A Great Day!

Today was my favorite day simply because it went the fastest! At advisory, Mark informed me that Leadership San Antonio was coming for lunch and he thought it would beneficial for me to hear him speak about education in San Antonio, charter schools in general, and KIPP specifically. Leadership San Antonio is a group of about 50 business leaders throughout the city who spend one Wednesday a month learning about a different aspect of San Antonio. Before lunch, I spent block 1 with Joyce in 6th grade math and block 2 with Ms. Starr in 5th grade math. In Joyce's class the students were incredibly engaged asking and debating questions. Joyce began reviewing material and the students took the lesson from there. They didn't get to any of the new material, but the discussion they had was well worth it. One question that was asked and discussed was whether ray AB is the same as ray BA. (For those of you not up to date with geometry, a ray is a line that begins at one point and goes forever in one direction.) The students then attempted to answer the question by taking turns defending their side. Some of them went to the board to persuade the class. Their ability and desire to explain math concepts has increased tremendously according to Joyce. Shy students who never spoke at the beginning of the year are going to board to explain math! It was incredible. Block 2 was not quite as exciting because the 5th graders have not quite hit that level of exploration. They were learning about estimating and rounding decimals. They were working on a TAKS sample test to get ready for the big test in a few weeks. A correction from a previous post, it was not the TAX but the TAKS test. It is comparable to ITBS Tests in Nebraska. Texas schools are famous for teaching solely to this assessment, but KIPP only prepares for a few weeks before because they set their goal much higher than simply passing the TAKS. Before beginning the TAKS practice packet, the students brainstormed the strategies to use while answering the questions. They bracket the questions, underline keywords, cross out extra information, and circle the numbers. Ms. Starr and I walked around making sure the students were on task and using their strategies. After block 2, I spent 45 min. helping set up for the lunch. During lunch, Mark presented a powerpoint beginning with the hard facts of San Antonio education. After showing graphs that compared the achievement of local schools, he had us participate in a demostration showing the scaricity of college bound students. Out of 70 individuals, only 1 of us went to college. He then introduced a brief history and timeline of charter schools before speaking specifically about KIPP. He shared with them the vision of growing the KIPP community to contain 11 schools total by 2020. After the speech, we went on tours given by the students. I had never been given an official tour so it was nice to hear what the students were taught to say. When Leadership San Antonio left, I joined 5th grade outside to play Gossip, learn about rumors, and do a raffle of prizes. Recently, 5th grade has been having problems with cliques forming, rumors spreading, and possessions disappearing, so today they sat outside and played Telephone or Gossip. The students could see for themselves how skewed the statements became after 35 people had passed on what they 'heard'. Ms. Starr talked about the importance of not spreading rumors or sharing information that is none of your business. Then they had a raffle and auction to win prizes Mrs. Lansford had brought. At 2:30, we walked the students to the buses and then I helped Ms. Starr stuff letters, written by students who are not able to go on the fieldtrip due to their behavior, into envelopes to be sent home to their parents. The 5th grade team of teachers were not having a meeting today so I went home after Ms. Starr and I had finished. Tomorrow I get to with the 5th graders on their fieldtrip to the Alamo and Ripley's Believe It Or Not!