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!