Updated picture of my classroom

More to come . . .

Vacation's over

I am so not ready to go back to school tomorrow! I'm sure once the week gets going it'll be fine, but for now I just can't imagine that tomorrow I have to get up early and go to school.

Vacation Reading

If you are even mildly interested in the Middle East, I recommend checking out this blog by journalist Michael J. Totten. It's a mix of political commentary and travel writing. Easy to read and very insightful.

If you are slightly obsessed with Lebanon as I am, you'll want to start reading from the September 2005 Archives when MJT moves to Beirut.

We found her!

In case you haven't checked the comments over at the Education Wonks Mz. Smlph is alive and well.

I'm here, I'm here! I didn't know I was so sorely missed! The long story short is that my coworkers found my blog, along with the blogs of my two roommates who work in the same school. I received a nasty comment saying that I was racist, immature, and poorly raised. The anonymous commenter, who is not as anonymous as she thinks she is, was upset because I had criticized some of my colleagues (without naming them) and a nearby university (without naming it).

Anyway, I freaked out and had a couple sleepless nights, but things are kind of blowing over now. Even the superintendent knows about my blog, and I'm in no danger of being fired. I took the site COMPLETELY down (after saving everything as a text file), but when I have time, I'll definitely be setting up a new blog home.

Thanks again for your concern. It really means a lot to know you've missed me. You can always reach me by e-mail.
Mz. Smlph

Good to hear. I'll be waiting for her new blog to appear.

Came across this today . . .

Does anyone read this teacher blog? Is it a joke?

My interview

I found out at my interview that they are actually considering me for a senior staff position instead of a resident adviser position. There are two senior staff positions that work as assistants to the director of the Florence program: the Resident Director and the Activities Director. They said that the RAs are usually college Juniors or Seniors and that with my experience and knowledge of Italian and Florence I would be suited for a senior staff position. I was excited to hear that.

They asked a lot of questions about what challenges I thought I would face being responsible for high school students on a five week study abroad. In my application I had said that homesickness would probably be something that students would face and that I would be able to help them with that. In the interview she said that in her experience directing the program in Spain she didn't find that to be a problem at all. What she really wanted to know was how I was going to handle these students who are probably abroad for the first time and in a country where there is no enforced drinking age. (The program has a zero tolerance policy for alcohol). She also wanted to know if I would be able to be firm about rules and possibly have to do unpleasant things like send kids home from the program who broke them. She said we all want to be loved but that isn't the best thing (I immediately thought Machiavelli). I responded with several anecdotes from teaching. Classroom Management 101.

I would leave for the program immediately after school ends in June. My flights, room and board would be covered. The only thing they said about salary was that it depended on the position and experience. I am still wondering if they pay based on a your-lucky-to-be-working-in-Italy-and-therefore-we-don't-pay-that-much attitude or more based on the responsibility of managing five RAs and 50 HS students. I didn't ask because the truth is I will probably accept the job either way so it doesn't really matter.

At the end of the interview they said that they had several people to interview for senior staff positions and would let me know by the end of March. That seems like soooo long. I was so hoping that they would immediately say "You're perfect. You have the job!" (Does that happen often?) And, if they don't choose me for senior staff would they still select me for the original position that I applied?

Now I am nervous. I so want to go. It is going to be really hard to wait over a month to know what I will be doing this summer.

Interview Tomorrow

Tomorrow morining is my interview for the summer resident adviser position in Florence. I'm not even nervous about the interview, I'm just excited to talk about living and studying in Italy.

This isn't the first time that I've thought about working for a study abroad company. When I was an exchange student in Florence and my year was coming to an end, I tried to come up with some schemes to stay in Italy. One of my ideas was to work for a study abroad company. It seemed like the perfect job because it would be a real job in a foreign country (as opposed to working illegally in the leather market, waiting tables or teaching—all things that I have done). At the time I wasn’t able to find any opening that would allow me to stay in Italy and work after my exchange ended.

Since then I’ve become distracted by a lot of other things but I still think about the idea of working for a study abroad company. Living in Florence and being the director of the program would be an ideal job for me. I’ve looked at a lot of bios for people working for various companies and it seems like most of them have studied abroad, speak at least one other language fluently, and have several experiences working abroad. A lot have also studied international education and have either a masters or a PhD.

I think I’m definitely on my way to having a lot of those qualifications having studied abroad, been an exchange student, I have a BA in Italian and speak fairly fluently, I taught English in Italy for a year and have spent a couple of summers working in Greece. I’m working on my Masters in Teaching English as a Second Language. I would also love to study International Education or International Relations or something like that. (I’ve seriously thought about going to the School for International Training). I’m not 100% sure that this is my ultimate career goal; there are still so many things that I would consider doing. I’m definitely keeping it as an option though. This summer I may have the chance to take another step in this direction.

So, not only am I excited about the chance to go back to Italy for the summer but I really think that this could be a stepping stone to becoming a director if that is what I choose to do. I would also have a chance to see how the organization works and if it is really something that I want to do.

Wish me luck tomorrow.

A possible career choice

Another one of my schemes for staying in Italy when I was an exchange student was to work for a study abroad company. It seemed like the perfect job because it would be a real job in a foreign country (as opposed to working illegally in the leather market, waiting tables or teaching—all things that I have done). At the time I wasn’t able to find any opening that would allow me to stay in Italy and work after my exchange ended.

Since then I’ve become distracted by a lot of other things but I still think about the idea of working for a study abroad company. Living in Florence and being the director of the program would be an ideal job for me. I’ve looked at a lot of bios for people working for various companies and it seems like most of them have studied abroad, speak at least one other language fluently, and have several experiences working abroad. A lot have also studied international education and have either a masters or a PhD.

I think I’m definitely on my way to having a lot of those qualifications having studied abroad, been an exchange student, I have a BA in Italian and speak fairly fluently, I taught English in Italy for a year and have spent a couple of summers working in Greece. I’m currently working on my Masters in Teaching English as a Second Language. I would also love to study International Education or International Relations or something like that. (I’ve seriously thought about going to the School for International Training). I’m not 100% sure that this is my ultimate career goal; there are still so many things that I would consider doing. I’m definitely keeping it as an option though.

This summer I may have the chance to take another step in this direction. I applied for a job as a resident adviser for a high school level study abroad program in Florence (where I lived for two years). Not only am I excited about the chance to go back to Italy for the summer but I really think that this could be a stepping stone to becoming a director if that is what I choose to do. I’ would also have a chance to see how the organization works and if it is really something that I want to do.

I was called for an interview this Wednesday so I’m really excited to see how it turns out.

Woo Hoo! It's Friday!

And the start of break!

The sunny day makes it so much better too, don't you think?

It's funny a lot of kids at school today didn't even realize that there was no school on Monday. They're not nearly as excited as the teachers to have a whole ten days off! After school was insane today though. For some reason the last day before break warrants canceling all after school programs, so at 2:50 today the halls erupted into pure chaos. The kids who are usually picked up by their after school program leaders were running wild!

I walked out right at 3:00 and caught a bus and both trains right after one another and got home in record time.

I don't really have any specific plans for the break. An old friend from high school is coming into town tomorrow so that should be fun. We haven't seen each other in a few years but thanks to myspace it doesn't feel like nearly that long. I have my interview on Wednesday and that is about it. I do have a lot of work to do for grad school and of course there's always stuff to be done for school, but I promise to take some time for myself this week.

Summer Job?

About three weeks ago I was browsing one of the TFA web sites and saw a posting for a summer job opportunity as a resident adviser to a study abroad program in Florence, Italy. This is totally the perfect job for me this summer. I lived in Florence for two years and try to get back every chance I get. When I signed up for TFA I'd pretty much resigned myself to not traveling for the next two years (due to lots of bills to pay off, small teacher salary, and needing to save any possible extra money for big travels after the two years). So this could be the perfect answer. I could get paid to spend the summer in Florence!

I'm already fantasizing about seeing old friends, going to my favorite restaurants, hitting up the beach on weekends . . .

Well, they called me for an interview yesterday! I'm keeping my fingers crossed because I'm already getting excited at the possibility of being in Italy in four and a half months.

Mz. Smlph? Are you there?

I helping to spread the word. Has anyone seen Mz. Smlph?

Bits and Pieces of a Wednesday

Today my principal came into my room and asked me if I needed any software for ESL because she had some "software money" that needed to get spent today. I said sure! In fact, there were some sales people that I talked to on Friday at our school who told me about some interesting software program. At the time I just listened to their pitch and then went about my business thinking there was no way I'd get it. Looks like I'll be getting some new software after all.

As my Principal turned to leave she said "Oh, and I ordered that science kit you asked for."

Wow. A great day for ESL. I'll take all of the resources I can get!

* * *

I noticed today that one of my kindergarteners' teeth are black and have cavities on the fronts. I asked him if he brushes his teeth every day. He said no. I showed him the brushing motion and asked "Do you do this every morning?" He shook is head no. Do you have a tooth brush? No. I asked my other two K's and they both said they did. So sad. The boy doesn't even own a toothbrush. (I realize that sometimes five year olds don't exactly know what they are saying but by the looks of his teeth, he does.) I think that I am going to do a lesson on brushing your teeth. It will involve sequencing, giving directions, and reading ("I like to brush my teeth" includes sight words that they are working on). I think we'll go to the sink and practice. And then, best of all, they will go home with a new toothbrush and toothpaste.

* * *

8th graders decided on a theme for the yearbook.

2 Good 2 Be 4gotten

Why, why, why?

We had some great discussion about the other themes that were so much more mature. I tried to advocate for "Is this the end or just the beginning?" and the other adviser really talked up "One story. Many voices." We did have some kids who really liked those two (they did come up with the themes themselves), but in the end the overwhelming majority of the kids wanted "2 Good 2 Be 4gotten."

Well, it is their book and we're letting them do what they want.

Things that were supposed to happen today but didn't

1. ESL Professional Development
2. Deciding on a yearbook theme
3. Going to the gym

Isn't it great when your whole day is wrapped up nicely in a theme? Unfortunately my day was full of unrealized things that needed to get done.

This morning I got to school and rushed to see two of my groups before I had to leave for a professional development meeting at 11am. At 10:15 I rushed downstairs to the office with my coat on and saw my name on the white board "Ms. M, ESL PD, 8:30-12:00." Somehow I failed to get that message in time. My principal still thought I should go to the meeting. I waited for the B14 for 20 minutes then when I finally got on the bus it went half a block and then was stuck in the middle of the street behind a semi making a delivery to a 99 cent store in the neighborhood. I finally go to the meeting at 11:25 and the meeting finished early at 11:35. So much for that.

I got back to school just in time to pick up one last group of students. After school we met our yearbook staff but there were only five students there. We talked about the themes but I didn't want to make a decision without the majority of the staff there. We tried to form some committees and get some work done. Without even realizing it we worked until 3:45. (I know, not really that much more but at least the kids aren't counting down the minutes until they have to leave. They really do want to be there.)

And finally, I got dressed and ready to go to the gym. I bundled up in my winter gear and snow boots to brave the massive puddles. I got to the gym and realized that I'd forgotten my wallet. They said that if I didn't have my gym card I needed my regular ID. I told them that I'd forgotten my ENTIRE wallet (therefore no ID, no gym card). I begged and pleaded for them to let me in. I offered to give any secret information that they wanted. They turned me away.

4th Grade Reading Centers

My group of fourth graders comes to my room four times a week for a 90 minute block. This is my most consistent group as I see them at the same time each week. One of my goals for this group is to increase their reading levels so just before the Christmas break I started a sort of "Centers" rotation. In the first 15 minutes of the lesson I do a "mini lesson" where I tell them what they will be working on at the centers or I model a skill for the reading or writing center. Then they rotate between the Independent Reading, Writing and Conferencing centers which are 20 minutes each. Then the last 15 minutes of class we share about a book or do exit slips or something to wrap up the class.

So far this set up is working really well. We do the centers two out of the four periods that we meet. I really like it because the conferencing center gives me time to work one on one with students (I only have three in this group). One of the students is on a mid first grade reading level so I am helping him with sight words, phonics, spelling patterns and reading fluency. The other two students are on a fourth grade level but one seriously lacks comprehension. While the other does pretty well, he needs someone to push him to work hard and read books that will advance his level. I'm lucky that I only have three students so I can really differentiate by making different graphic organizers and activities for each student for each center.

The students definitely notice that they are not all working on the same things at centers. I've spent a good deal of time talking to the students about how each student is working on what they need to become better readers. The main issue is with the one student who is on a first grade level. He feels embarrassed to be reading "baby books" and the other kids see me working with him on sorting words by short vowel sounds and yell out from their center "That's easy!" Of course then he hears me trying to get a student to identify the main idea and (having been listening in) he says (correctly) "That's easy. It's . . ." I just keep telling them that every one is different and needs help with different things.

To try to motivate my lowest reader, I showed him a book that is on the level that I want him to be at by the end of the year. I told him that if we worked hard he would be able to read this book on his own. He wanted to try it right away so I let him. He was barely able to read a paragraph. I told him that I see him trying and that he'll definitely be able to master this book by June. I think that that book will be a sort of marker of his progress.

The main thing that is stopping this from being a perfect situation is that the students don't really like doing the centers. They always complain when it is a centers day. I'm not really sure why they don't like it. Maybe because they are expected to work quietly and independently for a full 60 minutes? A couple of other kinks that I am working out are planning something for the writing center that takes them a full 20 minutes so they don't finish early and finding enough books that are on students' correct levels (I have a really small library). I also talked to my mentor and we discussed making some of the centers activities seem more fun. One idea of hers was to make a mobile with the main idea and key details hanging on string from a hanger. They could go for that. I'll have to think about some other ideas as well.

I am determined to keep this up until the end of the year in any case. I know that the one on one time has been the most beneficial thing that we've done all year. I am already starting to see progress with my lowest level student.

Coming up with a theme

We had another good yearbook meeting today.

I started out by reading a poem from one of the yearbook company websites called "What is a yearbook?" I wanted to give them a little inspiration for the task of the day: coming up with a theme.

I brought in a list of 2300 yearbook theme ideas. I gave each student two pages and asked them to read through the list and circle any that stood out to them. I reminded them that a theme should be something that is representative of their class and school. I gave them a couple of examples from the list of themes that had depth and could be incorporated into all sections of the book (student life, academics, etc.) and then some that were probably specific to a certain school and wouldn't work so well for ours. They all worked quietly while going through the lists independently. Then I had them form groups of four and discuss their choices and narrow it down to two or three. Finally they presented their top choices to the class. (Wow. That was practically a five step lesson plan, wasn't it?)

Here is the list they came up with:

*Past, Present, Future

*Proud to be

*To be continued . . .

*Is this the end, or just the beginning?

*Many voices. One story.

*2 Good 2 Be Forgotten

*A dynasty like no other

*Caution: Contents May Be Hot

*Excuse yourself from the predictable because we are unpredictable

Apart from the last four choices (which all came from one group that selected about twenty favorites) I was pretty impressed with the themes they chose. The students presenting the ideas from each group had good reasoning behind each selection and how it related to their graduating class.

Monday we'll try to flesh out the ideas and see which ones will be able to carry through the book before taking a vote.

Time just flies in these meetings. We actually get about 25 minutes to work by the time everyone get to the room. I'm really impressed with the motivation and behavior of these twelve eighth grade students though. I've NEVER seen that many eighth graders at my school in one room on task and sitting in their seats participating. What a pleasure.

What a Day!

First the good stuff.

We had 12 students for yearbook today. The past two days had just been a revolving door of students asking for permission slips to stay and inquiring about the yearbook so today was the first day that we actually got to talk to the kids that are going to be working on the yearbook.

I started by sitting them in a U and giving them a quick, but firm, lecture on how they are all here to work on the yearbook because they want to be here. I told them that if anyone isn't here to work hard, contribute ideas and listen to each other that we will send them straight home. If we have to, we (the two advisers) can throw together the entire yearbook in two weeks on our own. (It's nice to actually have that kind of leverage.)

Then we got to talk about the huge task ahead of us. I talked about the different sections of the yearbook and we took ideas for spreads. I told the kids several times that the yearbook is about their 8th grade year and they can make it what ever they want, all of the ideas are going to come from them. The advisers are just to guide them but they will be creating the book on their own.

The kids seemed really excited about working on the book. A lot of them have older siblings that got books in previous years so they already had some ideas to share. There seem to be three natural leaders emerging in the group. One volunteered to write a letter to the AP proposing a few of our ideas and another asked if we would be able to stay beyond the 37.5 minutes each day to get everything done by March 20th. (We'll definitely be staying late a lot, don't you worry.)

The plan for tomorrow is to start coming up with theme ideas for the book. I have a list of a couple hundred for them to look thorough. We told them that that will just be a starting point and most likely they will want to adapt it to fit our school and their class. By Monday we'll form some committees so that we can get started on content.

* * *

As for the organization of the 37.5 minutes, it's non existent at my school. Just five minutes before the school day was to end, an announcement was made that there wouldn't be two rounds of busses, just one at 3:30 (after the 37.5 minutes). Kids who take the bus but aren't in the extra tutoring time were to just hang out until then (In the auditorium or in there regular classrooms it wasn't made clear). And of course DON'T SEND THEM TO THE OFFICE!! I'm not sure if this was meant to be just for today or indefinitely but all the teachers were about to explode with frustration after that announcement.

* * *

Now for quotes of the day from our fabulous APs.

To a teacher calling her office about a disruptive student:

"I am an Assistant Principal. I supervise adults not children. I am not the dean. Deal with the student yourself, I have a lot of paperwork to get done."

Then, when talking to another AP I commented about the middle school teachers having to give up more preps than the elementary teachers for Circular 6:

Me: "Wow, that's rough that they have to give up so many periods."

AP: "They were supposed to be using those periods all along to do things for us. But instead they just sit around."

Me: "What about using those periods for planning?"

AP: "They don't need those periods for planning. We give them everything. We give them the books. We tell them when to use them. They don't need to plan anything!"

This is the kind of administration I'm dealing with.

* * *

And I just can't write any more about this today. I'm so worn out from this day. I'm about to head off to the gym and sort of free my mind. (I just started going after the Christmas break and I'm not really sure how I survived without it before.)

A (sort of) informal observation

Yesterday morning when I came into school I saw a memo in my box stating that I was going to be informally observed during fifth period and to have a lesson plan on hand for "perusal". I noticed it was dated a few days before and asked the principal when on Friday she had put it in my box since I check it several times a day and did not see it. She said that she put it in on Saturday. I told her that I have lunch during that period so couldn't we do it tomorrow? She said it HAD to be done today. I told her that the only afternoon classes I had were the 4th graders who were taking a science test and the 8th graders who were finishing up writing an essay that they've been working on for weeks so there is no lesson plan. She said she would just look at the original lesson plan for that day and not to worry since it was just an informal observation anyway.

So, she came in 8th period and I had my lesson plan out with a post it note giving her some more background on the lesson and all of the chart papers posted that we had created that day. By some small miracle all of the 8th graders were actually working to revise when she came in. She watched the lesson for about twenty minutes and when class ended she asked if she could have the copy of the lesson plan.

Today she comes by my room asking me to sign some papers. I say, "OK. What am I signing?" She says that they're my observation reports but don't worry I'll like what she wrote. After class I read the report and I got an "S" and all of the comments she put down were really good. She used my lesson plan to explain what had gone on in the original lesson and that she actually observed me in the conferencing portion of the lesson. Under "area of improvement" she said she would order me some thesauri so that the 8th graders can use them in the revisions of their essays.

So I guess I can't complain that I was sort of tricked into an observation since she really liked my lesson.

Day One

So today was the first day of the next three years of this strange situation.

There are still so many unanswered questions. What about kids who aren't doing the extra tutoring but then are staying for extended day (which we are continuing with)? Or what about all of the after school programs at our school (we don't have enough rooms for them all)?

None of these questions were answered today. In fact, we weren't given any instructions on procedures for the dismissing of classes and the picking up of small groups. The other teacher doing yearbook and I had already decided that I would go up to her room at the end of the school day and stay with yearbook kids while she dismissed her regular class. This worked because they didn't have to go downstairs and come back up.

I saw the confusion downstairs though as I went down to see if any of the 8th graders somehow got left behind downstairs. (They hadn't.) Administrators were directing traffic and managing the chaos. There were some teachers who had no students and others who had more than ten. It's definitely going to take a while to sort all of this out.

Also, no one thought to adjust the periods to account for ten less minutes in the regular school day, so my last period with the eighth graders was cut short. I told them that I would be letting them leave my room at 2:45 to get their stuff and then totally forgot and ended up dismissing them five minutes late.

Still no word about needing lesson plans or giving out grades like I've read about on other blogs but give it time. Even if my school does want that it will take time for them to get on the ball and let us know about it.

More updates to come.

More thoughts on the 37.5

This article in the NYT got me thinking about the 37.5 situation in my school. The article points out that while in some high performing schools kids will get after school enrichment programs rather than tutoring. In some of the lowest performing schools, some of the kids with 1's and 2's will be left out because there just aren't enough teachers to meet the needs of all the kids at just 10 students per teacher.

I know that at my school we were supposed to choose our students based on a list we were given of students with 1's and 2's. These children were sent letters saying they were mandated to attend. )Teachers also handed out letters to students saying they could voluntarily attend.) As I mentioned before we also have a couple of enrichment programs going on. We have two teachers doing drama, two teachers doing yearbook, one Spanish enrichment group, and some program called Orchid (I'm not sure how many teachers are participating).

That's at least 6 teachers (60 students). I find it hard to believe that at my school we don't need every possible teacher targeting the students with 1's and 2's. I'm not complaining. I'm happy to be doing yearbook and not math. And I think that these programs will be fun for the kids (who can't be selected if they have 1's or 2's). I just wonder what sort of accountability there is for the schools to offer enough math and reading tutoring where it is needed. Are we leaving out at least 60 kids who need the extra help in core subjects out because of these enrichment programs?

* * *

And as a side note, as of Friday there were still plenty of teachers who still didn't know what they were supposed to be doing for the 37.5 minutes. I guess they won't have anything planned. Frizz, your school gave you lesson plans??

Yearbooks, Yearbooks

So we pretty much decided on a yearbook company today. Lifetouch is getting us the books in the $32 ball park while Herff Jones was in the $50 range. Basically the decision was made for us at that point. Our deadline for finishing the book is going to be March 20th. That's so crazy. I don't know how we're going to pull this off. Normally this would be the final deadline not the first and last. We can get the surveys and other stuff together, that shouldn't be too hard. I'm wondering how we're going to fill a book with no pictures. We need to come up with 80 pages of pictures in a month and a half. Should be interesting.

Another disappointing thing is that we are going to go with a stock cover. We don't have time to create our own silk screen cover. While the stock ones are prettier than a lot of silk screens, it totally wipes out the idea of having the kids come up with and develop a theme on their own (which I think is a key element in making a good yearbook). The stock covers already have themes on them (for example "Our Time to Shine").

Basically this year is just going to be about getting the book out in a semi presentable manner. Hopefully next year we can do more. The Lifetouch rep was already saying that if we sign up early for next year we can get bonuses such as foil covers and fancy end sheets. If we stick with the same set up next year where we work on the yearbook in the 37.5 minutes, I think we'll be able to start the book from the first day of school.

Next year will be a much better book.

My Blog as a T-Shirt

Ever wonder what your blog would look like as a T-shirt? Go here to find out.

An update on the 37.5

So just two days after the letters were sent out informing parents of the new school schedule and after school 37.5 minutes, our union rep sorted out the time issue. We will be ending the regular school day at 2:50 and the extra time will begin immediately putting us out at 3:27.5.

It's a whole week later and they haven't sent a correction letter to the parents. Hmm, I wonder when they're planning on doing that. Also, many of the teachers still aren't clear on what is going on.

You would think that Monday, our last official PD, would have been a great time to talk about what is going to happen starting Monday the 6th. No, we didn't do that. Instead, we sat there in the auditorium for thirty minutes waiting for a TV to get set up. At 3:30 the nurse (who was showing us a mandatory video) finally got the TV working. It played no more than five seconds before one of our APs interrupted the video to make a quick announcement about handing out promotion in doubt letters. Someone asked about the "extra ten minutes" and after seeming confused she quickly said what the new schedule was going to be. She was speaking at lightning speed and ignored questions that teachers tried to ask. Then they resumed the video and that was that.

That always seems to be the case at my school. The most important information is either left out or rushed through. I have no idea how Monday is going to go but I'm sure that it will be worthy of another post.