Teach for America

Teach for America is a non-profit organization, created in 1990, that involves college graduates and professionals teaching in low-income communities for two years. Teach for America relies on their “corps members” that it recruits to carry out its mission to shut the gap of academic accomplishments between children with different socio-economic backgrounds. Corps members do not have to be a certified teacher, however, certified teachers can still apply. Corps members attend a five-week summer session that helps them to prepare for their commitment to the organization. Teach for America provides these teachers to the highest-need schools in hopes to considerably impact the students’ academic accomplishments. More than 17,000 people have joined Teach for America in the past 17 years. More than 5,000 corps members teach in over 1,000 schools in 26 different urban and rural regions, reaching approximately 440,000 students in the United States today. There have been more than three million students impacted by the organization since it started.

Teach for America was founded by Wendy Kopp in 1990. She had the idea to “eliminate educational inequity to the United States,” which was her senior thesis at Princeton University in 1989. At age 21, she raised $2.5 million for beginning funds, hired a “skeleton staff,” and started to build what has now become one of the largest providers of teachers for schools in low-income communities.

The effects of this organization are seen in education today in a big way. This organization has made a huge impact on the lives of children all over the country. By these recent college graduates giving their time, children have considerably improved their academic accomplishments. This organization has provided these children with the education that they deserve. The corps members make a short-term impact by teaching in these schools day to day, and a long-term impact by having made such a difference in the past 17 years that the organization has been running. Teach for America has most certainly been a very positive thing from all aspects since it was created.

Hyperlinks:

http://www.teachforamerica.org/index.htm

http://www.changingthepresent.org/nonprofits/show/99

http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/Press%20Releases/Past%20Releases/teach4amerrel.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teach_for_america

Blog 1

My informal education curriculum has been ongoing since I was at a very young age. I consider all of the things that my parents taught me even before I was enrolled in the school system to be part of my informal education. Even before I was in school, my parents taught me how to talk, walk, and I was even toilet trained. I consider this educational because it is something that is learned. If I hadn’t been taught and shown how to do all of these things, there’s a pretty good chance, I wouldn’t be able to figure them out on my own. Another thing that I would consider to be part of my informal education would be when I volunteered last year at Jordan Acres Elementary School in a kindergarten class. This was not really formal education but I did learn a lot from this experience. Being around all of the children helped me to learn more about how children think, learn, and act in certain situations in the classroom. I think that I have had many different types of informal learning throughout my life. I would consider formal education to be the type of education that takes place in a classroom, like all throughout elementary school, middle school, and high school, and even in college. My friends and family have helped to contribute to my informal education. They have changed my life and showed me many things throughout the years.I would consider informal education to be anything that would be learned outside of the classroom, such as life lessons. I think that in a way, informal education could be more important and effective than some parts of formal thought.

First day

Hello, I'm trying a blog for the first time!