It's August

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8654106662991044564&hl=en -- click here to see the closing ceremonies video that I promised.

It's August 1st. I'll repeat that: it's August 1st. It hit me about an hour ago when I looked down at my watch and the top right-hand corner read "8-01." Since 4:58 p.m. on November 6th of last year (the moment I received notification of my acceptance to TFA), I have been counting down the months, weeks, and now days to when I step foot in my St. Louis classroom full of students who up to this point have not received the opportunities they deserve. Last winter, I remember wishing that I could just skip the upcoming 7-8 months and be transported to August 18th. I remember thinking that the start of the school year felt like it was so far away and that I had so much to learn and that it all just wasn't real. I wanted it to be real...fast. As I read my pre-Institute curriculum, as I visited classrooms, as I thought about my sister and all she has had to overcome, I became restless.


Then came Institute and my own students. I never thought I would become so attached. I never thought I would lose sleep worrying about the direction their lives would take. Every day I think about my Houston kids, and every day I feel a little guilty for just getting up and leaving them after only a month. It's a helpless feeling not knowing who their next teacher will be, not knowing if Matt has enough credits to graduate on time, not knowing if Rosendo is staying out of trouble, not knowing if Jose is keeping his confidence up in the face of doubters, not knowing if Yesenia is still sticking up for herself like a prize-fighter, not knowing if Gustavo plans on going back to school in the Fall. All these uncertainties and all these fears are what keep me so driven and so inspired for August 18th. This time, I will have 90+ kids who are counting on me to believe in them. This time, I will have them for nine months instead of four weeks. This time, I'm not leaving them. This time, I can't leave them.


About an hour ago, I finished my initial long-term plan for the school year. During closing ceremonies in Houston, I talked about how previous to this summer this whole thing was just an intangible vision -- something that I believed in strongly but felt like I was tackling from afar. Those days are over. I now have my Houston kids to think about, I have sketches of my St. Louis kids in my mind, I have drafted a Big Goal and a Long-Term Plan for the entire school year. I get to see my classroom in a week and my kids in 17 days. I have met so many people who share the same goals as me, so many people who want their kids to be successful, so many people who want to change St. Louis.


It's August. It's real.

17 days.

And that's a wrap!

Institute is over, and I've been home for three days already. Let me tell you -- it has been very, very nice to sleep in until 11:00 every day. A couple more weeks of this and I may catch up on sleep :).

Institute ended up really well. My kids -- the same group who scored an average of 18% on our diagnostic -- scored an average of 78% on the final exam. We absolutely demolished our summer achievement goal. I am so proud of my kids; it is mind-boggling what can be achieved with hard work. Their success made it that much harder to leave them last week. I gave them every conceivable way to contact me, so hopefully I'll be able to keep in touch with many of them. Their final homework assignment was two-fold. First, they are supposed to call me on their high school graduation day. Second, they are supposed to call me on their college graduation day. Nothing would make me happier than to receive lots of phone calls on these very important dates.

Closing Ceremonies were awesome. TFA is going to post the video on Google Video soon ... I'll post the link on here as soon as I get it. It was really cool how they did the ceremonies, but it's hard to explain until you actually see it.

I'll be home until Sunday, and then it's back to St. Louis. We have a TFA Welcome Dinner at the St. Louis Science Center on Monday evening, and then I'll be at a writing conference for three days. We begin TFA-STL orientation on July 28th, followed by a week of St. Louis Public Schools orientation, and then a week of teacher in-service days before school begins. One month away, and lots to do before then.

In other news: Peyton needs to get healthy...fast. McCain's campaign is stagnant. I still think Obama has vulnerabilities even though he is a transformational candidate. I like what the Pacers did in the draft. Indianapolis is hot, but not as hot as Houston or St. Louis. Brooklyn is talking a lot more. It's weird not to be getting ready for the cross country season. Maybe I'll wake up before 11:00 tomorrow.

Getting Into A Rhythm

[Student Quotes of the Week]
1. "Is this gonna be on TV?" (after I informed my students that class was going to be videotaped)
2. "How do you know that we are really the best class in Houston?"
3. Me: "What do we want to do with our last 15 minutes?"
Student: "Let's watch Japanese game shows!"
4. "You mean we're never gonna see you again?"
5. "Can I do this for homework too?"
6. Girl: "Boy - you're lucky I don't beat you up." (a girl in my class referring to a boy in my class)
Me: "Now you know we don't talk like that in class."
Girl: "He knows I'm just playin."
Boy: "No she ain't!"

Happy belated Fourth of July! I just got back into Houston about an hour ago after spending the weekend in New Orleans. Matt Amantea (a college track teammate) and I went to visit another track teammate who is living in New Orleans for the summer. I have never been to the French Quarter and other New Orleans landmarks before, so this weekend was a lot of fun. Much of the city is still trying to make its way back, but the French Quarter/Bourbon Street are very vibrant.

Last week was the best week so far at Institute. My students were awesome. They really hit their stride last week, and we accomplished great things. The story that sticks out in my mind is easily the one thing that I will take away from Institute forever. On Tuesday, we were practicing "writing with voice." During the middle of class, I set aside 20 minutes for the kids to just sit down and write about anything they wished as long as they showed me something about who they are (we had been talking about how "voice equals personality" for the previous two days). After the 20 minutes were over, I asked if a volunteer wanted to read what they wrote to the class. A girl in my class raised her hand, proudly stood up, and began reading. Without getting into details, her story was an extremely well written and very personal narrative about something that had affected her life in a serious way. Knowing my kids well and knowing how sophomore boys are in high school (I once was one), I prayed while she was reading that nobody would make fun of her. When she finished, however, two students began clapping. A couple seconds later, the entire class gave her a standing ovation. I have never felt more proud of a group of people in my entire life. This entire episode -- from great writing, to the courage to read aloud something so personal to the class, to the standing ovation -- was student-driven and nothing was solicited by me. I had to wipe a couple tears from my eye before we were able to move on with class. I was so proud.

Last week I also found out that I have been selected to speak at Closing Ceremonies (which are on Thursday evening). I will be talking about my experiences at Institute, as well as the amazing things that my kids have accomplished. I am so honored and humbled to be chosen to speak, and it will be a great opportunity to tell close to 1,000 people how my students have profoundly impacted me this summer. It will definitely be nerve wracking, but I am excited for the opportunity.

Our last day of class is on Thursday, and I will be able to leave for home on Friday night. So, most likely the next time you will hear from me I will either be in St. Louis or Indy. Unless, however, I feel compelled to sneak in a blog entry before then! Thanks for reading, and please feel free to contact me!!

In the trenches...

[Student Quotes of the Week]
1. Student: "Why do we always learn more in the summer than in the regular school year?"
Me: "I don't know - what do you think?"
Student: "I think it's because we have Teach For America teachers in the summer who make us work hard."
2. "Mister, we learned good today."
3. "Mister, is this really my grade??" (Grinning) "I've never got an 80 in a class before."
4. "I hate cheesebugers because of the cheese, but I LOVE double cheeseburgers."
Another Student: "That doesn't make any sense at all."
5. "Can you put colors in your beard if we get our goals on the final exam?" (I am growing out my beard until we reach our class goal on the final exam)
6. "That was your boss? I hope we don't get you fired!"

Another week down. We covered a lot of material this week, and the kids hung in there pretty well. I am seeing a lot of growth out of everyone - so much so out of a couple of them that I'm going to have to start challenging 3 or 4 students more because they keep acing my assignments. There is still such a wide range of levels in my class that it is challenging to meet the needs of every student, but this is something that will be a challenge for as long as I teach. I am continually trying new things in class that will help me meet the needs of each kid. I truly believe that a couple of my students are ready for college, and I need to start pushing them to think about different schools, applications, campus visits, etc. On the other end of the spectrum, I need to keep pushing my students who struggle with English in order to get their confidence up. I think the #1 thing holding back a couple students is that they just don't have any confidence in their English abilities which affects their ability to get as much out of class as possible.

My school director observed my classroom on Wednesday. I didn't know beforehand that he was coming, but he walked in during the first couple minutes when I was performing a mock "closing argument" from a made-up murder case in order to introduce our topic for the day (using evidence from text to back up an argument). For the first 25 minutes, class went really well, the kids were getting the material, and I was on top of my game. 25:41 into class, two of my kids walked in late. As they walked in, they were talking to each other and were generally disruptive. I decided I would sternly tell them that they were too late to be counted tardy, that they would be counted absent for the day, that they were taking learning time away from others in the class, and that they needed to quickly sit down in the first row. They continued to be mildly disruptive for the next five minutes -- each time, I would give them a "teacher look" or use proximity to get them back on task. I thought to myself that all days to have a minor problem in my class that has run so smoothly up to this point, this was not the day.

After class I saw my school director and was nervous to hear what he had to say. He told me that the way I handled the situation was exactly how he would have, and that he was really impressed with the personal relationships I had built with my students. He said that he has observed the two kids who walked in late in other classes and that they do much more work in my class than in the others. He said that telling a kid to leave your class should always be the last resort. So, that made me feel better about things (although it is absolutely unnacceptable to walk into my class 25 minutes late...I just won't tolerate it).

We have turned in the majority of our lesson plans already, there are only four school days next week, and only three school days the week after that before final exams. So there aren't a lot more days to push my kids even further forward, but we're going to work like crazy to get them ready for their final. I passed out midterm grades on Friday - 2 A's, 5 B's, and 4 C's. Everyone is passing right now, but I challenged the kids to raise their grades even higher during the next two weeks. It's going to be hard to just get up and leave them on July 10. I pray that I'll be able to stay in contact and follow their progress while I am teaching in St. Louis. All of them deserve nothing but the best.

Teaching

[Student Quotes of the Week]
-"Mr. Brown, since you're from St. Louis, do you know Nelly?"
-"Oh, so you're from the hood??" (after I answer that I live a few blocks from where Nelly grew up)
-"An example of a conflict is between a husband and a wife. Husbands just wanna pay the bills, and wives wanna waste money on shoes and things."
-"Oh, so it's like buying a car?" (after I answered a question on whether it costs a lot of money to adopt a girl from China)
-"St. Louis - that's in Texas, right?"
-"Class was actually kinda fun today."
-"My favorite sport is texting with my boyfriend."
-"Mister, you wanna go clubbin with us this weekend?"

My first full week of teaching is in the books. Easily the best part of this week was getting to know my kids. Spending 80 minutes a day with Fernando, Jose F, Sandi, Gustavo, Yesenia, Jose H, Ana, Rosendo, Matthew, Christopher, and Monica is what I look forward to the most when I wake up every morning. It's all just an idealistic vision until you step foot into your own classroom. It hit me like a ton of bricks when I graded the diagnostic that I gave my kids on the first day of class. Our class average was 18%. Half of the class didn't even attempt to complete the writing section, and several kids had trouble writing in complete sentences. I knew the stats of the achievement gap before, but statistics are just statistics until you have your own kids with their own names and their own stories. I love going to class every day, and I love seeing the effort that my kids put forth. They are bright, and they CAN learn. The week was capped off quite nicely yesterday when our class average on our "conflict in literature" assignment was a 97.

As for Institute in general, last week was a challenging week for everybody. A fair amount of people have decided that the workload is just too much and have quit. A lot of people are under a great deal of stress, which leads to a lot of emotions running high. Last Wednesday night was the toughest night so far at Insitute, as three lesson plans were due the next morning and a lot of people didn't sleep at all. But, I think I have handled everything pretty well. I am trying to use my weekends to get a little ahead so there isn't as much work during the week. The latest I got to bed last week was 1:30 (I probably averaged about midnight), and I actually got to sleep at 9:30 on Thursday night!! The 5:25 wakeup calls aren't too awfully bad after you get used to them, and my 30+ ounces of coffee usually help keep me awake throughout the day.

The most challenging part of the daily routine is how often we have to "switch modes." We will go straight from a session learning different aspects of teaching, straight into actual teaching, straight back into another session. It is very, very difficult to change your mindset from student, to teacher, and back to student again. But this is what has to happen in order for us to maximize our five week experience here. Being able to remain positive has been the biggest help for me so far, and I have found that I love helping other people on their lesson plans and teaching strategies when they ask for it.

Last week my class learned about similes, metaphors, personification, homonyms, synonyms, antonyms, analogies, main ideas, and the different types of conflict. This week we will be focusing on summary, supporting detail, using evidence to defend an argument, thesis statements, and organization in writing. As you can see, we are scaffolding our way up to more complex concepts. The next week, we will embark on a week where we set out ample time to practice our writing skills. During the last week, we will tie up some loose ends and review for the end of the summer final exam. Next weekend I hope to have an SAT prep session at a local McDonald's near Davis High School if I can get enough student interest.

But until all that can happen, I need to finalize Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday's lesson plans and begin working on Thursday and Friday. Please leave a comment if you would like, and I'll try to respond when I get the time. Until next time, Adios from Houston!

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.

Houston

Well, I'm writing to you from my dorm room at the University of Houston. I arrived yesterday afternoon, and today was the first official day of Institute. The day began with a 5:25 alarm, and it's been full of actitivities ever since. I am excited for tomorrow, as it is the first day we go to our school site where we will be teaching for the summer. I'll be teaching English at Davis High School with 3 other corps members - I can't wait to actually get in the classroom!

Last week's Induction in St. Louis was a lot of fun. They wined and dined us the entire week, and they tried their best to prepare us for Houston. Tonight's activities include dinner (after I finish typing this) and the opening ceremony where I think Wendy Kopp (TFA founder, one of TIME Magazine's 50 most influential people) will speak. Tomorrow will begin with another 5:30 wake-up call, and I'll spend the day at Davis High observing classes, attending sessions, and meeting with my collaborative teaching group.

I'll try to update the blog with more specifics once I begin actually teaching in the classroom. We have about 1.5 hours right after we get back from school that serves as our free time (which really is just dinner time), so I'll try to write some blog entries then.

1 day down, and a whole lot more to go.

And The Summer Awaits...

After spending a week and a half at home with the family, I'm back in St. Louis busily getting last minute chores done before Induction (which begins Sunday at Saint Louis University). Writing this actually just reminded me that I need to go pick up my dry cleaning this evening! I still have several TFA assignments I need to get done today and tomorrow, and I still have stuff I need to move from my old apartment over to the house.

Here is the schedule for this summer:
-Induction (St. Louis) ... June 1 - June 5
-Institute (Houston) ... June 8 - July 12
-Orientation (St. Louis) ... July 28 - August 2
-School Begins ... August 18

The entire St. Louis contingent (100 strong for the '08 class) will be at Induction. Items on the agenda include an induction ceremony at the Arch, sessions that deal with how to make the most of the summer Institute, the TFA-STL support structure available to us, diversity training, our partnership with AmeriCorps, information on the Master's and certification programs, and a whole lot more.

At the Houston Institute, I will team-teach a summer school classroom with three other people. I will teach a one-hour lesson every day, as well as work with small groups during a morning "literacy hour." Besides being responsible for my class, I will attend seminars detailing things like lesson planning and instruction. The days begin at 5:30 and don't end until well into the night, so it should be a very tiring yet rewarding five weeks.

My goal is to update the website twice a week during Institute. So, check back often.

New York Times TFA Editorial

The New York Times published an editorial on May 16 about the effectiveness of Teach For America teachers. While I think the article's broad generalization comparing education programs to diploma mills is a little unfair, I thought I would pass this along.

Also, here is an Associated Press article about the growth of TFA this year. 25,000 applicants and 3,700 new corps members - both new records.

Commencement & Carnahan Visit

Some of you may have already heard about the controversies surrounding the 2008 Wash U Commencement. A few weeks ago, Wash U announced that it would give alumnus Phyllis Schlafly an honorary degree. Schafly is an 80+ year old outspoken leader of the social conservative movement. Over the past few weeks, Wash U students and faculty organized a protest of the Schlafly degree. Two Facebook groups that were created in response to the University's decision garnered over 4,000 members in only a couple of weeks. The result? Over half of the student body turned their backs to Mrs. Schlafly when she was awarded the degree at the commencement ceremony. Furthermore, several faculty members walked off the stage in protest. The controversy was featured on CNN and created quite a buzz in St. Louis.

I am all for political and social engagement. I am all for the right to protest. I think it's great that young people seem to be getting more interested in politics. However, Wash U students, for all their strengths, are not politically active on the whole. Rarely is politics discussed on the way to class or in a campus coffee shop. Obama stickers cover many student's mac laptops because it's the cool thing to do. If you were to ask those same students to name on legislative accomplishment of Senator Obama, you would get a blank stare. This is why I had a problem with the protests. The drill is the same every year: once or twice a year, students will get organized to protest some conservative that comes to campus or some incident that they see as a grave injustice to liberal thought. The whole show will last about two weeks, and then Wash U will go back to the same apathetic place that it was before. Wash U students are among the greatest in the world; however, it has always been disappointing to me that there isn't more REAL political discourse on a daily basis at one of the elite institutions in America. Instead, many Wash U students fool themselves into believing that they are actually politically and socially aware because they periodically join a Facebook group devoted to some en vogue liberal cause.

HOWEVER, commecement was terrific in every other way. Mom, Dad, Brittany, Brady, Bryce, and Brooklyn came, as well as both sets of grandparents. The weather was beautiful, and Chris Matthews gave a really good commencement address. It still hasn't really hit me that I am an alum of Wash U, with a bachelor's degree in hand.

The highlight of the weekend came an hour after commencement when I visited Carnahan High School with my family. Mr. Green (the assistant principal) took us on a tour of the school. The technology at these kids' disposal is amazing. Every student has access to a laptop, the rooms are equipped with SmartBoards, there are multiple computer labs, video-making technology, etc, etc. The school is beautiful. I was able to visit several classrooms, which made the wait to actually start up my own classroom almost unbearable. The students that I talked to were all respectful, and some of them said they couldn't wait to have me as a teacher next year. I CANNOT WAIT TO BEGIN IMPACTING THE LIVES OF THESE STUDENTS. Carnahan has great resources and a very supportive administration. The students just need teachers who will invest in them, teachers who will set high standards, teachers who believe in them.

I visited the classroom of a fellow TFA teacher, Greg Laposa. Having him as a colleague will immensely help with my transition to the classroom. He has already been very helpful, and I'm excited to learn from him. My principal, Dr. Roach, is receiving an award on Wednesday for her work at Carnahan. She is one of 25 principals across the country to receive this service/leadership award -- the prize is $5,000. Dr. Roach has decided to donate the money back to the school. This fact tells me everything I need to know about her committment to her students.

Have I said that I can't wait to get started??

Carnahan High School!

I just found out that I was hired at Carnahan High School Of The Future! This is the school that I interviewed with two weekends ago. The more that I researched the school over the past two weeks, the more I fell in love with it. Carnahan has partnerships with Dell and AT&T, which give the school state of the art technology in every classroom. Basically, Carnahan has suburban resources in an inner-city setting. The building is only a few years old, and they actually just recently converted it from a middle school to a high school. They are adding a grade each year during their transition into a full-fledged high school. I can't wait!!

I'm home for the next few days, but I can't wait to visit the school next week when I get back back to St. Louis. I feel so blessed to know where I am teaching already, as it often takes until August to find out your placement.

Results

After watching cable news for more than 6 hours, it looks like Indiana has finally been called for Clinton. Results as of 12:12 CST -

Indiana: Clinton +2
North Carolina: Obama +14

My predictions were close, but Obama definitely had a great night. For all intents and purposes, the race is over. MSNBC is acting like Obama is already the nominee. I agree that there is really no chance that Obama loses the nomination, but I wonder how long it will take Hillary to drop out. She will most likely easily win both West Virginia and Kentucky, but it doesn't matter in the long run. Running mates? Perhaps.

Off to bed.

Quick predictions

So, we're only a few minutes out from the polls closing in Indiana and North Carolina. My predictions...

Indiana: Clinton +8
North Carolina: Obama +10

The word is that a lot of Indiana Republicans turned out to vote today, which bodes well for Hillary. It's a combo of Rush's "Operation Chaos" and I also think there is a touch of sincere voting going on here -- Hillary has transformed herself into a gun-toting, beer drinking, good 'ol girl social conservative.

And the fight goes on...

TFA Weekend

This weekend, in short, was an awesome experience. About 60 of the incoming St. Louis TFA corps members arrived at the downtown Hilton on Thursday...and let me tell you, the staff wined and dined us all weekend. We sat through some seminars on Thursday and then headed out to dinner where everyone introduced themselves and got to know one another. It was great to see all the colleges represented. Wash U easily had the most people there, which makes sense considering the huge presence of TFA on our campus and the proximity of the school to inner-city STL. St. Louis University (SLU) has a strong contingent as well. The running joke from the SLU students all weekend was that they weren't multi-millionaires and thus couldn't attend Wash U. (I must not have received this memo - the last time I checked, my family is pretty middle class.) There were people from Yale, Vanderbilt, Rochester, Butler, Notre Dame - you name it.

Friday began with a classroom observation at Vashon High School. Along with three other secondary English teachers, I observed a class of sophomores learning literary devices via YouTube clips. The teacher who we observed was a second year TFA corps member, and he conducted his classroom extremely well. It was obvious that he had the respect and admiration of his students, and he was great at individually instructing them throughout the class. The kids were great. I was amazed at their concentration, and they furiously took notes during the lesson. I got a chance to talk with several of them, and I quickly found out that Vashon High is known for their football and basketball teams. One of the kids told me to talk to the Wash U football coach for him because he wanted a full-ride scholarship to Wash U. I attempted to explain to him that Wash U doesn't give out athletic scholarships, but I assured him I would see what I could do. The school was only three years old, and it was beautiful. Their gym was fantastic, and it was obviously a point of pride for the students. We got to speak with the assistant principal, and he was extremely helpful and complimentary of the TFA teachers in his building.

Saturday was interview day. We headed to Gateway Elementary on Saturday morning for the first annual TFA/St. Louis Public School interview fair. About 20 principals showed up, and most of us got to interview with at least one principal. To say the least, my interview was quite the experience. I was told I would be interviewing with Carnahan High School, so I walked into the gym and looked for the Carnahan table. The principal was all business and wasn't there to mess around. She was flanked by two assistant principals who took notes throughout the interview.

The first question that I fielded was: "I'm going to be honest. You're white. You've been priviledged your entire life. How in the world are you going to teach black kids who you know nothing about?" Wow, what a tough first question. I explained to Dr. Roach that I could have easily fled to the suburbs to teach more wealthy students, and there would be nothing wrong with that. But I have decided that the education gap in this country is unacceptable and it has become my passion to help close it. I explained to her that I wouldn't be sitting in that chair if I wasn't 100% committed to her (my) students. I told her I was willing to stay after school, come in on Saturdays and Sundays, coach, do anything in my power to reach students. I then told her about Brooklyn's story and how she inspired me to apply for TFA. If a little girl left to die in the middle of China can receive a good education, why can't the kids who were born in the richest country in the world receive the same?

She asked me what I would do if I was cussed out in front of the class (clear rules, consistent and firm consequences). She asked me if I would be embarrassed to be seen with my students out in public (of course not). She asked if I was ready to "get down in the trenches" (if I could start tomorrow, I would). Throughout the interview she remained expressionless with no hint of a smile or understanding head nods. Near the end of the interview, however, she faintly smiled and said "I think I like you." Up to that point, I didn't know if she liked me - and if I had to guess, I would have said no. But it was great to get a sort of stamp of approval from a lady that has a small chance of ending up as my boss next fall. As I walked away at the conclusion of the interview, I could hear her whisper to her colleague, "I like him." A smile covered my face as I exited the room.

Busy

Just a quick post, and I'll post something longer early next week. The past several days have been really busy. I was in Chicago from Friday to Sunday last weekend to watch the UAA track meet. This week is full with finishing up papers for the last week of class. I am also giving TFA presentations this week in three different classes in an effort to recruit people for next year. Thursday begins the three day TFA conference in downtown St. Louis and I have a lot of laundry to do before then (Mom, where are you??). Next Monday, I'm giving a speech at the Wash U Athlete Banquet regarding SAAC's accomplishments this year...I'll try to pull my best Barack Obama.

I'll have more time to post next week. Until then, watch out for those earthquakes!

Teaching as Leadership

I've been immersed in my pre-institute work for Teach For America for the past couple days. TFA uses a "Teaching as Leadership" model to train its corps members, and the model emphasizes that teaching is like any other leadership endeavor. Setting big goals, tracking progress, constantly re-assessing your methods, working relentlessly toward the goals that you have set, effectively planning steps along the way by working backwards from your main goal, and investing multiple people in the success of your students are several concepts that TFA stresses. It has been quite striking to me that I am already really familiar with this model -- in fact, this is exactly the model I have been working under for the past 8 years in running.

I look back to my sophomore year of high school, and I remember Brandon Lewis, Mark Brandenburg, and I looking up at the school record 4x800 time that hung on the wall of the gym. We all made it a goal, right then and there, to put our names on that wall before we graduated. That certainly was a big goal. In running, tracking progress is both easy to do and paramount to success. Although there will be ups and downs along the way, generally the trend is upward if the effort is there. I know that we constantly re-assessed our methods as well during our four years together. As we gained experience, we found ourselves able to handle more mileage and harder workouts. We challenged ourselves more and more as our times got faster and faster. We always had that main goal in mind: setting a school record. Once we set the record as juniors, we set our sights on a state title -- we were never satisfied. If we would have won the state title (we ended up second), we would have wanted to win the national title, etc. We were always working backwards from our main goal(s).

Collegiate running has been a very similar process, although more refined. As a captain the past two years, I've had to test several leadership strategies via trial-and-error. Through this process, I learned what worked well and what didn't work so well. Big goals were a theme that I tried to impart on our team. Wash U hadn't made cross country nationals in a decade, and last year we made it our goal to get there. The season had many ups and downs and we probably had our least talented team in my four years here, but we ended up running in the national meet. We were all on the same page; we all had one goal.

I have already decided that the theme of my classroom is going to be my college coach's definition of success. To Coach Stiles, success is "taking advantage of your daily opportunities to the best of your ability under your given circumstances." The kids that I'll be teaching will each have their own circumstances and their own God-given abilities. Every day we are presented with opportunities -- we can either take advantage of those opportunities or let them pass. Success occurs when we take advantage of the opportunities we are given within our own context. Success looks different to different people. If running success was just based on time, then there would always be someone more successful -- there will always be someone who is able to run faster at a given distance. I want to create an atmosphere where everyone can succeed in my classroom. I want my students to understand that success isn't a fixed entity. Rather, success is something that comes to people who won't be denied in their quest to reach a goal. Just as in running, success in the classroom is a function of how much effort is expended. Success won't look the same to everyone, but it sure is rewarding when you get to taste it.

The kids in my classroom next year are every bit as capable of tasting that success as the kids who attend Center Grove. There is no reason why we can't set a class goal to have everyone improve at least 2 grade levels in English by the end of the year. There is no reason why students in my classroom can't go onto college. There is no reason why they can't succeed. They just need to be given the chance.

Welcome!

Hey everyone -

I told myself about a year ago that I wanted to create a blog once I graduated from college to keep people updated on how my life is going, and more selfishly, to give me an outlet to write. While I'm not graduating until next month, I wanted to start it early because things are going to get pretty hectic beginning in late May. I'm going to try to update the blog multiple times per week, so check back often if you'd like.

Graduation is quickly approaching. Classes end in two weeks, and commencement is on May 16th. April and May are exciting times around Wash U, as there are a bunch of senior activities going on, banquets to attend, etc. I'll have more on the emotions surrounding graduating from college in later posts.

One of the things that has kept me busy this school year has been serving as the co-chair of Wash U's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. The big undertaking this semester was the planning of Wash U's first annual Athlete Formal. Last summer, I traveled to Pittsburgh for the UAA (which is the conference we play in) SAAC conference. I got the idea of bringing an athlete formal to Wash U after hearing that the University of Rochester has done this in the past with success. The planning that began last semester and that continued in earnest this semester finally culminated on Thursday - the day of the Formal. From all indications, the event was a success. We completely sold out with 280 athletes attending. The night included bus trips from Wash U to a venue near downtown St. Louis, salsa lessons, dinner, performances by Wash U singing and dance groups, lots of dancing, and the naming of the Formal King and Queen. I am not personally a fan of formals (not a good dancer and hate to get dressed up), but being in charge of this event was a great experience. If you know anything about Wash U, you know that money is not an obstacle in anything that goes on here. Having a budget of $8,500 was great - we were able to hire a DJ, cater food, rent out a nice place, pay for transportation, hire entertainment, and have great decorations. We were also able to donate about $1,200 to the YWCA, which is a charity that helps inner-city women. (The picture included in this post is of me announcing the Formal King & Queen.) To see the night go off without any major hiccups was very relieving. Hopefully this is an event that will continue well into the future.

In other news, Teach For America is putting the St. Louis incoming corps members up in the downton Hilton from April 24 - 26. One of the things I'll be doing during the weekend is interviewing with Saint Louis Public School principals. Hopefully I'll know where I am teaching sometime soon after the interviews, but many times the school placements aren't known until the summer. In any case, I'm looking forward to the weekend. In several weeks, I will be traveling to Houston during the first week of June for a five week intensive training institute. While in Houston, I'll teach summer school and participate in workshops detailing lesson plan creation, classroom management, learning theory, etc. It will be intense -- 16 hour days.

Running has been non-existent for the past month. I came down with mono four weeks ago, and Iwas pretty much bed-ridden for the first week. I am now starting to gain back some energy, which is nice. Missing my senior outdoor track season has been rough, but I've thought a lot about putting things into perspective and I am content with how things have turned out. I have focused the energy that I have been able to muster on thinking about how I'm going to structure my classroom next fall, and I have attempted to make an impact on the track team in other ways than running...which has been rewarding.

OK - this is too long for one post. Upcoming topics will hopefully include: IU hiring Tom Crean, my take on the presidential election, my thoughts on the American educational system, TFA updates, graduation updates, Brooklyn updates, and more! Feel free to leave a comment -- I'd love it if you did!!

Best,
Brandon