July 2011: We made it!

Six months and 3,600 math lessons since my last post, we reached our Math Big Goal. My students met or surpassed 80% mastery in 15 out of 17 math units and achieved a full class average of 84%.

All students got to march proudly up to the board with their names on their math stickers and place them next to the unit where they reached 80%.

In the end our board was flooded with Mountain to College stickers for every unit: hiking boots for Multiplication, backpacks for Division, tents for Algebra.

And the students felt a real sense of accomplishment in reaching our shared goal. They learned over weeks and months to study, work, review, repeat, and try it again. And they kept on "climbing the math mountain to college."

How beautiful the board looked on my last day at KIPP! We made it. Blood, sweat, tears, and a whole lot of love. Two years of Teach for America completed. Thank you to everyone who helped us along the way.

Wed, Dec 1: BIG GOAL Tracking

This is my crowning accomplishment of the year. I went through all the 67 NY State math standards and organized them into 17 thematic units. I posted the names of each of the units on the wall on a Math Mountain to College. Our class Big Goal is 80% mastery of each of these units.

When a student scores 80% or above on a test, they get to cut out a "mountain climbing tool" like a hiking boot, tent, water bottle, camera, etc., write their name on it and place it on the mountain to college.

Each of the 17 units is clearly labeled on two mountains so we can track our progress and see where we are going throughout the year.

When the whole class averages 80% on a unit, the class gets to put a star above the name of their homeroom.

We are on our way! Now I get to see exactly where I'm going in teaching and students can watch their progress and growth in math and use this as intrinsic motivation to work hard. This is also the first time the KIPP 5th grade math curriculum has been organized into units and matched to standards. I hope this is one major contribution I can make to the program and to my classroom!

Mon, Nov 29: Geometry Mobiles

One creative project I give to students over Thanksgiving break is an assignment to make Geometry Mobiles. The students are so creative - they come up with so many colorful designs using shapes and hangers.

It's so much fun to have them all march in after vacation with their creations.

And I hang them from the light fixtures above the math room.

Creativity, color, and decoration for the room. Would love to do more of this throughout the year!

Brooklyn to Brazil

Check out this video by a Brazilian TV station. Capoeira is our school's theme. This newscast was shown to 30 million people in Brazil last week. I have a few guest appearances :)

http://g1.globo.com/videos/jornal-hoje/v/cultura-brasileira-ajuda-alunos-de-escolas-americanas/1378075/#/Edições/20101119/page/1

Wed-Thurs Nov 10-11: Parent Nights

I love parents. We really have a lot of wonderful, dedicated, supportive parents at my school. And the reason I wanted to do this job in the first place was to get to know communities (like in Peace Corps), so the parent nights are fun for me (though exhausting). From 3-7pm on Wed and Thurs we saw parents in 8min increments. We gave them report cards and academic and behavioral updates on students. Most parents are really dedicated and concerned. And 75 out of 90 parents came - a high percentage.

I wonder the difference with family involvement for charter schools. Charter schools try to reach out to any and all children regardless of parent support, but a child does need to have some person in their lives who is willing to put their name in the lottery. I think this does lead to more involved families. I have heard other teacher friends say parents do not show up to parent nights. We are in touch with parents ALL the time - phone calls constantly for every mishap with students and some positive calls too :) A parent once said at a forum "they call me every time my son talks in the stairwell!"
And we are available for parents and students to call us until 10pm every night - lots of phone time with families.

But the nicest part of tonight was hearing MANY parents say that their kids LOVE 5th grade math now when they didn't before. The say they are always singing their multiplication chant at home and they are understanding things for the first time. I HOPE SO.

And one parent gave me a special thank you. She said her daughter wrote about me in her journal at home after the trip to Camp Ramapo. She had been scared in the middle of the night and came with a flashlight to wake me up. I took her back to bed and sat with her a long time and let her keep her flashlight on by her bed when she slept. Apparently this really meant a lot to her and she felt so comfortable and grateful coming home to write about it and tell her mom.

I must hold on to nice words like that.

Tues, Nov 9: Lovely ladies :)

These ladies are a joy. They are always calm, lovely, hard working, and focused in my classroom and throughout the day.

My friend and colleague made a wonderful suggestion that I look to individual students in each class when things get tough to help keep me calm. No matter what - these three lovely ladies stay positive and do the right thing. If they can do that, so can I. They are a joy - and I will look to them every day to keep me in a good place. :)

Thurs, Nov 4: Ms. Tolan was sick.

When I got back from being out sick yesterday the little gremlins were wonderful saying "Ms. Tolan it was so boring without you!" Listen to their thoughts...

Thurs, Nov 4: Symmetry

Today I had the kids cut out shapes and then fold them to learn about symmetry. They usually fill in worksheets, so I was excited to have them do something with their hands.

Turns out symmetry is a hard concept - everyone thinks a rectangle can fold diagonally. I really wish I knew how to explain these things in a fool proof way. At least they got to experiment a little.

Mon, Nov 1: Home!

Back at my brownstone by 5:45pm!!!! This is the first time since I started teaching that I left school and came home this early! Cheers to wellbeing! :)

Fri, Oct 29: Halloween

Today was costume day. Now I'm home in bed. Gearing up for 8am Saturday school tomorrow....

Thurs, Oct 29: Geometry Dance

Taught the kids a geometry song yesterday and let them do a dance to it in study hall. They love to move... have to find a productive way to capture that in my classroom because I very often ask them to stay in their seats and work. For me the fear is that when they move around things are harder to control....but it's worth it for the kids. Trying to work on this step by step.

Wed, Oct 27: Bulletin Boards

So apparently bulletin boards are a really big deal. I am not good at keeping mine updated, and today I had to stay at school til 9pm after a math meeting to get this done by the deadline. It has photos of Camp Ramapo and tests above 90%. I have to add in 5 more tests I collect back from students before they come upstairs tomorrow AM!

Fri, Oct 22: Flashback DR.QVOSAC

Earlier in October I taught word problems dressed as the character DR.QVOSAC:

DR: Do Read the Question

Q: Underline the Question and cirlce important info

V: Visualize

O: Choose an Operation

S: Solve the problem

A: Write your Answer in a complete sentence

C: Check your work

Thurs, Oct 21: Student note

A very classic and wonderful student apology note.

Wed, Oct 20: Repeatedly Dos

Check out this little video of the first five minutes of my class everyday. It was my first video assignment for grad school (submitted tonight), trying to show that I have routines in my classroom that repeat every day. I've got a lot to work on in terms of getting students to be silent, etc., but I've got a little bit of a fun routine going on. :)