Started from the bottom now were here....

Wow, so here we are... Last lead teach - Done. Hiring observation - Done.  Interview - Done and Hired!  APT - Done and Passed! 3 weeks until graduation, 4 weeks until the residency is done.  5 classes, 4 weeks of work, and an official offer letter between me and an actual break.  By break, I mean, sleep until 10, go for a run, take a nap and not have homework or lesson plans break! I plan to tackle taking back my fitness the way I tackled this program....aggressively.

I'm in the middle of my May visit now.  I am at O'Keeffe SOE (school of excellence) on the eastside of Chi.  I have a co-resident for the first time in my residency.  He's fabulous.  Our host teacher is my mentor's resident from last year.  She's phenomenal...like move scores 20pts phenomenal.  I actually am starting to believe I can do this!

My cohort is down to 18 residents.  We started with 29.  I miss some of them terribly, but respect the hell out of anyone who leaves the program if they don't believe it's for them.  The amount of humility it has taken to get through this program gracefully is unreal.  I don't agree with all the choices and decisions, and want to scream at leadership sometimes to share with them mistakes I see being made from a "manager's" lens, but I am happy to say, I truly understand where my value is in THIS world...for the next couple years at least.  

I am going to be a middle school teacher at Dvorak on the westside (the best side!)  I met my new principal, albeit, for 15 minutes, but she seems like the kind of visionary I will thrive under.  My middle school team has 3 other residents from the CTR on it.  3 strong, competent, driven, amazing women.  We are all strong as individuals, but will be fierce as a team.

I have to say, to all the naysayers of turnaround, spreading misinformation about "privatization" of more schools and the lies about additional funding from CPS, and just all around bad media (including Karen Lewis, who I will NEVER consider a representative of me as a teacher) come visit O'Keeffe and check out what's up.  In fact, come check out Dvorak next spring.  I promise you, the momentary change the babies experience will be overcome by the positive influx of passion, creativity, work ethic, and love.  Yes, if there is one thing every resident still standing in this program does, its LOVE our babies hard.  Enough to work hard to understand parent misconceptions and difficulties.  Enough to take on the challenge of working 10x as hard as any first year teacher to make up for a system that has failed our children since as far back as they can remember.  Enough to leave perceptions, negativity and gossip at the door.

I have another week and a half at my May visit site, and then I am back to Johnson.  I miss my babies terribly.  I know I am not their "main" teacher, but I still consider them mine too.  I think the hardest part of teaching will be saying goodbye each year....especially to my 8th graders.   However, knowing I have equipped them with some skill, nugget of knowledge, new idea or dream will be enough for me to be able to let go and reflect so I can be even better for my students the following year.

As teachers, we may not see the impact we make on our students in the year, or two years we have them.  But the foundation we lay for the future will be visible to all that come in contact with that child, and we will have had the honor of being called that child's "teacher".

“Nobody remembers the naysayers. In the end, all that endures are the builders, and in the end even the builders are forgotten and all that endures are the ripples of what they built, and that’s good — that’s a good thing.” -Bill Clinton