From middle school teacher to high school teacher

Blog readers, 

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.

Here is your long-awaited update! 

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!). 

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! 

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. 

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??? ;) 

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 :) 

I hope to update y'all soon. 

-Mr. Yang

Don't keep me waiting, this summer is fading...

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?? 

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 critical 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 ;) 

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. 

Happy last day of summer, NYC teachers! Here's to a successful 2014-2015 school year! 

And Year 3 Comes to a Close!

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. 

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 their 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. 

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. 

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!! 

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. 

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) 

How to Join New York's Brightest! (Advice for grads looking to teach in the NYCDOE)

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 New York. 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. 

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. 

Okay, my TIPS!!! 

• Put a significant amount of effort into your essays. 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!
• Meet with principals one-on-one. 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. 
• Attend the career fairs offered by the NYCDOE. A first-year teacher at my school got hired on-the-spot by Ms. Lopez at the Bronx career fair! 
• Include several powerful recommenders. 
• Discuss your coursework from a double major and/or a minor. This shows that you are a well-rounded applicant who can contribute to the school culture. 
• CAREFULLY research each school before interviewing. Check out insideschools.org for school reviews and community commentary. Schoolbook, which is found in the New York Times, is also an excellent resource. 
• Have questions ready for when the principal asks, "Do you have any questions for me?" 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. 
• Think about applying for Teach NYC Select Recruits. 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! 

Have fun interviewing! Submit your applications ASAP... the earlier the better. JOIN NEW YORK'S BRIGHTEST. TEACH NYC! 

I'm Back!

After a long hiatus from blogging, let me just say - it feels GREAT to be back again! 

The past few months have been a whirlwind, both professionally (teaching my 8th graders & finishing my master's degree at Columbia University) and personally! 

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 me! 

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 Teach. 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:

1. Students work on their warm up as they enter the classroom. Go over warm up as a class.
2. 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. 
3. 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. 
4. 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. 

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! 

It's verified! I am a candidate for spring graduation from TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY! 

Ms. Lopez, my principal has also confirmed that I will be recommended for tenure come June!! 

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 age 24 ain't too shabby. Who says teachers are "poor"?! Plus, I get to make a significant difference in the lives of my 160+ students. 

I'll be back soon, I promise! Thank you so much for your patience! 

-Mr. Yang 

Sweetest Day Update/CHITOWN con mi amiga

Well, I guess it looks like we're back together for Sweetest Day.. (see previous post about what happened leading up to this) 

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. 

Some things we're thinking of bringing back and trying out in our own rooms: 

• 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) 
• 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) 
• using graphing calculators in the classroom- something I need to start trying w/ my Integrated Algebra class 
• 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
• 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
• 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!)
• 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. 

Where's Our School Spirit??

I saw this post on Twitter from one of my friends from high school: http://vimeo.com/75058173 

I thought to myself, WOW! That's some real school spirit!

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

Maybe I'll start something similar to that. 

HAPPY FRIDAY! And congrats to Lakewood High School in Colorado for winning a visit by Katy Perry on her birthday!! 

When personal life tumbles, my kids (and roomies) are still the ones here for me

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. 

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. 

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.

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. 

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. 

Thank you to everyone who has helped me get through this. I promise that I'll be back to my normal self soon. 

Bonding With Mah Kiddos

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. 

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. 

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 :) 

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. 

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. 

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!

so far, so good

First week of school: check! Everything went well. 
No major problems yet.
Loving my students, their personalities, their intellect, their humor and their potential. every second I get. 
Having a great time with my co-teachers. 
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. 
Baseline Diagnostic Test scores - for MC at least - better than I thought. 

Two cons: 
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. 

2) THE HEAT. Please go away now! 

More updates to come soon. Stay tuned! 

#naptime
I wonder where my roomies and I are going for dinner tonight. It's my turn to pay...

TOMORROW'S THE DAY!!!

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. 

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. 

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. 

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  still ask me when I'm going to "get a real job". This is 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. 

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.

Wish me luck tomorrow :) 

Prepping for YEAR #3!

We're back from our little "Tour USA" roommate-bonding-vacation experience! 

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. 

On my to-do list this past week and this weekend: 

• 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) 
• buy classroom and school supplies (aka deal hunting across four boroughs)
• 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... 
• get my first day of school outfit ready!! 
• meet with my in-school mentor and Teachers College, Columbia University mentor
• get grad school course schedule prepared and finalized
• write a letter to parents
• meet with my principal to discuss goals for this year
• co-plan lessons with the other teachers
• meet our school's new teachers for this year
• hang out with old friends from high school (ahhh they were freshmen when I was a senior! yeah we go back way far!) 
• analyze scores of my incoming students on their NYS exams and prepare lessons to remedy common errors and weaknesses 
• rewrite my Integrated Algebra syllabus to update it with changes I've came up with over the summer 

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.

I remember student teaching up until this point in my career now. Each year brings new faces, new challenges and new rewards. 

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. 

I'm REALLY going to keep my readers on track this year with my teaching adventures... so consider this the before-school year post:) 

now, time for a nap. i am exhausted. #teacherproblems 

Tour USA con los ROOMIES!!!

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! 

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. 

Here are our sites: 

-from NYC to the Jersey Shore! 
-from NJ to Boston
-from Boston back to NY (we're playing "tourist") to Washington, D.C./N. Virginia/S. Maryland
-from D.C. to Nashville (country concerts galore!)
-from Nashville to Cincinnati, Ohio (my roomate's boyfriend lives there) 
-from Cincinnati to Chicago!
-from Chicago to Albuquerque (lots of Spanish for a Spanish minor who LOVES Spanish!) 
-from Albuquerque to LA and San Francisco!! 
-from Cali back home :) 

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. 

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. 

Teachers being moved around

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. 

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.) 

2013-2014 school year schedule: 
0- Advisory/Homeroom
1- 8th Grade Accelerated Integrated Algebra
2- planning period
3- 8th Grade Mathematics
4- 8th Grade Mathematics*
5- lunch
6- duty period (TBD)
7- 8th Grade Mathematics
8- 8th Grade Mathematics

*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. 

My amazing colleague of two years now, Miss Gonzalez -- soon to be Mrs. Gonzalez-Fernandez (name changed as usual on this blog) 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? 

Re-Blog: How to Save our Educators

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: http://rossieronline.usc.edu/how-to-save-our-educators-infographic 

How race plays a factor when you are teaching in the Bronx

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 inside, not the color of my skin.

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:

• "Dude, you are so smart. Why do you want to reduce yourself to teaching in some poor area?"
• "The kids will never listen to you. You are Asian and they are... black. You think they will respect you?"
• "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]."
• "Are you kidding? It's dangerous there!"

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.

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.

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.

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.

Oh where oh were have I been?

Where have I been? This blog has been empty for over a month! :(

To all my lovely, loyal readers, I am so sorry that I haven't been updating this blog. I would like to take this space to let you know that:

1) I am still alive! I have not been eaten alive by my kiddos yet!

2) I am still teaching in the DOE and loving it.

3) My students have gotten better and I am actually starting to like my first period again... slowly, but steadily they are improving :)

4) I've already been observed and evaluated this year. My principal, Ms. Lopez came in on a Wednesday in November in my second Integrated Algebra class and observed a lesson on solving & graphing inequalities. In my post-observation conference, she went up to me, took my hand and said: "That was one of the best lessons I have seen in over ten years as principal of this school. Thank you so much for everything you do for your students."

Teaching in NYC is time consuming and I have had work PAST MY HEAD every week. However, that's not an excuse to stop blogging. I created my blog so that I could have space to reflect on my teaching, and unfortunately, with all the paperwork, lesson planning, etc. that I have had these past few weeks, not too much reflecting has happened.

I promise (!!!) that I will be better about updating you guys on my teaching adventures! My goal is at least 1 post a week -- hopefully 2 posts from now till the end of the school year.

Election 2012: The 13-Year-Old Version

My kids are very involved in the election. They are showing (relatively early for their age) signs of maturity, decision-making and voter education that is unprecedented for most middle school students. 

They are pretty educated about the issues going on right now and each candidate's position on the issues. 

Now, maybe it's because I'm strongly liberal and so are they, but I'll bet that conservatives would have a soft spot in their heart for my students and their participation in the election process. 

Was I this educated (or, quite honestly, interested?) about politics in 8th grade? Not at all. 

GO. FIGHT. WIN. - a story of school spirit

I have previously discussed on this blog about my shiny-glory days in high school, culminating in being voted as our high school's Class of 2007 "Most Popular Boy". For a brief time period during junior year, I dated our school's head cheerleader. It was a FUN (let me assure you, very fun... from the perspective of a 16 year old) experience, but didn't last very long. And at the end of the experience, I did learn a lot about relationships, why they usually don't work in high school and about members of the opposite sex. No offense female readers ;)

But one of the big things that I do remember from my experience with "Talia" is that cheerleaders have a ton of school spirit. From going to watch her practices to supporting her at our school's Friday night football games, I picked up a lot about what it really took to be a cheerleader - the head cheerleader - or, in other words, the school's "poster girl". This was high school.

My school right now, a middle school in the South Bronx, currently is in a friendly rivalry with a neighboring middle school. I would think it has something to do with gangs between the different neighborhoods, but that's not what the administration wants us to think. Our school administrators are also at it -from competing about basketball scores to NYS scores to which school has the best teachers -the rivalry between adults would seem intense. The students have also picked up on this, and have lately been hard at work brainstorming ways to beat this school (as opposed to, say, doing their homework...). 

Yesterday, I suggested to them: "You know guys, why not beat MS *** by showing them that you guys are better at math?". This was meant to be a joke, more or less, but my 8th graders really took that message to heart: agreeing and working twice as hard as they usually do in an effort to outperform this class. 

When I got home, I made a call to a teacher at this school and laid out the grounds for this "competition", He was thrilled! Clearly, this is a very unexpected occurrence in the school year. Miss Gonzalez and Mr. Gorbett have joined too.

Today, one of the girls in my class made a sign for me to hang up in my room: 
"!SI, NOSOTROS PODEMOS! YES, WE CAN!" 

My kids, just like Talia, have a lot of school spirit. Maybe they are more motivated because of gang affiliation (although the vast majority of students from my observation are not affiliated with the neighborhood gang). But most are motivated because they want to show someone they are BETTER. This is an opportunity for them to apply what I have been telling them all along. 

Maybe this should continue for the entire year? I would LOVE to see my kids like this for the rest of the school year. 

May the best middle school win. 

Re-Blog: Why Middle School?

This would be how I spend my lunch period on a Wednesday when the other teachers are at their meetings with Ms. Lopez...

The following post comes from John Spencer's blog "The Best Part of Teaching is...". You can find this blog at www.bestpartofteaching.wordpress.com. No copyright infringement intended.

Why Middle School?

For all their awkwardness, they often surprise me with their creatvity

"8th graders are the most understood people on the planet. Perhaps even the universe. Sure, they might talk too loud or tell a sub to fuck off or wear jeans that vacillate between sagging to their knees or skinny jeans that severely limit their movement. True, they have a tendency to be self-centered and to care too deeply about peer approval and to say things that are socially awkward or rude as they try to be ironic or cynical or whatever it is that grownups hold as social capital.

Get past this facade and you’ll see that the act is so opaque that the student becomes transparent. You see the pain and confusion of inhabiting a world of childhood and adulthood. You see the insecurities that they haven’t learned to mask as well as adults. You’ll see that they are misunderstood.

Look even further and you’ll see generosity and kindness. You’ll see an honesty that is rare among adults. You’ll see that they’re just beginning to question the answers after spending so long answering the questions. They haven’t bought into the lie that it must be “practical” to be important. 

You’ll see the dreamers, the existential wanderers, the rule-followers who are now questioning the world of rules that they’ve spent so long serving.

You’ll see documentaries that aren’t professional, but are amazing in their viewpoint. You’ll see murals that aren’t flawless but are beautiful in their flaws. You’ll hear voices passionately pursuing social justice without yet feeling jaded by the system.

And you’ll hear laughter.

You’ll see smiles.

You’ll see why some people have discovered that this age group is the education system’s best kept secret. And you’ll realize why we feel fortunate to have this job."