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Since I am from Wisconsin, I’m used to getting days off because of inclement weather. Usually, though, it is usually because it’s negative 30 or there are ten inches of snow on the ground. Yesterday, though, I experienced something new: a heat day.

At about 5:50 p.m., I walked out of my room and ran into a fellow corps member. He told me that school was cancelled tomorrow (today) because of the heat. I didn’t believe him, so I went inside and checked the School District of Philadelphia’s website.

It was true. School was cancelled.

I always thought the greatest thing ever was to be a kid and have a snow day. I now know that I was wrong. The greatest thing ever is to be a teacher and have a heat day.

Institute Reflections
 

This week we crossed the half-way through institute marker. Yesterday was the first day where we had fewer days left to teach than we have taught. Slowly, there is a light appearing at the end of the tunnel. And then we get to burst forth into the classroom to use our newfound skills.

I was talking with a friend earlier this week about Institute, and I explained it this way. We get up at 5:30 in the morning and go to bed at 11:30 at night. In between we teach, learn, and plan. We take about an hour off for supper, but aside from that, we go for 17 hours a day, 5 days a week, and work weekends.

So when people ask if I’m having fun, the answer is no. And when people ask if I’m happy at the moment, the answer is no. BUT, like a lot of things, it isn’t fun, and I’m not happy, but it is good.

I remember at Urbana that Rick Warren talked about how the point of marriage isn’t happiness but holiness, in that God uses the difficult things in marriage to make us more like himself. I feel the same way about institute. It’s not about being fun or loving teaching. It’s about waking up every morning and forcing yourself to go on, because often that is more vital than getting an emotional high from teaching.

So Institute isn’t about fun. It is however, about accomplishment. It’s about surviving the first day, the first week, the first wacky Wednesday. It’s about having lessons that go amazing and let you know that you can do it, even if the next one crashes and burns. It’s about a reworking of your understanding of what impossible is, what possible is, and where the line between the two is. And it’s about the sense of accomplishment that comes with going to bed each day knowing that you live to fight again.

Classroom Reflection

Teaching has been a trip so far, both in the positive sense and the negative. I had a great lesson about summaries this week that involved the Flintstones, Scooby Doo, and the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. And then I had a lesson on inferences last week that crashed and burned into an inferno of disorder and chaos. So it has been uneven, to put things mildly. But, the trend is up. My average score this week was in the 70s this week, up from 35% last week. Hopefully we can push up to the 80s this next week.

So, overall its been a good experience, even if it hasn’t been fun.

As a side note, we have an interview fair tomorrow, so I may have a placement soon. Details to come.