Good morning! I wanted to update last night, but my eyes were so heavy and I was so comfortable that the idea of getting up to find my computer wasn’t the slightest bit appealing. So, brief rundown of the day yesterday:

Spent the whole day with Jen at Rocketship – Si Se Puede! Can’t believe that their school day goes from 8AM-4PM. No wonder she doesn’t get home til 8PM most days. I’m so glad I was able to spend an entire day there. It was a really valuable learning experience. She’s really great at what she does.

Things I loved about her classroom management and instruction:

Differentiation. She does it. Wonderfully (I mean, all teachers should. But I haven’t really seen that up til now unless I’m in a special education class). She accounts for all of her student’s individual abilities, learning styles, and needs and develops her instruction off that. Within each individual center, she further differentiates based on her lower performing, middle performing, and higher performing students. (Can I just stop to mention that Jen has 60 students?!)

The kids are so well-versed in the classroom procedures. It’s so common to see teachers try to implement certain rules and procedures at the beginning of the year, only to let them slip away toward the middle and the end. But Jen’s really consistent about maintaining them and holding the kids accountable.

Positive Narrative –> Narrative. Instead of saying, “Wow, I really like the way Sarah is sitting so quietly,” it’s simply, “Sarah’s sitting quietly.” She narrates what the students are doing. All day. She is not praising them for doing something that is expected of them. She’s simply letting them know she’s aware of it. And it works. Because she holds these expectations of her “Bruins” and “Spartans,” they rise to the occasion. They want to do well. They want to succeed. And it’s an intrinsic desire – not something that they are doing because they want the praise for it.

Yesterday she was asking for critique and feedback, but I honestly can’t think of a thing I would change. She is really a great teacher – her kids love her. But more importantly, they respect her. She sees tremendous growth with each of her students – even her students that just moved here from Mexico only months ago. It really brings me so much joy watching her teach. Because I can see how much love she has for her students and how hard she’s willing to work for them.

After work, we met Juan and went to Willow Street again. This time, I got a picture of the infamous bread. Wasn’t as fresh this time, but still pretty unbeatable.

Now, I’m debating whether or not I should leave…The car’s packed, I’m basically ready to go…

But I just don’t want to leave! What if I’m halfway to L.A. and then get a phone call from some school in San Jose saying they want to interview me? I’ll kick myself in the face for leaving. I also just want to have more time observing Jen. I feel like I could really benefit from being here another week! So TORN.