Day 3

So today was my third day at Institute and I'm having some really mixed emotions. This morning I was extremely frustrated to start lesson planning because I did not feel that the objective I was given to teach matched the final assessment I have to give them, and therefore I wasn't sure how to go about crafting a lesson to match. Apparently my advisors weren't either because they disagreed and had me changing it back and forth and it was just... a lot harder than it should be. 

More importantly, I really don't think that the final assessment I'll give at the end of Institute constitutes the "high expectations" I've been inspired to have. I feel like my students could ace the test and I might still not feel like I'd been a successful teacher.

Not to complain, but just to share: my school has no functioning clocks, pencil sharpeners, etc... but more importantly, no potable drinking water- there are red danger signs painted over the sinks and all the water fountains are shut off. Additionally there are no textbooks for summer school (although I was a lucky one and got a booklet with tons of grammar errors and questions like: "what is the title of the poem above?" when the title is at the top in bold and I am supposed to be teaching African American history). They haven't been using metal detectors but the students start class tomorrow so I guess they'll be using those.

On the bright side, there is air conditioning (!) and EVERY wall is covered in murals depicting mostly famous African American figures, ending with an AMAZING mural of Obama.  I really don't remember anyone at my high school being that talented, and I can't believe their students did all of that beautiful work! I'm really excited to meet them tomorrow. Maybe that will make this seem more worthwhile.  Breakfast starts at 5:30 and I basically have things to do until 9pm or so... after which I plan lessons/learn African American history myself, and then finally sleep for a couple of hours on my twin bed (complete with pee sheet). It's all pretty interesting but as the sleep dwindles I'm sure it'll start to get to me.

Also, for some crazy reason, I've decided I need MORE to tackle, and I may or may not be training for the Bmore half marathon in October. This would be plenty of time except, as mentioned, I really don't have free time during the day and I'm staying in a bad area so I'm not sure when I'll manage these runs. Anyway, today I managed 4 miles. So far, so good.

Well, off to finish working on next week's lesson plans! I'm covering the Middle Passage, plantation life, and African influences on American culture. I hope to get ahead enough that I can enjoy the holiday weekend. Who knows. Hope you're all enjoying your freedom!!