What a Day...

     Hey guys sorry I didn't have a chance to blog yesterday but it was a crazy day and I'm running on about 4 hours of sleep every night. Yesterday I was at the school all day learning how to create a lesson plan because I had to turn in one complete lesson plan to day along with three additional vision plans. I have a partner that I have been working with and he is Indian and his name is Sharan and he is cool. We have been working well together. The only problem is that we were up until 2 in the morning and then I still had to get up at 5:00 so I have been trying to keep my eyes open all day. I have to make changes to my final lesson plan tonight and finish three more by tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. Guess what? Tomorrow is my first day of teaching. I have 24 students and I'm only suppose to have a maximum of 20! The principle told all 8 of the 8th grade teachers that he wants us to be really hard on these 8th graders because apparently they have had a lot of behavioral problems with them and that if we can deal with these kids we can deal with just about anything...great...just my luck! Guess I will have to bring out that strong teacher voice sooner than I thought. This has seriously been the hardest week of my life I don't think I have ever worked so hard or gone with out as much sleep. Sometimes I go through moments of thinking that I can't do it and I don't have any idea what i'm doing here or how to teach these kids but then I take a deep breathe and know that God wants me here and somehow I have to get this work done and get through to these kids. My lesson plan tomorrow is about how to use context clues within a sentence or text to held identify unfamiliar words. I start teaching at 8:50 so be praying for me....before I start teaching I will be going over with the class all the rules and expectations of my classroom (this should be interesting :). Last night I got back to campus at 5:30 changed clothes, grabbed dinner in 10 min, went to a mandatory study session at 6:00 then had to go to an English Language Arts planning session from 7:00-8:30, after that I was in the resource lab until 11:30 working, then the copy room until they closed, then the 24/7 computer lab. Lets just say it was a long night. I'm going to try to go to sleep earlier tonight because I have to teach tomorrow but I still have a lot of work to do and another session tonight. I can't wait till I have some free time and can go for a run or hangout without people...I need a little break. We got to go into our classroom today and I tried to add some color to the extremely boring room by making some bulletin boards and writing on the board and putting up some inspirational quotes but I didn't have much time so it will be a work in progress. My room number is 218. So anyways as you can tell it is non stop work i'm actually writing this blog while I am on my back to campus on our yellow school bus. Its the only time I have to do it!!! Missing you all and thinking about you. Sending love your way!
Love,
Molly

And It Begins...5:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

This morning began not bright and early but in the dark of the morning hours. I clenched my eyes shut as I heard my first alarm go off at 5:00 a.m. and my second alarm go off at 5:10...it was time for me to pull myself out of bed and get in the shower. I think I was half asleep as I was showering but I tell you the truth that it was the only things that woke me up. After I got out of the shower I woke up my roommate and we grabbed our handy dandy lunch boxes that are basically these blue cooler with Teach For America on them and walked down in our pajamas to the West Servery were we went through a line to fill up our lunch boxes with an ice pack, an entree, a side, three snacks, and a drink. After that we went through the breakfast line and carried it all back up to our room so that we could eat and get ready for our first day at school at the same time. I wore a cute black dress with a peach cardigan and flats. I had to be at the bus stop ready to board the yellow school bus at 6:30 on the dot. Don't worry I was on time and ready to go Patrick Henry Middle School. When we got there the school was not as bad as I was expecting and we spent the rest of the day in what we call "sessions" learning about various things we would have to do such as lesson plans, setting goals for our students, teaching techniques etc. I have been assigned for the next five weeks to teach 8th grade English. Patrick Henry Middle School is expecting 1100 students for summer school starting tomorrow. I won't begin teaching until Thursday morning but I am already nervous. There are four different surrounding middle schools that will be attending summer school and we were told that for safety reasons all teachers must be in the hall ways while students change classes because most of the schools are rivals and they want to prevent any type of violence or misbehavior. Lets just say it is going to be interesting :). My school was the last school to make it back to Rice Campus around 5:30 and then we had to grab dinner and go to opening ceremonies. It was fun and we had lots of pump up chants to scream. Now I have some work to complete before tomorrow morning and also have to study for my TEXES exam. I'm running on low energy so pray I feel refreshed tomorrow morning...I will be waking up at 5:00.
Love yall,
Molly

Rolling into Houston...

Hi guys,
     We left checked out of SMU this morning at 9:30 and made a huge caravan down to Houston...boy is it hot here. The ride was fine I studied for most of the time...we stopped at Subway for lunch and I have been going through orientation for Rice University. They have a beautiful campus but the dorms we are in are quite weird. They are new dorm and have gone "green" so the lights are automatic with motion sensors and cut off every 15 minutes, the air conditioning will shut off if you have your window open or door propped open, and let just say a very unique bathroom. I luckily have the same roommate from SMU, Emily, which is good because we get along well and we can study for our TeXes exam together. I spent my free time today unpacking and learning about what I will be doing tomorrow. Tomorrow I have to be ready to board my bus at 6:30 in the morning and head over to Patrick Henry Middle School where I will be teaching and "learning to teach" for the next 5 weeks. I don't know what grade or subject I am teaching yet but I am sure I will find out tomorrow when I get to the school. It all very exciting and overwhelming at the same time but I am learning to take lots of deep breathes. I was able to talk to my friend Allie McKinney today which was an awesome surprise and I am so excited about her engagement and it was so good to catch up with her. I found out I have the HONOR of being a bridesmaid in her wedding and could not be more EXCITED!!!!!! Okay well I am going to grab dinner and then head to target and get some things before heading off to bed for an eaerly start tomorrow at Patrick Henry Middle School! (By the way I will be teaching my first lesson plan on Thursday...keep me in your prayers)
Love yall,
Molly

Why Yes Mr. President I Would Love To Have Dinner Tonight!

Well,

Lets just say that yesterday was a fabulous way to end Induction and get ready to leave for Institute today. The day started off with our normal early morning rise and breakfast around 7:30. We spent most of the day in session/meetings. The first meeting was about “Owning your Core Experience” it was great because they had a panel of people who had just completed their first year of teaching and they came to give us advice and share some of their personal experiences. It was also a chance for them to explain to us what we will actually be doing at Institute in Houston. Basically lets just say it is a Teaching and Learning boot camp! We wake up and 5:00 spend all day teaching and observing at a school and then take classes and make lessons plans at night. It is a tough 5 weeks of little sleep and lots of hard work but I am going to try and remain as positive as I can throughout the whole experiences. The only challenge will be completing all my Institute work as well as finding time to study for my TEXES exam June 25. Our second meeting of the day was about “Diversity” and it was interesting but I got a little tired towards the end but I think that was because it was lunchtime and I needed some energy. After lunch we headed to closing announcements and chants???? I was a little nervous about the chants but it was so much fun. Basically Dallas is know for being the craziest and most excited group at Institute so we had a competition to see who could come up with the best chants to scream at opening ceremonies in Houston. We have two really fun and crazy chants to use and were told to make Dallas proud because we have a lot to live up to! They also gave us cowbells to use and opening ceremonies haha. Then we had to two hours of free time. I spent the time going for a run, showering, and then packing up my stuff so I would be ready to leave in the morning. Then we had to be back at the building we are having our meetings in for our “Mystery Dinner” we had know idea what were going to be doing but were told to dress “snappy casual”. When we got there the staff was freaking out and acting mad because they said our institute paperwork had not gone through and we were behind schedule and needed to hurry in and re-due all the paperwork. When we all filled in and took a seat there was a little blue envelope at every seat. They were kidding about the paperwork and told us all to open the letter and it was an invitation to join President Bush and his wife Laura at their home in Dallas for dinner! Everyone was freaking out! They hurried us off to buses to go to their house, nice buses that the President had paid for!). Once we got there the President and Mrs. Bush were waiting for us in their driveway and shook each one of our hands and thanked us for all of the hard work we were about to undertake and for helping out the education system. There home is beautiful and very simple. They have a beautiful front yard that had tons of round tables set up for us to sit at for dinner. They were covered in green table clothes with sunflower arrangement centerpieces. (Mom you would have loved the set up!) There was an open bar and country music playing in the background. I had a chance to talk to President Bush once and Mrs. Bush twice. He is absolutely hilarious and so easy to talk with. He asked me about how Alabama was doing since the tornados and we talked about football. I tried to get him to give me a roll tide but he wouldn’t and said he was at that national championship game! We also talked about how he went Mountain biking this morning and then played 18 holes of golf this afternoon. I said, “Man, that’s a rough life” he just laughed. We talked about how Mrs. Bush just came and bought their house while he was still president and when he got down here he made sure there was a putting green in the front yard. It couldn’t have been a better experience. They made us feel so welcomed and appreciated. He gave a little speech and so did Mrs. Bush just wishing us luck this upcoming year and how proud they are of the decision we have made to work in education. Oh you’re probably wondering what we had for dinner!? Well, they had President Bush’s favorite restaurant cater and it was a buffet of salad, beef tenderloin, some type of corn dish called homely, and fried catfish. The food was soooo good! I actually was behind him in line to get food. Overall a great experience. We weren’t allowed to take pictures but I was sneaking them in on my iPhone. I will try to post them when I can. I am sad I missed spending time with yall at Sarah’s deb ball but I’m sure you all had a blast and I am so happy Angel was able to fill in for me! The night was just a great experience and I wish yall could have shared it with me!

Love you all I’m off to Houston!

-Molly

Study Day!

Howdy yall!
    Great news I was actually able to sleep in today...well at least until 7:30 but that's a major improvement! Today was a study day and I was actually very productive. My group decided to get out of the dorm and we headed over to Barns and Noble, which we can walk to, and studied there for about a good 3 and half hours. I'm starting to understand more about the best way to teach myself the information which is good since I'm the only History teacher who wasn't a History Major or Minor. Sometimes I get frustrated that I don't know the information but I realize that I have 3 more weeks to study before my big test at the end of June. Speaking of June I can't believe it is already June 3rd! Where did May go? After our first study session we had a two and half hour break for lunch and whatever we wanted to do. I actually went to the pool for and hour and then went running. It is pretty hot here but today they had a nice breeze so it wasn't that bad. Our group met up again before we had a whole group meeting at 6:00.We had Alumni dinners tonight we went to a guy named John Chase who was a member in 2001 and is now an attorney here in Dallas. We had grilled fajitas for dinner and they had the most beautiful back yard! It was a grand time. Now I am about to go to the bar with some people to have one drink because we have to be up super early tomorrow and have a packed day. Everyone needs to relax a little bit! Okay missing everyone and love you!
Love,
Molly

District Day

Well, time is flying by and I am glad to know that yall are actually reading my blog! This morning I went for a run at 6:20, I'm not getting to work out or run as long as I want to but I have to make sure that I am getting in at least 5 1/2 hours of sleep each night so i'm not too tired to function in the next day. Word on the street is that the hardest part about Institute in Houston is that we have a severe lack of sleep but I'm sure I will be fine...I can sleep when I am dead. Funny thing, Pudge has already gotten some attention from my roommate...Emily said she put her bear into storage because she wasn't sure anyone else would bring theirs and I told here that Pudge goes everywhere with me and always as carry-on! She did make fun of him a little bit by calling him nappy but I think that it shows character! Today is District Day and since I am tentatively being placed in the Forth Worth School District (this isn't for sure but we have to be "flexible")... with that being said there were 50 of us, including some cute boys :), that made our way to the Fort Worth area to have lunch at "Cousin's BBQ. We had a chance to check out the downtown area and the cultural district and I surprisingly impressed by Fort Worth. Then we went to the Fort Worth School District and had some meeting and we were able to meet with some Principles which was nice because I got to practice some of my interviewing techniques. We didn't get back to SMU till 6:00 and then we had a group meeting at 6:15. We were broken up into group for dinner and went out with 2010 corps members. It was nice because they gave us a lot of advice about Institute and how to mentally prepare for the challenge. Dinner ran late until about 9;15 and then I had to go to my study group session until 11:00. At that point my brain was just fried and it is taking everything in me to stay awake and type this blog. Tomorrow I will have some free time which will be nice but I will need to use it to study. I think the test is going to be harder than I thought. So things are going well I'm just getting tired from the lack of sleep and missing being with you guys for Sarah's special weekend. I know it will be a lot of fun and I will be thinking about all of you! Miss you and love you!
Love,
Molly

T.C. Marsh Middle School

After some much needed sleep last night, I felt like Dad this morning as my alarm went off at 5:40 a.m. to awaken me for a much needed jog. There really wasn't another time to fit it into our busy schedule and what I really didn't expect was for it to be dark outside! It was nice to see the sunrise over this beautiful campus and don't worry Mom my run was safe I stayed on the main campus road and saw about 4 patrol cars throughout my run. It felt good to be active after having to sit in meeting and study groups all day yesterday. The only thing I was not looking forward to this morning was the community shower...it wasn't that bad and I survived...thank goodness for shower shoes! After getting dressed in my business casual attire and grabbing some breakfast (a banana and granola bar), I went to take a practice Social Studies 8-12 test. I finished around 8:30 and then we headed over to T.C. Marsh Middle School for the rest of the day. We spent all day there and had the opportunity to listen and ask questions to parents from the community, principles, and students.  A 12 year old name Caesar talk to us and he was so cute and hilarious it was nice to interact with the students. It was also nice to see how excited they all were that we are here and how much they appreciate and value Teach For America teachers. Today we really focused on what type of leader we want to be in the classroom and what type of environment we want to create for our students. They brought in Jason's Deli box lunch's (yay for turkey sandwiches). We finished around 4:00 and then headed back to campus for "free time" which means that I studied and reviewed for our evening study group up until dinner with alumni at 7:00. I had the best group at dinner tonight I met so many interesting people. My roommate, Emily, and I get along great and we usually sit together but our table was hilarious we had a really good time. I have yet to meet someone that I cannot have an intelligent conversation with, which is nice for a change! It was a BBQ on top of the roof of one of the buildings here so we had nice view and a good breeze. I might have met a couple of cute guys :) I just got back from dinner (I had a veggie burger and fruit for dinner...you would be surprised how many Vegans there are here and they all get special meals). Right now I am about to go to our study session until 11:00 and then it is off to bed! Overall a good day, I'm meeting new people but its hard to remember names so I am thankful we always have to have on name tags.
Love yall!
-Molly (6-1-2011)