Señorita in the City: A teacher's blog

To catch a plagiarist

2012-01-29T08:52:00.005-05:00

This week I find myself identifying with these words spoken by Liam Neeson in the movie, Taken.

"What I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills that I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you."

The background: Before we went on winter break, in fact, about 10 days before the break started I assigned a winter break project. I've learned from experience that kids tend to stop coming to school in the few days before a break, so, if I want everyone to do the break project, I need to tell them way in advance.

The project: To choose from a provided list of holidays and celebrations in Spanish speaking countries and write a 3 page research paper, including a picture. I had an awesome list of both holidays related to religious celebrations and non-religious celebrations, holidays from a wide variety of Spanish speaking countries, holidays that had to do with fashion, or animals, or food. In other words, at least one of these holidays should have appealed to every student. I also had a list of suggested things to write about.

The details: Once again my experience kicked in. Although this assignment is for a Spanish class, I asked for my students to complete the assignment in English. Why? I explained to them, they simply don't have the level of Spanish required to complete a research paper, they are not behind where they should be, in fact, very few 2nd year Spanish students would be able to take on such a challenge, and be successful. I told them that in the past, students have used online translators or asked Spanish speaking friends to "help" with their assignments, both scenarios that would earn them a 0 that I wanted to avoid completely.

I even wrote at the bottom of the assignment sheet, "Please refer back to our classes plagiarism policy which can be found at the end of the student contract you and your parents signed in September."

Unfortunately I think the warning is where I went wrong! I'm pretty sure my students read to the end of the assignment and read the word "plagiarism" and thought to themselves: "Oh yeah! I'll just do that! I don't need to do my project at all."

Ugh.

I caught so many plagiarists! For an assignment written in English! It was ridiculous. It was so easy, I didn't even have to go into many of my skills acquired over many years à la Liam Neeson's character. The kids who plagiarized pretty much all used the same websites, wikipedia being one of the top ones, and despite having a list of about 20 holidays they all wrote about the same three or four. Super easy, super frustrating. When I suspect plagiarism, I turn to trusty google, and type in the phrase. If it comes up, fabulous. I print the website, get out my highlighter and highlight everything that has been copied. I staple everything together and return it to the student with an explanation and a purple 0.

Some kids actually plagiarized the entire three pages. I am shocked and appalled. I'm also a little offended that they didn't think I'd question their continued use of the word "lorries". Really guys?

I had one girl come to me crying, because this grade counted in the test/quiz/project category, students who plagiarized grades dropped drastically. When I asked her why she was upset now after making the choice she made she replied "I didn't know it would effect my grade that much." Now, I know 10th and 11th grade students have been warned of this in other classes, they know better. Although I hate to see someone crying, this is not a lesson she (and many others) will soon be forgetting. What lesson would they have learned if I had NOT given zeros?

If you liked this, you might like Catching a cheater

The Perks

2012-01-19T20:25:00.000-05:00

I love my job, I really do, but like life, sometimes things get tough and ridiculous. One of the perks of being a teacher however, is the wonderful world of student loan forgiveness. I mean, I have an absolutely ridiculous amount of student loans (mostly thanks to deferring loan payments for two years while I was taking online french classes, what was I thinking?!) so it's nice to have a little help.

The first benefit teachers can get as soon as they start working is actually for loan cancellation....awesome! Loan cancellation pretty much means the balance of your loan goes away, sometimes over time. The loan cancellation I am getting is for my Perkins loan. Every year I fill out a form, have an assistant principal sign it and use the fancy stamp, then ship it off to the Perkins people. Boom! A couple weeks later I receive a letter showing me that a certain percentage of my loan has been cancelled and a new form to repeat the process the following year. Yes it is annoying to have to fill the form out every year, but it is incredibly satisfying watching that balance decrease each year without having to pay a cent.

Perhaps the most awesome part of the Perkins deal? The accrued interest is also cancelled. I think the Perkins people are teacher lovers, or at least appreciators. Here are the details.

The benefit that actually prompted this blog post is the Stafford Loan Forgiveness Program. After you've been teaching for five years (my five year anniversary is February 1st!) you can apply for a portion of your direct loans to be forgiven. $5,000 for elementary or secondary teachers, a whopping $17,500 for those teaching math, science, or special ed. Once again, have someone at work validate the form, and voila. Well, hopefully voila, I have yet to apply for this one myself.

The program that seems to be the most awesome, yet requires the most time teaching is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. After making 120 consecutive monthly payments, (that's 10 years folks!) your remaining balance is forgiven. Amazing. There are some catches, you need to consolidate your loans with the direct loan people and be in one of three or four approved payment plans. Follow those rules and you are golden. The direct loan people are very helpful in assisting you in the consolidation and payment plan picking process.

Do any teachers know of any loan forgiveness/cancellation programs that I haven't listed? I would love to hear about anything else that has worked for other people.

I'm tired of working for crazy people.

2012-01-12T19:50:00.000-05:00

In a passively aggressive turn of events, our administration is now only allowing teachers to leave the building during our assigned lunch period.

Yup, that's right!

Want to run out for a cup of coffee? Or perhaps a bottle of water since the water at school is BROWN? Need something out of the car?

No dice.

You can only handle this business during your lunch period. We have lunch and one other "prep" period, allowing for minimal out of the building time anyway. Why enforce this crazy rule?

To top it all off, we are now required to sign in and out with the times we're out of the building.

Why to treat your staff like badly behaved children.

Rainy days... y posiblemente una riada.

2011-08-27T22:52:00.001-04:00

My first year in Spain I was in Barcelona. I arrived on a Sunday in August, which as anyone who knows Spain knows, meant complete and total emptiness. It was hot and everything seemed closed. As I got to know the city day by day, the weeks went on and all of the sudden, summer was over. How did I know? The rain. It rained and rained and rained, my roommates told me "This is how summer begins and ends, rain."

Fast forward 7 years (holy cow!) and now I'm in Brooklyn, hours away from riding out my first hurricane (say what?!). Yup...it's true. Those nearest and dearest to me are here, with snacks and brownie mix and enough fluids to keep us hydrated until Monday at least. (Although José at the bodega downstairs swears they'll be open tomorrow. "Estaremos aqui, te juro." Ok José).

While in Spain over the summer, I learned a new word (let's be real, I learned more than one new word) that seems especially fitting for this weekend: riada, flood in English. I was staying in Valencia, a city that in 1957 was severely affected by a flood, there are still markers around the city showing how high the flood waters rose. The river flooded and the city decided to divert the river outside of the city center in order to avoid future devastation. The result? An amazing garden and park area. In Valencia I spent many an afternoon (well as many as I could reasonably fit into 2.5 weeks) enjoying the park.

While I'm not expecting much destruction or devastation here (it's better to be safe than sorry though, bravo Mr. Bloomberg) neither am I expecting anything amazing or beautiful to emerge from these rains. Well, perhaps this scarf that I'm working on will be fantastic. (Pictures to follow?)

"I got 99 problems..."

2011-08-24T13:43:00.001-04:00

With the severe cuts to budgets across the country I imagine school districts everywhere are feeling these lyrics. Not only dealing with all of the back to school stress, potentially new test taking legislation, hiring to replace teachers not returning after the summer, but doing that with hundreds of thousands slashed from your budget.

Wow. I can't imagine.

Actually, I have a bit of insight.

Before I left for Spain I was part of my school's "Budget and Hiring Committee". Now, I'm not really a committee joiner, but i wanted to support one of my good friends who just became our union chapter leader. So, I spent two early days of summer, sitting through interviews and having very stressful budget conversations. Talk about feeling like a number. Rather, a 5 digit price, cost, expense, what have you. While I imagine some administrators would take pause before slashing careers, mine did not. I saw my friends (who because of last in first out were the first to go) get slashed.

"We can get rid of 1 English and 1 History."

No one dared use names, I bet that made it easier.

"That will give us $140,000."

While we "get" $140,000, we are also "getting" classes maxed out at 34 students, and providing fewer elective options for students.

It's really no wonder schools across the United States (most recently South Dakota) are slashing their expenses by cutting their school week to 4 days. Although our school mission statement states something along the lines of providing each student a full program of the core subjects all four years, many juniors and seniors in the past couple years have left after taking 3 or 4 classes. This was of course a budgeting strategy. I'm thinking why have kids in so few classes 5 days a week, when we can fill their programs and keep them there for 4. Perhaps instead of offering night school for credit recovery, have kids come in on Fridays instead. (A three day weekend would be even more incentive to pass the first time).

Either way something needs to change, our budgets are likely to keep shrinking, and there are only so many kids you can stick in a room and still have learning happen.

Back to Reality...

2011-08-18T12:02:00.001-04:00

I'm baaaack!!! I am back this week after a wonderful 4.5 weeks traveling Spain. I was selected to participate in a National Endowment for the Humanities summer seminar for TEACHERS. (Yes teachers, these programs are for us! Peep out Summer 2011 offerings here.) My seminar covered Islamic Iberia which you may have guessed, meant travel to the beautiful region of Andalucia! I met lots of great teachers, learned tons about the Islamic influence in Spain, drank many a tinto de verano, and took lots of pictures. And I got a little tan too.

The wife of one of my colleagues at work gave me this book before I left, because part of it is set in the Alhambra, one of the sites I was going to visit.

It was so good! I've never read anything by Phillipa Gregory before, I think I'm quite a fan now.

What have you all been reading this summer?

NYC Cocktail Week!

2011-06-14T12:51:00.001-04:00

Conveniently coinciding with the end of the year for public schools in NYC is a fabulous gift from the folks at liquor.com Cocktail Week! Woo hoo!

From June 15th to 29th many fab bars around the city are offering specials of two drinks and an appetizer for $20.11. Who can say no to that?

Check out the list here!

Donate to a new project that will help places of faith fund projects

2011-03-22T20:56:00.001-04:00

Invested.in: Faith Funder

This sounds like an amazingly good deed, to help all those do gooders out there to continue what they do. :)

It's that time of year again...

2011-03-06T14:18:00.000-05:00

Time for the food unit! I am definitely going to be using the commercial and lots of the great ideas that readers left as comments, (so excited about this).

Something that I found last year worked really well as a warm-up exercise for students. There is all this amazing "food art" to be found on the internet. Last year I used a few of these pictures, and students had to look very carefully (some of it doesn't even look like food!) and identify the foods they saw.

Check it out for yourself!

I'd love to find a good song to use with food and commands....hmm.

Brilliant, as usual Jon Stewart.

2011-03-05T11:12:00.000-05:00

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c

Crisis in Dairyland - For Richer and Poorer - Teachers and Wall Street

www.thedailyshow.com

Daily Show Full Episodes

Political Humor & Satire Blog

The Daily Show on Facebook

A new year, a new hobby

2010-08-25T10:50:00.001-04:00

I'd like to say I've been spending the last few weeks of summer vacation getting ready for the new year, that isn't quite true. I have definitely been relaxing and enjoying every minute of what's left of my leisure time. I went to the sewing class last week, which was so awesome! I made this really cute tote bag, which as you can see from the pictures is reversible. I've been gleefully toting my tote bag around like a proud mother hen.

Besides having an awesome new tote bag to haul around my school stuff, I also have a new hobby. A new hobby that I'm learning for the first time. Get it? It took me a few minutes to realize this during the intensive sewing class I was in, this Señorita in the City is once again a student. Woo hoo!

Most people who know me outside of this blog know that I love being a student, and I love being in school. In fact I love all parts of learning a new subject, the studying, the homework, the lectures. But, I've discovered that learning a new skill is completely different. Completely.

I found myself so frustrated at the beginning of the class, I hadn't even started sewing yet, I was just setting up the machine! I wasn't understanding what I was doing wrong, and after asking so many questions and feeling completely dumb, I thought that maybe sewing wasn't for me. The instructor showed us on her machine how to set up the different threads, and then had us return to our machines to do it. If I had any doubts about my being a kinesthetic learner, I have no more. I definitely need to be doing something in order to learn it. I thought about my frustration and my wanting to give up after such a short period of time, and thought to myself "Hmm, I wonder how many students feel this way when they are first starting off learning Spanish". Hmm, what a great lesson for a teacher to have a mere two weeks before returning to the classroom. Sure, we reflect on our teaching practices, what we think works, doesn't work, etc. How often do we reflect on our experiences as learners? Not enough, I say.

I was surprised by how impatient I was with myself. After awhile though, (and after switching machines) I was happily buzzing along, my frustration and motivation eventually joining together and giving birth to the tote bag you see above.

Since the class, along with relaxing, I've been researching sewing machines. Well, first I went to Barnes and Noble, and sat down with a humongous stack of sewing books (by humongous I mean 5, in my defense the books are pretty hefty). I settled on this book, Sew Everything Workshop by Diana Rupp. I'm super excited about the projects in there (can you say wrap around skirt?!).

The book has great instructions, and lovely pictures as well. What really sold me on the book was the section explaining what to look for when purchasing a sewing machine. I took Diana's advice (yes, we're on a first name basis) and decided on this little baby.

I'm sure I'll be as pleased with my new sewing machine as I am with the book. I just have to wait super long until Amazon ships it to me. Oh well, I'm not going to pretend I don't have plenty of school stuff I need to work on that can keep me busy.

Oh, summer vacation essays, how I do not miss you.

2010-08-12T10:24:00.000-04:00

What are your favorite back to school writing prompts?

One down, one to go

2010-08-09T12:53:00.009-04:00

That is of course months of summer vacation I am referring to. :) In the past, I've traveled, but this summer I decided to do a self-improvement stay-cation. So, I researched a couple of activities I've always wanted to do, you know stuff to occupy my long, luxurious days off.

I decided to become a runner, and even ran a race last month. I plan on running another 4 mile race in September as well. I really love the New York Road Runners Site, it offers a lot of running suggestions and tips. I've been running on most mornings, either 4 miles or 2.5 miles. I am already noticing quite a difference in my body and in my running ability. Can you say Buns of Steel? Because I will be able to very soon. I mean, who knew something so easy could have such a great effect.

I also started taking group violin lessons with Ed Davis. I've really been loving those, although I don't think I practice as much as I should. I used to play violin when I was younger, in fact I played for ten years, but before restarting lessons, I hadn't played for ten years. I'm loving how cool violin accessories have become!

The rest of my summer will consist of a sewing class and a running clinic. I found a sewing class for beginners through 3rd Ward in Brooklyn. In the class, we will be making a tote bag, pencil case (with zipper) (I <3 school supplies!) and eye glass case. Yesterday I went to Fiber Notion in Park Slope for my supplies. The owner, Kat, was there and she helped me find everything I needed on my list. I had stopped at another store earlier, and did not receive very good service. You know I yelped about that experience.

The running clinic is through Zog Sports which I just found out about from my friend Jane. I'm doing a running clinic that will meet twice a week (I still plan on running on my own too). I think I might also sign up to be on a for-fun volleyball team as well.

I'm so excited about doing so much fun stuff and meeting new people. Sometimes being a young woman (dare I say Señorita?) in New York can be challenging, it's not so easy meeting good people and making new friends. But, I've already met several cool people, and the summer isn't even over yet. :)

I love this commerical!!

2010-03-29T10:07:00.002-04:00

I saw this commercial last night and am totally obsessed with it. I'd love to use it in our upcoming food unit, but I'm not really sure how to incorporate it. I mean, I could just show it, but I'd much rather have them do some sort of activity with it. Any suggestions or ideas?

Teaching Reading in the Foreign Language Classroom

2010-03-29T00:04:00.001-04:00

I learned so so much at the conference I attended this past Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Thursday I attended a three hour workshop on the teaching of reading in FL classes. I realized that I wasn't really teaching my students how to read in Spanish. I was expecting my students to use the skills they already have in English to read in Spanish. During the workshop I realized I could not depend on their English reading skills exclusively, but should be doing way more scaffolding to help them become better readers in a second language.

So, from now on I am going to make sure I follow the following steps when assigning my students readings in the future.

1. I am going to determine a goal for each reading I use. This could be a comprehension goal (What is life like in Argentina?) or perhaps a grammar goal (find all of the verbs in the imperfect tense and see what role they play in the reading).

2. I am going to know each text I use very well, and change it if necessary to accomplish the goal I have for that reading.

3. I'll figure out logical places to divide the text in order to make it more manageable and appear less daunting to my students.

4. I'll have pre-reading questions for them to answer before starting the reading as well as questions for them to answer while reading, after they finish each chunk.

5. I'll follow each reading with a task for my students to complete to show that they not only have understood what they've read, but are also able to make connections to their own lives or society. This could include higher level thinking questions (Hello, Blooms Taxonomy!), having them write an alternate ending, have them write a summary, or re-write what they have read from a different character's perspective.

I've realized that these techniques for teaching reading in the foreign language classroom are very closely related to what English teachers do every day. This is excellent for me as my students will already be used to doing this. I now realize I was going about reading in class the wrong way, hopefully following these steps will help me help my students become better readers in Spanish.

Señorita in Times Square

2010-03-25T10:48:00.000-04:00

So, it's that time of year again. I am pretty sure most foreign language teachers on or near the East coast consider the end of March one of their favorite times of the year. Why you ask? Well, because of the Northeast Conference on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, of course! For three days at the Marriott in Times Square foreign language teachers from not only the East coast, but all over the United States, come together to chat, learn, exchange ideas and collaborate. Ahh, for teachers who are into this, the NECTFL conference is like a wonderland of professional development, and I am definitely one of those teachers.

On Thursday there are optional workshop sessions lasting three or six hours. Today I am attending an afternoon workshop called "Teaching Reading for Content and Language". I am super excited about this as I know it will give me lots of great ideas for my Spanish 2's as well as the AP Literature class.

Friday is the day that I have to rest up for. There are about five time slots for sessions throughout the day starting at 10:15 and ending at 5:00 in the evening. The great thing is we can choose whatever we want to attend. And the choices!! I could attend a session about using technology in the classroom, conversational Arabic, or even how to teach a unit on bull-fighting.

The best part of Friday will definitely be the exhibit hall. This is where loads of teaching tech companies, book publishers, study abroad programs, foreign language organizations all try and get the attention of little ole me. They try to tempt me with candy, drawings for prizes, free pens, maracas...and yes, I even have a CIA frisbee from last year. Last year they gave us champagne, the year before the Italian teachers association had a gelato cart, and was giving out cones of delicious gelato. Like I said...wonderland.

I've never actually made it the third day. This year I will, however also attend on Saturday.

Ahh...how I love thee NECTFL conference.

Snow day today!

2010-02-26T10:36:00.001-05:00

Considering last year was the first snow day in 11 years for NYC teachers, having 2 in the same month is a real treat! It is pretty bad out there though, and my commute home yesterday was treacherous. It wasn't looking at all hopeful for a snow day today, considering the mayor announced yesterday at noon that school would definitely be in session today. Luckily, sometimes, the higher ups are wrong about nature and snow can fall differently than expected.

I woke up around 30 minutes before I do normally, checked the DOE website and saw the announcement: "Schools are Closed today." Outstanding. I woke up my roommate just to verify that I wasn't in a half-asleep fantasy, fabricating a snow day. Within 5 minutes, a bunch of my colleagues and teacher friends had texted me saying we had off. Yay!

Today would be absolutely perfect if I had some more hot chocolate.

I drank my last packet this morning!

Some motivation, a poem read to me on my first day of grad school.

2010-02-17T10:26:00.000-05:00

A friend just posted this, reminding me that it existed. I'm reposting it here for people who may not have read it yet.

I am a New York City public high school teacher
Do not look surprised.
Do not feel sorry for me.
Do not pity me.
Do not offer me your condolences.
Do not pat me on the back, shake my hand,
Cross yourself or speak of my bravery.
Do not ask me if I receive combat pay
Or wear a bulletproof vest.
Do not ask me when I plan to get a real job,
Apply to law school,
Or what my first career choice was.
Do not assume my head is in the clouds
And I have no grasp on reality.
Do not sympathize, empathize,
Or tell me about the job opening in your cousin's business.
Do not suggest that I join the Peace Corps.
Do not ask if my parents were teachers.
Do not ask if my parents were hippies.
Do not assume that I am a saint, naive, innocent,
Searching for my childhood,
Living for summers off,
Home by 2:15,
Use a red pen,
Play the Lotto,
Wish for the glory days of the past
Or would rather teach in the suburbs where I could *really* teach.

I am a New York City public high school teacher
Ask me why I chose to be a teacher.
Ask me if my students have books, supplies, and chairs.
Ask me my opinion of Giuliani, Pataki, and Crew.
Reminisce with me about your favorite teachers,
Share with me the qualities that made them admirable.
Tell me about your favorite projects and trips.
Ask me what my students are working on now.
Gasp when I say how many students are in each of my classes.
Gasp when I say how many I see in a week.
Cry with me about Marc sleeping in the subway,
Simone losing her father,
Maria thinking she's pregnant,
And Rick dropping out of school.
Laugh with me about Kenny (caught in the act) insisting it was the "Stalin in him,"
My classroom being toilet papered,
And the Great All-Out-Classroom Trash Throwing War of '94
(fought just to get Sharon to smile on the last day of school)
Marvel with me over my students' intelligence
Achievements, diligence, creativity, and strength.
Cheer with me as they write their college essays and take their S.A.T.'s.
Soar with me as they get their college acceptance letters.
Ask me how to create a scholarship,
Ask me how to volunteer,
Ask me about the qualities needed to become
A New York City public high school teacher.

by Lisa Lauritzen, in the New York Times, September 9, 1997

Catching a cheater

2010-02-11T13:57:00.003-05:00

I always have mixed feelings after catching kids cheating on tests and quizzes. While I always feel like I have awesome detective skills (I love a "Gotcha!" moment), after that initial thrill I am always left feeling insulted, really, you didn't think I'd figure out these are copied answers?

I was grading vocabulary quizzes last night. I graded one quiz, with some really bogus answers. Not only were there misspellings all over the place, but weird answers to the sentence completion section. (Really? The best answer to: Where are you going to go after you finish high school is "The Airport"? We did learn the word "University" ya know...) I finished grading the quiz, and this person ended up with a very low score. I moved on to the next in the stack, the front started off okay, but once I flipped to the back a pattern had emerged. The same bogus answers as the quiz I had just graded. Wow...really? Unless you two are going on the same post graduation trip after you finish high school, I doubt this is just a coincidence.

I was fully dramatic today as I gave back quizzes. I announced, "Some of you won't be getting a quiz back as your answers suspiciously matched another students answers." There were many anxious looks. I followed with "If you'd like to plead your case, come see me at the end of the period to please your case." The two girls came up, asking for their quizzes. They seemed so appalled that I would suspect them of cheating. So appalled. They whined about it and said "So that's it, we're getting a zero?" I told them I'd be calling their parents and that we would finish the conversation tomorrow, since my next class was coming in.

How do you handle cheating? I'm considering allowing them to re-take the quiz to see what answers they each come up with.

Ode to the Snow Day

2010-02-10T15:05:00.008-05:00

Pablo Neruda has a series of "Odas". Poems he has written in order to praise the parts of life most people deem ordinary, but that he regards as fantastic. While not in the form of a poem, consider this my "Ode" to the snow day.

The Northeast is currently being pounded by a blizzard and even though yesterday was calm and even a bit sunny, my boss the chancellor announced before 12 pm that today would be a snow day. Awesome. I feel completely guilt and pressure free about snow days. Naturally, I had an idea of what I was going to teach today, so that will become my lesson for tomorrow instead. Thursday and Friday will be combined (Friday was going to be light anyway, since it's the day before our mid-winter recess) and voila, the week is over with minimal planning.

Don't get me wrong, I love a vacation from school. I love relaxing, having time to go to eye doctor and dentist appointments, and of course being able to go out on what would normally be a "school night". There comes a time during the break however, when the feeling of impending doom starts to invade. I start to think about what lessons I am going to teach after the break, projects I'm going to assign, and of course all the papers I have managed to avoid grading. Sometimes, I even have dreams. Horrible dreams in which I come back from vacation only to realize my entire class has been replaced with monsters.

But, none of that happens on a day like today: a fantastic and absolutely relaxing day: A Snow Day.

Bouncing Back

2010-01-10T14:50:00.000-05:00

Coming back from Winter Break (or any of our fabulous vacations) can be a challenge. Adjusting our routines and bodies back to our school schedules and preparing lunch the night before are two of the things I hate to do following a long break. I always find myself awake at 11:30 pm the night before school, thinking about what I'm going to do for lunch the next day. (There are not very many good lunch options in the neighborhood I work in).

This winter break however, I was on my game. I went to bed at a reasonable hour only AFTER packing my lunch. Nice.

I really didn't feel any back to school drag until I was back at school. On Monday morning we found out that one of the teachers in our department had passed away the night before. She had been struggling with cancer for a long time, was in remission and had relapsed in the last year. She was still working the first day of the week of winter break, and then she was out. Apparently she declined very fast. When the principal made the announcement over the PA system, he applauded her for her 19 years of service to our school, and how she "worked til the end". I enjoy my job, but to be perfectly honest "working til the end" sounds absolutely miserable.

Occasionally I take a sick day, some days I am sick, others I am just exhausted and need a day. Most days I am absent however, I feel guilty about. I wonder if this feeling of guilt is what pushed this woman to work until the end of her life, when she probably should have spent more time recuperating and healing at home.

It's difficult not to feel guilty when absent. Sometimes I feel as if teachers are seen as super humans who have no other relationships besides the one in the building they work in and who have excellent immune systems that go unchallenged by the many germs they come into contact with on a daily basis.

One of my work related goals this year will be to take off when I need off, WITHOUT feeling bad about it.

Working with the Peace Corps

2009-11-03T22:24:00.002-05:00

A few months ago, an old internet friend of mine Barbara contacted me about an excellent opportunity. Barbara is currently serving her second year as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala. The Peace Corps has a program that connects volunteers with teachers in the United States. The volunteer and the teacher and students are then able to begin corresponding and exchanging emails, questions, photos, etc. Interested teachers are able to request specific regions of the world their classes are interested in, and even specific Peace Corps Volunteers if they already know someone there. I'm super excited about this as I know almost nothing about Guatemala and I am confident it will be really interesting for my students.

This is the link to the Peace Corps World Wise Schools program.

Social Networking in the classroom

2009-11-02T15:15:00.002-05:00

I've decided to make a teacher facebook page for my students to add. I have also made two "fan pages", one for each of the classes I teach: AP Spanish Literature and Spanish 3. The goals here are many: students can ask questions of me and each other on the "wall", I'm able to post events (quizzes, tests, projects, etc), I can chat with students if they have questions, parents can add the pages so they always have an idea of what is going on in class, homework or otherwise, I can also post interesting links and video clips.

I've tried to make class blogs in the past, and they were incredibly hard to keep up with. Hopefully this will be a better match for both me and my students.

National Blog Posting Month!

2009-11-01T15:06:00.001-05:00

I'm participating in National Blog Posting Month! Every day for the month of November, I'll be posting a blog entry. They will naturally be related to my exploits as a Spanish teacher in New York City.

Will you yodel for me and help my students in the process?

2009-10-28T23:17:00.000-04:00

Yahoo recently developed a "Yodel Studio" and for a short time is giving any one who records a short yodel (like 3 seconds) a $10 gift certificate to spend on www.donorschoose.org!

It's absolutely free to you, and my students would really benefit.

Here's what you do:

1. Go to Yahoo's yodel studio: http://yodelstudio.yahoo.com/us/recording-studio.php

2. Record your yodel, immediately after you record and submit your yodel a gift card number will pop up on the screen.

3. Go to http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=315672 and make a $10 donation, put in the gift card number and boom! My students will have $10 more going towards their AP tests.

Anyone can do it from anywhere in the world, so please get yodeling and tell a friend!

Interview!!

2009-10-25T13:20:00.004-04:00

This evening I'm going to be part of a panel of teachers interviewed by Florence Bernard from Blog Talk Radio, the topic is Challenges Teachers face. You can listen to the show here. It will be live at 6:30 pm this evening, but will be available after that for anyone to listen to. Yay!

Now that you know everything there is to know about teaching...

2009-10-12T17:30:00.001-04:00

quit your teaching career. Become a "writer". Tell other teachers how to teach. When all is said and done think "Wow, that was an eventful 3 years".

I am a little tired of hearing about teachers who teach for a short period of time (We're talking 2 or 3 years), quit their jobs, then write a book about how great they were. These books are then used as "textbooks" for Graduate programs in education. Maybe this is more a reflection of grad schools for their poor choice of required readings, than the teacher in question.

Regardless, I am all about a teacher book, a teacher blog, a teacher website. I am also ready, willing, and able to collaborate like the best of them. However, I have NO interest in hearing what you have to say once you're an outsider. I just don't feel that someone who taught for two years has any business schooling me on my career.

Yes, you read correctly.

I said career, not temp position.

Don't get me wrong, I love to hear from experienced retired teachers, that's fantastic and always welcome. I also enjoy conversations with new teachers as they have lots of fresh and exciting ideas and tons of enthusiasm. I've also learned plenty during what I'd like to call "what not to do" conversations with the not-so-hot hot-shot teachers at my school. I'm just a little frustrated that "the experts in the field" have decided to use their self-diagnosed "talent" and "skill" to teach adults how to teach rather than children.

Two books on the required list for my grad program were written by teachers described above. One is The Freedom Writers Diary the well-known book that is now a major motion picture, and the other Educating Esme.

Both of the ladies who wrote the books linked above taught for 2-3 years. I read both of these books, and enjoyed them! Don't get me wrong, I love me a teacher or student narrative. It was just soooo disappointing to reach the end, eager to find out the good they are doing in public schools, only to find out that they left the classroom years ago, shortly after entering it.

Maybe a teacher who doesn't quite make it in the classroom is a more entertaining read than one who is still there.

A donation to my giving page!!

2009-10-10T16:06:00.003-04:00

A big Thank You to HP from Palo Alto, CA! HP made a donation to my www.donorschoose.org giving page, contributing to a website dedicated to making the lives of teachers and public school children better. Donorschoose.org has made a huge difference in my classroom and other classrooms at my school. My students have benefited from the resources we have received from the kind people who use the website and donorschoose.

If anyone would like to make a donation like HP did, please click on the right hand side where it says "Social Media Challenge" or just follow this link.

Target Field Trip Grants

2009-10-08T13:43:00.003-04:00

I just submitted my application for a Target Field Trip Grant. If you are a teacher or know one, I highly recommend you apply for this grant. The application is quite simple, just explain your idea for the trip and how it would benefit your students and your curriculum. If selected, Target will give you up to $800 to make your field trip dream a reality. Applications are due November 3rd, and they notify winners in mid-January 2010.

Here's the link!

A Call for Favorite Books

2009-10-07T11:30:00.002-04:00

Since I work and live in New York City, like most, I have a rather lengthy commute. I am on a combination of bus, and two subway lines during my hour long commute. In order to keep myself occupied, I read. Two of my favorite book from the last few years are:

A Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

This was such a good book, yet a little embarrassing to read. I was crying at the end, on the subway! Read it, and then see the movie! Both were great!

The other book that I truly loved is Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

This book inspired me to start an indoor vegetable garden and to eat locally. It's a little slow to start, but then it picks up and is an excellent read. She also has some great recipe ideas as well.

How about you? Do you have any book recommendations for someone with a long commute?

A happy ending!

2009-09-29T19:09:00.003-04:00

I am so pleased to report that my cart has been found! It wasn't stolen at all! Only claimed by another person working at my school. Awesome. A co-worker saw it in someone's office and said: "That's someone's cart, they have been looking for it!" and brought it back to my office.

I was so happy to see it this morning when I went into work!

Some of my favorite things

2009-09-28T11:28:00.005-04:00

1. My IPhone has changed my life. I'm totally obsessed with it and in theory get things done more quickly because of it. I say "in theory" because while it helps me, it also distracts me.

2. Iced Caramel Macchiatos from Starbucks. This lovely beverage has been with me and supported me through the good times and the bad.

3. Post-it notes. You don't understand, I'm in love with post-its. Second to important people in my life, post-its are THE best thing to ever happen to me. When I enter the post-it aisle I get that funny first or second date excitement/giddiness. Yeah, it's that bad. I don't discriminate, I use all colors and shapes and sizes. I just invested in the post-it calendar, loving it so far!

4. www.Donorschoose.org THE best thing to happen to teachers in general, since I'm a teacher who has benefited and continues to benefit from the generosity of others, this site makes my list.

5. My indoor vegetable garden. I LOVE my indoor garden. I started this back in February and have successfully grown green beans, peas, edamame, basil and chives. I've grown tomato plants, but no tomatoes yet!

What are some of YOUR favorite things?

The week of the missing supplies and six too many students

2009-09-28T09:19:00.001-04:00

I've enjoyed a relaxing and well deserved long weekend with my younger sister who was visiting from Ithaca. (Good times were had by all.) We have finished the first three weeks of school (woo hoo!), and it's looking like a Fantastic year! I'm glad we have tomorrow off for Yom Kippur because I still have SO much grading to do.

Why so much work you ask? I haven't been able to get as much done during my free periods as I would like. Granted, sometimes I get caught up in conversations with the ladies I share my office with (read: gossip, and google image searching shenanigans), but for the past couple weeks I've mainly been running around trying to track people down. The first drama was the case of the missing projection screen. I received a screen from www.donorschoose.org and it was apparently delivered to me at school in April. The delivery never made it to me, so I had to track it down. It took a couple days but the screen is now safely in my possession. The process to actually acquire the screen was intense though, having to talk to various administrators, but mostly having to wait to talk to them.

The second time sucker involved me fixing other people's mistakes. Sorry, but we need to be honest with each other: freshmen do not have any business taking AP classes. Because my class is set at 24 students (as there are only 24 books), someone decided the 11 extra seats could be used for 9th graders who had no other place to go. Fantastic. The AP required reading list covers rather intense topics: graphic sex, rape, death, suicide, etc. A little bit much for someone 13 or 14 years old. Last Friday I was awarded 6 freshmen. Hello. It took all week to resolve this issue and I'm not even sure it's fully resolved, we'll see how many show up tomorrow. It took a full week of 1. tracking people down, 2. being told it was someone else's fault and there was nothing anyone could do, 3. different people agreeing that there should not be freshmen in an AP literature class and it would be fixed, but that as a result the schedules of the entire student body would be changed.....all right. Since people forget about using telephones, most communication takes place via messenger or in-person meetings only, thus taking 8 years longer than necessary.

My 3rd drama isn't resolved yet, and is causing me a little bit of grief. I received a cart from donor's choose last year, a cart that was locked in what I thought was a safe place over the summer, which is now gone. Boo. I know things get stolen in our building (by adults, mind you) so I locked it in a book room (read: a locked bookroom, only one key in the building). This should be a pretty simple problem to resolve, should be. Except for the fact that I need to 1. track people down, 2. be passed around from person to person, 3. rinse and repeat to get anything done.

My goals for the coming week? I want to get my seating chart and grade book set up, grade tests, and track down my beloved cart! Trust me, there will be updates, possibly a missing cart sign.

For a reminder about Donors Choose, check out this old post.

Señorita in the City is on facebook!

2009-09-19T19:40:00.002-04:00

Look to the right and click the link to become my friend on Facebook! You can also look below that for the link to follow me on twitter.

Señorita Ripped Pants

2009-09-19T16:27:00.004-04:00

The success of my new stamp participation method has me moving a lot more all over my classroom. I'm crossing the room, crossing back, stopping to re-ink my stamp, traveling up and down aisles. I am everywhere. I had been keeping up with increased participation from students and I was on such a roll until...

On Wednesday morning I was seriously slowed down when my new corduroy (read: not as sturdy or trustworthy as jeans) pants caught onto a previously unnoticed jagged piece of closet. I know what you're thinking...jagged piece of closet? In a place where children are present? Sharp enough to rip pants? You read correctly folks, I apparently work in a place that requires one to wear clothes made of industrial strength fabric.

I unhooked myself from the closet to survey the damage. I was left with a sizable hole towards the top of the side of my pants. I assessed the situation and cheek was definitely visible. I quick sent a student to "please get a sweater" from my work bestie whose classroom is next door to mine. I pulled down my stretchy shirt until she got back, tied the sweater around my waist as a backup method, and was back on my merry way, stamping away the morning.

I was able to change into gray workout pants during lunch (strangely the same color as my corduroys) that I had brought with me for my after school trip to the gym. Due to quick action on the part of my student and my colleague, no one knew about the incident at all.

Since I'm a teacher and by default a huge fan of teachable moments I now realize the importance of a back-up method, be it extra pants, a sweater, who knows. I guess flexibility is also a plus.

Any embarrassing or potentially embarrassing classroom stories to share?

P.S. The corduroys were from Old Navy.

One down, how many to go?

2009-09-13T13:29:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was the end of our first week back at school. Even though it was only three days, it was crazy eventful! It was particularly productive for me because 1) I patched up a relationship with one of my colleagues and 2) I developed a new participation program that is rocking my student's worlds and taking our school by storm.

I tend not to have a lot of drama at school, but that's not to say that my co-workers don't go looking for drama. Last year, during what you might remember as The Great Copy Room Wars of 2008, I had an altercation with a co-worker (he'll be referred to as El Divo from here on out) that was just mended this week. During the time the copy machine in our office was down, he took it upon himself to tell everyone (including the woman in charge of THE copy room) that I was the one guilty of breaking it. Whaaaaat?! I heard this from another colleague who overheard El Divo's gossip. Later that day El Divo tried to make nice again and was cooing Hello at me, I simply ignored him. That's why he hadn't spoken to me since November 2008. This week however changed everything. We are sharing a classroom and are forced to converse, I told him I was teaching an AP class, the same class he advised me not to teach and dialogue commenced. Now he wants to collaborate and share resources and everything. Hmm. While it's nice not to have someone mad at me, It's a little weird.

Since I began teaching I have tried two different participation methods, neither of which worked very well for different reasons. The first method, which wasn't really a method at all, was to sort of just "eyeball" it based on how many times a particular student came to the board, raised their hand, and actually produced or attempted to produce correct answers. This process wasn't at all transparent to students thus quickly becoming a problem. The next method was the "Participation Rubric" which allowed students to basically grade themselves and I would give them feedback and sometimes change their grade (for better or worse) based on my own evaluation of their performance. Now, I will fully admit, both of these methods are bullshit. That's why I developed the stamp sheet.

The stamp sheet is a colorful paper with a grid of 25 boxes. Every time a student produces Spanish (either by writing on the board or speaking) they get a stamp. Participation is a quarter of their grade and their grade depends on how many stamps they earn on their stamp sheet. I am SO impressed by how well it is working. Students who traditionally do not participate and who would normally fall under the radar with my old "methods" are participating like mad.

I know that the novelty of stamps will eventually wear off, hopefully later than sooner. I'm still thinking of ways to keep it interesting and kick it up a notch. Whatever, all I can say is this is a truly excellent problem to have.

What a great way to start the new school year!

My week as juror #10

2009-09-01T14:34:00.006-04:00

I've spent the last week as a juror in an armed robbery trial. (I know, this all sounds very hard core.) We heard all of the testimony last week and started deliberations yesterday. All weekend I was thinking about how difficult of a decision this was going to be and how I hoped I wasn't the only one who felt the way I did about the defendant's guilt or innocence.

We weren't able to come to a decision yesterday, and were ordered back at 10 am this morning. Over the past week many jurors were having trouble showing up on time and today was no exception. 11 am rolled around and we were still missing one juror and an alternate (yesterday juror #3 was a no show so we needed to use another alternate to fill his spot). At around 11:15 the judge came to our room, first to thank us for being good citizens and not punking out with lame excuses as to why we couldn't do our civic duty, and then to inform us that we were officially being discharged and were free to go.

Woo hoo!

As we were exiting the court all of us assumed that the two missing jurors were the reason we weren't going to continue. (Thank you #1 and Alternate #2) We were wrong. Both sets of lawyers asked to speak to us. The defense attorney explained to us that the case was thrown out because it was discovered that juror #1 was friends with the defendant. Hello! The prosecuting attorneys asked us what our decision was leaning towards (not guilty) and what they could have done better. They also filled in something that had been missing during the trial: that the defendant had been arrested for shooting someone five days after the robbery.

I am so glad not to have been called during the school year. I really would not like to miss a full week of work. I am also glad that this ended up being a mistrial as we weren't given enough information to convict, and he would have been released. I would have felt bad saying guilty or not guilty. While I'm glad I got to experience a trial and being on a jury (ugh, I am always looking for a teachable moment, even at the expense of a week of summer vay-kay), I'm glad I didn't have to make a decision. I hope to never be selected again. There seems to me to be a lot of room for error in our system, and I'm sure that the guilty going free happens on a regular basis. While I believe this way is better than the submerging of suspects in water, I think it's far from perfect.

It's the small things...

2009-08-30T13:43:00.008-04:00

Each summer as August 1st approaches the anticipation becomes a little too much to handle. August 1st my friends is the date when NYC public school teachers can begin using their Teacher's Choice funds. This year, just like last year, our allotment is $150. I, like most teachers spend well over $150. This year however, my goal is to keep better track of how much I spend and stay as close to my $150 budget as possible. My shopping so far has not consisted of my standard Staples and Officemax trips. Instead, I went to Barclay's School Supplies in Brooklyn.

For those who don't know, Barclay's may be THE BEST thing to happen to teachers. It's located in the basement of a building in downtown Brooklyn, easily accessible by many convenient subway lines and buses. As I was walking towards the store my excitement was growing, I kept seeing teacher looking people walking around proudly with great big plastic bags sporting the "Barclay's" logo.

This was going to be great. And it totally was.

As I exited the elevator I entered into a teacher's wonderland. Everything was so colorful and at first, before my eyes adjusted, a bit overwhelming. I just walked around aimlessly for a few minutes, somehow finding my way to the foreign language section. This section wasn't terribly extensive, but I have yet to see a truly impressive FL section in a school supplies store. I was able to get some stickers in Spanish as well as some handy verb posters.

The two things I am most excited about that are also probably the most dorky are raffle tickets and sentence strips. I have struggled with a good way to grade participation and think that raffle tickets may be the answer. When students speak Spanish in class they'll get a ticket, when everyone has their homework they all get a ticket, etc. When students have a certain number of tickets they can trade them in for something, maybe a free homework pass. I imagine it would be an exciting list of prizes Dave and Busters or Chuck-E-Cheese style. You know, like 25,000 tickets for the toaster. I could even have some funny joke prizes like that. I'd have to keep track of who I give tickets to in case they don't trade them in until the end of the year or lose them. I'm super excited about my sentence strips too, I think I'm going to use these to make a word wall of sorts for my freshman classes, and a literary device word wall for my AP kids. Good times.

Since I teach in a public school I was exempt from paying taxes so my rather large bag of goodies came to $56.

I walked out of Barclay's with my head held high, proudly displaying my bag and smiling at all of the other teacher people doing the same.

To friend or not

2009-08-26T16:51:00.003-04:00

At some point in their careers every teacher is faced with an extremely important, potentially career-altering decision: whether or not to "friend" their students. (Watch out, you'll be seeing me verb a lot more nouns in the future, it's how I do).

I live about an hour away from school by public transportation, and although I have run into students in my neighborhood, it's very rare. It is more common however to run into my students online. When this happens, what's a teacher to do? I'm no longer the social networking slut I used to be in college, I'm down to a facebook page only now. That being said, I'm no spring chicken, I've been places, I've done things, do I really want my work life to tango with my personal life? I tend to follow a strict no friending current students policy, I will however add students that have graduated. I usually don't add them as friends, because, let's face it: it would suck to be denied. This summer is the first time I've added students to facebook and I think it's a lot of fun reading about what they are up to, and all about their pre-college excitement and jitters. It's all very, ahem, rewarding. *blush*

Any thoughts on this? If you're a teacher do you friend your students?

A day at jury duty

2009-08-25T20:43:00.003-04:00

About a week ago I discovered a misplaced piece of my mail, not a wedding invitation, or thank you card, or credit card bill, but possibly the worst kind ever: a jury summons dated July 27th. Alarms went off in my mind as my eyes fell on the intimidating red bold print threatening possible fines and jail time for those who don't respond. I called the number listed on the summons, and after spending way too long talking to automated machines and getting disconnected twice, I was finally connected to a real person: "Sure, no problem, I'll give you a new date right now, when is good for you?" I decided I wanted to get this out of the way before school started so I asked for today, August 25th.

I went in this morning, and was greeted by a humorous, jolly court employee who had the perfect sarcastic comments at just the right times. He put on a video for us to watch, the highlight of which was a dramatization (ya know, Unsolved Mysteries style) of the ways people were tried in the 1800s, before there were juries. It was hilarious, hilarious! Apparently one way to figure out if someone was innocent or guilty was to tie them up and throw them in the lake. If they sank they were innocent, if they floated they had some explaining to do. The video went on to explain how valued the jurors are and the various ways we could plan on being pampered throughout the day: public pay phones, vending machines, bathrooms for men and women, ahh, you had me at pay phones Supreme Court of Brooklyn, you had me at pay phones.

I was actually not dreading my day as a juror. A friend of mine told me that he just sat in the main room all day on his laptop doing work. I planned accordingly and brought two different literature books. (I'm such a nerd!) I was all snuggled up in a good seat when my name was called. That's where the adventure began. Well, not really for me anyway. There were about 50 of us herded into a back room, then up to a court room on the 21st floor. Sixteen jurors at a time were interviewed by the lawyers.

It seemed to me less like juror questioning and more like group therapy. People talked about being victims of crimes, all crimes, large and small. No matter what the crime they were always asked if that experience would influence their opinion of the trial. Let me just say, I will NEVER again take for granted good question answerers. It was a little painful listening to adults...ADULTS(!) not answer the questions they were asked. I have to hand it to the judge though, she had the patience of a kindergarten teacher, always rephrasing her question when she didn't get the response she was looking for, or a response period.

I was not one of the first or second group of 16 to be interviewed today, so my adventure continues tomorrow...when señorita in the city, becomes señorita on the juror stand. ;)

I have to admit I have a bit of a crush.

2009-08-24T09:55:00.004-04:00

I have spent most of the summer tackling the 54 required works on the Spanish Literature reading list, well not really, that was my original plan. I must admit I got caught up in sleeping in and watching back to back episodes of 24, so haven't read as much of the list as I wanted to. My goal was to read everything before the school year begins, ha!

I have started to get my act together and have, much to the disappointment of my summer love affair with Jack Bauer, begun reading and lesson planning. I started off with poetry, normally not one of my favorites. Clearly I have been reading the wrong poems. Now, normally I'm not attracted to the "bad boy", but that all changed with Jose de Espronceda. His poem "Cancion del pirata" is on our list, already you can tell he's awesome because of the pirate connection. This is a man that knew his values and defended them even to the point of being incarcerated, at the age of 15! At the age of 20 he fled to Paris with a married woman! He even fought alongside the french in the July Revolution. Unfortunately for women everywhere in the mid 1800s he died at the young age of 34.

I've read from other teacher who have taught the same class that the key is for the teacher to relay his/her passion for poetry to their students and the effect is contagious. I feel for the first time passionate not so much about the poem itself but definitely about the man behind the words. Now hopefully my enthusiasm translates into an interest in the poem, and not a 34 year old dead guy. Hopefully.

Sigh, I <3 you Jose.

P.S. Do you think it would be too cheesy to wear a pirate hat the day we read this poem? Don't worry, I'll post a picture.

Reflecting while looking ahead.

2009-08-23T20:18:00.005-04:00

I started this blog around this time last year and unfortunately haven't kept up with it as much as I would have liked. But just like with most things, people get busy and forget about the less important things like blogging, no offense to the people who read this. :) I am pleased to see however that I completed three out of my four goals I had for myself last year. I went on a field trip, made my classroom more "green" (with the help of donorschoose.org) and worked more with my special ed. students. This past year was a success, and I've enjoyed my mostly relaxed summer. I didn't travel for an extended period of time this summer like I did past summers, but instead spent a long weekend in romantic Montreal.

I'm super excited about a new class I am teaching: Advanced Placement Spanish Literature. This specific AP test has apparently the lowest pass rate of all AP tests. I have been working hard preparing to teach it this fall, and am feeling very excited and confident. I also am lucky to have a great class that I'll be teaching so I'm feeling good.

I'm going to try and update this daily. Don't worry when the school year starts there will be all sorts of juicy goodness to write about.

Summer lovin'

2009-04-12T19:38:00.004-04:00

I am one of many lucky people who are able to enjoy a summer off each year. The teachers I know and work with spend their summers doing a variety of things. Some teach summer school, while others travel. I haven't yet taught summer school, but have participated in two very interesting summer opportunities available to teachers.

The first is a program specifically for Spanish teachers in the United States. Several universities in different parts of Spain offer three week courses through the Ministry of Education in Spain. I attended a program at La Fundación Ortega y Gasset. Our class consisted of about 15 teachers from all over the United States, coming from both public and private schools. Our course actually consisted of five different classes covering grammar, literature, society, history, cinema, music and art. Classes were in the morning and we were free to spend the afternoons however we wanted save for the occasional excursion planned by the program. Since the course was geared towards teachers, a lot of the focus was on interesting ways to teach and practice vocabulary and grammar. This years course is 1500 euros which includes three meals each day, an individual room in a dorm, as well as health insurance for the month of July. The flight to Madrid is not included. For an added fee, participants can receive graduate credits from a couple different universities in the United States. I enjoyed my three weeks in Madrid and met a lot of interesting people, I hope to participate again in the future.

The French Embassy offers a similar program for French teachers in the United States.

Last summer I decided I wanted to spend less time in a classroom and more time traveling. Back to Spain I went as a group leader with The Experiment in International Living (EIL). EIL is a summer study abroad program for high school students. What makes EIL different is that each student participates in a home stay. Home stay families are arranged in small towns across the world, and students stay with them for 1-3 weeks. As a group leader, you can expect to spend between 3-5 weeks with on average 11 teenagers. You have a set itinerary and a company credit card. Before taking off with a group of kids, you head to Vermont for a five day training. At the training you learn loads of ice breakers as well as how to handle any number of mini-dramas that could arise. You also start learning about the students that will be part of your group, and if they have any specific medical or allergy needs you need to keep in mind. I definitely felt well prepared to lead a trip upon leaving the training. My trip was three weeks long and I had a good time. I got to travel to Madrid, Toledo, and Sevilla, Spain for free. My flight, meals, and lodging were included as was all of the excursions that the kids went on as well as transportation between cities. After arriving home and submitting a "Leader Report" at the end of the summer, I received a stipend of $100 per week in Spain. While I recommend this as a summer option to others, I do not see myself as a group leader in the future.

Another option I just discovered recently are Educator travel opportunities. There seem to be many organizations out there that design trips with a teacher's interests and budget in mind. Two that I found interesting are the Educator's Journey through Costa Rican Adventures and a Teacher's Introduction to Cuba Tour.

Some of these might have deadlines that already passed, but due to the economy one never knows if all the spots are filled, so it's worth checking out if something I wrote about caught your eye.

Unfortunately I'm not traveling abroad this year, but instead am headed to San Diego for a week long AP Spanish literature course. I have been asked to teach the class for the first time this fall and am seeking out all opportunities to prepare.

If any teachers reading this have summer suggestions for teachers please comment!

HealthCorps: Good for the student body and staff morale

2009-03-21T09:07:00.005-04:00

For the last two years my school has been one of 44 schools across the United States to benefit from HealthCorps. HealthCorps is a program founded by Dr. Mehmet Oz with the goal of "educating the student body". HealthCorps trains and places recent college graduates interested in public health issues in schools. From there HealthCorps coordinators plan activities for teens related to making healthy food and lifestyle choices. It is expected that an organization with a vision like that of HealthCorps would educate teens when placed in a high school, the real surprise was how staff morale at my school has improved.

In November, our HealthCorps coordinator announced a walking challenge. She gave pedometers to any teachers interested in participating and a goal: 10,000 steps a day. The contest would last three weeks, with participants checking in with our HealthCorps coordinator every Monday. There would be a prize for the person with the most steps each week after weeks one and two and a grand prize for the person with the most steps for the entire three week period. Although we had a previous HealthCorps coordinator the year before, the walking challenge had not been well publicized and few teachers participated. Word on the street (or in the hallways rather) was that the grand prize had been a video IPOD, a pretty big deal. The coordinator told us this year's grand prize would be even grander, but wasn't giving up any hints.

Week one came in like a bull, rows of desks were widened to allow for pacing the entire 42 minute period. People suddenly slipped neatly back into their gym routines, and all of the sudden instead of "Hello" or "Good Morning" we were making eye contact with each other's belt loops and greeting each other with "How many steps do you have?" We all had our competition sized up and had an idea of where we stood, or so we thought. The following Monday we all checked in, the totals of the week were tallied, the winner announced. The winner had what seemed like an insanely high number of steps. The contest had officially started, and many of us felt like we were already a week behind. During week 2 the stakes were high, many of the people taking steps on the lighter side during week 1 announced they were still going to count steps, but for themselves and not competitively. The most important thing to come out of week two were that alliances were formed. What...alliances? Had our school suddenly become a competitive reality t.v. show? Not quite. The coolest thing that came out of the competition were the friendships. The school staff was suddenly united with a common goal and decided to work together to achieve it: people started walking together. People would take lunch time walks around the building together, stopping in to show off their extra steps to colleagues confined by the walls of their classrooms. Teachers who had two common preps in a row took longer walks, walking to a park a few blocks away, doing some laps, then taking the long way back along the river. People were out, people were moving, and people were doing it together. Well, most people.

The three week contest ending up finishing after two weeks. It's not that we couldn't walk for another week, some of us were overdoing it. While there were people who were walking home from the subway instead of taking the bus, walking around the building with a new friend instead of grading or surfing the net during a free period there were those of us who were jogging in place while teaching our lessons, skipping lunch to walk up and down the stairs, and leaving work each day to spend three hours at the gym. Colleagues started to have arguments at home with their spouses and children, "You are always walking!" Our HealthCorps coordinator made the tough call to end the competition after two weeks. Even though the competition was not 100% successful, the benefits of our two weeks of walking have not disappeared in the hallways at school. People have a new found interest in fitness and most importantly an interest the people who walk the halls with them.

Donors Choose: A Teacher’s Best Friend

2009-01-26T20:55:00.002-05:00

A few months ago at an event for new teachers put on by the UFT, I found out about the website www.donorschoose.org It is a non-profit website for teachers to request materials they need/would like to use in their classrooms. While only teachers can post requests for materials, anyone can look on the website for projects to donate to.

The way the site works is a teacher thinks of student centered materials that will be of use in and benefit their classroom. Teachers then go “shopping” for materials in the donors choose eSchoolMall which allows access to a variety of catalogs and websites. Teachers can request anything, from pencils to a classroom computer. The main requirement is that the items requested directly benefit the students. Places teachers can shop from include Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Office Depot, Blick Art Materials, Cannon Sports, and Carolina Biological Supply Company to name a few. There are many more vendors and catalogues that teachers can search for as donors choose is very thoughtful in making sure teachers of all disciplines can benefit. You could even make a proposal requesting musical instruments for your school or classroom! After the shopping (which is my favorite part of the process) teachers then write a proposal explaining a little bit about the school they work in, the materials they are requesting, and what they will be used for.

Teachers submit their proposals to the website, and it takes about a week for donors choose to check things over making sure the materials requested would really benefit the students. Once your proposal goes up and is active on the website it will stay up for a maximum of five months. This is really excellent as it prevents loads of old proposals to be floating around the website. The website says “The vast majority of projects under $400 have been funded within 3 months,” while more expensive projects take longer to fulfill. Once your project has been funded you have to confirm with the website that you still want your materials and then they are shipped to you within about three weeks. When your materials arrive, donors choose will also send you a stamped envelope and a disposable camera. Part of what makes donors choose so special is what happens next. As you are using your materials, you take pictures of you and your students using them in the classroom. Donors Choose also asks that the teacher and students write thank you letters to the donors. Donors Choose prides itself in “thanking every donor” and donors searching the site can give tax-deductible donations as little as $1 to the proposals of their choice.

Since joining the website in August, I have had three of my projects fully funded, and a third project partially funded. I was skeptical at first, thinking "Why would anyone want to help me and my classroom?" To my surprise and the surprise of my co-workers who I told about the site, people DO care and ARE interested in helping classrooms across the country. When I told my students about what we received they all had similar reactions: of surprise and amazement that such a website exists. I am truly thankful to donors choose and of course the generous support we have been receiving. Seeing my student’s everyday classroom experiences enriched is truly rewarding.

Thank you Donors Choose!

2008-12-26T14:13:00.004-05:00

Field Trip Review: Lincoln Center Meet the Artist Series

2008-11-08T22:53:00.003-05:00

On Thursday I went on my first field trip. I took my 9th grade Spanish 1 class to a flamenco performance at Lincoln Center. Lincoln Center has a special "Meet the Artist" school series that mixes performance with a little arts instruction. Programs are available for students of all ages: there are programs geared to elementary, middle and high school students. The hour long performance cost each student $5.00 and lunch money as they wouldn't be back to school in time to eat in the cafeteria. The trip ran smoothly, 26 students ended up attending and I had two chaperones with me and my class as well. I found the performance entertaining and educational, my students seemed to be enjoy it as well.

The only criticism I have of the experience was of the man presenting. My class was sitting in the middle section (directly in front of the stage) taking up half of the first row, as well as the entire second and third rows. Towards the end of the performance the dancer stopped and said "You know, you shouldn't sit in the front row if you are not going to applaud." I had noticed that my students were not applauding very loudly, but they certainly weren't being rude or inappropriate. His comment at first embarrassed me, but then it just angered me. My class is made up of a very diverse group of students. Some of my students have probably never been to a dance performance and were trying to be polite and well-behaved, others I'm sure are just shy and it might not be in their nature or natural for them to applaud loudly. Regardless the reason I think it is obnoxious to demand applause in such a way. On our way out the director gave me a comment form that I will be filling out, explaining my concerns.

All in all it was a good experience, but next time I bring a class I'll be sure to discuss with them the importance of applause when they are enjoying a show.

For more information about Lincoln Center's Meet the Artist series please visit this link: http://www.lincolncenter.org/load_screen.asp?screen=visitorinfo_mta

A Donor's Choose Update: Please help me match funds!

2008-11-05T21:53:00.001-05:00

A few months ago I posted a link to a funding proposal I had on www.donorschoose.org, a website that matches donors with teachers in need of supplies.

My project: http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=201316 was selected by Anne Taylor Loft as a "Double your Impact" project. Anne Taylor loft will fund HALF of my project as long as the other half is funded by donations.

Remember: A Donors Choose donation is a tax deductible donation, AND if a project you donate to isn't fully funded you receive your donation back, but if it is, you help out students in need.

No amount is two small, $1, $5, or $10 would help out tremendously.

What do you say?

Professional Development at MOMA

2008-10-21T18:42:00.007-04:00

This past Saturday I attended an all day professional development workshop titled "Teaching with Objects: Focus on Modern Art" at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. I attended the workshop that lasted from 10 am to 4 pm with a colleague from my school. We both found the workshop to be interesting and valuable to our classrooms (she teaches high school English, I teach high school Spanish). The day included a discussion of using modern art objects in the classroom and how to develop quality questions to ask our students while viewing a work of art. We spent half of the day in a classroom in the education building of MOMA, and the other half in the galleries of the museum acting as students while the instructor modeled a good way to ask questions and keep an art related conversation going.

I enjoyed the day, I was able to think about using modern art more in my Spanish class and the most productive ways to do so. The only criticism I have of the session was the way they divided us into groups. In groups we were to prepare a mini-lesson of sorts about a work of art, asking questions of the other participants. I was in a group with two elementary school art teachers. I just wish we had been grouped with teachers of similar subject matter and age groups.

At the end of the day we were given a year long educator pass to enter MOMA free of charge and to receive a 10% discount at their gift shop. We also found out that NYC teachers can have teaching artists from MOMA come into their classroom for two sessions and facilitate a class trip to the museum. For high school teachers this is free while middle and grade school teachers pay a small fee. All students receive free passes to the museum for a year.

I was very impressed with MOMA's commitment to the arts education of NYC students and their willingness to work with teachers.

More information about MOMA's programs as well as their fantastic museum teacher guides can be found on their website: http://www.moma.org/education/educators.html

Green & Cheap Classroom Idea: Reusable bingo "cards"

2008-09-29T20:51:00.005-04:00

Today I played Bingo with my Spanish 1 students in order to review for our Unit 1 test on Thursday. I know they enjoy playing Bingo, and while this is not a common teaching tool, I did not want to keep having to print bingo "cards" for my students to use. I purchased a box of sheet protectors and a class set of overhead markers. I also printed a class set of blank bingo cards. I put the bingo cards in the sheet protectors and pass out a card and marker to each student. They fill in their "card" with the material we will be reviewing that day, and the bingo game commences. After we are finished I clean off the cards with wet paper towels and they are ready to be used for another class another day.

The only thing I would change for the future is to print whatever is going in the sheet protectors on paper thicker than regular copy paper. Eventually from normal handling by students the bingo cards will start to get a little dingy and wrinkled, using thicker paper would prevent this from happening as quickly. So far I have used the current bingo cards twice and they are still holding up quite nicely.

My reason for doing this is two-fold: We all know resources in our schools are limited and the amount of money a teacher can afford to spend on school supplies even more so. At my school and many others in the city, teachers buy their own copy paper. For things such as bingo cards that students are not going to look at a second time, it doesn't make sense not to conserve. The green reason obviously being to conserve resources as well. Working in a school district that does not recycle gives teachers few options to do their part for the environment. Hopefully this green and cheap classroom idea will help teachers striving to conserve in both of these areas.

The Roommate Search: Way Worse than Dating

2008-09-22T21:30:00.004-04:00

As a result of the eviction I find myself with my September rent and deposit sitting in my purse, and the wide world of craigslist at my fingertips. Once again.

Didn't I just go through this process?

Anyways, I've been looking for almost two weeks which I know isn't terribly long or anything, but it definitely is torturous. What's so bad about it you ask? Let me tell ya...dealing with those in their early 20s.

I feel confident in discussing and even judging the habits of the peer group I have only just recently left, mainly because I was up to the same shenanigans when I was that age. I am however surprised by the discovery that finding the perfect roommate to live in a spare room is The. Most. Important. Thing. to those in their early 20s, all of them.

I went to see a room that was the size of my full size mattress, with no closet, and a bedroom door that wasn't able to fully open because it would rub up against the mattress. This gem would have cost me $800 a month. I had a nice conversation with the girl renting the room, after we spoke for a good 25 minutes, I think I passed some sort of test in her book because I was given "The Survey".

For those that aren't aware, The Survey is like getting a call or text inquiring about a second date. This survey was quite extensive. The written instructions asked me to "List five each of the following", but me being interesting and advanced and all, I was assured that I could fill out "just two or three and do just fine".

The survey included:

-Favorite Artists
-Favorite Movies
-Favorite Books
-Favorite Songs
-Five people dead or alive you would invite to a dinner party
-Personal Philosophy
-Words to live by

It went on...

Another apartment that I found equally entertaining was one that consisted of four people looking to fill a fifth bedroom. I attended an open house at this apartment. I had the chance to speak to one of the potential roommates, while another girl looking at the room stood there waiting for her chance. Before I left my picture was taken so they could remember me, and I was told I would be notified if I made the call-backs. Call-backs? Since when was I auditioning for a part in a high school musical?

I know this is an important process, and one doesn't want to take these decision lightly. I guess the only way to survive is to poke a little fun here and there.

NYC High School Fair 2008

2008-09-21T08:47:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I went to day one of New York City's high school fair. Not as a participant volunteering for my school, but as someone speaking to the many different high school representatives. Upon entering the building, you are thrust a telephone book size "guide" to all of the high schools in the five boroughs. If you are more comfortable in another language you are led to a table where you can pick up a similar guide in one of the eight languages of the Department of Education.

I was so excited for two reasons: 1. The fair is held every year at Brooklyn Tech, one of New York City's best high schools (and I was dying to check out their facilities). and 2. It's interesting to see this world from the parent's perspective.

The three of us took the elevator to the 7th floor and started perusing the tables of high schools in Brooklyn. We stopped at a table for a school specializing in expeditionary learning. It seems like a great idea: getting kids out of the classroom, they should learn by doing not by reading in a textbook. We heard from the New York Fire Department high school where students can get an EMT certificate before graduating high school, at the age of 21 be first on the list to become firemen, and of course at age 41, with 20 years of service in, retire with full benefits and pension. We also spoke to the principal of the Green School, which while pushing a "green" themed curriculum upon students and staff, isn't actually green, as the DOE doesn't allow it's schools to recycle. It is insane to me to think about my 13 year old self choosing a high school. Not only had I no idea of what a pension was, I certainly didn't know how I wanted to spend my 20s and 30s.

We learned a bit more about the actual application process. It's kind of like the college application process, and unfortunately for most of these kids, as important as some of these schools can make or definitely break you as a learner. Students are given an application form where they rank their top twelve choices. There is a sub-set of the high schools requiring a standardized test for admission, they are called the "Specialized High Schools". Some of the schools will only look at your application if you have ranked them as your top choice, some schools give you extra "points" if you signed in at their table, or attended their open house. It seems that this less than transparent process would lose so many students whose parents have a language difficulty or who just aren't interested.

There was one high school in my town for my sister and I to attend. It is unfortunate that middle schoolers are forced to make such big decisions here, mainly because the system meant to help them is failing them.

More fun with illegal evictions

2008-09-19T18:15:00.002-04:00

Well, yesterday was THE day the court was allowing us to move our things. I requested the personal day, Horace requested his day off, the U-Haul was reserved, everything was in place for a quick, painless packing and moving of my things in the presence of court marshals. My roommate called me to tell me no one was there to let us in, after she called around to find out what was going on, she was told the shady "owner" filed an appeal to the judge's earlier decision, and no one was planning on coming. She of course failed to notify my roommate Jamie of this. Jamie went to the court to try and fight this decision and gain access to the apartment. Meanwhile, I was at U-Haul, waiting for our cargo van to be delivered to us, hoping to get the call saying we could go in and move. The call eventually came, the super unlocked the door, and we had about 40 minutes before he locked it up again. This is a huge mess. It's frustrating to deal with someone else's lies, and leave the future of my possessions in the hands of a judge. I really don't care about the majority of my things, but I do have important documents in my apartment, as well as a couple of sentimental items. Yesterday my packing mindset wasn't that of "pack everything important first", it was "pack everything as fast as possible".

In order to provide a visual aid, I've included what I came home to that first evening.

Two week check-in

2008-09-13T16:39:00.002-04:00

The first two weeks have come and gone at school. I am teaching the same exact classes I taught last year, and my sophomore and junior classes have a lot of the same kids. I've got mixed feelings about the freshmen, they seem so skiddish and weird to me. I adore my students from years past who are not at all shy about stopping into my office to say hi, or tell me about their weekends. The feelings of uneasiness I had before the year started have gone away. In my previous post I wrote that I was concerned about the core people in a school leaving. After some thought and conversations with co-workers I realized that the people that make a school good are not the teachers or administration, but most definitely the students. Our kids are awesome and as long as the same caliber of student is attracted to our school, we can overcome whatever problem.

My home life on the other hand is not going quite so well. My roommate and I are being forced to move, which is proving to be very inconvenient and stressful. Luckily I have an amazing near-boyfriend to not only let me crash at his place, but help me move as well. I am a lucky girl. The having to move came about suddenly, and in the form of an eviction notice secured to the front door of our apartment about two feet above the recently changed lock. Apparently my roommate had been subletting from someone involved in dubious business. As a result, we are the ones that are suffering, and moving our things out in one day under the watchful eyes of court marshals. Although this is a huge pain in the ass and would qualify for the local news segment "Shame, shame shame!" I feel as if this type of experience is typical New York (or any major city for that matter) and will probably happen to most in their renting years. I mean, surely I saw something like this on Friends or Seinfeld, right?

I haven't been able to go to the gym since my gym shoes are locked in the apartment I'm no longer legally allowed to enter, (but have paid through the month of September for). I have however been getting plenty of exercise walking to different apartments and climbing the stairs to various two bedrooms around the "historic" Bed-Stuy area of Brooklyn.

In between apartment hunting and lesson planning I have no trouble keeping myself quite busy. :)

The calm before the storm

2008-08-27T18:08:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow we go back to work, the students don't actually show up until Tuesday after we have one last relaxing three day weekend. As a student and now a teacher, each year as the end of summer arrives I get the itch. I've always gotten the itch: the excitement about starting a new year, picking out a new and fabulous back to school outfit, connecting with old friends, making new ones. It doesn't change when you're on the other side of the desk. This year however I feel more anxiety than excitement about my return to school. I still feel thrilled about seeing the kids on Tuesday (maybe thrilled was too strong a word), the anxiety comes from facing the adults I share the building with tomorrow. In the two years I've been at my school, I have become aware of the insane amount of politics surrounding education, NYC Department of Education, and my school in general. The past year was a tough one for the senior teachers at my school and the end of the year was not as light-hearted and hopeful as in years past. Each time I meet up for coffee or dinner with co-workers I hear about another one of us leaving, moving on to a different school, taking a promotion to be an Assistant Principal or Principal somewhere else. Today I found out that three key players are leaving.

My school is located in a rough neighborhood in New York City. The kids however come from all five boroughs, some travel as much as two hours each way on public transportation. The school is considered a good school by city standards, and is, we do well with what we have. The students tend to be very bright, making my job one of the easier city teaching positions.

I know why I went into teaching and while the dream of "making a difference in the lives of young people" seems more and more idealistic each day, it is still my dream, as silly as that is. I guess I am wondering when the politics starts to outweigh "doing it for the kids". Maybe I should enjoy this temporary period of blissful teaching while I still can.

Goals for this school year:

2008-08-26T11:45:00.002-04:00

I don't really care about New Year's Resolutions mainly because my year begins in September, and come January 1st there's not a whole lot on my mind that I want to re-vamp and change. I am lucky enough to have the summer to recharge and renew, so all of that normally takes place then. Some goals I do have for my classroom this year include:

1. A field trip-- I have never been on one, and I think NYC students are underserved in this area. Some ideas I am throwing around are dance performances, an art museum visit...

2. A skype conference with another country, I can't imagine anything cooler than that!

3. A green classroom-- I am always shocked by the amount of waste my classes produce. My goal this year is to produce less, and find a way to recycle what we do make.

4. Work hard with my special ed. students. Each year there is a large number of special ed students failing foreign language classes, I need to continue working hard to make the material and exams more accessible for everyone.

Something interesting to try in school

2008-08-26T11:40:00.001-04:00

I am on a foreign language teaching listserve and this morning read a message about a Spanish classroom in New York having a Skype conference with a classroom in Venezuela. This is something I would love to do with my 9th graders!

There is a blog post with a link to a video showing the kids talking. Very Cute!

http://miscositasblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/skyping-with-caracas.html

An excellent resource for teachers!

2008-08-24T17:19:00.000-04:00

I just found out about a really cool website designed for teachers in need of classroom materials. The way the site works is a teacher will post a proposal on the site, and “donors” searching the site can give tax-deductible donations as little as $1 to the proposals of their choice. Proposals can really be anything, from pencils to a classroom computer. The main requirement is that the items requested directly benefit the students.

I have posted two proposals:

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=201316

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=201544

The first propoosal is requesting help getting arts and crafts supplies so my students can work on a Picasso inspired art project. The second proposal is requesting a document camera, so we can read comics, childrens books, and other stories in Spanish without having to make low quality black and white copies to do so.

Personally, I am so excited a site like this exists for teachers. As it gets closer to September and I am shopping back to school supply sales I am reminded again of how quickly the small things add up and how unattainable some of the big things seem.

So, why am I posting this here for all of you to see? Well, maybe you were, are, know, or will be a teacher and could benefit from this site yourself. Or, maybe maybe you feel like helping out someone with a lot of good ideas, but not a lot of funds.

Hola y Bienvenidos

2008-08-24T17:14:00.000-04:00

Hello and welcome to my blog! This is my first entry, a week before I go back to work to start my second year as a NYC Spanish teacher. With this blog I hope to better document my own experiences as a teacher, share Spanish, education, and NYC resources with interested people, and make public the craziness involved in living, learning, and teaching in New York.