Proving People Wrong

Whites Creek has a reputation, or five. To start off with, the school was 'Fresh Started' this year. Which means all teachers were handed a pink slip on the last day of school in the spring. Thew new principal only hired back the ones he believed could prove people wrong.

Crips and Bloods are big at our school. My air conditioner told me so (in permanent marker--you better believe that's the only way I know how to spell 'Crips' insteand of 'Crypts')...along with everyone else in Nashville to whom you mention that's where you are teaching.

The average ACT score for our school this past year was a 16. For those unfamiliar with the ACT, the average for admitted students to University of Tennessee is a 23, the average at Vanderbilt is a 30. Our kids didn't have a chance.

But somehow, I think we are going to prove people wrong. Mr. Lang, our principal, has vision. He wants to turn this school around and he seems to really know what it takes to get there. The 50 odd faculty members, both veteran and brand new seem to have so much energy and enthusiasm, as well as a ton of ideas about how to make this school better than it has ever been.

Already students and parents have come into the school and noticed changes. It's cleaner, more open, more well groomed. Lockers are moving, libraries are moving digital, and Mr. Lang wants to build an internet cafe. Not too shabby.

Not that hitting rock bottom is really a good thing. But maybe it took that to shake the school and bring it back. We have so much opportunity here to make a difference. I certainly picked the right school in which to make a difference--not that I picked it at all, I was put there, but every day I'm there (so far anyway) I am glad about it.

I hope this continues when the kids come. I hope the palpable excitement and optimism in the faculty translates to the students fully understanding, and eventually realizing their potential.

For my part, my classroom is fully decked out in Cobra red and blue, my rewards system is almost in order, and I plan to be a hard ass for at least the first 2 weeks. I can't even imagine how far from my plan my classroom management and lessons will stray, or how many times I will need to call for help from the experienced teachers down the hall.

For now, however, I am optimistic that this is, in fact, Whites Creek High School's year to shine, that this is when we turn it around, and facing adversity never meant so much to me, to my students, and to everyone in the building.

Classroom Cleanup

Room 233, that's mine. I've finally figured out the maze that is our high school to get there without having to question my route, and I dread when the students come and I have to walk through the locker bays when they are full of rowdy teenagers.

It's a big classroom, with just a small window looking out into the courtyard of Whites Creek. And it's all mine. That's the cool part. I can do whatever I want in here, decorate my way, throw away what I want, use what I don't throw out, and most importantly find ways to inspire mathematicians!

So first of, let's take an inventory. I walked into my room yesterday and found:
3 large desks
1 podium, every inch of which is covered with doodles
1 sort of podium with folding leaves on either side
2 bookshelves whose paint and wood are chipping off, full of Algebra 1 books
3 fans, one broken
3 computers (all post 2005 at least)
2 monitors
1 printer (minus the power cord)
1 phone
1 gigantic mess of wires
32 desk chairs for the kids
2 large cabinets, both full of crap, one locked with a key I don't have
1 bookshelf, again full of Algebra 1 books
3 white boards, all dirty, some lined with sparkly and polka dot liners that teachers like to use to make things look cute
2 half hexagon tables

You get the general idea. Lots of crap. After moving, and re-moving the chairs into a suitable formation, I moved the desks--glad that meant moving the chairs again. I made myself a nice little area to sit and work, and set up the 'While you were out' table as well as a place for the crates that will hold all my students' work.

Today I tackled the orange closet of math history.

Useful things I found in the closet:
Geometry and Algebra 2 textbooks
Lots of Protractors
Lots of compasses
Big pieces of construction paper
what has to be at least 5 reams of computer paper
a TI-83 (WAHOOO)
Cool math activities
Math in the world binder of activities
CDs to help me make tests (For Algebra 1, Algebra 2, Geometry, Pre-Calc and Calc)
an easel that I don't know quite what to do with yet, but there as to be something cool I can put on it.
Mrs. Henley's lesson plan binder (did someone say re-use?)

Not so useful things I found in there
6, count them 6 floppy disks--you know, those plastic things you used to store stuff on
Lesson plans from Advanced Calculus, FROM 1998
a chain, a 3 feet long metal link chain
a tape holder for giaganto tape that leaked sand
TCAP tests
Paper Airplanes (apparently this was geometry class work, I'm down, maybe these should go in the helpful pile)
Student notebooks
Mr. Watkins' end of year checkout list (apparently he didn't need it)
Tennessee Language Arts standards from 1993
plastic covers for electronic equipment that was NOT in the mystery cabinet.
a large piece of cloth with lisense plates from all 50 states

Oh, and were you curious what was in the white styrafoam cooler? Umm, it's scary. old tennis balls, a wooden tennis raquet, a puzzle, shoots and ladders, scary graduate dolls, some plastic green leafy things-what?

Here are my before and after pictures:

Before:


After:


Pile o crap


You get the idea, I have my work cut out for me. At least I am not Mr. Proctor, he has scary snakes in jars and other weird biology things to work with. Not to mention drawers and boxes full of lab equipment in no particular order. Good luck to you, sir!

Tomorrow is decorating time. Geometry builds bridges and I intend to build two to track student progress above my white boards. Hopefully creative juices will be flowing and the parent teacher store will have just what I need....and maybe some floppy disks too.

Ch-ch-changes

Well, it's been a while since I last posted (shocking), since the CF walk I was accepted to Teach for America and asked to be in Nashville, my new home, in 3 weeks. Wait, what? Quit my job, pack up my life, do some pre-institute homework, take a teacher test, get finger printed and move across the country all in 3 weeks? Wow.

I did it. And I lived to tell about it.

So now is teacher prep time. A week and a day before the students arrive, and I can't believe what I've already seen. I taught summer school in Atlanta while I learned to lesson plan and manage behavior (or at least was taught how). I was shocked at the level of my 8th graders basic math skills--they saw a negative or a decimal and freaked out, they count on their fingers and have trouble with basic multiplication tables I learned in 3rd grade. This is why I am here. That is unacceptable--how did these kids get to 8th grade, and now high school, lacking such basic skills? I saw a disconnect between teachers and administrators, between school goals and student goals, and between students and their investment in school and achieving. I hope to keep writing, not only so that I remember my feelings, my first impressions, thoughts upon further reflection and ways I think might fix this, but also so that you, whoever you are, realize what an injustice is going on in our back yard. Yes, I know, melodramatic for AlyTalksALot, but it's true! So yes, my main cause is fighting CF, and I am still working hard to fight my own CF and raise money to fight it for everyone else, but now, I have a new crusade, and that is somehow, tackling the public education system, starting with Whites Creek High School in the Metro Nashville Public School district.

Here goes nothing

Why We Walk

Getting people to walk in the Great Strides walk is like getting a really athletic kid out in dodge ball--really hard unless you make a concerted effort at just that one kid, instead of blindly throwing balls across the line. So I've been working on reaching out to individuals to ask them personally to walk. That, as we say at Google, isn't 'scalable,' so I'm hoping to make a personal connection with you, my reader, here.

I thought I would write a bit about how important it is for me to have people come out and walk, and why it's so important in the grand scheme of things to walk, not just for me.

1) Great Strides is the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's largest national fundraiser. Your participation, and your being there makes it even bigger. It says, 'Hey world, we care about this disease, and we aren't going to stop caring until it's cured.' Think how great it is to have a big crowd of people showing their support and raising money to fight this disease. Means a lot, and every person counts.

2) Walking and doing active things is something I've done my whole life to keep myself healthy. Active fundraisers remind me how lucky I was to be able to participate in activities like this. Remember, for a lot of kids and adults with CF, this 5k walk in the park is too much activity for their diseased lungs. Do it for them! Walk for those who can't walk, use your healthy lungs to breathe in that fresh ocean air!

3) You walking, just showing your smiling face, more even than you giving money (although I will not turn that down) makes little ol' me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I know most of my friends don't think of me as 'the sick girl with CF' and I am happy for that. However, when it comes time to come out and support CF, it means so much when my friends support me, and recognize the hard work I put in every day to make sure I am not 'the sick girl with CF.'

Lastly, number 4) My mom is coming out for that weekend. I thought it would be great for her to meet my friends and see the time commitment and investment I've made in my community. Plus, I'd love for her to meet you all. 'Oh my goodness, Aly, look at how many people you got out to walk!' That's what I want my mom to say :)

So, in short, your presence means the world to me. If you are scared to ask people for money, it's understandable. But just tell them all the stuff I just said. Tell them there are kids with CF who want to live healthy normal lives and their money can help that. Tell them 90 cents of every dollar they donate goes straight to research. Tell them $5 is enough.

Thanks for reading, now go sign up!

The Power of Two comes to Google

After reading their book I thought it would be so great if Ana and Isa could come to Google and give a talk. Hopefully that would raise awareness in the Google Community about this disease, and perhaps make people more inclined to participate in things like GREAT STRIDES!

Anyway, here's their talk, thank you YouTube...please fast-forward thru my lame intro ;)

Great Strides For Cystic Fibrosis

I'm walking to raise money for a cure for CF! Please join me! Or donate to the cause :)

Home Stretch

Sadly, 2 months later I am still in the same predicament--need to write/revise essays, would rather watch football and play on the internet. Lovely. Luckily I am ALMOST done. Phew. This process has been rough, and what they say about learning all sorts of things about yourself while you write b-school essays is true, as cheesy as it is.
Here's what I've learned
1) When I get stressed out my body shows it--on my face, my belly and in my lungs. I can't lose sight of all the important stuff like taking care of myself (the stuff I wrote all my essays about) just because I am busy with work and b-school apps.
2) I am very good at procrastinating. Favorite ways to do so:
a)check email, even though I didn't get anything new from five minutes ago when I checked.
b) Facebook (sigh) yes, it's true, I like it. Read status messages, look at pics, you know, the usual.
c) online shop without actually purchasing anything, this morning I almost bought a suit at Jcrew bc it was on sale and I reasoned that should I get interviews (knock wood) I will need a suit...

In all seriousness though, I did learn a thing or two about me. I think I am pretty tough and resilient--I work hard, set high goals and don't really let anything get in the way of me achieving them. I definitely need help along the way though. Throughout the writing process I realized that I like to just spit stuff out on the paper, read, revise and then get comments from someone else before I keep going. Not sure if this is the best method or not, but a big shout out to all those someone's who helped me with these essays--I am not sure I could have done it without the insight from friends, family and coworkers on whether or not I am portraying the right picture of myself (and doing so without run-on sentences and comma splices)

That's all, as I said, home stretch, gotta finish up--might even turn this bad boy in tonight, but I kind of doubt it ;)