Despite being tremendously stressed about money, life is wonderful. I am really liking Houston and things are going well... I can even see myself staying here for another year (although not to teach). For the first time ever I am somewhat apathetic about flying home for Christmas, I think that is primarily due to the outrageous cost of flying home.

It snowed in Houston yesterday,craziness! But no fears, it is 74 degrees today!

While school continues to be EXTREMELY stressful and hard to deal with... I am progressing with my students. They took a benchmark test on Wednesday and did a FANTASTIC job. My student took a pretest at the beginning of the year and scored a 45%, then they took Benchmark 1 in October and scored a 54%, this week they took benchmark 2 and scored a 74%!!! My principal was very impressed and happy with me, so that made me feel good. It is hard to get positive feedback on what I am doing in my room.

Tonight is both the Teach For America Christmas party as well as the Gallegos Christmas party, I am bringing my friend Jake. It is going to be a ton of fun... last year the Gallegos one got out of had as a little too much Tequilla was served and these Hispanics that I teach with know how to drink it... they're crazy! I am excited to let loose and enjoy a night.

Christina's visit was enjoyable, it was so nice of her to fly down to visit me. We had a low key but very enjoyable time. We went to the Science museum, ate some good food, shopped at the Galleria, and hung out a lot with Jake... the three of us had a bit of a margarita tour and just enjoyed being with each other. The Thanksgiving meal itself turned out really well.... we had to cut the turkey with a pearing knife as we didn't have a carving knife, ooops. Created some humor.

hmmm, I feel like I have so much to say... but I can't think of it right now. Life is going well despite financial problems (having to put new brakes and rotors on my car last week did not help!)

Please write when you can, I miss you all.

Much love, Robert

I don't want to be here anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

home, ugh!

I want to go home! It's getting much colder here which is making me think of home much more, kind of weird, huh? Walking out the door to crispy cold air every morning over this past week has made me think of home much more... I miss it!

1 more week and it is Thanksgiving break, thank God. I need a break from circus conducting. I need some sleep and some peace. These children are CRAZY. My teaching partner is out for the week due to a death in the family, the other 5th grade English teacher is out due to illness, this leaves the new teacher (who started a week ago) and myself to hold down 80 5th graders. And! I got a new student today! And! I have to miss this afternoon to go to a training on how to login to a website. UGH.

My sickness is going away, I am still fairly congested, two weeks of this crap! But! I did not miss a day of work.

Home, home, home. 6 more months of teaching.

The good news is that now that I am teaching Saturday school, I am only working at the running store on an as needed basis... so I am not going to be on the schedule every weekend... I get to tell them when I am able to work. This is a lot of relief and will relax a lot of anxiety that comes with having to work on the weekends.

Anyway, enough of my mindless rambles. I miss you all. If you ever want to send me mail or packages from Oregon, California, or Washington, or wherever you are, I would appreciate it! At this point I need whatever to get through this last 6 miles of my 26 mile (month) marathon!!!!

Robert Street
7009 Almeda Rd #1436
Houston, TX 77054

Love you all!!!!!!!!!!!
Robert

College Station

Sometimes you just need to get out of the city and see a little country. My buddy Jake and I went to College Station last weekend where I was able to experience the real Texas. Living in Houston does not really give me the pleasure of seeing the stereotypical Texan antics that Texas is so known for, yes, there is an occasional cowboy on his horse on the side of the freeway near downtown and yes, sometimes I see boots and cowboy hats and occasionally get some tobacco spit on my car from a passing Ford F350. But, the 60 mile drive to College Station? On the drive, indeed, I was reminded, I am in Texas. Texans are weird. There was a wreck on the freeway on the way up to College Station, so what do Texans do?! Forget waiting patiently for the wreck to be cleared, let's off road around the disaster through the mud and gravel right through an active construction site!

We went to College Station for the Texas A&M versus Oklahoma Football game. I was again reminded of my whereabouts by the Texan blonds in their mini jean skirts and cowboy boots, not one, not two, but probably 90% of the coeds I encountered fit this description. Drunk at 11 am? Yes, Texas.

In all actuality, I had a really good time getting out of Houston for a day and taking off the weekend from work. It was great spending time with a friend not involved in the teaching profession. College Station is a neat place definitely centered around the University. A&M is a pretty campus (sorry Jake, not as pretty as the University of Texas at Austin) and home to the Bush library, a field trip to be completed in the future.

I got home from College Station and came down with a VERY nasty fever and sickness. It sucked. I am feeling a lot better now and didn't even miss a day of work (I should have).

I have to teach tutorials after school now Monday-Thursday, not too happy about it. A school day from 7:30-4:30 is just too long on top of Saturday school and planning, etc. I am going to HAVE to quit the running store, any advice on telling a company that you can't work for them when you have only been with them for 3 months?

Man, I am excited to be home for Christmas, I CAN'T Wait! All the Christmas decorations are out and the streets are all lit with Christmas lights, the malls are decorated, and the 3 month Christmas spirit is alive... is it like that in the NW? I forget.

Love you all!

Not really anything new to report other than school continues to be extremely demanding and not the happiest of all places. I feel like it is beginning to not be a very positive place. So many expectations and very little positive feedback. I am confident my students are where they need to be. However, I don't really get much feedback on how well they are doing. The only feedback I get is why I am not teaching Saturday tutorials, or why I am not differentiating, or why I am having them do a writing assignment, etc (Remember writing isn't state tested in the 5th grade, therefore, writing should not really be taught according to superiors. I really wish I could do projects with them and more authentic instruction instead of continuously teaching test taking strategies... I should be hired by Kaplan. One of the fifth grade teachers on our team, who I get along with really well, was removed from her classroom and sent to teach elsewhere and was replaced by another corps member, just creates a lot of awkwardness. I feel she was unfairly removed and not really given the chance to turn things around in her room, she's only a first year TFA teacher!

I am excited for Christina to come and visited for Thanksgiving break... I have a HUGE pile for her to file and many little classroom projects just waiting for her to arrive and complete them.

Outdoor School

I am sitting in the lodge right now getting a free wireless signal so I thought I'd write. I have had the EXTRAORDINARY privilege of taking the 5th graders to a week of outdoor school on a beautiful lake in Trinity, Texas. This place is beautiful, hard to believe it is in Texas! I look outside and I am reminded of what Oregon looks like.

The kids have had the opportunity to ride horses, go fishing, participate in a huge ropes course, learn about the ecology of ponds, forests, and farms, and much more. Most importantly, they have lived in a cabin in the outdoors surrounded by trees and bright stars for the first time in their lives. They have grown close to their peers and discovered a new sense of leadership and maturity. Most of my students have never been outside of Houston and were SHOCKED when they discovered the night sky and the radiant stars with the Milky Way right over their heads. The look on their face as they saw the stars has forever been imprinted on my mind. It has been so cool being here and watching from afar as they experience what they have been able to experience. The camp provides its own teachers and counselors, so my role has been quite miniscule abling me to watch and observe and work on some much needed work (ie graduate school applications). The kids got a chance to participate in a camp fire and sing songs and perform skits for their peers. At camp, they have bussed their own tables as they eat family style with each student having their own chore or daily task.

We're about to go back to school. I have heard over and over that they would like to stay for another week. I am so happy for them for having been granted this opportunity to explore the outdoor wilderness and discover a world outside of their 74th street and Harrisburg bubble that so many are stuck in.

It's Halloween today! Unfortunately I have a professional development for Teach For America early in the morning and have to work all weekend at Luke's Locker... I am honestly not sure how much longer I can work on the weekends... it is quite draining and not really worth it despite the fun people I get to meet.

Hope you are all well, thinking of y'all, 7 more weeks until Christmas break!!!!

Sick

Ugh, I am not feeling very well. I don't have the option of staying home sick because a. my kids are too far behind with Ike. etc and b. my principal prefers that we come to school no matter what as long as we're breathing. Since I have to be at school, the only thing I feel like doing is sitting at my desk and writing a blog. However, sitting at my desk, to the students, means time to talk and forget every rule in the book. The second I stand up, they get quiet and get back to work, an interesting game to watch and play. These kids are a handful. So much pressure is on me to bring them from 54% last year to 90%. I have faith that I can do it, but it is so hard. Other than a language barrier their main problem stems from laziness. They just don't know what it means to work hard. They have a difficult time using all of their reading strategies, sitting down to work, shutting their mouth, etc. They'd rather see me stand up and get angry.

I had a fairly good weekend. I worked all day Saturday and didn't really do much Saturday night. I randomly had Sunday off, which was nice! I went to church, ran some errands and had a VERY lazy day. I have gotten use to working on Saturdays and Sundays and so yesterday felt very bored with such a slowdown in usual pace. It made me feel lonely and reminded me why I work on the weekends. Last night I went to dinner at a new friend's house (Morgana). Morgana is an 08 corps member and from CANBY! How random!!! She grew up in Mulino then moved to Canby sometime after Mom moved. Her mother was in town and she cooked a Lebanese feast for a group of us. So, not only did I have a home cooked meal by a mom, I also had some Canby love too!
James, a good college friend and fraternity brother is in town for two weeks training for his job. I am looking forward to seeing him. Tonight I am going to a TFA benefit dinner with all the big money philanthropist in Houston as well as the founder of TFA, Wendy Kopp. Should be a good time and good food!

Next week, I am taking the 5th graders to outdoor school for a week at a camp 1 1/2 hours North of here, not really sure what to think nor expect... wish me luck. 7 months left! I have completed 19 miles of the TFA Marathon! WOOOOT!