Transitions Within Transitions

We'll keep this one short seeing as sleep seems to be hard to come by... but there's just so much to say that I have to word vomit some updates.

Hello from Chicago!  Milwaukee Corps 2011 joined up with our counterparts from Chicago, Jacksonville, St. Louis, and Twin Cities at Illinois Institute of Technology this past Sunday.  It's supposed to be hard and prepare us for excellence, blah blah blah...  Here are the interesting things that you might care about.

1. Looks like I'll be teaching 3rd grade math and reading this summer.  I'll have you remember that my assignment is bilingual education, and I've been interviewing for middle/high school positions.  It makes sense if you don't think about it.

2. I wake up at 5:15 every day.  Whine whine whine.

3. The Minnesota Twins!  Holy cow they're awesome ever since I left!

4. We were just informed today that our fabulous regional Executive Director was so fabulous that he got promoted to the position "Greatest Leader Ever," and therefore he is being replaced by Maurice Thomas, 2010 Lehmann Award winner for Excellence in Teaching.  If you applied for TFA, you saw a video clip about him being an awesome teacher.  Moral of the story... Milwaukee's pretty well managed.

Now it's 10:17... I can still get 7 hours of sleep! Yes!

"It's like starting freshman year... except I like everybody."

Greetings one and everyone!

I write to you from sunny/rainy/cloudy/cold/hot Milwaukee!  It's the week of induction and I haven't seen weather change this rapidly this drastically save for in video games.  The first couple days here have been busy and inspiring as I've come to learn more about what we'll be doing over the next two years and all of the amazing people that I'll be doing it with.

Milwaukee is a beautiful city, but with some very real and serious problems.  We are a city with a rich history, yet still remain significantly segregated.  The disparity in academic achievement between students of color and their more privileged counterparts is among the highest of any city in the nation.  And so with this backdrop, we have begun to search for job placements that will provide us with the ability to make a positive change.

Today I interviewed with two schools, and recently found out I have a second interview with HOPE Christian High School.  We'll see where that goes... if it doesn't develop into a job, I'll likely work for Milwaukee Public Schools.

But on a less serious note, this corps is absolutely amazing.  There are approximately 50 new corps members being inducted with me, and I am yet to meet a single one that I don't absolutely love.  These people are unique, dedicated, and fun, and I am so honored to count myself among them.

Institute (a.k.a. a swift slap across the face) starts this weekend.  I'll keep all you interested people posted on new developments and whatnot.

The Prequel -or- For Those of You Who Don't Know Ben

          I remember when I was a wee lad in my Junior year of college and everyone and their mother made blogs so that "everyone could follow their adventures around the world."  I subscribed to dozens of essentially the same blog and paid half-attention to them for a handful of entries.  The lessons that I took away from this experience were twofold.  First, I don't care what existential life-changing discovery you made while walking along the Seine or getting stuck at an airport.  I'm happy that you're learning about yourself... but that knowledge does me no good.  And second, even if I had wanted to, I didn't have time to read a dozen blog entries every day.

          Moral of the story: throughout my undergraduate years, I found blogs to be lame.  Yet here I am, making my own blog as I open a new chapter of my life.  So allow me to be perfectly clear about my purposes for doing this thing:

1. I'm moving to Milwaukee later this summer and will be working as a Bilingual Teacher through Teach For America.  TFA recommends that Corps Members keep a journal or blog to maintain their sanity.  I enjoy my sanity, so there's that.
2. Making fun of Ben.

          That's all.  I have no other expectations for this blog.  That's not to say that you shouldn't read it... but I certainly have no delusions that lots of people will.  On the off chance that I develop some sort of a following, I'll try not to let my entries get long-winded so that they don't waste too much of your valuable time.

          So here we are.  Welcome to my Teaching in Milwaukee blog.  Nothing really gets going for a few weeks here, which means I still have most of my sanity about me (or at least something that slightly resembles it).  And so with that in mind, the rest of this entry is entirely devoted to Objective 2.

*Insert FRIENDS quote here* Now I'm too sweaty to continue writing.  I'm serious.  But not really.  Or am I? Now I'll take a 20 minute shower.  Or will I?  SORRY BEN!  Rango...

          More reflective and potentially serious posts to come... Cheerio.