Officially Ms. Barnes

I have officially finished my first week as Ms. Barnes!!! I'm happy to say that I have really enjoyed teaching thus far. The rest of this TFA business gets to be a little much (ie an incredibly tightly managed schedule, endless things to turn in..)- but teaching is fun. I have 8 students when they all show up... several usually come 20-30 minutes late (I teach 1st period). It's tough getting used to being called "Miss". We were learning how to make timelines on Friday and we all wrote our birthdays on the class timeline. I started to write Chelsea by mine, and then caught it and wrote Ms. Barnes. 

Last night was the first time I've slept more than 5 hours since I've been down here. It was great!! Today a group of us went floating down a river today in San Marcos, TX. It was WONDERFUL to get away from Moody Towers (the dorm) and Houston. It gets tiring when you are constantly around 800 stressed out people. A little much. We were in the sun all day on the river and went to a BBQ place (similar to Mike's Smokehouse) in Austin for dinner. I'm back in Houston now.... bummer. I'm 40% done with Institute, which is the silver lining. 

Week 1- check!!!

I have successfully gotten through week 1 of TFA Institute!!! This has to be quick-- I'm getting ready for my first official day in the classroom tomorrow... I teach US History 1st period for 11th grade students. 

Here is a quick day in the life of Ms. Barnes-

5:30- Alarm goes off.

5:31- Go downstairs to pack lunch and eat breakfast.

7:03- Load bus and go to Davis HS

7:30- Arrive at Davis HS

8:00- begin sessions

4:00- after a long day of Curriculum & Literacy sessions, and a working lunch, we load the busses

4:30- arrive back at University of Houston

5:00- dinner

6:00- get back to work!

sometime between 11-2... max out, go to bed. 

Busy busy busy!!!! It's been crazy, sometimes stressful, and oftentimes overwhelming. I have great people around me who make me laugh and keep things fun- which helps A TON. 1 week down, 4 to go. 

Tomorrow I officially become Ms. Barnes! I apologize for being somewhat MIA recently... we all are literally living and breathing TFA. They even have their own language (90% acronyms) and time zone (Teach for America Standard Time, aka TFAST). I'm not even joking.