iTAGs

Something I haven't written much about in this blog, but which has been a big part of driving my interest in teaching in Philly, is the city's wealth of activism and advocacy around school reform. Community organizing in the city involves student groups, parent groups, religious and ethnic groups, unions, and coalitions that bring them all together. And that's on top of some really amazing school-focused journalism, research, legal, and other advocacy groups.

(I may or may not have thrown a wildcard somewhere into that list, just to see if anyone paying attention.)

I'm bringing this up not just because it's awesome and important -- it's also because, if I am able to get hired in the city after leaving this program, then there's definitely some awesome organizations out there that I'll want to be connected with, not to mention some great resources to take advantage of.

Last night, I took a step in that direction, going to an event hosted by the Teacher Action Group (TAG), a coalition of educators in the city who do advocacy, teacher education, and more.

Field placement: Kindergarten

I wrote a bit in the fall about my student teaching placement experience, but I haven't yet written about my placement for the spring. Short version: I'm working in kindergarten, with an amazing teacher, at a very privileged school. Long version: let's dissect!

1. I'm working in kindergarten...

Going into student teaching, I was pretty clear about my preferred age range for teaching: mostly interested in 3rd grade, still very interested in 2nd or 4th, open to 1st grade, and probably not so much in kindergarten. So why did I accept a placement in kindergarten - and my spring placement, the one where I'm teaching five days a week and doing my full-responsibility two-week takeover?

First, a reminder of how the placement process works. Under new PA regulations, people getting elementary or middle grades certification must do multiple fieldwork placements, to ensure that they are getting broad experience within their certification range. So, in the elementary program, we had a pre-K placement in the summer, and then one semester in K-2 and one semester in 2-4. Since I did my fall in 3rd grade, I was supposed to do my spring in K-2.

We got a lot of input into our spring placements, and while I didn't rule out kindergarten, I wasn't exactly communicating enthusiasm. Over the course of multiple meetings with NancyLee, our program coordinator, though, we ran in what felt like circles discussing my general preferences, and it wasn't until fairly late in the process that I saw a lightbulb illuminate over NancyLee's head. It was a kindergarten classroom, she explained, but if I was open to that, she thought it would be a great match for me. An opportunity to see in practice many of the methods we'd studied, particularly for literacy instruction. To watch an extremely experienced and respected teacher manage a classroom. To work as part of a relatively collaborative team of teachers. I was sold. I was going to kindergarten.

And, to my (partial) surprise - I've loved it.

Trolley Tour

This weekend was PhD Weekend - which meant it was all hands on deck in the Admissions department, from arrival to departure. Some of that time I was legitimately helpful - I handed out at least a dozen name tags! - and some of that time I was basically getting to take part in the events of the prospective PhD students, and/or do homework.

And on Sunday, that put me on a trolley for a tour of the city.

Pictured with fellow GSE student bloggers Rebecca and Andrea 

Weird week, good week

Let's recap what a normal week is supposed to look like for a TEP - Elementary student in January:

• Monday: Student teaching
• Tuesday: Student teaching, evening Seminar
• Wednesday: Student teaching
• Thursday: Student teaching
• Friday: Morning Seminar, afternoon Teaching Diverse Learners (every other week)

Now let's look at what this week has looked like:

• Monday: MLK Day 
• Tuesday: Early dismissal (due to snow), Seminar cancelled
• Wednesday: Snow day 
• Thursday: Student teaching
• Friday: Student teaching (field trip!)

Sliiiiiiiiiiiightly different. But not really complaining!

First, about MLK Day. In Philadelphia, it's a pretty big deal -- it's the MLK Day of Service, something that's catching on nationally but which I had never heard of before I moved to Philadelphia. Then again, I grew up in Virginia, a state whose relationship with the holiday has been, shall we say, troubled. I live with an organizer who was recruiting volunteers to help out at Jackson Elementary in South Philly, so I joined in to help with a massive library inventory project. It was great to work with so many people in helping with such an important project -- but I can't help but feel morally conflicted about volunteering to do work that I unequivocally believe should be funded by the state. Schools need libraries; how is that even a question? And yet, in Philadelphia, many schools lack functioning libraries, and many of those that operate libraries part-time (like Lea, where I taught in the fall) do so with volunteers (something plenty of schools don't have access to). Also -- there were SO many volunteers at Jackson (from some VERY highly connected organizations, in areas of the city nowhere near Jackson) that I could only wonder how many schools could have better used some of them. Not to knock volunteerism, but in the spirit of a day celebrating Dr. King, let's remember that we should be conscious of, and fighting against, structural injustice.

Anyway.

I wrote a book!

A little while ago, I cryptically mentioned a project I was working on - well here's the big reveal:

I've always had a dream of someday writing a book of some sort. When my Literacy Methods class made an assignment of it (specifically: "write a children's book"), I decided to take it really, really seriously. In spite of the demands of the semester, I ended up investing probably 50 hours on this. And I'm actually really proud of it.

(Note to prospective TEP students - this was NOT necessary. We were basically graded on completion rather than quality, so most people didn't put nearly as much time into it as I did. That's not to say that there weren't some spectacular books in there - I actually really, really loved some of the books made by my classmates. It was a great assignment. We ended our semester with a book-sharing party, with our Penn Mentors and professors invited as well!)

Welcome back, me!

Well, after a nice long blog vacation (I seriously considered writing "blog-cation," but wouldn't have been able to forgive myself), I'm back in action for 2014!

My actual vacation, of course, wasn't quite so long. But I managed to do a lot - both of the "lots of fun" and the "this is a vacation" variety?

The timeline: 
My Term III assignment was due on December 13th; my first day back in the classroom was January 2nd. That gave me just under three weeks - much better than the absurd 8 days (12/24-1/1) that the public schools had off, but much less than my grad school colleagues who are just returning to class today.

So what did I do with that time?

And the results of the poll say...

...That nobody responds to survey responses. Or, perhaps, visits this blog. But traffic stats claim otherwise!

Well, in case you are reading this, and you are a real person, and you'd like to influence the content of this blog, please fill out this survey:

Or email me with questions or thoughts: gojesse@gse.upenn.edu

Or just read and do nothing, and I'll keep writing anyway, because I'll love you anyway, and also I get paid by the hour.

Happy New Year!