Andreas Kolaczko, English teacher at Lorain High School
Andreas Kolaczko has been teaching high school English for three years now – in the same place where he grew up. Before his current stint at Lorain High School, Andreas taught for two and a half years at the college level.
Andreas also recently joined forces with other dynamic Lorain educators to create and facilitate the Teaching Lorain Institute. He has joined forces with Chris White (another teacher at Lorain High School), Audrea Ramirez, a former LHS educator and current educator with the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, and Barb Piscopo, the executive director of the Lorain Historical Society. They are leading the way to spread the Teaching Cleveland approach to connecting students and adults to their community in meaningful ways.
What’s so important to you about connecting your students to local history and issues?
Like many kids who grew up and continue to grow up in Lorain, I wanted to get out and not look back. As a college student, I began to learn about the history of this city when I interned at the Lorain Historical Society. I had a chance to learn about its many communities and the renewed hope and life within the city. All of these things made me really start to appreciate Lorain.
It seems students grow up thinking that their best bet is to get away; no matter what school they went to or where they grew up. We often overlook the many good things that communities have to offer.
If we are able to create the link that connects our students to their communities, they will be able and more willing to become more civically engaged members of their communities. If we can get students to appreciate where they come from, we are better able to foster a community that people won’t want to leave. Had I learned about Lorain when I was growing up, I never would have made jokes about living here.
Once we learn about our past and our history, we can begin to improve our present and our future. And, once we learn and engage with the issues in our communities, we can create a better place for everyone who comes here to live, visit, or simply pass through.
How has Teaching Cleveland and Teaching Lorain impacted your teaching? Your students’ understanding of themselves and their place?
Both programs have made me much more intentional about the way I teach. Before, I taught what interested me and I would try to twist things to relate it to students, but now I am much more intentional about the content taught, the way in which it is taught, and the prompts, challenges, and questions I pose to my classes.
I feel much more comfortable and confident talking about the city with my students and getting them to reflect on what they know about themselves, their city, and their neighborhood. It seems a lot of students don’t tend to leave their bubbles, so they aren’t always aware of what is happening around them. Or, if they do know, they tend to focus on only the negative aspects. I don’t gloss over the negative – because students have lived some very real traumas – but I do encourage them to try to find the good even in the bad. I don’t force anyone into any sort of trauma and that line of thinking – I lean into it. I challenge them to consider their perspectives and their opinions on their lives and their city. I ask them questions about their stories, the perception of themselves and their environment, how they view their community, and how they could improve their communities.
There have been a couple of times I have been able to direct students to groups that are already doing the very work in which they said they’d love to be involved. TC and TL have allowed me to feel more comfortable having pride in our place, and I hope that students embrace that same sense of pride.
What about Teaching Cleveland stands out to you?
The one word that comes to my mind is community. From the participants to the directors – and everyone in between – we have formed a community that continues to grow with each passing year. Teaching Cleveland and Teaching Lorain have allowed me to make connections with people I wouldn’t have been able to before. I have met incredible people who I didn’t even know about who are doing amazing work in the city. I have been able to develop many relationships with people throughout the course of the past few years.
We all have stories that make us who we are, and through the relationships I have made with the Teaching Cleveland and Teaching Lorain community, I have been able to challenge myself and grow as a person and as an educator.
