Justice League...ASSEMBLE!!

On Friday, the kids at Higher Achievement participated in the first annual Olympics of the Mind. At "OOM," students participated in a variety of activities that were supposed to gauge what they learned over the summer at HA. There were three categories: MathQuest (all math questions), BrainBowl (a mix of science, literature, and social studies questions) and Field Games (relay races, capture the flag, etc.). This was an event that everyone at Higher Achievement was really excited for, especially because it was the first time they were ever trying it in Baltimore.

Some of us decided to take things to the next level. We made a rap video that we thought would get the kids pumped up before the day started, and it was an incredible success. At the beginning of the video, when they realized what was about to happen, kids started getting out of their seats, yelling, oohs and ahhs -- the whole thing. I think that what surprised most people (kids and staff alike) was my verse. After the video was over, and we were fully participating in OMM, there were a bunch of "I didn't know you could rap like that Mr. Brad" and "I see you Mr. Brad" comments thrown my way. I just told them that this was one of the many tricks I had up my sleeve. Pretty awesome feeling, not gonna lie.

The idea for the Justice League video came from a couple different sources. At UTC, we created the "Justice League" as a group of guys who took on a professional identity during the day (i.e. Bruce Banner, Peter Parker, etc.) during the day but then had the ability to transform into something completely different at night, when the situation was appropriate. Some of the Justice League members were placed at the South Baltimore site (I was at East) and incorporated the Justice League idea into their morning meeting every day. The skits, which were completely improv, pitted two Justice Leaguers (Hulk and Captain America) against another resident, Lucian, who went by the name of Dr. Pollution (Po-lucian -- get it?) and his minions, whose only goal was to corrupt the minds of the South Baltimore kids. On Friday, the skits concluded with Dr. Pollution realizing the evil of his ways and transforming into Dr. Solution. This was the perfect segue into our video. A picture from a "typical" morning meeting at south is below:

Following our music video's world premiere, the entire Justice League was brought up on stage. One of our superheros, Segun (aka The Incredible Hulk) took the mic and talked about how even though kids were coming from a completely different school to join the scholars at South, they still were fighting for "justice" and equality, and they were seen as friends. I honestly think things went so well between the two schools at OOM (read: no fighting, name calling, etc.) because of this skit, speech and video. The Justice League, as they were presented on stage, is shown below:

*From L-->R: Iron Man, Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Thor, Wonder Woman, Captain America w/ Hulk on the mic*

I was going to explain all the lyrics on here but I found a great site that allows you to break songs down line by line called "RapGenius." To find a meaning behind a lyric, click on one of the yellow lines. This will lead you to a pop up of a text, video or picture explanation. The lyrics, explained, at RapGenius can be found at this link:

http://rapgenius.com/Justice-league-where-my-scholars-at-the-higher-achievement-anthem-lyrics

And finally, as it was presented to the children of Higher Achievement on Friday at Olympics of the Mind, I present to you: "Where My Scholars At (The Higher Achievement Anthem)" by the Justice League

BD

Last Day at HA

Today was our last day in class at Higher Achievement, our summer school program.

It's kind of amazing how emotional the day was today. We have only known these kids for five weeks, but it was still really hard to know that after tomorrow, they will be out in the world on their own. I will likely never see them again after tomorrow.

Today, the kids presented their science fair projects, which we have been working on for the past two weeks straight. Every single group finished, and covered topics ranging from tornadoes and gravity to black holes and the asteroid belt. There were some really cool models (examples here and here) and it was great to see everyone get up and present in front of the entire program. Not going to lie, their presentation skills need some work, but you have to start somewhere!

The coolest part of the day came in between our 2nd and 3rd period presentations. Every day, at this time, we have a "Community Meeting" or CM for short. At CM, the site director stands in the middle and leads various "brain break" activities including games like Four Corners, Big Wind Blows or 123 Clap. Today, however, our site director (whose name is Corinthian) decided that the kids would participate in a special shout-out session. Kids normally give "shout-outs" at the end of each day, in which they shout out each other or the staff for exceptional behavior. However, because today was the last day in the classroom, Corinthian decided that the kids would do their shout outs at CM, and more importantly, all shout outs would be directed at their teachers from UTC. During shout outs, kids are not required to speak if they would not like, but today, about one of every three kids stood up and wanted to say something.

Today gave me the feeling that I pursue every day in education. Kids were throwing shout outs everywhere, and it was so cool to see them expressing how they really felt about all their teachers. It was at this CM that you could see who really made a difference. Some of the things the scholars were saying was truly unbelievable -- talking about how they will always remember a specific lesson that they did, such as a mock trial in their social studies class, for example, or how they will remember us when they are in college or successful in life. These statements were especially powerful considering the circumstances that many of them are placed in every day when they leave school, and the odds that are stacked against them simply because of the area they are growing up in. As the kids went around the circle, I got a pretty good amount of shout outs. I was not the most shouted out teacher (that belonged to the 7th/8th math teachers) but I definitely got a ton of love from the kids, and a lot of it was specific praise, recalling help I gave on projects during the year, sometimes going back to the first couple of weeks. It was so awesome to hear this and know that I truly left an impact on the kids. It's really hard to remember that you're doing this some (read: a lot) of days, but today reiterated the belief in my mind that what we're doing out here is really special.

Tomorrow is our "Olympics of the Mind," in which kids compete in games and show off what they have learned all summer. However, we have a little surprise for the kids at the beginning of the day tomorrow. I won't give too much away, but I will give a couple pieces of foreshadowing:

-this music video

-this picture

Will DEFINITELY be posting about it this weekend. Turn up!!!

BD

Placement Day

On Friday, UTC had its Placement Day. On Placement Day, all the residents find out which city they're going to be living in, and if you're lucky, you get a school placement. Twenty percent of the cohort ended up not having a school placement, which sucks, but fortunately was not a problem for me. I was assigned to live in Washington D.C. for the next four years, and will be starting out at a school called Achievement Preparatory Academy (Achievement Prep, for short).

I initially put Washington D.C. down as my city preference blindly in March, having never visited the city before but hearing great things about it from everyone who has visited here. I also knew a few people out here, so it seemed like a relatively smooth transition from college. When I was assigned D.C. on Placement Day, though, I was definitely a little let down. I really warmed up to Baltimore while I was out here. The city gives off a great vibe, it's MUCH cheaper than D.C. and most of the people in my cohort that I spent a lot of time with are going to be staying in Baltimore. However, any pessimistic feelings I had about getting out of Baltimore were alleviated when I found out more about Achievement Prep.

Right now, Achievement Prep seems to be the perfect situation for me. It provides me with an opportunity to work in the worst area of DC, while also providing incredible structure. Achievement Prep is what people in education like to call a "90/90/90" school, meaning that more than 90% of students are eligible for free and reduced lunch (indicating low-income in a student's family), more than 90% of students are from ethnic minorities, and more than 90% of students met or achieved high academic standards according to state standards.

Achievement Prep is located in the worst part of DC, Ward 8, which is in the Southeastern corner. Ward 8 is home to one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, as about one of every three people in this part of the city are without a job. Poverty rates in Ward 8 consistently hover around 35%, and the average family income is about $44,000, which doesn't sound completely terrible until you consider the fact that DC holds the second highest standard of living in the country behind Manhattan, and the average household income for the city is about $115,000 for a family.

Still, Achievement Prep perseveres. Test scores are among the highest in the state, with 77% of "scholars" (what students are referred to at A. Prep) scoring proficient or advanced in reading, and 80% scoring proficient or advanced in math. The school  currently holds a "Tier 1" ranking, which is the highest honor a school can get in the state. In short, this school is constantly proving that all students can achieve high standards in the classroom regardless of race, Socio-economic status or school location. Kids come into Achievement Prep from the worst parts of DC, but leave with an incredible education.

I can't wait to get in there. In the first year, I will most likely be co-teaching math for either 6th, 7th or 8th graders (the school is 4-8 and I am looking to obtain a 6-12 degree). Judging by their website, Achievement Prep's main focus seems to be on college preparation. Team names in classes are not named after sports teams or celebrities, but instead, prestigious universities such as Howard University or University of Virginia. Quiz grades are returned with marks for a bachelor's degree (80%+), Master's (90%+) or PhD (100%). However, in addition to college-readiness, Achievement Prep puts a ton of emphasis on fun and community. Achievement Prep is also not only willing, but anxious to go the extra mile,  having an extended school day and Saturday Academy to help provide as much structure to their students as possible.

I tried my hardest to describe Achievement Prep, but I think this video will do a much better job of doing it than I ever could.

Finishing up summer school and classes this week/early into next week. I'm trying to come up with a witty joke to finish this thing off but it's late and I'm tired, so this is all I've got.

BD

Good Vibes Only!

Today, I tried something new in class.

Every day, the kids are instructed to come in and do a "Do Now." Every teacher at our summer school implements the Do Now, which is a 5 minute short activity that the students are supposed to complete every day coming into the classroom. The Do Now is used for review of a previous lesson or to prepare the students for the lesson that particular day. For example, if the lesson for that day concerned the carbon cycle, the Do Now would read something along the lines of: What do you know about cycles? (More info on Do Now's can be seen here.)

Today, I tried something different. This was for the benefit of both the kids, myself and my co-teachers. I felt that the kids needed a "brain break" -- they had gone through two or three periods straight of work prior to entering my class (science) and over the past four weeks, had been used to direct instruction from their teachers at the beginning of every class. While this is important for structure, it can also be a bit suffocating. I also felt that my teaching tendencies had become too up tight recently, and wanted to find a way for both the kids and myself to unwind and just have a little fun for five minutes before they got into their lesson of the day, which was researching science fair projects.

For all these reasons, the "Do Now" for science today was to simply get up and dance, sing, or laugh at my bad dance moves. For kids that didn't want to dance, they were told to write about what they liked about Higher Achievement (the name of the school) or anything else that made them happy. During this five minute stretch, I played a clean version of "The Show Goes On" by Lupe Fiasco. The idea behind this Do Now was written next to it on the board: GOOD VIBES ONLY! I wanted the kids to get into a good, positive mental state before getting into their work, even if it didn't have to do anything with science. My board, as the kids saw it, is posted below:

It could have went better, especially initially. I tried the Good Vibes Do Now in two classes. In the first, the kids got up and immediately started playing tag, roughing each other up, etc. This was my fault, as I didn't put any real rules for their free time on the board and just told them to have at it. Following this, many were off task and seemed distracted. In the second class, I made revisions, posting comments such as "hands and feet to yourselves," "no running," etc. I think that after this activity, I had the best class of the summer for this particular group of kids. Everyone was smiling after the Do Now, but then got a ton of work done for their science fair projects which are due next week. Some even came up to me and talked about how much fun class was today. Because this was my last class of the day, I came away thinking that today was a good day.

I obviously need to tinker with this approach, but I think there's a solid base here. Sometimes, I think teachers forget what they were like when they were kids, and do not provide time for the kids to be themselves, even if it's only for a couple minutes. There obviously has to be more structure than there was today, and I could have probably incorporated more science into the Do Now, but at the end of the day, kids were smiling and got significant work done (especially in the second class). There's something to be said for that.

By popular request, here's an albino pug. (Hi Beth!)

BD

Daily Rap

Hey y'all,

It's been a while since I posted. I know that every single one of you has been checking the site every day for new updates about my life out here, only to be disappointed with the same 25 page math article that I posted about last Sunday. I'm sure some of you have spent sleepless nights staring at the ceiling wondering why this is the case, and for that, I'd like to apologize. However, to make you feel a little better, I'm going to write for a really long time right now.

Not much has changed out here, but I mean that in the least boring way possible. After going through the last week, I'd say I'm averaging about four hours of sleep per night. Typical day: summer school, lunch in the car on the way back to campus, 5 hours of classes, dinner, 3-5 hours of homework, try to fit a workout/something resembling a social life in there, sleep --> repeat. We're really getting into the meat of the summer program now, with a lot of our final projects coming up. The first of those is on Thursday, and includes a 7 minute lesson in front of all our fellow cohorts in our section (mine is secondary math -- 19 people), our hardass classroom management professor and some of the higher ups from the UTC program. No pressure.

Apart from all the routine (for lack of a better word) things that are going on out here, one of the coolest things we have done throughout the course of the program took place last Monday. On Monday, we participated in something called "Daily Rap." Daily Rap is a way to build a community within schools in a creative way. If anyone has ever seen "If You Really Knew Me..." on MTV, it's really similar to that. If you haven't, this is what it is:

In Daily Rap, everyone present sits in a circle with no barriers in the middle. This can include teachers, administrators, students, etc. -- anyone who wants to talk, can, and everyone is treated as equals. School staff transforms from authority figures and directors to more of a guide or supporter. The is one of the main keys to daily rap -- creating a vibe that is seen as "safe," building relationships and trust with one another. One member of the staff takes on the role of leader of the group, who starts the conversation with something simple, such as, "What's your favorite flavor of ice cream?" Everyone goes around the circle, says their favorite flavor (or whatever the question is) until the leader answers for him/herself. However, as members of the group gain comfort with each other, topics increase in intensity. Topics such as current events, concerns, achievements and other important things in students' lives are brought up, and depending on how the session goes, a much deeper level can be reached. For example, in our daily rap, we got to the question of, "What was the best day you ever had?" This got really deep, and really intense. I loved it.

The key to Daily Rap is to keep it consistent. It is likely that in the first session, people will not be willing to divulge all their personal secrets. They told us to expect that the conversation might even feel awkward, clumsy or uncomfortable for the first couple of sessions. The hope is that over time, Daily Rap will serve as a way for students to talk and get off anything that's on their chest. For that reason, the ideal Daily Rap "setup" would be to start it at the beginning of the year and set a time/day/location for every week when it would be held. The other really cool thing about Daily Rap is you can say however much you want -- you could say a one word answer or tell a five minute story. Whatever you would like to share is absolutely up to you.

I have no idea when and how I'm going to implement Daily Rap into my classroom yet, but I know that I definitely want to. Schools that have implemented Daily Rap have consistently shown gains in academic achievement and reductions in behavioral problems at the school. For anyone that would be interested in implementing this at their schools, or even for using it at work or a nice, old-fashioned bullshitting session among friends, I'd be more than happy to pass along some of the questions they gave us in the pamphlet. There's a ton, but if you want the questions, just let me know.

Because you made it this far, here's a picture of an albino zebra. Have a great night.

BD

One of the most interesting articles I've ever read.

We were instructed to read "A Mathematician's Lament" by Paul Lockhart for my math immersion class today. Honestly, this article was mind-blowing for me. It is long (25 pages) but is extremely thought provoking. I would recommend anyone that is interested in mathematics instruction, or why they hated it growing up, to read it, if you have time. To steal a review from the Mathematical Association of America, "It is, quite frankly, one of the best critiques of current K-12 Mathematics instruction I have ever seen."

In short, this article expresses why our current system of mathematics is a nightmare, and goes on to explain why. The article accomplishes this by providing analogies to other art forms in the world, and how they operate in comparison to mathematics. It also provides examples of what math really is, not what we are trained to believe it is in schools. Brilliant stuff.

"A Mathematician's Lament"

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Another Sunday, another chance to procrastinate all day on hours of homework. Biggest difference I've seen between undergrad and grad school: in college, when you were assigned reading for homework, the response was something along the lines of "Awesome, no homework tonight!" Now, if/when we are assigned reading for homework, the reaction is something along the lines of "Stock up on the energy drinks, I'm going to be up all night."

This weekend we had our last day of Saturday classes! This Saturday, we had an adolescent development class from 9-noon. Although it sucked to wake up for class on a Saturday, it had nothing on our two previous Saturdays, in which we had to wake up at nine and stay through the afternoon to do math. That's right, 6-8 hours of math in a row...on Saturdays. I physically had headaches walking out of those. However, now that Saturday classes are a thing of the past, my reaction is something along the lines of this. (NSFW - language)

Last post, I talked about a rant one of my professors had against us in which we were called out. In our next session, we had a 25 minute group discussion about the speech, which is something I really never thought would happen. I have to give my professor credit for doing that, and even though I was still a bit irked at what he said, I think our class has collectively put it in the past. Can't linger on the small stuff too much - not enough time.

Another busy week ahead. A couple two-hour panels on Tuesday/Thursday, meaning we will be out of the dorms from 7 AM-9 PM each of those days, with homework to do afterwards. Really getting into the heart of this summer program now.

BD

Grindin'

Fourth of July was awesome - shared some drinks with the residents and then went to fireworks on the Chesapeake Bay. Honestly, I'm not even that much of a fan of fireworks but even I thought this was amazing. We were on a huge man-made hill, right on the corner, where we could simultaneously see fireworks over the water on our left and another fireworks show on the right. Combined with all that were multiple (6ish) shows that were going on in the suburbs of Baltimore, far away from where we were. Still, we probably saw about eight fireworks shows total last night for the time it would spend to see one. I wasn't mad about it.

Back to work today. I was evaluated at my school doing a lesson on the composition of Earth's atmosphere, relating both to its chemical composition and the different layers that make up our atmosphere. I had the kids do a "popcorn" reading of an article related to it, then we spent time drawing models (pie graphs, pictures, etc.) that demonstrated their knowledge of the subject. I thought I did pretty well, but rumor is the UTC rubric is a pretty strict one, because they really want to push us. With that being said, I'm not expecting the most glowing review ever, but I figure I probably shouldn't be getting one after only a few lessons in the classroom. Teaching is so much of an experienced-based profession that this is just how it is sometimes.

We also had class afterwards. I won't say much about it besides in one of our classes, one of our professors called out the whole class for not caring enough because we were not showing enough energy for him, sitting in an 85 degree classroom (no AC) after going through a morning of teaching at our schools. Needless to say, some of us were not to pleased about it. I suppose someone has to push us even when it would be easy to make excuses, but we all thought he could have done a better job of phrasing his rant. Alas....

Reading, reading, reading tonight. Placement and two classes tomorrow. Another day, another (lack of a) dollar.

BD

New Title & HA Update

I changed the name of my blog today. Initially, I named this thing "Welcome to the Jungle" as a nod to the Guns N' Roses classic, which referenced one's initial introduction to a new, foreign world. There was absolutely no racial undertone intended on my part with this title, but after reflecting upon it, I could see how some people could interpret it that way. I decided to avoid the issue all together and just change the title.

The new title, "In The Blue Light District," is a reference to a system in Baltimore City that helps to track crime. In high crime areas, video cameras are put up on top of the street lights. Residents of these areas are made aware of these cameras with an accompanying blue light that flashes all day and night. Thus, in high crime areas at night, if you look up, you can see blue lights everywhere. If you want more information on this project, you can find it here: "Baltimore Blue."

Today was a good day, all things considered. Despite the fact that I had to miss about 2 hours of my placement and a half hour of my first class (Understand Special Education and Inclusion) due to getting the first part of a crown in one of my back teeth following a slightly questionable water tubing accident/arrangement on Memorial Day this past May (shout out to Peat Joe Wesolowski), I was able to get everything done that I needed and wanted to. I didn't teach today in class, but even when I am in a support role, I can tell I'm getting more comfortable around the kids and with my role in the class every day.

It was awesome to see some support from the people at Higher Achievement today. Higher Achievement, for those who don't know (everyone), is the company who runs some of the schools that some of us are working, including yours truly. The staff at HA expressed concern about how much work we have been putting in, and even said that they had plans to talk to some UTC people about our course load. Although it probably won't mean much of anything at all as far as that actual work load goes, it was still great to see them looking out for us. It was also really cool that one of our advisors told my co-teachers and I that she thought all of the UTC people at the school were doing incredibly well, and that the kids were receiving such "quality instruction" despite the fact that some of us had only been in front of a class for three days TOTAL prior to today.

Tonight is great because I have a lot of work, but, I can choose not to do any of it!! Tomorrow is the 4th of July so we don't have placement at HA or classes. In all honesty, I'm still probably going to do a lot of work tonight, but it's still incredible to have the option of not doing it.

Happy Amurica Day tomorrow, y'all.

BD

Positive Post!

Apart from all the work, living in the dorms again has been a crazy fun experience. We are here at Coppin State in Baltimore, which is essentially in one of the "rough parts" of town. You would never know it, though. The dorms are air conditioned, the rooms are bigger than any I ever had at OSU or Miami and everyone is getting along really well. It's not all bad, I promise.

Signing off now. Honestly just writing so much so I can pretend I'm not going to pull my first ever all nighter tonight.

BD

Logistics Post

Here is the run down of my program, according to their site urbanteachercenter.org:


"The Urban Teacher Center (UTC) is a four-year, alternative teacher preparation program that operates in the Washington, DC region (and soon in additional cities). Each cohort participates in an intensive year-long residency, followed by a three-year teaching commitment in a high-need urban elementary, middle or high school. UTC residents prepare to become highly competent teachers; in addition to the clinical experience, they also enroll in a FREE Master's of Education program that is directly relevant to the urban teacher. All UTC teachers are part of an unprecedented commitment to student performance: only those who can demonstrate that they can improve student learning will complete the program. Over time, UTC teachers will be among the most expert and results-oriented in the nation."


Let me translate "only those who can demonstrate that they can improve student learning will complete the program" for you: every year, I have to prove student achievement by a certain mark, set at the beginning of the year. Ex: I have to prove I can raise 7th grade test scores one grade level by the end of a school year. If I don't do that, I'm fired. So there's that.


BD

Hello, world.

I decided to start this blog after a close friend of mine, who had been through a similar process to this before, recommended it to me. I had initially formed plans to keep up on this blog every day, starting the day I got out here to Baltimore, but this is the very first time I have had the chance to actually follow through on it. In truth, I really shouldn't be writing now, as I just got back to my room for the first time since 7 AM this morning (it's now 8:40) and I still have about 4-5 hours of homework left. Either way, here it goes.

I'm working as a teacher in inner-city Baltimore and/or Washington DC (depending on my placement) through a company called Urban Teacher Center. I have been in Baltimore for the past two weeks as part of a six week summer program, working on earning a master's of education in secondary math and special education while also working about thirty hours a week at a local summer school program. Our days our hectic, to say the least. We are required to be out at our school sites starting at 7 AM and usually don't get back from our master's classes until 7 PM -- and then are expected to do readings and homework until we can't function any more. I've only been here for two weeks, and I can already say that I know this is the hardest and will be the hardest I will ever work in my life.

So far, we have heard from principals from around the area, past residents of the program, and fellow teachers who have all told us the same thing -- this is going to be incredibly difficult. There are already moments where I am legitimately terrified that I did not make the right choice. However, what always sucks me back in are the moments when teachers and principals talk about individual moments where kids express how much of an influence a teacher has had on them. This is an unparalleled joy I have only felt a couple times in my life, but I can undoubtedly say that this is the purest form of true elation that I have ever felt.

I know that this task will be difficult. I know that there are days I will want to pack it up, head back to Ohio and sit on my couch, surfing Reddit and watching Netflix all day. However, in times of struggle (and I have been assured, there will be many), I plan on reverting back to an old quote from Thomas Paine, in a speech proclaimed to the American people right before the Revolutionary War: "The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." These will be the times that try my soul. I know that after my four year commitment with UTC is over, I will be changed forever.

I will try to keep up with this as much as possible, but in all honesty, I have no idea how often that will be. Plan: go with the flow.

BD