The Plain Dealer is thrown into my flower bed at 5:05 each morning. This enables me to retrieve it in my pajamas or bathrobe without too much self-consiousness, since I am usually awake before dawn. Today I sprinted out barefoot, and picked the newspaper out of the crocus patch. I slipped the roll out of it's plastic bag, and flipped to the metro section.
There I was. Damn! I should have brushed my hair before the photographer showed up that day.
Although I am never bashful writing or speaking about the things I do, I am painfully so when I read what others write about me. I was almost afraid to read the article...it was so long.
Thank you Chris, you did a nice job.
Here are the links.
True Tales from Inside a Cleveland School
From the online journal
About Me
- marybeth
- Since 1987, I've taught high school in the inner-city public schools of Cleveland, Ohio. The Cleveland Municipal School District is a system fraught with the challenges inherent to a large district and an impoverished city. I am publishing this journal in response to those who are quick to criticize "those lazy, greedy, teachers". I offer you a glimpse into my world. I have always been a student of behavior. As a child, I would tame wild creatures and befriend strays. When I grew up, my natural empathy helped me become adept at observing, understanding and predicting human behavior, as well as discovering and studying what inspires and motivates people. Especially fascinating, are relationships; who we choose to associate with, and why; how we interact with one another, and how we affect each others lives.
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9 comments:
Just opened my PD and discovered you -- looking forward to reading!
http://journals.aol.com/oceanmrc/MidlifeMatters/
It's 6 pm on a sunny friday afternoon in France, and I am going through my e-mail. The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse (ENC) in Columbus, Ohio sends me a list of educational links from US newspapers each day, and one of the links was to the article about you and your blog. Of course, I had to come see what you were writing. It is delightful!
Congratulations both on the write-up, and on how you are helping tell a teachers tale.
--z
I don't care a bit about how you look, or think you looked, in the picture; you are one amazing and wonderful woman! The article was inspiring and I'm sending it on to an aspiring art teacher who, so far, has only sub assignments. You, if you keep on like this, will make a difference in some lives. Thanks.
Beyond inspiring. I was reading the articles and just thought how rare it is to see a truly caring teacher. There are only a few who I've felt cared about what the students feel and how much they take in. My own art teacher, she's an amazing woman, probably the only teacher I'll ever come back to visit. And even though you seem extremely different than her, you seem like the type of person who students never want to be rid of. Then there's the psychology teacher, who I haven't even had yet (as I'm a sophomore and only juniors and seniors can take the class), who shares the same room my history teacher uses. Everyday he's there, before my teacher can walk in, and he closes up his briefcase with so many stickers covering it, especially a rather large Superman sticker. And he usually says something that's inspiring or something that really gets me thinking. This one day, my teacher was very late, so he waited with our class until he had to leave. He gave such an inspiring speech about marriage and love; you could tell the man was as in love with his wife as the day he married her. I'm sure it brought my friend to tears and nearly brought me too. I recounted this speech to my mom and my friend. My mom was crying hard and she didn't even hear it for herself. My friend was awed into silence. Those two people...you remind me of them. Truly amazing.
It is soooo refreshing to read your thoughts about teaching and sudents. It is great that people can see the dedication and hard work that a good teacher gives to his/her work.
Now a happily retired teacher,
Julia
Mary Beth, keep up the good work we need all the help we can get to "produce" the next productive generation---Cincinnati
If you were black, you'd be fired. This is bananas. I'm amazed that Barbara is putting up with this.
No matter what the issue or topic it always amazes me that race has to enter the equation. I am referring to a comment left at 6:39pm on 4/2/05 by (not suprisingly)"anonymous". First of all, if you are going to leave such a ridiculous comment please identify yourself for me so I can stay far, far away from you. I can only hope that you are NOT a teacher or in any way involved with the education of our children. Furthermore, if you are going to leave a comment like that at least have the intelligence and integrity to back it up with some sort of rationale. Why would someone be fired for writing inspiring, heart-felt stories, delivered with a dose of reality and humor, regardless of their race? And what do you mean when you say "This is bananas?". And WHY would Barbara have a problem with it? Pesonally, I am quite sure that she is proud to have a teacher such as Mrs. Matthews working for the Cleveland City School District. Well, I guess we all can't be writers, eh? Your comment made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Sounds to me like you are a very unhappy and disgruntled individual. More teachers should be recognized for the most important and difficult work they do day in and day out. Here is a quote for you "anonymous":
"The jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to themselves"
William Penn
Mrs. Matthews, keep up the excellent work and the fine writing. I always look forward to reading your blog.
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