Mikeie Reiland ’15 currently works with Teach For America at Davidson as the Campus Campaign Associate. He is a sophomore co-captain on the club Ultimate Frisbee team, and will likely declare a French or Spanish major this spring. We sat down with him yesterday to discuss his experience with TFA and our recent visit to Darlington, South Carolina to observe corps members in action.
Mikeie Reiland ’15
How did you become interested in teaching/education?
For the past three summers, I’ve assistant taught at a Spanish camp for Kindergarteners and First Graders at my old school. To be honest, teaching mostly entailed playing kickball, babysitting, popping popcorn, carrying a water cooler, singing songs about “chicas bonitas,” and sprinkling in an occasional “hola” or “¡vamos, chicos!” Nevertheless, I truly enjoyed being around the kids, and helping them learn some basic nouns. When I had the opportunity to work with TFA on campus this year, I was super excited and jumped at the chance.
What surprised you most about Darlington Middle/High School?
I was surprised by the infrastructure and resources that Darlington had in place. Its principal seemed extremely in control, and each classroom had electronic tablet whiteboards and computers. The school as a whole seemed very well run – everything was structured controlled, but not in a way that seemed absurd or overbearing. I wasn’t sure what I thought “educational inequity” looked like, but Darlington definitely wasn’t what I expected. That said, it was still clear that some of the kids were at least a couple of grades behind in terms of their schoolwork, and needed an extra push to keep learning.
How did TFA’s presence seem to affect the goings on at Darlington?
TFA definitely had a huge, powerful, beneficial presence at the school. The administration at Darlington talked about how much they loved their TFA teachers. Given how in control the corps members seemed in the classroom, I completely forgot that they were newly minted teachers, just graduated 22 year olds. They emphasized rules, procedures, and college, and for the most part seemed in complete control of the classroom proceedings. It took TFA corps member Ms. Kivi pulling out a Nalgene covered with Vans stickers and the dreadlocked Mr. Dunham mimicking a Steph Curry jump shot to remind me that these teachers are only a few years older than I am.
Did this classroom visit change your opinion about Teach For America?
The visit definitely helped dispel some unsavory rumors that I’d heard about TFA, which had previously influenced my thinking. I had heard talk that TFA was an elitist country club, a stepping stone resume booster for recent Ivy Leaguers en route to consulting jobs. However, the three TFA corps members that I observed graduated from the University of South Carolina, Mercer, and SUNY-New Paltz – hardly the who’s who of education in terms of name recognition. Furthermore, two of them came from low income backgrounds, and one had actually grown up ten minutes away from Darlington. All three are considering spending longer than the compulsory two year term at Darlington. They all loved what TFA was all about, and didn’t really have any complaints with the organization.
Davidson College Teach For America 