from Teach For
America Teachers
In
recognition of AmeriCorps’ Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of service, Teach For
America corps members joined their AmeriCorps allies and community partners in
service projects across the New Haven community. Below, two teachers reflect on
what the experience meant to them.
Carrie Keena (Connecticut Corps ’13)
Served
at the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program in New Haven
Apart
from working with amazing students, one of my favorite aspects of being a
Connecticut Teach For America corps member is being a part of the community
outside of school.
There's
no greater way to put my work into perspective than to go out and meet people
in the area. In honor of Martin Luther King, a group of us got
together on January 18 in New Haven to distribute VITA Free Tax
Consultation flyers in parts of the community. In addition to being
able to spend quality time with some fellow teachers I hadn't seen
in several months, we met up with New Haven citizens where they live,
exchanging hellos and talking about braving the cold weather together – and about
how nice it is that there is a service to help all of us out when it comes to
those challenging tax forms!
The
experience was one of bonding with the community and of feeling good about what
I am doing. And that's really important when going back into the classroom and
working with our Connecticut citizens first hand.
Lauren Koster (Connecticut Corps ’12)
Served at Yale University’s Peabody Museum of Natural History Events
“Welcome!
Today is a free day! Here’s a program. Come on in!” This was my script as a
greeter at the Yale Peabody Museum on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as an
AmeriCorps volunteer and Teach For America corps member. This day off was not
just a “day on” for the sake of service – every day in the life of an
AmeriCorps member is a day on. There is always more to be done to help our kids
succeed, to close the gap, to get just one step, even a millimeter closer, to the
day when all students have access to an excellent education.
I was
eager to serve. As a Yale alumna, I love heading back to my old stomping
grounds, and I was looking forward to greeting children, and possibly even running
into a few of my own students and their families as they came to the Peabody
for a day of dinosaurs and drum performances, fossils and slam poetry,
butterflies and free books.
As the
day went on, I was struck by how incredibly exuberant everyone was despite a
rather chaotic scene. Yes, the museum was crowded, and no, we could not give
out more than one program per family because we had a limited supply and the
end was in sight. A group of exceptionally enthusiastic three year olds were so
overjoyed at my greeting that they all hugged my legs at the same time and I
was certain that I would either topple over or pass out from the sheer cuteness
of it all (I’m not a kid person so this is really saying something). I heard
gasps and the exclamation, “Wow! Look at that squid hanging from the ceiling!”
from more elementary school kids than I could count.
Seeing
students outside of a classroom – in a completely voluntary learning – is a joy
to teachers. It fills me with pride and hope to witness kids caring about
learning for the sake of learning. I remember growing up with a love of sitting
down with a book to know more about an alluring topic or heading to a museum to
experience said topic first hand. My fear that children’s unquenchable thirst
for knowledge has been satiated by shortcuts and social media was put to rest
that day.
“Welcome!
Come on in! It’s a free day at the Peabody. Enjoy your time here.” What a
glorious day off…
