My last post was titled "summer school part one," which denotes that there should have been a "summer school part two" post. There was not, although I promise that I had excellent intentions of writing part two. Sometimes intentions just aren't meant to become actions. I can say that the second half of summer school was just as enjoyable as the first. Everyone passed on to begin their eighth grade careers and leave the middle school behind.
The week after summer school, I went to an Advanced Placement summer institute for the week. I went for three reasons. 1) I knocked out five of my seven days of professional development for the summer, which means I don't have to worry about PD until August, 2) it's some of the most useful PD that I think you can attend, and 3) it renews my certification to teach pre-AP courses at the middle school. I felt like it was a really productive week, and I learned a lot of strategies that I will definitely be using in my classroom next year. June PD accomplished! Let the summer fun begin....
Almost. While I was doing all these school things, I also decided that it was an excellent idea to take two online courses. I'm trying to knock out my masters quickly, for reasons unknown even to me. The thing is, I'm a big nerd, and I love school. I'll probably be in college forever. Anyway, I should have known from the beginning that I was overextending myself for the month of June. I've written I don't know how many blog posts about the evils of being too busy and how I'm committing myself to a slower pace....yeah right. I'm a "yes man" to the core, and I LOVE being busy and feeling productive. I know that I'm like that because I look at my friends and they're like that too, "Sisters, doing it for themselves," to quote one of my favorite songs.
So, while I am beyond excited for the break that I know is coming in the month of July, I just felt the need to say that there is nothing wrong with being busy. Yes, it will lead to occasional small breakdowns and the need to sometimes have chocolate and frozen yogurt for dinner, but busyness keeps the world running.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Small Successes: summer school part one
Right now, I am blogging because it will give me thirty minutes or so where I will not have to think about the pile of homework I just received from the two classes I started today to work toward my masters. It will give me thirty minutes or so to not think about my own personal frustrations. It will give me thirty minutes or so not to think about the fact that I REALLY need to clean my house. It will give me thirty minutes to only focus on one aspect of my life in June that I anticipated being as frustrating as the previous statements, but has come to be a really awesome part of my day. Summer School.
I can readily admit that I agreed to teach summer school as soon as my principal asked, but I fully believed that it was going to be terrible. In my mind, I saw the summer school classes that we all see in the movies. I saw a bunch of kids who were resentful toward me about having to be there, completely unwilling to learn, and throwing paper wads and spit balls at me and others when my back was turned. I could not have been more wrong. I have had the pleasure to teach the first five days of a fifteen-day summer school session to some of the sweetest, most willing kids you could imagine.
Now, I'm not saying school is their favorite place in the whole world. They're in summer school because they have not succeeded this year. For some of them, it was because they would rather act up and get sent out of class than make an attempt at school and fail. For others, there were some major learning gaps that just could not be regained in a class of 28 kids during the regular school year. Regardless of why they were there, the students in my two summer school classes have thrived with the smaller class size and the individual tutoring time. It's been thrilling to me to see the "light bulb" affect happen for these kids.
For most of them, the key is validation. They're so afraid to believe they're right that they second guess themselves. Building their self confidence in English is what they need more than anything. I told a kid yesterday, "You can do this. You're so smart." He looked at me like I was a crazy person. For some, the idea of being "smart" is against the group norms in which they live; it's not "cool" to be smart. For others, who have struggled for years, the concept of being "smart" seems silly and foreign.
The thing is, that everyone is smart. We're just all different kinds of smart. Some of those kids can see things and find things in video games that take so much critical thinking it blows my mind. Others are strong athletes, even for their age, and can analyze a basketball court in a split second. Others are amazingly creative and artistic; they can draw so well it makes me jealous. Regardless of our talents, we all deserve to be praised for our successes, both large and small. Even if that small praise is just a sparkly smiley face sticker on a worksheet, a little goes a long way. So this week, I think the lesson I learned is to be a "validator." It's not just the big things that deserve a pat on the back, and that's an easy thing to forget in the busyness of everyday life. When all we do is rush, the simple successes that others have go unnoticed. Be a noticer. Be a validator. Celebrate the small successes.
I can readily admit that I agreed to teach summer school as soon as my principal asked, but I fully believed that it was going to be terrible. In my mind, I saw the summer school classes that we all see in the movies. I saw a bunch of kids who were resentful toward me about having to be there, completely unwilling to learn, and throwing paper wads and spit balls at me and others when my back was turned. I could not have been more wrong. I have had the pleasure to teach the first five days of a fifteen-day summer school session to some of the sweetest, most willing kids you could imagine.
Now, I'm not saying school is their favorite place in the whole world. They're in summer school because they have not succeeded this year. For some of them, it was because they would rather act up and get sent out of class than make an attempt at school and fail. For others, there were some major learning gaps that just could not be regained in a class of 28 kids during the regular school year. Regardless of why they were there, the students in my two summer school classes have thrived with the smaller class size and the individual tutoring time. It's been thrilling to me to see the "light bulb" affect happen for these kids.
For most of them, the key is validation. They're so afraid to believe they're right that they second guess themselves. Building their self confidence in English is what they need more than anything. I told a kid yesterday, "You can do this. You're so smart." He looked at me like I was a crazy person. For some, the idea of being "smart" is against the group norms in which they live; it's not "cool" to be smart. For others, who have struggled for years, the concept of being "smart" seems silly and foreign.
The thing is, that everyone is smart. We're just all different kinds of smart. Some of those kids can see things and find things in video games that take so much critical thinking it blows my mind. Others are strong athletes, even for their age, and can analyze a basketball court in a split second. Others are amazingly creative and artistic; they can draw so well it makes me jealous. Regardless of our talents, we all deserve to be praised for our successes, both large and small. Even if that small praise is just a sparkly smiley face sticker on a worksheet, a little goes a long way. So this week, I think the lesson I learned is to be a "validator." It's not just the big things that deserve a pat on the back, and that's an easy thing to forget in the busyness of everyday life. When all we do is rush, the simple successes that others have go unnoticed. Be a noticer. Be a validator. Celebrate the small successes.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
The "Be-attitudes"
Tomorrow is officially my last day as a first year teacher. With the exception of a few minor mental breakdowns and several days that required either chocolate or ice cream (or both) in order to improve the day, this year surpassed all my expectations. In all seriousness, I do feel like I did far more than survive this year, which is what most teachers and college of ed professors will tell you is the thing first year teachers should hope to do. I thrived this year, both professionally and personally. I feel like I built a foundation and gained a clearer understanding of where I want to go and what I want to do in my career and in my life, and on top of that I got to spend five days a week with some pretty awesome kids. I learned about their hopes and fears, saw their silliness and seriousness, loved their intelligence and their childlike excitement. Middle school is perfect to me because there is a sense of both childhood and adulthood in the same place. They want so badly to grow up, but when you "hook them" on a topic or a lesson, the child inside them comes bubbling back to the surface and you can see the curiosity and excitement in their eyes. It's my favorite sliver of time--the light bulb moment that makes me love being a teacher.
When I finished student teaching a year and a half ago, I capped off my time at that middle school with a "Top Ten of 2010" list. I wanted to do something similar with this post. Every year at my middle school, we have a theme. This year our theme was "Just Be It." We encouraged the students all year to be their best each day, be respectful, be readers, be hard workers. So, in honor of our theme, I present to you:
The Top 5 Things I Learned to BE:
When I finished student teaching a year and a half ago, I capped off my time at that middle school with a "Top Ten of 2010" list. I wanted to do something similar with this post. Every year at my middle school, we have a theme. This year our theme was "Just Be It." We encouraged the students all year to be their best each day, be respectful, be readers, be hard workers. So, in honor of our theme, I present to you:
The Top 5 Things I Learned to BE:
- Be respectful. This was the #1 rule in my classroom this year. In my last post, I wrote about the Letters to Self that my 7th graders wrote for their final project. Part of the letter was to write about the most important thing they learned in English this year. One student wrote that he learned that respect is the most important thing you can have. He said, "Ms. Herring shows us respect, so we show her respect. If we don't do our part, it's hard for her to do hers." I tried not only to respect my peers and coworkers, but to also respect my students everyday. By nurturing an atmosphere of respect in my classroom, my students were able to grow in maturity and interact more effectively.
- Be flexible. When all else fails, monitor and adjust. As a first year teacher, I had no idea about the yearly activities and traditions and schedule changes that come with teaching. There is literally no way that whatever calendar you draw up in August will stay set in stone until May. In fact, I threw away the calendar I mapped out for this school year in October of last year. Things don't always go the way we plan, but if we're flexible, they'll go the way they're supposed to go. It's all about attitude.
- Be honest. I love every single one of my students from this school year. They were all special and unique in their own way, and each one of them taught me their own lesson. However, I had a couple students who taught me one of the most important lessons I learned this year, and it's a lesson I will carry with me throughout my career in the classroom. Be honest. Be yourself. Be genuine. I realized with great sadness this year that for some students, a teacher may be the only adult that is honest and caring and genuine. When home is like hell, school can either be an extension of that environment, or it can provide a haven. I want to be able to provide a safe place, an honest place, for my students to know that they can be honest with me, and I will be honest right back.
- Be positive. Early this year, I had a conversation this someone who previously worked in our district, but moved on to pursue a university career. During that conversation, he told me, "Keep smiling. You have the power to set a tone where you are. Use it." What he meant was, Be positive in all things. When you're positive with the students, they follow your lead. When you're positive with your peers and coworkers, it creates an atmosphere of cooperation. It is so easy to fall prey to negative talk and grumbling, but in the long run, I have so much to be thankful for that I end up feeling guilty for my grumbling. So I try each day to be positive, to smile at everyone I pass in the hall, to ask how someone's day is going. The littlest things make the biggest impact on the people around you.
- Be healthy. While I love my job, I had to learn this year to leave my work at work. I picked up running, which I previously loathed, and ran two half marathons this year. Running became a time for thinking or mind-clearing, depending on whatever I needed it to be each day. I started eating a healthier (kind of) diet. I mean, a girl still needs her sugar and the occasional Diet Coke....And I started getting more sleep this year. I love my job, but it's much more difficult to enjoy each day and feel like I'm doing a good job when I'm not taking care of myself. Being healthy is a personal goal that I try to be better at everyday, but it bleeds over into work and makes me better at it. It also makes me pretty happy.
These are the things I want to remember to BE each day and each school year as I continue my time as a teacher, my "BE-attitudes" so to speak. It's been a great school year, and I'm looking forward to many more. In the meantime, get excited for summer school blog posts in the next few weeks :)
Monday, May 14, 2012
Letter to Self
In my last post, I promised to make the most of the next 22 days of school, and we'll just say that is the reason that I haven't posted in a couple weeks. In all honesty, I have made the most of the past two weeks, and they have absolutely flown by. I can't believe I have less than two full school weeks left in my first year. Two weekends ago, I took a mental break from school and road-tripped to Memphis with the boyfriend to listen to awesome music for three days at Memphis in May. Last weekend, I went out of town to one of the most gorgeous weddings I have ever attended when one of my friends from high school got married. I have to admit that I love my job, but these little mini-vacations have really helped to keep me out of a slump during this last month of school. If I've learned one thing this year, it's that I am the best teacher I can be whenever I am living a balanced life. That means having a personal/social life so that I can take a break from work.
With only two weeks left, one of which will consist of us playing outside during English class because I don't have to give a final, I gave my seventh grade students one final English assignment to complete for the year. It's a Letter to Self. Another teacher at my school does this assignment, and I think it's such a neat idea. The students will write a letter to themselves, turn it in, and I will return it to them at the end of their 9th grade year. Just think about how much growing happens in those two years. They may all be mad at me for giving them one last big assignment now, but they'll be glad they have it to look back on later. In a way, this blog is kind of my "letter to self." Sometimes I go back to look at posts from my student teaching. or the time before I found this job, or even earlier in this school year, and I'm amazed at the growth I've made as a teacher and as a person. The imperceptible baby steps we make each day seem so much more monumental when we look back on them from a distance.
In honor of my students' last assignment, I decided that I, too, would participate in the assignment and write a letter to myself.
Dear future Ms. Herring,
Here are just a few words of advice from the "new teacher" version of you, learning new things everyday:
With only two weeks left, one of which will consist of us playing outside during English class because I don't have to give a final, I gave my seventh grade students one final English assignment to complete for the year. It's a Letter to Self. Another teacher at my school does this assignment, and I think it's such a neat idea. The students will write a letter to themselves, turn it in, and I will return it to them at the end of their 9th grade year. Just think about how much growing happens in those two years. They may all be mad at me for giving them one last big assignment now, but they'll be glad they have it to look back on later. In a way, this blog is kind of my "letter to self." Sometimes I go back to look at posts from my student teaching. or the time before I found this job, or even earlier in this school year, and I'm amazed at the growth I've made as a teacher and as a person. The imperceptible baby steps we make each day seem so much more monumental when we look back on them from a distance.
In honor of my students' last assignment, I decided that I, too, would participate in the assignment and write a letter to myself.
Dear future Ms. Herring,
Here are just a few words of advice from the "new teacher" version of you, learning new things everyday:
- Go to bed early. You are not only nicer, but you are better at your job when you get a solid 7-8 hours of sleep.
- Smile always. A smile is the ultimate "fake it 'til you make it" cover up. You can have absolutely no clue what's happening or be heavily opposed to what's happening, and a smile can help you survive until you can fix it or change it later.
- Mistakes help you grow. It's great to be a perfectionist, but you found a lot of perfection within your mistakes and monitored adjustments this year. Bumps in the road keep things interesting.
- Be a leader, a mentor, and a friend. Above all, your job is not to teach infinitives and prepositional phrases. Your job is to be a positive role model, a confidante, a secret-keeper, an encourager, a cheerleader. During this year, the reality that teachers may be the only positive adult figures in a child's life has become terribly and sadly obvious. Be the person your students may lack and supplement the positive people that they do have.
- You get out what you put in. Enough said.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
22 Days
22 days of school left. Today I felt like this was my bittersweet mantra. The kids are just itching for summer, and therefore their behavior and ability to focus has taken a steep decline. In moments of frustration, I found myself repeating "22 days, 22 days, 22 days..." exasperatedly in my mind. But then one of those small, sweet moments would sneak in, and I would find my mind whispering "22 days, 22 days, 22 days..." with the little sadness of knowing that "my kids" would only still be my kids for a little bit longer. Looking back, I have seen amazing development and maturity occur over this year. On a day to day basis, these things are hard to see, but then I'll have a moment of clarity where I realize that they all look a little more grown up and turn their work in on time a little more often....for some students it's still those baby steps of progress that make my day.
I take stock in the success of these kids. I want to know that when they move on, they've got the tools they need to succeed. More importantly, I want them to know that they can come back for a visit if they feel like they might fail. I don't think I ever realized how attached I would grow to this group of kids. Maybe that's how I know that this is what I'm meant to do and where I'm meant to be. Even on the most frustrating days, my students are worth the little headaches.
Over the past week and a half, we've been writing poetry in English. Today, my students turned in their writing and I was thrilled to see such creativity on the pages of their journals. Even the kids that hated poetry made me laugh with their witty poems about hating poetry. But there were also moments when my heart broke in half as I read about the sad, dark places where some of my kids are stuck right now. I had to go to the counselor about a few students whose poetry held suggestions of self-harm and self-hatred. Just knowing that at thirteen years old, a child's life can seem so terrible that they would think about the possibility of giving up is unbearable to me. There is so much good and excitement and perfection in this life that they need to know and feel and see. Having to acknowledge that I had never noticed the signs of their sadness before I only had 22 days left with them also hurt my heart. How could I miss something that was crying to be noticed from the pages of their notebooks and the sad smiles on their faces? On the other side of that coin, at least I have 22 days left to do all I can to help them see that someone cares.
After an emotional roller coaster of a day, grading and listening to poetry, I happened to receive a pleasant surprise from a student that I have written a lot about lately. This kid just will never cease to amaze me. After doing time in detention this afternoon, my newly appointed homeroom student aide and 7th grade English student popped her head in my door.
"Ms. Herring, I wrote you a note in detention!" I had checked on her in detention and made her promise to read a book. You can only win so many battles....
As she walked across the room to my desk, I began my lecture on the value of reading and how tomorrow is a reading day and I don't need her causing chaos because I know she hates reading and she'll try to cause chaos....blah, blah, blah....she just could not stop smiling. She nodded her head and said, "I know, Ms. Herring," dropped a note on my desk, and left.
"See ya tomorrow, girl." That's right. I'm her "girl."
Dear Ms. Herring,
GIRL, Thank you so much for your help this year and for being my teacher. You have taught me bundles of stuff this year, and I actually got a good grade because of you. Thank you for your help again. I appreciate it a lot. In other words, you're freaking AWESOME.
Consider my day made. Time to make the next 22 count. A lot.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Thanks for helping me
ONE MORE DAY.....One more day, and I am done with my first Benchmark week as a teacher. I had good intentions of blogging over Easter weekend to sum up my "countdown to Benchmark" experience. I'll be honest. The "countdown to Benchmark" experience can be summed up in about five words. Stress. Tired. Tension. Anxiety. Tired. I put tired twice because I have quickly found that dealing with middle school behavior in the height of spring fever makes me tired, and middle school students in the height of spring fever are tired of hearing me preach about the value of main ideas and making inferences. Needless to say, if I can sum up a whole potential blog post in five words, it does not need to be a blog post at all.
Instead, I went into this week with a smile and a positive attitude, determined to keep the kids as pumped up as possible as they faced hours of silent concentration each morning. I just knew that something wonderful would strike me this week as a little piece of wisdom from my favorite middle schoolers. That, in fact, did happen today as soon as the first bell rang. I never name students in my blog, for confidentiality reasons, but the student who gave me this little piece of wisdom is a student I have mentioned before. I spent most of the first semester thinking she was going to punch me in the face if I made any serious attempts to teach her something. During third quarter, I moved her to the front row. A little over a month ago, I started working with her during Benchmark Academy after school, and three weeks ago she became my unofficial student aide during homeroom. This is a kid who spends a lot of time in the office, and who burned some serious bridges with her teachers last year, but the thing is, I really like this kid. She has a serious wall built up, and she is tough as nails, but deep down she's just looking for attention like every other human being in the world.
Anyway, this morning this student comes running in my room asking to borrow pencils. Our post-benchmark activity this afternoon was to go to a play. The alternative to the play was two hours of silent reading at school. As I was handing her some sharpened pencils, I asked this student if she was going to the play. She replied no, that she didn't have a dollar to go to the play. I then told her that the alternative was to read a book. She looked at me like I was crazy. This child was not about to read for two hours. I still can't get her to read much longer than two minutes. I gave her the pencils and a dollar in quarters and asked her what she was going to do on her essay today during testing. She said was going to write five paragraphs and take up two pages and reread her work. She finished her statement by saying, " just like you told me to do, Ms. Herring."
Later, as I was walking around the room during testing, I looked over at the "Benchmark Promises" that I had my students write on the last day before testing. I put them on the wall this week to cover up all my posters. As I looked over it, I found this child's promise:
I promise to do my very best and check my work because you helped me in class and at Benchmark Camp. Thank you for helping me :)
The combination of our morning exchange and this promise on my wall made my day. I'm no child whisperer. I can't get to the root of every child's deep-rooted problems in my classroom, and I have plenty of students who I am sure cannot wait to never hear me preach the importance of the parts of speech ever, ever again. I'm learning everyday, and my students are my teachers. One of the most important lessons I have learned this year is that my job is not to be a buddy. My job is to set a boundary and an expectation, to support my students until they get there, and then to help them surpass my expectations. Not every student will do that, but I can sure help them try. The thanks that this student displayed made me thankful. I'm thankful for all 135 of my "student teachers" that I get to see everyday. They teach me so, so much. They teach me humility. They teach me patience. They teach me gratitude. They teach me tolerance. I can't believe that in six short weeks they'll move on. I couldn't have asked for a better group of kids as my very first group, and I can think of quite a few of them that I'll never forget. But for today, I am thankful. I am especially thankful for small words and smiles of thanks from my students. They mean more than those kids will ever know.
Instead, I went into this week with a smile and a positive attitude, determined to keep the kids as pumped up as possible as they faced hours of silent concentration each morning. I just knew that something wonderful would strike me this week as a little piece of wisdom from my favorite middle schoolers. That, in fact, did happen today as soon as the first bell rang. I never name students in my blog, for confidentiality reasons, but the student who gave me this little piece of wisdom is a student I have mentioned before. I spent most of the first semester thinking she was going to punch me in the face if I made any serious attempts to teach her something. During third quarter, I moved her to the front row. A little over a month ago, I started working with her during Benchmark Academy after school, and three weeks ago she became my unofficial student aide during homeroom. This is a kid who spends a lot of time in the office, and who burned some serious bridges with her teachers last year, but the thing is, I really like this kid. She has a serious wall built up, and she is tough as nails, but deep down she's just looking for attention like every other human being in the world.
Anyway, this morning this student comes running in my room asking to borrow pencils. Our post-benchmark activity this afternoon was to go to a play. The alternative to the play was two hours of silent reading at school. As I was handing her some sharpened pencils, I asked this student if she was going to the play. She replied no, that she didn't have a dollar to go to the play. I then told her that the alternative was to read a book. She looked at me like I was crazy. This child was not about to read for two hours. I still can't get her to read much longer than two minutes. I gave her the pencils and a dollar in quarters and asked her what she was going to do on her essay today during testing. She said was going to write five paragraphs and take up two pages and reread her work. She finished her statement by saying, " just like you told me to do, Ms. Herring."
Later, as I was walking around the room during testing, I looked over at the "Benchmark Promises" that I had my students write on the last day before testing. I put them on the wall this week to cover up all my posters. As I looked over it, I found this child's promise:
I promise to do my very best and check my work because you helped me in class and at Benchmark Camp. Thank you for helping me :)
The combination of our morning exchange and this promise on my wall made my day. I'm no child whisperer. I can't get to the root of every child's deep-rooted problems in my classroom, and I have plenty of students who I am sure cannot wait to never hear me preach the importance of the parts of speech ever, ever again. I'm learning everyday, and my students are my teachers. One of the most important lessons I have learned this year is that my job is not to be a buddy. My job is to set a boundary and an expectation, to support my students until they get there, and then to help them surpass my expectations. Not every student will do that, but I can sure help them try. The thanks that this student displayed made me thankful. I'm thankful for all 135 of my "student teachers" that I get to see everyday. They teach me so, so much. They teach me humility. They teach me patience. They teach me gratitude. They teach me tolerance. I can't believe that in six short weeks they'll move on. I couldn't have asked for a better group of kids as my very first group, and I can think of quite a few of them that I'll never forget. But for today, I am thankful. I am especially thankful for small words and smiles of thanks from my students. They mean more than those kids will ever know.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Choose to be Extraordinary
It's been a few weeks since my last post because it's been a few weeks since I've had time to decompress and think about all the busyness that's been going on at work. As we head into the final week before Benchmark testing, you can tell that everyone is a little tense; everyone is just ready to slide into home plate after all the hard work that's been put in. You can see it in the teachers and the students. This time of year in general seems to breed a type of restless apathy. We'd all rather be out in the sunshine or on vacation than in our classrooms and offices being productive.
I'm right there with everybody else. I want to be out in the sunshine way more than I want to review main idea, author's purpose, and inferencing, but we all have to do things we don't necessarily want to do. This is something I've been having to tell my students a lot lately.
There's one particular quote that has stuck with me these past few weeks since I've posted. It comes from a book that my principal lent me called Monday Morning Leadership. This book comes from the business world, but is filled with connections to education. While there are many great lessons in this extremely short book (it's only about 100 pages), my favorite quote from the book is also one of the simplest. It simply states:
If you want to be extraordinary, the first thing you have to do is quit being ordinary.
That sounds easy enough. Choose to be extraordinary. However, when you really make a mental effort to choose non-ordinary behavior everyday, it is pretty darn hard. Ordinary behavior might mean handing out an assignment and letting kids work independently so you can save your voice. It might be using a PowerPoint and taking notes, when you could do a more hands-on activity. The thing is, being extraordinary means taking a lot of risks, and taking a lot of risks mean running the chance of making more than one mistake. When you quit being ordinary, you choose to forfeit the comfort that goes with following the crowd.
As we prepare for Benchmark week, I want to rise to the occasion, just like I'm asking my students to rise to the occasion on their testing. If they have to work hard, then I should have to work hard, too. So children, I hope you are all ready for some extraordinary lesson plans next week! I am choosing not to be ordinary.
I'm right there with everybody else. I want to be out in the sunshine way more than I want to review main idea, author's purpose, and inferencing, but we all have to do things we don't necessarily want to do. This is something I've been having to tell my students a lot lately.
There's one particular quote that has stuck with me these past few weeks since I've posted. It comes from a book that my principal lent me called Monday Morning Leadership. This book comes from the business world, but is filled with connections to education. While there are many great lessons in this extremely short book (it's only about 100 pages), my favorite quote from the book is also one of the simplest. It simply states:
If you want to be extraordinary, the first thing you have to do is quit being ordinary.
That sounds easy enough. Choose to be extraordinary. However, when you really make a mental effort to choose non-ordinary behavior everyday, it is pretty darn hard. Ordinary behavior might mean handing out an assignment and letting kids work independently so you can save your voice. It might be using a PowerPoint and taking notes, when you could do a more hands-on activity. The thing is, being extraordinary means taking a lot of risks, and taking a lot of risks mean running the chance of making more than one mistake. When you quit being ordinary, you choose to forfeit the comfort that goes with following the crowd.
As we prepare for Benchmark week, I want to rise to the occasion, just like I'm asking my students to rise to the occasion on their testing. If they have to work hard, then I should have to work hard, too. So children, I hope you are all ready for some extraordinary lesson plans next week! I am choosing not to be ordinary.
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