We both have new jobs.

Disclaimer: I apologize for those reading who like to organize their thoughts, mine are just a string of unrelated things.

I (Katie) have a job.

Just going to let that sink in for a bit.

I am working with a staffing agency so I am all over Denver doing all kinds of work. I am enjoying it so far and I believe it will be a good fit for me. No better way to learn to be a nurse than to learn how to be a nurse in alllll sorts of situations. I have been mainly working H1N1 vaccination clinics around town which has been very interesting. They are 6 hour long clinics with 15 nurses vaccinating and we have vaccinated over 1,000+ people each time.

Layne also has a new job.

Some of you may be wondering how in the world is that possible... we were too.

Layne is now a 6th grade math teacher (for those that are behind, he started the year as a 6th and 8th grade science teacher).

The logistics are still being worked out but starting this past monday Layne said goodbye to his "young scientists" as he called them and hello to some mathematicians.

It is a odd thing to think about but we think it is a good thing. The school was in desperate need of a math teacher and were giddy to find out he had enough credit hours to teach math.

Ill let him tell you more about it but I thought the blog world might like to know.

My mom bought me a sewing machine as an early Christmas present when she was out here and I have been going to town. Let me just tell any family members that are reading this to expect a homemade Christmas present! I am loving it! I would LOVE to put up pictures of my first conquests on the sewing machine but like I said they are all christmas presents and no one likes a spoiled surprise.

THE BLIZZARD of OCTOBER hit while Layne was home for Clemson homecoming.

29 inches of snow in the month of October, 24 of it the weekend he was gone. Can I add to this story that I have never not once in my life ever ever driven in even a flurries of snow. I was super brave except for the fact that I asked one of Laynes friends to drive to the airport and pick up Tracy who was here to visit. Tracy and I had a great time, we got bundled up (like the little brother in A Christmas Story) and had fun in our park just falling back into the snow. It is difficult to make a snow angel when the snow is as deep and you. Funny thing is that Layne missed it ALL. snowed after he left and was melted when he got home. How does 2 feet of snow melt in one day!?

My Halloween costume, incase you can't read the name tag, I was

the Appalachian trail/Argentinian lover. Layne was supposed to be my Mark Sanford but when he decided to go the Clemson game he gave permission for one of his friends to be my Mark.

Sophie's Halloween costume!!! She is a lady bug! She loved every minute of it. Until she did her possessed running backwards dance trying to get it off of her head.

November 1st I started burning my Christmas Tree candle and since then I am all about Christmas. Not to skip over thanksgiving but since we will not be in South Carolina for thanksgiving my mind is already at Christmas. We are, however, going to cook thanksgiving dinner. We bought a frozen turkey the other day. We did a practice run last week and it went well so I think the meal will be edible. :)

Layne went snowboarding yesterday. It was 70 degrees in Denver but there is snow in the mountains. He equated it the best day in new york. And that was with only 5 of 100+ runs open at Keystone. I think I will lose him to the mountains for the rest of the winter weekends. I plan on going some but I have to learn to like skiing first. It's the whole "out of control" thing that I am not so fond of.

My husband

and my cat

now love each other, as you can tell.

With much Love - Layne, Katie, and Sophie Madden

Alive!

Yes, I am still alive. I am still a teacher. I would LOVE to tell you about it. How about this week? I promise, really.

We are alive.

Update/My trip home.

I (Katie) still do not have a job.

Layne is kicking achievement gap butt.

Francis the fish has decided to stop eating, which I think is a bad idea.

After several nights of sleeping in the bathroom Sophie the cat has decided not to wake us up at 2am, 3am, 4am and 5am.

We are now bike owners ($25 from salvation army)

Mom-in-law will be here Friday.

Mom will be here Oct. 1

Tracy will be here Oct. 29

Nesting still in process, more pictures of the house coming soon.

Speaking of nesting - I, after much bargain shopping training from my mother, purchased $360.92 of merchandise for $23.94!

I changed the layout... too girly?

I recently was home for a wedding, it was so good to see everyone and spend time with family. My trip was supposed to be a quick fly in and back out but since I still don't have a job I was able to stay a few extra days (thanks mom!).

Groucho's with the lovely clair bear and my favorite set of twins!

Graham came to grouchos too!

We went to Grahams house on Church St. AMAZING.

We headed on to Beaufort for the wedding and Clair decided that she now likes children.

She baby sat a bridesmaids baby during pictures and exclaimed " I put it to sleep!"

Bridesmaids!

Bride!

Clair and I drove back from Beaufort late and got pulled over, I may have been speeding just a little bit, the officer was very nice and as soon as he saw that my last name was Madden he started asking me if I am related to so and so. I told him that I am a new Madden and I am not sure who all of my new relatives are. He enjoyed our conversation so much that he told to have a great night and a safe trip... not even a written warning. This is small because I never told mom about this event. When we finally got home I slept in my old room and moms new office. The rest of the weekend was filled with girl time (movies, m&ms, cheetos and shopping) and Kitten sitting!!!

Meet Tumbo aka Bo

He is too cute and sooo teeny tiny.

Could not drive around Lexington without going to see this place -

Best day of my life was in this church almost 6 months ago.

Came home to my sweet husband and a clean house - he is amazing.

Back to the world of Job hunting and nesting and experiencing Denver.

This was one of our most recent experiences -

Tour de Fat.

(notice my Impala Lucy, getting a front row seat to the parade)

This pro Bike festival started with a parade. No Halloween I have ever seen compares to these crazy costumes. multiple hundreds, possibly thousands of bikes paraded down our street. Being very intrigued we decided to check out the rest of the festival. Live music, lots of food, and lots of recycling. It was crazy but fun! People here really love their bikes!

Thats all from me... I tell Mr. Madden to update on his 6th and 8th graders.

With much love,

The Maddens

Bring em on!

Tomorrow is D-day. At this point, however, I don't even know what grades/subjects I will be teaching.

Tomorrow the 6th graders come all by themselves. I suppose this is a way to ease them into the brave new world of middle school life (lockers, swirlies, zits, girls, etc.). The problem is, we don't have schedules for them. We don't know what classes they should go to, and they certainly don't. As a 6th grade team we decided that we would just split them up and rotate them through all of the 6th grade teachers until we have schedules for them. That will probably be Monday.

Back to the point that I don't know what grade I'm teaching. This is because the registration numbers did not match predictions made in the spring. There are way more 6th and 7th graders than 8th graders, and the administration is needing to move teachers around quickly to accomodate the lopsided school population. There are several factors outside of the control of my school that have led to this situation.

1. Denver Public Schools uses open registration. This means that students can enroll in any school they want to, so predicting class sizes from year to year is more of an art than a science.

2. The Montbello community is very unstable. People come and go with alarming frequency. Here is an article from a few years ago that outlines what happened in the housing market .

3. Students are still registering. The students numbers are changing, significantly, on a daily basis.

So I am in limbo. It is pretty stressful not knowing what to expect for the rest of the year, but I have a plan for tomorrow. And tomorrow I will have a plan for Thursday. And then I will have a plan for Friday. Though this habit is not going to turn my students into incredible scientists, for now it will have to do.

I am excited and terrified. And it is just weird to think that I am about to be entrusted with 200+ 11 year olds. Up to 41 per class, 6 times a day. What am I getting into?

Side story:
Here is a picture of a TV that used to be in a bar, and for $25 bucks is now about to be in our living room! And they gave us a free meal at the place, so really it's free. I know you're jealous.


How about a look into my classroom?

Classroom pre-Clemson Theme + Motivational Posters

Student Achievement Mecca

Another View

Driving home after a long day at the shop. I see snow (14ers) every day on my drive home. You should be jealous.

- Mr. Madden, K, Lucie the impala, Timmy the taurus, and sophie.

Seriously...where is the closest beach?

First things first - immediate apologies to all of our loyal fans (thanks mom) for the severe posting lapse. We have been doing much of the same: settling into our new space (see post below), learning how to be a teacher, looking for jobs, finding the best laundromat, buying groceries, etc. We have found Denver, and specifically our neighborhood of Capital Hill, to be very pleasant and welcoming.

Recently we have shared heart warming human interest stories about moving, Sophie the cat, our apartment, Mexican food, etc. I think today is an appropriate time for an achievement gap update. It is a bit of a delicate task to publicly illuminate the systemic problems of American public schools when I: 1. Have only recently been a part of this bureaucratic organization, and 2. Am actually employed by said organization.


Why I Write
A purpose that I have for this blog is for friends, family, and those who happen to google "Teach for America, Denver Public Schools, Achievement Gap, etc.", to be able to see a glimpse of the injustice that children in poverty, and specifically minority children of poverty, face every day. What we are up against is a culture of low expectations, a misaligned pedagogy that labels students as lazy (or dumb, or slow, or too far behind), and disproportionate challenges to learning outside of school. While I cannot change a child's home life, the realization of overcrowded homes, absent fathers, video games in lieu of books and after school sports, malnutrition, and abuse are all factors that prevent my students from achieving at the level that my classmates and I did in school.

Back to the delicacy of this blog. While I want to be candid about my experiences, this is a public forum. Even though no one reads it, this is still public. That kind of begs the question of the tree falling in the forest....but I digress.

I am an employee of DPS, of Rachel B. Noel Middle School, and I am entrusted with the lives of 200 students. With that in mind, I will share funny stories, atrocities, tearjerkers , and knee slappers. However, this will not become a rant, a place to complain about work and my employer, or a place to humiliate my students. My students will, undoubtedly, read this blog when they google "layne madden". Not that I will not talk about my students. They absolutely deserve to have their stories told, but stories will be anonymous, or pseudnymonous . It is morally incumbent on me to share the injustice that I see, but only in a way that maintains the dignity of the 11-14 yearolds whom I have been entrusted with.


My Assignment
I can only speak to my experience as a first year teacher, but I encourage the veterans to comment to this point. From what I understand, this is not a situation unique to Denver Public Schools, but is the modus operandi for back to school preparation. Here's the story:

When I was hired, in early June, I was told that I would be most likely teaching 7th and 8th grade. During the time that I was at institute in Atlanta, however, the administration team that was at RBN (rachel b noel) was replaced by a new team. As could be expected, the transition between the two teams meant that my assignment was again undecided. Because the new team brought with them new priorities and perspectives, the schedule needed to be changed.

Teach for America, ever on the forefront of planning ahead, began guiding me through the process of developing my Learning Goals (assessment objectives, tested standards, _____insert your own educational buzzword here), assessments, long term plan, and first unit plan. Even though my assignment was uncertain, I chose to plan for 7th grade life science. I spent hours breaking down the standards into objectives, determining all of the skills that my students would need to have by May, re-writing assessments to fit into my long term plan, and planning out what would happen every day of the first unit. I was pretty proud of the work that I had accomplished, and felt prepared to begin teaching life science.

Flash forward to last Thursday. This is when I found out I would not be teaching 7th grade life science, but I would be teaching 6th and 8th grade Earth and Physical science. Frustrating, yes, but I do not fault our administration team. I am actually quite impressed at how quickly they worked to implement all of the changes that they wanted to make. I don't fault the district for the late transition. I believe that there is a fundamental problem with how this whole teaching profession is viewed. I am given 13 days to prepare to teach a year of earth science AND a year of physical science. I have never taught before.


What is expected:
Trust the curriculum. Even if you don't know what you want your students to be able to do by the end of the year, just trust the curriculum, it will get them there. It was designed by experts in their field, it is full of hands-on activities that will engage the students in learning, it is used by everyone in the district, so just trust it. There is no expectation that I would write a long term plan for the year. No one expects that I would even have my first unit planned out. Does the curriculum diagnose, pace, differentiate, remediate, discipline, build respect, encourage, challenge, or call home?


Comments:
I have written enough today, and I need to respect everyone's attention span. I would love to hear comments about "what is expected". What is so wrong with giving a first year teacher the curriculum and saying trust it (btw, I actually haven't even been given the curriculum yet)? Why do teachers pay tens of thousands of dollars to get Master's degrees in education when all that is needed is to trust the curriculum?

The Nest

While Layne has been here and there training for this whole "teaching" thing, I have been nesting and looking for a job; only one of these endeavors has been successful.

The story of our nest goes like this -

While we were out here in Denver several months ago for induction, we literaly stumbled upon a for-rent sign. Two hours later we signed on the dotted line. It was a good feeling to have a specific destination for the GPS when we pulled out of Lexington, SC. Our first night here consisted of $40 pizza (I didn't ask for the price I was just hungry), an almost parking ticket for our trailer, and four very worn out people as we unloaded almost every earthly possession we own in 2 hours in the dark. We all (by all I mean me, Layne and our fathers) slept soundly on my creatively made 3 beds with the works.

We tackled the big stuff in the morning, ie the box springs, bookcases and bed frame with some almost causalities.

Who knew it was trash day? Not us.

The garbage man had my antique wrought iron bed frame in his truck and was going for the bookcases when Mr. David, using any spanish he knew, tried to convince the garbage man that it was not trash but just move in day. I have to pause and acknowledge the tragedy that could have been....

The good news is that everything was in by lunch and the nesting began.

The wonderful trailer and truck that brought all of our things across the country.

Day 1

Day 12

We love our kitchen and our living room but I think the best room of our house is...

We love our bathroom... come visit and you can shower with the crisp breeze of the rockies!

The nesting continues and I guess the job search does too.

Be on the look out for our nested bedroom, man room and closet.

I hope you all enjoyed my inaugural blog post.

- l & k and sophie

o yeah and speaking of Sophie, she has become nocturnal. Sleeps all day - annoys the crap out of us at night. We have begun to return the favor waking her up when we see her sleeping.

Week One in the Rockies

I hope you enjoyed our photo journal cross-country. If you didn't enjoy it, but you did see it, I apologize. If you didn't enjoy, but haven't seen it yet and think that you may enjoy it at least marginally, please scroll down.

Last week schedule:
Arrived - Tuesday night
Unpacked trailer - Wednesday
Started teacher training, again - Thursday.

Things have been hectic, to say the least. We finally got connected to the world wide interweb yesterday, and we also got our tv connected to this wire that sends all sorts of different images and sounds into the tube. In this one picture show, 25 men are all out-cologning each other to get with this one girl. The weird thing is, they all "get with" her, but only one of them will be allowed to get with her after the moving picture crew stops filming.

On another frequency, people look you right in the eye and tell you what kinds of things are going on in other parts of the world. It's kind of like reading a newspaper, except less relevant and a lot slower.

Katie went to the rodeo in Wyoming today. I've never been to Wyoming, and I had no idea it was just a hop skip and a jump from Denver. Apparantly, at a rodeo men get on the backs of really angry bulls, and then try to hold on as long as possible. People who do this get hurt pretty often.

Home on the range

Brown v. Brown of Education

For some reason, Indiana and Illinois did not make the blog update.
The nifty iPhone machines let us down. We stopped overnight in
Warrenton, west of St Louis. Thank you holiday inn express for the
cinnamon rolls. The coffee, on the other hand, was toxic.

Sophie the cat has been expressing her feelings about the trip through
scent. Our first walmart run in Denver will be to get eggs, milk, and
febreeze.

Katie is currently driving us accross Kansas, which means that mr.
Madden will be navigating aka sleeping.

The sun shines bright

Good ol rocky top

The beautiful state of Tennessee welcomes us. Sophie the cat is
unimpressed.

Georgia on my mind

Small Successes

Our first night in the dorm room was, well, miserable. We arrived around midnight, after a long day of travel from Denver. When we got to our room, there were actually two twin beds in separate bed rooms. After 10 minutes of failure at trying to sneak one out of the door, I turned to dismantling it. Fortunately, one of the beds was an extra-long, and one was just regular length. After assembling the double-tiered makeshift double-single bed, we realized that we didn't bring a comforter. Or pillows. And that our air-conditioner, though broken, was actually broken in the sense that it never turned off.

By 2 am, I had my head snuggled gently upon a stack of towels, wrapped in a hoodie with towels around my shivering legs. By 5:00 AM, I was swiftly arising to join 600 other wide-eyed corps members for my first day of boot camp.

The theme of this story is that the air-conditioner worked so well. In fact, since that first night, we have not closed any of the windows in the apartment. 100 degrees outside, windows open, apartment freezing.

My small success is that I finally figured out how to turn it off. Really wasn't that complicated now that I think about it. Maybe this small success only illustrates how pitiful my 2.5 weeks of failure were.

***This story may be read literally or figuratively. The events are real. The author's intent is up for interpretation.***

Good Story

Today, our lunch was interrupted by a super serious "emergency meeting".

It started in a hushed auditorium with 150 fledgling teachers, and our school director said that she had seen a lot of things in the classroom and the halls that really upset her. We were asked to explain what Teach for America meant to us. We had to write our thoughts in journals. We were told that some changes were going to have to be made, and some teachers would be asked to leave. One by one the leaders stood up to say what TFA was really about. It was very serious and very uncomfortable. The last leader stood up and said "TFA means totally freakin awesome". At this comment the school director was visibly upset, and actually asked that leader to leave the room because we were trying to have a serious meeting. An uncomfortable pause elapsed as everyone watched her leave the room. Then my leader (CMA, actually, corps member advisor. this acronym will be IIAFP (implemented in all further posts)) stood up and stumbled over a few words, apparently in protest of the school directors decision. Then she said in a confrontational tone.... "TFA stands for..." at which point the school director and all the CMAs screamed "Totally Free Afternoon!" as everyone began to run around the room.

So we have the afternoon off, and were able to leave school early because we are halfway through Institute. I tell that story 1. because it was hilarious. and 2. because it is very exciting to be a part of an organization that takes its job so seriously that we actually bought the buildup, yet has such a great sense of humor that they could pull that off. The past few weeks have been unbelievably intense, but it is exciting to know that 6,000 people in classrooms all across America are all working towards the same goal within the same structure. Almost like being a part of the International Mission Board without the tracts.

haiku

summer has its day
sitting here warm and sweaty;
winter in rockies.


not really sure if that is a haiku. but the late night of lesson planning is winding down. up at 5:30. woohoo.

Quickie

I owe a quick post.

Essentially, I've been getting my butt kicked daily. In a good way of course. The sheer volume of acronyms thrown at me daily has crippled by ability to carry on a conversation with a normal person. When I'm asking for direction I ask for the BWTGT (best way to get there). I refer to staying up late and working hard as RPR (relentless pursuit of results). It is quite literally, OOC (out of control).

Had my first week with students. I have been a teacher for 5 days. I love it. I'm sorry, but I will have to sprinkle in tidbits from that first week in future posts. I haven't really taken it all in yet.

Saturday night, Guster played a free show in Candler Park here in ATL. I attended, I sang along, I danced, I sweated, I got bitten by the Georgia state bird (the mosquito, for the uninitiated).

Essentially, I don't have much to write because I have too much to say. Feel free to give me a call if you get a chance one evening.

--lm

Blogzilla

I feel like it has been about 3 months since I have updated "where's the beach?". Here's an overview of today's overwhelming post:

1. I have a big boy job. And it involves convincing 12 year olds that they are scientists.
2. We have a big boy house. Or we're renting one. Or a floor of one. Built in the 1800's.
3. I'm learning how to be a teacher, (oh, and we're in Atlanta now) and apparently that involves a lot of acronyms.

And here's a video from my favorite 90's Nickelodeon show.

1. JOB
After a few interviews that ended with "it's not me, it's you", Rachel B. Noel, part of the Denver Public School system, welcomed me with open arms to guide their 7th grade life science scholars and their 8th grade physical science tweens. I got this call on Friday, and it conveniently excused me from a TFA session on "acronyms in everyday life".

Noel is relatively new school, opened in August 2002, and serves the Montbello community. Serving a student population where 90% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch, Noel Middle is a perfect example of the achievement gap. In 8th grade science, in 2008, 7% of Noel students were "proficient" by state standards, compared to 47% state-wide. I have a big task ahead of me, to prove to the students and their families that they can do much better that this. Unfortunatly, the zip code that these students are born in is too big of a determinate of how they will succeed in school.

2. HOME, Home on the range!
They just don't make em' like they used to. So we went Victorian with a 4 story brick house circa 189x. It is in an area of Denver called "Capital Hill", near Cheesman Park. Here's a link to see our house: HOUSE@!@!@

We are renting the 2nd floor of this house. A lot of our space feels very 1895, and a lot of it is very 2009. One bedroom, one bath, plus an "office". By "office", I mean the room we lock sophie (the cat) in when she poops the floor. Even though Katie promises that won't happen. Furniture won't make it through the front door, so around July 15th look for pictures posted of us lifting a sleeper sofa in through the 2nd story window. This may be the one thing that I am looking forward to the most all summer.

3. Boot Camp
Institute Day Zero: After arriving in Atlanta at around 11:45 PM, loading up the room with things of questionable neccessity, finding a parking space, dismantling single beds, assembling said single beds into a double, picking out an outfit, and showering, I got in bed around 1:45 AM or so. Which really isn't so bad, except that teachers apparantly wake up at 5:30 AM. I think its so they can get a quick start on making up new acronyms.

Institute Day One: Lots of acronyms. Tirednes. Red eyes. Too many new names. Can't remember them today but its at that point where its too awkward to ask again.

Institute Day Two: Overnight, our school got broken into, and the classroom with the fancy iMacs where we were planning on doing most of our sessions got burglarized. Be checking ebay for good deals on neon box iMacs. Today we learned a lot more practical stuff, like how to plan a lesson, and how to use acronyms in describing how you will plan your lesson. I was also able to sit in on the class I will begin teaching next Monday. Seeing the students for the first time really made the reality of the situation sink in. I can't wait to get started.

I would leave you with an inspirational quote, but teachers wake up before the chickens, and this TFACM (teach for america corps member) has LPs (lesson plans) to make for my CMA (corps member advisor) group following the TAL (teaching as leadership) plan to close the GAP (goals, assessment, planning) in the USA (United States of America). Goodnight.


Layne and Katie (dot blogspot dot com)

Where the Deer and the Antelope Play

First things first. John Wayne may be a caricature, Aspen may not actually be where the beer flows like wine, and the women flock like the salmon of Capistrano. That John Denver may actually be full of "it", man (to the uninitiated, please add "Dumb and Dumber" to your NetFlix list). But one thing is for real.


Tumbleweed!

This is the innocent looking dead grass that ambushed our car as we entered Colorado. In fact, there was really no way to tell the difference between the high planes of Kansas, and the higher, yet still boring, planes of Colorado. Tumbleweed was the "welcome to Colorado" sign that we forgot to take a picture in front of.

Rewind a few days. On Saturday we drove from Columbia to Ashville to Knoxville to London (look it up) to Bowling Green to Owensboro, KY. After a day with family (see Figure 2), we hit the road again. Leaving at 3 AM Mountain Time, Day 2 brought us through Evansville, St. Louis, Kansas City, Kansas, Kansas, Kansas, and on to Denver. Many thanks to Emily and Elliott Vera for inflating an air mattress for us and letting us crash for the night in Denver. Here's a link to our trip courtesy of google maps: X-USA






FIGURE 2: Layne, Grandma Madden, Katie









Had an interview this morning for a position with Valley View K-8 as a 7-8th grade science teacher. It is a fairly small school, and as a 7th and 8th grade teacher I would see all of the 7th and 8th grade students in the school. I think that sounds pretty fun. Tomorrow I'm interviewing with a new school that gives 18-20 year olds a second chance to earn a high school diploma. I think that would be fun too. Should be a lock for both positions, given the killer color coordination of my tie and suit.

Unfortunately, Denver has not yet endeared itself to Katie. It has been raining since we arrived last night (pouring, may be a more accurate description), and everything looks dark and depressing. Though the regulars around here claim that it hardly ever rains, I see no evidence to substantiate that claim.


Tonight is the opening ceremonies for TFA. Not really sure what that means, but I'll keep you posted.

Nap time. Until later,

lm, km, and eventually sophie (the cat)