Teacher stories related to urban education. This includes interviews with teachers who currently work in cities, as well as interviews where teachers speak to their experience in “urban education” or “urban schools.”
I was sworn into my role on the DC State Board of Education in January 2023. Over the last two years, one key accomplishment has been revising and updating DC’s social studies standards. As a social studies teacher, it was an honor to have a direct say in the revision process and ultimately get a vote to approve the new standards.
From a young age, I loved to read. My mom could be standing right in front of me calling my name and I literally would not hear her because I would be so engrossed in whatever I was reading. I…
Hurricane Katrina, COVID, and the Ten Commandments in New Orleans. My mom has been teaching for fifty years. I grew up with her, literally grading papers and cooking at the same time. Back then, I never wanted to be a…
When I was in first grade or second grade, they pulled me out of the classroom to teach other students how to read. I guess I was a really good reader. I don't remember why they asked me, but they…
When I was going into high school, I wanted to be a lawyer. That was my goal. I got into boarding school and during my freshman year, I played football. At the end of my freshman year, they cut the…
It wasn't my original plan to become a teacher. At first, I didn't know if I was gonna go to college or not, but I ended up getting accepted into three schools. I wanted to do advertising. I was being…
I pretty much always knew I wanted to work with kids because I always found joy in it. I felt I had innate instincts, and I knew how to navigate different situations. When I was seven or eight years old,…
I never thought of becoming a teacher. Early on, I wanted to be a pediatrician, but I was more interested in studying mental health and behavior vs. other sciences, so I thought, ‘Psychology would work.’ I thought it was a…
My mom came to the U.S. from India. She got a scholarship to do her PhD in French at UCLA, and then she adopted me from India when I was six months old. It was a huge family occasion —…
I was born in Brooklyn. I grew up from pre-K to seventh grade in the Bronx — but then they started to raise the rent. The buildings were terrible. My mom told us the rent prices and the conditions of…