I remember when I was a little girl… one year I dressed up as a Casper the ghost. I also recall a Peter Pan, Raggedy Ann., and a witch costume. What make these costumes and Halloween memories extra special was that my mom made my costumes most of the time. I even remember waking up in the morning of Halloween and my mom would place little treats out for me and my siblings.  My school memories of holidays past also hold a special place in my heart. My teachers passed out Halloween pencils and we had always had party. I even remember “Pin the Fangs on the Vampire.” Parents would come to school and we would celebrate with a Halloween parade and fall festival.

I appreciate diversity and respect different beliefs and cultural backgrounds. However, I can’t help feel a little disappointed when October 31^st is just a regular school day, especially when a letter gets sent home to remind families that costumes are not allowed on Halloween. I guess I will have to live with my memories to keep me filled with nostalgia.  It just makes me a little sad sometimes…I will continue passing out candy on my doorstep and hand out  “fall pencils” to my students. 

 

The release of the Mitchell 20 documentary this month has prompted many interpretations as to the true subject of the film.  Some audience members stated that the film made them question the equity of voice in education, while others revealed that the teachers at Mitchell were treated unfairly and some just thought it was only about National Board Certification.

My take on the film is a little different.  I see many parallels in the lives of the Mitchell 20 and my own.  In the film, many of them share their personal life stories; some of them reveal that they are immigrants or first generation Americans.  They share their struggles as young learners and the commitment they have to their students. 

As a first generation American, I understand the challenge of straddling two worlds, two languages and two sets of standards.  Growing up in a predominantly Hispanic community in Miami, I didn’t really know what I was missing; I spoke the language but did not understand the nuances of the culture or how to be part of the group.  There were some gaps and I knew that I had to work harder to prove that I too could have a place at the table. 

The resiliency that I share with the Mitchell teachers comes from a similar conviction for proving that we too are highly skilled, valuable and worthy of joining the educational conversation.  I cannot speak for the Mitchell 20 but I know that pursuing National Board Certification was a way of proving to myself that I do have what it takes to be an excellent teacher and a teacher leader.  I suspect that some of the teachers at Mitchell might feel this way as well.

 

"The day after the premiere I was walking onto campus and stopped. I stopped and took in the image of Mitchell School. I paused, because in that moment I realized that our little school, Mitchell, was doing something extraordinary- becoming the symbol for the good things that are happening in America's public schools."

                                                                                                                  Billie Williams, The Mitchell 20

 

Five years ago, I wondered if teaching was about being told what to teach, and how to teach it. Four years ago, I rekindled my passion for teaching by holding my practice up to a set of standards. Three years ago, I imagined a cohort of my colleagues honing their craft. Two years ago, I challenged myself to leaving my career home, and starting all over. A year ago, I cried myself to sleep every Sunday night wondering if I could start a new week in a new school, with new colleagues, and a new purpose.

Today individuals are asking me what it means to be an educator. The triumphs, the disappointments, the trials and tribulations. Today, teachers are thanking me for representing excellence in our profession. Today, teachers are asking me to take a picture with them. Today, I am reminded what a privilege it is to use my teacher voice and speak not only from the heart, but the truth about our profession. 

Tonight, I think about my former school, my colleagues, the students, the parents and I am filled with gratitude. Gratitude for spending thirteen years in an extraordinary school that mirrors other extraordinary schools across the city, state, and country. 

 

Recently I started a class on instructional supervision. The reading and content have been very interesting. The topics in class have lent themselves to examining teacher evaluations in a more thorough manner. Lately there has been a lot of talk about new teacher evaluation procedures including student achievement data, as well as classroom observations. I am curious to see how it all fits together.

Platt, Tripp, Ogden, and Fraser the co-authors of The Skillful Leader: Confronting Mediocre Teaching bring up interesting techniques to increase the reliability and validity when evaluating teachers. Richard Manatt at the University of Iowa advocates for the 360-degree evaluation model. This model includes: classroom observations, teacher self-evaluation, student, parent and peer feedback. This approach seems so thorough compared to a couple classroom observations that may or may not total 60 minutes of instruction.

Recently, I have had the opportunity to accompany my principal on formal teacher observations and evaluations to fulfill the hours of my principal internship. Our evaluation process is based on a formal observation and several drop-in evaluations. So, our teachers are evaluated on less than 60 minutes of instruction. Hmmm. I had really never thought of this process as unfair or detrimental. But now I am rethinking my philosophy.

By using the 360-degree evaluation model, an administrator would be evaluating the “whole” teacher. One data source might be observing one and a half lessons or periods over several days. Yes, this takes more time, as you would need to observe half a lesson on one day, return the next day to observe a full lesson and then revisit for another half lesson the following day. Seems like you would get richer data and a more accurate picture of the teacher’s strengths and areas for growth.

Maybe the evaluation piece is just new to me or I am looking at it through a different lens. Doesn’t it seem more practical to approach teacher evaluations with several pieces of data to better understand and assess the effectiveness of a teacher? Wouldn’t you want to consider input from students, parents and peers when compiling a “snapshot” of a teacher? Isn’t that what we ask teachers to do in the classroom with their students? So, why the double standard?

My original plan was to continue the fiery debate from my last post, but a strange thing happened last week.  I shed a tear while watching a movie.

No, I wasn’t crying.  I’m a guy and you’ve already read about my fully stocked man card.  Aside from that one moment in Old Yeller, guys don’t cry in movies.  In this case, it was clearly just allergies. Probably from the theater seats, or some stray pollen on the bottom of my shoes.

The allergen-attracting film was “The Mitchell 20,” a powerful documentary about a group of teachers committed to excelling in their profession for the benefit of students who, statistically speaking, have little chance of ever seeing a graduation stage.  This group refuses to accept those odds and the film expertly chronicles their attempts to achieve National Board Certification against the daunting odds of their own.

As you get to know these 20 determined people, you develop an emotional investment.  You find yourself truly pulling for these teachers and, in turn, for the future of their students.  And, as a National Board Survivor myself, I know how private the moment is when you receive your scores. These teachers allowed cameras to chronicle those moments, and they are truly heartbreaking.  

But, they are also invigorating, inspiring, and tear-inducing.

Well, not for me.  I wasn’t crying.  Like I said, it was allergies.

I’m guessing there were dust mites in the red carpet provided for the premiere.

I was raised on the Navajo Indian Reservation; in a small community called Rough Rock. I know what it is like to do homework with the light from a kerosene lamp, chop wood, cook for younger siblings, and take care of livestock - each day. I am an older sister, with thank goodness, an older brother and sister. Those care-taker responsibilities prepared me, in many ways, for teaching. I taught my younger siblings many of the chores so I would not do them all by myself. We had to help each other - it saved on time and energy.

And now, a couple of decades later, in a warm house with electricity, I recall a conversation I had with a dear friend and colleague last week. We talked about teaching - the passion for teaching, and dare I say, the call to teach. We spoke about callings and purpose in our chosen profession and how it seems to have left education. She's not teaching this year and she feels guilt for not returning to school. She misses her students most and most of her colleagues, but it all became overwhelming - the responsibilities of teaching AND testing.

The conversation lead to many areas of our personal lives - it seems teaching isn't an eight-to-five job for either of us. I thought about my earliest days of teaching my siblings and those lessons dealt with sharing knowledge, finding their personal preference after learning "my" way, and understanding what was learned. Trust me, many mistakes happened along the way. I wish I could say I was a brilliant teacher at fourteen, but that was not the case. It seems teachers cannot make mistakes anymore, especially with the high-stakes testing. Mistakes can get you fired, or under attack by parents, who can then get you fired.

That feeling - fear of making mistakes - is apparent in my students now. In the years I've been teaching, I've seen a shift in student behavior and attitudes - from the regular teen-age angst and bitterness to fear and silence. I can work with angst and bitterness, but silence and fear of mistakes frustrates me because that's not the result of learning, but conditioning. Unlearning those behaviors is challenging, and it wears on dedicated teachers, like my friend. She has patience and even she began to see her students differently because they weren't moving at the pace that was expected of her state exams. She, nor I, started out that way. Later, we moved our conversation to what it is to be true to ourselves because we had changed from where we'd started.

Today, I shared with my students that I am a teacher who is a writer and poet; a sister and daughter; and an aunt and mother. I told them that at the start of the year - I just needed to remind myself. 

I read Bill Ferriter's blog this week about the story of Mitchell 20, a movie about 20 Phoenix elementary teachers who chose to pursue National Board certification as a way to take control of the one thing they could control: the quality of their instruction. In his blog, Ferriter summarizes the movie as a collective recognition that "waiting for Superman is a strategy that is failing our students." Instead of this one-superheroed-approach, Ferriter proposes that "super powers really do rest somewhere deep within each teacher."

Kudos Bill: this Arizona edu-blogger agrees on all counts. I attended the Phoenix premier of the movie last week and, though our Superintendent of Public Instruction erroneously referred to the group of teachers as "The Wilson 20," there were plenty of positive references to the internal motivation and "spark" that keeps super-hero teachers in our classrooms - in spite of out of touch politicians and/or public vilification of the profession.

Daniela Robles, the heroine in the film, said something during the panel discussion after the movie that really struck me. She said, "It takes one person to cause a spark that sets a fire."

Since superheroes are thematically connected to education these days, I immediately thought of the AllSpark in the Transformers movies (insert 4-count break and theme song music here). Though Megatron-like current educational trends want teachers to be "robots in disguise," teachers really are more than meets the eye - and the story of the Mitchell 20 demonstrates that. First generation Transformers fans know that the AllSpark is best defined as, "that indefinable, indescribable energy that makes them truly alive, more than mere machines."

But what *is* that AllSpark for teachers and how can we help protect them from the Educational Megatrons and Decepticons of today and tomorrow? Maybe we should be education Transformers instead of "reformers?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In an attempt to enrich our children we put the cart before the horse.

We avidly seek ways to develop their gifts and talents but we fail to teach them how to use one of their greatest assets to advantage. 

Our children don’t know how to manage time.

Recently, my students’ poor performance on a writing assignment surprised me. There were a few good responses to the prompt, but not enough to support the belief that I knew my students could do better!

 My confidence stemmed from the results of the district writing sample, an invaluable three-hour ungraded assignment that assesses students’ knowledge and skill in writing. During four class periods, my students engaged in the full writing process, which included planning, composing a rough draft, revising/editing, and writing the final draft. They did quite a bit in a relatively short period of time.

 As I said, the results of this authentic sample didn’t prepare me for what I received in the graded essay. Planning, and revising/editing time were provided in class, but otherwise they had four days to work on the rough draft and final draft on their own, at home.

During the heart-to-heart, we had after I’d graded their papers, I was reminded that my students are immersed in busy schedules, reminiscent of my own children’s.  It was eye-opening though to realize that while they are busy they are not adept at managing their time.  Mismanagement of time is the main reason why they did so poorly.

My students’ greatest need as writers became time management skills.

 What I know about junior high students is that usually, time management is about a year or two away.  It develops (or not) in high school.  However, with texting, interactive games, social networking and extracurricular activities— the time was now, for them to begin learning how to manage their time wisely.

 My students have more time than they think— they just waste so much of it!

 So, my students and I developed a plan that reinforces their growth as writers, and managers of time. The plan involves two sets of commitments- one from my students and one from me.

Student Commitments:  I will…

1.  Note the due dates, in my planner, for each phase of the writing process.

2.  Focus my attention and behavior to complete the pre-writing plans in class.

3.  Complete the rough draft in one sitting, to allow for continuity.

4.  Within the time allotted, revise the rough draft to expand on or support my ideas.

5.  Edit the rough draft to include all feedback received.

 

Teacher Commitments:  I will…

1. Explain the expectations for each phase of the writing, as supported in a rubric.

2. Provide in class pre-writing time, while the expectations are fresh in your mind.

3. Support your efforts with timely feedback/conference on the rough draft.

4. Always provide additional individual support.

5. Guide us in a review and discussion of Sean Covey’s time management strategies.

Mutual commitments between adult and child can serve to clearly define the adult, supportive role and expectations for any activity – in or out of school. It also serves to clearly define our children’s responsibility to effectively manage the time commitment in order to participate well.  These commitments can further stimulate family or classroom conversations about when and how to curb additional activities that can become distractions due to over-scheduling.

 Our children possess a wealth of abilities that need our support and guidance, but let’s not neglect their greater need to manage time wisely. When we help our children reverse the trend and put the horse before the cart, we may be surprised to learn that as they improve in time management, they improve their achievement and enjoyment of life as well.

 

 

On October 5, 2011, Steve Jobs co-founder of Apple passed away.  Media coverage of his death focused on his talents as a visionary and innovator.  The discussion around his death and his legacy made me wonder what education could learn from Steve Jobs.

 

 

Below are a list of Steve’s Tips for Success:

1. Do what you love-don’t settle, passion is everything.                  

2. Put a dent in the universe.

3. Say no to a thousand things.

4. Kick start your brain by doing something new.

5. Sell dreams, not products.

6. Create insanely great experiences.

7. Master the message.

He also said,  “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice”.

I wonder what might happen if we stole some of Steve’s ideas and applied them to the educational landscape?

 

It’s that time again - football season. Last year I referenced Randall McDaniel’s Hall of Fame speech from 2009 in a blog titled Are You A Difference Maker? A few weeks ago I came across a Dov Seidman book, How – Why How We Do Anything Means…Everything in Business (and in Life). I first heard of the book when one of my professors at the time, shared an excerpt “Making Waves.” 

Seidman shares the story of how Krazy George Henderson invented the Wave on October 15, 1981 at the Oakland Coliseum. If you are not familiar with the Wave, it is quite amazing. It is generally associated with sporting events. It begins in one section of the stadium, fans stand up and throw their arms into the air and then sit down. This simple sequence moves from section to section continuing around the stadium. The Wave is one way the fans can become involved in the game. It also creates great energy.

As I revisited this story, I began to wonder, “What does it take to start a Wave given the climate of education today?”

This past year my district reduced elementary PE and Music to part time and eliminated our librarians. This decision not only reduced the number of staff members available to supervise in the morning and afterschool, it also impacted monitoring the lunchroom and lunch recess. Consequently it reduced planning time for teachers and increased the time spent covering duties. Elementary teachers currently have two 30-minute planning periods each week.

The way I saw it, the teachers had two choices: 1. Passively accept the scheduling and staffing decisions brought forth by the district or 2. Stand up and voice their concerns and challenges. Several teachers stepped up and started a Wave. One by one they stood up at the Board Meetings and voiced their concerns with the new schedule. They made the board members aware of the challenges of having multiple duties each day and limited time to plan and collaborate. At the next Board Meeting more teachers stepped up and told their story and spoke about the challenges they faced each day.

Interestingly, the district now has a $300,000 - $500,000 surplus that needs to be spent this school year. A survey was conducted seeking staff input on how the money might be spent. The six different options are as follows:

1. One time 1% payment to all staff members

2. Hire three elementary Music and PE positions

3. Hire six part-time library aides

4. Hire 12 lunch/playground monitors

5. Hire 6 lunch/playground monitors

6. Variations on the above mentioned scenarios

It is expected a decision will be made at the October 12^th Board Meeting.

I am wondering if a few teachers had not started the Wave if we would be having this conversation. What do you think?

I end with a quote from Steve Jobs that speaks to this topic …

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.

Don’t be trapped by dogma –

Which is living with the results of other people’s thinking.

Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice.

And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.

They somehow already know what you truly want to become.

Everything else is secondary.”

Stanford University - 2005