Miss Lora’s Story Prior to coming to institute, we were given quite a bit of pre-work to complete. Some people did it and some people didn’t. I eventually finished all of it, if a couple of weeks late. Some of it was interesting, some of it was boring, and some of it was outdated. The…

Day 174: When we last left our brave hero, he was up too late on Wednesday writing a Science final. We find him now, Thursday morning, desperately trying to finish said final, and then print it before first period. Never a dull moment. As usual, Thursday was a long day. Given the last-minute nature of the…

From last week, when I was in Kansas City at induction. I cannot believe that I thought I was “tired” then! I should have taken more time to write out introspective posts like this, because I have no mental capacity left for this kind of reflection Although I’ve been feeling the need and the urge…

Day 173: So, as it turns out, students near the end of the year struggle to handle Trashketball. I suppose I should’ve guessed that one. My homeroom got through a whopping six rounds; 10-12 is typical. Oops. I have a very bad TFA admission to make. Wednesday night, once I was finally done with grad school,…

Just a two second rant: we ended school on May 24th. As of today, June 14th, we still do not have an official calendar for next year, which means that WE STILL DON’T KNOW WHAT DAY WE GO BACK TO SCHOOL. We also don’t have a superintendent. These two things may be related. In contrast,…

And so begins my teaching experience. Today was the first day of summer school. I wasn’t really sure what to expect as I took my post at the office near the bus overhang. Students trickled in, some looked happy and replied “mornin” as I said good morning… but most looked down and kept walking. Maybe…

I am at a complete loss for words to describe the past day and a half. It has been an experience unlike anything I could have ever imagined or prepared myself for. I went to an event today with a few Rice friends and I was asked, over and over, “How’s TFA going?” I didn’t…

Gary, That’s some fire-and-brimstone rhetoric you’re using, Gary. You’re absolutely right that pro-reform people like me are not doing a good job if we want to hide our tracks for when the reform-apocalypse is nigh. I’m not too worried though. I don’t like being deemed ‘moderate’ – because I think ‘moderates’ too often just vapidly…

Sometimes you come across a piece of writing (thanks Claire!) that perfectly encapsulates your feelings on something —  in a much better way than you ever, ever could. And when you come across something like that, you feel like you just have to share it. So here’s David Chura’s piece from Huffington Post that got me…

Yah just look at the picture below… Like I said its official!!!! Tomorrow I get to meet my darling class of 11 students! We will be administering some diagnostic reading assessments so that we can track each students progress over the next month of summer school. I must say seeing my classroom was the most…