...and the Journey begins!

Today we began our 2010 Teach for America journey at "Teacher Bootcamp." They call it this because they cram everything I have learned in the previous 4 years in college into 5 weeks at Institute. We are staying at Rice University in Houston, TX. It is a rather nice facility actually and I am greatly enjoying my time here.

This morning began bright and early for me at promptly 5:46AM (not quite used to this after being done with Student Teaching for almost 2 months). We were advised to go get our lunch first thing in the morning to ensure we did not receive a "tofu burger" as our supplementary lunch. So there I was walking through the cafeteria of at least 200+ other corps members similar to myself all rushing to get lunch in my pink, flower print pajama shorts and over sized T-shirt. This early morning endeavor did pay off, however, because I received my brand-new Rice Owls TFA lunchbox and koozie (sp). I filled this new box with a Turkey and Pesto sandwich, side salad, fruit cup, Sun Chips, chocolate pudding and an apple. All of this accompanied by my much needed caffeine fix of Diet Coke. Needless to say, Rice hooks us up pretty well with the lunch situation! :)

After we received our delectable lunches we boarded our buses to take us to our respective schools. My bus leaves promptly at 7:03AM every morning. If you are there at 7:04 you are late and the bus is gone. We arrived at Bruce Elementary about 15 minutes later. I was surprised to find out that Bruce was a brand new campus and was a Music Magnet School. Considering my passion for choir and theatre I knew this was going to be a good place for me. We dived right into Session 1 where we learned about the various roles we would be playing in teaching summer school. We also attended sessions that informed us on how to write lesson plans and how to set "big goals" for our students. I thought all of this would be a breeze considering I have been studying educational practices for the past 4 years. However, Teach for America has a very unique way in approaching everything they do. The methods I learned today differed greatly from the traditional teaching methods I have learned.

We came back to the Rice campus around 4:15PM where I was greeted by my sweet new friends Liz and Courtney. These 2 girls are a gift from above and I know the Lord has blessed my life with both of them. We had dinner in the "West Servery" which consisted of chicken breast, beef tenderloin, rice pilaf, mashed potatoes, and green beans. The meal was quite satisfactory!

We then walked the, what seemed to be, 3 mile hike to the Rice basketball arena where we attended our "Opening Ceremonies". Here we heard from previous corps members and also from Wendy Kopp, the CEO and founder of Teach for America. This session was inspiring considering the terrifying task we are about to enter into.

After walking cripply back to my dorm (I had to take my new black pumps off because I have blisters the size of quarters) I decided to take a shower and head to bed. This puts us at where we are now. Please continue praying for strength throughout all of this to encounter each day with a renewed passion and commitment to this movement. I know that through my efforts, one day all of my students will have an opportunity to obtain an excellent education. I wholeheartedly believe that this opportunity begins with me!