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)

Calendar (Many Days Off)

2008-2009 SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR

8-28-2008
(I report to work yayaya!)
8-29-2008
Chancellor’s Conference Day for staff development (regular work day for School Secretaries, psychologists, and Social Workers). Students will not be in attendance.
9-01-2008
Labor Day
9-02-2008
SCHOOL SESSIONS BEGIN FOR ALL STUDENTS.* EARLY DISMISSAL FOR NON-DISTRICT 75 KINDERGARTEN STUDENTS ONLY.
9-03-2008
Early Dismissal for non-District 75 Kindergarten Students Only
9-30-2008 to 10-1-2008
Rosh Hashanah
10-9-2008 to 10-13-2008
Yom Kippur
Columbus Day Observed
11-4-2008
Election Day
Chancellor’s Conference Day for staff development related to the Regents High Learning Standards and Assessments. Students will not be in attendance.
11-11-2008
Veterans Day
11-27-2008 to 11-28-2008
Thanksgiving Recess
12-24-2008 to 01-02-2009
Winter Recess (including Christmas and New Year's Day), students return 1-5-2009
01-19-2009
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
02-02-2009
Fall Term ends for HIGH school students. NO HIGH school students will be in attendance. Chancellor’s Conference Day related to the Regents High Learning Standards and Assessments in ALL HIGH Schools. All other students will be in attendance. (See section 7 below for details on high school student attendance on February 2.)
02-03-2009
Spring Term begins for HIGH school students.
02-16-2009 to 02-20-2009; 04-09-2009, 04-17-2009
Midwinter Recess (including Washington's Birthday)
Spring Recess (including Good Friday, Easter and Passover); students 04-20-09
05-25-2009
Memorial Day Observed
06-04-2009
Chancellor’s Conference Day for staff development related to the Regents High Learning Standards and Assessments IN ALL FIVE BOROUGHS. School staff report to work if required by their collective bargaining agreement. Students IN ALL FIVE BOROUGHS will NOT be in attendance.
06-25-2009 to 06-26-2009
In non-District 75 high schools having to administer Regents Exams from June 16 through June 24, students will not be in attendance on Regents Rating Day
06-25-2009
LAST DAY FOR ALL STUDENTS

Update 7/27

Good Afternoon Everyone:

I am sorry I have not written in a while. However, I have found teaching to be extremely demanding. Last Thursday, I said goodbye to my beloved students at MS 181 to begin my tenure at Bronx Aerospace Academy.

Thursday, I had the opportunity to sit in on two hiring demo lessons. One was amazing, while the other was horrible. In fact, the horrible guy asked if he should come back and the honest kids quickly told him NO.

I left at approximately 12:00 to make it to City College for my last day of summer school course work. It is hard to believe I already have 6 credits towards my Master of Science in Education.

This week I will be teaching 9-3pm at Bronx Aerospace, followed by my last week of SAF Sessions at City College in the late afternoons. Summer school ends August 14^th at Aerospace, and I may or may not be paid for the two weeks in August depending on if the school can get my per session approved.

Nevertheless, I got to get back to relaxing on this beautiful Sunday afternoon. I will write soon!

X180

So last week was amazing. To sum it up my kids gave me a nickname Cash Coop. Since I was being observed I asked them to attach Mr. --- :) Also, they drew it in graffiti-like characters for me during their down time ..... you may think I'm having to much fun ... but my teaching style is give me results ... we have fun ...

The Classroom is Fun .... Kids are AMAZING!

I love the classroom. I began at MS 181 yesterday, and I have already had valuable experiences that will follow me for the rest of my life. I will share a few that stand out here.

First, during the social studies lesson studies were supposed to be reading a passage followed by review questions. One student was sleeping so I calmly went over and told him he could not sleep in class. I walked away, he went back to sleep. Next, I went over and made him read the passage to me, followed by him giving a brief synopsis in his words. I found the kid was extremely bright. The teachers during the year simply did not know how to refocus him when he misbehaved.

Second, I found out that one of my students is one of ten siblings and is in foster-care. She expressed how she felt destined for failure. Of course, we had a long talk and many will follow.

Third, the students wanted to know my age, and I responded 25.

Fourth, in attempting to set me up with their other favorite teacher 2 students wanted to know whether I was a virgin. My response … “we will not talk about that” …. They replied .. “Mr. Cooper is mad cool”

Fifth, my AP (assistant principal) told me to stop wearing ties … “get down with them … let them know you their brother” – lol J I don’t know about the brother part … but I will convert to polos.

In conclusion, sorry I didn’t share much about teaching but my overall goal is to create a love for learning. However, though we are having fun in the classroom – I also know the students are learning stuff they had not before – and probably would not if I did not allow some time for fun during instruction.