I’m going to just put it out there. They say that the end of September through to November is the hardest stretch for teachers. I thought it was hard my first year but I’m thinking I may trade that for these past weeks. Last year, I had enormous student turnover and instability. That was limited…
read more »On Fridays, I make a point of eating lunch with my kids. Normally, I try to avoid the din and air of madness that is the cafeteria, but the kids get so excited about it that I can compromise once a week. This past Friday, I managed to get more kids involved in conversation than…
read more »I’d heard that Apple was encouraging people to donate their first generation iPads to Teach For America, but it barely registered on my radar. As a second year corps member, I figured any goodies would be given to the newbies. But lo and behold, look what landed in my inbox this week from our TFA*Nashville…
read more »Last year, I was overwhelmed by the number of kids initially in my room (27) and the number of kids that left and arrived over the course of the year. I’ve already had my first student leave and it breaks my heart. The school was simply too far away for the family. He left unceremoniously…
read more »And we’re officially back in business! Metro Nashville schools welcomed back almost 80,000 students on Thursday for the first day of school (albeit a half one at that). The week leading up to it was a blur of faculty meetings and room preparation, so much so that on Wednesday night I felt that familar “uh…
read more »I think it’s safe to assume that many teachers were like me when I was little. I’d eagerly look forward to the return to school — not just to find out who my teacher was or who would be in my classes, but for the back to school shopping. As the daughter of a teacher,…
read more »It is now the Saturday after my third week of teaching. I just woke up from a 12-hr night of sleep and I had a delicious breakfast of grits, biscuits and gravy, and coffee with ice cream. The Delta U cafeteria is growing on me I meant to update this blog last week when I…
read more »By far one of the biggest differences I’ve encountered this summer is the attitudes of my 7th and 8th graders, compared to the mindsets of the kindergarten students I had been around for the past 9 months. I realize I’ve been spoiled by the eagerness of little minds who are at just the beginning of…
read more »On the first day of institute in MIssissippi, a wise CMA (Corps member adviser) told me, “Institute is like standing under a waterfall with a dixie cup.” After 2 weeks, I can admit that’s the perfect analogy for how this place works. The first week of institute was intense in the sense that we were…
read more »Three weeks ago, my mom and I drove from Pittsburgh to Nashville with my life packed in my car. We explored the city the day before Induction and checked out the Parthenon, Broadway, Vanderbilt, Lipscomb, and the schools where I was scheduled to interview the next day. My first impression of Nashville was, “It’s hot…
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