First day of teaching!

I just finished my first day of teaching and am feeling pretty great overall. 

First, I was mostly well prepared - I'm not sure how I will sustain this level of preparedness every day - seeing how I put hours in over the weekend, but the lesson itself went mostly well.  Obviously there are a lot of ways I want to improve my planning for the future - but what I had planned, went as planned.

Second, we had a small group of 7 mostly well behaved kids.  I feel extremely fortunate.  Some corps members were crying at the end of the day due to behavior management problems.  I just heard one corps member talk about how he broke up a fight in the first 5 minutes of class.

Third, my TFA school director left me a nice note of encouragement after my first lesson: "Thanks for letting me observe Day 1/Lesson 1!  Super impressed!  Your students are really engaged and already mastering being able to describe character traits!  You have a great presence, volume and tone in front of class."

Fourth, my fellow TFA co-teacher sent me the most awesome email I've received since arriving at institute: "You're in the middle of your lesson, but I just saw an awesome moment so I wanted to let you know.  It was great to see your students shout the answer to how you inferred that Sunita was angry.  They had clearly understood the concept and your modeling of it.  You seem to be teaching with a very good pace.  Great job.  I'm excited to be here teaching with you."

And lastly, when we got off the bus after our long first day of teaching, TFA had arranged a party for us on the lawn.  There was music playing, staff members standing around with signs saying "Great job", etc, I got handed a Mr. Freezee ice pop the second I got off the bus and was given a cool TFA 2011 corps member t-shirt. 

Despite having an overall good day, I can't tell you how much this energy and support lifted my mood...perhaps enough to sustain me through another long night of planning for tomorrow!

Institute Week One: I survived

Well, institute is turning out to be as time-consuming and challenging as rumored to be.  This last week has felt like a month and despite there being about a million things to blog about, I have not had time or energy to do so.

Dear readers, of which there potentially 2 of you, please forgive my lack of regular updates.  I can only commit to weekly updates on the weekend from this point forward.

Here's my week one update:

The Schedule
Everyone has to be to their school site by 7am.  Buses to the schools leave between 6:30am and 6:45am depending upon how far away their school is.  Lucky me, my bus leaves at 6:30am on the dot every morning.  Which means I usually shower the night before, set my alarm for 5:30am, am out of my dorm before 6:00am, walk across the street to the dining hall, go through a line where I pack my lunch bag for the day, then go into the dining hall for breakfast, find some food and have about 15 minutes to eat and then walk to the bus at 6:25am.

Fortunately I have not yet had a problem waking up on time.  I think the threat of missing the bus is too great.  All of my suite mates and I have agreed to make sure each other is up before we leave for the day.

I am at a middle school with about 50 other corps members from either Memphis, Atlanta, or Greater New Orleans regions.  Most of the corps members are going to be teaching 8th grade math, about 8 of us are teaching 8th grade reading and 4 are teaching all day 7th grade reading. 

This first week, we spent from 7am - 4:30pm at the school each day in sessions/workshops mostly learning how to lesson plan.  On Wednesday they finished teaching us how to complete our lesson plans and we were expected to turn two rough draft version in by 5am Thursday morning, with a third lesson plan due Friday morning at 5am.  They also introduced us to classroom management (making sure kids behave) and investment (getting kids to care) on Wednesday and Thursday and we had to submit detailed management and investment plans on Friday morning at 5am. 

I understand the rapid pace, because basically they're taking a group of people who have mostly no idea how to teach and getting them ready to stand in front of a classroom in 5 days.  Unfortunately there is no time to process and internalize the great information - rather you just have to do it and do it quickly. 

For example, I strongly believe that classroom management and investment are the most important thing to establish- if the classroom is out of hand, no teaching can occur, and no learning will be done.  Yet, since we had to create an entire classroom management plan and an investment plan only hours after having our first training on it, and since it was due on the same day that we also had to complete our third lesson plan, and since I was already exhausted from staying up late the night before to complete my first two lesson plans, I found myself just completing the template as quickly as possible so that I could get it off my to do list and move on to the next thing so that I could go to sleep, rather than actually putting a lot of care and thought into it. 

Each night this week, my bedtime got pushed back a little bit later.  I feel like I've been managing my time well and using every moment possible to work productively, yet the most sleep I got any night was 6 hours and two nights I stayed up to about 1, giving me a whopping 4.5 hours of sleep.  Even with the lack of sleep, I didn't really finish two of my lesson plans (submitted just bullet points, not full scripts) - but there was no way I was pulling an all nighter.

I don't think I've ever been more happy about a Friday.  The weekends are completely unscheduled - so I get to use the time to catch up on what I didn't do well the week before and get organized/ready for the week to come.  So I have two lesson plans to work on this weekend and have to get prepared to be in front of kids at 8:30am Monday morning.

On Monday morning at 8:30am, a group of four of us (two math and two reading teachers) will present our management and investment plan to our students.  At 9:30am my "collab" reading teacher will present a 10 minute lesson on synonyms and antonyms and then I will lead teach for 60 minutes.  This scares me.  How will I keep a group of 8th graders engaged for a full hour?  I don't know that the lesson I have planned will last that long...and obviously we can't just do nothing with them for 20 minutes. 

So, even though my weekend is unscheduled, it's not exactly "free-time."

The Awesome Gym
After paying for my membership last Sunday evening, I didn't make it back until Friday night.  My goal was to go to the gym at least 4 times a week.  I plan to go again today, Saturday, so at least I will have gone 3 times this week.

I got a job!
Tuesday evening I had a phone interview, and apparently it went well because 30 minutes after the interview I got an offer letter!  I will be teaching 9th grade writing at a small charter school!  I'm extremely excited.  From what I hear, this school is doing great - it has a great student culture, the kids generally perform well on the state tests, my classroom size will be between 20-22 students, I will teach 7 periods and have one period free for planning and all 7 periods will be the exact same lesson.  My school year is 2 weeks longer than the public school year, though, so my imagined summer time off has gone from 2.5 months (what kids get in CA), to 2 months (what kids get at Memphis city schools) to 1.5 months (what kids get at my charter school).  Also my school day is longer - my working hours are 7:15-5pm every day, except Wednesdays when we have staff meeting...which I assume means I have to stay longer.  I think the actual classes are from 7:30 to 4:30. 

My students
I actually got to interact with students this week!  We administered a reading assessment to all the reading students and will re-administer again at the end of the 4 weeks of teaching so that we can quantify their progress.  These kids are in summer school because they failed their 8th grade reading and/or math test, and need to pass it in order to move on to high school. 

The first two kids I assessed are reading at a 3rd grade level.  Both of these kids will be in my class.  One of them was too cool to actually look me in the eyes and would only give me one word answers when I tried to engage him in conversation. 

The third student I assessed took an hour to read a 10 page book, he was really pouring over it and trying to fill out his during reading worksheet accurately.  Afterwards when I asked him to tell me in his own words a summary of what happened, he gave me a bunch of disjointed details - some of which never actually happened in the book.  This happened with many of the students...they would tell me details from the book that weren't actually in the book.  At least this student seemed to really try and he was reading at a 6th grade level.   

The fourth girl I assessed was pregnant.  8th grade.

I think the previous statement deserves its own paragraph.  She had a very gentle demeanor and read at a 6th grade level.  About half way through she stopped trying though.  I'm not convinced she actually read the entire 10 page book.  In her defense, some of these books were beyond boring.

The last student I assessed had a full inside forearm tattoo.  8th grade. 

He was a great reader (comparatively) - 7th grade level.  He tried hard on his assessment, but had a little bit of difficulty with the comprehension.  He also had a conversation with me.  Of all the students, he was the only one who answered "yes" when I asked him if he liked to read. 

When I told my CMA (corps member advisor) about one of the students being pregnant, she said that in her first year one of her students confided in her that she lost her virginity the night before.  My CMA taught 6th grade.

Atlanta Arrival!

One of my corps members said that he thinks the only other organization in America that might be run more efficiently than TFA is the military.  I don't think the military is quite as efficient.  TFA is a well oiled machine. 

My institute is being held on the lovely Georgia Tech campus. 

We arrived Sunday afternoon around 3pm, were met by a well marked table of staff directing us to parking and bright signs leading the way to registration.  At registrations, we're giving an list of stations that we are supposed to circle through to pick up information, room keys, make optional purchases, etc.  At each station, they have our information organized alphabetically and while one person finds our specific data, another person puts a time-stamps us out on our agenda for that station. 

Our dorm rooms are divine compared to our Induction accommodations.  We each have our own rooms and share a bathroom with only one other person.  I get to eat a buffet every day, which is actually very exciting for me.  And to combat all of my buffet eating, I have joined their awesome gym, which was built for the 1996 summer olympics.

The gym has two pools, a huge floor of machines (as evidenced by the picture above), a rock climbing wall, a jacuzzi, racquet ball courts, and a water slide.  Yes, a water slide. 

After spending about 1 hour on this campus, I was hit with a clearer vision of where I personally fit into the achievement gap that we've been discussing for the past week.  The Georgia Tech campus is larger, more historical, more beautiful, more prestigious than any other campus I've spent time at before.  I knew such places existed, obviously, but to be here in person almost felt like landing in foreign country.  It's so different that the type of school I attended.  Which makes me wonder, why didn't I attend a university like this?  Or at least apply to attend one?  What type of learning opportunities are available to students here that were not available to me at my small state school?  I know that it's possible to have a great education at a small school and a poor education at an ivy league school, depending upon how you apply yourself - but the potential for the best education which leads to best life opportunities seems greater at a more prestigious school.   

There are a number of personal considerations for why I didn't apply to any college outside of the one in my home town: 1) boyfriend in home town, 2) laziness, 3) poor grades from first post-secondary option year.  But there are also a number of other potential other socioeconomic considerations: 1) cost of attendance, 2) not understanding what type of financial aid options might be available, 3) no guidance/help with application process, 4) no push from parents to attend a specific type of school - the fact that I was going to college at all was an accomplishment in their eyes.  I never thought about it during my college years, but I was in fact the first person in my family to graduate from a 4-year college.  My parents were not in a position to navigate me through the college application process, logistically or financially.  

I don't hold any grudge against my parents or the world about my college years in any way.  Clearly, if I had my sh*t together, I could've easily sought out guidance/help needed to overcome relatively small hurdles to at least consider attending a different school; but I didn't, and without it being instilled in me by someone else as a priority - that opportunity passed by without question until today. 

Actually, I am grateful to my parents for a middle class upbringing, placing an emphasis on education, and driving me all over to different extra-curricular, leadership building activities throughout my childhood.  But what about the children whose parents aren't making an income above the poverty line, who don't have a car to take them to extra-curricular activities, who work long hours and aren't home to help them with homework after school - how many opportunities pass these kids by without anyone questioning it?
 

End of Induction

Today is the last day of Induction!  Tomorrow, we are leaving for Institute in Atlanta.  Over the course of the last week we've done a lot of "reflecting" throughout learning.  The format goes like this:

1. Introduce topic
2. Individual reflection/journaling on pre-topic knowledge/opinions
3. Mini-group discussion with people sitting next to you about pre-topic opinions
4. Whole group share on pre-topic opinions
5. Get the TFA schpeel on said topic
6. Individual reflection/journaling on TFA schpeel
7. Mini-group discussion on TFA schpeel
8. Whole group share on TFA schpeel
9. Conclusion/debrief (which may or may not include individual reflection/journaling, mini-group discussion, and whole group share depending upon time available)

Today, we took an hour to reflect on the week as a whole.  It was actually quite beneficial, to summarize for myself what happened over the past week - since so much happened so quickly.

Essentially, everything we've done over the past week has focused on developing the "character" (leadership, perseverance, relentless work, etc)  of a TFA teacher, next week we will get the detail of how to actually do the teaching, and the week following we begin teaching summer school students!

It seems like I've been part of this education "movement" forever - not just seven days.  I wrote that I'm starting to feel a little disconnected from the rest of the world since all I've done is eat, sleep, breathe TFA for a week.  It's hard for me to remember what it was like to be worried about other things besides children getting a quality education.

My sanity grounding goals for institute are to exercise 3-4 times a week for at least 30 minutes, do something fun every weekend, and perhaps I should add to the list - have conversations with x-number of non-TFA people once a week.

The Holding Pen

Today was supposed to be a housing/logistics day.  We were going to have a few meetings in the morning, with most of the afternoon free to search the city for housing.  Since I already have housing, I planned to spend the day putting together furniture and packing for institute.  However, at 9am this morning, we were notified of an unexpected hiring fair that would take place on campus that afternoon from 11-4pm for some positions...and amazingly English was one of them!

We were told upfront that not all of us would be hired, nor were they guaranteeing that all of us would be interviewed, but that we should be dressed and ready should our names come up.

I am bad a estimating numbers, but there were probably 100 of us waiting around to be called.  One by one, names were called.  The process, we were told initially, would be completely random - but I think it was based more likely on which candidates the principals were interested in meeting.  Within the hour someone had returned having been hired!  As the day went on more names were called and some came back with feedback that the principal was going to meet with others before making a decision - while others came back with a job.

I saw one girl who I know is an English placement get called - she came back without being directly hired.  The principal told her they were planning to interview a few people...so I thought I would be up soon.  Shortly after, another girl came back and announced that she was hired by that same principal for their one available high school English position.  Another girl got placed in a middle school English position.  A lot of Math teachers got placed as well as some elementary teachers. 

Still, my name was not called.  At 3:00, they came in and told us that if we were assigned to teach English and our names had not been called, we could leave.

I won't lie, sitting around for 4 hours without getting an interview was not fun.  If I had the time or energy, I might worry about why my resume didn't grab a hiring principal's attention...but I don't so instead I'll just believe that everything works out for the best.

Induction Day 3

After a day of sitting in a lecture hall, we got to get out and see the community today.  TFA is a two-year commitment, and today all of the teachers who just finished their first year of teaching joined us for community service day.  There were a number of great volunteer activities to sign up for in advance, and I chose to learn about an organization called "Bridges."

www.bridgesusa.org

This organization provides leadership training to Memphis youth through "experiential learning."  For example, our experiential learning task today was to try to build a puzzle out of wood planks in the fastest time possible.  We had a group of 25 people and everyone had their own approach on what to do and how to do it best.  It was interesting trying to get everyone on the same page.  There were a number of different opinions and you could see some people trying to assert themselves more fully, others disengaging, others sitting back and observing.  After making a few attempts, we debriefed and discussed what we learned and how we can apply the lessons from this activity to teaching in the classroom.  It's a very cool organization and I would love to be involved with them and get my students involved with them this coming year.

In the evening we attended the National Civil Rights Museum.  The museum is at the site of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination, the Lorraine Hotel on Mulberry Street in Memphis, TN.

I went to this museum when I visited Memphis last March, before I knew if I would be accepted into a teaching program and definitely before I knew I would be in Memphis.  

I'm embarrassed to say that I didn't even know MLK was shot in Memphis and then to find myself standing in the location where that occurred surprisingly emotional for me.  The first time I came, I was struck by how recent all of these events occurred.  In my parents' lifetimes.  In the lifetimes of men and women who are still of working age - people I have worked with who may have personally been denied the ability to sit at the same tables in restaurants or use the same restrooms as other people due to the color of their skin.  

I wanted to ask my parents, who would've been young adults at the time - what were you doing when all of this was going on?  They was not dinner table discussion about any of this in my home growing up.  I suspect that being white and not in the south, these events didn't affect them very much.  

During my second visit tonight, I was struck by how young the leaders of the 1960s civil rights movement were.  Young college students joined protests, sit-ins, and freedom rides, left school to help get black citizens registered to vote, and came as unpaid volunteers to teach at Freedom Schools set up to give black citizens the basic education.  MLK himself was only in his early 20s when he began working in the civil rights movement, and died before he reached the age of 40.


Both times, I come away inspired by all of those who came before me and motivated to continue their work towards equality in this country.  It's so easy to see how working in education to close the "achievement gap" between the wealthy and the poor is part of a larger historical movement.  It also humbles me to read about so many others who took much greater risks than I am taking now.  The risks of my plight were such things as not living in the same city as some of my friends, leaving a city I love, not being able to take improv classes, and receiving a smaller salary, where as their risks were being disowned by friends and family, arrest, beatings, and murder.  Their bravery gives me courage and reminds me that I can do even more.

Also, I walked to the museum tonight.  It is literally only 2 blocks from where I now call home.



 

Induction Day 1

Today we checked in to University of Memphis for Induction.
 
Induction is a one week introduction to Memphis and TFA core values...not to be confused with Institute, where we learn about teaching.

Living in the dorm is less glamorous than you might imagine.  The room is small, I share a bathroom with 4 others and you can hear everything that happens in the hallway.  I am lucky - my roommate is staying with her boyfriend tonight so I have the place to myself :) 

This is definitely the college experience I never had.

Today we ate lunch in the university cafeteria, played team building games, and then had a welcome dinner in a high school gymnasium.  The food is also less glamorous than you might imagine.  The vegetarian dinner option was a cold pasta salad.

At the dinner, I saw my first live step show - performed by a team from a local middle school and heard four corps members/alumni speak about some of the challenges and successes they've had in the classroom. 

This was the best part of the day for me.  Their stories were very inspirational, and made me see what an amazing difference one great teacher can make.  I’m excited for the opportunity.

I also met a corps member who taught English this past year and was surplussed – so he may end up teaching middle school math next year.  He told me that English teachers got hit the hardest, so while he doesn’t want to discourage me from thinking that I’ll get an English placement, he says not to get too married to the idea.  I kind of had that assumption going in.  If I get a different placement, I hope for middle school math.

It’s been fun being social and meeting people after 5 days of moving/keeping to myself.  It’s very cool that we have such a large group of interesting people to get to know and work with over the next couple of years.


 And, yes...I am officially staying at a school that flies a confederate flag.  It's weird.