My first real teaching job was in Miami Beach, Florida, at a middle school. I was also living nearby in South Beach, a well-known tourist area with cafes, clubs, music venues, and of course the vast ocean with hoards of sun worshippers close by. When I was hired, the administration wanted me to teach the highest level classes due to my last name being Jewish sounding, and in fact it is a Jewish last name. Believing that a member of the same tribe as so many of the upper level students, the principal had confidence in the decision.

Just two years before this, I had quit being the bass player of my college rock band called “Atoms for Peace.” This band was on the way to possibly a recording contract and more, and we had toured the east coast of the US, including one adventurous gig at the famed CBGB’s in the Bowery, NYC. The reason I quit was that I felt the need to enter a profession of some kind after receiving my degree from the University of Florida. I was not considering teaching at all, although when I was in tenth grade becoming an English teacher was my heart’s desire (inspired by one of my English teachers in high school), other than being in music.

The Ramones, circa 1977 (above).

At the bottom of this post, I have included an interview about my band, “Atoms for Peace.”

However, I was never forthcoming with my students about my previous rock and roll life and lifestyle: I didn’t think they would take me seriously, and besides I was still so young. I probably looked like maybe a high school or early college student. Yet, one day I suppose I spoke about my ex-band to another teacher friend, and the word got around campus. Lo and behold, the Activities Director arranged for me to be interviewed by the local press about my near-past life.

The students were shocked to find all of this out. “She seems so conservative,” said one of them. “I would have not thought she was like that…” said another. Now, in 2025, being an ex-rocker would likely be a feather in my cap, but back then it appeared to be a little audacious and rebellious, and not at all fitting into the picture of the prim, dress-wearing, grammar-teaching Jewish lady.

I learned plenty during the three years I worked at the Miami Beach school, but the biggest lesson I learned was that English teachers suffer from overwork. I never went home without a PILE of papers to grade. As advised by my previously mentioned department head: ” Bring them to your appointments, grade them in your car at stoplights, and of course use your weekends.” I ended up having to give up playing guitar and bass for a pretty long time, not to mention being in any bands.

After about fifteen years of being a hapless slave to the papers, I vowed to end the practice permanently. It is simply not fair. I developed several methods to grade papers during classes while my students were happily and/or busily occupied with other matters that I assigned. In this, I created more time for myself to start another band, to be discussed later. I will be posting several units that I used in my classrooms that are meaningful, engaging, and not able to be finished quickly by almost any kid. These units will be at my store on https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/literary-ladder-lessons

Truly, I enjoyed that job and living in that exciting place, despite the challenges of the paperwork. I was having quite a good time in South Beach, and coming in to school from right down the street every morning, sometimes not even hungover.