Here is a video I made for your viewing pleasure! Thanks for visiting!

Help Me Spread Some Love!

If you are visiting my blog today, I am hoping that you have made the decision to help me provide my seniors with a tool that they will certainly need to be successful in college. If not, welcome anyway and I hope you will consider making a donation to help me raise money to buy Dell laptops for my 17 seniors. Below you will find the e-mail I sent out.

If you are ready to make that donation, THANK YOU SO MUCH! You are helping out a really great group of students, who have become a huge part of my life. They have taught me many things and I can only pray that I actually did a good job teaching them. To your left, you will find that "DONATE" button I was talking about. Just press that button and the process is as easy as 1-2-3. You do not have to create a paypal account to donate, so it is even easier and not time consuming at all.

Words cannot begin to express how much I appreciate you for what you are about to do. My students will be equally as appreciative as I am. If this does happen, I will be presenting these laptops to them in Late March. Thanks again!

Love,

Cornell

E-mail Message:

Dear Family,

No matter how frustrated I get with being a teacher; I would be lying if I said that this experience has not been a blessing. As you know, I currently live in Atlanta teaching 9th and 12th grade English with Teach for America. I was originally hired to teach only 9th grade, but my principal asked me to take on 17 seniors. At first, I was very nervous. I was not sure if I could make a connection with them, since I was coming in as they were preparing leaving. Little did I know, these 17 students would become more than just my students, but brothers and sisters.

When they first arrived, only 4 of them wanted to go to college. The rest of them had given up on the idea of succeeding in higher education. However, through my own college experiences and some tough love, I was able to spice up their dream of what life after high school could look like for them. Throughout the year, I have gotten into yelling fits with some of my seniors, I have twisted arms (literally), and even cried with some of them. We have created a bond with each other that many of them say they will never forget. They have worked so hard this year and I want to surprise them with something that will help them in college.

After thinking about the perfect gift, I finally realized the best gift would be a laptop. It would assure that they had something to type papers with and do research. I did some research of my own and found the perfect laptop to fit their needs; the Dell Inspiron 15. You are probably wondering where you come in on this project. I am hoping that you will be able to assist me in this endeavor by donating what ever you can to provide them with a tool that will help them succeed in college. I know that many of us are working hard to save money, but I promise that your donation to this endeavor will really help out this group of seniors with so much potential.

Below is a link to my blog, where you will find a button to make a donation. You will also find some math that I did to calculate how much I will need to make this become a reality. ANYTHING you can donate will be greatly appreciated! Also, attached to this e-mail you will find the specs of the laptop that has been chosen. Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions you may have and feel free to share this with any of your friends. The more people I can get, the better chance I have of helping my students in a big way.

All my love,

Cornell F. Woodson

Math

$399.00 - Laptop

$151.00 - taxes/laptop

______

$550.00

17

X

________

$9350.00

Thoughts Running Through My Head

Wow! Last night I stayed up until 2 a.m. to watch the second showing of Black in America 2. It was very eye opening, inspiring, heart wrenching, and beautiful all at the same time. It highlighted two particular people who work with children and aim to inspire them to achieve all that they can. One person was Chris Rock's wife who started a program that takes 30 kids to South Africa for community service. Her goal is to show them they have something to give to the world. They met with South African children who were left alone after their parents died and some who were infected with AIDS.

You could see through each child's eyes, who came on the trip, that their mind was thinking a million things at once. They had never seen anything like it before and most likely had a great impact on them. Chris Rock's wife hoped that seeing those things would inspire them to achieve in school and become our next civic leaders. When they got back to the US she met with each child after 6 months. The girls' grades had improved, but the boys grades did not. Statistics show that girls have better grades and even go to college more often. I thought to myself, why? Why is this a fact? How do we get to our young men? What about the trip to South Africa that worked for the girls, but not for the boys?

The second person was a principal at a prep school in Connecticut. He founded this school and graduates 100% of his students and 100% of those students go to college. AMAZING! His secret, tough love. He did not let students make excuses, but he respected them. He made them feel like they were superstars. He expected the best from them and in return they expected the best from themselves. This summer I watched and listened to so many veteran teachers disrespect their students and talk about them like they were scum. It hurt to hear some of the things they said about their students.

Most people who become teachers want to create our next leaders and inspire kids to want more for themselves; I wonder where that went. I know it can be hard to be compassionate toward someone who does not want to listen and continues to make bad decisions, but that is exactly what these kids are use to. They are use to people giving up on them and casting them off as dead weight. The painful part is that the students know this and they continue to make bad decisions, because no one is holding them to high expectations.

I think back to my own middle school and high school education. When I misbehaved my teachers kept on me and never let off. Back then I wondered why they kept picking on me, but now I know that they cared. I tell my siblings all the time, when they say I keep picking on them, that when I stop picking on you about your grades then you should be upset. I wonder if all America's children had someone who never ever let them settle for less would we have an education gap. I hope that during my time teaching that I can inspire my students, empower my students, and help them see themselves in a different light. It really brings tears to my eyes to think about all the potential out their waiting for someone to help them find it.

Black in America 2

I had to come back and post about this episode of "Your Money" on CNN. The topic was the difference in pay for white americans, black americans, and latino americans. They didn't share anything I did not already know. For every dollar that white americans make, black americans make 7 cents, latino americans make 9 cents.

Then the conversation took a turn to discuss more about young African-American children. They referred to President Obama's speech at the NAACP Centennial. Now I really like President Obama; I was there in Pennsylvania helping his campaign and I cried when they announced that he won. However, something he did not say during his speech did not sit well with me. President Obama said that our young people need to desire more than just lives as rappers and basketball players. I felt he placed the blame solely on the children and their parents. However, we live in a society that plays up the beauty of being those things.

Our media fills our children's mind with this beautiful picture of what it means to be a basketball player and a rapper. You get money, diamonds, women, power, and respect. Where is the example that there is more to life than just being a rapper or basketball player, because our children aren't seeing it. The host of the show stated that despite the lack of resources that urban children have compared to their white counterparts, they must keep working hard. They can't settle for less and I agree. I have always told my siblings that no matter what happens, they must continue to fight for success.

However, that is the problem. Why do they have to fight to be successful? They live in a system that is set up to make them fail. So they can fight and fight, but they still live in this system. So I was sad that President Obama and the host not talk about that component of the problem that feeds into the educational and financial gap that exist. We keep placing band aids on these issues and not getting to the deeply rooted issues. I hope President Obama does recognize that, despite his historic victory. This is going to be a great year!

After Institute and Settling In...

Two post in one day! I have a lot of catching up to do. Well institute is over and I am sad, but happy. I have moved into my new apartment and bought a brand new car. You can see the pictures above. I am still trying to figure out how to make the pictures upload perfectly and not in the hot mess you see right now.

Anyway, I love my apartment! It is perfect and is exactly what I wanted. My car is amazing and I am just happy to have one. You really cannot get around in Atlanta without a vehicle. I have no furniture, but that will come soon enough. I have a pool, fitness center (I go everyday now!), and a gated parking garage. I pay a good amount per month, but it is worth it.

I am settling in quite nicely too. I went and switched my driver's license, so now I am a real Georgia resident. I changed my address for all my bills, bank cards, magazines, etc. Tomorrow I am going to go visit a church so I can find my church home. That is something that has been missing from life. Before college, I was very involved in the church, but never found one in Ithaca. I am sure I will not have a problem here in Atlanta! I am really excited too, because I think that having a church family will really be good for me.

Well I have to run, but I will really try and post more often. Check out the pictures of my car and apartment!

During Institute: What You Missed...

Post Introduction

It has been a loooong time since I have updated my blog and I am sorry. You will notice that I have changed the name. I felt that my experiences really encompass more than just my TFA experience, but really life after college. I am now what I have always pretended to be, a young professional. This is a title that I wanted for quite some time and now the day has come. It is pretty exciting!

During Institute

There is far to much to write about in terms of my experience at institute this summer for Teach For America. I witnessed a lot of things and learned a lot of things. The experience had its ups and downs, but in the end it was all for my kids and the impact I will have on them. I will, however, highlight a few things that really struck a nerve.

Diversity

For an organization who strives to close the achievement gap and embraces diversity within its organization, it does not do a good job at preparing people for working and living in a diverse environment. I do love TFA's definition of diversity, because it is one that includes all facets of diversity. However, when I walk around and hear my white peers ask why do we care about race or why is everyone making such a big deal about it, then the diversity workshops are not being successful. Before we can teach people how to handle situations concerning diversity, they need to understand the fundamental definitions and history. I will stop there, because I could on and on.

Teaching Urban Children

One thing I tried making very clear to my white peers or even African-American people who do not understand what it means to grow up in an urban environment is that they will be teaching a different type of student. While I believe that they are highly capable of achieving at any level and making it to college; I also believe that in order to get to urban children we need to use different tactics.

Urban children, from my experience, are use to aggressive tactics in terms of behavior. Now I am not saying beat them because their parents do, but when a child from an urban environment acts up giving him or her a strike, writing their name on the board, giving them their first warning does not work on them. My best and most successful teachers, when I was younger, were the ones who talk to me with urgency and dominance. My teachers did not give out strikes or warnings, they said sit down or I will sit you down. They made a connection between my bad behavior and consequences that I would not want. They gave positive reinforcement even when I misbehaved. Overall, they were aggressive. They showed me that they were in charge and establish respect. However, they established respect not through intimidation, but through realness.

Urban Teachers

You have your good teachers who gain respect from their students by being real, but being aggressive. Those teachers respect their students and know their boundaries when it comes to using more aggressive tactics. Then you have teachers who use their power over students to demoralize them. They gain their respect through intimidation. They use violence to gain respect and play my horse is bigger than your horse with their students. I witness this so many times this summer and it made me sick!

Students act up and teachers scream and yell at the top of their lungs to the point that teachers in other classrooms cannot concentrate on teaching. They grip students by their necks and shirts to show their control. What is that really doing? Nothing but teaching students that when someone does not listen to you that you can use force and violence to show them who is boss. It shows them that when home is not a safe space, that school isn't either. I heard many of the students this summer say, " I am not coming back."

I helped raise three kids. I use to scream and yell when they misbehaved and never gave them a chance to speak on their own behalf. Where did I learn this from? My parents of course! That is what they did, so that's how I dealt with my own situations. However, I took a class on conflict mediation in college. It taught me that the best thing to do in a conflict is listen and validate. You do not have to agree, but people want to be heard.

So I used this tactic on my siblings. I started listening to them and asking them why they did this or said that. I noticed that it made them think and then we could have a conversation about why they were asked to do something or why they should not have done what they did. It became a learning opportunity instead of a fight for who can be the loudest. Now when my siblings do something bad, my parents call me to deal with it. My siblings call me when they have trouble, because they know I will listen. This same thing can be done in the classroom, in my opinion.

There are so many other things, but these were the topics that I talked about the most this summer. These are the things that really boiled my blood. Please feel free to comment and disagree with me. I would love to hear other thoughts.

Getting Close to Summer Institute

I have graduated from college with a B.S. in Communication Management and Design, which is still hard to believe. Soon I will be teaching summer school in Atlanta to prepare me for two years of teaching in my own classroom. I have been reading the big box of material that my region has sent out to prepare us for an intense summer. I have heard from many of the other corp members before me that the summer institute is exhausting, but life changing.

They all felt that it more than prepared them for what they would face in their classrooms, but they would never go through it again....ahhhhh! I know this summer will be filled with workshops, teaching, and lesson planning. I have been told that we will be up until the late hours of the night. Not to mention that I still need to find a house or apartment and a car. Oy! Nonetheless, this is great. I am experiencing real life at its finest.

Well, I leave Ithaca, NY for good on June 2nd. I imagine that once institute starts I will be blogging more often and with more insight into this experience. Until then, make good decisions!