Interview! YAY!

Hello to anyone reading this! (Hi, Mom!)  

I had an interview today to teach 9th grade World Geography at a charter school here in Houston. I know that I have been asked by many people about how TFA places us, so here is what I understand of the process. TFA accepts a certain number of corps members based on how many people they think they can find jobs for. TFA then acts as the middle man, seeking out positions and setting up interviews. Through TFA, I was told that I had an interview, and if the principal choses to hire me, he will tell TFA and then they will tell me. When I do have a job, it will be with a school district, not TFA.

Whew!  Anyway, this position that I interviewed for sounds AMAZING! It was at KIPP Houston High School, part of the KIPP charter schools. KIPP stands for Knowledge is Power Program and was started here in Houston but is now all across the United States. It was started by two TFA alums and has grown since! You can read more about it here.  Anyways, I would be completely blessed to work at this school! It is in a great building, and the principal spoke very highly of his staff and students. What was really great was the amount of support that new teachers get!  This is pretty much a dream job and if I get it, I may not come home for a while!  

So keep your fingers crossed for me!

In other news, I'm getting to know my new home! Houston is actually a pretty amazing place, once you get passed the poorly designed road and freeways system and lousy drivers. There are lots of cute neighborhoods and lots of fun things to do!  I can't wait to explore more!  The neighborhood around my apartment is really nice. I finally found a grocery store and gas station that was close by, and am excited to learn more!

I hope I have an update soon about a job!

Love

Going broke... moving = expensive!

Oh man, furnishing a house is EXENSIVE!  But more on that later... First a bit about my road trip here!

After Exactly 36 hours in Portland spent frantically cramming most of my belongings into my tiny car, I set off on my epically short road trip to Houston.

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As you can see, I took a detour to Spokane to pick up Wyeth. We spent an eventful evening at Priest Lake where we thought someone was going around and looting cabins. Then on Tuesday morning, we left early and headed east. Our GPS got confused and took us to Bozeman (not our original plan) but that was great since Wyeth has a lot of family out there. We decided to stop by and say hello to his grandparents. Wyeth was trying to figure out just how he would get over to see them before the heads to Sweden, so this was a great opportunity. Turns out his cousins were in town for dinner, so we decided to join them for some authentic Chinese cuisine. Wyeth's cousin, Chris, brought his girlfriend to Montana. She is from China and cooked an amazing spread. Seeing this opportunity for Wyeth, I insisted we spend the evening there with his family instead of forging on down the road.

The next day we drove through Montana, Colorado, New Mexico and hit Texas. Along the way we saw lots of farms, some hilarious signs (strong winds exist, avoid windshield damage), the most spectacular lightning storm, and some abandoned missions. We heard some TRUE country music (one sang about how he hopes someone will take care of his dog, Jake, should he die before he wakes). We saw such beautiful parts of the country! We stopped just west of Amarillo and caught up on some sleep; around 1000 miles in one day makes anyone tired!

On Thursday, we drove right on through Texas! I saw it change from desert to whatever it is called here in Houston. There were oil drills and wind generators in the same fields! I wish I could have gotten a picture of that! Speaking of oil, gas is super cheap down here. I think that's because the oil is drilled right in the back yard. We arrived in Houston around 10:00 pm and were again exhausted! Sadly, I had to take Wyeth to the airport early the next morning. Hopefully he can come visit again before he heads across the pond!

So on to that expensive part... When i had to furnish Big Love (the name of my college house), it was pretty easy since there were six of us to contribute things. But this time it is just me and Jessica, my roommate. So we are purchasing things on the cheap and acquiring what we can. Today she bought a couch and chair for $499.99 from Cort Furniture. I'm waiting to do my room until AFTER I get my first paycheck! Hah!

Well, an impressive thunder storm is right on top of us, pouring down rain, thunder and lightning. It's really beautiful but is delaying our couch and chair from being delivered!

On Monday, it's back to teaching stuff for me. We start what is called Round Zero on Monday, which is just the term for the time between Institute and the first day of teaching. We will be working on learning our curriculum and making unit plans and assessments. I'm not really sure how that will work out since I still don't have a placement. It's been a little frustrating since my last two interviews never took place. By no fault of TFA, the principals both left before I got to the interviews, making them impossible to hold. I just hope I get a placement soon. I brought all of my teaching books and can't wait to use them again!

HOME

Home for one day! I flew into Portland last night so that I could pack up my car and drive to Spokane where I will pick up Wyeth and start the trek back to Texas.  I woke up this morning and made coffee and enjoyed it in the cool morning air on the deck. It was the most perfect thing in the world!!!  Mom and I spent the day packing and repacking my belongings so that they would fit into my escort. I'm having to leave a few boxes of books behind (tear), but everything fits!!!  It really is a miracle, if you think about it. I think I found grandpa Jim's secret to negative matter. It was a running joke that the only way he fit all of his tools into his tiny tin toolbox was because he knew the secret to negative matter. What ever happened to that tool box? I bet uncle Pat has it. That seems like something he would have.

Dad picked up a used GPS for me so I can make my way across country and around Houston. I hope that I won't need it to much once I get down there. What I am scared of though are the other drivers. They are CRAZY!

4th of July celebration!

Happy 4th of July! Above is one of the pretty fireworks that went off over Houston. Houston has the largest from-land fireworks in the USA. That doesn't surprise me. 
Clay Walker performed at the free Freedom over Texas celebration. He was pretty good live, and I was the only die-hard country fan in my group. I had to represent.
Houston downtown skyline. So pretty!
Houston + Rio Grand Valley friends at our new apartment. We had such a good time.
This is Jessica, my housemate!
And this is my bathroom!
... and my kitchen!
And this is what the pool looks like on a typical Saturday afternoon. Beerpong in the pool?
So this was actually good news - the water had been shut off because of flooding on two of the floors in the dorm I am staying at. TFA sure has great sense of humor.

I miss you all so much and am really starting to settle down here in Houston. I can't believe it's been nearly 5 weeks since I've left! I come home on Saturday and then will begin the epic drive to Texas in Rita with Wyeth.

XOXO

Danielle.

Finally, a thunder storm. And other adventures of a TFAer

Family and friends: I signed a lease. I am now the proud renter at the Bel Air http://www.belairhouston.com/. It's pretty crazy, but I figure, hey! I can afford it!  And I am going to want to come home to someplace that makes me happy and relaxed, and this DEFINATELY makes me happy!

On another note, I'm sitting in a coffee shop, writing lesson plans and watching an EPIC thunder and lightning storm take place outside. Here is where I am > http://www.agorahouston.com/. The coffee is yummy and the atmosphere is really great too. 

Oh yay! It just started raining! God I miss the rain. I think I have to go stand in it for just a second after I'm done writing.

I can't believe i am into my third week of teaching. Institute is almost over, and I will be home on the 11th. I have to figure out how to sell all of my stuff, so if you are in need of a bed, mattress set, bookcase and big comfy chair, let me know.  This also means I have to buy all of this stuff here. Shoot. 

Ok, back to lesson planning! Only a few more left!  

I miss you all!

P.S. Thank you Vicky and Paul for the great letter/card/book. All three mean so much to me and I know that I will use the book in the next few years.

Cheers,

Danielle

week 2 down, 3 more to go

I think I can count myself as one of the lucky ones. I've survived week 2 - my first week of teaching in Institute, and I did not break down. Not one single tear was shed.  Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for some of my peers. This week was HARD. We were sleep deprived, struggling with classroom management, and dealing with printers that were busy, out of paper, or not working properly. 

I was in bed by 1 each night, which is also early compared to others here. My roommate went to bed at 3 one night, and we have to wake up by 6.  We know that this life is unhealthy, and we complain. But I keep reminding myself that we are not the first to go through this and that those before us survived. And really, this isn't about us - it's about the kids. We have set Big Goals for the kids at our schools, and we need to meet them. It's unbelievable the amount of help they need. They are so far behind, and it's literacy that will really make the difference. 

Ok, enough with all of that....

Good things that happened this week:

1. Welcome celebration when we got back to campus after our first day of teaching

2. Found a roommate

3. Washed my laundry

4. Sat by a pool today

5. Turned everything in on time

6. My Co-Lab rocks.

7. Happy Hour last night.

8. Skype

9. My packages from Wyeth and Mom. (thanks!)

10. Sleep

Thinks I miss terribly:

1. real coffee

2. weather

3. Urban Growth Boundry

4. zoning

5. I-5, 405, 205 and 26. It's that simple. They each go one direction, you only have to switch to one or two to get from one side of town to the other. You should all see how the freeways are set up here. Google it.

I'm too tired to write any more. I'm going to bed. 

love!

Update!

This is where I live! North Moody Tower

This is what greeted us the first day at Dogan! Go Dolphins!

Well, I'm sorry this has taken so long, but to put it simply - I've been BUSY!  Typical day at Institute goes something like this...

5:20 Wake up

6:00 Breakfast

6:58 On the bus (and you BETTER be on the bus or it will LEAVE WITHOUT YOU!)

7:15 At Dogan Elementary School

8-4:00 SESSIONS (And teaching starting Monday)

4:30-7 Sessions in the only "Spare" time I have... this will hopefully stop soon

6-ish Dinner?  SO SLOW

7-10:30 Planning...

11:00 Sleep?  

But other than the crazy schedule, I'm having a blast. Some people think that just because I was an ED major, all this stuff would be easy (I was hoping that would be the case) but it's far from the truth. I am learning so much. One of my friends' mom put it really well - we are learning how to drink from a fire hose. So true!

I start teaching on Monday - I'll be teaching 4th grade Science. The students I'm teaching are mostly ESL (English as a Second Language) so vocab will be really important. My teaching group (called a Cooperative) is really awesome. There is a girl who went to UT Austin, a woman from Atlanta, and a guy from Portland who wen to school at San Diego. We all get along and work well together and I'm excited for our students and the goals we have set for them. 

Houston is a CRAZY city. I'm trying to get used to a lot of new things here, like no zoning and the disparity between the rich and the poor. The freeways are also pretty nuts. GPS systems get confused because they think you are on one freeway that is right next to the one you are really on.  On that note, I will need a GPS. It's crazy. Oh and drivers are nuts! I've seen so many accidents in my one week here. 

Ok, back to lesson planning!

Love!

Pictures...