q & a November 22, 2009

i’ve had a lot of different questions from people since i found out i got accepted to TFA for next year. most people have been excited and supportive, some have been concerned about me living in los angeles, and some (few) have had feelings quite the opposite of excitement… so here are a few of the questions that keep coming up:

*when will you leave?
i have to be in LA on june 20. i have one week of regional induction where i will meet my fellow corps members, be introduced to the area- where to shop, eat, live, etc. they will show us where corps members have lived in the past (so it will be in a safe area, and will be affordable, as they have formed partnerships for reduced housing costs) and we will meet with the principals and staff of our schools. we will find out our specific grade level assignment (right now all i know is high school) and at which school we’ll be placed. after induction, i’ll have 5 weeks of training at the institute, where i’ll student teach in the mornings and attend sessions in the afternoons and nights. i’ll have weekends free to finalize apartment plans and begin moving in. i’ll be staying in the dorms at loyola marymount university during these 6 weeks. this is also where i’ll be attending school for my master’s.

* los angeles is an expensive place to live. how will you afford to live there on a teacher’s salary?
i’ll be paid a regular first year california teacher’s salary. so while i won’t be living in beverly hills, i’ll be making enough to afford the necessities and provide for my students. and i’ve never considered salary when thinking about what i wanted to do, and i’m pretty sure that’s not God’s priority either. this is where He’s called me. He will take care of me.

*aren’t you scared to teach high school since you’re so close to the students in age?
yes. i’m very scared. not because of my age necessarily, but scared that they will feel they can’t relate to me since i’m a young white girl from south carolina who has never even visited LA before. but i’ve heard from other corps members and am convinced myself that racial and cultural barriers can be broken once they see that i’m truly on their side and care about seeing them succeed. i think this will be the biggest challenge, but it will be amazing once we overcome it.

* are you scared to live in LA?
no. i’ve traveled a lot by myself and i really feel like God allowed me to do so to prepare me for this. He’s shown me very clearly in the past that my life is totally in His hands. i trust Him. and i think LA is going to be ballin

*why do you want to teach in such a difficult setting when you could teach in a better school system and be paid more?
(i have to admit, this one frustrates me a bit). if no one will go teach in the underprivileged schools, then the students in said schools are never going to receive an equitable education, and society will continue to reflect this. do students in these schools really deserve an inferior education simply because they were born into a poorer community? or because they were born on the same street where drug dealers and prostitutes and pimps make their living? are students of a different race or socioeconomic background less capable of achieving educational success?
no.
these students have gotten shafted for too long because of circumstances that they have no control over and it is not fair. jesus has made it clear that if we claim to know him, we are to join him in the pursuit of justice, and this is the means by which He has called and allowed me to be a part of His work. i’m EXCITED about the opportunity to get to be a part of this.

*how will you afford to move to cali?
TFA is providing grant money that will cover all my costs of moving and settling in.

*where will you teach?
corps members are placed primarily in charter schools, the LA Unified School District, the Compton School District, or the Pasadena School District. i won’t know for sure until i get there and meet with the principals.

*what will a typical week look like for you?
most corps members are at their schools between 10 and 12 hours a day, hosting tutoring sessions before and after school and taking on other leadership roles such as coaching, conducting student council, etc. i will also be attending at least 6 hours of classes at LMU per week, as well as participating in regularly scheduled professional development workshops and seminars as required by TFA. other non-negotiables during the week will be finding a church community and small group to be involved in and committed to, and finding time to work out, whether that be running or yoga or playing basketball with my kids during their lunchtime. it’s very time-consuming commitment but i knew that going into it and i really believe it will be worth it.

i think these are most of the big questions i’ve been asked. if you want to find out more about the program, you can visit their website- www.teachforamerica.org. a good book to read to learn about the students i’ll be spending time with is The Freedom Writer’s Diary by Erin Gruwell. i’ve never seen the movie version, but the book is amazing. and its actually about a high school english teach in long beach, california, which is potentially where i could be placed, so it should give a fairly accurate description of what my experience could be like.

thank yall for all your support and excitement i’ll definitely keep you updated, and am planning on starting a blog specifically about my experience with TFA over the next 2 years. i need your prayers. this is going to be challenging. but awesome. i know it sounds weird, but i already love these students so much, and i’m not even there yet. it just feels like God has been preparing me for this for years now, and i can’t wait to see what all He does.

The Sweetest Thing August 26, 2009

im reading a book that is basically one long conversation with bono (it’s actually called “Bono, in conversation” by Michka Assayas), and im a tad obsessed with it at the moment. regardless of your feeling of U2, as musicians, artists, people,… you have to acknowledge that bono and his bandmates love people the way jesus intended us to. i dont think he’s perfect. i dont take every word he says as theology. im not reading this book as my new bible or attempting to elevate his words to that status. but i believe he has interesting, honest, bold insight to scripture and to life as jesus intended, and i want to share some of his quotes over the next few days.

on social responsibility, justice, love:
“Right now there is the biggest pandemic in the history of civilization, happening in the world now with AIDS. Its biggers than the Black Death, which took a third of Europe in the Middle Ages. Sixty-five hundred Africans are dying every day of a preventable, treatable disease. And it is not a priority for the West: two 9/11s a day, eighteen jumbo jets of fathers, mothers, families falling out the sky. No tears, no letters of condolence, no 51-gun salutes. Why? Because we dont put the same value on African life as we put on European or American life. God will not let us get away with this, history certainly won’t let us get away with our excusese. We say we can’t get these antiretoviral drugs to the farthest reaches of Africa, but we can get them our cold fizzy drinks. The tiniest village, you can find a bottle of Coke. Look, if we really thought than an African life was equal in value to an English, a French, or an Irish life, we wouldnt let two and half million Africans die every year for the stupidest of reasons: money. We just wouldnt…The next step in the journey of equality is to get to a place where we accept that you cannot choose your neighbor. In the Global Village, distance no longer decideds who is your neighbor, and “Love thy neighbor” is not advice, it is a command.”