i made it safe and sound back to Houston on Sunday night and bright and early on Monday morning, i started my week of orientation w/ TFA. yes, life does not end w/ Institute. now we're learning how to set a big goal for our students, track their progress, what are appropriate assessments, what standards they are supposed to learn during the 180 days they are students in our classes, when i'll have my evening classes so i can be certified by this time next year and so much more! although i don't always like sitting in sessions from 9 am- 5:30 pm, it's not that bad and hopefully i'll be glad i did this now rather than later. it really is amazing all the things 1st graders are expected to learn by the end of the year. and it's also kinda scary/exciting to know it'll be my job to teach it to them. school starts on August 27th and i don't feel all that prepared. but, i still have a little bit of time. i have next week off, and then the week after that it's orientation for new teachers, and the week after that i have to report to my school for the next few weeks. in the midst of that i have a baby shower to attend (one of my friends from high school is due in September) and i also need to start putting together my class library. the latter means i have to hit everyone up i know for their old K-2nd (and maybe 3rd) grade books. yes, begging for my students has already started! never a dull moment!
one thing that i'm trying my best not to do it succumb to all the warnings about how difficult/chaotic things will become. i recognize that will be the case, but it sometimes feels like a scare tactic. that's likely not people's intent, but i always feel like as long as i just take things one day at a time, it will all work out in the end. i was even like this in college. something about people's anxiety about tests and professors always unsettled me and i'd do my best to separate myself from it, to the point where i almost never participated in study sessions and got to class at the last minute before a test to avoid the nervous energy. at lunch today some of the ladies i was sitting with were griping about things and i just had to leave. i can't deal with that right now. i can't let that energy into my psyche.
other than that, there's not too much else going on. i've been trying to find things to do with my time so i make sure i have a good personal-professional alignment. i finally ordered my LSAT prep book. my plan is to study for at least an hour a day until the test in December. i know i'll really have to fight to make sure i do that. but, visions of an acceptance letter from Yale are dancing in my head. so, have to make sure i do something for myself. i've also been mentally decorating my apartment. as of now, there's not a stick of furniture in my apartment and things will stay that way for the next month. it's not that bad since i didn't have furniture in my last apartment. but, there at least i had a bed. and this time around it's just me and my air mattress. but, i'll have what i need in due time. one of the things i'm really excited about buying are bookcases. strange i know, considering everything else i need to purchase. when i went home, i brought back my boxes of books, and even though i was dead tired Sunday night, i opened the boxes so i could reacquaint myself with them. (they'd been boxed up for nearly two years.) i know it sounds crazy, but i actually missed my books! anyway, last night, i re-read Marcus Major's story in Got to Be Real. people who know me well (or at least think they do) would be surprised by this, but i love a good love story. and by good i mean one that shows both the ups and downs of relationships. i only liked two of the stories in that book, and the Major story is definitely one of them.
in the midst of new considerations and thoughts, i'm also trying my best to clear my mind of other things that i realize i just need to let go of so i can focus on the more important thing in life. that's easier said than done, of course...
i don't have Internet at home, so my posting & commenting will be touch and go for a while. until next time...
7.25.2007
7.19.2007
8 Things
i'm still in Tulsa, taking a semi-vacay. well, minus the tropical drinks, laying on the beach all day and going somewhere that's actually fun. :-) hey, i did say semi, right? anyway, i actually didn't leave Houston until Sunday morning (i was just too exhausted to leave on Saturday), and was supposed to drive back to Houston this morning. but, yesterday morning, i had a dream about something that happened a few years ago and i decided it was best to stay here for a few more days. so, here i sit in my favorite free wi-fi place (don't say it, Ladynay!). i see everyone is doing this 8 Things meme and damn it, i wanna do it too! :-) it's been a loooong time since i did a meme and i like this one. so, here goes....
Rules:
1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
until next time...
Rules:
1. We have to post these rules before we give you the facts.
2. Players start with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
- This is really strange, but i have a habit of counting the number of letters in words. i even take it so far as to then calculate the number of words in a paragraph. why or when i picked up this habit is beyond me. but, i suspect boredom plays a huge part in this behavior.
- One of my new favorite past times is practicing my "teacher face" in the mirror. you all know the face i'm talking about. i have the "i can wait" look down, but i don't look mean enough.... yet. it's a work in progress.
- i truly believe MySpace is the devil and as such refuse to get a MySpace account. (but, Facebook is ok.... :-))
- I wear lipstick and/or tinted lip gloss every time i have to go out and see the public, even if it's just to go around the corner to the store.
- i throughly enjoy listening to the conversations of complete strangers, esp. when it appears drama is involved. people are a trip more often than not and it's fun to see/hear what other people deem important enough to talk about in public.
- i have an excellent memory. so much so that i sometimes find myself pretending i don't remember something so people won't get weirded out by what i manage to recall.
- i like trying different cuisines, but i don't necessarily prefer to go out to eat.
- although my recent activities/life decisions may indicate otherwise, i really do look forward to settling down in one city, getting married, having a few kids, and all that jazz.
until next time...
7.13.2007
the end is here
as the post suggests today marks the end of my summer institute experience. to say i'm happy about that would be an understatement. as evidenced by my few and far between posts over the last 5 weeks, my time here at the UH hasn't been a cake walk. while many describe this experience as "the hardest thing i've ever done," I can't say that i totally agree. yes, it's been challenging and i've been stretched in more ways than one. but, i view my experience as one of the most eye-opening things i've ever done. my time here has shown me just how much i can do and it's always a great thing to see myself grow, mature, and just become a better person. so, i guess i would say that Institute has just been another growing experience. the thing is that this time around it's not all for me. the reason i'm growing is so i can be the best teacher i can be for those 1st graders i'm meeting next month. (wow... i can't believe i'm starting school in a little over a month!)
well, i suppose that'll be all for now. i'm planning to go home tomorrow. the lease at my apartment was signed yesterday, so I'm good to go on that front. the problem is all my dishes, pots, and pans and other miscellaneous items are in Tulsa. so, that 8 hour trek i must make. :-(
until next time...
well, i suppose that'll be all for now. i'm planning to go home tomorrow. the lease at my apartment was signed yesterday, so I'm good to go on that front. the problem is all my dishes, pots, and pans and other miscellaneous items are in Tulsa. so, that 8 hour trek i must make. :-(
until next time...
7.08.2007
in the home stretch
i can hardly believe it's been nearly a week and a half since i blogged. not too much has been going on in the interim. just teaching and lesson planning. imagine that! lol... but, as my title states, we are in the home stretch. wednesday is my last "real" day of teaching, thursday i have to administer a diagnostic and friday is knowledge through college day. i already tell them how important it is for them to get smart now so they can go to college later. they seem to get it. Hector said, "yeah, you have to get smart so you can go to college, get a good job, get married and all that stuff." they amaze (and tickle) me with the things they say and remember. one day last week i was teaching them the "guess and check" method of finding an answer. when we worked through it together as a class, they understood it very well, but when it came time for my worksheet/assessment, well, they didn't do so hot. (my assessment wasn't really valid, it turned out. so, they didn't have a fair chance, really.) so, i was feeling a little down that they hadn't gotten the concept.
flash forward a few days later we were working on finding patterns in math problems and after Hector gave an answer i asked him, "Hector, so, how did you get your answer? he said he guessed. i said ok, so, let's put your number in here and see if that's correct. (he didn't give the correct answer, so i was trying to get him to think through the problem thoroughly. Hector's very smart and sometimes he rushes through work.) anyway, after we found the answer wasn't correct, Nickolas called out, "Hey! He guessed an answer and we checked it! We used guess and check!" The other students said, "Yeah! We guessed and checked!" Man, i tell you, i wanted to do a cartwheel right then and there! Instead i applauded them for remembering what we talked about earlier in the week and doled out stickers. (side note: it's amazing what you can get children to do by simply offering stickers as a reward.) i felt i had varying degrees of success with my lessons for the entire week and i'm realizing, you know, that's ok. the key for me is thinking about what happened, the causes of what i saw and then coming up with solutions. the hard part is doing this every single day. but, you know, i have to do it. they have a lot to learn and i'll have to figure out the best way to teach it to them in the little time that we have. oh, and somehow, someway i need to learn Spanish. all of my kids this summer were Latino and English is their first language. so, there were no language barriers there. and we weren't allowed to call parents this summer. in the fall, i won't have an ESL class, but there's no guarantee that all of my students' parents will speak English. i'll need to communicate with them to invest them in the work we're doing, update them on your work, their child's behavior, etc. i have to find a way to communicate even if that means i need to do this in broken Spanish.
Last Saturday i went on the apartment search. the locater came and picked me up bright and early on Saturday. i prefer to sleep in on Saturday since it's my only real day to sleep in, but i realized we have to be out the dorm by this Saturday and i had zero leads. so, it was in my best interest to go as early as possible and see as much as i could. anyway, the guy took me out and we looked at a few private properties before i finally said i didn't want to see anymore of those. i don't know, they just looked old. they were clean, but still old looking. also, i would have had to pay a deposit equal to my first month's rent. and i just don't have that type of money right now. we then went to a commercial property and i really liked the second layout i saw. after asking a few questions, the locater and i left and he took me by another complex he thought i should consider. well, he showed me where it was because they didn't open until 1 pm and it was only a little after 11 at that point. he raved about it and said the complex had remodeled the apartments and put in granite countertops, brand new appliances, etc. the only thing was the rent was $709 and i'd said i was willing to pay as much as $700. oh, and the 1st place i liked was $580. so, it was really up to me to decide how much i was willing to pay.
after coming back to the dorms and getting some lunch, i went out to the $709 place and viewed the apartment. it was nice. well, the upgrades were nice. oh, and the exposed brick wall in the living room was very cool. but, you know, the rest of the place was kinda ordinary. you know, how when people get their hair done all fly, but their clothes are just plain? that's what it reminded me of. to make a long story short, i put in an application at the $580 place. as i was looking at the $709 apartment, i knew it was a test. since i'll be earning considerably more than i was at my last job, i could swing the $709. even adding in utilities, i would be ok. but, life is not about being just ok. (well, when you can help it. sometimes just ok is actually fabulous.) anyway, the other apartment was not only cheaper, but also at least $100 less than what i ever paid in Atlanta (with or without a roommate). my goal is to pay off a great deal of debt over the next year, so that extra $100 will go a long way. i say it was a test because i knew i was being tested to see what i valued more---- living somewhere kinda fly or saving money. thankfully, i chose the latter. mind you, this is all assuming my application is approved. the past year has been rough, so there a few "questionable" things on my credit report right now. but, according to all the things listed that one needs to qualify, i should be good.
today i went to church with a woman i know from church back home. she wasn't actually in service since she had to teach at children's church. so, i sat with her cousins who were none too talkative. since i tend to be reserved with people i don't know well, you can imagine how that went. anyway, i didn't like service. i mean, the sermon was ok. nothing Earth shattering, really. i think what turned me off was that the church seemed a bit unorganized. it's as if they can't decide whether they want to be a traditional Baptist church or do they want to be contemporary. and really, they don't have to choose one over the other. but, the fusion should be tight. and i just didn't see that. for whatever reason they save the offering and welcoming of visitors until the end. and there were several times in the service where people were talking and i had no idea as to who they were. case in point, some man (a deacon, maybe?) at the end asked us to "stand so we can leave" and did the benediction. nevermind the fact that he said "so we can leave" but like i said i was thinking, who are you? and why isn't the pastor dismissing? oh, and i was very confused/bothered when who i suppose was the minister of music came up and reminded the church that during the summer the choir goes on vacation and they have guests come and sing. *crickets* yes, the choir takes the summer off, as if singing in the choir is their full time job. anyway, so, a woman came up and sang a few songs in lieu of the choir. it all just felt off
i guess i also had to remember what it's like to be in a Black Baptist church again. i grew up in a Baptist church, and while the church i went to in ATL was predominantly Black, it was non-denominational and contemporary. it'd been a while since i saw the ushers wearing actual uniforms, men and women being called "Brother So and So" and "Sister Such and Such." oh, and the ornate hats and suits worn by the older women were in full effect. now, everyone wasn't dressed to the nines, but you know, there were plenty of the old school people there. one thing that struck me was that i didn't see too many people my age. i saw a lot of middle aged people, a few kids and some elderly people. but, the 20-25 crowd was sparse. (the pastor made a reference to "Upgrade U" and only a few of us really got the joke.) i suppose i'm spoiled because at the church i attended in ATL, the congregation was 45 and younger. and really, most people were in their mid-20s to mid 30s. so, you know a young church. anyway, all and all, i know it wasn't the right fit for me. if going to church more often is what i'm meant to be doing right now, hopefully i find a church soon.
well, i guess that's all i have to ramble out. i'll try and post again later this week. also, it looks like another eight hour drive will be in order as i'll soon need some of the things i left in Tulsa. until next time...
flash forward a few days later we were working on finding patterns in math problems and after Hector gave an answer i asked him, "Hector, so, how did you get your answer? he said he guessed. i said ok, so, let's put your number in here and see if that's correct. (he didn't give the correct answer, so i was trying to get him to think through the problem thoroughly. Hector's very smart and sometimes he rushes through work.) anyway, after we found the answer wasn't correct, Nickolas called out, "Hey! He guessed an answer and we checked it! We used guess and check!" The other students said, "Yeah! We guessed and checked!" Man, i tell you, i wanted to do a cartwheel right then and there! Instead i applauded them for remembering what we talked about earlier in the week and doled out stickers. (side note: it's amazing what you can get children to do by simply offering stickers as a reward.) i felt i had varying degrees of success with my lessons for the entire week and i'm realizing, you know, that's ok. the key for me is thinking about what happened, the causes of what i saw and then coming up with solutions. the hard part is doing this every single day. but, you know, i have to do it. they have a lot to learn and i'll have to figure out the best way to teach it to them in the little time that we have. oh, and somehow, someway i need to learn Spanish. all of my kids this summer were Latino and English is their first language. so, there were no language barriers there. and we weren't allowed to call parents this summer. in the fall, i won't have an ESL class, but there's no guarantee that all of my students' parents will speak English. i'll need to communicate with them to invest them in the work we're doing, update them on your work, their child's behavior, etc. i have to find a way to communicate even if that means i need to do this in broken Spanish.
Last Saturday i went on the apartment search. the locater came and picked me up bright and early on Saturday. i prefer to sleep in on Saturday since it's my only real day to sleep in, but i realized we have to be out the dorm by this Saturday and i had zero leads. so, it was in my best interest to go as early as possible and see as much as i could. anyway, the guy took me out and we looked at a few private properties before i finally said i didn't want to see anymore of those. i don't know, they just looked old. they were clean, but still old looking. also, i would have had to pay a deposit equal to my first month's rent. and i just don't have that type of money right now. we then went to a commercial property and i really liked the second layout i saw. after asking a few questions, the locater and i left and he took me by another complex he thought i should consider. well, he showed me where it was because they didn't open until 1 pm and it was only a little after 11 at that point. he raved about it and said the complex had remodeled the apartments and put in granite countertops, brand new appliances, etc. the only thing was the rent was $709 and i'd said i was willing to pay as much as $700. oh, and the 1st place i liked was $580. so, it was really up to me to decide how much i was willing to pay.
after coming back to the dorms and getting some lunch, i went out to the $709 place and viewed the apartment. it was nice. well, the upgrades were nice. oh, and the exposed brick wall in the living room was very cool. but, you know, the rest of the place was kinda ordinary. you know, how when people get their hair done all fly, but their clothes are just plain? that's what it reminded me of. to make a long story short, i put in an application at the $580 place. as i was looking at the $709 apartment, i knew it was a test. since i'll be earning considerably more than i was at my last job, i could swing the $709. even adding in utilities, i would be ok. but, life is not about being just ok. (well, when you can help it. sometimes just ok is actually fabulous.) anyway, the other apartment was not only cheaper, but also at least $100 less than what i ever paid in Atlanta (with or without a roommate). my goal is to pay off a great deal of debt over the next year, so that extra $100 will go a long way. i say it was a test because i knew i was being tested to see what i valued more---- living somewhere kinda fly or saving money. thankfully, i chose the latter. mind you, this is all assuming my application is approved. the past year has been rough, so there a few "questionable" things on my credit report right now. but, according to all the things listed that one needs to qualify, i should be good.
today i went to church with a woman i know from church back home. she wasn't actually in service since she had to teach at children's church. so, i sat with her cousins who were none too talkative. since i tend to be reserved with people i don't know well, you can imagine how that went. anyway, i didn't like service. i mean, the sermon was ok. nothing Earth shattering, really. i think what turned me off was that the church seemed a bit unorganized. it's as if they can't decide whether they want to be a traditional Baptist church or do they want to be contemporary. and really, they don't have to choose one over the other. but, the fusion should be tight. and i just didn't see that. for whatever reason they save the offering and welcoming of visitors until the end. and there were several times in the service where people were talking and i had no idea as to who they were. case in point, some man (a deacon, maybe?) at the end asked us to "stand so we can leave" and did the benediction. nevermind the fact that he said "so we can leave" but like i said i was thinking, who are you? and why isn't the pastor dismissing? oh, and i was very confused/bothered when who i suppose was the minister of music came up and reminded the church that during the summer the choir goes on vacation and they have guests come and sing. *crickets* yes, the choir takes the summer off, as if singing in the choir is their full time job. anyway, so, a woman came up and sang a few songs in lieu of the choir. it all just felt off
i guess i also had to remember what it's like to be in a Black Baptist church again. i grew up in a Baptist church, and while the church i went to in ATL was predominantly Black, it was non-denominational and contemporary. it'd been a while since i saw the ushers wearing actual uniforms, men and women being called "Brother So and So" and "Sister Such and Such." oh, and the ornate hats and suits worn by the older women were in full effect. now, everyone wasn't dressed to the nines, but you know, there were plenty of the old school people there. one thing that struck me was that i didn't see too many people my age. i saw a lot of middle aged people, a few kids and some elderly people. but, the 20-25 crowd was sparse. (the pastor made a reference to "Upgrade U" and only a few of us really got the joke.) i suppose i'm spoiled because at the church i attended in ATL, the congregation was 45 and younger. and really, most people were in their mid-20s to mid 30s. so, you know a young church. anyway, all and all, i know it wasn't the right fit for me. if going to church more often is what i'm meant to be doing right now, hopefully i find a church soon.
well, i guess that's all i have to ramble out. i'll try and post again later this week. also, it looks like another eight hour drive will be in order as i'll soon need some of the things i left in Tulsa. until next time...
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