It's June already?

Wow. I always intend to keep this up, but I always get caught up in the day to day and have a hard time sticking with it. this year was especially tough since I came in to the year so late and had to catch up as fast as possible.

I had a good year overall. November and December were a bit rough -the students tested me and pushed me. Around late January, though, things started gelling. I think the students realized that I wasn't leaving, figured out that I'm pretty laid back, and decided to commit themselves to the class, or at least most did.

February was weird for me. I was used to a semester schedule, where all the classes switch at the break and we have totally different classes. It's stressful and crazy and generally annoying. Here, however, most classes are full year classes and very few people moved in or out of my class. The exceptions were kids who needed a specific class at a conflicting time, kids who only needed to make up first semester moved out, or kids who needed to make up second semester moved in. It was rather stress free.

I am glad that the schools out here picked up the Mid-winter break idea. Winter is tough to get through without a break and it's a long time until April.

I think I did a better job with my juniors this year in terms of creating a cohesive class. The freshman curriculum is sort of random anyway, so sticking to a theme is tough. The American Dream, however, is much easier. I even liked our final essay in that class - what is their definition of the American dream and is it realistic?

Overall, it was a pretty good year. I really hope that I can teach here again next year. I've never felt so at home at a school, so in line with the overall philosophy and work ethic. I'm excited to be here and hopefully that will continue next year.

Reflections: 10/22-10/26/07

I think the best way I ever did this blog was when I did weekly reflections. It was an assignment, but it forced me to really look at the week as a whole rather than getting fixated on a single event. It helped me organize my thoughts and notice patterns better.

So, end of my second week at my new school and I'm still loving it as much as I did last week, if not more. I'm really starting to settle into the school environment and into my individual classes.

Freshmen
We finished the Odyssey in the freshman classes and have moved onto short stories, which the kids aren't too thrilled with, but it's an easy way for me to get ahead. I'm always amazed how different multiple sections of the same class can have such distinct personalities. My 1st period, for example, is a great group of kids that, while a bit chatty, get their work done and are quite engaged in what is going on. My 3rd period has several students who are too smart for their own good and I am constantly on their cases about focusing, not disrupting class, and getting their work done. My 4th period is a pretty lazy group. They are plenty smart, but they choose to waste a lot of time, go to the wrong lunch (even though the schedule hasn't changed in the 8 weeks they've been in school), and even fall asleep in class. They frustrate me a lot. Oh well - we'll do short stories through next week at least and then on to lit circles hopefully - something new and exciting!

Juniors
The juniors are working on The Crucible. They had just about finished Act I when I joined them. Together we've done Acts II and III - today we'll probably finish the play. They've got some great insights into the work and really seem engaged. In 6th period, there are some kids that dominate the conversation because they are so excited about the piece. I hate to discourage that, but I want to give the other students a chance to participate in the conversation. I've also liked the assignments I have come up with for them - two acts had some questions, but Act II concluded with a creative monologue written my a real or made up character of their choice. I got some great pieces! Today assignment is to write a newspaper article as if you are an editor in Boston, hearing all the stories. I think the students will enjoy it and I can hardly wait to see what I get back next week.

Pep Assembly today - last one of the year. I haven't been to a pep assembly since I was in high school, so this will be interesting. Not sure what I need to do, however, so I better find that out. All in all, a good week and next week will be better!

New School, New Blog Entries!

Wow, so I have not been consistent about this thing at all. I really wish I had because there is so many things I know I've forgotten that I wish I hadn't. Maybe I'll finally get on track and do better.

So, anyway, I started at a new school. I moved from the Bronx to Everett, WA this summer and it took me awhile to find a job. As of last week, I am employed by a high school which plays my old high school in athletics. It's kind of strange being here. For so long, they were the enemy, but now I am one of them.

I started so late because the teacher before me retired a month into school due to medical difficulties. I started last Monday and it's been a crazy week. The students had the original teacher for a month, then a long-term sub for two weeks, then me. I really wasn't sure what to expect when I walked in the door last week. The students are great - much more conscientious than my past school. Part of that may be because I am no longer teaching special education. Some of that is the environment as well - students in the Bx aren't always the most polite and caring because their families are the same way. Here, it seems to me, is a bit different. Most of the students are kind and really want to do well. I was surprised last week when a student asked it we were going to do work. He was honestly anxious to do something after a month and a half of doing very little. I hope he doesn't regret the comment now, because I've put them to work.

It is also very odd to come into the middle of a unit. The freshmen were working on The Odyssey, something I have very little familiarity with. The juniors, however, were working on The Crucible, which I have read before. Either way, I had to jump into the middle of the stories and try to wrap them up. Also, the grades I got from the previous teacher make little sense, so I ended up restarting the grading for the students. With so little time left in the quarter, I hope this doesn't end up hurting the students.

No Longer a Newbie

Oops. I should have updated this a little sooner, but my online access pretty much stopped when I moved from Jersey City to Manhattan. My first year was rough, but at the same time pretty good. The crazy freshmen and I reached an understanding and started working together. I taught my stagecraft class in the spring and it went fairly well - the kids liked the opportunity to do something a little different. I also taught a section of sophomores, which gave me a taste of what was to come.

This school year, I taught only sophomores all fall. It was the same kids from last year, but it was a huge difference - they grew up. We got a lot more accomplished than ever before. The semester recently ended and I was really quite pleased with how it went. This semester will be interesting. Two of my sections of sophomores were given to a new teacher who whined a lot and couldn't handle the freshmen (this was an option? I should have done it last year!) Anyway, I was stuck with his freshmen, but I complained and got two sections of juniors instead. I'm also teaching one section of Team Teaching English, but don't know my team teacher yet. Classes start tomorrow, so this will be interesting. I'll try to update this more frequently, but no promises.

New Year, New School, New Everything

Honestly, until now, I haven't had much of an opportunity to update this because I haven't had a chance to catch my breath. Here's the happenings since mid-August:

Aug. 22 - Went to the new teacher fair - what a waste of time. The only thing I really went for was my placement. I got the info and went home, excited to discover where I was placed. At least I was until I found out that I was assigned to an elementary school in the East Bronx. I'm not an elementary teacher, and while I am certified for elementary theatre, I doubt that's why I was being sent there. I let my recruiter - a wonderful woman hailing from Texas who helped me immensely - know what was up and she was on the case.

First days of Sept. - The DOE sent out our new assignment information and while I was being sent to a high school, it was still in the East Bronx. SuperRecruiter was on it again, trying to get me switched to Region 10 or 1 (I'd signed up for Manhattan - coming in from Jersey, anything else was a pain). Yet, I still had to report to the school in the Bronx on the 6th to get paid.

Labor Day Weekend - Last blissful days where I forced myself to have fun on a mini vacation.

Sept. 6th - It took me four trains and almost 2 hours to get there, but I showed up for work at 8am. No one knew what to do with me or where to put me, so I spent most of the day standing around. I met the English Dept. and they were really great. A waste of a day mostly.

Sept. 7th - I showed up at the same school with the instruction to go to the Brooklyn recruiting fair that afternoon to get everything straightened out. I really liked the school. I met the principal and was asked if I would consider Special Education. I have experience in Spec Ed, so I gave it some serious thought that afternoon. I emailed my recruiter to let her know that I had opted to stay at the UberHuge High School in the Bronx - the whole "devil you know" thing.

Sept. 8th - I left the afternoon before thinking I knew what was going on, but when I got there, the region transfer I had requested two weeks before had gone in overnight. So, again, I waited as everything was sorted out. The first class I met was my 5th period class. I also had a 6th period and an 8th period ESL that was going to be switched off my program shortly.

Sept. 9th - Met the rest of my students, did some "getting to know you" activities. One student in my 6th period class actually told me, "Miss, school is not for games." He was dead serious. Ugh.

Sept 12th - I finally figured out (mostly) what was going on and had a decent day. The ESL class was moved to someone else, and I was given another English class 1st period. I now had 5 Freshman Self-contained Special education English classes.

Sept 13th - I met my 1st period class for the first time - they were a little rough because they liked their teacher and all of the sudden she was gone. The tested me at every turn.

Enough for now... I'll write about the rest of September and October next time.

Reflection 3/28/05-4/1/05

I had the best class period and the worst class period this week. On Monday, we started the poetry unit. I was nervous because some of the initial reactions to poetry were negative. I handed out and read one of my favorite pieces - a slam poem by Steve Colman entitled, "I Wanna Poem." The students were very receptive. It was like someone replaced my class with kids I had never seen before. We actually had a class wide discussion about what poetry was. Granted, a few kids still did not participate, but many did. It was exciting. Their enthusiasm has actually made me more excited about teaching poetry.

On the other hand, 5th period Thursday was a low point in all of my teaching experience. A fight broke out in our classroom between two students. It had been building for some time and one of the boys snapped after the other said something to him yet again. I ran to find security, but they were gone. We got another (large, male) teacher to pull them apart. Both boys were banged up, but mostly okay. It took me well over an hour to calm down. I wish I had known more about what to do in this situation, but rarely does a student teacher get that information. I am not upset about what I did - it made sense - but I wish I could have done more. There was no way I could pull them apart, so I concentrated on making the other students safe and getting help. On Friday, many of us were still shaken up. The boy who said the comment was in our classroom again, although we had been promised he would be suspended (it is not his first infraction.) But, there he was. Fortunately, the other boy was not in school that day, although he sent a note to Ms. Summers, apologizing for what he had done. The student has been switched out of two of his classes to keep them apart and hopefully this will help the situation.

Another school shooting or why am I doing this?

There was another high school shooting today, this time in upper Minnesota where a kid shot his grandparents, then went school and killed three of his classmates, a teacher, a security guard and himself. They say it's the worst shooting since Columbine. It's disheartening that this happens, but after working in a couple of different high schools, I can see how it does.

There is a student that I work with who has some serious issues. He is crying out for attention in very unhealthy ways. My supervisor has reported the incidents to the administration and the guidance counselors, but they refuse to do anything. This is going to be the kid that hurts someone. I don't see him opening fire on the schools, but he's more likely to hurt one or two individuals and himself. Yet if he could get some help now, we may be able to prevent this.

My dad asked me why I want to teach in NYC with all the violence in schools these days. My answer to him was that the most violent incidents have happened in the nice suburban schools, not the intercity. Nowhere is really safe, and if I can reach out to that kid, maybe I can help prevent more violence.