NCEBC

A couple months back my principal came up to me and asked me what my teaching partner and I would think about this opportunity: going to Chicago for a conference called National Council on Educating Black Children (NCEBC) for 4 days (5 nights). I was immediately interested because from the many opportunities our staff has been offered throughout the last couple years, kindergarten teachers have never been included. This was finally our chance. However I did have some hesitations as well because the last couple years in my building have been tense between teachers because of this same topic. We all want to help in closing the achievement gap but the way it's been presented has not been the most welcoming. My teaching partner and I decided it would be an opportunity that we could not refuse (even though we had to write sub plans for 3 days...ugh).

My mindset going into this conference was not resisting or negative but wanting to hear what they had to say and what I can add to my toolbox to reach and help these children as soon as possible. I'm not going to go into every day of the conference but here is a list of things I have learned or am taking back to the classroom with me (please remember that some of these things are common sense for a lot of us teachers, but not all practice it):
1. No matter who and where they come from always have high expectations. Low expectations=low performing students.
2. No ONE program will solve the achievement gap. It has to be a system of supports to make it successful.
3. There NEEDS to be consistency amongst the teachers in regards to behavior management and expectations, curriculum and overall school atmosphere.
4. Let's start young - we are ALL going to college after high school!
5. Building relationships with our students is extremely crucial to their learning process. Buildings relationships with our students' families is just as important. Put yourself out there to make it known to the families you are here to support them in their child's learning. The lack of parent involvement however is not an excuse we need to work with or without it.
6. How to you Hold families responsible for their child's education? They need to want to be a key part of this process.
7. We need to be aware of where our students are coming from. Are they coming to school hungry? Are they in the same clothes as yesterday? Have they showered or bathed recently? Do they have a consistent dinner every night? When I send a snack home do they need to hide it under their bed so they can eat over the weekend? Do they just need a hug and someone to tell them they are loved? We need to build relationships with out students. Is school even discussed at home? Is there that home/school connection? All of this happens daily...
7. We as teachers are all taking this journey as well and no one is smarter or better than the other. We need to learn from each other and have a working relationship I which you can do so .
8. Let's be flexible with everything: our students, our coworkers, how each day goes, problems that arise and how we manage curriculum and instruction. I wear a rubber band on my wrist every day to mind myself of this - do the same if you believe.
9. We need to treat school like a business. We are all coming here to do a job - let's dress and act professionally because that is what we are here to be. This is our job. Business in=business out or garbage in=garbage out.
10. Even though we don't have the same culture and experiences as our students it does not mean that we can not learn, accept and include their cultures into our school/classrooms. We can all still be successful.
11. ALL staff in the building must have high expectations of all students and each other. We also all need to be accountable for holding others to those standards.
12. We need to find ways to promote and recognize all kinds of achievements (attendance, academics, social and emotional...) building wide. (Ties at Urban Prep - buttons)
13. It takes a village and that village takes responsibility.
14. This is a process and there will not be immediate results but we need to stay strong and united every year.

All this info is great but as a colleague asked...where are the tools to use that go with this? What can we take back to our classrooms to use and to create a better more engaging atmosphere? In my next blog I will explain what I am hoping to accomplish not only in my classroom but also throughout the entire school.

Chi-Town

Chi-town for a conference!

Dodged a Bullet

Man am I lucky!

I was at a friends' house for a Friday night fish fry- so yummy and so much fun! It was a fun group of 8 drinking and enjoying our Friday night. Some of the boys were talking about going out afterwards but us ladies didn't plan on that. I was in my Brewers gear with my hair in a ponytail - not in any state to go up bar hopping.

Anyways, we hung out for a while, the boys left to go out and us ladies finished cleaning up the kitchen. After that I ended up driving my way home - took the beltline for some reason - which I never do. In the time I was driving home I received a number of texts from my a guy friend that was downtown and met up with the guys that were at the fish fry. It was only 10:30 and I decided why not go to meet them out? WHY NOT?! I wasn't dressed great but who cares! So I got off the beltline, turned around and got back on quickly and started heading downtown. I turned up the music, belated out some tunes and didn't think about anything. I had no idea that in the dark there was a cop driving right behind me.

Lights come on and at first I am confused but then realize I was speeding on the beltline and not paying attention to anything. I pull over to the left and he comes up right behind me - I hate it when they leave their lights on full blast and we are both stopped - can't they just dim the lights a bit to keep the sting away from being pulled over?

So I sit there for a minute, turn down the music and then realize I need to get my ID and insurance card out. I reach to get my purse and as I am pulling it up it seems a bit light to me...shit I don't have my wallet...

He walks up to the car and at this point I know a ticket is coming my way. He shines his flashlight in my face (even though I had a drink earlier I wasn't feeling it at this point but I was afraid I had red wine teeth) and asks me if I know why he pulled me over. I told him I know I was speeding and I was sorry - I was just rocking out to my music and not paying attention. He told me that he agreed and it was unsafe and that when I got onto the beltline I had recklessly gotten over to the left lane to speed up (little did he know I wanted to get way over and around the old grannies that were driving 10 under, but who am I to argue?). Then he asked for my license...shit....

I lifted up my empty purse and showed him inside and told him that I had grabbed my purse but forgot my wallet in my other purse. Total mistake. He asked for any other ID with my name/picture on it. Of course I have nothing, but thank goodness I DO have my insurance card! I hand that to him and he goes back to his car for a what seems like an eternity.

Finally he comes back and hands me my insurance card. He tells me again how I was speeding, driving 'recklessly' and driving without a license. I would have a $350 ticket on my hands. I apologized profusely, admitted that I was speeding and not paying attention as I was jamming out and that I'd be more careful...so as he handed me the papers he told me that he was giving me a....warning!! OMG I am so lucky I can't believe it! I thanked him again and off he went.

As I pulled away, he did as well and he followed me the whole way until I got off the beltline! Now any sane person would have gone home at this point but I had been texting my friends downtown and they convinced me to come down for a couple to recoup from what I had just experienced - twisted my arm! Now the only question was how I would get into the bars and pay for drinks - another issue for the night...

First bar I go to I usually know the bouncer - but guess what, be wasn't at the door! Some chick was falling around drunk right outside the door causing a scene so I walked in and before he could ask for my ID I told him that he might want to get some help for her...totally worked! Found my friends and they bought me a shot and a drink to celebrate and calm my nerves. After a while they decided to leave and go to another bar...hopefully I can get it!

We went down the street to Merchant and as we were walking in an annoying bigger man was walking out that I know through Magnet (social networking). I said hello immediately and chatted with him to walk back in with me and cover me from the bouncers - totally worked but now I was stuck with bad-breath-annoying man! We ended up saying our goodbyes and again my guy friends bought me drinks.

All in all it was a great night, but I was so lucky and definitely dodged a bullet. This was a wake up call to me and I am sure to drive more carefully from now on - especially if I am to buy a new RED car this summer!

Wing Man

A bunch of girls and I went out last night. I had gone out the night before so I was not in it for the long haul but thought why not go out for a drink or two?! Need to keep putting myself out there!

We went to DLUX first - I love that place. It has such a cool vibe and it feels like you're in Chicago or New York. It was kind of dead so we decided to head to Merchant a block down. It was also kind of dead there but it started heating up more as the night went on. Merchant ended up being the place to be because more and more people came that I knew! It was super fun and I ended up talking with a guy for a while (let's call him Mr Shorty). He seemed pretty cool and we got along well. After a while though he ended up going to talk to another girl (even though he had gotten my number already)...not cool dude.

Then we ended up going to where we always seem to go...Madison's. We were waiting in line to get in and who skips the entire line to get in with us...yep Mr Shorty and he's super drunk. I'm not into him anymore at this point and then he pulls out a cigarette and is asking everyone in line for a lighter because his matches keep blowing out! I told the bouncer as he was letting us all in that he wasn't with us :) Hehe.

Now Madison's can either be super ghetto and not fun, or it can be a good time with lots of good-looking people. It was super busy in the bar and I noticed there were actually a lot of potentials! I was excited about that but because of some previous drama within the group I didn't have the wing men in my girls I needed! I also didn't really feel like drinking at this point and thought I'd try this all sober - maybe not a good idea because then I wasn't as social as I normally am. I made eye contact with one guy but he ended up being there with another girl. I chatted with another guy while he was at the bar getting a drink and I thought it was going well but I turn around to talk to one of the girls and when I turn back he's gone! I tried to move around so I'd be closer to a third guy and he seemed like he wanted to talk to me but I ended up getting pulled out of the bar to go across the street! Three strikes and I'm out.

Now usually as many of you know, I'm a pretty outgoing person and quite aggressive when it comes to something I want. Lately I've been thinking about that and it hasn't worked yet so maybe I should change my game? I would totally have gone up to these guys and said something but I am so unsure of myself lately that I don't know if that would work anymore! I also usually have one of my best friends with me and she rocks at being a wing man. She helps me scope out the scene, moves closer and 'bumps' into guys I'm interested in, and sometimes she just goes up and starts talking to them! Just what a single girl needs!

So anyways we go across the street to another bar. We walk in and I instantly see that there is nothing interesting here. The place is practically dead and I am tired and disappointed that I wasn't successful at the previous bars. I decide to head home at this point...it just wasn't my night...

My Work - Chapter 1 (1-10)

I am a teacher and I am proud to be a teacher. I have wanted to be an educator since I was five years old. When I was in college I never thought that I would like to teach kindergarten so I did not look down those avenues at first. But as time went on I decided to get my degree in pre-K through sixth-grade. Little did I know I would be teaching kindergarten with one of my best friends for over six years now. I have grown to love the grade that I teach and value my time with those children and my coworker so so much. I strive to be a better person and teacher for my past, present and future students and for all my coworkers around me. Although we might not all get along, I do believe that we are all here for the same reason and even though we might not all have the same work effort and motivation, we care about our students and want only the best for them. For those teachers that don't have that effort - I feel they need to move on and let other young teachers with motivation and eagerness to come in and make a difference.

This leads me into my next discussion about my job. Most teachers work so hard and so long and put in time that we don't expect to be made up or paid for. I know that we complain about this constantly and people are annoyed with it but it means something to us (otherwise we wouldn't be talking about it!). Please let me take the time here to list and explain just exactly we do for our students, families and others around us.

1. We get together over the summer when we are not paid and discuss the future and what this next year holds for us. We plan events, field trips, curriculum and much more to make sure that we reach our students' needs. Yes we have the summers off, but we don't get paid for them and wouldn't you need time off for spending 9.5 months with children that aren't yours?

2. We purchase items all year round with our own money (not only during the school year but also in the summer) to help aid us in teaching our students literacy, social studies, math, science, and social situations.

3. On average we spend 7 to 8 and even 9 hours with our students. We make a huge difference on these children's lives and the weight on our shoulders is always there. The pressure to succeed and have our students succeed will never go away. Sometimes we even spend more time with our students than their parents do...

4. In lower income schools however, we are often dealing with families that do not want to communicate with schools. I call home to talk to them about their child and the phone is not connected anymore. I walk home with the students but I am not allowed in the house. I want to send a note home with the child and it is ripped up right away. The child brings homework home and wants to try to complete it and instead they get a "whooping." Will we ever break that barrier? How do we get families to care about being a part of their child's education?

5. The first 5 years that I was a teacher I spent hours after school not only working on new activities for my students but also working on learning the curriculum and learning how to better meet the needs of every single one of my children. Some learn better in small groups, some learn better in large groups, some learn better individually, how am I supposed to meet the needs of all the students? This is something that we are challenged with everyday. In your job how do you meet the needs of every single person that comes into your office? Do you make the same plan for every person? No, you meet that persons' needs and wants - exactly what we do, except for 16-20 different children every single year. In my 8 years of teaching, I have taught 144 students so far...that's a lot!

6. I am constantly going on the Internet and Pinterest to search for new activities for my students to do during math or literacy centers. I'm always trying to find the next best idea on how to teach beginning sounds, vowels, end sounds, blends, phonemic awareness, rhymes, sight words, counting, adding, subtracting, ordering, taking turns, etc...

7. Centers are activities that the children can do independently for a certain amount of time. When the bell rings they clean up their center and move onto the next center. In the picture attached, the pocket chart I have created is to help the children decipher what center is theirs using the picture cues. The black lines on the chart decipher which level they are at - left is high, middle is medium, and the right is low. Most to all of our students have no idea the pocket chart is leveled like this. During this time, we are teaching small group reading groups, which is also differentiated based on how they are doing and what level they are reading at. All of these pictures are created by me and my teaching partner. We are constantly trying to think of new ideas and new centers for our students to do to reach these needs: rhyming, first sound, last sound, rhyming, consonant-vowel-consonant, letter matching, sound matching, sentence writing, computer, listening, writing workshop, dictionary, creative writing, and so so so much more. We have been thinking about writing a book for some time now but centers just keep changing constantly to keep things interesting. Got any ideas for me?!

8. There are science and math nights at school and we are expected to come. This is not just a job that we can go to from 7:30 until 3:00. We are expected to stay later and are expected to come at night. Don't get me wrong this is not something that we don't want to do but we also need to have lives of our own.

9. Being in a low poverty school we often have students that do not eat much at home or do not get a chance to have a lot of sustenance at home. I am constantly buying snacks or getting snacks from friends to send home with them at nights and on weekends. Some even tell me that they hide their snacks under their bed so they are able to eat it and don't have to share with everyone. They have to be selfish in order to eat the food so they don't have growling stomachs all weekend. Do you come across a lot of people like that? Would you be willing to donate money or food to give children the food that they want and deserve at home? Of course you would.

10. I buy ink for my printer consistently throughout the year because I want to print things off in color and that's the only way. My ink cartridges cost $60 every time, and I have to refill it every couple of months...

There will be more to come (will try to explain 100!) but please understand that I am being completely honest and we do so much more than we tell. Not trying to bitch about my job because I love what I do, but I want people to understand exactly what we do for our future generations...

Update on Bachelor

I've been getting a lot of questions about what has happened since that crazy night so here is an update...

I have not heard from him again - thankfully - and have not seen his ugly gold SUV near or on my street (guess I should have listened to my sister when she said never trust a man with a gold car!). I have since quit match, but have also reported him to the Match.com people. Not sure what they do with that info but I gave them the link to my blog and basically asked them if they think someone like that should be on their site. Boom.

I have not seen him around town, but about a week ago a friend of mine was at the same fundraiser as he was. She said he was with a girl and I felt bad for her (even though she was a bit 'trashy'). No woman should ever go through what had to endure. About 2 hours later my friend texts me to tell me that his date ditched out and he was circling the place trying to find her. Haha YES! Totally what he deserves - to be shit on over and over again!

No new dates here though either...kind of in a draught...stay warm!

Goals

Having goals is a practice we all take part in throughout our entire lives. Goals to graduate school, get a job, find that special someone, lose weight and continue to grow our families. Goals are there to keep us motivated and on "the right track," whatever that may be...

I have of course taken part of creating and reaching most of my goals in life. They are ever changing and I still have some to overcome. I graduated from college, got a good job in a city I love, bought a home, graduated with a masters degree and have friends whom I trust with my life. We all have things we are proud of, but are there some goals you're still working towards? Something you have not obtained yet?

As you know from my previous entries, I have been working at my goal of finding the man meant for me. I have such wonderful people around me that fulfill my life, but I want a partner, I want to find my person. It's been a LONG and TOUGH road and although I have been beaten down and pushed around, I will get back up and try again and again.

We all have goals and although the end seems far far away and it doesn't look good, please have confidence in yourself and the power you have to do whatever you want with your life. I will just keep trucking on....

When you reach your goal(s) what will you do?