- We began our master's courses at UPenn at the beginning of August. The course serves as a foundation to understanding education and education theory. We were given two main lectures from Professor Sharon Ravitch [http://www.gse.upenn.edu/faculty/ravitch] and from Professor Howard Stevenson [http://www.gse.upenn.edu/faculty/stevenson]. The lectures, honestly, changed me. They were groundbreaking. The lectures helped me to frame so much of what I am doing as a part of Teach for America. A highlight that I found especially insightful, came from Professor Ravitch. She discussed the idea of searching deeper in to the root of things as teachers--taking a stance of inquiry. One of the issues that must be explored most is what we are doing here. What are we doing as teachers? What are we doing as TFA Corps Members? What I loved was that she followed this by saying, "People will say 'oh my god, you're so incredible for doing this. You're such a good person.'" Professor Ravitch paused and looked up at all of us and said "and you need to take a moment when someone says this to think. Because it's bull shit. You need to question and push on that, because what that represents is a microaggression of racism." I think it very easy to succumb to the idea of being a do-gooder as being part of TFA. Thus, I found it inspiring to have someone so eloquently (she really did an amazing job!) help me to frame what I am doing and help push me to think about my role and identity here as a corps member.
- I was assigned a school! I will be teaching at John Bartram High School in Southwest Philadelphia. I went out to visit the school on Monday. It takes me about 40 minutes, all by way of public transportation, to travel to school. Not bad! I get to take the trolley which allows me to just sit and look at Philadelphia pass by. So, I walk in to the school and am immediately greeted by one of our police officers--an extremely friendly woman. She directs me to the office, which in turn directs me to another office. We (at this point, we is me two other TFA '09 corps members and a few other new teachers) all wait in the roster administrator's office. We then get to talk with the roster admin and our new principal, Constance McCallister. Turns out, I will be teaching ESL English this year! There is a well sized immigrant population from West Africa in my community, and many students come to Bartram with limited English skills. I will be teaching ESL classes to my students to help with the language issues that might arise. I am really excited about this! I will find out more details on Thursday. While at Bartram, I was thrilled to meet everyone. It really felt like a family, and I couldn't be happier about it!
- If you are wondering more about issues of education, I've been really finding myself investigating different big figures in education. One of the first and probably the most visible of education leaders in our country at this point is Michelle Rhee. So, I just wanted to put this out there as a very interesting touch stone if you have any interest:
http://www.pbs.org/merrow/tv/leadership/dc/index.html
It is a great site that has a series of episodes where they discuss what Michelle Rhee [who is the Chancellor of Education in DC] is doing with her schools. Arlene Ackerman, Philadelphia's superintendent, is also featured on the site and in a few episodes. I'm curious to know what others might think about Rhee and the model she presents in changing the face of education.
- Finally, Philadelphia has been incredible! I love this city! I truly couldn't think of a better place to be. The city, while recently very hot, has so much to offer. I love all the parks, the museums, the cafes, the people, the different neighborhoods that are all so unique, but most of all I love that Philly is a big city with a lot of heart and still feels like a manageable sized city too. I'm working fervently to learn my way around, and feel like I am starting to get a grasp on it. So come visit!
Hope all is well with you!
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