The City Year life is as exhausting and rewarding as it's ever been. I haven't spent much time at school recently, with winter break and then a CYDC retreat that took us out of schools last week. So I'm really excited to get back to Ferebee tomorrow and reconnect with my students. On a sad note, DC Public Schools recently made a finalized decision about schools that will be closed next year, and Ferebee is among them. Because The Hope is so under-enrolled and under-performing, it will be consolidated with a nearby elementary school. That means all of my students will have to make the transition to Hendley next year, and despite a small protest effort on behalf of a few staff members/parents (hence the "Keep Hope Alive" slogan), the next few months will be Ferebee's last. This is a really conflicting idea for me as a Corps Member because I wouldn't be serving another year at Ferebee anyway, but it's sad to think of all my students making the transition to a place where they will have to start over and learn to interact with people they don't know, which is always a challenge for them.
More happily, I have begun to see improvements in my students' course performance and behavior. The behavior fluctuates on a day to day basis, but for the most part I've noticed that I break up fewer fights on a daily basis. And I can see that a few of my boys are making concentrated efforts to work harder and get in trouble less, which is very encouraging! All of my focus list students improved on their last PIA (Paced Interim Assessment, which measures their progress throughout the year), both in math and reading. This is excellent news, as it means that their time with me is effective.
In other news, I am in the process of figuring out my life for next year. I'm applying for a senior corps year at City Year, which would mean serving as a Team Leader at a school. I'm also applying for law school because my LSAT came back much better than I hoped! However, I'm applying pretty late in the year, so that makes acceptance rates a lot more unpredictable. So I'm going to submit a bunch (19) of applications and then see what happens. I know I could always defer if I am accepted to a senior corps year and opt for that. Basically what I'm saying is that I have no idea what I'll be doing next year, but hopefully I'll still be here in DC!
Jilli, I am so sorry to hear about the school closing next year, especially when the students are starting to make progress. Transitioning to a new school will be difficult for many of the students. Students who are struggling behaviorally and academically need consistency and a great deal of support. We can only hope that they will have good teachers and assistants like you in the new school.
ReplyDeleteI hope that you get many positive responses from your law school applications! Good luck as I fully expect you to become one of our first woman presidents!
Love the picture of the snow in DC. We are having an ice storm in Chicago right now, however it doesn't yet appear to be as bad as they predicted. Regardless, I'm staying home and keeping warm today... and of course, watching Downton Abbey later tonight.