Insanely busy week!

Break down of the week:
Monday: We spent the morning assembling laterns for a festival in Jamaica Plain. I also did some lesson planning for my civics kids.
Tuesday: Meeting with the Dearborn administration about the classroom situation. I finally got my classroom assignment: two 7th grade geography classes added to my 8th grade ESL/civics class. I'm so happy I finally have a stable classroom. I've also been assured that I'm staying here permenantly. YAY!
We also had a meeting with the head of our afterschool where we proposed the PEPSI program (Physical Enrichment Program Sportsmanship Initiative) and it was excepted with open arms. Another YAY!
Wednesday: I had to plan two lessons in the morning and help run the PE program at afterschool. Probably the least stressful day of the week.
Thursday: I started teaching in my 7th grade classroom. I'll be pulling small groups aside and working with them on that day's lesson. It was also parents, friends, and family night at City Year (kinda like a parents' night at school). My mom, apparently, is more confused about City Year now than she used to be. I don't know how to make anyone understand it... There are just so many components to it and I never feel like I do it justice when I do attempt to explain it all.
Friday: AmeriCorps Opening Day. It was a lot of fanfare and I got to go on a tour of the State House (something I had never done, despite living in Boston all my life). I actually I had a lot of fun. And then, there was paperwork. I went back to the office and did about 3 hours worth of paperwork... wow.
Saturday: Make A Difference Day! We did service at the Middle School Academy (a school for troubled youth) in Dorchester. We painted in almost every room in the entire building. I got to paint a mural of the Boston skyline. I had never painted a mural before and was, well, rather nervous about my artistic ability. It turned out awesome! And now, I'm overly proud of myself.

And yet, not only did I survive this week, but I also came out relatively okay. Even though, there was a lot of stress and a lot to do, I managed it. I feel like I'm finally at the point where stress doesn't paralyze me anymore. It still got to me, but I handled it much better than I would have in the past.

Still waiting for service to start

I took a week off from posting, because, well, last weekend was unduly stressful. Ironically, taking time off from City Year to spend 3 days at Hamilton for Alumni Weekend made my life worse... Let's just say, ex-boyfriends suck... a lot. While at least Alan left me alone, Wex decided to be an immature jerk and start a screaming match that all of Babbitt heard. It truly showed me just how much I've outgrown college and am so much better off with City Year/any group of more mature, idealistic individuals.

At the end of the week before my Hamilton visit, we had a meeting with the middle school principal, the civics teacher, and a ESL teacher who taught one civics class. There was also some talk about connecting with the 7th grade social studies curriculum. Things were looking promising. It looked like I was finally going to get a chance to get into the classroom and teach.

This past week, I somewhat got to. I arrived on Tuesday to find that I was not permanently assigned to a full-time civics teacher. I had my definite assignment in the ESL class (thanks to my SHINE experience/certification), but that was only one class period a day. I'm loving my ESL kids (I'm assigned to about 5 8th grade boys... which is surprisingly working out). But yeah, I spent Tuesday observing a class that was not mine.

Thursday, I arrived at the school still not knowing where I would be ending up. Last minute, I was told that I would be in a 6th grade social studies class... Excuse me? When was this decided? Well, apparently, not even the 6th grade teacher was informed that I was assigned to his classroom. I didn't even find out what the 6th grade curriculum was until about 10 minutes into the first class. I also later find out that the teacher, a rather reticent individual, will not be in school for all of January and February. Obviously, this is an unacceptable assignment, which means I still don't have a classroom assignment.

I got my team role assignment this week: Documentation Coordinator. In sum, I'm responsible for keeping track of everything: timesheets, photographs, service projects, etc, etc, etc. I basically get to be anal and put my sociological documentation skills to work. Yay!

I'm still in love with my afterschool program. My 1st and 2nd graders are absolutely adorable. They've started drawing me pictures and seem all excited when I show up. We've successful run the PE program for the past 3 weeks and are looking to start a related program called: "Physical Enrichment Program Sportmanship Initiative (PEPSI)," which will develop good sportmanship while teaching general respect.

So, yeah, it's been a rough week. My hope is that next week will be better.

First Week of Service - maybe

So, this past week was supposed to be my first week of full-time service... Only my middle school has apparently peaced out of the process. We've had such problems contacting them that I may end up at a different middle school (which already has a literacy team) So, I've spent my mornings doing random office work (including the giant calendar on the 3rd floor - yes, a ladder was necessary). I've just been so anxious to do service for so long that this past week has felt like agony.

My one saving grace has been my afterschool program. They've started to have regular programming this week, so each day has a theme:

1. Tues: literacy
2. Wed: physical education
3. Thurs: science/art

Obviously, there are themes for Monday & Friday, but I'm not there, so clearly it doesn't matter ;-) But yeah, my teamlet has basically been put in charge of organizing the PE programs. Honestly, I would've felt more comfortable putting together any of the other programs, but I've got my other teamlet mates to rely on for support.

We did do PE this past Wednesday, which was absolutely adorable. We got to lead a bunch of kindergarteners in PT... The best was when they did boom-shakalas. I really think it's good that I'm with little kids in afterschool. After dealing with 8th grade drama (and there will be drama) on Tues & Thurs mornings, my feeling is that it will be relaxing to hang out with little kids.

On a side note, Jordan came to visit on Thursday, which was f***ing amazing. I missed him so much and we had so much fun. And yet, it was weird because we were no longer sharing stories of common reference. No stories about dumb freshmen boys or crazy professors. I have my CY stories and he has his abroad fair stories. And while they're both entertaining, it's a little weird. We'll manage.

Well, it's a 3-day weekend, followed by a 3-day week (for me), and then a 3-day weekend at Hamilton.

And the real work starts...

Friday was Opening Day... I was officially sworn in and now have my full uniform. It still doesn't seem real. All of City Year has just been so abstract. I spent 9 months waiting to get my uniform (the same amount of time I'll spend wearing it) and experiencing all that anticipation has made the transition into reality hard - almost like I'm not really here. Obviously, I am here. I've been with City Year for a month. I guess with the BTA uniforms it just didn't have a true City Year feel. And now, I hardly believe I have my uniform. On Thursday, after the Red Jacket ceremony, I kept touching the CY logo on my jacket, like I was making sure it was real.

Honestly, the beginning of the week is kind of a blur. We did some training. I got to go to my afterschool program on Tuesday and Thursday. I'm in a 1st and 2nd grade classroom and they are absolutely adorable. CY has been at this school before, so they recognize the Red Jackets... they even know boom-shakalakas (a PT exercise I have yet to learn). I think I may end up working with kids of all ages. Elementary kids during afterschool; middle schoolers during the day; and high schoolers on Saturdays (as part of the special program, City Heroes). This has the potential to be incredibly rewarding or overwhelming (most likely both).

So, as I mentioned above, Thursday was the Red Jacket ceremony. Basically, we got our bomber jackets and had the opportunity to dedicate them. It was a really intense ceremony. A lot of people broke down in tears (myself included). I dedicated my jacket in memory of my father, who made sure to teach me the lessons of social justice, and to my mother, who has demonstrated amazing strength in the face of overwhelming hardships. All of this made it extremely hard to be "on" at my afterschool.

Friday was a significantly more uplifting day. I have a bunch of pictures of everyone in their red jackets (coming soon to my Facebook account)... It's amazing. We also got to do an afternoon service project at the Chestnut Hill Reservoir. I've spent countless hours there and will probably spend countless more. I feel so proud and inspired that I could do service in my own neighborhood AND see the results of it for weeks/months/years to come. Friday night, I went out for dinner and drinks with a friend from home and some other CMs, continuing my constant feel like this is a 5th year of college.

Of course, there has been some drama over the past week... We lost some people this week, including one girl who was fired for discipline reasons. Some people in the Corps have started dating each other, including two members of my team. I'm worried about how that's going to affect team dynamics, especially if they have a messy break-up. But it's out of my hands. Of course, I have to have my own drama... but that's not appropriate to discuss in this forum.

Tomorrow (Monday) is my first official day as a full CM. I'll be hanging around the office all day, hopefully getting some much needed training for Civics in Action.