And She's Back!
I have returned to Shelby from my summer vacation, refreshed and (almost) ready to teach again. I came back early in order to move, meet the new corps members, and prepare my classroom.
Today I stopped by my school and saw my class roster. I'm super excited about my class, including the 3 students who will be joining 1C for the second time. Happily, the school took my advice and held back not only the 3 who were just not developmentally ready to move on, but also the 3 who have fairly severe learning disabilities. I really felt that putting them in second grade when they were not reading at all (even though they had made progress) was not appropriate.
Today I also picked up 3 2006 corps members from Delta State, where they have their orientation. They will be staying at my house in Shelby until they find houses of their own. Two of them are placed at the middle school, one in 4th grade Science/Social Studies, and one in Special Ed. The other one was originally placed in the high school but was not offered a position she was comfortable teaching, so TFA is currently trying to find a new placement for her.
I was thrilled when I originally got the list of new corps members because there was one placed in my school, in first grade. It would have been fantastic. I was ecstatic. Someone with the same training as me, who I could really plan with beyond the basics... Unfortunately, he was switched to a position in the middle school, and not replaced at my school. So this year, there will again be 3 first grades and 4 classes in all of the other grades. The third first grade spot, which was open, will be filled by a wonderful woman who has been an assistant at the school for many years while she attempted to pass the PRAXIS exam. Evidently she made it this year. I think that she will make a wonderful first grade teacher (she was a sub two years ago for about half the year after the teacher left and evidently did really well). The teacher who is losing her as an assistant is devastated, though (even though she is of course happy for Mrs. W-.) You can imagine, i'm sure, how much easier it would be to teach with another fully competent, dedicated almost-teacher in the room.
The new corps members seem to be a wonderful group of people. I would expect nothing less from TFA, which is still growing furiously. The optimism and enthusiasm of the first years is reinvigorating. I was a little shocked to find myself part of the jaded corps of second years welcoming the new teachers. Not shocked to be part of the welcoming committee -- I knew I would be, and had been looking forward to it -- but to realize how much my naive optimism has been replaced with positive but slightly less bubbly realism. I had to remind myself to be positive and to truly believe that they may not have the same difficulties I had. It is no good to warn them of things that may not happen (you will want to cry almost day for the first nine weeks), and far better to prepare them for things that certainly will happen (you will have wonderful children who will be rowdy). After all, they will find their own difficulties, but going in full of optimism is a good thing.
Today I stopped by my school and saw my class roster. I'm super excited about my class, including the 3 students who will be joining 1C for the second time. Happily, the school took my advice and held back not only the 3 who were just not developmentally ready to move on, but also the 3 who have fairly severe learning disabilities. I really felt that putting them in second grade when they were not reading at all (even though they had made progress) was not appropriate.
Today I also picked up 3 2006 corps members from Delta State, where they have their orientation. They will be staying at my house in Shelby until they find houses of their own. Two of them are placed at the middle school, one in 4th grade Science/Social Studies, and one in Special Ed. The other one was originally placed in the high school but was not offered a position she was comfortable teaching, so TFA is currently trying to find a new placement for her.
I was thrilled when I originally got the list of new corps members because there was one placed in my school, in first grade. It would have been fantastic. I was ecstatic. Someone with the same training as me, who I could really plan with beyond the basics... Unfortunately, he was switched to a position in the middle school, and not replaced at my school. So this year, there will again be 3 first grades and 4 classes in all of the other grades. The third first grade spot, which was open, will be filled by a wonderful woman who has been an assistant at the school for many years while she attempted to pass the PRAXIS exam. Evidently she made it this year. I think that she will make a wonderful first grade teacher (she was a sub two years ago for about half the year after the teacher left and evidently did really well). The teacher who is losing her as an assistant is devastated, though (even though she is of course happy for Mrs. W-.) You can imagine, i'm sure, how much easier it would be to teach with another fully competent, dedicated almost-teacher in the room.
The new corps members seem to be a wonderful group of people. I would expect nothing less from TFA, which is still growing furiously. The optimism and enthusiasm of the first years is reinvigorating. I was a little shocked to find myself part of the jaded corps of second years welcoming the new teachers. Not shocked to be part of the welcoming committee -- I knew I would be, and had been looking forward to it -- but to realize how much my naive optimism has been replaced with positive but slightly less bubbly realism. I had to remind myself to be positive and to truly believe that they may not have the same difficulties I had. It is no good to warn them of things that may not happen (you will want to cry almost day for the first nine weeks), and far better to prepare them for things that certainly will happen (you will have wonderful children who will be rowdy). After all, they will find their own difficulties, but going in full of optimism is a good thing.
posted by Jessica at 12:37 AM
1 Comments:
Glad you are back on the air! I have missed your updates.
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