who am i?

This is not quite the existential question it seems to be. I'm just a teacher.
Don't you love it when people say that, "just a teacher"?
But that's not quite right. I'm more than "just a teacher."

Taylor Mali says it best:



So, who am I?
I'm Clesta; I'm a student; I'm a teacher; I make a difference.

I am beginning my 5th year teaching in Omaha. I am in the midst of my Master's degree in English with an Advanced Writing Certificate at the University of Nebraska, Omaha.

I don't have all the answers.

In fact, I don't even have all of the questions.

I'm just one person, doing my best to avoid giving up or giving in.

I'm excited to share my thoughts with you and hope that we can enter into dialogue together on some of the issues of educating urban high school students.

While Amy and I are working out our thoughts on this blog, we welcome all questions to our theories, comments, suggestions, anything that you wish to share. As Freire says, "those who authentically commit themselves to the people must re-examine themselves constantly" (60), and as I said before, I don't have all of the answers, but I am willing to dialogue with others to see if we can figure something out.