Teachers to Trainers

Chapter 8

A Step Up: Management and Leadership

Jenifer Calcamuggi

Twenty years ago, there were only two things I aspired to achieve in this world. The first was to become a teacher and the second was to become a great mom. In 1997, at the age of 22, I began my teaching career with 23 first graders in an underprivileged Fort Lauderdale school. To claim it was a challenging way to start my first year of teaching is an understatement. Most of my students lived fatherless in dilapidated apartments within walking distance to the school. They arrived early for breakfast and left late for snacks all provided by our school; this was the easy part. My students did not live in homes with structure or positivity. Many lacked social skills and were performing ...