My first year as a classroom teacher was very different from what I had been expecting. The school that had hired me was in North Hollywood, its own city in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles. And even though the school was surrounded by well kept homes on tree-lined streets few of the students at my new school lived in them. Instead, my kids lived in the apartments several blocks away on crowded, noisy streets that weren't always safe. It was also my introduction to teaching refugee … [Read more...]