Guarding Your Benches

There is a story I heard at a conference last summer that I'd like to share today.  

… in the middle of the courtyard of a barracks was a small bench. Next to the small bench, a soldier stood guard. No one knew why the bench had to be guarded. It was guarded around the clock – every day, every night, and from one generation of officers to the next the order was passed on and the soldiers obeyed it. No one expressed any doubts or ever asked why. If that’s how it was done, there had to be a reason.

And so it continued until someone, some general or colonel, wanted to look at the original order. He had to rummage through all the files. After a good bit of poking around, he found the answer. Thirty-one years, two months and four days ago, an officer had ordered a guard to be stationed beside the small bench, which had just been painted, so that no one would think of sitting on wet paint." (Thanks to Cris Tovani for the excerpt)

So this begs the question, what benches is your school, department, etc. guarding that should be abandoned? Is there a certain assessment or program that should be abandoned? Is there a tradition that continues merely because it "has always been done that way?" Are their habits or practices you picked up in undergrad or student teaching or a conference along the way that should be evaluated more closely to see if they actually align with your beliefs about teaching and learning?

And perhaps the more important question is what benches do you guard that DO matter?  What principles of good teaching are you willing to invest time, energy, and resources in, even if others question or abandon them??

Here's my list of benches I hope to always guard as long as I'm teaching:

-student choice, as often as possible

-time for authentic reading and writing

-the best mentor texts and book selections 

-teacher mentorship and being plugged in to professional communities 

-energized & organized lessons

-investing in interpersonal relationship with students and colleagues

-hearing parents, percolating, and responding with empathy

-remembering that my students are still children

-developing class community by infusing laughing & listening

-showing kids I believe in them, even when they may not believe in themselves

-incorporating fun into learning

-taking moments to rest and be present

What are your benches?

Teach in Community: That’s What’s Up!

I am so thrilled to introduce my very FIRST guest blogger!  None other than ATP herself, Mrs. Litty Mathai.  She is a killer teacher and rocking partner, but she also has the BEST laugh, most photogenic children, and a million creative ideas.  She's the queen of reading workshop.  She's the yin to my yang, the slow-down-and-reflect to my go-go-go.  I have learned so much from her and am so excited to share some of her wisdom with you.  So without further ado, Mrs. Mathai, ladies and gentlemen!

So much is going through my mind right now as I’m sitting here on my front porch.  The breeze is blowing gently, the sun is slowly fading in and out, and the birds are chattering up a storm. Yes, you guessed it: it’s summer!!!!!  I feel like I say this every year, but man, this school year went by so fast! 

There are a bunch of topics cycling through my mind that I could write about. In fact, I feel like I need to do a second guest blog post for Amy at some point.  With two kids under the age of 4 and working full time, it’s been a challenge to even write one.  Nonetheless, the kids are both at a sitter, and I’m enjoying my very first day of summer, solo. By the way, isn’t Amy, great?  I love how she always shares her ideas freely and wants to build into other teachers too. There is no “I’m not sharing that with you” mentality ever.  I think that since we have been Language Arts partners the past few years, we have meshed our philosophies on how to teach Reading, Writing, and Social Studies and both of us have walked away learning at least one new thing each year.  Which brings me to what I would like to reiterate to teachers everywhere: just like we need to LIVE in community, we need to also TEACH in community.

 eaching in community has so many benefits. The first benefit is that it pushes you to try out new ideas and reflect on your teaching practices, which only lead to growth, growth, growth. I have tried out several new ideas the past few years, and I’m always glad that I did. I just completed my 15^th year of teaching, and I don’t think that I could have done it without my colleagues. Sure, I could lock myself away in my room and do my own thing---and yes, there are times I do that, but ultimately, it is when I open my doors and seek out colleagues that are doing some great projects, lessons, or simulations where I feel that excitement to take on a new challenge and try it out with my students. I have always taught Language Arts on my own until the past few years, and let me tell you, I have grown way more these past few years sharing and collaborating than ever before!

Ultimately, my students reap the benefits of my learning in community. The ripple effect when teachers learn and share with each other is massive. Remember that it is  easy to stay stagnate, but much more challenging and more rewarding to seek new ideas and new endeavors!

 The other benefit of teaching in community is that it helps you continuously reflect and mold your teaching philosophy. I want to be the kind of teacher who is constantly reflective of best practices. How did that lesson go? Was the questioning challenging? Did all my learners “get it”? What evidence do I have that they all understood? Am I reaching everyone’s learning styles? How am I going to challenge that student? Did I model the teaching point well? What can I improve for next time? Do I need to stop and reteach? What modifications do I need to support my learners?   Geez, the questioning that goes through a teacher’s mind during one lesson is rapid-fire and ongoing. It is nice to stop and talk to a colleague about how best to improve lessons and units of study. You will gain new perspectives on different ways to approach a lesson. Who wouldn’t want that?

Once you decide to open your doors and let other colleagues “in,” your wall of “Oh, I got this on my own” comes down, and I promise you that you will grow as a teacher.   I want my students to learn as a community of readers and writers. Well, guess what? Why wouldn’t I expect that of myself? At the end of the year, I had my students do some reflection (yes, they take after me J), and write a letter telling me how they have grown with Reader’s Workshop. Madi, one of my sweeet students,  told me that she really liked it when we closed out our workshop lessons with a circle share time.  That’s a time where we sit in a circle and voluntarily share how our reading is growing, specific strategies that have helped us become better readers, cool books that we are currently reading, and new learning from our reading buddies. Madi said she liked it because that brief time (five minutes a day), helped her to see how other readers were solving problems or becoming stronger readers and it pushed her to do the same. If Madi can recognize the power of community to help her grow as a reader, as educators, we should recognize the power of collaboration and teaching in community.

Hope everyone who reads this has a great summer! Thanks, Amy, for giving me the opportunity to do this…feel so honored that you wanted me to share my two cents!  “Make a difference, ya’ll!”  But first have fun this summer!! You deserve it!!



ATP is the queen of clip art!  While I didn't include that in her post, I knew she needed some sort of visual.  So here are the two of us dancing it out at field day this year.

Words of Wisdom

Before my mentor officially retired, she sent out an email to our Language Arts Department that was so lovely that I begged her to share it with you. It's probably a little more powerful if you know this wonderful woman, but I think her truths right out to anyone.


 
I leave you with my life’s little legacies, both in school and in your personal life:

•Give the gift of writing. You’ll never see that gift in a garage sale.

•Say hi to students you don’t know in the hallways and on bus duty.

•Write little love-you’s to your honey bun on post-its. Post it on a mirror or in their pants pocket.  It’ll brighten their day.

•Sometimes skip to “specials” for a minute. Kids love that.

•Give kids choices. Old people too.

•Remember your roots.

•Going to music or gym, snake around the cafeteria tables in and out if the tables are down.   They’ll think you’ve gone crazy.

•Talk to strangers. You might learn something.

•Save your sick days.

•Listen real good.

•Pick up pennies.

 

•Read the signs.

•Walk through mud puddles.

•Save on water.

•Don’t veer too left of center.

•Dance in the kitchen.

 

 

•Don’t talk bad about people. It only makes you look bad.

•Enjoy the moments that make you smile (my favorite rubber stamp).

•Feed your passion

•Crank up the music.

•Percolate before you respond sometimes.

•Fairy tales do come true.

•Don’t let the screen door slap you in the ass.

I love you more.

Pencil Sharpener GIVE AWAY!

Back in August I shared with you my love of my Classroom Friendly Supplies pencil sharpener.  It was a hit all year long.  ATPs even told me how their students would always come over to my room to hit it up.  And now they want their own!

Well I thought I'd help out all the awesome teachers out there by hosting a give away.  (How awesome is Troy at Classroom Friendly Supplies to sponsor this, by the way!  And he seriously responds to emails thisfast.)  Please enter and spread the word. 

The give away is for a sharpener in your choice of color (green, blue, red, and black) and will run until June 23 at 12 am.  To enter you must “Like” Classroom Friendly Supplies on Facebook.  Leave me a comment below to let me know you entered and spread the word (well, at least tell teachers near your classroom and then send your students over there if they win!).  Must be a US resident to win.

And even if you aren't the big winner, you should probably just go ahead and buy a sharpener anyway. Trust me on this. They're $24.95 (with FREE shipping!) from Classroom Friendly Supplies.  That's NOTHING for a little extra sanity!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Rest

One of my non-teacher goals for this summer is to learn more about resting well (because I stink at it and its SO important!)

Rest should be so easy, right?  But tons of us struggle to do it at all, let alone well. And I've learned that rest doesn't mean sitting on the couch doing nothing or watching TV. It also doesn't mean sleeping all day (though those things can totally have their place).  

But real rest should leave us recharged and ready to go back into the world again.  A talk I heard on it recently broke rest into five areas: delight (what can you do just for the joy of it?), worship (spending time connected to your spiritual source/ God the father), play, reflection (thinking about your work/rest/life), and actual physical rest/sleep.  The speaker's metaphor was to imagine the feeling you had on a snow day.  THAT feeling of joy should be our heart towards rest!

A coworker's lovely lake house/hammock that I got to visit last week...talk about restful!

I hope to be putting these ideas into practice this summer along with some work (new online class, what, what?!) in a way that makes me energized & excited for the 2013-2014 school year.

Any plans for you own RESTFUL summer?

Thanks a Latte

Well another year is in the books!  It's been full of ups and downs, but also many lessons learned. 

One thing is for sure, I appreciate all the parents who help make it a success, whether that is studying for a spelling test, reading with their son/daughter, or just keeping us in the loop with what is going on at home.  The parents who come in and volunteer their time are the biggest rock stars of all and such a blessing. 

To thank them, I found these cute ceramic travelling coffee cups at Deals ($2!).  We dressed them up with a bow and "Thanks a Latte" tag, and ta da!  Parent gift :)

 

If you'd like to use my "Thanks A Latte" tags, feel free to use this FREE file through my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Wishing you all the best for a wonderful summer!

Affirmation Posters

Two days left of school! And if you're like me, that means you're thinking something along the lines of, "How do I keep these kids so busy they won't be tempted to mutiny!?"

Well ATP #3 (aren't I blessed to have THREE Awesome Teaching Partners?!) has the perfect activity! 

She gives each kid a paper with his/her name on it that gets passed around to all the other students. Each kiddo takes a turn writing something positive and specific about their classmate.

What they end up with is a poster of warm fuzziness basically.

I came into school for a few hours to put in grades and had a grand time procrastinating by making these posters for my kiddos. I tried to make a symbol/ decor choice specific to each one, including a smiley face, a bowling pin, a crown, a racetrack, a running shoe, a roller skate, legos, and more.  It's so fun to know them so well at this point!

I look forward to seeing them react to a personalized "work of art."