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a Teach for America science teacher in St. Louis
Donate Now I made through my first day. No issues. We did have a professional development session scheduled for the afternoon, which was a bit much for the first day. We didn’t get out until 4:30. Left the building at ~6:55. In addition to worrying about pulling off my first week in my science class…
read more »Donate Now A story in three parts. Act I: Last minute preparations School starts Monday. The list of things to do keeps changing. My stress level keeps rising. Act II: Oh yeah. That’s why I’m here Things at school seemed relatively smooth, too smooth. And then it happened… Act III: A systematic perspective As a…
read more »Dateline ran an hour special tonight on first-year teachers. Their main character was Monica Groves, a Teach for America teacher in Atlanta. This story was interesting to me for two reasons: I’m starting my first day on Monday!! I will be facing the same challenges of motivating my students toward making significant academic gains. I…
read more »Today was the first day to report for work at our schools. I woke up at 7 a.m. on the dot. Plenty of time to shower and get ready (~15 min) and then check my email, etc. It’s my normal morning routine; I like going at a non-frenetic pace. I left my apartment at 8:06,…
read more »This past Wednesday was the first in-service day for St. Louis Public Schools. I’m returning a positive review of the first two days. First, I want to say that the Teach for America gang stuck out like bright green new sprouts in a field full of teachers. All of us showed up, “professional dress” as…
read more »I received an excited email on Friday from my program director. I am officially placed at Long Middle Community Education Center Academy, a middle school in the St. Louis Public Schools system. This ends several months of waiting and, more recently, procrastinating for fear that I would not end up there. In a twist, I…
read more »Today the lot of us went to a St. Louis Public Schools orientation for new teachers. Um. Great. I’ll leave it at that. In exciting news, though, the school district did come through and deliver a contract to each Teach for America member. This was exciting as none of the other “off the street” hires…
read more »I’ve just arrived home after my concluding session of orientation week for Teach for America. My journey to this day started on May 18 when I left my home to come to St. Louis for the first time on site visit. Since that point, we’ve been visited, oriented, instituted and indoctrinated every way imaginable. But,…
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