Keeping Many Balls in the Air

If there is one thing that I have to do every day, it is keep multiple balls in the air without letting a myriad of people down.  We talk about the many hats that teachers wear--teacher, planner, data keeper, mentor, friend, counselor, mediator.  In addition to those classroom teacher hats, I am....

• a coach
• a data cruncher on a large scale
• a strategy suggestor
• a professional development leader
• a reflective practitioner
• an event planner
• the student government sponsor
• a color guard instructor...a choreographer...the punisher...a dreamer

And sometimes all these hats have to be worn at once.  Just this past week, my high school celebrated Homecoming, which the student government association is over.  There are dress up days, a pep rally, a senior parade, Homecoming King, dealing with the 24 female members of the Homecoming court, counting ballots, and crowning a queen.  Yesterday marked the day of the first band contest for one of the groups that I work with.  We participated in a festival, so we were able to march twice.  Great for growth, but hard on the weary soul.  And last week also was a week of preparation for a visit from the federal education department to monitor our growth under the School Improvement Grant.  Talk about pressure from all sides!

The most important thing for me to learn and remember as an instructional coach is to rely on others.  As a true Virgo, I struggle to ask for help from others.  I am a firm believer in the "if you want things done right" adage.  But sometimes you can't do everything.  You have to be willing to reach out.  I am lucky to work with two other instructional coaches who willingly recognized my need for help and stepped in without pause.  Of course I carry guilt for having anyone else take over my duties, but sometimes things are necessary.  Asking for help is necessary.  Accepting that help is even more important.

If there is one thing I have learned that is that if I don't ask for help, then the many balls that I am keeping in the air (very precariously) will come crashing down around me.

And that would not be acceptable.  After all, I am a true Virgo and that means a perfectionist.

Rambling Autobiography--A Writing Strategy

We all start the year with community building activities, but getting some diagnostic information on our students is always key.  This year, I started with the Rambling Autobiography writing strategy that I stole from a fellow teacher.

1--Start with a read aloud.  Most good days do, and you'll find that even big bad high schoolers love being read to, even though they don't always want to admit it.  I started my lesson with Incredible Me! by Kathi Applet.  It tied in perfectly to what I was trying to lead my student to think about.

2--Use a mentor text.  In this case, the strategy came with a writing sample from Linda Rief.  I put the sample on the smart board, read it out loud, and asked them what they noticed.  We talked about why it is labeled as a rambling autobiography and what they notice about the writer's structure.

3--Give them time to write and write with them.  It is so important for students to see their teachers as writers.  I gave students 4 minutes on the desktop timer (which I downloaded this morning after a simple Google search), and then I sat down with my writer's notebook.  We all wrote, using Rief's piece as a model.

4--Give them time to share.  This was structured two different ways in my two very different classes.  Honors students will typically share out loud, while other students may be self-conscious about what they wrote.  For those students, they simply traded papers after their first draft.  I, of course, willingly shared my own writing.  It is always good to let yourself be judged.

5--Revisit and rewrite.  Students went back through their first drafts to look for recurring themes or sentences that they felt were strong or interesting.  After underlining one or more sentences, students chose one of those to be their starting point for their next burst of writing, which lasted for six minutes.

6--Give feedback.  After writing two times, students traded papers with a neighbor.  Neighbors read through the second burst and gave one plus and one wish for the piece.  Students traded again, repeated the process, and then returned the paper back to the original owner.

As a class, we will take these short autobiographies and turn them into final drafts.  We will talk about final draft expectations and develop a rubric together.  Students will have time to write and I will have a solid writing sample to start the year with!

A New Year, A New Me!

Since the new school year is here, I'm starting with some simple resolutions to be a better person, both professionally and personally.  It is the start of my 13th year and I am determined to make this one the best yet! 

Here is my hodge podge of new school year resolutions:
1) Blog more.  This has the potential to be a great resource, if I can carve out time to use it.  And since it is professional writing, then what better time to blog than during my coaching time? 

2) More classroom observations.  One of the most powerful tools an instructional coach has is constructive feedback.  But that involves getting in to classrooms as often as possible.  Getting in classrooms will help me build a rapport with both teachers and students, that which is so very important in giving appropriate feedback.

3) Less soda, more water.  This one is personal, but feeling good is going to help me professionally.  Notice I didn't say no soda, just less.  By improving my diet, I'll be able to push hard for the entire day, instead of falling short of where I need to be.

4)  Be more organized.  I have gotten off to a great start by being ready for my students before they walked through the door today.  It took three hours on a Saturday, but I will reap the rewards all year long by getting the year off to a good start.

So I'm well on track to meet my goals for the new school year.  I love starting fresh and starting over--we all need new chances.

Say yes!

I had the opportunity to listen to my sister preach at her church this past Sunday.  She has her Masters of Divinity and is currently looking for a full-time pulpit.  As an intern at a local Presbyterian church, she is granted to opportunity to preach every so often.  This past Sunday was one of those occasions and she preached on the philosophy of saying yes and figuring things out later.

I was with her when she first heard this philosophy of "say yes."  We sat in on a panel discussion of children's books authors that included Kwame Alexander.  Kwame shared his personal philosophy--say yes.  

The sermon this past Sunday got me thinking about the opportunities that have come into my life because I was willing to say yes.

Let me preface this by saying, I am not a say yes type of person.  I like to think through all decisions.  I like to imagine what the end will look like.  I like to try to predict all the pitfalls that might get in my way.  I am very thorough and very pragmatic, but every once in a while, I find myself saying yes.

At the end of my fifth year in the classroom, my assistant superintendent called to request my resume for the literacy coach opening at my high school.  I knew that the job had been posted, but I wasn't interested in leaving the classroom.  However, when your assistant superintendent calls, you say yes.  The job was mine and it led to 24 graduate hours in literacy and learning, some of the closest friendships in my adult life, and a new outlook on educational practices.  Because I said yes, I was able to move into a higher pay bracket, present at NCTE in New York City, attend a literacy symposium in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and open the eyes of my colleagues to the importance of reading in all content areas.

A little over two years ago, a colleague sent me the nomination form for the CERRA Advisory Board.  I said yes (on a whim) and was elected to a three year term on the board.  Again, I have been able to build professional relationships that will continue to benefit me in my career.  

And last summer was an even bigger yes.  The literacy coach position once again came open at my high school.  These grant funded positions come and go.  I was prepared to say no.  I had a great teaching schedule.  I adored my classes.  I knew that becoming a coach would change my teaching schedule drastically and I would lose two classes that I really enjoyed.  I went to the interview with my principal with a no on my lips.  However, a yes came out.  I went through a lot of training in order to help teachers improve their practices.  It would be wasteful to sit in a classroom and not share that knowledge.  So I, once again, said yes.  

I am moving into my second year as a part time teacher, part time literacy coach.  I know that the grant that funds my job has two more years.  I can't help but wonder where I'll end up next and what opportunity will be thrust at me.  I can only hope that I will have the guts to say yes.

The Role of a Blog in a Teacher's Life

Subtitle: What freedom of speech?

I saw a story on the news this morning about a teacher recently fired who was filing suit against her district for wrongful termination. Her claim? She was being fired for voicing her opinion on her personal blog, what she calls her "diary." She voiced unflattering opinions about her students, and claims that those opinions led to her termination, which in turn violates her freedom of speech.

What freedom of speech?

This teacher (I am so tempted to use quotation marks around the word) criticized her students on an internet forum. She referred to them as "disengaged, lazy whiners" and "frightfully dim." Another post, quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle stated, "They are rude, disengaged, lazy whiners. They curse, discuss drugs, talk back, argue for grades, complain about everything, fancy themselves entitled to whatever they desire, and are just generally annoying."  While she did not identify herself using her surname, nor did she use the names of the school, the district, or even the students, "Natalie M." identified herself with a picture on her blog.  Yet she expects privacy.  Can I say again, she identified herself with a picture on her blog.

So the question is this: What rights do teachers have?

First of all, I firmly believe that this teacher crossed the line.  If your students are disengaged, I believe it is time for you to examine your own pedagogy.  If they are "frightfully dim," then what are you doing to close the gap between where you want them to be and where they are when they enter your room in August?  Obviously if students are talking back, cursing, and discussing inappropriate topics in your classroom, then YOU THE TEACHER NEED TO EXAMINE YOUR OWN CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT.  

What rights do teachers have to vent?  We do have the right to vent.  We vent to spouses, to a journal (of the paper and pencil kind), even to other colleagues and supervisors behind the sanctity of closed doors.  We pound it out on the treadmill.  We take yoga classes.  We frequent happy hours.  We do have these rights.  

And while we may have the right to blog out our frustrations, it is inappropriate to take to the internet to criticize the children we teach.  It is inappropriate to publicly vilify the parents raising these children, whether we feel they are doing a good job or not.  If I called a parent and said some of these things about his/her child, I would fully expect to be reprimanded, transferred, or all out let go.  If it isn't appropriate to say it to the parent's face, then it is inappropriate to broadcast over the internet.  Because, you see, Natalie M., the internet never goes away.  It is there forever.  In my heart of hearts, I know that what goes on my blog needs to pass the same test I give my students: I need to be able to say it to my MeMaw.  I would not call my students "rat-like" to MeMaw.  She would be disappointed in me.

Summer Shutdown

Summer Shutdown.  Those words are the subject of an email I just received about shutting down and storing computers over the summer.  Summer shutdown, however, is starting to mean something else as we enter the last six days of the school year.

Students are definitely shutting down.  When the come to the high school as freshmen, they aren't ready for the extreme change in mentality that happens between 8th and 9th grades.  The last two weeks of school aren't free days anymore.  Just because you have already taken your state-mandated exam does not mean that learning is over.  Just because you planned vacation for those last few days does not mean we are necessarily just going to let you ride off into that good night and not look back.  We are still getting down to business.

But we are shutting down, too.  It is harder to get up in the mornings.  It is harder to be so dilligent while you are sitting there working hard on your little final project.  It is so much harder to be patient. 

Summer shutdown has set in, but the year is not over.  These are the days when we have to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps and march forward...even if we are trudging ever so slightly.  And dragging the lackluster student body behind us...