My Space - Moving House!

Non-traditional student makes for some non-traditional thought processes!  We are in the midst of moving house, downsizing from our wonderful house on Westbrook Street, to a small in-town rental.  I am actually quite excited about the move, but I know just how much I will miss the pastoral tranquility (granted, often interrupted by two small dogs).  As part of my capstone class that I am taking right now, we had to think about our 'creative spaces' - where do we do our best work?  What makes one space better than another!  That started my thinking about where my desk was going to be. I spend more time at my 'workstation' than anything else - it is kind of important!

I tried a variety of different options in our farmhouse.  The desk in the living area resulted in continual distractions.  The attempts to work in our rarely used dining area led to too many calories ingested, and too many interruptions.  I finally made my space upstairs, and created the 'Bridget zone' that became my place, the spot in the house where I could distance myself from the day's minutiae, and let myself write, study or think.  The small area at the top of the stairs was once the children's play area.  The slanted attic ceiling, windows overlooking my horses' paddock, 100-year old wooden floors, and book-lined wall, all created the very atmosphere I needed to help channel my mind.  Unlike past experiences, I actually looked forward to going up to my desk, whether homework, volunteer tasks, or just to write my blog.  Family pictures surrounded me, and Latte was normally snuggled behind me as I sat in my big desk chair, focussed on the task at hand.

Our new house will lead to very different possibilities.  Downsizing and changing from country-living to an in-town house with limited space, and no view of pastoral tranquility.  I know that my lesson plans and reflections are the best when I have a special space that I enjoy working in.  I have two choices.  First, there is the spare room.  We are moving to a small, two-bedroom rental, and we already know that our dresser and dressing table won't fit into our bedroom, they will go into the spare room, and my desk could go there too.  The second option would be in the finished basement.  There is another small bedroom in the basement, with half-bath, as well as the general basement area.  Do I choose lighter and convenient, sharing 'my space' with our clothes and laundry, or do I go downstairs to privacy, but darker - and possibly more distractions, since the washer/dryer will be down there, our Wii, and (something we are looking forward to) a fun, bar area!  The bedroom downstairs will be the official spare room, the space that will belong to our children when they visit,

It truly is a conundrum!  I lean towards the upstairs space, and I think that is where I will start.  If I can make it more of a library, less if a dressing room, more of a personal space than a catch-all, I think that it has potential.  Although, I chuckle as I write this - we looked at the house about three weeks ago, and my memories are hazy.  Was it a 'light' room, or dark?  Was it street facing or other house facing?  I can't remember!  All I remember about the basement was Paul and I laughing because we are downsizing from my dream home, but will finally have a place to put the bar that has been stored in the tractor shed for ten years!  We knew that the basement would house guests and be our social space immediately.  I think about how the basement would be more private - but not it the children are home.  I also think about the mistake it might be, trying to make the ‘social’ space my private area; that doesn’t seem to make sense.

As I am writing, I am musing the options.  I can’t envision where the door is or where the window is placed, so I can’t sketch out options.  That is frustrating.  I can see a wall of books and my desk.  Perhaps a picture of our old farm and photos of the horses and those happy moments that someone has captured, of my horse and I flying over jumps.  The dressing table and chest of drawers can be used for picture placement and extra space.  Is there a walk-in closet?  I am not sure!  I hope so - that would be a good space for the plethora of ‘future classroom’ totes that I appear to have collected over the years at UNI - or placed things from my children rather than selling at our big moving yard sale.  We do have a storage space, so I am deliberating over those totes being with me, or there with the boxes of ‘future classroom books’ that have also been somewhat obsessively collected. In my year-round student teaching though, perhaps I will need some of my supplies.  Maybe the move will lead to more severe organization and listing of contents, then I could store them, number them, and know exactly where everything is.  Great plan, now to find the time to make that happen.

We are packing and sorting every day, and my mind is continually turning over possibilities.  We take over the new house June 9, the transition then begins.  The main move happens the weekend of June 14, when I will need to make final decisions as we place the furniture where we think that we want it.  I can’t wait until we have a key and I can go in and check out the space again, do some measuring, make some determinations.  Who knows, maybe my thoughts will change once I revisit the space.  Perhaps I will set it up and realize that it is not going to work.  These thoughts have helped me to focus my thinking, and to consider why my upstairs space has worked so well for me.  I must think about how I will need to find something to overcome the lack of view, how to replicate that tranquility that I need in a small room in the middle of town.  I have wonderful pictures to use, and can start to create the atmosphere that I envision right away.  I need to focus beyond the, ‘it’s just for a year’ and to the, ‘this will be my space and it needs to work for me’.  Just that adaptation of thought is going to help me to settle into our new home, and help to spark creativity in my future work.

Let's see what I decide; I will know soon enough!

Teaching Philosphy

I have spent most of today working on a philosophy paper - one that purports to discuss which theory of education best describes my personal attitude towards teaching.

I have found it a difficult task!

I hesitate to put my unedited version out here, but perhaps one of my followers has some suggestions to make, or ideas of ways to adjust my writing; all suggestions, gratefully received!!

Here we go....

With strong beliefs of innate gifts and the importance of individual talents to share, I have some clear leanings towards the romantic ideal of what my future students can add to the class, that I believe in their past achievements and have faith in what they will bring to the future.  If adults don’t have faith and confidence in a child’s ability, why would those children have any reason to believe in themselves?  Through successes and failures, teachers need to share their confidence that even through failure, every student has the ability to learn.  As a teacher recognizes a child’s abilities, they can nurture the knowledge and ability that is already there, engage and incentivize new learning, and then build upon the experiences, always guiding, supporting, inspiring and adding new knowledge along the way.  I have seen students who live the life that others expect of them - sometimes positive, often negative.  If a teacher expects a child to fail, to be unable to learn, or to fail in life, more often or not that child will fulfill that devastating expectation.  My job as a teacher may sometimes be to believe for my students so that they can learn to believe in themselves.  Just as a parent helps their child to face hurdles and challenges with support and love, a good teacher is there to push their students and be able to catch them should they fall, encouraging them to try again and create success.

I am combine the romantic belief in inner abilities and pragmatic understanding of learning through experience, with some more traditional leanings of a perennialist.  I talk about inspiring and guiding, but I am seeing myself in that expert role, sharing the classics and helping students to create their own.  I have more knowledge and experiences than the students, and I have information to share with them, that will help them in their future lives.  Although I recognize that students have experiences that I can learn from, I have years of knowledge and background that I am there to teach them.  My own school taught me Greek history,  about different civilizations, history and the literary classics - about them, their history, how they connected to the time in which they were written, and why they were considered classics.  I learned to understand and appreciate their worth - and that is something that I plan to do with my own students.  If you don’t know what came before, how can you plan for the future?  If you can’t recognize why something was great, how can you create greatness?

With a combination of working towards finding and nurturing the best in every student, helping them to realize their own abilities and potential, while sharing knowledge and how others succeeded, I plan to be a teacher that students enjoy, trust, respect and can learn from.

Classroom Management - in the real world!

I just spent a fabulous Level III week at Hoover Middle School in Waterloo, IA. What is Level III, you might ask? Well, it is an in-between step before student teaching. Whereas in Level I and II, you are in theory observing more than 'doing', and then in your Level II you teach one lesson, but it is short and very controlled, the Level III is far more intensive and the student teacher actually teaches two full days in a classroom - getting a real feel for all the things that you don't notice when you are just watching someone practiced and polished at work! There is a huge difference between preparing and teaching one, short, 20-minute lesson, and in teaching all day - and even with the Level III, you do have your cooperating teacher there and ready to step in if needed. Still, it is about as authentic as you can get in a short period of time.  

My final emotion at the end of the week was quite simple. I want to go back. School, and learning has been great. I will always have more to know and another theory to learn, but making planet cards and board games is not where I want to be right now - no, I want to stay in the classroom. Plus, 7th grade? That was GREAT! Very much my favorite grade so far.

One of the things that really impressed me at Hoover was their classroom management - how they take care of behaviors. They use PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention System) in the school as a whole, and Mrs. Kurtz and Mrs. Kisch modeled a successful management system all day, every day.  

The premise is simple. The students earn a reward, in the form of a Hawk Bill, that they can then turn in as currency to pay for missing supplies, an opportunity to go to their locker for forgotten books - all the normally little interruptions that add up to so much time lost out of the instructional day. Mrs. Kurtz could be very relaxed about students forgetting planners, or not acting as required, she just let them know how many Hawk bills that it would cost them, and allowed them to make the decision.  When I compared this with the arguments and time wasters that I have seen in other schools, it was very impressive.

I kept thinking of how many students leave and come back into other classrooms that I have been in - how many interruptions the teachers have to face. This kept things simple and straightforward. Everyone knew the rule, the expectations were clear, and the resulting relaxed atmosphere was impressive.

Views while traveling

One of the interesting things about being a 'non trad' is all the extra activities and experiences that I not only 'bring to the table', but also that I have as part of my day-to-day life.  Handily my volunteerism, although involving horses, is all to do with teaching!  I am typing this on the plane as I return from Pony Club Annual Meeting held in Portland, OR.  A meeting filled with others who want to provide opportunities for young people, even if it isn't in a bricks and mortar classroom!  Not only did I watch, listen and learn about ways to help our Pony Club clubs and region (I am Regional Instructional Coordinator for our region), but I also got to talk about 'my studies' with many folk - and of course, everyone has an opinion on teaching, schools and education, so conversations are to be had in every plane, train or social setting!

On my first flight of the weekend, from Cedar Rapids to Denver, I was involved in a discussion about writing and the importance of students being allowed to take ownership of their own words; privacy at times, creativity encouraged, and opportunities to practice.  Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse.  It was interesting to hear an echo of a recent article that I just read; no one seems to be writing - which explains why our students are falling short in writing assessments.

From Denver to Portland, the talk was about schools and society. The flight attendent used to be a teacher, his wife still is.  We got into an interesting discussion about who was critiqued more by the media and general populace, schools or airline companies?  As teachers are blamed for students not reaching the standards the general population wants, airlines are lambasted for not providing services travelers expect.  It's all about wants, desires and expectations!  

The weekend was a busy rush of classes and networking.  I listened, learned, discussed.  I connected with riding instructors, volunteers who teach and organize, vets and volunteer corporate staff.  In between I tried to do homework and take care of what would otherwise hit me over the head (probably very painfully) on my return!

Coming home, I connected with a man whose son teaches with TeachAmerica and is at a charter school on the East Coast somewhere.  Interesting viewpoints. although it was surprising to hear him say that he didn't understand why there wasn't more research done on how children learn.  Well, there is certainly research out there (although not as much on writing), but I don't know that the educational researchers share their findings with the politicians - and if they do, does anyone listen?  He allowed and encouraged me to discuss my favorite subject of teaching with mini lessons and workshops, and how all teachers should embrace interdisciplinary learning and block scheduling.  I didn't finish my required reading, but I did stretch my mind a little bit more :) The last time that I brought up these concepts it was to someone who vehemently disagreed - this time several on the plane were nodding vigorously and a lively discussion ensued!

All of this was during high winds and blizzard conditions.  We successfully landed to loud applause to our clever pilot and satisfaction that we had sorted out some educational dilemmas - for today, anyway!

Reflections about what I have learned

As I started work on my Student Teaching Application I realized how much fun it is to reflect on what I have learned so far, how my beliefs about teaching and teachers have changed so much, and how my skills have improved.  I used to think (similar to many Americans) that I knew how to fix schools and what the problems were.  Now I still think that, but how very different my ideas have become!  Parents think that they know how to fix schools - well, after all, they went to school, didn't they?  That's like saying that I know how to invent the next cure because I had a doctor's appointment!  So, I am only at the rough draft stage, but here is how I answered the questions on my application......I have come a long way :)

To the question on how my education has prepared me...

I began my education at the University of Northern Iowa as a parent who thought that I had a good idea of how things should ‘be done’ in schools.  I soon realized that I had a lot to learn, but that my own educational experiences gave me the foundation to understand the benefits of what research is telling us now.  The inter-curriculum, inter-disciplinary, experiential lessons of my education in England was exactly what I felt that my children had missed, and precisely what I saw working so well during my experience at Lincoln Elementary School, Waterloo, as part of the Literacy Education Professional School (LEPDS). The experience of taking university classes in an elementary school, and then immediately taking new learning into the classroom was incredibly powerful.  With the direct coaching of experts such as Dr. Traw and Nicki McGowan, as well as the Reading Recovery team and classroom teachers at Lincoln Elementary, I learned about both the realities of day-to-day school life as well as seeing the lessons learned in our own classes applied continuously in the school setting.  Reading and discussing research about literacy is one thing, observing it evidenced on a daily basis is even more powerful.  The works of Linda Dorn and Marie Clay influenced me early and continue to do so 3 years later.

Preparation through in-person observation and hands-on teaching has taught me vital lessons as well as highlighting areas where I needed more work and strengths that I should be aware of.  Even more valuable in some ways has been the required journaling and reflecting upon each experience.  Looking back over my early notes from my literacy methods class and comparing them with my reflections from my middle level curriculum class experience at UNI-CUE two years later, the growth is obvious.  Not just in my methods and competence, but also in my ability to look at each session with a clearer lens, and to be able to adjust my lesson plans according to the need of my student.

Attending the annual Association of Middle Level Educators’ conference with Dr. Schneider and Dr. Douglas in 2013 was a defining moment.  Each session attended brought new moments and clarifications to my understanding.  Two sessions were particularly influential.  One was on ‘unwrapping’ the Common Core and was in direct contrast to many of the more negative commentary heard in reference to the recent changes in education.  The other expert, who helped to shape my thoughts as I move towards being in my own classroom, was Rick Wormeli. His thoughts and concepts have influenced me to the point of buying several of his books and noting many of his ideas.  His discussions about differentiation, assessment and working towards getting students enthused and thinking outside of the walls of the classroom continue to motivate me. 

From early lessons about teaching using the workshop method for better, differentiated teaching, to later learning about individualizing lessons and helping students to make the connections that they need for better learning, I have seen how twenty to thirty very different students can work together in the same environment, learning the same information in different ways.

Question number 2 asked for what I have done to prepare myself for student teaching.  This is my first draft response:

Field experiences and classroom time as a volunteer, combined with my unique background has given me a strong foundation to take into my future classrooms.  Not only have I experienced different classrooms as a student, but I also have a background of seeing schools from a parental perspective. From living in the English countryside to military housing in North Carolina, I have had very diverse experiences.

In my field experiences I have seen both urban and rural poverty and have been able to compare the rebuilding of curriculum and procedures at Lincoln Elementary, Waterloo, with the concerns currently being faced in the Dike-New Hartford School District.  I have worked alongside newer, excited teachers who are being given a plethora of development opportunities, as well as having seen teachers who are sticking to their basal books and are not prepared to step away from the comfort of worksheets and text book homework.  Through field experiences at Grundy and Lincoln I have seen the power of differentiation and workshop style teaching, as well as understanding how curriculum should be integrated and learning is most beneficial when interdisciplinary.

At the Association of Middle Level Educators (AMLE) annual conference I was fortunate enough to connect with Ross Burkhardt, author and member of the National Teachers Hall of Fame.  He is currently writing a book about teaching poetry and asked me to try three lesson plans that he had written to share both my and students perspectives about his content and activities.  This was a very interesting activity for me as it allowed me to take a pre-prepared plan and experience teaching it in two small group environments and one whole class (at New Hartford Junior High), but also allowed me to reflect on how my personality and beliefs influenced his thoughts.  Creating and maintaining interest with the class as compared with the small group, teaching virtually the same lesson, was an interesting study of how my classroom management skills needed to change in each environment. 

Often as a student we are given the smaller groups that are easier to work with.  I have been very fortunate through both my Lincoln experiences, Junior Achievement volunteering and helping out at New Hartford, to have had the opportunity to work with full classes.  Although I am aware that continued classroom time will continue to hone my emerging skills, it was satisfying to realize how much my classroom presence has improved since I had my level 1 field experience in the fall of 2011.

And finally, so why do I want to be a teacher, and what are my core beliefs?

When I first decided to leave my corporate world to become a teacher, it was because of the realization of how comfortable I was in the classroom. When you are choosing to do something for free, it is time to think about whether perhaps that is the career you should be in!  I have learned so much in the last few years and am looking forward to synthesizing it all in the classroom.

Rick Wormeli tells a story about a teacher, who, for the sake of research, stayed with and followed a sixth-grader throughout her classes in a classic junior high. The teacher was highly frustrated to see how many possible connections could be made between classes throughout the day that were missed, and to discover how much the average student has to try make those connections alone, or more sadly, never makes them, and how much easier the learning would have been had teachers connected curriculum for better learning.  This story sums up much of the way that I feel about myself in my future classroom.  I have seen the power of using the science or social studies text to focus on grammar, or a free write that uses characters from history.  Connecting disciplines just makes sense.

As well as connecting what our students know to help them build and learn, I have also seen how important constant differentiation is.  We put 20 or 30 children, all from different homes and backgrounds, in the same classroom, expecting them to learn the same things at the same time.  Starting with my level 1 field experience at Grundy, then both studying Linda Dorn’s books and seeing her theories used at Lincoln Elementary, I was able to see the power of teaching using the workshop method. Being able to teach a small mini lesson to the class, and then be able to allow each child to learn either individually or in peer groups as they go at the own pace, then summarizing in the large group, with student participation at the end helps both teacher and student. Being able to see who truly has mastery, and be able to move them further forward, while seeing who needs help learning the skills allows the teacher to play to each student’s strengths while watching for their weaknesses and helping them beyond them.

I strongly believe that each student should be given the opportunity to build upon the knowledge that they have and should be able to be an integral part of the community of learning in the classroom. My favorite experiences have been those where the community and parents have been included in the classroom opportunities and where communication has been constant and consistent.  Seeing the high expectations fulfilled in the classroom, particularly at Grundy and Lincoln, showed me the power of a teacher having belief in their student’s abilities – as long as the teacher gives the student a real opportunity to connect, learn, rehearse and master each new skill.

So, now the changing, polishing and checking happens as I put the final document together.  But I think that this is a good starting point!

Another Semester Over!

I am feeling pretty proud of all of my hard work as grades roll in! I found this quote that exemplifies how I try to live my life, 

"all the ventures I've pursued.....required that I work twice as hard and twice as long as others. You have to be willing to do today what others won't so you can have a tomorrow that others never will. You simply have to be willing to do the work, no matter how long or how hard it is, just as there is no shortcut to greatness, there is no shortcut to getting the job done. You must work, work, work - 'til your work is done."

With thanks to Byron V. Garrett from The ABC's of Life.

Maintaining a 4.0 isn't easy, but life's experience, intent and attitude seem to win over my comparatively less agile brain!  Being 25 years older than my peers definitely makes me a very different kind of student.  Part of it of course is the fact that I do work hard.  Every assignment is treated as an important one; I do love to learn.  Another element is the fact that I know why I am at school.  I want to be a great teacher.  I am nervous about putting it altogether when I have my own classroom, so the more that I do now, the better my toolbox is, the more good I can do my future students.  The way that I see it, I can learn from a bad assessment, I can learn from a great peer lesson and I can learn from just being a student.

Now it is the Holidays.  I get to celebrate being Mom, with Ben home from the Navy and then I am off to Australia to see Steph after Christmas.  My line up is ready for the Spring, my advisor has set my last two semester's schedule and this time next year I will be getting ready to student teach....oh my!  
This would all explain my current reading book of choice:  Day One & Beyond, by Rick Wormeli.

Time moves slowly day by day, but the last two years have just flown by!

Always New Lessons to Learn!

Sometimes I think that one of the most important parts of my learning are in the 'what not to do' realm as I go through my classes.  I realize though, that sometimes the negatives are a lot easier to hone in on; there are plenty of positive examples to pay attention to as well!

One thing that I have learned is that there are two vital factors that should be considered when planning every single lesson.  The two magic bullets, that I had better be armed with as I develop every single lesson plan.  What are they?  Engagement and Connections.  I can't remember the timeframe that research states for attracting and keeping a student's attention, but I want to say that it was something like 3 minutes.  That isn't very long.  Not only does official research tell us that if we don't grab attention and interest within that initial few moments that we will 'lose' our teaching power, my personal experience as a student verifies that in a daily basis.  Boredom and disinterest comes all too quickly.  I have written about 'Connections' before, and will no doubt write about them again.  If a student doesn't have any connections with the information shared, there is hardly any chance that they will understand, or engage, or learn - there is nothing to connect to, which means no comprehension; we might as well be taking in another language for all the learning we are imparting if we don't create a connection first. Take my humanities 3, for example.  What must it be like for those students to have to learn the history of countries that they can't even find on a map?  Our professor (one of my favorites) works tirelessly to encourage conversation, show pictures and videos, link to historical events that her students might have heard of - and it works.

Other things that I have learned or had reiterated this semester are: 

• When teaching online, always include discussion and responses.   Force a minimum response, help the students with an outline of how/what to post, but find a way to make them translate their reading into their own words, and then respond to each other and continue a discussion.  Even though it is online, interactivity is possible; and makes all a difference to the learning.
• When a student is confused about a concepts, let them explain their understanding to you first, rather than repeatedly sharing your own understanding.  Listen to what they say/think, find their own confusion (or possibly verify their correctness), and then discuss.  If they didn't understand you the first few times, chances are, they won't understand you when you try one more time.  You need to listen to their thinking, and assess their understanding, and guide them from that point.  Those professors who won't let me explain what I THINK that I understand, are taking a real learning opportunity away from me - and are frustrating me beyond belief!
• When students share answers after group work, make sure that each answer has been clearly stated, responding in the same format as the question.  If they are answering a five-part question, make sure that is how they are answering.  Be cognizant of the fact that the rest of the class is taking notes and learning the information the way fellow students are presenting it.  Either gently repeat the answers in the correct format, or go back over everything clearly.  Guess what?  I am paying to learn the correct information, no another student's translation of the concept.
• When understanding is more important than memorizing, recognize that!  Allow students a study tool - by creating their cheat sheet, they are revising.  This is much better than an open book test, continues the learning, relaxes the student's nerves, but still requires the work and learning to take place.
• Don't give redundant assessments.  Nothing takes away respect and intent to succeed like a test that covers material not taught, or pointless learning.  When a concept can be explained, why not ask the question that way, rather than expecting verbatim quotes?
• Tell a story, make a connection, share an emotion.
• Always think about the importance of interdisciplinary learning.  Think of the frustration of a student traveling from class to class, with random, unconnected information being thrown at them.  Then think about the student who is using their science text book as non-fiction text examples for comprehension practice, writing about issues being discussed in social studies this week, creating math story problems while writing sentences that contain various parts of the six parts of speech.  Think about how much more practice that student is having, and how many skills are constantly being worked over each school day.  Even if my school district does not have the wisdom to build curriculum that way, there is no reason why I can't build my lesson plans to give my students the most advantages that I possible can.

Isn’t this ‘double learning’ great?  Who would have thought it? Not only am I learning content, but am also practicing skills for my future career.  Gee, doesn’t that sound very Common Core?