Dear CNMT Community,

It’s nice once in a while to have some truly great news to share. This week I feel qualifies as one of those times.

A team of five CNMT teachers applied to UCLA Center X for a TIIP grant, which awards $30,000 to carry out a teacher-led project at the school. The proposal, entitiled “Experience-based learning project: community activism through critical social literacy,” will serve as a catalyst to incorporate more project-based learning into our classes. On Friday, we found out that the CNMT team was one of the winners of this highly competitive grant.

One of the parts of the proposal that I am most excited about is the training by Buck Institute for Education. This organization will be training all CNMT teachers in planning and implementing PBL with a workshop this summer and followup days during next school year. Continue reading →

What about the students and their parents? What can they do?

Students are ultimately responsible for their own success, since they are the ones who will benefit from it, and they are the ones who will suffer when they don’t pass a class. So students need to be motivated and resilient.

Success in life only comes through effort, and unfortunately, too many students don’t think that they should have to try hard in school. I personally think that the greatest satisfaction comes from the success you achieve after putting a great effort into something, even the smallest, most mundane task. One of my heroes, William Morris, put it this way:

“If these hours be dark, as indeed in many ways they are, at least do not let us sit deedless like fools and fine gentlemen, thinking the common toil not good enough for us and beaten by the muddle, but rather let us work like goodfellows trying by some dim candlelight … that tomorrow, when the civilized world, no longer greedy, strifeful and destructive, shall have a new art, a glorious art, made by the people and for the people, as a happiness to the maker and the user.”

In other words, hard work will get you through these tough times, and you might even get something amazing out of it.

Dear CNMT Community,

This week I went public with something I have been working on for the last couple of months with the help of some folks from the District and PLAS. It’s still not a sure thing, but we needed to reach out to our parents to see what they thought about the idea, because we need to know that there is community support before moving forward.

The idea I am referring to is about replacing textbooks with digital readers. Specifically, I would like to use our textbook money to buy iPads for all of next year’s CNMT 11th graders.

I first thought of this idea because I know we have all been struggling with the lack of technology we have in CNMT, a school with “technology” in its name. Continue reading →

Dear CNMT Community,

This past week had some of the best and worst moments of the year. The best moments were watching the school come together to support the 10th graders and retesters taking the CAHSEE on Tuesday and Wednesday.

We in CNMT chose to test our students in classrooms rather than the gymnasium, because we felt that students would be more comfortable and better able to focus in a more personal space with a trusted teacher. It was a challenge, mostly because it involved a lot of shuffling of classes to make sure every student knew where to go and every teacher knew their role. Continue reading →

Dear CNMT Community,

In my update a few weeks ago I talked about the midterm marks and what we can do to improve them in the Spring. Now that the CNMT teachers have had the chance to participate in two SDAIE training modules, and I have had the chance to review the materials, I’d like to talk a little more about how our lesson planning and instructional delivery can support student learning and improve outcomes, including grades.

First of all, let me say that we are very fortunate to have the support of our new Title III Access to the Core Coach, Jantre Haskin. Ms. Haskin is an experienced arts educator in the District, and she brings the creative energy of an artist to her new role working with teachers. Continue reading →