Someone brought to my attention recently that the way I'm conducting myself in the classroom is also the way I'm conducting myself in meetings with colleagues. This must be part of finding the balance between the first and second years.
I've come into this year with a No Smile-No Frown policy in the classroom. While the desired effect in the classroom has been pretty well achieved (the students are aware of who is running the show and I actually feel like I'm in charge), the residual effect in cooperative team meetings has been that I've been kind of a d-bag. We tell our students that they need to code-switch between home and the classroom- meaning shut the profanity off, among other things- but I haven't been switching between the classroom and other professional work.
Something I added to my arsenal this year, which was in the testing stages last spring, is a slightly deeper public speaking voice than whatever it was I used before. Last spring I consciously lowered my voice slightly and did my best not to raise the pitch when surprised, angry, etc., which worked most of the time, but I'm sure a couple of students wondered at times if I was hitting a second bout of puberty. Part of the current No Smile-No Scowl policy has been to include this deeper voice when addressing my students in the classroom. It certainly seems to help, but an insider tip from a colleague was that when I attend meetings and set out an agenda (very "I'm the man with the plan"), the deep voice is condescending and abrasive. As it turns out, my colleagues, while young, are no longer in middle school and should not be treated as such.
Last year I felt so thoroughly trounced that I rarely gave any long-winded epitaphs or really any feedback at teacher meetings. I was too tired and felt I really didn't know what I was doing and therefore didn't have much to contribute to the veteran teachers at such meetings. This year I marched in with my head high trying to show students that I knew exactly what I was doing so that they'd come along with me, but the reality is I certainly do NOT know everything and shouldn't address colleagues like I do. I also don't need to prove to my colleagues that I have healthy testosterone levels by flaunting my lower register.
Today's Wine: Sipavola Rosso Di Sicilia 2006. It was a NeroD'Avola/Cabernet Sauvignon blend, according to the menu. I had it at Cavatappo off 89th and 1st on the Upper East Side (down the block from my house). The wine was a smooth drink that went well with the spinach papperdelle pasta with duck ragu. The whole thing sounds fancy and tastes fancier (in my opinion).
Showing posts with label Nero D'Avola. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nero D'Avola. Show all posts
Friday, October 2, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...computers
When I walked into my new school last year as a first-year I was asked with the rest of the staff what my goal for the year was. I, of course, having had some mild success using a podcast and a blog before, very confidently responded:
I am going to set up a wiki site and use it extensively throughout the year. Perhaps they'll put podcasts on it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
That's about as far as I got with the idea.
I was so badly shell-shocked my first month in the classroom that I was paranoid about using computers at all. I actually did the exact opposite of using a wiki- I killed about a tree a day making copies the ENTIRE year. Even after the first-year science teacher across the hall was using them semi-frequently, I wasn't convinced that my management was good enough to prevent a laptop from being thrown across the room. We only used computers during the last couple weeks of school to implement a pilot for our 1:1 initiative. Even that was like slowly wading into ice-cold water in the beach end of a swimming pool in May- carefully, painfully, and eventually accepting the fact that it's going to be miserable for a bit, but then it's going to be a great time.
This year things will be different. We have our 1:1 laptop initiative and I think that our teaching staff is strong enough to roll it out in a way that will be highly beneficial to our students. Even so, I wish I had made the decision to use laptops earlier in the year last year. While I was inexperienced and frightened by possibility of something going terribly wrong, I realistically could have used the technology much earlier than I did.
Advice for new teachers: Even if your classroom seems to still be in the crapper come third marking period, don't sell youself short on your ability to try a few new things before the end of the year. The first year is about survival, but you still want to learn as much as possible so your second year will go much better. That means you need to stick to whatever routines are working, but try new things out that go along with those routines.
Today's Wine: Cataldo Nero D'Avola. Same variety out of Sicily as a post a bit ago. This one was at Pescatore Restaurant in Midtown on the east side. The seafood salad in their tapas bar is amazing, and the prices are great.
I am going to set up a wiki site and use it extensively throughout the year. Perhaps they'll put podcasts on it, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
That's about as far as I got with the idea.
I was so badly shell-shocked my first month in the classroom that I was paranoid about using computers at all. I actually did the exact opposite of using a wiki- I killed about a tree a day making copies the ENTIRE year. Even after the first-year science teacher across the hall was using them semi-frequently, I wasn't convinced that my management was good enough to prevent a laptop from being thrown across the room. We only used computers during the last couple weeks of school to implement a pilot for our 1:1 initiative. Even that was like slowly wading into ice-cold water in the beach end of a swimming pool in May- carefully, painfully, and eventually accepting the fact that it's going to be miserable for a bit, but then it's going to be a great time.
This year things will be different. We have our 1:1 laptop initiative and I think that our teaching staff is strong enough to roll it out in a way that will be highly beneficial to our students. Even so, I wish I had made the decision to use laptops earlier in the year last year. While I was inexperienced and frightened by possibility of something going terribly wrong, I realistically could have used the technology much earlier than I did.
Advice for new teachers: Even if your classroom seems to still be in the crapper come third marking period, don't sell youself short on your ability to try a few new things before the end of the year. The first year is about survival, but you still want to learn as much as possible so your second year will go much better. That means you need to stick to whatever routines are working, but try new things out that go along with those routines.
Today's Wine: Cataldo Nero D'Avola. Same variety out of Sicily as a post a bit ago. This one was at Pescatore Restaurant in Midtown on the east side. The seafood salad in their tapas bar is amazing, and the prices are great.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Bureaucrats' Mecca
Today my girlfriend and I had some errands to run in Brooklyn so I thought I'd stop into the New York City Department of Education Central Office at 65 Court Street in Brooklyn Heights. Most teachers in the city steer clear of this building as it is the cause of endless headaches and frustration. I, on the other hand, think of it fondly, as my first job in New York was at this location.
As mentioned before, my friends and I at the School of Ed in Kansas all had big plans to tackle urban education once we had completed our program, which made a lot of sense considering most of us had spent very little time in urban areas. To me this objective meant finding a job in what I perceived to be the toughest place to teach in the country: New York City- a place I had never been to.
In my infinite post-pubescent wisdom I knew that to simply move there and start teaching would be difficult (in reality it would have been damn near impossible), so I decided to try to land some kind of internship or summer job in the city before I started student-teaching in Kansas that fall (2007). After finding very little online in terms of paid internships for pre-service education students, I stumbled upon an internship opportunity at the central office for NYC public schools. A couple months afterward I received a call from a woman with a thick New York accent- very exciting for a young man in the Midwest- asking, "When are you going to be in Brooklyn so we can interview you?" STOP- "In Brooklyn?" I lived in Kansas. As I found out hauling a moving truck to coast last year, to "swing by" Brooklyn takes about 23 hours from the Land of Oz.
After finding out that it is possible to wink at another person through the phone- indicating that with an interview I was guaranteed the position- I hopped on a plane to New York where I stayed for the day (6.5 hours), spoke with my future boss and secured the position.
That summer I joined 26 other interns, all but one who were born, raised and educated in New York (the other out-of-towner went to college in Manhattan) and the staff of The Office of Recruitment and Selection Operations in hiring thousands of teachers to staff New York public schools. We worked at 65 Court Street, the sometimes cartoonesque building where teachers would come in and be sent to sometimes literally four to five different floors, standing in long lines on each of those floors, until they arrived at an office and were told they did not have the proper form or document with them and would have to come back at a later date.
That internship landed me with connections to the heart of the largest education system in the nation (1.1 million students)- a couple higher-ups in the monstrous bureaucracy that is the NYC DOE and numerous connections that would help me to get into the classroom the following year. The summer proved to be one of the best I've had- both in terms of entertainment value and educational value- and without it I wouldn't have even made it to New York, let alone survived the first year here. From time to time I stop by to say hello to the people there and to say "thanks".
Today's Wine: Montalto Sicilia Nero D'Avola. A friend of mine recently introduced me to the Nero D'Avola grape. Apparently this is a very popular grape variety in Sicily and it makes for smooth drinking. I always wanted to know more about Italian and French varieties.
As mentioned before, my friends and I at the School of Ed in Kansas all had big plans to tackle urban education once we had completed our program, which made a lot of sense considering most of us had spent very little time in urban areas. To me this objective meant finding a job in what I perceived to be the toughest place to teach in the country: New York City- a place I had never been to.
In my infinite post-pubescent wisdom I knew that to simply move there and start teaching would be difficult (in reality it would have been damn near impossible), so I decided to try to land some kind of internship or summer job in the city before I started student-teaching in Kansas that fall (2007). After finding very little online in terms of paid internships for pre-service education students, I stumbled upon an internship opportunity at the central office for NYC public schools. A couple months afterward I received a call from a woman with a thick New York accent- very exciting for a young man in the Midwest- asking, "When are you going to be in Brooklyn so we can interview you?" STOP- "In Brooklyn?" I lived in Kansas. As I found out hauling a moving truck to coast last year, to "swing by" Brooklyn takes about 23 hours from the Land of Oz.
After finding out that it is possible to wink at another person through the phone- indicating that with an interview I was guaranteed the position- I hopped on a plane to New York where I stayed for the day (6.5 hours), spoke with my future boss and secured the position.
That summer I joined 26 other interns, all but one who were born, raised and educated in New York (the other out-of-towner went to college in Manhattan) and the staff of The Office of Recruitment and Selection Operations in hiring thousands of teachers to staff New York public schools. We worked at 65 Court Street, the sometimes cartoonesque building where teachers would come in and be sent to sometimes literally four to five different floors, standing in long lines on each of those floors, until they arrived at an office and were told they did not have the proper form or document with them and would have to come back at a later date.
That internship landed me with connections to the heart of the largest education system in the nation (1.1 million students)- a couple higher-ups in the monstrous bureaucracy that is the NYC DOE and numerous connections that would help me to get into the classroom the following year. The summer proved to be one of the best I've had- both in terms of entertainment value and educational value- and without it I wouldn't have even made it to New York, let alone survived the first year here. From time to time I stop by to say hello to the people there and to say "thanks".
Today's Wine: Montalto Sicilia Nero D'Avola. A friend of mine recently introduced me to the Nero D'Avola grape. Apparently this is a very popular grape variety in Sicily and it makes for smooth drinking. I always wanted to know more about Italian and French varieties.
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