This entry marks my first piece of writing on race & racial identity, as inspired by Alysia Harris and the Not Dalton’s Kids Project. When I was in seventh grade, my energetic history teacher bravely chose to tackle a new topic in her classroom full of homogenous, upper-class students: diversity. She explained the concept of…

Day 3 of Institute is complete. I’ve been in Oklahoma for 2 weeks now. Induction was amazing. My TTL group was incredible and I bonded with those 6 girls and my leader so much quicker than I thought was possible. Luckily, 5 of the girls live on my floor so we’ll have each other to…

If I could sum up the last week in one word it would be reflection. For this reason I find myself avoiding blogging, after reflecting on my own, in small groups, in big groups, on values, on vision, on self, on tfa, on reflections themselves I find it difficult to come back and blog about my experiences. That said…

This afternoon, as I browsed the Oklahoma section of the TeachForUs website, I found my feelings summarized in two consecutive blog posts: one entitled “Aaaaaaand it is over.” and another entitled “And so it begins!” This past week, I lived in Induction Limbo. My surroundings were familiar: the OCU dining hall, the OKC Bombing Memorial,…

Summer vacation has begun and I find myself in a curious state of limbo.  A school year didsn’t come to a nice, tidy ending.  It kind of sputtered out toward the finish.  Towards the end, the kids were a little more feisty.  They knew we were out of disciplinary options.  There wasn’t Saturday School anymore.…

Today is the first day of induction! I move into the dorms at Oklahoma City University in about an hour. I initially made this blog with the intention of writing long detailed posts about every step of the way, but I think more realistically this will be a place for quick updates (hopefully frequent). Even…

That period in the title totally represents how I feel. Three minutes ago, I just watched my last student walk out of the door for the last time, putting an end to my first year as a teacher. My first year in Oklahoma. My first year in TFA. My first year in the so-called “real…

Usually I’m a very reflective person. In fact, I distinctly remember writing my “wow, college is over” post roughly one year ago. Which is why it’s so weird that I’m so stuck in the present right now. We’re so close to the end and I know that that fact is going to hit me like…

Today, my classroom was exceptional. I spoke for a grand total of 3 mintues in each class. I had no new assignments. I gave no new lessons. I made no copies. I did nothing. Instead, my kids did the work. They sat down, held individual conferences about grades, and got to work on their final…

Reading through my blog, I have also come to a wonderful realization: that this blog doesn’t contain all of the important turning points in my life from this semester. That there are chapters & plotlines that exist outside of the confines of this screen — ups and downs alike. Why is this such a wonderful…