Sittin' in the back o' classrooms, just like junior high

This morning I had my first of two school observations, as part of my Teach For America preparation—I sat in on a summer school chemistry class taught by Duke Willoughby, a really good guy and neighbor of my folks that I know through church. He has two T.A.’s with him right now that are in training to be Texas Teaching Fellows—I hadn’t known that Texas has a Teaching Fellows program, too (I’d heard of city-based Teaching Fellows programs, like the ones in New York and Oakland, both of which I have friends in, but I'd never heard of a state-based one). After looking it up, I found out that Texas is the only state with a Teaching Fellows program, but that similar programs have popped up in Chicago, Miami, D.C. and Philadelphia. It’s really cool to see these programs growing and flourishing, along with Teach For America. The more the merrier, no?

Speaking of Teach For America, I’ll be very happy early next week when I finish the prep exercises and readings required for the summer institute. A lot of them are wonderful and fascinating, but I’m beginning to burn out a little. Just a tad. A smidgen.

Bedtime!