Donate Now Dear Mr. Rubenstein, Hi.  You don’t know me, but you can probably guess a lot about how the way my first year of teaching went when I tell you I am a 2007 Bay Area corps member.  As I’m sure you are painfully aware, I didn’t receive any of the “reality checks” that…

Donate Now Today is my half birthday.  And the summer solstice.  And it is hot.  I mean, really. really. hot.  There’s nothing like a classic California heat wave, combined with the effects of finishing a first year of teaching, to make you go completely insane. I, along with about 99% of TFA corps members, am…

Today is my first “official” day of summer break.  (I use quotation marks because I didn’t consider it break for myself until I finished organizing my classroom yesterday.)  I am having difficulty with this new schedule: 6:30 am: Open one lazy eye to see the time on the clock.  Blissfully roll over and continue sleeping.…

Well, the results are in.  It’s the last day of school.  Desks have been emptied, posters have been taken down, shelves have been covered, and the only thing left to do is celebrate our Big Goals. We met them, by the way. My final classroom average reading growth was 1.5 years of growth!  4 of…

Last night, all current corps members traveled up to San Francisco for a wonderful end of year celebration.  We sailed around San Fransisco Bay on a Hornblower Yacht while the ’06 corps members were welcomed into the alumni movement.  It was quite inspiring, even for Scott.  It was nice to take a moment to reflect…