From the Kids

This is a REALLY long post, but it's entertaining, at the least! I highlighted some of my favorite answers to the end-of-year evaluation I gave to my students.

All summer I have been quietly freaking out and worrying about this upcoming year: Will I be good enough? Will I have effective classroom management? Which things should I teach first? Will I actually teach them anything? How will I use all the books and websites that I've accumulated over the years?

So reading these evaluations (I took out a few questions for your reading convenience) did help me relax a bit: the kids had compliments and honest complaints both. It will help me prepare for this year and it will help me remember that what I've been doing has been at least somewhat effective. Phew!

I did my best to keep all their spelling quirks, so yes, they are on purpose.

Enjoy!

What was your favorite unit that we’ve done all year? Why?
--My favorite unit was poetry. I liked poetry because it helps me express my feelings when I am happy or sad.
--Poetry, I learned to write various poetry that I never knew existed, I also got the chance to read a lot of great poetry that taught me to look beyond what I see.
--Drama because I liked acting. I also liked this unit because you could easily express yourself.
--Plays, I enjoyed acting.
--My favorite would probably be when we read in a group, since we could just read in quiet and enjoy the book w/o any interruptions.
--I think my favorite unit was the drama unit. It was fun acting out those roles. And I enjoyed the acting.
--Drama—Because it was fun getting up in front of the class and acting and also I loved advertisement because we got to act like we were really making an ad.
--My favorite unit was drama and plays because I never did it before and it was interesting and fun.
--Advertisements because I got to draw and explore the evil minds of marketers.
--Drama. I have become a better actor and now all I want to do is write plays and act out another character who is not me.
--Poetry was my favorite unit because I love poetry.
--My favorite unit was writting and performing plays (drama).
--Drama, because we did a play.
--Drama, because it was fun to do the activities and watch other people perform.
--My favorite unit was poetry, because then, we got to express ourselves in writing, and I was really good at that.
--Poetry, because I enjoyed expressing my feelings that way.
--Drama, because it was fun working in a group and getting time to rehearse for the play based on our books.
--The advertisements. I liked creating a product and making the ads because you really have to be creative and use your imagination.
--The poetry unit was my favorite because I love writing poetry.
--The advirtisment unit because we got to make our own product.
--Drama, because I love acting.
--I would say the drama unit because of how to use facial expressions to explain a situation and writing and acting out play scripts.
--I liked poetry because the only way I express myself is through poems and I like to make my poems deep. Some poems are fun and catchy while others teach a life lesson or express the way someone feels.
--Poetry was my favorite unit was I love to write and express thoughts on paper.
--My favorite unit was the drama unit because it was really fun.
--The favorite unit that I thought was the best was the plays. This was my favorite because we a lot of fun rehearsing.
--I like the poem unit. I liked it because found fun and interesting to do.
--My favorite unit was advertisement because I liked learning how there are different types of advertisements.
--My favorite unit is that drama unit because I enjoy writing and it allowed me to learn how to write a play and improve my acting.
--different kinds of poems because before I did not no other poems but when I learned I liked it.
--The media unit, because I liked making the ads.
--Poetry. This unit was the best way to show your true emotions.
--My favorite unit that we’ve done is the plays. It’s my favorite because we are allowed to express our talents.
--My favorite unit in EL @ was making advertisements I like this unit because it was artistic. I enjoy making artistic projects.
--The drama unit because we got to do a lot of plays and we built up courage if we had stage fright and it was a lot of fun.
--Poetry, because I could write about sad things without anyone questioning why!
--The dram unit because it was fun to act out people in a play.
--Poetry because it was easy.
--The favorite thing we done this year is lit circles because it help us understand things.
--Ads because that was a group project and I like to work in groups.
--My favorite? Hmm…I can’t choose! But I can choose my top 3. Poetry, plays and play writing. I enjoy making and performing plays. And poetry is a strong point.
--Drama because I like drama a lot and I think it is fun.
--Advertisement, because we got to make our own products and use 1 type of ad for it. We also got to perform our ads in class.
--My favorite unit was drama and making a play for commercials.
--My favorite unit was drama. I liked acting and being like someone else. It was fun making stories, and then acting it out.
--My favorite unit was advertisement and drama because making ads was fun and so is performing a play.
--My favorite unit was the poetry because it was fun getting to express myself.
--Poetry because I enjoyed learning to write poems better.
--I enjoyed the media unit.
--Drama, because it was fun.
--The poetry unit because I liked learning different types of poetry.
--Poems I learned a lot doing poems and I liked it.
--Advertisement because it was fun thinking up the Ads it was fun learning everything about ads.
--Advertisement was my favorite because we got to learn how people get a product when saying something like buy it now.
--Reviwing the plot chart. Its kind of fun and easy.
--Poetry, because it was fun and you can express your feeling.
--Acting because I’m good at it.
--None, they weren’t all that good.
--Drama, because I have a lot of fun with groups.
--Advertisement, because when you taught us that you opened my eyes to a whole new world.
--My favorite unit was poetry. It was poetry because w e got to express our feelings and I liked that.
--The advertisement were the best because we got to make up any object we wanted.
--My favorite unit was probably advertising because I learned a lot on it.
--My favorite unit that we’ve done all year was acting out skits, and plays. They were fun and helped me express myself.
--Advertisement: because we got to learn all types of advertisement and did little shows.
--Poems because in was a challenge.
--My favorite unit that we’ve done all year is “Drama.” Because drama was fun, easy, and the work were sometimes fun to do.
--Advertizement.
--My favorite unit was the advertisements. I liked this one the most because we now have useful info that will help us later in life. We won’t be tricked by the ads, making us want to buy!
--Different types of poems because it was really easy to do and it helps me learn more.
--The figurative language because it was easy.
--My favorite unit was the poem unit because we went outside and we had to write any 2 type of poem about what you see, hear, touch and smell.
--Poems, because I felt good about writing poems and thinking about them.
--The plays (Drama) acting is fun.


What was your least favorite unit that we’ve done all year? Why?
--My least favorite unit was drama because some of the people at my table didn’t study their lines.
--Test Prep, it wasn’t exciting. Even though it is needed it wasn’t really that great. That’s probbally because it’s repentitive.
--Short stories because I hate writing stories since you have to make details—write it and carfully organize it.
--I don’t really hae one I enjoyed them all but if I had to choose it would be poetry.
--It would probably be the plot charts. I kept continuously forgetting, forgetting at least one part. Fortunately, I vividly remember it now.
--I would have to say the media unit. It was fun at first but then it got boring.
--Poetry. I didn’t like that unit because I am not a strong poet so I did not enjoy it.
--There wasn’t a least favorite to my opinion I liked everything we did, no complaints.
--My least favorite unit this year was eassy writing, not because I don’t like but, because I like everything else better.
--Literature circles. I don’t like to read to understand. But I need like learning new words but there was always a test on vocabulary.
--The unit I liked the least was the parts of speech unit if that was even a unit but it was so hard to remember.
--Reading literature I didn’t really like the books.
--Poetry, because I didn’t like it as much.
--Writing, because it didn’t interest me that much.
--Drama and play writing because I love to act and write my own plays.
--I didn’t really have a least favorite unit this year, to me, everything was enjoyable.
--Four squares because it took me a while to understand it.
--My least favorite unit was when we were learning about grammar and sentence structure because it was confusing and boring.
--Drama is very fun, but I think I’m too shy to act in front of the class. I tried to, but it didn’t really work out.
--I don’t have a least favorite, but I wish we could have done drama longer. I think I’m an okay actress, and I wanted to show my talent.
--My least favorite unit was the drama unit because everyone started fighting over little things.
--Literature circle Books, because I didn’t like none of the books.
--I didn’t like much of the descriptive language, even though I learned a few things, because the descriptive language was very easy for me to understand and I already learned most of it.
--Parts of speech because they are so hard to remember but I learned a mnemonic device. I can’t seem to find words to describe the parts of speech. But I think that I improved.
--My least favorite unit was when we had to test taking strategies because of all the strenuous work.
--My least favorite was the reading unit because I did not like the book we were assigned to read.
--My least favorite unit was the story writing/essays/foursquares. These were my least favorite because I really don’t like writing 4sq’s and essays.
--I didn’t like the advertisement unit because I felt that some of the advertisement skills were hard.
--Drama because I hate acting it is not something I am good at.
--My least favorite unit was the advertisement unit because now when I watch tv and the commercials come on, I blabber about how they are trying to get you to buy their product.
--4-square I have learned how to do it and how it can help me in a essay.
--Poetry, because I just don’t like poetry.
--I don’t have one they were all fun.
--My least favorite unit is the 4sq and essay. I did not like it because the essay is to long. And I think the 4sq is a waste of time.
--My least favorite unit was poetry. I think that was my least favorite because even through I like poetry, I think we spent a long time on it. I got bored of it.
--The test prep units because I think it was kind of boring having to prepare for tests that we already knew how to take.
--Writing essays because it was very boring and I felt that 4 squares are not good organizers to write essays.
--Part of speech because it is boring also it was hard to merize all of them.
--Sure, I learned some new stuff.
--The least favorite thing that we did was poems because they didn’t seem fun or educated.
--I actually don’t know it might be plays because I am a little bit of shy.
--Oh, that’s easy! The one where we had to read those [lit circle] books. I like choosing the books I read myself.
--Test prep. Because all of it was boring and it went on and on.
--Author study, we had to write a biography on an author and a resume.
--My least favorite unit was learning about the parts of speech. That was a little boring.
--The review for the test. It was no fun and I think it useless for future life except school.
--My least favorite unit was practicing for the state tests. I hated writing essays, doing multiple choice and short responses.
--My least favorite was the advertisements because they were kinda hard.
--I’m not really sure. It may be figurative language and parts of speech, because we did them so many times.
--I didn’t like the unit when we were preparing for the test.
--Nemonic devices because it was to confusing.
--Test prep because I already know how to take NYC/NYS tests and I don’t like learning it again.
--The book vocab set I didn’t like it because I had to write a lot.
--The play unit because I wouldn’t like to act.
--Play writing was my least because that wasn’t my thing.
--The momonic device because its hard to memorise.
--When we did reading, because it was kind of boring, but at the same time I learned something.
--Short stoies because I wasn’t that good.
--All I just dident like them.
--Reading, I don’t know why, I’m just not a reader, unless I pick the book I like.
--I didn’t have a least favorite thing because you kept the activities fun.
--I think my least favorite was well I don’t really think I had a least favorite.
--My least favorite was reading because we had to make inferences.
--My least favorite unit was with the 4-square and essay. I learned about it but I didn’t enjoy it.
--Reading was my least favorite. We were quiet and I felt like a prisoner, but it was okay.
--Drama=because I’m not a good actress. I think because I start to get butterflies in my stomach.
--The parts of speech.
--The least favorite unit was poem unit because I had poems to write everyday for homework, it was for weeks and it was annoying and I had enough of it.
--Literature circles.
--I actually liked all the units because we all now that from each one of these units would benefit us for next year. This means I enjoyed all the units because I had to know them later, so it helps me then.
--My least favorite was author biography and resumes because it was to much to do and hard to do.
--The multiple choice questions because they were hard.
--My least favorite unit that we’ve done this year was the plays because I don’t like to perform in front of so many people in one room.
--Figurative language, because I could never remember what half of them mean.
--Reading groups. Boring…


On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the best:
Give yourself a grade for this year. Explain.
--9. A the beginning of the school year I didn’t do my homework everyday but in the middle of the year I started to get more serious.
--9. I behaved. However I didn’t put everything into my work. I could’ave done better.
--8. I missed a homework or two.
--5. ½ and ½ because I think I didn’t do good but at the same I thought I did well.
--8. I usually do extremely well on tests, getting at least a 90. Almost every homework I did was given a 4, or a 3 here and there.
--7. I think I could of done better with HW. But I think I did fine in the others.
--7-8 Because compared to all the other EL @ years I think that I have improved a lot more. But not exactly a 10 yet because I’m not perfect in EL @.
--6.5. I had a strong start then my grades went down but I managed to pass so I’ll say a 6.5.
--8. I’m excellent at almost everything except for a few flaws here and there.
--8. I got good grades and some I could have worked harder on.
--8. I could and should have put more effort in my work.
--7. I did most of the work and passed a lot of tests.
--5, because sometimes I do good and sometimes I do bad.
--8. I did very well but I still could’ve improved.
--7. I would have to say a 7 because I am good at critically analyzing stories and writing but on tests I don’t always study.
--8. I know that I did good, and I know that sometimes my grades were a little low, but I still believe that it’s going to be better there.
--3, because I had some downs.
--7. I would rate myself a 7 because I tried my best in this class but I wish that my grade would be above the 95 I got because I know some of the assignments I handed in could be better.
--8. Because I think I worked hard in most units but probably not hard enough. I think I could have worked harder, but I did pretty good.
--7. I did not do All of my homework, but I improved on this.
--8. I gave myself a 8 because I wasn’t the best in EL @ but I tried very hard, and I think trying is as close you can get to being best.
--8. There were some days I missed that could’ve effected my knowledge.
--8. I couldn’t give myself a 10 because if I did that I would be a perfect student, but I’m actually 2nd or 3rd best, since I work hard most of the time and I study few times in EL @. Another reason I wouldn’t give myself a 10 is because I never got a student of the month in EL @.
--8. because I participate, I think just enough I do all of my homework, if I don’t I make it up the next day, and do all of my classwork.
--8. I think I did good this year because I have improved my English.
--8. I would give myself this because I did all my homework, classwork and participated but my grades on tests weren’t very good.
--I’d give myself an 8 because at the almost end of the school year I tried harder and didn’t play around as much.
--6 because I did ok but I need to put in more effort in my work.
--6. I have improved this year but then there are things that have weakend and I am not proud of that.
--8. I give myself an 8 because I could have done better.
--7. I am giving this grade because I think I have did better through out the year.
--9. I didn’t hand in all my homework and I talked to much.
--8. At first I was a slacker then I realized my grade reflected it so I then became the best pupil I could be.
--7. I give my self a 7 because I participate and I pass all my tests but I didn’t do all the homework during this year.
--8. There are still some skills that I need to improve on like with grammar.
--5. Because I could’ve done better and I could’ve gotten better grades.
--8. I feel that because I was bored a lot I didn’t do the best I could do, because I didn’t pay close attention to the work given.
--I would give myself an 8 because I did good but not great I have good grades I do not talk back at the teacher so I give myself an 8.
--10. Because I tried my best in everything.
--7. Because I tried my best and did everything I could do to pass.
--7. I didn’t accomplish what I wanted to do.
--9.8. I’ve got everything going great, but no one’s perfect. I’m not always on time and I don’t get everything right.
--8-9. Because I didn’t do great but I didn’t do horrible. So between 8 and 9 is a good grade.
--8. I have done well but not great I did not try my hardest or study my best. I have some incomplete HW as well.
--8. I say 8 because I think I did alright and good but not perfect.
--8. I did not do a lot of work but I tried my best.
--8. I did most of my homework and I got good grades on tests.
--I would give myself a 9 cause I did my class work, it was just some of the homework that I didn’t do.
--6. I could have done much better.
--8. I got good grades, did all my homework but I got caught talking once in a while.
--6. Cause I talk a lot and need more help.
--6. I did my work but sometimes I missed assignments.
--7. This year I did good but I could have been better.
--4. I didn’t do all book reports.
--7 because I could of done my homework more and need to pay more attention.
--6. I’m failing EL @.
--9. I could do better, and I still need to learn more things.
--5 because sometimes it was fun or not.
--3. Did not do some homework.
--8. I haven’t put my all.
--5. Because I didn’t do well for most of the quarters.
--7. I say 7 because I didn’t really do the homework that much and that really decreased my grade.
--9. The reason I gave my self a nine is because I could have did better.
--7. In the beginning of the year I was kind of struggling, but I gotten better.
--8. I gave myself that because I still haven’t excelled enough in EL @. I want to do better.
--9. I worked very hard this year but I wasn’t perfect.
--8.5. I say this because I did all of my homework and classwork.
--I give myself an 8. Because I still need to improve better and work more and better.
--8. Even though my grades fell I still worked hard to bring them back up. So, I have improved and was earlier and less absent.
--9. I think this because I always try my best and my test grades are good as well as my grade I have received on my report card. I think I am always trying hard and staying on task.
--8. I could work hard and do all my work but I could just push myself more often.
--8+. I worked very hard but could have did better.
--7. I gave myself a 7 because I did all my work and I did not get into troble. That is why I gave myself a seven.
--4.5. for being good at first but then slowing down.
--7. I didn’t work that hard in the beginning and if I know an answer I’ll raise my hand once in a whiel.


Give the teacher a grade for this year Explain.
--8. We only had one party and we still did work 4 days before our summer vacation. We also got a summer packet.
--10. She did everything a teacher needs to do. She explain everything deeply and she went through and review all the topics. Basically 2 thumbs up.
--7. Sometimes she got really angry.
--10. She was the best I think that she took time to help she even gave us her email and IM address for help.
--9. She made sure each and every student in the class understood the lesson before going on. If they didn’t, she would just try to say it in a different way. She never yelled.
--8. Because she was a great supporter. The only reason she is not a 10 is because she is very strict, which is good but I don’t like strict that much.
--8. Because Ms is a good teacher. So I think she diserves an 8 but she isn’t exactly perfect either.
--10. She taught me completely new things. She taught me to read and write more. She also taught me to summarize what I read. She also taught me media, parts of speech, four square, figurative language, plot chart, notetaking skills, test taking skills, resumes, character traits, new vocabulary, and that we should be excellent!
--9. She is a great teacher and all but, sometimes she is unable to correctly answer my questions.
--She helped with the work and really helpful and always got the job done so I rate her a 4.
--9. In the beginning of the year she was intimidating to me but once I saw that she wasn’t an evil robot to steal my happiness she became pretty cool.
--7. It wasn’t to hard to do the work and I did the best that I could do.
--10, because when I needed help she helped me.
--7. Most of what she did was interesting but there were too many tests.
--I would say a 10 because Ms was a really good teacher she was tough but fair and at times we could play boggle and apples to apples but she was always a great teacher.
--10. Ms was a really good EL @ teacher, she always knew what she was talking about, and she did a great job explaining everything to me.
--4, because she helped us a lot.
--5. I give the teacher a 5. Although she taught us a lot this year, she always seemed irritated and would yell at us which is why I gave her a 5.
--9.5. Ms is a fantastic teacher and she taught me things that I never knew. She knew how to make boring units fun to learn, for ex .she showed us something on a tv to teach us the parts of speech.
--10. I wish I could give 20, but I can’t. Ms has a way of making things simple and knows how to keep us interested.
--9.5. I gave Ms a 9.5 because she was very detailed and supportive. Like she would help us give a idea and all. (--But sometimes too serious (sorry!!))
--10. The teacher made everything perfectly clear, and understandable.
--Ms has a way of silenting the class. Most times she’s nice when my class and I play games with her. She gives compliments to students who have great answers. She’s also not too strict or too nice, she’s in between.
--10. My teacher was the best, she helped me when I needed it and she explained things thoroughly. The weird thing is that I liked the part where she was strict, that shows discipline.
--8. Ms is a good teacher and will help you in most cases if you need it.
--9. I would give Ms a nine because she is a really good teacher. But, she is not perfect. No one is perfect. I think she is too strict when she doesn’t need to be.
--The teacher deserves a 9 because she thought us a lot. I she did her best so this is why she deserves a 9.
--9. I learned a lot this year than I learned in any other year.
--8. My teacher taught well and we could understand what she taught.
--10. I say 10 because Ms taught me so much.
--8. I give this because I did not learn a lot before but now I understand a lot more.
--8. She was a little strict on everything being perfect.
--9. She used her ability to be fierce to her advantage. Her voice was just enough to get you on task.
--8. I give Ms this grade because she is a great teacher she teaches a lot. But Ms can be rude at some points through out the school year.
--9. I sometimes feel intimidated. When I don’t understand something, I am always afraid to ask a question.
--10. Because she was the best EL @ teacher I’ve had and she actually helped me to learn and she put a lot of effort and time into her lessons.
--8. I feel that things could have been done a lot less or if you are repeating something so many times change how you are doing it.
--I give her a 10 she is great she could yell a lot but she taught use ever thing we neede to know so I give her a 10.
--4. She’s really boring.
--10. She did everything to help us move to the next grade.
--9. She was a very good teacher and she would give us extra credit to catch up on our work.
--9.9. Like I said, no one is perfect. No offense Ms, but you crack some lame jokes. >.<
--9. Because you made some mistakes. But you were a pretty good teacher.
--7. She taught us many things we didn’t know and made us behave.
--6-7. She was funny at times.
--6. The teacher was okay but she could have been much nicer to us.
--9. I learned a lot and I had a lot of fun. We did exciting units which some classes didn’t get to do.
--I would give her a 9 cause she is a good teacher but she yells too much.
--10. Ms did a great job. She has been lots of help, to me and the class.
--8. She did her job, controlled the students well and she was mean at times, well mostly.
--9. Because she did her best in putting up with us.
--9.5. Ms was nice but when we upset her, she’d yell.
--10. She was a great teaching and I learned a lot from her.
--9. I didn’t like doing all the projects because it felt like we only had a little time to do it.
--9. Miss was a great teacher that why I gave her a 9.
--10. She helped me understand.
--8. I think she did a good job, and she try her best to teach us.
--1 because she takes points of for no reason at all. (says the student who talks and does no work!!)
--2. Because she did what she had to do.
--10. She’s done what she’s supposed to, even with rude students.
--10. You were a great strict but great.
--9. I say 9 because she did teach us mostly everything but it was kinda boring.
--10. You were a good teacher and even if you were mean you still was a good teacher.
--9. She always did the lessons good and she taught me a lot.
--9. She’s taught me a lot. A little rough but that’s just to encourage people.
--10. I gave my teacher a 10 because she worked very hard with us and when she knew we couldn’t do it she didn’t put a fuss up.
--9. I say this because she helped us stay focus when we were doing classwork or a test.
--I give my teacher a 10. Because she had been great and had help me a lot in EL @, Because my work was not that good before.
--7. Her teaching was good but anytime I would come in late I would to hate to have to come to her class because I knew she’d be mad. So, I would get mad, even though she has a right to be mad, this is just how I feel.
--10. Ms. has been great! She teaches in a way where you want to listen and learn. I think from all Ms’s help, I’m ready for 7th grade EL @.
--8. Knows how to teach and knows how to explain the lesson.
-- -1. She is very mean and takes points off for no reason like if she gave directions and you ask about them. Or if you laugh.
--10. I gave the teacher a 10 because she had a goal to reach and reached.
--9.5. for being exciting and proffesoinal and also showing EXCELLENCE.
--9. She was fun and all but some lessons were kinda boring.


If you had a brother/sister/cousin coming into this class, what advice would you give them?
--I would tell them to do all there work and don’t slack off.
--Stay in line and if you do well you will get rewards.
--Always do your homework.
--Don’t get Ms. mad and do all of your HOMEWORK!
--Just follow directions, be quiet if told to, and you’ll be fine.
--Don’t get on Ms’s bad side. Her bite is worse than her bite.
--To do all their homework because let say that you don’t understand something completely doing your homework helps you figure it out so much better.
--I would tell them to not slack. I also would tell them Ms expects excellence and the grade you get is the grade you earned. I would tell them to study a lot, put your full potential into your work, and pay attention in class.
--I would say be as perfect as possible.
--Always focus on the work and focus in class leave the play time for outside. Be prepared and ready to learn. --I would tell them to pay attention do both homework and extra credit, be polite, and don’t judge your teachers too fast, leave space for changes.
--Do your work.
--Be prepared.
--Don’t make fun of Ms and pay attention.
--I would tell them to study do their homework on time and always behave.
--I would just tell them that Ms will always “EXPECT EXCELLENCE” and, not to fool around.
--Pay close attention.
--My advice to future 6th graders in this class is not to do things that will get you in trouble, don’t chew gum, make sure your phones are off, and most of all, don’t ask stupid questions unless you want to get yelled at. In addition, do your homework and other assignments completely and on time.
--I would tell them to listen and do their best and put 100% effort in their work because if they don’t, they’ll regret it later on.
--Expect Excellence! And do nothing but the best.
--The advice I would give them you have to try your best and you can’t pass with class like a brezze.
--Try hard to be in a SP class.
--At all times be on Ms’s good side not her bad and listen carefully. Also be the best you can, give her excellence.
--I would say pay attention at all time and do your work (homework) and participate and don’t be a class clown or get on the teacher’s bad side.
--I would say to them that they are in for a surprise!
--I would tell them to be quiet when Ms or anyone is talking. I would also tell them to show respect too her or if you don’t you will pay the consequences.
--Just listen and follow directions and do your homework.
--I would say to practice everything you learned and to put more effort.
--Do your homework, study your notes, and that is about it.
--Advice I would give is do all your homework, pay attention in class, and behave. And don’t chew gum in class.
--My advice will be that listen to the teacher and do you work.
--Write neat, and don’t make Ms mad don’t talk in class.
--I would say every assignment must be done with effort. I would also say if the teachers not there she’s always there so don’t try to away with mis-behaving.
--Don’t get on her nerves. Pay attention and DO ALL HW.
--I would tell them to always pay attention in class.
--I would say to always listen to your teacher and don’t try to plagerize something. Also that you should believe in yourself and get good grades.
--Just do all of your homework and pay attention even if you become bored.
--I would say to them be good and to expect excellence and do lots of studing.
--Don’t forget to copy the homework.
--Do your best in show the best u can do. Do all your work. Listen to the teacher and show excellence.
--Read, read, and read.
--Stick to me like glue, give me some personal space though and do don’t anything stupid.
--Don’t fool around and do your best. Because Ms expects EXCELLENCE!
--I would start teaching them parts of speech. I would tell them to listen, study and participate.
--I would tell them to do their work, and they’ll be fine.
--Try to do your work and finish it before the due date.
--Do all your work and homework. Study hard for tests.
--Don’t get on Ms’s evil side.
--Follow all the rules or your in trouble. Listen to Ms and do as you’re told and you will find her to be a great teacher.
--Be careful of what you do because the teacher will get on your case for the least things.
--Do homework.
--Just do all your work and help out and then it’ll be fun because you get to do activities if you do assignments.
--The advise I give is respect, do you homework, and keep on working harder till you reach the top.
--I would tell them they should pay attention. I would tell them they should do their book reports and work.
--Don’t talk if the teacher doesn’t tell you. To pay attention.
--Do your homework and pay attention.
--To do the right thing, and to do their work, and make sure they don’t get in trouble.
--be good.
--No.
--Always be poliate and do your work.
--Do the HW, and read a lot. And play football outside a lot of football.
--To always stay on Ms’s good side. Always do the work and don’t slack off.
--Don’t be bad and do you work. Last but not least don’t get Ms mad.
--I would tell them that the teacher gives you great information, you just have to try to understand it and enjoy it.
--I would say, behave in class, do what she says and have fun. But not too much fun…you’ll get in trouble.
--I would tell them to stay focus and pay attention. You don’t know when a test is nearby.
--Just do all of your work and stay focus in class.
--My advice to a brother/sister/cousin who are coming into this class is work really hard to achieve on a high level student in this class because this is a little hard.
--Stay on task, do all your homework, don’t talk during class, unless it’s group work, try your best!
--Do all work in class and homework at home and behave at school.
--I would tell them to work very hard.
--If I had a brother/sister/cousin coming into this class, the advice I would give them was open your eyes and ears and shut your mouth.
--Never be afraid to ask questions about work or lessons.
--Pay Attention! And Don’t goof off.

How They Grow So Fast!

I'm talking about money, not children, unfortunately.

As of this afternoon I have officially spent $212 on teaching supplies!
--$97 at Staples for pens, pencils, staples, a new turbo stapler, stickers, etc (Once again I will give each child a pen and a number two pencil, so they *should* always be prepared regardless of their shopping budgets)
--$57 at Half-Price Books for, well, books (plus those two software programs I mentioned)
--$35 on Half.com for more books (and the fourth was Scaredy Squirrel!)
--$13 at Barnes & Noble for yet more books (a vocabulary workbook and two $3 novels--Chasing Vermeer and The Library Card by Jerry Spinelli)
--$10 at Costco for an electric pencil sharpener

Holy Crap!

Please note the date: August 19--More than two weeks before I will actually see any children.

Another Note: There are at least two more books I want to buy online: The children's book version of Eats, Shoots & Leaves, and another excellent book called Punctuation Takes a Vacation. That's another fifteen to twenty bucks, depending on new/used.

Books I've Bought Very Recently, Or Why Teachers Are Poor But Have Interesting Libraries

I bought them at used bookstores in the Seattle area and had to ship them back here to New York. I finally picked up the parcel today. I'm really excited!

One of them is a Read-Aloud book: over ninety ten-minute excerpts from children's classic novels. Sweet!

Another is called "Manners." On the cover and the inside lining, there are little comic strips. The first is a situation, like someone dropping something. Then four panels show possible ways to react to that situation, one of which is by using manners. I will definitely use this with my sixth-grade students. And after we discuss manners, what they are, when to use them, when you've experienced good or bad manners, they can write their own comic panels about manners! Fun, right?
I also picked up a civil-rights book, a Martin Luther King, Jr book, a book about Japanese-American children in WWII, and an American Indian myth book (by the INCREDIBLE Jane Yolen). I got these because I want to get as many non-white-people-filled books in my room as possible. And they're rather difficult to find. If anyone has suggestions or titles that include "multilogicality" that work well in the classroom, I'd love to hear about it!

I found three books at Value Village, popular novels which are already in my classroom library. At less than a dollar each, I decided to get these for extra copies.

You might be able to see the two software boxes in the top row. One is a SpongeBob SquarePants typing program, and one is a SchoolHouse Rock Grammar Rock game. SWEET!

Oh, and yet another book I'm really excited about, there on the right. It's called Stop, Look, Write. It's all photographs! The point is to use these pictures as a way to inspire writing other than boring prompts like "What is your favorite animal?". I've done this before, with a black and white calendar of New York City, but some are more potent with stories than others. So here is a whole book with ripe photos!

Additionally, I picked up a two-dollar copy of the movie Willow. At first it was just for me, but then I realized that I bet the kids would love it, and they probably won't have seen it before. Live-action adventure movies, that aren't rated R? Yes, they do exist!

All these items costs a total of about $55. Not too shabby!

And, um, I bought four more books on half.com last night. Another Jane Yolen book (Ballad of the Pirate Queens), a Ralph Fletcher novel (Fig Pudding), a Chris Van Allsburg book (Two Bad Ants), and something else that I can't remember. That was $35 including shipping. Excellent!

Phew! All better.

Yesterday evening we changed my tire. It was fun! Like I said, I hadn't done it in four years, but it came back pretty easily. Except for doing a couple things backward. When I finally deigned to look at the instructions on the trunk panel, I saw that jacking up the car first was a mistake. I forgot that you're supposed to loosen the lugnuts first. Oops. But other than that, it was successful and fairly quick. Like, half an hour. We got some dirty hands for our effort, which is awesome.

Look how goofy my spare tire looks! Tee hee!

Once I was up and about this morning, I drove slowly and with flashers to the car place where I'd spend two hours last Thursday. The front desk guy is my buddy now. They were able to patch and inflate my tire, and I was away again in no time. Hurrah!

Time and Money are Overrated

OR ARE THEY??!

August has been my most expensive month for three years running. The first time, I was moving AND preparing for teaching. The second time, I visited Seattle and drove across the country, and was preparing for teaching. This time, I visited Seattle, am preparing for teaching, AND my car is suddenly acting its age.

The Eagle-Eyed Commenter was correct last month: the starter needed replacing on my car. I went to Midas last Thursday to get it looked at. Along with an oil change, that ran me $350. Yikes.

Just after noon today, I set out for the depths of Brooklyn to see a dermatologist for a one o'clock appointment. It took nearly an hour, as I had suspected, because the directions had me driving through the streets. I'm still a bit bitter, but almost used to this kind of thing. What I'm NOT happy about and am SURELY bitter about is waiting for OVER an hour and a half to see the doctor!

I had time to read the entirety of EW's Fall Movie Preview Issue, AND get through almost a chapter of a book about Writing About Reading.

The docter herself was fairly nice, but she didn't actually do anything other than ask three questions and write four prescriptions. Eek.

As I'd recognized the area as near the place I picked up a bed back in April, I checked my atlas and sure enough, saw the Belt Parkway just down the street. Sweet!

I easily got on the freeway, and even enjoyed the view of the sandy dune beaches. Then I got to the Van Wyck, made it through the slowing, and arrived in my neighborhood.

As I slowed and parked, I heard a noise. It sounded like some kind of lawn thing, a hissing or whoosing. Hm, I thought. I got out of the car and the hissing continued. Just for kicks, I walked to the other side of the car, where the sound got quieter.

I walked back to the driver side door, the sound got louder again. I bent down, it got louder still, and then I discovered the hissing HOLE in my TIRE.

Oh, shit.

I actually ran up and around the corner to the hardware shop. The guy sold me that sealant-in-a-can, and I ran back down to the car, "vigorously shaking" the can. By then the tire was completely down to the ground. I put the thing in the thing and pushed the button. Beige liquid ran through the tube, for awhile, but nothing else seemed to be happening. I sat there holding down the button for a few minutes. It didn't seem like anything was happening, so I stopped.

Then I felt that the can still wasn't empty, so I re-shook it and tried again. I thought the tire was re-inflating a bit, but the hissing had most certainly not abated. Soon the can was empty and I gave up.

Shit.

I'm glad that Special Someone is coming over to visit tonight anyway. Changing a tire solo is not fun or easy. More people make it smoother if not exactly easier. I haven't done it for four years, and I haven't ever really explored my car's trunk to see how it's arranged. I'm assuming there's a spare in there. I know the jack is.

Regardless, I'm going to have to get at least one or two new tires. Those are not cheap. Several hundred dollars again.

Add that to not only the previous $350, but the $50 at Half-Price Books back in Southcenter (how I wish they were out here!), and the $97 at Staples the other day, and I am going to be a poor third-year teacher. Here I was all excited about the pay increase, but apparently that's going to go for car maintenance instead!

Now, I must say, in all fairness, that my car has always been great for me. It's never given me big problems, I've never had to even jump the battery. I haven't needed any big repairs on something that wasn't my fault (a couple years ago, the car skidded over some ice and up onto a sidewalk, messing up an axle or two, and some other undercarriage things). And the gas mileage is great: nearly thirty mpg in city and nearly forty on the highway. So it's about time that an eight-year-old car costs me some money.

I just wish I had some more money to spare! Thank god for credit cards.

Fun New Toy!

Today I got TiVo! Well, the generic DVR by TimeWarner. But still! Whee!

My mom has TiVo but no cable, since she's always out and about in the evenings. She records things like Grey's Anatomy and Sex and the City, and her soap opera. I watched a couple shows with her and on my own, and I was entranced at the idea of recording so easily, and being able to fast forward.

I've always been handy with a VCR; I keep the timers set for most days of the week, with a rotation of a few videocassettes. However, with this cable box, I haven't been able to make the VCR timer recording work. It would record for a minute or two and then stop and start blinking. I tried again twice last night with the Ron Clark Story on TNT, but both times it failed. Argh!

So I called this morning to add the service. It's only eight more dollars a month! Totally worth it. The guy told me I could have someone install it for thirty bucks, or I could go in myself to exchange cable boxes for free, at the local mall. Since I was already going out again to meet a friend at Staples, I figured I would go over to the mall afterwards.

And I did. There was a bit of a wait, but I went over to H&M and tried on some adorable skirts and shirts. I went back and waited a few minutes, then my number was called. The exchange took like five minutes, I got a new remote with batteries, a power cable, and I was all set!

After going back to buy one sweater and one skirt at H&M, I eventually got home and plugged the box and all the cords back where they belonged. I hit power and checked out the remote set-up, and voila!

I already set a few shows to be recorded. The new fall season is usually a fun time of year, and now, hoo boy, it's gonna be better than ever. I can't wait to get all the shows set up and never worry again about VCR malfunctioning or juggling VHS tapes.

I Heart Technology!

No Really, Read the Fine Print

One morning, while walking to the UFT workshop series in July, someone was handing out granola bars with postcards. Figuring that hell, I never say no to free, I accepted both. I stuffed the bar into my bag for future snacking potential, and then read the postcard. I actually laughed out loud on the streets of Manhattan at these descriptions:

Nearly One Year

This is part of an email sent out by AmeriCorps NCCC promoting another month of service in Louisiana. I would love to go, but they want people there August 15-September 15. That's one of the busiest times of the year for a teacher, and I can't afford it either. I do really want to go back and keep working on the rebuilding effort. I'm thinking that either the December break or the February break would be excellent (and mild-weathered) times to go.

I really encourage ALL people to think about what they can do to contribute, not just to the Katrina rebuilding, but the community in general. Yes, you can donate money to a cause, but it's so impersonal. Real service gives you such a high! You learn about new places, you meet new people, sometimes you learn new skills, and you have fun.

Habitat for Humanity is all over the country; go look up your local affiliate.

In big cities, there are big events like fundraising walks, spread throughout the year.

Late October is National Youth Service Day, and local chapters of Hands On (connecting organizations that need volunteers with people who want to volunteer--for free!) like New York Cares hold big volunteering days and afterparties around then. (New York Cares Day is October 21 this year; mark your calendars!)

But you can find a place and time to volunteer with them, any time of year, any time of day, in lots of areas.

There are lots of churches, shelters, and nonprofits that need help, or people who need a kind word. Please do all that you can to make the world a better place.

Anyway, enough preaching from me, here's some information about St. Bernard Parish, the focus of the upcoming service month.

"On August 29, 2005, Saint Bernard Parish was devastated by Hurricane Katrina. The storm damage, which affected virtually every structure in the parish, was believed to come both from direct effects of the storm and from a massive storm surge funneled in by the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet ("MRGO").

"The eye of Katrina passed over the eastern, less populated portion of the parish, but in doing so pushed a 25-foot storm surge into Lake Borgne and into the MRGO. This surge destroyed the parish levees which were 14-17 feet high. Almost the entire parish was flooded, most areas getting between 5 and 12 feet of standing water. There may have been as many as two homes untouched by flood waters. Independent engineering analysis of the storm surge suggests that the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet transmitted the storm surge from the Lake Borgne area directly into the center of the heaviest populated areas of the parish. Unlike most of the flooding in New Orleans, the water rose suddenly and violently, during a period that witnesses have reported as no more than fifteen minutes. In many areas, houses were smashed or knocked off their foundations by storm surge higher than their roofs.

"For more than two months after the storm, much of the parish remained without proper services, including electricity, water, and sewage. Federal and state relief was notably lacking in the parish. Parish President Henry "Junior" Rodriguez, declared all of the parish's homes unlivable. Many areas of the parish may have to be completely demolished, although there is much uncertainty about whether or not this will happen. Several residents have begun to repair houses which they believe are more cheaply repaired than bulldozed and rebuilt. There is much fear about the lack of funding because of the complete loss of the parish's tax base. St. Bernard's levee system, however, is being restored and is expected to be at pre-Katrina levels by June 2006. It should be noted that this is the first time in FEMA history that an entire parish or county experienced the severity of damage that St. Bernard received from Katrina.

"Many St. Bernard residents feel their plight is little known and generally ignored by the nation as a whole, having been overshadowed by the proportionately less severe but more visible damage in New Orleans."

I'm back!

I finally walked through my own door around 12.30 am, after a very long traveling day.

Whew!

I must say, my apartment is a very cute place to come back to!

Almost there

Today is Monday; on Wednesday morning I will begin another long travel day back to New York. (Aside: I now think that paying a bit more is well worth it, to be in a nice and modern plane like JetBlue that flies nonstop!)

I feel like I've been away from New York for a long time; for too long, actually. This is a first for me, that I'm anxious to get back there, back to my life there.

I've had a fairly good visit here. There has been the schedule juggling and the family juggling, which sucks but appears to be inevitable (that's why I stay back east for the holidays), but I have gotten to play tourist a little. I visited Mt Rainier National Park for a few hours last week, and it was breathtaking. We could see the mountain most of the drive down, but when we got into the park itself, there were trees and smaller mountainous things in the way. We came around a bend and I actually gasped: there was the mountain, in clear splendor, framed by evergreens. Man, it's gorgeous. I took a ton of pictures and I will be posting them soon.

I went back to Pike Place Market a second time last week too, and took more super-close-up pictures (you know, that little flower symbol on the camera) of flowers and fruit. Pretty!

There were several opportunities to see friends that I hadn't seen in a year or more, which was great. I didn't get to see my teammate that lives here...but I'm hoping that she's coming to NYC soon. I wish more friends would! Or even my younger siblings. I've got a great apartment with plenty of space and a comfy airbed.

Perhaps one reason that this two weeks has stretched so long is that it feels like two trips: the first, whirlwind weekend with the Special Someone; and then a week and a half on my own.

Now I have to pack up again, and it feels like moving again, only without a car to stuff crap into. I just shipped off two photo albums and a photo box--twenty-nine bucks via UPS. Then this afternoon I went school-book-shopping at Half Price Books, and will have to media-mail those back to New York. But it will be worth it, both of them. My suitcases will be stuffed with a few extra clothes and souvenirs and little fun things. That will be worth it as well.

I've had a number of dreams involving first days of school, fairly regularly. One of them had me trying to teach math concepts and disciplining and it was terribly stressful.

I'm itching to start making lists of school supplies to buy, and to finally start reading my piles of professional books to crack, and start organizing the first month of lessons and projects and plans. I'm dreading the next few weeks of anxious dreaming and frenzied planning, but I know it will also spur me to work harder to prevent those stresses from coming to life.

The scenery here is absolutely incredible. Unbelievable and gorgeous and amazing. I knew it was beautiful, and I knew I missed it, but seeing it in person is different. It's like I can feel it inside, the beauty, the missing, the living in a brown place during winter. Living in a place with no real greenery--sorry, but the Ramble is NOT a forest, and the Catskills are NOT mountains--does take a toll on me, though I don't think about it much. The day after I arrived, I came to visit my dad. When I turned around and saw the mountain, crystal clear against a pure blue sky above a bed of evergreen valley, tears came to my eyes.

But my life is in New York. And it's not just because I have a boyfriend there now. I really do seem to be settling in and being there. I'm not a transplant anymore; it's not temporary; I live in New York. I want to embrace New York life. From now on I want to focus on really being in the present and enjoying living in such a vibrant city. I want to take advantage of everything that's there, and have some fun and keep learning new things, about the city and about myself.

I want to keep developing myself as a teacher. People always say the third year is the best, because you get to settle in and not be so new and inexperienced. Since I won't be taking any more grad school classes--hallelujah!--I can concentrate more on getting good work out of the kids, and getting quality teaching out of myself. I hope to actually have fun--shock!--teaching, and to be able to say that yes, I do love teaching.

I miss my sweet kids from last year. I'm nervous that the new batch of kids will be more difficult, or not as lovably nerdy. I'm nervous that I won't be able to reach them, that I won't make a difference for them, that I won't be able to motivate them to enjoy school and learning. I'm nervous about my own self, keeping up with the work and the kids and the lessons and the tests...

It's time to get back. It's time to come home.

The Best of Seattle: Fun Things and Places

--Boehm's Candies in Issaquah--genuine Alpine chocolates! The appeal for me is mostly the aroma of the shop. If heaven doesn't smell like that, I don't want to go.

--Compline at St Mark's Cathedral, on Capitol Hill--a little-known but popular (is that possible?) Sunday night tradition. It's a short chant (some in English, some in Latin) in the boxy but echoey St Mark's, held from 9.30 to 10pm. People of all ages come and sit in pews or lie on the floor, absorbing the magic of the human voice. It's a gorgeous experience and I highly recommend it.

--Before or after Compline, or any night of the week, Capitol Hill is a great place to go. It's always bustling and has great people watching. It's the most New York of Seattle neighborhoods. Dilletante's has excellent drinks and desserts, and the Broadway Grill has delectable dinners and cocktails. There's dancing at several clubs, no matter your orientation. You can find independent bookstores and all kinds of Asian cuisine. There are several large 24-hour grocery stores if you need them too.

--Ride the Duck tours--yes, it's cheesy and obnoxious. But it's still fun. The best part is driving into Lake Union and motoring around the water in an amphibious vehicle, looking at the skyline and the houseboats. They drive past the houseboat from Sleepless in Seattle, which is big and beautiful and costs several million dollars.

--Kerry Park on Queen Anne--no one I know has ever even heard of it, which is a tiny tragedy. I first saw mention of it on this blog, and then we heard about it on the free tour talk at the top of the Space Needle. It's so easy to get to, and it's an incredible view. You go up Queen Anne hill, and turn left on Highland. You'll see the little park on the left, and you turn, and you see the entire city of Seattle below you, with Mt Rainier behind to the right. Sunny or rainy, cloudy or clear, day or night, it's breathtaking.

--Snoqualmie Falls in Snoqualmie, in the Cascade foothills--Very popular, and very pretty. Waterfalls are always crowd-pleasers. Right now, because of the summer dry season, the falls are about half that width, but I have seen them that big, after big rains. It's impressive no matter what. You can 'hike' down a steep one-mile trail to get to the lower observation deck, and then you can clamber over the railing and pick your way over lots of big rocks to get down to the river and in mist-range. Definitely a must-do. If you ever liked playing that game where the floor is lava and you have to hop from one big thing to another, you will love this 'beach.'

--Scott's Dairy Freeze in North Bend has the best milkshakes around! Right at the foot of Mt. Si, down the street from Twin Peaks Cafe, and around a corner from an outlet mall. North Bend is a few miles up the road from Snoqualmie Falls. If you continue east on I-90, you soon hit Snoqualmie Pass and the actual Cascade mountains. Gorgeous in any season!

--Small Fryes in Fall City, which down the road in the other direction from Snoqualmie Falls--the best fries around! Hot and fresh; big enough that they put them in a brown paper lunch bag; salted and slightly seasoned. Yum! They also have good milkshakes and burgers.

--Carnation is a small dairy town (Carnation milk, anyone? Actually, now it's owned by Nestle) near Fall City. That's where I lived for a few years and had an idyllic American childhood experience. If you like to dunk in ice-cold mountain water, or float downriver on an inner tube, Carnation's Tolt and Snoqualmie Rivers are for you. If you're around in the winter, there's a good tree farm with a shop selling ornaments and spiced cider. Yum.

--In town, for the best burgers, fries shakes and ice cream cones that are also ridiculously cheap and authentically local, you must stop by Dick's Drive-In. There are five of them scattered around Seattle. Local legend that stands up to the lore. You must go.

--Jet City Improv--Ten bucks to see an hour and a half of Whose-Line type improv! It's in a small historic theatre in the U-District, which is a fun place to be anyway. Always funny, plus easy to get to.

Pike Place Market

Day 2

It's midday here in the gorgeous Seattle suburbs...the sun is out, and the air is crisp and clean and warm.

There are brilliant green trees everywhere, and serene hills and mountains surround all edges of the horizon.

The grocery stores are the size of airplane hangars, the gas costs less than a gallon of ice cream, and the town restaurants quaintly close at 9pm on weekdays.

Not a soul has air conditioning, but with temperatures in the 80s, plus fans and windowshades, indoors is invitingly pleasant.

The quiet sidewalks and peaceful parks are begging for pedestrians, and the beaches attract sunbathers.

Ah yes, life is good here!

Last night here before the trip

It's late on Monday night, and tomorrow at this time I'll be arriving at my West Coast home.

I'm nervous, I think! I've got, like, butterflies. I'm not sure why.

I'm definitely looking forward to the trip, to see family and friends that I haven't seen in a year or more. Even better, I get to show the Special Someone around my favorite spots, and to rediscover my hometowns with new eyes. And I'll probably get to hang out with Nancy, since she's staying a few miles from both of my parents' houses. Small world! It'll be fun but really strange to have people from different worlds together, you know? Mixing references or whatever.

I tried to get to sleep early...er than normal last night, but it didn't work. I had set the alarm for the ungodly hour of nine am. Naturally, I didn't fall asleep until past two, and so getting up was NOT fun. But I did, eventually. I'd hoped that, in addition to helping me be productive and busy on this last full day, I'd also be tired enough to go to bed at a reasonable hour tonight. Ha ha, not so much, apparently. I've an insatiable appetite for staying up late. Night owl to the core, even when I feel tired and sleepy.

Tomorrow, I've got to close the windows, throw away perishables, do a last quick cleaning, review my packing, find some books to bring, check the mail, go to the bank, go to the library, and go to my friend's to drop off the car/leave for the airport by 3pm. Phew! That should keep me busy, right?

An Apartment Surprise

Something I've been meaning to do for the last three months is measure and map out my apartment. I was bored this afternoon, so I finally got out the tape measure and went to town.

I was really shocked when I calculated the area of all the sections--the total square footage is under 500! Approximately 489 square feet, to be more specific. The outside wall slants, as you see. I took measurements approximately near the middle of each room and just used that.

But anyway, it sounds terribly small! But the space is used so well, with the hallway and the FOUR closets and the kitchen/dining area. I penciled in furniture as well, though I didn't label it. Still, it looks neat.

It's my own place and I do love it. One of my school friends who helped me move in finally came to see the updated version. She exclaimed how homey and cozy it is. (Maybe that's a euphemism for small....) And it is! With the rugs separating and linking parts, and my awesome office nook, and small folding table in the kitchen, there's plenty of room and character. The walls, sadly, are still bare. I'll have to work on that eventually.

Recommendations and Teaching

I've been considering doing the teaching fellows program for several years now but always chicken out. I wonder what is your experience with the program and would you recommend it. I have an acquaintance that did the program and she said it was doable, but honestly doesn't seem to enjoy teaching very much. She didn't say that, but it was her lack of enthusiasm when we discussed the program that threw me off. She told me a lot of people do the program just to get their degree and then leave.

I know someone else who did the program and quit after a month because they felt it was too much work. After reading some of your old blog entries I realize that the first year is the most challenging.

Anyway, I would you recommend the program? What do you wish you had known before you started teaching?

---
What an interesting query! It's really got me thinking, which is excellent fodder for this here blog. Let me break it down into answerable chunks.

Experience with NYCTF:

First of all, from what I've seen and heard, experience varies greatly by university placement and teaching level (elementary vs secondary/subject).

My own experience, I would say, was meh.

Know that in programs like this, you are set up to fail. You must work your ass off to rise above it.

The beginning of the program was profoundly confusing and stressful. We were constantly being told things, from the university, from the Fellows, and I was rarely sure who was who. The first summer is six weeks of endless stuff: summer school placement, afternoon classes, evening advisories. My days averaged 13 hours, with the three one-hour commutes.

We were all full of questions, as you can imagine. Everyone was always asking questions about what things would be like, whether vague or specific. Sometimes professors or advisors would give advice, but mostly the answer was, "It depends on your school."

Lots of things are important aspects of your teaching experience: the administration, the students, the type of class you have, the time of day you have those classes, your colleagues, the resources available to you, the parents, the community your school is in. All these things vary greatly between schools. GREATLY.

Anyway, so a lot of the Fellows time was spent asking and answering questions, and rolling of eyes because there's only so much information anyone can give you.

The classes themselves were definitely meh. I was placed in the common branch program, which is k-6. So our classes were mapped out for us, to cover different subject areas, plus 'basic' type courses. The first summer we had to take a literacy class (the first of at least three) and a child development class (very close to Psych 101 and utterly useless).

Despite everyone telling us how EXTREMELY IMPORTANT behavior management is, there were/are no classes about that. Nothing practical.

However, I understand that is commonplace in teacher education, no matter the program (regular and alternative). So I suppose I can't hold that against the Fellows.

The one thing they did emphasize, as I'd hope ALL teacher-education programs would, is that teaching is DIFFICULT. It's not easy, it's not romantic. If you want any kind of personal or professional success in education, you really have to work your ass off.

Enjoy teaching:

This is a really personal, individual matter. I'm still not sure exactly how I feel...I've posted about that before (see the links; I think one of those is up there).

I do know that my second year was light-years better than my first year. The first year was hard, but I kept working at it, trying new things, determined not to let the kids get the better of me.

So with the first bad year under my belt, and time to plan and implement new ideas, I got to enjoy things more. I feel like I had better kids, and they could meet me in the middle instead of me giving them everything.

That's what seems to separate the good from the mediocre: you see kids who just aren't getting the education they deserve. In this city, sometimes it seems like all of them are missing out, at least the ones who aren't in the posh private schools. You see kids that are absolutely brilliant, who are lazy. You see kids that have potential, but no support at home. You see kids who are sweet one-on-one, but who are friends with dangerous or negative kids. You see kids who should be in the top schools, who are struggling to stay motivated in the midst of kids who don't give a shit. The children in this city WANT to learn, WANT to excel and succeed. Too many can't or won't, because of reasons beyond their control.

So it's up to you, the neophyte, struggling teacher, to give them what they need. They're going to get to you, get in your head and your heart, and you may get frustrated and angry, but you can't give up. You can't let them down--you have to give them your all so that they can give their all.

You won't reach all of them. Duh. And don't go around with that, "If I reach one student, then I've done my job" bullshit. Don't be defeatist; reach as many as you can! Be a good role model, show them how to be an educated adult, talk to them as people and not just out of control children, give them tools to discover their own intelligence and power. Help them see that you want them to work hard, because you have faith in them to achieve. That doesn't always mean words, either. It's how you talk to them, how you treat them, the kinds of assignments you do, the kinds of resources you bring in.


First year:

Really, really hard. The most difficult thing I've ever done, hands down. I'm sure any teacher would agree.

The beginning of my teaching experience was a bit unusual. My region wasn't hiring in the summer, and I wasn't from here, so I had no reference for where or what to teach. So I was placed in the Reserve Pool. For the first week and a half, I was in a primary school with a kindergarten teacher. Then I was in a junior high for a week, 'teaching' Spanish. Finally, the third week of school, I was permanently placed at a middle school in Queens, teaching EL @.

Those students, who were rowdy for other teachers, were monsters for me. They'd had two weeks of subs, so they were used to being crazy and doing nothing in that classroom. I took myself and my job very seriously; I wanted to be able to control them and actually teach them straight away. I started with absolutely nothing. I walked in third period on a Monday. The room was empty except for desks. I didn't have chalk. I didn't have a grade book. I didn't have a ROSTER for at least three days! I had no lesson plans, no concept of middle school standards or expectations. I tried to fight it, but I flailed all over the place. I tried, I struggled, I failed, I got frustrated, I couldn't sleep, I got sick, parents tried to fight my ideas, my AP and dean were totally useless...It was like climbing an ice field wearing ballet slippers and no coat. Or something. It felt impossible! I felt like I should have been doing so much better!

I know better, much better, now. Even at the time, I tried to reason with myself that I had the deck--several decks, more like--stacked against me: first year, late start, young, white, not a New Yorker... Let's just say people were proud of me for surviving as well as I did.

But it was such a struggle, with myself and with the kids.

The thing that my principal saw in me, and that's why he supported me so well and trusted me so much this year, was that I did NOT give up. I gritted my teeth to get through the hard times, trying and trying and trying to get somewhere with the students. I had ideas, I bought books, I talked to other teachers, I got advice from my teacher parents, I was always trying new things. Sometimes they worked and I kept them. Sometimes they worked and I didn't work hard enough to keep them. I was inconsistent a lot. Most of the time I had absolutely NO idea what I was doing. I had to figure out who I was in the classroom; what my style is and how I could naturally and yet firmly conduct my classroom. Building it during the year means that those kids didn't really take it too seriously; they saw me at my weakest and my slow progression didn't impress them much.

My dean told me one day that the first year of teaching is an experiment and you can't take it too seriously. You see what happens, you find out what NOT to do, you may find some things TO do, and then you move forward from there.

I was terrified that my second year wouldn't be better than my first. Everyone told me it got so much better after the first year. I couldn't take that chance. That's why, starting last July, I worked my ass off, planning, thinking, talking, buying. I got to set up my room ahead of time, and plan out all my classroom stuff, and be there from the start. I had my teacher personality already. I had my wardrobe personality ready. I worked at school and at home all the way through about mid-October.

All that made the second year night and day compared to the first. Things still were never easy; I still had to keep on my toes.

Now that it's over, I think back and truly miss my students, and I reluctantly realize that I did enjoy myself this year. It's not something I'd say I hated OR loved; it's just something I do. I feel like now that I've established myself, I can really do some great work in education. It's been a part of me long before I had the title "Teacher," and I'm sure it will be with me long after I relinquish that title.

Recommend the program:

That's really hard to say. It's a tough, really tough, thing to do. Not everyone is cut out for it. I didn't know if I was. I joined it to see what I could do. Turns out I can--but again, I had to put in a lot of work to get there. And my principal is supportive.

If you've thought about it, I think I'd say do it. Work hard, persevere, know it will get better. Talk to as many people as you can; having a support system is the absolute most important thing.

Classes for me were pretty useless, to be honest. As a single-subject teacher, doing science and math and stuff were a waste of time for me. Most of my professors were not good and were not in touch with the urban teaching experience. Thankfully, a couple professors were good. That first literacy course ended up being a great resource to fall back on; she had us keep a writer's notebook and do genre projects that eventually we got to use as touchstone texts, so to speak, for our own students in our own classrooms. It's a balancing act: class, plus teaching, plus commuting, plus eating (please eat during the day!), plus life. You're in charge--you have to figure it out.

That was actually my favorite part of being a Fellow: talking, comparing, complaining, being around other Fellows in my cohort. There were two classes' worth of us in common branch, so we got to know each other fairly well. It was a lot of fun to catch up with a new mix of them each time a new semester started. Everyone had a slightly different experience. For the vast majority, things are continuing to improve.

There were a couple new Fellows in my school this year. One did really well, and one did not. That girl was small and quiet and weak, and the students of course saw that. She quickly got overwhelmed and seemed to just give up. I tried to give her hints and ideas, specific ones, and she sort of showed interest. But she just didn't have the heart to really work at it. She's going to a new school this fall, and it's going to be a sorry wake up call; she's gonna have another difficult year unless she finds the will to work and change.

The city and the university might give you mentors, but be prepared for them to be no use at all. You'll rarely see them, they won't give you any concrete advice, they'll keep telling you what to fix and change rather than what you're doing well. If your mentors turn out better, excellent. But don't plan on it.

You'll have to find your own mentors: might be a neighboring teacher, might be a Teacher Center rep like mine, might be a friendly older teacher, might be a relative who's a teacher. Find someone, though.

Be tough in the classroom! DON'T be friendly--the kids will interpret that as soft. You must be firm and strict. I can't say enough how much a difference that makes. The kids WANT and NEED structure and adult role models. They want you to be a teacher! They will gripe and groan about the work and your relentless toughness, but believe me, they will appreciate it, because they'll know you're doing your job, and they'll then be more invested in doing their job.

What to know before you start:

Teaching is REALLY HARD. You can't do it without actually doing it. Preparing won't do much; you've got to get in the trenches and get dirty.

I firmly believe that it's much harder in a big city, and even more difficult specifically in New York. There are so many kinds of kids in the system. Colleagues range from old and cranky to young and idealistic. Some will inspire you, and some will piss you off, and some will be friendly, and some will be irritating. All colleagues are like that, but then you realize that in this instance, those cranky, complacent, inhospitable ones are in charge of teaching youth. You start to ache for those kids that are missing out on good teaching.

Please, do not take movies and television seriously! They totally romanticize all aspects of teaching and gloss over the difficult stuff, like parent contact and grading papers. Not to mention trying to have a personal life outside school.

Good teaching takes time and unbelievable effort, for very little reward.

I knew these things before I started. I'm not sure if I needed to know anything specifically before I started. Since all experiences are so different, there's no easy, one-fits-all advice to give.

There's a wonderful community online of teacher bloggers, and a huge resource of lesson plan sites. Take advantage of all of that!

I hope this has helped; I'm not sure if I really answered anything. Teacher bloggers and Fellows: please share your reactions to this inquiry, and to my response. Please add your experiences and comments and links. What do you think?

Bodies!

Forgive me for not writing of this sooner! I meant to, really!

The UFT is doing a new thing: the New Teachers Series. It's starting with this summer's events and I believe will continue in other ways. So far there've been a couple socials, where neophyte teachers (who haven't started yet) come hang out and meet one another and trade stories and/or advice. There was a workshop on money stuff, one on what the union does, and Friday was the 'social' at the Bodies exhibit.

I'm part of this because in the spring, I went to an event called "A Dinner with Randi". She came to the Queens UFT office and there were about a hundred teachers who've been teaching four or fewer years. She asked us what we wanted from the union. Some people gave ideas and advice. Most of the time was spent on venting and complaints about schools, and Randi gave advice and promised to get involved.

One of the staff-type people mentioned something about new teachers specifically, and everyone strongly agreed that newbies are wildly unprepared. So there was an email list started, and that has apparently become the New Teachers Activity Committee. So that's why I'm at these events, helping out and putting in my two cents.

Anyway, today was pretty cool. Everyone got in to the exhibit (it normally costs $24.50!!) and got some snacks, as well as a packet with lesson plans and field trip information from the museum.

The exhibits were really interesting. It was a bit squicky but fascinating. It didn't help that they added fake eyeballs and lips and noses and ears and eyebrows, not to mention toenails and fingernails. And there were a lot of penises; for some reason, more male bodies are donated to science, apparently.

There were spotlit cases of bones and organs. The diseased lungs were really black and deformed! So was the cirrhosissed (?!) liver. Although, with the lungs, they noted some discolorations, from 'normal' pollutants in the air. Interesting.

The circulatory section was quite interesting: they dyed the arteries and then dissolved the rest of the tissue. Thus, there were body-part-shaped masses made of tiny red blood vessels. There was one of the entire trunk, and the kidneys looked like fuzzy balloons, they were so densely packed.

What really got me were the whole bodies: each one was de-constructed to show something off. The muscles and nerves are so intricate! It was really fascinating. On many of them, the big muscles were de-attached so you could see how they're all related. The Achilles tendon just hanging out kinda freaked me out. It made me wince. And the leg and ab muscles! I'm sore today from a workout with Gilad (I rather like FitTV, what about it?), and it was cool to feel where my soreness was and then see a muscle on a body in the same place. Hm, that doesn't make sense. But I could see where I was sore, and how that muscle is connected to the rest of the body. You know?

I've always been in awe of the body: as you learn about each system, you see all the organs and stuff, isolated in pictures. But they all fit together! Whenever I see a really thin and tiny woman, I always wonder how everything fits inside! And do larger people have larger organs? If they lose weight, do the organs shrink?

Anyway, it was a very interesting exhibit. I'm going to talk to my school, and whoever the AP will be, about getting some of the advanced classes there for field trips, especially since the Intrepid will close in October for awhile.

To New York City teachers: I was told that there will be another event at Bodies, this time for all UFT members. Keep an eye out!

If you are an incoming NYC teacher, go check out information on this great series from the New Teachers committee.

Seven: Not the magic number

Cross-posted from Nachos, Please!

Benjamin Restaurant and Bar: 2nd Ave and E. 33rd

Have you ever been really hungry? And you go walking down a nearby street, and you see a nice-looking place on a corner. Lights dimmed, pleasant ambiance, slightly posh, but not overly so. Check out the menu, looks good.

Once you're seated, the pleasant waitron asks for your drink order. Flavored margaritas! NOPE. They don't have them. Mojitos? Nein. Okay, a beer and a midori sour.

Back to the menu: I spy nachos! Yummy. Just the thing to hit the spot: melted cheese covering a warm pile of tortilla chips. Mm.

Cheese only, please. Um...are you sure? Yes. Just cheese, nothing else? Yes, correct, just cheese. Okay...

A few minutes later (fairly quick service, that's good), a plate is set down in front of you.

You nearly splutter aloud, is this a joke? are you serious?

There are seven chips on the plate. Arranged prettily like a tortilla-chip-pizza...but still. SEVEN. CHIPS. Seven!

You politely ask the waitron for an extra serving of chips, because clearly, this ain't right. But he says, no, that's the order size. Okay...

Every inch of the tortilla-pizza is covered in cheese. No gaps. Again, while pretty, not exactly ideal. You must have the balance between cheesy and crispy, right? No one wants soggy nachos, for pete's sake.

And for cheese-drenched tortilla-pizza, it's not bad. But.

SEVEN. CHIPS!

Okay. "Dinner" is over. You decide to give them ONE more chance to prove themselves, so you order the yummy-looking pear crumble. Mm, pears and crumbly...stuff.

It arrives...and it's cold.

Sigh.

Ratings:
Ease of order: 2.
Portion size: 1. SEVEN?!
Cheese distribution: 2. Tortilla-pizza!
Taste: 3
Restaurant Atmosphere: 3
Service: 3
Quality: 2 1/2

My Political Standing, According to the Experts of the Internets

You are a Social Liberal (60% permissive) and an... Economic Liberal (11% permissive) You are best described as a: Socialist Link: The Politics Test on OkCupid Free Online Dating Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Old and New

I was looking around the television yesterday and saw that Made was on. I like that show, the transformations and the work and all that uplifting yet embarassing stuff they show. This episode was about a kid who wanted to be a break dancer.

"Eh," I thought, and went to change the channel.

Then I heard the voiceover begin: "There's nothing special about living in Redmond, Washington....east of Seattle....home of Microsoft...I go to Redmond High School..."

"Guh?!" I said, in shock.

*I* used to live in Redmond! I went to RHS! Holy cow!

A couple years after I graduated, so all the shots of the school meant nothing; it's all pretty and shiny and soulless, like all modern school buildings. However, they showed the kid in his newspaper class, and there was Mr. Kimball! He was the yearbook advisor too, which I did!

Then the coach was eventually introduced: an original breakdancer from the 70s. Where is he from? New York, probably the Bronx (by the accent).

I'll be arriving back in the Seattle area next Tuesday night.

Later in the day, the Special Someone and I went to a nearby bar for drinks. Who do I see on a couple of the big-screen tvs over the bar? The back of Joel Piniero! The Mariners are playing at Yankee Stadium this week.

Okay, is this weird, or what? A New Yorker in my high school, and my baseball team in my new city.

Last weekend, we watched an adorable movie called Little Manhattan. It's about a kid on the Upper West Side who falls in love with a girl in his school and karate class. It's as much about young love as it is about the love of New York. It's full of street scenes and park scenery. The movie was cute and funny and very enjoyable. I loved the New York references. I loved seeing familiar places, like the 72nd Street subway station, or Central Park.

I always get a thrill when I see something familiar on tv or in a movie. I think to myself, hey, I've been there! I know where that is! I can tell you how to get there! etc. Most of the time, those places are in New York, because it's so popular and so familiar to so many people.

I've always heard you have to live in New York for five/seven/ten years before you can call yourself a New Yorker. I am pretty sure I won't be here much longer than three years. Do I even want to call myself a New Yorker? I don't love New York, but I don't hate it either. It's just here. I'd probably feel differently if I lived and/or worked in the city, like the Someone does. Then I could appreciate the energy and magic and blah blah blah. It's neat to walk around among the tourists and smugly think that I actually know where I'm going, and that I can (usually) confidently answer their questions and queries. I feel comfortable here now. It's funny to think that technically, I belong here now. But do I, really?

I must say, I love the money situation of living outside Manhattan. Produce in the Union Square market is twice as expensive as the produce on my block. My rent buys me three times the space for living. Can't argue with that.

When I go back to Seattle, it's going to feel like home...sort of. Things will have changed in the last year. People will have changed. My little sister will have grown taller. My little brother has already started going to class at UW. New housing developments will have popped up as stands of trees will have disappeared. The smog will be worse. So will the traffic. It will be surreal to be somewhere that is at once familiar and different. But since it's familiar and where I came from, do I really belong there, underneath wherever I am now?

*I* will be different. My frame of reference is now New York. My vocabulary and sometimes my accent has adjusted to New York. My educational experience in New York is most certainly different than my educational experience in Seattle.

When I'm here, I talk about there. When I'm there, I'll talk about here.

Gah!

Where do I really belong?

Summer Swelter

Ugh! I'm just relieved that it's over.

I live on the fifth floor, and I have three windows that receive light all day. Normally that is okay, or even fantastic. When the temperatures and humidity make it about 100 degrees, though, it is not what we call a good time.

I had both fans going, and the AC. You can't feel the AC more than four feet away from the unit, so who knows if it was contributing to anything.

Duh, it wasn't, because I was sweating all day. There was no cooling to be done or had, except in the shower. Then leaving the wonderful refreshing shower, the muggy heat once again took over. Ugh!

The night was the worst, though. I'd hoped, as it had been working well the rest of the time, that having the fans going would suffice. After all, I kept one blowing right toward me. But this time, it was just pushing air at me, not cooled at all, and I couldn't get comfortable.

I've been staying up late reading anyway--cause I can!!--so, and this was around 2am, I turned the lights back on to read some more.

Then I had an idea borne out of sheer annoyance. I inflated my air mattress and put it on the floor in front of the AC unit. From there, I actually felt cool air, a lot of it! Whew, what a relief. I stayed up reading until after 3am, and even with the refreshing artificial breeze, I tossed and turned until well after 3.30. Eventually though, I did drift off. I even grabbed a blanket, to stay comfortable in the thankfully-cooler air.

I struggled to wake up at 11.15. After some television, I had to leave the house to find some cool air. I went once again to Target. Here's a fun twist! I parked in the garage, on the next-to-top level, so the car wouldn't be in the direct sun. Even so, when I returned with my bags, the key turned...and nothing happened.

Nada! It didn't even turn over!

I was perplexed and concerned and at the edge of panicky. What does one do when in a parking garage? Would I have to get a tow? What's wrong with the car? Will they still charge me for all the time if I have to wait for a service person? Does anyone still carry jumper cables? When was the last time I had an oil change?

I kept trying a few more times, and it started to catch and finally, THANKFULLY, the engine turned over and the car started. Oh, PHEW.

I stopped at a gas station on the way home, because one of my tires was really low. I filled it up, and then, the car wouldn't start again. Hoo boy. Once again, though, because the gods don't hate me, the car did start after a few tries. I vowed to park in the shade and remember to pour some water and coolant in the radiator before my next drive.

I went into the city last night and was so relieved upon coming home, as the storm had ended and so had the humidity. Relief!

I slept in front of the AC again, but I probably would have been fine without it. The fans were once again circulating mostly-cooled air. And I went to bed at 2 for real. Good for me!

Must remember to keep drinking cool water to stay hydrated. And I want to work out again today. If I'm gonna sweat, I might as well do something productive for my out-of-shape self.

A Spelling Strategy, for all ages

What's the last show of a television season?

season FINale

What's the last, comprehensive test you take at the end of the year?

FINal exam

What do you say when you've completed a task?

I'm FINished!

What do you see at the end of old-fashioned movies?

FIN

What are French and Spanish words for "the end"?

FIN, FINito

What's a term for limiting something?

conFINe

What is the word for limiting an idea, say, the number of people you can fit in a phone booth?

FINite

What is the word when you set a limit or explanation to something?

deFINe

What is the noun version of a limit or explanation for something?

deFINITE

How about the adverb version?

deFINITEly

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What does the root "FIN" mean?
An end or limit!
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There are NO 'A's in the words define, definite, or definitely! No A! None, whatsoever! ZERO A!
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Look! Now you know how to spell! Latin is your friend! So is etymology in general!

(PS, for word nerds like me: "finite" and "definite" are from different but still-related Latin root words [definire and finire], so the "de" is NOT a negative prefix in this case. )

Here is a long but very useful page, listing common Greek and Latin roots, their meanings, and words they are found in.

Here is an excellent site with specific explanations, examples, vocabulary, and exercises for roots, prefixes, and suffixes.

Here's a really great site using Harry Potter spell charms--the kids will know this stuff!--to teach roots. I've done this only with the root "lev" (eLEVate, LEVer, alLEViate, LEVity, etc) and it worked pretty well with 6th graders and dictionaries.
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If you are a teacher or parent, please figure out a way to incorporate root learning into your child's/class's education. If you can link words together like this, I bet you five bucks you'll see the light go on about their heads! Fantastic! With a couple repetitions and reinforcements, students would 'get it', and would forevermore know how to spell words that seem tricky but really aren't. What a win-win situation!

A Momentous Day!

Hurrah for this day, on which two very different and important things have taken place.

I have officially ended my student days--I am done with graduate school! I just returned from the last meeting of my very last class. Woohoo! In a few weeks I will have my master's diploma and degree conferred upon me. Most importantly, my work is done! Wow! I am terribly excited and also a lot relieved. Just yet it hasn't sunk in; I imagine it will once it's September and I have all my evenings to myself again.

Of course, this also means glad tidings for my bank account: in two more paychecks, the tuition withdrawals will end. And as soon as I get all the paperwork, I will apply for my salary differential! Most excellent.

The other wonderful thing that happened today was the birth of my very first first cousin! His name is Graydon, I believe, and he was born with utmost haste at noon. Very exciting! It's even more meaningful because today is also the birthday of one of my maternal grandfathers, who died on Mother's Day. Life comes full circle, yes?

A commencement day like no other, that's today!

And I plan on celebrating all week, and all summer, if possible.

Random: Links Fixed!

A certain somebody told me just now that all my "Popular and Pertinent Posts" links did not work. He told me how to fix them, and I did, and now they work! Hurrah!

The letter posts are really awesome. They're from December 2004; it's scary how little the political scene has changed.

Civics Test

What do you know about this country? Take a pretend sample immigration test. I got 18/20.

Hum-drum

This morning, after unsatisfactory diner waffles, I went to the central library branch and picked out thirteen new books! And that was only in part of one section, too. I forbade myself to explore other sections.

I'll probably get through most of them in a week. In fact, I already finished one today. They're all rather fluffly. Among them are more of another mystery series I happened upon last week, Agatha Raisin by MC Beaton.

After the library, I made a trip to Target. Woo!

Oh yeah, the end of the summer literacy institute. The last day of the workshop, we didn't do terribly much. Hardly any effort to even pretend we were on track with the agenda. Happily though, we did get a third book at the end! We got Ralph Fletcher and Joann Portlupi's Nonfiction Craft Lessons. I am excited because I had already noted that one and its companion, Fiction Craft Lessons. They offer grade-level-specific lesson plans with specific resources named. I'd thought the pieces would actually be in the book, but a title and author is the next best thing. And there appear to be appendices with useful excerpts.

The weather has been just beautiful the last few days. After that spectacular sky display the other night, the humidity cleared off, thank goodness. It's been warm and gorgeous. I hear that will change soon, but all the same, I've appreciated it.

It's a boring Saturday. Now it's the nighttime. Bored. I just cleaned my bathroom. On a Saturday night. Wow, I am the epitome of cool.

A Point for New York:

Sensational thunder and lightning storms.

Damn, it's intense this evening!

Workshop, Days Two and Three

To start, suffice to say, they've not been nearly as wonderful as Monday. I suppose I should have expected as much. There is much repetition and reviewing of super-basic things. If you don't know what a read-aloud is, for pete's sake, you must be...stupid? unaware? not a New York City teacher? I don't know. I just know that with the balanced literacy push of the last ten years, and this city's obsession with test scores and the workshop model and all that, I would find it utterly impossible to NOT know something like a freaking read-aloud.

Yesterday we began with an interesting activity. It was called Give One, Get One. Each person has paper with areas to fill in. This one has nine squares, but you could alter it to be four squares, or three sides, or whatever. Anyway, so for this, we were to fill in three of our nine squares with important things we took away from Ralph Fletcher the day before. Then we got up and moved around the room, trading. Soon you fill up your squares, then go back to your tables and sit and share.

Here is my completed sheet:

The facilitators led us in thinking about ways to use an activity like this: as a review of the previous day's lesson, as part of a pre-unit assessment, as a lesson summary, or as a unit summary/assessment.

You'd obviously have to be careful about the movement of the students. I don't know that I would do this at the beginning of the year (you know, for a Bingo icebreaker or some such nonsense [remember, I hate icebreakers for adults and as a teacher, I really don't have time]), because I'd want to set routines and expectations. If a class is rowdy, I might not ever do an activity like this. Or if I did, I would make them stay at their tables and give/get that way.

The rest of yesterday was rather pointless. They talked about the writing process. Oh, one guy read a piece and then we had to talk about persuasive writing, what it is and where you find it. I suppose that it was supposed to be a model lesson or something, but I thought it went too long. Since we ARE adults and have a high-level of education, and have all been in the classroom in some capacity, all the detaily stuff could have been skimmed faster.

PS, I get bored and judgy when I'm bored.

During the read-aloud, Oregon was mentioned a couple times. The male facilitator is a hard-core New Yorker with a very strong accent. He pronounced Oregon as "Are-a-gahn". Excuse me, but there is an O at the beginning of the word! Your mouth should make an O when you say a word that starts with one! 'Oregon' is a homophone of 'organ'! Sheesh! Holy crap! That really bugged.

Again, because I'm shallow and judgy, the rest of the accent just grated a lot. This kind of New Yorker talks WAY too loud, practically shouting most of the time. When he moves around the room, a couple times he's stood behind me. I physically wince when he talks near me; it's so damn loud and forceful! He aspirates ALL his consontants.

Put your hand an inch or two in front of your mouth, and say the word "pit." Did you feel the puff of air when you said the P sound? That's an aspirated consonant. Now try to aspirate ALL the consonants in any given word. It's ANNOYING! Shut up, strong-accented New Yorkers!

See? Judgmental. I'm a terrible person.

Ahem. Trying to recover.

Oh, wait. There's more of the judging. A woman at my table is an incessant talker. Not saying anything of worth necessarily, often repeating, just to hear herself talk. That bugs. the. crap. out of me. I want to shriek, Just stop talking, you harpy! Let us listen to the real speakers or at least let someone get a word in edgewise if you're having a 'discussion.' Sheesh.

Okay, really done now.

With the writing process stuff, we took a piece of paper with a T-chart on it; one side said, "I Say" and the other said, "They Say." Under "I Say," we were to write five statements about topics we felt strongly about.

Here are my statements (I'm not very creative; I tend to fall back on the same issues, in case you haven't noticed. Snerk.):

--Travel is a must.

--Reading is a must.

--Reality TV must die.

--The West Coast is better than the East Coast.

--Cats are better than dogs.

Some of my tablemates had things like, "iPods are destroying society"; "Everyone should get free health care"; "Cell phones are a danger to civilization."

We had to do a quick write about one of our topics. I chose the West Coast one, because I'm just that predictable. Yes, I realize that I'm always nattering on about Seattle and the West Coast, and yes, I'm aware that that is irritating and silly. I'm trying to be better. In fact, I've privately assigned myself to write an opposition to the piece. So there. Shut up.

How about this--I'll save my quick write and draft on pro-West until I can do a draft on pro-East, for a separate post. Happy? Then you can just ignore that one.

So today, day two of the workshop proper...

What did we do? Hm. We looked at some more editorials and read a sample lesson from the genre writing book we got yesterday. It talked about the structure of an editorial: position, support, counterargument as the basics. Then we did a jigsaw activity to practice identifying the elements of persuasive writing/editorials.

Jigsaw is an activity where information is split up among groups, and then the groups teach each other. You can do it at least two ways. One way, like some of my colleagues, have each group in their class study, say, a genre of poetry. Then they come up with a full lesson plan and homework, and actually get up to teach the class. At the end, they've all learned at least six types of poetry. The other way is what we did today: count off around the room by fives. Then all the numbers met at different tables. In our number groups ("Expert Groups"), we read one editorial and discussed it and found the persuasive elements. After some time, we returned to our "Home Tables" and each of us took turns briefly explaining about our articles. So that at each table we learned about five different articles and their persuasive elements.

We were told to work on our drafts, and revise them for structure. Oh yeah, we'd had time to examine our drafts and label or identify the structural elements in them. Mine had each argument in a discrete paragraph, and each included both a counterargument and support of my own position. Interesting.

At the end, we received another book, Ralph Fletcher's memoir, Marshfield Dreams. Hurrah for books!

The persuasive stuff and the genre-writing book inspired me to make notes about a persuasive unit with a real debate first and then an editorial. We didn't get to do persuasive writing at all this year; we hardly did anything. I bet, with the right topics, the kids would love and do well on an actual debate. Ideas on topics?

One more day, and I think we may get another book tomorrow. I hope that I can try to make myself enjoy things a little more on the last day!

Haircut!

Before:

After: with the stylist's blowdryer and goop After: all its once-again fluffy glory
And a bonus picture of Philadelphia: the City Hall tower along with a statue and a giant Sorry game piece (both from the plaza across the street)

UFT Workshop with Ralph Fletcher

For all that people speak ill of the UFT, I will pledge myself an avid supporter of the Teacher Center and its programs.

During the year, they sponsor a workshop series (five dates, at the borough offices once a month or so) on various aspects of both literacy and math (separately, of course; do you think we're some kind of commies or something?). They give out at least one book during the year. I think this fall we got one called The No Nonsense Guide to Teaching Writing. Last year we got several, but I can't remember. I know that we each got a couple of content reading books; that was fantastic. Usually the facilitators guide you through ideas and potential lessons. They also have you do reflection and brainstorming and mini-lesson creation, so you do get a lot of resources for your time (4-7, approximately).

Not to mention, you get the standard UFT catered dinner. And best of all, you get training rate--about $18/hour, which after taxes is fifty dollars per session. Pretty sweet deal, if you ask me.

And actually, my other favorite thing, as always, is time to get to know your colleagues in education and your borough. This year, a bunch of teachers in my school signed up for the series. Four of us were in the same room, and it was great to see them in a different capacity than school, and chat (fairly leisurely) as adults, not harried and hurried classroom drones.

Anyway, this week kicks off its summer workshop institute. It goes for four days, also with food (breakfast this time) and resources. The literacy one began this week, and runs again next week. The math one goes in August, I believe.

This one is extra special: today there was a special guest speaker, Ralph Fletcher! In case you aren't familiar with him, he has written a number of books on writing (as in, teaching writing and helping kids improve their writing), especially the writer's notebook. He's written children's fiction and poetry as well.

He discussed many interesting things, illustrated by examples of kids' writing. Writing should be fun and something you chose. The writer's notebook is a place to react to the world. It's not used not only for introspective journaling, but also collecting: poems, drawings, cards, pictures, words or quotes you like, artifacts, memories. He showed us his own (very posh) notebook, in which he had taped many of his own memories and artifacts. He showed two kids' notebooks: one had a piece of balloon from the field day taped in, and the other had the insides of the writer's favorite pen taped in, along with a 'date died.'

He showed us how he discovered a topic he was interested in, like twilight or the moon, and how he wrote as much as could, little bits and pieces in his notebook, and then how those bits eventually grew into real books (Twilight Comes Twice, and Hello, Harvest Moon).

Here's a great activity he had us all do: First he showed us an illustrated map of his own childhood neighborhood, with important places marked. Then he had us draw our own maps of a place we knew well. Then we shared with neighbors.

Here's my terrible map of one of my childhood neighborhoods that I always loved.

It's Carnation, a tiny town in the rural outskirts of the suburbs. The four boxes are our old house and the surrounding three houses. There were kids in all four, and we all played together. Next door had a Slip and Slide, so most of the summer play was in their backyard. They also had a weiner dog that chased me around my own house. We sometimes played with a trampoline in our front yard. We all always rode our bikes in the street.

Nearby was a little playground. A little further on was the bakery where we usually got cinnamon rolls on Sunday mornings.

The best part of Carnation was the river. The Tolt is a quiet, meandering and rocky little river that joins the larger and sandier Snoqualmie River right up the road. We went there all the time, decked out with actual tennis shoes to walk (more) comfortably on the rocks of the 'beach' and in the river itself. Occasionally we brought inner tubes to float on the gentle current (though we'd have to 'portage' in the rocky shallows). It was always a pleasant and fun place to be. Even more so on those really hot days; the river comes right from mountain streams and is freezing cold.

Down the road and around the bend is Remlinger Farms, where you can pick berries, pumpkins, and probably other things too. They sell food and treats and crafty things in their barn store. It always smelled good in there, both earthy and slightly sugary.

Once we all had drawn and shared, he guided us in marking: a power spot, where people gathered; a danger spot where you weren't supposed to go; a favorite place; and a secret spot.

The idea is that you can take this one activity and easily pull from your many experiences at least one spark of an idea to create a writing piece.

Here's another one ripe with sparks:

I drew a map of Trailblazers. I could more easily mark stories on that one: the place where I spotted the first bear of our adventure; the bath house with no electricity; the corner where all the boys scared the crap out of all us girls returning up the dark road late at night; the rock wall that we dug up and got attacked by fire ants and nettles; the smallcamp where we built our most-excellent round-to; the cabin we lived in with a bat and a flying squirrel; the lake where we canoed to the far camp and once went swimming; the dock where we had to scrape paint; the corner room in the dining hall where we had a slumber party, covering the floor in a double-layer of camp mattresses, building a roaring fire and watching an 80s movie. Oh, and that's the constellation that I used to look at when I walked to the dock at night with no flashlight to challenge my bravery and nightvision.

The last section of his talk was about the Qualities of Writing: Ideas, Design, Language, Presentation, all of which should be infused with Voice. Additionally, writing should have good Organization, Focus, Beginnings, Endings, Time, and Shape.

He read us a splendid and hilarious book, called Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt. It's about a paranoid squirrel who eventually finds that he can safely explore more of the world outside his tree. It helps us think about conquering the fear of the unknown.

Mr Fletcher was a lively and engaging speaker with plenty of entertaining examples. I really feel reinvigorated about teaching writing to my kids this fall. I think I'll have to make them get three notebooks: one as a writer's notebook, one as a reading response book, and one as a workbook (for notes and things). I will ask them to do this mapping activity, list important moments in their lives so far, write about moving/friends/family/pets, find interesting words and snippets of their books, things they wonder about, describe their environments in new and vivid ways, and listen to the world around them, noise from nature and humans alike.

Yet another summer to-do will have to be writing about all these things myself! It's been awhile since I did any journal writing. It'll be really fun to share my work with the kids and have them share theirs.

I sure hope that some of this will also inspire you to think about writing in a new way. If you are a teacher in any grade, I highly recommend Ralph Fletcher's books, for you and for your students.

I'm excited for the next three days of this workshop!

Hurrah for Feminism!

Time: about 1.30 today.

Place: Central Park.

Activity: Ultimate Frisbee.

Statement: "You take the girl."

If I had a dollar for every time I heard that statement, I'd be a millionaire.

Boy! Am I glad that generations of women have fought for equality and respect!

Starting to Feel like Summer...

The last two nights I have stayed up until 1.30 or 2.00 reading, because I can. And it is awesome. Yesterday I didn't get out of bed until eleven! This morning it was more like 9.30 though. In any case, I am loving the lack of heavy workload.

Yesterday I forced myself out of the house in the afternoon. First I walked four blocks to my neighborhood library, then I drove to the grocery store. Tres exciting! I also got about half of my paper done.

Today I read a lot, and finished my paper, and found some research for the disabilities group project (I'm in the "Traumatic Brain Injury" group!), and then went to class. Again, with the high level of interest and excitement!

I'm grateful for the UFT Literacy workshop happening all next week; it will give me a reason to get up (early) and leave the house and have some positive social interaction. If it weren't for that, I'd be getting bored pretty soon.

I have this research project to work on...but y'all know how I am about procrastinating. Mainly that it's my modus operandi. Ho hum. Actually, I'm a trillion times better than I used to be. Yes folks, it really takes careful work to be the just-right amount of lazy that you read about here!

I still have all my student evaluations to read and type up. That will be a fun project! (I'm not being sarcastic, either; I'm just that nerdy and awesome.)

I'm going to post a lot of pictures this summer, too. More of my childhood pics (like my just-posted profile pic), some from recent trips, and also some of me with the special someone! Whee!

In addition, I will be reading through my archives and compiling lessons that I've written about. Perhaps it will finally be time for me to start a wiki. And I want to do some 'advice to new teacher' things as well--I'll need your input on that, friends!

New Carnival of Education!

Shuffle on over to NYC Educator's excellent round-up of the edusphere. Who says teachers take the summers off?

Oh, hey, happy Independence Day

A couple hours ago, I got home from our Philadelphia Weekend Getaway! It was cool to explore a new place (I'd been to Philly before, but only to the Greyhound bus depot) and hang out with the special someone in a place he knew well.
We walked around most of the city yesterday, in the heat and sunshine. The town is quite green, with several lovely fountains and park squares.
Strangely, things were quiet and the town felt empty. Especially strange since it was a holiday weekend. There were finally some 'crowds' around Independence Mall. In fact, because of the lines we decided not to visit the Liberty Bell. I got some pretty pictures of Independence Hall, though.

We also visited the Franklin Institute, a science museum. It featured lots of really fun and interesting hands-on exhibits, my favorite kind. There's a giant heart that you walk through and around, a pin-ball machine that shows you different cultures medical treatments through time, a video snack machine, a telegraph machine with a readout thing so you could practice Morse code, a real airplane you could sit in, a standing-spinning thing, a small rock-climbing wall, and a bunch of other neat things.

Our hotel was in a great location, and the room was a suite: it had a kitchen and desk! We thought that was way cool. In the complimentary basket, there was microwave popcorn! One night we stopped at a nearby Whole Foods to get some snacks for the next day. I was excited to get a paper bag upon checkout. They don't exist in New York! What's up with that?

Anyway, I'm back in town now. It's still the Fourth--that's kinda funny. I so don't care about fireworks and all that. Hurrah for America, blah blah blah.

I have a paper due on Thursday, but I don't have to go to work! For two months! So I can work on the paper, or sleeping in, or catching up on blogs, or anything else I want!