First week of Summer Institute Complete!

Just when I thought it would never get here, the Teaching Fellows Summer Institute has finally begun!  And, the first week of training has already come and gone in a flash!  Summer institute for a general education fellow, such as myself, consists of 3 parts.  Framework session, Practice Teaching, and Literacy Class.  Special Education Fellows have an additional course they take on top of all this.

The Framework sessions are workshop-type courses developed by The New Teacher Project (TNTP) to prepare us for the classroom.  They cover Instructional Design and Deliver, and Classroom Management and Culture.  So, everything from lesson planning, to maintaining order.  The sessions are led by experienced teachers who work in the district in which we have been hired.  The Practice Teaching is like our version of student teaching, and we do it during summer school under the supervision of a Cooperating Teacher (CT).  The last element is our Literacy Class, which is not to teach us how to read, but rather how to incorporate and promote literacy while still teaching our subject specific courses.  Your first thought might be, "How can a math teacher promote literacy?"  Well, that is what I am going to find out.

So far, I am having a fantastic time at summer institute.  It feels a little like going back to college, but combined with the camaraderie of summer camp, and the emotional support of group therapy.  Everyone is there for the same reason - we want to become teachers.  We want to inspire and engage and reach out to those students who are not being reached in our nation's most struggling public schools.  We are there to close the Achievement Gap and at the same time increase the Achievement for all.  We have noble, if perhaps terribly naive, dreams and we are all part of TNTP to make a difference.  We are full of hopes and fears and so many questions and ideas.  We are so hungry to learn every little thing we can before we find ourselves see loose to fend for ourselves out there, lost in a vast sea of public school bureaucracy and mediocrity.  I can feel myself practically bubbling over with the energy and anticipation and fear of it all.  While I am still full of questions and fears, I feel even more confident that I am making the correct career choice, and I am so excited.  I have never felt this way about anything.