Use data for pattern-seeking, not just assessing!
TFA has gotten pretty good at using student data to inform instruction and track progress of students and teachers. (Sometimes I think TFA doesn't always track exactly the right things, but that's a...
View ArticleYes, actually, math IS more than just plugging new numbers into the same...
It is very frustrating to me that many students (and an apparently-increasing number of administrators, politicians, text book authors, and even teachers) seem to think that the most effective way to...
View ArticleTFA's advertising strategy compared to City Year's
I currently serve with City Year and I taught as part of TFA last year. On my way to the airport for winter break, I saw public recruitment advertisements both for TFA and for City Year. The City Year...
View ArticleYes, many adults can correctly use fractions
I recently read a post by a teacher who was concerned about the Common Core's apparent focus on making sure that kids are understanding the math they are learning, as opposed to simply being able to...
View ArticleGuns, Grandma, and My Perspective on School Violence and Gun Control - Part 1?
Yesterday I sat in my fiancéâs living room with his roommate and my good friend J. We were celebrating the coming of the weekend (no Friday classes) and lightly discussing our plans for after...
View ArticleGACE
Today is the day I get my GACE (Georgia Assessments for the Certification of Educators) scores. Sometime between 5 and 10 PM I'll have an email in my inbox as to whether I will be teaching secondary...
View ArticleScore!
I passed both of my GACE exams with over 250 on each of them (above 85%)! It's actually getting real that I'll be teaching math now. Time to write an Instrumental Analysis pre-lab and head to bed.
View ArticleNew child, new world
Two years and some odd months later, I'm back! Those were some long months of learning myself and the prevailing methods of the American education system, at least through the lens of my Atlanta...
View ArticleA vacation from a vocation?
It's spring break! I always enjoy the change of pace and chance to recharge come this time of year. As in past years, I've spent large parts of my spring break on school-related items: attending a...
View ArticleHelping students find and follow their dreams!
Is anyone familiar with the kids' book The Big Orange Splot by Daniel Pinkwater? The main character lives on a very boring, uniform street. One day, a bird drops some paint on the roof of his house....
View ArticleSome highpoints on the journey
Administrators at my placement school routinely prescribed "engaging lessons" as a remedy for nearly every classroom problem. Yet so many teachers, who were well-liked and regarded as effective,...
View ArticleDesperate for work
Several months ago I was invited to observe in a religious education program. I had expressed interest based on the similarity of the program, called Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, and the...
View ArticleMontessori for our children!
I'm currently engaged in a Montessori teacher training program and last summer wrote some notes on the theories and methods of Montessori education. If this interests you, I would recommend reading...
View ArticleEnough to be dangerous
As TFA corps members, many of us entered teaching with a great passion for education and educational equity. We cared about our kids and would attempt to do that which was in our "locus of control"...
View ArticleMath Resources
My TFA placement was in middle school math (grades 7-8), and I continue to teach math and cultural subjects to middle grades students (grades 4-6). I care deeply about making math meaningful, even...
View ArticleTalking the Talk, Walking the Walk
Helping students to internalize knowledge, skills, and mindsets (one of those tfa phrases that has stuck with me!) is a large part of what we do as teachers. Of course, there's also bringing out the...
View ArticleLong Division in Pictures
Perhaps your students' mathematical thinking rivals the discussion in this Abbott and Costello skit. I always enjoy that one, and it's funny in part because it speaks to our befuddlement with math...
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MY FIRST POST and How TFA Criticism Sparked It
As a recently accepted 2014 Corps Member I have not had to look far to find TFA critics. When I was a prospective applicant trying to research the organization, I could not get past all of the...
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