“I still remember him wearing his glasses around his neck with a chain…he didn’t speak any English AT ALL.”
-A fellow classmate describing Hao Dong Deng’s first year at 102
When he graduates from 102 to attend Stuyvesant High School next fall, Hao will leave a familiar low-income, immigrant community to study alongside some of the most privileged children in the world, and able to access the same exclusive opportunities. (1 in 20 Harvard freshman comes from Stuyvesant and six other elite high schools.) In Hao’s case, education did its job as the great equalizer: it evened out the odds for someone from one of the most marginalized groups in our country.
No, 102 cannot change the world, no matter how much I pretend we can. But make no mistake that the many 102 teachers who refused to dumb down curriculum for ESL students, who never thought less of students who are poor or are recent immigrants, who pushed themselves to push Hao everyday to achieve, they absolutely succeeded in changing Hao’s world.
And that’s something incredible. On behalf of Hao and undoubtedly many more like him over the years, thank you, teachers!
Weekly Highlights:
From Ms. Mulé: As we approach the New York State exams, teachers have stepped away from traditional test prep and are embedding test taking skills in their lessons. Ms. Green had her 8-409 students choosing the best multiple choice answer by analyzing the passage and the meaning of wrong choices. Ms. Arlequin and Ms. Fischetti were working on short responses by teaching their 6-401 students what made a good claim when answering a question.
From Mr. Borelli: This week, Mrs. Pera and her 1st grade class infused their math lesson with literacy instruction. When we think back to Focus, literacy is the foundation to all learning. Mrs. Pera’s 1st grade class was tackling the oft-confusing concept of “greater than, less than, and equal to.” During this lesson, many Shared Reading practices were used, specifically reading a poem about a hungry alligator that preferred bigger numbers that tasted great as opposed to the lesser ones that left his “tummy sore.” With the help of Mr. Gator, students compared numbers and reasoned why the tens place is a better starting point than the ones place. These 6- and 7-year-old students, for this lesson, put concept building above rote practice and that made for an engaged classroom.
Things You Need to Know:
- You should continue your work in self-guided professional learning tomorrow afternoon. Please report to the auditorium at 3:40PMfor a brief information session regarding the ELA exam on April 5th-7th.
- ELA scorers will report to the scoring site on the 18th, and the 20th-22nd. Only the 4/19 date is cancelled.
- We will hold our first ever carnival on Saturday, May 21st, 2016.It will be open to all families in PreK through 4th grade. All staff and their families welcomed! This is a great opportunity for us to continue building trust and rapport with our families in a neutral context, and I’ll look into whether I’m able to pay staff per-session.
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