I haven’t forgotten my blog! Right now I’m doing lots of professional development, classroom preparation, and grad. school work.  Here is a visually confusing and very tentative copy of my teaching schedule:

Mr. Schlosser, Room 319

Southeast Middle School

2560 Tweedy Blvd.

South Gate, CA 90280

(323) 568-3100

[Advisement] 7:50-8:13[Period 1] DRWC Intervention Reading Program 8:19-9:12[Period 2] DRWC Intervention Reading Program 9:18-10:11[Nutrition] 10:11-10:31  [Period 3] Eighth Grade English (H) 10:37-11:30[Period 4] Eighth Grade English 11:36-12:29 [Lunch] 12:29-12:59[Period 5] Conference 1:05-1:58 [Period 6] Reading Elective 2:04-2:57

I’ll provide some more exciting blog reading material after school starts on Tuesday, September 5th

Institute is over, and there is SO much to tell!  The last days with my summer school students were golden–we had so much fun rallying the kids around the test on Tuesday and then just hanging out on Wednesday.  They are truly an amazing group, jam-packed with potential.  I’m running on empty at the moment, so I’m going to have to keep this to a short “plusses and deltas” update.  But there are pictures below, and they tell me those are worth a thousand words each. 

DELTAS:

• Our class did not reach its goal of an 80 percent average on the final exam, though many individual students did do very well.  The average score on the first-day-of-school diagnostic test was 35 percent; the average score on the same test four weeks later was 65 percent.  A significant jump, to be sure, but not what we had hoped for.  Still, most students had mastered the new vocabulary, and we saw striking improvements in student writing quality. It was paraphrasing and context clues that challenged the students most. I could offer many excuses for our not reaching the 80 percent goal: students who had only been in class three or four days all summer showed up on test day, the test itself was unfair and biased,  some students in the class have been speaking English for only a short time–but ultimately I know that they could have made eighty percent had I taught more effectively.  I can rest easy remembering that they did make significant progress over the summer, but I am also left knowing that many teaching opportunities were squandered.  Still, I have learned a lot, and I aspire to be a far more effective teacher in the future.
• I still have not figured out how I’m getting to work this fall if I am unable to drive… and the L.A. bus system is world-infamous. 
• I have obscene amounts of organizing and paperwork to get done before September 5th. 

PLUSSES:

• I got lots of positive feedback about my teaching from fellow CM’s and from my students, especially during the last days of school.
• I know my students were generally happy in class and that they actually learned something.
• I’m still very optimistic about getting started in my own classroom.
• I’m moving in to my new apartment in Downtown L.A. tomorrow with my roomie, Elliot Scaife, and we’re both pumped up about it.  The location–between downtown and Korea Town–is the throbbing heart of L.A.
• It seems clearer to me than ever that teaching is the most rewarding profession out there for me. 

ABOVE: Caught on camera in my “Can” shirt, which is now covered with student signatures, messages, and pictures. With the other three teachers for this group of students, we spelled out “You can do it!” during our test-day pep rally.  The backs of our shirts, when combined, spelled “Si se puede!” In the picture I am holding a bag full of raffle tickets. On the far left of the picture is Raul, then Emma, then me, then Carolina, and then Sheney on the far right (see her note below).

ABOVE: My awesome CMA group.  Louis, my Corps Member Advisor, is right in front of me with two thumbs up.  He is a great guy and an excellent mentor. 

ABOVE: A note from Sheney I got on the last day of school.

ABOVE: A gift from Louis, a snazzy framed picture of me working with Evelyn.   

Best wishes to all from L.A.!