A single moment

It's been a crazy few weeks, and it's taking its toll on my wonderful body right now.  Writing over 100 pages in four days, teaching full time, being a normal human being with life issues, surgery, being a full time doctoral student, and being the department head will do that to you. There has been so much I wanted to blog about, yet in the end, sleep has won out. I don't want to try to cram everything into this one blog, so maybe I'll post a couple today :)

It comes as no surprise to the people who know me well that my faith is an essential component of my identity not only as an individual, but in my teaching profession as well.  I try to walk in Christ's light, but I definitely fall short.  Lately, I've been feeling overwhelmed with everything and anything, so when I heard we were having mission at church a couple of weeks ago, I knew I had to make it. Even if for only one night.

I loved everything about the evening I was able to attend, but the one thing he spoke about that truly spoke to me was the importance of a single moment. He said to never doubt the transformative power of a single moment to change lives. What a message, especially for teachers. We have these moments every second, every minute, and every hour of the day. The way we speak to our students, the way we handle their disruptions and ridiculousness, their adolescent tears, their adolescent choices that leave a lot to be desired, their challenges, and their mistakes.  Talk about pressure. Sometimes I think we forget that adolescents are not adults. They might think they are, they might try to talk to us like they are, and they might actually take on that role in their homes. But they're not. Even the most mature ones.

I'm not saying we can't keep it real with students, after all, that might be exactly the moment that is powerful enough to transform their lives.  In fact, I rarely sugar coat anything in my class, because the world is a difficult place and they need to know how to live in it. But the way we handle those single moments, those brief encounters, they matter. Sometimes we might want to yell and scream and pound our heads against the wall, sometimes we might want to cry because they're too young to be in that much pain or to have made such as adult decision.  Sometimes, we might want to crawl under a rock and find someone more suitable to handle the situation. But we're it.

Teachers take a pounding. Especially the good ones. We take it in the media, from society, from unfair expectations, and from the emotional stress that inevitably comes with teaching other people's children.  So as we approach each moment, let's try to think about how to handle it the best way possible.  No matter how small, each moment has the potential to transform lives, and that is powerful.

Working It!

I haven't written in awhile because I've reached one of the pivotal points in my doctoral work so most of my time on the weekend is devoted to research and writing. During the week it's difficult to find a good chunk of time to write a thoughtful entry.  However, so much has been racing through my mind, that I had to make time to write.

It has been a powerful and interesting 4 weeks.  I had minor sinus surgery, which cramped my style for a good week and a half. I was cranky, tired, and anything but creative. Thankfully, my students didn't throw me out the window.

There's so much I want to write about, but I think the thing that gnawing on me the most is figuring out how to reach the slice of students that needs direct intervention by me.  I know who the kids are, and I even have time set up on Fridays to work it, but the problem is I don't know how.  There. I said it. I'm not sure how to help my specific slice of kids that is struggling with writing. So my homework is to try and find some awesome teaching videos that hopefully can inspire me to work in small groups in a meaningful way.

The second issue that is concerning me is the increased number of 9th graders who have figured out how to work the system.  They're starting to skip, they're starting to miss a lot of class, and there's nothing we can do about it except give them a failing grade that for most of them doesn't impact them anyway.  I guess that's why my mind and heart is so invested in my dissertation topic. I want to know what makes these kids tick. Most of the research I've read indicates that intrinsic motivation decreases from about 7-11th grade. The biggest decrease occurring in 9th grade, which is followed by their 10th grade year when they legally can drop out.  We have to do something to reach these kids, but right now our hands out tied.  Yet, maybe my research can shed some light and help us make some changes at WHS and beyond,

Lastly, I've finally reached the point in my 5th hour when I've pretty much released control due to scaffolding, and it's awesome. I let them roll with what I give them and they are nailing it.  It's pretty sweet. 1st and 3rd are nowhere near that, but that's OK, because they've come a long way. It's all about progress.

Happy Friday

Learning Target, Outcomes, Assessments...Oh, DANG

Today I attended professional development that is part of our new teacher evaluation, although we don't call it that :) This is my third year working in this model, and while I definitely despise being taken out of my classroom (did I mention despise?) there is merit to the process. However, I keep thinking the process would be much more effective PRIOR to the school year. Now, if only we could find a way to pay teachers to attend at the start of the school year...

But I digress.  Today was all about assessment. I love assessment. Wait. I don't love assessment, I love creating amazing assessments. As for the mundane assessments that are part of a teacher's life? I could do without them. Except those assessments are necessary, and even though it's a pain, I really do need to know if my students can use our word wall words correctly. I also need to know if they can write complete thoughts, otherwise known as sentences. I need to know, I need to know....well, I need to know a lot.  Therein lies the struggle that I think most educators have. We have so much that we want students to know, that we don't always take the time to decide what is essential for students to know. In some cases, knowing how to act like respectful young people is most definitely at the top of the list. We can't teach in an environment that isn't conducive to learning.

Once we start to tackle that monster, then we have to begin to evaluate our own assessment of student learning. I thank God for Dr. Kitty Green who exposed all of us SMC 2004 grads to Wiggins and McTighe. If you're an educator and you don't know who they are, you need to find out quick. They are the gurus of all things important to quality instruction. I live and die by backwards design.  I know where my students need to go, how I'm going to get them there, and how to check how they're doing along the way. This is also known as formative and summative assessment.  It's also known as great teaching. I could start going on and on about essential questions and statements of enduring understanding, but that belongs in a different post. Kind of.

Back to assessment. I truly believe that beginning with the end in mind is so crucial to great teaching. Curriculum maps are a nice way to start aligning this thinking and are much less intimidating than an entire unit plan.  Yet, I fear that people hear the word curriculum map and they freak out, don't see the merit in it, or think it's just going to change anyway. Ah, but it shouldn't. The beauty of a curriculum map is that it keeps you honest.  If you have decided prior to the beginning of a unit what skills, knowledge, and targets students MUST own, then that becomes the rock of your teaching. Can you add stuff? Of course. However, the nuts and bolts remain the same. It's also how you know whether you're meeting the desired learning targets. It's a beautiful thing.

Our target should always be student learning in some way.  Yet, if we don't know what those targets are in the first place, how will we ever know if they actually got them? We have to be decisive as teachers. We have to know what students need to know, how we will help them learn the material, how we will assess whether they have learned it, and how we will reteach it if they don't. It's a challenging and sometimes daunting task. I know there are times I want to crawl under a rock and come back out in June, but alas that isn't an option. Instead, I keep thinking of ways to challenge myself as an educator, to look for areas of growth in assessing student learning, and trying not to cringe at the stack of important assessments that need to be graded.

Power of the Pen

As a teacher, it seems like there are no guarantees for the kind of day you'll have. We can plan the best lesson, but it can completely flop for a variety of reasons.  Sometimes, we fail to implement it correctly, sometimes our students are in a different country (figuratively speaking, of course), and other times it just plain fails.

I've been open about the fact that teaching structured writing is difficult for me.  I often feel torn between creative expression and the need to give a formula to students. Balance. So teaching students how to craft the perfect paragraph has been my Achilles Heel. I always botch it in some way.It's a struggle to teach something that comes so naturally to me, and this summer I had to have a come to Jesus meeting with myself. I couldn't continue to do something bad just because it wasn't easy. Feel free to insert a corny saying. I decided to scaffold every piece of the 8-sentence paragraph.  Scaffolding is a whole other blog in itself, but I can proudly say that I've owned scaffolding of the 8-sentence paragraph for the past month. It hasn't always been easy, and there were days I wondered if it was working.

I've been getting some pretty strong evidence that it is. Is it perfect? Far from it. But we're making progress, and I'm learning a lot, and that's half the battle. Writing is an essential skill to possess, and I want to make sure that my students are prepared. No excuses.

Fresh Start

Today was a much needed day off. Between last minute hirings (day before school starts), taking over as the department head, adding five new teachers to the English department, coaching cross country, advising student council, and, you know, teaching, I've been on the verge of a nervous breakdown. OK, maybe that's an exaggeration. However, it has been a challenging two weeks.

It's also been a great learning experience. 

I can honestly say that reflective practice has helped me to grow as an educator.  While I've certainly had to make adjustments to my teaching, I've been able to avoid some pitfalls based on previous experiences. Friday marked the first go with stations.  Prior to Friday, I created the groups, the group leaders, and had everything planned out in writing.  Did things go wrong? Of course. I teach 9th graders, after all.  However, contrary to the past, I didn't flip out and get overly anxious when things didn't go quite as planned. I made notes about things that could go better, about things that went better than expected, and minor tweaking that needed to take place.

The most important part of the past week and a half has been establishing procedures. I cannot emphasize it enough! You can't expect to get anything done in a classroom if students don't know what's expected of them. Posting the procedures and expectations has been critical, as has modeling what I expect students to do.

I'm happy with the start to the school year, but I know we have a lot of work to do. I'm excited about this group of students, and I have a feeling we're going to have an absolutely amazing year.

It Goes Both Ways

Hmm. So, I just read a blog about how much teachers hate in-services. The title was "If Teachers Planned In-Service Training".  Interestingly enough, somehow three or four years ago, I got roped in to designing and planning our professional development. I was on the flip side for the first time in my teaching career, and it was anything but fun.  It was intimidating. It's also one of the hardest things to plan because everything that the teacher complained about in the blog is the attitude of many teachers everywhere...including my school. Including ME when I get sent to these random meetings that I shall not name.

Planning professional development sucks. Plain and simple. Teachers often don't want to be there, they're tired of hearing stuff they've heard before, they're tired of trying something new, and it's obvious that many believe it's a waste of their time. It got to a point when I was literally trying to figure out the shortest amount of time to present something (I managed to get it down to 15 minutes), and I started to grow disheartened by the whole process. Maybe I still am.

I know that in-services can be a pain in the ass. I know that some people have no fashion sense and are fond of saying the same word over and over again. MMkayyy.

But, I also think teachers need to have some perspective. When we walk into a room already confident that what we are going to hear is a waste of our time, we probably won't hear anything worthwhile even if it's there. (Yet, we want our students in our classroom ready to learn!)

When we refuse to take part in discussion, whether it's whole group, a think-pair-share, or round table, then we lose the chance to learn from the other teachers in our building. Funny, we would be pissed off if we asked our students to do a think pair share and they blew it off. "But, my stuff is important!" (uh-huh)

Data and statistics are important. The key is figuring out which ones matter, and some do. A lot. Focus on the data that matter and move forward in a meaningful way.

I'm not a big fan of warm and fuzzy.  It is most definitely a waste of time and beyond annoying. But the concept of stepping outside of our comfort zone is not. It's a worthwhile task and frankly, I've seen too many schools implode because the faculty and staff didn't know how to speak to each other respectfully. Or how to speak. At all.

In short, what I've learned about in-services from being on the flipped side, is that we could all benefit from a little self-reflection.  Join the planning team, trust me, they would love to have you. We could also benefit from real dialogue about what SHOULD happen in professional development instead of complaining about what's wrong without taking a single moment to think about how it could actually work (now, there is a novel idea).

I can think of a million, but everyone else is already out to lunch.

Lose to Win

One of the greatest aspects of teaching is being able to collaborate with other amazing teachers. This past week I've spent time at Penn High School working with four other women in a technology workshop. It's been fun, and I have learned a lot. It's also made me sad.

It's no secret that I was heart broken when my good friend and fellow teacher Kelli decided to leave teaching to pursue a writing career. She is an amazing teacher, friend, woman, and human being. She is also hands down probably the best teacher I've ever witnessed.

I was already feeling upset about losing such a great teacher and friend when I learned that my fearless leader, my friend, and another phenomenal teacher was moving on to take a position as a principal. He is going to set OD on fire, and I am lucky to have worked with him, learned from him, joked with him, and collaborated with him. Filling his shoes? Unlucky :)

I should have known that things happen in threes. This past week I learned that another one of my friends, fellow English teachers, all-around good guy was leaving WHS in order to better serve his family. Berg is probably one of the most honest, kind, and giving people I know. He was the guy willing to do the crazy stuff like dressing up as a Caveman or Elvis to meet a "need" at school. lol. So, you can see how I would be heartbroken that he, too, has left.

I'm scared right now. I'm the department head, and I don't even have positions filled for the upcoming school year. The three people I talk to the most about curriculum and instruction are gone. I kind of feel like I'm lost at sea or am running in a trail that leads deeper into the woods with no exit (I might actually enjoy that if I was actually running).

No one gave me an instructional manual for being department head, and I already feel like I might have made a few mistakes. I don't want to give my colleagues extra work when we're already overburdened, but I also can't do things alone. I don't want to dictate, and I don't want to only ask a few people, because I know what's it's like to be the person who is asked over and over and over to do one extra thing. I want us to be a team. To work together, to have fun, and to find some satisfaction in this profession that is becoming more and more difficult.

I also hope my colleagues give me some room to make mistakes because I will. It comes with being human.

Houston, We Have a Problem

On Sunday I was working on a paper for my literacy course and stumbled upon an interesting one about preparing students to navigate the digital world.  While my friend Kelli is a digital literacy genius, I have some ways to go. I want to expose students to more digital materials, but after reading the article and teaching yesterday, I realize that there is so much we literally have to teach our students about navigating the digital world.

We were doing a simple webquest.  I usually like to make my own webquests because a lot of people misunderstand how to design them...I didn't have time to make one for "Othello" (sorry, but no way am I teaching "Romeo and Juliet" again.) but found a well-made one on zunal. Unfortunately, I made the assumption that because my students are so technologically advanced, they would be able to navigate it without much support from me. Insert me falling on my face and pulling my hair out.

"Go where?"
"I don't get it."
"What do you mean click on new tab?"
"What's a hyperlink?"
"How do I change the font size?"
"What's a URL?"
"How do I put a picture on Word?"

Oh my gracious. OK, so in all fairness, there were about four kids who were not helpless hand raisers, but the rest I was like WHAT is going on. It was a good teachable moment for me and my students.

Karchmer-Klein & Shinas (2012) state " along with technology adoption comes the critical responsibility of preparing students to use the tools effectively to support their learning". How is it possible that I used this quote in my paper, yet didn't apply it on Monday? Assumptions, dear Watson. So here are some suggestions for preparing students to navigate digital literacy:

1. If possible, model the process for students
2. Go over techie terms with students prior to using the web
3. Explicitly teach students how to navigate nonlinear texts (the internet)
4. Teach students how to determine if what they are reading on the internet is a trusted source (anyone and everyone can publish these days!)
5. Help students to understand how to use images, fonts, and layouts to achieve desired results
6. Assess students before, during, and after
7. Don't stop learning!

One of my favorite online tools: Glogster!

Summer Lovin'

Today is the halfway mark of summer school. Unfortunately, I'm not there today due to my body being ridiculous. Or maybe my body is being ridiculous because it's been pushed too much lately? Possible.

However, teaching summer school has been awesome. Did I just say that? It has, though! Granted going from 7:15-1:00 without a lunch break or anything longer than 15 minutes is intense, I'm also having a lot of fun. I wasn't sure what it would be like to try to teach three-four weeks of material in one week, but I've managed to make it work. We just WORK. We also have fun. I also plan more stuff than I ever thought I could. I've tried new things, done the tried and true, and had some pretty solid results.

Most of the students in my class are going to be juniors and seniors who for whatever reason failed 9th grade English back in the day. I'm still trying to figure out how some of them failed it because they're pretty damn smart. I'm guessing they didn't find it necessary to go to school or do work. Thankfully, the majority of them have seen the error of their ways. When I have time I'm going to type some of their poems on here. Blew me away.

We started our novel unit, and I decided to teach Sold, which is my passion. It is quickly becoming theirs. I know some of them were like what is this when we first started reading. The beginning is deep but I think the depth is sometimes lost on teenagers. Yesterday, we hit the city. We hit the Happiness House, which is anything but happy. They were hooked. One girl even finished the book!

The past week and a half has been good for me. It rekindled my passion to teach (it kind of burns out at the end of the year) and brought some self-confidence back. It also made me realize how much more difficult it is to teach 9th graders. 9th graders are something else, so it's been refreshing to teache upperclassmen.

I am also ready for summer. I need it.

Moving Forward

So, I haven't blogged in quite awhile. Mainly because I picked up boys track for three weeks (what was I thinking?!) and the research course that kicked my ass. Sadly, I had so much I could have blogged about, but alas, sometimes life just gets in the way.

It was an interesting month at school. Washington and the SBCSC seemed to be everywhere in the news. Not exactly a great way to boost morale when you're already exhausted. However, we will learn from these experiences, and hopefully move on to a better place.

I became department head about two weeks ago. It's a privilege and I have some huge shoes to fill. I'm already thinking ahead to how I can be a positive and instructional leader in the department. I work with so many great people, and I want to find a way for us to truly learn from each other. I also want us to be the most bad ass department in the school and community. Wicked.

So, as I prepare to teach summer school next week, here are some ideas I want to work on:

Teaching my students to be independent (next year, I am spending the first trimester modeling, practicing, talking about expectations until I'm blue in the face, and not moving forward until we nail it).

Finding meaningful ways to engage students who already hate and failed English (daunting, I know).

Setting up a true classroom library (display, everything). It will be smaller in summer school, and easier to manage.

Teaching reading strategies until I'm blue in the face (get it).

Playing with flipped classrooms (if I have computers, you can bet I'm going to do this in summer school).

Doing better at keeping the anger out of me when I react to asinine behavior that makes me want to punch something.

Helping kids know where they are and where they need to be (I have some ideas)

Rigor and relevance :)

A Rut

So I'm not sure what exactly is to blame, but for the past two weeks, especially this week, nothing is clicking.  The kids are arguing with each other, arguing with adults, arguing (trying) with me, pushing my student teacher to her wits end, and basically operating on their own agenda. Obviously, it isn't all of them, but there's a chunk that are certainly influencing others to join them.  This is not coupling well with my own mood, which is anything but cheery.  The weather agitates my jaw and my headaches have been intense. Add all of that together and you create one unhappy classroom environment. Not good.

I take back all of my classes on Monday, and I'm definitely hoping that if I can get them back into my groove, and that I can get MY groove back, we can have a productive last six weeks.  I know we spent too long on the genocide unit, so I will own that completely.  There's absolutely no way to be happy and cheery while teaching about genocide.  But, genocides simply are depressing, horrific, and troubling events.  Couple that with the tribulations going on around us, and there's little surprise that we're in a rut.

Moving forward, I want to focus on positive things in class. We've spent ample time talking about dehumanization, let's start talking about humanization! I'm working on putting together a passion project for the next unit, and I'm hoping that the autonomy that I'm providing will help get us all back on track.  We only have six weeks, and I want to make those weeks count.  I have to.

So I'm going to think, reflect some more, and figure out some next steps.

Hope for the Hopeless

The other day I read a blog post by a teacher who is tired.  It was an intense laundry list of everything that is wrong about education today, and I could relate to everything this teacher wrote.  I also felt saddened by the hopelessness that this individual displayed because that hopelessness is indicative of the teacher morale across the country, and that is anything but good.

I'm tired, but I haven't reached the point where I'm ready to give up, and I've kind of taken a cue from Peeta and have the "I don't want them to own me" kind of attitude. I can get angry and frustrated and want to throw things at asinine people, but I don't want it to change who I am as an educator.  I won't let them, because then they win, and I'm too much of a competitor to give in that easy.  It doesn't mean I'm any better than my colleagues who are making the decision to leave the education field, it simply means I still have the hope and faith that what I do is important.  I know that God will tell me when it's time to go, but until then, I trust that He will give me everything I need to keep fighting this battle. I also know that while the church and state are separate (and for good reason), that God uses people everywhere to do His will, and that's greater than any standardized test, state mandate, national mandate, or the next big thing to hit education.

Too many of us are living in fear of the unknown. Today was a prime example. I had 20 students today, yet the truth is, my school is the safest place for the kids at Washington. That, my friends, is a fact.  People always think Washington is so "scary", "bad", and unsafe, yet there's nowhere I feel safer. I know people are crazy, but they're crazy everywhere. They're crazy all the time, and sometimes we're just in the wrong place at the wrong time. We must be vigilant and take necessary precautions, but don't let fear own you. 

We cannot control much of anything, but we can control our own thoughts and actions. So today, I'm trusting in My God and His word, because in the end, it trumps fear, exhaustion, hopelessness, hatred, and anything else thrown my way.

One Size Fits All?

This past week I spent some time reflecting on the concept of school.  In theory, it's a great idea.  Children learn powerful information, become great citizens, meet new people, and are inspired. Hmmm. Then I started thinking about the number of kids who are disengaged, who struggle with a variety of school "rules", question why they have to take certain subjects, and why they have to sit in chairs all day long.

I started to think that while we try to differentiate instruction, we don't differentiate schools. I'm not talking about magnet schools, private schools, charter schools, or any other kind of special school. I'm talking radical change. I'm talking immersion into the real world. I'm talking about a school without so many boundaries. I'm talking about a school where students can talk, and it's OK.

What could school look like? Traditional schooling works for many students as long as it is engaging, as long as the teachers care, and as long as it meets their basic needs.  Yet, traditional schools can't meet the needs of many of today's students.  They're also failing to recognize students' talents.  Excellence is only achieved if you can perform well on a standardized test in English and Math...maybe science and social studies too. What does this say about art, music, technology, building trades, theater, and everything else that isn't and shouldn't be tested?

Maybe that's the real question we need to be asking.

Routine

If there's anything I should know by now, it's the importance of routine for 9th graders. Sure, they like to act "grown", they enjoy doing different activities, but they are also creatures of habit.  This past week has been a good reminder that while it's great to try new things, I have to be cognizant of how it's impacting their routine, especially in March :)

I integrated bell ringers this trimester, which has been worth the extra time. However, I tried using my colleague's model, which includes the word of the day on the actual bell ringer. I always did my word of the day at the beginning, my students had their word of the day sheets, and it was something they regarded as an instrumental part of class.  Combining the two has been an epic disaster. Thankfully, I picked up on it before too much damage was done.  We have returned to beginning class with the word of the day and THEN beginning the bell ringer.  They are much less confused, overwhelmed, and on task.

My student teacher also brought up the ingenious idea of noting whether students were doing the bell ringer by using a clipboard. Why I didn't think of that, I'll never know. Needless to say, I'm much more comfortable with keeping track of them that way. The piles that were forming were freaking me out! Now, if I could only find a way to do this digitally, life would be amazing. And after the past week's fiasco with the copy machine (obvious abuse has been duly noted), the repairman, nasty notes, and people who should never ever touch a copy machine, I'd like to use it even less than I do already. If anyone has any ideas let me know! (No, I do not have a smartboard).

Lately, I've also felt like the weakest link on the English 9 team, because my students are simply eons behind where many of my colleague's are in terms of writing. It bothers me.  A lot. I'm also frustrated, because I feel like I should be able to have my students craft a paragraph free from run on sentences, fragments, and that actually made sense. Granted, probably a 1/3 of that group has not been with me since day one and arrived from different schools, I still feel responsible.  I'm still trying to figure out how to address these issues, and I'm hoping that this week's assignment for school will help, since it's all about creating writing lessons :)

Clicking

Today we began discussing the eight stages of genocide, something I didn't even know existed until I stumbled upon it when I was browsing information on the web. The document itself is written at a ridiculously high level, so I copied and pasted it and deleted information that I knew would frustrate my kids.  We went over text structure and then individually they sorted through each stage and created their own definition and examples of how the stage operates. It was pretty powerful stuff. We were having meaningful conversations and making some great T-W connections.  The three they seemed to own the most were classification, symbolization, and dehumanization (I thought they would get this one given the amount of time we spent on it during Sold.  Listening and unpacking these stages was so insightful for me, and it reminded me why I love teaching. The lights were going off, and I was able to witness it.

We also did a pretest on different types of sentence, as well as fragments and run on sentences. OH MY. I have a lot of work to do in this area, but at least I have some direction on what we need to work on in small groups.  Thankfully, some of them won't need a mini lesson at all, which is great because it means I can spend my time efficiently.

I'm excited about this unit and can't wait to watch it unfold!

P.S I picked a book..If I Should Die before Wake

Breathing Room

The end of the second trimester came to an end last Thursday, and to say I was eager for third trimester to start is an understatement.  You see, somehow, powerschool recognized that my sanity relied heavily on a little change of scenery and a little less kids.  Powerschool makes a lot of mistakes, but it did something right when it divided my sections into manageable class sizes and separated some personalities that should never, ever, get back together. (Sorry, T-Swift). Anyway, I have 23 kids in my 3rd hour compared to 32, and I can walk, and we can move, and it isn't ridiculously loud, and everyone has a seat, and they're normal 9th graders, rather than off the chain 9th graders. I will most definitely say some extra prayers tonight.

So, let's reflect on the first day.  My department head and neighbor at school has devised a pretty awesome bell ringer system.  He was kind enough to forward these to me so that I could begin to create my own.  Today was our first go, and it was purposeful, and eye opening, and made it easier to talk about fragments, run on sentences, and the treasured sentence. They change from day to day, and I've tweaked them to be my own, but these are the first bell ringers I've ever found effective and worth my time.

I decided to start the trimester with a general overview of the 8 genocides that have occurred in the 20th Century before focusing on the Holocaust. I was taken aback today by the lack of background knowledge my students actually had about the Holocaust.  A few had read Anne Frank or touched briefly on it in history class, but very few were able to make any T-T or T-W connections. Usually when I begin a unit I try to front load a lot, but I didn't think that was necessary for this unit. Lesson number one...don't assume. Thankfully, I have the first couple of weeks devoted to researching the different genocides, including the Holocaust, so they will definitely be equipped with ample background knowledge before we begin reading the selected text (I have yet to decide which text).  I would love to do The Book Thief but we only have enough copies for my honors class to read it.

Stupid budget cuts.

Confessions

One of the most important pieces of reflective practice is, well, reflecting.  Unfortunately, sometimes reflection can point out some glaring deficiencies.  In January, my student teacher took over my first hour, I assist 4th and 5th, and I am solely responsible for 3rd hour.

I emphasize solely, because at the end of the day, no matter how much we know that students have to be held accountable, we don't have a system in place to do that for kids who are not afraid of failure.  My third hour has been a struggle since the beginning of the school year, and while there have been moments of growth, I fear we've remained stagnant.  Many of them are still stuck on how to turn a question into a statement without writing a run on sentence, and I'm fully aware that they should have owned the art of writing paragraphs long ago. 

Yesterday, I tried splitting them into groups of three so I could work with a small group (of TEN) on their writing and it was a disaster. We always hear that we need to reteach it in a new way, but what happens when we run out of new ways to teach it? Or don't have the energy to redirect the same misbehavior for the 20th time so we CAN teach it? Because I'm there. I don't know what else to do.  It's painful at times because I look at their faces and I can tell that some of them simply do not understand what I mean when I say to support their writing with examples. Some of them just don't care about reading, writing, or school in general.  Others are getting it, but they're tired of dealing with the ridiculousness and have resigned to just being present.  This isn't quality teaching, and it isn't quality learning.  Yet, we're teaching in a broken system and too many people just don't give a damn.  The powers that be are too busy passing laws so more students can attend private schools, resulting in higher class sizes, burned out teachers, and less resources for those of us who commit ourselves to public education.

I don't want the students in my third hour to drop out.  I don't want the students in my third hour to get the short end of quality instruction.  I don't want them to become a statistic, or to live up to every single stereotype that already exists for them.  I don't want to be mad and frustrated every day, yet that's where I'm at. It isn't where I have to stay, though, so I'll do some more reflecting and pray that the new trimester will bring a little relief.

Those Who CAN

Last Friday I turned in my teacher of the year portfolio.  While I wasn't looking forward to putting together the portfolio, it was pretty powerful.  I was able to take the time to reflect on my growth as a teacher. I had almost forgotten about my first year teaching on a cart (maybe I just tried to repress the awful memory) and the million and one first-year teacher mistakes I made. Bless Pat Lorenc for being my mentor teacher, because I'm pretty sure she helped me maintain my sanity. Thankfully, I had a classroom the next year, but it came with a partial contract (hello, debt) that was less than ideal.  I could continue to chronicle the years leading up to today, but that's not what this post is about.

This post is about everything that is impossible to teach in education courses.

1. A student who is angry and crying because it is the anniversary of her mother's death
2. How to handle the student who thinks it's grand to speak in a British/Australian/ accent at any point in the day...and then do cartwheels down the hall.
3. Providing consequences to students that actually matter (in case you wondered, ISS and OSS don't)
4. How to deal with a classroom of raging hormones
5. What to say when a new student arrives at your door who tells you he's been in jail for a year (nice to meet you??)
6. Remembering to take attendance
7. How to address 10 different questions at one time
8. What to say to a scared 14 year old who just found out she's pregnant
9. A student's death
10. How not to strangle a parent who is abusing his child
11. How to write recommendation letters :) I have this one down now!
12. How to work a copy machine (thankfully, I do not jam ours)
13. Finding a balance between your life as a teacher and your life outside of the classroom
14. How to say NO
15. Um, he brought a picture of WHAT? He showed it to WHO? OK. Um...let's go to the office

In case you're curious, all fifteen of those occurred over the past two weeks. 10 of those in one day. I could write a list longer than this, but I think you get the gist.  Teaching is about more than teaching...it's about making meaning of the experience we call life. And that is no easy task.

An Escape

I'm a book geek and proud of it.  I'm also a huge fan of YA literature, which is not always embraced by educators as being quality literature.  I'm convinced that these people simply have not picked up recent YA literature and base their opinions solely on Twilight (I like Twilight, it just doesn't need to be taught!).  I like to classify reading in my classroom into three categories: entertainment, life, and cultural literacy.

I do believe there are some books that students should be exposed to, yet, I do not agree that the books "we" have chosen as being culturally relevant are always on target.  Last time I checked, white males are not the only people in our society.  I do not mind teaching Shakespeare, Homer the blind poet, and all that good jazz.  However, we owe it to students to expose them to non-white male authors who provide a cultural literacy about the current world, too.

Too many students have a profound hatred for books, and I can understand why.  We over teach novels, we tell them what to think about the novels, and when they ask why they have to read it, we answer because we have to.  That's not good enough. 

We need to carefully examine the literature we teach and take some risks.  I recently read The Fault in Our Stars which made me ache with a desire to live, to love, to take risks, and to embrace the sorrow that is an inevitable piece of the human experience.  It is a book that deserves to be taught.  It should be taught. 

So, as a literacy specialist (yes, I have a master's in reading!), here are my suggestions for current YA reading that is about the human experience:

Sold
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
Divergent
Bound
Never Fall Down
Split
Twisted
Boy 21
Between Shades of Gray
Jellicoe Road
Speak
The Piper's Son 
Shatter Me 
Copper Sun
Ophelia

A list for entertainment!

The Immortal Instruments (series)
Beautiful Creatures (series)
Under the Never Sky
Froi of the Exiles (could go above too!)
The Infernal Devices (series)
Daughter of Smoke and Bone
Legend
Jane
Matched (series)
Delirium (series)

Now, I need to get back to reading Cinder :)

A Tad Emotional

I meant to write this post weeks ago, but my mind needed some time to just be.  Now, I'm three days away from beginning the second half of the school year, and it seems timely to begin writing again.

The course I'm currently taking is time consuming, but it is also extremely applicable, which is something I am always thankful for.  One of the topics we have been learning about is the role that emotion plays in the classroom. While inherently I think most teachers know that emotion is linked to our ability to learn, I'm not sure we always recognize the role it plays in our classroom.

Emotions are everywhere. I teach 9th grade, so these emotions are also tied to hormones. Lord, help us all.  One of my requests is that when you are in my classroom, you are THERE. Not in la-la land, not in your math book because you forgot to do your homework, and not on twitter, or Facebook, or tumblr, or...you get the picture.  However, I'm also realizing how much emotions can play in determining whether a student is truly present in my classroom.

Simply put, if a student is angry, sad, or irritated, it is difficult for him or her to put on a happy face and be excited about being in a classroom.  Their mind and heart are in totally different places than their body.  Yet, we often expect our students to act like an adult and flip the switch (let's be honest, sometimes we do not do it well either!). One of my students reminded me that it is not that simple.  This student was upset about something that to me was kind of silly.  However, she was genuinely upset, and it was clear she had become disengaged with what we were doing. I took her outside and we talked for a bit, and she said "you can't expect me to be happy just because you tell me to". Ahh, touche. I realized she was right.  She needed time to decompress, to calm herself down, and come back when she was ready.  So I gave it to her.

How often do we fail to give our kids time to just be?  How often do we give our kids the time they need to handle their emotions, whatever they might be? I know some people, including some teachers, will say that students need to just deal with it.  Yet, if we do not allow our students that time, then they won't be emotionally ready to learn in our class.  We will lose a precious day, and maybe even more if we fail to recognize their emotional needs.

I wish we had a better way (how about A WAY) to give our kids the time to deal with emotions when they begin to hinder their ability to learn.  However, I think being cognizant of it is a good start, and I'm going to strive to provide more opportunities for students to handle their emotions. No strings attached.