Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Golden Rule Days

Today was my very first day of Institute for the Philadelphia Teaching Fellows and I have to tell you, I loved every second of it from the ice breakers to the color coded note cards. Yeah...I said I liked the ice breakers. What gives. I didn't sleep at all last night and I couldn't eat this morning because of the nerves, but I did ok. The school where we're training is what you see when you think of schools in old books. It's got interesting windows and shiny wooden floors with knicks and dings that are certain to have a story or two. It even smells like school...glue, books and working minds. And there are seats with baskets under them. Very authentic.

I talked to a kid in my program about teachers and what I thought of them before realizing that I was generalizing. I should stop doing that. Still...I decided a long time ago that teachers were the most organized people in the world and they are always on time. Pretty much the opposite of me. That's something I'm going to have to work on. School starts at 7:30am. Ouch.

I think this is going to be good and I know this because of one very distinct clue. I have already picked out all of my outfits for the rest of the week. History tells me that this means I've made the leap...head first...without a swim cap. Yeah. No swim cap.

I teach summer school next week with a "real teacher" in the classroom. Stay tuned.

Love,
Jes
P.S. Did you hear that Tiger Woods is coming to Philadelphia? He finally realized that I'm the girl of his dreams (at last).

Friday, June 26, 2009

99% perspiration

The word reinvention makes me think of Madonna, which subsequently makes me mad. I hate Madonna. But I guess, on some level, we have things in common.

I'm a teacher. As of yesterday. That's funny. Yesterday I took a position at George Washington High School in Philadelphia through the Philadelphia Teaching Fellows. I'm teaching special ed/science...Biology and Life Sciences. Can you believe that? And you're right to think that I'm out of my mind terrified and out of my mind with ideas. Reinvention---as far away from fashion as I could possibly be and all because of a little essay I wrote for the Philadelphia Teaching Fellows on the very day that it was due.

Reinvention is a funny thing. I consider myself it's unlikely wunderkind. I've done it so many times that I'm now allowed to skydive without an instructor...without a parachute even. My resume says that I've been a project manager, a writer, a designer, an entrepreneur, a publicist, a web merchandiser....and now it'll say I'm a teacher. And while I know you're thinking it but not saying it, yes, I do agree that my occupational wanderlust is bordering on ridiculousness. I refuse to apologize. While I was all of those things on paper, I wasn't really ever any of them. I was always just jes. And I'm happy for that.