When Maggie was little, she liked to play school. As is often the case with the bossy first-born, she was always the teacher. She’d gather her brother and kids from down the street into the basement to educate them, and why they put up with it every day when they’d already spent all day in school is beyond me.
When she went to college, she decided to go into journalism with hopes of being the next Katie Couric. When the greeter at Costco told her that her smile was so pretty she should be on t.v., that sealed the deal. After one semester, she decided to change to media relations. Her father said, “Oh, so when a company recalls a drug that makes people sicker instead of better, you’ll be writing the bullshit to make it look like they weren’t really in it for the money?” They may have sealed the deal on that major being short-lived.
Her second year of college, she listened to the universe and became an education major.
She is now a 3rd year teacher and at 25 years old, she’s worked harder than I have my entire life. She chose to work in the inner-city and this is her second year as an ELL (English language learner) teacher. Throughout the week she works with every kid in the school whose home language is not English, the goal being to fast-track these kids ability to learn. It is daunting.
This year her student population has gone from 60 to 100.
One teacher. One part-time aide. Lunch on the fly.
While her father and I have instilled social justice and awareness in all of our kids, this bossy first-born has walked the walk, and all those years of playing school in the basement was a precursor for the seismic shift she would make in the lives of hopeful families.