Have a Great Day

I have a student currently iny class- let's call him Bobby. Bobby is a student with significant learning disabilities, and he is a student in our school's ILC, individualized learning center, only he attends the Writing Lab class I teach for students who struggle with writing.

Usually when I have students like Bobby in class the other students are awkward with them. It's different with Bobby, though. My students in this class include him in everything they do. I have to say it gives me hoe for my students who struggle. 

All too often my Writing Lab  students try to act hard until the moment they realize they are in a room with people just like them- people who have significant struggle for a lot of different reasons. 

It began with a girl in class who asked him to participate in an activity on the first day. Since then he has not only been included, but they ask his opinion, students workshop with him on their writing, and they include him in their laughs.

My favorite part of every day, though, is when he leaves my class early to go back to the ILC  to gather his things in order to catch his bus at the end of the day. One time only the big football player in class participated and yelled at everyone, so now everyone makes sure they yell a big hearty, " Bye Bobby- see you tomorrow!"

Daughter of the World

My grandparents, who met working at a leper colony in Panama in the early 1930s, used to tell me, "Molly, you are a daughter of the world. You must take this seriously and give back." I believe this is why I went into education; it was inevitable. It was the most tangible way I could see to give back to the world and try to make it a better place than it was when I came into existence.

Teaching NWP Colleagues how to Twitter
Thanks Katrina Rene for the photo.

But our role as educators has changed tremendously in the last five years. In the age of Common Core, no matter how we feel about it, we must figure out how to teach the skills that will help students gain access to learning in our content area. For me, this means reaching out to other educators to share my own learning and hopefully learn something from the people I come into contact with.

My work outside of the school day mostly involves the National Writing Project and its affiliate, the Denver Writing Project. The writing project has trained be to be a teacher consultant, a person who can take my own learning and teach other teachers, and also learn from them. Through this work I have been able to learn about how to implement the Common Core through the work I did with the Literacy Design Collaborative. I have received opportunities to meet amazing educators from around the country, and I have been able to create great professional relationships with these people.

The power of the work outside of my school day is that I have a network of teachers from across Colorado (where I live) and most amazingly from across the country. I pull from these teachers to learn what is happening where they live. There are days that I get discouraged about what is happening in my school or my district, and they reassure me that it is happening in their workspace as well.

There is power in a group of people who want the best for their profession. There is power in knowing that there are people outside of my immediate experience I can draw from when I need help. There is power in moving beyond our buildings to see different ways to accomplish goals. This power to create a place for teachers to talk really does make me a daughter of the world, one where we help and take care of one another.

Networks and Newsrooms

A year and a half ago I sat in the newsroom at the high school where I teach with my good friend, Tina, our eyes red and swollen from crying from the news that one of our beloved former students had died. It was sudden - a seizure and a stroke on a city bus on his way to classes at his college.

I had dinner with Kenna a month earlier where he told me about his dream to become a civil rights lawyer to fight for gay rights. He was a black gay man who was the arts and entertainment editor on his school newspaper and he was active on his college campus in his quest for LGBTQ rights on campus.

Kenna's Memorial at CU

As Tina and I sat in the newsroom that September we began making a list of the people who Kena knew so that we could inform them of his tragedy. We started with the kids who were on the newts with him. Then we thought about who those kids knew to remember who his core group was. Then we started thinking about teachers and we went through the same process. Finally, we talked about all the students from the University of Colorado who were posting on his Facebook site. The net was wide, for sure.

Kenna...We Still Miss You

Our conversation that day landed on the fact that we doubt that Kenna knew the impact he had on all of these people who were posting their heartbreak on Facebook. People who decided to come out of the closet because of conversations they'd had with him. People who lived authentically because of the work he did on campus. People who were inspired by him to stand up for themselves. People who were inspired by him to stand up for themselves. The heartbreak felt endless because of the impact he had on those he came in touch with.

And I don't think he ever even realized the reach and the impact he had on others...that is the true heartbreak.

But will we ever know the impact we have on others? Those things that stand out to us are probably things that we needed and were ready to learn at that point in our lives, so the people who taught us most likely won't have the same reaction we have. It really is a beautiful circle of teaching.

Last week I had the opportunity to go to the Gates Foundation to talk about networks. The idea goes that we can solve the problems of education if we get a group of people together who do great thinking about solving problems. There are some amazing groups out there that are gathering these groups of people, one of which I was privileged to represent at this meeting, The National Writing Project.

I can't even tell you how many times the writing project has inspired me and touched me and helped me push my thinking. I'm not sure the people who push my thinking even realize how much they have impacted me. I mean, really, why would they? After all, in their minds I would imagine they think they are just doing their job. But to me...to me, their thoughtfulness and willingness to work with me has kept me in teaching. It has added inspiration to my teaching.

I feel like I'm at a point in my career where I want to begin to give back because I have been given so much.

Are you an island?

Yesterday I sat in a room at the Gates Foundation where I listened to my new friend Ian Simoy talk about how the experience of teaching can be isolating and make educators feel like they're living on an island. Then someone remarks how he really is an island; Ian lives in Oahu.

Me looking crazy with Ian Simoy
and Joan Hurley

But Ian does not manifest island-ness. No, he is connected and networked with educators from across the country.

I began my own teaching career 1994 in Nepal in the Peace Corps working in a tiny village cut off from the modern world. In all ways I was the proverbial island Ian spoke about yesterday. But being alone in a village where I had to make it or break it gave me the fortitude to understand that my experience there depended solely on me.

My failures were completely mine. My successes were too. My life-changing epiphany came when I realized that I could bring other people into the success I was trying to create for myself.

This is when I began listening. Listening to my villagers, listening to my family members. Yes, I needed to listen to get the language down, but I have brought this home with me.

Listening to people about their experiences has brought me to every great teaching epiphany I have ever had. I never imagined when I began my career I would still rely on this epiphany that took me so long to learn: that I must listen to others, especially when they feel passionate about something. It might lead some really great places.

Grace and Growth

What I Picture When I'm Dancing

The last couple of months I have attended a Zumba class at my gym. The first time I went, I couldn't believe how these people could shake their money-makers. Then it dawned on me that maybe I could too. I practiced. I practiced while cooking dinner at home. I practiced during my off period, just shaking from one side to another. Shaking that booty whenever I had the opportunity. I wanted to be one of the women I watched during class who made movement and grace look effortless.

While I have a deep belief in the growth mindset, that we humans can work hard at something to manifest it into reality, I have been frustrated with my progress. Am I getting better at dancing? Well, my husband says I no longer dance like Elaine Benece, Jerry Seinfeld's uncoordinated side kick in Seinfeld. But I still do not move the way I envision I want to.

In fact, when I'm in class, I create a vision of what I am doing with my body, my limbs, that when I look into the mirror does not match my mind's eye. During the salsa portions of class I picture my arms gracefully swaying from side to side to counter balance the movement of my hips in graceful swirls, while my feet move quickly from one point to the next, constantly switching back and forth in seemingly one movement.

Elaine Benece Dancing in Seinfeld Episode

I make the mistake of looking in the mirror
 though, and this is not what I witness. It is more like my body is moving, but it is neither graceful nor is it any kind of movement that looks like it goes together. In short, I struggle. I work at it, and I still continue to struggle. I am getting better, but nevertheless, I continue to struggle.

The way I feel about Zumba is the way I imagine my students who struggle with writing feel about their writing. They struggle with it. They work really hard at it. The seek help to become better. They have a belief that they will grow and become better at it. But they continue to struggle. It is a frustrating cycle for sure. Each year they look in the mirror of state and national testing. Each year they see that they are not meeting the moving standard. Each year they come back to the fight to become better than they were before.

It is for this reason, that although I find Zumba frustrating, I continue to work at it and grow. After all, growth does not always happen to the timeline of others. Sometimes we have to pay close attention and celebrate those small victories. Celebrate those places where we are growing and not lose sight of the tremendous learning that is taking place.

My students will continue to write. And...yes...I will continue to practice shaking my booty.

No Photobombing

I am in day three of my school year. Last year, I had the great opportunity to attend the NCTE conference. Jeff Anderson and his colleagues gave an amazing session about Transcending Your Teaching. One idea that has stuck with me is the idea the notion of not letting anyone photobomb our teaching. So far this year there has been a lot of photo bombing potentially happening in my classroom.

What sticks with me and how I transcend outside influences in my classroom is when I am sitting in front of my students conferring and teaching with them. It is their struggles with writing that help me be a better teacher. I teach students to improve their writing. This is my mission as a teacher.

Wherever their skills are, whether I meet them in my AP Lang class or my Writing Lab class, I will move them as writers. They will improve their writing, for this is what I do. This means that I transcend whatever comes at me. I talk to students to help them come to a place of comfort. I meet with students to push them beyond what they previously knew was possible.

Nothing will get in the way of this mission.

A Salute to my Students This Year

I work to help my students become better writers. Where ever they stand in any given moment as writers, I will move them to become better, to be more persuasive, to add more power to their writing than they did before they came to me. That is my sole mission as a teacher, and I deliver.

When people do things to get in the way of this mission, not only do I feel frustration, I feel anger. I feel that there are enough things in the world getting in the way of children. I feel there are enough people in the world who put obstacles in front of kids, especially those who struggle. I will not be one of those people.

Here's a salute to my students this year, for despite what anyone has said or alluded to them in the past about their writing skills explicitly or implicitly, they will improve.

#WordCrimes

Symbiosis

Sometimes to be a teacher can be a very lonely path. Sure, we're surrounded by people all day: little people, adult people, people we never meet but who have huge impacts on our profession. To have a room full of teachers come together for a week to play and explore technology integration and social justice/critical media pedagogy, is a gift. One of the most powerful pieces for me is to be given time: time to work on projects and curriculum for next year, time to talk with colleagues, time to learn from colleagues, time to utilize thinking partners.

One theme from the week that has resonated for me is the importance of building a community of people who share similar interests and values. This is true for students, and maybe even more so for educators in the current climate. The discussions from the last week about connecting people together in school communities, in neighborhoods, and across the world and nation have shown me the importance off feeling connected. When our students feel supported, they are able to do great thinking and make academic strides. When. Teachers feel supported, we are able to take the risks necessary to push our students. 

Thanks Denver Writing Project and Ll my #techmatters2014 peeps for helping me feel connected again! 

Teacher Summer Week 3

This week I am participating in the Denver Writing Project's Tech Matters institute. It is a week where we get time to see some technology, play with it, and we actually have time to play with our new skills. The purpose of today's post is to help me figure out what I'm actually going to try to pull off this week.

I struggled with my Writing Lab students last year, there is no other way to put it. I want to do an overhaul of the class to create more authentic voices in the room. I am thinking that I want to have students create blogs where they write to a specific audience of their choosing. I am thinking that they can use Google Docs and Schoology to play with their writing before they post.

One of the things that intrigues me is the idea of having them work through the semester in "Make Cycles" that I have learned from the #CLMOOC that I've participated in this summer. The idea being that in a set amount of time you make something that is web/technology based. My ideas so far:

• create an avatar
• create a how-to about something they know a lot about (medium is optional)
• write/create a review about something they know about
• find a blogger in the area of their interest and follow that person's writing (I need to set up specific things for them to look for) to use as a mentor writer
• use our discussion board each day for writing warmup and then post their favorite each Friday that we meet (every other Friday)
• use G+ as a place to post writing and collaborate, how this will look I'm still thinking about.

It is important to me that my students re-find a voice for themselves that is authentic to them. 

Teacher summer: day 1

I begin this blog a week late. Yes, a week late. My summer actually began a week ago today, but heree's the thing. I was too tired, too overwhelmed, to stuck in my own little world it I begin in that moment, so I begin my teacher summer today.

I am teaching at a camp: Young Writers Camp at the Unidersity of Colorado at Denver. I get to hang out a iht middle school and high school kids a nod teach them how to be writers. It caused some anxiety for or me because I was voluntold to teach poetry. Poetry is difficult for me, it feels foreign to me, it is not my strong suit, but I thought, "Hey! This will give me a chance to expand my knowledge, expose me to something new."

I had no idea what I was going to do, so I did what writers do when they feel lost: I asked my colleague for help. As I spoke to this person who is a poet herself, the process became so simple. Her help unleashed so I etching a ithin me that helped me formulate and figure out how to access poetry. That is part of the magic of teaching writing: the notion that there are people who can help us figure out how to help others think about something in the world.

Grace

Sometimes we need to be pushed. I talk in my class about struggle. There is a notion pervasive in high schools that once things get hard' the thing to do is whine, to stomp, and to give up. Not always in that order. 

We all have times  in life where we want to do this. Yet, there are times when we must remember the notion of graceful struggle. 

This is how I describe it to my students: you try hard. You are putting forth your best honest effort and so me times even that's not enough. Well, friends, this is the he point where we need top ya close attention becauset his means that we are about to learn something. But we will only learn this thing if we listen closely to what the world has to tell us. This means the at we must stop in our tracks...become silent...and simply listen. This means the at the whining about assignments, or the prompt being too hard will not allow you to hear it. You must stop.

Sometimes in our stoppage we discover the best thing to do is ask for help. Other times, the best action is to revisit where we were and move forward. There are other times when it makes sense to go to the in telnet to try to find someone else who has experience in our area of struggle. And yes, there are other times still when the best thing to do is to go for a run, a bike ride, go to. A yoga class, cook a meal, whatever helps you breathe in your space and let go.

The thing with  graceful  struggle is that we work, to quote my good friend, to become the solution to whatever we are struggling with rather than to become a bigger part of the problem. My students are figuring this out. They ask questions, they come in for help...this is a really beautiful time of year for that reason. 

Struggle can be graceful.

Orange and Gray

Let me be clear, I am not a football fan. I don't understand the game. I finally figured out what a down was two years ago when the high school team where I work went to the state championship. The game, quite frankly, scares me with all the hitting and concussing and blows to the body.

Add caption

But this year I hopped on the bandwagon and got behind our team, the Broncos. They had a great season and even made it to the SuperBowl. Shouts of Omaha! could be heard on a daily basis in our school hallways. The city was draped in orange. Declarations of "Time to Ride" were displayed on FaceBook, Twitter, and every other social media site.

I even bought my first Broncos orange shirt to display my devotion to my team. Upon purchasing my shirt, I even told the cashier, "I don't think I've seen this much orange in Denver since the Orange Crush days," but I'm sure it fell on deaf ears since she wasn't even out of high school yet. These declarations that, yes, I was here back in the day the last time our beloved Broncos were any good was my own way of saying "I am a part of this."


To say the city was hopeful about the game is an understatement. There was an excitement in the air that our team is great. Orange was worn throughout our school halls on a daily basis. People felt like their allegiances could be made public. Heck, even I came out of the woodwork to show my support.

The hard truth is that we lost the SuperBowl game; we lost miserably. It was a bummer, and school yesterday felt like the land of zombies: people moving from class to class, nobody really wanting to talk about the game, a few die hards wearing their jerseys despite ridicule from the newest Seahawks fans.

This got me thinking how much like our struggling students my behavior has been. I teach kids who struggle with writing. They struggle for a lot of different reasons, but they all want to be better. They never come into this class thinking they want to struggle. My job is to help them move past their previous experiences with writing so they can grow.

Showing my support in my classroom.

Much like I hopped on board with the Broncos late in the season, many of my students hop on board with writing when they feel they might be successful. When they feel confident enough that they might actually be making progress, they begin to see how they are actually good writers, it's just a matter of tapping into their belief.

This means that I have to make explicit to them where they struggle so that they can see where they can make improvements. We celebrate even seemingly small accomplishments. And we write…we write a lot.

There are some students who end up in my class a second year. Most of these students are either on an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), or they simply don't test well. I have students from honors and AP English courses who can write well, but give them a test and they don't perform - for whatever reason. In this case, my job is to help them bring their test scores up in English so they can prove they are College and Career Ready.

Coming back to Writing Lab, the course I teach, must be a lot like me coming to school the day after the Broncos lose the SuperBowl. I got on that bandwagon. I cheered for my team. I believed they could actually win, and they didn't. My students write a ton. My students work a ton. And sometimes, it just isn't quite enough to bring them over the tipping point.

So we do what we do: we brush off. We reassess. We reevaluate what we're doing. We vow to work together and we do our best. After all, isn't that all we ask of anyone: do your best. We ask that of our teams, do your best and we'll be behind you. We ask that of one another in the classroom: do your best and I'll do my best, and hopefully it will all work out.

For the Love of Cleanliness

I first saw one of these nifty hand dryers at the Madrid airport. I thought it was the coolest thing ever because it doesn't use paper, and it ACTUALLY dries one's hands. There is something to be said for a dryer that actually fulfills its promise.

More institutions should use these dryers: people would get sick less often. The germs stay put.

Lift Lines and the Common Core

Over winter break which ended this week, I had the awesome opportunity to ski in Europe: Switzerland to be more precise, Verbier to be exact. I had never skied in Europe before, but I ski a lot in the states.

Skiing in the US is very controlled. Every spot on the map is a spot that skiers know is safe, either by avalanche blasting or by grooming machines. While skiing the trees or on untamed runs, the mere illusion of danger is given to each skier schussing down the mountain.

In Europe, the only terrain that is placed on the map is terrain that has been groomed. It is not that one cannot ski the rest of the mountain, but rather one may ski it at their own risk. Most prefer to take a guide to read the terrain, but this is a costly investment for even one day.  In the lodge at lunch on Christmas day, a very snowy day indeed, I noticed that all the Swiss skiers had backpacks. These were not the regular backpacks, mind you, but they were ABS, Avalanche Airbag Systems. This is a contraption to help one have a higher rate of survival in an avalanche. They also all carried avalanche shovels with them.

But it was the lift lines in Switzerland that really threw me off. I wasn't surprised by the off-piste skiing because I had heard about it for years, this is what made me want to ski Europe after all. Uncontrolled skiing anywhere the mountain takes me, even to a far-away village, sounded like heaven.

No, the lines are the thing that really surprised me.

In the United States ski lift lines are seemingly chaotic, but actually very controlled. There is always a fastener to guide groups of people through the line. People neatly alternate at the ends of the fasteners as they approach the lift. There is a sense of order as we funnel through to eventually reach the chairlift.

Not so in Europe. There was only one day we skied when it was crowded, but boy did it leave an impression on me. It was a free-for-all. Approaching the lift line, one could not be passive in the experience. We were a group of three and were lucky if two of us could get up on the same lift. Utter chaos. Skies on skis, elbows, poles, and dirty looks were the name of the game.

In the US education system we are going through our own chaotic change at the moment, switching from state mandated standards and testing, to the Common Core State Standards, a national set of standards that the states will decide how to test (most using one of two national groups to make these tests).

Teachers who are first coming to the Common Core feel like the lift lines. They desperately want to do well. They desperately want to create an orderly way to take their students up the mountain. There is a clamoring of products on the market that claim to help teachers implement the common core. There is a sense of everyone elbowing one another to "get it right" to help their students test well.

While the Common Core is meant to help teachers move their students up the mountain in a controlled and efficient way, the truth of the matter is that very few are clear on what the standards are actually asking us to do so people are beginning to panic. Then there is the matter of teachers being evaluated on how their students test on the new standards. So now it is not only about using and understanding the Common Core, but that each teacher's worth will be placed on how their students perform on a completely new style of testing.

Chaotic, indeed.

Robert Redford Made Me Think

Everywhere I go today my students tell me they are tired of school, there is too much work, they are burned out, they are stressed. I have stopped to help problem solve with some and let others go. The Friday before the last week of a major break is rough in a high school, but it also brings to light why we're all here in the first place: to learn.

This morning on my way to school I listened to a really great interview with Robert Redford on Fresh Air. In it he discussed how he struggled in college and ended up being asked to leave. He said he moved to Paris to become a visual artist, but what he said afterward is what has stuck with me today, he said, " this is when my education truly began." He discussed how he traveled and experienced the world and different cultures and languages, and that this is what gave him meaning in his life.

The question this left me with is: how do I create lessons, projects, interactions where my students feel this same connection with the world? How do I help them branch out to see the world is worthy of their exploration, if they just give it a chance?

I am working at creating a more authentically connected classroom. It is a learning process. I want them to write and read authentically to create questions they want to answer. I want them to poke and prod and create a place where it is safe for them to do this. Having a connected classroom has helped my  students engage in places outside our walls. I want them to keep going.

What Matters

Today my daughter, Maya, competed in her school's spelling bee. On the way to school, she told me she really wanted to do well. Naturally, I understood, but I asked her why anyway, just to see what she would say. "Well, mom, it would help to prove that I'm a good student."

This made me think, does spelling count any more for our students in their quest for that badge of honor to be a "good student"? This comment caused me to pause, to contemplate, the kind of student I would like my own daughter to become.

"Maya, there are things other than spelling that impress me much more about your ability to learn." She wanted to know more. Of course she did, who do you know who would turn down a compliment? I thought for a moment and told her that her ability to ask questions, and then follow through to try to answer the questions she has is what impresses me most about her. I believe this quality is actually what makes her a strong student.

The next time I look at a student's paper and want to scream because of a misspelling, I will remember this conversation. It is the questioning, the content, that matters most in the scheme of becoming a strong student.

What do you do to help you remember what really matters in your classroom?

Connections

Mandela's passing has made me think through my own upbringing and that of the students I teach. I remember when he was freed from prison. The Colorado State Campus was a joyous place that day. Professors cried, people danced, even in little Ft. Collins, Colorado, so far away from South Africa.

Today, I am teaching the book, Malcolm X to my junior and senior level students. We talked about Mandela's life today. My students made the connection between him and Malcolm X like this: if Mandela hadn't been imprisoned, would he too have been assassinated? And if Malcolm X hadn't been assassinated, would he have ended up the same kind of peace maker Mandela turned out to be.

Big questions. Deep thinking. It gives me hope and makes me want to dance and sing.

The Core Issue

I had a meeting recently where the coordinator for one of the departments in our school stated outright, "We're not tested on PARCC." Now, I have to admit that I have been working on the Common Core for what's coming up on three years, but I do not know everything about it.

But, my understanding is that we ALL teach literacy in our content areas...we are ALL responsible for what happens when the PARCC exam rolls out next year. While there is not a Social Studies or Science or Art section on the Common Core, aren't we ALL responsible for teaching reading and writing?

Why is this message not getting across to everyone?

So Sweet

Today I introduced the Malcolm X remix assignment that I designed after doing the Mozilla Webmaker training at NWPs Annual Meeting last week. I was nervous about it because I kept it open ended so my students will have buy in to make it a relevant project for themselves. 

At the end of class a girl walked up to me and said, "did you think of this?" I told her I did. She winked at me and said,"Well, you did a good job on hit his one." 

It made my day! Thanks Mozilla and Laura Hilliger