I feel like I need to do a series of posts in one. Institute kind of cramps blogging time, so…
Reflections on turning 23
Thursday was my birthday. I woke up at 5:30, went to work at 7:00, got back at 4:30, ate supper, went shopping for classroom supplies, worked on lesson plans, and went to bed. My collaborative group (and a few other people in the cafeteria) sang me happy birthday, and I got a present from home.
I remember last year that I dubbed 22 the first of the irrelevant birthdays, the first time that it didn’t matter that I had a birthday. If that’s true, then I think that 23 will always be my first adult birthday. I woke up, did my job, and went to bed. It’s weird, this transitioning into being an adult. I look at my clock at 10:00 at night and think, “holy cow! It’s late!” I work at least 8 hours a day, with minimal breaks. I don’t have time to read or talk to friends for four to five hours a day. I can barely sneak in a phone call home on my birthday, for crying out loud! I haven’t had to cook or clean for myself yet, but that reality comes in less than a month. I keep thinking, “So this is what it means to be an adult. This is why we were told to not rush growing up.” And it took til 23 to find out.
At the same time, though, I understand that I couldn’t stay 21 forever. And so now, two years after that date, I’ve entered the rest of my life.
Reflections on Week 1
I just survived my first week in TFA. As you may be able to tell from my initial reflection, it’s pretty intense. We have work for about 9 hours a day at our school site and 4-5 hours a day after we get done with work. I usually try to work in an hour to hour and a half break into my day between school and homework. It helps me decompress, but I think that luxury may have to go by the wayside starting next week.
I feel like the week was a mixed bag. I definitely learned a lot, and I really like our school staff. However, I haven’t had a chance to meet our Summer Mentor Teacher (SMT) who we will be working with this summer.
One of the funny things for me is that I always feel like I’m sitting in my different sessions going, “oh, I definitely did that wrong when I was teaching.” “Oh, I need to do that now.” “Oh, I can’t be sarcastic anymore in the classroom.” It’s definitely been eye-opening.
And on monday, the teaching begins. I can hardly wait.
