Give me your CATS

CATS is something KIPP middle school uses to get students to focus, it stands for Close your mouth, Ask and Answer questions, Track the speaker, and Sit or Stay still.  I heard it used in a few of the classrooms today as our team set out to sit in in a few classes.  I was impressed to see how eager the middle schoolers were to answer questions and participate.  Sometimes they'd raise their hands and give an unsure or wrong answer but they were never unmotivated to attempt.  It is something very different from what I grew up with where only certain students participated.  I was not one of them because I felt intimated.  I like that KIPP motivates all students to not be afraid to put their ideas out there. The morning started off pretty well.

Then later on I ran into one or two classrooms in the upper grades and high school were things weren't running so smoothly.  It made me realize that it is still in the hands of the teachers, which makes me wonder what qualities make a teacher ideal.  Also while I was grading and putting in grades I realized that many of the scores were low.  KIPP is a working model but still needs improvement.  But I am enjoying learning the approaches they are taking to tackle the education gap.  There are numerous problems they can run into working with students but the staff is dedicated and passionate.  They make me believe that they can pull these students through and into college.