You take a group of kids and you have an exceptional teacher, and you’re going to get one outcome. And you have a less than exceptional teacher and you’re going to get a very, very different outcome. Attracting and keeping talented people is everything in terms of the success of this project.
So often, teachers have to make a choice between serving the population that they most want to help, and working in good schools. And at Meeting Street you don’t have to choose between one or the other.
Typically, in a lot of traditional schools, you are following checklists and guidebooks and going by the manual – what other people say is good for your kids when you’re right in front of your kids, and you know what needs to be done.
I’ve been doing this work for over 15 years and this is the first time in the 15 years that I’ve been able to really intervene where it matters most.
If you’re a great teacher, the thing that’s most important to you is having the space and the environment and the opportunity to do what you know is right for kids.
You’re able to really serve the children who need you most but do it with the amount of support that you deserve and need to do that very well.
I wake up every morning and I’m excited to come to work – just can’t wait to walk through those doors and see my students, my colleagues, my friends.
The principal to the janitor; we’re all on the same team.
So when we step into a meeting together, we put egos and job titles and roles aside, and we roll up our sleeves and say, “What is it going to take to get what we need for our kids?”
Even though it sounds very idealistic, and I think that’s what I thought when I first applied – it’s real.
It really feels like a community here. And we’re not alone in the work that we’re doing.
One of the things that we believe is it is so important to be able to serve the kids at their level. So we have a model where we have two teachers in every classroom and what that does is it really allows us to have a ton of small groupings.
To help you think through lesson plans, to be your cheerleader, or just to give you a different perspective is extremely helpful.
It also allows us to grow a next generation of teachers. So the second teacher in our classroom is a “new to teaching” teacher who is learning from a master, veteran teacher. And so, not only are we growing our kids but we’re also growing the teaching pool of amazing teachers in this country at the same time.
I think it makes teaching much more fun. I love having a friend in there to share the funny things that our kindergarteners say – which there are a lot of.
The kids are phenomenal.
Gosh, they’re special. There’s just something different about them.
That’s what wakes me up and gets me motivated every morning to come to work; the smiles and the joy that those kids bring to this school every morning.
It’s like, you know, gasoline into an engine. It just makes me want to do so much more of this work. To me, change happens one child and one family at a time.
You are changing a life. And it’s one of the most rewarding things you can do.
We found people who are so passionate about this work and that’s contagious. And when you have, you know, five people move here from out-of-state, then five of their friends will come and five of their friends will come.
If I’m a passionate teacher and I’m trying to figure out where am I going to invest all of the emotion and energy, I would say you want to put it to work; one, where it’s needed, and two, where you’re going to be appreciated.
So, we’re looking for teachers who are enormously dedicated.
People who just wake up every single day with that deep passion.
Because they know they can make a difference.
It’s very clear to us that that’s not everybody.
It’s a really hard job but I wouldn’t change it for the world.
This is the best place in the world to work.
I think I’m biased because I think it’s the best work on earth. So, yes it’s hard, but there’s no more rewarding job and place to be on earth.
Because I love those faces more than anything in the world.
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