Words

I recently heard an interesting Radiolab Podcast that gave an interesting story about creativity in teaching. The podcast discusses the ability of words to determine the way we view the world. "We meet a woman who taught a 27-year-old man the first words of his life, hear a firsthand account of what it feels like to have the language center of your brain wiped out by a stroke, and retrace the birth of a brand new language 30 years ago."

The first story is about a woman teaching sign language to a 27-year-old who had never in his life experienced language. He had never previously had the opportunity to use words to communicate with anyone else. This created a significant obstacle for the teacher. How could she teach him, explain the concept of language to a 27-year-old deaf man who had never exchanged words with another human being? How do you explain the idea that words represent objects or ideas?

Without spoiling the ending, I'll let you know that the teacher used a very original idea to teach this man, and understanding words changed his whole view of the world.

Creative teaching can do wonderful things. I'd like to be able to do that.

Placement

Placement for TFA is...less than self-explanatory. Upon acceptance in the Corps, each of the 4,000 or so members each year is assigned to a region. My region is Connecticut, and my tentative assignment is Secondary General Science. This means I will, most likely, be teaching 7-9 grade general science in Connecticut. I do not know the specific details of what/where I will be teaching.

From April until September, corps members are interviewed by individual schools for specific positions in five main cities in Connecticut: Hartford, Torrington, New Haven, Bridgeport, and Stamford, with 80% of corps members likely placed in New Haven and Hartford.

I have had two school contacts so far, both unsuccessful. One was for a lovely charter school in New Haven. After a phone interview and an in-person interview, involving a 30-minute sample lesson arranged on less than a week's notice, they decided that it "would not be the best place for me next year." The second school, an equally nice charter in Hartford, let me know in a form email after a phone interview that "We regret to advise you that we have decided to discontinue evaluation of your candidacy at this time."

What am I doing wrong? I guess it's back to pre-Institute work for now. I'd really like to know what city I'll be living in; the mystery is getting old. Time to start making a packing list for Institute and Induction. (Induction, fyi, is a week-long "introduction" to Connecticut, which I've heard resembles freshman orientation at college. Sweet.)

In other news, the triathlon training has been coming along okay. Last week, I ran, biked, and swam. The swim was slow, but felt wonderful. I did 1/2 mile, which is the race distance. My 11.8 bike ride was fun, but slower than I had hoped. My running has been less that satisfactory. I think I'm still burned out, a full month after the half marathon. I slogged through 2 miles last Thursday and another 1.5 today. I'll make it, though. I'm definitely not as anxious about the race as I am about Institute.

Triathlon

My next physical challenge is the Gold Coast Triathlon. It's only a sprint triathlon, nothing too impressive. 1/2 mile swim, 10.5 mile bike, 3 mile run. It should take me about 2 hours.

Last year, I completed the race in 1:56:44. This year, I'd like to finish under 1:45:00.

I think everyone should try a tri. It takes time to train, maybe a few months if starting from scratch, but it's certainly not impossible, and it's a lot of fun. Besides, if I can do it, anyone can do it.

True Urban Legends

I recently heard a story on an archived podcast of This American Life about Steve Poizner. Steve Poizner made a large sum of money in business. Afterwards, he taught at Mount Pleasant High School in San Jose for one year, which he documented in his book Mount Pleasant. His book depicted a struggling school in a crime-ridden neighborhood, where he arrived and motivated the students to success. In the podcast, Ira Glass explores the details of the book, discovering many inaccuracies. It turns out that the poverty of school and the crime in its surrounding neighborhood were grossly exaggerated. Likewise, the account of his astonishing effects on his students were...less than accurate.

One of the questions raised by Ira Glass is: why? Why did Poizner publish a book that son inaccurately represented Mount Pleasant? Was he lying, in order to bolster his gubernatorial candidacy by claiming that he was a teacher who understood public schools? Or was he mistaken, taking his preconceptions into the teaching experience and describing the picture as he saw it?

The podcast suggests interesting ideas about becoming a teacher. How much do expectations affect a teacher's experience, and subsequently the students' experiences? Is it that easy to think you are helping your students succeed, when they didn't really need your help? Will we accept anyone as a teacher?

The podcast can be streamed for free or purchased from iTunes for $0.99.

Races

The next pre-Institute exercise is on the subject of race. It raises some good ideas, such as not being racist and not shying away from the topic of racism with your students. It the proceeds to explain to us the normal path of racial identity development for all black students, and the different path for all white students.

Wha-??

We need to not be racist, but we also need to assume that all black adolescents think the same way and all white adolescents think the same way. Sounds good to me.

I assume these generalizations apply to all students, even if they are in a 99% minority school or have parents of mixed racial backgrounds. Probably adopted kids too.

Long Island Half Marathon

It happened. I ran a half marathon. I managed to train too hard as well as not well enough, and the race was...not fun. Still, I finished, and I'm proud. I ran nearly 100 miles in two months and started off the season with a nice farmer's tan.

Here's a picture of my finish, net time 2:44:29 (I'm the one on the left).

Teaching

This September, I will be a teacher. A real teacher, someone responsible for the education of children.

Strange.

I feel like I was a student so recently. I guess I was, a graduate student, only last year, but I don't feel long enough out of high school that I can be a teacher.

I am a Teach for America 2011 Corps Member in the Connecticut region. I will be teaching Secondary General Science, which is somewhere between 7th and 12th grade. I could also end up teaching Biology if needed. Once I receive my school placement, I will have a better idea of the specific class I will be teaching.

In late-June, I begin training at what is called Institute, the basic training of TFA. I have recently begun doing the "pre-Institute coursework", which involves a couple of large softcover books, a few videos, and some large PDFs.

The first reading assignment is a 100-page story about Ms. Lora, a 4th grade teacher and TFA alumna. It is certainly interesting to hear about her creative teaching techniques, but I think my time might be better spent hearing anecdotes of high school teachers. I don't expect to be teaching 4th graders, and the trials and challenges of teenagers in another beast completely. I am enjoying the reading assignment, especially because it's getting me revved up to be an educator, but I'd rather be learning techniques for managing a middle/high school classroom.

I do like Ms. Lora's stories; I'd call her a badass. She is creative and relentless in preparing her kids for the state English exams. I would prefer if the stories were more organized, maybe by teaching technique or chronologically, rather than 100 pages of independent half-page stories.

Ah, well. Back to fourth grade stories with the badass Ms. Lora. It's an interesting read, anyway.