A Typical Day in Institute

Hello again! Getting ready to start week 5 (out of 7) over here at Memphis Institute and I am STOKED to be past our half-way mark. The next three weeks should be downhill (work-wise, not attitude-wise) so these are all good things. I got the keys to my apartment Friday and was able to check it out and walk around imagining it all set up yesterday. It is absolutely gorgeous =]

Apartment 4 =]

My favorite room! No surprise there.
Excited to cook with a gas stove for the first time!

Stunning, right?

 So that's what I'm currently excited about. But alas, we still have work to do people! I wanted to give you a glimpse into my daily schedule because I think that most people have no idea what exactly Institute looks like (at least I didn't before coming). So here we go!

A Typical Day at Institute:

• 5:45- Wake up in my dorm room and get ready. Professional dress, OF COURSE, all day every day.
• 6:15- Head downstairs for breakfast. Scarf down food like my life depends on it because I'm normally very late (oops). This is also when we pack up our lunches.
• 6:30- Walk out to our bus. Try to not be rude to all the people smiling and telling us to have a good day on our way out. How are they so chipper so early?
• 6:40- Sleep all the way to school. No shame in this.
• 7:10- Sign in, set up the room for the day, have a quick meeting with the other 30 or so corps members at my school.
• 7:45- Welcome the kids to school and sit with them while they eat breakfast.
• 8:25- Community building time. All three of the teachers in my room do morning meeting and an activity with our whole class (of 8-10 kids).
• 9:00- Teacher number one teaches reading. The other two leave the room to observe other corps members or have a training session in our whole group space.
• 10:30- Teacher number two takes over for writing! The other two either prep for their lessons, observe other teachers, or have a training session.
• 11:40- Lunch time. Have you ever seen an 8-year-old try and peel an orange? Not an easy task. I have learned to pack extra napkins. 
• 12:20- Teacher number three takes over for math! This was me all last week. While I teach, my TLC (teacher leadership coach with TFA) observes me, as well as other teachers, staff members, corps members, people from other cities that want to start a charter school, literally ANYONE. 
• 1:45- All three teachers do some end-of-the-day reflection activities with the kids then send them home.
• 2:15- Head back to University of Memphis on the bus.
• 2:50- Walk straight off the bus and into a session on lesson plan writing or working with families or teacher evaluations or whatever else we need to learn.
• 4:30- Session number two starts!
• 6:00- Freedom. Time to eat in the downstairs dining hall again and talk to everyone about who had the craziest day.
• 7:00- Revise lesson plans, print out materials, prepare things for the next day, turn in lesson plans, relax? No, don't relax. Except on Tuesdays, when we watch the Bachelorette online. This is non-negotiable.
• 10:00- Go to bed. Finally. 

As you can see, it's a long day (6am-6pm of going non-stop), but compared to my internship where I had to teach 22 kids all day, teaching 10 kids for an hour and a half is a nice break. The sessions are helpful, just exhausting. They're basically college courses on education, but much more practical than theory, so that's good. You will never know everything about teaching, so I'm just taking it all in! This week is short: just 3 days and then Tampa! Woohoo!