MPR Article on Delta Institute
A little after the fact, but this is a great article that Mississippi Public Radio did on Delta Institute!
Bonus! Check out the photo slide for a stellar photo this girl during an evening session.
A little after the fact, but this is a great article that Mississippi Public Radio did on Delta Institute!
Bonus! Check out the photo slide for a stellar photo this girl during an evening session.
The following is my classroom vision, i.e. my compass for what I want my classroom to be like for the year.
Vision: The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.
No student in my class will feel like a failure. They will understand the profound value in who they are and work their hardest to be the best that they can be.
Dream: All of my students will be able to articulate what they want to do with their lives and who they want to be as a person. I will use all that I have learned thus far in my life trajectory to meet my students at this point in their stories, and as their teacher help them along the path to their dreams and open their eyes to the possibilities for their life stories.
“Overcome the notion that you must be regular. It robs you of the chance to be extraordinary.” Uta Hagen
Learn: My students will understand the importance of learning in their story and will be invested in their personal growth.
- Each student in my class will grow at least 1.6 years in reading, assessed by Reading A-Z.
- Each student in my class will grow at least 1.5 rubric rows in writing, and will be confident in expressing themselves through writing.
- Each student in my class will be confident speaking in front of the class and expressing their ideas and feelings orally
- Each student in my class will have 80% mastery on the end-of-the-year summative math exam. They will be able articulate the importance of math in everyday life.
Students will understand that success is not meeting these goals, but working their hardest each day to achieve them. Thus, if they are not on track to meet these goals, they will not feel like failures, but know that success is working their hardest to achieve their goals!
“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree; it will live its life feeling like a failure.” Albert Einstein
Love: In order to achieve these academic goals, my classroom will be a safe environment for my students to be themselves. Students will treat each other with love: using kind words, affirming one another, offering helping hands, and sharing both attention and material objects. The class will see ourselves as a team working together to help each other be the best versions of ourselves that we can be and live the best stories that we can. We will celebrate each student’s uniqueness and diverse talents.
Students will come away from my class confident and proud of who they are. They will gain the knowledge and skills to be on track to achieving their personal dreams. The vision will expand beyond the walls of the classroom. Families will learn about my classroom vision through my welcome letter, parent-teacher night, and consistent communication. They will be invested in the vision as well ensuring that my vision extends beyond the classroom. The student and their family will be on board to believe in their student’s learning potential and work hard to achieve their dreams.
Tomorrow is the first day of school.
As in tomorrow I will have a class of 6 year olds to lead and inspire. It is highly exciting and extremely nerve wracking!
As I prepare for the first day of school, I have “Home” by Phillip Phillips on repeat.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=EhyiSa2Y5PI
You know that song that NBC used as the Women’s Gymanastics Olympic theme song? The one that the played during a montage of Gabby Douglas sprinting towards the vault and Jordyn Wieber triumphantly wiping away her tears? That one. It feels fairly appropriate today. Right now the first day of school feels equivalent to jumping up to balance beam.
Okay. So it’s a bit dramatic and audacious to compare my first day of teaching to the Olympic finals, but the point being tomorrow is a big day. But I’m taking Miss Eleanor Roosevelt’s words to heart, and know that in regards to doing one thing per day that scares you I’ve got tomorrow covered.
If I have talked to you in the last month, I have probably expressed to you how incredibly exhausted I am, how tired I am of scripting out lessons, and how if I hear the word urgency one more time I think it will actually decrease my ability to be transformational. If that is the case, you’ll be happy to know that’s not what this post is about. This post is actually about what is happening amidst the exhaustion and frustration, and that, ladies and gentlemen, is becoming a teacher.
At some point during the past month, I transitioned from being a college student in her new professional clothes, feeling foolish trying to hold a clip board while attempting to explain patterns to a room of 6 year olds, to starting to feel like a teacher. I have a long way to go, but it’s starting to feel right!
When I joined TFA I never considered what a strange transition it would be going from student to teacher. But the first day in my class room, I felt like I should sit down and do addition problems with my kids, rather than tell them to stop talking. It’s a weird thing: you go from 17 years straight of being a student and suddenly it’s like, ready set go Ms. Parsons! I’m the teacher? What? Excuse me? I’m still getting over making new friends and not being afraid of the principal!
Yet, incredibly, at dismassal after our first day of teaching I looked around the gym at my fellow corps members, a group of people I’d known for only a few days, and suddenly felt this incredible camaraderie. We had all spent the last week, pulling ourselves out of bed long before the sun rose, putting on what we thought teachers wore, and sitting through hours of sessions together sweating in our ridiculously poor planned outfits. And honestly, seriously questioning whether we could do it or not. And suddenly, somehow, looking around the room, I saw a room of teachers. We may have felt like failures our first day, but standing in the gym, fully drained, there was an air of triumph. We had just lead our first day of school! And, well, no one died. And only a few people cried. And most of all, I think the majority of kids learned a thing or two.
WELCOME TO MISSISSIPPI
State line welcoming me in, visiting Shelby, MS, Mississippi Grounds Coffee Shop, Delta Institute Opening Ceremony, getting my teacher’s lanyard, Pepperdine CM’s and friends with DSU’s mascot the Fighting Okra, and a rainbow over Jim Henson’s hometown Leland, MS
THE INBETWEEN
Post Grad road trip, time at home, brief return to California, and final good byes
The bittersweet interim month between college ending and moving to Mississippi.
April 28, 2012 | Pepperdine Graduation
Two weeks ago today, I graduated from Pepperdine University. Graduation was a hot, sunny day that felt eerily similar to the stifling August day that I moved into my freshmen dorm. It’s incredible how short, but how full four years are. Sitting at home in my bedroom, looking a my high school mementos on the my walls and my ominious packed boxes from college, it is easy to feel like it was just yesterday I sat here preparing myself to take the leap into my college years. However to do that ignores that incredible experiences and changes I went through during my time at Pepperdine. Thus to give this - my postgrad blog - a context, here is a recap of the most impactful and poignant moments of college.
SENIOR YEAR
Christmas Tree Lighting, Senior Ball, Graduation Party, & Graduation
There’s not much to say, in that there is far, far too much say. It just felt so right. I’ll leave it at that.
THE BOARD
Senior Year was defined by the Student Programming Board. When I applied for and was accepted to the Board, I had no idea that I would be joining an incredible team that would become a second family. We hit it off from our initial 6:45 am meeting at Special Programs waiting for the shuttle which never arrived. We spent more time together in our office and at events than most of us spent at home. But our time together was always filled with laughter, vibrancy, and love. Even in our wet clothes and disappointment as we cleaned up from the rained-out concert. For me the stand-out moment of “Board love” was the whole group rising to the occasion to make my art show work after the wind storm ensured that no panels would stand in the plaza. I had never been apart of such a productive and supportive group of people before. The 2011-2012 Board will always be my standard for what a team can be.
