About us: we are educators (teachers and support staff) committed to ensuring that the educator voice is heard in the Memphis educational discourse. We care about our city and believe whole heatedly that the educatorvoice is a crucial component to ensuring a bright future for our children.
Our work has been featured on blogs and print journalism including Teacher Pop, The Educators Room, The Score Sheet, Classroon Chronicle, the Huffington Post Teachers Blog, Tennessee Education Report, Eduwonk, EdWeek, The Century Foundation, and the Commercial Appeal.
Individual Writers/Contributors:
Jon Alfuth - Jon teaches high school geometry and policy debate at The Soulsville Charter School. In addition to writing and managing Bluff City Education, he has written for the Huffington Post as a member of the Teach Plus National Editorial board, eduwonk.com as a member of Leadership for Educational Equity and Impatient Optimist. Jon is a Teach for America Alumnus and an alumnus of the La Follette School of Public Affairs at UW-Madison. The views represented here are my own and not representative of any organization with which I am affiliated unless explicitly stated.
Jon is also the primary editor and writer for Bluff City Ed.
Casie Jones – Casie Jones teaches at MLK Transition. In addition to Bluff City Ed, she has contributed to EdWeek and the Commercial Appeal. Casie is also a Teach Plus Policy Fellow alumnus.
Elana Cole – Elana Cole is a former MCS and charter school educator. She taught for 7 years in Memphis and currently works as a teacher coach.
Tamera Malone - Tamera Malone has been a teacher in Memphis for five years. She taught high school special education for the last four years in Shelby County Schools. Tamera currently works as a Lead Education Specialist for Aspire Public Schools in the Achievement School District at Hanley Elementary. Her work on Bluff City Ed has also been featured on the SCORE sheet and Smart City Memphis.
James Aycock – James is currently the Director of Scholar Support at Grizzlies Prep, an all-boys public charter middle school located in downtown Memphis. He previously served as founding Special Education Coordinator with Tennessee’s Achievement School District, after several years as a special educator and baseball coach with Memphis City Schools. His writing has been featured by the Tennessee Department of Education,SCORE, the Tennessee Charter School Center, Think Inclusive, and Special Ed Post.
Ezra Howard – Ezra Howard is an English as a Second Language teacher with Shelby County Schools’ Douglass K8 Optional School. He has been a classroom teacher for three years after three years working in after-school programming for refugee students, two of which with AmeriCorps. In his spare time, he is the assistant coach of the nationally competitive Douglass Chess Team.
We are always looking for new teacher perspectives. Please contact us or follow us if you are interested in contributing! Jump over to our how to contribute page and let us know!
Please also note that the views expressed on this blog are individual and do not represent the views of any other organization unless explicitly stated.