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.

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?

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.