five for friday...on a friday actually!

It's Friday and I'm sleepy and home with a beverage and blogging and life. is. good! I haven't done a Five for Friday in a long time and I had a great week, so here I am to share with all of you!

My week was so busy but so much good stuff happened. So here's the DL....

Last day of Grad School

I finished teaching my grad school class and I'm so happy! Another 8 week session down and it even ended with one of the students telling me that my class was "the best in the program so far." I learned new things, was able to revise my rubrics for next time, and am going to wrap it all up this weekend when I finally get grades posted.

Business Cards

A week ago, mine and Colleen's proposal to present at IRC was accepted! We're going to present on using social media for on-demand professional development! Can I let you in on a little secret/goal of mine? I want to consult one day - I mean, I want to still keep working in a school, but part-time, I really want to consult with schools and work for myself. So, I'm sure there's 100 other things I should do first to get that going, but getting business cards seemed like a good place to start. So I just ordered these today:

Super excited!

(Don't judge me!)

Family Literacy Night

We had our event last night and about 60 kids came with their families. Kids were able to participate in Reader's Theater, play Book Bingo, make a book mark, talk to the Tiger Bloggers, and buy some books in the Buy One Get One free book fair. There was such a great team that worked together to plan, and I'm so thankful for my girl Christine. Love working with you!

Family Writing Project

We had our second session of Family Writing Project on Wednesday. It was so great to have everyone together again. We started by mixing and meeting new people and then we read from My Map Book and mapped our personal stories. The energy in the room during this workshop is beautiful! I'm hoping to write more about this later this weekend, so stay tuned!

Fountas and Pinnel wants to quote me!

Okay, so it's just a Tweet, but still! I got this today on Twitter:

If you haven't done a Twitter chat yet, you totally need to. I need to find the schedule for Fountas and Pinnell; they were the first one I did! Anyways, we emailed and they are considering this tweet of mine for their catalog alongside their intervention materials:

I mean it's not a big deal really, but cool that someone from Fountas and Pinnell noticed one of my Tweets!


So that's all for me - how was your week? Head over to DoodleBugs and link your Five for Friday!

day 15: The Test

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We are almost done with PARCC testing....for this month anyways. We are giving one test session a day, but not on Mondays, so this coming Tuesday will be my last day for this month. Unfortunately, we'll have to do more testing in May, but for now, I'm just feeling so relieved that it's going to come to an end soon.

As the week wore on, it got easier. I knew which screens would time out and kick students out if I didn't get through them fast enough, so what caused high levels of anxiety on the first two days had pretty much subsided by day four.

Part of the problem with this testing is that I don't think it does what it says it will. I don't think it is a better measure of student learning than I could provide. As PARCC begins, I'm teaching my grad school students how to case study their students, how to collect data in many different ways, how to use their professional knowledge of authentic assessment to paint the best portrait of a student's strengths and areas of need.

And then there's PARCC, which causes so much stress for everyone involved: myself, our students, and all our our district leaders and admin who work together to make this test a reality. I've been in education for 12 years, and what stands out most to me from administering The Test are feelings of inadequacy. There isn't much that makes me feel this way anymore, because for the most part, I know what to expect. How is it that this test, one that I don't even believe in, has the power to induce feelings of inadequacy in an educator who has already spent 12 years in the field (and who plans to finish my career there, too?)

All that being said, I'm so thankful for the Slice of Life Challenge - all of our kids who are blogging have written a few posts about The Test, too. You'll have to check out Sydney's post about stress and scheduling changes. Or Alex's post about nervous feelings. Or even the technology glitches that come into play, from Frances.

All of this just leaves me wondering - is all the work that goes into this test worth the time away from authentic teaching and learning? And if it's not, what are we going to do about it? This is one reason I love blogging - getting to share my voice about important topics like this. I'm so glad the kids who are blogging along with me are learning about sharing their voice, too.

If it were up to me, the only kind of PARCC I'd have my kiddos slicing about is this one.

day 10: in your own time

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I'm teaching a literacy methods class at one of the local universities again - my second time doing the same course, so it's so much better in terms of me knowing what to expect, what I should make sure to talk about and what I can skip over, and how to best prepare them for success on their assignments. Now that I have my sea legs, I wanted to try and add a few extras, and I thought Twitter would be a good way to go. You know those young kids, all techie on social media and all?!

This all happened because of a PD two of the coaches in my district did using Twitter and Tweet Deck to encourage more participation among the 90 participants. (Read about that here.) I was so excited by this, I wanted my grad students to use Twitter for the same thing - I wanted to show them how amazing Twitter can be for sharing information related to our field of work - the articles that are written about teaching and learning, keeping up with the pulse on PARCC and standardized testing, engagement strategies, new books by Heinemann, what's going on with Two Writing Teachers, plus following news sources and election information, and also a few favorite celebrities. (and a few former students!)

Tonight, I asked them to tweet out something about class - something that was inspiring or engaging, something they didn't want to forget, and tag it with the hash tag I created, #DUliteracy. I was so excited for this that I thought for sure they would be, too.

Except no one did it. And I'm laughing over here, but I kinda feel like the kid who showed up to the party, and then found out the joke's on me, because I'm there all alone. If you search my hashtag, you'll find one tweet from last week. That I wrote. And now this blog. That I also wrote.

I guess what I'm learning is that it has to be on their own time. I can't get them to love Twitter just because I do. I can't make them use Twitter - even though the resources available via Twitter are seriously limitless. It has to be for them, when they're ready, on their own time....just like it was for me.

So JennieB, you're off the hook with Twitter...that is, until you're ready for it! #nomorebullying

no rain, no rainbow

I was having the worst day. The problems began at 6:50 this morning when I couldn't find my car key. I searched all over my house and finally came to the conclusion that I would, in fact, have to walk the 10 minutes to my neighbor's house to get the spare.

So I did. I texted my boss and my teaching bestie on the way to let them know. Got to Liz's house and she still wasn't answering her phone and her doorbell/call system thingy wasn't working. So then I was waiting. and waiting.

I texted Liz's neighbor Julie to see if she was awake. No dice.

Eventually, another girl in her building came out to walk her dog, so I got in the gate. I rapped (wrapped?) on her door and woke her up - her alarm didn't go off, so kinda good that I came over at 7:07am. I got my key and walked back home.

When I got home, I wrote a note to my neighbors to hang on the door - asking them to keep an eye out for my key. Maybe it was in the leaves outside on the ground - I wasn't sure, but I didn't want my car to get stolen.

I get all my stuff, the keys, my coffee, the note, and some tape, and headed downstairs to the door that goes outside only to look up and see my keys hanging on this little pipe by the mailboxes:

They were there all night. And after all that trouble I found them. Did I mention I even checked my mailbox before I walked to Liz's house? Isn't this always the way? Grrrrrrr!!!!

So annoying. I was 40 minutes late to work. (I hate being late.) I also had things to do - and spending 40 minutes trying to find keys was not exactly how I wanted to spend my morning today.

Drove to work and spilled coffee on my pants.

Got to work and barely get done what I needed to for my guided reading group before I have to get to a common plan - but I did get it done....I work well under pressure, annoyed or not.

#trudat

I just wanted to go home. I knew I had such a long day ahead of me - Thursday is the evening I teach grad school - and I just wanted to be in my bed under my covers, maybe with some chocolate, hiding from everyone. But, I had to work.

The rest of my day job was fine. Nothing super exciting. It was picture day and I usually get a new shirt or dress for the occasion, but I've been so busy that I haven't even had time to do so. The horror!

I left work early and called my bff. I thought she was mad at me, but she said she wasn't. But then, when I told her I had to get off the phone about 10 minutes later (after I talked about *myself* the whole 10 minutes) she finally told me what's up: That I never call her and I only do when I have to complain about my day or something else about me. Duly noted.

10 minutes later I sent her this:

Her reply? "lol, ok."

We're good now.

Then it was grad school, and I was expecting my bad day to go out with a bang in a true, craptastic way, but it was just the opposite.

We covered guided reading today and it was great. We had great discussion. One group presented on independent reading (one of my most favorite things!)

And then, at the end of the class, it happened. We were just finishing session 7 (of 8) and a few people came up to tell me that they have really learned alot. Another person said that there's so much that they can take back to their classrooms from our class.

It was all smiles and appreciations and then laughter over this:

When I showed them this, they all grabbed their phones and took pictures of it and loved it - because it's so true. We're all stuck in the Dark Evil Vortex of Late September, October and November right now - with first year teachers somewhere between Survival and Disillusionment - so it was pretty funny to see their reaction to this graph. Funny, because it's true and we all get it.

I don't know. I just expected this day to be so awful - and it was my students who cleared the rainclouds and brought the sun back out. Thank you so much! You made my day!

Who brought happiness to you today?

It's Friday Eve and I'm off Monday! Hope you are too!

Night,

late to the currently party

Whelp, I'm very late. It's October 4th and I'm just getting to Currently, but I have been a busy girl. I was at the Illinois Reading Council (IRC) Conference in Springfield - check out my posts before this one for more on that!

But, let's get to the party - thank you to Farley for hosting all of us!

Listening to...Marley and Me
Just a movie rerun to unwind with. Got home a few hours ago and already watched my DVRed shows (Scandal and Modern Family). So now, whatever is on for some white noise in the background is good for me!

Also, this commercial is so hilar:

Loving...being back at home
Like I mentioned above, I was in Springfield for the IRC, which was great, but it's always great to get back home, too. I'm actually so tired that I don't even want to go out and watch the ASU game at Cubby Bear. So, waiting on the boyfriend to come over so we can make some dinner and watch some movies. Sounds like a perfect Saturday night to me :-)

Thinking....about seeing my mentee tomorrow
So funny thing - one of my mentees lives like two blocks from me! Tomorrow we're going to meet up and talk Writing Workshop, one of my favorite things to discuss. Plus, she's awesome so I love to hang out. Hopefully the meeting up will be at Starbucks as well!

Wanting...a Goldendoodle
I seriously still totally want the goldendoodle Dudley. If you've been following me for any length of time, you'll probably remember me mentioning this, and watching Marley and Me isn't helping much. Super love puppies and really want a dog. Crossing my fingers that it's next summer!

also: naming him Dudley!

Needing...to get the grad school class I'm teaching wrapped up
I'm about to do weeks seven and eight with my first group of graduate students. Definitely felt a lot like a first year teacher - messed up a few things, but overall good experience. Because of my screw up, I'll be grading ALOT of papers next weekend. Doesn't sound fun, but when times like this happen, I just tell myself, "This too shall pass." And when it does (ends on the 16th), grades will be due the 17th, and then I'll be leavin' on a jet plane to Vegas on the 18th. So glad I have that to look forward to!

Trick or Treat? Treat!
Well this weekend there is a blog hop going on with a bunch of Reading Specialists and Literacy Coaches - and there's a freebie at every site! You'll have to hurry - it ends tomorrow, but there's some great stuff for you, including a plot diagram organizer from me. Click here to start on my post!

That's all for me tonight!

sunday letters

It's time for the Letters Linky! Have you linked up yet? It's super easy - just write some letters to your family, friends, colleagues, or any inanimate object. Then, link your Letters blog with mine! It's a great way to wrap up the weekend and also start thinking about the week to come!

Dear Negotiations Team,
Thank for all your hard work in negotiating a new contract for us. I know it's so many hours but I really appreciate it. Especially the clause about Academic Freedom that has been written in. I'm hearing from teachers who are working in schools where every moment of their day is scripted. That's not teaching!
Best,
A proud union rep

Dear Graduate Students,
Thank you for being open to learning and trying new things. I bring Best Practices to you and encourage you to try them out in your classrooms!
Love,
Teach


Dear Boyfriend,
It's our third year two-and-a-half year anniversary this weekend - the third weekend of college football! Thank you for reminding me last night! I love everything about us and look forward to what the future brings!
Love, Dud


Dear JennieB,
Well, I did have a nice letter about how I'm not a blog bully, but then I saw this on your blog:

So it makes me happy! I'm so glad we work right across the hall from one another! You #thebest !

Hugs,
Your neighbor

not a bully! :-)

Dear Blog,
I miss you. I never have time for you anymore (well, once a week, but I think about you far more than that!) Hopefully towards the end of October I'll be less busy and we can spend more quality time together. Looking forward to it!
xo,
a barely-there blogger


Dear Chicago Weather,
It's cold and I have my heat on! I was ready for cooler temps but I was thinking I'd sleep with the windows open for a few weeks first. I did not have this in mind!
Looking forward to a warm-up!
A Confused Chicagoan

#trudat

Dear Bruce Rauner,
I know you want to pull a Scott Walker on the state of Illinois, but I'm not buying what you have to say! The dismantling of tenure and pouring more money into charter schools are not what is best for education. If I have any say in it, you will not be moving into the Illinois Executive Mansion!
Grrrr, <-- What other angry closings can I use?
Michelle

Dear Teachers,
You have to get out and vote! Please be informed and vote for what's best for teachers and students! (Out of these two, it's Quinn!) Get to the poles in November! You're registered, right?
Do it!
A very concerned teach

Dear Christina,
You were the super nice high school girl at UIC College Prep who helped me on Thursday and I just wanted to tell you that talking to you has made me think even more about teaching at the high school level! Since leaving middle school, this has been on my mind, but having a super nice conversation with you today as you helped me get my classroom unlocked was inspiring. Thanks for being so helpful and for showing me I just might love to teach older kids, too!
Excited!
A future high school teacher


Dear Buzzfeed,
I am a white girl and even though I do all of these things you mentioned, I don't consider myself 'basic,' so take it easy! I was laughing so hard reading this, and today I bought a pumpkin candle and am already planning my trip to the pumpkin patch! Don't judge me!
Sincerely,
*sophisticated* white girl

That's all for me today! Enjoy the rest of your weekend and link your letters here!

An InLinkz Link-up

five for saturday

Yesterday I was so tired I skipped my plans for the night (a wine fest!) and all I wanted to do was sleep, so even though I wanted to, no blogging either. There is definitely no tired like teacher tired at the end of the first few weeks of school!

I had a great week! Just wanted to share some of the memorable moments with you! Thanks to Doodle Bugs for hosting this weekly linky party!

Well it wasn't really happening this week at school, but today is college game day! So excited to see my ASU friends at the alumni association today. ASU is playing New Mexico - Go Devils!

My principal, our new AP, and myself all originally met at the middle school in our district - both my (current) AP and I taught 7th and 8th grade, and my principal was (then) my AP at the middle school. The three of us are all new to elementary, so you can guess there's a learning curve when you move to a different age group of kids!

Yesterday, my principal and I had to go to a meeting which was held at the middle school. Meeting was great, and then as we were walking back to the elementary school, through the halls of the middle school, where the lockers are over our heads and the kids are bigger, she says to me, "Well here we are, in the land of peace and harmony!" It was so funny - how we both feel about middle and see it as the peaceful place, when many others would hear middle and go running the other way! We're both happy to learn so much about K-5 kiddos and the ways they learn, but I know personally, I just love those middle schoolers and all their crazy antics!

At my grad school class this week, I did a read aloud and a questioning strategy demonstration. I read Amos and Boris (Steig) to my class and used voices for the mouse and whale, just like it was read to me in grad school, by one of my professors, Susanna. I remembered loving hearing that story with those voices, and just like I did, my class did too.

At first they kinda giggled to themselves as I unleashed the Amos mouse voice, and then Boris whale voice, but then, they just loved it, just like I did. We did questioning, we talked about what we thought of the book, and I think some of them might like it enough to practice it with their students. It was just so awesome to bring a room full of adults to total engagement with a mouse and whale voice. I may have sounded crazy at first, but I think they're seeing the big picture with read aloud now!

Speaking of my grad school students, just wanted to share a few things they learned this week - which were shared with me on their exit slips.

1 - "ELA is the most complex/complicated subject I will teach.

Why yes, it is! When you teach balanced literacy, it's messy and so involved. But balanced literacy is so good for kids!

2 - "Everyone's school is so different."

This came about because of a conversation about independent reading - some people in various schools (seems like charters mainly) don't have time for independent reading. I'm glad these conversations are coming up, and my hope is that my students question what's going on in their schools. I'm sharing balanced literacy as a best practice, and it makes me *so sad* that independent reading isn't a given in all schools!

3 - (something I found interesting) "Amos and Boris"

See what I mean? Read aloud + voices is so so engaging!

I really love the two teachers I'm mentoring. Building relationships is one of my fave things about teaching, so I'm glad to have two new friends this year and get to live their firsts vicariously with them. We have fun, we talk lots, and it really is a reciprocal learning experience for both of us, as I learn how to best support them, and they can come to me anytime they need - just to talk through something, to find out about school procedures, or discussion pedagogy. Good mentoring programs are really what can keep teachers in education, and I feel thankful for an awesome mentoring program in D100!

That's all for me this week! Have a fab weekend and enjoy the first fall weekend of football!

Cheers!

currently

So what should I be doing right now? Reading and planning for the graduate class I'm teaching. But what am I *actually* doing? Yep, blogging. I'm sorry! I just can't help it! Who's with me on that one?

Once again, it's the first of the month (hahhaaaa....singing a little Bone Thugs N Harmony in my head for a quick second!) But anyways, it's time for writing up our Currentlys with Farley! Big thanks for hosting this partay, Farley...I look forward to it every month!

So first, listening to Taylor Swift

Not sure when I'm ever going to grow out of her stuff, but I love her new song, Shake It Off. It's a great reminder to just let some of the things go that you can't control...like, what other people think? Plus, I love the video (actually except for the picture right there on the front of the video) but love the cheerleaders, love all the dancing people...just love it!

moving on...
Loving all the new bloggers in my district! 
My mentees are writing, Rachel, the teacher who was my opposite Language Arts teacher at the middle school is writing, another science teacher at middle is writing, more of the reading specialists and literacy coaches are writing... it's just awesome! Check out this video that I made to present at our opening Institute Day - it highlights all 30 of our bloggers and shares why we do it! You just might find a few new blogs to follow!

Thinking about....

the Windy City Wine Festival

It's next Friday and Saturday and it's at the Buckingham Fountain. Pay $30 and get 12 tastings, plus there's food and probably music, too. Us Chicagoans have to enjoy every moment of beautiful weather before we're in the thick of another Polar Vortex, so next Friday night, you can find me there! Can't wait!

Wanting to...

enjoy the weekend and be stress-free

So I know saying yes to teaching this grad school class was the right thing - for my resume, for my love of all things literacy, for my love of teaching my own students again. But, I have never done it before, and am creating everything as I go this first time. So all weekend long, while I'm at the beach, I'm worrying about getting things done. While I'm at dinner on Saturday night, thinking about getting up early to get things done. While I'm at Luke Bryan concert last night....okay well, def not thinking about it then, but it's just like being a first year teacher again in some ways. So what do I decide to do now? Write a blog. And think about the work I *should* be doing. Oh well. If you frequent my blog at all, you know this is totally me:

On a positive note, though, I did finish all the AIMS Web work I had to do this weekend! That counts for something, right? :-)

Needing to....

get rid of this cold!

It's already going around at school. A fifth grade teacher had it last week and went home on Friday and I have had it all weekend. Stuffy head, sore throat, cough. Not cool. Not used to being around all those little kids and their germs! I need some EmergenC, stat!

Three Trips

Oh yes, this is fun. Just went on my first trip to Europe this summer so I now have lots of new places I want to see, including España, wine country in Italy (are you sensing a pattern?!) and Hawaii. Next summer, the plan is to take it easy - probably a week with my family in Florida, and then I'm hoping for two weeks in California: One week with my bff from Phoenix and then another week with the boyfriend (he's never been to the west coast!) I'm planning next big European trip for 2017! I. LOVE. to TRAVEL!

So that's all for me here this month! Thanks for stopping by! I host a linky every other Sunday - the Letters blog - if you're interested. I just posted it yesterday and it stays open for two weeks until the next. Check it out and deliver your letters if you want to join the fun!

Have a great September!

five for friday - and it's on time!

Oohhhhheeeemmmmgeee! Blogging world, how I've missed you! It's been since - well, last Friday I guess, when I posted Five for Friday late. But I'm back again for more, so here's a peek into the last week - see what I've been up to!

First thing - I have a problem. With stapelers. Also I can't spell stapelers. Spell Check? Okay: staplers. Better. Moving on....my roommie at school got a beautiful new stapeler. (uuuggg, spelled wrong. Again!) Anyways, it' s gold. GOLD. and guess who broke it? Yep, sure did. Not sure how...wasn't being negligent. But broke it. So I'll be buying her one this weekend - hopefully I can find the gold one. 

Why yes I do. And it's broken.

Which reminded me that I broke another person's stapler a few weeks ago. So, GE, you've got one coming, too!

From now on, I'm keeping my stapling hands to myself!

Am I the only one who has a problem with kinders doing a standardized test? On a computer? This one is just practice, I guess, and I know it's the culture of the whole education system right now in our country. But it makes me so sad, like, it makes my heart hurt. Our district is 1:1 and we are so lucky for that. Kinders are going to be getting their iPads soon and doing awesome work with great apps to help them read, do math, and learn together. But more than likely, our kinders will first be exposed to their iPads for a standardized test. This is education in 2014. It not only makes me sad, but scares the hell out of me.

If it were up to me - no multiple-choice, bubble tests till third grade. No questions. So Arne, if you're reading up tonight, give me a ring.

Scary that this is what *they* think!

I had a craft night this week on Tuesday and made this:

It's a deco mesh wreath and got the idea from another blogger this summer who linked up with me. My wreath turned out huge, but I love it. I don't think it's perfect, but my girlfriends came over, we drank wine, and crafted. Liz said, "We should have a monthly craft night - like a book club, but make stuff!" To which my other friend, Kristy, said, "Yeah it's just like book club, totally! But without all that stupid reading!" So, we had fun, Kristy has no plans for reading, and I've got some school spirit on my front door! :-)

(also: ASU won their first game, which I missed, because I was teaching grad school! More to come on that...keep on reading!)

I love my mentees. I always do.  Mentoring is one of my favorite things...I love hanging out and building relationships and living vicariously thought their experiences with them. This week I was just so impressed with so much - their mini-lessons, their problem solving, the way they are already becoming such reflective practitioners. And, then I went to yoga tonight with one of them and it was a great way to spend my Friday evening!

I taught my first grad school class this week. Mostly it was fun and productive, but I could also feel the first year teacher jitters and the inexperience (with this age group) creeping up. The best parts of the night were the active engagement ones - when we did Writing Workshop, when we used some Kagan structures to share, when they got to talk about their literacy attitudes. I did get the most nervous when I was doing some lecturing on the Cueing Systems and Balanced Literacy. Not to self: Keep everything active next week! But, I'm so excited to get to know a new group of people and add a new experience to my resume!

Hopefully this is not applicable, but just funny! :-)

So that's all....but I'll be back on Sunday for the Letters blog. I'm writing that blog every other week on Sunday and this week is the week! So, get your letters ready to share, and hope you'll come back and link up! :-)

Happy Friday! Enjoy the long weekend! And thanks to Doodle Bugs for the link up! If you like Five for Friday - check it out and link your blog!