Shut the front door!

Today was our first game of the season and....WE WON! The girls played great and used everything that we taught them. They used 3 hits, made great passes to each other, had some amazing sets, and even had some aces off of their overhand serves. I don't want to brag, but I will. We have done some great coaching with these girls and they are improving everyday. By the end of the season, these girls will be great volleyball players. I am so happy that I decided to assistant coach this team!

Fail

So I was very excited to get to school today and implement all my new procedures in the classroom, but when I got to school that all changed. Basically my cooperating teacher rejected all of the new procedures and decided to keep the chaotic system she has in place. Lucky me...It is so hard for me to establish myself in this classroom as their teacher, when my CT won't let go of the reigns. In a sense she is in "my classroom" mode and can't quite step away and let me try things on my own. I understand that I am a guest in her classroom, but at the same time, she signed up for this. She knew that I was supposed to be finding my own way and using this time to test the waters under her guidance. It is just really hard to find my own way when she refuses to let me implement my own way. Oh well, hopefully things will get better when I am actually teaching the full day. Here's hoping...

A breath of fresh air...

Two words....Harry Wong....music to my ears. Today we had a professional development teaching summit that had Harry Wong as the special guest speaker (we even got his book for free as a bonus!). He gave me soooo many useful ideas and strategies to implement in the classroom that I know will make my life as a teacher so much easier. I literally took 2 full pages of notes during his presentation. I even got a bunch of ideas to use in my classroom that I am student teaching in now. I can't wait to get back to school on Tuesday and try these things out.

Slow and steady wins the race :)

Our fifth practice and my girls are finally starting to look like volleyball players! They are bumping the ball and using 3 hits to get the ball over the net. We even have some girls doing overhand serves (one of the girls I was working with one on one has a killer overhand by the way...I think I will pat myself on the back lol)! Since I was a setter when I played, I was able to take a few girls who have potential to be setters and work with them on their form. They will be expert setters when I am done with them :) I can't wait until they play their first game.

Was this an ambush??

W....T....F.....I leave from school today and come home to an email saying we have an "emergency meeting" with our directors this evening, and to top it off, they want to meet with me....alone....When I told my room mates about this meeting, they told me they received the same message.Looks like the "vocal" people of the group are having their wrists slapped. Seeing as the directors have been shady and lying since day one, we made the decision we would not meet alone and showed up together. They seemed extremely aggravated by this and completely caught off guard. Were they planning an ambush??? BAD IDEA. If they haven't caught on already, we are not idiots. As if this wasn't already a bad enough situation, they bring a lawyer to the meeting and did not tell us ahead of time. Wow??!! a lawyer?? We knew they were being underhanded but did not think they would go this far. Oh and this was no Ivy league professional lawyer...no...this was a two bit lawyer with a childish attitude. Hmmm...way to be professional. This meeting was supposedly called to "discuss" the safety issues and our concerns with the project. Well to say the least, there was no "discussing" involved. As one of the directors proceeded to ask, "Well I just want to know how many of you are truly dedicated to urban education?" (asking this question as she looked at us over the top rim of her glasses). I had to pause for a moment because my immediate response would have been, "B*tch why do you think we are in the project?!" However, being the professional that I am, I politely (but firmly) stated, "I am slightly confused as to why you would ask us a question like that. We are clearly all dedicated to urban education otherwise we would not be in this project. This is not a requirement for us, this is a choice and we have continued to remain here FOR OUR STUDENTS despite the safety concerns we have for ourselves." Check and mate. She was so speechless because she looked like an idiot that the other director had to redirect the conversation. Please don't get it twisted. As Nene would say, "I will put you back in your place, noink." The meeting continued on in this fashion for about 3 hours until it clearly was getting nowhere. I walked out of that room steaming with anger and was ready to leave the program. Then I remembered the main reason I am here: my students. They need me and I refuse to let them down. So screw you, and have a nice day.

These are volleyball players??

Day 1 of practice and one word can describe it....chaotic...These girls were all over the place, hitting balls into the walls and ceiling, not hitting balls at all, watching the ball fall at their feet. Needless to say, we have our work cut out for us. These girls are athletes, but they are soccer and basketball players, so we have to make them into volleyball players. First step, hitting the ball. We focused mainly on teaching the girls how to bump the ball and not just watch it fall at their feet. I don't know how many times I had to tell girls that the ball won't bite. Despite the chaos today, I can say that I am optimistic. It will take some work, but we will make these girls into volleyball players.

Volleyball...day 2...CUTS!

Day 2 of tryouts and it's time for the part I've been dreading...cuts...All 15 girls came back today so we had our job cut (no pun intended) out for us. There are a few girls who could potentially be really good and some that just need to be pulled out of their shells, but overall we could have a great team. At the end of tryouts, we decided that we would keep 12 so that we could have a full practice team. That lowered the number of cuts we had to make to 3. The decision wasn't too hard since those who hustled and tried really hard stood out from the ones who just hung out in the background. We will post the list tomorrow morning at the school...let's hope no one comes to find me after they see the list.