Teacher Workdays

The hard days have begun! I finally got my teaching schedule on Friday ... I will be teaching Global History 3, US History 1, and 2 Government sections ... this means I must write three completely different lesson plans for each day. I will also be acting as the IEP Coordinator for the special education department.

I just finished an all-nigher, I guess they're not history as I originally thought, writing my parent letter and syllabi for my classes. Today, I must head to Brooklyn to pick up some items in the teacher store ... and work to write lesson plans for the week.

Nevertheless, I'm looking forward to meeting my kids on Tuesday! :)

Crunch Time

The school year is about to begin .... and I have so many things to do .... and the funny part is I don't know what classes I will be teaching .... I will keep you all updated as I'm updated :)

PD Day 2

Professional Development today was so funny. Some of the new teachers don't appear to have attended public schools. One question that raised was what to do if your student is having a bad day? Several of my colleagues responded you should let the kid put their head down or chill. (I just shook my head) If you do this the kids will certainly love you and do NO work! I'm like you should definitely empathize with your students, but sympathy is simply ridiculous if you expect students to rise from their current conditions.

NYC NEW TEACHER ORIENTATION DAY ONE

Yesterday, NYC New Teacher Orientation commenced at LaGuardia High School. It started with a “video welcome” from Chancellor Joel Klein followed by a brief panel of teachers entering their second year. The remainder of the day was devoted to a workshop entitled: Conscious Classroom Management: Bringing out the Best in Students and Teachers … the workshop was led by Rick Smith, author of bestselling Conscious Classroom Management. (supposedly they are distributing this guys book ... free ... I can only hope)

He presented a lot of good material …. I will give an abbreviated summary here …. Email me for the slides… note the sides are marked with Cooper Notes

1) The 2 x 10 Strategy

Pick out the kid that drives you crazy … and for 10 straight days have a 2 minute conversation with him/her …. Researcher Raymond Wloodkowski pivots this leads to 85% improvement in pupil behavior

2) Three Rules that you must enforce

Raising Hand when you expect it

No arguing with the ref (i.e. Teacher) [result should be an additional consequence]

The “Popcorn Effect” – have students working before devoting individual attention to a single student

3) Develop Non-Verbal Procedures and Save Your VOICE (a lot of this is Pavlovian)

Rubrics

Visuals

Sound Signals

Music for Transitions

Hand Signals

Well that is it in a nutshell. I will keep you updated on the rest of the week.

BTW: I report to school next Wednesday … and students come the following Tuesday

Slang Term List from 180

Ok …... I told many of you about the list of slang terms that the students at MS180 gave me earlier this summer…. Here is the list …. As you can see, they assumed that I had absolutely no prior knowledge.

WAS Poppin = what’s up or what’s good
Son = friend, brother
Guap = money
S.M.D = suck my dxxk
S.M.H = so much head
S.M.K = swallow my kids
G.M.C = Google my cock
Glocksucker
Drug yo Shit = punch yo shit
Catch a Jux = Jumping people up
Pop
Fly = fresh
Breeze
Beast
O.D. = a lot
Wildin
Spazzin
Whip
Blunt = a pouch of weed
Crib = home
Spiff = a type of weed
Ratchet

Talk to you soon,

New Job (X439 Here I Come)

Good Morning Everyone:

So for a variety of reasons, I have decided to switch schools. Instead of teaching at Bronx Aerospace High School, I will be teaching English and History at the Bronx High School for Law and Community Service (X439). The school is located directly across the street from Fordham University. While the school is currently close to the bottom of the barrel, the school leadership has a plan to launch it to the top of the charts. The principal told me she is building a dream team -- which I feel must be the goal of any principal in the inner city who wants RESULTS.

Side Bar: Last night was so fun. My frat brother, Ferguson, is in town --- and we went to a baller jazz bar -- I tried a new beverage (Brooklyn Lager)