Tanisha answers the question:
What has the opportunity to COLLABORATE with many people
afforded you?

Classroom Mentors

Classroom Mentors are school district teachers who welcome our student teachers into the daily life of their classrooms and provide guidance and opportunities to learn how to respond to the needs of their students. Because our program focuses on urban schools and schooling, many of our Classroom Mentors are teachers in School District of Philadelphia classrooms and provide a rich and textured introduction to the joys and challenges of teaching.

Joshua Block
High School Social Studies Teacher

Mr. Block has been teaching for six years and has taught in various settings – a charter school in Philadelphia, a suburban school in Pennsylvania, a public school in New York City and now a magnet school in Philadelphia. His varied experiences give him a wide breadth of experiences to draw from when mentoring a student teacher.

Mr. Block decided to go into teaching because, “I truly believe that education can be transformative. Young people force me to reexamine my own reality and help me to view things in new ways. Teaching challenges me as an intellectual and as a person who tries to forge connections with others.” Although he says teaching is challenging he also feels rewarded by the relationships he has with students and the transformations they make throughout an academic year. “I find that students want to be
challenged and want to understand the world they live in on a deeper level. When they are given opportunities to grow intellectually and personally students are thankful and happy to take on the challenge.”

Working with a student teacher has been rewarding for Mr. Block because together he and his student teacher could work as a team to design innovative and creative lessons and work through challenges that may arise. He believes Penn’s program is perfect for committed and motivated students who want to make a difference in urban education.