School's Out For Summer : )

Ok, I am officially the worst blogger every, and for those of you that have continued to check despite my lack of new entries thank you: ) I promise to keep it up next year.

Where to begin… well, since I last posted, I am happy to report that my classroom has continued to get MUCH better towards the end of the year. It may have been the constant fieldtrips to hold over their head, their new-found maturity as 8th grade approached, or the swine flue epidemic that kept a number of students home that initiated the improvement. However, whatever the reason, my kids and I finally found the groove and math was a much better place.

All things considered, the year ended of on a high note. The last day of school was a tear-filled mess when 753 parted ways knowing that things would never be quite the same after the summer. 753 had become a family- dysfunctional at times- but a place where quirks and struggles (from the students and adults alike) were embraced and everyone supported each other. Even Lionel, the class clown who bragged about being at the school longer than all of his teachers (it took him a couple of times to pass 6th grade) had to excuse himself to the bathroom because “he had something in his eye.”

After school, I met with my principal for my review. I was really excited that she recognized my growth, and we agreed that I was in a good place for the 2nd year. Unfortunately, after the review, I received the news that I feared the most. Because of the recent budget cuts, there was no way that the school could pay two math teachers per grade. Thus, the other first year math teacher and I were being “excessed”- cut from our school and asked to find another teaching job somewhere else. I was devastated. I had finally felt confident at 303 and was really looking forward to teaching 6th grade the following year. I hadn’t even had a chance to tell my kids goodbye…

Yuk… well, there was nothing I could do about it. So, I informed Teach For America and arranged an interview the following Friday. I took a trip to PS 211 about 3 miles away from my old school and was given a job on the spot- 7th grade math and social studies. I am definitely a little concerned about the social studies curriculum, but the man that I am replacing (a 2nd year TFA member moving to a KIPP school in NJ) has been extremely helpful and provided me with all of his materials. I have since met with him and most of the other 211 middle school teachers, and am still not thrilled with the transition but feel a little better about the change. It seems that 211 has a lot of solid teachers but there just are not the systems in place yet that there were at 303. I am hoping that I can bring a lot of the lessons that I learned at 303 to my new school and plan to learn a lot from them as well.

So, the year was marked by ups and downs, and while my first year is not something that I want to repeat, it is definitely an experience through which I learned a ton and my students hopefully picked up a couple things along the way as well. I will miss my kids and will never forget that first group of students with whom despite our struggles I grew such strong bonds. I know that we will stay in touch, but I know that we must move on, and I am looking forward to a whole new batch of kids to love and to learn from. More on that later, but for now, I am off to enjoy the beautiful NYC summer and a bit of rest and relaxation : )