Day 106I really struggle to get it all in. Plans for the upcoming week begin on Thursday, in a team meeting with my co-teacher who is a special educator. I fine tune the plans over the weekend. My plan book is evidence of the robust instruction that I design for each week. Despite my preparedness to launch those plans, I'm surprised, at the end of each day, at what goes unaccomplished. I have worked hard to limit the time wasted on transitions. I have no fluff in my day. There is no time spent on instruction or activities that don't address standards. Still, there are not enough moments in my day to accomplish all the things I set out to accomplishment and all the things that are critical to my students' success. What I have done a good job of is igniting a passion in my students for reading. Our #classroombookaday challenge is an enormous success. I recently asked students to reflect about their year. I asked a simple question: "How is your year going? Tell me and give me three reasons to support your answer." I couldn't believe how many students cited #classroombookaday as a reason why they were having a good year. It really is a time when we all come together to have a shared experience. The books we're reading are carefully selected. They afford our students opportunities to view the world through a different lens. They expose our students who diversity and the very real and very different problems of others. In other words, #classroombookaday is helping my students to become far more empathetic. In addition, we are reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and Charlotte's Web. The kids are LOVING both books. After each chapter of The Sorcerer's Stone, the students write a letter to Harry which highlights the major events in the chapter. This is another opportunity for students to become empathetic while also demonstrating their comprehension and writing skills. The letters give me insight into which writing skills need to be highlighted in upcoming lessons. In the coming weeks, scaffolds that support students in highlighting major events will be gradually removed. Letters will begin to demonstrate which of my students can determine main ideas and support those ideas with details. This week, after reading Charlotte's Web, I will ask my students to respond to text dependent questions with varying depths of knowledge. Students will receive some support in their work, but again, supports will be gradually removed as instruction provides students with the skills and strategies that will enable success. I go in to every week with a plan. Each week's plan is robust. Rigor and attention to the standards are always in the forefront. Yet, I still struggle to get it all in. Focusing on a single goal each week helps to keep me focused on what is most important. I work to make every day count. This week. I'm counting on five days of focused instruction and work that will make a difference for my students. That is always the plan!
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Day 105Today I attended the wake of a beautiful 44 year-old woman who died too young, leaving behind a young family including her husband and two children. I had her daughter in class last year.
Her daughter was kind of amazing. She had some learning challenges but was she ever determined. Reflecting on the year, I can't believe the progress she made. She was the "little engine who could". I give so much of the credit to this little lady, who never frustrated or gave up on herself. But let me tell you about her mother. Her mom was BEAUTIFUL. She was the kind of natural beauty who made it look effortless. She was battling cancer over the course of the entire year that I had her daughter. There wasn't a meeting or a chance encounter in a coffee shop when she didn't look radiant. She volunteered at the book fair. She attended all meetings for her daughter. She attended parent teacher conferences. She was stunning. Every time I saw her I was taken aback by her beauty. Yes, she did have a gorgeous smile and pretty eyes too. It wasn't just that. She glowed from the inside out. There was a sincerity and a warmth about her that just put you at ease. The fact that she was smart is indisputable but she never made the people around her feel like they weren't her equal. She was extraordinarily kind. I probably met with and emailed and phoned this parent a little more often because her daughter had some significant learning challenges and because her daughter was so determined and because this mother was the kind of advocate that makes a teacher want to anything within her means to help her child. Aside from the loss of hair and the emails explaining that she was hospitalized now and again, I never would have known that she was sick. She was as dedicated a parent as I've ever seen. She put her daughter first. She was very focused on capitalizing on what her kiddo did well and bridging the gaps that were present. As her daughter made progress (and she made some amazing gains) this mom was quick to notice. She was our cheerleader and did everything she could to support our work in the classroom once her daughter returned home. Our classroom theme was Harry Potter. She and her daughter read a Harry book together, sometimes over FaceTime when a hospital stay prevented them from being together. Her daughter clearly got her determination from her mom. When hospital stays were necessary, she always reached out to make sure that the impact felt by her daughter was minimal. No matter what she was going through, she put her kids first. Of course, we had to make sure her daughter was thriving. We owed it to this delightful little girl and her mom. When this little girl's mom couldn't be there, her dad showed up in a big way. It was easy to tell that had a very active roll in her success too. Although I didn't get to know him as well, friends are quick to sing his praises. They've shared that he is every bit as amazing as his wife was. I know that it will be overwhelming at first but I'm cheering this dad on. I know he has a beautiful cheerleader in heaven too. They'll make her proud. I just know it. Day 104
Today I met with some of our district's newest teachers to facilitate a conversation around communicating with parents. Everything about our roll as teachers has changed since I began my career in 1994. I can't think of any aspect of my job that has changed as much as the way I communicate with parents.
When I first began my career, parent communication was limited to handwritten notes received from parents, the occasional phone call, open house, and parent teacher conferences. It wasn't uncommon for me to have my first real exchange with a parent at the parent-teacher conference in November and then to have little communication for the remainder of the year. Honest to goodness, I remember shopping in a "teacher store" and coming across a parent communication notebook where teachers could write a note to parents and a carbon copy of the note would be left with the teacher. I thought I had struck it rich. I didn't have to go to the copier to make a copy of my handwritten response back to the parent. Fast forward to 2018 and parent communication has been made 100% easier by the introduction of technology. Teachers communicate with email, social media, web pages, blogs, and digital portfolios. Trust me, the list goes on and on. The good news is that we're able to share the learning unfolding in our classrooms with much greater ease. The bad news is that if you're like me, you're trying to do it all. As a result, I'm spending TONS of time communicating with parents and I don't have a super sense for how helpful or effective my communication is. I have always said that I will survey parents at the end of a school year to try to understand what works, and what aspects of my practice require retooling. This is the year I'll finally do just that. A lot of what I've learned about Parent/Teacher communication over the years has come from first doing my best and then reflecting so that next time, I can do better. Much of what I shared today seems like it should be common sense. Only, having mentored lots of teachers over the years, I have come to learn that teachers, like students, can benefit form some explicit instruction around communication. It really was an honor to meet these teachers today. They are the future of education. They are well equipped to grab the torch and run with it. I hope that there was some small thing that I shared today that will help them on their journey. Interested in what I shared? Here is my presentation less a few side trips: Day 103Week Five Theme: Student AgencyWhy is student agency important?
Student agency is important. Giving kids a say in their education should start as early as possible. If we are to tout the merits of life long learning then we certainly have to give our students practice at taking the wheel and directing their learning. Giving students voice, choice, and the ability to advocate for what they need and desire is an important first step in helping students become life long learners. Why should we embrace it? I know this sounds basic but we should embrace student agency because it is the most humane thing we can do in our classrooms. Acknowledging that children are individuals with unique interests, talents, and styles, as we build trusting relationships is humane. When we do this, we honor our students and respect the adults they are growing into. When we are able to build trusting relationships with our students, we can encourage them to make choices based on their passions and to take risks. Because we've established this trusting relationship, students will know that they'll have our support when and if they fail. Learning to pursue our passions and take risks is key to success in life. How can this help our students? Student agency, when provided in the elementary classroom, helps our students by giving them safer opportunities to practice making choices and taking risks. When a child fails in a safe environment, and has support figuring out his or her next steps with a trusted adult or classmate, he or she learns that failure is an important part of success. When the teacher is calling all the shots, she owns the failure just as much as the student does. Empowering students to use his or her voice, to make choices in his or her best interest, and to follow his or her passion, and persist even when initial efforts result in failure, helps students to acquire the mindset and habits that will allow them to chase down their dreams. What can or does this look like in my classroom? Students in my classroom have a lot of voice and choice. First, they have a say when it comes to what they will work on during English Language Arts and Mathematics classes as we use structures, the Daily Cafe and math workshop, that support voice and choice. Students can work where they learn best as we use flexible seating. Students have a choice when it comes to how they'll practice their literacy skills. They choose the text, they choose there method (read to self, read to someone, listen to reading), and they choose how they'll attack their learning tasks. Students in our classroom are empowered to advocate for themselves. This happens as students set reading goals and help to determine which lessons they'll receive so that they can take their reading to the next level. In addition, students attend and run their own parent-teacher conferences. In this role, students are positioned to advocate for their needs and celebrate areas where they feel most accomplished. I have a long way to go when it comes to providing agency for my students. In recent months, I've taken a few steps in the right direction. Day 102In preparation for this months faculty meeting, we had to read the first chapter in a book about social emotional learning. While there were a dozen or so teachers who were outraged over this, I wasn't one of them. I don't think it is terrible for a building principal to ask the teachers in the building to read a book in the interest of developing as professionals. I actually think that having a staff who has a common experience with one book can be powerful.
I'm not going to lie. I work full time and my husband does too. We have two teenagers with very active lives. I waited till the weekend before to do my reading. After the original ask, the principal emailed us and asked us to answer the first two comprehension questions. This wasn't a big deal. There was space to respond right in our book. So, I took a couple of hours on Sunday to read the chapter and respond to the questions. I absolutely did resent the fact that I had to do this when what I really wanted to do was to plan for the coming week and beyond. It may not have even been a couple of hours of reading but it sure felt like it. Anyway, I still don't think it was a terrible idea. On Wednesday, the day before our big meeting, we received a third email with a link to a google doc asking us to now type in our responses to the comprehension questions. There was no way I was getting that done in advance of the meeting. At the meeting we sat at tables where all grades were represented by a teacher and where there was a special educator. We had a decent conversation about the text and what resonated for each of us. One thing that was obvious to me was that every teacher at my table had done their reading. Only one of us had posted to the Google doc at the time of the meeting. At the end of the meeting, we were reminded to get our thoughts in the doc. UGH. Here it is three days after the meeting and I was kind of hoping that this request would just go away. It isn't going away. Apparently, this is an important doc that will crystalize this experience. It is awesome because we can return to it again and again to remember the experience of reading this book together. I'm feeling cranky. I don't want to key in my response. The chapter was dry. It was kind of painful to read. Yet, the response I wrote was pretty personal. I didn't mind sharing it at my table. I'm not feeling like I want to type it in that doc. I don't get why we have to take the homework this far. Is it to prove that we did the homework? I really do get that I wouldn't have to spend time complaining about this if I had spent the time it took me to write this post to just type my response into the doc. I get it. Day 101Week four theme: I Wish My Teacher Knew...
Denver teacher, Kyle Schwartz, asks her students a simple question: Fill in the rest of the sentence: "I wish my teacher knew..." The information she receives is both heartwarming and heartbreaking.
I have surveyed students and their parents at the beginning of every school year for as long as I can remember. The information that these surveys yield is so much more valuable than any previous report cards or teachers' comments. In a way, asking kids to share information about themselves with me allows them to get a fresh start. They can share exactly what they want me to know and what they think I should know. I appreciate my students' honesty. Their comments and what they choose to share is very helpful. For example, this year some of my students' have shared the following:
Interestingly, I ask the parents some very similar questions. They receive their surveys at Open House. I don't send them home earlier because I'm always afraid that the parents will rush to fill them out and to return them with the other back-to-school paperwork versus completing them with thoughtfulness and care. Even so, there are always a few who are trying to rapidly fill them out while I speak. When I see this, I ask that they wait and give themselves time to think. This isn't always well received. Many parents see these surveys as just one more thing they've got to get done. Sometimes I wonder if this information wouldn't be better gathered over the course of a telephone interview. When the surveys do return to school, I am sometimes disappointed by how seemingly little thought and effort went into their completion. It makes me sad when questions like, "is there anything I should know about your child's academic abilities or previous experiences in the classroom?" and "what are your goals for your child this year?" are left blank. I sometimes wonder why. Is it because the parent doesn't have time, doesn't know what to write, or doesn't care? I'm not really sure why some come back with lots of blanks. Some are extraordinarily thoughtful and do help me to hit the ground running. Any advantage when educating children is appreciated. So, what do I wish parents and students knew? I wish they knew that:
Day 100We are launching our first PBL unit based on the Buck Model. I received training by a Buck Institute trainer this past summer. The training changed the way I look at projects. Our fourth grade team made excellent use of our teacher-directed PD day. We got together and I shared a brief overview of the Buck model. Then, we got right to our plan. We wanted to give students the opportunity to answer an engaging question. We wanted the students to do the real work of writers, and we wanted to give the students an authentic audience for their work.
Our project is set in the middle of a literature unit focusing on Charlotte's Web. Wilber, the starring pig, is born a runt and faces certain death until Fern steps in and saves him from the ax. He begins life in a comfy box next to the oven. He has warmth, and Fern's love, delicious slops and warm milk from a bottle. The pig's life is good! It is good right up until the point that he is sold to the uncle because he is becoming a liability for Fern's family. At the Zuckerman's he joins that other farm animals in the barn. He sleeps in a pile of manure and has a very small pen where he can exercise himself. We'll launch the project by reading Arnold Lobel's, Small Pig. In this tale, the farmer's wife goes on a cleaning spree. She doesn't stop at her house though. She's not happy till she has cleaned the pig pen too. The small pig is enraged and runs away. The inevitable question: How should farm animals be treated? Our students will be writing opinion pieces after conducting their own research. They'll invite local farmers to form a panel. Their author and revise questions to access the information they require in order to form their opinions. At the conclusion of our project, the students' opinion writing pieces will be published in a book that will be donated to the Clough and Taft Public Library. We're pretty excited about the project. We're hoping that students will have an increased appreciation for the food that they eat. We're hoping that they learn about the humane treatment of animals and can weigh the cost/benefits of providing a quality life for farm animals. If you're interested in our project, you can check it out here: Bacon, Beef, and Bird...What is the Word on Farming Practices? A PBL unit based on the BUCK Model Day 99There is really very little as frustrating to me as when a child clearly knows his or her stuff and yet falls short on an assessment. This is just one simple and recent example of a really bright child who was not able to effectively show what he or she knows and is able to do. It seems to me, by examining the above work that this child can determine whether a number is prime or composite. The child is able to provide combinations beyond one and the number itself as proof that numbers like 46 and 77 are composite. The student determined that 31 was prime and stated, "I can only find 1x31." Yet, when asked about the numbers 2 and 23 this child gives good mathematical proof for each being prime and then goes on to circle prime AND composite!
The sane math teacher in me knows that this kid understands the difference between prime and composite. The child has demonstrated a working knowledge of prime and composite and can use mathematical proof to back up each mathematical decision made. Only this kid is nine. Nine year olds can be inattentive meatballs who do inexplicable things when taking assessments. They really can be meatballs. The sane and logical teacher in me gets this. The sane and logical teacher will have a conversation with this kiddo. I'll open by asking whether this kiddo if numbers can be both prime and composite. I'm betting that the answer will be no. I'm really hoping. I'll point out the error and talk about the importance of being precise in mathematics and attending to detail. I owe it to this kid to explain that while I can tell that the understanding is intact, the actual work, if taken as a stand alone, might leave a teacher wondering whether there is confusion. Big picture, the math teacher is not worried about this kid and what he or she knows and is able to do. But... I swear, this is the stuff that makes me crazy when I think of that four letter acronym...MCAS! I know that this is not an isolated problem. The nine and ten years who I adore teaching do this kind of thing all the time. I always address it. I even take off "credit" so that my students might be motivated to be more careful. Generally, they're not. I'm at a loss. I get a little cranky about it when I allow myself to think of these stupid MCAS scores as MY scores, which I do. I don't blame the nine and ten year olds. Still, this 25 year veteran teacher who already spends too much precious teaching time teaching test-taking skills is at a loss. I hate MCAS. Truth. Day 98Week three theme: What students rememberWhat Students Remember is a webcast on "Teaching Tales" with Brent Conley. I hate what I'm thinking. The truth of the matter is that I didn't connect with many of my elementary teachers. But there were a few who left their mark on me. I was young for my grade. I marched off to Kindergarten, after having no preschool, at age 4.5. Then,I got sick a lot in first grade. I think I missed 30 days. This is saying a lot because you had to be near death for my mom to allow one of her kids to stay home. I spent the next six or so years playing catch up. Quite a few of my teachers made no secret of the fact that I was behind. I don't remember feeling good about myself as a learner until seventh or eighth grade.
However, Jane Jackson, my third grade teacher made learning special. It was probably 1980 and this teacher was all about student agency. Choice and project based learning were things in her class! She was calm yet motivated her students. I remember how she made me feel. She used to let a small group of us stay in for recess and clean her desk. (She was a disorganized mess.) What I remember is feeling so proud that she trusted me. Now, she did a few cringe-worthy things too but she made me feel special and this was a first for me. The next teacher that I connected with wasn't a teacher at all. It was my high school principal. Somehow I was invited to a junior high school to recruit for our Catholic high school. We were asked to speak candidly about what we enjoyed about attending our school. About a week after our visit I was called to the principal's office. Heart pounding, I walked in her door and was surprised to be greeted by a smiling principal. She explained that she loved how I shared my experiences at the recruitment day. She wondered if I would be the featured student-speaker at my school's open house. I was beaming on the inside and I'm sure those beams of light shone on the outside too! This is one of the first times I remember receiving very specific feedback from an adult. I spoke at Open House. Not long after, I was summonsed again to the principal's office. She wanted to take me on a road trip to look at her Alma Matter to consider it for my college experience. I didn't end up going to her college and we didn't grow any closer but she is one adult that really believed in me. I never told her so, but her belief in me made a tremendous difference in the way I viewed myself. It was a real confidence builder. I attended a small, all woman's college. There were quite a few professors who I'll always remember. These professors were generous with their time and with feedback. I think that it was their faith in my that helped me to enter the job market, and later, the classroom with confidence. I can't help but wonder what students remember about me. My oldest students are now 33 years old. I still keep in touch with many of them or their parents. Some have shared how they remember the time they spent in my classroom with fondness. Honestly, I lave no idea what they remember most. I would hope that they remember that I was kind, that I held them to high standards, that my teaching was engaging and that I cared deeply about my students. I'm looking forward to my next encounter with one of them. You can me sure I'll ask what they remember! Day 97Students can't learn when they have worries that are filling their heads.
I have a student who struggles to use a filter. There is no intention to be mean or rude but sometimes, the things said are misconstrued for rude behavior. Most students just get that this is something this student is working on. They know that all students are working on something and this is this student's challenge. They let any rude words roll off their backs However... I have a student who is sensitive beyond what seems reasonable. This kiddo is easily hurt. Every word is taken to heart. There is no drama seeking here. When this kiddo feels hurt, the hurt is very real. I have a student who is impacted by changes in routine or a hectic classroom where voice volumes are loud. When routine changes happen without notice or when the volume rises this kiddo becomes agitated. There is no intention to be difficult. Structure and calm are essential if learning is going to happen. This need is as real as the need for food or water or sleep. I have a student whose home life is inconsistent and unstable. There is a lot of fighting there. The adults don"t have their acts together and as a result, they aren't able to provide the kind of loving, structured environment where a ten-year old can thrive. No thriving is going on yet. Seven days of school have been missed and we're only 23 days in. I have a student who has stated that the meds that were taken last year are no longer needed. This kiddo dances about the room and has tremendous difficulty focusing on quiet tasks. This kiddo is worried about progress made as a reader. "I'm not good at reading" is often overheard. These are some of the kids who show up in my room every day. As much as I might like to jump right into the curriculum each day, I can't. These kids can't learn till they clear their heads of some of the worry. I check in and give kids an opportunity to air out the stuff going on. When I can't meet their needs, and let's face it, I'm one person with 22 little people to serve, I turn to the support staff in my building. But guess what? Getting time with these folks is so challenging. As it turns out, I'm not the only teacher with a handful of kids who have greater than typical social emotional needs. My kids see the school counselor and this year we have the great benefit of having a school resource officer and we have a principal who will pitch hit when the need is great. We need more counselors though. We need behavior specialists. We need more special educators. I do think that there is a changing demographic. In my 25 years in this same district I have never experienced so many kids who have very legitimate social emotional needs. We need to respond. Our kids deserve it and I'm afraid of the consequences should we let this go. I worry for our kids and I worry for us. |
Marie McManus BrighamA public school teacher who gets to wonder alongside fourth-graders. Archives
December 2018
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