My So Called Guest Blog

Guest Blog!
Hello all! My name is Adam Bermudez and I’m one of Eve’s classmates or “cohorteers” as I call us in the Elementary Education. And yes, I am a man. (How many female teachers did you have in elementary school? And how many male? Yes, we’re rather underrepresented and I encourage all the gents out there to come into the profession. It’s great.) And yes, my name is actually Adam and I’m writing on Eve’s blog. Now that all of that is out of the way, a little about myself. I was raised in Bronx, NY (the Bronx, as we say) and attended Wesleyan University in Middletown CT. I majored in Sociology and African American Studies which I see was a great preparation for this program. If you went to a small liberal arts college and studied what I might call “social justicey” things, you will feel right at home in our program. Which is not to say that our cohort of 28 isn’t diverse with respect to folks’ life and educational experiences. Vassar, Purdue, Temple, Ursinus, U of Colorado, Cornell, Haverford, UMass Amherst, West Chester, GWU, Messiah, Oberlin, Virginia Tech…just to name a few colleges represented. Pastry chef, day care professional, law student, marketing assistant, after school teacher, car wash supplies salesperson/small business owner, real estate salesperson…to name a few former work experiences of our group. But, as our money says, E Pluribus Unum…out of many, one. (We have a former Latin student as well.) I just wanted to stress the most unique aspect of the program, which is the tight knit cohort aspect. Many of us socialize out of class…we laugh, we cry, we teach. So…its crunch time at the end of the semester and I have much work to do so I’ll sign off now. Feel free to hit me up with any questions if you’re interested in taking a look at our program. Seacrest out.
PS I think American Idol is destroying America. But that’s fine if you love it. We’re a tolerant bunch.
adambermudez@yahoo.com

Part Ten of My So Called Blog

So my science lesson flopped and here’s why: daisies are not a viable substitute for carnations. My science lesson was supposed to go as follows: students will have one control (white flower in a cup of clear water) and one variable (white flower in a cup of water tinted with food coloring). Within a day, students will see the variable flower’s petals turn the color of the water thus resulting in a wildly fruitful discussion on plant parts. Unfortunately, this only works if the student scientists use carnations, NOT daisies. So when I came into school on day two of the experiment and saw both the control and the variable flowers still beaming white in color, I had to make a difficult decision. Do I own up to my mistake and still try and teach the lesson or do I paint the flower and fake the science? After an internal ethics argument, I rationalized that I am still a teacher in training and therefore am not equipped to salvage a failed lesson, so I opted to paint the flowers. Another thing about daisies is that they do not take to slathering food coloring across the petals. So I tried to marinate the flowers upside down in the colored water, hopefully dying the flowers the color of the water. That attempt also failed. It appears that daisies are extremely color resistant! Minutes before the lesson, I tried one last attempt at coloring the petals with food coloring and what ensued was just a mess of food coloring. Thankfully the petals were kind enough to provide the surface that the food coloring droplets balanced on, enough to appear to be spotted with color. One student scientist almost called my bluff when he questioned my multicolored finger tips. I used it as an excuse to remind the student scientists to keep from touching the flowers!

Lesson learned: do not substitute science materials unless you are a schooled botanist.

My So Called Blog, Number Nine Bust a Rhyme

While creating my poem lesson design, I overestimated the amount of enthusiasm students would have for writing poetry. My thought process was as follows: most of these students are beginning writers, so this will their first experience writing poetry, ergo, enthusiasm oozing out their tiny pores. I had even grander delusions of engagement because I thought I was clever enough to introduce poetry hats. I thought the students would see the costume hats and become constructive poets or at least eager learners. Well it turns out that introducing a new type of writing isn’t in and of itself all that exciting and that instituting costume hats as part of the lesson is just another discipline problem waiting to happen. My lesson didn’t totally flop. We completed our poems and even mounted them on construction paper houses. I was just naive in thinking that they would have a natural thirst and excitement for the lesson. Just another part of teaching I need to master before May….

My So Called Blog, Eighth Edition

I have the PRAXIS next weekend! When I think of standardized formal testing, I think of the SAT tutor my mom got me as my 15th birthday present or the three books I used to prepare for the GRE’s. I have not even thought about preparing for the PRAXIS and it’s only a week away! Another concern: I’m still learning. I just wrote my first lesson design last week so I hope that the questions regarding lesson design are more philosophical than experienced based. If only I had time to stress out and prepare for it.


Speaking of lesson plans, I am ready to roll on my math and literacy lessons. My math lesson is on bar graphs! The students will collect the data (polling their friend on their favorite ice cream flavors), express the data (using a picto/bar graphs) and then analyze the data (so, based on our poll, which ice cream should we have at our next classroom party?). For literacy, we are becoming poets and completing "I Am From" poems. I am really optimistic about how the lessons will turn out, I just have to keep my nervousness in check. I refuse to be intimidated by 7 year olds! Wish me luck!

Part Seven, My So Called Blog continues...

It is finally fall in Philadelphia! I broke out my scarves and semi-light weight jackets and stored away my open toe shoes. I will miss sunlight in the late afternoon. Since I do most of my work at night, perhaps the early nightfall will promote more productivity?

This week I got to see the elementary kids in their full Halloween glory. I’m not going to lie, six, seven and eight year olds are kind of scary when they have, what I like to call, “candy eyes”. The anticipation the kids experience when planning their ceremonial candy driven collection mission is intense. The power a teacher possesses as the candy keeper is shocking. I knew kids like candy, but I actually saw tears when the teacher threatened to cancel their trick or treat classroom Halloween party. All of this over a fun-sized packet of whoppers? Instances like this remind me how much I have to learn about working with children.

I wrote my first lesson plan this week, a milestone for a teacher in training. The lesson will be about graphing, bar and picto-graphs. Even though I have been working in Classroom 206 since September, the first day of school, I am still nervous about being the teacher on center stage. I lead small groups often enough why am I so nervous? I guess I fear that the lesson will have a Goldilocks effect, academically speaking. Maybe the lesson will be too challenging or not challenging enough? Or, even more probable AND complex, too challenging for some and not challenging enough for others? Ahhh!

My Sixth So Called Blog

In addition to having a super busy week school-wise (I can’t believe I got everything done!), I had an equally busy weekend! On Saturday Riepe College House (the dormitory where I am a grad assistnant) held its semi annual community service day at the elementary school where I student teach. We had a great turn out with about 25 residents! This year, we tackled the library. Up until yesterday, the elementary school had a room filled with books (most of which were disorganized) with no librarian or library system in place to enable students to borrow books. After only 3 short hours, the books are organized on the shelf, and each book has an ISBN number with a bar code which hooks up to a computer system that allows each student at Wilson to borrow books. Now, all we need is a librarian to staff the library, and teachers to use it to its full potential!

This weekend also hosted a plethora of Halloween activities. The Graduate and Professional Students Association hosted a party on Friday down in Center City along with what seemed like every house on Spruce Street (home to most fraternities). The guys on my floor dressed up as different cereal box characters, so we had Tony the Tiger, and a Lucky Charms Leprechaun among others! It was very entertaining to be on campus this weekend.

I plan on going to a concert on South Street on Halloween. I want to see The Go! Team! But I haven’t decided if I am going to dress up or not. The elementary school where I teach requested staff and teachers to only choose costumes that represent professions students might aspire to be. Since I work with the younger kids, is it ok for me to dress up as Spiderman? They seem to think it’s a profession! I mean, really, dressing like a real estate agent isn’t really entertaining anyway?

The Fifth Installment of My So Called Blog

Wow! So it was Penn homecoming this weekend and it seems that Penn does not hold back when it comes to celebrations! Campus was dripping in red and blue draperies. Tents for catering and art displays were erected on almost every available green. Custom made Philly’s own soft pretzels were baked in the shape of a P! Campus music groups and dance squads performed their finest numbers for all faculty, staff, alumni and students. Despite losing to Yale  at the football game it was a beautiful celebration! These are the types of events that make Penn a community rather than a school.

Sometimes I find it hard to reconcile walking through this beautiful campus buzzing with activity and optimism and then student teaching in an impoverished neighborhood. Even though West Philadelphia is only blocks away from campus, I am pretty sure some of the students at the elementary school where I student teach, have never been to Penn’s campus. Some students are completely unaware of the football games and musical acts and the opportunity in general going on a short walk away. What’s comforting is that GSE is a socially aware institution that isn’t afraid to venture off campus and embrace the surrounding community. My fellow classmates, GSE staff and faculty are supremely aware of the injustices surrounding urban education and it is refreshing to be in a community of acknowledging and caring citizens.

As for work this week, I have three papers, a presentation and what feels like an infinite amount of reading to do. Lets hope my time management skills kick in (I’ve been waiting for like 25 years)!

My So Called Blog, The Fourth

As I mentioned before, I live on a floor with 24 college freshman who mentor once a week at the elementary school where I student teach. It’s really interesting to hear 24 perspectives and reactions to this urban school setting especially since we, as a group, started around the same time. The mentors are a diverse group of UPENN students who come from all over the US (actually, we have two international students on the floor too) and from all types of backgrounds. When listening to the mentors about their experiences in the classrooms, there seems to be one common observation.

The disciplinary style is different than what we were expecting in an elementary school and different than what we, ourselves, experienced in school. I can hear clearly from the classroom where I student teach, three sometimes four, teachers screaming at their respective classrooms. From what I can tell, the children seem to be obedient and respectful of adults at school so why all the yelling? Is it necessary?

Some of the teachers explain that their communicative style is consistent with the urban African American families that live in the community (the school is 98% African American). Do teachers, or any adult for that matter, have no choice but to yell and scream at their children? As I struggle to find my own classroom voice and my own disciplinary style, I find it disheartening to think that this is the only way. Are the children well behaved and respectful in spite of the yelling or because of the yelling? Is this disciplinary style imbedded in the culture because the kids respond to it or because it seems to be par for the course in urban school settings?

My So Called Blog Part Three

Thankfully, the elementary school where I student teach was NOT restructured! We were able to keep all of the teachers! I am still in shock that a school has the ability to switch classrooms a month into school!

Last week I started one-on-one interviews with students in my classroom. The purpose of the interviews is to assess the children’s various learning styles. During the interviews, one first grade student explained to me that when he grows up everything is going to be different because he is going to be Spiderman. As if Spiderman was a profession one can aspire to be like a doctor or a scientist. I love the optimism and imagination of children that age!

Since the classroom is a first/second grade split, some of the students (especially the second graders who are in second grade for the second time) have very different outlooks on life. Already, at age 9, some of the students have lost faith in themselves and trust in their school system. They are jaded, practically cynical. I find it difficult to pinpoint accountability for their discouragement. Is it the school system for not providing an adequate learning environment? Is it the teachers for failing to implement engaging activities? Are the parents supporting their children academically at home?

These are the students who inspire me. I hope that when I have my own classroom, I can fight the urge to be jaded and cynical. I hope that at age nine, they can still aspire to be Spiderman.

My Second So Called Blog

Last week, I had the opportunity to lead two small reading groups in the classroom where I am student teaching. At first, I was terrified! I had to remind the students over and over and over again not to speak over one another and to raise their hands if they wanted to share something with the group. Despite being incredibly frustrating, I definitely gained insight into the students’ attention spans. The second day I led the groups I started out by reviewing the small group rules. The interruptions were far less frequent! Lesson learned!

I am a little nervous to enter the classroom this week. I heard rumors last week that the elementary school where I student teach would restructure beginning this week. From what I understand, the two fourth grade classrooms will combine into one, as will the fifth grade classrooms, and a second grade classroom will emerge (as of now, the second graders are split between the first and third grades). I had to wonder why the school district would implement restructuring a month after school begins. It sounds ridiculously disruptive to move the students once they have settled into their routines (not to mention the stress on the teachers). After a little investigation, seems that before school begins, the school distributes the classrooms based on the lists of expected students. Once school is in session, it’s apparent that some students who were expected to attend school have either moved; transferred to a charter, private, or parochial school; or for any other number of reasons, will not be attending school. When teachers have the actual number of students, the administration is able to redistribute the classrooms.

So, we will see what’s become of the classroom where I student teach. There might be a couple of new students or a whole new class! Personally, it would be nice to work with the same reading groups! We were just starting to get the hang of it!

My So Called Blog

This week will mark my third week student teaching in a West Philadelphia elementary school. I am in a relatively small school observing a first/second grade split classroom. Unfortunately, the school didn’t have enough funding to staff the second grade this year, so half of the second grade class is in a first grade classroom and the other half is in a third grade classroom. The students were assigned based on aptitude tests. This means, in one classroom there are students straight from kindergarten (about 6 years old) and students who are repeating second grade (who are 9 years old)! Prior to student teaching, I had never heard of a school getting rid of an entire grade! The teacher I am studying under has to plan two literacy and two math lessons everyday. Thankfully, she is well prepared and enthusiastic about managing two grade levels in one room. Despite having zero experience, I am hoping there are ways I am able to help the teacher execute her lessons plans. I know I can learn a great deal from her and the students so I can’t wait to become more acquainted with the classroom.

In addition to student teaching, we are beginning our fourth week of GSE classes. I love being able to spend two days a week at the elementary school and then the rest of the week with my cohort. Since the Teacher Education Program began in July, we have been able to bond as a group before starting in our respective classrooms. This has proven to be extraordinarily beneficial! We have created a supportive network of fellow student teachers who are able to listen and lean on each other.

As for my life outside of GSE, I am a Grad Assistant living in a mostly freshman inhabited dorm on Penn’s campus. The residents on my floor have been accepted to a special mentoring program. All 24 freshman spend one hour a week working with a student in the west Philadelphia elementary school where I student teach. I am absolutely amazed at the level of professionalism and responsibility the residents on my hall have exhibited in working with the students! Despite adjusting to a new city and a new routine with classes, roommates and group bathrooms they are committed to working with underprivileged children. I am incredibly fortunate to live with this group of motivated and intelligent group of students!

Alright, it’s 1:11 AM and I ought to get to sleep. Good night!