Blair Mishleau came to
Growing up, suppertime was my student teaching. I learned what an IEP* was as an 8-year-old, delved into differentiated instruction** as a middle-schooler, and by high school, knew what a manifestation meeting*** was.
This jargon, and endless knowledge, came from my mom. She’s a career teacher. Years before I even knew what Teach For America was, she provided me with (often unsolicited) guidance about education.
What I wouldn’t do to have her at my school today. I’m at my second charter school in one year (my first laid me off), and in both schools, I see very few educators with anywhere near the 15 years of teaching experience that my mom has. With these years comes the type of knowledge that only time can provide.
Photo by Gabe Leland via via Wikimedia Commons
When I was laid off from my charter school in the twin cities for financial reasons, my family first blamed, of all people, the president of the United States.
“I thought Obama was supposed to support schools?” my cousin, a Romney supporter, asked me in an angry tone when my news broke.
The past semester has been ridiculously enlightening to the complex and sometimes-unpredictable state of charter school finances. It has been among the most poignant lessons I’ve learned in my Teach For America experience.
Photo by Ildar Sagdejev via WikiCommons
Four days, 3,500 LGBTQQIA folks. One hotel. I recently spent a long weekend at the gayest conference in the nation: Creating Change. Hosted in Atlanta, Georgia, I was inundated by nearly 300 workshops, caucuses, plenary sessions, leadership sessions, a special message from Obama and a whole bunch of networking to boot.
You may be asking what such a conference has to do with educational inequity? The answer: everything.
Photo courtesy of Blair Mishleau
In addition to all of the challenges I face as a teacher—and believe me, there are many (toilet-water leaking through my classroom ceiling, not having a working phone or a locking door, switching rooms four times a day, having my laptop stolen, coming out to my kids)—I believe that the technology gap is the biggest struggle my students face for their future. And my school does not (read: doesn’t have the ability to) help.
We have only one computer lab, in which about half of the computers are not functioning. This is a glaring example of how my students often don't have educational materials and resources that would prepare them for real life. At the high school I attended, we had the opportunity to work on advanced media production, writing poetry, and creating beautiful imagery to accompany it. Without adequate technology, I knew that my students likely wouldn’t be media mavericks coming in, but where they’re at has shocked me. Many don't know how to properly type in a website URL or even how to print a document. Last week, I had to explain to more than one student what e-mail is.
Photo by Bartmoni via WikiCommons
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