Each day we see the realities of educational inequity juxtaposed against the concrete evidencethat when students in low-income communitiesare given opportunities they deserve, they excel.

Teach For America Week

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Actress Nilaja Sun

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Former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger

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Jeff Toobin, CNN Legal Affairs Analyst, and Amy McIntosh, Chief Talent Officer for the NYC Department of
Education

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Celebrity Chef Tom Colicchio

Teach For America Week brings together leaders from a variety of sectors to serve as guest teachers and inspire students across the nation, from the Bay Area to the Mississippi Delta to Philadelphia.

This year, Teach For America Week is taking place from April 14-18. In classrooms across the nation, more than 200 distinguished guest teachers will help us raise awareness about the challenges facing students in low-income communities and demonstrate that when students are given the educational opportunities they deserve, they reach their highest potential.

Since its launch in 1997, Teach For America Week has enlisted hundreds of America’s most notable individuals to share their knowledge and personal insights with thousands of students. Classroom visits typically last about an hour, but the experience resonates with students throughout the year and beyond. Here are some examples:

  • Actor John Lithgow performed Shakespearean soliloquies for a class of middle school students in Los Angeles.
  • Lex Fenwick, CEO of Bloomberg L.P., exposed fifth graders in New York City to the mechanics of the stock market by taking them through a simulated game of “Deal or No Deal.”

  • U.S. Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard taught Los Angeles third graders how a bill becomes a law.

  • Cory Booker, mayor of Newark, New Jersey, challenged high school students to a debate on civic issues ranging from public safety to community awareness.

  • Falcons player Brian Finneran taught middle schoolers in Atlanta about the muscles, bones and joints of the knee, and used an anatomical model to illustrate the injury that kept him off the football field for the season.

  • Author and University of Texas-Austin Professor Rolando Hinojosa-Smith made a personal connection with a group of fifth graders in the Rio Grande Valley by reading stories of his own upbringing in the Valley, stories in which his predominately Hispanic listeners could vividly recognize themselves.

Here is a sampling of additional individuals* who have participated in Teach For America Week:

Debbie Allen, Emmy Award-winning Actor
Jonathan Alter, Newsweek Columnist
The Honorable James A. Baker III, Former Secretary of State
Roy Barnes, Governor of Georgia
Stephen Bollenbach, President & CEO, Hilton Hotels Corporation
Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, New Jersey
Harold Bronson, Co-founder, Rhino Records
Phil Bronstein, Executive Editor, The San Francisco Examiner
Bobbi Brown, Founder & CEO, Bobbi Brown Essentials
Barbara Bush, Former First Lady
Laura Bush, First Lady
James Carville, Political Strategist
Kenneth Cole, Designer, Kenneth Cole Productions
Manny Diaz, Mayor of Miami, Florida
David Dinkins, Former Mayor of New York City
Dr. Dre, Musician, Actor
Dr. Jocelyn Elders, Former U.S. Surgeon General
Lex Fenwick, CEO, Bloomberg L.P.
Antwone Fisher, Screenwriter
Fab 5 Freddy, Former Host of Yo! MTV Raps
Ann Fudge, Chairman & CEO, Young & Rubicam Brands
Jake Gyllenhaal, Actor
David Halberstam, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Journalist & Author
Isaac Hayes, Musician, Radio Personality
Leo Hindery Jr., Chairman, HL Capital, Inc.
Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations
Dennis Hopper, Actor
Walter Isaacson, Chairman & CEO, CNN
Peter Jennings, Anchor & Senior Editor, ABC World News Tonight
Jeffrey Katzenberg, Partner, Dreamworks SKG
Henry A. Kissinger, Former Secretary of State

Tim Koogle, President & CEO, Yahoo! Inc.
Emeril Lagasse, Celebrity Chef
Sherry Lansing, Chairman, Paramount Pictures' Motion Pictures Group
David Leebron, President, Rice University
Ananda Lewis, MTV Video Jockey
Rebecca Lobo, Player, New York Liberty
Ronnie Lott, Hall of Fame Safety, San Francisco 49ers
Astronaut Shannon Lucid, Mission Specialist, NASA
Mark Madsen and Kurt Rambis, Players, Los Angeles Lakers
Frank McCourt, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Author
Ron Meyer, President & COO, Universal Studios
Dr. Martin Mower, Cardiologist, Inventor of the Defibrillator
Paul Muldoon, Pulitzer Prize-Winning Poet
John Murphy, CEO, Oppenheimer Funds, Inc.
Mike Nichols, Film and Theatre Director and Producer
Phylicia Rashad, Actor
Janet Reno, U.S. Attorney General
Bill Richardson, Governor of New Mexico
Tony Ridder, Chairman & CEO, Knight Ridder
Al Roker, Co-host, Weatherman, NBC Today Show
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Actor
Bernard Shaw, Anchor, CNN
George Shultz, Former U.S. Secretary of State
Jada Pinkett Smith, Actor
Larry Smith, President, 100 Black Men
Margaret Spellings, U.S. Secretary of Education
George Stephanopoulos, Former Senior Advisor to President Clinton
Jeffrey Toobin, CNN Legal Analyst
Montel Williams, Host, The Montel Williams Show
Oprah Winfrey, Chairman, HARPO Entertainment Group
Alfre Woodard, Actor
Paula Zahn, Anchor, CNN American Morning

* This is not a comprehensive list of participants. Participants are listed with their titles at the time they were a guest teacher as part of Teach For America Week.

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