“Joanna Belcher (C’03) taught fourth grade at O.S. Hubbard Elementary School in Alum Rock, a school district in East San Jose, Calif., during her time with Teach For America.

Her interest in teaching started at Georgetown, when she taught at an elementary school in southeast Washington during her first year. That led to her having the same group of children from second to fifth grade as part of the Heads Up/AmeriCorps program during her four years at the university. Her commitment didn’t waver after final exams.

“During the summers I lived in the neighborhood where my kids lived, which gave me the opportunity to get to know my students’ families,” she says. “… I still think of my students. My frustration and the demeaning and inequitable education they received at a school that stood within view of the Capitol building propelled me to join Teach For America and remains my motive.”

Belcher notes how her professors, including Porterfield, supported her throughout her Georgetown career.”

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“I love being a Teach for America corps member because I have a built-in support system who understand how difficult yet rewarding this adventure has been,” she said. “I live with two other Newark corps members, so having roommates who understand the time commitment and energy it takes to teach is very comforting.”

Pollack also credits “seeing optimism and potential in my students” with keeping her motivated as a new teacher.

“At SPARK Academy our students know and can tell you that they will be attending college in 2022. There is a true culture built around a love of learning that makes me excited to go into work every day,” she wrote…

“The students need a teacher who is willing to work long hours, plan extensively, give out their cell phone number, support their students inside and outside the classroom and hold them to the highest standards,” she wrote. “Fortunately, I couldn’t see myself working anywhere else.”

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December 15, 2009, 7:01PM

After years of borrowing classroom space and at times operating without desks and chairs, the students of Newark Collegiate Academy cut the ribbon on their new school today, and were welcomed by one of the country’s most influential thinkers.

“You are representing not just the academy, not just Newark, not just America,” Cornel West said today to a roomful of students, teachers, and policy makers. “You are representing the best of the human spirit.”

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Photos | Video

By Caroline Walker

“It would be too easy to make this story about young kids in an under-served community seizing a charter school’s promise for a better future.

Problem is, the story isn’t about youth hardship and resilience, it’s about just plain awesome kids.

The 1,000 young people at the four TEAM Charter Schools in Newark, NJ have opted for a top-of-the-line education that demands more time, energy and brainpower than any public school — and promises tireless support from teachers and faculty in return…”

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Click here for the cutest video you’ve ever seen.  It’s impressive, especially considering that our five year-olds have only been with us for a few weeks.

Click here for the video that was quickly posted on Governor Corzine’s website.

Some quotes from the ceremony:

Governor Corzine (video here): 

“Believe me, if I could have a hundred TEAM Academies from K through 12, you would find Jon Corzine standing next to them, making sure that happens because every child ought to be focused on 2022 or 2023 [the year they will go to college].”

Mayor Booker (video here):

“I want every single parent in our city to have quality options.  It’s not a crazy dream, it’s something that we can do.”

“We are going to get there … to the point where this school is not the exception but the rule.”

Click here for more videos.

As mentioned in the introduction of Gov. Corzine that day, TEAM Schools and many other charter schools serving low-income students in New Jersey benefited tremendously from the Governor’s School Funding Reform Act.  In addition to the extra funding, Commissioner Davy has smoothed the way for high-quality charter schools to grow, granting us expansion from just over 300 students when she came into office, to approval to serve over 2400 students over the next five years.   We’re deeply grateful for their commitment to Newark’s children.

Many thanks to the supporters who made this day possible, and the amazing founding staff and students of SPARK Academy.

“Back to school season is full of preparation for teachers, from organizing lesson plans to prepping classrooms for the year ahead. But this fall, teachers are preparing for a new element in the classroom: the unpredictable threat of a swine flu epidemic.” Click here to read more

10 Things Parents Need to Know About Swine Flu

“Red Flags for H1N1:

• Fast breathing or trouble breathing
• Bluish or gray skin color
• Severe or persistent vomiting
• Not waking up or not interacting
• Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough”

TEAM Schools by the Numbers

Total number of students: 1,062
African-American: 96%
Latino: 4%
Number of alumni: 96
Number of students on waiting list: 2,700
Number of teachers: 110
Total number of staff: 150
Number of new teachers: 40
Number of teaching applicants: 1,000
Total number of schools: 4

Esther Winbush, according to her nominator, Marc Tan:

“Numbers don’t lie: Esther has been able to get her students to succeed more consistently on the New Jersey state tests than any other teacher in the history of TEAM Academy. In the 2005-06 school year, her first at TEAM, her students’ proficiency rate on the New Jersey Grade Eight Proficiency Assessment (GEPA) was at 80% while Newark’s average proficiency rate was 49%. In the 2006-07 school year, 79% of her students were proficient on the GEPA, compared to Newark’s average rate of 48%. Last year, when New Jersey switched to the Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (ASK), 81% of her students were proficient, compared to Newark’s average rate of 66%.

Despite these impressive numbers, it would be a travesty to sum up Esther’s impact on the school with just test scores. When one steps into Esther’s classroom, her high expectations for her students and her commitment to teaching her students to become critical thinkers are immediately evident: one usually finds thirty students one hundred percent engaged in a lab, which they must work in cooperative groups to execute with minimal direct instruction. Esther coaches her students to problem solve independently, and anecdotal evidence from students suggests that her class is one of the hardest, yet most loved, classes that students take during their four years at TEAM Academy. Esther is frequently seen afterschool tutoring individual students, running makeup labs, or coaching students on how to independently take care of the many reptiles that live in her room.”

Ranjana Reddy, according to her school leader, Drew Martin

“First and most importantly Ranjana’s kids LOVE her. For the last two trimesters that we have tracked student survey responses Ranjana’s scores have been off the charts. She had an average of 3.76 (out of 4) on responses by students… Her consistency with dealing with behavior infractions coupled with her incredible skills to manage her class using “soft” moves is unlike any other teacher I’ve ever witnessed. A quick nod of the head, brief eye contact, a swift hand motion, or a gentle hand on the shoulder solves the vast majority of her problems. Ranjana always somehow manages to take the least invasive approach to managing a behavioral situation in her class and rarely, if ever, does it ever escalate… Last year, while designing the new 6th grade curriculum, Ranjana managed to differentiate every lesson for every IEP student in her 5th grade science class. She designed binders for every student to track the objectives that they had mastered. She then came up with a pull out schedule that would make it so that various IEP students would receive individualized instruction at their level twice a week.

For the 3 years that I’ve known her Ranjana has inspired me and every person that has had the good fortune to be within her sphere of influence to want to be better people. Kids, teachers, and school leaders alike, have all been privileged to work with such an impressive and dedicated educator.”