One Week Down, Four to Go

Well, the first week of Teacher Boot Camp is over, and I'm still alive. A typical day has been like this:

5:25 ... wake up
6:00 ... breakfast
6:45 ... depart for Davis High School
7:00 - 4:00 ... Sessions, sessions, sessions, sessions, and sessions on learning how to teach
4:30-6:00 ... take a nap or start on some work
6:00-6:30 ... dinner
6:30-11:30 pm/1:00 am ... sessions and/or work

As you can see, they keep us pretty busy here :). But I can honestly say that I am 100% positive I have learned more this week than any week prior. I would even venture to say that I haven't learned more in a month than I did last week. As the week went on, people became more and more sleep deprived, and coffee became more and more of a hot comodity. But it was definitely worth it because the amount of information I was able to take in last week was absolutely enormous. My Corps Member Advisor (CMA), Genya, has been hugely helpful and extremely encouraging this week. We pretty much see our CMA all day every day, so it's nice to have one who really cares about the well-being of her advisees. Our Curriculum Specialist (CS) at Davis High School, Arriana, is one of the best teachers I have ever been around. She is a Wash U grad, so it's nice to be able to talk about the best college in the world with her every day. Our School Director (SD), Shannon, is an awesome guy as well - he is a former Division I national champion sprinter. Shannon is one of the most captivating speakers I have ever seen, and I am sure he is an unbelievable AP US History teacher.

Monday is my first day in the classroom, and I can't wait. I got my class roster last Thursday -- 13 students, who are mostly re-taking Sophomore English so they can move onto the next grade. I actually got to observe my actual class of students last week, and they left me with a really good impression. Davis High School is almost fully composed of Hispanic students - and my entire class is Hispanic - so I'm excited to learn about their stories and heritage as well as share my story a little bit with them. Monday's lesson plan is centered around Brooklyn and why she inpsired me to teach. I will then transition into my definition of success (actually, Coach Stiles' definition of success) that will be the cornerstone of our classroom for the next four weeks and the cornerstone of my permanent classroom beginning in the Fall. I'm giving a diagnostic test on Monday as well in order to get a baseline of my students' knowledge and to set growth-oriented achievement goals for the summer. (And, oh yeah, I'm not shaving until we reach those goals as a class.)

One last thing before I wait in line for an hour to make copies. Several of us went to a Methodist Church that was close by this morning for services. I have never felt more welcome at a new place in my life. I have always wanted to go to a mostly African American church service, and the experience didn't disappoint. The music was great, they gave us all goody-bags full of stuff, and the sermon was tremendous. The pastor gave a Father's Day sermon challenging fathers to become more invested in the lives of their families. She gave some unbelievable statistics about how much better life prospects are for children who come from a two-parent home. Her refrain was: "We need more courageous men." She closed by saying that we need more full-service fathers instead of the millions of reservist fathers that we have out there -- we need "a few good men" she pleaded. I thought it was refreshing to hear that. I also thought to myself that I'm pretty lucky to have a good man as my father. I wish every kid in my classroom on Monday had the same.