TCEA Proposal

This blog was actually born in Austin at TCEA 2013.  I'd been considering starting an educational blog for several months and it was when I was away from my family, surrounded by colleagues, and tons of tech that I decided to go ahead and make it a reality.  For TCEA 2014, I am submitting a proposal for a presentation on blogging. I'm still not completely tied down to exactly what all that presentation would include but I am thinking my major focus would be on how to disseminate information and start discussion through blogging.  As an instructional support person in my district, I have found this blog very effective for both of these purposes.  I work in a fairly small district but it is always refreshing to hear someone from another campus (and my own!) say they read one of my posts and that it was helpful to them.  Also, as an aspiring administrator, I feel that this blog can be a great resource for potential interview committees in my future.  I know that there are other teacher-leaders out there who have a lot of knowledge that they would like to share and I feel that blogging is one way to let others know what is working, what we are reading about, the great things that are happening in our classrooms or in classrooms we have visited, and what trends we are seeing in education.  I would also cover how to use blogs as a classroom teacher and some of the basics for getting your blog started.  I would love to hear your opinions as to whether or not you think this type of presentation would be beneficial.Please feel free to leave a comment--yay or nay!
I have been getting a lot of anonymous comments lately and those are always welcome.  I would love it, however, if more of you felt comfortable enough to leave your names with your comments. I think this could be a great place for us to start some discussions. If you read something and you love it, please let me know.  If you read something and you think I'm way off, I'd like to hear that, too!   Summer is coming up and we know we will all be thinking about next year. What are you planning on doing differently?

Figure 19 is A Killer!

Maybe I've been watching too many court shows, but whenever I hear an educator refer to Figure 19, I immediately think of a lawyer submitting evidence in a court case.  "Your Honor, as evidence of our students' lack of metacognitive reading skills, I submit Figure 19." For those of you who do not fall in the category of Texas Reading Teacher, Figure 19 is basically a combination of every higher-level comprehension skill all rolled in to one student expectation or TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills).  It covers everything from author's purpose to inferring to summarizing and making connections.  There's so much packed into this one little gem that we actually have sub-skills broken down into parts A-F.  Though all of Figure 19's goonies are a rough crowd, the real mob bosses are Figure 19 D (inferences) and Figure 19 E (summarizing.) Both of these characters are relentless when it comes to chopping our kids tests scores on state assessments and we need to find a way to get them in check right from the very beginning.

Figure 19 is guilty of murdering our test scores!

It is extremely difficult to teach students how to infer.  Summarizing seems like it would be a bit easier but the way the questions on the state assessment (STAAR) are written, these are actually very tricky questions as well.  We cannot assume that our students know how to do any of these things. We have to explicitly teach the steps for each skill and break them down as much as possible.  We have to practice a lot. But most importantly, we have to teach our students how to think.

How do we do that?  Well, in my opinion, it starts with a very real discussion about metacognition, a term so foreign, my spell-check is telling me that's not a word.  But it is a word, an important one.  Kids need to be aware of their thoughts.  They need to understand the process we go through when we are thinking, particularly, in this case, when we are thinking about reading, and they need to know how to use their own thoughts to determine what others are thinking--such as an author or another student in their class.  This is complicated stuff!  To complicate it even more, we need to start these discussions in kindergarten, or sooner, in order to ensure our students have enough practice before they reach the all important third grade state assessment. State assessments are just a measurement of what the student already knows and we can all agree that these are skills we all need as adults, so if our children do well in these areas on assessments, we can rest assured they are prepared to use these skills in everyday life.

In order to teach metacognitive skills, particularly to little ones, I begin with a lesson about elephants. You may have heard this one before, but perhaps not in the same light. I tell them to think about elephants and I give them lots of scenarios to consider--elephants on skateboards, elephants playing guitar, elephants with big floppy hats on.  Then, I tell them, "In just a few seconds, I'm going to tell you that you may not think of elephants for 10 seconds.  You may not think about elephants on skateboards or with hats on.  You may not think about elephants playing guitar.  It will be difficult because you are going to want to think about elephants.  But you cannot think about elephants. Ready, set, go!"  Then, I count to ten in my head and ask them what they were thinking about. Most of them will say elephants but a few will try to pretend that they were thinking about something else.  I explain that I was trying not to think about elephants, but that as soon as I started to think about something else, I remembered not to think about elephants, and the next thing I knew, I had an elephant creeping into my mind.  They all laugh and beg to try again.  Why?  Because it is a challenge, it's fun and silly.  Kids like that stuff.  But the real important part of the lesson comes next.  We talk about how they were paying attention to what they were thinking about.  We talk about seeing pictures in our mind and what was happening when an elephant would try to sneak his way in to that picture.  I tell them, "This is called metacognition.  It means thinking about your thinking. It is very important to pay attention to what is going on inside of your brain when you are reading a book or listening to someone talk because we need to know what we are thinking about in order to  grow our brains and think even deeper."  

Don't think about elephants!

Over time, kids start to understand this. They model the language that we use.  When reading aloud, good teachers pause and say things like, "Do you know what I'm thinking?"  or "I'm imaging. . . ."  They describe the movie they are making in their mind. They ask the questions kids don't even know to ask. They wonder about characters' feelings and motivation. Eventually, you will hear their little voices echoing your own phrases.  This is like magic! They will start asking those questions we've always wanted to hear come out of their little mouths. "Why did the Hungry Caterpillar eat all that yucky food? Didn't he know it was going to make his tummy hurt?" That leads to answers from other kids! "Maybe he ate it because his mom didn't tell him he couldn't.  I would eat lots of junk food,  too, if my mom didn't stop me."  Real world connections, inferences, predictions--if you model it, they will get it!

The bottom line is, we cannot ask "knowledge" and "understand" level questions and expect to grow "analyze" and "synthesize" level kids. It isn't going to happen. Our classrooms need to be Think Tanks in the sense that there's a whole lot of thinking going on in there.  We no longer have the luxury of saying kids "learn to read" in K-2 and "read to learn" in 3-12.  We have got to teach them to read to learn from the very beginning.  These skills go hand-in-hand, we can teach them simultaneously.  It will take more preparation on our part. We must think of better questions than, "What color was the caterpillar?" but we can do that because we are amazing at what we do! It's our job to curtail feisty Figure 19 and keep our kiddo's test scores--and their brains!--out of harms way.

I would love to hear about your metacognitive skills lessons!  If you leave a comment as anonymous,  for some reason, those are not showing up.  I've checked that my settings say anonymous comments are welcome but it's not working so please use a name--even if  it's fake!

What Does Community Mean to You?

As the school year winds down, we start to have visions of beaches, pools, lounge chairs--lesson plans, classroom management techniques, and bulletin board decorations. After all, let's face it, we're teachers.  We may be sitting on the beach but chances are, we are thinking about next year all ready.  And the bell hasn't even rang for the final time this year yet.
It's been about a year since I took the position of Reading Specialist at NeSmith Elementary in Community ISD.  When I stop and reflect on where I was one year ago, I am reminded of how thankful and grateful I was--I am--to have the opportunity to come to work here each day, with this amazing faculty and these wonderful children.  There were a lot of factors that influenced my decision to make a professional change, but the bottom line is, I wasn't happy at the school I was at before.  The climate was terrible. We did our best to encourage each other and have fun--but there was a cloud of doom and gloom hanging over us.
Here, it isn't like that. Sure, there are Debbie Downers everywhere you go. People have bad days.  We get tired and sick.  But the vast majority of us come to work every day with a smile on our face. It isn't a stretch to plaster one on to greet someone in the hallway. You say "Hi!" to your co-workers with enthusiasm because you are genuinely happy to see them. We work together, we problem solve, we step in and help when we see someone else that needs it.  We don't knit-pick each other or try to bring each other down.  Admin believes in us, trusts us, encourages us to use our strengths. It's an amazing feeling to know that every time I work hard on a project, not only are people going to notice and appreciate it, they are going to tell me that I am awesome. I need to hear that I am awesome frequently or else I lose some of my awesomeness!  I get to hear that here, and I like it. It makes me tell other people how awesome they are!
Like every campus, we can continue to work on our school climate, every campus can.  On days like today, however, I am reminded of how lucky I am to get to come to a job everyday where I am valued.  I get to work with little minds that are open and receptive. I get to work with teachers who are eager to learn and grow.  It's a privilege I am very thankful for.
We have done some amazing things this year. Next year is going to be even better.  Sadly, we have some staff members moving on to other things but we also have some amazing educators joining us, including an incredible teacher I taught with for many years. I can't wait to hear all of her brilliant ideas. She will also be thankful to be here and that is contagious.
There is a reason we are called Community ISD. Community isn't a place, it's a vision, an idea, a feeling.  We are Community because we all come together, we lift each other up, we support each other, we are a team.  You can't find Community, Texas on a map because it exists in the hearts of those who belong here.  We are Community.  I hope that you are blessed to have a community as well.