A New City, A New School, A New Challenge

 

There comes a time in everyone's life where you reach a cross road.  You have a decision to make. Dr. Seuss said it best...

"You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.

                                   Some windows are lighted. But mostly they're darked.
                                   A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
                                   Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in?
                                   How much can you lose? How much can you win?"

I found myself wondering what was next.  After a call to my brother,(who assured me that whatever I chose to do, I would be just fine), I decided it was time to take a leap of faith.  I needed to do something different.  I needed a new challenge.  So, I put in an application just before Thanksgiving, 2015, at the Richmond Public School system and voila!  Here I am!  A high school math teacher at a brand new school, in a school district 4000 miles away from where I have spent the last 14 years of my life.  My best friend flew to southern California to help me drive back and 2 days later, we arrived in Richmond, Virginia exhausted but extremely happy!

I have started my term halfway through the school year, which has proven to be more of a challenge than I thought it would be.  My students consist of at-risk math students, half of which are English language learners.  I am enjoying the challenges that are presented each day and I find that I still know just a little bit of the Spanish from high school (Senora Bayot would be very proud).  

I'm looking forward to my new adventure!  

5 Easy Tips for Working With At-Risk Students

One of the difficulties with the introduction of new academic standards is the effect the change will have on our vulnerable (at-risk students).  Those students who are already struggling with content are now feeling like they are drowning.  They look to the adults in their lives (parents and teachers) and find them either too busy or not interested in whatever issues they are having.  This breeds a feeling of distrust, which then creates a seriously apathetic attitude within the student.

In order to help our vulnerable students improve their chances of success with the common core, we must first change their attitude about their education.  Here are a few suggestions that may help with their outlook:


1.Make the Extra Effort - Take the time to ask how they are.  Greet them when they enter the room, at home and at school, show them that they are worth your time.

2.  Show Empathy - Find out from the student what their basic needs are.  Most students that are struggling at school are also struggling at home or in other areas of their lives.  Ask them about it, then show them that you care by really listening to them and offering any suggestions you may have for their dilemma.  Sometimes just being heard is enough for them to want to change their complete attitude about being in class and giving their best.

3.  Show Enthusiasm.  Be excited to listen to whatever they have to tell you whether it's related to school or something outside of school.  Vulnerable students have been led to believe that they are not important; that they really don't matter.  If you want to reach them, you must show them that what they have to say is important, whether its related to school or not.  I give a survey at the beginning of the school year to find out what their interests are.  Once I have collected that information, I now have intentional conversations regarding their interests.  This builds a new bond between you, as an adult, and the student.  I even go so far as to tell them I don't know ANYTHING about their hobby and then ask them to teach me about it.

4.  Be Excited.  Be excited to help, to listen, to just sit and talk about nothing.  Vulnerable students need to feel  that what they have to say is important.  They need us to actively listen and question them about what is important to THEM and be excited about the fact that they are coming to YOU to share their information, good or bad.

5.  Be Emphatic.  We, as the adult, need to be as firm as we can (without being pushy) about the importance of their success in education.  Many of our youth have checked out of the system.  They no longer believe that learning is a or should be a top priority for them.  It is our job to convince them that a better life really does exist and it begins with attaining a solid education.

These 5 things are easy enough to implement if we but take the time with our students and show them that they are of interest to us.  A few minutes out of the day to encourage our youth will go a long way both at school and at home.

What strategies, as parents or educators, have you used successfully to reach kids that have checked out?  Please share with us!!!

Getting Ready for Class

Summer is quickly drawing to a close and I have read many posts about the fun activities that my colleagues have participated in... Trips with family, marathons entered and successfully completed, weddings, graduations and many other great things.  But now, as we prepare to start the new school year (we return July 30th), I find myself (dare I say) excited!  This fall, we will fully implement Common Core in our district. While many of are dreading it - the increased use of technology, the different strategies that will have to implemented, the change in the delivery of our most trusted lessons - I am not dreading it at all!  As the first day of school draws nearer, I am unable to sleep.  I have been completely preoccupied with getting ready for class.  After spending the last 12 years in a small classroom, I am moving to a larger classroom that I feel will help me better implement the new activities that will go on there.
Last year, I borrowed a strategy from the Language Arts Department to help my students remember their math facts in a particularly difficult lesson (I didn't mention it before but I teach 7th and 8th grade math).  I used popcorn reading with a new spin.  I posted the facts on the bulletin board as they are introduced and each morning, we start with the first fact.  I start by repeating exactly what we said about the fact the previous day and when I stop, the entire class must fill in the word that comes next.  This picture shows my students gathered around the bulletin board to discuss the information we placed there.  I found that this space was too small for all of them to gather at once.

Thankfully their backs were all turned!

In my new classroom, I am very luck to have a portable wall that separates my classroom from the one behind me. Why am I lucky?  Because that ENTIRE wall is cork board!!!  I now have the space to have all 36 students up there if  they want!  I can now put everything up and leave it instead of taking it down when we run out of room!!!

I am super excited about my new space!!!










Lots of room to post vocabulary and graphs!






We now have enough room for my students to come to the wall and demonstrate, clarify, call attention to specific parts of the lesson!!  I make large "post-it notes" with hints and clues and large arrows to point out specific information.  Since the time I took these pictures, I have removed the shelves you see on the left to provide even more space on the wall!  Once I put up the beginning of our first unit of study, I will snap a shot and post it.  In the second photo I made a banner with a general heading that applies to Unit 1 for both Math 7 and Math 8 and a kid-friendly version of the 8 mathematical practices.  I can hardly wait for school to begin!

It's the end of the year...

...And I can NOT express how thankful I am for that!!!  My brain is fried!!!  I just finished my grades for the end of the year and I fell a sense of relief because these 7th graders are m-o-v-i-n-g o-n!!!!  Yay... I think... Next year, I will be teaching 8th grade which means... the same kids... uugghh!!!

I'm kind of looking forward to the new challenge of 8th grade, along with the fact that I will have mostly our at-risk population.  I'm excited because this is where I "cut my teeth" in education.  My first set of kids ever were adjudicated felons at an Alternative High School.  I LOVED IT!!  They just needed a few boundaries set and to know that someone cared about them and wanted them to succeed. It wasn't easy but I really enjoyed the work.

Hopefully, this next year will be a good one.  They will have had the summer to mature a little (if wishes were horses...) and I will have had some time to rest and reset.

This summer will be spent changing my lesson plans and classroom practices (because there is a complete difference between 7th grade and 8th).  Hopefully (tongue in cheek) I can find a way to help them buy into education again... you know... before they leave us to go to high school.

I'm looking for some ideas to engage this group so if there is ANYONE who wants to share a few suggestions and strategies, please feel free!!!  I am ALL EARS!!! (OR EYES!!!  LOL!!!!