Chicago Foreshadowing

The trip to Chicago is long. And to drive that trek twice in two days. Ew.

However, the trip was good. I went down for a student teacher orientation thingy for next fall. So on Friday morning, I showed up at the offices and met the coordinators and most of the other student teachers that will be there next fall. There will be 14 of us next fall.

We visited a couple of the area high schools. One of them, Kenwood Academy, is most likely going to be the one I will student teach in. They have the teacher and the department head of the high school on board for me to be there, just have to get the new Principal to okay it. They kept telling the three of us that will be there that we are 90% in.

Kenwood is on the south side of Chicago (but don't freak out, it's in a good neighborhood). Chicago Semester is really particular about the schools they send us into; they don't send us into schools that are really rough. They want the experience to be positive, not scaring...

The student body is about 1790 students, 89% are black, and 79% are under the poverty line. However, they have a very high academic standard and a high college bound number of seniors. I briefly met the English department head and my cooperating teacher as they rushed out to go to class. I don't remember my cooperating teacher's name, but he seemed very cool. It works great, he teaches English and two theatre classes, so I can teach both without having to switch cooperating teachers. Makes it so much easier that way. It was really cool getting to walk around the school, see the passing periods and the energy of the school. I'm really excited.

And scared.

But not as scared as I was before. I have a feeling my biggest issue will be the long commute, probably about an hour every morning and afternoon.

More than anything, the short trip was reassuring. I feel good about my choice to spend a semester there. There is no doubt that it will be a very challenging semester, but I have a feeling that afterwards, I will feel as though I conquered the world. I'm excited for it. And I love Chicago. It's a great city.

So, that was a quick recap of my quick trip. Exciting stuff, huh?

Until next time.