Dorinda Carter, Program Advisor

FACTS: Dorinda is a third year doctoral student in Learning and Teaching who hails from Decatur, Georgia. She is currently teaching ninth grade Algebra at the Media and Technology Charter High School (MATCH) in Boston. Dorinda has also spent the past two summers teaching in the Cambridge Harvard Summer Academy. She explains the benefits of the summer program, noting "when the interns are placed in an intensive six-week summer teaching component, they have no choice but to examine their social location prior to entering a long-term career in urban teaching." She also serves as a mentor to TEP students, working with them "to develop their teaching skills and grapple with all of the challenging situations that go with first year teaching." The weekly advisory meetings "serve as a place for dialoguing about problems, strategies, and new ideas."

Dorinda is very involved on campus as well - she works with student government at the Graduate School of Education, the Harvard Educational Review, and has been a teaching fellow for the past two years.

THE INSIDE SCOOP: "Spend some time in an urban hangout with urban kids. Spend time in the mall where they hang out or the movie theatre - places where you can get a feel for the youth culture of urban kids. Also, talk to an experienced urban teacher!"

"TEP offers a solid curriculum that serves as a foundation for dialoguing in the advisory meetings. The curriculum also provides flexibility for me to incorporate my own ideas."