who are you & why are you starting a blog
First things first, I should introduce myself.
My name is Chelsee and I am a secondary history teacher. I've been teaching for five years and I've taught everything from 7th grade English Language Arts & Reading to AP Literature to now AP Human Geography, AP Government & Politics and AP Macroeconomics. As you should know with teaching -- this could all change next week.
I didn't come to teaching because I wanted to become Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds or that dude in Stand & Deliver; the grotesquely condensed film that makes it look like he was super-teacher overnight. I found myself graduating from college in 2012 and I had no real plan for what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to keep studying stuff to study stuff because books are fun. I spent the better part of college studying things for the sake of studying them. (Seriously, who sees Religious Studies and is like ohhh that sounds fun, lets do that). So, I decided - since everyone in Claremont got in - I would apply for Teach for America. It was a sure-fire job, and I was taking a break from academia. I was a 2012 Dallas-Fort Worth Corps Member and I was placed in a charter school district in the area. I was supposed to do my two years, and be done with it. It's been five years and I'm still a teacher.
Why am I still a teacher? I'm underpaid and overworked and sometimes forced to sit through the most absurd professional development. So why do it?
Kids need an fan. Really, they need an entire cheering section. Not someone who can come and save them from the big bad projects or make them feel bad about growing up in urban America. They need a voice. And although I'm speaking for them in this blog, I can't speak for all of them. And I shouldn't because they are fully functioning humans. As their teacher, I help cultivate their voice. I want to make them aware that they have a voice and they can be their biggest advocates. They don't need me, or anyone else with a fancy piece of paper from a fancy liberal arts program, speaking for them. They can do it themselves. These kids need someone to help them chase their dreams. I strive to be my students' biggest fan -- every single one of them. The world is a big bad place when you have all the advantages: imagine what it is like when you start out five steps back.
I don't say that to make you feel sorry for the kids I teach. Quite the contrary. These are the boldest, brightest, most beautiful souls I have ever met. These kids are resilient in a way we can only hope to be, they love a way we can only dream to love, and they live with a purpose that drives them outside of themselves to take big risks. These kids are the best people that I have ever met.
I am a teacher because I get to spend five days a week with the best people I have ever met. It is awe-inspiring to see what these kids can become. I laugh, I rage at undone homework, I cry, I lament my AP pass rate (never as bad as I make it seem) and I bask in the light that these kids shine. I secretly have the best job ever, but it is not for everyone.
So, what will this blog be about? Well 50% of it will be about the actual practice of teaching. These will be things I try in my classroom that work: best practices that I have adapted for history and literacy. Few blogs exist that give secondary teachers a place to find ideas and communicate about best practices and other things that are working in the classroom. The other 50% will be about what it is like to teach students of color in urban schools that are underfunded with teachers that are underpaid and overworked. These will not all be sob stories. Even the school with the most money have problems. Most of these will be about the kids as they are, the communities that they come from, the issues that plague them and what you can do to help.
Names will be changed of course.
Happy Teaching,
Chelsee
My name is Chelsee and I am a secondary history teacher. I've been teaching for five years and I've taught everything from 7th grade English Language Arts & Reading to AP Literature to now AP Human Geography, AP Government & Politics and AP Macroeconomics. As you should know with teaching -- this could all change next week.
I didn't come to teaching because I wanted to become Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds or that dude in Stand & Deliver; the grotesquely condensed film that makes it look like he was super-teacher overnight. I found myself graduating from college in 2012 and I had no real plan for what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to keep studying stuff to study stuff because books are fun. I spent the better part of college studying things for the sake of studying them. (Seriously, who sees Religious Studies and is like ohhh that sounds fun, lets do that). So, I decided - since everyone in Claremont got in - I would apply for Teach for America. It was a sure-fire job, and I was taking a break from academia. I was a 2012 Dallas-Fort Worth Corps Member and I was placed in a charter school district in the area. I was supposed to do my two years, and be done with it. It's been five years and I'm still a teacher.
Why am I still a teacher? I'm underpaid and overworked and sometimes forced to sit through the most absurd professional development. So why do it?
Kids need an fan. Really, they need an entire cheering section. Not someone who can come and save them from the big bad projects or make them feel bad about growing up in urban America. They need a voice. And although I'm speaking for them in this blog, I can't speak for all of them. And I shouldn't because they are fully functioning humans. As their teacher, I help cultivate their voice. I want to make them aware that they have a voice and they can be their biggest advocates. They don't need me, or anyone else with a fancy piece of paper from a fancy liberal arts program, speaking for them. They can do it themselves. These kids need someone to help them chase their dreams. I strive to be my students' biggest fan -- every single one of them. The world is a big bad place when you have all the advantages: imagine what it is like when you start out five steps back.
I don't say that to make you feel sorry for the kids I teach. Quite the contrary. These are the boldest, brightest, most beautiful souls I have ever met. These kids are resilient in a way we can only hope to be, they love a way we can only dream to love, and they live with a purpose that drives them outside of themselves to take big risks. These kids are the best people that I have ever met.
I am a teacher because I get to spend five days a week with the best people I have ever met. It is awe-inspiring to see what these kids can become. I laugh, I rage at undone homework, I cry, I lament my AP pass rate (never as bad as I make it seem) and I bask in the light that these kids shine. I secretly have the best job ever, but it is not for everyone.
So, what will this blog be about? Well 50% of it will be about the actual practice of teaching. These will be things I try in my classroom that work: best practices that I have adapted for history and literacy. Few blogs exist that give secondary teachers a place to find ideas and communicate about best practices and other things that are working in the classroom. The other 50% will be about what it is like to teach students of color in urban schools that are underfunded with teachers that are underpaid and overworked. These will not all be sob stories. Even the school with the most money have problems. Most of these will be about the kids as they are, the communities that they come from, the issues that plague them and what you can do to help.
Names will be changed of course.
Happy Teaching,
Chelsee
Great Start! You sparked my interest.
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