Visit from the Johnsons

Michelle and I had the privilege of having our great friends Logan and Caitlin coming to stay with us here in DC for a week. We finished our last day of school last Tuesday and picked them up at the airport that same day in the evening, so it was a great way to start our summer break. I think we crammed as much as humanly possible into five days with them. We did tons of touristy things all around the city but we also relaxed at the pool, cooked great meals, went bowling, and did things like that. It was so much fun having them in town that it made me realize how sad it is that we only get to see them and our other friends from out West so rarely. But asi es la vida I suppose, until we can make out West. In addition to all the monuments, we also went to the Newseum and several Smithsonians that we hadn't been to. While they were visiting the 'Big Three' Smithsonians that we had both been to several times (Air and Space, Natural History, American History), ventured into some of the lesser publicized Smithsonians that are pretty much right there on the mall as well. We went into the American Indian Museum, the Postal Museum, and the Hirshhorn Art Museum (one of the 'weird' art museums that I don't understand at all but some people live for this type of stuff so I respect it). Overall I would say the Newseum is the coolest museum I have been to so far in DC. It costs money but, there are coupons for 25% off and other deals like that floating around out there. It is definitely worth it with a discount, and probably even at full price as well. There is a whole section dedicated to Sept 11th which is very moving. I will have to write another blog post soon about the Newseum and some of the other museums we have visited lately. At any rate, these are some of the pictures of all four of us having a good time in the nation's capital.

Our Front Room is Complete

When Chad and I moved in last year we bought some brown couches, which we like, but they didn't add much color to the room. We have been feeling like our house definitely lacked some color and didn't feel very homey, so I finally bought some curtains, made some pillows, and found some decorations from Ross. With the help of Chad and some great friends here is the result:

The Most Important Law

I am currently taking a class for my masters degree on child development. For my masters class I had to choose a student in my first grade class to observe and interview and then I have had to write tons of papers on the child's physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and moral development. I am currently writing my social development paper. This is part of the interview I did for my paper with a student in my class:

me: What do you think the most important rule is?
Student: follow directions
me: What are the most important laws?
Student: don't go the wrong way on the escalator
me (trying to stifle my laughter): Are there any other important laws?
Student (after thinking for a while): Don't jump on other people's cars.
me: Anything else?
Student: no, just those two.

The way these first, almost second graders, think is pretty funny sometimes!

Michelle Wallace: Teacher Of The Year

I am writing this post to let everyone know that Michelle, in my unbiased opinion as her husband, was the Teacher Of The Year. We only have a little more than a week left in our first year of teaching and it has been an amazing experience! We have both grown so much and are really looking forward to implementing everything we have learned next year (after a relaxing and fun summer break of course, did I mention that we are going to Peru for two weeks in July?). I have broken down the reasons into several sections why I have awarded her the Teacher Of The Year award.

Results:
Michelle's class as a whole grew over 2 years worth of reading levels in the one year she has been teaching them. Although only going into second grade, some of her students are at a 4th grade reading level. In terms of math, the class as a whole mastered 81% of all first grade math standards. As a teacher, I can tell you that the feats she accomplished in reading and math are very impressive!

Going the Extra Mile:
As a teacher, Michelle consistently went the extra mile to come up with creative lessons to help her students comprehend difficult concepts. Just to name a few, she dressed up as a detective to teach her students how to 'investigate' math problems where you had to figure out the value of a variable. The kids loved the idea of being math detectives so much that Michelle made them each their own badge. This is hard stuff for first graders, but Michelle's creative idea paid off! Michelle happened to get observed the day of that lesson, and the person observing her applauded her excellent idea and told her that it was a fantastic lesson. To teach her kids about chemical reactions and baking, she brought in enough ingredients and supplies for every kid to make their own home made ice cream in class. The lesson went very well and one student even said to Michelle, "This is the best day of my life!" Also, Michelle has organized some very exciting field trips that have helped students synthesize first-hand the things they have learned in the classroom. On one occasion, to help a student who otherwise wouldn't have been able to afford to go, Michelle paid a student's fair on the field trip but only told the student's mother that she had 'arranged for the child to get in for free.' Let me tell you that these few examples are only the tip of the ice berg in regards to how Michelle has truly gone the extra mile as a teacher. What Michelle has done is above and beyond what would be required or even reasonably expected out of any teacher.

Dedication:
As her husband, I know first-hand how dedicated Michelle is to being a teacher. In addition to working full-time, she is attending grad school and earning a master's degree in teaching. She will earn her master's degree in only two years despite working full-time the entire time. She has grad school class two nights a week right now. She also puts in many hours planning, making phone calls to parents, grading quizzes and tests and homework assignments, creating worksheets and handouts, completing grad school assignments, fulfilling Teach For America responsibilities, coming up with her creative lessons, and so much more. On top of all this she still finds the time to be an amazing wife and spend time with me and her friends. I truly beleive there is nothing she can't do; in fact, I beleive she could be president someday if she wanted to! The last thing I will say about her dedication, even though I could write so much more, is that she does it all for the right reasons. There is no overtime pay for teachers. She does everything she does because her students deserve it. When I ask her why she is doing something that creates so much extra work for her, she responds that her students deserve it and that it is the right thing to do. She has often times stated how she wants to do everything possible to make her students ready for the next grade level. Michelle never cuts corners, she does what is right for her students each and every time and in every thing.

She Cares:
This last category is kind of an intangible or an 'X-Factor' type of thing. As described above, Michelle really cares about her students and does what she does because it is the right thing to do. This has paid off. Her students love her. I won't go into too many specifics on this one but I know that her students appreciate what she does and there have been many rewarding moments for Michelle as a teacher. Her students have all grown tremendously and they really love Michelle.

For these reasons, and many others that I cannot possibly list here, Michelle is awarded by me the Teacher of the Year award. Congratulations Michelle, you truly deserve it!

DC Teachers Ratify New Contract

For the past few months, Michelle and I have had been able to observe and participate in a unique aspect of local politics here in Washington, DC. As teachers in DCPS, we are automatically part of the Washington Teachers Union (WTU). For the past few months, our union has been in the final stages of ratifying a new contract. IT had been a couple years since we had got a new contract so this was good news. One of the finals steps of this incredibly long process was for the union members to vote on it and ratify it. The contract contains some significant raises and more money to buy startup materials at the beginning of the year, along with some optional revolutionary ideas like pay-for-performance that could earn effective teachers a lot of money. I could write a whole book about the politics that go on at the local level between teachers, their union, the chancellor (like a superintendent), the union president, and the mayor, but I will just say that the last few months have been a wild ride but now the contract has passed.

If you want to see some of the back and forth among teachers with opposing views, read the 70-some odd comments on this person's blog post:

http://deedoesdc.blogspot.com/2010/05/why-i-voted-yes-to-wtu-tentative.html


Here is a link to the Washington Post about the contract:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/02/AR2010060202762.html?hpid=sec-education

Elder Wallace (My Brother)

My brother, Andrew, has been on his mission for 16 months. It is hard to believe how fast the time has gone by. What is more amazing though is that he was called to serve in the same mission that Michelle and I live in. Furthermore, he is currently serving about five minutes from where we live. Since he is in our same stake and since he is the zone leader he does splits with the other missionaries in our ward occasionally. Fortunately the mission president is really cool about us seeing him from time to time and he actually suggested we go out to lunch sometime (which we did!). We also went to see one of his baptisms, and he came by our apartment while he was doing splits with the missionaries here.

Live For The Commute

I saw the slogan "Live For The Commute" written on a public bus on my way to school recently and thought that that summed up pretty accurately how my feelings have changed regarding commuting to work in DC traffic since I started biking in once or twice a week. When people find out I ride my bike from Alexandria to the top of the District where the school I teach is at they often times react in one of two ways: they either can't believe I bike that far or they are in shock because they think I weaving in and out of traffic on crazy DC roads and freeways. Fortunately the ride is almost entirely on trails and hardly any of it is on actual streets (just a little bit at the very end). The ride is about 15 miles each way, so the round trip is 30 miles. That is definitely enough to get me my exercise for the day. In addition to getting good exercise, I also save quite a bit of money riding my bike in. Although it is convenient and efficient in the DC metropolitan region, the Metro is not cheap. When I ride the Metro to and from work it costs me $7.55 (total for the round trip for one day). By biking in once or twice a week my bike could pay for itself after not too long! Also, the commute is absolutely gorgeous. I didn't know there were such beautiful trails and paths in DC. I am on Mount Vernon Trail and Rock Creek for about 12 of the 15 miles. I get to ride right past the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and alongside the Potomac River for quite a ways. I really do enjoy riding in as much as I can. It takes a little bit longer than taking the Metro or driving but the benefits are worth it. On days that I ride in I feel great and I am looking forward to riding home for the entire day. I took all of these pictures while I was on my bike riding home from work. This should give you an idea of what the ride is like.

Funny First Graders Today

Student today: "Mrs. Wallace, what's your husband's name?"
me: "Mr. Wallace"
Student: "Do you have a dog named Ms. Wallace?"

Same student later: "Mrs. Wallace can you come over to my house?"
me: "No, I have to go to my house."
Student: "Ok, can I meet you at your house at ten tonight?"
me: "No, I'll see you on Monday."
Student: "Can we meet somewhere else?"
me: "I'll meet you at school at 8:45 on Monday (that's when it starts)."
Student: "Ok, I'll meet you there!"

My Adventure: Teaching First Grade

Funny first grade comments:

1.) "Student: Ms. Wallace, why do you and all the other teachers have the same name?" me: "What?" her: "Ms." "Did all of your parents name you that?" lol. I wonder how many students still have this same misconception.

2.) Student: "Ms. Wallace, I wish I could live with you!" The next day I was helping this student after school and when his sister picked him up he said, "Bye, Ms. Wallace, I love you!" Then he came back a second later and said, "Ms. Wallace, can I call you?" I laughed and said no, I'll see you on Monday.

3.) We made ice cream one day and a student said, "This is the best day of my whole life!"

4.) Student: "Ms. Wallace, which world did (another student) go to on vacation?" I had to explain that earth was one world and different places were called states and cities.

5.) On the bus for a field trip as we drove past a farm, "Look, there's Old McDonald!"

My Adventure

Being a first grade teacher has been quite an adventure. When I started I meant to write something about teaching every day - either in my journal or on our blog. There are so many crazy things that happen, I would have always had something to write. Unfortunately, I would come home from school too exhausted to write a thing. So this is the second time in the 8 months I've been teaching that I've written anything. For the rest of the school year it is my goal to start documenting on a more regular basis.

This year has been a crazy roller coaster. I teach in an urban school district where 99% of the students are African American and qualify for free and reduced lunch - in other words, very poor. Many of them come from rough backgrounds and difficult homes. My school has huge discipline problems, very low test scores, and high turnover - especially for principals. My school has had 12 principals in the last 4 years. The principal I started this school year with quit in October and we currently have a temporary principal until we get yet another one next year.

As a first year teacher, there is a lot of adjusting to do as you figure out how to structure a lesson, how to structure your day, how to manage behavior ranging from students too shy to talk to students so angry they scream, kick and throw everything in sight, and knock over tables, to students who refuse to listen or do any work, ever, to students who come to school so hungry they can't focus on anything. I do have some excellent students in my class who behave very well, but I have around 8 who fall into one of these other categories. One of the things that made this first year more difficult for me was the constant changes in the structure of my class during the first 2 months of school. They are as follows.

1. Me teaching with an aid, 13 students (1 week)
2. Me teaching with a different aid, 13 students (3 weeks)
3. Classes combine, co-teaching with another teacher and 28 students. (3 days)
4. Teaching 28 students by myself for 3 days
5. My class splits, teaching 20 students with a different co-teacher (2 weeks)
6. Teaching 20 students by myself (this is how it ended up for the next 3-4 months)
7. Teaching 20 students with an aid who came ocassionally (3 weeks)
8. Currently: teaching 21 students with an amazing aid

That said, teaching has been crazy and by far the most challenging thing I have ever done. I work about 70 hours a week (sometimes more) teaching, preparing lessons, grading papers, helping students after school, going to trainings, etc. It is very draining, but rewarding. At the beginning of the year I really enjoyed it, then week by week behavior started to get worse and I started to become more stressed and worn out, and enjoyed it less and less. By Christmas, I didn't know how I could keep going, and I really wasn't enjoying being a teacher. I liked "teaching", but was so tired of the constant behavior problems causing me to fight my way through a lesson and the outside problems affecting the lives of my students and my ability to teach them. There are so many obstacles to teaching I hadn't anticipated. Being a teacher means being a nurse, a counselor, a psychiatrist, a babysitter, an actress, a secretary...Christmas was a much needed break and I came back more prepared for the second half of the year. The next month was still pretty rough, but I kept doing my best. Toward the end of January I finally started to enjoy my job again. I got a little more of a grasp on discipline, learned how to plan more quickly, and I think the students just began to behave better and have more of a desire to learn. Then in late February I got another aid in my classroom who has made all of the difference. I love teaching and being a teacher again. It is still the biggest challenge of my life, I still work close to 70 hours a week, and come home exhausted, but I love my students and I love the challenge, and it is a rewarding experience. I have learned so much this first year and am excited for next year where I will get a change to start over and implement many of the things I have learned and wished I could have started the year doing.

Despite all of the challenges to teaching, my class is doing well. As a whole, they have made 1 1/2 years in reading growth, some students increasing their reading level by 3-4 years since the beginning of the year. Even some of the students who have really struggled this year are beginning to make more progress, more quickly. Seeing the growth in these students is so exciting and motivates me to continue to put in the long hours.

Best. Spring. Break. Ever.

How ironic is this: in college, Michelle and I never got Spring Break because we went to BYU and for some reason unknown to me they don't do Spring Break; however, now that we are working folks we got over a week off for Spring Break! Well, the reason is because we are teachers....I think that is ironic, don't you?!? Anyways, Michelle and spent a whole week in Florida for our break. We drove down on Friday night after work and stayed in Palm Bay (closest big city is Orlando) with some good friends who live there. We absolutely love living in D.C. but the change of pace, atmosphere, scenery, and weather was very much appreciated for one week. Since we didn't even get a Spring Break in college I am not sure how much this statement means, but I can say with certainty that this was our best Spring Break ever! We did a lot of fun things, such as visit Universal Studios Orlando. Hopefully you can see how drenched we are in this picture. It was as if we jumped in a pool! Michelle and I liked this ride the most, it was called Bluto's Barge or something like that (Popeye theme). I almost forgot to mention we went on it four times.
Obligatory theme park funnel cake. Can't think of many things worse for you, but can't think of many things that taste better! This tasty funnel cake came with some extra toppings I had never had on a funnel cake before. The Marvel super heroes section was probably our favorite part of the park. That is a pretty big picture of old Wolvey, no? I am about as big as one of knuckles.
This is me on Storm's (from X-men) ride. The theme of the ride was that you had to spin around as fast as you could to generate enough energy to defeat Magneto. Yes...very cheesy! All the rides had really cheesy themes, some were so cheesy that you just have to laugh!

This is me on Hulk's ride. I was planning on filming the whole ride but the ride started very abruptly! It caught me off guard because instead of going slowly to the top it just blasted off! Frankly, I am lucky I didn't lose the camera because I was still getting it ready when we took off. I did manage to get some funny pictures like this one.
Harry Potter's Wizarding World (a new addition to Universal Studios that they are making) doesn't officially open for a couple more months but we were still REALLY excited to just get to see some of the parts like Hogwarts.
Look out, Michelle! That Stegasaurus (sp?) in Jurassic Park is going to get you! I know, I am lame :)
Michelle looking cute as a button on the Jurassic Park boat ride.
Us boarding the Jurassic Park boat ride. Not bad for a take-it-yourself-with-your-own-arm-extended picture.
A very lucky coincidence for us was that the Sony Ericsson Open was being played in Miami the same time that we were in Florida. Don't know what that is? That's ok, you must not be as big of tennis fans as we are. You bet your bottom dollar we went to a full day of tennis in Miami. We bought full-day tickets and got to see a lot amazing tennis. My man Rafael Nadal gave a lesson to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, beating him in straight sets.
We enjoyed watching the doubles as much as the singles matches. Here I am watching an all Spain doubles quarterfinals match. Maybe it the fact that we were in Miami or the fact that there were a lot of Spanish tennis players still in the tournament the day we went, but there were more speaking Spanish than English. Its always fun to practice the old Spanish.
Bob and Mike Bryan (American twins and best doubles team of all time) in their matching outfits.
Michelle and I watching Henin and Wozniacki on center stage.
And now for the most important part of all: we got to spend four full days on some of the best beaches in the world (well, at least according to the Floridians). I don't know how you can really determine what the 'best' beaches in the world are, but I digress. We went to Cocoa Beach twice (and went to the famous Ron Jon's Surf shop in Cocoa), Daytona Beach, and Melbourne Beach.
Yup, we were pretty much the whitest folks out there. We didn't let that bother us though, we had a great time.
Having fun with the waves. Michelle probably won't like this picture up on our blog but I think she looks cute, bracing for impact of the wave. That is our friend Juleen to her right.
Running from the waves...or something.
Had to come up with some corny pictures on the beach.
Had so much fun, can't believe its over. Well, as long as we are teachers I guess we can do this every year!

Teaching So Far...

Today marks the 3/4 point of the school year. I can hardly believe how fast time has gone by so far (I know that is terribly cliche but it is true). I haven't really written about how the year has gone so far so I thought I would do it now. As is common for all first-year teachers, the school year started out pretty tough. I had a large class with a several individuals that liked to keep me on my toes. I am very fortunate though; I work at a very small middle school and teach a one semester long Spanish course. Since the course is only one semester long, I got to take everything I learned halfway through the year and start anew with the 7th graders. So halfway through the year I got a fresh start with a new group of students -- what a blessing! I learned a ton in that first semester. I learned how to be firm, how to be tough, how to handle all kinds of distractions and disruptions, and I was prepared for just about anything. Luckily, my new class (the 7th graders) is significantly smaller and their overall behavior is outstanding. This class that I have now is amazing. I know that I will not always have such a well-behaved group of kids so I know I can't let my guard down forever, but I am certainly enjoying teaching this group of students.

Overall I love teaching. It is a great job and I feel lucky to be where I am. I love working with people and getting to know so many people. I love the school I work at as well. Like I said before, it is a small school so I only teach one middle school class. I do other things around the school though to help in other grade levels. I also do a Spanish exposure type of class with different elementary school grades where I see them once a week. I think it is really great that I get to work with almost every kid in the whole school (because of being a middles school teacher and doing the exposure class to the elementary school classes). I am enjoying being at this school so much that I actually decided to become an assistant coach for our track and field team this semester. I don't really know anything about this sport but I help out as much as I can. Some of the kids call me 'Coach Wallace' now, which sounds funny to me.

Some other exciting news is that yesterday I found out that an anonymous donor funded a proposal I made online at a website called donorschoose.org. I made a proposal and explained why having an LCD projector would significantly enhance my teaching. I have lots of pictures and videos and stuff I would love to be able to show my kids, and now I am going to be able to. The projector will be mine so I am very grateful for that. Thanks to that anonymous donor, whoever you are! Another exciting thing about being a teacher is that we get a week off for Spring Break. Michelle and I are traveling to Florida tonight; I hope to come back to DC tanner after having spent some time on the beach. Michelle and I are trying to decide what to do with our time off this summer. Since we are both teachers for DCPS, we have the same exact work schedules. This is nice. We have the same days off, get done at the same time, etc. Other than these two years we that we will both be teachers, we don't think we will ever both have so much (paid) time off. We kind off feel like we should take advantage of this time and travel the world or something. On the other hand, we could both work summer school, make some extra money to pay off student loans and save for the future. It is a tough decision.

New York City

Michelle and I visited our cousins in NYC this past weekend. We had really been looking forward to it for a long time. We took Friday off and took a bus up on Thursday so that made it even more fun. It rained almost the entire time we were there but we didn't let it slow us down, we just grabbed an umbrella and put on an extra coat and hit the city! We walked through Central Park and visited a couple amazing museums. The Museum of Modern Art had a huge exhibit on Tim Burton along with all the usual interesting stuff. We also visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is hands down the most incredible museum I have ever been to. It is basically the best of all the Smithsonians here in D.C. all rolled into one. The first thing we saw when we went there was the Egyptian stuff and it blew us away. It was amazing seeing all this stuff in person. We also just had to see what all this cupcake craze is all about (we are always hearing about people in NYC going to gourmet cupcake shops). We went to Crumbs and got a couple cupcakes. They were delicious! We had a great time strolling through Times Square and also through parts of Brooklyn where my cousins live. There are some incredible views of the city and some bridges that we saw from Brooklyn. My cousins know a lot of really good restaurants so they took us to a Peruvian food restaurant (it had been way too long since I had a lomo saltado) and a Korean restaurant. We had a great time and look forward to our next trip to the city that never sleeps.