Originally published in TEACH Magazine, July/August 2018 Issue
By Bill Morris
“I need to know, Brian. Are you going to hurt yourself over Christmas break?”
Over the course of my teaching career I’ve asked that question to students more times than I care to admit. They usually balk, choke, or whisper, “I don’t know, sir.” Sometimes, a student will speak clearly, “Yes.” Both answers spark a myriad of interventions too detailed for the scope of this writing.
This is my teaching reality. I work with “disadvantaged” high school students. I always have and probably always will. My students, fellow teachers, and I; we work in seclusion on the other side of the road away from the early college campus, neatly partitioned from the world.
Bill Morris is a former police officer turned teacher of kids he used to arrest. He has a BA in Law and Society from Penn State. He’s currently pursuing his MEd in Educational Leadership. He lives and works in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas as the social studies teacher for Edcouch-Elsa ISD-Academy.
