After finishing my time with Teach for America in Chicago this past June, I've had some time to process what exactly happened over the past two years. While I did move on from teaching, it is safe to say that TFA created an awareness in me of just how valuable learning from other people really can be (especially those with backgrounds different from my own). I have always been interested in how the design of buildings shapes our lives (hence starting architecture school), but it wasn't really until I had experienced a community different than that which I had always known did I really understand how pivotal these perspectives could be. It took me a long time as a teacher to stop being angry with my students themselves, and start realizing that it is really the brokenness of Chicago that is fueling the anger and frustration of that student who doesn't give a shit about the math homework I just assigned. Maybe an extended way to say it, but we all need a little perspective.
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