Today is going to be a chill day because we don't have much planned. We all got to wake up whenever and hang out most of the day. I started reading Work Hard. Be Nice., by Jay Mathews, the story about the founders of KIPP. I've only read the first 60 pages, but so far I've learned a little bit about the first conceptions of KIPP. Both KIPP founders became teachers through Teach for America and found many issues with the American education system. Throughout their two-year TFA commitment, Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin sought to find an effective method of teaching in their difficult placements, but struggled to find help or answers to their problems. For a period of time, both Levin and Feinberg had resigned themselves to be failures as teachers, but after observing a fantastic teacher, adopting some of her methods, and attending a lecture by Rafe Esquith, a fantastic educator with similar ideas, they created a more comprehensive and realistic vision for education.
Levin and Feinberg evolved their visions for fixing education during their experiences with TFA and created KIPP, a charter school that had longer school hours, an extended school year, and a couple Saturdays per month of school. That's where I left off, but there were some vignettes about their experiences in schools as children and as TFA teachers. I'm looking forward to reading more so I can better understand the KIPP method.
We're leaving for a hiking trip, so that's all I can say for now.
- Michelle
No comments:
Post a Comment