Open -House

Anyone interested in the Teacher Education Program at Penn GSE in elementary education or secondary education can come to open-houses on February 2nd, March 1st, or April 19th. Hopefully, you can make it out to one of the following events and hear from current students, alumni and our amazing program advisor's. We will be providing food and informal discussions after a short presentation.

Where: Penn GSE, 37th and Walnut

When: 2/1, 3/1, 4/19 from 11am to 1.

Come and learn more about making an impact in education.

The Design

My classroom mentor (CM) and I sat around the lunchroom table during our 2nd period prep period. We were both tired. We kind of zoned out for a few minutes and then the sweet taste of coca-cola brought us back to earth. Back to the loud and crowded lunchroom, back from worry to our much needed break.

CC: "They really did not want to learn today!"

CM: "Yeah they were a bit annoying"

CC:"Oh well they got the main idea"

CM: "What was the main idea?"

CC: "Hell if I know!"

Laughs all around.

CM: "Friday's are tough, its not a big deal, they learned today but it was like pulling teeth."

CC: "I'm glad its Friday, Monday will be better."

CM: "That's the beautiful thing about teaching."

The two designers reflected and chatted for a while longer, plotting and planning for Monday.

Philly Foo-gasm

I have a few hobbies that are pretty important to me. I love to play soccer and basketball. I love to go to, sit in, study maps of, read about and admire airports (thats right!). Most importantly I love food. There is one place in particular in Philadelphia that makes me incredibly happy. The name of the restaurant is called Nan. Nan is a French-Thai bistro that will give you multiple foo-gasms. That's right. Foo-gasms. I define it as an extraordinarily stimulating eating experience. You know you have had a foo-gasm when your eyebrows uncontrollably poke up after taking a bite of food. I've had a few foo-gasms in my time but the best one has came from a senusous crab cake at a restaurant called Nan.

If I was going to die tomorrow and I had the opportunity to choose my final meal, I would eat at Nan. Why? Because of the crab cakes, the rich sauces and the bring your own alcohol policy (BYO- Yea, its pretty damn cool). I'm not going to explain what the crab cake tastes like, I'm going to explain what it does to my facial features. I believe this gives a better discription of the emotional impact that eating at Nan gives you.

When I take a bite of crab cake at Nan I first take a piece and soak it up in a buttery sauce. At this point I begin to smile. I'm smiling because of the anticipation. As I put it in my mouth I close my eyes and wait for the rollercoaster ride of pleasure to begin. As the taste of the crab cake begins to soak into my tongue my eyes curl towards the heavens, my smile deepens and then my eyebrows fly upwards with a jolt. At this point my memory becomes blurry. The taste overwhelms my awareness and erases my thoughts. When I'm done eating I know that I have had one of the greatest culinary dishes of all time. This is what Philadelphia is about. Philadelphia is about foo-gasms. Multiple, intense foo-gasms of all shapes and sizes. This is but one excellent restaurant in a city that has a variety of foo-gasms to offer. Enjoy.

Incarnadine Time

The class listens:

"It's 12 am and a man named Taimur is driving home from a meeting at work that ran late. A police officer pulls Taimur over for driving 60 miles per hour in a 45 miles per hour zone. After talking on the phone for a few minutes the officer walks up to Taimur's car and tells him that he is suspected of being a terrorist and he was wanted for questioning by the FBI. Taimur is then booked and sent to jail for questioning. During his interrogation he is repeatedly asked about whether he is a part of a terrorist group but he does not answer them. At 7 am the following morning he is handcuffed and taken to a car where he is knocked unconscious and taken away. Taimur awakens in a prison cell in a warm climate. He is kept in solitary confinement."

"What is fair or unfair about Taimur's situation?"

Jennifer: "his rights are being violated."

Mr. Clay:"How?"

Jennifer:"They don't have any evidence, they can't hit him."

Mr. Clay:"What if he is a terrorist? What if he is dangerous?"

Jennifer:"Then they at least need to figure that out before they take him away."

Steven:"If he's a terrorist he can't be out walking around."

Mr. Clay:"Does he have the same freedom as you or me?"

Steven:"It depends."

Mr. Clay:"Today we're going to talk about the Bill of Rights."

Mr. Who ???

When I came into class the student teacher gave me a note card and syllabus and asked me to find my new seat on the overhead. What was wrong with my old seat? Why is he changing things? And what happened to Mr. Frank, I don't even see him in here today. Is he sick?

The preclass is the same old thing. "Date and answer every question please." That's all the new guy says. Do this, do that. I'm sitting next to David. Great. The teacher is telling me that I have two more minutes to finish my preclass but I barely just sat down. One of the questions on the preclass asks me what two college's I want to go to. He let's me know that I have one more minute to finish so I take my pen out and start to answer the questions. Yesterday we had a classroom college fair, so we got to see all different types of colleges in the area. I really liked Penn State. I think I have a good shot of getting in there. I need to bring my GPA up though. He... what's his name? Mr. Clay tells me that its important. Mr. Clay walks around the room and asks for the college's that we're interested in. I want to ask him what kind of SAT scores you need to go to Penn State but I don't raise my hand, although I think he might know.

He gives us a four page syllabus! For the next three weeks! To top it off we have two homework assignments this weekend. I know we do because its on the syllabus. In big bold print and everything. It even tells us when it's due. Great. That's too much homework. I have to pick my sister up from school too.

In the middle of class he moves us into our groups and gives us a review sheet of the syllabus. He listed our group members in the syllabus too. I'm sitting with pretty much the same people sitting around me so we begin working on the review sheet. He says we have five minutes but if we take our time I'm sure that he'll forget. He comes over to ask us if we have any questions and I begin working but I just fake it. Sure enough five minutes later he begins reviewing the worksheet with us.

He finishes up the class by having us draw a circle on a paper and putting our names in the middle. He tells us to put the things that are most important to us towards the circle and things that are less important further away. We share in our groups and it turns out that David isn't Puerto Rican, he's from Venezuela. Lastly, he gives us our homework assignment this weekend. "Describe what event has influenced you the most up to right now?" Write one full page, single spaced, due Monday. I'm not doing this, I hate writing. He excuses us and there is a line at the door. Students are turning in their classwork. I get to the door and Mr. Clay tells me "Beatriz, have a good day, I look forward to reading your essay on Monday." And then he shakes my hand. Maybe I'll do my homework. Maybe.

Inequality and History

It's important to understand that Penn GSE's teacher education program is committed to social justice and examining how teaching is a powerful tool in creating social change. As a part of our commitment to social change this past week my entire cohort (secondary teachers) left our teaching duties to attend a workshop called "Facing History." The topic of the workshop was the Eugenics movement in the United States beginning in the 1880's. You might be asking yourself; "why in the world would you take a week off from teaching to study the Eugenics movement?" We did it for two reasons. To examine the role and cause of racism in our country and to learn from excellent teachers (our workshop leaders).

If you're looking for a teacher ed. program where you sit, listen and observe before you begin teaching, Penn GSE isn't for you. Our program is built around interaction with peers and professors. We talk, we talk a lot and we aren't afraid to voice our opinions. Were we always like this? Nope. The program pushes you to express your opinions and to think about your role in the classroom, school and society.

So, at "facing history" when the topic came up about the inferior quality of education between predominately white and predominately African-American schools in Boston, Massachusetts we expressed outrage. We wanted to find a solution. How can you have two schools that receive the same amount of money be so different academically? Some of my peers expressed frustration with the quality of teaching at the African-American school. A video about the schools explained that teachers at the African-American school told students "I'm just here for a check." How can students learn when teachers are not supportive and not holding students to high standards? It was hard for us to realize that the teachers and administrators might be the main source of the inequality.

You have to look at yourself in the mirror before you form an opinion about anything. This program teaches you to reflect. As painful as it is to glare at your deficiencies this program teaches you to do just that. Our history explains who we are today. To omit facts about history like the eugenics movement or to omit the reality of segregation in public schools only serves to perpetuate inequality. You can't accept inequality, you have to change it, you have to give everyone the same opportunities. Are you willing to step up to the challenge?

Jim's Work

As a teacher you encounter and interact with hundreds of students each day with complex and unique personalities. A student of mine named Jim (alias) is incredibly smart but his study habits leave a lot to be desired. Jim can ace difficult tests with ease but he finds it nearly impossible to turn in his homework on time. At open house Jim's father explained that he will study for a subject but cannot bring himself to actually complete work because he can't focus. For about two weeks now I have been hounding Jim to finish a Geography project to no avail. When I asked him why he hasn't turned it in yet he told me, "Mr. Clay... I just can't bring myself to do it, I got so many things running through my head at once, I don't know how to control it." How do you respond to that? I wanted to help him but I was clueless as to how. I told him that I would remind him every day until it was complete. The following day he comes into class and hands me a sketch of earth that was obviously created during Adisvory period (home room). We then began a conversation that went like this:

"Jim, this is your project?"
"I'm sorry my project is so crappy Mr. Clay."
"Try that again Jim."
"Sorry its so crappy."
"One more time without cussing."
"This is a really crappy project...crap ill try better next time."

Jim is now on a progress report; all of his homework assignments are checked and signed off by his parents before he turns them in. In the end I am glad that Jim cares about finishing his assignments and has the support to do so.