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.

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.