Day 177: Today, I finally told my kids I was leaving. To prepare, I did two things. First, I made brownies. I figured if my kids were going to take it poorly, at least they’d have brownies. Second, I made a slide explaining the new city I would be teaching in – Lawrence, Massachusetts – and…

Last week was a whirlwind of sessions and preparations for our first days in class. I have never felt so overwhelmed in my life (and I have lived/moved to another country). It was really strange for me to go to sessions after being a teacher and learning about all of the TFA teacher stuff. I…

Day 176: My last Monday at my school is over. It felt, unsurprisingly, like pretty much any other Monday. Kids riled up in the morning, having completely forgotten how to be focused during Morning Meeting. The joys of recess and lunch duty. The inability of my homeroom to get into class in an orderly fashion, followed…

Day 175: As I’ve explained before, I have my students do a call and response chant before every quiz and test. I yell “work hard” and they respond “get smart.” I wonder if they actually remember this is supposed to remind them about the value of persistence and growth mindset, or if they just like yelling…

This quote, courtesy of Cornel West, was shared in one of our final sessions of Induction. The session – entitled A Vision for Teaching As Leadership – was one of the more tangible, specific sessions we’re had throughout the past few days. I loved it. But more on that later. The end of Induction has…

Day 174: When we last left our brave hero, he was up too late on Wednesday writing a Science final. We find him now, Thursday morning, desperately trying to finish said final, and then print it before first period. Never a dull moment. As usual, Thursday was a long day. Given the last-minute nature of the…

Day 173: So, as it turns out, students near the end of the year struggle to handle Trashketball. I suppose I should’ve guessed that one. My homeroom got through a whopping six rounds; 10-12 is typical. Oops. I have a very bad TFA admission to make. Wednesday night, once I was finally done with grad school,…

I am at a complete loss for words to describe the past day and a half. It has been an experience unlike anything I could have ever imagined or prepared myself for. I went to an event today with a few Rice friends and I was asked, over and over, “How’s TFA going?” I didn’t…

Day 172: This is the first time I’m two days late to write about Tuesday. My brain is oatmeal. If I were a runner, this would be the point where you’re nearly at the end of a marathon, muscles desperately craving oxygen. I do remember one happy moment. NM was in my room for lunch, as…

I’ve found myself completely and totally blindsided by the difficulty of attending Induction & Institute on the same campus where I graduated from college. Graduation was pretty tough for me. I was completely and totally in love with my college experience, and it took time for me to be able to part gracefully with a…