9. Now the fun begins!

Now the fun begins.

This we believe. (NMSA, 2010)
*Ongoing professional development reflects best educational practices. Professional development.

I took a 'writing for teachers' class at Epworth by the Sea, in Georgia, years ago. It included a writing workshop; and every day we engaged in different writing prompts and activities. Just like in the classroom, once we had multiple brainstorming experience, we chose one to work on more deeply. We practiced fluency writing, brainstorming, rewrites, and editing strategies for our classroom. We learned by engaging in the experience. I learned to think more deeply about the tasks I gave my students, and the importance of creating products to illustrate thinking from this workshop.

It is summer. I have just finished an amazing year in the classroom/school, and I have close to 100 prompts. I wonder how many teachers reflect on their year and use the experiences to begin to plan for future years? I am thinking many do!  Had I not purposely reflected throughout the year, many experiences, insights, and ah-ha moments would be lost. I must promote this process!

Advice

1. Write every month. 'Begin with the end in mind' (Covey, 2006)is a concept! I first read this in Steven Covey's, The 7 habits of highly effective people. I have also used it in planning with Wiggins and McTigues, Backward design (1998). My 'takeaway'  is that when you first start the year, the end is all theory and hope, which is a good thing. Once you finish the year, is when you really can begin to apply the concept. Thus, my first piece of advice is to keep a reflection journey document. I recommend categories so that at the end of each month, you can reflect on what happened and set
goals for the next month.  You may want to start with the following categories: students, colleagues,
parents, administration, staff, curriculum, assessment, classroom management, lesson planning, lessons, teaming. Next, use the categories to answer: what worked, what didn't work, what they loved, challenges, successes to celebrate, what drove me mad, what made me weep. You may want to set goals for each month based on your reflections.

2. Find someone to reflect with. Over the course of this year, I drove to work with a colleague. The time we spent driving to and from work became a think tank, a reflection pool of our day, of our students and colleagues, and of our personal insights and dreams. We celebrated successes, and sometimes just listened; well, actually we were participant-listeners. I truly believe this time together made us more reflective, and gave us uninterrupted time to process our days. We both agree that we are better teachers because we had the chance to debrief, sometimes vent, and to celebrate and advocate for one another.

3.In your journey, consider the big picture. There are so many facets to teaching, and so many expectations including, but not limited to: college and career readiness, critical thinking, literacy integration, technology, ethics, standards, objectives, civic engagement, social and emotional development, leadership, exploration, lesson planning, differentiation, assessment, parent involvement, homework, projects, communication, grading, collaborative planning, interdisciplinary units, clubs, safety wellness, teaming, and mindfulness, that focusing on academic excellence, developmental responsiveness, and focusing on creating environments that are challenging, empowering, and equitable can seem a bit daunting. Fortunately, there are tools to guide you. You can use This we believe (NMSA, 2010) as an overview to give you a framework, a common language, to remind you of the big picture. 

Remember that teaching is a journey to embrace and grow. You will never be the best teacher. You will have moments to celebrate, and I encourage you to document these moments and share them with others.

So now begins the task of sifting and sorting through my own experiences. My future posts will most likely be about using the experiences of this year to provide vignettes for those I will be teaching in the fall. 

9. Collaborating together has been “an engaging experience.” (:

9. Collaborating together has been “an engaging experience.” (:

This we believe (NMSA, 2010).

* Ongoing professional development reflects best educational practices. Professional Development

This year, my friend, who teaches science and health as part of the resource schedule, and I are collaborating on the topic of “student engagement.” My friend is using chapters from a Marzano text, The Art and Science of Teaching (2007). I am using resources online including: edutopia.org, ascd.org, and amle.org. About once a month we talk about engagement, sharing our experiences and information we have found from different authors’ works.

This week we were talking about what “student engagement” looks like in our classrooms and how it relates to behavior and achievement.

Andrea’s classroom looks like this.

Student engagement has as many different looks as there are faces in the classroom. Sometimes engagement is a wide-eyed focus on a video clip being shown, the book being read aloud, or the dialogue going on in the classroom. Frequently, engagement is seen when students are eagerly raising their hands to ask questions or share ideas about and personal connections to the lesson topic, or when they just blurt out their thoughts when they just can’t contain their enthusiasm. Engagement is students stopping me in the hallway to ask what we are going to do the next time their class has resource time, or if their class is going to do the same thing that another class on their grade level has done. My favorite evidence of engagement is when groups of students groan or beg for more time when I tell them we need to put away materials and wrap up the lesson for the day. Frequently when this happens, students ask if we can continue the same activity the next time we are together. Most of all engagement shows in smiling faces when our time together is over; the students have enjoyed the lesson and made connections to the concepts and I feel like I have accomplished the lesson objectives.

Nancy’s classroom looks like this.

When students are most engaged, they have a task. Some need direction, others need to work on their own. All students need time to consider information, ponder topics, and create evidences of their own learning. My best days include multiple ways of experiencing content: video clips, explore equations in calculators, games, and examining various problems associated with content. This week we are looking at the relationships between linear, quadratic, and exponential functions. For linear graphs we look at salaries over time; using straws and pompoms we “shot cannons” along the chalk tray, and for exponential functions we conducted an exponential decay activity using M&M’s. What I find is that intentional grouping can assist student productivity. I also find that allowing students to struggle and helping them accept struggling as a good thing, helps learning take place. Finally, when students have the opportunity to create their own evidences of learning, there is a deeper understanding of contenta and how math connects to their world.

Summary

We agree that the more engaged a student is, the better he or she behaves. We also agree that the more engaged a student is, followed by opportunities to communicate about their learning, the more likely the student is to retain information learned and make connections to related topics in the future. We believe, as do multiple authors, that building relationships and supporting young adolescents intellectually, socially, and emotionally are important reference points for student engagement. We agree that learning is interactive and then when students have choice, they are more engaged. We agree that collaborating together has been “an engaging experience.” (:

Advice

1)   On the AMLE.org website you can search for resources based on specific topics such as student engagement, or advisory, or teaming. There are podcasts, webinars, and research summaries that provide much “food for thought.”  When choosing a topic, consider the resources from our national organizations to find information.

2)   Consider your PDP as a tool for growing professionally. You may want to collaborate with a colleague to share ideas and insights.

3) Consider joining twitter accounts that address your topic or your grade level. This week I saw where Australia educators hosted a one-hour Adolescent Success

4) Give students opportunities to work in various groupings, from pairs to small groups. Research and implement cooperative learning strategies such as those available in the free articles at the following link to the Kagan Publishing and Professional Development website: http://www.kaganonline.com/free_articles/dr_spencer_kagan/ . You can also search for articles on the websites of content area professional organizations such as the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) like this article, Cooperative Learning in the Science Classroom, available at: http://www.nsta.org/publications/news/story.aspx?id=52116 .

5) Give students as many choices as possible when assigning tasks. Think about whether students can choose to work alone or with a partner or group and if students can select the format the product may take (poster, skit, story, model) from a list of choices. The more choices students can make for themselves, the more likely they are to take ownership of their work and the concepts and succeed at the task you have assigned.

Andrea Valdovinos is a science elective teacher in Jacksonville, Florida. Both of us finished our degrees from the University of Florida. (Go Gators!)

9. Feed your Educational Spirit

9. Feed your Educational Spirit

This we believe (NMSA, 2010).

* Ongoing professional development reflects best educational practices. Professional Development

One of my friends from childhood is a teacher in another state. She has a professional goal that explores “student engagement.” One of her strategies for meeting that goal is to share resources and ideas with me. We have enjoyed talking about research and practices that have been successful as well as challenging.

This morning, or this evening, if you are in Australia, teachers from around the globe participated in a twitter-event focused on Adolescent Success (#MYEdOz). The team of leaders addressed five questions: 1) What are the attributes/skills that you feel indicate a thriving Middle Years Learner; 2) Middle Years Learners crave choice and independence. How do we balance this with guidance and support? 3) Wellbeing, self-advocacy, and resilience are essential in MY education today. Which processes do you use, to strengthen these characteristics? 4) In what ways do you allow Middle Year Learners to see that learning is a glorious struggle; and 5) Share what you feel are the most innovative approaches that will assist students to focus on learning and growing, during the Middle Years of education. During the session, colleagues shared articles, websites, and insights. People from around the globe filled their educational spirits and gathered tools for developing their own professional insights. Their website is www.adolescentsuccess.org.au

I got to thinking how important it is that we find ways to inspire our own practice. Is it possible, and I think it is, that finding our own source of middle-level inspiration depends on where we are, who we are, and what we need?  But it also depends on us taking the time to seek inspiration. My hope is that we never get so busy, so troubled, so overwhelmed, that we don’t take the time to look for and gather inspiration.

As new teachers, exploring different tools can happen individually; however, when learning about different resources, a network of colleagues may be more useful. Resources abound. Seek resources and people to feed your educational spirit.

Advice

1)      Start with resources within your own content area.

2)      Include a healthy dose of resources from AMLE.org.  There are webinars that are available to you, articles, newsfeeds, professional development opportunities.

3)      Look for the AMLE organization in your own state. Our website www.ncamle.org is full of resources for teachers.

4)      Next, consider twitter feeds and blogs of educators.

5)      There are also thousands, yes thousands of video and audio clips available on the internet to inspire you.

6)      And while media tools provide us with many, many, many resources, do not forget the importance of making connections with colleagues in your building, in your school system, in your state, and across the globe. While I have valued colleagues in my school building, some of my most-valued colleagues live outside my immediate surroundings.

9. Does going back into a classroom for a year matter?

Going Back as a tool for Professional Development

This we believe (NMSA, 2010).

* Ongoing professional development reflects best educational practices. Professional Development

I have just completed the third nine-weeks of a year-long experience teaching eigth grade math in rural North Carolina. I was having lunch with one of my colleagues. Her husband asked, “What are the take-aways from this experience?” ('This experience' means leaving the university to teach full time in a middle school.)

My first response is to reiterate the importance and value of building relationships among children. I believe everyone I work with values and is committed to working with young adolescents. And while some teachers respond differently or build relationships differently when compared to other teachers, I truly believe that everyone in the building where I work recognizes the importance and value of the relationship. I must teach those I work with to recognize their teaching styles, their advocacy styles may be different than others and to not judge their colleagues because they may be different in their approach to working with children.

A second take-away has to do with my view of advisory. Very often in my past, I believe I looked at “advisory” (the organizational structure) as something separate from teaching. I believe I have taught advisory as a class or experience middle school teachers do with and for students. I now believe that advisory is a thread that must be woven more intentionally within our classrooms, on our teams and throughout our schools. I no longer believe it is a separate entity and while I believe having a teacher who advocates for a particular group of students, I believe middle school teachers and teams of teachers must advocate for all students.  I came to this realization after giving a presentation to our grade levels about advisory. I realized that by treating advisory as something other than “how to build relationships with students,” it is seen as a compartment rather than a philosophy. When teams of teachers talk about students, are concerned about students, bring students together, set up team-wide sessions or themes, this is advisory. Perhaps if teachers saw advisory as a philosophy of how to communicate and advocate for young adolescents, it would not be seen as something in addition to teaching.

A third “take-away” is the necessity for pre-service, beginning and veteran teachers to develop a comprehensive view of and resource-bank for integrating technology into the classroom. I believe technology for technology sake (often quoted as a bad thing) is a bad thing. I hear of and see much misuse of technology in my own classroom as I try to learn how to navigate this tool. As I consider my own lessons learned about technology, I believe I have more questions than answers, more dreams than realities of how to use it best. Technology is not to be taken lightly. It is an ongoing challenge and opportunity that must be considered very carefully. In my past, college students had to use technology in a unit plan. I now see it much broader encompassing collaboration, gathering of knowledge, ethics, assessment and communication.

Finally, my fourth “take-away” is that full-time teaching in a middle school, or in the setting of any university professor’s passion, is by far the best professional development available. As I begin to wind down this year, my hope is to advocate for university and college professors to step into the environment, and I will challenge them to live their passion. The experience, for me, has been insightful and inspirational and I hope that universities will find ways to support their professors in colleges of education to do more of this.

The entire experience has given me much insight into the importance of taking the time to return to the classroom. Does going back matter? You bet it does!!! I have loved the experience.

9. Overseas conferences are awesome!!!

9. Overseas Conferences are Awesome!! Check out ELMLE.org

This we believe (NMSA, 2010).

* Ongoing professional development reflects best educational practices. Professional Development

This we believe (NMSA, 2010) provides sixteen characteristics of exemplary middle schools. This is the ninth characteristic and falls under the category of Leadership and Organization. This week I had the opportunity to attend the European League of Middle Level Education in Barcelona, Spain.

There is something to be said about participating in conferences outside your own school system, state, or country. The European League of Middle Level Education (ELMLE.org) is an affiliate of The Association of Middle Level Education. Leaders of ELMLE host a conference in various cities in Europe each January. This year, teachers from all over Europe (there are thirty-two partner schools) and from eight countries outside Europe came together to share ideas and a common commitment to young adolescents.

Most of the participants were from American and International schools in Europe. I was interested to find out what inspires teachers to apply overseas. Teachers share that the experience of living and working overseas is amazing. One participant shared he has taught in three different countries in Europe. He said he came for three years and has been overseas for eleven years. I watched teachers reunite with former colleagues, sharing their experiences with one another, asking how things were going, and celebrating their successes. This conference provides a sense of homecoming as well as educational enlightenment and networking. Everyone I spoke with was welcoming and energizing to be around. Participants shared their love for the opportunity to gather, learn and play together.

I have been to this conference twice in five years and I find the participants enthusiastic and committed to middle level education. It is an eclectic, diverse group of people with the same vision: to serve young adolescents. This year’s conference provided topics on sexuality, mindfulness, technology, differentiation, leadership, and best practice within content areas. Administrators from different regions shared ideas and concerns as well as strategies and inspiration. There were break out sessions and time to learn about different company products and service opportunities. Small and large group discussions and presentations provided us with time to learn about and share strategies and tools with one another.

The conference provides more than that. I watched and listened as colleagues shared concerns for refugees, concerns for and about one another, concerns for and about their students. There is a spirit of collaboration with and commitment for all members present. The conference sessions and the experiences outside the sessions remind me that one of the best ways to advocate for one another and our students, is to become an active member in the organization.

I know we have access to many resources, online courses, virtual meetings, and connections we can make around the world. We can and do read books, magazines, blogs, and listen to webinars; but there is something magical about time spent with colleagues.

Those who lead this conference are teachers and administrators in European schools who provide a tremendous service to their colleagues. These individuals have worked together as a team for many years. They are connected; they are experienced, and they are passionate about making this conference meet the needs of the participants. They are making a difference in the lives of administrators, teachers, and ultimately children.

The experience was magical. I hope you have the opportunity to engage in such lively, inspirational experiences.

Advice

1)   After a few years of experience, consider teaching overseas.

2)   Consider different organizations within your state or region that will provide you with a network of people who share an interest in improving your capacity as a teacher. AMLE has an affiliates webpage. Your state may have a state organization. Most state organizations have yearly conferences. Consider attending a state conference in or outside your own state.  Follow this link for affiliates. http://www.amle.org/AboutAMLE/Affiliates/tabid/127/Default.aspx

3)   When you attend conferences, seek out colleagues to collaborate with, to share ideas, and successes. As you grow as a professional, consider participating in action research within your own state or across state lines. Teachers who love what they do love to share ideas.

4)   You are never too young to share great ideas. If you and/or your colleagues are doing something that works, share it at a state conference. Once you have shared it at a state conference, consider sharing it at a national conference. Once you share it at a national conference, write it up and submit it to be published. AMLE is always looking for best practices, research, and strategies to share. Follow this link for writing opportunities: http://www.amle.org/AboutAMLE/GetInvolved/WriteforAMLE.aspx

5)   As you continue to grow as a professional, consider serving in organizations. You will find networking with colleagues is a very powerful tool for professional growth.

6)   If you are an undergraduate, there is an affiliate called CMLA (Collegiate Middle Level Association). Ask your university advisor how to get involved in this affiliate organization.

7., 9., & 15. "Dear Mr. ___, I just wanted you to know that You are your son's hero."

You are your son’s hero

This we believe (NMSA, 2010).

7* Leaders are committed to and knowledgeable about this age group, educational research, and best practices. Committed Leaders

9* Ongoing professional development reflects best educational practices. Professional Development

15* The school actively involves families in the education of their children. Family Involvement

This we believe (NMSA, 2010) identifies sixteen characteristics that exist in exemplary middle schools. This blog addresses the seventh, ninth, and fifteenth characteristics and is part of the section that addresses leadership and organization, as well as, culture and community.

I had to call a parent yesterday. One of my kids was being disruptive (again) during an exam. I asked him to go to our ICU (Intensive Care Unit). He slammed his computer and took off slamming our classroom door on his way out.

Whoa, my students were shocked. One said, “Man, if I did that at home I wouldn't be able to walk.” Others shook their heads. So I called the parent to let him know that his child had had a bad day and may be angry about events that took place in class. (I also put him on Lunch Detention.)

Today, the boy came to class and worked well. He was a different child. At lunch, I called the parent to let him know his son had had a better day. I received the parent's answering machine and shared the following.

“Good afternoon Mr. ____, I wanted to let you know that  ____ had a better day. I also wanted to tell you that in November, I asked my students to share who their heroes were. We put these names on stars. You are your son’s hero. I thought you would want to know, Mr. ___; you are your son’s hero. (I said it twice.). I hope you all have a nice Christmas.”

I wonder how many times parents hear "bad news" from us and never hear how their child is doing? The more we know about our children, the more likely we are to help them. 

Advice

1)   If you have children who display issues related to behavior problems, read as much as you can about it. I am currently reading a book by Diane Montgomery (2015) called Teaching gifted children with special educational needs: Supporting dual and multiple exceptionality. The chapter that has a lot of information is “Social, Emotional, and Behavioral Difficulties.”

2)   Realize that children who misbehave in your classes may be frustrated, may need attention, may have neurological problems. They need someone who will not give up on them.

3)   Realize that parents of children who misbehave are the most aware of challenges their children face. They, too, need to know that you are in support of their children.

4) If you make contact with a parent, be sure and follow up with how they are doing. Parents want to be informed; they need our support.