One Team and One Team Only: There is no “Us” Versus “Them”
Drew Chiodo Assistant Principal, Pacetti Bay Middle School, St. Johns County How hard can it be to change the world? As a young, wide-eyed teacher, fresh out of Teach For America institutes, and convinced of the simplicity of the public education system through documentaries like “Waiting for Superman,” I stood in my first classroom knowing that I could fix everything in five to 10 years. I thought that I could teach for five years, earn a master’s degree, become a principal and then who knows- maybe become the supreme chancellor for education in the land of “Do as I say.” It all made sense in my mind and then I ran into the biggest challenge…. Challenge is a bad word…. I ran into one of the greatest gifts of my life: students. There I stood, as a 21-year-old know-it-all, in front of high school sophomores and it was my responsibility to listen to them, care for them, and give them the tools they needed to be successful, not just in my intensive math classes, but in eve