Fights, Paper & Budget Cuts

NEW POST
It's hard to believe I've been so busy and/or tired for the past two months that I have so severely neglected my blog. Although, I think the drastically diminished frequency at which I posted since the beginning of the school year indicates what this job really requires.

Much has happened since my last post. I decided to update now because I am sitting in the lab at school right now, on a Saturday, facilitating lab make-up. So far, there are only two students here and they're being quiet and cooperative. Compared to last time, I had around 50 students who were relatively disruptive. I've found that the best solution for Saturday lab make-up is to run it like a drill sergeant - I think I have that perfected.

STUDENTS THROWING STUDENTS
I had a disturbing incident this week on Thursday in my ninth period. After my students took a quiz, they were given time to work on posters illustrating and explaining cell analogies. However, as this began, a male and female student engaged in a heated verbal exchange. The female student got out of her seat, walked over to the male student and continued to yell in his face. He hit her in the face. They proceeded to hit and push each other back and forth. At this point, I'm on the phone calling for school safety. As I have become a little too well-versed in calling for school safety, I used the 10 code for a fight when I called. The front desk answered when I called and I say "I've got a 52 in 711." A 52 is a dispute; we have plenty of them at Graphics.

When I got off the phone and turned around, I saw the male take the female by the shoulders and throw her against the wall and into the chalkboard. This guy was at least a few years older than her and probably about a foot taller.

When she was thrown into the wall, another student in the room began to verbally defend her at which point the first male went over to him and started hitting his head like a punching bag. The two students who were being beat up quickly left the room just before safety agents arrived.

The student that initiated the physical violence has shown up to my class no more than 5 times the entire semester, so for him to come into the class and alter the dynamic was clearly not a good mix. As far as I am concerned, that student should be arrested and and charged with two counts of assault. I do not understand why this wouldn't happen. If this occurred on the street, this would surely be the case. I doubt he will be returning for the remainder of the semester.

On a lighter note, this is the first physical fight I've had since the last brawl involving a girl having a seizure. Of course there are a few bumps in the road in between, but for the most part, it's been pretty smooth sailing. I have become accustomed to dealing with nonsense.

C GRADE & RATIONING
Our school also received its grade by the city of a C for this past year. While that may sound bad, it is not necessarily horrible. Graphics has made loads of progress in the last five years. However, schools that received C's, D's or F's for three years in a row are dismantled and closed. This is our second year with a C.

Now that our principal is up in arms over this potential closure, we are receiving slightly different instruction from our administrators. At a faculty meeting, our principal gave us some very directed and somewhat ambiguous instructions. "We need to find was to pass our students." This has become a point of contention with teachers. Often teachers will say that our principal simply wants us to pass our students regardless of what they do. And to some degree, I agree with this perception of what is being said. If a student has now shown up for weeks on end, then decides to come back, the suggestion is to prepare a packet of work for him or her to complete so that we can have something on which to base his or her passing grade.

Personally, I think this sends a very poor message to students. Don't do anything, then wait until the last minute so you can pass by not doing much. However, I do not place any blame on my principal, but I do place blame on the systems and policies of the whole education system. My principal is simply doing what he needs to do to keep his school open. It's a sad state of affairs for NYC's education system, but it is a harsh reality.

The most aggravating part is that I see advertisements on the subway commending the NYC Public School System. It's an inflated presentation of progress to the public. Real problems aren't really being solved.

To further complicate matters, we have had over $900,000 in budget cuts. This has manifested itself as a paper shortage. For the remainder of the calendar year, we only have two boxes of paper for the entire science and foreign language department. I guess I shouldn't feel too distraught because other teachers from other schools have it much worse than I. It is difficult to go from a seemingly limitless supply to rations.

All I know at this point is that I have seven more teaching days until my winter break and I cannot wait until then.

1st Marking Period, Less Frequent Posts

I find it is more challenging to keep posting so frequently on this blog. There is so much going on with work and once that's finished, the last thing I want to do it spend more time in front of my computer.

The first marking period just ended yesterday. Many of my students failed. Mostly they failed because they didn't complete the appropriate number of labs. Others failed because they rarely, if ever show up for class. I know the first marking period, there isn't too much oversight. As the year progresses, I am sure I will have more administration looking over my shoulder and breathing down my neck. They can watch all they want. I teach by the book and always cover my ass.

This morning, I received a memo telling me that one of my students was non-fatally shot. The memo said his grandmother called and shared that information. Apparently, while playing tag outside, he was "in the wrong place at the wrong time." To be frank, I don't buy it. Based on how this student has previously behaved, that explanation just doesn't sit right with me. I am sure there is more to it. I have an icky feeling it may be gang-related.

So far, it seems almost every week I've had has been at the most, only four days. Between Jewish holidays and Columbus day among other various days off, the actual time spent at school has been less than full-time. I am not complaining. While I do enjoy teaching a fun lesson to a well-behaved class, there are other times when I really have to earn my paycheck (see previous posts).

One thing I am very satisfied with is the people with whom I work. Many of the science teachers are new or newer. They are a great crowd and I couldn't wish for a better crowd to go to happy hour with at the end of a long week.

1st Month Down

It's hard to believe I've been teaching for one month. In retrospect it feels like less than a few days. In practice, it feels epic.

I still don't think I have a good grasp of the reality of me being a teacher yet. It's very surreal. It's like I don't believe I'm a real teacher.

There are a lot of jobs where you can sit behind your desk or stand behind a counter and not really do much all day. Interaction with people can be pretty limited in jobs like that. While there are a TON of crazy things that can happen being a teacher (and remember this is only from one month of experience), it's still a very invigorating (?) job. I go into class prepared as can be, but I also go in prepared to manage the craziest events I can imagine. I guess in that way, it's sort of a rush.

I gave my first unit test yesterday. Most of my students failed. Many didn't even show. I completely expected both. Those who did pass are the ones that show up everyday and ready to work. Good for them. Those who did not pass were the ones who mess around during class, interrupt the lesson or only show up sporadically and late. Good for them too. Hopefully they will see that failure is a result of their behavior. Although, I am aware that I have to connect the cause-effect relationship of hard work and success for them as they are unable to do it independently.

I fully expect my students to improve their grades. From what I hear, the first two tests are pretty awful. It was quite disheartening to see the Scantron sheets shoot through the reader with such low percentages printed in dot matrix red ink. I was actually amazed to see one student actually get 100%. I still need to check it to be sure. I guess since most of the questions were multiple choice, anything above a 25% is better than guessing. Anything below that and it must have been just bad chance or they were trying to fail.

One step at a time I guess. For now I'll enjoy my time off next week.

Fight #2 + Seizure

Yesterday I was having a great day. Many of my students were enjoying the literacy lesson plan about genetic engineering that I had devised for them. I had them list foods they had eaten for the Do Now, then we went through them one by one identifying each food as living at some point, be it wheat in bread, beef in hamburgers, tomatoes in tomato sauce, etc. This was a great segue into a discussion about genetically modified foods. I passed out an article about genetically modified beef. A guided reading addressed different words in the article they did not understand and led into a great Q&A session about genetics, GMOs and their safety. Everything was going smoothly as ever.

Then, as my 9th period rolls around, only 3 students were actually on time. Many of the others were coming from their gym class, which I believe is on another floor in the building, so they have to hike up quite a few flights to get there on time. A few moments later, I had a few more students and most had begun the Do Now activity. One of my most disruptive students popped her head in the door and spoke loudly to some other student. I approached her and instructed her to come in, take her seat and begin the Do Now. She immediately left the door and went back into the hallway.

Moments later I hear someone yelling to get security. After yesterday, my phone had been destroyed. I do not know how as it did not occur in my presence, but it looked like someone took it off the hook and banged it against the wall. The handset was in two pieces. I tried earlier that morning to get someone to fix it to no avail (figures).

I yelled across the hall to another teacher to call 711, our version of 911 in the school. Seconds later, I was yelling at my students to get back into the classroom. They were yelling at me to "help her." My most disruptive student who had earlier popped her head in the door and left was now laying on the floor in the hallway convulsing - yes, having a seizure. I am guessing it was induced by another student who was being physically violent with her, who was supposed to be in my class also. I made sure that they were both marked absent on my attendance sheet. (CYA).

I had my AP, another AP from a different academy in my building, the whole security staff, two other academy coordinators and various teachers all involved. This was surreal and incredibly stressful. I fully expect my principal to have me in his office on Monday.

After the convulsing students was taken to the hospital and the other girl was detained my school safety, I was trying to manage all the highly disturbed students in my classroom. They were all very upset and became combative when I was asking for their cooperation. Two of them began to argue, which I successful tried to de-escalate. Before I knew it, I had School Safety Agents in my room again and they were removed. I did not prompt the removal, it was the safety agents that came in upon their own accord.

The AP from the academy came in and had a talk with the students. It filled pretty much the whole period. I stood their and watched. In last 15 minutes, I salvaged whatever I had left of a lesson. The AP left before the end. I kept my students on task for the next 10 minutes, but in the last five minutes of their last period on a Friday, they began to become more talkative about what happened. To pull them back in at least for the last few minutes, I had them turn over their agendas and on an exit slip write two things about what happened during the earlier incident. I got some interesting responses. "'student a' was slam 'student b's head into the floor."

I just can't believe all day, everything goes SO well, then in the last 47 minutes, it could not have been any crazier. Good thing there are metal detectors or I'm sure someone would be killed by now. What a fucking fiasco.

Fight #1

I don't begin teaching until 4th period (there are nine in a day). Today, I had my lesson plan on bar graphs and line graphs prepared with some guided modeling of the activity and independent practice. The activity was going very well in my first class of the day. Everyone was paying attention, taking good notes, and getting their work done accurately and efficiently.

Just before the last ten minutes of class, a student asked me to use the restroom. He returned about 5 minutes later. When he walked in, he said something to another student in the class like, "she's mine (fine?)" or something to that effect. The student to whom he was speaking stood up calmly then took about a step and a half forward. At this point, he took one of the desks and flipped it a few feet in the air and it fell to the ground, at which point he charged the student that returned from the bathroom.

They commenced beating the living shit out each other. A few desks were pushed around as the two wrestled and punched each other on the floor. The two fighting are the only two sophomores in the class and the rest are freshmen. The other students mostly stood back and watched in awe with maybe one or two egging them on.

The desk flip was my cue to pick up the phone and call School Safety (ext 711, kinda like 911 teacher-style). After I did that, I partially stepped into the hall and yelled for school safety several times. Within 30 seconds I had the school safety agent assigned to the floor in my room trying to separate them. The middle-aged African American female school safety officer was unable to dislodge the two boys. She radioed for assistance. Another 30 seconds, I had two more, then eight, then 12 school safety agents (I think most in the building) in my room. I instructed all the other students to stand back. At some point, two deans were also in the room with I think maybe another teacher or two.

One students was removed and taken in the elevator with about 4 safety agents, the rest of which remained in my room. The second student was removed by school safety moments later. A dean, with whom I've worked before, politely informed me he would need me to write out the situation. I told him I'd be free 7th period and walked back into my classroom.

I firmly instructed the rest of the class to take their seats and to give me their worksheets (with 2 minutes of class to spare). The bell rang and I instructed them not to leave yet. I told them to hand in their worksheets if they had not done so already, to complete their exit slips and put the desks back in their original position. I replaced the desk that had been launched.

I gathered my things and headed to my next period.

Expecting fights and being the person of authority in one are two VERY different things. Luckily I've dealt with high-intensity situations before, so my gut immediate response it usually appropriate. My adrenaline was definitely through the roof though.

As strange and as twisted it may sound, managing a situation like that is MUCH easier than managing a class that is moderately disruptive to whole period. The problem is so big, it progresses out of my jurisdiction at which point I just pick up the phone and it dissipates in a few minutes. It's a default response where I am no longer responsible. Managing less intense classroom management problems is a far more daunting challenge. That one is persistent and falls mostly on me.

I've never seen a fist fight before. I guess this is a first. At least, now I know I can handle it.

Adjusting to Chaos

With the second week of teaching coming to a close, I find that I am beginning to adjust. I know what to expect when I go into my class everyday now. This is not to say I can anticipate everything of course, but I know what I'm in for.

One thing I'd like to put out there has to do with class size. You probably read that and think, "yea, you and every other teacher." I realize that teaching costs money and small classes cost money. We quantify these costs every time checks are cut to the city or to my checking out. It's a lot (well, the expense of education is alot- not my salary). To cut class sizes in half would cost somewhere around double, if not more for an initial transition period. Obviously that's a ton of money.

Let's look at this amount of money as a relative value now. Relative to the cost of our prison system, relative to the cost of law enforcement, relative to the cost of having a welfare system, relative to the cost of upkeep on our infrastructures, relative to the cost of dwindling innovation, relative to the cost of an economy that struggles to stay above water. Relative to those costs, the cost of halving the number of students in a classroom is pennies.

I realize students come from situations where their parents may do crack at home. Maybe they don't have dinner or breakfast. Maybe they have to work to support their parents. Maybe they have to watch out for their lives on a daily if not hourly basis. These things all have an influence. BUT, I am beginning to believe that a small class size would override these impediments to some degree. Managing a room full of 34 people, many of which come from less than great situations like those above, is a task that is not meant for the weak. In fact, it is hardly manageable if at all.

If one of the people who decides education policy in our governments were to be in a classroom and be expected to manage that many people of that sort, I'd bet my salary they would throw their hands in the air and give up. It is truly an overwhelming experience. On top of that, teachers are expected to have these 34 people from unfortunate backgrounds have substantial learning and achieve well. It is an unreasonable expectation.

I truly and completely believe many of our country's public school are in a full blown crisis. Teachers are given too many students to manage and therefore each student gets less quality attention. I hate admitting it, but I have no choice but to be this way with my own students. There are simply too many. If I were to give the attention I'd like to give to each and every student, I wouldn't sleep, eat, go home, nothing. I would have no time at all. Between calling parents, organizing and grading papers, recording grades, creating lesson plans and every other teaching-related task, it's simply not reasonable to have one person manage all of those things for 140 young people.

I am not asking for sympathy or a raise. I am asking policy-makers to reconsider the implications of having this educational crisis in our hands. What happens when people don't graduate high school, they can't read, they can't do basic math, use a ruler, form a sentence. We all suffer. If there is one thing I will work to achieve in education, aside from helping students-obviously, it is to reduce class sizes. It is the closest thing we can get to a silver bullet.

The First Week

The past four days have been a complete blur.

Day 1: No keys to anything in the school. Reviewing the syllabus and expectations with students. Planning lessons.
Day 2: Diagnostic assessment. Not much activity during the lesson for me, but damn a lot of grading.
Day 3: Igniting (not burning) a student's money with an acetone / water mix leading into a discussion about observation v. inference. They loved it.
Day 4: A slide show with pictures of people who look like scientists but aren't, and vice versa. Students learned that anyone, regardless of appearance can be a scientist.

I knew there would be a lot of papers. Somehow the true gravity of that fact did not set in until I carried them around with me. I'm already working on ways to minimize that. I also purchased a projector on eBay and used it in the slide show on Friday. Allowing them to voice their input during the slide show was great fun. They get so involved and everyone was engaged. It seems like my students are pretty visual... and talkative.

I'm somewhat dreading calling all their parents. It's a ton of students so phone calls will take quite some time. I think I should spread it over one week actually. These are the initial calls as an introduction. Hopefully they will deter students from misbehaving in the future.

I have my DOE email address setup, but I'm still trying to figure out how to route it to my iPhone. I think it may require some less than legitimate configuration.

Overall, this week has been quite stressful and required a ton of work. However, when thing are running smoothly, I love it. I know it's only the first week, but I think I've chosen the right profession.

First Day (w/o students)

I should be in bed asleep right now.

However, when I got home today, I made two turkey sandwiches, ate them and got in bed by 6PM. I woke up at 11, still tired, but I figured I'd answer a few emails, input some scheduling things into my calendar and organize things a bit.

The first day involved:
- Hearing various authority figures speak
- Hearing the phrase, "I'm sure you all know this already..." (I didn't)
- Meeting other science teachers
- Meeting my new AP
- Being overwhelmed and inundated with copious information
- Perpetually having a deer-in-the-headlights look in my eyes
- Making an exponentially growing to-do list
- Finally discovering my file number (Dept. of Ed. ID #)
- Waiting on hold for DOE IT to give me an email address, to no avail
- A 1 on 1 Q&A with my new AP, asking her questions to which she didn't know the answers because she's only been there for four days
- Failing to find out how to connect to the school's wireless network
- Failing to acquire keys to my classroom
- Being disappointed that I have not been assigned to a science classroom (sans sink, lab bench, white board - only chalk)
- Being delighted that I have a well-spaced schedule the begins at just before 9AM and ends around 3:30
- Staying well past my obligated time to organize my thoughts and reduce my anxiety
- Realizing what exactly I have to do for next week
- Realizing I do not have a mailbox to receive essential correspondences
- Being overall pleased with my school, in light of others' horror stories
- Redundant professional development that used materials identical to those in NYCTF training

I think that's a conservative synopsis of today's events. Tomorrow should be a whole new barrel of fun. I can only imagine how much the level of fun increases when students arrive. As you can tell, I'm being sarcastic, not because I don't like what I'm doing, but just because it's quite overwhelming right now. I'm sure the dust will settle in a few weeks and I will feel like I have a level head, but right now, everything is kind of a circus. Goodnight.

Vacation to a Close, School to Open

As much as I have enjoyed my vacation between training and the school year, I do think I am ready for some academic activity. Although, I also think I should be careful what I ask for.

SAN FRANCISCO
Last week I returned from my 6-day vacation to San Francisco, CA. It was definitely one of the best vacations I've had in a while. What a beautiful city too! If you're interested in seeing pics, go here. My vacation also got me thinking about a few different things. I love NYC, but I tend to forget how nice other cities can be also. This spurred me to google SF's teacher salaries. Unfortunately they do not quite commensurate with those of NYC. While I understand the cost of living may be slightly lower there (although not quite the price of real estate), I would not to be able to build capital as quickly as I would here. So that got me thinking about what I could do with my two months off in the summer - go to SF of course! Really this is just some fantastical brainstorming at this point, but it's good to know what's available.


CERTIFICATION
I have been putting off my certification for a number of reasons, none of which are good. At the end of training, our group/class had to somewhat finagle our own workshop on getting certified (of course, NYCTF or CCNY didn't do that for us, even though it is essential to our positions). So a "certification officer" (whatever that means) from CCNY led us through the NYS Education Department's website. Most of us went through it until we came to the part where we were asked to enter our credit card information to pay the $50 fee. We were told we could go home and return to this site, all of our information saved, and pay the fee on our personal computer.

Later I came home to do just that and found that I could not add my certification and pay the fee because I already added an identical certification at school. I figured I'd call the state ed dept and figure it out later. So after a few attempts to solve the problem myself, I gave them a call - busy. So I randomly clicked around a bit and under some counterintuitive link found the solution to my problem. For the most part, this has alleviated my anxiety.

However, we have been told multiple times that we will be certified for either grades 5-9 or 7-12. I am determined to have my certification for the higher grades as that is where I've acquired my job and I really have no desire to teach middle school (high schoolers here are probably like middle schoolers elsewhere anyway - unfortunately). Hopefully the state won't reject my application for the higher grades because that would mean I wouldn't have certification during my first month or so of teaching (depending on how long it takes them to process certification applications). While this is a formality, it is one on which my salary disbursement depends and therefore essential for my livelihood. Needless to say, I really hope they grant me the certification. (If they don't, I have to reapply, including another $50 fee, and the state would presumable grant me the 5-9 certification.)

I Can't Believe this is Happening
It feels pretty surreal to think that in about a week, I will be in front of a classroom full of 30 students or so beginning teaching biology. I am looking forward to it, though I do expect it to be a considerable challenge. I am more concerned about establishing good classroom management practices. Content won't be an issue. Tomorrow some other teacher in my department and I are meeting for lunch to socialize and discuss this upcoming year. From what I can tell, it seems my immediate coworkers are very helpful and cordial. I certainly look forward to working with them. Hopefully after tomorrow, I'll have a better sense of what to do/expect for the upcoming year.

Quiet Before the Storm

Rumor is that the first year of teaching tends to be the most difficult.  Given that, I would like to do my best to enjoy the free time I have during August.  So, I booked a five-day vacation to San Francisco, CA.

I've been to CA before, but other parts such as LA, Palm Spring, San Diego... SoCal basically.  However, from all the ranting and raving I keep hearing, it seems SF is one hell of a city, even on par with NYC.  Now I love NYC, so I have a hard time imagining this.  I'm totally open to the idea of falling in love with another city though.

One of the great things about teaching is that a teacher's skill is in high demand just about everywhere.  So if I happen to fall in love with some city and I want to move and live there, I would probably be able to find a teaching position relatively easily.  Certification would be a hurdle of sorts, but often NY's certification is transferrable to other states.  I would also like to make sure I am vested in the pension system here before I make any drastic moves, so that means at least five years.  Also, the perfect amount of time to hone my skills and build a reputation.

Don't get me wrong.  I realize I have not even begun teaching, technically.  I think having some healthy foresight and a future plan of options is a good idea though.  NYC is great, but I imagine after a few decades it can really wear on a person, unless you're exorbitantly wealthy.

The End of the Beginning

Yesterday was the last day of my obligations to NYCTF for the summer.  The closing ceremonies began at 10AM at CCNY with a continental breakfast.  All of the SAF groups gathered at their respective tables in the faculty dining room.  Each group gave about a five minute skit to the entire group of CCNY fellows.  Ours was "Fellow Feud."  My friend and colleague (he will be working at the same school as I will be) played the host and we had questions and answers that mocked the wide variety of education jargon we have reviewed for the past two months.  While our skit as somewhat slapped together, it went over surprisingly smoothly.  

Following an hour and a half or so of skits, we were informed that our checks had yet to arrive.  (This came as no surprise to me as organization has not been NYCTF's forte, to say the least.)  However, after some socializing in the interim, we were finally able to collect our checks.  After that, it felt kind of strange.  Going from having obligations for the majority of my day to having none at all was kind of like slamming on the brakes.  I'm not exactly sure what to do with myself.  I intended to go to Governor's Island with another Fellow, but I think that will fall through because of some impending thunderstorms.

Thunderstorms aside, I am glad to be finished.  My brain is now supersaturated with education jargon, acronyms and classroom management techniques.  All of these are quite useful, but I am relatively sure I am at my limit for the time being.  Now it is a waiting game.  My next obligation is to show up at my school on the last Thursday in August for teacher planning / preparation days.  Students show up on the second of September.  I feel pretty adequately prepared too, which is, no doubt, a comforting feeling.  Bring it on kids.

Coming to a Close

I'm a bit bothered that I have not posted in a while, but it is with good reason.  I am in the home stretch of training.  The last day of my graduate course is today.  I still have to revise a few lesson plans for the final project, but aside from that, there are no more scheduled meeting times.  That means my last 12 hour day is today! YAYAYA!

Next week, I still am required to go to my field training site to observe and teach.  This is often the highlight of my day.  I get to work with students as a whole class, in small groups or one on one.  Establishing a healthy academic relationship with them is satisfying for me and beneficial for them.  Today was the midterm for two sections of Living Environment I've been observing and occasionally teaching.  Unfortunately, I do not expect many of them to do well.  During classes they were often not engaged or enjoying themselves and therefore not effectively learning.

I do not quite understand this, but when they were finishing the test, they found it acceptable to hand it into me telling that it was finished.  I would look at it, see that there were at least five questions not answered.  I returned it to them saying that is was, indeed, not finished and that I wanted them to try to answer the questions.  It seems that many of them are so easily satisfied with low mediocrity or failure.

One student insisted that he did not know and had nothing to write.  I insisted that he write something, even if it was that he did not know.  Hopefully this well let them see that they must know when something is finished before they can finish it well.  Obviously, this presents an overwhelming challenge for both student and teacher.  Most importantly, I think they do understand that I have a genuine concern for their academic success.  My ability to address that in summer school is limited because these are technically not my classes, but it gives me insight into what I would like to see in the fall.

Also, next week, I must attend my Student Achievement Framework sessions from 2-4 at CCNY, a much better and earlier time slot than 4-6.  Once next week is over, I am free for most of August until the last week on Thursday when I have to report to my school for teacher orientation.  In retrospect, training has gone by extremely fast even though it felt like time was static while I was in it.  I look forward (with some mild trepidation) to establishing my own class in the fall and continuing to learn how to help students do well in every aspect of their lives.

Getting Up At 5AM

I've never been much of a morning person.

On days when I have to report to my field training site for summer school, I get up quite early.  I never used to get up this early at any point in my life.  It's not really the getting up early part that bothers me though, in fact I kind of like getting up early.

Trouble arises when I have to stay up the night before and complete assignments for my coursework.  It is then when I find myself getting in bed at midnight and resisting when my alarm goes off at 5.  Even though I'm pretty tired when I wake up, it still feels natural to regain at least some consciousness around 5AM.  I think I am rewiring my internal clock a bit.

If you haven't put 2 and 2 together yet, that is the situation precisely this morning.  I have two sizable assignments due today and I will be conducting one of the New York State mandated labs today at my field site.  I have yet to read the lab thoroughly so that I may properly administer it.  I guess that's what the train ride is for (if I can manage to read a lab on a crowded, rush hour L train).  I have a feeling this is a good sense of what the first year of teaching is going to look like.

Summer School

If students think summer school is challenging, they have no idea what it's like for the teacher.

It seems that summer school to students means slacking off with such a sense of complacency, so much that being there doesn't really matter.  At least that is how it seems for most.  However, I am SO happy that I've been able to pull a few students out of that summer slump.  Some students were quite checked out on even the first day or two.  After putting forth my best effort to connect what they're learning to what they know, I think I've (at least partially) succeeded in bringing them up to par in the class.

For example, one student had no interest in answering some questions in his biology book.  Even when prodded with questions, his response was that he didn't care and didn't want to be there.  Opportunity presented itself when he also shared that he had a headache.  As we were reviewing body systems, he continued to tell me that his "nerves" were telling him he had a headache.  My immediate response (which out of context doesn't sound right) was, "GOOD! - You just told me that you know you have a headache because of your nerves!  You just used what you know very well - your headache - and what we're learning - body systems to make a connection!"  I think he was a bit appalled that I jumped at his comment about his headache, but I was thrilled to see he did that independently  He then became responsive to further prodding with questions, which segued quite well into the remainder of the class work.  Success.

I hope that during summer school and the fall, I begin to hone these skills.  Although I am sure my abilities are rather rough around the edges right now, it is so satisfying to see a student pulled from complete indifference to at least slight engagement.  I think that's why I am enjoying this.

The Week Ahead

Here comes the busiest week yet.

Thus far, I've only had two long days - last Wednesday & Thursday.  On my long days, I wake up at 5, have breakfast, read the news and head out to my school to be there at 8.  From 8 until 12:15, I observe and team teach several Living Environment sections.

Afterwards, I head up to CCNY for coursework, which begins at 1:30.  Theoretically, this gap should be enough time for lunch and train ride.  Often lunch is a bit short.  From 1:30 until 4ish, I have my graduate coursework.  At 4, we all have our Student Achievement Framework (SAF) session.  This lasts until 5:50, at which point I am free to commute home.

Excluding an hour commute each way, this rounds out to be about a 10 hour day.  So far, two days of this is overwhelming and so I can imagine four will  be two-fold.  While I do love student teaching, the coursework can be a bit repetitive.  It seems I just hear the same hot-button words over and over (differentiated instruction, formative assessment, diagnostics, etc...).  However, we are currently mapping out our curricula for our respective courses, which is incredibly practical and helpful, so I am glad to be doing that.

All in all, I'm looking forward to the week, but not the long long days.  Most of all, I am looking forward to more time in the classroom with students.

Mista, mista!

At this point, I feel obligated to post, only because it is the end of my first week of field training.  I am completely exhausted and would rather be sleeping than typing, but I think this is worth my time.  

First, I will say that field training has been a wonderfully positive experience.  I am also thrilled to say that I thoroughly enjoy it.  I haven't really ever worked with kids in a truly authoritative capacity, so this is an entirely new experience.

The Asst. Principal who met me at my school was very friendly and supportive.  During summer school, there are three periods between roughly 8-1.  For the first, he put me in a Living Environment Lab and the second two are the class portion of Living Environment.  This is wonderful placement because I am seeing both aspects of the class I will be teaching at this school in September.

For the lab, mostly students work in small groups or individually.  After the cooperating teacher gives instructions, I go around to students to help them along through the lab and to address any questions or confusion.  The teacher seems very comfortable in the classroom and also seems like she knows what she's doing.  She just completed her first year and participated in Teach for America (kinda like NYCTF, except national).

For the second two periods, it is a slightly different story.  The teacher does pretty much the opposite of what we're being taught to do.  This is not to say that she doesn't care or lacks concern for the students.  It just doesn't seem she goes about addressing that in the right ways.  Ironically, she has been teaching for 12 years.  However, this is a wonderful opportunity for me to contribute.  Obviously, I don't blatantly point out what I think is wrong with her teaching.  Rather I assist students individually or jump in with instruction whenever it seems appropriate.  She explicitly expresses to me that she is so tired of teaching about half way through the class and my input is more than welcome.  I am quite happy to take over for her when she gets fatigued.  

Students are great.  Sure, some of them are talkative and inattentive, but when I address them one on one, they actually have a pretty good head on their shoulders that they know how to use when they try.  In fact, there is even one special education student who was very articulate and demonstrated a clear understanding of what was being taught.  His performance exceeded other students who were not special education.  I was impressed.

I hope these feelings continue, because they are incredibly encouraging and I certainly did not expect to enjoy doing this so much.

One funny anecdote I'll share is about how students often refer to male teachers as "Mista."  Not only am I not a fan of being called "Mista," but I think it would be more appropriate for students to practice more proper and socially acceptable language in the real world, such as "Mr. Maloney." 

"Mista, mista! I gotta question," one girl called to me.  My response to her was "Student, student, what do you need?"  She looked at me as if I had responded in Cantonese.  I explained that she called me by some portion of my title, so I called her what she was.  I continued saying that I preferred that she call me "Mr. Maloney" or "Mr. M."  She found my response funny, but understood what I was getting at, then called me "Mr. Maloney."  I then responded with her first name.  Fair is fair, right?

Field Training (or Lack Thereof) [UPDATED]

It is just past midnight and I am not exactly sure what I am supposed to do tomorrow.

As a part of the Teaching Fellows program, I am supposed to go to a school during the summer session and observe / student teach. While I am thrilled to do both, I lack the proper instruction to do so and I think part of it has to do with me already being hired.

There are two options. People who do not have positions for the fall have been assigned a school for field training and instructions on when and where to be at the beginning of summer school (tomorrow morning). Option 2 is that people who do have a position for the fall. We are supposed to be in contact with our school and our school should give us all the reporting instructions for our field work. I am in the latter group and have received no instructions on what to do / where to go for summer session. So after leaving a voicemail last Thursday, calling today (with no answer), and an email this evening, I am hoping that someone from somewhere will contact me. If not by tomorrow morning, I will be making more phone calls and more emails to those who I find appropriate.

Needless to say, it is a bit frustrating. While I have a hard time objecting to the free time of not being in class until 1, I would highly value some classroom experiences to better prepare me for the fall. However, I think receipt of my stipend check and metrocard tomorrow will mitigate some anxiety.

[UPDATED]
In response to my email last night, the administrator who I contacted emailed me back early this morning. I was very glad to see that he indicated he would take appropriate action to ensure that I and the other person assigned to my school knew exactly where to go and what to do for summer session. I am currently awaiting further instructions before reporting to the school.

When I sent the email, I CCed the other person assigned to the school, a Fellow from my cohort who will also be working there come September. He responded saying something about how the administrator's response seemed to indicate administrators would be providing strong support to rookie teachers. I hope he's right.

One Month Down, One to Go

COURSEWORK
Going through the past two weeks of coursework felt like time was standing still. Now, though, it feels like the blink of an eye. I can hardly believe I've been through 2 weeks of science immersion and 2 weeks about adolescent learning. That month was here and gone. To give you a sense of exactly how much coursework that is, it's 8 credits worth of courses in the span of four weeks. That is what made it so intensive.

As a bit of a sidebar, I came across this amazing mind-mapping program for Macs that is incredibly useful and intuitive for making brainstorming webs (or whatever you want to call them).  It is free and the results look quite professional.  The program is called Mind Node.  If you do give it a spin, let me know what you think of it.  I'd be curious to know.

WHAT'S NEXT
Next week, we begin our final course in addition to our fieldwork. I am a bit nervous of the field experience. Thus far, scheduling information has been distributed uncomfortably late. For example, I didn't know where I was to go or what I was to do on this coming Monday until yesterday afternoon. I still don't really know what the reporting instructions are for field work (classroom observation / practice teaching). Apparently the responsibility of field work rests more with our respective field training sites (schools) than it does with the Teaching Fellows office or City College. Understandable, but frustrating and anxiety-inducing. I have contacted my school to find out exactly what they think is supposed to happen, but really, I'm not sure that anyone actually knows for sure.

ALTERED PERSPECTIVE
I have had my perspective of what to expect drastically altered within the past two weeks. I've been told stories about students rolling joints IN class, student's genuinely believing the sun is a living organism, homework assignments being futile, students being drunk in class, openly gay students dancing together at prom (that's a positive one, obviously) and a variety of other anecdotal influences that have altered how I think of my approaching teaching experience.

This experience is giving me the tools to transmit information to students effectively, manage my classroom effectively and problem solve effectively so that the daunting task of my first year's chaos is mitigated. While I might feel more prepared, I will still expect crazier things so that maybe I won't be as surprised with a curve ball (rare is it that I used baseball analogies).

Breaks & Brakes

I am grateful for both.

Following a fast-paced first week of training, I have been very happy enjoying my break from coursework this weekend. It has been a nice 48 hours or so to recuperate. Friday, instead of coursework, we were assigned to visit the neighborhood of where we will be working in the fall or classroom teaching during the summer. While in the area, we were supposed to make some anthropological and ethnographic observations.

Instead of just taking the train, I decided to ride my bike to the area of my high school - midtown Manhattan. What a rush. While 8th avenue may have "bike lanes," they are rarely left unobstructed thanks to stopping cabs and double-parked cars. Most of the time, one must dart in and out of traffic to continue down the avenue. While exciting, it was nice to leave midtown and head to the west side for a leisurely ride down the park along the river.

Yesterday, I went for another biking excursion in the city. Up 6th and 8th aves from 14th st to Central Park I rode. I took the main road all the way through and around Central Park and it was absolutely beautiful. Afterwards, while heading back downtown via 5th avenue, the ride was not as smooth as it had been. While staying to the left on the avenue (there was no bike lane in that area) a car decided to stop short as it turned onto a side street just before the crosswalk. This would normally make perfect sense.

Funny though, that a car would stop for a crosswalk when no pedestrian are in it. So as the car stopped and I continued, I quickly gripped my brakes as hard as I could and skidded right into the rear bumper of a silver Altima. Luckily, I wasn't going fast enough to cause any damage to either party, although I think my few choice words may have caused some emotional damage to the driver. Learn how to drive.

Otherwise, I'm finding that biking is a great leisurely activity. With Sunday here and storm clouds lingering, I'm not sure if I will bike again today or stay in and write my ethnographic paper for tomorrow. Either way, I am fully bracing myself for the busy week ahead.

Unprecedented Speed and Amount of Reading and Writing

No doubt, I am entirely capable of keeping up with the copious readings that come with especially intensive graduate school work. However, it seems the entirety of my commute and "free" time have been utterly and completely relinquished to the tasking of reading custom bound course texts. This is of course, not to mention the moderate amount of writing assignments to accompany these readings in the form of reflections, outlines of the readings, and journal entries. It is not specifically the amount of work that is taxing, but the rate at which it is expected to be executed. In the past two days, I have been expected to create two (thorough and comprehensive - 5 pgs each) outlines based on text, two journal entries, an autobiographical essay in addition to about 100 pages of reading.

Let me be clear. I am not complaining. However taxing of tasks these may be, I signed up for this and fully intend to see it through. These assignments are for my benefit and I am acutely aware of this. While I will not vocalize my venting to the instructor in class, others choose to do so, as they very well may. However, yesterday, the instruction gave us the snide comment, "welcome to grad school." Overall, I am gleaning a lot from her instruction, but I can see how a comment like that might come across and ridiculous and condescending to my peers, some of whom have advanced degrees and have completed post-doctorate work. To the post-docs especially, it's almost humorous. In actuality, I'm not really concerned about it, but just found it funny that someone of significantly lower formal academic accomplishment would venture such a snide remark to such a diverse group.

Aside from any negative aspects, training is interesting. Day by day, I feel like I'm getting a tool here for classroom management, a tool there for instructional design. I am also somewhat sleep deprived and mentally taxed, so any typos or grammatical errrors are purely an artifact of those facts.

As I have been so busy, I am not able to fully articulate my thoughts just yet, but I figured it would be best to post something within the first few days of training. Needless to say, I look forward to the weekend, but am definitely learning useful information during training.

Cohort 16 Welcoming Event at Lincoln Center

I had no idea that cohort 16 would fill Avery Fischer Hall at Lincoln Center. I was totally astounded and how large we all looked together. That's probably good considering the number of kids who need a higher quality education in NYC. Part of the point of the event was to further inspire us and I say job well done.

Students from different schools performed. I was very glad to see that our welcoming event was utilized to give students a chance to showcase their work in such a grand venue. I really needed no further reason to attend. I was especially happy to see the audience give a standing ovation to the students from District 75 following their performance of Hard Knock Life from "Annie." District 75 is the city-wide district for special education students. I can only hope that our warm ovation helped seal that experience of performing at Lincoln Center into their memories for the rest of their lives. After all, we are here to make a change for the better.

Aside from more sentimental thoughts, I was also glad to Chancellor Joel Klein for the DOE speak. He was very eloquent, passionate and articulate. Although he is a cog in the machine of NYC administration, I truly believe his heart lies with NYC's students. If not, he did a very good job making me believe it.

I think the Welcoming Event is a great way to begin training, to inspire new fellows and create a sense of camaraderie amongst fellows. We are all here (or should be) for the same reason of improving kids' lives through teaching. The Welcoming Event did a good job of conveying that message and further inspiring us to be great teachers.

Immersion Training, Stipend Checks & Bikes

Contrary to the title, finishing immersion training and my bicycle purchase are entirely unrelated.

In training yesterday, we gave small group presentations on our evaluation of a sort of packaged lesson plan kit for various subjects. My groups subject and kit was a SEPUP (Science Education for Public Understanding Program) kit intended to be used to teach major concepts about evolution. The kit is supposed to come with everything a teacher needs to teach a lesson on different subjects including workbooks, teacher's manual and supplies. Overall, I found the kits to be rather contrived and poor quality to actually teach such subjects in an engaging way. Unfortunately, these kits are already being implemented in NYC's public schools. Maybe these work overall to improve student achievement when implemented, but real life science is not a kit, so why on earth would we teach it like that? - Just my opinion.

On Thursday, all of the science and math immersion fellows were delighted to receive the first portion of the summer stipend of $1,000. Needless to say, I was happy to have an income again. Also, a small extra perk is that the checks were from Chase, which happens to be my bank, so I did not have to wait for the check to clear.

Lastly, I've been considering purchasing a bike to either commute (probably not) or just go around town on. While it's a nice idea to be active in my self-transportation, the potential disastrous accidents while biking absolutely terrifies me. However, this fear was not enough to stop me from purchasing a bike. I went to a bike shop on 14th st near 1st ave and test rode a three of the same brand - Dahon. Dahon typically does not sell standard bikes; most of them are foldable. As dorky as it may seem to have a bike with 20" wheels being folded up at the train station, I really don't mind losing a small amount of dignity for a large amount of convenience. The bike is actually quite comfortable and convenient. There's even a tired pump IN the seat! It's about 23 pounds also, so I can carry it without breaking my back, although not much further than a few blocks. Ideally I would ride this to work, but somehow I think I would be far too sweaty by the end of my ride, which itself would be far too long for a daily commute. Maybe I'll start riding in my down time and then see if I want to step it up a bit later. If all goes well, my new bike will come with a more active and healthy lifestyle (hopefully!).

Turning up the heat...

Okay, this isn't so much teaching related, but it is definitely part of the experience. The weather for the past four days in NYC has been consistently above 95 degrees. Walking to the train in the morning and evening, the heat is stifling. Waiting for the train in suffocating. I am so glad I purchased an AC two weeks ago before the heat became unbearable. Besides that, I've pretty much kept inside to prevent heat stroke.

Otherwise, I had a midterm yesterday. It took the methods and concepts we learned in the past week and asked us to apply them to novel situations. Also, a sign of effective instruction and a good assessment: an open note exam that is still challenging. I hope that I will be able to challenge my students in the same way.

It is funny that I have a midterm and a final in the same week. I guess that's why it's called *intensive* training. I genuinely believe it is rigorous training for teachers, not just going through the motions to get a certification. This stuff is challenging, stimulating and inspiring!

This coming Friday concludes our Science Immersion training. Next Monday is the Welcoming Event for all ~1500 fellows at Lincoln Center. The two-hour welcoming ceremony will be a nice break from this 6 hours of daily coursework. Plus we get a free monthly metrocard, an $81 value! Woohoo!

End of the First Week of Immersion Training

I have to say, training has not been as taxing as I expected it to be.  While they activities require constant and undivided attention, the days are relatively short compared to a typical 8 hour work day.

Fortunately, I am somewhat familiar with some of the pedagogical methods being presented such as Bloom's taxonomy, inquiry based learning and the 5E/6E model.  While I have learned about those methods themselves before, for the majority of my undergraduate education, my professors have utilized those methods more often than not.  I can personally vouch for their efficacy in my own experiences.  The real trick will be implementing them with my own students.

On the more social side of things, there are a few fellows in Science Immersion who are trying to get a group together to head to a local bar or pub after the week concludes this evening.  During the day, we are in the same small group, which limits our ability to socialize with many of our peers.  I think a nice post-first-week-of-training-pub-expedition may remedy that.

The week has gone very fast.  I imagine that means I am either working very hard or having fun, or I might hope, both.  I look forward to the Welcoming Event on the 16th where ALL fellows (not just math and science immersion) gather at Lincoln Center for a formal welcoming to the program, all 1,600 of us.  Until then I will continue soaking up all the useful information I can about teaching science.

Being Taught How to Teach

As I become more adjusted to my new schedule and commute, I am beginning to realize the value of what I am learning in the immersion training.  However, it is not what I expected, even by a long shot.

The way I understood Immersion Training to be was to essentially be content review.  I expected to be going through basic and in depth biological concepts.  In reality, Immersion Training is more oriented towards teaching larger concepts in science such as critical thinking, observation, analysis, etc.  While in some regard, this material is content, it is certainly not specifically biology content.  In fact, for one portion of the training, earth science is being used as content to teach us pedagogical methods.  I've never had a deep interest in earth science, but the instructor is extremely well-versed in what he does and knows his stuff upside down and inside out.

I also expected an 8 hour schedule, just as any typical work day would be.  Instead, I report at 12:15 and am dismissed at about 5:45, with maybe a 20 minute break half way through.  I am glad it is not 8 hours, because learning the pedagogy can be taxing mentally and emotionally.  I can only imagine how the instructor feels.

I am glad to see that what we're learning is useful.  In slight retrospect, I think reviewing biology content would have been much less useful than what we are actually doing.  While I highly value the content of the course and even enjoy it, I will still say that I look forward to the weekend.

11 Hours of Sleep

Yesterday was the first full day of training.  I woke up at about 5:30 to ensure that I could commute from Ridgewood Queens to 137th St in Manhattan by 9AM.  I expected a very long commute.  Turns out, it took about an hour instead of closer to two.

Training was interesting.  At about 9:15 after some complimentary breakfast danishes and orange juice, administrative people from City College and NYCTF were introduced.  After some logistics, science immersion fellows (including me) left to go get our City College IDs.

After waiting in a long line with only one person operating one computer to create the IDs, I left to the college cafeteria to enjoy a tasty but quick lunch.  I was pretty impressed by the selection in the cafeteria compared to my college!  Well, I guess at this point, my alma mater.

In the latter half of the day was the real nuts and bolts of training.  Two gentlemen lead science immersion fellows in an activity where we all discusses and presented descriptives of effective teachers then reflected on the process of the activity.  We also received a short assignment to write a reflection about two articles given to us by Isaac Asimov and Brian Greene.

During the second session of training, the guy was kind of over the top.  He was good, great in fact, at teaching.  He totally blew our preconceptions about a heliocentric solar system out of the water.  I watched at people used poor logic to prove to him that our universe is heliocentric and not geocentric.  To you, the reader, this may sound confusing.  But think about it... How do you KNOW the earth revolves around the sun and not vice versa?  That was his point.

From then on, we worked in small groups to complete activities dealing with the idea of how the sun casts a shadow throughout the day and how that reflects the location of the sun in the sky etc.  The point is that we focused on content and pedagogy simultaneously.  The man was intimidating, but effective.

Anyway, I went to bed last night at about 9PM and woke up about half an hour ago at 8AM.  Some quick math tells you that's about 11 hours of sleep.  It was much needed rest.  I better go and prepare for my second day of training now.

 

T Minus

About 4 days and counting.  Science Immersion training begins on Monday at City College, 9AM.  While I am not looking forward to waking up with the birds for my long commute to City College, I am looking forward to meeting other science fellows and beginning training.

When it comes to science, I'm kind of a geek.  I find biology thoroughly fascinating and the various other fields of science to be at the least, engaging.  I am hoping that during the immersion training, there will be ample focus in biology as that is what I enjoy and what I have been assigned to teach.

On a more logistical note, I am currently trying to plough through the Guidebook given to me by NYCTF.  I feel a bit irresponsible for not having completed it yet.  However, I have a feeling that it will not be utilized until training for everyone begins (not just immersion fellows).  This is not to say that I will be swamped with free time to read it during immersion training.  I imagine quite the contrary, which is why I'm hitting it hard now.

I am definitely looking forward to receiving the extra $1,000 stipend for the immersion training after it ends, following the first two weeks.  Money's not everything, but it sure it nice to pay the rent and eat.

All in all, I am very much looking forward to training.  I have a few contacts from the area and out of state who are all gearing up as well.  I look forward to meeting them in person and beginning a wonderfully exciting new experience.  

I got a job!

I almost don't believe it.

Just yesterday I went to a school in midtown Manhattan for an interview.  There are a few positions open at the school and was aiming for the Living Environment position.  I went in and immediately met with an assistant principal who questioned me about my resume a bit.  He then showed me around the school and I observed quite a few classes in action.  I was happy to see how easily and cordially students interacted with teachers and administrators.  I was also thoroughly impressed by the school's facilities.  Sliding white boards, clean and functioning lab equipment, and wifi in each room.  I had no idea that an underperforming city school had such resources.

After observing a few classes, I was a bit stunned how smoothly things were running.  I was able to see a teacher have some trouble with a student acting up and my tour guide very calmly help out in the situation, just as we were passing by a classroom.  Following my tour and observation, the asst. principal asked me what I thought and if I had any questions.  I had a few and all answers were satisfactory by my standards.  I told him I would be thrilled to teach at the school.

Luckily, I was also able to speak with a fellow who currently teaches at the school.  She seemed happy to be working there and told me that I would happy there too.  

We proceeded to the principal's office where he asked me a few pedagogical questions and about my background.  One was a scenario where a student consistently gets 70%s on assignments then a zero on one.  What would I do?

My answer was that the inconsistency indicates some altered circumstance and I would look into it before giving the zero and ruining the student's mathematical average.  Nothing ruins an average like a zero.

His second question was about classroom standards in regard to content.  In effect, he asked, should everyone be held to the same standard or how should students be evaluated based on some standard.

I responded that it is important to asses students knowledge in the beginning.  While students all may not progress to the same endpoint, as long as they have made progress, I have done my job.  He explicitly said that was a perfect answer, which I was obviously glad to hear.

After a few questions about my resume, he said I seemed like a nice guy and that I really wanted to teach and offered me the position.  I wasn't sure if I was understanding the situation right, just because I've been warned about principals offering jobs on the spot.  Usually in situations, I tend to trust my gut feelings as those are the most important.  Based on the visit, I was genuinely impressed by the school and very fortunate to have interacted with a current fellow teaching there.  Given this and my desired to secure  position before training, I accepted his offer.

The asst. principal took me to see the asst. principal of organization to arrange actually getting me on the payroll and such.  He instructed me to create a profile on the DOE website so he can put me in system on his end online.  He also asked me the status of my tests (LAST, CST and ATSW- the last of which I know nothing about, I'll be calling the fellows about that one).  I reminded him that I have a commitment form for someone at the school to sign.  We agreed that I'd create the profile and email him when it is completed.

I am so thrilled to have secured a position and look forward to teaching my new students.  Plus now I'll have August to myself woohoo!

Graduation, Job Search, Approaching Training

After four years, blood, sweat, tears, yadda yadda, I finally graduated.  I now have a Bachelor's degree with liberal arts major and concentration in Science, Technology & Society from Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts.  (It's quite a mouthful and cumbersome to explain, but just see www.lang.edu)

On Thursday the 15th I attended the Eugene Lang College graduate and on the 16th attended The New School (University) graduation at Madison Square Garden.  Everything has felt very anticlimactic, but I don't really care.  All I want is my diploma in the mail and to move on.  I am glad to be done with it.

In the meantime, I am pursuing positions at Manhattan schools.  I interviewed at one already with the assistant principal.  She seemed a bit aloof, but well-versed in her field (chemistry and biology), which was kind of intimidating.  According to her, the next step is to see me teach, probably during my student teaching in July.

In the meantime, I have another interview on Thursday and will be attending a job fair Thursday evening.  I have not heard the best reviews about job fairs, but I figure it's worth a shot.

I anxiously await training which begins on June 2nd for Science & Math Immersion fellows (I = Science Immersion).  My small phonebook-sized guidebook sits on my coffee table waiting me to finish reading through it before training begins.  Although, I'm not sure if it needs to be completely read by the time immersion training begins or everyone's training begins.  I guess I'm kind of hedging on the former.

So, for the next week and a half, I will be enjoying my free time to myself.  It is the only time I will have to myself between my previous job, school and NYCTF.  

PASSED NY State Certification Exams

I am so incredibly thrilled to share that I passed the two exams required to be certified to teach biology and general science in New York State.

These tests are issues by an agency called the New York State Teacher Certification Examinations (NYSTCE).  These test ensure that teachers have basic knowledge that is ample for instructing students about some content.  Teaching Fellows must pass these tests before they begin teaching.  With several opportunities before and during training, the is plenty of time to prepare.  However, if you do not pass them, you cannot teach and are not eligible to continue the Fellowship.  Because of that I am very happy to have alleviated my anxiety by passing sooner than later.

The first exam that all teachers must pass before teaching is the Liberal Arts and Sciences Test (LAST).  If you had a high quality high school education or any undergraduate liberal arts education, this exam is entirely passable.  It basically looks to see if you have basic skills and knowledge in a few general areas.  The subsections of the exam are: Scientific, Math & Technical Processes; Historical & Social Scientific Awareness; Artistic Expression and The Humanities; Communication and Research Skills; and Written Analysis & Expression.  You receive a score for each subsection and an overall score.  The score is out of 300, with a 220 minimum passing score.  Even if a subsection is below a 220, as long as your overall score is 220 or more, you have passed.

The second exam is the Biology Content Specialty Test (CST).  Typically, the CSTs are considered more difficult than the LAST because they require specific content knowledge.  The Bio CST tests for basic and some higher level knowledge about the various fields of biology.  The subsections are: Foundations of Scientific Inquiry; Cell Biology & Biochemistry; Genetics & Evolution; Biological Unity & Diversity & Life Processes; Human Biology; Ecology; and Foundations of Scientific Inquiry (written response).

For those who have taken and passed, congratulation.  For those who have yet to take them, I wish you the best of luck and my guess is you'll do just fine.

The Apartment Search

Searching for apartments in NYC is like an urban evolution.  Those who don't know what they're doing pay out the nose or get scammed, while those more fit weather the storm and find the deals.  Scammers try to trick you into wiring money to Mozambique, brokers want your life savings in fees and disgruntled supers unwillingly show you apartments with their less than gracious manner.  I am doing my best not to be eliminated by urban (natural) selection.

In the past week, I think I have viewed around 15 apartments, all in and around Harlem.  I viewed one in Inwood off the 1 & A trains.  Then, I did some research and found that the block where the apartment was had anywhere between 15-30 shots fired in the past two months.  I want to live in the apartment, not die there.  No thank you.

I found another place, which felt much safer in Harlem, 139 & Lenox to be exact.  However, this very very very small 1 bedroom has a kitchen fit for a small person.  That is to say that the height of the refrigerator is about at my elbow and when you walk into the "kitchen" the only way to leave it is to back out of it.  For $1200, I want a kitchen I can at least turn around in.

So now I am having a change of heart.  Instead of looking in Harlem, I have turned to Brooklyn.  I figure if I live off the 2/3 trains, at least I'll be on the 1/2/3 line express through Manhattan and local to City College.  Prices outside of Manhattan are also much more affordable.  So I am hoping to find an apartment that is manageable and inexpensive enough so I can stockpile some funds instead of burning it on rent.  That way, I can save up a down payment to buy a place in a few years.

Tomorrow I continue my seemingly hopeless search for another home and hopefully I will find something reasonable.  

AND if anyone reading this can help, I welcome any and all assistance.

Looks Like I'll Be Moving

After I emailed NYCTF inquiring about the possibility of being reassigned to Pace for my master's degree, I received a prompt and informative response.

While Pace supports biology fellows, it does not support biology immersion fellows.  City College is the only institution for fellows assigned to Manhattan that offers a master's program for biology / general science immersion fellows.  For those who do not know what immersion is, here is an explanation:

NYCTF offers two "immersion" programs for fellows that have taken significant coursework in either math or science, but do not have a degree in the field.  In practice, the difference is two more weeks of training in science or math content with an extra $1k tacked onto the stipend for the summer (and apparently a narrowed pool of universities).  

I know last time I said I felt somewhat disappointed, but I've reconsidered.  Now I am excited.  As I am not bound to Queens for any reason, I will look into apartments near City College to minimize my commute.  It would be nice to learn a new neighborhood and just feel some change.  Sure there will be some obstacles like figuring out if/when I can break my lease, searching for an apartment, etc., but I welcome the challenge.  Thankfully I will be able to afford a one bedroom instead of a studio - living in a bread box gets old.

University Assignment

Just yesterday I received an email from NYCTF indicating that I have been assigned to City College for my master's of education in science. I thought I would be excited to received my assignment, but to be honest, I was a little disappointed.

Browsing City College's School of Education website makes it seem like a pretty well-established program. It has also been educating Fellows since 2000. I do not know anyone that currently attends, but would like to.

However, I am concerned about my commute. While I have yet to learn my commuting schedule for summer training, I do know that from my stop on the M train (Forest Ave) to City College is around an hour and a half commute. Right now, my usual commute is to 14th st and takes me no longer than 45 minutes on average with some train traffic.

There is an appeals process for one's University assignment, which I am considering. Also, there is a field on the "My Assignment" tab on the myNYCTF website for alternative Universities. Mine is blank. Just above that is a notice that reads, "Some borough and subject combinations have only one university option. If you are reading this message, then your university is the only one working with your subject area within your assigned borough."

This is simply not true. I am in contact with other Fellows who have been assigned to Pace downtown for my same field of study. All of this is a bunch of mixed messages. So I posted a message on the Fellow message boards asking if anyone else was in my situation and could relate. I received a few empathetic responses, but no solutions. My next step is to write an email to NYCTF inquiring about my options.

I know others may be commuting from NJ or LI, which can be a long commute, but once the commuter rails take them into a central hub, any of the Universities in Manhattan are about the same time away. Maybe I am being too fastidious. I would just like to minimize and not increase my commuting time as I am sure I will be very busy the upcoming summer and year.

PS - Thanks to those who took the survey! I am just interested in seeing, very generally, what everyone's experience has been like. If you haven't taken it, please do! Thanks!

Alma Mater

I recently received an email from the president of my high school (http://whitfield.ccsct.com/). He periodically sends out emails to alumnus providing updates and reflections about current events at the school. As I thoroughly enjoyed my high school experience, I welcome such communications. Correspondence this time was a bit different.

Usually I skim the emails for topics that interest me or names I recognize and they lie dormant in my Gmail inbox. While the fate of this email is the same, I decided to reply and share my new professional development with NYCTF.

My email included wonderful praise for all my previous teachers and great gratitude for my school as a whole. I also provided a synopsis of the Teaching Fellows program with a link to its homepage for further details.

The following day, I was surprised to see an email from my AP Spanish teacher sitting, unread. in my inbox. Her message was glowing with excitement and pride. I was flattered by her kind words about my decision to become a teacher and her experiences with me as a high school student. A few hours later, I received another email from my 8th & 12th grade social studies teacher (the same person) containing comments to the same effect. I responded to both promptly and gracefully, politely thanking them for their kind statements. As it turns out, the president forwarded my email to the entire faculty, as revealed to me by the Spanish teacher.

I was a bit struck that he chose to do that, but, in retrospect am glad he did. It makes me happy to know that the teachers at my Alma Mater who gave me such great opportunity, have some idea of the gratitude I have for them. I hope my future students feel the same way one day.

BTW, You'll be paying us more...

I preface this by saying that I have no problem paying for my education. It is a worthwile cost and I am quite willing to take responsibility for it.

That said, I received an email today from the NYC Fellows Program. The subject read: "Important Update Regarding Your NYCTF Enrollment: Action Required." Thus far, any status updates on myNYCTF have been either positive or neutral. I am not sure this update falls into either one of those categories.

As fellows know, NYCTF covers the majority of the cost of our masters degrees and the rest is covered by bimonthly deductions from our paychecks beginning in October 08 in the amount of $115, no wait, $125, no... $150 per paycheck?

As it turns out, fellows' financial responsibility for our Masters degrees has increased from $5,500 to $6,600. Because of this change, fellows are required to electronically sign another Fellow Committment Form agreeing to the change.

A TIME magazine article recently listed education as the most secure profession during a recession. (I read the article in hard copy and have not been able to find it online- When/If I do, I will post it.) While I do not disagree with TIME, the email from NYCTF cites budget cuts as the reason for our increased financial responsibility. I must reiterate that educational costs are a noble expense, but the bottom line is that my paycheck will be less because of the city's economic constraints. Looks like education is not as secure as TIME claims it to be, at least to some degree.


A Short Addendum:
As the state of the economy slowly, but surely cuts into my future paychecks, I acknowledge another source of funding. NYCTF gives the opportunity to current fellows to apply for an AmeriCorps grant which has a potential education value of just under $10K. I can't pay my landlord with it, but it will certainly mitigate the effect of any outstanding student loans.

Another Short Addendum:
After a thorough Google search, I've found the article I referenced above. However, I cannot seem to find it directly in TIME, so maybe it was published elsewhere - my mistake. The article "5 Recession-Proof Careers" by freelance writer, Clare Kaufman was published online, albeit with no apparent date. It lists teacher only second to nurse in recession-proof careers. Here is the link: http://education.yahoo.net/degrees/articles/featured_5_recession_proof_careers.html

Resume & Cover Letter Workshop

As fellows, we have a wide variety of resources at our disposal. Those resources are centralized on the myNYCTF website. One of the events recently offered was a workshop on developing an appropriate resume and cover letter for submitting to principals during the job search. I attended the event last night.

To be frank, a lot of the material covered in the workshop felt pedantic. Anyone who has written and revised a resume that has helped acquire a job would have known most of the content that was covered.

Conversely, a fellow's resume should abide by a few conventions, specific to education. An example would include putting teaching experiences or experiences with children near the top of the document (it may seem intuitive, but all might not see it the same). For the most part, most things presented in the workshop would apply to any general resume.

I have never written a cover letter, proper. Often resumes are sent out as email attachments in response to a craiglist posting accompanied by a short paragraph in the body of the email. When applying for teaching position, a cover letter is essential. It should introduce you, express interest and expand (not repeat) upon the content of the resume.

As tedious as it may be to hold a current job, matriculate full time and conduct a full-fledged job search, it is a necessary step to succeed in the teaching fellowship. While I feel somewhat overwhlemed, I am sure that with a few keen revisions and additions to my resume and an articulate cover letter, I will acquire a position at a school where I will be a happy and effective educator.

NYCTF Experience

Keeping a blog is a high maintenance activity, but I am determined to do so.

Recently, I was accepted into the New York City Teaching Fellows. The program is intended to recruit new teachers from other disciplines, fields or fresh out of college. Fellows receive intensive training in the summer preceding the school year. Before the school year begins, fellows are hired as teachers in their assigned subject areas and borough. While the program trains fellows to teach in New York City's under-served public schools, each fellow is responsible to secure a teaching position at a school in his or her assigned borough and subject.

In preparation for training, fellows must conduct a school visit during which he or she observes a class for not less than two hours. The experience is intended to immerse fellows in a school's culture and give them a taste of what their new career might be like.

In my own experience, I contacted a fellow who teaches biology in the Bronx and observed his classroom. It was unlike any educational experience of my own. Students were loud and rowdy. A few sat in the back of the classroom, physically separated from the students in the front. Those in the back either had their own conversations, completely unrelated to the class, or slept. In the front, students noisily, albeit enthusiastically interacted with the teacher, engaging the material. The whole process was simultaneously exciting, terrifying and motivating.

While the teacher warned me that his classes tended to be more lively than others, I was still glad to see his portion of the student behavioral spectrum. I left feeling ready and excited to begin my new career.

Some time later, I found the teacher whose class I observed kept a blog of his thoughts and reflections about his experience teaching. His record keeping inspired me to keep such a record myself in the form of this blog. While he has kept his since the second semester of teaching, I hope to maintain a more comprehensive one that starts from the beginning. I would like to document the Teaching Fellows process from acceptance to pre-training to training to teaching to the unknown.

Hence, this is the beginning of what I hope will be an insightful record of events upon which I may look in the future and others may look in the present. It will illuminate the inner workings of the Teaching Fellows program and the raw experience of teaching in New York City.