This last week officially affirmed the title of this blog. I am a total rookie. Little did I know, however, the extent to which this was true until this past week. I began this blog during MATCH Corps training to write about being a first time tutor and teacher. But now I realize that within those job titles are facets of responsibilities that I did not even know existed. Yes, I am a rookie. A rookie mentor, incentivizer, demerit giver, enforcer, drag-you-to-class-so-you-are-not-tardy “pusher” and the list goes on.
This past week I found myself constantly asking, who is this person? That’s a demerit for being unprofessional? For jaywalking? For chewing gum? I call on students even when they don’t raise their hand? As a student, I dreaded being reprimanded and being called out. The very things that I once dreaded as a student, I am enforcing at MATCH High School.
After two weeks of training me, and 43 other recent college grads, stood at the entrance hall of our school, dressed in professional attire and unaware of what we were getting ourselves into. With about ten days of school behind me I have officially hit the ground running: with a hall pass in my bag and my computer to frequently log demerits and check the 1, 000 e-mail I get each hour from school.
Without the energy to type a lot, I will tell you this. These days ten have been tough, but every day I get to know the students and the school a little better, I realize that I am so excited for my year here.
It’s a Saturday night and I just finished dinner with my roommate. Our dinner conversation? How we want it to be Monday so we can see our students. Many more stories to come about that topic…
