Messenger - Vol. 4, No. 3, Page 13 1995 Top-notch grads: Teach for America Jessica Kinstlinger's workday is rarely easy. A fifth-grade teacher at PS153, a large public school in the Harlem section of New York City, the 1994 Delaware graduate spends much of her day attempting to bring order to a classroom overflowing with behavior problems. The juggling act of disciplining 32 students, teaching many subjects, giving tests, grading papers, writing lesson plans and dealing with school district bureaucracy hasn't been easy for Kinstlinger, whose long-term career plans don't even include teaching. Kinstlinger is one of four recent Delaware graduates currently involved in Teach For America, a program that selects the nation's brightest college graduates and places them as teachers in "under- resourced" urban or rural school districts. Despite the challenges, Kinstlinger says, in many ways, this first year of teaching has been the best of her life. "Every morning when I wake up, I feel like I'm going to do something useful. I feel like I'm making a difference in these kids' lives, and that is very satisfying," says Kinstlinger, who majored in family and community services in the UD's College of Human Resources and plans to earn a master's degree in teaching before pursuing a career in social work. Most Teach For America members did not major in education in college. In fact, many plan to pursue other careers upon completion of their two-year commitment to the program. Teach For America does work to cultivate talented teachers but also seeks to encourage those who choose an alternative career to be advocates of education. Each of the Delaware graduates now involved in the program works in a school district that's struggling financially. Resources are limited. Classrooms are sometimes unruly. Parental involvement and student interest sometimes are lacking. But, they say, they are making a difference. Kisha Limerick, Delaware '93, teaches first grade at the South 17th Street School in Newark, N.J. Her experience has been so positive that she plans to teach in the school again next year, even though she'll have finished her two-year commitment to Teach For America. Teaching at an under-funded school is difficult because resources are limited, but obstacles can be overcome if teachers work hard to excite the children, says Limerick, who majored in educational studies at Delaware. "They are very smart children, and they have the ability to do well. They just need people to believe in them and care about them and take the time to teach them. Everyone says that kids in the inner city can't do this and can't do that, but I see the love they have for learning," she says. "I feel that if I get in there and help them and love them and teach them, my effort will go really far towards helping them get out of the cycle that leaves them at a disadvantage," she says. "They need other African-American role models." Students at PS153 in Harlem never have recess because there is no school yard in which they can play. Kinstlinger's fifth-graders received their first books almost four weeks into the school year. "Compared to other school systems in the state, we don't have the same resources, and it's very frustrating. I'm frustrated for the students," says Danielle Chappell, Delaware '94M, a sixth-grade language arts teacher at Northeast Middle School in Baltimore, Md. To ensure that her students have the proper materials, Chappell spends her own money on teaching supplies as well as on books the children can take home to read. Having first heard about Teach For America as an undergraduate at St. Mary's College in Maryland, she signed on as a corps member after graduating from Delaware with a master's degree in English. She plans to attend law school after completing her two years with Teach For America, and ultimately, she wants to work as an advocate for child education in urban areas. Michele Goldsmith, Delaware '92, is a first-year Teach For America member working with sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade special education students at Elmhurst Middle School in Oakland, Calif. Like Chappell, she too has invested personal money in books and worksheets for the classroom. "I've definitely learned about the ways schools work, the conditions teachers are asked to work under and the conditions kids are asked to go to school under," says Goldsmith, a psychology major at Delaware who went on to earn a master's degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania. As a resource specialist at the middle school, Goldsmith teaches three special education classes per day, monitors the students' regular classes to ensure that their teachers are modifying curriculum to meet their needs and completes all federally required paperwork on each student. "The thing I'm proudest of so far is that I've developed good relationships with the students. I'm proud that they respect me and trust me and that I haven't lowered my expectations of them," Goldsmith says. After being accepted into Teach For America, corps members attend an intense, summer-long, pre-service institute that prepares them for the initial weeks in the classroom. They practice teaching, attend workshops on education-related topics and develop lesson plans in small groups. They also develop a network of friends from whom they draw support. Leigh Anne Grady, Delaware '92, who taught French in rural Louisiana as a Teach For America member from 1992 to 1994, met her fiance there. "Being a teacher isn't hard, but being a good teacher is probably the most difficult job in the world," says Grady, who plans to earn a master's degree in education before heading back to the classroom. "If I wanted an easy job, I wouldn't say I wanted to go into teaching." "The program is doing wonderful things and really making a difference in kids' lives," Kinstlinger says. "That's the bottom line." -Marylee Sauder, Delaware '83