In their own words
Adam Greenman

Adam Greenman graduated in 2004 from The George Washington University with a B.A. in Political Communication. He teaches sixth, seventh, and eighth grade social studies in Camden, New Jersey right across the Delaware River.

September 10, 2004

The first week of school is complete. After watching Lean on Me, Mr. Holland's Opus, Dangerous Minds, and The Substitute I, II, and III at the beginning of the week, I felt properly inspired.

I went in knowing that I would be teaching 140 students, three different grade levels, in six different classrooms. But I did not fully realize the extent of the challenge of teaching my students history until I gave the diagnostic today. None of my classes had ever heard about political maps or the Punic Wars or the Plague. They knew very little about history, which is troubling since I'm a history teacher.

7-208 is my class that is the furthest behind, and no student has more ground to cover than Tom Garrison. From our first meeting, I could sense something great about Tom. It was he who sat front row center on the first day listening intently as I went on and on about history. It was he who would quiet the class when they became too loud. But it was he who got only two questions right out of 50 on the initial diagnostic.

I have my work cut out for me and it is only the first week. Things to do for next week: Pay overdue movie fines, develop a big goal for my students, and figure out a way to help them reach it.

February 25, 2005

Just over the halfway point. I broke my clipboard out of frustration today. It was too loud, and I figured slamming my clipboard down would be loud enough to quiet them. Turns out, it only breaks the clipboard into four pieces. Breaking it was an accident of course, but I turned it into a teachable moment. "Never let anger get the best of you," I said. "When you do, it is just embarrassing."

Things are improving though they are obviously still tough. Some of my classes are learning, but I don't feel like the others are moving fast enough. If we don't pick up the pace, we won't be able to cover everything. Some of my lessons have worked well though. My seventh graders really liked pretending to be Japanese ninjas. And my eighth graders did really well with the mock Continental Congress. But I'm not reaching all of them, and I'm having a lot of trouble with Tom. He is getting some of the information, but sometimes his temper gets the best of him. Today everything seemed great, and the next thing I know he and Andrew are in a shouting match across the room, which turned into a fight after class. He has been out of my class for in-house suspension so many times that he is not able to keep up, which is not good because he was already behind. Our class' big goal has been to write a 10-page research paper. The first three pages were due today, and about 80 percent of the kids handed it in. But I received nothing from Tom. I've tried every kind of incentive I can think of to get him to do his work, but it's not working. If I don't find a way to inspire him soon it will be too late.

I think I have an idea to keep him out of trouble. I just hope he likes to run. I am going to try to get a group of students together and train them to run a 10-mile race. If I can keep them focused on the race maybe it will also inspire them to focus in the classroom. At this point, anything is worth a shot.

Things to do for next week: Buy a new clipboard and some new running shoes.

June 3, 2005

My legs hurt. In the last month, the 10 members of the running club have practiced three times a week after school, ran in two races, and all of the students, including Tom, have logged over 60 miles of actual running.

I've seen such an improvement in Tom's academics since we started running. He hasn't been getting into trouble, so he has been in class a lot more. He even asked me if he could run a half marathon next year. Tom says that running gives him a chance to collect his thoughts, and to focus on what needs to be done. In addition to running after school, we also spent time working on his research paper. It took a while to improve his research and writing skills, but he now has a 10-page research paper that he can call his own.

I gave my final exam this week and all six of my classes tried extremely hard. In the end, 70 percent of my students received an 80 or above. And all of my students can now identify a political map, they can tell you that Rome and Carthage fought in the Punic Wars, and they can describe the devastation of the Plague. As for Tom, he wouldn't leave the room until I graded his test. Forty-three right on the final, an 86 percent.

Seeing Tom finally cross that finish line both literally and metaphorically. Seeing the promise in all of my students' eyes as they race toward the last lap of the year. Seeing the progress that they have made in just one year inspires me to work even harder. I want to do everything I can to make Camden a place where all of our students can achieve at high levels and flourish as students, where all of them can see and cross that finish line.

Note: Some names have been changed in order to protect the privacy of individuals.

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