WWTBAM Bored

At least one person on the Bored has expressed an interest in "Teach for America," the program to encourage new teachers to start their employment in some of America's schools most in need of new teachers and technology. I just received an email from a former student who is in his first year with the program, in which he describes some of his experiences. I asked for and received his permission to share the contents of the email with you, along with an invitation to share his email address with anyone who is interested. Please PM me if you would like Preston's email address.

To say I'm proud is an obvious understatement, especially since this young man is one who I wasn't sure would find the right direction for his life when he was in high school.

"Mr. Kelley

This summer kept me very busy with training and travelling, but I am now living in Charlotte, NC. I have been assigned the subject of Biology (my college major) and an elective AVID course that deals with college prep for middle of the road children.

While at Georgia Tech I taught eighth grade math to students ranging from 12 to 16. It was quite the experience teaching students that had considerable behavior problems. After a few days of learning their antics and their interests I was able to turn the majority of the students on to learning for a few weeks. We lived in the Olympic dorms from the '96 Olympics and were bussed over to the public schools every morning. We would teach from 8am to 2pm and then attend on site training classes until six.

My classroom here in Charlotte is huge, with more technology than I know what to do with. I have a smart board, a second LCD projector and a laptop for each. We are on block scheduling, so I teach two 90 minute blocks of biology every morning and one block of college prep in the afternoon. The two bio classes will be over in January. In January I will get a whole new group of students to work with. Currently I am nearing 40 students in each class. On day 1 I had 24 students in each class, the supposed state max for a state exam class, but everyday a few more students are added to my roster. This past Friday was the first day that no new students were added to my roster.

The day before school started I was watching the news, and learned that in a survey of teachers, my school was the worst ranked school in Charlotte as far as administrative support and teacher happiness went. Thankfully, the administration was handpicked by the current principal, and everyone seems very pleased with the group. I have been having a lot of fun teaching, and everyday so far has been pretty fun. I have been warned that about this time is when the students start to feel comfortable and will begin to push me as far as discipline goes. As long as I can stop that early, this should be another exciting week at EE Waddell."

I've always thought teaching was a calling, that an ordinary person generally could not do it well.

That you've got this feedback is telling about your ability. I'm not being sarcastic nor do I have an agenda in this post. This is just quite wonderful.

Bless your heart in the genuine meaning of that statement.

Beebs52 wrote:I've always thought teaching was a calling, that an ordinary person generally could not do it well.

That you've got this feedback is telling about your ability. I'm not being sarcastic nor do I have an agenda in this post. This is just quite wonderful.

Bless your heart in the genuine meaning of that statement.

Teaching is easier than plumbing.

Bob Juch wrote:

Beebs52 wrote:I've always thought teaching was a calling, that an ordinary person generally could not do it well.

That you've got this feedback is telling about your ability. I'm not being sarcastic nor do I have an agenda in this post. This is just quite wonderful.

Bless your heart in the genuine meaning of that statement.

Teaching is easier than plumbing.

That's why we make 5 times as much as teachers, and get 5 times as many paid days off. I love my job!

Bob Juch wrote:

Beebs52 wrote:I've always thought teaching was a calling, that an ordinary person generally could not do it well.

That you've got this feedback is telling about your ability. I'm not being sarcastic nor do I have an agenda in this post. This is just quite wonderful.

Bless your heart in the genuine meaning of that statement.

Teaching is easier than plumbing.

The result, if unsuccessful, produces a bigger pile of shit than an inept plumber, though.

mrkelley23 wrote:At least one person on the Bored has expressed an interest in "Teach for America," the program to encourage new teachers to start their employment in some of America's schools most in need of new teachers and technology. I just received an email from a former student who is in his first year with the program, in which he describes some of his experiences. I asked for and received his permission to share the contents of the email with you, along with an invitation to share his email address with anyone who is interested. Please PM me if you would like Preston's email address.

To say I'm proud is an obvious understatement, especially since this young man is one who I wasn't sure would find the right direction for his life when he was in high school.

"Mr. Kelley

This summer kept me very busy with training and travelling, but I am now living in Charlotte, NC. I have been assigned the subject of Biology (my college major) and an elective AVID course that deals with college prep for middle of the road children.

While at Georgia Tech I taught eighth grade math to students ranging from 12 to 16. It was quite the experience teaching students that had considerable behavior problems. After a few days of learning their antics and their interests I was able to turn the majority of the students on to learning for a few weeks. We lived in the Olympic dorms from the '96 Olympics and were bussed over to the public schools every morning. We would teach from 8am to 2pm and then attend on site training classes until six.

My classroom here in Charlotte is huge, with more technology than I know what to do with. I have a smart board, a second LCD projector and a laptop for each. We are on block scheduling, so I teach two 90 minute blocks of biology every morning and one block of college prep in the afternoon. The two bio classes will be over in January. In January I will get a whole new group of students to work with. Currently I am nearing 40 students in each class. On day 1 I had 24 students in each class, the supposed state max for a state exam class, but everyday a few more students are added to my roster. This past Friday was the first day that no new students were added to my roster.

The day before school started I was watching the news, and learned that in a survey of teachers, my school was the worst ranked school in Charlotte as far as administrative support and teacher happiness went. Thankfully, the administration was handpicked by the current principal, and everyone seems very pleased with the group. I have been having a lot of fun teaching, and everyday so far has been pretty fun. I have been warned that about this time is when the students start to feel comfortable and will begin to push me as far as discipline goes. As long as I can stop that early, this should be another exciting week at EE Waddell."

What a wonderful email. He sounds like a talented individual. The subjects he learned from you and the passion you passed on to him is showing through. His students will be blessed.

The military has a program called, "Troops to Teachers" which takes retiring, or separating military members and provides a transition to teaching. I believe that there might be assistance in navigating the hurdles to obtain their teaching certificates, in return for the military member agreeing to 'serve' in an area that is in need. (similar to your description you stated) The exact exchange, including monetary benefits, between the teacher and this program can be found here: http://www.dantes.doded.mil/dantes_Web/ ... index2.asp

It must have been a very heart swelling moment when you received his email. Congratulations!!

mrkelley23 wrote:At least one person on the Bored has expressed an interest in "Teach for America," the program to encourage new teachers to start their employment in some of America's schools most in need of new teachers and technology. I just received an email from a former student who is in his first year with the program, in which he describes some of his experiences. I asked for and received his permission to share the contents of the email with you, along with an invitation to share his email address with anyone who is interested. Please PM me if you would like Preston's email address.

To say I'm proud is an obvious understatement, especially since this young man is one who I wasn't sure would find the right direction for his life when he was in high school.

"Mr. Kelley

This summer kept me very busy with training and travelling, but I am now living in Charlotte, NC. I have been assigned the subject of Biology (my college major) and an elective AVID course that deals with college prep for middle of the road children.

While at Georgia Tech I taught eighth grade math to students ranging from 12 to 16. It was quite the experience teaching students that had considerable behavior problems. After a few days of learning their antics and their interests I was able to turn the majority of the students on to learning for a few weeks. We lived in the Olympic dorms from the '96 Olympics and were bussed over to the public schools every morning. We would teach from 8am to 2pm and then attend on site training classes until six.

My classroom here in Charlotte is huge, with more technology than I know what to do with. I have a smart board, a second LCD projector and a laptop for each. We are on block scheduling, so I teach two 90 minute blocks of biology every morning and one block of college prep in the afternoon. The two bio classes will be over in January. In January I will get a whole new group of students to work with. Currently I am nearing 40 students in each class. On day 1 I had 24 students in each class, the supposed state max for a state exam class, but everyday a few more students are added to my roster. This past Friday was the first day that no new students were added to my roster.

The day before school started I was watching the news, and learned that in a survey of teachers, my school was the worst ranked school in Charlotte as far as administrative support and teacher happiness went. Thankfully, the administration was handpicked by the current principal, and everyone seems very pleased with the group. I have been having a lot of fun teaching, and everyday so far has been pretty fun. I have been warned that about this time is when the students start to feel comfortable and will begin to push me as far as discipline goes. As long as I can stop that early, this should be another exciting week at EE Waddell."

PM Sent - he is facing a challenge - although the schol board (and the state) are committed to providing resources to schools like his - It is an interesting palce - relatively new, but low performing - they recently upgraded the administration (as Preston states) - I hope that they can make progress.

The local PGA Event in Charlotte (The Wachovia Championship) has designated Teach for America as their charity - IIRC, they donate about a $million every year.

Thanks for posting this. I met a couple of 30ish teachers in a grad class in the spring who are pleased enough with their experience that they have re-upped, after their two-year commitment.

Bob Juch wrote:

Beebs52 wrote:I've always thought teaching was a calling, that an ordinary person generally could not do it well.

That you've got this feedback is telling about your ability. I'm not being sarcastic nor do I have an agenda in this post. This is just quite wonderful.

Bless your heart in the genuine meaning of that statement.

Teaching is easier than plumbing.

Bob, that has got to be one of the stoopidist things you have posted.

Me thinks you are prolly pretty bad at both of these things.

Sheesh!

christie1111 wrote:

Bob Juch wrote:

Beebs52 wrote:I've always thought teaching was a calling, that an ordinary person generally could not do it well.

That you've got this feedback is telling about your ability. I'm not being sarcastic nor do I have an agenda in this post. This is just quite wonderful.

Bless your heart in the genuine meaning of that statement.

Teaching is easier than plumbing.

Bob, that has got to be one of the stoopidist things you have posted.

Me thinks you are prolly pretty bad at both of these things.

Sheesh!

I've taught twice. I'm a good teacher. I'm also a pretty good plumber.

That was a sarcastic remark, based on pay.

Some people got it.