The beginning of the week

As you can see, I was finally able to upload some new pictures. I had been having problems with my computer and it wouldn't allow me to change the heading picture or add new pictures, but here is a picture of the school and then some of the juniors on the river field trip we went on last week. Yesterday was pretty uneventful. I helped the seniors with the research papers and went to observe Mr. Woodard's class in the middle of the morning. After lunch, I went to the Monday math meeting and listened to Ms. Louie present on her math portfolio project. Her 8th and 9th grade students put together math portfolios that explained math concepts they understand and showcased examples of their work. Ms. Louie brought two examples to the meeting to let us look over and provide her with feedback. Their portfolios weren't as rich as she would have liked and she was asking for suggestions on how to provide feedback to the students and possibly reassign the project after corrections. She also asked for what evidence we saw that the students learned the information. It was an interesting meeting and hopefully our comments helped her to move forward with the assignment. After the meeting I stayed to observe Julia's 7th grade class again. The students were learning about percents and I felt that class was more productive today, but still kind of crazy. This morning I reported to the senior room where Mr. McCain had a meeting with the girls about their class analysis part of the academic portfolio. The girls had to choose three classes to analyze and include in their portfolio. The analysis included an introduction about the class and teacher, a problem solving section that included identifying the essential question, providing evidence that addresses the subject, and drawing conclusions based on the evidence, and finally a making connections section where students explained connections between their learning and the subject as well as connections to the outside world. I think it is great to have students understand and be able to explain what they learned from a class and why it was important. After the meeting students set to work or attempted to get to work on their portfolios. Not very many of these students will come up to me and specifically ask for my help and at first I wasn't very comfortable with what they were doing to question them on their progress or prompt them to get to work. After sitting at a table for a little while, Mr. McCain sat down and challenged me with a question he had been wondering about. He fears that the girls are extremely overwhelmed and don't know how to organize and process the information to be productive. He referred to it as their executive functioning ability. He raised the connection between privilege and ability to function in this way because many of these girls may not have had a role model to learn these skills from. We discussed how the skills aren't really taught and I how I don't remember sitting down one day with my mom and discussing how to organize thoughts and tasks. Mr. McCain explained how its just a matter of modeling and seeing your mom make a list of her chores and grocery list and then performing the chores one task at a time until it was finished and running errands based on the location of the store. Once he said that, I completely related to that and understood where he was coming from with these girls. They have so much to get done in order to graduate that their brain is on overload and they can't focus on one task. If they do focus on one task, they work on it until it gets difficult and then they move on to a new task. Mr. McCain was brain storming a way to help them get organized and not make the process so daunting. I suggested individualized learning plans with specific goals for each day. After our talk, I was motivated to get involved and even be a little pushy to see what they were doing and ask how I could help. At first I figured they just didn't feel like doing their work and I didn't feel like I could make them, but after my talk with Mr. McCain I realize they are frustrated and overwhelmed and need help starting and getting organized. I began helping Denisha and got her on the right path before I left for a meeting. 20 visitors from Egypt came to visit YWLCS today and they were having a question/answer session with some of the teachers and students in the middle of the morning. The session required a translator which was incredibly interesting and challenging, but the information provided me with some new insight on the school. Margaret Small, the director, was there and answered most of the questions. She explained that the core curriculum is made up of math, science, humanities, technology, and reading/writing. The visitors were extremely interested in the curriculum and impressed by how the school educates the student's social and personal side by building leadership skills. One visitor asked about the effect of "unruly" classrooms have on learning and the students. One of the students answered the question by saying girls like to talk and share answers, but if a classmate is being disruptive other girls will tell them to be quiet. I think this is the right idea and a great goal, but not entirely what happens. Margaret explained that charter schools job in Illinois is to provide an alternative education to a population of students who are not being successful in the public system. I can appreciate what YWLCS is doing after realizing what charter school I just came from the different population they are serving here. The school really is providing an incredible opportunity for these girls to change their lives. During advisory I was able to sit down and read an extensive brochure about YWLCS. I learned some interesting facts and formulated some questions to explore over the next 7 days. From the brochure I learned that the juniors take a College Prep course where they create a college portfolio and learn about the application process, the math department follows the Interactive Math Program (IMP), the 10th graders participate in an internship with a community business, and that Saturday school is optional every week. I have more questions about the special ed program, an executive discipline program, the clinic, single-sex education in general, the college application process, and assessment. After lunch I worked with some seniors who stayed to get their work down. I edited several introductions and gave them suggestions on how to make their papers longer. I am motivated to be even more helpful and involved tomorrow to help these seniors graduate.