I am only in Houston for a short time, and I have even more limited time outside of work to sightsee and hit the hot spots. So, I’m starting a list of things to see and do before I leave. So far, this is what I have: eat at What-a-Burger/ Ragin Cajun, go clubbing downtown (next weekend), have a museum day, visit the Houston Zoo and NASA space center, spend July 4 in New Orleans, go Country-Western dancing, organize a faculty semi-formal affair, and visit Galveston.

Teaching has become more complicated in so many ways. Now that I have the basics of lesson planning down, and have been observed a number of times, my mentor teacher is guiding me on the details- objectives and assessments, in particular. Because my students have received absolutely horrible instruction in their HISD schools, many of them are demonstrating a 5^th grade or lower understanding of math. They are entering algebra next year, but are unsure about order of operations, properties, solving equations, and using inverse operations. What I thought was review is new material for many of them, so my challenge is to make every lesson cater to all my kids’ learning styles so that they’ll remember what I teach and be on track for next year.

As far as discipline issues go, there are very few. For the most part, these kids want to be here and are cooperative in class. It is the summer, so they are antsy and ready for their activities and electives in afternoon. I have one child who is disruptive and distracting in class, which I think is an attention span problem. When he gets off task, if not stopped quickly, he can easily distract a lot of the other students. So, his other teachers and I are coming up with a plan to make his time in the classroom more effective. Other than that, we have had, as a faculty, a couple very large problems- even a major honor violation by a student that revealed some other issues- but I’m encouraged by how well the administrators balance caring for students with excellence in learning. The Program Director, Dean of Faculty, and Dean of Students are quickly becoming my mentors and role models- all of us go to them with personal and professional concerns.

The best part about this week, hands down, has been bonding among the faculty. We are constantly stressed and anxious, often sleeping little and working too much, but I feel lucky to be working with such brilliant, supportive people. In doing peer observations, I have learned how better to handle my classroom, be a compassionate teacher, and plan exciting lessons. And now that we are a little more comfortable with time management in the job, we have been able to hang out outside of school. Nearly every day this week, we have stayed an hour late at work accidentally, because we get hung up giving “faculty kudos” during staff meeting. I think we’re all overwhelmed by how close we’ve become already.

This is the third week of the program, which means that the kids are halfway through the summer and, next Saturday, I will have been in Houston for a month! Time’s flying. This Friday is the 8^th grade lock-in and another Friday Night Outing. Most exciting is that in a few weeks, a bunch of us are heading to New Orleans for a three-day July 4 weekend with two of the faculty who are New Orleans natives.

Love and miss you all!

I should have posted sooner, but unfortunately, my laptop is currently out of commission. I have been relying upon my roommate and St. John's for internet and word processing. I am grateful that the inconvenience has not been as major as I expected, given the fact that I need to type all of my lesson plans and the worksheets that accompany them.

I have uploaded pictures of my apartment and Meet the Teachers Day, and I hope to post photos of the first Friday Night Outing in a few days. Enjoy!

The first week of teaching has been unreal- between the 15 hour work days, 110 kids, 6 school buses, and thousand page unit/lesson plans, I am completely exhausted. I am only beginning to understand the responsibility, obligation, and reward that accompanies teaching. All of the teachers are between 17 and 22 years old, and, along with Program Director (24) and the Dean of Faculty (26), we are running a school. This is unheard of, and I am constantly swelling with pride because of this achievement. I am amazed that we are respected and trusted by both the parents and students. The Dean of Students and Executive Director are both much older, which is comforting, given that they have plenty of experience.

Last Saturday, we met the students and their parents for a brief orientation to the policies and procedures of Breakthrough. We gathered in our "families," which are 6 groups of about 15 kids and 5 teachers divided by grade level. Our theme this summer is superheroes, and my family is Family #1: Batman! These groups are maintained for the whole summer, and each department issues challenges to the families, which compete for points. For example, next week is the Science Department challenge, and each kid will design an egg drop container and will attempt to score points for the family by best protecting their egg. We also earn points for having Spirit Stick winners- two kids from my family have already earned the Spirit Stick for their enthusiasm, manners, and scholarly attitude.

We had one last day of training on Monday, during which we tried desperately to get our classrooms and lesson plans finalized before school began on Tuesday.

Each day is incredibly long and so busy, but also very exciting. We meet the kids at their buses every morning and make a tunnel for them to walk through while we give them high fives and get them psyched for the day. Then, we have an all-school meeting with spirit chants, daily announcements, a "vision" (inspirational message), and the affirmation. The affirmation is my favorite part of each day, which is fortunate, because we repeat it a lot. "We are Breakthrough, and we commit ourselves to hard work, dedication, respect, fun, and above all: excellence in learning. Go Breakthrough!" The students are dismissed to their first four classes, which last until lunchtime. After lunch, they have one more class, followed by electives and activities. We have one last all-school meeting, where we announce the daily Spirit Stick winner. In general, the kids are very respectful and work hard to be the best student by showing us their excitement and willingness to be attentive in the classroom.

My classes have improved dramatically even over the past week. I am learning to incorporate activities for kinesthetic learners, instead of using the methods with which I was taught math. They were ineffective then, and studies show they are also ineffective now. Lesson planning takes longer with learning style differentiation, but the results are so much better. These kids have been cheated of a quality math education and are, in some cases, still on an elementary level when they should be prepared for algebra next year. We spent the last week on order of operations, properties of addition and multiplication (commutative, associative, identity, distributive), and the very beginnings of variables and equations. This week, they will attempt their first four corner problem, where they will portray an equation in table, graph, pictoral, and verbal forms. The focus this summer is to transform their math experience from a "plug and chug" to algebraic thinking mindset. My mentor teacher, Jeremy, stresses that the kids should know why and how what they are doing works, not just that it works.

My poetry slam elective has been surprising and wonderful. The students write beautifully and about complicated and mature topics. Most importantly, we are starting to build trusting relationships, where they are willing to relate disturbing moments in their lives to me- through poetry. Some of their writing is heartbreaking; other parts are uplifting. I am grateful for their honesty. I also help lead the soccer activity, which is positively scorching in the Houston heat. Still, it's a great switch from nearly 12 straight hours at school each day and 3 more hours of lesson planning at home.

On Friday, we took the kids on their first Friday Night Outing of the summer. They have an activity planned each week, and this week we all went to the Galleria, a giant mall, to go ice skating at the public rink. The kids were absolutely elated- some were nervous or cautious, but ultimately, most were able to spend a good amount of time skating without holding onto the wall or someone else. We were reprimanded by the mall police for singing spirit songs too loudly.

I have also been able to spend a lot of time with my roommate and some friends from William and Mary who are in town. After this week, I expect that lesson planning will become a bit easier and free time will be more frequent. For now, my weekdays are packed and my weekends are dedicated to sleep and preparation for the next week.