Overheard during groupwork

Student 1: He's a carpenter.
Student 2: What does a carpenter do? Make carpets?
Student 1: What are you, stupid? (Mini commotion as the rest of the group proceeds to mock Student 2).
Student 2: Then what do you call someone who makes carpets?
(Silence.)

This is why I Teach For America

Et tu, Brute?

So the latest adventure for my classes has been ancient Rome, to a time when Caesar was king and Ms. Chen tried really really hard to invest her children in the idea of murder, backstabbing, and betrayal. That's right, we are riding the Julius Caesar Shakespeare train, and the kids are on the trip whether they like it or not. It's such a varied group of passengers too:

• Kids that hate the train but don't want to lose their lives by jumping off, i.e. they hate Caesar, think it's boring, but take it because otherwise they would fail my class and be put in ISS (in-school suspension).
• Kids that fall asleep once they get on the train (pretty self-explanatory).
• Kids that were first in line to buy tickets for the train, but then were kind of disappointed by the train ride ("Caesar's boring...they talk too much!")
• Kids that were reluctant train riders at first, but now absolutely love the train, want to know more about the train, and ask to drive the train (my favorite type of passengers!!). These are the kids that either A) become their characters; B) actually ask questions because they are actually curious; and C) shriek "Oh, my god, is Caesar going to die????" when they see the picture at the beginning of Act III.

Yes, that last group gives me the happiest feeling inside, and the many of my 3rd and 4th period fall into that category. We finally arrived at the climactic murder scene, so I decided to spice things up a little by having them act it out. I was excited for this lesson - I even colored masking tape to represent Caesar's blood and was planning to have them "stab" Caesar by sticking the tape on him.

And of course, my B day classes absolutely butcher the activity. Serves me right for trying something "fun."

In 5th period, "So-Icey Boy" (his self-created nickname) throws a hissy fit when the girl playing Cassius got on him for not following along. He then proceeded to cuss her out, and they instead had to sit down and read while I had a conference with him.

In 8th period, we were able to get through most of the scene; however, the boys (my entire class is full of boys) were more concerned with the inappropriate staging of some kneeling in front of Caesar. Ultimate chaos ensued, culminating with Tim parading around wearing someone's art project mask. Fail.

So B day ended with a hoarse voice, extreme tiredness, and a feeling that the day was just an enormous waste of time and energy. Then I ran into another teacher, who assured me that it may have been a chaotic day, but the question is: did they learn?

That thought drove me to attempt the activity (against my better judgment) with my A day kids again today. Armed with the idea that chaos does not necessarily equal bad, my 1st period sort of got it (while they all hate me, they are at least concerned with their grades).

3rd and 4th period? Chaos once more, but it was good, even AMAZING chaos. Yes, the hall monitor had to come in to see why it was so loud, yes, I almost got in trouble when kids almost started cussing each other out for not reading the right parts, but at least THEY GOT IT!

In 3rd period, they all got really into the idea of Mark Antony being two-faced and betrayal going on up the wazoo. "Hey, Brutus stabbed Caesar in the back. LITERALLY AND FIGURATIVELY!" They wanted to see more pictures of the Roman forum ("But Miss, what did it look like before? You should put a picture of it before it got all ruined!" "Remember, this is ancient Rome...there were no cameras..." "Oh yeah..."). After "stabbing" Caesar, one of my conspirators said witheringly (not part of the play, but just her getting really into the character), "I only did it because you were getting too much power. The power was gonna get to your head."

4th period got into it, and my Caesar died a slow and painful death, absolutely hamming it up, lying on the ground with red pieces of masking tape all over him. Marco, my Caesar, had never been so into a reading before. He used to never do anything. Now, he comes into my room and participates the most in my class, answering all the questions, volunteering the read. They also got into a heated discussion about Antony. "Miss, it's like, you know, if some crew I don't know gone show up and kill my homeboy, of course I'm gonna be all nice to them, you know what I'm sayin', and then I'm gonna get revenge for my homeboy, 'cuz that ain't right, you know what I'm sayin'? There's gonna be blood, you know what I'm sayin'?"

So while I end the day with almost no voice and tired feet, at least I have learned a lesson of my own: chaos is not always bad.

And also, don't use marker to color masking tape and assume that the red will not get on your hands. Caesar's blood is on my hands too!

TAKS essay prompt: A time you were encouraged by someone

Yesterday evening, a couple colleagues and I met up at Starbucks to go over our copies of the students' TAKS essays. While that may not seem like the most exciting activity for a Saturday night (ok fine, who am I kidding...I have no life), it actually ended up being a really enjoyable chat - mainly because it was a lot of gossip. Things that I found out included: unethical strategies (like failing all the students) that will make that teacher look better later on; a lot of married teachers are having affairs; another English teacher (who obviously wasn't there) dated a student's older brother and then took out her anger over the break-up by failing the student; insight into a lottttt of politics. Also, apparently the math department has this big beef with the English department, for a lot of petty reasons, and are just waiting for us to fail. Wait a second, isn't this job supposed to be about the STUDENTS...?

Besides the gossip, I just have to say I am really lucky to be working with these two women. Mrs. H. is like that really caring mother-figure who takes care of everybody. She also has this great vision of how the department should be organized and is also genuinely there to TEACH the STUDENTS. Ms. M., my department chair, is this wonderfully blunt Caribbean girl with a hilariously dry sense of humor and fierce attitude. She's like my really cool big sister that enlightens me to the "real" stuff, and isn't afraid to speak her mind.

While my kids' TAKS essays still do not necessarily live up to the expectations of a 10th grader's writing, I have to say...I was impressed. I have never seen so many paragraph indentations, proper usages of punctuation, correct uses of subject-verb agreement, and examples of figurative language. Ha, that's the one message I realized my students took to heart: use figurative language to make your writing more interesting!

Some hilarious examples to come....

Excerpt from Andrew's essay:

"A time someone encouraged me was six weeks ago. When I was getting ready for my TAKS test. My teacher Ms. Chen keep me going in class with the work so I could pass the test with flying colors.

I had started to hate going to her class because of all the work she started to give us. but it was paying off because I was getting better at writting and better going my stories. it was just going good. I was going to Saturday scoool and after school work with Ms. Chen nothing could stop me from passing that test. I just knew I was gone pass because I worked so hard and many of my teachers were pushing me and the other kids in the school."

Spring has sprung

Spring break has come and gone. I was able to go back to LA for 5 days. Ahh, California...

How I miss the city! More pictures here.

The best love note I ever got

What I found on my desk this morning (name has been edited out to protect the innocent...):

Celebrate

...because TAKS reading & writing is done with!

Too bad there are three more months left to get them through.

My kids surprised me today. Instead of ungrateful comments about the snacks I so painstakingly personalized for them, they thanked me. "You spent money to stick these notes on every granola bar, Ms. Chen?" Marco asked incredulously. "Yep," I replied. "Oh."

Quan and Marco helping me set up.

Demarkie rockin' those stickers.

He looks worried...

Essentially, I was on potty duty from 8:30 AM to 3:30 PM (teaching is such a glamorous job) since I wasn't allowed to monitor the test. When I walked my 10th graders down, they would tell me things like "Ms. Chen, I think I just wrote a four." (As in an essay with a score of 4, the highest score.) "Ms. Chen, I'm trying my best." "Ms. Chen, I'm gonna pass this test."

Some moments that warmed the cockles of my heart:

Every time I stuck a star sticker on a student's face and told them they were a superstar, a genuine grin would spread across their face. A lot of them kept the stars on proudly for the rest of the day. Toshanna stuck my note from her granola bar across her chest the whole day.

Herbert aka Fat Daddy, who wrote about how his baby Victoria encouraged him not to rob a house during writing bootcamp, who cussed me out at the beginning and middle of first semester, was actually trying really hard on his test(I think), since he wasn't even done when school was over (they have all day long to work on it...no time limit). He went downstairs with about 8 other kids to finish it up after school.

Gustavo, one of my favorites, who requested to sit outside to work by himself, held up his packet to show me all the writing he did for his rough draft. The whole page was filled up.

Dernard, as he walked to the bathroom, said, "Ms. Chen, Imma do this, then I'm goin' home, ok? I wrote two pages, and I'm writing one more, then I'm goin' HOME." Said in a happy/relieved/non-antagonizing tone.

So after all that TAKS prep, we're going to start Julius Caesar tomorrow...by watch Mean Girls. Woo hoo!

"Ms. Chen, this treat sucks. Where are the doughnuts?"

1 trip to Costco, 12 packs of Capri Suns, 2 boxes gummy snacks, 2 boxes of Chewy bars and a lot of tape later...




Unfortunately, I can already predict their responses. See title of post.

Dernard returns

Dernard came back to school today! His grandma came to talk to the school, and they allowed him back on Monday. He came into after school tutoring! We went over his essay, he told me I could expect him to fail, I reassured him he would not, and I think that was exactly what he was looking for. He needs someone to believe in him, I know it.

We went over his practice TAKS (which he got 29% on), and he got most of the questions we went over correct. He told me he guessed.

"Are you going to do that on Wednesday?"

"No, Ms. Chen! I'm going to be focused. I promise. I'm going to be focused."

How my students practice figurative language

"Your head is so small it's like one of them dried up grapes...oh yeah, a raisin."
"Your head is like Robin to a Batman body."
This exchange would have kept going for a good 30 minutes if another girl didn't tell them to "Shut the f up."

Welcome to bootcamp

That's what I told my kids when they walked into our writing workshop. For the past two days, my department chair and I were downstairs in the basement, holding 3 hour writing workshops. Yesterday was quite possibly one of the most draining days of my short teaching career. While the morning sessions both days got me pumped up and excited, the afternoon sessions were pretty awful.

My 8th period monsters + my department chair's 8th period demons + teacher #3's 8th period, which consists of, for lack of a better word, the rejects from my department chair and me = DISASTER.

All talking, all gossip, all drama. Gotta love teenagers.

The next day was better. It was all my students, but, as usual, it was talk talk talk. While I was talking. So my instructional coach stood up to lecture them. If I were them, I would have hated her.

Dernard, the boy who I so had hope for, that reads at about a 6th grade level and writes at about a 4th grade level, raises his hand. He is sitting by himself in the corner (as usual), acting like an fool (as usual). Instructional coach calls on him.

"Not you, I wanna talk to Ms. Chen."

"Well I guarantee you that she won't be answering your question now, not with that attitude."

Dernard gets pissed off, crumples his paper, sticks it under his desk, and crosses his arms. After helping a few other kids, I finally go over to him.

"Dernard, get to work."
"I ain't doin' work!"
"Why not?"
"Did you hear the way that fat lady talked to me? I ain't doin' this."

I proceed to gently lecture him about respect, keeping in mind his sensitivity. I'm starting to get riled up at his attitude and refusal to work, especially after I felt like I had finally gotten through to this boy after a semester.

I told him a story that another teacher had told me about some woman who had tried to swim across the English channel, but then the fog rolled in and she got scared and the boat pulled her up, then they realized that she was just a mile or so from shore, but she said she got scared (worst run-on sentence ever, I know).

"Are you going to be like that woman and just give up?"
"I said I'm not writing this. So just give me a zero," Dernard replies evenly.

Now I'M pissed off.

"Dernard, we have worked TOO hard and you have made TOO MUCH improvement over these months to just stop now. Your test is NEXT WEEK. You are SO CLOSE, and if you stop practicing now, you're going to be like that woman."
"I don't care! I'm not doing it for her!"
"Then do it for me, ok? Can you do that? No wait, do it for YOURSELF. If you stop right now, you are not only failing me, you are failing YOURSELF because you worked too hard to stop now, and I'm not going to let you. So pick up your paper and get to work. When I get back, I better see one more paragraph."

I stalk off to help the other kids. Lo and behold, when I glance back, Dernard is writing! Angrily, but writing all the same!

Win!

So I think....

Then there's a fire drill. And Dernard refuses to leave. Since we're in the ROTC room, the ROTC teacher, Sergeant D comes out to help. Dernard still refuses, and he and Sergeant D pretty much have it out. We all go outside, and as we come inside, they are still arguing, Dernard is being completely disrespectful, and he cusses at the Sarge.

Great. Job.

So Officer H. comes to take him away. Dernard's parting words.

"I don't care! F*ck this school! I don't care!"

He walks out with Officer H.

If he's suspended, he won't be back until the day of the test. Now that's what I call an emotional day for Ms. Chen.

George

George stopped by during passing period today (it was B day, so he didn't have my class) and asked for the millionth time (ok, that's a hyperbole) if I got the scores back from the practice TAKS test they took two weeks ago.

George, who never did any work first semester, who guessed on every single multiple choice question and left anything that wasn't multiple choice blank, who just didn't CARE at all, has completely transformed.

So when I had to tell him that he had made a 75% percent on the test that he had so laboriously annotated in an effort to utilize every strategy he knew, whether it was eliminating wrong answers or underlining important details, it was both a heartbreaking AND heartwarming moment.

Many other students would smile and say, "Yes! I passed!" with no desire to improve that average score. Upon seeing the 75%, George's face fell. That look of disappointment on his face...

"Ms. Chen! Are you serious?" he moaned. "Not even 80?"

Even though George was disheartened, I felt almost giddy at his dismay. One more kid invested, and Ms. Chen is satisfied.

What made the day even better, I called his great grandmother to share that little story with her. She said I made her day, then proceeded to chat with me for about 20 minutes (you know how older people are...even though she's younger than my grandmother by at least 10 years) about how she had all her friends praying for George.

All I can say is pray a little more, friends, because I really want him to pass the TAKS with at least an 80!

Why We Are Here...

In Dallas ISD, approximately one half of all students meet proficiency standards on TAKS exams. By the 11th grade, only 61% of these students take the SAT; of those, one in nine meet the state standard score. By senior year, only 68% graduate, and just 1 in 5 graduates is deemed college ready. For every 100 students who enter Dallas ISD, 14 will leave the system sufficiently prepared for success in college.

Only 5 miles away, in the Park Cities, students receive a radically different academic experience and exit the school system to attend some of our nation's best colleges. In Highland Park, 96% of students meet the standard on the TAKS exams, and more than 70% of students meet the state standard on the SAT. Almost all students graduate, and 86% of those graduates are prepared for college. As compared with Dallas ISD, students are 5 times more likely to leave high school prepared for success in college.

The typical family living in the Park Cities has an annual income of $200,000. This neighborhood, just north of DISD boundaries, is 97% white. The average south Dallas family earns about $17,000 annually and the neighborhoods are 98% people of color.

Children living in low-income communities are already 2-3 grades behind their higher-income peers by the time they reach fourth grade, and the gap only widens from there.

Nearly 85% of all students in DISD are economically disadvantaged, meaning they qualify for a free or reduce-priced meals.

In 2007, the graduation rate in DISD was 62.5%, compared to a 98.7% graduation rate in Highland Park ISD.

While 56% of students meet proficiency standards on TAKS tests in DISD, 96% of Highland Park ISD students meet those same standards.

Guess my age

So either I look like I'm past 50 years old or Rene's math teacher is not doing his job...

"I can totally imagine Ms. Chen partying in college, with a big afro, and those fat high heels. A diamond top-"

"Rene, do you think I went to college in the '70s?"

"You didn't?!"

This somehow evolved into a debate about my age between the five kids that attended 4th period. I let them take a little break while their classmates attended a meeting. They put a lot of discussion into it. I left very vague answers.

"Ms. Chen, how many years have you been teaching?"
"This is the third school I've worked at." (There was the elementary school at UCLA, then training in Houston.)
"And how long did you work in Hollywood?"
"She's gotta be 29, because you're in college for 4 years, then she taught for 3 years, that's 7 years-"
"No, Ms. Chen is not 29! She's like, 25?"

I finally told them I was in my 20s. This revelation resulted in Rene excitedly asking me if I wanted to be introduced to his 25 year old brother. "Ms. Chen, you'll really like him! He has a tattoo all across here!" He gestures to the entire back of his neck. Rene himself has tattoos all across his arms.

I told them that if they reached their Big Goal for test, I'd tell them my age at the end of the year.
"And will you tell us if you're married?"
"Yep."
"And if you have kids?"
"Yep."
"And whatever else we want to know?"
"Within reason."

I love how these simplest things can motivate these kiddos.

sNO WAY! It's snowing in Texas?

What Ms. Chen does on a snow day:


A foot of snow in Dallas! Thank goodness today was a snow day...no work! I think teachers enjoy snow days more than students...

Thursday morning, I woke up at the usual 6 AM and immediately checked outside my window. Was that - snow? On the ground? Excitedly, I turned on the news to check school closings. Unfortunately, all Dallas ISD schools were open...

So I reluctantly headed out into the cold, lacking appropriate outerwear and footwear. Six kids showed up to 1st period. They refused to do work. Then again, they always do...all they did was complain.
"I should have stayed home today."
"DISD ain't gonna close for nothing."
"Ms. Chen, nobody's gonna show up, we shouldn't have to do no work." "Shouldn't have to do now work?" "We shouldn't have to do ANY work." Well, at least, I guess they've got double negatives down.

Roosevelt in the morning.

Realizing it would be pointless to use my prepared lesson plan on the 20 kids that would show up to my class across the three class periods, I made a quick change of plans (I've become as flexible as silly putty since I started teaching), and whipped up a "fun" writing assignment.

I got 3rd period to work...or at least pretend to work.

All the kids that showed up to 4th period. Rene doesn't like taking pictures. Guess which one is Rene.

The snow kept falling ALL afternoon. Some kids were completely checked out and refused to work, and I didn't blame them. They were sticking their heads out the window, begging me to let them play outside, and arranging a massive snowball fight via texting. ("Ms. Chen, join our snowball fight!" I give them a Look. "Ms. Chen, I thought you were cool," Marco says, shaking his head in disappointment.)

The view from my classroom.

The snow continued to pile up, and by 4th period, they made an announcement that kids could leave early if their parents came to the office to pick them up. With the few students I had left, I gave up on teaching them writing strategies after about 30 minutes of work, and then we just got on the computer and I showed them how to research colleges and financial aid.

I got to leave 5 minutes before school was actually over and my car was BURIED in snow. Kids were throwing snowballs at each other, security was running around, cars were trickling through the parking lot of disgusting, brown slush...it was madness. Driving was horrible. I'm pretty sure most of the people from the east coast think I'm a wimp.

It did not stop snowing all last night. A tree fell outside my apartment.

If I wasn't sick, I think I would have run outside to make snow angels and have a snowball fight. Alas, my poor, old body has been overrun with the sniffles and a sore throat, so looks like I will have to spend my snow day inside, with a cup of cocoa and watching movies. Oh well. :)

Happy Friday to all!!!

I almost cried at school again today. At least this time, they weren't tears of frustration...

I was sitting in a review meeting for one of my special ed kids. Unfortunately, Gerald is one of the students that failed this 6 weeks for not turning in the big semester project; he gets distracted easily, but he's a good kid overall. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a smile from Gerald in a while, and today was no different.

His mother had been telling me about how Gerald wants to be taken out of the SpEd program because he felt embarrassed for always being pulled out of class, whether it was for special testing or a review meeting.

Gerald finally comes in with his usual pensive seriousness and sits down. As usual, the team goes over his grades. Ms. C points out how he scored in the 70s for most of his semester exams, which is comparable to his peers. Most of his grades are fine, except for a 55 he got in science for the 2nd six week term.

"I know, I got off track," he explains. "I was easily influenced by my friends - you know, I just want to be cool and all that with my friends - and I wasn't really doing stuff, and then I saw that 50 - I haven't gotten a 50 since, like, middle school, so I decided I need be serious, that this is high school, so I started being serious, and I realized I needed to bring it up."

Attaboy.

Then the case manager proceeds to tell his mother that Gerald is only at a 6th grade reading level and writing at a 3rd grade level when tested one year ago. His mom looks worried. I decide to pipe up.

"Um, if I may put my two cents in, I just want to point out that a lot of students that are not in the SpEd program are actually at a similar level or even lower."

His mom looks slightly comforted. "I know, I always tell him he can do anything he can put his mind to."

"What do you think, Gerald?" the case manager prompts gently.

Gerald looks down at the ground. Finally he responds, "Now I know that. It's 'cause I was real down before. When I was living with my dad, I would review vocabulary with my stepbrothers, and when I wouldn't know the words, he would be all like, 'You're so stupid, you're older, you should know those words-'"

"Your brother would say that?"

"No, my dad. Like, 'You're always gonna be dumb.' And I would, like, get real down, and go into the bathroom and cry."

At that point, I was about to cry myself.

Gerald continued, "But then I started learning, you know, like my coaches said in football, you always gotta get better, that you're not gonna just stay at the same place - if you practice, you get better, and I'm starting to believe that a lot more now."

I am always amazed at these kids, and what they're actually thinking and where they're coming from. Even though they might act like complete idiots in class, they know better. Even though teaching is tiring, even though they often make me want to pull my hair out, it's babies like Gerald that keep me going.

In other news, it's Friday!! Have an enjoyable weekend!!

Debating

What I found on my board after school

Today, my fourth period class handled a debate surprisingly well. Even though it got off to a rocky start, Ms. K, a teacher they’ve just hired for the new ESL class (woohoo! It’s about time!), came in to help me out (since the ESL class hasn’t actually started yet, which worries me…). It was funny because my fourth period is usually the really chatty one – I have the most Hispanic kids in that class, and they like to TALK. And fight. So as I was moderating the discussion over whether or not Roosevelt should keep block scheduling, they were talking (as usual). Then Ms. K starts on this whole spiel about respect, and respecting teachers and peers, and how Ms. Chen is much too nice and they’re lucky I’m so patient. Rene (who is talking), joins in and agrees, stating that I’m his favorite teacher.

Miss K: Well then you should show her that by being quiet-
Rene: I was gonna bring Ms. Chen an apple, but I ate it for lunch!

Rene, who is an extremely smart kid, constantly cracks me up, and I often find myself having to bite my lip to prevent myself from bursting out with laughter at what he says. For example, he always likes to point out how he’s a “bad kid” and he likes to make his friends do bad things and get in trouble. And how he’s from the streets. And how he’s really gangsta. Sometimes I wish I could record some of the things he says.

Me: Rene, you need to elaborate on this part.
Rene: Miss, could you elaborate on what you mean by elaborate?

Me: Rene, you should take away this “kind of.” It makes your paper less strong.
Rene gives me a confused/blank look.
Me: Like, if I said, “Rene is ‘kind of’ a good student,” that’s not as convincing as if I said “Rene is a good student.”
Rene: (with a big grin) Awwww, yeahhhh, Miss, Imma gonna take that out!

And there are other times where words just go beyond me. He is so blatantly honest, whether he isn’t listening or he feels like “being bad.” I love it, even though he drives me crazy sometimes.

But I digress. (For shame…I wouldn’t score highly on the Focus/Coherence strand for the TAKs test.)

So the debate about block scheduling served as a well-needed reminder of why I’m here suffering (at times) the way I am. They brought up points like how kids get bored in an hour and 30 minutes, and teachers don’t fill up the time properly and teach (I was an exception, they said!). They said even though block scheduling should theoretically give you more time to learn things better, a lot of their teachers would just move in and give more and more bookwork, and when asked to explain they would tell the kids to come to tutoring. But get this – they wouldn’t be there for tutoring, and as one kid said, “You see them running off to eat! I seen ‘em!”

Then the kids started bringing up things like uniforms and having more after school activities. Since they were so into it, instead of completely telling them they got off topic, I took it as one of those “teachable moments” and had them write a persuasive essay of their choice about what they would change about Roosevelt.

It’s sad to see how disheartened a lot of them are. These kids are more than aware of Roosevelt’s substandard quality and a lot of them had really excellent ideas for change. All I can say is when I submit these essays to the administration, they better be read, and not just end up as another lost pile of papers, as is much too often the case.

A little positivity, for a change

Last night, I had dinner with a few TFA teachers and a couple accountants from PWC (where my friend’s wife works). The four teachers were sharing our crazy stories, and then one of the accountants asked us if there are any good parts to teaching.

That got the four of us thinking, and realizing that for every negative story that we tell (or at least for every 5 negative stories), there’s also a good story that goes untold. It’s so easy to forget little victories, like Frank actually responding to me instead of giving me a blank look, when kids are practically humping each other in class, walking out, and refusing point-blank to go down to the office.

So today I want to share a positive story. George was one of those kids that started out the year not doing ANY work. He’d either copy, or be lazy and just put his head down. He even tried to slip out of class a couple of times. He wasn’t disrespectful – he liked me, he just didn’t like or care for school.

Then (of course), he started failing. Then one day his great grandmother (side note: she was only about 65 years old…yeah, do the math, just like I did) came in for a school conference, where she told us about how George really wanted to get into a military school because he thinks it won’t be like regular school, but he won’t be able to get in if he doesn’t pass at Roosevelt. She explains that she’s raised him since he was young, and he gets everything he wants at his aunt’s house – his own computer, his own room, etc…but she has essentially given up on the boy’s lack of motivation.

Then, George starts to change. For our assessment before winter break, he was really really trying. I mean, annotating that text like nobody’s business, eliminating answers, really thinking through. He even stayed a few minutes into lunch to finish up.

And he turned in his memoir project! Before giving it to me, he stuck a post-it note on it telling me it was private and he didn’t want anyone else to read it.

While it wasn’t a perfect composition and was laden with conventional errors, the content was good. And I definitely learned a lot about George, and how he wonders why his mother doesn’t want him…

This semester, George is definitely putting in a more effort. He still acts like a rascal sometimes, but at least he does his work. So while it was heart-crushing to see the look of disappointment on his face when I told him he was not yet at 80% mastery, at least now I know he wants it.

These are the things that the numbers don’t show. So while teachers (and TFA) may judge our effectiveness with our test scores, our numbers, the numbers don’t show the whole story. I think it’s very easy for teachers to get bogged down with the data and teaching to the test, and I think that’s why the job is so frustrating for me sometimes. I feel like I care less than I should about the TAKs, that I’m not invested in the big goal. Which, to be honest, I’m not – I’m invested in kids like George, where I can hopefully change their attitude, or at least shift their path a little.

March 3, they will take their TAKs. I think I will be just as happy as my kids when that’s over.

Discovering Dallas, Part I

In TFA, they talk about this thing called PPA: Personal and Professional Alignment. I’ve decided that in order to maximize my effectiveness at work, I need to maintain a healthy personal life.

At lunch this weekend, a fellow TFA friend and I realize that our yearnings for our respective hometowns possibly stems from our current dislike of Dallas. We’ve lived here for about half a year, and yet we have not seen too much of the city. To delineate between TFA Dallas and regular Dallas, we’re going to explore Dallas some more in an effort to make our personal lives a little happier and have something to look forward to other than hours of lesson planning on the weekend.

After this lunchtime discussion, we feel extremely full and realize that our morning workout is completely shot from overeating (even though the Japanese place we ate at was only mediocre – when does that stop me from eating?). It’s my friend’s New Year’s resolution to lose weight, so we decide to walk it off.

It’s a gorgeous day outside. The sun is out for the first time in what feels like weeks, and we choose to check one thing off of our “To Do in Dallas” list: Katy Trail.

We circle around Uptown, searching for the entrance to the trail, and end up in Highland Park, ogling the mansions. (Side note: I want to live in a castle in Highland Park.)

Finally we circle back around and find a park. We explore the park and eventually find the trail. Unfortunately, I was not wearing proper shoes, and end up getting an enormous water blister on my heel, which burst. Not fun.

When I return home, I’m crippled, yet happier than I’ve been in a long time. Sunshine really does make one happier.

We return on Monday (yay for Martin Luther King, Jr.!), decked out with proper footwear, and make the 7 mile walk.

(I not FOB!)

At the beginning of the trail.

Victory! 3.5 miles there and back!

Result? Ms. Chen feels slightly healthier, and is ready to conquer Dallas and semester 2. Bring it on!

Memoir projects

The memoir projects continued to trickle in throughout the day. How many students turned it in on time (and complete) on Friday? Three. Three out of 150.

J. dropped by during the first class of the day to turn in his poster. It was on a beat-up piece of blue posterboard.

“Here you go Ms. Chen. Uh, by the way, ignore the back. I didn’t have no posterboard, so I had to use one that was on the door. Ignore what it says.”

The quality of the projects were varied. There were beautifully done posters and scrapbooks:

And then there were these:

(Yes, that is someone's completed project)

I think the one thing that I love about teaching English is that I have a lot of opportunities to discover things about my students. Although I got a headache reading about all my girls' true loves and heartbreak and how their boyfriends turned out to be players, I also read about their dreams and aspirations, the loss of many a family member, and reasons for acting the way they do.

Dallas Lesson

It takes 10 minutes longer to dress when it is below freezing outside.


Bundled up and ready for the 19 degree weather! Now if only the heat in my classroom would be fixed...

Oh, baby

I found today that two of my babies just had a baby of their own...

And let me tell you, T. wrote his story about the birth with a LOT of detail.

How does one deal with a situation like this? I want to be a supportive teacher, and build that relationship, but I also don't want to come off as congratulatory...to me, two 15-year-olds having a baby is not something to celebrate. Thoughts?

Happy 2010

Was I ready to end my two weeks of rest and relaxation in lovely California?
No.
Was I ready to come back to school and face those monsters that terrorized, tortured, and tested me (when it should have been the other way around) before winter break?
Absolutely not.
Was I dreading Monday?
Yes, pretty much.

So how bad was it?

It was ok. Not that good, but not bad.

After a surprisingly refreshing day of professional development (shocking), I was motivated once more to go in with that positive mindset, to get rid of the negativity that I had unwittingly absorbed from my coworkers, and close that achievement gap!

Then I have girls like A, T, and L in my 5th period that just make me want to rip my hair out. First day back, and it's attitude, off the charts. The other kids are getting tired of it, and two of my boys (who came back with what seems to be a new found desire to do well) could not hide their expressions of disdain for the girls' immature behavior.

However, I must say that the two weeks away seems to have been, for the most part, beneficial for both me AND the kids (most of them). So far, 2010 seems to have kicked off for me with a focus on that relationship building.

Before winter break, I think I was so caught up with the planning, the management, the disruptive and disrespectful behavior that I forgot how important it is to build the positive, rather than just focusing on eliminating the negative.

So it's all about conversations and getting to know my kids even better. I found out quite a few things like: which boys are the players; that it gets -20 degrees in Mexico; only girls wear snow boots...