Archive Page 2
Interview Canceled
Wow. I just got a call from a school that had found my resume through NYCTF and that contacted me for an interview last week. They are canceling my interview for Monday.
I had researched this school and from what I’ve read, they had a 66.66% teacher turnover rate last year (and more than 50% in the three prior years), so I’m pretty surprised that they canceled the interview.
Don’t they need teachers? Don’t they have retention problems? Isn’t this the kind of school that NYCTF aims to staff?
It seems like a risky preemptive move, to me, for them to just simply cancel interviews. If they interviewed people they could at least have some choices in reserve in case the ban on hiring new teachers is lifted. Right? I mean, I’m thinking logically, I think.
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This is a Test
Folks, this is a test. My resolve is unwavering. Is yours?
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Master Teacher?
I took a teacher quiz on the Harry Wong Publications website. It told me that I am a “Master Teacher.” Ha!
Quiz and my Answers
Harry Wong says I don't need no pre-service training! (Yeah, right!)
Take the test and share your results in the comments section (even though the answers are right here in this post.)
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Do I Have Your Focus?
Observing classrooms is hard work, so just imagine teaching in them! I went for an informal observation of a current 2nd year Teaching Fellow today at a middle school. While there, I saw three classes in session – first, a study hall/sustained silent reading that had two incidents. Second, I watched a pro (a teacher who’s taught for 17 years) with an advanced 8th grade math class. Then, I went back to the Fellow’s class to observe a more typical 8th grade math class.
Here are my journals for those three classes, in that order.
SSR stands for Sustained Silent Reading, but that was not happening today!
The dots represent the students, the arrows/lines show movement (both teachers and students), the numbers indicate the order in which the teacher made these movements and the stars signify a location where the teacher spent extra time with students.
In the SSR class, students were handed assignments they had completed and were expected to read silently to catch up on other classwork on their own. While four students sat at the computers, three of them diligently doing history research, the rest of the class wasn’t so in control. One student sang Rihanna songs loudly all through class. Another threw a chair on the floor and walked out of class when the teacher, a Fellow, came to turn his computer off because he was watching a movie. He returned two minutes later, with a lot of attitude.
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Planning Makes Perfect!
Working Hard!
It’s good that I’m excited and frustrated (in a positive way) by developing my first lesson plan for my upcoming interviews. I’m excited because, after the experiential learning professional development I attended on Saturday, I have an idea of how to structure this creative lesson I’m planning. I’m frustrated because I want it to be really, really stimulating and in that process, I’ve found it difficult to find all the documents I want to bring into the classroom, but the frustration is positive – it’s leading to improvement!
Plus, planning this lesson means that I have interviews to go to!
Now, I’m not as hooked up as Double Hooks is with his 15 interviews before June 15th, but I’ve got some good prospects that I feel strongly about. Hopefully they will all pan out and I’ll be able to choose from a few schools at which I can begin my teaching career.
On to the promised summary of the professional development!
I got to work with about 15 current teachers who are using a highly progressive inquiry-based approach in their schools. What this means is that teachers work to create opportunities for students to investigate school subjects, especially by linking them to real-world problems. At the professional development (PD), the teachers played the role of students for the day, and we investigated global warming and humans’ role as stewards of the earth.
I thought I knew a lot about global warming. I’d seen movies on the subject and I try to use less energy in my daily life. But I did not know what I did not know, until now.
The lesson was well-rounded and included many different tasks and group work, providing for multiple avenues for the students to engage with the subject matter. We wrote short essays about humanity’s role in protecting the earth’s resources, analyzed our own carbon footprints, made a graph that helped us rank ourselves among the other “students” carbon footprints, watched a portion of An Inconvenient Truth, read current New York Times stories and other articles about Obama’s role in greening the workforce, analyzed data from an ice core (a graph that was actually really hard for me!), and took a trip to a green apartment complex in lower Manhattan. Then, to top it all off, we performed mini improv plays pulling together all the information we learned that day!
Here’s a picture of the rooftop garden at The Solaire, where we did our “field work.”
Green roofs reflect light, to keep buildings cool in the summer, and collect rainwater for processing and use by the building's residents (residents who pay $7,000 - $10,000/month in rent!)
It was intense and deeply rewarding from a student AND a teacher perspective! I learned how amazingly creative a lesson can be while still meeting standards. And I made friends with some of the teachers, one of whom was willing to access the DOE Open Market system for me!
All in all, an awesome day. I’m working on my lesson revolving around shopping (hopefully that’ll hook the teens!) and trying to turn these contacts into solid interviews. Double Hooks, your advice is needed!
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If you’re a 2009 Cohort member and you haven’t already voted on the Bryant Park meetup for the month of May, please follow this link:
Doodle Poll For Dates You Are Free
Bryant Park's great lawn. I love New York in the springtime! The dark brown building to the far right of the picture, with gold rooftops, is the Bryant Park Hotel. I've interviewed a few celebrities there, including Kate Hudson for a little Irish movie called About Adam and Kristin Davis (Charlotte on Sex and the City). The rooftop garden views are spectacular! I've also been to runway shows at The Tents at Bryant Park during Fashion Week. Overcrowded and snooty!
It takes about 15 seconds to put in your name and what days work for you. The poll will be open until this Thursday, May 7th at 7:00 p.m.
So glad I found out about this nifty Doodle website!
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Clap Once if You Hear Me!
Wow. Today I went to my first professional development workshop. You might be asking, How are you going to a professional development already??? You haven’t started teaching yet. You aren’t even certified!”
Well, my dear friends, it’s called networking. And guess what? I’m actually really bad at it! But, when I feel desperate for knowledge, I can reach out to people and make stuff happen. It’s the tenacity of the journalist. Calling, calling, calling publicists to set up interviews with celebrities who are too busy and too popular to care that you, a lowly writer, want to talk to them about their latest movie (really, you want them to dish on their love life) – that work is paying off!
Back when I was in college, I had an assignment to interview a celebrity. This was junior year. Our professor explicitly stated at the beginning of the semester that this was our final project, and that he was not going to help us get the interview. We were not provided with a list of celebrities’ publicists, no university letterhead on which to pen faxed requests, no prestigious publication title or even a letter from the professor explaining the assignment would back us up. No, he was giving us the entire semester to somehow find, meet and talk with a celebrity. Any celebrity.
So…I did some investigation and found the contacts (the site WhoRepresents.com, it used to be free). I didn’t have long distance, and most of the pr agencies were in L.A. (Wilshire Blvd., to be exact). I bought a phone card. I bought a new phone card every week and called out to L.A. “I’m looking for a phone number for Rogers & Cowan.” I called their office; they hung up on me. I called their office, asked for a specific person (not knowing if they were the one I needed) and started begging. I got their fax number and the name of the right person, and started faxing. I called again. “I’m a student at XXU. We’re doing an assignment where we have to interview a celebrity.” Click.
Through trial and error, I found out what I had to do to get someone to listen to me. I needed to have a specific celebrity in mind, a story idea (why I’m interviewing them), call the publicist’s assistant (they’re mostly right out of college, so they sympathize), and beg, beg, beg! I also had to call twice a day – at 10 a.m. (L.A. time) in order to catch them in the middle of coffee, and again at 2:45 p.m. (L.A. time) in order to remind them to respond to me, but just before the 3 p.m. slump.
I got an A on the assignment. I was able to land an interview with Ryan Phillippe!
I know, he's hot.
So, anyway, how does this relate to the professional development today?
Tenacity. That is going to be my operating motto for the next few years, if not forever. We, as Teaching Fellows, as teachers, are going to need tenacity. Loads of it. Ideally, we’re going to work together and share the energy and tenacity that exists in all of us, because we can’t do this alone.
Today, I met three women who either were or are Teaching Fellows. They offered lots of advice, warnings, encouragement and great conversation to me today. I thank them so much!
I’m eager to talk about the professional development, because it was a revelation. But I’m going to have to save it for another time, ‘cuz I’m exhausted!
What I will say is that there are truly revolutionary models for teaching and learning that exist in this city. We are joining the profession at a remarkable time – even as NCLB and high-stakes testing are decimating public schools, the pupils who attend them, and teachers’ careers, there is a revival of the Essential Schools, Experiential Learning, inquiry-based learning and performance-based assessment models. These models are rooted in an educational philosophy that promotes true curiosity, motivation, responsibility and values the whole child while teaching to the standards and surpassing state and national expectations.
What an awesome time and place to be a teacher!
Filed under: Becoming a Teacher | 3 Comments
I feel like this right now.
The first question in the practice CST test (Cliffs Notes version):
Which of the following words is an example of a diphthong?
a) truck
b) duck
c) soil
d) pencil
The answer is C, soil. For an explanation, please read the comments. Adelaide, where should I mail your check for $0.20?
In all seriousness, I might fail this test.
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Classroom? The Hudson River!
A few days ago, in a boardroom of a Bible society in midtown Manhattan, about 200 teachers stood in very long lines, carried folders filled with resumes and sweated profusely while waiting to meet with representatives from College Board schools who are looking to hire great educators.
The mood was generally nervous but collegial. The room was cramped and sweltering, much like I imagine many schoolrooms are in the last weeks of the year.
I met with representatives from four schools, two of whom seemed genuinely interested in having me visit the campus and interview! It was humbling and enlightening to talk to the real teachers who were there (the ones who’ve actually taught a full classroom on their own, unlike Teaching Fellows), but the principals who took an interest in me eased some of my fears about the perceived value of a Teaching Fellow.
Most of the principals seemed to understand that I’m not certified yet, I have no classroom management experience and I haven’t presented a 45 minutes (much less 90 minute) lesson to students, but that I am dedicated to helping students learn and to the mission of education as a tool to enable people to participate in society and to have control over their direction in life.
My resume was actually pulled apart and (it seemed) that the principals were interested in my background as a journalist. I felt able to explain why I am going into teaching and the value of having a writer with contacts in the field of journalism as a teacher (many opportunities for field trips, hands-on learning, apprenticeships and guidance for writing college entrance essays!)
The principals also seemed interested in having a teaching fellow with a special education specialty as a CTT, recognizing that we probably shouldn’t be let loose with a whole room of 30 or so students on the very first day, completely alone.
So, relief. I have a sense that there is a real desire for teaching fellows to start working in schools this fall, despite the fears many of us have about budget cuts.
On to the study guides. I picked up a Kaplan and a Cliffs Notes guide for the LAST and CST. I think they’ll be helpful to me for reviewing math skills I haven’t used in a long time and for familiarizing myself with the format of the test questions. So far I’ve noticed that the sentence structures of many of the questions are not at all grammatically correct and can cause confusion! This is what the students are dealing with on high-stakes tests, so I’m glad that aspiring teachers have to take them, too! Now I will know what it’s like to be a 4th grader taking an NCLB test that determines whether or not they move up to 5th grade.
The more I research schools, talk and email with teachers and principals and study the 600 page booklet, the more psyched I become about being a teacher!
I can’t wait to start my graduate coursework in education, so I’ve started making my own opportunities to learn. Tomorrow I’m participating in a professional development course for teachers who use the experiential learning model in their classrooms. I feel very blessed to have gotten this opportunity through networking with a hardworking guy who’s totally dedicated to EL.
Next Tuesday I’m visiting a current Fellow’s classroom to see his classroom management skills. This Fellow was a presenter at one of the Accepted Applicant Receptions, and his style of teaching seemed magnetic, so I really hope to come away with techniques that I can practice and use in my future classroom(s).
Then Wednesday and Thursday of next week, I’m doing the Special Education Observation Program through the Fellows. On Wednesday, I’m visiting the New York Harbor School, an amazing school that uses the experiential learning model to teach teenagers math, science, social responsibility and ecological sustainability through maritime work.
The school sounds absolutely amazing and I’m thrilled to be spending a day there! They have about 400 students, 80% of whom graduate in 4 years. With 20-22 students per class, it’s a very small school that offers students a lot of personal attention, advisory sessions where they set academic and personal goals, and teachers who are enthusiastic about the maritime theme (some of whom grew up sailing)! I think it’s awesome that a public school that serves an unscreened population of students in a very, very urban and cramped neighborhood (I’ve lived in Bushwick!) is offering access to a very elite sport, sailing. And the kids develop teamwork skills, self-confidence and responsibility by sailing or studying aquatic ecosystems every week.
Thursday I’ll be spending the day at the very large, 4,000 student John F. Kennedy High School in the Bronx. I’m excited about seeing how a large school functions in the city. I went to high school with about 2,000 other students and loved the experience, but it was a very different city and it was a magnet school. This school seems to have its problems, a 32.9% 4-year graduation rate, overcrowded classrooms (30-35 students enrolled), and absenteeism (according to insideschools.org, 20-25 students attend classes, out of the number enrolled). But the school gets kudos from quite a few students who enjoyed having access to top-notch facilities, many sports and recreational clubs and the (dubious) opportunity of having to make their own connections with teachers and peers. They have an honors club that focuses on Math and Science with an aim to interest more African American and Hispanic students in those careers, and an institute for Environmental Studies in the Urban Community. Both programs regularly send students to Ivy League schools, and that’s quite an accomplishment!
Attending large schools where you have to develop initiative even without a lot of support can teach you a lot. My high school and college experiences were in large schools where I learned self-reliance, albeit reluctantly, and I have to say it’s the single most valuable skill I wish I never had to learn (typing runs a close second!) but I do wonder about the students who are getting Special Education Services. With a graduation rate that low, I can’t imagine they’re getting everything they need.
Excited? I certainly am. I can’t wait to have these experiences and to post about them afterward.
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My K-8 School
When I was a kid, growing up in Philadelphia, all that I wanted was to have my mom as my teacher. She was a special educator in a public school in Philly, and she was amazing. Kids showed up in her class presenting as nonverbal autistic, and by the end of the year, were raising their hands to enthusiastically answer questions, had a million friends and vibrant social lives, and most importantly, loved learning.
I thought my mom was the coolest teacher ever.
Fast forward, oh, say, 22 years. I’ve quit my job as an entertainment journalist to become an educator. Specifically, I’m becoming a NYC public school special educator with the NYC Teaching Fellows program. It would be an understatement to say I’m very scared.
There are more than enough challenges ahead, and I’m ready to face them with courage. It doesn’t mean that I’m not afraid I might not be up to the task. I am excited about teaching, thrilled that the Fellows believes I’m capable, and worried that they made a mistake in accepting me.
I’ve spent the last six years of my life in corporate America, at the country’s most profitable media company, doing work that was utterly unsatisfying to me. Sure, it was something that made peoples’ eyes pop when I said where I worked. “You interview celebrities for a living?!” Yes, I did. And can I tell you the truth? They were boring. Yes, boring. I had much more fun interviewing homeless men for my senior journalism thesis. I had much more fun tutoring kids who had a parent in prison through FreeArts. Let’s also talk about the time I spent as a breakdancer – great experiences. Interviewing celebrities – I thought I’d love it. Yeah…not so much.
So, this year, for the second time, I applied to NYC Teaching Fellows. I had been accepted right out of college, but I chose the path of least resistance before – the celebrity journalism thing. And when I applied again this time, I was sure I wanted to teach. There is nothing better than the feeling of pride and excitement that you get when a student learns something and their brain clicks the box that says “I can.” Every time I’ve ever taught anyone anything, I remember that feeling and tears well up in my eyes. I can’t wait to teach!
My mom and my aunt are teachers. My grandmother was a preschool teacher. I have caught the family bug, and I am sure now that it is what I need to be doing. So, I’m calling this blog the Diary of a Third Generation Teacher. Come on board and read my ramblings. I have a lot to say, a lot of worries, a lot of anticipation. This blog will probably be very emotional. I hope you don’t mind. I’m going to be spending this year learning, learning, learning and teaching, teaching, teaching. I pray that I get it right and become an excellent teacher. But…what if I just suck?
Filed under: Becoming a Teacher, NYCTF | 2 Comments
