High Aspirations

As soon as I found out that I was moving to Houston to teach, I immediately formulated a long-term plan: in two years time, I would become Tami Taylor. Mrs. Taylor, commonly known as "Coach's Wife," and more recently, as "Principal Taylor," represents everything any self-respecting teacher could possibly be: beautiful, thoughtful, compassionate, hip, and her rapid ascent in the public school heirarchy is dizzying. I think it's safe to say that I'll be taking my cues from Pricipal Taylor in the upcoming season.

In a bizarre turn of events, however, it seems as if I have some competition from another special educator teaching in Houston. We contacted a school office today to accesss some records for our students. To my dismay, (and this is 100% true) we were redirected to speak with a woman actually named Tami Taylor. Talk about an unfair advantage! However, I am not discouraged: I have a vision, and I will not be defeated.

Houston Weather!

Most days begin gloriously. I get to watch the sunrise as I drive to school with my coffee. (See below)

But the other day I got a little taste of Houston weather. Apparently it was "nothing" compared to any sort of hurricane, but I almost lost my cool. I felt like a scared puppy who just wants to crawl into the bathtub until the thunder stops. Alas, I was in my car, right in the thick of it. The sky was almost green and the lightening was the most frightening thing I had ever seen. I was certain that every clap of thunder was the end of my life. Needless to say, I survived, but I'm petrified of what the rest of hurricane season has to bring!

My Houston Home

Here are some pictures for everyone to visualize what my tough life as a teacher will look like at The Carlton:

Lounging by this pretty sweet pool.

Walking back along the lusciously green path from the pool to our apartment.

Meditating in the mediation garden right outside my door.

Lounging in the living room/bar area/breakfast nook to the left.

And sleeping on an IKEA masterpiece created by my mother and sister, modeled by Snowy, to your right.

Employment!

I am finally Ms. McGrath! In a crazy whirlwind process that I still can't quite wrap my head around, I got in contact with a school, had an interview and was offered the job, in a span of about 28 hours. Nutso.

This past weekend was my cousin Sarah's absolutely gorgeous wedding in Chicago. Still without a job, I was leaving Houston on Thursday afternoon for the Windy City. Two hours before I left, I got a call from TFA telling me someone might call me for a special education position at a charter school, was I interested? (Note: I have been telling TFA since the very beginning that I wanted to be involved in special education, but they weren't sure about how big the program was going to be, or what the demand for SpEd teachers would be, so that never materialized...until now.) I waited until the last minute to leave my apartment and drive to the airport, barely got my bag checked and still, no call. So I got in touch with TFA who got in touch with the school who called me right there by Gate B7. I frantically set up an interview for the next day, rushed back from the bridal shower to prep for 15 minutes, gave my schpiel, and then got a text 15 minutes after from TFA saying I got it. Wasn't that easy?

So now, about the job! Its at a public charter school called YES Prep (formerly YES College Preparatory - a condition of graduation is that each student is accepted to a 4 year college) and I'm teaching at the Southwest campus. I think there are 7 campuses altogether across Houston, and we're the Mavericks (awesome). It was founded by a TFA alum and something crazy like 60% of the teachers are either current corps members or alumni. I am teaching Special Ed as a Learning Lab Specialist. The Learning Lab is like a resource room for special education students, but we do not pull them out of their general education classes, rather, they come to us when they need assistance on an assignment, quiz or test. And just in the first week, I have met tons and tons of students. The Learning Lab turns out to be a pretty busy place!

Another part of the job is supporting general education teachers and providing them with strategies, accommodations and modifications that will help the special education students succeed in their gen ed classrooms. And then another part of the job is the large amount of paperwork which still seems to be written in a completely different language. But, in addition to working closely with the students and their teachers, we get to build strong relationships with their parents, as well. So, best case scenario, we can support our students on many different levels and do a lot to push them towards academic achievement.

The first week was crazy: I signed things, observed other YES classes (amazing teachers and students), took a special education certification test (passed), read a lot of files, and tried to remember all the names and faces of the YES SW family, staff and students. Thank goodness I have Kate, an '08 corps member at YES SW who is the other Learning Lab Specialist. She has been so helpful and understanding and made me feel so welcome. And she is phenomenal at her job, so I'm looking forward to learning everything I can from her and I think we'll have a great year!

There will be so much more to come, but I guess that was a brief, basic rundown of the whirlwind week where my life shifted completely. If it is confusing to you, then I think you've got the right idea. I can't quite follow it either!

Awkward August Limbo

Posting has been difficult seeing as how the person we were "sharing" wireless internet with since we moved in has either locked it up or moved away. I guess now we have to step up and be adults...

There isn't too much to report at this point. I am still unplaced and trying really hard not to worry too much about it. Everyone says it will be fine, and I believe them...most of the time. I get emails often, updating me on the progress of everyone else getting placed, and I am slowly approaching the last 14% of '09 corps members not placed as school rapidly approaches. I spend time in the library pretending I have things to do, and reading things that may or may not ever pertain to my classroom. I am certified as a 4-8 generalist (I could teach any subject in that grade span) but there's talk that we could be placed in elementary schools, so that widens my span to possibly include Pre-K through 8th grade. So, reading about how to give out stickers or properly sit on the carpet may or may not help me in an 8th grade classroom. But that reading is keeping me busy.

In addition to haunting the library (for wireless connection as much as anything else), I am attending the new teacher trainings for HISD. It was during one of our sessions that I came across this gem of a poster at a middle school:

Enrique, quite seductively encouraging our young Spanish-speaking students to "lea" ("read"). And the book? The Old Man and the Sea. I'm pretty sure if I were 11 and went to this school, I'd hang out by this poster all the time.

First Visitor!

This past weekend I had the incredibly exciting opportunity to host my very first visitor! Carolyn (Georgetown roommate) came to visit from NY, where she is anxiously awaiting her next big step: moving to Honduras for a full year of service. In light of the wobbly political situation down there, her departure date was pushed back to August 15th, and she had a few unexpected weeks of vacation left in the US. So she made the trek to Houston (who wouldn't?) to experience the heat. It was awesome.

We did some great touristy things, finally making it to the Menil Collection (really cool) and the Rothko Chapel (awesome). We had our very first "dinner partay," meaning we sat down together and lit candles. (Left, Carolyn and Molly enjoying said dinner.) We even went to a BYOB paint-your-own pottery place. Sorry to disappoint, but we did not partake in any merriment, our painting struggled as it was.

Then Carolyn and I trekked up to Killeen, TX. I had never heard of it either. But a special place exists between Houston and Killeen, and Carolyn and I could not help ourselves but make a detour to Georgetown, Texas! It was such a cute town: there was a historical town square with typical-looking old Texas architecture (think dusty ghost town western movies, but clean and with people in them). We walked around the square and took important pictures, like of a

sign celebrating Georgetown's title as the Red Poppy Capitol of Texas, and finally stumbled upon a whole-in-the wall winery. Of course, we couldn't pass by Georgetown Winery! We spent a good amount of time in that tiny place, sitting at the dark wood bar, pretending to know anything about the fine Texas wine we tasted. We met the owners, bought the obligatory bottle of wine after many tastings, and I got some souvenir glasses to begin a collection as eclectic as my mother's. (Right, Spencer taking a rest in Georgetown, TX on our way through the countryside.)

We met up with Carolyn's friend in Killeen, and before we retired to her ranch (with goats!), we hit up a real country-western bar. It was pretty awesome, but even with jorts on I felt out of place. I guess I need to break in my cowboy boots and hat before I go back. I tested my skills and followed Carolyn up to the raised dancefloor and tried to keep up with (apparently) the easiest line dance ever (I still had a hard time). The whole time I had my eyes peeled for the Riggins brothers.

It was a great weekend altogether - this whole post is like an advertisement for everyone to come visit. If you're lucky, I will post a Houston picture of you, too.