Yesterday in fourth period I was doing a guided practice problem at the board, and I throw out the question “What are some multiples of 8?” As if on cue, the entire class breaks out into organized song, including stomps, claps, and a “We’re going to college! C-O-L-L-E-G-E!” chant as they recite the 8′s times…

As I have shared before on this blog, I like birds, and I feel like they are an appropriate metaphor for what I am doing here. It doesn’t have to do with the fact that the very first time I ever saw a wild Bald Eagle was as I was walking across the Francis Scott…

Here I am, two weeks deep into Institute. I have finished all of my work for the week and am in the unprecedented position of having some free time (after a 20-hour work day yesterday). So, am I going to talk about my students and the potential I see in them, as well as my…

Induction is about what I figured it would be, but I am enjoying meeting all of the cool folks here. I have also secured an apartment in Indianapolis’s version of the Short North, and I am heading over tomorrow morning to sign the lease. Sitting through all of the powerpoint sessions yesterday, I was all…

The band Vampire Weekend is fronted by a former TFA corps member. How cool is that?

I have a placement! I am going to teach 6th and 7th grade math! Things are becoming eminent, and I like it! Though now this means I need to REALLY get in gear about packing/moving/completing my pre-institute work.

Surprise! I am going to teach math now.

I just signed up to take the Praxis II Biology exam again during Institute. I OWNED the Praxis I… like seriously… I bent it over and smacked the crap out of it. But when it came time to take #2, even after studying, it was like I was reading Latin… oh wait, that’s because I…

Yesterday I had my first classroom observation, Miss L’s 6th graders, for my pre-Institute work. This is what transpired: Miss L: Okay, class, today we have an guest, Mr. M. He is going to observe and maybe help us out a little bit. Student 1: Miss L, is he your boyf… Miss L: Don’t even…

I did the first thing for my future classroom the other day. I bought a huge book on birds, 200 pages worth of birds, that also has a built-in microchip deal with a speaker and a little digital display that lets you select a number corresponding to the birds in the book, and you can…

I will be uprooting myself from “home” and moving halfway across the country for the second time in less than two years. But I have done this my whole life, so I am used to it. I am 24 years old, and Indiana will be the fifth state I have lived in. But even still,…

Two consecutive nights of teaching dreams (and actually, the second one was more like a nightmare). And I am approximately 87 light years from actually being a teacher. Maybe I am reading too many of these blogs.

When I got laid off, I was kind of happy, which sounds sick, but it is true. The severance I am getting is carrying me up to the point where I was going to leave anyway, but now in addition to that I don’t have to work either! But. I am now reminded more and…

I decided to start a blog here because this site was an incredible resource for me during the (seemingly) painfully slow admissions process for Teach for America. During the days when I sat at my desk at work desperate for something meaningful to accomplish, I would read about all of the people who were living…