How I started to drink the Kool-Aid
When Teach for America speakers came up during our professional development days meant to inspire us with their uplifting stories, I would denounce what they said. I rejected the Teach for America...
View ArticleMy Way or The Highway
When I was young, I spent most of my childhood playing school. I would make up worksheets, have fake parent-teacher conferences, grade fake papers. I went above and beyond as a ten year old, literally...
View ArticleRoom to Think
My corps experience pretty much goes like this: work around the clock while eating, sleeping, and breathing teaching, then have a break and recollect my thoughts. Right now I’m on fall break so my...
View ArticleRing of Hope
This week had been one of those weeks. Amidst the Chicago Public Schools strike, hearing about thousands of teachers fighting for their rights, it was business as usual at my charter school. I found...
View ArticleThoughts on Finishing TFA
SourceURL:file://localhost/Users/alymak/Desktop/final%20tfa%20post.doc For my final Teach for America meeting, I had to answer the question: “What would you tell yourself two years ago?” My message to...
View ArticleSomething Out of Nothing
If I thought that life after my TFA years would get easier, I was sadly mistaken. While no one outside of my 22 coworkers will ever truly understand what we endured this year, all there is to do when...
View ArticleIt’s not you, it’s me
I never thought I’d be one to leave a school mid-year. I am not a quitter and I’ve always prided myself on never giving up. But as the choices become more complex, and less black and white, I’ve...
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