Winter Break. Christmas time. Just past Hanukah. Kwanzaa.
Yes, we have arrived. It is only a matter of hours now: 5 to be precise.
A small, and I do mean small, sheaf of papers is in my bag to travel home with me to Kentucky.
A little work over a long break usually helps smooth over any of the anxiety which invariably hangs just before the return. In this case the return means Thursday, January 2nd.
Meanwhile, a couple anecdotes from this week...
Wilis may not hate me anymore. This week my U.S. History classes began working in responsibility team formations. Wilis was paired as a team leader with Mahmudul, one of our most ambitious students (among many).
It was fascinating to watch the two of them truly working as a team, for 20-25 minutes at a time. With an atlas and review books before them, they discussed constitutional matters. At the end of class on Monday, Wilis came up to me:
"Mister, this (the team system) was much better. Everyone was working."
On Wednesday, Wilis shared his work time stories with the class after he and I conferenced.
Brayan, an evangelical Christian not shy about his proselytizing, wrote on a white board in class two days ago: "Go to hell."
I have no idea who that was directed toward but I told Brayan that is a horrible thing to say to someone. He seemed surprised. His English skills are still lacking but he has been known to tell his science teacher fairly recently, "Miss, Jesus doesn't like you."
But he then pulled out a Bible tract from his backpack and there was a graphic depiction of a soul caught between heaven and hell. A statement to the effect of don't go to hell was written.
Perhaps a "don't" was simply omitted from Brayan's white board message.
That would seem to soften the blow.
__________________________________________________________________
"Happy holidays," from HSLI!
Friday, December 20, 2013
Saturday, December 7, 2013
We should be like the whales
It is sad, this recent story in the news regarding a pod of pilot whales in Florida. Some inadvertently beached themselves, dying as humans we're trying to steer them back out to sea. But it seems that they did not want to leave their companions who were not able to move.
"Rescuers had difficulty on Wednesday trying to persuade the surviving whales to leave their dead podmates and head out to sea. In most cases, highly cohesive species such as pilot whales refuse to leave their kind, no matter the risk to themselves."
Lori Marino, a professor of neuroscience and behavioral biology at Emory University states: "They seem to feel for each other. Their whole sense of self is distributed across the group. They take social bonding to a new level. They don't abandon each other."
We need to learn to be more like these whales...
"Rescuers had difficulty on Wednesday trying to persuade the surviving whales to leave their dead podmates and head out to sea. In most cases, highly cohesive species such as pilot whales refuse to leave their kind, no matter the risk to themselves."
Lori Marino, a professor of neuroscience and behavioral biology at Emory University states: "They seem to feel for each other. Their whole sense of self is distributed across the group. They take social bonding to a new level. They don't abandon each other."
We need to learn to be more like these whales...
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Student Anecdotes
A few things overheard or seen in the past few days...
1. Enroute to school yesterday morning, I passed two elementary school students. I overheard one telling the other in a very serious manner: "Even if I was dying, I'd still have to go to school."
2. Yesterday was my colleague Mr. Berk's birthday. He did not want people to know this. Everyone found out. He walked through my class to grab a folder and a student immediately began singing "happy birthday." I stopped her as we were all in our Unison Reading groups. I wanted all students to remain on task within their groups.
I told her: "Let's stay in Unison," meaning in the groups.
Instead, she then led the entire class in singing "happy birthday--" in complete and perfect unison.
3. An endearing thing: I checked my mailbox for work turned in this past Friday. We were out of the required checklists that day, which students staple to work that is handed in. Two Bengali girls, Naz. and Sum., had taken it upon themselves to create very nicely handwritten checklists in lieu of the printed ones. They modeled it after the ones we usually have available.
I told them later that I appreciated the extra effort.
1. Enroute to school yesterday morning, I passed two elementary school students. I overheard one telling the other in a very serious manner: "Even if I was dying, I'd still have to go to school."
2. Yesterday was my colleague Mr. Berk's birthday. He did not want people to know this. Everyone found out. He walked through my class to grab a folder and a student immediately began singing "happy birthday." I stopped her as we were all in our Unison Reading groups. I wanted all students to remain on task within their groups.
I told her: "Let's stay in Unison," meaning in the groups.
Instead, she then led the entire class in singing "happy birthday--" in complete and perfect unison.
3. An endearing thing: I checked my mailbox for work turned in this past Friday. We were out of the required checklists that day, which students staple to work that is handed in. Two Bengali girls, Naz. and Sum., had taken it upon themselves to create very nicely handwritten checklists in lieu of the printed ones. They modeled it after the ones we usually have available.
I told them later that I appreciated the extra effort.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Just a few recent highlights
The High School of Language & Innovation has been up to a lot lately. Here are just a few highlights:
~A couple weeks ago, 51 juniors spent the school day at Columbia University's Lerner Hall at a college and jobs expo. Students learned about important things such as resume writing, interview skills, workplace attire, and questions to consider when choosing the right college or university.
~Students attended an in-school information session with folks from the Fire Department of New York (FDNY).
~About thirty students attended an after school information session with John Jay College.
Many more exciting opportunities are being planned for the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more!
~A couple weeks ago, 51 juniors spent the school day at Columbia University's Lerner Hall at a college and jobs expo. Students learned about important things such as resume writing, interview skills, workplace attire, and questions to consider when choosing the right college or university.
~Students attended an in-school information session with folks from the Fire Department of New York (FDNY).
~About thirty students attended an after school information session with John Jay College.
Many more exciting opportunities are being planned for the coming weeks. Stay tuned for more!
Monday, November 18, 2013
For the over 900 who perished...
In remembrance of the over 900 people, among them many children, who perished on this day--November 18, 1978--in the massacre in Jonestown, Guyana.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/jonestown/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/jonestown/
Friday, November 1, 2013
Teamwork is Paramount
Just before our staff team comes together for this Friday afternoon Common Planning, I have a bit of breathing room to send this dispatch. The key word on my mind now is one that is paramount to our school culture: Teamwork.
This is a cliche word in many places. Here it is lived to its fullest extent each day. It is an expectation for all of us here, students, teachers, and staff alike.
Unison Reading is well documented on our HSLI school website (languagehs.schoolwires.net). Another new team activity we began recently in social studies is Topic Teams. Students cooperate and learn interdependently as they complete curriculum-related tasks in historical studies.
Our staff personifies our message of teamwork by attending Common Planning meetings together daily--as an entire teaching staff. Additional school support staff join us occasionally in larger meetings. This has helped us build a strong foundation in which we all strive to remain on the same page. It is remarkable how much we achieve when we work together. For example, we have been having Barn Raising activities lately.
With a nod to our Amish brethern, we join together to raise the barn of classroom spaces. Rather than working individually, we join together in teams to ensure that each classroom is fully stocked and loaded with pre-determined supplies, "ladder of consequences" posters, work habits rubrics, etc.
This is a cliche word in many places. Here it is lived to its fullest extent each day. It is an expectation for all of us here, students, teachers, and staff alike.
Unison Reading is well documented on our HSLI school website (languagehs.schoolwires.net). Another new team activity we began recently in social studies is Topic Teams. Students cooperate and learn interdependently as they complete curriculum-related tasks in historical studies.
Our staff personifies our message of teamwork by attending Common Planning meetings together daily--as an entire teaching staff. Additional school support staff join us occasionally in larger meetings. This has helped us build a strong foundation in which we all strive to remain on the same page. It is remarkable how much we achieve when we work together. For example, we have been having Barn Raising activities lately.
With a nod to our Amish brethern, we join together to raise the barn of classroom spaces. Rather than working individually, we join together in teams to ensure that each classroom is fully stocked and loaded with pre-determined supplies, "ladder of consequences" posters, work habits rubrics, etc.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Meeting with an Executive at General Motors
Wednesday afternoon, October 23rd. 54th St. & 6th Avenue.
Six young men--all juniors with high grade point averages--traveled with me, their U.S. History & Government teacher, to the twentieth floor of one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in Manhattan. Our destination: a private, one-on-one meeting with Mr. Jim Davlin, Vice President of Finance & Treasurer for the General Motors Company.
Mr. Davlin is a Wabash College alumnus, as I am. We found a connection to him via Mr. Steve Klein, Dean of Admissions at Wabash College. Mr. Klein has visited with two groups of students in the past at my previous school. We decided the quarters at General Motors' New York City nerve center were a step up from meeting in our school building.
The young men involved were enthralled by the confluence of unique events they found themselves within: first time in Midtown for most of these young men, new to the United States; first time meeting directly with a corporate executive and the dean of admissions of a college; first time in a major corporate office building. I hope the young men from HSLI were most captivated by thoughts of Wabash College. But it is possible that their favorite memory may be of the elaborately concocted pastries and counter of sodas that was at their disposal.
Sitting with Mr. Davlin for about forty minutes, students asked an array of questions regarding scholarships, financial aid options, sports, and activities. Students were then able to speak directly with the dean of admissions for another forty-five minutes. The young men were offered an opportunity to visit Wabash in the fall of senior year with all expenses paid if they are in the top ten percent of their class.
Most if not all of the students involved expressed interest in visiting Wabash at a later date.
On our way out into the marbled corridor, Cadillac commercials played on a flat screen tv mounted on the wall. A blazing blue GM sign behind the receptionist served as a backdrop for a group photo.
Reentering the mad rush at the end of a Manhattan workday, we headed past the Plaza Hotel along the southern rim of Central Park and back to the train station on Lexington Avenue. It was another quintessentially unique afternoon in New York City.
Six young men--all juniors with high grade point averages--traveled with me, their U.S. History & Government teacher, to the twentieth floor of one of the most expensive pieces of real estate in Manhattan. Our destination: a private, one-on-one meeting with Mr. Jim Davlin, Vice President of Finance & Treasurer for the General Motors Company.
Mr. Davlin is a Wabash College alumnus, as I am. We found a connection to him via Mr. Steve Klein, Dean of Admissions at Wabash College. Mr. Klein has visited with two groups of students in the past at my previous school. We decided the quarters at General Motors' New York City nerve center were a step up from meeting in our school building.
The young men involved were enthralled by the confluence of unique events they found themselves within: first time in Midtown for most of these young men, new to the United States; first time meeting directly with a corporate executive and the dean of admissions of a college; first time in a major corporate office building. I hope the young men from HSLI were most captivated by thoughts of Wabash College. But it is possible that their favorite memory may be of the elaborately concocted pastries and counter of sodas that was at their disposal.
Sitting with Mr. Davlin for about forty minutes, students asked an array of questions regarding scholarships, financial aid options, sports, and activities. Students were then able to speak directly with the dean of admissions for another forty-five minutes. The young men were offered an opportunity to visit Wabash in the fall of senior year with all expenses paid if they are in the top ten percent of their class.
Most if not all of the students involved expressed interest in visiting Wabash at a later date.
On our way out into the marbled corridor, Cadillac commercials played on a flat screen tv mounted on the wall. A blazing blue GM sign behind the receptionist served as a backdrop for a group photo.
Reentering the mad rush at the end of a Manhattan workday, we headed past the Plaza Hotel along the southern rim of Central Park and back to the train station on Lexington Avenue. It was another quintessentially unique afternoon in New York City.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Conversations with Jacob; October 19th
Jacob Czerniak's birthday is December 7th. He will be the big 1-0-3.
That's a lot of candles.
I wrote about him a few times in the spring. His memory is pristine as he recounts memories from the World War II era. Too pristine, probably. If one ever needs a reminder in a dark time about how life could be worse, look no further than the numbers cut into Jacob's left forearm. They were carved in during his time in Auschwitz.
He is a survivor. This morning he mentioned his wife to me for the first time. I'd always been afraid to ask about her. But I knew he'd been married.
"She was my best friend...my best friend," he said.
She could never quite recover, however, from the death of her father.
In 1943, he was out finding food for his family in occupied Poland. He was shot down by Nazi murderers.
Jacob and her married and moved to Minnesota together after the war. He lived out there for a while in northern Minnesota. But his wife passed on at 72 years of age.
Jacob was a tailor. In snowbound Minnesota, he was in charge of alterations for men's clothing, primarily. Sometimes he altered a woman's coat, or whatnot.
Upon moving to New York City, he worked in a factory on Seventh Avenue called FellWo (not sure about that spelling). One owner's name was Fellman, the other was Wolf.
There he explained how he supervised clothes making. He wasn't on the assembly line. It seems he was in more of an advisory role.
"You are a very good friend," he tells me. "Thank you for being my friend."
Other times he likes to tell others, such as his former home aide Maria, "He is a gentleman." I don't know if that is really true, but thank you, sir.
I tell Jacob "thank you," as well. "You are my friend, too."
I tell him how my girlfriend is still asleep downstairs. "She has a lot of problems sleeping so she sometimes is up very late and then has to sleep in," I say.
"Tell your lady friend I'm sorry she has trouble sleeping," Jacob says. He asks about my lady friend all the time.
Today I finally wrote down his phone number. I had too because Jacob's hearing has not held up quite as strongly as his memory has. A relatively small price to pay, it seems.
He tears in half an envelope from an insurance company. I try to ask if that's okay, making sure he won't need that paper. But he charges on.
His area code is 718--usual for the Bronx. I jot down the number.
Moments later, I say, "I'm going to write down my number, too, in case you ever need anything. You can call me." My area code is 917--a newer area code for the region created during the explosion of new cellphone numbers. I jot down the number and pass it to him.
He takes a moment to reach for the light--a single uncovered light bulb on his worn kitchen table. He picks up the fragment of paper, examining.
"This is not good," he says. He seems disappointed.
"9-1-7...My number is 7-1-8..."
"Oh, that is my number," I remind him.
He replies, "Ohhh. I thought that was my number you had written down."
A moment later he looks at me and smiles in his big endearing way. He looks like a boy. Just like the boy who ran so fast in the 1920's. During those teenage years of physical fitness classes in school in Poland.
A boy inside the body of a nearly 103 year old man. A survivor. A friend.
That's a lot of candles.
I wrote about him a few times in the spring. His memory is pristine as he recounts memories from the World War II era. Too pristine, probably. If one ever needs a reminder in a dark time about how life could be worse, look no further than the numbers cut into Jacob's left forearm. They were carved in during his time in Auschwitz.
He is a survivor. This morning he mentioned his wife to me for the first time. I'd always been afraid to ask about her. But I knew he'd been married.
"She was my best friend...my best friend," he said.
She could never quite recover, however, from the death of her father.
In 1943, he was out finding food for his family in occupied Poland. He was shot down by Nazi murderers.
Jacob and her married and moved to Minnesota together after the war. He lived out there for a while in northern Minnesota. But his wife passed on at 72 years of age.
Jacob was a tailor. In snowbound Minnesota, he was in charge of alterations for men's clothing, primarily. Sometimes he altered a woman's coat, or whatnot.
Upon moving to New York City, he worked in a factory on Seventh Avenue called FellWo (not sure about that spelling). One owner's name was Fellman, the other was Wolf.
There he explained how he supervised clothes making. He wasn't on the assembly line. It seems he was in more of an advisory role.
"You are a very good friend," he tells me. "Thank you for being my friend."
Other times he likes to tell others, such as his former home aide Maria, "He is a gentleman." I don't know if that is really true, but thank you, sir.
I tell Jacob "thank you," as well. "You are my friend, too."
I tell him how my girlfriend is still asleep downstairs. "She has a lot of problems sleeping so she sometimes is up very late and then has to sleep in," I say.
"Tell your lady friend I'm sorry she has trouble sleeping," Jacob says. He asks about my lady friend all the time.
Today I finally wrote down his phone number. I had too because Jacob's hearing has not held up quite as strongly as his memory has. A relatively small price to pay, it seems.
He tears in half an envelope from an insurance company. I try to ask if that's okay, making sure he won't need that paper. But he charges on.
His area code is 718--usual for the Bronx. I jot down the number.
Moments later, I say, "I'm going to write down my number, too, in case you ever need anything. You can call me." My area code is 917--a newer area code for the region created during the explosion of new cellphone numbers. I jot down the number and pass it to him.
He takes a moment to reach for the light--a single uncovered light bulb on his worn kitchen table. He picks up the fragment of paper, examining.
"This is not good," he says. He seems disappointed.
"9-1-7...My number is 7-1-8..."
"Oh, that is my number," I remind him.
He replies, "Ohhh. I thought that was my number you had written down."
A moment later he looks at me and smiles in his big endearing way. He looks like a boy. Just like the boy who ran so fast in the 1920's. During those teenage years of physical fitness classes in school in Poland.
A boy inside the body of a nearly 103 year old man. A survivor. A friend.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Shirts & Pringles
For the second time this school year I had a shirt incident.
The day of new student orientation, I arrived at school in my crisp white shirt with tie ready to tackle a new school year. Immediately upon arriving at a teacher meeting that morning, Mr. S. asked: "What happened to your shirt? You spill coffee on it?"
I looked down at my right side and saw a huge light brown stain from the collar to and around the underarm area. I'd completely forgotten during the long summer break to attempt to remove this stain that appeared out of nowhere one day last spring after the shirt had sat too long in a laundry bag. I had quickly hung the shirt back up in my closet until this new fateful morning.
Luckily, I keep an old brown wool coat at school--a remnant from one of my first neighbors in New York, c. 2006. It smells a bit and usually sits around isolated in various closets but it definitely served its purpose for the orientation. I was sweating the whole time, though, in that summer evening.
This past Monday I arrived at school ready to tackle a new school week. Refreshed, rejuvenated. I soon realized upon my arrival that my habit of getting dressed in dark places in my bedroom had come back to haunt me. Whereas I thought I'd put on a conventional white undershirt, instead I had put on a shirt from this year's Scotland Run 10k race. Through my light grey shirt one could clearly see a blue image of the Manhattan skyline on the shirt's front and a loud pronouncement of the race name and a list of sponsors on the shirt's back.
After conferring with Mr. Reid and a student, Lissamarie, I realized there was no concealing this fact and went back to the closet to retrieve my smelly brown coat.
This was another hot, humid day, mind you, and I spent it sweating out whatever toxins may have been in my skin. So that was a plus.
In other news, Mr. Weber had a funny anecdote of a student a few days ago who was eating Pringles in class. When Mr. W. reminded him that food is not allowed in our classrooms--a rule we are enforcing this year--the male student proceeded to stuff the bulky Pringles container down the front of his pants.
Interesting how students react to rules in different ways...
The day of new student orientation, I arrived at school in my crisp white shirt with tie ready to tackle a new school year. Immediately upon arriving at a teacher meeting that morning, Mr. S. asked: "What happened to your shirt? You spill coffee on it?"
I looked down at my right side and saw a huge light brown stain from the collar to and around the underarm area. I'd completely forgotten during the long summer break to attempt to remove this stain that appeared out of nowhere one day last spring after the shirt had sat too long in a laundry bag. I had quickly hung the shirt back up in my closet until this new fateful morning.
Luckily, I keep an old brown wool coat at school--a remnant from one of my first neighbors in New York, c. 2006. It smells a bit and usually sits around isolated in various closets but it definitely served its purpose for the orientation. I was sweating the whole time, though, in that summer evening.
This past Monday I arrived at school ready to tackle a new school week. Refreshed, rejuvenated. I soon realized upon my arrival that my habit of getting dressed in dark places in my bedroom had come back to haunt me. Whereas I thought I'd put on a conventional white undershirt, instead I had put on a shirt from this year's Scotland Run 10k race. Through my light grey shirt one could clearly see a blue image of the Manhattan skyline on the shirt's front and a loud pronouncement of the race name and a list of sponsors on the shirt's back.
After conferring with Mr. Reid and a student, Lissamarie, I realized there was no concealing this fact and went back to the closet to retrieve my smelly brown coat.
This was another hot, humid day, mind you, and I spent it sweating out whatever toxins may have been in my skin. So that was a plus.
In other news, Mr. Weber had a funny anecdote of a student a few days ago who was eating Pringles in class. When Mr. W. reminded him that food is not allowed in our classrooms--a rule we are enforcing this year--the male student proceeded to stuff the bulky Pringles container down the front of his pants.
Interesting how students react to rules in different ways...
Sunday, October 6, 2013
Quit Doing Work! (huh?)
I guess it's not the worst problem to have. Serious behavior issues are yet to arise in my classes, knock on wood. It's mainly just been run-of-the-mill tardiness and typical teenage talkativeness issues. Plus, a dose of teen angst thrown in. But the year's been great overall for me so far.
However, my students have to learn to stop doing so much work!
Well, that seems strange at first glance. The reality is, students are losing sight of our school's standardized transitional times. This is when, for example, students are expected to pivot from fifteen minutes of Unison Reading into a large chunk of work time (either solo or interdependent). The other half of students already in work time then pivot into their Unison time. Near the very end of class--with six minutes to go in my classes--we all pivot to two minutes of putting away resources and then have four minutes for an individual student sharing with the entire class.
The problem now is getting students to put down work time materials to make those other pivots. We began emphasizing the importance of deadlines and college readiness and something must be sinking in. "Yeah!" for small victories because a fair amount of work is coming in each week. Some of our percentages are astronomical in comparison to students at other schools around the Bronx.
But that still leaves me with this new dilemma: Getting young adults to stop working so feverishly that they are late to Unison groups and are not taking the time to put away resources before a share. Also, how to round up those last few students for a share, as they write obsessively, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the rest of the class is now in the front of the room and a classmate is beginning to share a challenge, resolution, and goal with the class.
To my students: Keep on working...but also remember the transitions!
However, my students have to learn to stop doing so much work!
Well, that seems strange at first glance. The reality is, students are losing sight of our school's standardized transitional times. This is when, for example, students are expected to pivot from fifteen minutes of Unison Reading into a large chunk of work time (either solo or interdependent). The other half of students already in work time then pivot into their Unison time. Near the very end of class--with six minutes to go in my classes--we all pivot to two minutes of putting away resources and then have four minutes for an individual student sharing with the entire class.
The problem now is getting students to put down work time materials to make those other pivots. We began emphasizing the importance of deadlines and college readiness and something must be sinking in. "Yeah!" for small victories because a fair amount of work is coming in each week. Some of our percentages are astronomical in comparison to students at other schools around the Bronx.
But that still leaves me with this new dilemma: Getting young adults to stop working so feverishly that they are late to Unison groups and are not taking the time to put away resources before a share. Also, how to round up those last few students for a share, as they write obsessively, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the rest of the class is now in the front of the room and a classmate is beginning to share a challenge, resolution, and goal with the class.
To my students: Keep on working...but also remember the transitions!
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Train's in Motion Now...
3 weeks already (almost). Wow. Living within the school each day--and it is a second home--I definitely feel the train in motion now. Countless anecdotes from all around the staff and students are soon to come in this forum, but for now here are a couple...
~Mr. Berk, a veteran teacher new to our school, was in amazement yesterday while doing his attendance. He was "shocked" at how every single student was in one of his classes earlier that morning. I had the same reaction this time last year. For both of us, we'd previously been in a place where it was not uncommon to have less than 50% attendance in a given class.
Now we are in a place where 90% would be a low number.
~I walked into the evolving "Student Support" room in our school a few hours ago. Not sure yet what that room will be for, but the Intervention Team seems to be utilizing it (I also had to cart out all my stuff from last year, after I'd transformed part of a back room there into my own little storage space.)
On a white board in the corner I noticed something freshly written about a student's misbehavior post-intervention: "A.P.--'had promised not to put his hands on others.'"
Funny how such a little comment can be funny at the end of a work day but nowhere near funny when one is in the middle of a classroom and a student is chasing another around with a broom (heard that story yesterday) or when said A.P. student was observed by myself today holding a pencil up as though he was going to stab his friend with it. [Thankfully, A.P. is mischievous but not truly violent.]
~Mr. Berk, a veteran teacher new to our school, was in amazement yesterday while doing his attendance. He was "shocked" at how every single student was in one of his classes earlier that morning. I had the same reaction this time last year. For both of us, we'd previously been in a place where it was not uncommon to have less than 50% attendance in a given class.
Now we are in a place where 90% would be a low number.
~I walked into the evolving "Student Support" room in our school a few hours ago. Not sure yet what that room will be for, but the Intervention Team seems to be utilizing it (I also had to cart out all my stuff from last year, after I'd transformed part of a back room there into my own little storage space.)
On a white board in the corner I noticed something freshly written about a student's misbehavior post-intervention: "A.P.--'had promised not to put his hands on others.'"
Funny how such a little comment can be funny at the end of a work day but nowhere near funny when one is in the middle of a classroom and a student is chasing another around with a broom (heard that story yesterday) or when said A.P. student was observed by myself today holding a pencil up as though he was going to stab his friend with it. [Thankfully, A.P. is mischievous but not truly violent.]
Saturday, September 21, 2013
First Week Down
Written on September 13th...
Fellow Teachers!
Fellow Teachers!
It's hard to believe that we're
already one week into school. I have waited for this moment - day 1,
week 1 - for months now (maybe years), and as I look back on it now, I
can't believe how quickly (and also how slowly) it went.
And it's incredible how many things I felt
simultaneously while it was happening (yes, sometimes it felt like it
was just happening to me, in the passive tense, haha) - terror, anxiety,
stress, connectedness, distance, disbelief, immense overwhelm, but most
of all, a tingling anticipation of the days to come.
And of course, this is just the beginning of the
beginning, but I wanted to take a moment to step back and be grateful
for the joy and challenges ahead.
I'll leave you with two quotes that I absolutely love, especially for this moment in time:
We
should be blessed if we lived in the present always, and took advantage
of every accident that befell us, like the grass which confesses the
influence of the slightest dew that falls on it; and did not spend our
time in atoning for the neglect of past opportunities, which we call
doing our duty. We loiter in winter while it is already spring.
| Henry David Thoreau |
Perhaps the secret of living well is not in having all the answers, but in pursuing unanswerable questions in good company.
| Rachel Naomi Remen |
Here's to good company!
Ms. Sri
Thursday, September 5, 2013
Is This Really 'It' ?
It is true. Students arrive on Monday, September 9th. Summer has been amazing and our staff has had a nice transition back to work over these past couple of weeks. Like last year, we came back in early to receive professional development training at Fordham University. We then pivot back to our school campus a week before most teachers go back in. Heading into this long Rosh Hashanah weekend (happy new year, 5774), it is hard to believe our classrooms will be filled in just a few days.
Upon leaving school around 6:30 p.m. yesterday, I could not help but notice how much work still needs to be done. Granted, our school is way ahead of many in terms of planning, learning formats, and other fundamental structures and support systems in place. But in terms of classroom aesthetics, we have a long row to hoe for the next month or so. For example, we are adding an entire new class of students this year, heading into our school's third year. Therefore, we now have several new classrooms and a whole bunch of new teachers. As of yesterday evening, most of these classrooms are still lacking in furniture and technology equipment. Classroom libraries still need to be organized and new offices set up. Furniture that should have been delivered while we were on campus to receive it came instead with no one around. Helpful. Binders we should have received many weeks ago still have not arrived.
We moved various classrooms around to new spaces, as well as acquiring completely new spaces for our main office and principal's office. We now have a chemistry teacher, which many public high schools in NYC do not have. And I will be teaching two sections of U.S. History, which we are building from the ground up as we welcome juniors in for the first time.
The level of collaboration and interdependence within the High School of Language & Innovation (HSLI) is fiercely unique, so there is no doubt we will pull through trials together. It will be fascinating to witness our evolution over the next few weeks. Refreshed, we march onward into a brighter school year than any of us have ever seen before...
Upon leaving school around 6:30 p.m. yesterday, I could not help but notice how much work still needs to be done. Granted, our school is way ahead of many in terms of planning, learning formats, and other fundamental structures and support systems in place. But in terms of classroom aesthetics, we have a long row to hoe for the next month or so. For example, we are adding an entire new class of students this year, heading into our school's third year. Therefore, we now have several new classrooms and a whole bunch of new teachers. As of yesterday evening, most of these classrooms are still lacking in furniture and technology equipment. Classroom libraries still need to be organized and new offices set up. Furniture that should have been delivered while we were on campus to receive it came instead with no one around. Helpful. Binders we should have received many weeks ago still have not arrived.
We moved various classrooms around to new spaces, as well as acquiring completely new spaces for our main office and principal's office. We now have a chemistry teacher, which many public high schools in NYC do not have. And I will be teaching two sections of U.S. History, which we are building from the ground up as we welcome juniors in for the first time.
The level of collaboration and interdependence within the High School of Language & Innovation (HSLI) is fiercely unique, so there is no doubt we will pull through trials together. It will be fascinating to witness our evolution over the next few weeks. Refreshed, we march onward into a brighter school year than any of us have ever seen before...
Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Dispatch from the Front
Well, here I am again.
Since Friday, June 14th I've been at the Academy for Language & Technology, near Mt. Eden Avenue, grading Global Regents exams. Needless to say, this has been a huge fiasco. Scoring was supposed to have been completed last Thursday and here it is Tuesday--the penultimate day before the close of the 2012-2013 school year.
I missed the school trips Ms. Cho & I planned for the school yesterday and today. But it's great knowing we have students visiting Columbia University today. Kids at NYU yesterday.
Other students had the opportunity to visit NFL headquarters, while still others went to South Street Seaport yesterday. Today was a big Chinatown trip for other folks.
It's even better seeing some of the Global scores coming in from our students. We still await some scores--as I stated, this has been a GIANT fiasco--but one sophomore, J., earned a 97% while M. earned a 96%.
Another boy surprised me with his 90 and I'm happy for D. and his 83%. He worked on the test for 8 hours! [English Language Learners get a lot of extra time.]
So, an unusual way for me to close out this school year, in exile here in the South Bronx, now with a whole new collection of colleagues at a different school. But perhaps I will eventually be reunited with my true school. Maybe.
I was supposed to be back there last Friday. Then Monday. Then today. I am fairly sure I will be back at HSLI tomorrow for the final day. Then I can see students just before summer break begins, as they pick up their report cards.
For now, we sit and wait. Regents exams were still being scanned into a new electronic grading system as of this morning. There were at least 73,000 Global exams in all [last week we thought there were only around 60,000 but none of us knew the actual number.]
I think the scanning may have now finally finished. But we are no longer receiving any exams in our individual scorers' accounts. And so we wait...and wait...and wait. And this is how it all began this time last week, which is a major reason why this process has seemed infinite.
It finally picked up last Thursday and Friday with exams shooting in to us pretty much non-stop.
But then teachers were called in for overtime pay ("per session") during the weekend. I worked at Lehman High school on East Tremont on Sunday from 0830-1330.
It's been a bit surreal.
This time last year schools were still grading their own students' exams and it took as long as two days, but usually 1.5. Now it's been 9 days of grading, including the overtime days. Meanwhile, McGraw Hill or a sub-contractor connected to them has picked up a $10 million contract from this brilliant example of "performance evaluation."
Oh well. Summer break is near. Everyone is gearing up for adventures. My summer reading has begun. It's hot out, 92 today, but it's all good.
Since Friday, June 14th I've been at the Academy for Language & Technology, near Mt. Eden Avenue, grading Global Regents exams. Needless to say, this has been a huge fiasco. Scoring was supposed to have been completed last Thursday and here it is Tuesday--the penultimate day before the close of the 2012-2013 school year.
I missed the school trips Ms. Cho & I planned for the school yesterday and today. But it's great knowing we have students visiting Columbia University today. Kids at NYU yesterday.
Other students had the opportunity to visit NFL headquarters, while still others went to South Street Seaport yesterday. Today was a big Chinatown trip for other folks.
It's even better seeing some of the Global scores coming in from our students. We still await some scores--as I stated, this has been a GIANT fiasco--but one sophomore, J., earned a 97% while M. earned a 96%.
Another boy surprised me with his 90 and I'm happy for D. and his 83%. He worked on the test for 8 hours! [English Language Learners get a lot of extra time.]
So, an unusual way for me to close out this school year, in exile here in the South Bronx, now with a whole new collection of colleagues at a different school. But perhaps I will eventually be reunited with my true school. Maybe.
I was supposed to be back there last Friday. Then Monday. Then today. I am fairly sure I will be back at HSLI tomorrow for the final day. Then I can see students just before summer break begins, as they pick up their report cards.
For now, we sit and wait. Regents exams were still being scanned into a new electronic grading system as of this morning. There were at least 73,000 Global exams in all [last week we thought there were only around 60,000 but none of us knew the actual number.]
I think the scanning may have now finally finished. But we are no longer receiving any exams in our individual scorers' accounts. And so we wait...and wait...and wait. And this is how it all began this time last week, which is a major reason why this process has seemed infinite.
It finally picked up last Thursday and Friday with exams shooting in to us pretty much non-stop.
But then teachers were called in for overtime pay ("per session") during the weekend. I worked at Lehman High school on East Tremont on Sunday from 0830-1330.
It's been a bit surreal.
This time last year schools were still grading their own students' exams and it took as long as two days, but usually 1.5. Now it's been 9 days of grading, including the overtime days. Meanwhile, McGraw Hill or a sub-contractor connected to them has picked up a $10 million contract from this brilliant example of "performance evaluation."
Oh well. Summer break is near. Everyone is gearing up for adventures. My summer reading has begun. It's hot out, 92 today, but it's all good.
Friday, May 10, 2013
Conversations with Jacob Czerniak, 102 year old Holocaust Survivor, Part II
Conversations with Jacob Czerniak, 102 year old survivor of Auschwitz-Chelmno-Bergen Belsen concentration camps, Part II:
This conversation took place on Sunday, April 21st, 2013 with me in The Bronx, New York. Words in [ ] brackets indicate my additions/notes. I've attempted to quote Jacob as much as possible, in his direct words. Please read future updates with more of Jacob's tragic but, ultim...ately, triumphant story...
Jacob, as he prefers to be called, served in the Polish army from 1935-1937.
"There was no lunch (in the concentration camp H______; need to confirm the name of this camp, one of the first). It was sitting a little bit, resting. People went to nearby farms to beg some food, a few potatoes, a piece of bread.
One time there was a (situation). We was standing, they were looking to see if someone had a potato or something. There would be a beating. After a short time, I was carrying a friend's potatoes. They came back, the Gestapo. They called back the seven people they had on the list [Note: These were people suspected of sneaking away to "steal" food from the farms/homes of people living near the camp.] What kinds of beatings we had, my God.
One Gestapo, pushed the legs so we could not move. Another held the feet so we could not move. What was the question, the question, they had the beating. I was the seventh guy in the list. Five people signed. The sixth one, a very strong, a big guy, said: 'Why are you beating me?'
They said: 'Because you a Jew.'
They didn't have a reason.
I was black and blue, my God. After 2-4 weeks, I don't know how long it was, they told us...They took away the five who'd signed their names. The Gestapo. We didn't know what had happened to them.
In January 1 or 2, 1942, they brought them back to the camp. We woke up on a Sunday. The gallows was already made in the camp. They brought back the five people and they hung them. Because they left the workplace to beg food.
The officers, they read it out--the verdict. They called out the whole camp and they called the verdict and they hanged them. Then we had to run around the gallows for two hours and we had to look how they hanged.
[To me] You say: Why?
It's no 'why?'
In Germany...they come into your house and shoot you. They had special commanders they sent into the ghettos and they was killing people.
In 1942 was the hanging. After we walked around the gallows for two hours, they picked out (a 50 year old) man and they had to look up straight at the dead people because they didn't go fast enough.
I came to the barracks and couldn't breathe. My friend pat me on the back. Oh my God! When my mother find out they hang me.
In my town, they make a death camp. At the time, they didn't have gas chambers. They had buses. This was the first camp, I think, in Poland.
In January, we received, my town [his hometown of Dabien, Poland], there was 29 people in one room. Everybody got a postcard and they...the Gestapo took the Jewish people to 'resettle.' So, 5 kilometers [3.1 miles] from my town, they make a camp: Chelmno.
They was waiting to be resettled. So they was waiting...buses made [with exhaust going into bus]. Men, children, pregnant woman...in two days, three days, they was dead.
I was saying [while worried about mother's reaction about my being hanged in the camp], 'My God...' But my mother was already dead.
The whole city...my one brother....two sisters...father. The whole city."
This conversation took place on Sunday, April 21st, 2013 with me in The Bronx, New York. Words in [ ] brackets indicate my additions/notes. I've attempted to quote Jacob as much as possible, in his direct words. Please read future updates with more of Jacob's tragic but, ultim...ately, triumphant story...
Jacob, as he prefers to be called, served in the Polish army from 1935-1937.
"There was no lunch (in the concentration camp H______; need to confirm the name of this camp, one of the first). It was sitting a little bit, resting. People went to nearby farms to beg some food, a few potatoes, a piece of bread.
One time there was a (situation). We was standing, they were looking to see if someone had a potato or something. There would be a beating. After a short time, I was carrying a friend's potatoes. They came back, the Gestapo. They called back the seven people they had on the list [Note: These were people suspected of sneaking away to "steal" food from the farms/homes of people living near the camp.] What kinds of beatings we had, my God.
One Gestapo, pushed the legs so we could not move. Another held the feet so we could not move. What was the question, the question, they had the beating. I was the seventh guy in the list. Five people signed. The sixth one, a very strong, a big guy, said: 'Why are you beating me?'
They said: 'Because you a Jew.'
They didn't have a reason.
I was black and blue, my God. After 2-4 weeks, I don't know how long it was, they told us...They took away the five who'd signed their names. The Gestapo. We didn't know what had happened to them.
In January 1 or 2, 1942, they brought them back to the camp. We woke up on a Sunday. The gallows was already made in the camp. They brought back the five people and they hung them. Because they left the workplace to beg food.
The officers, they read it out--the verdict. They called out the whole camp and they called the verdict and they hanged them. Then we had to run around the gallows for two hours and we had to look how they hanged.
[To me] You say: Why?
It's no 'why?'
In Germany...they come into your house and shoot you. They had special commanders they sent into the ghettos and they was killing people.
In 1942 was the hanging. After we walked around the gallows for two hours, they picked out (a 50 year old) man and they had to look up straight at the dead people because they didn't go fast enough.
I came to the barracks and couldn't breathe. My friend pat me on the back. Oh my God! When my mother find out they hang me.
In my town, they make a death camp. At the time, they didn't have gas chambers. They had buses. This was the first camp, I think, in Poland.
In January, we received, my town [his hometown of Dabien, Poland], there was 29 people in one room. Everybody got a postcard and they...the Gestapo took the Jewish people to 'resettle.' So, 5 kilometers [3.1 miles] from my town, they make a camp: Chelmno.
They was waiting to be resettled. So they was waiting...buses made [with exhaust going into bus]. Men, children, pregnant woman...in two days, three days, they was dead.
I was saying [while worried about mother's reaction about my being hanged in the camp], 'My God...' But my mother was already dead.
The whole city...my one brother....two sisters...father. The whole city."
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
"I am angry at war..." ~Shigeko Sasamori
Mrs. Shigeko Sasamori, survivor of the attack on Hiroshima in 1945, just shared with us in the library. An amazing woman. With extensive 3rd degree burns over much of her body and her face permanently disfigured, her message was the complete opposite of vengeance. The main message she wants to share with us all and for us to share with others, by extension:
Be happy. Be good to each other. Happiness leads to social promotion, not war.
Any type of physical fighting is a type of "war," leading to larger War.
War should be avoided at all costs.
Smile. Love one another.
Appreciate your family. Appreciate your friends.
Mrs. Sasamori instinctively, yet very conscientiously, hugged each of us. A warm embrace.
We are all within the arms of the very nation that bombed her country mercilessly in those waning days of the Second World War.
Yet, Mrs. Sasamori tells us: Why should I be angry with you? "It was not YOU.
I am angry at war."
**Look up 1950's film "Children of Hiroshima" to see Mrs. Sasamori.**
Monday, April 22, 2013
Conversation With Jacob Czerniak, 102 year old Holocaust Survivor, Part I
Conversations with Jacob Czerniak, 102 year old survivor of Auschwitz-Chelmno-Bergen Belsen concentration camps, Part I:
This conversation took place on Sunday, April 21st, 2013 with me in The Bronx, New York. Words in [ ] brackets indicate my additions/notes. I've attempted to quote Jacob as much as possible, in his direct words. Please read future updates with more of Jacob's tragic but, ultimately, triumphant story...
Jacob, as he prefers to be called, served in the Polish army from 1935-1937. He was drafted into service. One of his four brothers, two years younger, served in Jacob's regiment and battalion. However, Jacob served in company two, while his brother served in company three. His brother was later killed in war.
"I saw him the night before he was killed. They went to push out German invaders. The next night I was wounded." Jacob took shrapnel behind his ear, in his left thumb, and in his arm.
"Hitler invaded Poland September 1st, 1939."
[I wanted to quote that to illustrate the impeccability of Jacob's memory.]
"I didn't know how bad I was injured. I took the shovel," put it by my head, for cover.
"In '33 when Hitler came to power 'till '39, he was five times stronger than America. I was taken as a prisoner of war (POW), to a POW camp: Stalag, in Germany. [I need to confirm name of camp.]
I was writing letters home...I think it (camp) was in East Germany. After half a year since we came to the camp, they took the Jew soldiers, separated from the Christian soldiers...the war was still going on...
They (Nazis) took France, Belgium, Holland. They took the whole of Europe. After half a year in the camp, they released Jewish POW's, because soldiers have some right according to convention of...[war].
They released Jew soldiers. I went to Debien--my town [in Poland]--it was a ghetto. You know ghetto? Ghetto? I was, I was, a short time home. Then they took us to a slave camp. They took out young people from 16-50 and they was building a new railroad--Reichsautobahn, a new road from Frankfurt to Poland (not Frankfurt am Mein--the other Frankfurt). They think Hitler building the country for a thousand years."
[I need to find out if it was a road for automobiles or a railroad for trains.]
"We got two meals a day, in the morning to wake us up. 6:00-7:00, we was marching and work 'till 5:00-6:00, we left the work. We went home, back to the barracks, the camp. We got a soup--a bowl of soup. From there we was marching 5-6 kilometers [approx. 3-4 miles] back and forth to work. So many people died there. Terrible. From hunger, starvation, beating. They punished... very, very bad with beating. A dog had more right than we had...no right at all. They could kill you, okay. They hanged so many people."
[I need to confirm the name of this concentration camp.]
This conversation took place on Sunday, April 21st, 2013 with me in The Bronx, New York. Words in [ ] brackets indicate my additions/notes. I've attempted to quote Jacob as much as possible, in his direct words. Please read future updates with more of Jacob's tragic but, ultimately, triumphant story...
Jacob, as he prefers to be called, served in the Polish army from 1935-1937. He was drafted into service. One of his four brothers, two years younger, served in Jacob's regiment and battalion. However, Jacob served in company two, while his brother served in company three. His brother was later killed in war.
"I saw him the night before he was killed. They went to push out German invaders. The next night I was wounded." Jacob took shrapnel behind his ear, in his left thumb, and in his arm.
"Hitler invaded Poland September 1st, 1939."
[I wanted to quote that to illustrate the impeccability of Jacob's memory.]
"I didn't know how bad I was injured. I took the shovel," put it by my head, for cover.
"In '33 when Hitler came to power 'till '39, he was five times stronger than America. I was taken as a prisoner of war (POW), to a POW camp: Stalag, in Germany. [I need to confirm name of camp.]
I was writing letters home...I think it (camp) was in East Germany. After half a year since we came to the camp, they took the Jew soldiers, separated from the Christian soldiers...the war was still going on...
They (Nazis) took France, Belgium, Holland. They took the whole of Europe. After half a year in the camp, they released Jewish POW's, because soldiers have some right according to convention of...[war].
They released Jew soldiers. I went to Debien--my town [in Poland]--it was a ghetto. You know ghetto? Ghetto? I was, I was, a short time home. Then they took us to a slave camp. They took out young people from 16-50 and they was building a new railroad--Reichsautobahn, a new road from Frankfurt to Poland (not Frankfurt am Mein--the other Frankfurt). They think Hitler building the country for a thousand years."
[I need to find out if it was a road for automobiles or a railroad for trains.]
"We got two meals a day, in the morning to wake us up. 6:00-7:00, we was marching and work 'till 5:00-6:00, we left the work. We went home, back to the barracks, the camp. We got a soup--a bowl of soup. From there we was marching 5-6 kilometers [approx. 3-4 miles] back and forth to work. So many people died there. Terrible. From hunger, starvation, beating. They punished... very, very bad with beating. A dog had more right than we had...no right at all. They could kill you, okay. They hanged so many people."
[I need to confirm the name of this concentration camp.]
Thursday, April 11, 2013
April 7th "AM New York" Newspaper Article Featuring HSLI !
We made the paper (and website)! Please see the link below and segments I excerpted from the larger article regarding eight high schools in NYC with "creative programs"...
In New York City, there’s tons of options for teens when it comes to picking a high school. The city boasts more than 400 schools; many have quirky or out-of-the-box curriculum. While many pride themselves strictly on rigorous academics, others are tailored toward specific interests or careers.
The Department of Education encourages students to start considering high schools as early as the sixth grade, so we’ve compiled a list — it’s by no means exhaustive — of some of the city’s interesting and lesser-known high schools.
High School for Language and Innovation, 925 Astor Ave., Bronxwood, 718-944-3625, languagehs.schoolwires.net
Public, approx. 195 students
Public, approx. 195 students
This Bronx school was founded in 2011 and uses dual-certified and ESL teachers to teach nonnative English speakers who’ve been in the country for less than four years. Native English speakers also attend. Principal Julie Nariman blends all of the students together.
“It works beautifully,” she said. “Schools get too obsessed with levels. There’s this idea that creating separate levels leads to more learning when it really doesn’t.
Powerful communication happens every day in New York City between people who speak different languages.”
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Spring Break!
Yes, yes, yes. Spring Break is here. And I am enjoying it immensely.
Even at a school such as ours--where most students are respectful and all staff members get along well--breaks such as this are critical to our professional and, perhaps, literal survival.
Every school is such a break neck-paced environment; each day loaded with so much thinking, so much work, it is absolutely necessary to have these down times.
The week before break, HSLI undertook our second annual (in our school's second year) "Mock Regents Exams" period. Student and staff schedules were readjusted masterfully by Ms. Wal. Tenth graders took three consecutive days of tests: Global, Living Environment, Integrated Algebra (majority) or Geometry.
Ninth graders took two days of tests: Living Environment & Integrated Algebra.
Although there are still a couple months of content lessons and materials left to share and distribute to students, most students did a great job rehearsing for June's Real Deal exams.
These sessions were also a great rehearsal for teachers as we hone our proctoring skills. Most importantly, teachers now can zero in on particular information we feel students still need to learn and emphasize such content in the coming weeks. For example, in Global we taught a mini-lesson just before break regarding multiple choice content trends on various Regents Exams.
Students were shown two exams and students picked out several topics found in multiple choice on both exams.
Belief systems, geography, League of Nations, ancient civilizations---all rear up as trends on different exams. Therefore, students should begin listing such topics and studying them on their own, not having to wait for teachers to arrive at World War I or the Nuremberg Trials before learning about such history. In fact, most of what students need to learn between now and late June must come from their own study initiatives.
Even at a school such as ours--where most students are respectful and all staff members get along well--breaks such as this are critical to our professional and, perhaps, literal survival.
Every school is such a break neck-paced environment; each day loaded with so much thinking, so much work, it is absolutely necessary to have these down times.
The week before break, HSLI undertook our second annual (in our school's second year) "Mock Regents Exams" period. Student and staff schedules were readjusted masterfully by Ms. Wal. Tenth graders took three consecutive days of tests: Global, Living Environment, Integrated Algebra (majority) or Geometry.
Ninth graders took two days of tests: Living Environment & Integrated Algebra.
Although there are still a couple months of content lessons and materials left to share and distribute to students, most students did a great job rehearsing for June's Real Deal exams.
These sessions were also a great rehearsal for teachers as we hone our proctoring skills. Most importantly, teachers now can zero in on particular information we feel students still need to learn and emphasize such content in the coming weeks. For example, in Global we taught a mini-lesson just before break regarding multiple choice content trends on various Regents Exams.
Students were shown two exams and students picked out several topics found in multiple choice on both exams.
Belief systems, geography, League of Nations, ancient civilizations---all rear up as trends on different exams. Therefore, students should begin listing such topics and studying them on their own, not having to wait for teachers to arrive at World War I or the Nuremberg Trials before learning about such history. In fact, most of what students need to learn between now and late June must come from their own study initiatives.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Conversation with Ms. Wang, Math Department
This transcript is based on a dialogue with Ms. Wang that took place in Room B55 on February 26th, 2013. Enjoy reading...
How
did you find HSLI?
I found about the school while at my previous
workplace. I interviewed at One Fordham Plaza. There were a whole bunch of
people there, about five or six. There was a panel of questions that were being
asked and I responded to those questions.
How
did people in the school meet for the first time?
It was awkward. That was when I first found out
theories behind Learning Cultures. It was a good time for team building.
Overall, it started out awkward but I ended up happy. We started out in HSLI for
planning. At that planning were those who were interviewed earlier.
The ones interviewed later met on the bus in Indiana
[enroute to a Learning Cultures conference].
What
makes our school different from other schools you've been involved in?
Colleague relationships:
I find myself actually willing to be a lot more open
with colleagues, talking, being very up front when we're having team-related
discussions or talking about work-related issues. I find myself having a bond
more with colleagues outside of school. Even with long days, I find myself with
more time to create a personal bond with colleagues. This bumps up the level of
trust. Even when I've had doubts about whether to trust people, at this school
I find myself giving more a try to trusting people.
Student-teacher relationships:
First of all, it's amazing even though these are
teenagers--they're so many areas where they're in the stage of growing--but
it's amazing to see how much they can actually do. I've never trusted students
so much before. If a student says, "Hey, I'm going to be over here after
school." I know the student will be there.
Something I have not seen as much before, is
students showing sympathy/empathy for each other. Seeing that level of
sympathy/empathy. And kids being more open with other kids, and attempting to
resolve their own issues in order to promote each others’ learning and thinking.
In Unison Reading for example, seeing kids solving conflicts without too much
personal feelings attached to things--at least not during the class time. To
me, this says how strong this particular model is.
What
is the future like for the math department?
Last year, was the beginning of a trial stage. We
ended up in a good place last year, considering we really only had a couple of months to practice this model.
I can see how questioning can be so
important--helping them build up their critical thinking. But when I look over
my lessons from previous years, it's like Regents Prep.
But now, I see teaching more as getting students to
start questioning more on their own. Working with peers to solve questions on
their own.
I want the students to become more autonomous and
independent in the classroom and not to come to me as a first source. Students
should come to me with a lot higher order questions, after working with their
peers. After they have collaborated together and formulated questions with
their peers. I still want to answer their questions with more questions to get
them thinking more about searching for solutions.
Where
do you see some or all of our students 5 years from now?
Personally, I don't agree with every student having
to go to college. With the skills they get from our school,
if they decide to go right into the workplace, I would say they would be ahead
of a lot of other students not graduating from this particular model.
For students who are going to college, I am very
optimistic about our students not dropping out of colleges for reasons relating
to being unprepared. Our students are becoming much more proficient at problem
solving and collaborative problem solving. In math, it takes a lot of hard work
and perseverance. With this and a lot of other skills such as independence and
autonomy, they will be a lot more successful in college.
With this model, it's interesting how we focus on
intentionality, pushing for kids to think from various perspectives. This is a
very important piece for kids when they get older. What we are doing here,
making decisions after examining so many different perspectives, will help them
become someone with a strong voice.
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Conversation with Mr. Ried, Math Teacher
This transcript is based on a conversation on Feb. 12th, 2013 with Ryan Ried of HSLI fame.
How did you find HSLI?
I was applying to teach in NYC after teaching a year in Buffalo. Certification in special ed. and math. I interviewed down in Brooklyn at recruitment center and became a part of the select program. Got a call from a few principals and one was Julie. All I knew was that it was going to be a brand new school in the Bronx with a lot of English Language Learners.
When I interviewed, I heard about a trip to Indiana for professional development. I don't know if Unison Reading was even mentioned then. It just didn't really exist then. Now, it seems like a lot of the things Cynthia talks about now came from experiences coming from our school.
I went to Montreal for a music festival. Went to Buffalo, my hometown, and then flew to Indianapolis. I took a commuter bus--15-16 passenger bus-- to Ball State, in Muncie, Indiana. I was on the bus with Julie, Yan, Cho, Shira, Katie, Kristin (no longer at school).
How does HSLI compare to other school experiences you've had?
I taught at a school that was somewhat similar, in the sense that everyone was supposed to be practicing learning model of expeditionary learning. The school had the mission of using expeditionary learning but a lot in a lot of the school it wasn't obvious.
Some teachers were focusing more on direct instruction (traditional method) while others emphasized project-based learning.
Our school here is more cohesive. Things look differently in certain classes, but all our formats force students to be responsible for their own learning. Our goal is to have students as seniors walk into a classroom, with curriculum maps in place, and be ready to work on their own.
What do you think makes our school different from others?
Similarities between the classes. A lot of things are more of a team issue. The way our classes are run you see a lot of similarities...The idea of intervisitations. I could know nothing about Global and go in and do conferences and Unison Reading records. Aside from the mini-lesson, any teacher could walk in and help play the role of teacher in any other classroom.
We have very strong teams. I was in a small school my first year teaching and we had five math teachers and we never talked about math. After Regents results, specific teachers were put on the hot seat. Here, results are not specific to any one teacher. Everyone is working together. The cooperation brings people together.
I remember student teaching where every classroom was different. If time is not created for teachers to sit and talk about school, then it usually won't be discussed.
Last year in math: We had Unison Discovery; no Unison Reading there yet. Last year we did flashcards for a while with facts and numbers.
No curriculum map until January. That one was very linear. This year we have the idea of stand-alone outcomes and certain ones have prerequisites; something many students wouldn't see until college.
At most schools, math is taught in a very linear way.
And I think we're in a good place. Now it's just improving what we have. I think our 9th graders will do well due to the cohesion we have now. We're not changing things up on them like last year. I think more students will get higher grades and be more successful from here on out.
Where do you see most of our students five years from now?
Whewwww...We definitely have students who are probably going to go on to some pretty prestigious four year colleges. And then we have a lot of kids in the middle...at least going to some CUNY schools and state schools. And then there's other students who just need to get a diploma so they can get a job with regular hours...
I think we have a very diverse population.
We want students to be able to accomplish whatever they want. We want students in math with 95%'s to interact with students who have 55%'s. We just don't want to hold any students back.
How did you find HSLI?
I was applying to teach in NYC after teaching a year in Buffalo. Certification in special ed. and math. I interviewed down in Brooklyn at recruitment center and became a part of the select program. Got a call from a few principals and one was Julie. All I knew was that it was going to be a brand new school in the Bronx with a lot of English Language Learners.
When I interviewed, I heard about a trip to Indiana for professional development. I don't know if Unison Reading was even mentioned then. It just didn't really exist then. Now, it seems like a lot of the things Cynthia talks about now came from experiences coming from our school.
I went to Montreal for a music festival. Went to Buffalo, my hometown, and then flew to Indianapolis. I took a commuter bus--15-16 passenger bus-- to Ball State, in Muncie, Indiana. I was on the bus with Julie, Yan, Cho, Shira, Katie, Kristin (no longer at school).
How does HSLI compare to other school experiences you've had?
I taught at a school that was somewhat similar, in the sense that everyone was supposed to be practicing learning model of expeditionary learning. The school had the mission of using expeditionary learning but a lot in a lot of the school it wasn't obvious.
Some teachers were focusing more on direct instruction (traditional method) while others emphasized project-based learning.
Our school here is more cohesive. Things look differently in certain classes, but all our formats force students to be responsible for their own learning. Our goal is to have students as seniors walk into a classroom, with curriculum maps in place, and be ready to work on their own.
What do you think makes our school different from others?
Similarities between the classes. A lot of things are more of a team issue. The way our classes are run you see a lot of similarities...The idea of intervisitations. I could know nothing about Global and go in and do conferences and Unison Reading records. Aside from the mini-lesson, any teacher could walk in and help play the role of teacher in any other classroom.
We have very strong teams. I was in a small school my first year teaching and we had five math teachers and we never talked about math. After Regents results, specific teachers were put on the hot seat. Here, results are not specific to any one teacher. Everyone is working together. The cooperation brings people together.
I remember student teaching where every classroom was different. If time is not created for teachers to sit and talk about school, then it usually won't be discussed.
Last year in math: We had Unison Discovery; no Unison Reading there yet. Last year we did flashcards for a while with facts and numbers.
No curriculum map until January. That one was very linear. This year we have the idea of stand-alone outcomes and certain ones have prerequisites; something many students wouldn't see until college.
At most schools, math is taught in a very linear way.
And I think we're in a good place. Now it's just improving what we have. I think our 9th graders will do well due to the cohesion we have now. We're not changing things up on them like last year. I think more students will get higher grades and be more successful from here on out.
Where do you see most of our students five years from now?
Whewwww...We definitely have students who are probably going to go on to some pretty prestigious four year colleges. And then we have a lot of kids in the middle...at least going to some CUNY schools and state schools. And then there's other students who just need to get a diploma so they can get a job with regular hours...
I think we have a very diverse population.
We want students to be able to accomplish whatever they want. We want students in math with 95%'s to interact with students who have 55%'s. We just don't want to hold any students back.
Friday, February 22, 2013
Words from Sophomore T...
Taina...
"This school is good. The teacher will talk to student and student will apologize to another if there was a problem.
Going to this school is my choice--my first choice.
The student does Unison Reading to understand English better. It does work.
One word you can hear from other people and then when you get to Unison Reading, you see the word and then you understand it.
Friends from another school always ask what our school does. And I say, we've got nice things, like:
~We've got dance. We've got chorus class. And I like to sing."
"This school is good. The teacher will talk to student and student will apologize to another if there was a problem.
Going to this school is my choice--my first choice.
The student does Unison Reading to understand English better. It does work.
One word you can hear from other people and then when you get to Unison Reading, you see the word and then you understand it.
Friends from another school always ask what our school does. And I say, we've got nice things, like:
~We've got dance. We've got chorus class. And I like to sing."
Friday, February 15, 2013
Words From Freshman Student G.
What do you like about the school?
The teachers, the programs, I like that they have Unison Reading, and the Independent Work is good. I can get a lot done. I get a lot done.
What do you like about Unison Reading?
We read together as a group and we have breaches. We work together to find out definitions to words.
If you could sum up our school in a sentence what would you say?
Very helpful. There's no words to describe it. Promotive. Every time I think of Language & Innovation, the word "promotive" pops out.
Any ideas you have for our school?
I want to do community service...and help others.
Bake sales to raise money for charity.
The teachers, the programs, I like that they have Unison Reading, and the Independent Work is good. I can get a lot done. I get a lot done.
What do you like about Unison Reading?
We read together as a group and we have breaches. We work together to find out definitions to words.
If you could sum up our school in a sentence what would you say?
Very helpful. There's no words to describe it. Promotive. Every time I think of Language & Innovation, the word "promotive" pops out.
Any ideas you have for our school?
I want to do community service...and help others.
Bake sales to raise money for charity.
Friday, February 8, 2013
Elective Choices: Spring 2013
With having only approx. 180 students in our school, we have a lot going on. Our teaching staff is dedicated and generous in sharing specialized skills as well as time. Our programming, with many thanks to Miss W., is done masterfully.
What follows is typed verbatim from the "Elective Choice" form given to students a week and a half ago. The very next morning, students received their programs and were sitting in elective classes.
______________________________________________________________________
Directions: Rate each elective according to the classes you would prefer. Use the Elective Course Guide to help you determine which course would be the most useful for you.
1st is the class you think is best for you
2nd is the next class you think is best for you
3rd is the next class you think is best for you
4th is the next class you think is best for you
____________________ Film Studies (English Elective)
___________________ Geology (Science Elective)
___________________ Health (Health Credit)
___________________ SAT Prep Course (Math or ELA Elective)
What follows is typed verbatim from the "Elective Choice" form given to students a week and a half ago. The very next morning, students received their programs and were sitting in elective classes.
______________________________________________________________________
Directions: Rate each elective according to the classes you would prefer. Use the Elective Course Guide to help you determine which course would be the most useful for you.
1st is the class you think is best for you
2nd is the next class you think is best for you
3rd is the next class you think is best for you
4th is the next class you think is best for you
[10th Grade]
____________________ Film Studies (English Elective)
___________________ Geology (Science Elective)
___________________ Health (Health Credit)
___________________ SAT Prep Course (Math or ELA Elective)
[9th Grade]
___________________ Korean Language (Foreign Language Elective)
___________________ Newspaper (English Elective)
__________________ Russian Language (Foreign Language Elective)
__________________ SAT Prep Course (Math or ELA Elective)
Saturday, February 2, 2013
They're Heeeeeere...
On site.
The students have found their way in.
A group of my ninth grade female students told me each of the last two days:
"Mister, we saw your blog. Mister, we saw your blog. [repeated many more times]"
I'm glad they're here.
C., the girl quoted several entries ago telling a teacher he no longer has dreams, insists she meant no harm. I never thought she did. But I also never expected this girl to be searching through my blog, reading her own comments. An interesting turn of events, indeed.
C. may be the first student interviewed. I want to ask her several questions in this next week regarding her first semester at HSLI.
~How is our school compared to her middle school?
~Is she learning? How?
~What goals does she have for the future?
~What recommendations does she have to help make our school even stronger?
Meanwhile, the number of page views on this blog has skyrocketed in the past few days thanks to these ladies and perhaps others. Over 100 additional views in the past four days or so!
Come one, come all. And invite your friends...
The students have found their way in.
A group of my ninth grade female students told me each of the last two days:
"Mister, we saw your blog. Mister, we saw your blog. [repeated many more times]"
I'm glad they're here.
C., the girl quoted several entries ago telling a teacher he no longer has dreams, insists she meant no harm. I never thought she did. But I also never expected this girl to be searching through my blog, reading her own comments. An interesting turn of events, indeed.
C. may be the first student interviewed. I want to ask her several questions in this next week regarding her first semester at HSLI.
~How is our school compared to her middle school?
~Is she learning? How?
~What goals does she have for the future?
~What recommendations does she have to help make our school even stronger?
Meanwhile, the number of page views on this blog has skyrocketed in the past few days thanks to these ladies and perhaps others. Over 100 additional views in the past four days or so!
Come one, come all. And invite your friends...
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Interview With Cynthia McCallister, Ed.D.
Interested in learning what "Learning Cultures" and "Unison Reading" are about?
The following comments are based on a January 15th, 2013 interview with Cynthia McCallister, Ed.D.
What is the significance of Cooperative Unison Reading? [Cynthia is the originator of UR]
Cooperative Unison Reading creates a shared experience so that everyone can participate in reading the same text at the same time. The phenomenon of a shared experience is a venue for shared regulation where students can attend to what others in the group are attending to. This phenomenon, known as “joint attention,” is the engine of social understanding.
What predictions would you make for where our students will be in five years? Ten?
The following comments are based on a January 15th, 2013 interview with Cynthia McCallister, Ed.D.
How did you get
involved with secondary school education?
A couple things
happened simultaneously. While working at the Jacob Riis School as a consultant
in 2007-2011, where I was a coach and helped the teachers implement practices
that would come to be known collectively as Learning Cultures, we held presentations
and school tours. Jacob Riis is a Pre-k through 8th grade school.
But high school people started coming to the presentations and showed a lot of
interest.
They saw applications for high school classrooms. Julie (Principal
Nariman) was one of them. She came to visit in the Spring of 2011. The
following summer, when she was preparing to open your school, she joined a team
of teachers and attended a Unison Reading conference in Indiana. Urban Assembly,
a NYC school support network, also became interested. They support high schools
and middle schools. There are currently eight Urban Assembly schools
implementing Learning Cultures.
How would you
explain and describe "Learning Cultures" to an unfamiliar audience?
It is a way of
organizing the classroom so that students have a lot of autonomy and freedom to
make choices to do things and engage in curriculum activities that align with
learning standards. A big part of the Learning Cultures model is the assignment
of student responsibility.
One of the
consistent research findings in research in the psychology of motivation is
that the more autonomy one has in doing a particular task, the more one tends
to be motivated in the activity. This lesson from psychology is applied to all
facets of the Learning Cultures model. At every opportunity, students are
provided as much autonomy as possible to reach learning goals. With so much
autonomy, students have plenty of opportunity to develop a sense of responsibility
for doing things that help them accomplish goals toward their own learning
objectives. These factors—autonomy and responsibility—impact learning not only
by helping students reach content learning objectives, but also in helping them
develop dispositions that are vitally important to learning and academic
development.
What is the significance of Cooperative Unison Reading? [Cynthia is the originator of UR]
Cooperative Unison Reading creates a shared experience so that everyone can participate in reading the same text at the same time. The phenomenon of a shared experience is a venue for shared regulation where students can attend to what others in the group are attending to. This phenomenon, known as “joint attention,” is the engine of social understanding.
In Cooperative Unison Reading we maximize the
power of joint attention by holding students accountable to following into one
another’s comments and actions to seek higher understanding. By attending to
the smart things that others do when they read, students have opportunities to
take and apply smart strategies to their independent reading. Through
Cooperative Unison Reading, students have opportunities not only to read and
access information about content presented in texts, they also have opportunities
to learn to reason cooperatively with others, a skill that will serve them in
all facets of social life inside and outside of school.
Another thing
that makes it unique is that kids have a lot of choice and autonomy within the
Cooperative Unison Reading program. Students have opportunities to select texts
that they want to read, as opposed to reading texts assigned by teachers. They
also have opportunities to sign up to be in groups of their choice, as opposed
to being assigned reading groups based on reading ability or reading level.
Students love this aspect of the program.
Cooperative
Unison Reading is an example of how principals of autonomy and student
responsibility operate within the Learning Cultures model. I’d say that applications
of these principles to educational practice are few and far between, and that’s
another factor that makes Cooperative Unison Reading unique.
Would Learning
Cultures formats be applicable in schools with extreme attendance and behavior
issues? Why or why not?
Yes. When kids
like the way they feel in school and enjoy the activities school has to offer,
they're more inclined to want to be in school and attend more consistently.
When kids feel good about themselves and feel pride when others recognize their
competence, that promotes positive behavior. Learning Cultures practices
are designed to nurture every students sense of self-competence and to help
students develop a sense of connectedness and relatedness to their classmates.
The rules of the formats forbid treatment that is not promotive. So the
practices help promote a positive classroom climate. All these factors help
boost attendance and reduce discipline problems.
What are 3
things that sets our school apart from other high schools in New York City?
One thing is
Julie's leadership is so strong. She has such a clear vision for what she wants
the school to become. Learning Cultures is a pretty revolutionary, out of the
box model. And by embracing it in such a dedicated and unshakable way, I think
she’s demonstrated that she possesses a deep understanding of how people learn
and a strong sense of courage and confidence to implement a program that
diverges from the status quo. She has also demonstrated impressive talent in
hiring and developing a talented cadre of faculty to implement the Learning
Cultures program. Across the board, my sense is that the faculty is strong,
open-minded and committed.
The kids make
the place so special. They're from all over the globe. Really incredible,
wonderful things happen with people from a breadth of different cultures and
walks of life come together and have opportunities to share ideas. This makes your
school a really fun place to spend time. The kids are becoming a product of the
curriculum and a place that is rigorous academically. They set the bar high and
have developed their own sense of ambition and commitment. That’s really
rewarding to see.
What is 1 major
thing that sets our school apart from other high schools nationwide?
It's a place
where kids experience a level of autonomy and independence that doesn't really
happen anywhere else that I know of. There are free schools where students
themselves decide what they want to learn and have freedom to do as they wish.
But Learning Cultures does not permit that kind of freedom. Learning Cultures
establishes explicit, high standards for students that are not negotiable. But
it provides time, space, resources, support, autonomy and responsibility so
that students can make their own progress toward meeting expectations. This
combination of autonomy combined with high standards is rare.
Also, one thing
about your school that unique and sets it apart is coherence. There is
coherence across all classrooms in relation to the autonomy piece that I just
spoke about. You might find individual teachers who successfully establish high
standards and afford students autonomy as a means to reach them, but these
cases are isolated. Rarely, if ever, has the combination been brought to scale
school wide. If it can be sustained for any length of time here at HSLI, it
will be quite an accomplishment!
What predictions would you make for where our students will be in five years? Ten?
On the one hand, we're looking into
a future that is now more unpredictable and uncertain than it's been for any
generation before. What HSLI students are learning now about how to be
independent, purposeful and resourceful, how to make decisions, how to move
successfully into new contexts, how to learn without being spoon fed
information, these are abilities that will serve your students well in a future
that is uncertain.
Many people don’t have opportunities
to learn these lessons until well after leaving high school or even after
college. For many of us, these were life
lessons that we didn’t have a chance to learn in school.
A lot of kids mistake being
spoon-fed information for good teaching. But while a lock-step curriculum might
seem comforting, students at your school are being forced to be independent in ways
that will serve them well, and they're making a lot of decisions for how to
meet their learning objectives. I think that they're learning the kind of
independence necessary for college, technical, or professional school. They are
learning how important it is to learn from others and to know how to cooperate.
These are abilities that are increasingly valued in the job market. Yet
students are deprived of opportunities to learn them in the typical American
high school. Your school is unique. So, I suspect that that will give an edge
that many freshmen do not have when they go to college.
Thursday, January 24, 2013
"Dramatically Transforming..."
In the current issue of the UFT (United Federation of Teachers) newspaper, there is an article about "Literacy in the social studies classroom" (p. 8, by Patrick Sprinkle). Five teaching-learning strategies are outlined. The author's intentions are good. Methods he recommends would indeed be dramatic in places where teacher-centered "chalk & talk" still dominates. However, I have to say that HSLI is light years ahead of such strategies. Here are two:
- "Think, pair, share"---"This approach creates a more collaborative classroom, allows more voices to be heard and exposes students to different perspectives while also encouraging a more student-centered classroom."
>>Good, in a very rudimentary sense, but still a practice controlled largely by the "sage on a stage." Our school HSLI smashes boundaries in our 70 minute class periods, taking the teacher completely from center stage, except during the 10-20 minute mini-lesson.
~Students control Unison Reading groups.
~Students control their independent work time.
~Students control the share time at conclusion of each period.
~Students even largely control our school's "Ladder of Consequences," signaling for others to be more promotive as they aid in stabilizing the classroom atmosphere.
- "One-sentence interviews"---"This technique can get students to verbalize their beliefs after reading a text...Students would take seven to eight minutes asking each other this question and writing down their responses. Again, this technique creates a more collaborative and democratic classroom...It also acknowledges that history is not handed down from on high but is subject to multiple and competing interpretations."
>>Great intentions but unless this strategy is employed several times weekly, students will remain mostly in their own worlds. Even if this strategy is employed well, students will spend the majority of time writing rather than working cooperatively with others, as they will need to do in the "real" world.
Perhaps in our school we do need to emphasize more about student perspectives and interpretations of various texts. But we are doing well employing a structure which leaves no option but do interact cooperatively, communicating, with a small group of peers for at least fifteen minutes per period, per core class, per day*.
*with Friday as an exceptional day when students spend two full hours of the afternoon in "enrichment" elective classes of their choosing (i.e yoga, Taekwando, dance, music, etc.)
Monday, January 21, 2013
Ladder of Consequences
What follows is the updated and revised Ladder of Consequences for the High School of Language & Innovation. A major strength of our school's Ladder is that it is a living, breathing policy. This is already the third version of it so far this school year.
The entire teaching staff, administration (which is primarily the principal since we have chosen not to have an assistant principal), & even support staff--including school aides and hallway support team--play a role in creating school policies. I'm not sure how often this occurs in other schools but know for a fact it did not occur in my previous two schools.
First and foremost:
Students show respect for social norms through reciprocal interactions with peers; and when norms are violated, students actively enforce them.*
1. Teacher warning (verbal or visual).
2. 5-10 minute silence in retreat spot.†
3. 5-10 minute behavior reflection in retreat spot.
4. Behavior conference with phone call home. ‡
5. Silent lunch with phone call home.
6. After school reflection with phone call home. Review behavior conference and write response.
_____________________________________________
The entire teaching staff, administration (which is primarily the principal since we have chosen not to have an assistant principal), & even support staff--including school aides and hallway support team--play a role in creating school policies. I'm not sure how often this occurs in other schools but know for a fact it did not occur in my previous two schools.
Ladder of Consequences
First and foremost:
Students show respect for social norms through reciprocal interactions with peers; and when norms are violated, students actively enforce them.*
1. Teacher warning (verbal or visual).
2. 5-10 minute silence in retreat spot.†
3. 5-10 minute behavior reflection in retreat spot.
4. Behavior conference with phone call home. ‡
5. Silent lunch with phone call home.
6. After school reflection with phone call home. Review behavior conference and write response.
_____________________________________________
[1]
From “Learning Cultures Classroom Social Norms Rubric,” Cynthia
McCallister.
[1]
Not in Unison Reading. In Unison
Reading, “Students demonstrate promotive behaviors toward their peers and
manage the group by attending to social process concerns.” Cooperative
Unison Reading Rubric, McCallister.
[1]
Student and teacher, or student and support staff, must have a behavior conference at this point. Students write their part of the behavior
conference before they meet with the teacher during class or lunch in B37.
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