Settling In

Week two of classes has begun and the sheer hysteria and panic I felt has ebbed to managed sheer hysteria and panic. After reading five long chapters, outlining, reading and ordering books for the suggested reading, each day I wonder if I've taken on too much. I'll let you know after I've actually gotten a grade for something.

I started my second year with Americorps this week, as well. I'm working at a family literacy center. The primary lesson being taught to these mothers is that they are their children's' first teachers, and literacy should begin right after that trip down the birth canal. It's very inspiring to watch these young mothers struggling with adult education, some of them learning a new language. The children are on one side of the center with child care workers while their mothers are in class. Mid morning, they have what is called "PACT" time, parent and child time, where they sing and read. Now today this was mostly accomplished while two or three children were screaming so loudly they could have wakened dead vampires from almost any crypt in New Orleans. But somehow, I think they appreciated the reading of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear".