First Day of Delta Institute

Howdy (this is not a cultural norm I've picked up here, I'm just electing to be a tool),

I am proud--and exhausted--to say that the 2011 Delta Institute has officially been inaugurated. For those who are confused as to why I'm in Mississippi, allow me to explain: Teach For America operates on the "Teaching As Leadership" paradigm. I know you don't care for me to elaborate on this philosophy, so I won't, but I will synopsize the ultimate takeaway point the model bestows--student scholastic achievement is determined by the teacher. Anyways, Teach For America has placed Corps Members from several regions around the country in the Mississippi Delta for this training session. To give you an idea of what this looks like:

1.) Wake up at 5:15am every morning.
2.) Head to the dining commons to pickup breakfast and acquire a sack lunch for the rest of the day by 6:00am.
3.) Load up on the bus and travel to a school site situated 45 minutes away from our local residence by 6:10. In this case, we're staying at Delta State University
4.) Get to Wedding Elementary by 7:15am.
5.) Workshops from 8am-4pm with a lunch break tossed in between.
6.) Load up on the bus at 4:30pm and come back to Delta State by 5:30pm.

This will be my life for the next 30+ days. But I'm committed to this. I'm inexplicably excited and cannot wait to get into the classroom later next week to teach elementary math and language arts. More blog updates are sure to follow. I just wanted to present you with a succinct post to keep you satisfied until the next major update.

With Unwavering Love,
Derik Ohanian