Hard to believe that a year ago I found out I had gotten into Teach for America.  Actually, I think it was a year ago this week.  I remember the criticism, the anger from my family that I would do this, the fear of not knowing what the classroom would hold.  I would read critics…

TFA tells us to aim for 80% mastery and we can change the life of every student.  And maybe we can.  But the reality is, if I get 60% mastery, it is a great day.  The reality is despite hours of conversations, time spent during school and after school talking to kids about making the…

I don’t update this blog often.  A recent post on here questioning the relative silence of the 2012 corps and suggesting perhaps there is a rather insidious explanation (such as widespread mental breakdown) for this silence inspired me to write on here.  I may be a 2011, not a 2012, but for posterity’s sake, I…

So I haven’t posted in a while.  However, I have had a draft from right after Labor Day just sitting here waiting to be released to the world!  So I added a quick October update to it as well.  This post is half-September and half-October recap.  Let’s get to it! ——————————————————————————————————————————————— September 6th, 2012 Labor…

How do you have a conversation about gangs with a six-year-old?

Today one of my students said to me, “Hey, you know what tomorrow is, right?  It’s 9/11.”  Another pipped and said, “Yeah, can you take us to NY to see the site?”  I didn’t know what to say and it hit me.  They were so young.  4, maybe 5 years old and they hear about…

“School is so much fun!” “You’re the best teacher ever!” “Did you just bite me?”        

In my last job, I got to work between 9:30 and 10:30 everyday.  I woke up between 7 and 8 and hit the road around 9 or 9:30.  Now I find myself leaving around 6:30 which means waking up at 5 so I can make it to New Teacher Institute on time.  I know the…

An overload of polka dots and zebra stripes, all in pink and green.