These have turned into monthly updates I guess.

So, it's obvious that I haven't updated this in a while. I'm almost finished my first quarter of teaching first grade, crazy! The week's are getting a little easier as time goes on, but I'm still really behind. I can't get the required number of unit tests finished in time for the end of the quarter because I can't teach and assess my students the way the rest of my grade level thinks is the best way. So it feels like I'm always trying to cover the bases by teaching their way and then re-teaching in the way that I think is the most effective. By that time I'm behind and the grade level unit test is in no way aligned to what I taught my students (the way that I think is the right way). I greatly respect my colleagues but reconciling our styles is always a challenge. My students are in VERY different places as far as their academic levels and it's really hard to teach to all of those different levels at once. They are all SO different behaviorally also. I have absolute angels and I have kids who are umm... challenging. But they are all really interesting little people and they all definitely have special things about them. I'm really excited to be able to make great memories with them, like going on our first field trip next month, yay! :)

On the not so exciting end, I take classes from 4:30-9:45 on Mondays at Georgia State. And I actually have a lot of work to go do now for those classes. BIG waste of time!! I would be all for continuing my learning if I could go in there and learn things that are relevant to my class and going to benefit my students. (ie: classroom management, differentiation, planning etc.) But instead, we talk about our feelings for 5.5 hours and spend all day Sunday trying to figure out what the heck is due for that week. I could think of many more productive ways to use my time. Like, blogging obviously. Just kidding, going now to do my classwork, then do my work work, then maybe I'll have time for some house work. Fun, huh? Well here goes another week...

LOTS of updates!

I haven't posted in FOREVER because my life has been crazzyyyy! I didn't know what busy was until I joined TFA. Wow. Ok, so let's start from the beginning. I got placed a few weeks ago to teach 4th grade at Toomer Elementary School. I didn't really know what to think going in because I didn't think my interview had gone very well and the principal honestly didn't seem very nice. Well as it turns out I couldn't have been more wrong! The whole staff at Toomer was SO welcoming, friendly and helpful! It's a great school with great people working there. I immediately made friends and felt like I fit right in. The only bad thing about working at Toomer was that my classroom was being used for storage when I got there and I couldn't do anything until all of another teacher's things were moved out into her new room (which included everything that goes in a classroom, tons of textbooks, supplies, FURNITURE!). So that was A LOT of work. It took two 10 hour days but I finally got my classroom in decent shape that would at least be presentable for parent open house that Friday. But alas, Tuesday afternoon bad luck caught up with me. Things just can't go that right. They just can't. So Tuesday afternoon my principal walks in and tells me that the district had made cuts to Toomer staff and that I was being leveled to another school, to teach 1st grade at Cook Elementary. I was DEVASTATED! There went the school that I loved, the awesome staff, all my planning for 4th grade and the classroom that I had worked SOO hard to build. I had to start all over. In another disaster of a classroom. Not to mention I had TFA training at night and had to start my planning all over again. I student taught 8th grade math. Would someone please tell me how I am supposed to translate that experience into teaching 6 year olds?! So I worked my butt off in the classroom and it started to shape up. This time I didn't make any friends and honestly didn't feel as welcome, so I was on my own. I'm starting to build a few relationships with people who have helped me keep my head above water, so things are getting a little better. The 1st week of school was rough. My kids are soooo cute and sooo sweet, but 6 year olds don't know how to act in school, and I HATE being mean to them. The stress of it all and hating how I feel pressured to be Ms. Erika MeanTeacherDrillSeargent basically culminated in a nervous breakdown Thursday night. I had been working 14-15 hour days, not sleeping enough, barely eating and never taking any time at all to do something that made me happy. I hated the person that I could see myself becoming and those feelings affected how I did my job and how I treated my students. I just wasn't being myself. The beginning of the school year has been pretty crazy. Surprise deadlines, double booked specials and cancelled assemblies have resulted in maximum stress (and 0 planning time) for me and disappointment for my kids, which is a recipe for disaster. But I need to step back and realize that there are certain things that are out of my control, but come hell or high water I will turn this around. I can control the environment of my classroom and my outlook on my job. After some practice I can control my effectiveness as a teacher and my behavior management of my students in a POSITIVE way. I won over a class full of 8th graders, I think I can get 13 6 year-olds on my side. And I don't mean to say that this week didn't have it's good moments. My students are so cute, and some of them are really behind and will take some extra work, but some of them are really smart! Some of them love to hug me and draw me pictures and bring me cupcakes and muffins. I also got asked "Ms. Diven, why are you light skinned?" haha! Ya know, funniest thing, I was born that way. Clearly, I am a minority, but I have no problem with that. All in all, I have to remember that this experience will be well worth all the hard times. My students are well worth it. So I teach 1st grade at Cook Elementary school and week 2 starts tomorrow! Wish me luck!

(Actually, I have a sub for Monday and Tuesday because I have training all day, but let's hope my first sub plans work well!)

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.