This week at school while I was teaching my German class, a group of Free Schoolers went to this place called People's Island. It is on the Hudson River. It is an island, but it is tall with cliffs, and you have to hike to get to the top.
Before they started hiking the teachers told the students that due to the danger of the cliffs they expected to the students to stay behind the teacher who was leading, and to not run ahead of the group. They told the students that if they ran ahead, they would have to hold the hand of a teacher.
They began their trek up the side of the island, and sure enough one of the youngest students runs ahead of the pack to peek out over the side of the cliff, "Now Justin," says the teacher, "We warned you at the bottom to not run ahead. If you continue to run ahead you will have to hold my hand."
The group continues. Justin stays behind for a little while, but before too long runs ahead of the group again. "Ok. I warned you. You have to hold my hand now." Justin holds the teacher's hand without any protest, "I wanted to hold your hand! That's why I ran ahead."
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Staff Circle
This evening I attended my first staff circle. It was really the best event I have attended at the Free School that isn't between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. All the staff meets and basically has a feelings check in. People talk about how they are feeling about school but also things that are going on with them in general. We passed a talking stick around the circle and everyone did an initial check in, then the stick kept on being passed around until everyone was passing (it took three times all the way around tonight). The circle started at 5:30 and went until 8:00. It was helpful to take a step back from the craziness of day to day school and really reflect on how we were all feeling about school, the students and each other. Also it was helpful to know about personal issues that are going on with my coworkers so I can meet people where they are at. It's like if someone is especially tired or irritable a certain day or week it's hard to know why that might be unless they tell you. We reflected on interpersonal dynamics. It is really incredible to be a witness to the relationships the other teachers have built over the years.
Other highlights of this week were another successful German class. We started out by practicing the alphabet and phonetics and ended with a reading of the "Rainbow Fish" in German. Also, I learned how to play guitar some for the first time ever. Also, my math class went well! There were three students in attendance this week and they didn't want to break for lunch cause they were enjoying themselves so much. Also I got to be a part of a class meeting of the 7th and 8th graders that was to resolve a conflict. The meeting went really well and got to the root of the problem.
I am stressed out about the museum lesson plans. I have definitely been procrastinating.
Other highlights of this week were another successful German class. We started out by practicing the alphabet and phonetics and ended with a reading of the "Rainbow Fish" in German. Also, I learned how to play guitar some for the first time ever. Also, my math class went well! There were three students in attendance this week and they didn't want to break for lunch cause they were enjoying themselves so much. Also I got to be a part of a class meeting of the 7th and 8th graders that was to resolve a conflict. The meeting went really well and got to the root of the problem.
I am stressed out about the museum lesson plans. I have definitely been procrastinating.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Meetings, etc.
I just got done with our weekly staff meeting. They are generally not under 2 and a half hours. I have been to some meetings that I thought were drawn out and stressful but these take the cup. I just don't feel like meetings have to be like that. Everyone's blood sugar is so low by the end and people are stressed and ooh...i don't enjoy them. I have an idea that we could do staff development in training to have more skills for those meetings. There are some people who seem to be resistant to change and not very receptive to criticism (not in theory, but in reality/action).
This morning was great. We had an activities meeting then a 7th and 8th grade class meeting, and then I went to the natural history museum with a group of 4 students. The afternoon I felt a little more tired. I read a chapter from a book to a student and then I helped another student build a coffin for her dead bunny.
I am a little stressed out to night cause the second packet is due in a week. I have been reading Alfie Kohn's Punished By Rewards and I think I will have a real good time writing a reflection paper on it because I worked at a school that was run on a behaviorist model so I have lots of experience to relate to the issues the book relates to.
I am also a little stressed out cause I interviewed for a job as an after-school educator at the natural history museum. In the interview I was asked to design a unit outline and a specific lesson plan which I will implement with the children on a trial run to "try out" for the job. It seems like a great opportunity, especially since I need practice in designing lessons and units. The program is designed around hands on, integrated education that utilizes the resources of the museum. I design week long to month or two month long units that the children choose from. I would be paid for one hour of lesson planning time and one hour of teaching time, four days a week. So yea, I am stressed in finding the time to create an impressive lesson plan.
I got three recommendation letters from past bosses and parents which are always rewarding and fun to read over.
This morning was great. We had an activities meeting then a 7th and 8th grade class meeting, and then I went to the natural history museum with a group of 4 students. The afternoon I felt a little more tired. I read a chapter from a book to a student and then I helped another student build a coffin for her dead bunny.
I am a little stressed out to night cause the second packet is due in a week. I have been reading Alfie Kohn's Punished By Rewards and I think I will have a real good time writing a reflection paper on it because I worked at a school that was run on a behaviorist model so I have lots of experience to relate to the issues the book relates to.
I am also a little stressed out cause I interviewed for a job as an after-school educator at the natural history museum. In the interview I was asked to design a unit outline and a specific lesson plan which I will implement with the children on a trial run to "try out" for the job. It seems like a great opportunity, especially since I need practice in designing lessons and units. The program is designed around hands on, integrated education that utilizes the resources of the museum. I design week long to month or two month long units that the children choose from. I would be paid for one hour of lesson planning time and one hour of teaching time, four days a week. So yea, I am stressed in finding the time to create an impressive lesson plan.
I got three recommendation letters from past bosses and parents which are always rewarding and fun to read over.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Math Lessons
So I had my first math class today by myself. I only had two people show up (the class is optional, but it went really well. I was nervous before hand but then I just took a big breath and relaxed. I did some preparing, and then the rest I went with the flow. In the class we talked about the U.S. census. The students made guesses as to what the census charts (race, gender, age, household, employment, etc.) and then went over what was actually on there. We talked about controversies in the census lately including race and ethnicity (the census used to only allow people to select one race, and many identities were lumped together) and also relationship status/household regarding gay and lesbians ability to identify as a family. Also, we talked about what populations might be underreported in a census. Then I proposed taking a census of the school. The students decided what information they wanted on the census of the school. We typed it up on the computer, printed it out and the students will administer it later this week. Next week we will analyze the results, find modes, median ages, etc. and percentages, ratios and compare it to the statistics for their neighborhood (found under area code on the internet).
School has been growing on me as time goes on, more connections and relationships, more comfortable. Today I played football with the 5th through 8th grade boys. I read woman empowerment fairy tales to some young women and I spoke up when a 3rd grade boy called half push-ups "girl pushups"
Yesterday we had our teachers meeting. It is the first school I have worked at where the teachers dedicate a part of the meeting to discussing gender and race issues among students and teachers. The discussion went well and some important issues were brought up. We talk about intimate details of the students lives, but it really allows to support them better to have similar understandings of where they are at and what they need. Teachers meeting went from 3:30 to 5:00. Then from 5:00 to 6:30 we had a once a month "teachers advisory" where past teachers and community elders are invited to be a part of our discussion regarding school policy and issues.
School has been growing on me as time goes on, more connections and relationships, more comfortable. Today I played football with the 5th through 8th grade boys. I read woman empowerment fairy tales to some young women and I spoke up when a 3rd grade boy called half push-ups "girl pushups"
Yesterday we had our teachers meeting. It is the first school I have worked at where the teachers dedicate a part of the meeting to discussing gender and race issues among students and teachers. The discussion went well and some important issues were brought up. We talk about intimate details of the students lives, but it really allows to support them better to have similar understandings of where they are at and what they need. Teachers meeting went from 3:30 to 5:00. Then from 5:00 to 6:30 we had a once a month "teachers advisory" where past teachers and community elders are invited to be a part of our discussion regarding school policy and issues.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
First Week At School (with students)
Wow so what a week! I feel: excited, intrigued, vulnerable, questioning, friendly, hopeful, exhausted, challenged and relieved.
The first day we had a council meeting (a democratic all-school meeting). I was a little dismayed at how disrespectful the students were during the meeting. I had heard that these were magical meetings where the students were able to voice concerns, address problems and formulate school policy, but that totally wasn't possible with people talking over each other and being generally distracting...but also it was the first meeting. Everyone was real excited to see each other again and the first graders were really excited because it was their first time being in a council meeting.
I spent quite a bit of time bonding with a new student. There are 5 middle school boys and they are trying to get more of a gender (sex?) balance by having more girls. So there were two girls visiting. One of them fell in real easy with the boys and the other one is who I spent time with. She was really shy and nervous to be around those rambunctious middle schoolers. I feel proud in being a part of her deciding to stay.
Tuesday I went to the high school free school at 11:00 to help teach a math class. It was the first meeting of the class. My co-teacher is an older man who was a math teacher "in a past life". Since everyone was different ages and different experiences we went around and found out about what people wanted to learn, why they were there and what their past experiences were like. I think it will be really hard for the two of us to cater to 10 high school students needs...they are kind of intimidating for me. The students at the elementary school are excited to meet me but the high schoolers are like, "what are you gonna do for me?" and if they don't like your answer they don't seem to care about you. So that will definitely be a challenging experience. My coteacher will be there twice a week, but for now I am only committing to once a week so I can have lots of time at the elementary school. We decided to divide it up so that he is meeting with the students interested in preparing for the regents exam, I will do a "transition math"/"algebra"/applied mathematics/whatever hour long math activity once a week for those who are interested. Lesson plans! aaah!
My best times so far this week were when I was with a small group of students doing an activity. Sometimes there will be a group being rowdy and fighting and yelling and that just isn't what I'm into. I taught one student one-on-one how to draw people and horses. I played kickball. I taught letters and numbers to kindergartners. I played circle games. I went bowling. I went swimming.
I have been involved in and stood in on several conflict resolution sessions so far, but there haven't been any council meetings to resolve conflicts. The free school doesn't always break up fight, sometimes they let students duke it out which I think is interesting. Kinda makes me nervous though.
Next week I am going to offer a skateboarding class. I have to work on planning my math class.
The first day we had a council meeting (a democratic all-school meeting). I was a little dismayed at how disrespectful the students were during the meeting. I had heard that these were magical meetings where the students were able to voice concerns, address problems and formulate school policy, but that totally wasn't possible with people talking over each other and being generally distracting...but also it was the first meeting. Everyone was real excited to see each other again and the first graders were really excited because it was their first time being in a council meeting.
I spent quite a bit of time bonding with a new student. There are 5 middle school boys and they are trying to get more of a gender (sex?) balance by having more girls. So there were two girls visiting. One of them fell in real easy with the boys and the other one is who I spent time with. She was really shy and nervous to be around those rambunctious middle schoolers. I feel proud in being a part of her deciding to stay.
Tuesday I went to the high school free school at 11:00 to help teach a math class. It was the first meeting of the class. My co-teacher is an older man who was a math teacher "in a past life". Since everyone was different ages and different experiences we went around and found out about what people wanted to learn, why they were there and what their past experiences were like. I think it will be really hard for the two of us to cater to 10 high school students needs...they are kind of intimidating for me. The students at the elementary school are excited to meet me but the high schoolers are like, "what are you gonna do for me?" and if they don't like your answer they don't seem to care about you. So that will definitely be a challenging experience. My coteacher will be there twice a week, but for now I am only committing to once a week so I can have lots of time at the elementary school. We decided to divide it up so that he is meeting with the students interested in preparing for the regents exam, I will do a "transition math"/"algebra"/applied mathematics/whatever hour long math activity once a week for those who are interested. Lesson plans! aaah!
My best times so far this week were when I was with a small group of students doing an activity. Sometimes there will be a group being rowdy and fighting and yelling and that just isn't what I'm into. I taught one student one-on-one how to draw people and horses. I played kickball. I taught letters and numbers to kindergartners. I played circle games. I went bowling. I went swimming.
I have been involved in and stood in on several conflict resolution sessions so far, but there haven't been any council meetings to resolve conflicts. The free school doesn't always break up fight, sometimes they let students duke it out which I think is interesting. Kinda makes me nervous though.
Next week I am going to offer a skateboarding class. I have to work on planning my math class.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Advanced Advisor Training
High school was a place for me to gain academic knowledge, but I went to my Unitarian Universalist youth group for social knowledge and spiritual and emotional support. There were only eight to ten of us that met, but it was the perfect number to get to know each other in depth. Through Unitarian Universalist programming I developed leadership skills including speaking in front of a large group, problem solving and fostering leadership in others. Three important mentors for me were my two youth advisors and the director of religious education at my church. The youth program, my peers and my mentors had a tremendous impact on my social and spiritual development. Before the end of my time in youth group I was certain that someday I also wanted to be a youth advisor. However, one significant requirement to become a Unitarian Universalist youth advisor is to be 25 years old, so I have a few more years to go.
In the meantime, I volunteered to become a conference trainer for the Unitarian Universalist youth advisor trainings. Through volunteering I could serve the youth community as well as begin to train myself at becoming better at ministry with youth. The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) provides trainings for youth advisors to gain new skills and experience. The UUA offers basic, as well as advanced advisor trainings. In April 2005 I attended the training of trainers for Advanced Advisor Trainings (AAT), to learn how to facilitate the conferences. The model for the training is to have one adult co-facilitator, aged 25 or older, and one youth co-facilitator, aged 14 to 20. The training is led in this way to model healthy youth/adult relations. During the training we all received binders with lesson plans for all of the activities as well as other resources. We went through the activities as if we were advisors taking the training, but also received coaching as to how and why they led the activities the way they were.
Finally during this summer of 2007 I co-led my first AAT. I was paired with another adult and we began communicating about the then-upcoming conference. We had support from regional coordinators from where the conference was being held as well as support from UUA staff in planning the function details of the conferences. Our main job as co-leaders was the content (as opposed to food, housing and registration). Communication got off to a rocky start due to both of our busy schedules, but eventually we got a chance to catch up. Prep work for the conference was mainly reviewing curriculum (by this point it had been two years since the training of trainers). Other jobs that had to be done before the training were coordinating roles between the two of us, securing supplies, and finding out background information regarding the region the conference was being held in and the advisors who were going to be there. My co-leader and I discussed our facilitations styles and how we could envision them working well together. However, when it got down to it, there was always more we could have done, but the conference was going to happen whether we felt 100% ready or not.
I arrived at the site the Friday morning and the conference was held from Friday night to Sunday morning. The co-leader and I met to finish coordinating which one of us was leading each activity. I learned so much from this person as a facilitator. She had an ability to bring all the elements of our discussions together so they had continuity and relativity. It was amazing to watch her facilitate, because she let the conversations have a life of their own, but she still led us through a clear path. She had led a few of these conferences before so she told me I could do as many of the activities as I wanted so that I could gain more experience. She proved to be such a wonderful support person to have as I was leading that by the end of the weekend I had no fear going into any of the activities. We would take turns facilitating discussion and writing on the board, or other support tasks.
I ended up being responsible for a little over half of the programming. We agreed that I would head the anti-oppression programming for the weekend. Recently there has been a shift in the anti-oppression programming offered by the UUA from a confrontational standpoint to self-examination. The three hours that we spent talking about anti-oppression were broken up into lecture, self-reflection, small group discussion, whole group discussion and role-play. I felt really proud about how it went and got some great feedback on it. One participant commented, “The presentation of anti-racism/anti-oppression was the best I’ve seen at a training. A sometimes negative subject was presented as objectively as it can be in a non-guilt inducing way. Refreshing.” One aspect that I had to work on for this section of the conference was not rushing the process. The training is very curriculum based, but I found that if I rushed through the meaning was lost and the anti-oppression curriculum is crucial not to rush through. Despite being trained in similar ways regarding anti-oppression, this was my first time leading a group through the process of examining oppression.
I learned a lot through the process of leading the conference, especially regarding teaching. I learned that having confidence while public speaking is crucial and that “ums” and uhs” should be spared. I learned how to follow lesson plans and I got practice at amending them as you go. There were many activities that we changed in order to best suit the needs of the participants and to stay within the time restraints. I experienced team leading within the context of a healthy relationship and balanced partnership. I was reminded that you don’t have to have all the answers to questions; you just have to get the questions flowing.
If I were going to do the process over again I would begin reviewing the materials sooner, as well as have more communication with my co-leader sooner. Also, I would get more sleep! It was an empowering experience to have 8 elders looking to me for guidance, and to have them feel that their needs were met by the end of the conference.
In the meantime, I volunteered to become a conference trainer for the Unitarian Universalist youth advisor trainings. Through volunteering I could serve the youth community as well as begin to train myself at becoming better at ministry with youth. The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) provides trainings for youth advisors to gain new skills and experience. The UUA offers basic, as well as advanced advisor trainings. In April 2005 I attended the training of trainers for Advanced Advisor Trainings (AAT), to learn how to facilitate the conferences. The model for the training is to have one adult co-facilitator, aged 25 or older, and one youth co-facilitator, aged 14 to 20. The training is led in this way to model healthy youth/adult relations. During the training we all received binders with lesson plans for all of the activities as well as other resources. We went through the activities as if we were advisors taking the training, but also received coaching as to how and why they led the activities the way they were.
Finally during this summer of 2007 I co-led my first AAT. I was paired with another adult and we began communicating about the then-upcoming conference. We had support from regional coordinators from where the conference was being held as well as support from UUA staff in planning the function details of the conferences. Our main job as co-leaders was the content (as opposed to food, housing and registration). Communication got off to a rocky start due to both of our busy schedules, but eventually we got a chance to catch up. Prep work for the conference was mainly reviewing curriculum (by this point it had been two years since the training of trainers). Other jobs that had to be done before the training were coordinating roles between the two of us, securing supplies, and finding out background information regarding the region the conference was being held in and the advisors who were going to be there. My co-leader and I discussed our facilitations styles and how we could envision them working well together. However, when it got down to it, there was always more we could have done, but the conference was going to happen whether we felt 100% ready or not.
I arrived at the site the Friday morning and the conference was held from Friday night to Sunday morning. The co-leader and I met to finish coordinating which one of us was leading each activity. I learned so much from this person as a facilitator. She had an ability to bring all the elements of our discussions together so they had continuity and relativity. It was amazing to watch her facilitate, because she let the conversations have a life of their own, but she still led us through a clear path. She had led a few of these conferences before so she told me I could do as many of the activities as I wanted so that I could gain more experience. She proved to be such a wonderful support person to have as I was leading that by the end of the weekend I had no fear going into any of the activities. We would take turns facilitating discussion and writing on the board, or other support tasks.
I ended up being responsible for a little over half of the programming. We agreed that I would head the anti-oppression programming for the weekend. Recently there has been a shift in the anti-oppression programming offered by the UUA from a confrontational standpoint to self-examination. The three hours that we spent talking about anti-oppression were broken up into lecture, self-reflection, small group discussion, whole group discussion and role-play. I felt really proud about how it went and got some great feedback on it. One participant commented, “The presentation of anti-racism/anti-oppression was the best I’ve seen at a training. A sometimes negative subject was presented as objectively as it can be in a non-guilt inducing way. Refreshing.” One aspect that I had to work on for this section of the conference was not rushing the process. The training is very curriculum based, but I found that if I rushed through the meaning was lost and the anti-oppression curriculum is crucial not to rush through. Despite being trained in similar ways regarding anti-oppression, this was my first time leading a group through the process of examining oppression.
I learned a lot through the process of leading the conference, especially regarding teaching. I learned that having confidence while public speaking is crucial and that “ums” and uhs” should be spared. I learned how to follow lesson plans and I got practice at amending them as you go. There were many activities that we changed in order to best suit the needs of the participants and to stay within the time restraints. I experienced team leading within the context of a healthy relationship and balanced partnership. I was reminded that you don’t have to have all the answers to questions; you just have to get the questions flowing.
If I were going to do the process over again I would begin reviewing the materials sooner, as well as have more communication with my co-leader sooner. Also, I would get more sleep! It was an empowering experience to have 8 elders looking to me for guidance, and to have them feel that their needs were met by the end of the conference.
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