Developing 'No-Nonsense Nurturers'

Part of being a resident teacher at APA means doing things outside the classroom to help us inside the classroom. I think this is one of the coolest parts of the UTC program. A lot of time, teachers are thrown into classrooms with no real knowledge of how to run them (by the way, about 70% of teaching comes from your knowledge on how to run a classroom, whereas 30% comes from what you actually know about content -- this is not backed up by any scientific research that I know of, but I think it's true so there it is). UTC gives us opportunities to attend PD (Professional Development) sessions from time to time that are run by some of the best education trainers in the country. That was the case this past Monday, when we attended a Classroom Management workshop in Baltimore.

The workshop was based off the teachings of Lee Canter, who is famous in education for his idea of "Assertive Discipline." Assertive discipline centers around a "take-control" approach to teaching, as the teacher controls the classroom in a firm but positive manner. The approach essentially says that teachers must establish rules and direction that clearly define the limits of acceptable and unacceptable student behavior, teach these rules and directions, and ask for assistance from parents and/or administrators when support is needed in handling the behavior of students.

Those were Wikipedia's words.

My words: assertive discipline pretty much says you have to make sure that all student's are given a fair opportunity to learn by correcting misbehavior early, often and consistently.

I really think this is the biggest thing I need to work on before I have my own classroom. In the summer, I felt like some times I was too focused on being "liked" by the children I was working with as opposed to making sure that they were learning. Although what happened in the summer didn't really count, because there weren't any assessments, tests, etc. this is a behavior I definitely need to change before it does. I think my problem is that I always want to have fun in class and make everyone feel comfortable. On the surface, this sounds great. However, what happens in classrooms like these is scholars push back more and more, testing teachers to see exactly how much they can get away with. That's not negative, it's just reality. Everyone remembers that one class where they goofed off and didn't really get much done. It was a great time, but it didn't really accomplish much.

In the 'burbs, having goof-off classes and getting set back a year might have meant getting a 3 instead of a 4 on your AP test, or missing a scholarship to college instead of getting one. In the areas I'm working in, we talked about how what's at stake is literally life and death. Children in these areas that fall behind have incredibly high rates of drop-out, and children who drop-out are over 90% certain to end up in a box, either in the ground or with bars.

No pressure, though.

Pretty much what this means is I have to get this whole teaching thing right. It's bigger than me and the consequences are bigger than what I've ever had to face before. This PD session talked about how the research of the Center for Transformative Teacher Training "CT^3" has proved that there are generally three types of teachers -- Unintended Enablers, Negative Controllers, and No-Nonsense Nurturers.

Unintended Enablers have their hearts in the right place, but their heads in the wrong place. They often allow their students to engage in behaviors that are not in the students' best interests because they either feel sorry for them or their situation. Unintended Enablers make excuses for students like, "They can't do it because of their home situation" or "These kids just can't read because of the areas that they're from." The main motivation of Unintended Enablers is to be LIKED by their students and this desire often results in the students' not respecting them.

I don't think I was an Unintended Enabler in the summer, but I definitely possessed qualities of one. And that's not OK. It's great for students to enjoy your class, but not at the risk of being off-task or having other activities that are going on that are preventing students from going to college. The risks are too high.

The second type of teacher we talked about is a "Negative Controller." These are the teachers who never permitted talking, always felt the need to remain in control, etc. They respond to students' action or inaction with a negative, angry, shaming or sarcastic demeanor. Negative Controllers have high expectations for their students, and sometimes meet those expectations, but place their need to shine as an educator ahead of the need of their students to succeed. Control and structure are most important in these classrooms.

So, those are your BAD teachers. What is a good teacher? Lee Canter's research labels the best teachers as "No-Nonsense Nurturers." No-Nonsense Nurturers are strictly business in large group instruction, but nurturing while working with students one-on-one or in small groups. These teachers have high expectations, demand 100% of classroom participation 100% of the time with a "no-excuses" attitude.

Side note: Are no-nonsense nurturers to teaching as mullets are to hairdos? "Business in the front, party in the back." No-Nonsense Chuck Norris? Too far? I digress....

I think if I was to classify myself this summer, I would be closest to a No-Nonsense Nurturer. However, I definitely possessed too many qualities of an Unintentional Enabler, although those qualities were reached unintentionally (who woulda thought?). I know I need to be more explicit and have higher expectations 100% of the time, but I also need to be careful not to slip into the "Negative Controller" territory. This balance is exactly what makes teaching so hard. I've realized that it's really easy to say these things on paper, but once you get up in front of 25 little humans, everything changes.

Like Mike Tyson said, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."

My goal is to improve a little bit every day this year, so that next year when I'm all on my own, No-Nonsense Nurturing will be second nature. Either that, or I'll keep getting punched in the mouth until I get it right.

I have to.

BD

In the Swing of Things

The past two and a half weeks have been devoted to figuring out exactly what my role in the classroom is going to be this year. What's different about APA (my current school) compared to Higher Achievement in the summer is that I'm not the lead teacher. This is based off the UTC model that says all first year teachers start off their academic careers not as a lead teacher, but instead as more of a "support" role to start, with increased responsibility as the year goes on.

UTC's cheesy way of selling this idea on us is by saying it's exactly like medicine. In medicine, you wouldn't send a brain surgeon in to do surgery on their first day. Instead, they have to go through residency, learn from other awesome doctors, and then gradually incorporate those effective practices into their own. UTC says that we are also doing brain surgery -- except not in the physical sense, but the psychological sense. We as teachers perform brain surgery every day, by controlling what goes into a child's mind and what they are capable of learning. Because of that, we are simply not ready to go in and perform surgery from day one. Instead, we have to follow this model of being a resident for a year and then, fellows in years two through four. At that point, we'll be ready. But for now, we need to be hands-on learners in our schools.

That's the idea, at least.

And for the most part, that's how things have gone at APA. It's been somewhat awkward, because a situation like this doesn't arise often in a classroom. The past two and a half weeks, I've been doing a bunch of different stuff in classrooms. I started out mainly just observing, leading into walking around and helping with small group instruction. I have gradually come to hold more responsibilities, such as grading homework and tests, doing handshakes at the threshold (every scholar is met with a handshake and a good morning/afternoon [insert scholar name here] at every class they go to) and next week I am going to start doing the Q^2 (Quick Question) portion of class, which is the same thing as the "Do Now" that I described over the summer (Remember: "Good Vibes" Do Now?? Good times.).

However, because this is my blog and I can do whatever I want on it, I am going to vent now. DISCLAIMER: IF YOU ARE ONLY IN THIS FOR THE GOOD VIBES, SKIP OVER THE NEXT THREE PARAGRAPHS.

Things haven't always been great. I've been frustrated with the amount of direct instruction I have been able to do so far. I'm OK with this, though, because I know that this amount of time will increase as the year goes on. This is simply a "growing pain" of the job that doesn't fit my general mentality of wanting to get my hands dirty, mess up and get better as soon as possible. My "secondary" role is, for the most part, understandable and necessary, no matter how frustrating it can be.

Something that is of a bit bigger concern is the school's 5 UTC residents (including myself) in the school. The UTC model stresses hands-on learning at all times from "master" teachers who have proven to be great at what they do. Unfortunately, it's hard to be a hands-on learner when we are often pulled out of classrooms to do, for lack of a better term, busy work. There have been times where the school needs something done, such as stuff envelopes for parent letters home, collect and organize materials, setting up the DREAM store (where scholars can cash in their DREAM dollars every week - see previous post for clarification) etc. where the UTC residents are called upon to do this work - alone.

I understand that the school is busy. I know that they have a lot done and I am willing to help in whatever way that I can. I also understand that there are a lot of new teachers at the school that administration has to focus on developing as full-time teachers first, because they are the ones at the forefront of direct instruction. This all makes sense to me. However, I feel like sometimes we are viewed more as interns than teachers. This might be a case of us having to earn our stripes at the school, or maybe just a really busy time in the school year, but I hope that this changes over the course of the year. I'd really like to get to the point where all teachers are contributing equally in all aspects of maintaining the physical as well as the psychological work of teaching, but so far, I can't really say that this has been the case.

Phew. OK, sorry. Had to get that off my chest. I'm sure that things will change soon, and I knew I was going to be frustrated at times this year, so this is all just part of the process. Good vibes, good vibes...

Luckily, this has been my only real qualm with the school so far. Everything else is great. As the year goes on, we all need to focus on the "Joy Factor" that we as teachers bring to the classroom. If we don't have a little bit of fun with it, this work can and will become overwhelming. I can already tell that if teachers are losing that Joy Factor already, it's going to be a really tough year. Teaching is kind of an unforgiving profession, in that way. There's so much to think about that goes into a classroom, and unfortunately, if you don't get everything right, it'll eat you alive. I think that's why there's such a high rate of teacher turnover in this country. Unfortunately, there aren't enough schools out there like Achievement Prep that provide the structure and resources necessary to help develop teachers into Platinum Teachers. I got really lucky to be placed where I am, regardless of the growing pains that come along with getting acclimated it.

If you guys ever want to hear about anything specific, let me know in the comments. I don't really know what everyone is interested in, so I just kind of type aimlessly. Any constructive criticism or suggestions on how to improve my blog voice (doesn't it feel a little dry?) would be greatly appreciated.

Also, I saw this picture yesterday and it made me happy. It has nothing to do with teaching, but I hope it makes you happy too. Have a great day!

BD

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