End of Week 1

One down, fourteen to go.

While nothing academic was accomplished during this week, I think I got a good feel for what this experience is going to be like. I've already started committing students' names to memory (which seems to have impressed some of them), and I've already started to keep an eye on a couple of students that I know will end up being trouble in class (and God help me if all 5 or 6 of them end up in the same class at the same time). I'm starting to see the dynamics between staff members, which are helpful in order to navigate situations but make it hard, at times, to remain a neutral party.

One thing that has been harder than I expected is walking the line between being firm and being friendly with students. I think it's because we've been in a less-than-structured environment for the past week, getting to know one another and working on the group dynamic. There haven't been many "disciplinary" moments or opportunities, aside from when I taught the micro-sessions on note-taking on Wednesday (and in that instance, I was fine). Some of these kids are the same age as my little brother--or older. And while I'm nowhere near the point of saying anything like, "Hey, let's hang out this weekend!", if they ask me how long I've been married, I'll answer truthfully without being all evasive and weird. So maybe that's not being friends with them--it's just being honest. And I think things will be different once I am actually teaching classes.

My coordinating teacher and I worked out a schedule for the next few weeks, so that I can start thinking about writing formal lesson plans for the two classes I'm going to be teaching. I've got some good ideas; for one, I've decided to use "The X is Black" by Amiri Baraka as part of my unit on The Autobiography of Malcolm X--which is exciting, because it's one of my favorite favorite favorite poems ever. I read it in my American Survey class during my sophomore year of college and was really blown away--especially since we saw Baraka read it as part of a "United States of Poetry" special that PBS put together--and I think the kids will like it, too.

/end Literature Nerd Rant.

One thing that was very cool about yesterday: there was time to kill in the morning before the cookout happened, and so one of the teachers got up in front of the whole group and gave students the opportunity to take part in an open mic of sorts. As in, if anyone wanted to get up and sing a song, read a poem, do a rap, or dance a little, they could feel free to do so. A couple of kids got up and said short poems they'd written, or sang songs they'd written. About four people in, a girl that I would classify as shy got out of her seat and went up to the microphone. And proceeded to perform, from memory, a lengthy (10+ minutes) poem of her own creation that totally brought down the house. She had to stop three or four times to wait for the cheering to stop so she could go on. Aside from the fact that the poem was incredible--about a cheating, no-good ex-boyfriend--I wouldn't have expected this particular student to give such a powerful performance.

More students got up and performed after her, but hers was really the standout moment of the whole thing. When she was coming through the line for the cookout, and I was handing out cookies, I said to her, "Hey, you know, your poem was awesome." And she made big eyes and said, "Really? You liked it?" And it was kind of like--well yeah, dude, who didn't?

Anyway, today I'm taking it easy and doing Weekend Things Like People Do. I went to the library and the grocery store. I ran five miles. I'm going to make a pumpkin pie, because today August is pretending to be October and that's just fine with me.

The only bad thing: I was at Whole Foods when I was suddenly overcome by a craving for a Pyramid Apricot Ale. Three stores--including Whole Foods--later, I'm empty-handed and more than a little sad. Bonus points to anybody who can deliver some Pyramid Apricot Ale to me. I'll even throw in a piece of pie.