Category Archives: Reflections on teaching

#sol17 March 20 A Slice of Mail Contrasts

March 20, 2017Reflections on teaching, Slice of Lifeonathought

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. You should do it too! Thank you, Two Writing Teachers! Readers, check out their site, and start slicing!

You haven’t been to school for a week, so you know you have to go to your mailbox. You tear yourself away from grading late work and walk down to the main office.

Some days your mailbox is empty, but not today! The book order catalogs are spilling out! There are two packs of papers from the print shop, and an interoffice envelope. You carefully balance the heap in your arms and walk back to your classroom on the other side of the building.

Once in your room, you put the book order magazines away for April, and open one of the envelopes. What you find makes you smile.

What a gift to get this right after your inspirational weekend at Teacher’s College. You can’t wait to dig into this resource. Of course, your first job will be to put your post-it note tabs in. You wonder what strategies in this book might help your students with their current literary essay work. Excited, you put the book in your schoolbag to take home.

Turning your sights on the packages from the print shop, you wonder what you might have ordered. As soon as you start to tear the plastic open you know. What a let down. Going from Teachers College inspiration to Jennifer Serravallo is natural and exciting. The voyage to PSSA test prep leaves more to be desired.

Piling the practice Text Dependent Analysis on the corner of your desk, you sigh. You know you want your students to be successful and not stressed out during the upcoming PSSAs. You know that testing is a genre you need to review.

But, blah blah blah to that! You definitely know you wish you didn’t need to do this. It’s just not very inspirational!

#sol17 March 19 A Slice of Celebrating Drew Dudley

March 19, 2017Celebrate, Reflections on teaching, Slice of Lifeonathought

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. You should do it too! Thank you, Two Writing Teachers! Readers, check out their site, and start slicing!

celebrate-image

I’m also Celebrating today with Ruth Ayres!

Dear Drew Dudley,

I didn’t raise my hand when you asked us who was comfortable calling themselves a leader. I guess this means that tomorrow is my “day one” of being more impactful. You told us yesterday that we should “treat every day like it’s day one.” Impact.

You spoke with confidence and told us that you can have moments of leadership by impacting one person at a time. Tomorrow at least 50 people will walk into my classroom. I plan on recognizing their individual leadership, I plan on looking for lollipop moments in my classroom and my school. I think I will find these in small moments of love and kindness.

I will keep wondering about your question, “Are you living a life that makes people who know you smile at the mention of your name?” I will keep hoping that there are people in this world who do smile when they hear my name. More importantly, I will celebrate the people who make me smile at the mention of their name.

Thank you for your important, inspiring, illuminating key note. Today, I am celebrating you! I am smiling at the mention of your name.

Warmly,

Ona

P.S. Here are my notes from your keynote:

#sol17 March 18 Six Word Slices of the Saturday Reunion

March 18, 2017Reflections on teaching, Slice of Lifeonathought

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. You should do it too! Thank you, Two Writing Teachers! Readers, check out their site, and start slicing!

#tcrwp series of 6 word memoirs!

(Even my title is six words!)

(Six word subtitle-on a roll!)

Feeling uninspired? Head to Teacher’s College.
Dudley’s lollipop stories broaden leadership definition.
Kate’s metaphors inspire, baby’s cute too.
DIY Maggie’s tools make teaching easier.
Absorb Mary’s knowledge! Ask what’s fascinating.
Cornelius! Aha! “Change doesn’t happen accidentally.”
Kate, Maggie, Mary, Cornelius! Rockstar day.
Inspired now. Teach. See potential. Love.

#sol17 March 4 A slice of Data

March 4, 2017Reflections on teaching, Slice of Lifeonathought

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. You should do it too! Thank you, Two Writing Teachers! Readers, check out their site, and start slicing!

I’m sitting in a faculty meeting trying to fall in love with data. I am. I get it: Triangulate data to help students grow. I am making friends with assessment this year as an instructional tool. I am, I promise. I’m a little stuck because I can’t love test data that helps us streamline instruction in order to help students do better at that test. That seems like a vicious circle to me… and an odd priority. But, I’m trying to make friends with Data, and find time to really use it.

I’m in! I use formative assessment data to help guide me… trying to make it quick. I’ll hand out index cards, ask students to read a short article and write the central idea and key details on their index card. I’ll collect reader’s notebooks and read their “best” stop and jot about a signpost. I’ll look at my students’ work and make strategy groups, conferring goals, and whole class lessons. When I have time. My instructional coach has this great way of looking at data. She has an eye for it, and she is always looking for ways that real-life classroom teachers can manipulate and then use data, “What can you do in 10 minutes that will help your students?” She has kids at the center and data as a way to help them grow. She is data-gifted.

I’m listening in a faculty meeting as we are given an example of a teacher meeting via video. “This is where we’d like to be with our PLC’s!” We are told. The video comes on and the teacher on the video says disparagingly, “We used to talk about students in our meetings. Now we talk about data.”

Hmmm…

I’m trying to fall in love with data. I’m already in love with students. I will not aim to have meetings where we aren’t talking about students. I will not make that my goal. Let’s add data to the discussion. Let’s triangulate and guide instruction. Let’s grow. And, let’s not forget about the kids themselves. Please.

#sol17 March 2 A Slice of Alone

March 2, 2017Family, Reflections on teaching, Slice of Lifeonathought

I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. You should do it too! Thank you, Two Writing Teachers! Readers, check out their site, and start slicing!

There are these two minutes sometimes
After the dog has been taken out and fed
And lunches packed
Before the first kid comes downstairs
When I make my coffee
And I sit in the family room

Alone

And sometimes the dog is occupied (trying to chase a cat he hears upstairs but can’t get to)
And sometimes I can hear the children upstairs but they haven’t walked down yet
And I sit in the family room

Alone

And then I hear the first kid stomp down the stairs, talking to the dog
And then I am

Not alone

A Slice of the first day back.

January 3, 2017Reflections on teaching, Slice of Lifeonathought

Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers

I don’t have one little word yet. I didn’t finish my grading today. I didn’t hear my 5:30 alarm… didn’t wake up until Mr. Thought shined a light right at me around 6:00. It was raining and grey all day. I don’t quite have a handle on the literary essay unit I am starting tomorrow. My muscles are sore from just 3 days of working out. There are so many kids with missing work even after multiple reminders. The laundry didn’t magically get done while I was at school today. After a brief moderate break over vacation, I don’t eat sugar again. My classroom was clean and fresh until 8:01 this morning.

But.

The students came back, and I didn’t have to cajole them to answer the “What I missed” section of my whiteboard question. They just did. We all love vacation, and I’m not saying I wouldn’t vote for another week or so at home with my own kids… ignoring my chores and reading books. But…how lucky I am to spend my day at school with kids who missed their friends, their school, not being bored, math, and … me!

Plus! I counted 9 Winter Break Slice of Life challenges in my in box today, and 9 Book a Day challenges too! That’s a record for my winter break challenges. Yay for reading and writing during break!

Winter Break Slice-A-Day Challenge #11

January 2, 2017Reflections on teaching, Slice of Lifeonathought

I’ve challenged my 6th graders to a Slice-A-Day during our winter break…I will attempt to keep up with the challenge as well!

Dear School Bag,

Don’t stare at me like that. I will try to empty you after the kids go to bed. Maybe.

Nobody wants to go to bed. I don’t blame them. After one more sleep, winter vacation is over. H says, “That’s it! Then we will have to wait an entire year before another winter break!” And I remember how long years were when I was a kid. Now the days are sometimes long… but the years are so very short. I know that next thing we know, it will be next Christmas.

It’s bedtime, but the kids are busy. They are reconstructing the MacGyver episode they just watched. MacGyver. Yep. I can’t tell if they like the time at home with their family, or just the amount of tv we’ve let them watch. I know I was busy playing games with the kids, writing on my computer, and reading books in the family room. I’m sorry I didn’t pay more attention to you during this vacation.

Oh School Bag – you might remember that I did open you briefly at the beginning of vacation. This was before I shoved you in the corner of the dining room. Somehow, you are still full of things I should have done. A stack of papers to grade, some paperwork to fill out… I hope you have enjoyed your vacation. Tomorrow we go back to school!

As usual, it feels like just as we are finally into the swing of a school break, just as I finally forgot that you were sitting half unzipped behind the buffet, break is over. Just as I have gotten relatively on top of the dishes situation…I had to pack lunches again. (You may have noticed that I slipped a bag of gluten free crackers in your small pocket a bit ago. I’ll take those out when we get to school) Just as I finished the last load of laundry… just kidding, I never finish laundry. There is no “last load” of laundry. Even you know that. I think there’s a cardigan somewhere in your bottom.

Now you are here at the table with me, as I hide in the dining room, waiting for the MacGyver conversation to fade a bit. I finally took the Literary Essay Unit of Study book from your grasp, and when I give it back to you, it will have a few more post-it notes stuck inside.

Hopefully I won’t fall asleep too long snuggling kids to bed tonight, but if I do – I’ll take the grading out of your grip first thing during our planning period tomorrow. I promise.

Love,
Mrs. Thought

Winter Break Slice-A-Day Challenge #7

December 30, 2016Family, Reflections on teaching, Slice of Lifeonathought

I’ve challenged my 6th graders to a Slice-A-Day during our winter break…I will attempt to keep up with the challenge as well!

Written last night… posted today… still counts! 🙂

Are you making plans for 2017? Choosing your one word? Resolving to be better? I love New Years… It’s just that my favorite New Year’s is the September one. I love fresh starts, blank slates …. It’s just that my favorite blank slates are chalkboards and whiteboards…

I’ve never been a fan of the ball drop, countdown, January New Year’s. You can check the tapes– high school parties filmed by a young Mr. Thought. You’ll see people counting down, yelling, hooting. Then he pans to me. I count down a smile on my face, but exasperation in my eye (roll).

That’s not to say I don’t enjoy a good resolution. Like I said, I like blank slates, new beginnings. I’m trying to focus my intentions for 2017. What you focus on grows…

Trouble is… there’s so much to focus on!

A slice of my responsive teaching desk

September 20, 2016Reflections on teaching, Slice of Lifeonathought

Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers.

My desk before Reader’s Workshop yesterday
Responsive Teacher
Messy Teacher
Hardworking Teacher
Tired Teacher
Assessments, data, mini-lessons, conferences, strategy groups, read aloud,
planning, teaching, demonstration pages, Anchor charts,
Engagement Inventories, grading…*
Tired Teacher
Hardworking Teacher
Messy Teacher
Responsive Teacher

*Wait. Is this a song?**

Mini Lessons, then confer, group your kids, hope goals Transfer
Anchor charts, assessment data, demonstration pages
Read to self, read aloud, ELA will make us proud
Essential questions, inquiry, hope your work engages

Understandings, knows and do’s, google docs – no time to snooze
Study data, write it down, buy some stock in post-its
Reader’s Notebooks, more directions, closely read the text collections
Follow kids and write them back, love those kids the mostest

We didn’t start — we’re trying!
Students, geared for learning
as the year starts turning
We didn’t start — we’re trying
Workshop’s just beginning
Soon we will be winning!

Find a book, check it out, ask a question if in doubt
Whole group meetings, someday lists, readers make plans
Talk to kids, give high fives, workshop norms and reading lives
Much to do to get a classroom full of reading fans!

We didn’t start — we’re trying!
Students, geared for learning
as the year starts turning
We didn’t start — we’re trying
Workshop’s just beginning
Soon we will be winning!

**My apologies to Billy Joel and my thanks to Mr. Thought who is somehow an expert on the meter and rhyme of We Didn’t Start the Fire, as in: “I used to sing this all the time in 1990. I had the whole thing memorized.”

A slice of Right now

September 13, 2016Reflections on teaching, Slice of Lifeonathought

Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers.

I know it's not a good idea to multi-task... 
but I would love to be able to write my slice as I'm going through my day.
This morning's play by play slice would be something like this: 

Right now I am. . . 

Wishing my computer would connect to the internet so I can print my sub plans
Talking to helpdesk on the phone while my students watch announcements
Restarting chrome
Restarting chrome
Restarting chrome
Trying firefox
Giving up
Realizing that now I can't project a "Right Now" slice 
as a model for my class
Taking out my phone to use instead
Copying part of a "Right Now" slice onto the board
Sending students off to try their own. 
Hoping my computer works for the next class
Teaching teaching teaching
Restarting Chrome
Failing at technology
Worrying about printing afternoon plans
Sharing my sloppily written whiteboard slice with my other class

Wishing  my doc cam worked
Challenging Students to write a bunch of "ing" verbs and then 
to finish the thoughts

Taking on the challenge myself on the whiteboard.
Wondering about the one table of boys who hasn't noticed 
that everyone else is writing or watching me write.

Joking with students
Having fun
Making mistakes
Modelling slice-writing
Being flexible
Learning with kids
Teaching Writing