New York, New York!

Claude Monet's Bridge Over  a Pond of Water Lilies

One of my favorite intro songs to a movie is "New York" by Alfred Newman in the Lauren Bacall, Bette Grable and Marylin Monroe movie, How to Marry a Millionaire. New York, New York,.... I know you all aren't classic movie fans like myself, but this one is definitely in my top 20 and the song encapsulates how amazing the TNTP Fishman Prize trip to New York really was!

Good company, amazing food (Colonie and Frankies, Brooklyn), awesome audiences hanging on to our every word, and beautiful weather (until 6pm on Wednesday when I was trying to fly home, let's just say JFK is not the most interesting place to get stranded due to Tropical Storm Arther, soon to graduate to hurricane status). Why I chose to stay a few extra hours, The MET. Was it worth? I'll have to decide that when I get home to Tampa, 2am? 3am? never? Still, I can't help but love The MET. Every time I walk into the Impressionist Wing I become giddy with a smile from ear to ear. I just can't help it. I could sit there for hours! Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir, I can't get enough!

Ok, but the real reason for this post is to talk about the amazing experiences from the NY trip.Starting the trip out will a letter from Michelle Obama is pretty impressive! From there we we got to chat and get to know one another more. The TNTP team is so talented and I feel so luck to be a part of it! David Keeling, Chris Arnold, and Tiffany Chen have it covered from start to finish. Their passion for their work at TNTP and with the Fishman Prize winners is displayed in energy that is infectious. You can't sit in a room with the three of them an not laugh and smile. The same can be said for the other Fishman Prize winners, Laura Strait (4th grade), Steven Sanders (band), and Mike Towne (physics).

Spending quality time with these amazing people has changed my life. I love teaching and can't imagine a life without it, but the conversations and close readings will not be forgotten. Have you ever done a "close reading?" Me either, until Monday, and boy I did not know what I was getting myself into! I felt like such a student, but it was fantastic regardless of the intitial pain. :) I would highly recommend reading The Irreplaceables and Shortchanged, when it is released. Bored to Death by Amanda Ripley was also pretty interesting. Have you ever wondered if your students were tweeting during class? The article brings up some alarming statistics. A Gallup poll found that one out of every two teenagers in the US choose the word "bored" to describe their school. Another study of 467 high school dropouts found that nearly half said boredom was a major factor in their quitting school. This is crazy! I think my class is pretty engaging, but I will be checking twitter a little more frequently to see what students are saying.

What a week! Tuesday was packed with video calls to John King, New York Commissioner of Education, and Doug Lamov, author of Teach Like a Champion. We even took a trip to Collegeboard. I loved it! Put me at the front of a room with 40+ people asking questions and listening to every word and I am almost as happy as I am The MET. Maybe public speaking will be in my future! It is so difficult to express in word the feelings and emotions that are accompanied with being surrounded by passionate educators and leaders in the education field. I have never quite experienced this to such a high degree. I will hang on to these memories forever!

Next up, first draft of my TNTP essay. A huge thank you to my AP English teacher from Anthony Wayne HS, Dr. Berta! I confident that I can make him, and myself proud.