Mid-Week Reflections - Wednesday

Today has been a day focused on grading for substitute teachers, and let me just say that I am feeling pretty brain dead today. I had such a pile of classwork for Latin; I only got through one class worth. I'll devote more time tomorrow to the other class and will finish it up on Friday. I wrote a letter to send home in lieu of a progress report, so at least the parents of the students in those six classes will know that work is being assigned, graded, and learning (of some sort) is happening.

The PSAT has now become a day for just testing. We're going to create a schedule for just tenth and eleventh graders to come to school and test. I think that this going to make planning the day a lot easier. Now if I could just get all of the accommodations processed, I'd be in a good place. There's not too much I can do there, so I'm trying to keep it out of mind in order to stay present where I can have some impact.

I'm going to spend time for the rest of the day preparing for next week's professional development focused on activating strategies. I think I'll focus on a few approaches to opening up class and creating high-interest attention grabbers. I've got a post-observation conference during the last block of the day as well as a conference call. It'll be a busy end to the day. I'll be glad to leave my computer on my desk, run by the grocery store on the way home, and then go for a run.

Ok. I took my time. Back to the mine.

Wrapping Up Week Two

I know that it’s only Thursday, but I’m already wrapping up the week, so I figured that I should go ahead and make my post and write down my reflections. This week marked a big week at school; there were a lot of firsts this week.

I did my first planning period professional development sessions. I ran four sessions on Wednesday focused on personal development plans, goal setting, navigating the online portal where everything needs to be put, and introducing myself to the staff. The sessions went well and were well attended. There was good energy in the room. There were some technical hiccups in the beginning, so I made some edits and we were smooth for the rest of the day. I was happy that a lot of people were on time, and they appreciated that we were able to finish a bit early. I got a lot of support from the rest of the leadership team in running the sessions: they were a presence in the space, they checked people off who had completed the necessary steps, and they chimed in when needed. They didn’t try to run the show or do anything with the content that I had made except to support it. I also received a lot of positive feedback from colleagues during and after the sessions. One person commented on how she could feel my energy through my emails, and she liked meeting me and seeing me in person to see how the energy kept showing up. Overall, I think that I’ve been making good impressions on staff - they’re seeing me as a resource and someone that can help them make their jobs a bit lighter because it’s heavy.

Another fantastic part of this week was today. I had a full day support session with a beginning teacher who is also coming to us as a lateral entry - no education background or experience. Thankfully, the district provides a lot of resources and curriculum, and she’s well educated, so she knows how to put a presentation together. She doesn’t really know how to teach, and she’s not had any practice at all, so here we go running a methods course. Today we did a lot of observations - so there’s another first, I got into classrooms to see instruction and students working. I made a tool for her to use to process and we reflected. We set goals, we reflected on the first week, we went out for lunch, we started a coaching cycle. Her eyes got bit big when I brought up recording her upcoming observation, but she understood the purpose and the explanation. We talked a lot about setting up the classroom space, establishing procedures and routines, lesson and unit planning — all the essentials, really. I’m excited to start a more intensive and focused coaching cycle with her to give her some of the support and skill development that she needs to be a teacher.

Now that we’ve done the good, let’s move on to the not so good.

One element of this role that I do not like is the fact that I have other parallel duties - Testing Coordinator and AP Coordinator. Both of these roles mean that I handle testing for the school, and this is a beast of a job. It used to be its own job, but now I’m doing it. This week on Wednesday I had a meeting related to the school-wide PSAT administration, and let me say that the PSAT is overwhelming me. There are so many things, pieces, portals, and elements, that I got overwhelmed. It’s also ridiculously important. I’m giving myself most of Monday to focus on this. I’ve given the PSAT in the new method, so at least I’m familiar with the platform and process, but my goodness this is going to be a beast of a task. It’ll be good to establish this framework, though, because later when we do the ACT and Pre-ACT we’ll already have a rough plan laid out.

That’s it for Week Two. I’m continuing to be happy in the choice of school and position. Off to turn 41 and enjoy the weekend.

9 October

English 11

Today we had a super short class because of the extension of testing on the PSAT/SAT. We had about thirty minutes together today, so we spent that time on our projects for Unit 1. Remember that your project grade will replace your test grade, so it's a great built in revision for you all. 

Remember the big elements of the project: three excerpts, annotated for all of our devices, note the topic and theme for each excerpt. It's best if you do this work in a Google Doc or Slide show. Next class we'll do some writing to finish the project. If the project is ready, you'll be able to turn it in on Friday. The final due date for the project is October 21.

Next class we'll start Unit 2 - The Harlem Renaissance and Research. It'll be a great unit focused on studying poetry, music, non-fiction, and doing some research on American problems. I'm excited to take you all to an exciting moment of history for our nation. Have a great rest of your day!

7 October

English 11

Simple day today in English 11 - we took our unit reading test. At the end of each unit, you'll see something like what you saw today. I'll ask you to read something and show your knowledge of what you've learned in the unit. I'll have these tests scored and returned to you next week. We'll do some feedback and then open up the options for retesting. If you found today's test difficult, let's meet and discuss that before too long. Remember it's important to put in the work to develop skills, especially when it comes to reading and writing.

Next class is going to be a bit low-key since many of you are taking the PSAT that day. I expect you'll be a bit fried after testing. We're going to watch a video about our next literary period and have some small discussions about Unit 1. We'll also take a bit of time to work on projects. Here's to our next time together!

6 October - FRQ Friday!

AP Language

FRQ Friday in AP Language land today. We looked at "America Needs its Nerds" by Leonid Fridman (distant cousin to Mr. Friedman, perhaps?) and wrote an analysis of Fridman's argument. I'm looking forward to seeing your thoughts and first analyses. I hope that you found space for a little cat as you wrote and that it brought you a feeling of success and not allergies, as cats often bring me. 

Next week is strange because of the PSAT on Wednesday. It falls on a grey day, so I won't see you for class. Our next class will be on Friday. For Friday, please have read and annotated WEB DuBois Chapter 1 from From the Souls of Black Folk. It's a great bridge piece into our work related to The Great Gatsby. I posted a video in Materials to help you with the reading - it's a discussion between me and Mr. Friedman about this reading. You may find it helpful to watch before or after you read to process.

You may also want to secure The Great Gatsby if you want your own copy. I'll issue school copies in about two weeks. Once we get back on normal schedule, we'll have feedback from projects and essays!

Enjoy the long weekend. See you very soon!

October 13

The 13th is PSAT Day. If you're a sophomore, this is just a practice test. If you're a junior, then you may have a chance to get some scholarship money out of tomorrow for the National Merit Scholarship Qualification.

Be sure to bring pencils, a calculator, a snack and some water. It'll be a grueling slog, but you'll do it.

Put in a bit of time for your classes in the afternoon. Remember that grey classes will have an enrichment day on Thursday. Our next class to advance the unit will be on Friday/Monday.