Texas here I come...

During the last week of school this year (aka. proctoring and English Regents exam grading week...) I will be in Dallas for AVID training!

Not exactly sure about the details of the training, but I am thrilled.

AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination. Basically, it's a program that targets 'middle of the road' students--who are capable of excelling in rigorous courses but are falling short of their potential--to prepare them for success at four year colleges. A number of my students are AVID students, and it's incredible how much they've changed as students this year in terms of organization, motivation, study habits, and questioning. They've taken ownership of their education.

I'll be trained in how to incorporate the AVID curriculum, which is driven by writing, inquiry, collaboration, and reading-- into my ELA classroom.

More details to come!

Parent Teacher Conferences

So, 15 parents met with me tonight. I have 130 students.

About half of those meetings consisted of me telling parents how amazing their children are (ie. 90s students. Driven. Motivated. Participators. The students who make me love my job...).

The other half of the meetings consisted of me telling parents their children need to apply themselves (ie. they're 70s students. Smart. Talented. Don't do any work. The students who frustrate me more than anything....).

No parents of failing students.

No parents of students who wreak havoc in the classroom.

No parents of students who are seriously struggling with reading and writing.

Although I LOVE telling parents that their children are amazing human beings (well-deserved compliments for them...), I need to talk to parents of failing students, students who are years behind, and students who disrupt class.

Hopefully tomorrow afternoon's conference will bring a few of those.

Tuesdays

Incompetence infuriates me.

Why is it that-- for the most part-- every PD ("professional development") meeting is an absolute waste of time? (Every Tuesday afternoon...)

I am confident I could become a better teacher (in terms of instruction, management, investment, differentiation, you name it...) if we had effective "professional development" meetings.

What is the solution to this problem?

Get rid of pointless, unproductive "professional development" meetings that only waste teachers' time (60 hours per year, give or take) and school resources. Revamp the system and means of training teachers to become effective instructors. Model effective teaching strategies that could actually help teachers make significant gains with their students. (And not to mention, help them become better teachers...)

But with this current system-- flawed at its core-- how?

The fire alarm

A lovely student pulled the fire alarm during the first five minutes of 8th period while I was in the middle of explaining tomorrow's open notebook quiz on Night.

Meanwhile, it's about 40 and drizzly outside. My coat is downstairs. My students begin screaming, as if school were just released for summer vacation. As we begin evacuating the building, I notice at least 15 students attempting to open their lockers to grab their jackets.

"Ladies, seriously? Would you stop to get your jacket if the building were really on fire?"
"Ummm duh, Miss! The rain will ruin my hair."

Duh. Why didn't I think of that?

We evacuate the building. Teachers are trying to crowd control and usher students onto the sidewalk. Finally, the signal to re-enter the building.

Great. How am I supposed to win my class back (when I hadn't even won them yet??)

Students re-enter class, complaining of course.

"Miss, my hands are cold, so I can't write."
"Sorry, D, my hands are cold too. We just have to deal with it, OK?"
Student grumbles and sits down.

"Miss. Is the building on fire? It smells like burning hair and gasoline."
"No, S, the building is not on fire."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure."

Finally. Students re-seated. Notebooks out. Pens in hand. Taking notes on today's new vocabulary. We get through reading the words in context, defining them, and practicing writing the words in sentences.

Fire alarm. Again.

Really? Not again. I just managed to settle them down!

Students scream. Again. This is getting laughable. We re-evacuate the building. Now it's raining. Lovely! The fire truck turns the corner and the firemen nod at us. I nod back, sort of smiling and rolling my eyes. Students GO NUTS, thinking I have a crush on Mr. Joe Fireman.

Unbelievable. Can't anyone nod and smile anymore without people assuming you are attracted to that person?

Ten minutes later. The go-ahead to return to the building.

Students sit down. Bell rings. 8th period ends.

All I can do is laugh. Hopefully they'll remember what's on the quiz.

Sisters

A funny little story...

As I mentioned in my previous post, my school put on Othello last Friday night. A TON of my students were there. My girlfriend decided to join me for the performance. We had a great time. (The story gets better...)

On Monday morning during 2nd period, student A exclaims excitedly, "Ms. Brady, your sister! She looks exactly like you!"

Hmm. Now, to my knowledge, A has never actually met my sister. So, I start wondering. The first thing to come to my mind is-- does she really think my girlfriend and I look like sisters? (Mind you... my girlfriend is half black...)

Me: "Ummmm.... Really, A??"
A: "Yes! You look like identical twins!!"

Now I was really confused.

Me: "A, you saw her Friday night?"
A: "Yes!"

Now I was really, really confused.

Me: "At Othello?"

The moment of truth...

A: "No! At John Philip Sousa! She was walking toward me and I thought 'Is that Ms. Brady? Wow. It must be.'"

Me: "OH. That makes sense..."

OK. Phew.

Turns out, A was visiting her old middle school (where Kristin currently teaches) and saw Kristin walking to the train. A swears she couldn't tell us a part.

Perhaps because we're both white? short? have brown hair? Who knows.

Let's try this again...

Wow. I am terrible. Pathetic. So, I've been experiencing some sort of writer's block for about 4 months now. But... I'm determined to overcome this dry spell of words about teaching.

Brief.. BRIEF update....

I'm currently teaching Elie Wiesel's memoir Night to my sophomores. They're engulfed by his poignant story. Enraged by the apathy and indifference of bystanders. Upset that the Allies didn't do more to stop the Nazis from carrying out their final solution plan. It's been an enlightening and moving experience for me.


My school put on a tragi-comedic (yes, comedic) performance of Othello last Friday. A sell out show, too! Let's just say it was a HIT. A number of my students last year had lead roles and they were fantastic. I can't wait to teach it again this spring.


More posts coming soon...

Persepolis

Last year, I realized that many of my students make gross generalizations about culture, race, and religion. One of the many stereotypes that I found particularly frustrating was the general conception that Muslims are terrorists, or at least fanatical and extremist.

As a teacher, I'm not trying to preach to students. I don't wish to tell them my views on everything. But, I want them to learn to think for themselves and become more open minded and tolerant and aware and compassionate. I want them to learn to be wary of making judgements based on sex, class, race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, etc. I want them to grow, learn, and develop not only as students but as individuals who question and think and wonder.

I just recently started teaching Persepolis to my sophomores. It's a powerful and moving graphic novel/memoir about Marjane Satrapi's experience growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. I love it and I hope my students will grow to love it too (once they understand that it's OK that they are going to struggle with the content and history). I am hoping that they learn to think differently about the Middle East, Iran, and Islam.

Persepolis is new to me. I read it about two weeks before I started teaching it. Since it's incredibly historical, I had to refresh my Iranian and Islamic history. Although historical context is usually important when teaching any novel or memoir, Persepolis is overflowing with historical (everything about Reza Shah's overthrow of the Qajar Dynasty- with the help of the British, of course-, the westernization and modernization of Iran under the Shah, Ayatollah Khomeini's leadership and life in Iran under his rule, Lenin, Trotsky, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro, the My Lai massacre, Cyrus the Great, the Arab invasion, Mongolian invasion.........) cultural, religious (Islam, Judaism, philosophical (dialectical materialism what?), economic theory references (Marx, Engels....)

Teaching Persepolis has been difficult. My students are struggling with the historical content. I taught the Iranian Revolution using a powerpoint presentation with LOTS of images and pictures, but it's still tricky.

Some questions students asked me today: Wait, I thought there were a lot of improvements in Iran under the Shah, so why did the people hate him? Didn't women gain rights under the Shah? So why did they want a revolution? If Ayatollah Khomeini executed thousands more than the Shah did, why did the people follow him? Why did the CIA help set up the Iranian secret police? Why did people see Iran as a puppet state? Were the British really in charge? Why does the U.S. meddle in everyone's business? Do they only care about oil? Why did the U.S. help arm and train the Iraqis under Saddam before the Iran-Iraq War? Why is the author ashamed about her social class, when she is wealthy? Was Michael Jordan alive at this time? Are we going to bomb Iran? Where was Osama bin Laden? (fighting in Afghanistan against the Soviets, I think???) Do women still have to wear the veil? Why are we reading this?

Even though it's been challenging, I am enjoying it. My students love that it's a graphic novel, and many of them seem super interested in the history, even though they're struggling with it.

I recommend Persepolis.