I think a very important question skeptics of TFA recent reform efforts need to grapple with is whether teacher turnover is inevitable in low-income schools that produce dramatic results. Many of the most successful charter school chains (KIPP, Uncommon) assume that most teachers will not stay for longer than five years due to natural burnout.…
read more »My first year of teaching is over! (Well, it ended Thursday.) Give me a few more days of being truly reflective on a truly transformational year and I will relentlessly pursue updating you soon. Long story short… I’m in a much better place than I was at the beginning, and even middle of, the year.…
read more »When skimming through blog posts, I have a nifty trick for quickly deciding whether a something is going to be worth reading. I check whether it uses the phrase “corporate reform” in the first paragraph. If so, I move on. The terms “corporate reform” or “corporate reformers” usually refer to anything or anyone who is…
read more »Soo… anyone with opinions on the benefit (or total lack there of) of Teach For America should listen to this Tell me More episode interviewing Gary Rubenstein, TFA alum-turned critic, whose main argument is most TFA corps members only teach for a few years. Since it takes at least a year to get good, both…
read more »I went to a job fair two weeks ago and was offered a job as a math teacher at Clippert Academy – a middle school in Mexicantown of Southeast Detroit. I have yet to receive a formal offer from DPS so hopefully it will come soon lol. Right now, I’m also interviewing with the EAA until I…
read more »During my 9th grade girls biology class the subject came up as to whether or not I would be at my school next year. In response, I said “Yes, I will be here next year.” This was followed up with a “you for sure have a job here next year?!” (said by one of my…
read more »As some of you know, I left Teach for America in December. It was a hard decision, and I’ve tried to write about it several times since then, but none of the posts was quite right. I think now I’ve got it close enough to make public. There’s something of a wall of silence around…
read more »My middle-schoolers coming to me and proudly showing off their DUKE snapbacks will never fail to make me smile.
read more »Hi! I’m Zachary Taylor (Zach) and thanks for taking the time to check out my blog. I just graduated from Michigan State University with a BA in International Relations and a minor in Spanish. I run, swim, and play the saxophone. I am very interested in studying the education system and after 3 or 4…
read more »Today I found another note on my floor… this one was at least better than the last one I blogged about (see: racial tensions/ death threat). I’m pretty sure it was meant to be an insult because my lovely 7th graders complained about “doing too much” work in class lately… but I smiled when I…
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