February 2, 2012

By Keith Lau, Urban Assembly of Green Careers BETA

Life demands efficiency, and there is no better example of efficiency at work than in a well-functioning classroom. At Blue Engine, BETAs and lead teachers work tirelessly to create the most efficient classrooms: on-demand CFUs (checks for understanding), immediate IP (independent practice) feedback, next-day HW (homework) comments, and so much more.

Efficiency is so important that we have learned to use acronyms to cut down our speech by seconds. Every syllable saved is an extra chance to say,  “How did you get that answer?” as Rachel puzzles over a problem, or “So how is the character feeling?” as Chris sorts through a lengthy text. Someday, I hope to turn towards Jessica and say, “QTCCAGBTW.”  Quit the chit-chat and get back to working. Just a matter of time.

As you may already know, Blue Engine language is full of acronyms that puzzle outsiders, from TC (team coordinator) to PD (professional development or program director) to BoE (Board of Engineers) to COAP (Chester Ocampo and April Patrick), and many more.

To increase the trickiness of our vocabulary and the quickness of our speech, I set to task everyone in Blue Engine to create new acronyms to join the already growing family in what I called a “Funtivity.” A funtivity (origin: US television series, The Office) is both fun and an activity; that’s how you know it’s worth doing. After all acronyms were created, winners were determined, and here they are for your enjoyment:

What would SLP mean in the Blue-Engine context?

Winner: Sheyna-Led Punishment

For example: A few months ago, Sean found himself with an SLP. After leaving his book bag on the floor for several days, Sheyna hid his book bag for over a half hour.

Runner-ups: Slippery Little Pupils; Student Lovability Points; Student Led Protest; Silly Little Person

What might NICO mean?

Winner: Nick (Ehrmann) Is Classroom Observing

For example: “NICO today, team! Make sure your lesson plans are up to snuff!”

Runner-ups: Non-Important Classroom Operation; Not In Cold Offices; Never Initiate, Coerce or Offend

How would you redefine BETA?

Winner: Beast Every Teacher’s Assessment

For example:

Student A: “Dude, I aced every test last week. 100 on everything!”

Student B: “That’s OD! You a beast.”

Student A: “I know. I totally BETA’ed.”

Runner-ups: Brilliantly, Enlightened and Talented Arithmetician; Better Eat That Apple

Make up your own original acronym.

Winner: COAP – Calm Oneself And Pray

For example:

Chester: “Remember, teacher stare works 99% of the time.”

April: “Right, with that other 1%, you’re going to want to COAP.”

BETA: “COAP?”

Chester: “Calm Oneself And Pray.”

April: “In a classroom’s darkest hour, you’re just going to want to breathe deeply, kneel down, and pray to god, any god.”

Runner-ups: TMWM – That’s Mad Work, Mistuh; LITS – Life Is Too Short; WTF – Way Too Far

Number of acronyms we use on a daily basis: 18

Number of partner high schools we work with this year: 3

Number of teachers BETAs work alongside each day at these schools: 14

Number of students Blue Engine serves: 540

Percent of these students receiving free- or reduced-price lunch: 90

Average student-to-instructor ratio in Blue Engine classrooms: 8:1

Percentage of possible days that BETAs have engaged small groups of students in high dose tutoring so far: 97

Miles run by Team Blue at the 2011 New York City Marathon: 235.8

Number of seconds it takes to like us on facebook and follow us on twitter: 5

Percentage of Blue Engine employees who speak another language: 36

Number of talented members of our Board of Engineers: 38

Number of dollars you helped us raise in the month of December: 49,720 (Wow. Thank you!)

Number of emails sent to college students, professors, and career centers to find 42 talented and smart BETAs for next school year: 28,678

Number of days until our February 14th application deadline (Help spread the word about our application!): 20

Projected budget for FY13 (beginning July 1st, 2012): 2.5M

Number of photos Keith Lau has taken of Blue Engine in action: 2574

Number of minutes it takes to watch a video documenting Blue Engine’s inspiring first year: 6.5

Number of times founder Nick Ehrmann has been laughed at for drawing bell curves during meetings: Too many

12.21.11

by Alison Fedyna, WHEELS BETA

You have to work extraordinarily hard if you’re out to change what is expected of you. Because if you have such a goal, the world is usually not expecting much and has probably planted some sizeable barriers in your way. In joining Blue Engine, I committed myself alongside my coworkers and thousands of teachers and students throughout the country to change an unfortunate expectation: Low-income students don’t need to go to college.

I work at a school with a wonderful culture and a solid emphasis on going to and completing college. Students hear about it all the time, from their teachers, principal and their peers. They know it is something they should be aiming for in the future. But I often wonder how many will be truly ready for it when they get there. I wonder about my students because of my own academic experience, graduating from a high school in a low-income area and struggling academically once I got to college. While I was lucky enough to have the support of family and friends to help me figure it out, some of my classmates weren’t, and have since dropped out. Unfortunately, this story is not unique. It is repeated many times over, in both rural and urban areas, across the country. And it is because of this that I work every day to ensure that this story is never told by a student I have taught.

My students come from mostly low-income backgrounds and face insurmountable challenges in their daily lives. Some live in shelters two boroughs away, some are the main caretaker of a sibling and some moved here just a few years ago from foreign countries speaking only foreign languages. But perhaps the most poignant barrier is that my students know that many people hold low expectations for them simply because of where they are from.

Our students come to our 8th grade math classroom at anywhere from a 3rd to 7th grade math level, and we are charged with getting them ready for the Integrated Algebra Regents in 9 months. At first students are resistant, incredulous, and unwilling to try. Many have not faced an academic challenge this rigorous before and it seems impossible to make such a leap. But as time passes and they see the small proofs of their successes in a sticker, a word of praise or an improved grade, they start to believe in themselves. And slowly but surely, their behavior starts to reflect this change, sometimes in the smallest ways. A student asks to move his seat away from his friends so he can concentrate better in class. A student confident in the material reaches over to help a struggling peer. A student with a gritty attitude all year eagerly raises her hand in class. Students are coming to school more often, they are doing their homework more consistently, they are studying and staying after school for extra help. They are working hard towards the short term goal of passing the Integrated Algebra Regents, but what they don’t yet realize is that they are working towards the bigger goal of changing what the world expects of them.

I am proud of all that my students have achieved this year academically, but what inspires me daily is their determination, their grit and their pride in who they are. I know my students are on their way to breaking their own ceiling, and in doing so, they join the movement of making a college education an expectation for everyone.

12.21.11

by Courtney Ng, WHEELS BETA

Sometimes I think I’m psychic. My brain will often select memories and replay them constantly, as if hinting to me that they will become very important in the future. For example, I can barely recall what I ate for dinner last night, but I vividly remember asking my 11^th grade English teacher why he decided to become a teacher. I’ll never forget his response: “Because I get to meet students at a critical point in their lives.”

I never consciously wanted to teach English. However, looking back, I realize that I’ve spent the past 5 years since those words were spoken to me trying to figure out why they felt so true. That is why, in part, I applied to work with Blue Engine. One word in particular – “critical” – lured me back to New York to become a Blue Engine Teaching Assistant. I think of the work my fellow BETAs and teachers do as absolutely critical.

The challenge is making our students believe that it is, too. At the beginning of this year, I had one student who was particularly skilled at getting on my nerves with his lack of motivation. His name is Kyle.* He struggles with both reading comprehension and writing, but most of all, his greatest enemy is laziness. Kyle barely did his homework, writing one word answers for questions that asked for complete sentences, and often fell asleep in class. I kept him in after-school detention every day and made him redo his homework. I told him I wouldn’t accept anything less than 110%. He would roll his eyes, scribble something else down, and leave, only to return the next day with another assignment done halfheartedly.

It can be incredibly draining to watch the same students repeatedly skip school, fail to turn in assignments, or fall asleep in class. I often find myself biting my tongue to hold back the words: “Why don’t you see how many people want you to succeed? Why won’t you just try?” I feel like a magician at times, reaching into a hat and trying to pull out something new and awe-inspiring that will wake them up and motivate them. Stickers, stories, motivational speeches. They might work, momentarily, but then the next day the student is often back where they were before, repeating the same destructive behavior.

However, this past Wednesday, the staff at WHEELS had one of those rare moments when it all seemed to pay off: we cheered on the first group of graduating seniors as they walked to the post office to mail off their college applications. There was a tangible feeling of pride and excitement in the air unmatched by any experience I’ve had as a teacher thus far. Still, for me, there were also a few moments of fear and doubt. In two years, our current 10^th graders will be making that walk. I worried about the students who still had a great deal of work to get done before they could be academically ready to make that critical leap. I worried about kids like Kyle.

The next day in class, though, I noticed that Kyle was more focused than ever, and that he had taken on a leadership role in presenting the Animal Farm group projects we assigned that week. Hoping to ride the wave of excitement about college, I also introduced a new incentivized independent reading program to all three classes we teach that day. I talked about how important it is to build strong reading comprehension skills before you get to college, and how we would reward the students who actively participated with a fun field trip. I anticipated that certain students would be excited about the idea, but I didn’t expect to turn around at the end of class and see Kyle browsing the bookshelf at the back of our classroom.

“Ms. Ng,” he said, “can you help me pick out a book?”

On Friday, he came in and told me had started reading it, and that he was enjoying it. It’s hard to say exactly what motivated him to make that kind of effort – maybe it was watching his peers reach a milestone in their academic careers two days before, or a strong desire to go on that field trip with us, or my daily demands for 110% finally sinking in. Regardless, in the end, his decisions were small steps closer to the post office.

Furthermore, while Kyle’s future and that of many students we teach are yet to be written, somewhere in my mind his question will echo for a long time. This week has helped me realize how even my students’ most miniscule successes can feel like the most meaningful ones I have had in life so far.  Perhaps, some might say, they are the most critical, too.

*Name has been changed to protect the student’s privacy.

12.19.11

By Kevin O’Neil, WHEELS BETA

On Wednesday, December 14^th, hundreds of WHEELS students saw their brothers and sisters, cousins, teammates, and friends take a huge next step towards their goal: college completion. The seniors traversed the tunnel of WHEELS students, college applications in hand, towards the post office where the men and women of the USPS would take them the rest of the way. While seniors moved in a line to shake Chancellor Walcott’s hand, younger students were moved to raucous whooping and applause, and teachers were moved to tears.

I currently teach 10^th graders at WHEELS, and almost every day I interject the idea of college into my conversations with students.

…When you get to college, your professors will not give you so many chances.

Where do you want to go to college?…

…That answer would not fly in a college classroom.

These interjections gained a new meaning for the students after what they experienced Wednesday. In a period of less than an hour, our students were provided with a tangible and relatable example of what it looks like to move towards college completion. The joy the students felt for the seniors will not soon be forgotten. It will serve as a constant reminder of what the younger students will be doing in the near future.

The WHEELS seniors also got shout outs from the New York Times and Gotham Schools. 

12.13.11

By Lusdymer Pichardo, WHEELS BETA

Most people that hear that I am a Dominican Yale graduate give me the same reaction. “There’s Dominicans at Yale?!” and follow that with a nervous chuckle. They go on to ask me what high school I attended, expecting to hear prestigious New York City private school names like Fieldston or Brealy or maybe even the public selective enrollment schools. Yet when I respond Edward R. Murrow, an overcrowded public school in Brooklyn, the responses are almost always a confused “oh” and the topic of conversation is quickly changed.

I understand their reservations and confusion. As a 22 year old first generation Dominican American from a low-income neighborhood, society had decided that I should have 2 kids, no high school degree, the reading and math level of a 7th grader, and forced to live in my parents’ house while working at a clothing store. If I was deemed “smart,” society might have allowed for a high school degree and entrance into a community college. Yet, I somehow managed to beat the odds. This intrigues people, including many of my peers when I was an undergrad at Yale. Even the students that I work with today find my success fascinating.

In a discussion about opportunities and the importance of going to college, one of my students, an 8th grade repeater, raised his hand and argued “People from the hood don’t go to good places like Harvard.” I told him “Chris! I grew up and still live in the hood and I went to Yale!” He looked at me shocked and said “YOU went to Yale?!” Suddenly he became very interested in my personal story and how I managed to get accepted at such a prestigious school.

I decided to work at Blue Engine because I don’t believe that Dominicans (like me) should ever be considered an anomaly at any college. Somewhere along the public school education system, the lives and success of youth is impacted by their race, immigration status, family income and their neighborhood. And as cliché as it may sound, I want to end this cycle that limits communities like mine, and like the one I work in, from inspiring their youth to take advantage of opportunities and get a college degree. Because it’s not only about making it to college, but making it out with a degree that symbolizes your accomplishments.

I’ve been blessed to see my students grow in tremendous ways. Students who never spoke a word have managed to find their voice in the classroom. And not just in terms of academics. In these past few months, students have come to trust me and the other BETAs on my team. They trust me enough to share stories of homelessness, abortion, attempted suicides and incarceration. They do not have to tell me these stories. Yet they find themselves comfortable doing so.

As Nick always says “You need to earn the right to do this work.” Every time a student confides part of their life with me, I think about how I am earning the right to their trust – to that personalized, human connection kind of instruction that Blue Engine is all about. It didn’t come right away. I had to show them I was there to stay; I wouldn’t leave after a few weeks or a semester. They had to feel my genuine interest in their success.

And it definitely helped that I had once been in their shoes. The students felt comfortable in sharing their experiences because they knew I would understand. One student randomly blurted out “I think you’re mad cool Ms. Pichardo. Like you’re the only Dominican teacher in the whole entire school and you know where we come from and understand us and not judge us. And it’s so cool that you’re Dominican and went to Yale. Like I look up to you for that.”

It is important for these students to see teachers and role models who look like them in their daily lives. Although many of my students were initially shocked that I was a Dominican “from the hood” who graduated from Yale, I have seen them turn that shock into admiration and inspiration. If I could make it and had faith that they could make it, then maybe it was possible.

11.23.11

Whether you have volunteered time, made a donation, or helped spread the word about Blue Engine – it all makes our work in NYC public high schools a possibility.

We made this quirky little video to say THANKS.

Feel free to comment and let us know what you are thankful for.

11.10.11

By Nicholas Chan, Operations Manager

This past weekend, I represented Blue Engine at the Opportunity Summit put on by Opportunity Nation – a campaign “to promote opportunity, social mobility, and access to the American Dream.” With the aim of convening leaders and sparking conversation, the Summit focused on how to ensure that we create opportunity for Americans. You can view highlights on Opportunity Nation’s livestream.

One of my biggest takeaways was the Opportunity Index, which launched just this weekend. The Opportunity Index scores United States counties and states according to how well they provide access to opportunity. Sounds pretty abstract, right?

Actually, the Opportunity Index reflects concrete data. It is based on indicators of opportunity such as the unemployment rate, the percentage of population living below the poverty line, and high school graduation rates. It focuses on three broader themes – economy, education, and community – and comes up with a score of 1-5 for each.

A closer look:

• My hometown of Orinda, CA (a fairly affluent community) rates a B (economy, education, and community scores of 4 across the board).
• My neighborhood in Brooklyn also rates a B (an economy score of 2, an education score of 5, and a community score of 4).

Understanding scores becomes a bit more complex in large, diverse counties like the boroughs of New York, where wealthier pockets often mask the low scores of communities with less opportunity. And what does this mean for NYC’s public high school students who can attend schools in any of the 5 boroughs, not just their neighborhood school up the block?  For our three partner schools, these scores may not the most adequate reflection. Manhattan scored a B (economy: 4, education: 5, community: 4), while the Bronx rates a C (Economy: 1, Education: 3, Community: 4).

Where does your hometown rank?

11.06.11

Yesterday, every member of the Blue Engine marathon team crossed the finish line. With BE staff and BETAs cheering them on, the nine runners, including two BETAs, a member of HQ staff, a member of the Board of Directors, and two members of the Board of Engineers, covered 235.8 miles and raised $24,804 for Blue Engine. On behalf of the BE family, thank you and well done, team! Check out times and photos below.

The enduring Joshua Chan‘s time was 4:29:11.
The nimble Nick Chan‘s time was 4:02:37.
The dashing Frances deSaussure‘s time was 3:47:44.
The rugged Andy Dunn‘s time was 4:25:23.
The swift Kevin Jeng‘s time was 3:33:03.
The stalwart Geoff Lieberthal‘s time was 4:14:22.
The mighty Megan Maciejowski‘s time was 4:43:32.
The unyielding Katelyn McLeod‘s time was 4:22:04.
The strapping Michael Miller‘s time was 4:11:10.

10.31.11

As we near the end of the second month of school, teams across Blue Engine have recently transitioned or are about to transition into the second unit of instruction. For each of our new English/Language Arts (ELA) teams, that transition looks dramatically different:

At Green Careers, students are moving from a unit on habits of proficient readers to a short project-based unit where they present a researched position on a major debate.

At WHEELS, students are moving from Macbeth to Animal Farm.

At Mott Hall, students are moving reading and writing focus from folktales to personal narratives.

This variance in the three Blue Engine ELA classrooms represents what is simultaneously the most exciting part of our ELA pilot and our biggest challenge to developing a model of what Blue Engine looks like for ELA. The answer is that it looks very different. What’s common is that the different activities in these classrooms, for all 345 students, are all working toward college readiness in both reading and writing.

Through their ELA courses, students learn to read nonfiction, communicate effectively in writing and speech, and think critically. BETAs support student growth in all of these areas. If the group is writing, BETAs drastically shorten the feedback loop, so students receive frequent and extensive feedback to help them grow as communicators. If the group is reading, BETAs ensure that all students actively participate through small group discussions that dig deeper into the text and push each student to think critically.

One of the key predictors of student success in college is literacy in complex and lengthy nonfiction texts. Without extensive training in reading comprehension strategies and practice in reading long nonfiction texts, most students don’t have the stamina to complete the assigned reading for their courses. Difficulty in comprehending the texts for classes like science, business, social sciences, and math causes many students to fall behind in their coursework. BETAs in ELA classrooms support students in acquiring these vital skills, regardless of the text or genre being taught, that apply across the other content areas.