In their own words
Joseph Almeida

Joseph Almeida graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in government and minors in music and African-American studies. He is a 2005 New York City corps member, and he teaches fifth grade at P.S./M.S. 278 in Manhattan's Inwood.

October 20, 2005

It's been six weeks since the first day of school, the day I gave each of my students temporary college acceptance letters from universities all across the country. And already it's working. I am seeing their motivation to learn. Not only do I have parents calling me to inform me that their children are doing homework on a regular basis for the first time, but I have students asking me questions about college, excited to be a part of the Class of 2013—the year they will graduate high school and attend college—and they are even coming back to school at 5:30 p.m. to pick up forgotten homework. The confidence that I see in my students is inspiring. Their sense of responsibility motivates me to maintain the momentum we have already achieved.

However, one student is not fitting in with everyone else. His name is Geraldo Camela. He is the shortest student in the class at 4'10", his family is from the Dominican Republic, he's the middle child of three, reads on grade level, is slightly behind in math, and does not interact well with his peers. His insistence that others adopt his point of view makes it hard for him to develop relationships with his classmates. Geraldo doesn't participate in class because he gets easily distracted. I keep trying to get him to participate in classroom discussions, and I decided to talk with him today during lunch about his current habits. I ask him why he's not participating in class. He tells me, "I am always thinking about other things." When I ask him what those other things are, he replies, "Home." I ask him what about home, trying to find out but not be overly intrusive. He says, "My dad doesn't live with us, so..."

I knew what it felt like to not have a father, as I did not have one when I was growing up either. Not making excuses, I told him, "Geraldo, I didn't grow up with a father either. It was hard and first I blamed myself, but then I thought in a different way. I used my situation as a motivating strength to get me through a lot of difficult times. And do you know what? I succeeded, and look where I am now." He looked at me with a puzzled face, as if he were surprised that we had something like this in common. He then tilted his head slightly up and to the right, squinted his eyes, and asked inquisitively, "You didn't have a father when you grew up?" I said, "No." He then asked me if I felt ashamed sharing this with other people. I said, "No, because I had no control over what my parents did." His head drifted slowly back as he took in what I said. His eyebrows raised. I told him that I would work with him, and most importantly, I would not give up. After this conversation, I really think that Geraldo will improve not only his academic performance, but his behavior as well.

January 12, 2006

After our conversation, I was hoping that Geraldo would be able to turn his behavior around and really do better academically. But unfortunately, I have not seen much improvement. I have to do more to get Geraldo to the point where I know he can be--whatever it takes, 100 percent commitment. Lately, his behavior has taken a trip south. Not only is he fighting with his classmates, his math scores are not as high as I know he is capable of. He's averaging 10 points behind the rest of the class. I have kept Geraldo after-school repeatedly to talk about how his behavior affects his academic performance and he's promised me that he'll do better, but I haven't seen the changes he says he'll make.

Now that the statewide English language arts test is over, it is time to get ready for the math test. It seems as if testing never ends, and the last thing students want to do is prepare for another statewide test—at least knowingly. So as a way to make prepping for the math test fun and to reward those students who did all of their homework and who behaved well during the week, I instituted a weekly hip-hop dance workshop during the last period on Friday. It's a way of not only dancing, but about learning how math is involved with music and dance by saying how your arms need to be at 90 degree angles if we're learning a new move or asking how many counts a move lasts if we do it three times using eight counts. It's great indirect preparation for the math test (they just don't know it—they're having fun dancing to hip-hop on Friday). Of my 23 students, 22 were eligible to dance. Unfortunately, one student's missing homework excluded him from the dancing—Geraldo.

After numerous conversations with him during lunch tutoring, I decided to walk him home today and visit with his mother. When we got to his apartment building, Geraldo's mother and I spoke in Spanish briefly about why I was there. We then spoke on the phone later that night about what we could do to help Geraldo be successful. She vowed that she would stay in contact so that we could ensure his success. I really hope that this will work, for his sake.

April 29, 2005

As we get ready to close out the year, I am happy to say that there is a lot of good news to report. Geraldo's behavior has improved dramatically, and his math scores have increased significantly. He has gone from a 33 percent mastery rate on the last unit to a 100 percent level of mastery on this unit. He is doing so well in math that during a review session for the statewide test, he taught Thalia, a student who joined my class in February, how to order fractions from least to greatest. I remember asking him to come up to the front so that I could recognize the impact he had on his fellow classmate. You should have seen his face. Now Geraldo is short, but his smile was big—going from ear to ear. And it was at that moment that I saw a definitive change in him.

The motivation from the college acceptance letter, the close relationship that he and I have developed, our after school and lunch tutoring sessions, his mother's involvement, weekly hip-hop jams (in which he did eventually participate), and all of my attempts to reach him in any way possible have paid off. And things are very different now. Geraldo now helps me as a monitor, and he has continued to help his classmates. And while before he struggled to get along with his classmates—let's just say he's outgrown that phase.

The highlight of our year was our trip to Washington, D.C. and Georgetown University. After seeing their excitement when we went to hear the great jazz phenomenon Wynton Marsalis at the Apollo Theater, I wanted my students to experience what it was like on a college campus—let alone my alma mater—so that they could picture themselves being there in seven years.

After seeing my students stand in front of the White House, tour the historic sights of Georgetown's campus where George Washington gave a speech and where Bill Clinton lived as an undergrad, and after sitting in on a college class among all of the other experiences we shared, I believe that college now has an image, a feeling, and a reality in the minds of my students. What they realized is that they are, at a very early age, giving themselves the tools to build a very powerful pair of lenses with which to see not only the world more vividly, the dream more closely, but the position of themselves within that realm realistically. And I am honored to be playing an important role in helping to shape my students' visions of what their futures will look like. They'll have the choice to decide where they live, how they live, and what they do to make that living.

While we were standing in front of the White House, Geraldo told me something that made me smile inside. He was pointing to the Treasury building and said, "Mr. Almeida, look, those doorways are symmetrical. Remember you taught us that." At that point, I felt elated because he not only remembered what I had taught him, but he was able to apply it to the real world. And speaking of the real world, in a letter Geraldo wrote about the trip, he says, "I will behave because I want to be able to get a job and make money so that I can have a good life."

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

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