Response to Lean on Me High’s Letters to File which were never filed

DISCLAIMER. This becomes relevant because my official chancellors hearing about this matter happens at the end of the month. The matter is technically already resolved. My U-ratings have been rescinded by the school but I would really like my back pay. The principal that I had issues with and that made my life hell for weeks has early retired. As of last week. This truly shows that this chick was there for the children.

This letter is to serve as a response to a letter to file dated January 17^th, 2012.

When I began my time at Mott Hall High School, the 10^th/11^th grade English classes were absolutely in disarray. School support staff, and the students informed me that they had several teachers during the year, two somewhat long term, and several ATR’s. Despite the lack of any formal structure or objectives, I assumed role of lead teacher for several weeks until Ms. Jones arrived as their formal appointed English teacher. At that time, I had been informed that two of the classes were to be ICT/CTT classes, which came as a shock because for the duration of the time I served as the students teachers, I worked alone. After handing over the classroom to Ms. Kooky, I often times worked with her in the 5^th and 8^th period classes. The 5^th period class became more of a regular mainstay because the 5^th period class was problematic, in more than one way. In the subsequent paragraphs, I will detail a few of the main issues that I have encountered teaching at this school, emphatically without support

The most major problem with 5^th period was the impossible task of teaching a class with 44 students (see attachment.) Room 409 does not have adequate space for that many bodies. Sometimes we didn’t have enough chairs. Other times, classroom management was quite frankly impossible; circulating the room was nearly impossible, and being attentive to the needs of the various groupings that I had planned for the students was near impossible, and any sort of group work for the students often times broke out into deafening proportions, even when it was good talk. The arrangement of tables was not mine or Ms. Jones to define as we were only in that room for one period of the day. Clearly, that decision would be for Ms. Awesome Spanish as we all acknowledge that to be her classroom.

The second problem with period 5 was the high concentration of serviced students. I had not been informed of which students had any IEP’s. At the original roster of 44 students, there were at least 21 students receiving services. As it were the array of IEP’s or serviced students ranged from ELL students to some students with IEP’s clearly stated that they were defiant to authority.

Finally, the only time that Ms. Kooky and I shared in common were during Professional Development or during the classes we shared together; when I was prepping, she was teaching and vice versa. Even when we both stayed late after school, there would be no time for common planning, she had students that were below credits that were assigned to her and even if there had been time when they hadn’t show up, it would be futile because she was still adapting to our student body and any preparation or extra time when she didn’t have to take work home was reasonable , as I would provide coverage for teachers who were out. Inside the classroom, this also became something tough for the children students to comprehend as often times, two strong individuals were weakened because a lack of unified direction. The lessons I prepared, which I gave to Ms. Kookjy with annotated points, and reference materials often were not reviewed, and rarely would Ms. Kooky take the lead for a multitude of reasons that I can not speak to. In any event,

When things somewhat become consistent, I and Ms. Kooky etched out a plan. Well rather I, but she didn’t object mostly and those objections that she raised were answered whole heartedly. The overall conclusion being that the only way to achieve a more functional, and meaningful environment was to lessen the number ofI asked AP Wishy-Washy if I could locate a classroom not being utilized would it be ok.

Before the actual schism happened, I was given coverage for a teacher who had a family emergency. Immediately this meant that Ms. Kooky would be left without a SpEd or ICT teacher for the oversized 5th period class. Upon seeing the student roster for the 5th period class that I would be covering, instantly I knew that I had a light bulb cartoon-ishly appear over my head. This was a chance for me to be able to give my students a chance to demonstrate who they were and their abilities in a setting that wasn’t chaotic. The 23 or students that I rotated out of the library were either ready or willing or not able to show that they really wanted to be there. I could see them under a microscope Some This was tried out during a week where I covered a SETSS class of 2 students. The SETSS class were students were also studentsI taught in other classes; the ones I didn’t teach were happy to have a study period to tackle homework or other assignments. All the SETSS students seemingly had no qualms with me staying out of their way for the period. In fact, one student even joined in to covered their needs while dually taking half of the students out of 413. In the library I was able to rotate the students who in fact wanted me to fail and the ones who knew that my only desire was for them to be prepared for life. After this micro experiment (which might I add was encouraged by Mr. Wishy-Washy, who’s title was AP of Security, I can even recall him saying to me

“That’s a lot of fucking kids in that room.”

Had I known that the AP’s had different tasks under their purview, I would have also sought out Ms. Cleo. Who editor’s note has apparently retired before the end of the year permission or assistance. However, with the chain of events as they were, being- Mr. Wishy-Washy’s approval, Ms Kooky’s blessing, the Main Office’s hope for a quieter day and having identified room 413 as available, a plan was devised to separate the students into two groupings based on what we found to be our strong points in instruction. Differentiation was called for in the most bad ways.

It was decided or agreed upon that the students under my charge would be receiving instruction in lessons designed primarily focused on literature and creative writing based lessons, and Ms. Kooky’s lessons would be focusing more on grammar, and shorter literature pieces. At some unidentified point, we would rotate groups, if were felt that it would be beneficial to the students. Thus, I spent days looking at the list of students, and with Ms. Kooky approval or requests for students, the groupings for the differentiated and separated classes were cemented. The matrix of students would include all levels of students according to their abilities and their demonstrated capabilities according to cooperative work and groupings which I established even before Ms. Kooky’s sudden appearance. To reiterate, each grouping would have similar numbers of mainstreamed and IEP/serviced students.

In room 413, my students were put through their paces, with an intensive unit I had crafted about the perception of self in society. Students under my charge were given challenging, and socially relevant readings and assignments that allowed them to explore themselves. In the smaller setting, the 17 or 18 students were given the chance to read aloud, ask meaningful questions; they could really roll back their sleeves and dig into the materials. Every student was included.

Thus the direction to unify the groupings was both disappointing, and quite frankly impossible to plan considering the pacing of each unite grouping.

At the meeting of ICT teachers (which did not include teachers of all classes that should receive ICT instruction,) I voiced concerns about class size and room to instruct, lack of common planning, lack of adequate teaching materials, and access to the files detailing what the student”s IEP explicitly were. After Ms. Morgan offered suggestions as to models of Co-Teaching, I again voiced concerns regarding the level of planning that the model of Alternate Teaching would take, considering mine and Ms. Jones’s schedule, but this again was unanswered. After the meeting of ICT teachers, we attempted two instances of unifying the classes, and each time was an utter disaster. I acknowledge that on these two occasions there was a disappointing lack of instruction, and the students pleaded with Ms. Jones, and I to separate the groupings.

During this time, I was finally granted access to the IEP folders in Ms. Grammerican’s office, and discovered information that was left me in a quixitic situation; several of the students IEP’s state explicitly services that would simply not be possible in the unified class. While they may be recommended for ICT services, their IEP’s directly state that large classroom settings such as the one that would occur in room 409 would be completely damaging to their development and goals. Also, until Ms. Kooky was apprised of the specific needs of the IEP/serviced students and what differentiations and adaptions would be needed to lessons (which had not even been discussed nor mutually planned out) well joining the classes would be harmful to all students, gen-ed and disabled alike.

Furthermore in regards to Commissioner of Education’s 200.6 Continuum of Services, it is declared that in an ICT the number of students with disabilities should not be more than 40% of the classroom or at a maximum limit of 12, or in extreme cases, 13 if granted state notice and approval. The number of students on the original class roster totaled 20, and never dropped below 15 for the entire semester. In this situation, there was not a clearly defined “right” answer.

That is to say, on one hand, It would have been much easier and less of a risk to my career to rejoin the groups and do my best to avoid the deplorable situation that lead to the split. While on the other, I could continue the less obtrusive approach of instructing students while continuing to search for a method of instruction that would best service all the students in the classroom. While I would have still searched for viable options to instruct students in the unified classroom, I fear that by the time I found one, the damage may have been done. As it stands, the past four days in room 409 have been a nightmare for everyone involved (as I feared it would.) Despite requests for Ms. Kooky lesson plans, or time, I received neither. At some point unbeknownst to me, I would have designed something but as I assumed that as the Gen-Ed English teacher that she would take point. And when I tried to assist even with writing a do now, I received a letter to file.

Given the directions received and the level of support I received, I decided to choose the that allowed me to create a learning environment that provided meaningful and positive impacts on student learning This was not a decision made to be oppositional or defiant. It was not a decision made without angst or careful personal evaluation. Had I received more assistance in strategies that could feasibly allow me to follow instructions by my supervisors, and effectively achieve the best educationally fostering space of the students in my charge, I would have chose differently.

Op-Ed Response

Op-ed Response

I blinked when I first read this a few weeks ago.

Though about 70 percent of city students are black or Hispanic, from 2006 to 2012 the two groups, combined, were offered only about 15 percent of the seats at the specialized high schools, according to the Education Department.

A little askew right? Numbers aren’t mine thing; if they were I wouldn’t be so broke all the time. But I know 70% off. I shop that bin quite frequently. 70% seems like a much smaller number considering years have gone by when I haven’t seen a self-identified caucasian student (though most of the teachers I’ve worked with are.)

And it’s been on my head a lot, and then I read an OP-Ed about the same thing, and something has been burning in me fierce for the past few hours.

Note II: The Article in which I am talking about can be found here.

On the NYPOST website. I know.

The first commentary in this topic regarding “the NAACP’s lawsuit against STHSAT” is full of unneccessary-ness. I can’t really express my disgust at the venom he carries regarding the lawsuit. I am not really up for engaging every point he says in a point, counter point way, but I must implore him to look at the facts of the situation.

The NYC Public school system is overwhelmingly minority. Not just any minority but Black, and Hispanic- and then the rest of the races filter in. There are weeks that I’ve gone by without seeing a white child, and if there if there are Asian students, they most certainly do not number such to claim the majority in a classroom. I’ve also seen firsthand that the Catholic Schools of New York, also have a seemingly overwhelming minority population (primarily hispanic.)

Enrollment data from the Dept. of Ed. shows that of the NYC Schools over half are overwhelming (90% or more) of just one race class, being Black or Hispanic. Thus that puts the number of schools roughly somewhere near 800 that are purely separated by one single minority. Now consider this statement, there are another 500 hundred schools that are 75% of both races combined. Thus by randomly picking the top students at most school and filling them in proportionally at Honors/Specialized High Schools – those schools should reflect the population of the City that it serves in some way. Yet, Asians hold most of the spots, then followed by whites, then blacks and then hispanics. The situation is highly reversed from what the typical school looks like. Anyone who thinks that there is nothing wrong with this situation must still believe that racial bias died with Brown Vs The Board of Education. Separate but Equal was disproved as anything but in 1954, why does anyone not see the equivalency in the situation now.

If it’s been proven to show that the CollegeBoard’s SAT has a racial slant in the stories and words used, then why can’t it be feasible to believe that the Specialized High School Admission Tests ShSAT’s can have the same bias. This wouldn’t be the first time that the courts have ruled against a public authority in NYC- the Firefighter’s exam was deemed racially biased in 2012 and millions were awarded to minority applicants.

It is possible that both social and economic conditions as well, as a biases in the test can contribute to situation at hand. There are other things tearing at our social fabric but to subtly suggest that a race or “Welfare” card is being thrown around- it is almost morally irredeemable in an argument. Contrary to what the lead dissenter has said, there are in fact single parent homes of all races, and all family sizes that struggle and push their children to strive harder.

This has gotten overly long and I would like to revisit this soon. However, the fact of the matter is, there is clearly something wrong when in a public system in one of America’s richest cities, that the coveted spots, the Faberge eggs of students that should be shining as examples for the hardest of stones. Really, all school should be amazing, and ideally all students would be motivated but they aren’t. When Bloomberg dismantled G&T programs and set the standard for entrance to schools at a number he failed the essay portion of what it means to be involved in teaching. More and more we are telling our children that the raw score counts but that is not the only thing that will make your grade. We are being impressed that assessment should come in different forms; not everyone knows how to game a test, but showing that you can apply the skills instead of rote recall has its merits. What Math teacher hasn’t said show your work! On the Regents, you have to demonstrate the steps to arriving there. The damned test isn’t maker or breaker of life- Steve Jobs didn’t finish college. And who hasn’t heard of a musician who doesn’t read well, but plays beautifully? Or an artist that doesn’t know everyone Expressionist but can show you in practice what could not be reduced to answers A-D. Wasn’t Good Will Hunting about this?

Even now, NY State moves towards a portfolio assessment of its teachers skills, to gauge their teaching skills because testing just wasn’t enough. Sure,a nice score has its merits, but just because someone isn’t able to recall everyone of Dewey’s educational principals doesn’t mean that they are not familiar with other techniques. Nor does recalling every principle mean that you can put them into action effectively.

There’s not a thing yet as a perfect test, yet. Especially for large groups. Which means we need to tailor the tests and make sure that we are giving he right test for the right person. The GRE has learned that with its adaptive reasoning ability. My thoughts are not for a quota or something like that. I believe just as one commenter suggested that EVERY student should have access to tutors or help to get into these schools or high quality programs. Hell, I couldn’t afford that. That’s several Ipads. And a few Ipad mini’s too. Or a good used car. I’ve watched some hard-working, smart children sit in classes that are ruined by kids who didn’t want to be there, who would rather be chilling out in the hood or something, but because they are forced to be there they are. I’ve personally have left work frustrated as all hell because I couldn’t give more time to a student who was there and ready and saying “teach me” but little Johnny Brat- whose parents are by no means poor or crack friends-decided that that was the period to play football.

NYC has pushed for Inclusion of Special Education children into General Education classes so why not give General Education ranked children who show the aptitude the chance to excel and thrive in these specialized programs; I think that’s a fair solution, and if they start falling or can’t keep up, then at that time, let’s reassess their options. Let’s make an IEP for their “handicap” in this situation. But this quote “the score’s, the score and life ain’t always fair” that Bloomberg said, is the score is nonsense. Why modify with “life aim’t always fair” unless there is something unbalancing the ground.

I’m really curious to see where the Mode (the number that appears the most) Score of the underrepresented minorities lie. Is there even one, or are they just missing the slightly. But there’s no way that you can tell that there are entire districts in the 5 boroughs where there were no students who scored well enough to even sit for the exam. 65% of students don’t have access to these schools.

Blink.

Again, I’d like to revisit this, but something clearly is wrong.

For some additional reading, check out this New York Times Article. This article contains the lead in quote I used.

[Chester Kent]

No confidence in them

No Confidence In Them (subtitled I tried.)

The job assignment was for a few days. Couldn’t really turn down the opportunity to be a real teacher, to build rapport with students, to gossip and have chit chat with colleagues in the teacher salvation panic room and just be stable but not stationary.

The job assignment was English. Not common branches. There were no assignments or notes in the system, which is not any different than how it normally is. I did my research on InsideSchools.org, and I looked at similar schools in the area. I grabbed my lesson plan template, and looked at what other teachers across the nation had posted in reference to that age group. 6th grade for a week or so. Just girls. I coached myself to it, but knew that the only way to really know, would be after the first day there.

The morning of, I donned a tie and even considered wearing a blazer, or sports coat underneath my winter coat. Sure, I’d probably be burning alive on the train, and for the quick walk that I’d have to take, but all would be well.

As the third alarm of the morning shrieked from my phone, I became anxious. The third alarm is the proximity to the door alarm. The third alarm is meant to remind me that my bag should be packed, and that everything that i need better be in their because when that fourth alarm goes off, it’s all “GOOO.” As Lady MacBeth said to to MacBeth to encourage him to do something most would consider crazy, I know that the forth alarm is screaming “Screw thy courage to the sticking place.” (Just do the damn thing, yo.) And I got ready to leave, I realized that I had been the one screwed. The school address of the one to which I would report was different, and incredibly much farther than the one that I had anticipated going to. By about an hour and fifteen minutes.

The tie was in my pocket as I hurried to the subway, and pondered how I could make this mistake. The answer…..Easily I Hadn’t. The school which I reported to had been originally been something else. But for whatever reason they had that name taken from them because of performance and another school was publicly using it. The school of “Raving Girls who DOn’t Care” thought used the name in the system still because it sounds better than the school for “Raving Girls Who Don’t Care” and because of such they were able to still recruit people to come there. The payroll secretary shrugged her shoulders when I mentioned the mix-up and address in the system. She said she’d need to get around to it, but year afterwards is “C’mon, who are you fooling?> Especially when you meet the girls.

Part 2 is coming…..

Time

Time

I feel like a hypocrit because I ask my students to write about the most EXTRA or non related things (related to their lives) on a daily basis. Studies have shown that those people who are immersed in a language or have to actively use that language are just far more fluent in that language and in others. I feel that this fluency is because there is a need to be understood. Not necessarily fit in; everyone, even in their most precious memory of memories would love to share memory, and everyone loves when that memory is possibly or actually shared beyond the details of a calendar date.  If you read  the poem “The Day She Died” by Frank O’Hara,  you would understand what I mean.  In the poem, O’Hara describes everything he did until he read a newspaper that informed him that one of his favorite singers died.   When you are old enough to recognize the importance of a person, you can recall where you were when you learned that they weren’t.   I was 20 and working at IHOP when I learned my friend David died.   I was 22, when a person I barely knew told me that my friend Steven had died.   Steven had made my life in New York City possible.

Steven  was Steven.   Dirty, nasty, kinky, all those incorrigible terms that on some online profile he probably used about himself betray that in actual reality he had  a heart of gold.   The details of how we met are seedy, but how we became friends involved tales of my life, and stories about his mother.  The only caveat about factoring me into his life was his Shelty – a cruelly aged bitch he named “Sherrie.”  (Though if you told me Sherrie had been around before JFR or FDR, I’d be hard pressed to argue the opposite.)  Time and life, and Steven and I made choices, and just as crucial and important was Steven’s sex schedule, suddenly it was not, and he and I found ourselves on separate islands on this island.

The parts of his life that occurred while I was busy establishing my own life  were told me to via internet and  phone, and I could not move, and thus I remained naked in bed with a partner whom Steven didn’t care much for.  Yet, my partner read my body language and ironed my slacks and looked for a pen when I suddenly needed one for an address.  Time tells me this story wants to consume more adjectives on Dan, or about my trip on the LIRR, or METRO North to some  funeral home/chapel in Long Island unreachable other than by car.   There is a vacuum where the details about how far out I had to travel and how lonely it felt being there with his coworkers;  I had slept on his couch for 5 months but  walking into the service I could see no one that knew me.  But then emerged  his mother,  and that November before I moved here,  I had met his mother.  She had read me some of her poetry.  She coined a new word….”lonlicholy;”  To be lonelicholy is to be somewhere between meloncholy and lonely.  Lost but not so lost that you would trust a stranger.   She knew of everyone there, and had recalled their names and Steven mentioning them,  but she remembered me.  And we held each other’s hand as we remembered him.  I wanted to tell her I couldn’t be who I am without him but I didn’t know how much he told her about what he did.  Or who he did.  And all that seems more personal than necessary.  It is of those small details I would love to share that it seems as if those are the hardest to not.

As time has gone on,  I think the same thing about TJ (and our Real World: Paris audition tapes, and of Robert (who let me sleep on his couch when I was literally powerless beyond other thing’s) and I think about Paul’s mom whose home and family I felt welcomed into on holidays when my family was miles aways.  When thinking about  the unfortunateness of  time, I think about my cousin,  Samantha, and  how I would have spoiled her a little more during her visit.  In my head runs the memory that she Spiderman hit on her, and that I was able to say to her “this is my favorite building in New York”  moments slightly before.   It was a Saturday night, or more particularly early Sunday morning when I heard she had been shot.    I had just seen the Avengers movie.

Funny how time and memory goes….. by.  It has been almost a year since my brother died, and I still don’t now how how to include it in my life experiences.   Because the past year of my life didn’t happen according to my notebooks, journals and Facebook.  Sure, there are photo albums dedicated and chronicling the last few days and the time that I spent with him and my family.  But my mind doesn’t allow me to reach for the words or power to make that a year ago.   Even though I’ve asked Chris to help Samantha into the afterlife, how they be can be in the afterlife has so profoundly affected me.   Even now, I realize I can’t talk or conceptualize how to fit Christopher’s passing into this.  Because for him to die is for the part of me that has been reserved for “brother” or “my brother”  to be lost.

When I fully embraced teaching earlier this year, I now realized that it’s because I needed something else.   Upon closer look,  this  “something else” is something is blatantly specific.   It has been for a lot of my life.  In Portland, in the hospital room,  my brother’s ex-girlfriend, and a lot of his friends in fact kept pointing out or saying to me, that he told them I was the smartest person he knew.   Somehow, and in so many ways, I know he felt that.    During my senior year in college, the Professor who taught a class on the works on Nathaniel Hawthorne impressed me by his seemingly unsinkable knowledge of Hawthorne and literature.   In fact, it intimidated me.   I eventually became so stressed when trying to write my final paper, because I felt that I couldn’t bring a new insight;  in response to my nervousness, and falling confidence he said to me “Mr. Bufford, every good teacher knows how to prepare their lesson.   They also know that every lesson can be someone else’s question.”  It wasn’t until this exact second that I type this that I realized that he used my teacher name.   I wrote an overly long, thusly researched  paper (which I’ve kept) that received an A.   It relates to nothing and is the key to everything.

Time has betrayed me. My own hands have betrayed me. I have not done as I teach;  where is the daily writing or the great poems I have typed into my iPad, Pod, and Phone?   I want to make sense of things but sense everyone agrees that we can’t or that in due time perhaps we will.    And I’ve done what I can, and I have tried to ignore events. But I’m over it.   That is, I have failed myself in regards to daily writing.  I have failed myself in terms of communication, and utilizing its potential.

So call the next few posts “Summer School.”  Or at least I will.   With all that’s been going on in the world, I have had an opinion that has been wasted by not showing it’s tangibility.  How can I stand by the words I say, if I don’t say them to empower them.   Some of them will hurt.  But as a soldier with a map with mysterious dots that have been noted but not labeled…well what he  does, I try to avoid .   Looking over my notes, and my thoughts about the last year, I realize that I will never be able to put myself or the situations that have occurred in the past year aside.   I worry everyday that somewhere inside me is the rare cancer that ate my brother away.   Or some ailment that changes my mothers suffering from one thing to another.

I remember watching the episode of South Park titled “You’re getting older” and actually crying.   Of the things I can remember, I can remember everything and nothing about this undying time, where I’ve felt so alive, and feel as if there’s nothing to show for it.   I didn’t go to law school, and I still only know a fraction about Leiomyosarcoma.   I know more about cancer, HIV and AIDS, opportunistic,and inopportunistic infections, reoccurrence of cancer, firearms, Art History, Forensic Science  the inner workings of Housing Code of New York City.  I could tell you how to teach the hell out of any lesson you want to teach.  But what does it mean if I am always projecting it.  If I am always wanting to be available and making myself available?

I don’t know.   I don’t even know if my tooth brush is as coarse as it needs to be but I know I need to brush my teeth.   This, could all third draft to hide my venomous first few.  Or it could be a warning salvo.  Or it could be a plea.  I don’t know.  It’s 7  am, and I’m not fighting alcohol or subcentral.  I’m just  glad to be here, and I wish I was doing as much as I should be with this time.

Either way. Exect some new piece of work from me everyday for the next week.

Things that I’ve discovered this school year I

Things I’ve discovered this school year.   

Of things the things I’ve discovered this school year, nothing of it comes as a shock.  Yes, I am often astonished, but shocked?  This year, I’ve seen that to be a Principal in a NYC School, you have to remain behind the scenes.  Smile for the students, never talk to your staff directly (for fear of being anything other than a rumor) and my absolute favorite thing….to be the Head Principal in Charge well you don’t have to speak English.   It’s true.  I’ve been in professional development wondering if someone could hand me a Rosetta Stone.  This is not because the HPIC was speaking New Literacy Media jargon- no, the HPIC was just speaking Spanish, or doing her best impression of an inside joke.

Rosetta Stone close up. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Oddly, I did learn something positive.  That is and keeping in mind that this stems from the lackluster leadership is that not all assistant principals have to suck.  Obviously, Mr. Cleo at Lean-On-Me High isn’t an example of this.  Nor would her male counterpart, Mr.  Vest, be a good example.  Not to say that he is on the same level of ineptitude as Ms. Cleo; they are on different levels.  She doesn’t know anything,  and while he may or may not, he just doesn’t do much.  But he he was helpful on some occasions.  But he wouldn’t be smart enough to steal a piano.  (See the attached story at the end.)

At the Android school for Nursing that I’ve ended the school year at- there was the Principal Blink and  you’d miss him.  However, he had two more than capable Assistant Principals.  There was AP Hottie Dominatrix and AP Daniellson.  Hottie Dominatrix was effective and tough.  She was nice, but had an air about her.  She was not the one to play with, yet the one to go to whether you were a teacher or student.   I really like her.

 

Mr. Daniellson was the pedagoge whip.  He was in charge of operations.  Thus he had to schedule observations, the Response to Interventions, keep track of all the detentions, and suspensions, and still look good.  It made him uptight or rushed, but understandable because there was tons of shit for him to do.  And he kept his metrics well.   There were a few slip ups during Mock Regents week, but then again, trying to coordinate Mock Exams while keeping ongoing classes for students not taking exams well ongoing…no envy there for his job.   It’s no wonder why on Friday’s he was down the pole like a Fireman, and probably drunk by 3:45.  I like Mr. Daniellson, like Ms. Hottie Dominatrix, he did what he could

Between the two of them, they worked really, really well with each other.   There was something about the school that kept me going back.  I hope to be back there next year too. It’s such an odd contrast.  The Lean On Me School had some really good people navigating the shit storm that was administration and then there were people who clearly were there coasting by, but as long as they sucked, or didn’t know what they were doing, they fit in with administration.  In comparison,  the Android school had it coming together, and the ones who had it together looked like the staff, and the ones who didn’t know what they were doing, kept doing it, and seemed to be ok with their ignorance, and the administration just seemed lost as to how to make them understand what was going on.  Instead, they scaffolded it with extra certified aids but really they just needed to get rid of the awful lead teachers.

 

I want to keep this short, so I’ll come back to the teachers in part II.

 

-Chester Kent

And as promised.  Idiot principal of the day!

 

Talk about hitting a low note.

A former city principal pilfered a Weber grand piano from his own school, costing him his job and a $1,000 fine, the city Conflicts of Interest Board announced yesterday.

Amoye Neblett, a 17-year employee of the Department of Education, hired a private moving company to haul a piano out of its rightful home in his Bronx school and into his Brooklyn residence so he could tickle the ivories in his spare time, COIB said.

Neblett admitted to the board that he did not get permission from any of his superiors before having the instrument shipped out of the Adult Learning Center, where he was principal, in the spring of 2009.

The aspiring Liberace may have been eyeing the grand piano as far back as August 2007, when he accepted it as a donation from another teacher at the school on East Tremont Avenue.

In addition to paying the fine, Neblett resigned and returned the piano to the school in March 2010, COIB said.

In exchange, he was not tried for his actions and did not face any criminal punishment. According to public records, his salary when he left the DOE in 2010 was $70,445 a year.

Because Neblett was not convicted of a crime, he can collect his full, taxpayer-funded pension, city officials said.

Despite his written statement of admission, Neblett disputed the board’s recap of events when approached by The Post yesterday outside his brownstone in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

“That’s just ridiculous; it didn’t happen like that,” he insisted, speaking from his front door in a sleeveless undershirt. “In the position I have, in all the years of service that I’ve given to children and to the adult community, why would I steal a grand piano? It just doesn’t make sense. Anyone who knows me knows that wouldn’t be true. I don’t steal anything.”

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/bronx/principal_hit_with_grand_theft_piano_xeUbydxBR1R6ryK5GmTDkP#ixzz1xdHNiQZP

On co-teaching

Co-teaching

Pluses

An extra set of eyes to help with differentiation and planning for a mixed ability classroom
Extra help with classroom management and discipline
Shared Responsibility

Minuses

Different Teaching Styles
Students may try to “play” one against the other
Clashing Personality
Different Goals

Interesting Question

Who is in charge of Homework
What is the plan in case one of us is absent?
Who is in charge of grades?
Are the potential differentiations fair and equal for all?

One of the things that we as teachers take for granted is that we all have one goal- positive education of our students. We believe in our students and their futures. We believe that everyone who has taken up our profession has the same goal in mind. Unfortunately, it is often our different approaches that bring us into direct conflict with each. This conflict can be seen when a co-taught classroom is created without thinking of the teachers who will teach in it.
Several of the pluses of co teaching are the increased support for all involved. In any classroom teachers make decisions based on sampling and polling the students through questions and spying on paperwork; the extra teacher can facilitate small groups and listen out for good or bad chatter (thus functioning as an extra pair of ears.) With the right model; there can be someone who can see if the pacing of displayed notes is too fast or if the notes are inadequate in design. This potentially translates to an extra mouth/ advocate for students who may not speak out for themselves. Often times students are reticent to speak out in larger classes, but they will flat out asks questions if given the proper attention. Thinking positive, if they were given that extra body, perhaps they would listen to that person explain concepts or ideas in ways that the teacher possibly didn’t fully extrapolate upon (and in turn that person can relay the message in a concise professional way.)
In previous situations where I have been locked into co-teaching with other there has been complete dissonance. Instead of working together, it seems that we often times worked apart planning and it never was on the same project. Often I would do prep work, and print out additional notes for my co-teacher and she would never take the opportunity to read them. Yet, she would jump in during my presentation phrase with answers that were hardly relevant to the task at hand. Ultimately, it began to become a waste of time to in trying to include her. She would never actually take lead or help with grading any work. Eventually, the class needed to be split into two because it was impossible to maintain with one person mainting the entire work load.
In many regards, co teaching is just like any collaborative situation. That is, it’s just like the groupings that we would place our kids into. Goals should be expressly determined. Administrations and teachers should be very aware that the ideal situations on paper may not be that way in reality. They should ask how comfortable they feel with working with another person directly. Other things they should ask is what would you be comfortable in changing in regards to your teaching style? Teachers and administrators should also take notice of a person’s experience and attitude about working with Students with Special Needs. There are a number of variables that can factor into the equation and affect the work day. The UFT website provides numerous links to the various models of coteaching. It also has sample questionnaires for administrators and teachers to answer about their attitudes on co-teaching and a survey that points towards what co-teaching environment they may thrive best in.
Co-teaching can be a great melting pot for students and teachers. However like any good stew it takes time and patience for the flavor to really develop into something satisfying. The problem is, that time is often a commodity that those in the education profession do not have in spades.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow might be my last day. Ms. G who I’ve been replacing for the past two months might come back on Monday. That makes me sad.

Three Pathways to Graduation

Starting 2013, students in NYS will have three pathways to graduate besides the traditional diploma. Currently students have to pass the English regents, earth science or living environment for science, math a and global a and b (as the history requirement.). Students will now additionally be able to choose from a cte diploma (which is for career and technical engineering) and a modified regents with less global history. The reasoning behind this is that “a one size fits all education doesn’t work.”
Seriously? Really? Tell me something new. How do these new diploma options address the needs of sped students or even students who just need reasonable accommodations? How do these new diplomas address the fact that these tests are not reflective of the experiences of students in urban environments?
I don’t see this being anything other than a blip in news. Or maybe a distractor from other recent education stories which haven’t put state testing in a nice light.
I worry that the sped kids and 504 kids will be steered into the CTE courses. Not that that’s a bad idea for some kids, but generally these things end up being wholesale discounting of scores of children who just needed extra help.

Marble Hill Challenge

I logged into subcental and accepted a job about 1.5 hours Away in the Bronx. It appears to be a decent school and the job is for special Ed. According to the website they don’t have self contained classes and so my job should be to assist the generalist.

My inclusion special Ed grad course reading for the night says yep, you’re fucked. Me too. But maybe these kids will be my new ninjas for the year.
Ima try to get an hour of sleep in. I’m excited and nervous-

Every day is a new day. Optimism. Watch this space for whatever tom f uckery I encounter.

Cuz tomfuckery is one of my closest friends .

C. A. K.

Graduate school

The syllabus for this one class says that in 13 weeks we will have read

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This bitch isn’t playing