Day one went fairly smoothly. Both of my resource room classes (period 2 and period 7) had 50% attendance, which is kind of hysterical because that means I had four students in each of those classes. Period 2 was wonderful--they are all such sweet kids, and it was almost awkward to go over my rules and consequences systems with them. One of them wants to be an artist, two of them want to be vets, and "Big Mike" wants to be a mechanical engineer, despite the fact that he hates math and science.
Periods 1 and 5 I "push into" Ms. A's Integrated Algebra class, so today I didn't do much but introduce myself and help students with the review problems. One student referred to us as "Batman and Robin" when we tried to describe what co-teaching would look like in that class.
After Period 2, the Bio teacher (who is also TFA) asked how my class was, and I said, "I only had four students, it isn't possible to have behavior issues with only four students." I'm a big believer in jinxing....and I definitely jinxed myself there. Let me just say that the days I write in this blog to vent, it will more than likely be about period 7. They were really disrespectful--not to me, but to each other, which was pretty disappointing. Had to start implementing the consequence system right away, but I inadvertently gained some "street cred" when I mentioned that I live near Pratt Institute (immediately they all burst out in excitement "Oooh Ms. C lives in the hood?!").
One thing I learned today: an hour goes by waaay slower than 45 minutes. At summer school, I felt like I was never able to get through a full lesson. Today my whole lesson was done with 15 minutes to spare, even though I was positive I had over-planned.
Tomorrow is Big Goals day...
Monday, August 30, 2010
Saturday, August 28, 2010
My Classroom!
Some pictures of my classroom...it's super small (literally half the size of every single other classroom in the building, including the resource room for the high school upstairs), but it's cozy! The only thing it's missing now is students.
Thursday we had Freshman Orientation, and I was so excited to meet some of my students because they were so fantastic! However, today we were sent our class rosters, and it turns out that all but two of my students are 10th graders. I haven't met any of the 10th graders, so Monday is going to be an experience...
(Before)
(After)
"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it." -Thomas Jefferson
(They are definitely going to make fun of me for this poster, but I couldn't resist)
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Why I Teach for America
As of August 2009, the graduation for students with special needs in New York State is 26.6%.
And the graduation statistics for students with special needs (the "exceptional students," as I like to call them) in low-income NYC neighborhoods are even more depressing. Teach For America refers to this as the "gap within the gap." As a first year teacher and a 2010 TFA corps member, my mission is to not only close the achievement gap between my exceptional students and the students in the general education program in the Brooklyn high school that I will be working at for at least the next two years, but between my students and general education students in high-performing, high-income schools like the suburban high school I was fortunate enough to attend.
They can have a future. But what we are providing is the opportunity to fail.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/education/03dropout.html)
The first day of school is one week from tomorrow. I will be teaching two 9th and 10th grade "SETTS" classes (formerly known as resource room), and pushing into two 10th grade Integrated Algebra classes to support students who are struggling most in preparing for the Regents exam. I started this blog as a way to reflect on my classroom and my students' progress, which I am hoping will help me constantly improve my teaching so that I can better serve my students.
My concerns going into the school year:
To be perfectly honest, I'm terrified.
And the graduation statistics for students with special needs (the "exceptional students," as I like to call them) in low-income NYC neighborhoods are even more depressing. Teach For America refers to this as the "gap within the gap." As a first year teacher and a 2010 TFA corps member, my mission is to not only close the achievement gap between my exceptional students and the students in the general education program in the Brooklyn high school that I will be working at for at least the next two years, but between my students and general education students in high-performing, high-income schools like the suburban high school I was fortunate enough to attend.
They can have a future. But what we are providing is the opportunity to fail.
(http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/03/education/03dropout.html)
The first day of school is one week from tomorrow. I will be teaching two 9th and 10th grade "SETTS" classes (formerly known as resource room), and pushing into two 10th grade Integrated Algebra classes to support students who are struggling most in preparing for the Regents exam. I started this blog as a way to reflect on my classroom and my students' progress, which I am hoping will help me constantly improve my teaching so that I can better serve my students.
My concerns going into the school year:
- Making sure my SETTS classes are more than just glorified study halls
- Investing my students in the importance of what we will be doing (while avoiding a repeat of the classroom-management-nightmare that was my summer school class)
- Trying to figure what exactly Integrated Algebra is
To be perfectly honest, I'm terrified.
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