New York TeacherJuly 7, 2016
Volume LVII, Number 11
Cover Stories
Framing their futures
The Brooklyn Art Gallery is a stunning piece of architecture, its grounds beautifully landscaped and its walls adorned with the artwork of students at the Brooklyn School for Career Development in Prospect Heights. You can’t enter the gallery — but you can lift the roof: It’s a small-scale model, the handiwork of Yvon Milien’s architecture class at the District 75 school. Everything is designed and constructed by his students, from the landscape to the building to the miniature artwork inside.
Ashawn, age 18, explains how he helped put it together. “I looked up museums on the computer, and I came up with ideas inspired from architecture magazines,” he says. “After I did research, I drew a floor plan on graph paper, and I used tracing paper to draw elevations. Then I took pictures of student artwork and had those reduced…
Union campaign leads to boost in Teacher’s Choice funding
A 27.5 percent increase in funding for Teacher’s Choice, the UFT’s top budget priority, was secured for the 2016-2017 fiscal year after an intense lobbying campaign by members on social media and by union leaders at Council meetings and hearings.
Co-location thwarted in Brooklyn
City school officials have withdrawn a controversial proposal to co-locate a charter school at IS 285 Meyer Levin School for the Performing Arts in East Flatbush after the school community and neighborhood groups joined forces to organize a grassroots campaign to oppose it.
Latest News
Hope for the hungry: Hope Shing
Hope Shing credits Stacy Blair, her French teacher at Essex Street Academy in Manhattan, with helping her believe she can do anything. “She is passionate about what she does and she encouraged me to try things to find my passion.”
Conquering adversity
Many of the nearly 200 students who received the UFT’s Albert Shanker college scholarships have achieved in spite of challenging personal circumstances. That put them in good company at the 47th annual awards ceremony on June 13.
Against all odds: Paul Turner
Mariah Henry hadn’t seen Paul Turner since she was his middle school English teacher. But she made an impact on his life and he hasn’t forgotten.
‘The heartbeat of the school’
“Guidance counselors are the heartbeat of the school,” said Chancellor Carmen Fariňa, as 26 guidance counselors were honored by the DOE at the 30th annual School Counselor Recognition Day Awards ceremony on May 25.
Labor laurels
Eleanor Roosevelt HS Chapter Leader Arturo Molina won a $30,000 scholarship — one of only four winners — from the Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education and Labor Studies at the City University of New York.
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Feature Stories
The dynamic duo of Brighton Beach
It’s a Broadway hit with great music that speaks to contemporary ideas of equality and justice — no, not “Hamilton,” but “The Pajama Game.” At PS 100 in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, 5th-graders performed the musical under the direction of music teacher MaryAnn Spinner and dance teacher Kim Wojcieszek, who formed a dynamic tag team.
The play is a memorable end-of-year event for the 5th-graders, but the teaching pair also sees it as a chance to launch students into middle school with the confidence that stage performance can endow even the shyest student.
Wojcieszek, who choreographs the school’s annual play, sees the transformation every year. “They begin the school year a little shy and timid,” she said. “Af…
A good read brightens a dark world
The UFT and its partners have distributed more than a quarter of a million free books to New York City children in need through First Book over the past three years.
Helping members help others... a reason to be Union Loud and Proud!
I ran into a boy who was my student in grade 2 at the UFT’s Thanksgiving meal for homeless students. When I decided to volunteer for the luncheon, I never expected to end up crying. My former student and I recognized each other right away, and he didn’t leave my side all day. It all hit home for me when I saw him there. How sad I was to see him and his family going through a housing crisis.
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Member Spotlight
What I Do
What I Do: Valencia Edwards, teacher, Lorge School
Valencia Edwards has spent her 16-year career at the Lorge School, a non-public special education school in Chelsea with students who range in age from 5 to 21.
Around the UFT
Maxwell Career and Technical Education HS fundraising Lupus Walk
Students and staff of Maxwell Career and Technical Education HS added a fundraising Lupus Walk to their annual senior class picnic at Forest Park in Queens on June 11 in honor of Jacqueline Rodrigues-Smith, a veteran science teacher and the school’s track coach who died in March at age 45 of the chronic, autoimmune disease.
Big Apple Awards
“You are the epitome of what all teachers should be,” Chancellor Carmen Fariña told the 17 winners of the fourth annual Big Apple Awards in a ceremony at DOE headquarters on June 23.
Multicultural show at P186, the Bronx
The rich cultural diversity of P186 in the Morrisania section of the Bronx was acknowledged during the school’s annual multicultural show on May 25.
Annual Pride march
UFT members joined the annual Pride march along Fifth Avenue on Sunday, June 26, an event that took on deeper significance in the wake of the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, two weeks earlier.
2016 Excellence in School Wellness Award ceremony
More than 150 educators, administrators and community health advocates gathered at Brooklyn Borough Hall on June 8 for the 2016 Excellence in School Wellness Award ceremony.
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You Should Know
You Should Know
‘Visit’ a doctor by phone or online
Telemedicine, which provides online consultations with doctors, dieticians and other providers, is available now for UFT members employed by the Department of Education who are GHI subscribers.
Secure Your Future
Union foils latest pension attack
The legislative session that recently ended in Albany is a lesson in why we, at the UFT, remain on the lookout when it comes to our members and their pensions.
Opinions
President's Perspective
Taking stock of a year of good work
Those who oppose public education and teacher unions had major setbacks this year. But the threats against us remain.
VPerspective
Safeguarding our union’s legacy
Let’s make sure that when we leave our legacy, the next generation has a clear understanding of what’s important and why, so it can protect that legacy and build on it.
Opinion
Homework help
Learning doesn’t stop when the school day ends. For more than 35 years, the UFT’s Dial-A-Teacher program has been a resource that thousands of New York City public school students turn to for help with their homework after school.
Opinion
Combating inequity
Some of the best high schools in New York City are deficient when it comes to enrolling black and Latino students.
Editorial Cartoons
Teaching Resources
Linking to Learning
Social media in the classroom
Social media can be full of bubblegum distractions, but is also a robust forum for communication and collaboration. By using social media in our classrooms, we can model its constructive uses and help students learn how to use its powers for good.
Research shows
School climate and teacher evaluation
Teachers who think their principal is a strong leader are 2.5 times more likely to say they are satisfied with their evaluation system, according to new research.
Teacher to Teacher
Flipping lessons and homework
This year I used a different teaching model that helped me use my time with my high school math students more productively: I “flipped” my class so the lesson was taught at home and traditional homework was done in class.
Building Your Career
Building Your Career
A hands-on approach to teaching
I'm a licensed electrician and worked six years in the field. I bring a hands-on approach to teaching into the classroom.
New Teacher Articles
Politics 101: Stand up for schools
Consider the ways in which you might deepen your engagement with issues outside the classroom that matter to public school educators. All teachers, even brand-new ones, have a stake in political matters.
Retired Teachers News
Are you interested in becoming an instructor for the UFTWF Retiree Programs?
The UFTWF Retiree Programs are seeking new instructors to teach during the day.
Campaign notes from the road
I had the privilege of volunteering with a dedicated group of fellow UFT retirees, along with AFT political organizers from around the country, on Hillary Clinton’s campaign trail in Florida in March.