T.H.E.S

T.H.E.S

So…I teach 1^st grade at Tyler Heights Elementary School (aka T.H.E.S) in Annapolis Maryland. My school is considered a Title 1 school, which means the US department of ed. provides additional funds for our school because majority of the students are from low-income households.  There are about 400 students in my school and approximately 50% are black and 50% are Hispanic. 

I have 19 students, well now 18 because one of my favs. Nieshia, moved to a new school last week.  The majority of my students are immigrants from El Salvador (or as they say “El Sal-ba-dor”) and only speak Spanish at home. They are hilarious and have been helping me improve my Spanish speaking skills!!! J It is somewhat challenging as everything I send home must be in both Spanish and English, and daily I get notes from parents that are in Spanish and I have only a vague clue what they say. Basically…I better learn Spanish quickly!!!

Teaching pretty much rocks…minus the fact that I am exhausted all the time and I feel like there are not nearly enough minutes in the day and I basically look like a crazy person running around trying to get things done.  You know how sometimes you kill a bug but you miss and only get its head, and then the rest of the bug kinda runs in circles headless?!?! Well…I’m pretty sure that’s what I look like!!!  Other teachers see me in the hall and are like “oh, Ms. Baker How are you today?” (they say it with a lot of concern in their voice…) So apparently as I walk down the hallway I look a bit worried/frantic…but I really am happy!  I walk extra fast. I get it.  I forget that my typical walking speed is the average persons “I’m super late or there is an emergency” walking speed… so maybe that’s why there is so much concern from my coworkers!?!?! 

Personal GOAL: Walk at a normal speed. And if you feel the desire to walk quickly do so with a delightful face!!!

Some of my favorite things about my students are…

-       Their toothless smiles!!!

-       Having them talk about things they learned weeks ago…this tells me that they are actually learning and more importantly REMEMBERING what they learned.

-       Hearing them tell stories about their families/their lives in El Sal-ba-dor

-       Watching them dance/sing. They all have Justin Bieber fever!!!

-       Overhearing my students talk to their classmates. Yesterday Katherine said to Pamela “Yeah even though he sounds like a girl I like Justin Bieber.”

-       Their mixed up grammar. Heidy said to me yesterday “When we could have the contest to see who is the most beautiful and you give us a prize?” I’m not certain but I think she was asking when would we have a Halloween costume contest…but she wasn’t dressed up in a costume so I’m not really sure! :)

My list could go on forever but I’ve typed enough already! …thanks for reading.

Peace. 

Here are a few pictures of my classroom...I will say that these were taken in August before school started and it looks a bit different now. I pretty much change something about it every week...oh and I finally got a real rug for my students to sit on so that's a huge change!!!

Miller's Court

Miller’s Court

SO I live in this incredible building! A father and son team named Donald (father) and Thibault (son) Manekin renovated an old canning factory that was originally built in the 20^th century. Donald used to work for Baltimore City Schools and realized the importance of providing teachers with a supportive living environment. So he and his son got together and designed Miller’s Court. The building opened in July of 2009. Half of the building is home to non-profit offices. So during the day many non-profit organizations such as Young Audiences, Play Works and Teach for America hold business there. The other portion of the building is apartment units.

Because the Manekins are so generous and very in tune to teachers’ needs they give us teachers a HUGE discount on their rent. As Teach for America Baltimore holds their office in Miller’s Court many of the residence are Teach for America teachers. Another large portion of the residence are Baltimore City Teaching Residency teachers, which is Baltimore’s version of Teach for America.

a picture of the outside of my building (yes...i need to work on my photography skills!)

What is amazing about this building is that it is a community of practically all teachers! Many of the residence are just like me, brand new to the field of teaching and brand new to Baltimore. To support us the Manekins have created various common areas some with copy machines and other “teachery” resources and my favorite the court yard were monthly events are held.

Miller’s Court has been such a blessing for me because not only is it extremely safe (you literally have to have a key swipe card thing to get through each door- so I feel extremely comfortable living alone) but it has also been a great way for me to make friends- and more importantly friends with people who know what it feels like to move across the country and start a new career! ( I think that was a run-on sentence…)

So…that was a super long explanation but I thought it was important for you to know a bit about where I live!!!!

I will try and post some before and after pictures of my apartment.

here are some before pics...

The room where you will stay when you come visit me!

my bathroom...

part of my living room...

and my tiny kitchen!

here are some after pics...

the main half of my room.

again...my room

other side of my room...yes i have some awesome/cheesy christmas lights!

awkward pic of my bathroom.

my table and hallway...

my kitchen.

my living room (is that one word?!?!)

living room closer up....

guest room AKA where you will stay when you come visit me!!!

again your room... :)

guest (aka your) bathroom...

ok...stay tuned for pictures of my classroom!!!!

Finally!!!

FINALLY!!!

I can’t believe I’ve lived in Baltimore for over two months now and I am just now posting my first blog entry. Part of my excuse is that I’ve been SOOO incredibly busy moving, setting up my classroom, teaching, and trying to figure out what living life in a new state is like.

Unfortunately, the other part of my excuse is FEAR! I’ve always thought that people who have blogs are witty, exciting and actually have something interesting to say. SO, the thought of writing my own blog is extremely overwhelming and I fear sounding like a complete fool! But, I’ve become a bit more brave so with each entry I would love your feedback. Feel free to tell me if I need to “spice” up my blogs a bit more, if I need to add more/less writing, more/less pictures, etc.

It was my goal to take a picture each day since I’ve moved. So far I’ve done pretty well…I’ll be honest though…I have slacked off a few days. I also was disappointed when I realized that many of the pictures I’ve taken are of my students and I am not allowed to post their pictures online…so If you would like to see pictures of my little first graders you will have to come visit me!!! Ha…just playing you can e-mail me!

Ok…so here it goes for the very first entry! I will try and post some pictures below!

Oh…and I couldn’t decide were to start the blog since so much has happened already…but I think I will through in some old pictures/posts from when I first moved as well as some others that are recent!

Peace.