Dot Todman and Professor George Nelson, Secondary Education

Thanks to a grant from the Office of Research and Creative Activities, I was able to complete my final semester of BYU, Student Teaching in inner-city Washington D.C. through BYU’s Washington Seminar Program. I am glad to report that my experience in D.C. helped me to grow in ways I never imagined. My project proposal involved implementing a drama program at Frank W. Ballou High, and developing lesson plans geared towards inner-city students that could be down loaded on the internet for worldwide use. I will share with you my unexpected findings.

First, I will tell you about Frank Ballou High. It is located in south east D.C. known to be the roughest area of Washington. BYU students in the past had been successful working in the Academy, a Math Science Program for the ‘college bound’ students. Since our subjects were not offered in the Academy, Paul and I were the first BYU students to venture out of the academy, into the real Ballou! This huge school originally made for 3,000 students had only 1,200 students registered, with less than 800 attending on any given day. Ballou was 99.9% black with about 3 white kids and one or two Hispanics. Upon my arrival, I was impressed with its great facilities—an automotive shop, a large theatre/auditorium, and two large gyms. I was led to believe that urban schools were deprived and did not have what other schools had, but compared to the high school I attended in a small middle-class white community in Ontario, Canada, this was huge! As I looked at the stage in the auditorium, I was informed of it’s great technical and lighting abilities, I envisioned how it would serve as an incredible instrument in the implementation of the drama program I would start here.

Before arriving at Ballou, I was told that although it did not yet have a drama program, they sure could use one, and that as a Theatre Arts Education Major, I could start one in the school. I was excited and felt ready to make an impact on the new world awaiting me. Upon my arrival, Paul (a Spanish student teacher from BYU) and I met with Dr. Brooks, (Assistant Principal) who hurriedly shoved us in a room and told us to wait there. Eventually I was able to meet my cooperating teacher, Ms. Robinson who was the Humanities Chair Person. As a Canadian Student with a Jamaican ancestry, I was the first of my ‘kind’ to come from BYU as a student teacher to Frank W. Ballou Sr. High School, and it was quite a shock for her to see that I was indeed, Black! I was also introduced to Ms. Jones, a Music teacher, and Mr. Mitchell, the Male Chorus Director and Music teacher.

Unlike the friendly atmosphere at BYU, where people greet you with a smile as you walk by, or are eager to find out more about you, Ballou was a world where kids came to school for the most part, because they didn’t want to be on the streets, their parents locked them out of the house, or they had nothing better to do. I’d say about 5-10% of the kids in that school were actually there because they wanted to go to college and make something of themselves. To them, the whole, “get an education to be somebody was a dream for White Americans”—not Black people. In their world, you’ve gotta be tough and street smart to get by. It’s about survival and getting breaks to them, not graduating from High School. Many of my students had children, and that was a shock for me as they seemed so young. They were young children dealing with adult problems on a daily basis. At a first glance, my class was glad to see a young person like myself (I was mistaken for a student several times) was going to work with them, but when they heard me speak, they were disappointed. To them I sounded, “white” and that meant I was a sell-out. I did not let their ignorance discourage me, but instead, embraced the opportunity to reach them as an individual human being. I did not judge them, and made my number one priority not to gain their acceptance, but to really TEACH THEM!

I learned that in an urban setting, you never know what is going to happen. Daily we had stink bombs, people pulling the fire alarms, knife fights, and several other unexpected interruptions. School was also canceled at least 1 out of the 5 week days because of an inch or two of snow, teacher meetings, or holidays. The city’s snow plowing system did not reach the urban areas, so many of the kids were snowed in. I was shocked that the city would allow this to happen. However, no one seemed to complain. As a result, there was a great lack of consistency and order in the environment, which led to the majority of students not making school a necessary habit, but instead, a past time. One day your class would have 13 kids, the next 3, the next 8, and each day they’d be different students! As a teacher, this made it very difficult to allow the students to progress. Even if you were organized (which is a must), the system would always be working against you. As a result, there was a tremendous turn over rate with principles and administrative positions, and one day, Dr. Brooks did not come to work—ever again. I was left with no way to implement a drama program and three teachers willing to work with me. Mornings I spent eventually teaching grades 9-12 in English, Media Study, and Humanities with Mrs. Robinson, mid-day with Mr. Mitchell and the Male Chorus and Afternoons with Ms. Jones’ Choral Music class, which she let me teach for the third advisory as “Musical Theatre Performance.” Working with all of these teachers was a rewarding experience in itself. They were all very patient with me and glad to see my “young energy” as a teacher. I think the best advice I received was, “You’ve got to be flexible and teach in a way that relates to their world.” This was hard for me because I did not really know what “their world” was all about. I still saw it from the outside. Nonetheless, I was able to use drama as a way to relate to them—even in English and Humanities class. I found that these kids learn better in class, by participating, acting out, writing and orally answering questions, or explaining concepts. These kids were bright, beaming with potential and thriving on discipline, structure, and order. After observing them and their teacher in action (part of what a student teacher does) I was able to see what they needed. I designed lesson plans that were interactive in all of my classes. The hardest part of my experience there was exerting the time and energy to do a lesson plan, when I knew for the most part, I’d have to change them completely, due to poor attendance, lack of facilities, or just realizing what would work better on the spot. However, I finally was able to complete lesson plans for not only Theatre Arts, but all of the subjects listed above.

Now that the experience is over, I look back in gratitude for such an opportunity to serve in an area few people care to venture. I am now a BYU graduate and plan on teaching drama and hopefully music in an urban setting.