Taking a Leap

I am someone who talks of stepping out of comfort zones to innovate and try new things, but I am also someone who talks this talk but hesitates to take action for fear of failure. Well, I have decided to step out--to take a leap--and to risk failure.

Late this spring I was offered an opportunity to be part of a brand new organization with a mission in which I believe and a hope to transform education in my state.  The risks here are those related to any new organization just beginning, funding and effective leadership. As a non-profit organization, we will be raising funds continually to keep the organization alive and thriving to support the work of innovative teachers and schools in our state.  We will be working with the Board to establish a strategic plan and vision whereby we measure success based on real results.

I could have remained in the local school system where I was enjoying my work with literacy curriculum, instruction, and assessment in secondary schools and where I served as a literacy specialist and resource teacher leader for 12 middle schools, 5 high schools, and numerous programs.  However, had I remained in this position I would have remained in a place of comfort and stability and would not have been walking my talk of the importance of stepping out and taking risks for the sake of creating fresh learning experiences for students. 

My hopes and plans for my new adventure are that 

1) I will learn

2) I will lead

3) I will contribute 

and will do all of the above with the same passion and commitment I have always had for teaching and learning.

Seattle, WA (makes me think adventure)

Balancing Work and Play

Three states, three conferences, a new job, a Bob Dylan/Wilco concert, and two family birthday celebrations later, I am blogging again and on the topic of balance in life.  One of my least favorite questions to answer is--how do you find the time to do everything you do?  For me, it's about prioritizing, and what's at the top of the priority list fluctuates from day to day or hour to hour, depending upon what's happening in my life at any particular time.  For the past few weeks, blogging was not at the top of my priority list because I decided to spend more time with family and friends in between traveling for work and seeing sites in the beautiful state of Washington with friends.

view of Mount St. Helens from our hike

I just finished a stint where I worked three jobs.  One full-time job for the local public school system, seven months of free-lance writing for a company wanting explanations and instructional strategies for the common core standards, and finally since April, a part-time educational consultancy position for a new non-profit organization.

While most anyone who knows me well will tell you I enjoy working a lot, most will also tell you I adore my family and work hard to provide for them.  Personally,  I also know I would not want to continue working three jobs at the pace I was working.  I was driven by specific goals and the need for balancing work and family play time.  Initially, I accepted the free-lance writing gig to earn money for a family vacation to Washington, D.C.. Knowing I would have an entire week of play with the most important people in my life kept me motivated.  

After that trip, my drive to finish what I started and to fulfill a commitment kept me going. Writing explanations for the standards allowed me to spend more time understanding and revisiting the standards we use in most of the states in the USA when I work with teachers on designing units of study.

The part-time consultancy position?  How could I resist? The organization encapsulates many of the very priorities I appreciate and desire for public education--a focus on transforming education in our state.  As of July1, I am back to one full-time job with this brand new organization. 

In the coming months, you can expect to see me continue blogging because it's important to me, but I also plan to

Hike more...

Exercise more...

Read more..more..more...

Write more...

Volunteer more...

See more live music...

Attend more cross country meets...

Attend more soccer games...

And, of course, I plan to do all these things with the people who matter most to me.

at the Bob Dylan/Wilco concert

                                             

"I Choose C:" Common Core, Collaboration, and Creativity

The first time I saw this video it was shared by our superintendent with a group of instructional leaders, and you can only imagine how I laughed and also cringed at the reality.  Just like the girl in this video, too many of our students are not ready for life beyond our public schools.  As educators, it's up to us to provide opportunities that move beyond simple multiple choice tests which do not always promote the thinking and reasoning required of us all throughout life.

I have shared this video widely with teachers who feel they are doing all they can to prepare students but also often feel bound by high stakes assessments and other mandates from well-intentioned reform specialists.   Thankfully, LDC performance based tasks ask more of our students than a multiple choice test.  My friend, Sherri, has even mentioned after using LDC to implement the Common Core in her classroom, her students perform better on high stakes multiple choice tests, and they leave her classroom able to create, think, discuss, and perform well for job and/or college interviews.

At a recent  TALK (Teaching Advocates Leading Kentucky) conference, Sherri and I presented a session on using LDC (Literacy Design Collaborative) to implement the Common Core.  Another colleague from Colorado attended the session and asked me to share with our ECET2 Colleague Circle group.  Although flattered, I also realized I wasn't sure how to share the face-to-face conversation with an online audience.  My Colorado colleague suggested I start with anecdotal narrative, so here we go...

Session Goal:  Reflect on effective teaching of Common Core State Standards by delving into practical resources, collaborating with colleagues, and networking through social media. 

We opened the session by playing this video and asking participants to fill in this graphic organizer.  The debriefing following the video set the context for a session focused on Common Core, collaboration, and creativity.  All important topics to Sherri and me.  We both believe rich text-based discussions are one way to promote critical thinking and creativity; therefore, we transitioned into a Paideia Seminar led by Sherri.  We asked volunteers to come to the round table in the center of the room where they quickly made name placards and then read the text we had selected for discussion. The text open for discussion was an excerpt from Malcolm X's autobiography, a section where he writes about learning to read and practicing his writing.  Sherri began by asking each member of the circle to share a most important line from the text and to articulate why it was most important.  In addition to facilitating and mapping the conversation, Sherri stepped out of her role as facilitator to explain logistics of leading a Paideia Seminar in a classroom.  All told, the discussion was shorter than it would be in a classroom since we stopped it to move on to other parts of our session, but the participants seemed to get a feel for why text-based discussion is an integral part of LDC modules.

Because non-print text is also an important part of the Common Core, we transitioned to an analysis of an image of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X together and surrounded by people.   I shared with the group various strategies for analyzing non-print text, including my favorite process where we move carefully through a few steps.  (Note:  This is by no means the only way to analyze an image.  However, I have found this step by step process is helpful when working with people who have little experience analyzing images.)

Step 1:  Describe and identify everything you see in the image (it works nicely if you cut the image into four quadrants and show one quadrant at a time before displaying the entire image all in one piece).  This step ensures you look carefully and study what's in the image before you begin making interpretations and/or evaluations.

Step 2:  Interpret (think about) what you see in the image and provide justification for your interpretations.  For our session, we asked participants to share their interpretations using electronic post-its on a Padlet wall  created for this session.  

Step 3:  Reflect.  We talked about how these interpretations or even quotes from the text we read prior could be used in the essays for the LDC task. 

We wrapped up our session by asking participants to share and network via other online collaboration tools (Linoit.com) and a document in Google Drive that lists websites for tools related to Common Core implementation and also with twitter handles and hashtags for people to follow.

So, Learning to Muse readers--please continue sharing ideas and resources you have for implementing the Common Core or for great teaching strategies that will ensure our students recieve an education focused on critical thinking and creativity.

What I am Learning from Design Thinking

For the past two years, I have had the great privilege of participating in several design thinking workshops as a way to seek solutions to barriers and issues in education.  I have left each workshop feeling invigorated, motivated, and ready to continue pursuing solutions in re-designing public education.

Human-centeredness is essential.  We know this, don’t we?  But do we listen and remember why we do what we do and why we make the decisions we make?  Do we stay focused on the needs of the students?   We can do this by listening and showing empathy for given situations.  In one of the design thinking workshops where I participated, students sat with us as we practiced our listening skills.  Students told us about their own dreams for ensuring girls in their rural school possessed more positive body image.  Together, adults and teens brainstormed ideas for solving the problem the girls identified.  The teens and their principal left the workshop with concrete possibilities after the groups prototyped several of the ideas generated during the brainstorming session.

Facilitation skills make an enormous difference.  In my early years of learning to teach, I wrote my philosophy of teaching and included language such as “I am a facilitator of learning… .”  Over the course of eleven years in the classroom, I fluctuated on a continuum of facilitator__teacher.  The constant was always a focus on maintaining a student-centered classroom (thanks to my teacher preparation program).

Facilitating meetings with adults is only slightly different than facilitating learning with a group of teenagers.  It helps to utilize an inquiry approach and to remember the facilitator shouldn't be seen as the expert, but as someone who is curious about the topic/question of study.  Last week I participated in a design thinking workshop in Chicago, the facilitators possessed excellent facilitation skills as they led a group of educators from Colorado and Kentucky through six workstations where we considered potential barriers to collaboration among teachers across the two states, and then we worked to create possible solutions to

these barriers.  With this topic being so heavy and with a need to end the day with solutions, one might expect that we were exhausted at the end of the day.  On the contrary, we left the downtown Chicago studio feeling invigorated and excited about our next steps for our collaborative project.  The facilitators led the group process, helped us improve our communications, examine barriers, and achieve our outcome of creating a community of practice.

Prototypes are a vital part of the process.  Just like in brainstorming, there are no rules while creating a prototype.  Instead of asking, can I _______?  Ask, how will I______?  This is when we test out our ideas, so we can refine them and improve the process and/or product we are creating.  For our day in Chicago, educators from Colorado and Kentucky were coming together, but before we convened, our facilitators prototyped the process with teachers from the Chicago area.  Then those teachers joined us for the day, bringing new perspectives to our planning.

Collaboration is key.  Maybe this is one of my most favorite parts of design thinking because I have long sought collaborative opportunities in education.  Bringing different perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches to learning enhances the experience for all involved.  Who says educators have to stay within our isolated towers of subject area?  Who says students have to learn one subject at a time?  Design thinking encourages collaboration across disciplines, professions, and demographics, recognizing each individual and promoting listening and equality.

I suspect my foray into design thinking has only just begun because I see it as a way to discover, imagine, create, research, renew, and re-focus public education for the very people it’s intended to serve.

The Grouchy Ladybug & Naysayers

The topic for this post has been coming for several months now as I've been dealing with a couple of naysayers in my world of education.  You know the type?  The ones who find something wrong with everything you suggest or a problem with any idea you pose?  Earlier this year I started reading articles for tips on dealing with naysayers, and I have attempted to apply some of the tips and have thought through many of the suggestions and the implications around the approaches.  Basically, I have spent an enormous amount of energy thinking about how to deal with negativity and naysaying.  Last night, it even crept into my dreams while I slept.  Obviously, it’s time for me to re-think the strategies I've been using to deal with naysaying and negativity.

Peering at the books on our bookshelf in the living room this evening, I noticed an old copy of Eric Carle’s The Grouchy Ladybug and decided to read it for inspiration.  Of course the grouchy ladybug in this story is grouchy because he doesn't want to share, so he travels around the world provoking fights with larger animals and then saying “hey you—want to fight?---oh you’re not big enough…”  This ladybug is in such a bad mood that he picks a fight every hour for an entire day with insects and animals of every size.  At the end of the day, a whale’s tale slaps the ladybug into his proper place, sending him all the way back to the leaf where the story began, where the friendly and cheery ladybug is waiting to share a leaf full of aphids.  The grouchy ladybug eats the aphids shared with him by the friendly ladybug and ends up thanking his cheery counterpart.

I suspect the negative people I encounter are afraid of change or they don't want to come across as not knowing everything.  But we must admit change is needed in public education to meet the needs of learners.  I push for changes in education and transformation to the usual way of working because I'm not okay with the current situation.  I want new and innovative learning opportunities for kids and for adults, and I'm not okay with hearing people say "that's the way we've always done it" or "if you are around here long enough you will learn that's not the way things work around here" or "that's just the way X school is--you'll never change that!"  

The Grouchy Ladybug story with a happy ending leaves me feeling positive tonight because I know the reasons I push for change in education are for the right reasons, and there will always be naysayers.  I just need to remain cheerful and committed to the process.

Unhappy Captives in Education

My completely amazing wedding anniversary weekend included celebratory memory sharing, dining out in our own city sans children, and hearing live music together like we did when we were twentysomething.   We heard brilliant music, and I was completely struck by this one statement in description of the band, Night Beds, on the music venue’s website—

“…when one is studying engineering in Nashville, and the other remains behind, an unhappy captive of secondary education....”

Night Beds performing in Lexington, KY
May 26, 2013

This statement stayed with me throughout the evening while we watched the five member band play.  I couldn't help but wonder which musician was the unhappy captive because they all looked like they were enjoying themselves as they played music.  The musicians listened, watched, and communicated with one another to create an astonishingly pleasing sound.  

 

It happens that while at this show, we ran into some people we know who have children in our local public school system.  Since they know I’m an educator, they asked me about “the archaic disciplinary system” which punishes children by excluding them from end of the year celebratory events for the smallest offenses.  It’s no wonder these same young elementary school students go on to middle and high school to become unhappy captives of a public school system that wedges free spirited and artistic children into standardized robots.  Why do we insist on making children fit the school system instead of making the school system fit the children?  

Why can’t talent and artistry like we heard at this show be honed in more of our public schools?  Why can't we take the interest kids/teens have in music and use it to help them learn?  Don't get me wrong.  I know it happens, but it's obviously not the norm, nor the experience for the vast majority of kids in our nation.

Musing on National Poetry Month

On this last day of national poetry month, I’m musing about the shared poetry experiences I have had during April.  Even though I enjoy poetry all year long, there is something special about the month of April and the emphasis on the appreciation of poetry that brings people together to enjoy rich language.

Highlights from April

An Opportunity to Share

In the weeks prior to April, I sent an email to all the English department chairs in our district, asking them to share a couple of links related to national poetry month and asking them to share with their colleagues.  I am so glad I did this because all month long teachers have been sharing poems and poetry projects with me based on the work happening in their classrooms.  I heard about poetry slams and writing projects, saw examples of students work, and witnessed teachers smiling in the midst of End of Course Testing.

A Poem Per Day Project

A young high school English teacher from the district has been sharing daily poems performed by students.  He sends a different text and a video file each day.  Seeing the variety of poems students select makes me smile because it’s obvious the teacher provides choice in the project, so it is more meaningful to each student.  This tiny paragraph only hints at the enjoyment I received all month long from watching the students perform.  Unfortuantely, the links were shared through the district’s Sharepoint site and are not available for public viewing. 

A Pulitzer Winning Poet

On the very day one of the students performed a poem by Sharon Olds, one of my all-time favorite poets, Olds won a Pulitzer for Stag’s Leap. I was first introduced to the poetry of Sharon Olds while in college when my English professor handed me a book of her poems because he knew me well enough to know I would enjoy her work.  I have blogged previously about that experience in a post on close reading.  Poetry  (and excellent professors in the English department at Piedmont College = primary reason I learned to read closely).

A New Kentucky Poet Laureate

A former student, Amanda, who is now a friend and mentee sent me  a text message the day Kentucky’s new Poet Laureate, Frank X Walker was inducted for 2013-2014.  She texted to ask if I would be going to the induction ceremony.  Unfortunately, I had other obligations and was unable to go.  I encouraged Amanda to head over from her job in Frankfort to the Capitol Rotunda for the ceremony.  She was glad she made the trek and even sent me a picture she took with her phone and agreed to let me post it here.

A Poem in My Pocket

For the past several years, I have been a faithful participant in National Poem in Your Pocket Day.  This is when my introverted self becomes outspoken and slightly edgy for the day as I walk around asking people what poem they are carrying in their pocket and then telling them (or sharing, if they let me) the poem I am carrying.  This year I carried “The Wound Dresser” by Walt Whitman.  I carried this poem because  1) our family recently returned from Washington DC where we saw a quote from this poem at the entry tothe DuPont Circle Metro  and 2) National Poem in Your Pocket  Day was the day after the Boston Marathon bombing and I had the wounded victims on my mind.

A Poetry Bell Ringer Series

A former colleague shared her daily class warm up for the month.  Students read a poem and used a line from the poem to launch their journal writing for the day.  She provides more specifics on her blog.  In addition to sharing this bell ringer activity, she also encouraged people to utilize the Poetry Foundation’s new poetry app.  I loaded it and love it! Coincidentally, I had lost contact with this colleague because she moved to a new state,  but we reconnected via twitter during the fabulous month of April.

How do you share and enjoy poetry all year long?  Do you do anything special to celebrate poetry in the month of April?  I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas.

The Common Core is Not the Problem, Nor is the Common Core the Solution

Write the spelling words 3-5 times each on Mondays, write them in a sentence on Tuesdays, complete a spelling worksheet on Wednesdays, take a practice test on Thursdays, and a final test on Fridays.  Take a practice on-demand writing assessment once a month in every class.  Read the same book as everyone else in your class, answer questions about the book and write an open response question.  Copy notes from the teacher’s power point, memorize the facts, and respond to multiple choice tests about the facts.   Complete all the even numbered problems in the pre-algebra textbook for homework.

This is not the way to educate our children for what they need in our world now or what they need in the world when they graduate from high school. The common core does not suggest these approaches be utilized nor does it dictate these approaches not be utilized.

So let the naysayers complain about the common core and let the dreamers rejoice for the common core. But understand this—the common core is not the solution nor is it the problem. Students need dynamic and engaging learning experiences every day in their schools. They need to be taught by teachers who are qualified and accomplished and always looking for ways to fine-tune their practice. Students need to engage with principals, assistants, counselors, and deans who honor teachers and give teachers time and support in their quest to reflect upon and improve their practice.

Education news media and social network sites are bombarded by statements from people either loathing or valuing the common core. As a parent of school-aged children, an educator, a community member, and a citizen of the United States, I am here to support teachers and administrators in the implementation of standards which are more rigorous than standards we used previously in our country.  Spending my time and energy to support better practices makes more sense than spending my time and energy complaining about standards which in and of themselves will not improve the educational experience for students, nor will they harm the educational experience for students.  One blogger opposed to the common core states “The future needs passionate, creative, collaborative innovators and entrepreneurs, not compliant, uniform test takers.” I couldn’t agree more, and guess what? The common core does not mandate that we create compliant, uniform test takers.

Misunderstandings and misinformation sometimes lead people to believe the common core demands such practice, but this is simply not the case. Everyone I have met on the state and national level who has been involved with common core implementation agrees that American students need to innovate, collaborate, and create.  Our teachers need this too, which is why many of the same common core advocates promoting common core implementation are also supporting opportunities for teachers to innovate, collaborate, and create the types of learning experiences our students need. Standards alone will not improve the learning experiences for students.  Instead of blaming one group or another, and instead of complaining about what will or will not work, we must work together to provide students the experiences they need.

Why I Pair Poetry with News Articles

Even though I haven’t had my own classroom for several years now, I still find myself thinking about how I might deal with a national news situation if I still worked with teens on a daily basis.  Almost always, I find myself looking for poems to pair with news articles, and more often than not, I look for an angle leading toward thoughts of human compassion.  Since I no longer actually teach these lessons to teens, I modify the lessons planned in my head for use with my sons (now ages 9 and 12).  Once a teacher, always a teacher, I suppose. 

The lesson plan in my head this time relates to a convergence of events, people, ideas, and places--National Poem in Your Pocket Day 2013, Boston Marathon, family trip to Washington DC, poem by Walt Whitman.  I'm pairing news articles about Boston with "The Wound Dresser" by Walt Whitman.



Tomb of the Unknowns

 

It’s disquieting to watch television footage or follow twitter stream with news of bombings or shootings, and it’s especially unsettling to watch and listen when children are involved.  Over the past couple of days while following news related to the explosion at the Boston Marathon, I’ve been encouraged to see many acts of human compassion.  Strangers reaching out to others in distress or injured, websites established for donations for victims, public Facebook pages in honor and support, Google Documents people finder, twitter hashtags such as #prayforboston, and even stories of Boston Marathon runners giving their medals to runners who were unable to finish when the race was shut down after the explosion to protect remaining runners—all excellent reminders of human compassion.

This year for Poem in Your Pocket Day, I am carrying “The Wound Dresser” by Walt Whitman.  It’s a reminder of human compassion carried out by many nurses on a daily basis.  Whitman writes of the suffering in Civil War hospitals and of children longing to hear stories of battle, much like my own nine year old son wanted to hear all about various war battles on our recent trip to Washington D.C..  Instead, of all scenes from battle we read scenes from inside a war hospital as noticed in this excerpt

… On, on I go, (open doors of time! open hospital doors!)
The crush'd head I dress, (poor crazed hand tear not the bandage away,)
The neck of the cavalry-man with the bullet through and through I examine,
Hard the breathing rattles, quite glazed already the eye, yet life struggles hard,
(Come sweet death! be persuaded O beautiful death!
In mercy come quickly.)

From the stump of the arm, the amputated hand,
I undo the clotted lint, remove the slough, wash off the matter and blood,
Back on his pillow the soldier bends with curv'd neck and side falling head,
His eyes are closed, his face is pale, he dares not look on the bloody stump,
And has not yet look'd on it.

I dress a wound in the side, deep, deep,
But a day or two more, for see the frame all wasted and sinking,
And the yellow-blue countenance see.

I dress the perforated shoulder, the foot with the bullet-wound,
Cleanse the one with a gnawing and putrid gangrene, so sickening, so offensive,
While the attendant stands behind aside me holding the tray and pail.

I am faithful, I do not give out,
The fractur'd thigh, the knee, the wound in the abdomen,
These and more I dress with impassive hand, (yet deep in my breast a fire, a burning flame.)

 



Quote from Whitman poem Dupont Circle Metro Station



Thus in silence in dreams' projections,
Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hospitals,
The hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand,
I sit by the restless all the dark night, some are so young,
Some suffer so much, I recall the experience sweet and sad,
(Many a soldier's loving arms about this neck have cross'd and rested,
Many a soldier's kiss dwells on these bearded lips.)

 

As someone who enjoys making connections between events, ideas, people, and places, the poem I carry  connects our recent family trip to Washington D.C., compassion shown at a recent horrific event in Boston, my love for reading poetry and national poem in your pocket day.

What poems do you pair with news events?  What poem are you carrying for Poem in Your Pocket Day 2013?

 

Students Need Opportunities to Learn More than What's on the Test



Note--Arts & Humanties = 5 day rotation--1 day music, 1 day visual art
1 day P.E., 1 day library, 1 day writing

What do you notice about this fourth grade schedule?  Does it look like a schedule similar to that of your children and/or students?  Hopefully not, but I suspect it might.   We live in a school district that promotes the teaching only of subjects which are tested in a particular grade level.  This means my nine year old son who loves history has received little to no social studies formal instruction in his public school.  This is not the fault of the teachers—it’s the fault of a system which prioritizes subjects included in high-stakes testing.   At the elementary level social studies is tested only in fifth grade, so schools adjust what they teach and ignore social studies until that one year.  It doesn’t get much better when it comes to science; students around here only have official science instruction during fourth grade (again, the year it is tested).   My sixth grade son loves science, but he was offered science instruction only one year of his six years in elementary school.  I won’t even start on how limited the opportunities for technology and the arts are as well.  You see, these are the unintended consequences of state and federal mandates for high standardized test scores. 

If I were a pessimist, I might end my post here and tell you I’ve decided to remove my son from public school in search of a better alternative for a more well-rounded education.  However, I am an idealist and a dreamer who has a vision—a vision that we can collaborate to make a difference in the schools in our communities.  In fact, this vision or a similar vision is being enacted in a school district only about forty five minutes away from where we live.  In Danville, Kentucky, leaders of the schools and teachers are implementing project based learning as one way to meet the needs of students beyond what’s on the state standardized tests.  Kudos to this district!  I’m ready to move forward with creating more opportunities like this in my own district as well.  All students deserve the opportunity to learn more than what’s on the state test. 

Tower of books at Ford's Theatre
museum in Washington D.C.

In the mean time my husband and I supplement what our children learn at school with learning at home.  We encourage our children to be responsible and tech savvy citizens; we read content rich non-fiction as well as fiction and poetry.  We also take local and out of state trips (when possible) to promote active learning through experiences.  I feel fortuante that we can work to provide these experiences to our children, so when wearing my mom hat I feel fine about this supplemental approach to education.  However, when wearing my educator hat, I realize not all children have this same luxury of parents who are able or willing to supplement what they learn at school with more well-rounded experiences at home. 

 

 A few changes to our current system could provide more well-rounded learning experiences for all students, and that is my mission and my vision--to support educators striving to provide experiences for all students.  Please share your ideas and suggestions with me. 

Why We Didn't Take Forbidden Pictures at the National Museum ofAmerican History

Oh let me tell you how much I really wanted to snap a photo of the hat Lincoln wore the night of his assassination, not for me but for my son, the great fan of Abraham Lincoln. But I didn't because I think it's more important for me to model respect and responsibility. The museum actually encourages photography throughout with only a few exceptions when flash might harm the artifacts. As someone who values open source resources, I appreciate the museum's open attitude toward photography, and I also respect the importance of forbidden photography for exhibits which cannot endure accidental flash thousands of times.

We explored almost all of the exhibits in the museum, and even returned for a second visit today in search of this nearly century and a half old hat.

Because I was the only family member who wanted to see the First Ladies exhibit (just had to see Michelle Obama's beautiful inauguration gown), my husband moved ahead to The Emancipation Proclamation exhibit with the boys to find Lincoln's hat. When I rejoined my family twenty minutes later, my nine year old eagerly greeted me and led me to the darkened area of the exhibit to show me the hat. Lights from cameras flashed and cameras clicked while Isaac proclaimed his dissatisfaction for people showing disrespect for the aged museum artifacts.

I will admit, I would like to have numerous gorgeous photos of artifacts from America's past to post on this blog right now, but I don't and I won't. Instead I hold beautiful memories of an enjoyable learning-filled spring break with my children and husband.

Shortly after writing the first part of this post, I happened across a blog post by the National Museum of American History where I learned more about their stance regarding photography and their offer to share flicker photos for download by patrons. (Side note: a post for another time will be when I write about how happy I am with museums that stay current with technology and communication.

Drawn to Science

Shhh… Let me share a secret with you—one I don’t announce loudly, often, or really at all in my regular work with certified science teachers.

When I started teaching in the fall of 1998, I spent one semester in a tiny private school as a 5^th-8^th grade English and science teacher.  Those kids were so young compared to the high school students I taught during student teaching, and I was inexperienced and worried about how I could possibly teach science, since I was only certified to teach English.  I learned alongside my students.  We hiked, collected leaves, and conducted rudimentary experiments without a lab.  At the end of the semester I was offered a high school English teaching position and promptly left the tiny school and my young students, but not before realizing what mattered to me most was teaching.  While I longed to read and discuss literature with high school students, I was even more interested in seeing students have aha! moments, no matter the topic. 

Since that semester I have been driven to learning more about science, and it’s been very nourishing. I read science blogs, articles, books, and I help my sons with various science projects.  A scientist would probably tell me reading about science doesn’t really compare to doing science, so that’s why I tend to keep my semester of teaching science a secret. 

At age 8, my oldest son begged us to buy him a solar panel kit. 
As it turned out, we had to solder tiny panels together,
so I learned more than I ever anticipated with this fun adventure--thanks to Ethan.

 Not to be kept a secret is this growing list of science blogs I read.

Oliver Sacks, M.D. I’ve been reading books by Oliver Sacks since 1994 when an English professor in college knew I was interested in the study of human behavior and the mind.  This professor handed me the book—The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, and my long time reading interest in the works of Oliver Sacks began.  How cool is that?—an English professor didn’t try to convince me to only read what interested him—he handed me a book he knew might interest me.

Endless Forms Most Beautiful   Several of the blogs I read now have come to me via Twitter, including this one by Kimberly Moynahan.  Last fall I wrote a post about a moth we saw while at a professional development training.  Shortly thereafter, Kimberly was following me on Twitter, so I don’t know if she saw my blog or not, but I’ve been reading her blog since then.  Endless Forms Most Beautiful is captivating with beautiful and interesting photographs and great information for someone like me who keeps trying to learn about the world in which I live.  Another note--Kimberly started a list of all the bloggers in Canada, so check out this document for an ongoing list.

Scijourner The Kentucky Writing Project director told me about this blog when I saw her at the Kentucky Council for Teachers of English Annual Conference.  This blog is written by teens—a great example of science writing we might use in our classrooms.

Erin C. McKiernan  I have a hidden interest in neuroscience and found this blog through random google searches I was conducting because of stories I follow about individuals with long term brain damage.  This site has been up only a few months, but already I enjoy the postings on a regular basis.

Patrick Goff A blog about teaching middle school science.  I enjoy learning about science and the teaching of science from an National Board Certified Teacher who's inspiring and dedicated.

Tricia Shelton A blog by a high school science teacher who I met via Twitter. She's kept me motivated to dig deeper into instructional design for science as she leads work around the Next Generation Science Standards.

Feel free to share additional science resources and blogs you think will help me continue learning.

Pi and Togas

The year before I left the classroom, I began making a conscious effort to connect literacy and mathematics because it only made sense.  I had already spent the first decade of my teaching career connecting my English classes to various social studies, arts, and science classes, so mathematics was my new subject to conquer.  Now, just like many other English teachers, this was not initially an easy task for me because I had a terrible fear of math.  Fortunately, our high school had a young and innovative teacher who taught me about mathematical literacies.  This was my foray into connecting my discipline to math.

The next year I left the classroom for a new challenge as a literacy consultant at a state education agency, and my work there led to more mathematics connections because I was asked to serve as the “outside content area” participant on a workgroup for developing Characteristics of HighlyEffective Teaching and Learning for mathematics.  It was during this time I met and worked closely with mathematics consultants who possessed a passion for mathematics the same way I possessed a passion for reading, writing, speaking and listening.  I found it truly inspiring, actually, to see educators committed to ensuring students in our state have the best mathematics experiences they need to be successful.  With one particular consultant, I traveled to numerous national convenings as the work toward developing assessments for the Common Core State Standards began.   We were each the subject matter experts for our state’s participation in the PARCC Consortium.  At the same time, our state was rolling out the standards, so our work was not in isolation; we each had numerous other colleagues for mathematics and English Language Arts.  My work with mathematics experts grew.  The more I surrounded myself with these dedicated educators, the more my fear of thinking about math dissipated.   

Last year I spent pi day with this group and experienced their fondness for the day.  One colleague shared a picture with me via twitter as I celebrated pi day for the first time ever in 2012.  This year on pi day, I facilitated a convening of English department chairs from middle and high schools, so I decided to share the pi day enthusiasm and included the image  on the top of our agenda.   Most told me they, too, had celebrated pi day at their respective schools.

When I awoke this morning and gave pause to consider the Ides of March, I tweeted a message to encourage my mathematics colleagues to celebrate the day.  Ah, they know their history and their literature!  One colleague cleverly replied—"Celebrate—aren’t we supposed to beware the Ides of March?”  She’s obviously read Julius Caesar.  Mathematics and literature aren’t so detached, are they?

Blurring the Lines Between Teaching and Leading

Eleven years of teaching in high-needs schools proved to be a fulfilling calling.  The rewards of my days in the classroom keep appearing when I see or hear from former students.

Yesterday my son and I were in a local department store purchasing a gift for a friends’ birthday.  One of my former students waited on us.  This student was a teen mom who often considered dropping out of school.  Thankfully, she did not.  I haven’t seen her in five years, so you can imagine my delight when she proudly told me she’s about to finish her certificate to become a nursing assistant. 

Another former student from my days on the Cherokee Indian Reservation contacted me recently.  Her note to me—“I have always had it in the back of my mind to find you and let you know that my senior year English class with you solely, totally prepared me for all the papers I had to do at Western (Carolina University)! So for that--thank you!!”  This student is now a teacher and is happily married with two children.

Though I haven’t been a regular classroom teacher for four years now, my role as a teacher leader continues in the capacity in which I currently serve as a support for teachers and leaders.  I’m delighted when teachers I’ve mentored share with me their successes.  I enjoy hearing about the students and even working with them from time to time because I believe it’s important for us to remember —it’s about “our kids,” not “my kids.”  We have to work together to provide children and teens the learning experiences they deserve.

Working together was exactly my experience last week when I attended a conference in San Diego, California.  Designed to celebrate and elevate effective teachers and teaching (ECET2), this event, sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, fulfilled its promise of uplifting the teaching profession and reminding us all why we became teachers.  Three teachers delivered the keynote address—“Cultivating a Calling.”  I dare say there was hardly a dry eye in the pavilion after these teacher leaders shared their stories.  And people tell me I take my profession too seriously?  How can I not?  I am an educator through and through.

I returned from the conference feeling invigorated, refreshed, and ready to continue this important work of working on the work, as a colleague is fond of saying.  Too often in our profession, we see a lack of respect for educators, or we see a divide between administrators and teachers.  Let’s blur the lines between leading and teaching and remember why we entered this profession in the first place.

An early morning trip to the Pacific Ocean with my colleague circle group at ECET2. 
We watched the sunrise and were back in time for a fabulous final day of the conference.  The power of collaboration!

 

Do These Three Things to Benefit from Attending Professional Conferences

 

In a time of tight school budgets, too often opportunities for teachers to attend conferences fall by the wayside. With continued research about the benefits of professional learning being embedded into our jobs, I think it’s important we also remember the benefits of attending professional conferences.  As professionals in our field, it’s up to us to benefit from our limited opportunities to attend professional conferences. 

Listen.  Attending professional conferences can be a professionally rewarding experience because we get to hear and participate in sessions as well as hallway or lunch table conversations.  Listening to presentations informs us of what other educators are doing beyond our own school/district/state walls.  In turn, this can inspire our own research, reflection, and refinement.  Just as we know “shutting our doors and teaching” leaves us feeling isolated, at conferences we should make it a point to talk and listen with others.

Learn.  We learn from talking with others about our work because we can see what confuses people, articulate what’s working or not working in our own practice and acquire new ideas to try in our own schools and districts.  When the sessions we attend at professional conferences set clear learning objectives, we can evaluate our own attainment of those learning goals as we participate in the session.  Just as we want students to self-assess themselves in our classrooms, so should we assess ourselves when we attend professional conferences.

Network.  Seeing people in our field excited about their work is a benefit.  By networking and socializing with others, it’s amazing how many opportunities to collaborate with others come our way.  In an increasingly globally connected society, we expect our students to learn and collaborate with others within and beyond our school walls.  As professionals, so should we collaborate with others at professional conferences before we attend, while we’re there and afterwards as well.  Building new and effective relationships with other professionals increases our ability to continue providing learning opportunities for our students.

When we listen, learn, and network, we return home from professional conferences feeling refreshed, invigorated, and ready to move learning forward in our local communities.  This is exactly the way I feel right now upon my return from the Kentucky Council of Teachers of English Annual Conference.

Home with My Boys on Presidents' Day

Like many other educators who are off from school today with their children, I, too, am off from work but catching up on work related tasks (providing feedback to schools on their writing program review documents & finalizing details for threefull days of LDC training this week).  As someone who tends to work more than play, I’m trying to be conscious of my need to break from work tasks more often. 

Given my boys’ interest in history, Presidents’ Day provides me the perfect opportunity to ensure my day includes more than work tasks. In fact, the exciting part of my day includes  planning for our family spring break vacation to Washington D.C..  My boys have long wanted to travel to D.C.,and after every trip I took for work, the boys showed even greater interest in the history of our country.  They actually requested mini statues of the White House as a souvenir.

Nine year old last year dressed up for
biography project

This morning I asked each child individually (and not within earshot of each other) if he knew why we were off school today and if he had a favorite president.  Thankfully, both boys knew we were out today for Presidents’ Day, and interestingly, there is a significant connection between their responses regarding their favorite president.  My twelve year old promptly responded that his favorite president is Abraham Lincoln. When I asked the nine year old, he said his favorite is Obama.  Knowing of his interest in Abraham Lincoln, Ipressed him further about why Obama.  “Well, of course I like Abraham Lincoln.  He was the one who made it possible for Obama to one day become president.”

Let’s hope our request for tickets to the White House is granted, so these boys can see the home of our President.  Knowing it’s unlikely since there are only four of us, we are planning our itinerary with only a short visit to the outside of the White House but keeping ourselves flexible just in case.

Here’s our tentative itinerary for the trip

Saturday          Arrive in Washington D.C.

Sunday            Ford’s Theatre

                        ArlingtonNational Cemetery

Monday           National Postal Museum

                       Union Station

                       Library of Congress

                       Capitol

                       White House (outside view)

Tuesday          Bureau of Engraving and Printing

                        Paddle Boats in Tidal Basin

                        Monuments & Memorials on the National Mall

                   

Wednesday     Smithsonian museums

Thursday         Return to Lexington

With so many things to do and see in Washington, D.C., I asked each son to tell me what he most wants to see and then I arranged our itinerary around those desires.