First Day Fun.

Interesting first day.

To be honest, I don't remember much of it at all. It wasn't a very fun day, we just did a lot of rules, procedures, and things like that. We did do some math, but most of it was setting up the paper.

The kids were well-behaved, and it's definitely different having 24 instead of 12 like summer school. Also, since we don't really start giving diagnostics to figure out where our students are until tomorrow, we're still up in the air about how far we have to go this year. After getting some of the math work back today, though, I can tell we are already seeing some gaps.

We have two ESOL students. One is from the Dominican Republic, and the other is from the Philippines. The kids were given some time today to walk around the room and look at things, and Francis (not his real name) from the Dominican Republic, didn't move. I took him to the map area, and asked him if he knew where he was from. He pointed out his country and gave me a big smile. I showed him how far away California is and said we're both far from home. It was a nice moment.

Today wasn't difficult or anything, but I think working with my co-teacher will be a challenge. We have very different styles and different management techniques. She also has a tendency to ramble, which is frustrating because the kids aren't talking and nothing's really being done. I, on the other hand, keep thinking about how little time we had during summer school, and I want to make sure there's not a wasted second in the classroom now. Still, it's only the first day, everyone says she's a great teacher, she's helped me so much already, and I really don't know what I'm doing. So, we'll see how the year goes.

Some funny stuff that happened today:

• I'm introducing the LXS and am talking to them like they're in this secret club with these values and members all over the world. I think it's pretty cool, and some of the kids are getting into it. A student (we'll call her Iris) raises her hand and says, "Excuse me, I don't have any idea what you're talking about." Oops. Thought that was pretty funny.
• We're doing some math work and Francis raises his hand. I go over to his desk and kneel down next to him. As I kneel down I hit the corner of the tray that holds chalk and erasers at the bottom of the chalkboard, ripping a big hole in the rear of my pants. We all had a good laugh about that.
• I did a short introductory math lesson about how numbers are everywhere. It was called "A World of Numbers," and it basically had really cool pictures that they got to look at. I went through one planet; 50 states; 206 bones in the body; 2,490 years since the battle of Thermopylae (the movie 300); 48,262 seats in Oriole Park; and 637,418 people in Baltimore. The last slide was a close-up of glowing bacteria, and I said, "1,000,000 bacteria can live on the eraser of your pencil." The kids went, "Whoa..." and then the whole back table takes out their hand sanitizer all at once and starts sharing it with each other. How cute. I just created six hypochondriacs today.

Can't wait for tomorrow. Except I have to plan for it. Actually, in that case, I CAN wait for tomorrow.

I'm a real teacher now...

Back to School.

It is 7:38AM and I'm reading my lesson plan over for the 100th time. So nervous. Oh, look. Now it's 7:39.

Final Weekend.

It's the last free weekend before school starts. So. Frightening.

As promised, here's the theme of our class this year:

The Legion of Extraordinary Scholars (LXS) is a small, select group of individuals that was chosen based on their potential to become great protectors and communicators of knowledge. They live by a code of conduct that governs their everyday lives. Those selected to become members of LXS must, everyday: push themselves to be their best at all times, never give up on anything, believe in themselves and the group, have no fear of failure, and serve the good of knowledge by constantly asking questions to better understand the world around them. These are what Legion members must do every day.

Here's the LXS' classroom:

There's a poster with the Legion Values and some catch phrases that we're going to recite every day as a pledge. There's also a Scholar of the Day that helps with jobs, and then class points (called Legion Honor Points). If they class gets 35 Honor Points we get a 5-minute dance party. On the little board we have a Scholarly Word of the Day and a Cultural Literacy term.

The Bucket Filling Station is a place for students to fill each other's buckets with compliments and good deeds. My co-teacher did it last year and really liked it... I'm excited since I wanted a "Good Deed" wall before I came here and she told me about this. The chalkboard is all the classroom rules and behavior management system. Students are on clothespins and we move them up and down depending how they are behaving. They get "Merit Points" depending on what color they're on at the end of the day. Fifteen points and they can visit the "LXS Armory" (the LXS fights for knowledge with pens and pencils). We're also supposed to have a graph in the classroom, so we're going to graph how well the class upholds the LXS Values on the side board. The "Big Goal" is moving up and we're going to put measurable subject goals there.

Each student has their own Tracking Binder where they can graph their own academic achievement and progress. Hopefully they'll take more ownership of their education this way. It also helps take attendance faster in the morning because they pick it up as they walk through the door. The school wants an international focus, and I really want students to present current events every day, so we're going to "travel" to these places as we talk about the events (You'll be able to follow us on Google Maps). Also, I wanted to visit other countries/states by getting friends from around the world to film little clips to the Legion in their language just so we can "fly" (I have LXS boarding passes and Passports!). Social studies vocab words go up on the wall, and the poem says "Brooklyn is my NEIGHBORHOOD/Baltimore my CITY/Maryland is my home STATE/The USA my country/North America is my CONTINENT/Upon this blue-green PLANET/We're all from the same big place/Let's go out and explore it!" Walt Whitman, watch your back.

Evidence of my obsession with tracking and data. Trackers for attendance, uniforms (these two are required), homework, nightly reading (20 minutes a night), and TAI, which is a math facts practice program. If they are perfect on the first four for a week, they get to eat lunch with the teachers (I know, what a prize!)

My co-teacher is amazing. These are her books and this is our library. I want this. There's a lot of blank space but we're going to put a writing wall up back there. Every student will have their picture up on the wall with a sample of their writing assignment. There's also a contest on the other side of the easel. If the students read 100 books (as a class) before my co-teacher and I read 25 books, we will vote on a new book to buy for the class.

Another picture of the beautiful library. Note the awkward pole in the middle of the classroom. The school used to be open space, which means all students and grades are in a giant room with no walls. I can't imagine that. Even with these walls, you can tell that they had to leave space at the top to follow fire code. It's going to be really loud in there... Oh we didn't have space for math vocabulary words, so I'm going to hang them from the ceiling! Maybe it'll be a math jungle...

Teacher's desk. All those books are teachers' guides and session materials from professional development. Ridiculous. The multicolored silver cart is a writing center with paper and other writing supplies. The cart next to that is the math cart. It has games and other random math supplies. There's going to be a "You Can Go to College" section with our grad gowns and pennants and diplomas up there to encourage the kids to think about college in the blank wall space. We're also going to put an "About Your Teachers" thing back there to introduce California and Taiwan (multicultural, international educational stuff from your foreign-looking teacher - by order of the administration) and other parts of Baltimore from my co-teacher. Public transportation here is so bad that a lot of our kids have never been three miles to the Inner Harbor of Baltimore. It's crazy.

Reflection corner for kids that need to remove themselves for behavioral issues. We're going to put a pillow and stuffed animal there for them if they're going to lose it. Science vocabulary words go on the cabinet doors.

Two LXS members to a locker. I kind of like the theme.

Any more suggestions for the room or class in general?

... Did I mention I'm freaking out?

5.

There are only FIVE days left before school starts! It's crazy, I've basically been waiting for this moment since the first time I applied for TFA almost two years ago, so it's ridiculously exciting. I will definitely write about when I crash and burn day one.

The classroom is looking better each day, I'll have pictures up soon.

Oh, and this was a good article from The New York Times.

I'm Not Cool.

Today I became that adult who wears running shoes with jeans. Ugh. Hopefully this is a one time thing that won't repeat itself for at least 20 years. Fingers crossed.

Everyone's Back.

Today was the first day at school with everyone there. It's beginning to look a lot like Christm- I mean, the first day of school.

On an unrelated note, I saw a two brothers by my school walk into the public library across the street. I have no idea if they're reading in there, but it made me happy.

Lastly, here's an interesting article from the LA Times. I think a friend of mine taught at 92nd Street... or was it 192nd? I forget.

Pre-Kids' Pre-Work.

It feels like a long time since I last had students to work with, so everything seems a bit boring. Still, there's a lot of stuff happening to get reading for the first day of school in... 12 days!

I've been spending a lot of time crafting a theme and goals for my students, getting trackers ready, and planning out topics to cover from the first day until the end of the year. I now have 10 calendars on Google because of all the subjects, assessments, and different class-related things I want to keep track of. Also, I've been decorating my room, and am proud to say that I put together my first two bulletin boards. I am now officially a teacher, I guess.

Sorry I haven't written anything really interesting in a while, but all the minutiae that goes into planning before school starts isn't really entertaining, although it could be the most important thing that I do this year. I promise, this will actually be worth reading soon. Hopefully.