Institute - A little insight

There's so much to share and not enough time. Institute is incredible - both in what I've learned and in the workload that I have. I don't know that I've ever been so busy before. College got intense once in a while, but here...here I'm completely surrounded by teaching. Here's a quick insight:

* I wake up at 5am (or around there. I'm terrified of missing the bus so I wake up early to make sure I have enough time in the morning to get everything done).
* I get ready and go get breakfast.
* I grab a sack lunch on the way to the bus.
* I have to catch the bus by 6:50 or it leaves without me.
* I arrive at school, sign in, and immediately begin my day. This involves either starting my sessions and learning stuff, testing the students' reading levels, or - as will be the case next week - teaching!
* I stay at the school all day and work through lunch.
* Board the bus at 4:15 and arrive back on ASU's campus.

Now, you might think that I would have all evening to just kind of hang out. But that's not the case. I have sessions at night too - for example, Tuesday night I learned how to administer the DRA (a reading assessment). Tonight we had opening ceremonies and then CMA meetings (Corps Member Advisor). These meetings are where we learn how to write out our lesson plans.

And lesson plans...oh man. Let me tell you about lesson plans. You don't just go into the classroom with a general idea of what you want your students to achieve. No, no, no! You plan backwards from your BIG GOAL, to your Unit Plan, to your Daily Objective. You revise and edit, plan backwards, and make sure that every minute you're focused on getting the most out of your lesson. We've learned how to best teach so that students learn (I do, we do, you do - which means going from modeling the lesson to handing it over to the student to do independently). We also learned about student motivation and classroom management techniques. TFA has an amazing system of lesson planning that has resulted in HUGE gains for their students because it's so focused.

But it takes time. And a lot of it.

Tonight...lesson plans were due. I've never seen so many people outside (or inside) working on laptops. Everywhere you went people were working on their lesson plans. The cafeteria even put together "dinner-to-go" boxes for us if we wanted them.

Tonight, I have 4 lesson plans due. They're all done and I'm heading to bed. I bet many of us are still awake. The deadline is 1am (which is a terrible time to still be awake when you have to get up at 5am!).

So, overall, things are going really well. I'm very busy, but also content. I'm feeling challenged to learn, but also very supported in what I'm doing. The support system here is great and everyone is more than willing to help you out. Plus I have so many family and friends that are supporting me as well. It's going to be tough, but I'm going to learn some life lessons. And hopefully impact my students as well =)

That's all for tonight. I'm sorry I can't get into more detail or share more (though I would love to). I'm just ready for bed and sleep (and maybe a warm shower in the morning, please?).

Signing out,
Ashlee

P.S. If I haven't called or emailed in the last couple days, just know you're not alone. I've been so busy that the time I'm on the bus has become the time I usually call people. Like I said, it's great, but almost overwhelming!