What happened to Ms. Chen yesterday? Pick one of the following answers.
a. It was like a sauna in my classroom from the broken air-conditioner.
b. My tower at Moody Hall flooded and I became a refugee for the evening, along with 400 other TFAers.
c. I did not have my laptop for the entire night, and therefore could not do my lesson for the next day, nor the other two lesson plans due.
d. all of the above
The correct answer is d.
Luckily they let us back into our rooms around 11:30 PM and my stuff was ok. Not so lucky for a few who now have to relocate themselves to the south tower. Apparently some pipe burst last night and it was massively flooding all over the place.
Awesome. Way to go Moody, way to go. I guess this is what they meant by being "flexible."
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The bouch on which I sleep
I know I have been entertaining you guys with my references to my "bouch." Here it is (please excuse the clothes):
Saturday, June 27, 2009
They continue to make me laugh
So on Friday I collected the journals I’ve been having them do their warm ups in. I continue to be surprised by them. I love reading that they want to go to college, and have careers in mind. These were some especially noteworthy entries.
About their futures:
“In the future I see myself in a suit with my own office because I want to be a lawyer someday in the future. If my lawyer carrer does not work then I might go into the medical field.”
“I don’t know exactly what I want to be yet but I have some ideas like working as a financer, a chef, a manager of some sort, and finally hopefully a UFC fighter.”
How do you feel today?
“I feel very tired and sore, Because yesterday I wrestled my cousins all day, just for fun.”
“I feel good cuz my cuzin comin in to town and there is a party goin down tonight.”
“I feel tired and I’m sweating. I woke up at 6:45 and I’m still sleepy. Then I was coming to school and the bell rang and I had to walk faster and now I’m tired.”
What is your favorite expression? (I meant phrase)
“I think my favorite expression is when I get really angry. Because I look like I’m going to do something crazy.”
Metaphors/similes about their futures:
“My future is going to be a burst of light because everything seems to flash by in an instant.”
“My future looks good on a pile of money.”
“My future is looking as bright as the North Star.”
“In the future I will have so much money I’ll be wipeing my butt with it.”
About their futures:
“In the future I see myself in a suit with my own office because I want to be a lawyer someday in the future. If my lawyer carrer does not work then I might go into the medical field.”
“I don’t know exactly what I want to be yet but I have some ideas like working as a financer, a chef, a manager of some sort, and finally hopefully a UFC fighter.”
How do you feel today?
“I feel very tired and sore, Because yesterday I wrestled my cousins all day, just for fun.”
“I feel good cuz my cuzin comin in to town and there is a party goin down tonight.”
“I feel tired and I’m sweating. I woke up at 6:45 and I’m still sleepy. Then I was coming to school and the bell rang and I had to walk faster and now I’m tired.”
What is your favorite expression? (I meant phrase)
“I think my favorite expression is when I get really angry. Because I look like I’m going to do something crazy.”
Metaphors/similes about their futures:
“My future is going to be a burst of light because everything seems to flash by in an instant.”
“My future looks good on a pile of money.”
“My future is looking as bright as the North Star.”
“In the future I will have so much money I’ll be wipeing my butt with it.”
Friday, June 26, 2009
TGIF
It’s Friday!!! And it’s TFA day, which meant that we got to have a free afternoon! Went to The Den after work, which is U of H’s campus bar. It was packed with TFAers. $2 drinks + tired, loopy teachers-in-training = good time. Unfortunately, I’m now studying for my TExES (certification exams) that are tomorrow morning. But hey, it definitely beats lesson planning!
So today was college t-shirt day at Davis HS. My fellow Bruin and I definitely rocked out an 8-clap. I told my students to ask me anything they wanted about college and/or UCLA. I love how all of them were so interested and hanging on to every word. I think that’s the most focused my class has ever been. They asked about paying for college, if it’s hard to get in, if UCLA was hard, and of course, the partying. Each and every one of my students wants to go to college. Which is positively love. These kids may have terrible spelling and even worse grammar, but they are clever, and they are quick. And they have the right attitude (most of the time). One girl came in early to work on subject-verb agreement with me, and we had a great talk before class started. She told me about how she works at McDonald’s right now, but she doesn’t want to work there her whole life like her mom. She told me about her boyfriend, and how he’s helping her with English, and how she was held back because of her “mental problem” (actually just a learning disability, but she said it was a “mental problem, or something wrong with my head”). Mel can be such a pain some days, putting on her makeup when we’re supposed to be reading, but then other days I just want to hug her and take her back to Dallas with me. Like today, I was looking at the “How on Target Are We?” poster in the hall during my lunch duty – it has a dart board looking thing for each class, with each ring representing a certain % of growth. Ours was blank – not because we didn’t have improvement, but because our data was messed up. So Mel comes up. “What’s that Miss?” “It’s how much each class has improved.” She finds our target. It’s not colored in at all. Her face falls. “Looks like we’ve gotta work hard, Miss.” Instead of telling her that it was actually blank because we didn’t input our data correctly, so they couldn’t calculate % growth, I just nodded. “That’s right. We’ve gotta work really hard, but we can do it. Ms. Chen’s students are the best, remember?” She smiled and nodded.
So today was college t-shirt day at Davis HS. My fellow Bruin and I definitely rocked out an 8-clap. I told my students to ask me anything they wanted about college and/or UCLA. I love how all of them were so interested and hanging on to every word. I think that’s the most focused my class has ever been. They asked about paying for college, if it’s hard to get in, if UCLA was hard, and of course, the partying. Each and every one of my students wants to go to college. Which is positively love. These kids may have terrible spelling and even worse grammar, but they are clever, and they are quick. And they have the right attitude (most of the time). One girl came in early to work on subject-verb agreement with me, and we had a great talk before class started. She told me about how she works at McDonald’s right now, but she doesn’t want to work there her whole life like her mom. She told me about her boyfriend, and how he’s helping her with English, and how she was held back because of her “mental problem” (actually just a learning disability, but she said it was a “mental problem, or something wrong with my head”). Mel can be such a pain some days, putting on her makeup when we’re supposed to be reading, but then other days I just want to hug her and take her back to Dallas with me. Like today, I was looking at the “How on Target Are We?” poster in the hall during my lunch duty – it has a dart board looking thing for each class, with each ring representing a certain % of growth. Ours was blank – not because we didn’t have improvement, but because our data was messed up. So Mel comes up. “What’s that Miss?” “It’s how much each class has improved.” She finds our target. It’s not colored in at all. Her face falls. “Looks like we’ve gotta work hard, Miss.” Instead of telling her that it was actually blank because we didn’t input our data correctly, so they couldn’t calculate % growth, I just nodded. “That’s right. We’ve gotta work really hard, but we can do it. Ms. Chen’s students are the best, remember?” She smiled and nodded.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Halfway there
Happy Hump Day! Today marks the halfway point of institute. I am learning to assert my authority as an instructional leader. 11 instructional days to go.
Teacher Moments of the Day
1. Lesson planning and worrying about the difficulty and appeal of reading a poem and finding figurative language. While listening to Jason Mraz. “I’m Yours” starts to play. HELLO? Perfect for a lesson plan on figurative language. Run upstairs and make copies of lyrics. Bad news? 20 pages of Ralph Pomeroy’s “Corner,” wasted. I’m sorry to all the trees I have killed/will kill as a teacher.
2. Having my quiet, ELL student make a move to participate today.
3. Jerry, the ADHD chatterbox of my classroom whom I secretly love and want to laugh with (on his good days), calls out numerous times. I refuse to give him participation points. “Well, Miss, then you can just take my participation points sheet because I’m not gonna get any. I’m too lazy to raise my hand!” I give him the teacher stare. “Jerry, laziness is not an excuse.” Next time, and the time after that, and the time after that, he raises his hand. Three participation points for Jerry today.
4. TFA moment of the day – We read a passage by Amy Tan. Discuss conflict and acceptance of culture. My prompt: Why is the author embarrassed? One student’s written response: “The author is embarised by her people. The Chineese.” That is correct – “her people.”
Teacher Moments of the Day
1. Lesson planning and worrying about the difficulty and appeal of reading a poem and finding figurative language. While listening to Jason Mraz. “I’m Yours” starts to play. HELLO? Perfect for a lesson plan on figurative language. Run upstairs and make copies of lyrics. Bad news? 20 pages of Ralph Pomeroy’s “Corner,” wasted. I’m sorry to all the trees I have killed/will kill as a teacher.
2. Having my quiet, ELL student make a move to participate today.
3. Jerry, the ADHD chatterbox of my classroom whom I secretly love and want to laugh with (on his good days), calls out numerous times. I refuse to give him participation points. “Well, Miss, then you can just take my participation points sheet because I’m not gonna get any. I’m too lazy to raise my hand!” I give him the teacher stare. “Jerry, laziness is not an excuse.” Next time, and the time after that, and the time after that, he raises his hand. Three participation points for Jerry today.
4. TFA moment of the day – We read a passage by Amy Tan. Discuss conflict and acceptance of culture. My prompt: Why is the author embarrassed? One student’s written response: “The author is embarised by her people. The Chineese.” That is correct – “her people.”
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The best phone call
The day that started out mediocre has turned into one of my best nights thus far at institute.
Tonight I decided to call my very first parent. The parents of Angel L. The well-behaved, always smiling, always helpful, always paying attention Angel who sits in the back. The absolute gift to Ms. Chen's English 2A class in Room 204. May not be the smartest, but tries hard. Really hard.
So I decided to call Angel’s parents first. My first call. I quickly wrote down a few key points – they were short. Angel had listed another number on his student survey (rather than the contact number on the school’s list), so I called his parents.
What ensued was possibly the best phone call of my life.
Essentially, I explained to Angel's mom that I just wanted to introduce myself, that I was just Angel’s teacher for the summer but that I just wanted to tell her what a bright son she had and how much potential he had to go far in life. I told her how hard he worked, how he’s so helpful, and how he’s just wonderful to have in my class.
In heavily accented English (for which she unnecessarily apologized profusely for), I got an emotional thanks from his mother. She seemed unsure of what to say, but seemed (as far as I could tell through the phone) positively glowing with this praise of her son. She said no teacher had ever called her before, and she had never been told of Angel’s potential. Basically, she told me that Angel had gotten into trouble in Florida, and was now in Houston with his aunt – but she worries that his aunt doesn’t go to school or take involvement in Angel's education. Thus, she was extremely grateful I took the time to call and let her know how he was doing. Especially charming – she said Angel always tells her about the As he gets in school, and with my call, she now believes him! She also never seemed to realize that Angel has so much potential after high school – it seemed like she only wished hard for him to graduate high school. I could hear her motherly concern perfectly as she confessed to me her worries about drugs, and Angel getting into bad things. I continued to stress to her that if Angel continues his hard work, he can go far in life.
Then she asked how long I would be his teacher. And asked if she could meet me.
So when she comes to Houston to pick Angel up for a Florida vacation, I’m meeting my first parent!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
A day in the life of an instructional leader
So here I am, in Houston, deep in the hole that is Teach for America institute. I've been immersing myself with sessions, lesson planning, and other teachery things, so I can maximize my effectiveness as an instructional leader! Yeah!
So how has institute been? Well I guess I just can’t believe I’m almost done with one week of teaching. I’ve been in Houston for 2 weeks, Texas for 3. The first week of induction, I remember feeling so tired – all those seminars, the meeting 99 other corp members. That was NOTHING compared to institute. Last week, we had 5 days to prepare to take over a classroom. That's right, I have eighteen 10th graders in my hands...
So my typical day:
5:40 AM – Wake up.
5:45 – Stumble into the communal bathroom. People say good morning. I have no idea who because my contacts aren't in yet. Wash up.
5:55 – Stumble down 5 flights of stairs to pack lunch in my little blue insulated bag. It’s cafeteria line style – pick up a polar pack (which are reused and getting pretty battered), a salad (preferable over their really sad looking sandwiches), a bag of chips, a pack of cookies, a fruit (usually a baby apple), carrot sticks, and a mini-bottle of water. Swipe. They check bags to make sure you only have one "entree."
6:00 – go to RFOC (and yes, that is how we refer to it - the R fock) – U of H’s oh-so-lovely dining hall. Hot breakfast on Wednesdays! The scrambled egg mush is now the highlight of every week. Otherwise, it's cereal and milk for me. And of course, coffee.
6:20 – Run back upstairs to get ready. Put on my teacher clothes.
7:03 – Step outside with my huge backpack, stuffed with laptop, ridiculously humongous bound TFA curriculum book, and teaching materials. Big yellow school bus picks us up. Go to Davis High School.
8:00 AM-4:00 PM – Teach 10th grade English, lesson plan, attend ridiculously tiring lectures for 3 hours, meetings, and generally attempt to absorb a fire hydrant of information aimed at my dixie cup.
4:00 – Get back on yellow school bus. Go back to Moody Towers.
4:00 and on - Dinner; attempts to do pilates or race someone to the single elliptical in the workout room; shower with water that either drizzles or has a jetstream so hard it hurts, and scalds you every time someone flushes the toilet; lesson planning; crying; laughing; commiserating; etc...
12:00 – sleep! (Hopefully).
...and then it starts all over again.
So how has institute been? Well I guess I just can’t believe I’m almost done with one week of teaching. I’ve been in Houston for 2 weeks, Texas for 3. The first week of induction, I remember feeling so tired – all those seminars, the meeting 99 other corp members. That was NOTHING compared to institute. Last week, we had 5 days to prepare to take over a classroom. That's right, I have eighteen 10th graders in my hands...
So my typical day:
5:40 AM – Wake up.
5:45 – Stumble into the communal bathroom. People say good morning. I have no idea who because my contacts aren't in yet. Wash up.
5:55 – Stumble down 5 flights of stairs to pack lunch in my little blue insulated bag. It’s cafeteria line style – pick up a polar pack (which are reused and getting pretty battered), a salad (preferable over their really sad looking sandwiches), a bag of chips, a pack of cookies, a fruit (usually a baby apple), carrot sticks, and a mini-bottle of water. Swipe. They check bags to make sure you only have one "entree."
6:00 – go to RFOC (and yes, that is how we refer to it - the R fock) – U of H’s oh-so-lovely dining hall. Hot breakfast on Wednesdays! The scrambled egg mush is now the highlight of every week. Otherwise, it's cereal and milk for me. And of course, coffee.
6:20 – Run back upstairs to get ready. Put on my teacher clothes.
7:03 – Step outside with my huge backpack, stuffed with laptop, ridiculously humongous bound TFA curriculum book, and teaching materials. Big yellow school bus picks us up. Go to Davis High School.
8:00 AM-4:00 PM – Teach 10th grade English, lesson plan, attend ridiculously tiring lectures for 3 hours, meetings, and generally attempt to absorb a fire hydrant of information aimed at my dixie cup.
4:00 – Get back on yellow school bus. Go back to Moody Towers.
4:00 and on - Dinner; attempts to do pilates or race someone to the single elliptical in the workout room; shower with water that either drizzles or has a jetstream so hard it hurts, and scalds you every time someone flushes the toilet; lesson planning; crying; laughing; commiserating; etc...
12:00 – sleep! (Hopefully).
...and then it starts all over again.
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