Teaching for Change

My kids took the CRCT (Criterion Referenced Competency Test) today for Math, which was what we had been preparing them for all summer. I wrote all of the kids cards telling them how proud I was of them and their individual successes and created an email account where they could contact me (as well as by phone). I had planned a little speech about how they all had been scholars (our theme for our classroom) but got too choked up to even finish.
Technically speaking they still have summer school through Friday, although the principal and faculty have been telling them not to come so for most, if not all, of my kids this was the last time I would see them in the classroom. Luckily because I’m going to be in Atlanta I hope that this would not be the last time I will see them and really emphasized with them to stay in touch and let me know at the very least how they did on the CRCT.

I came home to this email, from a boy with special needs who is very quiet and despite trying so hard to find time to work one-on-one with him, I never felt like I had given him the attention he needed:

Mxxxx Txxxxx
I just wanted to tell you about the crct in person the math was easy and simple because i learned from you and it was helpful of that to learn an important lesson

He is one of my scholars and I am so proud that despite usually not understanding the content, he never gave up and always asked questions. He and the other 15 students from my summer school class have touched me in ways I cannot even begin to describe.

The Achievement Gap is Real

I have read countless articles, books, and memiors depicting the horror of the achievement gap, but it is not - cannot - be real until you can actually place a face and a name to those students. It has only been two weeks, but the faces and specific challenges of my students is already burned into my soul and something I will never be able to shake.

My 8th grade students are smart. I mean really really smart. Most of them want to go to college to be engineers, nurses, computer technicians, and electricians. They understand algebra and how to do the pathagorean theorem, but they can’t add or subtract numbers between 1 and 20. They understand how to use inverse operations, but get the answer wrong because they don’t know how to multiply and divide. They conceptually understand rational and irrational numbers but cannot translate that knowledge to their test because they don’t know that 0.5 is equal to one half.

My kids are superstars, but they lack the basic foundational math skills needed to correctly answer a much higher level math problem. I find myself wishing I could have been their teacher back in kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, or 3rd grade when you learn how to count, add simple numbers, and the basic arithmatic principles upon which all other math concepts are taught.

To add to their struggles, the class spans a 3rd to 6th grade reading level and those towards the top of the curve have the lowest reading comprehension. It is so frustrating to grade homeworks and quizzes and to see them doing the wrong thing because they misread the problem, not because they didn’t know how to do it.

And as if their lives weren’t already challenging enough, almost all of the children in my class have special needs. Unfortunately we haven’t even seen a single IEP and I’m convinced that there are services and supports these kids need that they aren’t getting and it kills me. But without that legally binding document, which I’m pretty sure teachers are supposed to have and read not to mention adhere to by the letter of the law, there is no way I can adapt my teaching styles to best serve my kids. We’ve been trying to get ahold of them for the past 2 weeks, but so far its a no go.

My brightest of students are among my biggest behavior problems. I’m certain they are in summer school not because they are not capable, but because they were kicked out of class too often to get any of the content.

And then there are my angels. The 2 or 3 students (depending on the day) that sit quietly, take notes, and are polite as can be but simply just do not get it. I work with them one-on-one as much as my 45 minute lessons allow, but no matter how many times I explain something just still don’t get how to do it. They smile and nod, but when push comes to shove and they don’t understand, I don’t know what else I can do.

“Time is short, but the need is great” as Jeff our Curriculumn Specialist would say.

I am just now beginning to understand what is meant by the phrase “relentless pursuit.” We have just 6 more instructional days until the CRCT (state test) and I know that will not be enough for many of them. They are way too far behind to be caught up in a 4 week summer school program. But I cannot and will not give up on them. They are our scholars (as we call them in our classroom) and they are so smart. I cannot give up on them because they need someone to believe in them. Someone to motivate them and show them that they can achieve. I hope that for at least some of them these 4 weeks will be enough to get them back on track for high school, and for all of them that they will remember me as someone who cared enough to never give up.

One day all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education.

So I’m finally here. A hectic 10 days of graduation, packing, and roadtripping has finally brought me to my 6 week destination of Georgia Tech, where we will have “Induction” (Atlanta corps only for one week) and “Institute” (all of the Southeastern US for 5 weeks for teacher prep and teaching summer school) for Teach for America.

Then, on August 10th, I will be presented with my very own students and responsible for helping them to achieve substantial academic gains. For many that will mean advancing multiple grade levels within one short academic year.  I will be teaching secondary education (6-12 grade), either social studies or special education. I interviewed at 3 different schools today for social studies positions, but it is very likely that I will be placed in a different school all together and I won’t know which school or subject I will be teaching until July at the earliest.

The first 36 hours feels more like a week’s worth of learning and friendship making and I can already tell that the Atlanta 09 Corps is going to be close knit. Atlanta usually takes about 150 people into the program, but due to the economic climate and their commitment to ensuring each person accepted has a placement for the fall, Atlanta only took 82 people this year. And with Teach for America applications up across the board and many cities taking less people, this was arguably the most competitive year for the program, with only about 12% of applicants making the cut.

I feel so grateful to be here and a part of this movement. And after hearing some more startling statistics and personal stories regarding the achievement gap in the United States and Atlanta more specifically, I am ready to make my mark within the organization. I may not have all of the answers, but I am committed and motivated to doing whatever it takes to make a difference during my two years here.

Ron Clark's The Essential 55

RULE 50: Be positive and enjoy life. Some things just aren’t worth getting upset over. Keep everything in perspective and focus on the good in your life.

RULE 51: Live so that you will never have regrets. If there is something you want to do, do it! Never let fear, doubt, or other obstacles stand in your way. If there is something you want, fight for it with all of your heart. If there is something you want to do, go for it and don’t stop until you make it happen. If there is something you want to be, do whatever is necessary in order to live out that dream.

I really needed to read these this morning. It puts my big move and all the transitions into much better perspective and I feel refreshed and ready to stop all of my worrying and just make it happen.

"Talkin' big comma Claire stop"

One of the most entertaining and probably THE most useful class for teaching I’ve taken, revolves around literacy. Today’s topic was vocabulary and our professor presented us with the following sentence and asked for a volunteer to read it aloud:

The latebricolean sagamore was objurgated for the diablerie of abaction.

As one would expect, the class of 40 people or so sat there blankly looking at the screen. Finally one person volunteered (an English major) and was able to less awkwardly than I would have imagined, stumble through it. The our professor asked us what it meant. The 8 people in the class with laptops started googling words while others whipped out cell phones. The rest of us, without our technological crutches, tried to break down the words and figure out best we could what they meant.

Ironically, my professor had forgotten his notes which had the definitions of the words and the sentence translated into common vernacular. Using the internet we were able to decipher all but “latebricolean” (google it, i dare you…i swear it doesn’t actually exist). But here’s basically what it means: The _________ chief was punished for the devilish act of stealing cattle.

While the activity spun into a couple different discussions, one of the points resonated: This is what it is like for some struggling readers to read the required reading everyday. I have ALWAYS taken for granted the fact that I could read well and actually liked to read. But if reading had been that hard for me, I wouldn’t have liked it at all.

The other aspect of the resulting discussion I found noteworthy was the relationship between vocabulary and power/privilege. While on the one hand having a large vocabulary increases your understanding and ability to express yourself (something I struggled with on a daily basis in Colombia), it also has the ability to make you seem like an arrogant jerk if you start dropping dollar words into casual conversation.

At Cornell we have an academic culture in which it is valued to use large words in everyday conversation. We expect that those around us have large vocabularies and will appreciate/ share in our knowledge. But, as my classmates pointed out, and as I’ve realized on many many occasions, our families and friends don’t necessarily enjoy having it thrown in their faces that we go to a fancy-pants school and are intellectual.

Bottom line, its important to take notice of who you’re around and whether or not you’re talking “big” versus using everyday knowledge.

The Countdown Begins

After two weeks of shuffling the books from their box, to my desk, to the floor, to their final resting place on my bookshelf after having tripped over them multiple times, I finally cracked open my pre-institute work for TFA yesterday. Its broken up into 8 sections, and aside from taking up a considerable chunk of my time this semester, it doesn’t look too bad.

The first section is mostly available by podcast, which almost feels like cheating given the amount of grueling reading I’m used to doing. But while I could probably complete it in half the time if I would just sit down and read the PDF, I’m allowing myself to sit back, listen, and focus on absorbing the story’s message. I’m relatively positive that the point of “Ms Lora’s Story” is to reassure us that despite our apprehensions and self-doubts, that we too can do it, just like Ms Lora does. But while the reassurance comes and goes, the one thing that is constant throughout this whole story is the “this is finally real” feeling.

I’ve already noticed my stray thoughts turning on my teacher brain over the past few months and I’m constantly jotting down ideas for my classroom or making mental notes as I go through my day. Picking out the strategies from my Literacy class that I’ll want to use next year, devilishly plotting to comandeer the extra Cornell notebooks my residents never collected for my classroom, coming up with creative ideas on how to arrange my room or classroom norms I’ll want to establish. I think I have a leg up in this area from both my time teaching English and all of my education classes. But still, I get the butterflies in my stomach every time I think about the fact that this experience is becoming a reality. All of the preceding “to-do”s before I get to Atlanta are being ticked off one by one. Accept offer: check. Register for teaching exams, take teaching exams, and pass teaching exams: check, check, CHECK!

I’m getting closer each day and sometimes it feels like a countdown to Christmas, and othertimes it feels like its a ticking timebomb.