i love y’all and I know we all have our own journeys. please don’t come in my mentions trying to argue about KIPP or TFA. who I am today is a result of experience with both. i have friends who exist within both systems.

normalize critique and accountability as part of our work.

i feel like I have to out myself more as a TFA alum than I do as a queer human. the response is usually shock and confusion which seems to be a refusal to acknowledge the nuance in my educational journey and the development of my pedagogy.

not only am I a TFA alum, I am a former staff member and a former member of two different boards. my wife is a TFA alum and a former staff member. we met a TFA institute. our love story was featured in the TFA alumni magazine.

i have a bigger secret though....

it can be possible that TFA’s model helped me get a job as a teacher AND also that the premise and many policies within the organization are harmful to BIPOC communities and our work toward liberation.

two truths can occur at once.

would I have been a dope educator without TFA? definitely, but it’s a part of my story and I believe in honoring the full, complex narratives as we develop our consciousnesses and pedagogy in this work. that’s all.