Wow, so much for writing every day. I had NO IDEA how insanely busy I would be during induction week and apparently it only gets worse from here. Tomorrow starts the 5 weeks called institute. The first week will be spent in orientation sessions for our school, lectures on lesson plans and classroom management and knowing TFA, a lot more. Then the following week we will get our students that we will be student teaching. We will be teaching summer school for kids who didn't pass their grade yet. (At the end of the summer schools will pass most students regardless of how prepared they are for the next grade because the pass/fail rates get reported to authorities and reflect upon the school's effectiveness and success. This means it is our job to catch them up to standards or else they may never get on track and keep falling further and further behind their peers. Big task for student teachers, huh?) I'm teaching at Harper-Archer Middle School, but I don't know what subject yet. I thought induction required early mornings and late nights... not even close. My bus leaves for Harper-Archer at 6:25am, and most people say they didn't get to go to sleep until the wee hours of the morning. I'm really nervous, but also really excited to get to student teach and actually see the faces of some of the kids whose lives TFA can change. I'm sure that will boost my drive and my "sipping of the Kool-Aid" times a million!
One cool thing is that a bunch of other corps (Hawaii, New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville and some others) just moved into GA Tech today because, although everyone goes to induction week in their own placement city, there are only a few summer institute locations and Atlanta is one of them. We really lucked out there. We have already become acclimated to our host campus, and to the city somewhat and we didn't have to travel twice (and then they have to travel back). There are hundreds and hundreds of TFA corps members here now!!
Another update, my content placement got changed. I'm no longer teaching special education students, I'm teaching elementary school. I'm pretty excited about the switch because this means I will definitely have the younger children (where I was more likely to have high schoolers as a special ed. teacher) and I'll definitely have my own classroom (where I could have co-taught students in someone else's class room as a special ed. teacher). Some lucky room in some lucky school will be Miss Diven's room... Yay! :)
I won't give all the loooooong details about induction week and everything I learned, but here are some not-so-fun facts that I learned, food for thought about the very REAL achievement gap and disadvantages students of minorities and low income households face, specifically in Atlanta.
1) Many states, including Georgia, decide how many additional jail cells to build each year based on how many third graders can't read. (This is one thing we learned that hit me the hardest. Third graders are essentially, statistically being damned to prison in their futures based on their literacy level as an 8 year old! Their schools, their teachers and "the system" are failing them beyond belief! Someone has to interfere and stop the trend, the vicious cycle that keeps people from achieving. That's where a TFA corps member can completely change lives.)
2.) Nobody cared enough to hold Clayton County school officials accountable for their decisions and let them fly under the radar for so long that the county recently lost accreditation as a school system. High school seniors who worked 12 years to graduate did not receive a high school diploma. Through no fault of their own they will have very very few opportunities for college or even jobs. (This one is probably tied with my previous fact for how sad it made me. It's a largely black, largely poor school system and authorities were apathetic to implement expectations and just plain didn't care.) Many of the school system officials were fired and others worked very hard to gain the county's accreditation back and this year TFA will be placing teachers there for the first time to turn some of those classrooms around.
3.) SAT scores: (And these reflect the highest achieving students in the disadvantaged groups mentioned and a much broader range of students from affluent schools considering who takes the SAT as it is optional.)
3a.) On the 2009 SAT in the US private school students scored an average of 185 points better than their public school peers. Let's do some calculations. I went to a public school and scored a 1290 (pretty good when compared to other students at my high school, but not so hot compared to other kids at Clemson). Had I gone to private school that score (based on averages) could have been a 1475, which is really high and I guarantee I would've gotten a scholarship and not be in debt right now. Wealthy families means more academically advantaged students.
3b.) The average difference between white and black students: 305 points!! More math: If I was an African-American student statistically I would have scored a 985. Latino and hispanic students score an average of 219 points lower than white students. That would not have even gotten me into college... any college.
3c.) But this isn't just about race. You can't "blame" it on something natural like race. Money matters. Students whose families make $100,000-120,000 score 258 points less.
3d.) Educational privilege is real and the cycle is vicious. On the 2009 SAT the difference between students whose parents who graduate from grad school and those whose parents did not graduate high school was 402 points!!!!!! This means that, on average, if your parents succeeded academically at a graduate level you would get the scores to get the scholarships to go to college and those who need the education and the scholarships most don't have nearly as much of a chance.
If you think the difference is easy to fix and make up with hard work, it's not. These students have less resources, less qualified and motivated teachers and often more social challenges and responsibilities outside of school. How can you stay after school for help when your parents don't own a car? How as a child can you improve your literacy when you don't have any books at home? You need motivated, caring and helpful teachers to help.
This isn't meant to make any people of privilege feel guilty and go into defense mode, which I think it often does. It's meant to make people realize how blessed we are and how many advantages many of us have had before we judge others and dismiss the achievement gap.
As for my title, it's a little something that I need to keep reminding myself. At the beginning of this week I honestly had a really bad attitude. I thought the TFA staff expected way too much of us and that this work was just too hard. But the truth is, they hold high expectations for us so that we rise to the occasion and they demand a lot of us because they care about these children more than anything in the world, more than themselves. And by committing to TFA we committed to doing the same... and I'm going to do it. Our lives aren't always about us. Sometimes God calls on us to do greater things. The next two years are about my students.
Well it's time for bed, early morning tomorrow!!
PS: One more thing. I signed a lease for an apartment in Atlanta. I got a fantastic deal on a 2br/2ba apartment in a really nice area just outside of Midtown in Buckhead. PRIME location!!! There are multi-million dollar mansions just down the street, and it's a little greener than the urban environment of Midtown, but still right in the middle of everything. We have HUGE walk-in closets, a patio, a pool, outdoor kitchen and picnic area, dog park, outdoor fireplace and 24 hour gym. It's a fairly new building and I'm living with and near some really awesome fellow TFA corps members. I'm so excited! I move in July 10th! :) Check out my new home!
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