Category: Being a better teacher

please and thank you

I can’t wait for the district to figure out its spending. I can’t wait for any more co-opting of my time and fees from Donors Choose. I can’t wait for a miracle where a hero like Stephen Colbert or group buys out the entire stock.

My students can’t wait.

They need books.

Real books.

They want to read.

Classroom Library Wish List: http://a.co/frm0Nnq

Please consider helping me put books in their hands, books that will be part of my personal classroom library. I can’t do this alone.

Classroom Library Tip Jar

Please donate so I can replenish my classroom library.

$5.00

Cereal and roses.

It’s been a long time since I posted a “Wish I Had Written That” post, but this one came along at a perfect moment. This week is our spring break, and while my current professional life is a bit surreal, breaks are breaks, and I want to focus my energies on productive acts and thoughts.
Before the break, I asked for one more observation. My evaluator wrote in her scripts that one student sat in the back, disengaged from the class. Until we meet at our post-observation conference, I can’t tell her the student’s whole story–that she posted on the class blog her own, well-written Humans of Mill Creek story, and although she’s often withdrawn she does great work and we have a strong relationship. I went over to her to check to see if she was all right, and she assured me she was, so I let her be.
The next day, she quietly hands me this flower. No drama or presentation.
Genuinely, I have no answers to these questions: what do people not understand about high poverty schools? What do they assume? What is the guiding principle all leaders of a building adhere to in order to support teachers, students, and parents of a high needs school?
Children from underserved backgrounds are some of the kindest, funniest, most interesting students a teacher will ever work with. Despite odds being stacked against them, there is often a spirit of hope in children that does not seem to match the horrific conditions that may physically surround them in and out of school.
As a teacher, I have relished in academic successes, inside jokes, and laughter with these students, even as the challenges seem insurmountable at times.
Every teacher at some point must question her place in a building. I don’t really want to leave my school. What I want is for my relationships with the adults in the building, to be just that– adult, mature, professional relationships. No cliques. No personality grudges. Our school doesn’t need heroes, empire builders, saviors, martyrs or drama queens. No passive aggressive, gaslighting or undermining. It needs equitable leadership, shared, inclusive vision building, and peace ambassadors. My colleagues are capable of this level of expertise and dialogue.
However, the more I learn about the systemic conditions that have created and continue to sustain rampant poverty and racism in America, the more it seems absurd to expect my students to bring their best everyday with NO EXCUSES and then solely blame them if they do not always succeed. Books such as “American Apartheid” by Douglas Massey, “The Color of Law” by Richard Rothstein, “New Jim Crow” by Michelle Alexander, and “Origins of the Urban Crisis” by Tom Sugrue told me about how Blacks and Whites were deliberately separated from one another in America in the post-Civil War era, with a set of laws and public institutions that intentionally made it more difficult for Black people and poor White people to succeed in America. Regardless of any recent progress achieved, the bitter truth is that 21% of all children in America grow up in poverty today. We know that the effects of poverty on children are absolutely crippling.
Our building understands this, and the administrator and staff do their utmost to serve our population. What I am wondering, however, is does the blame shift to the teachers when the students require extra support? When Rita Pierson gave her famous Every Kid Needs A Champion TedTalk, we all believe that we are that champion: what we didn’t agree on was that students can have more than one. In fact, the more the culture of school shifts to shared service and support, everyone benefits.
Of course, as a teacher, I must put aside the problems of the world each day in order to bring out the best in young people and create an effective learning environment in my reality, no matter what that reality gives me.
But as the words of Jonathan Kozol invite us to ask, why should that reality for teachers and students in Detroit and America be so bleak?
Yet, as a teacher, I cannot help but be inspired by the outliers, the success stories, the majority of students who make my life whole with their kindness, humor, and hard work. I work tirelessly to improve the outcomes of my students, no matter what their backgrounds and circumstances are. In the classroom, I am no cynic- I inspire and I encourage students to achieve as best I know how. Still, as a “woke” teacher, I will always have the dilemma of how to reconcile the cruel world with my warm classroom.
What I have settled on is:
1) Listen to the stories of my students and always have empathy for them.
2)  Show students where they can have control in their lives that can lead to positive changes and successes.
3) Resist oppressive teaching practices that perpetuate the school-to-prison-pipeline.
4) Actively participate in the political change that I seek; ally with other teachers to fight for what we deserve (see Oklahoma and West Virginia).
5) Model self-care for my students; intentionally take time for myself and be kind to myself despite having a job that requires so much.
Kozol finishes his book by remarking that “(American children) are all quite wonderful and innocent when they are small. We soil them needlessly.” [2]
Sadly, his words ring true nearly 30 years later. In order to create meaningful change, we in education must look boldly in new inward and outward directions.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. (Thank you, Renegade Teacher.)
Oh, and we had “cereal day” on Friday in my fourth period, per their suggestion the week prior. This is something I could get behind!
6AC04F25-CF0E-4E47-B99C-3C04C5B55F73

Making things.

 

fullsizeoutput_314bAs a follow-up to yesterday’s post regarding how to get students to move forward without scaffolds, I received many good ideas from the High School ELA group page* on Facebook, and coincidentally (are there coincidences in this day of spooky algorithms?) the National Writing Project posted this article, “Using Blogging to Grow Independent Writers (or: How to Kick Your Little Birds Out of the Nest).” I feel hopeful that I am capable of bringing writers forward. We blog, I’ve been blogging, and will keep offering it to students, as well as continue to make connections and reframe their concepts of who I am and who they are as writers and learners.

My question, if I’m being honest, had more to do with my own confidence crisis than anything else. When I teach ELA/SS again, (and I don’t know where or when), will I be able to keep my own continuity of growth? This must be a common feeling: being reassigned to doing something else and then wondering if we will still have our chops in what we love? I needed to hear “yes.”

I heard “yes” in from a few voices.

Jackie Gerstein: I could have written your post. I am in the middle of that story now. I needed to know there is an end.

Daisy: I just adore you, lady.

And my young feminist:

A few weeks ago a student asked if I had Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay, and alas, it was only on my Kindle (wonder how Bezos became so rich?), but I would buy it for her. I also bought  We Should All Be Feminists by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.  (Don’t tell my husband because we are on a boa constrictor tight budget.)

She stopped by with her boyfriend whom I promptly interrogated to make sure he had no problems with her smashing the patriarchy, and he seemed to not only not mind, but help her swing the hammer.

This morning and into the afternoon I’m cleaning up and out. I was thinking about all the redesign of curriculum and lessons I would do, and think become fatigue and saddened by the unnecessary burdens placed upon me this year. It’s becoming increasingly more difficult to remain diplomatic and censored.

Just. Keep. Doing. The. Work. 

The work, the thinking, and the deep love I have for my profession–I must believe that is what sustains me.

I’m making:

  1. New context clues posters and materials
  2. DOK for Students
  3. Reviewing my curriculum accomplishments for the year
  4. Creating new units for PBL for my computer tech students
  5. Cleaning up clutter and files
  6. Taking care of minutiae
  7. A presentation on trust and trustworthiness

How do you keep going in times of worry? What are your tricks? Lists help me. And walks. Have a wonderful day, and get some well-deserved rest.

 

We have a voice.

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Yesterday–what an amazing day. Weeks ago, students began seeking trusted teachers in the building, wondering if and how we would support them in the National School Walk Out Day. We helped them by talking to each other, our administration, and did our best to balance their safety and having a forum for their voices to be represented. Not all schools did as good of a job as we did: Atlanta schools went on lockdown, so students took a knee. Some teachers criticized others for sharing “Walk Up” ideas: the conflation of gun violence and kindness/anti-bullying muddied the issue. When adults offer up ideas like Walk-Up, the danger in patting our adult backs too strongly is that we will forget the focus on student voice and agency. We have battles to fight with them, not for them.

Thousands of students walked out yesterday across the country. And at one school in North Carolina, only one student, Justin Blackman, walked out. I can’t wait to share this with my students today. His one voice is amplified by the best use of social media and technology.

And it’s not just the students whose voices are raised.

Render unto Caesar, yo. We live in a secular state, we pay for the structure and privileges of that state. And it would appear that in the Kent School District, the people are waking up. As one of two union building representatives, we have been telling our colleagues for some time. On Tuesday morning our building principal announced the superintendent decided to go straight to RIFs versus involuntary transfers, the palatable rage and fear swept through the room. Everyone is worried and grieving: this is a big change. The word “change” loses its meaning and power when overused. When teachers speak out against change for change’s sake, I’ve quietly listened while some administrators use this protest to occasionally mock teachers. With “change” there may not be consensus, or an opportunity to think something through, and the urgency to shift becomes an impulsive, greedy machine. Or, a district spends money like a drunk sailor on shore leave and leaves the teachers and students with the tab.

Change comes with a grieving process cost.

Am I in any direct danger of losing my job? Directly, no. But I have been battling an indirect fight this year.

But I have been thinking about making it direct. About describing what matters, and to get professionally healthy again.

  • Healthy buildings have healthy relationships between admin and ALL staff. No one should ever be made to feel less, unworthy,
  • Every teacher has value. Yes. Every single one. It is the administration’s noble task and honor to help guide those teachers who may be burnt out how to feel joy and included again, not shown the door, culled from the herd, or isolated.
  • The current teacher evaluation system is too open for subjective, fixed-mindset, biased thinking. Anything with vagueries is open to misinterpretation. Our district has the most administration-involved teacher evaluations mishandlings of any district in our state. They just can’t seem to get it right. That must change. If they hire the best people, then there should never be a need for an evaluation that is anything less than proficient. Ever.
  • Teachers are an amazing resource: National Board Certified, PSWP/NWP, NCTA, AVID, Canvas Instructure, WABS/STEM Fellowship, and currently getting my ELL endorsement — I know things, and I know how to provide PD to colleagues. I have had to beg my admin to support me in this. So I gave up. How many other teachers offer to support colleagues with admin’s vision and get turned away?

When the staff pulls together nothing or no one can stop us. Administrators’ roles must include cohesiveness, not fracturing, of staff. Model this. Make it happen. And make every voice heard.

And thank heavens for Mr. Brooks:

 

 

 

 

Space.

This is not my story to tell, so I hope my friend Sharon forgives me. Something she just went through inspired this tale. And Betsy Devos. Add my own experiences, too.

Betsy recently used a Shutterstock photo to demonstrate classrooms are no different today than they were in the 50s: factory-model workspaces that program robotic children. To say teachers pushed back doesn’t describe the scope of it. Not only is her lie insulting as its face value, it’s also offensive because of the money teachers spend to decorate and supply their classrooms.

How many teachers do I know who’ve requested donations for flexible seating furniture? Bought their own books? I cannot count the thousands of dollars I’ve spent on books, posters, lighting, shelving, pencils, paper, craft supplies, costumes, props: and the time spent putting it all together. Climbing on stepstools repeatedly with mildly arthritic hips to cover holes and graffiti on the walls with colorful, crafted anchor charts.

Sharon spent weeks curating and crafting a space in her classroom. She has never moved from this classroom in the twelve years I’ve worked with her and spends huge amounts of time, energy, creativity, and craftiness arranging the walls, materials, and engaging eye candy in her room. Not to mention the chicken in the terrarium. Oh, before you get your knickers in a knot, it’s not a living chicken. It’s an archeological demonstration.

That is until the Fire Marshall paid a visit: per code, 50% of the walls must be free of paper, etc. So she spent nine hours during our teacher directed day to take it all down.

Tearing down a creation is disheartening work. Exhausting and demoralizing. Discouraging and enraging. But she is not one to debate the Fire Marshall, so she complied.

Currently, I’m sharing my room with another teacher for two periods. It’s not “my room” though. It belongs to the school district. So my space, my things, my teaching tools must be reorganized. My beloved upper pillar that so proudly displayed my anchor charts now hosts an elementary-age alphabet chart, because that’s what her students need.

And evaluators have their preferences and biases to what should and shouldn’t be in a room. What might be a “word wealthy” or language-rich space to one teacher might be “controlled chaos” to an evaluator. Some teachers and evaluators abide a small amount of clutter, some do not. In order to share the space, I have been taking home stuff, (see about image) and trying to sort and de-clutter as much as possible. I have moved into our building, many times, at the huge expense of money, time, and physical labor. Just a few weeks ago I paid another colleague’s children $25 each to take things down to my car. Not going to lie: my hips can’t take it.

I’ve learned a few things from sharing the space, some selfish and some not. I’ve learned how much of an introvert I am: if there is no moment in the day where I can’t be alone I feel a great deal of anxiety. Considering I drive my son to the train every day, my husband is looking for a new job now, and I have no time during the day to myself, I am going to need to find some coping strategies. I’ve taken to wearing headphones and listening to music while I try to grade or plan. This gave me new-found sympathy for our students who listen to music in class—though the can’t multitask it saves them from the noise of classes. I’ve learned that I’m glad to be getting my ELL endorsement. I think I will do a great job given the chance.

The open-space concept is harmful to employees, and it distracts students, too. Right now I’m hanging out in a UW library, and most folks are in their own worlds. The occasional flirting conversation, sniffle or mumble distracts me a bit. Instead of flexible seating, we can provide students library-like spaces where they can sit and create, read, write, etc. without distractions? And consider ensuring teachers have spaces to call their own and cultivate a space where students feel welcome—I like to think I create a studio space. It may not be that now, but nothing is forever.

Those are wishes, though.

The most important thing I’ve learned stuff doesn’t really matter: I could teach in an empty room as long as I have big questions to ask and curiosity to share.

 

Buy Books…

If you make a donation, it helps support purchases of books and supplies for students I teach. Anything helps, thank you.

$3.99

Finding the path back…

I’ve been writing this blog for over ten years. On the edublogs site, there are over 700 published posts and almost 200 drafts. It was easy to move content to this WordPress site. What has not proven easy is my prolificity. Maybe I’m reading too much, or reading the wrong things. Maybe I’m feeling edgy because of small puffs of gaslighting and overload of information. It’s been easy to sit back while some of the rockstars in education move to the front and speak for many of us educators (think Cult of Pedagogy and Pernille Ripp). But right now, at this moment, I’m wrestling with writing clearly, without fear of recrimination or misunderstandings that lead to unnecessary conflict and not constructive dialogue. I need to write for myself: I’m just not sure what to say.

But I have been reading some amazing texts:

The Power by Naomi Alderman

Better Than Carrots or Sticks (Smith, Fisher, Frey)

Born a Crime by Trevor Noah

Oh, and the best thing. A former student recently asked me if I had a copy of Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay: I said only on my Kindle, so I bought her her own copy.

For students, this is the current focus now, curating content: it’s just a start, and it’s my intent to support other content areas around the building. The assignment was given with free reign over the choice of topic, and my students chose mostly substantive topics. They ranged from the very serious about school shootings to

The little notes the students wrote me are genuine and reflective:

annotated-curtingchart.docx

Ultimately I am asking for patience and feedback. If you do read this blog, what ideas or strengths would you like to see more of, less of, etc.?

Some posts for thought:

Priorities

If You Have These 3 Things in Place, You Will Master Any Industry

How to Confer Like a Ninja

 

 

 

 

How does he get all those marvelous toys?

How do teachers get their books for students?

How do many teachers I follow on social media get the books their students read? How? Do they have budgets, sponsorships, donations, bake sales?

When my sons were in school, teachers could ask parents to buy the books. It was just expected. And as middle-class parents, we dutifully did so without question. But in a Title I school, I wouldn’t dream of asking parents to buy books–so I made do. And bought a lot myself. Our current librarian has done a marvelous job of getting some of the best, new titles, but often the library is empty of students.

If there is one book you could buy every student, what would it be? I think How to Be An Explorer of the World by Keri Smith would be my choice–or a blank journal.

In the meantime, I’ll mind my digital space, and keep this question in mind. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

Counting blessings.

pink angel

This is not about religion, spirituality, or adherence to any doctrine or prescription. This is about neuroscience.

Specifically, my cortisol levels.

For weeks now, due to personal and professional life events, I experience mini ‘panic attacks’ just before I fall asleep. It doesn’t happen every night, and the frequency increases before work, like on a Sunday night or weeknight. I am just about to fall asleep, release my brain into sweet dreams, and I wake with a start, heart clutched, and go through a small mantra of calming, mindful thoughts. I remind myself of grounding ideas: I’m present, I’m breathing, I’m alive, and everyone I love is okay, too.

When I woke up this morning, I had one of those moments of peace: my efforts at this grounding exercise is paying off with mental health and agency. We, teachers, are facing too much now: we are being attacked on every front. Our unions are being dismantled, our districts are losing money, levies and financial health are at risk: not to mention the ridiculous and absurd conversation about arming teachers. There are some ideas that shouldn’t have any life breathed into them: they are monstrous, deformed creatures, rotten and destructive.

But I am taking my hope from students like David Hogg @davidhogg111 and Emma Gonzalez @Emma4Change. This is the generation I have been privileged and honored to teach. These are the students who have been indirectly and directly under my care, support, and guidance. If they can challenge and question the authoritative absurdities that face education now, so can we teachers.

Breath. Breath again. Shields up. Let’s go.

Part II: Renaissance Fairness

Sometimes I title my posts a bit too obscurely. Quick note: the reason why these posts are titled Renaissance Fairness is that I see a Renaissance happening in schools — more teachers are taking control and agency and doing best practices in collaborative work with their peers and students, doing problem and project-based work, and allowing for students to take agency in their learning. And we want the playing field to be as fair as possible –to remove the obstacles that prevent students from understanding conflict and confusion are normal. This brave teaching and learning may look messy to an outsider, and we just need to push through that. If the culture of the world and business is collaborative and cooperative, or at least that is our aim, then creating safe places to hash out conflict and disagreements must be set by the adults in the building or institution first. This is where we foster our students’ love of being confident with their partner projects as well as their independent creative time, and we must honor both.

I promised a quick checklist/reflection guide for teamwork, and here is my first draft link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Taj3QSvjh6Ue3XKnBoZ29ygO-4iSD752hEdMatAJbCM/edit?usp=sharing

[embeddoc url=”https://mrskellylove.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/group-project-norms-rubric-1snx4bx-1w8h4ee.pdf” download=”all” viewer=”google” ]

 

 

 

Part I: Renaissance Fairness

I make digital art: this is Dolly Blueflower.

Sometimes we teachers may grow cynical about the ‘career and college’ ready mission statement. It’s not hard to see why: when our nation voted gave corporations the same voting rights as human beings we knew we were in deep trouble. To avoid that rabbit hole, I’ll just say this: we still work, and one of our jobs as teachers is to show students the opportunities and pathways so they can make the work-life decisions for themselves with the best and rigorous information.

And a secret to all this is — not all work is bad. Far from it. Modeling passion and personal engagement in our work lives is part of the mix of building relationships with students: when we point to the purpose of learning, the foundational piece comes from us. Establish our own engagement, purpose and love of our time in the workplace.

We were the nation of innovators and dream makers. We were envied the world over for our ability to create, for ingenuity and puppy-like enthusiasm. I am not sure we are that now, with a few exceptions (looking at you, Elon Musk). And I pin my hopes on the next generation of thinkers, inventors, writers, artists, and designers on helping students communicate and build the skills necessary to work together in order to solve problems.

The work I’m doing in the WABS/STEM Fellowship program and the PLU ELL Endorsement is guiding my thinking: I wanted to share some ideas from STEM group in terms of project/collaboration/employability rubrics:

Developed by industry leaders
Some ‘soft skills’ to look for when students are engaged in collaboration
From http://www.bie.org/
http://www.bie.org/
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/assessment-create-student-centered-learning-andrew-miller
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/assessment-create-student-centered-learning-andrew-miller

Part II of this providing those assessment pieces and lessons to go along with these initial rubrics.