sake of your readers I will keep it short with just one takeaway from my last four years working in education.
We have to separate teaching in a low-income school from teaching elsewhere. They are different jobs that require different skill sets. Putting a student, who faces all of the disadvantages and institutionalized racism of being a poor minority in this country, on the path towards college is completely different from taking a white, middle-class kid and keeping him or her on the path towards college. Those two jobs are entirely different and should be treated as such. Lumping all educators into one box hurts all teachers, even though it doesn’t hurt all students. Mostly, it hurts students of color who are unlucky enough to be born into disadvantaged communities.
Chris: Do you have a favorite memory from Jacksonville, teaching or otherwise?
Mike: There are too many to count but I will list a few that come to mind:
2) Beach days with Feezor, Weston, Jameson, Richard, Keyairra and the bunch.
3) The first days of induction. When the 55 of us were still bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, with literally no clue what we were getting ourselves into. It was a great time to meet everyone, hear everyone’s background and really be thrust into a community we didn’t know very well.
Chris: You've spent the last two years working with and developing new teachers, but last I checked you weren't going to continue on past this year in that line of work. Any idea what's next?
Mike: The daunting "whats next" question (laughs). This is on my mind constantly and probably gives me the most heartache day to day. Although I am trying to just be happy in the moment, instead of planning to be happy in the future, "whats next" ultimately comes up in nearly every conversation I have.
Currently I am trying to get my stuff together to apply to business school for the Fall of 2012. With work and life and getting such a late start it’s really hard at the moment but I am hoping to pull it all together. If not than business school will be the goal for fall of 2013 and in the interim I will move back to Philly and work with TFA there, look for a job outside of education, or even take a year off to ski and enjoy the Rocky Mountains.
Chris: You mention Philly, which I know is where you’re from. What do you miss the most from there?
Mike: The people. The underdog attitude. The chip on the collective city’s shoulder. The vulgarity. The history. The corruption. Cheese steaks and Yuengling. Lorenzos. Temple. Big 5 Basketball. Watching Eagles fans melt down year in and year out, since I was born and raised a Steelers’ fan.
Chris: I know you're a reader. What are you reading these days and why?
Mike: My dad recently described me as a renaissance reader, which I thought was accurate in a way. I’ve usually got several different genres going at one time, so here’s a sample:
Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria? by Beverly Tatum was assigned for work and I absolutely love it. It’s a must-read for white people or anyone who works in education, especially in low-income communities. Go buy the book right now if you can.
I have to prepare for business school somehow, so I’m also reading Case Studies and Cocktails.
All the Kings Men by Robert Penn Warren is American literature at its finest, weaving two topics together that I love: corrupt politicians and Louisiana.
I’m also enjoying some stunning poetry by Phillip Levine on the life and times of working class citizens in Detroit. The title is What Work Is.
Lastly, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith. What better way to escape then to read a fictional (or is it?!!) tale of how Abraham Lincoln’s main driving force in life was ridding the world (i.e. United States) of vampires to avenge his mother’s death.
Chris: I don’t think we could script a better place to end than that, Mike. Thanks!
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