First Day in Our Summer Schools

Today we kicked things off with a bang by going out to our school sites for the first time. Since the Delta is suuuuuuper spread out, all the busses leave at different times (some having to go as far as an hour). The earliest bus heads out at 5:55 a.m.; I got lucky and don't have to leave until 6:25 a.m.

I don't think I've been on a bus since second grade.

The day at our school sites was spent meeting our School Director (SD), Corps Member Advisors (CMA), Curriculum Specialist (CS), and School Manager (SM). TFA loves the acronyms.

We also learned how to set big goals and plan backward (which I hope, having gotten to this place, is something people already knew how to do), got a tour of the school, and learned what we'll be teaching at summer school this summer. I'll be teaching Math to students entering 9th grade. I'm so excited!!! Not only will I be teaching Math (which will be great since I'll most likely be teaching that in the fall), but I'll be teaching middle school kids who are going on to high school -- the perfect age to catch them and really drill in the importance of starting high school with the intent to graduate and go to college. I cannot wait to meet those kids.

And last but not least, we read a gazillion case studies and filled out a ton of forms in this baby.

This hunkin' thing -- all 815 pages of it -- is known affectionately by many names, including the Big Green Book, the Hulk, and the Green Lantern. I've included my cell phone for scale.

The sessions felt long today, and it was a struggle for me to stay awake. I think it's because there was quite a bit of repeat information from Induction, except for the brief introduction into "I do. We do. You do." Teacher speak for how to organize a lesson plan. We're going more in-depth on it tomorrow, which should help me stay awake and excited.

I also think I'll spend part of this weekend making myself some inspirational things to stick on my Green Monster, so that when sessions get long and I feel like I'm losing my sense of purpose, I can reach for some quotes. They'll get me through.