Teachers always frontline workers
I wish that I could be the cool teacher whom everyone loves — the kind whose former students visit with hugs. He or she is also one who earned respect — a person who masterfully teaches his or her subject.
I teach high school math. At the beginning of the year, I was assigned a department mentor. This person is part adviser, part therapist and part help desk that takes calls on evenings and weekends.
I call my Jedi Master’s “Obi Wan.” His real name is Russell Pascarella.
“Pasci” as he is affectionately known, comes from a large Italian Catholic family. He is the consummate dude’s dude, family man, and man of faith. He is a husband and father of three. He is active at his parish and an officer in his Knights of Columbus chapter. In fact, he is on track to be the president of the Oklahoma Knights. He announces at football and basketball games. When we are visitors, he plays trombone in the band. He’s often seen at other sporting events. Oh, and he is the producer/director for pep rallies.
There is only one reason why a man like Pasci drives a minivan. It’s because he favors the efficient movement of kids over status.
I have always been a one-bestfriend person. My bestie in high school was a guy named David Danzi. David was arguably the best all-around athlete in my class of 725 students. He had the suave charm of a young Dean Martin. It was hard living in David’s shadows. He had girls, popularity, respect … and did I mention girls?
David, too, comes from a large Italian Catholic family. David’s father, Rocco Danzi, made the best pizza west of the Hudson River. With seven Danzi kids, it was easy to blend in at the dinner table to enjoy Mr. Danzi’s pizza.
I consider Pasci to be my best friend at school. He advises me in areas big and small.
An example of big: As the new guy, don’t depart from the district’s math curriculum like I was tempted to do.
An example of small: If you make more than 90 copies, then do them in smaller batches or else the tray gets too full, and you end up with paper all over the floor.
Pasci makes my challenging job a little less challenging. But the greatest compliment is that he inspires me.
There are dozens of Pascis at my school, tens of thousands in Oklahoma and millions nationwide. In fact, the country’s 4 million teachers would make the second-largest city in America — second to New York and roughly equal to Los Angeles. The National Education Association considers all state and local unions as member affiliates. If that is the case, then the NEA is the largest labor union in the country, by far.
I took a moment to study the etymology of the word, “inspiration.” I was thinking of a rising high point — like a church spire. But I was wrong. Inspiration means to “breathe life into.” It is related to the word, “respiration.”
Educators have been working the trenches for centuries inspiring students, colleagues and parents to advance a noble cause — the development of young minds.
Do you know what it’s like to sit in an enclosed petri dish for hours at a time with 30 sniffling kids? Well, our teachers do. They have been frontline workers before the term existed.
I wish that I could list the names of all 70 of my colleagues at Memorial High School. But you know who you are. You are awesome!
My hope and prayer are that Pasci and his kind will someday be told, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Well done!”
Happy New Year, teachers!
K. John Lee has been a teacher in the Tulsa school district.