31 and Having Fun

My class's motto every morning after we take attendance and see how many students are present. My homeroom is 31 strong. The first week I had 33.

33 smiles when we are shouting multiplication tables. 33 voices echoing "Ms. Lyons!" when we are getting close to a bathroom break. 33 minds ready to learn. 33 sets of parents curious as to why their child's teacher is so young. Considering this summer I had only four students, 33 is a bit of a leap.

It was surprising to me that when two students moved to other schools, I was sad. As much as I want a smaller class, I love all 33 of my students!

So, a lot has changed since my last post. I've been teaching for three weeks now in a fourth grade classroom in Kansas City, MO. Just wait until you hear what my first year teaching is going to look like.

I'm teaching at a Student-Centered Learning school. The program has two huge components: leveling and project-based learning. Students are leveled at the beginning of the year through testing, analysis of previous year's data, and observation. Students are then placed into a classroom with other students based on their academic level rather than age. For example, my classroom has three third graders, seven fourth graders, two fifth graders, and nine sixth graders all at either a level 8 or 9 (late third to beginning fourth).

The second component is project-based learning. Students are given a list of learning targets they must master before they can move to the next level. The students show mastery of these levels by producing evidence on a proficient level. Evidence can be a journal entry, an essay, a student-created worksheet, an online game, small group exercise, classroom project, flip book, foldable, the list goes on and on. The idea is that kids can learn the way they want to learn under a teacher's guidance.

Each grade level has an equivalent two SCL levels. The fourth grade is now levels 9 and 10. My school's goal is for each student to move four SCL levels.

Here's the part where people jump out of seats with questions: the kids are not graded traditionally. They get an I if the target has been Introduced, a W if they are Working on it, an M if they have Mastered it, and an N if they have Not shown mastery. No more A's, B's, C's, etc.

My first year teaching, ladies and gentlemen. Inner-city elementary school, brand new education program, barely five weeks of training, over-populated classroom, and I just flat out don't know what I'm doing. The positive side? Nobody in my district really knows what's going on, so we're all in it together. Another positive: SCL classroom means technologically-equipped classroom. I've got seven laptops, an evo board (smart board), and a teacher laptop. Teach For America is also hooking me up with a donated iPad for my classroom. I've got the tools for sure, I just need to pull every creative string in my body to get these kids excited to learn.

Mental Gatorade

Mental Gatorade is something that you focus on when you are working hard cognitively and need a boost of energy. I had my students make a Mental Gatorade before their exam yesterday, so I'm going to share my own Mental Gatorade with you.

Diagnostic Score: Novice
Mid-Institute: Beginning Proficient
Big Goal: Exemplary Teaching Skills
When things get tough, I will focus on... My students I hugged good-bye today.

I also taped inspirational quotes on all of my students' desks yesterday before they took their assessment. Here are some of my own inspirational quotes to help me tough it out:

"You were the best teacher, and you are so nice that alot of people will like how you are" -R
"Ms. Lyons, you were like my Mom, I will miss you!!!" - J
"I will miss you. And don't forget me, you were the best teacher." -M
"I will always have you in my heart. I will find a little spot for you and keep you there and always remember you. Have a great summer." -R
"I am so confident in your abilities to lead your classroom to great gains! Good luck and keep in touch!" -Jackie, my CMA

These are some of the notes I received today, my last day at MP. This place has touched my heart in a way I could never have predicted. These kids make me want to work my butt off everyday to become better and better. Seeing the look on R-'s face when she put up stars on all the objectives she mastered on her test was absolutely amazing. That girl is going to go on to do some great things!

I made all of my students promise to text me during their next year of school and to contact me when they start looking at colleges. J- already got connected! He texted me "Hii!! This is J-!". So I texted him back "Hi J-!! This is Ms. Lyons!" :)

I'm so proud of how hard these three worked and how much they grew to believe in themselves. My two struggling students are now "experts" at certain exponent rules and were helping their peers master the objectives with them. It was amazing to see their faces light up when their parents hugged them after they received their awards today. My student who took home extra homework (yea, she asked for extra homework) achieved 141% of her growth goal. This girl just leaped over a high bar of expectations.

I can't help but reflect on the seven students who were enrolled in my class this summer but did not share in our celebration today. C- moved away from the district in the middle of the summer. A-, M-A-, and T- showed up for only a day. B- and A- rarely made  it to school. And then there was C-y, my iceberg. She did take her assessment, but never showed today to share in our celebration. I really hope there's a teacher out there who will break down the brick wall this girl has built around her. When I enter the Fall, I will certainly carry my experiences with C-y at the back of my mind as I interact with new students. I know there are many tactics I could have used to invest her in my class, but I am just too inexperienced. Students like her will push me to push myself through professional development.

I feel honored and humbled by my experiences this summer. I've made some incredible friends here in California. I think the good ol' city of Watts will always hold a special place in my heart.

I'm heading back to Kansas City on Sunday. The next time I write, I'll be blogging about my fourth graders :) :) :)

Hm, It's been a while!

So, I'm kinda bad at keeping up with this. Shocker.

Starting my last week at Institute is bitter sweet. I'm so excited to get back to Kansas City where my car, my apartment, my job, and my sister and her family are waiting for me. Yet, I know I'll be leaving behind more than a half-empty bottle of shampoo and extra worksheets. I'm going to really miss my students. The three that regularly come to school have made all the difference in the world out here. I've decided not to use the names of my students or my school to protect personal information, so I'm going to refer to them as R-, M-, and J-.

These three kids are amazing. They inspire me everyday to be a better teacher. R- takes time out of her nutrition break to ask clarifying questions about her assignments. She even calls her teachers on the weekends when she's struggling with homework. I'm incredibly impressed with how much she advocates for her education. She has big goals to go to college and become a police person. She recognizes that she can be better, and will be better than what others believe. She has a great set of parents who wrote the most endearing things about her to us in the parent survey we sent home. I just about cried when her father answered the question "What do you like the most about your daughter?" with "Everything. She's wonderful." I am so excited to see what comes of this scholar!

J- and M- are a joy to have in my classroom. They both get so excited about learning that I have to actually give them consequences for participating too much! They are so supportive of each other and even me! Whenever I comment on my inability to spell (seriously, it's a problem when I'm making up word problems in class), M- always tells me "Yes you can, Miss!". Both of these students struggle in my class, but their biggest obstacle is miscalculations. They're getting the hang of the concepts! I'm going to keep working with these two to make sure that by Thursday they can accurately add decimals, subtract positives from negatives, and divide fractions.

I will be teaching 4th grade in the fall. I can't wait to help students like J- and M- learn how to calculate accurately so that they are prepared for math in middle school. It's so incredibly important for these kids to get a great foundation before beginning to learn more abstract information.

Ok, past my bedtime. My big goal for tonight is 5 hours of sleep. Adios!

Today was a good day.

If you want to make God laugh, just plan. God has to be chuckling everytime He catches a glimpse of me lesson planning. My first day I had to teach 8th graders when I planned for 7th graders (no worries, I got my 7th graders. Phew!). My class size changes on a daily basis. My lesson plans are cut short by impatient bells. Holy cow, why do I spend hours lesson planning?

Ok, now that I have that rant out of the way, I am going to focus on the good things. I spend all day encouraging my kids to focus on the good, so I'm going to take one of my own notes.

Today was a good day.

A lot of bad things happened today, but today was a good day. It started off as usual: 5:15am alarm, run a straightener through my hair, eat some oatmeal, meander to the bus pick-up, then drive out to Watts. I slowly wake up over some coffee on the bus and review my lesson on solving word problems with multiplying/dividing fractions. Step 1, read the problems. Step 2, underline numbers... Yea, I'm ready for this. I got my poster modeling some awesome Cornell Notes. I got my model word problem prepared. Sparkle clap for Ms. Lyons being on top of her game.

Like I said, God laughs when we make plans. I'm sitting in the back of my classroom watching the first teacher give her lesson. I'm staring at the board, my mind slowly coming to as I realize my kids aren't learning the lesson they need to understand mine at all. Shit. After about five seconds of "shit what do I do?", I turned to my adviser for suggestions. After a short, hushed conversation with her I quickly walk over to the side board and write down a mini-lesson on multiply and dividing fractions. As I'm finishing the last notes, my co-teacher announces "Let's give Ms. Lyons our attention!" Ok, folks, let's make it happen.

To anybody unfamiliar with teaching or even just presenting, this may not seem like a big deal, but teaching at an inner city school to kids with such low achievement requires an incredible amount of planning and execution. Hence my freak out.

So, I take a deep breath, look at my kids, and start, well, teaching. It. Was. Awesome. I had a sense of urgency that had never been present before. My kids yesterday were rambunctious, quick to call out without raising hands, talking back to me, giggling... today they were taking detailed notes, answering my questions, responding to my calls and checks. They learned what a reciprocal was, what Cornell Notes look like, and how to set up a multiplication and division word problem.

Ok, here's the awesomely ironic moment: Today, or all days, into my room strolls one of my Instructional Leaders, one of my Literacy Specialists, and 4-5 Teacher For America full times staff members. My Instructional Leader, impressed with my new found sense of urgency, goes and tells my advisor about the awesome lesson I just gave. This is the point where I would have my students give themselves two pats on the back.

Anyway, I just needed to talk about a good day because Lord knows I've had quite a few rough ones on very little sleep. Speaking of sleep, I'm looking at four hours until 5:15 am. Gotta get some sleep so my kids don't get the best of me! Good night

First day of school! First day of school!

Holy cow, they are putting me in front of real kids tomorrow.

Earlier tonight someone was taking videos of different TFA corp members preparing for the day. They came to me and asked "How do you feel about your first day tomorrow?" My initial thought was "Get that camera out of my face," but I figured I should play along in the spirit of things, and because I was in the middle of the Resource Center which looks like a Kindergarten room. Instead I responded "Excited to meet my first students ever!" It was bright, politically-correct, and hopeful. Everything a first teacher should say. It is true, I am incredibly excited to meet my first students, but I'm also scared to death. I'm teaching middle school students math at an inner-city school. Let's take a moment and think about the realities of that situation.

My lesson plans are ready for the next two days, with the third day only missing some posters with the steps to converting fractions into percents. I have my speech prepared to introduce myself (as Ms. Lyons!). I have a behavioral management program somewhat well-though-out. I've even got some sports-themed motivational posters to get my "mathletes" inspired. On a scale of one to OCD, I'm at about 8.5 right now. I've done everything in my power to prepare myself. Now it's time to jump into the deep end!

Being a team player

Since I found out my team members for the summer today, I wanted to share a reflection on being a team player. I always thought of myself as a top performer in the category of "works well with others." I find building personal  relationships very easy and teamwork to just sort of fall suit. I'm finding that I have more struggle in a team setting than I originally thought. In an exercise where I was asked to work with three others to develop a lesson vision, the team and the vision completely fell apart. All communication just sort of.. froze. It was as if we shut each other off with just a few key words. What I am realizing is that in order to work together as a team, then you need to have the right mindset and a foundational belief in teamwork.

When working with my collaborative this summer, I am going to make a real effort to maintain a mindset of open and honest communication that maintains a high level of respect for my team members. If I have a great idea, I need to share it and I need to be clear in my communication to my team members, but I need to understand that my team members have a lot to offer, too. I am going to open my mind to the belief that my teammates have great ideas and I should take advantage of everything they have to offer. On top of this, I need to realize that my team needs me to be performing efficiently, honestly, and creatively. My introvert-leaning personality is an obstacle I will have to overcome in these settings, but I believe with the right mindset and foundational belief, I can learn to work well with a team to help my students achieve. Let's face it, I can't make it through my first lesson plans, my first time setting up a classroom, and my first evaluations of students' performance without the help and support of my peers.

For my parents and friends back home...
I made it to L.A. safe and sound! I'm all set up to have a great learning experience this summer while helping a group of students achieve tremendous growth in their algebraic skills. I'm ten minutes from a beach, DOE is feeding us well, and I've met some amazing people. It's going to be a great summer!

Past Experiences

Since I have no real teaching experience at the moment, but I really want to blog about my professional start, I'm just going to write about what experience I do have. I think the biggest thing I'm bringing to the table is my ability to visualize. When Editor of North Avenue Review I had to transform the magazine and its content to make it something readable and sustainable. In order to make that transformation a reality I had to visualize what the end product was going to look like: 20 pages, creative cover, fun and engaging images, and high-quality writing about relevant issues to students. I had to then communicate with my staff exactly what this vision looked like and how we were going to make it happen. Yea, we had some rough spots in the year. Yea, we had to work hard. But that end product absolutely lived up to mine and my staff's expectations. It took hard work, but with that end product in mind we made it happen. Yes, there is always room for improvement, but I am proud of what we accomplished.

I can not wait to apply this practice to my classroom. I am well-aware that my students could walk into my classroom far behind their peers in more affluent, higher-performing institutions. I realize that my students could be overcoming enormous challenges just to get to school in the morning. My job is to visualize what the end of the school year could look like for these scholars, communicate that vision clearly, and then invest my students in that vision. This vision is one of success for every student in significant academic performance sprinkled with practices in leadership, communication, and civic duty. I may not know exactly how to make this vision happen right now, but I will work my butt off everyday to figure out what that plan is.

Hello, Kansas City

I love this city. Granted, it's been two days, but I get a distinct impression that the city is both eclectic and genuine: two of my favorite adjectives. I found an apartment walking distance to beautiful green areas and cozy coffee shops. I'm smiling inside and out knowing I can come home from a busy school day, and sit on a balcony with a warm cup of tea.

I'm starting to meet other teachers I'll working along-side in the program. The men and women I've met are incredibly driven individuals and I can not wait to get better acquainted as colleagues and friends.

I'm slowly learning some of the history of the achievement gap in Kansas City, MO. In the 1980s the city set aside nearly two billion dollars to closing the performance gap in schools associated with minorities and low socioeconomic status (there is a pretty significant divide between East and West parts of the city, and inner-city and suburbs). In the efforts to integrate the school system, however, many of the funds were misused and mismanaged. I was sick to my stomach to hear of an audit that revealed 54% of school funds never made it to the classrooms. Some drastic changes have been made in the past year, however, thanks to the new superintendent, Dr. Covington. This school year should see a strong focus on increasing student achievement in the inner-city schools of KCMSD (Kansas City Missouri, School District). The district is bringing in 150 teachers to lead high-need classrooms to becoming high-performance classrooms. Quite a task for us, but I think we're all pretty excited to work with these kids.

The fact that I'm training alongside 13% of the 2011-2012 KCMSD teachers to develop best teaching practices that will close the achievement gap of Kansas City is both exciting and frightening. Five weeks is such a short time-frame to develop into a great teacher! I hope my students will be patient with me as I tackle some new-to-me teaching methods. I'll have to develop a serious tracking system to make sure I'm effective. I think I may have just found one of my top priorities for professional development this next year: Develop a tracking system.

Road trip to Kansas City

The Versa is fueled and well-stocked with snacks, my suitcase is bursting with cardigans and full skirts, and my head is spinning with excitement and nerves. I leave tomorrow, bright and early, to start being a grown-up and a teacher. I am traveling roughly 900 miles from my home in Georgia to join Teach For America in Kansas City, MO. As a member of the corp, I am committing to do everything I can as a teacher to help solve inequality of education in the United States, specifically Kansas City.

I am so excited to meet my students in August, but I have a lot of preparation and planning to do before then. After my Induction into the Kansas City Corp next week, I'll be spending the rest of the summer in Los Angeles, CA teaching summer school and training with the LA Institute. I will have some long days ahead of me, but I know every minute will help me become the teacher my students need.

This blog serves three purposes: 1.) It's a way for me to keep my friends and family updated on my life. 2.) I can share with the world my (mis)adventures as a first year teacher. And 3.) this blog is a practice in reflection and transparency on my teaching methods. I am looking forward to sharing my first year of teaching with you!