Time's Up, Let's Do This

LEEEROOOOOOOY JEEEENKIIIIINS.

Where We At

Three days from now I move to California. Right now those are still just words. Fly, fly, little starling. Fly, fly!

We've got one more day of classes tomorrow, giving out final on Thursday, and graduating (with distinction!?!?!?! pantpantpant!) on Friday. Three hours after we walk... I'M OUT.

Things I now have experience in: telling Mom her son isn't doing my homework; memorizing 16 secret handshakes; accidentally swearing in front of a kid ("Do your reading, Aaron. Don't bullshit me." OOPS.); enjoying the daily grind; panicking at having 20 copies of the wrong handout 2 minutes before the bell; getting a text message at 11:05 PM from an overeager student ("HEY TRUDEAAUUXXZZZ I'M UP LATE! LOLXZ!"); getting the best feedback ("I don't like reading but I like reading this."); logging grades; a beer after 5 days of teaching.

And it occurs to me that just because it's almost graduation, I'm definitely not ready to say I'm going to teach for the win. Teaching FTW is a marathon, a grind, and a labor of caffeine and hair loss love. Maybe I'll try to solicit a statement from MG or Orin about my prospects. They've got to be on board, right? If not... well, I'd find their lack of faith... disturbing. Maybe "with distinction" will be as good a marker of my trajectory as any. Either way, alea jacta est.

And I'll let Marv Alberts do the rest. FOR THE...

...to be continued.

Overstimulation

It never ceases to amaze me how fired up 14 year olds can get about arts n' crafts. But they live for my Junior assimilation tracker. Live for that shit.

Attached are some images of a few of the visual aids I have around my classroom. Some of them are content/essential question related. Others are procedural. Others are Big Goal trackers.

Not pictured: my "how to debate" sentence starters. It straight up KILLS me whenever my kids say "with all due respect..."

When I make it to the big leagues in September I'm going to outsource this work to my amazing, thoughtful, wonderful dad professionals who will give me a good rate.

Narrate Compliance... Mister Anderson

Lee Canter is one of the leading classroom management and teacher training gurus of the last 3 decades. His brand of assertive discipline revolves around a teacher completely owning their domain through urgent tone, strong voice, eye contact, etc. He's a big fan of Doug Lemov's taxonomy, and coaches teachers in those methods, too. He's basically the Michael Jordan of teacher coaching.

And this past week MG hired him to come train MTT coaches. So they can be like Mike.

Lee is perhaps best known 'round these parts for developing a method for coaching teachers in real time. But not, like, calling timeouts and telling kids to

freeze. No no. He gives his teachers ear buds and sits in the back of the classroom with a walkie-talkie barking one or two word directions.

"Narrate compliance. Narrate. Narrate. Louder. Louder. Scan Jose. Jose. Jose. Narrate."

Three MTT's actually got to be coached by Lee. Who is an intense dude, I might add. His main critique of our operation was that our coaches need to convey a higher degree of urgency in debrief meetings. "Hey, that classroom is chaos. You know the only thing between those kids and the street? YOU. You gotta dig deep and find that stronger voice or it's the STREET."

Yikes.

Anyway, having gotten the Pimp yo' Program makeover advice from Mssr. Canter, MTT Admin Orin let me test drive the new protocol. Slapped the ear bud in my ear, came up with 2-3 focus areas (narrate compliance, "why" stretch it moments), and set up shop in the back of room 205.

"Question, Nathalie?"

"I think this relates to our Essential Question."

KKRRZZT Why? KKRRZZT

"...Why?"

"Well..."

Boom. Instant coaching. Same great taste, none of the calories. The experience was kind of jarring at first, and it did draw my attention away from other stuff (I practically forgot to do an opening altogether); but the benefits were tangible and immediate. After a few minutes, Orin all but stopped reminding me to ask "why" or narrate compliance. It was "sticky" over that hour, as MG would say.

"Trudeau, what's that in your ear."

"I'm a secret service teacher."

"Are not."

"Oh yeah? KKRRZZT Take Felico down KKRRZZT."

"HEY!"

Making Moves

Summer Academy. Cutting our teeth on the MTT-prescribed teacher moves. The Killer Paper Crossover. The Head-up Fake. The Drop-your-pencil Step. We ballin' now, son.

I isolated a few "moves" and salient moments from Friday's class, courtesy of Coach Max and the incredibly useful FlipCam device. (All teachers should own one of these. Seriously. Amazon.com. Make it happen.)

1. Bathroom pass? Take two minutes to think it over.

2. Giving demerits? That's my job.

3. Buzzer goes off - you know what to do. They're SO well-trained.

4. I see, I see, I see. Narrating compliance 'til the cows come home.

5. 100% compliance. Shine on, Vann. Vaaaanntastic:

I Won't Be Boycotting the Crossword, But...

MG goes to bat for TFA in an NYT online discussion on the heels of a piece regarding TFA's selectivity and retention.

Michael Winerip (best name ever for an armchair critic) re-opened an old debate around TFA's ability to keep their good teachers teaching beyond their 2-year commitment. His opening is loaded, to say the least. "Teach for America has become an elite brand that will help build a resume, whether or not the person stays in teaching." What's up with the NYT recently?

MG points out that TFA 'dropouts' aren't turning in their eduwarrior badges at all. They run school districts. They start CMO's. OMG, they even run boutique teacher training programs. In my four years in the education sector here in Boston (where they just started placing last year), TFA alums seem to be everywhere.

So let's try to move past this whole chestnut. Again. Never mind that the "dropouts" are better than their average replacement--by a mile--during their two years. TFA gets fantastically motivated people into classrooms for two years. A good chunk of them stay in education and/or become educational philanthropists and/or vote for ed reform politicians, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if their post-Corps numbers looked very similar to MATCH Corps alumni.

Could our stay-in-classroom rates me higher? Sure. Are our former teachers "failing" the cause? Hardly.

Protocol and Response

Do all teachers' hands look like this? Or is it just uber-newb alert?

Coach Max had me transcribe the following exchange from class yesterday so I could email it to the rest of the fiction team. It's a Trudeau original example of how to hold the line on an important expectation while destigmatizing consequences and setting kids up to meet your standards in the future.

Aaaand, action.

Jordanis raises his hand.

"Yes, Jordanis?"

"I left by book in my locker."

"Ah! Excellent! Jordanis has given us a golden opportunity to observe how I want you guys to receive an unprepared demerit. Every day I need your binder, your notebook, your book in class. Jordanis, I'm going to walk over here and start a conversation with Vann. I want you to raise your hand again and tell me you forgot your book when I call on you. Then comes your moment to shine by being the first person to receive an unprepared demerit the right way."

Jordanis raises his hand.

"Is it a real demerit?"

"Yes it is. Ready?"

Trudeau walks over to Vann.

"Hey Vann. What's up?"

"Uhhh..."

Jordanis raises his hand.

"Yes, Jordanis?"

"I left my book in my locker."

"Jordanis, that's a demerit, I need you to bring you book every single day."

Pause. Look around the room.

"FANTASTIC. Jordanis got his demerit professionally. And every single one of you did what you were supposed to do: nothing. Okay, Jordanis, take the pass and get your book."

Vann says something inaudible.

"Vann, that's a demerit. I need you to raise your hand if you want to offer an opinion."

Pause.

"Another well-received demerit. Remember, guys. Demerits are reminders. Do I think Vann is a bad person for calling out? No. In fact, I love his enthusiasm. But we have to remember that calling out or not bringing your book is in a small way detracting from being able to move forward with our learning."

Orin finishes with:

(Pssst: Ross doesn't know it, but every time we get him to do a detailed blog entry or email, he's actually writing next year's curriculum for me under the guise of "sharing best practices" with his teaching team. Heheheh....excellent work, Coach Smithers. Excellent work.)

I feel dirty.