I stilllllll will be updating about the last week of Institute with pictures and the what not, however not right now! So sorry! I am however posting, as this is the last night I will be sitting in the Lawler-Harkins Dorm at Delta State University in this little twin bed. It's been a long, crazy, fun, restless, tiring, exhausting, knowledgeable, enjoyable, irritating, sleepless, ridiculous, wonderful, hot, humid, cold, fun, but most importantly- TRANSFORMATIONAL month and a half. It's hard to believe this training will be over by this point tomorrow night. I still am looking for housing, have a lot to do with my house when I get home, figure out about moving my stuff, SEE YOU ALLLLLLL (for the most part) HUG my animals, figure out how I am getting back to the South and of course, eat EVERYTHING in site!
Whew.
All I can say is I made it, and that counts for something. Everyone else made it (that I hang out with) and that counts for something. More importantly, the students made it for a summer with all of us teaching them, and learned. That REALLY counts for something.
Thank you Teach For America for a one of a kind experience that will continue to spill over into the next two years as we all teach, and even on into our lives whether we stay in classrooms, move forward in school, careers, or up in the school system. For now, my heart is in the classroom- right where I've always thought I was meant to be. Let's do this!
Love you all from the Delta and back, for the next couple nights! Then I'll be loving you all straight from my home in good ole North Carolina =)
(and that other post willllll make it, soon enough!)
I'm still alive all! I have soooooo much to share from the last week and plan on posting tomorrow, as I should finally have some time tomorrow afternoon! If you've emailed me recently, I should have some time tomorrow as well to reply, so be on the lookout tomorrow evening! The countdown to coming home is oh so close! It's looking like it'll be Friday since I'm riding back with someone else, but soon I will be home! =)
Thanks to all of you for being so supportive these last few weeks-it's certainly helped me get through them. For now, it is bed time....soooo- GOOD NIGHT!!!
Of course, now, instead of just lyrics, I'm finding whole songs for you! =) The one above is called '100 Years' by Five For Fighting. This particular song does not have my actual age listed in it, or it would be even more exciting! Either way, it's a good song to remind you how fast life goes, and how you have so much "time to buy and time to lose" and what you may choose to do with that time. I'm choosing to make a difference... no matter what the circumstances. "There's never a wish better than this.."
For whatever reason... this picture posted its self up here... but as you can see I found a tattoo and sticker to wear on actual Fourth of July!! (That's the back of my left arm)
This past week/weekend since I last wrote has once again been a whirlwind of events. I'll post some pictures soon, or maybe now as well as a link to a video of my CMA group. For now, I'm only gonna write. The weeks started to dwindle away as of last week. We did have a nice break/day off for Fourth of July which I posted about before the event. The school, I'm assuming, had barbeque, baked beans, drinks, and something else...oh slaw! They also did music and fireworks for us! My friend Ian took a wonderful picture of some fireworks that I would love to post here for you if I can. (I'll work on it!)
The Fire Works! Photo Credit: Ian Wilder =)
My favorite person ever, Seon! He's always super nice to everyone!
And back to real life. The day off was fabulous. It helped us catch up on sleep and get through the last two days of the week. Friday night my roommate and I hung out around the dorm and ended up getting up decently early Saturday morning. We planned to go see Memphis Saturday and just do whatever there was to do! It's only about two hours from here so it was a very feasible day trip. Of course, those of you who know me know that's nothing compared to some of my day trips. Sooooo we dressed for all occasions, each got a bottle of water, checked the fluids in my jeep, took the top off and headed out with Taylor Swift playing on the radio (of course.) About 30 miles outside of Memphis my car just gave up on life... sad, sad. It was about 2pm when the death of my Jeep took it's toll. It also was about the hottest part of the day in the blistering Mississippi 100 degree weather plus humidity. When we broke down, we had half of my bottle of water left... and called Triple A. They were supposedly going to arrive at 3:30 at the latest, as w were on the side of a highway.... ha. They called at 3pm, and said it would be 4:30pm. They called at 4:30pm and said it would be 5pm. At 5:05pm, no one had called and no one had picked us up, so I called, and shared my piece of mind with them. It was hot, we are two girls, no water, no food, no shade. (Luckily a cop stopped by several times to check on us, and brought us both two bottles of ice cold water.) Without the water from the cop, I would like to know if we would have passed out. Megan and I tried to stay positive and joke about it, like "hey, at least when we get back we can still get FREE dinner in the dining hall, and even get seconds if we want!' And then even that moment passed... The dining hall closes at 7/7:30. I apparently took a picture of Megan's phone when the tow truck arrived and it was 6:24pm. 4.5 hours we sat in the sun. We ended up making it back to campus at 8pm... Luckily Ian was able to drive us to Sonic so we could eat something. We both definitely got sunburned too! As horrible as it kind of was, it was also definitely something I won't forget... Pictures to follow:
My Jeep on the side of High Way 61 North, headed towards Memphis. What you see behind my Jeep is what Megan and I stared at for 4.5 hours!!!
The Super nice cop brought us two bottles of water each. I stuck one in my dress for a while, and drank the other. It sure felt good! =) (excuse how rough I look!)
The classic picture of my car being towed... like always =( Joey, Jackie, and Chelsea know the feeling pretty well too.
Megan's phone, documenting what time the tow truck guy pulled up. Yay.
Anyhow, we did survive the event, thankfully!! Now, I just have to figure out a million things pretty fast.
1-When and where and how much it's going to cost to get my car fixed....
2-How in the world I'm now gonna be able to look for housing... ahhh.
3-How I'm getting home.
4-Moving down here, when I have no where to live yet...
5-Monetarilly speaking-watching my money even more closely now that I have car repairs and the what not to deal with.
Now, things always work out the way they are supposed to, so once again, as Bon Jovi says it, I'm "Livin' on a Prayer!" As far as number 3 goes, I've talked to my friend James. He is more than likely coming home and lives in Virginia, so he may be able to drive me home then, and we will split the cost of gas. Even if he can't, it is super nice of him to even consider it, and that's enough to make me thankful!
Anyhow, I have to get to bed. I'll post more soon, hopefully tomorrow?
From the Delta and back-I miss and love you alllllllll!!
Before I post about my week/weekend, I'm going to share some videos that we have seen during training. The first one is about a little boy named Caine. He built an entire cardboard arcade and waited everyday for customers. One man found it and thought it was amazing. He put together an entire community event to help this little boy have customers.... Now obviously this has nothing to do with school, but it does show you just how much some kids will try and try and try and never give up hope... All it took was this one man to go out of his way. This little boy's life has probably been changed forever because of it. Now relating this to school... because of course it has to tie together... =) As a teacher, everyday we are each going to be faced with making a child feel like school is where they want to be. So many days they may not want to come but those are the days we have to really flip into gear and make it a good experience for them. Children have a lot of potential and as a teacher I will have so many opportunities to change a child's life. =)
The next video is a video they played us of a Pre-School teacher from Tulsa. Obviously it is a year younger than what I would teach, but it's inspiring. To see the smiles on their faces... and now that I've worked with such little ones... even though it is immensely draining, it's obvious how rewarding it is.
"I've been waiting all this time to be something I can't define----So let's cause a scene, clap our hands and stomp out feet---Because all you really need are a few good friends."
Format, The First Single
Alright, well a quick post while I have time. As you saw last night my house is officially rented for the month of August onward, YAYAYAYAY.
Second- It is THEFOURTHOFJULY (almost) (for us down here it it, we celebrate tonight, have tomorrow off, but pretty much get right back to work tomorrow) So Happy Fourth of July to me, early, and to all of you! Tonight we have a big cookout to go to, so I'm in the process of getting ready to get ready for that event!
Yesterday, Monday, I started teaching math. The last two weeks I have taught literacy objectives and morning message and word study. These next two weeks I switch and teach math objectives. Yesterday was quite exceptional, in the way that it wasn't what I pictured, and didn't go quite according to plan. I had lotssss of behavior issues all over again and completely ran out of time to do my assessment so I had to work on that this morning. Needless to say, I had my debriefing with my CMA. My lesson wasn't as bad as I had pictured it in my head and apparently I'm good at not looking like I'm going crazy when things go haywire. That's a plus, right? I certainly feel like I want to explode when they all get off task and can't get them all back together again.
So- I worked on it today. We started off kind of rocky so I sent everyone back to their desks to put their heads down, and one by one we all made it back to the carpet, aside from 5 of the students. I ended up getting through my lesson and things went a lot better today. The day ended with some phone calls home... however, that is a commonality in kindergarten classes...
One and a half more weeks with these kids. It will be bittersweet... sad, because obviously we are all going to be attached to them.. and they are pretty darn cute, sweet, and love you to death. However, I can't complain that my sleep schedule will become somewhat normal again and it means I will be on my way to MY classroom soon. We will see.
Anyhow, I should get ready for tonight. I'm sure I'll have pictures! =) Happy Fourth of July Eve, everyone. =)
Before I get started, please take a moment to listen to the song above and read the lyrics on the screen. I usually post lyrics to a song that have something to do with my life and Teach For America at the moment. This song in particular has really stood out this week. The lyrics fit my life at the moment, and what I'm going through. =) Thanks!
Now that you've done that- let me begin! So- SUPER sorry about having NO posts since last week! Believe me, I have a TON to share, but I literally have barely had a minute of downtime. I'm not someone who gets homesick or tends to have any problems with anyone, but I have to say this week I and everyone else at Institute have pretty much hit a bottom. NOTTTT in a bad way, just in a way where you realize how much you do miss your free time, families, friends, pets, and even sleep, and not that you just miss them, that there really isn't a second to hardly talk to them...which sure makes a difference when you're running on an average of very few hours of sleep (IE 2-3hrs some nights) and germs from a million kids... Yes, I and half of the people here have horrible coughs, colds, or stomach bugs. Lucky for me I just have the disgusting sounding cough... I think it's getting better though! Yay!
Anyhow- Before I get started on my life, a HUGE thank you goes out to anyone who takes time to read these posts, but mostly to my parents for being my biggest fans, along with my Nana, Grandparents, and Jubee. All of you, even when I can't respond have sent me messages, emails, voicemails, comments, and it means more than you know. Mom and Dad, I know you'll see this and I want you to know that I love you and love you for everything you're doing for me right now. This whole thing I'm doing wouldn't be possible without you. =) To each of my friends... thanks for sticking around! I miss our random get-togethers, talks, and anything else, but thanks more for the little texts or voicemails of encouragement even when I can't return them. (Believe me, they brighten my day EVERY time.)
Okay! Onward with the real-life stuff happening! Obviously, I'M BUSY! hahaha...in case you haven't noticed yet. The first week with students was a little rough. I have to say I underestimated a kindergartner for sure and was honestly a little scared for when I would be on my own in August. I discovered I wasn't the only one feeling that way... which helps. We all made it to the weekend. (Heavenly feeling!) Friday night we all hung around the dorm and didn't really do anything but sit around, talk, play a card game then go hang out outside with the mosquitos. Megan and James decided to climb a tree, so of course there are pictures of that. Last Saturday we went to Lake Granada for the day which is like a little mini beach in Granada, Mississippi. It was absolutely wonderful to see sand, sun, water, and of course a blistering heat. The water was beyondddddd warm, almost hot! Even so, it couldn't be beaten. It was a nice break from the reality to hit again on Monday. Granada is about an hour and some minutes outside of Cleveland. An hour down here is comparable to a 20 minute drive in NC. Hahaha... my thoughts on time will definitely be different after living here. (Joe and Kathy- I see what it's like to be near NOTHING, though it makes the random adventures elsewhere that much more exciting.) We all stopped and had Mexican for dinner, which was a lovely switch up from Dining Hall food. We finished the night at Sonic on the way back to Delta State. (Pictures will follow this post!) Milkshakes are half-price after 8pm..we know how I like a good bargain =)
Sundays are filled with work all over again... so I and everyone else was back at it again! Monday I had my first lesson again and it went SPLENDIDLY. I truly needed that lesson too. When I was feeling rough the week before all I could think was if I could just have one positive lesson, followed by a second I would know I was back in the groove and could do it. It happened, and I feel that was God on my side. I had a debriefing session, because once again I was observed and my CMA was just as excited as I was and told me how happy I should be. I wanted to be, but I told her I had to have a second lesson the next day go just as well, so that I would know it was truly me getting a hold on this. Sure enough, it happened, and the rest of the week went off on a good note. I had my mind back in the right place and was feeling SOOOOOO much better than I had been. Like the song above says "Don't let your fire burn out, somewhere, somebody needs a reason to believe." I needed it and I needed it for my students and I got it. Luckily, this is the week I chose to get sick... so at least I haven't been hit with a horrible week of lessons and a cold together! The lack of sleep is still pretty persistent... and the one hour bus rides are more often than not used for napping... Like I said, I'm not the only one feeling it right now... though it seems to hit us all at different times. My roommate Megan, and my friend Ian both had some pretty rough lessons this week and have all had their moments hit them too. Ian's class in particular thought it would be funny that one kid would start singing "Amazing Grace." When he walked to that side of the room, it started up again on the other side of the room. Megan's students are throwing things and not paying attention... They are both upper grades. She has 7th grade math, he's doing 9th English Language Arts. Just hearing these stories just proves to me how important it is I do this, and that I am doing what I've wanted to do- make a difference in someone's life. It starts in Kindergarten when kids learn how to act. Now I share all these stories with you because we're all seeing the positives in this too. If I can find them somehow, I will post some videos of the positive things I've watched happen in other TFA memeber's classes. All three of us even had perfect (as close as you can get at least) Friday's. Something is being changed in these kids... it's just hard to see it and takes times. As tired and worn out as I am... I'm inspired.
On Friday, when we were finished with our kiddos, My CMA group had a celebration for making it through Week 2 with students. We did Secret Teacher (like Secret Santa) with each other so that everyone would get a little pick-me up at the end of the week, and we had cake, chips, juice and our CMA leader showed us a video that I would love to post on here if I can get it of a previous TFA member who worked with the little ones. It hit home when I watched it and got me a little teary-eyed. (we all know how easily I cry! ahh.. a softy for sure.) We also had to design a chant to do when all the groups got back together before leaving to go back to campus. OF COURSE my group was amazing, however some of the groups were just exceptional! They had changed lyrics to songs and everything. The whole meeting just helped the week end well. I have a picture of my CMA group that will go up as well!
Now, I have finally made it to THIS weekend! (I'm sure I'll think of something I have left out...) (and this is super long... so sorry!! but I hope you're enjoying it!) Yesterday (Friday) was my friend Ian's birthday, so a big group of us went out to Mexican for dinner to celebrate as well as dancing and then back home. It was a lot of fun. Today we all got up and went back to Lake Granada for the afternoon. Just as lovely again, if not better! The weather was a little cooler so the water was actually really nice too! It was also not nearly as crowded. We ate at this restaurant (now get ready for this, because I was ecstatic...) called- "333 Restaurant" Yes! How exciting is it that the restaurant had my FAVORITE number! The lake is also off of Route 333!! Anyhow, a lot of us got crawfish and split it. Most of us had not had it before, but it's one of those things we all knew we had to try at some point. They were pretty good, definitely a lot of work.... and a little creepy seeing as it's the whole body, head and all! (there will be a picture at the bottom!) Now, I'm just home typing this!
I'm gonna post the pictures now! Thanks again to everyone who reads this and is sending me good thoughts and prayers... it means a lot! And please know that I am getting your emails and messages and calls and would love to keep getting them. I try to reply when I can, and I know it seems silly like surely there should be SOME minute to do so... but I truly am bombarded right now... so bear with me! I LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =)
These are out of order, so I'll label them!
My CM group, all 16 of us, plus one incredible CMA
Lake Granada! (aka beach away from home)
Another view! It's very large!
Random picture we didn't know about..
Megan (my roommate and I) She has also become a very dear friend in all of this! =)
What goes around comes around in the form of attractive pictures.
My friend Ian and I (also has become a very great friend!)
Laying out!
Some more pictures of us laying out!
Again? haha (This and the ones above are all from our first weekend when it was blistering hot!)
Stopping by Sonic for dessert. Tee and Patrick!
Me, Ian, Megan
Random... but I eat a salad like this every night, if not 2 of them.
Lesson planning, again. Story of all of our lives.
Whip Cream in the face for Ian's birthday! James (on the right) seems to be getting a kick out of it! The waiter looks a bit confused!
We ate outside at the Restaurant 333, and they had a sign on their outdoor stage!
One of the Route 333 signs!
Our dinner, the Crawfish, potatoes, and corn (The Restaurant 333 pictures are from dinner today, 6/30)
James and Megan climbed the tree.. James is in action! (This was last Friday, after Week 1)
Ian and I for a birthday picture! We all had birthday hats to wear! Some little girl at some other table wished him a happy birthday, and he gave her a hat. The little girl could not have expressed more excitedness or happiness if she wanted to. Her night was made! This was last night, 6/29
Megan climbing the tree, last Friday. This was her idea, and she got up there way before James!
Still going!
James still working on it!
Yay!
"Should I stay or should I go now"
The tree they were going to climb! Successfully accomplished as well!
