A Diverse Classroom

It's one thirty in the afternoon, and I'm driving down Atlantic Avenue in Atlantic City. I start teaching my first class of the semester at two o'clock. My main concern is finding the community college, so I don't pay much attention to the people or buildings out my window-- there will be plenty of time to pay attention to that later. As I drive I rehearse my introductory speech, which I have down to three sections-- personal life, education, and professional life. Worrying about the speech keeps me from worrying about anything else-- teaching in an unknown place at a new level, for instance. The only thing I know about my students so far is that ninety percent of their names are, to me, unpronouncable.

I find the building-- a large gray rectangle set behind a black gate--, get stopped by security and shown to my room, which is directly across from a mock casino used for training purposes. Then, before I'm ready, there they are-- eighteen eager faces... Or, at any rate, sixteen eager faces, plus two younger students fresh out of high school who lean back in their seats in the back row and dare me not to be as boring as they expect me to be.

I introduce myself and then leave the room for ten minutes, giving my students a chance to get to know each other. When I return, I have one of the students introduce me to the others. It's a quick and easy way to establish rapport in the classroom, and to tell who's going to be the "leader" of the class, the most talkative student, the one who will carry discussions when they lose steam. This one, Prince, is from Liberia. He has a thick African accent, but English is his first language and I have little difficulty understanding him. I stumble with the names, we laugh, and then we get down to the real business of a writing classroom: writing.

As the semester progresses, I learn that the students come from Bulgaria, Russia, India, Bangladesh, Liberia, Haiti, Vietnam, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the Phillipines, Columbia, and Atlantic City. It is exactly what I've always wanted: a diverse classroom. Now I just have to figure out how to teach them all at the same time.

That was the beginning of my first semester of teaching at the community college level. Teaching in Atlantic City was nothing like the experiences I had had teaching in other places. There was a wider mix of personality and ethnicity and ability here. One constant, especially in that first class, was the willingness students showed to listen to advice, to become better writers, and to keep on writing.

My first impression of teaching in Atlantic City was an accurate one. Throughout the course of the four classes I've taught at this campus, I've had great experiences and not-so-great experiences. I've come into contact with devoted, striving, intelligent students, and I have dealt with students who would rather have been other places. Discussions have been inspired and labored. In the year since I've come to Atlantic City, I have learned a lot about teaching. One thing I've learned is that I would like to teach full-time in a place like Atlantic City, a place with wild diversity in every respect. The challanges are there, but so are the rewards.

--Jamey Gallagher