What is one thing you know and believe about teaching and learning? What is that one thing that you would fight for? What do you know about this one thing and how does it impact your decisions each day?
What Do I believe in? What would I fight for in education?
I guess I want what most students want: some choices… and oh yeah, I want my self respect back. You see, when I was a young student some thirty years back, I wasn’t just a good student, I was a top student. During my high school years, I wasn’t in the top 10% of my class, I was in the top 2%. I graduated in the top ten in a senior class of over 350 students. I was a New Hampshire Top Student, I went to St. Paul’s Summer Advanced Program (yes they still try to hit me up for money) I won a citywide poetry contest, a statewide essay contest, was named to National Honor Society, and so on…. In college, I won five honors for writing and directing, the photos of shows that I wrote or directed can be seen mounted on the walls of the Hennessy Theatre. I now hold two graduate degrees in education as well. You might think that any school district would be happy to hire me and trust that I could make solid decisions based on the educational needs of my students.
Okay so why do I seem to be bragging? Well it seems now that my school hasn’t made AYP for the fifth year, I am a teacher in need of improvement. I need my own teaching IEP. I need special literacy coaches to work with me and help me teach literacy (one of the masters I hold is an MST in English). My room is constantly observed and there are certain no-no’s that I must avoid:
1. Literacy time is for literacy only. A very narrowly defined literacy. Reading. Writing—maybe… no work-shopping… writing only if it is in some kind of response to…. Reading. Everyone’s big on response writing in short paragraph form . During a walk through last fall, we were told the observers would be looking for reading response activities. My first graders were in school less than a month. Two had just turned 6 years old the week before and were working on critical response essays. I wrote my first critical essay in the seventh grade, I think.
2. Watch out for too much coloring, drawing, handwriting and folding, cutting activities…
3. GLE goals, Focus lesson statements and purposes must be posted. Every day. For five hours of instruction.
4. Goals need to match what you are doing. God forbid that you do something spontaneous with the kids.
5. Professional Development, which I once loved, is carefully monitored. I keep a giant binder, organized and tabbed, with collected evidence and typed reflections.
6. And all the assessment, progress monitoring, and testing…. We won’t go there again. This doesn’t really have to do with our principal or the literacy coaches themselves. They are very kind and supportive and often helpful. This mandate comes from those above-- mostly legislators who have never taught or have had any day to day contact with children. The NCLB bill was signed into law by a president who once famously said , “Is the children learning?” And I wouldn’t mind all of this organizing, meeting, checking, conferencing, except that it takes me from actually creating what I feel are authentic literacy experiences for my kids. As my days become longer and longer doing all these executive activities, my energy wanes, my creativity is sucked dry. And my patience, well you need a lot of it when it comes to first graders.
So where were we? Oh yes. I want my self respect back. I want to be treated like the smart professional I thought I was or am… I want those from above to tell me they trust me to make sound instructional choices… That I, myself, know a little bit about literacy…. and how to teach first graders.
Kate, This is so well done in that I get such a clear sense of your frustrations and where you would like to be with your students. You are a brilliant professional who is articulate, engaging and funny and I too want you to have your self-respect back. I am not 100 percent clear on what will happen when your schools merge, but I have it on a pretty good word that Reading Workshop is the direction the district is heading and THAT is great news for you as you know the workshop demands the professionalism from teachers as they make decisions based on the needs of the students. I am saying that it seems things will get better...do you have any sense of that? Hang in there and thanks for this piece. Tomasen
Comment from Ted: It is hard to pick one thing I would fight for because education needs more than one thing to be meaningful. I would fight for the right to use my judgement when it comes to making educational decisions for my students. Those judgements include; when snack is and how long it is, when I have an outside activity, what my students need extended math practice in and any other simple decision that impacts my students. We are people with social and emotional needs. Their education is paramount, but it won't matter unless they feel like humanbeing and first children.(loved and honored)
Well said to both Noreen and Kate! I must say that I would fight for my "gut" decisions to count again. I often second guess myself at this point because of all of the testing being done. It doesn't matter that I am looping with my children and seeing tremendous gains since the beginning of first grade. I want to feel confident with my decisions again. I would fight that we not all come to school anxiety ridden each day. I want our "gut" to count!!!!!I would fight to stop naming our children by colors too! Green, yellow and red. Geez, yellow used to be my favorite color. Not so much anymore.
When I made the decision to become a teacher, I knew I wanted to make an impact in the life of a child. I know that children need more than reading to grow into functioning, literate adults. I want my classroom to be a safe, fun place for learning to happen in both direct and indirect ways. Education and learning have become about nothing more than passing a test, a test that judges me unfairly. Can anyone really say how proficient my students are at the end of second grade based on a test they take six weeks into third grade?
I don't like it, but I deal with it. Why? Because when I made the decision to become a teacher (not a lighthearted decision after spending 4 years on a public relations degree) I wanted to be influential in the life of a child. The testing is what it is and it certainly isn't going anywhere anytime soon. So, after many years of fighting and bucking the system...I'm embracing it. Everyone is constantly miserable, overworked, overstressed and squabbling...No one listens to anyone else and the gossip about what's coming next is out of control.
I guess at this point, I want to fight for a school community. A place where people enjoy coming in everyday. Where teachers are motivated, eager and excited to try new things. Where students feel safe and can see that teachers care about them on a deeper level. I know that our students feel our stress and it stresses them out and prevents them from meeting their potential. I want to fight for moving on and not dwelling in what sucks about the educational system. Education is what you make of it and for me, right now, it's making it fun by using technology, mixing up my literacy block to try a new approach and having a real conversation with each of my children every day! After all, it's all about them isn't it?
I remember reading once that "conversation deepens comprehension." Giving students the opportunity to share their thinking about reading is becoming more and more important to me. I am sure that we have all experienced times when we absolutely had to share what we were reading about. In fact, most of the professional development books that I read refer to "turn and talk to a neighbor," small group, or whole group sharing. I now worry about “ripping off” my students by allowing the clock to decide whether or not we delve deep into a story. Even though it seems like we are always running out of time, I strongly believe that it is important to give children the chance to discuss questions, connections, and thoughts about a story with their peers.
I know in my heart that making time for conversation is very important for children. It can solidify their thoughts and even correct misconceptions. Through small group discussions, children can learn about themselves and their classmates as readers. As they share ideas, children can learn new strategies to attempt in their everyday reading. Finally, children have the opportunity to gain background knowledge when they participate in a small group reading activity. I almost wrote "most importantly," but I think that each reason is important on its own.
Although it is really easy to stick to a schedule and rush to finish a story, I try to slow down enough to get the most out of the story. I encourage relevant connections, questions, inferences, etc. If I think some of the group members’ attentions are starting to waver, I try to really praise an idea that another member suggested. In the future, I would like to spend more time teaching children to build a conversation based on one member’s idea. I think this could be challenging because it requires students to question each other and use evidence from the story to support their ideas. I know that it would be really meaningful though.
Dear Jen Praise the wise Edward, not me...he was using my Dell. My essay was, or is, in some blog landfill. That's what happens when you mess up your own password. I will be the dinosaur who brings a hard copy to class.
As I read all the other comments already posted, I have to say "ditto" and "well said", especially the comments regarding being allowed to make choices and being respected enough that our choices and decisions are honored, appreciated, and valued. I am lucky to be working with such an intelligent, thoughtful, and creative group of educators. I learn from them every day. It breaks my heart to hear these teachers voice their concerns that they're not being faithful to a particular program or mandate, not because they think that program or mandate is the best way to meet the needs of their students, but because they're afraid of being reprimanded or even of losing their jobs.
I believe every student should have the opportunity to learn how to read. Reading is critical to a successful life. Not everyone learns how to read easily. For those children who learn differently, I would like to see alternative methods of teaching reading, supporting materials for areas of need, and lots of books that students can access at their reading level. I think the buzz word is differentiation. Whatever it's called- differentiation, intervention, understanding by design- all children should learn how to read. How do I work for this? I teach. I am trained in multiple intervention methods for struggling readers. I continue to study, to learn, to read research, to train in new ideas. That's what I would fight for.
What Do I believe in? What would I fight for in education?
ReplyDeleteI guess I want what most students want: some choices… and oh yeah, I want my self respect back. You see, when I was a young student some thirty years back, I wasn’t just a good student, I was a top student. During my high school years, I wasn’t in the top 10% of my class, I was in the top 2%. I graduated in the top ten in a senior class of over 350 students. I was a New Hampshire Top Student, I went to St. Paul’s Summer Advanced Program (yes they still try to hit me up for money) I won a citywide poetry contest, a statewide essay contest, was named to National Honor Society, and so on…. In college, I won five honors for writing and directing, the photos of shows that I wrote or directed can be seen mounted on the walls of the Hennessy Theatre.
I now hold two graduate degrees in education as well. You might think that any school district would be happy to hire me and trust that I could make solid decisions based on the educational needs of my students.
Okay so why do I seem to be bragging? Well it seems now that my school hasn’t made AYP for the fifth year, I am a teacher in need of improvement. I need my own teaching IEP. I need special literacy coaches to work with me and help me teach literacy (one of the masters I hold is an MST in English). My room is constantly observed and there are certain no-no’s that I must avoid:
1. Literacy time is for literacy only. A very narrowly defined literacy. Reading. Writing—maybe… no work-shopping… writing only if it is in some kind of response to…. Reading. Everyone’s big on response writing in short paragraph form . During a walk through last fall, we were told the observers would be looking for reading response activities. My first graders were in school less than a month. Two had just turned 6 years old the week before and were working on critical response essays. I wrote my first critical essay in the seventh grade, I think.
ReplyDelete2. Watch out for too much coloring, drawing, handwriting and folding, cutting activities…
3. GLE goals, Focus lesson statements and purposes must be posted. Every day. For five hours of instruction.
4. Goals need to match what you are doing. God forbid that you do something spontaneous with the kids.
5. Professional Development, which I once loved, is carefully monitored. I keep a giant binder, organized and tabbed, with collected evidence and typed reflections.
6. And all the assessment, progress monitoring, and testing…. We won’t go there again.
This doesn’t really have to do with our principal or the literacy coaches themselves. They are very kind and supportive and often helpful. This mandate comes from those above-- mostly legislators who have never taught or have had any day to day contact with children. The NCLB bill was signed into law by a president who once famously said , “Is the children learning?”
And I wouldn’t mind all of this organizing, meeting, checking, conferencing, except that it takes me from actually creating what I feel are authentic literacy experiences for my kids. As my days become longer and longer doing all these executive activities, my energy wanes, my creativity is sucked dry. And my patience, well you need a lot of it when it comes to first graders.
So where were we? Oh yes. I want my self respect back. I want to be treated like the smart professional I thought I was or am… I want those from above to tell me they trust me to make sound instructional choices… That I, myself, know a little bit about literacy…. and how to teach first graders.
Kate,
ReplyDeleteThis is so well done in that I get such a clear sense of your frustrations and where you would like to be with your students. You are a brilliant professional who is articulate, engaging and funny and I too want you to have your self-respect back. I am not 100 percent clear on what will happen when your schools merge, but I have it on a pretty good word that Reading Workshop is the direction the district is heading and THAT is great news for you as you know the workshop demands the professionalism from teachers as they make decisions based on the needs of the students.
I am saying that it seems things will get better...do you have any sense of that?
Hang in there and thanks for this piece.
Tomasen
Comment from Ted: It is hard to pick one thing I would fight for because education needs more than one thing to be meaningful. I would fight for the right to use my judgement when it comes to making educational decisions for my students. Those judgements include; when snack is and how long it is, when I have an outside activity, what my students need extended math practice in and any other simple decision that impacts my students. We are people with social and emotional needs. Their education is paramount, but it won't matter unless they feel like humanbeing and first children.(loved and honored)
ReplyDeleteWell said to both Noreen and Kate! I must say that I would fight for my "gut" decisions to count again. I often second guess myself at this point because of all of the testing being done. It doesn't matter that I am looping with my children and seeing tremendous gains since the beginning of first grade. I want to feel confident with my decisions again. I would fight that we not all come to school anxiety ridden each day. I want our "gut" to count!!!!!I would fight to stop naming our children by colors too! Green, yellow and red. Geez, yellow used to be my favorite color. Not so much anymore.
ReplyDeleteWhen I made the decision to become a teacher, I knew I wanted to make an impact in the life of a child. I know that children need more than reading to grow into functioning, literate adults. I want my classroom to be a safe, fun place for learning to happen in both direct and indirect ways. Education and learning have become about nothing more than passing a test, a test that judges me unfairly. Can anyone really say how proficient my students are at the end of second grade based on a test they take six weeks into third grade?
ReplyDeleteI don't like it, but I deal with it. Why? Because when I made the decision to become a teacher (not a lighthearted decision after spending 4 years on a public relations degree) I wanted to be influential in the life of a child. The testing is what it is and it certainly isn't going anywhere anytime soon. So, after many years of fighting and bucking the system...I'm embracing it. Everyone is constantly miserable, overworked, overstressed and squabbling...No one listens to anyone else and the gossip about what's coming next is out of control.
I guess at this point, I want to fight for a school community. A place where people enjoy coming in everyday. Where teachers are motivated, eager and excited to try new things. Where students feel safe and can see that teachers care about them on a deeper level. I know that our students feel our stress and it stresses them out and prevents them from meeting their potential. I want to fight for moving on and not dwelling in what sucks about the educational system. Education is what you make of it and for me, right now, it's making it fun by using technology, mixing up my literacy block to try a new approach and having a real conversation with each of my children every day! After all, it's all about them isn't it?
I remember reading once that "conversation deepens comprehension." Giving students the opportunity to share their thinking about reading is becoming more and more important to me. I am sure that we have all experienced times when we absolutely had to share what we were reading about. In fact, most of the professional development books that I read refer to "turn and talk to a neighbor," small group, or whole group sharing. I now worry about “ripping off” my students by allowing the clock to decide whether or not we delve deep into a story. Even though it seems like we are always running out of time, I strongly believe that it is important to give children the chance to discuss questions, connections, and thoughts about a story with their peers.
ReplyDeleteI know in my heart that making time for conversation is very important for children. It can solidify their thoughts and even correct misconceptions. Through small group discussions, children can learn about themselves and their classmates as readers. As they share ideas, children can learn new strategies to attempt in their everyday reading. Finally, children have the opportunity to gain background knowledge when they participate in a small group reading activity. I almost wrote "most importantly," but I think that each reason is important on its own.
Although it is really easy to stick to a schedule and rush to finish a story, I try to slow down enough to get the most out of the story. I encourage relevant connections, questions, inferences, etc. If I think some of the group members’ attentions are starting to waver, I try to really praise an idea that another member suggested. In the future, I would like to spend more time teaching children to build a conversation based on one member’s idea. I think this could be challenging because it requires students to question each other and use evidence from the story to support their ideas. I know that it would be really meaningful though.
Dear Jen
ReplyDeletePraise the wise Edward, not me...he was using my Dell. My essay was, or is, in some blog landfill. That's what happens when you mess up your own password. I will be the dinosaur who brings a hard copy to class.
As I read all the other comments already posted, I have to say "ditto" and "well said", especially the comments regarding being allowed to make choices and being respected enough that our choices and decisions are honored, appreciated, and valued. I am lucky to be working with such an intelligent, thoughtful, and creative group of educators. I learn from them every day. It breaks my heart to hear these teachers voice their concerns that they're not being faithful to a particular program or mandate, not because they think that program or mandate is the best way to meet the needs of their students, but because they're afraid of being reprimanded or even of losing their jobs.
ReplyDeleteI believe every student should have the opportunity to learn how to read. Reading is critical to a successful life. Not everyone learns how to read easily. For those children who learn differently, I would like to see alternative methods of teaching reading, supporting materials for areas of need, and lots of books that students can access at their reading level. I think the buzz word is differentiation. Whatever it's called- differentiation, intervention, understanding by design- all children should learn how to read. How do I work for this? I teach. I am trained in multiple intervention methods for struggling readers. I continue to study, to learn, to read research, to train in new ideas. That's what I would fight for.
ReplyDelete