My Last Day at KIPP: Aspire Academy

I can't believe today was my last day. The third week seemed to drag on forever, but now its over. My last day was just like any other. I observed Joyce teach a covering and surrounding lesson about area and perimeter. The students used small cubes to create a bumper car track. They had to determine how many rails were needed depending on the area and also on the shape of each figure. Eventhough the area was equal for two different shapes their perimeter may have been different. The students explored why this was true and concluded that some shapes were expanded and more sides were exposed creating a greater perimeter. There was another observer in the room today. She is a graduate student at Trinity University and was visiting KIPP to get some ideas for management. I told her she was in the right school and classroom. After block 1, I took the observer with me to Ms. Starr's class. After grading morning work and life work, they reviewed for tomorrow's life challenge by playing tic-tac-toe math. Each student had to work the problem on their own paper and then Ms. Starr would call on different students to answer the question to get that spot for their team. During lunch, I walked around with a group of girls to pick up trach around the school. I guess they get bored with the typical things to do at recess and so picking up trash seems like more fun. After lunch, I went in to help Travis teach block 3, 6th grade math because Joyce had a busy afternoon and was unable to do it. It went ok. The students were pretty wild and didn't understand the lesson very well. Its hard to use Joyce's lesson and teaching style because if you don't execute it correctly it could have a negative affect on learning. The teacher tries to guide the students' learning through their own exploring and participation, but understanding is lost in the process if the attempt to guide them fails. I have decided that I am very effective at helping students individually, but I need to work on the whole group learning process. At 3:00, I went to play scrabble with the 8th graders and I am improving. I scored 42 points on one turn! I was so excited. I am not the best scrabble player or the best speller (if you haven't noticed), so scrabble is good for me! Those 42 points were enough to win the game. What a great going away present! From 4-5, I peaked in the Karate room, stretched with the dance class, and said a lot of good-byes. I couldn't find the right words to say good-bye because it wasn't like I could say, "See next month!" or "Call me tomorrow", it was more like, "Have a great life, it was great to meet you." I will stay in touch with some of the people, but everyone else I don't know if I will ever see them again. I finally found Mark at the very end to say good-bye and thank him for the opportunity. He thanked me for coming and let me know that if the other two schools don't work out that I can return to Texas! So after 5 weeks, my first leg of the adventure is over and I had a great time. I have learned so much about KIPP and education in general. The teachers have been so friendly and have helped me feel right at home. I will miss everyone dearly, especially the kids.
~The weekend plan: My mom flys in tomorrow and we will drive to Phoenix on Saturday to stay with my brother and then get up Sunday morning to drive to San Diego. My mom's plane doesn't fly out until Wednesday so we will be enjoying each others company until then. I am so excited to see her and begin the next adventure. I hope you all have a great weekend!