Twas the night before break...

The last day of school before Christmas break is a special day that cannot be replicated no matter what.

Freshmen finished exams yesterday, but we still had school today. A half day would have been ideal, but that was not to be. So instead there was movie time. Lots and lots of movie time. And students got to play Santa between teachers who did not have the chance to leave their classrooms. And there were Christmas parties. Oh the parties...

I only allowed one class to throw a party and that was my dual credit Teacher Cadet course. We had some good discussions and they finished up a major project today, so the class wasn't a total waste. And the food was terrific.

When you give kids a free hand, it is amazing what they will come through with. We had pizza, bugles and dip, crackers and dip, brownies, cookies, and cupcakes. For my part, I gave out Christmas cards featuring pictures from our class.

The day before Christmas break is a day like no other. Teachers have the same fever that students do. You can't hide it. There is a feeling in the air. As the students deliver cards and gifts from teacher to teacher, they have to know that we feel it to. That we are ready for a vacation too. It's a bonding experience. Like the song? Everybody's waiting for the man with the bag.

We were all waiting for the man to ring that bell.

When he finally did, we all knew that the next two weeks would be like heaven. Like a little reminder of summer and the feeling of nonchalance that comes with it. Just a taste--just enough to remind us it is coming.

Who's to blame?

Sixty-eight percent of adults believe parents deserve the most blame for students failing in school. That's according to a recent poll done by the Associated Press and Stanford University. Parents. Not teachers, not principals, not the schools themselves, but parents.

At a time where most teachers feel scrutinized and unappreciated, it is refreshing to know that an overwhelming majority realize where the blame actually lies--in the home. And education, undoubtedly, begins in the home.

I spelled "Alaska" for the first time when I was three. I was curious. I wanted to learn. My parents encouraged me. They read to me. They showed me, in actions and in words, that learning was something to be valued and to be held near and dear to the heart. As I grew older, I was expected to do well and be respectful. My word was never taken over the word of an adult. What the teacher said was as good as gold. Teachers were to be respected and listened to and supported. Whenever my parents did have a disagreement with a teacher, it was handled behind closed doors and I wasn't a witness to any sort of disharmony.

Nowadays, many parents don't seem to see any wrong in their children. The teacher is always in the wrong. Recently, a student's cell phone rang in class--something that is forbidden and we constantly fight over in school. Turns out, it was the student's mother. The teacher called him to the front of the room and explained that he couldn't answer his cell phone, but he was more than welcome to use the classroom phone to call his mother back. When the student called her and told her that he couldn't use his phone during the school day, things got so heated that she was clearly heard across the room. Nobody could tell her when she could and could not call the phone that she paid for! Who did we think we were?

Well, let me tell you. We are the people trying to teach your child good manners. We are the people who are trying to show your child how to follow rules and guidelines so they are guaranteed success as an adult. We are the people trying to teach children how to work well with others.

And apparently we are doing these things in direct opposition to the example you are setting at home.

This is not always the case. Lots of parents still support teachers and the rules set up for student safety. But those parents aren't always the ones that get the most attention. The parents that demean us and argue with us and are convinced we are out to get them and their children are the ones that get all of our attention. Those contradictory few are the ones that seem to set the tone.

I'm glad that sixty-eight percent at least realize that we do all that we can with what we are given. We need some support from home to seal the deal.

The daily prayer of a teacher

St. Jude, bless me in my work today. Help me to demonstrate my solidarity, love, patience, compassion and service toward others.

When exactly is less more?

A South Carolina Republican is introducing a bill to reduce graduation credit requirements. Right now, students are required to earn 24 Carnegie units and pass a state standardized test. Thanks to NCLB, the test isn't going anywhere, but in their ongoing quest to cut from public education, Republicans may lower credits from 24 to 20.

Representative Dan Cooper believes that by lowering requirements, we could save money and raise the graduation rate! Yay! But what about educating children? What about improving our economy by improving our workforce?

I think that by lowering graduation requirements, we are once again lowering our standards. It is bad enough that schools are forced to use remediation techniques such as credit recovery because we are under the gun to graduate 100% of our student population in four years or less. This will just be one more jab to the heart for actual learning in schools.

When Kids Go Good

Most of the news about teachers, students, and education in general is pretty negative. There is usually some sexual misconduct or gangs or lack of money or just general disarray involved.

But every now and then, kids go good.

Our school does an Angel Tree for children in need every Christmas. Since most of our students are in need, it's hard to find people who can afford to give what little they have to someone else. The Angel Tree is still pretty full and we are getting closer and closer to Christmas. The economy is bad and times are hard for everyone. But, today, the Newberry High Student Government made a sizable dent in the number of needy children still listed on that tree. They did what they could to fulfill wishes for the upcoming Christmas.

As a class, without telling them what we were doing, we all went down to the guidance office and I showed them the tree. In pairs, I had them each pick one child off the tree. Then I gave them the Wal-Mart credit card and told them that each pair could have $30 out of the SGA accounts to make wishes come true. The excitement is something serious! Sure, they aren't giving of themselves, so to speak. But it is giving. And that is what the season is all about--doing for others.

So they went off to Wal-Mart as a class with their instructions to do good for someone else today. And they went above and beyond my expectations. They came back with bags and bags of clothes and diapers and dolls and games. The excitement of doing good for someone else was palpable.

Today we are spreading Christmas cheer by doing good. I believe that we are all innately good creatures...we just need some prodding and assistance. And sometimes teenagers will surprise you. One of my kids chipped in $40 of his own money to buy diapers and bath stuff for a little boy. It's sad to me that a parent needs diapers so bad that they make a Christmas list, but my heart swells with what this young man did today. On his own. In the true Christmas spirit.

So the next time you read about gangs and drug busts and violence, remember that with a little guidance, we can take the average teenager and turn them into a modern day Santa Claus.

Making a list, and checking it twice...

And the list of naughty students is doubling! Where did all the nice ones go?

We have one more day this week and sometimes I wonder if I'll make it. We are in the midst of a deep freeze, exams are looming, and my students either don't care or are so overwhelmed that they can't possibly juggle everything that has to be done.

'Tis the season, eh?

I am noticing that students are snappier than they typically are. They have been quicker to be disrespectful and not near quick enough to back down and say "yes, ma'am." Where is the Christmas spirit?

I'm going to join in this Grinch-ish behavior by giving a vocabulary test tomorrow. Let's keep them busy on the Friday before exams. Hopefully the weekend will get them settled down for one more week.

My Grown-Up Christmas List

Here is the newest scenario that is making public education look ineffective. Instead of counting students who enter in ninth grade and graduate in four years, the powers that be are counting students in the eighth grade that graduate in five years in order to calculate graduation rates. Fair? Before you jump to say yes, of course, think about this...

If the student moves between 8th and 9th grades, he/she is considered a drop out.

If the student has to take a year off for one reason or another--pregnancy, illness, car accident, anything--he/she is considered a drop out.

If the student screws around during the freshmen year and takes an extra year to get out of high school, he/she is considered a drop out.

Public high schools are ruled ineffective on a daily basis by people who believe that they know what is best. Many of these people have never stepped in front of a classroom. In fact, Bill Gates even weighed in recently on how public schools should pay teachers. (FYI, it wasn't favorable for teachers.) Everyone believes that he/she knows what is best when it comes to educating children. None of these people have stood front of the classroom.

The sad fact of the matter is, there are kids who aren't cut out for the public classroom. For some reason or another, the four walls and desks don't mesh with some students' personalities. These students need an alternative form of education. These students may need to learn a trade in order to contribute to society. We want to believe that no child will be left behind, but the fact is that every child on this earth is special and unique. As a classroom teacher, it is my job to reach them all. All 150 of them that I may teach in any given year.

Where are the educators running education? Too often, administrators spend very little time in the classroom in their rush to get to the top. Elected education officials often have NO EXPERIENCE in public education at all. When they do, which is rare, it is typically less than ten years.

This Christmas, I wish for the pendulum to swing back the other way. I wish for teachers to once again join the highest echelon of respectability. I wish for people to understand that, while you get to check in to your nice cozy office, I get to teach in a coat for most of the day because the thermostat is turned low enough to save money. Understand that over the course of the day, I serve breakfast, clean up breakfast, mediate arguments, supply peppermints and tissues to sick children, dry the tears of broken hearted teenage girls, keep lunch detention for unruly boys who need attention, guard the halls against students looking for a place to hide out, discourage loitering, take cell phones, pull down hoods, and try to be engaging and entertaining. On really special days, I get to jump in the middle of actual fist fights.

All the while, people like Bill Gates get together and try to find reasons to pay me less.

For Christmas, I want us all to remember that none of us would be where we are today if it weren't for a teacher in the background, juggling all of her responsibilities and still finding time to tell us that we can do it. We can do anything we put our mind to.

Nearing the end of the first semester...

I have been a slack blogger. It's been since October 30th since I've blogged at all. I haven't been near as slack of a teacher as I have been a blogger.

At least I don't think that I have been.

We are nearing the end of first semester. Yay! Although I despise cold weather, I do love the Christmas break that inevitably comes along with it. It will be nice to sit at home for two weeks and NOT think about lesson plans or engagement or reading logs. And, it must be said, at this point, we all need a vacation from each other.

At this point last week, I could feel the thunder clouds growing over my head as soon as I got out of my car. I could feel by brow tense up. I've been wound so tight that I should go ahead and start saving for the botox that is going to be inevitable if Christmas break doesn't hurry up and get here.

Just when I think I'm going to spend my life in jail for murdering some innocent child that made me repeat myself for the upteenth time, something funny happens to remind me why I got into this biz in the first place.

Have you ever sat in a classroom with food and the teacher asked you if you had enough for everyone? Of course that means put it up, put it up now. But I'll think twice before I assume that I'll get what I want when I ask that question. This morning, the student picked up his bookbag, dug around, and pulled out a sucker for everyone.

Yes, he did have enough for everyone. And he was willing to share.

It's been 6 weeks, but I'm still alive!

I've had several thoughts recently about what I could post and talk about. But instead of posting my brilliance, I've kept it to myself. But today I sit, watching Carolina football, and thinking about the impacts of social networking on education.

I have to make a presentation Monday on new technologies that teachers can use to help increase student engagement. I've used Facebook myself--I have two pages for students and parents to use for communication and current event announcements. Now I'm venturing into Edmodo and Glogster, two sites that are very new to me. These sites have great potential for improving student engagement in our classrooms. We are moving away from pen and paper and getting students to interact with their knowledge through the use of authentic assessments.

So I'm expanding my repertoire and trying to take some of my colleagues along with me. More authentic assessments lead to more authentic learning, right?

Where were you when the world stopped turning?

Nine years ago, I was not in the same place as most of my fellow educators. I was at home. Sleeping.

You see, on September 10th, I spent most of the night in the emergency room.

Just as I was drifting off to sleep that evening, my house phone rang. It was late and I ignored it. My roommate did not and was soon banging on my door to get me to pick up. Some lady, whose name I will never remember, was on the phone asking for me. And then my sister got on the line. My hysterical sister. There had been an accident. A car accident. I had to get to Columbia College. Now.

This was Audrey's first year at CC and I didn't really know my way around that end of town. I called a friend and got vague directions and headed that way, only to be stopped at the end of the block by an officer. Apparently the wreck was so bad that the entire block was cordoned off. All passengers had been taken to Richland County Hospital. One more place for me to try to find.

Did you know that when they bring in victims of auto collisions, they don't automatically get their names entered in? They get trauma numbers. My parents were on their way (I had to call them immediately, of course), so I was in the waiting room by myself. With the family of the driver. So I waited. Alone. Not knowing anything except that this family's daughter had landed my baby sister in the hospital.

About the same time my parents arrived, the hospital figured out who Audrey was and we were able to go back to her. She was on a body board, with a neck brace, covered in dirt and twigs and broken glass. But she was alive.

There was a lot of sitting around that night. Lots of waiting. All three girls were basically okay, although one didn't have on her seatbelt and had a nice, long ICU visit. But all three eventually walked away. Audrey walked away around 3:30 or 4 that morning.

I only woke up to call in sick the next morning. I rolled over and attempted to sleep some more. The all-nighter in the emergency room was too much for me. And sleep was good until my phone started ringing again. And again and again. It rang until I picked it up and a friend told me to get to a TV. I was appalled and in shock at how such an accident could happen. I was sure it was an accident. Then the second plane connected and I knew this was no accident.

I wasn't with my kids on September 11th. I was glued to the TV wondering how something like this could happen. September 11th will always resonate within me--I'm an American, after all. But it will always be linked to that fateful night near Columbia College for me too. I can't think of 9/11 without thinking about what happened the night before.

A new school year! A new opportunity!

We have been back at school for 8 days. Eight whole days. Already I feel so much better than I did at this point last year. Last year, I was making the transition from coach to teacher. I was putting ideology into practice. I was coming off of my mountain.

This year, I am so much more in control. I can see things falling into place like never before. It is like I've embedded all the things I've learned and I've made them my own.

I can not believe the new place that I'm in. I actually planned lessons this weekend. :)

This week, we are going to use "The Necklace" to cover some basic English I standards that will later be reinforced by Bronx Masquerade. I am planning with my fellow English I teachers and we are piggy-backing better than ever before.

Needless to say, I am excited. I have great kids. I have great partner teachers. I have a great schedule. I work in a great school. I still have a job.

And every day, I get to wake up and teach children. I love them more than they could ever imagine. I know that I am molding and shaping them into something new everyday. They will look back on their high school experience and remember me. Their ninth grade English teacher.

People ask me how I can get up so early in the mornings. They ask me how I deal with 14-year-olds. They ask me how I work in education. The rewards are intrinsic. And they are never-ending. I'm so proud to say that I am a teacher. With all that that entails.

Still need a book...

I went from reading several things at once to reading nothing. NOTHING. I am in a reading funk and it's making me spend hours and hours on the Internet doing nothing. Except reading tweets and news articles and other stuff.

I realize that that is reading, but I need a book.

I read a great espionage novel by Steve Berry earlier in the summer and I read/edited the novel my uncle wrote. I also read a great low country novel on sweetgrass baskets. Other than that, my summer has been replete with technology but shockingly void of good reads.

As summer comes to an end for me, I am in need of some good reads to take to the mountains with me. There's nothing better than the cool mountain air and a good read in a rocking chair.

I need a book. Stat.

Promoting Professional Advocacy amongst Educators

I was met with a disturbing comment from a colleague this year.

Let me set this up properly. My state is undergoing serious budget cuts this year, as I'm sure others are as well. This lead to me getting hot and heavy with some e-mail accounts. I sent several e-mails to the local senator and representative, as well as those for whom I am a constituent. I also sent out the links to all faculty members. My e-mails were pretty informative--a link to the e-mail forms, key items up for debate that week, and some talking points to use. Doesn't get any easier than that, does it?

I had good response from several teachers. Lots of "thank you!" and "I e-mailed today!"

This is what we need to do. We need to remind these politicians that we vote and we matter. What we do everyday affects kids, which affects this state's future economy. We want this economy to turn around? Whose shoulders do you think our future rest on?

Now to the disturbing part. In conversation with a few colleagues, the e-mail campaign came up, to which the youngest in our group responded that she hadn't sent any e-mails. What was the point? She just didn't do stuff like that.

How can you NOT do stuff "like that?" We voted for these people. They change platforms and loyalties like the rest of us change underwear. It is our responsibility to remind them who they work for. We can't just turn them loose and hope for the best!

So how do we encourage teachers to take the extra five minutes it takes to be politically active? How do we convince them that their five minutes are worth it? That's what I'm working on with my new committee members. As a part of CERRA's advisory board, we want to make advocacy as simply as possible.

Input is most definitely welcome.

One last, lazy day (Hey! Alliteration!)

I'm enjoying what will be my last weekday on the couch with the dog and the DVR. Tomorrow, it is back to work.

Tomorrow, I have to start thinking about SGA (and possibly kicking myself for agreeing to take it). I head to Newberry to meet with the student body president about registration and then pick up the notebooks, aka instruction manuals, from the outgoing sponsor.

Tomorrow, I have to do a two hour driving lesson for a friend's son. It will be an exciting trip down to Newberry to run the road test and back.

Tomorrow, I will have to get up and shower and get dressed and wear shoes.

Tomorrow, I will have to eat breakfast on a schedule and not whenever I want to.

Friday, I have an 8 a.m. tee time and then scheduled pool time.

But, tomorrow, I'll feel the pressure that starts as summer ends.

I feel you slipping away, slipping away...

I feel the end of summer is nigh. (Just the use of nigh makes me giggle.)

Now most of you teachers may be looking at your calendar and thinking, it's only July 11th. There's plenty of summer left! No, there's not. Not for me anyway. This is something I do to myself. I have so ingrained myself into extracurricular activities that my summer is over in approximately one week, 14 hours.

That is when I will get in my car and drive five hours to Georgia.

To teach color guard.

To end my summer vacation.

Color guard is the visual aspect of the marching band. It's the flags, rifles, sabers, and dancers. Basically, it's the fun stuff. And it's something I've been doing for the past, oh, fifteen years or so. It eats into my summer, but it's also something I enjoy. I get to be physical and really stretch that creative muscle.

So summer vacation will end in approximately one week, 13 hours, and 56 minutes. But I guess it's my own choice. Although it does have me thinking now about what I will be doing this time next month.

Summer Reading and Commitment Issues

I often have commitment issues in the summer. It's too hot to go outside. It's too hot to do anything inside. And I never can find anything to read! Or I can find too much to read. Whichever.

So I'm having some reading commitment issues. I have about four things going on right now and I'm not making major headway in any of them. I'm editing a book for my uncle (I'll be shamelessly plugging it here later so I can make some money off of it) and that is the only thing I have focused on for longer than five minutes this week.

Have I mentioned it is HAWT? Like, over 100 degrees hot. Welcome to the South! This is what summer is all about. And since I can't go outside, I'll just juggle my editing assignment and my three summer reading books.

The first of my summer reading books is
the well-known, best-selling Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer. I've read this book before. In fact, I've read all of the books before. But the movie comes out at the end of the month. I struggle to remember what I ate for lunch yesterday, much less what I read two years ago. Ergo, I'm rereading.

Now, I must say, the whole teenage angst thing gets old. It is more about the creatures for me than it is about Edward and Bella. In this one, he won't even let her out of his sight for heaven's sakes. Is that really the type of relationship we want our teenage girls to think is okay? It's quite sickening to me, but I love my personal freedoms more than life itself. I enjoy being able to go and do and be and whatnot. (Sidebar--I'm looking for somewhere to be in the water tomorrow, so...any suggestions?)

But I am enjoying my reread of Eclipse. I sometimes read things so quickly that I skip parts. When I reread, things are like new again to me and I love that part! Now I'll be ready when it's movie time. I'll know exactly where the teenage angst will be overwhelming...and I'll escape for a popcorn refill.

I'm also reader Jen Lancaster's newest memoir, My Fair Lazy. I am a huge Jen Lancaster fan (check out her blog at www.jennsylvania.com). I read two of her other memoirs last summer and I've passed them on multiple times to share with other people. She has a great voice that is laugh-out-loud funny.

This newest memoir is especially meaningful to me as a reality show junkie. Yes, I admit, I have a problem. My name is Dianne and I love trashy reality TV. In fact, as I type this, Tyra is interviewing teenage girls who beat up their mothers. Trashiness! I still love all the VH1 dating shows and "Real World." What can I say? They make me feel good about myself!

It seems Jen and I have this in common. She, too, is a self-confessed reality show junkie. But in her newest memoir, she makes an honest effort to get out there and change how people see her by becoming more refined and knowledgeable about current events, politics, and the arts. So she embarks on a Jenassiance, to remake herself. This book is F-U-N-N-Y! She has a voice that is going to pull you in from the start and totally entertain you. Check it out. It's worth it.

Finally, I'm reading You Can't Drink All Day if You Don't Start in the Morning by Celia Rivenbark. Buy it for the title if nothing else! Seriously, though, Rivenbark, a columnist for The Sun Times out of Myrtle Beach also has a light-hearted voice that is entertaining and easy to read. Her books are more like a collection of her columns, just slightly longer. And this one includes recipes! The chapters examine things like over-zealous moms that try to make slacker-moms feel bad. I'm not a mom, but I imagine I would fall into the latter category.

So I technically have four books going on at once. It's like summer reading ADD. The editing job gets the most attention--the quicker I'm done, the quicker it's released, and the quicker I get paid! The others get picked up here and there. I have a few others that are currently laying around the house dog-eared or open and face-down on an arm chair. Hopefully, I'll wind down soon and get settled into some long-term reading. I have a lot of books to knock out this summer and it will be over before I know it!

A month later...

I'm still alive. I finally made it to summer vacation and today is a MAJOR day. Our state's primaries are today and the polls are rapidly reporting results.

I did something today for the first time--I voted in the Republican primary. A fellow educator is running for state superintendent of education on the Republican ticket and I cast my vote for him. I also cast my vote against Nikki Haley. She seems to be the Republican forerunner and also the strongest candidate. Since I'm crossing my fingers for a Dem governor in this Red State, I would prefer a weaker candidate.

Elections are interesting times. I try not to talk politics at home--one set of grandparents is hard core Republicans; the other set is hard core Democrats (almost yellow dog, if you know what i mean). My dad never talks politics and my mom is slightly, or maybe largely, more right than I am. I don't like Sarah Palin, so anyone who gets her vote is not for me. A la Nikki Haley.

Elections also tell you who knows you and how definitely does not. I am constantly getting invitations to join groups for Andre Bauer and other right-wing folks. There is no way I, a public school teacher, is going to support the same people who are proponents of school vouchers and privatization and so forth.

Elections are an interesting time. They bring out the best and the worst in people. And some days, it is hard to be a public school teacher in a Red state.

Down to the last few Fridays

In just a few short weeks, Fridays will be meaningless. For now, though, they are treasured.

The end-of-school fever has set in. We have end of course tests next week, followed very quickly by final exams. Are the children worried about those? Of course not. They only know that summer is near enough to sniff out and that they are ready for it.

The end of the year means some different things to me. At this point, I have hopefully covered all the standards tested next week. This is a chance for me to look back at the year and decide what worked and what didn't. This is a chance for me to start planning ahead for next year.

Next year, I will go in with a concrete plan. I will go in ready to tame the freshmen beast with daily routines and procedures that will ensure safety and comfort.

Next year...I think I said that last year.

One year, I'll actually get it right.

Gallery Walk and Mentor Texts

Today we studied subordinating conjunctions in English class. Sounds exciting, huh? If I had introduced the lesson as that, they would have revolted. People assume that just because I'm an English teacher, I love grammar. I don't. It's as big a pain in the butt to me as it is to my kids.

To start our conversation about subordinating conjunctions, I set up a gallery walk. I chose several sentences from different novels that use subordinating conjunctions. Their only instructions were to walk the room, read the sentences, and notate things that they notice and/or think of on post-it notes. Once they finished the walk, we talked about what they noticed. I pushed them to find what the sentences had in common. They noticed commas, a few literary devices, and that several sentences started with "if." So I introduced them to the AAAWWUBBIS.

AAAWWUBBIS is a mnemonic device for some of the most common subordinating conjunctions. According to Constance Weaver, it's also one of the most commonly assessed errors on standardized tests. I know I've seen it in my students' writing all year long--even in my seniors.

Once they knew what they were looking at, we were on a roll! We talked about punctuation and how using a period instead of a comma lead to fragments. We talked about removing the conjunction and making two short sentences. We talked about using conjunctions for sentence comining because the short sentences were "baby" sentences.

After theorizing why authors would use subordinating conjunctions, students went to other mentor texts--children's books. They mined those books for
sample sentences. Not every book will have them, but many of them will. We looked and shared aloud and broke the sentences apart and put them back together.

To sum it up, students worked in groups to write their own sentences with subordinating conjunctions.

We aren't done with subordinating conjunctions. As we work in literature circles, students will continue to look for them in their young adult books. We'll compile examples in group folders. We'll examine subordingating conjunctions in our own writing. We'll experiment with sentence combining.

And, hopefully, along the way, we'll remember how much fun writing can be. It's not all about correcting papers after all.

When they won't stop reading...

My students picked out their literature circles books last week and were able to start reading them this week. Today, I couldn't get them to stop.

I have trained my students to start class with independent reading time. I set the example; I don't assess their reading comprehension; I supply a literacy-rich environment.

But I never expected to see the reaction to the literature circles books that I have seen today.

They didn't want to stop reading. They wanted to take the books home (we don't have enough for that). There was nothing more they wanted to do than to read their new books.

Teenagers reading is an awesome thing, especially when that teenager doesn't fit the mold of a high-achieving student. What else can you do when they won't stop reading except...let them read?

Kids Talking about Books

I stumbled upon the website, Awesome Things, today. This has inspired me to focus on awesome things in my life. Today's awesome thing: Kids talking about books.

I haven't gotten very deep into the literature circles. We've done the book pass. I've told them what their books are. But we haven't met, we haven't discussed jobs, we haven't even really set goals. (They were supposed to yesterday, but I didn't structure it well and I suspect that they didn't.)

But today. TODAY. Students pulled their new books out of the crate. Not everyone chose to read their new books during SSR, but some of them did. And then the magic happened. I noticed some movement from the back of the room and realized that one boy was passing his book to his neighbor to share what he had read. Then, at the end of SSR, one student turned to another student--not a friend, not even an aquaintance--and asked him about something he read in his new book.

My awesome thing today is students talking about books. My main goal is to churn out literate adults. I want children to remember the magic they used to find in books. There is something amazing about teenagers talking to one another about books. I'd like to bottle that so that I could take it out every October--after the newness has worn off and before they are properly trained. I could take out that bottle and remember the promise, the awesome thing, of teenagers talking about reading.

Website of the Day

I love stumbling upon new websites that inspire me to create new lessons. I found one today. 1000 Awesome Things started when the author was feeling really down and decided to write about an awesome thing every weekday. What an inspiration!

What if we started every Monday writing (and maybe posting!) about an awesome thing? Students would get practice with authentic writing. For a year-end project, students could choose the top ten and piece together a book, complete with illustrations. I'm brilliant!

I think I see it like this...

First week of school--explore the site as a class. Brainstorm awesome things. My own list would include puppy breath, fresh cut grass, wisteria, rain...I'm big on smells...Maggie curled up on her bed, my sister in the pulpit, Fenway Park. I could list things forever!

First Monday--shared writing about one awesome thing. Creation of Wiki and all that entailed with getting students started with it.

Second Monday--partner writing and illustration.

Third Monday--We are rocking and rolling at full steam ahead! We will be writing as individuals on Monday, getting a peer review on Tuesday, and posting to the class wiki by Friday! Woo hoo!

Isn't it amazing how much optimism I have for NEXT year's kids? I know. We are three weeks out from the end of course test and literature circles are my only adventure right now.

BTW...post on literature circles coming soon. Perfect? Nope. But I heard kids talking and asking questions about their books and we haven't officially started yet! Yay!

The Book Pass

My ninth grade babies are getting ready to embark on a literature circle journey. One of my colleagues snickered when I told her this and then told me to let her know how it went. I have faith. I've trained them well, right?

So today, we started with a book pass. I have thirteen books. I have no intention of having thirteen literature circles. They need to weed out the good from the bad. We did a book pass instead of sustained silent reading today.

If you're unfamiliar with a book pass, it is a chance to teach students to process for choosing a book to read. It's a great way to start an independent reading program or a literature circles program. Students often don't know what they are looking at when they decide to check out a book. They just know that they have to take one with them when they leave. The book pass lays out the steps for them. Students are instructed to start by looking at the book--the title, the print size, the cover illustration, etc. You want them to just get a feel for the book. Then you want them to read some. The back of the book, the first chapter, even the end if that's what they usually do. Students need a time limit. After only a minute or a minute and a half, they need to rank their book and pass it to their neighbor.

You could have heard a pin drop this morning. We were reading and ranking and passing. Everyone found three books that they thought they would enjoy reading. Now I've got to put them into groups that will work.

Next week, my students will experiment with literature circles for the first time. This should be a great way to end the year. But if I don't plan it right, it could be a disaster. My goal? Let's end the year with adult discussions about reading. That's not too much to ask for, right?

An EOC Plan

So...I am in a state that gives End of Course Tests for certain subjects. And I teach one of those subjects--English I. Now. Please believe that I am on a personal crusade to end these tests. The legislature is talking about freezing the step raises for teachers, and I would much rather them do away with these ridiculous standardized tests. I have e-mailed several times. Needless to say, I haven't gotten a response. Yet.

But I have a plan to end the year. My colleagues do an EOC boot camp, but scores haven't exactly been stellar the last few years. (This isn't exactly a valid assessment.) So I'm trying out my own plan for the last three weeks before the test.

We are going to continue our vocabulary on Mondays. Only our vocabulary will consist of words from the standards that students need to know. I should have a lot of As on tests, don't you think? I mean, I've taught these things all year. Hmph.

Tuesdays will consist of a focus lesson--such as propaganda and bias and craft. These are still under construction. I only have a few days to perfect the first one.

Wednesdays and Thursdays will consist of literature circles activities. Students will use their novels to study author's craft.

Fridays will be reserved for vocabulary tests and articles of the week. I've been inundating my freshmen with nonfiction texts recently and now it is time to step it up a notch. In addition to the nonfiction text, they will have a poem to compare it to in their reflection.

This is my plan. Foolproof? Heavens, I hope so. But only time will tell. We are taking the tests on computers this year. My children have no experience with computerized tests, but we'll do anything to save a buck and save a test. We'll see how things go the next three weeks.

Spring Break, Allergies, and Grammar Instruction

It is finally spring break and I am down for the count with allergies. I had a lovely day off Friday and went down to the beach for the day. It was ideal, but this 90 degree weather and coats upon coats of pollen is not ideal. Not at all.

So I am sitting here, eyes puffy, tissue stuffed up one nostril, spending time with Constance Weaver's Grammar to Enrich and Enhance Writing. I have spent a lot of reflective time with my writing instructional practices this year. I am trying to use only best practices (although I'll admit to not using vocabulary best practices--it's hard to be on ALL the time). In order to improve writing, we are not doing "daily oral language." I am adamantly against it, always have been. First of all, it isn't oral. Secondly, I've never seen the benefits of copying down incorrect sentences. Don't you remember more what you copy down? Then wouldn't it make sense that students are learning incorrect writing skills?

Constance Weaver is only supporting my beliefs that teaching grammar in isolation is not beneficial to student learning. Weaver's research shows that grammar study in the Middle Ages was a study of what not to do, instead of what to do. Think of your own grammar lessons in schools. There was a lot of labeling parts of speech and rectifying errors. What not to do. Towards the end of the 19th century, the teaching of grammar was designed to move lower class citizens up the class system. The teaching of grammar was also used as ammunition for the middle and upper classes to use against those who did not change their use of language. This hasn't changed in over a hundred years. We still expect students to memorize grammatical rules in order to be successful in the workplace. Instead of teaching code-switching, we expect students to leave their inherited linguistic practices behind. We teach grammatical rules in order to help students move up in the world. Nothing else that we teach is the same--why do we believe that grammar is different?

I remember grammar being taught to me in a separate class. It worked for me...I guess. I'm obviously a verbal/linguistic-minded person. I feel like it probably worked for most English teachers. And since it worked for them, they perpetuate the ineffectiveness on their students now. Weaver points out, however, that studies show that grammar in isolation has a NEGATIVE effect on student achievement. A negative effect. Read that again. Grammar in isolation has a negative effect on student achievement. Yet, here we are in 2010, using daily oral language in English classes. In 2010, we are still teaching students to label the parts of speech. Just as they did in the Middle Ages.

In this age of instant gratification, YouTube, Facebook, and, obviously, blogs, do we really need to teach something the same way we did in the Middle Ages? I'm not comfortable with that. If I want to do the best job that I possibly can, then I don't want to teach things the same way we did hundreds of years ago.

I think I'll go back to spring break. I'll keep reading Weaver's book and contemplating the best way to teach effective writing skills. I'll also be contemplating how to tactfully share my findings with my colleagues. It is a lot to think about. Right now, I'm just hoping a little rain will fall and I'll finally be able to take this tissue out of my nostril.

A Nice End to a Long Week

It is finally officially spring break. I am headed to the beach first thing in the morning. It's just for the day, but the beach is the beach. And I can't wait for it.

Overall, it was a good week. There was a beautiful full moon and it was the week before vacation and the sun was shining and hot...but it was surprisingly a good week. My freshmen are taking their writing seriously. Slowly, but seriously.

We are STILL writing about Romeo and Juliet. We've settled into a nice rhythm this week, but it's enough already. I'm ready to be done and to move on! But they are taking their essays seriously. And when we get done, they will have a polished, published essay. They will understand analysis. They will understand the use of quotes from a text and the importance of commentary in an essay. They are learning valuable writing techniques. But I want them to floor it. I can see that they are writing and I can hear them discussing their essays together and I am enjoying the one on one instruction.

But come on...step on it.

When we come back from spring break, come hell or high water, we'll be typing up our essays. We'll be completing peer reviews and we'll go to the library and they will have what they think is a final, published piece. Of course, that's when the markers come out and I get to do my handiwork on it, but we'll be one step closer.

Next, we are on to multigenre units and literature circles. But for now, bring on the beach.

The Sound of Success

I've read lots of thoughts and research on grouping strategies, but I've never actually assigned my students roles during cooperative learning tasks. Today, I went there.

My seniors are starting a new group project as a culminating assessment for Macbeth. We've done group projects before and I've let them choose groups, I've assigned groups, and I've randomly picked groups. But I've never done role assignments.

Today's assessment dealt with creating movie components a modern-day Macbeth. To start, students had to assign roles for their group members. There were six roles--each role had to be covered and each student had to do at least one. After that, it was up to the student. Here are the roles I decided were most important to our assignment and my class:

• Group Manager (in charge of all group activities and ensuring that all are on task)
• Recorder (responsible for written portions of the project)
• Reporter (responsible for presenting material to the class)
• Materials Manager (responsible for getting materials and also for cleaning up materials)
• Time Manager (responsible for deadlines and ensuring everyone stays on task)
• Encourager (responsible for group morale)

Once students studied the roles, they assigned the roles to their group members and then brainstorm additional responsibilities for each role. As I sat back to watch students get started, conversations were hushed and groups got started immediately. I was able to go from group to group without having to harass people about getting on task or holding their voices down. Students were working. Genuinely working.

At the end of the class period, students had to complete a daily reflection log. This was, perhaps, the weakest part of the assignment. The questions did not really inspire the amount of reflection that I was hoping for. This will need some tweaking for next time.

My seniors still pack up early, no matter what I say. They would much rather complain about a lack of time to complete the assignment then they would work. But they got off to a great start this afternoon. Assigning roles within the groups helped students with self-responsibility.

Monday, Monday

The daffodils are blooming outside my classroom window. Every now and then the sun peaks out from around the clouds. I can imagine how wondrous the air must feel. Spring is definitely here. But do I get to enjoy it? Of course not.

Spring also means the end of the third nine weeks. All of the grading that I've put off is catching up with me. (Of course I keep up with my grading--this is merely make-up work. What teacher doesn't keep up with her grading?!?!?) Students want their grades and they want them now! I simply want to coast until spring break. I got the fever.

The kids have it, too. They are a little more rambunctious than usual. A little louder. A lot slower. The vocabulary that took us one day to do is being stretched to two and three days. They're working, but it's like pulling teeth. They're on task, but they are stealthily dragging their feet. Like I wouldn't notice. I want to drag my feet, too.

Do they know this? Do they know that teachers get spring fever just as badly as they do? Do they know that we would love a free day?

Don't tell them. It would just be more ammunition.

Mentor Sentences

I've been mining my books for mentor sentences to use for writing lessons in English I. I just started a new book by Karen White, The Memory of Water, and it is rife with beautiful sentences. Here are just a few:

For thousands of years, the Atlantic Ocean has beat against the beach of my childhood, its watery fingers stealing more and more of the soft silted sand, grabbing at the estuaries and creeks of the South Carolina Lowcountry, leaving us with the detritus of old forests, battered dunes, and bleeding loss.

I feel this sentence is long and complex. There is beautiful imagery, alliteration, and personification. When discussing this line, I think I would focus on the personification. This will be a hard sentence to use as a model, but there are wondrous words.

I'd never tattled on her. Looking back, I suppose that even then I'd known that her self-destructive behavior would simply find a more dangerous outlet.

The language of these two sentences is not what I would want students to mimic. In this case, the author has used a short sentence followed by a long sentence, which students need to be able to do in order to create rhythmic writing. The simple followed by complex is an ideal pattern for young writers to learn.

So far, using mentor sentences to teach sentences structures and literary devices has been very successful. Students are writing wonderful, diverse sentences and are experimenting with commas and other punctuation styles. The conversations have been ideal. I can only hope that teaching grammar and sentence structure this way, instead of though DOL in which students copy down incorrect sentences, will transfer to their standardized tests and writing samples. I've got my fingers crossed.

Looking for a Few Good Lines

Grammar is one of the hardest things to teach high school students and there are differing opinions on what is effective. I don't know much, but I know that worksheets and rote memorization are not what works. If it did, then high school freshmen would come to us knowing their parts of speech and we wouldn't need to reteach a thing.

But they don't, so we do.

So I'm taking a note from Jeff Anderson's playbook. He was in South Carolina recently and spoke to the teachers of a neighboring district. I didn't get to hear him speak, but I have a copy of Mechanically Inclined and I have friends that had front row seats. So I am incorporating his strategies into my freshmen English class. Please remember that I'm looking for anything and everything to help prepare them for the End of Course exam.

We started incorporating a sentence of the day today. In order to teach sentence structure and punctuation, I'm using mentor texts. My first one was not all that great, but I have every intention of improving. Today, we discussed commas in a series. I used a mentor sentence on the SmartBoard and simply asked students what they noticed. I got some good answers. I got some rotten answers. But I did get the words "commas" and "list." After we talked about the mentor sentence, we wrote a sentence together as a class following the example that the mentor sentence set. Then students wrote their own sentences incorporating the same techniques. They shared their sentences with their neighbor to check for accuracy. I circulated the room to check sentences and all students were 100% right on.

We didn't discuss rules. We didn't label sentence parts or parts of speech. We just looked at a good sentence, albeit not all that creative, and examined what the writer did.

So now I'm on the hunt for good sentences from good writers. I have a little Pat Conroy, a little Sharon Draper...I just need, oh, about 175 more sentences. That's not too much to ask, right?

Using Interest Inventories to Group Students

Most teachers use some sort of learning style/interest inventory at the beginning of the school year. Having students complete the inventory is not the problem--using that information is. I have to admit that I used a learning styles inventory at the beginning of the year, marked the styles for each student next to their name in my gradebook, and promptly went on with my life.

That is not what was intended.

Once we determine students' learning styles, we have to use that information to better their learning in our classrooms. One of the best ways to utilize this information is when grouping students. As we strive for differentiation, learning styles can help group students in two ways--homogeneously and heterogeneously.

Students can be grouped homogeneously by learning styles. Students would be surrounded by other students who learned in a similar manner. This could lead to reflective learning--students could really examine where their strengths are and how they need to address those strengths in class. If assigned a project that allows for choice, the homogeneous group could choose the task that most addresses their style and be highly successful at it. The homogeneous group could work well to strengthen each other.

Students can also be grouped hetergeneously. Students can work with students of varied learning styles in order to address their own weaknesses. Multi-genre projects might be more accessible to students if addressed through a heterogeneous group.

Learning styles are not a new concept by any stretch of the word. I've issued inventories for years. However, teachers have to do something with those inventories. Having students complete them isn't enough. Teachers have to use learning styles to guide their instruction and better student achievement.

Differentiated Instruction

I'm taking a class on differentiated instruction. I am for real serious about this class...I'm not even doing my chapter reflections in groups because I really want to read each chapter myself. I'm so hoping to get something out of this class that I don't have yet.

I've been doing some baby DI this week. We are working on character analysis essays for R&J and students are working with partners while I go around and work with each student on where he/she is. This is baby stuff. It has taken me all year to get my ninth graders to the point where they can work on their own without me. My seniors aren't even there yet.

My goal for my class is to learn how to incorporate DI in every lesson. I'm getting better at addressing students where they are on an individual basis, but I can't run my class with no whole group instruction. That doesn't lend itself well to classroom management.

So how do teachers do it all? How do teachers work in multiple intelligences into every lesson and still meet standards? How do teachers do all this magical teaching and still prepare students for standardized tests? I'm hoping that by the end of April, I'll have all the answers.

Role Reversal: The Teacher as The Student

I've enrolled myself in another graduate class this spring. I feel like differentiation is my weakness and I'm looking for new ways to improve. So I entered the library yesterday as a student.

I witnessed some disappointing behavior. I learned a long time ago that teachers are the worst students. We do things that we would maim students for. But we go ahead like it's no big deal to talk or text or spend more than half the class on the phone. When I was a literacy coach, I witnessed this behavior from the lecturn, so to speak. It is horrifying. If you ever want to feel belittled as an adult, stand up in front of teachers and try to teach them anything. It is the worst feeling in the world. At least with kids, you can write their behavior off as them just being kids. What is the excuse for adults?

So I have modified my meeting behavior. I may not always be paying attention, but I sure do look like I am! And my cell phone stays in my purse. On vibrate. I don't talk to my neighbor, I make eye contact with the presented, and I interject long silences with comments. It's hard to be the "sage on the stage." We all need some good students to make the job a little easier.

Something to think about...

Every time you stop a school, you will have to build a jail. What you gain at one end you lose at the other. It's like feeding a dog on his own tail. It won't fatten the dog. ~Mark Twain

On Writing...with Freshmen...

So my freshmen are finishing Romeo and Juliet right now. Before this year, I hadn't taught the play since, well, let's just say it's been a long time. This has been a totally different unit for me. I went in with solid goals for the end (not necessarily assessment goals, but goals, nonetheless). It's my version of beginning with the end in mind. I look at my seniors and see how deficient they are. Then, I look for lessons that might close that deficit with my freshmen. Analysis is a problem with my seniors. Writing stamina is a problem with my seniors. Let me rephrase that; writing is a problem with my seniors.

As we near the end of our Romeo and Juliet unit, I want my students to write an essay that incorporates their new knowledge about star-crossed lovers and gives me an opportunity to teach solid technique. So I'm slowly developing a plan in my mind. A week of rough drafts.

Here's my thinking. We often give students a list of essays to choose from, have them pick a topic, and start writing. I've seen some students get frustrated with their choice and discard it halfway through. What I can do instead of overwhelming them with choices is offer them a different type of choice. We can spend a week working our way through different topics in prewriting and rough draft writing. I have a list of topics in my mind that we can work our way through:

• Compare and contrast what you desire in a mate with what you parents desire in a mate for you. (Brainstorming already done on both.)
• Who killed Romeo and Juliet?
• A character analysis

And that's all I've got.

But each would require brainstorming, prewriting, webbing, and mini-lessons. And at the end of the week, they would have a series of rough drafts to work on. They can choose which one they finalize.

That's my idea. I'm dragging my feet about really putting my lesson together, though. The Olympics are on. And begging me to watch.

A New Computer on a Snow/Furlough Day

It's snowing in South Carolina! Woo hoo! I'm sure kids are going crazy right now, but we are out today. Like many other states around the country, we have no money. My district alone has furloughed teachers for two days and administrators for four. We may be looking at as many as three more days. Part time job, anyone?

So I decided to celebrate the pending snowstorm and cut in my paycheck by going out and spending the tax return that hasn't come in yet. I have fourteen days to decide if I like this or not--I went with a brand that I was not familiar with, but had the lowest PC return rate--and so far me likey!

So on this furlough day, I'm sitting in the corner of my couch with the DVR showing this week's Private Practice and watching the snow dance down from the skies and land lightly on the tops of the privacy fence outside the window. Snow is so quiet...so peaceful...and at this stage, so clean. I know that I only love it because it has been nearly seven years since we got any decent snow in this part of the state. It's a good day. The economy sucks, but maybe the snow will come down and wash all worries away...

This post is just to say...

That I don't have time to post! Rather, I don't have time to come up with anything witty to post and I might as well not post at all if I can't be witty!

My computer died at home and I have so many things to do at school that writing on my blog takes a backseat. How often does that happen? We have so many things to cover that something as important as writing takes a backseat? I'm trying not to let it happen, but it definitely is in my personal writing life.

So, with that, I'm back to planning. I'll post soon. I promise! I hope...

So, today was a total crapshoot.

Before I start this rant, my freshmen were awesome. Really, really good. They are really getting in to what they are doing. More on that in a future post.

My seniors, however, are another story. We're doing pastorals and sonnets, which I realize are archaic and a little complicated. And some of them are a little boring. My goal here is to expose them to universal literary themes. These guys were struggling with the same things they are. Love lost, unrequited love, love, love, love. All you need is love.

In order to balance things out, the class sat in pairs. Hard literature is sometimes easier with a friend, I think. We started with a review of the pastorals we covered on Tuesday. They charted each of the shepherd's stanzas and then looked at the nymph's reply. There were a lot of light bulbs. The poems got the attention they deserved. No one was glossing anything over.

Then we moved into sonnets. A little background notes and then some translation. And this is where I lost them and my headache came back. There was talking and texting and daydreaming. There were very few giving me or the sonnets any attention at all. We got through one translation before everything fell apart and I gave up. Luckily, I did make it to the last ten minutes of class and pretty soon the announcements were on. Not much time wasted. Now they have a homework assignment over the weekend. And I still have a headache.

Once again, I'm left with the question, what in the world do I have to do in order to get these kids to pay attention? They don't want to do the work in class and they don't want to do the work outside of class and sometimes I swear they don't want to be taught. So I'm sending home six Fs next week on the report card. Six Fs. Seniors. They need this class to graduate. I think I care more than they do.

Two days down, three to go

11:30 a.m. will mark the middle of the first week back after Christmas break. And since my teacher cadets are going out into the field for research, my day will technically be over. You can color me excited.

This week has been better than I expected, and just as hard as I expected. I am immersed in Shakespeare and Elizabethan England. Lovely, ain't it? The ninth graders are starting Romeo and Juliet and the seniors are starting the English Renaissance in order to move into Macbeth. The lessons have gone well, but every spare second has been spent trying to decide where to go next.

Romeo and Juliet has been my challenge. I haven't taught the play in eight years and I didn't know ANYTHING eight years ago. I thought you taught things like Shakespeare because it was what was taught to you. I thought kids HAD to read Shakespeare, like it was law or something.

The truth is, it's not. There is no law that kids have to read Shakespeare. However, they do need to learn how to struggle with a text and come out the other side successfully. And that is was we are going to do. That is what is feeding my plans for this play. I need for my students to experience the Prologue in it's original language. I need for them to study the balcony scene and recognize it's beauty. I may even want them to study the death scene and understand the conclusion. Other than that, what do they really need? There's a lot to R&J that is extraneous and causes excess pain. So, we'll read certain sections and then study other texts that represent the universal theme of the play. They will have their Shakespearean experience. They will deal with a difficult text and be successful.

I hope.

That's the plan anyway.

The end of books?

I adore Jenn Lancaster! She is one of my favorite authors and really turned me on to memoirs. I used to hate reading true life--even though I adore trashy reality TV shows and really like it with Law & Order is "ripped from the headlines." But memoirs were never my cup of tea until I read Jenn Lancaster's Such a Pretty Fat. Now I follow her blog fairly regularly and keep up with her antics online while I wait for a new memoir. Today, she posted a link to this. And it got me thinking.

I don't have a Kindle. Nor have I looked at a Nook. For starters, I try to stay away from technology in it's first generation. There will be bigger and better versions soon to follow. But more importantly, I love books. I love the crack of the spine. I love that my shelves are bulging, both here and at school. But the Kindle might have some merit for me, if Jenn is telling the truth.

See, about two days ago, I finished every book that I brought home for the break, plus one that I bought at B&N. So I'm in a lull. I haven't picked up anything new. I sometimes go through these commitment issues. I just finished the House of Night series and I'm anxiously awaiting the newest installment. None of my fave authors have anything new out. So I'm in a rut. According to Jenn, this wouldn't happen with the Kindle. There would be another book at my fingertips, some of them free, and I would be a happy reader once again.

Some may think that the Kindle signifies the end of reading as we know it. I'm not buying into this. There are enough of us that still have to have that paper/hardback feeling at our fingertips. But the Kindle might be a little bit more convenient. It surely would stop all that fussing that my kids do when they get their 30 pound textbook at the beginning of the year. And if all of their textbooks fit in one place, they might actually bring them to class everyday.

Imagine that? Students WITH books EVERY day. That doesn't sound too bad to me at all.

It's a New Year! Time for a New You!

I've spent a lot of time on the couch this break and it has been wonderful! I believe that it will make me a better teacher and colleague in the coming weeks. I've seen a lot of weight loss commercials the last week or so. Since the new year is here, people are vowing to improve themselves. I'm vowing to improve myself, too.

I resolve to continue to perfect my pedagogy every day. I'm not going to stop trying new things until I find something that works.

I resolve to use my inside voice with my sweet little children. Even when they aren't being so sweet.

I resolve to remember my student's learning styles and personal interests when planning our units. Since I have 50 freshmen, that can be a little difficult. But I resolve to try.

I resolve to stop focusing on these tests so much and just focus on good teaching. If I am a good teacher, surely they will learn the reading skills they need in order to find success on standardized tests.

Finally, I resolve to be on time. Even early. Our school day begins at 7:40. That is SOOOOOO early. If I had thought this out, it is possible this would have been a deterrent to the field of education. 7:40 is really early. My new goal is to leave my house by 6:50 in order to have a few extra minutes to myself before the day starts.

That is easier said than done. If I know me, by the end of the month, I will already have been late at least twice and I will have yelled at least once. Each week. But I know that I will continue to work on my pedagogy. That is what I have set my sights on from the very beginning of the year. It isn't easy coming back into the classroom after three years in coaching. But reflective teaching is something I am committed to. It's a resolution that I can keep.