No Regrets

No Regrets: One semester into the two years of TFA

(I can hardly believe I made the decision to join this movement over a year ago... see below)

Why I feel lucky to be doing what I do: I was unbelievably blessed with options such as choosing between public or private schools, participating in expensive travel soccer leagues, and my choice of an elite college or university. But the kids I teach do not have anywhere near the same opportunities I did. This is NOT because they are less smart, capable, or driven than I was at the age of 15. This is simply because of the environment into which they were born.

Many of them take food home for the weekend because putting groceries in the fridge is a constant struggle for their parents or guardians. Quite a few of them have opened up to me about family members who struggle with alcoholism, bankruptcy, gambling, and drug abuse. And a select group have suffered through the loss of an immediate family member, usually a single parent, in the last three months. How can I identify with students who are dealing with so much, when my life was, in comparison, a fairytale. The answer is simple: I can listen, reflect, and help them overcome.

One of the first vocabulary words I taught this year was resiliency. This has become the theme of our year. By not just hearing but truly listening when my students tell their stories verbally, or through their writing, I can be the down-to-earth optimist that they may need in their otherwise chaotic life. By engaging in honest conversations about action steps they can take to solve the problems they face daily, I can be the role model that they don't necessarily have at home.

Teaching is NOT easy. But it is well worth it. The children I interact with each day show me time and again what it means to overcome. So as I reflect on my first semester as a high school teacher I am truly humbled by my students' resiliency. I know they will continue to inspire me to be the teacher and mentor they all deserve. So this season I will thank the incredible supporters in my life. I will listen, not just hear. And I will push myself to constantly grow and flourish, showing my kids that all they dream of is truly possible.

Happy Holidays,

Danielle 

Winter Spirit Week!

Who doesn't LOVE to play dress-up? This week was "winter spirit week" at school! I managed to take pictures with Cecalie (my TFA co-worker and good friend here in Vegas) nearly every day. Please laugh at me as you view the pictures of "ugly sweater day", "twin day", and "holiday character day" (I was a Hoo, from Hooville... Cindy-BLUE-Hoo!) And Cecalie was SCROOGE! Of course it was a blast and my kids loved the character costumes.

This week was also secret santa week for some of the teachers. I chose to participate in the hopes of meeting some of the co-workers with whom I don't interact often. Little did I know that my secret santa would be so incredible. Delicious snacks, an awesome new super-stapler, and a 3-CD set of 80's music (my favorite) were just a few of the presents I enjoyed!

This week in school my kids were working on persuasive essays. Specifically, the freshmen were arguing whether it was right for one character to kill another at the end of our text. We learned briefly about ethos, pathos, and logos, the various angles from which they can approach the persuasive paper.

In addition, my seniors read the most controversial scene in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and accompanied it with nonfiction articles about sexual abuse and violence. They impressed me (per usual) with their maturity and interesting points of view regarding such "touchy" subject matter. In relationship news, a few of my seniors have begun coming to my classroom (in the afternoon) after their four or five (out of a possible six) classes are finished for the day. They ask to sit in (quietly) and work on homework, and of course I allow it! It is so nice to know they feel comfortable with me and feel that the classroom is not mine, but instead, OURS.

There is a short story competition that I told my freshmen about. It is very open ended, the only requirements are a 500-750 words range. Since they are working on essays this week I told them it was OPTIONAL and they could participate if they wanted. I sent around a sign-up sheet to get an idea of how many students were interested and 50 of my 120 freshmen signed up! I could NOT believe it. They WANTED to do the extra writing for the competition! I cannot wait to see what they come up with since they have total creative freedom. A few have shown me the beginnings of their drafts and I am already amazed.

 At lunch one day this week there was a "marshmallow stuffing" competition. Do not ask me WHY, for I still do not know. But it was absolutely hilarious to watch a few of my kids shove marshmallows into their mouths and then try to speak. Oh high school, how I've missed you!

And below see pictures of some friends and me at the school's holiday party. We were party-hopping that night from the high school party to the Teach For America party. It was a blast!

Cheers,

Danielle

Mom and Dad Visit Room 820!

Believe it or not, I still get nervous when my parents visit! My students see me as Ms. Landau, but to my mom and dad I'll always be "Yellie". I was anxious to see how they would react to me in my new role! They visited my classroom last Tuesday and we all had a blast. After my kids got into the groove of reading I asked my parents to join in with their reading groups and they were able to interact with the students during small-group discussions. It was spectacular to watch my 9th graders hold their own in a conversation about the symbolism, foreshadowing, and allusions in Of Mice and Men. And my parents were pretty well behaved, though my mom was a bit "chatty"! At one point I called her "Melissa" and one of my students could not believe I called my mom by her first name. But she was my student at that moment, and calling her "Mrs. Landau" would have been even more confusing! My parents are my biggest fans and I am so blessed to have them, whether near of far. "Always together and never apart, maybe in distance but never in heart."

Behavior!
One thing I'm working on with some of my kids is their behavior in other classes. Because I have honors, I know there is a higher standard for behavior. But recently I've heard from a few colleagues that my honors student is disruptive or talkative in their class. This is entirely unacceptable. Most of the time, these students are completely capable, and therefore are just goofing off because they know they are smart enough to do well in the regular class. But what they do not realize is that the students sitting next to them may not have the same natural ability that they do. They are therefore hurting their friends. This has become a pattern and since I want to nip it in the bud, I had a "chat" with each of my 9H classes. The discussion really revolved around something I was taught on the soccer field as a 10-year-old. There were many games that my travel soccer team won, but my coaches made it clear that true character is shown off the field, win or lose. The message they instilled in us was: "you are always wearing you jersey". This was later reiterated to me in college when I joined a sorority and was told, "you are always wearing your letters". The lesson is about representing your organizations and yourself at all times. What you post online, what you do on a regretful Saturday night, and how you act in other classes, reflects on you and those around you. What I told my kids was when they distract others in math, or science, or Spanish, they reflect poorly on themselves, their honor student peers, and even their teachers. This struck a chord with many of them as I watched them look around and realize that their elite peers were disappointed in the reputation a few of them were creating for the whole group. After that stern talking-to, I look forward to better reports from my fellow teachers in the future!

Decorating!
I love that my school has a door decorating competition! For mine I wanted to create something interactive: students can use one of the pens hung on the door and write their holiday wishes on stickie notes. I'm curious to see what they come up with, so I started them off with some "appropriate" examples.

Business Cards!
WHAT! AM I, AN ADULT? Well I don't know about that but I do have business cards thanks to a fabulous Hanukkah gift from my wonderful mother. Now if a parent stops by school or my advisees want to do a fundraiser at a restaurant, I have something to give them for future contact. I truly feel like I'm getting into the groove in my role as "teacher". I make phone calls home, I grade papers at Starbucks, I lesson plan constantly, and I interact with students every moment of each day. The only thing I wish for is MORE TIME. There is simply never enough time for all the things I want to do!

Tweeting!
One of my students actually told me that I don't tweet enough! So I plan to make an effort to have more of an internet presence. I posted about how excited I was to be grading so many perfect quizzes, and one of my students immediately responded with a "did I (ace it)?" It was adorable and I quickly sent her a message that she did indeed get an "A"! (See picture below)

All in all it was another fun week as Ms. Landau. However, the holiday season is somewhat bittersweet. I am so lucky to have a loving family and group of friends supporting me from every corner of the world, but sadly this is not the case for many of my students. I know I can be there for them in my various roles: a teacher, a mentor, an advisor, and a cheerleader, rooting them toward success. High school is tough but my kids are resilient and can make it through anything. 

Cheers!

Danielle

"But what do you actually DO???"

A Week in the Life

Since nearly 50 of you have asked for a "day in the life" post, and so many of my younger friends who are considering Teach for America want every detail of life AFTER the bell rings, here is my attempt to answer any and all questions under the umbrella of... "But what do you actually DO???"

Monday - Jump back into the texts that my kids seem to have ENTIRELY FORGOTTEN over the weekend. If I'm not totally overwhelmed, pack lunches for the whole week and drop them off in the teacher's lounge fridge at 6am Monday morning (If I am stressed, just get something for today in my bag and consider myself a success). Attend UNLV masters class until 7pm.

Tuesday - Get through what seems like the most melancholy of weekdays. For some reason by Tuesday the kids have lost the previous weekend's excitement AND the bright light of the Friday ahead of them is simply too far away.  Meet with the Freshmen Student Council officers after school (I am an advisor). We discuss the next fundraiser (raffle ticket sales for themed prize baskets - picture). I use my philanthropy chair skills and teach the students how to ask local businesses for donations... A FANTASTIC SKILL TO HAVE!! They pick it up quickly and we have 20 gift cards in no time! (This means I have MANY errands to run that night!)

Wednesday - Give quizzes to my students on the most recent chapter in their text (and even give a quiz to a fellow teacher for fun!). Stay an extra hour for collaboration time with my fellow 12th grade teachers... (how can we use Tennessee Williams' "A Streetcar Named Desire" to hit 5 common core standards this week?) During 4th period notice a student dabbing away tears. To avoid embarrassment, slip her a stickie with warm wishes and a candy cane. See picture of the note on Twitter later with the caption "reasons to love my English teacher" :) (below)

Thursday - Attend meeting with my administrator to review my most recent evaluation (she drops by my class about once a month to see how things are going - see picture). Pick up visiting cousin from the airport and break the news that wake up tomorrow morning will be 5:30 am SHARP since she wants to see me teach. Get mail and receive the BEST EARLY HANUKKAH PRESENT from my favorite big brother in the world, Dr. Zach! (see picture - EXPO MARKERS!!!)

Friday - Samantha (my cousin) visits school and when I tell my 6th period kids she is an actress they all want autographs. (We are between fall and winter sports so I did not attend any games this week, but they are usually a bi-weekly staple... my kids are very involved and I love meeting parents and bragging about their children!)

Saturday - SLEEP IN (this is key!). Attend a student's Quinceanera (15th birthday/coming of age celebration). Spend the duration of the party chatting with her siblings (both older than I am). Tell her parents what an outstanding student she is and see the pride in their eyes. Make eye contact with the birthday girl, watch her face light up with the realization that the only teacher she invited actually showed up! Turn down the many offers of TEQUILA, but enjoy the Spanish music. Say goodbye and drive to the strip to see Rock of Ages with visiting cousin and friends! (pictures)

Sunday - Lesson plan while drinking JET FUEL (strong coffee will also suffice). Go to school for 3-4 hours to set up activities, make copies, and rearrange the room for the ten millionth time. Finish UNLV homework/papers. Respond to personal notes from students. GRADE GRADE GRADE.

Monday - start all over again...!

Of course I've left out the nightly changes to lesson plans, the numerous mental/emotional breakdowns when a student snaps at me, the life-changing moments when I help a teenager really learn something which results in a positive change in them the following day/week/month, and the phone calls home to Mom and Dad (my biggest fans) which always seem to end with me crying or laughing as I dish the latest from my day as Ms. Landau. 

But I hope you get the idea. It is exhausting and energizing all at once (but mostly the former). I hope this helps those of you who were curious about the play-by-play and I sincerely love the feedback I hear from people around the world about my adventures. Thanks for being a part of it all! And HAPPY THANKSGIVING BREAK!!

Cheers, 

Danielle

(Below - Some of my smallest class, senior honors students, working in pairs on mini-white boards. Together they crafted paragraphs proving a main theme from O. Henry's "Lost On Dress Parade". They supported their argument with textual evidence of a motif that they had annotated for on the previous day. Students then traveled around with their partner spending three minutes at each paragraph, editing their peers work.)

Relationships!

I finally feel like I know my kids. How did this happen? When did it click?

Well, I think it was mainly due to a letter writing activity I did with my 9th graders. I traveled to New York last week and before I left I taught them some letter writing techniques. This real world skill (penmanship/thank-you note writing) has gotten me countless job opportunities and allowed me to stay in touch with people of all ages. So I want my kids to be able to interview for a job and write a thank you note to the employer that further shows that they are the ideal candidate. To begin, they each had to write a note to me about their Thanksgiving traditions, their plans for the upcoming weekend, and one (school-appropriate) question for me. (This was just to see what kind of skills they were starting with). After receiving 120 personalized notes I took 12 hours (during the plane rides) to write back to each and every one of them. Am I insane? I may be. Scratch that, I definitely am, but it is so important to make these one on one connections with each student, and in class only half of them really step out of their shell. So this activity was my attempt to get to know ALL of them. 

When I came back in after the weekend and they saw my pile of 120 notes, each with a name on the front, they were shocked. One of my students asked, "you wrote back to us?", and I replied, "of course I did. You wrote to me, so I wrote back!". He told me later that he has written countless "letters" to teachers before and he has never had a single one respond. He was excited, to say the least!

Now I have a few kids come chat with me after school almost everyday. A few have come out to me, a few have told me their life story: step-dads with alcoholism, 18 year old sisters with children, mothers who have stopped coming home. It is often hard to listen, but they need and deserve my advice and consoling. I never baby them. All of my responses are action oriented: what decisions can they make to create a happier or more productive tomorrow? With these moments I am reminded of why I do eventually want to go into counseling. Though I am considering staying in Vegas for 4 years in order to see my freshmen graduate in 2017!

 

Whenever I get notes like these I smile. I have one student who writes fan-fiction based on the show "Merlin" and though at first was tentative, now insists that I read the "installments" and give him feedback. He is an excellent student and a budding young writer. At first he was silent in my class, but has begun speaking up more and more. One day I hope to read his novel and say "Wow, I was his FIRST editor!".

Should I let my kids curse? This is the question I struggled with as I began reading "Of Mice and Men" before teaching it to my 9th graders. After much contemplation I realized that I was mostly worried about my kids being respectful and courteous, and not necessarily about the actual words. So I came up with a plan. I would pose the following question in class, we would discuss, and take a vote: Is it better to remove and replace bad words in a text or to read them as they are though they may be offensive to some? 

Each of my 4th, 5th, and 6th period classes had this debate. And their responses astounded me. They came up with all the points I had already reviewed: the reader loses the tone and mood of the text if they take out words, we need to be mature and realize the dialect of the book reflects the time period and has historical context, we are adults and can read words we would not actually say because we are quoting directly from the book. With these reasons, each class decided overwhelmingly to read the words directly from the text. I told them that this decision was theirs to make and I think they appreciated that element of control, and that I was treating them as agents of their own education. The first time the word "nigger" appeared there was a bit of awkward tension but they were very mature and read the text as written. Of course if individuals felt uncomfortable they did NOT, by any means, have to read. The decision was really ALLOWING for those that desired, to read the text verbatim. I still stand by my decision and can see my students growing to love this controversial text. 

In personal news, (on the right) I finally got a Nevada license plate, and immediately put my "Cimarron Memorial Spartan Football" frame on it! And on the left side you'll see me sporting a very special sweater that belonged to my grandmother, the librarian!

Cheers,  
    
Danielle

Feeling the Joy

It's official. I love my job. It has ups and downs like a roller coaster about to fall off the tracks, but it is all worth it when I get notes like these:

"You are a great teacher and I love that you know about me. And I feel like I can come to you about anything without feeling judged. So thanks." (From a student who came out to me about her sexuality)

"There are just some people I will always look up to. For example my English teacher. She's just that kinda person. You feel" (From a student who spoke to me for an hour after school about her parents divorce and then read me this from her twitter page)

"P.S. Your class is really fun and I have learned a lot!" (From a student who has barely said a word all semester)

This past weekend I took a much needed mini-vacation to the northeast. Reunited with my mother, sister, and grandmother, we reveled in the joys and difficulties of my new career. They reminded me of the importance of my work in Las Vegas and it was a rejuvenating weekend to say the least. My mother and I took lots of spin and yoga classes together, always sporting the brightest sneakers in the room. And Rebecca and I had a blast doing just about anything, even picking out lunch at the airport. I was (as always) incredibly inspired by my grandma and great Aunt, two stellar ladies who are the fittest senior citizens I know! Overall I relaxed and reflected, and my students will surely benefit. 

The weekend ended with a drive-in movie! After my students told me all about it, I had to see for myself, and it was a blast. Sure my car battery died, but the mechanics jumped it immediately. I giggled alongside new friends while sitting on the hood and roof of my car! 

Finally Reading BOOKS!!

 

This week my seniors dove into "A Streetcar Named Desire" and my freshmen began reading "Of Mice and Men"! These two works are exceptional and I AM THRILLED to have ACTUAL copies, a rarity in this struggling school system. My biggest adjustment from my private school upbringing has been that student are NOT allowed, for any reason, to write in their books. (I hope the English teacher in all of you is crying out, "BUT ANNOTATIONS?!?!") Exactly! So my solution is stickie notes. For instance. My seniors are using stickie notes which are color coded to represent motifs in "Streetcar": love and abuse, life and death, the rich and poor, and of course, desire. This way, when it comes time for the final essay, they'll have their themes marked throughout the play!

 "Of Mice and Men" is also fantastic but I am a little less familiar with it. I read through it of course, and am excited to teach themes relating to friendship, independence, and mercy.

My freshmen are using a new note taking strategy that includes depth icons. Above is an example of a group project six of my 9th graders created based on a student-friendly article about the government shut-down. They got an A! Speaking of A's... check out my wall of fame! I'm pretty tough so you have to get a 100% (ace it!) in order to get on my wall! I know this post is short but I have to go finish packing for my weekend trip and then head to the last football game of the season! GO SPARTANS!!

Halloween Week!

My how time flies! Excuse my missed week, I was too busy lesson-planning, which is the activity I am most-likely doing at any given moment, day or night. If you are worried about this long post, have no fear; in the words of Rosie the Riveter, my Halloween costume, "WE CAN DO IT" (get all the way through the long post)!

Sadly, costumes are not allowed at school, so I had to be sneaky and choose a costume that still allowed me to appear "normal". Most people did not pay attention to the polka-dot hair bandana, so I had no trouble at all. And inside my classroom I taped up a little word bubble, so my kids could get the full effect and guess who I was!

Looking ahead in this blog entry:

1. My 9th graders work in groups

2. Rachel visits Las Vegas

3. Staying positive through the tough days

Dreading Group Work

(You can click on pictures to see a BIGGER slideshow version!)
"You have a group project to work on this week," I said with a grin. My kids sighed, a few brave ones even boo'd.

"WHAT!" -I screeched at them! "Let's try that again... I am assigning a group project" ... (cheers and applause).  "Thank you, that was much better"

As you can gather, my kids were (surprisingly) NOT excited for group work. It seems my ninth graders have almost always had poor experiences when working with others and having to rely on another person's effort for their grade. Understandably, my honors students may have always felt that they bore the grunt of the work, and therefore dread group projects to this day. And to add insult to injury, this was a group PRESENTATION, so let's just                                                           have a crying-party right here and now!

But I was not going to let this past aversion to group work get in the way of my goal: to create excellent communicators who can dissect non-fiction articles and present the information in a creative way. So I made my kids fake a little excitement for the assignment, and at least they laughed at my entertainment.

They began with an article, reading and discussing it using 11 depth icons with challenging questions. If you are curious I will include it at the end of the post so you can see for yourself! After unwrapping the article they then planned a poster that would include the most vital information for each icon, so that a peer who had never read the article would fully understand the information. Finally each group presented their poster along with a creative poem, song, or rap which truly involved their audience. 

Rachel Visits!
It is always so wonderful to have visitors to my classroom, and Rachel was no exception. She even graded notes from my  9th graders, saving me lots of time! While she was here we had our day-of-danger: jumping off of the Stratosphere and falling all the way down to the Vegas strip. We were both excited but I was much more nervous than she was, as always. Overall it was a blast and we followed the sky jump with some drinks and dancing with friends at the Aria.!

The best part of having friends visit is just spending time together. It makes me feel like this is not all a dream, like I'm not just pretending to be a teacher for Halloween. They remind me that I CAN do this, and that I just have to be true to my bubbly, kid-loving self and I'll be just fine.

Positivity

Teaching is exhausting. There is no way around that. And I see my friends (and myself) get down on ourselves the second one student stops enjoying our class. Deep down I think that makes us good teachers: caring that each of our students is learning in a joyful environment. But with our kids going through huge challenges outside of our rooms, how can we blame ourselves for so much? When Johnny cannot enjoy the games I planned because his parents just told him they are divorcing, is that in my control? When Jack misses class because he was attending a funeral for his best friend or Kate needs to step outside because she recently lost her mom and can't concentrate, what can I do? We are not counselors, but we invest in the lives of our students. We care that outside events are affecting them but make it clear that school is still as important as ever. We should do our best to make our students the best young scholars in the world, but if every single one of them is not enthralled with my lesson on irony, I cannot play the blame game all day long. We must stay positive. And luckily I have a wonderful support system here and across the country to remind me of that. I love my job but love the kids even more, and that means understanding that they have complex lives in which I can play a positive role, if I put in the listening time.

The point is, with great friends and a positive attitude I think I can get through even the toughest days. So above all else, I am thankful that I have both of those tools with me this year!

All My Best,

Ms. Landau