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The Education of Ms. Groves
Chronicling a new teacher's first year
It’s the day before the storm for 21-year-old English teacher Monica Groves.
Monica Groves, first-time teacher: I’ve never before felt so strongly about something. I’m extremely excited about meeting my students. And I haven’t met them yet, but I already love them.
Growing up in a stable middle-class household in Lansing, Michigan, Monica was often the only minority student in her class. Now she’ll be teaching sixth grade in a school that is 99 percent African-American.
Groves: I want my students to see themselves represented in me. But I’ve come from a very privileged background. So in that sense, even though our skin color might be the same, my experiences are drastically different from theirs.
Just a few months ago, Monica was still a student at the University of Virginia. Her father wanted her to go to law school, but Monica joined “Teach for America,” a prestigious education-focused organization that recruits some of the most accomplished college graduates in the country to teach in low-income communities.
Groves: I can’t get up in front of the class room on Monday and be scared and timid. It’s either I’m up there doing it or I’m not.
She has no teaching degree and only five weeks of training, but Monica is confident she is ready to be a leader.
Groves: When they come to my class I’m really going to be setting the tone for them for their middle-school years. And I want that to be a positive tone, I want it be comforting, I want it to be exciting...
Monica has a plan for success. The question is: does she have a plan B?
In the following months, Monica’s authority will be challenged.
And soon she’ll have to choose what kind of a teacher she should be. What kind of a teacher... she can be.
Hoda Kotb, Dateline correspondent: If you had to just give like a one-sentence on what you hope to teach all your kids, what is it?
Groves: That if you push yourself and you strive to be better, each day you’ll become better than you ever thought you could.
It is a lesson Monica herself learned early in life... from her first grade teacher.
Groves: I’ll never forget her: Mrs. Kamminga, first grade. Her demeanor was so supportive. And she made you want to be better. Not everybody can do it, this connection that happens where they can actually inspire you without you knowing.
Kotb: So is your goal to be Mrs. Kamminga - good?
Groves: Yes. Mrs. Kamminga was phenomenal.
To follow in the footsteps of a role model. Easier said than done. Especially given Monica’s ambitious goal: she wants at least 80 percent of her students to get a final class grade of “B” or above. That is double the average of a regular sixth grade class at Monica’s school.
Principal Thomas Kenner will evaluate Monica throughout the school year.
Principal Thomas Kenner: The first thing I told her was, “Don’t lose your enthusiasm and don’t allow anyone to take that away from you.”
August 9th: The first day of school.
Kenner: Kids come in on Monday morning, they’re going to be alert, they’re going to be bright, they’re going to be eager. And they’re also going to size up that teacher.
Groves: Welcome to sixth grade. I want you guys to be excited because I’m very very excited to see you guys. My name is Ms. Groves...
The first period, the first introduction... and there are five more periods and many more students to go— 83 in all!
Monica’s first assignment reflects her high expectations: write a poem, tell me who you are.
As Monica is reading these words, the students who wrote them are just three faces of many. Their paths will invariably cross in ways Monica cannot yet anticipate.
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