Houston Institute So Far

While my original intent for this blog was to post every weekend, I'm realizing that at the rate I'm receiving information and experiencing new things, I don't think I could manage to get it all in one post without leaving things out or just writing way too much. It's Wednesday night, which means I am halfway through my first week in Houston. This seemed like an appropriate enough time to go ahead and "de-brief" before my head explodes! I also realized that most good blogs tend to include photos. I don't really have anything overly adorable or inspirational quite yet, but here's my attempt!

This is A.J. (which stands for Aaron Jr.) Before you gag over the mushiness...Aaron left yesterday for a month of field training. While I am super proud of all of his hard work, it was not a happy day for me. There's nothing like a 6:15 am phone call telling your boyfriend you'll talk to him IN A MONTH to get your day started off right! Anyway, because Aaron knew that my time in Texas/his time at field training would be rough, he brought me this presh little puppy. We both shared a mutual love of Huskies when we met/started dating, so this is a way for me to feel connected to Aaron although we won't talk again until July. Keep Aaron in your prayers please!!!

Now back to TFA and Houston life! I drove to Houston on Sunday with another girl from the DFW corps, and we were PUMPED. Our region provided snacks and a ballin' Mix CD for the 4 hour drive. With a mixture of inspiration songs ("Man in the Mirror," "One Day") and dance music, we were ready to get to Houston and rock this place! That energy is kind of lacking a few days later. My routine as of Monday consists of the following:

5:15 am: Wake up (begrudgingly)
6:00 am: Pack lunch in the cafeteria and eat breakfast
6:35 am: Load the school bus and head to Hogg Middle School where I'll be teaching summer school
7:15-4:30: Numerous seminars, lesson planning clinics, observations, etc.
4:30: Get on the bus, feel like I'm going to pass out
5:00 pm - Bedtime: work, seminars, dinner, more work....

As you can see, there's basically no downtime, which I expected. But we are already all dragging. I just keep telling myself that our lack of sleep and efforts will be more than worth it when we start teaching those precious little kids (for me, 6th grade ELA students).

This week I've learned about setting a vision for my students, talked more about diversity in the work place, learned about proper classroom management, and learned how to lesson plan. Speaking of which...

Woooo!!! Finished my first rough draft of a full lesson plan for 6th grade English Language Arts tonight! I feel so accomplished! Granted, I'm sure there's a million things I need to improve on, but still. To think that I went through the process of taking an objective, figuring out how to get the points of that objective across to students, and planning step by step activities and instruction for an hour long class period...I mean woah! Next week I'll be using that paper in my hand to teach about 25 6th graders how to use context clues to determine the meanings of unfamiliar words. God is so stinkin good! I could never have imagined myself here, but at this moment in time, I wouldn't have it any other way. I can't wait to be in the classroom with those little ones starting next week. While it's totally terrifying to imagine myself standing in front of them, being totally in control of what they do/learn that day, I know that God has the most amazing plan for me this summer and in the Fall.

While there are a million different things I could keep writing about, like the friends I've made, the old friends I've run into, the hilarious bus rides to and from my middle school, the delicious Rice Univ. food, etc., I'll save more of that for this weekend. Your continued prayers are more appreciated than you know! While I clearly won't be directly sharing the Gospel with these kiddos in the classroom, pray that I can make a difference in their lives and may be able to help them prepare for a better future for them and their families. Pray that God would open the door to relationships between me and my students and their families. And pray that God would continue to give me strength and perseverance as I lose more and more sleep! I could not be more thankful for this opportunity!!! Just one last thing...

Check out my TFA/Rice Univ. swag! We all have matching lunch boxes, water bottles, and lanyards, so we obviously look super cool being herded into our schools each day. TFA definitely takes good care of their corps members! Until next time, bye from Texas!!!