A Disappointing Irony

While I was at school today to get a jump on mountains of work, I saw some of my favorite people (my fellow teachers) and we were discussing the "changes" in store for us this year.  (It's a running joke in the teaching profession....don't like the way we are doing this now?  don't worry-they'll make us do something new next week).

Then tonight, I was browsing some of my favorite teacher blogs and came across an awesome video by Alan November.  (He's awesome!)  It was inspiring and really got me thinking about the new school year, the endless possibilities and all I want to do to help my students be self-directed, life-long learners who collaborate, question, and search for answers.   They have a natural wonder and drive to learn....they don't have to be told to do so.   How ironic that teachers strive to prepare students to be life-long learners and collaborators that are well-prepared for the 21st century workplace and are in turn told what to teach, how to teach, how many minutes to teach it, in what style to teach it.....what "program" to follow-and that the program that costs lots and lots of money must be followed to "fidelity."   Where is the room for teacher choice, student directed learning, collaboration with colleagues, questioning, searching for answers?   Instead of spending time collaborating with teachers about student learning and literature and projects, we spend our time learning a new math program, meeting about a new core map, discussing a new standardized assessment.   If teachers were allowed to be the 21st century thinkers that we strive to help our students become, the world would be a better and much different place.  I understand that there need to be requirements and goals to be accomplished in each grade and I understand that there are "struggling" teachers, just as there are struggling students.  Why not meet with these struggling teachers in small groups....help them to develop.....instead of pouring millions of dollars into a "prescribed one-size-fits-all program" that ironically dumbs-down great teachers.    Let us be the productive, self-directed learners we help our students become!

Goodbye Summer....Hello School Year!

Sadly, the sweet, lazy days of summer are quickly coming to an end.  I love my children and my family and we have had so much fun....beach fun, pools, lake fun, skating, movies, shopping, playing, reading, camps, anniversaries, birthdays and hanging out with friends and family.....ahhhhh, the time and freedom the summer allows us is such a blessing.  I have the best of both worlds.  I get to be a stay-at-home mom in the summer and all of the school holiday breaks and I get to do the work that I love the rest of the year.  Teaching is truly a passion and honestly, I spend a large part of the summer reading and working on "teacherly" things that I don't seem to get to during the year.  You know you love your job when you work on it during your free time.  

Yesterday was our summer registration at school.  It is always so much fun to see all of the familiar faces I know and love.  The excitement is in the air for all of the hopes and dreams for a new school year.   As teachers we are truly given the gift of a brain break each summer and a chance to start new and fresh each year.  The next few weeks will be exciting and exhausting, but energizing all at once.  It's hard to explain but the hardest and most anticipated part of the year is fast approaching.  And although I mourn the end of lots and lots of time with my family (and the time to keep my house cleaned up) I can't help but look forward to and dream of the fun year of teaching and learning ahead.  

I was fortunate to meet some of my new students yesterday and have some that I already know.   They are all precious and I can't wait to spend a year of learning with them!

Readicide

Readicide:   Kelly Gallagher has defined this as the systematic killing of the love of reading, often exacerbated by the inane, mind numbing practices found in schools.

I finally have marked enough things off of my "to-do" list that I felt that I could devote an afternoon to a book that I have wanted to read for a while.  I am half way through the book and have shouted "Amen" several times, jotted down ideas to take back to school in August and my mind is racing with ways to stop this movement....to kill the love of reading.

This book has me reflecting on my own reading life.  I loved books as a child.  I had a mother that read to me, an amazing kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Abernathy, that read aloud to us throughout the day and talked to us about books.  During nap time, she would read us stories of Brer Rabbit, Brer Fox and friends and do all of the voices.  I can still remember laying on my peach beach towel and hanging on every word.    This continued through the next several years and then was lost.  I remember "the middle years" filled with the awful chore of reading a book and doing a book report or a project.  Then, a wonderful teacher in Chesapeake, Virginia, Mrs. Woolery,  turned me back onto the magic of reading in the 10th grade.   Each night we read assigned portions of novels and the next day we discussed them in class.  We all got to share our "take" on what we had read and no idea was judged or rejected.  It was an awesome escape from being told what to think....and I remember enjoying reading each night and looking forward to that class daily.  From that day on, I continued to read for enjoyment and now can't ever find enough time to read all the books that I would love to read.

My own experience reflects some of how teachers unintentionally kill a child's love of reading.  As adults, we read and think and then love to discuss these thoughts with others who have read the same book.  Just recently I was with a group of my girlfriends, going to see Eclipse.  In the car, we were having the all too familiar Jacob vs. Edward discussion and were giving our reasons by siting the text and things that occurred to draw us to one side or the other.   As one person supported their thought, another would chime in and say...."see I totally didn't get that from that part, I thought..."  And, my teacher brain kicked in and I thought, this is what kids need.  I dare say we would have all enjoyed presenting a shadow box or poster accompanied by a written report, but we loved analyzing, supporting and sharing our thoughts.  We have to remember this as teachers and give students lots of interesting books, magazines, articles, etc. to read and then give them authentic ways to share their thinking and their experiences with the text.

I can't wait to read more of this book and revise my teaching practices to help to nurture a child's love for reading and not squash it.  The book shares lots of ways to stop the movement and turn it around.  I'll be sharing more!

Happy 4th of July!

We have so much to be grateful for....and celebrating the 4th of July at the lake with family, friends, food, boating and fireworks is one of them!  The kids had a great time and we enjoyed relaxing and having fun!  Thank you to all of the men and women who give their lives to protect our freedom! Happy Independence Day!

appreciating the struggle

Through no choice of my own, the theme of my summer has become 'appreciating the struggle.'  I first became aware of this concept listening to Peter Brunn discuss allowing students to struggle with a concept so that they are able to construct their own understanding.  This was a light bulb moment for me...I've always viewed struggle as a negative.  Seriously....who wants to struggle?   But it is so true.  Things we are told, we may remember and we may apply them to our lives in some way, but it's the things we struggle with that change us and help us to grow.   As the summer has gone on, this theme of struggle and growth has also popped up in discussions with close friends who are going through divorce and infertility.  Both of these issues breed struggle....but I am fortunate enough to also witness growth in both of these beautiful friends and it is inspiring.  I am currently reading the book, Plan B and am involved in a book study at church.  This concept of struggle was part of our discussion on sustaining faith.  I think God sometimes allows us to struggle so that we learn to lean on Him, grow closer to Him and realize what really matters in this world.  What an important lesson.  Our sunday school lesson yesterday also addressed this concept with Job.  Wow...he struggled!  But he never lost his faith and was rewarded for it.

All of these discussions and thoughts have lead me to reflect on my personal struggles....there are a few. :)   Adoption is a blessing, but also a huge struggle.  Especially when you are adopting a seven year old little girl who loves and misses her birth mom.  She knows nothing about the situations which lead to her mom losing custody (that will all be for a much older, sweet girl to understand) and she naturally loves her.  She loves us too and she is so happy.  We want her to love her mom.  But, for me, this has been a struggle.  I have had to control myself and have learned things about myself and have grown (and hopefully will continue to do so) through this internal struggle I have with her feelings for her mom.  I can't explain it.  It's irrational.  I know she loves her....I want her to love her....I care about birth mom too.  But sometimes I am done with it.  I want her to be out of the picture.  I want us to have our family and that's it....be "normal."  But, I whine to my mom and my husband here and there and keep this to myself.  It is getting easier.  This is the life God has chosen for us, this is the way it is.  No one person belongs to another....we all belong to God.  I have to continue to pray, hand it over to God and remember that I am doing what He wants me to do and enjoy each day and each blessing for what it is and not what I wish it was or what I had planned it to be.  God knows so much better than I do.   And, I do give him thanks and praise for all of that I am blessed with, for His love and for the miracles he gives us daily.  Struggle=growth!

MidSouth Reading and Writing Conference

For the last 8 summers I have had the great pleasure of attending this conference.  Once again, I was not disappointed.  Richard Allington was the keynote speaker on Friday and spoke quite plainly about the things that need to be changed when working with struggling readers.  He pointed out that children have not changed, we have.  Instead of finding a way to help these children, many now label them and define them with titles like ADD, LD, etc.  Although these are real issues, the labels have been overused and often assigned to children who did not deserve them.  We have to stop making excuses and do whatever a child needs to help them progress.


Saturday was a another great day of learning and thinking lead by Peter Brunn. He spoke about the intentions teachers have to keep in mind while fostering thinking.  Many times we praise and judge student responses during discussions and in turn squash the chances of other students sharing their thoughts because they are afraid they are not going to share what "we" are looking for.  We simply need to say "thank you" and leave students feeling validated and others feeling safe to share a thought that may differ from a fellow students.  I do this!  I'm a thought squasher and I didn't realize it!  ugh... It was unintentionally, but I do this!  My thinking is not the only thought on any book or poem.  I left Saturday a changed teacher.  This year, I will strive to plan lessons and discussions that foster questioning and thinking in an environment where all students feel safe to share their thoughts, support their ideas and share ideas that may be different from their peers.  I can't wait to finish reading Peter Brunn's book The Lesson Planning Handbook.  It is great!

add another to the list

Another shortcoming....I have been a bad blogger!  My mom and one of my sweet friends teases me about it and I mean to get back to it, but the more time that passes-the bigger the task of catching up appears.  So, I revamped it and I am going to do better!  I think one reason it was hard was because in the beginning I set it up to share our adoption journey.  Then, we got our sweet girl and had so many things to celebrate-but many struggles as well.  It was hard to blog about the hard parts.  I didn't want to disclose too much info with her mom's rights not yet terminated and I didn't want to discourage others who were lead to adopt through foster care and I didn't want to whine.  After all, I had been asking friends and family to pray about this for us for months and months.  How was I to "complain" now?  Well, I will share snapshots of our journey here and there, but I opened up the blog subject to include all parts of our life....family, teaching, faith, friends...life in general!  Life is full of lessons....they keep coming each day!

Adoption update for those that don't know....birth mom's rights were terminated in February and we now wait for the judge to bang the gavel to finalize the adoption.  It's only a matter of time now!  We are overjoyed!