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Heads up. Affinity spaces can be difficult. DEI sessions are heavy. You'll be exploring all of the many layers of your own identity and figuring out how these identities intersect with each other and how they will determine who you are as a leader in front of young impressionable students. You might learn things about yourself that you didn't know OR be told how a mindset you hold could be seen as problematic by others. Don't run away from it. We ALL can benefit from doing identity work in order to grow into the best versions of ourselves. Students require this work too. But you can't help them through it if you haven't done the work on yourself first. BREATHE and work through it.

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Ask for help! Some things became so much faster and simpler to understand and to do when I just asked for the help I needed without worrying about what others would think. We’re all ambitious college educated people who are probably used to figuring hard stuff out on our own and getting things done FAST. Teaching is an entirely different beast. YOU WILL NEED HELP. Ask for it.

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Institute is a great starting place, but it is NOT Hawaii and you will not learn all of the things you need to know to be a successful teacher in Hawaii. There is nothing that can really prepare you to teach besides actually teaching at your school, with the students you will have in Hawaii. This is not meant to downplay the impact of institute. Institute helped me with a lot of foundational things that I still use to this day. Take full advantage of all the support you have there and be ready to learn wayyyyyyyyy more once you get here to Hawaii.

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Do not strive for perfection because it does not exist in this profession. Even the strongest teachers with  years of experience still look for areas of improvement because they understand that teaching is not a profession that you can ever know everything about. So, given this might be your first time teaching for a majority of you, expect to stumble because things won't be perfect. Grow from the experience and remember that you’re not doing this alone.

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Even though you might be new to the teaching profession, you have a unique contribution to this process at institute. Find out what your contribution is and become comfortable sharing your thoughts into the space. Not everyone will agree with everything you say, but that’s not what this experience is about. You’re at institute to stretch your brain, challenge yourself, express yourself, transform yourself. This will only happen if you play a mindful active role in the process.

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The best piece of advice is that you will get what you put into the experience-- if you look at every experience during your time as an opportunity for learning, even instances where at first glance you may not see the relevance, eventually you will be able to reflect on that learning and use it to propel your work forward as an educator. Be the type of learner you want your own students to be.

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Try not to compare yourself to anyone else while at institute or during your teaching career in general. Try not to look at other educators and say “I want to be like him/her.” You can’t be anyone else.  It’s much more effective to analyze their student outcomes and ask yourself - “how can I be myself and still get those same desirable outcomes from my own students?”

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I was significantly older than most of the other corps members in my year and I remember institute feeling like it was mainly for younger people who haven't had much experience in the workfield. I had to really do some work on myself to be able to stay focused and actively engaged because it sometimes felt like I had already been there and done that. I suggest anyone over the age of 30 to talk with someone about how you can help stay invested in the process. It's hard but it's necessary. Even though I'm older and I've been on my own for years, working, I realize that if I chose a different mindset and way to approach the learning institute, I think I would have left with way more knowledge on teaching.

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Although it's exhausting and kind of easy to become resentful of all of the work, don't get sucked into negativity. There is no "Us" vs "Them"--you are not against the students, or against your Faculty Advisor or against the TFA staff and coaches. We all want the same thing; incredible educational opportunities so our students can learn. If you let negativity and exhaustion cloud that...the students are the ones who will suffer.

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Don’t Wing it - lol! PLAN PLAN PLAN EDIT REVISE PLAN PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE. Institute is a great way to determine which teacher practices work for you and can help you figure out what you should  keep doing when you start teaching at your school site in Hawaii.

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Be open to new ideas, but also don't forget that teaching styles are not one size fits all. Institute will give you a solid foundation to work with, but it will not give you your unique teaching style. You have to work hard to craft it independently and learn as you go along.

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Be open to adapt and change. It is easier to revise lesson plans, and change your mindset when you come to the work willing to do so. Being stuck in one way to do something or interested in one single perspective makes it hard to receive feedback, and makes learning more painful.

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HAVE FUN! Write down everything. Make connections with lots of people. You'll be spending at least the next two years of your life with the Hawaii corps so build strong relationships with them. Lead with positivity and be authentic to who you are and what you want to gain from this experience.

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Try to be as in the moment as possible. A lot of people have put a lot of time into what you’ll be learning and the structure and flow of every single thing is very intentional. It’s pretty amazing when you step back and consider all of the components of institute and the extensive behind the scenes work that people put into it. Being appreciative of this might help you fight feelings of exhaustion and frustration when it creeps up. And it will creep up.

Trust me.

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You have to WANT to learn. If you don't want it for yourself and actively look for teachable moments, institute will weigh you down and you'll be ready to quit. But if you own your own learning and hold yourself accountable to show up and engage, institute can be very powerful.

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It’s important to have a mindset that you are strong enough to consistently learn and grow. Most teachers go through a traditional 4 year undergraduate program to learn what you’re about  to learn in just one summer and it’s super intense.  Acknowledge this, prep for it, but don’t let it discourage you. Institute is just the BEGINNING of your learning. You have two more years of training that will help you become the best you can be.

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Grab a buddy and dedicate some time each week to exercise. Whether it be Tuesday and Thursday walks around campus with your collab, daily running group, or an accountability buddy that you meet up with and walk to the gym together each day. Scheduling in advance what time of day you'll be working out helps get it done.

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The practices and routines you start while you're at institute will probably continue once you get to Hawaii. Lay a strong foundation for yourself by being mindful of your organization, your resilience, your ability to stay tuned in even when you really want to give up. Remind yourself of your WHY as often as you need to.

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If you feel sleepy, go to sleep. If you have to set an alarm or two or three to get up and work later, do that. Listen to your sleep needs or you will crash and burn.

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Be open to learning but don't expect to retain everything or master anything. You’re going to forget a lot of things because there’s SO much. I thank myself all the time for taking such good notes.  I sometimes randomly find notes from institute on helpful things that I forgot about but the notes help me use it in my classroom now.

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DRINK. WATER. Dehydration is real. I passed out once at institute and realized I hadn’t drank water in two days :( Keep snacks on hand. You’ll be working looooooooong hours and you have to keep yourself fueled.

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Don't struggle in silence! Lean on other CMs, on staff, on resources. People are there to help. The smartest thing I ever did was to connect with and get contact info from a few of the TFA staff before they left. I was able to check in with them while at institute and their support really helped me push through. They know so much and are really there for us because they believe in us. CONNECT WITH THEM!

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Be honest with how your own body works and allow it to rest when you need it. If you're a morning person, don't stay up till midnight working on lessons. If you're a night owl, proactively plan to make sure you don't oversleep and miss the early bus!

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Schedule time to work out, go for a walk, meditate, read, call family at home, and just relax. This will save your mental and emotional health which will be put to the test over the duration of institute.

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I struggled to  prioritize my time when I was at institute so I felt like I was drowning by the end of the first week. Manage your time smartly and try to be fully present in sessions by centering on what the session objectives are and ASK QUESTIONS.

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Give yourself a "stop time" at which you do not do any more work afterwards. It helped me be more productive in the short term, and gave me a sense of peace about when I would be done.

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On Sunday afternoons, take an hour to schedule out your week - including when you'll eat dinner, when you'll take some YOU time (gym, netflix, naps etc), when you'll shower, what outfits you'll wear for the week. Taking that time to plan increases the likelihood that these things will actually get done, and lets you spend more cognitive energy the rest of the week on your development as a leader. I saw a HUGE stress level difference between corps members who did this and those who didn’t.

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Surround yourself with folks who will bring you POSITIVE energy and do things that sustain you. For some, that's going to a bar with new friends and dancing, for others it may be a quiet night inside talking to one or 2 people, or having a breakfast crew in the morning. It's easy to get stuck in teacher mode in a setting like institute, but fun activities with others can help shift you into relaxation mode.

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For many, it will be hard trying to meet the expectations of emotional vulnerability in a work environment. I’m not a very vulnerable person at work, so institute definitely pushed me outside of my comfort zone as I had to open myself up and talk about things that I normally wouldn’t discuss with coworkers. I came to realize that the other corps members are not just my coworkers. I came to start thinking of them as family, which helped me open up more.

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Honestly, institute was not that hard as a corps member. I know many others will disagree! But for me, it wasn’t hard.  There were times where I was nervous to be observed, but once you realize that everyone is there to support you it gets less uncomfortable. It’s also good prep for when you get your own classroom  in Hawai’i because as a new teacher, you’ll be observed a LOT. It takes some time to get used to it but you might as well start now!

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Prioritize your physical health. Your mind will work better and faster when your body is well.

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Institute is a very intense experience that gives you lots of best teaching practices and strategies, but there’s still going to be a LOT left to learn as a teacher. I thought I would know how to teach just from being at institute but NOPE. I found out i knew nothing once I got into my own classroom in Hawaii. I’m in year 4 now and still learning. That mindset shift made a difference for me! If you come here to Hawai’i thinking you’ve learned all you need to learn about teaching, you’ll quickly  get a rude wake up call. You’ll still have so much to learn after institute, but you’re going to have to learn it “on the job training” style.

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You will reveal new layers of your own professional and personal self over the next 5 weeks. You’ll reach limits you didn’t even know you had. Take some alone time to reflect on the transformations.

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Keep in mind that LA is not Hawai’i. Your classroom experience at institute probably won’t look, sound or feel anything like your teaching experience in Hawai’i. Learn what you can there in LA and then be prepared to tailor it to fit the needs and culture of students in Hawai’i. This will take SO much work, but that’s why you have a network of TFA family waiting for you in Hawai’i to help you through it.

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Things will get difficult/tense/sticky. Especially during Diversity Equity Inclusion (DEI) sessions and while in affinity spaces. Get okay with being uncomfortable because that means you’re learning things you didn’t know before and that’s OK.  Know that the work done around your identity is necessary to become the best educator you can for your students in Hawai’i.

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Be ready to hit the ground RUNNING once institute is over. It's a very fast turnaround because of the school year calendar so take a day to yourself and then be ready to transition to region and ready to WORK. It will be overwhelming for a while. Know that everyone will feel this way, not just you. You aren't alone.

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Find time to do what brings you peace and joy - in between working and/or while working. Meditation and music worked for me. By week 3 I needed all of the meditation i could get!

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Organize the chaos by taking lots of notes.  I divided my notes into “things I want to try in my classroom”, “Best practices”, “Teaching theories”, “Questions I have”, & “Resources”.  These notes saved my life during and wayyy after institute was over.

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Stay in learner mode as often as you can. Institute is extremely beneficial if you allow it to be but you have to actively find meaning and ways to connect. Even during the sessions and activities that you find insignificant or hard to push through, there’s always something useful to grasp onto if you dig into it.

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Time management is key because it’s easy to lose precious time doing one thing (like lesson planning!), but you’ll always have like 8 more things to get done. You’ll drown fast if you don’t carefully manage your time.

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Know yourself and stay true to who you are as a learner. Whatever your learning preferences & needs are, be prepared to depend on them a LOT this summer. You’ll be getting so much information and whatever you need to do to process and make sense of it...do that.