When Erika Gallagher walked into her first classroom at Capital High School in Madison, she wasn’t sure she was ready.
“I was very scared of it being my first year as a teacher, because I know the kids at Title I schools have very high needs, and I was worried that as a first-year teacher, I would need more help supporting them than I felt like I should,” she recalled. But what she found was a small, close-knit community and students who quickly let her know she belonged.
One day, after a minor argument between classmates, a student slammed her hands on the table and declared, “I know you’re not talking about my teacher like that.”…