Monday, July 27, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Just read this and tell me what you think...
STOCKTON - University of the Pacific said this week in its response to a lawsuit filed in March that it was neither hostile nor indifferent to a women's basketball player who claimed three men's basketball players raped her at a party and that the school mistreated her for saying so.
In a filing Tuesday in federal court in Sacramento, the school said that before filing the lawsuit, the woman and her parents had praised the school's handling of the matter.
The woman's Denver lawyer, John Clune, said Thursday that his client's relationship with the school deteriorated only after administrators declined to dismiss and permanently ban from campus all the men his client said assaulted her.
A woman identified in court papers as Jane Doe claimed in a March lawsuit that two basketball players raped her at a May 2008 party at Townhouses, campus housing on Pershing Avenue, and that a third player came into the room where she was and assaulted her as the first two players were leaving.
Pacific spokesman Richard Rojo said Thursday that the school does not consider the incident to be a rape.
"We would call it date rape," he said.
Rojo said the university considers "outright rape" and date rape to be different, in that date rape does not involve "a rapist jumping out of bushes and attacking people randomly."
He said, "These are people who knew each other. ... It's a social situation and unfortunately an all-too common problem at universities.
"It doesn't make it right. It's a sexual assault, and that's why the university took action in this matter."
Doe said in her lawsuit that Pacific's handling of the matter was hostile, causing her to feel unwanted at Pacific. Doe, a freshman, left the school.
The woman told a police detective she did not wish to file a criminal complaint, a Stockton Police Department spokesman said last year.
The university expelled point guard Steffan Johnson. It suspended point guard Michael Kirby for one semester and center Michael Nunnally for one year.
As of March, two of the three students were barred from campus, one permanently, the university has said.
Nunnally has said he did not rape Doe. Kirby declined to comment. Johnson has not responded to requests for comment.
In its filing, Pacific said it tried after the incident to speak with Doe in a telephone call to her home in Colorado but that her parents would not allow it. In that call, the university offered victim resources, recommended Doe schedule a physical examination and rape kit, and urged her parents to report the incident to police, the university said.
Clune said rape victims often do not initially want to talk to police or anyone else about an assault, and that Doe's reaction is consistent with that of other women.
The university's Judicial Hearing Board heard from witnesses June 16, including from men's and women's basketball players who said Doe was flirting with at least two of the men she said assaulted her, the university claimed.
One women's basketball player said Doe was engaging in "a lot of 'sleazy behavior,'" the university said in its filing. That student said Doe also "made comments such as, 'Who is going to get laid tonight?'" Pacific claimed, and two witnesses said they saw Doe hug one of the accused men after the incident.
Testimony from the accused men included testimony that Doe willingly went upstairs with two of them and willingly engaged in sexual conduct with at least two of them, the university claimed.
Clune said the response engaged in "victim-blaming."
In her lawsuit, Doe accused Pacific Vice President of Student Life Elizabeth Griego of blaming Doe for the assault and saying the three men "are very popular and do not need to force anyone to have sex with them."
In its filing, the university said Griego told Doe that "given the testimony of all witnesses questioned (which plaintiff had refused to listen to) there might be 'competing truths,'" and that it appeared from testimony that two of the men believed they had the woman's consent.
In an e-mail to the university last May, Doe's parents wrote, "Your support of (plaintiff) has been deeply moving," Pacific claimed. And in a June letter, Doe wrote, "The school has been very kind and compassionate to me," it claimed.
Clune said, "It's only after the university decided that they were not going to remove the three individuals that things turned sour."
In July, Griego and another official met with Doe and her mother to discuss the student sanctions, the university said. At that meeting, "Plaintiff's mother became irate, screaming so loudly that she could be heard outside Dr. Griego's closed door," the school claimed. Griego asked her to leave, the filing said.
The university denied Doe's claim that there had been an increasing number of reports of sexual offenses on campus, in particular her claim that at least seven reports were made in the 2007-08 academic year.
There were six reports made that year and two in 2008-09, Rojo said.
Record staff writer Jason Anderson contributed to this report.
Contact reporter David Sidersat (209) 943-8580 or dsiders@recordnet.com.
In a filing Tuesday in federal court in Sacramento, the school said that before filing the lawsuit, the woman and her parents had praised the school's handling of the matter.
The woman's Denver lawyer, John Clune, said Thursday that his client's relationship with the school deteriorated only after administrators declined to dismiss and permanently ban from campus all the men his client said assaulted her.
A woman identified in court papers as Jane Doe claimed in a March lawsuit that two basketball players raped her at a May 2008 party at Townhouses, campus housing on Pershing Avenue, and that a third player came into the room where she was and assaulted her as the first two players were leaving.
Pacific spokesman Richard Rojo said Thursday that the school does not consider the incident to be a rape.
"We would call it date rape," he said.
Rojo said the university considers "outright rape" and date rape to be different, in that date rape does not involve "a rapist jumping out of bushes and attacking people randomly."
He said, "These are people who knew each other. ... It's a social situation and unfortunately an all-too common problem at universities.
"It doesn't make it right. It's a sexual assault, and that's why the university took action in this matter."
Doe said in her lawsuit that Pacific's handling of the matter was hostile, causing her to feel unwanted at Pacific. Doe, a freshman, left the school.
The woman told a police detective she did not wish to file a criminal complaint, a Stockton Police Department spokesman said last year.
The university expelled point guard Steffan Johnson. It suspended point guard Michael Kirby for one semester and center Michael Nunnally for one year.
As of March, two of the three students were barred from campus, one permanently, the university has said.
Nunnally has said he did not rape Doe. Kirby declined to comment. Johnson has not responded to requests for comment.
In its filing, Pacific said it tried after the incident to speak with Doe in a telephone call to her home in Colorado but that her parents would not allow it. In that call, the university offered victim resources, recommended Doe schedule a physical examination and rape kit, and urged her parents to report the incident to police, the university said.
Clune said rape victims often do not initially want to talk to police or anyone else about an assault, and that Doe's reaction is consistent with that of other women.
The university's Judicial Hearing Board heard from witnesses June 16, including from men's and women's basketball players who said Doe was flirting with at least two of the men she said assaulted her, the university claimed.
One women's basketball player said Doe was engaging in "a lot of 'sleazy behavior,'" the university said in its filing. That student said Doe also "made comments such as, 'Who is going to get laid tonight?'" Pacific claimed, and two witnesses said they saw Doe hug one of the accused men after the incident.
Testimony from the accused men included testimony that Doe willingly went upstairs with two of them and willingly engaged in sexual conduct with at least two of them, the university claimed.
Clune said the response engaged in "victim-blaming."
In her lawsuit, Doe accused Pacific Vice President of Student Life Elizabeth Griego of blaming Doe for the assault and saying the three men "are very popular and do not need to force anyone to have sex with them."
In its filing, the university said Griego told Doe that "given the testimony of all witnesses questioned (which plaintiff had refused to listen to) there might be 'competing truths,'" and that it appeared from testimony that two of the men believed they had the woman's consent.
In an e-mail to the university last May, Doe's parents wrote, "Your support of (plaintiff) has been deeply moving," Pacific claimed. And in a June letter, Doe wrote, "The school has been very kind and compassionate to me," it claimed.
Clune said, "It's only after the university decided that they were not going to remove the three individuals that things turned sour."
In July, Griego and another official met with Doe and her mother to discuss the student sanctions, the university said. At that meeting, "Plaintiff's mother became irate, screaming so loudly that she could be heard outside Dr. Griego's closed door," the school claimed. Griego asked her to leave, the filing said.
The university denied Doe's claim that there had been an increasing number of reports of sexual offenses on campus, in particular her claim that at least seven reports were made in the 2007-08 academic year.
There were six reports made that year and two in 2008-09, Rojo said.
Record staff writer Jason Anderson contributed to this report.
Contact reporter David Sidersat (209) 943-8580 or dsiders@recordnet.com.
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
Kids said the darndest things...
Steve 3P0: Are you wearing a cross? Is that the cross Jesus died on?
Me: Mmm...not the exact one...let's go read a book.
It's odd being back in public school and realizing that talking about Jesus, God, etc. is not okay. I am happy though how many 5 year olds recognize what a cross is and know that they see them at church.
Me: Mmm...not the exact one...let's go read a book.
It's odd being back in public school and realizing that talking about Jesus, God, etc. is not okay. I am happy though how many 5 year olds recognize what a cross is and know that they see them at church.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Budgeting...
I really want a pair of Ugg rain boots. However, as I am now a grown-up, I guess I cannot buy them...
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
In my mailbox today...
Teach For America has contracted with an independent mental health telecounseling company called Protocall for the duration of Institute.
Protocall is staffed by professional counselors and therapists 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Any information given to Protocall counselors (including clients' names) will be kept confidential by Protocall staff and will not be released to Teach For America.
This is a free service for any Teach For America corps members or staff who would like to use it.
Protocall is staffed by professional counselors and therapists 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Any information given to Protocall counselors (including clients' names) will be kept confidential by Protocall staff and will not be released to Teach For America.
This is a free service for any Teach For America corps members or staff who would like to use it.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
PINK EYE OUTBREAK!!!!
So, as I mentioned, my roommate got pinkeye this weekend.
This morning, we were informed that Long Beach Headstarts were taking a precautionary measure to prevent a pinkeye outbreak since every classroom had students missing yesterday, many with pinkeye symptoms.
We're all standing there, people commenting that their eyes feel itchy or tight...and we're told we will still be there from 7:45 A.M. to 5 P.M. and just have extra work time.
In our first session with our curriculum specialist, I pretty much wanted to punch a few people in the room. We may teach 5-year olds, but we are NOT five ourselves, so people need to stop complaining. Suck it up; life is not that bad at TFA. Driving me crazy.
Then we had our literacy specialist session. Oh, I forgot to mention that at this point I have already had a diet coke even though it is only 9 A.M. since I had a migraine last night...and this morning... (This is another reason why I find everyone a bit more irritating...because my head is pounding...).
After our LS session, we are told we need to meet as a school, where our director fields questions about:
1. Pinkeye--do we have it, do we need to go get tested, what if we do have it...
2. Our Lesson Plans--do we need to combine them tomorrow, can we just do one less this week since we put so much time into the one for today...
3. The rest of the day--really? Why can't we just go back to LMU to nap and get work done?
Our School Director patiently answers a million and one questions, and then she tells us we will be having a TFA. Well yes, of course we are. We are IN TFA.
We are having a TFA, a Totally Free Afternoon.
AMAZING.
We are always the earliest bus to leave and the latest to return.
Today, we got back to LMU a good 45 minutes before anyone else, at 11:45.
Sno cones, mocktails, cotton candy all ready for us. Wonderful.
Went to the beach. Awesome. Sprayed on my SPF 70+ (no joke, my roommate asked what SPF I had, and I said: 60 and 70, nothing less) and headed over to Venice.
All went well. Super fun.
And then I showered.
And discovered my sunburn is almost as bad as it was post-graduation.
Which really I wouldn't even mention had my roommate not WATCHED me spray SPF 70 on until I was glistening. AND I reapplied.
I give up. Sun sun go away, please don't come again another day.
I'm off to bed, in a good mood although quite nervous to see how my back and shoulders feel tomorrow.
P.S. One last story that I have yet to tell...
We have two students in our class name Steve.
Stephen W. was absent on Day 1.
So Day 2 when he arrived and his mom introduced him as Stevie, and he put on his name tag, I thought awesome, we don't have to worry about mixing the Steves up.
Me: Hi! I'm Ms. Magiera, what's your name?
Stevie: C3P0
Me: Oh really? Well, your name tag says Stephen. Can I call you Stephen..or Steven...or maybe Stevie?
Stevie: My name is C3P0, and my brother's name is R2D2.
Me: Well that's pretty cool, but I'm going to call you Steve3P0 instead, is that okay?
Steve3P0: Sure (smiles).
Yesterday, Ava, who is in my collab comes up to me and goes: Stevie got mad at me today for not calling him Steve3P0. Yeah, thanks for that--apparently he won't respond anymore to Stevie... (all this she says laughing...)
I now fear that when Stevie starts Kindergarten in just a few weeks he will tell his teacher she must call him Steve3P0 since his teachers during the summer did. Who knew Star Wars was so cool to 5-year olds? Have I forever altered this child's future not by leading him down an amazing path of student achievement but rather encouraging him to go by the name Steve3P0?? Oh dear.
This morning, we were informed that Long Beach Headstarts were taking a precautionary measure to prevent a pinkeye outbreak since every classroom had students missing yesterday, many with pinkeye symptoms.
We're all standing there, people commenting that their eyes feel itchy or tight...and we're told we will still be there from 7:45 A.M. to 5 P.M. and just have extra work time.
In our first session with our curriculum specialist, I pretty much wanted to punch a few people in the room. We may teach 5-year olds, but we are NOT five ourselves, so people need to stop complaining. Suck it up; life is not that bad at TFA. Driving me crazy.
Then we had our literacy specialist session. Oh, I forgot to mention that at this point I have already had a diet coke even though it is only 9 A.M. since I had a migraine last night...and this morning... (This is another reason why I find everyone a bit more irritating...because my head is pounding...).
After our LS session, we are told we need to meet as a school, where our director fields questions about:
1. Pinkeye--do we have it, do we need to go get tested, what if we do have it...
2. Our Lesson Plans--do we need to combine them tomorrow, can we just do one less this week since we put so much time into the one for today...
3. The rest of the day--really? Why can't we just go back to LMU to nap and get work done?
Our School Director patiently answers a million and one questions, and then she tells us we will be having a TFA. Well yes, of course we are. We are IN TFA.
We are having a TFA, a Totally Free Afternoon.
AMAZING.
We are always the earliest bus to leave and the latest to return.
Today, we got back to LMU a good 45 minutes before anyone else, at 11:45.
Sno cones, mocktails, cotton candy all ready for us. Wonderful.
Went to the beach. Awesome. Sprayed on my SPF 70+ (no joke, my roommate asked what SPF I had, and I said: 60 and 70, nothing less) and headed over to Venice.
All went well. Super fun.
And then I showered.
And discovered my sunburn is almost as bad as it was post-graduation.
Which really I wouldn't even mention had my roommate not WATCHED me spray SPF 70 on until I was glistening. AND I reapplied.
I give up. Sun sun go away, please don't come again another day.
I'm off to bed, in a good mood although quite nervous to see how my back and shoulders feel tomorrow.
P.S. One last story that I have yet to tell...
We have two students in our class name Steve.
Stephen W. was absent on Day 1.
So Day 2 when he arrived and his mom introduced him as Stevie, and he put on his name tag, I thought awesome, we don't have to worry about mixing the Steves up.
Me: Hi! I'm Ms. Magiera, what's your name?
Stevie: C3P0
Me: Oh really? Well, your name tag says Stephen. Can I call you Stephen..or Steven...or maybe Stevie?
Stevie: My name is C3P0, and my brother's name is R2D2.
Me: Well that's pretty cool, but I'm going to call you Steve3P0 instead, is that okay?
Steve3P0: Sure (smiles).
Yesterday, Ava, who is in my collab comes up to me and goes: Stevie got mad at me today for not calling him Steve3P0. Yeah, thanks for that--apparently he won't respond anymore to Stevie... (all this she says laughing...)
I now fear that when Stevie starts Kindergarten in just a few weeks he will tell his teacher she must call him Steve3P0 since his teachers during the summer did. Who knew Star Wars was so cool to 5-year olds? Have I forever altered this child's future not by leading him down an amazing path of student achievement but rather encouraging him to go by the name Steve3P0?? Oh dear.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Viral Pink eye
My roommate has viral pinkeye. Really? Oh this is how my life goes...
On the bright side, I have all my lesson plans for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday done. :)
On the bright side, I have all my lesson plans for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday done. :)
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Week 1 of teaching!
Notes about abbreviations/TFA talk: collab=collaborative group
It is now 11 A.M. on Saturday, and I have officially completed my first week of teaching! It actually went surprisingly well...but there were some interesting moments along the way.
Each day this week I taught the first 70 minutes--opening circle, classroom newsletter, read aloud, and literacy centers.
On Monday, my timing went well, and we had a great start. I had the fun task of teaching them how to line up, and I am SO proud of them--our lines are pretty darn awesome. Plus, they definitely know what it means to sit Criss-Cross Applesauce on the rug.
Monday and Tuesday=assessment days. We needed to see where our kids were so we know what we need to work on the next 4 weeks. As much as you read about and hear about the education gap, you certainly see it at its worst when you are assessing 4 and 5 year olds about to enter Kindergarten.
Now I'm sure you're thinking that at 5 there can't be THAT great a range in our students' assessments. Everyone starts preschool on the same foot right?
I think one of the most shocking assessments I completed was a phonics assessment, where I showed each student a card with a letter on it. One went like this:
What letter is this? 7
What sound does this letter make? 19
What is a word that starts with this letter? 14
We have a student who speaks Vietnamese at home--so while his math assessment (counting, sorting teddy bears, and making patterns with cubes) was pretty strong, he did not say a word during the phonics assessment. He can write his name in cursive (and very good cursive), but it is hard to communicate with him.
During the reading comprehension test (I did a Read Aloud and then the students had to draw two pictures of something that happened during the story, where it happened, and who was there), we had a couple students who did not draw anything even close, and then we had one student whose drawing was impossible to understand, but he verbally explained both drawings and actually scored the highest on the assessment. While his comprehension is high, he does not have the hand strength to properly hold a crayon or pencil, which has been very frustrating.
On Thursday, I tried practicing writing his name with him to work on his hand strength, but he got so frustrated! The only way I was able to get him to continue writing was to have him trace the words: Luke Skywalker, light saber, and Star Wars. He LOVES Star Wars, which may be the way we get him to stay engaged for the next 4 weeks.
On Wednesday, my first real day of teaching (because assessments were finally over), I was observed by our School Director, the head of institute, and some other important person. Talk about adding to my nerves! I am sure that for about half a second if you saw my face you could have seen my anxiety (I had no idea that they were coming), but the lesson actually went really well! We read a book called No, David!, and I was teaching the kids how to identify feelings. They did AMAZING. Thank goodness!!
I have fortunately been sleeping, getting into bed at about 10:30 each night. Some people have been up till 4 or 5 A.M. everyday (which is not so good seeing as our bus leaves at 6:30).
It's been a wonderful second week--I know horror stories always abound about institute, and maybe I will have some after the next 3 weeks, but so far, I really can't say much more than I already have learned SO much, have improved SO much in the classroom, and I can't wait for next week. I will, however, thoroughly enjoy my weekend and resting up even more.
It is now 11 A.M. on Saturday, and I have officially completed my first week of teaching! It actually went surprisingly well...but there were some interesting moments along the way.
Each day this week I taught the first 70 minutes--opening circle, classroom newsletter, read aloud, and literacy centers.
On Monday, my timing went well, and we had a great start. I had the fun task of teaching them how to line up, and I am SO proud of them--our lines are pretty darn awesome. Plus, they definitely know what it means to sit Criss-Cross Applesauce on the rug.
Monday and Tuesday=assessment days. We needed to see where our kids were so we know what we need to work on the next 4 weeks. As much as you read about and hear about the education gap, you certainly see it at its worst when you are assessing 4 and 5 year olds about to enter Kindergarten.
Now I'm sure you're thinking that at 5 there can't be THAT great a range in our students' assessments. Everyone starts preschool on the same foot right?
I think one of the most shocking assessments I completed was a phonics assessment, where I showed each student a card with a letter on it. One went like this:
What letter is this? 7
What sound does this letter make? 19
What is a word that starts with this letter? 14
We have a student who speaks Vietnamese at home--so while his math assessment (counting, sorting teddy bears, and making patterns with cubes) was pretty strong, he did not say a word during the phonics assessment. He can write his name in cursive (and very good cursive), but it is hard to communicate with him.
During the reading comprehension test (I did a Read Aloud and then the students had to draw two pictures of something that happened during the story, where it happened, and who was there), we had a couple students who did not draw anything even close, and then we had one student whose drawing was impossible to understand, but he verbally explained both drawings and actually scored the highest on the assessment. While his comprehension is high, he does not have the hand strength to properly hold a crayon or pencil, which has been very frustrating.
On Thursday, I tried practicing writing his name with him to work on his hand strength, but he got so frustrated! The only way I was able to get him to continue writing was to have him trace the words: Luke Skywalker, light saber, and Star Wars. He LOVES Star Wars, which may be the way we get him to stay engaged for the next 4 weeks.
On Wednesday, my first real day of teaching (because assessments were finally over), I was observed by our School Director, the head of institute, and some other important person. Talk about adding to my nerves! I am sure that for about half a second if you saw my face you could have seen my anxiety (I had no idea that they were coming), but the lesson actually went really well! We read a book called No, David!, and I was teaching the kids how to identify feelings. They did AMAZING. Thank goodness!!
I have fortunately been sleeping, getting into bed at about 10:30 each night. Some people have been up till 4 or 5 A.M. everyday (which is not so good seeing as our bus leaves at 6:30).
It's been a wonderful second week--I know horror stories always abound about institute, and maybe I will have some after the next 3 weeks, but so far, I really can't say much more than I already have learned SO much, have improved SO much in the classroom, and I can't wait for next week. I will, however, thoroughly enjoy my weekend and resting up even more.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
One week down, four to go...
Here is as a brief yet complete an update I can offer:
This week was great but unbelievably exhausting.
Sunday I moved into Loyola Marymount University...yes I am living in a dorm, and after being spoiled rotten by Pepperdine's rooms, I am not 100% enjoying it, but truth be told, the vast majority of the time I spend in my room, I am sleeping.
Our first day of official training started Monday. I am doing ECE (early childhood education) here at LBUSD (Long Beach Unified School District), which is perfect! The kids I will be teaching are entering Kinder in the fall so they are around the age and level I expect my students to be come August. For this week, our bus left at 6:10, which means I had to wake up at 5:20 everyday...to pick up my lunch at 5:55 (Subway all week long), and make sure I made it to our site. We sat in "sessions" everyday from 7 A.M. to 4:45 P.M.
Sessions consist of: extensive training on lesson planning (creating your "vision," key points, etc.), literacy sessions (on phonics, the building blocks of reading comprehension), classroom management sessions, and so on and so forth. They are long and tiring yet extremely worthwhile, and I have learned SO much in just a week.
The staff here is wonderful. My CMA is named Ashleigh, and she is great. I already can tell she will be VERY helpful at making sure I am doing what I am supposed to do and learning as much as possible, which is what I need.
The CS has gotten some not-so-great response from the entire ECE group (there are about 45 of us), but I have spoken to her one-on-one and find her advice great. There is no way that anyone in the room knows everything that is being presented, so even when I'm exhausted I know I am learning something new.
That said, the LS is AMAZING. She wrote the Elementary Literacy text that we are required to read before Institute, and I pretty much am hoping that I can just absorb some of her wisdom. I still feel nervous about teaching phonics, but seeing as she literally wrote the book, she can answer any and all questions I have.
...Okay instead of going into even more detail, as I'm getting tired and want to get to bed, let me just share my overall thoughts:
1. Institute will DEFINITELY be worthwhile and help me a lot. I am surprisingly still excited for the next 4 weeks despite the fact that I've heard how hard this process is.
2. The few things that have been difficult for me lately are:
-Being among such stressed and perfectionist individuals! Goodness knows I hate handing in half-assed (sorry, I couldn't think of a word that is more appropriate that has the right meaning) work or doing less than my best, but I take things in stride, and I know what my priorities are (family, sleep, my health). It's hard to relate to people who stay up until 4:45 working non-stop when we wake up just after 5 to leave for school.
-Actually meeting and getting to know people. ALL we talk about is TFA. Plus, I realize that just because we are doing TFA together, we may not be going in for the same reasons, and we also may not have a similar value/belief system, which is very different after going to a Catholic high school and Christian college.
-Not seeing or talking with family and friends. Being busy from 6 A.M. to 5 P.M. and then lesson planning after that is not exactly conducive to responding to phone calls and emails.
All in all though, Institute really is wonderful. I truly believe that the staff here wants one thing: for us to be as successful and prepared as possible in the classroom in the fall so that our students can be as successful in a year and as prepared as possible upon leaving our classes. I make may jokes about all the acronyms TFA uses (RPR=relentless pursuit of results...no joke, the acronyms abound everywhere), but the organization as a whole and its staff and CMs are doing AMAZING things, and I am extremely excited to be a part of it.
I'll try to update next weekend!
Lots of love,
Alex
This week was great but unbelievably exhausting.
Sunday I moved into Loyola Marymount University...yes I am living in a dorm, and after being spoiled rotten by Pepperdine's rooms, I am not 100% enjoying it, but truth be told, the vast majority of the time I spend in my room, I am sleeping.
Our first day of official training started Monday. I am doing ECE (early childhood education) here at LBUSD (Long Beach Unified School District), which is perfect! The kids I will be teaching are entering Kinder in the fall so they are around the age and level I expect my students to be come August. For this week, our bus left at 6:10, which means I had to wake up at 5:20 everyday...to pick up my lunch at 5:55 (Subway all week long), and make sure I made it to our site. We sat in "sessions" everyday from 7 A.M. to 4:45 P.M.
Sessions consist of: extensive training on lesson planning (creating your "vision," key points, etc.), literacy sessions (on phonics, the building blocks of reading comprehension), classroom management sessions, and so on and so forth. They are long and tiring yet extremely worthwhile, and I have learned SO much in just a week.
The staff here is wonderful. My CMA is named Ashleigh, and she is great. I already can tell she will be VERY helpful at making sure I am doing what I am supposed to do and learning as much as possible, which is what I need.
The CS has gotten some not-so-great response from the entire ECE group (there are about 45 of us), but I have spoken to her one-on-one and find her advice great. There is no way that anyone in the room knows everything that is being presented, so even when I'm exhausted I know I am learning something new.
That said, the LS is AMAZING. She wrote the Elementary Literacy text that we are required to read before Institute, and I pretty much am hoping that I can just absorb some of her wisdom. I still feel nervous about teaching phonics, but seeing as she literally wrote the book, she can answer any and all questions I have.
...Okay instead of going into even more detail, as I'm getting tired and want to get to bed, let me just share my overall thoughts:
1. Institute will DEFINITELY be worthwhile and help me a lot. I am surprisingly still excited for the next 4 weeks despite the fact that I've heard how hard this process is.
2. The few things that have been difficult for me lately are:
-Being among such stressed and perfectionist individuals! Goodness knows I hate handing in half-assed (sorry, I couldn't think of a word that is more appropriate that has the right meaning) work or doing less than my best, but I take things in stride, and I know what my priorities are (family, sleep, my health). It's hard to relate to people who stay up until 4:45 working non-stop when we wake up just after 5 to leave for school.
-Actually meeting and getting to know people. ALL we talk about is TFA. Plus, I realize that just because we are doing TFA together, we may not be going in for the same reasons, and we also may not have a similar value/belief system, which is very different after going to a Catholic high school and Christian college.
-Not seeing or talking with family and friends. Being busy from 6 A.M. to 5 P.M. and then lesson planning after that is not exactly conducive to responding to phone calls and emails.
All in all though, Institute really is wonderful. I truly believe that the staff here wants one thing: for us to be as successful and prepared as possible in the classroom in the fall so that our students can be as successful in a year and as prepared as possible upon leaving our classes. I make may jokes about all the acronyms TFA uses (RPR=relentless pursuit of results...no joke, the acronyms abound everywhere), but the organization as a whole and its staff and CMs are doing AMAZING things, and I am extremely excited to be a part of it.
I'll try to update next weekend!
Lots of love,
Alex
Friday, July 3, 2009
Acronyms you need to know for my next post...
CM=Corps Member
CMA=Corps Member Advisor
CS=Curriculum Specialist
LS=Literacy Specialist
SOM=School Operations Manager
...I'll try to update tomorrow. I'm just so excited to go to sleep and not have to wake up super early. :) Plus, I'm also happy, because I had Chipotle at about 9:30 with a friend. Good stuff.
CMA=Corps Member Advisor
CS=Curriculum Specialist
LS=Literacy Specialist
SOM=School Operations Manager
...I'll try to update tomorrow. I'm just so excited to go to sleep and not have to wake up super early. :) Plus, I'm also happy, because I had Chipotle at about 9:30 with a friend. Good stuff.
