Day 30: Trusting The Gush #AprilBlogADay Challenge

Day 30 Topic: How has #Aprilblogaday impacted your practice? 

Tom Romano wrote, "Trust the gush". This process has been all about letting the words flow, trusting the process, and the community to embrace my work.

This year at my school, we began the slow and clumsy move to Mastery Based Learning.  It's been challenging, even difficult at times mostly because my (and the staff) understanding of how and why it works was unclear.  We began because, like many things we experience as teachers in schools, because administration brought this to the staff as a school wide endeavor. I am not against it and have tried my best to understand the nuances of MBL.  I don't feel like I have done a great job with this.  All that said, this morning, as I sat on the subway reading Greg Barnes' book Assessment 3.0, my brain was growing and stretching.  When I got to school, I stopped in to talk to one of our CS teachers. As I am learning CS lends itself, not unlike ELA to the feedback based classroom.  Mastery Based Learning and Assessment was becoming more clear.  The April Blog A Day Challenge made this possible.  

This journey has been career changing.  I wrote all 30 days (one day was a post to my other blog, so 29 posts on Teaching and Learning)...I have pushed my self and my thinking about what I do and how I do it.  

I have been pushing my colleagues to start reading blogs or start writing their own.

I have connected with educators both near and far to develop my PLCs.

I have been inspired.

I have been surprised.

I have made the time to incorporate this into my life.  I don't know if I will be able to dive into all the possibilities in the Twitterverse as much as I might like, but it has been worth it and I will continue writing.  I will continue to share with colleagues at my school and beyond and I will continue to evolve.  I want my work to inspire the uncommon.  I want to fuel collaborative endeavors. I want to continue to grow.  With the Ed Blog A Day, I will.

Thanks to Chris for this great gift and to my fellow bloggers for all the words you spill out each day.

Day 29: My History of Learning: 7 Pivotal Moments #AprilBlogADay Challenge

Prompt: Your History of Learning - What has been your greatest learning experiences?

In the first year of graduate school everyone has to take a methods class- a lot of the content is history of education and the building of a personal philosophy on teaching and learning.  One of the projects we had to do was to identify the major leaning experiences of our life to that point and present it in a creative way.  

I brainstormed a long list of learning moments- some  more cynical than others.  I remember reading the list to my husband, who was then my boyfriend of only 6 months, and he commenting on the TONE of the list.  I weeded down to a robust 12 or so.  I cut out circles of colored card stock and wrote each moment on a circle and included the age that the learning moment tool place.  I then I put them together in to the shape of a caterpillar, not unlike this one: 

I remember feeling like I had all these great experiences but I was just at the beginning, as a career changer.  I was not a butterfly yet. 

I don't know that I see myself as a butterfly yet.

I do know that I have reflected on my journey, a lot. Here are 7 pivotal learning events:

1. JoAnne Jugum.  She was my 3rd grade teacher.  This was the year I learned to write cursive. Cursive provided me freedom to explore and escape, encouraged to write letters and stories. This is also the year that I was granted refuge from the storm of growing up.  I was painfully aware that I was not fitting in with the kids I had gone to school with for the previous 3 years.  She let me spend recess in her room, so I could read and hide.  It was safety when I needed it. 
2. Barely passing math in 8th grade.  This was the first time I felt like a true failure.  I has been told for years that I was better, smarter than the kids in the "regular" classes.  I was condemned and had to repeat math in 9th grade.  I thought I was being relegated to the class with the stupid kids, the slow kids, the kids who were less because they were exactly where they were supposed to be, working at grade level. What did this really mean? It means I hadn't been ready for 9th grade math in 8th grade.  It meant that I started 9th grade with my peers as equals.  It forced me to rethink and reformulate many of ideas I had about being a student, learning and my own experiences.  
3. Not being able to afford to go away for college after graduation from high school.  I applied to visited and got into a private college in Minnesota. I could not afford to go there and I didn't get into the state school I applied to.  I was relegated to community college, which I hated, a lot.  It's not for everyone.  That's ok.  I dropped out after 1 quarter.  I had amazing grades and because I had some college, when I reapplied to the state school I wanted to go to I applied as a transfer student and got in with my 3.9 GPA and amazing essay.
4. Starting college at 20 and a half and not 18.  No dorms.  Living off campus.  Being "non-traditional". Having had to work harder to get there...I soaked up every moment.
5. College, both undergrad and grad school.  I learned to take risks, collaborate, inquire, research, write, read and to be truly curious and creative.  My best friends in life are from college, as I am sure if true for many of us. Three universities, 7 years, countless classes and so much joy.  
6. Moving to NYC.  I am coming up on my 10 year anniversary in NYC.  I didn't move here for college.  I took a risk, mailed 13 small boxes to my new apartment and bought a plane ticket.  I achieved my professional goals from the first part of my life.  I was so poor I couldn't afford to turn my heat on that first year, nor could I afford to go home for the holidays and had my first Christmas away from my parents.  I met my husband, I went to grad school, I became a teacher.  I grew into myself.
7. Teaching and Learning in the NYC DOE. 1.1 million students.  1700 schools. 75K+ teachers.  The numbers are staggering.  Being a teacher here means many things. The odds are against us. Many come and go but many stay, teach, learn, grow.  It's more political than I would like, but I don't show up for the politics.  I show up for the kids.  I show up for Cory so he and I can sit on the couch in my classroom at lunch and laugh about silly things.  I show up so I can have an impromptu conversation with my 11th graders about what life would have been like if they stopped working for the grade on the paper because there were no grades. I show up so I can stop Joaquin, a sophomore, in the hallway and tell him that I want him to sit in on an AP class later in May so he can see what it is like and how working hard pays off.  I show up so I can celebrate Ashley, one of my advisees tomorrow because I was told by her geometry teacher that she is doing exceptionally well and potentially could have an 85-90 by the end of the year. I show up because there are little moments and big wins that teach me about the human experience.

All these moments have influenced and challenged my perception of my world. If you ask me this question in 10 more years I am sure I will give you a new list of moments that I remember, but experience changes perception.  I will keep seeking out new experience, new challenge, new learning in order to grow.

Day 28: The Worst Advice We've Ever Heard About Technology in the classroom? #AprilBlogADay Challenge

Day 28...The Worst Advice We've Ever Heard About Technology in the classroom

It's just after 7 on day 28 and I have been thinking about this topic all day.  For the life of me, I could not think of any specific advice I had been given about using tech.  I am one who has embraced tech and often ends up teaching other teachers how to integrate themselves. 

At my current school, we have a computer science department (because we are a CS school) who for the most part are working on an entirely different level of tech than most of us.  I have great aspirations to let better at tech- at least learn some basics of coding so I can talk more with our students about what and how they are doing- but finding the time to sit down with Alice or some version of Scratch is overwhelming for this old lady.  Eric, graciously spent time with me on two occasions teaching me-or trying to teach me- how to use Doctopus but my brain just can't wrap itself around that one.  I do have my mainstays: Skedula (that has improved so much over the last 5 years) and I wish our school used more of it's features, but it's our online grade book.  I also use Teacher Dashboard, a lot.  It is on my top 5 digital teaching tools ever.

I guess for me, the prompt should really be: what misconceptions did you/do you have about tech in the classroom.  

Here are three:  

1.  All tools work for all teachers, because they are teaching tools.  

One of the most frustrating parts of EdTech- is that there are so many tools and administrators want to try new things, get on board with what will best help students move forward, support teacher development, and provide the all important data to support positive instructional outcomes.  I stand by this: do a few things really well.  REALLY WELL.  Not two dozen things half way or sort of.  I feel this way about lots of school related things.

2. Practice makes perfect.

We are not all excellent at everything.  I can be proficient, even ok- but who wants to be just ok?  I want to be HIGHLY EFFECTIVE.  There are been a few things over the years that I just couldn't figure out.  I don't push myself to master all the nuances (like with Excel) but I also don't have cause to use it very much because I teach English.  


3. More experienced (read: old) teachers can't learn new tricks.

It's all about what an individual clicks with- don't assume talent coaches.  


It's now almost 9.  Cooked and eaten dinner.  Still have a PPT to make for class tomorrow- thankful for this tech that will let me quickly, prep, save and get to go to bed.

Day 27: Let Go In Order To Grow

Prompt: How to Build a More Powerful Classroom by Letting Go

On Friday, my most difficult class of 9th graders came into class and one young woman was all fired up.  She was going to get into it with a young man.  The tension was palpable.  As they began trading barbs, I stepped in and asked the young woman to walk down to our social work office to cool down and check in with someone there.  I knew she would be pissed at me.  I had to let that go.  Kids get over things.  What I couldn't let go was what it would mean if the two kids got into a fight in my classroom and one or both got suspended... on a Friday.  So, the student grabbed her things, and headed out ready to work independently for the period.  Class went on as planned and I had a surprise informal observation, of course!  Isn't that always the way.  Letting go...

Being a good teacher is often about picking moments to dig in and moments to step aside and let something else run a  course.  Some classes are so fantastic at things like leading conversations, accountable talk, project based learning.  Others need lots of hand holding, micro managing, sentence starters, and guided notes.  No matter what the group, I eventually need to get out of their way and let them lead, learn, grow.  It's not my job to control or manage each moment of each day.  School is organic and amazing things can happen when I get out of MY own way.

This morning, I stopped by Guidance and that very student who had to step out to avoid the fight was sitting there. I didn't know if something else had happened, but either way-she was not in class.  She was sitting with two of our Social Work interns so I pulled up a chair next to her, not before catching that daggers she shot at me with her eyes when I came in the room.  I spent a few minutes talking with her, asking questions like that would eventually lead us through a dialogue about why teachers have to make choices like the one I did on Friday in order to protect our students and that I watched the boy pushing her just to get a response because he knows she has a short fuse.  I also asked her about the work she did, questions she had and asked her to come in for tutoring tomorrow after school and that was that.

I few minutes later I got an email from one of the interns who had been sitting at the table: 

You are the only teacher that comes in and talks with students like that and it's amazing. It's so hard to tell the kids they had to leave cause the teacher cares [about them] when the teacher's not there. I greatly appreciate your being.

Over the years, I have learned to let go, to get out of the way and grow with my students with each choice we make.  I could have easily not gone to talk with the student and she would have come into my class this Thursday, still mad and not understanding my decision and seeing it as a punishment.   But I didn't and we both grow as a result.

Day 26: What's the answer to Spring Fever?!? Projects!

Prompt 26: Engagement/lesson/tips tricks ideas for spring fever- age specific.

Welcome to spring: when the weather gets warm, allergies kick into high gear, hormones go crazy (especially for those of us teaching High School) and the last place kids want to be is sitting in a classroom. For some of us the school year will be ending in just a few weeks.  For others, like me, we go until the end of June.  My last teaching day, before final exams start in June 15th.  So how do I keep 160 teenagers engaged for the next 6 weeks? Projects!  Big ones.

For theatre (9th grade) we are currently reading A View From The Bridge by Arthur Miller.  I start this unit with a readers theatre version of Oedipus I have been using for a few years now, integrating all the things they have learned about dramatic narrative structure, Aristotle's Poetics and playwriting to make connections between the two plays.  I see the kids 5 times over two weeks- so it's a little tricky- but we are pushing through.

After we read AVFTB  the final unit of the year is theatrical design. Students break into groups, each assigned a decade from the 20th century, and they have to create, sound, set, prop and costume designs for their decade.  We culminate is a poster session, arranged by decade of course.  It's a great unit.

It's creative, it employs all the research and presentation skills we have worked on this semester and year as well as collaboration, a central aspect of theatrical collaboration. Oh, and the kids love it.  

Counting down! 

Day 25: Collaboration Is Connection #AprilBlogADay Challenge

Day 25: Why Collaborate?

I feel the most alive, the best at what I do when I am collaborating to create with someone who also wants to collaborate.  I have had time when the experienced has been forced and extremely unbalanced and as a result, I left the experience feeling down on myself, the work I was doing and my purpose. It's not magic but it is able creation and it can be magic.

I learned to collaborate, to really work together to create, making theatre.  There is one show, where everything came together for me and I worked as a costume designer, collaborative with the Directors, a cast of actors, lighting and set designers, drapers and stitchers to all create and execute a common vision.   It took time, effort, analysis, many conversations, listening and pushing or pulling, to eek out the piece that was just right, that was inspired, that maybe the audience didn't know was there but the actor did and it was a little secret they had a kept that just their character got to know.  All the collaborators came together to create something new- a piece of art, a story.

A lesson, a unit, curricula- they all tell a story and the process of coming together to create, this is what I love.  The longer I teach, the more I learn that I love working with and mentoring new teachers, preservice teachers to create.  Getting better at asking the questions that the provoke and challenge the work. Seeing a teacher do that lesson where everything was magic- and celebrating the magic.  By the same token, being there to console or even catch a teacher when a lesson bombs, a kid melts down in their class or a fight breaks out.  

So why collaborate? To create, to be inspired and inspire others. To grow.  To be humbled.  To have those A-ha! moments.  To connect. 

Day 24: I Love My School Because... April Blog A Day Challenge

Prompt: I love my school because...

My school is pretty amazing.  I came in the second year of the school and have helped to build and develop this extraordinary teaching and learning community.  Next year we will have our first cohort graduate, the Class of 2016.  I knew it was something special when I arrived for PD in the middle of August two summers ago and proceeded to spend the next two weeks working with a team of educators and professionals who were passionate, excited and committed to our school and our kids.

I love our school because we are an amazing community that is building something special.

11th grade team at Facebook NYC

I love my school because our kids are amazing.  I like to think that all teachers things this way.  Our kids are here.  We have 94% attendance on average each day.  Our kids show up.  They stay and they are learning and growing and I get better at my job because I am here with them.

I love my school because I get to work Rebecca every day.  She and I are both in the Model Teacher program this year.  It's been a gift to have a colleague, confidant, sounding board and friend.  I was lucky enough to meet her sister +Gretchen Ziegler  9 years ago in grad school at NYU and getting to add another member of this family to my circle is a gift.

I love my school because as teacher leaders Rebecca and I have been able to invest in the development of our Year 1 and 2 teachers as mentors and through professional development. Below are photos from PD yesterday where teachers created posters for a gallery walk showcasing a assessment strategy they tried with a target class for the last month.  They had to provide student work, highlight pros and cons of the method, modifications for next time and a ranking- 1-4 stars.

I love my school because it's in Union Square, NYC.   If you have been to NYC you know.  If you haven't, come to NYC! I love my school because we move in a pack through the streets of our city.

I love my school because through my battle with thyroid cancer this winter, they have been a huge part of my support system, cheering me on taking away some of the stress that goes with missing days with my kids.  In other schools, it may have been a different story, and thankfully this was not the case.

I love my school because it is a home away from home.  I thrive when I am there and I could not imagine being anywhere else at this point in my career.