User:Nanirolls

My Contributions|My Blog|del.cio.us|Flickr

The Story
I read Savage Inequalities in 11th grade, on the recommendation of my social studies teacher, Mr. Milligan. The following summer, I read Lives on the Boundary for Dr. Benton's class. These two books together awakened my calling to be a teacher. I declared my major as English Education upon arriving at NYU in 1997, and worked in various schools and Head Starts throughout my undergraduate years. Upon graduating in 2001, I was hired as an English teacher at Gompers High School and I've been there ever since!

What I Teach
At Gompers, I teach 9th grade English, one section of Ramp-Up and three sections of E1 (Freshman English). My students are mostly male and Spanish. Male students, in the context of a traditional English class, present a unique challenge, one with which I've struggled since I began teaching. My practice has been slowly evolving from putting together whatever lessons look good at the moment, with no real cohesive theme from September to June, to a more reflective pratice in which I try to return to the same themes, again and again, through a variety of texts and writing assignments, in the vein of Understanding by Design.

Elsewhere
Gompers eChalk Site NYCWP Site