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! 

Always that ONE CLASS. Ugh.

I'm writing this right before I leave my classroom for a quick meal somewhere uptown and a grad school class at Columbia. 

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)... 

1. never stop talking
2. never participate in class
3. don't focus when I ask them to
4. don't listen to any of my warnings
5. don't do their assigned homework
6. make fun of me and other students in class
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)

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. 

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.. 

and i just really dont want to do an office referral on the second week of school

and detentions don't work well this semester because of grad school classes Tuesdays and Thursdays... 

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 

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? 

We're On a Roll: The September Update

We are officially three weeks into the school year, and it is at this time that my education professors at NYU would tell me that the "honeymoon period" is over. The students have gotten to know you as a teacher, their classmates, the classroom environment, the workload, the style of the class, style of teaching, etc. and now are ready to "unleash" their true personas.

At this time last year, before I set up my blog, my students already showed me some signs of weaning away from the honeymoon period. Two of my 7th period students were caught cheating on a quiz (OBVIOUS hints were seen, as in one of the girls directly STARING at her friend's answer sheet). In 2nd period, James and the Four Gangstas started climbing their way onto my radar for me to look out for.

Yet, last year could overall be considered a great success. The students performed extremely well on the NYS exam, my class averages were about 8% higher than the class average for the entire school and behavioral disruptions were controllable. Of course, in middle school, where hormones run wild, students quite possibly have attention spans shorter than that of a four year old and education isn't necesarily the top priority, there are bound to be some... entertaining... moments.

However, things are going surprisingly well so far this year! My students are great people (Have I mentioned how HILARIOUS they are? Future teachers, middle school really is a great decision to make!) and are making great strides academically. And while class averages are lower for my regular 8th grade math students, these students are putting in a considerably greater amount of effort and dedication to my class. While only some students last year came to my before/after school tutoring sessions, I can expect anywhere from 25 to 30+ students in any given after school session from Monday to Thursday. Meanwhile, my Integrated Algebra students are true gems :) - very self-motivated, organized, respectful and quick learners! Perfect for being my guinea pigs with Integrated Algebra!

I'm really liking the diversity this year - both with my student population and with the classes that I teach. Even though I'm still fresh and energetic, it feels AMAZING to be exposed to new subjects and new students to teach. It's what keeps us teachers going, right? I really like how I am kind of the "curriculum boss" with Integrated Algebra, since I am the first teacher teaching it in my school and there are no other teachers teaching it! Not having Mr. Buchell as a colleague for pre-algebra/Math 8 is a plus as well.

My principal, Ms. Lopez, continues to be amazing and extra supportive. Mr. Buchell, the discipline AP has been gone for the past two weeks due to an injury, and the school/district has NOT found a replacement yet for him. (Talk about disorganization of the DOE...) Therefore, we have been instructed to try and keep referrals to a minimum and try our very best to handle situations within our own powers/classroom borders.

All in all, a great first three weeks so far! Let's keep it this way for the rest of the year! ;)

P.S. I am so sorry for not writing as much as last year. I will do my very best to get better at updating! A new school year is always a busy time, especially with a whole entire new curriculum, but it will get better as the year goes on, I promise. Stay tuned!!

More than just a "student"

I often refer to my students as just "students". See, I just did it twice!

However, as the school year is getting deeper and deeper, I'm finally at the point where I can stop asserting myself as "their teacher" and actually develop myself as a human being, someone who the kids can relate to.

As I get to know my students better, seeing them everyday, watching them, teaching them and getting to know their unique qualities, I have developed connections with the students. Each of my students are unique in their own special ways. I have 150 new students this year - and while some of them have the same name as others in the same class period or in my other periods or even as students from last year, no two students are completely alike. They have their own likes, dislikes, wants, desires, goals, personality, drives, motives and features.

As a teacher, it is my job to make sure I connect with each of my students, making sure that all of them have the chance to reach their potential in my class and get the individual attention from me that they need to succeed. While it's impossible to have every single student like me, and it's impossible for me to like every single student, I cannot forget about my responsibilities as a teacher.

I've spent a lot of time in the beginning of the year developing a "TEAM" attitude in my classroom, and telling my students about how much I believe in them. We watched motivational clips from movies like Walkout and Freedom Writers and discussed them. I want to be a teacher like Sal or Miss Gruwell. But, we are entering the "academic" world now in both 8th grade math and Integrated Algebra. These messages have now taken the backseat to the curriculum.

So far, I'm really enjoying my group of students. But, my students are more than just what I (and every other teacher) call them - they are human beings and deserve individualized attention.

Los Primeros Días de la Escuela - The First Days of School

THE 2012-2013 SCHOOL YEAR HAS BEGUN.

At 6:20 Thursday morning, I got up, took a shower and got ready for the first "teaching" day of school.
6:45. Boarded the subway towards Lexington Avenue - 59th Street. 7:00. Transferred trains and arrived in the Bronx.
7:25. Entered the school building, headed up to my classroom to set my things down and get the final touches ready before students entered.
7:45. Head downstairs, socialized with colleagues and school aides and sat down for a brief meeting with Ms. Lopez, our principal, and Mr. O'Klay, the AP.
8:00. The staff meeting ended. We all head back to our classrooms, finish preparing if needed, breathe and do our beginning of the year rituals.
We began the day with homeroom, and then shifted to our classes for the day.

It has now been a full week and two days since the 2012-2013 school year has started. We are OFFICIALLY in the zone! I know all of my students' names, plus a lot of their personality characteristics as well as their strengths and weaknesses in math.

The first three days, I spent a lot of time building a classroom community with my students. I am a strong believer in the acronym TEAM - Together Everyone Achieves More. Both last year and this year, I communicated with my students the importance of the classroom feeling like a family: a place where everyone gets along, is comfortable with each other, trusts each other and builds strong bonds together. I believe that if each of the students in my class are "cool" with one another (as well as with me), the amount of behavioral disruptions will be diminished dramatically. So, on the first day of school, after taking attendance, the students participated in six teambuilding activities - four of them between each other, and the other two including me. Last year, one of the biggest strengths about the year that my students communicated to me was the teambuilding: it set the culture of the classroom and my expectations right from the beginning. The activities (I posted some last year, for new readers :) ), are fun, engaging and effective.  You can feel the environment in the classroom changing and that's a growth I really hope to see continue to develop during the year.

This eventually culminated in a team-wide 9/11 Rememberance service project the students on my team participated in through each of their classes. The goal was to tie in 9/11 and the idea of rememberance to each teacher's content area. The projects were then put together and sent to first responders and families of the victims.

Starting on Wednesday, both my classes started working on bridging the gaps that they might have from 6th and 7th grades that may inhibit their future performance in the 8th grade or Integrated Algebra curriculum. Some of my students are close to grade level, or even on grade level. Others are about 1 grade level behind; the most severe cases range from 2-3 grade levels behind. These students are disproportionally distributed to my first period class. 1st period already has 10 students with special needs or IEP's - enough that the district requires a push-in teacher at least two days of the week. Looks like I know where my hard class of the year is...

As for my classes, I absolutely LOVE them! The students are very pleasant, diverse, funny, interesting and BEHAVED! I think the difference between last year and this year isn't too great - hinting that I'm still on track to having another great year! (I don't know what their teachers last year were talking about... unless they're still in their honeymoon phase.. haha)

It's tomorrow!

Today's the last official day of summer.

New York City public schools are beginning the 2012-2013 school year TOMORROW! Teachers are to report at my school bright and early at 7:30 am. Students are to report at 8:30 am for homeroom. Yikes!!

Goodnight and here's to a wonderful school year! :)

P.S. Let's hope I actually get some sleep tonight.

All dressed up with somewhere to go

Between yesterday and today (yes, some stores in NYC are actually open on labor day!!), I racked up almost $400 in supplies for my classroom.

What can I say? It's the beginning of the year! I remember last year at around this time, I went shopping for my first-ever classroom (back when Teachers' Choice wasn't an option) - but only spent about $250. How in the world did I manage to spend MORE money for my room my second year of teaching?

Well, it's true what they tell you about teaching. It's expensive. Especially when you're teaching in The Bronx, where many students can't even afford to buy school supplies. I learned a lesson from last year - my students need MY supplies to keep them going! So, I worked out some deals with local stores and big stores, and got all the following for my students:

• 1.5" binders
• Highlighters
• Graph paper
• Notebook paper
• Mechanical pencils
• .7 lead
• Wooden pencils
• Erasers
• Highlighters
• Notecards
• Divider tabs for their binders
• Tissues (a BIG must for all teachers!)

On top of that, I had a laundry list of materials to buy for my use during teaching and for the classroom:

• Folders for each of my five classes for when I have to take home work to grade
• Post-it notes
• Two calendars -- one for the room and one for my desk
• Personal time planner to keep track of everything in my busy life
• Some new classroom posters
• Dry erase markers, overhead markers, erasers, etc.
• Batteries for my timer (another must for teachers!)
• A kit of back-up lesson plans
• Tape
• Grading pens
• Air freshner (some middle school students do not smell too good...)
• File folders for each of my students
• Bulletin board designs - I created a new bulletin board called "While You Were Out...", where I plan on putting missed work and class notes for absent students so that they can easily pick up their materials without all of them lining up to ask me at the beginning of class :)

And of course, some gifts for myself to get me ready for the new year!

While looking over my stats today, I noticed that one of my search links that lead to my blog was "mini fridge for my classroom nyc". Actually, I didn't buy a mini fridge this year, though I do know some teachers who stay "late nights" here and do... maybe next year? hmmm...

4 days!

Back in the groove of things

The school year has officially started for NYC teachers! After about two months away from the classroom (but not away from teaching, as we have all spent at least part of our summers planning and getting ready for the year, mind you), we headed back to our classrooms this week to set up for the new school year (2012-2013!!!).

I have a new colleague for 8th grade math this year - "Mr. Carter". As I previously posted, Mr. Carter is a first year teacher from Chicago beginning his teaching career here at our school in the Bronx. Appearently, Mr. Carter has an AMAZING record as a student teacher with the Chicago Public Schools, and we're very excited to welcome him to our team. This should be a very nice change for our new eigth graders, who (finally!) do not have the risk of getting Mr. Buchell.

In my school, every teacher met with our amazing principal, Ms. Lopez, and our assistant principal (discipline AP), Mr. O'Klay, to discuss expectations they have for us this year, create goals, answer questions, introduce new school procedures, go over test scores, go over our schedules, take a look at our summer prep work, among other things. We met our new staff and did some teambuilding activities as a large group of faculty! Even cuter... Ms. Lopez got us each a t-shirt with "motivational" words on the back and our school's colors - words like "persevereance", "dedication", "initiative", "character" and "integrity" - that define our school's core values. We are to wear our new t-shirt on the first day of school to remind our students of the character traits that we will cultivate in each of them and expect to see from them.

I have my classroom fully set up and ready to go this year. I'm in the same room as last year, so this task wasn't too difficult. All my posters are up and running, my boards are set up, my technology is working (thank goodness), a new Facebook page has been created and all my lesson plans are up on Engrade. I'm very excited to get started with the new school year! After a pretty successful first year of teaching, I am really looking forward to seeing the challenges and successes that I will be faced with my second year. I'm starting to have dreams about my students,and classes, colleagues and the school year... and these anxious feelings are only going to continue to build and incrementally increase up until the night before school... by then, I probably won't be getting too much sleep...

They say your second year of teaching is filled with applying the lessons learned from your not-so-successful lesson plans and days from your first year of teaching. While I have blogged about many of those, I mostly blogged and experienced positive things last year. Is the second year of teaching filled with using that - and cultivating it to make the success even greater? Or was I just lucky last year? After all, it's no secret that my classes and students are harder this year: greater percentage of student discipline problems, lower average NYS scores (some two to three grade levels behind), family problems, HUGE increase in special-ed population, less pull-out support...

How is this year going to go?

Well, at least I know how my schedule is going to go:
0- Advisory
1- 8th grade math*
2- 8th grade math
3- Planning
4- Integrated Algebra
5- Integrated Algebra
6- Lunch
7- 8th grade math*
8- Free: meetings, conferences with mentors, department chair, principal/AP, lesson planning time, occassional duties, meeting with push-in teachers

* Due to higher numbers of special needs students (9 in 1st period and 11 in 7th), a push-in teacher will be provided during these periods specifically to meet the needs for my special-ed/IEP students.
**Many, many goods to this schedule! Maximum of only two class periods in a row (as opposed to three), and average class size of 30 (as opposed to 32).

How is this year going to go? It's going to be what I make of it. Regardless of what they say about my new classes, I'm going to go in just like I did last year. Build relationships and trust with my students. Ensuring that all my students are understanding the material. Going back for them. Being there for them. It's going to be a great year. I'm their teacher - someone they will remember for their entire life.

Well rested and well prepared, I'm back in the groove of teaching :)