Little a and the Other Side of Teaching

By Daniel Rolling

TEACHING IS A GIFT, a very special gift. I believe it is a part of a person’s DNA. There are a lot of very smart people who cannot teach because they lack this genetic part of their DNA profile. These people make great doctors, business leaders, lawyers, carpenters, etc., but not teachers. Teachers are people who can create magic and excitement in the lives of children, making them want to learn. Once a child wants to learn, a teacher’s job is almost over. I taught in the inner-city. Inner-city teachers go where most teachers do not want to go. However, I loved every day. This book, with just a few exceptions, is a true story of my journey. I couldn’t make up stories this good, this funny, or this sad. So, follow me to the other side.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: May 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728311661

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© 2019 Daniel Rolling. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 05/15/2019

ISBN: 978-1-7283-1167-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-1165-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-1166-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019942687

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Dedicated to all Teachers

It started a long time ago, I am now 75 years old.

My S.E.E. Story

Be careful what you Pray for

[The other side of teaching]

WARNING! Bathrooms

How to put an old white round teacher into a young black square school

[My first day as a volunteer:]

First step of becoming a good teacher, is to be a good volunteer Janitor.

Janitor or teacher?

My First Classroom, My first Bulletin Board

Learning by Fire my first day of teaching

The morning journal, A Must!

Students became my Teachers

Part #3: Where it all ended (and I didn’t see it coming)

Fall from Innocence

It’s Called Survival

The Dreamer

Little A meets his dad in prison

Mr. Snake and the Pig Story

A Necessary Sin

WARNING, Vegetables can kill you

The No Good, Very Bad, Rotten Teacher

Chapter #1

Her name was Cara

It’s like a Secret

Uncle Thomas

Chapter #2

The End

Shirley Nelson Kersey, Ph.D.

Daniel Rolling is formally prepared to teach for he holds both Bachelor and Master of Education degrees. However, as you will discover, the most memorable aspect of his classroom presence is his heart. He cares deeply about each one of his students and is there for them both now and the future. His focus is to work with boys who do not like to read. This is a lofty goal, for the boys he works with live in homes and neighborhoods not structured to develop reading skills.

Rolling goes far beyond just teaching, he also nurtures a love for learning. He inspires his students to WANT to learn. Daniel Rolling is special. He has changed many lives one student at a time.

Dedicated to all Teachers

This book was written for you if you are planning on becoming a teacher, already are a teacher, or maybe even a retired teacher.

I think you will enjoy my journey of teaching in the inner-city. My journey took place in the North-Eastern part of the United States, but that is all my publisher will allow me to divulge. My journey was very personal, and I had to protect the names and places for obvious reasons.

However, I can tell you this, it was a fun time. I think you will also find it a fun read. I hope it will be a roadmap for some, provide advice for others, or maybe wonderful memories for many retired teachers. Or, you might just want a good read.

Teaching, as I did in the inner city, is not for the weak of heart. It is not for the teacher who doesn’t want to teach beyond the four walls of a classroom, or the teacher who wants to go home at four. Inner-city teaching is totally demanding. If you are married, with a family, everyone in your family is going to have to share you with every one of your students. It is hard work for both you and your family.

It might feel thankless at times, but you are changing the lives of children, and this is what makes America great. If you are already a teacher, you know what I am talking about. If you are studying to become a teacher, hang on because you’re going to have a blast! I loved every day, even the bad ones.

All teachers have the opportunity for changing lives. What could be more important than changing the lives of children. Any time you interact with someone’s child, as a teacher, you have a huge responsibility. Good teachers make it a point to be a part of every student’s family. You learn the family and the family environment, just like you learn the student. The two become one. Teaching children, and their families, is a lot more than just the three R’s. It is one of the hardest professions you could go into, and, by far, the most rewarding.

When you reach my age, seventy-five, and look back on your life, I hope you will see what I am now seeing. I know that something I said, or something I did, changed a child’s life. I did not make much money, but I did make a difference.

The lives that I changed will go on to change other lives. It is endless. This is why it is so rewarding. Teachers have the opportunity to start the domino effect. When you change one child, you change hundreds. That one child you changed will change other children, and the other children will change even more children, etc.

We touch the lives of many more children than we will ever know. I call it the echo affect. It is very much like the butterfly affect. We are teaching children, who in turn will teacher other children. So, we will never know how far our influence will go or who will be influenced. It is endless and it is WONDERFUL.

So, join me now as we venture to the other side of inner-city teaching.

It started a long time ago, I am now 75 years old.

I am a religious man, not as good as I should be, but better than I was. My favorite part of scripture is where Jesus turns to Peter and says, Follow me, I will make you fisher of men. So, stop what you are doing for a few minutes and follow me. I will make you fisher of children, children who live on the other side.

As I begin my story about teaching in the inner-city, I think two things will help you understand my unusual journey. First, I started teaching late in life. This is both good and bad. Maturity is a big plus in teaching, but I soon discovered that teaching is also very physical. You are up early every morning, NO EXCUSES. You manage a classroom full of children the entire day. Then you take your papers home and start grading them, while talking with your family. You go to bed late and get up early the next morning. As a teacher, the energy of youth is invaluable.

Second, I had polio at the age of five. Once I reached the age of twelve, I refused all my braces and declared myself healed. I had had enough. However, in my fifties, my polio issues all started coming back. It’s hard to explain, but, in short, the damage from childhood polio started to return as my body aged. It is called Post-Polio Syndrome. It finally got to the point where I had to leave my corporate job and take early retirement. This was not part of my life’s game plan, but, next to my family, teaching in the inner-city soon became the most important part of my life’s journey.

After leaving the corporate world, I was too young to stop living and doing things, so I started looking for a part-time volunteer job. That was when I discovered an inner-city school that needed volunteers. This is what started me on my path of becoming an inner-city teacher. When I became a teacher I was around fifty-six years old. This is about the age many teachers are looking forward to retirement. I, on the other hand, was just getting started. I know, this is weird, but, keep reading, it gets even better.

Many people asked me, why? Why did I want to start a teaching career so late in life? And why in the inner-city? And, honestly, I really don’t know. Maybe it was a God thing. However, I’m not sure. All I know is when I saw the school and the students, I changed. It was an immediate wake up call. I saw with my own eyes the terrible injustice there was in education. I saw children with second class (or even third class) facilities and instruction. It was hard for me to comprehend. There was no equality in education.

I knew I had to be a part of changing the system. The way I saw it was, if I didn’t do something to help, I became a part of the problem. I couldn’t let that happen. I knew everything was against me: my age, my skin color, my lack of education, and especially polio issues that were changing and growing by the day. I had a lot of reasons to walk away. And many of my friends suggested that I should walk away and leave this injustice for the younger people to deal with. Everyone reminded me of my age and my physical disabilities. Everyone told me it was my turn to sit back and rest. However, I’ve never been good at sitting back and resting. That’s for old people, or maybe people who believe they can’t make a difference. Or, maybe people who really don’t care about children on the other side. That attitude is too sad for me to even think about. The expression, It takes a village to raise a child, is true. And a village goes beyond your neighborhood, it includes all children.

My biggest concern, however, was not my physical limitations, but academic abilities. Was I smart enough to be a teacher? As a young boy, I was a very poor student. After high school, I was lucky to have found a college that would even accept me. And, once I was in college, it took me seven years, seven long years, to complete a four-year undergraduate degree in Business Administration. After seven years of college I should have earned a Ph.D. in something, not a BA degree in business.

And, after seven years, even then, I came very close to not graduating. Many times in my life I have come very close to not making it. My first time was when