Year 10 In The Books

Year #10 is in the books! I really believe everything happens for a reason. Ten years ago my husband and I took a leap of faith and moved to Breckenridge, Colorado. I was able to pick up a one year teaching position in a elementary school while also coaching C-Team Volleyball. A year later we were moving to Bellingham, Washington where I was lucky to get hired as a volleyball coach at a small school literally at the end of the road, Mount Baker High School in Deming, WA. GO Mountaineers! About one week into my coaching job they hired me as a High School Reading Specialist/Literacy Coach, did I mention I had a major in PE and a minor in elementary? The school was in trouble, it needed to raise reading scores. The principals thought I would be a great fit in the role because I could connect to the students. Did I mention I was a PE teacher? I did not know much about secondary reading, let alone coaching other teacher on how to teach reading. I was lucky in that they allowed me to spend the first semester figuring out what the heck I was going to do because this was a brand new position in the district. They also asked me to coach two more sports that year, basketball and golf (never really played golf before either). To make a 5 year story short, in those five years I learned how to become a reading teacher, I was trained in a direct instructional model, I do, we do, you do. I liked to call it the “do do model”. I learned how to grow a thick skin while working with reluctant staff members who did not believe I was qualified to do my job (I can’t blame them, it was a lot of trial and error). I was part of a school that went from the bottom of the list according to state scores to the top! I watched teachers work together to make this happen, whether they agreed or not, they did what was best for students. Little did I know...

I am excited for the last day, Grace not so much. 

In May of 2010 I was on maternity leave with my second child, I had also just come off knee surgery (that is a whole other story). So the drugs were good, and when the opportunity arrived for us to move back to Michigan we went for it. I was hired as a middle school Reading teacher. Funny enough, I was hired back at the middle school where my mother taught for 20+ years and where I attended 6th-8th grade. I remember the superintendent at the time saying “so you came back to die?”, um yep, pretty much.  I was scared to death to teach middle school. However, once I got use to all the pimples and hormones I really liked their kind. Ironically, the school district was in trouble, reading scores were bad, the high school was giving a federal School Improvement Grant (SIG), $3,000,000, and told to make changes or else. SO, in my second year I was approached by the superintendent and asked to become a high school Literacy Coach (at the high school I graduated from almost 15 years prior). Ironically, I was trained again in Direct Interactive Instruction, given a group of teachers to work with and told to help raise scores. One year later I was made into a full time 5th-12th grade ELA and Social Studies Instructional Coach. I am in charge of 30+ teachers, instruction, PD/PLC, curriculum, data, scores, and so on. It’s not easy, but I love it. This is why I know everything happens for a reason. Over the past four years I have fallen back on what I learned those first six years of my career to help improve my alma mater. I have grown so much as a person and professional. I work with a great team of people who all want nothing but the best for our schools.  

Of course with teaching there is the ugly side. I am in my 10th year of teaching and still being paid as a first year teacher (due to a frozen contract after receiving one year of service when I accepted the position). I struggle with the reality that others in the same position as me make MUCH more money that I do. I struggle with the fact that I love where I work, but will we ever be able to really make the changes we need to make to take us to the next level. I struggle with reality that I am going back to school this summer to get ANOTHER certification because as professional  we need a certification after certification to “prove” ourselves.

I tend to feel down at the end of each year. I wonder did I do my best this year? What could I have done better? Did I miss an opportunity? I feel bad for all the teachers that get laid off because of funding or bad staffing decisions. I get angry at the ones who get greedy.  I wonder what will next year hold? This year during that time I was scrolling through Facebook and saw this video somebody had posted. It is Jim Carrey giving a commencement speech. One of his final lines is “do what you love”. Those four words reeled me back in. If I was not a teacher that what would I be? I can’t answer that.

I love what I do. Yes, the pay sucks, yes it’s not easy, but I could not imagine it any other way. I have learned so much in these past ten years not only about the profession but about myself as a person and learner. I hope the next ten years are just as crazy as the last because, “Experience only teaches the teachable” -Aldous Huxley

Blame No One, Expect Nothing, Do Something

Blame No One, Expect Nothing, Do Something

I first heard this quote when I was in my second or third year of teaching. I was half listening to some ESPN reporter interview a football coach about how he motivates his football players. My head shot up from whatever book I had my nose in and when I heard him say those seven words. He has this quote in the team locker room as a reminder, you are the only one to blame for your mistakes, you are not entitled to anything, and if you don’t like it, do something about it, at least that is how I remembered. I immediately grabbed some paper and wrote down the quote.

This quote meant a lot to me at the time for three reasons. First, I was a coach myself, I was coaching high school volleyball, basketball, and golf. There were so many times on the court and course I would talk to my girls about respect, work ethic, and entitlement (aka playing time). This quote became my coaching tagline. Second, I was a 9th and 10th grade reading intervention teacher. I have always believed that students need to take ownership of their own learning. I put this quote up in the front of my room. Whenever a student was complaining or making excuses I simply pointed to the quote and told them to “do something.” It was amazing how quick the conversation would change. Last, I was also a literacy coach. A new teacher attempting to coach teachers that had been teaching longer than I had been alive! For this reason this quote became my personal motivation. When things got tough and/or frustrating (usually to the point when I was sitting in my office crying) I would remember these seven words, pull up my big girl panties, and “do something” instead of continuing to cry about it.  

Over the years this quote has not only become my tag line, it has become my philosophy.

Blame No One

• Even with all the negatives in education, we are still responsible for how and what our student learn, how they perform, and who they become.
• When our students do not learn or perform we can’t blame them, we need to think “what could I have done better?”
• You can’t think that you can’t ever do something.

Expect Nothing

• No one is entitled.
• No one will do it for you.
• Go out and learn it yourself.
• Set high expectations for yourself and your students and remember, you get what you expect.

Do Something

• The longer you talk about it, the longer it takes to get it done.
• Find others with the same thoughts and ideas.
• Make a plan, tell your plan to others, pitch your idea.
• Do it now, ask later.
• Be the change.

PLN'n with #michEd

Over the last few years I have been hearing more and more about Twitter chat groups. The only thing that I could picture was this scene from Napoleon Dynamite. One week ago I joined #michEd. That first week I simply stalked the feed and I liked what I read. Teachers talking about good teaching, sharing positive stories, collaborating on ideas, sharing materials and resources! What? I know! 

I feel that somehow teachers have gotten away from sharing the positive, sharing what works for them, and asking for help when they need it. However, #michEd (like I am sure many other chat groups) was a happy place full of positive people sharing. Some even just checking into say "Hi" and then leaving because of other obligations. 

Last night I decided to take a more active roll in the chat. As I tried to post my thoughts I found myself a little slow to get my responses out. Others were beating me to the punch. I made this comment to #michEd host Jeff Bush and this is how he responded:

HOOKED! I have found my first PLN. I came away with more professional connections and some great new ideas in only one hour! I look forward to making more connections to some great teachers in Michigan and hopefully once I get a better hang of the chat I will be able to contribute more (and a little quicker). Now if someone could just tell me what Ss and Ts stand for?? 

   Thanks #michEd, Ann Smart

Augmented Reality Brings New Dimensions to Learning | Edutopia

Augmented Reality Brings New Dimensions to Learning | Edutopia

Maple Pride: Lincoln's Got Worms

Maple Pride: Lincoln's Got Worms: That's right, Lincoln's got worms!  We are in the process of building the Sam and Joan Beal Outdoor Education Center at Lincoln.  A ...

Common Core & Ed Tech: What ‘They’ Forgot to tell you When Flipping your Classroom

Common Core & Ed Tech: What ‘They’ Forgot to tell you When Flipping your Classroom

Moving Forward

Today when I got home from school I opened up Twitter in hopes to do some unwinding. The first post I came across was from Tom Whitby a well known blogger and founder of #Edchat. I had the privilege of siting next to him at MACUL this spring in a pre-conference session, he is a very inspiring man to listen to. His post was titled "Blogging: Who Should, and Why". This caught my attention right away. As a newbie to the blogging world I have been working for the past few weeks at getting other teachers and administrators on board to start up their own blogs. I am happy to report that I have had nothing but positive responses. This week I met with a few kindergarten and first grade teachers along with the principal and technology coach to get them started on grade level blogs. I was also brave enough to start a blog for all the administrators in the district to begin blogging good news reports. I will meet with each admin individually to show them how to make their first post. 

Like all things in education you wonder how this will really go. How many will buy in? Who will stick with it? How will this impact our students? Our parents? Our community?  Tom makes a great point about blogging "it takes an act of courage to publish that first blog". Getting teachers to understand the value in blogging is easy. It's getting them to actually do it and feel comfortable putting themselves and their students out there. More importantly if this is something our administrators want to see from our teachers they need to blog right along side them. 

I love that blogging not only teaches our students about reading and writing but it allows them to be reflective, thoughtful, and critical thinkers. We have a responsibility as educators to teach our students digital citizenship. Tom writes that we need to model for out students how to responsibly question, respond, and comment to blogs. We need to model learning and how to share ideas. 

Our parents and community become our audience. Parents, grandparents, and community members want to read and hear what their kids have to say. They want to know what our kids are learning in school. They want to know that their schools are safe and loving learning environments. In return we want parents and the community to comment on our blogs to encourage, question, and give direction.   

Tom sums it up best, "Since becoming a blogger, I view things differently. I question things more. I try to understand things well enough, so that I can explain them simply. Most importantly I have been recognized as a person to be taken seriously, because I have a voice. These are things I wish for everyone to experience. What good is education, if we do not have a voice to share what we have learned in order to benefit all?"