Skipping down the halls

It's April and it feels like most days come "in like a lion and out, um, like a lion."  State testing stress, tired staff members, the stomach flu (Really?  Again?) have all taken their toll.

And yet.  There are some things that send me practically skipping through the halls.  Last Friday was one of those "skipping through the halls" days.

I was looking for Mrs. Sedgwick, one of our first grade teachers, to ask her a question.  The class wasn't in their room.  They weren't in music class.  They weren't in the library.  You know where I found her?  She and her little people were all in Mrs. Schoonover's third grade room learning how to use KidBlog together.  All those little first graders were buddied up with an older and wiser third grader, learning how to blog.  And where were the teachers?  Standing at the back of the room, side by side, each with her laptop open, moderating the blog conversations.  Not a single kids was whining, complaining, avoiding, sleeping, or passive.  Engaged learning, indeed!

As if that weren't already enough to put an perma-educator-grin on my face, I went down the hall to Ms. Chandler's fourth grade class for a formal lesson observation.  You remember fourth grade, right?  Land of recorders and kickball and reading novels?  And Hot Wheel cars.

Recently, Ms. Chandler wrote away to the Mattel Corp. for a deal that they had called Speedometry.  Speedometry is a STEAM challenge using Hot Wheel Cars and tracks.  Children work in teams to design, build, and test their track designs.


It was amazing.  The kids were so focused and involved.  Once they built and tested their designs, they tried it out on other surfaces (changing just one variable of the experiment at a time).  I had so much fun watching them, I almost missed my next appointment!

I love seeing all the innovative, exciting teaching and learning that is happening at our school.  I love seeing the kids collaborating, being creative, using their critical thinking skills, and CARING!

Spring Break Reflections

Oh, Spring Break, how I needed you!  I may have optimistically blogged about a life of balance in January.  It was a good thought.  I just have no clue how to get there!

Now I find I have slogged my way through our late winter rains into this beautiful spring.  Mom, Dad, the dog, and I threw everything but the Easter ham into the car and drove 9ish hours to visit my brother and his boys in Nevada.  Beautiful, isn't it?

I enjoyed a week with nothing more pressing than one more game of Uno with Benjamin (age 12) and the rare Gabriel sighting (age 15) as he emerged from his teen gaming cave.

Yesterday's ride home was a great chance to play the endless show tunes soundtrack in my head (mostly The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music), since dad had the window open for hours making that lovely whap-whap-whap-whap noise that happens when open windows meet 60 mph on a highway.  The view was incredible:  the sparkling blue Trinity River, green trees graduating from oaks to pines to our lovely home redwoods, spring wildflowers in bloom.  It was also a good chance to reflect on where I am and where I am going.  No, not east on highway 299!  With my busy life and direction at school.

Reflection 1:  Where's the pep?  On the last day of school before spring break, I went to a workshop on Goggle apps led by Amy Fadeji.  Let me tell you, this lady has PEP!  And I don't think it's just because she's a tad younger than I am!  I am inspired by her buoyancy and optimism.  I want to be more like that too.  It's awfully easy to get bogged down in all that's not working; to get sucked into other people's drama.  But that truly doesn't help anyone.  It's time to lift those bags under my eyes and remember that there's more going right than going wrong.  There are certainly circumstances that I don't like that I have no control over.  So why do I let them drag me down?  More pep.  More smiles.  More Kindergarten hugs.  That's what I need.

Reflection 2:  Somehow I managed to make it through upper education without getting a post-grad degree.  Not a huge deal unless I ever decide to work outside my county.  I'm a known quantity here--not judged or evaluated by the degrees I've attained, but by the quality of my work.  Yet if I ever work outside this county, I am restricted by the degrees I do not have.  I am seriously thinking about doing an online masters course.  I have no doubt that I CAN do it, but the allocation of time concerns me.  Where in this busy life do I come up with approximately 15 hours each week?  And I throw words like "balance" around?  Well, as usual, I don't have it all figured out yet, nor have I thrown that first big tuition payment out there yet.

Reflection 3:  "High on a hill was a lonely goatherd!"  Did I mention the endless soundtrack in my head?

Refection 4:  Ah, the perennial spring attempt to lose weight before summer!  I'm joining a work-based Weight Watchers group.  We start on Wednesday, but I'm already armed with new plastic bowls for lunch salads and a shopping list filled with fruits, veggies, and lean protein.  :)

Happy spring, everyone.  I wish you luck, long days, and, if we're lucky, a bit of sunshine.  I'll be packing my bags with salad and pep as I head back to school on Monday.

Infusing Geography

A while back I posted thoughts on a video format for the morning message I share with the students every day.  The message content comes from Project Wisdom.  I use the Photo Booth app on my laptop and upload the video to both Google Drive and Youtube.  Youtube is sometimes hard to access with our safety filters, so this way teachers can choose the format that works best for them.

Recently, I have been playing with the custom backgrounds in the app.  I have been adding backgrounds of Moscow or San Francisco and asking students to guess where I am.  It's a little like the 90's show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego.  (I had forgotten how great that theme song was!)

The content of my morning message is the same, but the effect has been exciting.  By adding something novel, it captured the students' and staff's attention in a new way.  A teacher emailed me, a little sheepishly, asking if the background was Russia.  (It was.)  Kindergarten students stopped me in the hall to ask if I was REALLY at the Golden Gate Bridge or not.  (I wish!)

Yesterday, the first grade teachers asked if I could focus on US monuments in the month of February.  It's an instructional practice of theirs.  Yes!

I can think of all sorts of educational connections that can be made just by changing the backdrop to my morning message!  The third grade has been studying zoology.  Imagine the fun I can have with that!  Travel the solar system?  You bet!  Focus on colors and shapes?  Absolutely!

I am thankful that I have a job that allows me to sprinkle a little fun and creativity through the day.  I'm also thankful for tech-savvy friends who help me when I hit a technology snag.  (Thanks, Rae and Ryan!)

Wishes come true

One week into Christmas Break.  Family has come, presents unwrapped, leisurely days enjoyed with nothing more pressing than making more popcorn and watching movies.  And still I wake in the middle of the night, convinced I have forgotten something crucial--let someone down.  It's my principal's version of teacher dreams.  All that concern and responsibility is still floating around in the back of my brain--the volume turned down, but still there.

I recently received a Christmas card from a dear friend, also an administrator.  She wrote, "I pray this next year all your wishes will come true!"  That has me thinking.  What are my wishes?  And why is that such a difficult question?!

Personal wishes:  This is a little easier to define after a week of vacation.  BALANCE!  I must find some time to prioritize time for some exercise and self-care.  I bought a 50 pack of pool passes with the intention to go 1-2 times a week.  (Set the bar low--make it attainable!)  I must unplug and refocus daily, if only for 5-10 minutes.

One of my core values is helping others.  I believe in service and putting a hand to any work that needs doing.  The only problem is that my own stuff finds itself at the bottom of the pile each day, languishing in the land of good intentions.  A life of balance is hard!

Professional:  FOCUS!  I have imminent work to do:  lots of large-scale paperwork, things that cannot be accomplished in one day.  I need to set aside focused time to power through these projects.

Oh!  I just realized I can put something fun in the "wishes come true" category!  I have been working with our local Sunrise Rotary group to get a water bottle refilling station installed in our multi-purpose room at school.  I got a sneak preview--the maintenance department was installing it last week.  I can't wait to introduce this to the kids and start using it.

Well, Blog Fans, here's hoping all your wishes come true in 2016!

New Learning, New Year

I can't believe 2015 is almost over.  I never anticipate the new year, in part because I'm full of December busyness right now.  I love December with Christmas trees and holiday performances and holiday songs and gift giving and secret Santas and . . .
Well, you get the picture.  So I'm always a bit in the moment of December and then January sneaks up on me.

But I've been challenged to write about new learning for 2016.  So I'll pull my brain out of the moment and think forward to 2016.

I really believe in being a life-long learner.  One of the joys of being an adult is that I get to choose what I learn.  No one is assigning me a class or giving me a grade.  I get to follow my own whims and go at my own pace.

One of my educational passions is teaching students social-emotional skills.  Any elementary teacher can tell you our kids are not coming pre-loaded with skills like impulse inhibition, emotional management skills, or empathy.  Yet these are skills that make great learners and great human beings!  I have taught, trained, and promoted the Second Step Curriculum from Committee for Children for years.  Recently I got an add reminding me that the new principal toolkit is on sale!  I love a good sale!  I am looking forward to receiving this kit and finding ways to encourage social-emotional growth in new ways at my school.


Another recent area of learning for me is finding ways to support struggling children in new ways.  There are so many general-education kids who need big, big help and it is hard to know what to do.  Punishment is not "fixing" them.  Part of the answer is the aforementioned social-emotional skills that they are lacking, but that's a long-haul prescription.  What do I do about NOW?  I guess if I figure it out, I'll really have something to blog about!  :)

Personal areas of learning include challenging my musical learning by continuing with our local orchestra.  Playing cello does not come naturally to me, although I love it.  If I were not in orchestra, I'd only pick it up occasionally.  Orchestra keeps my brain in gear and keeps me learning new things.  It pushes me out of my comfort zone (love those big, slow whole, half, quarter notes!) and into the land of learning.

Have you noticed that learning is hard?  It's uncomfortable.  It's stressful!  Making peace with the push to learn helps us keep learning.  And having compassion for those who are marked by the stress of learning is important.  Sometimes a grumpy, mean, spiteful person is just someone being stretched a bit too far.  (Of course, sometimes they're just a grumpy, mean, spiteful person, but I can still have compassion!)

Okay, friends and educators.  Here's to new learning in 2016.  Here's to riding the crests and troughs of the rough seas of learning.  We can do it!

Improving Schools

What is something you are doing to change school for students or what is something you would like to do?

Our schools have so much that is good.  They are filled with heartwarming moments and educational leaps and innovation.  
And yet . . .
I sometimes doubt that we are up to the task of educating our 21st century children.  Some days I lose hope that our system serves our students well at all.
Frightening thoughts.
Because if this is not a way to meet our kids' needs then what is??

I'm not a visionary.  I have a hard time dreaming big.  I'm practical.  I like balanced budgets and agendas and concrete plans.  So it's helpful to work with people who do dream big.  Listed below are some of the classroom practices that help me to "catch the vision".

Non-traditional desks/chairs
Several of the teachers I work with have experimented with non traditional seating and desks.  They have a variety of table heights (for standing or seated work) and a variety of chairs (exercise balls, wiggle chairs, bean bags, stools).  The amazing thing is that these classrooms are very calm and centered.  I worried that kids would all want the same cool chair, but the teachers have arranged systems to manage this.  In one upper elementary classroom, the desks and chairs are traditional, but the teacher allows the kids to complete independent work on the floors with clipboards if they want to.  And it works!

Media
Our little tech-savvy learners are fearless with new technology.  They are ready to be engaged, entertained, and challenged by learning in a media rich environment.  Mobile technology is often adaptive to each learner's needs, allowing a level of true curriculum differentiation that was nearly impossible to provide in the past.  The trick is finding learning experiences for the students that challenge them beyond the level of an electronic worksheet.  Tasks with multiple solutions, opportunities to explore and present new ideas, challenges to utilize learning in a novel way (rather than just demonstrate memorization) all take learning to a new level.

Communication and cooperation
Remember when a silent class really showed your administrator what a good teacher you were?  Not anymore!  Kids need opportunities to talk, defend, digest, explain, and collaborate.  On-task talking makes learning more relevant and significant to the students.  It moves the kids from passive learners (just sit quietly and look engaged) to active participants.  One measure of engaged learning is "opportunities to respond".  This includes table talk, partner talk, response boards, and a variety of other active learning strategies.  In addition to participating in their learning, student conversations move English language development (and acquisition of academic language) to the core of how we learn everyday.

Focus on the positive
We can no longer assume that kids "know how to be good."  PBIS trainer, Dale Myers, says, "If you want it, teach it."  If we want a high standard of social behavior at school we have to teach it.  And not just once.  We have to teach it to mastery.  This is true of the social/emotional behaviors our children need to be successful learners (and good human beings) too.  We teach the Second Step curriculum in our classrooms for all our children.  Even the most well-adjusted student can learn a lot from this program.  And while we're being positive, have you noticed how many kids are doing things just the way we asked them to? Sometimes it's easy to overlook this when that one naughty kid is once again up to his/her shenanigans.  Celebrating positive behavior puts attention on the kids who are making right choices instead of the rascals who are being pests (again!).

I'm sure I could think of more ways schools are changing to meet the needs of our kids.  But I just noticed it's late.  And tomorrow is only Thursday.  So I think I'll stop trying to save the world for tonight and try again in the morning.

Laughing nephews