Annie

I am so thankful for today. I'm thankful to be in Memphis and working in Memphis City Schools. I'm thankful for supportive friends and family. I'm thankful for all the things I have learned this summer that made today a successful first day. I'm thankful for students who volunteer to work problems on the board the first day of school. I'm thankful for a mentor who let me take over (as much as I know how to) on the first day.


And I'm thankful for stories that will always make me laugh:


My 5th period class is full of students who had my mentor teacher last year, so they were very comfortable talking and participating today. One student told me that I looked like Shirley Temple and little orphan Annie. I said it must be the curly red hair, admitting she was right. Little did I know that she would decide that she was going to call me Annie... in front of the principal. I was walking past the student in the hallway so when I got to the principal I jokingly said, "That's Ms. Annie to you." 

1st Day

Tomorrow is the day. My official first day of teaching.

I'm scared and excited all at the same time. I'm comforted by the fact that I'm not alone, not for one moment. Not only do I have a mentor teacher who I will be with all day, but I have two MTR peers I'm riding to school with, and a coach who is taking us out for ice cream after school. And I have a super awesome God who has not only led me here, but will guide me the entire way, tomorrow and everyday.

As I was getting organized tonight, I came across this poem that KIPP students memorized this summer and found it to be extremely relevant for tomorrow.[KIPP left out the middle part about God, but it is pretty important:] I'm printing a copy to put up by my desk.

Our Deepest Fear 

Marianne Williamson

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.

KIPP Clinicals

Two weeks ago we finished our summer clinicals at KIPP, and we were oh-so-excited to be given KIPP shirts on our last day. Across the back of each shirt it says, "There are no excuses." 

This week we are at our schools for in-service and setting up our classrooms. I am definitely nervous about school starting on Monday, but confident because of the opportunity I had at KIPP to practice leading a classroom and interact with students. I'm becoming more comfortable with being called Ms. Boyd everyday. 

24

Earlier this month I celebrated my 24th birthday. Although it was the first birthday in my life that I had to go to school, it was one of the best birthdays because I was surrounded by so many dear friends. 

In class we celebrated with a cake and I was serenaded with Stevie Wonder's Happy Birthday. Then most of the class went to Memphis Pizza Cafe for lunch and a smaller group went bowling. To top off an awesome day Sarah, Kristin, and I went to the Redbirds game!

The next day, my dear friend Callie came into town [I'm a bad friend and didn't get a picture of the two of us!] and we went out to my parents house for a birthday cookout with friends from all different parts of my life - Middle School, High School, College, Neighborhood Church, and my mom and sister Martha.

It was a great night of fellowship. I found that many of my friends did not know what it means to Call the Hogs, so after Happy Birthday was sung, we showed everyone that glorious tradition! Woo Pig Sooie!

Who is going to go to college?

This week we are observing and helping with Summer School at KIPP DIAMOND Academy, which is a charter school here in Memphis. They have many routines and procedures that are very effective in discipline and learning. We are very fortunate to see how they set up the school year and culture with three weeks of summer school before the traditional school year. 


On Monday morning the administration was talking about goals and expectations while all the new students were sitting in rows on the floor of the cafeteria [they have to earn desks] and the principal asked, "Who is going to college?" and a boy who I had talked with earlier that morning raised both his hands as high up in the air as he could. I fought back tears as I saw how much he wants a better life. 


This verse has been on my heart this week as well:
When the righteous prosper, the city rejoices; when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy. Proverbs 11:10
Memphis is already changing because of the educational reforms and the entire city will benefit and rejoice when EVERY student has access to a GREAT education.

Life is Full

The last 5+ weeks have flown by since I moved and started MTR. Life is oh-so-busy, but definitely a ton of fun and very fulfilling. I love living in Midtown and love our apartment [with the exception of the occasional cockroach - I have killed 5 so far].

Lots of the furniture I had in Fayetteville, and of course the cross collection is always a topic of conversation. My bedroom was not picture-ready this day, so I owe you a picture of it. Sarah loves to have people over as much as I do, so we have friends over often. 

This post is going WAY back to the first week of MTR. We had a Midtown Scavenger Hunt. We didn't win, but we sure did have a blast. We decoded clues that led us to Piggly Wiggly [the first self-service grocery store], the ABC/24 station, the school board, Young Avenue Deli, and the Main Library. We also got 5 additional points for each person in the picture not in MTR.

MTR Residents are on the same page so much that we dress alike without any planning:

We were very excited to have finished two of our courses and successfully made it through our first Saturday class. There are many more of those to come!

Ashley became a Master back in May. She got hooded with her Masters of Occupational Therapy. We are so proud!

Meredith and I experienced our first Flash Mob in person a few weeks ago. She called me about 33 minutes before it started and I rushed from Cordova to pick her up and make it downtown in time to catch most of the performance. 

Since we had class, we were not able to make it to Bonnaroo the second weekend in June, so a few of my classmates implemented Lonnaroo out on the lawn here at our apartment complex. The dress code was "sexy casual" and there was a tattoo design specifically for the event. Nadia walked the dog on her ankle and Martha and Danielle were my guests.

Aunt Kay, Uncle Bob, Sarah, and Andrew came though town a few weeks ago as they moved back to Colorado and we hit up Central BBQ per Uncle Bob's request. Sarah and Andrew drew some awesome pictures that we have displayed on our refrigerator when they stopped by to see our apartment.

Last Friday was Cow Appreciation Day at Chick-fil-a, so 22 of us dressed up as cows to get a free lunch. We even coined a cheer, "We love cows yes we do! We love cows Moo, Moo, Moo!"

Nadia even showed us what Mad Cow Disease is like. [center picture]

Saturday night all of MTR went to the Redbirds game. I had such great conversation and company that I barely watched the game! 

It was fun to be all together on such a beautiful night! We brought 7 or 8 blankets, but by the end of the night, we were all sitting close to each other on 3 of them.

Roommate Date

This seems like it was so long ago! Part of orientation for MTR is a required Roommate date so we decided to go here:

And it was such a great idea that Mike and Stu joined us. We waded down the Mississippi and went walking in [on] Memphis:

And I made sure Mike didn't cross over into Arkansas.

And then we had some roommate time on the pedal boat. Sarah rocks. Enough said.

I'm loving MTR more and more everyday!