Step 1: Summer Recap

The Teacher Education Program at the University of Pennsylvania begins during the summertime, and, in fact, the theory-rich course load and emphasis on a term-long neighborhood study really appealed to the geography major in me (human geography- don't quiz me on my countries/states/capitals, please!). The truth is, however, that so much has happened since my classmates and I arrived on campus at the beginning of July, that for this recap I'm digging into old emails I sent to friends and family as well as journals I wrote for myself to give you a sense of how I was feeling about my summer experience in the moment. Here are some highlights:

July 1: 
I have been bubbling for weeks/months about this program, but today brought all of my excitement to the surface. Two particularly poignant moments included: 1) listening to Dean Grossman speak about teacher professionalism and this program's commitment to the development of a community of professional educators; and 2) hearing a student from last year's cohort describe what makes my the school I will be placed in this summer and fall so special. Both of these really touched on the reasons I am here and made me more sure than ever about this being the right choice for my next career step. 

July 16:
I just re-discovered that awesome cheap food cookbook PDF you shared with me and made the peanut noodles tonight! I think it will become a staple in my grad school life...Speaking of, it's so fun to be a student again, but it's also really hard to adjust back to it! I stayed up waaaay past my bedtime every night this week working - [...] This week I wrote a research paper on Kevin Henkes (do you remember Chrysanthemum?)-pretty fun to have an excuse to read picture books again! And I already love the first graders who I am working with.

Philadelphia is fantastic- a few friends came into town for my birthday and we spent the weekend exploring a farmer's market, brewery, beer garden and ice cream parlor (because how else do you explore but through food and drink?!) I could do without the humidity and mosquitoes, but otherwise no complaints!

Birthday adventure with friends old and new: Yards Brewery with college friends and my new roommate, a student in the TEP High School Cohort!

August 11:
Sorry I've been so slow to respond! I am already almost done with my first (mini) term so things have been pretty fast and intense. The program, and my life here in general, are really good though!! I'm actually liking Philadelphia itself even more than I expected - it's a really approachable size, super affordable, and just overall has a great vibe to it. I am really excited about the public school I'm student teaching in this fall, which is both a fantastic place AND only about a 10 minute walk from my apartment. 

As I hope these blurbs convey, over the summer I worked hard in three courses (School and Society, Literature for Children and Adolescents, and Child Development), and began a school placement, too. But I still had a chance to settle in to the city, meet new people, and enjoy Philadelphia in the summertime.

Starting block

Returning to school after three years in the working world, I was quickly reminded of the countless introductions that students do with each other and with their professors at the beginning of every term. As the Teacher Education Program began in the summer, I have now had two terms of practice introducing myself in more than 10 classes and workshops (more on term and class structure later), so let's see how succinctly I can give you the basics of who I am and what brought me here. You'll have lots of time to get to know me throughout this blog (and will soon learn that concise isn't exactly a word that describes me)!

• I'm Rachel, and I have to admit I have never loved my name more than when the first graders in my current student-teaching placement raise their hands and say "Teacher Rachel..."(far more on them soon because, let's be real, they're the real stars of the story of this year). 
• I am brand new to Philly, and moved here primarily because of this program. I could not be happier with my new home, though! Before Philadelphia, I was living in San Francisco, but grew up between coasts; I was born in New York City, started elementary school in Washington state, finished high school in California, and went to college in New Hampshire. 
• I have long held a passion for reducing the discrepancies in access to high-quality education across our country, and after college I went to work for the Center for Education Policy at a national research institute where I explored a wide variety of approaches to improving teaching and learning from a “birds-eye” persepctive. While I found the work intellectually stimulating, I was also repeatedly drawn closer to the classroom. As a researcher, my favorite days were those that I spent in schools, interviewing teachers and observing their classes, and at the same time, I felt critical of my own attempts to evaluate their work without personal experience in the field. After these site visits, I sat in my office wishing to return to the energy of campus and feeling the urge to be part of a school team. 
• I have always loved working with children and have found that interacting with them as a mentor, coach, caregiver, tutor and more has energized me unlike anything else; so while I view teaching among the most challenging professions, I also see it as endlessly rewarding. 

 

So that's a little bit about me and my path to Penn, but why this program on the other side of the country? I promise I did not just close my eyes and pick one! In fact, I quickly fell for TEP when I read about it online, and my excitement only grew as I read last year's GA's blog, and spoke to faculty and other students about their perspectives on the program. The primary thing that hooked me was Penn GSE's commitment to urban education and social justice, which aligns with my vision of teachers as activists toward education equity. I also really value how TEP promotes a goal of training teachers as intellectuals and academic professionals, encouraging graduate students to use their elementary school classrooms as a source of data that they can analyze in order to constantly improve upon their practice. Ultimately, I believe that the top-quality courses, mentoring, and scaffolded student teaching experiences that comprise the program will set me up well for a career as an effective teacher and educational leader. 

I selected the early elementary education program both because I find great joy in working with young children and because I believe that the "compounding interest" of early education is tremendous. I want to create a safe and caring classroom that can set students up to see themselves as capable and enthusiastic learners that will motivate them throughout their educational pursuit, and I believe TEP's philosophy on teaching will help me to do this. 

Hopefully by this point you're still with me and will read on to learn about my classes, my student-teaching placement(s), and my adventures in this new city. I can't promise that every entry will be enthralling, but I will promise that each will be an honest reflection on my experience here. Through this blog I hope to give you enough of a taste of my life such that you might test out for yourself whether you, too, could find a place here in the TEP cohort.

‘Til next time,
R