...and on to something new: Teaching with Design!

This past year of blogging has been a wonderful adventure. My reason for starting this blog was to give me a way to differentiate my coaching. For me, at least, it was a way to highlight and coach on topics that I saw in my own school. Some of my posts have resonated with a larger audience outside my school, town, and state. Thank you to everyone for reading.

September 2011 I left coaching to return to the classroom. I am teaching 1st grade and loving every minute! I hope you will join me at my new blog Teaching with Design.

Design has been defined as follows.

(noun) a specification of an object, manifested by an agent, intended to accomplish goals, in a particular environment, using a set of primitive components, satisfying a set of requirements, subject to constraints;

(verb, transitive) to create a design, in an environment (where the designer operates)^[3]

Design has always been important to me. Artists, architects, chefs and many other professions use design to create new products. Teaching, like these other professions, require practitioners to be the artists as they design new lessons, create new units, and build the foundations to structure new learning. I think it is the very purposeful manner, the design, a teacher uses that makes the difference in student learning. The planning and prep done beforehand all make the delivery of the lesson successful.

I can't help walking into my own classroom and view it with a coaches eye. I see what has been accomplished over the past months to create a positive learning community but I also see what still needs to be done. Starting a new class 5 weeks into the school year was a challenge. Weekends were filled with prepping for the next week's learning. Each week, however, is got easily as I got to know my students better as learners.

I truly enjoyed my years as a coach and enjoyed working with adults to improve student learning. Now I am in the position to walk the walk, instead of just talking the talk. I am looking forward to the challenge and hope you will join me at my new blog!

Sharing Stories with Twitter

I love meeting people. I love stories. Could there be any doubt that I love Twitter because it allows me to meet people and hear their stories? 

Being on Twitter has been like reading 200 plus stories all at the same time. Some of the stories are related by family ties - the brothers @courosa and @gcouros come to mind. While others are connected, such as @holtsman and @dreamleader, by a common workplace. I am connected to @cowpernicus by a mutual interest in professional learning. Surprisingly he is one of the few people I follow that I have also met in person! Most of the stories I follow are from educators. Others are cyclist, like @ghincapie, or entertainer like @ActuallyNPH, giving me insight into another lifestyle so very different from mine.

One story I look forward to visiting every day is from Natasha Badwar.

Natasha Badhwar

@natashabadhwar 

New Delhi

Mum, Film-maker, Teacher. Making friends with her slow side. http://tales.twitter.com/2010/08/twitter-is-about-life.html http://mydaughtersmum.blogspot.com

"At the Levi's store, I met someone who recognized me from Twitter. Flattered, I bought exactly what she was buying."

 

Daily Natasha updates her followers on parts of her life. Other than the heat, life in New Delhi is very different from life in Florida. Natasha writes about simple parts of life; her daughters growth and development, photographs from her garden, and travels all in 140 characters or less. Because of her tweets I am now more familiar with life half way around the globe.

Twitter, more than any other written text, forces me to use many of my higher order thinking skills. Building on my schema - what do I know about this author - and synthesizing new information from each tweet makes my reading a richer experience. Over the past year or so I feel like I'm getting to know some of these authors quite well. I have come to anticipate the new domestic workshops or golfing adventures as experienced by @shareski. Periodically @russgoerend and @MrsBMG post videos of their young son. We all get to watch him grow and change, delighting in his charming antics with the family cat and a very random Roomba! Recently we all waited with @thenerdyteacher for the joyous birth of his son. 

So these stories continue, day in and day out, and in and out of weeks, and over the years. I work hard to keep the stories straight and continue to learn more everyday about the world outside my home, school, and my little beach community. I can only hope my story makes someone smile and gives them a little insight into my thinking and growing as an educator. I'll keep reading and sharing, hoping you will, too. You will find me on Twitter - just look for @jaxbeachteach.

Finding my Religion with Sharon Taberski

Sometimes we get lost in education. Seems you can't go a day without hearing how public education is broken. We face massive budget cuts, further devaluing our efforts. Is it any wonder that occasionally even the strongest educator can feel defeated? Who is out there speaking for the teachers?

Sharon Taberski

Personally, I find Sharon Taberski is a voice for teachers. She writes with honesty about teaching reading in the primary classroom. Taberski calls herself a “teachers' teacher” with her work supporting her words. Ten years ago her book On Solid Ground made a difference in my understanding of Readers Workshop. In the fall of 2000, six months after On Solid Ground was published, I began my first coaching assignment. Her words helped put into perspective how various pieces of the workshop model came together into a cohesive whole.

Fast forward ten years later. I am still coaching and I am still referring to On Solid Ground with great regularity, quoting pages and passages like a preacher from a bible. It was with great anticipation that I marked Sharon’s session on my must attend agenda for IRA’s Conference in Orlando. It was time for me for go back to the well for inspiration.

In the exhibit hall I purchase Taberski's new book, Comprehension From the Ground Up. The subtitle, Simplified, Sensible Instruction for the K-3 Reading Workshop, reassured me that Sharon was continuing to look out for teachers. I waited eagerly for a new shot of inspiration. It has been a dark time for me professionally. My coaching position eliminated, educational funding cut, and teacher bashing abounds. I was in need of light in these gloomy days.

Finally, on the last day of the conference, it was time for her session: Re-Envisioning the Five Pillars of Reading. Rather than simply following the medical model of phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension, Sharon realigned and combined them with missing elements to create a new structure that supports comprehension. After all, as Sharon says in her blog, 

“Reading and writing. Talking and learning. It's ALL about comprehension."

 Building on analogies, stories, and examples, Sharon spent the hour guiding us through her new thinking. I have been blessed over the years to hear Sharon speak on several occasions. Each time she shared more of her current thinking. At one point during the session she brought up cognitive dissonance, stating, “I don’t care if you think like me. I care that you think.”

So here I am, just a day later, thinking. I have yet to read more than the introduction of Comprehension From the Ground Up. I want to be able to focus and reflect, not rush through the learning. Truth is, I can’t wait to read every chapter and verse. After hearing Sharon speak I know her words will continue to lift up the profession of education. Its about time to practice some sensible instruction in reading, don’t you agree?

Spring Cleaning

As the weather turns warm in North Florida I start to put away the winter clothes and bring out my spring and summer clothes. Since the weather stays very mild in Florida, especially compared the northern half of the United States and Canada, my wardrobe change has a lot to do with sleeve length and colors. It’s spring now, so I’m doing my spring-cleaning.

There is a rhythm to the seasons. In schools we have a rhythms, too. Right now we are in testing season. The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) will be given in a little over a week. Half the teachers in the school are under tremendous amounts of stress. Months and months of teaching boil down to weeks and weeks of fine tuning of lessons, small groups, and conferences. Spring break, this year before the test, couldn’t have come at a better time. Tempers were sharp and nerves were brittle. The season of the TEST was upon us.

Teaching, like the Florida weather, should remain fairly constant through the school year. Some of the tools we use before the test are ones that we should be using throughout the school year. This year we have had a greater focus on data. We have had more benchmark testing and progress monitoring than ever before. The district implemented a new information system to help teachers sort and configure the data in a very timely manner. The key, however, is what the teacher does with the data that makes the difference.

We learn a new reading genre when we learn to read data. It has it’s own vocabulary and types of comprehension. Reading strategies, such as inference or synthesis, are important to get meaning in data. Schema - for the student, for the assessment, for the benchmark – is critical for comprehending the information. If one just looks at it as a math problem: “What is the difference between the number of students in the proficient range compared to the number in the non-proficient range?” you never get at the root of the data. A better question might be “Compared to the benchmark assessed, which students need significant reteaching and which only need a quick reminder?” The data helps me to see what my students need to learn next.

The FCAT will come and for two weeks we will be testing the culmination of what students have learned since they walked into school in kindergarten. After the test, however, we have a chance to do a little spring-cleaning of our own. Let’s look at our teaching practices. We should keeping looking at the data, fine tuning the small groups or the conferences. Take the time to make sure the students are proficient in the areas they struggle with the most before going to the next grade. In your spring-cleaning, look at some of the teaching you have typically done in the spring. Does it still fit with the data you have on your students? What can you do now that will make a difference to your students in the future? Reflecting on our practice makes us better teachers and helps our students learn. In the end, isn’t that what’s important?

Reflections: A Quiet Place

Deep down inside, there is a quiet place. To get there you have to start past the bright, electronic lights and the beckoning sirens song of the Internet. The visuals come by you fast and quick. If you close your eyes, and can keep your hands from touching the screen, you can pass by without them touching you very deeply. 

The next level is lite by incandescent lights and the unnatural glow and sounds from a television blaring at you, sucking you into the mindless pool of inactivity. A simple click of a remote can silence this beast but beware: the sound of silence afterward can be uncomfortable.

Passing next is the gentle glow of a candle, and the softness of a down comforter. It is easy to curl up in a ball, surrounded by the gentle hug of sleep, and snuggle into a nap. Shake your head and clear the webs, because the journey is not yet done.

Finally, the quiet place is achieved. Upon arriving you notice someone there. An interesting person with a unique personality and individual characteristics. You may not recognize the individual, especially if it's been a long time since you visited your quiet place. But take a moment and get to know this unique individual. You may find you really like this individual or have missed being in touch. Pretty soon, though, you come to know who this individual is and how important it is to visit your quiet place. Because the essence of the the quiet place is the core of who we are, as individuals. It's important to be in touch with yourself and dwell within your quiet place. After all, if you don't take of you, who will?