Procrastination

Instead of working on my last paper for grad school yesterday, I met my friend Amanda for a late lunch at Bar Toto on Sixth Avenue. Afterall, she's only in town for one day between trips to Austin and Toronto and I still have three days to whip up that ten page paper.

We both drank Campari and Soda--a nice reminder of aperitivo in Italy but certainly not an every day drink for me. She had a mixed bruschetta plate and I had rigatoni with eggplant and smoked mozzarella. The food was great (definitely better than Tutta Pasta we both agreed). We had a long lunch catching up on our summer travels and then said goodbye until she returns on the 28th.

Now I'm still procrastinating on getting started. I have to get this paper out of the way so that I can focus on planning for next year.

Last Weeks of Summer

So it's now the home stretch until school starts. I must admit, I haven't really done much to prepare for the upcoming year. The two workshops that I attended did put some ideas in my head so I kind of know where I want to go but I haven't really had time to think things through and get some real planning done. My excuse is that I've had a lot of grad school work to do. (Online courses are much more labor intensive than the in person classes). I just have two papers left to finish, one due Sunday and the other Wednesday. After that, I'm free to focus on next year.

This year I feel like I am starting all over. Not only am I going to a new school so I don't know entirely what to expect, but I plan on doing things a lot differently than last year. I had such small groups last year that I could get away with minimal planning. A lot of what I did in class was actually working one on one with students. Next year that won't be the case. My main structures for class next year are going to be read alouds, centers, writing workshop, and something I learned at the CLI institute called Message Time Plus. I will put those elements together to form a sort of literacy block. There is still so much to think about and plan though. And, I've never done writer's workshop so I am kind of worried about that.

Next week I hope to sketch out some ideas for routines, organization and planning. The week of the 28th I plan to be in my classroom getting set up the whole week. Then the next week school starts. Seriously, where did the summer go??

We'll Call These The Before Pictures

Two weeks ago I went to my new school to get a better look at my new classroom. I was excited about it when I went for my interview but now I am thrilled. I really lucked out on this room. At the interview I was excited about the rug, the cabinets, the windows and the computers. I didn't even notice that the room had THREE computers (with a printer! Hmm, I wonder if I have internet?), tons of great picture books (in English and Spanish), all kinds of manipulatives, and an air conditioner!! The teacher who left the position retired and left sooo much stuff in the closets and in the filing cabinets. Good stuff. I seriously have everything I can think of in terms of supplies: pencils, paper, index cards, chart paper, slates, felt boards, white boards, you name it. I was in the teacher store last week with another teacher friend and she kept seeing things she wanted for her room and I'd say, "I have that in my classroom!" The best part is, this teacher was super organized so I wont have to spend a lot of time digging through junk. Everything is organized and labeled (just the way I like it). There are a few things I can see that'll need to be thrown out but nothing too out of control.

I can't wait to get in there and organize the furniture and decorate the walls and set up my library. So here are the before pictures . . .

The left side of the room.


The right side of the room. Already I can see there are way too many desks. I don't think I'll have more than twelve students at a time so I'd like to get rid of the ones I don't need and keep only matching ones if possible.


The library. This is going to be my favorite part. I already got some pillows, a comfy chair, and some stuffed animals to make this a cozy space. I can't wait to fix it up.


OK, well that is the sneak preview for now. I'll post the after pictures in a few weeks.

Overheard in Arizona

What a gorgeous day! And the temperature is perfect.

Note: The temperature was 103 degrees.

Goodbye Region 5

Well, it is official. Next year I will be moving to a K-5 school in Williamsburg. I will miss some of the teachers and students at my school. I most definitely WILL NOT regret leaving Region 5.

I can't believe this

Last night I was riding the R train back to Brooklyn after a night out. I was minding my own business listening to my ipod when the train stopped at Atlantic. A cop came in and asked me to step out side the train. He asked me if I knew why he asked me to get off and I of course said "No." Apparently he noticed that I had a foot on the seat in front of me. (Another cop had asked another passenger in the same car to get off for the same reason.) After taking a few minutes to show us where in the rule pamphlet it says that it is a violation to put your feet on the seat, he proceeded to write me a ticket! For $50!

I didn't even know you could get a ticket on the subway! And to think of all of the 'violations' I see on the subway every day, *I* get a ticket for putting my foot on the seat at 4am when all I really want to do is get home to my bed.

So, do you have any advice for getting out of a ticket like this? Will showing up at the hearing help? What would happen to me (and my out of state license) if I just don't pay?

And seriously, were those cops just BORED last night?

UPDATE: I also wrote to Gothamist with the same post. Click here to see what Gothamist readers had to say.

Interview #2

So it turned out that my interview was for some sort of self-contained class. They didn't actually say until at the end of the interview (when I finally got the chance to ask a question) and I was told that they didn't know what they would have available until later. I mentioned that I had been told something about K, 4, or 5 and the Principal said that it could be one of those but, again, she didn't know.

I didn't like the feel of this interview as much as the first one. There were about five people interviewing me and they took turns asking me questions off of a typed list that they had. All of the questions related to ESL strategies or how I would handle disruptive students etc. They hardly asked me anything about my previous experiences, though I did talk about my teaching last year. Initially they hadn't realized that I just completed my first year teaching (they thought that I was a new corps member still in training).

So, I wish that this situation seemed to be working out. The school is close to my apartment. They have a large ESL population and I would definitely have a self-contained class as they don't have a pull out program. Also, there is the possibility that i could get kindergarten and that is what I really want to teach. I don't know if it is going to work out though. I don't think that I can pass up this other position because what if they don't end up having a position for me? I talked with my program director and he thinks that I should take the position that is certain. (It is a definite improvement from my previous school.) I will probably talk with the placement director and then make a decision very soon.

Interview #1

After going through today's interview I was suprisingly more excited for the position than I thought I was going to be.

The position is for pull-out ESL. I was told that I may occasionally do push-in but probably wouldn't be part of my regular schedule. I would have about 50 kids in grades K-5. The best part is that I would have a HUGE room all to myself! No more sharing with coaches. The room has a carpet, library, huge windows, lots of cabinets, and even computers! I could do so much with that space!

The principal seemed really nice and a lot more knowledgeable about ESL than my previous administration. She seemed happy that I already know the ins and outs of all of the paperwork involved with ESL and reports that have to be written yearly. I get the impression that she would probably be a little more involved in what I am doing than my previous principal but that isn't really hard considering my last principal came in my room a total of two times the entire year.

The neighborhood is sooo much nicer than the one that I am currently in. It suprised me. I am used to my school situated amidst the projects in Brownsville. The school building was nice from the outside but noticeable older than my current school on the inside.

Overall, I think that I would be happy to make the switch if this is the school that I end up at. I would still have the same type of program that I have now but with more kids and less grade levels. I like that because I can focus on planning for fewer grade levels and have more students to work with. I love that I would have my own room. The principal seems to be nice. The commute is probably about the same (only I won't have to switch trains anymore).

The only thing that I didn't like was that the principal wanted to warn me that I may be pulled at times to do coverages. She said she interviewed someone else who said they ONLY wanted to teach ESL and wouldn't do coverages. While I know that this is always a possibility, the way she warned me about it made me feel that it could be excessive. I was told at the beginning of last year to keep a log of all of the times that I was pulled for coverages and to report it to my regional ESL supervisor if it became "excessive." As it turned out I was only asked to do a coverage once and that was before I'd even started pulling my kids. (I swear I was invisible at my school last year!) The principal did say that she didn't believe that one program was more important than another (AIS, Speech, ESL, etc.) so she tries to assign coverages evenly. I guess that was a little reassuring.

I am excited but still curious about tomorrow's interview.

Changes

Well, I finally have an update on the changing school situation. I have two interviews scheduled for this week. The first one is tomorrow morning. The school is in South Williamsburg. I'd still be doing pull-out/push-in but I'd have 45-60 students spanning grades K-5 (as opposed to the 13 students spanning grades K-8 that I have now). I think that the school has just about 450 students and it shares a building with a charter school. That's pretty much all I know about the school.

The second school is on Thursday and is a little more exciting. It's only three subway stops away from me (that's a bonus!) in Sunset Park. I was told by the placement director that I would have grades K, 4, and 5. That seemed a bit odd but I just assumed that another ESL teacher had grades 1-3. Then she told me that I would have a self-contained class. I said "Wait. I don't get it. How can those grades be one class?" She said that she didn't understand either but that I would have to ask at the interview. I'm thinking that maybe she misheard and I would have either K or 4/5. Or maybe somehow I would be working with two classes. I'm not sure but I am thrilled at the possibility of getting my own class. Also, I looked on the school's website and they have both self-contained and dual language classes! Very exciting. My placement director told me that the principal "doesn't believe in push-in/pull-out." Yeah! I don't either. On the school report card I also found the "Principal's Statement."

We are committed to providing opportunities for students to meet and exceed academicstandards and for our members to flourish as a community of learners. We will provide a strong comprehensive literacy program in collaboration with Teachers College, where reading and writing workshop takes place daily. We support our English Language Learners in their native language as well as in English through our Dual Language and Self-contained ESL programs. We continue to implement Math investigations (TERC) program in order to develop critical thinking, problem solving and decision making.

Right there that is more aknowledgement to ELLS than in my current school. Of course at this school 38% of the students are ELLs. I am very excited to learn more about this school.

I'm lucky too because I will have my pick of both schools (assumming I get both jobs). Most TFAers don't have that option.

My program director called my principal today and told her that I would not be returning next year. So, now it is official. It's just a matter of where I end up.

Which one of these dresses doesn't belong?

Yes that'd be the white one that's just barely there and looks like it went through a shredder. (I'll just say she flashed her underwear more than a few times that night.) And what you don't see in the picture are the red stiletto shoes with ribbons tied around her ankles that she couldn't walk in and had to ditch as soon as she got inside.

Apart from this unfortunate costume, most of the girls looked lovely in their ball gowns. The boys for the most part looked like pimps (literally, of course). Canes and top hats were popular accessories. And then there was the one guy who was straight out of Miami Vice with his peach linen trousers and peach shirt unbuttoned with white t-shirt underneath, gold chain, shades and all.

The kids had a blast at the dance. And, they were actually really good for the entire evening. We had no problems at all. Even the dancing didn't get too out of control.

It was funny because the kids were so excited to be dressed up and to see all of their friends that they didn't even notice that there was no music for the first hour of the dance (the DJ's van broke down). There was also a really nice buffet that the kids didn't touch all night until the last half hour when a few of them grabbed a piece of cake or a chicken strip.

Overall it was a very good night. Even the teachers enjoyed themselves.

Return to the Blogosphere

After a long hiatus, Hipteacher is back.

Dual Language. How Cool!

Today I went to my Region's First Annual Dual Language Conference and Showcase. It was actually one of the more enjoyable ESL functions that I've attended this year. Probably because it wasn't a useless PD but actually, for the most part, was different schools in the Region presenting their Dual Language Programs, how they started, their successes and challenges, etc. (We did of course have to first sit through about an hour of our Regional staff giving self-congratulatory speeches about how great and talented they are--oh, and how great the teachers are for working for our kids.)

For those who aren't familiar, a Dual Language Program is a class that has half native English speakers and half native Spanish speakers (or Chinese or Arabic, or whatever). Instruction is 50% in English and 50% in the other language. The goal of the program is for all students to become proficient in both languages--so the program is just as much for the native English speakers as it is for the ELLs. (This differs from a regular bilingual class where the all of the students are learning English and although instruction is in both languages, the native language is eventually phased out. The goal of a traditional program is for students to become proficient in English only.) Kids generally enter the DL program in Kindergarten and stick with it all through their schooling.

I love this program so much! I am so for kids growing up bilingual. (Hopefully when I have kids they'll grow up bilingual because I'll speak to them in English and their father will speak to them in [insert language here]. I've already thought about the method I would use and everything. Then in school they would learn a third language. B ut since I'm not even dating someone who speaks a another language right now, let alone thinking about having kids, I guess this is jumping ahead just a tad bit. My second choice would be a dual language program though.) And not only do the native English speakers acquire a second language but the kids learning English retain their native language and they feel like it is valued and appreciated. How cool is that?

So, hearing about all of these programs made me so jealous. I would love to teach in a DL program. All of the teachers were young and energetic. They were full of innovative ideas and you could see their dedication to their kids and the DL program. The other thing that was evident was that these programs were in schools that had supportive administrations and generally favorable school environments. (One teacher sitting next to me asked what the kids at my school were like. I asked what she meant and she said "Well, our school shares a building with another school and their kids are always running wildly up and down the halls and it makes it harder for us to teach our kids that they can't do that." I said, "Yep. That sounds like my school.") I loved one small school that was completely DL and had a strong focus on the arts. They believe that kids learn language best through the content areas and the arts is a way for kids to express themselves as individuals. Because no two students produce the same work, they have reason to engage in communication about their art. (Honestly, I think that the only thing that my school believes in making sure everything looks good so that we don't get in trouble when the region comes.)

I feel like I could be really interested in working in a Dual Language school for a few years and then moving on to a new school to help start up a new DL program. Maybe if I am lucky my new placement could be the start of that. (I still haven't heard any news of my changing schools yet.)

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.

Kids Art Day 2006/Brooklyn-Queens Day

Being that it is my first year teaching, I never got to experience the joy of having a random day off for Brooklyn-Queens Day. Today with out the kids though was pretty good anyways. Actually, I was really lucky. I got to go on a parent/kid field trip for Kids Art Day at the Rotunda Gallery in Downtown Brooklyn. The trip was the culminating event after a series of Saturday workshops that were put on by a grant from Parents as Art Partners. I wasn't a part of the workshops but I volunteered to go on the trip to be the photographer.



The gallery was very nice and they work done by the kids was great. The piece done by the kids and parents at my school is called "Drawing Family Ties." It is a mural of people and family in our neighborhood. They did a really nice job on the project and both the kids and parents were thrilled to see their work in a real gallery. The exhibit will be up until the 17th but today was officially Kids Art Day so they had stations set up where kids could make books with different kinds of paper, stamps, markers, etc., and they also had a DJ spinning records. The space was a little small (our group had 37 people alone) but the kids didn't seem to mind.

Nearing the End

I can't believe that it is already June and my first year of teaching is almost over. Even though there are less than four weeks left of school, the year is pretty much over for me (and it has been for a few weeks now). When I say over, I mean that I'm really not going to be working with my kids and pushing them towards their goals for the end of the year.

Last month I spent two weeks administering the NYS*ESLAT tests to all of my kids. Then, last week (my first full week with them in ages), one of the coaches that I share a room with essentially kicked me out of our room so that she could administer some test of her own to students in danger of failing. Now today, June 1st, marks the first day of NYS*ESLAT scoring in my region. That should keep me busy for the next week. When I finally get back to school there'll only be about two and a half weeks left. I'll pick up my kids as much as possible but with graduation practices, field days, half days, and all of the other end of the year activities going on, I know that I won't actually be seeing them much. That's too bad because I really wanted to use the last weeks of school to bump each up my students up a level in reading. (Not to mention that scoring the tests is soooo boring. I can't believe I have a whole week of it!)

* * *

So far I don't have many plans for summer break. I did sign up for a *paid* five day ESL workshop from the 17th to the 21st of July. Then the following week I will be in Philly for a four day workshop held by the Children's Literacy Initiative. They reserved ten paid spots for TFA teachers and I got one of them! I'm really excited because I feel like that is one area that I could really improve on.

Apart from the PDs I'm sure I will head to Arizona for a few weeks and then possibly visit a friend in Santa Barbara.

I can already see it . . . Two months is not going to be enough time at all!

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.

The weekend is over already?

I had such a good weekend that I don't want it to end. I didn't do any school work and I actually felt like I had a real life.

Friday night happy hour with the other TFAers at my school (and a few additions) turned into a late night ending with Indian food at 2am. Saturday I went with my friend Monica to the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Botanical Gardens in Brooklyn. It was gorgeous and such a relaxing day. We hadn't seen each other in ages (she teaches in the Bronx and lives in Harlem, so . . .). We had tons to catch up on. Then Saturday night I went out to dinner and a movie with a new friend. Sunday morning was brunch with a couple of friends. Then I did some shopping before I met up with my best friend for coffee before she had to go to rehearsal. When I got home I decided to do a little spring organizing and so I packed up all of my heavy winter sweaters (I left a few of the light spring ones out) and hung up all of my spring clothes.


Winter


Spring

Next weekend won't be quite so fun because I have grad school all day Saturday but it's my friend's birthday too so we're planning something fun for Saturday night.

(I can't wait for summer!)

Wide Open Spaces

I enjoyed my spring break way too much. It was so hard to go back on Monday. (Only nine weeks left!) I spent the whole break in Arizona with my family shopping, laying by the pool, and going to the lake (and I have a nice tan to show for it). I got back Thursday night and went out with some friends. It was nice to see my family and relax by the pool but Arizona is not for me. I need more excitement and stimulation. I'm already looking forward to the weekend.

Catching up on some blogs

I was reading this post and it sounded so familiar. I think it is so sad that this really is a typical class period in so many middle schools in the city.

Vacation

Sprink Break is here!

I am off to Arizona to visit my family tomorrow. I am so excited.

I don't plan on doing any work over break. Yeah!

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.

A Great School

On Wednesday I went to observe a school in Brooklyn set up by TFA. The school is in Sunset Park (oh so close to my apartment). The visit was really eye opening.

The reason that I chose to look at this school (versus the others on the "City wide school visit" list) was because it has a strong bilingual and ESL program. The school is located in a predominately Hispanic neighborhood and according to the principal, 60% of the kids are ELL (English Language Learner) though basically all of them are because they come from Spanish speaking households. It was so weird to see a school that has so much focus on ESL (they have pull-out, self contained, bilingual and dual language) coming from my school where ESL is only noticed when the principal gets an email telling me I have a meeting to attend or the AP sees that I have interim assessments to give my students.

One of the major things that I observed at the school was the supportive administration. The teacher who gave us a tour of the school (also a first year TFA corps member) could not stop gushing about how wonderful her principal and AP are. I met them both and they were very friendly and positive. The principal talked about getting the teachers together as a team to make the school successful.

I got to the school a bit before 8:30. I noticed that all of the kids were already in the classrooms working quietly (unheard of at my school). I was a bit confused as I thought I was early so I was wondering how they got in the building so quickly. As I found out, they actually arrived at 8:00 for the 37.5 minutes. It was amazing to see the school actually using the extra time to benefit the students. In every room they were actually working. Just peeking in the windows I saw guided reading, students working in groups at desks, manipulatives, etc. At my school everyone is so tired by the end of the day (not really an excuse, but . . .) that the after school time is just a time filler. If it takes 20 minutes to walk half the kids downstairs and the other half up, all the better. But this post is not about my school . . .

Seeing this school made me want to teach on a school like this that has a large ELL population (and of course a great administration). There are so many opportunities to have a self contained class. I really love ESL kids, too. I love the idea of speaking more than one language. I think it is so important and to be valued.

(Ideally next year I could get a position teaching a self contained lower elementary ESL class. That would be the best of both worlds. TFA is not all about switching schools before the two years though so I highly doubt that that is even a small possibility).

The other thing that I noticed (and this may be silly) is how QUIET the school was. Not only were there not any loud outbursts coming from classrooms, but there were NO kids in the halls. I don't think I even saw a kid go to the restroom with a pass. (This as compared to my school where it is common to see a pack of 4-5 boys sprinting back and forth through the halls). What I did see in the halls were a lot of small groups working with reading intervention teachers. Yes, ideally they should be working in rooms at tables but this was amazing because one, it was quiet enough for them to be able to do this and two, because they actually have quality work going on with kids being pulled out of class.

Overall, I think seeing the school made me regretful about what my school could be if only . . . I also really wish that I had had more time to talk with the pull out teachers individually so I could get a sense of their set up, what they teach the kids, best practices for pull out, etc. Maybe I can schedule a specific time to speak with them later.

Leaving ESL

No, not me. One of my students.

At one of my ESL meetings earlier in the year, I learned that there is a second way to get out of ESL (the first of course, is passing the NYSESLAT). If a student has an IEP, the team/committee (I don't know exactly what they are called) can decide that the student does not need ESL and by simply checking a box on the IEP can take the student out of ESL. They didn't say what circumstances would warrant taking a student out of ESL who hadn't passed the test (that wasn't the topic of the meeting) but I immediately thought of a student who I thought should be "X-coded" out of ESL.

This student, E, essentially speaks English as her first language. She got into ESL in the typical way. When she registered for kindergarten her parents marked on her home language survey a certain number of boxes that indicated that she spoke or understood a language other than English (in her case Haitian Creole) and that it was the dominant language in the household. That survey allowed her to be tested for ESL and her low score is what got her in to ESL. I only met her this year so I don't know how much Haitian Creole she at one point knew, but as of meeting her this year she barely understood the concept that people speak other languages. I later learned that she no longer lives with her biological parents and so is not even exposed to another language let alone is she able to speak one.

So, why can't she get out of ESL? She just can't pass the NYSESLAT. It's not a hard test but students who are low level can have trouble passing it even if there is no language barrier. E is a very good student. She tries her best, does neat work and likes to participate but something is not there. She has trouble answering a question orally or written in a clear sentence. She often can't follow directions the first time. These are all things that the speech teacher is working on with her.

E comes to see me for ESL eight periods a week. She also goes to the speech teacher several times a week (and I can't remember if she gets pulled for AIS as well). Basically, she is missing a lot of class. While she does benefit from individual attention, I began thinking that her coming to ESL may actually be detrimental to her. Getting pulled in so many directions she was missing a lot of ELA but also math and science and that didn't really seem fair to her. Especially, since she doesn't need language help, which is what ESL is for: English language learners.

So, last Friday E's speech teacher came to me and said that her IEP was overdue and she had to rush to get it done that day and needed my input. I told her that I had been waiting for the meeting because I had wanted to recommend that she no longer receive ESL services. I said that I was worried that she was missing too much class and didn't really need ESL considering she already receives speech. You should have seen the look of relief on her face when I said that. Apparently that was exactly what she had wanted to talk to me about. She was even more relieved when she learned that the process was as simple as checking a box on the IEP.

And that was it. As of Friday, E is no longer one of my students. In a way I am happy because that is what I wanted for her but I am also a little sad too. I did have certain goals that I was trying to work on with her and now I will never know if she would have been able to achieve them. I talked to her on Monday and asked her if she knew that she wasn't coming to ESL any more. She said that her teacher told her but when I asked her if she knew why she said she didn't. I explained that we (her teachers) wanted what was best for her and we were afraid that she was missing too much class so she would continue to work with the speech teacher but not me. She stood there without saying anything. I asked her if she was sad and she said no. I asked, "Is this what you wanted?" She smiled and said yes.

I have a few other students that I would like to do the same thing for but E is the only one with an IEP so the rest will have to test out on their own.

Now I am down to 13 ESL students. I started out with 16. In January two (brothers) moved. I now have two kindergarteners, one third grader, two fourth graders, three fifth graders, one seventh grader and four eighth graders. My two kindergarteners are the only students that I would actually consider true ELLs.

What Should I Do?

The job that I have now (as an ESL pull-out teacher) is nothing like I envisioned when I joined TFA. I had imagined myself teaching a class of my own kids in my own classroom. There would be 25 seven year olds sitting on a rug as I read them a read aloud first period. They would be with me all day (except for lunch and prep periods) and I would get to know my students really well.

Before institute I did several classroom observations. I saw a lot of Kindergarten through second grade classes and decided that that was the age that I really wanted to teach.

All summer during TFA training we learned about how to differentiate by making small groups, how to make smooth transitions from the rug to desks, to think about classroom organization in terms of efficiency and fun ways to engage all students such as "turn and talk" to your partner. I imagined myself doing all of these things even though I knew that I had been assigned to ESL and would be doing either push-in or pull-out.

I got to my school in September and found out that I wouldn't have my own class or my own room. In fact, I had to share a room with two coaches who had their office on the other side. (Did I ever mention how nerve racking it was teaching my very first lessons as a first year teacher knowing that there were two veteran teachers sitting on the other side of the room listening to every word that I said?)

I only had 15 students but since they were spread across nine grade levels that meant I saw them in groups of 2-5. I also found out that none of my students were actually English Language Learners. I mean, technically they were since they hadn't passed the NYSESLAT, but practically, all of them were born in Brooklyn and had been in ESL since Kindergarten. Not only was I not teaching in front of a class of students as I had imagined but I wasn't even teaching ESL as I had imagined (to groups of kids actually needing to learn English).

I watched one of my fellow first year TFAers with her class of students and she was doing an amazing job with them. She had turned their behavior around and was doing things in her classroom that I had imagined myself doing all summer. I though to myself I could have a class like that If only I had the opportunity. I wanted that challenge. That is what I signed up to do.

In November I asked my Program Director at TFA if I would be able to change my license area from ESL to early childhood. He met with people from TFA who decided that it could be possible if my grad school would be ok with me making the change mid-way through the year.

It had been so long since I had heard from anyone that I had pretty much started to accept the idea that I would not get to teach my own Kindergarten class next year (my first choice). Then today I got a voice mail from my PD saying that they had decided that I can switch if I want.

So now I have a dilemma. Why is it a dilemma if this is what I have been wanting all along you're wondering? Well for one, because I do like ESL. I like the idea of ESL just not my situation. I would love to have a self contained class of ESL kids from countries around the world. (Teaching in the neighborhood that I do this is not an option). I also think that ESL is an interesting topic. There is a lot to talk about in terms of policy, a lot of people have strong opinions about it and for most (if not all) school districts it remains something that is not known how to do well. Then there is the issue of getting my masters. On paper it makes so much more sense for me to have a masters in ESL (having studied languages, taught English in Italy with a TEFL certificate, wanting to eventually teach abroad again, etc.). And this may be totally wrong of me to think, but doesn't a masters in K-12 ESL just sound better than Early Childhood?

But maybe that doesn't matter at all. So what if it looks good on paper. I really want to have the chance to have my own class. And I don't know that having one masters over the other will be better for teaching abroad.

More things to consider: Next year my ESL situation could get even worse. I might not even have my own room or I could be forced to teach at two schools because I don't have enough students. If I do switch I will have to take an extra class at grad school because I missed it being in the ESL group this year and I will have to pay for it out of pocket.

I know a lot of people will say that I have it so good teaching small groups in a pull-out setting. I have a ton of flexibility, administration doesn't bother me, I don't have to do bulletin boards or worry about crazy classroom management issues. Honestly though, I am not even considering these things in my decision. I know that next year will be harder if I switch but it is what I expected all along.

Any advice?

Books, Books, Books

This Saturday I had the chance to attend the Project Cicero book drive. Look at all of the books I got! 153 to be exact. I think that this about doubles what I previously had in my library. I'm really excited about showing them to the kids. I got some really good read aloud books, some early readers, chapter books, a few non-fiction books (including a couple that will work with our solar system unit that we are working on) and a handful of holiday themed books. Also thrown into the mix were two books that I won't be using: a book in German and a book of bible stories. Now I just have to level some of these and then find homes for them on the few shelves that I have for our library.

My classroom organization explained (in detail)

Here's another view of my classroom. Yes, this it the whole thing! The other half of the room is occupied by the math and literacy coaches at my school. (If you've been reading my blog for a while you've heard all about them.) The space is tight, but cozy.

Keep reading if you want to hear all about the organization of my room (I'm all about organization). If not, now would be a good time to stop reading.

My Desk!

Posters my fifth graders made while reading Any Small Goodness.

Word families that I am working on with the kindergarteners.

Organization

The left side of the bookcase is part of the library. The right side organizes classroom supplies. On the top there are three tupperware boxes each containing markers, scissors, crayons and glue. On the bottom is a basket where kids can store independent reading books they are currently using. There are also folders and books that my eighth graders are using for the unit we just started.

Reading Strategies

Back Wall

This is the "Writing" bulletin board which has recently become the "Science" bulletin board. On the table I have files to organize student work and portfolios, pencil baskets, and a basket of composition books color coded by class.

Kindergarten Word Wall

I actually like that this is right down by the ground because it is on a five year old level. I have them go to it and point out/read words all of the time. I only wish that there was more room to spread the words out a little.

White Board

I bought special paper to turn my chalkboard into a white board. I like writing with colored markers better than chalk. In the center of the board is a circle that is supposed to tell the kids when they have to be quiet, when they can be louder, etc. It's my fault I wasn't very good at keeping up with it so it kind of failed. I still think it has potential though so I keep it up there.

You'll notice a small desk to the left of the board. I use that to keep my lesson plans, worksheets, etc. for the day and it doubles as the listening center on other days.

Library

My library is leveled according to Fountas and Pinnell (which most teachers at my school don't do, actually). Since I teach K-8 I have books ranging from A-Z. Of course that means I don't have a huge selection. All of the books that I do have I either got from other teachers who could spare a few or I scrounged some up in the basement. I guess the ESL teach last year didn't have a library?

Word Wall

According to my region it should be "interactive" so if you can see, the sentence strips are sitting in clear pockets (I made them by cutting up and taping together transparencies). On the back of each word there are definitions and example sentences that the kids can refer to. A few times they have actually done this, but most of the words up there they actually don't need to reference that often. It's actually kinds of a challenge for me to have a word wall since I teach K-8 so they all need very different words.

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.

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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.

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??

Day two wasn't much better

Today was so disorganized.

It's hard to believe that things can get so confused when our AP has been talking about this test and how she has been making plans for it since the first day of school. Really what she's all about is not having to take the blame for anything. The biggest take away from the info session on Monday was that we better not go calling the region about any problems during the test. She told us the two phone extensions that she could be reached at during the test and made sure that we knew letters would be in our files in no time if we did anything wrong.

So back to today. There was a lot of confusion with what I was supposed to be doing with my group of 4th and 5th graders this morning before the test. First, the teacher that I was proctoring with said I was to read to the 5th graders in my room and then bring them down to the testing room (as per our AP). Then, another teacher with 3rd/4th special ed said that (as per our AP) we were to take her 4th graders down to our testing room so that she wouldn't had to read for two grades. We scrambled to find enough chairs and desks for all the kids. When I finally saw the AP she had changed her mind yet again and told me to take the 5th graders to my room and keep them there. So then I had to run up to my room and cover up all of my posters before the kids got there and then tell my co-proctor that chairs and desks were no longer a problem.

Of course, the plan that I presented to the AP yesterday was well thought out (and at least one day in advance). But she said no and so caused all this confusion this morning moving people around (which is exactly what she said she didn't want to do). This is just a prime example how, with her, nothing is a good idea unless it comes from her. The good news is that our kids didn't have to take their tests with two simultaneous read alouds which was the most important thing.

As if this sounds bad enough, there was still more chaos to come.

When we finally had all the kids where we needed to be we had no answer sheets. The testing gong went off at 9:15. I asked our hall monitor if I was supposed to wait to start until we had them and she said yes. She made a call to the AP who hung up on her when she asked where they were. Our monitor sent people looking for the answer sheets. As it turned out, NONE of the kids had them.

Finally, at 9:40 the AP comes by my room and yells at me for not having started the test yet. A few minutes later I'm told by someone else to start the test with out the answer sheets and they can record later. Ten minutes before time is up I tell our hall monitor that I still don't have our answer sheets. She leaves and comes right back with them.

Still no one knows why the answer sheets went missing for so long.