To the Secondary English Education Class of 2015: You know you who you are. ♥

            As this semester draws to a close and the light at the end of our academic tunnels grows more visible with each new day, I am left with a quiet and reflective heart. I know that the coming semester will bring with it many new experiences that we will all add to our personal and professional tool kits, and I know too that more good things are yet to come. However, with this understanding, there is also a sense of longing for what we have right now as students.

       

            There is something safe, reliable, and even comforting the routine-ness of stressing about that next exam, listening quietly to a familiar voice lecture over interesting topics, and sharing our own thoughts in the easy, supportive environments of our classrooms. I am eager to take on more responsibility, to continue to grow my knowledge as a future teacher, and take the next few uncertain steps into what has become my future—But (there is always a but somewhere isn’t there), I am also uneasy about giving up the safety and comfort of a classroom where I am allowed to make mistakes, a wonderful teacher who has guided me every step of the way throughout this journey, and a group of class mates who have become more like family than colleagues as together we have marched on from one learning experience to the next. The coming years will bring new relationships, new trials, and new responsibilities. What will I do without your motivation and support, your sense of humor, and your reassurance?

 

Sheila, your logical way of thinking about tasks has helped me to learn to stop and think before I get stressed out about a new task. Krystal, your sense of humor and spunky personality always cheer me up and get me motivated when I am feeling down or tired. Lucky, who I will never forget because you have the same name as my turkey and you love fried chicken, white undershirts, and smiles, you have taught me perseverance. Sarah, your kind spirit and willingness to help others have encouraged and inspired me to help others too. Erich, your funny quips and way of making difficult ideas seem reasonable and easy to understand has helped me understand many difficult concepts in our class.

              Stephanie, your excitement for learning is inspiring, and you always have great ideas to add in our discussions that help me feel more comfortable sharing too. Brian, you are one of the most interesting people I have ever met. You have traveled to so many different places and I have learned so much from your experiences! Thank you for sharing so much with us! Isabella, you are so soft spoken, but your heart and your strong mind are so explosive with new ideas and creative ways to reach students! You always encourage me inside and outside of class. Destinee, you are an example of a strong woman who has made balancing parenting and academic success an art. You are so dedicated to your family and allow them to inspire your work ethic and ability to stick to things even when it may be difficult.

 The Lindsies, your names are spelled almost as differently as your personalities, but you equally contribute so much the education and being part of this amazing team. Gaby, though you seem quiet, you can be very outspoken when prompted and you always have amazing ideas to bring to the table.  Austin, the nice guy: you care so much about others and your love of God and family shines through in everything you do.

 

Last but not least, Dr. M. Even though you wear more hats than anyone I have ever met, you have managed to make each one of us feel like your “#1” through every step of this journey. You are at the front of the crowd snapping pictures of us, telling us to “pose” for the perfect shot, on the side lines cheering for us as we struggle to make that last leap, in the ditches with us as we hunker down and give everything we’ve got to climb the hill and attack our next challenge, and you are the quite, reasonable voice in our heads that tells us what to do next and how to just breathe when we feel stressed out.

I know that the future holds many wonderful things for all of us, but I will miss each one of you greatly and hope that we can all stay connected in the future! This has been an amazing experience for me and I cannot wait for next semester! We are going to ROCK spring 2015!!!

Creating A Community Within Your School

We know the names of each of our students and can recognize their handwriting with little more than a glance. Our ears have become perfectly attuned to their 150 individual voices; often hidden within the thick vines of sound that echo though busy hallways and murmur softly within the confines of our classrooms. We know whose dog is a homework eater, whose parent’s work late, which students have jobs, are involved in sports or other extracurricular activities. We think we know their insecurities, their hopes, their dreams, and perhaps we often do.

 

 

Because we are teachers, we are called to care for our students in ways that reach beyond the classroom activities and agendas. It is so important to remember that we are teaching people and not just students. Are we preparing the whole person for life when they leave each afternoon, or are we simply preparing them to hammer through that next lesson on our plan books? In order to answer this question effectively, we have to consider more than just what happens in our classrooms.

I recently came across a journal article regarding secondary institutions as communities, rather than just educational facilities. In her article, “The High School as Community: Contextual Influences and Consequences for Students and Teachers,” Mary E. Driscoll discusses the components by which a high school community is constructed from as well as the outcomes that such an environment has shown to have on both students and teachers. She explains that while we often blame negative progress in school on poor facilities, lack of materials, and even low socio-economic environments, these factors do not have to dictate the outcome of student success. Instead:
 

“...good schools are not defined solely in terms of material resources, programs and facilities. The quality of students' social relations with teachers and, teachers' relations with other staff all contribute to an enhanced school environment.” Driscoll defines a school as a community when the school becomes, “…a social organization consisting of cooperative relations among adults who share a common purpose and where daily life for both adults and students is organized in ways which foster commitment among its members.” She lists two major components that are required in creation of this social community environment:

1.      “This school community will exhibit a system of values which are shared and commonly understood among the members of the organization.” In other words, the school staff and adult supporters, e.g., parents, “must share a commitment to community.”

 

2.      “Communal school organizations have a distinctive pattern of social relations that embody what Noddings (1988) has called an "ethic of caring." In part, this ethic is reflected in the esteem which teachers hold for one another-- the personal respect accorded to colleagues who share an important mission. Another central feature of this relational ethic among teachers is a personal interest in students that reaches beyond the narrow confines of classroom performance.”

 

Activities and structures that encourage these environments include collaborative learning and teaching among education staff, as well as educator participation in extracurricular activities that provide for information interactions with students, parents, and other staff members. These factors increase job satisfaction and encourage personal development. Driscoll states that, “In terms of consequences for students, various forms of social misbehavior (class cutting, absenteeism, and classroom disorder) were all less prevalent in schools with a communal organization. School dropout rates were also lower, students’ interest in schooling higher, and the gains in mathematics achievement from sophomore to senior year were greater.”

As a future educator, I will seek a school environment where cooperative learning and teaching is a fundamental part of the education plan, and am eager to find ways that I can directly become a participating member of this kind of a team. I will not be the teacher that is packed up and ready to escape the madness one minute after the bell strikes 3:10, and I hope that I can find a community in which I can feel supported in this philosophy as well.

I am so excited to provide informal, academically based activates that will encourage students to grow and socialize! Some of the ideas that I have considered introducing to my future school or volunteering to be a part of are: staring a book club, holding a poetry club, community service projects like reading to young children and creating mentoring relationships between older students and younger students, debate club, literacy workshops for parents and family of students in my high school community, and family night out. What ideas have you considered as part of your classroom or future classroom that will encourage a community environment for your students? Or, what have you observed in your own school communities that have worked well?

Source Link to Full Journal Article PDF: http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED302539

 

 

The Next Step: Breaking out of the Classroom

               I have grown more this semester than I have ever grown before, and I can see that same electric explosion of awareness humming increasingly louder in every one of my classmates! We are stronger, closer, and more capable of our roles as future teachers. We have begun to realize and accept that the fears and expectations we felt as we entered the College of Education will be answered with support, encouragement, and understanding. Those first tender leaves of knowledge, so carefully cultivated in the safety of our classrooms have felt the warm sunny rays of fellowship and withstood the frost of failure with each new experience; only to grow stronger and more deeply rooted in what we now understand to be our calling. The unknown is no longer something to fear: instead, it is something we eagerly welcome! It seems that with each class meeting and each new day working within our assigned schools, there are new breakthroughs and new understandings that we achieve and add to our growing tool kits of knowledge. For me, the most recent of these epiphanal experiences occurred at the 2014 Kansas Association for Teachers of English (KATE) Annual Conference that I attended with my Core III class at the direction of our professor.

                I think we all had different expectations of what this conference would be like, but I don’t think any of us expected what we actually experienced! Each of us arrived early Thursday morning, sleepy-eyed and timid. We squeezed in close together at the same breakfast table; making room for just one more classmate as new arrivals approached us looking for the supportive comfort of familiar faces. Only a small few chose to venture out to sit at other tables and brave the unknown; while the rest of us watched from our secluded table at the farthest corner of the room.

 

                The conference opened with a description of that day’s events and an address from our first keynote speaker, Dr. Howard Pitler. I was both entertained and enlightened by the information that Dr. Pitler presented on using technology in the classroom and beyond! Until that morning, I had not realized just how many technology based tools there are to use in my classroom that are both user friendly and very purposeful! I have since registered for a twitter account so that I could follow Dr. Pitler and stay up to date with his helpful ideas. I also have a feeling that his website, http://www.mcrel.org, will be one of my go-to sites for information and new ideas in the future!

                The first break-out session that I attended was so much fun! I joined “Icebreakers, Teambuilding, & Brainbreakes: Using Collaborative Play to Foster Positive Learning,” with local teacher, April Pameticky; where we participated in kinesthetic activities that require both team work and outside-of-the box thinking strategies! As a future teacher, I worry that I will not have enough space in my classroom to do all of the different kinds of collaborative lessons and activities that I would like to do. I am a big fan of Socratic circles for group discussion, horseshoe or half circle seating arrangements for better face to face discussion within a whole class activity, and other collaborative designs, but sometimes the traditional front facing seating arrangements are necessary. Using the “Make Some Room” management strategy as a trained behavior from the start can help students make these changes to their seating in a single minute or less; rather than spending 5 – 10 minutes of valuable class time to produce the desired outcome. I also found “The Big Wind Blows” get-to-know-you activity and the “Quiz Quiz Trade” activity useful and fun. If you are interested in checking these out, please comment on this blog post and I will be happy to share! J

                I also attended Eileen Wertzberger’s, “The Power of Discourse: Engaging Students by Activating their Voices.” I really enjoyed her commentary on the ways that we can engage our students in discussion and collaboration, but there were not enough hand-outs for everyone, and I was the last person to join the presentation. If any one of my classmates have a copy of the hand-outs and would be willing to repost here or otherwise get them to me, I would greatly appreciate it. Ms. Wertzberger was so personable, informative, and fun to listen to! I hope that we can stay in touch for sharing more of her fabulous ideas!

                It is hard to choose a favorite, but the last session of the day was certainly one of the most enlightening. “Facing the Joys and Perils of the First Year of teaching” round table discussion with Amber Carithers, Chris Sanabria, and Michael Thompson was so helpful and encouraging for me as a pre-student teacher! I felt so fortunate to share in their personal stories of struggle and success, as well as pose questions about what to expect from my own first year of teaching. Several of my classmates attended with me, and it was neat to also have the opportunity to engage with students from other colleges and a few first and second year teachers from Kansas as well! As we discussed the session amongst our class later on that afternoon, we decided that it would be a lot of fun to give back what we have received and volunteer for this if our professor would like to do the session again next year. J

                The last activity of the day was the after conference social that we were all invited to attend. Although I was unable to stay for the entire event, it was so nice to just sit with my peers and our professor to visit without a prompt to follow or schedule to worry about. I felt so much closer to each of them, and it was so good to know that I was a part of such an amazing group of people! I also met several new faces and spoke with two first year teachers that were in my class last year!

                I didn’t get a chance to attend any break-out sessions on Friday morning because I was busy participating in the 2014 KATE Community Poetry Project; where I and several other pre-student teachers from my class had the opportunity to watch teacher and poet, Taylor Mali work with our Poetry Project students in a private poetry workshop! We had been working with our students weekly for a couple of months in preparation for this workshop and this was the highlight of the whole project! It was so amazing to watch him work with those kids and bring so much out of them! I think the most significant lesson that I took away from this workshop was that instead of being afraid of what my students can’t do, we should remind them and ourselves of what they can do! These guys and gals rose to the challenge and blew me away with their poems as well as the bravery and strength that it took for them to perform in front of the crowd!

                After the workshop, I led my own break-out session entitled, “On Seeing: Teaching Students to Learn in Color within a World of Black and White.” This was not at all what I had expected it to be upon first agreeing to present. A couple of things that I didn’t know and am glad I learned:

1.       The “proposal” that I was asked to submit prior to the presentation was not just for KATE staff to examine for approval; it was what would be published as a summary in the schedule catalog! If I had known that, I would likely have written it much differently.

2.       I would NOT be lecturing on some formally written topic to a group of dry minded, judgmental, administrative, proprietors who were scouting the meat market of pre-education contestants for someone to fill their payroll sheet next year. That sounds absolutely terrible, and I want to apologize for ever thinking something like this about the wonderful, kind, and helpful people who chose to share their valuable time participating in my presentation and who taught me more about teaching than I had ever hoped to bring for presentation!

3.       Always model what you are preaching. I still believe that the idea that inspired this presentation was a good one. I wanted to protest standardization of learning and assessment and the one-size-fits-all attitude of our federal government. I wanted to encourage active participation with my students and to find new ways to build connections and desire to learn through thinking about familiar ideas and concepts with the out-of-the-box perspective that Annie Dillard wrote about so many years ago. What I did, was force my participants to sit through a fairly dry lecture and power point presentation that barely skimmed the surface of what I had in mind—And truth be told, I added the activity on writing with emoticons at the last minute after observing other presentations the day before. These observational opportunities helped me gain new perspective of who my audience would be and what would be most meaningful to them.

What I learned from this experience and what I will take with me into my future classroom is that it is not about making something perfect and pretty, it’s about telling the truth and creating an open line of communication that can lead to new learning. So much of the feedback and the thoughtful questions and comments posed in my break-out session were priceless opportunities for my own learning and growth. Many of those comments and questions were posed by my classmates who came to support me, and I will be forever grateful for the support and encouragement that I have received! In fact, because of these fabulous people and this conference, this whole experience has created a profound change in me. I have stopped worrying about all of the “steps” I would be taking in order to finish my certification and have started to realize how much I will miss my classmates: sharing their ideas, their fears and hopes, their struggles and successes. In some ways, I don’t want these experiences of learning to end. However, I hope that I can become a KATE member next year in order to continue these relationships and create new ones as well!

 

             Of course, the most exciting event was the Taylor Mali’s keynote address! I laughed so hard that my face hurt for the rest of the night! This man is an amazing inspirational speaker and a true genius with word play. What a way to end an amazing conference in celebration of teaching, communicating inspiration, and having fun with what we learn!

 

            Thinking back on this experience and the man other epiphanal moments of the last year, I realize that I am no longer the person that I once was upon entering my education program. In fact, I am not even the same person that I was at the end of last semester and neither are my classmates. This conference was not just a fun, informative event for me. It is one of many transitional experiences over the last year that has significantly changed me in a positive way, and all I can say in response is that I am truly thankful and blessed. Oh, and I can’t wait for the KATECon 2015!!!

GF # 1

Confessions of a Pre-student Teacher: “Day One” of Each Semester

Me Core 1: I am superwoman! -Bound to save the minds of America’s youth from illiteracy and bad fiction!   You are skeptical. I watch as you slouch, uninterested in your plastic pen at the back of the room. With squinting eyes, you steal darting glances as you decide how to eat me.   Core 2: I am now acutely aware of the responsibility that I owe to you, and I am intimidated.   You do not look impressed. You are quiet and never raise your hand. When you do, it’s always a hard question that I don’t know how to answer.   Core 3: I am learning! I am excited to see you every day and look forward to the new things that we will learn together.   You are inquisitive. You raise your hand more now and you smile and laugh with me as we talk about your reading experience.   I feel accepted, valid, and needed. You come to me as much or more than you do others when you need help and clarification. I am beginning to learn my role in your life as a student and as a person.   You sometimes ask for help with things that you should be able to do on your own. I am learning to support and encourage you (without giving you all of the answers). This is because I care. It is not because I do not care. You are important to me and I want to help you grow.   You are growing, and I am so proud of you! I knew you could do it and now you do too!

You Core 1: You are an imposter! You walk like a teacher and look like a teacher, but you speak like a student.   You are looking right at me, and I wonder if you are an administrator or maybe a social worker; we have so many. I try to read the name tag that is dangling from your shirt, but the print is too small.   Core 2: You fumble with words as you attempt to answer my questions and explain an assignment.   I am worried. School is hard enough for me, and now I am beginning to wonder if you know what you are doing.   Core 3: You are laughing and conversational. You eagerly listen to me describe how I felt about the reading assignment and freely respond to me.   I am interested. I know that you are learning but that you can help too. I am starting to enjoy working together on new things.   You are nice. Are you my friend or my teacher? Maybe you are too nice, but that’s okay because you are helping me learn and I’m actually having fun too. Maybe this year won’t be so bad after all.   Sometimes you are not as nice as I thought. I was beginning to think that you were on my side, but you are starting to seem like all of my other teachers. I’m not sure if this is okay or not. I’ll let you know.   I am doing it; all of it--And because of that, I am proud of me! I am growing!

Creating Meaningful Communication WIth Parents

With parent-teacher conferences in full swing this week, it is natural to be thinking about how effective our communication really is with the parents of our students. I am a parent of four children, ages 3 – 23. As my older children transitioned from elementary school into middle school, I found myself feeling left out in many ways. I was THE parent who helped to plan, fund, and participate in every holiday bash or class party, drove children or shared a bus on field trips, and stood on the sidelines of every field day with water and snacks. I was very accustomed to have a face-to-face relationship with my children’s teachers, and it was this open relationship that made me feel more comfortable about turning over my babies to another person for 8+ hours per day.

 

Needless to say that I was more than shocked when I was no longer needed or wanted to participate in many of the middle school and high school events that I had formerly been a part of in elementary school. I had been demoted. This transition can be difficult for many parents to deal with, and often results in a significant lack of parental involvement because they just aren’t sure where they fit into their child’s education any more. I think that is why it is even more important to maintain a consistent foundation for communication with parents in alternate ways.

 

“But WHAT works?”

I recently read an article written by Tom Whitby, entitled, “Home to School Connections: Educating Parents About Education.” Mr. Whitby is concerned that while best practices in the classroom are changing to meet the needs of 21^st century teachers and students; parent-teacher communication is not changing and parents are being left behind the cultural shift. He talks about the many new ideas that teachers are incorporating into their curriculum: such as how teachers can no longer be judged by the amount of homework assigned or that content expertise should no longer be a limitation on students education. Although I am not completely on board with the lack of homework issued in today’s classrooms, I do agree that many of the changes being implemented are very positive and if teachers could find more effective ways to include parents, there would be less opposition and more support for what we are attempting to accomplish.

 

Mr. Whitby also discusses several technology-based methods of communication that can help bridge the gap between hands on parent participation in the classroom and parent support from home. Apps like Remind, specialized webpages where parents can view grades and even uploaded student portfolios, as well as some social media sites can be very useful in creating a situation where parents feel like they can be involved and often.

 

One of the most important things that I plan to do in my classroom is to provide opportunities for communication with both students and parents outside of the classroom. This can be a time to discuss difficult concepts when individual attention is needed, update on make-up work and exams, and discuss problems and successes that occur with parents and students. One way that I plan to implement this is by staying after school for one hour on every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for unscheduled appointments. This wouldn’t take much of my personal time and if no one stops by, I can use this time to plan or return emails, and other housekeeping tasks that I would have to do anyway. 

 

Teacher Hub suggests the site, Snapschool.com. This site contains a link for a program called Upraised Learning, where parents have access to student information, parent resources, activities that parents can discuss and complete with their students, and have instant communication with educators. Although I believe this site does have a fee, I am curious of what free sites might be out there that are similar to this one. Any suggestions? How do you plan to communicate with your students and parents?

 

 

References:

Upraised Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.upraised.org

eachHUB | K-12 News, Lessons & Shared ResourcesBy Teachers, For Teachers. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.teachhub.com/

Whitby, T. (2001, September 17). Educating Parents About Education | Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/educating-parents-about-education-tom-whitby

 

Pepping up the Dreaded In-service Days: Creating Engaging and Meaningful Teacher In-service Workshops

                                   

 

Our district recently held one of several teacher in-service days; intended to promote better teaching, provide educators and staff with support regarding state and district requirements for students and teachers, as well as to increase awareness of the most up-to-date teaching methods and classroom procedures. In theory, this sounds like a brilliant idea. When I think about the many ways that this allotted time could be valuable beyond measure, I have to ask why any good teacher wouldn’t want to participate. However, the unfortunate truth, at least from what I have experienced within my district, is that the majority of teachers and staff find these required gatherings less than adequate and certainly not pleasurable. The most significant impact of these meetings is certainly observable over the days following an in-service, as the events are retold by frustrated teacher. Those staff lounge water coolers inevitably get an earful from just about every unhappy participant.

1.      The in-services are not applicable to the audience. This is due to one of two reasons:

·         The presentation is geared to the wrong grade range, i.e. presenting strategies that would work well in a middle school to high school teachers.

·         The information presented is not current with today’s changing classrooms or simply does not address the problems that teachers at a particular school are experiencing.

     2.      The teachers feel as though they are treated like children instead of mutually the invested  educators that they are.

Just as our classroom lessons should be designed specifically with our students’ needs in mind, the in-services that we attend should also focus on our local issues, questions, and interests as educators. This blog is not about bashing any particular school district for a poorly designed in-service, so I it is irrelevant why teachers in my district are unhappy with this activity. Instead, what I would like to know is how these meetings can be made more meaningful and engaging in the future. What other districts are pulling it off and how are they doing this? As educators and staff, what information would best help you?

In larger districts like my own, I think that introducing the work-shop experience into the in-services could be a great way for teachers to interact interdepartmentally as well as with teachers from other schools. If we focused more on being a community with a single goal in mind and are given the opportunity to participate in planning the in-services, more teachers and staff members would appreciate and even eagerly participate this ritual as an important part of teacher education.

                In their article, Characteristics of Success in High School In-service Education, William Patton and Leo Anglin describe experiences from several different high schools who participated in a study on ways to improve the in-service experience. One such school created a central theme in which to guide the in-services. “Nothing will be done to you—only with you,” became the foundation of both the planning processes and the in-service sessions. According to Patton and Anglin, teachers were encouraged to participate directly alongside university personnel in the formal planning sessions. The purpose of this collaboration was to create accountability among those in charge of planning and encourage educator/personnel partnerships. This project was based on a model developed by John Elliott, a British educator, in 1976. The major features of the approach were:

1.      Focusing on practical problems defined by the teachers

2.      Developing collaborative relations between teachers and outsiders

            As a pre-student teacher, I am very comfortable with collaborative working environments and actually enjoy having that interaction. Of course, not very person that I work with is a perfect personality match, but when our focus is on our students and not on each other, we are able to put our differences aside and create something better than either one of us could have thought up on our own. So, when I consider the inadequacy of my local in-service sessions, I have to ask how we have missed an idea that is more than 30 years old, and what we can do about it. Please comment with any suggestions, ideas, or thoughts on your own local in-services. I’d like to know what makes them work or what you think would make them work better.

To view Patton and Anglin’s journal article, please click on the following link:

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/40365055?uid=3739672&uid=2134&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21104590915127

 

 

 

Making That First Day a Success!

Rebecca Alber has some great ideas for turning what could be an end-of-summer-bummer into a transition experience that will start your school year off the right way. While I do think rehearsal is key to giving any presentation, the tip I plan to use the most is #3: "Over Plan the Lesson." It just makes sense. You are going to have to plan the next lesson anyway, so why not get a head start and be prepared if you need to fill some time at the end of the hour. The students will appreciate that they are not just doing "busy work" and that you really have their best interests at heart. You will also appreciate knowing that you won't have to scramble to put something together that may be meaningless and distracting simply to fill the time before the bell rings.

Ideally, I would like to have entire units prepared in advance; that can be tweaked and molded as needed. This way, if one lesson is shorter than expected, I can keep my students going and get ahead of schedule. By staying ahead, you will have more flexibility to cope with school assemblies, fire drills, and other unexpected events that will take up class time. Having multiple lessons planned in advance is also a good idea in order to stay prepared for an emergency absence. It may even help behavior during the time that you are away because students will understand that it is still business as usual even with a substitute. However, with that said, I would probably still have an alternate supportive learning lesson available for substitutes that do not have a background in my subject matter. Ideas for this in and English classroom might be: re-teaching on how to investigate text; format and write an MLA style paper; cite sources on the web or from a written text; specific grammar related activities with easy to understand, detailed instructions for the teacher; etc.

Work Cited: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/back-to-school-preparing-first-day-rebecca-alber