Riding the Breakthrough Wave (Part II)
For our fourth day of orientation, Breakthrough has given me an entirely new definition of what it means to collaborate with others. As challenging as our work has been so far, I have truly enjoyed collaborating with my fellow social studies department teachers. There are few words that I can use to describe how inspiring it is to see Ashok so incredibly invested in trying to develop a task analysis for our objective. Anyways, here are today's Top Ten!
1. We have finally learned what "Teaching Learning Collaborative" (TLC for short-Trevor calls it Tender Loving Care) which just means that we meet together with our department and develop lesson plans together. Me and my social studies team spent two hours developing our curriculum and our objectives with Trevor. If there was one word that I would use to describe today, it would be collaborative.
2. We finally received the Teacher Excellence Rubric (TER) in which our teaching would be evaluated. It is a thoroughly detailed sheet that has many columns and rows listing various elements of our teaching rubric given one of three scores:
Needs Attention: This is an area with potential for significant improvement.
Emerging: Teacher sometimes or partially performs independently at the ideal level.
Solid: Teacher consistently performs at the ideal level of competency with little or no traditional support.
It is exciting to finally receive the rubric by which our teaching will be evaluated. The TER also includes a page and a half of praises and prompts for our mentor teacher to fill out. A praise is something that we did well and a prompt is something that we need to improve upon.
3. This morning, we learned about the Step Up to Writing program which will be implemented throughout every department at Breakthrough. One of the most important components of this program is that every teacher whether they are math, science, or social studies will be reinforcing the material learned in this writing program. We will all be responsible for reinforcing the concepts taught in the Step Up to Writing program even though the English teachers will be the main facilitators of this material. Apparently, this program has had phenomenal results for students of all levels and I am extremely excited to see how much our students will grow and learn.
4. What do Romeo and Juliet and Civil Rights have in common? They both involve people who have risked everything to break the rules and fight for what they believed in whether that be love or equality. Our English mentor teacher recommended that the social studies and English departments should be working closely together to explore a common theme that would connect our two topics. After much brainstorming, we finally have our question that we will be exploring in both departments.
5. So, me, Ashok, and Aseeb continued our collaboration during our dinner together at a restaurant called Mr. Mac's which serves absolutely delicious Mac and Cheese dishes. Not only did we get a lot of work done, but we enjoyed a really great meal together!
6. Me, Ali (my AWESOME, third roommate who just arrived yesterday from Texas), and Steven enjoyed a wonderful evening together out on the porch today talking with our neighbors beside us. I have come to truly enjoy the time I have in the evenings after an intense day at Breakthrough to simply relax and just, BE. It is in these moments that I am able to fully sit back and truly take in the entire day.
7. I don't know if I ever mentioned this, but I really LOVE this neighborhood. I never knew that these kinds of neighborhoods still existed. I actually know the neighbors around me. During summer, everyone comes out during the evenings to talk with one another and sit around roasting marshmallows. I love the sense of community that I feel by living here. I never thought that I would find a community here in my neighborhood. I find myself looking forward towards coming home just to be able to talk with my neighbors to see how their day was. It's nice to have a community to come home to. Typing away at this post, I am reminded of a quote I came across by Eve Carson:
“Sharing and provoking and exploring- that’s adventure to me. Adventure is finding oneness, finding community even in unlikely circumstances. Adventure is encountering connections, which link us and hopefully bring me closer to what I’m looking for. Universal truth. Eternal goodness. Faith. Adventure is love of others because I believe that everyone has something to teach. It is so exciting to find expressions of truth from philosophers and in books. How incredible it also is to see these ideas hinted at in others in the world.”
- Eve Carson (1985-2008)
8. I received an email from one of my best friends and former roommates! We have been emailing back and forth this summer and it always makes my day whenever I receiver a letter from him!
9. Tomorrow, I will be giving my first mock teaching demonstration in front of my fellow peers. Wish me luck!
10. My first lesson plan draft of the summer is now complete! See you all tomorrow!
