SFTR Quarterly 1

Service Learning Reflection

Reflections from the year

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SFTR Quarterly Update Issue 1 | June 2012

Teaching for Excellence and Equity

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It is hard to believe that we have now

completed our second year of the San

Francisco Teacher Residency. Much has

happened over the course of the past year

and there are many changes ahead. The

2012 – 2013 school year will be our first

year that the complete program model is

in operation with one cohort of residents

and two cohorts of graduates receiving

induction support.

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Our second cohort has now completed the

first phase of the program. Everyone

passed PACT. They are all looking

forward to having their own classroom

next year. In early May we had grads from

Cohort One come talk to Cohort Two in

order to share tips on what to do to

prepare for the first year of teaching.

Although they talked a lot about being

tired (it was late Friday afternoon after a

week of teaching!) what came through

Note from the Director

Reflections from the year

I used to think.. but now..

“I had to be able to do it all on my own, but now I know the importance of resources and asking for help!”

-Quotes from residents last

day in practicum

Hear about the experiences of

3 residents from the past year

In this issue:

Note from the director

Page 1

End of the year celebration

Page 2

SFTR Convening Meeting

Page 3

Service Learning Reflection Reflections from the year

Page 4

Update on our new website

Page 6

Page 4

more on 2

Page 5

2 Teaching for Excellence and Equity

San Francisco Teacher Residency Quarterly Newsletter Issue 1 | June 2012

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End of the Year Celebration

The beautiful home of Peter

Williamson served as a great locale to

celebrate the end of the second year of

the program. Residents, principals,

demonstration teachers, supervisors,

university staff and program staff

enjoyed a great night of celebrating the

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accomplishments of this year’s

residents. Each resident also

received a copy of, “Why School?

Reclaiming Education or All of Us“ by

Mike Rose. One of highlights of the

night was sharing the quotes that the

residents wrote about, “I used to

think….But now..”. We are including

some of them in this newsletter for

your enjoyment.

I used to think… but now…

-Quotes from residents last

day in practicum

“I had to be perfect in every

lesson, but now I know that’s

impossible and silly and to

take every mistake as an opportunity for growth.”

loud and clear from all of our grads was their love for their students and their tremendous commitment to them.

Additionally the desire to continue to learn and grow as teachers was palpable from these new teachers. I will admit

that it made me very proud.

This April we conducted our inaugural interview day to select candidates for next year’s cohort of residents.

Candidates participated in mini-Socratic seminars after reading the Education Week article, “Because Race Can’t Be

Ignored” by Z. Burkholder. Following the seminar, brief individual interviews were conducted with each candidate.

Participating at the interview day were representatives from SFUSD’s Human Resources Department, Beginning

Teacher Support and Assessment Department, Teacher Support and Development, and the Mission Zone. Also

joining us for the event were teachers from Mission High School and representatives from University of San

Francisco and Stanford University. The day was truly a team effort. Cohort Three is looking very strong. We will start

working with them on July 30.

Next year we are excited to add John O’Connell High School as a Teaching Academy. We will continue to be

working at El Dorado, Buena Vista/Horace Mann, James Lick and Mission. We are so thankful to the administration,

the teachers, students and parents at each of these schools for all their contributions to and support of the program.

I also want to formally welcome the newest addition to our SFTR team, Midhun Joseph, our new program associate.

Once you meet Midhun you will understand why we are so thrilled to have him working with us. This newsletter is

just one example of the Midhun’s great skills and enthusiasm.

Finally, I want to thank the many people who make this program possible from our demonstration teachers and

their principals, our supervisors, the SFTR Working Group and Advisory Board, and our university partners.



SFTR Convening 5.10.2012

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In May SFTR partners brought together university

faculty and supervisors, school principals, demonstration

teachers, and SFUSD staff to tackle the question of what

new teachers need to know and be able to do to be

successful in San Francisco’s hard-to-staff schools.

At first people met in role-alike groups to discuss the

specific characteristics that teachers needed to be

successful in San Francisco schools and the specific

content and skills that are needed for success. After

sharing those discussions people met in mixed role

groups to discuss what all of us can do to better support

the development of these skills in our teaching

candidates.

We look forward to continuing these discussions next

year.

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The feedback for the event was very positive and

informative. It was reviewed by the SFTR Working Group

and the program staff to see how we can use this feedback

for program improvement.

Here is some feedback from the participants:

“This has been a great learning experience for me and I

hope for my resident teacher. Thank you for the opportunity.

I have established a relationship with someone who will be

in my life in the long run.”

“I had not thought much about teacher preparation before

this, this was interesting.”

“I greatly appreciate the opportunity to have a sub release

day to have these conversations.”



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The service learning project was

a great experience for me. The

other residents at BVHM and I taught

a seminar – a middle school elective

– to a group of 15 sixth and seventh

graders. Our topic, determined by

talking with the school

administration and teachers, was

conflict mediation. We used

interactive activities to teach the

students conflict mediation skills

like active listening and anger

management, and the students used

those skills to create presentations

for the K-5 students. Each

presentation included an

introduction, an interactive game, a

skit that got the audience members

involved, and time for questions and

answers. With our support, the

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students created and rehearsed

their presentations, and presented

several times in elementary

classrooms. Through this model, we

were able to reach almost the whole

school. The school is planning on

using our lesson plans and

implementing this seminar in future

years.

It was wonderful to see the middle

school students taking leadership in

the elementary school and teaching

students productive ways to resolve

problems. One of my favorite

moments was when we were

debriefing the first presentation in a

first grade classroom and a student

told me that in the future, the

teachers should not jump in as much

and should let the students be in

charge of their presentations. (For

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the record, I followed her advice

and barely said a word in later

presentations!)

I think the learning can best be

summed up in the students’ words;

in our seminar reflection, the middle

school students wrote about their

learning as well as what they

thought the younger students

gained from the presentations.

Students mentioned improving their

public speaking skills, seeing all

perspectives of conflicts, and being

more patient. One student wrote, “I

always wanted to be a teacher, and

after being in your seminar I

realized how much work it is.”

Another wrote, “I learned how to be

a role model and the students

learned how to solve problems.”

(continued)

+ Quote from a demonstration teacher

“Hosting a resident has been

such an incredible learning

experience. I think the

continuing development of the

program is powerful for SFUSD

as a whole. I hope to become

better at supporting residents

in their development both as

resident teachers and career educators.”

Reflections from Service Learning Project Cynthia Guggenheim, Resident 2011-2012

Reflections from Residency Year Catherine Cuadrado, Resident 2011-2012

The first semester of SFTR there

was definitely more observing

than teaching on my part. I felt

unsure of myself most of the time

and spent a lot of time trying to

make sure that every single

detail of my lesson plans were

perfect. I soon learned that many

times teaching isn't perfect and

we as teachers need to look at

and an area of growth.

January of our second semester

feels like a lifetime ago. It seemed

like I had a never ending checklist

that just kept being added to. But

with that checklist something

happened. Somewhere between

course assignments for USF, CAT

assessments, PACT, solo weeks,

and solo units I felt more and more

confident in my teaching. Being



I want to be a teacher who… “Keeps learning from my students and improving my practice from year to year.”

-Quotes from residents last day in

practicum

able to work in the same classroom

from the first day of school to the last

allowed me to really learn how to

feel the pulse of the class, and how

to be responsive to the needs of my

students. But this was definitely one

of the hardest lessons to learn, for

me. There is so much to think about

at every second of the day, and at

first I thought that if I prepared

enough there was nothing that could

go wrong or surprise me.

However, that is totally not true,

and even the best lesson plans can

go awry. When that happens though,

rather than feeling frustrated and

mad at myself for not being perfect,

I know that as long as I am my very

best for my students, I can go back

and right my wrongs if need be. I've

learned to be patient with myself

and my students, and that staying

positive is the difference between a

great day and a tiring frustrating

day. The best part about working in

the same class the entire school year

was the relationships I was able to

build with my students. I love every

single one of my students and it was

so hard to say goodbye on the last

day of school. But I am confident that

they will continue to grow as

students, but more importantly as

people, remembering the lessons

that they learned this year.

Reflections from Residency Year Kristin La, Resident 2011-2012

+ I used to think…but now…

“That there was a “right” way to teach, but now I realize everyone has their own style.”

-Quotes from residents last day in practicum

(continued)

My mood during the second

semester of SFTR fluctuated

between exhilarated, exhausted,

nervous, and proud. Taking over

a class – including planning,

teaching, assessing, grading, and

student mentoring – was an

incredible opportunity which

required creativity and

endurance. Among other things,

I learned a valuable lesson in

scope and sequence planning:

ensure that the last unit of the

school year is highly engaging to

combat the end of year

restlessness. For my 8th grade

science students, sexual health

education seemed to do the trick.

Suddenly,.my.new-teacher

classroom management issues

disappeared as students sat rapt

with attention. Those three

weeks provided some of the

highlights of my year.

I always knew I would end up

pursuing a career in teaching.

This program was a great way to

gain the experience and

confidence I needed to feel

prepared going into my first year

of teaching. This has been one of

the most challenging and

rewarding years of my life. I

depended on the built-in support

systems of the program, and feel

lucky to have established a small

network of colleagues, friends

and mentors in SFUSD.

Watching my students get

promoted and prepare to leave

James Lick Middle School had me

considering high school science

positions, just for the chance to

teach some of them for another

year. In the end, I was excited to

take a position teaching 8th

grade science at Martin Luther

King, Jr. Academic Middle School

next year. It is exhilarating and

nerving-wracking to think about

having my own classroom, and I

know the exhaustion will return

in the days leading up to August

20. But I cannot wait to meet my

new students and get settled into

a new community, leaning on my

experiences and relationships

from my year in SFTR.

Teaching for Excellence and Equity 6


Update on our New Website

June will be an exciting month for SFTR as we will be

launching our brand new website! We are working in

partnership with Giant Rabbit, which is a San Francisco based

company to get our website launched. The site incorporates

some great features for both prospective candidates as well as

current residents of the program. We have been very mindful of

making the website both functional as well as easy to navigate.

The launch date is scheduled for the end of the month. See the

link below to access the website and let us know what you think!

Our new home: 135 Van Ness Ave, Room: 122 San Francisco, CA 94102 415.355.3900

SFteacherresidency.org + + Visit us on the web at:

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Moving….

In 2008 the San Francisco

Education Fund played a leading

role in bringing one of the first

urban teacher residencies to the

West Coast to transform how

teachers are prepared to serve in

San Francisco’s hardest to staff

subjects and schools. As lead

partner in this unique collaborative

with San Francisco Unified School

District, University of San Francisco,

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and Stanford in its early stages of

development, the San Francisco

Education Fund provided support to

the program through its launch year

to the present. Working with our

partner organizations to build the

residency, SFTR is now on strong

footing both programmatically and

financially. As of June 30, 2012 SFTR

will be moving from the Education

Fund. The program will physically be

housed at SFUSD to work more

closely with the district as part of

their human capital strategy. Fiscal

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oversight will move to Community

Initiatives. University of San Francisco,

Stanford University and United

Educators of San Francisco will

continue as key partners in this

endeavor. The San Francisco Teacher

Residency and its collaborative

partners wish to thank the San

Francisco Education Fund for its

support in bringing this important

program to San Francisco and

incubating it. The students of San

Francisco are richer for their

contributions in this effort.

Documents

SFTR Quarterly 1