agree to disagree

I met Katie when I was a very young buck. (Is that a saying?) During our first year, I taught sixth grade and she taught eighth.

I don't remember becoming super close with her until a few months into the school year. One of her students, Jasmine, was upset that her brother, Petie, had her shoes. Or maybe the other way around, but Petie was in my class and Jasmine was in Katie's. And so the kids had to talk and then Katie and I really started talking too. And then the rest is history! You can imagine how we easily bonded over our grueling first year of teaching - the being nervous of our first evaluations, the tears over classroom management gone wrong, and the joys of coaching kids in sports and holding after school clubs.

Oh - some pics of Petie....

When he was a sixth grader and we were at Jasmine's Quince...

And then I think this was sometime after he finished eighth grade, though it's kinda hard to tell. Anyways, we are still facebook friends, and I just love that kid!

But I digress. Back to the point about me and my best friend. Sorry, feeling a little nostalgic there!

So Katie still works in Phoenix and I'm over here in Chicago. We have been the best of friends all along the way. We talk on the phone at least three times a week, I ask her for advice, she vents to me and vice versa. We share all our joys and frustrations as coaches - she's an Instructional Coach and I, of course, am a Literacy Coach.

But then there's this other part of education that we don't talk about. We have kinda agreed to disagree about some topics, like standardized testing and unions.

Michelle believes: Kids shouldn't take so many standardized tests!
Katie believes: Test the kids till they cry! (She said that, jokingly of course, but she believes in standardized tests way more than I do!)

The other day I posted this excellent article. I happened to talk to Katie a few days later and tests came up. I said, "Oh, did you read that article? Wasn't the blueberry metaphor just perfect?"

She tells me, "I already know what all the articles you post are going to say, so I just don't read them!"

Michelle believes: Unions allow teachers to have a voice in policy
Katie believes: Unions protect ineffective teachers

Katie just posted this article on her facebook page - about how AZ is underfunding it's schools and their teachers are the lowest paid. I wanted to comment right away and tell her, "You need to work in a unionized state where teachers have a voice!" But I didn't. I bit my tongue. Well, until today, when I posted a much nicer version of it.

See... I have this amazing best friend. She's such a fabulous educator, she's so stinkin' smart and can talk me down when I so mad I'm boiling on the inside. She inspires me and makes me laugh and I'm so proud that we share our teaching roots together. But, we also disagree very passionately about some topics, so we just don't talk about them.

I know you may be thinking, "But why? Doesn't it hurt your feelings that you can't talk about that stuff? Those are your passions, your beliefs!"

You see, we've tried to talk about this stuff. One day, I happened to be talking about it at Hektor's, and he was listening in on the conversation. We ended up having to agree to disagree and get off the phone - we were both getting so upset! As soon as I hung up he said, "That's what you two talk about?" He thinks we're such nerds, but really, we're both just so passionate but on opposite sides of the spectrum.

You might think it's weird of us, but it works. I seriously love this girl so much, and am so thankful every day that's she's been a part of this journey we call life. So, I'm willing to leave one little topic off the table to continue to be besties with this girl, the girl who just commented on a facebook thread to me, "You're dumb but you're cute!" Hey, I'll take it!

What about you and your teaching bestie? Anything off the table?

at home in my home office

It's my first day of summer break and I've been SOOOOO productive! Got up and did some running/walking first thing, went to a meeting, went to Ikea, assembled a new bookcase and cleaned my office, and now I'm going to share it with you! :-)

I'm linking up with Schroeder's Shenanigan's in 2nd and Lucky Little Learners for their #2getherwearebetter linky - this month, to share about our home offices!

So off we go!

I was stalking this desk on overstock.com for a long time before I finally bought it and I absolutely LOVE it. It's so perfect - totally me! It usually gets super disorganized, but when it looks like this, I'm in love!

I bought the chair at Home Goods. Do you love that store as much as I do? Love having a little girlyness with the fabric chair! Off to the left, which you can't really see, is another little table for the printer. I used to have it on the desk but it took up so much space, so it's nice that it's out of the way now.

Ever since I went to Europe for the first time last summer, I'm always on the lookout for anything Paris, especially the Eiffel Tower. I am pretty picky, too, but the boyfriend found these bookends for me and I love them! They are also from Home Goods.

New Erin Condren notebook is already ready to go for next school year! It's nice that she bound the calendar in the notebook this year. Even though they're expensive, I love to have a new, beautiful notebook every year. I'm a traditions/ritual girl, so gotta keep with them!

I love these bookcases from Ikea - this is my fourth like it! It's nice to have all my most favorite teacher books and picture books home for the summer. Last summer I left them all at work and then of course, needed them around mid-summer when I was starting to think of the coming year. Top right are my #SummerShelfies that I'm planning to read this summer. Bottom baskets are a nice place to store odds and ends!

This is one of my favorite pieces of art I have. I LOVE Chicago stuff! Bought the print at least 10 years ago (maybe longer?) and it's yellowing, but I can't bring myself to throw it away!

As you can see, the print is called "The City Speaks" and it's made up of all these little magazine clippings. This is just one little section of the river, but it's so cool to look at the skyline from afar and then see all the Chicago places and references up close. Not sure I'll ever part with this....unless of course I can find a place to purchase it again! 

Well that's my office! What's yours like? You should definitely write up a post with pictures and share it, we'd love to check it out!

Lastly, have you heard about my BigTime Blogging Challenge? All of July I'll be writing and holding a linky every day! Please check out the details here and join me!

Happy Friday!

currently June!

Wow, it's really June. As in summer is coming! As in three more days of work (only two more with kiddos). As in sleeping in until 8 and the Today Show with coffee! As in time to reflect, rejuvenate, and recharge! As in vacations! So excited!

Thanks to Farley who always takes time to host her party so everyone knows what is up Currently!

Listening to... Chelsea Dagger!

Yep! Blackhawks defeated Anaheim on Saturday night so Chicago is so excited for another championship series! Check out what I mean about excitement from boyfriend and friend:

!!!!!!!

Loving... summer vacay is almost here!
We would have been out by now, but had this problem in February:

I don't even care that we have three more days - I'm so happy that it's getting to be summer again. Well, wait. It was 44 and rainy all weekend - Cubs game cancelled, but anyways, I am hoping that there's some sunshine and warm weather in our future.

Either way, I'm sleeping in every day very soon!

Thinking....about all my new #shelfies!
I'm nerdy, right? But I am really excited to read a bunch of great books this summer. I already have Radical Reflections by Mem Fox and Reading Workshop 2.0 by Frank Searfini, but I just ordered:

And Serravallo's book is on the way, too:

What I know about myself as a reader: I need to schedule time to read. I always want to read, but if I don't plan it out, I get distracted and will choose writing (here, mostly) over everything - writing over exercising, over watching TV, over cleaning ....everything. I want to make sure I set time aside to read (and exercise!) this summer so I get to do all the things I want to!

Oh, forgot to mention that I will be rereading Daring Greatly again and holding a book study for it in July! It is part of my BigTime Blogging Challenge of writing every day, but each Thursday in July we'll be writing about the book! Check out the details of the writing challenge here and please join me for as much writing as you'd like to do!

What are you going to be reading? Should I throw a few more titles in the amazon cart?

Wanting.... a few of my friends to get on Twitter.
You hear me Jennie? and Katie? It's time. You're going to love it! You can thank me later :-)

Needing.... a clean, packed up, organized office
I'm talking about the one at work, the one where things just keep being dropped off, more stuff to organize, more stuff to put away. It's cool, but it's a lot of work, and I have just a little time left. and I have only one box.

Totally need an alpaca! :-)

Summer Lovin
So many things I'm excited about:

1. My niece is coming for a whole week to stay with me!
2. Going to California with girlfriends and then the boyfriend is coming too!
3. Participating in Illinois Writing Project with my writing buddy!
4. Going to Florida for a week and I'll get to see my mom and stepdad and relax on the beach!
5. Lots of time to do whatever I want to do!

So that's all for June! Thanks for stopping by and check out my End of the Year Reflection Linky and my BigTime Blogging Challenge!

Happy Summer!

on your mark book study, session 3

Hi again, and welcome to the last post for the book study!

So I'm kinda really embarrassed. Because I did a lot of the bad stuff mentioned in regards to grading from Chapter 8. The stuff that created compliance with kids? Yep, totally did that when I taught middle school. I'm going to tell you all about it, but it's because I read this book about being vulnerable (I'm actually holding a book study for it in July if you want to read!) and I realized that it's okay to make mistakes as long as:

So here I am to tell you how I screwed up and share new ways of doing things, based on Guskey's book, On Your Mark.

Guskey keeps reminding us to ask ourselves, "What is the purpose of grading?" The answer is that it is to reflect student learning.

Say it with me: The purpose of grading is to reflect student learning.

So, if you have a kid turn work in late and so you give him or her half credit (because it's late) then does the grade really reflect learning? No.

That's my story.

It started because during my 7th year of teaching, I had this student. We'll call him Steve. Steve came to my Language Arts class for a whole quarter. He turned in no work....until the last week of the quarter. Then, he ended up with a B in my class and it really got me so so mad. At the time, I was thinking, "Other kids worked so hard all quarter; they were here on time, they participated, they did every assignment on time, and they got B's. Why does Steve deserve a B?"

Well, he did get a B, but then I changed my policy. All late work - if it was one day late or three months late - could earn only half credit. With the new information I know now, I realize I did this so kids would comply with my policies. This policy definitely did not create a reflection of student learning when I passed out report cards at the end of the next quarter.

Remember, I tell you this bad, bad story because I'm not perfect and I'm learning. So go easy and #dontjudgeme :-) Or judge me in a good way because I'm telling you the truth and not pretending I am this perfect teacher, right?

There are other ways that teachers use grading to get kids to comply:

1. Turn in your syllabus, signed, for 10 points tomorrow.
2. Bring ____ (supplies) for extra credit.
3. Be on time/attend all classes for full attendance credit.
4. Bring a toy/canned food item/___ for extra credit.
5. Turn in your extra hall passes at the end of the quarter for extra credit.

Now, I didn't do all of those, but I'm guilty of a few more.

Guskey's solution? Mark the assignment as incomplete and then require the child to attend some extra class (lunchtime, after school, on Saturday) to make up the work. This sends the messages that:

1. The work we assign you is important.
2. You can't just get off the hook so easy by not doing it.

Guskey notes that in order to staff these lunchtime / after school / Saturday work sessions requires extra support and funding. In the short term, it will take some time to teach the kids that you mean business, but in the long term, the benefits are so much better and kids are more inclined to get their work done on time.

Here's the thing though: schools are underfunded everywhere (that's a rant for another day) so many administrators tell their staff, "Sure, you can hold those after school hours for kids to make up work." (Implying that teachers will work extra hours outside of contract time for no additional compensation.) Then, some teachers do it and others don't. Which is fine, but it makes the teachers who don't staff those homework rooms look like they care less, when that's not the case at all. Teachers should be compensated for their time outside of contract hours. Like Guskey says, 

"Such a policy typically requires additional funding for the necessary support mechanisms, of course. It requires facilities and staffing, and may even mean additional student transportation if sessions are held after school. But in the long run, the investment can save money. Because this regular and ongoing support helps students remedy their learning difficulties before they become major problems, schools tend to spend less time and fewer resources in major remediation efforts later on." (p. 99)

So this is my big take-away from this book. Overall, thought it was a great read, and I'm really glad our district is moving towards this kind of grading. I think reporting student learning separate from learner traits (responsibility, punctuality, etc) is a really important piece.

What do you think?

An InLinkz Link-up

year end reflections

Chello friends! I'm hosing an end-of-the-year reflections linky... and I wasn't planning to write this just yet (I'm not done until the 5th of June) but after I put an announcement out about it yesterday, today I found someone already wrote their post, so I must get something going here! Shout out to Allie, for being the first to write with me!

The format of the blog post goes like this:

Best Memories

What were a few of your best memories from the 2014-2015 school year? Share a few!

Missed Opportunities

Did you start some things and didn't see them through enough? Anything else that you were disappointed by? This is the place for those.

Game Changers
What did you learn this year that changed teaching for you?

Focus

Where was your focus? Share some things you put a lot of energy and effort into.

Forgot

It always happens that some things slip by us....what did you forget about this year?

Reflections

End with general reflections on your year to help you plan for next.

I'm going to revise this a little later and include my reflections because (1) school's not over yet and I'm a creature of habit with my 'ritual' being that I write on my first day off when schools out and (2) I don't have all my ideas down just yet. But for anyone out there who's read to share, link up your reflections with me on this post! Excited to hear about your year! :-)

I'll be back. (Read that with a Schwarzenegger voice!)

An InLinkz Link-up

announcements!

Hi everyone! Hope you're doing as well as I am! Finally things are winding down and wrapping up and I have just a few moments to share some exciting news with you!

On Your Mark Book Study
First, my final linky for the On Your Mark Book Study will be this Thursday. Please link up with me if you'd like to share about the book!

Year End Reflections Linky
Next, I will be hosing another linky for Year-End Reflections. My last day is Friday June 5th, so this linky will be up on Monday, June 8th. As soon as you get some time to reflect on your school year, put those thoughts into writing and link them up with me! I'm going to format the post with these categories:

Best Memories

What were a few of your best memories from the 2014-2015 school year? Share a few!

Missed Opportunities

Did you start some things and didn't see them through enough? Anything else that you were disappointed by? This is the place for those.

Game Changers
What did you learn this year that changed teaching for you?

Focus

Where was your focus? Share some things you put a lot of energy and effort into.

Forgot

It always happens that some things slip by us....what did you forget about this year?

Reflections

End with general reflections on your year to help you plan for next.

BigTime Blogging Challenge

And last but not least....and what I'm so super excited for:

BigTime Literacy celebrates it's two year anniversary on July 4th, and to celebrate the occasion I'll be holding the BigTime Blogging Challenge once again - write with me every day during the month of July! The goal is just to write each day for the whole month on any topic of your choice, but I've also put together a calendar of prompts you can follow if you like. Check that out here.

New this year!

This year during July I will also be hosting a book study. We will be reading Daring Greatly: How the Courage to be Vulnerable Transforms the Way we Live, Love, Parent, and Lead. Check out the author, Brene Brown here, at one of her Ted Talks discussing vulnerability:

Well, that's all I've got for tonight! Hope to see you around in the coming weeks for lots of writing and sharing stories!

Happy Tuesday!

family writing project

Looking for a great new way to engage families in school? I have just the thing for you.... Family Writing Project!

Family Writing Project (FWP) is a Writer's Workshop for students and their families that is after school. Families meet their kiddos at school at 3:00 and for an hour and a half we build a community of writers that listens to stories and then publishes their own. We spend five sessions together as writers, and then one as published authors at an Author's Chair.

Our PTA was amazing and provided snacks for each of the first five sessions and then at the Author's Chair, families all brought something to share. As you can see, we had quite the spread for our celebration!

But before we get to the Author's Chair, let me just share about the writing we did preparing for the celebration...

Session 1: In My Family

During our first session, I shared this book, which is written in Spanish and English. I asked one of the parents to read the Spanish text with me as I read the English. This book shared all kinds of traditions that families had and then our participants were prompted to write about their family traditions.

Session 2: My Map Book

During session 2, we began with a "Mix and Mingle" for families to get to know one another better by talking about get-to-know-you questions. Then, I shared My Map Book (Sarah Fanelli), which details all kinds of maps: map of my bedroom, my pet, my neighborhood, my heart. Then, families could make their own map and write from that. A few participants shared their heart maps in our final collection of work!

Session 3: Culture Bags

At the end of session 2, everyone was given a brown paper bag to fill with their prized possessions. These were brought back to session 3 as their Culture Bags. These bags were full of special mementos - art projects, coins, ribbons, pictures, stuffed animals, etc. We met in small groups to share our favorite items and then wrote the stories of these objects!

Session 4: Poetry

In session four, I shared a bunch of poetry, including a "Do Now" of writing a family acrostic poem. I read from Gary Soto's Neighborhood Odes and Ralph Fletcher's A Writing Kind of Day. This poetry was pretty popular...one of our second grade students wrote an ode and a few other kiddos also wrote poetry!

Session 5: The Relatives Came

In our fifth session, we began by making family trees and then I read from Cynthia Rylant's The Relatives Came. Families were encouraged to think of stories about the people on their family tree and then write those. 

Session 6: Author's Chair Celebration

Prior to the sixth session, families had to submit their final piece (either typed, written, or drawn) and I put together a book with everyone's work:

Then, each family came up to the Author's Chairs and read their work to the group. Each family was given a copy of the book as a keepsake and so while participants were reading, the audience followed along.

We shared great food, great stories, and voices in two languages. It really was so so special!

Looking back through my (limited) pictures, I realize that I have more videos than I thought. I can't wait to share these with you, so as soon as the surveys come back from the families, I'll be sure and share their thoughts and the videos of our event!

Have you ever run a Family Writing Project? Please tell me about yours! I'm so thankful for my friend Tracey for coaching me through this amazing experience!

Happy Friday!