So I am walking back to a prospective apartment from the car where I had forgotten my driver's license to find a large black object on the sidewalk. "Hmm, what is this?" I thought to myself. Upon closer inspection, my eyes scrolled from the tail, along the 1.5 in thick body up to the head of a huge black snake! Ahh! At first I wasn't sure if it was real because it was so still, as I have never encountered a snake of that size (at least 2.5 ft long) outside of a zoo. After deciding that it was most certainly real, I hopped over it and walked briskly back to the apartment.
Perhaps ignoring a blatant sign from the All Mighty, we decided to go for this apartment. We had the most stressful 15 minutes that I have experienced in a long time as we went back and forth as to whether to go through the application process (competing with 5 other groups) or to pay a slightly higher price. After prolonged fetal positions and sounds of agony, we decided to make the call! We weren't quite set, however, because if we wanted the place it meant coming up with $1500 in cash in the next three hours. Luckily, a local Walmart hooked us up with cashing a personal check (something they supposedly do not do on a typical basis). All in all, we now have a place to live!
On the school side of things, this morning was a true challenge. I was just opening my lesson to a one person class when three students whom I had never seen before, except working metal detector duty, entered our classroom. Not knowing what was going on, I assumed I was the only one who did not know why this was occurring; I introduced myself and quickly learned their names. I also found out that the class that they had been in was behind where we were, which meant that it might be challenging for them to grasp the lesson. By the end of the day, I had rushed a bit through the intro and guided practice - so some students were still struggling. This is certainly frustrating, but I have no doubt that they will have a strong understanding of the material tomorrow.
I also had a successful call to K.'s mom! K. hasn't been in school for a few days now and we are growing concerned. It turns out that she thought her son could not return to school because he had missed 3 days. I urged her to call the school to make sure that he could absolutely not come to school - in which case I offered evening or weekend tutoring sessions to help K. pass the big re-test next week. Hopefully we will see him again soon.
Shout out to my mom for sending my quilt - I sleep so much better in the coziness!
4 day week and then only a few days before the test. Also, Atlanta Pride is this weekend. Should be a fun time!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
A little 'tude.
So this morning started out a little shaky (again). We had two students - the student whose mother I called a couple of days ago was not there. We think something may be going on at home. Our faculty advisor is looking into it. One of our students had some major attitude, clearly not thrilled to be there. When it was my turn, I attempted my incredible motivational speech that I had been formulating for the previous 10 minutes (in my head - next time I'll take some notes...) - it began with "Who wants to spend their summer in summer school next year?!" Raising my hand to indicate "I do!" and asking this in a very sarcastic tone. I highlighted the fact that the test is two weeks from today and that we need to have a sense of urgency. I then tried to squeeze in the fact that we need them to say things in class with confidence, not just muttering answers under their breath so they have more confidence when they rock the test. "You know the answer, I know you know the answer, so be confident and say it!" Although it could have been smoother, I think it served its purpose.
The morning hour had drawn to a close, and it was my time to conduct my lesson. I hoped to spark the interest of my students with dramatic hand gestures, energy, and an enthusiastic tone. It worked a little, but in the future I need to find more sustainable and predicable investment strategies. For example! I planned my method for rational and irrational numbers for next week this afternoon. Relating the idea to girlfriends or boyfriends, you want one that is consistent and predicable, spends alone time with you, and in the end, is absolutely perfect - rational decimal numbers have either a consistent pattern or are terminal - unlike irrational numbers with that infinite, random drama at the end of them. Rational numbers, like super significant others, spend alone time with you, with just one of you in the numerator or denominator of a fraction without endless friends hanging around (can be expressed in the form of an integer over an integer - and they are perfect, because radicals with perfect square radicands are rational. Hope it goes well.
I handled the attitude with a firm, relatively harsh, approach. I also coupled it with warm, one-on-one interactions, however. In the future I must try to leave emotion out of it and calmly explain how students are being disrespectful and precisely what they can do to get back on track. Today N. kept making errors adding radicals with like radicands together. I said that this is what happens when we are not focused or tired - blaming her addition errors on her lack of focus. Almost too late did I realize that the real problem was that she cannot add and subtract negative numbers. So we spent the rest of the period reviewing how to add negatives - remember this is 8th grade - yet another example of how these students have been done a horrific disservice by their education.
Overall a good day as I look forward to giving my lesson tomorrow using the Jordin Sparks' song "One Step At A Time" to talk about how we need to take problems one step at a time so we don't rush into things and make mistakes.
The morning hour had drawn to a close, and it was my time to conduct my lesson. I hoped to spark the interest of my students with dramatic hand gestures, energy, and an enthusiastic tone. It worked a little, but in the future I need to find more sustainable and predicable investment strategies. For example! I planned my method for rational and irrational numbers for next week this afternoon. Relating the idea to girlfriends or boyfriends, you want one that is consistent and predicable, spends alone time with you, and in the end, is absolutely perfect - rational decimal numbers have either a consistent pattern or are terminal - unlike irrational numbers with that infinite, random drama at the end of them. Rational numbers, like super significant others, spend alone time with you, with just one of you in the numerator or denominator of a fraction without endless friends hanging around (can be expressed in the form of an integer over an integer - and they are perfect, because radicals with perfect square radicands are rational. Hope it goes well.
I handled the attitude with a firm, relatively harsh, approach. I also coupled it with warm, one-on-one interactions, however. In the future I must try to leave emotion out of it and calmly explain how students are being disrespectful and precisely what they can do to get back on track. Today N. kept making errors adding radicals with like radicands together. I said that this is what happens when we are not focused or tired - blaming her addition errors on her lack of focus. Almost too late did I realize that the real problem was that she cannot add and subtract negative numbers. So we spent the rest of the period reviewing how to add negatives - remember this is 8th grade - yet another example of how these students have been done a horrific disservice by their education.
Overall a good day as I look forward to giving my lesson tomorrow using the Jordin Sparks' song "One Step At A Time" to talk about how we need to take problems one step at a time so we don't rush into things and make mistakes.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Oops and The Big Fake Out
The day started off a little shaky. Everyday we are given "daily sponge" problems, which are warm up problems for students to do prior to the formal lesson. Today's problem asked about how many square wood pieces a carpenter would have left over after she created a square top with the most pieces possible. I proceeded to outline the problem, as the two students who were in class today were having trouble beginning. Opposite the ideal way I might have started the explanation, I began to find the greatest perfect square factor of 195 - which, unless I have done my calculations incorrectly is, in fact, 1. Not the right way to do the problem. Having realized my error and pointed out to the students that this was not the correct approach, I began the correct method: finding the perfect square factor that is closest to 195, but does not exceeding it - 169, leaving 26 pieces remaining.
After this, I ran into another hurdle as a problem asked about interest rates and making a deposit in a bank. The student understood the problem doing it one way, but I wanted to show her a more efficient way to get the same right answer. This student is very quick to pick things up; therefore, I assumed that this would be no different. To my chagrin, however, the concept did not flow like DMX free-styling. To make matters a little harder by heightening my nerves, an observer of the highest rank entered the room during the explanation. Although I was nervous to receive her feedback, she actually left a very positive message relating that my "explanation led the student to really get it!" This was a welcome reassurance.
At 1:30, signs all over the school read "TFA, Emergency Meeting 1:30, CS Room." Confused and anxious, all corps members reported to the CS room promptly. A Corps Member Advisor addressed the group, "Our school director is upstairs in an important meeting so I will be the one to deliver this bad news. I just heard it myself about 15 minutes ago, so bear with me. Although you guys are doing an awesome job in the classroom, A. Public Schools has made the decision to have your faculty advisors step in and teach the rest of summer school. They do not believe the students are making enough progress. You will still turn in lesson plans, but you will not teach any more during institute; instead you will observe everyday." At this point a murmur in the crowd suggested that this must be a joke. The speaker replied to this with, "I am so far to the opposite of that. This is really hard for me to tell you" with tears emerging in his eyes. At this point, I began to imagine the rest of institute at the back of a classroom - it would be frustrating, but maybe it was best for the students, and I would still learn a little. Other corps members were taking it much harder - bursting into tears all over the room.
To deal with the harsh reality of the moment, the speaker suggested that we discuss what TFA means to us to bring our spirits back. Corps member advisors held up signs with different slogans on them. Finally, the last member raised her sign which read, "Totally Free Afternoon!" Stunned, corps members looked around, searching for answers from each other. "The bus is waiting, we were just kidding!" we were told. Long story short, many were very bitter and hurt that our leaders would play such a cruel joke on us. But, either way, we had the afternoon off! Spectacular. Apparently this is a tradition that they insert when they feel that people are wearing thin - a well-timed choice this time, as just this morning I heard a couple of corps members sharing that they had thought about quitting the program the night before because the work was getting to be too much and sleep too little.
Anyway, speaking of sleep, I am off to dream land.
After this, I ran into another hurdle as a problem asked about interest rates and making a deposit in a bank. The student understood the problem doing it one way, but I wanted to show her a more efficient way to get the same right answer. This student is very quick to pick things up; therefore, I assumed that this would be no different. To my chagrin, however, the concept did not flow like DMX free-styling. To make matters a little harder by heightening my nerves, an observer of the highest rank entered the room during the explanation. Although I was nervous to receive her feedback, she actually left a very positive message relating that my "explanation led the student to really get it!" This was a welcome reassurance.
At 1:30, signs all over the school read "TFA, Emergency Meeting 1:30, CS Room." Confused and anxious, all corps members reported to the CS room promptly. A Corps Member Advisor addressed the group, "Our school director is upstairs in an important meeting so I will be the one to deliver this bad news. I just heard it myself about 15 minutes ago, so bear with me. Although you guys are doing an awesome job in the classroom, A. Public Schools has made the decision to have your faculty advisors step in and teach the rest of summer school. They do not believe the students are making enough progress. You will still turn in lesson plans, but you will not teach any more during institute; instead you will observe everyday." At this point a murmur in the crowd suggested that this must be a joke. The speaker replied to this with, "I am so far to the opposite of that. This is really hard for me to tell you" with tears emerging in his eyes. At this point, I began to imagine the rest of institute at the back of a classroom - it would be frustrating, but maybe it was best for the students, and I would still learn a little. Other corps members were taking it much harder - bursting into tears all over the room.
To deal with the harsh reality of the moment, the speaker suggested that we discuss what TFA means to us to bring our spirits back. Corps member advisors held up signs with different slogans on them. Finally, the last member raised her sign which read, "Totally Free Afternoon!" Stunned, corps members looked around, searching for answers from each other. "The bus is waiting, we were just kidding!" we were told. Long story short, many were very bitter and hurt that our leaders would play such a cruel joke on us. But, either way, we had the afternoon off! Spectacular. Apparently this is a tradition that they insert when they feel that people are wearing thin - a well-timed choice this time, as just this morning I heard a couple of corps members sharing that they had thought about quitting the program the night before because the work was getting to be too much and sleep too little.
Anyway, speaking of sleep, I am off to dream land.
Monday, June 23, 2008
First Call Home
This evening I made my first "teacher call" to a student's home. One student in our class is not only chronically late, but also absent frequently. When summer school is only 4.5 weeks long, every day counts. I made a call in the early evening and got an answering machine. Identifying myself with my name, I revealed that I am one of K.'s summer school teachers. I began by mentioning how much all teachers missed the student in class today, emphasizing that K. is an active participant in classroom mathematical discussions and a patient, hard-worker. Wanting to stress the importance of his daily attendance at school, I commented that if there was anything that they could suggest to the teaching staff or if there was anyway that we could work out together to ensure that he gets to school everyday, we would like to make every effort to make this happen. Hopefully K. will be in class tomorrow.
On a side note, I made the unfortunate decision of eating too much dried fruit as I snacked yesterday and seem to be battling some form of a cold - a rough combination.
This evening I participated in a discussion with a number of current and past corps members about their queer experiences in teaching. All veterans reported that they remained closeted at school - I think most people in the discussion left feeling pretty discouraged. However, technically there are no legal protections in many states (here or in other regions in the US) for "alternate" sexual orientations. Therefore, from the perspective of protecting one's job, perhaps this is the best way to go.
On a side note, I made the unfortunate decision of eating too much dried fruit as I snacked yesterday and seem to be battling some form of a cold - a rough combination.
This evening I participated in a discussion with a number of current and past corps members about their queer experiences in teaching. All veterans reported that they remained closeted at school - I think most people in the discussion left feeling pretty discouraged. However, technically there are no legal protections in many states (here or in other regions in the US) for "alternate" sexual orientations. Therefore, from the perspective of protecting one's job, perhaps this is the best way to go.
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Pump Fakes and Starbursts
How to demonstrate the idea that word problems throw extraneous information at you? Bring in the pump fake! During our math lit hour this morning as people were going over rules and procedures, I began to daydream about better ways to invest our students in my lesson. It occurred to me to get physical. At the beginning of my time, I questioned the class as to who played basketball. A young man raised his hand and I asked him to rise, step forward, and show me his best defensive stance. After being entirely unimpressed I said, really man, I am going to get by you like none other if you don't D me up better. So he got lower and I pretended that I had the ball. I took it to the right and he followed. Going up for a pump fake, I said that he jumped out of his shoes and I dunked on him. But in round two, he knew it was coming so that he could say "get out of here" to my shot attempt. I was the test and he was the student. Tests are going to throw lots of pump fakes at you as you go through them. As the student, you must see those coming and react accordingly so that you are best able to defend yourself.
I asked our students to write down how they see their lives in 15 years - family, home, car, travel, job, etc. Sharing aloud, one student remarked that she and her current baby would have a 3 bedroom house and a porche. Another student pronounced that she would live in a million dollar mansion and travel all over the world. With the great help of an old middle school math teacher of mine, we broke down exactly how much more money per day you make by staying in school and one day graduating from college as opposed to not finishing high school. The students were not overtly impressed; however, I think that it demonstrated well to them the monetary value in continuing their education through college.
Tomorrow I teach perfect squares. A fellow teacher imparted to a group earlier that she intended to use starburts for this exercise so that they could have a clear visual of what a perfect square really is. I decided that this sounded pretty cool and made it my personal mission to get some darn starbursts for my students. After an incredibly inefficient, two-hour session at school processing (more finger printing for a new school district), I set off for the gas station that we always pass on the way to school, hoping for starbursts. Eureka! I now have a full ziploc bag (useful for many things!) full of colorful squares ready to help students remember what a perfect square is.
I asked our students to write down how they see their lives in 15 years - family, home, car, travel, job, etc. Sharing aloud, one student remarked that she and her current baby would have a 3 bedroom house and a porche. Another student pronounced that she would live in a million dollar mansion and travel all over the world. With the great help of an old middle school math teacher of mine, we broke down exactly how much more money per day you make by staying in school and one day graduating from college as opposed to not finishing high school. The students were not overtly impressed; however, I think that it demonstrated well to them the monetary value in continuing their education through college.
Tomorrow I teach perfect squares. A fellow teacher imparted to a group earlier that she intended to use starburts for this exercise so that they could have a clear visual of what a perfect square really is. I decided that this sounded pretty cool and made it my personal mission to get some darn starbursts for my students. After an incredibly inefficient, two-hour session at school processing (more finger printing for a new school district), I set off for the gas station that we always pass on the way to school, hoping for starbursts. Eureka! I now have a full ziploc bag (useful for many things!) full of colorful squares ready to help students remember what a perfect square is.
Monday, June 16, 2008
First Day as a Teacher
I am super exhausted but I wanted to right a quick one.
Despite my hard work over the weekend, I ended up getting to bed pretty late last night. However, our bus is leaving later now, so I intend to sleep in until 6am.
I had morning duty today. My role, along with 5 of my fellow corps members, took place at the
middle school medal detectors. As students walked in, we searched their purses or small backpacks and patted them down. We were the ones feeling uncomfortable since they were all quite used to this daily treatment, almost laughing at the beginning because of our tentativeness.
The woman who instructed us in our duty relayed that she "lets the pregnant ones walk to the side of the medal detector." I thought to myself, "Makes sense. Wouldn't want them getting any unnecessary radiation." Five minutes later, however, I wasn't sure whether I should have been more shocked at this so plainly stated advice, or at myself for not thinking anything of it at the time I heard it.
After patting down 300 girls, it was time for morning class. We began with a grand total of 1 student in the classroom. However, by the time it was time for my first lesson we had 4, ending the day with 5 or 6 I believe (other teachers take the later lessons). In the morning we went around and discussed the classroom expectations and how each student would perform with them; one student mentioned that he had an anger management problem. A slight worry trickled into my headm, strongly led by images of me ducking to escape flying chairs. However, he proved himself to be quite the eager participant and active learner.
My lesson on scientific notation went well. I evidently missed the memo on providing students an assessment at the end, but I will be sure to get on this tomorrow.
My greatest pleasure of the day: finding some folders in the "grab pile" in which I organized the tons of paper given to us and which we must give to others everyday. Boy they were a sweet find.
Going to bed too late again. Yes, a recurring theme.
Despite my hard work over the weekend, I ended up getting to bed pretty late last night. However, our bus is leaving later now, so I intend to sleep in until 6am.
I had morning duty today. My role, along with 5 of my fellow corps members, took place at the
middle school medal detectors. As students walked in, we searched their purses or small backpacks and patted them down. We were the ones feeling uncomfortable since they were all quite used to this daily treatment, almost laughing at the beginning because of our tentativeness.The woman who instructed us in our duty relayed that she "lets the pregnant ones walk to the side of the medal detector." I thought to myself, "Makes sense. Wouldn't want them getting any unnecessary radiation." Five minutes later, however, I wasn't sure whether I should have been more shocked at this so plainly stated advice, or at myself for not thinking anything of it at the time I heard it.
After patting down 300 girls, it was time for morning class. We began with a grand total of 1 student in the classroom. However, by the time it was time for my first lesson we had 4, ending the day with 5 or 6 I believe (other teachers take the later lessons). In the morning we went around and discussed the classroom expectations and how each student would perform with them; one student mentioned that he had an anger management problem. A slight worry trickled into my headm, strongly led by images of me ducking to escape flying chairs. However, he proved himself to be quite the eager participant and active learner.
My lesson on scientific notation went well. I evidently missed the memo on providing students an assessment at the end, but I will be sure to get on this tomorrow.
My greatest pleasure of the day: finding some folders in the "grab pile" in which I organized the tons of paper given to us and which we must give to others everyday. Boy they were a sweet find.
Going to bed too late again. Yes, a recurring theme.
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Long week followed by a longer weekend.
We are work-horses here. Machines really. I think I took about 5 waking hours off from doing work over these past two days, including meals. The group work is frustrating at times because we are not overly efficient. Most people here are either out or closet type Aers, and working with these super uptight individuals can be extremely trying. Overall, I have maintained my composure and look to the fact that the vast majority of group work has been completed this week and we will therefore not have a vast many procedures or consequences to dispute for comfort.
TFA encourages people to take off Saturdays, which is a nice thought, but is begging for a mass, stressful Sunday rush. Take the copy room for example. The copy center opened at 2pm today. I got there at about 2:03pm. People were literally picking up their pace so that they could inch their way ahead of me through the door. All copiers were already taken and I was given a number to wait. After a relatively short time I had the chance at "C.S. Lewis," one copier in a clever naming system. We are allowed 750 copies to use over the next few weeks - I now have 648. I will have to cut back on class worksheets in the future it seems. Even at this early hour this was not the room in which I would like to kick back and relax after a long day at work. To the contrary, it is quite the chaotic stress machine, a place in which I intend to spend as little time as possible.
I knew I would not be picking out my new favorite Bentley on a teacher's salary, but I didn't realize that I would be sitting in a dark room, working by the light of a dim desk lamp and eating cereal out of a ziploc bag. Times are tough. In truth, my overhead sadly burned out yesterday after a week long love affair with flickering sporadically and confusion at the grocery store the other day led to my failure to purchase an appropriate bowl. Hopefully things will pick up this next week.
On a lighter note, I saw a girl carrying a newly bought basketball this afternoon and hopefully asked if she played. After she offered that she does indeed play, I quickly got my phone out and asked for her digits. She did not leave until I had called her phone, so hopefully we can get a nice, de-stressing shootaround in this week.
I have also discovered laundry and a workout facility here in our dorm! These are little known treasures, so do keep it on the DL. This afternoon's moments of feeling a bit overwhelmed were assuaged by a nice little jaunt down to work it out, literally.
Tomorrow is our first day of teaching. Perhaps part of TFA's ploy in relieving any anxiety over this is keeping us busy as heck. Well, I have a feeling it will work. I look forward to meeting the students and seeing how the worksheets, into which I have put hours of work, pay off. Perhaps I should get my practice on one more time...
TFA encourages people to take off Saturdays, which is a nice thought, but is begging for a mass, stressful Sunday rush. Take the copy room for example. The copy center opened at 2pm today. I got there at about 2:03pm. People were literally picking up their pace so that they could inch their way ahead of me through the door. All copiers were already taken and I was given a number to wait. After a relatively short time I had the chance at "C.S. Lewis," one copier in a clever naming system. We are allowed 750 copies to use over the next few weeks - I now have 648. I will have to cut back on class worksheets in the future it seems. Even at this early hour this was not the room in which I would like to kick back and relax after a long day at work. To the contrary, it is quite the chaotic stress machine, a place in which I intend to spend as little time as possible.
I knew I would not be picking out my new favorite Bentley on a teacher's salary, but I didn't realize that I would be sitting in a dark room, working by the light of a dim desk lamp and eating cereal out of a ziploc bag. Times are tough. In truth, my overhead sadly burned out yesterday after a week long love affair with flickering sporadically and confusion at the grocery store the other day led to my failure to purchase an appropriate bowl. Hopefully things will pick up this next week.
On a lighter note, I saw a girl carrying a newly bought basketball this afternoon and hopefully asked if she played. After she offered that she does indeed play, I quickly got my phone out and asked for her digits. She did not leave until I had called her phone, so hopefully we can get a nice, de-stressing shootaround in this week.
I have also discovered laundry and a workout facility here in our dorm! These are little known treasures, so do keep it on the DL. This afternoon's moments of feeling a bit overwhelmed were assuaged by a nice little jaunt down to work it out, literally.
Tomorrow is our first day of teaching. Perhaps part of TFA's ploy in relieving any anxiety over this is keeping us busy as heck. Well, I have a feeling it will work. I look forward to meeting the students and seeing how the worksheets, into which I have put hours of work, pay off. Perhaps I should get my practice on one more time...
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