It's finally here. Tomorrow I leave for New York. I'm not sure if I am mentally prepared for the six weeks of madness that are about to begin. Monday begins "Induction" which lasts for one week in NYC. Then all 600 of us new corps members from NY get bussed to Philadelphia where we join other corps members from different regions for 5 weeks of training known as the "Summer Institue." For those who don't know, the summer institute is supposed to be--in a word--INTENSE. A day in the life of the institute consists of teaching summer school in the morning followed by workshops and seminars in the afternoon, then planning for the following day's teaching in the evening (and well into the night). From most accounts we should be expecting to get about 4-5 hours of sleep a night. Back in March I found Andrew's blog, where I got my first real description of just how intense the summer was going to be. I can't believe that now it's only a week away. What I didn't know is just how jam packed our Induction schedule was going to be. Yesterday I got a preliminary schedule in the mail and they have us busy from breakfast all the way through to dinner plans. Somehow in that week we are supposed to find housing for August first when we get back from Philadelphia. I'm not sure how that is going to get accomplished as it seems we are barely going to have time for bathroom breaks.
I did finish just about all the reading in preparation for the Institute (seven texts in all) which was no small feat considering I had just a month to do it in and I was working over 40 hours a week. I didn't do it exactly how they set it up for us (in the neat little exercises followed by classroom observations) but I did get it done. I only did 4 of 9 observations, but seeing as I got back from Italy just two weeks before the end of the school year, I think that I did pretty well. I was shocked when I was talking to one current corps member, whose classroom I observed, and she said "It's so good that you are doing these observations. When I got to Institute I met a lot of people who hadn't done any." I didn't think that was an option, but I'm glad that I got most of it completed.
Though I didn't do all nine observations, I think that I sort of had an alternative series of observations. I found that a lot of what I was reading in the seven TFA texts sounded quite familiar to me. Reading teacher blogs over the last few months has taught me a lot, I think.
So . . . tonight I take the red eye to NY! Wish me luck on the 6 weeks of madness that I am about to endure!
Showing posts with label TFA Preparations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TFA Preparations. Show all posts
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Thursday, June 09, 2005
To the Bronx . . . Or not.
Today I got a short and sweet email telling me that my region has been changed and I'm now going to be teaching in Region 5 (Brooklyn/Queens). I guess it's not nearly as dramatic as it could have been (changing subject area or state), though I'd started getting attached to the idea of teaching in the Bronx. I'd only had my placement for a little while though and now I have plenty of time to get used to the idea of teaching in Region 5. This does majorly affect the housing search. For that I'm really greatful that the news came early on.
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Time's running out . . .
Less than two weeks now until I'm off to NY. I feel like there is so much that I need to do to get ready. I've only been back in the States now three weeks and I'm already having to think about packing up again! I'm working over 40hrs a week to try to save every bit that I can before I go. I won't get my first paycheck until September and seeing as I just got back from a year abroad, I don't exactly have any funds saved up. In addition to working, I'm trying to get through the pile of reading that needs to be done before summer institute. I'm focusing on the literacy texts because I know that they will be useful for the Multi-subject CST that is coming up at the end of June. There's really a lot of information there that I am completely unfamiliar with. I hope that I can get it all internalized before the test. Finally, my family. I feel like I haven't had enough time to spend with them. This month is going by so quickly. At least NY isn't as far away as Italy.
That said, I am really excited about getting to NY. I'm especially looking forward to meeting a lot of new people. Through the TFA website, I've made contact with a lot of interesting people. I'm definitey excited for this new adventure in my life.
That said, I am really excited about getting to NY. I'm especially looking forward to meeting a lot of new people. Through the TFA website, I've made contact with a lot of interesting people. I'm definitey excited for this new adventure in my life.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
South Bronx
I just found out today that I'm going to be teaching in the South Bronx (region 1). It's exciting to know even just a little more information on where I'll be teaching. I didn't give any preference for where I wanted to teach in NY--at this point, it's all the same to me. It helps to know where I'm going to be teaching though because now I can start thinking about where I want to live. I'm glad that I got to spend a bit of time in the city this past spring or I would be completely lost. When I was there I had plenty of time to wander so I kind of got my bearings in the city. So, can anyone give any recommendations as to where they would live in the city knowing that they would be teaching in the Bronx? I don't want to have a crazy commute. I'd like to live in a neighborhood that is really colorful with interesting bars, restaurants, shops, etc. A place where I can witness and take part in the "city ballet."
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Classroom Observations
Last week I did the first of my classroom observations that I'll do before the summer institute starts at the end of June.
The first day, I observed two Teach For America teachers teaching bilingual classes at a charter school. Both classes seemed very well behaved. All the students were attentive and classroom procedures went so smoothly that you almost didn't notice the transition between activities. I also noticed how quietly and quickly minor disruptions were handled by the teachers. I think that is one of the main things that I learned from watching their lessons. I think back to last summer teaching English at summer camps in Italy and I realize that minor disruptions by students were multiplied by the teachers (or "counselors") when they stopped the entire group activity or lesson to address a single student who was acting up. Last week I saw teachers walk around the room while talking to students. They were constantly putting a student's hands back in their own lap, tapping a student on the shoulder and pointing to the "time out" table, or picking up a student who had sprawled out on the carpet during circle time. All these disruptions and more were handled without ever speaking or stopping the lesson. (The classes I observed were kindergarten and 2nd grade, by the way). Lesson learned.
I'm sure that order and efficiency of the classes I observed is the fruit of the year's labor. I had the fortune to visit the class at the end of the year after they've had nine months as a class together. To the casual observer, classroom management seems easy. I actually did observe one student in the first class who was constantly talking out of turn, getting out of her seat, and generally being disruptive. The teacher told me immediately after the class that she just transferred to the school and has had some trouble adjusting.
The second day, I watched a 2nd grade class in a regular school (also taught by a TFA teacher). At first glance, the school was quite deceiving. It's only five years old and a really nice facility. All around the school construction of new homes is taking place. I arrived at the school just as the school bus was pulling up and letting all of the uniformed students off the bus. You would have never known that this school is in one of the worst performing districts in Phoenix. Inside the classroom, the differences between the students in terms of being on grade level wasn't immediately obvious to me. Students seemed to be all participating in the morning carpet time and "stations." After lunch, I was given the chance the work with the students individually on reading. That's where my shock came. I started out working with a student who could read the words on the page, only very slowly. Then I worked with a student who could barely sound out the words and often invented words based on the first letter of the word. Finally, I worked with a few students who fluidly read all the words without stopping to sound them out. The gap in learning was huge.
My main observation the second day was based on a question on the observation form. The question asked if students worked together and seemed supportive of each others' learning. To that I would have to say no. During the morning "stations," students were put in groups where they rotated between five stations. In one of the stations students worked with the teacher on reading, in the other four stations students were basically left to work on their own and in groups. Here I saw students that seemed to be competing with each other rather than being supportive of each other. I constantly heard students saying "That's easy!" when another student was working to solve a problem or read a sentence. They were always quick to point out who couldn't read. Some students had taken over the reading for their partners when they were supposed to be reading to each other. "This is what we do because he can't read," one girl told me. Overall the atmosphere wasn't cooperative. It must be so discouraging for a student to be constantly told by his peers that what he's working on is "easy" and to have all the students point and say "He can't read." This has me thinking of ways that I can really emphasize a cooperative classroom environment where students want to help those who are struggling.
Hopefully next week I will visit some upper elementary classrooms. I am kind of leaning toward wanting to teach lower elementary though.
The first day, I observed two Teach For America teachers teaching bilingual classes at a charter school. Both classes seemed very well behaved. All the students were attentive and classroom procedures went so smoothly that you almost didn't notice the transition between activities. I also noticed how quietly and quickly minor disruptions were handled by the teachers. I think that is one of the main things that I learned from watching their lessons. I think back to last summer teaching English at summer camps in Italy and I realize that minor disruptions by students were multiplied by the teachers (or "counselors") when they stopped the entire group activity or lesson to address a single student who was acting up. Last week I saw teachers walk around the room while talking to students. They were constantly putting a student's hands back in their own lap, tapping a student on the shoulder and pointing to the "time out" table, or picking up a student who had sprawled out on the carpet during circle time. All these disruptions and more were handled without ever speaking or stopping the lesson. (The classes I observed were kindergarten and 2nd grade, by the way). Lesson learned.
I'm sure that order and efficiency of the classes I observed is the fruit of the year's labor. I had the fortune to visit the class at the end of the year after they've had nine months as a class together. To the casual observer, classroom management seems easy. I actually did observe one student in the first class who was constantly talking out of turn, getting out of her seat, and generally being disruptive. The teacher told me immediately after the class that she just transferred to the school and has had some trouble adjusting.
The second day, I watched a 2nd grade class in a regular school (also taught by a TFA teacher). At first glance, the school was quite deceiving. It's only five years old and a really nice facility. All around the school construction of new homes is taking place. I arrived at the school just as the school bus was pulling up and letting all of the uniformed students off the bus. You would have never known that this school is in one of the worst performing districts in Phoenix. Inside the classroom, the differences between the students in terms of being on grade level wasn't immediately obvious to me. Students seemed to be all participating in the morning carpet time and "stations." After lunch, I was given the chance the work with the students individually on reading. That's where my shock came. I started out working with a student who could read the words on the page, only very slowly. Then I worked with a student who could barely sound out the words and often invented words based on the first letter of the word. Finally, I worked with a few students who fluidly read all the words without stopping to sound them out. The gap in learning was huge.
My main observation the second day was based on a question on the observation form. The question asked if students worked together and seemed supportive of each others' learning. To that I would have to say no. During the morning "stations," students were put in groups where they rotated between five stations. In one of the stations students worked with the teacher on reading, in the other four stations students were basically left to work on their own and in groups. Here I saw students that seemed to be competing with each other rather than being supportive of each other. I constantly heard students saying "That's easy!" when another student was working to solve a problem or read a sentence. They were always quick to point out who couldn't read. Some students had taken over the reading for their partners when they were supposed to be reading to each other. "This is what we do because he can't read," one girl told me. Overall the atmosphere wasn't cooperative. It must be so discouraging for a student to be constantly told by his peers that what he's working on is "easy" and to have all the students point and say "He can't read." This has me thinking of ways that I can really emphasize a cooperative classroom environment where students want to help those who are struggling.
Hopefully next week I will visit some upper elementary classrooms. I am kind of leaning toward wanting to teach lower elementary though.
Monday, May 16, 2005
Busy, Busy.
I haven't posted in the last week as I've been in constant travel between cities. The bag made it OK to London (I didn't even have to pay excess baggage fees!). Then I went back to Sardegna for my last two days of teaching. Then it was back to London for one night. I collected my bag and proceeded to the airport with two 65lb bags and a backpack. I was in NY all weekend. I took the LAST on Saturday and attended a "Placement Kick-off Event" for TFA on Sunday. In between all that I spent time with two friends that I met and worked with in Greece back in 2003. It was good times. I returned to Phoenix late last night exhausted! Today I'm recouping and getting ready for my classroom observations that start tomorrow.
Friday, May 06, 2005
Suitcase to be delivered
I'm off for a quick little jaunt to London before I head back to the states. The sole purpose of this trip is to drop off this suitcase. My flight to New York leaves from London on May 12th. Much to my irritation, the only easy way to get off this island is to take Ryan Air and they have ridiculous baggage restrictions (fifteen kilos between two bags!). After much research, I figured out that it was just easier (read: cheaper) to personally deliver one of bags to London myself. When I go back to London on Wednesday I'll take the second bag. Madness. Luckily I have a good friend living in London, so it's an excuse to visit her.
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Preparations
This last week has been all about paper work, phone calls, and emails. There's so much to do to get ready for the summer. TFA sent me a three page "to-do" list of things they need from me. (I am quite proud to announce that I'm almost finished with the list!) I do have to say that as an organization, they are quite organized with the mailings and updates that they send us and they are really good about responding to emails ASAP.
Now the main thing I have to worry about is preparing for the NYSTCE exams that I have to take. I'm taking the LAST on May 14th. I still haven't received the prep book that I ordered from amazon.com but I'm trying to work with the online resources. Apart from the LAST, I'm particularly concerned about the CST (multi-subject) that I have to take in June because if I don't pass it, I won't have an opportunity to re-take it, and therefore won't be able to teach in NY. Stress I tell you! Anyone taken the exams and want to give me some encouragement?
Today I got the ball rolling on setting up the classroom observations that are part of my "independent work" that I have to do before the summer institute. Since I'm not getting back to the States until May 15th, I have to cram nine observations (and the readings that go along with them) into one week. The second to the last school week of the year. It should be interesting trying to accomplish all this in the jet-lagged state that I'm going to be in when I get home.
Well, only two more weeks until Sardegna starts to fade into a distant memory . . .
Now the main thing I have to worry about is preparing for the NYSTCE exams that I have to take. I'm taking the LAST on May 14th. I still haven't received the prep book that I ordered from amazon.com but I'm trying to work with the online resources. Apart from the LAST, I'm particularly concerned about the CST (multi-subject) that I have to take in June because if I don't pass it, I won't have an opportunity to re-take it, and therefore won't be able to teach in NY. Stress I tell you! Anyone taken the exams and want to give me some encouragement?
Today I got the ball rolling on setting up the classroom observations that are part of my "independent work" that I have to do before the summer institute. Since I'm not getting back to the States until May 15th, I have to cram nine observations (and the readings that go along with them) into one week. The second to the last school week of the year. It should be interesting trying to accomplish all this in the jet-lagged state that I'm going to be in when I get home.
Well, only two more weeks until Sardegna starts to fade into a distant memory . . .
Monday, April 18, 2005
About Me
So, I thought I'd let all of my future blog readers out there know a little about me. I graduated from Arizona State in 2003 with a degree in Italian. Since then I've spent the last year living and working in Italy as an English teacher. I teach at a small private language school in Sardegna. I teach all levels of English, both group and private lessons and even an FCE test prep course. My students are great. They're mostly business people and a few who are supplementing their studies at university. They're very eager to learn. When you teach them a new structure, most want to use it over and over until they master it. And, it helps that Italians are generally very chatty so they like to talk, which helps in a language class. Although some are too busy with work to do the homework, they're paying good money for the course so they all want to be there.
I guess that it is this experience teaching English that influenced the decision to assign me to be an ESL teacher. I'm under no illusions, however, that next year will be anything like this year has been. So . . . Even though I've been teaching for a year already, next year really is going to be a new experience for me.
I guess that it is this experience teaching English that influenced the decision to assign me to be an ESL teacher. I'm under no illusions, however, that next year will be anything like this year has been. So . . . Even though I've been teaching for a year already, next year really is going to be a new experience for me.
I just recieved my materials and paperwork from TFA today. There's a lot of stuff to get organized before the summer training starts. Less than a month until I head back to the States.
Saturday, April 16, 2005
First Post
Ok. Here goes. My first post ever! This blog, along with being about my adventures as a first year teacher in NYC, is also going to be (for me) adventures in blogging. Today I just got a crash course on Blogger as I spent all afternoon setting up my blog with comments and trackback and links to my favorite teacher blogs and then decided to see what my blog would look like with a different template and lost all the work I had done! Now finally everything is as it should be (just as I had it a few hours ago!).
So, yesterday I found out that I was accepted to Teach for America. Yeah! I have been tentatively assigned to teach ESL in New York. (From what I understand there's a possibility that this could change though.) I've only been to NY once (for my TFA interview). I've always wanted to live there and I can't wait. Three months ago I never would have guessed that by fall I would be living in NYC working as a teacher! I can't imagine what the year is going to have in store for me!
So, yesterday I found out that I was accepted to Teach for America. Yeah! I have been tentatively assigned to teach ESL in New York. (From what I understand there's a possibility that this could change though.) I've only been to NY once (for my TFA interview). I've always wanted to live there and I can't wait. Three months ago I never would have guessed that by fall I would be living in NYC working as a teacher! I can't imagine what the year is going to have in store for me!
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