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miss brave teaches nyc

  • The day the animals escaped from the zoo

    Number of comments: 10
    In response to my last post, in which I confessed to jumping up and down as my two most notoriously troublesome students changed schools, one of my readers wondered: "What ever will you post about now?"

    Oh, I don't know, how about the time there was a lizard' [...]
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    Posted: November 23, 2009, 6:04pm EST
    by R

  • When it rains, it pours

    Number of comments: 4
    Julio has left our school.

    I wish I could tell you I reacted to this news with the maturity and wisdom befitting my profession, but I am not ashamed to tell you how I actually reacted: by jumping up and down in the lobby after I received his [...]
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    Posted: November 20, 2009, 5:02pm EST
    by R

  • Life after William

    Number of comments: 3
    It's possible I may be suffering from PWSD: Post-William Stress Disorder.

    As I mentioned ever so briefly in my last post, William has departed from us, to a special education classroom at another school. If I could say one thing to his new teachers, I would say, Please help' [...]
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    Posted: November 03, 2009, 6:44pm EST
    by R

  • I definitely did not teach this in a mini lesson

    Number of comments: 1
    Today it was blissfully quiet in my classroom during reading. It was so quiet, in fact, that I was considering granting my class a much-coveted compliment (they have been stuck at 16 forever, while they need to get to 25 to earn themselves either (a) a popcorn party or (b) [...]
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    Posted: October 29, 2009, 8:52pm EDT
    by R

  • Every kid has a story

    Number of comments: 1
    Every kid has a story. That's something I have to remind myself constantly in my class, because -- even putting aside William (who remains in my classroom, despite assurances from virtually everyone in the school that he'll be gone "any day now") and Julio (whose mother just sent [...]
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    Posted: October 27, 2009, 8:11pm EDT
    by R

  • Friday cupcakes

    Number of comments: 3
    Yesterday, while I was walking my class upstairs with William at the front of the line (which is not where his line spot is, but you try getting him to stay in his place), he enthused to me: "We're going to have a party!"

    "Where, in after-school?" I asked.[...]
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    Posted: October 10, 2009, 9:44am EDT
    by R

  • This is why I wanted to stay a reading teacher

    Number of comments: 1
    We just finished our first unit in math, and I feel like a dismal failure as a math teacher. I have 16 students in my math group. From the pre-test to the post-test (they have exactly the same questions), 6 of my students got exactly the same score (usually because [...]
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    Posted: October 08, 2009, 9:12pm EDT
    by R

  • Counsel

    Number of comments: 2
    Yesterday afternoon, very close to the end of the day, Julio had an accident. He was already in the bathroom when it happened, so I figured (a) he had waited too long to ask me to go, (b) he was fooling around in the bathroom and underestimated how much he [...]
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    Posted: October 08, 2009, 7:02pm EDT
    by R

  • The pencil problem

    Number of comments: 19
    My classroom has a pencil problem.

    Before the first day of school, in my adorable naivete, I supplied each table in my classroom with a table caddy filled to the brim with pencils, erasers, crayons and a pencil sharpener.

    That was my first mistake.

    Within weeks, all [...]
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    Posted: October 06, 2009, 6:36pm EDT
    by R

  • Opposite ends of the spectrum

    Number of comments: 0
    Sad but true: On any given day, 90% of my energy is directed toward making sure William and Julio don't burn down the school. Which leaves a paltry 10% of my energy for kids like Leah.

    Who is Leah? Leah is your basic dream student. She is polite,' [...]
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    Posted: October 03, 2009, 11:45am EDT
    by R

  • Options in October

    Number of comments: 2
    Whew.

    First of all, I want to say thank you for the outpouring of support that followed my mental breakdown. Your comments were comforting and in some cases a lot more constructive than those of my colleagues' ("I'll pray for you" and "I'm going to throw some holy'" [...]
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    Posted: October 01, 2009, 6:34pm EDT
    by R

  • Hysterical

    Number of comments: 12
    I think I've reached my breaking point.

    Crying in class? Check. Screaming so loud at misbehaving kid that good kid next to him jumps back in fear, while misbehaving kid continues to not care? Check. Resisting urge to actually physically harm misbehaving kid? Check. Slamming door to classroom so' [...]
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    Posted: September 29, 2009, 6:19pm EDT
    by R

  • Dangerous minds indeed

    Number of comments: 5
    Ohhhhh boy.

    William's behavior has escalated to the brink of complete insanity. Just to give you a small tasting of what our days are like, here are my notes on him from last week:
    Jumping over kids on rugDoes handstands and somersaults on rugFlips over backwards on rugSquashes Samantha' [...]
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    Posted: September 26, 2009, 8:50pm EDT
    by R

  • Complimentary

    Number of comments: 5
    This just in: William hears like a bat!

    It took a lot of pep talks and a little bribery, but with twenty minutes to go in the school day on Friday afternoon, William passed his second hearing test with flying colors (and made off with a cool toy of [...]
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    Posted: September 20, 2009, 4:32pm EDT
    by R

  • The last 10%

    Number of comments: 3
    Let's lead off with the ridiculousness that I absolutely have to get off my chest: my running anecdotals on William's behavior! Here is just a small sampling of "Things William Does All Day" --

    Rocks in my rocking chairShoves another student in the chest and yells, "Shut up!"According to [...]
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    Posted: September 17, 2009, 5:55pm EDT
    by R

  • When school closely resembles Office Space

    Number of comments: 4
    Remember this post when I revealed all the money I'd been spending on school supplies? Well, it's been three days, and I feel like I'm out of supplies. Out of supplies! Three days!

    I put mechanical pencils in all my table caddies, which I knew wasn't the [...]
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    Posted: September 12, 2009, 11:23am EDT
    by R

  • "Teachers have to be strong"

    Number of comments: 2
    "Wow, Miss Brave's strong."
    "Yeah, teachers have to be strong."
    --student conversation as I open a top window with one of those giant window poles

    On the first day of school, when I walked into the cafeteria to pick up my class from lunch, their 27 faces lit up' [...]
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    Posted: September 11, 2009, 10:25pm EDT
    by R

  • Obivously something wasn't clearly enough articulated

    Number of comments: 3
    We have these things at my school called "articulation cards." They're supposed to be used to place students in classes appropriately. At the end of each year, teachers rank their students academically on these cards. They also put down the names of other students from whom the student should be' [...]
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    Posted: September 08, 2009, 4:28pm EDT
    by R

  • Punching out...and in

    Number of comments: 4
    I wonder if there's a name for the condition in which one panics before the first day of school and finds oneself making endless return trips to Staples, forking over exorbitant amounts of cash for anything that might conceivably make the day go easier.

    If there isn't, I'd' [...]
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    Posted: September 07, 2009, 5:45pm EDT
    by R

  • Time for a back-to-school emotional breakdown

    Number of comments: 4
    It's been an emotional seesaw of a back-to-school week. First there was the nightmare of the backing paper; then I started to get a little excited about my room. Then I saw other teachers' rooms and worried that mine wasn't finished enough; then other teachers told me they thought' [...]
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    Posted: September 04, 2009, 6:55pm EDT
    by R

  • Next time, I'm hiring the cast of Design Star

    Number of comments: 6
    So I've been an elementary school teacher in the same NYC public school for two years now, right? I'm not exactly Ron Clark, but I know my way around the classroom. I know what a meeting area is. I know not to surround a meeting area with any fascinating [...]
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    Posted: September 02, 2009, 6:36pm EDT
    by R

  • School is a battlefield

    Number of comments: 0
    The past few mornings, I've been awake early, my mind buzzing with all the things I need to accomplish before school starts. Most of my tasks are mental -- how many classroom jobs do I want to have? What will our morning routine look like? -- and some of them' [...]
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    Posted: September 01, 2009, 9:05am EDT
    by R

  • ARIS this

    Number of comments: 5
    I'm willing to take bets that I am the only NYC public school teacher out there who logged into ARIS (that's the New York City Department of Education’s Achievement Reporting and Innovation System to you) before the school year started. As I was very diligently logging in to my [...]
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    Posted: August 28, 2009, 6:43pm EDT
    by R

  • Wackiness: As a measure of teaching ability, entirely underrated

    Number of comments: 5
    A couple of commenters on my last post agreed (in a complimentary way) that I get a little "wacky" during the summertime, which made me consider the unfortunate truth that I am not nearly wacky enough during the school year. Frankly, I'm losing a little bit of my wackiness' [...]
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    Posted: August 18, 2009, 3:19pm EDT
    by R

  • Putting the ACK! in August (or, Why are the stores already selling Jewish New Year cards?)

    Number of comments: 5
    It always takes me about a month to adjust to the rhythm of the summer. For the first two weeks in July, I dream about school: it's not over yet, it's just begun, I'm getting excessed, I'm being moved to high school, you get the picture. And just when I'm' [...]
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    Posted: August 05, 2009, 4:23pm EDT
    by R

  • What the new year will bring

    Number of comments: 7
    So I've been hibernating for a little while, getting used to the idea of being a classroom teacher for the first time. (Pet peeve: When my students found out I would be going to the classroom, they all said, "You're going to be a real teacher next year?" I [...]
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    Posted: June 25, 2009, 4:21pm EDT
    by R

  • Got a revolution behind my eyes, we got to get up and organize

    Number of comments: 2
    The organization sheet is here.

    But before I reveal its contents, let me just tell you about the grief it has caused me these past few weeks: I am exhausted. My head hurts. I itch. I couldn't eat at our potluck lunch this afternoon because my stomach was in' [...]
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    Posted: June 15, 2009, 4:37pm EDT
    by R

  • Rumor has it

    Number of comments: 0
    I now know that I am not second grade or first grade AIS next year. The latest rumor (one of my colleagues said to me, "Miss Brave, have you heard any rumors about yourself? Because I heard a rumor about you!") is that I'll be doing a second grade CTT' [...]
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    Posted: June 13, 2009, 9:20am EDT
    by R

  • Not counting my chickens

    Number of comments: 3
    So. It's not a secret that I don't always exactly love my job. But I do consider it a vast improvement over what I did last year. When preference sheet time rolled around, I dutifully dusted off my resume and worked up a letter of intent (because for [...]
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    Posted: June 07, 2009, 2:57pm EDT
    by R

  • At long last, a good day

    Number of comments: 1
    When I walked into the office this morning, I said to the secretary, "Who am I going to be today?" To my great surprise and relief, the answer was nobody! For the first time in what felt like a very long time, I got to be myself...and, for a [...]
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    Posted: June 02, 2009, 7:07pm EDT
    by R

  • In the past 8 days of school...

    Number of comments: 2
    I have had 5 full-day coverages.

    I'm not a math teacher, but even I can tell you that is messed up.

    Today I covered a class with a student who is, shall we say, behaviorally challenged. Severely behaviorally challenged. As in, when I was calling students to' [...]
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    Posted: June 01, 2009, 7:30pm EDT
    by R

  • The house that reading built

    Number of comments: 2
    (Why am I writing this entry at 4:30 am? Because I'm awake battling a fever, sore throat and chills. I'm not saying I have the H1N1 virus...I'm just sayin'.)

    It's running record time again, and I'm pleased to report that I moved my Polish-speaking Lukas from [...]
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    Posted: May 23, 2009, 4:08am EDT
    by R

  • R-e-s-p-e-c-t

    Number of comments: 4
    Yesterday a third grader at my school threw things at his classmates, gave his teacher the middle finger, made fun of her name by turning it into a vulgarity, and said, "F**k you" to her.

    Yet he won't be suspended until at least next week, because our school' [...]
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    Posted: May 21, 2009, 8:01pm EDT
    by R

  • Oink

    Number of comments: 1
    I've been especially grumpy at work lately, so grumpy that I thought I wouldn't even mind a school-shuttering case of the swine flu.

    But that was before I heard the sad news about Mitchell Weiner, the assistant principal at IS 238 who died from complications of the H1N1 virus. [...]
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    Posted: May 18, 2009, 9:15pm EDT
    by R

  • Trickle-down pressure

    Number of comments: 7
    I've been feeling really disconnected lately -- from my students, my job and from teaching in general. I feel like I'm starting to take out on my students all the inner resentment I have for the BS I'm asked to deal with, and I hate feeling that way because we' [...]
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    Posted: May 05, 2009, 5:20pm EDT
    by R

  • If wishes were attitude adjustments

    Number of comments: 11
    William and Jonathan have officially pushed me to the breaking point. Today, when I brightly called Jonathan over for guided reading, I was rewarded with a huge sigh and body language that screamed, "I hate reading, school, and you (not necessarily in that order)." While Jonathan and I were [...]
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    Posted: April 06, 2009, 9:30pm EDT
    by R

  • We gotta get outta this place

    Number of comments: 2
    It's preference sheet time again, and if I want to get out and enjoy the beautiful day, I should be busy as a bee cranking out my letter of intent to re-apply for my current position. (For whatever reason, all out-of-classroom teachers have to submit a resume and a' [...]
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    Posted: April 05, 2009, 12:52pm EDT
    by R

  • March: In like a lion, out like an even bigger, angrier lion

    Number of comments: 5
    Recently, we had a staff meeting about this year's Learning Environment Survey. Apparently, we didn't have high enough participation in last year's survey, so my principal wanted to give us the chance to fill it out on school time. And by "give us the chance," I mean "fill our'" [...]
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    Posted: March 27, 2009, 8:27am EDT
    by R

  • The causal agent of my frustration

    Number of comments: 1
    Because of budget issues, my school is no longer hiring subs, which means that whenever a classroom teacher dares to call in sick, we out-of-classroom teachers get pulled to cover their classes. (This has been pretty common for a while now, but it's become even more so since our' [...]
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    Posted: March 15, 2009, 4:19pm EDT
    by R

  • This weekend is brought to me by the letter L

    Number of comments: 2
    Ladies and gentlemen, we have our first grade-level reader.

    OK, that's not entirely true. I've had kids reach grade level (and surpass it!) after transferring out of my group. And I've had kids reach grade level who started out in the teacher's group, came to my group after falling [...]
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    Posted: March 13, 2009, 3:45pm EDT
    by R

  • The cycle of reading

    Number of comments: 0
    School has been a whirlwind of stress and a mountain of work lately (with the obvious exception of our glorious snow day). For one thing, our unit of study this month is "series book clubs." No one has done book clubs in second grade before -- typically they don't' [...]
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    Posted: March 06, 2009, 5:51pm EST
    by R

  • Snow day!

    Number of comments: 3
    One of those funny little role reversals about becoming a teacher is that you realize that teachers fantasize about snow days as much as students do, and we feel the bitter sting of disappointment when we face the disappointing truism that New York City public schools never close because of [...]
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    Posted: March 02, 2009, 6:37am EST
    by R

  • The best guided reading group ever

    Number of comments: 4
    Friday, last period. Mentally, I'm done for the week. Still, I summon up the last reserves of my energy and call together Stanley, Adam L., Adam P. and Victoria for guided reading.

    At level J, they're my highest readers (still below grade level -- at this point in [...]
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    Posted: February 27, 2009, 6:22pm EST
    by R

  • Tales from the front

    Number of comments: 3
    Yesterday I got a new student who speaks no English -- zip, nothing, nada, no "hello," no "bathroom," nothing. I paired him up with another ELL who came in knowing next to no English (well, except for maybe "bathroom") but who is now on her way to being a D [...]
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    Posted: February 24, 2009, 6:16pm EST
    by R

  • Thank goodness for mid-winter break

    Number of comments: 4
    What would school be like without vacations? I desperately needed this break (despite the fact that I already sort of had a break grading the ELA a few weeks ago). Lately I've been feeling really down about school without really knowing why. I know the constant rearranging of' [...]
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    Posted: February 18, 2009, 11:51am EST
    by R

  • A time and a place

    Number of comments: 2
    Imagine you're a lawyer, and you wake up early one morning to finish preparing your arguments for a case -- say your client is on trial for robbing a grocery store. You arrive early at the courthouse, review your notes and feel ready to go. But then midway through your' [...]
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    Posted: February 11, 2009, 8:43pm EST
    by R

  • A day in the life

    Number of comments: 2
    Since today happened to feel like a ridiculous day, but since it was also completely representative of my life as a reading teacher, I thought I would enlighten my readers with a blow-by-blow account! Let's call it "A Day in the Life of a New York City Public Schoolteacher (or,'" [...]
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    Posted: February 03, 2009, 6:26pm EST
    by R

  • It's always the bad boys

    Number of comments: 0
    Apparently William was in rare form while I was out last week, disrupting his teacher's lesson while she was being observed by our assistant principal and then pulling his favorite trick of spending all his independent reading time drawing in his reader's notebook directly under the AP's nose. I'm [...]
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    Posted: February 02, 2009, 5:18pm EST
    by R

  • Grading the ELA

    Number of comments: 9
    I haven't posted about school all week because I haven't been at school all week. Instead I've been at another school, on the other side of the borough, grading the state English Language Arts (ELA) exam for third, fourth and fifth graders.

    It's difficult for even an experienced teacher-blogger [...]
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    Posted: February 01, 2009, 3:29pm EST
    by R

  • But ask me how many kids passed the ELA

    Number of comments: 0
    I'm not at school this week because I'm grading the ELA (up side: I get to sleep an hour later; down side: I'm further reminded that the DOE is full of incompetent, disorganized idiots), so in the interest of getting to know Miss Brave a little bit better, here is' [...]
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    Posted: January 26, 2009, 5:59pm EST
    by R
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