OUSD FLASHBACK! East Coast Girl Heads West, Teaching for Effective Time Management

So I'm finishing up my last week as an Oakland Unified School District teacher (5 more days!) so I thought it would be appropriate to revisit the posts of what happened when I first got to Oakland.  For those of you who do not know, I was a part of the first year of Oakland Teaching Fellows (OTF), which was both a good thing and a bad thing.  A lot of it, unfortunately, was mismanagement and threats of not getting a classroom, but I did meet a ton of great people, who will be mentioned in a later post and who read this blog!  (Hey Jess, Laura and Matt!) I was super lucky to get into the superNOVA co-hort (all special ed teachers) and we all coped by meeting at the tiki bar every Friday through summer Institute and into the beginning of our first year.  It was amazing and I feel honored to have started my journey with those guys.  But on to my original e mail from the first week of OTF's summer institute, 2005:

 

Well, guess who's in trouble with the teacher?  Yep, that's me.  Okay, I am embellishing a little bit, but I was told to tell the institute director for the oakland teaching fellows that I was late this morning, as dictated by my teacher.  I refused.  I was 3 minutes late, due to "Street Sweeping Thursday" and could not get my head around parallel parking this morning.  Yes, I did feel like a moron, but I was also enraged at a Miata who butted it's little self into a HUGE parking spot right in front of my station wagon eyes, and just couldn't be at my desk with my book open at 9 am. 

 

Hell, I was late being born.  I'm definitely going to be late getting to class.

 

That might give you a little picture of how my first week of classes is going here with the Oakland Teaching Fellows.  I have learned that this is the *veryfirstyear* that the program is in place, which has mitigated some, but not all, of my frustration with the organization.  They haven't even figured out that I'm not enrolled in a University Credientialing Progam, which was required by June 15.  And I maybe not ever apply!! Take that poorly-put-together-program! 

 

Needless to say, the program has been a fair amount of work, with the extra edge of having to know everything for July 7, when I'm schedule to do my first lesson.  AHHHHHHHHH!  And, to top it off, I'm in a class of Severely Handicapped children, which, though it's not an issue for me, we were told we would definitely NOT be put in a class to teach anything more than moderately handicapped.  (Side note: They're still using the word "handicapped," and not "disabled"... does anyone else think that's odd?)

 

Anyway, we're still working on the housing situation.  I have tornadoed through Bryan's two and a half rooms, to the point where the once gleeful "I'm living with a girl" and turned into an "oh crud, i'm living with a girl..."  I promise to keep my stuff from spilling into every creeping corner of the apartment (fingers crossed behind my back).  Living with Bryan is good; we're good roommates, it's the living out of boxes that is killing me.  I'd call it the "I need my black ballet flats before they go out of style and i'm not sure if they're in box 6 or 14 (out of the wondrous 22 boxes) and I want them NOW" syndrome.  If you all thought I was messy before, look out world!  Boxes, bags, containers, and still a full trunk load of stuff.  Let's think money for christmas, instead of tchotkes, k? ;)

 

Anyhow, I should get to my applying to grad programs and shopping for apartments ::torrey drags feet:: I hope to have some fun stories soon... and internet!!! We should be internet ready by next week and then life will be whole again...  Or I won't have to go to the bar to surf the web.  (Less beer to get on the laptop)

 

Here's to my first morning of teaching.... Shiver, shiver!

 

Sincerely,

Miss Campbell

*gag*

Welcome to Oakland! ;)
Victoria