5 years

it's been 5 years since Sandy Hook...I wrote the blogpost below after trying to wrap my mind around what had happened.

these words still ring true...

No Words

It's been awhile since I've been here.  Labor Day to be exact.  Throughout my life I've used words to express my feelings in times of victory, disappointment, surprise, and the mundane every day life.  But, I often feel more compelled to write when tragedy strikes.  In honor of the recent tragedy in Newton, Connecticut, my teacher blog will be silent for the next few days.  But, I feel like I could not go any longer without putting pen to paper, or fingerstrokes to keys. 

I've taught for 13 years now and my job has become increasingly more difficult each year.  The number of tasks that the typical teacher completes in any given day is astounding. From receipting field trip money, recording attendence, cleaning up vomit, calling the nurse, making sure a child has clean clothes, lunch money in a student account, one on one instruction, reteaching simple concepts until you can't teach them any longer, drying the tears of a child who has been physically hurt on the playground, or wrapping your arms around the ones who have been emotionally hurt by those they love.

There are many days where the thought of going to the bathroom doesn't even occur until after school and I sit for the very first time of the day.  Once my children arrive in the morning, it is almost like we have entered a time warp and the outside world disappears.  Our classroom becomes our world.  

Each year, I am BLESSED with a new crop in my classroom.  With that comes a new crop of parents, a new crop of personalities, challenges, victories, and love.   I haven't been blessed with children of my own, but I have been chosen to care for those of others.

Each morning, parents drop their children off at school thinking they are safe and will remain that way until those little faces return to the warmth of the car or the arms of a parent/grandparent/caretaker. Those children are given to me to nurture, care for, love, and educate.  A pretty tall order.

There are days where life isn't easy in our classroom.  Days where we need to a new start.  And then there are days that are beautiful symphonies of learning.  

I spend countless hours planning for learning in my classroom, but more than that, I spend countless hours investing in the future of my students.  I invest in their lives by attending sporting events, sharing their interests, writing them notes - pouring positivity into their little minds in the hopes that when life doesn't work out the way that they had planned in their future, they will remember that there was someone else in their lives who believed in them and LOVED them as if they were her own.

The teachers and staff of Sandy Hook Elementary did the very same thing.

When I stop to think of the innocent children that were hurt yesterday, I cannot help but to think of the 22 beautiful children that I see every day.  The 312 children that I have taught over the last 13 years.  The smiles, the dreams, the excitement of life, the opportunities that are waiting for each of them.  That was all stolen from those at Sandy Hook Elementary.  

I've tried to wrap my mind around what happened in Newton, but it is impossible.  I've experienced lockdown drills and mock shootings to "train" me for a reality that I hope I never face.  I hope I'm never faced with a situation where I am unable to protect the children in my care.  I hope I never have to find hiding places or calm students who are very aware of the nightmarish reality that is occurring.  

But, I would.  If it meant sacrificing my life for those of my students, there would be no decision to make.  I would make that decision for the children who have parents who love me.  I would make it for the children whose parents disagree with me.  I would make it for those children who misbehave and disrespect and love me.  I would make that decision for each child I've had the opportunity to teach this year and every year before - those in my classroom or outside of it.

There were heroes in yesterday's tragedy.  Those heroes were teachers.  The teachers who read Christmas stories to keep their students calm.  The teachers who held each child's hand.  The teachers who muffled the cries of those huddled in their midst.  The teachers who hid students and then lost their own lives.  

When you enter your child's school this week, remember there were heroes in each classroom of Sandy Hook and there are heroes in classrooms today.

How do I create Responsive Readers

If you are friends with  me on Facebook, you have seen several posts over the last few weeks about reading and are aware that I'm pretty passionate about helping kids to love reading.  I'm an avid reader, but I haven't always been, so  I  know for some students, they  just aren't there YET.  As I've been reading Disruptive Thinking by Beers and Probst,  I've been stepping up on that soapbox frequently.  It's a place that I've shied away professionally in my past because I didn't want to burn any bridges, but now, 18 years in, there are some bridges that need to be burned, and one of them is killing the love of reading for our students.

I've been fortunate to teach students from 2nd grade to middle school and one thing I have personally witnessed is the disconnect that occurs between students and reading the older they get.  It has often caused me to question what do we as educators do to perpetuate this disparity.  

Sometimes the love of reading gets lost in the skills of reading.  I started thinking about my own practice and asked myself the following questions in reflection:

1. How many opportunities do/did I offer students to read without completing a task?
2. How many opportunities do/did I offer students to choose their own books?
3. How do/did I foster a love of reading in my students?
4. How do/did I help students choose books that were for them, instead of ones I wanted them to read?

If all I was asking students to do was paraphrase, summarize, write about what they had read, or more, than I wasn't really helping to create a love for reading.  

The moments I let go and let my kids read for enjoyment and talk about what moved them, challenged them, made them angry, made them sad, etc. those were the moments that reading became authentic and my students saw it as more than a task, but something that was important.  

In the words of Beers and Probst, "The text won't matter to them unless it touches them emotionally or intellectually."  And that is my goal....connecting every student to a text that makes them angry or makes them cry.  A text that challenges  what they know and makes them question the world around them.

Am I Extracting or Transacting?

I began reading Kylene Beers and Bob Probst's text Disrupting Thinking this afternoon as a part of our district's department chair book study.  As an avid reader, I was excited to get my hands on this text to see what it may confirm or challenge in my own reading instruction.  I hope that I am a teacher that teaches students to fall in love with reading, but I know  there were many times where the love of the book was secondary to that state assessment that was looming over my head.  I struggled with maintaining the balance of skill instruction in preparation for assessments and closing the door and allowing my students to become immersed in a text that would truly change them as readers.


In chapter 1 of the text, Beers and Probst listed out a list of typical  assignments that had been observed while visiting classrooms...there were many listed that I kept in my toolbox of instruction.

• write a summary
• retell the story
• compare and contrast two characters
• list the steps
• create a timeline
• draw the parts of a cell
• outline the chapter
• cite the evidence
• explain the main idea and supporting details
• answer the questions
• complete the plot structure template
• define the vocabulary words
• discuss the causes and effects

Beers, G. Kylene, and Robert E. Probst. Disrupting Thinking: Why How We Read Matters. Scholastic Inc., 2017.

When I look at the list above, I don't think there is anything necessarily wrong with giving these types of assignments, but I wonder what harm is done to developing readers if this is ALL we do. Are we only teaching students to EXTRACT something from the text each time they read? Do my students only know to EXTRACT evidence to support their answer when we read in class? Is the focus on EXTRACTION activities killing the love of reading with students?

I'm looking carefully at my own practice to see how much of my conversation with teachers is spent discussing EXTRACTING vs. TRANSACTING. Transacting with a text is more than pulling information. It is about interacting with a text in a meaningful way, finding out how books change us and move us. I'm curious to know how we can make reading more about TRANSACTING than EXTRACTING?

Needless to say, my brain is working through all of this and I'm being challenged to reflect.

Why do you stay?

This is year 18 for me.  15 years of classrooms and 2 of coaching teachers.  Every May or June I was excited to leave for summer vacation, but July 1st always found me preparing for the next year...not because I had to, but because I wanted to do so.  I loved every single thing about getting a new classroom ready for a new group of families.

Inevitably, as the year progressed, there were days where I was 100% confident that I had chosen the right path.  Then there were days I left in tears questioning why I was a teacher in the first place.  If you are an educator, those days could happen in the same week, sometimes in the same 8 hours.  I have been successful, and I've been a failure. You know exactly how I felt.

I've seen programs and initiatives come and go and come around again.  I've watched districts change focus time after time after time.  I've watched the latest and greatest strategies, gurus, methods, and more be shared with educators.  I've watched recess time shrink, lunch time become silent, and the pile of paperwork on my desk grow to unattainable heights.  I've been a part of schools that had effective evaluation systems, schools that didn't have evaluation systems, and schools that "tweaked" evaluation to make it say what they wanted it to say.  I've witnessed the increase of testing and the decrease of authentic learning experiences (depending on where I've been over the last 18 years).  I've been in schools with curriculum, with suggestions, and nothing.  I've taught in schools where teachers were driven by the textbooks and schools where teachers were driven by the standards.

To say the least, I've seen a lot in my career.  But, I've always come back every single fall.

That isn't the case for some.  For some, all of the "stuff" gets to them and they choose to leave the profession, sometimes for good.

Tomorrow I have the opportunity to be a part of an important conversation in the state of South Carolina.  I'm joining a group of public school advocates, state superintendents, college professors, and others to talk about how can South Carolina attract quality teachers, but also, how can we retain them.  I'm excited to be a part of this conversation as we brainstorm solutions to a growing teacher shortage problem.  It's not unique to my state.  If you look around the country, teachers are leaving the field at an alarming pace.  If a teacher makes it past year 5, the likelihood of staying for the long haul is good.  But, somewhere in that 3-5 year mark, teachers are fleeing.

It got me thinking about my own path...why do I stay when the job becomes impossible.

I thought it was a simple answer...but it isn't, and honestly, I can't craft it into words that will make sense to anyone.  But, when I think about leaving, it physically hurts.  I can't imagine not being a teacher.  It is so much a part of who I am.  I don't do it for the pay, or the perks.  I don't do it for the recognition or the accolades.

But there is a multitude of faces over my 18 years that flash in my memory.  Faces of students over the years...the Kaeli's, Kacey's, Jesse's, and Christian's of that first year (there are so many more), the Hunter's, Caleb's, and Trevor's, the Tanner's, Tony's, Skye's, and Peyton's, the Stefani's, Will's, and Avery's, the Nathan's, Corey's, and Chloe's, the Elliott's, Emily's, Maceon's, Andy's, Nate's, Mary Grace's, Zach's, and Charlie's....(I know I forgot a ton).  

I plan to spend the next few weeks really reflecting on why I do stay...something that I can share with others, that may inspire them to join the education world or inspire them to stay.

But, I really want to know why you stay...what is it that keeps you in the classroom year after year.  I'll be sharing them with a real audience of people who genuinely want  to know why teachers remain.  I'll keep you posted on what becomes of this conversation...I can't wait to see for myself!

#TeacherCompliments

Disney World...let's be honest, they know how to make people feel good about their Disney experience.  From the moment you enter the park, cast members go out of their way to help you enjoy the parks to the fullest. 

 I hadn't been to Disney since I was seven until a few years ago.  I took a group of 5th graders there on a field trip (I know, brave soul)! I was excited to experience the "new" park and all that it had to offer.  I mean, I wasn't able to ride Space Mountain when I was 7, so that was the entire goal.  I also took one for my team when I made a deal with my 5th graders that resulted with me riding Tower of Terror.  After I returned home and recovered a bit, I realized that our trip to Disney ended up being one of the best field trips I've ever taken,  and part of that was because of the Disney crew. 

Disney is all about presentation and leaving a lasting impression.  The parks are immaculately groomed and there isn't a piece of trash to be found anywhere that it isn't supposed to be.  Every interaction with a Disney cast mate left any other customer experience in the dust.  To say that I was impressed is an understatement.

Well, leave it to Disney to have a a professional development leg of their empire.  I just recently discovered this treasure trove on Facebook and I'm already impressed.  Tonight, as I was reading posts, this one showed up in my News Feed.  It struck a chord with me and I immediately began thinking about how this could impact the teaching profession.

What would our profession look like if we made a conscious effort to compliment teachers publicly?

We could talk all day about how the education profession is not "professionalized" because of low salaries, long hours, disrespected by our society, and more, but instead of focusing on all of the things that are hindrances to our profession, what if we started celebrating what is right with it?

I'm just a simple teacher blogger, but if Disney can use social media to celebrate specific cast members and how they are going above and beyond in their job, why can't education do the same?

Once school starts, my newsfeed will be sprinkled with complaints about the ridiculous supply requests, homework policies, and more.  To be honest, I'm the wrong audience to share that with, as are most of you.  I don't want to hear the negativity about my profession, the one I willingly entered into and lovingly remain. Each year there are thousands of teachers, instructional coaches, interventionist, and administrators that lace up our teaching shoes and choose to return to a new year. Yes, our job is hard, and there are many days that even experienced teachers struggle to keep all of the balls in the air, but it is so rewarding.

So, in an effort to do a little bit to bring positivity back to education, I'd love to share a hashtag with you:  #TeacherCompliments

Source

Disney uses the hashtag #CastCompliment to celebrate their cast members.  Anyone can post using the hashtag.  Posts are made on Instagram, Twitter, and even Facebook.  When Disney sees that a specific member has been celebrated, they share the tweet personally and take a photo.  Stop and think about how powerful that is for the one cast member. 

Now, think about how powerful that could be for one teacher. I know that any time I received a positive letter or thank you note from a student or parent, it often brought me to tears.  Why?  Well, it didn't happen often.  Teachers receive loads of communication from parents, administrators, and students, but very little of it is in sincere celebration of something that was done.  I want to change that.

So, let's start posting using the #teachercompliment hashtag.  Any time you have something positive to share about a teacher, use the hashtag.  Share it on Instagram if you have a photo, Twitter, or Facebook.   Let's sprinkle this world with uplifting messages about what the teachers in our nation are doing for our students.  

I'm starting tomorrow...what about you??

Heartbroken for Denham Springs

It appears that the last time that I came to this blog to write, I wrote about the turmoil that was happening around my home state of Louisiana, and yet, here I am again with heartbreak over my hometown of  Denham Springs.

You may not have heard about the devastating floods that have swept through and decimated entire cities and parishes.  What started out as a normal Friday for many, has turned into a living nightmare  that  they can't wake.

Summer rainstorms are nothing new for South Louisiana,  but Friday's storm would be one for the record books.  I was unaware of what was happening until my sister-in-law texted me Friday morning to tell me her parents were picking up their furniture and water was at the slab of their house.  A house that had never flooded - ever.

My brother packed his family up from the beach vacation they had been waiting on for so long to begin the drive home in terrible storms and flash flooding.  He is a nursing home administrator and needed to get to work because things were turning into a state of emergency.

Her family evacuated and stayed at their home Friday night, but on Saturday morning, I received a text saying they were evacuating from their home because the water was getting to close and they didn't know if they would be able to get out.  So, again they traveled with precious possessions to my parents home.

Saturday my Facebook feed was flooded with texts of people needing rescuing by boat.  Images of rising water vividly showed how quickly the situation was deteriorating.  One by one, friends began posting they were evacuating if possible, or getting rescued by boat, or waiting for help to arrive.  Life quickly began to look very similar to Hurricane Katrina.  Pictures like these began appearing (Photo credit: Jeff Morgan)

And then, you see one like this, and it rattles you to your core. The wife of a friend, anxiously awaiting the birth of her baby, but is now wading out with a few possessions on her back.

This wasn't a normal storm, or even a normal flood.  My hometown has been wiped off the map.  My immediate family thankfully are in the 10% of homes that weren't flooded, but my friends' list on Facebook is full of people who have lost their possessions and must start over in their homes.  Most have lost at least one vehicle.  Most have lost their source of income because 75% of businesses were also affected.  Schools have been closed until further notice.

In 2005, I was in Louisiana for the arrival of Hurricane Katrina.  Denham Springs and Baton  Rouge opened their arms wide and took the people of New Orleans into our homes, businesses, classrooms, and lives.  Now, the people of Denham Springs and Baton Rouge are seeking the same.

But, in the midst of the despair, there was pride.  My friends and family took to deploying the Cajun Navy, a fleet of good people with boats, to go door to door to rescue people and pets.  Neighbors took in neighbors.  There was no consideration of race or socio-economic status.  People simply helped people.  

There was no waiting for someone else to lead the charge.  The people of Louisiana stood together and came in droves to lend a helping hand.  

This girl was proud, prouder than she ever has been of her state, of her people.  

I've been in Baton Rouge this week and what was supposed to be an enjoyable week of visiting my old stomping grounds, has turned into a week of heaviness and weariness.  The television has been on since Tuesday and I've seen videos replay hundreds of times.  More incidents have occurred that have left my heart hurting for the world in which I live, but breaking for the students that I teach.

Over the last two nights I've had a running image of the students I have taught and I have loved over the last 16 years.  The beautiful faces of dark eyes and dark  skin looking to me for guidance and examples.  The tender hearts when they question the actions of those around them.  The tears when they feel hurt or excluded.  I've stood in the hallway and talked through their frustration, hurt, and anger. I've listened to the stories of their childhood and cried with them.  I've hugged their necks when they had no words.

I worry about the students who walk the halls of my schools and what their future really  holds.  I want them all to know that I stand with them and want to wrap my arms around them and their families.  You are loved and you are prayed for daily!

As teachers, we tell all of our students that they have the power to change the world, but after this week,  I don't know if I have equipped them enough to do so.

Teachers have a tall order in helping to change the dialogue in our country, but it is critical that we do.  We need to stop ignoring the issues and allow our classrooms to be a space where students can talk about their fears and their worries without judgment.  We need to recognize what our minority students bring to the table and how things really are different for them.

I don't know what the next steps are,  but I know that we need to join hands and commit to talking about the uncomfortable.