NYC Teaching Fellows

Preparing a critical mass of exceptional teachers committed to a better future for the NYC students who need them most.

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Excited by Growth

When I wake up in the morning, get dressed, and head to work, my thought is always on how can I make today better. How can I get my students to buy in? How do I get them excited to stretch themselves through the challenges and not shirk away? For me, one of the greatest joys as a teacher is seeing my students grow and succeed in their endeavors. There is a rewarding feeling knowing that you played a role in making a difference. I enjoy hearing my students say "Ms. Bhalai, I got it" and actually do have it. There is an amazing feeling as a teacher to see your students' heads burrowed in their books and working with the person sitting next to them to solve a problem. To hear them debating with each other the accuracy of a solution makes you feel that you are doing your job well. In my class, I like the feeling of a controlled chaotic energy, meaning I am never sure where my students may take the topic. However, I want to see and hear their mistakes because it makes me aware of the misconceptions they have. As I complete informal checks of/for understanding throughout the class, I am assessing their responses, I am checking their notebooks to see how they set up their problems, and I am looking at the connections they are making. In doing this, I am able to formulate my analysis on where my students are in the midst of teaching a topic. It also helps to inform my next steps in moving forward in this topic. The ultimate goal is for the students to make and show progress in all that is being taught. If there is no progress, then there is a gap in the teaching-learning continuum. As a teacher, it should always be a professional goal to not only stretch your students to excel, but to also stretch oneself. Constantly identify and implement strategies that promote learning and encourages student growth. We have to let our students know that they are capable of learning and provide them with the resources needed to tap into their potential. Lastly, we need to set the foundation in which our students know that we believe in their ability to realize success. Kemouy Bhalai 2011 NYC Teaching Fellow Middle school special education math

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“From her beacon-hand glows world-wide welcome” -Emma Lazarus, The New Colossus

Sitting in classrooms across a school in Queens, students work to complete their response to the question “What is my American dream?” These young people are immigrants, the twenty-first century subjects of public comment and the “homeless tempest-tost” arrivals referred to in the poem at the base of the New York Harbor’s iconic statue. They are among the 43% of our city’s students who speak a language other than English in the home. They come from vastly differing circumstances: they include the children of a central Asian diplomat, an orphan fleeing central American gang violence, a brother and sister recently reunited with their eastern European father and refugees of political upheaval in west Africa. Theirs cultural, linguistic and educational experiences may differ, but they share a deep and abiding motivation that drew them here: the hope of a better future. The needs are apparent to anyone who takes the time to look closer. English language learners are among the most challenged students in our school system. According to figures released by the Department of Education, just 40.5% graduated on time in 2016, compared to a Citywide average over 70%. New to English students must navigate an unfamiliar school system in a new language that follows norms other than those they are familiar with. New state examinations have increased the linguistic complexity of the commencement-level assessments, adding a further barrier to their demonstration of content mastery. Compounded by the modest economic circumstances of many recently arrived families, it is not hard to find evidence to explain their struggles. But at some schools, the graduation rates for English language learners more closely approximate the city average for all students. These schools and their teachers focus on building upon the strengths of these learners while providing supports to help them to maintain academic progress as they develop English proficiency. Getting to know these students allows one to see beyond their obstacles and appreciate deep reserves of ability within them. Each of them has a particular ability to relate across cultures, an important trait in our globalized times. A student who has overcome challenging circumstances learns a resilience that those from more comfortable upbringings may not have the need to discover. As their voices join to our chorus, they become part of our ongoing narrative of what it means to be an American. Teachers are among the first and most influential representatives of our city and they offer a gateway to the dreams our students came here to pursue. Education remains the best opportunity students have to find a better future. We work in the hope business, and it is through our shared, sustained efforts that we do the hard work of translating those dreams into new and better reality. We lift our lamps beside golden doors. Anthony Finney 2004 NYC Teaching Fellow Principal International High School of Health Sciences

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TEACH!

TEACH! Tenacious. Excited by growth. Agile. Centered on Students. Hopeful. As a New York City public school teacher and as a New York City Teaching Fellow, I have learned and continue to learn what it really means to TEACH! This acronym, this action I proudly call my profession and do whole-heartedly every day Monday through Friday. Every day I aim to instruct, reflect and improve my practice with tenacity. Every day I aim to excite my students about the exponential growth they can achieve through school. Every day I aim to be as agile as possible when students don’t understand a newly taught concept and skill and I rely on my experience and teaching tools to re-teach or re-explain the content in a way that is memorable and meaningful for students. Every day I enter my classroom and look at each one of my students with hope that through my lessons and dedication to my job and, most of all, them that they will achieve greatness in all areas of school-- academically, socially, behaviorally-- now and in the future. Don’t worry. I haven’t forgotten about “centered on students”. The way I am able to achieve the T, the E, the A, and the H is by centering the entire school day about my students. From 8:20 in the morning to 2:40pm-- and of course when I plan-- if you walk into my classroom, every lesson, every material, every modification and accommodation has been carefully implemented or selected based on the learning needs of my students. Read Aloud is my favorite period to center around students. First of all, Read Aloud is requires students to engage in reading a book that is just above most of my students’ actual reading levels which ensures that the text they are reading is rigorous. The purpose of read aloud is to teach my students conversation skills. Believe it or not, a child needs to be taught how to have a conversation and learn how to respectfully agree and disagree with peers. I am able to teach my students these skills by supporting them while reading the text to them so they get a clear understanding of the story through model fluency, intonation, and affect. Additionally, I stop at pre-planned spots in the text to ask thoughtful questions for students to think about and answer. These questions more often than not ask students to take what they have learned about the story and apply it to their lives. Having students apply concepts and skills to their own lives makes learning personal and engages and motivates students to complete the task(s). Students are then asked to turn-and-talk with a partner or two to share their personal connections and thoughts to the story or they are asked to engage in whole group conversation. Both activities are providing students the opportunity to practice having a conversation and improve their reading and comprehension skills by making real life connections to the text. Creating a learning environment that is based around your students makes learning memorable and applicable to the students and the world around them. By centering learning around students, and when students are able to apply their learning in the classroom to the world around them they are passing along the tenacity, excitement, agility, and hope you bring the the classroom on a daily basis. Now, go TEACH! Ariel Bender 2014 NYC Teaching Fellow Elementary special education

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What does it mean to be centered on students?

Being a middle school science teacher in a small school means that I get to work with the best parts of the science curriculum (I’m not biased at all) and I have an opportunity to really get to know my students. It also means that I teach students in some of their most formative years. This is something that I am acutely aware of while planning for my classes. Any teacher will tell you that they cater to their student’s interests and make every effort to make their content relatable. But why? Why rework a curriculum year after year to meet the ever changing focus of a 7th grader? Every single student who sits in my classroom has a different story. Some students want to be pilots, some want to be doctors; some students are inspired by technology, some have never touched a computer before entering my room. 16% of my students have documented learning disabilities. Half are male. I could continue for pages about the multifacet group of children that I teach. As a teacher, I am tasked with making learning an equitable experience. PST stresses the value of 5 culture tenets, being Tenacious, Agile, Excited by growth, Centered on students and Hopeful. While they are all integral pieces of what makes a successful teacher, I find significant motivation in being centered on students. My classroom is an ever evolving space where students move around, teach each other and explore the world around them. They have an opportunity to have their voice heard and their opinion tallied. In order to captivate my audience, adjusting and targeting specific new interests is key. I wish I could speak to one specific skill or easily identified thing that every teacher can do be centered on students. Are there diverse images presented to students? Are there proper scaffolds to each lesson to ensure there are multiple entry points for learners at any level? Can the content of the lesson be related to other classes and real world issues? How are parents and communities being encouraged to connect to the school? There is no one item or short checklist that covers the demands of this tenet so it requires a multipronged approach. In my classroom I provide leveled texts to students to encourage struggling readers to access grade level content. To meet the new expectations of technology in careers, I brought coding into my classroom. Even in testing, I explore new ways to use a digital medium to focus on college readiness. I create conscientious groupings to help facilitate shared learning experiences that promote success and growth for all students. NYCTF boasts that they are “preparing a critical mass of exceptional teachers committed to a better future for the NYC students who need them most.” I was trained to have this mission engrained in my practice and I find it hard to put my finger on specifically what instances best capture being centered on students. It’s in the little moments and the planning. I experience the greatest reward in the form of active engagement and student growth. Students know that when they walk in my class there is something for them to learn and a way to express their new or improved knowledge. Sarah Gotimer 2013 NYC Teaching Fellow Middle school general science

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Teachers must be tenacious in the classroom

Teachers wear many hats. I need to teach my students reading and writing, of course, but there is a myriad of other responsibilities a teacher must be equipped to handle. On any given day, I can be an actor, motivational speaker, nurse, mentor, coach, judge, comedian, but I am always an advocate for my students. Being tenacious, for me, is not accepting the status quo that has left many of my student performing below grade level. As time passes, and you are with the same students day-in and day-out, you realize you become deeply invested. For countless teachers that could mean spending time after school to give a student or two some extra math problems, rehearsing your lesson the night before to ensure you nail it, or bringing in an apple for that student you know is too stubborn to eat school lunch. The drive that we all share is wanting our students to succeed. In the south Bronx, where I teach, most of my students are first or second generation immigrants. Although I teach in middle school, many still struggle with spelling. It would be impossible for me to correct each spelling error, on every assignment. This year, we decided to try and tackle the issue. As a grade team, we developed a system to teach key spelling rules that students should have learned back in the third. Although we could not spend too much time on the lessons, we were able to come up with at least 30 minutes of spelling instruction and practice. Now, I realize this is not revolutionary, but my students needed this additional support. Since the focus is always on student needs, tenacious teachers are continuously developing and reflecting on those needs. For our Pre-Service Training, tenacity is thriving for feedback and wanting to improve. The New York City Teaching Fellows do an amazing job of preparing fellows to be in the classroom on the first day of school. They do this by providing fellows with coaches that are available to provide in the moment, actionable feedback. Tenacity comes when that fellow goes back in the room and improves their instruction because it matters so much for the student in the class. When I look at the variety of things I do on a given day at school, I can only laugh thinking about how much I have learned since PST. Damon Davis 2014 NYC Teaching Fellow Middle school special education English language arts

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REASONS TO ATTEND AND PRESENT AT AN EDUCATION CONFERENCE ASAP! When you are a new teacher, it may seem like nothing you do is particularly original. But, in fact, your different perspective can oftentimes lead to innovative practices. One way to learn more about and from pioneers in your field is to attend a national conference. You might discover that you do have a lot to share. TESOL 2016 This April I attended and presented at the 2016 TESOL Convention in Baltimore. Technology and language teaching has always been of interest to me and so, it has led me to incorporate several practices such as flipping the classroom, digital storytelling, and most recently, using tech apps to publish student writing. I knew that this practice was not widespread especially in the elementary classroom so I submitted a proposal to share my best practices in the form of a teaching tip. Presenting: Why to put yourself out there in the field? Not only does this add a bullet to your resume, but it prepares you for teacher leadership roles such as providing school or district professional development or coaching new teachers. As teachers, we know how to truncate information, include lots of guided practice, and check for understanding. Still, speaking to adults with a lot of background knowledge is a very different skill. Attending a conference allows you to learn from the best in the field. For more on that check out Roxanna Elden’s tips on teacher communication verse media communication. Funding: How do I pay for this? It is best to start attending conferences while a graduate student because it is likely several organizations affiliated with your school of education provide grants to students. But after graduate study, the organizations themselves offer funding. It is important to look for funding early because the deadlines are months prior to the conference. To support your application discuss who will be impacted by your attendance and gather letters of recommendations. This year, I received the TESOL Professional Development Scholarship, which funded my attendance. Learning and Networking: How do I make the most of my time? There are so many offerings at conferences that it is easily overwhelming. Some tips: don’t be persuaded solely by a catchy title or a hip topic. Instead, attend sessions that are given by the researchers you read about in graduate school and by teachers that teach in the same grade band as you. Always, have two go-to sessions scheduled at the same time just in case one doesn’t turn out to be what you expected. Every year, I come away with new ideas and a mass of resources that have impacted my teaching and my students. Another tip is to seek out volunteer opportunities. Volunteering expands your teacher community and provides valuable time to discuss everything you’ve been learning with other professionals. Finally, look out for your state’s version of the national association sponsoring the conference. It is likely they will have a mixer event, which is an excellent time to network and to learn about additional professional endeavors of your peers. Don’t forget a business card! Beyond the resources and relationships you build, conferences provide true scope. You gain key insight into other state’s education challenges. You begin to understand multiple types of teaching and entries into the profession. Moreover, you are able to distinguish between commonalities and obscurities across the field, which are likely to reinvigorate your practice. Bottom line: a more focused, creative teacher practice equals better classrooms. Emily Lepkowski NYC Teaching Fellow Elementary ESL Teacher, NYC

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The NYCTF tagline is Bring your best. Teach. What does this mean to you?

Teachers are a special breed of professionals. We are expected to teach, motivate, and engage students, work independently and work on a team. Our job begins before most other professionals and ends much later than 3pm-- regardless of what society says. There is a written and an unwritten expectation to bring your best every day. Bringing the best to the classroom can differ from teacher to teacher. Bringing my best to the classroom means I am prepared with quality lesson plans and I bring my best teacher self to tackle all challenges and tasks, both academic and more. Attacking each lesson with confidence and zeal; delivering instruction that is accessible for all levels of learners are just other ways I bring my best to the classroom. As a teacher, you don’t just affect one student, or one class; you make an impact on students in all grades. As a fourth grade teacher I bring my best and try to motivate third graders want to be in my class the following school year because of the fun projects and engaging classwork I plan for my students. The same way I motivate third graders to bring it to fourth grade, I make sure that my hard work and dedication to teaching makes the fifth graders wish they had me as a teacher. Bringing it as a teacher is also way more than being an academia. Sometimes bringing your best means teacher and student swap roles and you bring your best listening skills when meeting with that student to discuss behavior in the classroom. And, sometimes bring it can look like working with a team of teachers on a project that you really want to work on solo. Most of all, bringing you best means even at your highest of high moments, like perfecting a lesson, watching the light bulb illuminate when your lowest student “get’s it” and that “ah-ha” moment when your highest student has figured out another way to explain a newly learned concept or skill, and at your lowest of low moments, like when it’s one of those days and your students are off the wall and everything that can go wrong inside of the classroom does go wrong, and you can reflect on everything that has happened and wonder to yourself, “hmmm, okay. Now how can I do better? How can I have more students explain this concept in a new way? Or, how can I re-teach this lesson so I can check for student understanding?” That’s when a teacher, myself included, really brings one’s best! Ariel Bender Elementary Special Education NYC Teaching Fellows

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The NYCTF tagline is Bring your best. Teach. What does this mean to you?

School starts at 8:30 am; I try to get there before 7:45. The students are already trickling into the cafeteria and waiting for their breakfast by the time I turn on my computer. As the bell rings, students flock to their first period class. On the way, they stop by my room to say good morning, make sure I am in school that day and smile. You see, I don’t have a first period class, but I know from the moment they come upstairs, all eyes are on me. NYCTF boasts that they are “preparing a critical mass of exceptional teachers committed to a better future for the NYC students who need them most”. That last part is what I think about on a daily basis as I come to work. I am sure that you have all seen the social media posts about students wishing their teachers better understood their home lives, knew how to accommodate their learning needs better or about that one teacher that changed their life. Not every kid has an extenuating circumstance that breaks your heart when you hear about it, but all of the students in your classroom deserve the best. When I think about the tagline, it seems so appropriate and aligned to their mission. I work in a Title 1 school, 75% of my students receive free lunch, 16% are classified as special education students and nearly all of them require something different from me on a daily basis. The statistics that you look at when you research NYC public schools only provide a glimmer of what you really need to know. During every teaching period, I have to cater to a different set of needs, whether it be to students who learn best when they are actively engaged, those who prefer to read, those who hate to read, those who need hands on learning experiences, etc. When I start my lesson, I know that I need to be ready for all of my students in order to best support them. I want to build in opportunities for the students to experience success along the way and to celebrate those moments as a class. If I am truly supporting students as learners and critical thinkers, I also expect that they experience the best from themselves. While no two students are the same, there are certain things that I can assure you every student needs. They need a lesson that captures their attention, applies the content to real life, and pushes them to think. Repetition of facts and superficial memorization does not satiate their needs. In order to encourage students to immerse themselves in my content, I need to put myself in their shoes. I think about what would captivate me as a 12 year old in 2016, why our lesson is important, and how our content relates to real life. Every lesson I plan is focused on the student, I have to be prepared with my absolute best for them because I know there are factors working against them. Issues such as socioeconomic status, access to college-ready materials, knowledge about careers, ability to read on grade level all impact my students and the list continues. Being their teacher means seeing beyond those points of struggle and providing the opportunity for students to grow. This requires me to be the best teacher I can be every day. So, when I read the NYCTF tagline “Bring your best. Teach” I think about all of these things and the potential impact that I will have on my students - I am reminded that for them to be their best, I must be mine. Sarah Gotimer 7th grade General Science NYC Teaching Fellow

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What’s some advice you wish you had during your first year of teaching? Why? How has that knowledge helped you become a better teacher?

Although the New York City Teaching Fellows do a great job of preparing fellows to be classroom ready by the first day of school, Teaching Fellows could not possibly prepare fellows for the many nuances and expectations each school will have. There are over 1,800 schools that the Department of Education oversees, each with its own standard for putting up bulletin boards, decorating classrooms, grading, lesson plan formats, professional development philosophies, and countless other requirements that become second nature as school culture. As a second year teacher, I can remember when these, now mundane, requirements were overwhelming. I was used to the Teaching Fellows providing me with near instant feedback to improve my questioning techniques or solidify certain aspects of my classroom management. Now, at school, I was just another teacher. My students did not know I was a first year teacher. The deadlines for report card grades did not care if I had ever entered grades. I was expected to be perfect. Well, at least, that is what I, incorrectly, thought. I wish someone would have looked me in the eyes and said I was crazy, with a touch of hubris, to think I could immediately do everything a teacher of 19 years was still perfecting. What I learned after some long nights and early mornings was, I needed to ask for help and get feedback. There is a horrible myth that in great schools, teachers shut their doors and loathe other adults being in their classroom. In fact, it is the opposite. Great teachers have such passion for their craft, and genuinely want all students to receive rigorous, quality instruction, that they welcome the opportunity to have others observe them. When I needed to figure out how my school made academic groupings, I asked a colleague to show me how she made hers. More importantly, she invited me to see how she implemented and assigned work to the groups. This minute interaction provided me with the confidence and knowledge needed to bring these good teaching strategies directly into my classroom. One thing we worked on during my Pre-Service Training was greeting students at the door and getting them ready for class with a Do Now activity, an activity for students to do immediately upon entering the classroom. When I found out that the students did not change classes at my school, the model and script that I had practice all summer needed to be altered. Although I thought I was giving clear instructions , my students were spending five-six minutes unpacking and getting their materials. I asked a teacher to informally observe this specific aspect of my class. My colleague asked me what my expectations was for their transition. I thought it was reasonable to transition in two minutes. She explained to me that I never gave the students a set time to be ready by. Something so simple. Sure enough when I displayed a timer for two minutes every student was in their seat working before the end of the countdown. I was even able to make our transitions into a competition and today we are down to 37 seconds. Just by asking for some feedback, I regained over 4 minutes of instructional time, for my students, every English Language Arts period, every day. Asking for help and getting feedback are essential tools that the Fellows’ program cultivates, but I needed to transfer with me at my school. As a fellow, we are use to people observing our classrooms, receiving then implementing feedback. Across the NYC, teachers are doing the same thing. This is because great teachers understand they are always learning, no matter how long they have been in the profession. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel every time I faced a problem my first year, I needed to seek out advice and find what worked for me. By promoting a school environment of collaboration and learning, teachers can better support the students they teach and each other. Damen Davis Middle School Special Education English Language Arts NYC Teaching Fellows

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The Teaching Fellows was a chance to start over and to get things right.

As a kid, I loved being in school, but I wasn’t sure I had the maturity or life experience I needed to be in front of a room full of students. I knew how important it was to be good at this work, and I felt that I just wasn’t ready, yet. So after college, I followed a different path into a corporate job that offered more comfort than fulfillment. When on a trip to New York I saw a subway ad for the NYC Teaching Fellows, it represented a pathway back to the work my life had been preparing me for. I applied, was accepted, and eagerly started my life as a Fellow and teacher. After a decade’s delay, my career as an educator began by trying to make up for lost time. Once I realized how fulfilling the work was, and how right the role of ‘teacher’ felt, I wanted to get as good as I could as fast as I could. I focused on my coursework, collected feedback on my lesson plans, participated in committees and tried every day to learn a little bit from the lessons of the prior day’s classes. I was conscious of how much of my professional life I’d spent elsewhere, and wanted to make every day as a teacher be one that counted for me and for my students. What I learned about the teaching profession is that everyone brings a unique combination of skills to the work or educating young people. With time, I came to see the places where my professional experiences had also given me skills that I could apply to the classroom. The cost accounting work I had previously done taught me things that helped in my school, like writing successful grant proposals or helping to design databases to track teacher feedback to students. Eventually, the combination of my work in and out of the classroom opened up further opportunities to serve. Eight years into my teaching career, I learned of an opportunity to participate in the opening of a new institution. The site where I started my career had reached its capacity, and each year turned away many students seeking an opportunity to learn in the environment we had created there. When I interviewed to join the planning team, it felt like the next natural step in my service to this community of students. When I applied, I envisioned that I would continue to teach in this school, and help to carry the instructional culture of my school into the one that was just beginning. It was a huge surprise when I was selected not only to lead the proposal, but to serve as the school’s founding principal as well. It was a daunting challenge, but one which the opportunity and support I had received obligated me to pay forward. The last three have been the most challenging, professionally productive and personally rewarding of the eleven years that I have served. Instead of a class of twenty-five students, I supervise a growing school that now employs sixteen teachers, a host of support staff and serves over two hundred of our community’s learners. In retrospect, I can see how the winding path that leads to this position had many twists and turns, each of which equipped me a little better to take on the demands of this role. I am thankful for the students who taught me so much. I appreciate the colleagues and collaborators who shared their time and energy with me. I am indebted to the NYC Teaching Fellows for being the footbridge between the work I did before teaching and the purposeful service I am proud to know as an educator. Anthony Finney Founding Principal International High School of Health Sciences NYC Teaching Fellow

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What’s some advice you wish you had during your first year of teaching? Why? How has that knowledge helped you become a better teacher?

One advice I wish I had during my first year of teaching is to WORK SMART AND NOT HARD. For me, this statement means to prioritize effectively, plan and prepare in an efficient manner, and knowing when to let go. In learning to work smart, you have more time to complete more tasks and you are less stressed, which can be a real issue in your first year. Being a teacher requires one to wear many hats and meet varying demands, sometimes on a tight schedule. I remember in my first year teaching, I would spend many nights planning lessons and getting 3 hours of sleep. I would also miss prep periods (time for teachers to prepare their lesson; built into their daily schedule) in school due to a meeting, or to address the needs of my students. I felt like my schedule was always being thrown off and I did not have enough time in the day to meet all the demands being thrown my way. I eventually had to learn how to WORK SMART. Working smart looked like saying no at times to some of the demands that were sent my way, but only after careful analysis of the demand. Working smart looked like not spending three hours to plan one lesson for one class. If there was an issue I encountered in regards to the content I needed to teach, I would reach out to another colleague in the department to get their insight about how to approach and plan the lesson. Lastly, working smart looked like being prepared and planning in advance. Planning ahead provides the leverage needed for the daily and unexpected demands that come your way. By learning to work smart, I am a more effective teacher and I also feel less stress and pressure. Teachers are instructors, leaders, counselors, parents, data geniuses, creators, innovators, and miracle workers. At times, we are playing at least three or four of these roles in one day. By learning to work smart, you learn how to meet the expected and unexpected demands that will surely be placed on you. Know when to say no, know when to go full throttle, and know how to balance it all. Ms. Kemouy Bhalai Middle School Special Education Math NYC Teaching Fellow

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A Mentor is…

New teachers, like our students, need committed mentors. I believe the foundation of preparing a new teacher is building a solid relationship. To me this has meant three things: 1) Being a critical listener, 2) Rolling up my sleeves through coaching and modeling, and 3) Working in the framework of cycle teaching. Critical Listener A critical listener is different than just listening because it requires the mentor to review what you hear the new teacher saying and to take notes and to ask questions in ways that will lead the new teacher towards making progress. So when I hear a new teacher discussing issues with classroom management that are happening whole class, I can direct the teacher towards thinking about how perhaps it is the lesson planning that is resulting in this not just the structures he or she may have in place. Being a critical listener also means you are compassionate to the new teacher’s struggles while simultaneously being oriented towards problem solving. Rolling up my sleeves Just as we tell students to show not tell in their writing, as a mentor I think that coaching and modeling can be very helpful for preparing new teachers for success. This means that before I ask my new teachers to adapt and to grow their practice in instruction, I show them how. Throughout the year, I have taught mini-lessons and small groups to model for my new teachers what strong instruction looks like. I provide my lesson plan and then, later in that week I come in and watch them do the same thing coaching throughout. The last time I come to watch them teach they have adapted it with their own style and written the lesson. This gradual release process supports them because it falls into the same framework we use in teaching I do / we do / you do. When you are a first year teacher some things are overwhelming, whereas for a teacher who has been at it longer these things are not. So, rolling up my sleeves also means that I literally work with my new teachers by helping to set up libraries, by making and sharing materials, and by reviewing student work and folders with them. This work makes them feel supported and becomes a valuable opportunity to likewise build our relationship. Cycle teaching Bambrik-Santoyo (2012) writes in Leverage Leadership about how planning for a new teacher can be counterintuitive. He writes, “leaders who give teachers “autonomy” to plan without guidance are doing their teachers a significant disservice” (Bambrik-Santoyo, 2012, p. 113). This principle is another key way that I help to prepare new teachers. In the beginning on a weekly basis and later, on a monthly basis, we engage in cycle teaching. We plan a lesson, I observe the lesson and provide feedback, and then, we look at the student work to plan the follow up lesson. This has been helpful because teachers develop several model lessons that include effective instructional strategies that they can use while planning other lessons within a unit. Similarly, by looking at student work, I am able to help them to see what instructional practices are working best and which might need to be tweaked to meet additional sub groups of students. This type of planning has likewise helped me to become more reflective about my mentor and teacher practices. Like in all relationships, communication and honesty is key. New teachers do not make progress with mentors that they can’t trust or count on. New teachers become great teachers when they are supported. Works Cited Bambrik-Santoyo, Paul. (2012). Leverage Leadership: A practical guide to building exceptional schools. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Emily Lepkowski Elementary ESL NYC Teaching Fellow

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Describe the moment you realized you were making an impact on students’ lives.

In 2013, after eight years, I relinquished my role as a full-time teacher. I came to the decision when the opportunity to help open a new school offered a new way to make a positive difference. Cleared of the accumulated memories of my time there, I left behind my classroom to an enthusiastic new colleague just starting her career in teaching. I left behind the daily moments with colleagues who had shared their best lessons, and who helped each other to regroup whenever best-laid plans fell short. The hardest goodbyes were the students who had been an inspiration, an audience, critics and fans, indeed the very reason for being a teacher at all. In time, at a new school and in a new position, new names and new faces would share their experiences, and populate the community I serve. I remain in touch with my former friends and colleagues, but there is no way to play the same daily role I did for the students I once called my own. After several years away, I was recently called back to my old school for an important date. Students at this school present portfolio projects for core courses, resembling a thesis or dissertation defense. After working under the supervision of a mentor on a rigorous task over months, students present their efforts to outside educators who ask questions, provide feedback and evaluate the quality of the work against high standards. On this day, I was afforded the privilege to sit on a panel for a young woman who I’d first met as a 9th grader years before. On this day, she was preparing her final arrangements before leaving for college, the next step in her journey. In my class, the student (we’ll call her Ms. X) was a young woman who’d recently immigrated from China. She had little English, and even in her native language was someone who spoke haltingly, quietly and infrequently. The strong marks she earned told me at the time that she was a bright scholar, but one who was reticent to stand out in the classroom. Among her teachers, we worked to encourage her participation, and were making progress before my time with her came to a conclusion. That was years ago. On the day of the portfolio, I settled in across from someone who I recognized as my former student. But unlike the shy girl whose folded arms and downcast gaze communicated barriers between herself and the world, here was an accomplished young woman whose direct gaze and open posture marked her own readiness to engage the questions and comments her visitors might pose. Ms. X presented a literary essay, which contrasted themes and symbolism of two works of literature. Her essay and defense were strong, but the most powerful moments of the experience came in her description of the long and challenging path to finding confidence in her own voice. In recalling herself as a 9th grade student freshly immigrated to the United States, she said: "I didn’t want anyone to hear my broken speech. My stutter turned my words into a prickling fish bone stuck in my throat. After so much time believing I wasn’t good enough, finishing the portfolio brought meaning to my long battle with speech. From then on, I stopped shying away from people and began speaking. I started approaching teachers and classmates; even though I still blush when I raise my hand in class, I no longer hide in the corner. I see myself being the person that was once hidden, shouting out my voice to the world." Her success belongs to herself, and is a credit to the courage and hard work it takes to learn and to grow. It is the special privilege of being a teacher to coach, support and ultimately bear witness to the transformations that take place in our schools every day. There are many challenges in this career, but I can think of nothing so fulfilling as being present for the vitally important work we do each day.

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Becoming a Marie Why learning is the foundation for teaching? “Teaching and learning should bring joy”- Rita Mae Pierson This statement drives home several messages critical to education; one being that teaching is supported through learning. For teachers that learning is called professional development. Professional development is paramount to cultivating your craft, to contributing to your school, and to facilitating student growth. In my first years of teaching, I had the pleasure of working with my school’s librarian. She was both my mentor as a former bilingual classroom teacher and my resource in terms of literacy materials. Marie continues to inspire me today because as a veteran teacher she tirelessly seeks out professional development opportunities, applies for resources for new technology to use with students, and presents at conferences in her areas of expertise. It is because of Marie my school partnered with Google to participate in a Google Glasses pilot, launched a Duolingo program certifying several teachers and won a grant to house a 3D printer. Marie still finds joy in teaching and still impacts her students because she strives to never stop learning. It is the “Maries” that make schools innovative and great. So because of Marie, I work every day to strengthen the relationship between my teaching and learning. This means I take every professional development opportunity offered from my administration but that I also investigate additional sources to grow professionally and to contribute to the school. In my years as a teacher, I have become a Reading Rescue Certified Educator, Duolingo Certified Educator, and Thinking Maps Pathways to Proficiency Facilitator. I have attended Response to Intervention Institutes and have participated in study groups at Teacher’s College, Columbia University. I have also enhanced these formal ways of professional growth through professional reading, social media groups, inter visitations of classrooms and schools, and teacher study groups. Finally, I have looked outside of New York City to learn at national TESOL conferences where I have presented on second language learners and technology and have written grants to fund sustainability learning at my school. Becoming a “Marie” is hard word but the beneficiaries are the most worthy individuals, our students. As my career continues, I hope to develop new teachers into “Maries” in order to scale the impact of my message: learning is the foundation for transformative teaching. Emily Lepkowski NYC Teaching Fellow, 2005 Elementary English as a second language

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Describe a time when a student surprised you.

Toward the end of every English Language Arts’ unit, I start to build into our classes time for student conferences. These conferences allow me to remediate skills students have not mastered during the unit. Since conference groups tend to be between 4-6 students, the rest of the class has to be working on independent work. My sixth graders are either practicing a skill we have previously conferenced on, reinforcing skills already learned, or working on the unit’s extension project. Typically, I will allot 4-5 days at the end of a unit in order to ensure my students have had explicit remediation of a taught skill. Although they are working independently, my classroom is still a hive of activity with student moving throughout getting the materials they need in order to complete their assignment. Extension projects tend to be multi-layered with the goal of using an element of what we learned during the unit to become a class expert in the project area. For Unit One, the extension project revolved around animal migration. Although in English Language Arts class, we did not discuss anything related to this topic, I knew my students were studying food webs and had covered oceanic ecology in Science. We had, in ELA, focused on expository writing, writing used to explain or provide information about a topic. The extension project had several parts: read, answer questions about, and explain an article I gave them on sea turtles and geomagnetism; research another migratory animal; write a multi-paragraph comparison of the two migratory animals; then create a presentation outlining the comparisons. To be honest, as each step of the project includes an expository writing piece, I never expected students to get all the way through the assignment. It is designed for them to highlight what they have learned during the unit while learning about an interesting topic. It also allows me time to conference with all of students. Students working on the extension project are allowed to collaborate outside of the classroom, so they will be able to discuss the assignment with one another. Typically, students get through two, maybe three, steps of the project but never have time to complete the entire thing. This fall, over the Veteran’s Day Holiday, I received an email from one of my sixth graders entitled, “Sea Turtles and Striped Bass”. To my amazement, two students had collaborated to complete a presentation about the titled animals. Although students were given the opportunity to work together, I had no indication they were creating the PowerPoint, especially considering we had moved into the next unit. I really did not think sixth graders knew how to make a PowerPoint. As I looked through the five-slide presentation, complete with pictures, diagrams, and articulate descriptions, I was left literally speechless. The PowerPoint was so meticulously made, I checked to see if the slides were pulled from the internet. When I got to school the following Tuesday, before the students could even unpack, I met with them. They said they worked on the project on their spare time during the school day, their lunch period, after school, and emailed each other to assemble to the PowerPoint. SIXTH GRADERS. ELEVEN-YEAR-OLDS. My assistant principal was walking down the hall, while I was still in jaw-dropped disbelief, and I showed her the students’ work. She looked at me, shouted with glee, then tempered herself to advise me to check online. Once I explained I had already done all of that. She peeked into my classroom and said see needed to borrow my students. She took them to each of the eighth grade classrooms and had them give and answer questions about their presentation. My students came back to class with smiles seemingly from ear to ear. Just three months into middle school, their accomplishment was being paraded around school as an exemplar of student achievement. They inspired me, as their teacher, to come up with creative ways to continue to provide opportunities to challenge my students with rigorous activities. In November I had two students work on my comprehensive extension project, six students are now completing a project assessing students’ sleep patterns and whether the school can change its policies to maximize student learning. My students epitomize the unlocked potential New York City students are waiting to unleash. Damen Davis NYC Teaching Fellow, 2014 Special education, English language arts

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How do you divide the responsibilities for planning lessons, checking in with students/parents, sharing a space, etc.?

Being an effective teacher takes a lot of preparation and being able to efficiently budget your time is key to success. Whether it is lesson planning, grading student work, collaborating with your department or co-teachers, it’s all a matter of finding the right time to do it. I am in my 5th year of teaching, so I have tried a lot of different systems to manage the ever-changing and demanding schedule of a teacher. I have tried the “I’ll do that later” method, the “I can do everything at once” and even the “oh, no, I totally have time to do that really important and time consuming thing right now” method; all of which have seen various degrees of success and stress, but none of which have truly been the best. So, what do I do now? Lesson Plans: This is an ongoing task. I start on the weekends. First, I make a list of objectives for each lesson for the following week, further out if I feel ready to plan that far. In doing this I am thinking “what do I expect students to learn each day of the week?” By considering the big picture for the lessons, I can pace myself and get an idea for what really needs to get done. Once that map is ready, it’s time to lesson plan. I focus closely on Monday and Tuesday plans and I list a few key activities for the rest of the week. By having a flexible plan, I can adjust to students’ needs. If my assessments show that students are struggling, I know that I have to alter certain parts of my lesson or that I have to go back and review. This also allows me to touch base with my co-teacher. I can share lessons with him early so that he can make modifications, suggest activities, share better ideas about how the week should go, etc. Grading Assignments: “Grade assignments on the day you give them.” I promise, this is the best advice I ever received. I am constantly assessing my students, both formally and informally. It’s not because I have a deep love of grading papers, but because I really want to know if my students are absorbing the information. In order to be truly effective, I have to grade their work right away so I can better understand where they are and figure out how to adjust my lessons accordingly. Does this sound time consuming? I can’t lie, it can be, but I try to find time in my school day schedule - like on my prep or lunch - to do this. Public transportation is another great place to get this done. My commute is about 45 minutes and grading student work is a great way to pass the time. [Bonus: when I get home, it’s already done] Checking in with students/parents: Finding time during the day to touch base with students can be really helpful. Maybe you noticed Student A had his head down in class and was not participating. If you see him later in the day passing your room, check in and make sure everything is ok. My school also has an advisory period, which is a great time to catch up with students. Having an open dialogue with students about whatever is holding them back in class can really change the dynamic in the classroom. It helps me adjust to the students’ needs As for touching base with parents, I try to do this often. Calling parents of student who are struggling, improving and succeeding can have a huge impact on your classroom. I find that reaching out to a few parents daily after school helps to both build relationship with families and positively impacts my classroom environment. I also keep parents in the loop through my online gradebook - parents can see how their students are doing and what assignments are coming up at any moment. Sharing space: I work in a co-located building. This means that there are 5 schools where there used to be only 1. My school has the first floor and the basement, but seeing as we have continued to grow we have to share space. I share my room with my co-teacher, a college biology professor, and closet space with a teacher who did not have a room. While I am the teacher in the room most of the day, I still have to be conscientious of the other teachers who also teach there. Every lesson has its own set of needs, some may need students to work in table groups, some in pairs. I can’t assume that the professor has the same needs for the day, so I have to make it work. My students and I have come up with routines to change the room around, pass out supplies, or prepare us for whatever we may be doing that day. I attach a timer to set up, this way we move quickly and save the most amount of time for learning. There are countless resources out there to help you find or create systems that work best for you. For me, it has taken a fair amount of research, collaboration, and trial and error. It is still a work in progress - I am always trying to find even more effective systems to help me manage the responsibilities of being a teacher. Being reflective of my practices and open to change has helped me to develop these strategies and also to provide the best experience for my students. Sarah Gotimer NYC Teaching Fellow, 2011 7th grade science teacher

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What online resources/technology helped the most in your first years of teaching?

The first year of teaching is challenging, especially if this is the first time one has been in the classroom and/or worked with youth. It also poses challenges because you are identifying your teaching style and finding your teacher voice. However, some of these challenges can be addressed through the toolkit you developed during pre-service training and also with the plethora of online resources available to you. One of the mottos I learned in my first three of years of teaching and one that I constantly share with new teachers is “BEG, STEAL, and BORROW”. You do not have to create everything from scratch nor reinvent the wheel because there were teachers before you who had similar thoughts and developed solutions. My first year teaching, I spent many nights and early mornings searching the web for activities and worksheets to modify. In doing this, I identified a group of websites that are useful in terms of content material, lesson ideas, and hands-on learning activities that can be used in the classroom. Some of these websites include: 1. Illuminations: illuminations.nctm.org Illuminations is a website that offers interactive math lessons for grades pre-K through 12. It is a website developed through the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. The activities and lessons are aligned to the standards and are hands-on. 2. Regents Prep: regentsprep.org Regents Prep is a site aligned to the NYS regents exams, which offers content information and old exams in most of the core subject areas, except for English. This site is focused on grades 9-12 and is a great resource for a new teacher trying to navigate the curriculum. 3. BrainPOP: https://www.brainpop.com/ BrainPOP is a website that offers animated movies, learning games, interactive quizzes,concept mapping, and various other activities for grades K through 12. It covers topics in all the core subject areas: Math, Science, History, and ELA. It also offers activities for students with English as a Second Language. BrainPOP is also a useful resource for working with students who have special needs. 4. Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/ Teachers Pay Teachers is an online marketplace where teachers buy and sell original downloadable educational materials, ranging from lesson plans, worksheets, activities and games. It is a great site for new teachers to gain resources. However, teachers still have to modify the lessons to meet the needs of their classroom and ensure that it also to the Common Core standards, found on engageny. 5. Khan Academy: khanacademy.org Khan Academy is an online learning tool that offers video and interactive activities for students to practice and develop their skills in various subjects. The site is mainly focused on math and science, but does provide some offerings in history and grammar. The site is focused on grades k-12 and has alignment to the Common Core standards. These are few of the websites that were helpful on my journey and that I still utilize when planning my lessons and activities. There are many more websites that I did not mention, which you will encounter. The trick is to take what you need, modify in accordance to the needs of your students,and ensure its alignment to the standards to ensure its effectiveness when implemented. HAPPY LESSON PLANNING!! Kemouy Bhalai NYC Teaching Fellow, 2004 Middle School Special Education Math