BLOG

Although I wouldn’t discourage faraway teachers from working in a certain community, I personally preferred the community-based approach. I wanted to connect. So, when my charter school was catering to the Shaw neighborhood, I lived walking distance. Later on, I moved to NE (Hechinger Mall area—before H Street was cool) and used to ride the X8 and X2 bus with my students. The early birds were always surprised and a little respectful when they would see me on the bus. And when their peers slid into class late with excuses about the busses being delayed, they were quick to back me up when I said, “No, no – I know that bus; it was running without a problem!” Riding that crazy, smelly bump-mobile brought me a wee bit of street creds and helped them overcome my distinct Harvard accent.And over time, I started to know that R— was R—‘s little sister, and their mom was crazy, but wou