Victoria Rivas

Yo Miss! I Need a Pencil! Victoria Rivas

After a 90-day course to take her from computer programmer to math teacher, Victoria Rivas told her students at one point, "[I] believed I could quit my corporate job and come teach you guys something." However, her inner-city middle school Numeracy students could not multiply or read an analog clock, let alone deal with fractions and percents. Students who failed 6th grade were passed on to 7th grade because there was no room in 6th. As she dealt with pregnant 7th graders, fire drills at twenty below zero, food fights, and police officers dragging students off in handcuffs, the administration was more intent on good behavior than learning. Instead of saving "inner city students from themselves," she had to save her sanity and her self-esteem, and still learn to teach.