Better Late Than Never

Despite the persistence and determination with which I approached my summer reading list, I must say that today marked the first day of student teaching with the kids in the classroom, and I am just now going to start writing about Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov. And by that what I really mean to say is that I am going to write about this wonderful compilation of field notes and observations until I pass out in five minutes because I teach my first lesson tomorrow!

For starters, I like how Lemov sets up this book by explicitly stating that this book is not a handbook, field guide, or a Bible that can promote any teacher to "super" teacher status. Rather, he asks the reader to consider the techniques he describes in light of their own teaching environment; to consider our own individual strengths and weaknesses as a teacher, and how to use and exploit our strengths as we work on our weaknesses. This is the approach that he asks us to bring to each technique or strategy that he has listed and described. In addition, he mentions that these are observations, NOT research- or evidence-based practices. Therefore, I am going to look deeply into each technique in order to find any evidence that backs up these practices, and I am going to implement some of these practices myself this semester in order to determine what will work for me in my classroom setting.

Unfortunately that is all the energy I have tonight. Until next time!

When Summer Reading is Hard Part 2

Over the fabulous weekend of the fourth I was finally able to finish the book! Airplane reading for the win! My first thought after finishing this book? WOW, she was not kidding when she talked about hard questions. Over the course of my flight to and from Boston, I had to find many items to use as bookmarks for the second half of the book. SO many words of wisdom have inspired me and caused me to reflect upon my philosophies in education.

Previously Nathan talked about the RICO framework and the portfolios that are used to evaluate students. In this assessment, students create their own goals and these students assess whether they have met their own goals. Not only does this create intrinsic motivation, but this causes students to become more comfortable with giving and receiving feedback, which is on of the most important skills in the workforce today.

 For example, in my current job, I am coming upon mid summer evaluations for all eighteen to twenty of my staff; this is by far the largest unit in camp, and more evaluations than any other member of leadership. As I hold each evaluation in my hand, I think about what I have been able to observe, each staff member's strengths, personality, areas of improvement, and the activity this person was hired to run. How am I going to give each individual feedback that will encourage and challenge them? Have I spent enough time observing each individual? Have I learned how to create feedback into a loop so that all staff see work as a learning experience and a team collaboration for everyone? Will my staff receive this feedback with professional receptivity? All of these questions weigh heavily on my mind; I've never had to give honest feedback to a team of staff before, and thankfully most all of my staff have been impressing me so most all of these evaluations will be positive with one or two suggestions for improvement. But what about the future, when the situation is different, or when they evaluate me?

Due to my first year in a leadership and administrative role, I have truly appreciated the insight that Nathan provides about being in an administrative role, being open to criticism, leading discussions among staff, hearing feedback, and making some mistakes that we cannot fix without time, love, and intentional apologies. Any leader will make a mistake at some point, and Nathan's openness and honesty has left me feeling more willing to make leaps of faith that may result in mistakes that can eventually cause a positive change in the future.


The most fabulous part of the book for me was how she put words to the many issues that I have seen and meditated upon in the course of my classroom experiences in undergrad and graduate school. One of the greatest issues that Nathan brings up, race, is the issue I am most interested in, yet as she has observed, one of the issues that few professionals wish to engage with in the workplace. In all honesty, I see a broken system where selective segregation in the housing market and local taxes have the greatest impact on local school inequality. While this is separated by class, these decisions of where to live are also based upon race, and living in a "nice" neighborhood for those who can afford that luxury. How is it that these subconscious attitudes are still overlooked and understated by modern professionals, when there are clear indications that the current systems in place prevents lower class Americans from accessing education? Now, this is not intentional. No one has set out to make sure that certain races live in one area and all attend the same school, and that these schools in lower areas do not have highly qualified teachers. Humans are simply creatures of habit and of comfort, and are in desperate need of reflection and challenges that cause us to think out of the box and step into another perspective. One article that I read recently suggested that America invests in more magnet schools that can pull from mixed neighborhoods, or districts that integrate lower and middle classes with upper classes whenever possible. Both of these options may prove helpful in that students will have access and students will come into contact with more diverse students, which can increase their awareness and empathy towards others.
 
The tracking, poverty, social issues, and the inequality that exists in every classroom cannot be undone or voted away by heroic teachers alone, and the issues can no longer be overlooked by the populace if we claim to hold to such values as accessible education for all or equal opportunities. She advocates for the students that cannot speak for themselves because of a system that is not responsive to the needs of the students, yet is quick to blame parents or students when a problem may lie in the lack of real resources for these families.

One of the resources that Dr. Nathan mentions pertains to the knowledge that middle class families have when applying for financial aid and gaining access into the higher education system. I love her idea that open doors does not always mean easy access, or ready access, for those without resources at their disposal. Many lower class families and first generation college students hit road blocks that teachers would not anticipate because no one if the child's family has ever filled out a FAFSA form or learned about deadlines. I love the idea that teachers need to check up on students who may not know what they are doing and helping them with every step of the way, so that a child with college dreams and college abilities no longer miss out for lack of forethought.

This factor is another reason that urban education is more time consuming and intensive than education in middle-class America. Urban educators must go above and beyond, and cannot assume what students know or do not know. And this is one reason that I aspire to become an urban educator for children with special needs. Hopefully one day I can look back and know that I was an advocate for students who were predicted to fail, and these students succeeded.

When Summer Reading is Hard Part 1

Due to the fact that Teach Like a Champion has not arrived, I began reading my second book, The Hardest Questions Aren't on the Test by Linda Nathan. This book, written by an administrator at an innovative urban high school for the arts in Boston, actually has an uncanny relation to what I am experiencing as the Program Director at camp this summer. With what little time I have to read, I have only gotten through half of the book, but her ideas and experiences have inspired me and she has allowed me the freedom to ponder my educational philosophies.

Before I continue, I will point out that her book is so relate-able to me because a Program Director's job is much like an educational administrator, although to different degrees. My days are spent approving lesson plans, supporting and training specialists (in this case, who run camp activities and lessons), giving positive encouragement and constructive suggestions, buying all necessary materials within the budget, and dealing with any and all questions or conflicts that these valuable staff may experience. This list does not include the morale boosting, the coordination with other leadership staff and counselors, or the long, grueling hours spent in preparation.

In her book she talks about getting her staff to buy in to the systems, ideals, and principles that drive the school; this is the side of administrative work that I had never considered, and that I am experiencing first hand. Over the past few weeks I have noted how my staff react to the top-down mandates that I have no control over versus the initiatives that they start or that we start together. Not only are they more passionate about the latter, but they hold each other accountable to the expectations that they establish for themselves. They also respond well when the "why" is given, especially if that "why" is accompanied with a story or an activity that proves a point.

One aspect of her book that I love is how she emphasizes empowering teachers and enabling them to do what they do; her vision for a team of administrators and teachers working together inspires us to consider that the best dynamic in a school exists when all staff cooperate as a team. Like most other people, I have watched inspiring movies of teachers that have challenged preconceived notions about students by proving that all students can learn. However, I had never noticed how most of these movies set administrators against teachers, setting the teacher up as the hero or heroine. In real life, we need a more established view of all educators and administrators as a mutually beneficial team of support staff. That is one thing that I can add to this book. She talks about how she empowers and supports her teachers to do what they do, and that is what administrators should be doing. The summer camp I work at has moved away from calling anyone a 'boss' or 'supervisor' and we are referred to as support staff. I absolutely love this idea, because we are constantly reminded that our job entails being servant leaders, and I have really cleaved to this idea that my entire job is to support and empower others. I have already fought a few battles for my staff to be able to succeed, and I hope that later in her book she talks about how she determines which battles to fight. For the most part I would say that I have picked my battles well, but there have been a few circumstances that made me wonder if I could have used more wisdom in picking what to say or when to say anything.

She has also touched on communication, initiatives, and assessment methods that are unique and effective. All of these ideas have inspired me. For example, I love the idea of a portfolio that students present, and how students can pick their own challenge to master in their portfolio. This allows students to have a growth mindset about their own learning, and allows teachers to know exactly how they can support student growth. Students also take the initiative in their learning, and when they don't, they are challenged to get more help so that they can learn. Not only does this teach responsibility and ownership, but I can see how this can create lifelong learners and not just students trying to get good grades so that they can get a degree. In essence, isn't becoming a lover of learning the entire point of education?

Expect more to come! I am only half way through this fabulous book, and I am already thinking of so many ways that her ideas can be applied beyond BAA! I would recommend it whole heartedly, she is articulate, passionate, and understanding. She takes into account multiple perspectives, then, after considering all the possible options, she deliberates the best option. Her best quality would also have to be her humility in this book. Instead of flaunting her own success, she discusses quite openly the hardest decisions, as well as the most controversial decisions, that she has made in her role. That is inspiring to me because sometimes leaders act as though they know everything and they can never admit they have made a mistake. In this book, however, she challenges educators and administrators to think about the influences on students, the perspective of students, the goal of education, and how to individualize instruction for each student. Due to all of these factors, Nathan talks about how we make the best decisions that we can, but we are always learning, reflecting, and becoming better at what we do.

When I Create A Summer Reading List

Are many of you aware that my best friend was an English major, and she would recommend books for me to read every summer? Sometimes I would get to these books, and many times working full-time would somewhat distract me from completing many of the books that I had started, but this summer I am trying something new.

At least every two weeks I am going to read a book about education, and see how this book adds to my philosophy of education. I have had several suggestions so far, such as Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov, The Hardest Questions Aren't on the Test by Linda F. Nathan, The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person can Create Extraordinary Change by Adam Braun, & Thrive: 5 Ways to (Re)Invigorate Your Teaching by Meeno Rami. Over this year these books have been recommended by colleagues and professors, and I am excited to see how these books impact me!

If I have time, I also want to see if Degrees of Inequality by Suzanne Mettler is good, as well as Schools of Hope by Finkelstein. These pertain more to the inequalities in education, but I still think they could influence my ideas about education.

Some of the books don't particularly pertain exclusively to education, but do apply to the inner city life of adolescents, such as Code of the Street by Elijah Anderson; this book is an anthropological view into the culture of  inner-city families and youth in order to understand the function of behavior, instead of basing our interpretations of behavior upon our own experiences, backgrounds, or culture. I am excited about this one, I've wanted to read it since I took an anthropology class at James Madison University during my undergraduate career that used excerpts from this book. That professor was one of the first professors who made me think about the culture of education in America, and how education culture is different in other countries. We watched documentaries and videos of classrooms from Japan and other places, and I remember being so shocked for two reasons: that I had never previously considered how the "education" and research we study as 'truth' can be cultural; and that I had never considered that other systems and philosophies thrive in other cultures. Thank you, professor, for preventing me from continuing on as an ignorant American.

The most random pick award goes to Psychology through the Eyes of Faith  by Myers & Jeeves; this was a gift from my AP Psych teacher in high school after I got a 5 on the AP Test, but I think the gift pertained more to how he wanted us to expand our minds to think more critically about psychology than our actual scores. He wanted us to succeed, and measured that in more ways than simply tests. I still remember vividly all the experiments we did in that class to discover how our brain works, and part of me wants to contribute my self-knowledge about the ways in which I learn to his class.

The last two goals for this summer? To be the best Program Director that I can be, and to learn Spanish. I found out that one of my classes next year will be a bilingual classroom, so I am already listening to lessons on YouTube and using Spanish for Beginners by Language Press in order to make sure that I at least have some conversational Spanish under my belt before beginning the new school year!

And.... GO!

Know Yourself

A local teacher was a guest speaker in our class today, and she had some great, thought provoking ideas to reflect upon as a teacher. She has been a teacher for 22 years, and after only talking for 5 minutes that she is a perceptive, innovative educator who knows how to integrate instruction with application.

She only allows herself to repeat one book every year, and completely strips and sets her room up from scratch every school year. Nothing like keeping the classroom fresh, and making sure that you never get stuck in a rut! And what a way to make sure that lessons and the entire classroom is for the unique students that enter your classroom each year! I'm not sure I could strip everything at the end of every year, but this is a good idea to keep in mind; sometimes we just have to strip everything away and start over again.

One of her first points was that every teacher must learn what type of teacher they are.

Am I process-based?
Am I inquiry-based?
Am I more inclined to guided instruction?
Am I direct instruction-based?
Am I discover-based?

As a teacher you must know your style, but your style is ever developing and evolving. For the first few years you try a lot of different styles that you pull from your Mary Poppins' bag of tricks. Over time, you will decide what you like and what becomes most helpful for the students in your classroom, but the best teachers are the teachers that utilize all techniques that help your learners.

She gave us three tips for our future classrooms:

1. Create a healthy, safe place for students to learn where making mistakes is a normal growing process.
"Always have more questions than answers."

2. Vary the way you expect responses to literature. Only expect them to come ready to engage in a book chat.

3. Never assign anything that you don't respond to with a few detailed sentences, and expect that some students will write back as well.

Give students choice because this will intrinsically motivate the students to learn.

Know your kids; know when to push and when not to push. Education is about relationship, it's about knowing people, about bringing out their best, and how to take them from where they are to where they can be.

Learn how to answer a students question with a question. This generates deeper thought and discussion with the students. Good thing I already do that!

Individualized Instruction: What is "Fair"?

What should instruction look like? How does a teacher differentiate instruction in such a way that the needs of the "lowest" and "highest" achieving students are met in a deeply personal and academic way? These questions rose to my mind as I worked in a group during my teaching social studies class; we were given a topic, a framework, and in class we created a lesson for a specific grade level on the spot. Differentiation proved the most challenging area of focus for our group because the activity and assessment already implemented choice as a way for students to use multiple materials in order to express themselves. My group specifically struggled with how to challenge more advanced students without just assigning more work.

Many times I have heard that we should not simply dump more work on students who finish work early, or who show excellent and efficient skills when completed the classwork given; some professionals adamantly claim that these students should also not tutor other students, despite the studies that show this can be beneficial to both parties involved, specifically the research on PALS and other tutor programs (Rafdal, McMaster, McConnell, Fuchs, & Fuchs, 2011; Codding, Chan-Iannetta, George, Ferreira, & Volpe, 2011). Peer Assisted Learning Strategies, or PALS, when implemented with fidelity, benefit both parties involved, and can be done in such a way that students are not privy to which partner is higher or lower because the class is ranked, split in half, then paired off so that the "highest" achieving individual on the "upper level" list is paired with the "highest" ranked individual on the "lower level" list (with exceptions for incompatibility).

As a group we reached a consensus: if all instruction is to be individualized in such a way that each student gains the most from every activity, how can we judge what is fair? If one student can do 30 problems in 20 minutes, and another student takes an hour to complete eight problems, would a teacher be unjust in making sure that these students are challenged yet not frustrated by the amount of work they are assigned?

One parent may complain that their student is having to do too much, while the other parent may complain that their student is falling behind, but why is it unfair to allow students to rise to a challenge? I understand that in America we value equality and fairness. However, we deliberated and reached the decision that equal treatment does not always mean that every student is treated in exactly the same way. If every child received the identical, rigid education, there would be no room for individuality, for personal creativity, for real, substantial growth. 

Education needs to continue to move towards individualized instruction for all, instruction that recognizes each students strengths and weaknesses, and allows students to grow in their area of weakness as they also have opportunities to use their strengths. At the end of the lesson we created, our group decided that having students write journals about the activity was a great wrap-up activity, and we decided that some students were given the liberty to write paragraphs while other students were not demanded of more than they could produce. While some may disagree, there were other forms of assessment used, such as the models, drawings, and presentations that students also did during the lesson. We took into consideration that in first grade, the gap between the struggling student and the overachiever may be wide, and that instruction should meet students where they are.

References:

Codding, R. S., Chan-Iannetta, L., George, S., Ferreira, K., & Volpe, R. (2011). Early number skills: Examining the effects of class-wide interventions on kindergarten performance. School Psychology Quarterly, 26(1), 85-96.

Rafdal, B.H., McMaster, K. L., McConnell, S. R., Fuchs, D., & Fuchs, L. S. (2011). The effectiveness of Kindergarten Peer-Assisted Learning Strategies for students with disabilities. Exceptional Children, 77(3), 299-316. 

Social Studies and Special Education

This semester I have not had much time to create posts! With eight graduate courses, field placements, and interviewing candidates for jobs at camp this summer, I have not had much time to really reflect on all the information that I jam into my head. In all honesty, that is my one regret this semester; many times I finish an assignment or reading and have to move on to the next one without reflection or expansion. The best teacher is a reflective teacher, and that is why I have decided to break this cycle and begin to reflect upon the lessons and activities that I have been doing.

One passion I have rediscovered this semester is history and social studies; currently I am enrolled in a teaching social studies course for elementary education, and I have been increasingly aware of how social studies is often overlooked, especially in special education. Many special educators do not consider this a pertinent subject for students with disabilities, and I cannot help but wonder how many historians, politicians, archaeologists, sociologists, and anthropologists have undiscovered passion or untapped potential because social studies is rarely considered an integral part of a student's academic experience.

Throughout this course I have been reading about the methods used in secondary social studies, which focuses mostly on reading comprehension, and I cannot help but wonder if there may be better interventions for these students. What if there was a way to scaffold note-taking, so students with disabilities begin with fill-in-the-blank notes, then gradually gain more and more proficiency until they simply are filling in an outline. This would require much more work on part of the teacher, but that effort would be worth it when that student benefits and excels in note-taking and studying for history class. While reading comprehension is imperative, there are many other skills that historians need, such as examining artifacts, interpreting primary or secondary documents, and recognizing cause and effect relationships. There is a stubborn part of me that refuses to believe that reading comprehension is the only intervention worth suggesting for students with disabilities in secondary education, yet there are few other suggestions found in the research.

In general I have increasingly noticed how the social studies, when implemented, focus on a patriarchal, political historical narrative. Before this semester I have never considered how women are affected by this framework that excludes many of the great cultural movers and shakers, as well as many important women in the tale of history. In essence, women grow up learning about how important men have become with few role models that are not musically talented or extraordinarily beautiful. From my limited experience, this seems to create a self-fulfilling prophecy; women do not see successful women besides musicians, actors, models, and they begin to think that beauty is the road to success. But let me stop before I digress.

For my teaching technology course I taught a lesson that was created for eleventh graders to my college level peers on the Emancipation Proclamation. The lack of already present background knowledge astounded me. I simply asked what they already knew about the Civil War and I received blank stares from even the history majors in the room. Shocked, I decided to back up and ask them fill-in-the-blank questions such as: We talked about how the president of the North was... and they would answer Abraham Lincoln. After doing that for the critical background knowledge, the students started becoming more comfortable so I moved on to the portion of the lesson where the students compared the Constitution to the Emancipation Proclamation; specifically, the students looked at how the documents treated slaves in order to find the similarities and differences. They answered the questions: Was the Emancipation Proclamation Constitutional? Then the students evaluated whether the Emancipation Proclamation pulled through for the newly Freedmen, and what had to happen for those who were former slaves to gain their promised freedoms.

After this lesson one of my friends asked what I had learned. I must have given him a quizzical look, because then he asked, "What did the students learn? You both should have learned something, that's the point of teaching." He was right; as a teacher, I should be learning with my students. Not only should I be challenging them, but they should be challenging me. Which caused me to realize that I have not been a reflective teacher this semester. Thankfully, this epiphany only strengthened my resolve to become more reflective and more innovative with my lessons.