Last Day of School and Summertime Sadness

Yesterday was the last day of student attendance at school and even though I don't know these kids that well and I've only been here about a month I found myself getting sad that I wouldn't see most of them again. Part of me likes to think it's because I've bonded with some of the students and part of me knows I always just get sentimental at the end of school years because I love school so much. My parents will attest that even if I was miserable with homework, I always enjoyed the school year and thought summers were entirely too long. However, because the school is moving, teachers are all in the building today finalizing grades and packing up their classrooms. We did, however, take a break to project the U.S. vs. Germany game on one screen and the Portugal vs. Ghana game on the other. Erica, one of the teachers here, is a huge soccer fan and is actually flying out this evening to go to Brazil for the rest of the World Cup and attend the Colombia vs. Uruguay game on Tuesday.

Summer school starts on Monday! But this is incredibly stressful because teachers are finishing up grades today so we don't even know yet what students need to come to summer school. I'm not sure why the elementary and middle schools get a prep week in between now and when their summer school starts and high school doesn't, but it's stressing everyone out. We won't know the needs of the classes or students until we have the students placed so the meeting with the principal is happening right now to evaluate which students should come to summer school. We had a summer school staff meeting the other day and they told us how are days will look and what we can expect; it was not at all what I was expecting. Summer school is from 9am-12pm (woo!) so I'll only have to work from about 8am-1pm every day which means I'll have a lot more time to go exploring around the city. However, what they were describing seemed more like a study hall than actual teaching. The teachers have been working on designing packets that students will be given each day and must complete in silence before the end of the day. They are not allowed to take any work home and they must finish. I expressed my concerns with my mentor teacher that this didn't seem like actual teaching like we were told the program would be and I was disappointed. She said she would talk to the principal and see if there was a way we can get more experience and perhaps prepare some mini-lessons to teach so it doesn't feel so much like a glorified baby-sitting job.

While I think this program has been really great about a reality check for all the behind-the-scenes work that teachers have to do, I'm also slightly disappointed with the timing and the way the program is going. Beginning the program during finals didn't give us a real opportunity to observe lesson planning or implementation since students have just been reviewing and taking exams since we got here. Also, upon speaking with some of the teachers, I've learned that even on their end the intern program is pretty poorly organized and communication is often sparse and not given enough notice. For example, we had a Professional Development session with the founding CEO of Uncommon Schools, but we weren't told who the PD was with or that it was a Q&A session so no one had prepared questions and it took a whille for the ball to get rolling which was awkward and made the interns look ill-prepared. The teachers have clarified, though, that this is extremely unusual for Uncommon and they are usually so on top of planning and communication. The theory is that the intern program is still just relatively new and they've never had this many interns before. Hopefully that's the case and it can only get better.

In exploration news, I read for a few hours in Prospect Park yesterday and then I walked the Brooklyn Bridge at sunset which was extremely hot, but very beautiful. (See pictures below) I have plans to visit the United Nations Plaza this evening after a staff dinner to celebrate the end of the year. This weekend I'm meeting up with a friend from ASU who is studying fashion in NYC to get brunch and go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I'm also really hoping to make it to the Public Library Friday or Sunday. I keep learning of more things I want to do which makes me realize I probably won't even get a quarter of the things done that I want to while I'm here. Oh well, I'll just have to come back!

 

Update: Finals Still Suck

I'm writing to you all from the cozy teacher work room at my school as we wrap up final exams. Because I am not able to proctor an exam and my mentor teacher doesn't have any to do, we're just kind of hanging out for the day. This week has been incredibly stressful for students and teachers. The students have had to take Regents exams (3 hour cumulative tests from the State of New York) and also the final exams for their classes. Regents have been a particular pain because getting a certain score can allow a student to graduate with honors, so that is the score Uncommon requires of all students, so there has been a lot of remediation and review happening the past couple weeks in order to prepare them for everything. You can tell as each day passes they just get more and more exhausted and apathetic about these exams, like anyone who has to test for close to 25-30 hours in a single week. It's been stressful for teachers getting everything ready and trying to keep the students motivated, and because, of course, the copier broke during one of the busiest days when many teachers were copying finals.

In exciting news, the school I'm at is moving! Because Uncommon is still a relatively new program the high schools are not as old as the other schools. This means that as students matriculate from the middle schools into to high schools, the high schools need to expand in order to accommodate these students. As of right now in New York City, there is only one high school that's at maximum capacity for all 4 grades. The high school that I'm at only has 9th & 10th graders, so we're moving to the 4th & 5th floors (currently only on the 2nd floor) of the same building in order to give the juniors and new freshmen a place to go! It's all very exciting, but it means lots of packing. Today, the 2 other interns and I had to construct 250 cardboard boxes which took a long time and made my hands really dry, but was otherwise nice to have something to do without being underfoot. I think one of the pitfalls of the program is that we start right at the end of the school year when teachers are really busy and don't always have the time (or energy) to show us the ropes and give us tutorials. I've been doing my best to remain as useful and independent as possible so that it makes things easier for the teachers instead of just being one more thing they have to worry about.

Perhaps prematurely, I'm already considering a future here at Uncommon. I absolutely love the teachers at my school. They're all really young and energetic and are open to talking about anything school or otherwise. They're all really great about discussing their teaching experiences, philosophies, and giving feedback on my work. Plus, as the students in the school get older they're looking to do more college style seminar classes where teachers would have a lot of say into what topics and literature they want. Everyone says that Uncommon is a great place to work, especially when you're young, because you have a lot of opportunities to grow and try things professionally before getting set in certain ways. Because I'm feeling pretty confident from the feedback I've received so far from my mentor teacher, other teachers, and the principal about getting offered a position for when I graduate. It's definitely something I'm going to keep in mind and work towards as the summer progresses.

Other irrelevant discoveries and explorations: I ventured over to Prospect Park which is gorgeous and have definite plans to hit up the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens and go back when I have more time and energy. I'm definitely looking forward to when summer school starts because that's only 8am-1pm so I'll have lots of free time to explore. Also, I popped into this little corner store and ate the most delicious gyro I've ever had. NYC definitely dominates Indiana in the food department. Enjoy your weekend! I know I will :)

Weekend Adventures

So this past weekend was my first large chunk of free time to get to explore the city, sleep in, and try some new things. Friday afternoon started out pretty rough. I had to leave early from school to go get fingerprinted, but coming home there was a fire on one of the train tracks so the trains were all delayed. I ended up waiting for my train for close to an hour and there was this insufferable woman standing next to me screaming and cursing at no one just because the trains were late and because she thought the musicians playing in the station "sucked". Because everyone was waiting, the station was packed with people so there was no where for me to move away from her, so I just put in my headphones.

Friday night, I met up with my friend Maddy, who just recently graduated from IU and moved home to NYC, for a night out in Manhattan. Firstly, anyone who knows me well knows that my sense of direction is terrible and this coupled with my being terrified of being lost can end up pretty disastrous act times. Anyways, I'm still trying to get the hang of the subway system so I always allot myself extra time just in case. I was supposed to meet up with Maddy, at her apartment in Manhattan, at 9:30. She told me I could come over early if I wanted so I left my apartment at 8:15 for the 40 minute trip. However, I got on the wrong A train and rode it to the end of the line (in the opposite direction I needed to be going) so my 40 minute trip lasted a little over 2 hours. 100% my fault for not paying attention to the stops, but only comical now that it's over. So I made it to Maddy's apartment where I met some of her friends who were really nice and welcoming and we got ready and pregamed a little bit before heading to this bar called Slate. Now apparently I should have done my research about NYC bar prices and pregamed more (I know you're rolling your eyes Mom & Dad--just trying to be economical!) because it was absolutely outrageous how much drinks were. Granted it was this really Bougie bar that Maddy and her friends wanted to try in downtown Manhattan, but I was absolutely not prepared. That is the last time I go to a ritzy bar like that-- interns don't make that kind of money!

So to balance out my expensive Friday, I had a really relaxing day on Saturday. I left Maddy's about 10AM and just kind of spent the day walking around Manhattan. I made it (without getting lost!) to Central Park, but it is truly enormous so I was lost once I was there, but it was the best kind of lost. It didn't matter because everything was so beautiful and there were so many happy people. I walked around for a while, only covering Central Park South, and my water bottle and I hunkered down with the book I'm currently reading, So Much for That by Lionel Shriver, and we spent the day napping and reading in Central Park. It was perfect. Definitely a place I want to go back to; perhaps a weekend for each corner of the park?

Now that it's Sunday, it's back to the real world and homework. I've been tasked with designing a lesson to help students review multiple-choice strategies for their upcoming Regents exams. The irony of this does not escape me considering I am a terrible test taker. The whole time I'm at the school I just keep thinking, "If I went here, I definitely wouldn't have gotten the grades I did. I had it easy the whole time." Their program is so rigorous for these kids, which is great considering the catch-up a lot of them have to do from the public school system, but still I learn things from them all the time, but then again that's probably the best part of teaching.

Pictures from Central Park:

First Day!

Today was my first official day in the classroom...finally! Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and 1.5 hours this morning were all professional development and training seminars so I finally go to go to my host school, Uncommon Collegiate Charter High School, and meet the students I will be working with. It's a small class-- only about 7 students because it's a special education class. Only 2 of the students have IEPs (Individualized Education Plans--a legally binding contract of accommodations and requirements for education for a student with learning disabilities) but the others have been evaluated as "needing remedial work" by the team of teachers which puts them in the class.

New York schools don't let out until June 26th so right now I'm working during the regular school day (7am-4pm), but the summer academy will be on a different schedule (8am-1pm) and is mandatory for students who didn't turn in large assignments/projects, missed final exams, or failed a class. All 7 of my students will be returning for the summer academy.

I think I'm really fortunate to get to work with Mrs. Harriell because while she does do remedial work the majority of the time, she also coordinates with the teachers to evaluate lesson plans to make sure students are being accommodated and she does do direct instruction sometimes. She's talked to one of the English teachers, Mr. Gavin (who I observed during my interview immersion day at Uncommon and connected with via email) so that I can deliver a full lesson to a larger, "regular" English class. A lot of what Mrs. Harriell does is similar to what I've seen and learned about ENL coordinators in school. Rather than a pull-out classroom (where English Language Learners would be isolated from other students for a full day of instruction with this one teacher, or in this case Special Ed students) the teacher focuses on training and preparing content teachers to make sure they are being accommodated in a general education classroom and then gets to work with the students one period a day for clarification, remedial work, or just extra time on in-class assignments. So I really do feel like I'm getting the best of both worlds with my placement this summer.

In other news unrelated to school and work, I have discovered a local bagel shop around the corner that has really phenomenal bagels which is going to be deadly for me this summer, but hey, at least I'm walking the 2 miles there and back to my school every day, right?

Managing the Move & Orientation

I have officially made it to Brooklyn and moved into the LIU (Long Island University) housing that Uncommon has provided. It is a large apartment in the heart of Brooklyn; I'm about 3 blocks from the Barclays Center which makes travel anywhere extremely easy. I have 4 roommates, all girls, so it's a little overwhelming, but I have my own room and I've staked out a local Starbucks with wifi where I can get away (where I'm currently writing this post).

Sunday I had 5 hours of orientation which consisted of going over the company mission, goals, program details, some team building activities, and Q&A panel with some Uncommon teachers who began as interns and then were offered jobs. In the session I learned that last year, Uncommon only had 40 interns for all their schools and this year there are 79 of us selected from a pool of over 400 applicants! It's really neat that such a cool and effective charter school is growing enough to accommodate all of us.

Of the staff I've met so far, they are all amazing. In school and talking with people about why I want to teach, I frequently get that I'm too idealistic about my expectations for teaching and the impact I'll have on students so it's really refreshing and empowering to be surrounded by staff that all believe the same thing and have the data to prove that their teaching styles and efforts have been instrumental in getting urban youth through (not just to) college.

I have one more full day of professional development before I get my first opportunity to be in a classroom with my mentor teacher on Wednesday. My mentor teacher's name is Jade and she has been an Uncommon teacher for 2 years and was hired on right after she went through the internship. From the emails we've exchanged, she's seems really nice and I'm excited to be working with her. She's a special ed teacher which I'm also really excited about because I don't have much experience working with special ed students and we're only required to take one general class on the laws surrounding special education at IU. I'm happy for the opportunity to work with these students for the first time with a mentor who can give me feedback on my skills.

Now I have to go create a presentation all about  myself and why I want to be a teacher to introduce myself to my students. Cheers!