Teach for America: Tri-state Connections
My trip to Memphis, Clarksdale and New Orleans stems from a relatives involvement with Teach for America. My sister Tara Porfirio was recently accepted into the ranks of Teach for America and began her summer institute training in Texas and then was placed in Clarksdale, Mississippi, in the Delta region. Histrically known as an impoverished area, Tara has been working with a number of other young professionals to better the educational settings of these rural and urban school districts.
Through her summer training Tara was able to connect with a number of other educators from around our nation and has been successful in creating a web of contacts near the Gulf.
With my research focus primarily dealing with developing societies and cultures this area of the United States seemed a perfect match for me to continue making contacts and collect quantitative and (more likely) qualitative data through interactions and interviews. I am excited to see how students engage with educational practices and settings and more specifically, technology within the classroom. While doing research in South Africa I was under the impression that technology integration would deal with things like laptops, projectors, smart-boards, computer labs, online resources, printers, copiers, televisions, radios, and a number of other 21st century teaching modalities. And although many of the “white” districts were able to provide these resources, the majority were lucky to even produce pens, paper and often times desks and electricity.
I look forward to heading south and getting a better perspective on our education system outside of New York State.
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