Update... long overdue.

I want to say that I haven’t updated or written about this school year solely because I was waiting for the dust to settle. But really that’s only part of the reason for my absence. Writing makes it real. Putting words on even the electronic page means that it’s really true. My school closed, was usurped, taken over, my students tossed to the wolves. My world really did stop. And telling that things aren’t necessarily bad for all involved, which is the Honest Abe truth, feels like a betrayal of what we left behind and all we did accomplish.

I think, though, that it is time to let some of this go and move forward. I have students now. The first quarter is almost over. Whether I’ve decided how I feel about it or not, it has become real all around me.

Last July, while I was teaching summer school, rumors and rumblings began about the school district being broke, and millions of dollars in debt. About jobs being cut, schools closing and the superintendent being relieved of duty and sacked. Some rumors turned out to be true, some false, some still said to be true, but no one knows for sure. What is certain is that in July, the superintendent was relieved of duty, then resigned; the school board pulled out of a multi-million dollar grant program to increase internet access in the county, drawing scorn from donors and the state governor (who cancelled a visit); the Pre-K program was consolidated, it’s staff farmed out and building sold; and my school was closed and then re-opened under district control and a new model of operations.

And honestly... it’s not as bad as it could be. Our staff has bonded. It’s wonderful having a principal and guidance counselor on campus. It definitely sucked being a teacher without kids for the first month and a half. But I have three wonderful middle school babies now and should be getting two or three more high school babies this week.

I’m still teaching social studies in an alternative setting, but we’re pulling from a larger set of students, male and female, remedial and academically gifted, medical problems and behavior problems. It’s leading to some interesting classroom dynamics and teaching strategies (like having 7th grade geography/social science survey of Asia, Africa and Australia in the same room during the same instructional period as 8th grade U.S./NC history), but so far - three days to a week before 1st unit tests - the kids seem to be learning.

In other news, I’ve gotten incredibly busy mentoring new TFA corps members (possibly my favorite part of the week), teaching at the after school program at the traditional middle school, singing in a “local” choral society (local as in an hour away), and keeping up with my boyfriend (who is a police officer in the same town as my choir). Somewhere in there I’m also trying to start a family literacy program with another 2nd year corps member and advocating (with an ever-growing contingent of CMs and alumni) for TFA to become more LGBT aware and inclusive for both CMs and the students we serve. And I’m taking the GRE in a week and another Praxis certification test in three weeks. Whew!

Around all that running back and forth for school, after school, choir, boyfriend, best friend (30 mins away), Wal-Mart (15 mins away), and two trips to the Triangle (one for a conference, another to get my computer fixed), it’s not surprising I’ve had some car trouble. Foglight replaced: $360. Tire replaced: $250. Two oil changes in three months: $90. Front brakes replaced: $240. Surviving a terrible, horrible, should-have-been-way-worse car accident this weekend with no bodily injuries and (supposedly) minimal damage to my Mazda 3 car-baby, Natalie: Priceless. Definitely gonna keep kissing the yellow lights and saying prayers of thankfulness.

Other highlights:

• My problem child, DM, mastering 5 objectives in two days when allowed to be in a class by himself.
• My self-conscious baby, SO, coming out of her shell, eating her first meal at school, and bringing me a bracelet as a gift after class.
• Watching ST count his “stacks” (aka napkins he was pretending were money) and not only shell some out to his mom and family but also put a significant amount in “savings.” Kid is gonna go somewhere, I tell you.
• Seeing one of my Hivesmen when he stopped by the middle school during after school, and having a thoughtful, constructive and insightful conversation about his first quarter of high school and hearing him say it was kinda tough, but he was “doing good” and “getting it done.”

Inshallah, all days will be this good.

One of my whiteboards in my classroom with my one big motivational quote above it:

"All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think, we become." - Buddha

What are you thinking?

The wall of Civics goodness, from when I thought I was going to be teaching Civics and Econ this semester. I'm contemplating changing it to types of economies and levels of economic industry for the sake of my 7th graders. Or how to detect bias or tell fact from opinion and the "Somebody Wanted But So" method of summarizing, since we're still struggling with skills. But the Civic goodness! I'm so torn.

My boyfriend and I, snapping a quick pic at Starbucks. :)