A Rendezvous with The President

Last night I had the sincere privilege of meeting President Bush and Mrs. Bush at a private event they hosted for the Dallas Teach for America Corps. It was an absolutely incredible experience, one that I will relish for the remainder of my life. We were able to explore the George W. Bush Presidential Center at SMU, which is relatively new. It had a structure salvaged from the 911 twin towers that you were encouraged to touch. There was a situation room in which you could listen to the opinions of different law officials and policemen to decide what to do in a national emergency and compare it to what Bush did. We got to visit a replica oval office; that President’s chair seemed quite comfy. ;)

After we toured the museum, we shook the President’s hand and headed out to the patio. It was a pleasant surprise however, when Mrs. Bush pulled up a chair at our table for dinner! We talked about our teaching experiences and how she enjoyed being a teacher herself back in the day. President Bush was good humored and down to earth in his speech. He thanked all the Corps members for teaching and for persisting despite the challenges we have all already faced. The most amazing part was when he brought up his immense support for KIPP and mentioned that he was in Texas when the first KIPP School opened in Houston 20 years ago. He gave a shout out to one of our KIPP Advisors and thanked him for his work with KIPP in the Dallas area. It was truly moving to hear President Bush’s support for both the Teach for America and KIPP mission and our work. He said something that I will never forget. Possibly the best transition into motivation Monday that I will ever have in my life again. “If it wasn’t hard, you wouldn’t be here. You took the risk when many did not. And that shows me what kind of people you are, and the character you have. Thank you for what you do.” -President George W. Bush

The start to “The Beginning”

KIPP Destiny is now officially open for change. All the summer training, professional development and classroom setup… and it was time. On Monday I may have felt like I was drowning, much like comedian Jim Gaffigan describes having four children “Imagine you are drowning and someone hands you a baby.” Well… imagine having 24 of them.  However, despite the realities of classroom potty accidents and teeth being lost by the second, by Friday I fell in love with each of my kippsters.

An essential piece of the KIPP culture is establishing a relationship with our kippsters and their families by going on home visits. My co-teacher and I were able to go to several of our students’ houses the first week of school and get to know our kippsters and their families. These visits have already made such an impact on our classroom and have enabled us to show our parents that this work is a partnership and that we will combine forces to be this change.

We asked our parents about the dreams and goals they had for their kids this year and in the years to come. I will never forget the way their faces lit up when talking about their child’s education and how I felt knowing that I would be helping make these dreams possible. One of my parents in particular spoke about events that led her to stay in Dallas and described it as “I just believe there was a reason we were supposed to stay. I just have such a good feeling about KIPP.” I remember the goosebumps that appeared as I pictured her daughter with a college diploma.

Every day I feel so thankful and blessed to be a founding teacher and to be apart of the legacy that KIPP Destiny will persist to achieve. I could never have imagined that I would be ecstatic to wake up every day at 5 AM (after I get over the fact that it is 5 AM) to get to the school to work with my inspirational team, amazing co-teacher and see my kippsters.

My co-teacher has been such an inspiration to me and I am beyond excited to see what is to come from our partnership this year. She is such a ray of sunshine and brings upmost positivity to every challenge along the way… even when we decided to conduct the ever popular shaving cream activity ambitiously early for our students. Yep, I am talking about the one where you allow them to spread shaving cream on their desks and draw shapes and equations to practice using manipulatives. But then in reality what happens is they decide to clap their hands and shaving cream splatters onto all of the student’s new uniforms… how did I not see this one coming? 

Can’t wait to see what the next week will bring and the growth that will continue.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20130811-kipp-destiny-elementary-charter-in-red-bird-welcomes-its-first-students-monday.ece  

Project Apartment

After moving from Phoenix to Dallas, then to Houston, then back to Dallas, then Vegas… phew… we are finally settled in our Dallas apartment! Mom flew out to help me get organized and create this adorable set-up mostly from consignment in just 2 days! I do not know what I would do without her. Thank you Mom! 

Living Room & Kitchen

Bedroom

Closet 

Bathroom

Rise to the Challenge

This past week I was privileged to spend the week in Las Vegas with my KIPP Destiny family for the 2013 KIPP School Summit. While many joke that I have been to Vegas a time or two, this was definitely a trip I will remember forever.

We had the opportunity to attend several amazing sessions with keynote speakers that are prominent researchers and leaders throughout the nation. In addition they spoiled us with rooftop happy hours at the Cosmopolitan, by renting out the Marquee nightclub and hosting a glamorous gala with a Grammy award winning pop star. However, one of my absolute favorite moments was meeting Mike Feinberg and Dave Levin, the two founders of KIPP. I’ll admit I was very intimidated after Mike told me that he would definitely pay us a visit to come and observe. No pressure, only the founder of KIPP. After reading about the history and foundation of KIPP, it was almost a dream to see them call out each of the regions for the epic “roll call” aka chant off. I have to say our KIPP Destiny chant to Destiny’s Child “Say My Name” and “Blurred Lines” was probably the best one yet…

I feel so incredibly blessed to be working for KIPP, an organization that is immersed in values based culture and continuous growth. Not only do they emphasize our role in implementing change but they also place a high importance on self-assurance and work life balance, which was apparent after they decided to host a conference in Las Vegas.

The Gala and Opening Ceremony were some of the most inspiring events that I have attended in my life. We were able to hear KIPP students of all ages (from third grade to college graduate) speak about their experience at KIPP and how it has transformed their lives. They also brought in KIPP performing groups for the entertainment, and wow, some of the most amazing performers I’ve ever seen. From choir groups to hip hop dance teams to drum line; those kipsters were absolutely incredible, it had me in tears. At the gala we had the honor of meeting some of the Dallas KIPP Board members and donors, which really had me emotional. Knowing that someone other than an educator invested their time and savings into believing that we can make the difference melted my heart. I will never forget shaking our board member's hand as he said “Thank you. I am so excited for KIPP Destiny and what y’all are doing over there.”

So I will leave you with our closing Gala video:

http://vimeo.com/71541412

KIPP Destiny team at Roll Call

Our team after dinner!

The beginning of a legacy

I am writing this from within the walls of our freshly painted, brand new school, KIPP Destiny. After much reflection, I realized how becoming a kindergarten teacher at KIPP truly is my destiny. A destiny in which I hope to leave a legacy. When I was five years old, I struggled through my parent’s divorce and thankfully was supported by my very own kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Jackson. Oddly enough, the name of my current co-teacher is… Ms. Jackson.

After having our first week of professional development training, I already feel like my KIPP family has become my second home. My principal and co-teachers are such inspiring and growth oriented people. It has been such an eye-opening experience to think of the potential that has been gathered to implement change and build a foundation for the future of this school and the south Dallas community. It is incredible to think that the thirteen of us are building the culture of a school that will begin our Dallas Fort Worth KIPP region. It truly is a dream and the beginning of a legacy.

Currently 1.6% of students in south Dallas are considered “college ready.” KIPP is working to ensure that our children do not fall into this statistic. In fact, KIPP is working to eliminate these statistics and intends to open about seven new KIPP schools within the next ten years. I feel incredibly honored and humbled to be apart of this journey. 

Not surprisingly, I still think through my “Eller business” lens and could not feel more blessed to be working at a startup school. A great deal of my passion for business directly aligns with my entrepreneurial experience at KIPP through building a school culture, a school vision, “selling our mission” to the community and analyzing the data of our students to determine how we can continue to innovate. The education gap was spelled out more clearly in business terms after our manager showed us the following TED talk. If you have roughly five minutes, this will reshape how you view the priority of education in our nation.

http://www.ted.com/talks/geoffrey_canada_our_failing_schools_enough_is_enough.html 

Some of the founding teachers with our principal in the new building

Our beautiful school

Being welcomed into the KIPP family

The TFA KIPPsters

My First Last Day

Today was my last day teaching my first grade class at Piney Point Elementary and the end of Houston Institute. I am definitely going to miss them. I learned and grew immensely from my students and from my co-teachers. I am incredibly proud of our class, as their reading scores grew 236% from the first time we tested them four weeks ago! Every day counts.

In just our last few days, our students went through the five steps of the writing process and made a final draft about their role models. We also had a lesson called the “the rainbow fish,” where we read them the classic story and then had them decorate their own scales and write something nice about someone and give it to them. While teaching my students to read and write takes priority, I find that educating my students about life lessons has been one of the many rewarding aspects of teaching.

Today we conducted “jam sessions” at our school, where our kids could find more information on free student activities throughout the year. We also were able to meet some of the siblings, parents and grandparents of our kids at the jam session. It was wonderful learning more about where our students come from and meeting their families. There was also a basketball player and policeman that volunteered their time to come talk to our students about the importance of college and knowledge in their careers.  This led into our lesson of reading one of my favorite books, “Oh The Places You Will Go” by Dr. Seuss. We had them craft hot air balloons and write what they wanted to be when they grow up. Not surprisingly an overwhelming amount said they wanted to be police after hearing him talk about his career today. The best part is, now they know they can do it and they will.

Signing off until my next adventures at KIPP Summer Summit!

Our first grade class and faculty advisor

Reppin my wildcats at TFA College Theme Day

Props to our Collab group for winning the data entry competition!

Our CMA group... going to miss them!

Deans get pizza!

While it was unfortunate to be working on the fourth of July, it was also a great reminder of the work that we are doing for our country. FTK is an acronym that we came up with to remind us that no matter how tired or exhausted we may be, it’s not about us; it’s “For The Kids.”

A group of us went to Galveston, Houston on our Friday off to head to the beach. While it was definitely not the crystal blue water of the Bahamas, it was nice to relax and talk about things other than the TAL rubric and behavior narration.

My collaborative and I just finished our last full week of teaching our first graders. After moving them up and down on our college themed thermometer, they finally earned their way to the top “Deans!” We have instilled a love for higher education in the lives of our kids. When introducing the lessons for the day, we always ask our students “Why do you think it is important to learn this?” Rather than respond with the casual, “So we can read and write,” our students scream, “So we can go to college!” Every time my face lights up just thinking about how they will forever remember learning about college in the first grade and the work we have done.”

In our class we do an activity called “community circle” in which we pass around a flower and share our thoughts and feelings with other classmates. The other day we passed it around and asked our students to tell us something that they have learned. Several of our students responded, “I learned that I am smart and can go to college” or “I learned what college is.” I thought right then about the many times I have been asked in an interview, “what is your greatest accomplishment?” Well… this is undoubtedly one of them.

When we brought in the pizza for their party, we still had a lesson to teach before the party would start. We quickly realized that when all the students had to randomly “get a tissue” they would walk over to the tissue box and stare at the pizza. After moving the tissue box across the room, it was amazing to see how many noses were miraculously better.

It was finally time to bust out the pizza and our kids were absolutely thrilled. They usually have to eat cafeteria food so it was no surprise when they told us that this was the best pizza that they have ever tasted. I reassured them that I never liked the cafeteria food either, thinking back to my elementary experience when I wrote a petition about the gross food and got sent to the principal… luckily for a good reason. They each gave us a huge hug and thanked us for being teachers. Best $40 I’ve spent in my life.

Our students of the week, so proud of our scholars! :)