It's too late to apologize...

...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.

And so it begins...

Well hey there world!

After 6 weeks of learning, doing, working, planning, sleeping (sometimes), crying (again, only sometimes), assessing, sweating (this happened a LOT), and TRAVELING I made it through institute, came home to Ohio, packed up all of my earthly possessions, loaded a Uhaul (with the help of my WONDERFUL family and neighbors to whom I owe my LIFE) and drove to Memphis to start this thing called my NEW LIFE! I am here. I am in Memphis. And I am thankful.

For those of you keeping tabs on me (and as a *quick* reminder for those of you that aren't), I flew down to Memphis on May 28th and have been engrossed in the TFA induction-institute-bubble ever since. After emerging on July 9th (the end of institute), part of me was oh-so-slightly confused. I had solidified my traveling and moving arrangements: fly home on the 9th. Pack on the 10th. Leave on the 11th. Move in on the 12th. Start living in TN on the 13th. Since orientation (the last part of TFA's training before I move into professional development with my school) doesn't start until July 20th, I found myself in a small dilemma: what was I going to do with myself for 7 WHOLE DAYS? With no one explicitly dictating where and when I was supposed to be at every hour of the day?

...the answer? The most glorious 8-letter words that my ears could hear....

I was going to take a VACATION!

Some of you may have just questioned my ability to lead a group of 20-some children in closing the achievement gap over the next two years, seeing that I had just survived 6-weeks in TFA boot camp but couldn't connect 7 days of nothing to do with vacation. Keep having faith in me...I'm still learning :)

So yes...I am on the tail end of my vacation as we speak. I've tried to balance out getting real world things done (ordering and setting up our cable, grocery shopping, figuring out my cell phone plan, car insurance, etc.) and resting at the same time. I've seen Harry Potter 7.2 (WHICH WAS AWESOME, although I'm not gonna lie I was kind of sad at the end! That was seriously the end of my childhood literary experience). I've laid by the pool and got sunburned (not too terribly, not to worry mommy). I've been on long walks with my friend Tammie on the Mississippi River. I found the Vera Bradley signature store in Memphis (although it is wayyy out in the boonies of Memphis and seriously takes like 20 minutes of highway driving for me to get there). I've watched as many inspirational sports movies as Lauren and my movie collection allows. I've been to Target. Twice. actually, maybe 3 times.

So yes, life in Memphis is going swimmingly. Tomorrow orientation starts, when I will officially plan out my year and how exactly I am going to get my kindergarten or first graders on grade level in all of their subject areas. I'll figure out my big goal, how I will invest students and their families, meet my Manager of Teacher Leadership and Development (MTLD, or ma-tild, also formerly known as PD's to all you alums out there). Orientation is 10 days long, and then I start professional development with Memphis College Prep on August 1st. My kids arrive on the 22nd.

Life is good.
Memphis is good.
I am good.
God is good. :)

This wasn't supposed to happen for awhile

Like I said, I'm a little early.



Even though these thoughts are slightly pre-mature to my liking into the blogosphere, I've been so fascinated by other 20 something blogs that I just figured, why wait? Two years ago, I took a four month stint (some may call it a vacation that happened to involve school) to Spain. I wrote this cute little blog mostly for my family and friends to read about my travels and such on the other side of the globe. And while it was a GREAT tool for informing everyone on how I was doing, it also gave me something else...

an addiction to these things called 'blogs.' And it's been downhill ever since.

You want to know a recipe for turkey burgers that will only cost you $1.07 per serving? I have a blog for that. Interested in fun crafts to do when you are at home with you kids? Yes, I follow a blog for that, too. (I have a weird obsession with mom blogs. Don't ask). Or inter-racial adoption or parenting? Don't worry, I've got you covered. This blog-thing has peeked my interest and, more importantly, maintained it.

I knew I wanted to write my own blog after I graduated from school, but I thought I would wait until I had actually received my diploma. Instead, I got too impatient. So, here I go. I'm a twenty-something girl about to graduate and head out to the great state of Tennessee (hopefully I will learn how to spell it before I get there...) to teach with an organization that is very near and dear to my heart. I have no idea what it will be like: who I will live with, what exactly I will teach, and how the Lord will stretch and grow me over the next year.

But I'm excited to find out.

Enjoy my updates on life as I enter this thing called the real world.