It's simple really.....

At the encouragement of friends and family I am going to start blogging more..does anybody even read this? who knows...but it will be fun to search back in the internet world thirty years from now and check up on all the crazy happenings of my life here in Philadelphia. 

2012 has had some pretty fun milestones

1. Finished another year at Mastery Charter School in West Philly

2. Jason is about to finish his first year as a social worker at the Hospital of UPenn

3. We adopted Lyla about a year ago, and since then have had fostered 3 pit bulls (Riggins, Scotch, and Sunny) and successfully found them loving homes =) God taught me a ton about patience!! Jason and I learned a lot about working as a team in training these pups...I think we'll just train our future children the same way...sit, stay, down...seems like a good idea

4. Bought a house in the neighborhood we work, go to church, and LIVE in..our community is broken and poor...but aren't we all? 

This summer I'm working w/ Teach for America (a program that places college grads and young professionals w/o education backgrounds in some of our Nations most struggling school districts). We train the teachers through summer school. I get to observe classrooms and give feedback and teach them strategies on how to make their lessons and classrooms stronger, thus preparing these teachers for their assignments in Detroit, D.C. Baltimore, and Philly. CLEARLY I love this job...I mean who doesn't like to sit around and give their opinion all day? and OBVIOUSLY i am fabulous at it....as most of you know I LOVE giving my opinion =) 

Last but not least...of course I have to give my opinion on the current state of education this city and country is in. The system is broken, schools are out of money, not running summer programs, cutting activities and classes, staff and resources, etc, etc.

 We could go around and around on how to fix it. Whether  you think this model or that model, this strategy or that strategy, standardized testing vs. non testing.....blah blah blah blah blah

If we equip our schools w/ teachers who are supported and trained well, teachers that work hard and care, set HIGH expectations and provide support to students to reach them.... ANY school can do remarkable things. We just received our Pennsylvania state test results. The same test given across the state. Whether you agree w/ the testing system or not you can't deny the results. In 8th grade math alone, 84% of our students scored Proficient or Advanced...the state average is only 70%. We surpassed several districts in the suburbs where the property tax is 5, 6, and 7 times more than the neighborhood of our students. Their average income per household is usually thousands and thousands of dollars more than our students. 

I am just saying that teachers at my school are the bomb...the problem is not the students, the problem is not even their situation...ALL kids can learn....are you willing to teach them? 

The "pitbull" lady

walking across the parking lot to the laundry mat (its catty corner from our apt building) a larger man called out "hey where are your babies?"

I looked at him a little strange and said "excuse me?"

man " your babies? aren't you the one with the two pitbulls?"

me "haha... oh those babies...yup..they are inside"

man "I see you walking em...or really see them walking you"

HAHA so basically i'm known in my neighborhood as "that girl with the two pitbulls"

there could be worse reputations.........

a rant and a rage

most of you know I am a teacher...and let's be real...I'm a pretty great teacher (toot toot...thats the sound of me tooting my own horn) and while we are being real, not all teachers are great. I was just reading a few stats from legit US departments (corrections, employment etc etc) that just peeve me to no end. Soooo, since I am pretty great teacher...let me educate you

Yearly
 1 in 57 doctors lose the medical license due to poor performance
1 in 97 lawyers lose the license to practice law due to poor performance
but only
1 in 2500 teachers will lose their job due to poor performance

Interesting eh?


In most careers if you are bad at your job you lose it, a company cannot (and most don't want to) pay you if you suck. However, if you are a public school teacher, part of the union, and have worked at the same school for two years you gain tenure and basically have a job for life as long as you show up and breath.

I talked to several real teachers in the city of Philadelphia who felt like it is infringing on their rights to be held to an accountability system or be judged on performance...what else would you like to be judged on? you want to see schools turned around, achievement gaps closed, drop out rates decreased...dont you WANT to get better, dont you want to open up your classroom and ask for feedback....you're a teacher for crying out loud....you should always be learning!

(let me just say that there is a lot of research and reform that still needs to be done on performance systems, scales, observations, etc etc but the conversation should at least be there! All teachers and students need the resources and support to be great...and unfortunately so many schools fall so short in that arena) 

On another note,

In PA alone 60% of current inmates are highschool dropouts. The govt spends $33,000 per year on a prisoner...so over 4 years $132,000 tax money goes into that prisoners life.

Yet, an avg private school student education(who tend to have higher percentages of students proficient in reading in math according to the us dept of ed) cost $8300 yearly... over 13 years of education that would only cost the state $107,900, with money left over for college.

And yet the PA governor increased money to state prisons and cut more money to education? what the heck? who did that guy have for a math teacher? certainly not me! 

Something is wrong here....something is seriously wrong....

I know that I wake up every day hoping to be a light of hope in those kids lives. I know there are many teachers out there who do too...so thank you! 

So today I was in a very witty mood, and it always comes out in my lessons =)

One of the kids came in my room after school to let me know how hilarious I am.

This is how the conversation went:

Student: "Ms. Kim, you were housin' today, I was dyin!"

Me: "What do you mean by housin?"

Student: "ya know..."housin"

Me: "No, I don't know that's why I asked..."

Student: "Ms. Kiiimmmmm...hooouuussinnn..." (please note emphasized vowels and read with a bit of a whine)

Me: "adding emphasis doesn't help bud, you can't define a word with a word"

Student: "Ok, Ms. Kim, ya know when you hoooooouuuuusssssssseeeee someone?"  (please note more emphasized vowels and read with a bit MORE of a whine)

Me: "oh now I get it thanks"

Student: "your welcome...see ya later"

student exits proud like he just explained quantum physics to me

love 'em =)