First Day of School

First day of school. I am actually writing this between classes while I wait for the curriculum to for the class to be faxed over to my site. I have taught two of my three classes for today and I haven't started crying yet. This year is definately going to be a handful. The kids are interesting to say the least. I suppose that it is similar to all the classes I was in when I was in highschool. The each class has its clowns and its model students. Being at passages with this student population there are things that I see and worry about that I hope my teachers never had to concern themselves over. It is hot and the AC is out, so naturally you want to open the windows...well that is fine, but I need to make sure that the window above the fire escape is not open becuase that could be a problem. Having to hlod on to penicils and erasers until we are actgually using them, thne collecting them again after class also seems a like overkill, but these people know what they are doing. It is also a little bit strange to have one or two of the staff memebers in the room who are responsible for removing the kids if they get over aggitaded. Who knows, this experince is going to be great. I do also have to get used to a completely different set of names from what I am used to. Say good by to John and Jane, because a regular name now is Tymaine, Shaquille, or Spanky. I teach math. I will be teaching algebra and middle school math. I am actually the only math teacher at my site at the moment. Woohoo. When was the last time that I worried about slope or linear equations. Well I guess I get to learn it all over again then teach my kids. At this point I have finished teaching my classes for the day and I have to say as a whole it was successful. Successful in that my lesson was about why math is important and not actually teaching them any new math concepts.

I also think that it is I can say a little bit about my new apartment. The apartment as a whole is great, but I do have two slight complaints/things that just make me laugh. The floor in the apartment is uneven. When I say uneven I mean that there is nothing that is flat at any point. In the living room the table leans to the left and when I go to sleep if I lay down on my bed in one direction my feet are definitely above my head. The other slight problem is the noise. We are right along a main road and there is always something going on outside. So now that I have said my little bit of negative about the apartment I feel that I should say that I love it. Apparently Labor Day is a bigger deal in my neighborhood than I have seen it be anywhere else. Both Sunday and Monday we had people out in the street everywhere. Sunday night there was music until about 5am. When I say music we are talking steel drums and all sorts of other fun stuff. People were dressed up like it was Mardi Gras or something. Full on bright Vegas showgirl outfits with feathers and all. Of course the body types aren't necessarily ones that you would want to see in such outfits, but the spirit of the whole thing was great. That is all I can think of for now. God Bless.

This preview for an upcoming film is pretty good. Definitely worth seeing if you care about education at all. It is a documentary looking at the charter school movement.

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2518550297/

Apartment plus some...

Knowing that school is getting ramped up back at Whitworth makes me a little bit sad, but school here is going to be ramping up as well so I’m sure that I will have plenty to keep me busy. Well after finding out that I had a job I had to go on and face the next step…finding an apartment. Fortunately, I my friend Matt from home and Whitworth is also new to the city and we were looking together. This is actually quite a daunting task here in NYC because there are so many and yet so few. I have to consider the location, the cost, and the apartment itself. I knew that for me cost and location outweighed the apartment’s look I didn’t really want to end up in a closet. Throughout the past few months friends from TFA have been finding apartments all over the city and some have had it easy while others find it to be a battle. I took almost two weeks to get mine. Craigslist can only get you so far and broker’s fees are expensive. I budgeted for about $1000 a month for an apartment. With TFA friends spending anywhere from 700-1300 a month I figured aiming to be in the middle would be a good plan. Well in the past two weeks I have spent countless hours looking at advertisements for apartments and visited at least ten different places, some nice and others not so nice. I sort of wanted to get one with a doorman and a pool/gym/billiards room, but that was a little bit out of my price range. Matt and I found a great one with a good location and low cost that was not too bad looking, but someone else beat us to it. Yesterday we went to check out a place right next to Prospect Park, the largest park in Brooklyn, that I had found on facebook. It was titled, $1450 / 3br - *Cash* Beautiful 3bed on Rutland Rd. and Flatbush Ave. !*CASH*, and had no pictures. Well after visiting the apartment we were pretty stoked. The maintenance man for the building was the one who let us in and we were shocked at how big it was. So we saw the apartment at 2pm then called the broker afterward to say that we wanted it. We met him at 4pm and put down the deposit which was one month’s rent in cash. (I struggle hand that much money to someone who I just met.) He was a great guy who’s name I still don’t actually know. Then we met again today at 2pm to file our final paper work while in the back of his car and pay last month’s rent along with a security deposit. Money seems to be flying here. So within twenty four hours I now have my keys to an apartment that is unfurnished. Well of course we decide to head to IKEA. Matt and I ended up spending five hours in IKEA and we only really got about half the stuff that we are going to need. This whole process has been a whirlwind. Oh and in case you were wondering if the whole cash upfront thing is sketchy I think so, but apparently in NYC it is actually quite common and I do actually have a legit lease form so it has all worked out. I wouldn’t suggest to friends however that they regularly run around the city with thousands of dollars in cash. I’m sort of over IKEA and all that it has, but I get the feeling that I will probably be back there again in the next few weeks. One more thing to add on to the housing tangent that I just went on, we now have an extra bedroom that we will probably end up renting out and I will be paying about half of what I budgeted for housing. Yippee.

The city as a whole is still a very interesting place. When traveling on public transit you never know what you are going to see. I have witnessed a young boy physically fight the woman he was with (I’m not sure if she was his mother or not). I have seen countless musicians/artist of some kind run into a packed subway car and begin playing expecting people to give them some money. To be a real New Yorker though you need to sit there staring straight ahead and ignore them otherwise they really will come up and get in your face when asking for money. The other day an older woman got caught in a subway car door. You may ask, how does something like this happen? Well I will tell you. I was on the D line heading to Coney Island and we got to a stop and the conductor announced that this train was now going to run on the N line. Well that sucks because more than half the people on the train have to get off and wait for the next D. So we get off and wait. The next D pulls into the station and we all get on only to wait a minute and hear another announcement, this train will now also be running on the N line and we should get out and wait for the next D. So there are a lot of frustrated people on the platform not really sure what is going on, the next D pulls up and the same thing happens only the conductor doesn’t speak very clearly so we are all quite unsure of what is going on. Well I get off because at this point I just want to walk or take a bus. As I get off the train doors close and this old woman is caught in them. She is not just a little bit caught, but a lot bit. Basically the doors are pressing directly against her belly and her backside. Well her head is turning one way then another and she looks very confused. She didn’t look confused about being stuck, but more about whether or not she wanted to be on the train. (Don’t worry, the trains won’t move without all the doors closed so she wasn’t in any danger). Well after about thirty seconds I go up to her and ask if she is trying to get off and she says yes. At this point I realize that this poor old woman was legitimately stuck between these doors that whole time with probably fifty people on the platform and another thirty in the car waited not wanting to step in to help. I guess there is still something to be said for being from Washington and not having as thick of a skin as New Yorkers. I was still willing to step in even if it was a little bit late.

Another fun travel story has to do with me walking down the street and stepping on a rat. That’s about it for that story. Yuck. The neighborhood that I have been staying in for the past few days with a friend from TFA is almost entirely Jewish. I have begun to see the world in black and white. That is really the only colors people here wear. I don’t have a yarmulke or long curls on either side of my head so I don’t really fit in. It is strange walking down the street and hearing Yiddish more than English. I was in a McDonalds the other day where the staff was all black and speaking Spanish. I guess my understanding of diversity in America has grown pretty substantially. Well that is about all I can think to say for now. Hopefully this hasn’t been too long and boring.

School starts soon but before that...

So time here in NYC has been great. I was officially offered a job this past Wednesday. I will be working at Passages Academy in downtown Brooklyn. The school has multiple site and my site is at the boystown campus. http://www.boystown.org/new-york I'm still learning about the school and there is a whole lot more for me to learn before I really have a complete picture. the school is very small. They max out at about 46 students and there are 10 teachers on staff. The kids are at boys town for multiple reasons. Passages academy is a part of District 79 here in NYC. District 79 offers alternative education programs to students who have been incarcerated, teen mothers, and people aiming for GEDs. This district is a relatively new thing for Teach For America. They placed one person in District 79 last year and two of us are in District 79 schools this year. I couldn't be more thrilled about my placement. It will be a unique challenge.

When it comes to living in NYC there is always something new to see and something more to do. I have officially finished my first class for grad school and I got an A. (woohoo) A new student ID card and more student bills to pay. However, being a grad student at Hunter College is not a bad situation. My overall cost is significantly lower than what it was to be a Whitworth student. I don't think that I will be quite as proud of this diploma as I am of my Whitworth diploma. I certainly wont be paying as much for it.

Apartment hunting is not too fun. The cost to live in NYC is outrageous. I'm hoping to get housing figured out in the next day or two, but until then it is couch surfing. Today I was walking around downtown and found some fun stuff. Tim Horton's/Cold Stone Creamery, a Dunkin Doughnuts/Taco Bell, and life is never really complete until you see the naked cowboy...I mean cowgirl. She is especially unique because she is as old as my mother and looks about as fake as possible. This is NYC. If anyone wants to come join me here you are more than welcome. Short term visits are good too.

Catching up

So I realize that it has been a really long time since I have updated this blog which unfortunately is not something that I was hoping to do when I first started the blog, but life is full of unexpected things. The reality is I have been waiting to post something until I was placed in my school for the fall so that I could talk about that and be excited, but unfortunately that hasn't happened just yet. So the reality is I still haven't figured out where I will be working this coming fall. The whole process has been pretty frustrating because while TFA sets up interviews for me I don't really have a ton of control over where I go. My first few interviews went well, back in July, but the first two schools ended up deciding not to hire anyone for the positions. The third school chose a different TFA guy who just came out of the workplace so he actually has experience. Then I took my week off to go to Canada which was great, but put me behind in the placement process since most people still waiting were placed during that week. Oh well.

Then I came back and last week we had round zero training which was not bad, but I missed about half of it because I was out interviewing. Last week I interviewed at four different schools which equated to eight interviews including phone interviews, in person interviews, and demon lessons. Soooo much fun. The basic gist of things is that one didn't think I would fit well in the system they had where I would have had to be a resource room specialist. The second said that they would love to hire me after my demo lesson if they had a position for upper elementary school because they thought I would be far better with that than the first grade position they had available. Oh well. I guess it is a good thing they liked me seeing as how that was the top charter school in the state of New York. So right now I am waiting to hear back from the other two schools. I had my last interview with one of them today, the other I finished up with last week, but with TFA we don't want to take any chances so tomorrow I get to go on a whole new interview with a new school. Hooray for going to grad school tomorrow for an eight hour class then leaving it and going straight to the interview which of course is in an extremely inconvenient location almost two hours away via public transit. So right now my hope and prayer is that I will get an offer tomorrow so as to avoid that whole process. I should find out soon anyhow and I'm excited to see where I end up. At the moment the schools that are pending are in Washington Heights (upper west side of Manhattan) and the other is in Brooklyn with a school for students who are in detention and awaiting court dates. I'll be sure to update again soon once I know something.

Grad school is not exactly what I would call challenging so far, but we will see.

The end before the beginning

Well it is all over. Institute is actually finished and I have a little letter that says I made it through. My kids made some major growth and I learned a ton. The thing that I learned that surprised me a little bit wasn’t necessarily anything to do with what they were trying to teach us. I learned how hard it is to be away from home and friends. Sure I made some friends while at institute, but at this point I don’t know how many of them I will see again and there are probably more people who I don’t really care to see again than people who I do. I miss Whitworth and Tacoma. Spending the next two years here seems overwhelming. I know that the program is great and that the city is great, but for me it just isn’t home.

I am actually writing this in the Newark airport. Within one hour of finishing institute I bought a plane ticket to Calgary so that I could meet my family up at my sister’s new house. Spending the next week with family is just what I need. I’m tired, a little grouchy sometimes, and I want to be around people I love. The next week is family time before I return to the chaos of the city and round zero training for TFA.

Some interesting things about NYC and what I have learned while I have been here:

-I have had a number of friends make comments before that leggings are not pants. I have to say that most of NY would disagree with you. The number of people who I have seen wearing only leggings (both men and women) is a little bit staggering. On that note, people should also avoid wearing tube top dresses while traveling. They look really awkward and sitting next to someone wearing that on the plane is pretty strange.

-Underwear and pasties do not count as clothing if you are 20 or 60. Yes I have seen both and neither should happen.

-On the subway the other day I saw something great. There was a man wearing a yarmulke next, to a man wearing a rosary, next to a man with a turban. There are many interesting people all on the subway.

-While moving my bags from St. John’s (where I have been staying for institute) I saw man dancing in the subway car. It wasn’t just a regular dance however, this man was pole dancing and rubbing his back all over the pole. As if that wasn’t enough a big guy came up to him and laid into him for being inappropriate in front of ladies. This new big guy then went on a tangent about the dancer being a ******ity ***** ********** *******. He started threatening him. He got off the subway only to decide to come back into the next door to yell some more. Then he got off and came back in again to yell. Oh what a night.

-Almost didn’t get out of the apartment this morning because the doorknob fell off. It took me about 15 minutes to figure out how to fix it.

-One of my best lessons was the last. This past Thursday we did a math review of everything that we had learned during summer school. We had ten full pages of word problems that dealt with all of the math problems that we have been doing. I did all the work independently before class and it took me about an hour and a half. I challenged the kids to beat my time. They got to work as a class and different groups could work on different pages. They took about ten minutes to really get into it, but when they realized they could beat my time they all began to work fervently in teams to try to finish in time. Seeing them get so motivated to do their work was great. Even the students who struggled still worked on the easier pages together. They didn’t get the chance to finish because we ran out of time, but in one hour they finished 9 of the 10 pages so I have no doubt that they would have done it.

-I can get a bagel and coffee from a street side vendor for $1.50. Take that Starbucks, McDonalds, and Sodexo.

-On the same block I can get two containers of blueberries (fairly good sized) for $2.

-If I want to get an apartment with a small room about the size of the study room from my old dorm it will cost at least $500 a month. No wonder the food is so cheap. We have to spend all our money on rent.

-The shuttle to Newark International Airport is only $25 roundtrip which is pretty great because it leaves from grand central in Manhattan and flights from Newark are generally less expensive.

-If you want to live somewhere that allows for cheap travel NYC is the place to be. I found an offer to go to Iceland for 3 days with hotels and airfare for only $400. I don’t really care to go to Iceland but it is still sort of cool.

-I watched the today show this morning while I at breakfast. I’m going to have to get myself on it as one of those silly people in the background waving. I walked by the area last weekend and I would not be hard to get there.

-Living in NY the biggest thing ever is happening … that’s right, Chelsea Clinton is getting married. We are all so excited. I’m not really sure why, but it is hard to miss.

-My kids think that Obama is a god. One of the guys at TFA does a really good Obama impression (his voice is perfect) and he recorded a message to the kids in his class as a class reward for the end of the summer program because they met their goal. They had a kid cry in their classroom of third graders because he was so excited.

-Diversity is a whole new thing. I have learned so much about so many different cultures while I have been here. Within TFA and in NYC there are so many different perspectives from what I have seen in the North West.

-East coast folks as a whole are pretty snooty. Some are great, but a lot have their noses in the air.

- I have learned how to do a teacher stare. J I’m still working on my teacher voice. It works sometimes, but then I want to smile or I scare myself which totally throws me off my groove.

-I love teaching math and reading. Writing is a nightmare and I wish that no one ever had to do it. I just say that now because I can’t see to get a handle on it yet. I’m sure that it will come with time.

-I want to treat these kids like campers. Instead of being Tyler I am Mr. Hamilton and instead of being flexible and fun I have to be pretty structured. Oh well. I think they like me anyway. Now I just have to try going back to camp and having the kids call me Mr. Hamilton. We will see how that goes over.

-Dunkin Doughnuts is everywhere. Their doughnuts are not that great, their sandwiches are lame, and everything is overpriced. Not worth a visit unless you get the munchkins. (Doughnut holes)

-If a dog weighs less than 10lbs it is not a dog it is a rat. The number of little rat dogs that I have seen is overwhelming. There have been a few that are too feeble to walk. Their owners put them in purses or even bags that are intended for dogs. They even had a restaurant (I forget the name, but it was like a Dick’s) that serves dog treats as well as regular food.

-There is going to be a mosque built on ground zero. Hello controversy, lots of upset people on both sides.

Time is ticking away...

I feel as though I am expected to get these kids to make changes in days that normally take weeks and teach objectives in weeks that should have months all while learning how to teach. Today has been fairly frustrating because we are assessing our students. While they have made growth, some of the objectives we simply haven’t had time teach them yet we are expected to test them on these objectives. It is not a student’s fault when their teacher doesn’t teach them something and I would argue at least right now during institute I don’t feel as though it is entirely my fault that the students didn’t get the best education either. Even with all these frustrations the students in my class have made some tremendous increases in reading and mathematics.

On a less school focused note, this past weekend was great. I met up with Katie Zerkel who I haven’t run into since May last year. We spent the day catching up with each other down in Times Square. We also went out and saw Mama Mia. It is my first Broadway musical since moving to NYC. It was a blast getting to see the city and spend time with a good friend. Sunday after church I went over to Mollie’s apartment and had lunch. Sunday evening we went to Pier 54 to dance. The NYC park program had live music along with a Latin dancing lesson. I made someone’s day when I danced with her, but she only spoke Korean and so outside of a smile and a peace sign there wasn’t much communication. Tomorrow is our last day with the kids. I’m excited to be done, but sad to leave my fourth graders. They are wonderful and they make me smile every morning.

I am still waiting to hear about my final placement for the fall. I hope to know by the end of the week, but with TFA you never really know. I’m excited to begin work for my students in the fall.

One week left...

I have almost made it through Teach For America Institute. The five week crash course on teaching that does the best it can to prepare me for a classroom this fall. I have to say that from my perspective the whole thing was a little bit more hyped up than I expected. I was told multiple times that this would be the hardest thing that I would ever do and I have to say that I don't think it is. Then again, when I look at other times in my life I feel as though I have been more challenged. I really can't think of anything that compares to the month that I spent washing dishes in "the pitts" at Frontier Ranch. Those were some hard days will lot of work and little rest as well. I also probably helps that I have had at least some experience working with kids at camp. While a cabin of ten fifth graders for the week is not quite the same as teaching a classroom, I do feel much more comfortable with managing children.

All is well on the hiring front for most TFA folks. We just found out today that 71% of the NYC Corps have been placed at this point (small party). At this point the lucky 29% of us (big party) who are still up in the air are just waiting for the next interview and potentially the next call/sticky note/text message to tell us that we got hired. Yes someone did really learn today that they were hired via sticky note from an assistant principle. It might be sort of cool to have that be how I get my first official job offer. While it is a little frustrating to be on the unhired end of the statistics, last year at this point only 31% of the corps members were placed so we are actually not in a bad position at all.

My fourth graders are great. Today we awarded the first of our 'Rock Star' prizes. Through class students have the opportunity to earn high notes. When they receive twenty five high notes they then get a photo shopped picture of themselves with the celebrity of their choice. Today one of the kids got a picture with him and Michael Jackson. Next week we have kids getting pictures with Madona as well as two Japanese cartoon characters that I can't remember the names of. It is amazing what silly incentives can do to boost a kids spirits.

I am trying to learn how to think like a fourth grader, I have to admit that it is harder than I would have expected. How do you explain to a kid who is struggling with rounding that any number that is equal to or greater than five means that you round up. I thought it was pretty straight forward, but when one child can't figure out that you don't round up with a four or down with an eight it can be hard to come up with more ways to explain. Using manipulatives can help, but they can also confuse the kid even more. Well it just show that I have a lot to learn. Next week I get to teach multiplication of two digit numbers by two digit numbers with regrouping as well as division of two digit dividends by one digit divisors with and without remainders. While I don't really have a problem doing the math myself, explaining the process and understanding why we do things the way we do is something I haven't thought about since I was in fourth grade. I get to learn right along with these kids. I have so much more respect for all of my teachers and the time and energy that they put in. I always thought that teaching was a fairly easy job for most teachers. Well I was wrong.

This weekend I am going to try to enjoy myself a little bit. I also get to spend some time each day with a different friend from home. :)

If you want me to send you a picture of some of my kids awards (their pictures with celebrities) shoot me an email. I'm not supposed to post them for the sake of confidentiality. The best email to reach me at is thamilton10@my.whitworth.edu