T is for Teaching (Pt. 2)

There was a time in my life when I believed that I would eventually become a strict adherent to the Gregorian calendar.  I was sure that, as an adult, my “new year” would begin on January 1 and that winter would serve as the beginning and conclusion to the year.  Despite my best efforts, however, my new year still begins as summer is turning into fall.  And it still revolves around, and is defined by, learning.

Shortly after I graduated on May 16, 2010, I drove cross-country from Richmond, Virginia to San Jose, California, where I began my tenure as a Teach For America corps member in the Bay Area.  Fifteen months later, I am camped out in my classroom at Rocketship Mateo Sheedy Elementary School, a public charter school in downtown San Jose, unpacking number lines and read alouds and setting my vision for another tremendous year with 89 beautiful, intelligent, challenging, hilarious, insightful third graders.

I teach at a high performing, low income school in the Rocketship Education charter network, an organization dedicated to “eliminating the achievement gap in our lifetimes.”  And that’s quite a commitment- with millions of elementary-aged students nationwide receiving a sub-par education from failing schools, we’ve got our work cut out for us.  I will be the first to admit that education was not my passion and that teaching was never my chosen profession, but my fortunate placement and my tremendous students have altered my world in a big way.  Now, I’m here to stay.  As I enter my second year, I am part of the network’s leadership development program, in which I will train to become a principal and open my own Rocketship school.  (This is not where I thought my Government and Middle Eastern Studies majors would lead, but who’s complaining?)

And still, I can’t help but think that it was ultimately William and Mary that brought me this far.  As freshmen moved in for orientation last week, I found myself nostalgic on Twitter, reading tweets from new students, administrators, and alumni who all verbalized what I was feeling: There’s no place like home.  There’s no place like the College.  The palpable sense of community, the commitment to service, the encouragement in learning, the opportunities for leadership, the tradition of revolution are unmatched.  …and these are the principles I seek to instill in my students, William & Mary Class of 2025.

Go Tribe,

Bailey