On Thursday, I moved out of Delta State University and to Jackson, where I’ll be teaching for the next two years. I’m looking for housing right now, and I’ve gotten connected to a place that will hopefully work out – a house near my school that I’ll rent with a roommate. I’m going to see it on Monday, and sign a lease if we like it. I spent all day yesterday driving to different houses and apartment complexes around Jackson, trying to find a place – it’s surprising how hard it is to find housing here, without knowing people who already live here.
It’s weird right now, because I feel out of place and in limbo. I’m in a hurry to move into my house and sign a contract with my school district, but I can’t do those things yet. I have to wait until at least Monday to hopefully sign a lease and move in, and I don’t know yet when I’ll get a contract.
Today I met a teacher who taught at my school this year, and it was so helpful to learn about the specific things that are going on at my school and learn about the context of the community where I’ll be teaching.
I’m working on my classroom vision right now. It’s funny, how much depth teaching at Institute has added to my vision. Half of what I’m writing into my vision now is what my classroom at Institute was lacking. We didn’t have a culture where students were kind to each other, and it didn’t feel like we were driving toward collective growth – we were only focused on motivating individual students to do their best. Classroom visioning feels like a small-scale social experiment – I have this ideal outcome, and I’m trying to work out the different actions I could take to get there.