Ako

While studying abroad in New Zealand during college, I came across the Maori word ako, reflecting the inherent reciprocity of teaching and learning – the idea that both teachers and students can teach and can learn. It struck me as potentially the most important concept educators can remember when teaching, especially when teaching populations of students with very different backgrounds from their own. We as educators must embrace our own education everyday, which we receive from our students, our peers, administrators, community members, and ourselves. We have the unique profession in which real success is based solely on the outcomes of our students, and in order to best serve them we must continually reflect on and revise our own teaching.

A few months ago I found myself in conversation with some family members about my new job as a tutor at City on a Hill. In trying to explain why I love it so much, I let slip a confession – I actually feel bad for other recent college graduates, even those thriving in the “real world,” because they don’t have my job. My family was unconvinced that this could be true – being a tutor means long hours, low pay, school on Saturday mornings, and hours of lesson planning. To most, it doesn’t make sense.

I realize I have now joined the chorus of educators who continuously refer to the gratification in their work. When I started tutoring at City on a Hill, I couldn’t wait to find out what this gratification actually felt like. What does that ambiguous feeling of fulfillment truly mean? Would I feel it? Would it make the challenging work worth it?

I explained to my family that I am getting as much out of my job as I hope my students are; that I am embracing the idea of ako. The secret may be different for every educator, but as a first year tutor, I find gratification in knowing that as much as I can possibly teach my students, I will continually be surprised by what I learn from them.

Every tutorial class is different from the one before, and each brings fresh challenges requiring creativity and patience. I am getting to know my students’ unique personalities and dispositions and I am figuring out how to plan our classes to accommodate those. My students are teaching me how to motivate them each individually, how to make our lessons relevant, and how to help them achieve in school.  I am continually surprised  - by their intelligence, their wit, their attitudes, opinions, and pure unpredictability, which I am learning to embrace with an open mind.

I came to City on a Hill along a very different path from the students I teach. But acknowledging and appreciating the discrepancy in our experiences enables us to learn from each other. As I have been a successful student my entire life, helping my students who sometimes struggle has been challenging and at times frustrating. My students bring life experiences to which I have never before been exposed, and yet are as important to their education and mine as Shakespeare and the American Revolution. They teach me about themselves, their lives, and the way they see the world; which in turn teaches me about myself, and the way I see the world.

And so I explained to my family that while I am sure there are plenty of other rewarding jobs, I have found a community that embraces and encourages our ability as students and educators to continually grow and improve. As an educator at City on a Hill, I am systematically a part of the continual reform and improvement of the education we provide – a reflection of just how much every member of our school learns everyday.

There is no way to tell for sure that embracing the idea of ako is the key to helping students succeed, but I know that it is enabling all of us to become better citizens and life long students. I hope I can teach my students in a year as much as they have already taught me in the first quarter.

Emily McCaffrey is a first year CoaHCORPS Tutor at City on a Hill.  She received her B.A. from Boston University, where she studied Political Science, Education, and International Development.

In Memory

Sean Jackson, City on a Hill 2003 alumnus, graduated from the “Old” City on a Hill.  “Old CoaH” lived in the YMCA on 320 Huntington Ave. for over ten years.  An historical landmark as one of the oldest urban YMCA’s in America, our time there consisted of giant hissing steam pipes, random power outages followed by all-building fire alarms, cracked-tile swim classes, and everyone’s favorite open-campus lunch when students could leave the building to eat anywhere in the neighborhood so long as they returned to school in thirty minutes.  Now, City on a Hill resides in Roxbury just down the street from Dudley Square in the old St. Joseph’s Catholic School.  Before, we were renters.  Now we are owners, permanent members of the community in which our students reside.  

In October, when I walked into Mt. Olive Kingdom Builders Church to celebrate Sean’s life after his sudden and premature passing, I was not taken aback by the number of people in attendance – the church teemed, people stacked outside the stone doorways craning their necks to join the service.  What struck me was the dominant number of City on a Hill graduates present from the classes of ‘02, ‘03, and ’04.  They sat together in tight pods throughout the congregation, shoulders pressed.  Ms. Pratt, Ms. Accime, two present students, and I attended the memorial.

We stood in line and waited to pay our respects.  What everyone remembered most about Sean was his smile:  a true, joyful smile.  Sean had perfect dimples in the center of both cheeks.  He smiled when he spoke and smiled when he listened.  The corners of his smile effortlessly pointed to rhinestone stud earrings he always sported.  True style.  Always looking smooth, Sean had the sharp haircut mandatory of a starting member of the basketball team.  Sean loved to run hoop, the CoaH Blue Storm won the State Championship with Sean at point.  Most members of the team were present at the service. 

Sean earned a full ride to the University of Vermont; he transferred to Bridgewater State his sophomore year to be closer to home and play basketball.  Like many of City on a Hill’s graduates, the biggest obstacle to college completion for Sean was tuition.  Though Sean was still working to finish his degree, he embodied a central pillar of City on a Hill’s mission: he consistently served his community.  Every summer, he worked for the YMCA helping with a camp, which developed into after-school mentorship and tutorial.  Weekdays and weekends he worked at different Y branches and for Boston Public after school programs mentoring and coaching.   Like his smile, everyone spoke of Sean’s altruism and of being touched by the cheer of this thoughtful and present young man who gently cared for grade school boys and girls as if they were his younger brothers and sisters. 

Waiting to pay our respects, we planned to hold a Town Meeting later that week and dedicate it to Sean.  Former classmates would come and fill the back of City on a Hill’s new auditorium.  Darrus Sands would speak of his memories of Sean, and describe how Sean was a model for him, his classmates, and his community and hope for the sake of Boston that future graduates of City on a Hill would follow in Sean’s footsteps and dedicate their lives to service.  We would hold a moment of silence, like moments of silence we had held many times before.  Only this time for one of our own.   

The line of mourners slowly reached the front of the church.  As I turned from paying my respects at the foot of the alter, I caught the eyes of the City on a Hill alumni and Central Y staff throughout the congregation and, for a moment, Mt. Olive Kingdom Builders Church was transformed back into Town Meeting in the Teen Center Auditorium on Huntington Ave ten years ago.  A Town Meeting consisting of thoughtful silence, or raucous celebration, or eloquent verbal parry, or spontaneous bawdy cheering, or even standstill boredom.  Same as our Town Meetings today.  And we were all together, smiling, along with Sean, celebrating the peace and safety of our open community looking forward to the uncertain future and our role in it together.

Dr. Paul Hays is a founding teacher and the current Principal of City on a Hill.  He began his 18+ years in public education in 1992 as a Teach For America Corps member in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.  A certified science teacher and high school administrator, Dr. Hays holds a B.A. from Denison University, an M.A.T. from Union College, and a Doctorate in Education Administration from Boston University.