Hamidreza Majidi is a 20-year veteran teacher from Iran who now teaches in Milwaukee through Teach For America. (Photo by PrincessSafiya Byers)
By PrincessSafiya Byers
This story was originally published by Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service, where you can find other stories reporting on fifteen city neighborhoods in Milwaukee. Visit milwaukeenns.org.
Hamidreza Majidi developed a love for math and started teaching it in his home country of Iran two decades ago.
After a lengthy career in Iran’s capital city of Tehran, Majidi, 57, is now bringing his passion to Milwaukee as a corps member of Teach For America Milwaukee. Teach For America, or TFA, is a leadership development program that trains people to become educators and leaders in local communities across the country.
‘A long, long process’
Majidi’s journey to teach in an American classroom began soon after he and his family arrived in the United States in 2013, following the lead of his brother who had lived here since 1974.
Majidi settled in San Diego and initially enrolled in English as a second language classes at San Diego Miramar College to improve his English, driven by his dream of teaching in America.
Despite having the necessary certification to teach in Iran, Majidi had to meet new requirements to teach in the U.S.
“I was a teacher in Tehran, and I knew I wanted to be a teacher, but I understood that to be a math teacher I needed to get a bachelor’s degree and a certificate,” Majidi said. “But I knew it was a long, long process.”
Following his English as a second language classes, Majidi pursued an associate degree in applied math. During that time, he worked as a math tutor while studying, gaining experience that now helps him in the classroom.
From there, he followed his daughter to the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she was accepted to study physics. They both graduated in May, and Majidi started with Teach For America that summer.
Now he is working as a math teacher at Milwaukee’s Carmen High School of Science and Technology- South campus, a charter school located at 1712 S. 32nd St.
Lessons learned outside the classroom
Majidi moved to America with his entire family in his mid-40s. He said there were many times when he wanted to quit on his long journey to becoming a teacher in the U.S., but he learned the importance of patience and perseverance.
“I’m not very young. So imagine that being the head of the family, moving to the United States around age 45, it wasn’t easy to get to this point,” he said. “It was very hard. I had to support my family and there were financial issues. Just many, many different things.”
Despite the challenges that came with pursuing his education and dreams of becoming a teacher, Majidi emphasized that his love of math and wanting others to love it too kept him going.
“Someone told me that pressure made diamonds,” he said. ”It was an amazing statement for me. So the important thing that I learned is that if you are patient, follow your dreams, be flexible and keep going.”
Two graduates, one family
Dorsa Majidi called her dad’s hard work exciting and unbelievable.
“It’s not that I didn’t believe in him because I do,” she said. “But with personal hardships and working to provide and going to school, I just thought my dad would need more time.”
But she said her father has always had an unwavering determination in everything he’s done.
“He really cares about people and his passions, and when he is passionate about something, he puts all of himself into that thing whether it’s his family or school or his students,” she said.
Bringing individuals like Majidi into communities and empowering them to be the best teachers that they can be is the main aim of Teach for America, said Michael Nguyen, executive director.
“TFA recruits those who have leadership experience in their field and have alignment with TFA’s mission,” Nguyen said.
Understanding culture
Majidi said he is taking everything he has learned into the classroom with him.
“My first experience with math was terrible, so for a long time, I didn’t like it,” he said. “But I’ve learned it’s all in how you teach it. When you understand it, it feels great, and I want to find ways to make it enjoyable for students.”
Majidi said it’s important to understand the different cultures and dynamics of the students he’s serving.
“As teachers, we need to make ourselves familiar with the culture, because it is very important to the area you’re working,” he said. “Whether students are African American, Hispanic or Spanish, we need to know something about this culture before diving into that position.”
For more information
For more information, visit the Teach For America website.