John Choi (Los Angeles ‘12) is one of four corps members sponsored by TFA Board Member John Legend and his Show Me Campaign. This post is the second in a series introducing these corps members.
John Choi teaches AP Biology to 9-12th grade students at Manual Arts High School. Everyone at the school—principal, administrators and students alike—talk about how special his approach to teaching is.
Below are a few excerpts from an impressive collection of college dreams, hopes, and plans that a group of kindergarteners shared with their teacher, Chelsea Massoud (Dallas-Ft. Worth Corps ’12). As the admissions officers at UCLA, Brown, Texas Tech, University of Southern California, Texas Christian University, Yale, and UC Berkeley will surely agree, it’s never too early to start writing your college essay.
“College is important to me because I want to be a scientist. I can be a hero when I am a scientist by saving the world from danger! I will learn to make the world a better place in college! I want to go to Yale because I want to be a scientist. Yale is one of the best colleges in the United States. I also like Yale because it looks like a castle. At Yale I will learn how to mix chemicals to make medicine for people and animals to keep them healthy.”—C.W.
This post orginally appeared on Teach For Us. We have re-blogged it with permission.
I was I my classroom, waiting for a parent to show up when the administrators came over the loudspeakers.
“Everyone in the portables needs to evacuate into the main building.”
We’d heard rumors of storms and had been told by our principal to come to school prepared for some rough weather but so far we hadn’t yet experienced anything. As I stepped outside of my classroom, the rain was just beginning to fall on the portables. I lingered for a few moments because I didn’t have a class and was afforded the luxury of helping other teachers evacuate instead of being directly responsible for my own brood. As the last students scurried into the building, small bits of hail started to fall and thus began my experience with what many have been calling the worst tornado in recorded history.
Photo by FEMA Photo Library via Wikimedia Commons
Alisha Walker (Alabama ‘11) pays tribute to her veteran teacher mother in recognition of Mother’s Day. Alicia recently presented a Tedx Talk at Auburn University.
I wish I could say that I have always wanted to be an educator, but that is not entirely true. When I was younger, people would make comments about how I would be a teacher--just like my mother --when I grew up. I, however, saw myself working somewhere in corporate America. Thankfully, senior year of undergrad I was challenged to find my passion and realized that being an educator was my heart’s desire. Although I had made various attempts to “run away” from my calling, my mother’s genuine joy and love for her career is what helped to inspire me to become an educator.
My mother is not and has not always been the “favorite” teacher during the school year. She sets extremely high expectations for her students and is not a slacker when it comes to issuing consequences for misconduct. Her students refer to this as “tough love.” She is often, however, the teacher that students remember long after their time in her classroom. The teacher that kids know truly has/had their best interest at heart despite the day-to-day hustle and bustle of the school year.
The author and her mother. Photo courtesy of Alisha Walker.
Sandra Walker’s daughter, Alisha Walker, is a member of the 2011 Alabama corps. Alicia recently presented a Tedx Talk at Auburn University.
It is amazing how similar my daughter and I are. When I was in college I, like Alisha, started off in education but changed my minor. I decided that education was not for me, even though my degree is in history and I truly love it. I worked in banking for a number of years, but my husband was forever telling me I should be a teacher. Not until I came to that realization for myself did I go back to school to become certified to teach.
Children need to know that their teacher cares about them. Alisha has a true gift for making people feel special and important. During her freshmen year of undergrad, Alisha changed her major from education to business. As her mother, I know that she is a born teacher and nurturer. However, I also knew that she had to come to that conclusion herself.
The author and her daughter. Photo courtesy of Alisha Walker.
Last night 10 Teach For America teachers were invited to The Late Show with David Letterman for his Top Ten. Last night’s topic? The Top 10 Reasons I Decided to Become a Teacher.
10. I hope to live up to the teachers who inspired me. . .like Ms. What’s Her Name — Zach Smith (Phoenix '13)
Joanna Daniel is a 2012 corps member in Washington.
The first month in the classroom was the hardest. There was an awkward tension that I couldn’t break. My students are a mix of third and fourth graders, a mix of ages and racial backgrounds. At the ages of 7, 8 and 9 years old, they were already making assumptions about each other based on skin color. Bullying quickly became a problem, both inside and outside the classroom. It wasn’t until one of my fourth graders announced out loud to the class, “Well I won’t ever get these math problems right because I’m Mexican. Mexicans are dumb!,” that something changed.
After a long pause I announced, “I am so inspired by the fact that you are proud of who you are and that you are proud to be Mexican.” The class, for the first time in weeks, went dead silent. I pushed aside the math lesson for the day to let everyone think about what had just happened. In that moment, I realized exactly what was missing in our classroom. What my students needed to learn most was that embracing who you are is one of the most important parts of being a life-long learner.
This was the first of many conversations surrounding diversity that occurred in my class. I realized that my students needed to have a safe place to talk about being Mexican, Hispanic, African American, Black, Pacific Islander, Asian, or white. They needed a place to share their stories about what it meant to be of that particular race or background. They needed to share what it feels like to have someone follow you in a store because they think you might steal, why there aren’t nice stores around their homes, why they know so many people in jail, or how these stereotypes hurt their feelings.
This post marks National Poetry Month.
It's 100 degrees. The air is thick as butter. Trucks are rumbling by, spraying clouds of mosquito repellant in their wake. It's 5:30 am. We must be in the Delta. We must be at institute.
I originally set out into this world to become a writer. After a few years of failed attempts, I considered the saying: those who can’t do, teach.
My formal education is in English literature, with an M.F.A. in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. If I was going to become a real teacher, I needed a degree and I was getting closer to 30. Teach For America offered me exactly what I was after: the ability to teach, change lives, and earn a degree in an alternate way. I applied and decided to delve full force into becoming the best teacher I could be, but first I had to go to institute.
The author at institute with the mascot of Delta State University, the Fighting Okra. Courtesy of Haley Thompson
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
Mariella Magaña was a 2010 Los Angeles Corps Member. She now teaches 2nd grade at KIPP Comienza Community Prep in Huntington Park, CA.
The possibility of what could be…
The DREAM Act is a monumental idea that has been in the works since 2001. It has been gaining traction over the years and we are now at a pivotal moment where the call to act is needed now more than ever. The DREAM Act would prevent students from being deported and enable permanent residency status if students meet certain requirements such as full time enrollment in school and getting a college degree. The DREAM Act has yet to be introduced in the current congress and it is still unknown how the idea behind the DREAM Act will manifest itself in comprehensive immigration reform. Therefore, the time for action is now. All stakeholders must act in order to ensure that this idea is able to become a reality. Parents must act on behalf of their children. Parents must have a voice. Parents must tell their story. Parents must be seen as allies. But in order to be successful, they must be informed.
Parents are the most powerful advocates for children. L.A. parents rally for better schools. Photo provided by Calcharters.org
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