Over the past two months at Achievement Prep here in DC I have already done an unbelievable number of different things for the school. I’ve done basic administrative things from filing and alphabetizing to consulting student files to answering the phone and making phone calls to parents about upcoming events. I’m also self-titled queen of our Enrollment Records database (which is really just an enormous Google Document) in which I keep meticulous track of whose DC Residency is updated and which schools have sent us their scholars’ cumulative academic records.
On Wednesday last week I had my first taste, so to speak, of what it’s like to be a lunch lady. Our Cafeteria Coordinator was out for the day so I stepped in to make sure our scholars got their breakfast and lunch. I also did the grossest part of cleanup, which is dumping all of the half-drunk milks into a big bucket and dumping that down the sink. I find myself appalled at the way some children mutilate their food.
Starting this week, I am now a key person in our dismissal process, in charge of using my walkie-talkie to get children from inside the building to their parents waiting outside. We can’t just open the doors and let the children out into the world, we want to make sure we know who is picking up every scholar.
Also starting this week, I’m an art teacher! A 5th grade math teacher, Ms. Arellano, and I are now the co-leaders of the APA Art Club, which is basically a mixed media art class for 4 through 6 graders, planned and executed by the two of us. Last week, in my sometimes role as school ambassador, I attended an orientation for the DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative’s Arts for Every Student program. AFES sponsors schools to send students on field trips to a variety of art-related shows, exhibits and programs to make sure that art is included in their education. Not only that, but this week happens to be Arts in Education Week and the DC Collaborative is holding a sidewalk chalking contest for art classes. Whoever makes the best chalk drawing in the theme of butterflies or the arts gets at $50 gift certificate to the Utrecht store (aka fancy art supplies), so I’m having the scholars plan their ideas and then tomorrow or Friday we’ll head outside and chalk it up so I can send in our contest submissions before the 18th. What I like about art class through the enrichment system is that since each scholar can only be in one enrichment program, he chooses which one he wants. This means that the vast majority of our Art Club scholars really wanted to be in the art enrichment. When asked on the first day why they choose art, the scholars gave us some really advanced and impressive answers about outlets for creativity and the ability to express emotion through art. It’s going really well so far!
My other ambassadorial role is to the community at large. This job is a combination between that and being an event planner. Yesterday, my boss and I went to meet with two local property managers about the series of community engagement workshops I am developing. It’s actually going to happen, ahh! The first one will be on October 11th.
I’m also a cheerleader in the sense that I am on our pep rally committee, planning activities for our weekly community gatherings called Preppy and Proud, which take place at the end of our early dismissal Wednesdays. (Remember, we’re Achievement Prep.) We’re developing ideas for how to fit 204 scholars into our limited indoor space and do something fun and meaningful as a community. We want this to make those scholars who earned Wednesday extension and therefore miss Preppy and Proud jealous. As our Head of School would say, we want to “spur them on with envy.” This is fun, and you’re missing it because of your behavior over the past week. Get it together for next time.
I am also basically a general school go-fer. Whenever people see me they know that they can count on me to quickly and competently do whatever small but important task they suddenly need completed right this very second or else! I make copies, I use the paper cutter, I hand out announcements to go home with the scholars. I man a post in the stairwell during transitions to make sure they are silent and respectful. I share an advisory in the morning with a 5th grade English Teacher and the Scholar Support Coordinator named after SUNY Cortland, which two of our Platinum Teachers attended.
I do a little bit of everything, some things more than others, but even though I feel fairly certain that I’m working the longest hours of any PP55 Fellow (6:45am to about 6:00pm every day, and much later if we have a night time event), the days go quickly. They are filled to the max and there’s always something to do. I’m never bored. This is going to be a very intense year.
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