Tips for Recovering from Hurry Sickness

Instructions for living a life:

Pay attention. 

Be Astonished.

Tell about it.

---from Mary Oliver's poem Sometimes

After a middle of the night Emergency Room visit for my son and the hurry to create sub plans for my students earlier this week, I found myself asking--why am I always rushing around?  Always is hyperbole because I have managed to slow down the mental rush in the past three years. Even still, it's easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of to-do lists, tasks to accomplish, and goals to tackle on a daily basis.

Learning to slow down and become more mindful has not come easily for me, yet the more I've learned to embrace life and enjoy every moment, the more I have lived with joy, hope, peace, and optimism, even in difficult moments.

Tips for Recovering from Hurry Sickness

1. Be mindful of that rushed feeling. Pause and listen. Pay attention to the moment.
In my classroom, I use at Pause and Listen as a call and response technique when I need to gain students' attention after they've been working collaboratively. I say "pause" and they reply "and listen." Prior to this year, I had never used a call and response technique, but I'm liking it because it works and it reminds us all to literally pause and listen for a minute.

2. Be realistic and accept help from others when it's offered, and set guidelines for what you can do instead of layering on more. In other words--say no more often. Three years ago I was stressed to the max with work, networking, and professional pursuits, caught up in the rat race that even educators succumb to at times. (e.g. If I could just get one more conference proposal accepted, schedule one more PD webinar, fly to one more meeting across the country, facilitate one more workshop, speak at another convention, write one more contract, draft one more article, etc.)

3. Create a gratitude list. Be specific with it. Something as simple as noticing the beautiful sky on a cold morning can change the way you feel at a given moment. Driving to work one day this week, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw a gorgeous sunrise. I took that moment and allowed myself to feel grateful for the beauty and that gratefulness led to more feelings of gratitude as I noticed how much I appreciated the solitude on my drive, and then when I arrived at school, someone held the door open for me, and then a student brought me artwork she created for our kindness and gratitude bulletin board. One moment of gratitude led to many more moments of gratefulness throughout my day. 

The Important Lesson I Learned When I Stayed Inside to Teach During the Student Walkout

I am sometimes known for being outspoken on issues that matter to me, and without a doubt I am a huge supporter of students’ voices being heard in education. So, when I learned that I would be one of the teachers at my school to stay inside and teach during the student walkout earlier this week, I’ll have to admit I was initially disappointed. I wanted to be outside to see students exercise their rights to peaceful assembly and their rights to freedom of speech. I wanted to see students lead the program honoring lives lost to senseless gun violence. I wanted to be part of a program I believe in--to stand in solidarity on issues that matter to me.

But, of course, I followed the plans provided by our leaders. Thank goodness they knew what to expect from our community, and they planned for scenarios where people would oppose the student walkout—that was hard me to imagine, but it turned out to be true.

Since I teach during the time of the planned walkout, I wasn't one of the 2nd block teachers who headed outside into the below freezing weather to monitor students and attend the event. Rather, I showed up to my 2nd block class wondering if I’d have any students or if they’d all be outside. I thought about how I, too, would be able to go outside if all of my students went out. Slowly, a handful of students trickled into the classroom. They were quiet and waiting to learn what we would be doing while most of the others were outside. 

I watched their faces and tried not to pry for reasons why they chose to stay inside. Some students were vocal, telling me without my asking that they chose to stay inside for political reasons. A couple more chimed in saying it was too cold outside, and two others kept their eyes down and pulled out their journals. I took my cue from them. At that moment when I wanted so desperately to discuss what was going on outside, I refrained. 

Instead, as I do each block, I wrote the journal prompt (related to the texts we’re reading) on the board and told students we’d proceed without interrupting our normal routine. They wrote silently in their journals because that’s what we do at the start of every class. We’re developing habits of disciplined writers, and clearly, the routine writing practice is working because they know to expect it and they keep producing thoughts and insights. 

On Wednesday morning when I looked at the faces of my students, I realized those were the faces that mattered to me at that moment. Those were the tentative-feeling teens waiting to see how their teacher would carry on. Those were the students who were expecting the adult in the room to set the tone. Those were the students who selected to exercise their freedom of choice not to participate in the walkout. Their rights were important too.

This morning as I wrote in my journal and reflected on Wednesday's events, I thought about the slogan the students at our school developed for the walkout--Love Generally--a play on our school's mascot The Generals. I also contemplated a quote in my morning reading and meditation time, a quote from Henri Nouwen: “In love there is no room for fear.” 

My hope is that I love a little harder and fear a little less.

My 10 Most Stated Phrases and Questions

Early in the weekend, a science teacher friend of mine, Patrick Goff, shared what he titled his Pearls of Wisdom or things he frequently says, and he encourages others to share their own.  So...here are mine, and I hope you might also share yours. Regardless of your role in education (teacher, parent, administrator, community member, etc) this is an interesting way to capture what you find yourself saying most frequently.

1.  Remember to convey purpose in instruction.
2.  Students are more than a score.
3.  Stop the test prep!
4.  We need more creativity in schools.
5.  Student choice and interest are vital for making learning meaningful.
6.  Do your best.
7.  Do you use Twitter to connect to other people in education?
8.  Have you thought about blogging?
9.  Why is this important?
10. I'm interested in equity and excellence.

What about you--what are your most stated phrases?

Using Creativity for Inspiration in the New Year

Over at National Blogging Collaborative, bloggers are encouraged to consider their "New Year's" resolution for the blog a month.

This fall marks the third year I've taught a course at the local university, and just as I did as a high school teacher, I took time over the summer to reflect on what worked and didn't work the previous time I taught the course, and I thought about how I want to improve. Naturally, I looked at course evaluations, weighed the recommendations from students, and considered what I know these young adults will face when they enter middle school classrooms as English language arts teachers.

On our first day of class last week, I asked the students to write about what English language arts means to them. What is it we teach when we teach students English language arts? While a couple of students focused on the skills they will teach (language, grammar, writing), many of the explanations also included thoughts on critical thinking, creativity, communication, and personal connections to text that create life-long readers. Our syllabus is full of ideas for what we will read, discuss, and learn. I vow to focus on what my students need.

Even as I help students learn what they need to learn, my "New Year's" resolution for the 2015-2016 academic year is to encourage more creativity in myself and my students and to help these future teachers understand the importance of creativity in teaching middle school students.

Inspired by my reading of Transforming Schools Using Project-Based Learning, Performance Assessment, and Common Core Standards by Bob Lenz, Justin Wells, and Sally Kingston and a recent phone conversation with Justin, I am resolving to make this year better and more creative than the last. We will focus on creativity and all the non creative acts required for us to be creative. We will focus on deeper learning, more authentic assessment, and engaging learning.

"...for learning to be meaningful and long lasting, it should culminate in the creation of something that never existed before."

"...creativity is what excites and engages us, forging an emotional connection to our learning that is as critical to the process as the content of learning itself."

~~quotes from the book by Lenz, Wells, and Kingston~~

What about you? Do you have plans to be creative this academic year? To encourage creativity in yourself and your students? Do share your ideas, please!

Reflections on Writing with Deanna Mascle

Reflections on teaching writing, and when it goes right or wrong, a collaborative effort with Deanna Mascle. Our collaboration was guided by Christopher Bronke of the National Blogging Collaborative. 

This year my two sons (ages 12 & 14)  wrote more papers than they ever have in their young lives, and this writing consisted primarily of five-paragraph essays in each and every subject (including mathematics). It was painful for them and for me. Yet, at times we have to do things we don’t want to do, so I kept a positive attitude and persisted with helping them complete the formulaic essays (most of which also included the three points they were to discuss in their body paragraphs).

While both boys have become rather proficient with this format, the whole experience left me wondering what they would say when asked their opinion about those essays now that school’s out and they’ve moved on to playing freely and imaginatively each summer day. I decided to ask them separately and at different times, so they wouldn’t influence each other in a response. Both typical kids gave boring one-word responses at first, and then I pressed a little harder to learn what they really think.

“Hey–what did you think of all those five-paragraph essays you wrote this year?”

Son one: “Stupid.”

Son two: “Stupid.”

“Really, you had to learn something from all that writing though. Please tell me more.” Son one: Well, I did take the five-paragraph essay on stem-cells I wrote for science class and turn it into a persuasive speech and that was cool.”

The creativity required for writing and delivering his speech on a topic he cares about made all the difference. The formulaic five paragraph approach helped him develop reasons to support his claims about why we should allow more stem cell research.  But it was when the format and audience shifted that he began to care about his writing. He knew he would deliver the speech to his classmates, and he believes stem cell research improves people’s lives, so he wanted to convince his fellow classmates that they, too, should care about stem cell research.

My 14-year-old reported that he did a lot of writing this year, too. He said he wrote 2-3 times a week and at least once or twice a semester in all his core classes. His description of all that writing could also be summed up with one word: “boring.” When I asked him about the impact of all that writing, he admitted that it prepared him pretty well for the test. When I pressed him about the impact on his writing ability, he replied: “It made me worse, because it was always writing to a formula and there was no room to expand on my ideas and if I tried to diverge or experiment I was told to stop it.” Essentially, he was told that any divergence from the formula meant he would not get a “4” which would lead to various punishments such as loss of rewards or being placed in a lower-level class. I am not sure that he was actually told this cause-effect relationship or just something he construed.

Three disturbing facts came to light from this conversation. First, this idea that all this writing made him a worse writer. This goes against my experience as well as the research. We know that regular writing practice improves writing. However, none of that research (or my own experience as a writing teacher) mirrors this practice of repetitive formulaic writing. Second, and this worries me greatly as a parent and college writing instructor, was his worry that this type of writing has left him unprepared for the type of writing he will need to do in high school and college. He has learned the fine art of the bullshit essay, but not how to frame and support a good argument. Finally, there is his one-word indictment that writing is boring. I wish he had some experience like the stem cell speech, but there were only on-demand essays.

As a parent who loves words and writing and remembers the little boy who eagerly wrote poems and stories and web essays during summer writing camp, I am disappointed and angry that this focus on formulaic writing has made my son loathe writing and feel his ability is diminished. I understand why so much of his year was focused on preparing for on-demand and open response writing, but I can’t help thinking that all that time and effort could have been used so much more productively and still prepared him for the “test.” As a National Writing Project teacher and as a trained rhetorician, I am horrified at this practice. There are so many ways that teachers can give their students regular writing practice and prepare them for both standardized writing situations and the more complex writing tasks awaiting them in the future. And, I know, that there are so many ways to overcome the boredom and dislike this practice has manifested in our boys.

My students write a lot — in every class and between classes as well. I often kick classes off with some sort of prompt to help students gather their thoughts about the topic we will address that day and then use that writing to jumpstart in-class discussion and activities which will then lead into a reflective blog post (written outside of class) to connect the ideas they brought with them, that I shared, and that they heard and/or developed during the class discussion. This sort of purposeful low-stakes writing is great for supporting mindful learning and provides a solid foundation for later high-stakes assignments. By the time I give a major writing assignment my students are ready and raring to go with hundreds of words already drafted on the topic. This type of structure also gives students lots of writing practice in general — which would certainly support test preparation. Do you have any alternatives to suggest?

In addition to having students write a lot, I think it’s important for students to talk frequently. Typically, my students engage in Socratic seminar several times a semester. The critical thinking required in a seminar helps students learn to articulate ideas so others can understand their thinking which translates well to more coherent writing. Seminar also helps students learn to make logical points that support their arguments. In five-paragraph essay writing, we emphasize three main points, and often this formulaic approach translates into rote methods lacking depth of thought. By taking time to discuss their ideas before writing, students build stronger ideas and become more sophisticated in their writing. And really, isn’t moving beyond the five-paragraph essay about becoming more sophisticated?  We must believe students are capable of doing more and then show them how. Again, opportunities to talk help move students into more sophisticated writing because they learn to consider multiple perspectives. They also consider their own biases and they synthesize the ideas they hear from others into their own thinking. Taking time to ask students to write silently before and after a Socratic seminar provides them an opportunity to flesh out their thinking about what they’ve been reading and provides them an opportunity to build context needed for richer writing.

You are right. Talk, especially dialogue, is so important. I am always amazed at how ideas grow out of these conversations. The questions we raise lead to future discussions, research, and writing, and sometimes the ideas take us places we (not even I) expected or planned. That is why I like to pair the low-stakes writing of bellringers with reflective blog posts. The bellringers are intended to be conversation starters, but I believe it is important to follow-up those conversations with some reflection (which often generates a different conversation via blog comments). I think these three offer crucial preparations for learning.

An assignment that I like to use to prepare my students for more formal, high-stakes writing is something I call the Paper Trail assignment. Students develop argument topics out of our class and blog discussions, but before they can begin writing a formal argument paper they must review the texts we have discussion in class for appropriate sources and locate additional sources to support their work. The Paper Trail is a combination of the annotated bibliography with a research reflection introduction. In this introduction, students explore their research process and the primary focus of each text then explores the connections the writer found among these texts and helps the student focus their argument.

While I’ve never used The Paper Trail assignment with my students, I have used other inquiry-based culminating assignments students work toward completing throughout a series of weeks. Mostly, though, my solution for avoiding formulaic approaches rests in the idea of teaching writers through a workshop approach and through established classroom routines. My students have always enjoyed writing freely and in response to various stimuli, but we’re always writing daily, even if it’s a quick write warm-up. Wonderopolis and National Geographic provide terrific photos and videos as stimuli to get students thinking during daily quick-writes.

I think you touch on an important idea here that we should really emphasize. There isn’t one simple assignment or approach that is going to engage students and improve their writing. As part of my participation in the 2015 CLMOOC, I was thinking about systems which led me to think about the system I use to teach writing. This blog post, “A Systems Approach To Teaching,” is the result. I use a process- or workshop-based approach to teach writing with the intent to teach my students not only how to successfully complete the task at hand but to tackle future projects both in school and beyond.

As we have worked with pre-service teachers and other new and veteran teachers, we’re continuously asked about alternatives to formulaic approaches or about our favorite resources. 

A few favorite resources include:

Resources for discussion to enrich thinking and writing

• National Paideia Center (Socratic Seminar plans, videos, and other resources to enrich conversations)
• Facing History and Ourselves (examples of Fishbowl discussions)
• Kentucky Writing Project Rural Schools Professional Development Initiative (resources for teaching argument)
• Word Generation LDC (writing across disciplines)
• Bedford Bits (talk about teaching composition)
• Two Writing Teachers
• Writers Who Care (blog advocating authentic writing instruction)
• Edutopia

Resources for digital writing

• Digital Writing, Digital Teaching
• National Writing Project Digital Is
• Educator Innovator (writing category)

Resources for stimuli for daily quick-writes

• Wonderopolis
• National Geographic Photo of the Day
• Wikipedia Picture of the Day
• Article of the Week

What alternatives to formulaic writing practice do you employ to create writers in your classroom?

Turning My CV Into a Resume

Asked recently to provide my resume to our organization's files for new board members to learn more about our staff, I reluctantly submitted my ten page curriculum vita because I didn't have a traditional resume. My CV has worked for a career in teaching, but as I continue in the world of education nonprofit, the situation demands a more traditional resume. For the past several weeks I've been thinking and working to create a resume. I read What Color is Your Parachute by Richard Bolles, visited multiple websites, and spent hours over a few weekends distilling my professional career experience and skills into a shorter three pages (still not the ideal 1-2 pages, I know).

I found it difficult to admit that all my conference presentations and teacher publications don't mean anything in my new world. Seriously, I love public speaking, facilitating learning sessions, teaching, sitting on panels, writing curricular documents, and serving on review boards for various topics, and these things apparently don't really matter in my new world. Sadness. At least at first. When I got over myself about this though, I realized that an organization might not care about my academic persona as much as they care about what I can do for the organization. So, I tried to highlight specific skills such as grant management, supervisory experience, and strategic planning instead.

Likely, with one complete draft, I've only just begun this resume writing process, and since I'm not searching for a new job (I love the one I have), my new resume is not specific for a particular job search. If you're curious though or if resume writing is your speciality, and you'd like to provide me some feedback, you can see my ten page CV here and my new three page resume here. (I left my street address off both documents for privacy purposes, but I do know that and my telephone number should be added if I ever submit this for a job search.)

What do you think? Do you have a CV or a resume? Have you ever tried to turn a CV into a resume? Please share your thoughts so I can continue learning.

Sunday Salon: What I Read Online February 23-March 29

A month of balancing out of state travel and family life leaves me full of good online reads to share. Obviously, I won't be sharing everything here or the blog post would be way too long, but here are some of my favorites in the past month.

The hotel in Seattle where we met for our NT3 Learning Session 

New Ways of Thinking About School

I Wish Someone Had Intervened  by Heather Costaras conveys the story of a young girl whose needs are not being met in a traditional sit still school environment. Posts like these further emphasize the reason I remain in public education. We've got to make some changes for kids.

Every Child Deserves a World Class Education. Check out the #UpforSchool campaign.

In this post, an NBCT explains how she persevered through the National Board Certification Process even when it was tough.

Yet another reason to re-think our school models--Suspended Students Lose Millions of Days of Instruction While Out of School, a Washington Post article by Donna St. George.

We Should Be Teaching Our Students Like Yoda Taught Luke, a terrific article about personalized education by Vicki Phillips in Wired.

In The Power of Professional Capital by Andrew Hargreaves and Michael Fullan I learned about other countries in the world who treat their teachers like professionals who build a better nation. We can do this, America! It means we have to change our ways of thinking about teachers and teaching though.

Why I Quit Teaching by Adam Kirk Edgerton serves as an excellent reminder of why teachers should be treated like the professional adults they are.


Students at this School in NYC Get Jobs, Not Grades. Imagine the possibilities if we would think about making this type of school more accessible to more students in America.

Teenagers need playtime too. Nothing reminds me of this more than my own sons who consistently complain about how much they have to sit still at school.

The power of we in distributed leadership models within schools. Read this article if you care about new ways of leadership in our public schools.

Women, Leadership, and Self-Improvement

Read about amazing women who have accomplished much in life and also think about why we still need more women in particular fields Women's Work: Why We Need More Women in Media by Paula Kerger.

The 7 Habits of Truly Genuine People was a good reminder to me as I think about improving myself as a person and leader.

I've been thinking lately about the important connection between leaders and readers, so I found a few articles online on the topic including this one titled Is Reading Boring?

Though I'm not hugely into fashion, the article For Michelle Obama, Clothes That Lean In caught my attention because of the focus on Mrs. Obama wearing appropriate clothes for her mission to promote girls' education worldwide, and I certainly am into that.

This App Makes Your Phone Buzz When You Approach Places Where Women Made History. Not much else to say. Love it.

For fun & because I like to travel and enjoy watching Kentucky basketball...
Though it was a close call last night when Kentucky played Notre Dame, I read this second article a week earlier--Kentucky basketball is huge around here, and the biggest story right now relates to the historic number of wins. John Clay claims Kentucky will go all the way unbeaten. Of course, it's always fun to see Kentucky reflected positively in The New York Times.

As we continue planning our family summer vacation to Colorado, this article from The New York Times caught my attention since we will be staying in Steam Boat Springs for a large portion of our trip. The restaurant sounds lovely, and I look forward to trying the delicious sounding foods mentioned.

A view of the Space Needle from my room

Seattle, Washington remains one of my favorite cities in America to visit, and fortunately, I had the luxury of working there most of last week.

My work in the past week highlighted again the importance of teacher leadership. In our third learning session of the Network to Transform Teaching (NT3), we shared ideas across states and we made specific goals around the two aims. Read more about that work here.

I appreciated the focus on improved learning experiences for students as the reason why we need teachers leading in our schools and districts.

My Favorite Quotes from Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird

A couple of years ago a dear friend recommended Anne Lamott's brilliant book Bird by Bird to me. I remember my friend saying she laughed and cried as she read the book, so I added it to my reading list.

I  laughed, cried, learned, and loved while reading Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. Lamott's book left me thinking about myself as a writer, educator, parent, and person.

My favorite quotes when thinking about being...

A parent

"Perfectionism means that you try desperately not to leave so much mess to clean up. But clutter and mess show us that life is being lived. Clutter is a wonderfully fertile ground--you can still discover new treasures under all those piles, clean things up, edit things out, fix things, get a grip. Tidiness suggests that something is as good as it's going to get (29)."

Actually, this chapter about perfectionism speaks to many areas in my life, but I'm also find as I grow older it's easier for me to set aside a quest for perfection in everything. Writing and creating are messy and allowing myself, my children, my students to muck around in it is well worth forgoing the quest for tidiness.  When it comes to housework, well, anyone who knows me well knows I long ago I gave up on the idea of keeping our house perfectly clean and tidy (there are better things to do in life).

"Thirty years ago my older brother, who was ten years old at the time, was trying to get a report on birds written that he'd had three months to write. [It] was due the next day. We were out at our family cabin in Bolinas, and he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books on birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him, put his arm on my brother's shoulder, and said, 'Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird'"

I just love the story from which Lamott derives the title of her book Bird by Bird. The depiction of a father comforting a child and the wisdom and reality of chunking a big assignment into smaller pieces--relevant to all of us.

 

A writer

"For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really, shitty first drafts (22)."

From a chapter titled Shitty First Drafts, a quote reminding us that nobody is supposed to read our first drafts anyway, so it's really important to get all our thoughts recorded. I totally agree with Lamott and would never get anything written, ever, if I didn't let myself "pour it all out and romp all over the place."

"This is our goal as writers, I think; to help others have this sense of--please forgive me--wonder, of seeing things anew, things that can catch us off guard, that break in our small boarded worlds (100)." 

Ah, wonder! I'm a big believer in the sense of wonder and if being a writer means I might helps someone else cultivate a sense of wonder, then I'm all about it. Especially, when I think about not only being a writer but being an educator.

"Still, I believe in lists and I believe in taking notes, and I believe in index cards for doing both (133)."

Practical tip, of course, and Lamott shares the use of index card. Personally, I keep a small journal and if I'm out and about, I typically use the notes app on my phone.

An educator

"On a bad day you also don't need a lot of advice. You just need a little empathy and affirmation (157)."

A good reminder in many aspects of life, but especially a good reminder for a teacher providing feedback on student writing.

"When we listened to our intuition when we were small and then told the grown-ups what we believed to be true, we were often corrected, ridiculed, or punished. God forbid you should have your own opinions or perspectives (154)."

Another good reminder as educators--we need to listen to students.

A person

Really, the whole book spoke to me as a person, so I selected several of my favorite quotes to share with you here.

"Anyone who wants to can be surprised by the beauty or pain of the natural world, of the human mind and heart, and can try to capture just that--the details, the nuance, what is (101)."

"But you have to believe in your position, or nothing will be driving your work. If you don't believe in what you are saying, there is no point in your saying it (106)."

"Tell the truth and write about freedom and fight for it, however you can, and you will be richly rewarded (109)."

"Writing and reading decrease our sense of isolation. They deepen and widen and expand our sense of life: they feed our soul. When writers make us shake our heads with the exactness of their prose and their truths, and even make us laugh about ourselves or life, our buoyancy is restored (237)."

Why Teachers are Important: Insight from an 11 year old

As my boys grow older they are beginning to think about college, jobs, and careers. On a recent afternoon drive home from cross country practice, the boys started asking me about our evening. You know--the usual--What's for dinner? (pasta because they needed to carb load before their big cross country meet) When will dad be home? (late due to open house at the school where he teaches)  May we play computer games before homework? (no)  When I told them their dad would be home late, my oldest son immediately launched into all the reasons why he would "never become a teacher." I guess growing up as a child of educators, he's seen the good and the bad, but he mostly feels impacted by a desire to make more money than his parents ever have. While my older son was listing all the reasons why he would never become a teacher, my younger son piped up from the back seat "but, we need teachers or the world would be chaos." He went on to explain how he sees teachers as essential to helping students be well educated. It's true. Teachers are important, and they have the power to influence and impact change in our world. Teachers teach students to think, to dream, to create, to learn, and so much more, both academic and social.

Intro to a Written Conversation Series on Teaching and Elevating the Profession

A year and a half ago I wrote about how our original sole purpose for moving to Kentucky was complete when my husband finished his English doctoral program at the University of Kentucky. Since then, I've blogged about his graduation, search for a job, and our family vacations. If you read regularly, you've also read posts about my travel for work, my musings on a new job, my thoughts about literacy instruction, and my personal reading goals.

NEWS UPDATE: The most recent family and professional news to share is that my husband finally found a job, and he found that job right here in Kentucky when he decided that the world of higher education and academia left plenty to be desired. What interests him most is teaching and impacting lives, so he entered the world of K-12 education and accepted a high school teaching job in a neighboring town. Two and a half weeks ago he entered the high school English classroom and now teaches juniors and seniors. Fortuantely, the school recognized what he has to offer and also has him teaching a dual enrollment class for seniors earning college credit and high school credit at the same time.

The best part for me in all of this (other than that I get to stay in Kentucky for now)? Each evening I get to talk about teaching with Chris (Dr. Boss), and I get to collaborate on planning lessons with him. You know how much I love teaching, right? But, you likely also know that I left the high school classroom a few years back because I was weary and in need of a change. Since leaving, I've made it my mission to raise the voice of teachers and the profession. This is not a job for a single individual or even a small group of individuals, so I hope you will join me and my husband as we work together to impact the teaching profession. Stay tuned for future posts because Dr. Boss and I have a plan for sharing some of our conversations about teaching and elevating the profession.

Post 1: A World Enough and Time
Post 2: Building Strong Teacher-Student Relationships

Sunday Salon: What I Read Online August 11-17

 Kentucky specific

One of the most fun things I've had the opportunity to do in my new job at The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky was calling two of the grant award recipients to let them know they received an innovation grant.  Read about the grants for innovation here.

Pretty cool when Kentucky makes The New York Times.  In this article, you read about a university partnership with the community in Bowling Green.

I'm always interested in learning about how we ensure students are fed because it's hard to learn when you're hungry. Catch my post from last year on this topic or read this new article about Lexington participating in a new federal program to feed all students at 27 of our local public schools.

Effective Teaching

Read about how leader, Dr. Kiela Snider, a National Board Certified Teacher, used the NBCT process to turn around a failing school.

Another controversial week surrounding the Common Core took place in social media, so I enjoyed reading this blog by Sarah Brown Wessling where she debunks myths associated with the Common Core.

Anyone who knows me at all knows about my knee jerk reaction and passionate advocacy opposing worksheets in schools.  Check out this article shared by Lauren Hill but guest blogged by her daughter's first and third grade teacher, Shelly Praria.  Even the title of the worksheet "I Remember That Worksheet" Said No Child Ever! makes me want to shout in agreement.


Overall life in general

Have you ever considered telling a story about what you do? In this article, Alexandra Franzen shares how to tell people what you do and be remembered for it.

Speaking of story, if you haven't checked out the magazine Cake & Whiskey, you should definitely read it for a fresh perspective on women in the business world. The magazine is beautiful and in our online dominated world, this magazine presents itself primarily in print with gorgeous photos and stories to enjoy (and minimal advertisements). The article I read originally appeared in print, but was shared online this week in remembrance of Edith Flagg.

Finally, I'm always looking for healthy lunch alternatives for my sons since they want me to pack their lunches every single day, every single week, every single year.  That's hundreds of peanut butter and banana sandwiches. We don't buy lunchables, but I certainly don't nail all the healthy suggestions by Lisa Leake either.  Her blog is always inspiring though!

Kentucky and Colorado Teachers Collaborate to Create Units of Study with LDC Modules Embedded Within

Seattle, Washington

From Seattle to Colorado to right here in Kentucky the collaborative spirit has been an important  productive struggle for teachers and partners participating in the Common Assignment Study (CAS). In the CAS, Kentucky and Colorado teachers continue to lead the way with the implementation of new standards in both states.  For the past year, teachers from Kentucky and Colorado have been collaborating to create units of study containing embedded Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) modules.  Hundreds of students in each state have been impacted by these high quality units, and dozens of teachers have learned from one another about what makes an effective unit and what quality student work looks like.

This summer we expanded our participation from 24 Kentucky teachers to 64 from five different Kentucky districts. Colorado has similar numbers of teachers from multiple districts participating in the study. To launch the expansion, The Fund for Transforming Education in Kentucky hosted Colorado educators and all our CAS partners twice this summer. We held the first session in northern Kentucky at Dixie Heights High School in late June. High School English Language Arts teachers and middle school history teachers joined forces to revise the units they implemented in 2013-2014 based on the results of student work they analyzed together using CAS partner created protocols. Joining us at this work session were school and district leaders from participating sites because we continue to learn the importance of school and district leadership with ensuring successful implementation. The leaders need to hear from teachers about what they need (time is always a big one) for collaborating with colleagues.

My son running XC on beautiful day in Lexington, KY

Our second session, in mid-July, was held in Lexington at Edith J. Hayes Middle School, and included a larger group of high school social studies, middle school English language arts, and both middle and high school science. Following the same protocols used at the June convening, teachers again worked to refine lessons and collaborate with teachers experienced in the CAS project and teachers joining new for the first time this year. This intentional design allowed teachers new to the project this year to work collaboratively with teachers who created the initial units last summer. This approach, though not easy, encouraged the newly joining teachers to take equal ownership of the units they will teach in 2014-2015.

As The Fund's Initiative Director for this project, one of my favorite parts is the equal focus on process and product. Yes, we're working to create units, rubrics, and protocols, but we are also experimenting with collaborative processes across school, district, and state lines. I'm not alone in thinking collaboration is a valuable part of our Common Assignment Study.  When asked what they liked about the collaborative process at the summer convenings, here's what we heard from some of the teachers...

"collaborative efforts of a lot of great minds"

"I liked that we came from different backgrounds"

"multiple perspectives"

"Collaboration was streamlined, and everyone was more comfortable speaking up"

"Again, collaboration with like minded experts always leads to new and productive ideas.  I always get better with my craft when surrounded by comrades."

Loveland, Colorado

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Other posts about this project by me & by others

Common Assignment Study Gears Up for Second Year

Online Tools for Collaborating Across States

Common Assignment Study Post 1

Bridging the Digital Divide in Classrooms by Brison Harvey

Introducing Common Assignment Study  A three part post by Brison Harvey

A Storify all about the HS English Spring Unit by Colorado Teacher, Danny Holloweg

Why I Support the Common Core

 With continued backlash against the Common Core State Standards, I decided I should take some time to blog about why I support the standards as a parent and as an educator.  I do not support all the scenarios I've seen/heard regarding implementation (and companies trying to make a profit) but for the standards themselves--I support them.  Here's why--

My Point of View as a Parent

1.  My son's writing has improved because he's writing in his content classes (English, science, social studies).  He's not writing fluff either.  He's writing academic essays and research papers, the kind of writing he will do when he goes to college.

2.  My son gets to read the nonfiction texts he enjoys.  Because of the push to include more nonfiction texts, he's reading both fiction and nonfiction now, and that makes sense to me.  He also gets to select what he reads for indepedent reading (he often chooses fiction) because his teachers support effective literacy practices that encourage student choice in reading.  Now some would say that's the opposite of what the CCSS require, but I would argue that it's poor implementation and poor instructional practices that lead people down the path of no student choice in reading.

3.  My son is learning math that will help him as he pursues his interests in STEM fields.  Because he started learning the new math standards in elementary school, by the time he started middle school, he was ready for more intense math courses.  He's learning math now that I didn't learn until my high school years, and it's working for him.  He enjoys it and even gets up early to go to school for extra help if he needs it, and the teacher is there to provide that support.

4.  My son is creating digital projects as called for in the Common Core.

5.  My son is rising to the high expectations set forth in these College and Career Readiness standards.  He's being challenged, and he's learning.  Isn't that the goal of school--learning!?

My Point of View as an Aunt

My nieces and nephews are also rising to the challenges of the Common Core at their schools in North Carolina.  However, because of poor implementation and in some situations poor instructional practices or poor decisions made by the schools and districts, my young nieces and nephews are spending hours each night on homework.  In my sisters' eyes, this is because of the CCSS.  I can't blame them for thinking this, especially since the schools tell them it's because of the standards.  This, to me, screams of poor implementation and poor decisions made by people working with the teachers.  As committed parents, my sisters are pushing through the situation and are willing to consider this distinction between the standards themselves and poor implementation of them.

My Point of View as an Educator

As an educator I support the Common Core State Standards.  I have spent countless hours (hundreds) working with the standards beginning before they were published in their final drafts.  Throughout these hundreds of hours I've worked on understanding, helping others understand, deconstructing, creating lessons and assessment items and teaching the standards.

In these hundreds of hours, I've met middle and high school teachers who like the Common Core, are implementing the standards and are pleased with the results.  A benefit as a teacher is the common language and collaboration across schools, districts, and states.  Too often teaching becomes a place where you feel like you are on an island by yourself.  Because of the common language and learning standards, teachers can now collaborate across state lines and share best practices in teaching.

In my teaching life (teaching pre-service teachers) I have taught the standards as a way to model what my students will teach in their middle and high school classrooms.  The benefit in this situation is that as pre-service teachers, students can practice teaching lessons they might actually use in their classrooms when they are hired as teachers.

My Questions

My biggest questions for those who oppose the Common Core State Standards include

• How much time have you spent with the standards?  
• Have you taught any of the standards yourself? 
• Are you opposed to the standards or how they are being implemented and tested on a large scale?

Kentucky Educators Collaborating with Colorado Educators to Implement Common Core

After an amazing week in Colorado, I can honestly say I'm completely grateful for my job and the opportunities I have to work with educators in Kentucky and across the country.  Each morning last week as I drove to the beautiful Thompson School District Training facility, I drove toward the Rocky Mountains and past a beautiful lake.  The scenery wasn't the only amazing aspect of the week, I worked with excellent educators who all desire the same thing for all students--an equitable opportunity to learn and grow.

This meeting was exceptional because after one face-to-face workshop last summer and a full semester of virtual collaboration on the creation of a unit, teachers were again face-to-face to create new units for the spring semester.  They are creating common units around common content standards, but not scripted step-by step standardized units.  Each teacher contributes to the lessons and makes appropriate adjustments to meet the needs of individual learners in each class.  Teachers are encouraged to think beyond multiple choice tests and toward performance based assessments that will measure deeper learning.   Importantly, teachers lead the unit design and make decisions about the units; their work is facilitated by content experts from Stanford's Center for Assessment Learning and Equity. 

The groups begin by creating Enduring Understandings as learned in our work over the years with Understanding by Design.  These guiding questions serve as a driving force for the the unit of study.  The focus on larger concepts, principles, and ideas keeps us away from a focus on discrete skills alone and helps us consider ideas that will be more engaging to students.  For example, the high school English Language Arts group is looking at the impact of social media on language, and the high school science group is thinking about how humans affect biodiversity. 

Within these larger units of study Literacy Design Collaborative (LDC) modules are embedded.  LDC offers an instructional ladder (with mini tasks developed by teachers) designed to help students attain and surpass the demands of the Common Core literacy standards in each subject area.  Effective implementation is vital with both LDC and larger units for teaching the Common Core State Standards.   That's why our Common Assignment Study is exciting.  We have selected top notch teachers who know how to meet the needs of their students and who are always seeking to grow as learners and professionals.

As a former teacher, I know I would have enjoyed an experience like this, so to be there in a support and leadership capacity, was interesting and invigorating in a new way.  I collaborated as a leader because leaders also have to be willing to work together to create the systems and structures we need in schools, districts, and states to support the work of teachers and the learning of students.

5 Things I've Learned In Two Years of Blogging

On a similar winter day two years ago, I started this blog as a way to reflect and voice my thoughts on

Our backyard in Lexington, KY

education, teaching, and learning.  I selected the title--Learning to Muse--with great thought and consideration about my mission.  My mission is not only to reflect but also to encourage conversation about education re-design, to share thoughts about learning and teaching, and to encourage parents and community members to be involved in public education.

1.  Optimism is essential.   The blogs I most enjoy reading are those that look at life through a positive lens, so I aim to stay as optimistic as possible when I blog too.  An ongoing post I try to write (but haven't been able to complete yet) is about being an idealist who's also an optimist.  Nevertheless, I have written multiple times this past year about dealing with negative people, about looking past complacent people in the workplace, and about staying positive about the work teachers are doing to educate children. 

2.  Writing takes commitment.  I guess I didn't learn this only through blogging, but the persistence required to maintain a blog has been more readily revealed to me.  I've read many other bloggers who write about the importance of a blogging schedule (I'm still working on that one).  The first year I always made sure to post at least one new blog entry per week.  This year I let a few weeks slip by without posting something new, and I always felt a twinge of guilt because I really wanted to write and had plenty of topics, but neglected to follow through every week.

3.  Collaboration beats isolation.  From teaching ideas to parenting tips, any time I can collaborate my life improves.  Sure, collaboration is messy and sometimes difficult, but the benefits far outweigh working or living in isolation.  This past year I had numerous opportunities to collaborate with colleagues on a number of projects, and I even started a new job focused on collaboration between Kentucky and Colorado educators.  This year also marked a turning point in my social media use and the building of my online professional learning community (PLN).  In 2013 I also had more time with my little family of four, and this made the collaborative parenting approach my husband and I enjoy all the better.

4.  Teaching and leading can happen together.  My post about leaving teaching continues to be one of the most popular posts on this blog.  This year, in particular, I spent a lot of time thinking about teaching and leading and how they can happen together.  I also made my foray back into the classroom, only this time at the university level teaching future teachers (part-time--love it!). 

5.  Lexington is a cool place to live.  This year marked our ten year anniversary of living in Kentucky, USA.  As you will read in this popular post, I was never really excited about moving here.   Becoming involved in my community is what changed my view, and this year a highlight of my involvement was when I served as Movie Captain for Girl Rising and gathered nearly 200 people from Lexington and the surrounding areas together at the historic Kentucky Theatre for a viewing of this important film about girls' education.  Now, I can't imagine leaving Lexington, and I find myself hoping my husband might miraculously find full-time work here.

For the Love of Social Studies!

“As long as I don’t have to miss social studies” was the reply from my ten-year-old son when I told him the school interventionist was going to start pulling him for extra help with reading two times per week.  Really, I couldn’t agree more with him.  You see, my ten-year-old loves history, and has loved history for most of his elementary school aged years, but this year (5^th grade) is the first year he has had regular social studies instruction.

Fortunately for my son, he also has a 5^th grade teacher who happens to love history too.  She is a National Board Certified Teacher who is dynamic, reflective, thoughtful, and purposeful with instruction.  She also understands the importance of kids moving, exploring, and learning in non test-prep ways (in most of Kentucky, public schools only teach social studies in 5^th grade because that’s the year it’s tested for the state testing system).  This is wrong, and even slightly illegal, given that the state has required social studies standards for every year of a child’s elementary grade.  Unfortunately, schools feel pressured by the high-stakes testing and accountability system, so most schools in Kentucky only teach a subject if it’s tested that year  (they only teach science during 4^th grade—the year it’s tested, much to the dismay of my older son who loved science and only had it one year grades K-5).

I have written about this frustrating system and approach in previous posts and have shared ways my husband and I have worked to supplement our sons’ public school experiences.  Rather than make this post another soapbox post about how much I want the system to change, I’ve decided to focus on Isaac’s love of history and the great year he’s having because he’s receiving excellent social studies instruction—something that really interests him. 

Isaac says his teacher makes history interesting because she has students role-play, debate, ask lots of questions, read and write (all called for by the Common Core) and explore artifacts she’s collected and keeps in her room.  She also enriches standards based classroom instruction with games and field trips.

On a recent field trip to Fort Boonesborough, the students dipped candles, learned about blacksmithing, heard about Daniel Boone, and very impressively--discussed with one another primary and secondary sources and historical artifacts. They knew what they were talking about, and they were curious, bright-eyed, and attentive as they walked from cabin to cabin.

Not only does Isaac's teacher provide explicit and purposeful social studies instruction, she also supplements the history standards that are part of her fifth grade curriculum with social studies issues related to present day, and she recommends books to children based on their interests.  For Isaac, her recommendation included Kate Messner’s Capture the Flag, set in Washington D.C. (specifically Regan National Airport). This was perfect because Isaac had the requisite background knowledge since our family flew into this airport for our Washington D.C. trip during spring break last year.

 She’s also currently working children’s rights into her instruction and having children learn about Malala and watch clips from the film Girl Rising.  These issues are pertinent to children having a global perspective about the world in which we live.  Even though the standardized test children will take in the spring is focused on early American history, this teacher understands the importance of children learning about the bigger world in which we live.  She purposefully works into instruction issues and topics relevant to current political events as well as historical events being remembered. 

I decided to check out what the National Council for the Social Studies has to say about learning social studies in elementary school.  Turns out, they have plenty to say about “powerful and purposeful teaching of social studies in elementary schools.” They share links to research and documentation about how the subject has been marginalized in the years since No Child Left Behind was passed.  One of the many important quotes from their site--

“teachers should ensure that the social studies experiences woven throughout the curriculum follow logical sequences, allow for depth and focus, and help young learners move forward in their acquisition of knowledge and skills. The curriculum should not become, in the pursuit of integration, a grab bag of random social studies experiences that are related marginally to a theme or project. Rather, concepts should be developed to assure coherence and meaning.”

Thankfully, my son’s teacher practices purposeful instruction and keeps Isaac’s love of history alive each day ensuring he experiences coherence and meaning with what he learns.  We are grateful beyond belief for this excellent teacher and the fabulous year Isaac is experiencing.