What a week it's been.
I've settled into my room and am slowly adjusting to dorm life. Meals in the dining halls, frisbee golf on the lawn, and best of all--a shared room and bathroom. Actually, my roommate is awesome. She's from Oregon too but unfortunately is a Beavers fan. Don't worry--I'm working on that. The food in the halls is actually pretty good, but a little bland for my taste and pretty hit-or-miss. For example, tonight we had "sweetened potatoes" which are not to be mistaken for sweet potatoes. Instead, they seemed to be reheated mashed potatoes with too much butter and possibly sugar, too. Oh, and did I mention that Subway is a major sponsor of TFA? That's right--Subway sandwiches for lunch every day for five weeks. Even the greatest Subway fan in the world might think that's a little much.
We started Teach for America training classes on Monday morning and have been going to them every day this week. I wake up at about 4:30 to shower and get dressed for the day. We're required to dress in business clothes every day, which I actually really like. We eat breakfast and board the big yellow school bus, labeled the "Cool Bus", at 6:30am with coffee in hand and our heavy bags slung over our shoulders. Every morning, we speed through the affluent neighborhood around LMU, but the landscape quickly changes as we move toward our charter high school in South Central LA. The school site is just a short drive from LMU, which is nice, but the landscape is completely different. Instead of being lined with palm trees and gated homes like the area around LMU, our neighborhood is dotted with small, dilapidated houses and illuminated by glaring police lights. The school is right next to the airport, so our classes are frequently interrupted by the loud sound of jets flying directly overhead. When we're outside, the planes are so close to us that we can almost see the passengers.
Our days here in LA are jam-packed with information from teaching literacy to writing lesson plans to building effective classroom management strategies. We are in sessions with our corps group (four TFA corps members who will be teaching in the same room but not at the same time) for 90-minute blocks with five-minute breaks between from 7:00am until 5:00pm. Needless to say, it's a little exhausting.
On Monday, I learned that I'll be teaching remedial 11th grade geometry. Seeing as how I will be teaching fourth and fifth grade in the fall, I was a bit shocked to see my placement but I'm trying to take it all in stride. I'm going to be learning right along with the students, but I don't think that's such a bad thing. They might take comfort in knowing that math wasn't my strong point but I made it through, and so can they.
As much as I try to identify with my students, though, I am also very aware that I will never be able to understand their struggles and their stories. I will have between 20-30 students, many of whom have failed more than one class in the last year. Most importantly, these students come from such diverse backgrounds. Most of their parents or guardians will speak little to no English. Some of them might be in a gang. Some of them might be addicted to one or more substances. Many of them will probably believe that they're not smart after having been broken down by the system for nearly 12 years. But the one thing all these students will have in common? They all want to learn, and I just know that they all can succeed.
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