Phonics Guru

Sunday, July 31, 2011 (2:13pm CST)

Face first was right, no time for “vision” writing, or learning Chinese, or going for a run.  Within 24 hours, I was assigned 10 fellows to read all of their lessons for the upcoming week, give them feedback, and start observing lessons. This was all well and good until I opened up the first phonics lesson (hmmmm….), the second lesson (ummm?), and the third lesson (ok).  I turned to the Program Manager next to me and asked, “How much phonics instruction did these fellows receive?” The Program Manager then informed me that they received very little training on phonics as no one on staff has been taught how to teach phonics before, but it is required. I quickly realized while I could give my fellows lots of feedback on their lessons to solve a temporary problem, I would not be getting at the root of the issue and would be giving immense amounts of feedback a ritual. I was directed to the woman in charge of the content team and asked her what I could do to assist the fellows in their planning and teaching of phonics, other than give feedback to my fellows.  I was immediately invited to join the Content Team as the “Phonics Guru.”

“Phonics Guru” was never a title I ever thought I would have. As a student, I struggled immensely with reading and with phonics specifically. In college, I never received any sort of formal teaching phonics instruction in my Elementary Education degree. Upon teaching 1^st grade and Kindergarten was my first exposure to the variety of approaches, techniques, and strategies that exist in this specific literacy domain. In the past two years, my phonics instruction has evolved, really in every sense of the word. I started out with the good old-fashion alphabet without curriculum. When curriculum joined the classroom, it was very basic and slow-paced, not truly meeting the potential of the students in the classroom. I then entered Kindergarten where I was asked to help develop the Scope and Sequence of objectives taught for the rest of the school year for phonics, being handed a Words Their Way book. As the year continued, phonics instruction improved immensely, however, it was separate from the rest of literacy instruction. It was this past year with the problem-solving skills and experiences of those on my wonderful Kindergarten team that we were truly able to infuse phonic into every part of literacy in the classroom. So now I am here, and simply by virtue of the fact that I know what phonics is, I am asked to plan all phonics instruction for the upcoming school year.

This might be hard to balance with those 10 fellows I was just assigned, their 20 daily lesson plans, and three daily observations. After talking with my new boss (for whom I am very excited to work), we decided that I would take this week to dedicate to planning for the Content Team and act as a sort of freelance phonics consultant for fellows and their lessons. Those fellows who sought me out for advice in planning or problem-solving phonics in their classroom could meet with me one-on-one. In going back to my room to see which books I had brought that were relevant to phonics instruction, I could not be more thankful that those which made the cut to be in my overweight luggage were my Words Their Way books that I had purchased only weeks before leaving and had revolutionized my understanding of how to teach phonics.

Within two days, I had Scope and Sequenced the phonics, reading, sight words, and writing instruction for the upcoming year and given all of the fellows a phonics instruction workshop. I was ready to get some fellows to counter balance my content planning! On Thursday, I was assigned 6 fellows who would be mine for the rest of Summer Institute. Thursday afternoon I met with all of them. We decided to call ourselves “The Bright Spots” because while Teach for China is new any everyone might be experiencing their learning curve, we are going to be the Bright Spots that everyone looks to and thinks, “well, that group isn’t having any trouble, what are they doing right?”  All of us are really excited to be working with each other and are ready to build a team culture radiating optimism, assistance, cooperation, and problem-solving.  Since our first deadline on Friday evening, I have been glued to my computer screen reading 30+ lesson plans for next week and am ready to receive a whole new batch this evening! Let the teaching begin!

South of the Clouds

Tuesday, July 26, 2011  (10:32am CST)

There is no greater feeling than having someone waiting for you in an airport in the middle of nowhere. Given my journey up to this point, I would not have been surprised if I had just had to hitch hike to the Teach for China (TFC) location (of which I had no address!). Lucky for me, it was smooth sailing from this point forward. Welcome to Yunnan, meaning "South of the clouds."

A nice young Chinese-American summer intern was waiting for me in that one-room building. We loaded my things into a pretty modern and nice bus and drove about 40 minutes into the city.  After inadvertently playing twenty question with him on everything that had been racing through my brain over the past thirty hours, we arrived at the hotel where the TFC staff are staying. Upon entering both the hotel and my room, I was pleasantly surprised. The accommodations are very clean and modern. I am staying in a room by myself with two full beds, a table and chairs, a tv, internet, and even a shower that sometimes has hot water. I will be staying in this hotel until the end of August when we will get our placements and have a better idea of where to find an apartment.

I quickly dropped my bags in the room, and headed over to the middle school that is serving as TFC’s Summer Institute headquarters. Summer Institute is what TFC (and TFA) use as an initial training for teachers before they enter the academic year. During these weeks, teachers gain practice writing and executing lesson plans as well as building classroom culture and building relationships with students. During Summer Institute, TFC is using workspace in this building to train the fellows, and in addition, it is also a partner school that is participating in the summer school program.

Upon walking in the gates I was greeted by lots of smiling faces and without knowing what hit me, was introduced to about 15 people (who I instantly forgot their names) who were all signing students up for summer school. The intern then walked me on a tour of “the city” of Lincang. For those of you familiar with Boston University, It is about the size of our campus (or any college campus for that matter).  The weather is humid and tropical. The sky could rain at any unpredictable bipolar second, day or night. But you almost don’t mind because it’ so hot out a sprinkle is actually refreshing. The stores range from technology, to Laundromats, to musical instruments and lots and lots of cheap food and clothes! With the $250 RNB I was able to exchange for the dollars in my purse, I was able to buy the cheapest phone in the store along with a SIM card. Score! To celebrate (well, really, to fill our bellies), the intern then took me out for some delicious noodles – yes, the tomato-egg soup dish (worth breaking my veganism for :).

Once we returned to the school, it was time for about an hour of orientation and then off to work (yup, it was a Saturday…). I quickly learned that all fellows were starting their first day of summer school on Monday, which meant the stress and tension amongst all hands on deck in the organization was overwhelming the air.  Feeling bad that everyone was working feverishly and I had nothing better to do than write my blog and pick my nose, I decided to dive into the mix – face first!

One Lucky Duck

Friday. July 22, 2011 (7:24am CST)

Talk about an adventure! I have a sneaking feeling that this little trip to China will be absolutely nothing like a study abroad trip to Beijing for six weeks…

After a pleasant flight sitting next to a lovely lady from DC, I am welcomed into Beijing by waiting 40 minutes in immigration and customs and then another 20 minutes to ride the shuttle that takes me to the domestic terminal (aka – other side of town). By the time I arrive at the next terminal and getting my ridiculous oversized bags to the check-in counter, they inform me that they are no longer checking-in customers for my flight to Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, and that I should go to the ticketing counter to get a new ticket. It is also clear that all of the pinyin and phrase studying I was so proud of on the plane means poop.

The woman behind the counter said that unfortunately there were no more economy seats left on the two flights leaving that day but that I could upgrade to a first class seat. Knowing I would be reimbursed, but more so just wanting to get to people who speak my language sooner rather than later, I agreed and handed them my bank card. Transaction failed. Transaction failed. Transaction failed. Awesome. This was the only card I brought with me.

I look to my left and I see a man who muttered something in English to a friend. I immediately ask him to verify what is going on. This man became my new best friend for the next hour. Without hesitation he offered me his phone so that I could call Teach for China and ask someone there for assistance. He even went so far as to let me call Bank of America in the US to see if I could fix my card situation. Neither of which was particularly successful. Teach for China suggested that I take a taxi into Beijing and find the Teach for China office and see if someone could help me there. My best friend quickly retorted with (in Chinese), “I really don’t think that’s a good idea. This girl has no idea where she is and doesn’t speak Mandarin and you want to send her into the city to find an office. It’s after five, are you sure anyone is even there?” Thank goodness that not only could my best friend speak English fluently, but he also had common logistical sense. Plan B: Talk to the ticketing counter and really make them sympathize for my cause. After all, that is what kept my best friend by my side. After he hung up the phone he turned to me and said, “I just feel really bad for you.” So off we went so he could rally the China Eastern Airlines folks for my cause. After he was done, I was left sitting in the First Class Lounge waiting standby for any seat on the next flight out to Kunming. I have never felt so much gratitude and so helpless all at once. I guess you find the lucky ducks in China.

Once I landed in Kunming and strapped on my new wardrobe of backpacks and overweight luggage I was set off to find this mysterious hotel that I was supposedly booked for (although now that I spend 9 hours in the Beijing Airport, I only had 3 hours left to enjoy at the hotel before I had to leave again for Lincang, the city where I will be based).

Even though he could only see my little headed popping out of my American rolling suitcase float parade, someone who worked for the airport was adamant about me walking to my hotel. Trying to have some faith in my new fellow countrymen, I took his word for it and exited the airport refusing taxi service and wandering around the parking lot. I took out the paper where he wrote down the address on a sheet of paper in Chinese and started finding random people and asking them (with charades – my new language for the next few months) where it was. Lucky number three was able to turn my head so that I was now actually looking at it about 10 meters away and right in front of me J.

A shower, Internet, and nap later, I left the hotel back to the airport for the final leg of my trip (only 40 minute flight!). Quick note: the airports here are awesome when it comes to food options they have like full on farmers markets in the terminals and mangoes bigger than my head. If only I could have bought one! As I am walking onto the plane, I catch up with the two other foreigners I see walking ahead of me… and oh my goodness! Did I just hear Portuguese!?! Ha! These two men were from Brazil and Argentina and are working in tobacco in Lincang! I got to practice some Portuguese as I boarded the plane, which felt almost more relieving than finding someone to speak English with. Man I am strange!

As I look out the window, floating above the clouds, I can’t help but realize how much my life is going to change. I was quickly asked to put my things away as we were about the land. As we break through the clouds, rolling green hills with beautiful picturesque terrace farming carpeted the mountains. Just when I thought we were landing in one of the fields a short runway appeared below us and a small one-room building sat just beside it. I am here!

Ni Hao are you in China right now?!

Thursday, July 21, 2011 (2:10pm EST)

“Bing! It is now safe to use your electronic devices.”

I can’t help but snatch up my laptop as if someone might beat me to it and begin spilling out my reflections, emotions, expectations, fears, and hopes for the new chapter in my life.

As I clenched on to those I love for one last goodbye, I could not help but face the reality that I am, in fact, moving to China. I hugged each of them, wringing out their tears as they rolled down their cheeks. I had to settle for the one last “I love you” and know that is all that I can say to assure both them and myself, that I will take them in my hearts as I embark on this wild ride. I turned and walked toward the escalator, it hit me – shock, departure, love, fear, and sadness. And the only thought I can reflect on is, “How did this happen?”

It was an evening in late May, and my sister, Jess and I were sitting on my living room couch in Eastern Market ready to chat over my next life move.  Over the course of my past year, it had become clear that the school in which I was teaching was not a good fit for me and that I needed to seek out some new opportunities. Having been unemployed for some of the first few months out of college, I was adamant over making sure that this will never happen again.  After Jess toured me through the websites of different schools that she had heard rave reviews, we sat back on the couch and looked at one another. Hesitantly, Jess said, “ So, I kind of don’t want to tell you this, because I know you might actually consider this as a possibility, but I guess now I’ve started so now I have to…” One of her colleges in the Washington, DC region of Teach for America (TFA) was moving to Teach for All’s network partner, Teach for China to help lead training and programming. She continued by saying that this colleague was looking for Program Managers and that she thought I was definitely qualified to apply for the position.

She explained that a few years ago, Wendy Kopp the founder of Teach for America, started receiving requests from organizations in other countries to assist, guide, and offer resources to help effectively implement the TFA model in their own country. At the time, TFA had to respond by saying that they did not have that allocated in their budget and long term plans. After popular demand over the following few years, Wendy Kopp created the Teach for All network. This network supports and allows countries across the globe that are interested in using the Teach for America model to have access to guidance, resources, and each other. An organization in China was one of the first countries to jump on board. Three years ago they joined the Teach for All network and changed their name to Teach for China. Teach for China is unique amongst the other countries (for many reasons of course, by primarily) because they specially requested as many top American graduates to come teach English there as possible, rather than the traditional model which would draw upon the top achieving college graduates in the country it is servicing. Apparently China is very concerned about its students’ ability to communicate in English fluently and effectively going into the future. Per request, Teach for All is helping Teach for China recruit these smart, eager, young Americans to move to China for 2 years of service as a teacher or  “fellow” in Teach for China. Teach for China does also recruit top Chinese graduates as well who will teach a range of subject content areas. However, the ratio of American to Chinese fellows is at least 2:1. Program Managers, the position being recruited for, serve as instructional coaches for a group of teachers and help them achieve their classroom achievement goals (exactly the same as the TFA model).

I grinned at Jess and said, “Sure, why not? Send me her email.” (Thinking, “ I would rather move to rural China for the next two years than be unemployed… and it sounds like an awesome job!”). That night I emailed her former colleague. Within an hour, the woman responded and was eager to set up a time to talk about the organization and position. Over the next four weeks we exchanged many correspondences as I completed the numerous steps it took to complete the Teach for China application process. I also was applying to many other schools in DC, including the ones Jess had recommended that same evening. Two wonderful DC charter schools offered me jobs, both of which I would have been eager and excited to start in the fall. In fact, I had plans to go in and sign my contract with one of them if I had not heard back from Teach for China by July 5.  Under the fireworks the night of July 4, I got a buzz on my phone with an email for a job as Program Manager for Teach for China.

It was the moment I had been both eagerly waiting for and dreading at the same time. For the past two year I have been so fortunate to found myself in such a wonderful life. I lived in my favorite part of the city, Eastern Market, in a gorgeous newly renovated town house just three blocks away from my sister (and two metros!)  I lived happily with two old friends from college and had a nice new Prius. I had finally graduated my first two very challenging years of teaching; accumulating a boat-load of experience, knowledge, skills, and techniques for teaching Kindergarten – not to mention 25 boxes worth of teaching supplies! Going into a third year of teaching Kindergarten in DC would have finally been comfortable, manageable, and enjoyable. Rural China on the other hand….?

So what do I do? Lead this perfect life I worked so hard to create for myself in DC, or hop the next 20 hour flight to rural China and embark on what will probably be the most terrifying and challenging experience of my life. Luckily I surround myself with insanely supportive and brilliant people, all who could not let me pass up the opportunity; reminding me that not only is this a personal experience of a lifetime, but that this will also help launch my career in educational leadership.

I was immediately notified that I was a late hire and that Teach for China actually wanted me to arrive a month ago, so it would be great if I could get there yesterday. After speaking with my family and friends, July 21 was the best day for me to leave. I had 17 days to sell everything I own and pack the rest of my life up in a storage cube, cancel my ties with every organization I am affiliated with and say my last goodbyes. Immediately Jess and her husband, Jon jumped on board and hosted a fantastic going away party for me. My cousin, Jimmy and his family so graciously drove their truck out from the middle of Virginia to help move everything into storage. My mother booked her flight out to spend my final 3 days with me before I left the country. My boyfriend, Merdim finally booked the camping trip we had been talking about going on and every other friend that I have made it a point to say goodbye at least three times.

After the chaos of packing, storing, and last minute shopping was over, I was able to sit down to my relaxing and scrumptious last (vegan) supper with my mom, Jess, Jon, and Merdim. Being able to reminisce and enjoy them before I left was the best way that I could have spent my last night in DC.

With all of my emotions stirring inside of me, I walked down the escalator and into the massive TSA line. After an hour and fifteen minutes (!!!!???) of waiting to be screened, I was 15 minutes away from my flight gate closing – and they ask me to step aside so they can pat me down. THE GIRL IN THE ELASTIC OUTFIT!? No joke, I am wearing a red camisole tank top with black spandex running pants and sandals. Really, friends? Enraged, and yet knowing that they find absolutely NO sympathy, I had no choice but to dive into the Confucian Zen I am about to embody in Yunnan Province and then run like a soldier carrying 100lbs of ammo to the further possible gate as soon as the woman said, “OK, you are clear to leave.” Panting as though I might actually keel over and not make it on my flight out of exhaustion, I stumble up as they were closing the gate for Final Boarding. Holy smokes!!

Once I was able to catch my breath, I opened my bag to read the incredible gift assembled by my family.  At dinner last night, I received a book of pictures and notes from my close friends and family showing appreciation, wishing me good luck, and offering me pearls of wisdom. For those of you who were able to contribute, I cannot tell you how much you all mean to me and how thankful I am for your kindness and support.

One piece of advice stood out amongst the rest to me as very powerful and necessary, “Create a vision for what is driving you in this work- who you are and why you are here- and what you hope to achieve- and come back to it, reflect on it often, and adjust course if necessary. Be and stay grounded in your ultimate vision. “

This reminded me of my Philosophy of Education statement that I was required to write upon graduating the School of Education at BU. It was my first statement to define my mission and instructional compass in the classroom.  It is time for a vision as I leave my role in front of the classroom in the US.

Off I go now, to create a statement to articulate my vision in hope that it will act as a pillar in this extraordinary and challenging journey while I experience a Range of Change – not only within myself, but within cultures, perspectives, societies, and education across countries.