A Sad Goodbye

This afternoon I found out that I am loosing six of my students. I am so bummed!

Last week at out Pupil Personnel meeting my Principal and AP brought up getting four of our fifth grade students into a bilingual class at a nearby school. Two of the students are boys who have been in the school for three years now and speak English pretty well but are very low in both math and reading. While this is expected with students still learning English I talked with their teacher and it seems as if they should be evaluated for special education. One boy can't remember basic sight words such as 'the' or letter sounds. (Just to compare, my two fifth grade newcomers are already reading long preprimer books that have repeated words and structures and they have only been in the country two months). The other two students are my fifth grade newcomers. Although they have been doing well with me learning a lot of language they are in the fifth grade and not gaining any content.

So I looked into a school to send them to and our school made some phone calls to parents and as of tomorrow they no longer go to my school.

First, I am really sad to see my newcomers go. (The family decided to move the two younger brothers of the fifth grade girls so I no longer have a 'newcomer group'). That was my favorite group and I looked forward to seeing them every day. (Several times a day in fact). It is so exciting to teach them new language structures and vocabulary and then see the light bulb go off when they get it. It's even more exciting when the next day they are using the language. I just realized today how much conversation we have now compared to the first days of school. Everyday I know exactly what I have taught them and whether they got it or not. And, they are just great kids. I really loved them.

Second, I'm not sure that the boys need a bilingual class. It is pretty apparent that at least one if not both need special education (or at least an evaluation). If they get special education and bilingual classes at their new school that would be best. I just hope that they aren't at the bottom of the "to-do list" at their new school or that it takes ages for the new school to realize what they need. Already it has taken three years for them to get any consideration. Their teacher told me yesterday that he was so grateful to be having the conversation with me and the school psychologist about them because he has been trying for three years to get them extra help but because they speak Spanish they have been pushed aside because they were perceived to be in need of language acquisition rather than an IEP.

So while I am really sad to see my kids go I hope that it works out for the best. I actually went to the school that they are going to for a PD a few weeks ago and it is a good school. I observed the bilingual class that they are going to be in and the teacher is good (at least the math lesson I saw him do). Hopefully they will be happy there.

End of the Year Activities

Last week during our first half day we had a little faculty meeting in which our principal lectured us about instruction continuing all the way up until June 28th. Funny because since then I've witnessed quite a bit of administration sanctioned activity that doesn't involve instruction at all. Here's a sampling:

*daily, unscheduled assemblies
*field trips (one of which involved taking Kindergarteners to the mall to walk around)
*Two periods of graduation practice daily for grades K, 5, and 8.
*rehearsal for the "Early Childhood Celebration"

Seriously, these last two weeks are a joke.

I'm trying to get all of my end of year assessments done so that I can report back to TFA on whether or not I made "significant academic gains" with my students. (I didn't by the way. The best I did is a bit over a year--not the 1.5 to two years we are supposed to make.) Also for the rest of the year I have a "Dual Language Conference" to attend, Eighth grade graduation, yearbook signing party, and a field trip--all of which will be taking days away from actual instruction.

Summer is so close I can almost feel it. (And yet at the same time I almost can't believe that in two weeks I will be FREE!)

It's almost yearbook time

Yearbooks should be arriving on Wednesday. We would have gotten them sooner but we learned today that they had been mistakenly shipped to a school in Newark when we got a call from their yearbook advisor today. Interesting that that could happen considering our school address was on every piece of paper that was sent into the publishing company. Luckily our AP didn't flip out. She must have been having a good day today.

Eight More Weeks

It's the final stretch before grad school is over for the semester. I can't wait. I just have two papers to finish before Saturday. I can't really complain because they aren't super hard and they are both less than 10 pages, but still . . . I just finished half of one today. If I can keep up with this schedule for the rest of the week I'll be done Thursday so that I can relax Friday and not have to stay up all night getting everything done.

* * *

The yearbook proofs came back Friday. It looks great. I'm so happy with the way that it turned out (especially considering that we pulled it together so quickly). We started proofing the pages on Friday. We basically just looked for glaring errors before we gave it to the AP (from hell) to look at. Of course on her page (yes, the whole page dedicated to her) there was a big mistake. For some reason the plant put a yellow star border around three of the four sides of her page (the backgroud is parchment paper and the stars were not supposed to be there). We put a post-it on the page saying that it would be corrected. Well, she gave the book back to us today with a post-it saying that she really likes the stars and please keep them there. What? Each administrator has her own page and she wants to be the ONLY one with stars around her page? Also it very much clashes with the background AND there are only three of four sides of the border printed. Clearly that was an error. And she wants us to keep it there? I refuse. It's so ugly and so wrong. My co-advisor thinks maybe we have to keep it there since that is what she wants. Oh, no. One way or another that border is coming off. (We just keep thinking to ourselves that OF COURSE it had to work out this way. Couldn't they have accidentally put the border on the other AP's page? Or a really ugly one that she wouldn't have wanted??) Seriously though, this is so ridiculous!

Oh, and she also said not to show the yearbook to anyone--including the Principal.

Many things to consider

So there are some complications with switching my license area now. It's starting to get a little complicated (or "delicate" as my program director says).

Last week when talking to my PD about switching I brought up the idea of switching schools (so that I can have an ESL self contained class instead of pull-out) rather than switching my license area. He said that that wouldn't be an option because TFA really tries to not switch people out of their schools. I told him that before I make a decision about switching my license area then, I wanted to see if this was going to be possible as far as my school goes. I was pretty sure that my principal would be OK letting me switch since I think she likes me, but what if there aren't any openings available in my school next year? Then I would have switched my license area and there would be no place for me at my school so I'd have to switch anyways (and in that case I'd rather switch schools and keep my license area as ESL). Are you still following this?

So today my PD came to my school to talk to my principal and as it turns out she doesn't think there will be any openings next year. Apparently a lot of people want early childhood and we have a lot of teachers who have been around for a while who most likely aren't going anywhere.

So now I am left with the options of not changing anything and just staying where I am, switching to early childhood and switching schools or keeping ESL and switching schools. The "delicate" part comes in if I decide to switch schools and keep ESL because how do we explain to my principal why I am leaving but keeping ESL.

As much as I don't like my school switching next year would be a huge deal. Especially with changing license area it will be like having a first year all over agin. Also, I really like the other TFA people that I work with at my school and it would be really hard to leave them.

I'm still leaning towards switching though.

* * *
In other news . . .

The yearbook is done! Yippee!

Last week totally kicked my but but we got the book done and I finished my papers for grad school. (I feel like such a weight has been lifted.)

Even our crazy AP complimented us on it. She was really excited. (And she won't even know how good it is until she sees it printed in full color. She asked us how we were going to be able to top it next year.

* * *

I didn't get the job in Italy this summer :( Don't know what I am going to do now.

Is this week over yet?

I've been absent, I know.

I'll be back next week when I don't have a yearbook due and a month's worth of grad work to catch up on.

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.

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.)

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.

The first of many glitches to come

Today we passed out letters to certain students in the school telling them that they were mandated to attend the 37.5 minute sessions M-F. (Every teacher submitted a list of 10 students that they wanted to "target.") We also gave letters to students selected for enrichment programs such as yearbook and drama (they didn't get to choose what they wanted to participate in).

The first thing that I noticed about the letter was that it stated that we were switching to a new schedule. School would now be in session from 8:30 a.m. until 2:50 p.m. The 37.5 minutes would begin at 3:00 and finish at 3:37 1/2.

Hmmm . . . This is not what I remembered reading about the new contract. Somehow my administration is trying to get an extra ten minutes a day (40 minutes a week) out of us. They say that this time is for dismissal. Still, it is time that we are working.

Luckily, our union rep is all over this. Usually he doesn't push too hard for things but this, he says, isn't right. He said that he already mentioned it to the administration but they didn't agree with him. Now he has to take it to his people.

I was so glad that I heard him talking about this in the teacher's lounge today because I brought it up to some teachers and they didn't even know that school was supposed to end ten minutes earlier with the implementation of the new schedule.

Anyway, now once this all gets sorted out we're going to have to send out new letters most likely resulting in everyone being more confused than they already are about the whole situation.

Starting to Plan a Yearbook

Wednesday my yearbook co-adviser and I met with the rep from Herf Jones to discuss getting our yearbook started. One of our AP's (previously mentioned in testing posts) insisted on being in on the meeting. She came late and interrupted what we were discussing. She started asking about prices and telling the rep that the prices he was giving us weren't as good as they got with the previous company. She then told him "Well, these ladies will be entertaining other companies as well so they'll get back to you and let you know." She then stood up and shook his hand and basically pushed him out the door. We weren't done talking to him but she decided the meeting was over. Luckily I had warned him in advance that she was a bit abrasive (to put it lightly) so hopefully he didn't take it personally.

After the rep left she went through the yearbook that she advised in 2003 and told us exactly what she wanted us to do in this year's book. She kept saying that things were a "tradition" when to us they looked more like page fillers to waste space. When we offered up ideas she said "Oh, no that just won't work." One particular suggestion was to take individual pictures for "Senior Superlatives" (rather than a group photo with no names attached) so that "in twenty years they can look back and remember who was who." Her comment was "THESE kids won't keep the books for twenty years. They have them for a couple years and then they'll get rid of them." That really irked me. When you created a yearbook you're supposed to go into it with the mind set that you are capturing memories to be treasured for a life time.

I didn't know that I was signing up to recreate the exact book that our AP made two years ago. I think I'm going to be pretty frustrated at times having to work with her (she's not my immediate supervisor so I usually don't speak to her) but we're still planning on implementing most of our ideas and in the end our book will be a hundred times better than anything they've had in the past.

We are so not ready for this

I read this article after seeing it linked to Nancy's blog.

Here is an excerpt I found interesting:

The city has mandated that 290,000 of the city's nearly 1.1 million students attend the tutoring, and 40,000 more have been asked to attend voluntarily, city officials said yesterday.

All of those students and their parents have been notified, officials said, but many parents of children not selected for tutoring have yet to get letters explaining the new schedules.

Really? That's funny. The TEACHERS at my school don't even know what kids will be attending.

We don't even know what the new schedule will be. A lot of schools got to vote but we haven't even heard anything about it. I know that they are at least discussing something though because I was in the office today working on the computer and I heard the principal telling one of the after shool program directors about some possible scenarios. I guess as usual the teachers will be the last to know.

All I know it that I am signed up to do yearbook. We're having our first meeting with the Herff Jones rep on Wednesday. The AP (mentioned in previous posts) said to make sure she gets to attend because she wants to be there to negotiate the best price. As you can imagine I'm not too thrilled that she's going to be there.

So hopefully doing yearbook will kind of leave me out of this chaos a bit. (Probably wishful thinking though). It will definitely take more than 37 1/2 minutes a day to get a book published by spring so I'm in for a lot of work. I'm just glad I won't have to teach these "small group tutoring sessions" which will be more than double the size of my regular groups, by the way.

When does this thing start again??

Random Tidbits

It's been a little while since my last post. Lately I either haven't had anything to say or I've just been too tired to sit down and write. So, here's a little update from the last week.

My supervisor from the region (I can't remember her acronym) came to see me for the third time this year. This was the first time that she stopped by when I didn't have a class. She stayed and talked to me for two and a half hours! I'd like to say that it was really great and she helped me a lot, but actually, I felt like she was talking to herself most of the time. I'm not sure exactly what her role is. Is she there to make sure I'm doing what I'm supposed to? (She said she wasn't.) Or is she there to help me with instruction? (She didn't do that at all.)

Anyway, there were actually two good things that came out of the conversation. The first was when I asked about observing some other ESL teachers. I told her that I wanted to visit some other K-8 Pull-out teachers so that I can see what they are doing, how they have their rooms set up, what they are teaching, etc. She gave me some names and has since introduced me to some teachers. Hopefully I can get those observations set up soon.

The other good thing was that we got to discuss the ridiculous room situation that I have. (On her previous visits she hadn't realized that I was sharing my room with two other people. As if I would divide my already small classroom in half by choice.) I told her about all of the disruptions that I have been having in my room and she was appalled. When I was at the regional office last week we both spoke to the head of the ELL department and they are planning a visit to my school next week. (I have my fingers crossed but I'm not expecting any miracles).

* * *

In other news, I am now a co-adviser to the 8th grade yearbook at my school. One of the 8th grade teachers (and fellow TFAer/friend) got a yearbook in her box with a post-it on it saying in effect that she was the new yearbook advisor. (The post-it did ask her to "accept" the position, but clearly this task was being handed to her since she was a new teacher who wouldn't rebel and say no.)

I offered to help her out. Actually, I'm REALLY excited about this. I worked on both my junior high and high school yearbooks. I have a lot of great memories of yearbook camp, photo shoots, and rushing to get pages in before a deadline. And now I have a book to show for all that work. I can't wait to get started leading these eight graders to produce a book of their own.

My co-adviser and I haven't had a chance to meet and start planning yet but we have some time since we're not allowed to start with the kids until after the ELA test. I am slightly concerned about how we're supposed to produce an entire book in just two to three months but I have to remind myself that this isn't going to be an award winning high school book. Still, I have seen the books from the past years and I know that anything we do will greatly surpass what they have done in the past. The books left a lot to be desired with some pages completely lacking pictures and several pages completely devoted to teachers and administrators. I want the kids to know that this is *their* book about *their* 8th grade year. It's not about teachers' inspirational quotes or 8th graders' thank yous to the administrators.

Producing this book is going to be a ton of extra work for both of us (advisers) but it will be worth it. And, as a bonus, we get to use the 37 1/2 minutes after school which means I won't have to plan for "small group instruction" (which by the way would be more students than I usually teach).

* * *

Today I went to the monthly ESL professional development. The topic of the meeting was the new "Science Initiative" in the region. Basically the science people got together with the ELL people and decided that we should try to teach language in the context of science for the benefit of all. Last year was all about the "Math Initiative" and we were told that we shouldn't forget about that. The presentation consisted of a quick run down of what the science initiative is followed by what's hard/easy for ELLs in science. Then we did a *40 minute* jigsaw activity to model what we could do with our kids. Then the meeting promptly ended.

There was no discussion of how we are suppose to teach science in ESL. I understand teaching language through content areas but where in my schedule do I do this? Do I devote a period a week to science, half of the periods, all the periods, or maybe simply use science books for a read aloud? All of these questions were running through my head as they were bringing the meeting to a close without time for Q&A. I asked after the meeting and, after giving me a look as if this were obvious, they told me that this was just a suggestion. If we want we can try it out and see how it works for us but if not that's ok too. They are not mandating anything.

The meeting actually got me thinking that I might be able to try this out with my fourth grade group. Right now I see them for four 90 minute blocks a week. I just started do reading groups (or centers) with them this week (for two periods a week). For the other two periods I could use science as my content area to teach vocabulary, language and writing skills. I think this would be fun for the kids, give me a focus on what I can do for unit themes, and hopefully help the 4th graders on their science exam in the spring.

During the first part of the meeting we had a presentation from a sales rep who showed us some really great materials to use in our classroom. Coincidentally (or not) they introduced a new science kit with Fountas and Pinnell leveled readers in them as well. I'm going to talk to my principal about ordering the science stuff. She did recently tell me that I had some money to spend for ESL (actually, I asked) and I'm sure that they will be all about efforts to raise test scores.

What do you think about that Ms. Frizzle?

* * *

I am really looking forward to going home for Christmas. I haven't been home since TFA induction in June so I haven't seen most of my family since then. And, as a bonus, the weather will be 20 to 40 degrees warmer there. That said, I'm not in a total pre-Christmas funk. Actually, I'm feeling pretty good. I've read/seen the graphs showing the slump that first year teachers usually go through leading up to Christmas before then starting to rise again after the New Year. Maybe I already hit that low, or maybe it will come late for me and in January I will be hating life. For now though, I feel like I am finally getting organized and on track. My schedule is now set, I'm planning on a weekly instead of daily basis and I have some idea of what I want to teach until June.

* * *

Lastly, I went to an information session at the TFA office last night about working at the summer institute. It's going to be in NYC this year and for NYC corps members only. As a first year corps member, I'm only qualified to apply for operations director positions (as opposed to instructional positions). There are only six positions available at each institute so it might be pretty competitive. And, institute starts just 5 days after school gets out (staff will get there the day school ends). I'm still thinking about whether or not I will apply. It sounds like an interesting opportunity though.