Shout It Out

Now to something you've heard many times before and probably will hear many times again, especially if you choose to keep reading this blog...

Teaching is hard. Truly, authentically hard.

I don't say that so much just because I like to complain.¹ I keep saying it to provide a consistent statement of this job. It doesn't get hard for a couple days and then go away. It is hard, always. Sure, there are definitely better days than others. But still, on those days, you are jam packed with things to do. Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way -- I am the type of person who would much rather be busy than bored -- but I guess that's for another blog post. With all this being said, there's a point when teaching stops becoming busy and starts becoming overwhelming.

As I've spoken to before, there are a lot of schools out there that are aware of this fact but don't really do anything about it. I think this is a big reason why a lot of teachers hate their job. They work really hard, get everything right on paper, and are ready to go. But when it comes to execution time, things don't always go according to plan², and stress comes. Stress is a part of any job, but when it comes to teaching, it's important to manage and deal with that stress immediately, because if you don't, then you go in front of a class of little people without your mind right. Eventually, stress builds up to the point where you hear the teaching horror stories³ that dip into bitching, quitting, and even more serious cases of clinical depression and/or alcoholism. It's real, it's happened, and it will happen again.

So the question becomes, how do we prevent this? How can we turn teaching into something desirable even in the times that it becomes ridiculously hard? How can we turn from those teaching horror stories to the teaching stories that made me get into this profession, where one is able to do this incredibly trying job with ease and a smile, and where we can leave a lasting impact on children for decades and ultimately, have a direct voice in how they live the rest of their lives?

Something that my good buddy Zach Boerger⁴ wrote⁵ recently about the idea that we need to be more conscious about telling people the things we like about what they do, and not to only focus on the negative things that occur. We all fall into the trap: when things are going well, we generally don't say much, because we expect it to go well. However, when things start going in a way we don't like, that's when we make sure our voice is heard. It plays into the "squeaky wheel gets the grease" mentality. The squeaky wheel needs the grease, but the wheels who aren't squeaking sure would like to hear about how well they are doing (assuming wheels have personalities and feelings, which we will for the sake of my argument).

Teaching is the same way. Once the excitement from getting all our new little humans in the beginning of the year has died down, the realities of the job set in. No job is perfect, and teaching is not an exception. In order to not get bogged down by the pressures that this job, and any job really, creates is to make sure the adults are looking out for each other. This comes in the form of shout-outs, which we do every Wednesday at school.

Backdrop: Our school is open 7-4 every day except Wednesday, when we go 7-1:30 and then all staff stays for professional development until 5.

Before our PD starts, everyone gathers in the teacher lounge and we sing our "shout-out" song and we read off 10-15 shout-outs. Shout-outs are written throughout the week and are but in the "shout-out box," from which they are pulled and read on Wednesdays. You can tell that everyone really appreciates these, as they are proudly displayed at all of the teacher's desks. Teachers who receive a shout-out are also given a small prize when their shout-out is read, and the rest of shout-outs that are not chosen are dispersed throughout PD. Having received one or two in my time here, I can say that giving and receiving shout-outs is something I am a huge fan of and will take with me (in one form or another) wherever I go from here in my life.

Shout-outs can be given for literally anything, as long as it made some sort of positive contribution to someone or something at the school. For example: cover someone's hallway shift? Bounce back after a really tough week, or just simply keep showing up even though nothing seems to be going right for you? You got a shout-out! Simply be consistently awesome?  You got a shout-out!

Side note: For some reason, this is the one thing I could think of while writing that last paragraph...

It's easy! Watch.

Shout out to this polar bear for its phenomenal dance moves.

Now, I feel better and I'm sure if the polar bear had feelings it would feel better too. But even though it will never get my message, I feel better for sending all that good energy its way. And now I might keep sending it to everyone and everything around me.

As Zach, a member of the start-up community and co-founder of his awesome pre-release product news site Launchgram wrote, "Startups (hell, life in general) are hard, and a little praise when its deserved could go a long way towards helping someone succeed." Teaching is no different. Everyday life is no different. I would like to challenge everyone reading this to make shout-outs a personal habit of yours going forward. Even if it only starts at one per week, make a conscious effort to let other people know that you appreciate them.

When in doubt, shout it out. I have, and it feels fantastic.

--BD


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1 Unless we are talking about the Browns. Or Cleveland sports in general, I guess.^↩ 2 Insight you won't get anywhere else!^↩ 3 Happy Halloween!^↩ 4 Hey man.^↩ 5 Link to his entire (short and awesome) blog post can be found here.^↩

Carnival Bears

Part of what we do as "residents" at UTC is take classes. The math classes we are taking right now are, in a word, awesome. We are totally re-thinking math, what it is and how we teach it. I posted a little about this in the summer, but it has taken me personally from a stance of thinking math is a "plug and chug" subject to realizing it's more about logic, problem-solving and finding a short-cut. I'm kind of mad that I never experienced math this way before, and it makes a lot more sense to me now why I hated it for so long growing up (even though I was pretty good at it).

In summary, Math is really cool, and I'm really, really lucky to be in a position to teach other people about how cool it is.

Related: I've never felt like more of a nerd.

To give an idea about exactly how we approach math, I'm going to put a problem below. The problem isn't easy, but it's simple. The idea is you want to embrace the struggle that comes along with solving the problem. Once you break through, you have a "mathgasm," as some of the less mature members of our cohort like to call it.¹

Here's the problem. It's pretty standard but I really enjoyed it, and I think you will too. It took a group of 5 of us about 15 minutes to solve it completely, so feel free to kick our butts and then brag about it in the comments. All you need are 7 post it notes to denote equal space, 3 items that are exactly the same (pencils, plastic bears, moldy foods left in the refrigertar, etc.) and then 3 other items that are exactly the same but are NOT the items from the first group. So, a perfect example would be the post-its, 3 pencils and 3 paper clips. However, if you have access to bears or something more concrete, that makes it more fun. Maybe it's time to dust off those old Beanie Babies.²

Also, do this with other people. Good, old-fashioned, fun for the whole family!!³

Anyway, here's the problem:

Connie, Jeff, and Kareem saw bears do tricks. At the beginning of the trick, three black bears were on the left side of a long mat divided into seven squares, and three brown bears were on the right side. Each bear had its own square with an empty square in the middle. The bears could only do two different types of moves:

1.They could slide onto the next square if it was empty.

2.If the next square was not empty, they could jump over one other bear to an empty square. The black bears only moved from left to right, and the brown bears only moved from right to left. When the trick was over, the bears had switched places. All the black bears  were on the right side, and all the brown bears were on the left.

Can you get the bears to switch places?

BEFORE YOU START: Set up a table. Three columns. Column #1 = number of bears per side. Column #2 = jumps. Column #3 = "slides." Column #4 = total moves. You should be able to pick up a pattern after the second or third run through. If you can't figure out the first round, definitely start with 1 bear per side, then 2 bears per side, etc. until you are comfortable enough and find a pattern that solves for every number of bears per side.

Once you solve that part...

How many jumps and slides would it take for 5 bears on each side?

Next...

How many jumps and slides would it take for 10 bears on each side?

We would typically give our kids 30-35 minutes to solve. This is a grade 6-8 math problem, and doesn't really rely on any mathematical prowess at all until you get to the short-cut part, which makes the problem easier.

Guess what - that's math! Math makes things easier. Who knew.

Time to see if you're smarter than a seventh grader.

Enjoy.

-BD

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1 OK, maybe it's just me. I don't want to hear it. ^↩ 2 I always knew they'd be good for something.^↩ 3 I think I've turned a corner. Is this what a quarter-life crisis feels like?^↩

The Power of Positivity

Teaching is kind of a funny profession. There are so many kids out there that need a quality education, because after all, what is the future of our country without well-informed, active citizens? However, this requires a special type of person to lead them that way. Unfortunately, there simply are not enough great teachers out there. So the question is -- why?

Apart from all the things that you probably think I'm going to say (long hours, low pay, etc.) I think that at its core, there aren't enough great teachers because new teachers get overwhelmed. A lot of the time, new teachers can only get jobs in the worst schools because these teachers are seen as unorganized, inexperienced and naive regarding their profession. What happens is these teachers have a terrible experience teaching, with all the things that make bad schools into what they are -- bad leadership, no community, low test scores, behavior problems, and so on. What happens next is predictable: teachers hate the kids, their job, the administration, and then they quit. And a new teacher is hired in their place. And most likely, the same thing happens all over again. This, in a nutshell, is how the Achievement Gap was formed and is sustained, from my very limited vantage point on it.

One of the things that I have realized recently is that when dealing with "children who we love the most" (read: the brats) positivity can go a long way. Take for example, a scholar at APA who I'm going to call Trent, for no other reason than I'm excited about how the new Cleveland Browns' running back Trent Richardson has looked this year. OK, maybe he's on an 0-4 team but he has run with passion, strength and quickness on that team and is a source of hope, which the Browns haven't had in a long time. Yes, I'm excited about an 0-4 football team. No, I don't want to talk about it.

Anyway, Trent has a lot going on at home. He is dealing with a mother who has recently fallen ill, and it has had clear effects on how he acts in school. Every day for the first month or so, Trent has come in without any sort of regard for respect of adults. He doesn't respond well to an adult presence at all, and is easily irritated when an adult even will try to help him with schoolwork. Needless to say, re-directions and consequences are a mess. Trent often "blows up" in class, despite many discussions between Trent and his teachers about what he could do differently and how to keep small issues small issues instead of turning them into big issues. This issue is compounded by a lack of adult presence at home, that we know of. Phone calls home are unanswered so we don't even know if an adult is aware of what's going on at school.

This is a situation that would drive many first-year teachers crazy. Hell, it would throw a lot of 20 year vets crazy. It's almost a nightmare situation, although Trent doesn't yell out frequently in class. It could be worse. But still, it's not good. For the first month, Trent has always been on my mind, and I've tried to find ways to help. Still, it's so frustrating to just want to help and being pushed away, especially with everything that is on the line in these schools.¹

After about a month of pure frustration, I could tell that Trent was getting the better of me. He was changing my mood every day when I came in, and I was constantly watching him in class to monitor behavior as opposed to teaching. I realized that this was not going to fly, so I tried something different. I tried to kill Trent with kindness.

Something new that my host teacher and I have introduced into class within the past week is something called "Homework Heroes." Every day, we go through homework and pick out what we think is the "best" one. This is really just a judgement call, in which we look for professionalism, full and complete work, and clear, correct answers. There are two Homework Heroes per class, and if you are selected as a Homework Hero, you get to wear one of these AWESOME FoamHeads from my host teacher and my respective universities (Ohio State and University of Minnesota) for the rest of class.

Yes, they definitely are that cool.²

Believe it or not, this has actually been a huge source of inspiration to do homework for our scholars. Since we've introduced Homework Heroes, we have seen a lot more buy-in to homework, which is awesome.

When picking our third set of Homework Heroes, I decided to give the Ohio State FoamHead to Trent, who had won the hat deservingly, doing all the things we would want our scholars to do on their homework. Now, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nearly pissing myself as I went over to  hand Trent his FoamHead. There were a variety of things that could have happened here. Trent could have thrown the hat, spit in it, or even simply mocked it, which could have ruined all the momentum we had built in establishing these hats as desirable.

As we called our the day's HHs, there was a confused murmur among everyone in the class when I called Trent's name. I don't think anyone saw it coming. As I went over to hand Trent the hat, I saw something I hadn't all year: a smile. Trent was so excited that someone had finally focused on something positive that he had done -- or at least this is what I'm telling myself. Either way, Trent did not show ANY negative behavior for that class, stayed on task, and had one of his best classes of the year to that point. Even after class, he asked me questions about the hat, what it was and why I loved Ohio State so much. I think I might have even recruited a little bit for OSU that day, even if it was by accident.³

So many times, "problem students" are only shown negativity and re-direction from teachers, which ultimately hurts everyone and benefits no one. I think that it's so important to show scholars that you pay attention to everything they do -- not just the negative. Showing a scholar that you appreciate the things that they do well can make all the difference in determining your experience as a teacher. Notice that you have to SHOW a scholar that you appreciate them, not tell them. These are two very different things. Just something to think about.

Although Trent's behavior has started to slip a bit since the middle of last week, I now know one strategy that I can try to correct poor behavior that has worked before. It is certainly not the only way to do things, and it definitely won't work with every tough situation, but it worked for this one and it will probably work for others too. That's a minor victory that's good enough for me to keep going.

Good vibes, y'all. Keep 'em coming.


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FOOTNOTES!
1 ^↩See previous post.
2 ^↩Side note: Is a Gopher the same thing as a squirrel? I thought they looked more like Prairie Dogs? This has been bothering me way too much every time I look at that maroon and gold mess of a mascot.
3 ^↩Hey E. Gordon, let's talk commission....

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