Day 28: Why Teach? WHo would be crazy enough to do that? #aprilblogaday

-->Prompt:  Would you encourage young people to consider the field as a profession?

Image Via schoolsweek.co.uk

Every teacher has seen lists like this one in the HuffPost titled "21 Reasons To Quit Your Job And Become A Teacher" (2013) I, like many teachers here in NYC, am a career changer.  I started grad school in the fall of 2006 at the age of 29.  There were not any fancy incentives for me becoming a teacher.  I don't teach math or science and I am not a special education teacher.  I am a run of the mill English teacher.  What makes me a little different is that I am also a theatre teacher.  I am licensed in both subjects.  I also has a successful career as a theatre professional before moving to teaching. I didn't become a teacher because I couldn't DO what I intended to in my first career.  I became a teacher because I wanted to (and I have already established how selfish teaching is).  It was my evolution. 

I often tell my students is that one of my biggest priorities as their teacher is to make sure they know how to learn independently from me.  My best teachers gave me freedom to discover what I loved and the space to explore that passion.  While school is very different than it was when I was in school, this is still my goal.  I want my kids to leave my room as independent and confident thinkers, researchers and challengers of scholarship.  A sense of inquiry is essential to growth.  My students hopefully go on to college and careers confident and ready to take on anything they are presented with. 

Becoming a teacher--and working as one-- is an investment in both time and money.  I often joke with my kids that I have a MA from NYU instead of children.  In NY one must ultimately have at least a Masters degree to continue teaching. (You can start with a Bachelors degree.)  I also tell the kids though, that education is the best way to invest.  It can not be foreclosed upon. The debt has been worth it.  The journey is worth it.  

If you are not sure about teaching, don't start there.  Do what you think you want to do.  Try it.  See how it goes.  Then if you still want to teach, you will find your way.  

For my friends who like data, here are some numbers for you...

In NY State (2011-2012)

Data from the National Center for Educational Statistics   

Total Teachers: 241,000 

Percent of teachers, by highest degree earned
Less than a Bachelors - 2.8%
Bachelors - 4.4%
Masters -  84.2%
Education specialist  or doctor's -  8.6%

Percent of teachers, by years of full-time teaching experience
Less than 3 - 5.3% 
3-9 years - 30.0%
10-20 years - 45.5% 
Over 20 - 19.1%

Average Class Size
Elementary 20.7
High School 25.2

Note: I have no fewer than 30 kids in each of the classes I teach.  The biggest is 34, the cap here in NYC.  I did teach in an alternative high school where my average class size was about 20.  That was ideal.

We need teachers.  We need strong, confident people of all backgrounds to teach and lead in schools.  It is just that simple.  Do it.

Day 27: Rejuvenation! #AprilBlogADay Challenge

-->Prompt: Continuing: how do you keep stretching and learning over the summer?

Image via HERE

My happy summer place!

 I love summer.  My birthday is in August and I am a true summer baby.  Growing up in Seattle, summer was the pay off for so many months of overcast skies, gloom, and wet.  When it finally came it meant late nights at the park, wondering around the neighborhood with the plethora of kids I grew up with, and swimming in the lakes. It was a different time.  As I get older I am thankful for my 8 weeks off each summer. It is a time for R&R- Rest and REJUVENATION! I have sought out opportunities for me to learn.  Last summer I took an eight week memoir writing class at NYU School of Professional Studies. The summer before I took the College Board AP Summer institute (APSI) Workshop for AP English.  This was only a week.  The summer of 2013 I was accepted at The Cullman Center Institute for Teachers at the NY Public Library for a week long writing intensive with John Wray. These bursts of creative work and learning inspire and rejuvenate me each summer.  I like to be busy.  I like to think.  I like to create.  I thankfully have been able to find opportunities to do all those things each summer.  My husband and I also usually go away for a week to the shore.  Last summer we had a place with a pool.  It was my happy place!

This summer, I have some lofty goals.  Well, I have ONE goal: to pump out a draft of my memoir.  It is not about teaching.  For me, it is good to write about other things.  It is good to talk about my journey, which you can read about on my other blog.  I also get to go to Seattle for 10 days, one of which is for my 20 year high school reunion.  :-)  High school is never too far from my brain. 


My Advice: Do things you love in the summer.  Spend time with people you enjoy.  Eat food you love.  Sit outside in the morning and enjoy the quiet and the light (and that you are not going to work).  Drink cold beverages in warm weather.  Stay up late.  Challenge yourself.  Find creative outlets.  Rejuvenate.

Day 26: If I Was In Charge #AprilBlogADay Challenge

-->Prompt: If you were in charge: What needs to change about education?

I put it out there to the Facebook Hive Mind.  I know a lot of teachers.  I also know a lot of parents.  I was curious to hear what others think about what needs to change.  Here are some of the responses: 

"Smaller class sizes~" -M.M. (parent, school administrator)

"I read a while back the the brain isn't fully awake so to speak early in the morning. The article suggested that kids could learn better if they started school a little later in the morning. Also, recess and naps are essential even after kindergarten. The brains need a quiet moment to recharge. Seating arrangements need to change. The square classroom set up is not methodical. Also, please get rid of the awful fluorescent lights. They mess up the vision and aren't beneficial. I'm very pro vocational schools too. Study what you'd like to study and place more emphasis on that skill opposed to a generalized curriculum." -U.S. (parent, works in higher ed)

" Honestly, pay teachers more. I think they have one of the most difficult and important jobs out there. Also, less worksheets and more creative assignments. Less standardized testing and more freedom to stray from the curriculum." -T.B. (parent)

"Do away with: arbitrary/contrived grades, grades, batching by age, frames around subjects. Incorporate: learning driven by intrinsic motivation. Teacher as facilitator, not expert single source of info. End goal of self-knowledge and actual path to career, not expectation of college. Opportunity to engage/intern with actual professionals in authentic application environments. More opportunity for creative interpretation / knowledge demonstration." -K.M. (teacher, parent)

"Fewer worksheets and more hands-on/project based learning. More discussions and fewer lectures." - S.D. (Parent)

 "Teaching to the test. School needs to be focused on learning and exploring and creating a well rounded individual. One of the things that made me decide to move into the library was that I constantly heard that my theatre class didn't matter. And because the teachers had that attitude I had a lot of students who started to develop that same viewpoint. There's a ton more that I think contributes to the behavior issues that seem so prevalent, but I'm going to get off my soapbox now." -C.G. (former teacher)

"Fund the damn education system!" -N.C (parent) 

 "Less time in the classroom and more time in the community. I think it's equally important to develop humanitarian interests and critical thinking with hands on experience...Actively debating, not discussions, that challenge them to provide fact based data so they understand that emotions are part of the debate but not a pass on providing facts to back their emotions. I think it's a skill a lot of people lack...How to balance an account and manage money. Another lacking skill for many..." -A.C. (Parent)


It's fascinating. Of the list above, two are/were NYC parents/teacher.  I often wonder about what is going on in other parts of the country.  I am on board with a lot of what is stated above: mastery based assessment, project based learning, smaller class sizes (the cap here is 34). 

If I was in charge, this is what I would do: Change needs to begin with teachers.  Teachers are the best source of information and insight into the needs of students, schools and how assessment should and can work.  All the answers are already there: ask us, stop making decisions for us. 

Day 25: The Wrap Up- Did I Get It Done? #AprilBlogADay

Prompt: Wrapping Up The School Year- How will you know if you did what you needed to do this year?

I don't know if you are like me, but usually in early August, about 4 weeks before school starts, the ideas really begin to start flowing and developing.  All the things I want to do differently, to try, begin to take shape.  Last year I taught AP Lang for the first time.  I also had cancer last year.  The second half of my school year was a bit of a mess. I did everything I could to keep up with work and manage my own care and healing.  Being sick and being a teacher is perhaps the most difficult thing I have had to do. I had hoped that this year would be easier.  It was not.  I had surgery to help my paralyzed vocal cord in November and a week into my recovery I found out I had gallstones (as a result from weight loss surgery in November 2013).  You can read more about that journey here. 

The first 4 months of 2016 have been painful and exhausting.  I used all my self-treated days and had to go into my bank of days I have saved.  I know this is what they are for, but I have tremendous guilt about what I have not done this year.  I know there are students who were mad at me for missing so much work.  "If she doesn't care enough to be here...."  Things like that are heartbreaking.  There are few things more important to me than my teaching, my kids.  When my health and my body stopped me from being my best self, it made me angry and disappointed. I scrambled to try and revamp and work with my collaborating teachers to make sure things didn't get too far off track.  I put things into place in the last 6 weeks to ramp up.  The AP exam is May 11th.  We will know in July if the ramp up paid off.  For my 10th graders, we are going to begin writing prep for the global history regents exam in June.  I have a handful of 11th graders I will be working with to prep for retaking the ELA exam, also in June.  So it seems the best indicators are going to be test scores.  Did I, we...do what we needed to do this year.  I hope so.  Time will tell.             
 

Day 24: The Selfishness of Teaching #Aprilblogaday Challenge

Prompt:
Missteps: if you could go back and do something differently in your classroom/with a student/with a colleague what would you do?

Image Via

The short answer is: Everything.  While there have been a lot of RIGHT moves, there are more WRONG ones, which is why I keep coming back.  This is one of the things I love about teaching: each September is a chance to step into a classroom with a new crop of kids and try again to figure out what it means to get it right.   Part of me hopes I never figure it out.  Maybe that is the selfish part of teaching- knowing that it won't every be perfect but the experience of trying is what makes things better. Experience can be painful, brutal, but it makes us who we are each time we step into our rooms. 

Hindsight is 20/20, right?  If I say to myself, I should have done ______, the reality is: what did happen would not have.  For example: part of me knows I should have left my first school at the end of year 4.  Year 5 was painful both professionally and personally.  However, if I had left a year sooner I would not have found AFSE and embarked on the journey I am on now.  

As classroom teachers, part of us must be selfish.  Our students can tell when we teach something we don't love.  They are sensitive, like bees and dogs. The pick up on things.  This is why teaching content we love always translates so much better in the classroom.  Maybe this is easier for high school teachers (this is what I have always taught- outside of my student teaching placements).  I know the Gender and Language unit I do with AP Lang is by far my favorite.  I love that it provokes and gets them thinking in ways they never could have prepared for.  It is the unit that my students talk about with the rising juniors that they fear the most. Which I love.

After my first of two surgeries this year,
I returned to this poster hanging in my classroom. 
Always find the words.

 

Here is what I do regret:  conversations never had.   Moments when I wish I had said something and I didn't.  Students I wish I had told how proud of them I was, but something got in the way.  Maybe it was my own insecurity, my own fears (again, being selfish).  I have had many powerful conversations over the years.  There are students who have passed away far too soon that I wish I had spent more time with.  As a cancer survivor I know better than some that time is precious.  Have the tough conversations.  Don't be afraid to reveal what you don't know in an effort to become a better version of yourself.  These risks are worth it. The brutality of experience is worth it.  Dive in.

Day 23: Which Came First- The Teacher or The School? #aprilblogaday challenge

Do you make your school community or does your school community make you?

A variation on this was used as an essential question for my AP Lang class this unit. Does the individual make the group or place or is the place shaped by the people who occupy it. All terms used loosely.

Image Via

Tonight, I sat next to one of my dearest friends in a room of distinguished alumni from the Program in Educational Theatre at NYU, which was celebrating its 50th anniversary. Phillip Taylor, who was the chair during my time there, interviewed playwright John Patrick Shanley ('77) who is perhaps best known for his play and later film: Doubt. There were a plethora of quotable quotes (would you expect anything less from a Pulitzer winning playwright?) that I wish I had written down. I, and I am sure many of my colleagues, would say the program gave me the space to become who I was meant to be: a teacher.  I don't know that my presence in the program made any sort of indelible mark on it however, which is ok. I picked NYU strategically because it provided an opportunity for me to study teaching both theatre and English. My time at NYU was a benchmark in my development as a pedagogue. 

It was nice tonight to get to see and talk to professors, some who knew exactly who I was and others  I was sure thought I was someone else. They were teachers who pushed me and prepared me to challenge and provoke the thinking and learning of young people. (Thanks Christina and Joe.) Now as I do more and more work with new and pre-service teachers, I appreciate my professors more than ever. 

That community shaped me.

 

I have had the honor of shaping two different schools now. Being a founding member of a school is a challenge especially in the era of small "boutique schools" here in NYC. Our school (afsenyc.org) is now at capacity with about 125 students per grade and about 55 teachers. (11 make up the English Dept. We have 5 content, 3 SPED, 1 ELL, and 2 teaching residents who were with a mentor teacher for the year). A science teacher said to me today that a strong English department is essential to creating and maintaining a strong school. Last year we sat our first cohort of students for the state exam- Common Core English. We had 99% passing. We are indeed strong. I think we have had a huge influence on the evolution of our school culture, academically. Some good things, some that need shifting and revision to become stronger. 

I have helped to shape this community.

As you can see, I still don't have a definitive answer to my question: which came first- the teacher or the school?  I am simply thankful I have been able to create and be created.

Day 22: My DREAM Team #aprilblogaday

Prompt: If you could collaborate with any teacher/class what/who would it be and what would the collaboration look like?

Image Via

Our spring break is very late this year. It's felt like an incredibly long stretch, I am sure exacerbated by my surgery at the end of February. (It was my second surgery this school year and the 4th time I was subjected to anesthesia). All these things are incredibly hard on one's body. I'm ready for a break.

However, this is also the time of year I start thinking about next year. All the things I can do differently... better. I often feel like I have failed my students, I could have done so much more, so how can I improve and do better. 

Next year will be round 9 in my own classrooms. Year 11 since I walked into my first DOE classroom. I have lost some of my passion when it comes to teaching and I have to work harder to fine new ways to grow and challenge myself and my students. There has been some great stuff with student led discussions in my 10th and 11th grade classes this spring that I would like to figure out how to vertically align so students are doing this type of work each year. Giving students a structure and the space to teach and learn from each other is powerful. I learn so much about my students and the content from listening to them grapple with what they are studying.

That's all well and good Meredith, but get to the prompt. I would like to teach a block with someone from our social studies department for 9th grade to design and implement a humanities curriculum that reflects some of the themes already existing in the 9th grade curriculum around power.  I want to take many of the things I have learned and design a scope and sequence that challenges students to read, write, speak and listen. That it challenges them to find connections between literature and history. 

I think back in one of my most successful semesters in college. I took:

1. Intro to political science
2. U. S. History, 1865-today
3. Clothing history (my BFA is in costume design and construction)

I remember the point in the semester that the first two classes synced up and suddenly the content was clicking in a new way. The parallels between clothing history and the political climate was eye opening. When content from multiple POVs aligns the learning can be so much richer.  

Another class I would love to teach is in fact a costume design and construction in Design & Tech with our teacher Mr. Rothman who runs the makerspace.   That is my HUGE dream class. 

Happy Spring Break!