T Travels: Getting out of the Classroom

For the majority of August, Tim and I spent our days in out classrooms and libraries reading, writing, planning, grading and briefing. Sounds like a sun way to end the summer, right?

It really was not as bad as it sounds. We are working hard but we are happy in the work. There is something satisfying about heading into class feeling well prepared and confident. Unfortunately, we have been noticing that no matter how prepared we feel when we head into our respective classrooms, we get our butts kicked and our egos chopped down to size. The fact is being a first year law student and a first year teacher in an inner-city school is humbling. Tim, despite hours of lesson planning and classroom management strategy development, had two fights break out in his classroom last week and a student stole from his teacher aid and was suspended. I have sat in class and discussed cases that I spent hours reading and briefing and thought I was prepared for, only to sit though class thinking my praying I would not get called on because the questions my professor was asking sounded like they were related to some foreign case I had never read in Swahili. Of course I am exaggerating a little, but only a little. Frankly, we are struggling with being inexperienced. I know that we will get better in time. Teaching 10^th grade English will get easier for Tim. I will get better at being a law student. Maybe soon. Maybe not until next year. We remind each other of the light at the end of the tunnel and just keep plodding away.

Just as Tim and I were feeling like we were reaching our limits, we received a valuable reminder of our strength and potential from an unlikely source. I think its funny how sometimes life hands you exactly what you need when you are feeling down. On Thursday morning I checked my calendar to see what I had on my overly-full plate that day and was mortified to remember that I had committed Tim and I to speak to a group of potential Peace Corps Volunteers at a recruiting event. I had almost forgotten about it and was feeling grumpy that I wouldn’t get time that night to study and prep for the next day of school. However, sitting in front of a room full of starry-eyed, soon-to-be volunteers and reflecting on the challenges and rewards of my Peace Corps experience was so empowering. I think that Tim and I benefited more from sharing our stories than the group did. We left the event reminding ourselves that when we started our journey as PCVs we were just as inexperienced at that job as we are now in our new lives. Yet, in Peace Corps we gained confidence when we bounced back from challenges. We learned coping strategies for dealing with stress. We learned technical skills. And somehow, along the way we had gotten ourselves so busy that we forgot about all these tools. Thursday night was such an amazing reminder of the tools that we carry with us, honed in our Peace Corps service, which will continue to serve us in school today, if we can only remember to use them! I am so grateful for the reminder!

Also, in the meantime, we have tried to take some breaks and get outside the classroom for our mental and emotional health. Last weekend we had friends and family come to Sacramento to celebrate my birthday (27!) and warm our new house with good cheer. Some friends from college decided to make a weekend out of it. After a fun-filled day of playing lawn games, eating good food and catching up with old friends and new, we packed our guest room and living room wall-to-wall with air mattresses! It was so refreshing to have our friends in our home. Taking a break from working so hard was revitalizing and made me feel more human (and less like a law library troll). I went into last week with great positivity and energy.

I’ve also decided to get a little more active on my school campus and take my legal education outside of the classroom. I’ve gone to first meetings of two student groups which seem very active on campus: the Women’s Caucus and Public Legal Services Society. Getting involved with these groups will be a great way to network, meet upperclassmen and alumni, volunteer and perform some valuable community service and also potentially qualify for some summer grants or internships. I am looking forward to the possibilities that may arise from my participation in these two groups.

Also, I have been in contact with a professor who is organizing and very exciting event at my school this year which I am very, very thrilled to be a part of. We will be organizing a campaign to help the immigrant community of Sacramento with cases of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. Deferred Action is a new policy developed by the Department of Homeland Security designed to allow certain people who did not intentionally violate immigration law (namely children who were brought to the U.S. before the age of 16) to continue to live and work in the United States. This was Obama’s consolation prize for the DREAMers who have been working tirelessly to advocate for the rights of young immigrants and students who are living in the shadow of fear of deportation. It is a first step in providing relief to a marginalized group of promising young people. I am so very excited to be part of the campaign at my school to provide the legal guidance to qualified individuals. At the end of September, we will be conducting Know you Rights events, doing client intake and working with an army of volunteer attorneys to prepare the DACA documentation for young people around the Sacramento area. I will post more info about the specifics when I know more but for now I am just happy to be getting out of the classroom and already applying my legal education in a hands-on, practical and very relevant cause.