Day 3

Alright so writing everyday only lasted a little while.....but I will catch you up on the important events of the last two days.  As I expected Wednesday was fantastic because it was a short day for everyone.  As normal I joined Mark's advisory class in the gym at 7:30 to work on morning work and then get ready for block 1.  I observed 6th grade math with Joyce which I think will be my routine for the remainder of the month.  Each day I love Joyce more and more.  She is an amazing teacher. Her method of instruction is a little backwards but it is outstanding and produces results.  The kids were learning about percent of a number on Wednesday and instead of giving the students the rule about how to estimate the percent of a number, she had the students do the problems the long way then brainstorm a pattern or rule for a shortcut.  She feels this is better simply because the students remember the method they have designed in their heads.  I feel blessed to have the opportunity to observe and learn from her for a month.  Earlier in the year she would teach block 1 while the actual 6th grade math teacher would observe and then that math teacher would take over for the other two classes.  When that teacher wasn't 'working out' Joyce picked up all three blocks and noticed a huge drop in grades between her class and the other two.  For the past 2 weeks she has had to dig these students out of a 'bad place' as she calls it.  Their behavior and academics are no where near where they should be.  They are slowly coming around.  Then for block 2 on Wednesday I observed 8th grade math with Shelby, who is another incredible math teacher.  She is calm and manages her classroom flawlessly.  She is another red head whom the students also think I am related to! lol. crazy.  I hope to continue observing her as well.  After lunch, I wondered around to a couple other classrooms, not staying to long in any given one.  I watched a little of 6th grade non-fictional studies, some 5th grade math, and back to 6th grade math.  At 1:30, the students usually have something called a town meeting which I have not quite figured out yet.  The only thing that comes to mind is that reality show Kid Nation.  This Wednesday was extra special because the Army band came to play for the students in the gym.  They were really good and the kids loved it. The students were let out at 2:30 and normally the teachers have a team meeting from 2:30-4 and then a faculty meeting from 4-5, but this Wednesday they were having parent meetings with 7th and 8th graders so the faculty meeting was cancelled.  The 5th grade teachers were meeting in a nearby restaurant and so they told me I could leave.  Next Wednesday I will stay for the meetings because I'm sure they are informative.   Well I am going to postpone Thursday's events because it is getting late, but I want you to know that I love all of your comments and I hope you are enjoying my blog!  Have a wonderful Friday, I know I'm going to!!

Day 2

Day 2 started very similar to day 1: hanging out in the gym and then going with Mark to his advisory period.  I did find out that when students arrive they get 'morning work' which is a sheet with grammar and math problems they are to finish during advisory.  During block 1 when I was observing 6th grade math with Joyce, a girl failed to complete any of her morning work or lifework which resulted in an immediate call to her parent.  Yes, you heard me right, but a little background first.  Every teacher has a school cell phone, paid for by KIPP, for students to reach them on at night to get help on their lifework.  KIPP believes in 'no excuses' so the students have no excuse for not having perfect lifework everyday.  These cell phones come in handy when students are misbehaving and not completing lifework.  By the first hour this morning, I believe two phone calls home were made.  KIPP involves the parents as much as possible having them sign assignment sheets, test grades, and other important papers that are sent home.  Before attending KIPP students have a home visit with their KIPP teacher.  At this meeting, the parents and student sign a commitment to excellence contract.  So back to my story about the girl....she was pulled out of the classroom for the phone call to her parent and returned 15 min. later.  Today the students were working with ratios of dimensions.  I really enjoyed Joyce's method of teaching because she simply guided the students' thinking, letting them take their time to brainstorm and reach a correct answer or explanation.  I am excited to continue learning her methods!  For block 2, I was with 5th grade reading, who were preparing for the TAX, which I understand to be like our CTBS tests.  She was giving them strategies to succeed and remain in control and calm during their test.  Block 3 was spent helping Mr. Young with his ice cream lesson.  The students were making ice cream so I handed out ingredients and answered questions.  From 3-5, I was in the 8th grade math tutoring.  Students who struggle in math come in for tutoring either from 3-4 or 4-5 every day.  It was a little chaotic, but I was able to work one-on-one with students on their math.  I have not been with the 7th or 8th graders very much and hope to get more involved with them soon.                                                     Interesting pieces of my day:                                                                                                                            ~The students call every woman teacher Miss.  Not Miss Beach, just Miss.  One of the teachers thinks this is disrespectful and demands they call her Miss Mallory, but another teacher believes it is just their culture and not a sign of disrespect at all.  Kind of interesting but its something to get used to                                                                                                                        ~Miss Starr, who I talked about yesterday, informed me at lunch that approximately 12 students asked her if we were sisters.  She asked them if it was just because we were white and they said no it was because we both have blonde hair.  This is interesting because Miss Starr's hair is clearly red.  I thought this was so interesting because if you ask a Hispanic student what color their hair is, most likely they will answer brown or dark brown when clearly to you their hair is black.  A very interesting cultural trait I found.                                                                                 ~For the second day I have taken a new route home and tomorrow it will be three.  Karen, my GPS system, and I got in a little argument today.  I thought for sure I knew more than  her and that I could get myself home quicker by not following her instructions.  She continued to work with me by 'recalculating her route' but I kept ignoring her.  [Sometimes she insists that you make a u-turn at the next available moment in order to get back on her track]  Needless to say, she was right. The route I chose took longer because the road took some unexpected curves.  Tomorrow, I will follow Karen's every move hoping she does not lead me into construction or a dead end, both of which have happened in the four days I have here.  Lets just say that construction is not Karen's speciality.                                                                                              ~Home life is fabulous, I could not be happier or blessed with a better family.  They are wonderful.  I played a little memory with the kids tonight and then went to a Mary Kay party with Jenn.  Galen is big into politics so I am learning a lot about the election which is a wonderful thing.                                                                                                                                                   *Tomorrow could be interesting because I believe the students get out at 2:30 and the teachers remain for professional development.  Possibly a short day?!  Anyways, hope you have a had a great Tuesday!

Day 1

Wow, where do I even begin....well, as I suspected, it was an extremely long day, but also very informative.  I woke up at 5:45 to leave at 6:45 to be at the school at 7:30.  (thankfully it did not take me 45 min. to get there so tomorrow I can sleep in! lol  On my way to the school, the director Mark Larson called me to let me know where I should go once I arrived.  

Morning:  The students arrive by bus at 7:30 and go to the gym for a morning check of their lifework aka homework.  Each student has an advisory teacher kind of like a homeroom teacher who looks at each students' work from the night before checking for completion.  Those who have incomplete lifework must eat lunch that day in isolation.  When I first walked into the gym the students were fascinated by my heels and my tattoo.  I became a little self conscious about my tattoo wondering if I was breaking dress code, but I found out later that it was okay. After the initial lifework check in the gym, students grab breakfast and head to a classroom to finish the advisory period.  I stayed with Mark for his advisory period and then went on to observe math classes for most of the day.  [KIPP runs on a block schedule which is another adjustment I will have to make.]  Sixth grade math, which was the first block I observed, is taught by one of the school's assistant directors Joyce Boubel because the previous teacher just "wasn't working out."  This is one of a KIPP school's advantages.  They have the power to rearrange their teaching staff when something is not working out.  In fact, they have made many switches just this year with regards to moving teachers up or down grade levels as well as letting some teachers go.  Joyce is a wonderful lady who has been with KIPP for four years.  She is a fabulous math teacher and KIPP: Aspire Academy was just awarded a $10,000 grant from the state of Texas because of their math scores.  She does not believe in lecturing and taking notes because she does not think the students are engaged and actively learning. Today they were doing some review, but students completed the examples on the board and then taught the class, answering any questions their fellow classmates had.  Then the students corrected their benchmark test which is like a semester test they take every nine weeks.  For the rest of the class they worked on their lifework.  I do not think this was a typical day for them so I am curious to see them in action tomorrow.  Joyce had to run up to 7th grade math to get them started on their lesson because their teacher was gone for the day.  Subs at KIPP are hard to come by because a person has to know the culture of the school so that the students don't get off track.  After going from 6th to 7th and back to 6th with Joyce, she took me to Miss Starr who teaches 5th grade math.  She is in her third year of teaching this being her first at KIPP. She is very pleasant and also very honest about the major commitment required to teach at KIPP.  She explained that the turnover rate at KIPP: Aspire is very high, simply because of the extra effort and hours that are put in.  It is not uncommon for teachers to teach at KIPP for 1 to 2 years and then go on to a different school.  There is a sad irony in this because from observation the KIPP principals and foundations are best executed by veteran teachers.  I observed a little of Miss Starr's class before going lunch and recess with them.  [Just as a side note, the 5th graders are kept separate from the rest of the building in classes, lunch, and recess.]  I learned that teachers are on lunch, recess, and P.E. duty everyday meaning they are with students every minute except for a 90 min. planning period.  It's crazy!  

Afternoon:  After lunch I observed Mrs. Mallory's non-fiction studies class which is a writing and social studies class combined.  It was my least favorite period of the day.  The schedule today was a little mixed up, so Mrs. Mallory ended up with 36 students in this class.  They were obnoxious and I felt like she had little control over them.  She had a loud stern voice that remained for the entire period.  It seemed they were having a competition for who could be the loudest.  I was able to walk around and help students get started on their historical fiction stories about a child who died from child labor.  The following period was the complete opposite and by far my favorite period of the day.  It was a science class taught by Mr. Young, a 4 year KIPP veteran.  He just gets it.  The kids acted completely different.  There are a couple of key KIPP terms that Mr. Young used flawlessly.  Track which means looking at and facing the person who is speaking and slant which means sitting straight in the chair with both feet on the ground.  Mr. Young has built such a great environment with high expectations that he had to remind students very little to 'track' him.  Students have behavior sheets and Mr. Young would mark any student's sheet that needed to be reminded to 'track'.  I believe it was the first day of the third quarter and so students were put into different groups.  They spent the period building group cooperation.  Each student wrote down what they would do to help make their group be successful, what potential problems they saw, and possible solutions to these problems.  Then they shared their ideas with their group members and the group members were able to comment on the person's ideas.  At the end of class, they shared as a class how they liked the method of creating group unity.  Students seemed to like being 'tracked' and listened to by their classmates.  To end, Mr. Young asked me what skills helped me get scholarships and into college as well as how I keep my scholarships.  I explained the importance of keeping eye contact in meetings and creating good study habits early so it is easier to get good grades in college.  The final period was split between tutoring, where students go to the room they need help in, and advisory, where the teacher checks each student's take home assignment sheet.  I was with Miss Starr during advisory and she allowed the students to ask me questions about my college and life.  My favorite part of the day was answering questions and interacting with the students!  I left the building at 5:10 and who knows how long all the teachers stayed. Overall it was a good day and I'm excited to go back tomorrow!  If you made it this far in the blog, give yourself a pat on the back! 

River Walk

It's Sunday morning and two days in San Antonio have already past.  We arrived Friday afternoon at 2:30 and our wonderful GPS system, who we've named Karen, brought us right to the front door of this amazing family who is letting me stay with them.  Jenn and Galen Conant moved to San Antonio two years ago so Galen could pursue his dream of owning his own business.  They have three wonderful kids; Jackson 5, Mackenzie 4, and Tucker 2.  I spent the afternoon getting settled in while my dad did some word finds! For dinner, they took us to Chester's, which come to find out is the best burger place in San Antonio.  The rest of the evening we just relaxed at the house watching some tv.

On Saturday, we ventured out to see some of the sights of the city.  First, we let Karen guide us to find the school I will be observing.  It is definitely an inner-city school and to be honest, it doesn't even look like a school from the outside! (Don't judge a book by the cover)  Then again I know they are doing spectacular things on the inside and I'm very excited for tomorrow.  After the school, we went downtown to the River Walk for the afternoon and it was gorgeous.  We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, walked around the River Center, a.k.a A HUGE MALL, toured a little bit of the Alamo, and finally took a boat tour around the river.  Our tour guide was great and I took lots of beautiful pictures I will hopefully get to share with you soon!  

The Day is Finally Here

Today my dad and I will start our trek to San Antonio. We are splitting up the hours traveling a majority of the distance today and the remaining five hours on Friday. I have never been to San Antonio and I'm very excited to go to the Riverwalk, which I hear is one of the best experiences down there. My dad's flight leaves Sunday morning to return to freezing cold Nebraska. I will start my first day in the school on Monday at KIPP: Aspire Academy.