Field Trips, Fancy Fridays and Family Saturdays!

It has definitely been awhile since I last found time to write about our latest adventures in “Texas Tech”. One of my fellow kippsters told me that he tried to write a TFA blog but stopped mid-year because it was too hard to keep up, and I am beginning to see his point! Nevertheless KIPP Destiny took its first field trip to the Dallas Perot Museum. It was at that moment when I realized why the kid-friendly leash was invented for parents. I only had two children to chaperone but when one wanted to go left the other wanted to go right, leaving my arms twisted and my heart racing when they decided to sprint in opposite directions! My scholars absolutely loved the Perot Museum. It was interesting to see the 5-year old version of “fun” at a museum. You would think they would have wanted to look at the ancient dinosaur bones…but what they immediately rushed over to do was to see how many times they could push the button that described the dinosaur. They had an amazing time, for some, this had been the first museum experience. It was exciting to see their faces light up and to see their personalities truly shine through, throughout the day.

Recently we implemented “Fancy Friday” at KIPP Destiny to introduce manners and the concept of eating at a fancy restaurant. In other words, we developed a way for scholars to think it was their idea to use quieter voices in the lunchroom. It has been a wonderful compromise. :) At KDE Fancy Friday we use napkins and silver wear and we even play classical music for them to dine with. My scholars have absolutely loved fancy Friday! :)

At our latest family Saturday, KIPPsters and their families and friends came to KDE to help us beautify our campus as the founding class. We had multiple stations set up for them to put their handprints on decorated trashcans and even paint their favorite aspect of KDE on a banner that is now hung in the hallway. We had each of the classes perform their class college chant for the parents and we all circled to explain the importance of being the founding KDE class. It was inspiring to see the amount of families that showed up to bring their children to the school on a Saturday to further enhance the KIPP experience for their child. 

2014

About this time last year, I would have been posting about the end of the semester and celebrating personal successes along with the rest of my facebook population. This year, however, I get to celebrate the successes of the 26 little people that are changing my life. At the beginning of the year some of my students came to me not even knowing the first letter of their name. As a business school grad, about the only strategy I could think of was to put the letter on a PowerPoint slide and say “it’s A.” (Have no fear; I did not actually do this). Fortunately after learning a few accurate strategies and having an amazingly talented co-teacher, 70% of our students will go into 2014 reading ABOVE the average kindergarten reading level. I am incredibly proud of them for persisting to learn each day regardless of the challenges they all face on a day-to-day basis. Overall the year has taught me many things about children, and about the education sector. The industry is so fascinating to me and it is incredible how much opportunity there is for improvement. Going into 2014, I will capitalize on what I can do to further my growth and what skills I can use to help not only my school but the education sphere. 

Twinning: Thing 1 and thing 2

It has been a long time since my last blog post; I definitely overestimated this thing they call “free time.” We recently had our fall literacy fest, where each of the teachers dressed as book characters and read their books to all of the kindergarten classes. Naturally my co-teacher and I chose Cat in the Hat and found thing 1 and thing 2 onesies from target. The kids freaked out when we jumped up from behind the library in our matching, firetruck red onesies! Not only was it Halloween but now their teachers were dressed like giant fuzzy "things"…it was quite the day. :)

Andre Agassi cuts the ribbon!

October 23^rd was the official opening and ribbon cutting of KIPP Destiny elementary in Dallas. We were joined by KIPP founder Mike Feinberg, the Dallas Mayor and world renowned Tennis Player and Olympic medalist Andre Agassi who funded the KIPP Destiny building. Two of my students were apart of the ribbon cutting ceremony and were able to officially cut the ribbon. When my principal informed me that Andre Agassi would be coming to my classroom to film the media clip, I nearly died! We were featured on several news channels (thankfully not the part where my kids asked Andre, “who are you?”) That’s kindergarten for you. It was an absolutely incredible day and I have a feeling my students will relish it for years to come. The look on their faces when they found out they were on TV was purely heart-warming. The support for the new school from the community leaders and KIPP was incredible. I feel so blessed to be apart of this experience.

The team and family are some of the most talented, dedicated and amazing people I’ve met. We’ve heard so many great things from parents…

“It is such a blessing that you guys came here. I am so proud of my son and what you are doing for him!”

“What y’all doing here is so powerful. Y’all put your money where your mouth is, and bring it!”

Articles from the event:

http://www.bizjournals.com/dallas/news/2013/10/23/canyon-agassi-fund-kipp-partner-to.html

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/best-southwest/headlines/20131023-agassi-celebrates-charter-school-in-dallas-red-bird-area.ece

http://keranews.org/post/tennis-star-andre-agassi-serves-cash-kipp-charter-school?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A%20kera-northtexasnews%20%28keranews.org%20-%20Latest%20News%29

http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/unfairpark/2013/10/andre_agassi_is_inaugurating_h.php

Videos from the event:

http://67.214.100.182/Player.aspx?ShareId=7ce9b9f5-f459-456d-9bc2-d1f693004498&PortalId=02958B97-4E8D-49ED-8F3E-309F535B0CC1&EmailAddress=aniess%40universal-info.com&FileId=F5C2EB09-2D25-46B5-843D-43976D38D759

http://67.214.100.182/Player.aspx?ShareId=cebba806-8db9-4d1c-a267-d94bf9db4160&PortalId=02958B97-4E8D-49ED-8F3E-309F535B0CC1&EmailAddress=aniess%40universal-info.com&FileId=1C713AC5-9B11-4EEE-B240-F7006B1E5BAF

Pictures of the event

Andre speaking at the ceremony

Mike Feinberg speaking at the dedication ceremony

Andre visiting our "Texas Tech Red Raiders"

Eller Alum Spotlight

So blessed that the Eller College featured my blog and my journey in their college blog. Eller provided me countless opportunities and has been immensely supportive of my journey in the education field. Read the post here!

https://blogs.eller.arizona.edu/pdc/2013/09/dream-job-spotlight-mary-myles-13/

A Rendezvous with The President

Last night I had the sincere privilege of meeting President Bush and Mrs. Bush at a private event they hosted for the Dallas Teach for America Corps. It was an absolutely incredible experience, one that I will relish for the remainder of my life. We were able to explore the George W. Bush Presidential Center at SMU, which is relatively new. It had a structure salvaged from the 911 twin towers that you were encouraged to touch. There was a situation room in which you could listen to the opinions of different law officials and policemen to decide what to do in a national emergency and compare it to what Bush did. We got to visit a replica oval office; that President’s chair seemed quite comfy. ;)

After we toured the museum, we shook the President’s hand and headed out to the patio. It was a pleasant surprise however, when Mrs. Bush pulled up a chair at our table for dinner! We talked about our teaching experiences and how she enjoyed being a teacher herself back in the day. President Bush was good humored and down to earth in his speech. He thanked all the Corps members for teaching and for persisting despite the challenges we have all already faced. The most amazing part was when he brought up his immense support for KIPP and mentioned that he was in Texas when the first KIPP School opened in Houston 20 years ago. He gave a shout out to one of our KIPP Advisors and thanked him for his work with KIPP in the Dallas area. It was truly moving to hear President Bush’s support for both the Teach for America and KIPP mission and our work. He said something that I will never forget. Possibly the best transition into motivation Monday that I will ever have in my life again. “If it wasn’t hard, you wouldn’t be here. You took the risk when many did not. And that shows me what kind of people you are, and the character you have. Thank you for what you do.” -President George W. Bush

The start to “The Beginning”

KIPP Destiny is now officially open for change. All the summer training, professional development and classroom setup… and it was time. On Monday I may have felt like I was drowning, much like comedian Jim Gaffigan describes having four children “Imagine you are drowning and someone hands you a baby.” Well… imagine having 24 of them.  However, despite the realities of classroom potty accidents and teeth being lost by the second, by Friday I fell in love with each of my kippsters.

An essential piece of the KIPP culture is establishing a relationship with our kippsters and their families by going on home visits. My co-teacher and I were able to go to several of our students’ houses the first week of school and get to know our kippsters and their families. These visits have already made such an impact on our classroom and have enabled us to show our parents that this work is a partnership and that we will combine forces to be this change.

We asked our parents about the dreams and goals they had for their kids this year and in the years to come. I will never forget the way their faces lit up when talking about their child’s education and how I felt knowing that I would be helping make these dreams possible. One of my parents in particular spoke about events that led her to stay in Dallas and described it as “I just believe there was a reason we were supposed to stay. I just have such a good feeling about KIPP.” I remember the goosebumps that appeared as I pictured her daughter with a college diploma.

Every day I feel so thankful and blessed to be a founding teacher and to be apart of the legacy that KIPP Destiny will persist to achieve. I could never have imagined that I would be ecstatic to wake up every day at 5 AM (after I get over the fact that it is 5 AM) to get to the school to work with my inspirational team, amazing co-teacher and see my kippsters.

My co-teacher has been such an inspiration to me and I am beyond excited to see what is to come from our partnership this year. She is such a ray of sunshine and brings upmost positivity to every challenge along the way… even when we decided to conduct the ever popular shaving cream activity ambitiously early for our students. Yep, I am talking about the one where you allow them to spread shaving cream on their desks and draw shapes and equations to practice using manipulatives. But then in reality what happens is they decide to clap their hands and shaving cream splatters onto all of the student’s new uniforms… how did I not see this one coming? 

Can’t wait to see what the next week will bring and the growth that will continue.

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/headlines/20130811-kipp-destiny-elementary-charter-in-red-bird-welcomes-its-first-students-monday.ece