Teaching back to back, session to session - phew. I've forgotten...

I was invited to present two sessions yesterday for graduating seniors in Bridgeport embarking toward college success. The topic was Writing For College and I was given 90 minutes for each group of 35 students.

It's been a while since I've had to be ON for 180 minutes and just as one group left the room, the line of the next group was pouring in. I had flashbacks of teaching six periods in a row, five days a week, and the exhaustion it caused. There was no transitional time and I had to be at my best.

Consequently, it wiped me out.

I offered ten recommendations for successful writing in college and at each step, I had the kids write and interact with the expectations. We shared, we laughed, we hoped, and we moved forward. It was great to receive their appreciation as they left and to, if only for a short while, play a role in exciting them for the possibilities to come.

Ah, the hard work to come.

And the hard work of the teaching communities that have worked with them to get them to this point...in terms of statistics and numbers, these kids have defeated most odds.