There is definitely a part of me (small though it may be) that misses teaching K-12. The evidence? I have become an unabashed Gleek. Those Warbler boys singing "Teenage Dream" makes me smile, I'll admit. Plus, our next door neighbor is Kate Perry's road manager (I'm still holding my breath to go to the Grammys). I also delight in the fact that they film this show minutes from where we live, in the heart of LA. Plus, they just keep surprising with...good messages, solid writing, and sweetly adorable teenagers that are still somewhat true-to-life. Boys kissing boys, acceptance of everyone and everything, embracing being an outcast and so-called loser. I feel true JOY at moments when I'm watching this 21-hour musical extravaganza. Hulu rules. Plus, Glee is teaching me to be an amazing living room dancer. I think that clubs should really invest in redecorating to include couches as centerpieces. The quality of dance would rise tremendously.
So, my champion days have taken a complete 180 from last year. I work remotely now, and use at least five technologies daily. Email, skype (have you ever experienced a virtual face-off?), WebEx, IM, text, phone(s) - the list goes on. I am an instructional designer, Moodle-crazed virtual facilitator, and loving it. Most universities have gone to the world of online instruction, and it's amazing to be at the forefront of the tide, for a change. Gone are the backward days with paper and pencil. In a paperless world, I grade and comment like I'm posting to a Facebook wall.
On another front, my novel is stuck in the middle, like all good novels should be (I hope). My antidote to this wall? Write another book! So, yes, I'm two pages into a new novel. My back can't really handle this sedentary lifestyle, so time to do some yoga moves, Synergetics, and gleek around a little more. Hope you still think I'm funny when I get the punch line wrong...
No regrets, just love. We'll be young forever.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Friday, August 27, 2010
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Moving Sites
Hey all you blogspot followers, I'm moving to wordpress!
Please follow me at:
www.emilydanler.wordpress.com
Please follow me at:
www.emilydanler.wordpress.com
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Expanding Beyond Four Walls
Well, some big news in my little world...I will not be returning to teaching in the classroom this year. Quite unexpectedly, I have been recruited to the world of Moodlerooms and online e-Learning. Fancy technical names abound (like I am now not "Miss Emily" but, rather, "West Coast Trainer"), but really it just means helping teachers, professors, and organization managers utilize best teaching practices in a virtual world. It will be interesting to see how the champion techniques apply in the buzzing world wide web environment.
I'm looking forward to traveling and gaining a broader perspective on education in this country, K-20, so to speak. I am also hoping that my presence on this team will help open online opportunities for charter and public schools who need desperately to find remedies for struggling students, large class sizes, and even under served advanced students. Moodling and noodling appear to be my future this year. A call out to anyone and everyone who either has taken classes online, or teaches online...I want to pick your brain!
Other news: My novel is at 25,000 words and moving along quite well. The discipline of writing has helped me prepare (coincidentally?) for the self-directed pace of working at home.
All seems to be well at my old school, too. Everything works out in the end, doesn't it? My replacement is an ecstatic, no-longer-unemployed California teacher (one of the 5,000+) who is probably amazed at a last minute opportunity. I'm in facebook contact with students, tutoring a delightful 10 year old Russian boy, and am, in a word, content. Going with the flow, and accepting what life wants to give me.
I'm looking forward to traveling and gaining a broader perspective on education in this country, K-20, so to speak. I am also hoping that my presence on this team will help open online opportunities for charter and public schools who need desperately to find remedies for struggling students, large class sizes, and even under served advanced students. Moodling and noodling appear to be my future this year. A call out to anyone and everyone who either has taken classes online, or teaches online...I want to pick your brain!
Other news: My novel is at 25,000 words and moving along quite well. The discipline of writing has helped me prepare (coincidentally?) for the self-directed pace of working at home.
All seems to be well at my old school, too. Everything works out in the end, doesn't it? My replacement is an ecstatic, no-longer-unemployed California teacher (one of the 5,000+) who is probably amazed at a last minute opportunity. I'm in facebook contact with students, tutoring a delightful 10 year old Russian boy, and am, in a word, content. Going with the flow, and accepting what life wants to give me.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Message In a Bottle
I'm going to take a hiatus from this blog and work on my young adult novel this summer and seek employment as a food writer! A lot has gone on this year and I need the summer to digest it all. Are there any digestive enzymes available to help break down the big meal of public education? Some days my tummy hurts from too much of this and too much of that.
Not sure what I think of the Los Angeles charter world yet, but I definitely think that a ship sailing in the open seas without a captain, a compass or a course direction is not a comfortable ride. Being on this kind of ship requires ingenuity and teamwork; every man for himself doesn't really scull the waters. No, we still have not hired a principal next year. If and when it does happen, this will be the eighth principal in nine years. Me thinks there is a wee bit of a curse upon our vessel. If you go for that kind of thing.
I don't know if my school will be able to pull this journey together or not, or if I will be able to handle my duties on this particular boat. I'm trying my best in my own classroom, but feel my voice is lost in the winds. Where is the Black Pearl, Johnny Depp and those who love a bit of mischief, art and beauty? The feeling of being seasick has dampened my pedagogical spirit this year. So I am turning inward and practicing my swim strokes. Time to nurture the creative fire and my own soul. No thank-you to martyrville and becoming an enabler to others. Sometimes life is just about surrender and going where the sea wills. I'm too tired (and too blonde) to try and lead a revolution aboard. Mutiny is not in my bones. Look for me above: I'll be the one climbing the mast and looking out over the expanse of indigo. Maybe I'll even jump ship one of these days and find my own island of words. I'm hopeful as long as I have my pen (laptop) in hand.
Thanks to those of you who read my blog this spring and empathized beside me. There will be more to come on teaching, writing and living and a new home just as soon as I can decipher the cryptic map known as wordpress and set it into motion. Be on the lookout for emilydanler.com and ahoy to you one and all.
Not sure what I think of the Los Angeles charter world yet, but I definitely think that a ship sailing in the open seas without a captain, a compass or a course direction is not a comfortable ride. Being on this kind of ship requires ingenuity and teamwork; every man for himself doesn't really scull the waters. No, we still have not hired a principal next year. If and when it does happen, this will be the eighth principal in nine years. Me thinks there is a wee bit of a curse upon our vessel. If you go for that kind of thing.
I don't know if my school will be able to pull this journey together or not, or if I will be able to handle my duties on this particular boat. I'm trying my best in my own classroom, but feel my voice is lost in the winds. Where is the Black Pearl, Johnny Depp and those who love a bit of mischief, art and beauty? The feeling of being seasick has dampened my pedagogical spirit this year. So I am turning inward and practicing my swim strokes. Time to nurture the creative fire and my own soul. No thank-you to martyrville and becoming an enabler to others. Sometimes life is just about surrender and going where the sea wills. I'm too tired (and too blonde) to try and lead a revolution aboard. Mutiny is not in my bones. Look for me above: I'll be the one climbing the mast and looking out over the expanse of indigo. Maybe I'll even jump ship one of these days and find my own island of words. I'm hopeful as long as I have my pen (laptop) in hand.
Thanks to those of you who read my blog this spring and empathized beside me. There will be more to come on teaching, writing and living and a new home just as soon as I can decipher the cryptic map known as wordpress and set it into motion. Be on the lookout for emilydanler.com and ahoy to you one and all.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
The Golden Classroom Ratio
I learned about the Golden Ratio last night from some friends–that divine mathematical principle that is behind all forms in nature and truly great art. Symmetries and patterns in the proportion of this 1.618 ratio are called "sacred". Basically, the golden ratio is the structure behind beauty. I think in terms of the classroom, these seemingly tedious strategies are the golden ratio for creating a beautiful learning environment. I always thought freedom and flexibility were the food of artistry, but the older I get, the more I realize that structure is what truly creates a cornucopia of creativity. Structure is a teacher's best friend. These techniques would be best used at the start of the year, but they are still useful now. So, here is the list of techniques that create what I am calling The Golden Classroom Ratio:
#28 ENTRY ROUTINE
#29 DO NOW
#30 TIGHT TRANSITIONS
#31 BINDER CONTROL
#32 SLANT
#33 ON YOUR MARK
#34 SEAT SIGNALS
#35 PROPS
Having a scholarly entry routine is key to moving students quickly and seamlessly into classroom mode. I am not always the best at this. With three different classes in the morning, I'm scrambling to change up the board and arrange my technology (even with my morning prep where I try and make it all as seamless as possible). But here is what I will do next year: greet kids at the door by shaking their hands and making sure they learn to do this properly and engage with me. Have packets or handouts on a table for them to pick up, or already at their desks.
The DO NOWs are short activities between 3-5 min. that engage kids in the lesson for the day and give them something to focus on immediately. Next year I will teach my 9th graders that being ready and on time means sitting down and working on the DO NOW before the bell rings. Students have an all together different attitude if you don't teach them this. I've been using different reading strategies in the DO NOW's to mix up the vocabulary words I had for most of the year. Doing vocabulary this way was all right, but I think it should be diversified. Creative prompts are fun starters–writing down the time track, or from a different perspective, or with alternate endings for characters, etc...I also see this as a good place to do sentence corrections and grammar warm-ups.
Having TIGHT TRANSITIONS is a way to gain back precious lost minutes that add up to hours over the course of the school year. This strategy needs to happen in the first week of school; it is much much harder to teach students this later, as I should know. The key to TIGHT TRANSITIONS is having a starting and stopping point with the action clearly defined. The best way to enforce these transitions are done correctly is to have them repeat until they get it right. Just keep the framing positive. I found this can work for other classroom behaviors as well. On Friday, I was feeling really frustrated about how little students listen to each other when we are sharing from the DO NOW. I did a round robin around the room, and if anyone spoke out of turn, we started over again. It only took about 3-4 tries on average and they finally were self-monitoring. Definitely something to repeat next year very early on.
BINDER CONTROL. Don't get me started on this one. The only students failing my classes this year have been the product of extreme disorganization. Even with my simple folder & notebook stored in class system, these kids still manage to lose everything and complicate the situation. What this shows me is that I'm on the right track, but I still need to teach this explicitly in the beginning of the year. I will have a binder for class and a folder for homework next year. I'm going to have students separate sections for vocabulary, DO NOWS, and note taking.
SLANT is something I wish our whole school would do. Many kids suck at this, and it puts into concrete actions those intangibles that make a good scholar, a productive classroom, and a school culture of success. SLANT comes from KIPP schools and it is an acronym for: Sit Up, Listen, Ask and answer questions, Nod your head, Track the speaker. Use this, that's all I have to say.
ON YOUR MARK is being explicit about what to do when class starts. Kids really don't know this if you don't teach them (except for the straight A students). In a nutshell, figure out no more than five unchangeable expectations to start class:
#28 ENTRY ROUTINE
#29 DO NOW
#30 TIGHT TRANSITIONS
#31 BINDER CONTROL
#32 SLANT
#33 ON YOUR MARK
#34 SEAT SIGNALS
#35 PROPS
Having a scholarly entry routine is key to moving students quickly and seamlessly into classroom mode. I am not always the best at this. With three different classes in the morning, I'm scrambling to change up the board and arrange my technology (even with my morning prep where I try and make it all as seamless as possible). But here is what I will do next year: greet kids at the door by shaking their hands and making sure they learn to do this properly and engage with me. Have packets or handouts on a table for them to pick up, or already at their desks.
The DO NOWs are short activities between 3-5 min. that engage kids in the lesson for the day and give them something to focus on immediately. Next year I will teach my 9th graders that being ready and on time means sitting down and working on the DO NOW before the bell rings. Students have an all together different attitude if you don't teach them this. I've been using different reading strategies in the DO NOW's to mix up the vocabulary words I had for most of the year. Doing vocabulary this way was all right, but I think it should be diversified. Creative prompts are fun starters–writing down the time track, or from a different perspective, or with alternate endings for characters, etc...I also see this as a good place to do sentence corrections and grammar warm-ups.
Having TIGHT TRANSITIONS is a way to gain back precious lost minutes that add up to hours over the course of the school year. This strategy needs to happen in the first week of school; it is much much harder to teach students this later, as I should know. The key to TIGHT TRANSITIONS is having a starting and stopping point with the action clearly defined. The best way to enforce these transitions are done correctly is to have them repeat until they get it right. Just keep the framing positive. I found this can work for other classroom behaviors as well. On Friday, I was feeling really frustrated about how little students listen to each other when we are sharing from the DO NOW. I did a round robin around the room, and if anyone spoke out of turn, we started over again. It only took about 3-4 tries on average and they finally were self-monitoring. Definitely something to repeat next year very early on.
BINDER CONTROL. Don't get me started on this one. The only students failing my classes this year have been the product of extreme disorganization. Even with my simple folder & notebook stored in class system, these kids still manage to lose everything and complicate the situation. What this shows me is that I'm on the right track, but I still need to teach this explicitly in the beginning of the year. I will have a binder for class and a folder for homework next year. I'm going to have students separate sections for vocabulary, DO NOWS, and note taking.
SLANT is something I wish our whole school would do. Many kids suck at this, and it puts into concrete actions those intangibles that make a good scholar, a productive classroom, and a school culture of success. SLANT comes from KIPP schools and it is an acronym for: Sit Up, Listen, Ask and answer questions, Nod your head, Track the speaker. Use this, that's all I have to say.
ON YOUR MARK is being explicit about what to do when class starts. Kids really don't know this if you don't teach them (except for the straight A students). In a nutshell, figure out no more than five unchangeable expectations to start class:
- Paper out
- Desk clear (bags under table)
- Pencil sharp and ready
- Homework in the upper right corner of your desk
Have a time limit of when this needs to be done and a standard consequence for those who don't. Provide tools for those who need things and ask for them before class–I have pencils by the pencil sharpener for them to borrow, for example. Include homework as part of the ON YOUR MARK routine so that students get in a habit of turning it in at the beginning of class. Consequence for not doing homework is staying after school.
SEAT SIGNALS are nonverbal ways of requesting things so as not to distract from learning. We've all had the raised hand right in the middle of instruction that was a totally irrelevant request for bathroom or water. This means teaching when it is okay to request certain freedoms and give students simple signals–two fingers crossed for the bathroom, pencil up if you need a new pencil, pinch nose if you need a tissue, circling finger to get out of seat to pick something up. Sounds militaristic, but it creates structure. I know from how much time I spent this year dealing with these things that it's worth developing these cues.
PROPS means giving props to work well done. Quick, percussive sounds are good. Everybody needs to join, they should be enthusiastic and fun, and students should have a voice in what they want the props to be. Keeps the pace moving and students rewarded for participation. I like snapping fingers and will do more with this next year. Clapping gets out of hand unless you monitor two claps etc...
Kind of dry stuff, but helping take stock of simple improvements that will be a lot of bang for the buck next year. Just organizing myself more as a person right now and seeing how a lot of my frustrations come from the lack of clarity in my classroom structures. Students will always need to be told how to do these things. This is part of being a teenager (especially hard for some teenage boys). So, instead of getting mad, I just need to see this as a big part of my job. A little boring, but structure creates the freedom that creativity needs to flourish. I'm seeing the science behind the art of teaching: the pedagogical golden mean.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Home Stretch
Random reporting from Teach Like a Champion headquarters. I'm just opening the book at random to finish out the year. In the meantime, I've got myself a writing coach (my 35th birthday present) and am working on young adult fiction, food reviews, the world of womanhood and finding a disciplined writing practice and a more rested mind. The blogging world has ignited a deeper desire to write, write, write. A happy Emily= teacher + writer. I've decided to stick it out another year in the wacky wake of education. So, in honor of finally embracing my writing life and continued employment, here is #26: EVERYBODY WRITES.
Sometimes we think we are so clever as teachers. We dream up higher level, critical, complex questions and present them to our students. They stare back, eyes glazed over, dumbfounded. Are we speaking Greek? See if you can recognize yourself in this response–slight panicky feeling settles in, glancing around the room you find nothing, no one to help. Not even the top student gets it. Wanting to avoid that not-so-fresh feeling, you proceed to answer the question yourself, and move along. Happy that at least they were quiet. This is cognitively beneficial for only one person in the room, as you may have already guessed.
The antidote to the awkwardness: EVERYBODY WRITES. For me, the Do Now segment that is on the board to start class is an everyone writes activity. Today we were journaling from the point of view of a German solider (reading Night, a nice light end to the year, ha)–an internal monologue, present tense, first person narrative. I knew if I just asked students to verbalize how it would feel to be in the shoes of the oppressors that the responses would not be as rich. This technique is a gold mine for getting discussion to open at a deep level in the room. It also calms down 10th graders who are riled up in the process of getting to class. Other benefits are that you can call on any student to answer (COLD CALL, the maestro of this book coming soon), you can check work over their shoulders, processing happens on a deeper level, you can guide the lesson in the way you want, and they learn more when writing things down (especially their own thoughts and analysis). I know that getting a whole class to write before sharing sounds like a no-brainer, but there are educators out there who do not have their students doing much in the way of writing on a daily basis or any basis.
Many kids hate to write, or say they do. My challenge to myself is to keep finding ways to encourage them that writing is an important, learnable process. When you want to quit or give up, that one or two sentences/paragraphs/pages more is where you will find your best thoughts. When we write, we discover another voice. The writer's voice is often more intellectually astute, engaged and cognizant in the world. I know students, like all people, are moved by the power of words. Trick is to get them to be moved by the power of their own words. Baby steps. Or, when in doubt, reference Tupac. Roses growing from concrete echoes around the globe.
Sometimes we think we are so clever as teachers. We dream up higher level, critical, complex questions and present them to our students. They stare back, eyes glazed over, dumbfounded. Are we speaking Greek? See if you can recognize yourself in this response–slight panicky feeling settles in, glancing around the room you find nothing, no one to help. Not even the top student gets it. Wanting to avoid that not-so-fresh feeling, you proceed to answer the question yourself, and move along. Happy that at least they were quiet. This is cognitively beneficial for only one person in the room, as you may have already guessed.
The antidote to the awkwardness: EVERYBODY WRITES. For me, the Do Now segment that is on the board to start class is an everyone writes activity. Today we were journaling from the point of view of a German solider (reading Night, a nice light end to the year, ha)–an internal monologue, present tense, first person narrative. I knew if I just asked students to verbalize how it would feel to be in the shoes of the oppressors that the responses would not be as rich. This technique is a gold mine for getting discussion to open at a deep level in the room. It also calms down 10th graders who are riled up in the process of getting to class. Other benefits are that you can call on any student to answer (COLD CALL, the maestro of this book coming soon), you can check work over their shoulders, processing happens on a deeper level, you can guide the lesson in the way you want, and they learn more when writing things down (especially their own thoughts and analysis). I know that getting a whole class to write before sharing sounds like a no-brainer, but there are educators out there who do not have their students doing much in the way of writing on a daily basis or any basis.
Many kids hate to write, or say they do. My challenge to myself is to keep finding ways to encourage them that writing is an important, learnable process. When you want to quit or give up, that one or two sentences/paragraphs/pages more is where you will find your best thoughts. When we write, we discover another voice. The writer's voice is often more intellectually astute, engaged and cognizant in the world. I know students, like all people, are moved by the power of words. Trick is to get them to be moved by the power of their own words. Baby steps. Or, when in doubt, reference Tupac. Roses growing from concrete echoes around the globe.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Turning Points
No teaching techniques tonight from the Teach Like a Champion peeps. I've been unable to pick up the book–a slight feeling of dread emanates from its pages every time I look at it. Essentially, a good book with good intentions for a system that is falling apart at the seams. Trying to fix what can be fixed on a microcosmic level–teachers. But, leaving unchecked the larger systemic issues that put enormous pressure and burden on those teachers. Public education is an unsustainable endeavor and I'm feeling caught in the web. I'm wondering how teachers do this for so many years. How can they find enough satisfaction and reward to compensate for all the trials and tribulations that make up teaching? Maybe younger students are where it's at. Teenagers are, in a word, tiresome. They are wonderful, and they make me weary. I long for sanity and rhythm and ease. I want to write, read for my own knowing, give service where it is wanted and accepted. I've been reading two other books that are bringing wisdom and comfort for this time of searching:
- How to Master Change In Your Life by Mary Carroll Moore
- When Things Fall Apart: Heart Advice for Difficult Times by Pema Chodron
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
The J-Factor
I've skipped ahead to teach-nique #46, the J-factor, or JOY FACTOR. Tomorrow is my 35th birthday and I have decided to embrace this principle outside of the classroom by spoiling myself and birthdaying all day long. Ah, facial and vegan cupcake (they're really really good) here I come. I'm also setting the intention for this upcoming school year that I be in a place where work is joyful and not a place I want to avoid on my birthday. Several students told me they had surprises for me tomorrow, so I warned them I wouldn't be there--"What are your favorite flowers?" they asked me (freesia), "What color of balloons do you like?" (all colors). There is much sweetness if you look for it.
We all like celebrations, songs, games, competitions, nicknames, drama, dance, music, movement, humor, suspense and surprise. The J-FACTOR is my inspiration for improving my teaching, and my life. I want to reach for the highest possible place for me to be. I want to teach the kids who want what I have to offer and the gifts I can give them. I want to make learning exciting and worth it; I'm open to find new ways to show students that what I can offer will benefit them for their whole lives. Cheers to the JOY of living & learning.
We all like celebrations, songs, games, competitions, nicknames, drama, dance, music, movement, humor, suspense and surprise. The J-FACTOR is my inspiration for improving my teaching, and my life. I want to reach for the highest possible place for me to be. I want to teach the kids who want what I have to offer and the gifts I can give them. I want to make learning exciting and worth it; I'm open to find new ways to show students that what I can offer will benefit them for their whole lives. Cheers to the JOY of living & learning.
Friday, May 7, 2010
More
Total week from hell after Wednesday. I'm home blasting out to Usher, "More" and pretending I'm an NBA player who can dunk--sliding across the court under a house of lights with Usher busting his groove in the background. Like some kind of African warrior in a modern day gladiator arena. Seven feet tall, huge, all adrenaline: "I'm a beast, I'm an animal, The headliner, finisher, I'm the closer, winner, best when under pressure, with seconds left I show up."
I'm about ready to chuck this Teach Like a Champion book out the window, and it's not its fault. It's like a light bulb has gone on, and I realize the crux of all my management issues with students this year. Okay, a lack of structure and school wide accountability has been toxic. But here is the missing element I can control: I am a big softie and that ends up in a scenario with me as doormat, which turns into severe frustration that I generally turn inward onto myself. As I'm staring the final month+ in the face, this is what I've learned from my students this year in one sentence: When you are bad, I'm calling your parents.
Okay, and one more thing from my Latina teacher friend, Karla. In Mexican culture, don't let the kids get a word in edgewise. Shut down that backtalk immediately. Forget freedom of expression when it comes to negativity.
I've been trained from my old school that if you called home the parents would beat their kids, not give a damn or act just like their kids, so I always dealt directly with the kid and worked things out. We had a tight network of support between teachers and administration, and problems rarely escalated. There was mutual respect and staff members were regarded highly.
Not so at this school. Gotta call mommy or daddy if their 15 year-olds are talking back, being rude, spazzing out, remaining unfocused, trying their hardest to fail. I've been busting my butt to improve my planning, hook 'em, engage 'em, let 'em speak and implementing many of these techniques. I feel I can't really continue until I get a grasp on some things within myself.
This book will only go so far until I get in touch with my inner bitch. I know it's bad to cuss, and I'm all for an expanded vocabulary usually. But this word is an important one for me to sort out. Being a bitch has this ring of terror for me on some level, as a symptom of the peoplepleasingitis disease that I've had most of my life. The big lie? Being a bitch is not always a bad thing. Women who are bitches are powerful. They are fighting the current of life, not being swallowed in their tears. They are 5'1" and huge. They are vocal, screaming: "If you're on the floor, bring out the fire. And light it up, take it up higher. Gonna push it to the limit, give it more." Thanks, Usher. That's freedom, people. No wet dish rags. No more little doll-girl. No more punching bag for teens. If you've never been in an inner city school, you'll think I'm crazy. If you have, yep, you know.
I'm about ready to chuck this Teach Like a Champion book out the window, and it's not its fault. It's like a light bulb has gone on, and I realize the crux of all my management issues with students this year. Okay, a lack of structure and school wide accountability has been toxic. But here is the missing element I can control: I am a big softie and that ends up in a scenario with me as doormat, which turns into severe frustration that I generally turn inward onto myself. As I'm staring the final month+ in the face, this is what I've learned from my students this year in one sentence: When you are bad, I'm calling your parents.
Okay, and one more thing from my Latina teacher friend, Karla. In Mexican culture, don't let the kids get a word in edgewise. Shut down that backtalk immediately. Forget freedom of expression when it comes to negativity.
I've been trained from my old school that if you called home the parents would beat their kids, not give a damn or act just like their kids, so I always dealt directly with the kid and worked things out. We had a tight network of support between teachers and administration, and problems rarely escalated. There was mutual respect and staff members were regarded highly.
Not so at this school. Gotta call mommy or daddy if their 15 year-olds are talking back, being rude, spazzing out, remaining unfocused, trying their hardest to fail. I've been busting my butt to improve my planning, hook 'em, engage 'em, let 'em speak and implementing many of these techniques. I feel I can't really continue until I get a grasp on some things within myself.
This book will only go so far until I get in touch with my inner bitch. I know it's bad to cuss, and I'm all for an expanded vocabulary usually. But this word is an important one for me to sort out. Being a bitch has this ring of terror for me on some level, as a symptom of the peoplepleasingitis disease that I've had most of my life. The big lie? Being a bitch is not always a bad thing. Women who are bitches are powerful. They are fighting the current of life, not being swallowed in their tears. They are 5'1" and huge. They are vocal, screaming: "If you're on the floor, bring out the fire. And light it up, take it up higher. Gonna push it to the limit, give it more." Thanks, Usher. That's freedom, people. No wet dish rags. No more little doll-girl. No more punching bag for teens. If you've never been in an inner city school, you'll think I'm crazy. If you have, yep, you know.
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