Induction

Okay, so maybe I will keep blogging! Everything is such a whirlwind and I haven't really had time to talk to anyone, so I figure it would be good to at least record things going on here on this blog.

This week has been great. It has been exhausting, but great. The energy here is amazing. The people are wonderful and I am getting more excited about everything. Even though I haven't felt this tired in a long time, I feel so inspired, motivated and passionate about the work before me. I don't feel discouraged about being tired because I am EXCITED.

This week is very different than what the next 5 weeks will look like. We have spent a lot of time getting to know Dallas, learning about the community and the achievement gap here, and learning more about Teach For America and the organization's missions and values. The community here has been so welcoming of the 2010 corps. I will mention a few of the highlights. On Tuesday, we got to eat dinner at the JFK 6th floor museum. A lot of people spoke to us and we also heard from some 09 corps. On Wednesday we went to a reception at the Jones Day law firm in Dallas. They were so welcoming and even gave us all gift cards to buy stuff for our classrooms. A lot of attorneys that work there are TFA alum so we are actually going to some of their homes for dinner tomorrow night. My group also spent time learning about charter schools and our certification program. Yesterday was the best day by far. We spent the entire day at our school sites. The first part of the day included a lot of HR stuff. The second part of the day was spent at Williams with our administrators. I am getting more and more excited about this school. I am also really excited about the people I will be working with. I found out that I will most likely be teaching 8th grade MST (math, science, technology). Although I have always done well in these subjects, I can't say that they are the most interesting to me. However, I know that I will have a lot of support and I am excited about the challenge. Since the school is a STEM school, I know there will be so many people available to support me in my content area. At first, this was the last area within my certification that I wanted to teach. Now, I am getting excited. At night, we went to dinner with Uplift Education, the district Williams is a part of, which was also great. Today we got to hear from Dr. Hinojosa, the superintendent of DISD. It is amazing to hear the things he has done and is doing to transform the schools in Dallas. I just got back from a dinner that we had at the Williams' house. They invited all of Teach For America Dallas people and its supporters to their home. The Williams family actually greatly supports Teach For America and Dallas education in general, but they also happened to have founded my school (which is probably obvious by the name). These are some of the interesting things we have done, everything else would probably sound boring if I described the sessions and training we have been to. It really has all been interesting and useful though. I feel like my brain is on an information overload.

Tomorrow is full of similar things and at night we are going to TFA alumni dinners at different homes in Dallas. I am really excited about tomorrow because I get to see Mitchell!!! He is flying out of Dallas on Sunday morning, so we will get to see each other one last time before the long stretch.

On Sunday morning, I'm Houston bound! I know it is probably going to be the hardest and most exhausting 5 weeks of my life. However, I can honestly say for one of the first times that I am so excited about the challenge. I really feel passionate about all of this and can't wait to meet my summer school class and my students at Williams next month! We talked a lot about the logistics of institute today. It sounds scary and exhausting, but I know that it is so necessary in order to be effective teachers. Mitchell will be in New Mexico for a week and then is flying to Colorado Springs for more training the day after he gets back from that. He is really excited and has already been doing a lot of work at home to prepare for his course is New Mexico. As for Boomer, he is headed to the house he was born in to stay with the people that bred him. I think he will have fun living on a lot of land and getting to play with his parents! :)

To Christ be the glory!

Katherine