T’s Neighborhood

Tunica River Park

Chimaobi
Oct 31, 2009
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The Tunica River Park affords a host of opportunities for people who are seeking to understand the historical importance of the Mississippi River's usage from its beginnings with the Native Americans and conquistadors up through it's present-day significance as a major channel for transporting goods and individuals through the American midwest. In an ideal world my students would be able to visit the park and take advantage of the plethora of exhibits and time periods featured at the museum. However, structuring this time to maximize my students' learning must be undertaken carefully so that my students get the full effect of the academic experience of the Tunica River Park and do not simply view the excursion as pointless field trip.

Some of the before school activities that I could have my students complete are:
            1) Completing a KWL chart to document students' knowledge prior to visiting the Tunic River Park
            2) Researching the history of the Mississippi River and how it has been used in the past by disparate groups
            3) Visiting a local river (i.e. the Yazoo River) and having students read about its historic regional significance

Some of the activities I could have my students complete while they are at the Tunic River Park are:
             1) Creating a timeline to document the settling of the area around the Mississippi River
             2) Describing the work of major figures who settles or worked along the Mississippi River
             3) Formulating a schedule for other groups of students to complete a walking tour of the park on their own visit

Some of the activities I could have my students complete after their visit to the Tunica River Park include:
             1) Finishing their KWL chart by filling in five things they learned from their visit to the Tunica River Park
             2) Developing a community service project to spread the word throughout the Delta about the river's import
             3) Writing a persuasive letter to a member of Congress urging them to allot money for sharing the river's history

"Is this what success is all about?" - Shawn Carter

Chimaobi
Oct 31, 2009
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When teaching in the districts that MTC places us in, tangible success is often hard to come by. Failure seems to be what is constantly in our face as we think of all the things that our students are doing besides learning, all the places that our students will likely end up besides college, and all the classroom management issues we face that make us want to roll over and call out sick. Every. Single. Day. Still, it's in the little things that teachers anywhere but especially in "critical needs" districts must focus on to maintain drive and focus and continue doing what too many others have deemed highly improbable or flatly impossible for centuries: educating poor Blacks.

In many of these districts MTC teachers teach in standardized tests are seen as foreboding signs of eminent doom and embarrassment. In these places, teaching "to the test" is often resorted to as the means through which educational salvation is reached. Teaching to the test is one thing but when you're in a school environment where, from day one, what's communicated to teachers is that teaching to the test is the ONLY thing, well then you're at KIPP. On some level this is understandable as testing determines so much at charter schools like KIPP from our enrollment to our ability to woo private funders to the very renewal of our charter with the state of Arkansas. However, I cannot help but shake my philosophical belief that I have more important life skills to teach my students than finding equivalent fractions and answering multiple choice items using process of elimination.

In any event, our big state test in Arkansas is called the ACTAAP or the Benchmark Exam. KIPP Delta in Helena has some of the highest test scores in the state at the middle school and high school levels. Last year, 94% of our 7th graders at KIPP Delta scored proficient or advanced on the mathematics Benchmark Exam compared to 66% of 7th graders statewide and only 33% of students in Helena-West Helena's regular public school system. What makes this even more remarkable to many is that our school is 99% Black, 99% free/reduced lunch, and in the heart of dilapidated downtown Helena close by local housing projects, gang territory, drugs, and prostitution. Last year's 7th grade math teacher who got these results was so successful that she has been given the green light to found her own school which will be opening in Blytheville, Arkansas in the fall of 2010 as a new KIPP middle school. She's only a year older than me. The venerable 7th grade math slot was thus available when I applied to KIPP this past spring and who teaches this course with the districtwide spotlight on it now?: me. The Black, hood guy from Harvard with two years of (social studies) teaching experience who's a few credits away from a master's degree in education.

Anyway, to my success story. In preparation for the end-of-the-year Benchmark Exam we take practice Benchmark Exams every month. We chart the progress of our students and use the practice Benchmark Exams to target particular students and skills for remediation and re-teaching. Results are scrutinized for hours on end at the individual, school, and district levels. It is highly nerve-wrecking to see where your students are at month-by-month and to know that the results will be known almost immediately by your peers and superiors and reflect your quality as a teacher. Lovely. In any event, the first practice Benchmark Exam we took was in late September. We took a second one two weeks ago in late October and although the success or failure of my students on the September exam could largely be attributed to what my students came into 7th grade knowing, my school director was clear in communicating that the October exam's results would be all my own.

Much to my surprise and the surprise of many a colleague, I'm sure, not only did my students' scores increase from the first to the second practice Benchmark Exam but these were the only scores that increased in any grade level, in any subject area at the entire school. Fifth, sixth, and eighth grade math scores went down. Fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade literacy scores went down. Fifth, sixth, seventh, and eight grade reading scores went down. Fifth and seventh grade science scores went down (we don't do sixth and eighth grade science testing). ONLY 7TH GRADE MATH SCORES WENT UP!!! I was elated when I saw the numbers displayed on the dry erase board at our faculty meeting the night we stayed at school until 10 p.m. grading exams and inputting results on our district network for more scrutiny. When looking at the individual students and their performances from the first to the second practice Benchmark Exam, I also noticed that most of the students whose scores increased were taught by me and not by the more experienced and better respected 8th grade math teacher who takes 15 of my 7th graders into his algebra class each day.

That's wassup. Right?

"I'm from the hood, stupid, what types of facts are those?" - Shawn Carter

Chimaobi
Sep 26, 2009
2 comments

To be honest, after a second perusal of Ruby Payne's A Framework for Understanding Poverty I'm not sure how I feel about it. Two years ago when I first blogged about the book I had this to say. Oh, the days when I was a fiery leftist blogger.... I still feel Payne overly generalizes a very large, exploited population whose absent voice in a book such as this speaks volumes. I still feel it is inherently absurd to think you can understand poverty, the lifestyles of many people in poverty, or other such deeply complex and malleable concepts by reading a book. I still feel that the myriad holes in Payne's argument makes it as useful as a two-dollar bill in the vending machines on the first floor of Guyton. However, I do hear more of what Payne was trying to get across after having taught for two years in one of the poorest places in the nation.

Payne rubs me the wrong way on p. 38 with her ridiculous self-assessment that she encourages readers to take to see if they could survive in poverty. Things such as knowing which churches or sides of town have the best rummage sales and living without electricity or a phone are more commonplace for our homeless population--not those in poverty. In actuality, many people in poverty try to live outside of their means through extrinsic markers of financial freedom such as name-brand clothing and sneakers or expensive and multi-faceted cell phones. What's more, Payne's list on p. 167 of the causes of poverty should have placed more emphasis on the exploitation and political/ economic structures that keep people in poverty where they are. Surely, personal choices play a part in keeping people impoverished but the personal choices one views themselves as having are largely dictated by those superstructures that may prevent an individual from seeing themselves as even having choices given the circumstances that they daily face.

I shall give credit where credit is due, however. I feel that some of the practices that Payne describes are right on the money. An example of this is the roundabout storytelling of many people in poverty. The storytelling does not go start-middle-end. It more often goes end, preceding detail, preceding detail, preceding detail, starting point. Those who have encountered this personally will know what I mean. Additionally, I think that Payne is spot on when she says that school is the only place where young people in poverty can learn to become middle class (notwithstanding television and Internet exposure though, since those are not places). Students in Mississippi generally see teachers as individuals who have "made it"--to the middle class, of course. We have salaries. We drive nice, new cars (often). We live on the good side of town. We have lots of business casual and dressy clothing. We speak properly and have college degrees. Students who seek similar lives will look to us for cues on achieving their goals. The tougher question, however, is whether or not middle class is anything to aspire to be at all.

Research-Based Best Practice Article

Chimaobi
Sep 26, 2009
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The research article that I read was "The 'Building Tasks' of Critical History: Structuring Social Studies for Social Justice" by Wayne Au. It was published in Social Studies Research and Practice in July of this year. In the article, Au looks at two case study lesson plans by social studies teachers who actively seek to raise the consciousness of their students around social justice issues. The author utilizes discourse analysis where people "use language to operationalize certain 'building tasks' in order to express meaning, ideology, values, and other aspects of our identities in a given situation." Au concluded that these lesson plans were quality classroom pedagogical devices due to their service as vehicles for students to critically question social relations historically and in the present-day context. In doing so, he dismissed the claims of some that lesson plans stifle the true learning process by assuming that the planning and executing instruction occurs in some sort of linear fashion to a "predetermined endpoint."

I am interested in exploring social justice issues and concepts with my students for a number of reasons, some of which Au suggests research finds develops a sense of students' social awareness and prompts students to become more deeply involved in social action. In addition to my personal, ultimate educational goal of teaching Black American students Africana history in order to help erode deep, long-instilled notions of racial inferiority and boost Black students' individual and group self-perception, a major goal of mine is to inspire my students to become more active in the affairs of their community, government, and local institutions. By developing social studies lesson plans that include social justice issues and concepts on a regular basis, my hope is that students become increasingly interested in these issues to the extent that (a) they look forward to and eagerly anticipate more lessons on the topics or (b) they take personal initiative in addressing some of the social justice issues raised in class in their own communities of their own volition. Doing this as a math teacher may prove somewhat difficult but this challenge is something I look forward to undertaking throughout this school year.

Defining Social Studies

Chimaobi
Sep 5, 2009
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Social studies is the academic revelaing of people and their interactions near and far, throughout time and space, from minute households to expansive continents. It encompasses a wide range of disciplines including psychology, sociology, history, and geography to name but a few. Social studies is a primary means of cultural diffusion and is perhaps the most controversial of any major academic subject areas in the U.S. or abroad today. Its ability to profoundly influence not only individuals and their perceptions of self and other but groups' perceptions as well makes it invaluable to nations, academic institutions, corporations, and other large bodies in their constant pursuit of training and re-training citizens for their specific purposes.

Very often, social studies courses from the elementary to the secondary levels of education are thought of simply as history courses. This is understandable, to an extent, as the history of economics or political science or anthropology can reflect the interactions of people and groups of people both over time and at specific moments in time. However, this intransigent understanding of social studies can be highly misleading to individuals who would like to look at human interactions over time through the lens of the distribution of goods and services or the mental processes and permutations that influence human action every minute of each day. Thus, a broader definition of social studies allows us to pursue these other angles of studying people and their interactions how individuals best see fit for themselves.

first weeks teaching in cOlOmBiA

Ms Math
Aug 30, 2009
1 comment

In ze classroom

I've been thinking about blogging a lot, but haven't gotten around to it until now. Only four weeks have gone by since the first day of school, and only three weeks have gone by with the kids, but some much has happened! Or maybe not that much has happened, but I have some many differing responses.

The first week, the week without teachers, was a little nerve racking. I was nervous about what was to come. We had a lot of random PD, but it seemed like too much to take in at one time, and on the other hand not enough free time to get things done.

First Days

I was really nervous about the first day. It was my third first day of school, so it seems like I should have it down somewhat, but I seemed to have blocked out, or merely forgotten all of my other first day experiences. And then there was the issue of time difference. Classes here are 60 minutes instead of the 90 minutes I'm used to. On the first day, there was an assembly so classes were cut down to 50 minutes. I didn't know if I was going to be able to fill that time, with just going over the syllabus.... but- boy, could I! Apparently I can ramble on for hours about classroom rules and procedures. I was surprised by many of the students questions. Students wanted to know my expectations of them exactly, especially when it came to what supplies the needed and how I would be grading. They had questions about everything really.

I definitely had a "honeymoon period" the first week or two. There was some small side chatter with the students, but things were pretty much on task. All of the students completed their homework. All of the 10th graders passed their first quiz.

However, there were some worrisome parts too. The ninth graders bombed the pretest I gave them. All that was on it was basic operations with real numbers, and some basic algebra stuff, like distributive property and 1 and 2-step equations. Much to everyone's dismay, they sucked it up on the test. I was really surprised by their lack of ability. In Mississippi I knew my students wouldn't know how to add or subtract fractions, or even really have a very good idea of what a fraction is. Here I thought things would be different. A teacher friend let me in on a secret: "No one in the world knows how to do fractions." Oh.

Then I made the mistake of thinking that the students just needed a quick review to catch up on those things. Class ended up as follows: me doing example problems on the bored, them taking notes, me assigning homework, them f***ing up the homework and coming to class with 30 homework questions, them losing concentration half way through question 2, me moving on to the next topic, repeat. All throughout this process, kids were getting more and more discouraged.

I think next year I will not start out with fractions. I will start out with a review of distributive property and one and two step equations with real numbers only. The are okay at this, and having some success will help them build confidence and enjoy the class. We will get to the fractions, decimals, and exponents later.

Also I have learned that when it comes to doing hard new stuff, most of it has to be done in class, because many students need me there to tutor them. I still want to assign homework, so that they don't get out of the habit of doing it, but only a nominal amount.

The tenth graders have shown themselves to be much more up to grade level in math. I can hold them accountable for knowing what they should have learned in Alg I and Alg II. If they don't completely remember something, a quick review at the begin of class suffices. Also, they are good at helping each other out, when someone has a question. However, in the third week of class I have noticed a lot more talking and off task behaviors in the tenth graders as well. I am thinking that perhaps I have not been strict enough. In fact, I am really not sure. Sometimes I think I'm not actually cut out for this whole "teaching" thing. maybe i suck.

Consequences:

Teaching at Jim Hill definitely undermined my classroom management abilities. Why? The one thing they stress in any class on management is that consistency is the key. At Jim Hill there was no consistency. I put up with whatever behaviors were going on, until I couldn't take it anymore, and then sent the kid out because that was really the only consequence available. Students learned after about the 4th week of school, if they didn't go to detention nothing happened.

At my current school, I actually have consequences at my disposal, but i forget to use them. We can dock points for misbehavior and we can assign lunch, recess, and after school detention. There is even a Friday detention for more extreme cases. But like I said it has been a struggle for me to get back in to the habit of using these so I fear I may come off as unfair or inconsistent.

Rewards

On a positive side, my Kimmel Dollars ARE indeed effective here. I was worried the kids wouldn't take to them. They do. Students are constantly informing me that they think they should get one. The kids loved the cookies I brought in, and asked me all week if I was going to bring in more. Even better, since all of the students have I-pods, I can make them use their Kimmel Dollars for the privilege of listening to them in class. Free and hassle-free reward.

Frustrations vs FRUSTRATIONS

So I am frustrated about the low level of my ninth graders and some of the disrespect that my students have shown me. On the other hand, no one has thrown anything on the floor, cussed me out to my face, skipped class, shown up high, or told me they didn't care when i assigned them a consequence. My principal can complete the sentences he starts, feels it is important not to undermine my authority in the classroom, and has the time and energy to be genuinely concerned about my well being in the classroom. my fellow teachers care about the kids and know their subject matter. yes!

First Test:

I gave my tenth graders their first test and I just finished grading it. The questions ranged greatly in difficulty level. Anyway, the highest grade was a 105, the lowest grades were in the 50's except for one girl who scored a 32%. The mean score was 78% with a s.d. of 15. Yep, i calculated all of that data. But i don't know what it means. 11 out 45 failed. Should I add some points on to curve it? 78% actually seems like a pretty good average to me, but I don't know what the expectation are here. I really don't know what to do. So far I am not adding points. Especially because homework and sociocultural grades count for a combined 35% of their grade. So even students who failed the test are still passing the class, for the most part.

Lesson Plans:

My lesson plans are extremely routine and boring. Several factors are adding to this. The tenth grade text book is quite advanced; something that could be done at the college level. It really lends itself to lecture/practice type structure. Furthermore, the students are prepared for this sort of class, and this type of structure is what they will see in calculus. The ninth graders on the other hand could perhaps use some more diverse teaching methods and activities. However, I am hoping to get done with this basic stuff as soon as possible so that we can move on. Furthermore, we have only one hour-- by the time we get done with homework, questions, and notes, there isn't time to start an activity, especially if I want them to have a little time to start their homework in class. I am feeling a little guilty about the whole situation tho. And like a bad teacher....

enough rambling for now.... coffee time.

first day of school

rk
Aug 23, 2009
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the random thoughts I had during the day (yesterday) that I managed to write down...

The internet is down. I left my lesson plans on the computer at home. School doesn’t start until 7:30 but kids have been yelling outside the room since I got here just before 6:30. But I’m excited for this day. It’s funny how we teachers still get amped up for the first day. I went to bed at my usual 9pm last night but was woken up at 11 by a friends call. Of course, after the call, I couldn’t fall back asleep. After rolling in circles on the bed for an hour I gave up and read. No idea what time I fell back asleep. The alarm at 4:36 was early. The taxi at 6 was late. But everything works out. Supposedly today I will be getting my car back and the internet hooked up at my house. I’m not holding my breath. However, it’s a good day. I saw an amazing sun rise this morning while I was dancing around my room to worship music. Yes, though I can’t sing, I do dance around the house at 5am. I never said I wasn’t crazy.

Made it through almost an hour and a half of advisory and half an hour of 1^st period. The internet is back up. I love that we are actually following the planned schedule (such a change from MS first days of school). Hated going over all the “don’t” rules with the kids. Tried to explain how much fun they would have if they just acted right. Wish you could have seen the looks on the faces of my first period kids when I told them I don’t care where they sit or if they even sit at all. Priceless. I really should write MasterCard commercials.

come visit!

rk
Aug 23, 2009
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to copy a friends blog...

i know you. you've always wanted to visit Guatemala, haven't you? right, right? and now's your chance, with your special Moyfriend [insert ruthiefriend] living right in the capital! the following is a list of our long weekends for this upcoming academic year; i'm already so excited about the travel that will be accomplished this year and hope that you'll be able to come down and hang out. we'll see awesome things, i promise.

now, you go and check out kayak.com, or wherever you normally search, for ticket prices.

12-15 september 2009, dia de independencia (4 days)

17-20 october 2009, dia de la revolucion (4 days)

26-29 november 2009, thanksgiving (4 days)

12 december 2009 - 5 january 2010 (really long time...)

5-7 february 2010, random day off (3 days)

27 march-5 april 2010, semana santa (long time...)

7-10 may, mother's day

the other Washington

rk
Jul 7, 2009
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Washington DC, July 4^th and Great Friends.

The 4^th has always been a big holiday for our family. It was my grandpa’s birthday and just a few days after/before mine and others’ birthdays. Our extended family was together every year - from the days of jumping off the neighbor’s trampoline into the lake and watching Mr. Weyerhaeuser’s fireworks to borrowing Uncle Ken’s tractor and lighting off our own fireworks. This was a holiday that you didn’t miss and unlike Christmas which we change to fit the schedules of the entire family, the 4^th was always the same. I remember the first time I missed 4^th of July with the family. I was 17 and away at Young Life camp in Malibu. It was weird, not being with the family, but at the same time reminded me how lucky I am to have a family that sticks together like we do. I’ve never forgotten that. We still try to get together as a family but now that all of us kids are grown getting together for the 4^th doesn’t always have the priority it used to.

This year I spent the 4^th of July in Washington DC. Silly me, I didn’t even realize the significance of this until I was there. I was visiting my good friend Rachel. We had a ball together. Spent a full day making her walk all over DC and see all the tourist locations that can possibly be seen in a day. Went dumpster diving at Trader Joes and came back with, among other things, over $132 worth of cheese. Packed up her stuff for her move back to Connecticut. Played with the neighbor boys and wondered why in the hell I’d ever left Mississippi. Had a goodbye party.

Rachel actually had to leave on the morning of the 4^th so I spent the day with my new friends Adam and Sarah. I’d known Adam for just over 24 hours and Sarah only since the goodbye party the night before. I never would have guessed what a fantastic day it would turn out to be. We went to the parade and then wandered around the folk life festival. At one point I exclaimed, “This is exactly what I wanted to do today. I didn’t know it but it was.” Then we met up with ten or so more friends and sat on the lawn of the capital for hours waiting for the concert and fireworks.

During the trip I also got to meet up with Michele. She teaches in Leland, MS and I stayed with her last Christmas when I went to visit. Turns out she was in DC helping out her mother (she is from DC) at the same time I was there. So we actually got to spend a decent amount of time there and I even got to meet her crazy sister! Since Rachel was gone I spent the night with Michele. When I got to her house sometime just before midnight we were both hungry and forum an all night pizza place. Strangely enough we sat next to a group of guys from Ole Miss. We told them we had gone there and talked for a bit then went along with our business. As they were leaving they told us, “Goodnight, Hotty Toddy.” Hilarious!

I don’t know how many people from DC read this but thank you so much Rachel, Haley, Adam, Sarah and Michele. I’ll never forget my first trip to DC and because of all y’alls hospitality I might just be moving there soon. Can’t wait to see everyone again. I love you.

summer revisited - Ross Lake

rk
Jul 27, 2009
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Note- I´m typing on a spanish keyboard and there is no spellcheck. I could go back and reread everything but my hour of free computer time (I´m at a language school in Xela, Guatemala - blog to come later) is almost up. Deal.

My favorite part of the summer. Amber, Naphtali and I escape for 5 glorious days in the wilderness. No cell phones, television, computers or internet allowed. We don´t even have timepieces with us. We wake up with the sun and go to bed when tired (at least this year we did manage to bring a flashlight with us in case we needed to go adventuring at night – last year it was left in the suburban).

This is the time and place where countless adventures unfold – paddling through lightning storms, swimming naked in the middle of the day, drinking copious amounts of vanilla rum, discussing everything under the sun, making up songs to the tune of the itsy bitsy spider, digging trenches with camping cups during storms, bob the bobber, canoes falling off the top of the truck while on the highway... This is the time where I can be myself. There is no fear of judgment and missunderstandings are resolved in love. We laugh together and share out deepest thoughts and dreams and fears. I love these two ladies more than I can say and I would do anything for them. They have blessed my life in countless ways and taught me so much about what it means to be a true friend. I would not be the same without them.

This was our second year for the Ross Lake adventure. Last year, with three people in two canoes, we only made it as far as boundary bay. This year we were determined to finish the entire 50 mile trip. It helped that instead of two canoes we only brought one and a kayak. Funny how last year we had two canoe´s full of gear and this year only one plus a little in the kayak – yet there was nothing we lacked.

I did the first four days in the kayak and then gave it away for the last day. I would have let the paddle earlier, and I did offer, but we ran into some pretty rough weather and so it was best that I had the canoe and the responsibility if it flipped. Our second day was the worst. First I put on the rain skirt (thank you again daddy for saying that I should take it when I would have left it at home). But as the waves got choppier and choppier, the wind was almost parallel to the direction I needed to go, I eventually decided that I would put on the life jacket as well. I was resigned to the fact that I was probably going to be swimming in the not to distant future. At one point the girls asked me if I was okay. My answer – Yup, I have my life jacket on. They did not find that comforting. Even though there were a few waves that crashed over my kayak I felt lucky because at least I had the rain skirt while the girls had nothing to protect them from the rain.

the after photo...