Alex Ramadanis serves as an adjunct professor at Queens College in New York City. Working with teacher candidates and student teachers, Alex Ramadanis cultivates teaching and classroom management skills.

Teaching in an urban school can be more challenging than in other settings. Urban schools may be under-funded and serve students who are from and under-resourced backgrounds. This can cause a disconnect between teacher and student.

Many vocal urban educators have begun to encourage their colleagues to help students influence rather than escape their communities. Teachers who follow this advice are more likely to reach out and get to know about the everyday realities of their students’ lives. Then, instead of viewing their purpose as helping their students “better” themselves, they can encourage students to honor where they come from and make changes from within.

Teachers can also be more effective by seeing themselves as participants in the local community. They can take time to attend community events and develop relationships with families outside of school hours. In doing so, they demonstrate that they truly care about their students as people and that they respect rather than fear the neighborhood.

The urban teacher must understand that to succeed, he or she must be able to respect and honor all students while navigating an under-resourced system and teaching a cohort of students with sometimes vastly different levels of achievement. If a teacher can stay committed to the students regardless of whether he or she has resources and support from the system, that teacher may be ready for urban education.