Week 2 Training + City Year

Ok so what exactly is City Year? I thought I vaguely knew going into it, but now I REALLY KNOW. They really give us the vocabulary to build an elevator speech so that we're representing City Year properly.

Basically, we serve as mentors and tutors in high poverty communities. Schools in these areas don't have the resources to keep all their kids on track to graduate. Our job at City Year is to help bridge the opportunity gap. While there are great teachers at the schools we serve, it is hard for them to keep every single student in a class of 30 up to standards. If 2 kids are absent one day, then a different 5 are absent a different day, it's hard to keep everyone at the same level. I will be pulling kids out in small groups for extra tutoring in math and reading. As a "near peer," I will be able to connect with my students and give them more personal attention than their teacher can provide.

Week 2 (8/3-8/7)

So Week 2 was exciting because we FINALLY found out what school we'd be working at. I was placed at Anacostia High School, in Ward 8 of DC. I am both extremely excited and nervous. I put middle school as my first choice, but it was a toss up between that and high school. I'm looking forward to the flexibility we'll have in high school, and being able to connect with the kids better (closer in age). I'm nervous because these kids are much older and more likely to be set in a "school's not cool" attitude. This is the first year City Year has partnered with this high school - so my team gets to set the standards. Luckily, the school seems very interested in getting CY involved.

Some interesting facts:

• There are 667 students - 100% of whom are black
• 99% are on free and reduced lunch
• As of the 2012-13 school year, 82% of the students performed at basic or below basic math levels (according to a standardized test - DCCAS) 
• As of the 2012-13 school year, the 4 yr graduation rate was 43% (the 5 year rate was 50%)
• As of the 2012-13 school year, the percentage of the students regarded as truant was 49%
• As of the 2012-13 school year, retention of effective and highly effective teachers was 89% (higher than the district average)

City Year is at one other high school - Cardozo. Luckily Anacostia will play Cardozo in football, so there's a fun rivalry there.
My team is really fun. There are 9 of us - 3 guys and 6 people of color. Our team leaders are awesome and really know how to lead and guide us.

This week we learned about education. We learned about Tier 1 (classroom) support vs Tier 2 (small group) support. We learned how to write lesson plans, how to cater to different learning types, behavior management, understanding the behavior of our appropriate age groups, social media policy, and basics of teaching math and reading.