On Top of My Game

It's week three of school.  I just finished a 2.5 hour planning session, but now I am currently totally planned out up to next Friday.  That's 10 days from now.  Sure, I might have some minor changes to make before then, like coming up with a solid way to present the new lesson on finding the Least Common Denominator next Wednesday, but that's a week away - future Jonathan can deal with that.

I have my assessments written up to that point, I have my daily plan laid out up to Christmas, my grading system this year has been phenomenal, my students are starting to get the flow of my class down, they have been acing their exit slips, and homework turn in has been hovering at 50+%.  Not amazing, but a FAR CRY away from the ~0.1% I had at this point last year.

Today my Technical Elective classes started.  My students are stoked, as am I, to the potential of these classes.  There are no boundaries for the class, and we can literally discuss any topic that they want to in the class.  Since I have two, I'm going to have one that is focused on the Newspaper, and the other will be focused on the Yearbook.  I have pledged support from the administration in these areas, and I believe the necessary funding will come through to make them happen.  I'm so excited for these technical elective classes - they are such an unloaded burden from the State Standards based math classes - a true break in my day.  And the kids were SO excited to come in to my class today and get started, it truly was energizing.

Did I mention that I'm coaching the baseball team?  Three hours, every day after school until about the end of September.  Granted, the majority of the kids have never picked up a bat or ball before, but it's still been a lot of fun.  Sure, it's frustrating at times, but the best part about this frustration is that now when they get on my nerves, I just start them running.  It's somewhat gratifying.  Our first game is on Thursday, and we are definitely not ready.  Although to be fair, I think even if our first game was next March, I still don't think we'd be ready. Yes, we have that far to go.

And my credentialing?  It's done!  I have no classes during the week that I'm required to go to, no 1.5 hour drives across the bay Bridge to Oakland just to spend 3 hours sitting in a classroom before coming back to San Francisco, having wasted a good 5-6 hours of my night.  No worthless, mindless paperwork to write, regurgitating the most pointless drivel to fill up 30-40 pages of TPA goodness.  I am so glad that is done.

People keep asking my how this year compares to last.  Truly, there is NO comparison - they just aren't even in the same league.  This status is most definitely subject to change, but I'm really feeling on top of my game right now.

Beyond the Surface

This week has been great.  Great in the sense that I have literally only had to teach two periods, and then the other two are my support classes where I adjust my lesson as necessary and don't really prepare anything.  But the other two periods I'm supposed to have a class?  Remember the insanity of Monday?  Well, they got my schedule figured out, and I'm supposed to start teaching two technology classes.  However, the classes won't actually get populated until next Tuesday, and since it's an elective, only the students I want to be in there, will be.  So I've essentially had two bonus periods with nothing to do all week in addition to my regular prep period.  I've loved it.

In my time without classes, I've taken to writing a couple blog posts (note the time stamp on this one), as well as do some things around the school.  Like visit the new teachers, check in with them to see how they're doing, see what they need in order to help them feel effective, and offer support where I can.  And I have absolutely loved it, I've loved being able to see my students in other classes, to talk with them, get a feel for the class, help clarify issues that they might be having in the class, and I've loved getting a feel for the other teachers. 

We have a lot of new teachers here, and they're each experiencing various levels of success.  But what's even more amazing to me is to realize how much I have grown in my own teaching abilities after just a year of teaching.  I can walk into their classrooms and quickly see things that are effective, things that could be improved, and areas for growth in instruction and clarification.  After one year... Last year at this time I was hanging on to dear life by the skin of my teeth.

In addition to having spent a lot of time observing other teachers, spending time with my kids has really enabled me to see how much I have come to love and respect them over the last year.  Yeah, this is kind of mushy, but it's so true.  I see some of these new teachers in the same shoes I was in last year, getting frustrated with the students, with the class, and with themselves, and I see how they treat the students, and recognize that they're doing so out of sheer frustration, and not individual rancor.  And I feel that I can often look back to the situation to realize the root of the conflict between the teacher and the student, and feel it a lot more from the eyes of the student. 

Granted, I have about 203979872352596781 issues that I'm still trying to tackle in my own classroom and things are far from perfect, but it truly is enlightening to be able to see that there is so much going on beyond the surface here with these kids here in this largely dysfunctional environment.  They really do grow on you.

A Caring Administration

I just spoke with one of the administrators at my school.  I could tell she was a little preoccupied on something, since she was walking swiftly and had this look of grim determination on her face.  I didn't want to take long, so I caught up to her and said said "Hey, I have a quick question for you..."

And before I could get another word out of my mouth, she said "Nope.  I don't have time right now."

Awesome, just awesome.  What a great work environment.

Conflict of Schedule

Last Friday, I caught wind of a possible change in the schedule for the coming week.  There were words thrown around like "4 computer lab classes" and "possible elective courses" when discussing what my schedule was going to be like.  But nothing was ever solidified, and I left Friday without a clue what was going to happen with my own schedule come Monday.

Evidently, so did everyone else.

We got to school today, and in good 'ol WB fashion, there was awesome pandemonium as the students all attempted to figure out what their schedules were for the day.  No one had any clue, including many of the students who, for some reason had two 3rd period classes, and two 5th period classes.  I just shrugged my shoulders and rolled with the punches.  The version of me a year ago in this situation would have been pulling his hair out with anticipation.  The version of me today, well, he just figured he'd make it work.

Turns out, my classes had only been "scheduled" in the loosest sense of the word, and I ended up not even having a 4th and 5th period today.  I didn't complain.

What I did do, however, was head down to the counseling center, and offer my services to help fix the master schedule.  The counseling center was pretty chaotic, and I know that they hadn't had a chance to even think about the schedule due to the innumerable crisis that they are continually having to address.  My offer was appreciated, but apparently dismissed.

Until about 20 minutes later when I got the call.  I was up.  So I went to the center, asked some questions for about 15 minutes, and then headed back to my room to get things straightened out.  Approximately 45 minutes later, I took back a fully functional, fixed master schedule.  I don't know if it'll be used, but I'll find out tomorrow.

Just another day at the WB.

Day Two

Today was Day Two of the new school year.  Guess what the most extraordinary thing has been thus far?  The fact that nothing crazy has happened!  I can hardly believe it - my classroom isn't the epitome of perfection, but when you compare where I am this year on Day Two with where I was last year - well, the comparisons aren't even close!

On another note, we had our second "casualty" for the school year thus far.  I heard that one of the teachers yesterday had a really rough time with a couple of the classes, and I guess it was just too much for her, and she didn't come back.  It pains my heart to know that my students can act in such a manner, but honestly after I heard about the things that happened in her classroom - it's EXACTLY where I was last year after Day One.

If I have anything to say about Teach For America, that is definitely one thing that comes from its members - a desire to persist!  If I hadn't made that two year commitment to stick it though, I probably would have quit last year after my first day as well.  Anyhow, I'll keep my eyes peeled as I wait for the other shoe to drop.  Maybe it won't, but surely that's just wishful thinking...

New School Year's Eve

10 hours and counting.  Wish me luck.

And so it begins

7 days.  And counting.  I can't even begin to fathom how quickly this summer has gone.  Tomorrow I'll be back in the classroom, but I won't be teaching.  Not yet.  But soon, how time will fly.  And all that I have to say right now to you, my readers, is buckle up!  Get pumped for the incredible tales of excitement, disbelief, amazement, and adventure that I will be posting on a semi-daily basis - straight from my 6/7 grade math classroom.

So, subscribe to my blog, or bookmark it using any of the available URL's (thetfablog.com, theteachforamericablog.com, or still at jonathan.woahn.com, although I can't say for how long that one will be there), curl up with a nice hot beverage, hit the refresh key often, and prepare to be blown away.  I know I am, I can hardly wait.

Interesting side note - the lady in the stock picture above looks kind of like Wendy Kopp, the founder of TFA, to the right.  I think it's pretty similar to what her face would look like after reading my blog.  I'd summarize her expression as "incredulous endearment".  You?