Growing Great Teachers

Many of us are fortunate to get to host preservice teachers in our classrooms. In the last couple of years, many of them expressed to me a fear of entering the classroom because they know that the statistics show that many of them will not last for 5 years. Let's be honest. Teaching is hard. Very hard. It requires us to analyze and diagnose 30+ students simultaneously every hour every day. I'd like to see a doctor even attempt that.

Teaching is both a science and an art. It requires grit and passion....and a lot of flexibility. So it makes me wonder, for those of us who have been in the classroom and weathered the storms, how do we persevere? What have we figured out as professionals that we can pass on to the next generation of teachers so that they can not only take root, but flourish as an educator?

Develop a PLN. Unfortunately, teaching can be isolating. In many schools, teachers go to their perspective classrooms and shut the door. Some of our preservice teachers, will be in those schools where they are all alone with no one to throw them a life preserver when they are sinking. Many of us have been in that situation. However, knowing that you have a mentor, coach, or listening ear can make a world of difference.

I often get the question from interns, "how do you know so much?" I can attribute a large measure of what I know to the brilliant educators that I have connected with on social media. Although many of our interns use social media, they are unaware of how to connect with likeminded educators who can provide them with support, resources, answers, and encouragement. We need to take the time to help them learn how to build their PLN through tools such as Twitter or Facebook. They need to see how we build powerful relationships with educators who we can learn from and who we can share our experiences with. These carefully curated relationships don't just happen. They take time and guidance. By taking preservice teachers under our wing, we can guide them to a path where they will not be isolated in their classrooms.

Give them a vision of professionalism. So many preservice teachers have a limited view of what it means to be a professional educator. They lack a vision of where one can go as a professional. By giving them the opportunity to attend conferences, Edcamps, Twitter chats, workshops, and other professional events, interns begin to see that teachers are always learning, growing and sharing.

Many of them enter classrooms not knowing about the educational organizations that they can join or certifications that they can earn that will sharpen their teaching practice and propel them into powerful teacher leaders. Preservice teachers often do not have a vision of where they are headed as a professional in the next five years. We need to be that person who taps them on the shoulder and encourages them to become active in professional organizations to grow their practice. After they've been in the classroom for three years, as veteran teachers, we need to encourage them to pursue National Board Certification so that we can start growing great teachers early in their career. Imagine where early career teachers would be if they began their journey toward accomplished teaching early in their career.

Involve them early. Many of us have discovered worthwhile professional endeavors by accident. These are activities that not only keep us informed but also help us to develop relationships with policy makers. One thing that we can easily do is invite preservice/early career teachers to join us in educational functions beyond our schools. Invite them to join you when you go speak with your legislators. Encourage them to attend the town hall meetings or district forums where there are conversations about practices that can impact the teaching and learning in the classroom. When there is a meet and greet for an organization, encourage preservice teachers to join you and actively participate in the conversations. Our profession needs teachers who are articulate and can advocate for our students. This provides preservice/early career teachers the experience to be comfortable in these situations because students need the next generation of teachers to step into these roles. Furthermore, these experiences help them see the impact of what they are doing inside the classroom upon the community outside their classroom walls.

We want to elevate our profession. We want to attract and keep the brightest minds. That cannot happen if we keep losing our teachers. Let's reach out, be a beacon of light and start growing great teachers even before they enter our profession.

Why We Need Each Other

I have a student; for this post, we'll call her Lisbeth. She is in one of my honors ELA classes this year. In our district, placement in this class can be overridden my a parent request in spite of teacher recommendation. Now, I am not here to debate this practice, because as their teacher, it is my responsibility to educate every child that is in my classroom. Lisbeth is one of those students whose parent placed her in honors classes.

As I got to know my students, I observed that Lisbeth often took a great deal of time in completing any classroom assignment or project. In spite of the extended time in class and at home, she was actively engaged in her work and she demonstrated mastery in content area standards. She provided her peers with deep and insightful feedback. When she read aloud (yes, she volunteers), she struggles to decode words and lacks fluency. She demonstrates great reading and word strategies as well as endurance when tackling new words or text. Doing some one-on-one work with her, I discovered that although she lacked fluency, her comprehension far exceeded many of her peers.

From my experience, I wanted to conclude that her lack of fluency and the extra time that she needed to complete tasks was not something to focus on. Also, I did not want to make any decisions regarding her obstacles that could potentially damage her self-confidence.

As an educator of middle level students, I don't often need to work with students who lack fluency (unless it's also tied to other reading deficiencies).  Although my instinct told me that since Lisbeth was still finding success, I didn't need to go into rigorous lessons on fluency, I lacked that data to substantiate that decision. That's when I turned to two highly accomplished K-3 educators. Dr. Gay Barnes and Kim Bowen both who have years of experience in positively impacting student learning, especially in reading.  They are vocal advocates for doing what is best for students regardless of whatever trend is blowing through education. I knew they would really listen to all of my observations and the conclusions that I have drawn regarding Lisbeth and give me honest feedback and recommendations.

As we spoke, they came to the same conclusions that I did, but they recommended that I conduct a Qualitative Reading Inventory (QRI) in order to evaluate if I was missing something in diagnosing Lisbeth and designing the appropriate support for her learning. I hadn't thought of a QRI in thirteen years. Although time consuming, those assessments provide the data I had been lacking regarding the conclusions I had drawn.

Without my conversation with Gay and Kim, I could have easily misdiagnosed what Lisbeth needed. It could have had a negative impact upon her growth professionally and personally. We all need Gays and Kims in our lives who can provide us with honest insight, feedback, and expertise so that we can provide our learners with the best learning opportunities possible.

As we begin a new week, let's all be mindful of the  breadth and depth of experience we have around us, both face-to face and digitally. Let's harness that collective and channel it into empowering our students with the best support system possible.

Photo credit

Professional Learning: Is it Pulling Teeth or a Sundae with a Cherry on Top?

I have written several posts in the last couple of years regarding our growth as professional educators (see the links at the bottom of this post). Recently, I have been doing much reading and contemplating about the forms that professional learning can take in today's world. Several years ago the term Professional Learning Communities (PLC) started popping up in blog posts, research, articles, and conference sessions. Those of us who have been in education know that there seems to be an ebb and flow of new ideas and initiatives which, in their essence, are a really good idea, but somehow get turned into something far from the initial vision. Unfortunately, those who are not fully aware of these new ideas, take these seemingly positive movements/programs/ideas and can quickly turn them into something negative.

I think that the whole idea of a PLC is one of these ideas. I have heard several stories similar to this one. A faculty was presented with a book that they were required to read as part of a Continuing School Improvement Plan. As they did the required reading and engaged in the required activities, there was an undercurrent of negativity. Teachers may even say, "I've taught for fifteen years. I think I know what I'm doing. I'm professionally developed enough." Then the faculty goes on to have mandated PLC meetings as grade levels, content areas, teachers with ELLs, and teachers with ExEd inclusion classes. They were always reminded that these meetings were mandatory. All of the paperwork that they had to complete as evidence was mandatory. Do you see a reoccurring theme here? Required. Mandatory.

I believe that most educators really do want to do whatever they can to help meet the needs of each of their learners. That is what PLCs do. Teachers with a wide range of experience meet to discuss challenges and look for possible solutions together. There is a dialogue. Sometimes there is a healthy debate. However, there is always an overlying mission of focusing on helping students become successful. It's a positive experience. The conversations are energizing. The collaborations help teachers to find that passion that led them to teaching in the first place because it is all focused on the students.

What's the difference between the two? One is forced; the other one is inspiring. That is such a small shift, but it makes such a huge perception in how educators engage with one another.

We are fortunate to live in a time where we can find the PLC that we need, even if there is not one where we teach. To me, that is where Personal Learning Networks come into play. If we don't have access to a PLC where we teach, through the use of social media and digital tools, we have access to educators from around the world with whom we can connect. As most educators are, these connected educators are willing to discuss the challenges that we might having and provide insight on how to meet those challenges. These are the people who are in the classroom trenches every day just like you. They know what works because they are living it.

Several years ago, I found myself craving some professional growth that was not available to me locally. I began to connect with other educators through Second Life, Twitter, blogs, nings, and Facebook. They helped me address the challenges that I was facing. They celebrated my successes. They asked my opinion in helping them to meet their challenges. It became an online relationship where we all contributed. I found myself renewed each day after connecting with these educators. As I awoke each day to go to school, I couldn't wait to try out something new I had learned.

I was so excited about my PLN that I realized that I wanted to provide this type of collaborative learning to my fifth grade students. That is when there was a real shift in our classroom. My learners began forming their own PLN. First they built it within our classroom, and then online through social media as we connected with students from all over the world. My learners look to their peers for assistance now instead of to me. They problem solve together collaboratively. Each day they enter the classroom excited by the possibilities without fear of the unknown. They are fearless because they know that they have a strong network to support them on their learning path.

Isn't that the purpose of building PLC and PLN, to empower our students with the tools to become self-motivated students with an unquenchable thirst to learn? So next time, when one of those required meetings comes up, remember what your mission should be, helping your students. And if you find yourself in a quandary as to what to do in a particular situation, keep in mind that there is a world of possibilities available at your finger tips online. All you've got to do is grab a spoon and dive in.

So is professional learning like pulling teeth or is it the sundae with a cherry on top? I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Some of my other posts about professional learning:

• Professional Development: One Size Does Not Fit All
• PLN: The Power to Perfect Your Practice
• The Best Kind of Learning aka Finding Our Peeps

 Sundae: photo credit: stevendepolo via photopin cc 

Professional Development: One Size Does Not Fit All

For many of us, one of the busiest times of the year is upon us.Yes, it's summer, but for most educators that means a summer filled with a myriad of opportunities to learn and connect with others. I have colleagues who think I'm crazy to spend my summer travelling to speak at a host of conferences. I had one teacher say to me, "I'm professionally developed enough. I've been teaching for 22 years. I think I know what I'm doing." I didn't quite know how to respond to her comment in that moment, but as I've had time to reflect, I think she embodies the perception that many teachers have. They have been forced to go through some workshop or training regardless of whether they need it or not. They view it as something they have to suffer through so that they can get back to what they want to do with their students in the classrooms.

Perhaps the problem isn't these mandatory training sessions, but the fact that many have lost sight that each teacher is an individual with a different background of experiences, different interests, and different talents. These need to be taken into consideration when pursuing professional growth. Aren't these the qualities that we seek out in our students so that we can best meet their needs?

People seem surprised by how many sessions I attend at the conferences where I present. I'm often asked how I choose which sessions to attend when there are so many from which to choose. Here are some of the factors that I take into consideration when selecting professional development for myself.

In what area do I need to grow professionally? My natural inclination is to gravitate towards presentations that include technology, differentiated instruction, or literacy. However, those are the areas that I present on myself. Is that what I really need? Although I do attend some of these sessions, lately, I've been seeking out opportunities to learn about teacher leadership, math (because I've just started teaching it), innovation, and strategies for (further) promoting student-directed learning. Like our students, we all know the areas in which we don't feel as strong as educators. This is an opportunity to strengthen those areas and make connections with other educators.

Who is the presenter? How many of us have gotten into a session and been "sold" a program or tool for the hour long session? It's rotten because often we know our school doesn't have the money to purchase the program. One of the first things that I consider is whether this person is in the classroom like me. I don't want to hear theory about how something could work in a  classroom. I want to see how it's used. I want real examples from real students. I want a practitioner, not a theorist. Do they actually practice what they preach or are they just good a research? Once you start looking, I think you'll be amazed at how this narrows down which opportunities you pursue.

Is this worth my time? Not every session is for every person. Just because someone is a renowned speaker that everyone wants to attend, it doesn't mean that it's what you need. Sometimes in spite of narrowing down the choices of sessions for ourselves, we might still find ourselves in a session where the speaker isn't offering any content that we need. If you get into a session and the presentation isn't what was portrayed in the program, it's okay to move on to another session. If a presenter rolls out a "death by PowerPoint" and reads every word on all slides, it tells me that they didn't value my time enough to be prepared for their presentation. Here's a novel idea: Get up and leave. Your time is valuable. Find something else from which you can glean something.

Although most of my examples involve attending a large conference, the same principles hold true for other professional development whether you are building a PLN through Twitter, Facebook, blogging, Second Life or you are attending virtual discussions and webinars. Your learning is personal. You are in charge of your own growth. Take a few minutes to consider if this is the learning that YOU need because ultimately, your students will be the ones to reap the benefits.

Celebrating National Poetry Month

In celebration of April being National Poetry Month, I thought I would host a Linky Party. One of my most popular blog posts is What's in Your Writing Toolbelt? where I shared our 10 favorite publishing tools. I know how much we love learning something new that we can use in our own classrooms to support our students' learning. The most powerful way that we can learn is from one another. A Link Party is a great way we can share what we love with others in our PLN. Please share links to your favorite poetry website, resources, lessons, blogs or publishing tools that we can use to celebrate National Poetry Month with our learners.

ASCD Annual Conference

Come join me on March 25th at ASCD's Annual Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to discuss "Empowering Students with Web 2.0 and Social Media to Foster Student-Directed Learning." Can't wait to meet you!

What do you do when things fall apart?

We've all had those days...or weeks...where it's like our classes have had an invasion of the body snatchers. Students seem to have lost focus and form new, bizarre habits. So what do you do about it? We had such an invasion recently and I turned the tables on the students. I asked them for some solutions. We had a great discussion about the norms and routines they had set. Then, we all knew the most powerful way that we can improve ourselves is through some personal reflection. My learners had raised some ideas to ponder and they began writing. I thought I would share some of the things that they wrote about the learning environment that they had designed.

"In our learning environment...we can teach other people by doing amazing projects that teach life skills."

"Our learning environment helps me learn to help people, just like they help me." 

"We learn better this way. We're all teachers and students so we learn more and learn faster. If we have any trouble, we go and fix it ourselves." 

"...have an environment where we can learn, not just from books,but from our PLN." 

"Working in groups helps me learn better."

"My classroom is the coolest place that I've ever been to in my entire life."

"I keep earning A's on my report card because I know this classroom works." 

I could keep going, but I think they have made their point. They value our class and how we learn every day. They understand the power that they have to learn from and teach one another. They see the relevance of the learning they are doing each day.

So next time you have one of "those days," take some clues from your students.Give them time to reflect and and find solutions. As with so many things, our students have answers as to how to solve problems and meet challenges. We've just got to give them the opportunity to do it.

photo credit: _StaR_DusT_ via photopin cc

Reflecting on MITCHELL20

This weekend the Alabama NBCT Network had their annual conference. A perk to the conference was that MITCHELL20 was screened. If you are not familiar with this film here is the trailer:



The Mitchell 20 Trailer from Mitchell 20 on Vimeo.

When I first saw the trailer at the National Boards Conference last summer, it really struck a chord with me. Although I am in a different geographic location in the country, I felt like I could identify with many of the challenges that they were facing. (I've heard that from many other educators who have seen the trailer and the film.) As Kathy Wiebke, executive producer for MITCHELL20 and one of our keynote speakers said, this is a true story, not the story they set out to make, but one that needed to be told. If you go into it thinking this is another movie like Mr. Holland's Opus, you will be disappointed... because after all, for those of us in the classroom today, many days are a struggle to do what we feel is best for our students.

When the film ended I had no words, but so many emotions. I think one reason it is so emotional is because to some degree, we can identify with their challenges. We've been there. We've felt their tears and their frustrations. Now I'm going to attempt to put some of these thoughts into words.

One of the major things that I took away from the film is the impact that one teacher can make. One teacher led the charge to make a difference in her school. She started encouraging fellow teachers to change the quality of their teaching. Twenty teachers agreed and they began their two year journey that was documented in the film. These teachers met together to discuss the changes they had made in their instruction and the impact it was having on their students, and ultimately on their community.  Several times throughout the film the different teachers talked about how it changed their relationships with one another. Before they were colleagues who only knew one another by speaking in between their teaching; now they had become a family as they all worked towards the same goal.

I've heard several times that teaching is a solitary profession. To an outsider, that may seem strange as we are in a school filled with people. I know at times we feel like we are alone in the fight to not only improve our teaching practice, but also continue to provide the best quality teaching for our students.Like the teachers at the Mitchell School, we may struggle against policy and practice mandated by those outside the classroom, but it's a struggle we are all facing. By banding together, we can work together to find solutions. When you see the results that the students reaped from their journey (one many of us have seen in our teaching as well) you know that all of the hard work was worth it.

Their journey wasn't an easy one. Once they started speaking out and not accepting the status quo, things became even more difficult for them. What was different? They had one another. We know that when you start speaking out, sometimes there is push back. Truth is it isn't fair. Who ultimately suffers? Our students. It is our responsibility to speak up for them to give them the best opportunities that we can. One quote from the movie that stuck with me was that "We need to let our students know they can be anything that they want to be. Nothing can stop them if they have that conviction." And what better way can we teach them that than through our example? We can speak up; we can make their world a better place through our teaching; we can be the change that our students need.

To read more about MITCHELL20, here is a blog post written by Kathy Wiebke on Talk Priority Schools. To schedule a screening see mitchell20.org.MITCHELL20 will be released on DVD in March. I highly recommend you schedule a viewing for the teachers and  educational leaders in your area .  

PLN: The Power to Perfect Your Practice

As I've mentioned in previous blogs, one of my goals this year is to put some literature back into our classroom. Now to many educators that may not sound like a very difficult thing to do. However, when you have a scripted reading/language program, a strict schedule, and very little leeway within those confines, really teaching your students becomes difficult.  When things are so tight in your schedule that students literally beg to skip lunch, come to school early, and stay after school so that they can write, there's precious little time to squeeze in anything else.

As I looked at my schedule to find a place where I could squeeze in some reading time, I found a ten minute window before we go to P.E. Granted that is not a lot of time, but I was determined to make it work. We were already trying to read books as a class at the end of the day while we waited to be dismissed. My fifth graders love our time on the carpet reading a novel or trade book even though some days we're lucky to get in 5 minutes. They work all day to try make a little reading time at the end of the day.

I didn't want to change that routine, so I figured my best bet was to do a read aloud of a picture book each day. I have a huge library of pictures books that "pre-reading program" I used to give my students as mentor texts. Many of them are for teaching Social Studies and Science. However, as I started examining them, the ones that I could actually read aloud were in a vast minority. Many of them had so many text features that  by only reading them aloud much of the meaning was lost.

There are so many wonderful children's books, where should I start? On Twitter and in my Google Reader, I follow some excellent teachers who specialize in children's literature. The first one I reached out to was Cathy Mere. She responded with a link to August 10 for 10 Picture Book Event. This site had a collection of blogs from educators/literature lovers who blogged about their 10 favorite picture books. This kept me busy for hours discovering all kinds of picture books that would be appropriate for my learners (I would love to participate in this event this year).

Next Cathy tweeted out my request to some of her Personal Learning Network (PLN). I got so many responses and emails from them. I had discovered and re-discovered a treasure of  books to read aloud to my students. So although I have received a real crash course in titles and authors, the real winners here are my readers. These books have been popping up in their blogs, they are constantly reading them (many have a waiting list) and students have begun searching for other titles by the same authors.

So while you are spending time on Twitter and reading blogs, be sure to build relationships with those in your PLN. Be willing to give to them as much as you are learning from them. In the end, the real reward is reaped by those amazing kids in your classroom and we are all thankful for Cathy and all of those who shared their knowledge with us.

photo credit: your neighborhood librarian via photopin cc

The Real 3D...No Glasses Required

This summer has been a hectic one for me....exciting, but hectic. I have been busy travelling to conferences and participating in activities to promote my new book, "Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing?" As I'm preparing to travel to D.C. for the National Boards for Professional Teaching Standards Conference, I am looking forward to many things: getting to speak with our congressmen about the importance of National Board Certification and education in Alabama, networking sessions to make new connections, learning new things to add to my educational knowledge, my presentation on Empowering Students, and a book signing. However, what I am most looking forward to would be getting to meet the people that I've been working with for over three years now.

People not involved in technology like twitter, blogs, Skype, or Second Life, think it's a bit strange that you have friends that you've never met. One person tweeted at the beginning of the ISTE conference whether they thought that face to face conferences would eventually become a thing of the past. That really got me to thinking. Would it? As I continued to ponder that thought, I had the opportunity to meet, for the first time, face to face, with five of the other seven teachers involved in the collaborative project where our students collaboratively publish The Coast to Coast Chronicles.

We made the time in our busy ISTE schedules to meet and chat over lunch. As we talked and brainstormed ideas for the next year, I kept thinking, "What an amazing group of women. They're smart, and funny, and compassionate." I loved just listening and watching their mannerisms and inflections. Of course, I already knew much of this from our planning times via Skype, TodaysMeet, and emails, but after meeting them those previous meetings seemed so two-dimensional. What was missing was that depth that you only get from face-to-face interactions.

Now don't get me wrong...technology opens up all kinds of worlds, connections, and collaborations, but sometimes I think we get so caught up on the possibilities, we lose sight of how important it is to make those personal face-to face connections. We need to keep that in mind when we are offering opportunities to our students. Technology does open up an infinite amount of opportunities for them and us, but nothing can replace actually touching a snake, receiving a pat on the back, or getting a high five when success is achieved.

So as we beginning planning for next year and we include all of our great collaborations made possible with technology, let's remember that our students also need a that three-dimensional, hands-on experiences that only we can provide for them.

A Sincere Thanks

This weekend I had the good fortune to have several friends and family members host a small book release party for me to celebrate the release of my book "Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing?" Collaborating in Class and Online. I don't know what I was expecting, but I came away from this experience extremely humbled.Some people came from quite a distance to celebrate with me. Many gave up or changed their Saturday plans to attend. I was even able to reconnect with a dear friend with whom I shared my (our) first year of teaching. I had friends who I have shared much of my lifetime with and friends and colleagues I have only known a short time.

The kind words of praise, encouragement, and support really moved me. It dawned on me that often as educators we don't get that kind of recognition. We fight for our students and bend over backwards to look out and provide the best for them. Sometimes I think we forget that there are other educators fighting the good fight right next to us. We have no idea what challenges they may be facing in their classrooms that day. As teachers we rarely seem to get much positive reinforcement for our hard work. It can feel lonely and isolating. A kind word, a bit of encouragement, or some praise can make a huge difference in their day. We are all in this together.

So I wanted to thank all of you out there who have helped shape me into the educator I have become today. And although you may not realize it, the positive, uplifting words, even in passing, have really helped in lightening the load that I (like all of us) carry in my mission to give each of my students the very best. Even though I may not have said it as often as I should have, I appreciate all of the hard work and dedication that each of you puts in every day for all of our students. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you!

When is Enough...Enough?

I recently reflected on some of my ISTE2011 experiences, but I still have something rattling around that I feel I need to further explore. One of the things that I often hear from newbies to ISTE is the overwhelming volume of opportunities to learn and connect. One of the things that I love about ISTE is that there are so many ways to learn with and from so many other passionate educators from around the world.

As we connected and shared with one another, this year I noticed that a majority of what we were sharing were the tools and how they supported learning. I was thrilled that much more of the conversation was about the learning as this is what I passionately believe in.

However, this is often not reflected in the Exhibit Hall. Amanda Dykes did a great blog post about the misguided selling seen in so many of the vendors in this year's Exhibit Hall: It's easy and cool. Now, I realize that the exhibitors are the ones that sponsor the conference, but don't they need to hear from those of us who are in the classroom? My students would walk away from a booth and say, "That was fun, but I don't see how it's going to help me learn better." Now if 11 year olds get it, shouldn't exhibitors get it?

It's easy to get caught up in the newest, hardware or software. It's new and shiny and the salespeople are good at convincing you that your classroom is incomplete without their newest tool. We all enjoy new toys. But it's our job to really look at the tool and see if it really will improve the way our students learn or if it is just  a fun new tool to amass in our classrooms.

If you look at the ISTE NETS, you will see that technology plays a supporting role. It supports collaboration, innovation, creativity, and critical thinking. Technology doesn't do it for them. The focus is on the learner and how they use technology to support their learning across content areas and grade levels. We don't always need more "stuff." So many of the tools we use in the classroom that supports real, rigorous learning are free tools that are available online.

So the next conference that you go to, really listen to what someone is saying. Are they sharing something that will really positively impact your students' learning or are they trying to sell you on a new toy? Sometimes you already have enough in your classroom. Enough can really be enough.

The Best Kind of Learning aka Finding our Peeps

This week was the Alabama Education Technology Conference in Birmingham, Alabama. I was really excited to attend and present at this conference as I had not been there for the last several years. I was looking forward to getting to share my presentation "Can We Skip Lunch and Keep Writing? Collaborating in Class and Online." This was also the first conference where my new book would be available. And although both were extremely enjoyable experiences, what I enjoyed most was the opportunity to meet and get to know so many other educators.

As I sat down to sign my first book a thought came to me that I wanted to inscribe in it which was inspired by my friend Nikki Robertson, who was holding that first book out to me. She and I connected first on Twitter  and then met face to face several months ago a EdCamp Bham.

"It's all about learning from one another." 

When I think about the professional journey that I've been on in the last couple of years, I realize that my deepest growth has come from times when I was learning with other educators, like Nikki, that shared a passion for learning to better themselves as educators in order to positively impact student learning.

Sometimes these are formal situations where you are sitting in a workshop or a presentation to learn about a  new tool or strategy that you could use in your class. But more and more often my learning has come from those informal times of just chatting with other educators between sessions, at a TweetUp, or over a meal. When you see the passion in their eyes as they share what they are doing in the classrooms, their success stories, or something that they're contemplating the learning becomes infectious. You want to know more. You ask a lot of questions. You listen. I can hear my students saying, "These are our peeps. They get us." These are people who are actively practicing what they preach. It's not something in theory. They are living it.

Today, my mind is still reeling from the connections that I've made and the new things that I want to try in my classroom, but I find myself missing that constant face to face informal learning that I've had for the last two days. Thankfully for me the learning never has to stop. I've found new people to follow on Twitter. Through some of the sessions, I've found new blogs to read.Because of the age that we live in, we can have that informal constant feeding of infectious passion everyday.

So today, I'm feeling very thankful to all of you who have helped me become the educator that I am today whether you have been with me on my learning journey for a while or you are a new member of my PLN. After all, it's all about learning from one another.

A Moment of Truth Part 1

Today, after two years of hard work, I received a moment of truth. I was deep in some work preparing for an upcoming presentation when someone lightly knocked on front door sending our beagle into a fit of barking.  Once the noise and furniture surfing subsided, I opened the front door to find a smallish UPS envelope. My heart skipped a couple of beats at I looked at the address…Portland, Maine. Could it truly be a package I had imagined opening a million times in the last two years? I carefully opened the envelope and peeked inside. Out slid one of the most beautiful things that I have ever seen….my book.

In my hands I held my moment of truth. The time that over the last 23 months I had yearned for and dreamed of, sometimes wondering if it would ever happen. Would all of these words on my laptop actually end up becoming a book?  After the dancing around and noise subsided (this time me, not our little beagle), I immediately thought about this journey and what I learned from it. There are so many things that are running through my head, and I’m sure once my feet touch the ground again, I’ll come up with many more. I wanted to share a few of them now as I feel like they directly impact our students.

Try new things.

I had never thought about writing a book, but at a presentation in Atlanta, Holly Holland, from Stenhouse Publishers, approached me and asked me if I would be interested in sharing my teaching experience and journey with others. The thought of authoring a book while teaching and fulfilling my other professional and personal obligations was a bit daunting even at the front end of this experience.  But with the encouragement of my husband, I decided to try this new experience. What I discovered was that I loved to write and reflect on what I was doing in the classroom, even if I was the only one reading it. One might say that this experience has born a true passion for writing, and in spite of family encouraging me to take some time off, I started this blog and have even outlined a couple of new chapters for a potential new book which may only be written for my own introspection.

Isn’t this what we want for our students? Don’t we want for them to try new things, overcome the fear that sometimes comes with the unknown? As teachers, it is our responsibility to provide as many experiences as possible for them in the short time that they are with us. We need to be there to encourage them to try something new.  Guide them and reassure them as they discover new passions. How exciting is it to witness those discoveries that students make?

So as you are doing all of your professional learning this summer, keep that in mind. Make some connections, learn some new strategies, discover new avenues of learning so that your students can reap the benefit of trying something new.

(My initial post ended up being so long, I've decided to post the rest in a couple of days...stay tuned!)

From EdCamp to the Classroom

This weekend, I had the opportunity to attend my first Tweet-Up, EdCamp and Smackdown. With this being my first, my mind is on overload (I'm sure more blog posts will follow). If someone were to ask me what stands out in my mind most from this weekend, it would have to be the conversations and connections that I made through edcamp. Because although there were sessions that people volunteered to present, they were much different than the traditional "sit and get" type of professional development that many of us have been involved in (forced into) for much of our careers. What made it different was that although there was a presenter, that person wasn't there to impart just their knowledge; they were there to facilitate a conversation on topic. Yes, they were experienced professionals that had background knowledge of and a passion for their proposed topic. However, they encouraged (and at times, sometimes pulled) a conversation out of everyone else in the room. Once people started talking and asking questions, not just of the presenter but one another, that was when the real learning began to happen. People began to connect and find other educators that they wanted to continue the conversation with after the time in that session was completed.

Isn't that what we as teachers should being doing in our classrooms everyday? When a class begins, we are the content experts. We know the curriculum. We know not just what needs to be mastered by the students but the time frame in which it must be completed. We should be guiding them into these conversations not just with us, but with each other. Some of the most profound moments for me at EdCamp were when two or more of the participants started a dialogue where they asked for ideas and solutions to challenges that they were facing in the classroom.

I'm excited about the connections that I've made this weekend, not just because I feel like I've found like-minded educators to share, talk, and problem solve with, but I feel like I've built some real relationships that are going to challenge me to further question what I'm doing in the classroom. They are going to push me to continue to grow, which will directly impact the learning that my students will engage in for the future.

This brought to mind something that one of my fifth graders said one time in a Moodle post with her peers from across the country. They asked her how we (as a class) came up with such clever ideas for our recent edition of The Coast to Coast Chronicles, she said, "Well, twenty-five brains are better than one. We just start the ball rolling and we all jump in and add to it until we come up with something fantastic."

I think she nailed this thought expertly. When we return to school, I'm determined that I will continue to foster these conversations and connections that my students have inside and outside of the classroom with their peers. After all, all of these connections and conversations really are all about them.

Warm Fuzzies and Whatnots

ATTENTION EDUCATORS:
Do you ever feel like you are drowning in a sea of negativity? Does it seem like every time you turn around policy makers are proposing budget cuts, salary/benefit cuts, or adding to never ending list of hoops classroom teachers have to jump through? Do you hear colleagues complaining that they aren't going to do anything but the bare minimum for their students because it's just not worth the hassle? Do you have parent conferences where your hard work, professionalism, or abilities are called into question? Do you ever feel a lack of support from your administrators?

If you've answered "yes" to any of the previous questions (and I know you have), there is hope. With these three simple steps, you too can be paddling with the power of positivity.

1. Create your own Warm Fuzzy Folder to keep handy in case of a negativity attack. Inside it keep notes, cards, student drawings, and emails that students, their parents, or your colleagues give you singing your praises. You can even collect reflections that you've written down when you've had a success with a student or even professionally. By reading these, you'll be reminded that you really do make a difference in the people whose lives you touch every day.

2. Surround yourself with other like-minded, powerfully, positive educators. By seeking out these paragons of positivity, you too will begin to focus on what's right with education instead of what's wrong. Even if where you teach you struggle to find those upbeat educators, with the tools of today, it's easier than ever to connect with educators worldwide through Twitter, blogs, Second Life, and Skype giving all of you a venue to find solutions to common problems and celebrate your successes.
3. Focus on why you became an educator. As new educators we were extremely upbeat and on a mission to change the world. We were not motivated by money, prestige or social standing. We knew why we became teachers. Look around, they are right there, looking to you for guidance even if they won't verbally admit to it some days. Those students, regardless of race, gender, socio-economic background, religion, or personal history are looking to you to be a beacon of light in their day, every single day. What a positively prestigious opportunity!

So what are you waiting for? Get up and start reaping the benefits from paddling with the power of positivity! Your students, friends, and family will thank you.

Disclaimer: No "p's" were harmed in the making of this blog. The events and comments mentioned in this blog are generalizations and not intended to be specific indictments of actual events or individuals, real or fictitious.

Chain Reaction

Exactly two years ago today, while preparing to be a guest on our PBS affiliate's Spotlight on Education program, I decided to investigate something that I had started reading and hearing about in my PLN. That "something" was Second Life, a multi-user virtual environment. I have to admit that the photos that I had seen taken "in-world" struck me as more video game than learning tool and not being a gamer, I didn't have a lot of initial desire. I figured that I would spend a couple of hours investigating it's potential and move on never to return again.

However, I found quite the opposite to be true. The first person I met was Serena Offcourse (Mary O'Brien- a 3rd grade teacher from Maine). She helped me over the steep learning curve and encouraged me to stay the course, be patient, and explore the possibilities that Second Life could offer to an educator. Through her encouragement, I met many other outstanding educators and attended numerous formal, informal, social events and learning opportunities. I found that everyone I met at these events was very accommodating and willingly shared their expertise and advice. I was also invited to speak and share my experiences and insights to others on their learning path to becoming stronger educators.

Because of these opportunities, not only did I grow immensely as an educator, but the true recipients of my experience that began two years ago today are my students. Because of the learning that I gained from Second Life, my students are now involved in a cross-country, collaborative writing project with over 300 students in grades three through seven; an authentic audience, a real reason to write. The students are designing the projects to publish on their digital journal using tools that I learned about through my experiences in Second Life.  As a result, my students are actually providing a model for other teachers and districts, providing podcasts where they communicate, from their point of view, the importance of the writing, collaborating, and creating that they do.

So who would have thought that on a cold and rainy day two years ago that my students would become the teachers leading with tools that...at that time, I had never heard of? Definitely not me. It serves as a reminder for me to seize opportunities because an amazing chain reaction can be set in motion that can revolutionize our classrooms.

If you are interested in learning more about Second Life, here are a couple of YouTube videos that demonstrate the power of this medium. And of course, if you're ever in-world, you can always message me (Austen Rae).

• ISTE Second Life
• Second Life: Education and Professional Development