Monthly Archives: October 2010

Meet Our Tutor: Keenan

By Mark Hecker | October 29, 2010

I designed Reach with students like Keenan in mind. School is not his first priority, and his failure to perform to his potential academically has been a source of frustration for many of his teachers. Keenan has always seemed satisfied to sit passively in the back of our training sessions, rarely speaking unless called upon. [...]

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Meet Our Tutor: Crystal

By Mark Hecker | October 26, 2010

Many of you know about Reach’s alternating schedule. On Mondays and Wednesdays, our tutors are trained. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, they tutor elementary school students. While Crystal does relatively well during our training sessions, she truly shines as a tutor. When things get a little too chaotic in the classroom, I find Crystal – and [...]

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Quick Hits!

By Mark Hecker | October 22, 2010

It’s been a busy week, so today’s blog is just a couple quick hits. 1) Each of our tutoring sessions occurs in Ms. Berg’s classroom. Ms. Berg is in her first year at Hyde, and, like me, she moved to DC from North Carolina. She’s often present during our sessions, and she’s become one of [...]

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Reciprocity of Accountability

By Mark Hecker | October 18, 2010

$880. At the end of the first quarter, each of Reach’s twenty-two tutors will be eligible for a bonus of up to $40 based on grades in academic courses. The bonus, worth ten times their GPA on a 4.0 scale, is meant to motivate the students to make every effort to improve in-school performance. Even [...]

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Reach @ Hyde Leadership

By Mark Hecker | October 12, 2010
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Waiting for Superman

By Mark Hecker | October 11, 2010

I’m not a documentarian. So, it’s certainly possible that I lack a true understanding of the purpose of Waiting for Superman, the recently released film getting so much attention. The film is effective in painting a frightening portrait of the state of American public schools. However, in my opinion, the simplicity with which this portrait [...]

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Highs & Lows

By Mark Hecker | October 8, 2010

I imagined Reach’s launch for months. During planning stages, it’s easy to imagine those perfect days when everything seems to go right – the days when it all becomes worthwhile. It’s also easy to imagine worst case scenarios – the days when no one shows up. Reality persists: most days exist in the middle. Most [...]

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Meet Our Student: Bilal

By Mark Hecker | October 1, 2010

Bilal is a fantastic kid. Perhaps a little too energetic, he was very excited to get to work with some “big kids.” In fact, on the first day, while doing some get-to-know-you activities, Bilal was the one that turned to me and said, “when can we read?!” On our first day of tutoring, we read [...]

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