Why is it that every time I take the time to sit down at my computer to post, I completely draw blank on what might be fun to write/interesting to read? I'm working on it. In the meantime...
"Washington D.C.? Really?"
"You're kidding, right?"
While I've heard it phrased a number of different ways, this is the general reaction that I get from people back home when I tell them what I'm currently doing with my life. I figure I should spend a little time explaining why I'm doing what I'm doing. In case you need an update, I spent my last semester of BYU (Jan-April 2007) in Washington DC doing my student teaching at Duke Ellington School of the Arts. Think of the movie "Step Up", but a slightly more ghetto version. Now, most people thought I was a bit crazy for student teaching here, but just passed it off as another one of my little adventures before my real life started. The shock came when I moved back to DC a month and a half later in hopes of teaching there permanently. Yes, I agree with all of you that teaching is hard enough without adding in the inner-city element. And I also agree that it's a little unusual for a little white girl from Eagle, Idaho to end up teaching in Washington DC. But I've always felt that if I were to teach, I should go to a place where I'm really needed. Not just as a history teacher, but as someone who can meet these kids where they're at, and help them get to where they can/want to be.
Let me introduce you to my world.
www.ellingtonschool.org
Stories will be forthcoming. (And there's no shortage of them, so watch out.)
Oscars Academy Award Best Picture OpEd 2020
4 years ago