“It’s my daily mood that makes the weather.” -Dr. Hiam Ginott We heard this quote today in one of our COA (Culture of Achievement) sessions.  These sessions are meant to develop a cohesive plan which partners student investment strategies with classroom management strategies in order to develop a culture where students are working to achieve…

Teach For America 2025?

6/9 “All kids can do it.  You can do it, too.”  -Sherese This wonderful piece of advice from my TTL (Transition Team Leader) will get me through the next five weeks and the subsequent two years.  Throughout Induction, we’ve figured out the “why?” of this movement.  Through sharing our stories and hearing stories of Memphis,…

6/8 “As Memphians, help change our city, help change our world, help change a life.” -Kenya Bradshaw At dinner tonight, our keynote speaker talked about how each of us should leave dinner as a Memphian, invested in becoming a part of this community and enriching the world around us.  How very fitting since I found…

“Statistics are not destiny.”  -Dr. Doug Imig Today, we explored some cold hard facts about the state of education and the achievement gap right here in Memphis.  Learning that only 4% of Memphis children growing up in poverty and attending Memphis City Schools graduate college ready made me sad and then angry.  This is one…

6/6 “There was this community feeling that we were going to help each other get the job done, live through it.”  -East Memphis Woman Maybe I should give up control more often.  I was hired on the spot today after my interview with City University School of Liberal Arts.  I’ll be teaching 9th grade English,…

6/5 “This is not a fluke.” -Theo (Memphis ’09) During our opening dinner program tonight, Theo told the story of a student who taught him his reason for being in Memphis.  “This is not a fluke,” he explained to myself and the roughly 170 other incoming 2012 corps members.  Each of us is meant to…

If you had infinite time, money, and resources, what would you do?  Without all of those impossible infinities, why discard that dream?  Teach For America looks for visionaries.  People who make big goals and persevere until they meet them, inspiring transformational change in their students and communities.  While I feel like those are very big…

I’m rewriting my vision and classroom over the summer, and I’d love some input from veteran TFAers about resources.

The past two days of Induction have gone by so quickly, and we’ve packed so much stuff in! Here are some highlights: -I had a chance today to go to the school where I’ll be working this fall and meet my principal and take a tour. My principal seems amazing and incredibly supportive, as do…