School's First Day of School

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Looking for a fun new read aloud for the first day of school? Check out this cutie by Adam Rex. The story is told from the perspective of the actual school building...his floors are getting waxed and buffed, he's not sure about meeting the children, and he has a charming relationship with the school janitor. School overhears a big kid saying he doesn't like school, and his feelings get hurt, but then he witnesses a shy, upset kindergartner change throughout the story and get excited about coming back the next day. 

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In First Day Jitters fashion, this book tells the story of back-to-school nerves from a perspective other than a child, with the clear goal of helping students identify with a character without admitting their own nerves. This is a must-add to your first-day read aloud cue! 

If you like School's First Day of School as much as I do, check out my resource pack for some fun ideas to use after reading the book to your new class.

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I have a few more back-to-school read aloud ideas coming up soon...What are some of your favorites?

      

Podcasts are the New PD

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of working with Gretchen Shultek from Always a Lesson on a project we've talked about for awhile. I connected with Gretchen through Twitter and she quickly became a mentor to me...even though we are not geographically close!

Gretchen and I quickly took our Twitter connection to the next level. Voxer is one of my favorite apps for taking control of my own professional development. It allows for quick, convenient connection with my PLN. I can throw out a quick question, ask for recommendations, participate in book studies, or just say hi. It is a great tool for #personalizedPD, which is my very favorite kind of PD (if you haven't heard me mention it already...).

Gretchen asked if I would be interested in being interviewed for her podcast, and at first I was confused. "Um, what would people want to hear me talk about?" And she said, "Just tell me what you're thinking." It fascinated me how talking to her in that format allowed me to reflect on ideas that have been swimming around in my mind for awhile. It was such a cool experience. If you'd like to hear the episode, you can listen here, or you can download her podcast in the iTunes store. If you like her style, please subscribe to her podcast and leave her some love in the review section.

Listening to a podcast is an easy way to grab some personalized professional development when it fits into your schedule. No matter what you are searching for, you are sure to find one that will give you insight, encouragement, and practical ideas for your teaching life. Here are a few of my favorites:

Always a Lesson

Cult of Pedagogy

Angela Watson

Jennifer Seravallo

I Like Picture Books and I Cannot Lie

One of the things I miss most about teaching my own class is reading aloud to kids. It would be fascinating to know the actual amount of hours I have read books aloud in my entire teaching career. When I was pregnant, my own personal children got to hear my voice ALL.DAY.LONG. as I read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle, Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, and The Magic Hat by Mem Fox.

The rhythm, cadence, and magic we find in picture books does so many great things for children. Reading aloud models fluent, passionate reading, it builds classroom community, it provides children with mentor texts they can emulate in their own writing, and it builds context for the rigorous content and complex social situations that kids must tackle on a daily basis.

Who was Sojourner Truth and why does she matter? 

Let's read a book about her.

Why do I need to understand probability? 

Let's read a book about it.

What is the effect of sunlight on plants?

Let's read a book about it.

How can a poem and a caring teacher change a student forever?

Let's read a book about it.

I've tried to be sneaky and get into classrooms as much as I can to read to kids. Readingrockets.org is a great website with lots of information for parents and teachers about the power of reading. Regarding read alouds, it says, "Reading aloud is one of the most important things parents and teachers can do with children. Reading aloud builds many important foundational skills, introduces vocabulary, provides a model of fluent, expressive reading, and helps children recognize what reading for pleasure is all about." 

Isn't reading for pleasure really what it's all about?

For more information on the magic of reading aloud to children, check out the Ten Read-Aloud Commandments by Mem Fox. She's my literacy idol, introducing me to Radical Reflections, Tough Boris, Where is the Green Sheep, Reading Magic, and countless others that my kids have heard over and over and over.

Have you read to a child today?

Magical reads...

                    

What Great Educators Do Differently

This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend the What Great Educators Do Differently conference in Katy, Texas. It was a smaller conference with high-energy presenters, ed-camp options, and lots of opportunities to connect with educators who are making an impact in schools across the nation. I love my district and the fantastic teachers I work with, but there is something validating about connecting with people you are NOT around every day, people that will open your mind and heart to new ideas.

LaVonna Roth, part of my PLN and wearer of glittery, silver flats. I wish I had photographed them. Her session focused on the Ignite Your Shine platform, which focuses on empowering team members to be confident, creative, and present. 

Jeff, my favorite partner. It's clear he is way more attractive than me. I loved the vibe of this conference because there were opportunities to visit with other educators, learn from each other, and pose questions, even in the sessions with a main presenter. I even stepped out of my comfort zone and proposed a topic for an edcamp session. I was amazed that 35 brilliant educators showed up to discuss ideas for moving high-perfoming campuses ahead and empowering teachers to challenge themselves to even greater teaching.

Todd Whitaker, keynote speaker

Todd is a quick talker and shoots straight. I appreciated how he focused on meeting the conference participants, listened to us, and shifted the focus from programs to people. Todd has published many books, focusing on effective leadership, teacher motivation, and school culture.

Pernille Ripp, my literary soulmate

Pernille is a mesmerizing speaker. She is confident, composed, and speaks from a genuine place that is grounded in her work with real students in her actual classroom. Her session made me miss teaching so much. Please check out her website; it's a treasure trove. I want her to do the audiobook version of every book I ever read the rest of my life, so I can listen to her voice and feel calm.

I highly encourage educators to check out the What Great Educators Do Differently conference. It is unlike other conferences I have attended. It did not market programs, formulas, or trendy ideas. The focus remained on those things that continually impact teaching and learning:

Commitment

Passion

No excuses

Leverage technology for learning

Know your students

Celebrate your colleagues

Collaborate instead of compete

What are your favorite types of professional learning? What should I set my sights on next?

Books by authors I met...

                              

The Art and Whimsy of Mo Willems

My best friend just turned 40. We celebrated in New York City with our husbands, comfortable shoes, and an itinerary that wouldn't quit. One day, as we were heading from a movie tour of Central Park to the American Museum of Natural History, we happened to see banners for a Mo Willems exhibit outside a smaller building called the New-York Historical Society Museum & Library. Um, two teachers in NYC with a Mo Willems exhibit?! Yes, please. Our husbands sat at the museum bar. It was a win-win.

You can't quite see this Mo Willems quote, but it says, "All of my characters are thoroughly neurotic, and have very deep emotional lives." If I wasn't sold on these books before, surely I am now Mo's biggest fan, even if it is only because I am thoroughly neurotic and have a very deep emotional life. I mean, I'm passionate. Well, I cry a lot. I am emotionally present. Whatever. It's fine.

In addition to fun character cut-outs, explanations of plots and series, and getting to hear Mo's voice narrate the entire adventure, we got to see samples of his pre-writing process. He sketches out designs, plans dialogue, and explains how he changes the text on the page to reflect the emotion of the particular character.

When you enter the exhibit, you get a little remote that corresponds to bus stops along the way. You type your stop number into the phone and you get to hear Mo explain details of his creative process. This was the only hour of the trip that I wished my kids were with me. Kacee and I were like kids in a candy store, but we felt a tiny bit strange on our double date. We kept explaining to everyone that we were teachers as we took thousands of pictures of animated elephants, pigeons, and pigs. 

My niece lives in New York, and when she was first adopted I sent her Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems because it is hysterical and set in Brooklyn, New York. It was so fun to be able to finally experience this setting since it was my first time in this cool city. Of course, we had to pose with Knuffle Bunny. #thisis40

Happy birthday to my dear friend, Kacee! We have been teaching together for 18 years and it was such a fun, unexpected treat that we got to celebrate our love for a cool city, a favorite author, and each other, all at the same time! I heart NYC! 

What are your top two children's authors? I am always looking for new people to follow!

Growth Mindset Monday

This year, our campus is focusing on Growth Mindset, an idea proposed by Carol Dweck, Stanford professor. In her book Mindsets, she puts forth the idea that the way we approach life can be based on how we view intelligence and learning. People with a fixed mindset generally believe that intelligence and ability are inherent and can't really be developed. Those with a growth mindset believe that hard work, determination, and repeated attempts at learning actually contribute to one's success. This brief video sums it up...

At our school, we have started Growth Mindset Mondays. We show a quick video clip in each classroom, the teachers pose a few discussion questions, and everyone reflects on how our mindsets affect our work. This Monday focus sets the tone for the week, and teachers can refer back to ideas, videos, and discussions as they work with students each day.

Our campus is working on a book study of Mindsets in the Classroom by Mary Cay Ricci. This book explores the idea of mindsets specifically in the education setting. We hope that continuing to explore these ideas will cultivate a culture of endurance and perseverance that we want for our students and ourselves.

 

As we continue to work toward guiding children to have a growth mindset, we hope to have more discussions in various arenas: in classrooms, with families, and with teachers. The goal is not to just simply talk about a growth mindset, but to collectively embrace the ideas of persistence, problem solving, and resolution, and to model those ideas in our own behaviors.

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The Space Between: Dave Matthews and Public Education

I am a word girl. I appreciate stories and poems and lyrics and speeches. I love reading clever books, I enjoy snarky stand-up, and I love having fast-paced conversations with people who are smart and sharp and funny. I treasure the familiar refrains of stories I have read to children for years and years; the two that I have raised, and the countless others that I have loved, fought for, even grieved over, one academic year at a time. I even asked a new teacher this week if I could share a Valentine read-aloud with her class because the thought of not reading Roses are Pink, Your Feet Really Stink by Diane deGroat to a class for the first time in 18 years almost made me weepy.

Every once in awhile, however, familiar pedagogy collides with satellite radio, and a song I have heard over and over finds me in a new way. Perhaps a result of nostalgia or frustration or grief, maybe a byproduct of love or hopefulness or joy, a song will sometimes reach out and pull at the parts of me that I often hide- from my acquaintances, my friends, and maybe even myself. Not to sound dramatic (ha), but songs get to me. I will laugh out loud at a lyric and I will silently sob to a song that hits me in a weird way, whether it be from my past, my present, or what I think may be my future.

Today, I heard, "The Space Between," by Dave Matthews. A song originally released just two years into my teaching career hit me in a new way as it played in my car leaving the school parking lot. As an instructional coach, I have so many opportunities to experience the things that are hard about education. Too many expectations, too little time, too many meetings, not enough funding for resources or training or support. Teachers are often exhausted and struggle with EVER PRESENT guilt: they feel guilty that they are not doing more for their students, or they feel guilty that doing it means they are not devoting fair amounts of time to their own lives: their own families and friends and interests.

Teachers have to battle with the expectations of a Pinterest world: perfect lessons and papers with darling fonts, activities that are inquiry-based and hands-on and differentiated and scaffolded. Classrooms must be stocked with materials that are pleasing to the eye and functional, but not cluttered. Oh, and buy all the materials yourself, because the bookshelf that comes with the classroom is nice, but the alphabet that hangs on the wall must be purchased by the teacher. The school day must include enough movement opportunities to meet the needs of your kinesthetic learners, but three others prefer calm, quiet environments, so kindly do your part to meet the needs of each child's unique learning style. Please also make kids care about non-renewable resources, dividing decimals, and that M really does come before N in the alphabet. And do it with a smile, with an even, composed spirit, and answer all of the e-mails you get about transportation changes and reading level changes and home-life changes in a timely manner. And do not mix anything up.

What does this have to do with Dave Matthews? Nothing really, except that the teachers I know keep showing up for more. Some move locations and some move on, but very few of the people I do education with can stay away from school. WHY? Why do so many teachers stay, when it's such an overwhelming career?

"The Space Between."

It really makes such good, good sense. 

"You cannot quit me so quickly...The space between the tears we cry, is the laughter that keeps us coming back for more."

I love school. I love talking to kids and the adults that care for them each day. Today I got to hear about stock shows and fractions and how to find the main idea and what sound the sh-digraph makes. I got to give no less than 76 hugs to kids that think I am a custodian because I help with lunch duty. I got to help a gravel-dusted boy get an ice pack, hold a baby brother, and calm a mom who was having a hard time with her kindergartner having a hard time.

And I laughed. I laughed with teachers and parents and to myself as I overheard kid conversations at lunch and while fifth graders filmed a PSA about renewable energy sources. I was photobombed by a former student. A first grader snuck up behind me to scare me. Awhile back, I wrote a post that explored the identity crisis I was facing as I prepared to leave the classroom. It has been hard and weird. It has also been rewarding and exciting and so fascinating. I have learned SO STINKING MUCH. What has surprised me the most is that there is a much broader picture now that my world is over 600 children instead of just 22. I have learned that it takes parents and teachers and administrators and support staff to provide an environment that is good for kids. I was recently reminded by an education mentor that, "You're not a fixer. You're a leader. Lead people to love this profession again."

Beautiful, right? It's the space between. 

"The space between the bullets in our firefight is where I'll be hiding, waiting for you." 

I have chosen to believe that means that with all that is wrong in education, there is so very much that is right. The right people. The right passion. Finding the joy in a job that matters. Because our kids matter. They deserve grown-ups that will fight. Maybe not with fire, but with a burning desire to try. To the teachers and the others that I serve in this position that I am still struggling to figure out, what I can promise is the last line of the first stanza of a song that hit me today...

"But I got all the time for you, Love,"