Vacation Roundup

Enjoying myself and the California weather too much to go into too much detail, so for now, here's news from the Bronx and beyond:

• I am close to having a job next year.
• Thanks to NY's inept state senate, mayoral control lapsed. Chaos did not ensue.
• In place of mayoral control, the Board of Education reconvened after seven years, this time comprised of six members (out of seven) who report directly to the mayor. Hm.
• Insideschools, an invaluable resource to NYC parents and educators, is unfortunately cutting back its operations.
• Parents at failing schools are surprisingly satisfied.

Hat tip to GothamSchools and SRM.

Miscellaneous...

Things I don't have to worry about for a while:
-Setting my alarm
-Lesson planning
-Report cards
-Weekly assessments
-Data shares
-Anything related to the education of children

All together now...take a deep breath in, and...aaahhhhh. Life is good.

Disbelief

Disbelief is literally the only emotion I'm feeling right now. Three hours of teaching left and then two months to relax job search. I don't know what's more surprising to me at this point: that I'm actually finishing my second year of teaching (the end of my commitment to Teaching Fellows) or that I'm actually going to fight to teach for a third year. When I think about the amazing year I've had, one which I would honestly call the best of my life (more on that later), it's not so surprising at all.

10 Hours

That's approximately how much time I have left with my students this year. I'm trying to wrap my head around it, but I can't. In the classroom I'm trying to get portfolios as finalized as possible, pack up everything I've accumulated in two short years (a staggering amount!) and deal with a room full of students who have the focus of epileptic puppies. All the while my classroom climate resembles a sauna.

All told though, today was positive. I passed out books for summer reading, report cards, and certificates to each and every student for being, "All-Star of the Fourth Grade and Making a Difference." I meant to say a little something about how each student had made an impact on my year, but we had to make time for the final publishing party as well. It's been an incredible year. It's hard to believe it's almost over.

S'Mores

At this point in the year, we're all just pulling any tricks we can to keep the kids excited. Like I said last week, I'm still amazed by how much teaching I'm attempting this late in the year, compared to where I was last year. Still, while I might not be in full end-of-year mode, i.e. spending the day having the kids take down all the posters, pack up the books, etc., I'm still digging deep to find some innovative ways to engage the kids.

Today I relied on a successful lesson from last year, updating it slightly to make it more challenging. The kids were given graham crackers and chocolate, and in order to earn their marshmallow they had to find several equivalent fractions and decimals based on the ingredients they were given. Once they'd done that, I used a borrowed microwave to make s'mores.

Last year when we made s'mores a kid said it was the best day of his life. No such hyperbole today, but it was definitely a success. The kids were amazed and delighted (as anyone should be) by the gooey, miracle that is the s'more. It's hard to imagine a classroom full of kids who had never experienced a s'more before. Happily I can that's not true for my students anymore.

Stir Crazy

Maybe it's the stress of end of the year classroom cleaning. Or the stress of the reorganization sheet and the threat of impending excesses. Or maybe it's acting as the top of a boiling pot of energy that is children a week away from summer vacation. Whatever the reason, people around school seem to be going a bit crazy.

I've already mentioned that the general attitude around the school sucks lately. But it seems to have reached a breaking point. People are snapping at one another. Tears are being shed. It's just ugly all over, and it's a shame to see it at a time that could or should be so overwhelming positive.

Sometimes I think elementary schools are a lot like summer camps. Not just for the kids, but for the adults too. Every year as the end of the summer approached, drama would explode the second to last week. Everyone was at each other's throats, and it seemed to be a subconscious reaction to too much time spent together combined with the anxiety of the impending separation. In a way you fought to make the end of summer easier. Don't know if that's what's happening at my school, but it would be nice to think that at the root of all this drama we were all just trying to cope with the year coming to an end.

Progress

The Maverick has been banished for the rest of the week and The Biter has been banished for good. In return I've received one "problem student" who I happen to have a good rapport with and shouldn't cause too many problems over the next 7 days. This leaves me with a fair amount of freedom to teach (in June!?) as much as I can. I look back on the last two years and it strikes me that even in the past few days (and in the next 7) I'm probably doing more teaching than I was able to do at any point last year. That's progress, and it feels damn good.