I am very fortunate that my school is a part of the Expeditionary Learning (EL) network. From this organization we get some amazing training and resources that enhances our ability to work with children, develop their sense of belonging and self-confidence, and truly create life-long learners. 

At the moment, a number of us are going through some transitions from first to second semester with some assistance from a book on management that EL has put together, entitled "Management in the Active Classroom." I have been feverishly taking notes about my own classroom while reading this book and had an amazing conversation yesterday that reinvigorated my own practice. One of the critical things I am trying to focus on is creating the "self-managed classroom." Many educators view themselves as the end-all and be-all of classroom management and discipline (the best example I can think of is the SLANT technique, often popularized in charter schools across the country). EL argues that a classroom that understands not only routines and procedures, but also norms of behavior and the rationale behind them can be a better way of ensuring learning. 

The first aspect of this that I will be focusing on is the first and last five minutes of my classes (I will only focus on the first five here). At the moment the beginning of my 9th grade Algebra 1 classes look like this:

While this does sound more dire than it actually is, that is a combination of my worst experiences thus far this year. Some students are paying attention, others are not; many do not have their resources out and therefore are not ready to get started. Instead, I am going to transition to something more like the following for the first five minutes of class.

The main things I am focusing on here are:

• The teacher does not have to be tied to the projection screen to control it (i.e. technology - using a tablet)
• The students are engaged in the riddle because it is a low-barrier threshold but still curious.
• Routines are in place to ensure smooth transitions (hand-raising and students taking stack)

I do not think this will happen overnight, not should it. It will take a long time and we will go through a process of reflection to determine how well (or not well) it is going. I will be writing more about this in the coming weeks and I look forward to any feedback you might have.

I have been given a short reprieve for my fundraiser of new laptops and would love if you would share what is below with anyone on your network. Feel free to donate by clicking here as well. I have until February 2nd and then time is up. The more people who hear about the fundraiser the more likely it is to get funded. Thanks for all your help!

------ EMAIL TEXT ------

Hello all,

If you are like me you probably have easy access to computers and technology in your daily life and you probably take this for granted.  Unfortunately, not everyone is as lucky, which is why my friend Brian Cohen, math teacher at the Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies, is fundraising to get computers into the hands of his students. We all know the power that technology can afford us and we are working hard to being this transformative access to Brian's classroom.

Brian is currently at 60% of a $12,000 goal. With your help and the help of those in your networks I am confident we can help him get across the finish line. Please donate now and send this email to your own network to expand its reach. If only 5% of your networks donate $10 this campaign will be funded very soon. 

I have attached sample language that you can use to spread the word below. Please copy, paste, and spread as far and wide as possible.

Thanks.

------- FACEBOOK TEXT ------- 

My friend Brian Cohen [@link to me, please]is raising money to help his students get the access they don't normally have at home. All you have to do help him change the lives of his students is click here and donate now OR simply share this post!

He has already raised over $7,000 and needs to reach his goal of $12,500 by February 1st. If only 5% of you donate $10 this campaign will be funded very soon!

Thanks.

------- TWITTER TEXT ------- 

@bncohen is fundraising for computers for his students. Retweet to HELP or donate at http://goo.gl/5wB2e9! #itonlytakesonesecond @DonorsChoose

On Tuesday, January 21 Governor Andrew Cuomo announced his desire to shake up a lot of education policy in New York State. Instead of relying on previous research and the thoughts of teachers dedicated to the profession, he is decided to propose and potentially impose changes in the near future. The main one that really strikes me as opposite-thinking is his plan to increase the portion of a teacher's evaluation based on state test scores from 20% to 50%. 

The current balance of teacher evaluation is represented by the chart to the right. Local and State measures (i.e. a lot of testing) is already 40% of a teacher's evaluation and 60% comes from observation by principals and assistant principals (or their designee). 

The huge change goes in contrast with what other major urban districts have done. While Washington, DC's IMPACT system went into play at 50% of evaluations based on test scores, now they have reduced it to 35%, and now are taking a hiatus from using it. It is very surprising that Governor Cuomo would want to do the opposite.

Value-added modeling is at the height of its popularity right now (or maybe a bit passed) yet people are starting to catch up. Organizations are publicly supporting groups of students who are opting out of these exams. The Brooklyn New School, below where I work, has had a refusal rate of over 70%.

Lawmakers are sponsoring legislation to remove federally mandated testing quite soon - we will see how effective this push will be. In the meantime, students are still getting anxiety over these tests and teachers are as well - more emphasis on them for us will not mean better outcomes for our students.

I received a call today from my new student loan provider (It was Citibank, then Sallie Mae, and now Navient) with more information for why my teacher loan forgiveness package was denied. For those unaware, one of the perks of working in low-income schools is that after five years in a row you get a certain amount of your student loans forgiven. Since I am a math teacher the number is $17,500 - a hefty sum that I will be glad to see disappear. 

I sent the application in on September 24, 2014 - I know this because the principal of my current school was the last one I needed. I finally heard back in late December that it had been denied. The reason was sent in a letter with the following text:

This seemed strange to me because all my paperwork was in line. The strangest aspect was that due to recent budget cuts and political turmoil in the School District of Philadelphia, there IS no Chief Academic Officer, so the current superintendent wrote a letter and signed it explaining that fact.

When I spoke to an individual named Michael who works at Navient, he explained that they had, indeed, made a mistake when they sent the loan forgiveness package out to their guarantors. He apologized profusely and sent out my package again for expedited analysis. It was only then that I was told of one key thing I missed in my application: to check a box marked "at an eligible secondary school"

While I understand the need to verify employment accurately and honestly, it seems like a waste of time and money to deny my loan because of less than one square centimeter of space on a piece of paper. It will take time away from me, my principal, the post office, and the loan officer in order to re-process this instead of allowing me to verify over the phone or in a simple email.

I am truly disappointed that our society has come to this. Shouldn't it be easier for teachers who work in the hardest-to-staff areas to receive what they deserve?

I'm always a little skeptical by research conducted by organizations that is not peer-reviewed. To that end, I question the recent article regarding teacher retention published by the Center for American Progress entitled, "Despite reports to the contrary, new teachers are staying in their jobs longer." They cite the most well-known researcher - Richard Ingersoll - as their comparison and even state that they are using the same methodology as he did to change the overall estimate he made (50% of teachers leave before their fifth year) yet I do not know how they can do that when using data provided by a different source. 

My first major critique of this article is that the teacher used in the photo, Gabrielle Wooden, was a Teach for America teacher for two years before becoming an account manager at Insight Global - I would have hoped CAP would have done a better job at their research.

The second major critique (and the more important one) is that they are using only one data source for their information. Their graph cites the following (sorry for the pixilation):

It seems their estimates are only based on one data set from one study. I would love to see more research put into respected journals using multiple data sets from across the country to determine their validity. Until I see that I am sticking with the professionals.

Hello all,

Just now I sent out a massive email to a lot of people in my network trying to get more help with fundraising for a set of laptops I need for my classroom. I am now writing to readers of this blog to share with their networks as well. I am trying to get the word out because in 20 days I need to have all the funds for these laptops completely donated.

If you could send something like what I've shared below out to your own distribution list or put it somewhere you know many others will see it, it would help me quite a bit. I'm trying to get another $6,000 in three weeks so the time pressure is on.

If only 5% of your networks donate $10, this fundraiser can be over very quickly.

Thanks so much for your help!

------ EMAIL TEXT ------

Hello all,

If you are like me you probably have easy access to computers and technology in your daily life and you probably take this for granted.  Unfortunately, not everyone is as lucky, which is why my friend Brian Cohen, math teacher at the Brooklyn School for Collaborative Studies, is fundraising to get computers into the hands of his students. We all know the power that technology can afford us and we are working hard to being this transformative access to Brian's classroom.

Brian is currently at 50% of a $12,000 goal. With your help and the help of those in your networks I am confident we can help him get across the finish line. Please donate now and send this email to your own network to expand its reach. If only 5% of your networks donate $10 this campaign will be funded very soon. 

I have attached sample language that you can use to spread the word below. Please copy, paste, and spread as far and wide as possible.

Thanks.

------- FACEBOOK TEXT ------- 

My friend Brian Cohen [@link to me, please]is raising money to help his students get the access they don't normally have at home. All you have to do help him change the lives of his students is click here and donate now OR simply share this post!

He has already raised over $6,000 and needs to reach his goal of $12,500 by January 24. If only 5% of you donate $10 this campaign will be funded very soon!

Thanks.

------- TWITTER TEXT ------- 

@bncohen is fundraising for computers for his students. Retweet to HELP or donate at http://goo.gl/5wB2e9! #itonlytakesonesecond @DonorsChoose

On Friday, December 26 the state of Pennsylvania was cleared to take over the York School District. The district was recently put into a receivership and placed under the control of David Meckley, a township businessman, to determine the proper course of action. Since the state has discussed the idea of turning over this district to Charter Schools USA (an educational management company with headquarters in Fort Lauderdale, FL), this would be the first non-public school district in the country.

One and a half years ago the state announced that the school district was in a state of "financial recovery" due to new policies signed into law by the Corbett administration. Act 141 went into effect in July 2013 and amongst the criteria it gave for a district to be in this state was a request for an advance on its basic education subsidy from the state. The state argues that the district made this advance and therefore it had the right to create a new Chief Recovery Officer (David Meckley again) to run the district. The local board of education contests that the request was made in April 2013 and therefore the law does not apply. 

Fast forward to the end of 2014 and governor-elect Tom Wolf has asked the state to delay any decisions it is going to make until he is in office. While he has not said anything about his plans for York, it is possible he will try to maintain it as a non-charter district based on his track record.

Local community groups (as well as the local newspaper's editorial board) are contesting this decision and attempting to appeal everything they can. Meanwhile, some teachers are looking for new jobs because they don't want to work for a for-profit charter company and students are concerned as well.