Week three down. It feels like 3 months.... Not in a bad way, it's just been REALLY intense! Sleep has become a novelty and of course, I hurt my back this week. I thought I was "super strong" girl and moved my bed. Oh well, here's hoping the pills and heating pad do the trick! Funny, one of my friend said mid-week, "You have to go to the doctor today!" To which I replied, "Only if I won't miss class". Seriously, missing one class is like missing a week. No thanks.
I started my week by breezing into class at 8:30 like I normally do and set down my stuff to run upstairs and get my shoes ( I have a locker, isn't that fun!) All of the sudden, one of my classmates, Chasity, come running after me.."did you know the zipper on your dress is undone all the way down your back". No. No I did not know that. (This woman has the most amazing knack for style by the way) So she follows me into the bathroom and of course, my cheap little zipper had broke! I took it in stride, I mean, what can I do? So after trying to fuss with it, she stapled me into my dress (I carry a little stapler with me...laugh at me now!) and then at lunch some of the girls got me a bunch of safety pins and we converted the staples to pins. Team work! I'm lucky to have great classmates/coworkers. On the way home I had to stop at friends house to unpin me so I could get out of my dress when I got home. If you know me, you are not surprised by this day's events I am sure!
We have gotten into the meat of all our classes. Social Justice class is interesting and our professor is brilliant. One of the texts we are reading is Pauline Lipman"s "The New Political Economy of Urban Education". She REALLY does not like AUSL or turnaround. Interesting that we are reading her work. The contra view is always an interesting way to look at things. I was however, taken back by some of her "untruths" she states in the book. She shares a lot of information about Ren2010 and Turnaround, including Fenger and then mentions Derrion Albert. If you live in or around Chicago, and unless you live under a rock, you recall this horrific story about the young boy who was beat to death during a dispute gone violent gone bad on his walk home. It was awful. But as I read Lipman state, "The story [of Derrion Albert] epitomizes the nexus of African American dispossession in which this policy is complicit.". She basically blames turnaround for his murder. She further states, " ...[Fenger] opened in 2009 with a Principal and Staff who...lacked the moral authority to defuse conflicts and mentor students". I REALLY struggle with this. I find this statement insanely ignorant and biased. So I went back, and talked with friends and mentors who worked at Fenger and some who had Albert as a student. The FACT of the matter was, the "Ville" and Altgeld Garden students had feuded for a long time. Furthermore, due to restorative justice practices that were now being implemented in the school, student were learning how to deal with conflict. I reached out to Dr. Fraynd who was the Executive Director of the Office of School Improvement back when this all went down and asked for his perspective. He promptly responded, and shared the fact that, although folks such as Lipman would like to blame turnaround for many negative things, in study, it has been proven to not be the case. Fact, the CCSR (The Consortium on Chicago School Research) did a study and found there is no negative impact on students when they are displaced or a school get turned around. You can read the study for youself if you interested: http://ccsr.uchicago.edu/sites/default/files/publications/CCSRSchoolClosings-Final.pdf.
Anyway, in Tech in education class this week our professor was on vacation, so we had "online" assignments. You know, like it was planned and good for us. Honestly, while I did learn how to make a Prezi, and a voice thread, and learned all about Copyright and fair use and TPACK (technological, pedagogical and content knowledge) I basically taught myself this week. Considering the amount we pay per class, I found this to be weak at best for an excuse for teaching. You can say what you like, but when you peace out for a week and throw some hard assignments up on the website and say "good luck" I have to question your teaching method. The time it took to figure out how to do things could have been modeled in class in 15 minutes and helped alleviate all the time it took us to figure it out on our own. I mean, this is the same class we learned Gagne's 9 steps of instruction. Where's the guided learning in this week's tasks?
Educational Psychology continues to be a beast. It is interesting but so much info at one time. This weekend I am tasked with creating a lesson plan for adults on Metacognition. You know, thinking about thinking. We are supposed to work a a group but that's not happening....
In literacy we are tasked with picking out a multicultural children's book and then sharing out our finding in a report style for the prof. I chose, "Heart and Soul" by Kadir Nelson. Absolutely brilliant. If you have kids I strongly recommend using this book as an at home supplement to their history education. Geared towards kids aged 9-12.
My field study is going well. My topic is the difference in roles, responsibilities and perceptions of Urban vs Suburban teachers. I am in the research stage but so far the feedback from interviews and surveys is fascinating. Happy to share when I am done!
This week I will find out my Residency school, where I will spend the next year of my residency teaching and who my mentor resident coach will be. It's very exciting. I am nervous, excited and scared all at the same time.
Thanks for all the feedback so far. I appreciate the support during this journey!
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