I Love My School!
Today was my first day at MS 328, the best school in New York (as my principal likes to say). It was a great day full of get-to-know you activities, group discussion, and much well thought out advice. My principal, Mr. Jorge Estrella, is truly a wonderful man. He was once an international economist in his native country of Peru. After traveling around the world, he was drawn into education and made a home in New York where he started in the building that now houses are school. He is extremely intelligent, compassionate, and he has an amazing memory. If you tell him anything, he will remember it. He'll remember what you were wearing yesterday even if you can't. Mr. Estrella began the day by telling us all how much he values collaboration at his school. Mr. Cole, our assistant principal, then chimed in with his philosophy on interdisciplinary education and community involvement. These two make an amazing team and made all of us feel welcome.
The school has only been open for a year, beginning with a sixth grade for the 2004-2005 year. Our large, old school building currently houses three middle schools, ours included, but the oldest will be phased out next year when MS 328 is completed with a sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. So there were many new teachers participating in our meetings today; about half of the twenty teachers are brand new to the school.
Although it was mostly wonderful, I’m not trying to say that the day was perfect. At 3:00 p.m., the hour in which we were to be done with today’s meetings, we all received are schedules for the year (or the semester – I don’t know). Mine was a bit confusing, to say the least, but so was everyone else’s. Our school works on block scheduling, allowing more time for math and literacy than all the other subjects. We are also in dire need of space, so every classroom must be used during every period. In other words, teachers must move around so others can have their prep periods and so on. Well, let’s just say that I am in for a challenging year. According to the schedule I received today, I will be teaching one beginning ESL class, one intermediate/advanced ESL class, one regular social studies class, and push-in to one other teacher’s language arts class. This means that I will need to prepare four different lessons, for four different classrooms, for four different groups of students almost everyday. On the up side, I have at least 90 minutes everyday for planning/preparation and one to two tutorial periods (small group work with students) everyday. I guess the biggest surprise was the social studies class. All of my students will be in the in-coming 6th grade class and I think that some of my ESL students will actually be in my social studies class as well. Fortunately, I have already made friends with the two TFA teachers who were at my school last year. I am most grateful that one of them is teaching sixth grade language arts this year and the other is teaching sixth grade social studies. I believe the three of us will soon become the best of friends.
The Summer Institute, as Mr. Estrella calls are training sessions this week and next, will more than likely be extremely helpful in preparing for the year and collaborating with the other teachers in the school. Overall, I am very pleased and eager to begin again tomorrow. All of the staff is just so helpful and positive. I’ve already gotten restaurant recommendations and additional job leads (for adult evening ESL classes at City College) from my colleagues. Most of them are fairly young, like me, but several have been teaching for a very long time which will give us all a better perspective as we plan together.
The school has only been open for a year, beginning with a sixth grade for the 2004-2005 year. Our large, old school building currently houses three middle schools, ours included, but the oldest will be phased out next year when MS 328 is completed with a sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. So there were many new teachers participating in our meetings today; about half of the twenty teachers are brand new to the school.
Although it was mostly wonderful, I’m not trying to say that the day was perfect. At 3:00 p.m., the hour in which we were to be done with today’s meetings, we all received are schedules for the year (or the semester – I don’t know). Mine was a bit confusing, to say the least, but so was everyone else’s. Our school works on block scheduling, allowing more time for math and literacy than all the other subjects. We are also in dire need of space, so every classroom must be used during every period. In other words, teachers must move around so others can have their prep periods and so on. Well, let’s just say that I am in for a challenging year. According to the schedule I received today, I will be teaching one beginning ESL class, one intermediate/advanced ESL class, one regular social studies class, and push-in to one other teacher’s language arts class. This means that I will need to prepare four different lessons, for four different classrooms, for four different groups of students almost everyday. On the up side, I have at least 90 minutes everyday for planning/preparation and one to two tutorial periods (small group work with students) everyday. I guess the biggest surprise was the social studies class. All of my students will be in the in-coming 6th grade class and I think that some of my ESL students will actually be in my social studies class as well. Fortunately, I have already made friends with the two TFA teachers who were at my school last year. I am most grateful that one of them is teaching sixth grade language arts this year and the other is teaching sixth grade social studies. I believe the three of us will soon become the best of friends.
The Summer Institute, as Mr. Estrella calls are training sessions this week and next, will more than likely be extremely helpful in preparing for the year and collaborating with the other teachers in the school. Overall, I am very pleased and eager to begin again tomorrow. All of the staff is just so helpful and positive. I’ve already gotten restaurant recommendations and additional job leads (for adult evening ESL classes at City College) from my colleagues. Most of them are fairly young, like me, but several have been teaching for a very long time which will give us all a better perspective as we plan together.
posted by Sarah at
6:57 PM
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