"Why I Entered Teach for America"
I had a lot of friends join the Teach For America corps and I had always seen the posters on campus with statistics about the dire state of our education system, but graduation seemed so far away and education was never a field I seriously considered entering. Most of my studies were targeted around international development and I thought I would be headed to Africa post-graduation. I got an e-mail from the Teach For America campus recruiter, Caroline, to just meet for coffee and I was curious about the achievement gap so I accepted the invitation.
We talked about my interest in international development and the activities I was involved in on campus. We then talked about the achievement gap and the recruiter's experience in the classroom. I had always known that there were problems in the inner cities with education and that it was unfortunate, but I always dismissed it as a problem that just was always going to persist. And besides, seriously, what do I know about teaching? I had other interests. However, Caroline really made the numbers human. She talked about her students and how hard they worked. She talked about students who still couldn't read or multiply in high school and the bleak outlook for their future without these basic skills. But what got me really excited about Teach For America was when she talked about what an individual teacher can do to help close the achievement gap. An individual teacher can lead his or her students to make stunning progress; instill in them a joy of learning; guide them to college; and most importantly, give them the education they deserve. As part of a movement of teachers, I could help in the fight to close the achievement gap.
I'm now in my second year of teaching 6th grade math. My first year of teaching was easily the most difficult experience I have had - there were lots of long nights grading, lesson planning and fretting that I was not doing enough. There was a lot of frustration in trying to keep students focused on the lesson rather than talking and passing notes. There was even more frustration in trying to break down mathematical concepts I had internalized a long time ago and try to teach them in bite sized chunks to students and going back to the drawing board when it was clear that I might as well have been speaking Latin to them.
Yet, despite the hardship, Teach For America has been an incredible experience. I am inspired every day by my students, who show a genuine desire to learn and succeed. Even though there are definitely days that I just want to scream at a student, that frustration is quickly erased by one moment where that same student discreetly asks if he can stay after school for tutoring. It is also awesome to have a natural group of friends in my fellow Teach For America corps members, who are going through the same struggles and successes that I am. You really come to love your students and get invested in them very deeply. You celebrate their successes.
Many people ask me, "So what are you up to next?" The awesome thing is, I don't really know. I have a feeling that I have been bitten badly by the education bug and I hope to teach for a few more years. Perhaps I will seek to join the education policy world or become an administrator. Of course, I have been thinking about my original trajectory of joining the international development community, but no matter what field I find myself in, I know I will be an active participant in seeking to end the achievement gap.
Ask any teacher, especially first year teachers, and they can all name that student. For me, Pierre was that student. His reputation preceded him. His fifth grade teachers told me he was a "psychopath I would see on the news one day" and "no good." I had heard stories of him bullying other students and starting fights. So even before he came to class, I was nervous to meet him. He walked in and was the tallest person in the classroom. He was at least four inches taller than me. The first week, with procedures and rules, came and went. He was definitely a jokester and his peers admired him. But, nothing major. Then came actual teaching and the end of the "honeymoon period". Throughout the year, I spent many drives home replaying Pierre's exploits (ranging from starting a fight club, teasing overweight students in class, copying other students' homework in the bathroom, and refusing to take a standardized test). When I confronted him, he had an excuse for everything. Nothing was his fault. Despite this, Pierre and I formed a surprising trust. If he felt that an explosion was about to happen, he could go to the bathroom, no questions asked. If he was having an issue, he could drop me a note in the class box. He liked the idea that I was new to the school so I did not know much about his reputation. I got him out of a few suspensions, so he started doing his work.
I did not realize that he actually really liked me, and wanted to do his best, until around December when we were in the computer lab. I was getting the class set up for a program when I saw him being chastised by another teacher for rolling his chair around in his space. I had my hands full with a few students close to him and saw the other teacher taking care of it. This was a teacher he was not exactly fond of. She was getting frustrated with him and told her he was not going to listen to her but only me. When asked why, he said "He's the only one who's ever trusted me." Pierre worked hard that year. Was he my best behaved student? Far from it. Was he my best performing student? No, he was near the bottom. But, he worked hard and he inspired me to keep going too. This is a cheesy moment coming up, so brace yourself - Pierre is the student that I will never forget. I have already had a few rough moments with students in my second year, but Pierre reminds me that all students are reachable. That's why I teach for America.
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