MRS. DOOLEY’S JOURNEY INTO

TEACHINGOr as I like to call it, the epic journey!!!

ONCE UPON A TIME THERE WAS A MOM WHO HAD FOUR DAUGHTERS

And they were a full time job.

BUT ONE BY ONE THEY ALL LEFT

First Erin went to Boston University

Second Rebecca went to American University

Third Jillian is in her junior year at NYU

And the baby, Sarah, just left for American University

WHAT WAS AN UNEMPLOYED MOMMY TO

DO?So she went back to

school and majored in Biology and Adolescent

Counseling with hopes of one day being a Genetic

Counselor or Social Worker. But then she got the idea to combine her love of science with her

need to be around children and become a

teacher.

SO SHE ENROLLED IN THE MAT PROGRAM AT EMPIRE STATE

COLLEGE AND STARTED ANOTHER EPIC JOURNEY.

Nancy the unicorn began her journey to teach science with great classes such as this one.

She completed all her certification requirements and began interviewing for a teaching position.

SHE WAS OFFERED TWO JOBS BUT ACCEPTED A 6TH GRADE SCIENCE

POSITION AT CHAH.Community Health Academy of the Heights is located on 182nd street in Manhattan. It is a New Vision Public

School and has been taken over recently by the best principal the

world has ever seen Mr. Mark House. His dedication to the school and it’s

community is inspiring and life changing. I am thrilled to be part of

the team.

MY CLASSROOM My philosophy on

teaching is simple: Get children excited about SCIENCE.

The school is in a transition phase as we move to a brand new building in January.

Right now we all share classrooms, there is no teacher prep room, all the classes are filled at all times and we are all stretched to our absolute limit.

But none of us would teach anywhere else. Our team of teachers is amazing and we all work together to make it all work.

BULLETIN BOARDS

Bulletin boards are a requirement of the

Department of Education and have to be done

monthly. They actually come and inspect to make sure

the bulletin boards are filled with student work that

shows what the students are learning, how they are being

graded and where we are going from there. This is my very first bulletin board and

my principal loved it and took this picture for me.

CURRICULUM

First unit:

•Processes and Procedures

•Measuring

Lessons include:

•Ice breakers

•Safety lab

•Measuring Lab

Assessmen

t:

•Our school adopted a minimum 80% passing rate

•Assessments must include mastery of a skill and not just content

MY 603 CLASS IS AN ENTIRE CLASS OF SIXTH GRADERS WITH EITHER

AN IEP OR BEGINNER ELL. DIFFERENTIATION FOR THIS CLASS IS VERY DIFFICULT SO FAR AS THEY HAVE DIFFICULTY COMPLETING ANY

TASK ALONE.

MY 602 CLASS IS INTERMEDIATE ELL’S AND 2’S AND 3’S ON THE STATE EXAMS.

THEY ARE THE EASIEST TO TEACH SO FAR AS THEY ARE FILLED WITH

EXCITEMENT ABOUT SCIENCE AND WANT TO ASK ME A MILLION QUESTIONS ALL THE TIME.

MY 601 CLASS IS THE HIGHEST LEVEL CLASS IN THE BUILDING. THEY ARE ANXIOUS TO LEARN BUT THEY ARE ALSO ANXIOUS TO

CHAT. THEY HAVE BEEN GIVING EVERY TEACHER ON THE SIXTH GRADE TEAM

TROUBLE WITH THEIR INABILITY TO QUIET DOWN. THIS CLASS NEEDS MORE

CHALLENGING WORK AND I HAVE BEGUN DIFFERENTIATING THE LESSON BECAUSE OF

THEIR HIGHER CAPABILITIES.

1

•My goals

2

•Get students excited by Science

3

•Get students to think using scientific inquiry

1

•My challenges

2

•No supplies or computers

3

•Low level students and very large classes (30-32)

1 •My plan

2

•Teach students to be organized

3

•Use hands on labs and activities to engage students

MY FIRST WEEK OF TEACHING HAS BEEN AMAZING, EXHAUSTING,

CHALLENGING, REWARDING AND

WITHOUT A DOUBT SO, SO WORTH ITAlthough I love my school and

wouldn’t trade it for the world, my commute is what I call the epic journey. I wake up at 4am, leave my house at 4:45am drive to the

LIRR and take a 5:29 train to Penn Station. I then take the 2 or the 3 train uptown to 96th street where I change to the 1 train. I get off at 181st street and walk 2 blocks to my school. What I really wish is

that I could just put on this unicorn suit and fly there. That would be

much quicker than my 3 hour each way daily journey.

MY CHILDREN HAVE BEEN SO SUPPORTIVE AND ENCOURAGING,

TELLING ME THAT I WAS SUCH A GREAT MOM THAT I HAVE TO SHARE THAT WITH

THESE KIDS THAT NEED ME MOST.

AND MY DEAR SWEET HUSBAND, WHO HAS MADE SURE THERE WAS DINNER EVERY NIGHT AND

THAT THE DOGS WERE TAKEN CARE OF, HAS MADE ALL OF THIS POSSIBLE.

THEY NEVER SAID IT

WOULD BE EASY

But they said it

would be worth it