Education 'Peace Corps' Expanding Area Presence

"Going in, I didn't really know if I wanted to stay in teaching for the long term," said Lora, now principal at a Portland, Ore., middle school. "But it was so incredibly moving. The kids will blow you away with what they are able to accomplish. After a couple of years of doing that in the inner city of Houston, I realized this was something I was cut out to do."

Dawn Jacobs, a University of Connecticut graduate, said she had been planning to attend graduate school for speech pathology when a professor suggested she join Teach for America. The thought of being a special education teacher struck a chord with Jacobs: She had been a special education student, growing up in Boston.

"I press on my students even more: 'You can achieve. You may have to do it in a different way, but you can achieve,' " she said. "I know what it's like to struggle academically."

Jacobs, as a child, had difficulties with reading, attention focus and organizational issues, she said. As a teacher, in her second year of the program, she finds herself "hyper-organized," she said, with her 11 Langdon students, who have a range of learning disabilities.

"It's really important to press on my kids, 'There's a box for your math stuff, a box for your reading stuff.' That's what I needed when I was growing up, so that's what I like to give them. I love it every time they say, 'Miss Jacobs, we're moving and improving.' "

Jacobs said the support from Teach for America has been invaluable. "I have a network of other special ed teachers going through it with me," she said. "We swap strategies, things we're doing. I can dial up my program director on her cellphone with any question. They have been there for me all along."

In Jacobs's first year at Langdon, behavior management was her biggest challenge, she said, and her mentors advised her on reward strategies and other approaches.

"One of the kindergartners came to my classroom, and he really was very busy. That was the nice way they put it," she said, referring to other teachers. Jacob helped the young boy harness his energy, giving him timed tasks and rewards -- work on reading for 15 minutes, get a sticker, work on math for 15 minutes, get a sticker -- and his behavior improved rapidly.

"It's wonderful to see him," she said. "You wonder: Is that the same child? He's getting his work done."

And Jacobs feels as if she is making a difference.

"There are so many positive, incredible things," she said, "in the trenches of the classroom."