Northerner In Nashville

I’d been excited about my spring break plans for a while, to head down with the organization I lead on an Alternative Spring Break to New Orleans, but a few days before I left a friend pointed out we’d be hitting Nashville around lunchtime. Having not been to Nashville yet, the thought of getting to spend even a wee bit of time helped me push through the last week of midterms (and turning in my thesis! 105 pages I do not want to see again for a long while)

As it turns out, we had a rough start from the get-go. One of the guys in my car lives in a fraternity house and when he failed to show up at 8am or answer his phone call, it took us another half an hour to get home ready to leave (frat houses are only accessible to those in that frat).  He fell back asleep as soon as we got into the car which was unfortunate, because those of us navigating could have used his Illinois knowledge to realize that we were headed in the wrong direction!

We ended up going far enough out of our way so that we hit Nashville at 3ish and did not have enough time to stop at all. Regardless, driving through on 65/24 and seeing the skyline was really the first time that everything felt real. I’m adjusting to feeling like I’ll be a teacher and that, at least, is something I can grasp having grown up around educators my whole life. But Nashville? Probably the most exciting place we passed through on the way down South.

While on Spring Break, I ended up taking my Praxis exams. Not super timing, and as people can tell you, the attractions in New Orleans are really 24/7. We worked all week during the day and Friday was our main day to explore and have fun. Like a dutiful student, however, I made myself go to bed early after some quick review especially since I’d added in extra time to get lost on the way to the University of New Orleans.

The extra review made essentially no difference – turns out I’d borrowed the wrong book! I think it went ok (but will kick myself in the behind if I don’t pass). Except for perhaps the science section, everything was pretty basic. Well, the science section was basic – it’s just been a while since I’ve done any Earth Science types of things.

So I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed for the next month until I get my results and my procrastination is becoming more and more dominated by thoughts of Nashville and elementary school classrooms and children….

I had lunch today with a friend who’s in the process of applying for Teach for America and is preparing for his final interview next week. I know there are certain things I can’t tell him, but I do remember all the help I received from friends as I was going through the process a few months ago in terms of talking about why Teach for America and how to feel prepared.

While I love him, he uttered the phrase that I’ve been hearing a lot recently ” At least you have a job. I really just want a job”

It’s true that I have more idea of what I’m doing than many of my college friends, aside from the engineering people who have actual desired and real life skills. And to be completely honest, that is a really nice feeling. However, I keep needing to explain that I don’t really have a job yet — I know most Nashville corps members all got placed fairly early in the process, but I’ve also heard all the horror stories about last minute changes not only of grade but also subject matter. I’ve signed to take the Praxis II exams for Elementary and Middle School Content Knowledge, so that doesn’t really give me an indication and there’s a huge difference between Kindergarten and 5th grade.

And from everything I’ve heard, if you think of TFA as just as job you won’t make it. The corps members I know care deeply about their kids and the work they’re doing. I’m looking forward to doing elementary in part because I hope it means I will get to know a smaller group of kids really well. It’s hard, however, to keep this perspective when people think of it as a “job”.

I had another friend who came over to my apartment shortly after I heard from Teach for America and he congratulated me. Two days later, he stopped by and was super excited for me. “I didn’t realize you got Teach for America,” he said “that’s super competitive. Congratulations!”. While he’d been happy for me when I’d told him I was teaching, it almost made me sad to see this level of enthusiasm only because I was doing it through Teach for America. What if I had decided I wanted to be an elementary school teacher without it? Would his reaction have been that different?

I guess at this moment it’s a little hard to tell what life’s going to be like. I keep explaining the process to people, and the more I do, the more I realize that because I haven’t gone through it yet I’m probably not the best person to explain clearly.

When I received my email two days ago from Teach for America welcoming me to the 2010 Nashville corps, all my friends were ecstatic knowing that I’ve been interested in Teach for America for a long time now. I’ve been told for years that I reminded people of their elementary school teachers so it came as little surprise that that’s where I’d been placed.
But then the inevitable — “Nashville?”

To be honest, I’d never really thought about Nashville until it was time for me to submit my regional preferences. Most of my other choices were up and down the East Coast because, as much as the Midwest has been an adventure these past few years, I felt pulled back to the coast. My father, however, has been talking about retiring to the South alot recently instead of his usual longing for Hawaii. Once I managed to convince him (somewhat) that Hawaii was not as the top of my list, however, I started looking more seriously at some TFA regions other than those that were most familiar to me.

I’ve yet to go to Nashville, but the more I read about it both before and after applying and the more I’ve talked to people who’ve lived there, the more excited I get about it. This is the first year that TFA is placing teachers in the region which is a fantastic opportunity to feel like part of the foundation of the TFA presence in the area. I was drawn to places that had a smaller corps and with only 50 corps members this school year and a goal of 50 more for the 2010 corps, Nashville definitely intrigued me.

In high school (and even college), friends teased me for liking country music. I guess it will work to my advantage moving to Nashville!