Last day of school

Today is my final day as Ms. Castro at Sylvan Rodriguez Elementary School. I am excited to move to the next chapter of this TFA journey, but I am sad to say goodbye to my first class of students. I told them they would all have a special place in my heart, & they laughed at me...but it's true!

Pre-assessment versus post-assessment test grades

My collab received the results from the tests our class took, & were filled with mixed emotions. Generally everyone improved, but some students' grades actually decreased. How does that happen? The defeats definitely impacted us more than the triumphs. We all have a lot of growing to do as teachers.

Zumba time

 Yesterday, all teachers & students spent 1.5 hours doing Zumba. I don't know why we had to dance for that long, but I was pretty exhausted after 1 hour! I felt ridiculous & it was weird all around, but definitely made some good memories during it all. We actually danced to Shakira's "Waka Waka," which was great because I already knew the dance (don't judge).

Screenshot of my end of Institute Survey

 TFA has us complete surveys ALL THE TIME. & get this - they are not anonymous. They send each corp member a personal link with an individual password to track each CM. Also, we have to take the surveys at school, where facilitators we "judge" are. Personal opinion - there is no way these surveys can yield very good data, because they are completely skewed by so many factors. With facilitators roaming the rooms during survey time, I think CMs feel pressured to censure their opinions. Who knows.

 Other random happenings:

Today's bus ride to school felt like I was in a horror movie - thunder, rain, lightening, etc.

A prize we are giving away to a student today. I think it's creepy, but I hope 10 year-old boys think otherwise...

Mr. Lara with the bat.

Ducks Fly Together

I am proud to say that I survived my first week of institute! My days go from about 5:40 a.m. - 11 p.m. (if I'm lucky), so needless to say, I am exhausted. 

I have been at school attending workshops from 7:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., and then the rest of the day is spent lesson planning or working in groups on our assigned "homework."

***Dallas-Forth Worth region's mascot is a duck - hence, the title :)

Here is some of my week, in photos:

First day of institute! I was ready to go at 6:45 a.m., with my lunch box in hand. Looking ROUGH!

We take a bus every morning to get to our school - I am at Sylvan Rodriguez Elementary.

 

The library at Rodriguez. There are about 40 TFA 2012 corp members at my site as well.

I found out I was placed in a group led by a corp member adviser (CMA). Here's my CMA, & the note he wrote to me!

 

A note I got from a student at Rodriguez :)

Houston at 4:30 p.m. I sat on the back of the bus this day, and everyone was asleep back there except me, haha.

The entrance to Rice. Seeing this sign reminds me that my day is halfway over...

On the first day institute, the Dallas-Fort Worth, Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, and Eastern North Carolina regions were welcomed to Rice at an opening ceremony. Naturally, we had to show DFW pride, so my region made a cheer to shout out.

DFW about to practice the cheer.

Mariachis greeted us at the ceremony.

Young mariachis!

Program for opening ceremony

Getting to work when the sun is rising!

My lunch box! Lunchtime is my fav.

 I start teaching my summer school class on Monday, so my group and I made a few signs to tape up around our classroom :)

Classroom signs

Our CMA has "office hours" after we finish at the school, where he helps us write lesson plans & such. Our nights are pretty late, considering how early we have to wake up...

Midnight work session

My favorite "monument" at Rice.

I am back in DFW for the weekend for a friend's wedding - shout out to JB & Taylor, CONGRATS!!! Truth be told, I am glad to have a slight break from training. I slept about 11 hours last night, and already feel re-energized and ready to go...oh, and the pizooki helped, too!

One Week Down, Five More to go

I AM HIRED!!!

I will be teaching bilingual elementary (either 4th or 5th grade) at T.A. Sims in Fort Worth, so exciting! I was hired Wednesday, June 6th in a REALLY odd way...by "speed interviewing!" I interviewed in both English and Spanish with about four principals - it was an exhausting process.

A TFA rule is that we must accept the first job offered to us - so I gladly accepted when Principal Andrea Harper offered a position :) There are quite a few corp members already at T.A. Sims, so I know that I will have a great support system.

A text received from Principal Harper, as well as the other TFA members joining T. A. Sims

Induction at SMU - a beautiful campus

Final induction dinner at Parkland Hospital

I am now at Institute at Rice - Houston, TX! I drove the 4.5 hours by myself. I forgot how beautiful Texas country is!

Houston city

If I had toured Rice University as a high school senior, I would have immediately applied. I am IN LOVE with this campus! I'm glad TCU worked out though.

There are about 900 people training at Rice from Houston, DFW, Rio Grande Vally, & North Carolina. I have literally been running around today like a chicken with its head cut off - driving, moving, unpacking, etc. These next few weeks will be chaos, but I am so excited to start. Apologies if the blog posts slow down!

Rice University is SO amazing.

My schedule. I have to catch the bus at 6:50 a.m. each morning to teach at PRIDE Academy...

My dorm room

Rice food is DELICIOUS.

The copy room - where all 900 of us will be printing throughout the 5 weeks.

Inspiration

The resource room filled with books and people.

"One day, all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education."