Summers Off?

Yes, it's true.  Teachers have summers off.  Even some supervisors, like me, have summers off.  We spend two hazy, hot months lounging around in our backyards, community pools or at the beach doing nothing.  At least that is the perception of many of my non-educator friends.  Of course teachers have the option to be a sloth all summer long, never thinking about school, students or teaching.  But I don't know many who do.

The educators I know spend a lot of time working on their craft.  They read, take classes, revise curriculum, and more.  However, we do not do a good job of telling our communities or friends about our professional learning, which would be enlightening for many.  I think, then, teachers should compose their own versions of "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" essays and post them on their web sites and in class newsletters.  Teachers can announce their professional development experiences during Back to School Nights.  It is important for our communities to know how committed we are to the profession and to our students.  So write a list of all you've done thus far and (perhaps) even post it on your web site now.  Students are always interested in the mysterious lives of their teachers anyway!  Why not show them that you are spending time getting ready to be the best teacher for them?

Now, if you are an educator without anything to report...let's go.  We are given a gift of two months to improve our craft, to learn new strategies, and to expand our PLNs.  So do it, and do it now.  There are great virtual (FREE) webinars you can view, books you can read, and workshops can attend.  In the NY/NJ area?  Check out the State of Now - EDU  conference to be held on July 31 - August 1 at the 92nd Street Y in NYC.  Not near NYC?  Call your colleagues and do a book study of a text important to your teaching?  Have unmotivated colleagues?  Sign onto Twitter and participate in the many book conversations there.  The #njed group is reading and discussing Daniel Pink's Drive next month.

We owe it to our students to use our summers off to make sure we are ready when the school bell rings.  We owe it to ourselves and our profession to show our communities that our summers off are full of professional development experiences that make us better teachers.  So what have you done this summer to become a better educator?  Write it down.  Tell the world.  Share your learning.

Practicing...

In yoga, we are always practicing.  If you are a yogi, another yogi will ask, “Where do you practice?” or “What type of yoga practice do you do?” In the two years I have been practicing yoga, I have grown to truly appreciate this term.  It gives me permission to take the next step, to advance my practice, to try a pose I never thought I could do just to see if I can.  It’s only practice after all. 

But the power of yoga doesn’t finish at the end of an hour-long class.  You are supposed to take what you learn with you into your daily life.  For me, that means moving toward a mindset of practicing in my classroom.  In an educational culture of high stakes testing and student excellence, our focus tends to be on the final product.  What will students produce to demonstrate their mastery of skills?  What if, though, we shifted the goals a bit and spent more time offer students really good practice at these skills?  How might that change our instruction?    

For example, let’s say I have a student who struggles to identify and explain symbolism in literature.  Rather than focusing on this student’s need to write a cogent, insightful analysis essay on the green light at the end of the Gatsby unit, I could provide him some practice for identifying and analyzing symbols.  Perhaps he could look at symbols in everyday life – the American flag, a sports team mascot, or a street sign – and discussion what those symbols represent and why. I could identify a particular subject or interest area and ask the student to consider what the symbols are in that field and why.  Then the student could create his own symbols, ones that represent him, his family or a personal conflict.  And then, hopefully, he might be ready to move to literary texts symbols with a greater sense of confidence, efficacy and motivation. 

Bob Ross said, “Talent is a pursued interest.  Anything you’re willing to practice, you can do.”  I urge educators to think of their classrooms as spaces in which students can practice new skills rather than “gain mastery.”  If we approach our instruction helping students practice, it may give students permission to try new things, to fail and to try again.  It’s only practice after all.         

What's Behind Door #2?

Each Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. Scott Rocco (@scottrrocco) and Brad Currie (@bcurrie5) host #satchat on Twitter.  The conversations focus on leadership issues both as an administrator and a teacher.  They are rich and inspiring discussions that help me to reflect on my leadership style and build my capacity to influence change.  On this Saturday morning the #satchat focused on creating positive cultures in schools.  As it should have, the conversation included incorporating parents into the school community to foster a positive, dynamic cultures.  It got me thinking...

As the parent of a pre-school and elementary school parent, I am consistently invited into my children's learning environments.  Their teachers ask parents to sign up to read to the class, to chaperone field trips, to help at learning stations, and to run enrichment programs during lunch.  I know I am welcome there.  Now, I also know I can't pop in anytime I wish.  But I am frequently invited.  I get to know the students and the teachers.  I am a member of the school community.

And yet, I work as a supervisor in a middle and high school where parents are usually only invited into the building if there is a problem or a fund raiser.  Thus, a veil of mystique falls over these buildings and all that goes on within them.  Parents ask their kids, "So, how was school today?"  And with great detail their students offer a curt, "Fine."  Often, students only expand when they have an issue or disagree about a grade.  This relationship can lead to a tense climate, where parents and teachers viewed one another as adversaries rather than allies.  How, then, can we create a truly positive culture in secondary schools if we keep parents at an arm's length?

So what roles can parents play in our middle and high school classrooms? How can we demystify what happens in our classrooms so parents don't feel as though they do not know what does on behind door #2?  What other ways can/do you include them in your middle or high schools?      

"Watch me!"

"Watch me, Mom!  Watch me!" All summer long my children beg me to watch them perform some glorious act - dig a deep hole in the tiny sandbox, hold a handstand for 5 seconds, kick the soccer ball into the net, spin around and around until they can't stand anymore, and many other feats that innumerable children have done before successfully.  My children, though, want me to watch them.  They want to be seen and hear the "Good job!" accolade from their mom.

This reoccurring request from my own children makes me think about my students.  Teaching high school English, I encounter students who feel confident about their skills and seek my attention in similar ways as my seven and three year old kids do.  It delights me when a student asks, "Ms. Rocco, can you read this for me?"  Or when another presents an opposing viewpoint in class:  "Ms. Rocco, I think the green light represents hope, not jealousy, and here's why."  There are many other students, though, who tuck themselves inside themselves, crumpling low in their plastic chairs desperately averting any attention.  But I know they really do want to be seen too.

These shrinking students have had too many negative experiences with school.  Much of the attention they have received has been critical or unpleasant.  Often teachers think it is their job to identify the many skills students are doing wrong rather than focusing on what they are doing well.   Teachers will spend several minutes seeking every grammatical error in an essay, but allot little time to find what students are doing really well.  Many teachers still assess work with the intention of fixing the work rather than teaching the student.  This must change.   As educators, it is necessary to find what students do well and focus on utilizing these talents to build the skills with which they need more assistance.  Katherine Bomer talks about this in her wonderful text Hidden Gems (Heinemann 2010).  When teaching students, it is crucial to give them a sense of accomplishment, to find something in a piece of writing or an assignment or a class discussion and to tell them what they are doing well.

This praise, though, must be authentic and specific.  Teachers tend to write "Great job!" in margins, but they do not explain what made that paper or a particular sentence great.  We must name it, so kids know what it is they do well.  Thus, they will gain confidence, want to do more of it and (most importantly) feel better able to tackle a new skill.  As their teacher, I am better able to push students to try something new or practice with a struggling skill because the students know I believe they have many strengths.

Yes, it takes time to do this work...it takes lots and lots of time.  I needed to rework my lesson plans and incorporate time for conferences during class and for writing in class, so I could be there with them during the process rather than only collecting the product.  However, it used to take me hours to grade sets of essays and seek out every imperfection in the assignment.  I thought I was doing my job.  Now, I know it is my job to focus on what students do well, help them do more of it, do it in more sophisticated ways, and then teach them new skills.  When they insist "Watch me! Watch me!" I know I am doing my job.