Where No Student Has Gone Before

By Steven KushnercloseAuthor: Steven Kushner Name: Steven Kushner
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About: Steven Kushner, age 25, teaches psychology and sociology at Bremen High School in Midlothian, Illinois. Steven has his Bachelor of Science degree in History and Psychology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He received his Master of Arts in Teaching degree from National-Louis University and is currently working on a Master’s degree in Psychology. Steven is the Varsity Head Coach for the Bremen Braves boy’s tennis team. Steven’s inspiration for learning, teaching, and writing originates with his family; his father is a Professor of Medicine at Northwestern University and both of his parents are published authors. Steven’s passion to advance his skills in the field of education shows through his formal graduate studies and through less conventional approaches, attending The Second City Improvisation for Creative Pedagogy teacher workshop in Chicago. Author: Steven Kushner Email: skushner@bhsd228.com Phone: 847-989-2003See Authors Posts (1)
 

As a curious high school student growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, I had always wondered what took place behind closed doors in the mysterious “teacher’s lounge.” I rather naively pictured teachers being soothed by massage therapists or dancing in conga lines.

It was not until I acquired my first teaching job after college that I gained access to where no student had gone before; I had earned my V.I.P. backstage pass to the legendary teachers lounge. But like an innocent child learning for the first time that Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy were fictitious characters, my previously held notions were sadly and quickly rejected. I felt like Geraldo Rivera opening Al Capone’s secret vault hoping to find gold or dead gangsters but only to discover dirt and empty liquor bottles.

Let me spare you the suspense; the teacher’s lounge can be described as a lot of things, but lavish or serene is not one of them.

The notorious “teachers lounge” is evidently a congregation of retired substitutes reminiscing about their teaching days during the Nixon administration; it is a home to off-duty security guards grumbling about “the kids these days;” it is one of the only few places left where you can observe full grown adults eating cafeteria chicken nuggets, sloppy joes, and drinking 2% chocolate milk.

It is a therapeutic spot where teachers openly and freely discuss the one class or the one student that drives them crazy; it is a place where the universal copy machine breaks down one minute before the bell rings, leaving teacher’s with a look of bewilderment and panic; it is a room where teachers make phone calls  home to parents to discuss their child’s subpar grades or inappropriate behavior, only to discover that the number has been disconnected or that the guardians speak a different native language; it is a place where student teachers discuss their struggles to find a permanent job while their cooperating teachers joyfully reminisce about having the entire semester “off”; it is a place where new teachers, like myself, ask veteran instructors how to handle disobedient and apathetic students; it is, quite simply, the teacher’s lounge.

Every so often a student will enter the lounge looking for school supplies or requesting to make paper copies for their teacher who is busy instructing. At that moment, I am usually eating lunch, grading papers, reading the newspaper, or venting about my one class that caused my current migraine headache. I wonder, what was that students expectations before they walked in the door? Did they too imagine teachers sipping on aged cognac or smoking Cuban cigars? I’m guessing that when they opened the door and observed their surroundings they thought to themselves, “this is it? This is where no student has gone before?” I struggle to hold back the words, but my facial expression says it all: “I thought the same thing kid.”

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Also by Steven Kushner:

A Taste of Inspiration

A teacher creating effective lesson plans

is like an executive chef at a four-star restaurant

preparing the perfect dish.

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Also on the topic of the Teachers; Lounge:

Teachers Lounge – To Go or Not to Go? by Pat Hensley

Den of Iniquity or Source of Support? This teacher’s experience might surprise you!