In the Alamo

By “they,” I mean the staff at the university library. I just finished requesting 20 inter/intra library and available books/journals/texts, etc to help me prepare for the TeXES bilingual exam. They’ll be pulling books until the cows come home. I didn’t even request everything I needed so as to not overwhelm them…gotta stay on their good side!

Since I still don’t know when I’ll be sitting for TeXES, I thought it would be wise to start now…since I have an incredible amount of material to cover. Not only do I have to know the basic EC-6 material (math, science, etc) but I also have to know EVERYTHING under the sun about bilingual education…and I mean EVERYTHING!! I am amazed at the sheer volume of information I will be digesting…and the fact that the bilingual ed portion of the exam is 35% of the score is making it all the more urgent to get started on this now! Add to that all the pre-Institute work I started on (the online materials), my work for school, and my day-to-day family life, and it looks like I’ll have no life for a while….but it’s all good.

Today, we had an Army recruiter come to speak to the last period class.  I was never a military kind of girl, but my brothers and my son were/are, and I have the utmost respect for anyone who serves.  That being said, most of the kids in this particular class would benefit from some time in Army boot camp. These kids are pretty rowdy (and I’m being nice), and need an “attitude adjustment.”  There’s something in the air this afternoon…

for me to get through the next few months of my life. In no particular order (which means everything has to happen simultaneously), I have to:

1) Find a place to live in SA that’s within the boundaries of the high school my son will be attending. Normally, this wouldn’t be difficult, but I am not familiar with SA at all, so

2) I have to juggle everyone’s schedule to plan a trip to SA to scout out neighborhoods. This trip has to be scheduled within the time period that my son has Spring Break (end of March). Of course, this would also be one of the most expensive times to travel anywhere because of spring break…and

3) I have to finish up my art installation for my BFA show at the end of April. Not even close to having that done yet. Plus

4) I have work…workshops to attend…thesis papers to write…plus all the everyday things in my life (you know, those absolutely fascinating things like laundry, bills, cooking, cleaning…yeah, I live on the edge).

My Outlook calendar is my friend. I don’t know what I’d do without it…:)

I just found out that I will not be teaching HS bilingual…it will be elementary bilingual….I’m happy!

So…I’m at work during a planning period…and just accepted Teach for America’s offer to join the 2010 San Antonio charter corps! Ironically, I was in San Antonio when I received the email notifying me of my acceptance. My oldest son had just graduated from Air Force Basic Training on the same day, so January 21st was a day chock-full of happiness! I only wish that my husband and my youngest had been with me when I opened the email. My parents were with me, though, and they were very happy for me and very proud.
When I first received the email, I was really excited, but totally forgot to go to the Applicant Center to see my assignment! I kept one eye closed as I clicked on the link and saw:

“You have been assigned to teach High School Bilingual in San Antonio.”

High School bilingual? I had chosen Elementary School in either SA or Colorado as “highly preferred” (and HS/Middle as “least preferred”), so the placement location was right on the money…but HS Bilingual? Me? I speak, read and write Spanish, but to be able to teach in both Spanish AND English is going to be quite the mission.
After everything started sinking in, I had this strange, queasy “I’m really excited, but want to throw up” feeling (you know what I’m talking about). I called my husband and told him that we’d be packing up our things and moving to Texas. He and my son were really excited! They’ll be moving to Texas while I am at Institute since my son needs to be registered for school (he’s starting HS this fall). Needless to say, my personal timeline just got 100% more complicated since I have a lot of legwork to do. On top of all the TFA things that need to be done, I have a family to move …oh, and school to finish as well! I have my BFA show in April and countless portfolio reviews to prepare for as well. Everything has to be timed perfectly so as to reduce the incredible amount of stress that I will be under over the next few months. So keep your fingers crossed for me!!

It should be very obvious by now that I am a “non-traditional” Corps member…but it’s all good. I look forward to sharing more of my “Texas adventure” with everyone!