Get Herald RSSEvery night at 10 p.m., my roommate and I make ourselves a cup of tea and hop up on our kitchen counter. In these "counter talks, " Sandra and I chat - about boys (still), living on the border, where the best tacos are, and most importantly, our students. "How are you making your tests VERF?" "How are you differentiating for your ESL students?" "How's mastery for TEKS1B going?"
I didn't even know what those questions meant six months ago. Now, in my second semester of teaching World Geography to 150 freshmen on the Texas-Mexico border, I know the answers. Sixty percent of my students are ESL. If nothing changes, half of them will drop out of high school by the time they're 18. I suspect only 35 of those graduates will go on to college; maybe five will leave Brownsville.
Nonetheless, I set a goal for my students. All my ninth-graders - including those who can't speak English or read at a fourth-grade level - will get an 80 percent or higher on our end-of-year exam. Passing this rigorous test will ensure that my students are on grade level and equipped to compete with tenth graders of any socioeconomic background.
When I began teaching on Aug. 27, I spent two weeks having fun with my students. We checked our clothing labels to learn how interconnected the world is. We read Dr. Seuss. We set personal goals for the year.
Two weeks later, I graded their diagnostic exams - basic tests to check for map skills and knowledge they should have acquired over eight years of schooling. In the middle of grading my third period, I threw down my grading marker. My students couldn't read a basic thematic map. Many couldn't tell me where Europe was; others couldn't even tell me which way north was. In three years, these students would be taking the SAT, applying to college, and stepping into a world that does not dole out second chances at summer school. Horrified, I stopped grading and started planning.
I taught my students population density by cramming them into 16 square feet after "zombies" invaded my classroom and built "Student-Death Zones." We went on EuroTrip 2008, ordered afternoon tea at the Ritz, and "walked" around Auschwitz. We debated the Kyoto Protocol. We brought turkeys and potatoes from Latin America to Europe to illustrate diffusion.
On their midterm exam, 73 percent of my students scored an 80 percent or higher. I am extraordinarily proud of the progress my students have made in one semester. There are still 41 students who need a tremendous amount of help to reach our big goal, but they are committed to it, and so am I.
The dedication and patience required to teach in a low-income, at-risk school are qualities I was not sure I possessed at the end of my senior year. As I thought about "life after Brown," I had about 15 plans. Teach For America was maybe third in line, but I am grateful it's the path I took, in spite of all the horror stories and criticisms I heard before joining. Yes, many of the criticisms were true. As a new TFA hire, I had never taught a class before. I had trained for only six hellish weeks. Even now I stick out like a sore, white thumb at my 98 percent Hispanic high school. I question my ability to impact our crumbling public education system in only two years.
I've realized, though, that no single teacher can have that impact-not on the whole system. But every day, I can show up and stand in front of 150 students and teach. Every day, I can change my students' lives. The nation's children need tenacious leaders who perpetually ask, "How can I teach better? How can I reach my students today?" I know that there are 13-million children growing up in poverty in the United States, and that until more schools ask these questions, that number will not improve.
In years to come, I can have an impact on the system as a whole. I can carry my front-line expertise and values of hard work, effectiveness, and faith in my students out of the classroom and into principals' offices, onto school boards, and into Congress. Right now, though, my movement to change our education system started Aug. 27 with 150 students in the biggest school in the poorest city in the country.
Sarah Saxton-Frump '07 wants to let you know that the final deadline to apply to Teach For America is this Friday, Feb. 15.
