I’ve lived here for a year now. THAT’S CRAZY. I’ve been married a year now. WAY CRAZIER. Last year when I would go running I would use it as my time with God every day. That’s why I grew to love running so much because it was my uninterrupted time with Him. I remember the things I would pray about last year. My entire life was changing. I prayed about finding a house, finding a church, finding community & friends. I prayed for my students that I didn’t even know yet and for the responsibility I was being given as their teacher. I prayed for our new marriage and for the stress that was about to be put on it with moving, teaching, grad school, etc.

And now it’s so incredible because I can thank God for providing a house, for leading us to a church family, for allowing me to build amazing friendships. I can now pray for my students by name; I can picture their faces and know exactly what to pray about. I can thank God for bringing me and Brandon through this year and making our relationship stronger.

He is the only thing that did not change over the past 12 months. My entire life has been flipped upside down, yet He has remained the same. I’ve been told this about Him for as long as I can remember, but it’s never made more sense than now.

Last Friday, I finished my last day of teaching. I cried, they cried; it was a big mess. I can’t express in words how much I love and care about every single one of my students. The relationships I was blessed to build this year are overwhelming.

One of my students baked me a birthday cake last week because he knew we wouldn’t be in school on my actual birthday (it was delicious, by the way). Many of them wrote me notes and made me cards and got me small gifts. One of the best was when they told me and another teacher (my best friend at the school; I wouldn’t have made it this year without her) not to come out during nutrition until they told us. They kept us waiting and kept us waiting, and when they finally said we could come out, we saw around 20 of our students wearing shirts they had made that spelled out “SOPHOMORES” and holding up letters to spell out our names. Then they turned around and they all had our names on the backs of their shirts. It was so sweet and it validated all the hard work we’d put in this year. It showed us that they know how much we care about them and how much we want them to be successful.

One of my favorite things that happened in the last few days was when I read the responses to the time capsule worksheet that my students filled out. I have one student who really gave me a lot of trouble at the beginning of the year. He would sleep through class, never do his work, be really disrespectful, and disrupt those around him. Throughout the year we were able to work through things, and he emerged as one of my best students, turning in assignments early and demonstrating how beautifully he could write. One of the questions on the time capsule asked “What are your goals for the future?” He responded: “Graduate and be successful so I can make my family and Mrs. K proud.”

Sometimes it really freaks me out that God has allowed me to be in this position. I feel so ill-equipped and unworthy to be a part of something this huge. But I’m so incredibly grateful that I get to do this. Over the past year I’ve become so passionate about education in this country and about the students whom this broken system is so negatively affecting. I know that this is what He has called me to, and I’m so excited to see what He’s going to continue to do over the next few years.

I’ve only been in the classroom for 7 months now, and already I’m seeing that, as much as I can do in my solitary classroom, and as much as I can help my 120 students towards their goals, the only way we will see education reform on a larger, national basis is through dealing with problems that are deeply embedded in the system- a system that is set up to fail our students.

I’m reading a book by Michelle Fine called Framing the Dropouts (again, if you had time, I recommend it). In the first chapter alone she begins to outline how even though we have a public school system with equal access, it is producing unequal outcomes. While every student in America has access to free public education, genuine quality education is largely based upon how affluent and how “white” a community is. Minority neighborhoods, as well as those of lower socioeconomic status, have historically achieved on a much lower level than their wealthier, white counterparts. These are facts that TFA feeds us on a weekly basis, and at this point, they are deeply rooted in our still-forming philosophies and pedagogies. The reasons for these gaps are many, and the solutions have been proven (as cited in “Waiting for Superman,” schools like KIPP Charter schools are based in primarily minority neighborhoods and typically experience the greatest achievement and gains of any schools in their regions), yet the nationwide policies are at a standstill and creating barriers to true progress.

I speak with humility, and with the understanding that I am only in my first year of teaching. I know I have a long way to go. But there are some things I’ve realized about the system that seem very basic- very common sense. Those are the things that frustrate me the most.

I honestly do believe that the greatest factor inhibiting our students from learning are the teachers. This is very touchy subject because we want to believe that every single teacher does what they do for the right reasons. But it’s simply not true. Teaching is so, so difficult. I’ve never been so tired and so worn out in my life. It takes time to become good at it, just like any other profession. What gets me, is that teachers across the nation complain that our profession is not taken seriously, yet they refuse to submit to the same standards of other professions, i.e. evaluations, performance-based pay, continued education, consistent feedback, and constant reflection and revision of skills and practices.

My charter district is moving towards total performance-based pay, and there are many districts across the country who are attempting to implement similar policies. Yet when these policies are introduced, they are met by great resistance by the majority of teachers (particularly, the unions). These teachers are the ones who say that they can’t be responsible for the scores their students receive on tests; they can’t be responsible for what their students learn… Wait… what was your job again? To teach? That’s like a doctor saying they have nothing to do with whether or not a patient gets better, or a lawyer saying they have nothing to do with whether or not they win the case. Yes, there are outliers; there are extreme situations in which teachers can do everything in their power, and a student still slips through the cracks. But how can a teacher say that their students’ scores do not reflect on them? What it sounds like, to me, is that they would rather be a part of the unions. be granted tenure, be paid the status quo, and never have to grow in their professions. It’s easier, for sure. But it’s not beneficial to our students.

It is stressful to be constantly evaluated within the classroom, but I don’t mind it, because I truly want to become better at my job. I know that as I become better, my students will learn more, which is the ultimate goal. If teachers want to gain respect in the classroom, we need to be the first to start treating our profession with the respect it deserves, which means, in part, agreeing to being evaluated on our performance, and accepting the reality that comes with all other professions: if you aren’t good at what you’re doing, you shouldn’t be doing it (or at the very least, if you don’t care, or you aren’t even attempting to grow, you shouldn’t be doing it).

I get offended when I hear people say that teaching is easy because we get summers off. Come spend a week in my classroom. Spend hours every night grading, planning, calling parents. Spend your weekends in the library, or at Target shopping for school supplies. Spend your weeknights in professional developments and in data-analysis meetings. Then tell me if you don’t think you deserve a few weeks off. At least, if you’re doing it correctly, you should feel the need to have a few weeks off.

Yet I understand where they’re coming from. Because I can be certain that some of the teachers I had in middle and high school were definitely not working this hard. There were some classes I took where for weeks on end we would sit and do absolutely nothing. These are the teachers who should not receive the privilege of being in the classroom; I’m not talking about the teachers who are trying- who are working hard, countless hours. I”m talking about the ones who don’t plan, who sit on their asses when they should be in front of the classroom, and who act as though they hate the very students who are in their classrooms. Our students deserve better.

To me, teachers who blame the students’ lack of learning on the students 1. are too weak to take responsibility of their actions within the classroom, or 2. have the underlying mindset that their students really are just too dumb and incapable of learning. Either way, they should not be a part of the education system.

I know that education is the work that I’ve been called to. It’s the single greatest national injustice of our generation. If I am harsh on myself and fellow teachers, it is only because I believe so much that our students- ALL students (no matter their race, gender, socioeconomic status)- deserve the best. I believe that it really is a privilege to be a part of this movement, and that those who don’t view it as such are just getting in the way of true reform and change.

I hold myself to these same high standards. If I ever start to take my role in the classroom lightly, if I ever refuse to be evaluated because I don’t want to listen to constructive criticism or put in the work to better myself, if I ever start to treat my students as though they are incapable of learning, or if I ever start to say that my students’ learning is not my responsibility, then I don’t deserve to be in the classroom.

When teachers begin to take their professions more seriously & take pride in what they do and responsibility for their actions, maybe the rest of the nation will follow.

These things being said, my students are awesome and I love them more and more every day. Some days are really rough, some days I’m really tired, some days my students are super hyper, some days they play tricks on me, or each other, some days I’d rather sleep in. But there has never been one day when I leave and dread coming back the next day because of them. Here are a few little gems from the past few weeks:

— Student comes in and offers to empty my 3-hole punch. “Yes, that’d be great! Thank you so much!” 15 minutes later, as different student stands up to leave the classroom, little white paper dots go flying. Helpful student who had offered to empty my hole punch had not specified to me that he wanted to empty the hole punch into the other students hoodie. Lovely. I made him pick up the pieces one by one.

—All my kids know that I love the Celtics, and they all (obviously) love the Lakers. During a lesson last week, they had to take a paragraph that had vague details and rewrite it using precise language & sensory details. When I asked for volunteers to read their examples, hands flew up all across the room. I soon found out why: all the hands that volunteered were hands of students who had written their entire paragraphs about how the Lakers are better than the Celtics.

—When having my students write persuasive essays about the DREAM Act, one of my students got mad at the use of the word “alien” in the name of the bill, and drew pictures of alien faces, labeled them “Mrs. K” (they can’t spell my name. I typically go by “Miss”), and stuck them all over my desk.

—On Valentines day, I got suckers, cards, chocolates, and a heart-shaped cupcake

good times.
go watch “Waiting for Superman”
go read Framing the Dropouts.

January: Megh and I visited Mariah in DC. Started working at the bank. Flew to LA for the first time to take the CSET to get certified to teach.

February: Snowed. A lot. And melted the next day.

March: Got engaged! Flew to LA to take the CSET. Again. Passed it this time. Got offered a teaching job at a charter school in East LA teaching 10th grade English.

April: Bridal shower and wedding plannings. Quit job at the bank. I bet they’re so glad they hired me. I’m sure I was quite an asset to their team. For 3 months.

May: Friends flew in from DC, Philly, & Minnesota. Epic Bachelorette party commenced. Reception in Lexington with incredible friends and families. Flew to Costa Rica. Got married!!!


June: Moved to Cali.

July: Taught summer school- 10th grade English- in Los Angeles. Met incredible people. Learned a lot. So hard. So much fun.

August: Hubby joins me in LA. Dad visits. Began my first year of teaching. Began grad school. God led us to Reality LA. Where we joined a community group.

September: Began coaching running team. Flew by so fast that that’s literally the only thing I remember.

October: Mom visits. Won runner up in the costume contest at school on Halloween. Took first sick day. Wasn’t really sick. Shhhhh.

November: First Thanksgiving married. Cooked a baller meal. Began book club with the girls at school. Zach turns 21. AND gets accepted to UVA LAW SCHOOL.

December: Jess visits. 10k race with running team. First semester of grad school completed. First semester as a teacher completed. Christmas break. Slept for the first time in 6 months. First Christmas married. First Christmas away from home. Zach comes.

This year, I became: a teacher, a coach, a grad student, a TFA corps member, a Californian, a wife, a Kersbergen.

This year I learned to rely on God like never before. He became real to me in such new, tangible ways. I saw His power of redemption as I began working in a school where students come from such difficult circumstances. He taught me who I am in Him- that I am justified in Him and, despite what everyone around me is telling me right now, that I don’t have to prove myself to Him. He loves me more than anyone else ever will and I can’t make Him love me more or cause Him to love me less. He helped me become a better teacher by leading me to His Word to study the life of the best teacher who ever lived- His Son. He taught me the power of hope (and that true hope is found only in Him) when I watched one of my best friend’s life fall apart when tragedy struck. He showed me his faithfulness and goodness when He healed another of my friend’s mom from cancer. And more than anything, I’ve really learned what it means to long for eternity- to long to be in His presence. As Christmas approached and I read and studied the Advent, I finally understood it. The people were waiting in captivity- they’d been waiting for years and years for a Savior. I get it this year. The way they waited for His birth, we wait for his return. As we sang all the Christmas songs about his birth and how he came to ransom captive Israel and end the wars and bring Peace on Earth and end pain and suffering… I yearned for that like never before. It seems more real.

At the same time, He’s taught me a balance. I’m excited about being with Him but I know He has a purpose for me here, and part of that purpose is simply savoring the life He’s given me and being very much in the moment- being all there. I’ve always struggled with this- I’m always planning what’s next, making lists, saving money for the next big adventure. And over and over He’s shown me that while it’s ok to be excited about what the future has to offer, it’s not ok when I take it to the extreme and let it subtract from the passion with which I live my life today. So I think that’s my New Year’s Resolution (or part of it at least)- to be all there.

To be all there, while at the same time looking forward to the day that I’m with Him. I think it’s possible to do both. That’s my challenge.

2010. Good grief. I don’t think life could have possibly squeezed in any more changes for me to face. But it’s been so fun. No way 2011 could be crazier. Right?

more pics to come soon…

i’m very thankful for my students. they aren’t perfect and they wear me out. but i think they’re great.

i’m thankful for the other teachers with whom i work. i’m thankful to have colleagues who are dedicated to providing the best education possible to these kids and to making sure that they have the same prospects for college as students attending schools in more affluent areas. i’m thankful that i can always count on ashley to come visit at lunch and hinshaw to put things into perspective & make me laugh when the little buggers are giving me a hard time.

i’m thankful to be living in los angeles. where “cold” is fifty degrees and the rain very rarely makes an appearance.

i’m thankful for the church family God has led us to. realityLA is such a reflection of the biblical church and God has used it to shape and change and challenge us weekly. i’m thankful for our community group and the relationships that are forming there.

i’m thankful that i’m almost finished with my first semester of grad school. so thankful. 1 down, 3 to go….

i’m thankful for our ballin apartment and the bomb christmas tree that is currently standing in the corner, taking up half the living room.

i’m thankful for a husband who encourages me and supports me in what Christ has called me to do, even when it means less time we get to spend together. i’m thankful for the time that we do get to spend together and that we’re in a city where there’s so much to do.

i’m thankful that my best friend is coming to visit on thursday and that she is not only willing, but is as excited as i am to go stalk celebrities in hollywood. (there will be a purchasing of a star map)

i’m thankful for parents who bought us CELTICS TICKETS for christmas.

i’m thankful for a brother who is a genius and got accepted into UVA law school. (and who’s coming to visit for new years in LA woooo)

i’m thankful for skype so bran and i could talk to family on thanksgiving.

i’m thankful for a brother-in-law who just got engaged and thankful that he picked out a great first sister for me to have.

i’m thankful for a God who loves me so much to pour out these blessings on me when i do not deserve it. i’m thankful that i am justified through Him and that despite the pressures on me everyday from work and school and TFA, that i do NOT have to prove myself to anyone because i am already enough, in Him. i’m thankful that Jesus was the best teacher who ever lived so that He can guide me every day in the classroom. i’m thankful that He is the source of all wisdom, love, patience, strength, and truth so that He can enable me to teach these students well. i’m thankful that He is faithful despite my shortcomings and failures, and that He wants to use me anyways. i’m thankful that He’s with me every single day as I enter my classroom and that He knows exactly what I need in any given moment and that He is fully capable of meeting that exact need in that exact moment.

last november i found out i’d been accepted to TFA and would be moving to LA to teach secondary English. i could have never imagined what i was getting myself into. nor could i have imagined how incredible the experience would be. this is the hardest thing i have ever done. i’ve never felt so tired, so stressed, so (at certain times) hopeless, so inadequate, so pressured, so challenged, so sleep-deprived, so small in a world where i feel like i am constantly fighting the system. i complain a lot and get caught up in the small little things that frustrate me rather than rejoicing in the blessings He has given me. but i do love what I’m doing. i really really do. thanks, Jesus. this is all because of You.

(lastly, i’m thankful that on this thanksgiving weekend, carolina was able to destroy clemson. gamecocks, you have brought joy all the way the west coast today. well done.)

If you’d like to help out, go here:

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=447723&sharebar=true

These students are incredible and they NEED books to be able to take home and read. They ask me all the time for books, but I only have about 30 books and 150 students. Anything you can do to help would be greatly appreciated! Feel free to send the link to anyone who may be interested in supporting us. I promise your time and money will be well spent. Thank you guys!

this week, i conquered: my first homework assistance, 7 hours spent at LMU, my first meeting with the running team, my vision for the reading intervention program, 5 chapters of Catcher in the Rye, 122 Vocabulary quizzes (almost 2/3 of which were 100s!), a 14 hour work day, my first ever parent night, my first attempt at translating, and my first 30 minute run in over a month. success.

i’m finally getting in the swing of things. i’m learning to manage my time better and get more sleep at night. i’m getting use to waking up at 5 in the morning. i’m getting better at lesson planning and can crank them out pretty quickly now. i’m learning to talk jesus on a more constant basis throughout the day. my classroom management is improving. i’m learning how to differentiate between my higher level and lower level students. it’s all just starting to come together and i don’t quite feel like i’m going to lose my mind anymore.

victories of the week:
1. my 3rd and 4th period classes both had 100% of students make a 100 on their very first vocabulary quiz.
2. my 5th period, which can sometimes be my most challenging, literally BEGGED me to let them keep reading when i tried to move on to the second part of the lesson. “Miss, can we pleeeeease just spend the rest of class reading Catcher in the Rye??” blahahahah I GOT YOU YOU LITTLE TENTH GRADERS. YOU LIKE TO READ YOU LIKE TO READ
3. meeting with the students who want to do the running team with me. it’s going to be a small group, which is awesome, because that means we’ll be able to do more. we’re running a 10k in december and a half-marathon in february. they’re so excite.
4. meeting all the parents at back to school night and seeing how incredibly supportive they are of their children.
5. community group with our new church here. these people love jesus so so much and our time with them on tuesdays is incredible. we just study the word and spend time in prayer and it is SO encouraging and God does crazy things there.
6 . eating at the famous Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles in Hollywood. THEY HAVE GRITS. praise the lord. haven’t been able to find those anywhere else in cali yet. not even at IHOP. how absurd.
7. CAROLINA BEATING GEORGIA.
8. getting cable so we can watch the basketball games.
9. the time warner cable man asking brandon if he was from alabama.
10. having my students write personal narratives about a significant event that impacted their lives.

on that note… the narratives were incredible. and heartbreaking. the things my students have been through would blow your mind. after one of my classes left, i literally had to lock my classroom door during lunch so i could cry. it was so overwhelming. i left school that day feeling really defeated. not only are my kids so far behind academically, but they have so much going on in their lives. i have no idea where to start. how do i give them the help they need? how do i get them to college when they’re reading at a 4th grade level? how do i get them to care about school when they have things in their life that make it difficult to even make it through the day?

thank god, the day all this happened was the same day we had community group with our church. we’re studying colossians, and were in the first chapter. there’s a verse that talks about how Jesus reconciles everything to Himself. there’s also a verse that says “In Him all things hold together.” He completely convicted me and comforted me all at once. He showed me that i can not save these kids – but that HE CAN. He has the power to reconcile ALL THINGs. He has the power to redeem.

another thing thats amazing, something that pastor tim said sunday, is that we are to have a redemptive effect on the world around us. so not only does Christ redeem us and others, but he wants us to be a part of seeing others come to know him. He has blessed us with the favor of being a part of his work. and so it hurts to see my kids go through the things they do BUT – that is why He called me here.

There’s a verse in 2 Corinthians where Paul says, “I will most gladly spend and be spent for you.” i wrote that on a post it and stuck it to my desk this week. that’s the attitude i want to have with my students. to pour myself out daily knowing that it’s not just so they can make good grades, but so they might see Jesus and experience rescue from all the tragedy that has happened in their young lives.

Last bit of randomness for this post, and then i’m out. we watched the movied “Stand and Deliver” last night. It’s about Jamie Escalante, a teacher in LA who led an underachieving class of juniors to have 100% pass rate on the AP calculus exam. cool thing is, the school where he taught is right down the street from my school. if my kids hadn’t chosen to come to our charter, they’d be attending Garfield. so in the movie, there are shots all around the streets where i go to work every day. you should watch it if you get a chance. it’s really good.

all these things in my life are non-negotiables.

i was talking to my friend cherrie the other night and telling her how i’d been so swamped with lesson planning, and TFA, and credentialing classes that i haven’t had a lot of time to spend with Jesus. that sometime i’ll go days at a time without hardly talking to him. she said she’d been having the same problem, and then she told one of her friends at home about it. her friend replied:

“i dont know what made you think that jesus is something you work into your schedule. He is what you work everything else around. just like you shower and you eat and you sleep everything, you spend time with him. because the truth is, you need him even more than you need to shower or eat or sleep.”

i’ve thought about that a lot since friday night, and then, today at church, i realized again why it’s so important to abide in Him daily.

today the message was on God’s justice, and how justice belongs to Him, not us, and that is why we are free to love our enemies. we can love our enemies because God will avenge them rightly – He knows the best way to do that, not us. we are called only to love. in the service, the pastor referred to the passage where Jesus flips over the tables at the temple when people were using it as a place to steal other’s money rather than a place to worship the Lord. He gets angry, he reacts to the evil he sees, he imposes his justice. he is not meek, he does not let evil go unpunished.

and the whole time i was listening to that i was thinking “oh my gosh Jesus was so awesome – look how powerful and courageous he was. and look how much he cares about his people and how much he cares that they are treated fairly. look how much he despises evil and how willing he is to risk his own reputation to restrain evil.” i was thinking all of these things as if it were the first time i’d heard them. and then, i realized. when i don’t spend time with him daily, i begin to forget who he really is.

i forget what he’s done for me. i forget that he has saved me. i forget how great the debt he paid for me. i forget how magnificent his love. i forget how strong he is, how powerful he is- i forget aspects of his personality.

and that affects everything in my life. when i forget that he is God, it makes me think that i have control over my life. when i forget that He saved me, it makes me think i have the right to judge others. when i forget all the he forgave me, it makes me think i have a right to withhold my forgiveness from others. when i forget that he conquered sin and death, it makes me live like there is no hope, no escape from the sin that is innate – it makes me feel like i can never win.

and it blows my mind that we could ever forget these things. how can we forget the One who SAVED us?

when we don’t spend time with him daily – when we don’t just sit in his presence, when we don’t meditate on his word, when we don’t spend time in worship – we lose sight of the magnitude of what He has done for us, of who He is.

we can’t afford to live like that – forgetting who He is. spending time with him daily should be a non-negotiable, something that is essential to our ability to live.

i’m making this a priority. over TFA, over my classes, over my lesson plans, over my exercise, even over my kids and my marriage. because nothing else can be right in my life if my relationship with Him is not.

and i can’t even imagine how different our lives would like – how different MY life would look – if i lived every minute in the true understanding of who He is and who i am in relationship to Him.

I don’t really know how exactly to wrap up everything that happened. So I’m just going to post what some of my kids wrote as a response to their first ever journal entry. The question was: What is your big goal for the future? How does our class Big Goal play a part in this?”

(FYI – our class Big Goal is that every single student would make 2 years of growth in reading level and 2 years of growth in writing level and that everyone would be scoring at at least Proficient on the Benchmark Assessments)

Here are some of their answers:

“My goal for the future is to attend college and to have a bright future as a college graduate. The class big goal will push me because I want to be more than another statistic.”

“My big goal for the future is to become an actress but graduate college first. I want to be the first in my family to go to college. Our class plays a part in it because the teacher helps prepare me for what I’m going to face in the future.”

“My goal for the future is to become a doctor. I plan on working hard to go to college. Our class goal will help me in the way that I am going to have a better vocabulary. I hope that this class helps me become a better reader and writer.”

“My goal in the future is to graduate high school and go off to a 4 year university. My dream is to be a lawyer and that takes a good education. So in order for me to achieve my goal I have to work REALLY hard.”

“My goal for my life is to finish high school and graduate to go study forensic science. I would like to be a crime scene investigator. Our class big goal is very inspiring and I hope I’ll be able to accomplish it. I would like for you to push me because I know I may get tired or lazy around the middle of the year.”

“I want to be an architect.”

“I want to study to be a marine biologist.”

“I want to get my Master’s Degree in Engineering.”

“I want to be the first female in my family to go to college.”

So this is what my class looks like. They’re awesome.
I love teaching. I love my kids.

We start our first unit next week on Identity, and we’re reading Catcher in the Rye (which they’re really excited about because it was banned at some of their previous schools).

It’s going well and I can’t wait to see where they end up at the end of the year.

I started going to classes myself this week at LMU. Every Monday night I have classes from 5 -10. I really like the professors and I think I’ll learn a lot in the classes, it’s just a little overwhelming to think about trying to keep up with my own classes while I’m teaching 5 classes during the week.

I also found out this week that I get to teach an Honors class. Which is AMAZING. These kids WANT to be pushed and challenged so I’m going to get to do so much with them. (I haven’t told them yet, but they’re definitely going to be writing 10 page term papers on social justice issues at the end of the year. HA. If they knew that now, though, they’d probably never show up to my class again).

I’m also going to be coaching the Students Run LA group, where we will be training to run a 10k together. They were really excited about, which made me really excited about it too. It will be good to get to know them outside of the classroom.

So there you go. My first week as a real, live teacher.
I’ll post again as soon as I have a free minute. But who knows when that will be…

They met 122%.

Of 22 students, 16 met their individual growth goals, some by 144% (which is why the class average was higher than 100% even though some students didn’t meet their goal). Of the 6 who didn’t meet 100% of their growth goal, 5 of them were above 70% towards meeting it. We almost got all of them there.

Four weeks ago, we had one student who, as his response to the prompt for the 5 paragraph essay, simply wrote: wtf.

Today, he wrote a 5 paragraph essay. And he made a 100 on it.

Four weeks ago, less than half the class even attempted to write a 5 paragraph essay; no one got an A.

Today, 100% of the class completed a 5 paragraph essay. There were multiple grades of 100.

I am absolutely blown away by my students’ ability to learn so much in such a short amount of time.

There are so many other ways I’ve seen them grown; ways that can’t be verbalized. I’ve seen them begin to come to class more consistently, begin to raise their hands and offer their opinions more confidently. I’ve seen them stay after class and ask for extra tutoring, seen them help each other when a classmate gets a wrong answer. They’re ridiculous.

I dare anyone to ever say to my face again that a student doesn’t care about school. I dare them to say that it’s not the teacher’s fault when a student doesn’t learn, that kids can’t behave, that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds can’t achieve as much as their wealthier commonparts.

Come see the students at Hamilton High. You’ll eat your words.

My kids were so successful today. They worked their asses off and it showed when they took their assessments.

Tomorrow I get to tell them how amazing they did. I get to tell them that they reached their goals, that they learned how to write, that they CAN achieve when they work hard.

This experience has been incredible. I am so ready to go to my own school in the fall. I know it will only continue to get harder, but seeing today what it is that I’m working for makes it seem completely worth it.

I thank Jesus everyday for allowing me to be a part of this. This is where He has put me. I’ve never been more sure of anything.

I have 2 weeks off and then I start training to be the only 10th grade English teacher at Media Arts and Entertainment Design High School.

SO. READY.