Institute in Atlanta

So I arrived in the ATL this week to begin five weeks of intense teacher training Teach for America calls Institute. Complete with 5am wake-ups, collaborative teaching groups, and four years of education instruction condensed into just over a month I hear that I am in for a long Summer.

Today was my first day of instruction at BEST Academy Middle School in Atlanta, Georgia and next Monday I will be in front of an 8th grade math class all my own. Math should be interesting for me because it definitely wasn't my favorite subject and I think I will be able to relate too and anticipate some of the pitfalls some of my Summer School students may be facing.

The biggest takeaway thus far from my first day though had to be the DRA session I attended this evening. DRA is a reading diagnostic tool that allows a teacher to determine what level a student is reading on. I will be helping to administer these very test this week so we can establish a baseline for the middle school students taking remedial reading course. It was incredible to see how this tool worked and to put it firmly in my figurative "academic toolkit." I was am really excited to get down to the business of teaching and develop the skills that will enable me to have a major impact on the life trajectories of my students. For the first time I felt really "teachery" and it surprised me how pumped I got about it.

During Institute I will be doing a quote of the day here on my sites as well as on twitter.

Quote of the Day (1): In the absence of clearly defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily acts of trivia- Unknown.

A Movement, Not a Job

Tonight we went to the National Civil Rights Museum which is housed in the Lorraine Hotel where Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. The entire exterior of the building has been kept in the state it would have appeared on that fateful evening, right down to the classic cars outside. Inside is a history of the movement in the 1950's and 1960's and culminates in a reproduction of the room where MLK spent his final hours and the view from the balcony where he was gunned down by an unknown shooter.

Ok time for some honesty. I never truly felt connected with the realities of the civil rights movement. I remember covering the struggle for African-American equality in U.S. History and reviewing for the Advanced Placement Exam. I certainly never thought of myself as an active part in this movement, that is easy to view simply as history. I grew up in a town that wasn't very diverse and ditto for the University I attended. This doesn't make them bad places, in fact I love North Attleboro and CUA dearly and would never apologize for them. But there is something about standing behind the site of MLK's death, literally in the path of the bullet that claimed his life reminded me that I have huge shoes to fill and that the fight to ensure people are judged "by the content of their character" rather than anything else is far from over. In a weird way Teach for America here is Memphis is my way of ensuring that the equality of opportunity the United States was founded upon is available for all children, regardless of the zip code into which they were born. This really goes beyond a black or white issue, its an American issue and ending educational inequity is one of the logical successors to the work begun by MLK.

Looking at the my forthcoming classroom experience not simply as a means to a paycheck of closing the achievement gap, but rather as a mission to continue the work of change agents both black and white is truly inspiring to me. I am unabashedly in love with the United States and one of the best jobs I have ever had was opening mail in the shadow of the Capitol Dome for Rep. Mary Fallin (unpaid). Tonight was a huge reminder that you don't have to be in Congress or the Armed Services to fight for your country. There is work to be done everywhere and my spot will be here in Memphis.

Memphis Bound!

Heading to Memphis to begin Teach for America training on the 30th

Romneycare and the Politics of States Rights- The Politicizer

Arguably the highest profile GOP Presidential candidate to not have announced his intention to seek the Republican nomination in 2012 is former Governor Mitt Romney. Early polling from the democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling indicates that Romney is leading in the early states among most groups likely to make up the primary electorate, with the notable exception of “very conservative” voters. This trend is problematic for Romney because the primary voters he is courting tend to come from the most conservative sectors of the party. One of the biggest liabilities for Governor Romney with conservative voters is the healthcare reform package he ushered through the Massachusetts State House. The plan, endorsed by Romney, contains an individual mandate similar to the mandate included in President Obama’s healthcare reform package. This provision requires all Massachusetts residents to purchase healthcare insurance from a variety of plans approved by state regulators but provided through private insurers. Those who cannot afford a plan are able to receive treatment at any hospital in Massachusetts, however if it is determined (via tax information) that someone could afford a plan they are ascribed a tax penalty.

To read the complete article please click here

The Alternative Vote is Wrong for Britain- The Politicizer

On May 5th the people of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will go to the polls for local elections and be asked whether they support undergoing the largest change to parliamentary elections in the history of the United Kingdom. If the referendum is passed Members of Parliament would no longer be elected under a first-past-the-post system but instead by a form of alternative voting that forces voters to rank all of the candidates on the ballot in order of their preference. If a voter’s first choice is eliminated then their vote is passed along to the next indicated preference still in the running. This continues until one candidate has at least 50% of the total vote. Proponents for this change argue that this will ensure that MPs have the support of the majority of their constituents as well as make the main parties to compete for fringe voters even the safest districts. Currently whichever candidate receives the most votes is elected.

The proposed move to the alternative vote is not the right medicine for the electoral issues in the United Kingdom. In reality, this referendum was the main price paid by the Conservatives to their partners in Government, the Liberal-Democrats, in exchange for their support. Ironically enough alternative voting is actually the black sheep of electoral reform proposals in that the Liberal-Democrats originally preferred a proportional representation system (similar to the one utilized for elections to the European Parliament) and the Lib-Dems are not actively campaigning in favor of the switch to AV. The Labour Party leadership has officially endorsed the AV system. However, over half of the Labour Members have signed onto the No to AV campaign in a show of defiance against what many consider ineffective reform and a political win for Liberal-Democrat Leader and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. The Conservatives are united against the alternative vote and have been aggressively pushing to keep the first-past-the-post system.

See the full piece here

Going (and making) Green- Internships.com, Eye of the Intern

Going green isn’t easy. At least it wasn’t easy for me. Recycling, trying to conserve water and driving less are not things you can do cold turkey; it takes time to mold these actions into habits.

Last fall, equipped with my new found environmental awareness, I started an internship with a digital communications firm in Washington, D.C. Things were going pretty well, and I really liked everyone I worked with.

After bumping into one of the senior staff members in the kitchen I noticed that he threw his Coke Zero can into the regular trash and not in the recycling bin. My dilemma: Do I make a move for the can, switch it to the appropriate trash receptacle and save an otter somewhere? Or do I play it safe, and not risk being the trash-picking intern for the rest of the semester?

I went for it — and yes, my boss happened to turn around at the exact moment my hand was in the trash. Luckily however, he actually came back because he realized his mistake and was going to recycle the can himself (or so he told me). As it turns out, I didn’t have anything to worry about. My supervisor barely blinked an eye at my trash-picking ways.

For this spring, I started looking into internships focused on environmental issues and I was blown away by the number of positions available. Between government departments and environmental organizations, aspiring “greenies” have a ton of opportunities to get more involved in promoting sustainability. The only downside to these internships is that the vast majority are unpaid, and therefore not realistic for some students (like myself).

Even if a green internship isn’t your thing, you can have a huge impact in any workplace. Reminding people to recycle and turning off lights when people leave a room are small steps anyone can take to help the environment. No matter how skeptical of the movement, your employer will surely enjoy a smaller electrical bill each month.