tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37236343836874362432024-03-12T22:41:38.040-04:00We're New York's BrightestExploring the adventures, successes and failures of a middle school math teacher in the South BronxWe're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.comBlogger108125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-4911316129944437282015-08-02T12:55:00.005-04:002015-08-02T12:55:57.097-04:00From middle school teacher to high school teacher<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Blog readers, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I was pleasantly surprised today when I logged on to this blog for the first time since LAST SEPTEMBER and noticed that I am still getting blog views from across the U.S. and even Russia, China, and Canada.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here is your long-awaited update! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As of June 2015, I have successfully finished my fourth year of teaching at the same middle school in the South Bronx that I started at back in 2011. I had four amazing years at my school. This past year, my Integrated Algebra (Common Core Algebra I) students achieved the highest pass rate in my school's history for 8th grade students on the Regents exam. Despite the new Common Core standards and tests, I had the least amount of failing grades in my 8th grade math course (and the most A's -- 40% of my students averaged an A for the year!). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Unfortunately, in March, my principal, Ms. Lopez, informed the school community that she accepted a position as principal of a school in Westchester County, the suburbs to the north of The Bronx/NYC. Ms. Lopez has been instrumental to my success as a teacher over these past four years. She was the woman that hired me when I was 21 years old and fresh out of New York University. During these past four years, Ms. Lopez has provided me unwavering support and guidance as I navigated classroom management, curriculum, test prep, assessment, re-teaching, and the application of all of the education and developmental psychology theories that I studied at NYU. Ms. Lopez helped me gain admission to Columbia, my dream school since I was 12, for my master's degree. Finally, Ms. Lopez recognized my achievements from very early on and always focused on my strengths and providing constructive feedback on my evaluations. At the end of the 2013-2014 school year, I was selected for the new Lead Teacher position offered by the NYCDOE. In this capacity, over the course of this past school year, two of my teaching periods were spent mentoring the other teachers in my department, managing student data, conducting monthly department meetings, and coordinating best teaching practices. Being selected for the position at 25 has been a great honor and I am elated to say that despite some flaws early on, I thrived in my new role! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">With the departure of Ms. Lopez, I have made the tough decision of leaving the school that I have taught at for the past four years. Over the course of these four years, I have touched the lives of countless students and inspired them to believe in themselves and set high expectations for their future. Many of my former students have followed me on social media and continue to seek my counsel by e-mail and in person. My students from my first year of teaching will be entering their SENIOR YEAR OF HIGH SCHOOL this upcoming school year!! (Scary thought, I know. When did I get so old?) I have found such great joy in instructing my students, passing on my passion for mathematics and education, and getting to know many of them on a personal level. Leaving the school was an extremely difficult and personal decision. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In May of 2015, I was hired to teach 2 sections of Algebra II/Trigonometry and 2 sections of Pre-Calculus at a high school in the South Bronx! I will be in a similar area of NYC and, as a consolation, some of my students have gone on to the high school where I will be starting this year. With the help of Ms. Lopez and my track record over the past four years, I was offered a Model Teacher role and stipend at the onset of my new offer with the high school. In this capacity, I will receive a $7,500 bonus on top of a $5,000 hard-to-staff differential and a $58,903 base salary. As a Model Teacher, I will be "[using my] classroom to serve as a laboratory and resource to support the professional growth of colleagues." Exciting, no??? ;) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's August - which means one more month of summer and lots of prep work for the next school year!!! (I just got back from a week-long trip to South Africa with my former roommates and some friends from NYU.) I already have the first week of lesson plans done for both of my classes :) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I hope to update y'all soon. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">-Mr. Yang</span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-25195375745374800922014-09-02T13:59:00.001-04:002014-09-07T15:44:35.261-04:00Don't keep me waiting, this summer is fading... <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Summer Break: the two words every teacher loves. It's the reward for finishing a hard and long school year. Every year, I feel that summer break is shorter and the school year is longer... that's not healthy, is it?? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Especially with the presence of the Common Core standards, work days are almost as long as they were my first year of teaching (when the Common Core didn't exist). Don't get me wrong, however; I am a huge proponent of the Common Core. I think it is <u>critical</u> to get our nation's students prepared for college and an increasingly globalized economy. I truly believe the Common Core was created with the best interests of students in mind - something that's rare in public education nowadays. Teaching with the Common Core has definitely presented more than its fair share of challenges. First, when I was studying at NYU, we did NOT study the Common Core at all, because ... it didn't exist! Over the past two years, I have been figuring out the Common Core largely on my own and with my colleagues. Most of this prep time has taken place outside of school (on weekends) and in my graduate school program at Teachers College, Columbia University. Two years of state test scores show that implementation of Common Core instruction has not gone so smooth in NYC - students, especially African-American and Latino students, are still struggling to meet state standards in both ELA and Math across the board in grades 3-8. 8th grade math proficiency went DOWN this year in the district - to 22.8% proficiency - because 8th grade students taking Integrated Algebra no longer needed to take the NYS 8th grade math exam. My scores are up 15% from last year in NYS 8th grade math, but that amounts to just short of 50% of my students passing. (This puts me in the 92nd percentile for math teachers in the City...) Pretty dismal if you ask me as my goal was 80% last year. But hey, there's always this year ;) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That being said, summer is fading FAST (title is a reference to a song I heard playing in H&M Saturday while doing my Labor Day weekend shopping) and I'm trying to enjoy every minute I have left. Tomorrow I am heading back to school for Chancellor's Conference Day & my first real day as my school's Lead Teacher for math. Because I am a lead teacher, I only have 3 sections this year and NO CIRCULAR 6, which I am both happy and sad about (happy because NO CIRCULAR 6!). As a Lead Teacher, I will be overseeing math education in 6th, 7th and 8th grade and working with teachers to reach the educational needs of all students. I'm really nervous about this role, so I will definitely be updating you guys throughout the year on my progress. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Happy last day of summer, NYC teachers! Here's to a successful 2014-2015 school year! </span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-25842077434805778102014-06-25T14:43:00.000-04:002014-06-25T14:43:09.229-04:00And Year 3 Comes to a Close! <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I can't believe I'm saying this, but tomorrow is the end of my 3rd year of teaching in the NYC Department of Education and at my middle school in the South Bronx. So much has happened this year and it was truly eye-opening to see how much each of my students have grown academically (in terms of their math skills), socially and interpersonally throughout the past ten months. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've become so close to many of my students and it's evident how much they trust me when they beg me to be their teacher next year (at all of the different high schools across NYC that they will be going to!) and throughout the year when they seek my counsel, ask about my personal life and open up to me about <i>their</i> personal lives. My students helped me validate all of the reasons that I chose to become a inner-city math teacher and it is truly sad to have to say goodbye to my amazing 8th graders. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The end of the year is always an exciting time, from school pep rallies to the annual field day to "senior" trip to "senior" prom to "graduation"... and it brings true closure to a year of hard work and dedication. For teachers this year in NY, this year has not been without struggles. As Common Core has fully kicked into effect in the DOE, the stress and pressure are on for NYC teachers, principals, STUDENTS and parents. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">All in all, I couldn't have asked for better colleagues or better students. Good luck in high school to all of my students in Room 203!! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As for me next year, I will be a (newly tenured!) Lead Teacher at my school. That means that I will not be teaching 5 classes a day, but rather 3. The two teaching periods that I have been relieved from will be used to work with other math teachers at my school and share my expertise with them in an effort to improve teaching practices across the board at my school's math department. This is bittersweet for me, as I am certainly in awe of how much of an expanded, albeit indirect, difference I can make in all of my school's students and I definitely love the additional $10,925 (plus the raise & hard-to-staff school differential earned from the new contract) provided by the position, but I know I will miss teaching for the full day and I will miss being able to make a large direct impact on the lives of my students. Because I am teaching only 3 courses, I will be splitting the honors-level Integrated Algebra course with another teacher, I will take 1 section & he/she will take the other 2 sections (I find out tomorrow!). The remaining 2 sections will be 8th grade math. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">AND I AM SO READY FOR SUMMER -- already bought my tickets for Toronto and Barcelona/Madrid! (The Toronto trip is with my roomies!!!!, the Spain trip is for personal time) </span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-34603932299619572892014-04-28T16:51:00.004-04:002014-04-28T16:51:58.089-04:00How to Join New York's Brightest! (Advice for grads looking to teach in the NYCDOE) <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's the time of year again when the DOE is releasing hiring needs for the upcoming school year. If you are about to graduate from an undergraduate/graduate teaching program, I definitely recommend looking into the New York City Department of Education. First of all, it's <i>New York</i>. I can go on and on about how amazing NYC is, including all the culture, diversity and activity that happens within the 5 boroughs. In fact, whole blogs are devoted to worshipping the great city 8+ million Americans call home. The NYCDOE is the nation's largest school system with over 1.1 million students and 1,000 schools, meaning that there is a school out there for every prospective teacher candidate. Teaching in New York is life-changing, because not only are you given the keys to unlock the potential of so many bright futures and truly make a positive impact on the lives of your students, the resources & experience from teaching in NYC will teach you about yourself. It is one of the best ways to grow professionally. Now, nobody enters education for the money. However, I can say that the salary in NYC, while it could be higher, is manageable because of the perks/benefits that you can receive, especially if you advise clubs and activities. The UFT and DOE are in the midst of contract negotiations whereby teachers may be eligible for 4% back pay (although I won't be because it will only be for '09-10 and '10-11, and I came to the DOE in 2011-2012) as well as a RAISE!!! Also after 3 years, you may be eligible to be a Lead Teacher (which I will be next year), that offers a nice $10,710/year BONUS. I would recommend that for the first few years that you teach in the DOE, you find a second job that pays a relatively lucrative hourly salary. The best example is tutoring. I work with an agency that provides tutors for (wealthy) Manhattan families. I tutor AP Calc, AP Spanish (I was a Spanish minor), 6-8th grade math, Algebra I, SAT and ACT for five families. I am paid $40/hour through the agency, and the parents are charged $60/hour. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Teaching in NYC really does make you among New York's Brightest. Around this time is when prospective applicants should be applying. Applications are ONLINE - do not apply through paper!!! Visit www.teachnyc.net for the I Teach NYC website for more information about the steps of hiring. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Okay, my TIPS!!! </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Put a significant amount of effort into your essays.</b> Principals truly evaluate how you answer the essay questions as well as your quality of writing. If possible, take your essays to education professors, the dean of the school of ed or your University Career Center for assistance and another pair of eyes. I can't emphasize this enough!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Meet with principals one-on-one. </b>The hiring process is principal-active, which means through mutual consent hiring, the principal is responsible for the hiring of each new teacher in the building. School-based openings are not online, so in order for a principal to know your name & consider you for an interview, set up an appointment with the principal of SEVERAL schools that you are interested in. Bring your resume and separate cover letters. Bring copies of score reports from teacher licensure testing. Be prepared to discuss your student teaching experience, any internships, your education classes, sample lesson plans/course syllabi and your teaching philosophy. Build a connection with the principal & possibly the department chair of the department you wish to teach in. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Attend the career fairs offered by the NYCDOE.</b> A first-year teacher at my school got hired on-the-spot by Ms. Lopez at the Bronx career fair! </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Include several powerful recommenders. </b></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Discuss your coursework from a double major and/or a minor.</b> This shows that you are a well-rounded applicant who can contribute to the school culture. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>CAREFULLY research each school before interviewing. </b>Check out insideschools.org for school reviews and community commentary. Schoolbook, which is found in the New York Times, is also an excellent resource. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Have questions ready for when the principal asks, "Do you have any questions for me?" </b>A great litmus test for you to try is "How does [insert school here] support its early career teachers?" Ask about school culture, teacher professional development, the principal's educational philosophy as well as how much freedom you will be afforded at the school to create your own lessons. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Think about applying for Teach NYC Select Recruits</b>. It's a launchpad for teaching careers! Do this if you are graduating with your degree on or after winter 2015 as the deadline has already passed. I was a Teach NYC Select Recruit & lined up my current job before graduation from NYU in May 2011. I also got hired as a long-term substitute for a month at a different middle school through Select Recruits! </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Have fun interviewing! Submit your applications ASAP... the earlier the better. JOIN NEW YORK'S BRIGHTEST. TEACH NYC! </span></div>
We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-36127660617977507522014-03-25T15:11:00.002-04:002014-03-25T15:12:15.913-04:00Approaching Test Prep Month<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">March 25th, 2014 means three things: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Staff meeting after school today. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Time to think about what I'm making (read: seamless.com online food ordering) for our "roomie potluck" night tomorrow. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Roughly 6 days before "TEST PREP MONTH" commences. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That's right... I'm into my third year of teaching and I already call April "test prep month." </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Don't get me wrong; April is a great month. The weather finally starts acting like spring, leaves grow back on trees, flowers start blooming, t-shirts start rolling out, graduation is closer, summer is closer, SPRING BREAK is closer... however, test prep is imminent. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Over the past two years, my team (A "team" is composed of 1 ELA, math, science, history, special ed and Spanish teacher plus a team interventionist for each grade. Thus, my school has 9 teams as each of the 3 academies is composed of 3 grades/teams.) has thought of creative and innovative ideas to motivate test prep in our students. Even though this is the first year the Common Core standards are being applied throughout the nation, this is the second year New York State is using them. Therefore, we are more prepared as to what types of questions students will be asked on the state exam. It is our goal to continue using these innovative strategies to hopefully move ALL our students to Levels 3 & 4 this spring. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That being said, we still have some material to sift through. During my first year of teaching, I never felt behind on the material. The following year, my students came to me with a lower skill set than the kids from my first year, meaning I had to review/bend over more. That, coupled with the days lost from Hurricane Sandy, meant that our entire school, and many other NYC middle schools, did not finish the state curriculum in time for the late April test. This year, I am ahead of where I was last year, and finishing the curriculum is in plain sight - it will just require cutting a few lessons out for the sake of finishing all the material. My goal is to have 2 weeks of pure test prep: review days, activities, games, practice tests, practice extended responses, strategy days, etc. leading up to the April exam. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Test Prep Month is extremely hectic for all teachers. I can't even imagine what it's like for administrators as their entire job performance is judged by how well their schools do on the NYS and/or Regents exams. It is a month characterized by anxiety for everybody at school and lots and lots of #2 pencils, scrantron bubbling and direction familiarizing. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">But we will overcome it. Second year is the charm with these new standards :) GO NEW YORK STUDENTS & TEACHERS! Happy almost test prep month. </span></div>
We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-35389327223395013692014-03-23T16:10:00.002-04:002014-03-23T16:10:44.385-04:00I'm Back! <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">After a long hiatus from blogging, let me just say - it feels GREAT to be back again! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The past few months have been a whirlwind, both professionally (teaching my 8th graders & finishing my master's degree at Columbia University) and personally! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My students are still funny as ever. Every day I see evidence of hard work, perseverance and dedication. They seek me out if they have any questions. In general, we get along really well, which makes for an amazing classroom dynamic. My students are developing into leaders both in the classroom and outside of the classroom. Not to mention all the slang/"hip things" my students have taught <i>me</i>! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am trying several new things this year, which I believe I mentioned in my last blog post (all the way back from October! ahhh!!). One of the methods that is working extremely well is 360 Degree Math. This is an idea that I borrowed from a Participant Media movie I watched in September called <i>Teach</i>. I highly recommend it for all teachers & non-teachers alike! 360 Degree Math is an idea that I borrowed from Miss Lindsay Chinn, a Denver 9th-grade Algebra teacher. I had full support and funding from my amazing principal for this teaching strategy. Under 360 Degree Math, all four walls of the classroom are installed with white boards. The students all have ownership of a specific section of the classroom and have their own marker. About once a week, my students spend the entire period working on their white boards. Here's what it looks like:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Students work on their warm up as they enter the classroom. Go over warm up as a class.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Students get up and go to their assigned section of the classroom. Rapid-fire practice begins, starting with basic level "easy" questions to boost their confidence. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Mini-lesson / lesson reinforcement: teacher active component reviewing main concepts and objectives & demonstrating problems that they will encounter on tests, quizzes, the NYS/Regents exam, the SAT, etc. </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">360 math practice using pre-written questions. Teacher stands at the center of the room and monitors all students' progress in "real time." Verifies answers; helps students who are struggling. Students are encouraged to help others around them who may be struggling. </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">We still do many of the same activities in my class - including class notes, partner practice and team competitive games... 360 Degree Math is just another tool in my arsenal. Test & quiz grades have increased this year from my first 2 years of teaching, so this is definitely a strategy I plan on keeping :) Thanks, Ms. Chinn! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">It's verified! I am a candidate for spring graduation from TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ms. Lopez, my principal has also confirmed that I will be recommended for tenure come June!! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">Effective next school year, I will be assuming a position as a Lead Teacher for the math department at my school. This qualifies me for a fairly generous raise, along with a differential for my new Master's degree. Hopefully, all this will be in further addition to a UFT - DOE negotiated raise for our upcoming new teacher's contract! Along with my tutoring income that I make right now, these new raises will put my salary into the upper $70,000s, which means I will be faced with a tough decision between staying with my current roomies in the Queens house share or moving into my own apartment in Manhattan (or Roosevelt Island). What to do, what to do?!?!!?! :( :( But hey... $78,000 gross income at <b><u>age 24</u></b> ain't too shabby. Who says teachers are "poor"?! Plus, I get to make a significant difference in the lives of my 160+ students. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'll be back soon, I promise! Thank you so much for your patience! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">-Mr. Yang </span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-2761994682505075102013-10-19T23:10:00.000-04:002013-10-19T23:10:29.882-04:00Sweetest Day Update/CHITOWN con mi amiga<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Well, I guess it looks like we're back together for Sweetest Day.. (see previous post about what happened leading up to this) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On a teacher-related note, my friend and fellow math education major from NYU and I are in CHICAGO right now for a professional development seminar on math education in secondary schools (special focus on grades 6-9... I teach 8th grade & she teaches 9th!) focusing on teaching strategies, assessment strategies and CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Some things we're thinking of bringing back and trying out in our own rooms: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">flowchart/"picture lecture" notes- for unit concepts that link closely with each other, kind of like a study guide that students copy down during the unit from the board (good prep for high school math) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">homework passes- if students complete (w/ quality and relative accuracy/effort) 10 checked assignments in a row, they earn a homework pass good for 1 small assignment of their choice (read: NOT a project, study guide, etc... only a daily 5 pt. homework assignment) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">using graphing calculators in the classroom- something I need to start trying w/ my Integrated Algebra class </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3-2-1 technique- when the class starts getting rowdy or uncontrollable, I'll hold up a "3" at first, then a "2" and finally a "1". At "1" students should be silent and refocused... this will take some getting used to but I feel that it could work with some enforcement. If not, class may face consequences such as a written assignment, staying past the bell or after-school detention</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">A team boards- bulletin board for students who earned "A"s on unit tests! Multiple "A"s result in a special decoration like a star/sticker around their original "post" on the bulletin board... students would strive to emulate these students & get their names on the A team</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">period-wise competition - behavioral strategy to award "points" for good behaviors that the class exhibits (ex. 100% HW completion, staying on task during groupwork, average of 85% or better on a quiz/test, quieting down quickly, good report from a sub, etc.) & period with most points gets a reward (ex. a pizza party!)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">peer critique- more for new Common Core standards, students "trade & grade" practice short answer/extended response questions and critique answers, a grade that THEY think the response earns, offer advice, etc. after being given a rubric and teacher explanation. Then, teacher collects critiques and original responses and adds his/her own comments and suggestions along with a final grade. </span></li>
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We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-90569782376277725492013-10-18T16:22:00.003-04:002013-10-18T16:22:52.258-04:00Where's Our School Spirit?? <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif;">I<span style="font-size: large;"> saw this post on Twitter from one of my friends from high school: <a href="http://vimeo.com/75058173" target="_blank">http://vimeo.com/75058173 </a></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I thought to myself, <i>WOW! That's some real school spirit!</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The last time I saw school spirit this great was in high school, when my school's football team won the championship tournament. The entire school burst out in our fight song and everyone was proud to be a student at my school. I lived for those moments of school spirit, because, well... for those of you who don't know me, I'm super spirited and cheery. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This video truly made my Friday because it really showcased so many of the different clubs and groups of Lakewood High School and how they banded together to make a GREAT video showcasing their school spirit and unity. I guess this is really characteristic of a lot of suburban schools - it was back at my Queens high school as well. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I think school spirit speaks so much about the character of the school, its student body and its faculty - schools with more spirit are more unified and that's what schools should focus on more. Having everyone feel included is continuously shown to bring about higher test scores, higher attendance rates and fewer disciplinary issues. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Even though I teach in a middle school, I would LOVE to see more school spirit like this. We should form a student council to bring about these issues to the administration and get teachers as well as the rest of the student body involved as well. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Maybe I'll start something similar to that. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">HAPPY FRIDAY! And congrats to Lakewood High School in Colorado for winning a visit by Katy Perry on her birthday!! </span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-4526275500539707032013-10-18T16:13:00.001-04:002013-10-18T16:15:03.385-04:00Re-Blog: Missing Headline: NYC Teachers the Best in State<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><i>This blog post was originally published on EDWIZE on September 17th, 2013. Go NYC teachers!! </i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.edwize.org/missing-headline-nyc-teachers-the-best-in-state">http://www.edwize.org/missing-headline-nyc-teachers-the-best-in-state</a> </span><br />
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Missing Headline: NYC Teachers the Best in State</h1>
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Sep. 17, 2013<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />3:15 pm<br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" />by <a href="http://www.edwize.org/author/jackie-bennett" rel="author" style="color: #336600; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Posts by Jackie Bennett">Jackie Bennett</a> <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><a href="http://www.edwize.org/missing-headline-nyc-teachers-the-best-in-state#respond" style="color: #336600; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none;" title="Comment on Missing Headline: NYC Teachers the Best in State">No Comments</a></h4>
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Here is a headline that was missing in the NYC papers this past week:<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></em></div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">NYC Teachers: The Best Teachers in the State. </em></div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> </em>And here is the missing lead to the article.</div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">An analysis of New York State’s growth scores reveals that NYC teachers are twice as likely to be considered Highly Effective compared to teachers in the rest of the state, and about half as likely to be Ineffective. That analysis is based on the results of the state’s teacher growth model and this year’s new math and reading tests.</em></div>
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And here is the missing sidebar:</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">2013 Growth Score Results</strong></div>
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Result</div>
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Percent of Teachers in <strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">City</strong></div>
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Percent of Teachers in</div>
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<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Rest of State</strong></div>
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<tr style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><td style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; padding: 5px;" valign="top" width="168">Highly Effective</td><td style="background-color: white; border: 1px solid rgb(153, 153, 153); margin: 0px; padding: 5px;" width="135"><div align="center" style="line-height: 21px; padding: 0px 0px 6px;">
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78</div>
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75</div>
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True, that story would be based on test scores in ELA and math, grades 4-8. True again, the state used its statistical growth model formulas to arrive at those results. And, true a third time, test scores and growth models can never be the only measure of teacher effectiveness.</div>
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But still. When have those limitations ever stopped the press from publishing test-score stories about teachers in the past?</div>
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For example, two years ago, it was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/06/education/big-study-links-good-teachers-to-lasting-gain.html?pagewanted=all" style="color: #666666; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">front-page news</a> when some researchers tied the “quality” of 4<sup style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">th</sup> grade teachers to the marginally increased incomes of their students two decades later. We are talking here about a single study that made a cause and effect link between two events happening 20 years apart, and a salary increase of a few hundred bucks a year. Is that front page news? Yet there is was, and it got the intended traction, too — trotted out at dozens of forums nationwide as a justification for firing teachers based on their students’ test scores.</div>
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That’s not the only example, of course. When schools — and implicitly their teachers — are labeled F’s and D’s based on test scores, the press is happy to carry those stories.</div>
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And let’s not even discuss all the eagerness around the value-added TDRs.</div>
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But when it comes to news that essentially says “Let’s stop the war on NYC teachers” ? Nothing made the printed press. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the folks at <a href="http://gothamschools.org/2013/06/14/more-highly-effective-growth-scores-for-new-york-city-teachers/" style="color: #666666; font-weight: bold; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Gotham Schools</a>, we may never have known.</div>
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But to return to the findings on our teachers. Here is what else the <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">New York Post</em>, or <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Times</em>, or some other paper could have said:</div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Only one in 20 teachers in the rest of the state was found to be “highly effective” — but in New York, that number was one in 10 (11%). And while the rest of the state had more Ineffective teachers than Highly Effective ones, in the city there were three times more Top Teachers than struggling ones according to their scores. </em></div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> NYC math and reading teachers earned those results in spite of the intense challenges that their students often face. More city kids arrive at school learning disabled, poor, and new to the English language.</em></div>
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<em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"> These findings are based on a very large data pool of data (about 40,000 teachers and well over one million kids). And this is actually the second year that city teachers outperformed the state. Last year, the differences seemed smaller, but researchers attribute the widening gap to improvements in the statistical models, which better capture the results. </em></div>
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Really, and truly, I do know how scary it can be to validate our existence with any of that.</div>
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But in a world that is perfectly willing to debase us through scores — why can’t the world out there extol our virtues, too?</div>
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So, congratulations to our teachers, and our schools. We know that tests can’t begin to capture what you do, and that growth models can’t capture all the challenges we face. But they do say something — and it bears repeating in a public space.</div>
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<br />We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-61974464822328845562013-10-11T23:18:00.000-04:002013-10-11T23:18:04.262-04:00When personal life tumbles, my kids (and roomies) are still the ones here for me<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Last week, I left a relationship that sustained for over four years. She was my prom date back from senior year. (We went as friends.) and then we both parted ways, her to a pre-pharmacy program in Ohio and me to a psychology-secondary education/Spanish program at NYU. We got back together my junior year of college and have stayed together for the past 4+ years. Lately, differences have started to emerge that led to greater distance between the two of us, something neither of us anticipated. The pain of dealing with this distance and this fighting was too much and I decided that maybe it was best for me to leave. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm 23-going-on-to-24, so this sudden change in my long-term relationship has been really devastating. The day I left the relationship due to those differences and my frustrations, I called a personal day from work. There's no way I could walk into my classroom at 7:40 in the morning and have the energy I needed to teach. I had a lesson plan written for that day but a substitute teacher could not possibly have taught a whole lesson to both classes and conducted the activities planned - so I wrote my students a letter explaining the situation (without too many details of course) and left a movie for them to watch, saying I would return tomorrow. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Each of my roommates took the day off their own jobs, which is something I could never ask of them since they work corporate and/or private sector jobs. The act of doing so really reinforces how close my roommates and I are. If any of them were going through what I'm going through, I know I would do the same for them. We talked it out, went for some ice-cream therapy (well technically fro-yo...) and went for a jog together in Central Park. I felt so much better after I spent the day with my roommates and got my mind off of what was going on. I'm so thankful that I have roomies as great as mine. They say five's a crowd, but I honestly don't know if I would be back in my classroom right now if it weren't for them. Two of them went to the same high school as I did, one was from my graduating class and our newest roommate was a freshman when I was a senior. I owe them so much and the fact that they even took the time to do that really makes my eyes start to tear up.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Especially moving for me are the notes, letters and words that my students gave to me the day I returned. My desk was piled with "feel-better" and "I'm sorry" cards from my students, explaining to me how the sub read them my letter and that they understand that I'm going through a lot right now. I cried twice that day: once in my classroom that morning and once on the subway ride home. They say that it takes a true New Yorker to cry on the subway and after living the majority of my life here, this was my very first time I cried in a subway car with other people. But it doesn't matter. The simple fact that my students were there for me and helped me in my time of need really strengthened and accentuated the kinds of relationships that I build with my kids each year. I'm so thankful for them and even though they are only in 8th grade, those acts of kindness have made the whole recovery process a lot smoother. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">In the end, I'll be okay. I'm only 23 and I have plenty of time to get my "life sorted out". However, the support systems that I have (my friends, family, roomies, students, principal, colleagues, former teachers, former professors, current professors, parents of kids I tutor, the kids I tutor, my former counselor...) and everyone who has been there for me EVER are relationships that I've worked so long to build and can never lose. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Thank you to everyone who has helped me get through this. I promise that I'll be back to my normal self soon. </span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-942463324102118282013-10-11T21:45:00.000-04:002013-10-18T16:14:04.823-04:00Bonding With Mah Kiddos<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My third year of teaching, aside from some personal life complications is going SWIMMINGLY. I really am close with my students this year (in all 5 classes!) and we've already seen so much improvement in terms of grades and conceptual understanding that make me really excited for this year's round of NYS testing. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've been trying a lot of fun activities like capstone projects and 360 degree math (which I'll touch on later) to really make students apply the knowledge and math concepts from the textbook and the NYS curriculum to real life. Through both these methods, not only are they developing collaboration skills with their partners and groups, but they're also using their math knowledge in hopefully a meaningful and applicable way. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm a firm believer in high expectations and high support, and this year with finally being able to implement those expectations I think I'm seeing great results :) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This year, my students are really the ones that are there for me. While I'm writing a whole post on this later tonight, the "living, laughing and loving" that my NYU professors preached during my senior year that I get from each of them are really making my difficult personal life more tolerable. I don't know where I would be with my students especially since so much of what I've come to be used to in terms of my personal life slowly deteriorated. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I think more than ever I'm pouring my energy into my lesson plans, students, teaching, tutoring and helping my kids prep for entrance exams to selective NYC high schools. I really couldn't be happier with this group of kids and I TRULY love teaching more than I ever have. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I miss my former students though! A lot of them are coming to visit me now and say they're doing much better than they thought they would do in high school because of how much I and the other teachers on my team have inspired them!! Aww!</span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-27286925776193423672013-09-17T16:09:00.001-04:002013-09-17T16:10:26.482-04:00Always that ONE CLASS. Ugh. <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm writing this right before I leave my classroom for a quick meal somewhere uptown and a grad school class at Columbia. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As you probably noticed from my title, I am quite flustered right now because my 7th period is ALREADY DRIVING ME BONKERS. And don't get me wrong - I have 25 amazing, dedicated, funny, bright students in that room - but this group of 4 students (2 BOYS AND 2 GIRLS this time)... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1. never stop talking</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2. never participate in class</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3. don't focus when I ask them to</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">4. don't listen to any of my warnings</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">5. don't do their assigned homework</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">6. make fun of me and other students in class</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">7. disrespected the assistant principal when he came in to give me some papers I missed because I couldn't attend an after-school meeting (you could only imagine how EMBARASSED and ANGRY I was)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">All that and just soooo much more in the little over a week school has been in session. I thought I had my discipline skills down pat after I tamed and even grew to like my difficult group of students last year but I don't even know where to begin with this group. And it's distracting from my teaching - 7th period is so far behind the other 8th grade math classes that I teach. We don't get much done because I'm ALWAYS redirecting their behavior. I feel so bad for the other students because they have to deal with this. Also, 7th period is my second last class of the day, meaning I'm physically and mentally DRAINED after the bell rings for the end of that class. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've really had it with this group and I feel like a first-year teacher --no wait, my first year students were PHENOMENAL (the vast, vast majority of them) -- when I say that I'm stumped on this group of students. Have I not connected with them? I feel like everything is going swimmingly with all the other classes and the other students in 7th period.. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">and i just really dont want to do an office referral on the second week of school</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">and detentions don't work well this semester because of grad school classes Tuesdays and Thursdays... </span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-89864364173533803722013-09-13T17:06:00.001-04:002013-09-13T17:06:20.107-04:00so far, so good<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">First week of school: check! Everything went well. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">No major problems yet.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Loving my students, their personalities, their intellect, their humor and their potential. every second I get. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Having a great time with my co-teachers. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Lesson plans were all successful this year - even the new one I wrote for Pre-Algebra 8 and the two new ones I wrote for Integrated Algebra. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Baseline Diagnostic Test scores - for MC at least - better than I thought. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Two cons: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1) HAVING TO WAKE UP EARLY. I hate mornings and everything about them. I'm not talking about 8 am wake-ups here. I'm talking 6:15 wake-ups, 6:45 out the door to the subway station, 7:30 arrival at school and 8 am ADVISORY. Ugh. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2) THE HEAT. Please go away now! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">More updates to come soon. Stay tuned! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">#naptime</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I wonder where my roomies and I are going for dinner tonight. It's my turn to pay...</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-19722498175091815832013-09-13T17:00:00.002-04:002013-09-13T17:00:28.248-04:00Poll Everywhere... Why I Wish All My Students Had Smartphones<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">This week in one of my grad school courses at TC, Columbia University, we were talking about using Poll Everywhere in the classroom. Poll Everywhere is a tech-savvy and innovative app that students can install on their phones that will allow them to respond to questions on my PowerPoints in real-time. Responses can be multiple choice and extended response - and will immediately pop up on the PP screen. All students need is their own phone, tablet, laptop, etc. with the Poll Everywhere app. Poll Everywhere is free for teachers because each class has less than 40 students and we can make as many classes as we want :) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If I was teaching on Long Island or in Yonkers or in Jersey, I would have my students download Poll Everywhere in a heartbeat. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Poll Everywhere could serve INVALUABLE to my classroom because I can see if students are learning things as soon as we are finished discussing a concept- rather than relying on traditional exit slips, quizzes, etc. This is an opportunity for me to integrate technology into my classroom, the big 21st-century-we-must-do-this topic in education. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Additionally, with the new Common Core currently in its second year in NY, my students can get real-time practice with Common Core like multiple choice and extended response questions, and allow me to critique their responses and modify lesson plans if needed to spend more time on a concept or area they are struggling in by Common Core definition. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, teaching in the South Bronx means that every kid having a phone is not a guarantee. I DEFINITELY don't want to alienate those who don't have the technology to participate in this endeavor, so I guess this is an opportunity I have to pass up. Maybe in the future.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Learn more about Poll Everywhere: </span>http://www.polleverywhere.com<br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Maybe if you teach in the suburbs, you learned a new way to spice up learning and your classroom environment :) </span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-46231867313184170602013-09-08T16:49:00.002-04:002013-09-08T16:49:24.857-04:00TOMORROW'S THE DAY!!!<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">At 6:30 am tomorrow morning, I will be beginning my 19th first day of school and my third as a full-time teacher in the NYC schools. Thankfully, that's not when school starts (though my school is starting at 8am this year which is definitely an unwelcome change!... I thought we talked about starting later??? What happened to 13/14 year-olds needing more sleep?) but that is the time when I need to slip out of bed, take a shower, get dressed, pack up and head out of Queens and take the subway into the Bronx. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">At this time, all systems are go for the first day of school. It's after labor day and I'm well rested. I've studied up on the Common Core and learned new teaching methods/techniques from TC, Columbia University, where I'm completing my master's degree. (I will be done by summer!!) I recently racked up $180 on school supplies, teaching supplies, lesson plans/activities, etc. for my classroom - all of which I will be reimbursed by the district. (However, inevitable additional spending will not be reimbursed for the remainder of the school year.) I have new outfits picked out from all my favorite NYC stores (Century 21! Gap! American Eagle! Nordstrom! Nordstrom Rack! Banana Republic! Old Navy! Kohl's! Aeropostale!...) as well as old outfits from student teaching and my first two years of teaching. My syllabi are typed up and printed out. My class calendars are typed up and printed out. Lesson plans, activities, objectives, tests, quizzes, etc. are written for the first three units (subject to change, however). All necessary information and logistics have been coordinated with my push-in teacher. Common lesson planning time has been planned with my co-teachers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I've never felt more prepared for the first day of school. However, there's still that bug in me right now. What will my students be like? What will my classes be like? Are we going to get along this year like in the past two years? How much are we going to learn? How long will the honeymoon phase last? Are we going to have hurdles in the beginning of the year? All of that is uncertain. Tomorrow, I will most likely begin my first year of teaching/first day of school in which I'm not visibly/outwardly nervous. Nevertheless, deep down inside, there's always the uncertainty, the hope, the what-ifs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The first day of school draws me back to why I became a teacher in the first place: to touch the lives of children, especially those from low-income backgrounds in neighborhoods ridden by crime and low educational attainment where the status quo is "you can't". My crusade over my four undergraduate years, two years of full-time teaching, student teaching and my long-term sub experience is changing the status quo to "YOU CAN". My parents, family members, EVEN FRIENDS <i>still</i> ask me when I'm going to "get a real job". This <i>is</i> my "real job". I've had the chance to touch the lives of so many young people and really change their life trajectories. This is an opportunity - a privilege- offered to me by no other profession. Three years entering, I'm still as wide-eyed and idealistic as I was the day before my first year of teaching. The dream is still there, the passion is still evident. I'm being offered 180 days to make another set of 180-degree turn-arounds in my students. To inspire Jose and Juan to study hard and work towards their dreams. To impart to Maria and Daniela that their life doesn't have to be like their mother's - teen pregnancy, dropping out of high school, working two jobs in order to make $40-45k/year to support a family of five. To do everything in my power to keep De'Shaun off the streets. I'm not only imparting math knowledge and closing the achievement gap, but I'm inspiring my students and building lifelong connections with them. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Yep, tomorrow's my 19th first day of school. Tonight, my roomies and I will do what we have for the past two years before the first day of school: they are leaving work early (in fact, arriving about 10 minutes from now!) so the four of us can go for a bike ride in Central Park, go to a nice restaurant in Manhattan and watch a movie/play/show together. It's a celebration. It's a new beginning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Wish me luck tomorrow :) </span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-56710478583784163312013-08-30T17:50:00.003-04:002013-08-30T17:50:59.985-04:00Prepping for YEAR #3!<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">We're back from our little "Tour USA" roommate-bonding-vacation experience! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Back just in time for the start of the new school year! Apparently, I've forgotten how much work it takes the month of August to prepare for the new school year starting in September. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On my to-do list this past week and this weekend: </span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">move in all my supplies to my room in the Bronx (shout out to my roomie for letting me borrow his car for this... he's the only one that owns a car out of the four of us in the house) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">buy classroom and school supplies (aka deal hunting across four boroughs)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">get lesson plans finalized, units finalized, IEP's read and discussed, push-in teacher support discussed, Common Core integrated into my lessons, new classroom policies and procedures, class Facebook account updated, student surveys made... </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">get my first day of school outfit ready!! </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">meet with my in-school mentor and Teachers College, Columbia University mentor</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">get grad school course schedule prepared and finalized</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">write a letter to parents</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">meet with my principal to discuss goals for this year</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">co-plan lessons with the other teachers</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">meet our school's new teachers for this year</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">hang out with old friends from high school (ahhh they were freshmen when I was a senior! yeah we go back way far!) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">analyze scores of my incoming students on their NYS exams and prepare lessons to remedy common errors and weaknesses </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">rewrite my Integrated Algebra syllabus to update it with changes I've came up with over the summer </span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">That all being said, I am SO EXCITED TO MEET MY NEW STUDENTS. Unlike last year's students, this incoming group is commended by their 7th grade teachers as well-behaved and eager to learn meaning my job will be significantly easier. Now that I'm entering my third year with 8th graders, third year teaching 8th grade NYS math and second year teaching Integrated Algebra, I no longer have that "first year teacher" feel. The students know me and I already know some of them. And most of all, I feel completely confident in front of the class.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I remember student teaching up until this point in my career now. Each year brings new faces, new challenges and new rewards. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">To supplement my income this year, I am still tutoring GED with the City but also privately tutoring middle/high school math (including AP and SAT/ACT) and middle/high school Spanish (including AP and SATII)... on top of finishing up at Teachers College, Columbia University. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm REALLY going to keep my readers on track this year with my teaching adventures... so consider this the before-school year post:) </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">now, time for a nap. i am exhausted. #teacherproblems </span></div>
We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-26169469352247400312013-08-12T16:24:00.003-04:002013-08-12T16:25:35.555-04:00Tour USA con los ROOMIES!!! <span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">AHHH! It's the ultimate teacher summer dream! With some lesson planning and preparing for the school year already underway, some summer classes towards my M.Ed. in Curriculum & Teaching from Columbia University (it was Summer Session A if you were wondering...more on that later) completed, my roomies and I are officially planning a trip across the United States! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">If you are new to my blog, I live in a four bedroom house that is shared between three other 20-something professionals and I. There are two males, including me, and two females. Our vacation together will begin this Thursday and will last until Sunday, August 25th. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Here are our sites: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">-from NYC to the Jersey Shore! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">-from NJ to Boston</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">-from Boston back to NY (we're playing "tourist") to Washington, D.C./N. Virginia/S. Maryland</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">-from D.C. to Nashville (country concerts galore!)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">-from Nashville to Cincinnati, Ohio (my roomate's boyfriend lives there) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">-from Cincinnati to Chicago!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">-from Chicago to Albuquerque (lots of Spanish for a Spanish minor who LOVES Spanish!) </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">-from Albuquerque to LA and San Francisco!! </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">-from Cali back home :) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">As for my previous mention about grad school... yes, I am going back to school. I'm enrolled in Teachers College, Columbia University. However, no worries, I AM still teaching and plan to keep teaching for at least a few more years after graduating from my M.Ed. program. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">See you soon! I'll try to update on my vacay with the roomies but I'll be too busy having fun. Oh and not too much computer access. </span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-71273824759986523202013-08-10T00:23:00.001-04:002013-08-10T00:24:42.553-04:00Teachers being moved around<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">One of the perks of our union contract is that our principal must notify us of our schedule, the classes we will be teaching, sp-ed/ELL population and push-in/pull-out teacher information on or before the last day of school. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am remaining in 8th grade next year (three years in a row), with 4 classes of 8th grade math and 1 section of Integrated Algebra. (I had two sections this year but with the low state exam scores due to the implementation of the Common Core, some students had their IA recommendation rescinded since they have to get a level 3 or level 4 for 8th grade IA.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2013-2014 school year schedule: </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">0- Advisory/Homeroom</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">1- 8th Grade Accelerated Integrated Algebra</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">2- planning period</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">3- 8th Grade Mathematics</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">4- 8th Grade Mathematics*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">5- lunch</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">6- duty period (TBD)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">7- 8th Grade Mathematics</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">8- 8th Grade Mathematics</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">*4th period has 6 special ed students and 5 ELL's. There will be push-in support on Tuesdays and Thursdays for sp-ed and on Wednesdays for ELL. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">My amazing colleague of two years now, Miss Gonzalez -- soon to be Mrs. Gonzalez-Fernandez (<i>name changed as usual on this blog</i>) is being moved to 7th grade. Mr. Carter is being moved to a 6th/7th grade split. Mr. Gorbett is staying in 8th grade. Mr. Buchell has been transferred to a different school (FINALLY). A new teacher, Miss Davidson, a first year teacher from Upstate NY and a graduate of my alma mater, NYU, has been hired to teach an 8th grade math/6th grade math split. Surprisingly, my principal even moved my mentor, a rising ninth year teacher from 6th grade to 7th grade in her last year of teaching. What goes on in a principal's mind about moving a teacher's schedule is foreign to me, but somehow, I don't understand why my schedule hasn't been altered severely yet. Maybe I want to ask for new grades during my fourth year of teaching? I wonder what 6th and 7th grades are like... but what if I miss the familiarity that I have developed over the past few years with 13 & 14 year olds? </span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-46158828454866360912013-08-09T17:31:00.000-04:002013-08-09T17:31:42.640-04:002nd year of teaching & how Room 203 fared in New York's Common Core state test!<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Ahhh... it feels good to be back to my blog! After a particularly EXHAUSTING school year (which, unfortunately, I have not nearly been able to tell my readers about AT ALL), this summer has been nothing but relaxing, welcome and rejuvenating. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">While some of my classes this year were pleasant and well behaved, two of my five class periods were absolutely horrendous. As in straight-from-the-bottom-of-hell terrible. As any teacher will tell you, in a class of 30 students, only about 10 students are the real troublemakers. In the case of my two classes, a total of FIVE students in each class caused the trouble that I, and my 25 well-behaved, eager to learn students had to deal with. Frequent trips to the discipline AP, who has been nothing but supportive, were necessitated. I even set up meetings with my professors at NYU to discuss their tips for classroom management. My amazing mentor, entering her ninth (and final :( :( ) year of teaching come September has saved my life countless times in my unruly classes.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Both of my unruly classes were the standard 8th grade math class. However, it would not be fair to those classes if I didn't acknowledge all the positive aspects of my students. For the most part, they were bright, funny, eager to learn, perseverant and EAGER TO PLEASE. Never would my friends, colleagues or my family guess how eager to please some of my 14 year old students were! They were always completing their homework (most of the time SHOWING THEIR WORK!!) and even put aside personal differences to work together with their "enemies" during group and partner activities. We had a lot of fun this year and I know I will definitely remember so many of my students - 8th grade math and Integrated Algebra students. (I had one 8th grade math class that was literally ANGELIC. I wish I could loop with them next year in high school. Of course, I wished I could loop with my students from my first year in high school as well.) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">On top of some difficult classes, I had two new big things to worry about this year: New York State's adoption of the Common Core (which all states are adopting next year) and my taking over the school's first 8th grade accelerated Integrated Algebra program. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">GREAT NEWS! Integrated Algebra was a success! Despite hours of planning, conference calls, late nights, early mornings and yes.. some tears as to why I was naive enough as a second year teacher to take over a pilot program at our school -- Integrated Algebra Regents exam scores were absolutely AMAZING. Over 85% of my students will be earning high school credit (some at schools like Bronx Science, Stuyvesant, Townsend Harris...)!!! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">The Common Core -- I had a lot of support with. My mentor, principal, AP, department chair, co-teachers, NYU professors and of course, THE INTERNET all helped me get through the tough transition to the Common Core. NYT/Chancellor Walcott & Mayor Bloomberg and Michelle Rhee have all commented earlier this week about NYC's miraculous state score improvement. We are almost caught up with the rest of the state :) Sad news - I believe the state proficient/advanced rate is 31%. NYT says that NYC's is 29.6%. Our school's rate for ELA dropped significantly to 19% and math dropped to 25%. My students' scores - across the board in all 5 classes- were 40% proficient/advanced, 41% level II and 19% level I. Huge drop from last year... but then again, Common Core's standards are exponentially higher. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I wonder how this is going to affect my value added/my tenure portfolio... </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;">I'm really going to go out of my way to blog more next year - I promise! Thanks for reading my newest update :) Check back for more soon!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-73406942067602937172013-03-29T13:11:00.004-04:002013-08-10T00:24:52.951-04:00Re-Blog: How to Save our Educators<em><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">This infographic was first published by University of Southern California's Rossier School of Education and is entitled "How to Save our Educators". Here's the link to the original infographic and the School's website: </span><a href="http://rossieronline.usc.edu/how-to-save-our-educators-infographic"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">http://rossieronline.usc.edu/how-to-save-our-educators-infographic</span></a> </em><br />
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<a href="http://rossieronline.usc.edu/how-to-save-our-educators-infographic/how-to-save-our-educators-usc-rossier/" rel="attachment wp-att-24524"><img alt="USC Rossier Presents New Infographic- How To Save Our Educators" class="size-full wp-image-24524" height="2756" src="http://rossieronline.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/How-To-Save-Our-Educators-USC-Rossier.jpg" width="600" /></a>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-64235037433921810582013-03-26T19:46:00.000-04:002013-03-29T13:35:12.399-04:00How race plays a factor when you are teaching in the Bronx<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">I am an Asian male, 100% Chinese. In elementary school, my family (well, just my parents and I) immigrated to NYC from Shanghai so my parents could each take a job in cancer research at Columbia. I was taught that it didn't matter what race I was in America. I was taught that in America, people valued who I was on the <em>inside</em>, not the color of my skin. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">Fast forward to junior year in high school - specifically "Career Day" - I announced to my friends, teachers and guidance counselor that I wanted to be a math teacher in the inner city. I spent a few minutes discussing the achievement gap, the crisis in public education, the disparity of educational inequity... without a single regard to the fact that I am an Asian immigrant from a middle/upper middle class neighborhood in Queens looking to teach a majority African-American population in a lower/lower middle class neighborhood. My announcement drew warnings and concern from my peers and the adults at my high school:</span><br />
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<li><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">"Dude, you are so smart. Why do you want to reduce yourself to teaching in some poor area?" </span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">"The kids will never listen to you. You are Asian and they are... black. You think they will respect you?" </span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">"Trust me. It sounds like something worthwile but you will come to hate it once you realize the realities in those schools. This isn't like [insert Queens neighborhood here]." </span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">"Are you kidding? It's dangerous there!" </span></em></li>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">And then there were my parents, who wanted me to enter some pre-med program and become "a doctahr". My grades and test scores were good enough to get me into Columbia's pre-med program. They were even willing to support my minor in Spanish if I just went into pre-med. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">Six years later, I came into contact with the first of my racial discomforts while student teaching at a similar middle school in the South Bronx. The students, just like my students now, were mostly (aka 97%) Hispanic and African-American. It took a while to adjust to me being the only Asian in the room. Even their teachers and the principal were of the same race as the kids. The custodians, secretaries, teacher assistants, school psychologist and nurse were of the same race as the students. It's difficult to command respect and be taken seriously when you are the minority - the misfit - in your own classroom. Eventually, I was able to earn the respect and following of my students. Both last year and this year, the beginning of the year started off rocky when the students were just beginning to adjust to the fact that their teacher wasn't "one of them". I got comments from students saying that "I [don't] understand what it's like to be them... what they have to go through...". And the truth was, I didn't. I'm not from the same neighborhood as my students. I have never experienced poverty, family breakups, etc. My neighborhood didn't have gang activity, drugs or a prostitution problem. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">How could I expect to be taken seriously by my students? When I'm telling them that college is in their reach and they have everything it takes to make it in the world, break the cycle of poverty and close the achievement gap, was that message really getting through to them? I know that last year, these motivational words broke some of the barriers separating me from my students. I formed a close relationship with my students and that definitely eased A LOT of the difficulty of my first year of teaching. A couple months ago, the same thing happened to this year's group of students. They took longer, but the bonds are stronger. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">Yes, race will always be an issue. It's inevitable for me. There are still parents who don't value what I have to say. I still have some students who don't like me or believe that I don't understand them. Race is a sensitive topic and an intangible challenge. But it's one we have to fight as teachers. </span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-48340078588729974032013-03-25T13:20:00.002-04:002013-03-25T13:20:33.329-04:00SO MUCH TO DO. SO LITTLE TIME TO DO IT. <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">I swear, for a moment in the past two months, I forgot that I actually had a teaching blog. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">So much has gone on in my five classes since I last wrote in January that I couldn't possibly fill you guys all in. This year has definitely been my busiest. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">However, I can say that my students are demonstrating tremendous growth. I have seen grades rise from as low as 64% first quarter to B's this quarter. My classroom has became the sanctuary of learning and confidence that I have always dreamed of. I am closer to my students than I was before break and my students are coming to me to talk and get advice on school, relationships, family matters and their futures. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">As a side bonus, with looming NYS exams and Regents exams, I have done something different this year with my classroom. Towards the end of each big unit in both Pre-Algebra and Integrated Algebra, the students break into groups to create a poster of each of the major concepts covered during the unit. The poster includes a summary of the concept and all the crucial points that go under it, any formulas to use, possible shortcuts and example problems with worked solutions. I have many pretty colors and (new this year: glitter!!!) for the posters -bought out of pocket-, so I expect them to be aesthetically appealing. I hang the posters up around the room for the students (Pre-Alg has the left and front sides and Integrated Algebra has the right and back sides) to see. It definitely demonstrates the breadth of material they have been learning and serves as kind of a "visual fossil" of their learning and progress throughout the year. Here's where the side bonus comes in: half of my review planning that begins in... oh just a 3 weeks or so... is halfway complete!!! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">We've made it through so much of the year already. I do love my students. Even though we started off shaky, by the time mid-February rolled around (just in time for my 23rd birthday!), the magic sparked and everything fell into place. Now, we just have to make it through the test prep month of April, testing weeks in May and we're set! The month of June, judging from last year, is stress-free and easy breezy :) </span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-36802863536018963332013-01-02T21:56:00.001-05:002013-01-02T21:56:45.694-05:00Back from break!<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">In with the new year! 2013! :) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">My students and I went back to school after a one week long winter break. One of my new year's resoultions was to take stronger control of my more difficult classes this year - namely 1st and 7th periods (that's 2 out of only 3 pre-algebra classes that I have this year). I started the new year by creating and copying color-coded calendars for both Pre-Algebra and Integrated Algebra with dates of tests, quizzes, major activities, VERY important lessons they should try their very best not to miss, major projects and project due dates and review sessions. I believe that this calendar will allow them to properly plan ahead for what to expect in class and will allow me to be more organized in assigning important dates. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">Another thing I am trying to do is to for my "needy" students (those with grades <u>at or below 73%</u>, which consists of significantly more students this year - accross all five classes - than last year) is to let them know about the websites that are available for them for extra help:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Khan Academy</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">YouTube</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">Regents Prep</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">the NYS website</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">Hotmath</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">Coolmath</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">I always make myself available before and after school for students, but I don't normally see these "needy" students at the help sessions. The students who come are the ones that are more self-motivated, and are struggling with minor things or coming because they were absent for a class. However, it's these "needy" students that I'm trying to reach, and I am thinking about a program in which I can *gently* "force", for lack of a better word, extra help upon them. Any ideas? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">A homework help blog recently contacted me on my blog asking me to tell my students about the availability of their free service for asking questions on homework in any of the core subjects. Link will be up soon for you guys! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">Here's to a great 2013! (And to more blogging too!)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">P.S. one year anniversary of my blog is coming up TOMORROW!!</span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-49761309120258606182012-12-17T18:46:00.000-05:002012-12-29T22:31:38.676-05:00When middle schoolers go wild<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">There's a boy on our team who's... well, let's just say that he's quite overweight. In fact, the other teachers on the team and I refer to him as "the big one" (kind-heartedly of course!). Anyhow, "the big one" is not very well respected by his peers, probably due to his weight. However, in the Bronx, it's not uncommon to see students 10-20 pounds heavier than they should be due to the sparse access to farmer's markets/healthier food options and high presence of bodega food (ex: chips, candy, gum, soda, etc.). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">We all knew he was.. ahem.. *big*, but today he broke a new record even for himself. HE BROKE A DESK. IN MY CLASS. IN THE MIDDLE OF A LESSON. All the teachers this morning were a little stressed out because the discipline AP announced that he will be doing a special evaluation on our classroom management strategy/style/technique this week and will have a follow up meeting about classroom & behavior management soon. This is especially stressful for non-tenured teachers because this evaluation is one of many that will go in our tenure portfolios. (I'm up for tenure next year, and so far I've been exceeding expectations, but with the difficulty level of this year's students, I'm a little bit nervous about this upcoming evaluation.) Because this incident was so unexpected, I had no idea whatsoever about how I was going to begin to deal with this situation. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">First off, my thoughts ran a little like this:</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;"><em>How can someone as big as him even fit in one of those desks? </em>(We were considering getting him a special desk to avoid an incident like this, but felt that doing so would isolate him and make his "situation" more obvious.) </span></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">How in the world do you BREAK a desk? </span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">I wonder if he will ever live this down... </span></em></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;"><em>Am I supposed to go and get help? From who? The custodian? Mrs. Brown </em>(our team's science teacher next door)<em>? Mr. O'Klay?</em> (the discipline AP)</span></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">This is definitely not one of the things they teach you at NYU Steinhardt School of Education. And Steinhardt has one of the top undergraduate teaching programs. </span></em></li>
<li><em><span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">Okay, the kids are laughing/taking pictures/whispering/taunting right now. Time to take action. </span></em></li>
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">I ended up taking control of my class - silencing them, asking for all pictures/messages on their phones regarding this matter to be deleted, sent "big kid" to my desk for the rest of the period and mandated a "what happened in room 203 today stays in room 203" policy. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">But all in all, it was a crazy day. The students never fully got back on task, and when I gave them their groupwork for the period and left the room to report the incident to the custodial office, Mrs. Brown had to come into my room and discipline the students for their (not excactly uncalled for) rowdiness: they RECREATED THE SCENE, continued taunting "big kid" for his accident, mocked his weight and well, did not do any of their groupwork. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">Saved by the bell. Not long after I returned, the bell rang. Not too much learning happened the second half of seventh period. However, all teachers have those crazy days... just not many have crazy days like my South Bronx crazy days. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">Teachers, any stories about your wild days? :)</span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3723634383687436243.post-83026701335462106882012-12-12T15:00:00.000-05:002012-12-16T15:01:28.613-05:00First Quarter vs. Second Quarter<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS", sans-serif; font-size: large;">Undeniably, second quarter is SIGNIFICANTLY busier than first quarter! (As if you couldn't tell with the significant decrease in blog posts. Hopefully it will get better in the new year? I didn't have my blog running in the beginning of the year last year either...) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">This year, being the first teacher in our school's history to teach accelerated 8th grade Integrated Algebra, I have been relegated to creating a school-wide curriculum for Integrated Algebra. It's time consuming, but I know it will save time in future years when (I better!) teach Integrated Algebra again. Also, changes in the 8th grade curriculum and the way our department chair/AP/principal wants to run the curriculum means additional planning for all 5 of my classes. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">I find second quarter to be more difficult for the majority of my students, especially in 8th grade. We start hitting some more difficult concepts and sometimes it's challenging for students to keep up with the material. I always offer morning and after school tutoring sessions, but I find that fewer & fewer students are coming. The students that need these sessions the most are the ones that do not come. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">Second quarter is also when a lot of families decide to capitalize on lower fares and send their children away to Mexico/Guatemala/Dominican Republic/Costa Rica/El Salvador, etc. to visit family -- for two, three, four weeks at a time - increasing their gap of knowledge during this extended vacation. This was not very prevalent last year, however, this year, I am finding a considerable number (about 3-4) in each class period. In math, it's hard to make up lost learning, which is why I highly discourage these extended trips. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">However, on the bright side, teacher collaboration is up from first quarter and up from last year. The newest teacher to the math team, Mr. Gorbett, is AMAZING and highly innovative. Both Miss Gonzalez and I have used at least four of his lesson plans throughout this year. We are sharing more with each other and doing more collaborative work, and the results for our students speak for themselves :) </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">I am also very proud of Andres, a student in my 7th period Pre-Algebra class. During first quarter, Andres barely pulled a B -- an 80.1% --, goofed off in class and was occassionally disruptive and rarely completed his homework. He is a bright student, however, and the reason why his grade was so borderline that quarter was because, like I said, he ALMOST NEVER completed <em>any</em> homework assignments! I conferenced with him at the beginning of this quarter and we set a goal for classroom behavior and homework completion. Two weeks ago, Andres and I reached our first checkpoint of the quarter. He made it & we celebrated with New York cheesecake and pizza! Hopefully the goal setting and positive reinforcement for performing the correct behavior will influence him to continue this positive habit for the remainder of the year, into high school, and into college. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Trebuchet MS; font-size: large;">How's that for an update, guys? Thanks for reading and staying patient with me!!! </span>We're New York's Brightesthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14504481037845294542noreply@blogger.com0