How I Spent My Summer Vacation: Get In the Van

i havent updated this blog in over more than a year. i have no intention of thinking that people will care to read about what im doing this summer which is why there will be little to no punction. it could be due to the fact that i dont know how to put punction in a blog with my phone or because ive been reading james frey. so here i am finally writing in this blog. this time around it will have nothing to do with teaching or moving or whatever. instead it will be about how im spending part of my summer vacation on tour with on of my favorite bands. make do and mend. awesome band and awesome dudes. yesterday was the first day of the tour. im pretty sure it was also the hottest day of my life. the dudes picked me up in new york where they found me on the corner of 181st and st nick ave dripping sweat. so there i was jumping right into it and headed straight to baltimore.

Searching For Something More

It has literally been months since I last even looked at this, let alone created a post. I am bad at things like this. So instead of continuing to grade the Unit 6 Math exam I gave my students on Friday I am going to put up a very (I mean very) brief update.

Things seemed liked they sucked for a while. Not necessarily teaching, but life in general. The stresses of a new place, missing friends, poor classroom management, tons of planning, grad school work, money and the feeling of having no life outside of teaching. All of this had a certain ebb and flow, which created a huge lack of consistency in my life. This made things even more difficult.

Yet, the strong survive. Through constant PMA (which I had to get tattooed on my arm as a helpful reminder) and some new happenings, life became a little better. Months ago I would have never have guessed that this combination of events would have created such a challenging experience (inside and outside of teaching). I am still here, still kicking. Things are better in case you were wondering. I recently just got back from a beyond amazing week-long break in Seattle. I have the best friend anyone could ask for. They made it feel as if I never left. I miss them all terribly, which made it hard to leave. Upon arriving back to NY I felt a strong sense of regret from having revisited all the things I loved about life in Seattle. This made for a rough Monday commute to work. Coffee spilling, bus missing, copier jamming and all. At the same time this week has proved to be one of my best weeks at school that I can remember. I felt as if my students have were far more engaged, active and actually learning. This is beyond the greatest feeling in the world to have. The week before break the kids were so out of control I felt as if I had been slammed into a brick wall of desperation. PMA. I worked hard, they worked hard and we had a great week. Parent teacher conferences were Thursday and during one of my meetings I had to tear up a bit. Margely's mother said that she believes so much in her daugther because she has a teacher who believes so much for her. She said that when she told the other women she works with that Margely has a teacher that calls often to tell her how well she is doing they were extremely surprised. Margely's mom said a lot more, and attributed a lot of Margely's success to "such a wonderful, hard working teacher." I'll tell you what, the week before break I thought I was the worst person in the world. These conferences with parents really helped to remind me of the reason why I am here. Why I am at school for 12 hours just to come home to plan for 5 more and then get sleep. These conferences helped to remind me that my students are kids and students, with lives outisde of school. Lives that prove to not be easy. WHAT A GREAT FEELING!

DAMN! Life is good right now. Let this feeling last forever. (At least until the 8pm Sunday night panic....) I'll be sure to update this in another 5 months...

high highs and low lows

Well hello there. I know it has been days, weeks, even months, since I last updated this thing. There are numerous factors that have kept me from even thinking about wasting 30 minutes of my time to write a blog about myself. They are as follows:

-1O scholars.

That's right, scholars. I do not call my class students. The very first day of school I informed my class that this year, as 7th graders, we would now be scholars. This means that my class will act more mature than they did in 6th grade and from here on out they would work even harder than they had before. So there you have it, 10 little scholars keep me busy nearly 24/7. 10 scholars who have become used to my "no shortcuts, no excuses" motto and my class wide Positive Mental Attitude (PMA).

These 10 scholars have surely given me a run for my money. I have yet to master the necessary ability of planning ahead, and instead I am scrapping by day by day. With each day beginning at 5:30am and ending at 11:30pm on a good night I feel as if I am barely surviving. Planning hours of lessons for Math, English Language Arts, Social Studies, a homeroom period and now an elective, occupy every minute of my time. Even sitting here now, hazy-eyed on a Friday night, I have this feeling of anxiety knowing I should really be reading over Reader's Response Journals and entering grades into an online database. Welcome to my new life. If there is one word I can think of to describe the way I feel I would go with anxiety.

Now I know what you are saying, "Planning? Oh come on man, that sounds easy!" Well, I'd hate to break it to you- it sounds much easier said than done. It's planning multiple lessons for a range of multiple intelligences. I work in a self-contained classroom educating 10 students with special needs. This has a wide range of implications varying from emotional disturbances to extremely low reading levels most likely due to dyslexia. Not a day goes by when I don't have the hardest time of my life calming a student down simply to have them stop screaming and slamming their notebook on their desk, or having outbursts of students claiming bed bugs. Their personal difficulties have become both my difficulties and the difficulties of my classroom. Every four seconds it seems like someone is calling someone else a name, or someone is threatening to smack someone else up, or someone is becoming increasingly defiant. (As I type this I realize this description is not even a glimpse into what it's like, but it also makes me sound super whiny.) I have had students judge me, compare me or jump to conclusions about me more times than I can keep track. I'm now Jewish, too boring to possibly be Dominican, sweaty, cheesy, hair, old and "tight" (tight no longer means the same, "Oh man that's tight," that it did in the '90's. Instead it means something like uptight, stupid, "whack".) And just to give you some insight into the complex thought process of my students they often act like this or tell me these things one second, then the next they breakdown, cry or tell me that they misbehave for attention. It's insane. Just when I think things are going pretty smoothly, BOOM! I'm back to square one correcting behavior and having to raise my voice. Needless to say these variations of behavior and attitude have had an effect on me.

In the past two months I have been on an emotional roller coaster ride that I never imagined when I decided to chase my dreams of becoming a teacher in the big city and fighting the good fight against educational injustice. I would be lying if I said I didn't have to face a feeling of depression and anxiety I have never felt before. A mixture of feeling lost in the big city, homesick, stressed out, overwhelmed and worn thin have all added to this insane trip I've been on. Worrying every waking second about how well my lessons will turn out for the next day, or how I can help my students to learn better has really taken it's toll. I've cried, I've had to convince myself to keep going and I've even given myself pep talks in the school bathroom mirror to reassure myself that I can and will do this.

Despite how rough it seems on a daily basis and how terrible I may have made it sound from my above description, it is worth every minute of it. To see the look on a students face when they see how easy it is to find out if two ratios form a proportion, or to have the kids laugh when you teach a whole ELA lesson in your best NYC accent are just two incidences of what keeps me going. These two incidences are perfect examples of what I have realized will help me make it through. Small things. Small things. Small things. I can not do everything, but I can try my damn best. So with a new found attitude of knowing that I am doing the best that I can things have been much better. I know I am doing the best I can because I show up every day. I show up every day and greet my scholars at the door and I ask them to share one positive thing that happened to them the day before. That, in and of itself, is a first step in the right direction.

When you have had a student look you in the eyes and tell you that they pray for you everyday because they know what you're doing is not easy, it is a fullproof ticket to ensure that there is no turning back now. So there you have it. Two months in to my new life and I am just as confused and invested as I was the last time I wrote a post.

Thanks for reading. Much of this may not make any sense because I am falling asleep on my couch, but eh oh well.

Yours,
-Mr.

D-Day

That's right, D-Day. Today marked the beginning of my career as a teacher. Sitting here at 11:25 after the first day of teaching and knowing I have a billion other things I should be doing instead of updating a blog is somewhat daunting. I am no longer in charge of only my life. Instead, I have been enlisted to teach six 7th grade girls for the next ten months. So it begins.

Today was my first day as an official teacher at the Bronx Writing Academy. I can not even begin to express the range of emotions that I felt during those many hours before greeting my students at the doorway of classroom 321. I felt anxious, nervous, excited, sick and somewhat lost. The task ahead seemed larger than life.

Yet, there is good news! It comes in the form of six 7th grade girls, who even just from the first day, have easily won me over. Before the start of the day when I had these six ladies line up at the doorway I was nervous. I was nervous that these six girls would walk all over me, that they would not want to listen to me and that I would not be able to relate to them whatsoever. Luckily I was incorrect. My first day as a 7th grade teacher probably couldn't have been better. Aside from the occasional "I'm tired. This is boring. I already know this stuff!" from some of my students everything went well. My timing was just on target and I was able to pace being with thee students all day. The activities and procedures covered today were all over the board, but I feel confident to say that they will surely be able to remember many of them when we enter the classroom tomorrow. After all I had them line up to practice our dismissal policy about 5 times, one of which included a straight line, hands to your side, stay to the right side of the hall, no talking march through half of our floor at the BWA.

The personalities of each of these six students are unique and large. The excitement that I felt throughout the day can not compare to anything I have ever done. Although I am drained and a little worried about the coming days, weeks and months, I feel confident that the spark I had today with these students will continue on throughout the year. I have such a unique opportunity of working with such a small number of students (even though I am expecting 4 more tomorrow).

That's all I have for now, but trust me it's only the beginning.

Special Note: In this post you will find pictures taken of my class after the first day. As you can see it is no where near where it should be, but DAMN setting up a classroom is hard work. I got that PMA. Check out the progress from the last post to these! Come on! Awesome, right?

Let the Games Begin

Mr. A

It has been a while since I last posted anything. Honestly, updating my blog is the last thing I should be doing right now. I have a whole laundry list of things that need to get done before my 7th grade students arrive to Mr. Acosta's class at the BWA. I have less than a week left. Less than a week to write two weeks worth of lesson plans, a solid unit plan for Math, ELA and Social Studies, all three subject Unit 1 assessments, and the finishing touches on my investment and behavior plans. Oh, and set up my entire class room while going to two days of training starting tomorrow. Needless to say much needs to be done, and a new blog isn't one of them.

Before moving anything (left)












Because of that I am going to keep this short and sweet (as per usual) and fill in some of the gaps since last time.

-NYC rules. I am having a great time here, but often find the transition difficult.
-Have some great new friends. Many of whom came to my place for my birthday! Which was great. At the same time I really, really miss a lot of my friends in Seattle.
-Wilfred came to visit for 10 days. It was great! I hope he had fun. He easily made my transition to NY a little easier.
-I somehow find myself running into old friends from Seattle or even as far back as middle school. It's such a small world.
-I need a dresser.

Anyway, I want to continue this update with some of the happenings going on in the teaching world. So in the essence of time I decided to just post some pictures of my classroom. These were taken today. My first time being at my school and seeing my classroom. As you can tell I have some decorating to do. So along with the pictures I decided to photograph some of my rough plans for the classroom space. Enjoy.

After arranging desks (above)

Plans for the front of the class. PMA!
Historians Corner

El Barrio

I had nearly given up on this whole blogging thing due to several reasons, the biggest of them all being a lack of time. For the last six weeks I did nothing but Teach For America. Because I spent so much time teaching, lesson planning, going to workshops and making assessments I lost all dreams of keeping anyone up to date on my time at Institute via blog. Even though it is all over I still have no real desire or will to fill in the gaps of very detail from those six weeks because it would be impossible. Instead, I am going to point out some highlights and lowlights from my life the last six weeks.

I am going to start with the outline for my daily routine:

5:40 am - Wake up and shower time
6:25 - Breakfast
6:37 - Board big yellow school bus to PS 165 in East Brooklyn
8:30 - Pick up students from breakfast then begin teaching
8:30-12:30 - Teach and attend sessions
1:00-4:15 - Attend sessions then board big yellow school bus
4:40 - Arrive back to Queens
5:30-6:10 - Dinner
6:30-12:00 (depending) - Work time, lesson planning, sessions, etc

IT WAS WILD! I am just now beginning to feel the lack of sleep from those weeks.





HIGHTLIGHTS


1) Meeting some great people including, but not limited to the following:
-My Institute roommates Patrick and Nate, both of whom really could have made Institute a living hell but the laughs that we shared made everything bearable.
-The E 116th St. Crew (Jaqui, Alex, Liz, Michelle and Andrew). These five people always made dinner a riot and we now live together in the same apartment building. Andrew and Liz are now my new roommates, and after tonight I feel like I know them a little more than I would have liked...
-All the other awesome people ranging from my fellow teachers at PS 165 to Jenn, Jessica, Dylan, Zach, etc.

2) My awesome 6th graders. Although there were only eight of them they each had such unique personalities and traits that made teaching difficult and worthwhile all at the same time. I feel as if many of them did learn from our experience this summer, and some of them really challenged themselves to succeed and work hard come the fall.

3) Seeing friends from Seattle! So over the past six weeks I have somehow hung out with/run into people I know from Seattle. This has ranged from my roommate Nate's sister dating the brother of a friend in Seattle, whom had actually been in NY at the same time all the way to seeing random people from SU at a party. I was fortunate enough to be able to see one of my best friend's Timm while his band Wait In Vain was out here playing two shows. Best time!

4) Moving into my apartnement in Spanish Harlem, or the Barrio. I now live in a rockin apartment with two great new friends, that will be great new teachers. The place is in a really vibrant neighborhood rich with culture and I feel good about living here. Even if the Metro North passes right by my window every 5 or 10 minutes. I have no complaints so far.

5) I live in New York City! I mean come on, what do I have to complain about. The other day we unpacked and walked to Central Park where we proceeded to sit there in the sun, people watching and conversing. IT RULED! There are so many crazy places to eat, the subway takes you everywhere, the people are so different and the possibilities in this city are seemingly endless.

6) I fall asleep to the sound of the Metro North train right outside my window, which is then followed by the sound of sirens and people's voices.

7) The Straight Edge


LOWLIGHTS


1) Not blogging for six weeks, therefore not wanting to really go into depth about my experience at Institute. Also, taking 4 days to just get this one going...

2) Missing a ton of people in Seattle.

3) Being really broke and having to wait until mid-September for any income.

4) Not having decent coffee on a regular basis. Sure Dunkin' Donuts is somewhat cool, but I am dying for a nice Vivace latte.

5) Being hot and sweaty all day, every day. It's whack.

6) Awkward situations.

7) Not having decent furniture that would allow me to take clothes out of my suitcase.

8) Waking up to the sound of the Metro North train right outside my window, which then sets off numerous car alarms. New York living I guess.


Overall, I guess it is fair to say that I can not complain too much. Life is good, really different but good. It will take time for me to come to the realization that not only do I live in New York City, but that I am also going to be teaching a group of 7th grade students starting September. I will make every attempt to continue on with this blog, but seeing as how this entry literally took me a number of days to complete I can not make any promises.

I would like to end this entry by saying that today I stood in the middle of the street between The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park and was unable to see the horizon.

First Impressions

Hello. Hello.

It has been quite sometime since I have been able to make a post with any substance. And there is still no time...

I moved to Queens, NY three days ago for Teach For America induction. So far so good. For the induction part of the summer we have been doing a lot of hanging out, meeting new people, various workshops and city activities. I don't want to spend too much time writing on this thing because I don't want to be perceived as the nerd who just sits around on his computer. Therefore i will only highlight certain things from the past few days:

-SO MANY PEOPLE. 580 something to be exact. All recent graduates from various universities and colleges across the U.S. I have been able to meet a number of solid people, which is very humbling and exciting.

-I feel more motivated than ever to be a teacher just based off the small conversations I have had with fellow corps members. I can only imagine once all the educational jargon really begins.

-My two roommates are bomb. Both very, very nice guys. We have been hanging out these past few days and it's been rad. Both different which makes for a great time. My 5 other suite mates are also cool people.

-Did a city scavenger hunt yesterday. Started with a long train ride from Queens to Brooklyn. Man, Brooklyn rules. I got a very Seattle-like vibe from the areas we were in. There is an awesome place called the Tea Lounge which resembled a mix of Online Coffee Co. and Bauhaus.

-Went to the base of the Brooklyn bridge.

-Went to this awesome Caribbean restaurant that is way eco-friendly. They use rain run off for the toilets, a bicycle for the margarita mixer and solar energy!

-Walked around Manhattan last night. Ruled. Had an expensive Chipotle burrito ($7.75!!). Then me and my two roomies (Nate and Patrick) stayed and watched 'The Bride of Frakenstein' in Bryant Park. It was packed and it was awesome.

-Say a dude in a Verse shirt yesterday. Didn't get a chance to talk to him so I wore mine today. His name is Brian and he is edge. Way stoked to talk with him.

-I don't have the following items: a towel, bedding, soap, phone charger or very much time.

-I miss Seattle, and the people there.

More to come in the next couple weeks hopefully. All the insanity of Institute begins on Wednesday. Wishe me luck.