New York Times Profiles Turnaround Teacher Edel Carolan, from P.S. 85 – Great Expectations

In his column, Joe Nocera profiles three teacher and sisters, each with very different teaching experiences, including Edel Carolan, from Turnaround’s partner school, PS 85 Great Expectations. Here is an excerpt:

“When I got them together over the summer, my thought was that it would be interesting to explore the differences between their varied teaching backgrounds. And there were certainly plenty of differences: Denise raved about her job teaching in the charter school, though she also said that the longer school days and the intensity of the place took a toll on her family life. Melinda, who had also taught at a public school in the Bronx before landing her current job in the suburbs, recalled being amazed at the “sense of calm” in the suburban school. “I was shocked,” she said. “I thought ‘Where’s all the action?’ ” Edel talked about how she could never take parental involvement for granted the way her sisters could — but also about how satisfying it was when she had a class full of kids whose parents were invested in their educations.”

Read Joe Nocera’s Three Sisters (Not Chekhov’s) in The New York Times about preparing teachers for urban schools.