Cominatchya!

Really long sidenote: Today, I wore leggings as pants for a few hours. Not because it was a fashion statement by any means (I can't stand when girls do that), but because that's what I wore to bed last night with an old State Farm Insurance t-shirt and proceeded to run errands in my pajamas after waking up this morning. Also, since I had gone about my busywork throughout the day sans showering, I just kept with the grossness and decided a run would make me smell even better. As I made my way around town and back to my country roads, I started to daydream and did not see the huge branch of leaves from the maple tree on a passing lawn. I proceeded to run directly into it, getting a face full of leaves. I reacted as though I had been electrocuted and flailed in all awkward directions, only to look up and see the old man across the street who was checking his mail start to laugh at me. 


ANYWAY...


Down to business. Teach for America is COMING UP SOON and I am continually doing things to get ready for it. I have "To-Do" items to cross off each and every day in addition to the never-ending packing/unpacking process I have as the aftermath of living away at college for four years. First, here's a  few facts about what it means to be in Teach For America:

- I'm not an education major, but I will be teaching!
- Teach For America employs the philosophy that it is important to have leaders in teaching positions for underachieving classrooms
- I will get my teaching certification/licensing through classes at Dominican University in Chicago
- I am officially a 2012 Chicago Corps Member, which basically means I am in this year's "class" of TFA people who are beginning their two-year commitments to teaching through this program

Here's a little timeline for what's coming up for me:

JUNE 13: Induction.
This is like FYF for you Trinity people, or Orientation for any other normal person. It takes place at IIT (Illinois Institute of Technology) where I'll move in and live for about 5-6 weeks for the Institute training time that follows. These first few days are what get us in the mindset for our training. I'm going to venture a guess that it will be ENTHUSIASTIC and FULL OF ACTIVITIES with lots of SMILING CAMP-COUNSELOR TYPES FACILITATING GROUP DYNAMICS! Believe me, I know. I'm a card-carrying camp-counselor-hyperactive-group-activity girl from my high school and college years. The get-to-know-you games will be in abundance, I can only imagine. Better start thinking of my "one interesting fact" right now. Maybe I'll go with my mad hula hoop skillz that last for hours. Or the fact that I can say the alphabet backwards. Those are my two go-to interesting facts.

JUNE 17: Institute.
This is where we get down to the nitty gritty. Training and summer school teaching. I'll be getting on a bus at about 6:00 AM with a packed lunch, teaching little children important things, heading back on a bus in the evening, lesson planning until late, crashing in bed, and repeating. This is our "student teaching," if you will. Since TFA (get used to that abbreviation and many others. sorry.) uses alternative licensing programs for their corps members (remember, we are mostly non-education majors) during this time I will also begin classes at Dominican University for my certification. As if I needed something to fill up all that spare time I'll be having, right?

August 1: First Day of School at LEARN
HOLY COW. That date is coming up very quickly, in my mind. Before this day I'll take part in an orientation for my specific school, the LEARN Network's Campell campus, and figure out what grade I'm teaching as well as my classroom setup. I can fill you in on that more later of what that really looks like. As of now, I'm praying for peace and confidence and energy and gusto as I look ahead to start the school year on the right foot.

So, there you have it. The blueprint of my summer. (I didn't include all the weddings, though, I didn't want to overwhelm you.) Until June 13, I am maddeningly getting my life/stuff in order, working on Institute pre-work and pre-reading (of which there is about 40-50 hours), and slowly trying to work out a living situation (say a prayer!). Don't worry, I'm leaving plenty of time for Jeopardy each night. Of course. It's going to be a crazy but awesome summer!

Photo evidence that I am actually making headway
on going through my stuff. This is all off to Goodwill; hopefully
many more trips to the thrift store are coming up!