Wednesday, August 28, 2013

A Few Thoughts on TESS...

The children are off to a great start!  We jumped right in to our first book study with The Diary of Anne Frank this week.  It was quite a change of pace from our bright and cheery first week of school fun last week to discussing the Holocaust this week.  I was really impressed with the amount of prior knowledge that this group of students brought to our discussion!  Thanks, sixth grade teachers!!  Each class period added something different to our conversation, and it was so fun to see how each class seemed to focus on different key facts and ideas.

As this year began, I was hopeful that I would find all this new "free time."  With no more grad school to take up my evenings, I just knew I was going to be able to insert all these new, fun things into my post-school hours... So far, those post-work hours have been filled with more work; mostly, I feel like I have TESS to thank for my new work duties.  TESS is the new teacher evaluation system in Arkansas. I know that programs like this have been in existence in other states for many years, but I also know that for many teachers in Arkansas, it's totally rocked their world.

For me, I just feel like I'm in college again.  The standards by which we'll be assessed are almost exactly the same as those that I lived by in my student teaching.  Today, I picked up my "evaluation timeline" for this year, and died a little inside.  So. Much. Paperwork.  However, I also feel like, even though I find myself occasionally annoyed and trying to decide which days I want to stay late at work to build my portfolio, TESS is making me a better, more reflective teacher already.  I feel like I always make an attempt to use this writing space as a reflective tool for myself, even if it hasn't exactly been consistent.  This year, I've spent at least five minutes at the end of each day writing "reflection notes" on each day's lesson.  It's helped me focus on which kids are succeeding and struggling and which lessons are working or aren't.  Most of all, it's given me a better opportunity to connect one day to the next.  I feel like my process of teaching is becoming more cyclical and connected, and I'm liking the way that works for me and for my students.

There's a great quote that says, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” I'd say this is definitely true of my personal life and my classroom life.  I've learned so much about being a teacher (and a grownup) in the past three years.  Every day is a new lesson for me, just like it is for my students, and I'm looking forward to all the new wisdom from the middle that I'll gain this year.


Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Creating a Vision

The first two days of school are in the books, and they were great!  Before I started my first year of teaching, a then-coworker told me I wouldn't quite feel comfortable in the classroom until the third year. At the time, I thought that was a pretty negative statement, but after the first two days of Year Three, I'm thinking maybe there was some truth to what she said.  I was really nervous, like more nervous than I probably should have been, leading up to the start of this new year.  But once the first bell rang, I felt the most calm and collected I've ever felt on the first day.

On top of feeling more confident and relaxed, it helped that I have a great group of students this year!  I am so excited about learning with them and seeing where this year takes us.  Which leads me into my very favorite thing about this new year...writing classroom vision statements.

This year, one of the teachers on my team suggested that we have each class write a vision statement about where they want this year to go. I was nervous about this at first.  You can never tell whether 7th graders are going to be mature enough to handle something like this on Day One, or if they'll make it a game.  I was SO impressed today when it all came together.  Every class fully participated in a democratic way.  They encouraged each other and improved on each other's ideas respectfully.  By the end of the day, I had decided that this lesson is probably one of my favorite lessons that I have ever facilitated (that's right.  I facilitated.  The kids wrote these by themselves!)  Here they are... I think you'll see why I am so excited!

1st Period’s Class Vision Statement
School is important because it helps you become successful.  Therefore, our class should be hard-working and respectful every day, so we can learn vocabulary and writing skills in 7th grade English.  In order to learn and be successful, students in 1st period will listen, do their best, and be prepared.  As your teacher, Ms. Herring will be detailed and specific and make sure you understand to help you have an awesome year!

2nd Period’s Class Vision Statement
School is important because it teaches you the life skills you need to go to college or get a job.  Therefore, our class should be focused and prepared every day, so we can learn vocabulary and writing, reading, and grammar skills in 7th grade English.  In order to learn and be successful, students in 2nd period will listen, work hard, and be respectful.  As your teacher, Ms. Herring will make sure you understand when you struggle and be detailed and specific to help you have an awesome year!

3rd Period’s Class Vision Statement
School is important because it gives you life skills and helps you become successful.  Therefore, our class should be awesome by being focused and prepared, so we can learn reading, writing, grammar, and vocabulary skills in 7th grade English.  In order to learn and be successful, students in 3rd period will listen, work hard, and be respectful.  As your teacher, Ms. Herring will be detailed and specific and help you when you struggle, while being nice, in order to help you have an awesome year!

6th Period’s Class Vision Statement
School is important because it gives you life skills and helps you go to college and get a job.  Therefore, our class should be respectful and hard-working every day, so we can learn reading, writing, and grammar skills in 7th grade English.  In order to learn and be successful, students in 6th period will pay attention, work hard, and be prepared.  As your teacher, Ms. Herring will be nice and help you understand when you struggle, so you have an awesome year!

7th Period’s Class Vision Statement
School is important because it teaches you life skills and helps you become successful.  Therefore, our class should be awesome by being focused and prepared every day, so we can learn reading, writing, and grammar skills in 7th grade English.  In order to learn and be successful, students in 7th period will listen, do their best, and be respectful. As your teacher, Ms. Herring will be detailed and specific, help you understand when you struggle, and be nice, so you have an awesome year!

8th Period’s Class Vision Statement
School is important because it helps you go to college so you will have a bright future.  Therefore, our class should be focused and hard-working every day, so we can learn reading, writing, grammar, and vocabulary skills in 7th grade English.  In order to learn and be successful, students in 8th period will listen, work hard, be prepared, and be respectful.  As your teacher, Ms. Herring will be nice, detailed, and specific, will help you when you struggle, and will make sure you understand, so you have an awesome year!

These are all now printed, laminated, and posted proudly at the front of my classroom, so we can refer to them throughout the year and make sure we're on track with our vision.  What I love so much about these is that they're all similar in some ways, but they're also different.  You can see what each class values, what makes it unique as a group of students.  My favorite moment today was during third period when a student said, "I am going to love this class!  I've never felt like I had a say in class before.  It's like I have ownership."  Oh. my. gosh.  Seriously?!  Isn't that what all teachers are working toward?  Student ownership is key.  They've got to buy in and be engaged if anything great is going to happen.  I think today as a great first step in that direction.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

Significant Learning

Well, I had decided when I came back to the blog that Sunday would be my regular blogging day, but this Sunday I was coming back from the lake and sleeping.  Therefore, Tuesday is blogging day.  We're two days into in-service week at my school.  The children and their parents came for Open House last night, and we start school next Monday.  Amidst all the yearly reminders and required sessions on things-we-need-to-know-for-a-great-year, two things stood out to me, and they've been mulling around in my brain for the past 48 hours.

The first thing is a quote that my principal asks everyone she interviews for teaching positions.  She always states her favorite quote and asks each candidate what it means to him or her.  The quote is, "No significant learning occurs without a significant relationship."  I have no idea what my response was when she asked me that question.  I'm sure I was so adrenaline-driven that I just blurted out the first thing that came to my mind.  However, in the course of the day yesterday, she also told us the answer that one of my coworkers gave in his interview, and it's probably one of my favorite things I've heard lately.  He said that his job (our job as teachers) isn't just to create significant 7th graders.  Our job is to create significant adults.  Therefore, significant learning is lifelong learning.  It's learning that creates significant adults.

Now, "significant" is relative to the child, but the essence of this response rang in my ears all day yesterday, especially during Open House last night.  I'm not just preparing kids to be great seventh graders; I should be giving them the knowledge or thirst for knowledge that they need to grow into individuals who thrive on inquiry and critical thinking.  I should be striving to foster individuality and creativity.  In my opinion, those are the qualities that breed "significance," far more than superior standardized test taking skills breed significance.  I get it that standardized testing is part of my reality as a teacher, but I really want my focus this year to be on authentic learning experiences.

The second thing that stuck in my mind was a speaker we heard today during our district's convocation.  His call to action for us was to tell the positive stories of our classroom.  When he said that, I immediately thought, "Oh, I have got this! I do that in my blog!"  But then I went on to think about happy hour with my friends, when I complain about the tough things that happened during the week or the problem children I dealt with; I thought about calling my boyfriend to vent about that tough class period that was slowly wearing me down; I thought about whining to my parents about the papers I had to grade and the lack of effort a student may have made on an assignment.  I began to realize that I'm not always a great ambassador for my school.

Here's the thing, I adore my job.  The pros far outweigh the cons.  And while it's important to vent to protect one's general sanity, I need to make sure I'm advertising to everyone around me that middle school is wonderful, and my job is rewarding and fulfilling.  In a show of good faith toward my decision to be more positive, here's a small positive story to start me off...

At Open House last night, I saw hundreds of people.  Parents, students, and siblings came through my room all night.  Somewhere in the middle of the rush, two former students of mine came into my room. I taught them during my first year of teaching, and they were always causing chaos or forgetting homework.  Anyway, these two boys walked in my door with huge smiles on their faces, silently sat down in desks, and waited patiently for a group of new parents and students to leave and visit other classrooms.  When the group had moved on, these two boys stood up and gave me huge bear hugs that swallowed me (even in 9th grade they're already taller than me), and they said, "We sure miss you, Ms. Herring." They stayed and chatted, telling me about school, summer vacations, and football. Open House was the third or fourth time since being in seventh grade that these two boys have come back together to visit me.  I've said before that it's the little things that can really make any day better.  Their visit made my day better because their visit meant that I made a difference for them.  Maybe it was a small difference.  But regardless of the size of the impact, just knowing that they remembered seventh grade English enough to stop by and update me on their lives made me smile to myself.  Visits like theirs, letters that students send me to say "thank you" or "I miss your class;" those are the only signs I need that slowly but surely, I'm helping to create significant adults.

So I look forward to a  year of significant learning and sweet stories of my classroom.  I can't wait to get started and get to know this new group of kids.  I really, truly believe that this will be the best year yet.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Middle School Drama

Well, a new school year starts tomorrow for me.  It's officially time to get my classroom looking all shiny and new for the first day of school.  Last week, I was fortunate to get to spend most of the week at the lake doing absolutely nothing but laying in the sun and reading books.  It was much needed and much enjoyed.  I would always rather read young adult fiction than adult fiction, and I'm currently obsessed with author John Green and am in the process of reading all of his books. I started Paper Towns while I was there, and I'm loving it so far.  Anyway, I also read a nonfiction book related to teaching middle school to get me geared up for a new school year.  I started doing this last summer and decided to make it a personal tradition of sorts, a way to learn something new that I can apply to my work.  Last year, I read What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali.  This year, I read The Drama Years by Haley Kilpatrick.

Now, I was a middle school girl a lot more recently than the majority of my co-workers, and I remember having some pretty petty and ridiculous drama.  Despite feeling not all too removed from the upheaval of middle school, it was really good for me to read this book.  Kilpatrick dives into the pressures and frustrations that face todays sixth, seventh, and eighth grade girls and discusses problems, like frienemies, mean girls, boys, and self esteem, by providing interviews with middle school and high school girls who are willing to share their thoughts and feelings.  What I realized in reading the book is that a lot of these problems don't go away post-middle school.  Girls who become twenty-something and thirty-something women still deal with frienemies, mean girls, boys/men, and self esteem.  Middle school is merely our introduction to issues and pressures that are always going to be there in some form or fashion.

All of this got me thinking; am I really acting as a good role model for my girls at school?  Am I modeling how to resolve conflicts and providing a listening, empathetic ear? Am I Tina Fey's character in Mean Girls?....just kidding.  Anyway, my point here is that as I was reading I started to realize that somewhere along the way, my mindset shifted toward adulthood, and I started to see the "silly drama" my students are dealing with for all its pettiness and not as the monumental moment that a 13-year-old girls can feel that it is.  While it's important for me to bring these kids back down to Earth, it's also important for me to practice greater understanding when their dramas turn into traumas.  The middle school girl experience is different, even from when I was in middle school back in the day.  Social networks and cyberbullying make girls even more vulnerable than they once were to the Regina Georges of their own generation.  I feel like it's my responsibility to be available.

In the chaos of the day-to-day, being "available" can be tough.  The thirty minutes of relative silence that is my lunch time is like an oasis some days, making it hard to say yes when a student says, "Ms. Herring, do you have time to talk?"  But it's my job to have that time. Some girls can't or won't talk with their parents, and girls need wisdom beyond the capacity of a fellow 13-year-old sometimes.  So my resolution for this year is to be available, to be empathetic, to be a listener, to be what my students need as they navigate the drama.