End to a LONG Week

First I was teaching 9th and 10th grade, then 9th and 11th, and now I am 9th and 12th (who know what I"ll be teaching the first day at this rate). Although it may seem like small changes, it becomes stressful when you start planning a unit and concentrating on one class, then things get thrown to the wind and you have to start all over. As of now I am teaching the entire 9th grade class. No pressure. If anyone has book recommendations, please let me know!

Friday was the first day that I finally realized where I was teaching. Friday morning the English teachers went on a stroll down McArthur Blvd. in East Oakland. I had never stepped foot off of our small school campus before. It was 9am and the rest of the world was still asleep, so our stroll was only interrupted by the occasional homeless man or drag street racer. We first stopped by the Clinic that is next store to the school. It is a brand new facility where students and community members can get free medical care and counseling. It was started by a student from Castle Mont (which was the name of the larger school before it got broken down into 4 small schools). It really is a beautiful facility right in the middle of the rough neighborhood. We continued down the street looked at the closed down and boarded up shops, liquor stores (aka Mini Marts where the kids get jumped), dilapidated apartment complexes, the occasional red BMW in front of a shack (I wonder what's going on in there...), Motels, Churches, and empty lots. The street is up against a hill where the bums sleep and occasionally catch the hill on fire. I had never actually walked through a neighborhood like this and not only did I feel like a foreigner, but I actually felt scared. It put into perspective where some of our kids are coming from. Driving through the streets of East Oakland is like watching a movie because you feel like disconnected observer who is protected from this world. When you are walking and experiencing the neighborhood, you see the details that are missed when you are speeding by: the thick bars on the windows, the piles of garbage, the stares from the crowd of people gathering in front of the mini mart, the endless concrete, the mysterious eyes from a window, and finally like an oasis, the fresh paint and green grass of Leadership Public Schools. I hope that the students feel that way too.

Yes I have technically grown up in the "Bay Area." I know and love California. But the world of Oakland is like nothing I have experienced before. The culture shock I feel is unnerving. I will be working and interacting with Oakland for the first time in my life and the realities of it all are finally sinking in. Through all of the poverty and crime, I am excited to find the good: students who want to learn, people who want to make a difference, and a life changing experience.

<3 Ms. Quane

P.s. I go on a freshman retreat all next week in Standford, then I begin school! OMG