GEA's First Ever "Inspire Week"

This week, my school hosted it's first "Inspire Week," where were inspire our students through the sharing and exploring of colleges and careers.

Many students in our community lack role models who have attended college and gone on to professional careers.  We wanted to provide our students with an opportunity to meet and talk to individuals that have careers that would inspire our students.

Some of the guests we were invited to meet included:
- Dr. Merrill, a dentist
- Roxana Ramirez, an environmental engineer
- Dr. Kang, a pediatrician
- Matt Kang, a small business owner and editor
- Matt Sayles, a photographer
- Jesus Perez, an engineer
- Michael Ortega, an engineer
- Stacy Gnall, a poet
- Carmen Gutierrez, a non-profit assistant director
- Joe Choi, a bank manager
- Anna Kim, a lawyer

It was really interesting to see our students challenged to achieve great things from others, both in and out of their own communities.  Many students were surprised to hear the diversity of occupations in the world and how important their education would be in achieving their professional goals.

Hired!

After two years of searching, I finally will have a classroom to call my own.
I know that it's not what I set out to look for, but I'm sure that this is where I need to be.

I found the answer to the question I asked myself couple years ago "why in the world am I working at Korean Air?"   Now I know.

It will be my second time trying to teach non-Korean students how to speak, read, and understand Korean.  But I think this time, I may have a chance at using Korean to make my students feel confident and successful in their accomplishments in learning a new language.

I know I lack so much, but in my weakness, I hope that His power and grace is revealed.


I pray that this year, I will be a teacher that can support my students and help them realize their dreams.

Stick around to find out what unfolds this year!

Americans know it as the LA Riots, but I still remember it every year as Sa-I-Gu (4-29).  It's the date that is engraved into my psyche as a Korean-American girl, growing up in Los Angeles during the 1990s.   It's the date that has colored my skin yellow and sunken deeper into my soul.  It's a date that makes me struggle with my own racial identity and my dreams of a world where race and ethnicity doesn't matter.

It's a date that makes me remember one of the reasons I want to work in the inner cities.

I can't continue to write this post without feeling anguish and regret as I connect the events of 20 years past to the recent events of young Trayvon.  Our society is still a long ways from the dreams of many, but I pray that the future holds many more opportunities for us to show that we do not have to act on our prejudices.  We do not have to fill our hearts with hate and past wrong-doings, but to move forth with compassion and greater love.

10/4/2011

It's already the 4th week of school and I've spent most of my time with my Den 1 students.  This is the group I am supposed to know the best, yet I realized today that I still have so much to learn about my students.

Last week, James was absent Wednesday - Friday.  I was concerned, but assumed that he had gotten sick with a cold... since he always has a finger in his nose or in his mouth.  It turned out that he had broken his arm during afterschool, on campus.  Fortunately, he broke his left arm and he's right handed.

Since he broke his arm, we've tried to keep him indoors during recess to avoid any further injuries to his healing arm.  Today, during recess, we let him draw.  He drew a picture of a plane and he said his dad was in the army and flew planes.  It was in that moment that I realized I knew very little about his family other than the fact that his mother drops him off at school everyday and he occasionally goes to afterschool on days his mom works.

James is a good student for a kindergartner.  He know his alphabet pretty well and he's pretty good at his alphabet craft and writing.  He's usually able to stay on task at his desk, but seems to find ways to get distracted on the rug and in line.

I've seen his crafts, but I have yet to talk to him to find out about what his hobbies are.  I'd assume that one of them would be riding his razor-- he rides it to school everyday.

I will make it a goal to get to know my students better... away from the "teacher" position, but from a stance of love and concern.

Staying Positive

I haven't posted much in the last few months.
It wasn't only because I was getting lazy or forgot about this blog.
I was feeling really discouraged with the current employment situation in Los Angeles.
For a new teacher, the only options for full-time teaching opportunities were at charter schools.
I know that most of my cohorts will be employed at a charter school this school year, but I really didn't know if I wanted to take part in that system.
Now I know and I can only wait for an opportunity that really matches my passion.

I'm going to stay positive and keep my eyes and ears open for opportunity.

Wayside Arthimetics

Blast from my past... these Wayside Arthimetics books are great!
I loved them as a child and now I love them as a teacher.

The books have arthimetics problems that really challenge students to think about place value and number sense.

I'll have to finish this post later, since I'm still working on my Math PACT (Due in 24 hours!)

Room 11

My first student teaching assignment has ended and I've said a lot of good byes, but I feel like I'll never really leave Room 11.

These were my first class of students.
They say your first class always stays with you and I'm sure they will.

I've learned so much from these kids.

And it's only Wednesday...

I'm so glad it's Wednesday...
SO GLAD.

It's been a rough week of student teaching.

• One of our Word Knowledge words was "fernlike" and I tried to describe the word using a picture I drew on the whiteboard that I thought resembled a "fern." Apparently, I'm a bad artist... A girl raised her hand, I thought she had a "connection" to our vocabulary word, so I called on her.  She pointed to my "fern" and said "it's like a marijuna leaf."
• A student said "I'm not going to be here on Monday.  Or on Tuesday.  Or on Wednesday.  Or on Thursday.  Or on Friday."  I think he's mad at me...
• During snack, a girl took a spoonful of yogurt and decided to "share with friend"... she spooned a dallop of yogurt into the palm of her friend. The friend was about to lick the yogurt off her dirty palm, but I stopped her.
• The /wh/ sound spelling is the focus of our spelling words this week and a student asked me "how do you spell 'why'?" This was right after an 30 minute spelling activity and 'why' was a word we covered.

Did I mention, I am student teaching in a 2nd grade class? #SMH

My Teaching Philosophy (in progress)

One of the really important assignments for our teaching program this quarter is to create a teaching philosophy/autobiography.
Our first prompt was on why we want to be teachers in urban schools.

I struggled to write this at 11pm the night before the assignment was due, after I came home from a 17hr day of student teaching, class, and tutoring.

Why do I want to do this?

So I started to write...
I'm sure this will change over time if this is a reflection of who I am.
This process of becoming a teacher is changing me, so I am certain that this will change, but for now, this is why I am pursuing urban education.

Why do I want to be a teacher?  What brought me to teaching in urban schools?

I want to become a teacher in Los Angeles because every year I will get to make a colorful name chart with the names of twenty to thirty students that will be part of my learning community.  The last names, written with bright Crayola markers, reflect a rich history that spans the globe and also make tangible the diversity that I live in. Teaching in an urban school gives me the unique opportunity to be an integral part of the lives of those students that come from diverse backgrounds that make up the diverse backdrop of Los Angeles.  Together, my students and I can be a part of a learning community where education becomes a tool to strengthen the individual and to change the community and society.

My calling to serve my multi-ethnic community began to take shape in college, while I discovered my identity as an ethnic minority and a woman and was introduced to the principle of social justice.  Despite the hardships my Korean immigrant parents encountered in America, they raised me as a “model minority” – a term I learned in my first quarter at University of California San Diego that rocked my world.  It changed how I saw myself and my world.  I realize that I was still a minority and part of a world that is still heavily influenced by socially constructed ideologies of race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, class, and citizenship, which continue to perpetuate inequality in American society.

My interdisciplinary education in International and Immigration Studies made me thirst for knowledge about our modern world, diversified through globalization, but also hunger for unity in a fragmented society.  My studies and my upbringing in Los Angeles have shown me that diversity can be fragile, but so powerful.  Diversity and social consciousness are important steps to addressing many of the social injustices.  I knew where my passion lay, but it took several years after my college graduation to lead me back to school, both as a student and as a teacher.

On October 31, 2009, as I waited for my flight back to Los Angeles from a business trip in Korea, I realized that I was ready to learn how to be a teacher in some of the most challenging communities. After three years of working in the private sector, for the gains of two international companies, I realized that there is nothing more rewarding and worthwhile in life than to do what you love and for a cause that you are passionate about.  And I loved kids—every teacher says that, it's a prerequisit.  I was giddy.  Giddy with the thought that I get to spend my future in the company of children that would actually appreciate my energy and enthusiasm, which always seemed a bit out of place in the corporate world.  By the time I boarded my plane, I had decided.  I was returning to Los Angeles, my home and my community, to serve it and the many children that also call Los Angeles their home and community. 

I am fully aware of the challenges of teaching in urban schools, including low socio-economic conditions, violence, high turnover rate of students and staff, and various family and social problems.  Despite all the challenging circumstance, I believe that the learning community that I will share with my students will be an opportunity for us to grow and bring justice to a society that is dominated by inequalities.  I think that social justice is a purpose that is worth of the labor of love that goes into teaching in urban schools.

Now, in my fifth month of TEP, I am doing my best to learn and listen, so that I can teach and speak on behalf of students in the underserved communities of Los Angeles. Everyday I enter my school, wearing the first smile of the day that some of my students will see.  I’m ready to wear more than one hat; I will be an instructor, a counselor, a social worker, and even a mom, so that my students can have the opportunity to learn and the support they need to develop themselves.  I dedicate my future to urban teaching because serving the children of underserved communities is not a short term project, but a life long journey.

CBEST (done), CSET (done), RICA (done)... PACT (in progress)

The journey has been long... and there's still a long ways to go before I get my multi-subject teaching credential, but I'm glad that I have at least this whole year to develop myself as a teacher and my craft of teaching.

Even a year feels inadequate, but I'm glad I have this year of student teaching to smooth out some major wrinkles and fill in some gaps.
The harder I try now, the better teacher I will be for my students, right?

Remember

I came across this on Postsecret today...

This is for me... later
On those days when I am exhausted and spent.
When I'm tired of working against the system.

I'll have to take a picture of my painting that I did at Inner City Arts.
It's my personal reminder.

Classroom Anthem

I may make this the anthem of my future classroom...
But there's so many song I like... maybe I'll end up a soundtrack.

Rage Against the Machine
"Take The Power Back"

To expose and close the doors on those who try
To strangle and mangle the truth
'Cause the circle of hatred continues unless we react
We gotta take the power back

Morphe(me)

This is my newest project.
And I think this is what I've been searching for all these post-college years.

I will chronicle  share purge my ever-changing bits of meaning, which I have gleaned through my learning and my teaching as a novice social justice educator in Los Angeles and graduate student at UCLA in TEP.

It must be all the RICA I have been cramming for... I had phoneme, graphemes, and morphemes on my mind still.

How appropriate that I name this blog Morphe(me)
mor·pheme: the smallest unit of meaning
to morph: to be transformed

My transformation, written in the smallest units of meaning... a mini blog.