Teaching Tip #3: Think-Pair-Share

THINK-PAIR-SHARE			Danielson Compatibility
			3b – Questioning and Discussion 3c – Engaging Students
What	A student centered instructional activity
Why	·       Helps students process and analyze information by sharing ideas with others ·       Encourages critical thinking and writing prior to large group discussion ·       Engages students in their learning through accountable talk
When	·       Do now to hook and/or to activate prior knowledge ·       End of the lesson or unit to review ideas or skills ·       Student activity section of the lesson ·       Start of a new unit or topic as an introduction
Steps
Teacher		Students
1. Teacher poses topic or question		1. Student records topic or question
2. Teacher gives a specific amount of time for students to record their answers		2. Student records his/her answer in allotted time
3. Teacher directs students to make pairs (intentional grouping is desired)		3. Students move into pairs
4. Teacher gives a specific amount of time and specific directions for students to discuss their individual answers with partners.		4. Students compare answers with their partners. They take turns sharing and recording the discussion.
5. Teacher calls class back together		5. Students come to order
6. Teacher facilitates student-centered share-out		6. Students participate in and initiate class discussion
Suggestions
Ø  Use a timer for each step to ensure no time is wasted and to create urgency Ø  Provide specific format/structure for note taking Ø  Post student pairs on smartboard or chart paper Ø  Do LIVE GRADING based on the quality of discussions Ø  Assign students a specific task for reporting back (ex: what is one thing your partner shared)

Campus Harvest Support Letter: Emily

Hi my name is Emily, I am interested in going to Campest Harvest because I have been very influenced to learn how to accpet God and Jesus Christ in my life, I still don't know how to accpet them both but I have great people who are teaching me in how to accept him and what I can gain from accepting Christ in my life. I hope that if I go to Campest Harevest I leave with the knowldge and Joy of Christ. I would really want to gain the experience of loving God, right now I would say my relationship with God is sort of distant.I have gone through many hardships and felt that God was never there for me but I have been informed that God always love his children no matter how many times they have sinned or how many times they have showed shame to their loved one and family. Before I started going to church faithfully, I have always had my negatives views on God and I don't want to feel that way towards God. When I hear my peers speak so highly of God, I wonder what is wrong with me and Why can't I think, speak, and adore God so Highly? I wonder as I type this Letter to whom any one is reading, Will I ever accept God at the hardest point in my life. It scares me but I really truthfull and dearly want to accpet God in my life. I have seen people closests to me be CHANGED from accepting God in their life, and It seems so invigerating and when I see those people happy I feel all bubbly inside. I want to accept God all the way and I want to keep him with me every step of the way. I want to hear people sing to God, go all the way with God, Cry for god because God is very Important and alot of people don't know that. I do and I want to gain the experience of being a christain. Accepting God is like heading down those golden gates! Can i get an Amen!?

Thank you for Prayerfully considering us Finacially.

Campus Harvest Support Letter: Iomy

Hi my name is Iomy and I would like to attend campus harvest. I have recently accepted god into my life and I'm very happy that I did. Now I have the chance to know him in every way possible. Both of my parents are christians so I grew up with god in my life but I separated myself from him for a very long time but since I have went to Lake Champion in which I got to know him a little more and get close to him once again. I'm currently attending church with Mr. Choi and my parents I've learned alot about the thing he have done and the things he is willing to do for us. I prayfully thank you for taking your time and reading this short letter and for donating. Sincerely, -Iomy

Campus Harvest Support Letter: Xavier

Hello my name is Xavier. My journey to God has not yet began but on
its way to start. I was raised to believe in god and always will. I
see God as a mentor in a way to lead you to good things and
prospertity. He is the truth and my way to freedom spirituality. He is
also my communicator to my mom who has recently passed. I know that he
is taking care of her and she is looking over me everyday. I hope to
attend campus harvest to understand more about God and how he can help
me better myself and continually stay in contact with my mother.


Kind Regards,

Xavier

Campus Harvest Support Letter: Parish

Hello, my name is Parish, I'm a 16 year old high school students that lives in the Bronx. On December 3rd, 2011, I've recently decided to turn my life around, and give my self to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It was definitive moment in my life, ever since then I've had a joyous experience just hearing his word from the bible and getting to know him and I would love to know more about him.

To know more about him I've been invited on this trip to Campus Harvest in North Carolina. Campus Harvest is this two-day concert/encounter, where we just celebrate and we get to know more about God, in-depth. With this trip, there is a lengthy price for going, and with that, I would deeply appreciate if you would help fundraise for the trip. Campus Harvest is a once in a lifetime opportunity to really have that encounter and I believe this is the trip that will help me get to know about him more.

I Thank you for prayerfully considering to fund raise my trip to Campus Harvest and I hope you take it into consideration.

Warm Regards,
Parish

Campus Harvest Support Letter: Kevin

To whom it may concern,

For the past few months, my relationship with Jesus has greatly improved. After going to Young Life camp and now attending Young Life meetings every Friday i have been learning more and more about the bible and god. Young Life is a program where the New York youth get together to learn about the bible, god and Jesus. I feel that god has put me through all the seemingly hard times in my life so ultimately they can be for my benefit. God to me is a father like no other. He loves unconditionally and forgives me for all my sins. I can always pray to him and ask for advice when I'm in situations i cant handle alone. I know i can always rely on him and he always helps me one way or another. I thrive to learn more about the bible and god so i hope you can consider funding us for an event that can possibly change our lives.

Prayerfully Yours,

Kevin

Campus Harvest Support Letter: Ivan

To whom it may concern, Hello my name is Ivan and i am in the 10th grade at Morris Academy, on December 3rd I attended a trip to a young life camp in which i was informed about God, before i went to this camp I believed that once one sinned that God was no longer with them, but this camp thought me that everyone sins and that God will always forgive you. Attending this camp changed my life because before this God was never on my mind because what i believed was that God had abandoned me because of any sin that i may have done in the pass no matter how small it was. After going to this camp i left there with more knowledge of God, I also Started going to church more often than before and my life has changed in a positive way since then. The reason why I am writing this letter is because i want to go to Campus Harvest and i cant afford to raise the money by myself and i need help raising it and with anything that you can help with will be really really really appreciated because learn more about God even if this place doesn't teach me a lot about God anything will be worth it. Thank you for prayerfully considering Me.

Campus Harvest Support Letter: Ashley

To whom it may concern:

Over the months, I have been exposed to Jesus more than ever in my life.
It all started when one of my teachers proposed that I attend a
winter camp that lasted one weekend. It was like a dream come true
because I've always wanted to stay at a weekend camp. I had no idea
what I was really getting myself into until I got there. After a fun
little singing moment, this man began to preach and I just stared at
him wonderously as he spoke about Jesus. He gave us real life
situations to think about how our relationship with Jesus works. I was
fascinated. After that, I could not stop thinking about where my
relationship with Jesus stands. A couple of weeks after the camp, I
attended an encouter for one of my friends church. Although it was 12
hours long and I didn't really enjoy it, it opened my eyes even more
to the life that Jesus lived. Although at the moment, I have decided
that I do not want to devote my life to Jesus right now, I still want
to learn more about Jesus so when I am ready, I can have no doubts.
Thank you so much for taking the time to read my letter and for even
considering to support us financially in our journey for Jesus.

Sincerely, Ashley

Campus Harvest Support Letter: Jeffrey

Hello people of the world my name is Jeffrey and i am real thrilled to know i might be going to Campus Harvest. Recently Mr. Choi and i have been dicussing the trip as its a good time to learn and study christianity, especially since i have recently accepted god into my life. My relationship with god has recently began and i know its important to me and is why i would like to be able to go to Campus Harvest. Last but not least thanks for the time on reading this letter and prayerfully considering on fundraising and helping us to experience campus harvest.

Sincerely,

Jeffrey

No Man's Land

Entering another teacher's classroom to do an observation with an administrator is a bit like farting at a dinner party and then pointing to your spouse with a disgusted look. Teachers don't buy it though and still give me the I-can't-believe-you-would-do-this-to-me glare as they mutter between clenched teeth, "Please come in, we are just..."

It's mid November and I'm still learning to settle into my new role as lead instructional teacher at my school. I'm finding out very quickly that people see me very differently since just 2 months ago. I am not an administrator but I'm in meetings with them behind closed, but windowed, doors and I implement instructional and logistical changes that were birthed during them. Telling our history department teachers that we need to design formal data tracking assessments doesn't win me any popular votes, unfortunately. Maybe I shouldn't care, but I do, which is why I think it's taking me longer to feel comfortable in my new leadership role. The new leather chair isn't broken in yet because I'm not allowing myself to completely sink into it.

I'm slowly learning that others will adjust and appreciate me for who I am and for what I have to offer as soon as I recognize my role and do it without shame or guilt. Besides, I believe in what I am doing so there's no reason for me to shrink back and be defeated even before the first period bell. Can I get an Amen? If not, don't mind me. I'm fine preaching to myself.

Last Words in 09

09 school is year done. I'm sitting in bed and it's past 9:08am. This is beautiful and it's exactly what I need. Students and teachers both were getting exhausted. I could feel everyone's minds teetering at the edge of our individual thresholds by beginning of last week. Some students' frustrations exploded from time to time and I practically had to rub their backs and calm them down with gentle lullabies while sliding global history document based questions underneath their pens. It's a stressful time of the year for many of our students as Christmas and New Years often surfaces bad memories or articulates their poverty.

I asked a few days ago, "Who's looking forward to the holidays?" and got nothing. I somewhat saved that dead end conversation with a "Can we at least agree that we're looking forward to not having school?" to which I received a few positive yays and woohoos. Given all this, I was determined to end this year on a positive and hopeful note. I wanted to make sure I spoke words life to them before sending them home. So I pulled out my soapbox from underneath my desk, stepped up onto it, and filled up our 52 minute class periods with inspirational verbiage. Just kidding. I threw them a party. We ordered pizza, I made some Korean dumplings which all busted open and fell apart, and students brought in drinks and some good 'ol Dominican dishes. One of the students also brought some weird dancing game where you have to imitate a digital dance instructor on the screen.

It was a blast. They loved it. And just before they left for home I told them how I sincerely love and care for them even though I may get frustrated at times. I told them how much I've enjoyed getting to know them thus far and that I was really looking forward to torturing them more next year. They love that stuff. It was a good ending to the year. Bring it on 2010!

Teaching Tip #2

Word Walls!

Though memorizing vocabulary definitions doesn't register too high on the famous Bloom's Taxonomy pyramid, it is often the foundation for understanding and higher order thinking. All students benefit by building their vocabulary in every subject area. Unfortunately, the 10th grade students I inherit every year in the South Bronx have significant vocabulary handicaps, which makes it even more imperative that I push for it in my global history classes. How else will my students debate the pros and cons of capitalism and socialism, or analyze the responses of the Industrial Revolution if they don't know what a union is or who Karl Marx was? Vocabulary is not only foundational, it's also really fun and it's an amazing differentiation tool anyone can use in his/her classroom across all disciplines. The pictures are from my own classroom. Take a look at them as I explain how my word wall works in my classroom and with my students.

1. I give every student whole punched index cards with a ring to hold them all together (I suggest all students to carry the cards in a ziplock bag so they don't get destroyed).
2. I put up all the words they'll need to memorize at the beginning of each unit. Every unit is a different color so they are easily distinguishable.
3. At the bottom of the word wall I have four identical stacks of vocabulary cards in rings that contain all the terms and definitions that are on the word wall. (These cards are made by various students who earn extra credit points for creating them) The words are written on one side and the definition on the other. Some of these cards have pictures drawn on them to help visualize the meanings.
4. Students are allowed to flip through these note cards whenever they need to check their own definitions. These ringed cards are also great for group study sessions and serve as a great resource. Students never have an excuse for not having their own updated vocabulary cards!
5. Lastly, having a word wall that is visible and attractive allows me to easily access students' prior knowledge and to review terms and concepts we've covered in the past. I point to it almost every single day.

I encourage you to try this in your classrooms. It's a bit of work to get it set up initially, but it's worth it and students feel the immediate gratification of knowing and remembering things they didn't know just the day before. Of course, I give tons of vocabulary quizzes which always includes new and old terms as well as other activities that hold students accountable for retaining all the definitions. Any questions? Fire away.

Giving Dreams Faces

I think I've mentioned before that I coordinate and teach a program called AVID at my school. It stands for advancement via individual determination. I'm not crazy about the name, but that's exactly what it is; a program for students who are determined to succeed...not necessarily the brightest and the smartest (although they are in most cases), but definitely the most driven. It's my first year teaching it and it was rough going at first. I made sure to give the impression that the program is rigorous and meaningful, but had a hard time living up to my promises in the beginning. Since then, I can gratefully say that our AVID students have grown significantly already and are starting to grow attached to each other as well as with me. We've written personal mission statements, organized a fundraiser walk to donate to Stop Child Trafficking Now, we have student-driven tutorials twice a week, everyone takes amazing cornell notes in all their classes, and now we're writing personal statement essays focusing on different aspects of our life goals. They complain they have to do extra work, but they secretly love it. I've never known what it feels like to teach a class full of enthusiastic students until this year, and it's really refreshing.

Something else I've been doing for my AVID students is bringing in special speakers from different professions and backgrounds. So far we've had our principal, my sister who's a consultant, a friend who works for a major advertising company, and a co-worker's contact who works for Jet Blue's marketing department. Besides the fact that I make my students feverishly take notes during these presentations, they love it and learn things they've never even heard of. I've been shocked how amazing my friends and family have been to be willing to give up a part of their work day to speak to my students, complete with sophisticated power point slides. All of our guests are helping my students to connect real faces and stories to careers they've only seen on TV (you'd be amazed how many kids say, "I want to be CSI," but don't even know what the acronym stands for). Thank you guys so much!

Next, I also want to take my AVID students beyond our school walls and into different work places and colleges. One thing I know about dreams is that it's much easier to dream and pursue goals when you've see them. Any takers? =P

Like All the Others, But Not.

I just got back from a school leadership retreat that was sponsored by a private education organization in Stamford, CT. After working all day at school, I drove up and worked with my fellow team leaders and administrators until 10pm. We then woke up this morning and worked from 8:30am to 12:30pm. Needless to say, I'm tired, but I feel like we accomplished a ton. Awesome.

Still, I would like to say a word on these sponsored conferences for educators because I find them amusing. Every one of these events inevitably has us checking into a large hotel like a Sheraton or Hilton, and then registering at one of the lobby booths where we pick up our free not-so-manly tote bags (pretty insensitive, if you ask me) that contain the weekend schedule and a stress ball along with a pen and notepad stamped with the hotel logo. They also include many hours of sitting in freezing conference rooms with cream colored walls and no windows, corny banners that scream weird mantras like G2G - Good to Go!, and motivational speakers who passionately remind us that we do what we do because we love "our kids." And of course, we can't forget that every one of these weekends end with some sort of party where drinks and loud music begin to blur lines that separate co-workers from love interests. Awkward.

Well, this trip was no different and had the likings of all of the above except that I ran into 'John', a friend whom I haven't seen in a year. God's been putting him on my heart from time to time and I've been praying for him. I was so excited to have lunch with him today and I prayed on the elevator ride down that God would use me to really minister to him. Turns out, God had plans to minister to me through him. After catching up, I learned that he's being mentored by an amazing christian principal through a program he applied and got accepted to. When I shared with him my hopes and dreams he said a couple of things that got me writing this blog today. He said to me that in his short experience as a school administrator he's learned that it's easier to give and serve when you don't have much than it is when you have much. He also said in response to my frustration of not knowing what God wants me to do next in pursuing the vision God's put in my heart that sometimes we need to let go of whatever it is we are holding onto in order for God to move us forward. What do you need to let go? He asked me.

R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

One of my students today explained to me that high school (and graduating from it) held no motivation for him. We'll call him Ivan. Ivan told me that he was interested in "other things."

"Like what?" I said. "A girl?"

"Nah, I don't sweat girls like that," he replied.

"You work somewhere?"

"Yeah, kinda."

"Bojangles?"

"Nah, bra! Nasty."

(At this point, it's slowly dawning on me what he means.)

"So, do you make a LOT of money at your job?", I prodded.

"Yeah."

"Is it something you might get in trouble for?"

"Well, you a teacher, so..."

The conversation continued, and he basically intimated to me that he is a drug dealer. After the initial anger and disappointment had subsided in me, I remembered something I had learned in a Bible study I did with some of my best friends.

Men, young and old, want two things more than anything else in the world:
1) To be respected
2) To feel accomplished

While I'm devastated that Ivan is on that road right now, it made total sense to me. He's very smart, but school work doesn't come easily to him. It offers no prestige or profit. Its tangible benefits are essentially long-term.

On the other hand, his growing enterprise brought him a sizable paycheck -- or at least, sizable to a 15-year old who's never held a $20 bill by any other means. Even more importantly, he gains the respect of his peers as the "guy who can get it for you." (See Morgan Freeman's character in The Shawshank Redemption.)

Most high school teachers will tell you their toughest job is not planning lessons or developing themselves professionally. It is, by a mile, motivating teenagers who struggle to envision a time beyond the immediate moment. Our continuing goal is to paint our students a picture of a future where they are respected, competent, accomplished, and successful... all on terms which benefit not only themselves, but everyone around them.

p.s. My beautiful little girl, Lily Paige Jones, is here. That's a picture of her at the top of this post.

A Few Good Men

My wife and I are about to have our first-born child this week. Maybe even tonight. Her contractions are a few minutes apart, and we've already had one false alarm a few days ago. She's a little girl, named Lily Paige. I've never even met her... I've only seen her on a sonogram. But she already has my heart. Friends of mine know I'm already kind of a sensitive guy. (I get choked up when Goose dies in "Top Gun". And Bubba's death scene in "Forrest Gump". And "Armageddon." And any movie with Meg Ryan.)

Now, I'm about as calloused and grizzled as a chenille throw blanket.

Because of my newfound smarmy gooshy sensitivity towards my beautiful little girl, I now view every human male between the ages of 11 and 19 with thinly veiled, skeptical, contemptuous distrust. They are animals, seething with unbridled lustful fury, and they must be stopped.

Joking aside, I have been thinking about the state of young men in our country and in our cities. How we view them. How we educate them. Our hopes for them and fear of them. Much has been made of the capacity for our young men to cause damage to property and harm to people. I've lost count of the faces of young men that I've seen on the 11 o'clock news... most of them in mug shots.

Obviously, I care about every student with whom I work. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a particularly strong desire to teach, shepherd, and love the young men that walk through my classroom every day. Given our relatively short time together, I'm desperate. I will only teach most of them for a semester -- a year if I'm lucky enough to have them in my Fundamentals AND Geometry classes back to back. Knowing the crossroads at which many of them stand brings a sense of urgency to our relationship, even if they don't know it.

Mostly, I want to help teach them how to be good men. To use their anger and passion to effect change in their lives and the lives of others. To love selflessly. To reject passivity, accept responsibility, and lead courageously. To expect God's greater reward. I agree with an author named John Eldredge. Eldredge says that, while the strength of men can be harmful, it is also the foundation of much that is good, profitable, and loving. Young men can defend, build, learn, teach, work, and provide. In young men exists an Imago Dei that wants to show itself.

In that spirit, I wanted to refer readers of this blog to a website for an organization called "Invisible Children". This is a group whose mission is to bring change and aid to child soldiers in Uganda -- young men forced into military service from as early as 5 years old. This is a major battlefield in the war for young men's hearts and souls, and I hope you'll give it a look.

http://www.invisiblechildren.com/home.php

On a related note, another organization close to my heart is Stop Child Trafficking Now, dedicated to ending the worldwide trade of child sex slaves.

http://www.sctnow.org/

Praying and Working

The past few days have been really meaningful for me. God has given me renewed encouragement and hope. Plus, I've just gotten to rest. Sometimes a brother just needs a nap.

Somtimes I just need to be reminded why I'm doing what I'm doing. Ultimately, I'm a Christian who wants to be used by God to change lives on an eternal level, primarily through the power of the Gospel, and also through education. Thinking about the young men and women I work with daily and praying about the various challenges they constantly encounter led me to a song and a passage of Scripture that express the tension between my working towards God's goal, and God's working towards His goal.

This tension was first summed up by the church father, Ignatius: "Work as if everything depends on you. Pray as if everything depends on God."

Despite every effort I make to effect change in young lives, we must always be aware that Jesus's desire for and pursuit of their hearts are greater than ours will ever be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation

You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City

"God of This City" ~Chris Tomlin

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness [a] will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.

12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

~Psalm 58:6-12

Making a Real Difference

4 years ago God dropped a vision in my heart to start schools in the inner cities of America founded on the truth and power of the gospel.  3 years ago I visited 6 inner city Christian private schools along the east coast in an effort to learn how different people were impacting their urban communities through Christ-centered education.  Among those Atlanta Youth Academy really made an impression on me.  I felt something different the moment I stepped into their school.  There was hope there.  There was joy there. There was even a certain kind of boldness and courage in the kids voices and eyes.  The Spirit of the living God was full in that school and I felt him.  During my visit I got a chance to meet with the school's principal and executive director and could not help but be challenged and encouraged by their vision and determination for excellence.  Before I left they sat me down and showed me their promotion video and  I wept like a baby because all I had been dreaming about, of God's promise for our inner city children were being shown in front of me.  It was moving.  They came out with a new video recently.  Here it is.


Seeds of Hope from Atlanta Youth Academy on Vimeo.
 

You Cannot Be Serious!

Two of my students said things to me today that had me channeling my inner John McEnroe. For those of you not familiar with the reference, McEnroe was a tennis icon of the 1970s and 80s who was known for his acumen in the doubles game, his phenomenal net play, being left-handed, and most of all, for possessing a temper with a bit of a short fuse. He made famous the phrase which I used for this post's title.

The first thing I heard from one of my students happened when I was talking with him about his ambitions in high school and his career aspirations. It wasn't a confrontational conversation -- I was talking with him because he had missed a couple of assignments and those consequences had shown up on his most recent test. On top of the fact that he's not the hardest worker in the class, this incident made me ask him about his motivation, what he wants to get out of high school, and what field he would like to work in someday.

His response?

"I'm gonna try to file for disability because of my ADHD and broken ribs."

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!

1) Filing for disability, as a career goal, is less than optimal.
2) ADHD is treatable.
3) Broken ribs heal.
4) What the heck?

The next comment came from another student in the same class. We were working on a partial area problem. Their task was to calculate the area of a square, and subtract the area of an inscribed circle in order to find the area of the remaining four corners. After we had already figured out that the square's area is 64 and the circle's area was 50.74, all that was left was to subtract one from the other. Here's how the next exchange went:

~~~~~~~~~
ME: Alright [Bob], we've got the two areas... now we need to subtract. What's 64 minus 50.74?

[BOB]: I dunno.

ME: You've got a big, beautiful, expensive calculator in front of you... just tap in 64 minus 50.74.

[BOB]: Man, that's too much.

ME: (stunned expression)
~~~~~~~~

YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!

1) You learned to subtract by borrowing in 2nd and 3rd grade.
2) I know for a fact that your thumbs work because you use them to text message your friends like it's your job.
3) What the heck?

When I stepped back from these situations and screwed my head back onto my shoulders, I was able to see the situation more clearly. My task is two-fold:

1) Cast a vision
2) Raise my expectations

If we have failed our students in any area, and if we absolutely MUST succeed in any area, it is these two. I am as guilty of this crime as anyone else. Upon seeing a poor test score or assignment or performance from a student, my all-too-common instinct is to lower my expectations. Make it easier. Put the cookies on a lower shelf.

Instead of saying to them, "There you are. Make yourself at home right where you are. I'll see to it that it's okay for you to stay there," I should be yanking them upward, looking them in the eyes, and saying, "You're not there yet, but you can be. You're intelligent, gifted, and capable of succeeding. This is how you do it."

Instead of saying, "Make sure you lock down a job at Burger King, just in case you flunk out of community college," I should be taking them on college campus tours, saying, "When you're choosing a major, make sure you're aware of the careers held by professionals with those same majors. That will give you an idea of some common options you'll have after studying that field."

Those two comments by my students weren't the issue... they were just symptoms. But they brought into sharp focus the crying need for our students to sense a higher calling than squeezing out low C's on their report cards.

Lost in Translation

Remember that scene in "Titanic"? You know, the one where Rose and Jack are running through the ship once everyone knows it's sinking?

Hold on...

Okay, I had to remove my manhood temporarily and place it in its cage while I use a "Titanic" analogy. It was trying to get away.

Anyway, Rose and Jack are running through the ship trying find a lifeboat or something, but the part I'm talking about is when they pass an immigrant family trying to read a sign with the evacuation map printed on it. They are frantically flipping through an English-to-Russian dictionary in order to decipher the words and escape to safety.

We only see them for a couple of seconds, but that family made an impression on me. Learning a new language is difficult and frustrating on its own. I tried to imagine compressing the stress of an entire year's worth of learning into 30 seconds, and adding to that the stress and panic of a life-or-death situation. It must be a terrifying and disheartening feeling. To empathize, I opened my new baby's dresser, and assembled it using the German directions. I'm proud to say the dresser works just fine, as long as you have a pick axe handy with which to open it.

I've been thinking about this more lately, after receiving the latest statistics regarding my school's ethnic composition. 15% of our students are of Hispanic origin, most of them classified ESL or ELL or LEP or whatever the most current acronym is for not having grown up in an English-speaking home. I have about 10 of these students spread over my three classes, and from my conversations with Hoek, he has an even greater percentage.

Most high school students have little love for math in the first place. I wonder how much more frustrating it is trying to learn math in a foreign language. Using what broken Spanish I know (I want to buy some butter, where is the airport, etc.), I've tried desperately to help my ELL students grasp the new concepts of geometry. Despite my own shortcomings, I see the relief in their faces when they are able to digest congruent angles and isosceles triangles by using familiar words.

More and more, God has been growing my heart for these students. Someone once said to me that, in the United States, you can be a missionary to the nations without leaving home... How true. I pray that God would give me not only linguistic skill, but a heart of compassion and availability to help meet their needs.