As he moves around his seventh grade math classroom, Aurum Preparatory Academy (“Aurum Prep”) teacher, Salif Doubare, is crackling with energy. He’s tall, thin, wearing horn-rimmed glasses and a big...
As a sixth-grader, I stood near my new school’s entrance, trying to find solace in a corner. It was my first day attending school in the United States—one of the most terrifying days of my life....
Your first year of teaching isn’t usually filled with victories, but I’ll never forget the brightest moment of mine. It was a Friday in early May, right around state testing time, when a student...
I sat in my third grade classroom staring at the board with panic in my chest. I was worried that the kids would think I was less intelligent because I didn’t know how to pronounce a word. You’d...
We complain about what’s wrong with the public education system all the time. Admittedly, I’m probably on the long list of tough critics. Some of our complaints stem from personal experience—I know...
