This entry marks my first piece of writing on race & racial identity, as inspired by Alysia Harris and the Not Dalton’s Kids Project. When I was in seventh grade, my energetic history teacher bravely chose to tackle a new topic in her classroom full of homogenous, upper-class students: diversity. She explained the concept of…

I just finished packing for Institute, and before that crazy adventure starts, I thought I would take a few moments to reflect on my pre-Institute work. A major caveat before I begin: Mostly, I only did the reading that was required of me. I rarely chose to investigate the optional resources, and I acknowledge that…

Throughout my teaching career, one thing has remained constant: what I’m trying to accomplish.  Back in the early 1990s there was no focus on test scores, thankfully.  My goal back then, as it is now, was for my students to like math more when they complete my class than they did when they began the…

Gary, That’s some fire-and-brimstone rhetoric you’re using, Gary. You’re absolutely right that pro-reform people like me are not doing a good job if we want to hide our tracks for when the reform-apocalypse is nigh. I’m not too worried though. I don’t like being deemed ‘moderate’ – because I think ‘moderates’ too often just vapidly…

Sometimes you come across a piece of writing (thanks Claire!) that perfectly encapsulates your feelings on something —  in a much better way than you ever, ever could. And when you come across something like that, you feel like you just have to share it. So here’s David Chura’s piece from Huffington Post that got me…

“Don’t you believe there are any good white people?” I didn’t want to hurt her feelings. I told her, “People’s deeds I believe in, Miss — not their words.” “What can I do?” she exclaimed. I told her, “Nothing.” She burst out crying, and ran out and up Lenox Avenue and caught a taxi. ~…

I am a natural optimist. I’m told that’s one of the qualities TFA recruiters select for. So, in that sense, I’m here because of my optimism. But since being accepted into the 2013 corps, I’ve had the opportunity to be around a bunch of other optimists, and I’ve realized that there are other significant parts of…

“School for fourteen years and my best teacher was experience” ~Common When you say that you want to be a teacher, people always ask you why. I guess they ask that to other people too, but it seems to me they ask teachers specifically. “Did you have a teacher that inspired you?” they always ask…