The Power of Understanding Math Concepts in Middle school

I am more than happy to share this with you all! This year, I am teaching 6th and 7th grade math!!! I love teaching something concrete such as MATH!!! LOVE it! With this in mind, I have to say I love it when students feel proud of their work and understand the skill when it is given to them in steps or  in detail.  The two students I am showing work from are two kids who DISLIKE math! They are always insecure and tend to have a hard time working independently, however, during this class, they were the ones that wanted to explain their work and even labeled how they worked throughout their independent work! During their sharing time, they came up to the front and explain what this data means!! I ALMOST cried because they made me so proud! They feel comfortable with my explanation, but most important, they feel comfortable with math! Now, its time for them to feel this comfortable throughout the year! I have to keep on fighting the hate against math!. 

The pictures below shows their way of setting up the problem given to them. Love the organization from each one of these individuals! I truly had a #proud # teacher moment! 

House music and Teaching

Throughout the years, music has influenced how I represent myself and what calms me down when I need to vent and relax. I have to say this year has been extremely interesting (ups and downs) and my favorite music has been there to help me through these ups and downs! I have been able to remember the reasons I love Tropical House Music and some trance, but in this country, we know it more as EDM. 

I am proud to say this year some of my students and myself will start a "House Music/ music" club with some of my 6th grade students! I am thrilled to say one of them knows how to DJ and does a great job at it, another one plays the piano and drums! We will be collaborating and practicing some songs together. 

The picture below shows what we listen too and what I listen to in my daily basis. I love sharing this with my little ones.

The Power of Traveling

This quote defines me completely. I am sure it also defines many people who have traveled to different parts of the world and have met amazing people. This summer was one of the many summer I have enjoyed traveling, but this time it was to my country of origin, Ecuador. I have never felt more empowered to go back and meet with the people I grew up, not only my family, but my middle school friends.

As always, I like to keep in touch with everyone and I have to say, THANK YOU Facebook for allowing me to communicate with them again!

This trip did not just allow me to communicate with them, it also allowed me fall in love with the beauty and nature of the country itself. As young adults, we were able to share things we remembered from middle school, talked about the ones that got married, the ones that also left the country and those who are still around! The best part of this trip was that we created NEW memories and these memories have strengthen our friendship! Thank you Verito, Indi and Pal for making it amazing and unforgettable.

MS walk along with an amazing woman

Since college, I have been involved in community service. This is something I also do while being in the classroom. This year's involvement was on Multiple Sclerosis, commonly known as MS. This year, I signed up for a good, more personal cause! I found out one of my amazing friends and coworkers has MS and this drove me to sign up and Walk for MS. This time, it felt very very personal.

I decided I did not want to go out the day before because I wanted to have enough energy to walk it with my dearest friend, who shall remain anonymous. While at the walk, we both are cold and in need of coffee. We have decided to walk the 1 mile walk because I needed to go to the airport and pick my younger sister who is visiting for a month and she did not want to be tired from the walk.

While we are finishing the walk, her words to me were: "Thank you so much! I am blessed to have met you and learned from you". These words touched me deeply because this is how I have felt about her since I started working at this new school and the support she has given me cannot compare to these words. I was teary!

The next day, she sends a text saying: "I had another relapse but thank you for doing the walk with me". I thought to myself, WHAT A STRONG WOMAN!

Luckily, I AM surrounded by strong women!

Saturday brunch with some of my students

The things we do for some fun! Saturday was a perfect example of the weird things we do for our loved ones! Since my sister is still visiting me from Ecuador, I decided to take some of my students on a Saturday Thai lunch special in the UWS. This was their first time in this area and their very first time eating Thai food! In the beginning, this event was created to help my sister connect with other kids her age that would still speak her language or that she would understand a bit, but it turned into something very special for me and for their bonding time.

The kids were very respectful and loved loved loved the food! Since I was very comfortable with them, I decided to take them to Central Park and let them have some kid fun! 

Within this time, I saw two things happening. First, my sister was not feeling shy or left out because because she was surrounded by others her age. Second, the kids learned about other cultures and were also inspired to try to seek the lifestyle they saw in the UWS! 

With this in mind, I had the coolest Saturday with my students and sister!! :)

What does ICT mean for a Special Educator? Positives and Negatives

This is my fourth year teaching in in NYC, second year teaching in the Bronx and the more I learn about my profession, the more I fall in love with it, but it also becomes more challenging! 

This is also my second year teaching in an ICT (Integrated Co-teaching) environment but this time, all my classes have an ICT setting.  Although this is my second year teaching in such setting, I have put together some personal positives and negatives about being a Special education teacher working along with a general education teacher. 

Positives:
- Co-planning can be great when both personalities respect and show each other a level of professionalism. 
- If material is given to the special educator before the actual lesson, then it is easier to modify it. 
- Students have double the help when it understanding the content becomes a problem.
- There are multiple ways of gathering data in which the responsibility is shared.
- Students and teachers feel comfortable and enjoy the class.
- Projects can be directed differently depending on the students' needs and preferences.

Although all of these points seem logical, sometimes it does not work that way leading to the following negative points:

- When teachers don't communicate, students can see it and may take advantage of it.
- Lessons are not planned carefully.
- Mediation between the two parties is needed.
- Everyone becomes miserable. 
- Students show negative behaviors. 
- Personalities may clash and it will not create a good professional environment. 

The reason I am only labeling these four negative points of ICT is because these are the points I can see causes direct effect on our students and our teaching methods. 

ICT is supposed to help the students and it works wonderfully when the two teachers have great ways of working together and treating each other equally.  My experience so far has been both positive and negative. 


Note: I will write another blog in the middle of the year to see if something has changed or not. Thank you for reading.