What's Your Superpower for the New Year?

School is back in session here at CISD and our kiddos are so excited to be back at school!  Okay, maybe not all of them--but most of them!  As much as we enjoy being home with our family and loved ones, it is especially nice to hear the excited little voices exclaim our names when we walk through the doors in the morning, as if we are some sort of celebrities.

To many of our kids, we do have celebrity status.  We are their heroes--Superheroes--the people who are always there for them.  We have a great opportunity to change the lives of these children forever, to give them the tools, knowledge, and skills they need to be successful in this ever-changing world.  That is a tremendous amount of responsibility but it is also an amazing honor. So, now is the time to change some lives!

What Superpower will you be using in these next few weeks and months to challenge the thinking of your students? 

What's your superpower?
Photo courtesy of Glitter and Tulle Boutique

As we set our plans for the second semester in motion, we will need all kinds of Superpowers to make sure our kiddos are successful.  We'll need powers of planning, powers of data review, powers of implementation, and critical-thinking powers! Our kiddos will need these powers, too! We all know that state assessments are looming for most of our kids and it is very easy to let the weight of those assessments bring us down.  But we cannot think of state assessments as kryptonite! The approaches that we take in our teaching, the ones that incorporate higher level thinking skills into the curriculum can fundamentally change the way our students approach problem-solving,  will not only prepare them for assessments, it will prepare them for life. We need to make sure that we are incorporating as many of these higher-level thinking skills into our lessons plans as possible so that our kiddos grow their super-strengths and are able to defeat all of lives challenges, not just the Evil State Assessments.

As you reflect on the first half of the school year, how do you feel about where your students are? Your answers to these questions may increase your superpowers.   How do you feel about your approach to teaching--have you pushed hard enough and asked tough questions?  Have you made learning fun and engaging?  How have you differentiated for those learners who need scaffolding or more challenging work?  Now is the perfect time to reflect on where our students were, where they are now, and where they need to be.  The next question is, how do we get them where they need to be?

Knowing the exact level of super-strengths (a.k.a. knowledge and skills) each of your students currently has in reading is critical.  If you're not exactly sure what each student is capable of when it comes to reading, there are some great tools that you can use to gather this information. If you have access to a Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) or something similar, this  would give you great information about specific reading skills for each student.  Reading A-Z has a similar product with their Benchmark Assessments. You can check those out by visiting the Reading A-Z website here.   IStation can also give us some great information as to what our readers can and cannot do.  If you're not familiar with this amazing program, you can check it out here.  Every student in your classroom needs a clear-cut plan to grow his or her Superpower of Reading to maximum capacity by the end of the year.

Are your little superheroes ready to  fly?
Photo courtesy of Glitter and Tulle Boutique

In CISD, one way that we have done this with our third grade readers is to give a reading benchmark assessment to determine where our students are currently reading and then classroom teachers and I (the Reading Specialist)  created an end goal for each student. For most, this will be the end-of-year reading level expectation for third grade.  However, for our students who have special needs or other challenges, this may vary.  We looked at how many weeks we had until the student needed to meet that end-of-year goal and set check-points along the way.  We will be able to carefully monitor the progress of each student this way, in order to determine whether or not he or she is making adequate gains.  If not, we will need to adjust our teaching strategies to meet the individual needs of each student.  If a student isn't meeting check-point expectations, we will need to begin discussing what we can do differently, exactly where the student is struggling, and pinpoint our instruction to those exact skills.  Without the data from the benchmark and the subsequent check-points, we won't have a clear picture as to whether or not the student is making adequate progress until it's too late.  Knowing each of our students and their strengths and weaknesses is critical.

If you haven't done so, I strongly suggest you go back and look at your data and create a plan for each of your students.  If you need help doing this, ask a reading specialist, academic coach, team leader, or administrator to help you.  If you feel you don't have adequate data on all of your students, discuss what resources are available to you so that you can find out exactly what reading skills each of your students currently has and what they need to learn next, in order to successfully meet grade-level expectations.  Great discussions leads to great teaching, which leads to great learning so don't be afraid to approach a colleague to talk about your student data.

It's a new year full of new opportunities. Soon, these students will be on someone else's class roster.  When they leave your classroom, will they be prepared?  Let's use all of our superpowers to make sure all of our kiddos move on knowing everything they need to in order to be successful next year and for all of the new years to come.

Prayers and Positive Thoughts Needed for One of Our Own

A fund has been established for donations to help the Wood family. Please follow this link to the Love for Heather Wood site.  A donation of any amount is greatly appreciated!

Picture courtesy of M. Knight-Cordova via C. Smith Fitzgerald 

****I will continue to post updates at the bottom of this original post*****

The first day I walked into Press Elementary in McKinney as the Instructional Specialist and Response to Intervention Coordinator, I was a little intimidated. It was a new school, almost every staff member was from a different district, and I really didn't know anyone.  The building was available for us to move in literally days before school started. I was on maternity leave with my first child and I was trying to get my room set-up so that my substitute could get to work while I stayed home for the first six weeks of school.  I was unpacking boxes while my newborn lay on a blanket on the floor. I hadn't been there very long when I met one of the fourth grade teachers whose room was in the same hallway as mine.  I knew that she had also just had a baby and I asked her to keep an eye on Imma while I went off to run an errand.  I wasn't gone more than five minutes but when I returned, I found Heather swaying back and forth, humming to my baby, as if she was her own.  I knew from that moment, this woman was someone special.
Heather and I worked together in different capacities for four years.  She was a teacher the first year.  Then, she was Frick to my Frack as I was the Reading Instructional Specialist while she was the Math Instructional Specialist. We co-handled RTI.  We were almost always together, especially the second year we worked as dual-IS's, as we also served on a lot of district committees together. If I wasn't sure about something, I asked Heather.  If I needed someone to cover something for me or read something before I sent it, or just talk me down off of the proverbial ledge, she was there. She knows everything there is to know about elementary math. She is a wealth of knowledge about RTI, struggling students, and differentiation.  She went on to be an outstanding Assistant Principal and Principal.  No one ever hesitates to approach Heather, regardless of how intimidating some situations can be, because she is a servant leader who truly cares about the people she works with.  She loves every student in the building as if he or she was her very own child.  Heather is an amazing educator.
Heather is also an incredible wife and mother.  Over the years, I've seen hundreds of pictures of Heather with her two beautiful daughters. I love to hear about their adventures on the lake, visiting family in Oklahoma, or just hanging out on their little farm with all of their animals.  They actually named one of their horses Charlie--as in "Charlie Horse"--which is totally cute and silly and just one more reason why Heather and her family are so very lovable.
A few years ago, Heather had a health scare.  Everything turned out to be okay but I remember how terrified all of us on the IS team at the time were.  It was very unsettling but in the end everything turned out alright.  Heather doesn't like to talk about her health and I respect that, but it's something many of us have been concerned about over the years and even when I have gone a while without talking to her, I've always hoped and prayed that she was feeling well.
Over the years, we have gone our separate ways.  We ended up in two different districts and while she is now back in McKinney, I'm not.  Our main mode of communication is Facebook.  Her posts are always cheery and happy, full of silly things her girls have said or places they have visited.  Now, however, Heather's Facebook page has turned into a make-shift Prayer Vigil, as she is in an ICU, fighting for her life. The posts today have been a little more positive than yesterday but she is still in grave danger and needs our prayers and positive thoughts.
This page is about education, it's about teaching kids how to read and sharing the wealth of knowledge that we as educators have to impart on each other. Today, however, it is also about one of our own who desperately needs our help.  Maybe you're a vigilant Prayer Warrior yourself. Maybe not.  But whether you drop to your knees and ask for God's divine intervention or just think, "Gosh, I hope that lady gets better!" it will help.  I believe it will help.  So I'm asking all of you to please pray or at least think positive thoughts on Heather's behalf.  Heather is the type of person who makes the world a better place. She cares about other people, she gives whole-heartedly to those in need, she loves unconditionally.  If Heather were to leave us, not only would the world of education sorely miss her, but the world in general would lose a little piece of Heaven.
As we start thinking about returning to school, back to the classroom, back to the students that need us, please keep Heather in your thoughts and prayers. I will keep you updated here as I get more information.  Thank you for reading and sharing the post as we spread the word that one of our fellow educators truly needs our help.

Update:  (3:03 PM Sat. Jan. 4th)  I just heard that Heather's white blood cell count is going up and that kidney function is improving but she still desperately needs our healing prayers. I truly believe that our prayers are working!  Please continue to pray for her! Thank you!!

Update: (3:18 PM Sat. Jan. 4th) From a family member: continued slight improvement - bleeding under control except in neck. Platelet count has been stable at 35 after being as low as 9 yesterday. Ventilator at 40% after being at 100% at one point yesterday. Lungs look better. Pulmonologist quote from a few minutes ago: "she's not out of the woods, but she's getting there."  Our prayers are working!  Please keep them coming!

Update:  (8:35 PM Sat. Jan. 4th)  Heather's status has been upgraded from critical to "critical but stable."  This is good news!  Our prayers and positive thoughts are working. Since this time last night when I received word that her little girls had been called in to say good-bye, she has made a vast improvement!  Doctors now think she may actually walk out of the hospital on her own in 5-8 weeks! But please don't stop praying now!  She still needs to feel our love and support.  Thank you so much for all of your kind words and positive thoughts.  I know she can feel all of us sending her our love!

Update: (11:03 PM Sat. Jan. 4th)  A CaringBridge site has been established for Heather. Here is the link.

Update:  (1:19 PM Sun. Jan 5th) Heather continues to make incremental improvements.  We still need to pray specifically that the bleeding stops in her neck and that she continues to improve her ability to clot.  She has been more responsive today and her color is better. Please continue to pray for Heather's body to heal, for her medical team to continue down the right path, and for comfort for her family and friends.  Thank you all very much!

Update: (9:17 AM Mon. Jan 6th)  Heather had a great night last night. She was able to respond to all commands and responded when the hospital staff talked about her daughters.  We need to continue to pray that her platelet count increases and that her body continues to heal.  Thank you all again for all of your prayers and positive thoughts!

Update (12:57 PM Jan 7th)  Heather had another good night.  She was able to respond to simple commands and teared up at the mention of her girls.  Please continue to pray for body to fight off the infection.  Even these incremental improvements are blessings.

Update (7:45 AM Jan. 8th)  Heather had another good night last night.  It was expected that she would need temporary dialysis but when her labs came back, they showed that her kidneys were functioning well enough that she does not need any dialysis at this time.  She has also been able to stay fever free for the last few days. Specific prayers needed now are that she continues to fight the infection and that her extremities begin to heal.  Both Heather and her husband, Eddie, are educators.  Once they run out of sick days, they will have no income coming in at all.  Please consider donating to the Love for Heather Wood fund so that this family does not have a financial crises to deal with once this medical crises is over.

Update (7:45 AM Jan. 9th)  Heather has stabilized and continues to make slow progress.  Her sister, who is also a nurse, reports that she is doing a little better each day and she is fine with the slow progress as long as she does not get any worse.  Heather's donation site had hundreds of visitors yesterday and the goal had to be increased because of the amazing generosity of her friends, family, and even strangers who had heard of her story.  If you would like to donate, please see the link in the post above.  Please continue to pray for Heather and her family.

Update (7:45 Jan. 13)  It has been a good weekend for Heather!  She continues to make slow and steady progress.  She was allowed to come out of sedation and has been very responsive.  She has spent most of her time sleeping while her body continues to heal.  Thank you all so very much for your continued prayers!

Update (7:45 Jan. 16)  Heather is doing amazingly well!  She started opening her eyes a few days, followed shortly by talking!  She was actually able to make a phone call to one of her friends yesterday.  This is truly a miracle!  We are all so thankful for all of the prayers and well-wishes. Please continue to pray that Heather will find her strength and keep fighting the infection so that she can be home with her family soon.

Update:  (7:45 Jan. 22)  Heather's recovery has been nothing short of a miracle.  While she still needs to regain her strength and continue to fight the infection, she is able to talk, visit with her family, and stay awake for long stretches of time.  Thanks again for all of your prayers!

Making the Next Three Weeks Count

It's that time of year again, magic is in the air!  All our students can think about is Christmas!  And, quite frankly, that's about all I can think about, too! Even before Pinterest was the twinkle in some crafty person's eye, teachers had tons and tons of hand-made items for our students to assemble out of construction paper, googly eyes and more Elmer's glue than the school supply bin at Wal-Mart in August.  We have all kinds of great things our kids could dump glitter and sparkles on!  And while it's tempting to tell ourselves our kids won't remember anything we teach them now anyway, we do need to keep teaching--and here are a few reminds why.

1) Every day is one more opportunity to prepare our kiddos for life.
Like most teachers who have students in grade-levels that will be taking state assessments this year, I am constantly thinking about preparing my 3rd Grade reading students for STAAR, the "big test" in Texas.  And while I'm not positive the students I see once or twice a week will retain much of what I teach them about comprehension and decoding these next few sessions, I do have the opportunity to teach them a few life lessons, like persistence, responsibility, focus, oh, and time management.  It would be really great if we could all just sink into a holiday coma for a few weeks but, just like each of us, our students still have work to do.  We need to teach them that the normal responsibilities we have each day don't freeze in time just because a major holiday is coming up.  Most of the world doesn't get a two week holiday like we do, in fact, a lot of people only get one day (if that!) so we need to keep working, too!  But, we can play some Christmas music in the background, just to change it up a bit! ;0)
2) Christmas literature is WONDERFUL! We can continue to build life-long readers through great holiday stories.
There are so many amazing Christmas books (assuming you still work in a school district that lets you read them, like I do!) that incorporate great comprehension skills.  One of my favorites is Harvey Slumfenburger's Christmas Present by John Burningham.  It's sort of similar to Arthur Christmas, in that one present doesn't get delivered but it is a great writing prompt because we never find out what the present was!  What a great way to teach students about predictions and give them an opportunity to write.  I also love Auntie Claus by Elise Primevera.  Every year I find someone to co-teach it with.  It's a great story full of mystery where students can infer Auntie Claus's true identity.  It's also a great read-aloud because it lends itself so nicely to awesome character voices.  If you haven't read these two books, check them out.  I think you and your students will really enjoy them.
3) "Magic" can be incorporated into all subjects!
Do you remember what it was like to be a child those few weeks leading up to Christmas?  I certainly do.  Everyday seemed to last a week!  My parents always tried to make each day count with something special and magical, like making cookies or going caroling.   We have the opportunity to spread some of that magic and cheer into our lessons as well.  Teach a science experiment that has to do with winter, or freezing, or whatever you can come up with to incorporate what's going on in "the real world" into your curriculum without stepping away from the core content too much.  Do some Elf math problems!  If Santa needs to get 60 presents to Toronto in 2 hours, how fast will he have to go and how big will his sleigh need to be if the area of each present is 2.5 feet? Let your kids write their own Christmas themed math problems! If you are lucky enough to put up a class Christmas tree, forget the stand and see what your kids can come up with as a solution.  Give some geographical clues about where Santa is headed and see if the kids can come up with the town, state, country or continent.  There are a lot of ways to spread the Christmas magic into every content area with a little bit of planning, you just have to remember what it's like to be a kid at Christmas!
4) All that sparkles isn't covered in glitter!
I absolutely love it when my daughters make me an ornament, especially if it has their handprint or footprint on it.  I definitely think that students need time during the holiday season to be creative and make something special for their families. That being said, I also love it when my first grader brings home a story she wrote about our family, even more so if it is illustrated!  I love it when her teacher emails pictures of what she was doing in class, especially when it's something authentic and hands-on.  And, since my daughter is in a one-to-one iPad classroom, I love it when I see something amazing she has worked on with her group of classmates that incorporates an application or website where she can be creative and still apply the content of the curriculum to whatever she is working on. While it is tempting to haul out the Holiday word searches, color-by-numbers, and word-sort worksheets, please don't use Christmas as an excuse to knock Bloom's back into the dark ages.
5) If you don't use these three weeks wisely, you'll probably be wishing you had them back in a few months!
How many times have you ever said, or heard a colleague say, "Boy, I just don't know what I'm going to do with all of this extra time I have! My kids already know everything in this unit, I've covered it all completely, and the curriculum writers built in so much extra time, I'm going to have to scrounge up something else to incorporate!" Uhm, never! We never say that because there's always too much to cover, too much to reteach, and too much to squeeze in!  So, if we don't continue to teach to our fullest these three weeks (and pray that our little friends are focused enough and ENGAGED enough to stick the information in their brains where it can be retrieved again!) we are essentially giving up at least three weeks from the spring to go back over what we were supposed to have taught these three weeks.  And, let's not forget, teaching means a transfer of knowledge, so it isn't enough to just SAY the information, the knowledge has to actually transfer. The only way that is going to happen is if we get creative and find some fun ways to teach our students at a high comprehension level with authentic hands-on activities, like technology projects, writing assignments that allow them to choose a topic of their own interest to research and report on,  and real-world problem solving.
We all know that this is a difficult time of year to be a teacher  The kids are excited, we're both excited and exhausted, and we worry that our students just won't retain anything when they finally return after New Year's. Let's continue to work hard, encourage each other, and try to do something magical each day that will really give our students the opportunity to stretch their minds.   It really is the most wonderful time of the year so let's spread that wonder into the curriculum as well!