Terrible Blogger & New Beginnings

So, it goes without saying that the year got away from me.  My last posts were over three months ago, and they were pretty sporadic before that.  But, well, the year was busy, and I admit to dropping the ball with some things - like this blog - in order to leave asap after school to get home to my sweet daughter and just be a mama.

I apologize, because I know there is at least one avid reader out there.  Right?

Anywho, my time here has come to an end.  As of this Friday, I'll be hanging up my Curriculum Coordinator hat and starting a new journey as a part-time reading teacher.  I've honestly enjoyed my run as CC, but truth is, I miss working with the students on a daily basis, and I also want to spend more time being a mom and a wife.

I am SO grateful to have had the last three years to learn and grow and become inspired by the teachers at Moore, and I am also SO excited about what's to come.

I'll be stepping away from this little corner of the internet indefinitely as I embark on my new journey.  Though my attempts at posting have been lackluster, I have always enjoyed documenting some of my CC adventures here.

For now, it's time to turn off alarm clocks and step away from the SmartBoards - HAPPY SUMMER!

It's Magic

This morning, at our staff meeting, we covered the basics.  Teachers were given reminders, more things to add to their to-do lists.  Questions were asked.  And then the magic happened.

Each table had to brainstorm what they love about Moore Elementary School.  And then we shared our thoughts...

Of course there were practical things on the list - like technology, the elevator, and having a building without mold.

But the resounding answer was that we are a family.

And it's true.  I know many, many people who have worked at other schools and swear that Moore is different.  We have a different passion, a different, feel, a different energy.

An energy I felt the day I walked in for an interview eight years ago.

It's magic, y'all.

And though the days and weeks are long, some day we'll all look back and feel like the years were too short.  But hopefully we'll all look back and remember how it felt to be part of this family, OUR family.

Alphabet Soup

Anyone in education knows we live in a world of buzzwords and acronyms.  Walk into any meeting in an elementary school, and it's like witnessing an episode of Sesame Street highlighting alphabet soup.  Unless you live and breathe in our world, it often sounds like we're speaking a foreign language.

Some of those acronyms are short-lived... and some stick around for awhile and reshape our world as we know it.

Like PLCs and CFAs.

Professional  Learning Communities (PLCs) were the "new thing" back when I was still in the classroom.  Our reaction?  "Sure, okay, we'll try it, but this will probably just be a trend and disappear eventually."

And then I started graduate school, with a whole class focused on PLCs.  I learned so much... mostly that PLCs just MAKE SENSE.  And if you think about it - and learn about it - they're COMMON SENSE.  And I jumped right on the bandwagon.  A bandwagon that quickly parked to let us all know it was here to stay.

We no longer live in a world of "MY classroom" or "MY students."  It's about "OUR students."  It's about taking ownership of not only all of the students in your grade level... but all of the students in the entire school.  In order for that to work, we must collaborate, discuss, share, and believe in each other and what we can do for our kids.  And that happens in a PLC.  I've seen it happen, and have the opportunity to witness it each week in our building.

As our PLCs have grown, we've finally gotten comfortable with Common Formative Assessments (CFAs) which also just MAKE SENSE.  How can we improve our teaching, our methodology, without knowing how are students are progressing?  Marrying the arts of assessing and collaborating is key in creating a school environment in which we care about every kid in the hallway.  A school environment in which teachers make themselves vulnerable to each other in order to grow.  A school environment in which we, the adults, are continuous learners.  A school environment in which it becomes less about the buzzword, and more about making magic happen with our instruction.

I am SO proud of our teachers and their willingness to jump on this bandwagon with me, to learn the art of CFAs, to find the beauty in an effective PLC.

Because at the end of the day, all acronyms aside, these kids depend on us.  And if we're asking them to learn and grow, we should do the same.

The Common Core Ate My Baby!

Growing up, I always loved a good urban legend.  Particularly the scary kind that made butterflies flop around in my stomach.  One I will always remember has to do with driving over a bridge in my hometown... We spent many afternoons testing that myth!  Now, being much older and wiser, I'm a little more keen on when a myth is just that - a myth.

In the world of education, with new things coming and going before we even find firm footing, we're used to the, "Well I heard this is going to happen..."  or "Well I heard THIS is coming!"  What I think all educators will agree on is that the only thing that stays the same is things keep changing.

One big change we've been working with this year is the adoption of the new Common Core Standards, standards that are dominating classrooms across the country.  This change has brought hours of extra work, sleepless nights, and, you guessed it, urban legends.

In their December 2012/January 2013 issue, Educational Leadership put out an article titled The Common Core Ate My Baby and Other Urban Legends.  You can find the article here:

http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/dec12/vol70/num04/The-Common-Core-Ate-My-Baby-and-Other-Urban-Legends.aspx

In case you don't have time to read the full article, here are some of the urban legends surrounding the CCES that are addressed...

1.  The new standards prohibit teachers from setting purposes for reading or discussing prior knowledge.

• TRUTH:  There is no ban on pre-reading; however, the new standards require students to read more challenging texts and engage in close reading lessons, in which REREADING is a hallmark.  Let students give the text a try without over-preparing them.  All too often the preparation to read a story is far more extended than the story itself.  Let the students try to interpret the author's message on their own.  Pre-reading preparation should be brief and focus on providing students with tools to make sense of the text on their own.

2.  Teachers are no longer required to teach phonological awareness, phonics, or fluency.

• TRUTH:  Anyone who looks through the CCES will see the section titled Reading:  Foundational Skills.  The CCES start with reading comprehension and end with foundations.

3.  English teachers can no longer teach literature in literature classes.

• TRUTH:  The standards suggest that 70% of older students' reading should focus on nonliterary texts, but that refers to ALL school reading (in all subject areas).  Students will need to spend more time reading informational texts, but that includes science and social studies classes.

4.  Teachers must teach students at frustration levels.

• TRUTH:  Students should have an array of reading experiences in the same way that a long-distance runner has a varied training schedule that mixes different distances and speeds.  Such varied schedules enable a runner to build muscle, speed, and endurance - three key skills of reading, too!

5.  Most schools are already teaching to the new standards.

• TRUTH:  We STILL have to make significant changes to our practices.  We've only just begun to realize the rigor of the CCES, and it's going to take time and hard work to meet the demands of the new standards.

*According to the article, about 70% of students meet their state's standards and enter higher education.  BUT more than 40% of these "successful" students require remediation when they get to college, and most of them fail to graduate.  We have GOT to prepare our students to be college- and career-ready, and that begins with upping our rigor... starting in Kindergarten!

And for what it's worth, the Common Core did NOT eat my baby.  Just sayin'.

Rock On!

When I took the job as Curriculum Coordinator and completed my Master's program in School Administration, I promised myself I would NEVER forget what it's like to be a teacher.

To be on the frontlines of education... where the magic happens, where the kid remembers you for the rest of his life, where you see light bulbs go off after hours of teaching...

Where you work harder than anyone else in the professional world.

I think sometimes those of us out of the classroom can easily forget what it's like to be on the battlegrounds, and I don't ever want to let my memories become too hazy.  I want to always be able to understand and relate to the second most important people in the school (sorry, teachers - the kids came in first!).

So, during a time of year when we're all running out of steam, and patience, and mindpower, and energy - I just want to say THANK YOU to all of the awesome teachers in our building.

As we head toward the end of the first half of the school year, I'm so proud to work in OUR school.  It's been the most challenging year yet in education - at least as long as I've been a part of the educational world - and our teachers have taken things in stride, kept the kids first, and even managed to keep smiling.

I'm so honored to be a part of this staff, and so excited about all of the progress we're making as a school.  So during a time when you feel overworked and underappreciated, know that I ALWAYS appreciate what you do and will ALWAYS remember what it's like to be you.

And you're doing awesome.  With Common Core, PLCs, CFAs, new testing, TRC, DIBELS, conferences, report cards, progress reports, oh yeah - and teaching - You're not only surviving, you're doing a GREAT job.

Rock on!

Don't Forget!
December 7th - 3rd, 4th, and 5th Grade Classroom Spelling Bee Winners' Names Due to Peele
December 11th - TRC/K-3 Assessment Training for PRTs 9:00-10:30
December 12th - Set up Science Fair
December 13th - Science Fair Judging 9:30
December 14th - All Classes/Parents Invited to Walk Through Science Fair
December 18th - School Spelling Bee 1:30
January 7th - TRC/K-3 Assessment Training for ALL K-3 Teachers 3:45-5:15
January 10th - PLC Training for Facilitators at Kernersville ES 3:30-5:00

Wait for it...

Last week I was meandering through classrooms, observing and enjoying the view from the frontlines.  In one particular classroom, a teacher was giving a math lesson.  She asked a question, and called on a student who eagerly raised his hand.

He spouted out the wrong answer.

The teacher urged him to rethink his answer and rework his math.

Other than his pencil scribbling on his paper, the room was silent.

We waited.  And waited.  And waited.

I wanted SO badly to help him, give him a hint, call out the answer.

But we waited.

And finally...

He got it.

And the teacher moved on to the next problem, and the class went about the rest of their day as usual.  But I was so affected, by something so minor.

Because the teacher had given this child some wait-time, let him think through the process, given him as much space as he needed, he was able to find success.  Even moreso, the teacher had obviously conditioned her students to this type of practice, as not one student huffed or puffed in frustration at how long it took the little boy to answer, nor did anyone call out the answer.

They waited, too.

Giving students - children - this window of wait-time, this opportunity to take their time to think, explore, try, fail, try again, succeed... is imperative.  And sometimes we're all so consumed with moving on, getting to the next question, checking things off the list - we fail to allow for the awkward silence, the minutes when a child's brain is ticking, connecting, figuring things out.  But it's SO important to do that... let them figure it out without us always doing the figuring out for them.

So, remember, when we're wanting to jump in, and help, and hold their hand, and give them the answer...

Just wait for it.

Whew.

My AP is always telling me that Dr. Oz says you're supposed to take something like ten deep breaths every now and then to keep yourself calm and stable and healthy and happy and who has time to remember to take ten deep breaths when you're a full-time working mama to a mobile, constantly-moving eleven-month-old and a wife to a husband who works almost every evening and life feels like a race I'm never winning?

Or was it take deep breaths for ten seconds?

Something like that, right Mr. Maglio?

Anyway, lately it seems as though I've needed to breathe-in-breathe-out to a calming rhythm all day long.  Life has felt like, well, A LOT lately, TOO MUCH, even... So I can't begin to imagine how the teachers are feeling!  Because if you think about it, EVERYONE has their own "stuff."  Everyone has stress outside of work... and just because my stress is different than your stress, that doesn't mean one of us has more "stuff" than the other.

Sometimes we get so caught up in our own worlds, our own little bubbles, we fail to realize that the world is continuing to spin on its axis around us.  I am guilty of getting lost in my bubble... struggling to come up for air and letting the little things throw me for a loop and pushing on, and on, and on without enjoying the view.  Case in point - I have eaten lunch while furiously working since school started about a month ago.  I've never been the kind of person who works through lunch!

Breathe in - 1, 2, 3...

I think we're all in that place right now in the world of education.  The beginning of a school year is NO JOKE.  Especially when we're introducing a brand new curriculum and everything seems like it's changing.  Not to mention whatever else is going on in our lives outside of the walls of Moore.

But let's try to encourage each other to follow Dr. Oz's advice - I may give him the side-eye for some of his health recommendations, but I think he's on to something when he urges deep breathing.  Let's try to pause, take deep breaths, and know that this too, shall pass.  And while we're doing all this breathing, let's also try to remember that whether the person beside us may seem to have it all together or may seem to barely be hanging on, we all have our "stuff."  And sometimes the only way to get through the stuff is to lift each other up...

And, of course, breathe.