NYCTF: Debates, Distortions, and Discoveries

NYCTF

Whether it is on someone’s blog or a TESOL listserv, I always seem to find myself having to defend the NYCTF. It’s not an enviable position, especially when half the time it’s not to dig into actual flaws of the Fellowship, but to dispel rumors and myth! How exhausting to have to explain to people who talk about such things as “nyctf grad schools” as if the Fellowship has created their own colleges, or who make comparisons between Fellows and experienced teachers with years of teaching under their belt, as opposed to new teachers. There is plenty to say about alternative certification programs, their necessity, their rigor and how their participants are interacting with veteran, traditional-route teachers and vice versa.

However, I will say that through the process of wading through all these misperceptions in a recent tesol listserv back-and-forth, I have found ESL teachers who are really, truly passionate about what they’re teaching, how ESL teachers are being trained and how the students are being serviced. That has been truly refreshing since 8 of out 10 of the ESL veteran teachers at my school once criticized me for working too hard on my lessons, and who made it very clear that their favorite part of the job, aside from vacations, is administering the NYSESLAT test since, for 3-4 weeks, all the push-ins do is testing — no time for teaching.

With all that said, please feel free to post all your questions, comments, criticisms of the Fellowship and expect a response complete with personal anecdotes from my experience and what I have learned from other Fellows, coupled with more objective thoughts. Or if you find blogs by other Fellows, or posts about the Fellowship, please do share as I am always interested in reading on this topic. I have tried, at times, through this blog to give you a sense of my experience in the Fellowship from Day 1 and appreciate when others do the same.

Unbelievable

As I’ve said before, I know there are bad teachers. And yet I still find my jaw dropping when people whisper racist, anti-immigrant crap to me as if I’m some co-conspirator. Things like, “That’d be hard enough for normal kindergartners, and these are immigrants, so you can imagine.” I know it’s easy to say normal, when you mean kids who aren’t in “special circumstances”, or who are native English speakers, but trust me, this was not used in that way.

Or, even better — yelling at the kids for speaking their native tongue in class. Yes, we want them to speak English as much as possible, but guess what — bilingualism and biliteracy are good things. I used to think the NYCTF was just telling us things we should already know by teaching us to rely on and bring out diversity in the classroom as a strength. I was like, “No kidding!”, but now I see what they were raising this in response to.

Be The Kid

Recently the ESL Department at my school had our first (since I’ve been there) departmental meeting with our supervisor. In the lead up to it, the veteran teachers groaned and warned about how “there’s always something” and were not looking forward to it. I didn’t really know what to expect.

As you may know by now, NYC Public Schools now receive a progress report that rates a school for the percentage of progress students make. Our school scored an A, and this meeting discussed some of the weaknesses and where we, as a school, needed to improve. One was in terms of data, so now we have to carry around the most recent running record for our students, for example.

Our supervisor also detailed some ideas she’d gotten from going for some professional development with Teachers College, with which our school is affiliated. One of the things was the suggestion to “be the kid” — during a read aloud that the classroom teacher is doing, rather than being in the front of the classroom, sometimes we should sit down with the kids and get a better sense of how they’re seeing/hearing/interpreting/discussing things. The other new teacher (more on her later) and I were really jazzed by this. The veterans were kind of like, “more work?”

This seems to be an essential question and crossroads for what kind of teacher I will become. It comes down to why someone I am a teacher and where I see myself in this career.

New to School

So, I went to my new school today to start with all the paperwork and get my schedule. I found out I’ll be teaching about 8 different classes, grades 1, 2, and 4. Nine classes if you count “1st grade study group”, whatever that is.

I learned there are several other NYC Teaching Fellows at my school, some from 2002 or so, and one from last year, so that’s cool. I’m excited to learn from them and others.

It’s a really overcrowded school, so they have makeshift buildings for some of their schools. With 5 minutes to move from one class to the next, that should be really fun on crutches…

I officially start next week!

Found A Job

So, after about 3 different interviews – one in Manhattan, one in Brooklyn and one in the Bronx, and no job, I started to get worried. I easily called and sent my resume to more than 75 schools in Manhattan, with all telling they have no openings at this time. I started to fear that the Fellowship had overestimated the number of ESL teaching positions that would pop up.

Training was almost over and several of my colleagues had found positions and several others, including myself, still had not. The Fellowship was telling me that they expect positions to start opening up in January and we could all be subs until then. Sure, fine, (ok, totally not fine) but in December, there’d be more ESL fellows coming in, so more competition, and we’d only have until Feb 2 to secure a position or we’d be kicked out! Not exactly the kind of position I’d want to be in.

We had been told not to send our resume all over the city, and we’re supposed to focus in our assigned borough, but I needed a job. My husband and I had just bought our place and with a severely sprained ankle, needing to take cabs everywhere and needing to begin physical therapy, by financial and health burdens were growing too quickly to wait it out until January.

Within days I got calls for interviews from 4 different schools. I had one last Thursday and the rest are scheduled for this coming week. On Friday, i got offered the job I had interviewed for and had to decide: accept it, or go on the interviews this coming week, hoping I’d get an offer, or that other jobs would pop up after. Well, after taking some big risks recently, I decided not to take any more. I accepted to offer and will have to cancel my other interviews. It may have been a mistake, but I figure it’s just until June. If it sucks, I can always transfer. Better to have a job, stay in the Fellowship and get a salary and get in the union.

The job is at an overcrowded elementary school in an outer borough. On Tuesday, I go to take care of my paper work, assumedly starting soon after. I’ll be like a reading specialist teacher for ESL students, going from each class, K-5, working only on reading. We’ll see how it goes!

Training Finished

Ok, so I have a lot to write about since I haven’t written in a while. The day my training began, I severely sprained my ankle/foot, tearing muscle and everything, so I spent my entire month training on crutches. It’s been tough.

The school I was sent to, a high school in Washington Heights, was a pretty good school from what I could tell, with some pretty talented teachers. However, there were some serious problems. The biggest one being how several teachers and the AP I worked under viewed and treated the kids. My CT (Collaborating Teacher – the teacher whose room I was assigned to) referred to some of her ESL students as “chronic failures”, “lifelong losers”, “stupid”, “dumb as a lamppost” etc. Often times within earshot of the students themselves. She made fun of students in front of the class when they mispronounced words, and declared that certain sophmores “would never graduate because they don’t know enough English” — talk about setting someone’s fate before you give them a chance. Because if you’re their teacher and you’re already dooming them, it’s because you have preconceived notions of how people learn and change and you don’t want to do the work necessary to get them in a position to graduate.

It was sickening, honestly, to hear the way she’d talk about these students, and I got a chance to see how bright they actually are. One student who she always makes fun of was so creative in his approach to writing an essay I had assigned them – even with his limited English he tried to go beyond the minimum that was required. She saw that as a waste of time. I don’t think it’s ever a waste for a student to challenge themselves! So what if that means their work isn’t perfect – at least you see where they’re inspired and ambitious!

When I got to teach them for a few days while she was out on a school trip, the kids were eager to speak in class (since they knew they weren’t going to be ridiculed) and were excited about the topic we were studying. Did they talk and get out of hand at times? Sure, but that just means they’re normal.

So every day for weeks, I had to endure this. On my last day, my CT was out again and students expressed their disappoint me with losing me as a teacher in their classroom and having to be stuck with “the crazy lady” as some described her. She’s not crazy – she is just pompous and has no idea how to meet kids on their interest level or differentiate instruction — and she doesn’t care to try because she feels if the kids are smart enough, they should just “get it”.

I certainly know what kind of teacher I don’t want to be. I just wish I had found a high school teaching job – because i think that’s where my interest truly lies – in engaging students in topics they enjoy as a means for learning English. Which brings me to my next post…

Interviews, Training, Job Offer

So, today is the last day of training. For weeks, no jobs appeared to be available in my assigned borough of Manhattan. I had sent my resume out to more than 75 schools, all of which told me there were no openings. The Fellowship, who had initially told us there’d be jobs opening up in November, has begun saying they expect more openings in January. Quitting my job and joining the Fellowship was enough of a risk – I’m not about to sit around and play wait-and-see with my job now. If my husband made more money, if we had not just bought an apartment, and if I did not have a real and serious need for health care, maybe I could wait and risk some more.

But, no. So I sent my resume out to schools in Brooklyn and the Bronx. Two schools did call me for an interview but none excited me. The school in the Bronx never called me back after a not-so-great demo lesson and then hired another Fellow. Fine by me, though, since they seem to have a problem with teacher attendance and that’s always a bad sign. The principal and assistant principals also admitted shock that their 5th graders didn’t know what adjectives were (my demo lesson) — they should know their students better.

Then I decided to send my resume to schools in Queens. I actually preferred to work there because I used to live there and it is the most diverse, immigrant-rich boroughs. However, I had heard there were few jobs there. That was a false rumor, and I’m glad I didn’t listen. Within days of sending out my resume, four schools called me. So I had an interview yesterday and have three more for next week. However —

A school I interviewed at yesterday offered me the job this morning. I’m very excited, because I liked the principal — she was the first one who interviewed me who I felt really appreciated my background and understands that, as a Fellow, I am in the process of learning to teach — and I liked the neighborhood and the school, despite being overcrowded and needing smaller buildings and trailers to hold classes.

The position is a push-in one, which means I assist the mainstream teacher in several different grades/classes by going into his/her class and teaching targeted lessons to his/her ELLs. So, I wouldn’t have my own stand-alone class. I see positives and negatives to this. I have heard, though, it’s less stressful than having your own class as a first-year teacher…. I dunno…

What if I make a mistake by taking this job before seeing the other schools?

Well, I figure, it’s a good school with what appears to be friendly staff and in a neighborhood I like. If I really hate it I can always transfer next year, though I don’t know how easy that process is.

From Cush to..

So, it’s Friday, Sept. 21, the last day at the television job I’ve had for the last 7 years. I loved working for television news. It was easily the best job a person like me could’ve had — I was able to totally absorb myself in news; watch national and local news all day on tv, scrounge the internet for crime news in the ten states I covered, and read newspapers. I will so miss this job.

On Monday I begin my journey as a NYC Teaching fellow. And in another week I begin field training at a high school. I feel terrified, like I’m in way over my head and will constantly be running to catch up with the land that is rushing forward beneath my feet.

I want a job that is challenging, I really do; one that is meaningful and makes me feel like I am giving my all (and getting satisfaction in return). But I also fear failure — my own and my students’.

I used to be one of those 24/7 full-time political activists who thought they could confront all obstacles and change the world because they had the plan, the organization, and the determination. I gave up in the face of constant failure, or overblown, meaningless advances, and the rigid, self-righteous insistence that we were doing what was right, necessary, and better for the world, “even if they don’t know it yet”. I don’t think I’m that narrow-minded anymore. I’m not constantly trying to “get with” the “right” answers that are “right in front” of me. And I’m not trying to silence my questions or disagreements because I assume off the bat that I’m wrong. These days, I am unsure of a lot of things, but I am sure that that’s okay. Plus, I am way more open to learning from and admitting my mistakes. I no longer feel like there’s a right way to understand everything, with great detriment to the curiosity and unique approaches of everyone around me, and then some.

But I do still find the world, as it is, intolerable. So, I had to find work where I felt sufficiently like a martyr (just kidding), or find work that is truly meaningful. So, teacher it is. I don’t doubt it’ll be a huge test for myself as a person, for my marriage, etc. Everyone keeps telling me to expect to be terrible my first year but I don’t think that’s the kind of bar the kids would want me to aim for. I’m expecting to be at least “occasionally brilliant” as the guidebook says (yes, really)…

A lot of hardcore activists feel being a social worker or teacher, etc., is the kind of job that quickly burns out people of conscience, and is a waste of time compared to what they “should” be doing. But I think that’s because they’re too concerned with the “giant solution” to value the smaller, tangible differences people like that can make. And I think as long as I try to have a reasonable sense of what can be accomplished, it won’t burn me out. I’m sure if those activists read this, they’d say I was selling out or settling for measurable things over things that can “really” change the world. But I’d rather have measurable successes than measurable failures that lets down everyone who believes in me.

Whew…

I am an ESL fellow part of the New York City Teaching Fellowship which means, assuming I can get a job, I will be teaching English as a second language in some grade between K-12, in either Brooklyn, Manhattan or the Bronx. Usually they require ESL fellows to have 1 year to 6 months of prior experience, but they had a shortage supposedly, and I had requested to teach ESL, so here I am.

I don’t begin training until Sept 24 (which, coincidentally is also when I learn how I did on the teacher certification exams…*sigh*), but I have already begun studying how to teach ESL (just the theories right now), and I’ve started reading their Guidebook for Teaching for Student Achievement. Boy, let me tell you – they really expect a lot from us. I mean, I knew we’d be in high need schools with students who are rather far behind compared to other students in their grade level, but wow. We are being asked to set inspiring but challenging goals that we carry out with a sense of urgency and “extraordinary effort”.

This is going to be a rough first year, but I wanted a challenge, so I guess it’ll be what I need. I just hope I’ll be what the students need in a teacher.