Teaching in New Mexico – by Mike Haigerty – 10/8/07

Little did I know how much my life was about to change when I packed up my car and my friend and I began the 20 hour drive across country from the Midwest to the tiny, former railroad town of Lumberton, New Mexico, in the diocese of Gallup, population a couple of hundred people, give or take a few.

Lumberton is near the Chama valley in northwestern New Mexico, just about ½ an hour by gravel road from the Colorado border. It’s better known as the little town just east of Dulce, New Mexico, capital of the Jicarilla Apache reservation. It sits at around 7000 ft. above sea level, and if you’re not used to it, at first it’s a bit hard to get acclimated to the elevation. Once you do however, the thin air, the stark beauty of land, and the down-to-earth demeanor of the mixture of Indian, Anglo, and New Mexican – don’t call them Mexican because they proudly trace their ancestry all the way back to Spain - people combine to create what is known as “The Land of Enchantment.” And as I remember, driving over the last hill before the town, having finally made it to my destination, on a state highway lined with pine trees, a view of the San Juan Mountains in the distance, and the occasional elk crossing, I was enchanted.

That was way back in the Fall of 1999. I was sort of unique in Church volunteer circles – neither just out of college nor retired. I had first seen the ads for St. Francis school in Lumberton during college through reading Response magazine, and it had stayed with me. But I got a job after college, bought a car, moved around a bit, and then moved on to different jobs. However, the thought of moving to the Southwest and having the opportunity to teach – without having to go back to school and take out more loans to do so – was something that stayed with me. I had experienced substitute teaching, tutoring, and working with kids as a volunteer, but had never been a classroom teacher. I majored in Political Science in college in Indianapolis, not Education. But having worked at different jobs but finding a “home” in none of them, teaching was where I thought I might “find my niche.” So here I was, with my car loaded down, 36 years old, accompanied by a good friend who had taken a vacation from his parish duties – he was and is still a priest - to help me with the drive.

Let’s just say that in next 9 months I majored in Education. Boy, did I ever. I majored in it; I minored in it. It was my hobby and my constant companion, even in my dreams. My primary teachers were 15 Apache Indian and New Mexican kids in the 7^th and 8^th grades, though I also taught 20 5^th and 6^th graders Catholic Theology for one period every day. And I came away with many lessons that are not contained in textbooks; lessons that are priceless. Additionally, I gained a greater appreciation for the hard work and dedication of teachers everywhere. I also found a second home, where I will hopefully always return, at least for vacations.

What were some of the lessons? You will find out how much patience you have when 20 kids are all trying to get a drink of water, sharpen their pencils, and look for notebook paper in their book bags, while simultaneously trying to torment the student next to them in some small, mildly irritating way. If you haven’t done a math problem in 15 years, you better spend the time doing the lesson for yourself the night before you teach, because the smartest kid in the class is going to want you to show him how to do the hardest problem in front of everyone. Young teenagers generally do not like to sing in front of their peers, especially “Church” songs; many hate it. If you are going to convince them that they can and should do so, you must be very creative, very encouraging, and very forgiving when - mysteriously - they keep “forgetting” the words. The Boy Scout motto, “Be Prepared” is not just for Boy Scouts. To be a good teacher you must not only be prepared, but over prepare, just in case the DVD player doesn’t work when you want to show a video, the fire drill takes you away from class time and now you have even less time to squeeze in all of the seven subjects you are trying to teach, or you look out at your kids and they have finished your assignment in 10 minutes when you thought it would take them 30.

Finally - but there are many more - when a student who you have gotten to know, often battled with, and who has tolerated your weaknesses for 9 months writes you a note and tells you that you were one of the best teachers she has ever had because she actually learned something, you will get choked up, and you will feel like your life and your work matter a great deal. Not easy; not always fun; sometimes challenging to the point of asking yourself: “Is this worth it?” But if you want your life to mean something; if you want to make a difference in the lives of kids who mean something and who ultimately mean a great deal to you, then teaching is one very good way to go, and that’s what I learned most of all. Thank God for the strength to do the work; to learn from mistakes; to see it through; to “grow up”; to volunteer at St. Francis in Lumberton, New Mexico, USA.