Auyon’s Neighborhood

Change has been not only constant but VAST this summer and fall!

I am living in a new place,  the 4th this year after Belgrade, North Conway and Wolfeboro. Matt and I have a great apartment in West Lebanon, NH that is starting to feel like home (thanks mostly to my mom's appetite for Ikea furniture that has no place in her house) and a new roommate, Monica, who is becoming a solid girlfriend - which I've been missing for a couple years now. Female companionship has been sparse and transient, and I am realizing now how great it is to have it back in my life!

I started my first year at Dartmouth Medical School six weeks ago, and thus lifestyle changes about. Without any foreseeable income beyond pathetically meager part-time work and a largesse of learning material related to the human body, "fun" as I used to know it has been cut back quite a bit. Adjusting to a student lifestyle has been tough - especially when the last two years have been the antithesis of what I'm doing now! Wandering, traveling and working are much different than staying put, being in debt, and studying. That said, its not as bad as I'm making it sound - I am learning incredibly interesting things, I get to dissect a human cadaver (how cool is that??), I am surrounded by an excellent community of both med-school and non-med-school friends, and above all, I've taken a real, tangible step towards my dream of becoming a doctor. And, as part of my curriculum, I get to hang out with a pediatrician and help diagnose and treat her adorable kid patients. That keeps me going through weekends spent studying indoors while the leaves turn to fall ... and let's be honest, I don't study all the time. There's been plenty of bike riding, rock climbing, hiking and visiting family and friends. Matt and I havn't even been home the last 4 weekends - visiting Matt's dad on Lake Winnepesaukee, attending Sam and Emily's incredible wedding, going to see U2 at Gilette Stadium, hanging out with Woody and Keith, and traversing the Carter-Moriah are just a few of the recent fun. But no matter what, medical school at this point is a means to an end for me - I am not made to sit in a class room and study over piles of books, and that's what we're doing for the most part. Clinical stuff comes around in 3rd year, and from then on, things just get better and better until you finally get to practice medicine on your own. That's a carrot the size of Montana to me!

The Upper Valley is incredibly beautiful, and I feel lucky to be in school here - if I were in New York, I'd be hating my life. It's amazing to be able to get out of class and pop over to Rumney, or head up Gile mountain to a firetower just outside of town, or jump off the roof of a friends' house in the Connecticut River. I can bike to school every day, a nice 4.5 mile jaunt door to door. And a world class medical center is just a few minutes away, tucked in those hills. It's pretty great. I think I'll enjoy calling this place home for four years - longer than anywhere has been home in a while! But once I'm done, we'll probably light out for the West again ...

The course material is mostly interesting, and mostly very understandable, but very voluminous. The analogy they tell you in orientation is that its like trying to drink from a firehose. I felt incredible unbalanced for a while, hating the idea of studying but knowing I had to, and I'm slowly adjusting to spending my time more wisely, studying smart, and still enjoying myself while giving the appropriate amount of energy and respect to my schoolwork. I want to be a great doctor, and that won't happen if I don't have a solid background in the basic science of medicine. Plus, its kind of a challenge - let's see if I can ace this anatomy quiz, even though there's thousands of terms we have to know. That kind of thing. We have tests every 2 weeks in every class, so the "quiz weekends" are not exactly fun, but certainly doable and a worthy sacrifice.

And things with Matt are also great. We've settled into a lifestyle where though we don't see each other as much (he's still doing shift work over in North Conway), the time we do spend together is always fun, interesting, and comfortable. I always miss him when he's gone, even though it allows me more time to be productive, focus on school, and get out and socialize with my classmates - who are truly awesome! I definitely picked the right place in terms of location and student body character. And we are settling into a pretty strong long term relationship, which is even more of a comfort. All in all, I'm pretty happy! Optimism and perseverance are things that can certainly be refined as a first year med student, so I consider it in some ways a blessing that things are hard.

And the leaves are turning. It's hard to remain upset for long when it's fall in New England!

Ciao,
Anna

It's been three weeks since I left behind Mississippi, and my two years of teaching English in a rural Delta school district (and two partial summers of mentoring and coaching new teachers!). I've been meaning to sit down and give an "ending" to this blog, so to speak, and I think enough time now has passed that I feel like I can do that objectively.

Leaving Mississippi (or more specifically, education in Mississippi) was definitely bittersweet - certainly "relief" might be the first word that comes to mind. I am relieved to be back in an educated state, in a place I love, surrounded by family and old friends. I am relieved that I will never again have to face the pressure, stress, and heartbreak of teaching in the Delta.

But a part of me is distinctly frustrated at the thought of leaving the classroom, or the realm of education. I'd like to work a way back into the education sphere in some way - if not through a career, then peripherally as a volunteer, a board member, a community leader, or even as a participant in a sort of wider conversation about education reform. That was the root of much of my Mississippi woes - I would rather reform the way education happens (to avoid the huge gap in achievement for low-income students) than try to work within a broken system (as a teacher to those low-income students). That conclusion was reinforced as I crossed into Minnesota driving up 35N on my way home from Mississippi. Ironically enough, the first thing I hear over the radio in Minnesota was the last 30 minutes of the Minneapolis School Board Meeting (broadcast over public radio) -- I thought I was leaving education only to re-discover it in a whole new way as I arrived. Listening in on the meeting was fascinating. No board meeting in a Mississippi school district would sound like this. But they had their fair share of big problems, controversial issues and inside arguments, too. Made me want to hop on the bandwagon as soon as I can - and I still plan to.

And so ends this blog. I hope someday soon I will have the sort of incredible inspiration that teaching in the Mississippi Delta brought to me (with perhaps little more free time!), so that I might start a new blog, with new thoughts, on new experiences. I'll leave this blog up here -- partly because it serves as a easy way to remember my experiences, and partly because it might help future teachers cope with theirs. Feel free to read back, and back and back any time you wish!

For now, my time is devoted to writing for someone else's blog. And at the very least, I will still feel connected to the digital world on facebook, twitter and linkedin....

EDIT: An interesting conversation went on re: this last entry over on Ephblog, the Williams alumni blog-meeting space. Read it here. 

A good friend of mine likes to quote an unknown speaker: "The only thing that is constant in life is change." For myself at this point in the great circle of being, this rings rather true.

Since my last entry, I have moved 2000 miles. The company that I keep has changed almost entirely, except for Matt. The hills around me are closely forested, a lush green. The mountains are my kingdom of recreation and solitude, but my skis are carefully tucked away in a corner of the attic. I awaken each morning hoping for sun and breeze to warm the cliffs, rather than calm silent flakes of precipitation to cover the trails. My daily routine can be summed up in a stream of words as such: coffee, breakfast, bug spray, climbing, growlers from the Moat, couches, dinner, friends, love, sleep. Sometimes I go to work, too.

I am a contemplative person by nature, and more so when confronted with changes and decisions in my life. Though on a day-to-day basis I rarely think long before plunging willfully into whatever sounds most fun and exciting among the opportunities of a given situation, I like to sit around and have long conversations, too, sometimes with myself, in my own head, when the urge strikes. With change stitched across every aspect of my life in recent months, certain things seem more relevant in my experiences.

I am someone that likes to make connections with people. When I like someone and enjoy being around them and find they have interesting things to say and that they understand me, I want to spend all my time with them. I've been lucky enough to often be surrounded by people that I feel that way about. When I don't have that, I retreat into my writing, reading long novels, reaching out to others in my life that I've felt connected to in that way that aren't physically present. I am struck by the genuine happiness that I feel when I'm just sitting in around, talking, eating, drinking, being with a person or people that I am spiritually connected to. I look around and I say, we are all human beings, and that is what bonds us. It doesn't matter the location or the circumstances, foreign or familiar, extreme or typical; shared experiences, no matter how simple, feed my heart and soul. And it never gets old to travel somewhere new and push your personal limits and find those moments along your journeys. When things change, I can always count on knowing that there are people who will come into my life and enrich it in unpredictable and unique ways.

I spent a week between jobs early this month with two friends that I had known only briefly in the past- people that I happened to have met at a crossroads, with me headed in one direction and they in the other. Though our time together was short, we are bonded by a love of climbing, a passion for exploring, and a penchant for late nights and early mornings. We spent a week constantly in each others company and reading each others thoughts. Again we met at a crossroads, with me headed off to a different place again, but that didn't diminish the joy I felt in their company. Would that one day we'll all be in the same place for many days ...

Change is constant, and wonderful.

Moxie

I 

For their final exam, I decided my students were simply tested-out from this spring of state-testing craziness. So I borrowed a unit from a great teacher-friend of mine, and used the final project in place of an exam. After reading and analyzing the Virginia Woolf story "Widow and the Parrot", groups created newscasts to present the events of the story and explore the motives of the characters in it.

Overall, the kids did a FANTASTIC job! I've uploaded a couple clips here, and hopefully will finish uploading more soon!

My Learning Strategies class is in the midst of reading A Raisin in the Sun. Like my previous classes, they are loving it. They love having their own parts to read, the incorrect grammar, the occasional swear word for emphasis. The opening act includes three confrontational arguments (including a mother slapping her daughter!) and they love to yell at one another with animation while reading. 

Last-Minute Advice (and Thoughts) from Room 2**

Dear English II students,

    With the state test quickly approaching, I thought I would write you all a letter to share my last-minute thoughts and advice.

    First of all, let me say that I am very, very proud of you all. It takes a lot of personal discipline to focus on mastering these skills, and I have seen many of you shine in the last few weeks. You have put a lot of hard work into preparing for this test, and it has certainly paid off. Every day I am so impressed with how much each of you has improved when it comes to state test questions – I have no doubt that your scores will be much higher than those of last year's classes. (In fact, I can't wait for the scores to come back, and to see how you all knocked them out of the park!)

    My number one piece of advice? Relax. You've worked hard, you know this stuff, you are all going to do very well on that test --- as long as you don't stress out about it. I've said it before, and I will say it again, the students who fail that test are not the “dumb” students, they are the students who think they can't do it, who just give up and randomly guess because they don't take the time to just figure it out. Take your time, use your head, and trust that you can do this.

    Now, on to some more concrete advice:

    1. Please go to bed early Thursday night (really). If you normally fall asleep at midnight, try to make it eleven. If you go to bed at 10:30, make it 10:00. Whatever works for you. Doing this will give you that extra boost in the morning that you'll need when you first open that test booklet.
    2. Make sure to eat something in the morning. I don't care if you haven't eaten breakfast in 12 years – get a few bites of food in your stomach. There is too much research on the importance of breakfast to test scores that you simply can't ignore it. On the other hand, if coffee and donuts will make you full and sick to your stomach, stay away and eat something smaller, or healthier, instead. Don't forget that I will have breakfast in the classroom available starting at 7:30 -- even if you aren't hungry you are welcome to stop in for some last minute encouragement!
    3. Write all over that test booklet. It's yours, and no one else's. You can underline, jot notes, cross out wrong answers, or draw a picture to illustrate a paragraph. All of these things will keep you AWAKE, will keep you MORE FOCUSED on what you are doing, and will help you ANSWER CORRECTLY.
    4. If you bring a cell phone to school Friday, it better be COMPLETELY off (not just on silent!) and sitting in the bottom of your bag, away from where anyone is sitting. Do not ignore this piece of advice, or you may cause every single person in the room to receive a failing test score. (The really smart people in here will not bring their cell phone anywhere near the testing room).

Last but not least, congratulations. You've worked hard, and we have come to the end of our state test preparation. After we take the 3rd quarter exam, I promise you that you won't see another multiple choice test or quiz in English II (and we won't do a single state test question either!) Feel free to stop by my room on Friday when you finish with your test – I would love to hear how it went.

Good luck on Friday! (Though you won't need it!)

Ms. Morrison

I've had a dearth of positive blog posts this spring (stemming mainly from the stress and chaos of teaching a state-tested subject in the final countdown to the test!) so I thought I would repost an incredibly inspiring story for good measure.

I am in awe of AW's success -- something to inspire us all in the last few months of the school year!

Simmons brings home the Latin gold and more

By TERRI FERGUSON SMITH terriferguson@ddtonline.com

Wednesday, April 22, 2009 12:36 PM CDT

HOLLANDALE - Less than a year after Simmons High School began offering a Latin class, students learning the ancient language are earning high marks for their efforts.

Instructor Austin Walker said nine students recently took the National Latin Exam and six scored in the top 40 percent nationally.

“Simmons High School had a 67 percent award rate,” Walker said of the competition.

That is the highest in the state, tying with Clinton High School where six out of nine students received an award, and those teams beat Southern Baptist Educational Center, where 17 of 27 received an award; St. Andrews, where 63 out of 103 received an award, and the Mississippi School for Math and Science, where 16 out of 33 received an award - an award rate of 48 percent, Walker said.

Xavier Clay won a first place gold medal; Bianca Johnson won a second place silver medal; Alexis Hicks, Ulysses Aldridge and Horace Willice all won third place, Magna Cum Laude honors; and Kayla Patterson won fourth place, Cum Laude.

Simmons was the only public school in the Delta to take the National Latin Exam, according to Walker. He said that the private institution, Washington School, was the only other school in the Delta to take the test and won two awards.

“My students' success demonstrates that in every district there are students whose potential is not realized and who can compete with anyone in the nation when given an opportunity,” Walker said.

Sharing the news with his students was an experience, too.

“My students were elated to find their results,” Walker said. “One student was in the cafeteria when the results came in. When I sent someone to tell him how he did, he refused to leave the cafeteria because he thought that they were making fun of him. He didn't believe that he could do that well.”

The success has given all of Walker's students a boost of self-confidence, he said.

“They have demonstrated that they are among the elite Latin students in the country,” Walker said.

The students are already talking about taking Latin II next year and other students have expressed an interest Latin I.

If you are reading this, good for you, you are thinking ahead. A word of warning: it doesn't matter how much you read, how much you "prepare", or how much you mull over your future life in your head. Nothing will really prepare you mentally, physically, or emotionally for actually coming here and beginning to teach. My best advice? Relax. Enjoy your last months as a college student. Plan to roll with the punches. MTCers who can shrug off stress, who don't take themselves or their work too seriously, and who can simply relax under pressure will thrive. So start practicing.

Everything else that I might want to say to you has already been written well by a former TFA. He wrote a letter to an in-coming first-year that sums up our job. Enjoy.

A lot of the things I thought about when I read the executive summary have already been written, in a much-more thought-through (and probably better-written) entry by a colleague of mine. 

The Executive Summary is the kind of statistical research report that I enjoy reading on pretty much ANY topic other than how awful Mississippi, and the Delta, is in comparison to the rest of the country. It would have made for fascinating reading 3 years ago (oh, I would have eaten it up and found it incredible), but now it just depresses me. I put off this blog until the last day or so because I just didn't even want to read it.

Yes, Mississippi has a lot of problems. Yes, the Delta is an incredibly depressing place. Yes, Mississippi, and more specifically, the Delta, has the worst of all the good things you can think of (graduation rates, incomes, education, industry, life expectancy, "human development", health, hope, etc ) and the best of all the worst things (teen pregnancy, poverty, unemployment, crime, segregation, idiocy, laziness, etc).

No matter how many times we can repeat, quanitify, publish, diagram, color-in-the-map, or research them, it is still going to turn out the same. Research like this may be thought-provoking for outsiders, and a call-to-arms for Mississippians who believe in in the power of optimism and progress and prosperity, but I am feeling more and more pessimistic about the Delta. This place is stuck in a hole. There is no solution. Nothing will fix the myriad problems in this particular "county grouping", as the summary calls it.

The two-map comparison in the summary is one of the more depressing things -- the MEDIAN income for blacks in my county is between 13,000 and 15,000 dollars. The median income for whites in my county is 30,000 to 38,000. There's not much to say about that, other than I don't understand why every single one of my students isn't working their little behind off to get out of this place, with that kind of future looking at them.

But then I realize, the reason the median is so low, and the reason that many of my kids don't try in my class, is that many of the African Americans in our community AREN'T working. Here are the two maps I created:

We need character education. Our school attempts to run a character education program. We have a “character word” of the week, which is announced, along with a brief explanation each week over the announcements. But we don't actually teach behavior associated with that word.

I think our community could really benefit from is a strong program to teach character (I'm thinking along the lines of some of the programs in the KIPP schools) in elementary and middle school, and perhaps even into the high school, that truly teach proper behavior and etiquette. After going on vacation, and leaving the Delta, I remembered again how frustrating the lack of social manners in our community really is.

When you go to restaurants in this community, your order is constantly lost, confused, or met with a scowl. Rarely do store clerks look you in the eye, or secretaries respond with a smile. No one takes time to help you any more than their job requirements allow.

In schools (and out of them) most kids do not understand how to speak to adults, do not use the words “please” and “thank you” and rarely look you in the eye. They seem to struggle with the idea that others might have feelings, or that others might wish for the same respect that they themselves require.

It's not the kids' fault. They don't know. I've watched parents that are present for these types of behavior react as if all is normal, barely perceiving that their child's behavior might be impolite, or even outright rude and offensive. So much to teach; so little time.