A Side Note

I will preface this post by saying I had written this entry over a year ago, and I never published it.  When looking back on my drafts, I had the unsettling realization that there will most likely come another time that would make this post relevant, and unfortunately, that time has come yet again.  It is my sincere hope that we will see change one day.

After some current news stories, I felt the need to take a side note from writing about educational policy and instructional practices, and to focus on one of the major life lessons that schools have the opportunities of teaching.

One of the great parts about life in America is the freedom we are given to do with it what we choose.  The freedom of choice is an incredible right, as well as privilege, we have bestowed upon us.  The "future" is created by our choices.  Schools often have programs to teach about good decisions, and we even see mass produced posters with inspirational quotes encouraging kids to make good choices.  However, with recent events taking place, I think the message is bigger than a poster can deliver.

Choices define who we become.  We make choices every day, some more important than others.  The choices we make then become our legacy.  Our individual, unique choices create our character.  The magnitude of our freedom of choice is sometimes lost on adolescents.  I think the method in helping these students understand the impact of their choices can be found in the instruction in our classrooms.  Showing students that there is a world for them to conquer with their unique skill set is a vital aspect in classrooms.  By providing opportunities for students to shine, as well as giving praise, will build confidence in children to make good decisions.

Not only teachers and schools, but as adults, and humans in general, it is our responsibility to do what we can to ensure that children understand the value of choices in life.  Again, this is food for thought, a side note from my normal blogs, but I felt after recent events it is important to remember the impact of our choices.

From Theory to Practice

Educators constantly find themselves in a perpetual state of trying to get better at their craft.  As I have mentioned in previous blogs, I live and die by my PLC.  This year, we have decided to attempt to bring together all of our endeavors and professional development into a nice, neat package we like to call "self paced units with a side of guided reading".  As we begin to receive more training in literacy and guided reading groups, we hope to see this model develop even further next year (again with that perpetual state of growing).  However, after two full years of attempting the beginning stages of blended learning, we feel we have a strong grasp on how to structure our self paced units, and now we are ready to move one step further.

Management of Unit
Our learning management system, Schoology, has some great features that assisted us in this process.  One of the biggest obstacles we struggled with during our blended learning pilot was the management of student work.  We tried many different avenues on how to deliver directions to students whether it be through QR codes, Schoology pages, or hard copy paper. We also found it difficult to keep track of student progress.  These issues have been alleviated with the use of Schoology's student completion option.

The student completion option allows you to digitally manage the requirements for student work.  You are given options based on the type of assignment.  For example, assignments are given the option to "make a submission" or "score at least..."  This tackles the problem of delivering directions to students who are working at their own pace.  

The final problem to tackle is monitoring student progress while students are all at different places in the assignments.  The student completion option comes to the rescue once again!

Notice the requirements are also written under each assignment now

The student completion option will generate a class roster with a percentage bar that will inform the teacher of each students' progress throughout the self-paced activities.

Instructional Design
With the management piece under our belt, we were able to get creative with the instructional portion.  Since Schoology allowed for a seamless management of self-paced activities, we felt we could now tier the self paced work to each student's individual level.  We created three separate groups based on lexile level, and we created tiered activities using Bloom's taxonomy for each group.  Every group was working on the same four skills; however, their individual activities looked different.  Students were instructed to use their "Task Sheet" to guide their self-paced work.

While groups were engaged in self-paced work, we were free to pull small groups for traditional guided reading lessons.  We started with a mini lesson on our weekly skill focus every Tuesday.  This skill focus would be the goal of the guided reading groups.  Students would engage in before, during, and after reading activities with readings at their lexile level. Every Thursday, students would reflect on the skill focus using a 4-3-2-1 scale as well as answer an application question to determine if they truly understood the weekly skill focus.  This data would drive our one on one meetings every Friday while the remaining students worked independently on an Achieve 3000 article to help boost their lexile.

With our ever increasing knowledge base accompanied by the variety of tools in our educator "toolbox", we are able to design a classroom environment that catapults many of the educational theories into a working practice.  It is important to remember that every classroom looks different, and to turn every classroom into the same would result in the feared "robotic teaching".  Infusing these practices with our personalities and our desired classroom structure will result in a seamless transition.  While we keep in mind researched, best practices, we must also keep in mind what works for our classroom, and more importantly, our students.

Restart and Refresh

After a hiatus from blogging, I am returning with a refreshed and renewed mindset.  I began blogging two years ago with my post "New Beginnings", and coincidentally, I could title this post the same thing.  I became a mother to my baby boy, Henry, this past May.  Being a mother has instilled a new sense of purpose in my life, as well as in the classroom.  Each night when I watch the evening news, I am reminded as to how chaotic and crazy our world can be, but I am also reminded of the responsibility I have not only as a mother now, but as a classroom teacher, to encourage our youth to curate their passions and skills into a future where they contribute to a positive and successful society.

Henry Thomas
(Humble Mom Brag)

One of the best parts about teaching is the fact that we get a new beginning every year.  Not many other professions can say that about their livelihood.  We have all read more than enough articles and blog posts about the exhausting and draining nature of the teaching profession that one can only truly understand if they have stepped foot into a classroom as a teacher. I would be lying to say I have never found myself in a state of utter defeat.  However, it's reassuring to know that these attitudinal phases are common among the profession.  According to the New Teacher Center, first year teachers experience this sense of survival and disillusionment, but I would argue even experienced teachers can travel through these same phases on any given year of their career.

http://www.newteachercenter.org/blog/phases-first-year-teaching

As I travel through the anticipation stage, I am reminded again of my purpose as an educator in our world today.  Since the survival phase is looming, I have reflected on some important aspects to hopefully prolong the survival phase, and maybe completely eliminate the dreaded disillusionment phase this year.

Student Learning: Ultimately we enter into this profession for one reason: helping students learn.  We understand the complex nature of this seemingly simple task.  However, if we plan with the idea of student learning always in the forefront of our minds, then we are moving in the right direction.  Students are the reason we are in the classroom, and when we lose sight of that, we lose sight of our purpose.

Compassion: Another unique nature of our profession is our clientele - adolescents.  We are all aware of the psychological and physical changes happening during adolescence. We need to be there to guide our students down the avenues that will help them choose success.  We cannot make their decisions, but we can provide support.  This is where compassion becomes the single most important trait we must keep in mind when working with our clientele.  If we always remember to be compassionate, we will be providing our students with arguably the most important thing they need at this moment in their life: a safe place with someone who cares.

Remembering YOU: Often times, educators (or any working member of society) get caught up in the demands of their work and forget about themselves.  I strongly believe one of the secrets to being successful at your job is to take time away from the work and do something for yourself.  Becoming a mother has made this theory more clear than ever.  Thus why I am also picking up the blogging pen again too.  The reason we become overworked and drained is because we forget to take care of ourselves.  To live our purpose, we must also be a bit selfish.

As we move forward with this school year, it is important to remember this year is another new beginning.  We need to celebrate our small successes and always remember our purpose.  It is my hope for Henry that one day, when he turns on the evening news, he will see a world where we work together instead of against each other, and where we use our unique skills to contribute to the good our society has to offer, as opposed to simply ignoring our own special set of skills and passions.

In the meantime, I will continue to take small steps in the environment I have been given to help contribute to my vision...

The Constant and The Variables

Education is at a pivotal crossroads with schools experiencing many changes.  There is a pendulum that consistently swings back and forth in educational policy.  We are currently in a rapid movement on that pendulum with shifts towards blended learning, small group instruction, and increasing technology tools to supplement best practices.  Every day I see teachers working hard to keep up with the changes to stay relevant for the students.  Because that's who this is all for.  The students.  They are our customers, and they are what drives every decision that is made.  And the great teachers I know work every day to make sure their plans will engage every student.

In my four short years of teaching, I have witnessed many changes within our school building, our district, and our state education policies.  I would be naive to think this is the only time in my career that I will experience such vast changes.  However, after one full week back at school, I have realized that there is one constant amidst all these changes.  The constant is the teacher.  The teacher is the constant image students will associate with "school" between the many innovative changes.  When asking students about their favorite class, they most likely reply with a class where they felt like the teacher truly cared.  The variables within education do not define the classroom experience.  Students need more than a research based instructional method.  Students need a teacher who guides them during some of their most defining years in their life.  State mandates do not ask students how their football game went, and iPads do not console a student on a bad day.

At this point last year, I felt overwhelmed while trying to adjust to a 1:1 iPad classroom with instructional shifts to blended learning.  Now that I start year two, I can reflect on what really makes a classroom work.  It comes down to the teacher.  The relationships formed with my students will dictate how any innovative instructional practice is perceived by them.

As we educators begin this trek through the changes, we must always remember that we are the ones who will never go away.  As we spend countless hours outside the classroom learning new tricks and adjusting past lessons to fit new practices, we must remember that sometimes the students just need us to smile at them.  As we have those days throughout the year when we feel bogged down and burned out, we must remember that we are making a difference for some students just by being there.

We must remember, we are the constant amidst all the variables.

A Controversial Approach to Reading Instruction

As a student, I always favored writing over reading.  The same applies as an adult.  Hence some of the spelling errors I find in my blog posts after I publish them.  I enjoy the writing process, not necessarily the re-reading process.  I envy the population of adults and children who can whip through 300 page books in a couple days, then pick up another, and fly right through it at the same speed as the prior.

And here's where the controversy begins.  I teach reading.

Don't get me wrong.  I agree there is absolutely nothing better than getting into a good book.  I get so into some books that it takes me several months to pick up a new one when I finish that good book.  That feeling of finishing a book is one that should be felt by every human being.  It's a sense of accomplishment, but more so, it's a time to engage into another world.  That relaxing escape is just what we need from time to time.

So as I sit in my living room preparing and planning for the upcoming school year, I have noticed something very interesting about my reading ability.  Something I have always known, but it became ever more prevalent lately.  I am a professional skim-reader.  I am not illiterate.  I know how to read, but I just cannot get through a reading that I have zero interest in.  As I prepare to teach stories that I am unfamiliar with, I feel a sense of discomfort.  I began to read a classic seventh grade short story when after a few sentences, I went straight to a Cliff Notes website.  Why should we force our students to read a "mandatory" reading just because every seventh grader in the world reads that story?  I read when I am interested in the content or when I am excited about the reading.  Shouldn't reading be the focus in an English classroom rather than specific readings?  I cannot get my students excited about a reading that I myself am not excited about.  However, I can get my students excited about the opportunity to engage in reading something of interest because that is how you develop students who love reading.

Here is my proposal:

• Teach the process of reading.
• However, if students would rather engage in a book mentally than put post it notes all over it, then let them.
• Do not put time lines on reading.
• Encourage sharing of good (and bad) readings.
• Do not force students to read something just because someone, somewhere, determined that is the reading all seventh grade students in the United States should read at that point in their life.
• Let students read any genre or format - magazines, recipes, websites, etc.
• Allow students to skim or "cheat" when necessary (Controversial? It's what a lot of adults do).
• Let students use their reading for a greater good.

Let me elaborate.  If a student has not learned the basic phonics skills to read, then that is one thing that requires skill building.  However, the majority of students I encounter in middle school know how to read, and they simply need to read more to advance as readers.  They end up hating reading because they are allotted no choice in the stories, books, magazines they read in school. Even worse, they are evaluated on their reading skills based on a few generic readings in a standardized test, that I as an adult can barely get through without snoring.  

I will admit, my proposal can become a management nightmare for a teacher, which is what scares me to completely switch to my own proposal.  However, I think it is worth the forfeit of control.  Reading and writing are extremely important skills that will never go away.  I sometimes take for granted my ability to read and write.  By teaching students to love reading, we will see students grow as readers and writers.  And when they do not necessarily love a particular reading that they may be required to read, teach the life skills to get the reading done, even if it means finding Internet resources to help them comprehend the reading.

Sure, this approach may ruffle some feathers as we tend to be bound by our curriculum resources.  I fully admit that I still teach the required readings because it is easy to manage, and because I have developed great resources for these readings.  However, I cannot and will not ignore the sight of my students grunting and groaning as I have them follow along with a required reading.  

Reading should not be "turn to page 72 and follow along".  Reading should not be "answer questions 1-5 after reading this story."  

Reading should spark curiosity.  Reading should be fun.  Reading should be a method to help us grow as humans.

If we as a community of adults take the time to reflect on our own reading practices, then we will begin to see our students as individual readers who all have unique reading habits.  We should encourage the act of reading in whatever way possible.

The Epiphany

It is very easy to forget what it feels like as a student.  Educators can research, theorize, and consequently blog (guilty) about best practice classrooms.  We can get on our pulpit and preach that things must change.  But do we truly know what it feels like for a student to sit in a classroom on a daily basis?  One of the bullet points in the current education movement is "teachers should be learners".  Makes sense, right?  Because best practice says teachers should "model" learning.  But are we truly learning along with our students?

This summer, I decided to pursue a personal interest.  Photography.  I received a fancy-pants DSLR Nikon camera for Christmas, and I came to the conclusion that Pinterest wasn't giving me enough instruction.  I needed an expert.  After browsing the community college's website, I came across a 3-week photography class.  Every Wednesday night, I now go to class, camera in tow.  We learn about the functions of the camera, and we see examples.  We are given ungraded assignments.  I look forward to these assignments each week.  I can't wait to try what I learned.  When I return to class, we sit as a group, and our instructor gives us feedback.  He even says, "If you don't get a chance to do the assignment, please still come to class!"  He actually looks for students who struggled and failed at portions of the assignment.  He says this is the best way to learn.  We are given creative freedom with no consequences for failing other than constructive feedback.  Lots of constructive feedback.  I smile as I leave class each Wednesday because I truly feel myself learning and growing.

Let's review.

1. I chose the topic to learn about because I found it interesting.
2. We are given practice assignments, with flexibility.
3. I practice every free second I can during the week.
4. Feedback is given every time.
5. Failure is okay, and it is actually beneficial to the learning process.
6. I look forward to going back to class.

This past Wednesday, as I was sitting in class learning about some of the more technical functions of a camera, I had an epiphany.

What if the instructor gave me a test on these multiple new terms and their function during the following week?  Would I still enjoy this photography class as much if I was expected to memorize everything I learned for a test?

My immediate reaction to my thoughts resulted in a pit in my stomach.  UGH.  I would hate coming to class knowing the instructor expected me to memorize and learn every single thing he taught the prior week.  I would not waste my time learning something new if that were the case.  I would stick with Pinterest.

Now here comes the epiphany.  This is what is happening in our classrooms.  It took me to become a student to truly come to understand the disservice we are doing to our future generations.  Sure, I have been a student in the past year while completing my Masters Degree, but that took place in a traditional classroom setting.  I stressed out each week rushing to read school law cases so I was prepared when the professor would randomly call on me.  I stuck my nose in the book to get that elusive "A" on the pop quiz.  I rushed before class to skim the Plain Dealer because we would get extra credit if we could contribute a current event to class.  I personally love the news, but I didn't enjoy learning about the news when I felt pressured.

I am now a student in a classroom where I enjoy what I am learning, and I am motivated to pursue the learning outside the classroom.  Reason being, I am interested in the content, and I see value in the learning.  The contrast of my experience as a student in both settings has given me a glaring realization.  With the interest-based class model with constructive and descriptive feedback, I was motivated to create these images with trial and error as my trusty sidekick husband gave me feedback (and constructed my tripod).

Why would our students want to learn when the result is a letter on a test...sometimes a sticker if they are lucky.  If the purpose of school is to promote learning, then we must structure the classrooms where learning is something to get excited about.  We must have serious discussion about the methods we use to assess students.  We must rethink how we structure curriculum.  We must begin to really take note of students' interests.  We must not ignore the obvious, and we must begin to take steps to change the culture of the classroom. 

Story of a PLC

Education is full of acronyms.  It makes sense; educators and other education professionals always seem to be juggling their work load and multi tasking every minute of the day, so it would benefit them to save time by abbreviating everything.  Sometimes, it seems as if us educators speak a foreign language full of simply acronyms.

"Did you check the BIP for the IEP to make sure we are ready for our GLM in which we discuss the value of the RTI process for individual students, in regards mainly to the PARCC, which will consequently affect OTES?"

I know you educators are smiling with pride as you feel part of the elite population who truly understands the above statement.  However, in the midst of multiple, sometimes unnecessary, acronyms, the one that stands out in extra bold print among the rest is PLC.

A PLC is a Professional Learning Community.  The term brought to fruition by Robert DuFour.  My PLC was the anchor to all things created, attempted, and revised during my first year implementing blended learning.  Much of what was accomplished in the past year would not have happened without a proper functioning, ongoing, continuous PLC.  Carmen Walker (@RidgeWalker7) and I would use our PLC to plan units, analyze data, reflect/revise, and create from there.  Each PLC functions differently, but with our district's blended learning initiative, we found the following process to be extremely vital to a successful implementation and shift to blended learning.

• Identify Learning Targets
• We always started with the Common Core standards to dictate and guide our curriculum and unit planning.  This is the only starting point that I know of that begins the PLC on a stream-lined mission in planning out the learning experience.  Without a learning target, there is no "why" behind a unit.
• Create Pre/Post Assessments
• It is always good to start with the end in mind.  What do you want your students to learn from the unit?  Our next step is always planning our pre and post assessments.  We do not always rely on traditional assessments.  Sometimes we use this step to discuss potential for alternative assessments such as a newscast. 
• Build Unit Plan Template
• We would not function without our unit plans.  With blended learning, we found unit planning to be much more beneficial than daily lesson plans due to the nature of the classroom environment.  Every student usually takes a different path to achieve the learning target, so we like to plan a unit structure as opposed a "one size fits all" daily lesson plan.  Our unit plans work in conjunction with the next step.
• Decide on Instructional Method
• As we are building our unit plan, we decide on which instructional method is most effective to teach the desired skills.  We have used learning centers, station rotations, choice boards, self-directed, and gradual release models.  We have found that committing to one instructional model all year is not the most engaging technique for middle school students.  Also, blended learning is a shift in instruction, so we experimented with many instructional models to see what gave us the best classroom environment to reach all students' needs.
• Collaborate to Build Activities
• Our unit plans are built in Google Drive which has been the best addition to our PLC.  By definition, PLCs should be ongoing and continuous.  We are constantly updating and revising our unit plans outside of our designated PLC time.  When we find an app that didn't work out well, we make note of it in our unit plan.  When we are developing center activities, we divide and conquer the work load.  Cloud based websites add that extra component for PLC collaboration throughout the school year.
• Plan Formatives
• Since many of our units require independent learning, it is vital to plan for "checkpoints" in the form of formative assessments.  We plan skill checkpoints to ensure our students are learning or if we they require small group instruction.  Most of our direct instruction comes in the form of small group instruction, so we require these formatives to plan our small group.
• Integrate and Research Digital Opportunities
• Since we are fourteen years into the 21st century, it seems about time we start altering our instruction to include the may digital opportunities provided to our students in the real world.  At this point in our PLC, we look at our unit and determine where we can include technology to supplement the learning process.  We also start the conversation of what type of technology would best suit what we are asking our students.  We spend time researching new apps as well as revisiting old digital resources.  We use these digital opportunities for each step of the unit planning process.
• Determine Areas of Intervention/Acceleration
• As we get into the unit, we use PLC to determine areas of intervention and acceleration.  These areas cannot be determined until students are engaged in the activities.  We sometimes create a separate document on Google Drive to plan our these activities as we see fit.  These activities are planned separately from the initial practice activities set forth in the unit plan.
• Reflect on Data
• PLC is a lot of discussion and reflection.  We use a great deal of time within a unit reflecting with one another about what has worked.  We use hard numbers from assessments as well as simple anecdotes from the classroom.  These conversations are crucial in growing as a PLC.  After three years of working together, we have yet to duplicate a unit the same way we had the year prior.  Now with the use of unit plans in the Cloud, we are able to add comments about our reflections to revise for the following year.

Here is my first attempt at an infographic using Piktochart that will sum up the information provided above.  

[Click infographic for larger image]

PLCs are not something to be ignored.  When each member contributes and follows a common mission, the results will show in the classroom.  With the many changes in education, it is more important than ever to rely and support your PLC partners and fellow educators.  And now, we can take it even further with yet another acronym - PLN (Professional Learning Network) through Twitter. 

Use each other.  It is the best resource out there.