ACE Teaching Fellows Blog

AmeriCorps Helps Students Find Optimism for American Dream

AmeriCorps members come to stand with those they aim to serve because we are all part of the promise of America. Anyone who knows the story of the glittering Jay...

Seeking Truth and Seeking God in Middle School Science

I want my students to dare to trust that if they seek, they will indeed find, to recognize that they are a part of something bigger than themselves, and to...

Overcoming the Fear of Being More Than a Teacher

If I were to tell you that my first ever coaching experience amounted to only a single goal throughout an entire soccer season, you might question whether the effort was...

3 Ways Being a First-Year ACE Teacher is Like Running an Ultramarathon

Teaching is full of moments of pure ecstatic joy when you are channeling the very spirit of Steinbeck, and other moments of complete exhaustion when you might as well be...

How I've Learned to Deal with the Threat of Failure

Do I still get nervous in new social situations? Do I still worry about how others will react to what I do and say? Of course! But alongside my nervousness...

To Be Seen, To Be Heard

Confounding as it was to comprehend, he had somehow chosen me, his newest teacher, with whom to be most vulnerably honest-to admit to the pain he had not allowed himself...

Remember, Christ Was a Teenager Too

A week before the first day of school, I had no choice but to accept that this year, I'd be teaching fifty-seven seventh grade students. When I was first told...

Did You Hear That? A Day in the 4th Grade

From breakfast to dinner, Kevin Casey of ACE 20 reflects on the experiences (and sounds) of a day in the life of an elementary school teacher. 6:12 a.m. After dragging...

The Decision More Important Than Your Career

Be deliberate. Ask questions about who you will be working with and working for before worrying about what it is you will be doing. The people you surround yourself with...

Seeing Christ in Others: How Three Relationships Taught Me More About Jesus

When I needed strength, Christ responded through the people around me-just as he has throughout my time in Brownsville. At times, it can be difficult to remember to find Christ...