Blog Archive for Teach For America News

Stacey Mitchell

Stacey Mitchell is the Managing Director of Staff Diversity and Inclusiveness at Teach For America.

This month, Teach For America staff members gathered in Tulsa, Oklahoma to think more deeply about the role we can play to advance the agenda Native communities have set for themselves. Since that retreat, a quote from Jacob Tsotigh III, Program Administrator, University of Oklahoma Outreach, keeps ringing in my head: We live in poverty, but we are not poor.

In 2010, Teach For America launched the Native Achievement Initiative to expand educational opportunities for Native children. To learn more, watch this video.

Mark Osborne

Mark Osborne taught in the 2009 D.C. corps.

Since I started on staff in 2009, by-in-large my identity has been that of a white gay male from a low-income background. As such, that was largely the perspective that was often solicited from me. However in my personal life, when I am asked to define myself I generally first, very proudly, identify as a Puerto Rican or as my cousins would jokingly call me, “ a blanquito Puerto Rican.”

 
Pass The Chalk Editors

Earlier this month, we asked our fellow Teach For America staff members to share some of the things for which they are most thankful this year (spoiler alert: A LOT). Here is what they said, presented from A to Z:

All people who believe that kids deserve an excellent education. Whether you’re inside or outside the Teach For America community, we’re thankful for your commitment to helping kids succeed. —Pass The Chalk Editors 

Best Friends. For encouraging us to always be our best selves, and loving and supporting us through the moments we fall short of that. —Kenie Huber, Video 

Board Members. We have one the BEST regional boards.  We would not be at the place we are today without their commitment and sacrifice on behalf of our kids in Milwaukee. #kidswin —Mitzi Keel, Milwaukee

Collaboration. I am thankful for the entire DFW regional team for constantly supporting each other and working together. Daily we push each other to be better and better. —Dakota Rubin, Dallas-Fort Worth

Community. My local Greenville, MS community; my regional Delta team; my TLD cohort; my national and alumni community. They all support, develop, and ground me. —Samantha Hoare, Greater Mississippi and Arkansas Delta

Challenges. Nothing that is worth having comes easily. —Melissa Curiale Galloway, Recruitment

 

 

Robert Cook

This week Pass The Chalk features posts from contributors who learn, teach and work in Native communties in honor of Native American Heritage Month.

Hau Mitakuyapi, Anpetu waste. Robert Cook emaciyapi yelo, Oglala Lakota hemaca yelo. Na iyuha cante wasteya nape ciyuzapi yelo.  (Good Day relatives, my name is Robert Cook, I am from the Oglala Lakota Nation and I shake your hand with a good heart.)

Each year since 1990, the sitting President of the United States issues an official Proclamation declaring November Native American Heritage Month.  American Indians, Alaska Natives and Native Hawaiians are the indigenous people of the United States. In fact, archeological evidence shows inhabitants living in this country for over 50,000 years.  My own Lakota ancestry has oral stories that place our origin in the sacred Black Hills of South Dakota, the heart of the Great Sioux Nation where we continue to live and honor our cultural identity. 

Photo courtesy Turn685 via Wikimedia Commons

 
Shaun Murphy

Shaun Murphy is the manager of Veterans recruitment, overseeing Teach For America’s You Served for America, Now Teach For America initiative.  He was a 2009 Teach For America corps member in Delaware.  

Today is a day of remembrance. Every Veterans Day we celebrate the service of the men and women of the armed forces. As a veteran myself, I can attest to the fact that for us, service is a life-long endeavor.  It doesn’t end when your tour of duty does. As a former Staff Sergeant in the United States Army and an alumnus of Teach For America, I want to particularly recognize Veterans who continue their service to our country as educators across the United States.  

Teach For America and the communities we serve understand first-hand the value of Veterans and the impact we can have in classrooms.  So many of the qualities that make strong teachers in low-income classrooms are the same as those instilled through military service: discipline, resiliency, cultural sensitivity, and high expectations, to name a few.  The same authority, control and perseverance that make them heroes on the battlefield also make Veterans effective leaders in the classroom. And Veterans can uniquely relate to the challenges that students of military families face.

Photo courtesy of Shaun Murphy

Amanda Fernandez

Amanda Fernandez is the VP of Latino Community Outreach at Teach For America. 

I often talk about educational inequality in our country and the fact that Latinos now have the highest poverty rates in the nation and the lowest educational attainment. What I don’t often talk about are those of us who have made it, that small percentage of us who beat the odds and got that college degree. We may be the first in our families to have done so and so we struggle for a seat at the table, for our voices to be heard, our leadership to emerge and for the ability to forge strong connections and build community when operating in a mainstream environment.

I was reminded of the importance of shared experiences when just weeks ago Teach For America brought together all Latino staff members to Washington D.C. to spend time exploring these three areas and also to participate in the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institutes’ 35th Anniversary Conference and events. Why make such an investment?

We have an organization-wide commitment to diversity and we have put a focus on the growing force of Hispanics in our work as an education organization.  We act on the desire of our people to be part of a community of individuals who share similar experiences. One shared experience that is truly binding is that of being educated Latinos navigating predominately white work environments.  We know firsthand the challenges and opportunities of biculturalism and we have the strong desire to change the game for children in poverty through education.

Photo by U.S. Department of Agriculture via WikiCommons

 
Bex Young

Hey y'all, @Bexwithanx here. The editorial team asked me to write a piece highlighting the social media buzz around the back-to-school season...and in true back-to-school fashion, I waited until the last moment to load up my back-to-school blog backpack. One more day of vacation, anyone? Just kidding, this is an exciting time, folks! 

Students and teachers are gearing up for the new school year. Some teachers are starting their journey, setting up their very first classroom, and making sure their lesson plans are perfected. Veteran teachers (can we call them heroes?) are getting ready for another year, well equipped with memories and lessons from school years past. Here are some highlights of what I've seen out there on the web from the Teach For America network. 
Domonique McClendon

Domonique McClendonis the director of national and diversity marketing at Teach For America. 

Teachers Rock airs on CBS on Friday, Aug 17, 2012.While an education is essential in life, having dreams and a champion for those dreams is no less so. And that champion, for many kids, is their teacher. Our teachers, or shall we call them what they really are—heroes—have the chance to play such an important role in the lives of young people. They can help young people see their uniqueness as individuals, recognize their potential, and embrace their dreams.

Earlier this week, I attended Teachers Rock—a concert to celebrate and benefit our country’s educators—alongside TFA Los Angeles corps members, staff members, and thousands of fans. Musicians like Carrie Underwood and Josh Groban performed, and celebrities including Viola Davis and Meryl Streep spoke. Teach For America, along with Donorschoose.org and Feeding America, was acknowledged for the work we do to improve the lives of people in this country. It felt great to have our organization’s work recognized alongside so many other compassionate and committed leaders and groups.

Bex Young

Sit down, have a glass of Teach For America Kool-Aid with me for a second. I'd like to talk to you about social media and you. Now, if you support Teach For America in any way, then make sure you toe the party line.You know: No individuality allowed! Remember, we all have ONE opinion and Teach For America can say it all for you...

Okay, so I am just kidding (seriously, I am). The Teach For America network is nearly 40,000 strong and full of diverse opinions on how to close the achievement gap, and we couldn't seriously represent all of those viewpoints in one voice. Still, the truth is that even though we’ve never wanted our network to be of one voice, we haven’t always actively encouraged our folks to share their own opinions online. We want to change that because we know how important it is for all of us to be out there sharing our perspectives and fostering a robust dialogue on the issues and their solutions. That's why we decided to get our thoughts on social media down on paper. Our philosophy, for the most part, is directed towards corps members, alumni, and staff—but hopefully it gives anyone who's interested a sense of how important we think social media is in the broader effort to change mindsets and close the achievement gap. Plus, we think some of the ideas here are just plain common sense.

Wendy Kopp

Dear Readers,

Welcome to our blog! We’re so excited to offer this new forum where we’ll be posting commentary on news events, sharing on-the-ground stories from the communities where we work, and engaging in candid discussion and debate about the biggest issues surrounding education today.  Pass The Chalk is a blog for everyone, not just members of the Teach For America community or education policy wonks.

I’ll be one of many contributors who will be blogging regularly, along with our staff members, alumni, corps members, students, parents, teachers, and local leaders and advocates.  We hope to add our voices to a vibrant online conversation about one of the most pressing social justice issues of our time.

A Teach For America corps member and his students in the classroom.

There’s a robust discussion about education that’s increasingly taken place online and on social media, and too often it focuses on the negative, oversimplifies issues, and creates false dichotomies, thus failing to advance our collective learning and understanding.     

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