Post-Praxis

After a pretty relaxing spring break week in New Orleans (where we got many mardi gras beads and souvenir daiquiri cups) we experienced the HELL that was a layover in Memphis. Any notions I had of driving up there from Delta for 4th of July weekend have been completely forgotten. As my roommate kept saying, "its the hateful city in the hateful state". Without getting into too much detail and making myself mad again, it basically boils down to the fact that people in Memphis cannot multi-task and clearly have issues getting their planes off on time. We should have gotten into BWI at 10:30 and we didn't land until 12:40. So after getting back to campus and falling asleep around 2 am, I got up at 8, repacked warmer clothes, got my things together and was out the door by 10. Got into Bayonne around 1:30, which was pretty good time considering the rain and the fact that I was nearly killed by an 18 wheeler who decided to switch into the lane I was moving into with no hint of a blinker. Where is one of those "how's my driving?" bumper stickers when you need one?
Saturday I got up early and drove over to Prep to take the Praxis Exam. I walk into the cafeteria, which is where everyone had to assemble, and sitting at the table next to mine is my friend Bridget from CUA who was in took the same history senior thesis section as me last semester. She was taking the exact same test as me because she's applying to Teach NOLA (pretty ironic, since I was just there this week). So we both took the content knowledge section of the exam. I had to take the pedagogy, but apparently no one else did because I was the only one who was there for that one.
I thought the content knowledge section went really well. I've always bee fairly good at reading comprehension standardized tests. A few questions were harder, like the ones on poetry or identifying the author who wrote a specific passage. Overall, I think I did well on it. I guess we'll have to wait and see though.
The pedagogy section was the one I was most concerned about and focused my energies on studying for. I had to pick a book from a list of eight of nine, list two literary features (theme, symbols, type of work), how students could have trouble understanding these features and what I would do to help them better understand them. Now, if a book, just one book, that I had read and knew really well was be on there I'd be golden. But there was no guarantee of that. In fact, there was a good chance that I wouldn't have read any of the books they offered. Apparently the gods liked me on Saturday, though. Because three of the books I knew best (The Diary of Anne Frank, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Crucible) were on there. I ended up picking The Crucible because I could talk about how ninth graders probably weren't familiar with McCarthyism and may not fully understand what an allegory is. God knows I know all about Communists and Nazis and hate all of them equally. So I could write about them.
Overall, I think the test went as well as it possibly could have. Now, we just have to wait and see if I passed. Hopefully I won't have to take the test again because my hand cramped up and hurt for 45 minutes after I was done. I don't think I could handle doing that again.

Praxis II: English Content Knowledge and Pedagogy

I registered to take the Praxis exam two days ago. It is the national teacher certification test and I have to pass the content knowledge and pedagogy (teaching styles) portions in order to be certified to teach in North Carolina. The test is being offered on March 13th, which is the Saturday that our spring break ends. So, instead of going to Mexico for eight days, we are going to New Orleans for five days. Saturday the 6th to Thursday the 11th. It's going to be a good time because we have a hotel one block down from Bourbon Street and two blocks from Jackson Square. There will be copious amounts of time spent in Pat O'Brien's drinking Hurricanes.
I have to go home to New Jersey to take the test. It was being offered in DC, but by the time I registered all the spots were filled. Instead of driving 45 minutes to some random place in Maryland (when I have to be there at 7:30) I'm just going to go home at take it 5 minute's away at my high school's brother school. Prep tends to offer all standardized tests. I took the SAT there twice.
Washington, DC was sucker punched with two blizzards in four days this week. We had off from class for six days and the city is still at a pretty solid stand still. Stores have only just started to reopen and the Metro has begun to resume above ground service, which means CUA students are no longer trapped on campus. Over the past six days, I probably should have started studying for the test but I didn't get too much done. For some reason, I don't think its that big of a deal because I think I'll pass the test the first time. As long as that happens, it doesn't matter if I get all the questions right or one more than is necessary to pass. But I think I'll do better than passing by one question.
In other news, I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!!!!!! They're amazingly patriotic and, as usual, the US is going to dominate. I will be saving every extra dime I make over the next two years during Teach for America and will be attending London 2012. I desperately need to go to the Olympics.

Matriculation

The other day I formally accepted the offer to join Teach for America. Once I did that, I was given a flood of more information on the pre-institute work and my official TFA email address. I was asked to submit my address where all of my information would be sent to and to answer the question "why are you joining Teach for America?" My response, you ask?

"By joining Teach for America, I have the ability to change the lives of children living in low-income communities who, in many cases, may not have been given the opportunity to succeed."

Thought it was a pretty good response. In addition to that, I gained access to tfanet.org, which is this awesome website with resources uploaded from other TFA Corps members. They have lesson plans, message boards, career counseling and a host of other things that members can make use of. I'm looking forward to having time to completely go through the site and see everything that they have to offer.
Later in the spring I'll be receiving more information about my pre-institute work, which includes school observations and readings. They estimate that it will equate to about 30 hours of work to be completed over the course of the spring. Hopefully the hours that I already do for Jumpstart can count towards my classroom observation hours. Otherwise, I'll have to schedule even more time into my day. 

What I need to start worrying about now, though, is the Praxis exam. To become a certified teacher I have to pass the Praxis II: English exam. It consists of two parts--content knowledge and pedagogy (teaching styles). I'm not so much concerned about the content knowledge as I am about the pedagogy section. I haven't taken any education classes, which means I'm kind of taking a shot in the dark on this part. I'm going to need to spend a serious amount of time studying over the next 6 weeks. The exam is Saturday, March 13 and that is also the day I was supposed to get back from spring break. My roommate was really understanding, though, and we've changed our schedule so that we'll be back in DC on Thursday night. That will give me all day on Friday to relax/recover and review for the test. We're going to New Orleans for break and we've been there before so that means we can pick and choose what we want to go see. It also means I can take it easy and maybe get some reviewing in at some point in the week. After all, what better place is there to study than on the balcony of your hotel in the middle of the French Quarter, one block from Bourbon Street? I certainly can't think of any.

Officially accepting the TFA offer has kind of made this all a little more real than it already was. I'm beyond excited, because this is something I really wanted and worked hard to get. But now comes the time when I need to start saving for an apartment, furniture and a new car (which my parents have already told me I need to buy/lease). They have suggested I lease a new Honda Civic, but I would rather buy a 2008 or 2009 Ford Escape, which is what I think I will do. I'm hesitant about having to take on all of these different things. Realistically, I know I'll be able to handle them, but it is still slightly intimidating. 

One of my friends is applying to the next TFA deadline and, by chance, was going to list Charlotte as her number 2 or 3 choice of places. If she gets it accepted to the Charlotte Corps then we've already decided we're going to get an apartment together. It would make life infinitely less stressful because I know we'd get along really well and she's got a very good chance of being accepted. So (for now) I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she's accepted to Charlotte and I don't have to find someone to live with in 5 weeks over the summer. I have no doubt I could do it, but it would certainly help to lower my stress level a bit. And that is definitely a good thing. 

Still, I know this is all going to be a great experience (even when it is a little terrifying and intimidating).