Oh my God, it’s finally over. Institute is MFing over.
First of all, thank you to everyone who supported me during this ridiculous time. I probably wouldn’t have made it without you - You know who you are.
I’m kind of in shock that this experience is over. I don’t know what to do with myself! (Well, actually some corps members gave me an idea for tonight that will probably end up at little establishment called the Vine...) But I can’t believe I’ll never see my kids again… They have come to mean SO much to me. There are a few things I’ll carry with me though:
Oscar’s comment, “I’m reading books for SIXTH graders?! Awesome! My cousin- he’s 12- I’m going to show him I can read the best!”
Iris’ letter, “Thank you Ms. Fleming, for making learning fun. I wish you were my teacher in 5th grade and forever.”
Yanei’s smile when she got a division flashcard right for the first time in Around the World.
And last, but not least, the crazily skillful drawings of Transformers that Jose Carlos made for me.
As I prepare to leave Institute, one thing I can say is that I am incredibly inspired by all of my amazing friends, colleagues, and fellow corps members who I’ve met here. There are thousands of passionate, relentless, innovative, and ridiculously talented people committed to closing the achievement gap- and some of the best of them will be people I’ve worked with who are going to Louisiana to get to work in just a couple weeks. Whenever I feel like letting up, I’ll KNOW that a friend and colleague of mine somewhere outside New Orleans or Baton Rouge will be working just as hard, if not harder to impact their students’ achievement. And when I consider the fact that I’m part of movement like that, it will drive to me to push myself even harder for my students.
So yeah, even if I wasn’t ready to part with my friends and students, I’m READY to get out of Phoenix. Besides the fact that it’s 115 degrees here every day, I just can’t wait to get to New Mexico. Even though I still don’t have a job, officially. :/ I just know that New Mexico is where I’m supposed to be right now, and I have this incredible sense of urgency to get there and start my work. Of course, my little sidetrack to Asia (in one week!) is going to be totally legit. Tomorrow morning I leave to explore Sedona and a petrified forest, then stay at my friend's place on the reservation in Crownpoint, New Mexico. Yay!
In other news, KCSB summer schedule posted! Check it: http://www.kcsb.org/schedule
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