9-5

Sorry for the delay in posts, and the shortness of the present post. You see I've recently entered the work force. I am an officially active Teach For America 2011 Corps Member. I started about a week and a half ago and I'm not sure if I've really slept since then, much less had time to make a post. As you might have guessed Teach For America is a program that cultivates...anyone?...yes, that's right, teachers. I've been learning the ins and outs of program management, investment plans, curriculum writing, lesson developing. Basically a four year education on education in about 6 weeks. To say the least, it's ambitious. And with such high goals the idea of a "job" goes out the window. No longer does the work and personal life exist (except on the ever coveted weekend). Teaching, apparently isn't that easy, and it takes a lot of time, effort, and caring on the teacher's part. So the whole 9-5 idea is basically a joke...wallstreet? please. Try Sesame Street. Up at 5:15 and I don't get a break in my day until 9 or so at night. For all you English majors out there that means about 16 hours of work a day. Or to put it another way two full work days in a single day. But, I'm thinking this is the boot camp of teaching. They'll beat you down for the next 5 weeks and you'll come out in the fall cleaning up and destroying the evil Achievement Gap with ease. This theory would be great except that the leaders continually remind us scrubs that we will inevitably fail, it will be hard and we won't get it for a few months. I'm determined to prove them wrong. I will be prepared, I will be confident, and I will be a great teacher--Just as soon as I get a few hours where I don't have to think about the next poster I need to make.

The Graduate

June 3, Day 13 of being a graduate from Dickinson College and so far the real world is pretty nice. I must admit, I haven't experienced any real world kinds of things yet though, so my opinion is probably a little skewed. Let me just take you through the past couple of weeks briefly. Graduation day: Unfortunately our original Commencement speaker backed out at the last second because he thought leading the Army in Afghanistan was too important (guess you can't blame him, that's a pretty good excuse, maybe next time Petraeus). So we had another guy, but at least his was short. Ceremony went of without a hitch, beautiful weather, graduation party following that. Post-Graduation Days: Two days after that I got to sit around the house and do just about nothing. Now I can't confirm this, but I'm pretty sure that is not what this so called real world consists of, so these days aren't providing a great basis either. Post-Post-Graduation Days: Now here's where it gets interesting. Going to a school like Dickinson you're bound to have friends in high places, and for a week I was lucky enough to experience the perks of such a friendship. I got a week's vacation in sunny South Beach, where the water is clear, the lights are bright, and the breeze is cool. Sitting on the beach all day, wandering Miami at night, eating out every day, and staying in a condo on the 33rd floor of the Continuum South Tower. Oddly none of these characteristics have been listed in the "real world" definitions I've received. Luckily I've got another two and a half weeks to live up this hiatus from the real world before my rude awakening officially begins on June 21 where I start my tenure as a TFA corps member. Until then though, I plan to take full advantage of these weeks. Not a bad way to start out in the real world--with a nice long vacation. (Readers: don't be too quick to jealousy just yet, in a few months I'll be teaching a classroom in inner-city Baltimore and complaining about how harsh the real world is. So don't fret, rude awakening countdown now begins: 17 days till real world lift off.)