Placement. Check.

One of the things I was most nervous about was my placement and when it would happen. It didn't take too long - I got an offer today at a relatively new elementary school right after the hiring fair. There will be a strong contingent of other corps members coming with me which is really exciting and encouraging. The school is a magnet program (not academic, but thematic). If you want to know more about the school and why it's a bit unique, you can contact me because if it's online, it would probably be easy to figure out.

Overall, Induction is going well. Lots of paperwork, lots of names to learn, but overall pretty enjoyable. It's been hoooot in Nashville and I discovered I had allergies which I never thought I really had before. I have a few days until Institute starts in Atlanta and since I have a placement, I have some time to explore more of the city and the neighborhoods while I apartment hunt.

One of my favorite things so far has been to hear from the Mayor and the Director of Schools. Nashville is undergoing some pretty drastic changes in its education system, and from what I can tell, the Mayor, Director, and school leaders all seem to be on the same page. The changes, like making all ELL students in inclusion classes and creating more magnets to engage students, all seem to be pretty positive. Getting placed in Nashville was a surprise, but in this moment, I couldn't be happier with the way things are turning out.

Graduation, Next Step: Nashville

I graduated last week. It was lovely, but I didn't feel elated or excited. It mostly felt surreal because I felt awful. Once the ceremonies were all over, my body just decided it was time to let go and go ahead and be sick. I didn't get a chance to wish many of my friends farewell, but I hope it means I'll end up being more aggressive about keeping in touch until we see each other again.

I drove down to Nashville for a quick visit immediately after graduation and have decided, given my emotional state (sad about leaving school) and physical state (don't even ask me to describe. Gross), to hold back on forming an initial impression about Nashville. The visit was quick -- put my stuff in storage with fingers crossed I'd remembered everything I would need for Institute was packed accordingly. Drove around to look at different areas of Nashville and make some mental notes for actual apartment hunting. Seeing as I couldn't actually talk and standing up for more than about 5 minutes at a time was a challenge, I put off actual apartment hunting. Probably a good call, but it would have been nice to actually get that out of the way.

I managed to collect a number of school supplies from friends and roommates, including a number of things that would normally have made the trash but might amuse small children. I also have a growing collection of teacher books courtesy of my mother, a veteran K-8 teacher.

I start driving on Saturday morning and will make it to Nashville by Sunday night. Between now and then, I'm letting my body compel me to sleep as much as it likes to -- I have a feeling I'm getting all my sleep for the summer packed into this week.

Nashville on my mind

Nashville. Not that I had to show it to my friends on a map, but it's mostly been this theoretical place where people like country music and stars like Nicole Kidman and Miley Cyrus feel like normal people. I can't imagine anything feeling less like normal than what the people there are going through. While studying for finals, I find myself drifting back to news sources to see if there's more information.

I cannot begin to imagine what this is like

It has given me an acceptable and clear response as to why I do not have a placement yet-- the schools and the city have bigger issues right now than who they will hire for the upcoming school year.

If I'm in the library, I must be working...right?

It’s the last week of classes and concentration, motivation, and stamina are about as hard to find as a camel in Missouri…oh wait, we had that yesterday…To take a page out of the book of a teacher I observed this week, it’s time for a “brain break”.

I wasn’t able to make it down to Nashville for the hiring fair, but did get in another classroom observation on Monday morning thanks to Ms. J. She’s been going there all semester to observe their Special Ed. Teacher. I spent the first part of the morning with the fourth grade teacher and the second half of the morning. The more I do my observations, the more I recognize how unnatural it is for small children to sit, and sit quietly and still, for a majority of the day. I really like that I’m trying to see classes across the range I could be teaching – rather than convincing me that I really want to do X grade or age level, it makes me think that I could do any level that I get placed.

I’ve started to hear that friends in other regions are getting placed. I keep telling myself that it’s early for even them to know and I shouldn’t get worried about it. I like to plan – definitely makes it harder when I don’t know who I’m planning for yet!

Two more days of classes, then two weeks of studying and finals, one week for senior fun, a week back home, and then off to Nashville!

Early to rise makes a soon to be teacher tired and hopefully wise(r)

Last week, I found myself getting out of bed at a time rarely seen by college students except before crashing into bed after an all nighter: 6 am. I’ve yet to pull an all-nighter in college (knock on wood – I still have three or so more weeks to go before I’m completely finished). Rather than being worn out, I was pumped up. I’d arranged with my friend Ms. S, a TFA alum, to observe her first grade class for the day.

Her students began arriving at 7:30 for breakfast. I am all for students starting off the day with breakfast. It’s important fuel for the rest of they day. I, however, could only stare at what the kids had on their plates. It resembled a corn dog, except made with sausage and pancakes. [I’ve also recently become addicted to Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution and kept debating whether this was better, worse, or the same as eating pizza for breakfast]. While the kids were eating, I got a chance to attach faces to the names I’ve been hearing about all year. They were impressed that I got their names so quickly – I didn’t tell them I’ve been coordinating their penpal letters all year and since I went by “Ms. A” all day, they would have no idea that I am one of the college penpals with whom they exchange letters.

I watched as they started the day off with sentences on the board and reviewing some of the reading rules they’ve learned so far. It’s been so long since I really went through that process – in first grade, I read my first chapter book, A Little House in the Big Woods – I had forgotten how hard learning how to read actually is. Soon, however, the kids went off to the computer lab for the reading program all the kids are required to do.

As I learned throughout the day, getting to and from places successfully was one of the biggest challenges. I don’t remember when I last had group trips to the bathroom and unfortunately at this school, the girls and boys restrooms are at opposite ends of the hallway so they can’t go at the same time. While I did my best to observe all day, I cheated and tried to help with hall behavior, mostly at the end of the line with some of the stragglers.

I’ve heard TFAers say “Don’t smile until December” and while I can see why that might be effective for some, I don’t know if I could. I shot a few kids smiles when they were being really good and quiet and they just melted. One boy, M, had been having anger issues all day and finally was doing well in line and inspiring others to do the same. I smiled at him, and remarked how he was doing such a good job. Oops. He got out of line and hugged me, and starting calling “Ms S, Ms S, she gave me a compimint”

Over the course of the day, I picked out a couple favorites. My own penpal, of course, was incredibly sweet, quiet, and good….except for standing on the urinal. I shared a computer with one girl to better understand the program they were working on and she was almost more concerned about MY understanding it than paying attention to the directions! My heart ached for the children who followed all the directions the first time, like one of their cardinal classroom rules, and had to wait for their more disruptive classmates to get themselves in order.

The day ended at four for the kids. Ms S. had to call home for several of the kids who had been particularly disruptive throughout the day. As I’ve done my pre-Institute stuff, I noticed that all the spectacular teachers give out their cell phone numbers and their emails. While I want to do my best, this caught my attention when reading Ms. Lora’s Story. I’ve talked with several TFAers that I know and the consensus was yes, first year they gave out their personal numbers but since then they’ve made calls from school. It was definitely reassuring to hear and see because Ms. Lora’s Story? Makes me feel like a slacker and I haven’t even started yet!

I got home a little before 5, walked into my apartment, sat down on my couch and slept for a solid hour. I know I will get used to that routine at some point, but it made me think about all the teachers I know and appreciate everything they do that no one ever sees.

So thanks to Ms. S for letting me visit! I’m working on scheduling a visit with another friend who will let me observe the zoo that is Middle School for a day.

Praxis scores and potential placements

March Praxis scores came out today – not only did I pass, I did so with flying colors! What a relief. I’d spent the last few weeks wondering if I’d made a mistake not registering for the April date. I did slightly better on Elementary than Middle School Content Knowledge, but regardless, I’m good to go for K-8.

I’ve been operating under the assumption that I would end up teaching smaller children seeing as most elementary schools in Nashville are K-4. However, I got a call from my region last week that implied that might not be the case. The initial message I received, mentioning “updates” and “questions for you” was the start of a bizarre round of phone tag. It took 3 or 4 or 5 tries, but I finally got connected with the staff member. Turns out it was the first talk of placement for me, which was incredibly encouraging! (and also a reminder that I have to keep plugging through the Pre-Institute work). I’m not sure if I would have gotten a heads up about the position if the PD hadn’t given me a call to check if I would be interested as it’s not an elementary position.

“It’s sixth and seventh grade social studies…”

I started cheering in my head. Social studies – right up my alley. I actually came within a class or two of completing the Social Studies certificate at my university. When I came back from abroad to declare it, turns out they’d decided to no longer offer it to undergraduates. I had also ranked working with Middle School higher than Elementary on my application, so that was also exciting”

“and science”

Say what? Erm…interesting. I always preferred math to science, but it’s never ranked up there in what I’ve sought out. In high school, I took the required biology, chemistry, and physics classes and did fine. Not sure how much chemistry I actually took away that year as my wonderfully sweet teacher was entering what was most likely in the early to mid stages of Parkinsons. She left in the middle of a subsequent year because her medication made her see little red men…As an anthropology major, there’s been some basic biology and earth sciences that I’ve covered but it’s not been what I’ve focused on. Now that I’ve got my test scores back, science was my lowest score on the Middle School exam.

I admitted that the Social Studies part made me excited, but that I was probably a little rusty on the Science side of things. While it is exciting to hear about any of the possibilities, I do also want to be open and honest about what I’ll feel prepared to teach. I may or may not even be called by this principal, and even that could take weeks. It’s unfortunate that I can’t make it to Nashville for the April hiring fair, but that’s right in the middle of finals.

The placement process is where I’ve heard the most concerns from TFA critics. As I’m going through it, I don’t know how much insight I can give into how it comes about. It is a relief, however, that the TFA office is coordinating sending out my resume for me. I would have no idea how to go about the process, especially since I’m not in Nashville nor connected with any schools, I would probably have a hard time being aware of vacancies. Now that it’s April, schools are going to start knowing what their vacancies are. Only one person in my corps as far as I know has been placed, and several others have been interviewing – all first round people.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll hear because the school sounds really exciting. In the meantime, I’m getting in contact with my friends in town in TFA to do my school visits – one first grade, and one doing middle school science. Had originally thought I would spend more time with the former and at her school, but will probably now put the same focus into the latter!

Nashville, New Orleans, and Next Steps

I’d been excited about my spring break plans for a while, to head down with the organization I lead on an Alternative Spring Break to New Orleans, but a few days before I left a friend pointed out we’d be hitting Nashville around lunchtime. Having not been to Nashville yet, the thought of getting to spend even a wee bit of time helped me push through the last week of midterms (and turning in my thesis! 105 pages I do not want to see again for a long while)

As it turns out, we had a rough start from the get-go. One of the guys in my car lives in a fraternity house and when he failed to show up at 8am or answer his phone call, it took us another half an hour to get home ready to leave (frat houses are only accessible to those in that frat). He fell back asleep as soon as we got into the car which was unfortunate, because those of us navigating could have used his Illinois knowledge to realize that we were headed in the wrong direction!

We ended up going far enough out of our way so that we hit Nashville at 3ish and did not have enough time to stop at all. Regardless, driving through on 65/24 and seeing the skyline was really the first time that everything felt real. I’m adjusting to feeling like I’ll be a teacher and that, at least, is something I can grasp having grown up around educators my whole life. But Nashville? Probably the most exciting place we passed through on the way down South.

While on Spring Break, I ended up taking my Praxis exams. Not super timing, and as people can tell you, the attractions in New Orleans are really 24/7. We worked all week during the day and Friday was our main day to explore and have fun. Like a dutiful student, however, I made myself go to bed early after some quick review especially since I’d added in extra time to get lost on the way to the University of New Orleans.

The extra review made essentially no difference – turns out I’d borrowed the wrong book! I think it went ok (but will kick myself in the behind if I don’t pass). Except for perhaps the science section, everything was pretty basic. Well, the science section was basic – it’s just been a while since I’ve done any Earth Science types of things.

So I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for the next month until I get my results and my procrastination is becoming more and more dominated by thoughts of Nashville and elementary school classrooms and children….