Prince George's County made the front page of the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/27/AR2009082701518_2.html?sid=ST2009082601838
This is one of the many challenges to a large urban school system that make it difficult for teachers to do their job.
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
From Teaching Bootcamp, to Classroom Teacher: A Metamorphesis.
If you asked me several years ago about the probability of me teaching in public school, I would have said 0%. Now in two days, I will embark on teaching a group of talented future citizens of the United States. What happened you might ask...
I must start by saying that as I have matured over the past 3 years, I've been able to understand and respect the value of my education in a very new light. The value of having a rigorous education cannot be undervalued in our world. The age we live in requires more and more citizens that have sharp critical thinking skills, high literacy rates, and mathematical skills. Without these basic skills, our next generation will be in a world of trouble.
I became even more committed to education when I attended a Teach for America recruiting event at Gettysburg College last December. I became enraged at the outlook for educational inequality in our country. In the richest country in the world, we live in a nation that defines educational opportunity and the prospects of a future, based upon the zip code you that you reside. The bureaucracy is slanted in a way that ill-equipped schools continue to receive less resources because of the funding structure, while their suburban counterparts often have less of an issue since the tax structure is skewed toward equipping these districts with additional resources.* Furthermore, this disproportionately affects minorities, African Americans and Hispanics, and low-income communities. This is the achievement gap. My friends, this achievement gap is the future of our country and world. We're not even equipping them with the most basic of tools to flourish.
Jessica Gasper, the TFA recruiter, laid all of this on my heart and, in many regards, she convinced me that I could assist in alleviating the achievement gap. Fast-forward to January: I was accepted into the Washington, D.C. corps as a biology teacher and had to make the decision about the next 2 years of my life. I guess it's pretty obvious the direction I chose.
My training started in June. It was several weeks of intensive teacher training that attempted to teach myself, and a group of about 800 corps members from the DC, Philadelphia, and Baltimore regions, to become effective teachers. Keep in mind that many of us never had any formal training to become teachers; we were chosen based on our academic history, leadership record, and critical thinking skills, which they say were the most important assets to become effective teachers who make significant gains in partnership with their students.
I taught physical science with a team of 3 marvelously talented, committed individuals, and under the auspices of a veteran teacher from Central High School in the Philadelphia City Schools system. Our summer "home" was at South Philadelphia High School.
My month of July was un-officially teacher boot camp. I woke up at 5:15AM in my dorm at Temple University and departed for breakfast. I was on the bus by 6:45AM--or it would leave without me. About half an hour later, I arrived at my school site and taught Physical Science to a group of students from 8-10AM, followed by classes the rest of the day. At 4PM, I headed back to Temple University to lesson plan, practice teaching, group work, parent calls, and other duties as assigned. I usually went to bed around 11PM.
After all of this, I have come to appreciate the amazing dedicated work professional teachers do year after year, day after day.
To cut to the chase shortly, less than 2 months after I began this quest toward educating students, I'm completing lesson plans for the first 2 weeks of my new job. I've already unit planned, set large goals, and set my expectations high for my students without ever meeting them. I guess Monday will be the exciting day: Day 1. I'll be a biology teacher in Prince George's County Public Schools neck-deep in the battle against the achievement gap.
To my future students at Forestville - I believe that you can achieve your dreams. I am the instructional leader of the classroom. I will do my part to lead you there by learning biology, critical thinking, literacy, and appreciation for learning. I hope you will enjoy me on this journey. You will learn to love me as a compassionate person, hate me as a rigorous teacher, and, hopefully in the end, appreciate me for the small impact I hope to make on your life.
* Read Jonathan Kozol's Shame of the Nation for more details. Or you could just surf on over to www.teachforamerica.org.
I must start by saying that as I have matured over the past 3 years, I've been able to understand and respect the value of my education in a very new light. The value of having a rigorous education cannot be undervalued in our world. The age we live in requires more and more citizens that have sharp critical thinking skills, high literacy rates, and mathematical skills. Without these basic skills, our next generation will be in a world of trouble.
I became even more committed to education when I attended a Teach for America recruiting event at Gettysburg College last December. I became enraged at the outlook for educational inequality in our country. In the richest country in the world, we live in a nation that defines educational opportunity and the prospects of a future, based upon the zip code you that you reside. The bureaucracy is slanted in a way that ill-equipped schools continue to receive less resources because of the funding structure, while their suburban counterparts often have less of an issue since the tax structure is skewed toward equipping these districts with additional resources.* Furthermore, this disproportionately affects minorities, African Americans and Hispanics, and low-income communities. This is the achievement gap. My friends, this achievement gap is the future of our country and world. We're not even equipping them with the most basic of tools to flourish.
Jessica Gasper, the TFA recruiter, laid all of this on my heart and, in many regards, she convinced me that I could assist in alleviating the achievement gap. Fast-forward to January: I was accepted into the Washington, D.C. corps as a biology teacher and had to make the decision about the next 2 years of my life. I guess it's pretty obvious the direction I chose.
My training started in June. It was several weeks of intensive teacher training that attempted to teach myself, and a group of about 800 corps members from the DC, Philadelphia, and Baltimore regions, to become effective teachers. Keep in mind that many of us never had any formal training to become teachers; we were chosen based on our academic history, leadership record, and critical thinking skills, which they say were the most important assets to become effective teachers who make significant gains in partnership with their students.
I taught physical science with a team of 3 marvelously talented, committed individuals, and under the auspices of a veteran teacher from Central High School in the Philadelphia City Schools system. Our summer "home" was at South Philadelphia High School.
My month of July was un-officially teacher boot camp. I woke up at 5:15AM in my dorm at Temple University and departed for breakfast. I was on the bus by 6:45AM--or it would leave without me. About half an hour later, I arrived at my school site and taught Physical Science to a group of students from 8-10AM, followed by classes the rest of the day. At 4PM, I headed back to Temple University to lesson plan, practice teaching, group work, parent calls, and other duties as assigned. I usually went to bed around 11PM.
After all of this, I have come to appreciate the amazing dedicated work professional teachers do year after year, day after day.
To cut to the chase shortly, less than 2 months after I began this quest toward educating students, I'm completing lesson plans for the first 2 weeks of my new job. I've already unit planned, set large goals, and set my expectations high for my students without ever meeting them. I guess Monday will be the exciting day: Day 1. I'll be a biology teacher in Prince George's County Public Schools neck-deep in the battle against the achievement gap.
To my future students at Forestville - I believe that you can achieve your dreams. I am the instructional leader of the classroom. I will do my part to lead you there by learning biology, critical thinking, literacy, and appreciation for learning. I hope you will enjoy me on this journey. You will learn to love me as a compassionate person, hate me as a rigorous teacher, and, hopefully in the end, appreciate me for the small impact I hope to make on your life.
* Read Jonathan Kozol's Shame of the Nation for more details. Or you could just surf on over to www.teachforamerica.org.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Jackson Elementary
I just wanted to let you all know that I was hired yesterday! I was switched from special education into 1st grade gen. ed at Jackson Elementary School. I already met some of my kids at their summer school and met other CMs who are working at the same school. My boss cooked etouffe (sp?) and no-bakes for us as a celebration, but I still haven't experienced any crawfish. I'll keep you posted on that.
Louisiana is so wonderful, and extremely humid! I swam with a bullfrog at a CM's house the other night and heard stories about armadillo crossings and hurricanes. I am expected to close on an apartment with a really lovely fellow 2009 CM by tomorrow - rent is $250/mo. TWO. HUNDRED. FIFTY. As a girl from New York, my jaw just hit the floor. This place is so different from home!!
I'm loving it out here, even though I'm constantly exhausted from being in sessions all day. I hope you all are well!
Louisiana is so wonderful, and extremely humid! I swam with a bullfrog at a CM's house the other night and heard stories about armadillo crossings and hurricanes. I am expected to close on an apartment with a really lovely fellow 2009 CM by tomorrow - rent is $250/mo. TWO. HUNDRED. FIFTY. As a girl from New York, my jaw just hit the floor. This place is so different from home!!
I'm loving it out here, even though I'm constantly exhausted from being in sessions all day. I hope you all are well!
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Where the Green Palm Grows
Hello everyone! Thanks to Dave for starting this blog, as I think it will prove a really helpful outlet for venting, brainstorming, collaborating, etc.
I suppose, since I don't really know either Ambika or Haley, that I should introduce myself a bit! My name's Amanda Ward and I'm originally from two hours north of NYC (little town called Wingdale), so you might imagine what a huge change my move to Baton Rouge has been. I was accepted 5DL and southern schools start early, so I only had three weeks to graduate, move to New Jersey with my fiance, take care of any lingering logistical issues back at home, and start my prework. Needless to say, it's been insanely hectic and I haven't finished my work; but fortunately TFA has been lenient and generally helpful for those of us in such a tight situation.
Anyway, I joined TFA in the hopes of teaching in Brooklyn so I could stay somewhat central to my family and friends, but still have my own life in the city. Ever since I heard about the program my freshman year, I've been sort of peripherally interested in joining but didn't really give it any serious thought. After doing some theatre-as-community-outreach work with low-income students in Massachusetts, I decided flat out that I wanted to contribute to the expansion of educational opportunities for all students. TFA seemed like a fantastic outlet for a number of reasons, including the alternate certification for non-Ed minors like me and the suggestion that creative teaching methods were highly encouraged. It's funny that I ended up in South Louisiana teaching Special Education since I put those two things down as a "they'll place me there if they need me that much" thing on my application. It isn't what I would have ever expected, but I feel really blessed that this has come to me (even if I am scared to death).
I decided to check in today because my mother and I just drove through the night from New Jersey to Baton Rouge and I wanted to let you all know that I'm gearing up for my Induction on Tuesday!!! I live in a place with palm trees!!!! I can't wait to hear more about all of your journeys. Best of luck!!
~Amanda
I suppose, since I don't really know either Ambika or Haley, that I should introduce myself a bit! My name's Amanda Ward and I'm originally from two hours north of NYC (little town called Wingdale), so you might imagine what a huge change my move to Baton Rouge has been. I was accepted 5DL and southern schools start early, so I only had three weeks to graduate, move to New Jersey with my fiance, take care of any lingering logistical issues back at home, and start my prework. Needless to say, it's been insanely hectic and I haven't finished my work; but fortunately TFA has been lenient and generally helpful for those of us in such a tight situation.
Anyway, I joined TFA in the hopes of teaching in Brooklyn so I could stay somewhat central to my family and friends, but still have my own life in the city. Ever since I heard about the program my freshman year, I've been sort of peripherally interested in joining but didn't really give it any serious thought. After doing some theatre-as-community-outreach work with low-income students in Massachusetts, I decided flat out that I wanted to contribute to the expansion of educational opportunities for all students. TFA seemed like a fantastic outlet for a number of reasons, including the alternate certification for non-Ed minors like me and the suggestion that creative teaching methods were highly encouraged. It's funny that I ended up in South Louisiana teaching Special Education since I put those two things down as a "they'll place me there if they need me that much" thing on my application. It isn't what I would have ever expected, but I feel really blessed that this has come to me (even if I am scared to death).
I decided to check in today because my mother and I just drove through the night from New Jersey to Baton Rouge and I wanted to let you all know that I'm gearing up for my Induction on Tuesday!!! I live in a place with palm trees!!!! I can't wait to hear more about all of your journeys. Best of luck!!
~Amanda
Friday, June 5, 2009
Welcome to TFA Gettysburg!
We're a group of Gettysburg College graduates serious about education the next generation of United States citizens. We've all signed on to Teach for America for two years. We all have had the common experience of going to Gettysburg College and gracing the beautiful campus we've come to know the past 4 years. Now we embark across the country.
Over the next months, we'll try and blog about our institute. We all are attending different training institutes and we'll certainly have different reflections. At this point, I don't think any of us have been placed - you'll likely here about how that goes. Then we'll have our classrooms--first day will be frightening. We'll try to paint a realistic picture--with the good, the bad, and the ugly--of what it's like to transition into teaching.
A note - The thoughts and opinions expressed on this webpage do not reflect those of the U.S. government, Americorps, Teach for America, or the districts we've been placed in.
- Dave has been placed in the D.C. Region corps. He will be teaching secondary biology in Prince George's County.
- Amanda has been placed in the Louisiana region corps and will be teaching special education.
- Haley has been placed in Houston region corps and will be teaching secondary mathematics.
- Ambika has been placed in the New York City region corps and will be teaching English as a Second Language.
Over the next months, we'll try and blog about our institute. We all are attending different training institutes and we'll certainly have different reflections. At this point, I don't think any of us have been placed - you'll likely here about how that goes. Then we'll have our classrooms--first day will be frightening. We'll try to paint a realistic picture--with the good, the bad, and the ugly--of what it's like to transition into teaching.
A note - The thoughts and opinions expressed on this webpage do not reflect those of the U.S. government, Americorps, Teach for America, or the districts we've been placed in.
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