T -22

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010.

Advanced Writing Seminar, 3rd period.

Do Now: What are three things you would like to change about school?

Me: Yes, J?

J: I think we should bring back social promotion.




And, yeah.

22 more days left of instruction. ;)

Uncensored

Since yesterday's posting was a little on the dark side of things, I thought I'd start today off with a little bit of positivity.

First off, it's a beautiful Spring day. The sun is shining and my zyrtec is so far working.

Second, it's a Wednesday.

Finally, something really awesome and amazing happened last Friday.

My students - of their own accord - gave up part of their Friday night to see theater. That's right, seven of my students made the trek from east BK to west Manhattan. To. see. theater.

And? The show was really freaking good.

Uncensored is the culminating piece for the acting company of the MCC Youth Theater program. It happens every Spring and, as far as I can tell, it's always pretty freaking awesome.

Monologues, scenes, poems, abstract performance pieces about them, by them.

Yeah, my kids loved it. Here's hoping the inspiration (and motivation?) sticks for a little while.

Theater and students. Once again, proof that it's almost always a good idea.

The 20%....

80% of my class is engaged.

Why am I so worried about the 20% that's not?

Is T really sick or is the short story that boring?

N is trying, but this is definitely a struggle.

Is 100% engagement even possible? Especially when you have 11th grade reading levels in the same class with 6th grade ones?

How do you "differentiate" a read aloud? (And yes, read alouds are mandatory - silent reading would result in even more snoozing....)

What made J check out 5 min after coming into class?

What time do they go to bed?

What are they eating for breakfast? Are they eating breakfast?

Is it just because it's a Tuesday and I woke up in a funky mood too?

If Tuesday's like this, what will happen on Thursday?

Am I allowed to have a lesson not blow their minds?

Why is teaching so much about perception and participation?

Why do I feel like eating chocolate right now?

Maybe it's ok to let some things go. Maybe not every second needs to be an ah-ha moment. As a professor at NYU once said, "Remember, it means everything to you, but it's only 55 minutes out of their entire day."

True dat.

But when your students only come once or twice a week and still fall asleep, doesn't that 55 minute nap become more than everything? A lost cause? An sleepy premonition about the future? A small, but devastatingly sad metaphor for public education?

The good(?) news: I have 9 1/2 more weeks till June to figure it out.

The Playground Outside My Window

It's gorgeous outside. I hear little (and old) kids screaming and laughing directly under my window.

If I were my students, I'd leave too.

How do we compete with the weather?

How does my lesson on writing about your name compare with piercingly bright sunshine?

And it's only March 18th.

Just wait till May. June.

Attendance in the Spring.

New Beginnings, Once Again

We've (I've) made it to Cycle III!

That's right folks, this is the last and final cycle of the year. The official end of year countdown has begun. The grand experiment that is my school will finish its second year (for better or for worse) in the next three months.

So that means that yet again, we start anew. New cycle, new students, new chances.

A new chance to make it first period. To second. To third.

To do some homework. To get a 65. To get a 95. To believe that you really are worthy of graduating high school.

My new chances? Advanced Writing Seminar and Playwriting and Performance II.

Advanced Writing (Dig the college sounding title?) is my small experiment within our school's larger one. I've always emphasized writing, but this time it will be explicit. The plan is pretty simple: genre by genre, we will play and explore and, with hope, eventually command.

And we started today. With, you guessed it: I am from.

(Seriously, what did progressive English teachers do before Linda Christensen saved us all?)

Is there really a better way to start off a new cycle, a new class, a new chance than writing about the different flavors of jolly ranchers you ate as a 7 year old? I think not.

"What was the name of that game again?
"Steal the Bacon!"
"My favorite food was fried chicken....macaroni and cheese...the pink starbursts."

It's simple.
It's low risk.
It's fun.
It's fulfilling.

At the end of a 55 minute period, my students got to know themselves, their classmates, and me a little bit better. They learned the tone and purpose of the class (we are going to WRITE) and perhaps even some of my teaching philosophy. The learned that they could write a poem (and in some cases a damn good one) in under 20 minutes.

Not bad for a new and final first day.

Winter Break 2010: Gluttony Rules!

(Note: this posting has nothing to do with teaching whatsoever. Hurray!)

My body is screaming at me to stop. And yet I must go on.

There are a few hidden gems of being a NYC teacher. One is Winter Break. Just when you think you might go absolutely bonkers with the snow, the cold, and of course, the kids, a sweet little week in mid February appears. And because of this salvation, you're able to make it until the next respite: Spring Break.

Some people go away to wonderfully warm places like the Bahamas. Me? I tried to eat my way through my home town, New York City. And what follows is a short list of my most memorable gluttonous experiences.

1. The Pork Pot at Asia de Cuba. I will probably never go to this restaurant again because it's way too expensive, but for a bougie Restaurant Week bargain, it was absolutely perfect for a week-off-from-school lunch. And of course it helped that I enjoyed it with a fellow fabulous teacher. The gimmick with this place is that they do Cuban "flavors" with Asian "preparation." Oh and they give you big ass portions so you can share. The pork was our main entree. And it was really f***ing good. On top of a braise of bok choy, it's salty, tender fattiness was pretty freaking divine. And we couldn't even finish the whole thing. Josh would never have let that happen.

2. The BLT sandwich at Choice Market. This event happened because of what we saw on that janky The Best Thing I Ever Ate show on Food Network this past Sunday. The theme was bacon and we were underwhelmed by the hosts' "best things" UNTIL we saw Ted Allen's pitch for the BLT at Choice. This is because 1) BLTs may be my most favorite sandwich ever and 2) Choice is kinda near our house. So a plan was hatched. A major hitch in the plan: I decided to go try this sandwich on the one day of the week when it snowed. All day. So I walked a mile in the wet, pelting snow for a sandwich. Was it worth it? Yes. Though the little bugger was a bit on the salty side (which for me is saying a LOT), it was as expertly prepared as Ted Allen promised. Bacon win. (But doesn't bacon always win????)

3. The Coconut Cake at Asia de Cuba. This gets a mention for its sheer size. Gluttony epitomized. It was good but it was more insane. Don't think we finished a quarter of it. Again, Josh wouldn't have let that happen.

4. Large Cappuccino and Scone at Financier's Patisserie. This is because of the foam. Oh when you sprinkle the sugar on it and slowly soaks in.......Yeah, this made me feel European and appropriately sophisticated in all matters breakfast. And dunking the scone in the foam. And it crumbles off a bit. Ahhhhhhhhhh.

5. Bone Marrow at Henry Public. This almost didn't make the list because I'm 90% sure it gave me weird dreams last night. And yet, in a posting about gluttony, how could I not mention it? It was appropriately fatty and salty and tasty and yet that's not why it made the list. It made the list because it's freaking BONE MARROW. Meat Butter. It is everything you're not supposed to put in your body and yet I happily did. It felt old school and deviant and wonderfully wrong. It felt like everything I should be doing on vacation. Glutton win.

So there it is for now. I'm gonna to party through my body's screams for greens and tofu and continue doing what I do until this vacation officially ends on Monday morning. Edamame and string cheese will be back in my diet soon enough. But today: I think I need to find an almond croissant...

55 minutes

Worst. Class. Ever.

Ok, I'm sure it wasn't, or won't be. But right now it sure as fuck feels like it.

Threats of write-ups.

Stopping and starting class. Over and over. Feeling like it was my first day on the job.

All for talking. Stupid god damn talking. Because today is the first day back for many (as opposed to yesterday, when we actually started back). Because we run on a bizzaro (ahem, alternative) time frame - where Tuesday is Monday unless it's Wednesday and Thursday is Friday. Because it's easier to laugh than try sometimes. Because it's still the case that doing your work isn't cool. Because it's somehow just as important to please the teacher as it is to say something hurtful about the new girl's weave.

I love my job.

But 5th period sucked. 4th period wasn't too hot either.

And yes, I'll reflect on what I could've done differently how my lesson needs to be tweaked blah, blah, blah. But right now I'm just tired. And pissed. And tense.

In a school where a "second chance" both means everything and nothing, 55 minutes is too much of not enough.