Seeing former students is great

I was out shopping yesterday and I ran into a former student of mine. She's working part time at Target and was very excited to see me. She graduated two years ago and has been attending East-West University but has been accepted to DePaul University where she plans on studying history and wants to become a history teacher. She said, "you inspired me".Maybe it was a bit of an exaggeration on her part but it made my day. I absolutely love hearing from former students.

Several from last year have e-mailed me about their freshman year in college. They all commented on how hard it is but thanked me for helping them prepare. It makes me feel good to know that I have made at least a little bit of a difference.We're about halfway through our November break. I'm starting to get the "oh crap I need to prepare" bug. I do have a lot of work to do to get ready for the 2nd trimester, especially the major research project my US History kids are going to do, but I'm going to try and take a few more days and simply relax. I do still have a few books I want to read...

I Hate Grading

It's the end of our first trimester. This week my students are taking the Constitution test which doubles as their final exam. Overall, students are doing well on it but not so much that it is dragging their cumulative grades down much. But I really dislike this part of my job.

Trying to sum up the achievement and proficiency of students can be a very easy or very difficult task. In math or science, there are very clear right and wrong answers. Not so in history. So much of what we do is subjective rather than objective. How do I determine if my students understand the Constitution or not? Does it really matter if they can't explain the 3rd Amendment?

Its not a question of passing or failing. Most students who fail my class do so because they simply don't do the work - makes my job easy. What is difficult is determining how well the others have performed in my class. Again, there are a handful of students who excel and distinguish themselves from their peers.

No, the difficult group are the ones right in the middle. What are the differences between B and C students? Sure I can assign point values to assignments and grade according to a scale and a rubric and some will have lower scores than others. On Friday though, I will be meeting parents and I have to explain why their student "earned" a certain grade. Some will be easy conversations but those in the middle, those I don't like having to justify.

I wish I had a better system.

New Car!

So its not exactly related to my teaching but I think its kind of cool anyway. Last weekend we went car shopping. There wasn't anything wrong with our old car ('03 Mitsubishi Lancer) its just that it was originally Sharon's car. Since she takes the L downtown to work and I drive now, I was just too uncomfortable driving it.

So we went to Carmax. We found a 2008 Suzuki SX4 with only 6,400 miles on it. Apparently it had been a fleet vehicle for Coca-Cola and when they closed the plant in Schaumberg, they sold the cars to Carmax. It's amazingly comfortable on the inside and I love driving it. Having a white car is not the ideal but we decided we could live with it.

Say hello to my new ride.

Things I Love About Lindblom III

Today so far has been a quirky day - one of many that I've had so far here. It started this morning with this exchange.

(Student opens door)
Student: "Hi Mr. Silva, do you have any eggs?"
Mr. Silva: "Eggs?"
Student: "Yeah eggs, you know, like from a chicken?"
Mr. Silva: "I know what eggs are thankyouverymuch and no, I don't have any eggs"
Student: (to another student in the hall) "He doesn't have any, let's ask Mr. Ray"
(Student exits)

Turns out the students were participating in a scavenger hunt for a project for their art class. Something about ordinary objects being used for abstract art or somesuch thing. The other quirky part of my day results from our mock presidential election.

Zack Linderman and Nate Diamond, a history teacher and an art teacher respectively, have been managing the school's mock election this year. We have fictitious candidates and so far all we have learned are names and posters with the name, slogan, and art. We don't know what the candidates look like at all, their political affiliation, etc. Until today that is.

As I was walking downstairs I noticed a new poster - one that said, "do you want a president who was a prostitute?" Turns out if the students achieve some goal in class, they are allowed to release negative ads against a competitor. In this case, Aryia the candidate apparently was a stripper some time ago and may have a criminal record.

The end result is that I have a new adjective to describe my school; quirky. The teachers here are so damn inventive its amazing. While other schools will hold traditional mock elections with inevitable results, we're trying to figure out who these candidates are and now waiting to see what will come next.

I absolutely love it.

Things I love about my school part II

This past Friday, a new sign (below) appeared in one of the stairways of my school. It's a sign advertising the school's Gay-Straight Alliance organization. Why is that so cool? Well, at my previous school there were a couple of attempts to start such clubs. Both times, the students who tried to recruit were met with outright hostility and reportedly even death threats.

The response of the administration? You'd think they'd go to some lengths to encourage these students, to support them, to protect them. Well, you'd be wrong. The school's response was to require that the students meet somewhere other than school. Their response was, to say the least, more supportive of the anti-gay sentiment than anything else.

Here though, we apparently have enough support that the students can place a 3' x 5' orange sign in a main stairway and I'm sure there are other around school.

Ahhh... the joys of teaching in a Bureaucracy

This year marks the third consecutive year where we have a brand-new computer system to deal with. First it was "Verify", a system for taking attendance and other things. It was actually a great system. Easy to use, intuitive, and popular. I'm sure you can see the need to replace it last year with "IMPACT". It was, in short, a train wreck. It kept crashing, was complex to learn, didn't work right, and was a pain. This year we now have "GradeSpeed", a combination attendance and grading system. CPS has outdone themselves this time. Not only do we have an overly complex system, we have a system that takes away one of our most important autonomous rights - grading.

The system has a default grade scale. A=97% B=91% C=84% D=77% F=74%. The only way to change the scale is to have your Principal request the change with the programmers downtown. Otherwise, you have to go in an manually override all of your grades. If you don't use the system for grading, you have to create a basic assignment and override the grade on that.

It is by far one of the most complicated interfaces I have seen in a computer program. There are so many other grading programs out there that are much more user-friendly and effective I think CPS was trying to find the most complicated system.

We're in the process of printing progress reports today and my Principal just came in this morning and told me all of my grades that entered the other day were lost by the system and he's now scrambling to try and fix them. I gave him a print-out of my grades and the programmer is trying to fix them. I'm on my way down there now to see how things are going.

Thank you Arne Duncan for making our lives more difficult for no apparent reason or benefit.

Taking on the mentor role again

As I have in the last two years, I'm taking on the role of mentor teacher again. This time however, I will be working with another teacher instead of a student teacher. Lindblom has created their own new teacher mentoring program (one that will likely be head and shoulders above the one CPS put together) for first and second year teachers. The teacher I am working with is, like me, a career changer although she worked for much longer outside of education than me. I'm very excited about the opportunity and I'm hopeful we'll be able to work well together.

In addition, there will be a grad student from Northwestern who will be observing my class once a week. She's about to begin her student teaching in a couple of months and is working with the entire history department for her pre-student teaching clinical hours. I've only met her once but she was very eager and had a lot of questions. I'm looking forward to the challenge in this new environment.

Watching History

This is a great time to be a U.S. History teacher. Its not very often that we get to watch history as it happens but I've been watching both of the conventions and getting more excited every day - election day 2008 will be a truly historical event no matter the outcome.

What's even cooler is that so many of my students have been watching the conventions as well. We've been having some great discussions in class. So much so that we've been cutting into time reserved for other activities. I'm reworking the schedule for some things to allow students to discuss these issues freely.

A new plan I have, and several teachers like it as well, is to have a "teach-in" on election night. We're on our first intercession (break) in November so unless we meet on election night, I won't see my kids until after Thanksgiving to talk about the election. I'm putting some details on the plan and am going to pitch it to the administration in a bit. I think it could be a lot of fun.

Getting into a groove

Two weeks of school have flown by and I feel like I'm starting to get into a groove. One major challenge is learning all the names - more so than normal. Since I see them only twice a week I don't get to establish a rapport as easily as if I saw them every day. I think however that my students are comfortable with me and we have established a fairly respectful classroom environment. There are a few that I think are trying to see where the red line is and are pushing things a little but overall I'm really enjoying my classes and my students.

One thing I am also enoying is the number of students who stop by before and after school. Some just come to hang out, use the computer, etc. Others come to ask questions or for clarification on class work or homework assignments. It is a very refreshing change to have students who genuinely care about the quality of their work. The downside of course is that when you give a lot of work and all of your students turn that work in (well done as well) that leads to a great deal of grading.

If it was easy everyone could do it.... right?

More parents than...

Tonight was "Back-to-school" night for our parents. No report cards, just a nice meet & greet between parents, teachers, and staff. I had more parents tonight than I did in all of the 4 years of report card pick-up nights at my previous school. More importantly, they wanted to talk and ask questions. They wanted to see a copy of my syllabus. They commented on the homework I assigned last week. A couple of things have become abundantly clear.

1. Parents are involved in their kids' education here

2. Parents will hold me accountable if I don't produce to their expectations

That is both refreshing and frightening. The parents were geuninely interested in who I am, my experience, and my teaching methods. I got many e-mail addresses tonight and many parents took mine. I don't think I can express how cool it is to have engaged parents and to know that I will be treated as a professional and held accountable as a professional.

Life is good.

Things I love about my new school

So we're almost done with the first week of school and I wanted to write about some things I really love about Lindblom. These will be in no particular order or ranking but posted as I experience them.

We don't have obnoxious bells. When class is over and it's passing time, music plays. Not loudly, but loud enough. It continues to play until passing time is over and then there is a soft chime to let everyone know class has begun. I have some ideas for music to play so I'll have to see if they take requests.

Students decorate lockers for birthdays.

These are some examples of lockers that were decorated in just the last few days for birthdays. It's quite an operation to watch. There are usually lookouts and its a slightly frantic rush to get it done before the student arrives. Throughout the day other students add things to the locker and sign the various cards or the wrapping paper. It's a very cool tradition.

First Day of School

Tomorrow is the first day of school. I have to admit that I'm more than a little nervous. Not quite as bad as my first day as a teacher four years ago, but pretty close. I think the stakes and expectations are much higher - my own and the school's. I'm very excited to meet my students and start the year.

This first week is going to be telling. I'm planning to get started right away with homework on Day 1 because I want to set the tone that every day is a work day. One of the cool things that happened Friday was an e-mail I received from the Counseling Office. A parent wanted to let us know her daughter would not be in on the first day and asked if we could send her the homework and assignments from that day. It shouldn't seem so unusual but I've never had that happen before.

I think the parent involvement is what's making me the most nervous. At Farragut, I almost never spoke to parents. There were so many obstacles to getting parents involved that is was very difficult at best. Here at Lindblom I think its going to be the exact opposite. Its going to take some getting used to but I'm also looking forward to having some partners in the education of my students.

So... less than 24 hours to go. I hope I can sleep tonight.

1 Week to Go

So things are progressing very well. I have a lot of stuff moved in and set up in my classroom. My syllabi are completed and the first two weeks of classes are mapped out. I still have a few little things I need to plan out and get organized but overall I think I'm pretty well prepared.

Later this week we will be having orientation for students. On Wednesday I'll be meeting my division for the first time. This year I will have a Sophomore boys' division. Lindblom divides the divisions by gender which I think is a cool idea. I believe I have 17 students in my division and I'm really looking forward to meeting them and the rest of my students.

I also have a correction to make. All of my classes are 100 minutes long. The information I had was from last year's schedule so I don't have to worry about different planning and meeting times. I'll have two classes, both US History, on Mondays and Thursdays and the other 2 US History classes an 1 World Studies class on Tuesdys and Fridays with a debate colloquium on Wednesdays.

Now I just need some students.

2 Weeks Until Classes Begin

Summer is winding down very, very fast. At the end of this week I have new teacher orientation at school. Next week is orientation and the official report date for all teachers and 2 weeks from today will be the first day of classes at Lindblom.

So I'll be teaching US History and World Studies. My US classes will be 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 8th periods and my World class will be 7th period. I found out today that my 3rd and 7th period classes will meet every day except Wednesday for 50 minutes. I will have a division of 20 or 22 sophomore boys this year.

I'm just about ready for classes. I recently completed the syllabus for both of my classes and I have the first 2 weeks mapped out for World Studies. Once I have the same mapped for US History I'll feel a little more prepared.

I'm getting more and more excited about school. I think this is going to be an amazing year.

A New Assignment

Yesterday I received a letter from Joseph White, President of the University of Illinois. I've been invited to become a member of the Global Campus Academic Council for a 1-year term. Global Campus is the new initiative of the University and where I'm working on my M.Ed. Apparently I was nominated to be a member to help improve and expand Global Campus. I'm very excited and it's a nice honor to be invited to be a member.

First Look at My New Classroom

Room 220

So yesterday I got to see what will likely be my new classroom at LMSA. I can't believe what a great room it is. The hardwood floors are really nice. There is a closet and storage back by the desk. I have a computer on my desk and two student computers (to the right off camera) with a printer. There are a total of six dry erase boards with bulletin boards in between. See those cables dangling from the ceiling? That's where the LCD projector is going to go. There are several windows that look out over the courtyard and nice sunlight in the morning. The room was nice and cool because the building has air conditioning!! WHOO HOO!!!

OK, if you're not a teacher you may not understand why I'm so geeked up but this is a great classroom. It's clean, comfortable, versatile, and has all the necessary amenities. It even has a sound system with wall-mounted speakers. How frakkin' cool is that?

The more I learn about this school, the luckier I feel about landing a job there. This is by no means going to be an easy assignment but I am really looking forward to the challenge.

School starts in less than 4 weeks

So things are happening pretty quickly. The first day of school for Lindblom is August 4th and teachers report to work on the 31st of this month. I'll likely be going in a little early for orientation and hopefully I'll get to meet more teachers and recruit for the debate team.

So far this school seems like it will be a fantastic place to work. I am really impressed with how the history department is organized and everyone I have met is very professional. There will be a serious learning curve for me adjusting to all honors classes and the block scheduling, but this is one challenge I am really looking forward to.

Lindblom Math & Science Academy

I just heard from the principal of Lindblom and I accepted a teaching position with them. I'll likely also be coaching their debate team. Lindblom is a selective enrollment, college prep high school. I'm really excited about this position and this school. I'll be teaching Honors World History and Honors US History. All of the classes at LMSA are either honors or Advanced Placement.

This school also is very unique because it is the only high school in CPS that is on the "year round" distributed schedule. That means I start in early August and we have school for three months and are off for one. Basically I'll be off the entire months of November, March, and July. The school is also on what's called block scheduling. Instead of having seven or eight 45-minute classes every day, we have 100-minute classes two days a week. The fifth day, Wednesday, we have what are called colloquiums. These are sort of seminar courses not related to other academic courses.

I am really excited about this new school and the challenge it offers.

Going for a second interview!

Yesterday's interview went very well. So well in fact that I have a follow-on interview with the principal Monday morning. I've read and heard a lot of great things about the this guy and the teachers in his school. The more I read, the more I want to be a part of it. This school seems to be one where innovation is encouraged and nurtured. I think this might be a fantastic place for me. I'm way more excited about this opportunity than the previous school. The history teachers alone are very impressive and I'll have a lot to live up to but man would I love to be a part of their team.

A new interview tomorrow

Tomorrow at noon I have a new job interview. It is a selective enrollment school on the south side and I am very excited about the opportunity. From everything I've read about this school it seems as though they are doing some very cool things in and out of the classroom. Unfortunately I will be going to the interview not long after a morning dentist appointment but hopefully I won't be too numb for the intervieww.

Had a great time today at the White Sox game. Happy birthday Paul Welsh! Welcome to the 30something club!

First Week of Summer

So its the first week of summer and the first time in 4 years that I don't know where I'll be teaching in September. I've been very conflicted lately; riding a bit of an emotional roller coaster. Saying goodbye to my colleagues at Farragut was very difficult. Many tearful hugs and promises to keep in touch. I want to clear something up though.

I wasn't fired.

It sure feels like it but the reality is that my principal chose not to renew me for the upcoming school year. As a principal, that's her right. Since I am still a probationary teacher, she can do that to me. The reasons she made that choice are still unclear. No one I have spoken to at Farragut can make any sense of it. However since she has chosen not to renew my appointment as a teacher, there's not much I can do about it. Its time to move on.

I've gone through the entire range of emotions in this. I've gone from shock to anger to sadness and back again. I've been a bit depressed lately as well. The good news is though that I have another job interview later this week and there is another job fair in 2 weeks. There are many openings across the city and I feel confident something will break soon.

Now its time to get some work done around the house.

Last Day

Today is the last day of school. It's 6:30 and I'm getting ready to leave. I'm going to stop and get some coffee for my students. They've been bugging me all year and I invited them to come back today for coffee now that they graduated. It should be nice.

I'm going through wide range of emotion. I'm happy to be leaving given the hostile atmosphere that has been pervasive at Farragut these last few weeks. I'm incredibly sad since I will be saying goodbye to some amazing teachers who I consider good friends. I have already said goodbye to my students, especially the debate team. That was tough. I'm apprehensive because I don't yet know where I will be teaching in September.

This afternoo will be fun hanging out at the end of the year party and the year will officially end on a high note with the opening of the Intuit Teacher Fellowship art exhibit at Gallery 37. I'm really looking forward to that.

Graduation 2008

Last night, the Class of 2008 graduated in a wonderful ceremony at the Arie Crown Theater. It was a very special event for me since so many of my students received their diplomas. Many of the students I had in my classesmwhen they were freshmen; my first year as a teacher. Many of them were again in my classes as seniors. I feel like I am, in a sense, graduating with them since tomorrow is my last day as a Farragut teacher.

It was very emotional for me watching my students march, strut, diddy bop, and glide across the stage to receive their diplomas. I got to watch several of my students receive awards, scholarships, and perhaps most moving for me, deliver the valedictorian address. Ermelinda's speech was very good and when she thanked me for being her mentor, I cried. I believe quite a few others did as well.

When it was over, my wife and I spent the next 45 minutes congratulating students, taking pictures, hugging, meeting parents, and it was wonderful. They have turned into amazing young men and women and I find it very hard to say goodbye but I know they will do amazing things with their lives.

Yesterday morning was also good. I had a great job interview at a performance school. It seems like a great place and I was very impressed with the principal. I am very hopeful that they will offer me the job and I think the school would be a great fit for me. Fingers crossed.

Final Monday

Today is the last Monday for being a teacher at Farragut. It's a bit surreal. Today is supposed to be final exams, but since I have all seniors I don't have to give any. Grades are due for most teachers on Wednesday. But again, since I have seniors my grades were all in last week. I doubt I'll see very many of my students until later this afternoon when they all come in for graduation practice. Graduation is this Wednesday at 7:00pm at the Arie Crown Theater. I'm very excited since I have so many of my students, and students I know, graduating.

On the job front, I received a phone call last night from one of the two schools I was hoping to hear from. I will be meeting with the Principal on Wednesday. I'm very excited because it seems like a very cool school and one that I think would be a very interesting challenge professionally. Also this Friday is the opening of the Teacher Fellowship art exhibit at Gallery 37. The art project my History of Chicago students worked on will be exhibited for 2 weeks along with the scultptures from Kate Adams' class and work from other teachers in the program. I'm very excited and I'll post some photos after.

One Week Left

After today, there is only one week left of school and only one week remaining for my time at Farragut. It has been difficult packing up all my things knowing I won't be back. It has also be difficult gettibg ready to say goodbye to my students and many of my colleagues. I know it will be difficult to remain in touch with some of them, especially those outside the history department. Next week will likely be harder than this week but the high point will be seeing so many of my students graduate on Wednesday. I have known many of them for four years and I am exceptionally proud to see them receive their diplomas. Unfortunately, the next day will be as low and Wednesday will be high.

No movement on the job search as yet. Have not heard back from the charter school so that does not appear to be happening. I do expect a couple of phone calls and they likley will come some time next week when school is about out.

Job fair went well

I didn't spend too much time at the job fair. There were not that many schools looking for history teachers overall and a few that I'm not even considering at this point. The good news is that I have at least two interviews likely this week, both at new performance schools. I think they are both strong possibilities. It was cool to see a friend I went to school with at one of those schools. That tells me the school should be a cool place to work.

I feel pretty confident that I'll have a new job before June is over.

As for the rest of my time at Farragut. My students have their final exams Tuesday and Wednesday and then we're just waiting for graduation. School is officially out in two weeks. Time to pack up all my crap.

Job Fair Tomorrow

So tomorrow I will be heading over to Navy Pier for my first job fair for job search 2008. I'm sure there will be a ton of people there especially the newly graduated as well as the recenly displaced like me. I have no idea how many schools will be there or how many will be looking for history teachers but I'm hopeful I'll at least get an interview or three out of the trip.

Interview went very well

So I had my first in-person interview this morning and it went very well. I got a tour of the facility and it looks like a very cool place. I'm a little leery that the interview was relatively short and at the end the Principal said "I think we can work together" and that someone from HR would be contacting me soon. It would seem that I have my first job offer for the next year.

I'm going to wait to get some information from HR and see if some other schools might be interested but at least I know someone wants to hire me.

Another Interview

Received a voicemail from another school this afternoon that wants to interview me for a teaching position. This one is a charter school on the north side. I know a lot of people have issues with charter schools but I don't buy many of their arguments. I think some charters are great and others are problematic but guess what? So are public schools. My interview is tomorrow morning so we'll see how things go.

First Interview

Yesterday was a pretty good day. I received a phone call from a performance school I had sent my resume to. I spoke to them for about 20 minutes and it was, I think, a great interview. At the end, the woman I spoke to said someone would be contacting me next week to set up an in-person interview. From everything I've read, it seems like a great program and one that will be a great fit. I'll post more details once I have an in-person interview. I don't want to jinx anything.

Job Search Update

So I've been sending out numerous resumes lately. There are some very interesting schools out there under the new "Renaissance 2010" project. Many are charter schools but others are called "Performance Schools" and I'm looking closely at them. In effect they are part of CPS but have greater flexibility for curriculum and are reorganized from older schools.

I've already heard from two schools. Apparently Social Justice High School and the Marine Math & Science Academy have no history openings. The REN2010 office just published a new list of brand-new schools opening and one looks really cool at the old Austin High School. I could have an advantage with my current graduate program.

Anyway, no interviews lined up. The resume has been updated and looks good. I had a batch printed at Kinkos and will start mailing some out the old fashioned way. It's kind of like fishing. Throw out a bunch of lines and see what bites.

Time at Farragut almost over

So... where to begin? This will be my final year at Farragut. That wasn't part of the plan. My principal decided that I am not the kind of teacher she wants for her school. That's not the "official" reason. She has decided to exercise her ability to not renew me as a teacher and now I have to find a new school to teach for. It was really a kick in the gut. I am one of 10 or 12 teachers who have been told that they will not be returning; all but one has at least three years of experience. It makes not sense and I cannot find a professional reason why I was let go.

So what's next? Well, I guess I have to go to some job fairs. Gotta check my suits to see what looks good. Time to print up my resume and send it out.

I will miss the kids. We have some great students at Farragut and I'm saddest to leave them. Its also hard to leave the history department. We had a fantastic team there, but the principal fired two others and it doesn't look like much will survive.

Now that I'm on a job hunt, I'll try to post more often to keep people informed as to what I'm doing. Wish me luck.

1st Semester Final Exams

Final exams are here for 1st semester and I think overall this semester has gone pretty well. I think a number of my students who were failing are trying very hard to get some make-up work in so I think my failure rate will drop a bit. I'm really pleased with the number of papers I received from this last assignment. My student teacher Chris takes over a couple of classes officially next week so my teaching load will drop a bit. I think I made the final exam challenging but not overly difficult. If they paid attention at least some of the time, they should do well.

Another senseless murder

We found out this morning that a former Farragut student was brutally murdered last night. His name was Rocky Uriostegui. He was walking down 23rd pl last night when someone drove up in a red SUV, got out, walked up to Rocky, and shot him multiple times in the head and chest and then drove away. Police are speculating that it may have been a result of fueding between gangs but there's no indication Rocky was a gangbanger.

As if this cowardly act was not bad enough, there were apparently several witnesses to the shooting but somehow no one saw anything. The cowardly attitude of "don't snitch" seems to be more important that putting a murderer in jail.

Congratulations dirtbag. You killed an unarmed kid for no reason whatsoever. You'll get away with it too because the people who saw you do it refuse to speak out. At this moment its hard to figure out who I despise more.

Happy New Year

I hope others had a warmer New Year's than I. My wife and I spent the holiday in Minneapolis where the temps were in the single digits. We had a lot of fun, but it as flippin' cold!

This year is going to be very exciting for me. I just started grad school officially yesterday and there is already a lot of work. Research and reading must be done. Later this year, my first students from three years ago will be graduating. I started my teaching career when they were freshmen and now they're almost done. Very cool.

Resolutions? Go to the gym... lose some weight... be healthier... be a better husband... be a better teacher... we'll see.