Currently I sit in the Arizona State University dorms. My room is finally in order, my storage unit completely full, an apartment application is pending, and I am utterly worn out – which is not actually that bad considering that my bus leaves for Agua Fria High School tomorrow morning at 6:15 a.m. Maybe falling asleep by nine would not be so bad after all.
Tomorrow begins Institute, a five week intense hands on training of how to operate in a classroom. I am still a little unclear what all this will entail, but I have no doubt that it will be one of the most difficult five weeks of my life. There is a certain nervousness in the air amongst the new corps members. However I feel strangely prepared…maybe even a little excited to begin.
This past week of Induction has been incredible. I learned all about Teach for America as an organization: its mission statement, core values, and institutional structure. I can honestly say that I have never been so impressed by an organization’s absolute commitment to confronting such a glaring social injustice in our society. And while focusing on the extremely idealistic goal of ending educational inequity, TFA takes the most tenacious approach to doing what they can with what they have to bring about results. It is the best balance of idealism and pragmatism that I have seen in a nonprofit organization.
Induction Week also allowed me the opportunity to get to meet and interact with all the corps members I will be teaching with in the Phoenix region. This was also an amazing experience. The group is exceptionally diverse, coming from different parts of the country with different life experiences and of a variety of beliefs, colors, and orientations. Most everyone I have talked to has had incredible success in most of their endeavors: some have started businesses, some have traveled extensively, and many were the top graduates of the best universities in the country. Needless to say, the conversations are always interesting.
As one can imagine, from this group of individuals I found many highly-qualified roommates. We all decided to split up into groups and rent a cluster of apartments in the same complex downtown. This allows us to live in close quarters without commuting too far to our schools. Not to mention we found a very reasonable apartment complex right off the light rail – phenomenal location. I will be living in a three bedroom with a guy name Winston who graduated from Columbia with a dual degree in Economics and Philosophy. He will be teaching secondary math like me. We will be sharing the place with a girl named Alana from UC Santa Barbara. She was born to traveling teacher parents and therefore has spent most of her life seeing a sizable portion of the world. In college she sung for a funk band and has a wicked crazy fro to prove it. It should be a lot of fun.
Perhaps one of the more exciting aspects of Induction was that I found a job! I will be teaching 7th and 8th grade math at Phoenix Advantage Charter School in downtown. I cannot tell you how thrilled I am about this placement. The school seems extremely well organized with incredible support structures – curriculum and behavioral specialists on site. They focus specifically on integrating the arts and humanities directly into the curriculum of all classes. Therefore, although I will be teaching math, my lessons will also have elements of world history, cultures, theatre, art, and music. This is great because I think it will allow me a lot of room to be creative with a subject like math which can often be intensely analytical. I think my International Studies degree and musical background were a big draw for the principal.
I hope everything is going well with each of you. I will continue to do my best to provide updates as often as I can. Just a fair warning, though – you may not hear from me for five weeks. I keep hearing horror stories about Institute, but it is difficult to know how consumed I will be without being in the midst of it. Nevertheless, do not hesitate to call or shoot me a message. I will do my best to respond as quickly as possible. If I do not, please do not be offended! Take care.
Taylor
