It’s not said, but it’s said: we’re supposed to be somehow better than the teachers in schools now. There aren’t teacher shortages at my school. My school hired me, an English major with zero teaching experience, over someone more experienced who was traditionally certified in social studies. Maybe it’s because they can pay me less,…
read more »Time is really flying now! All of TFA’s summer training is over, and I am officially in the hands of my school district and school. Early last week, our school district hosted its orientation. The orientation was wonderful—district leaders shared their mission and vision, along with a healthy dose of well-deserved district pride. An incredibly…
read more »It is hard to believe that Round Zero has already come and gone. Round Zero was a four-day intensive training hosted by our Atlanta Teach for America staff, designed to prepare us for our next year of teaching. Much of the training was focused specifically on the first eight weeks of school, which are rapidly…
read more »I am moved in to Orangebrug, SC. We have almost two weeks until new employee orientation, and almost three weeks before the first day of school. My roommates and I are beginning to learn the city and are trying to navigate around without the GPS. The South Carolina corps is brimming with excitement. We cannot…
read more »On our last day of summer school, we threw a pizza party to reward our students for achieving certain goals in connection with their academic performance and behavior. We also had some chips available. Chips have been a very popular reward in our summer school reading class, especially Flaming Hot Cheetos. The Flaming Hot Cheetos…
read more »A few days ago, our class was divided into groups. The groups were diligently answering questions on a worksheet. A student in one of the groups raised his hand. “Mrs. T, I don’t understand this question.” The question pertained to information in a pie chart. The pie chart purported to show the percentages of races…
read more »We started off this summer with Taylor Mali poem on “What Teachers Make,” a personal spoken word favorite about what teachers make. I wanted to push myself and anyone else who might be feeling a little discouraged to think about what students will make in this spoken word poem by Sarah Kay. If you’re ever…
read more »Each day, we have a period we call academic intervention. Academic intervention is a period in which four teachers divide their time among the sixteen students in our class. We can work one-on-one or in small groups. We can review materials covered earlier in the day in class. We can go over individual assessments to…
read more »I once (rather arrogantly) told my husband “Some people follow rules; others make them.” Let me tell you how those words taste… I have a student who is incredibly bright. She consistently participates in class, makes keen observations, and asks relevant, insightful questions. She performs well on most of her assessments. She is extremely likeable. …
read more »One of the most exciting things I have experienced as a teacher at Institute so far is the enthusiasm in the eyes of a student who has done well. Very few, if any, of my students look enthused as they walk through the classroom door in the morning. It’s early. It’s summer. Their friends are…
read more »
