Fifty new Metro teachers prepare for August at Teach for America training site

Janel Shoun | 

 

 

“It takes passion and commitment (to teach). I just don’t think all those people made that decision as a sophomore in college, and we need to open the doors for them to enter in other ways.”
 
Gov. Phil Bredesen
 
 
 
“As teachers you must learn to teach to (your students’) modality of learning, not your modality of learning.”
 
JoAnn Brannon
MNPS Commissioner
 
 
“Rural and urban areas actually look very much alike… It’s not that the parents don’t care. It’s that the parents don’t know what to do to provide a good education.”
Brad Smith
Executive Director
SCORE
 
When it comes to a quality education, the teacher makes all the difference.
 
That was the message this week at the Teach for America Induction Week held at Lipscomb University, the training site for Nashville’s Teach for America corps.
 
State officials ranging from Gov. Phil Bredesen to a field representative for Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), officials from the Nashville Mayor’s office and the Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, and other education leaders visited campus at duringthe week to address the 50 corps members who went through a week of orientation at Lipscomb and will enter Nashville classrooms this fall.
 
Teach for America recruits top graduates of any discipline from some of the nation’s top universities – such as Harvard, Vanderbilt and Yale -- to pledge to become teachers in urban and rural school districts for at least two years. Nashville Mayor Karl Dean was highly interested in bringing the program to Nashville and led an effort to raise the money needed to establish Teach for America in Nashville.
 
During the week, the corps members were introduced to procedures and operations at Teach for America and the core belief of the organization: the importance of an enthusiastic, diligent teacher, said Lindsay Hughes, managing director of program at Teach for America.
 
“We try to provide a balance of what are the issues in education right now and the issues you will be facing in Nashville education, but also it’s an orientation to what we do and how we work,” said Hughes. “It’s a time to orient to Lipscomb, as well, because this is where they will do so much of their coursework for certification.”
 
Ashley Clark, an Indiana native who graduated from DePauw University, said the Induction Week dinners with Teach for America alumni and the Lipscomb University campus and faculty have made her feel more comfortable with the road ahead.
 
“Lipscomb has really been a part of setting a good foundation,” she said.
 
Clark is a first generation college student who will be teaching at the elementary school level. She wants to help other students who may not have had the advantages she did, she said. Dinners with locally-based Teach for America alumni this week were especially inspiring to her, as she could learn from the experiences of other professionals who had been in her first-year teaching shoes.
 
“It makes me want to inspire my students to dream big,” she said of the Induction Week activities.
 
Earlier this year Lipscomb was selected as the local education partner for the Nashville Teach For America corps. The Nashville corps holds degrees from various academic majors and will begin teaching in selected high-need schools with alternative licenses. In the upcoming school year, full licensure to teach will be earned through classes at Lipscomb.
 
"Lipscomb's College of Education and Teach for America share such similar philosophies about education reform -- and the centrality of the teacher in making reform happen -- that the relationship has been a blessing. We hope to continue this synergy throughout the year and for many years to come," said Candice McQueen, dean of Lipscomb’s College of Education.
 
Bredesen stopped by for the opening dinner to express how happy he is to have the Teach for America corps expanding its services in Tennessee. Teach for America placed a teaching corps in Memphis two years ago.
 
“I’m a real believer that teachers are the key to education reform,” Bredesen told the group. “Schools will succeed or fail based on what happens when a teacher goes into the classroom and closes the door.”
 
In addition to Gov. Bredesen’s visit to campus, the Teach for America Induction Week also featured a panel discussion on “the achievement gap” in low-income schools, featuring panelists from all across the state. The corps members heard from:
  • JoAnn Brannon – Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools Board of Commissioners
  • Margaret Dolan – assistant vice president of community relations, Ingram Industries
  • Marc Hill – chief education officer, Nashville Chamber of Commerce
  • Drew Kim – former policy chief for Gov. Bredesen
  • Candice McQueen – dean of the College of Education, Lipscomb University
  • CesarMuedas – a Metro school parent, past president of a Hispanic student organization
  • Danielle Mezerra – director of the Nashville Mayor’s Office of Children and Youth
  • Michael Schulz – field representative for Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
  • Brad Smith – executive director, Tennessee State Collaborative on Reforming Education (SCORE)
 
Successful schools teaching at-risk students are successful due to high expectations, Dolan told the corps members. One such local school has a “Class of 2018” sign and college banners hanging in the halls. They send a message that great things are expected of the students, she noted.
 
Brannon offered advice for the new teachers, who face the risk of becoming discouraged in their first year. “Don’t fall into the lounge group. The stories in the lounge will devastate you.”
 
A focus on the students, a positive mentality and reliance on strong educational research and techniques can help a teacher overcome the many cultural and environmental obstacles surrounding the kids and lead them to success, the panel told the corps members.
 
Kalee Willingham, a Franklin native and University of Tennessee Knoxville graduate, said she is eager to take on the task. She is excited to be teaching in Nashville, so close to her home, because she wanted to provide the students of Nashville with the same excellent education she had growing up. Ninety percent of her graduating class went to college or the military, she said. “That’s why I want to teach in Metro schools, because they deserve great teachers too,” she said.
 
The Teach for America corps will return to the Lipscomb campus at the end of July to prepare curriculum and materials for the classes they will teach beginning in August.