TFA: Day 1 Review

Day 1

Perspectives Leadership Academy is on the 3^rd floor of an old, large school building.  The building contains three charter schools, one on each floor: Calumet Middle School on the first floor, Perspectives Technology High School on the second, and Perspectives Leadership Academy on the third.  Although they are all in the same building, they function and operate and are funded completely independent of one another.  On the first day, John and I sign in with the security guard on the first floor, receive our visitor’s pass badges and make our way to the third floor.  As Miss Warshaw (our mentor for the week) is away for the day leading a business project competition, this day will be spent familiarizing ourselves with the building and introducing ourselves to staff and students, and lots of observation as opposed to hands-on activity.  Miss Warshaw had informed us to report to Mr. Corwin and Miss Smith, two other TFA teachers on staff at the academy, who will be responsible for showing us the ropes on our first day.  Mr. Corwin is a math teacher and Miss Smith teaches English and Literature.  Mr. Corwin invited us to sit in on his 11^th grade Algebra 2 class and we observe him and the kids as he reviews the Pythagorean Theorem with them.  On the whiteboard in big red letters it read “36 days until the ACT”.  Throughout the day, we were introduced to various staff members and got to sit in on a Physics class covering elastic and inelastic collisions with Mr. Strick, a special-ed Biology class covering the reproductive system with Miss Talya, and a few more math classes with Mr. Corwin.  It was fascinating to see the different attitudes of the kids in different classes, the dynamic between student and teacher, and the interesting systems and strategies the teachers employed.  One of the systems was a demerit system, where kids would be given demerits for various infractions from chewing gum, to talking too loud, being disrespectful, not sitting up straight and so forth.  Anyway, after our first day, John and I had a good feeling for the Perspectives Leadership Academy environment and we were more than ready to come off the side-lines, and couldn't wait to become more involved when Miss Warshaw got back the next day!