Where Did the Last Four Months Go?

Oh hey guys. Haven't seen you since AUGUST. My bad. I've been slowly and painfully suffering from this thing called "being a first-year teacher". With two weeks until winter break, which also marks half of the school year, I FINALLY feel like I'm not running around like a chicken with my head cut off so here I am! I know the blogging community has practically ceased to exist without me, right? ;)

2/3 of the Fourth Grade team.
Feels like such a small school after last year (with a 7 teacher team)

I'm not even going to try and catch you up on how my first semester was, because many of you have heard my stories/tears/victories and I'm sure it will all be a blur in a year or so anyway. I will tell you that I am LOVING Memphis, LOVING my friends here, and LOVING our new schedule for departmentalization. Now I only teach math with one hour of remediation reading and a half hour homeroom. With a 90 minute math block and a set of laptops, I'm able to do a blended learning model class. Here's the schedule:

15 minutes: Do-Now and then check answers and go over homework
30 minutes: Half the class is on laptops doing iReady (a remediation program) while the other half spends 15 minutes at a game center and 15 minutes with me at a teacher center
30 minutes: Switch- students on laptops go to centers and vice-versa
15 minutes: Exit ticket, pass out homework, sign behavior logs, and pack up

With about 16 students in a class, I LOVE teaching 4 students at a time! And 4 students playing a game together is so manageable. Should've done this earlier.

No school yesterday, thanks to freezing rain for 48 hours

Not in Florida anymore...

The ice storm outside reminds me that it is in fact December. To stay festive this year, I have the christmas station playing CONSTANTLY in my room and we also have our Elf on the Shelf ("Elfie") getting into all sorts of trouble. Here is the little guy:

More on him another time! Happy Saturday!

Happy Blog-iversary!

Can you believe it's been a year? One year ago today (er...Friday) I wrote my first blog post as I was getting ready to start my internship and year at home. Now I'm getting ready to start my first year of teaching and setting up my new home in Memphis. It's so funny to think that a year ago, Memphis wasn't even a blip on my radar. If you had asked me where I'd be a year from then, I'd have laughed at the idea. A year ago, I had no clue I would have to leave my original placement of second grade and end up in fourth with the best mentor teacher I could have asked for. I know I would not be half the teacher I am now if it weren't for my mentor and that school! However, not too much changed, I still watch the Bachelorette and take it too seriously and I just got to stand up with Lexi as she got married this weekend (pictures to come!). Everything has worked out so well that I have to believe that God wants me here. I get to live with Meghan, one of my fabulous friends from UF, we have a beautiful apartment in a great area, I get to teach the grade I spent a year interning with, I have already met a ton of really great friends, and the food is to die for. Good things to remember when the first year of teaching gets rough (as seen in the last post). Happy one year! Can't wait to see where I'll be next year!

One of my last Gainesville celebrations!

Hey Memphis ;)

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!

Favorite Places in Memphis (so far)

Hey everyone! Good news: Institute is just about halfway over and I am flying to Tampa a week from tomorrow for Lexi's wedding! This break cannot come fast enough. I'm enjoying summer school, don't get me wrong, but it's exhausting leaving my dorm at 6:15 every morning and not getting back until 7:30ish at night. But in this post, I wanted to share about some of my favorite spots I've visited in Memphis on weekends and such. We are super busy during the week so dedicate our weekends to exploring!

Midtown is Memphis, you guys

Of course I had to check out the children's section at the public library. This section is gorgeous! There are these huge plastic colorful trees and little nooks for the kids to read in. It makes me want to be little again and just hide with a good book =] 

So Seussical

Fancy

Overton Square is another of my favorite places. It's a couple of blocks of restaurants and bars and it has a great atmosphere. Everyone's walking around and sitting on patios outside. 

So hip and happening

I went two nights in a row last weekend for happy hour for our summer school at Louie's, then a group of us had dinner at Chiwawa's with dessert at Yolo. Chiwawa's is a really cool Mexican place. We sat outside on the deck and had drinks, chips with salsa and queso, and some tacos. Perfect night for sitting outside and relaxing! Yolo is a frozen yogurt AND gelato place. Let's just say I'm already in their reward system. Best part of Overton Square? It's only about 3 blocks from my apartment. Win. 

For our school happy hour get-together

yummmmm

Great people to explore with!

This past weekend was much more chill. I saw a couple movies, got to have dinner at a TFA donor's home (they were also Gators!) with some other corps members, and did some errands. However, I did check out Beale Street for the first time Friday night. We went with a big group for drinks and dancing and had a lot of fun! It's really overwhelming because of all the people, but if you have a big enough group, it feels more manageable.

Hello Beale Street

So those are some of my favorite Memphis places so far and how I've been spending my weekends. Of course my favorite place is my classroom =] thanks for keeping up with me!

Summer School's in Session

As my title suggests, we're back in school! Honestly though, after spending a year in a big, crazy, school, this feels more like camp. There aren't many kids (about one class per grade) and we do an hour of community building, almost 3 hours of instruction, lunch, then almost 2 hours of instruction. It's a lot for the little ones, but it's only 4 weeks and you know they're bored after hanging outside in the heat for a couple of days of summer break!

Preach

So this week we are just observing other teachers, getting together our vision of our classroom and a classroom management plan, and having courses at the school about a variety of things. Monday, we officially start teaching with pre-made lesson plans. We're using these for a week and a half or so before we start writing our owns. They also give us a unit overview so our lessons aren't completely random!

After 11 days at Institute, I'm feeling tired, but not overwhelmed...yet. I had a heck of a day though. Our dorm fire alarm went off at 5:45, which coincides exactly when I was going to get up and get ready. I sat outside in our pajamas for a bit, but they pushed back our bus departure time, so that was good! Then after being at school for 7 hours, we had 3 hours of class. In the last hour, the power went out and we had to go to a different dining hall for dinner. Mixed blessing because the walk was further but the food was great ;)

Me this morning, BEFORE the fire alarm

NOW I'm trying to figure out this whole "finish my masters degree and actually graduate and get certified" thing. I have a little over a week left of my online class and then I. AM. DONE. FOREVER. (or at least until I get the notion that I want a PhD hah!) It's just a pain trying to navigate how to apply for a Florida license and then transfer it to Tennessee by the time I start on August 5. Time is creeping up on me! Well, wish me luck for Monday. That's when my collaborative group of 3 starts teaching a small group of first graders and we hit the ground running. But first: the weekend. Hooray!

One Week Down, Six To Go

Ok, time to celebrate. I survived my first week of Institute! One week ago today, I was driving into Memphis with a car full of junk and a stomach full of butterflies. I seriously feel like I've been here a month, every day has been so so long! Last week was very inspiring and general and this week we get into more of the concrete ideas.

To celebrate surviving my week of endless sessions, I had a really fun weekend! My Transitional Team Leader (TTL) took me and another girl in my group on a little tour of Memphis and we went by my apartment in a fourplex. I hadn't seen it yet and my apartment is still being remodeled, so we wandered inside and found it unlocked and got to explore! It was very exciting =] Then I got to meet my neighbors downstairs and they were so nice. They let us walk through their apartment and we chatted about Memphis some before exchanging numbers and making plans to attend their house-warming party. Win. Then we went for sushi and froyo, which, if you know me at all, you know I was very pleased. It was just a really nice night to forget about Institute and relax and laugh.

Yummmmm

Froyo at YoLo hehe so fun

Saturday I slept in, had some brunch downstairs, and just lounged. Definition of lounged: watching Real Housewives of the OC in bed while working on my online class intermittently. Then we headed downtown for a baseball game! We had free food from Rendezvous (delicious) and the weather was beautiful. We had some fireworks to top it all off!

America's pasttime

Oooooooh aaaaaaaaaah

Today I went to church at Fellowship Memphis: Downtown with about 15 other TFA girls! I really enjoyed the service and am looking forward to joining a community here in Memphis =] We went to Young Avenue Deli for lunch and oh my goodness. Delicious. I had a pita with turkey, bacon, gouda, and bbq sauce with sweet potato fries on the side. I have been here a week and haven't eaten at a chain yet. Jealous?

That's not three beers, btw, it's the ketchup/mustard holder haha
TFA hasn't given me a drinking problem....yet....

Then we allllll headed over to Starbucks to work on our first big assignment- to write a vision and set goals for our summer school class. (Does ordering a drink here mean I've eaten at a chain? ouch)

TFA takeover!

I leave you with this. It was seen on a post-dinner walk some of us girls took. I guess when a tree looks funny, you go with it. Here goes week 2 of Institute!!

Help! I'm trapped underground! 

A Spirit of Justice

Well, I made it! I'm in Memphis now and have already finished two full days of Institute! I had a really good drive here with all good weather and no car trouble. I also got really into the new Jodi Picoult book I downloaded on Audible and am now wishing I had it in book form so I can see what happens next!

You're the only TEN I SEE [wink wink]

Sunday was dominated by driving from Atlanta to the University of Memphis and then moving alllllll my junk up to my dorm and unpacking. Lets just say I don't pack light ;) Then dinner downstairs and an early bedtime. Yesterday, though, we heard some really great talks from our executive director and then from some Memphis experts! The opening talk was so inspiring as it focused on the spirit of social justice. Our director talked about how as a teacher in an inner-city school, you stare injustice in the face every day. One of my favorite quotes from a speaker was "I'm a teacher because I'm an activist" and that we need to be relentless as we answer this lifelong calling, regardless of if that means in the classroom as a teacher or doing something else.

My new home =]

That's when it dawned on me that TFA is so much more than teaching, it is answering the call to social justice that I have had since my time in Gainesville. This is such a passion for me and I consider myself lucky to be answering it through doing something I love to do- teach.

University of Memphis Tigers
Ain't nothin' like a Gator though...

So yesterday and today were long days- breakfast at 7am and then coming back to my dorm around 8pm. BUT, I've gotten to hear some really inspirational people, meet my small group of 10, go visit the area of Memphis I'm teaching next year (and this summer), talk with some people in the community about what they want to see in their children's teachers, and learn more about what I've signed up for. I'm optimistic and excited to see what happens over the next seven weeks!

PS: today was the last day of school for my babies and I already miss them terribly =[ HOWEVER, I am very much enjoying the "fan mail" I've received since giving out my email address! Shout out to St. Johns county kids enjoying the beginning of summer!

Winding Down

Wow my internship year is officially coming to a close and I am moving to Memphis in four days. My last day at school was Friday and I'm going back tomorrow for the end-of-the-year party and to say goodbyes =[ This is by far the most attached I've ever been to a class before (I've been with them since the beginning of October!) and they were so sweet to me on my last day. They had their big play (The Frog Prince Continued) and then we had a surprise ice cream party (yum!) with lots of homemade cards and gifts from my teacher, the teacher next door, and the parents. I feel so loved! I gave each of my kids a personal note and a crazy straw with Kool-Aid that I saw on Pinterest.

So cute right? 

This weekend was chock full of family and friend time. We had a big BBQ with my dad's family on Saturday and then with my mom's on Sunday. I was basically out by the pool from Friday when I got home through last night. It was so fun spending time with everyone and hanging out with my friends. I am definitely going to miss everyone and I feel like I did 5 years ago when I left home for UF [sigh].

My crazy friends

So this is my ONE week of summer and boy is it a busy one. I'm packing up twice: one set of stuff/boxes for me to take in my car on Saturday and one set of stuff/boxes for my mom to drive up in July. I'll be staying the dorms at University of Memphis from when I drive up there this weekend until July 19 and then I'll be moving into my new place with Meghan! We signed a lease [hooray!] and my mom will drive up the weekend in July I move out of the dorms and into the apartment.

Oh hey, University of Memphis

I'm also working on my last online class (which ends in late June), getting everything set to move, trying to visit with EVERYONE, and, oh ya, relaxing during my week of summer.

The beach house a bunch of us rented two weekends ago.
Heaven.

That's a bit of an update with me. I'll be keeping my blog because I'm teaching fourth grade again next year, but it will no longer be an intern blog. It'll be a first year teacher blog!

And So It Begins

Boy did I have a case of the Monday's this morning. I had a fantastic bachelorette weekend with Lexi, our bride-to-be, and the other fabulous bridesmaids/MOH, where we slept in late, got our nails done, dressed up for dinner, laughed way too much, and saw Taylor Swift sing her heart out. It was hard coming back. Trust me.

SO MUCH RED
PS: Slutty brownies were a hit

Countdown clock says 6 weeks until I move to Memphis and 5 more weeks of my internship. Eeek! Today was my first day taking over the classroom and I taught all day, minus a half hour math lesson (I'm easing my way in). I would definitely say the hardest part was all the planning. The more you plan, the less you have to worry about later!

6 Weeks. Cue panic.

We're starting to learn a little bit about literature circles and the kids were SO EXCITED. They actually thanked me when I announced it. Lol I guess it's all in how you phrase it and saying "I thought I would reward you for working so hard by letting you do literature circles the last 6 weeks of school. But if you don't want to, we can go back to what we know." They jumped at it!

We're teaching jobs this week. Today was "Super Summarizer"

I'm going to try a jigsaw lesson tomorrow and cut out these cute little briefcases out of construction paper for the kids to write their "expert" facts on. I'll let you know how it goes!

Hoping this rain stops so we can get some outdoor recess time. Our kiddos are so tired of being cooped up inside and so. am. I. Here's hoping Tuesday is less gloomy than today was!

Invasion of the Baby Chicks

Ladies and Gentlemen. It happened. We have been invaded. Our classroom was invaded by baby chicks this week!

So sweet and innocent! Don't trust them!!

You won't believe these little rascals. On Tuesday, they trashed our room, spreading notebooks, pens, and paper all over the place! They left little pieces of plastic, green grass behind and a note on the board: IOTBC. They also left tiny pieces of paper with IOTBC on them. Don't you worry, our kids were on the case! They spent the day trying to figure out what IOTBC stood for and collecting their clues.

Wednesday morning, we came into the classroom and saw the baby chicks' latest attack:

Sneaky little things 

They got me, too!

Yes. They tied yarn all around our desks and chairs! They even got me and my mentor teacher! As our kids pointed out, there must be a lot of them to get all that done. Our new clues were little chocolate eggs, more IOTBC slips of paper, a note on the board saying IOTBC, more green grass, and these little prints on some of the desks:

Hmmmm a new clue....

Our kids collected the clues, wrote them all down, and started hypothesizing suspects and what to do next. They thought IOTBC stood for It's Only The Beginning, Children (which, frankly, sounds terrifying). The kids figured whoever it was had to be small to get through our locked door. They thought maybe it was the Easter bunny (with the holiday just around the corner). Another guess was a leprechaun (with St. Patrick's day just this past weekend). The yarn made them think of spiders, and the wild card guess was poor Mr. O'Keefe, the teacher down the hall. According to the kids, he's been "suspicious" lately because he's been coming in our room with technology questions. Poor, unsuspecting Mr. O'Keefe. Our "clue club" put together some questions for our attackers and left them around the room:

My favorite is E. How scary is a creature that is all of the above??

Thursday morning, we saw our attackers faces! Baby chicks! Each student had a baby chick waiting for them, along with a nest of green grass, jelly beans, and a chocolate egg. IOTBC has been solved. One of the students even figured out it stood for Invasion of the Baby Chicks! What an adventure. We'll have to apologize to Mr. O'Keefe for the false accusation, even though some students are still slightly suspicious...

Baby chicks for the win!

After the big morning, we also had coconut cupcakes that I made for the class, a little spring surprise =]

Yum

Also, if you didn't hear on FB, I was offered a job with Achievement School District! You can check them out here. More details to come, but it looks like they want me in 4th grade so I am beyond excited to start preparing for my own 4th grade class next year! Snaps for fourth grade, you guys! To celebrate, my mentor teacher and the teacher next door got me a cake and a pretty notebook. I'm so lucky to have them and will be asking a million questions as I prepare for next year =]

Double yum

So pretty!

So we are officially on Spring Break! I'll be headed to Tampa tomorrow for a cohort wedding and am laying low until then. It feels so good to not have to be anywhere!! Hope you're having a great Friday =]