SNOW DAY

DC got 23 inches of snow Friday and Saturday. We were SNOWED IN! It's not like after 4 years in Syracuse and 10 years in Massachusetts I can't handle a little snowfall, but the city sure can't. This is the biggest storm that DC has seen in decades and the amount of snow that fell in one storm is the amount that typically falls here all year.

Here's the pic of our backyard from last night. We spent two hours digging out the cars and pathways in our yard, and since there's clearly no public snow removal here either, each neighbor is responsible for the sidewalk and alleyway surrounding their house. When I went to Wal-mart on friday looking for a shovel or salt, they laughed at me. We ended up borrowing from neighbors. What a workout!

Best of all, school is canceled for tomorrow. A fellow teacher bet me that it would be canceled all week. I refuse to believe that, but hey- you never know south of the Mason-Dixon line!

Peace and Love.

Long Overdue

This post is long, long overdue.

Last week was one of the most adventurous weeks I've had so far. It all started two Tuesdays ago with an enticing voicemail from my boss in LA, Dr. Charles. "You may think I'm calling you with long term plans," he said, "but in reality I'm calling with a short term opportunity that is going to send you into orbit when you hear it." I couldn't imagine what he wanted, and I called him back after school to discover that he was working on a new recording project with his Capitol Records guys and wanted- of all people- ME! to come out and sing a few baseball ditties for the recording.

At first I struggled. Could I leave school to go to LA? How many days could I miss? Where did my obligations lie? But we figured a way for me to miss just one day, a Tuesday. I would fly out after school Monday and fly back the next night on a red-eye and arrive in DC at 6 am. A true jet-set.

I was exhausted when I got off the plane in LA, but also thrilled. It was like some kind of Twilight Zone time warp, steppping back into my old world and seeing all my old coworkers. Charles and my friend Meghan picked me up and to my surprise and delight, headed to the Beverly Hills Hotel for dinner. The food was so exquisite I nearly cried (Teach For America diet has consisted of generic microwave meals, ensures, and Mac n Cheese, generally.) We caught up on the drama of the front office, where everyone had landed after the firing spree, and where future plans lie. It is a scary time out there for everyone. In an odd, odd way, my trip left me feeling very happy about my choice to do TFA and the job security, experience, and of course Master's Degree that are coming with it.

Recording in LA was a total blast. Being with such extrordinary musicians and watching them work, and then getting to step into the recording studio myself! It was some kind of crazy dream. I loved hearing myself in the headphones and singing into the high-tech mic. No matter what I did it sounded good! When I get pictures and the actual sound tracks I will post them for all to see. (Pre warning: THESE SONGS ARE CORNY!)

It was back to the grind on Wednesday, though. A painful grind on a red-eye's worth of sleep! But grad school is done, school school has been smooth, and Christmas is SO SOON! Yes...Life is good. More posts soon!

Peace and love.

Finally- pictures of my classroom!

I don't know why I didn't do this earlier, but here are a few glimpses of what a converted storage closet and a class of 37 students looks like. I try to make it a joyful place to learn, and I hope you agree!

Back to the grind

Thanksgiving came, and Thanksgiving went. I can't get over how fast those days flew by: everyone in Teach For America had been counting down to them like they were this giant miraculous milepost. If I had a dime for every person I heard say "If I can only make it to Thanksgiving..." I'd be a rich girl. But that great checkpoint flew by and kicked us all back to our classrooms this week with a new mantra: "Just a few more weeks till Christmas. Just a few, short weeks, and I'll be fine."

It's funny how in this job you're still plagued by the back to school jitters. I couldn't fall asleep Sunday night, in fact, I can't fall asleep most Sunday nights in anticipation for the upcoming week. It's sick how much time my mind dwells on my students, wondering if each lesson will work, navigating my strategies for each and every class. It's maddening to know that they'll never know how much of my soul and mind is getting poured into this job. It's crazy to know how much I hang on one student's dawning moment or one girl's smile.

But things are getting better. Even though I was nervous, and even though the kids were nuts returning from break, life is still better than I thought it would be. I was bracing for a fight after break, figuring some kind of drama would have developed in all those days off. But school is just school. I think it's a tribute to our administration working non-stop to whip this building into shape.

I'll close today's entry with a really funny chain email that another teacher forwarded. Keep in mind that my numbers are more like 40 students a class. I appreciate it a lot- you don't want to get me started about teacher compensation!

Teacher's Salaries
by Tom Osborne

Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do--baby sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked, not any of that silly "Planning time." That would be $19.50 a day (7:00 AM to 3:30 (or so) PM with 25 min. off for lunch).

Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. NOW...How many do they teach in a class, 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!!We're not going to pay them for any vacations.

LET'S SEE....That's $585 x 180 = $105,300 per year.

What about those special teachers, and the ones with master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage, and just to be fair, round it off to $7.00 an hour. That would be $7 x 6 1/2 hours x 30 children x 180 days = $245,700 per year.

Wait a minute--there's something wrong here! Average teacher salary $50,000/180 days = $277/per day/30 students = $9.23/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student. A very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even try - with your help - to EDUCATE your kids!

WHAT A DEAL....And the parents don't even have to buy them pizza!

_______

Peace and Love.