South Central

After many delays and ticket issues, I finally arrived in Los Angeles (even though one of my bags decided to stay in Salt Lake City). It feels really good to be here, amongst all these people who want to make a difference in the lives of our nation's youth.

Right now, though, it feels a bit like freshman year all over again. The Loyola Marymount campus is absolutely beautiful. It sits atop a giant bluff overlooking the city to one side and the ocean to the other. Once arriving, I checked in and received my 615-page summer assignment guide. I walked around campus like a lost freshman looking for my dorm. These students have it good, though. Not only is their campus beautiful, with leafy palms swaying in the perfect summer sky, but their dorms are huge too! I'm sharing a suite-style room with three other special education teachers who will be teaching in the Bay Area next fall. One of them, Ally, just served in the Peace Corps in Benin and went to Ghana on multiple occasions. It's great to have commonalities with people right off the bat!

We are all teaching at a charter high school in South Central LA. In fact, all the Institute TFA teachers are teaching at charter schools because the LA Unified School District recently cut all the TFA positions and summer school programs for lack of funding. I think it's such a shame that students (especially those already suffering) are the ones who suffer at the hand of our current budget crisis. That's why I'm here: to try to lessen that suffering and give every student a chance to succeed.

Needless to say, it'll be an adventure, but one I'm looking forward to. I just hope they don't ask me to teach math!

Looking Forward

As part of Teach for America's Pre-Institute work (AKA-homework), we were asked to write a final short essay describing what we hoped our children and their families would say at the end of the first year. Today, on the eve of my first day at Institute, I thought I'd share my response.

I applied to be a part of Teach for America for one reason: to provide a voice for the 13 million children living in poverty who would otherwise be victims to the shortcomings of our nation’s educational system. The achievement gap is our nation’s greatest injustice, and I want to be part of eliminating this unnecessary problem. I want my students to look at me as a role model, and I hope that they’ll ask me to write them letters of recommendation for those college applications they never thought they’d fill out. I want to give students the support and tools to reach their goals, and I hope that my students and their families both will say that I did.

I know that this task will come with challenges. Two years is a short time to make a big difference, but I’ve learned that with a positive attitude and tangible goals, anything is possible. In my academic, personal and professional lives, I have always set goals and worked diligently toward them until they are met. I enjoy challenges in meeting these goals, and I believe that there are limitless ways to overcome obstacles with the right mindset and attitude. In the face of adversity, an optimistic approach is often the most important tool, and I try to personify this attitude every day. I appreciate and respect the feedback of my supervisors, and I enjoy learning from my peers and collaborating with them on innovative ideas and projects. My hope is that these strengths will allow me to become a valuable, influential and dependable teacher to my colleagues, students, and students’ parents. I hope to learn as much from my students and my colleagues as they do from me.

To me, teaching is not only about making sure students pass their state-administered tests – it’s something much bigger than that. Teaching is about showing students how to collaborate effectively with their peers; it’s about teaching them to take pride in their work; it’s about challenging them to step outside their comfort zone. Most of all, teaching is about inspiring today’s youth to become tomorrow’s leaders, regardless of economic circumstance. If my students and their families told me that I had inspired them or their student in any of these ways, I would absolutely consider my career as a teacher an enormous success. Of course, I understand that there is always room to improve as a teacher. However, if one student improves under my instruction, that’s one student who would have been left behind if it had not been for my relentless pursuit of results, constant evaluations, self-development, motivation, and overall investment in students’ success.

I am eager to become a part of the important changes happening in America’s public schools together with Teach for America, and I can’t wait to get the ball rolling!

Induction Week

I signed my contract today, so I guess that makes it official. I felt like such a grown-up, reading about benefits and retirement plans and the pros and cons of joining a union. These were all things that seemed so distant until now: induction week.

Induction week is essentially a preview of my experience in the Bay Area. Teach for America booked the beautiful Double Tree Hotel on the Berkeley Marina for all of its 2009 Bay Area corps members in hopes that we'd all get to know each other and get a lot of work done, too. My time here has mostly consisted of paperwork, but I've made a few new friends too. There are a lot of special education teachers, and we have a really great team leader which I think will make the next two years a lot of fun. As an added bonus, she's from Oregon!

While I don't have much to say other than how excited I am to begin my adventure, I will begin with a funny little story for your enjoyment. My week began on Monday morning with a delayed flight and a slight financial crisis. However, I finally boarded a tiny plane with my two giant suitcases (49 pounds each, thank you) all packed for a summer of learning. I arrived at SFO and boarded a shuttle to our beautiful hotel in Berkeley with three other corps members. We scooted across the Bay Bridge and were finally at the hotel. After a long day and a complicated check in process, I finally got to my room (on the fourth floor of the furthest building away from the lobby...). All I wanted to do was collapse, but upon my entrance I was greeted by a slightly strange sight. While my roommate wasn't there, there were boxers, swim trunks, socks, huge basketball shoes and ties spread out all over the bed. There was a razor perched on the edge of the sink and men's AXE body spray on the counter. While I didn't want to be judgmental or presumptuous, I suspected that I might be in a room with a guy. Sure enough, moments later, a handsome (but too short for my taste) man walked in. Surprised, he eyed the purse, bra and women's running shorts spread across my bed and then saw me, already on the phone with the front desk. While Jason was a terrific guy, I decided that he probably didn't need to sleep in the bed next to me--after all, we'd just met! As it turns out, the front desk had failed to note my gender on my room assignment sheet and instead based my assignment off my first name only. As it turns out, the exact same thing happened to another girl, Tyson, on the floor below me. It turned out to be an easy swap, and Tyson and I get along great. I have to say, it was an interesting first few hours here at induction!

I hope everyone is doing well, and I can't wait to update you about all my many adventures soon.

A Year in the Trenches..

In what small amount of free time I've had lately, I've been flying through the new book by Donna Foote about four TFA corps members in East LA. I encourage you all to do the same. Also, check out her interesting NPR interview.

It's quite eye-opening and makes both more excited and more nervous for the next two years.

Discussing TFA in the Ticket Line

Yesterday, I went to the post office to send off a few final graduation invitations. An older woman behind me in line noticed the invitations and, after congratulating me, asked the inevitable question: "So, what's next?"

The very moment that "Teach for America" passed my lips, this woman interrupted me with "Oh, bless your heart," and hugged me close to her chest. She told me that people like me made her have hope in the future and that with the dedication of leaders like me, we just might make it after all.

Wow. I'm already making people think about the ways we're doing things in this world and I haven't even officially started yet...I think I'm going to like this job.