So as you know I am really really bad at updating my blog. There are many reasons why but the main reason is just because I get so worried about everything else I tell myself I have no time to type up a post. BUT, no matter, I am writing now to inform you about my life the past 4 months. As many of you know I have been teaching Algebra 1 and Geometry at an inner city school in Houston. The biggest challenge this year has been and will continue to be the fact that most of my students are English Language Learners meaning that they really don't understand what I am saying all the time and have an even harder time understanding anything they read in English.
This experience has been the hardest most rewarding experience of my life. There have been many days I have asked myself "How am I going to teach these kids today?" Actually this was a common question every morning for the first 3 months. My daily routine was to wake up in the morning at 5:30 with anxiety filling my body, go to school and finish preparing for the day ahead, teach the best that I could, go home at 7 or 8 feeling confident that I could teach well. So I would start my day wondering how the heck I was going to do anything and doubting myself , then end my day excited about how the day went. The one thing I struggled with the most and I still struggle with now is knowing the best way to teach something. That I believe is the hardest thing about teaching is figuring out a good way to teach a topic and being able to make it exciting enough and connect it to the real world so that your students will want to learn. I definitely bored some students to death and I felt super bad about that because I want Math to be as exciting for them as it is for me. I never needed any special hi jinx to convince me that Math was awesome. I just always enjoyed it because there is only one specific answer to each problem.
As you can imagine living this way affected my social life along with my physical body. My social life basically didn't exist up until about Thanksgiving. I pretty much only cared about my life as a teacher and figuring out how the heck I was going to survive. The only people I would talk to were my mom, my girlfriend Danielle, and my roommates when I saw them around the house. I was a pretty big loser and I knew it. I think at this time I was either slightly in or getting really close to depression. I was definitely lonely because I am good at cutting myself off from the rest of the world. As far as my physical body goes, before I came to Houston in June I weighed close to 200 pounds. Now I weigh 165 and I have not been exercising, though I believe I do eat much healthier and smaller portions than I used to. I believe the anxiety has something to do with my appetite and always worrying gave me less time to think about eating or snacking.
Since Thanksgiving when my friend Adam came down to visit my anxiety has diminished and my confidence in my abilities has increased. I have been hanging out with friends on the weekends to get away from the stress of the job and I have not been worrying as much about how I will get through this. God has blessed my life so much to be in the situation that I am and I am thankful to Him for all the people in my life and the opportunities He has provided.
Now since I didn't keep up with my blog over the last semester I am going to try and recall some of the exciting events that occurred over the past 4 months.
- My best class at the beginning of the year ended up being my worst class because of the addition of some rowdy students that did not want to cooperate. In that class I have 4 students that will never shut up. The most defiant one is SPED and has ADD but does not take his medicine because he doesn't like how it makes him feel. He likes to talk back and act big and bad. He is one of my two white students and was caught on campus high on drugs. He is being transferred to the alternative school where all the unruly students go. He is pretty scared about it because he knows it will be tough for him to survive there as a skinny white kid.
- Another student from that class that class that doesn't shut up is a 21 year guy who moved from Ghana and is one of my most immature students. I think a lot of his problem is that he is frustrated that he is 21 and still in high school with younger kids. He makes a lot of stupid comments on purpose and then gets mad at others for making fun of him. One day I mistakenly left 5 minutes of "free" time where we didn't do anything at the end of class. Apparently one of the other students said the wrong thing to this guy and he flipped out and wanted to fight. He threw down 2 of my desks and was prompting the other kid to fight. Of course neither was going to back down and I luckily was right there to get in between them both. That was the only time this semester that I feel things got too out of control in my classroom. Luckily it was at the end of class.
- The student that caused the 21 year old to fight gave me other problems too. This student is the type of person who is annoying and a troublemaker but is so charming that he gets out of a lot of things. Well , one day I decided that I was fed up with the crap of these 4 students and I needed to crack down on their behavior. I told each of them as they came in the door that I was only giving them one chance that day. Each of the other 3 responded fairly well and didn't give me much trouble. Well this one did not want to listen to me at all. At the end of the class I tried to hand him a detention slip and he just walked away disrespectfully. I wrote him up and my AP promptly suspended him for the next day. The next morning I see this student walking down the halls. I told my AP and they had him arrested. Apparently he ended up in jail for the whole weekend and then he has a court date and they are threatening him with 6 months in jail. He is 17. He comes in the next Monday and tries to tell me that he had to see people crap right in front of him because of me and that he was going to jail for 6 months because of me. I eventually had a heart to heart with him and things have cooled down with him.
- Last but not least is the 4th of these students. He actually is one of my most intelligent students and part of the reason why he is so disruptive is because he is bored in my class. Apparently though he used to be a bad kid in middle school and shaped up within the past year. His attitude was getting so bad in my class and he would never listen because he thought he didn't have to and then do bad on the tests. I setup a parent teacher conference with his mom with the help of my AP to translate and this has helped since. What is interesting now with him is that his girlfriend is pregnant and they are only freshmen. He has changed his mind from being a police officer to being an engineer and I hope I can help encourage him in that because I was an engineer.
- There have been many students that I have felt that I have made an impact on. I had one student's mother come in and tell me that she used to hate math and now she loves it and that she says good things about me to her mom. The reason she hated math before was because she didn't understand it. Now she understands it and really likes my class.
- There have been many students that I have referred to the counselor to set them up with mentors. I have noticed the benefit of this program even though every time the mentor lady comes to the door the students act like it is a joke. I have seen a positive difference in the students who are using it.
- Last week I took two of my seniors to the college resource center that we have at our school.
They were planning on either going back to their home countries of Mexico and Guatemala or working for a year before going back to school. After talking to the college director they have both changed their minds and are planning on going to school right after they graduate. It warms my heart to know that I am making a difference in these students lives. They have some of the hardest lives I have ever seen. It has opened my eyes to a whole new world within the United States. They have so many pressures from family, school, the country, their own desires, and friends. I cannot imagine the anxiety these students have.
I have many other stories I could probably tell but if you want to know more you can talk to me in person sometime. I have been so blessed to be put in this situation and given the opportunity to learn and grow so much while hopefully positively affecting the lives of about 100 students. No matter how hard this has been or how worried I have been I have never regretted doing this and it is the most rewarding experience I have ever had. I can honestly say that I love teaching! I look forward to improving and perfecting my teaching so that I can have a greater effect on these students.
I hope everyone has a blessed Christmas and a wonderful New Year. I hope to see many of you when I am in Ohio from Dec. 28th to January 3rd.
Peace,
Michael
Saturday, December 22, 2007
Sunday, September 2, 2007
First Week of Real School
So this past week was my very first week as a High School Math teacher. I must say it went pretty darn good. So far I have not had any big behavior problems which is something I really struggled with this summer teaching Chemistry. The biggest struggle I will be facing this year is the language barrier at my school. I just looked at my roster last night and figured out that I have 7 different languages spoken in one of my Algebra classes ( English, Spanish, French, Farsi, Somali, Urdu, and Other). Not sure what the Other means.... My Geometry class has 5 different languages spoken (English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and Other) and I am not sure yet about my other Algebra class. And believe it or not some of these students do not understand anything that comes out of my mouth. As you can imagine it is really hard to teach someone anything in English if they do not understand English. I am working on finding ways to communicate with these students the best I can in hopes that they learn Algebra. Though this may seem like a discouraging situation I am confident that God will equip me with what I need to communicate with these students. I am excited to see how far we come by the end of the year.
My inspiration for the week and probably for the week is a girl named Vanessa. So on Thursday I was feeling really stressed and down. I was asking myself and God "How am I going to do this? Especially if no one comes in after or before school to get help." Then by the grace of God, Vanessa comes in to get some extra help on what we were learning in class. I help her with what she came for and then started talking to her. She began to tell me about what she wanted to do in life and about why she was in 11th grade and only in Algebra 1. Apparently she is considered "special education" (SPED) because she at one time had a hard time reading English. Now if this is the case I want to know why all my students are not classified "special education"? So because she is SPED she had been placed in Fundamentals of Math classes for her first two years of High School. Do you want to know what they teach in that class? They teach addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and they go all the way up to FRACTIONS!! From what she told me, they taught her the same stuff every year and she would fly through it with high A's. She told me that people at the school were telling her parents that she would be able to go to college with these Math classes but teachers were telling her that she wouldnt be able to with these classes. She began asking around more and finally found out that she would not be able to go to college if she continued taking the classes she was taking. So she got herself into Algebra 1 and now plans to take Geometry in the summer and Algebra 2 next school year so she can go to college and become a Math Teacher! She wants to help the students that are in situations like hers. She has so much motivation, passion, and determination. I told her I will help her with whatever she wants. So she came in on Friday morning 1 hour early to begin working out of the book, which is something we don't really do. I have her reading through the book and doing the problems and if she has any trouble she can ask me questions. EVEN BETTER she came in after school on Friday and spent 1.5 hours helping a student in my class that just moved here from Cuba and doesnt know a lick of English. Now he is also determined to learn Algebra and she is going to help him. I did tell him though that he is going to need to work really hard to learn English so that he can at least somewhat understand me in class. These are the students that make me love my job! I am so excited for this school year and working with students just like these. From the looks of it many of my students want to learn and are willing to work hard to overcome the language barrier, as am I. Please pray that we will be able to overcome all the obstacles that are ahead of us.
Sorry that this is the first post in almost a month. I feel like I need to continue to record these successes that I encounter and the struggles that I face. I miss you all and hope that you are enjoying the long weekend!
Peace,
MO
My inspiration for the week and probably for the week is a girl named Vanessa. So on Thursday I was feeling really stressed and down. I was asking myself and God "How am I going to do this? Especially if no one comes in after or before school to get help." Then by the grace of God, Vanessa comes in to get some extra help on what we were learning in class. I help her with what she came for and then started talking to her. She began to tell me about what she wanted to do in life and about why she was in 11th grade and only in Algebra 1. Apparently she is considered "special education" (SPED) because she at one time had a hard time reading English. Now if this is the case I want to know why all my students are not classified "special education"? So because she is SPED she had been placed in Fundamentals of Math classes for her first two years of High School. Do you want to know what they teach in that class? They teach addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and they go all the way up to FRACTIONS!! From what she told me, they taught her the same stuff every year and she would fly through it with high A's. She told me that people at the school were telling her parents that she would be able to go to college with these Math classes but teachers were telling her that she wouldnt be able to with these classes. She began asking around more and finally found out that she would not be able to go to college if she continued taking the classes she was taking. So she got herself into Algebra 1 and now plans to take Geometry in the summer and Algebra 2 next school year so she can go to college and become a Math Teacher! She wants to help the students that are in situations like hers. She has so much motivation, passion, and determination. I told her I will help her with whatever she wants. So she came in on Friday morning 1 hour early to begin working out of the book, which is something we don't really do. I have her reading through the book and doing the problems and if she has any trouble she can ask me questions. EVEN BETTER she came in after school on Friday and spent 1.5 hours helping a student in my class that just moved here from Cuba and doesnt know a lick of English. Now he is also determined to learn Algebra and she is going to help him. I did tell him though that he is going to need to work really hard to learn English so that he can at least somewhat understand me in class. These are the students that make me love my job! I am so excited for this school year and working with students just like these. From the looks of it many of my students want to learn and are willing to work hard to overcome the language barrier, as am I. Please pray that we will be able to overcome all the obstacles that are ahead of us.
Sorry that this is the first post in almost a month. I feel like I need to continue to record these successes that I encounter and the struggles that I face. I miss you all and hope that you are enjoying the long weekend!
Peace,
MO
Monday, August 6, 2007
Car Insurance
I'm trying to get car insurance because now that I moved to Texas I cannot be on my family's policy in Ohio. Yesterday I began looking online and getting quotes from places like Geico and Progressive. Based on what I knew about the different types of coverage you can get I chose what I thought would be appropriate for me to have on my policy, which ended up being less comprehensive than what I had on my family's policy. The quotes came out to be about the same as what I am paying now which is around $1200 per year. Well my grandpa told me it would be good to go to an independent agency and get quotes from them because they usually have more than one place they get insurance through. I randomly looked up one on the internet and went there today. Apparently this place doesn't usually get walk-ins and they do mostly commercial insurance not personal but they said they would get a quote for me. Part of the reason I went to the place and didn't call was because I wanted to meet with someone face to face. Well the lady that does the personal auto policies works from home so I had to talk to her on the receptionist's phone. There was a delay on the phone which made it really really annoying to talk to her. Well I told this lady the coverage I wanted, which matched my other quotes, and she gave me a quote. Let me tell you now that this independent insurance agency only uses ONE company to get policies unlike what I was hoping for to get multiple quotes. Well her quote was about $1200 as well. FOR 6 MONTHS!! So this place quoted me for double what the well known companies like Geico and Progressive quoted me. After talking with my aunt for 45 min about car insurance I find out that many companies do not give good rates to people my age even if they have a clean record. Another thing I tried to figure out from talking to my aunt was what the purpose of all the different coverages are. A few of them seemed repetitive and also seemed to overlap medical insurance. There is one coverage that will cover your bodily injury liability if an uninsured motorists causes an accident with you. I tried to argue that my medical insurance would cover that and that my passengers should all have medical insurance too. Well my aunt gave me a good scenario that made me realize that it would be good to have. She knew someone that had her car completely totaled by a drunk driver without insurance and she had the uninsured motorist insurance that covered up to $300,000 and she ended up having all her medical bills and such paid by this insurance. I argued that medical insurance should cover that. But what made her point so good was that the $300,000 goes towards compensation for time off work from the injuries. But then there is coverage called Medical Payments, one called Personal Injury Protection, and then the regular bodily liability coverage which to me seem like they all cover the same thing. Seems to me you would only need the regular liability insurance especially since the other two only go up to $10,000 each and that seems weak compared to what medical costs really are. To sum everything up, I don't have my own car insurance yet, I still don't know what all the different coverages do, and because of this issue it was hard to do really productive work today. I'm going to a Nationwide insurance agent tomorrow and will hopefully get everything figured out and then get some insurance for myself.
One more thing that makes this an irritating process is that in order for me to get insurance in Texas my car must be registered in Texas (it's registered in Ohio). AND in order for me to register in Texas I must have insurance in Texas. Figure out that one. Well after tomorrow I may or may not have my own car insurance in Texas and I may or may not have my car registered in Texas.
Peace,
MO
One more thing that makes this an irritating process is that in order for me to get insurance in Texas my car must be registered in Texas (it's registered in Ohio). AND in order for me to register in Texas I must have insurance in Texas. Figure out that one. Well after tomorrow I may or may not have my own car insurance in Texas and I may or may not have my car registered in Texas.
Peace,
MO
Saturday, August 4, 2007
713-705-3617
THATS MY NEW CELL #. USE IT!
I just want to put out there that I know I suck at updating my blog and I apologize. As many bloggers know it is hard to keep a blog updated regularly for some reason. So without further ado let me update you on what has been going on in my life. Warning: This may not be logically ordered and random.
Here is a short update on what I am teaching. I am still teaching two different subjects, Algebra 1 and Geometry, but I will only have 4 sets of students instead of 6 as I originally thought. Let me explain our daily school schedule to give you a better idea of what I am talking about. We have periods and blocks. On Mondays we have all 8 periods of class. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have double periods, also called blocks, with 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th period classes. On Wednesdays and Fridays we have double periods with 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th period classes.
I will be teaching 2 Algebra classes and 2 Geometry classes. My 2 Algebra classes are double period classes everyday so I have those students everyday for 90 mins, even on Monday. My Geometry classes are single period classes so I have them on Monday for 45 min and every other day for 90 min. So I see my Geometry students 3 days a week and my Algebra students 5 days week. I know its complicated isnt it. This leaves me 90 min a day for personal planning or group planning with my learning community. This explanation turned out to be longer than I originally planned. BUT the one nice thing about having my Algebra classes double blocked is that I have less students, which will be helpful for grading, contacting parents, and getting to know my students more deeply. Instead of having 150 or so I will hopefully only have ~100.
My school is broken into 7 learning communities each having their own Assistant principal (AP). I have been told by many people that know my AP that he is a great AP and person. One thing that really excites me is that I found out that he is a Christian and started up a Bible study/Prayer group that meets on Wednesdays at 7:30 before school. I feel so blessed to have been placed in a community that has Christian leadership and so many people praising the work of my AP. God is definitely looking out for me. My learning community is called Health and Human Services (H&H) and has approximately 300 students enrolled. Im very excited to be a part of the H&H community.
General information about my school Lee High School. The school dropped the Robert E. in front of the school name about 5 years ago despite the outrage from certain alumni. The teacher dress code is very lax and requires that you wear at least jeans and a collared shirt or an LHS or any university T-shirt. This is a step up from last year when they didn't really have a dress code and you could come into work in sweats if you wanted to. I am guessing that was strongly discouraged though. We are the Lee High School Generals and our colors are Black and Gold. We do not have a football team but we have a killer soccer team. Our homecoming is in the Winter during the soccer season. Our other relatively big sports are wrestling (men's & women's) and basketball. There are not many extracurriculars, especially academic, and I hope to be a part of starting up a Math team sometime this year. There are roughly 40 different languages spoken at my school and apparently we are dubbed the UN school because we get most of the students that move to Houston from other countries. I would say this is also the biggest reason soccer is the biggest sport at our school. 95% of the students that go to Lee are eligible for Free or Reduced lunch and a majority of the students speak English as a second language.
The week of July 23rd - 27th I had TFA orientation everyday from 8 - 5:30. At this orientation we sat through sessions that taught us how to unpack our standards, set a Big Goal for our class, develop Long-Term plans, Unit Plans, Assessment Plans, and methods for tracking my students progress. So the past couple weeks I have been looking at the State standards for Algebra and Geometry and trying to figure out EXACTLY what they mean and what my students need to know to master them. I have also been thinking about what the Big Goals of my classes will be and how to word them just right so that I can motivate my students with them. This is really really hard to do as a first year teacher because you have no idea what to expect from your students and you have a hard time figuring out how all the standards fit together so you can plan your year so that it flows coherently from one topic to another.
I had my new employee orientation yesterday, August 3rd, with my new employer the Houston Independent School District (HISD). A lot of the stuff was pretty informative but there were some boring parts. The most pertinent information was the Benefits information. I now think I have most of my benefits figured out and they seem to be pretty good. It's good to understand that stuff now that I am finally moving into the real world. My mom also informed me that I must find car insurance down here so that I can get off of theirs. Im almost fully independent now. Actually I have just gotten a new phone with VERIZON and now have a HOUSTON number. This was the last thing that my mom was paying for me. So I think I am now officially an INDEPENDENT adult.
As you may or may not know, my girlfriend Danielle Hickle has been doing some amazing work in Mexico the past 2 months and we have not seen each other since I left exactly 2 months ago. We have only been able to talk about once a week as well for the past 2 months. Well she is coming back to the U.S. today and has a 4 hour layover in Houston. So I am about to get ready to go see her and it's exciting. What is crazy is that she planned this long layover in Houston before we even met. Tell me God doesn't work in mysterious ways!!
Take care!
Peace,
MO
I just want to put out there that I know I suck at updating my blog and I apologize. As many bloggers know it is hard to keep a blog updated regularly for some reason. So without further ado let me update you on what has been going on in my life. Warning: This may not be logically ordered and random.
Here is a short update on what I am teaching. I am still teaching two different subjects, Algebra 1 and Geometry, but I will only have 4 sets of students instead of 6 as I originally thought. Let me explain our daily school schedule to give you a better idea of what I am talking about. We have periods and blocks. On Mondays we have all 8 periods of class. On Tuesdays and Thursdays we have double periods, also called blocks, with 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th period classes. On Wednesdays and Fridays we have double periods with 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th period classes.
I will be teaching 2 Algebra classes and 2 Geometry classes. My 2 Algebra classes are double period classes everyday so I have those students everyday for 90 mins, even on Monday. My Geometry classes are single period classes so I have them on Monday for 45 min and every other day for 90 min. So I see my Geometry students 3 days a week and my Algebra students 5 days week. I know its complicated isnt it. This leaves me 90 min a day for personal planning or group planning with my learning community. This explanation turned out to be longer than I originally planned. BUT the one nice thing about having my Algebra classes double blocked is that I have less students, which will be helpful for grading, contacting parents, and getting to know my students more deeply. Instead of having 150 or so I will hopefully only have ~100.
My school is broken into 7 learning communities each having their own Assistant principal (AP). I have been told by many people that know my AP that he is a great AP and person. One thing that really excites me is that I found out that he is a Christian and started up a Bible study/Prayer group that meets on Wednesdays at 7:30 before school. I feel so blessed to have been placed in a community that has Christian leadership and so many people praising the work of my AP. God is definitely looking out for me. My learning community is called Health and Human Services (H&H) and has approximately 300 students enrolled. Im very excited to be a part of the H&H community.
General information about my school Lee High School. The school dropped the Robert E. in front of the school name about 5 years ago despite the outrage from certain alumni. The teacher dress code is very lax and requires that you wear at least jeans and a collared shirt or an LHS or any university T-shirt. This is a step up from last year when they didn't really have a dress code and you could come into work in sweats if you wanted to. I am guessing that was strongly discouraged though. We are the Lee High School Generals and our colors are Black and Gold. We do not have a football team but we have a killer soccer team. Our homecoming is in the Winter during the soccer season. Our other relatively big sports are wrestling (men's & women's) and basketball. There are not many extracurriculars, especially academic, and I hope to be a part of starting up a Math team sometime this year. There are roughly 40 different languages spoken at my school and apparently we are dubbed the UN school because we get most of the students that move to Houston from other countries. I would say this is also the biggest reason soccer is the biggest sport at our school. 95% of the students that go to Lee are eligible for Free or Reduced lunch and a majority of the students speak English as a second language.
The week of July 23rd - 27th I had TFA orientation everyday from 8 - 5:30. At this orientation we sat through sessions that taught us how to unpack our standards, set a Big Goal for our class, develop Long-Term plans, Unit Plans, Assessment Plans, and methods for tracking my students progress. So the past couple weeks I have been looking at the State standards for Algebra and Geometry and trying to figure out EXACTLY what they mean and what my students need to know to master them. I have also been thinking about what the Big Goals of my classes will be and how to word them just right so that I can motivate my students with them. This is really really hard to do as a first year teacher because you have no idea what to expect from your students and you have a hard time figuring out how all the standards fit together so you can plan your year so that it flows coherently from one topic to another.
I had my new employee orientation yesterday, August 3rd, with my new employer the Houston Independent School District (HISD). A lot of the stuff was pretty informative but there were some boring parts. The most pertinent information was the Benefits information. I now think I have most of my benefits figured out and they seem to be pretty good. It's good to understand that stuff now that I am finally moving into the real world. My mom also informed me that I must find car insurance down here so that I can get off of theirs. Im almost fully independent now. Actually I have just gotten a new phone with VERIZON and now have a HOUSTON number. This was the last thing that my mom was paying for me. So I think I am now officially an INDEPENDENT adult.
As you may or may not know, my girlfriend Danielle Hickle has been doing some amazing work in Mexico the past 2 months and we have not seen each other since I left exactly 2 months ago. We have only been able to talk about once a week as well for the past 2 months. Well she is coming back to the U.S. today and has a 4 hour layover in Houston. So I am about to get ready to go see her and it's exciting. What is crazy is that she planned this long layover in Houston before we even met. Tell me God doesn't work in mysterious ways!!
Take care!
Peace,
MO
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
two DIFFERENT classes
It just hit me that I actually have to plan for two DIFFERENT classes my first year as a teacher, Algebra 1 and Geometry. I don't know how normal this is for a first year teacher but I am thinking that if this summer was hard for me to teach one class, I cannot imagine the difficulty of creating two different lesson plans each day. Come to think of it, because I am on a block schedule which has each of my classes meeting 3 times a week, I will only have to create 3 lesson plans a week for each class. That might not be too bad. Either way I still have a ton to do before the Fall begins and I absolutely do not know where to start or how to manage it all. I'm gonna stop thinking about it for now. Until tomorrow that is.
Peace,
MO
Peace,
MO
Monday, July 23, 2007
One Week Later...
So I have had a week to get settled into my new place in Houston. I really am blessed to have a nice place to live and at a good rate. I took this past week off from TFA and bought a desk, shelving unit, and futon for about $200. Now that's a bargain! My room is slightly small so I had to be creative in how I arranged things and I am happy with the way it has turned out. Last week I had hoped to be a little more productive in creating plans for my classroom in the Fall but I think it was good for me to take my mind off of everything teacher related for a while.
I visited Kiki in San Antonio this past weekend where she just graduated from the army OBC which I am guessing stands for Officer Boot Camp. It was really good to see a friend from Ohio, and I really enjoyed just relaxing with her the whole weekend. She was staying at Fort Sam Houston and it was really kinda scary getting on base initially. The guards liked to ask me what I was thinking when I took my drivers license picture. I either just told them I wasn't thinking or just laughed and drove away. If you have seen my ID picture you know why this is funny. Kiki and I went to the Riverwalk downtown which is the main SA attraction and we went to a Ripley's Believe it or not museum and a wax museum which had many wax figures that did not look anything like the celebrities they were supposed to resemble. We also so the new movie "Hairspray". We both really enjoyed it because the storyline was all about equality and not discriminating against others who aren't like you. One cool thing about being on the base was that I was able to purchase Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the local "mall" when it was sold out everywhere else. Not only this but it was also only $18 rather than $22 AND it wasn't taxed! I was excited. My trip to SA culminated in me taking Kiki to the airport to return to Cincinnati. I know she was super excited to go back to Ohio and be with her family and friends! I was just a tad bit jealous. But no worries, I know that I am down here for a reason and I am going to do what I can to make a difference in Houston TX.
Today was my first day of TFA orientation. The day was long, 8:30 - 6, and the next three days are going to be very similar. The orientation is basically professional development sessions for all the incoming corps members in Houston. Today we discussed leadership in the classroom and what that looks like for us as we prepare for the Fall. There was a lot of reflection questions we were asked to answer. I have a problem with this because I am pretty horrible at reflecting on things. I am not sure what it is but for some reason I cannot focus and I just don't dig deep enough into my mind to really think about things that will help me. I think it is partly due to the fact that I have a Science and Math based thinking and I can only process easily things that are fact or not fact. Also when they tell us to reflect they give us like 3 min and I feel like I need at least 5 times that amount of time to think about something. Either way I know I have some issues I need to work out so that I can be a more effective reflector. ;-)
Tomorrow we begin to look at our standards for what we are teaching which for me is Algebra and Geometry. This should be good because I should be working fairly closely with my Program Director and other CMs teaching the same thing as me. I'm ready to teach Math. I hope I can build the confidence to be a good teacher. This is going to be my hardest battle the next 5 weeks.
I know I suck at updating this and I want to become more consistent and frequent in my updates BUT this definitely doesn't mean it will happen. Here's for hopin....
Peace,
MO
I visited Kiki in San Antonio this past weekend where she just graduated from the army OBC which I am guessing stands for Officer Boot Camp. It was really good to see a friend from Ohio, and I really enjoyed just relaxing with her the whole weekend. She was staying at Fort Sam Houston and it was really kinda scary getting on base initially. The guards liked to ask me what I was thinking when I took my drivers license picture. I either just told them I wasn't thinking or just laughed and drove away. If you have seen my ID picture you know why this is funny. Kiki and I went to the Riverwalk downtown which is the main SA attraction and we went to a Ripley's Believe it or not museum and a wax museum which had many wax figures that did not look anything like the celebrities they were supposed to resemble. We also so the new movie "Hairspray". We both really enjoyed it because the storyline was all about equality and not discriminating against others who aren't like you. One cool thing about being on the base was that I was able to purchase Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at the local "mall" when it was sold out everywhere else. Not only this but it was also only $18 rather than $22 AND it wasn't taxed! I was excited. My trip to SA culminated in me taking Kiki to the airport to return to Cincinnati. I know she was super excited to go back to Ohio and be with her family and friends! I was just a tad bit jealous. But no worries, I know that I am down here for a reason and I am going to do what I can to make a difference in Houston TX.
Today was my first day of TFA orientation. The day was long, 8:30 - 6, and the next three days are going to be very similar. The orientation is basically professional development sessions for all the incoming corps members in Houston. Today we discussed leadership in the classroom and what that looks like for us as we prepare for the Fall. There was a lot of reflection questions we were asked to answer. I have a problem with this because I am pretty horrible at reflecting on things. I am not sure what it is but for some reason I cannot focus and I just don't dig deep enough into my mind to really think about things that will help me. I think it is partly due to the fact that I have a Science and Math based thinking and I can only process easily things that are fact or not fact. Also when they tell us to reflect they give us like 3 min and I feel like I need at least 5 times that amount of time to think about something. Either way I know I have some issues I need to work out so that I can be a more effective reflector. ;-)
Tomorrow we begin to look at our standards for what we are teaching which for me is Algebra and Geometry. This should be good because I should be working fairly closely with my Program Director and other CMs teaching the same thing as me. I'm ready to teach Math. I hope I can build the confidence to be a good teacher. This is going to be my hardest battle the next 5 weeks.
I know I suck at updating this and I want to become more consistent and frequent in my updates BUT this definitely doesn't mean it will happen. Here's for hopin....
Peace,
MO
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Ciao
The hardest 5 weeks of my life are now over. In 6 weeks I will begin the hardest 2 years of my life. Though the past 5 weeks have been hard, I have grown so much as a teacher and as a person. I have been put in situations where I felt like I could not succeed and seen myself succeed. I can look back on lesson plans I wrote the first week and see how much better my lesson plans were at the end of institute. I have seen my patience be tested and strengthened when dealing with 21 high school seniors in summer school, 6 of which consistently gave me trouble. I have seen my faith grow when I could do nothing but say "God help me" and trusting that everything would work out. My confidence in the classroom has gotten better as well especially with my assertiveness in discipline. I have seen that I can get the students to be silent and paying attention. I know I must have this from Day 1. I know I must really work on a lot of things before I begin teaching in 6 weeks but I know that it is possible to get everything done and I have faith that it will.
Last night I moved out of the dorms as fast as possible and moved into my new place in Houston. I have a friend from church who owns a 3 bedroom townhouse that is about 15 minutes from my school and he is letting me stay with him. It was really nice to not have to worry about finding a place to live while going through institute. I dont know if I could have handled even a little more stress. BUT I dont have any furniture for my room, not even a bed. So I am thinking about going to IKEA to look for a desk, dresser and/or shelves, and a bed frame. I dont know how I am going to get it back to my place unless somehow all the boxes or even one of the boxes fits in my car. I am sure I can find someone who has a truck.
This past week I was thinking about stuff and realized that I really miss being in Cincinnati. I miss all of my friends from Cincinnati, University Christian Church, and of course my family. Its hard not always having someone to call and do something with. I am sure it will come soon enough.
This is the last post that will have a rhyming title. I think "Ciao" is appropriate though for this one because I am saying goodbye to TFA Houston Institute and my home for 5 weeks, Moody Towers. Good riddance.
Peace,
MO
Last night I moved out of the dorms as fast as possible and moved into my new place in Houston. I have a friend from church who owns a 3 bedroom townhouse that is about 15 minutes from my school and he is letting me stay with him. It was really nice to not have to worry about finding a place to live while going through institute. I dont know if I could have handled even a little more stress. BUT I dont have any furniture for my room, not even a bed. So I am thinking about going to IKEA to look for a desk, dresser and/or shelves, and a bed frame. I dont know how I am going to get it back to my place unless somehow all the boxes or even one of the boxes fits in my car. I am sure I can find someone who has a truck.
This past week I was thinking about stuff and realized that I really miss being in Cincinnati. I miss all of my friends from Cincinnati, University Christian Church, and of course my family. Its hard not always having someone to call and do something with. I am sure it will come soon enough.
This is the last post that will have a rhyming title. I think "Ciao" is appropriate though for this one because I am saying goodbye to TFA Houston Institute and my home for 5 weeks, Moody Towers. Good riddance.
Peace,
MO
Thursday, July 5, 2007
POW
So I know its been a week since I wrote in this and you are probably wondering how last Thursday went when I said I was going to take charge. Well, I dont really remember last Thursday but I am pretty sure it was a decent day. I am thinking it was the first day I sent someone in the hall to go talk to them. Yeah, it took me 9 days to send someone into the hall. It should have happened the first day and it will happen the first day this fall. Believe you me. It has to happen. I need to set an example that I am not messing around. So even though I sent a student in the hall I didnt know what to say to them. I still dont after sending multiple students in the hall and speaking to them. BUT that was a big step in my classroom management system.
So then I had this weekend where I finally took some time off from TFA and had some fun. I hung out with my friend Jill and some of her friends on Friday night and watched the movie, Take the Lead. It was pretty good and related to my life in some ways because it was about teaching at an inner city high school like I will be doing.
Speaking of my high school placement in the Fall. I was talking to some people that observed there and they told me that my school has like 70 different languages spoken there. Alot of which are from Africa and Latin America. Im pretty excited to have so many different cultures represented in my classroom. What this means for me as a teacher though is that I will have to somehow learn how to differentiate some material for those that are English Language Learners. This just means make things more visual, step by step processes, and other creative things that make learning easier for not just them but everyone. These are skills I will have to focus on in the Fall though because I think most of my kids are pretty sharp with English in my class this summer. Thats not to say they are not far behind in their vocabulary, reading, and writing skills because those are definitely lacking from my students. I plan to incorporate stuff in my lessons to address that issue too come the Fall.
So I have been really trying to implement a good classroom management structure for my class so that I can have something that works when I start in the Fall. I tried a money system where I give students fake money for doing good things and take it away for doing bad things. Well they just started stealing everyone elses money and trading money and giving it away. I scrapped that idea as soon as everyone left my classroom. The next day they were like "Where's my money". They seemed somewhat disappointed but I told them that they couldnt handle the responsibility basically. I was offering them different prizes, the best one being Astro's tickets. But that is not going to happen anymore.
It was good to have yesterday the 4th of July off but I ended up working on TFA stuff all day anyways. From 8 - 12 I had to be in sessions they setup for us and then I had a power session with my Curriculum Specialist, one of the higher ups in my school, and a couple other Corps Members (CMs). We were role-playing classroom behavior scenarios for about 3.5 hours. It was crazy, but it was good. Today I implemented alot of what I learned yesterday and it worked pretty well. I had all my students quiet for the most part and some that had been disengaged before were now engaged in the lesson and learning! One student in particular that usually causes alot of problems was quiet the whole class. They all took notes and I am hoping did well on their assessment. I ended up sending about 4 students into the hall but not at the same time of course. Two ended up going to the office and having a talk with the head administrator. So this was another crucial step in my classroom management system. The big thing that I did to start it off was to have every student shake my hand at the door and I told them that there would be total silence and that they needed to get working on their "Do Now" before the bell rang. So of course I had alot of jokers that wanted to just whiz by...well I didnt let them and if they did I made them go back out and come back in the proper way. This took about 10 minutes to get everyone in the room and silent. I had a memo on their desk detailing exactly how I expected them to act and what the consequences were if they didnt. Then we went over them and I began dealing out consequences. It was beautiful. I am definitely not perfect at classroom management by far but I am heading in the right direction and that is what is going to count for my future students who want to learn.
Thanks again for all the prayers. They are getting me through this institute for sure!
Have a great weekend.
Peace,
MO
So then I had this weekend where I finally took some time off from TFA and had some fun. I hung out with my friend Jill and some of her friends on Friday night and watched the movie, Take the Lead. It was pretty good and related to my life in some ways because it was about teaching at an inner city high school like I will be doing.
Speaking of my high school placement in the Fall. I was talking to some people that observed there and they told me that my school has like 70 different languages spoken there. Alot of which are from Africa and Latin America. Im pretty excited to have so many different cultures represented in my classroom. What this means for me as a teacher though is that I will have to somehow learn how to differentiate some material for those that are English Language Learners. This just means make things more visual, step by step processes, and other creative things that make learning easier for not just them but everyone. These are skills I will have to focus on in the Fall though because I think most of my kids are pretty sharp with English in my class this summer. Thats not to say they are not far behind in their vocabulary, reading, and writing skills because those are definitely lacking from my students. I plan to incorporate stuff in my lessons to address that issue too come the Fall.
So I have been really trying to implement a good classroom management structure for my class so that I can have something that works when I start in the Fall. I tried a money system where I give students fake money for doing good things and take it away for doing bad things. Well they just started stealing everyone elses money and trading money and giving it away. I scrapped that idea as soon as everyone left my classroom. The next day they were like "Where's my money". They seemed somewhat disappointed but I told them that they couldnt handle the responsibility basically. I was offering them different prizes, the best one being Astro's tickets. But that is not going to happen anymore.
It was good to have yesterday the 4th of July off but I ended up working on TFA stuff all day anyways. From 8 - 12 I had to be in sessions they setup for us and then I had a power session with my Curriculum Specialist, one of the higher ups in my school, and a couple other Corps Members (CMs). We were role-playing classroom behavior scenarios for about 3.5 hours. It was crazy, but it was good. Today I implemented alot of what I learned yesterday and it worked pretty well. I had all my students quiet for the most part and some that had been disengaged before were now engaged in the lesson and learning! One student in particular that usually causes alot of problems was quiet the whole class. They all took notes and I am hoping did well on their assessment. I ended up sending about 4 students into the hall but not at the same time of course. Two ended up going to the office and having a talk with the head administrator. So this was another crucial step in my classroom management system. The big thing that I did to start it off was to have every student shake my hand at the door and I told them that there would be total silence and that they needed to get working on their "Do Now" before the bell rang. So of course I had alot of jokers that wanted to just whiz by...well I didnt let them and if they did I made them go back out and come back in the proper way. This took about 10 minutes to get everyone in the room and silent. I had a memo on their desk detailing exactly how I expected them to act and what the consequences were if they didnt. Then we went over them and I began dealing out consequences. It was beautiful. I am definitely not perfect at classroom management by far but I am heading in the right direction and that is what is going to count for my future students who want to learn.
Thanks again for all the prayers. They are getting me through this institute for sure!
Have a great weekend.
Peace,
MO
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
NOW
So you thought I cracked down on them Monday? You ain't seen nothing yet. Wait until tomorrow! It's time to take charge. God be with me.
Peace,
MO
Peace,
MO
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
WOW
So first off I want to thank everyone who is praying for me. I really really appreciate it and can definitely say that your prayers are helping! Since my last post I now have someone helping me 1 hour a night with lesson planning until Thursday and I have straightened some things in my head on what the purpose of this institute is. Now it is a good thing that I have this fairly straight in my head now but it doesn't necessarily mean I like the conclusion I came to. I cannot elaborate anymore.
So this past weekend I was freaking out so much over what I was supposed to teach, how I was supposed to teach it, and how I could take some control of my class with assertiveness. I went to church yesterday evening and at Sunday school the message from God was so loud and clear to me. He was asking me if I wanted to live my life on faith or fear. I had been living in fear all weekend thinking about going back to school on Monday not sure of what I was going to say or how I was going to say it. Well I prayed about everything and asked God to help me put my faith completely in him. I had pretty much continually been doing this the whole weekend and I was doubting whether I could actually do it. My biggest fear was going in to my classroom and trying to get 24 kids to stay quiet and raise their hands when they wanted to talk. I feared that I would get all this backlash and I wouldnt know how to respond and I would just give in. Well today right before my class I told God "Here we go" and sure enough at the beginning of class I started my lecture on how we were going to start raising out hands in class or I was going to hand out consequences. I stood firm and held one student after class. I think I made a big step today in my teaching career. I learned that I can be assertive and that the students WILL listen to me.
I am feeling much of my anxieties lifted off my shoulders and it is amazing. I am in love with my God. Its neat! Oh by the way I have a place to live after institute. A friend from church has an extra bedroom. I am very blessed to have known people down here already! I miss you all and hope to talk to you sometime in the near future. AKA after July 14th.
Peace
MO
So this past weekend I was freaking out so much over what I was supposed to teach, how I was supposed to teach it, and how I could take some control of my class with assertiveness. I went to church yesterday evening and at Sunday school the message from God was so loud and clear to me. He was asking me if I wanted to live my life on faith or fear. I had been living in fear all weekend thinking about going back to school on Monday not sure of what I was going to say or how I was going to say it. Well I prayed about everything and asked God to help me put my faith completely in him. I had pretty much continually been doing this the whole weekend and I was doubting whether I could actually do it. My biggest fear was going in to my classroom and trying to get 24 kids to stay quiet and raise their hands when they wanted to talk. I feared that I would get all this backlash and I wouldnt know how to respond and I would just give in. Well today right before my class I told God "Here we go" and sure enough at the beginning of class I started my lecture on how we were going to start raising out hands in class or I was going to hand out consequences. I stood firm and held one student after class. I think I made a big step today in my teaching career. I learned that I can be assertive and that the students WILL listen to me.
I am feeling much of my anxieties lifted off my shoulders and it is amazing. I am in love with my God. Its neat! Oh by the way I have a place to live after institute. A friend from church has an extra bedroom. I am very blessed to have known people down here already! I miss you all and hope to talk to you sometime in the near future. AKA after July 14th.
Peace
MO
Saturday, June 23, 2007
How?
Only by God's grace!
I have survived week 2 of TFA institute. This is the most challenging thing I have ever been through. The students on Monday were not too bad. I went over all the rules, consequences, and procedures and tried to enforce them. When I say try I mean I gave people warnings on Monday and then became to lenient after that. I really did not establish a very good classroom management scheme. I struggle with being really stern and assertive. I definitely want to improve but I am not sure how easy that is going to be here. For starters I am teaching Chemistry and I am struggling to come up with the material that I am supposed to teach. I have been creating my lesson plans the night before each day and they have gradually become less effective. I am trying to catch up today and tomorrow but I barely got through my Monday lesson plan today and I worked practically all day on it. I am putting all my faith in God right now that I can make it through the next 3 weeks. I fully believe that he will get me through but not without first learning alot about the struggles of teaching along the way.
I have been getting on average 4 hours of sleep for the past 2 weeks and I expect to continue doing the same. BUT on weekends I do try to get more sleep. Last night I got 10 and I am shooting for at least 7 tonight. I am looking forward to this experience being over so that I can immediately get started on planning for my classes in the Fall. I now know that I must do some major preparations to be ready for school in the Fall. I am looking forward to teaching Math though. I believe that the concepts are much easier to teach and therefore learn.
Well I just wanted to let you all know that I am alive and I apologize for not being able to write more. Maybe once I am more than one night ahead of myself. Please pray for me if that is something you do. I need all the prayer I can get. Love you guys!
Peace,
MO
I have survived week 2 of TFA institute. This is the most challenging thing I have ever been through. The students on Monday were not too bad. I went over all the rules, consequences, and procedures and tried to enforce them. When I say try I mean I gave people warnings on Monday and then became to lenient after that. I really did not establish a very good classroom management scheme. I struggle with being really stern and assertive. I definitely want to improve but I am not sure how easy that is going to be here. For starters I am teaching Chemistry and I am struggling to come up with the material that I am supposed to teach. I have been creating my lesson plans the night before each day and they have gradually become less effective. I am trying to catch up today and tomorrow but I barely got through my Monday lesson plan today and I worked practically all day on it. I am putting all my faith in God right now that I can make it through the next 3 weeks. I fully believe that he will get me through but not without first learning alot about the struggles of teaching along the way.
I have been getting on average 4 hours of sleep for the past 2 weeks and I expect to continue doing the same. BUT on weekends I do try to get more sleep. Last night I got 10 and I am shooting for at least 7 tonight. I am looking forward to this experience being over so that I can immediately get started on planning for my classes in the Fall. I now know that I must do some major preparations to be ready for school in the Fall. I am looking forward to teaching Math though. I believe that the concepts are much easier to teach and therefore learn.
Well I just wanted to let you all know that I am alive and I apologize for not being able to write more. Maybe once I am more than one night ahead of myself. Please pray for me if that is something you do. I need all the prayer I can get. Love you guys!
Peace,
MO
Saturday, June 16, 2007
One Week Down...
So let me tell you a little about institute. I work at a high school with about 85 other corps members and we get on the bus to this high school everyday at 6:30 and arrive at 7. We then re-board the buses at 4 and get back to UH at 4:30. So just that is 10 hours! I also spend an hour up in the morning from 5:30 to 6:30 eating breakfast and getting ready to leave. Monday and Tuesday when then had 3 hours sessions that we were required to attend after coming back from the schools. The other nights were pretty free though. Then we have had quite a few assignments that need to be completed and turned into our Corps Member Advisors (CMA) each day. So the first 4 nights I stayed up until 1 and 2 and only accumulated about 20 hours of sleep in a 5 day span. NOT GOOD. Thursday was terrible. I felt like I was going to pass out all day and I felt like I had the flu. My back was aching alot. I think I actually did catch some kind of cold though because my throat hurt for a couple days and my nose is still stuffy. I have never had allergies and I hope I am not just now developing them. I seem to remember though getting slightly sick each time I came down to Houston. I think I may just need to acclimate to the environment.
In all the rustle and bustle I have struggled to make some good connections. It is pretty sad but I think I am going to start getting over it because there is so much to do that we all need to focus and cannot spend too much time getting to know each other. BUT everyone I have met is very encouraging and nice. I have learned alot about how to be an effective teacher and it is really hard to process it all at once and try to incorporate it into your classroom from the beginning. I did get to observe the actual class and students I will be teaching and I am fairly excited. The teacher who I am replacing for the summer doesn't seem to have any type of classroom management plan set in place and doesn't seem to expect much from the students. They tried to teach the class and while the students would be talking to each other fairly loud and just not paying attention in general. They really had no plan of action for that behavior. I did catch a few names so I think it will be really cool if I greet them at the door and call them by name and tell them that I am glad that they are there. I'm pretty excited but very nervous too. I will need lots and lots of prayer for confidence and structure. One thing that I am disappointed in myself is that I am not coming up with my lesson plans soon enough. We have been working on them but I have not fully completed them yet. I need to do this because I need some real concrete steps in how I am going to go about this.
I start teaching on Monday! Im scared...
So this is my life for the next four weeks.
Peace,
MO
In all the rustle and bustle I have struggled to make some good connections. It is pretty sad but I think I am going to start getting over it because there is so much to do that we all need to focus and cannot spend too much time getting to know each other. BUT everyone I have met is very encouraging and nice. I have learned alot about how to be an effective teacher and it is really hard to process it all at once and try to incorporate it into your classroom from the beginning. I did get to observe the actual class and students I will be teaching and I am fairly excited. The teacher who I am replacing for the summer doesn't seem to have any type of classroom management plan set in place and doesn't seem to expect much from the students. They tried to teach the class and while the students would be talking to each other fairly loud and just not paying attention in general. They really had no plan of action for that behavior. I did catch a few names so I think it will be really cool if I greet them at the door and call them by name and tell them that I am glad that they are there. I'm pretty excited but very nervous too. I will need lots and lots of prayer for confidence and structure. One thing that I am disappointed in myself is that I am not coming up with my lesson plans soon enough. We have been working on them but I have not fully completed them yet. I need to do this because I need some real concrete steps in how I am going to go about this.
I start teaching on Monday! Im scared...
So this is my life for the next four weeks.
Peace,
MO
Monday, June 11, 2007
One day down...
So I survived the first day of Houston Institute! I was expecting to be immersed in the classes as an observer from day 1 but was surprised to find out that for the first 3 days we are in learning sessions from 7:00 - 4:00. So today was rather long and tedious and I was working on 3 hours of sleep and only 7 hours in the past two nights. So needless to say I was struggling at times to stay focused. But there was a lot of interaction going on where I needed to give input so that kept me somewhat alert. I plan on getting at least 5 hours of sleep tonight and taking some coffee in with me tomorrow morning. Just to give you an idea, breakfast starts at 5:30 and my bus leaves for the high school at 6:35. Today I got lucky because the only reflection we used from the pre-institute work was exercise 8 which just so happened to be the only exercise I completed for today. Praise God! And no I did not know that would be the only one we would need. I now have to do some stuff for tomorrow. Homework....when was the last time I did this. :-/
Peace,
MO
Peace,
MO
Job Offer - Graduation - Flight Back To Houston
Let's talk a little bit more about the High School Math position at Robert E. Lee High School that I interviewed for on Friday. Before the interview I was talking to someone who had worked at LHS for 4 years in the early 2000's. She informed me that the principal would probably show up in jeans and a button-up. Sure enough he did. I was pretty excited to see such a casual personality with this principal, Mr. Amstutz, because that fits me very well. I also was talking to many other 2006 corps members who praised LHS because of it's principal, atmosphere, and that there was a good TFA support system in place there. According to Mr. Amstutz, there were approximately 20-25 TFA 2006 corps members or alumni that worked within LHS. Wow!! Well my faith was telling me that there was no way I could not get this job because it sounded so perfect. This helped me greatly to keep myself calm. As you can see from the title of this post I was offered the job on the spot and of course I accepted! The demographics of the school are as follows: 74% Hispanic 20% African American 5% Asian 4% White and 92% are free or reduced lunch. I am so excited to be working with these different cultures!
I flew back Friday night for graduation on which being held on Saturday. I got in about 10 and then pretty much went straight to Christy's to hang out one last Friday night. Of course we got Papa Dino's infamous cheese fries at about 1:30AM. MMMMM Yum! This was the very last time I would get cheese fries as a college student. :-( I then had to get up for graduation at 7:00 because we had to be ready and there by 8:30. Graduation was slightly boring and lasted about 2.5 hours with a lot of bad name reading and a not so fantastic speech by Oscar Robertson. They made a video to forever idolize the Big "O" and all his accomplishments. I think our graduation turned into an Oscar celebration. Last night after all the exciting graduation festivities I had to say goodbye to my family and friends for real this time. No more "I'm leaving...no wait I'm back" garbage. This time I was leaving for good and I had no idea when I would see everyone again. Hopefully I will be able to come back in December for Christmas. Leaving was pretty darn hard and I ended up getting very teary eyed. It happens.
Now on to this very cool story. Or at least I think it's pretty cool. So my plane's departure time was 9 AM this morning and Dave got me to the airport at about 7:45 so I had plenty of time to get checked in and get to the Delta Terminal C which many know is not really connected to the other terminals and you have to take a bus over to it. I thought it would be smart to check my bags outside so that I could get through everything quicker. I ended up getting in a line with the slowest human being in the world. I sat in his line for about 35 minutes watching people in other lines fly through their lines. I just kept thinking to myself that if I stuck it out I would be fine and I didn't really want to lug my 2 huge bags, one weighing 46 lbs and the other 64 lbs, and my smaller bag over to the another kiosk. Well I actually ended up going to a different kiosk because all of them were empty and I finally got checked in at 8:20 AM. So I'm freaking out a little bit and start running to security and end up finding it a pretty long line. My line seems to be going slow and when I was just about to send my bag through the line stopped for what felt like 5 min. My bag then goes through and of course I didn't do everything thing completely right and they want to scan it again. OK well they scan it again and then they want to search it. Apparently you are not only supposed to put the less than 3.* ounce bottle of liquid in a baggie but you also have to take it out of your bag so it is visible. Also they couldn't see through this little clock that I got as a gift from tribunal and they felt it was necessary to take chemical bomb tests on. By the time I got through security it was now like 8:42 and I'm freakin out even more. I book it to the tram that takes you to terminal B. Then I run up the escalator to the terminal C bus. I get to terminal C and as I am walking into the gate area I hear them doing a last call for my flight! This is the latest I have ever been for a flight. I seriously almost missed it but I didn't.
Continuing my story... I sat down in my seat on the airplane and saw that the lady next to me was sleeping which was good because I did not want to talk because I had to read/sleep. Well she opened her eyes, noticed my new TFA shirt and asked about the program. I figured I would just have to tell her a little about it and that would be it. Well she was very inquisitive and I began to tell her about why I as an engineer was doing this program. Turns out she is a former teacher who agrees with most if not all of TFA's core values. She also knows my 8th grade science teacher through this program she coordinates in many high schools throughout Ohio. Everything she talked about I was very interested in and she seemed very interested in everything I had to stay. Our conversation went from the philosophy of education to our similar faith beliefs to my relationship with Danielle and relationships in general. It was just so amazing that I was sitting next to a woman that had very similar views on things and loved the Lord as I do. Again I feel like God placed her there for a reason. I got her contact information and I will be definitely using her as a resource in education. I told her about how God has been blessing my life in very visible ways in the past year and she was telling me about how she has been blessed in her lifetime. She leads mission trips to Jamaica and her church, Crossroads, is heavily involved serving the people in Over the Rhine and South Africa. What makes things even crazier is that she was telling me how she didn't even have a seat when she checked in. They just "randomly" gave her the seat next to me. So our conversation lasted the entire 2.5 hour flight and in the middle of it I was thought about telling her about the book "Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne because it would explain a little of why I wanted to live in community with my students' families. Well towards the end of the flight she wanted to give me a book that she thought I would like based on what I had been talking to her about. Guess what! It was "Irresistible Revolution". I got so excited and I told her that the book would change her life or at least it makes you want to just sell everything you own and go live in community with the poor and share all resources. She was about 1/4 of the way through and wanted to give it to me. I am very glad that I have read it because this will now give her a chance to finish it. One last blessing I saw from this encounter was that I was worried about getting my bags from baggage claim to the shuttle. Well she was very willing to help out and I was able to get everything to my car very smoothly. The words I am writing cannot convey enough how awesome this experience was. I felt God so much in this encounter it was ridiculous and my eyes welled up when I thought about the greatness God was revealing to me. Wow!
Well now I am at institute in Moody Towers at University of Houston and in about 4.5 hours I will be getting up for breakfast and getting ready for my first day of summer school. We are not teaching this week but we have alot of learning to do before next week. This should be a very interesting week and I am looking forward to every minute of it. I know that God will provide a very exciting and enriching experience and will work through all of us to help close the achievement gap. We will see how things go. Until next time.
Peace,
MO
I flew back Friday night for graduation on which being held on Saturday. I got in about 10 and then pretty much went straight to Christy's to hang out one last Friday night. Of course we got Papa Dino's infamous cheese fries at about 1:30AM. MMMMM Yum! This was the very last time I would get cheese fries as a college student. :-( I then had to get up for graduation at 7:00 because we had to be ready and there by 8:30. Graduation was slightly boring and lasted about 2.5 hours with a lot of bad name reading and a not so fantastic speech by Oscar Robertson. They made a video to forever idolize the Big "O" and all his accomplishments. I think our graduation turned into an Oscar celebration. Last night after all the exciting graduation festivities I had to say goodbye to my family and friends for real this time. No more "I'm leaving...no wait I'm back" garbage. This time I was leaving for good and I had no idea when I would see everyone again. Hopefully I will be able to come back in December for Christmas. Leaving was pretty darn hard and I ended up getting very teary eyed. It happens.
Now on to this very cool story. Or at least I think it's pretty cool. So my plane's departure time was 9 AM this morning and Dave got me to the airport at about 7:45 so I had plenty of time to get checked in and get to the Delta Terminal C which many know is not really connected to the other terminals and you have to take a bus over to it. I thought it would be smart to check my bags outside so that I could get through everything quicker. I ended up getting in a line with the slowest human being in the world. I sat in his line for about 35 minutes watching people in other lines fly through their lines. I just kept thinking to myself that if I stuck it out I would be fine and I didn't really want to lug my 2 huge bags, one weighing 46 lbs and the other 64 lbs, and my smaller bag over to the another kiosk. Well I actually ended up going to a different kiosk because all of them were empty and I finally got checked in at 8:20 AM. So I'm freaking out a little bit and start running to security and end up finding it a pretty long line. My line seems to be going slow and when I was just about to send my bag through the line stopped for what felt like 5 min. My bag then goes through and of course I didn't do everything thing completely right and they want to scan it again. OK well they scan it again and then they want to search it. Apparently you are not only supposed to put the less than 3.* ounce bottle of liquid in a baggie but you also have to take it out of your bag so it is visible. Also they couldn't see through this little clock that I got as a gift from tribunal and they felt it was necessary to take chemical bomb tests on. By the time I got through security it was now like 8:42 and I'm freakin out even more. I book it to the tram that takes you to terminal B. Then I run up the escalator to the terminal C bus. I get to terminal C and as I am walking into the gate area I hear them doing a last call for my flight! This is the latest I have ever been for a flight. I seriously almost missed it but I didn't.
Continuing my story... I sat down in my seat on the airplane and saw that the lady next to me was sleeping which was good because I did not want to talk because I had to read/sleep. Well she opened her eyes, noticed my new TFA shirt and asked about the program. I figured I would just have to tell her a little about it and that would be it. Well she was very inquisitive and I began to tell her about why I as an engineer was doing this program. Turns out she is a former teacher who agrees with most if not all of TFA's core values. She also knows my 8th grade science teacher through this program she coordinates in many high schools throughout Ohio. Everything she talked about I was very interested in and she seemed very interested in everything I had to stay. Our conversation went from the philosophy of education to our similar faith beliefs to my relationship with Danielle and relationships in general. It was just so amazing that I was sitting next to a woman that had very similar views on things and loved the Lord as I do. Again I feel like God placed her there for a reason. I got her contact information and I will be definitely using her as a resource in education. I told her about how God has been blessing my life in very visible ways in the past year and she was telling me about how she has been blessed in her lifetime. She leads mission trips to Jamaica and her church, Crossroads, is heavily involved serving the people in Over the Rhine and South Africa. What makes things even crazier is that she was telling me how she didn't even have a seat when she checked in. They just "randomly" gave her the seat next to me. So our conversation lasted the entire 2.5 hour flight and in the middle of it I was thought about telling her about the book "Irresistible Revolution" by Shane Claiborne because it would explain a little of why I wanted to live in community with my students' families. Well towards the end of the flight she wanted to give me a book that she thought I would like based on what I had been talking to her about. Guess what! It was "Irresistible Revolution". I got so excited and I told her that the book would change her life or at least it makes you want to just sell everything you own and go live in community with the poor and share all resources. She was about 1/4 of the way through and wanted to give it to me. I am very glad that I have read it because this will now give her a chance to finish it. One last blessing I saw from this encounter was that I was worried about getting my bags from baggage claim to the shuttle. Well she was very willing to help out and I was able to get everything to my car very smoothly. The words I am writing cannot convey enough how awesome this experience was. I felt God so much in this encounter it was ridiculous and my eyes welled up when I thought about the greatness God was revealing to me. Wow!
Well now I am at institute in Moody Towers at University of Houston and in about 4.5 hours I will be getting up for breakfast and getting ready for my first day of summer school. We are not teaching this week but we have alot of learning to do before next week. This should be a very interesting week and I am looking forward to every minute of it. I know that God will provide a very exciting and enriching experience and will work through all of us to help close the achievement gap. We will see how things go. Until next time.
Peace,
MO
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Houston - TFA Induction
I finally made it to the hotel in downtown Houston after circling the place a couple times because I kept missing the entrance and the dag gum one way streets. The minute I walked into the hotel I began to meet other 2007 Houston corps members and I have been trying my hardest to remember all their names. So far I am doing a pretty good job I think. Most everyone is very excited to be here and are fairly outgoing.
During my registration process I found out that tomorrow I will have a interview tomorrow at 3:00 PM with the principal from Robert E. Lee High School for a math teacher position. I am a bit nervous because they told us to prepare a long time for this interview and I haven't really prepared at all. BUT I have been through interviews before so I am hoping this experience helps and I can just charm them. I also have faith that if this is where God wants to place me he will. What is kinda neat is that the school is in an area I am familiar with and I just went to a coffee shop there last night and really liked it and was hoping that I would find something like that near me when I moved. This school is also very close to the church I now go to in Houston. I do plan on going to a different church within the community I live in but I was hoping I could also go to the evening service on Sundays at my current church. It seems to me that this school location would work pretty well for me.
So at the dinner tonight we had to wear a nice shirt and tie. I am not too bad at tying a tie but sometimes I have trouble and I thought I would just look around online to see if they had anything that could help. I found this really good site that has a step-by-step tutorial on how to tie a full windsor knot. It was pretty funny because it was literally step-by-step. Check it out if you want to know what I mean. How to tie a tie (Full Windsor)
At dinner I met a guy named Omar who graduated from Yale and he made me feel much better about not doing any of the pre-institute stuff. He just graduated this past Monday and he has also not started to write any of the reflection papers they wanted us to write. My roommate Micah has completed all the pre-institute material and it kinda worried me a bit at first. I was told by my transition team leader that I should not stress over it. So I'm not going to!
I met some really cool people today! God blessed me with a strong Christian roommate! I took a trip back to Jill's apartment, whom I have been staying with the last couple of nights, because I forgot my suit which I will need for my interview tomorrow. My new friends Stephanie and Abby kept me company on this trip and we talked alot about my Christian faith because Stephanie is agnostic and was very interested in knowing what I believed about many different things. I think it is amazing how God has put these people in my life to let me share my faith too. I have never felt comfortable with it before but over the past year I have become much more comfortable in my faith and being able to share with people. Another cool thing about Stephanie is that she is in a very similar boat as me because she has just started a relationship with her boyfriend a month ago so we can talk about how crazy we both are for starting these relationships right before we leave for at least 2 years. I am excited to share with her about my relationship with Danielle because it will be another opportunity for me to share how God has blessed my life.
So I was really proud of how well my mom, Danielle, and I had packed my car for my trip down. Literally you could not fit anything else in the car after I got in the drivers seat. I could see perfectly out my side mirrors and semi-perfectly through my rear view mirror. When I got to Houston on Tuesday night I asked Jill to take pictures of how sweet of a job we did. So we took pictures of each side of the inside of my car and then we opened the trunk and took a picture. Well then we needed to close the trunk but it didn't close right away. So we moved a couple things around and out of the way so it could close. It never did, even after taking every single thing out of my trunk. Apparently I broke it when I overstuffed it and forced it shut. Who would have thunk. The latch was not locking because it was not far enough down to hit the bar that made it latch. So I took it to a mechanic this morning at 7AM to have them fix it. They fix it and I go to pick it up and pay and the bill is $0.00. I asked the guy why and he told me it was because he wasn't sure how long it would last because they just adjusted it slightly. So needless to say I am not going to open my trunk until I know everything that I put in there is coming out just in case it breaks again.
Well breakfast is at 6:30 AM tomorrow and it is 10 till midnight. So I am going to be finished with this post. I hope I can continue to post about my soon to be crazy life in the future!
Peace,
MO
During my registration process I found out that tomorrow I will have a interview tomorrow at 3:00 PM with the principal from Robert E. Lee High School for a math teacher position. I am a bit nervous because they told us to prepare a long time for this interview and I haven't really prepared at all. BUT I have been through interviews before so I am hoping this experience helps and I can just charm them. I also have faith that if this is where God wants to place me he will. What is kinda neat is that the school is in an area I am familiar with and I just went to a coffee shop there last night and really liked it and was hoping that I would find something like that near me when I moved. This school is also very close to the church I now go to in Houston. I do plan on going to a different church within the community I live in but I was hoping I could also go to the evening service on Sundays at my current church. It seems to me that this school location would work pretty well for me.
So at the dinner tonight we had to wear a nice shirt and tie. I am not too bad at tying a tie but sometimes I have trouble and I thought I would just look around online to see if they had anything that could help. I found this really good site that has a step-by-step tutorial on how to tie a full windsor knot. It was pretty funny because it was literally step-by-step. Check it out if you want to know what I mean. How to tie a tie (Full Windsor)
At dinner I met a guy named Omar who graduated from Yale and he made me feel much better about not doing any of the pre-institute stuff. He just graduated this past Monday and he has also not started to write any of the reflection papers they wanted us to write. My roommate Micah has completed all the pre-institute material and it kinda worried me a bit at first. I was told by my transition team leader that I should not stress over it. So I'm not going to!
I met some really cool people today! God blessed me with a strong Christian roommate! I took a trip back to Jill's apartment, whom I have been staying with the last couple of nights, because I forgot my suit which I will need for my interview tomorrow. My new friends Stephanie and Abby kept me company on this trip and we talked alot about my Christian faith because Stephanie is agnostic and was very interested in knowing what I believed about many different things. I think it is amazing how God has put these people in my life to let me share my faith too. I have never felt comfortable with it before but over the past year I have become much more comfortable in my faith and being able to share with people. Another cool thing about Stephanie is that she is in a very similar boat as me because she has just started a relationship with her boyfriend a month ago so we can talk about how crazy we both are for starting these relationships right before we leave for at least 2 years. I am excited to share with her about my relationship with Danielle because it will be another opportunity for me to share how God has blessed my life.
So I was really proud of how well my mom, Danielle, and I had packed my car for my trip down. Literally you could not fit anything else in the car after I got in the drivers seat. I could see perfectly out my side mirrors and semi-perfectly through my rear view mirror. When I got to Houston on Tuesday night I asked Jill to take pictures of how sweet of a job we did. So we took pictures of each side of the inside of my car and then we opened the trunk and took a picture. Well then we needed to close the trunk but it didn't close right away. So we moved a couple things around and out of the way so it could close. It never did, even after taking every single thing out of my trunk. Apparently I broke it when I overstuffed it and forced it shut. Who would have thunk. The latch was not locking because it was not far enough down to hit the bar that made it latch. So I took it to a mechanic this morning at 7AM to have them fix it. They fix it and I go to pick it up and pay and the bill is $0.00. I asked the guy why and he told me it was because he wasn't sure how long it would last because they just adjusted it slightly. So needless to say I am not going to open my trunk until I know everything that I put in there is coming out just in case it breaks again.
Well breakfast is at 6:30 AM tomorrow and it is 10 till midnight. So I am going to be finished with this post. I hope I can continue to post about my soon to be crazy life in the future!
Peace,
MO
Monday, June 4, 2007
Cincinnati to Memphis
So I left this morning at 10:30 AM from Cincinnati in route to Houston. I made it to Memphis around 7 PM Cincinnati time. I would have been there about one hour earlier if it hadn't been for this big traffic jam in Bowling Green, Kentucky. They had construction going on which made things go to one lane and I think there was an accident involving a semi because when I finally got past everything I saw a tow truck lifting up a semi. During this traffic jam I moved 5 miles in 75 minutes. It wasn't a whole lot of fun but I was able to maneuver my bags around and sneak out a book to read while I was sitting still or rolling at 4 mph.
One random thing about the packing situation. I know I mentioned how I had to fit everything in my small Chevy Cavalier and that I was going to do a couple things to help out like putting all my DVDs in a 240 count CD case and packing most of my clothes into 2 large suit cases to bring on the plane back from graduation. (Wow that was a long sentence. I'm not sure if that is a legal sentence.) So what I wanted to say was, it is amazing how perfectly everything fit into my car. Even Jessica's, another TFA'er, printer! I don't think I could fit one more thing in there BUT I did fit everything I wanted and it is very snug and secure. I just see this as another one of God's many blessings as of late that I have noticed.
It was hard leaving Cincinnati knowing that I am not coming back in 6 months like I usually do. I will be gone for at least 2 years. It hasn't really set in yet that I may not see some people ever again. I am hoping to see many people at graduation this Saturday and Friday night too. It is hard to believe that we are all going to take different paths in life and hopefully keep up on each other's lives. This is just the beginning of another amazing chapter of my life and I look forward to every single second of it!
Peace,
MO
One random thing about the packing situation. I know I mentioned how I had to fit everything in my small Chevy Cavalier and that I was going to do a couple things to help out like putting all my DVDs in a 240 count CD case and packing most of my clothes into 2 large suit cases to bring on the plane back from graduation. (Wow that was a long sentence. I'm not sure if that is a legal sentence.) So what I wanted to say was, it is amazing how perfectly everything fit into my car. Even Jessica's, another TFA'er, printer! I don't think I could fit one more thing in there BUT I did fit everything I wanted and it is very snug and secure. I just see this as another one of God's many blessings as of late that I have noticed.
It was hard leaving Cincinnati knowing that I am not coming back in 6 months like I usually do. I will be gone for at least 2 years. It hasn't really set in yet that I may not see some people ever again. I am hoping to see many people at graduation this Saturday and Friday night too. It is hard to believe that we are all going to take different paths in life and hopefully keep up on each other's lives. This is just the beginning of another amazing chapter of my life and I look forward to every single second of it!
Peace,
MO
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Political Compass
I did the survey that Emily Hamburg had on her blog that tells you where you basically stand on the political scale. The site is http://www.politicalcompass.org/ and it looks like Emily and I are in the same region of thinking.
Where I stand politically:
Where others in history apparently stand:
Peace,
MO
Where I stand politically:
Where others in history apparently stand:
Peace,
MO
Ready or Not.....Here I come
I leave in 5 DAYS!
As you can probably imagine from my previous posts, I have been pretty busy the last couple weeks. BUT what's funny is that what is keeping me busy is not really the same stuff I talked about in those posts. Many of you know this already but after over 3 years of being single (except for a month at the end of 2006) I now have a serious relationship with a girl. In other words, I am no longer the sexiest single guy in the world. Don't worry I wont bore you all with the mushy gushy details of the relationship but I will say that I am extremely happy with the situation. And yes I do understand that I am leaving for Houston for at least 2 years and she doesn't graduate until next year. Now to talk about Teach For America. (which is actually the reason I met Danielle)
So a few updates:
1) I found a fantastic home for Smokey the cat. He has now been living with my friend Courtney Robinson who initially didn't want to bother with a cat at this time in her life. But when she found out that it was a FAT grey cat just like her old cat she was all about it. I feel so blessed to have found her to take Smokey. She is going to be a great owner!
2) I think I have most of the stuff that is not coming with me to Houston back at home. I also think that I will be able to fit everything in my car. I put all my dvd's in a case and I have two large luggage bags to take back when I fly back to Houston after graduation.
3) I am going to walk at graduation on June 9th! I am also going to attend induction June 7-8th. I was blessed with the opportunity to buy a plane ticket from Les Stoneham, the manager of Rohs Street Cafe, because he has skymiles with Delta. He only charged me $200 which is about half of what I was going to have to spend.
4) I did give some of my furniture to UCC for the yard sale a couple weeks ago and I am going to be giving my bed, dresser, and office chair to a friend in need.
5) I have a place to stay in Memphis, New Orleans, and Houston for June 4-6th when I drive down next week. A couple of people from UCC know other Christians in Memphis and New Orleans. And of course I know people in Houston. I think it is amazing how people are so willing to open their home to me. Just another blessing.
I haven't been reading a whole lot of TFA material lately but I was encouraged by my "Transition Director" who said I should not stress over getting everything accomplished. I figured as much so I was not really stressing before I heard this. I have started accumulating many teaching books outside TFA too that I am excited to read.
I have watched 3 very inspiring teaching movies the last couple weeks. "Stand and Deliver", "Freedom Writers", and "The Ron Clark Story" all are very powerful and motivating movies. I get pumped and excited when I watch them and realize how much of a difference I will have the opportunity to make as a teacher. I am planning on buying each of these movies for the times in which I need some encouragement to continue being positive about teaching.
One final thing I would like to say. Going through this process has given me a whole new outlook on what teachers go through and how important they are in OUR lives. I have a whole new sense of respect for the teachers of this world.
Peace,
MO
As you can probably imagine from my previous posts, I have been pretty busy the last couple weeks. BUT what's funny is that what is keeping me busy is not really the same stuff I talked about in those posts. Many of you know this already but after over 3 years of being single (except for a month at the end of 2006) I now have a serious relationship with a girl. In other words, I am no longer the sexiest single guy in the world. Don't worry I wont bore you all with the mushy gushy details of the relationship but I will say that I am extremely happy with the situation. And yes I do understand that I am leaving for Houston for at least 2 years and she doesn't graduate until next year. Now to talk about Teach For America. (which is actually the reason I met Danielle)
So a few updates:
1) I found a fantastic home for Smokey the cat. He has now been living with my friend Courtney Robinson who initially didn't want to bother with a cat at this time in her life. But when she found out that it was a FAT grey cat just like her old cat she was all about it. I feel so blessed to have found her to take Smokey. She is going to be a great owner!
2) I think I have most of the stuff that is not coming with me to Houston back at home. I also think that I will be able to fit everything in my car. I put all my dvd's in a case and I have two large luggage bags to take back when I fly back to Houston after graduation.
3) I am going to walk at graduation on June 9th! I am also going to attend induction June 7-8th. I was blessed with the opportunity to buy a plane ticket from Les Stoneham, the manager of Rohs Street Cafe, because he has skymiles with Delta. He only charged me $200 which is about half of what I was going to have to spend.
4) I did give some of my furniture to UCC for the yard sale a couple weeks ago and I am going to be giving my bed, dresser, and office chair to a friend in need.
5) I have a place to stay in Memphis, New Orleans, and Houston for June 4-6th when I drive down next week. A couple of people from UCC know other Christians in Memphis and New Orleans. And of course I know people in Houston. I think it is amazing how people are so willing to open their home to me. Just another blessing.
I haven't been reading a whole lot of TFA material lately but I was encouraged by my "Transition Director" who said I should not stress over getting everything accomplished. I figured as much so I was not really stressing before I heard this. I have started accumulating many teaching books outside TFA too that I am excited to read.
I have watched 3 very inspiring teaching movies the last couple weeks. "Stand and Deliver", "Freedom Writers", and "The Ron Clark Story" all are very powerful and motivating movies. I get pumped and excited when I watch them and realize how much of a difference I will have the opportunity to make as a teacher. I am planning on buying each of these movies for the times in which I need some encouragement to continue being positive about teaching.
One final thing I would like to say. Going through this process has given me a whole new outlook on what teachers go through and how important they are in OUR lives. I have a whole new sense of respect for the teachers of this world.
Peace,
MO
Sunday, May 13, 2007
Simple Proof....
I just wanted to put this post up to remind myself and everyone else that prayer actually works. My simple proof comes from tonight on my way back from Piqua where I surprised my mom for mothers day and watched the survivor finale with her.
I got a call from my roommate informing me that my cat, Smokey, had jumped out one of the 1st floor windows and they couldnt find him. I wasnt too worried because I knew that Smokey had gotten out before and always came back. My roommate said he would let me know when Smokey returned. Well he ventured outside around 6 PM and I hadnt heard anything by the time I left my house at 11 PM.
When I was turning off my street I asked God to bring Smokey home without injury because I felt I had enough to worry about already with TFA and all. Well not but 5 minutes later when I was pumping gas I got a text message from one of my roommates telling me that had caught Smokey. I was just amazed at how quickly my prayer was answered and I am glad that I noticed that it was an answered prayer and not just mere coincidence.
I am hoping to post something soon concerning my TFA experience, especially since I just realized this morning when I woke up that I will be leaving exactly 3 weeks from tomorrow, Monday! Ahhhh!
Peace,
MO
I got a call from my roommate informing me that my cat, Smokey, had jumped out one of the 1st floor windows and they couldnt find him. I wasnt too worried because I knew that Smokey had gotten out before and always came back. My roommate said he would let me know when Smokey returned. Well he ventured outside around 6 PM and I hadnt heard anything by the time I left my house at 11 PM.
When I was turning off my street I asked God to bring Smokey home without injury because I felt I had enough to worry about already with TFA and all. Well not but 5 minutes later when I was pumping gas I got a text message from one of my roommates telling me that had caught Smokey. I was just amazed at how quickly my prayer was answered and I am glad that I noticed that it was an answered prayer and not just mere coincidence.
I am hoping to post something soon concerning my TFA experience, especially since I just realized this morning when I woke up that I will be leaving exactly 3 weeks from tomorrow, Monday! Ahhhh!
Peace,
MO
Monday, April 30, 2007
Logistics
So I was thinking alot this past weekend about the things I need to do logistically before I go to Houston and realized that this experience is going to be not only challenging from the teaching perspective but from a logistics perspective as well. Before I get into all that I want to just put out there that I really wish I did not have any other responsibilities that relate to college.
So I began by trying to figure out what I am going to take to Houston. At the very beginning I was thinking I would just drive a U-Haul down and be able to basically take all my worldly possessions. Then I realized that TFA would not be paying for that like TI did and I do not have an extra couple thousand dollars sitting around. So I basically nixed the idea of taking any furniture including my ping pong table and Foosball table, both of which were items I was really hoping to take. I then thought about how I would be able to take my cat, Smokey, down with me. I figured during the 5 weeks that I would be in the U. of Houston dorms maybe my friend Jill in Houston could take care of him. She has her own cat and Smokey loves making new friends. There are two things preventing me from bringing him down initially. 1) Travel time; Smokey must poop, pee, eat, and drink. These are all difficult tasks while traveling in a car. 2) Room in car; There would be no room to put his LARGE litter box and his travel cage. So the decision is that he will stay with my mom and grandpa until further notice.
Now I have to decide on what is most important to bring to Houston and what I can actually fit in my small Chevrolet Cavalier. I have devise a couple of plans to fit a few more things in my car. The first is to take all my DVD's out of their cases and put them into a CD case. Because I have numerous DVD's this will save the space equal to about the size of one Medium box from U-Haul. My next idea was to bring back a couple suitcases full of clothes or whatever when I fly back to Houston after graduation. These to plans should save a considerable amount of space in my car. I decided today that it would be fairly stupid to try and bring any type of food with me since I get 3 free meals a day for 5 weeks from TFA. Just one more way to save room. If anyone has any suggestions on how to save more room please advise!
What am I going to do with my furniture you ask? Well it just so happens that University Christian Church is going to have a yard sale for this program they run called "Whiz Kids". It is a program that tutors about 30 students at a local elementary school. I plan on giving them my couch, chair, and some clothes at least, if not my desk, bed, and dresser. Another big thing I will be needing to do is take all the stuff I dont take to Houston back up to Piqua. I am not sure yet how much that includes but it will probably be alot because I seem to accumulate many possessions, many of which are unnecessary.
One thing that I can check off my list is clothes. My mom and I went to Walmart and Kohls this past weekend and spent close to $400 on a new wardrobe. Instead of only having one thing to wear to formals, which as many of you know was my black shirt and silver tie, I now have probably 10 combinations of outfits I can wear that make me look sharp and professional. Im not really one to dress up but I think I may like looking nice everyday once I become a teacher.
I am sure there are other logistics involved in this whole process too but I just wanted to give you a glimpse at what I am looking forward to.
Thank you all for caring and keeping up on my life! Have a good week!
Peace,
MO
So I began by trying to figure out what I am going to take to Houston. At the very beginning I was thinking I would just drive a U-Haul down and be able to basically take all my worldly possessions. Then I realized that TFA would not be paying for that like TI did and I do not have an extra couple thousand dollars sitting around. So I basically nixed the idea of taking any furniture including my ping pong table and Foosball table, both of which were items I was really hoping to take. I then thought about how I would be able to take my cat, Smokey, down with me. I figured during the 5 weeks that I would be in the U. of Houston dorms maybe my friend Jill in Houston could take care of him. She has her own cat and Smokey loves making new friends. There are two things preventing me from bringing him down initially. 1) Travel time; Smokey must poop, pee, eat, and drink. These are all difficult tasks while traveling in a car. 2) Room in car; There would be no room to put his LARGE litter box and his travel cage. So the decision is that he will stay with my mom and grandpa until further notice.
Now I have to decide on what is most important to bring to Houston and what I can actually fit in my small Chevrolet Cavalier. I have devise a couple of plans to fit a few more things in my car. The first is to take all my DVD's out of their cases and put them into a CD case. Because I have numerous DVD's this will save the space equal to about the size of one Medium box from U-Haul. My next idea was to bring back a couple suitcases full of clothes or whatever when I fly back to Houston after graduation. These to plans should save a considerable amount of space in my car. I decided today that it would be fairly stupid to try and bring any type of food with me since I get 3 free meals a day for 5 weeks from TFA. Just one more way to save room. If anyone has any suggestions on how to save more room please advise!
What am I going to do with my furniture you ask? Well it just so happens that University Christian Church is going to have a yard sale for this program they run called "Whiz Kids". It is a program that tutors about 30 students at a local elementary school. I plan on giving them my couch, chair, and some clothes at least, if not my desk, bed, and dresser. Another big thing I will be needing to do is take all the stuff I dont take to Houston back up to Piqua. I am not sure yet how much that includes but it will probably be alot because I seem to accumulate many possessions, many of which are unnecessary.
One thing that I can check off my list is clothes. My mom and I went to Walmart and Kohls this past weekend and spent close to $400 on a new wardrobe. Instead of only having one thing to wear to formals, which as many of you know was my black shirt and silver tie, I now have probably 10 combinations of outfits I can wear that make me look sharp and professional. Im not really one to dress up but I think I may like looking nice everyday once I become a teacher.
I am sure there are other logistics involved in this whole process too but I just wanted to give you a glimpse at what I am looking forward to.
Thank you all for caring and keeping up on my life! Have a good week!
Peace,
MO
Monday, April 23, 2007
Teach For America
So for those of you who didn't know I have accepted a job with the non-profit organization Teach For America. I will be moving to Houston sometime between June 7th and June 10th. I know what your thinking, "How are you gonna walk at graduation on June 9th?" Well I have not totally figured that one out yet but I have been contemplating whether I wanted to walk or not, and I have decided that I would like to be there graduation day. Whether that happens or not is a more complicated story. To give you an idea of how stressful and complicated the beginning of summer is going to be, let me explain a little about what Im going to be doing.
So even before I go to Houston for teacher training I am going to recieve a seven pound package in the mail containing all the "pre-institute" work. Because I just accepted the offer tonight, I am not exactly sure what is in this package but I have an idea from asking others in TFA. The package contains ALOT of reading material I need to read before June 10th. It also contains papers I need to fill out including reflections from observing classrooms, reflections on readings, and other similar stuff that will get me thinking.
Then from June 7th - 9th I am supposed to be in Houston for induction which is the time when all the 2007 Houston TFA corps members will come to Houston to meet each other and everyone in TFA-Houston. This is also a time in which people may interview at schools. Yes we do have to interview still because we have only been placed in the region and have not been placed in a specific school because TFA does not know specifically what the needs are for each school and the needs for the schools could change over time. Apparently according to some current TFA corps members, the induction is not completely necessary and I might be able to get out of it for graduation. More on this topic later...
Next will be the 5-week institute from June 10th - July 14th. The institute is going to be very intense and I have been told to expect to work 10 - 12 hour days for the 5-week span. I will be teaching math at a summer school in Houston. I will be in a group of four with me being the lone math teacher. This is supposed to last from 7:30 to 2:30 every weekday and I read that we are expected to work on the 4th of July. Probably not summer school though that day. After summer school we will be taking classes and doing exercises to improve our teaching skills. Course work includes "Teaching As Leadership", "Instructional Planning and Development", "Classroom Management and Culture", "Diversity, Community and Achievement", "Learning Theory", and "Literacy Development". If you want more details check out this link https://www.teachforamerica.org/corps/training.htm . Teach For America pays for Room and Board including 3 meals a day for the entire 5 weeks. But I will have to be looking for a place to live and someone to live with during this time.
School starts August 27th, which is just about four months away from right now. Knowing that makes me a little nervous. I do not have much time to let all this soak in and do all the pre-institute stuff along with all that I am involved with at UC. BUT I seem to work well under pressure and I am excited to take on this challenge. Right now I am very anxious to get my seven pound package in the mail so I can start absorbing stuff.
So the I am thinking that June 3rd to about June 11th are going to be the craziest days of my life. I have to somehow move out of my house at UC, maybe get to Houston by June 7th, come back here for graduation by 8AM June 9th, and be back in Houston by June 10th at 6PM. I am not sure how its all gonna work out but it will work out, I have faith. And with all this going on Im going to have to deal with the emotions of leaving all my friends from UC. I am going to miss every single one of you!
One last thing for now....Does anyone know someone who would like to sublet from June till August? Let me know ASAP if you do!
Peace
MO
So even before I go to Houston for teacher training I am going to recieve a seven pound package in the mail containing all the "pre-institute" work. Because I just accepted the offer tonight, I am not exactly sure what is in this package but I have an idea from asking others in TFA. The package contains ALOT of reading material I need to read before June 10th. It also contains papers I need to fill out including reflections from observing classrooms, reflections on readings, and other similar stuff that will get me thinking.
Then from June 7th - 9th I am supposed to be in Houston for induction which is the time when all the 2007 Houston TFA corps members will come to Houston to meet each other and everyone in TFA-Houston. This is also a time in which people may interview at schools. Yes we do have to interview still because we have only been placed in the region and have not been placed in a specific school because TFA does not know specifically what the needs are for each school and the needs for the schools could change over time. Apparently according to some current TFA corps members, the induction is not completely necessary and I might be able to get out of it for graduation. More on this topic later...
Next will be the 5-week institute from June 10th - July 14th. The institute is going to be very intense and I have been told to expect to work 10 - 12 hour days for the 5-week span. I will be teaching math at a summer school in Houston. I will be in a group of four with me being the lone math teacher. This is supposed to last from 7:30 to 2:30 every weekday and I read that we are expected to work on the 4th of July. Probably not summer school though that day. After summer school we will be taking classes and doing exercises to improve our teaching skills. Course work includes "Teaching As Leadership", "Instructional Planning and Development", "Classroom Management and Culture", "Diversity, Community and Achievement", "Learning Theory", and "Literacy Development". If you want more details check out this link https://www.teachforamerica.org/corps/training.htm . Teach For America pays for Room and Board including 3 meals a day for the entire 5 weeks. But I will have to be looking for a place to live and someone to live with during this time.
School starts August 27th, which is just about four months away from right now. Knowing that makes me a little nervous. I do not have much time to let all this soak in and do all the pre-institute stuff along with all that I am involved with at UC. BUT I seem to work well under pressure and I am excited to take on this challenge. Right now I am very anxious to get my seven pound package in the mail so I can start absorbing stuff.
So the I am thinking that June 3rd to about June 11th are going to be the craziest days of my life. I have to somehow move out of my house at UC, maybe get to Houston by June 7th, come back here for graduation by 8AM June 9th, and be back in Houston by June 10th at 6PM. I am not sure how its all gonna work out but it will work out, I have faith. And with all this going on Im going to have to deal with the emotions of leaving all my friends from UC. I am going to miss every single one of you!
One last thing for now....Does anyone know someone who would like to sublet from June till August? Let me know ASAP if you do!
Peace
MO
Friday, April 13, 2007
No more reason to....
WATCH SURVIVOR FIJI!!!!
My friend Michelle Yi was kicked off Survivor tonight. Tonight I was unable to attend the weekly gathering to watch it with everyone and I really wish I was there to go through all the emotions with them. I didnt get home until midnight-thirty and as soon as I walked in the door I flipped on the DVR of Survivor. Even though I was by myself I still was cheering Michelle's team on in the challenge and telling everyone on the T.V. what to do. I literally was crouching down to the floor and pointing my arm towards the T.V. in anticipation when Jeff Probst was reading the votes and accidently hit my brand new camera when he announced Michell Yi as the 9th survivor to be voted off. Luckily my camera made it through fine. So if it were not for Dreamz making a stupid mistake, I know Michelle would have gone much farther. Let me explain...
Everyone on the show liked Michelle and had nothing against her. There were only 3 people who had not ever lived on the same island as her. Well when the tribes merged into a tribe of the 10 remaining Survivors she had pretty good position. Mookie who originally had an alliance with Dreamz, Edguardo, and Alex, IMO was about to cut that alliance with Edguardo and Alex because 1, they wanted to keep Stacy on there side when Mookie and Dreamz wanted her gone, and 2, he had a better chance at winning the game if he allied with Earl, Yao Man, Michelle, and Cassandra. I think Dreamz could have easily been brought to that alliance as well. Leaving it 6-4 and voting off Alex, Edguardo, Stacy, and Boo next in no particular order. This would have been most logical because Alex and Edguardo are the biggest threat in this game IMO. Of the 6 remaining, 4 would be from the original Ravu and could just vote Cassandra and Dreamz off next. Once in the top 4 it would be tricky to figure who to vote off next especially when 2 of the 4 have immunity idols and basically 3 have an idol because Earl and Yao Man are "sharing" the idol. So basically Dreamz screwed over Michelle. :-(
Im sure y'all loved my Survivor rant and understood every single bit of it. This show is really addicting to watch. Im sorry Im such a dork. I actually will probably continue to watch the show to see how it ends up. And maybe I will even watch next season....
Peace,
MO
My friend Michelle Yi was kicked off Survivor tonight. Tonight I was unable to attend the weekly gathering to watch it with everyone and I really wish I was there to go through all the emotions with them. I didnt get home until midnight-thirty and as soon as I walked in the door I flipped on the DVR of Survivor. Even though I was by myself I still was cheering Michelle's team on in the challenge and telling everyone on the T.V. what to do. I literally was crouching down to the floor and pointing my arm towards the T.V. in anticipation when Jeff Probst was reading the votes and accidently hit my brand new camera when he announced Michell Yi as the 9th survivor to be voted off. Luckily my camera made it through fine. So if it were not for Dreamz making a stupid mistake, I know Michelle would have gone much farther. Let me explain...
Everyone on the show liked Michelle and had nothing against her. There were only 3 people who had not ever lived on the same island as her. Well when the tribes merged into a tribe of the 10 remaining Survivors she had pretty good position. Mookie who originally had an alliance with Dreamz, Edguardo, and Alex, IMO was about to cut that alliance with Edguardo and Alex because 1, they wanted to keep Stacy on there side when Mookie and Dreamz wanted her gone, and 2, he had a better chance at winning the game if he allied with Earl, Yao Man, Michelle, and Cassandra. I think Dreamz could have easily been brought to that alliance as well. Leaving it 6-4 and voting off Alex, Edguardo, Stacy, and Boo next in no particular order. This would have been most logical because Alex and Edguardo are the biggest threat in this game IMO. Of the 6 remaining, 4 would be from the original Ravu and could just vote Cassandra and Dreamz off next. Once in the top 4 it would be tricky to figure who to vote off next especially when 2 of the 4 have immunity idols and basically 3 have an idol because Earl and Yao Man are "sharing" the idol. So basically Dreamz screwed over Michelle. :-(
Im sure y'all loved my Survivor rant and understood every single bit of it. This show is really addicting to watch. Im sorry Im such a dork. I actually will probably continue to watch the show to see how it ends up. And maybe I will even watch next season....
Peace,
MO
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Let's try this again
I don't think I know of anyone who regularly updates their blog. I understand this since I tried blogging once while on co-op in Houston and found it extremely hard to update it daily. It seems these days that we just don't have enough time in the day to sit down and reflect on life. Always on our way to work, our next class, an interview, or the next meeting. Then in our 'free' time we don't usually spend it in silence with God reflecting and praying about the important matters of our lives but instead fill our time with mind-numbing television programs, video games, and alcohol.
I do not like being so distant with God. I would like to find a way to take time out of my day, slow down, and just think about what is going on in my life. During this time I can thank God for all his blessings, ask God for forgiveness, ask God to work in my life and those of my friends, and figure out why certain things happen, good and bad. Doing this should also help me remember what is really important in my life at the time, maybe help me come up with some all important life lessons I can share, or leave me with some rhetorical question to pose to y'all.
Anyways, I am hoping to use this as tool to organize my thoughts in some random manner and give me something to do when I have down time. Last time I had an online journal I just basically wrote down every single activity I did that day. It was boring. Maybe I can be intelligent and create blogs that make people think. And maybe people will feel compelled to respond to some of my opinions even though I always seem to try and please everyone by watching what I write. I will try to be fairly blunt in these posts just like I am in person. Until the next post, Peace....
MO
I do not like being so distant with God. I would like to find a way to take time out of my day, slow down, and just think about what is going on in my life. During this time I can thank God for all his blessings, ask God for forgiveness, ask God to work in my life and those of my friends, and figure out why certain things happen, good and bad. Doing this should also help me remember what is really important in my life at the time, maybe help me come up with some all important life lessons I can share, or leave me with some rhetorical question to pose to y'all.
Anyways, I am hoping to use this as tool to organize my thoughts in some random manner and give me something to do when I have down time. Last time I had an online journal I just basically wrote down every single activity I did that day. It was boring. Maybe I can be intelligent and create blogs that make people think. And maybe people will feel compelled to respond to some of my opinions even though I always seem to try and please everyone by watching what I write. I will try to be fairly blunt in these posts just like I am in person. Until the next post, Peace....
MO
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