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