Closing time

I have never been more excited to go home.

I think I’ve traveled on my own a fair amount in my 21 years. I’ve spent a month in Chicago, a month in Minnesota, and almost 4 months in France, and I really enjoy living on my own. But I learned this month how much I really love home. I almost always look forward to coming home after a trip, unless it was a relaxing vacation and coming home means back to reality (yet even then I get excited to sleep in my own bed and have my own bathroom back). My parents have done an amazing job of making our house a home, and I hope they never, ever leave Forest Lodge Court. And as I sit in my empty Delta State dorm room, with nothing left but suitcases and a giant box of Goldfish, I can’t help but get excited for Glen Allen, my friends, my house, my family, my room (not in any particular order). Institute has been an incredible experience, and I cannot wait to get to my own classroom in Eastern North Carolina. But first, I need a little taste of home (both figuratively and literally—Delta State has the worst dining hall food).

Our last week was probably one of the best weeks in several ways. There was finally a sense of consistency in the classroom. The kids knew when to expect consequences, had our routine and procedures down pat, and felt comfortable with each other. This familiarity was productive in some ways, but it also led to some behavioral issues to deal with. As for me, I felt more comfortable in my new teacher-skin, and feel like I really started to get to know my kids and understand their individual needs.

Because it was the last week, we spent some time administering the reading post-test and math post-test to see how much progress our kids had made. Only about two or three students made their growth goals in math, and only a handful more met their reading goals. One of my collab partners was pretty upset to see some of the results, but we reminded her that regardless, every single one of them grew in their scores. It was so exciting to grade Johnkeria’s math test and see her nail the tree diagram, after countless practice problems and a 100% on her reassessment. And to see Johnny, our kindergarten-level reader, grow over 10 points in his reading category. But perhaps the most rewarding part was having kids ask us to do math problems on the last day, and go nuts over their very own brand new book that we presented each of them as a reward for working hard. These kids were excited about school. I do not mean to say that we sparked this excitement. Some of them already loved school and have been eager since day 1. But we did make them like summer school, so I’m pretty proud of us for that.

Our last day was pretty chaotic. We didn’t have much structure for the kids, thinking that the few things we had planned would take much longer than they actually did. After performing a few skits, playing math and word bingo, and an unsuccessful attempt to get them excited about worksheet booklets (this was NOT my idea), the kids were bouncing up and down in anticipation for the cupcakes and dance party they knew were coming. It was a fun day for the kids, for sure, and even for the teachers at some points, but mostly it was just what our Curriculm Specialist had warned us about: “If you don’t have a plan for the kids, they will have a plan for you.” True story. They had us running all over the classroom, giving warnings, trying to keep them on track, and threatening to cancel our dance party. I did get some good pictures and video footage out of it, but I also learned a lesson about the importance of structure.

Yesterday after school, I received some exciting news: I’ve finally been placed! I got a call from the human resources office and an email from my TFA placement person, and I have a (tentative) job at a middle school! I say (tentative) because nothing is for sure until you are in your classroom the first day of school. It sounds scary, but the only reason it would change is if another position opened up that they thought would be a better fit, or if they have to do some shuffling around of other corps members. The town is just over 2 hours away from Richmond on MapQuest, which means probably a little under two hours in real time. I am so excited to finally have some direction as to where to look for housing. However, the school is a bit far from most of the other placement sites, and so far I haven’t heard of anyone else at there. Essentially that just means I’ll have a further commute than most people if I want to live with some of my friends, maybe up to 45 minutes. I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, though. I’m so grateful to have a job and hope to have more information about my grade level on Monday when I call the HR office back.

Thank you for following my journey to the Delta, for your comments, and for your support. It’s meant a lot to me that anyone, even if it’s just a handful of you, are interested in this next step in my life and the beginning of a potential career. But if you’ve noticed, you haven’t even begun to follow the real adventures. After all, the blog address is “Courtney in Carolina”….Keep checking back! And see the pictures below.

The Home Stretch

It’s 9:45 pm and I’m still in my work clothes. Normally, I would consider that a bad sign. However, tonight I’m too excited to care. I’ve been working every possible minute of the day to refine tomorrow’s lesson plan and take care of smaller things, like writing 3 progress reports and a blurb for our weekly newsletter. But as of 9:00, I am printed, copied, packed and potentially finished writing lesson plans for the remainder of Institute! Our LPs for next Monday-Wednesday were due this morning, and we think our last two days are reserved for testing. I don’t want to get my hopes up, but I’m pretty sure that the bulk of the work is done. Just some refinement of my lessons the night before I teach them and some mini-lessons and I’m good to go.

Writing progress reports was hard. How do you tell a parent their child has chronic behavior issues that are impossible to resolve without corporal punishment (I’m kind of kidding, except that it is used at some of our schools—the principals have paddles!)? How do you find a way to compliment a child’s strength in reading comprehension without sugar coating the fact that she’s actually two grade levels behind? I definitely did not enjoy writing those, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Yesterday, our class reached their class points goal and won a dance party. It’s only supposed to last five minutes, but we had some extra time after taking a survey so it ended up lasting 20 minutes. Honestly, it was too entertaining to stop. The kids went nuts when we turned on the songs they had requested the day before—moon walking, doing the “pretty boy swag”, jerking, and other dance moves with inappropriate-sounding names. It was hysterical to see their personalities really come out in a setting where they felt most like themselves. It was even more hysterical when Jamarcus demanded everyone’s attention for a big dance move, then promptly spun around, smacked his head into the whiteboard, and fell on the ground. I’m pretty sure one of my co-teachers was taping it—that footage is a must-have. Next week, I’ll be sure to bring my camera to try to capture the essence of Room 134 in all its glory.

This week I’m teaching my first reading lessons after the big switch. I have to say, as much as I love to read, teaching math is way easier in the sense that it’s much more concrete and the objectives are a little more…well, objective. In reading, I’m supposed to be teaching about cause, effect, problem, and solution. Concepts that you think a 4^th grader could easily understand. Wrong. They have no clue, and usually just end up writing completely irrelevant words and phrases on their quizzes. Unfortunately my group is part of a pilot that is testing out a certain kind of assessment, so we have to tailor our lessons to be able to teach to that assessment—not effective one bit, and it’s really frustrating to see our kids suffer because they want to test this program. The one fun thing about teaching reading is that I get to go back and read some of my favorite books from when I was little: Strega Nona, Miss Nelson Is Missing!, etc.

My problem child, Frederick, seems to be getting sneakier and less well-behaved by the day. My collab sat down to discuss what to do about him, and we decided that he is now on a different consequence system. Instead of having 5 chances before getting a call home, he only has 3. We’ve also noticed that he responds really well to having responsibility; he behaves the best when I choose him to be my lunch line leader. So this morning, I pulled him aside and informed him of his brand new responsibility, that I of course made into a way bigger deal than it actually is. Frederick is now our official Assessment Collector. After every class period, he is responsible for collecting everyone’s completed assessments. I made sure to stress how incredibly important it is that he is careful and gets all papers to the teacher, because it’s other people’s work and we want to take care of it. This job is also a piece of the consequence puzzle. If he gets more than 2 checks in a class period, he loses his responsibility for that class period. It was strategically chosen because it is a job for the end of each period, so he has to make it all the way through class. We’re crossing our fingers that this new responsibility coupled with the tailored consequence chart helps take care of some of our issues.

Below is a picture from our 4^th of July celebration last weekend. This weekend, we’re going back to the lake on Saturday and our new Mississippi friends are letting us take their boat out to swim in the middle. We’ll probably watch the World Cup game on Sunday and enjoy not having any major work to get done.

Hope all is well wherever you are. As always, thanks for stopping by.

Holiday Weekend

Another week down, another celebratory weekend in progress.

Friday was a good day at school. We had a parent come to our classroom at the end of the day to tell us how her daughter hated school before, but now she talks about it all the time at home and loves coming everyday. She said, “I don’t know what you’re doing, but keep doing it because Ja’Kyla has never loved school this much before.” It was a great thing to hear, but it puzzled me a bit, too. Ja’Kyla says she loves school, but I don’t see her participate or follow directions to her potential. She could be doing really well, but instead she zones out in class and makes careless mistakes on her quizzes. So she may be having fun, but whether she is really learning or not is up in the air. Either way, it was great to get to meet a parent and hear such positive feedback.

After school we had “Coleman/Manning Olympics” for the second Friday in a row. Coleman is the upper elementary (4^th&5^th grades) and Manning is the lower elementary (K-3^rd). We have some silly events like a pencil sharpening contest, the teacher stare contest, and a paper-grading race. Our school won this week! They also give out a few awards at the end, and I was surprised and appreciative to receive the “Excellence Award”. Sounds cheesy, but honestly, when you are surrounded by so many dedicated and hardworking people, it is truly an honor to be singled out.

Friday night a group of us went to a local pizza place, Lost Dog, to get pizza and beer (or a margarita in my case). It was also our school’s social, so my advisor and a bunch of my colleagues at C/M were there, too. Saturday, we spent the day laying out and swimming in some nice Mississippi folks’ front yard at a local lake. They were incredibly friendly and even took some of us out on their boat to go tubing (there were about 20 of us so I didn’t go).

After our day at the lake, a small group went to the intramural fields to play a game of pick up soccer, and I ran around the track that lines the soccer field. As I was running, I was literally thanking God that I am where I am, with the people I’m with, doing what I’m doing. I kept thinking how I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else, and that there isn’t a day that goes by that I wish I was going to France. And then it hit me. I haven’t been very honest with myself these past few weeks, or with other people. I’ve told pretty much anyone who asks that there’s no way I would want to be in France right now, missing out on this experience; that I’m completely happy where I am. The truth is, I’m not 100% happy 100% of the time. I would be lying if I said I didn’t think about what it would be like to have this summer off to spend with friends, and to be getting ready to leave for France in a few months. Of course I’ve thought about it, and of course there are moments when I wish that I were lounging around poolside, preparing for life in Poitiers and the adventures that would surely ensue.

But what I realized as I my feet pounded the pavement is that it’s okay to feel that way. It’s okay to admit to myself that life isn’t perfect, that TFA isn’t perfect, and that I won’t be happy at every moment of every day. There probably will be days that I’d rather be in France, living the easy life, working 12 hours a week and sipping wine with every meal. There probably will be many days that I feel like I’m making no progress. And there already are plenty of days that I miss speaking French. But when it comes down to it, I have no doubt in my mind that this is where God wants me to be, even in the moments or the days that I’m not sure it’s where I want to be. As I’ve said before, no one ever said this would be easy, but I’ve already seen how many ways it can be rewarding and I am so grateful I get to do something I love so much. And when I hear my kids say that they love school, and see their faces light up when they make goal on their daily quiz, and realize that what we're doing could change the trajectory of their lives, I realize that it is worth every night of sleeping 3 hours, every minute of typing furiously on my computer to finish before the print lab closes, and every second of the hour-long bus ride.

Today a few people went back to the lake and got to take a pontoon boat out, but a few girls and I just spent the day laying out outside our dorm and sipping on drinks from Sonic. We plan to go back to the lake next weekend, since our new friends invited us back and said they will have live music playing outside. We have been truly welcomed into the Mississippi Delta by lots of hospitable people. Tonight, we have a 4^th of July celebration on campus, where all the food and live entertainment is free, plus $1 beer and a fireworks show in TFA’s honor.

We have tomorrow off from school, so it’s exciting to think that this week will only be four days of teaching. It’s not the teaching that I am excited to have a break from, though; it’s the lesson planning and the logistics behind it all. I still love my time in the classroom and my kids. I am nervous, though, because we’re switching content this week and I’m now teaching reading. I had a really hard time writing reading lesson plans because the objectives are pretty difficult, especially when kids struggle with reading anyways.

I hope y’all are enjoying the heat and the holiday. Thanks for keeping up, and I can’t wait to be home soon.