10/28/2019 1 Comment Day 3: First Impressions8:00: Alarm Some of the first to wake up in the group rise to find an overcast, slightly chilly Chicago morning, perfect weather for exploring the city and the stories and information it holds about education and academics. A routine morning preparing follows, wondering what our day will bring and what questions will be answered. 9:00 Breakfast We crowd into the kitchen in the townhouse in Old Town, looking to eat to fuel our first full day of programming. Some opt for a hot meal of eggs and meat, whereas others satisfy with cereal. We all prepare sandwiches and packed lunches, as no time or money will permit for a restaurant stop - we have things to do and places to go. 10:50: Commute The group departs from the townhouse into slightly dreary and cold Chicago weather and walks the two blocks to Sedgwick Station, the CTA stop that will take us to our first destination of the day. With the backdrop of the soaring Willis Tower behind us, we board a packed train towards The Loop and disembark at Quincy. We walk to the foot of the Willis Tower, cross the street, and pass through gilded revolving doors to a lobby that provides elevators to the tenth floor, to Teach for America, our first meeting place. 11:30 First Community Partner Meeting; Teach for America and Chicago Teachers’ Union We are greeted with warmth and gratitude by the Teach for America staff, and welcomed into the sprawling office. We take our seats and soon meet Aneesh Sohoni and Josh Anderson ‘04. Both Anderson and Sohoni offer valuable and deep insight into Chicago’s Public Schools (CPS) from the eyes of those who work and worked for Teach for America. Sohoni further describes his role as going from a student in the classroom to an interested college grad to a frontrunner in a widely-recognized organization that serves the education sector. He explains to us about how Teach for America currently supplies 300 teachers to CPS and that there is a base of over 3,000 alumni from Teach for America still in the Chicago area. Further, Anderson and Sohoni comment on the ongoing strike situation with the Chicago Teachers’ Union. They explain that originally the public was led to believe by media sources that the negotiations were going to end with the correct compromises, but it was then announced that the negotiations are still dealing with a 100-million-dollar gap. They both also mentioned that Teach for America never takes positions on the strikes and allows and encourages each individual teacher to choose their own position and action. 12:20: Commute to Primary School Visit We depart soon after the meeting ends, and walk quickly to catch the Red Line to Uptown. We eat on the train and catch cursory glimpses of the illustrious Wrigley Field, finally reaching our destination. A few-blocks walk reveals an older Chicago neighborhood rife with beautiful, antiquated architecture and a plethora of cultures represented. 13:15: Primary School Visit In the afternoon, we stopped by a CPS elementary school, emptied by the ongoing strikes. We initially planned to explore the classes in action and speak with some of the teachers but said teachers were at the strike, so most kids didn’t show up, either. We spoke to a member of the school’s non-union staff (otherwise they’d be at the strike), who did not wish to be identified. They talked about their experiences teaching and working on-the-ground with low-income, minority children with an enormous range of backgrounds, including Puerto Rican immigrants as well as a child who only spoke Russian. We also got to hear about the details about the structure of the public school system, such as principals only getting a high degree of autonomy when they reach high-enough levels of success, measured by attendance, test scores, and GPA. We got a chance to explore the school. Only one class was occupied by children who came to school anyway, but we looked at a still-life of the classrooms and what was discussed immediately before teachers went on strike. On our way out, we stopped to read some of the messages teachers left their students. The experience was quite sobering. 16:00: Commute back to Sedgwick Station
Following a long and eye-opening discussion with an administrator of a local Chicago primary school, we embark on a forty-minute, two-train journey back to our original station, Sedgwick. We silently reflect upon the experiences had today, knowing that this is only our third day of programming and there is so much more to acquire and understand. 16:30: Road to Old Town Residence After a long but fruitful day, we arrived back home, with several hours of rest and reflection ahead of us. Some of us took naps, some worked on homework (annoying!), and some watched a movie. For dinner, we had chicken soup, courtesy of Michelle and Sydney.
1 Comment
Rei
10/30/2019 09:50:13 am
I think it's really great that you're reflecting and learning from the teachers on and not-on strike - I hope you continue to have opportunities to learn more about the ongoing tensions around education in Chicago!
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AuthorsCo-leaders: Qing Huang '22 // Nastasia Klevak '22 |