Tumbling into You

First day of school

First day of school went a lot better than I thought it would. My classes were pretty small and the kids weren’t nearly as intimidating as I thought they would be. We went over class procedures and a bit of the scientific method, since my class is 90 minutes long and on a block schedule I really don’t have time to waste.

I really don’t know how to feel about today, I just know that it wasn’t horrible and I that God that you only have to experience your first day once

Post-Institute Life

So institute is wayyy over and I couldnt be any happier about that. Institute is the intensive five week training all TFA teachers have to do as part of their certification. The best way I can describe it is: UCI finals week, for FIVE WEEKS STRAIGHT. About 10% of people who make it to Institute quit and at my institute their were people who quit before we had ever begun teaching. There is a lot of pressure and stress involved. You have early mornings (as early as 4am for some) and late nights (as late as 4 am for some) and you don’t really get a break. The first week isn’t that bad and then the second week is hell on a stick. You writing multiple lesson plans a night (the TFA way, which could take hours to complete) and making investment/behavioral plans for how you are going to run your classroom along with your collab (the other three teachers you teach with). 

I’ll back up and explain some things about institute. So several regions come together at institute, my region included: Arizona, South Dakota, Seattle, Colorado and Oklahoma. From those regions the corps members are split into different summer schools to teach in. From those different schools the corps members are placed into CMA groups or Corps Member Advisor groups, which is a group of 12 corps members assigned to the same advisor. This person is the person you turn lesson plans into, gives feedback and talks people out of quiting. In your CMA group you are broken into a group of four and this is your collab, the group of corps members that you will teach with for four weeks, these people are rarely from your own region. Your collab is assigned a classroom (anything from k-12) to teach for the summer. You will also share a FA with your collab or faculty advisor, this is a veteren teacher who watches you all teach, takes notes and gives you daily feedback on your performance.

During institute, you teach one block a day, then co-teach a block and then you are in sessions the remainder of the day. You also switch content every week (Math block 1, Math block 2, Expository, Read aloud-shared reading). My first week I taught math, so I had sessions all morning then I taught math after lunch and then co-taught after my block and had sessions until 5:20pm (the day starts at 6:00am btw). After a day of teaching and sessions you have papers to grade (exit tickets), data to input and lesson plans to write.

Institute was one of the hardest things I have ever done, the constant stress was horrible, but I am super proud of myself for completing it. My best advice is to just make it to week three, if you can do that, you can finish it. There is very little free time unless you don’t mind getting less than 6 hours of sleep. I personally, worked on the bus ride home, during dinner and pretty much any spare moment of the day to insure that I could go to sleep by midnight. Also work ahead during the weekend so that you can have an easier work week.

If you are in a region that places you in schools then you dont have to worry about interviewing, like Oklahoma region, if you don’t get placed then you have to go on interviews during institute which did not seem fun.

After institute depending on when school starts in your region you may have some time off. I had seven free days to go back to cali and visit with friends and then I had to fly back to Oklahoma for Round Zero.

Round zero is four days of sessions. Ive heard other people say that its harder than institute and I’ve heard people say that its a complete waste of time. I found it sort of helpful but wanted more instruction and help on teaching subjects that we didn’t get to practice teaching during institute. I taught 6th grade (reading and math) at institute and never got to practice with high schoolers or science. After Round Zero you have some free time (again depending on when your region starts school). During this time you write out your long term plan, unit 1 plan, end of year final, behavioral/investment plan and attend any professional development days that your school has planned for you. 

My roommates and I have spent this time to bound and run errands (buy a car, buy insurance, look for ice cream shops and things like that).

That reminds me, try to find an apartment before institute if you can and roommates, it sucks to have to look for one while you are in institute. Also learn to budget, you have to stretch money from june to early september.

I’ll try and update this more often. Leave me a comment if you have any questions. I hope this is kind of helpful

Induction/First Week of Institute

I’ve never been more excited for a Friday in my life. Teach For America summer festivities wear you out mentally and physically.

Induction in Oklahoma was really fun. We didnt wake up too early in the morning and the sessions weren’t that bad. We learned a lot about our region, introduced ourselves, and attended sessions that talked about Teach For America values. At night there were after hour optional activities that usually just meant drinking  and staying up way too late. I was a grandma and didn’t go to any of the night activities, because I rather sleep.

The first week of induction

Saturday: Arrived in Phoenix stayed in a hotel with a few other early corp members

Sunday: Registered for Phoenix institute and unpacked

Monday: Woke up at 6am got ready, have breakfast at 6:30, grabbed my lunch, got on my bus for school by 6:50. Arrive at school around 7:25, then we had session after session about how important backwards planning is. Then we met our Corps Member Advisors and our Corps Member Advisor groups. More sessions then lunch. More sessions then we left school around 5:20. We some homework assignment due the next morning by 8:00am.

Tuesday: same morning schedule. sessions on vision plans which are the beginning of lesson plans. then session after session. worked with our corps member groups. got assigned our co-teaching groups (or collab groups). more sessions then lunch. more sessions. then we left school with a “make a vision plan” for your first objective homework assignment, due by 5am. Then we get back to the dorms and have a mandatory session on how to do a reading test on our kids that was from 7 to 9. Oh yeah and our bus left us so we had to wait in the sun for like 20 minutes.

Wednesday: same morning schedule. session on lesson planning. more sessions. lesson planning work time. session after session. meet with collab groups. lunch. more sessions. homework: make three lesson plans

Thursday: same morning schedule. session on management and investment plans. more sessions. lunch. more session. meet with collab group. management/investment work time. more sessions. leave to finish management plan, investment plan, personal investment plan

Friday: same morning schedule. diversity session. practice teaching with our lesson plans. set up our classrooms. lunch. campus meeting

So the first week was pretty crazy. The days are super long and its really hot here, it was like 104 at 9 o clock at night the other day, but our dorms have amazing A/C. Corps members from other regions are super friendly and easy to talk to. The faculty working at the summer school that i’ll be teaching in are eager to learn all of our names and lend there support whenever they can, they even host office hours for us. With all that being said, I have heard that some people are freaking out and thinking that they made the wrong choice coming into TFA. I heard that some people were crying by day two. My advice to you if you want to be a part of TFA be ready to work harder than you ever had to in college by like your second week of the commitment. Induction was just fun and games but institute is bootcamp. Some corps members have to be on a bus by 6:15, meaning they are waking up at like 5. Some people work on lesson plans until 4 in the morning. Also, don’t walk in thinking that people with pacify your need to hear that you did a good job when you really didn’t. There is no time for denying the obvious-its drilled into us that we aren’t in college anymore, we’re professionals.

This isn’t easy, but I know it will be worth it.

The Costs of Teach For America

Here is what I have personally had to pay out of my own pocket to become a TFA corps member (your results may vary):

Uploading, Faxing and Copying at Fed-ex-$6

Re-newing California ID- $25

Birth certificate- $20

Express Fed-ex for Birth Certificate- $25

Fingerprints- $15

Fed-ex Fingerprints- $20

Cashier’s check to FBI for fingerprints- $18

Praxis II General Science Content Knowledge Registration: $150

General Science Content Knowledge prep book (DO NOT BUY)- $40

Various AP science books (Physics, Earth Science, Biology, Chemistry)- $40 (on half.com)

Expenses to come:

plane ticket to induction and back home to graduate- approx. $450

plane ticket to institute and back home to pack- approx. $165

Car- if i lease $900 at lease signing and $179 a month for 36 months

Car insurance- To Be Determined

Six weeks of business causal clothes for induction and institute: To Be Determined

Expenses I can use my transitional funding for:

First and last months rent: approx. $900

Utilities: $800

gas money for the trip: tba

* Please note for my site, I will not need any type of on going certification or a Masters degree, this is not true for all TFA placement sites

So you wanna Teach For America: Overview of the Process

Teach For America is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to closing the achievement gap in America. The Achievement gap is the difference in educational attainment between white affluent students and their ethnic minority peers. Teach For America hires newly graduated college seniors and places them in low-income schools to teach in for two years. If you want more information please visit. TeachforAmerica.com.

I found out that I was admitted into Teach For America Jan. 18th 2011 with my placement being: High School Science in Tulsa, Oklahoma

Here is what I had to do before and after I found that I was accepted:

1) The Application process- the application process includes the following components: personal information, academic and professional information, interview information, written information (letter of intent and resume) and supplemental informatio

*Advice for the Application process: do not wait for the night before to complete         this, have transcripts available to you while you are completing it, make sure             your letter of intent is sincere, explains true instances of perseverance, and           clearly addresses the questions in the prompt

2) The Phone Interview- There are three possible outcomes that can arise once you have submitted your application.

 A) You can be told that you are not being considered for the job

 B) You can be told that you are being considered for the job and they do not to interview you over the phone

C) You can be told that you are being considered for the job and they                                  would like to interview you on the phone

  *Advice for the phone interview: review the emails from TFA that supply  you will interview questions, try to sign up for a webinar addressing phone interviews via the Teach For America website, make sure your  phone is not on airplane mode, make sure you have service, know that  it is going to feel awkward and that that is totally ok

3) The Online Activity- after the phone interview you will be asked to do an online activity

 *Advice for the online activity- pay close attention, think carefully about your  responses

4) Uploading/Faxing Important Documents: Before you are notified about your final interview you will be asked to submit some important documents such as: a copy of your birth certificate, two forms of ID (social security cards not accepted), and your transcripts

 *Advice: Have a copy of your birth certificate wayyy in advance, especially if you don’t currently live in the state you were born in. It takes a while to buy your birth certificate and have it sent to you, even if you pay for express, which can be very pricey

5) In person interview-sometime after the phone interview you will be asked to interview in person. For the in person interview you will need to present a 5 minute lesson plan on a subject of your choice to a grade level of your choice

 *Advice for interview: practice your lesson plan until you know it like that back of   your hand, make sure your lesson plan has a beginning, middle, and end, make sure you assess your “students” at some point in the lesson-prove to your interviewers that you left a mark on your students, be able to answer questions  about your lesson plan, dress for business not business causal!!!!!!, complete the  before interview reading and take notes (they allow you read them), get rest the night before, bring an energy drink and a book or a laptop, make sure you explain in the interview that you have something to learn and gain from this experience and how you will impact it, try to remember your responses from  you statement of intent and your online activity, be yourself, be assertive but still a team player

6) Transitional Funding: Transitional Funding is money you can apply for to help you pay for some of the costs of moving to a new place.

 *Advice for Transitional Funding: I suggest applying for Transitional funding as soon as the option is made available to you. If you apply for it by its first deadline then you get to find out how much you will be awarded when you get your placement email. The award could be from $500- $5,000. I received $500 in grants (money I don’t have to pay back) and $4,000 in loans.

7) Placement: After the in personal interview you will be notified via email about your placement. Your placement email will include your subject, class level and location. You will have some time and resources to help you to accept the position.

8) Checklist: Once you have accepted the position that is a checklist of things to complete in the following months including: sign up for a Teach For America email address, register for you teacher’s test (Praxis II, in my case), get fingerprinted, send in copies of your IDs, take the teacher’s test (Praxis II), send final transcripts in, action steps from email blasts

9) Pre-Institute work: some time after you have accepted you will be mailed your package of pre-institute work. Before going to institute (summer training) you will need to complete a series of readings, writing exercises and classroom observations.

10) Teacher’s test: You will be tested in the subject that you will be teaching sometime after you have received your placement. You are responsible to for the costs of your test and study guide materials

 *Advice: The test is more difficult than the practice test makes it seem. If you are teaching high school I suggest buying AP subject books on half.com to help you study. You can find a free study guide on the website if you are taking the Praxis II, so just make sure that your study material have the  subject categories that are listed on the study guide. For instance I took the 0435 General Science Content Knowledge test and I found my study guide  here: http://www.ets.org/praxis/prepare/materials/0435, just input your  test name in the search engine. Get a tutor for the test if you can, it’s difficult to teach yourself these concepts. Also, eat breakfast before, the  instructors say you can’t eat during the test while the website says you can so just be safe and eat before.

11) Induction: Induction is the week long event that happens before Institute. During induction you get browse your new placement area for housing, meet other corps members and find out how institute works

12) Institute: Institute is a five week long training that occurs the summer before you start teaching. During Institute corps members attend workshops, teach and co-teach and learn to lesson plan

13) After Institute you have some time, depending on your placement as to how much time, to move to your appointed site. Induction and Institute do not typically happen in the same place, for instance my induction will be in Oklahoma and my institute will be in Arizona.

14) Teach: After moving to your placement, there will be a time, about a week before you teach where you will be needed for additional training. You will also have training throughout your time as a corps member.

Things to remember throughout the process: There are a lot of resources to help you every step of the way. There are webinars that talk about the interview process, phone interview process, the values of Teach For America and more. There is also a blog site where you can read about current teachers in the program Teachforus.org. If  you have any questions you can post them here. I am currently in the pre-institute stage, so I’ll have more information about Induction and Institute as they happen. I hope this helped.

Temporary Vegan

So I decided to take the Oprah Vegan for a week challenge because:

A) Oprah said so

B) I like challenges 

C) Oprah said so

I’ve been doing it since tuesday and this is the second day in  a row that I’ve felt light headed. Something is just not right…