The novice instructors met mentors, learned routines and rules, and were mildly tested by their students.

One in an occasional series

New Philadelphia teachers Emilia Rastrick, Angelo Williams and Bill Boesenhofer marked their first day of school yesterday, discovering they had as much to learn as their students.

All three are among 61 new teachers - most of them starting a second or third career - who joined a new school district program, Philadelphia Teaching Fellows. They are filling midyear vacancies left by teachers who retired, quit or took a leave of absence.

The 61 novices all have college degrees in subjects other than teaching, and they are beginning work after one month of crash training, offered by the New Teacher Project, a New York City-based group.

Yesterday, they learned school routines, met students, established rules, and connected with mentors who will help them finish the school year.

Emilia Rastrick

Shortly before 8:30 a.m., Rastrick, 32, prepared to greet her students in the gym at Fitler Academics Plus School in Germantown. She had already made the space her own, decorating it with posters and displaying a list of rules: Keep hands and feet to yourself. Safe play at all times. Freeze on the whistle...

The gym is about the size of two classrooms and especially hot, but Rastrick said she has it better than some colleagues at other schools who at times have no gym to use. A Germantown resident, Rastrick previously was in the Army and Peace Corps and worked for a nonprofit group.

"Are you nervous?" principal Willette Jones asked.

"Well, of course," Rastrick responded.

"It's about confidence," Jones told her. "Just make sure they see that."

Rastrick nodded.

"OK, listen up," Rastrick said to the 20 fourth graders, who have gym class once a week. "When I speak, you do not speak."

Then she told students they had three minutes to change into their gym clothes.

One girl's jaw dropped: "Whaaaat?"

The students did the job in just under four. "I'm impressed," Rastrick said.

Jones stopped in after class started.

"This is excellent," she said. "She took immediate direction over them, which I asked her to do, and they responded."

Rastrick had hoped that after the students warmed up, they could play a game, but there was too much talking. She decided the game would have to wait until next week. "I'm surprised we got as far as we did," she said.

Angelo Williams

Third period was Williams' toughest class at Furness High in South Philadelphia, where he is teaching history to students with learning disabilities. The principal told him ahead of time that the students might challenge him.

He was ready.

Williams, 46, a pastor from Sicklerville, Camden County, who previously ran senior citizen centers, announced to the students that he was their new teacher and that he would stay the rest of the year.

"If I had $2 for every person that said they'd be here," quipped a student in dark baggy pants and an oversized coat.

The student told Williams he didn't care about history. "I already graduated from the streets," he said.

Williams encouraged students to have dreams and goals and said he wanted to help.

"So, you're telling me you care about us, my man," the student said to Williams.

"Yeah, I do... my man," Williams responded.

"You're lying," the student retorted.

Of 11 students in the class, only three showed up. The others were absent or suspended or had skipped class.

The students have had several substitutes since their regular teacher had a stroke about a month ago.

"Kids like consistency, and they haven't had a lot of it. I'll grow on them," Williams said.

He already made an impact on some students.

"I think he will make a good world-history teacher," said Sacoya Foreman, 15, a ninth grader, who was in an earlier class. "I like his personality. He seems real and confident and caring."

Bill Boesenhofer

Boesenhofer, 49, of Wayne, had it a bit easier on the first day. West Philadelphia High principal Clifton James had Boesenhofer, a former telecommunications-company program manager, spend the day observing some of his best teachers.

James, who oversees one of the city's toughest neighborhood high schools, explained that last year he almost lost a new teacher - who also came to the profession without a traditional education degree - when she started cold.

"She was ready to quit," he said. "She wrote her letter of resignation."

James pulled her out of class and allowed her to spend the next two days observing colleagues. Now, she's one of his better teachers. Boesenhofer, who will teach science to ninth graders, met that teacher, and she offered her support.

"I'm looking at today as building a little network of teacher mentors, which is important," Boesenhofer said.

James said he had high hopes for Boesenhofer: "He has a lot of enthusiasm for this. I just hope we can keep that up."

More Information

To learn more about the program, call 215-299-7611 or visit www.philadelphiateachingfellows.org.