I held off on telling my students that I was leaving at the end of my corps member experience. My kids don’t know what Teach For America is, but they do know that all of the white teachers in this town have a weird habit of staying for only a two-year period. And I knew…
read more »I have a story to tell. And it’s going to be one of very few positive ones on this blog. When I joined Teach For America, I talked a little bit online with a corps member who grew up in suburban Houston. When we both moved to the Valley, we became quick friends, despite being…
read more »Every couple of weeks, I get an e-mail from TFA begging me to check out the latest posts on TeacherPop. When TeacherPop launched, I checked it out a bit in its first week. I liked some of what it had to offer. I liked feeling like I was part of something bigger. Now, however, it…
read more »Spring break has begun! But more importantly (since if not for my job, I wouldn’t actually have a spring break), it’s test time in Texas schools, and the test that my students will take is about ten-or-so class days away. There’s been a lot of tension going into this past week, so the break is…
read more »In the small community that I teach in, there’s no shortage of gossip (better known as “chisme”). And in many cases, individuals are too consumed with their own reputations. In two particular actions in the hallway one morning this past week, one teacher – who claimed the day before that she knew that one of…
read more »It’s my last day away from the Rio Grande Valley. I’m flying back tomorrow, and will be in the Valley and Texas until my time in Teach For America draws to a close in June. I’d pretty much had a meltdown before leaving for the holiday break. After having two stints with the flu during…
read more »11/5/12 This week, we’re taking the students on an overnight camp trip (cabins, challenge by choice activities, etc). We leave Thursday & return Friday evening. It’s a reward for the students based off how many behavior points they have earned. The bottom 20% stay behind. Somehow, probably after people figured out which students weren’t invited,…
read more »10/25/12 The week finally caught up with me. Yesterday, I got home at 6:30, slept till 8, worked for an hour, then slept-slept-slept until the morning & 5 snoozes later when I finally woke up. I was worried I was getting sick, but I’m pretty sure I was just fatiguee. Tonight, I still have over…
read more »10/23/12 I haven’t written much lately, but many wonderful things have been happening. 1) I got to visit my old school. It was exactly what the visit should be – I loved seeing everyone, was smiling constantly, and was happy to be back at my new school on Monday. It makes you feel a bit…
read more »The sluggish sun struggles to ascend as I enter my school building each morning. As I approach the padlocked doors on the south side of the school, I see students wondering around aimlessly, looking for someone to reach out to them, for someone to care why they are at school hours before required time. I…
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