Classroom Formation, Prep Academy, Returning Scholars

So, yeah. A lot has happened since I wrote last.

Life out here is crazy busy, to say the least. I really did want to write before now, but it has been much harder to find the time to do so than I previously anticipated. Between waking up at 6:00 AM every day and going to bed around 10 every night, I am at APA (Achievement Preparatory Academy - my new school) every day by 6:45 and do not leave any earlier than 5:30 at night. In the past few weeks, I've also had to find a new apartment, furnish it (still in progress), pack, unpack, decorate and take care of all other daily tasks (eating, showering, falling on my bed in exasperation, etc.). So, it's been a pretty big adjustment moving out here.

Here's a very brief overview of everything that has happened since my first week of PD at APA

Week of 8/13-8/17

Build, lift, organize, decorate, sweat -- rinse, lather, repeat. This whole week was dedicated to getting classrooms ready for our "Prep Academy" week, in which all new scholars to the school are given an additional week before the returning scholars come back to become "initiated" into the school culture. But I will discuss that later.

This week was actually kind of ridiculous. I never knew how much time, effort and energy went into preparing a classroom. And especially at APA, where deatil and cohesion is everything, I did not know what I was getting into. We had to build all new binder racks, chairs and tables from IKEA, organize materials tables in every class, and get binders together for every scholar in every class with name tags. Then we had to check to make sure those name tags were right, double check to make sure every scholar had a binder and TRIPLE check to make sure every classroom had every binder that it needed. Even with all of that, it wasn't 100% right on the first day. In addition to all of that, the "Platinum Teachers" at this school (everyone is a Platinum teacher) pitched in to create teacher work stations with new desks, make bulletin boards, and throw together everything else that goes into making a school work successfully. My brain hurts just from thinking about it.

Week of 8/20-8/24

Prep Academy.

This was amazing. As I described before, Prep Academy is an entire week that is devoted to new scholars at the school to learn exactly what it is like to be an Achievement Prep scholar. APA only accepts new 4th, 5th and 6th graders as a 4-8 school, so these were the only scholars we were working with. Every day, scholars wore plain red t-shirts and jeans. The idea was that scholars had to "earn" their uniforms that would be presented to them at the end of the week, because at the beginning of Prep Academy, they did not really know what it was like to be an APA scholar. The daily schedule looked (roughly) like this:

7:15 - Greeted by Mrs. Wright (Head of School) in front of school on staircase
7:20 - Enter doors, greeted with a handshake and a "good morning" from a member of Oxygen (APA support staff)
7:20-:45 - Breakfast in cafeteria (about 90% of scholars are on free/reduced lunch)
7:40-8 - Breakfast clean-up and restrooms
8-8:45 - Culture of APA, led by Mrs. Wright. Every day, Mrs. Wright would lead a session about different things that are different about APA, reiterating to the scholars that "THIS IS NOT YOUR OLD SCHOOL!" Topics included: how to walk in the halls (ninja feet/straight lines/edge of the blue [right side, hugging the wall], 100% involvement, Paychecks [Reward/Punishment system], DREAM values [Determination, Respect, Enthusiasm, Accountability, Mastery] and their accompanying motions, and APA's unique way to spell college [future blog post teaser!])
8:45-12:15; 1:35-2:35 - Class. Scholars learned about the different procedures of APA classrooms, including:

• how teachers get the class' attention
• how students are supposed to sit --> "scholar position" with hands locked, all feet on the floor, legs under the desk, sitting up, facing forward, elbows out, head up, and tracking the speaker
• bathroom procedures --> APA has designated bathroom times every day to eliminate scholars continually asking to go to the restroom in all of their classes
• Noise Meters, with levels of
• Silent
• Library Level
• Soft Voices
• Productive and Professional
• Daily Schedule
• classes --> APA scholars take twice as much math and ELA as other schools
• lateness
• expectations -- every scholar is expected to turn in cell phones in their "AM Prep for Prep" session (it works) which also checks for homework, pencils and proper uniform. Again, it works. Scholars that do not comply receive deductions on their Paychecks (described above).
• Homework collection/expectations with examples and student work to show what is and is not acceptable
• DREAM Blocks - Checked at the end of every class, which go towards a scholar's paycheck (collected weekly).
• Grading and Promotion
• Academic Integrity
• I'm getting tired.

12:35-1:25 - Lunch. Even in lunch, everything is so thought out. Every platinum teacher has a role he/she has to fill. Scholars enter the cafeteria and sit down until instructed to receive their lunch. When they get their lunch, they do it quietly. After they get their lunch, they stand behind their lunch until every member of their table has something to eat. Then they sit down, but everyone stays silent until all members of the cafeteria has a lunch. The idea behind this is that at APA we not only teach academic skills, but life skills as well -- such as not to eat at a meal before everyone else receives their food. This could be the difference between a scholar getting a high-achieving high school and a "typical" SE DC school (read: bad).

2:45-3:30 - Most fun part of the day. APA stresses "Joy Factor" -- the desire to want to be in school. At APA, we devote time to having fun, because for how hard we push our scholars, we believe they deserve to be rewarded. Also, it's important for them not only to see school as a place of work, but also as a place where they can have some fun. So, every day, we learned different APA songs at the end of the day. There isn't a really good way to describe these songs unless you actually experience them, but they work. I even find myself singing them when I go home every day. The songs promote scholar spirit and also, teach math lessons (we "roll"/count our numbers) while creating remixes of a lot of popular songs that scholars know.

3:30-4:00 - Daily awards and close out. At this time, we give daily awards (complete with certificate and APA wrist band) for a variety of categories to scholars who embrace the ideas we throw on them fully. When scholars are called, there are not cheers, but instead "SILENT ENTHUSIASM." Another life skill we teach is that scholars do not have to yell in order to get someone's attention, contrary to what they might be experiencing at home. Instead, when they are happy or really want to answer a question, we tell them to shoot all their energy through their arms, hands and fingertips. Following awards, we let scholars go, either through pick-up, walking home or taking public transportation - no school buses.

In addition to all of this, at the beginning and end of every day, platinum teachers gather for a meeting at 7:00 AM and then from 4-5, with teachers staying an extra half hour (or more) to prepare for the next day. I always knew teachers worked hard, but the hours that are required to do what we're doing are far more than I ever imagined. It's working though.

At the end of the week, we had the uniform ceremony. I want to write more about it, but honestly, there is so much to say that it deserves its own post. That will come (hopefully) soon, with an accompanying video that someone did when they came in. Stay tuned.

Yesterday and Today

Returning scholars are back. I'm working with 7th and 8th graders - the "Legacy" group. They are called "Legacy" and 4th-6th grades are called "Foundation" -- building a "Foundation" to leave a "Legacy" at APA. The 7th and 8th graders have been at APA longer, so they know what's going on, but they also don't have the same enthusiasm as the new scholars do, as it isn't new to them. So it's been different.

My host teacher for this year is amazing at what he does. Last year 100% of his scholars scored proficient or advanced on the DC-CAS (standardized test) to help make APA into the best school into the city. This is pretty much unheard of. Although it's going to be frustrating not being completely in control of a class, I know I'm going to learn so much from him.

Again, there's so much more to this place than what I described above. But that's a lot of it.

I'd like to give a shout out to YOU, the reader, for making it this far. (You got a shout-out [1!] You got a shout-out [2!] You got a shout-out [3!]....)
It's an APA thing.

BD

Edit: Just realized that I probably need to clarify why I'm not in complete control of a class. The first year of UTC is a "residency" year where we are placed with a master teacher at a school. The idea behind this model comes from a medical model, where brain surgeons do not learn how to do what they do whilst in the midst of surgery. Instead, they observe what's going on from a distance, while also being right on top of everything, to get a better feel of what's going on. UTC also believes that we are performing brain surgery in a way, although not in the traditional mindset. So, we also have to learn how to do brain surgery properly, as opposed to simply jumping into it and learning on the fly.

First Week at APA

Wow. OK, so, lots to talk about here. I started out with Achievement Preparatory Academy in Southeast DC, which for my sanity’s sake, I will hereon refer to as APA. I talked a little bit about APA in a previous post (Placement Day) so if you want more info on the school, you can find it there, mostly because I’m too lazy to type it all out again. I’m not really sure how this post is going to come out, because there is so much to cover, so I’m just going to type and see where this goes.

It’s only been a week that I have been there with three other UTC Fellows, but it’s amazing how much we already feel like a part of the community. This was really cool especially considering that we came into the teacher’s training two weeks later than everyone else, but were still not only welcomed, but embraced. I can’t count the number of times teachers went out of their way to make myself and my fellow UTC residents feel like we belonged. The community at the school among the adults feels infectious, and I could even feel myself buying into it fully by the end of the week when a new teacher joined us.

To give an idea about how the school works – we got in at 8 AM on Monday and found ourselves in the middle of a circle of 50 “Platinum Teachers” (plug: APA’s teachers are better than gold, they’re “Platinum”!), leading school spirit songs by lunch time. At APA, we learned a lot about the “Joy Factor” that students and teachers alike must carry with them everywhere they go. A big part of the reason “J-Factor” is so heavily emphasized at this school is because it is an extended school day, with every day starting promptly at 7:00 AM and concluding at 5:00 PM. It’s kind of amazing though how this past week, we put in a 40 hour week of professional development (PD), but it felt so much shorter than pretty much every week of my previous jobs, which were usually at or around 30 hour weeks.

The jist of our first week of PD was: its about you, but its not about you. Let me explain. Everything at APA begins with adult culture. So, for example, every teacher uses the same non-verbal cues in their classes for restrooms, pencils, etc. Every teacher uses and implements the same reward and deduction system. Every teacher begins and end class in the same way (for the most part – you’re still allowed to put your own personal spin on it). There is literally a system in place for EVERYTHING at APA. I mean, everything. This includes:

• closing binders as a class
• rounding corners at the end of a hallway
• responding to teachers
• responding to each other
• how to line up at the door
• a lot of other stuff I can't remember right now

The thing about it, is that APA does all this without a) signs on the wall saying what to do, and b) having a "military" feel. It's honestly just kind of something you have to experience.

The idea behind this is consistency. Many of the kids that we are going to be working with do not have a model of consistency in their lives, so our job as teachers is not only to prepare them academically for the real world, but also with general life skills. In the same vein, teachers are expected to have rigid dress standards, to set a standard of professionalism for the scholars (not students and DEFINITELY not kids at APA) because many do not know what someone working in a professional environment looks like, unfortunately. That means I’ll be spiffing it up in shirt and tie all day, every week day (and some Saturdays) from the end of the month until next June. Now if only I knew an affordable shirt and tie place….

So, it's about you. It's about making sure you're accountable and on top of your business. It's about knowing that if you mess up, you not only mess up for you, but you mess up for a system of 50 other adults who are all leaning on each other. But, at the end of the day, it's not about you at all. It's all about the scholars, and getting them where they need to be: the best high schools in the city and colleges in the country. APA is about every adult being accountable and responsible, but at the end of the day knowing exactly why we are doing what we do. We do what we do not to feel good about ourselves, but to empower our scholars and prepare them for life outside of APA.

That felt good.

(Realized I needed to clarify that statement. In DC, after middle school, scholars apply to high schools around the city not only from APA but from every school. It's actually really similar to the college application process.)

In addition to all that, we also learned about a variety of different classroom management techniques, many of which we learned about in the summer at UTC. (Plug #2: This book is a must for any educator, in any context.) The big difference is that at APA, with every technique, we practice it, either in small group (5-7 people) or medium group (~15 people) instruction. I really like this, because it's one thing to learn about a strategy, but it is a completely different thing to actually practice it. I think that this is a really important idea not only for us to remember, but for our scholars as well.

There's so much more that I would love to talk about but I guess that will come in later posts. This year I'll be working in a seventh grade math classroom, primarily in a support role. I wish we were playing a bigger role, but this is how it's going to be. Hopefully, I will look back on this year as providing me with great support to be the best teacher I possibly can be. Not going to lie, though, I already know I'm going to be frustrated a bit with not being in full control at times.

And now, some pictures of Achievement Prep! By the way, this school is literally surrounded by housing projects. And still produces some of the highest test scores in the city. Incredible.

BD

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