One Word at a Time

"I think I just need to actually try this work. Do it myself. I can't teach it if I don't know what I'm teaching." Amen , I said to myself. "Does everyone else feel the same way? How can I help to make that happen?" A short conversation ensued, and it was decided that since I tend to have more available time than they do, I would do some work to create an experience for them to mirror the work their children will do in our next unit. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ "I think this piece is developed." "What makes you think that?" We were looking at a student's performance assessment after our last unit, determining where they fell on our district rubric. This is still very new work for our teachers. "Well, I don't think you can quantify 'developed' in a piece of writing - it can't be just certain numbers of details." "I agree. But I'm looking at the language of the expectation - that t...

In a conversation yesterday with a friend of mine who is our middle school softball coach, she mentioned how she handles team selection and notification. I thought it was perfect, especially for middle school and the self-discovery and differing levels of confidence. On the day that team selections are announced, the girls are gathered in the gymnasium.  A short speech is given, specifically around the idea that no matter what it says inside the envelope, that if they have a passion for the sport, and they really want to grow as a player, that they should take what is inside seriously and know that this day is not the end of the road. They specifically mention a former player, who is now a star at the high school, who was cut from the same team as a 6th grader. Then, inside the envelope are three pieces of paper. One says, "Congratulations, you've made the team" or "Unfortunately, you did not make the team." Another is a "standards-based" rep...

I've been in a letter writing mood lately. I've written letters to Sundays and Mondays. I'm planning letters to Daylight Savings Time, St. Patrick's Day, and Easter.  But this week and next, my school is taking part in "Look for the Good", where we practice expressing and sharing gratitude for the things and people we have in our lives. One of the ways that we do that is through writing "You Matter" letters to important people in our lives and telling them why they matter to us, and even reading them out loud to the person if possible. In my silent car ride this morning (it's a new thing I'm trying and I absolutely LOVE it!), I was thinking about the You Matter letter and who I was going to write one to. It isn't included that teachers or staff write them, but I thought, why not? Here's mine: Dear Bob,  Remember me? I was your student teacher way back in 2005 - thirteen years ago (holy cow!). My school is currently participat...

This morning, a group of teachers gathered to look over student work to compare it against the rubric. They wanted to better understand the rubric in order to use it during instruction, to gather information about their students, and eventually have their students use the rubric themselves. Over the course of the conversation we came across two different pieces of student work, both talking about a character in their books. One student was talking about a character and used language like "he throws tantrums worthy of an academy award" and "he acts like a spoiled five year old." We were blown away by the voice evident in the piece of writing. But when compared against the rubric, for the type of work we were specifically looking for, it ended up falling short of meeting the standard. The next student we looked at spelled words phonetically, like "awial" and "deturmend". Comments were made about the spelling and the handwriting. But, when com...

"But what happens if they come in and see the students drawing instead of writing? What if they ask why?" This question signified a shift in the meeting, away from student work and towards a troublesome mindset created, in my opinion, by the culture of our school. As a coach, I'm always considering the thinking behind statements or questions, wondering how I can support my teachers, learn what they know and think, and then give them the support, guidance, or resources needed to grow.  This set of questions made me think that teachers are feeling and thinking a few different things: 1) that observers expect "A", and if they don't get "A" they're going to ask why they're not seeing "A", 2) that there is an "A", and 3) that they're not sure of the why. Through probing questions and some frank conversation, we uncovered the reality of the situation. My role from here on out is to support their shift in thinking. To...

Today, our school started a "Look for the Good Campaign".  Our assembly this afternoon taught students what it means to be grateful, what they could be grateful for, and a little about how to show that gratitude.  The whole school was decked out in colorful "You Matter" t-shirts - staff included. Here is what students will do over the course of the next two weeks: Step on Gratitude Spots! Gratitude Spots are spread around the school and outside at recess - students step on them and think - or say out loud! - something they are grateful for. Add to the Gratitude Wall! Students write what they are grateful for on a sticky note, and the sticky notes will go on a large Gratitude Wall, located in our school lobby. Let people know "You Matter"! Students look for people who are kind or show kindness to them and pass them a "You Matter" card. When they receive a "You Matter" card, they get to sign the Kindness Wall. Tell people ...

A few weeks ago I was approached by a friend who had started playing in a men's soccer league last year, and this season was coming up fast. He asked me, knowing that I had played soccer my whole life, if I would be willing to work with him a few times and give him a few pointers on some things he was still learning as he approached this upcoming season. Here are some reflections and generalizations from our time together, that I think can be applied to coaching in any situation, whether in relation to a coach working with teachers or a teacher taking a coaching role with their students. Ask first what they want to work on and find out what they can already do/what they already know By having him set the goals he wanted to work on, and finding out what he already knew and what he could already do, I could go into my toolbox to make the decisions that were right for what he needed at that moment, not try to start from the beginning and waste either of our time. They aren...

"Look at the Fox! He looks like a policeman!" "That hippo is huge! Look at his butt!" Reading Chicken Little (the Stephen Kellogg version) to Kindergarten today was quite an experience. After working so long with fourth graders, who while engrossed in the Read Aloud are fairly quiet, it was a notable difference. By the time students got to me in fourth grade, they knew how to sit and listen to a Read Aloud. But it took a long while and some undoing of old habits to get them to engage in a Read Aloud again. To be swept away in a story, to exclaim in shock or awe, to moan and groan and beg to skip recess to just read one more chapter. I wish for every child to be as engrossed in stories as my Kindergarteners were today. It was a whole lot of fun!

My head is still spinning. 8:30-9:30 ~ The spinning began slowly, as one of my grade levels started the day by chatting about the work ahead of us for the rest of the year. I ended that meeting by considering the options ahead of us and shifting my thinking a little bit. 9:30-10:05 ~ The pace picked up, as I spent some time reflecting with a colleague about some of the work I've been doing and the work ahead of me. I walked away from that meeting with two strong action steps for myself, as well as a few new resources/strategies to add to my toolkit. 10:13-10:40 ~ After a quick bathroom break and dropping my materials on my desk, I headed to a classroom, where I observed the Connection/Teach, and modeled the Active Engagement and Link. The teacher and I debriefed, reflected, and set some future goals while students worked. I walked away while starting to plan in my head for Monday's work. 10:40-10:50 ~ Returning to my office, where thankfully my officemate had a ...

Most teachers I know don't love planning. It's their least favorite part of teaching, the part that takes a lot of time and a lot of energy - and then you have to go teach . Not me. Planning is my absolute favorite part of teaching, and probably the part I miss the most (now that I'm a coach) - along with seeing my plans in action and, of course, reading out loud with my students. There's nothing like a carefully laid plan. How can I get/keep their attention and engagement? How can I put the responsibility for their learning on them? How can I get them to reflect on their process/progress/engagement/interactions? Thinking about all of those things, then implementing them, then observing/reflecting/analyzing how impactful it all was, and doing it all again the next day? That was my lifeblood as a teacher. I had the opportunity this afternoon to share some of that energy and excitement with a teacher I'm working with. It got me excited to go into work tomorr...

Imagine, for a moment, that you are at work.  You're sitting at your desk and your boss walks over to you and says, "This is why I don't let you do this on your own. This is how you do it. Let me do it for you." I hope you reacted, like I did, by thinking, "Well, what's the point?" This is an all to real scenario for so many of our students.  It may not be in those exact words, but time after time students are told, shown, and proven to be completely dependent on the adults in their lives.  Parents, teachers, even strangers.  So many adults create situations of dependence without even thinking about it.  Why, I'm not sure, but it's harming our students. How will they ever grow up to figure out if their body is too warm or too cold if we tell them when they have to wear a jacket and when it has to be zippered?  (I understand their are times it is a safety risk. I am addressing all times except for those.) How will they figure out which wa...