New Appreciation for the Weekend

I don't think I have ever enjoyed weekends his much in my life. The anticipation for Friday at 4:00 from Wednesday onward was too intense, when Friday at 4:00 and Teach For America let us leave our schools I was praisin Jesus, as I think we all were. We had a school social, something we do every Friday, at this Mexican restaurant in South Houston. This week was one of the worst weeks I have had as far as being torn down and feeling like I am incapable of doing anything including sleep.

It is insane as to how little people are sleeping and how irritable people are getting, it seems that people's sleep schedule is a long nap right when they get home from school followed by sleep from 3-5 am, people aren't sleeping.

I had my first 30 minute observation on Wednesday by the school director and my advisor, it was intense... the lesson was a good lesson but my classroom management was a little lax. Of course they were only observing my lesson during the opening, intro to new material, and beginning of guided practice, they did not stay to see the end when all but two boys got the objective and could accurately describe a river (this is failure according to the Teach For America rubric of being an effective teacher). According to the feedback I got from TFA, I sucked. Their feedback makes me feel sick. What really bothers me is that I am in this ESL class, all-alone, teaching them! I haven't ever student taught, or had any practice! I am their teacher! By Friday, after 4 lessons with them, I began to feel really good about what they learned as they all scored 100% on the summative exam. One thing about Teach For America, which my cousin Lisa just pointed out, it how heavy they are on data and recording supposed student progress so that students can be tracked. While some of it is ok and can gauge how effective the teacher is, most of it takes away from students and the idea of student centeredness.

I am going to get away from campus today, I borrowed a friend’s car, and I am going to Starbucks to study for an exam that I have tomorrow to be certified in the state of Texas.

I miss you all, I really miss Portland!!!
Robert