3 years and counting

Three summers ago, I toyed with the idea of starting a blog and having a store on TpT.  I had just finished another school year, was newly single, and excited for a summer full of professional development opportunities.  After weighing the pros and cons of my decisions, I decided to take a risk and go for it.

I wanted to create a venue for me to process my ideas and since I'm not very good at keeping up with journals (I've tried, for years, it's just not me), a blog seemed like the ideal fit.

I didn't start my blog to have a ton of followers.  I started it for me, as a safe space to reflect and grow as both an educator and a person.  I more than welcome followers and invite comments and discussions.  I turned down the option of paid Google advertisements on my blog because that's not who I am.  I didn't like the idea of having things posted on my blog that I didn't have control over.  Things that are advertised or discussed here are because I endorse them, not the advertisers over at Google.

I also started my online store on teacherspayteachers (TpT) not as a way to make a plethora of money, but to share the resources I'd made for my classroom.  Some are free and some are not.  I have paid products because I do value my time.  Many long hours were spent creating these products, especially the teacher guides for novels, so compensation is fair.  One product I'm working on, is sitting at fifty pages and I'm not done.  I've spent weeks working on it.  When I'm done, it will be available for purchase.  When the revenue is broken down, that's pennies for each hour worked.  

I enjoy making products for my classroom and since time is a luxury I have (mostly due to the fact I don't have kids yet), I am willing to share my resources with others.  As of right now, I have 160 products in my store with 38 followers (thanks guys!).

A colleague brought up wanting to start a store on TpT and I encouraged her to do so.  She was a tad annoyed that some of the products have to be free, but that's their policy.  

I warned her that TpT might not be an instant financial success.  My first month, three years ago, I put up a dozen products.  I anxiously checked my email, waiting to see if someone had downloaded my product.  To this day, some of my products have never been purchased...and that's okay.  I made them for my students and I know they're being used.  My first month, I sold two products and made five dollars.  Yup, five whole dollars.  That was beyond frustrating and I was ready to quit.

However, I didn't.  Things worth having take time.  Slowly but surely, I added more products.  I pinned the images on pinterest to expand my network.  I reached out to other educators and began following their blogs.  

I blog for me.  I blog to see my changes as an educator. I blog to keep all of my ideas in one place. I blog to start conversations and connect with others.

Some days, teaching is frustrating.  I am overwhelmed by work and I go for weeks without an update.  I'm working on this; I'm working on being more forgiving of myself and also more consistent with my commitments.

So if you're a newbie or an avid reader, thanks for stopping by! 

Happy third birthday to my blog and TpT store! It's been quite the ride.

Transitional Year

My first year as an educator was about survival.  Surviving an awful living situation, surviving a year round schedule, surviving living in a new city, surviving graduate school, surviving Teach for America (TFA)'s lofty expectations.  I stubbornly fought my way through the year and cried, more than once, in front of my students.  

Then summer hit.  I had a two week break because my (old) school converted from year round to 9 month.  I was due for a track break, but instead got to start over.  I used my "summer" to move into my own apartment without a roommate.

Year two was about gaining confidence.  I was overly reflective and made a lot of different changes.  That year brought inclusionary practices and co-teaching for the first time.  With that came challenges over responsibilities and expectations.  Year two brought graduation from UNLV with my master's degree and giving a speech at the TFA end of year ceremony, in front of hundreds of people including the (then) superintendent.  Talk about nerve racking! 

Year three I started to feel good about my teaching.  I was gaining more experience from professional development and starting to integrate technology more, which a majority of my students enjoyed.  Year three brought along the rumblings of what's next.  I earned my technology endorsement. I took more graduate school courses.  I served on committees at school and started being more involved with professional development.  I took summer courses and started to build a national teaching cohort, which is still in tact today. I got a new co-teacher and my original teaching team dissolved.  Suddenly, I was the one with the most seniority.

Year four was a year of leadership building.  I took on the position of grade level chair because I had the most experience.  I was teaching with others that did not share the same enthusiasm and commitment for the job.  I was also single for a good part of the year and determined to be the best teacher possible because that's where I wanted to exert my attention.  Looking back, I see their shorter hours as a necessity because they were balancing families. I was not.  Again, all part of the learning process.  I learned to be more accepting of others' work schedules (and day care times).  I learned to take others' needs into consideration when scheduling meetings, not just work around myself.  (I don't mean to sound like I was childish and selfish in my previous years, it just was something I didn't have to think about because I wasn't in the leadership role.)  I learned to take a lot of criticism and to be more patient with my peers.

Year five was difficult.  There was no grade level chair because I worked with three other extremely motivated and talented teachers.  I respected my peers and of course there were minor squabbles, but at the end of the day, we all shared a common purpose: to do the best we could to educate the children in front of us.  I had the best teaching team combined with the worst external factors.  The students were extremely difficult and the support from administration ranged from passive aggressive to non-existent.  If I didn't have my team, there were many moments I would have simply quit.  A year later, I still have anxiety and flash backs from the absurd and awful year.

So, I left.  I made a change.

This year is that change.  

I have a much more supportive administrative team who acknowledges that I am a person first and an educator second.  I have a new team and we get along fairly well.  I'm having to keep myself in check because with six years under my belt, I'm still the newbie.  I still have a lot to learn and I'm not the grade level chair. I'm not in charge.  However, my previous experience does mean I do have a lot of good ideas which aren't always heard, which is frustrating.  I'm new to a school site and it's demands, not new to teaching.  There's a big difference and that's often overlooked.

This year, I've taken a step back. I'm co-chairing the math committee, but we were uninvited to the district's professional development.  The five day courses I took last summer were on math strategies and were amazing.  The eight Saturdays were presented as being a continuation of that, but quickly changed into managing paperwork and running committees.  Those four hours quickly became a complaining session for teachers to harp on their colleagues and quite frankly, I'm glad we were uninvited.

I am co-planning math with another teacher on my grade level.  We are loosely following the Engage NY curriculum while imbedding Number Talks.  Our students came to us with very low number sense, so it's been an uphill battle.  There are a lot of copies to make when you aren't using the twelve year old text book at your school.  However, I feel positive about the math instruction.  It's taking more time than I'd like to go over the concepts, but my students understand what they're doing.  They aren't mindless robots following a sequence to get an answer, they are mini-mathematicians who are analyzing and solving complex, real world problems.  That takes more time to develop.

I'm not happy with how some other subjects have been taught.  I'm not happy with myself for not speaking up more.  Next year will be different.

Next year will have more science and social studies from the beginning of the year, imbedded weekly.  The map project should start in September, not January.  The map project should have roughly a month per region to truly hit landforms, environments, and the geography terms.  I think imbedding this throughout the year will help my boys stay focused because quite frankly, I think I lost a few of them during our literature heavy Esperanza Rising unit.  

I'll be planning differently next year.  I've made corrections now, but will be approaching planning very differently next year.  I'd love to have grade level meetings be more focused on idea and resource sharing, not one or two teachers presenting the next unit of study without allowing input from the others.  I also don't know how to bring this up to the group without sounding like a dictator.  I'd like long range plans done in August. It's been a strange year with no plans.  I don't want that to be the case next year and I'm accepting that it may fall on me.  I think our grade level chair does an amazing job and for once, I don't want to be in charge. I trust her completely. I just want more of a road map. I want to work smarter, not harder.

I've ordered a planner for next year. I'm going to spend some time over the summer to sculpt out units of study and find places where the content can overlap.  Will there be changes as the year progresses? Yes, of course. That's how teaching works. I just want a better plan, at least for my own sanity. I want a plan that I can tweak from year to year and that I can adapt to fit changing standards (and changing students).  I want to not feel like I'm continually reinventing the wheel.  

This doesn't mean I will be the teacher that has a week by week file and pulls out the same things each year.  As we, as a team, find better resources, we will use them. I'd just like a plan.

This year is my transitional year.  I'm finding my voice on a new team.  I'm learning the ropes of a new school while still holding on to teaching ideas that I know to be valid. I'm learning when to politely disagree, then proceed to do what I had originally planned (as long as it's what's best for kids.)  Robert Downey Jr. said it much more bluntly:

Next year will be my best. Next year  I'll have my voice.  This is just a weird, transitional year. 

Conferences

My oh my, it's been a busy few days.

We've had parent-teacher conferences, which means I had a lot of prep work.  I like to be super prepared and while I know I made more work for myself, they have gone really well.

It's not an understatement when I say I spent all of last week working and grading.  I set up a fortress of papers at Panera and camped out for the afternoon.

I had one conference on Monday's schedule, but I had the surprise of one of my favorite students withdrawing.  She's moving out of zone so we had her conference after school. 

Tuesday I had conferences before school and until 7:30 that evening.  Today my first conference was at 7:30 am and went until 5 pm.  Tomorrow and Friday I have conferences at 7:05, then have full days of teaching.  We didn't have kids today to accommodate parents' work schedules.

I had two no shows, one of them was a student who has been out for two days.  If he's truly that sick, I'm glad he stayed home!

Almost every conference was extremely positive.  I heard that my students adore me (score) and I got to share the progress they've been making.  Most of my students came with their families, so they got to lead the part of their conference where we discussed data and growth.  They also got to share the reading goals they set for themselves, which is great.

I had one parent compliment my nails (woo!).  Many shared that their kiddos were feeling more successful this year and thanked me for making a difference.

This is why I teach.

In the words of one of my teacher friends, "Do what's best for students and the rest will fall into place."

Thankfulness, Days 1 and 2

I frequently fall into the habit of focusing on the things in life that aren't going right, rather than stopping to appreciate the things that are.  Like so many others, I'll be participating in Thankful November.

The premise is simple: find time each day to be thankful for things in your life.  Speak them aloud, post on social media, spread the thankfulness.

Day 1:

I am thankful my car was returned from Carmax in a timely manner and earlier than promised. I am thankful Carmax & Chevy have a good relationship. I am thankful I was in a stable financial situation to buy a newer car (she's a 2012) from Carmax and be covered with a warranty.  The check engine light came on and everything was checked out and fixed, free of charge.  They even washed the exterior and vacuumed inside, which was a pleasant surprise.  I'm thankful for transportation and I'm thankful for companies that truly do their best to take care of customers. 

I am thankful for my students' effort.  One munchkin retook his first math test for the third time.  Yes, three times taking a math test on the same concept.  The numbers are changed each time but I know he's been working hard on mastering place value and powers of ten.  His dad is a math teacher so I know he practices at home.  He failed the first test.  Got a D on the second.  We've kept working on it and I know he plays math games at home with his family.  This time? 90%.  Can't wait to share that with him!

Day 2: 

I am thankful for two healthy kittens who have such sassy personalities.  Crookshanks, who is normally sweet tempered, gave me this face when I stopped petting her:

Yes, major sass right there.  I plan to use this image as a morning meme with my students the next time they need a reminder about putting their names on their papers.

I'm thankful I was able to make the decision to adopt my two furballs a few years ago. I went to a no kill shelter with the intention of adopting a 12 week old Chloe, but when she was curled up with her sister...I ended up with both furballs.  One of the best decisions I've ever made since they bring me so much joy.

What are you thankful for?

October, where did you come from?

I had to change my classroom calendar.

It's October. Monday starts week 8 of school.  I don't know where the days have gone!

Oh wait, yes I do.  Devoted to learning.  Devoted to place value, powers of ten, rounding, and comparing decimals.  Devoted to reading the Lightning Thief.  Devoted to their Native American Indian research projects and writing extension projects.  Devoted to maintaining a positive classroom culture and celebrating successes.  

It's been a busy start to the year!

While B is out having a boys night, I'm enjoying a lazy evening with the DRV, playing with the kittens, crafting, and a tiny bit of grading.  I'm such a list maker, so let's make some October goals!

Professionally:

-Implementing another game day for my students to allow them to play with decimals and multiplication, allowing me time to reteach in a smaller group setting.

-Continue to have students be excited about The Lightning Thief. They are so invested in the story and keep trying to sneak the sequel, The Sea of Monsters off the shelf.  Sneaky wanna-be half-bloods!

-Continue to build positive relationships with my coworkers, admin, and parents.  

My assistant principal popped in today to share that a third grade teacher was struggling with math games and that she recommended he come see me.  She wanted to make sure that her suggestion was okay, and obviously it's fine! I'm excited that she sees me as a go-to person on making the classroom environment fun while still standards-based.

I've had some really positive conversations with parents lately and I hope it continues.  I had one mom come in after school to learn about the math organizer we're using in math.  We had a 20 minute conversation and afterward, both mom and daughter felt better. I sent them home with math games (because that's a way that the student will actually want to practice) and she had her retest today.  Guess what? She got a B. Progress!

-Stay ahead of my grading and math planning!  

-Add a few more products on TpT.  I have a few students that are finishing up novels that I've read, but haven't made chronological order sorts for.  When they skip  the sort, they tend to get around 80% on their AR tests...which doesn't count for badges.  However, when they do the sort, they earn 100%.  For me, it's worth a few extra hours to help them be successful.

-Continue to network for Jamberry.  I just got my business cards and am excited to pass out pretty samples to friends and family.  I love having pretty nails :)

Personally: 

-Finish the wreath I started for our front door.  Right now it's a styrafoam circle wrapped in burlap. I want to add some embellishments, but I'm not quite sure what.  Our door is navy, so perhaps something white or maroon.  

-Continue to organize books to take into my classroom...and get a handle on the guest bedroom.

-Finish Christmas shopping.  I've got my brother's girlfriend totally done and my mom mostly done...so baby steps!

-Be better at blogging!

-Finish The House of Hades.

What are your October goals?

Thankful

Last year, I struggled as a teacher for a number of reasons.  In a nutshell, I didn't feel supported at my job. I didn't like teaching and there were many, many moments I simply wanted to quit. Crying was a frequent thing and I didn't feel my instructional decisions were approved. 

My end of year data was amazing because my students made awesome growth.  But there was no acknowledgment of that.

So I made a change. I switched to a school that's about eight minutes away from my new house and a later start time. 

The school climate is so much better and for that I'm thankful.

Am I having some struggles adjusting? Yes, of course.

I'm not inclusion anymore, so it's weird not co-teaching. I don't have anyone pop into my room anymore, unless it's to watch her class to solve the mystery of why the kinders were gone for ten minutes. (They were having a party in the bathroom, obviously.  That two minutes of watching the rest of her kinders was enough to convince me I never want to teach the little ones.  Bless her heart though, and those who are brave enough for the littlest ones.)

I"m struggling to adjust to new procedures.  My last school was nearly 100% free and reduced lunch and this one isn't.  I have to remember to ask for lunch money every morning and make sure lunch cards get passed out.  Luckily I delegated this task to students!

I'm struggling with cutting writing short to make sure we have time to fill out our agendas together. I'm struggling to figure out how to track homework, since it's not for a grade.  I haven't quite figured out how I want to keep track. 

I'm struggling with pacing. Math and whole group reading are both running a little long because of different reasons.  My students have some gaps in their number sense, so we're trying to fill those gaps by using hands-on manipulatives and scaffolding lessons.  This takes time away from the fifth grade standards.  However, I think we're seeing results.  There's a lot more discourse in the lessons and their exit tickets are improving.  I can't wait to see how they do on next week's math test!

In reading, I'm struggling because I'm trying to teach too much. I know I am. I want to do phonics and fluency (which are happening during RTI time) as well as our lesson. I also want to do a read aloud.  I would love if there was just a little more time in the day!

However, all of these struggles pale in comparison to last year.  These struggles are a learning curve and I know that. I just need to be patient with myself because this is a new school with new expectations. I have to allow myself time to adjust and be okay with making some mistakes.

I just love that my administration and grade level are so supportive.

Craft time!

The beginning of the year is always an expensive time for teachers. I've stocked up on supplies for six table teams, including new buckets for them.  I bought some new border and letters for bulletin boards, got burlap to make border, and various other items at the craft store(s) for new cute things in my classroom.

One of the projects I just completed is my "good effort beads":

I saw on pinterest a fellow teacher made "smart beads" for her students to wear.  I modified the idea to more mesh with my growth based teaching mindset. 

By switching from "being smart" to "great effort", this shows my students that I'm focused on them. Our goal is progress.  Our academic journey focuses on improvement.  My students are in competition with themselves.  They aren't all coming in at the same place academically, nor will they all end the same place.  I have high expectations and will continue to push each of them to do their best. I believe in praising growth and progress, not "smartness".  

In a TFA (Teach for America) flashback, I vividly recall one of our many Saturday sessions ending with this idea:

Smart is not something that you are.

Smart is something that you become.

How powerful for students to realize that being smart comes from effort, perseverance, and continued hard work.  It doesn't happen overnight.

I can't wait to encourage my students to keep trying their best.

Continuing with empowering students, I picked up some lanyards:

Which I turned into:

I'm very excited for my new brag necklaces.  Again, this emphasizes a student's progress over time rather than a numerical score.  

This year, my students will be reading...a lot.  We are utilizing AR with our "reading rangers" program that focuses on comprehension and stamina.  I'm excited that this is used consistently K-5 in every classroom, so there is a school wide support and buy-in from students.

I also am a realist and know I teach ten year-olds...

Which is why I created this:

I know I will have books get damaged. I understand small rips from wear and tear, but I think if a student completely destroys a book, the family should replace it.  I'll need to double check with my grade level and administration, but I'm thinking of putting that in the library contract I send home at the beginning of the year.  In five years of teaching, I've only had to collect from a handful of families.  One student left my copy of Hatchet on the bus.  One had a water bottle explode and flood her backpack.  A third left it out for the dog to find (comically yes, the dog ate it).  A fourth ripped the spine in half.  A few others lost the books in various places.  I think it's fair to hold families fiscally responsible.  After all, if they lose library books, they have to pay to replace the books...so why shouldn't the same be true for my classroom library?

I wanted to jazz up our information space, so I had a little fun with chalk board markers.  I bought a banner from the party supply aisle at Target:

I also borrowed a neighbor's cricut to make:

We are expected to post our calendar so it's obvious what the students are working on, so why not make it fun? 

I also want to to focus on small groups in math, which means I'll need an additional management strategy.

I decided on student math coaches, which would be designated by these:

I'm all about collaboration, so they'll soon say "math coaches".  Students will prove to me they can handle the concept, then I'll give them the lanyards and let them coach their peers while I work with a small group.

More pictures coming soon!

Thank Goodness

I got my official welcome back email today.  What a relief!  Now I know what day I go back to work :)

What I was more impressed with is my new administration's value for our summer breaks.  The earliest I could go back is Wednesday, but since I"m in training, that day is out.  They limited the hours we can work.  Yup, limited from 9-1.  They expect us to do other things then spend all day prepping our classrooms...and all I can say is thank goodness!

I won't get keys until next Friday and even then, I can work a max of four hours at school.  I can go in Saturday and Sunday (which I may, dragging B with me), but again I"m limited to four hours.  

I talked with the grade level chair and they long range plan during the first few weeks of school, so I'm not a slacker teacher.  More importantly, they plan as a team (hooray collaboration) and tweak the plans as the year progresses.  Yes, the mindset that the plans you make in August, before you've met your students, can be altered based on the students' needs.  Hallelujah this is a norm!

Besides my excitement about planning and not being allowed to work all day, there was one more piece of pertinent information regarding bulletin boards.

It's expected they'll be cute.  What a refreshing change.

See, last year the cuteness was severely frowned upon.  We did not have bulletin boards.  They were called academic wall displays.  They were graded, on a rubric, by ourselves and administration.  We had a stern talking to regarding ours...and we weren't the only grade level.  I remember being chewed out because some of the students' work wasn't perfect.  Um, correct.  I teach ten year-olds.  Learning is a process.  I hope they haven't mastered all of the fifth grade content in September.  So yes, in the interest of displaying all students' work, I included some work that wasn't 100% correct.  Again, I taught inclusion (with special education students), learning is a process...and the bulletin board was due in September.  Not the end of September, but by the end of day 8 of instruction.  Oddly enough, two weeks in, my fifth graders hadn't mastered that particular reading standard.  I got lectured for it.

I don't think that will be the case this year.  There was an email attachment about all sorts of ways to make your bulletin boards cute and recommended how to make lettering and borders.  I will keep the background sheet and burlap border up all year, but switch out the lettering and theme as I see fit.  Or every month, as is suggested.

Thank goodness for positive change.  I'm so excited to be headed somewhere where I'm encouraged to have a life outside the classroom and it's expected I have fun with my job.  

Hallelujah.  It's about damn time.

Motivation

For the past few years, I've used the "kiss your brain" jar to reward students for thoughtful answers.

It works fairly well but I was ready to try something new.  While searching pinterest, I found this idea:
 

I think making a jar of treats to celebrate their growth and academic progress.  I just need a jar, a printer, and some markers!

CRT Data

Confession:

I rarely check my work email over the summer.

I deleted the app from my phone and since I'm not in my new school's system yet, I don't see much of a point to log in daily only to delete spam and teacher coupons (looking at you Lakeshore). 

I saw my (former) principal post on Facebook that not only were CRT (Criterion Referenced Test) scores in, but she was excited about the results.  So naturally I asked to see the fifth grade data because well, I'm a numbers nerd!

I was at my new house painting so I figured I'd check the data in a few hours.  Well, my grade level beat me to the analysis part.  In a matter of minutes, I had six texts from my former grade level sharing their excitement about particular students.  

While I'm sure I'll get official reports with the break down of each class, I couldn't wait.  My insomnia got the best of me and sure enough, I was up at four am crunching numbers and making graphs.  I couldn't be more pleased with my class results and know that I didn't accomplish this feat alone.  It took our entire grade level working tirelessly, together, for ten months to achieve these results.  For those at my school who did not approve of our quasi-departmentalization experiment, I'd like to waive this data in their faces...but I won't...because I am a professional.  

I had the privilege of working alongside some of the most inspirational fellow teachers.  I will miss being able to pop into their rooms and the amazing collaborative mindset we all shared.  For various reasons, we are all starting at new schools and collectively represent third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and special education.

Math

(I didn't teach math besides our intervention block and number talks, so these scores are due in a large part to the amazing effort of my two neighboring teachers.  Well done ladies! I trusted that my students were in very capable hands each and every day.)

I'm a visual person, thus the graph.  Here is my class data for math:

1 student exceeded
22 students met standards
3 students were approaching
6 students were emerging


Science

We shared students for science and I taught the FOSS Landforms kit four times before getting my own class back for CRT prep.  When my homeroom wasn't with me, they were with my fellow teachers learning about environments, mixtures and solutions, force and motion, as well as variables.  We broke our year into four seven week rotations and started switching the third week of school.  We didn't switch right away because we wanted to set up science notebooks and go over the scientific method with our homeroom classes.  

Our rotations ended about two weeks before the science CRTs, so we used that time to incorporate Discovery Ed video streaming into our reviews.  We also practiced taking notes from multimedia presentations, a valuable skill they'll most definitely need in middle school.  However, we did this with the Magic School Bus videos and they did an amazing job.

Here is my class science data:

Numbers wise,
6 students exceeded standards
17 met standards
6 students were approaching standards
3 students were emerging on science standards

I'm quite pleased with my little scientists!


Reading

If you are new to my teaching blog, know this: I love reading.  I love discussing books with my students and watching them fall in love with literary worlds.  I love watching their excitement when they learn more about the world around them from informational text and seeing them become self-motivated to learn more by reading more is simply wonderful.  

I broke my reading data into two groups: my small groups and my whole class.

I had the higher half of the grade level for small groups, so naturally these numbers are expected to be more in the meeting category.  My job for small groups was to push these fluent readers to become more critical thinkers.  

Numbers wise,

23 students exceeded standards
28 students met standards
7 students were approaching
2 students were emerging

I'm quite pleased with my small groups!

For my whole class, which is inclusion, here are my results:

7 students exceeded standards
13 students met standards
4 students were approaching
8 students were emerging (of these 8, all were either students with IEPs or in the RTI process and still made growth over their previous scores)


I'm thrilled with my students' performances.  Did they all meet standards? No.  Did they all make growth? Yes.  

With my data analyzed, I can emotionally bid this past school year adieu.  I did my best.  I taught them strategies and how to think critically.  They learned and proved their knowledge on these tests.  It is time for a much needed, relaxing summer.

Choices

It's the end of the year. I'm moving both classrooms and into my first home.  The students are becoming increasingly squirrely with each passing day.  We have one more field trip and a lot of loose ends to tie up. There is simply too much to do and not enough minutes in the day. It's frustrating that I want to give my students emotional closure on their novels and give them time to finish their books, but I'm at odds with others on this view point.  I want to keep teaching as long as possible, but that's not being supported.

Our last day is Wednesday, June 4th.  In my mind, that means I can realistically teach up until Friday, May 30th. I can finish novels with students, retest on assessments, and allow them to do some project based learning about their novels.  With everything wrapped up by the 30th, that would allow me the weekend to grade their final projects and have scores in by Monday the 2nd.  We'd use the last week of school to present our novel projects, sign  yearbooks, attend our awards assembly, and reflect upon our learning for the year.  

However, this is not what I'm expected to do.  Every assessment is supposed to be done, and graded, by the 28th.  The 28th is a full week ahead of when report cards go home.

When I expressed how busy the fifth grade has been, my words were shrugged off.  In the past few weeks, we've had CRTs (standardized testing), the writing proficiency, field trips, Discovery Education testing, KIC (science inquiry project), Aimsweb end of the year benchmarks and I DRA'd seventy children.  Plain and simple, fifth grade had the most work to do.  Not complaining, just a statement of fact.  We've been quite busy. We were not given assistance like other grade levels because sadly, blatant favoritism exists.  I wish it didn't, but the favoritism is running rampant these days and I somehow found myself on the other side.  Perhaps it's because I'm leaving schools.  Perhaps it's because I speak my mind and stick up for myself.  I am not being treated fairly at my work and it's one of the contributing factors for my change in school location.  Regardless of how I'm being treated, I'm doing my best to focus on making the best instructional decisions for my students.  All my choices are made to best serve the interests of those thirty one rowdy fifth graders whom I teach and adore to the best of my abilities.

I wish there was more understanding.  I'm asking for time until the second (which is still days before report cards go home) not because I'm lazy.  It's not because I'm being a procrastinator.  It's because with everything going on, we didn't want to over test our students.  We, as a grade level, felt we would get accurate results by spreading out the assessments (as best we could) and not overwhelm them by testing all day, every day.  I'm asking for more time to allow students to finish their novels and give us the chance to meet about the endings.  I'm not okay with just taking away their books and saying we ran out of time.  That's not fair to my students.  I'm not okay with depriving them of an opportunity to share about their novels and reflect on their learning throughout the year.  I 'm not okay with skipping the "how we've grown as learners" end of year reflection.  

My choice is to keep teaching as long as possible, even if it means I give myself an extra long weekend of grading.  

My choice is to provide emotional, literary closure to my students.  

My choice is to allow them time to share about their favorite books and engage in conversations about reading.

My choice is, to the best of my ability, wrap up our year together with discussions and reflections to help them grow as readers and learners.

My choice is to provide them time to think, write, collaborate, and discuss how much they've grown this year.

My choice is to allow them to feel accomplished and share their learning with others.

My choices are not approved by certain staff members.

It's disappointing that I'm not supported by fellow educators when I'm trying to make the right choices for my students.  

 In the end, my students are the reason I'm a teacher. I'm standing by my choices.

Letters

We just sent the last progress report of the year (hallelujah!).  With it, I attached this note:

During the first week of school, I had students write notes to themselves to open during the last week of school.  Luckily I'm sure most of them have forgotten about this task, so it will be quite the surprise!

I asked their families to write them letters about how proud they are of all their academic growth this year.  I included stationary and an envelope to make it easy for them.

Here's one of the letters I got back:

In the past, many students cry upon reading these letters which is a touching moment.  Granted, some parents just send back blank stationary which is a little frustrating.  For those students, I will write them letters myself that way they have something to open.   I'm excited to make their last days of elementary school memorable!

Rejuvenated

As I previously shared, I am looking for a change.  I've been at my school for five years and since we're transitioning to year-round and that's not something I desire.  The 17 mile commute (each way) is taxing and I'm looking for somewhere closer to (my new) home.

I found it.

I showed up at the school and was sent on a tour with the school's two coaches.  We clicked immediately (and not just because we had the same polka dotted 31 bag!).  The school has a very strong reading program and so many books.  We actually had our interview in one of the literacy labs and being surrounded by books is just fine by me!  I met the grade level and I think we'll get along just fine! 

The school has very high standards and believes in transparent data, which is a great thing.  The students should know exactly where they stand and how they're growing academically.   There is a huge emphasis on teamwork and collaboration.  

The interview was with the principal, assistant principal and grade level.  I was at the school for about an hour and left feeling so excited about the opportunity.

I've spent the last twenty four hours in nervous anticipation, wavering between telling everyone how great I think the interview went and keeping my nerves to myself, in case it doesn't pan out.

We were doing our CRTs today, so all my technology had to be turned off.  My cellphone also died, which only contributed to my anxiety.

Luckily, my fears were soothed about five o'clock this evening.  I was offered the position, which I immediately accepted.  I have to tell my administration tomorrow morning, which will be a hard conversation.  I'm headed to my new school after work to sign my transfer paperwork to make everything official!

I'm excited for this new opportunity!  I will miss some of the awesome coworkers (they know who they are!) but this just means we'll have to prioritize happy hours next year.

Onward and upward!

Grading Fun

We had an assessment today on conjunctions and interjections.  I was pleased to see some awesome growth on their test but I was more pleased with their comments.

For my students who finish early, I have them write me a note on the back of their tests.  It could be about their clicks and clunks, it could be about the book they're reading, it could be about their spring break plans.  It's a simple way for them to communicate with me privately about their learning, share information and not disturb others who are still testing (a solid win-win).

While I was grading, I found these gems:

(Her task was to write a sentence with correlative conjunctions.  I'd say she nailed it!)

Yes, she wrote about shoes and shopping.  I think I'm proud?  Maybe I talk about my love of shoe shopping too often?

Second gem:

Yes, he gets it.  I understand that sometimes, you simply can't put a book down.  Our rule is not to spoil the reading for others.

Third:

Sometimes you can't pick a book to talk about...so you pick two.

Lastly:

I love that they love reading.  I love that their little notes to me are a glimpse for me to see what's going on inside their brains.  I love that reading is occupying most of their thoughts!

These are my students, round 2

As I wrote yesterday, my students are

I found two more:

Yes, grammar is tricky.  At least my students have not only grasped, but internalized the growth mindset.  He'll get there!

And here is just a heartwarming one about the importance of college and perseverance.

Good job fifth graders, you made me proud.

paper slide

During the last week before winter break, we made paper slide videos for our must-do.  I set the expectations:

But didn't pass out a rubric due to time.  (We had Discovery tests to finish, a writing task and a grade level reading test so time was limited.)  Next time, I'll do a rubric so they can self-assess.

Each time they're getting better, which is awesome to see their growth. 

They worked collaboratively:

And we watched their final projects on the last day before winter break!  Since they used their names, I won't post the link here but it is available on our kidblog sites (for my student & family readers).

tracking writing

I've toyed with a variety of strategies over the years of how to keep track of my writing conferences.  I know some teachers utilize their iPads, but I guess I'm just a fan of an old school strategy:

Using a notebook, I put tabs down the side for students, allotting 2-3 pages for each.  I write notes in the front cover about who needs what mini-lessons and form flexible small groups from there.

I start the beginning of the year with them analyzing themselves as writers.  When they meet with me for the first time, they share their strengths, weaknesses and about their favorite piece of writing.

I try to conference with a few students a day but I like my notebook strategy because I can easily share the data with my writing co-teacher.  We can both hold conferences without having to worry about iPad passwords :)

Plus it's easy to see their progress over the year!

Clicks and Clunks

This week, our school's power (vocabulary) word is strategy.

In honor of this, I'll share about one of my new favorite strategies: "clicks and clunks".

I'm aware this is in no way a new strategy and is taught in numerous teacher prep courses.  However, it's new to me :)

I read about it in my beloved CORE source book:

And it's really "clicking" with my students.

(By the way, I googled for an image of the CORE book and my own image from a prior blog post came up...weird moment.)

Basically, it's a formative assessment where students analyze thier own learning.  They share what's "clicking" in their heads and what is "clunking" (not making total sense).

We talk about the importance of being honest and talk about why things are clunking.

I have my students give me fist bumps on their way out the door and share their clicks/clunks with me.

Yesterday, one student told me that our weekly phonics skill (/s/, /sh/, /z/) was clunking with her because she was confused about the letters.  Using this clunk, I explained in a different way during our word study this morning and she got it :) 

 (Hopefully others did too but since she specifically told me that was a clunk, I wanted to help her with it)

Speaking of clicking and clunking, here are mine for the day:

Clicks:

Almost all of my students are making growth on RCBM for Aimsweb for their oral reading fluency and words per minute.  One that went down had a very honest conversation that he wanted to try reading without using his finger as a place holder to see if he really needed it.  Turns out, he does need to keep track of his place with his finger but more importantly, he realizes that it's a strategy he needs to use because it helps him. 

Some of my students have grown over forty words since their beginning of the year benchmark.  Yes, you read that correctly. 40 words. In a minute.  They're almost at their end of year ambitious goals.

Clearly our daily repeated reading, buddy coaching and fluency stations are working!

Clunks:

Voice levels still aren't where they need to be.

Our server was down today: no access to my documents, my premade lessons, my email or the internet.  We made the best of it but it was frustrating being without technology.

Happy Friday! (almost...)