Back to Slicing! 

Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers.

It’s the “last day of school eve” here. Always a time for reflection. . . What went well this year? What should I have done differently? What will I do differently next year? As I ponder these questions, my end of the year work keeps piling up. Report cards, room cleaning, parent emails, planning for next year, meetings, meetings, meetings. But for me, reflection is one of the ways I close up my year. Tomorrow I will say goodbye to my 2013 – 2014 students and that always highlights what a strange thing time is. 

At field day today one of my math students was at the chalk art station with me.  This math student joined my math class late in the year, and I haven’t had as long to get to know her. I watched her draw a beautiful picture of two horses on the blacktop today.  “That’s beautiful!” I said, as I realized that it was the first time I’ve seen her draw. I realized at that moment how familiar this feeling is, to find out things about my students at the end of the school year. They are always things I wish I had known all year.

Every year, I try to get to know my students. I do community building and Human Bingo. We make playdoh representations of something important to us on the first day of school, and share during morning meetings. We confer during literacy, and spend time throughout the day being ourselves. So today I am asking myself why I had never seen my math student draw a picture before, why I didn’t know she had a love of art.

I wondered today, as I remember wondering last year…. Am I really doing the things I think I am doing when I meet my class each year? This year we spent more time getting to know each other.  We talked about growing our brains, and I remember asking everyone to share the activity they were most successful and passionate about. I remember many of the answers, but I don’t remember all of them. What can I do next year to make sure that I get to know the passions and special talents of my students? How can I make them comfortable enough to truly share in the beginning of the year and beyond?  I have a few ideas, but I’d love to hear yours!

Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers.

Right Now I am:
 
Listening to a robotic voice tell me about value added assessment
Feeling my eyes roll
Watching my colleagues’
Eye Rolls
Mouths open
Shocked stares
Wrinkled noses
As we listen to the robot tell us 
what it means to plan instruction 
verify our roster
have integrity
and take responsibility for the proportion of our instruction based on enrollment but not attendance or weather

I am still:

Wondering why the robot is proud that the assessment system is part of the largest privately held software company in the world. 
Comparing the state of education to the Hunger Games
Assuming I would be the first one killed by the “Peacekeepers” 
Attempting to understand the math 
the point
and how this will help my students
May the odds be ever in our favor*

*My apologies to Suzanne Collins

Part of Slice of Life by Two Writing Teachers.

For days. . . 

I sit with my computer open to my grading program, and my papers piled on my desk. I have to do lists. I have blog posts to check in and respond to, and reading letters too. I have a small stack of math homework, already corrected during class, but calling my name to be checked in. I have report cards due that need comments (well comment codes which tell so much about my students). I even have 2 bookshelves that need to be built, and a push-pin poetry board to put up.

But I also have ideas. So I push away my to do list and plan instead. I plan a close reading lesson with “Stray” from Cynthia Rylant’s Every Living Thing based on Kate Robert’s presentation at the  #TCRWP saturday reunion and my coach’s help. (We won’t talk about how I asked her for help an hour before I wanted to teach this lesson, because my last-minute inspired planning is a post for a different day!) I plan a follow up investigation into setting after our close reading of Stray because when we really work hard with setting, it becomes obvious that there is more than meets the eye. Also obvious is that my students expect the setting to jump out of the page and into their brain. I read through Nancie Atwell’s Naming the World book to gather some poems we can use for our work with setting. I cry as I read and decide to go within the theme of pets that started us off with the short story “Stray.” Students will need to read closely to find the setting, and I have a feeling they will feel connected to these powerful poems.  I also plan the start of my annual huge “Muppet” project (still so much work to do!)  I plan a lesson on verb continuums based on a pin that linked to this.

Tonight I open my computer, with my same to do list.

So I slice.