Philadelphia Inquirer - February 10, 2005
By Susan Snyder - Inquirer Staff Writer

Fresh out of a grueling, one-month teacher boot camp of sorts, 61 newly trained educators will step into classrooms across Philadelphia tomorrow.

Filling vacancies left by teachers who retired, quit, or took midyear leaves of absence, they face a daunting situation.

Most are switching to teaching as second, or even third, careers. None has gone through a traditional four-year education-degree program. Some have had no teaching experience, save "boot camp." Half will be assigned to some of the city's most challenging classrooms, those serving special education students. And they arrive well into the school year.

But what they lack, they make up for in a major way: They are motivated. That is important in a district that has struggled for years with teacher shortages.

They all have bachelor's degrees in other fields, and they are also enrolled in an ongoing teacher-certification program offered through Temple University.

They represent the first group here trained by the New Teacher Project, a nonprofit New York company that specializes in readying nontraditional teachers for hard-to-staff classrooms.

Here is a look at three who are taking part in the program:

Bill Boesenhofer. Boesenhofer, 49, of Wayne, ran an auto-body shop, then went back to school for a degree in electrical engineering. He most recently was a program manager for a telecommunications company that faltered. He also spent a year as an insurance agent.

But he always wanted to teach.

Now he's going to West Philadelphia High to do so.

]He visited the school for the first time last week. The first door he tried was locked. So was the second. Then he heard a creaking overhead, and, looking up, saw a window open. A student stuck his head out the window and spit.

Boesenhofer wasn't a bit discouraged.

"I actually felt fortunate," he said. "If I hadn't heard that creaking, he probably would have got me."

But after that, things went well, and Boesenhofer expects his teaching experience to follow the same pattern.

"My life experience and work experience prepared me for a lot. I'm used to going into situations where I don't know all the variables. That doesn't necessarily scare me," said Boesenhofer, who, like his colleagues, will earn $38,000 to start.

He received his textbook and curriculum guides last week, and planned to spend the weekend preparing lessons in science for ninth graders.

Emilia Rastrick. Rastrick, 32, was born in England and moved to this country when she was 14. She spent six years in the Army, which allowed her to travel around the world. She obtained a bachelor's degree in history, and she later got a master's in public administration from Rutgers University.

Rastrick served in the Peace Corps, where she taught English as a second language part time.

Most recently, she worked for Women's Opportunities Resource Center, providing online financial-management training to low-income people.

She has wanted to teach for years.

"Teaching is one of the best ways to get into a neighborhood and really know it," she said.

A resident of Germantown, she lives within blocks of Fitler Academics Plus School, where she will teach.

She already has volunteered to be a liaison between the school and groups that could provide reading coaches.

"I know these contacts. I can do that," Rastrick offered during staff training on Friday.

She's replacing a retired teacher at Fitler, which is for first through eighth graders.

Rastrick will teach health and physical education. Principal Willette Jones praised Rastrick for already having created a system of rewards and consequences for student behavior, a plan to communicate with parents, and lesson plans. "That's all critical," Jones said.

"Now," Rastrick said, "it's just a matter of hitting the ground running."

Angelo Williams. Williams, 46, of Sicklerville, N.J., has always wanted to teach. He was a substitute in the city from 1981 to 1983, but his career took him in other directions. With a master's degree in human-services management, Williams has done a variety of jobs and volunteer work over the years, much of it involving counseling and mentoring youth.

He most recently resigned from his full-time job as director of the senior citizen centers run by North City Congress.

He also is pastor of the Word of Life Ministry Church in South Philadelphia and will remain so.

For the last seven years, Williams spoke before his congregation on Sunday mornings. This week, he'll have a new audience at Furness High, also in South Philadelphia, when he begins teaching American and world history to special education students. He will replace a teacher who had a stroke.

For the last month, Williams has put in 12-hour-plus days: His mornings were spent observing veteran teachers at Franklin Learning Center, his afternoons and evenings in district training and Temple education classes, and his nights studying. Like his colleagues, he said the training was good, but overwhelming.

"It's a wonderful program, but they probably need to take two months to do it or cut the curriculum down," he said last week, shortly after observing an American history class.

He's already planned his first lesson. He'll ask students to write about what Martin Luther King meant when he said "I Have a Dream."

"I want them to be able to understand that you can have dreams, make plans, and that now is the time to achieve those goals," Williams said.

Williams' wife is a special education teacher at Southwark School, which is near Furness. Having a live-in mentor gives him an edge, but he expects all of his colleagues in the New Teacher Project to fare well.

"I think in three years, we'll all be here," he said.

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