facebook findings~ solc day 2

On my way to work this morning my phone had an updated message on my Facebook icon. I thought maybe one of my daughters left a comment or a friend posted something new or a friend of a friend had commented on a comment or another friend was suggesting a friend or maybe a page. I mean it does go on, doesn't it?

Someone was contacting me. I saw the name. Hmmm. I had an English teacher in high school with that name. She was one of my favorite teachers of all time. Sophomore year? Junior year? I couldn't remember. I did remember she always dressed so nicely. I remembered we read The Scarlet Letter and The Canterbury Tales. I remember memorizing the first stanza (at least) of the Prologue in Middle English and performing it. I loved how it sounded. I loved how close to the modern version it sounded, only wound with some ancient thread. Reading that prologue was about as far away from the small desert town I lived in as you could get.

I finally got to open the note late afternoon. It was her. She is still teaching in California though not in the desert. Teaching for 37 years and still loving it from what I could read. I can imagine that pretty easily. She reminded me it was sophomore year. She still looks the same... smashing in a red evening gown.

Noticings

I'm already thinking differently. That's part of it. Seeing is the other part. As I made the daily walk between my office and the 2nd grade classroom I get to teach in, thoughts of the day's word study lesson in my head, I scanned quickly between the bent over trees, the slush on the ground, and the two kids running back to class. I urged my eyes to observe... and see. Anything. I'm definitely a little rusty, but glad to be back practicing.

new line of work

I'm making a transition. It will be over the next year. Or it might be in the next week. I'm not totally sure how it's going to go. I just know I'm excited about doing it. After five years as a classroom teacher in third grade class and five years in a multiage (1st/2nd grade) before that, I get to be a literacy teacher (and student). I'll co-teach in a second grade class during our language arts block, plying my best practices while spending part of the school day learning about literacy, teachers, students, how they both learn, how I can effectively coach them forward and along with that, I'll get some coaching of my own.

Last week I realized this meant I wouldn't get to sit in the middle of my room the week before school pondering the space as I visualized where students were going to do all their amazing work. I thought about the possibility of not making home visits for the first time since 1980. I wondered if I'd still get to interact with parents. I was pretty sure I would no longer have "Pancake Day" every 20 days of school. I would miss teaching about the life cycle of a butterfly, the diversity of the Ancient Roman Empire and how to read and write numbers in Base Three. I wasn't going to be putting hundreds of beautiful new crayons, pencils, and markers in color coded bins on color coded tables. I wasn't going to alphabetize and number cubbies, name cards or materials. I had no excuse to get Sharpies.

Today though, was a new day. I'm pretty sure I got beyond last week. I thought about getting to work with grades I love (2nd and 3rd) and teachers who are gifted. I quickly decided spending a week pondering space for 20 students only to find I had too much furniture was overrated. Today I pondered space in my co-teacher's room for reading and writing workshop and it only took 20 minutes! I had my few office supplies to organize, no color coding necessary and I'd done most of that last year. I realized I could still integrate an ancient culture (Mali) with language arts. And most importantly I realized I still get to work with kids!

Now I just have to figure out how to integrate pancakes into Word Study.

teacher research

Some of our new teachers have joined our school's teacher research group. I'm impressed with how they are already taking responsibility for their own professional learning and growth on top of all they are managing as a new teacher. I'm even more impressed they know an activity like this will help their teaching and ultimately help their students. As a young teacher, this sort of self-exploration wasn't even on my radar. I mean what sort of capable teacher would still have questions about teaching once they were awarded a teaching credential licensed by a state's department of education? Who would want to expose their practices, their instructional strategies and their professional vulnerabilities for all to see?

Teaching is a living, breathing process. Our research is already such a part of our day. We are always making adjustment for things that work and don't work with students. We know we are lucky. Lucky we are in a county and a school that acknowledges the value of this work. We are allotted time during our work day to work on our project, space in a nice conference room and experts at our beck and call for the sole purpose of asking and exploring questions we have about our practices. Thinking about our teachers embracing this... maybe we've made our luck.

five random things

My friend at Snippety Gibbet has tagged me for a meme to share five random things. I'm honored because I just think she's so boss. (I am determined to revive "boss" as a cool superlative.) Jan is one of our art teachers whose good work with kids goes way, way beyond her job description. Her own art is incredible. I love paper anything and her artistic cutting is serious whimsy. She also just got back from a 270 mile, four day ride from Pittsburgh toward DC. Did I mention it was on two wheels? With only pedal power? So of course, I will answer her tag.

Anyway, my five random things:
1. I spoke Japanese til I started kindergarten when my mom decided it would prevent me from speaking English and doing well in school. We just didn't know. Can hardly say ko nichi wa now.

2. I've had thirty different jobs in my life not counting mom, and including "cook" on a llama ranch in Gilroy, CA (town named for my family).

3. Two foods always in my refrigerator- lemon and cilantro.

4. I owned a dirt bike in the desert as a teenager til I had a bad crash.

5. I love violin music.

kindergarten buddies

It was revealed in our school improvement plan survey at the end of the school year that teachers wanted staff development to improve their math instruction. We want our math instruction to be as comfortable a fit as our literacy instruction. When requests like this come in (ground up) our administrators and specialists listen... and respond. As a result our math resource teachers helped organize us and twenty-four teachers formed a focus group to improve our math teaching skills and knowledge. Books were bought. Time was creatively carved so we could have an hour during the work day six times a year to collaborate and discuss the bones of "numeracy." Half our group is working on primary conceptual development and the other half is working on multiplication and division.

How do we do it? One week the primary numeracy group meets and sends their little guys to an upper grade class which is part of the multiplication/division group. We "buddy" the students for 1/2 hour at the end of the school day and dismiss them from this class while their teacher spends that 1/2 hour and 1/2 hour after school dismisses to learn. On another week we swap... older students go to the younger students. Brilliant.Last week our class had our first swap. We partnered a kindergarten student with a third grader. They each drew a portrait of their buddy. Third graders interviewed each kindergarten student and shared what they discovered. Later they swapped portraits. It was a very fast 30 minutes!
Things seen and heard:
K boy: I have flames on my shirt.
3rd boy: Uh, I know. They're cool.
K boy: I have flames and words on my shirt.
3rd boy: I know. I was just about to put the flames here.
K boy: Uh huh...don't forget the words.
3rd boy: Shaking head, eyes looking sideways at his buddy, smiling with no teeth showing.K girl: This is you on a sidewalk.
3rd girl: What am I doing?
K girl: Walking to school. You're going to be late.
3rd girl: That really looks like my outfit today.
K girl: I know. Did you hear me say you're going to be late.

A good time was had by all.

happy anniversary!

Today Blink and Bridge is one year old. I didn't intend to take a sabbatical over the summer. It just happened. It's interesting how the urge to post and read blogs has been creeping up the last few weeks. I attribute it to being back in the "condo" (my classroom) with students and my mind responding to all things infused with school and teaching: new third graders, new curriculum, my own college student going back for a second year, my high schooler readying for junior year, my oldest working with fledgling kindergarteners, my teammates rallying to get to know their new students, the "drive-by" teacher meetings in hallways, the staff development already going on, the collaborative support surrounding individual students, the hunting and gathering of materials and furniture as we create our environments for learning, administrators and staff working to welcome a huge increase of students. It's a hubbub of pedagogy. Can't wait to write about it.