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.

Dear Friends and Family,

This summer, I will be teaching low-income, highly motivated middle school students in Houston, Texas. I am employed by the Breakthrough Collaborative, a national non-profit with 34 locations in the United States and Hong Kong. More than 3,000 middle and high school students participate annually in tuition- free six-week summer sessions and school year supplementary courses. College and high school students serve as teachers and mentors for these students, creating lesson plans, designing elective courses, and leading after-school sports and arts activities.

The position is volunteer with benefits, including a living stipend and an AmeriCorps grant for college tuition. I have been assigned to teach 7th grade math, which is predominantly algebra and pre-algebra, and to co-lead an elective course on slam poetry. The opportunity to teach fell together in a way that I (and the Houston director) can only describe as serendipitous. Though it seemingly has little to do with my career goals thus far, I am convinced that it will have an unforgettable impact on my life goals and priorities. It will also, undoubtedly, be the most challenging two months of my life- I hope to learn patience in the classroom, build meaningful relationships with my students, and better understand how socioeconomic and racial disparities define educational opportunities.

I leave on May 24 to fly from Richmond to Dulles to Bush Intercontinental in Houston. I will return home on July 20 with roughly three weeks to rest, enjoy family vacation, and pack to return to William and Mary.

For those of you who followed my blogging from Morocco last summer, I hope that you will find this to be as exciting, if less exotic. For those of you new to my blogs, I hope that you will watch for my updates and attempt to make sense of my stream-of-consciousness writing style. I am also including a list of related websites in the right-hand column, to which I will add as I find interesting material. Be sure to browse the Breakthrough national and Houston websites- the statistics regarding public education are amazing and often appalling.

"The most exciting breakthroughs of the 21st century will not occur because of technology, but because of an expanding concept of what it means to be human.” John Naisbitt

Love, Bailey