When I started this blog a good
friend of mine who did TFA ahead of me warned me that I wouldn’t find the time
to keep up... and here I am in June writing about events that happened in
April! Better late than never.
It is incredible looking back a
year from now at the picture of the school in its beginning stages. The walls
are unpainted and on the outside it looks questionable whether or not it will
be ready for the start of the year. This picture symbolizes my first year as a
teacher with TFA and so much of the transformation I have endured throughout
this journey. I came to Dallas just over a year ago not knowing one person or
one ounce about teaching, let alone 5-year old children. “Wait, they have
accidents? Oh no…” However, now I am on summer break, anxious as ever to get
back to my passionate KIPP family and my future scholars.
So much has happened since my last
post, too much to sum up into one post. Therefore, I have decided to sum it up
in pictures. As they say, a picture says a thousand words… so I figure this is
better than me writing a hundred?
My staff and I had the privilege of attending KIPP DFW's "Are you smarter than a KIPPster?" event. Andre Agassi, Mayor Mike Rawlings and Senator West all came to support KIPP DFW and encourage donations for the future KIPP schools to be built within the Dallas region.
We took the Kindergarten classes to the Dallas Arboretum on another field trip. The gardens were absolutely breath taking. I taught a few of the scholars in my group how to throw pennies into the fountains and make a wish about their future and their dreams, which they loved...maybe more so because I actually allowed them to throw something. :)
The moment many of you have been waiting for... Mr. Myles takes KIPP Destiny. So... as a child my Dad would tease me with this bird puppet named "emu"... yep this was a part of my childhood. So he decided to introduce my class to "emu" the puppet, except rather than use the original, he decided to buy a puppet that made a loud, high pitch bird noise. Oh, and he let our class keep it... awesome. Needless to say I would turn behind my back and see a couple students grabbing the puppet throughout the year and making it squeak. Leave it to Dad to bring our class this little distraction. My scholars absolutely loved their read aloud and the fact that they got to each individually pet "emu" and get a cookie from him. They read "who stole the cookie from the cookie jar," and while they tried to get creative by assigning my scholars "parts" similar to a play, they forgot that my scholars were five and of course would never remember their lines ten pages later. I guess next year I will prep them on age appropriate lessons. :)
One of my favorite memories from my first year of teaching was surprisingly not from teaching the perfect lesson (partially because I am not sure that happened) and not when scholars exceeded their reading scores, but when one of my students finally learned all of his alphabet letters. Not just because he learned all of his letters, but because of how all my scholars...5 year-olds... chanted and praised him when they heard the news. It was the most touching thing to see their faces light up when they heard that one of their classmates succeeded and overcame struggle. They rushed to give him hugs and chanted, on their own, "We are proud of you!" This was a teaching moment that I will never forget.
Here are some of the pictures from teacher appreciation week. The KIPP Parent Association planned a whole week of surprises for us and our scholars loaded us up on candy and every teacher's favorite... DIET COKE!
Through TFA, I was selected to be a TTL (Transition Team Leader) to the incoming 2014 DFW Corps Members. There were several events held throughout their induction week and it was amazing getting to know their stories. One of the events throughout the week was a community dinner, where several community members came and shared their educational trajectories with our TFA family. We were able to invite a scholar and it was wonderful to get to know one of my scholars and her mother on a deeper level at this dinner. I have stayed in touch with her family throughout the summer and can't wait to see the amazing things she will go on to do in her first grade year!
I was blessed with the opportunity to go back to my student council roots and plan the end of year celebration carnival for KIPP Destiny. From face paint, to photo booths, to a cotton candy booth...it was definitely a fun afternoon celebration for our Kippsters! In the top right picture I am being pie-ed by one of my scholars at the pie your teacher in the face booth, which was my idea...next year we may need to revamp! ;)
Our final field trip of the year was to the Dallas Aquarium where we got to see "cheetahs" (really jaguars), "vampires" (I think they were referring to bats), "pink mangos" (flamingos) and of course...nemo. They had an amazing time, for many this was the first time they had ever seen marine life. It was incredible to be apart of this experience.
Our last week of school we planned a field day, where the scholars could "rep their college" through chants, and participate in team building activities!
All good things must come to an end... then they "stepped up" from kindergarten into first grade. It was definitely one of the most pinterest worthy Kindergarten graduation ceremonies I had attended. From the "Oh the places you will go" themed decorations, cake, pictures and even a full on production to "The World's Greatest" with props! I made the end of year video and by the end of the ceremony we were all teary eyed. I couldn't believe how quickly the year had flown by. (Bottom picture is one that I found from my own Kindergarten graduation... not quite the pinterest quality of the one we held for our Kippsters!)
It is still crazy when I think about it. A year ago it was an old Mervins building in an abandoned strip mall, but now it's a place where children have grown both academically and as little leaders. My first year of teaching was full of incredible and hilarious memories that no one will quite understand other than the amazing founding team. I will truly miss those that are not continuing on with us into year two. There will be many memories to report come August. Until then... I am going to enjoy my last week of summer with my toes in the sand. :)
