Teacher Stories: Tracy Scheibel, Eighth Grade Teacher at Arthur J. Holland Middle School, Trenton, New Jersey
I teach in Trenton public schools, and I teach middle school. I’m a special ed teacher, but I teach mostly language arts, and I also teach an elective College Career and College Readiness course through the AVID framework. It’s an eighth-grade elective course, but it basically teaches them, sort of study habits, organizational skills, and ways to collaborate with their peers. There’s a lot of tutorial stuff involved where they’re helping each other, and a lot of things that sort of set themselves up for success, and a lot of inquiry and research. So, it’s fun. This was actually the first year I’ve done it.
One of the biggest misconceptions about working in a place like Trenton is that the kids don’t care or don’t want to learn. There are a great deal of students who want to do better, want to get out, want to do right by their families. They want to be the first ones to go to college. They want to be the first ones that start a business or be gainfully employed. And a lot of times, people think that they’re just kind of trucking along and don’t care. And I think that there’s a greater majority that do care.
I think some of them have been dealt a tough hand in life. There are a lot of single parents, and this really is across districts in New Jersey, or anywhere, really, a lot of single parents. A lot of shift work where they’re working, either overnight, and a lot of the students have to sort of fend for themselves, or take care of siblings, making sure they’re getting up in time, making sure their clothes are clean, that they’re eating. And then you need to make sure they’re ready to learn for seven hours. It can be a challenge. And a lot of times, you also have to take into account students falling asleep in class. You have to think, why are they so tired? It’s because they had to stay up late taking care of their siblings until their parents got home. Or they can have so many other things going on at home. That’s why I don’t fuss about things like that.
It’s interesting because growing up, I didn’t grow up in an affluent neighborhood. I grew up in a very blue-collar town, and there was always this sort of goal to get out, to do something with your life. I’m proud of where I came from, and I think that’s maybe why I can relate to my students so much. Because there were times when we lived paycheck to paycheck. We had times when we couldn’t get Chinese takeout because we couldn’t afford it. And maybe I couldn’t have all the fancy clothes that everybody else had. And I’m okay with that, because I kind of feel like it’s part of who I am, and I can tell those little stories to my students, and they can relate, which helps me relate to them.
Interview by Gregory Andrus
Portraits of the Jersey Shore
