...for my lack of dedication to my blog. For someone who follows almost 50 blogs in my Google reader and checks them MULTIPLE times a day, you would think that I would have all the gusto in the world to update and maintain one of my own! (the person who wrote that philosophy must never have been a teacher).
SO. Hello friends. My faithful few. I appreciate your dedication in the midst of my absence.
Indeed, much has happened since the last time I updated. True confession: I actually had to go back and read the last blog I wrote to remember what I was actually doing back then. Woof. It's been awhile. I am still in Memphis. I still LOVE my life. The Lord has blessed me in ways that I still don't quite understand or comprehend.
There is a lot to update you on. I could talk about the 10 days I spent with Teach For America and my professional development at the end of August. I could talk about the subsequent 3 weeks I spent with my school Memphis College Prep and everything that I learned-- from "extra crispy" school culture techniques to joy factor cheers to scouring our reading and math curriculum. I could talk about the new restaurants I love (The Majestic Grille, if you are wondering...) my new church that I am OBSESSED with, or the first 7 school days I've spent with 28 other tiny humans, attempting to transfer knowledge about letter sounds and math skills into their tiny little brains.
But if I did all that, this post would be about 20 pages long and I don't think anyone (including myself!) would care to read about it.
Instead, I will tell you about probably the most meaningful experience I've had since joining this movement and officially becoming a real life "teacher."
I sometimes forget how big of a deal kindergarten is. Sure, I am focused on giving my kids an excellent education because it is what they deserve. I'm fighting a cause I deeply believe in and work in an environment that has VERY high expectations for our students. One of the reasons I chose to teach lower elementary was to close the achievement gap before it even existed. I have a vision, I have a goal, I have the support and I know how I can get them there.
But sometimes you forget that these kids are 5, and for almost all of them this is the first year of all day school. Kindergarten is a pretty damn big deal, no matter if you grow up in Oakwood, Ohio or inner city Memphis. This is the first phase of their formal education.
I share this with you because of a moment I had with a student, (we will call him "C", as I recently learned that giving any student information out over the internet is illegal. Who knew?) that completely changed the way I looked at my job. I was standing at our front door on August 22nd, nervously awaiting the scholars that I had dreamed about for the past nine months. As each one came in, I greeted them, talked to their parents, took their book bags off and walked them to their seat. I instructed them that it was time to work on our coloring sheets, and that when we were ready and breakfast was over we would move over to the carpet. I was taking C over to his seat when his mom pulled out her camera and said, "C, sit down! I have to get a picture with you and your kindergarten teacher!"
In that one moment, I was struck by the gravity of what this situation was and the role that I now had to play. I am C's kindergarten teacher, and I will always be his kindergarten teacher. I remember everything about my kindergarten teacher. I remember my first day of kindergarten, the dress that I wore, how I walked to school and the other students in my class. Everyone, no matter your socioeconomic class, only has ONE kindergarten teacher (albeit two in this particular instance). I get to be that ONE person for 28 kids in the city of Memphis. I had gotten so caught up in what these kids will do for the year that I kind of forgot about who was going to get them there!
I am a kindergarten teacher.
I will forever be 28 kids' kindergarten teacher.
That is some powerful stuff.
Anyways, that is a quick story of how my life is rolling these days. School goes up and down, but in generally my little kiddos get better every day. Every day their behavior improves, they do a better job sitting on the carpet, and we sing "We are SLU!" about a thousand times a day. I am learning to celebrate small victories and not over analyze my teaching performance. Every day I learn something new. Every day my kids teach me something new. I hope my kids are learning something new every day, too.
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