Institute - Kelly

It's so funny how TFA-centric my life has become. Not only did I devote two years of my life to being a corps member then sign on for a third (and fourth) year as a program director... but I'm devoting every second of my June and July to working on institute staff.

Institute is where corps members are trained to become teachers. They spend five weeks at one of seven sites around the country going through "teacher boot camp". I am a School Director this summer, which means I run one of the school sites where corps members attend professional development and teach CPS students.

Don't get me wrong- I absolutely LOVE my job and love working for Teach For America- but I just kind of can't believe that I'm back here again. I started my TFA career as an intern (and low man on the totem pole) at TFA's Houston institute in 2006. Four years later I'm back in a role quite a bit higher on the totem pole but in so many ways it feels exactly the same.... so much work to do, so much to figure out on my own, so overwhelming and so much fun.

I actually started this position (part-time) in January so the four weeks I have left feel incredibly short although I still have SO much work to do.

Here's a picture of me with my co-interns in Houston in 2006:



And a picture with my SD team at a conference for this role at a conference this spring:



Crazy to think of everything that has happened between then and now!