After finishing college, I joined Teach For America, the national teaching corp that places recent graduates in hard to staff urban and rural schools. Although I did not study education or work in schools while an undergraduate at Colby College, I had developed a strong interest and commitment to social equality and justice. Teach For America’s message of educational parity appealed to me and I hoped my talents could make a difference in the lives of young people. I taught two years of ESL and bilingual ed. (Spanish-English), and established the first, formal ESL and bilingual programs in Grady Schools, where I worked. I went on to work for Teach For America at their summer training institute in the summers of 1995 and 1996.

first day teaching in the Mississippi Delta

After what seemed a short summer of student teaching and studying educational theory in Los Angeles, I moved to the small town of Grady, Arkansas in the Mississippi Delta. I lived and worked there for two years, teaching in a public school district with roughly 300 students in grades K through 12. I worked with all of the Spanish speaking students in the district, focusing on bilingual English and Spanish literacy with the younger students and ESL combined with Spanish language math and science support for the older students. I also led professional development for colleagues to support them in their efforts to reach new students with limited English experience. In my second year with Grady Schools I also taught Spanish II to monolingual English students.

In addition to teaching, I was the district migrant coordinator, working with the community of migrant workers to assist with health care and other needs, to greet new families that entered the district, and to ease the transition of those leaving. This role afforded me a unique opportunity to visit the homes of his students and to develop an appreciation for the power and importance of community in school success.

In addition to teaching as a Teach For America “corps member”, I spent two summers working in Houston, TX at Teach For America’s training program. I mentored recent college graduates working as student teachers, conducting classroom observations and providing formal instruction in education theory. Additionally, he wrote Teach For America’s curriculum for both bilingual education and family and community involvement for the 1996 Summer Institute.