Judgement Day!

Tomorrow my students take their North Carolina reading EOG (end of grade) assessment. We have technically been preparing for this all year. I say "technically", because for a very long time I was very against this frequently debated idea of "teaching to the test." I also have tried very hard this year to create a curriculum that is based on the study of literature and not so much the study of the End of Grade reading EOG. A lot of this was motivated by college discussions when we studied how teaching to the test leads to low student achievement, and boring curriculums, and how limiting it is in a classroom setting. I've learned throughout this year that in reality test preparation needs to happen so that students are given the chance to be successful on the test.

My PD and learning team leader for Teach For America both worked with me to develop a strong plan for test preparation and my students and I have stuck to that plan from spring break until now. I gave students a diagnostic EOG before spring break and then had them grade them when we got back and create mastery plans for themselves based on which objectives they missed. I then created 6 tutoring sessions that were based on different skills that students needed to work on and personally invited students to these (luring them there with snacks of course!). Students followed a rigorous schedule, taking two practice tests a week, a concept quiz, and a number of skills-based warm ups everyday. I never thought that I would spend three weeks on test prep with my students, but it seemed absolutely essential for them to get that review and practice with multiple choice (we've been taking short answer assessments all year long).

I call this post "judgement day" because that is what tomorrow truly is for me. The reading EOG is really the biggest measure of success for me for the year. The goal is for all of my students to ultimately show strong growth on the test from the scores from previous years. We have predicted growth that the students should make based on their past scores, and students who have scored similarly to them in the state. Unfortunately, this test is what tells me if I have helped those students grow. I have already had my year-end teaching evaluation and all of that went fine, but at the end of the day I joined Teach For America to make a difference in students' lives and this test tells me whether or not I made that difference.

I understand that there are plenty of qualitative factors that exemplify the difference that I've made, but quantitatively this test is what matters. I have some pretty bad testing anxiety already, and I am not even taking the test tomorrow! In order to calm my nerves (and my students) we are going to meditate before the test tomorrow. I am bringing a delicious and healthy breakfast for my homeroom (these are the students who I am with for testing). I also purchased bottled water which I am labeling with each student's name and a motivational message to help them get through.

So as you conclude your weekend please hold me and my students in the light tomorrow and wish us luck! In the meantime I will be labeling water bottles and baking.

Feeling Appreciated

A few months ago I decided to call the local art museum in Charlotte (http://www.mintmuseum.org/mint-museum-uptown.html) and see if they would donate tickets so that I could take some of my best students to the museum as a reward for good behavior and hard work. I requested 5-10 tickets and they gave me 20 student tickets and 5 adult tickets for free! The power of just asking was astounding to me in this situation. I could not be more grateful for their generosity.

Yesterday was the big day. I brought two other teachers and my TFA program director to help me out, and the students were all dropped off on a Saturday morning at the museum. The day went flawlessly. The students were so engrossed in the tour, answering really high-level thinking questions, and asking questions. Their appreciation seeped through the whole museum. For many of the students this was their first trip to an art museum, and for some of them their first trip to a museum in general!

Sometimes teaching is a thankless job, student progress towards objectives and mastery does not happen as fast as I would hope, and many days the comedy show that is my job ensues. Yesterday the students thanked me in so many ways, by being engaged, behaving appropriately, and being appreciative.

I believe that there are many reasons for the achievement gap, but one reason that I frequently come back to is the gap in cultural capital. Yesterday as I watched my students engage in such deep thinking simply motivated by a piece of artwork my conclusions about this factor in the achievement gap came to fruition. My other belief is that the culture of a student's surroundings teaches them how to act. KIPP schools (http://www.kipp.org/) pride themselves on having a culture of achievement and discipline, and the result of this is that students behave and achieve at high levels. At the art museum people were quietly milling around the art work, appreciating its beauty, and respecting the individuals around them, my students did the same.

America's schools have a lot of growth to make, especially our lowest income and lowest performing schools. I think yesterday I found a place to start, simply exposing students to what high income students are exposed to: a culture of discipline and achievement, and different types of cultural capital (art, music, dance, etc.). The students appreciate it.

Kids Will Be Kids

The life of a first year teacher is constantly exciting. At this point, I feel like I have enough humorous stories to host my own comedy show. My life as a teacher recently has been pretty crazy, but after some of the silly things that happened in my classroom this week I could not help but share.

1. Early this week as I was lecturing my students on creating introductory paragraphs I noticed that there was a very crumpled note being passed around my classroom. I quickly grabbed the note, much to the students' dismay. A bunch of my students' eyes were really wide as I was going to open it, but I didn't really think twice about it because this has happened before. As my students got started on their group work, I opened the note. Only to find that one of my students had drawn a pretty detailed naked picture. I almost guiltily looked up at my students, now my eyes were as wide as theirs.

2. Yesterday close to the end of the day my students were again working in groups, and I was walking around the classroom to check in on their progress. I noticed that one of my students had something very odd in his pencil case: powdered vagisil. Hesitant to interrupt their work I did not investigate further. About ten minutes later I pulled up a chair to work with a different group, accidentally turning my back to some of the students in the classroom. Chaos erupted behind me. Next thing I knew students had powder all over them and my classroom was a dust bowl of vagisil. Students with asthma had to leave the room. It was disgusting, chaotic, and absolutely hilarious. I could not do anything but laugh. None of them have any idea what vagisil is and I think that this was the best part!

Over winter break my sisters suggested that I write a partner blog to this blog called "Happy Hour with the Teacher," after this week I am seriously considering it.

Stay tuned!

Thank You John Legend!

Maybe this blog post should be titled "The Power of Celebrity Endorsements," but I think it will be even more powerful to publicly post my thank you letter to John Legend for joining Teach For America's Board of Directors and performing last night at the TFA 20th Anniversary summit with KIPP NYC's orchestra in front of 11,000 people. So here it goes...

Dear John Legend,

Your performance last night brought tears to many peoples eyes, and it was not solely because you are an amazing artist, or because the music you were singing was so powerful. Instead I believe that it was because you truly took time to understand the movement that is TFA and the impact that the organization has the potential to have. For this, I thank you. In order to make long term change in America's public schools every single person in America must feel the same understanding that you showed last night. You powerfully addressed the notion that we are doing an injustice to our children by offering so few opportunities to children in poverty. I think that Waiting For Superman was a small foot in the door in introducing this national issue to the public, but with endorsements and understandings like yours from yourself and other celebrities we could really begin to make transformational change. Wendy Kopp, the founder of TFA, speaks about the importance of Transformational Leadership. People who are transformational leaders, not only lead people in a direction towards positive change, they mobilize people, they are innovative and they start the ripple of change simply by being an empowered leader. The story you have to tell about your own education, and journey towards stardom is a powerful one, and I believe that with your support great changes can be made. The conference yesterday consisted of 11,000 people who are all working towards a common goal, or who at least believe in that goal. Some of them, however, have been working towards this goal for 20 years! With your help, and the help of national figures in spreading the importance of the movement, we CAN make a difference with a greater sense of urgency. So thank you John Legend, from the bottom of my heart, for helping a cause that I think is one of the most important of our time.

THANK YOU!

Thank you so much to my friends and former teachers for your support! I am almost halfway towards my goal. In less than 48 hours we raised $490. You all inspire me.

$526 to go!

Books for my classroom on Donors Choose!

Hello All!

I found out in the beginning of the year that one of the books I am required to read with my students is Lord of the Flies. This is a super challenging book for 6th graders, but I think if I break the content down for them, and strip away some of the challenging vocabulary it can be done! It cannot be done, however, in the amount of time allotted if my students do not spend some of the time reading the book at home.I am given a class set to work with (roughly 30 copies) and that is all. So in an effort to level the playing field, and give my students a similar experience to their high-income peers I recently submitted a donors choose request for 87 copies of the book. This will cost roughly $1016. Since last night at about 10 p.m. thanks to a few wonderful friends I was able to raise over $250. Now we only have $732 to go! Ideally I will raise all of the money by the end of next week so that the order can go in and the books will come in time. This means I am asking for money with a strong sense of urgency! Your support in the past few months has been wonderful, you all inspire me on a daily basis. Please donate today even if it is only enough to cover the cost of one book ($8.71 with no taxes, shipping costs, etc.)! Thank you again and again.

Here is the link:

http://www.donorschoose.org/zsamuel

Shaanti

At the beginning and end of a yoga class that I took a few weeks ago we chanted: Shaanti, Shaanti, Shaanti, or in translation Peace, Peace, Peace. As a Quaker the word "peace" resonates so strongly with me that I feel like a certain part of me embodies every ideal of peace. Starting a yoga class this way did not quite lead to enlightenment, but it made for a pretty wonderful practice.

Tonight I had the opportunity to go see an amazing speaker, who is also a peace activist. Charlotte Friends School brought Colman McCarthy to speak about Peace and education. If you are interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colman_McCarthy

During his speech he asked the audience, "how many of you had a peace studies class in school?" No one raised their hands (well, to be exact I half raised my hand thinking back to Quakerism in middle school). He then asked, "Why do we focus so much time talking about war in school instead of peace? Why not teach classes on peace in school?" So then I questioned my self, "why don't you teach students about peace?"

Mr. McCarthy also quoted Mother Theresa in saying, "We will not all be called on to do great things, but we can still do little things in a great way." (I may have butchered this a little, and I apologize for this.) Here lies my challenge, I will challenge myself to take small steps towards educating my students about peace. In a culture of violence, violent behavior, and constant misbehavior I will challenge myself to infect my students with peace, and non-violent conflict resolution. The reason I will do this is because it is a very important part of myself that I should share with my students. Everyday they share their bright minds with me, and this is part of returning the favor! McCarthy told us, "It's better to build a peaceful child than re-build a violent adult." So it is my civic duty to begin building peaceful children.

Shaanti, Shaanti, Shaanti