Life's HOTs questions

When I was first accepted into Teach For America as a senior at Duke many friends, professors and family members asked lower-level, "what, where, when" questions. "Where were you assigned to teach? What are you going to teach? When will you start? Are you excited? What do you expect?"

In my classroom, I try not to spend too much time asking my students these types of questions, but I always start with them. When I taught a unit on stars I started class with a "what" question. For the first five minutes of class I told them to write down a paragraph describing a star. I wanted to hear their thoughts about stars and wanted to see their ability to write simple explanations. It was a lower-level question, but it was necessary to get through to build to the topic's ultimate goal, which was to classify stars and predict the future life of different types of stars (a higher-level thinking process).

Now I am four months into teaching and I am finally getting life's HOTs (higher order thinking) questions. My two favorites are:"Why did you decide to do Teach For America?" and "What will you do after TFA?" Yeah, even though there's a "what" in there its asking for a prediction ;)

Unfortunately I have not been 100% honest with people who ask me the "Why" question. Usually I just say "Oh, I studied public policy and was interested in education policy and thought that TFA would be a great way to experience education policy in practice." It's a valid reason, but it's not the complete reason. 

I think the closest I've been to my more complete reason was when I bumped into a long lost friend from UNC  in the elevators at Institute. When she saw me her eyes lit up and loudly asked, "Why are you here?!" It was a really abrupt and direct way of starting the conversation, especially when everyone else around us was also probably thinking the same thing for themselves.

Without thinking twice I just blurted out, "I... want to close the achievement gap."

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I am in Teach For America because I really care about education and about the future of this country. The U.S. public education system is a cornerstone to our democracy that serves as a ladder to social and economic mobility for all its citizens. Without a strong public education system, we fail to prepare the future of America to become self-sufficient, innovative and working adults. Currently, we have a public education system that is unjust. A child's zip code will determine whether they will receive an excellent education; and that shouldn't be the case. All children in this country deserve the same opportunity to learn. I know that TFA is not the solution to the achievement gap. There is no one solution. But I want to be part of the solution.

That is my response to the "Why?" and now I have to figure out the long-term "How?" question. How will I continue to fight to close the achievement gap after my two-year commitment?

Prediction questions are tough.

At the end of teaching the unit on stars, my HOTs question for my kids was "How can you determine what stage a star is in its life cycle?" It was an interesting lesson that they enjoyed because we discussed how our Sun will change over time. Scientists predict that in about about 5 billion years our Sun will change into a Red Giant and engulf Earth. Good thing we probably won't be around for that.

Happy New Year :)

November/Early December Update

Excuse the delay, but November was quite the month. I switched a few classes, I lost my planning period, and now teach two regular 7th grade science classes, one advanced 7th grade science class and three 8th grade science research honors classes. Two of the 8th grade classes had another TFA teacher but after our school’s first instructional review, the superintendent ordered the principal to make the switch. The other teacher only teaches 7th grade and I took his two 8th grade “double dose” science classes. In addition to those two, the school created another “double dose” class so that there are at least 60 8th graders at our school who are exposed to more science.

The 8th graders who had the other teacher were confused and some upset because of the switch. They are over it now, and many actually seem pleased to be in my class. My biggest task was to “re-sell” this double dose course because many would rather take P.E. or a more “fun” elective. I shared my high school science project that I completed at the University of Florida to motivate them about science. I told them about how I spent a summer in University of Florida as a high school student because of science and that they will have these opportunities if they do well in middle school.

I come off as a huge nerd to my students; I tell them how much I love science and science research. I put on a show for them and not just my 8th graders but to my 7th graders as well. For the past three weeks I’ve had to teach the rock cycle, rock classification and how rocks change Earth’s surface. It’s not the most exciting thing to teach but I act a fool and tell them that I LOVE rocks so much that I collect them and I tell them that I want them to be “rock stars.” They make fun of me, but it gets them (somewhat) engaged.

The cool thing about this research class is that I have more flexibility with my lessons to make it fun. For example, I had to teach a unit on atoms, compounds and mixtures. Before I actually taught anything I gaged their knowledge by giving them an “edible test” where they were given candy to make a model of an atom. The deal was to label and complete the atom before eating any of it, which they all did successfully. Many of them knew about the electrons, protons and neutrons, which helped getting through the material quicker for the day. We also did another experiment where we mixed chemicals and created iron sulfide. The room smelled like sulfur for two days, which wasn’t fun but they got to work with chemicals, hot plates, test tubes, etc.

This past week I left school in the middle of the day and as the substitute walked in my 4th period cried out, “MISS, WHY ARE YOU LEAVING?!” It was cute, but what was REALLY cute and shocking was the fact that one of my students called me as I was driving away from school asking to clarify the work I left for them. “Ms. H, so just to get this straight we are doing the textbook assignments and the three worksheets? Anything else?” I couldn’t believe my ears! It totally made my day. Unfortunately, I could count the number of students I have who are eager to work and learn. Most students tell me they don't care and that they're bored. It's sad. Most of my planning and effort goes to figuring out how to get these student motivated instead of how to get them to think/learn because if they aren't motivated in the first place, they won't digest any of the material I present.

On a different note, I’m officially a resident of Miami Beach. I was living with my parents for the past few months to save some money but the drive (30 minutes in the morning and up to an hour in the evening) was getting to me. I found a neat place in South Beach, which will be exciting to experience and is only 10 minutes away from work!

December has been a fast month… the kids are getting restless because break is coming up. The worst part is that our school has another instructional review on the 15th… and our last day before break is the 16th! Horrible timing, but it’ll come and go quickly. This update was shorter than the others, but over the break I plan to write and reflect more about my progress as a teacher and give more stories about my students. I’m developing great relationships with most of my students, but I’m also going through a really tough time with one particular class. I’m also trying to improve so many of my instructional strategies to get these kids to THINK for themselves, which is the million dollar question and is what we all are always trying to do.

October Update

October is a long, rough month. There are no days off. There is one teacher planning day at the end of the month and one early release day (where school ends at 1:20 instead of 3:50). My lessons this month have dealt with energy transformation, waves (electromagnetic radiation like microwaves and ultraviolet waves), and light. The students are becoming restless, especially the 7^thgraders. Let’s talk about my high and low lights—

(+) My 7th grade advanced science class is the best. I held student-teacher conferences as the class was working in the computer lab.  I assigned them a packet to complete while they do an online experiment simulation that relates to a concept we learned, and then I talk to students one-on-one about their progress in my class. In my advanced class a lot of my students are able to articulate what they have learned and have expressed that they like my class. I played guitar for them when we were learning about sound waves, frequency and pitch, which they LOVED. I’ve developed great relationships with this particular class and have seen the highest learning gains in this class.

(-/+) Speaking of building relationships, several of my students seem to trust me. They tell me a lot of stories and what's going on in their lives. It's rough to hear though. One of my rough kids, Rafael, told me he came late to school because he had to visit his cousin in prison. The boy is 12, barely 5 feet tall but is tough, a total fighter. He loves participating in class, needs constant attention and is a complete handful. Another student of mine told me that his 14 year old ex-girlfriend is pregnant. He is 14 himself, failed 7th grade and had failed another grade earlier (not sure when). I asked him if he was the dad and he said he was almost sure he wasn't. I also have a group of girls from my advanced class who always ask to have lunch together or stay after school to study/do homework. Overall I'm feeling more and more comfortable in front of the classroom and my students are definitely starting to see it and are opening up more and more everyday.

(+) I have star students who want to learn so much. Gerson and Francheska are two of my favorites. They behave so well and they really give their 100% effort in my class. Gerson has been in the country for 6 months (he is from Honduras) and is able to do most of my work in English. When he is having trouble answering free-response questions I tell him he can write it in Spanish. After class, we do a Spanglish overview of the lesson so that I see that he understands and he is exposed to the English language. Francheska is such a sweet girl who asks to take the text book home to study. She has stayed after school just to ask question to better understand the material. The sad thing about Jose de Diego Middle school is that this is not normal. I wish at least 50% of my students would express this kind of eagerness to learn.

(-) A boy had his pants down in my class. According to other students, he was trying to touch himself. Yeah, you read that. I freaked out. When I saw this happening, I wrote a referral and sent him out of my room. Later that day he called the principal a faggot and was suspended for 10 days. I haven’t seen him since and am dreading Monday when he comes back. He is in my 2nd period class which will be switched to 8th grade on Tuesday so he won’t be my student after that and will go to the other science teacher who is a male. It’s for the best because this student can’t learn from a young female teacher.

(-) The superintendent of Miami-Dade Schools came to observe me at a horrible teaching moment. It was a Friday afternoon, last period of the day and a day after testing. The students were restless, I was tired and my lesson was boring. I wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. My students were in their seats but not all of them were focused. Moments before and moments after they were constantly talking, I had a student climb into a shelf, I had another student rummaging through notebooks and I had another student throwing M&Ms at the front of the classroom. Worst end to one of the worst weeks I’ve ever had.

(-/+) So it’s official… I start teaching 3 8th grade science “research” classes on Tuesday (11/2). It’s not a typical science class—they will be doing science labs EVERY day and it would be their second science class. Instead of having an elective like P.E. or art, they get a science research class. Many of these students are trying to fight this because they would rather be in P.E. and I don’t blame them. But the district is mandating this class because we have to improve our science scores. Our kids are far from mastering science and we need to step up our game. Now, I don’t know if this is the best way of doing it but I have to do my job. I have to make this class so fun, interactive and wild so that they want to be there. It will be so challenging and I am trying to believe in the idea of this class. I will keep 3 7^th grade classes and have 3 “double dose” science classes. So I am now going to teach a total of 6 classes and have no planning period. This also means I get an extra $4,800 dollars, which isn’t much but no one teaches to become rich (P.S. below is a post my friend put about how shitty teachers get paid… in Miami-Dade the base salary is $38,500). Hopefully I won’t burn out. But I feel okay right now. My science coach thinks I can do it. She says I’m kicking butt, which is assuring but I still feel all over the place at times.

(-/+) All of my classes improved on the science assessment tests. My advanced class went from a 33% to a 50% and although these scores are both really low, at least they grew. I still have a lot of work to do, but they are learning something in my class.

Interesting email I got from another teacher to end this post with:

**Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It's time we put thing in perspective and pay them for what they do—babysit! We can get that for minimum wage. That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That ...would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan--that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations. LET'S SEE.... That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Wait a minute --there's something wrong here! There sure is! The average teacher's salary (nationwide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids! WHAT A DEAL!!!!**

Summing Up September

I had one of the best teaching moments a few weeks ago on 9/12 with my 5th period... we played a review game for our first quiz. I write a word they learned, a student has to stand in front (back facing the board), they can't see the word and the other students have to either act out or give hints (it's a combination of charades and taboo). If the student gets it on either the first or second try, the entire class gets a point. If the student gets it wrong, Ms. H gets a point. If the class wins, they get tickets for a raffle drawing for a prize. My 5th period ATE IT UP. They were jumping out of their seats to either participate or explain the concepts. It was amazing. I saw that they understood what I taught them and they were EXCITED to share their knowledge.

Worst teaching moment--- 9/21 with my 6th period. Within the first 20 minutes of class a fight broke out in the front of the classroom!!! I went to talk to the side to pull a chair for a student, and then out of nowhere one student brushed up against another (when he wasn't even supposed to be up) and next thing you know, the two boys are punching each other. Had to run to call security to break up the fight. Everyone else in this class of 30 was soo riled up that I just had them do book work for the next hour :( It was so rough. I wrote two referrals and 4 detentions in an hour. Out of control. This class is just out of control. I have students who I rarely ever see because they are constantly suspended for fighting. It's like the principal purposely put all the troubled 7th graders together and said "here you go Hidalgo, good luck!" It really sucks. And it's not because I can't manage, because my other classes are under control... it's this group of kids that they just can't handle each other, can't handle rules and can't control themselves. I spoke to the dean of discipline and hopefully we'll move some kids out because the behavior prohibits my teaching and their learning.

The school had an "Instructional Review" where people from the district and state came to observe all teachers. All morning there were people in suits walking around with clipboards, observing everything-- hallways, classroom decorations, teacher lesson plan binders and the cleanliness of our rooms... it was really intimidating. They came to observe me in the middle of my 2nd period lesson, which was about electromagnetic and mechanical waves. I was teaching the difference between "longitudinal" and "transverse" waves on a powerpoint and then had an activity to show my students the relationship between wavelength and frequency... it's a tough lesson because in 7th grade this is the first time you learn this. When they walked in, all my students were taking notes and acting like angels.

I'm very straightforward and honest with my kids and I told them to expect important guests and to act in their best behavior. This class totally had my back. They told me "Ms H, we be good, don't worry..." and they were! Usually there are some students whispering or acting foolish by asking silly questions or just spacing out, not paying attention and I usually have to get on their case to stay on task but during the observation they were 100% on the lesson. It was beautiful... if only they could ALWAYS be like that. The superintendent was in my classroom at the time and apparently loved the lesson. I got some feedback and they said I have a "deep understanding" of the material, which is ironic because I spent the night learning it (thank you Duke for teaching me how to cram). Anyway, after they left my room I still had 20 minutes left with my students and there literally was a sigh of relief from everyone in the room... It was so funny. Then I asked, "People, why aren't you ALWAYS like this???" and they were like "ITS SO HARD TO STAY FOCUSED, my head hurts, I think too much." silly kids. But that's my 2nd period... they're good for the most part-- I have a lot of guys who joke a lot, and the few girls in the class keep it together.

Unfortunately, because I am doing a good job, they want me to teach 8th grade science instead of 7th grade so that I can prepare the 8th graders for the science standardized test... I was flattered but I am going to try to fight it. I don't want to leave my 7th graders... especially my 1st, 2nd and 4th periods... they are so fun. I've already created a classroom culture with many of these kids... everyday I have kids wanting to be in my class even when they already had me earlier in the day. I had one student who had to be switched out of my science class to another science class last week because of another scheduling conflict and he is still sad/mad about it. He passes by my class (I stand by my door as the students switch classes) and he gives me a sad look. These kids get really attached pretty quickly.

Speaking of attached, one of my students made it pretty clear that he likes me. He is this little black kid who looks like he could be in 5th grade but acts 15 (he's 12). He is always trying to be tough to make up for his small size. Last week in the middle of teaching he raises his hand...

"Charles, what is your question?">
"It's not a question, I have something to tell you."
I respond... "Does it have to do with how a generator works?" (I was teaching energy transformations).
"Not exactly but it's important"
*The whole class is quiet because they know what hes about to say because he talks about me at lunch.*
I say "Okay, what is it?"
>He goes, "Ms. H, you are the prettiest teacher I ever had. And there's something else I want to tell you, but I can't right now so I'll tell my friends after school."
With a straight face I say, "Charles, I appreciate the compliment but (1) that's inappropriate and (2) that has nothing to do with the lesson."

He apologized and then I continued teaching. After class students brought it up and asked "If you were his size would you go out with him?" In my head I was dying of laughter. Students ask the funniest things in the funniest ways. But I have to put on this really mean act so that they stop talking/asking nonsense.


October is supposed to be a hell-ish month. Students get restless and the "honeymoon period" between teachers and students is over. I'm not sure what to expect, but all I know is that it's a long month-- there's only one day off, which isn't even a day off for me because it's a teacher planning day where I won't teach and instead attend a professional development workshop.

First 3 weeks

I’ve gone through three weeks of teaching 7th grade science at Jose De Diego (JDD) Middle School in Miami, FL. I teach 5 7th grade science classes and 1 homeroom class that is designed to help 7thgraders prep for the Reading FCAT (state standardized test). I have a total of 126 students in these 6 classes… it’s a lot of names and personalities to remember but I got most of them down by the middle of week 2. I teach at a school that was a “F” school for three years straight but then became a “C” school last year which means the pressure is on to go from a “C” to a “B” or “A” – these grades are based on what students get on the FCAT test.

JDD is a rough school… the students come from rough families and many don’t know what it means to respect, behave and act relatively normal. Apparently last year, a student cut school, went to a nearby Target, stole the fire extinguisher and starting spraying people from the roof of the building!! Another student (who is in my class) is diabetic and intentionally ate 5 snickers candy bars before the FCAT last year so that he would be physically unable to take the test!

I have one student who always tells me that I'm pretty and that he wants to bring me an apple like "in the movies." I've had to call his mom to stop the weird comments. In general, middle schoolers are so strange; they have weird ideas, thoughts and outbursts. I have a lot of students who have failed the 7^th grade :( . I have students who immigrated recently and don’t know much English. The school is 60% Latino and 40% black. In one class I have 5 English Language Learners and I have to translate parts of the lecture… teaching Science in Spanish is not easy, but its great being able to connect to my students through the Spanish language. Many students calm down and stop talking when I start talking in Spanish. I sometimes reprimand students in Spanish, which can have a stronger effect.

Unfortunately, a lot of my day goes to behavior management. I do have some really great kids who I try to recognize through raffle tickets, but it’s hard when the troublemakers take ALL the attention. There was a fight on Friday in front of my classroom where two girls were pulling out each other’s weave… my students ran out of the classroom just to watch and two security guards had to break up the fight. There was another fight that same day in the stairwell where two boys were punching/kicking a girl who they had a crush on! It was ridiculous. Apparently, boys show their affection by fighting the girls… it’s sad.

The highlights of my day are with my advanced science class… they are amazing! I feel like a real teacher in that class because I spend my time asking questions and listening to students’ thoughts. Similar to the Socratic method because I probe their thinking and direct them to understanding the concept (I’ve only taught heat, thermal energy, states of matter and other physical science stuff that’s not too complicated). They are a smart bunch… we’ve done labs and online interactive lessons and most scored As and Bs on my first quiz. A few students in that class even asked me if I can teach them Spanish after school!

My roughest class is 6th period where I have 32 students and only 26 desks and 3 stools. In that class I have the WORST combination of students… a lot of them have repeated 7^th grade, have a history of behavior problems and don’t get along. I had to rearrange the room 3 times already but it doesn’t seem to work… they don’t stop talking and throwing things. They get the lowest scores on small quizzes and they never turn in HW… I have had to call parents but that doesn’t always work b/c parents are busy with work. But even in this rough class I had two girls tell me that it’s their favorite class bc they like science and they like my style of teaching. I’ve had a lot of sentimental moments… I had a student one the second day say “Ms. Hidalgo, you understand me… you don’t treat me like a bad kid” and I wanted to cry!! It was so sweet!! To this day he hasn’t caused major problems… except for the fact that he hates Duke because he’s a UM fan… that’s another thing, a lot of my students LOVE basketball so we get to talk about that a lot (and I always try to relate it to science somehow haha).