Classroom Communication in the Digital Age

This year I am really trying to blending more technology into my class especially with my freshman Foundations of Physics class.  In order to do that I set up a class Twitter feed for reminders, pictures and class announcements.  I am also using/creating a new website that is in an online classroom format.  There are several reasons that I am going to this format for class.  One of them is student engagement.  Students think it is more fun and cool to do their work on their phones and computers rather than on paper.  I am also preparing for next year when our school district goes 1:1 with a computer for every student.  Another advantage of having students do work online is saving on paper and carrying large piles of papers around.  There are also efficiency gains to be made from grading one spreadsheet for a whole class instead of piles of papers.  So this year instead of a syllabus my students are getting a business card with the class website information on it and being told the syllabus and everything else the need is on the website.

Back to School with Donors Choose

It is August 16th so my summer break is essentially over.  In a week and a few days I head back into the city daily to work with a whole new bunch of new Freshman physics students.  Many people are telling me to enjoy my last week off, but in truth the work is already starting in preparation for the coming year.  Right now the urgent job is getting my classroom ready.  This year that is going to include a new coat of paint for one or two of my walls.  Luckily the paint was donated so that is one less expense for me although I have to provide rollers, paint pans and masking materials as well as copious amounts of spackle and sandpaper to prepare the walls.  My best guess is it has been at least a decade probably two or more since the walls were last painted.  I know with one wall its been since 1992 at least.  I will be providing the painting expertise' along with any students that I can find around school.  I also have to put posters and any other materials I want on the walls up and generally organize my room so it is ready to go with new students.  

I am also trying to gather materials for the year.  At a conference a few weeks ago with a colleague from another school she mentioned some of the things she was buying for her class with her "class budget." I had to laugh, as at the urban school I teach at in an impoverished town, we have no individual budgets for classroom supplies.  This year we actually received a case of paper and some whiteboard markers and a few other office supplies but with 100+ students before me every day and not enough textbooks, I go through at least a ream of paper a week, so the 10 reams in the case didn't last me long.  Supplies like rulers, glue sticks, colored pencils, markers, lined paper, colored paper, etc all have to be supplied by me.   Supplies to do labs - that's me too most of the time.  Technology besides a few classroom computers - supplied by me.  Boxes of granola bars for hungry students - me too.  Supplementary textbooks, room decor, paper towels, scissors, tape, storage containers, magnets, calculators, multimeters for an electricity lab, etc. etc. - I think you are getting the idea.  

Not a month goes by that I don't spend at least a few hundred dollars on my classroom and students sometimes much more.  That is where Donors Choose comes in.  Donors Choose is the savior of myself and many other urban teachers nationwide.  Donors Choose is a nonprofit organization that allows school teachers to put in requests for materials they need for their classes.  All the teacher has to do is sign up, write project proposals, solicit donations and maintain a good track record of providing thank you notes and pictures for completed projects and Donors Choose does the rest.  The best part is that Donors Choose has the materials shipped directly to my classroom when my project is funded.  I spend enough time out of school on school related matters that one more school shopping trip through Staples on the way home from work is the last thing I need, not to mention carrying supplies a few blocks in the morning on my way to school.  

Through Donors Choose and my friends' support I have been fortunate enough to get textbooks, a classroom set of calculators, an interactive projector, clickers, lab equipment and basic supplies such as paper.  These materials have added immensly to the teaching of my classes.  The interactive projector brings materials alive on the board.  It allows me to annotate board work, save notes on the board and I never need to find a whiteboard marker that works.  The clickers and paper have allowed me to have fun interactive lessons for my students.  The calculators have allowed my students to actually do their physics calculations.  It would have been near impossible to really teach physics without them as the calculators I had been buying for class from the dollar store just weren't reliable.  
In the future I will be running Donors Choose projects to get more paper and poster supplies for projects, supplementary reading and textbooks (Many of my students are poor readers and do not have access to reading materials so it is important I supply them to give them practice), lab supplies, Spanish-English dictionaries, a microphone for my projector and other supplies.  Many of these things are essential in trying to boost the reading level of my students most of whom are English Language Learners.  

Although I love Donors Choose dearly, and am pretty sure I would be able to do my job nearly as well without them, I think it is very sad that such a large proportion of teachers nationwide, especially those in impoverished districts, like my own, need to rely on a nonprofit for basic classroom supplies.  It is really sad what this says about our nations priorities and its support of education.  I am thrilled with the support I get through them but dearly wish that educations budgets supplied money for basics let alone the extras that make learning even more fun and interesting.  

If you get a chance please visit my teachers page at Donors Choose and make a donation or support me monthly as I couldn't be doing my job, and teaching the great kids I teach without the help of my friends!!  Special thanks to all of you who have helped me out.  You are making a big difference to the lives of my students.

Screenshot of my Donors Choose teachers page.  By the clicking project request tab on the bottom the current projects I am trying to get funded can be seen.  The completed projects tab shows my past projects.  There are many picturesfrom my classroom on the completed projects page.  

Planning the Prom

As advisor to the class of 2015 at CFHS I am responsible for making sure the class is on track with their prom planning and other activities for senior year, graduation, senior trip, senior sweatshirts, yearbooks, etc.  Yesterday after my grad class I went to the place that my class officers picked out for next years prom, the Alpine Country Club in Cranston.  It was the first time I had been there.  I needed to sign the contract and go over the details as well as give the place the final once over.  I was thrilled, as the place is absolutely gorgeous.  It is a bit of a drive from CF but it is well worth it.  I am really attached to this group of kids as they were my freshman students my first year teaching at CFHS and I am very attached to many of them.  They treat me very well.  Looking forward to their senior year!

It's Summer! I'm a teacher which means I'm still working!

It's Tuesday and my last day of school was the Thursday before last.  Since then I took just a few days off.  Last week I spent one day cleaning out papers from last year and putting my home office in order and I spent three days at school working on writing the new science curriculum that needs to be in place for next year.  This Monday (it's Tuesday today) I started taking 3 (that's right 3!) graduate classes towards a master's in teaching English as a second language (TESL).  Since our school has so many students who are immigrants and are English language learners (ELLs), it is becoming a requirement to teach at our school, that you are certified in TESL.  Since certification is only 4 classes short of a Master's degree I decided to take the extra courses and get the M.Ed.  To do this I decided to do 3 courses in a condensed summer session. In other words I am taking 9 graduate credits in 6 weeks.   That translates to 3/4 of a year of graduate school in 6 weeks!

The good news is two of these classes are online so at least I'll be able to stay home with my kids while I work on them.  The other good news is the class that isn't online is done in 7 days spread over  week and a half straight.  The class is on media literacy.  We are learning about how the new media effects our students, how to use it as a teaching tool and how to compete with it to grab our students attention.  The class is utterly fascinating and I am getting a lot of great ideas to use in class with my students.  Today we used an online site to make a comic of a poem.  I am loving every minute of this.  One of the things I like best about teaching is that there are lots of opportunities for creativity.  Using technology in teaching has become one of my niches.

This is the comic I made in class today.  It was made using a fun website called Pixton.  I'm really looking forward to having my students use it.  I think one of their first assignments is going to be to make a comic that outlines the scientific method!  I'm excited about this.

Welcome

This is my new blog about what it is like to teach at an inner city high school.  My high school Central Falls High School (CFHS) gained notoriety in 2010 when it was signaled out as a failing school under No Child Left Behind (NCLB) due to low test scores and low graduation rates.  The school had to enter into a plan to correct the situation.  Because the teacher's union wouldn't agree to the transformation plan selected by the superintendent, which was one of the 4 plans outlined by NCLB, the superintendent had to resort to another plan which called for the firing of all teachers in the school.  This caused a huge stir both in the town and in the media. Our school made the national media and even President Obama commented on the situation.  Eventually the union and the superintendent agreed to follow the transformation model set out in NCLB and the transformation began.

Around the time CFHS was starting transformation I saw the story on the news and decided that I wanted to be a teacher there.  I saw CFHS as a place where there was both great need and great opportunity.  I spent the next year applying to be a Rhode Island Teaching Fellow and going through their intense summer institute in order to get my teaching certificate.  Due to the lucky star I was born under and years of hard work, I was in a position to be picked as one of 32 fellows from an application pool of 1400 that year.  Fall of 2011 found me in my very own classroom teaching physics at CFHS.

You'd think that putting a privileged, academically elite, middle aged woman into a teaching position at an urban high school is a recipe for disaster but actually this is one of the most amazing wonderful journeys that I have even been on.  This blog will outline parts of my journey.