Whew!

It is proving much harder to keep up to date in this blog than I would have guessed! As I'm sure all TFA teachers will tell you, they do keep you extraordinarily busy. Tonight is one of the first nights I find myself at home with a moment to write (though, I'm sure I could be doing a myriad of things). A lot has happened in a span of a few weeks!

- We finished our first week of teaching. I have been teaching 10th grade English to a class of all boys. So far we have covered topics such as fact and opinion, coherent and incoherent arguments, point of view in formulating an argument, and critically reading non-fiction texts. My time with the class of boys is the highlight of my day during the week. They wake me up from my nights of limited sleep and give me such perspective on why we are all here. They are incredibly intelligent, they are really excited to learn, and most/best of all, they make me laugh. 

- Institute itself is intense. There really is no word to really indicate how Institute is, but "intense" is the best word I can come up with. My CMA (basically, my advisor while at Institute) is a disciple of tough love. She is really amazing, and incredibly insightful, but essentially will not take any BS. She continually pushes and pushes and refuses to accept anything but the most excellent of work. At first, it was a shock. However, on Friday, she opened up to us explaining why she felt she had to be so hard on us. And as the moments have gone on, I feel such genuine support, wisdom, and friendship with her. She makes me want to push myself to be a better teacher so that I can do as much as I can for my students. 

- I have been extremely exhausted this entire week. I literally find myself falling asleep when I am at dinner, during sessions, or just sitting down to work. However, I have discovered that your body adapts to just getting 2 hours of sleep night after night. Arguably, I would like to un-discover this fact. 

- The people here are wonderful and incredibly and inspiring. In the group of people I have ended up spending most of my time with, we have people who are teaching pre-K, elementary, middle, and then I teach high school. It is so fun to come home and hear all the different stories about students. The challenges and the joys of teaching each grade are so vastly different. But I love to hear all of it. 

- We signed a least on an apartment today! It was very exciting. It is the first time I've ever gotten to do something like that. I couldn't be more thrilled. The apartment is a steal! It is within walking distance to many fun things around the city AND walking distance to public transportation. Additionally, the apartment has a washer and dryer in the house! Hooray! Moreover, I really feel a strong connection with the 3 individuals I will be living with, and I couldn't be more excited to know that we will be able to go through this experience together.

I think this is where I will end for tonight. My eyes are involuntarily closing, and I need to rest up so I can lesson plan and prep all day tomorrow! Hope all is well with you!