Small breakthroughs

"How do you say ice cream?" A girl raised her hand and blurted out the question.

"That's one of my favorite words," I replied. "Helado. The H is silent," I said as I wrote it on the board. "It sounds like EL- LAD- DOH."

I saw the girl scribble something down onto her folder. "So, me gusta helado is I like ice cream," she said. I saw that she wrote the phrase she learned yesterday with the new word next to it. "I'm gonna try that on my ice cream man. I'm gonna say, 'me gusta helado."

"That's awesome!" I said. "Emma, you're so talented at Spanish. I know you get it. I want you to tell me what happens when you try it out, ok!"

"She ain't talented!" a boy in front of her chimed in. "I'm talented. She's copyin me!"

"No I ain't! I can do Spanish!" She taunted back. "I'm good!"

Yeah, it was a silly argument and a tiny interaction. But for me, it was a defining moment of the week. I had a girl extending her vocabulary, wanting to try Spanish out in her life, and telling the kid in front of her that she WAS good at Spanish!

So ended week 3 of institute. There are two weeks to go, and I can feel my body breaking down but my spirits are high. My kids are behaving, and they're LEARNING. The kids each have individual growth goals that TFA decides at the beginning of the summer. Using a computer program, we see how they did on their pre-test and decide what's a reasonable goal for them at the end of the summer. We focus on growth, more than actual grades. So for example, a student that scored a 20 on the pretest might have a goal of a 60 for the final, since that would mean a 200% growth. But screw the data: my kids are getting B's, and a good amount of them are getting (and definitely EARNING) A's. I thought tracking the data would be boring, but it is THRILLING to be able to watch the curves go up. And it's even more thrilling to watch the kid's faces when you can show them on a computer how they got an A, and how you know they can keep it up. So many of them are so used to giving up.

And as for me? Life is still in chaos- there's a lot of loose ends. I didn't pass my Praxis test, meaning I have to figure out a time to study and retake that to be certified as a teacher. I still don't have my housing solidified. I do, however, know my placement school in Prince George's county, and I will be a middle school teacher! As such, I'll be the only Spanish teacher there, and I'll be part of the "creative arts" team. So my department is me, the art teacher, the computer teacher, and the music teacher. I think it's going to be fun, but I definitely need some courses on middle school psychology!

Well, that's all for now...
and hopefully next week will bring good stories.

Peace and Love.
T