Adventures of a NJ TOY

Saturday, July 7, 2012

NY, NY pt 2.(Frank Sinatra)

June 26-30

Ellis Island!

As someone whose Italian relatives didn't come to this country until the 1910s, Ellis Island was somewhere I have always wanted to go, but never had the chance. It is another place that history teachers should not miss, but before you even get to Ellis Island, the ferry takes you to the Statue of Liberty. I am ashamed to admit, I had never been there either. I hung out on the deck in the open air like a dog hanging out of the window. I didn't want to miss a second.

I can only imagine what it must have felt like to actually come to this place and be poked, prodded and questioned when you just wanted to have the opportunity to get a job and make a better life for you and your family.

It appears that someone took a picture of all the luggage I took to DC with me to meet POTUS. After all, I did bring a lot of shoes. Just kidding (but not about the shoes)! This was actually representative of the items, often family treasures, that people had to leave out in the open while they went through the examinations.

This hall was lined with benches that the immigrants would sit on as they waited their turn to answer questions based on the ship's manifest. Contrary to popular belief, people weren't forced to Americanize their names here. In fact, their names had to match exactly what was on the ships manifest. Names were changed either before they got on the boat or after the passed through Ellis Island.

Since we are teachers, we had special access to the unopened hospital wing which is still in need of refurbishment. But before that happened, we had a few lessons with primary sources which documented the stay of a sick boy and gave us some insight into the tools used. My team had a puzzle to put together to prove mental competency. It all must have been terrifying for people who didn't speak English. An incorrect answer or the inability to comprehend what was going on could get you sent back to where you came from. We saw a very cool display explaining the hospital and what made it even better is that it was sponsored in part by my peeps at the NJ Council for the Humanities! Small world.

My NJCH peeps!

After working with the primary sources, we donned hard hats and set off for the hospital wing. While we were out there we also saw the remnants of a 1930s movie theater. I couldn't help but think how amazing it would be to restore that and watch some classic movies. Oh but to dream.

Unrestored hospital wing

The Movie Theater

All too soon, our time was up and we had to head home. Just in case we couldn't figure out which ferry to take.

And look, my ship has come in! Ok, so it is not so much a ship as a ferry, but it is definitely mine. I have been practicing my wave and everything.

On the way home we passed Lady Liberty again just as a sailboat was floating by.

We eventually made our way to NJ and one of the oldest railroad stations in the country. It was the departure point for all the immigrants after they left Ellis Island. Today there is an ingenious monument to the twin towers. When you stand and look down the middle, it points to right where the towers were.

The fellowship would continue for three more days back at Moorestown HS, but before I could rejoin my colleagues, I had a few things to do. I had a meeting with the Commissioner of Education in the morning and a speech to give at Rider University in the afternoon.

My meeting was interesting. I had run into the Commissioner a few weeks earlier in the elevator (strange but true) and he asked me what I had been up to. After describing some of my adventures in the space of three floors, he told me to stop by and see him. I got out of the elevator knowing that before I went into that meeting I had better be able to say exactly what I've been doing so I started dissecting my schedule from Oct-June. Here are some of the findings.

In my role as NJ Teacher of the Year I have done

27 speeches,
52 meetings,
15 appearances (non-speeches),
14 conferences,
7 media interviews,
hosted 3 school visitations,
travelled to Dallas, DC (twice), Seattle, NY, and Boston,
Been to 10 awards ceremonies,
served on 5 panels (scoring applications etc.),
... am on statewide committees for teacher evaluation, model curriculum and educator effectiveness,
guest taught lessons on civics and the law, the humanities, and 21st century learning,
wrote guest blog postings and maintain my own blog,
published an article (cover story!),
and put 13,000 miles on my car (and NJ is a small state).

It really put things in perspective. Consider that I was in the classroom full time until the end of January, while also taking a doctoral level class at Rutgers in New Brunswick from Sept-December which required a paper a week, a 15-20 page research paper, and a 15 page final exam (got an A of course). No wonder I am so tired! This job is not just ceremonial, it is a lot of work. I write my own speeches, schedule my own events and do my best to not only motivate people, but give them some practical steps to help them find their own voices. It is not enough to get people fired up, you must tell them what they can do to help bolster the profession and begin the culture shift that we need in education right now. It can be as easy as inviting your colleagues into your classroom to watch you teach a great lesson or telling a positive story about a kid who defied the odds when you hear negative things about educators. We are far too humble as a profession, and too often scared to speak up and defend ourselves. It is time that we started shouting from the rooftops that which is good about education.

Anyway, my meeting went well and I was left with much food for thought. Problem is, of course, that I have been so busy that I have not had the time I need to reflect and process the events of the last year. It became clear that I needed to stop and smell the roses, and soon. I have been out of my comfort zone for a while now, which is when growth occurs, but these days my life is moving faster than I am comfortable with. Each day is a rollercoaster full of extreme highs and extreme lows, which blows my mind because I thought my classroom was a pretty exciting place.

After my meeting, I had to give a speech at Rider Univ to the award winning student teachers around the state. I was nominated myself for the award back in 1996 when I did my student teaching, but didn't win. Somehow I think I have done ok for myself. *wink* One of the messages I delivered that day was that failure was not an option - it was going to happen. One step forward for every two steps back is my norm. For every award I have won, I have lost countless others. Failure is inevitable if you want to truly grow, the question is what do you do when it happens? Another message, one that I hold near and dear, is to get to know each student as a person because you can't teach them til you reach them. My students are more than my students, they are a part of my life. I told a story about two of my students from the class of 2002. The first was Leslie Bailey, my first student to become a history teacher. When she called and told me the news and informed me that she wanted to model her teaching on mine (and her wardrobe), I felt like I gave birth. It was an eight year gestation period. The second student is Yvette Hagins, my fashion guru who keeps me well heeled for all my events. Her mom called to invite me to Yvette's birthday dinner as a surprise guest. I was thrilled until mom told me that the fiance would be there. My defensive mode kicked in and I said that I hoped he was good enough for my Yvette. Mom said that Yvette wanted my blessing to marry him. Wow. There was baby number two. I will be attending her wedding in about three weeks. Teaching is far more than facts, figures and tests. It is about instilling hope, empowering our students by exposing them to choices outside of their immediate neighborhood, and encouraging them to follow their dreams. They need to fine tune the tools they will need like creativity, creative problem solving, critical thinking and connection building, but most of all, they need someone to believe in them, who won't give up on them even after they leave your class and the school.

This was early on, the place was packed by the time I spoke.

Outstanding student teachers from Princeton

My speech at Rider went well, and I had the opportunity to share the stage with the Deputy Commissioner, Andy Smarick, an all around good guy and recent father of twins. We got to talk a bit after my speech while handing out awards and Andy asked me if I had a family. When I replied that I was single and had no kids, an anomaly at age 41, he replied, "You have kids, you just didn't give birth to them." He gets it. I just smiled.

It was back to Moorestown for two more days and then back on the road. My mom gets a place in Ocean City, MD every summer and I needed to do some processing of recent events. I knew in order to do this I had to go where I had no internet access (the condo is like a cement bunker, crappy reception) and could just dig my toes in the sand and ride some waves for a few days and think. Of course the crab, caramel popcorn, skee ball, mini golf and ice cream didn't hurt either. It is not until you can step away from the noise of everyday life that you can achieve clarity. However it would only be a short vacation because Wednesday I had to be back for the 6abc 4th of July parade in Philadelphia. Can you believe it?

New York, New York A Wonderful Town...

June 24-26

So much for the lull!

Over the weekend I had another speech to prepare, this one for the award winning students teachers whose pile of applications I scored a few weeks ago. It's a good thing I got it done when I did, because that was all the free time I had that week.

I belong to the Ulysses S. Grant grant, a history fellowship in Burlington County under the guise of the Teaching American History Grant. This is the third year of the grant and I have learned so much about US history that the experiences with the group have been invaluable. We meet in the fall and winter for 2 day workshops and then in the spring we go on a history trip. This year's trip to Boston and vicinity was great and you cannot underestimate the value of being in a place while learning its history. We also have a 5 day workshop at the end of the school year when we teachers are all looking a little worse for wear after the trauma of the month's festivities. This year, we went to NYC for the first two days of the summer workshop as we learned about immigration.

Our first stop was Ground Zero, the 9/11 Memorial. It was a high security area and we all had to go through airport like screening. When we got inside, the outline of where the towers had been and the waterfall within was deeply moving, but the names etched on the granite that honored the dead were haunting. So many people, so many ethnicities. All around the memorial building was still going on and all I could think when looking at this rebirth was the city saying "You want a piece of me...bring it! You are going to have to be a lot bigger and badder if you wanna keep me down." You go, New York.

That afternoon, we went a noshing tour of the Lower East Side, an area that has seen it's share of ethnic groups move in and out of the neighborhood. We walked several blocks which normally would have several people complaining, but we got snacks from several vendors throughout the tour. Eating and history...sounds like a perfect afternoon to me!

We started with sweet plantains as we talked about the current Latin American influence on the area. Yum! We then started talking about the rich Jewish history of the area followed it up with a trip to The Pickle Guys for some Kosher Pickles right out of the barrel. Contrary to the name, they didn't just have regular pickles, there was also pickled mango and pineapple. Interesting, but not after the garlicky pickle.

After the pickles, we were off to The Sweet Life to have one of my favorite Middle Eastern treats, halva. It has a fudge-like consistency and is made from ground up sesame seeds and sometimes chocolate. It was delicious, but when we stopped to eat it, we were across the street looking at an old building that had been converted to a Chinese funeral home, and there was clearly a service/viewing going on. Made you feel bad about eating, but it also made me appreciate the here and now.

After the halva we trekked to Chinatown, one of my favorite places. Even though it was on the cool side weather-wise and had rained earlier, the smells from outdoor markets pervaded the area and a few folks got grumpy.

I was fascinated by what I saw in the windows and in the markets and on several occasions saw somethings that I couldn't identify. Certainly looked interesting though.

One of the original tenements can be seen on the left. These walk-ups were very closely spaced, which meant that unfortunately there was not much air flow unless you were in the room that faced the street.

While we were getting a little history on Chinatown and enjoying some sweet and spicy tofu, we came across this church.

I found its name to be a little unusual. Beth, in Hebrew means house and El means God. It is a Chinese church with a Hebrew name. Hmmm......

Next stop, Little Italy. We stopped at DiPalo's for some homemade mozzarella, salami and Parmesan. The crowd was pleased. The food was great all day, but I was surprised at the amount of people who turned their nose up at even trying the snacks because they were a little different then they would usually eat. Live a little people! Try something new! Unfortunately I think it is a metaphor for how many people live their lives. Nothing different, nothing new, no desire to get to know others who may not be like them. Sad really.

As we headed down the street, we were accosted by restaurant people trying to get our business. We were just trying to get to the local church where we would have our next snack, cannoli. Do I even need to say more?

Our tour ended back in Chinatown, which is right across the street from Little Italy, with our final nosh of the day, ice cream! Of course this was no ordinary ice cream since we were in Chinatown, one of the flavors was lychee and the other was red bean. Yummy! Sometimes I am very grateful that I am a bit of a foodie. I appreciated all of it.

We were then off to the Tenement Museum, which I highly recommend for anyone teaching about immigration. The owner of the building didn't want to pay in order to make the upgrades necessary for people to live there so the upper floors were essentially closed and sealed off from the world while the business on the ground floor continued to operate. The building was bought in the 1980s and was a treasure-trove of information. There are different tours, mine was a clothing sweat shop, and after seeing a few of the apartments on the floor and hearing how many people lived in them, my mind was blown. I love my family, but I would have serious difficulties living in such small quarters with so many people and no breeze! The stove in the kitchen ran all day in order to heat the irons needed to iron the dresses that were made.

Just as we got to the
museum shop, a
deluge poured forth from the sky. We were happy to hang in the gift shop a while, mainly because they had some unusual things for sale

Believe it or not, after the tour it was back to Little Italy for dinner at a place called Paesano's. After walking all day, we were all exhausted and stuffed so we rolled back on the bus to our hotel and called it a night.

Tomorrow, Ellis Island!

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Ode to Joy (Beethoven)

June 16-23

Just when my visit to the White House was beginning to seem like just a dream, I got this in the mail on Monday. It was right after this picture was taken that my mind blanked out and I can't remember what was said until I was walking away and managed to gain control of the awe that had rendered me temporarily speechless and without a functioning brain. I still can't stop staring at this picture.

It was a slow week, mostly spent in my pink cubicle at the DOE. However, since my sabbatical was only the duration of my school contract, this week I packed up and moved out of the DOE. This doesn't mean that my job is done... far from it. In fact, I will be working straight through the summer. It just means I don't have to report to Trenton anymore. In reflection, it is a shame that the sabbatical is only six months, (although it was closer to five for me because I tried to hang in with my students until the end of the semester) because learning how things operate and the new language of bureaucracy and policy making takes time. Not to mention it seems like everything takes six months to get accomplished. Just as I have learned how things operate, it is time to go. If the TOY had a full year sabbatical they would actually be able to dive in and tackle a particular project.

Before I received my picture with POTUS, I had an interview for an article being written for the NJ Council for the Humanities newsletter about a Civil War project I am working on with my students and the Burlington County Historical Society. Since the NJCH gave me my first award, I have a special affinity for them, and I am at heart a humanities girl. If you are asking what are humanities, the humanities encompass subjects that help us to explain and understand the human experience. I like to think of it as the view of who we are as human beings from 30,000 feet. Art, history, literature, law, religion, archaeology and languages are all encompassed by the humanities. It helps us to critically think, understand, and hopefully become a little more accepting of the things which makes us unique.

I spent the week preparing for a teacher institute that I would be presenting a session in this July and by Thursday I had packed up the cubicle and moved out. It didn't help that it was 100 degrees that day and I almost melted between the building and my car. Whew!

By Friday, the hectic schedule was back. I started the day with media training for the new crop of 2012-13 County TOYs. This exemplary group of educators have done some amazing things in their schools and I am looking forward to seeing what they will do this year. I was supposed to give them a look at what it is really like being the STOY, so I gave them a copy of my calendar. 27 speeches, 13,000 miles on the car, 5 committees/panels, 52 meetings, 9 media interviews, 10 conferences etc. and that only takes us to the end of June! In short, this position is not just some ceremonial thing where you shake hands and kiss babies. There is a lot of work involved.   One of the bonuses of the day was that I got to see my former student who is interning with Classroom Close up. So proud!

As soon as I was done with the CTOYs I had to scoot up to NJPSA for a meeting about the Common Core and some upcoming PD opportunities. It was a productive meeting and I am looking forward to working with this dynamic organization that is trying to deliver cohesive and comprehensive information that will be beneficial to teachers.

My last meeting of the day was with NJCTY, the group which comprises CTOYs from the last two years.  We have been doing some great things around the state with our message of positive communication for education, but it appears we have come to a crossroads and have several choices to make about the future of the organization. Right now, we are in desperate need of organizations that will promote teacher leadership on a state level.  Teachers leading teachers is the only way we are going to combat the negativity facing educators today.

I ended the week at a graduation party for one of my colleagues. A few people from work were there and people keep asking me if I am coming back to school in September, which I thought was strange. My reply... of course I am! I think that people have the wrong idea of what I have been doing because it was always my intention to go back to my classroom in September. People also seem to think that I am making tons of money with everything I am doing. Let me just say that other than earning my regular salary (being paid while I am on sabbatical by ETS- Thanks!) I have made no money beyond my salary (which is also stuck because my district has been without a contract for a year now) and will earn no money this summer for the two months I will be working, but I consider it my moral duty to do this job to the best of my ability and that means working all summer and even doing this at the same time I am teaching when September comes.  I have not been paid for any of the 27 speeches, appearances, or writing I have done. I am actually not allowed to accept any money as long as I am the STOY, and this is not a job that simply runs from 9-5 Monday to Friday. It is just like teaching, you do the job until the job is done, and that requires far more than punching a time clock.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

She's a Lady (Tom Jones)

June 4-16

These last two weeks have been the end of school slow down. I wasn't asked to speak at any commencement ceremonies, so I finally have some room to breathe. I did manage to take a day or two to catch up on backlogged things, like cleaning my apartment (although it needs a serious deep cleaning at this point) and doing laundry. It doesn't help that the teachermobile had to go in to have its steering column replaced after the power steering went out while moving at a rather high rate of speed while on I-295.

What I did have to accomplish this week was the scoring of another 65 applications, which took me THREE DAYS! It felt like I was grading final exams.

In the meantime, I had our final EPAC mtg of the year where we hashed out a lot of details. It has been a lot of learning, analysis, debate and thought provoking conversation, but I am glad I have been a participant. We need to have the teacher voice heard more often in policy decisions.

My other big events happened on Saturday. I got to give a short speech at the NJEA and NJ12 Scholar-athlete luncheon. NJ12 had done videos on all of the students, who had been featured as the scholar-athlete of the week on TV. The video clips showed their amazing accomplishments and how many were giving back by working with young people. When asked what they wanted to be, or what they were studying in college, almost all said business. Oh no! My talk consisted of warning them about life was about juggling, you have to know which balls bounce and which balls shatter. They were about to go into the great unstructured universe and they would be tempted. I also told them that they needed to surround themselves with mentors, because you never get too old to get good advice, and we teachers never stop caring. Lastly, I warned them that they had better be ready to fail because it was a matter of when and not if. Most of these kids had never failed at anything, and when it finally does happen what matters is how they handle it. Do you give up, take it out on others, or learn and adapt? I then made a plug for education, because from what I saw, these kids would make great teachers someday, and they already love working with young people! Education may not be as sexy or appealing as business, but they will get a lot more out of education than just a paycheck, so I encouraged all of them to take at least one education class in college. I was working hard to advance the profession!

I have put some miles on the teachermobile this year, (before it broke this week) but I thought that the mileage on the odometer was funny.

After a quick change into cocktail attire in the ladies room, it was off to the NJ Hall of Fame ceremony in Newark at the NJPAC (but only as an observer). It was a star studded evening and I even got to walk the red carpet and do some interviews. Michael Douglas was there being inducted, as was author Joyce Carol Oates, and the first African-American decathlon gold medal winner Milt Campbell and famed high school coach Bob Hurley. Several NJ greats were inducted posthumously including, Annie Oakley, Sara Vaughn and Christoper Reeve. We saw prior inductees like Buzz Aldrin, Michael Graves, and a great performance by Bucky Pizzarelli. Most famous of course were the 2011 and 2012 NJ STOYs looking fabulous and having a great time!