Donate Now I’ve been avoiding writing this post for a long time…there just hasn’t been much good going on in my classroom. I’m burned out, the kids are driving me crazy, and I’m homesick. I know its bad, because my mastery levels have actually increased a little bit–and I don’t care. I need a break.…

Donate Now Overhead on the intercom today for the 4th time this year… “Attention, security. We have some thugs in the hallway on the North End. Im’ma gonna need you to pick up the thugs and take them down to 101 Poplar. Again, there are some thugs in the hallway.” 101 Poplar, by the way,…

This week has been incredibly difficult. Definitely the most difficult so far. My kids are still testing me, giving me a lot of attitude, and some refuse to do their work. Actually, that’s only a minority; however, that minority in each class manages to disrupt and terrorize the others. I’ve spent a lot of time…

To give a quick update: I finally have desks and my classes are leveled! However, most classes still have at least 30 kids in them, which is a lot when you’re trying to bring students up 2-3 grade levels in a year. For the most part my kids are eager to please and hard-working. However,…

I have been a teacher at Melrose High School for one week. 100% of my students are African-American or bi-racial. They are all from the heart of inner-city East Memphis because they are from the Orange Mound neighborhood. For those of you who don’t know, Orange Mound is the second-oldest African-American neighborhood in the nation…

As I thought about what to write in reflection to Institute, I realized that I could not express the experience as well as Jaclyn Suffel (Memphis CM ’07, Jackson MS–TFA Houston Institute 2007) did at closing ceremonies. Following is her poem which perfectly expressed the many emotions, fear, falls, and triumphs of the summer: I…

Two weeks into Institute and one week into teaching, and I already know that I’m where I have to be. The achievement gap became real this week—it got names and faces and became the students who walk into my classroom each day. I’m teaching a rough group of kids this summer. I have 8th graders,…

TFA Blog, June 12, 2007 In the past ten days, I have traveled from Tallahassee to Memphis to Houston, met the fifty people who will be my support system for the next two years, gotten a job teaching 9th grade geography in an inner-city high school, secured an apartment, and found a roommate who is…