Hired!

So my biggest news is that I got hired today.  But let me back track a little and paint a picture of what the past couple days have been like.

Day 1

I drove to Southern Methodist University, which is where we're staying for the duration of what TFA likes to call "induction" which goes until Sunday.  It's our chance to get to know the other corps members and to explore the Dallas Forth area.

Check-in was super fast and easy, but what wasn't so swell was transporting the contents of my car to the dorm.  It was probably about 90 degrees out and I got to make three trips.  Some day I'm going to have to learn to pack lightly.

I put on my new business casual attire and headed over to the cafeteria with some people to get lunch.  I was surprised when it was full of about three hundred middle school girls in various matching outfits, all cheerleaders.  From there we all went to a big conference room and sat through different sessions for the rest of the afternoon.  They gave us a lot of information about what exactly is going on in the region as far as the education reform movement and what our role was going to be in that.  It was all very inspiring, but also got long to sit through.

After that we got to enjoy the opening dinner, complete with servers bringing us salad, entrees, and dessert.  The dinner included four different speakers who talked about the four pillars of the DFW corps: flexible, relentless, creators, and united.  After that, most of the group headed to various study groups for the TExES exam that will be taken on Friday.  Lucky for me, I took mine already on Monday.  Even luckier, I passed!

Day 2

Today was district day.  Since I was assigned to teach in the Fort Worth Independent School District, that's where I went.  There are 190 corps members in the DFW region, but only 17 of those are in FWISD.  (There are an additional 8 in charter schools in Forth Worth, bringing our grand total to 25 2012 corps members in Fort Worth.)  So the 17 of us, dressed in our suits, got into cars and drove an hour to Fort Worth.  The plan was to have lunch with principals that were looking to fill vacancies in their schools.  With the exception of one guy, we were all assigned bilingual elementary school, and these principals were looking for just that.

We walked in to find a few principals already waiting.  The beginning was a little bit awkward because there wasn't any real structure.  But then one of the principals started pulling people aside and interviewing them.  The rest followed suit and all of a sudden some of us were in one-on-one interview while others were doing group interviews.  I first sat down with two ladies who were principal and vice-principal of a school that had never had TFA teachers.  We talked, and then I went towards the back where everyone was standing when we weren't being interviewed.  Then a principal, Ms. Harper, pulled me and one other girl over to her table.  Ms. Harper was one of the most energetic people there, and I liked her instantly. She asked us about four of five questions, and then went to conference with one of the TFA staff.  She had 6 TFA teachers last year on her campus and absolutely loved them, and had 3 spots to fill this year.  She returned and explained that she was just going to take a risk, and choose her top pick out of the two of us and said, "Ms. Arrasmith, I would like to offer you a position at T.A. Sims Elementary."

I shook her hand and accepted my first real job!

TFA has a stipulation that all corps members must accept their first offer.  As soon as the first principal hired her first teacher, it was almost like an auction or a shark feeding or something.  Principals were talking to the TFA staff saying, "Ok, now is she hired yet?  Ok, let me talk to her before anybody else does...Ok, I want him.  Dang, he's already taken!"  16 of us were hired within the hour.

Ms. Harper ended up hiring that other girl that was in my interview group, as well as one other.  Two of us will be teaching fourth grade, and one of us will be teaching fifth (all bilingual).  I am most likely going to be doing fourth.  The school has an extra long school day (7:30-4:30) and also way more evaluations than most other schools.  One of the 2011's told me that Ms. Harper had fired about half the teachers the previous year, and that she had a fantastic vision for the school.  It's predominantly hispanic, and all of the students are part of the poverty class.  It's definitely going to be something unlike anything I've ever experienced before.  But, I think I'm in good hands...Ms. Harper had us all take a picture together and do a group hug before she left.

From there, the 2011 corps members had set up a scavenger hunt around Fort Worth for us to get to know the area.  Our first destination was the Stockyards where all the real Texan things happen.  Unfortunately, as soon as we got there, a torrential downpour started.  For the rest of the scavenger hunt, we simply drove to the locations and stayed in the car to avoid the floods.  The only place we got out was at the gelatto place where we watched a patio chair fly by outside due to the crazy wind.

After that, the 2011 Fort Worth corps members hosted a dinner for us at one of their apartments.  It was originally intended to be a poolside BBQ, but the weather changed that plan.  I got to meet most of the 2011 six teachers who will be at my school which was really awesome!  They're all so supportive and they've already done so many amazing things.  I can't wait to be part of that.  This dinner is not uncommon for the Forth Worth crew as they do potlucks almost every Sunday and for every holiday.  It felt like I was in Fountain Circle again with all of my College Life friends.

Over the past two days, I have felt so many times that this just feels right.  Everything about it.  In some cases I feel like this is what I was made for, and that all the preparation of AP classes, college, and studying abroad are coming to a point and finally allowing me to make something of it.  I'm so glad that I'm in Fort Worth and that there's such a tight-knit community there.  I feel like I hit the jackpot with my school placement and the support that I will have there.

Also, lightning is really cool.  Texans are over it.  The sky just lit up!  It's cool.