Bill Jaeger, TAC '03, High School History

Facts:

Bill grew up just outside of Philadelphia, but moved to Colorado Springs for his last 2 years of high school. Then he went to Dartmouth College, where he majored in history and minored in both earth sciences and human development and teaching. His undergraduate education research took him to Bosnia and Herzegovina twice and resulted in three published studies. A difficult summer working as a teacher and counselor in the Boys' and Girls' Clubs of Newark, New Jersey, helped to point him in the direction of teaching in urban public schools.

Bill's motivation in coming to TEP "stemmed from a sense of obligation to myself and to others to make a lasting contribution to society… It is impossible for me to know what I know about the inequality of educational opportunity in this country and do nothing about it. I have been involved, in one way or another, in urban education since my first years at college and have seen the gross inequities that plague the American system. While I often feel that as urban educators we are fighting against one of the symptoms of a more systemic problem, I view education as one of the most powerful tools in the struggle against inequality of opportunity. I see my job as both imparting content knowledge to my students as well as empowering them to use that knowledge in ways that help themselves and our community."

After graduating from TAC in June 2003, Bill began teaching at the Metropolitan Learning Center Magnet School for Global and International Studies in Bloomfield, Connecticut (just north of Hartford). This is a public school that pulls students from six different districts with the intention of breaking down the negative educational effects of residential segregation. In addition to teaching 10th grade Civics and 11th grade World History, Bill also serves as the Model UN advisor, the Students for Social Justice advisor, and a staff member of a program that is creating a leadership academy for the top 30 students in the greater Hartford region. And he's currently studying for a second master's degree in Public Policy, at Trinity College in Hartford, in order to be able to both teach and work on policy issues to effect change at a broader level.

Inside Scoop:

"I chose to attend Harvard's Teacher Education Program not just because I wanted to be a classroom teacher, but also because I wanted to be an education reformer. Schools these days are eager to have teachers who are invested in working out school improvement plans, committed to sharing their pedagogy with others, and educated in reform methods that are grounded in contemporary research."

"In all of our courses, we had important discussions about working with adolescents and the need to develop the types of bonds and connections that make teaching so difficult and so rewarding…. The lessons of connecting across differences and understanding the adolescent mind are incredibly important and practical. Use your advisory groups to have meaningful discussions about how you are using your knowledge of your students to develop your lessons. These opportunities for reflection and discussion about connection with students are built into TEP."

"I felt much better prepared as an educator and reformer than I expected when I entered my full-time teaching position. You will experience the same type of reward if you are truly able to invest in learning as much as you can in your short time in TEP."