From the Mouths of Higher Ups

In a recent meeting the following quotes were said:

"Our professional responsibility is a guaranteed curriculum."
"The schools that have been more successful..."
"You are responsible for every ______ grader in the building."
"What are you covering?"

Let's take these one by one.

"Our professional responsibility is a guaranteed curriculum." I'm not against a curriculum. But the message this statement sends is that the biggest thing I must do as a teacher is ensure that I am presenting the same information to every child. I think my job is much bigger than that. I also think the same thing for every student sets a pretty low bar.

"The schools that have been more successful..." This has been said again and again as justification for common assessments, common pacing, and all the team expectations. I find it disingenuous. The definition of success, in these statements, is test scores. Again, the bar is too low. And not meaningful - not for me, not for the kids, not for most parents.

"You are responsible for every ______ grader in the building." I get this one too. In fact, I kind of like this idea. But...right now there is a complete lack of any control for teachers. We don't control our schedule, who else works in our classroom, who is on our team, etc. We barely control what and how we are teaching. If you want me to be responsible for every child in my grade, allow me to do some of the things that I know will help those kids.

"What are you covering?" This one I don't get. I hate the term. I can cover all the content I want, that in no way means students will actually learn it. Ask me what I am teaching. Ask me what my students are learning? But don't ask me what I am covering.

I'm feeling a significant disconnect from those who are making decisions in my district.

Beautiful Classrooms

At Educon I attended a fabulous session, Where are the Beautiful Learning Spaces?, by Andrew Campbell and Jennifer Chan. Within minutes they had me thinking about what a school believes in and how (or whether) a school presents that. I was struck that much of what we do in our schools, at least in my district, goes against what we want. We want families and students to feel welcome in our buildings. But we lock all the doors, have signs up about trespassing, and lots of steps to pass to get beyond the front office. I understand why all those things are there, but I wonder what we lose as a result.

Anyway, we talked some about classrooms. I talked quite a bit with Christina Jenkins and we lamented how rarely we get to see other people's classrooms. There is so much to be learned just from a peek into another classroom, so many new ideas, things you've never considered.

From Stacy's 2nd grade classroom

Thanks to inspiration from Andrew and Jenn, we decided a tumblr would be a great way to try and make this happen. If you or someone you know has a classroom, or even just a part of a classroom, that you think is really welcoming or innovative or comfortable or special in any way, please share it! Christina (thank goodness for folks who know more than I do!) added a submit button at the top so that people can add their pictures on their own. Or you can email me if you prefer.

From my classroom

Please pass this on. I truly believe it could be an interesting resource for teachers, especially for new teachers, if it gets built up with plenty of examples.

Why Writing Groups Work and Matter

Last night I was lucky enough to hear a presentation by a highly skilled, very thoughtful educator. Even luckier, I've heard this presentation before. Like most presentations by highly skilled, very thoughtful educators, I learn something new each time.

This educator teaches in schools that work with various agencies in our district: mental health, alcohol and drug addiction, and our court system. The students with whom she works are in crisis, significant crisis. They are unable to attend their regular school, or even one of our alternative schools. However, they are still being educated, still being held to the same standards as their peers.

She works specifically, at this point in her career, with literacy. One of her greatest strengths is establishing writing workshop in these classrooms and building writing groups (peer groups that discuss each others' writing).

Not only is this work more challenging because these students are already coping with so much, but also because they rotate in and out of these schools. The goal is for them to return to their base school (or an alternative school, at least) so the population changes frequently.

This amazing educator has not let that stop her or even slow her down. One result is that the only state tests on which these schools have met the benchmark are the 8th and 11th grade writing tests. Clearly the writing workshop structure, the writing groups fostering conversation about their writing, and the high expectations have made a difference.

That said, student achievement is not the greatest driving force for using writing groups with these students. Kids who have hit a point that they are in these schools have many difficulties. Often those include communication and appropriate social skills (oh, the stories this educator can tell!).

Working in a writing group requires listening and talking. It really requires thoughtful listening and talking. Learning to do those things will be immensely useful in anyone's life. Immensely useful in personal and professional relationships. Even more useful than being able to write well.

I told you she was thoughtful.

Success Means High Test Scores

From cireremarc’s flickr stream:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/23291498@N04/4891653678/

Do so few people really question this?

It seems like everything that is said about education today defines success this way. In a recent team meeting we were hearing about the PLC process and what is expected (really, what is required and what we can tweak). We were told, multiple times, that 'it works'. I kept thinking, "Yes, if by works we mean it raises test scores."

Does that mean it's better for kids?
Does that mean it actually improves learning?
Does that mean it's a good use of time, for kids or teachers?
Does that mean it is the right thing to do?

Are we really defining success in a meaningful way?

Assuming Positive Intentions

Over the years I have worked with many superstars. Our school has had, and has right now, many absolutely amazing teachers. Not everyone is lucky enough to know these amazing teachers. One of them, however, has truly broken out into superstardom and has become quite well known.

Last night a bunch of us went to her first book signing of the tour. 

There you see Glennon Doyle Melton surrounded by people who taught with her at our school. Some of us are still here, others have moved on to other schools or to stay at home with children. It was like a reunion. The whole evening, waiting in line for 2 1/2 hours, seeing Glennon, being with these amazing, brilliant educators, was an awesome experience. I don't use that word lightly. It was awesome.

(By the way, the lady just to her right in the picture co-authored a book with her years ago. It's a fabulous book as well.)

Glennon did not get a chance to talk to the entire group for long, nor did she have much time to speak to us individually. There was quite a long line and she was signing books until midnight. 

No matter how brief her remarks, I was struck by one sentence. She talked about all she has learned in the last few years. These were all things she has written about before. But, for some reason, one stuck with me. She said that she has learned that everyone is trying their best. 

That bears repeating. Everyone is trying their best.

I've thought a lot about assuming positive intentions, but I am not good at it. I'm especially bad when it comes to other drivers. But it seems to be something I struggle to remember. 

Somehow, Glennon's wording makes so much sense to me. Everyone is trying their best. My little first graders are trying their best. Their parents are trying their best. My coworkers are trying their best. Those other drivers are trying their best. Everyone is trying their best. 

I will continue to try my best to remember that.

On a related note, I have an extra copy of Glennon's book. It's not signed, sadly. However, I have been trying to figure out since last night what to do with it. I thought about giving it to my mom, but I think I should get her the kindle version instead. I thought about sending it to my sister, but she may have already bought it. I decided, instead, to pass it on here. If you are interested (and didn't give up on this post far above), leave me a comment. I'll pick a random number and send that person this fabulous book. (I'll pick a number this Saturday, April 13th, so that I can get the necessary information and mail the book out on Monday!)

Making Assessing Worthwhile

Common assessments have become a big thing at my school in the past couple of years. A big thing with which I am still struggling.

Prior to this quarter, our common assessments in language arts have been our running records. I had no problem with this. We were all doing running records to help us plan effective guided reading groups so it didn't require any extra time or energy. It was an authentic, meaningful assessment.

This quarter we decided to focus on the high frequency words our students should know by the end of first grade. Every January we assess all 100 words - the writing of which typically takes more than an hour over the course of a week. I do 25 words each day and it takes us between 15 and 30 minutes to do that, depending on how focused we are, how many distractions we have, etc. We also do one-on-one assessments of each child reading the words. When we decided to focus on high frequency words I immediately argued against assessing all 100 again. (We decided to focus on the 20-30 words each class worked on during this quarter.)

The time factor was a significant reason for my wish to not assess all 100 words. But I spent a lot of time thinking about what we gain from these assessments and what they cost us. When I tell students a word and they write it down, I learn if they can spell it in that moment, in that isolated manner. That may or may not translate to their actual writing. Which is where I really care if they can spell it.

In the past I would not have assessed 20-30 words at the end of the 3rd quarter. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't have been assessing them. During writing conferences I would be noting their facility with high frequency words. I would not have know who could spell each specific word at any given moment, but I'm not convinced I know that from our common assessment either.

In the past I would have known who has a strong grasp on the high frequency words and who does not. That would have allowed me to form guided writing groups around using our resources for these words as well as creating work stations to practice them. I believe that would have worked just fine.

Now, I'll spend a considerable amount of time assessing students rather than teaching them. I will likely still end up with guided writing groups and work stations, just as I would without this common assessment. I just wouldn't have hard numbers for us to compare as a team. Sigh.

Rick Riordan, My New Hero

My daughters have been listening to Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. (It's our first foray into books on CD and it has been an unqualified success.) Their love of the books and fascination with the gods and goddesses pushed me to read the books. In the fourth book, The Battle of the Labyrinth, Percy, Annabeth (a daughter of Athena), Tyson (a cyclops), and Grover (a satyr) come across the Sphinx. I was enjoying the books up to this point, but this made me absolutely adore Rick Riordan.

I don't believe reading this will spoil any part of any of the books. If you haven't read the series, I highly, highly recommend it. The relevant quotes from the scene follow (breaks are where I left out text to focus on just the critical pieces). Enjoy!


I slipped on a pile of wood scraps, but when I shined a light on them I realized they were pencils - hundreds of them, all broken in half.

Then I saw the monster. She stood on a glittery dais on the opposite side of the room. She had the body of a huge lion and the head of a woman. She would've been pretty, but her hair was tied back in a tight bun and she wore too much makeup, so she kind of reminded me of my third-grade choir teacher. She had a blue ribbon badge pinned to her chest that took me a moment to read: THIS MONSTER HAS BEEN RATED EXEMPLARY!

"Fabulous prizes!" the Sphinx said. "Pass the test, and you get to advance! Fail, and I get to eat you! Who will be our contestant?"

"Are you ready for your test?"
"Yes," she said. "Ask your riddle."
"Twenty riddles, actually!" the Sphinx said gleefully.
"What? But back in the old days -"
"Oh, we've raised our standards! To pass, you must show proficiency in all twenty. Isn't that great?"

A drumroll sounded from above. The Sphinx's eyes glittered with excitement. "What . . . is the capital of Bulgaria?"
Annabeth frowned. For a terrible moment, I thought she was stumped.
"Sofia," she said, "but -"
"Correct!" More canned applause. The Sphinx smiled so wide her fangs showed. "Please be sure to mark your answer clearly on your test sheet with a number 2 pencil."
"What?" Annabeth looked mystified. Then a test booklet appeared on the podium in front of her, along with a sharpened pencil.
"Make sure you bubble each answer clearly and stay inside the circle," the Sphinx said. "If you have to erase, erase completely or the machine will not be able to read your answers."

"Now," said the Sphinx, "next question -"
"Wait a second," Annabeth protested. "What about 'What walks on four legs in the morning'?"
"I beg your pardon?" the Sphinx said, clearly annoyed now.
"The riddle about man. He walks on four legs in the morning, like a baby, two legs in the afternoon, like an adult, and three legs in the evening, as an old man with a cane. That's the riddle you used to ask."
"Exactly why we changed the test!" the Sphinx exclaimed. "You already knew the answer. Now second question, what is the square root of sixteen?"
"Four," Annabeth said, "but -"
"Correct! Which U.S. president signed the Emancipation Proclamation?"
"Abraham Lincoln, but -"
"Correct! Riddle number four. How much -"
"Hold up!" Annabeth shouted.

"These aren't riddles," Annabeth said.
"What do you mean?" the Sphinx snapped. "Of course they are. The test material is specially designed -"
"It's just a bunch of dumb, random facts," Annabeth insisted. "Riddles are supposed to make you think."
"Think?" The Sphinx frowned. "How am I supposed to test whether you can think? That's ridiculous! Now, how much force is required-"
"Stop!" Annabeth insisted. "This is a stupid test."

"Why then, my dear," the monster said calmly. "If you won't pass, you fail. And since we can't allow any children to be held back, you'll be EATEN!"

I raised my sword, but before I could strike, Tyson ripped the monster's grading machine out of the floor and threw it at the Sphinx's head, ruining her hair bun. It landed in pieces all around her.
"My grading machine!" she cried. "I can't be exemplary without my test scores!"

Interventions

To kick off a recent day-long workshop we watched a video about a middle school girl who collapsed and her P.E. teachers saved her. The video is powerful and it's a great story.

The point of it, in our workshop, was to make connections to interventions. The idea being that the P.E. teachers intervened for this girl and we need to intervene to help students reach benchmarks. The more I thought about it the more it seemed like a serious stretch.

There is no question that the teachers saved the girls life. Without them she had no chance. But the same could be said for the doctors. The teachers made it possible for her to survive until the doctors could take over. The long-term life saving was done by the doctors.

I'm not sure where that leaves me in the analogy. I feel like there should be some big aha here. Instead, I'm just frustrated that this video was used in a way that feels very manipulative.

Relationships Matter

I am blessed to be working with a fabulous intern (pre-service teacher, student teacher, whatever you want to call her) this semester. She is thoughtful, bright, interested in learning and in the students, and a delightful person. To be honest, most of the interns I have worked with in the past dozen years have been this way. This one, while being fabulous in all those ways, has also had to step up like nobody's business. I had a couple of conferences scheduled this semester meaning a few days out plus some doctors' appointments for me and my daughters. Then we had the minor crisis with our daughter which involved even more absences. Finally, there have been a surprising number of meetings and inservices required by my school/district. So this phenomenal intern has taken over for many days, planned and unexpected, with grace, flexibility, and competence.

Inevitably, no matter how stellar the intern, we always hit a point at which we need to be eating lunch with kiddos. We do this two or three times each week with a couple of students at a time. The goal is to build rapport and get to know the students outside of the academic setting. In the past, I've assumed this was necessary because some interns struggle with all they are balancing and need an extra push to focus on their relationships with students. But now I'm not so sure.

I get a grace period with my students at the start of each year. We have something of a honeymoon as we all get to know each other. As a result, I get to know them and build relationships during a lovely time. An intern, who joins us in January, is stepping into established routines and personalities, for all the good and bad that entails. My relationships with the students impacts hers - which can help or hinder depending on me. The kids' relationships with each other also impact how she perceives them. She doesn't really get to start fresh. Eating lunch together breaks down those walls a bit, opens up new views of each other.

The downside? I don't like giving up my lunchtime! That's why we only do it two or three times each week. In the moment, I love the time with the kids. But I also definitely need time without them during the day.

My Friends are All Teachers, Thank Goodness

Another reason for my recent absence here has been a small crisis with our daughter. Parents face small crises all the time. Sometimes a small crisis goes away on its own. Sometimes a small crisis becomes something huge. Sometimes a crisis needs to be addressed carefully and sometimes it needs to be studiously ignored. There is almost no way to know this until the crisis can be viewed through hindsight.

This isn't our first small crisis nor will it be the last. This, however, was eye-opening for me. I'm a teacher. I'm surrounded by teachers and other educators. As a result, I have access to a wealth of knowledge.

Teachers see small crises all the time. They also see large crises but, fortunately, those come less often. Seeing so many small crises mean that teachers know ways to address them and who else can help.

In this small crisis there were numerous people with whom I work who helped us with strategies to address our daughter's concerns and to point us to others and to help us navigate various possibilities. We have been stressed as we moved forward with this but all the information and support made it so much better.

I'm left now, as we see the light at the end of the tunnel (we think), with great sympathy for parents without this network of resources. I'm left wondering how I can better support my students' families when they are facing small (or large) crises. I think I often forget that most parents don't have the wealth of knowledge all around them that we have.

Change is Hard

I tend to be a fairly sentimental person. I find it hard to throw away notes my students wrote to me, art from my daughters, tickets from theater performances, and Christmas letters from friends and family. That's not always a good thing. Our house is awfully full of stuff. But, luckily, most of that stuff is pretty small.

Today we (my daughters, my husband, and I) spent the day at my parents' house. This isn't uncommon. They live about half an hour from us and our girls are often there even if we aren't. The unusual part was when we left. We drove away knowing that it's very possible that was the last time we ever visit that house.

My parents have bought a motor home and are about to embark on a long-time dream. They are selling almost everything they own next week (thanks to a company that does these things). They've put a few things in storage for a future time when they feel they are too old to be driving around the country in a motor home. Some stuff has been shipped to my sister in San Francisco and my minivan has made trips for the past few weekends bringing stuff back to our house. Starting Monday my parents will live in their motor home.

I can't just tuck this house away in a keepsake box in my closet.

My parents have lived in this house since 1984. That's the longest either of them have lived in any home. At one point or another I lived in every one of its four bedrooms. I learned to play the piano in that house. Inside the hall closet door are the markings showing mine and my sister's heights over the years. And now those for my daughters as well. There is only one other family on that cul-de-sac that has lived there longer than my parents.

My daughters cried as we drove home. They don't like things to change. They're strong and spending spring break traveling with Grandma and Bobo in the motor home will do wonders for their adjustment period. I tried to talk with them about it as we drove. To acknowledge their sadness while reminding them of their excitement about future plans. I think that would have been more effective if I hadn't been crying.

Change is hard. When you are the one advocating for or planning the change it is different. When change is out of your control it is challenging. I'm not against this change. It's just hard to adjust.

Explicicity

Listening to myself speak to my students (and to my daughters, for that matter) I find I make a lot of assumptions.

I assume kids understand what I want them to stop when I tell them to stop.
I assume kids understand what I expect them to do when I tell them to get it together.
I assume kids understand what I am praising when I say good job.

I don't just assume kids understand all the implications and inferences behind my words, I also assume they can do whatever it is I am asking.

I assume when I say sit still that they are able to control their body enough to do so.
I assume when I say whisper that they know how.
I assume when I say slow down and walk that their enthusiasm and excitement can be restrained.

If I truly want my words to have meaning, either that kids will get from them what I truly mean or that they will be able to do what I am asking, I have to be more explicit.

Instead of stop, I need to say stop poking the child next to you.
Instead of get it together I need to say put down the blocks, take a deep breath, count to 10, then try again to play.
Instead of good job I need to say I am really impressed with how thoughtfully you solved that problem.

Instead of simply saying sit still, I need to help students recognize what that means and learn strategies to make it possible. (I also need to only ask them to do so for reasonably periods of time.)
Instead of simply saying whisper, I need to practice doing so with them and help them feel what a whisper is.
Instead of simply saying slow down and walk, I need accept that there are times when that is too much to ask.

I've been mulling this over for some time, but this Responsive Classroom post really hit home. 

10 for 10 nonfiction

Some fabulous bloggers organized a 10 for 10 nonfiction event. Picking my 10 favorite nonfiction books was a challenge. Partly because I struggled to define nonfiction. I decided not to include poetry or folk tales, even though those show up in the nonfiction section of the library. I stuck with a more traditional idea of nonfiction books. Even then it was tough to narrow it down. Once I decided each book had to be by a different author it got easier! Otherwise you might see 10 Steve Jenkins' books here.

Move! by Steve Jenkins

I absolutely adore all of Steve Jenkins' books. I have read at least a dozen of them to my class this year and not been disappointed once. (I call them Steve Jenkins' books but many of them are written by his wife, Robin Page, and illustrated by him. I do not give her enough credit.) Move! is my favorite though. I love all the verbs describing how different animals move and we return to this book and move in those ways around our classroom when we need to get some wiggles out.


Handstand Kids Cookbooks

There are a few different books in this cookbook series, the Mexican cookbook, Chinese cookbook, and Italian cookbook, at least. We bought these for our oldest daughter, starting when she was about 7 and wanted to be cooking. They are easy to follow and we have found the recipes to be delicious. There are also tidbits about the different cultures in each cookbook which add a bit of fun.



Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing Up by Jon Scieszka

This one isn't really for my students (first graders) but is fabulous for those a little older. It is absolutely hilarious and a book that upper elementary students will quickly identify with. According to one of my colleagues, the audio book is read by the author. We've read this one at home but I think we may have to check out the audio book just to hear it in his voice. Scieszka also read one chapter of this book to President Bush and his wife when Scieszka was named the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. I love that this is what he chose to read.


Baby Animals by Seymour Simon

I am not as big of a Seymour Simon fan as I once was, but his See More Readers series is one I love. The photographs, typical of Simon, are stunning. The way this series is laid out works for me better than his traditional books. There are now quite a few books in this series, about all kinds of topics including animals, space, machines...Still, Baby Animals remains my favorite.






An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Sylvia Long

This one has been out for a while now and I still return to it often. The pale colors and gentle illustrations are just right for this. The book offers a lot of information, but can be read without getting into all of the details. Sometimes we read everything and sometimes we just read the basics. It gets kids thinking about something as simple as an egg in new ways which helps them look at other things in new ways.




Faithful Elephants: A True Story of Animals, People, and War by Yukio Tsuchiya, illustrated by Ted Lewin

This is another one that isn't appropriate for my first graders. I loved using this book when I taught fourth and fifth grades. It is such a sad story but is so well written it offers myriad possibilities for discussions and questions. It's a book that sticks with you long after you finish (clearly it has stuck with me because I haven't read it in more than four years).





Me ... Jane by Patrick McDonnell

Patrick McDonnell also wrote the wonderful, wordless picture book South which I use at the start of every year. He is able to tell stories in such a welcoming way. His illustrations, so similar to those of his comic strip Mutts draw you in as well. This biography of Jane Goodall is an amazing text to use with young children. So many biographies written for young children are stilted and dull. This definitely is not.




Just One Bite by Lola Schaefer, illustrated by Geoff Waring

This book always reminds me of Steve Jenkins' books. In fact, every time I see it in the library I think it is one of his. It's big, which helps with a read aloud, and it's about animals and food. Kids find parts of it gross but that's never a bad thing with young kids. The grossness just makes it that much more interesting.





Wax to Crayons by Inez Snyder

We spend a lot of time in first grade wondering about things, anything. We wonder about things outside our window, on our wonder table, at recess, or in our classroom. I love books that offer us answers to our wonders while giving us even more to wonder about. Crayons are such a common item that kids are usually fascinated to see how complex they can be.




Why Do Snakes Hiss? and Other Questions about Snakes, Lizards, and Turtles by Joan Holub

We ask a lot of questions when we wonder so a book like this is a great mentor text for us as writers. Seeing how an author takes a question and writes about the answer helps us. Plus, these questions are ones that fascinate my students. So they love it as readers and writers.









All images from amazon.com.

Needing Space

I've been away from this space for a week, a long time for me. I'm not short on ideas - there are several beginning of drafts waiting as well as a host of new ideas percolating. It's not even that time has been too tight because of other commitments. I just haven't had the brain space for this space.

This space is important to me. It helps me reflect on my classroom, my school, and education in general. It is a place to vent frustration at times and to celebrate at others. It offers connections to many from whom I learn. I miss it right now.

All aspects of my life feel swirly and out of control at the moment. I'm hoping that at least some of those will get back to behaving soon. Then I will get back here.

Updated Encienda 2013

After some messing around and googling, I managed to record my Encienda from Educon this year. It's titled, Walk in Their Shoes, and fits with one of my great passions right now, seeing kids as people. They may be younger, less experienced, but they are amazing, brilliant, thoughtful, and funny. Just like adults. We (including me) miss that a lot.

(My daughters can be heard in the background. Oh well. It seems appropriate that there are some kids' voices here, at least a little bit.)

(For reasons I don't understand, when uploading this the images get ahead of the audio. I can't seem to fix it. Sorry about that.)

New Book Discovery

I read a lot of blogs about children's literature. A lot. Some really fabulous ones. As a result, I'm often the first one in my school to know about or have new books.

So color me surprised this morning when we went to the library and our phenomenal librarian read Chloe and the Lion to my class.

I'm not familiar with Mac Barnett but I've greatly enjoyed some of Adam Rex's previous books.

This one is brilliant. The author is there in the book and the author and illustrator end up arguing. The main character has to step in.

I'm not doing justice to this book. Not by a long shot. The kids laughed out loud. I laughed out loud. Our librarian and I exchanged looks many, many times throughout as we enjoyed humorous tidbits that the kids completely missed.

One of my students suggested this would make a great play. He's totally right.

So, where were all my kid lit friends on this one? Did I just miss it? Or is no one talking about it? Did no one else find this book fabulous?

More on Perception

Post-Educon I had conversations about the conference with numerous people, often about my thoughts on the power of perception. One such person is a brilliant educator I am lucky to know who works in a variety of capacities. The one that is relevant at the moment is her work with our district's interagency schools. These are the schools that work with our court system and detention centers, mental health supports, and transitional services. These schools support students and families in various stages of trauma, stress, and challenges. They can do amazing things.

This educator was describing to me two of the schools that work with the court system. One is very much what you would expect of a school working with a court system, tough rules, high expectations, etc.

The other does some interesting things. For one, they take a picture of their incoming students the day they arrive. This typically means a picture of them looking very run down, maybe tired, dirty, ragged. They then take a picture of the student on their graduation day, the day they complete their time at that school and return to their base school. This picture typically shows a well-dressed, clean, poised young person. At the graduation they show both pictures. These graduations happen regularly as students arrive and leave at different times. This means that throughout their time at this school students see these images side-by-side again and again. They see the possibility their future holds, what they can be. They are pushed to perceive themselves in a new light through seeing their classmates change.

I don't have any data but my guess would be that students coming out of this school are more successful when they return to their base school, and to regular life, than students returning from the more traditional court-affiliated school. Changing negative perceptions matters.

Power of Perception

A week ago I was in Philadelphia, freezing but doing some fabulous talking, learning, and thinking about education. Interestingly enough some of the best of all three happened around 11 pm on Saturday night.

A bunch of us were standing around outside City Tap House (I got it right Becky!) because that is where you can actually hear each other talk. Luckily, this year they had fires in the fire pits. Last year that was not true. There are now railings around the fire pits which was apparently what was needed for the fire marshal to approve their use.* As a result, the top halves of our bodies were warm while the bottom halves were freezing. This isn't really relevant, but is included because I find it fascinating that this is where I had one of the most interesting and thought-provoking conversation of the entire weekend. That's the beauty of Educon. The talking and learning doesn't stop.

Chris Lehman, Jeremy Spry, and Doug Herman, all of Science Leadership Academy were part of the crowd, as were Becky Fisher, me, my husband, and a couple of guys from Ohio who I don't know. The SLA crowd was discussing some students who were struggling to complete assignments, maintain grades, and basically be successful at the game of school. (This is mildly shocking to those who attend Educon and meet so many fabulous SLA students and then assume they are all doing quite well.)

The more we talked the more it became clear that (some of) these students are fulfilling their self-perceptions. We discussed one student who works awfully hard to earn Ds. My impression was that he could probably earn higher grades with less effort, just effort expended in different ways. I was reminded of one of my little darlings who will state, "I'm a loser!" and then work hard to fulfill that statement.

As teachers we recognize these struggles, the challenge of learning to read, the challenge of finishing assignments, etc. but often we miss the underlying cause, the child's self-perception. We can work as hard as we can to teach a child reading strategies or strategies for perseverance or other strategies, but unless we work to change their negative self-perception it is unlikely that any of those strategies will have sticking power. Perception is very, very powerful.


* There's another example of perception, but from the outside. The fire marshal has a perception of those who spend time at City Tap House that they are likely to 'accidentally'' fall into a fire pit. It's possible that's an accurate perception. I don't have enough experience there to say for sure.

Educon Encienda

Today at Educon were most of the Encienda presentations. These are 5 minute presentations with slideshows of 20 slides each, auto-advancing every 15 seconds. This is the fourth one I've done and I love it (for reasons I have not been able to identify yet). Here is my slideshow and I'll upload video of the Encienda when I get a chance. (My dad wants to watch it. No one else has to!)

My big idea is to try to see through children's eyes before making decisions that impact them.

Encienda 2013 from Jennifer Orr

Thank You Donors' Choose & Generous Folks

Donor's Choose has been fabulous for my class. I've put up four projects and they've all been funded (usually pretty quickly). We've gotten cameras, copies of The Dot for Dot Day, awesome chairs, and now books by Jan Thomas and Mo Willems.

I pulled the stack out and showed them one-by-one to my students. There were many gasps, cries of "I've read that book!" and much making of the connection sign (thumb and finger out pointing at yourself and then the other person, back and forth to show a connection between you). I wish I recorded that part.

After we oohed and aahed over the books I put them all out on a table and kiddos grabbed one and found a place to read. When they finished one they put it back and got another. They could have done it all day. It was a book celebration. I did record a bit of that.

(The video doesn't show up in Google Reader. Sigh.)

L.A.B.

That's what we call our Language Arts Block. I love that it abbreviates to L.A.B. It just feels right to me.

My school has worked hard over the past 15 years to establish powerful reading and writing workshops. Folks come from other schools to observe what we do. I love it. I'm really proud of it.

But in the past few years I wanted to take it further. So three years ago I tried an integrated block, reading and writing together. I had a few reasons for doing this:

1. Time - with only one focus lesson and one share we have more time for the real work of our reading and writing - reading groups, independent reading, independent writing, guided writing groups, writing conferences, work stations to practice various literacy skills
2. Student independence and responsibility - in the reading and writing workshop model we are telling students what they should be doing and for how long - write until we tell you to stop for share - work at your work station until we call you for guided reading - it didn't matter if kids felt finished before that or if they wanted more time
3. Linking reading and writing - with separate reading and writing workshops students begin to see those two skills as separate - I wanted them to see all the ways reading and writing are linked and support one another

Setting up this integrated block is no small task. We start the year with separate reading and writing times to solidly establish routines and expectations for both. Just before we begin integrating the two we spend a couple of weeks looking at what we are doing during our reading and writing time and how those activities help us to become better readers and writers. We really dig into this. Not just, "I was writing." or "I was reading." We end up with a great list that includes things like, "I reread." and "I thought about what I wanted to write." and "I used the word wall." and "I talked to a friend about my book."

In the first few weeks of L.A.B. students have a half-page with three sections: Guided Reading, Independent Writing, and Work Station. When they finish one of those tasks they write about what they did there to become a better reader and writer. After a few weeks we phase out the paper as they begin to internalize these ideas.

Of course, there are times when I need to talk with a student about spending all their time at their work station and not doing any writing. Or vice versa. That's fine. We have those conversations, as often as we need to. Throughout the year we also revisit expectations and routines. Of course we do that in other parts of our day as well.

A few upper grade teachers have also given this a try and now our administration is interested in learning more. So our literacy coaches, a couple of us classroom teachers, and our administration will meet next week to talk about this idea.

In talking with a fourth grade teacher I found one comment really interesting. I was saying how much time I spend early in the year establishing routines and pushing students to think about what they are doing and how it is helping them become better readers and writers. The other teacher said that this seems to be harder in fourth grade than in first. After four years of school, four years of teachers telling students what to do and when and for how long, students have a rougher time being responsible for this themselves. It just makes me more determined to keep doing this with my students and making it better all the time.

Arming Teachers

Back in December I wrote a few posts about the various parts of my job and what they really look like. After the horrific events in Newtown, Connecticut I did a bit more reflecting on my job. Yesterday I wrote about our lockdown drill, our practice in case of such a terrifying possibility.

In related news, one of the blogs I enjoy reading is The Educated Reporter, from the National Education Writers Association. It helps me keep up to date on policy issues and other educational issues around the country.

Earlier this week Emily Richmond wrote about the current interest in arming teachers. My state, Virginia, is one of the states with bills proposing something along these lines (of course).

I find this possibility terrifying. I have fired guns before, skeet shooting with my mom when I was younger. (She used to hunt quail with her father, if I remember correctly.) I enjoyed that but I've never felt a need to shoot regularly or to own a gun. In fact, the idea of a gun in my house gives me nightmares. I have two daughters and the risk, in my mind, is just too great. A school with 700 students is even worse.

There are many aspects of my job I do not greatly enjoy. Some aspects I actively dislike. But if being armed becomes a part of my job it will be time to find a new job.

Lockdown Drill

We had a lockdown drill today. For those not in the know (and lucky you), this is the drill we practice in case of a dangerous person(s) in our building. We close and lock all doors, cover any interiors windows with dark paper, turn off the lights, pull down all blinds, gather in one corner, and be as quiet as possible.

When we told our little darlings about the drill some remembered doing this in kindergarten. That helped. We presented it in comparison with fire drills and tornado drills - drills that I don't think cause a lot of stress for our students. We explained what we would need to do without any drama (I hope).

Our principal announced the drill over the loudspeaker and the kids (mostly) quickly and quietly moved to the carpet. My intern and I took care of the lights, doors, and windows. Then we joined the kids on the carpet.

I pulled a book from nearby to whisper read to them. It seems unreasonable to ask first graders to just sit together silently. With my back to the door and a great distance between it and me I felt comfortable no one outside would hear me reading. I did pass on some really funny books though because I didn't want gales of laughter. I picked a sweet story.

On the whole my little darlings were fabulous. They were quiet the whole time. Even when someone knocked on our door as a test.

I felt a surprising level of stress given that it was a drill. I knew it wasn't real, but I still felt anxious. (I'm not a naturally anxious person.) I'm not sure how my students felt but I observed and overheard some things that were both concerning and humorous.

Two little girls sat beside one another on the carpet holding hands. I think they needed that physical reassurance of their safety. One child remarked after the drill about how scary it was. Another boy decided it was a drill in case zombies came. After we opened the door and pulled up the blinds he said, "Oh no, the zombies will come! Go hide!" and ducked off around the corner of our couch. I don't think he was really worried but it's hard to be sure.

I'm not a fan of this piece of my job. I don't think our students feel more reassured by the practice of these drills. That doesn't mean I question the importance of them. But I think students either feel anxiety as a result or don't really feel anything about them. I don't like doing anything that raises my kiddos' anxiety levels, even when I know we need to.

I'm Not Too Busy

Last year I wrote about getting my own box of grapefruit from my grandparents and my mother's offer to cut it for me. She was concerned that I was too busy. (I did manage to cut up my own grapefruit and did so again this year.) I am also often concerned that I'm too busy.

But I've been thinking a lot about this lately. A post Dean Shareski wrote a couple of years ago came to mind. (I don't know how many blog posts stick with me over multiple years but this one did.)

The language we use is something I am acutely aware of these days. This may be a result of reading both Choice Words and Opening Minds last summer. I'm working on changing my language about this issue. Instead of saying "I don't have time for that." I'll say "I'm not prioritizing that."

I may not say that directly to other people in certain instances, such as when I am unwilling to help with something, but I will still make the effort to recognize it for myself.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed with tasks and busyness. When I remember that I am so busy because of things that matter to me it is easier to take. Being busy also quickly becomes an excuse. It's the reason I don't get up and go to the gym. It's the reason I haven't unpacked the boxes that sit in our dining room from the holidays. It's the reason I haven't worked with our oldest on some strategies for stress we've thought about. I'm just too busy.

But I'm not. I have time to watch an hour or two of tv each evening. I have time to go to dinner with friends. I have time to read books I want to read. I have time to sit at the piano with my girls and play and sing.

It's not busy. It's priorities. Remembering that may also help me ensure that I am prioritizing the things that truly matter to me. This week will be a busy week. But it will be that way because it is full of things I very much want to do.

Give Me a Good Reason, Please

I know it is sweeping the nation and we are far from alone, but I still don't understand the idea of common pacing. Planning together I get. I've been doing that for years and it is wonderful. Multiple brains talking about ways to teach and what different students need is much better than just one brain. Collaboration is an amazing thing in education.

But common pacing? We're doing this in math right now - to some extent. We're planning as a team once a week. No one is checking in to make sure we are following it and we've talked about the fact that we won't all be teaching the exact same lesson on the exact same day. This makes a lot of sense to me. We're benefiting from the co-planning piece, all the brains working together, but we can adapt to student needs and changes in schedules.

We're also working on planning a unit together about writing reports. Again, we're talking about what our students need, how to support them as they learn, what resources are helpful, and some ideas about assessment. All useful conversations. But it's unlikely we'll be teaching it all at the same time. Or in the exact same way.

In a meeting today it was said that we should know that the expectations for common pacing will be tighter as we move forward. Why? What is the benefit? What am I not seeing?

My perspective on common pacing is that it is focused on content rather than on students. That is wrong to me. Our learners should drive the learning they are doing, not the other way around.

Please, please, please tell me if you have another view. I cannot see another perspective here.

Firefighter is to Teacher as...

My morning commute takes me past a volunteer fire station. It's a place we've come to know well in recent years as we've taken our daughters there for the open house during Fire Safety Week and to a pancake breakfast with Santa each December. One of our neighbors drives an ambulance for the station.

There have also been a number of firefighters in the periphery of my life for many years. A family friend was lucky enough to be on duty one evening to answer a call at our home after a minor bathroom fire. His son, a boy I babysat as a teen, is now a firefighter. One nephew of ours is trained as a firefighter, although I don't think he is actually doing that work at the moment.

For the reasons above or for reasons I don't understand, I've been thinking a lot about volunteer and career firefighters. After a bit of research I've learned that often they have the exact same level of training.

Now I have more questions than I had before. Why do we as a society need volunteer firefighters? We don't have volunteer police officers. What would it cost us to have all career firefighters? Are there reasons other than financial that explain all of the volunteer fire stations across the country?

Of course, I can't help but compare this to education. Volunteer firefighters have the same level of training as career firefighters. They may not get paid for the job but they are still expected to be fully competent to do it. The analogy to groups like Teach for America seems obvious to me. Not only do those teachers not have the same level of training as career teachers, they also cost their school districts more because of the costs involved with Teach for America. Why is it possible to require full training for volunteer firefighters but not for teachers?

Complexities of Learning to Read

This morning I headed down to our phenomenal book room to find some new books for my guided reading groups. I was looking for titles at pretty early reading levels (about end of kindergarten, early first grade benchmarks).

In spite of the wealth of titles in our book room, I struggled to find good books for my little readers. Many of my students speak English as a second language (or 3rd or 4th). They are still gaining vocabulary and a firm understanding of the language structure. As a result, some books are much more challenging than their level would suggest.

When kids are learning to read there is so much going on, so much that we take for granted once we learn to read. They are thinking about how the words look, how the sentences are formed and organized, and the meaning behind the text. It's a bit overwhelming when you step back and analyze it.

Learning to read is much easier for students who have a lot of vocabulary, lots of background knowledge about things, and have a solid understanding of the structure of the language.

I rejected books today because they had unusual animals in them, like slugs or because they called animals by less common names, hen rather than chicken. These words are unlikely to be known by my students.

I rejected books that rhyme because creating that often involves using words or language structures that are not typical in our spoken language.

I rejected books because they involved activities or places that my students are unlikely to know anything about, such as riding a train or New York City. The vocabulary and ideas become challenging when one has no background knowledge.

These are not bad books. (Well, some of them are but not really for these reasons.) They are not even books that are impossible for my darlings to read, they are just much easier for some kids to read than others. My little first graders are pretty brilliant. They have a lot of background knowledge about certain things but not always the things that are valued by publishers of early reader books. They can speak multiple languages, something I, sadly, can't do. They will learn to read, I have no doubt of that. I'm just acutely aware of all the challenges facing them in that process.

Gratitude

Cause and effect are often difficult to determine. When I think about who I am as a teacher I wonder what caused certain things. Am I a reflective educator because I went through the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards process in my fourth year teaching? Am I more thoughtful now about living the Golden Rule with my students because I have my own children and I want to be the teacher I want for them? Am I willing to share materials and ideas because I have always taught at a school where that is the norm?

I find myself somewhat at odds with many of my colleagues in recent months because I seem to question everything. Our school is adjusting to new leadership at many levels (our own administration as well as that of our cluster in our district) and that has meant many changes. For whatever reason I push back about pretty much all of these changes. It isn't that I am unwilling to change. At least I don't believe so. I just want to be sure that what we are doing is best for our students. And best for them beyond simply their test scores. Best for them as people and learners.

Am I pushing back while others don't because I am in my 15th year at this school and I feel comfortable not just going along? Am I pushing back simply because I'm ornery? Am I pushing back because I fear change?

Honestly, I believe this space and those of all the other teachers, administrators, and educators online are the reason I push back. I believe the reading of others' reflections, questions, and thoughts and the conversations that have ensued from those is the reason. I believe my time spent here (online in the education sphere) has pushed me in ways no one school could ever do.

Thank you to everyone who continues to share of themselves as educators here online. Thank you for your thoughts, your conversations, and your openness. I'm sure I am not alone in believing in the value it has for me and for all of us.

Terms I Hate: Classroom Management

One of my recent reads, thanks to the recommendations of several people, was Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer. Just a quick aside, I ended up abandoning the book even though I was intrigued by it because I found it impossible not to question everything I read based on the author having fabricated quotes. Not knowing what was truthful and what was not made it too hard for me to get anything from the book. I'm sorry I didn't read it when it first came out, before learning all this. Had I done so, I would have had to rethink some things when the truth was revealed but I wouldn't likely have dismissed it all out of hand as I seemed to do when I read it.

Anyway, my point in mentioning the book had nothing to do with the above ramblings, although it does involve a quote from a source so take it as you will. There is quite a bit in the book about 3M, the company that makes post-it notes as well as a plethora of other products.

"It's a little amusing that people think Google invented this idea," Wendling says. "We've been doing it here forever. At first, people thought we were crazy. They said employees need to be managed. They said the scientists would just waste their free time, that we'd be squandering all our R and D money. But here's the thing about the fifteen percent rule; it works." (p. 30)

While I love the idea of the 15% rule, or 20%, or whatever, that's not what struck me. "They said employees need to be managed."

I struggle so much with the term 'classroom management' because it seems to suggest a level of control over other people that I have no interest in having. I use the term, hesitantly, when I talk about choices I make in the classroom to improve flow in our space and our time as well as ways I try to help students make positive choices and grow in their independence. But I don't like it. The connotations in education today simply give me the heebie-jeebies.

I appreciate the fact that this company believed in their employees and trusted them. Show people that you have faith in them, be they students or employees, and the majority of the time they will live up to that faith.

I think I may be back to the idea of treating students like people. Of course, if we feel a need to manage adults it's possible we aren't treating them like people either.

My nine-year-old loves to remind me that I am always lecturing her about the Golden Rule. She brings it up when someone else is treating her badly as her reasoning for doing the same. It never holds water with me but it's an interesting argument. Regardless of her take on it (although I am still working on that one) the Golden Rule is always there for me. If I would not want to be treated in a certain way then I should not be treating my students, my daughters, my coworkers, anyone else in that way. It's not a standard I live up to by any means, but it is a worthy goal.

The Brilliant Donalyn Miller

Just before the winter holidays I had the opportunity to hear Donalyn Miller speak. There are so many reasons I enjoyed my day - she is a classroom teacher, right now, she was in her classroom with her students the day before she was with us - she is a Texan with just enough of an accent to remind me of my home state but not so much that it drives me nutty - she sings the praises of twitter and online networks - she loves books and reading and teaching.

Donalyn is highly reflective, a quality I believe to be critical for educators. She asks herself why about everything she does. If there isn't a good reason for doing it, she stops. Sounds simple but it truly brilliant.

She's also highly reflective about her students. If a child is not reading during their independent reading time, she spends a few days observing closely. She looks for why the student is not reading and what they are doing instead. Then she is able to talk with them and work with them to create a plan for reading. She watches what students are reading in order to help them find new books, books similar and books that will stretch them.

While the basics of Donalyn's book, The Book Whisperer, should be in place in classrooms everywhere, they aren't. Sadly. However, even if all classrooms allowed book choice and instituted significant amounts of independent reading time at school there would still be much to learn from Donalyn. I just finished rereading The Book Whisperer and found myself reflecting on ways we use our time in my classroom and my expectations for my first graders. It's certainly got me thinking.

Children are People Too

A kindergarten teacher friend was chastised by an administrator because a couple of her kindergarten students were talking about Christmas rather than whatever their task was at that given moment. This was in the week before Christmas. I can't put into words how absurd and surreal this feels.

My frustration with this is immense. I am left with the sense that either this administrator does not have an understanding of five-year-olds and/or does not respect them as people. Is the expectation that students can only discuss topics of their choice during recess and lunch? Is that how human beings function?

We began our school year with the StrengthsFinder. The idea is to recognize and build on the strengths of our staff. Every teacher, instructional assistant, and administrator took the survey and identified their top five strengths. We charted those across teams and school-wide. We found similarities and areas we lacked as a staff. We talked about ways to use our strengths to grow individually and as teams and as a school.

We do just the opposite with kids. From stamping out their natural excitement about things, including Christmas, to seeing them only as test scores on whatever sort of assessment we are using at that time, we do not recognize or build on their strengths. Why on earth do we do one thing for adults and exactly the opposite for children? Do we truly think that they are a completely different species and need completely different treatment?

Children are people. They are younger than the rest of us but still people. We need to put ourselves in their shoes.

Parents are Always Teachers

Today is my parent’s 44^th anniversary.* I have been blessed to grow up with a model of a marriage worth emulating. I’m not saying that my parents have a perfect marriage. I don’t believe such a thing exists. They have been through difficult times in those 44 years but they are together and they are happy. This is clear because they just spent a good amount of the past four months traveling together around the U.S. in a Prius. That's a pretty good test of a marriage in my mind.

The saying goes that parents are their child's first and most important teacher. From personal experience I know that to be true. Even now, at nearly forty, I can see everyday things that I learned from my parents. Some of that is because I am now a parent and I watch and hear my parents in myself. I hear my father as I tease our stubborn, stubborn five-year-old. I hear my mother as I work through homework with a frustrated nine-year-old. 

I hear my parents in my interactions with my husband. This, too, is not surprising. Aside from my own marriage there is no marriage I know as well as I know my parents'. I am lucky to have that marriage be one that I want to look to rather than one to fight against. It's easy to continue a pattern that exists. I'm also lucky, I believe, to have seen some of the rough patches (likely not all of them) and seen my parents come through them. I expect rough patches in my own marriage but I also expect we will come through them together.

My mother has long been someone worth copying. I've watched her organize people at church to help one person going through a rough period or to help entire families and groups. She was, by profession, a nurse and I saw her in emergency rooms and nursing homes, patiently listening, gently caring for both patients and families. She can be hot headed and quick to anger when someone weaker has been wronged or hurt. She will make phone calls and write letters and speak out loudly and clearly. She can be stubborn (maybe we see a trend with the little five-year-old) in all the ways I hope my own daughters can be. Holding one's ground and standing up for what she believes in. 

My father has been my model as a reader (although my mother reads nearly as much). For years he took three different newspapers - mostly for the comics - and more magazines than I can count. He has cut back on those things but still has more reading material delivered to his home than some entire communities do. He will read anything you put in front of him and give you his honest opinion about it. He is also a natural teacher (as is my mother). Watching him with my daughters I see in him the reasons that all three of his siblings are teachers. He is not, at least not by profession. When my girls ask questions he responds with questions. When they say things that don't make sense he questions them, gently, carefully, pushing their understanding.

As a teacher I am grateful to have learned questioning rather than telling and reading widely and often from my father, and patience and care and speaking out and standing up from my mother. I am a better teacher for having grown up with them. I am a better wife, a better mother, and a better person as well.

*Yesterday was my 15^th anniversary and tomorrow is my grandparents’ 67^th anniversary. In case that’s not crazy enough, the other grandparents shared my anniversary.

I'm an Elementary School Teacher

Last week I wrote about what my job entails. One of my posts focused on the academic pieces, another on the students, and one more about the flotsam and jetsam that must be handled.

In all of my thinking and writing about my job, safety never crossed my mind. I’m not sure why that is, especially since I've had many conversations with my first graders in the past week about keeping bodies and selves safe (there has been a lot of very physical play at recess and some unkind words at other times).

Even when I do think about what I need to do as a teacher to keep my students safe it is focused on their emotional well-being and managing minor bumps and bruises. Life and death situations do not cross my mind.

I sincerely hope that will continue to be true in the future. After the horrifying events at Sandy Hook Elementary on Friday I don’t know. It’s not that I have any question about what I, my colleagues, and every teacher would do in such a situation, it’s simply that it has never occurred to me that such a need would arise.

I learned of the tragedy during lunch and spoke with two colleagues about it before having to teach again. I was in shock and I believe that one of the first things I said was, “This happens in high schools. This is a high school thing.”

Believing that has allowed me to live as though this could never happen to me, to my daughters, to my students. I can live that way no longer.

Tomorrow I will follow our regular routine. We will read, work on word study, go to P.E., play, and get through our day. Those routines will help all of us to believe that things are normal. But I will also be hyper award of my students’ sense of safety, physical and emotional. I will be prepared to have tough conversations if they bring up questions, worries, or stories they have heard. I will do everything in my power to keep them safe and to ensure they feel safe.

I've written twice about how September 11th impacted me as a teacher. My most vivid memories are not of that day but of September 13th, the day we returned to school. Based on those memories I am expecting tomorrow to be exhausting and emotionally draining. In spite of that, I'll just be glad to be together.

Behind the Scenes

Here comes day three of me babbling on about what a teacher's job entails. Day one was about societal views of said job, day two focused on more up close expectations (parents and such), and now we'll look at realities that most folks may not realize happen.

Now that we've covered the basics of instruction and the work involved in knowing our students we can talk about what a teacher's daily life looks like. Those first two parts of my job are what I love. I love figuring out each individual student so that I can help them find books they want to read, topics they are excited to write about, and make connections to math and science and history with them. I genuinely love digging into the skills and facts they have to learn to understand what that means for a six-year-old and how to help them understand it. Those things are challenging and exciting and keep me going everyday.

These others are not. Some are just time consuming. Just coordinating schedules with an occupational therapist and a speech teacher can get complicated. Then actually supporting the student in using the skills he is learning with those teachers is a struggle. Mentoring new teachers and working with pre-service teachers is wonderful to me because it pushes me to be the best teacher I can be. But it also consumes precious planning time and requires me to think about what those teachers need as well as what my students need.

Some of these items are both time consuming and of questionable worth. Administering the myriad of required assessments takes many days out of each year. The reading assessment we use is given two to three times a year (depending on the student) and is done so one-on-one. It is, however, a pretty useful assessment so I don't begrudge the time. The math assessment we give twice a year (I do it in small groups) feels much less useful to me. I don't feel as though I learn much about my students from it so it doesn't help me as a teacher. Then there are the other random assessments for which I see little to no value for different reasons - we don't get the scores back in a meaningful time frame or the assessment doesn't seem to be developmentally appropriate (often a problem with young children).

Many meetings also fit into the time consuming and questionable worth category. Not all, some are well worth the time, but many. I'm lucky enough to be at a school that only holds school-wide staff meetings once a month and our team meetings are once a week for an hour. There are plenty of other meetings however. Plenty of these meetings are now focused on PLCs which require extra assessments and paperwork at other times.

Finally there are the tasks that I wish I had a secretary for: collecting picture or field trip money, collecting forms, stuffing Wednesday folders, hanging up artwork around the room and in the hall, and such.

I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty of what teachers do. It's a complex job that requires one to be constantly on their toes, thinking back and ahead at the same time while still being patient, thoughtful, and compassionate. I wouldn't have it any other way.

My Job When It Matters

Yesterday I wrote about what society expects of me as a teacher. What I didn't mention there, but came to mind as I reread what I wrote is that those societal expectations all come down to getting my kiddos to pass standardized tests.

However, when society comes in contact with schools, because they have children there or volunteer or something that brings them in, their expectations change. Those instructional expectations remain, although they may not be quite as powerful, but they are joined by other expectations.

When school stops being purely theoretical, as it is for most newscasters and politicians, different things matter. Students are people rather than standardized test scores. Parents want me to care about their children. This looks different for every parent and child. It might be supporting a shy student to help them find their voice in the classroom. It might be making sure a child is wearing their glasses everyday. It might be reminding a student to make eye contact as they talk to me. It might be making sure they don't get anything with meat in it at lunch. It might be listening to their stories when they walk in each morning.

Some of these expectations are ones parents specifically ask about, such as the glasses or eye contact or meatless meals. Other expectations are never voiced aloud, may not even be conscious thoughts for the parents. But they are there and they are important.

This part of my job is about really knowing each student. Not just what they can and can't do academically, but who they are. Without this the academics don't happen.

More tomorrow...

One Facet of My Job

Lately I've been thinking a lot about what is expected of me in my job. In my mind it seems to be broken into three parts: what society in general sees as my job, what society more specifically sees as my job, and what my job really seems to look like when you're up close and personal.

For today I'm going to focus on the first one. Expectations for teachers, as seen in news report after news report, seem pretty clear. We must ensure that our students meet specific academic benchmarks. Sounds pretty simple.

When I look at it more closely it is a lot more complicated. Let's just take reading, a critical piece of first grade. There is a very specific benchmark for my kiddos in reading. Getting them there requires a cycle of assessment and instruction.

In case those words don't conjure up specific images for you, this means continually assessing what each student knows. In reading this means listening to students read out loud and then talking to them about what they read. Knowing where they are as readers allows us to then teach. The assessment tells us what skills they need more support in so we can teach for those. Then we have to assess to see if they have learned them. Assess, instruct, assess, instruct, assess, instruct, ad infinitum.

We're doing this for each student on and on. Plus, we're doing it in each subject area.

Teaching well requires knowing what students do and don't know at all times. That's no small task. Then creating instruction to meet those specific, individual needs. Another big job. Just standing up and telling students something does not, in any way, guarantee they have learned it.

Of course, this doesn't begin to cover what a teacher does each day. Tomorrow I'll tackle the more specific societal expectations, the ones that come when society actually comes in contact with school.

Weathering the Storm

As teachers (and maybe just as people) we struggle when it comes to sharing the good vs. the bad. While there are folks who seem to enjoy complaining, most of us often sugarcoat things. Teachers especially tend to celebrate the positives, even as they note and inwardly cry over the failures.

I believe recognizing the positives, talking about them, and, yes, even celebrating them helps. It's too easy for teachers to obsess over what isn't working, progress that isn't happening, and lessons that went wrong. It can wear one down.

This is on my mind as a result of reading John Spencer's post about ways to handle a tough period. Not everyone is as willing to share the hard parts and that got me thinking. (As always his thinking and writing are worth reading.) I'm not having a rough year with my class (as I've mentioned they're pretty darn darling) but we're in a bit of a rough patch as a school.

It's not something people want to talk about openly. Our problems are discussed in whispers, while eyes dart back and forth. We don't really like to admit that we're having such a tough time.

I'm in my 15th year at this school. I've been lucky enough to be a part of growing this school into a powerhouse, a well-respected school with a fabulous staff. We're feeling that slipping away and we don't know what to do.

Part of the reason we stay mostly quiet, I think, is that we aren't sure where the problems originate. Teachers are feeling micromanaged and disrespected in a variety of ways. Is that something our administration could remedy or is this coming down from our cluster or even a district-wide problem? An insane amount of our time is spent in meetings, meetings for which we have minimal control over our agendas. Who is dictating this? It's not clear.

Maybe some openness about the tough times we are in would go a long way towards improving the situation.

So Emotional

Back at the end of October Clarence Fisher tossed out an idea. I wasn't sure how to do this with my students. For whatever reason I had trouble wrapping my head around it. In spite of that I joined in. My inability to picture this (along with life in general) made me hold off for a while. This week I finally got started. Each day I sent home three flip cameras with kids to record whatever they wanted that afternoon/evening.

My reactions to this (which is not yet complete as I have more students still to participate) have varied but all been strong. Initially I was astounded by how excited they were when they returned the cameras to school the next morning. I didn't have to ask for them. They pulled them out of their backpacks with a flourish, ready to share their lives.

Then I watched a few and loved seeing what six-year-old filmographers do. The joy was so obvious and infectious. I wanted to just sit and watch but had to pick the kids up from music.

Finally when I had the chance to really dig into the videos I was overwhelmed by the generosity of my students' families. They allowed my students to record their homes and their lives. I watched them reading bedtime stories, making dinner, playing with siblings, and giving tours of their homes. My perception may be off, but I feel like I know these students so much better now than I did before watching these.

Here's a brief taste:

I did not edit that in any way. That's what you get when you give first graders a video camera and set them free. I am in love.

VSTE Highlights

I spent the past three days down in Virginia Beach with a bunch of amazing educators talking about technology (and, shockingly enough, teaching and learning) at the annual VSTE conference.

As is so often true for me lately the best moments in the conference were the conversations I had between sessions, during meals, and in every free moment. Virginia is not a huge state but it is full of wise, thoughtful, often witty educators. (Some of my favorites from around the state are Tim Stahmer, Tim Owens, Paula White, Becky Fisher, Jon Becker, and Tom Woodward.) Plus, VSTE folks don't take themselves too seriously, something I greatly respect. One more thing, I've never attended a conference with this much food.

One of the highlights this year was the first keynote. Last year that role was played, exceptionally well, by Chris Lehmann. This year it was Steve Dembo. I have followed Steve on twitter and read his blog for some time but had never heard him speak. After Chris last year, I was a bit unsure. I should not have worried. Steve was phenomenal. At 8:00 am, after traveling into the wee hours, he was far beyond high energy, inspiring, funny, and the time flew. One of the most impressive things about Steve is his ability to look at the world, notice things, turn them around in new ways, and find the humor. I would love to work in a school with him. (Of course, that's also true for everyone listed above...)

The deeper thoughts from VSTE are still rolling around in my mind. More to come.