Back to business....

Well I haven't posted in a while because I had two weeks off from all things Teach for America. I went home to visit family and friends in Baltimore. I bought a new car while I was home!!! SO exciting!! It's a pretty little "Radiant Red" Toyota Matrix. Four doors that actually work, a really spacious hatchback, black interior and air conditioning! Hallelujah!! I love love love it!
Besides my trip to Baltimore, I have been hauling butt trying to get moved into my new apartment. It's a nice place, I am ready to be settled in and finished up. I will try to post pictures of my new ride and my new crib when I get some decent ones.
I started a portion of Teach for America training called "Round 0" tonight. Basically I will be planning a big goal for my classroom as well as creating my unit plans and assessments for my first units. I also spoke to my principal today for the first time since our interview, which was exciting! She actually put me on speakerphone and I "met" several other important people at the school. (though I don't remember exactly who or why, haha.) I can't wait to get into my classroom!! :)

Oops...

Oops, in my last post I focused on my move and totally skipped over my last day of school. It was actually pretty fun! I made a "Who Wants to be a Math-ionairre?" game that the kids got into. Seeing them enjoy it was really gratifying. We had pizza that they earned for good behavior, and just had an all-around good ending to our summer. I wrote them little cards that they seemed to really appreciate and gave them my e-mail address. I'm worried that some of the girls have anger problems that are going to land them in serious trouble one day, so I told them that if they were ever angry enough at someone that they were tempted to make some bad choices, just go somewhere where you can write me an e-mail about what's happening and let all your anger out. I've done that before and it's really therapeutic. haha. My girl student who tends to play the role of the tough, takes no crap girl teared up when she gave me a hug goodbye. That was really touching. Then I teared up, so I had to just get out of their fast because TFA has enabled me to go from normal human being to emotional wreck in about 2 seconds flat. But yeah, that was the basics of my last day, all of my students wanted to give me a hug goodbye, which meant a lot. So they did like me after all. :)

I'm a survivor!

Institute is over!! Yay!! I survived!! Well it actually has been for a few days now. Our last day was Friday. But right after that the weekend got kind of crazy with moving shenanigans. As soon as I got back from school on Friday I packed up my room at GA Teach and made the trek back to Clemson. I was really surprised at how emotional I got as soon as I got into campus. Smelling the distinct Clemson smell and seeing familiar sights, but knowing that I was only here to pack my things up for good, that I wasn't coming back this time, was really overwhelming. But anyway, I spent all of Saturday loading up the U-Haul with all of my furniture and then on Sunday morning Ben and I drove down to Atlanta. (I never thought I would survive driving a U-Haul through Atlanta, so there's another accomplishment!) With the help of my new roomie, we immediately started unpacking and then after a nap returned the U-Haul and drove Ben's car back to Clemson. Needless to say, it was a long, tiring weekend. I mostly just chilled out yesterday, I wasn't feeling very well. I packed a few things last night and hopefully I'll be able to work hard and finish most of it today. I'm planning on heading back down to Atlanta tomorrow, and spending a few days unpacking and hanging out by the pool. Then I fly up to visit the fam in Baltimore on Friday. Pretty excited about going home, plus I only bought a one-way ticket because I'm pretty sure I'm going to come back with a new car!! Woo hoo!! The Beretta has served me well since high school, but Atlanta is no place to be pushing your luck with an aging car. Well, off to be productive!!

Beginning of the end...

Well, not entirely. This is the beginning of the end of Institute (me teaching summer school). This is my last week of in-the-classroom training and the last week that I'll be teaching my students at Harper Archer. But then I begin the REAL DEAL: my classroom in a school where I'll be teaching for two years. There will be a class of students who will be "Ms. Diven's class". I don't know who they are, what school they're in or even what grade they are in, but I bet they are awesome. As far as my students now, they have had some challenges this summer in meeting their growth goals, but they have all made progress in both their math skills and their levels of self-confidence, which is really inspiring. Algebra skills aren't what's going to make a difference in their lives, let's be honest. But, I'd like to think that the values that I've worked hard to expose them to in 4 short weeks will have a lasting impact. They take their big test tomorrow that determines whether they move on to the 9th grade, so I hope that I have prepared them well. I found out today when I had an almost empty classroom that literally half of my students were suspended last Friday and weren't allowed to return today for review for tomorrow's huge test. Not ideal to say the least. Not to mention, these are students who are always very well behaved and from what I hear some were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's frustrating, but that's out of my control now. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow after the test and Thursday and Friday because those will be times when we get to have some (educational) fun with the kids! I have a sweet inspirational video for them to watch and discuss tomorrow afternoon, Slope Bingo planned for Thursday and "Who Wants to be a Math-ionairre?" for Friday. Then we're finished and I get two weeks off! Woo hoo!

On a more personal life topic, I'll be visiting Baltimore in my time off! I fly home Friday the 16th with a one-way ticket because hopefully I'll be coming back to ATL with a new car! The Beretta has served me well for the last 4 years, but Atlanta is no place to gamble with whether your car is going to start. Like most things in my life right now it will be bitter sweet I'm sure. I also had to buy a new laptop because my old one decided to kick the bucket at a REALLY inconvenient time. Life is expensive, especially when you are an unpaid summer school teacher. I will be accepting donations. lol. Speaking of expensive, I move into my apartment this weekend! Woot woot!

Well, I think that's all I've got for now. More updates soon! :)

I can't BELIEVE it's ALMOST OVER!

Well, I only have one more week left of teaching 8th grade math at Harper Archer. It's so crazy how the time flew by even if the days seemed to last forever. We barely have any classes next week due to the holiday and testing. I just planned a closing lesson for my kids and it's pretty bitter sweet. I'm just getting to know them really well and I want to see all the growth that I know they can and will make as they start high school. But now it's time to start focusing on my elementary school placement for the next two years and investing myself in a new group of kids. On the last day that our students are required to come I am going to facilitate them discussing relentless pursuit (TFA term!) of their goals and confidence in themselves. And oh yes, it's all going to be inspired by my favorite motivational celeb: Michael Jordan. Really he is an urban school teachers DREAM. haha. This video is really inspiring to me, so I'll leave you with this.