Love your kids no matter what

Kids will remember you for your love over the consequences you give them (even if it means getting sent to the calm down corner five times a day and they cry each time). With all the violence and aggression they are exposed to, a little love can go a long way. Today was a perfect illustration of this.

We have a little girl who has so much love to share and a disability (which cannot be mentioned here) that causes behavioral problems. Today was a particularly rough day for her, she couldn't even complete her short term goals of 5 minute tasks. We found out at the end of the day that her rough day was a result of not being medicated in the morning. She only has enough medication for two days, and there are still more than 10 days left before she can fill her prescription. Hearing this reinforced why I'm here.

Terrible Tuesday

• A mouse ran through my classroom at 7:30 am
• My class arrives an hour later, mind you half the kids from yesterday aren't present and more than ten new students show up
• Of these students, only a third are girls and two are hyperactive
• Since 30% of the student body lives at a homeless shelter, they complain of hunger all morning
• At lunch they ate chilli cheese fries, and they each only got 3-5 fries
• They're angry because they're still hungry and tired from not sleeping

High of the Day: I'm pretty sure that the mouse left our room after lunch

Why do you want to learn?

"To go to jail" - a response I got from one of my rising first graders. The fact that this is a funny prospect is incredibly frightening and took me completely off guard. In preparation for summer school to start, I continuously asked myself how it was possible that the achievement gap existed at such a young age. Today, receiving this response, I now see that while the children from my home think it is normal to go to college and become a professional, my children here view jail as not so farfetched.

On a happier note, kids say the darndest things. Some snippets from today (:

Scenario 1

Little K: Ms. Pollock, are those two teachers sisters?

Ms. P: No they aren’t but they’re both Asian

Little K: HUH?!

Ms. P: You know, they’re from the continent Asia. You’re black, I’m white and they’re Asian

Little K: You white?!

Scenario 2

My name is _____

I’m here to learn

I like mac n’ cheese

And we’ll have fun

N: helllllzzzz yea

so many hours in just one day

I've been with TFA for almost two weeks and it feels like forever! It's incredible the amount of information that has been thrown at us, and it's scary that we don't have time to not pay attention.

Some of the thinks I have learned so far:

- I've been placed to teach rising first graders over the summer

- The average income of my students' family of four is 14,000 a year

- Not to drink the water from the fountain at my school because the water probably isn't safe

- The literacy statistics of third grade are used to project prison beds

- Lesson plans stink, for real

- 5 am will always feel like 5 am no matter what, even if you go to sleep at 9

Club Celebration Partners for Life!

Today marks the 22nd birthday of Sarah Hoyoon Lee, aka the other half of CC/BBC/PIC/DP in my life. It has been such a blessing getting to know this girl . Though it took a while to coerce her into being my friend, it is crazy to see that not ALL that much has changed since freshman year (: Have a mimosa to celebrate this momentous occasion!

Be Joyful Always

Try to remember the last time you experienced joy?

I have always had a difficult time differentiating between joy and happiness, and it is something that I've been thinking about a lot over the past couple of days after hearing a sermon on Sunday. I believe joy is a much deeper emotion that stems from within, but this isn't to say that joy can't be triggered by external forces. So, I've come to the conclusion that I need to figure out how to be more joyful.

I have been so incredibly blessed to have a church a block away from my house, where I have joined a young women's bible study. The young women were welcoming, open and one is even a current TFA corp member, which has been an unexpected answer to prayer. The entire group helped ease my nerves about institute and the transient period of life I've entered.

And these are my scattered thoughts of today.

Taking on Philadelphia by Storm...?

There's more to Philly than it's cheese steak, there's me!

I'd like to say I'm super excited about the prospects this city has to offer me as I begin the next two years of my life, but it is incredibly difficult to overcome the fact that I am all alone in an apartment that does not feel like home. Of course living so close to chinatown has it's perks, I have access to bubble tea all day long and I am just blocks away from center city.

Unfortunately, I have yet to venture the few blocks to center city because I have never wandered around anywhere on my own. Since I don't listen to music, talking buddies are extremely important when walking, and I know I wouldn't be able to purchase anything since I'd have nobody to reassure me.

Let's hope week 2 looks better