Robby Chisholm

Ed.M. TEP (TAC) '04

High School History

Facts:

Before coming to TEP, Robby taught fourth grade in Roxbury, Massachusetts, worked for four months in an orphanage in Nicaragua, and then taught at a large public high school in Chicago. However, he had never been formally trained to teach. "I knew that I was doing my students a disservice by subjecting them to the only technique that I knew: chalk and talk." After his fourth year of teaching that way, he knew that he needed to learn more about how to teach in an urban school. But he also wanted to deepen his knowledge in history content. The Teacher Education Program at HGSE seemed to be the perfect fit.

Robby now teaches history at Monument High School in the South Boston Educational Complex--the same school in which he did his TEP student teaching.

Inside Scoop:

"The opportunity to study at Harvard was amazing. The courses at HGSE provided a venue for the kind of dialogue that schools need, but rarely have. To be surrounded by a passionate group of individuals who are committed to teaching in the city is an exhilarating experience. TEP reminded me that I wasn't crazy or misguided or hopelessly idealistic because I chose to teach in an urban school. The people (students, faculty, administrators, and staff) at HGSE reinforced my commitment to teach in the city."

"The people in the cohort were great. Without them, it would have been a much more difficult year. Some of the best learning in TEP comes from the people in the program. Everyone is serious about teaching and learning. That doesn't mean everyone is serious all the time, but the students in TEP do not dismiss teaching as a fallback profession. It sparks great conversation and discovery."

"TEP has had a profound impact on my career and my life. I had been teaching for four years prior to coming to Harvard so I had ample experience in the classroom. However, my teaching was fueled by instinct and enthusiasm, and not by theory and sound pedagogical practice. By bringing together the most current research on teaching and learning and actual classroom practice, TEP gives teachers the opportunity to hone their craft in reality. This balance of theory and practice is integral to learning how to teach. I am seeing now as a first year teacher (for the second time) that TEP has impacted my practice in countless ways. I plan curriculum, implement lessons, and assess student understanding far differently than I had before. I am convinced that TEP had made me a more effective educator. Therefore, I believe I serve my students better than I did previously."

"As a teacher at a Boston public high school, I am interacting with about 120 students every day. I cannot fully describe how intense it is to be involved in the lives of that many teenagers, but it is powerful. My students deal with some tremendous difficulties and tragedies. I cannot undo these events. However, my hope is that I can show that I care about them by providing them with an opportunity to learn in my classroom every single day. In addition, I aim to help them gain a passion for learning that will guide their lives in the future. Finally, I hope I affect the way that my students interact with other human beings. I would like to think that the way we treat each other in our classroom will spill out into the world. "