From the director:

One of the books I turn to again and again in my professional life and which I recommend to teachers everywhere is Parker J. Palmer’s The Courage to Teach. Palmer is self-reflective, insightful, and brutally honest about his own career and life. For me, this approach makes him inspirational: he uses his own failures as examples, thereby reminding us all that we do not get it exactly right every time no matter how long we’ve been in the business. He loves teaching more than anything, yet does not romanticize it. And he is a soulful man, who comes to the work with a belief that teaching and learning is transformative. The Courage to Teach begins like this:

I am a teacher at heart, and there are moments in the classroom when I can hardly hold the joy. When my students and I discover uncharted territory to explore, when the pathway out of a thicket opens up before us, when our experience is illumined by the lightning-life of the mind – then teaching is the finest work I know.

But at other moments, the classroom is so lifeless or painful or confused – and I am so powerless to do anything about it – that my claim to be a teacher seems a transparent sham. Then the enemy is everywhere: in those students from some alien planet, in that subject I thought I knew, and in the personal pathology that keeps me earning my living this way. What a fool I was to imagine that I had mastered this occult art – harder to divine than tea leaves and impossible for mortals to do even passably well!

This dichotomy exists every day in the life of a good teacher. It can be especially intense at the beginning of the year, when everyone is adjusting to the realities of September, and students and teachers do not know each other well yet. Over the past few weeks, I have had several conversations on this very topic with teachers new to PHS as well as teachers who have been here for many years. A class can be going fantastically well and the teacher is glowing with excitement, and a day later that same teacher is wondering whatever possessed her to think she knew the slightest thing about inspiring children. It heartens me that we have teachers in this state, because it means they care deeply. When the teaching is excellent, this fluctuation is the nature of the beast; teaching is more than a job, and takes more than a good lesson plan to do well. It is an art, a talent, a skill, a craft, a calling. And on top of all the knowledge, training, and practice that go into becoming a teacher, one must also have an ability to connect with students, heart to heart. This is what separates the brilliant teachers from the merely good. To do this, it is crucial that teachers not only know their subjects and students well, but also themselves.

Parker Palmer states that his book is “for teachers who refuse to harden their hearts, because they love learners, learning, and the teaching life.” I believe that PHS is full of teachers who fit this description. One of our ongoing goals is to continue to provide opportunities for the professional and personal growth of our teachers so that they keep coming to work with enthusiasm and love for their craft and for your children.

From the deans:

Hello All,

The Office of Multicultural Programs & Services (OMPS) is moving full-speed ahead: First, the diversity/multicultural calendar for Presidio Hill’s first semester (Fall 2003) is just about set with a highlight performance by Oakland’s premiere youth dance and theater troupe, Destiny Arts. The performance will take place on November 7 at 1:00 p.m. in the theatre. Come if you can! Second, the parent diversity committee has pushed pass the “first meeting” hurdle, and is taking great leaps and strides toward actively engaging the community with diversity/multicultural activities, events, and education. Our next meeting is scheduled for October 9 at 5:15 p.m. in the library. Third, FACE (Faculty Advocacy Creates Excellence), a support group for underrepresented staculty (staff & faculty), is off to a strong start. NOW (Negotiating Our World), a parallel support group for other staculty members, will have their first meeting soon. Also, MAAT (Multicultural Awareness & Action Together), an inclusive, student-based group, will be meeting in the near future.

Thoughts - A few nights ago, I had the craziest dream about PHS . . .

As I descended the outdoor staircase, I was greeted by what seemed to be the entire PHS community—all the parents, students, and staculty members flooded the stairwell and the roof yard. Ethereal music, a mixture of Verdi and Timberland, rose from some mysterious, invisible source. The sun was low and covered the sky in a warm, embered orange. People were dancing and smiling and playing. As they conversed and laughed, soft, florid colors emerged and extended from their mouths like intimate, tiny groupings of Aurora Borealis.

As I waded through the thick sea of bodies to the roof yard, no one noticed me or reacted to the strange color-voices emitting from their mouths. I touched one of my students on the shoulder, but she continued to look forward as if nothing had occurred. I waved to few parents and got no response. After an hour of trying to solicit a response from this community of vibrant and festive people, I pulled myself into a ball near a fence corner and watched.

Night fell, and the community’s vivid words rose against the dark sky, creating a multi-colored canopy above the roof yard. As I loosened my limbs, looked up, and smiled widely at these bright, communal conversations, my body started to tingle all over. I looked down at my arms as they began to painlessly dematerialize (each tingle corresponding directly with each vanishing molecule). My legs followed, waist, chest . . . until I was gone!

Someday, I hope this dream comes true. Not that I vanish like a Star Trek character, but that the PHS community evolves so that a Dean of Multicultural Programs & Services is no longer needed. I hope we get to a place where we all have an insatiable learning bug surrounding issues of diversity and multiculturalism, a place where we all have the skills and know how to self-regulate and self-advocate around these powerful and important issues, a place where we are passionate about the health and well-being of our neighbors and our community. issues, a place where we are passionate about the health and well-being of our neighbors and our community, a fun place . . . yeah, a fun place.

Mohammed Soriano-Bilal
Dean of Multi-cultural Programs & Services