This weekend I was able to help administer tests to incoming scholars in order to determine if they would benefit from extra help during our summer school session. It made me see more than ever that educational inequity is plainly evident and is all around us. The literature says that students in high-need areas come…
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Day 150: Often, when I finally remember on Sunday that I haven’t written about Friday yet, I can only remember a blur of exhaustion and frustration and please let me finish this day and get to the bar as fast as I can. As usual, I don’t remember many details. However, the ones I do remember…
read more »Geoffrey Canada recently did a TED talk entitled ‘Our failing schools. Enough is enough.’ Canada is the president and CEO of The Harlem Children’s Zone and star of ‘Waiting For Superman.’ The premise of Harlem Children’s Zone is a good one. It serves to provide school and complete wrap-around services (health, mental health, nutrition, etc.)…
read more »I only have 19 days left in China and then I head back to the states. Soon after I set my feet on U.S. soil I am going to drive to the Delta. I know it is going to be a whirlwind. I cannot leave sooner because of my current job at an international school.…
read more »If given the opportunity, would a student hack a teacher’s Facebook profile? The normal Monday morning routine usually begins like this for my 7th graders. Me -> “Good morning class! Happy Monday-” Random Student -> “BOOOO! It’s not a Happy Monday!” or “Whatever Mr. E” It’s also obvious that they are looking to the end…
read more »FINE, I guess I’ll have my fourth root beer float in two days. If I must. And while I drink it, I’ll think about how crazy it is that I’m actually, seriously considering teaching next year. How weird it is to realize that might be what I want to do. So weird, in fact, that…
read more »I watched the tears stream down his face while his mother continued to abscond him in here broken English. “I work hard every day for you. Your teachers, they work hard every day for you. Is this what you want? Is this the life you want to lead?” Eduardo* continued to cry but didn’t say…
read more »Day 150: First of all, Happy Day #150 to me! Today wasn’t ideal. Thursdays always suck, thanks to the lack of a prep period to decompress. This one felt particularly arduous because I had to teach a mediocre lesson three times. I knew it wasn’t great when I taught it yesterday; it had too many notes,…
read more »Transitions are rough, man. I’ve got 3 more weeks in Arkansas, and I feel like I’m slowly losing my mind. There are so many thoughts and feelings floating inside me and I can’t seem to identify all of them. Here are a few: -I feel like I’m losing my grip on my mind and my…
read more »There has been a lot of debate for the past several years over whether or not to use “value added” data as a metric for evaluating teachers. Washington D.C. is already making 50% of a teacher’s evaluation dependent on their value added rating. I thought I’d weigh in on the debate, as I happen to…
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