summer (school)

the other day teach for america gave us free snocones. I think it was to cushion the blow that is institute… also known as TFA boot camp or teacher camp. whatever you wanna call it… one week down, four and a half to go! starting next Wednesday I’ll be teaching high school English. all the high school English people teaching this story grouped off to have “text talks” the other day, where we discussed themes & motifs in the story… oh goodness, it made me miss college, english classes particularly. a really good liberal arts classroom discussion is pretty exhilarating. & stories are awesome.

my summer placement school is in Hollandale (yeah, I had no idea where it was until a bus dropped me off there). speaking of buses, if you want to know a little bit about what the nitty gritty of institute looks like… every day I get on a big yellow bus at 5:55am & ride an hour to said city. right now the days there are full of classroom management sessions, writing rough drafts of lesson plans & vision statements, collaborating with our teaching teams, etc. but soon they will be full of students & lessons & teaching & (hopefully) learning. then we ride the bus back to Delta State where I temporarily live. (I realized monday that two hours a day times five days a week for five weeks = 50 hours of bus time. if I stay awake & listen to podcasts that entire time, I will be insanely informed by the end of the summer.)

life here is full and honestly, sometimes it’s stressful & overwhelming & no fun at all. but it’s also crammed with daily reminders of God’s deep, deep love & faithfulness. summer is good, ya’ll… even if you have to spend it in school.

p.s. if you’re interested in making my day, mail finds me at:
ruth ann broom / teach for america
delta state university
box b4
1003 w sunflower rd
cleveland, ms 38733

p.p.s. I just bought twenty stamps so there is a high probability that I will write you back.