New Thing: Battle of the Books

This year, we had a student transfer in midway through the year and ask if our school did Battle of the Books.

What's that, I asked?

Turns out, Battle of the Books is a trivia competition held in schools all over the nation. She had competed in prior years and was interested in doing it this year, if we offered it. After talking to my language arts teacher and visiting with my son's librarian who runs one at their school, we decided to try it out.

In January, I did a mock competition using popular YAL books, and then I explained the competition and invited students to participate. I ended up with four teams of 4-5 kids per team, plus a teacher team made up of colleagues and the school librarian. We used the William Allen White Award list, which I gave the kids, and they ran with it, dividing up books and getting started. Teams met every few weeks to report on progress, swap books, quiz each other, and encourage each other. On the last Monday of school, we dueled.

We held the contest on the last Monday of school during my class. Two teams were eliminated in Round 1, one in Round 2, and Round 3 was a face-off between the winning student team, and the teacher team you see above. We brought the whole team in for this (I gave my camera to a kid sitting on the first row…there are 100 kids behind her), and set up in the library during EO. Although I'm sorry to report that we lost, I am thrilled to report that the winning team was EVEN SHORT A PLAYER (she puked three times the night before) and they still beat us. It was a great game and a great experience! I plan to repeat it next year!

Book: To Kill A Mockingbird

To Kill a Mockingbird
by Harper Lee

Length: 376 pages

Format: Paperback
Price: $6.79 on Amazon

How I heard about it: I read it my freshman year of high school, but since we decided to take our seventh graders to a stage version, I thought it was a good time reread.

Basic Premise: Scout Finch's childhood in the 1930s in Maycomb, Alabama with her older brother Jem is full of fun, games and mischief, including spying on the reclusive neighbor, Boo Radley. But when her lawyer-father agrees to represent a black man in a notorious trial, Scout begins to understand that life isn't all fun and games.

My Take: 9 out of 10 (scale here)
In the fourth quarter, we teach a unit called "Guided by a Cause." In this unit we explore all sorts of issues and activists, and when we heard the local theatre was doing a production of this book, we jumped at it. Feeling that I should give the kids some background, prepared a prezi explaining the context and introducing Harper Lee and her characters and settled in to reread the book. I half read, half listened to Sissy Spacek's audio version through Hoopla. I really enjoyed listening, because she has a southern accent and it was easy to imagine Scout saying the same things in the same way. Regardless of the method, I was glued to this book from the moment I started. I bawled my eyes out at the end. WHAT a story. And the fact that  Lee, a white woman from the South, wrote it when she did (published in 1960), is all the more remarkable. The play was outstanding, and the kids LOVED it. I cried twice. What a story!

Book: Uprising

Uprising

by Margaret Peterson Haddix

Length: 352

Format: Paperback
Price: $6.99, Amazon Prime

How I heard about it: Our students will read an excerpt of it in the coming unit, so I decided to read it.

Basic Premise: A historical fiction set in the early 1900s, this story follows two immigrant Triangle Factory workers and one high-society debutante as they navigate their way through the strike and Triangle factory fire of 1911 in New York City.

My Take: 8.5 out of 10 (scale here)

The only reason I didn't give this book a higher rating was because of its slow start. It didn't pick up until around page 100. Once I got there, I finished in a day and a half. (One night I stayed up till 12:30 reading...ooops). I remember studying this fire in 8th grade and watching a documentary, but otherwise I knew nothing about this event. It was beautiful artistic and heart-wrenching read. I purchased instead of checking it out from the library because I wanted to have a copy on my shelf for kids. I think they will get caught up in the story and want to read the whole thing!

The Worst Thing about Teaching

At varying times during my almost ten years of teaching, I would have said one of these was the worst thing about teaching:

• dealing with unreasonable parents
• not being able to have a real lunch break and get out of the building
• having to do twice the amount of work to be gone instead of just being gone like normal people
• PAPERWORK
•  knowing what a kid needs but not being able to give it to him because of time, space, lack of programs, etc.

But the worst thing about teaching is not on this list. The worst thing about teaching is saying goodbye.

I said goodbye to #1 at the end of my second year. She had taken me under her wing when I started, which was in the middle of the school year. I had no idea what I was doing, and she kindly and gently guided me through the grade book system, the attendance program, the SIT process, how to be a contributing member of a team, etc. She was the one who ran our team. When she left, I was sad and apprehensive about her replacement.

I said goodbye to #2 three years later. She was kind, quiet, sweet, organized (almost to a fault) and dependable. She was the one in team meeting with impeccable notes. worked hard, loved kids, and was a very good teacher. It was hard to see her go, and again, I was apprehensive about the new teacher coming in.

#3, which happened two yeas after that, was rough. He was my team content teacher - he taught Language Arts, I taught reading. We collaborated many times throughout the year. He was the one who kept the mood light on our team, constantly coming up with double meanings to words and phrases (example: "I'll PLC you later," accompanied by a cheesy grin and a finger point). I knew when he left it was going to be hard. Indeed, on his last day I remember delaying coming back to the pod and hoping he had left already. He hadn't. He had waited for me to say goodbye. I remember crying when he hugged me, crying when I watched him walk out the front door, and crying all the way home.

When I really think about #4, it's hard not to tear up, even though it's been more than two years since she left. At first I didn't think we'd ever be friends, but by the time she was ready to move on, I counted (and still count) her among my very best of friends. She was good with kids, good with content, and great as a team player. She had good ideas, a good memory, and a great knack for keeping us on track and productive in team. I often found myself in her room during plan time and we ate lunch together almost every day. When I realized that her leaving was a possibility, I remember feeling sick at my stomach. Indeed, our math teacher told me, "I feel like I should get her a congratulations card and you a sympathy card." That is exactly how it felt. I knew she was doing the right thing for her, and that probably should have made things easier, but it didn't. I remember walking down to her room on the last day and hugging her. We both cried and then took this walk of sorrow down the hall and out the door. I sobbed the whole way home and for the several days. And I still miss her CONSTANTLY.

I'm not sure how to talk about #5. #5 is a rarity among teachers. A 32 year long teaching career. Been in the district forever and been in the building since it was built. Seen generations of kids come through (including mine). Knows the name of every staff member, including the night custodians, past and present. Knows every person in town and their grandma and their dog's name. As a team member, he was our encourager. He wrote little notes and put them in our boxes. He would send emails constantly telling us what great jobs we were doing. One time he felt bad about a comment he made so he brought me donuts the next morning. He brought our kids gifts at Christmas and sometimes would just swing by the house to check on us. His enthusiasm was constant. He noticed things about kids that we would have never picked up on. He kept EVERYTHING, so we could always ask for the schedule we used last year, or the order we used for the PR party, or whatever. He was always telling kids that this was going to be their best year ever. He was always telling kids that today was going to be their best DAY ever. And kids believed him. He made kids feel like they were important, like they were good, like they could do anything. As has become my habit, I put off my goodbye until I was ready to leave. I started bawling before I even left my classroom. By the time I made it to his, I was in full-fledged break-down-sobbing mode. He hugged me, told me what a great teacher and mom I was, and told me that next year is going to be the best year ever.

Isn't there some sort of principle that says things get easier each time you do it? It definitely doesn't apply to losing co-workers. And co-workers isn't the right phrase. It's like losing a hand, or an arm, better yet. The older I get and the more people with whom I work, the more I find that having people you love and trust working with you in your efforts to do what is best for kids is a rarity. A luxury. The best place to be. Every person on this list has gone on to do greater things in their lives. Things that were right for them, their families, and their careers. I am happy for them and their successes, as they have all been and will continue to be wonderful in their new jobs.

But this is most definitely the worst thing about teaching.

Book: If You Find Me

If You Find Me

by Emily Murdoch

Length: 245 pages

Format: Hardback
Price: Checked out from the public library

How I heard about it: my awesome YAL conference

Basic Premise: Carey doesn't remember much before her meth-addict mother dragged her and her baby sister into the woods to live in a camper, completely cut off from civilization.  When she and her sister are found, after nearly a decade of living on their own in the woods, Carey is returned to her father, who she always believed had run out on them.  But no matter what he and his new wife do to prove to Carey that they love her, there is no way they would if they knew The Secret.

My Take: 6.5 out of 10 (scale here)

I thought this was one of those books with great potential.  It dealt with some pretty heavy stuff - this girl's mother was PSYCHO.  She would leave for months at a time, and in the winter when it was bitter cold, she would only ocassionally remember to bring them food, so they had to learn to hunt squirrel and rabbit to eat, and she would do just about anything for money or meth, including selling her daughters to the highest bidder.  So by the time this girl was found, she had been exposed to more than most adults.  That was serious.  But there were parts, like the exaggerated and immature step-sister and the hunkiest boy in school who happened to be attracted to her INSTEAD of the step-sister, which made the novel feel like a superficial teenage drama.  I didn't feel like those moments meshed well.  I also was not a huge fan of the writing style.  The language and word usage are similar to Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse, but without the poetic momentum.  I found myself skimming instead of reading - which I NEVER do.  I am a read-every-single-word-on-the-page reader.

Like nearly all the books I've read this summer, it is not a book to recommend to my kids at school.

Moving On

Last year was officially the most difficult school year of my career.  I was gone for 3 and a half months with baby issues and we had the most challenging group of kids yet.  I also lost Lindsey.  It was a really, really rough year.

This year was rough, but for non-kid related reasons.  We ended up with quite a bit of personnel change on our team and it definitely took it's toll on me.  Yesterday I was trying to decide why I had no stress about the end of the school year this year.  And then I remembered that the ends of the last two years had been punctuated by terrible departures.  Two years ago, we lost Luke, our Language Arts teacher.  I was devastated.  I was pregnant, so that didn't help matters, but I bawled like a little baby when he left.

Thank the Good Lord Cindy is still here!

And then last year it was Lindsey.  If I thought losing Luke was bad, this was heart-breaking.  I cried for days up until it happened, and then I cried all afternoon and the whole way home.  It was awful.  So awful I'm going to just move on right now.

BUT!  I survived!  There were definitely moments when I didn't think I was going to.  There were definitely moments when I missed these two people more than I could ever imagine.  We have had struggles with our team this year that I could have never anticipated.  BUT! We made it.  I made it.  It is a small kind of personal accomplishment to slam the book shut on this school year and move on!

New Thing: IN CHARGE at the Talent Show

For the last few years, I've helped with our middle school talent show.  I agreed to do so again this year.  And then the lady who does everything got sick and was out for the rest of the week.  Guess who was promoted to captain of the ship?

That's right.  This girl.

I had a few things working in my favor.  The first was that I had helped for several years and I had a good idea of what needed to be done.  The second one was that I had GREAT people to work with, and they all knew what they were doing.  And lastly, when all this went down and I realized I was the one in charge, it happened to be the two days my students were in the computer lab typing their final assessments, so I had time to make lists, send emails, and print stuff, and then stay after school until 6 PM.  That was a God thing.

I feel like there are lots of things I could talk about.  I could talk about the kid who wasn't prepared for his audition, first rehearsal, or dress rehearsal, and then didn't actually perform the act as it appeared in the show until the show (I would like to note that I cut this kid 3 times and it was NOT my idea to let him stay in.)  I could talk about the poor girl who got up on stage, looked out at the audience, and froze like a popsicle, unable to summon the courage she needed until one of her teachers (not Lara and me, who were frozen on the front row, paralyzed with "what-the-heck-do-we-do-now?" fear) gently approached her with words of encouragement.  I could talk about the other poor girl, who started out the show to a song she wasn't prepared to sing (we got it figured out - the sound guy put in the wrong CD, but the poor thing! She was mortified).  Those would be the glitches.

But instead, I'm just going to try to learn what I can from the experience.  In the past, I feel like I have been a good encourager at the show - a person who builds kids up, gives them helpful pointers, and smiles my face off on the front row while they are performing.  This year, I feel like maybe I was a bad one.  I was completely stressed about all the things I was (newly) in charge of, and I think I forgot to try to make it fun for kids.  Instead, I was trying to keep things organized and moving quickly.  If I am ever in charge again, I feel like I need to find a better balance.  Because ultimately, when the lights go up (and the light guy did eventually master that...eventually), it's okay if they entered from the right instead of the left, or if they tripped over a mic cord (those stupid things), or if they forgot to move the mic stand.  It's really just about kids showing another side of themselves, be it the dancing side, the singing side, the piano/violin/viola-playing side, the juggling side, or the Gollum/Smeagol impersonation side - the side that we normally don't showcase at school.

Props to those kids.

Book: The Giver

The Giver

by Lois Lowry

Length: 180 pages

Format: Hardback
Price: Free - borrowed from school

Basic Premise: Jonas, an 11-year-old boy, and all in his community are kind, respectful, hardworking, and happy.  When Jonas and his peers turn twelve, they receive their long awaited job assignments which will last them until the end of their days.  When Jonas is named "Receiver of Memory" he begins to understand that all in his world is not quite so well as he had once believed.

My Take: 9 out of 10 (scale here) 

I remember this book from elementary school because my 4th grade teacher read us The Wish Giver right around the time this book came out.  I got the two confused and went through high school thinking I had read The Giver.  When I had to (what I thought was) reread in college, I realized I had never read this book.  I would have remembered this one.

It was published in 1993 by Lois Lowry, the author of my beloved Number the Stars.  It's really a dystopian novel about 15 years before dystopia got cool. But why did I reread this book in the midst of my mad dash to finish all the books still left on my list?  Because my Language Arts teacher and I did something I've never done before - we flipped classes for a day - she taught my literature circle discussion and I read chapters 11-13 out loud to her kids.  And ohmygoodness.  I forgot what a good book this is.  I got to read *spoiler alert* the part where the reader learns that these people cannot see color.  Kids were freaking out all over the place.  The book had only referred to people's "light" and "dark" eyes - not blue and brown.  The kids realized they had assumed.  They were like, "Mrs. Stones, we need more sticky notes."  It was awesome.  I decided I had to pick it back up, so I read chapters 1-10 and skipped to 14 to the end.  I read it in two days, and that was over lunch and after my kids went to sleep.  I found myself wishing I was teaching this novel.  There are layers upon layers upon layers of meaning, and the kids were eating it up.  Props to our Language Arts teacher for priming these kids!

Lessons from Teaching and Upward Basketball

A few weeks ago I attended the high school boys' basketball game on Friday and enjoyed watching many former students play on your court.  The next morning I headed to church to work Upward Basketball.

When I arrived at the church on Saturday, I noticed a knot of high school aged boys in the bleachers.  As I approached, I saw that several of my former students who are basketball players were in this group.  To be honest, I was a little bewildered.  What was a group of high school boys doing at a church on a Saturday watching a kid's basketball game?

I walked over to say hi, and then I asked the boy nearest me that very question.  He pointed to the boy on the court wearing the number five and said, "That's our ball boy, Preston. We came to cheer for him."

As I looked into the faces of those boys in those bleachers - these boys who are leaving boyhood and rapidly approaching manhood - I felt an overwhelming sense of pride and hope.  Pride because these boys could be doing anything.  They are talented, popular, and in high school.  Their free time is in high demand.  And yet, here they are, investing in a young kid.  Hope, because I have wondered, particularly at this point in the school year, if teaching is worth it.  There are long hours, there are angry parents, there are difficult kids, there are endless meetings, there is little time, the list goes on.  Why teach?

Those boys answered that question for me that morning. We are training up kids to be leaders...and they are learning it.  Because at the end of the day, it really doesn't matter whether they learned the capital of Brazil, or how to spell mitochondria, or what mitochondria is.  What matters is their character.  Who they are going to choose to be? What are they going to do when no one is looking? How will what they do help to impact and shape the lives of those around them?  I don't mind saying that I shed a few tears as I drove away, thinking about that boy on the court, and what he must feel like knowing that he had the high school boys basketball team cheering for him, and thinking about how proud I am of those boys.  I congratulate those boys, not on their performance on the court on Friday, but on their performance off of it, because ultimately, that is where it really counts.

Hats off to that coach and to those fine young men.

Out-of-Town Conference

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending a conference in Oklahoma City for the Oklahoma Middle Level Educators Association.  To be honest, my expectations were relatively low.  I wasn't looking forward to writing sub plans and leaving my kids with my husband for three days.  But as it turned out, it was a GREAT experience.

First of all, we stayed in the hotel where the conference was being held, which was VERY nice and convenient.  Second, they started everything off by a super-energetic performance from their middle school choir.  Can you see them in the picture?  They are standing all around the room dancing. Yes, I said dancing.

You can't tell from this picture, but there were probably 50-60 members of this choir.  I counted 10 boys.  No surprise there.

The theme was "I Teach...I Am a Superhero!" and it was fabulous. I went to several break out sessions.  One was called "The ABCs of DoK in ELA" (to non-ed folk, that's "Depth of Knowledge" and "English/Language Arts").  It focused more on assessment than I was hoping (and, for anyone who cares, Oklahoma, like Kansas, opted to NOT to go through their government-funded consortia, in their case PARCC), but I still found it mildly relevant.  It was interesting to talk to Oklahoma teachers and get a feel for what their concerns were...which was assessment.  I went to another break out on the 5 Es of lesson planning, but I wish I would have skipped that one and gone to the one called "Teaching the African American Male Student."  The girl I was with said she cried, it was so good and moving and necessary.  The best break out session I attended was on questioning techniques, and I am going to implement the principals the second I return to class.  SOOOOO good.  I may do a post just on that.

Our keynote speaker addressed the most important thing teachers need to hear this time of year - RELATIONSHIPS.  He talked about the "emotional bank account" and how every interaction with a student is either a deposit or a withdrawal.  He gave us a honking list of ways to make deposits with both students and co-workers.  Most of what he said was stuff I had already heard, but in the context of dating and marriage relationships, not student-teacher relationships.  I felt like a warped, cracked sponge just soaking up all of this watery, renewing encouragement.  It was EXACTLY what this teacher needed at the end of February.

And...here are the super-cool t-shirts!  Mine was pretty baggy...considering ordering a SMALL the next time I get a shirt!  We'll see :)

A HUGE thank you to my principal and fellow super-heroes for a great experience!

And...as a side-note, we got to meet the director of the CIA!  His name is John Brennan and Brian thought he was a sportscaster.  He got him to sign his copy of National Geographic anyway.  Being the head spy is pretty cool too.

Kindle Book: The Testing

THE Testing

by Joelle Charbonneau

Length: 344 pages

Format: Kindle Book
Price: $2.99

Author Website: http://joellecharbonneau.com/

Basic Premise: After the 7 Stages of War have rendered the world stagnant and stripped of all its former glory, those who remain are attempting to reestablish a flourishing community and country by appointing leaders, but only those who can pass The Testing.  But no one seems to know much about what actually takes place in the testing, as the only ones who return are those who pass, and they can't remember.

My Take: 9 out of 10 (scale here)
I really really really liked this book.  I liked the writing style, the unpredictable plot, and, most importantly in my opinion, the characterization.  I liked the protagonist.  Like so many dystopian protagonists, she is female.  But unlike so many, she is extremely intelligent, not at all cocky, knows her own heart and mind, and is and in no way involved in a love triangle.  All pluses in my book.  There was the perfect amount of depth to the characters - enough that I felt I knew them, but not so much that I could anticipate their moves.  I got to the end and was immediately desperate to know when the next book would be released.  A 10 second Internet search told me January 7, 2014.  Only 9 more days.  Good.

I told my husband about this book.  Immediately he asked, "Is it as good as The Hunger Games?" Ugh.  I get why he asked, and why my students will probably ask when I tell them about this book.  Probably, the answer is no, though I did read a few reviews that disagreed.  There are many things about this book that make it Hunger Games-ish, but I think it's important to acknowledge that, while The Hunger Games has sort of become the icon of dystopian YAL, it's not the only book, and nor should it be.  There are lots of other books out there that are really really good. And while I don't want to compare the two books, there are many similarities between the circumstances under which I read both:

1. They were recommended at the same book conference by the same woman, though 5 years apart.
2. Both books were appealing to me because I could see the faces of kids in my classes who I knew would like these books.
3. This same woman said both books were very good and would grow quickly in popularity.
4. I finished both in under 48 hours.

I shared my list of books that I wanted to read after attending the conference with some of my high readers on the Thursday before break.  The next day, one of them came to me and said she had purchased this book, was already several chapters in, and was hooked.  I can't wait to talk to her and see what she thought.  I also can't wait to get a hold of some copies for my classroom!

Book: March: Book 1

March: Book One

by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, & Nate Powell

Length: 121 pages

Format: Paperback
Price: $6.99

Basic Premise: This graphic novel follows John Lewis through the early stages of his life and fight for equality as one of the key players in the Civil Rights Movement in Tennessee.

My Take: 9 out of 10 (scale here)

In this post, I mentioned this book as one I was really excited to read.  My principal interest in it is its subject matter - the Civil Rights Movement.  We are looking at new resources for next year and this looked like it might be a good addition to our unit.  It arrived from Amazon today and, I'll be honest - I was bummed when I opened this book and realized it was a graphic novel.  I HATE COMIC BOOKS.  But, as my students love them, they are becoming increasingly more popular, and I had already forked over the money for this one, I settled in to read anyway.  About 35 minutes later, I finished.  It took me awhile to hit a "groove," but once I did, the pictures weren't nearly as distracting as they were in the beginning.  The story is familiar, of course, but the format and viewpoint made this seem like it was new.  It references several things our students study, including the murder of Emmett Till and the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and presented good vocabulary.  I actually really liked it, and I think students would, too.  It's the first installment of what will be a trilogy.

On a teacher note, I wrote to the publishers because I couldn't find a lexile level on this book.  They wrote back saying they don't have that info :( but they do have a free 11-page guide to teaching the novel, which can be downloaded here.

YAL Book Conference

Can I please have a moment for my love of YAL (Young Adult Literature)?  I don't know if it's because I work with young adults, or because I've tried my hand at adult books and just don't like them, or because my maturity level just sort of camps here, but I love them.  LOVE them.

I went to my favorite book conference this week.  I don't know how she does it, but this woman reads a book a day.  AND she still has a job in the schools - high school librarian.  The companion book for the conference is more than 200 pages long.  It contains more than 300 titles all published in 2013.  The companion book was due to BER from her in October.  And THEN, she gave us a supplementary sheet with titles she's read SINCE October, kicking the total number up to 355.  That is crazy-sauce.  But also, WAY awesome-sauce.

I think I wanted to read every book on her list, but I settled for these 20:

• Cinder by Marissa Meyer (the sequel is actually the one that came out this year, but I thought I'd start with this one)
• Vote by Gary Paulsen
• The Compound by S.A. Bodeen (another book with a sequel that came out this year)
• Just One Day by Gayle Forman - this one has a companion novel that also came out in 2013 called Just One Year. The premise is a girl meets a guy while she's in Europe, has a whirlwind romance for 24 hours, and then he disappears, leaving her heartbroken.  Just one Year is the boy's side of the story, because (apparently) what caused him to disappear was more than just a whim.  I really want to read this one. I tried to get this at B&N the other day, but I only had $10 and this was $18 :(

•  Ettiquitte and Espionage by Gail Carriger
• Island of Thieves by Josh Lacey
• The Testing by Joelle Charbonneau - THIS one looks awesome.  I book talked it to some students Thursday and one of them went home, bought it at B&N, and was already into it when she came to school yesterday.  She said it's awesome.  Check out the book trailer here.  (Another cool thing I learned - publishing companies are making book trailers for books because they are so effective with young people - cool!)
• Maggot Moon by Sally Gardner
• The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey - also a book with a trailer
• Rose Under Fire by Elizabeth Wein - a Hollocaust book, so I am interested already.

• Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
• Imprisoned by Martin W. Sandler - this is a non-fiction text (or should I say, "explanatory") about Japanese internment...yikes!
• The President Has Been Shot by James Swanson - also an explanatory, this time about the assassination of JFK
• March by John Lewis - I'm particularly excited about this explanatory book because it's about Civil Rights.  Since we are picking new resources at school and we think? we are going to be able to keep this unit next year, I'm eager to check this one out.  In fact, I took a break from typing this to put it in my Amazon cart. :)

•  The Vine Basket by Josanne La Valley - I'm particularly interested in this one because it's a multicultural title from China
• The Tragedy Paper by Elizabeth LaBan
• Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell - the speaker said about this author, "If there's anyone who can corner the John Green market, it's this lady."
• If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch
• Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan
• This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith - this one looked like an adorable love story.  I looked for it at B&N too, but couldn't find it, so I settled for another one by the same author, which I started Thursday night :)

I would say this is my reading list for the next few months, but at the rate I've been reading lately, it would really have to be more like the next year.  It also may be difficult to get ahold of many of these titles.  Because they are so new, most of them are only in hardback, making them expensive to purchase, and there aren't many used copies available.  I will start with the library and go from there.

12 Days of Reflection - #8: Work

 Decision #8 - Return to work in August.

I don't know that this qualifies as a decision, per se - I really had no option in this case.  But I'm including it because I made a choice to want to return to work.

I have no qualms about calling last school year the worst and most difficult of my career.  It started on September 5th when I went on bed rest and missed nearly three months of key time with my students.  It resumed on December 3rd when I returned to work.  I had just experienced one of the most trying and difficult times of my life with the birth of my premature baby, and here I return to school with the most challenging group of kids with which I'd ever dealt.  But I can't blame it all on the kids. I was tired, emotionally exhausted, and, to be frank, grouchy.  I was struggling with kids, co-workers, changes in my curriculum, and, as the end of the year approached, the realization that my best friend and closest co-worker was going to be leaving me.  Cap the whole experience with a perfect summer with my kiddos, and you end up with me really really really wishing I didn't have to go back to work.  Dreading August 6th.

So after a brief time of mourning, I made a decision.  I was going to be excited about the school year.  No more of this wishing things were different.  It wouldn't change anything and it just served to sour my mood.  So I decided to be excited about the school year.  I just reread the blog post I wrote right before the beginning of the school year.  I think I sound more excited than I actually was, but it worked.  It was a very good decision because my heart is in the right place, and one of the goals I wrote down was "be content to bloom (happily, not grudgingly) where God has placed me."  And, even though this year has been full of unexpected happenings and frustrations in its own right, I am trying to remember that my only real job is to love kids, and, unfortunate though it may be, I think that's where the biggest change has taken place.  I tend to get so caught up in the extra stuff that comes with teaching, but this is where my heart needs to be.  And it's a lot easier to do when I'm not fighting against the circumstance.

Normalcy PLEASE!

The picture board by my desk. It makes me happy. :)

One of the most difficult things about August is reestablishing routine.  Training my son to get up early.  Remembering to get everything out and packed the night before.  Meal prep with 1/16th of the time I used to have. Adjusting to being away from my kids.

And at school.  Bringing my meals.  Getting the first thing and agenda on the board before the bell.  Getting to the office to check my box and get ice before 1st hour.  Getting a to-do list together during lunch.  Running team meetings that accomplish everything we have to do in just 40 minutes. And so on and on.

The good news?  The first week was GREAT!  We seem to have a good crop of kids (though the honeymoon is still happening) and I'm really looking forward to Open House next week.  Yep - I'm that teacher who likes Open House.  I love being able to make contact with parents early in the year because I believe that it ultimately makes my job easier.

And can we have a moment for being 35 lbs lighter at the start of the school year?  I've had students from last year come down and say, "You look-" and then they stop, like they are trying to decide whether it's rude to say I look like I've lost weight.  I've been finishing for them by saying, "It's the hair," and smiling.

One week down.  35 more to go. :)

Advice on Becoming a Teacher

When I posted this about going back to school, I received a comment in which the reader asked, "Do you have any advice on becoming a teacher?"  And since I love to give advice and am passionate about public schooling and teaching, I thought I'd post some of the things I think are most important when considering a career in education.  And, since I know most of my reader base are already educators, I invite you to weigh in in the comments section if you are :)

Let's start with a few guiding questions.

• Are you a good time-manager?
• Do you like to be busy?  Like, don't-have-time-to-pee busy?
• Are you a good people-person?
• Are you unlikely to confront people or problems?
• Do you have trouble multi-tasking?
• Do you have problems surrendering your own ideas in favor of ideas that may seem, well, stupid, for the sake of commonality and peace?
• Do you have a good memory?
• Are you in the habit of living your life in ways young people can and should emulate?
• Do you have a loud voice?
• Are you able to keep your cool in stressful situations?
• Are you a natural leader?
• Are you tech-savvy, or willing to become so with little to no training or resources?
• Are you willing to put in ten hour plus days with no overtime?
• Are you willing to pour your heart into kids, many of whom will not appreciate it and maybe even resent you for it?
• Do you get hurt or offended easily?
• Are you organized and responsible enough to keep track of 351 things at once?
• Are you easy to work with?
• Are you energetic?
• Are you able to remove or apply emotion at will and adequately assess what situations require which?
• Are you willing to take work home?

There are so many things required of us as teachers.  As an engineer, my husband can go into work, sit at a desk, maybe talk to ten people all day, and perform his job to its fullest extent.  As a teacher, you never sit, you talk to a hundred people - maybe more - and you never feel like you have performed your job to it's fullest extent.  There is always something you should have done differently, something you forgot, something you wish you had said.

The other part of this is the reality that teaching itself is only one small piece of the pie.  This is something they don't teach you in college.  Of the 480 minutes in my duty day, only 230 are devoted to actual class time.  The rest is supervision (bus duty, passing time), meetings (team, SIT, IEPs, parent, PLCs, faculty, etc), communications, technology, lesson planning, making copies, gathering materials, working with kids who are behind, generating handouts, worksheets, projects, you name it.  It's like the ice cube in the cup.  The part above the water is what happens in class and the part below, which is the huge part, is what happens "behind the scenes," so to speak.

And teaching is rough.  Kids who are mean and disrespectful to you and others.  Co-workers who don't pull their weight.  Teaching a lesson that flops and realizing they didn't get it and now you have to start again from scratch.  Administrators who don't support teachers.  Parents who tell you how to do your job, which essentially means requiring their kid to do nothing because that's what they do at home.  Providing free and appropriate public education without the funds to fully and correctly implement it.  Kids who feel safer at school than at home.  Working late and missing spending time with your own family.  Awkward and angry parent/teacher conferences.  And so on and so on and so on.

But for every negative, there are multiple positives.  Kids who do their work, for instance.  Co-workers who love and support you.  A card or gift from a parent saying that they appreciate your work.  A kid who drew you a picture (yes, even in middle school).  The "aha!" moment, when the kids GET IT.  A fabulous, fabulous piece of writing.  A kid helping another kid.  Smiles.  Waves.  Weird quirks.  Whole class laughter because the kid used dish soap instead of hand soap and flooded the sink and counter with bubbles.  Because when the kid delivered his speech he gave an involuntary burp in the middle of the word "plagiarism."  Because the teacher accidentally said "the grant and the asshopper" instead of "the ant and the grasshopper."

Because while there is nothing particularly special about reading, or science, or social studies, there is something extraordinarily special about relationships.  And ultimately, that is what all of teaching - and life, really - comes to.  Investing in
students.
writers.
readers.
mathematicians.
athletes.
loners.
bullies.
neglected sons and daughters.
leaders.
followers.
fighters.
outcasts.
the hopeless.
the confident.
the confused.
the hurt.
the down-trodden.
the loveable.
the unloveable.

If you can focus on these.
If you can manage all that other stuff as secondary - important, but secondary.
If you can fix your eyes on relationships, you can be successful, effective, and fulfilled as a teacher.

My two cents. :)

Bring on the SCHOOL YEAR!

Before we dive into the school year, let's get one thing straight - the end of the summer and the start of the school year are NOT the same thing.  The end of summer is sad, difficult, and fairly tragic.  The start of the school year is energizing, exciting, and full of anticipation.  They are very different situations, which means I can be both devastated about the end of summer and pumped for the start of school at the same time.

Summer has been AMAZING.  I have had time to clean my house, prepare GOOD food, spend quality time with my children, go fun places, throw things together with only a few hours' notice, etc.  Like I said, amazing.  And waving bye-bye to it is sad.  It's okay to be sad about the end of the summer.

But I am excited about the beginning of the school year!  We have always had a fabulous group of kids.  Last year was the roughest, but I attribute some of that to the fact that I missed three months with them at the beginning of the school year, which is key relationship-building time.  I struggled with classroom management as a result (a first...I don't put up with nonsense), but I eventually got them whipped into shape.  It was tough.  But since I am not pregnant, there will be no extended absence this year!  I am also much more content with my life situation.  I think God has worked on me a lot over the last year, reminding me that this is my calling.  My calling is not to be a stay-at-home-wife-and-mom (and though summer was wonderful, it was an excellent reminder of this truth).  My calling is to be a devoted wife and mother while contributing to society outside my home by investing in the lives of my co-workers and the young people in my classes.  This is me.

I got an email from my dad yesterday wishing me well...and saying that he's kind of jealous.  He is a retired teacher.

He gets it.

So bring it, class of 2019! (Yowsers...)

Day 22: What Makes Me Sad

Actually, Day 22 is supposed to be a rant, but as this topic makes me sad, not mad, I changed it.

This was a hard post for me to write.  It's a hard issue for my heart.

Please allow me to preface by saying that this post is in NO way meant to offend or insult those who choose to home-school their children.  It is certainly a significant and noble undertaking.  I have many friends who were home-schooled and many others who currently home-school their own children.  I can appreciate and support their decisions whole-heartedly.

But home-schooling still makes me sad, and this post is simply an explanation of why it does so.

• Because people are dissatisfied with the public school system.  I totally get this.  There all kinds of problems.  Bullying on the playground.  Ineffective teachers.  Districts choosing to employ curriculum that beats only the content of the state assessment into kids' heads instead of skills significant to the real world.  A lack of differentiation in both instruction and assessment.  Pacing that moves too slow for some kids and too fast for others, because HELLO, we've got state assessments in two months and we've got to get through it.  Not enough enrichment for high learners.  Not enough support for the low ones.  Not enough attention for the middle-of-the-road performers.  If someone is home-schooling their children because of religious reasons, that opens a completely separate can of worms.  Some public schools teach evolution as fact rather than theory.  Some schools teach BCE (before common era) instead of BC (before Christ).  I could go on and on.  Believe me, folks - I'm a public school educator.  I GET IT.  I wish it were better.  I wish the public school system was worth the faith of today's parents.  I truly do.

• Because there are a lot of really fabulous teachers out there.  That's not to say that parents aren't, or that every teacher is, but there is something about a good teacher.  Will you allow me to quote one of the best teachers alive?  She says this about teaching:

       "Teaching is a passion that seeps into a person's blood. Once it is there, each day becomes a new adventure with new ideas; 'wonder what the kids will think about...; wow, that concept never occurred to me.' The grand reward comes from a constant well spring of new perspectives - fresh thoughts from fresh minds. Of course, the challenge is to give each fresh mind the motivation to think - to think independently and deeply. That is when the teacher's heart skips a beat and then races through the proverbial happy dance."

There are some teachers who really believe this and embody it to the fullest extent.  Many of them teach in my building.

• Because (and this is the big one) these students, who would otherwise be having a positive impact on their publicly-schooled peers, are kept at home. In my experience, (I teach middle school) the number one factor in a student's success is his/her parents.  Parents who care enough to educate their children at home obviously care enough to teach their children character, and in many cases, faith.  These students are models for other students who don't have similar home situations.  Students who don't have support at home (and please please believe me when I tell you that these students are plentiful - even in my affluent district) have school, and most of the time, that's it.  It's why we have so many behavioral problems before Christmas break or the summer.  Some of these kids don't want to be home because home is unstructured, unstable, and, in some cases, unsafe.  For these kids, teachers and fellow classmates are the only people from whom they can learn life.  Teachers are great...but we can only do so much.  Fellow students are where the difference really comes into play.  I have watched good, solid kids help unstable, needy kids.  I have watched kids whose home lives are train wrecks learn how to be successful.  It can happen.  But it won't happen if all the kids who have the skills to come alongside them and help them learn to succeed are kept home.

Sigh.  I wish things were different.  I wish the public school system was better.  I wish every teacher was as good as Mrs. B.  I wish kids who have it rough could learn from kids who have it sweet.  Actually, if I'm wishing for things, I wish every kid could have it sweet.  I wish they all could have parents who love them, discipline them, sacrifice for them, hurt for them, model for them, pray for them, dream for them.  Imagine what life would be like if our society turned out children with these kinds of parents!  Imagine what would happen to drop-out rates.  Crime rates.  Suicide rates.

Again, these things make me sad.  Not angry, or judgmental, or pious - just sad.  This glorious land of freedom in which we live grants us the right to decide what to do with our children.  That right is free to be exercised by parents in whichever manner they choose, and to those who choose to home-school, more power to you, and what a set of challenges you face!  I recently read this amazing article about homeschooling blind spots - it was endorsed by Joshua Harris and was extremely enlightening.  I couldn't do it - I need people smarter than me to teach my kids!  And for those who choose to send your students to public school, thank you, thank you, thank you, from the bottoms of the hearts of teachers everywhere, for sending your leaders into our schools.  Their impact is measureless.

The Last Day of School

There is much rejoicing at my house because today was the last day of school.  But there is sadness, too, because today, I lost one of my very best friends.  I mean, who wouldn't want to come to work every day and work with this?

Seriously. :)

I started teaching seven years ago.  I was hired in December to finish out the year for a teacher who had been elected to the state legislature.  Lindsey was very pregnant and on my first day she brought in a sonogram picture to our team meeting.  I remember thinking how much I didn't want to be pregnant.  On my second day I tried to throw an empty plastic water bottle in the trash from across the room.  I hit Lindsey square in the forehead.  I apologized and tried to explain that I wasn't an athlete.  She was an athlete and numerous sports all through school.  I wasn't sure we'd ever be friends.

And now, seven years later, I don't know how I'm going to survive next year without her.  She's everything you would look for in a co-worker.  She's the first one I go to when I have a problem with a kid, or am frustrated with a parent, or need someone to bounce ideas off, or just vent.  She is responsible, reliable, and extremely efficient.  She cares about kids and wants to challenge them.  But more than all those things, she is a friend.  And I am going to miss her every day.  She's not quitting entirely - in fact, as everyone keeps (obnoxiously) pointing out, she's only moving across the building to work as a gifted facilitator.  It could be much worse.

Walking out of the building today, driving home, and then arriving to my husband's waiting arms (he's such a good guy and knew just how hard this day was going to be), I cried.  Sobbed.  Tears, shaking shoulders, headache - the works.  I can't imagine my job without her.

But I am happy for her.  I know she will be so great at her new job.  And this will be an excuse to hang out more this summer.

So Lindsey, I wish you the very best.  I have learned so much from you and am excited for you in this new journey.  Please remember to come see me next year!

The Last Week of School

 This is the last week of school.  And if I am truly honest, this is the WORST year I have ever had.  I suppose it's no surprise, given that I missed three months of crucial expectation-setting time at the beginning of the school year with some of the worst behavior problems I've ever had.  Given that I lost a long-time team member to stupid Seaman.  Given that I have two high-maintenance kiddos that make work from home impossible.  Given that I have had several parents down my throat about my expectations.  Given that one of our kids was brutally injured in a car accident.  Given that my very best friend at work announced that she is leaving me.

But this year has also been full of blessings.  I had a beautiful daughter.  I got to miss out on three months with these yahoos.  (And when I say these yahoos, I really mean only a handful of kids.  Most of them are great, and several of them are exceptionally great.)  I got a new team member.  My children are in wonderful, exciting stages in their lives.  I have many parents who are behind what I do with their children and tell me so.  A network of support for our injured student has risen up from the school and local community.  And my best friend is going on to do something else that she really wants to do in my building, so I will still see her occasionally.

But boy, am I ready for summer vaycay!!!!