When Ta Da Becomes "Ah Ha!"

So this week we had a #313teach Twitter slow chat challenge in our district:  

Well, we were working with possessives in my sophomore English classes, and there isn't much "Ta Da" about possessives, or so I thought.  Possessives basically follow three rules, so we worked on a technique that forced students to show me their thinking process, not just how to make a word possessive.  I wanted them to tell me three things: is the word singular or plural, how would you fix it, and how do you know you are right?

What I found was that words like this (girls') were causing issues with my students.  I had four students tell me that they have never seen a word end in an apostrophe because they thought it wass always supposed to be ('s).  What a conversation we had.  I spent about 5 minutes convincing kids they weren't dumb if they had never really noticed this before AND thanking them for letting me know they didn't know this existed. 

I spent the next few minutes of class talking about my husband's old 1985 Dodge Ram Charger.  It had a 7-inch lift kid, 35 inch tires, a KC light strip, a rusted out floor board, a hot-wired ignition, and a dual exhaust.  Prior to knowing my husband, I thought Ram Chargers were like Ford Broncos.  I am here to tell you that they are not.  I can spot a Ram Charger from a block away.  I just never knew what I was looking at, but any Ford or Dodge fan will tell you that there is a difference.  When those "ah ha" moments happen, be it with possessive in English or the body type of old trucks, you never forget them.

My students who had never seen a plural possessive end in only an apostrophe probably learned more about a Ram Charger than they ever hoped to know, but they will also probably start seeing those types of words in their reading more often because they know what it is they are seeing.  Ta da!

Gimme Five Challenge: Accepted!

Gimme 5 Challenge

Last week a former student, turned colleague (how cool is that?) of mine tagged me in the Gimme Five Challenge.  I needed to finish grading my Honors Freshman English research papers before I could even begin to think about writing a blog post. This challenge originated from Dr. Todd Schmidt from Harbor View Elementary in California.

If you are an educator, I challenge you to reflect on your year, for it is only through reflection that we move forward and change our practices and beliefs.

What has been your ONE biggest struggle during this school year?

1. My biggest struggle this year has been finding a balance between school and home.  I tell my students that there is only one thing that comes before school, and that is my family.  I have two young boys, and some days those boys need their momma.  It is so different being a teacher with children.  I used to come home from school, eat dinner, and then dive right back into work.  These two boys of mine don't allow me to be "teacher" between the hours of 4:30 and 8:30.  So, what's that mean?  It means that sometimes my grades don't get put in as often as I'd like.  It means that sometimes I stay up late altering the next day's lesson plans to fit this specific class's needs.    It means that I have changed my beliefs on assignments; not everything needs a grade, but I can tell you that I know for a fact that the activities that we do in class each day are making my students better readers and writers. Just because I can't put in the kind of time that I used to does not mean that I am not doing my best, it means my best has to change the way it looks to work for myself, my husband, my kids, and my students.

Share TWO accomplishments that you are proud of from this school year.

1. I'm very proud of the S.E.E.D writing program my department and school has implemented in the past few years.  I am seeing some of the strongest writing from my student that I have ever seen.  I also enjoyed being able to share this writing strategy with another school this year with Jason Kohls.  

2. I am still coming down from cloud nine after attending ECET2 (Elevating and Celebrating Effective Teachers and Teaching) in San Diego.  This conference is the brain child of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  It brought over 400 educators together from all over the country to spend the weekend collaborating on how to improve education and celebrate learning.  It was life changing to see the passion that exists across the country to reform education. Too bad we don't see that on the 6 o'clock news.

What are THREE things you wish to accomplish before the end of the school year?

1. I have two former students who run a non-profit organization to help improve education for school children in Nepal; somehow I want to partner with them this year.  They do fantastic work - check it out! https://openworldcause.org

2. I want to collaborate with our libraries to make sure that students have the opportunities to get library cards, or at least the information they need to do so, before the end of the year.  Very few of them actually have a library card that is not connected to school. I am working with another former student to make this happen.

3. I want to finish grading research papers for my sophomores and revisions for my freshman.  I know this doesn't sound exciting, but it takes about 30 hours to grade 45 research papers and another 10 to grade revisions (multiply that by two for both of my preps).  It is a huge chunk of time, but this type of writing is important to prepare students for college writing/ academic research.

Give FOUR reasons why you remain in education in today's rough culture.

1. I love my school, my colleagues, and my kiddos - this is how I give back a community that gives so much to me.

2. Education is my family business - it's what I was born to do.

3. My children's futures.

4. My students' futures.

Which FIVE people do you hope will take the challenge of answering these questions?

1. Greg Froese, one of my outstanding colleagues who also blogs. (beat ya, Jason Kohls)

2. Cindy Couchman, our Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Learning at Buhler - she has been an amazing colleague, resource, and friend to me.

3. Ben Honeycutt, a future teacher who is already a world-changer.

4. Heather Fuller - a former student teacher of mine who is a fantastic teacher and coach!

5. Larissa Carter, our new debate teacher who has contemplated starting a blog - would be a great first post!

Juxtaposition: Dude, That's Messed Up

I am an English teacher, and I have always believe it is my job to make English usable - not to scare kids away from trying to improve their reading and writing skills.  I don't think that any English teacher sets out to do that; however, because we are really the experts in these areas, it is easy to forget what it is like to be a struggling reader or writer. I personally know what it feels like to not understand English. There was a time when I could not tell a subject from a verb, so it has become my mission to make my content understandable.

One of the terms/concepts that I love to teach is "juxtaposition".  I have tried for years to find an easy way to get students to be able to identify this term in their reading, but until this year it seemed that they can only find it if I give them a few to choose from - then they can pick it out of a lineup.  For those who may not know, not only is juxtaposition fun to say, but it also means "to place two concepts, characters, ideas, or places near or next to each other so that the reader will compare or contrast them" (courtesy of www.literarydevices.com). So, my job as an English teacher is to make this usable so that students don't read the definition in the tone of Charlie Brown's teachers...waa wa waa wa waa. If they are not engaged in what we are doing, it is highly likely they won't apply it.

A few weeks ago, my students read "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson.  I LOVE THIS STORY!  If you've never read it, it's never to late = click here! It wasn't until I was reading it again (for probably the 50th time in my life) that I found myself saying, "Dude, that's so messed up" over and over again. I was reading about a beautiful summer day only to realize that a few hours later, a brutal tradition was to be carried out by the citizens of this town.  That's when it hit me - DUDE THAT'S MESSED UP was the answer to my juxtaposition problems! 

So much about what we teach is about teaching students HOW to think.  For the first time ever, "dude that's messed up" helped my students find juxtaposition on their own.  It isn't rocket science, but it is usable - and that is what matters.  If we can't make our content usable to our students, there is NO WAY they are going to take that information outside of our classrooms and apply it to real life.  That's why I like to use a little rap history to teach sentence structure, the stereotypical horror plot to teach the types of irony, and now the phrase "dude, that's messed up" to teach juxtaposition.  


Update:  And this is an example of some of the amazing writing and thinking my kiddos produce!  I am definitely blessed to be able to read their thoughts and work with them as they become more comfortable with their academic writing voices!

Sample in-class essay:

By definition, juxtaposition is using comparisons or contrasting ideas within literature, often in ways that seem to not fit quite right. Juxtaposition is a literary technique not often found in Edgar Allen Poe’s writings, including “The Cask Of Amontillado”. Poe’s style is much more outright dark and twisted; there isn’t a lot of darkness hidden in the ordinary, as we see in “The Lottery”.  In “The Lottery”, there is a good amount of juxtaposition. For example, the children are piling up stones before the event starts. This seems like an innocent game, but in hindsight we can see that they are piling up stones for use during the killing. As a result, we see how naive the children are, despite being raised with such dark traditions. Another example of juxtaposition in “The Lottery” is how quickly the dynamic between the villagers changes. They are bantering and chatting amiably beforehand, but when it is time to get to the point, they find it easy to turn on the victim without a second thought. Therefore, we understand how quick the villagers are to abandon old friendships and relationships; and how the attitude turns from jovial to serious.

My Strong-willed Kid and a New Perspective

The past six years have been eye-opening for me as I juggle teaching with motherhood.  So many thoughts that I used to have as a teacher about parents and their roles in the house have changed since I have had my own children.  I get it.  I totally understand. I wish that I knew what I know now...

My oldest son is five.  He is a pleaser.  He cries if I look at him wrong.  He wants to be a leader.  He wants to make us happy.  He has such a gentle heart.  He understands right from wrong, and he understands consequences.  My youngest son is two.  I love him with all of my heart, but some days I look at him and wonder how he can be so different when he came from the same parents, in the same household, who use similar discipline techniques, and who love him just as much as we love his older brother.  He is intelligent.  He is stubborn.  He knows what he wants, and he is willing to dig his heels in to get it.  He has been testing the limits at daycare lately.  Our daycare provider is the most patient woman I have ever met, but right now her patience with him is running thin.  I thank God daily that no matter what he is safe with her.  I also thank God daily that she keeps giving him more chances.

His behavior at daycare is not usually what we see at home.  At home he has a brother who puts him in his place, models good behavior, and encourages him to make good choices.  At daycare, he is one of the oldest kids, so he rules the roost.  In the past few weeks, he has woken up all of the kids from nap time, dumped his food on the floor, torn up her song cards, spent over an hour trying to earn his way out of time out (on multiple occasions), lost the right to wear his cowboy boots - the list goes on.  Negative attention is still attention, right?  As a mom, I began dreading the conversation that was to follow when I picked him up each day.  So what did I do?  I avoided it.  I sent my husband (and wouldn't you know that was the one day in 2 weeks that he had a good day!?!).  

Imagine how some of our parents feel - parents who work two jobs to support a family.  Parents who are doing the best they can to get food on the table and bills paid on time.  And then, the school calls.  I remember as a young teacher calling home to talk to a parent and ending that conversation in disbelief because while I was searching for answers, the mom's response was: "What am I supposed to do about it? You're not telling me anything that every other teacher hasn't said."

This made me really think about the changes we are making in our district.  We changed our spring PT conferences at the middle and high school level.  Instead of a reactive/grade-based conference that  only drew about 10-15% of our parents, we switched to a new, proactive format we call Individual Plan of Success (IPS).  This format allowed us to have a conversation about future goals - not the current state of grades.  We talked about ACT, career goals, college or training plans, military enlistment requirements.  We talked about how to search for "Junior Days" at local colleges, and what it would look like to transfer to a university after a year or two at a local community college.  We talked about character traits, community service, and extracurricular activities.  We talked about the big picture, not what parents can already see when they login to the online grade book.  I listened to one young man tell me that he wanted to be a physicist, so we talked about how he would need to make sure he had good relationships with our science department, and that he would want to take upper-level math as much as possible.  I mentioned to another student the idea of being a teacher - she has one of the kindest hearts I know (not to mention the fact that she is smart and goal-driven).  These were the kind of conversations we were able to have.  These conversations matter.   

When it is all said and done, I will have met with every student on my list and about 80% of their parents.  Surprisingly, I even had a student show up on her own because her mom couldn't make it.  While I was sad for her because she had to come alone, it was pointed out to me that even her story was a success story - she feels a tie to our school, a responsibility to her future, and a need to have this meeting about her Individual Plan of Success.  She is committed to our school, but most importantly she is invested in herself.  

This change wasn't easy.  Our counselors and administration busted their tails to get it organized.  Teachers put in hours of work preparing answers, sending emails, and making phone calls.  We had some computer glitches, some misunderstanding of directions, and even some heated/ panic driven conversations; however, and the end of it all, I can honestly say that these were some of the best conferences I have ever had as a teacher.     

As a parent to a strong willed, yet intelligent child, I found myself thankful for this change.  Every day over the past few weeks, I was not looking forward to picking my own child up from daycare - not because I didn't miss the heck out of him, but because I felt like his behavior was almost out of my control.  At home, we really weren't having the issues he was having at daycare.  My husband and I spent hours discussing ideas and strategies to try to improve his behavior - sticker charts, matchbox cars, cheering and clapping - you name it.  We discipline as a team.  We parent as a team.  We tried everything we knew to do, but alas, nothing has worked.  The sound of defeat is deafening.  It is embarrassing.  I should have this figured out.  It makes me think of those parents who never hear of the good their kids do.  I am not taking away the fact that parents have the most important role in their child's life, nor am I making excuses for parents who choose to look the other way.  I don't think that any school or teacher intentionally makes a parent feel that way.  What I am saying is that we, both teachers and parents, are stronger together, and our students are better for it.  

I love my son, and I truly believe that the toddler I raise today will be the teenager I have tomorrow.  This struggle with daycare, with my kid -  a teacher's kid - has given me a new perspective.  I am thankful that I have a daycare provider who works with us to find new ways to encourage our son to make good choices.  I am grateful that she spends time researching and brainstorming ways to improve their time together.  She is, after all, his first teacher.  Now, I am hoping that some of our parents walked away from these IPS conferences with a new perspective, too.  It is no secret, we both have the same goal - a successful future for our students.







  

Painful Silence

Today, my ears hurt, but it wasn't from loud music -- it was from the deafening silence that filled the room in one of my classes. *Cue Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence": "Hello darkness my old friend...*  We were supposed to be discussing "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson. This is a great story that causes readers to think about the traditions in which we participate.  Are they healthy traditions?  Are they traditions that lift others up or tear others down?  Do we just keep doing things because it is the way we've always done them, or because these actions are what is best for ourselves and those around us?  I LOVE the ideas this story brings forth, so naturally I was very excited to hear what my students had to say about this story.  I remember reading this story as a freshman.  I remember being stunned at the end -- such a juxtaposition of ideas.  I know the aspects that I love about this story, but I wanted this discussion to be student led.  This class discussion was going to be awesome, right!?

WRONG! Oh, you could hear a pin drop. I have carpeted floors in my classroom, so you can only imagine how quiet it was during our discussion.  We spent a day preparing for this. I provided open-ended prompts for our Socratic Seminar, so my students would simply have to pull discussion topics from ideas they had already thought about. Again, this should be awesome, right!?  And then, crickets.  It was painful watching these students who I love so dearly struggle through a discussion that should be so fun, so passionate. I had about three students participating, and even they were hesitating because they felt like they were doing ALL the talking. First, I was mad. Then, I felt my stubbornness set in: "By golly they were going to discuss and they were going to like it! My other hours were doing a great job, we just need to suck it up and start talking!" Finally, my brain said, "Hey teacher, THIS ISN'T WORKING." So, we stopped. Part of me thinks that I had to quickly work through the stages of grief to let go of this idea - I was so looking forward to hearing their thoughts.

I went to the board, and I wrote four questions down:
1.  Do you feel safe enough to participate in class discussion?
2.  Why is class discussion an important activity for you, as a student?
3.  Why do you hesitate to share in discussion?
4.  What can Mrs. Neill do to help this class discuss literature we are reading?

I asked students to email me. I frequently stress the importance of communication in class, so this worked right into my message. What I didn't realize is that by doing this, it allowed them to share what they think/struggle with/ like about class discussion and even about themselves personally. All said they felt safe. (Yay & phew all at the same time).  Many shared how much they like discussion, but they wished others would share their ideas.  Many shared about fear of failure. Many shared that they struggle to get the words out the way they want them to sound. A few said they feel like they don't have many good ideas.  Some even talked about the anxiety/pain that class discussion causes them. (Those responses made my heart hurt.)  So tomorrow, we will do something different. It is 10:00 at night, and I have no idea what this will look like, but it WILL look different than today. It will be an awesome discussion; I just have to find the right medium.

Oh, and on a positive note, I was able to respond to each email, personally. I was able to give students individual feedback and show them empathy. The idea to have them email worked better than I could have imagined. Tomorrow, I hope that painful silence has left my classroom and collaborative thinking begins.  

***Update:  I used Google Docs as our medium for discussion.  I created a table with three columns: Name/ Observation/Questions from Text/ Discussion.  Students chose a color for their font, and after each comment they would change the text to that color and put their names at the end of the comment.  TEN PAGES LATER, we ended discussion for today!  It was fun to watch it come together! S/O to @JasonKohls for sharing an idea a few months ago that I could modify to work for my class!

I Be Tweetin'; I Hope You Be Tweetin', Too!

I have always wanted to teach.  My dad was an administrator and my stepmom is still a teacher. Growing up as a kid, inservice days meant no adults at home, and $20 for four kids to go buy dinner at the local Mexican restaurant, and trying not to break anything too valuable or get caught doing something we weren't supposed to be doing (like sitting on the roof of the house, cough, cough - not that we ever got caught doing that, wink, wink!). 

Almost 14 years ago as a student teacher, I remember being asked by my fellow classmates if I "had" to attend the dreaded back-to-school inservice.  I thought it was strange that so many were not looking forward to this experience, and they had not even become teachers. I did have to attend because my cooperating teacher felt like I should experience every aspect of what it meant to be a teacher.  I was definitely not motivated by two days of meetings, but I was also not discouraged. I wanted to teach, and I knew it was part of the game, a hoop to jump through, if you will. What I did not realize then was that PD was really supposed to be designed to help me grow as a teacher, not to fill time.  Too many districts use PD as a time-killer, I mean filler.

Teacher inservice has always gotten a bad rap, so they started calling it Professional Development (PD), and now we are supposed to call it Professional Learning (PL) - to which I say, "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, so Romeo would, were he not Romeo called."  Ok, so that was just my attempt to work in some Shakespeare. I am very lucky to teach in a district that works tirelessly to make PD as individual as possible (shout-out to Cindy Couchman and Mary Frazier).  This year teachers were able to sign up for about 6 different breakout sessions that would address areas that we had questions or wanted to improve.  How lucky were we?  Yep, Powerball ain't got nothing on that.

In this tough, financial time in Kansas, PD is one of the first things that a district must cut, which is a bunch of malarky if you ask me because learning opportunities are being taken away from the very people educating our children.  But really, as educators, we have an opportunity to participate in online professional networking that DOESN'T COST A THING! In the past two weeks, I have participated in two "Twitter Chats".  Here's what I've learned about the process:

1.  You need a Twitter account to participate.  I was worried about Twitter because I thought it was like Facebook where I would be sharing information about my kids, etc.  While I could do that, Twitter is my professional social networking.  It is where I go to post ideas about teaching and learning.  It is where I go to learn from other educators, bloggers, and journals.  It is not where I am going to post what my kids got for Christmas from Santa - those updates are for Facebook. 

2.  A Twitter Chat is usually led by one person (sometimes two) who moderates by asking questions.  No one has to invite you - join in if you want to chat and learn from other educators.  Find one that works for you - a time is usually given a week in advance.

3.  You follow these questions by searching the live feed using hashtags. #leadupchat #edthink #satchat are great ones to follow!

4.  The chat moderator will begin asking questions and will post questions about every 5 minutes.

5. Then others post their answers using "A" for their answer and "3" for the question they are answering.  They end by using the #hashtag that is chosen for the chat. (FYI - You can put that hashtag anywhere in the tweet!)

6.  Keep reading the live feed between questions!  "Like" a post.  "Retweet" if you want. "Follow" a teacher who you think has good ideas.  The dialogues continue long after the questions and answers have been posted.

So now, after two Twitter Chats, I know this: A.) I have no clue what I am doing, but that is okay.  B.)  I am still learning how to follow the original posts and times for the Twitter Chats that interest me.  C.)  These fellow educators are fan-freakin'-tastic!  D.) I leave the chat feeling elevated and celebrated by other teachers who value education as much as I do. E.) If you wait until you fully understand it, you'll never start.

Using social media to promote what is happening in our classrooms and to learn from others is not "bragging" - it is sharing.  I am proud of what I do, the people I teach with each day, and the students I teach, SO I SHARE!  Using social media is one way that we, teachers, can change educate the public about what teaching is really like. It is the closest a person can get to being in our classrooms without actually being a student.  So until next time, I be Tweetin'; I hope you be Tweetin', too!  Give it a try.  

So, There's This Girl...

It's that time of year.  Teachers know it well - Dreaded December.  We are all tired.  The newness of the year has worn off. The grading is piling up. The sleep is disappearing.  I have so much grading to do. So much planning and preparation that needs to happen for the rest of my week to run smoothly, but there's this girl. She's my girl. She is a student who I have been blessed to teach for four years, and by golly, she's going to do great things once she leaves our four walls. So, I need to brag on her for a moment.

As a freshman, she doubted everything about herself. Her looks, her ability to learn, her ability to love and be loved. She was added to my impact class, and I saw something in her - she wanted better. She wanted better for herself, her family, and her future family that doesn't exist. And so it began. She trusted me. She trusted that I had her best interests in mind. She let me care about her. She began trying study techniques I suggested (ok, forced her to do). She began thinking before she acted (even if we rehearsed what she was going to say in class if a certain situation came up in the hallway).  She tattled on herself when she got in trouble. She stuck up for the underdog because she (according to the definition only) is an underdog herself. She did all these things, even when there were days she was so mad at me she couldn't see straight.  

Sophomore year was a little better, a lot of drama, but a little more self esteem. A little less poking and prodding, but still a lot of tears.  Junior year, she was asking for note cards to study. She was asking me to look over her work that was completed a few days before the due date. She finally had the one person she needed in her corner fighting for her -- she had herself. She finally started to listen when I told her to "love herself first so that she can let others love her." She began cleaning up her Facebook page because it was filled with hate and anger which did not match the kindness of her heart. She showed resilience. She showed grace and forgiveness. She kept pushing for greatness.   

Senior year, this same girl went from doubting every sentence she wrote as a freshman to writing a 17 page research paper that is full of voice and conviction. She revoked her victim card, having lost a dear loved one to suicide years ago, and she has focused her passion and energy into researching suicide prevention, so that maybe, just maybe, she can save a life of someone who is alone and struggling. She trusts the guidance of her senior English teacher. She trusts the school counselor when she's having a bad day.  So now, now she has three people who call her "their girl". She has three people who talk daily about her progress in class, her plans for the future, and the fact that she needs to get a driver's license (cue eye roll).  

She is the reason so many of us teach. We all look for that one kid. That one kid becomes the reason we come to work, the reason we lose sleep over long breaks, and the reason we work each day to make school a better, safer, happier place. That one kid gets referred to as our "son" or "daughter" because others know how much we care. That one kid who makes us cry like a baby at graduation, and then again the following August when we don't see that familiar smile in the hallway. That one kid who reminds us of those teachers who made a difference in us. So yeah, there's this girl, and I'm pretty lucky to know her.

And now, I need to finish grading quizzes. And they really aren't good. And it really makes me mad because I know how hard we've worked on this strategy in class. So tomorrow we'll try again. I do my best to give these kids my best effort each day because one of these kids could be my next kid, and I will be a better teacher, mother, and person for it.