Lisa's Lingo

The Rest of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 15:58:00 +0000

Here in New York State we are coming upon testing time. All students, grades 3-8, will be taking NYS tests the second and third week of April. Their scores are part of our grade. It will help NYS determine whether or not I am an effective teacher. Needless to say, the stakes are high.

I have spent much of the year working hard to provide my students with opportunities to connect, grow, learn, ask questions, and experiment, while holding on to the curriculum and keeping test strategies in mind at all times. So, as you can see from my last blog, I do allow them some freedom to decide what to learn but guide them through the learning in a Common Core kind of way. I feel that my students are well prepared for the tests and love coming to school. And if they don't do as well on the tests as I would like, at least I can say they are becoming the human beings I want running our world in the future.
But now that I am starting to think about after the test, I realize that much of my math curriculum was already covered, language arts can go back to having fun reading and writing, social studies, science, and health can move back into the forefront of the classroom. So what are we going to do for the rest of the year?

1. The Global Genius Hour Project - Started by Robyn Thiessen, this project wiki will be a place for us to promote and publicize what we want to learn in our one hour a week that is just for the kids. I cannot wait to see what the students come up with.

2. Simple Machines Rube Goldberg style - Earlier in the year, during a parent/teacher/student conference, I showed a student a Rube Goldberg machine to entice him to create one on his own. He did - for our Traveling Rhino Project. The rest of the class was so enthralled, they all wanted to try. So I am going to split them into groups and have them create a machine, using at least one of each simple machine, that can do something - turn on the lights, turn a page. We will vote on the best one.

3. Create Propaganda posters to convince the school to be upstanders. -This came from our Holocaust unit but we ran out of time to do the posters. Now we have time.
4. The Harris Burdick Writing Project - I am starting this up again and hoping Donna Román is still interested in partnering up our kids to write stories based on the pages from Chris Van Allsburg's The Mystery of Harris Burdick. Anyone else want to partner up? I can find partners for you.

5.Quad-blogging - My wonderful little Read Across the Globe group has stayed in touch since our project last year. We all have our kids on KidBlog and now have time to have fun with connecting. Keep watching our blog for the results.

6. Jigsaw Puzzles, Bananagrams, and Make7 - My kids love to play games and do puzzles but we never have the time. The educational value of working together, while covering these math and language games is amazing. Maybe we will have a game day each week or once or twice a month.

I will still cover the curriculum that is left but I am going to use my time to encourage and entice my students to want to learn more. How will you be spending the rest of your year?

Why Do I Do What I Do?

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:22:00 +0000

I am starting a new unit that is not in my curriculum. I had a student interested in reading about the Holocaust. I gave her a book and she started talking about it to her friends. Then she shared the book during our Morning Meeting. More and more students started asking me about the Holocaust. Finally, I asked them if they wanted to really learn about it. They all said yes.

So here I am, wondering how in the world I am going to fit this into my already overloaded schedule. I put it off for a week, hoping they would forget. They didn't. So I thought I would bring it into reading. Instead of doing a genre study, we would do a topic study. Sounds good. In fact, I could even bring the topic into writing if I had them research and write about their findings. Hmmm. I could get away with this.

I gathered as many fiction and non-fiction books I could on the topic, had them choose books and asked them to get together with their reading partners to decide what they really wanted to learn about. They each chose an essential question (Do you like my use of teacher language there?) and began.

But I still wasn't sure what I wanted the purpose to be. Yes, they wanted to learn about the Holocaust. Yes, I was going to have them do some great work reading and writing about it. But what was the point of it all. And then I figured it out. Propaganda.

If I had them learn all about the Holocaust through the lens of propaganda....Hitler was incredibly successful because of propaganda. What if we studied advertising, looking at propaganda today? Diane Cordell gave me some great links, the best of which was icivics.org. What if we talked politics today? John Boehner gave me great fodder by calling the sequester, "Obama's Sequester." What if we looked back at the Civil Rights Movement? Teaching Tolerance's movie about The Children's March helped here. How is this propaganda? Can the children learn from this? Can we use propaganda to create posters in the school convincing kids to be upstanders against bullies (we are reading about bullies this month as a school)?

We started the project, they kids are loving it, focused, enthusiastic, reading, writing, researching, and learning. I know that I have linked it to my curriculum so I can feel comfortable with it. But it still felt like I was doing something wrong. Until I started to think about why I teach.

I don't teach so the children will do well on state tests. I don't teach so I will get a good score on my APPR assessment. I certainly don't do it for the fame and fortune. I teach because I want my world to be better and I hope that my students will be the ones to make it so.

How then does a unit on the Holocaust and propaganda help? Maybe they can learn that everything they hear about how Muslims want to harm Americans doesn't pertain to most Muslims and "Y", the lone Muslim in my class can be proud of his religion instead of ashamed of it. Maybe they can learn that not all Latin Americans are living on welfare and taking from our government. Then "J" won't have to feel uncomfortable telling people she is from Ecuador. Maybe they will learn to be aware of news reports, commercials, and magazine ads, knowing that they might have a skewed perspective that cannot always be trusted. And maybe, just maybe, they will make this world a better place for all this learning.

I don't teach so my students will learn to read and write for a test. But preparing them for a test doesn't mean I have to give up all the reasons I do teach. I want my students to be better. I am counting on them to save us all.

Why do you teach?

Global Connections

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:20:00 +0000

I belong to an amazing group called The Global Classroom Project. I love this group. The teachers have fabulous ideas, talk about the ups and downs of global connections, and seek out collaborators. If you haven't looked at the site, you must check it out.

Recently, a blog was posted by Michael Graffin as a reposting of a blog created by a student in Honduros. The class had just completed a mystery skype call and this student was discussing the awkward, nearly offensive questions asked by the mystery class, which turned out to be in Texas. The two questions in point: "Do you guys use cell phones?" and "How does your house look like?" You can read her blog to see her view about these questions.

This started a conversation in the Google group about being careful how we communicate with each other and what questions we ask. So I just want to put in my two cents on the subject. (You should note that I already talked online with Michael about my response. He, as usual, invites conversation.)

My purpose for Going Global with my class is an idealistic one. I hope that my kids do a better job than we have. I want them to understand, accept, and connect with others, regardless of language, religion, race, gender, etc. I want them to learn that we are all people, deserving of respect and consideration. And I want them to remember this when it comes time to work with others, have discussions with others, argue with others. We are all people!

When I was growing up, in the 60s, we were just starting to talk about differences as positive. "Be yourself." "Love who you are and love the one you're with." But, along with loving each other, I was taught not to insult anyone. And it was insulting to stare, to ask questions, to recognize differences. So we never even looked at each other. Really. If a person of color walked into the restaurant where I was eating, in my very white neighborhood, everyone would look away. To make eye contact might indicate that you were afraid of them or didn't want them there. So, in order to show our respect, we just didn't look. Strange but true. I wasn't taught to do this. It was modeled for me.

Did this work? Of course not. I learned that people are different and deserve different treatment from one another. Poor and rich, black and white, abled and disabled. Labels were important. They defined for us how to act and how to treat each other.

But I have grown up. I have learned that this is not the way. And I have taken it upon myself to model differently for my students and my own child. I ask questions. I talk about clothing, jewelry, political beliefs, religious practices. I ask questions. And I keep talking. And I make eye contact. And I smile. And I invite people to sit down with me. And I make plans to go to dinner, the movies, a book club. And I ask questions.

My students recently did a mystery skype call with a class in Texas. Once we figured out the states we came from, the questions started flying. They thought we were all gangsters (New Yorkers are usually depicted that way). We thought they were all cowboys. After finding out the truth was quite the opposite, we laughed about our misconceptions. What did we learn? That Texan students like the same music we do, watch the same movies and tv shows, and shop at the same stores. Hmmm. Not so different. The accents were certainly different but not much else was. And my students now have a new understanding of Texans and other Southerners.

I work in a very multicultural climate. We often have conversations about similarities with our religious rituals, our family dinners, and our weekend responsibilities. We are so different and yet so similar. I don't ever want my students to stop asking questions. Eventually, their questions will get more mature, less "insulting". And, maybe someday, they won't need to ask questions about each other. They will just accept and understand.

What do you think?

Is Technology Ruining Attention Spans?

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 16:12:00 +0000

This morning, my principal sent me an article to read, asking me for my thoughts. I have many thoughts and felt the need to share with you. The article, "Technology is Changing How Students Learn, Teachers Say," written by Matt Richtel, for the New York Times can be read here.
Read the article first and then come back and see my views.

1. I do not believe it is technology that is limiting students attention span. Give any kid an activity they love...build something, paint something, writing something, read something...and you will find a child who has a very long attention span. Children today, like always, have a longer attention span when they are interested in what is being taught.

I clearly remember struggling to stay focused in school when I was being lectured to. I doodled, read my book, played with my hair, passed notes to my friends. If I had had a phone, I definitely would have been texting. I do not have an attentional issue. What I did have then, though, was a fear of the principal's office. I was basically a good girl. I did what I was supposed to do, at least as far as the teachers could tell. Today, I find many of my students don't have that fear. And, personally, I am glad. Why should students be afraid of us?

2. Children today know that there are different ways to learn. They are unwilling or unable (depending on age and maturity level) to sit bored for 5 hours in a classroom when they know they can learn the same information watching a show on the Discovery Channel, or communicating with their friends, or creating a project. I know that every time I present a new topic, many hands go up to tell me about the movie they watched or the show on tv or the trip they took with their parents.

When I was in school, there was no Discovery Channel, movies were on 8mm reels and were boring (remember the voice overs), and creative teaching was usually a once a year activity. I still remember the one time we made candles in 4th grade. It is embedded in my memory because it was so unusual.

3. I do not put on a dog and pony show to get my students' attention. I teach them with short lessons and get them to understand that, when I am giving instruction, they need to pay attention so they can do the coming assignment. This takes "training." Children need to learn how to focus just like they need to learn how to write their letters. It is a skill and we need to teach it.

When I was growing up, my parents taught me to focus. How? I remember being forced (yes I felt forced) to sit and watch the moon landing. Yawn. I was 5. My tv was black and white. The news reporters were BORING! Today, I am glad I did that but then....And this was a pretty typical thing we did. Dinner conversations were endless. Long after I was done and ready to leave the table, I was still being asked questions about politics and school and my future. BORING! Car rides...they were endless. We never flew anywhere. And the music was my parents favorite 50s station or - gasp - talk radio. And we were not allowed to ask how much longer the car ride was. So we endured. As an adult, I recognize the value of all of those shows and discussions. But as a child, it was boring. Really set me up for a boring classroom. LOL

4. The communication skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) are greatly enhanced by technology. Knowing that the audience for their latest writing piece will be over 10,000 people who read our blogs is a much greater motivator than - do well so it shows in your report card. Working on projects with a class across the country forces students to improve their communication skills or they will be unable to complete the task. Email messages, message boards, chat rooms, and blogs all help to build communication skills.

5. I KNOW that my students are improving their reading and writing skills more since I started using technology than they ever did prior to my using it so pervasively. I not only have the assessments to prove it, but I see them so much more motivated to learn. Imagine a child in a project on Natural Disasters (this year's geography project). He struggles with reading text and must answer specific questions. He lets his counterpart in Illinois answer all the questions. But then, when they skype together, he realizes that many of the answers are incomplete or incorrect. (Or his teacher points this out to him). At this point, he is forced to find ways to understand the articles and books. He is more motivated...even if it is just to prove his partner wrong.

This article was wrong on so many levels. How can you ask teachers yes and no questions and expect to get accurate answers? And how can you ask teachers who are trying to teach today the same way we taught 30 years ago if students have a shorter attention span? I have a shorter attention span! And, by the way, I clearly remember when it was Sesame Street that was ruining attention spans. This is not new.

What do you think?

The First Week of School for the 29th Time

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 00:31:00 +0000

This week was my 29th first week of school. Twenty-nine times I have set up my room, chosen pencils and erasers and bookmarks to give out, cleaned shelves, organized books and greeted a new class of students. Twenty-nine times I have worried through sleepless nights and blank summer days, wondering if this would be the year I would totally lose control of everything. Twenty-nine times I have suffered - yes suffered - through the first week of school, wishing it away quickly so I can really start the year.

But this year, I decided to do things differently and it was the best first week of school ever! So what did I do?

First, I set up my room in a more inviting manner. Usually, I start the year with all desks facing forward. I wait until I can see who is most talkative, who needs more support, who must be close to the front of the room, etc. Then, once I have a good feel for the kids, I will put them into groups. But I always hate the way the class looks and hate having a front of the room. So this year, I started them in groups. I had groups of four, groups of two, groups of six. Desks were pushed together all around the room. I made inviting little corners, fun collaborative groups, and a huge space for my big purple rug right in the center. No more front of the room. No more desks all facing forward. No more acting like I don't trust them from the start to be cooperative.

What response did I get? The kids came in saying they loved the way the room was set up. I heard comments like, "I never saw a classroom like this before," and "Look, it's all boys at this table!" That was a big one. I always sit the kids boy, girl. Not this year. I also confused the children a bit when I started a lesson from the "back" of the room. They didn't know which way to turn.

Second, I decided to start in with my lessons and projects right from day one. Usually, I am very busy the first week of school going over all the rules. I talk and talk and talk. I talk about how to treat books, when to use the bathroom, how important it is to hand in assignments. I talk about lunch rules and outdoor recess. I talk about how desks should be set up and what the rules are for sitting on the carpet. I am getting bored just writing about all the talking I do. So you can imagine how bored the kids always are that first week.

This year I decided to be reactive instead of proactive. Now I know that goes against everything we have ever been taught about teaching. But I chose my lesson times wisely. Instead of doing it all at once, I taught my rules as they came up. First time at the carpet? Let's come up with rules for how we can all fit. First outdoor recess? Let's talk about ways to play fairly. First time in the library? Now we will talk about the care of books. In the meantime, we did math and reading and writing and social studies and science and wrote Hopes and Dreams for the year and worked on Dots for International Dot Day and logged into Google Docs for the first time and created our first blogs. The children even asked if they could work at home this weekend!

And we had fun. So much fun. We laughed, we smiled, we were challenged, and we felt comfortable much earlier than we ever did before. Each day I went home smiling. Each morning I came in looking forward to the day. At the end of the day on Friday, we had a quick share around the room. Each child had to finish the sentence - "Before school began, I worried about ____________ but I'm not worried anymore." I heard kids say they worried about getting too much homework, fifth grade being too hard, not liking the teacher, not knowing any kids, not making friends. No worries now. Then I had them do another quick share. This time the sentence was - "The best part of the week was ______________." These answers brought tears to my eyes. I was expecting to hear recess, gym, and lunch. Instead I heard meeting new friends, meeting all of you, feeling good in class, coming to school each day.

It was such an amazing week, we accomplished so much, and I cannot wait to go back to school tomorrow to keep on working.

The Ones We Lose

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 01:29:00 +0000

Paul Bogush recently posted a blog entitled, "I'm not..are you?" If you don't follow Paul and his blog, you should. It always makes me think. This one not only had me thinking...I decided I needed to respond here.

Paul's blog was about his year and why he felt it didn't go as well as previous years. As he says:

I always expect to improve each year, so I was expecting 100 miracles this year. I was expecting to top last year and have people carve my bust out of stone and place it at convenient locations to view across my town. But it was not to be…halfway through the year I realized that I was not being as successful as I had been in the past.

That last line really got to me - halfway through the year I realized that I was not being as successful as I had been in the past. This was exactly how I was feeling this year and for many of the same reasons as Paul. I had let myself become the most important person in the room. I made all decisions, chose all the demonstration methods, and taught all the lessons. My students loved coming to school but I wasn't as successful as I have been in the past. I am glad that both Paul and I recognize what went wrong so we can try again this year.

And that is what I keep thinking about days after reading his blog. I keep thinking about the kids I lost and how I would change things today. And maybe, I never really lost those kids.

There was Lionel (all names have been changed). He came to me with a classification and a huge chip on his shoulder. His parents were very powerful in the school community. They made the decisions about his education and God help the teachers who didn't follow along. I saw this entitlement as a real detriment to Lionel's maturation. He could not accept responsibility for anything. It was always someone else's fault. Even when he struggled with school work. It was my fault or the child who sat next to him and disturbed him or his mom who didn't help with homework. Never just a struggle. I worked all year to get him to be cooperative and responsible. I wanted him to learn the academics, but, until we got past the emotional part, the academics couldn't be addressed.

By the end of the year, I was sure I had failed. He still complained about any partner he might have, fought daily on the playground, caused trouble in class, and did no work. I waited for the year to end and me to be rid of him. And then I remembered. Yes, he still complained about his partners but, at the beginning of the year, he would sit in a group and sulk, not doing any work at all. Now he was working, albeit moaning the whole time. And he smiled when he was complimented for his accomplishments. Yes, he still caused trouble in class but now he was able to apologize for causing the trouble instead of blaming someone else. And his parents were no longer in control. They actually backed me up when it came to him not doing homework. Did I fail? By anyone else's standards, yes. But not by Lionel's. He did make progress. And two years later, when I ran into him up at the middle school, he stopped, shook my hand and asked me how I was doing. This was HUGE! Maybe I did something.

What about Tamara? She relied more on her charm than on her brains. She never really tried very hard, gave up quickly, and then, smiling cutely, said she just didn't understand. But tears did come easily when she was informed that she was expected to do the work. I tried to get her interested in various methods of demonstration. She always started enthusiastically but petered out long before results were seen. Podcasts, videos, newsletters, chatrooms, texting, discussions...I could not find the key. I failed.

I let her move on to middle school knowing that she would not be successful. She ended up in a smaller class and felt even worse about herself. Cut to three years later. She comes back to visit and tells me that she has finally made it out of the self-contained class. "I just kept remembering how you told me I could do it if I only tried. So I finally tried. And I did it. My math and reading scores went up and I do my work now." Now I am sure that her middle school teachers also had much to do with her success, but it is good to know that I didn't really lose her. She just wandered away for a bit.

There are so many. Each year, I think of at least one child who I just didn't do right by. Last year it was Jason. He drove me crazy all year, barely doing any work, invading my personal space, interrupting conversations. But luckily, I get to have him again this year. I am going to make sure that I find my patience for him. He deserves it. He needs the attention. He needs the support. He needs to feel that I am thrilled to see him each day. And I will be...keeping in mind that I will not lose him!

So Paul Bogush, thank you for being such an amazing, honest teacher. Thank you for helping me face my shortcomings and do better. I am not the smartest in the room. But I am sure going to keep trying!

Asking for Help

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Sun, 15 Jul 2012 16:49:00 +0000

As many of my readers know, my daughter has been struggling through high school. What I've come to realize is that she doesn't really have trouble with the academics. She has trouble asking for help. She has a dance audition coming up next week and is stressing out about it. But she works at the dance studio. I told her she has every opportunity to ask her instructor exactly what she needs to work on to do well in the auditions. But she didn't. Didn't think about it, couldn't do it. Finally I went in with her and stood with her while she asked. She got exactly the support she needed to keep going.

Asking for help seems to be difficult for many of us. It means admitting that you are not perfect and cannot do it alone. And, in our society, we see that as a downfall. How many articles have you read about a "self-made man"? No such thing.

So I started thinking about the major aspects of my life. What have I really done all by myself?

Getting a job? Well, I didn't know anyone who could get me in but I did know people who could practice interview questions with me. In fact, we practiced so much that I think my husband was ready to hire me himself just to stop me from practicing. I did know someone who could tell me about the district. And I called her up often with more and more questions about the reading program, the philosophy of learning, the special ed program. And I did find books I could read on the subject of interviewing.

Planning projects? I don't do any projects without a collaborator. This is a two-fold benefit. One, I get to teach my students how to collaborate with others. But also, when I have hit my limit, when I am out of ideas, when I don't know how to do something, there is always someone else to turn to. Anyone who has worked with me, either in class or online, knows that I will often reach a point where I say it can't be done. That's when I need help.

Writing a book? Well, I have a co-author, so does that answer the question. Brian Crosby and I pushed each other. I don't think the book would have ever been written if I had chosen to do it alone. I needed support to keep me motivated and keep the ideas coming.

Running my classroom? I have a full time aide in my room. I depend on her to cover certain aspects of managing the classroom. She is much better at organizing than I am. She is also much better at dealing with kids who are finding it difficult to focus. I have no problem telling the kids to ask Mrs. Miller when they need some supply that I can't find. I will even ask the children if I need help making decisions about which book to read, which tool to use, which project to work on after lunch. And I'm glad I am not afraid to ask.

I think back to my early years in the classroom. I wanted to prove that I knew what I was doing. If I asked for help, didn't that prove I knew nothing and shouldn't have been hired? So I went at it alone. And cried a lot. I knew very little and struggled to keep things from spiraling out of control. It was only when I finally turned to another teacher for help that I was able to make it through. She helped me deal with managing my lessons, creating a schedule, and covering curriculum.

What about high school? My high school career was anything but stellar. Why? I was told often how brilliant I was. It is really hard to admit you need help when you are supposed to be better and smarter than everyone else. So I floundered. And just stopped trying. Better that than actually failing after trying! If only I knew then what I know now.

Nobody does it alone. We all need help. And, most of the time, all we need to do is ask.

My ISTE12 Take Aways

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 03:24:00 +0000

I just got home from San Diego last night. The long flight gave me time to think and process my week at ISTE. While I didn't attend many sessions (in fact none that I wasn't a part of), I still found it a most beneficial conference. So what did I get out of it?

First and foremost, I got the chance to connect and reconnect with like-minded educators. Many people talk about the problem with speaking to the choir. This echo chamber created by conferences being attended, run, and presented by the same people can lead to conversations being repeated over and over. But, for me, it is the only place I find other educators who believe in change in education the way I do. It is the only place I find others who work in their classrooms, schools, districts, areas to create learning environments that are different, unique, and beneficial to students. And it is the only place I can go to hear that I am not crazy for doing what I do all year.

Next, I got the opportunity to learn about new tools and upgraded programs while strolling through the Exhibition Hall. I know that many people avoid the vendors at all costs. And some vendors I wouldn't give the time of day to (Pearson, I hope you're listening!). But there are some favorites that I love to visit. BrainPop gave me the chance to hug all my BP friends. Fablevision had me talking with an interested teacher and I got a t-shirt! Edmodo showed me ways to use the site that I hadn't known before. Glogster informed me that coming this summer are new features, such as collaborative glogs. Evan Moor showed me the new portal they created for the workbooks I use with my students. And I got two of them just for showing up. And KidBlog creator, Matt Hardy, treated me to lunch and showed me how amazing his blog platform is. I might actually switch and try it out, even though I really do love Dave Warlick and ClassBlogmeister.

I also enjoyed the presentations I was part of. While the Ignite session was the scariest presentation I have ever gone through, the rest of the presentations were so amazing that it was wonderful to be part of the audience. I was especially blown away by Traci House, Director of Technology, at Joplin Schools, who had to rebuild the school system after a series of tornadoes destroyed much of the town. I was also part of a panel discussion for Kristin Hokanson's Copyright Confusion session. It not only gave me the chance to review Fair Use Policy, but allowed me to hear from the audience about their confusion. It's a good reminder for when I teach educators in my own district. And, of course, there was the Blogging session I did with Brian Crosby. It not only reinforced for me how much I love working with other teachers, but gave us an opportunity to talk about our new ISTE book on blogging.

Adina and Me Dancing on the Roof

The conversations were the best. David Jakes reminded me to think carefully about language when working with others. Being the person who finds the problems, even if I am also the one to find solutions, can lead to those with ideas to shut down. From now on, I will start with What If, not Yeah, but. Thanks for the lesson, David. Karen Janowski and I worked through some ideas. Why are teachers so worried about bringing UDL into the classroom? We batted some ideas back and forth, trying to find ways to reach those teachers. This summer, it is our goal to get most of our book written. Yes, another book. This one on UDL in the Classroom. Karen also showed me about Evernote, finally. Thanks, Karen. Scott Meech showed me a new app he created for primary students. Kid's Journal is an amazing new IPad app that allows young children to write about their day and send their journal entry to their parents. My suggestion, change the icons to be less cutesy and I will use it with my upper elementary students. I love it! Adina Sullivan kept me laughing. Chris Lehmann learned something about me (yes, I can be very cynical and sarcastic). And we had a great conversation about the government take over of Philly and New York schools. Brian Crosby and I had the chance to talk with a representative from BER about presenting for them. If nothing else, it gave Brian and me a chance to talk about where we see ourselves heading. And Gary Stager taught me that sometimes there are things to curse about. I'm not sure I agree with everything he was cursing about but I will let Sylvia Martinez deal with that! Love yah, both!

I might not see ISTE the way others do. I didn't sit in every keynote, run from presentation to presentation, win any great prizes. But the meet ups, the Blogger's Cafe, the hallway conversations, and the connections were well worth my time and money. I love this conference and really hope to see everyone in San Antonio next year. What about you?

What I Did Over My Vacation

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 00:46:00 +0000

Teachers love to assign this topic to kids after vacations. And we always expect the kids to tell us amazing things. Instead we get these "bed to bed" stories of trips to Pennsylvania (I woke up at 5, got dressed, and went in the car). By the time we finally get to Pennsylvania, we are bored and wondering why we ever gave this assignment. But here I am, writing my own vacation essay. I am going to title mine - What I Learned Over My Vacation. I have so much to tell.

Lesson 1: Don't stress over travel arrangements.

I worry. I worry about making our flight. I worry about missing connections. I worry that the snowstorm in Canada will slow me down in Phoenix. I worry that I won't be sitting with my family, will lose my ID, will be hungry with no time to buy food. So, because I worry, I plan. I overplan. I buy enough food for a week to take on the plane. I check for my ID about 12 times before boarding. I make my family get to the airport 2 hours early, even when we are leaving at 6 in the morning. And, what I learned was, putting my family through all the stress and spending the day fighting (stress will do that to two tired parents and one teenager), is not worth it. This time, I planned and let it go. I forced myself to be cheerful and accept the delay in Bakersfield that almost had us miss our Phoenix connection. I allowed myself only some food and knew we would not starve to death. I actually had fun on the flight with my family. What a difference.
This made me think about planning in school. I tend to hate changes in our schedule. Field trips are a chore and a worry. Assemblies throw off the whole day. We won't even talk about changes for testing. But now...I am going to plan and let go. So we won't do math today because we got to see an amazing speaker talk about changes in the Arctic. No reading today while we listen to an assembly about good nutrition. And let's enjoy the trip to Old Bethpage Village Restoration instead of worrying whether or not we will see everything and make it back on time. Take the time to see the baby goats and eat lunch later.

Lesson 2: Stop the car often.

We love taking these trips that are basically road trips around a state. But we have a schedule. Drive here...see this. Move to that hotel and see that. Time is of the essence. This trip was a little less scheduled. We had more time in each place so we got to stop the car when we wanted to. And that led us to some amazing discoveries. Did you know that in Mohave California there is a little thrift shop full of old furniture, cool clothes, and lots and lots of books? And the owner of the shop is jealous that we live on Long Island. She has always wanted to visit. She lives in this amazing state and wants to come where we are. Did you know that there is a place called the California Old Faithful? It's a cheesy little place with an actually geyser (although I wouldn't be surprised to find it was really a pump underground)? We stopped, paid our $7 a piece to get in, and, not only saw the geyser, but got to pet the animals on the ground. We fed the llamas and the goats, listened to the sheep, and had fun taking pictures of the baby goats. We did not expect this at all but it was a fun time.
Back to school. I forget, sometimes, to stop the car. We are running so much to get everything in that I often forget that sometimes you have to stop. When a child comes in telling us about a new baby in the family, we need to take time to see the pictures. When we hear about a tornado in a state where our skype friends are, we need to take time to call them to see if they are okay. When we find ourselves fascinated with the 1930s because we just finished Bud, not Buddy, we must take some time to head to the library and find pictures to look at and books to read. So it's not in the curriculum. But it is worth stopping for.

Lesson 3: Act like a tourist.

This was a conversation we had with ourselves a lot. "Do I look like a tourist?" "You have a huge camera hanging around your neck. I think you look like a tourist." For some reason, we think looking and acting like a tourist is embarrassing. Try to fit in. But this vacation, my daughter walked around taking pictures of everything...people, buildings, animals, murals. She got us to realize that, if we try so hard not to be tourists, we will miss some amazing sites.
In school, we often forget that our students our tourists in our classrooms. The material we are covering is as new to them as Haight-Ashbury was to Ali. They need to be given time to explore, examine, ask questions, act silly...act like a tourist. Let's remember to give them that time.

Lesson 4: Find the beauty in all the places you go.

We traveled around northern California and saw some amazing country. But we also saw some incredible poverty, sad looking homes, people living on streets. My first reaction to these places was fear and sadness. My daughter, however, saw beauty. She pointed out the little garden in front of the tin roofed shack. She noticed the colorful headband that the homeless girl was wearing. She stopped to listen to the drummer on the street trying to make some money (yes, we paid him). She didn't feel fear or sadness. She just felt people. What a wonderful way to live.
In the classroom, we have students who struggle every day. We can feel bad for the child with a learning disability, fear for the child who is difficult to control, and sorrow for the child with a hearing impairment. Or we can look at these children and find their beauty. The child with the learning disability might be the most motivated child in the class. The little engine that could can teach us all how to persevere. The child who is difficult to control might just teach us not to worry so much about control. Because when he is allowed to walk around while he talks, he tells us some amazing things about history or art or science. And the child with the hearing impairment might not be able to share our music with us or the pleasure of our read aloud, but he can show us how the light in the room creates shadows beautiful enough to draw. Find the beauty all around you.

Lesson 5: Keep all conversations about the future to a minimum.

Driving for hours tends to get us talking. And, when there is a teenager in the car, the topic we adults most want to address is preparing for college and a career. Unfortunately, since it is a teenager we are having these conversations with, this often leads to tears and yelling. So the rule was, talk about what we are seeing unless she brings up the conversation about the future. It made the ride so much more pleasant.
As teachers, we spend our year preparing our students for the following year. Even our new Common Core Standards are designed to prepare our students for college and beyond. We need to remember that our children haven't even experienced the year they are in now. They don't care about next year or 5 years from now. Why should they? Let's enjoy the moment and help them feel good about what they are accomplishing this year instead of what they need to accomplish next year.

Lesson 6: Air travel needs perks again.

I always loved to travel when I was a kid. You would get that little bag of peanuts while you waited for your meal. The meal was always a surprise. Was it pot roast with gravy and potatoes? Was it turkey with cranberry sauce? For a kid coming from a kosher home, these meals were amazing. It was one of the few times I was allowed to eat non-kosher food (kosher meals were not an option on American planes then). There was always some kind of dessert with the meal, too. And then, as we sat on the plane, the flight attendant would come over with a pillow and a blanket, crayons, and a wing pin. So much fun. I would read my book, play with my puzzle magazine, write notes to my sister, and just enjoy the flight. Today, no peanuts, no meals, no pins, no crayons, blankets only on request and only if they are available. Even movies are available for a price. I miss the perks.
In school, I used to have perks. Each year, I had this amazing unit I did with my students. We studied our cultures, read about them, created projects, and then, invited parents to come in with a rice dish from their culture for a big Heritage Luncheon. I was known for this. Kids would come into the room asking if we were going to have a Heritage Lunch. Parents would start to ask about it during Back to School Night. It had nothing to do with my curriculum but the children learned so much about each other. Now, no time for perks. If it's not in the curriculum, it doesn't get done. I need to fix that. I need to bring back the perks. I need to have a Heritage Luncheon, or make candles, or raise class pets, or read exciting books and then watch the movie versions. I need the perks. The kids will not remember the essay they learned to write. But they will remember the time the newt got out and we chased it around the room (yes, that really happened).

Those are my lessons from vacation. What did you learn on your last vacation?

What Happened to My Year?

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 02:40:00 +0000

I realize I have not blogged in a while. There has been a reason for that. I haven't really been doing anything exciting or innovative in my classroom this year. Last week my class and I were visited by SMART P.R. They are creating a video for instructing educators about accessibility through technology. I was asked to be part of the video. As a reward for agreeing, I got the new updated, larger, multitouch SMARTBoard and a document camera with a 3-D component.

Why am I telling you this? Because two things happened as a result. One was I had to be out of my room for a day to get the board installed. This meant figuring out what I could do with my students without using materials found in their desks or in the classroom. So I took them into the science lab and spent the day working on experiments for magnetism and electricity. I set it up ahead of time with an instruction sheet, experiment worksheets, websites and books for researching ideas, and a table full of materials to try out their ideas.

The second thing that happened is I had to prepare a day for the videotaping where the kids were using technology in a unique way. So I had my first Mystery Skype call with Shannon Smith from Illinois. Mystery Skype calls are ones in which we contact another class and children ask each other questions that can be answered either yes or no, in order to figure out where we are calling. We had jobs created such as Big Map person (crossed off states on the SMARTBoard), Google Earth and Map researchers, recorder (wrote down the questions and answers so we could refer to them), videographer and photographer, Internet researchers, and questioners (answered the questions over the Skype call).

Why did both of these make me realize that my year has not been what I wanted it to be? Because while we were doing science experiments, the kids were working independently, trying things out, learning and working cooperatively with partners. I was just facilitating. I hadn't done much of that this year. And while we were running our Mystery Skype call, I sat back and watched the children take over the call and the learning. And when the day was over, and we said goodbye to the video crew, one very wise child said to me, "We are doing so many fun things since we got our new board."

Wow! Did that hit me hard! And it made me really stop to think about what happened to this year. Why has it been so different than other years? And why hasn't it been as good? Don't get me wrong. The kids do enjoy school and I do love my class. We still have fun and still do some small projects. But I have spent more time this year teaching, instead of facilitating. More time controlling instead of letting go. More time doing what I knew was not right and good for children. And I realize now that I have to stop.

I moved to a new grade this year. It shouldn't have changed much about my teaching but this grade change came along with lots of changes in state regulations, school board changes, and administrative initiatives. Here is the list of problems I am dealing with this year that I am finally saying no to.

1. Following a strict Teachers College Reading and Writing program.

We have been going through Teachers College training for a few years now. And, up until this year, I tried it all, took the best, and continued to do what I know works. But this year, I work with some excellent teachers who follow the program quite rigidly. And we meet often to discuss where we are in the program, how it's going, and what are we doing next. We share materials (enough so far to fill three large binders) and expectations are high to do the program. Up until now, I have gone along with the system. But lately I have begun to realize that I cannot work this way. I know that I cannot use a program for all of my students. I know that my "mini-lessons" are simply teacher directed instruction and, each time I do a mini-lesson, I lose at least half my students. And I know that following a strict calendar, where we cover one unit per month come hell or high water, I rush through the unit, missing the fun and important parts in writing - learning about amazing language to use, finding our voice in writing, editing. And missing the time to have incredible book discussions in reading, making the children fall in love with books and reading.

2. Following a new math program.

We adopted a new math program this year from Pearson. And the requirements are we follow the program to the letter. The problem with this? It doesn't make sense. While some of the lessons are fun and innovative, we are losing concepts, not understanding algorithms, and missing number sense entirely. Also, the lessons are, once again, very teacher directed. In fact, the book actually tells me what to say and what the response from the kids will be. And guess what? My colleagues on my grade are very gung ho to follow the program. They have let me change things around but I still feel the pressure each time they share their material with me.

3. Timing

In order to follow these amazing programs, we have been given a one hour literacy block, when no children can be pulled out. And we are expected to add another literacy hour in the day. We need one hour for writing and one hour for reading. Then reading mentor texts are a separate time, as is read alouds. The math program expects at least an hour a day. So together, that's three and a half hours. Add in one hour for lunch, and forty minutes for art, music, or physical education, and I am left with one hour a day for all the fun stuff. It used to be the whole day was fun. Now it's not.

So here I am. The year is almost done. We are heavy into test prep, trying to not be, but being pushed by administration, government, and local papers to do well. My colleagues on my grade are, of course, working diligently to prep the kids. And I am burned out. My kids are burned out. I cannot do this anymore. Even with me changing everything I can, it's too many hours in a day doing what I know is wrong.

For the rest of the year, and from now on, I am making some promises to myself and my future students.

I will keep my classroom fun and educational. While I will still teach reading, writing, and math, it will be in a way that engages the students, excites them, and lets them learn more independently.
I will bring back project based learning. My students will learn to research, communicate, and trust themselves to learn and demonstrate learning in a fun way.
I will allow the children to pull us away from our schedule when something exciting comes along that is worth the change. I like having conversations about government, politics, current events, world news. We haven't had many this year.
I will bring back more movies, creating more videos, participating in more voicethreads, writing more free blogs, and Skyping more with other classes.
I will make each day exciting so I don't hear in March that, being out of the room for one day means the best day of the year.
I will enjoy teaching again.

I hope you can all help me remember my promises and hold me to them. I want my students to learn and grow, to be successful and happy. And I am determined not to let the government, administrative initiatives, and test scores to let me veer from that goal.

Does Technology Work?

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 02:39:00 +0000

Politicians often decide that funding in education needs to be cut. We are all dealing with low budgets, no money for staff development and, the most common area to cut, no money for technology. In my school, that means that as my SmartBoard projector starts to wear out (and it is) it will not be repaired or replaced. As the laptops reach their 10 year mark, and stop being effective, they will not be replaced. So the technology will slowly, but surely, leave my classroom.

So I started wondering if it really mattered. Maybe we can do without. After all, the technology projects we do are mostly started by me. We have some great lessons that have nothing to do with technology. What does it really matter? And then I get my proof that technology is important to my students and their learning. Here are just a few examples of how.

1. I am giving a standard test on the digestive system on Thursday. It is the first test I am giving to my class where they actually have to study ideas and memorize body parts and definitions. In other words, they have to study. Nervous and unsure, they asked for help. I asked what they wanted. They said they wanted me to create a Google doc with questions for them to answer. I said no but they could. So one child created the doc, went around and invited everyone in and made plans for a time to get together tonight. I went in about an hour ago. The doc was full of questions and answers, over 10 children were in studying, and the chat room was buzzing with talk of the digestive system. Wow!

2. I got an email today from a student I had two years ago. She has joined the Science Olympiads and needs to build a project. She asked me for some help with finding sites that will give her ideas. She said she had already watched some videos to help her understand her topic better and now needed to work on a project. Amazing!

3. I worked on mean (averages) in class this week. Last night I got an email from a student saying she really didn't understand it and could I help her. I typed up a quick definition, found a video link and a game for her to play and sent it off. Today she told me those links really helped.

4. My students have decided that they need to get on Edmodo at night and do homework together. They wanted to know if this was cheating. LOL Little do they know that I love the idea and love that they came up with it. "If it will help you," I said, "go right ahead." I love checking in on their conversations and adding some ideas of my own.

These examples are just from last week and this week. And these are 4th graders - 9 year olds. Imagine how important technology will be to them in 5 years. They are already thinking about how technology can support their learning. Their world will never be the same.

What examples do you have to show how technology really supports your students?

Image: 'T i e d o k a+s'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7294103@N03/3383924434

Image: 'Shanghai January 2010'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35036603@N06/4296838698

Image: 'IMG_0839'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24253334@N08/4817728598

My Classroom Philosophy

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 12:05:00 +0000

As we near the end of 2011, I am starting to get reflective about my life, my teaching, my students. What has been good? What needs to change?

In thinking about my teaching, I can't help but reconfirm my basic philosophy, since this affects everything I do in the classroom. I have two main thoughts.

1. Every child in my classroom will be comfortable, supported, successful, and happy.
Sounds simple enough. But sometimes it is exceedingly difficult.

Comfortable I can handle. There is a no tolerance policy in my school for bullying but I take it one step further in my classroom. Mistakes are accepted, encouraged, recognized, named. They are not laughed at EVER. It usually only takes one time, one child laughing for me to stop this behavior. But more than stopping it, I encourage my students to discuss their mistakes. "Why did you get that math problem wrong?" "What hurdles did you face while reading that book?" By asking these questions, and others like them, often, I help my students understand that we are all struggling to learn and we can do this together.

And this leads right into support. We have these discussions about struggles openly. Johnny is working on self-control. We will all help him by reminding him gently, kindly, as friends, to stop tapping his pencil. Sally is working on memorizing her addition facts, while everyone else is up to multiplication? We will kindly ask her math fact questions throughout the day and celebrate when she finally gets it. Katy has been working on remembering to use reading strategies to help her understand better? Steve will work with her, since this is also his struggle. Support from others helps the students overcome their embarrassment. And it helps them work harder.

Successful - hmmmm. This one is a bit more difficult. We tend to think of success in terms of test scores and reading levels. But, I have come to realize that, sometimes, children first need to be available to learn before we can begin to teach them. Behaviorally and emotionally, children have to want to continue to learn. And so often, our students are beaten down before they ever get to us. I make it a point, each year, to welcome each child into the room. I will ignore the comments from other teachers about how difficult Billy is to handle, how many times he spent with the principal, how often the parents have to be called, how lazy he is, how rude he is, how unmotivated he is. This is a new year and I will pretend I have never heard any of it.

Expectations mean a lot. I often find that, when I expect these students to be "good," they are. When I expect them to be kind, and point out kindnesses in themselves and others, they work harder to be kind. I help them make friends, change attitudes, and feel more comfortable. And none of that happens overnight. So often, these children are only successful in finally being available to learn. And then the year is over and test scores are still low and reading level is still poor and I feel like a failure. Until I remind myself that this child was not even a student in September. Going into the next grade, maybe he can carry some of those lessons with him and be a student from the very first day of school.

And so I move on to happy. I do expect my students to be happy. Happy does not mean complacent. It means challenged and still having fun. It means playing games, laughing, listening to music, getting comfortable, making choices and working hard. It means struggling with something and finally succeeding. It means celebrating accomplishments with each other. It means having friends and feeling at home. It means wanting to come to school each day and not wanting to leave. This is a tall order. Especially when children come from homes that don't make them so happy.

Each morning I stand outside my room and shake hands with each child, saying hello, asking about their weekend or evening, giving a compliment, asking questions. Sometimes they tell me sad stories about their evenings and I give them hugs. Sometimes they tell me about new babies, or weddings, or family visiting. And we laugh together. Sometimes I hear about awards they've won, games they've played, and movies they've seen. We connect. And then, they can walk into the room, knowing that I care, that their classmates care, and they've let go of the outside world for a little while.

Sounds simple. It takes so little time but it means so much. It's a great way to start each day. And it really does set them up for learning. And, so many children like it that, as children walk past my room to go to their own classrooms, they stop for a handshake and a hello.

And so we come to number 2.

2. I will do whatever is necessary to accomplish my first idea.

I will stop a lesson to address a hurt, an insult, a success, an important question. I will have a class meeting if there is an issue we all need to address. I will learn new tools to keep them motivated and excited about learning. I will revamp, rewrite, rework units to make them more challenging and more fun. I will work hard each night, each morning, each weekend, each vacation to insure that I meet my goals. It's important. It's a child's life.

Image: 'untitled'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29275360@N03/3072985236

Image: 'Brothers'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9619972@N08/1350940605

Image: 'Attitude: Honest'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36624823@N04/4934498430

Language of Gender

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 12:03:00 +0000

This year I moved from fifth grade to fourth. I’ve taught fourth before but it’s been about 6 years. So I forgot that, for 8 and 9 year olds, gender issues crop up often. They want a separation between boys and girls. They don’t want to sit next to each other or partner with each other. But in my classroom, I work very hard to remove gender preferences. No boys and girls lines in the hallway. No ban on opposite gender partners. And a careful focus on language.

So when we had an opportunity for four students who had run our weekly meeting to choose the next week’s students, I told them each to choose someone of the opposite gender. Boys pick girls, girls pick boys. The first three students chose quickly but the last boy was quite hesitant. He looked carefully around and said, “I don’t really want to choose a girl so I will choose the tomboy” and proceeded to name Mary (name changed). Mary looked crestfallen, most of the other students gasped and looked at me, and the boy who chose was oblivious to it all.

Never one to back away from a teachable moment, I took the opportunity to discuss his decision. First, I pointed out that he had labeled Mary and had Mary talk about how that made her feel. Next, I told him he insulted every other girl in the room and had the girls talk about how that felt. Finally, we talked about the term tomboy. Some children had never heard the term before and I said I was actually surprised anyone knew the term today. We talked about how, when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s, being called a tomboy was equivalent to saying you were a feminist. And it wasn’t said as a compliment. I also explained that, for me, it made me unhappy because it meant that, when I wanted to wear a dress or makeup, I felt uncomfortable because everyone expected me to only wear pants and not care about my looks. When I announced my plans to be a teacher, everyone was surprised I would choose a typically female career.

Today, we don’t have to separate what girls can do from what boys can do. Both men and women serve in the armed forces. More men are becoming nurses and teachers. More women are choosing to be mechanics and pilots. We don’t have to be constricted by gender. And calling a girl a tomboy just pushes us back to the past.

This led to a discussion about other language we use. I am very careful to never call my students guys. Why would I eliminate half my class? Why would I tell my class that only one gender is important enough to focus on? We’ve discussed history, as opposed to herstory, Mrs. (derived from Master’s), and manufacture. We have so many words in our language that tell girls it is better to be male than female. And while I am not proposing we change all the language (I am still called Mrs. Parisi), I am careful not to perpetuate those I can easily avoid. So no guys, no tomboys, and no talk of something being only for girls or boys. And I am helping my students to understand why.

Starting a New Year

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 12:45:00 +0000

Yesterday I was able to get into my classroom to begin setting up for the new year. My first day of school with children is September 6th and our first day of staff development is August 31st, so I have about 2 weeks to get things going.

I was pleased to find that, for the first time ever, the custodians put all my furniture exactly where I wanted it. So I didn't have to start by moving around the furniture. My husband came with me and we hung bulletin board paper, emptied my closet, set up desks, and made some small changes to the set up of the room.

I have decided to start my year by making some assumptions about my students. I hope it all works out.

Assumption 1: My students will be able to handle sitting in groups and moving around the room right from day one.

Each year, I start my students in rows. I do lots of direct instruction, slowly leading them toward group work and choosing seats. This year, I decided to start them at tables. I am starting a group project during the first week of school and will use that project to help them learn to negotiate the ups and downs of working with others. So my husband and I set up desks into groups of two, three, and four.

Assumption 2: Sitting on the carpet is no different than sitting in desks.

I have a huge purple carpet in my room. This carpet is large enough for all of the children to sit in a circle on the edge and have grand discussions. I start each year with my carpet in the corner, tucked under the bookshelves to make it smaller. It isn't large enough for a circle and is just barely large enough for them all to fit in a crowded group. This year, I am going to have a grand discussion on the very first day of school. I am going to help them learn how to have discussions without me, taking turns talking, listening politely, and contributing strongly. We will start on day one with a grand discussion about what our class rules should be. So we set up my carpet right in the center of the room, not tucked under any furniture, and we set up the tables around the carpet.

Assumption 3: The children don't really use the posters that teach skills.

I love posters. I cover my walls with them. I have, for years, had posters hung up high on the wall. These posters were writing posters, talking about use of vocabulary, starting ideas, using voice, trying different genres. I loved them when I put them up and kept them because they were so hard to put up and take down. But I realize no one ever used them. The children would see them on the first day of school and forget about them after that. So I finally took them down. I will use them as I teach each skill. Instead, I put up posters about character. I realized that teaching my students to be good people is much more important to me than teaching them about using good vocabulary. I want them to learn to be strong individuals, willing to help others, and accepting diversity. I can refer to these posters often, which makes them more relevant than the skills posters. And I like the way they look.

Assumption 4: The children can handle all my UDL tools.

As any reader of my blog knows, I run a classroom with a UDL approach. I have many tools to help the students meet with success. I usually wait to put them out as I need them. The fidget toys stay in the closet, the headphones stay locked in a drawer, the spell checkers remain by my desk, etc. I have decided this year to put them all out on my UDL table and introduce the table as a tool table. As the children look for tools or need items, I can direct them to the UDL table right away.

Assumption 5: No one wants to spend an hour on the first day of school labeling and setting up their supplies.

The first day of school, every year, we spend about an hour labeling notebooks and binders, adding dividers to binders, unpacking pencils and pens, filling up supply boxes, and setting up desks. It is boring and frustrating. This year, I want my first day of school to be fun and exciting, educational and surprising. So I am going to collect all supplies and hand them out as we need them. This way, when we are ready for our binder, I can spend only a few minutes getting them ready at the beginning of a lesson and be done. This is probably the biggest change for me and I am grateful for my aide, Joanne, who will be there to help make it work.

I am excited for these minor changes. It means I am starting my year assuming my students are ready for my style...for projects and discussions, for responsibility and freedom. I am going to spend time leading them to understand how to be responsible for their learning and I will start on day one. I believe it will be the start to a great year.

The Importance of a Support System

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 14:00:00 +0000

This summer I really started thinking hard about the importance of a support system. I think that, my whole life, I looked for people who would be there for me. As a child, this made me a very unforgiving friend. I had high expectations for my friends and, if you failed to meet them, you were no longer my friend. My expectations, I thought, were pretty simple...be honest and be there. When I think about it now, for a child this is pretty deep. Most children can't "be there." It's the being there that runs a support system and young children aren't really capable of being a true support system. So I have started to think about what this really means.

My Definition of a Support System

In order to be a support, one must
1. listen with an open heart.

Basically this means that when someone comes to you with a problem, you don't tell them how wrong they are right off the bat. Listen to their feelings first. Tell them you understand. So it sounds like this:

Me- "This parent is driving me crazy. Every time I open my email, there is another complaint about Suzie not understanding the homework or being bullied by her classmates. It's not what I see in school but I hate having to answer her all the time."

Supportive Friend- "Yeah, that sucks. It's hard to deal with this every day. I know you've said Suzie seems so happy in class so what is this woman's problem? She needs to get a life."

2. be honest.

Now would be the time to try to help.

Me- "I wish this kid wasn't in my class. Her mom is really crazy."

Supportive Friend - "True. Have you met with Mrs. Suzie in person yet? Maybe she just needs some reassurance. You're always much better with parents face to face."

Me- "I've been avoiding that but, you are right. I will have her come in and sit with me and Suzie. Let's find out what's really going on."

With the help of my supportive friend, I am able to vent first and get validation that my venting is justified. Then I can get down to business.

Now, obviously, this example is pretty simplistic. But I realize my support system helps out in so many ways, not just when I need to vent about a pushy parent. I depend on my friends to cheer me on when I am struggling, to laugh with me when all I want to do is cry, to celebrate successes small and large. And, most importantly, I must do the same for them.

So why has this come up so much this summer? It isn't because of Suzie's mom (Suzie's mom doesn't really exist although we have all had parents like this). It isn't because of how rigid I was with my friends in elementary school. But the importance of a support system has come up a few times.

ISTE

One of the things I miss terribly in school is a local support system. I have always been lucky enough or maybe smart enough to have found a very few people at work who can be my support system. This makes school manageable for me - knowing that, when the going gets tough, I can reach out to my friend. When my friend isn't around, I hold my breath waiting for us to meet. But at ISTE, I realized I could relax and breathe again. Everyone there is in the same boat. We work in schools where others are resistant to our ideas, where we are told to do things that go against our teaching philosophy, and where we are alone. But when I talk at ISTE, all I hear is "Me too."
This was brought home to me one day in the Blogger's Cafe. I was standing by a couch watching Kevin Honeycutt with some friends playing music with IPads and computerized guitars. It was fun. Paul Wood was standing next to me and, while we were listening and laughing, I realized it was the first time in a long time that I was comfortable with a group of teachers. I turned to Paul and told him this was just what I needed. He, a true supportive friend, gave me a hug and told me he was glad I was there. Ahhhh.

My Husband's End of Year Evaluation

My husband works in a district where parents are in control and teachers talk against each other. He had a particularly difficult time this year with his grade level colleagues and it all came out in his final evaluation. The principal wrote about issues he had with his classroom that were only issues because of his colleagues. And she only knew about them because his colleagues told her. One example...he was using email to contact parents and students. One parent didn't get the emails and complained to the homeroom teacher, who, instead of going to my husband, went right to the principal. Not a great support. He did get the principal to change her evaluation, only talking about what she has personal experience with.
He has had a rough time this summer just wrapping his head around going back to work. He has no support system there and, in fact, has to worry about the rest of the staff. And he is miserable.

My Daughter's Schooling

I have written in the past about Ali's struggles with high school. Her middle school was split into two high schools and her entire support system went to the other high school. She thought it would be okay but she has been unable, after two years, to recreate that support system in her school.
I am in the process right now of trying to get her moved to the other high school. But all the superintendent is hearing from me is that she wants to be with her friends. He doesn't understand the difference between friends and a support system. She has plenty of friends at East (her school). She just has no friends who listen with an open heart and then are honest with her. Those friends are all at West. This summer she has spent a great deal of time with them. While listening to their conversations, I finally realized what was missing at East.
BTW...I reached out to my support system and got some great advice from Patrick Higgins about what to say to the superintendent. So, after our meeting Friday, when he started with no, he moved to..."Let me do some investigating and I will get back to you." Stay tuned.

My Classroom

Now is the time I start preparing for a new year. I am creating exciting projects, looking into great books to read, deciding on a theme for the year. And what I realize now is that it is my job to be a strong support for my students and to model being supportive for others. I want my students to feel supported in the classroom. I think I do a really good job of creating this. But now I have a better understanding of why it's so important.

I am incredibly grateful to have a support system. I live with strong supports in both my husband and my mother. I work with strong supports in my own classroom. I am lucky this year to have my wonderful friend, Joanne Miller, be my aide again. And I have my amazing support system in my online PLN. I know I can always reach out to Karen Janowski, Maria Knee, and Linda Nitsche for an open heart. I know I can always depend on Paul Wood to say just the right thing. I know I can complain to Brian Crosby and he will listen and commiserate with me. There are so many of you out there who are there for me.

Do you have a strong support system? Can you reach out to support someone else?

Image: 'Strength Over Head'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/41864721@N00/3446286013

Image: 'Deep conversation'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38869431@N00/4703017753

Image: 'Class photo'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37718498@N00/2610009219

Image: 'We're thinking of you'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26406919@N00/291488094

High School ...Who is it good for?

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Sat, 21 May 2011 11:59:00 +0000

I've been thinking a great deal about high school lately. My 30th reunion is coming up this summer, which is bringing me back to my wonderful (read the sarcasm here) days. And my daughter is finishing up her second year, hating every minute. I've spoken to lots of people about their high school experience, read books, seen videos, and have come to the conclusion that high school isn't good for anyone. So I figured I would lay out my thinking here, in the hopes that some of you high school teachers can prove me wrong. Or maybe rethink things a bit.

Puberty and High School
The first problem I have with high school, and probably the biggest, is the fact that high school comes at a time when our brains tell us that the only thing that matters is that we fit in. And there is no way to fit in. We are too fat, too skinny, too big a butt, no butt, wearing the wrong clothes, carrying the wrong bag, having multiple bad hair days. And all of this is going on while we desperately want to be attractive to the opposite sex.

What does high school do to help with this? First, a rank is set up. Did you make honor roll? Highest honors? What is your ranking in your class? Did you make it into AP classes? Are you taking the classes for the "dumb" kids (those would be the hands-on classes - we'll talk later)?

Next, high school sets up clubs, run by high school students. Try to join a club and you have just joined a clique. The students running the club decide who does what, by popularity, not skill. Try out for a music night and get in or not, depending on your relationship with the students running the club. Join a business club and get to run the school store only if you are friends with the leader of the club. Even community help clubs...choices are work the car wash on Saturday with all the kids, or make posters to hang up on the walls. Who decides? The students running the clubs.

The Ranking System
Apparently, the purpose for high school is to pass tests to get out of high school. AP exams, regents exams, finals, mid-terms. And the purpose of the classes is to prepare for the tests. You can see my previous blog about this here. So let's take students whose sole purpose in life is to be social and tell them that all they should be worried about is how they compare on the tests to everyone else in the class, district, county, state, country. Yeah, that works. Oh, and let's put all the tests in the same week. Add more stress to their already stressed lives. I know children who come home hysterical because they didn't get the top score in class. I hear about children having anxiety attacks during testing week. I watch my own daughter study, call friends for help, cry, and stress out before each exam.

And classes are ranked, too. AP classes are at the top. Only the best and brightest survive those. Next is regents classes. These are also for top students but available and manageable by many. Then we have those "other" classes. These are the hands-on classes many kids want to take but can only take as electives. Shop class, cooking, art classes, sewing, music, etc. These are often not available to those AP students. No time. So the classes tend to be filled by students not able to make it in AP classes. Hence, the term..the "dummy" classes. Everyone wants to take them but most students avoid them if they can. And last, in our area, is BOCES. BOCES is a program for children who cannot make it in school at all. They go there to learn a trade...car mechanic, hair stylist, cook, etc. They take academic classes in between attending these hands-on classes. All of it happens off campus. I have never met a child who has gone through BOCES and said they hated it. They all love the program. But it does have a stigma attached.

The Teacher/Student Connection
In elementary school, we spend lots of time trying to connect with our students. We help them get through projects, we plan tests carefully around each other, being sure not to schedule too many at one time (mandated state tests are the exception). We help them study. We give them breaks. And we notice when a child comes in unhappy and talk about why. We talk to them before the day begins, while they're packing up, while they're in small groups, while walking down the hall. We talk and we connect. We know about siblings and grandparents, outside sports and musical awards, new births and deaths in the family.

Move to middle school and those connections start to waiver. It seems to me that middle school teachers walk a fine line between wanting that connection and not having time to make the connection. But they try.

Get to high school and it doesn't even seem to be a concern anymore. A student can go through high school not connected to any adult. Move to class, sit in your seat, don't talk, don't volunteer any answers or any information, move to the next class. See your guidance counselor only when you are told to and then, keep quiet, offering nothing of importance. Just make sure you do well in class or they might start get interested in you, even if it is only to put you in those "other" classes.

What does this mean? The artistic child is never recognized for his gifts. The slow processor goes home each night to work 3-5 hours more just to keep up. The depressed child just gets more depressed knowing she has no one to reach out to. The social child leads and follows her friends, doing just enough in class to get by. The child whose parents are divorcing, brother just died in a car accident, grandparent moving in, family having financial difficulties...that child is lost. Who can focus on school when life at home is falling apart?

Who does belong in high school?

I'm not sure this question has an answer. I think that the popular kids enjoy high school the most. They have each other, although sometimes at a great cost. I think the children of "Tiger Moms" do well in school simply because they have no choice. I think that's it. Stoners get stoned on school property and no one notices. Geeky kids get bullied daily and no one notices. Girls get pregnant. Boys deny it's theirs. Each year there is at least one major weekend incident with a group of kids getting massively drunk and destroying someone's house or wrecking a car.

Why are these children behaving this way? Would they if they had better connections to adults in their lives? I don't know the answer. I just know I have to help my own child. So, thanks to a conversation with Gary Stager, my daughter is graduating early. Next year will be her last in high school. She will receive a regents honors diploma which should put her in good standing to get into the college of her choice. She will not be taking any more AP classes. She will finish up her classes while spending half the day at BOCES in a photography program (the class for dummies). I don't care that she is going to BOCES. It has a fabulous photography program, complete with graphic arts. She visited the school for a day and fell in love. I am determined to make her final year manageable any way I can. Then off to college, which she dreams about.

So what do you think? Do I have it all wrong? High school teachers, fill me in on the reality as you see it. Those of you who loved high school, tell me why. Or maybe, let's start to redesign the schools so more students fit in. Maybe design more like BOCES. What should we do about high school?

Image: 'When your Hair Just Doesn't work'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7236030@N03/3071556652

'Electronics Club 1986'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27315689@N00/440680363

'Exams_by_Majeed'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38126668@N02/4312740974

'lecture'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/23260981@N07/4625331304

'"she said no"'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61228260@N04/5629007416

'3D Character and Question Mark'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40780016@N02/3914729343

An Update on the Denton Dynamos

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:54:00 +0000

There have been lots of positive things going on in my classroom lately but I have been so consumed with and saddened by the new politics of teaching and unions that I haven't been able to open my eyes to the wonders of my students. So I want to take this space to let you all know the good things going on.

1. An update on the creation of the Exploration Lab

As I talked about in a previous blog, after reading The Third Teacher and speaking with Trung Le of CanonDesigns, we decided to rearrange our room to better suit our students' needs. It has been a resounding success. What am I seeing?

Children at different tables seem to be more helpful with each other. They readily lean over to help each other with assignments or struggles. They offer supplies and trade emails after school. I believe this might have something to do with the fact that the children sit at tables based on their chosen "best way to learn." So the artists all speak the same language. The musicians know how to communicate with each other. The collaborators readily jump in. And the children who needed quiet know when to help and when to leave each other alone. It's really amazing to watch.

Students are quicker to move around the room, getting what they need to make learning easier or just moving to a different place in the room to get closer to the instruction if needed. They seem more comfortable being different than their classmates. So, although I run a UDL classroom and have encouraged this all year, the movement into an Exploration Lab seems to have really pushed the idea.

The children are working more independently. I know it is the spring and the children usually get to a point around this time of year where they are more independent. But this year, it seems to have happened sooner. And this brings me to the second positive happening in my classroom.

2. Becoming much more of a facilitator

The past two weeks have been interesting, to say the least. While we push toward our state testing (coming up right after vacation) and the required preparation, we have also been pushing to complete some large projects before vacation. So our days have been spent either doing test prep (boooo) or working on projects (yaaaay). And this has given me lots of opportunity to see the children at their best.

You see, when we do test prep in my room, it is limited to a 45 minute period per day. This 45 minutes is not the best, since it is primarily drill and practice, but the children are positive, knowing that it will be a short amount of time and then we get to move on to "the fun stuff."

The fun stuff is the rest of our curriculum. It's games and projects and research and collaboration and reading and writing and math and....nothing about drill and practice. Just learning. And three things we really worked on were our Moving West social studies project, our Energizing Energy science project, and our literary essays in writing.

Since we had been working on the projects for awhile, the children were well into them. They worked in groups, collaborated online with each other and children from other classes, and solved problems all day. I had the luxury of sitting at a table with my laptop and seeing their conversations and work in their Google docs. I got to quietly watch them work on scripts and props and design work. I was witness to kindness and support and laughter and perseverance.

I watched E work with H, who was upset because he wanted to do an Xtranormal video and the rest of his group wanted to do a Glog. She carefully explained to him that his video will be used, embedded into her Glog. Calmed him right down with no support from me.

I saw S lean over to T and gently help her run through the math work she struggled with. I had explained it many times but she had shut down in frustration. S didn't even think about her sensitivity. He just walked her through the steps and she was successful.

I witnessed A and her group struggle to figure out how they were going to show that their partners in Nevada were going to catapult them a fish (it's all part of a video about simple machines). How will it look like the same fish when they were splicing together two different videos? They talked with each other and chatted with their partners, finally coming to me to tell me they MUST Skype with their partners. So I turned on Skype, called in Brian Crosby, and brought the children together. What did they do? Brian's students had a stuffed fish. They put it up to the camera to show A. A said she had a similar fish at home. They spent a few more minutes talking backgrounds for their video and walked away smiling. My only job...turning on Skype.

I listened to B and his group struggle with Google Sites. It was the first time we were using it and had many issues with it. They kept getting logged out, kept losing their work, and spent much time just troubleshooting. Finally, they told me to check my email. They had sent me an invitation to their wiki, created in Wikispaces. They decided, without me, that they had spent enough time troubleshooting and needed to actually work. So instead of creating a site, they created a wiki, quite successfully.

3. Moving West Project Conclusion

Moving along in our social studies curriculum brought us to Chapter 14. An exciting time in American history, the early 1800's are explained well in the textbook but...oh how boring to read the textbook. So Lauryn, my co-teacher, and I created a project. With the help of our librarian, who set up LiveBinders for each group, we created a Google site with essential questions, topics, assignments, rubrics, and ending with a webquest. Each group had to create a site to teach about their topic. This site had to include three parts - one written, one drawn, and one multi-media. It had to answer the main essential questions and some topic specific questions. After all sites were completed, the children worked with partners from other groups to complete a webquest using these sites.

There wasn't any part of this project I had to teach to the whole class. The students jumped in, delegated assignments, met with me to explain their plans, and got to work. They gave each other homework assignments (not kidding) and begged to spend more time working. The fact that what they were really doing was research is amazing. They loved this project, learned a great deal, and did very well on their webquest.

The adults in the room marveled at how independent the students were, making great choices about projects, choosing appropriate research material, and collaborating beautifully. It was a dream project, bringing together everything we have worked on all year. And we finished it all just in time for vacation.

I love being able to share some of the excitement of the classroom, er Exploration Lab, with you all. It helps me remember why I love teaching and working with children. And it helps me push aside all the negative press teachers are getting these days. I hope it works for you too.

Image: 'Always Look on the Bright Side of+Life'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26652303@N07/3199154697

Image: 'Day 83: Fifty Fingers - Hands Together'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28362388@N00/3382838948

How I Lost Control of My Class

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 02:56:00 +0000

I recognized this week that I had completely lost control of my class. The students were running the show. I'm not sure how it happened but I know what started it all.

The first night of Educon 2.3, we heard a panel discussion about Innovation in Education. One of the panelists was Trung Le from CannonDesigns. He spoke about classroom design and language. Maria Knee and I, sitting next to each other, immediately thought about asking him to join us on Conversations to talk about his ideas. That night at dinner, I approached him about the ideas, exchanged business cards, and received his book, The Third Teacher (definitely worth looking at).

Prior to his joining us on the show, I scanned through the book about classroom design and got inspired. I went into school the next week and, after having a discussion with the students about what they need to work well, rearranged the classroom.

As the video shows, one of the areas we created was a music area. Then Maria sent us a Rock Star splitter which allows the children to listen to their IPods without disturbing the rest of the class. The kids were happy with the setup and enjoyed the different areas of the room.

That was two weeks ago. Last week I noticed that children who don't sit at the music station were suddenly bringing in their IPods. They didn't ask. They just did it. Every time we were doing independent work, the IPods would come out. My team kept asking me if we were going to allow this. But every time I looked around, what I saw was comfortable, productive children. Yes, there was the occasional child who spent more time choosing music than working. But those children just needed to be told that if they couldn't work with the music, they had to turn it off. Some did and some refocused themselves.

Of course, other students from other classes have noticed my students using IPods and want to know why they aren't allowed. I'm waiting to hear from the other teachers. But in the meantime, my students are now in control, and I couldn't be happier.

Image: 'Night Train'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/18303733@N00/114464004

Energizing Energy - A Success Story (?)

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Sun, 23 Jan 2011 04:23:00 +0000

Last year was an overwhelming year for me. You can see past blogs to find out more. But one issue that I felt I could work with was an increase in science curriculum we were required to teach. Because I quickly realized that all the units we were supposed to cover were related to energy. All I would have to do is teach a massive energy unit and I would have it covered.

So over the summer I worked and studied and fretted and talked to science teachers and finally created Energizing Energy. This project would take my students through experiments in various forms of energy and really get them thinking about the topic. Or so I hoped.

I was nervous. If it didn't work out, my students would be heading off to 6th grade with a clear disadvantage in the area of science. The teachers would really know that I didn't cover the units - which in my district consists of a box full of experiments. In order to help me work through the nervousness, I enlisted a partner, actually two. David Cosand, of Oregon, and Brian Crosby, of Nevada, both willingly (or maybe not so willingly) joined in. David, unfortunately, had to drop out early on due to some class difficulties. Brian has come aboard wholeheartedly.

We are now nearing the end of this project, which actually started in September. We have a final presentation for the children to do but the end is in sight. So as we add our conclusions, I would like to reflect back.

I remember planning this summer. To start, I never thought it would actually work. Brian kept thinking I had this all under control and knew exactly what I was doing. Ha. For starters, science is not my forte. I depend greatly on other experts to help me understand the concepts. Good thing Brian is better at understanding science concepts than I am. For another, I have never undertaken such a massive project before. I knew going in that I was attempting to cover 6 science units in one. So it would take a looooong time. I didn't know if I could ever get anyone else to agree to work on a project for so long. I should have known Brian would be up for it.

Working with a new class is always interesting. They had very little technology experience. So everything we did was brand new. They were introduced to Google docs, Skype, Discovery Streaming, BrainPop, wikis, and CoveritLive just to work on the research and collaboration aspects. Other tools will be used for the presentation part. Teaching them internet etiquette, patience with technology, and how to work collaboratively took some time. By now, of course, they are most comfortable with all our tools.

I remember thinking, around the end of November, that this will never work. The research was taking forever and I wasn't really sure they were understanding their form of energy. I was almost relieved to hear Brian saying the same thing. We decided to meet in small groups together, skyping our lessons, to help push their understanding. After those skype sessions, I really felt the students had a better handle on what was expected.

Once we started writing our experiments, I realized the children really had no idea how to write an experiment. They didn't understand what a hypothesis was, had no idea about variables and constants, and couldn't write understandable steps. More small group instruction and we got them back on track. I think this part says a great deal about our science boxes. I always felt I wasn't really teaching my students anything. They had a workbook that they followed to complete the experiments. They never wrote their own experiments or questioned the results. For the first time, I was asking them to really behave like scientists.

We included others in our lessons. My physical education teacher, Mike Lesak, came into the room and taught my class and Brian's class about golf clubs as levers. We then moved into the gym to measure the clubs and test out his lessons. My aide's son, Nick, who is on the college golf team, joined us in the lesson. And the band teacher contributed drums and drumsticks (Nick also plays the drums.) Once the kids got into volleyball in gym, Mike just continued the science lessons there.

The past two weeks, we have been performing our experiments. We had to adjust our expectations a bit. We thought all the students would perform all the experiments but materials were hard to come by, and time is flying. So instead, each group performed their own experiment while the other children either wrote up the results in the Google doc or carried on a conversation in CoveritLive. This has been the most exciting science time I've ever had in school. For the first time, my students and Brian's students were talking about changing variables and trying the experiments again. They were discussing unexpected outcomes and why it might have happened. Conversations about mass and density, temperature and materials, even location were going on all day. My students are so enthusiastic about their learning that I have decided to have a science day. Next week, we will have a day where all the experiments will be set up and the children can change variables and predict the outcomes. I can't wait to film that day.

The children will not complete group presentation demonstrating their knowledge about energy and their form of it. I think the presentations will be fairly easy. This is what my students have been doing all along. But what have they learned about science? That mistakes turn into more experiments. That results are often not what we expect. That hypotheses can't be wrong, so they don't need to be changed to match the results. And, most importantly, that science is fun! You can read some of their blogs to find out how much they loved experimenting.

I think what I like the most about this project is that it was like a science experiment itself. I never knew if it would work. While all the other fifth grade teachers rushed around finishing up each science box, I just kept plugging away at my research and development of experiments.

I am surprised by the results. I thought they would learn about energy. I had no idea they would also learn so much about experimenting.

I had to keep adjusting along the way to help my students be more successful. Thankfully, having a partner like Brian makes that so much easier. He never once flinched when I said, "We're changing the next step." You should all be so blessed with a great collaborative partner.

Next year (yes, next year, Brian), there will be some changes. But for now, this has been a very successful science project.

A UDL Classroom in Action

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 22:22:00 +0000

Recently, a teacher, who I have much admiration for, asked me if I could share a UDL lesson with her. This was when I realized that, even those who seem to know, don't really understand UDL. So let's see what a UDL classroom in action looks like. But first, once again, I will explain UDL.

According to CAST, "Universal Design for Learning is a set of principles for curriculum development that give all individuals equal opportunities to learn.

UDL provides a blueprint for creating instructional goals, methods, materials, and assessments that work for everyone--not a single, one-size-fits-all solution but rather flexible approaches that can be customized and adjusted for individual needs."

UDL is not a lesson plan, it is a program.

Here is a typical day in my classroom. Please note that all names have been changed. I work in an inclusion classroom with a full time co-teacher, a full time aide, 22 children, 9 IEPS/504s, 4 gifted students, 1 ESL student, and a variety of levels, behavioral issues, and academic issues. I also have wonderful children who love coming to school, working hard, and collaborating with each other.

8:45 - 9:10 - We unpack and listen to announcements. Sam and Esther take the lunch count. Sam is not comfortable talking in front of the class so he allows Esther to call for children to raise their hands if they are buying lunch. Sam counts the raised hands and writes down the numbers. Meanwhile, Abby's seat neighbor reminds her to hand in her homework, since she seems to forget each day. Johnny sharpens all his pencils, since he pushes too hard and breaks his points often. Martin gets help from the aide to organize his desk and get ready for the day. If he has items on his desk, he gets easily distracted, so his desk is turned around. He needs to get out of his seat to get anything from his desk. He also puts his water bottle on the nearby table so he doesn't play with it and puts his snack toys on my desk.

9:10 - 10 - Math time. We split into two groups. Group one heads down the hall to the "breakout room." There they will work on writing word problems that match a given multiplication or division problem. They are ahead of group two. Group two stays in the room. They use their multiplication charts (everyone has them on their desk) to solve computation problems. Bobby uses the SmartBoard to work out his problems since it is easier for him to work on a large area. Susan grabs some graph paper so she can keep her columns straight. Johnny carefully rewrites his problems then asks his seatmate to check and make sure he copied the numbers correctly, since he is notorious for miscopying problems. Gerry starts clicking her pen, looks at me and quickly grabs a koosh ball to keep her hands busy while she works out the problems.

10 - 10:45 - Reading time. Book groups meet together. All groups are working on fantasy books, but all at different levels. I meet with the Amazing Readers. They are reading a very high level book. Their job is to read and carry on a discussion in Edmodo. Patty, a great conversationalist, helps lead the discussion, moving her group through some pretty sophisticated ideas. Darryl, an ESL student, sits with a dictionary to help her decipher the words. The Lightning Readers are working on drawing pictures to match the text. They are reading on grade level but seem to miss details. So now they must focus on the details. Bobby asks the aide to copy the page he wants to draw. This way he can highlight parts of the text, as needed, to help him find details. Allison helps her group, the Awesome Readers, decode the simple text and summarize each chapter. They practice fluency while they read into their toobaloos.

10:45 - 11 - Snack time. All three adults help students with homework questions, finishing up projects, and blog assignments. The children have free time unless they are getting assistance.

11 - 12 - Social Studies. The children are working on Constitution Projects. Martin, who is dyslexic, grabs a textbook from the closet and rereads the chapter on the Constitution, using his EZC reader to help him read. All the children have them available as needed. Sally gets a computer and looks at some BrainPop videos for support. Darryl goes right for the Discovery Streaming videos that were put into her assignment. Patty opens up her Google Doc and starts taking notes, chatting, in the Doc, with Eli about the rubric and what they are missing. The teachers sit at tables and children gravitate over for support and guidance. The aide helps Harry negotiate collaboration techniques. As a PDD child, he much prefers working alone. So he convinces his group to let him take the notes and make a comic book out of them.

12 - 1 - Language Arts - Sign of the Beaver projects are almost finished. One group, full of artists, has decided to create a coloring book to demonstrate their knowledge of their theme. One group is making a newscast, complete with commercials and a weather report. One group has opted for a digital story with pictures they created. One group creates a screencast from the SmartBoard. Each person is contributing what is best for them and the group.

Lunch time!

2 - 3 - Writing - During my mini-lesson, I write the steps to a personal essay. Jessica asks ifs she can please write it on the SmartBoard so it can be printed out and taped into their notebooks. So while I talk, she types. When it is done, it is printed for all.

That's a typical day. We have used multiplication charts, fidget toys, computers, calculators, the SmartBoard tools, Toobaloos, video cameras, digital recorders, text books, BrainPop and Discovery videos, Edmodo, graph paper, and each other to help make learning more accessible and help make us more successful.

I have not planned to use all these tools. I just made them all available. Children move around freely, sitting on the floor, on pillows, the rocking chair, their desks, and tables. They get computers, fidget toys, calculators, special paper, special pens/pencils/markers when needed. They ask for help or receive support from their classmates and the teachers. There is no shame in needing help, no shame in wanting tools. It just happens. I introduce tools, encourage their use, and, by this time of the year, they just up and get them.

This is a UDL classroom. Sometimes, it looks chaotic. Sometimes, it seems the children are more in control than the teachers. Many times, children advocate for themselves, asking us to do something (like using the SMARTBoard to write steps and printing out the page) that just makes good sense. But there is no excuse for not succeeding. All the pieces have been put into place. Now the children just need to use them.

How can you set up a UDL classroom?

Who Fits School?

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 15:33:00 +0000

Lately I've been finding myself in more and more situations where I encounter a struggling child and a frustrated teacher or parent and I think to myself, "This child does not fit into school." I'm not sure if it is happening more because of changes in schools or I just am more aware of the situation. But I am getting more and more upset about it.

Case 1:

A kindergarten boy whose teacher is frustrated because, although academically he is doing fine, he cannot be "controlled" in the classroom. He jumps around, breaking items in the room. He runs in the halls, banging into other students and teachers. He can't sit during carpet time, can't sit at his table without disturbing other children, and doesn't follow any directions to "behave".

As I listened to this story, I felt bad for the teacher. She is a great teacher, very frustrated by this student because he has no structure. She finds herself "being mean" to him (her words), which is not in her nature. But I also felt for this child. Because I pictured him in a year or two, beaten down by the system. He will learn to control himself. He will learn to sit in his seat, comply during carpet time, walk quietly down the hall. He will learn to behave. But what will he lose in the process?

Case 2:

A child in my own fifth grade class. I think he probably was the kindergarten boy when he was 5. He has now learned to walk in the hall, mostly quietly, sit in his seat, most of the time, and keep quiet during the day. But this is not who he is. Is he bright? Very. Is he learning? Very much so. But he prefers to bounce around the room, playing with toys, doodling on his post-it notes, cracking jokes. And in my class, most of the time, he can be himself. He works well with others so group work is great for him. He enjoys sitting on the carpet during direct instruction, and he really likes spinning on the stool. As soon as he leaves the room, there are issues. He doesn't fit. And he is happiest being himself. So he comes back to the room unhappy. I bribe him to "behave" elsewhere. It works. But neither of us is very happy with the situation.

Case 3:

A fifth grade boy I run into at the doctor's office every once in a while. He is talkative, friendly, and happy. Until he talks about school. Kids bully him, he says, because he is struggling with the academics in his class. His teacher, he says, allows the kids to laugh at him. The last time I saw him, he happily told me he switched classes. Mom informed me he was moved into a self-contained class. She said the stress was not worth keeping him in inclusion. It didn't work for him. I keep thinking about similar children I have in my room, who struggle academically but NEVER are they made fun of . We find their strengths and celebrate them. He didn't fit into this teacher's classroom.

Case 4:

My 1st grade nephew, Henry. He is very bright, in a gifted class. But the teacher insists he does the 1st grade work. He attends a third grade after school math program, which he loves. He says Wednesday is his favorite day of the week. Wednesday is Ice Cream Day and Math Day. Does he like school the rest of the time? Yes. Why? He has lots of friends. What does his teacher say? He is disruptive and too social. My sister urges the teacher to give him more challenging work. The teacher refuses, saying he has to pass the test and needs to learn how to solve those problems. He is now becoming a problem child in school.

Case 5:

My daughter, Ali, a sophomore in high school. I have talked enough about how she doesn't fit in school. I read her blog often. All she talks about is waiting for high school to be over so she can start her real life. She complained to me the other day about how difficult tests are. I asked her what she would do if she could demonstrate her knowledge in any way possible. Her answer, "An oral test." "What if it wasn't a test? What would you do?" She had no answer. She said she couldn't even think of an idea. I cried in private later.

I am just sad so often. I find myself falling into the same trap of forcing children to "fit" so they can pass state tests, or work on the mandated curriculum, or follow the mandated program. I fight it often and spend lots of time with my door closed and my students happy. But I don't think it needs to be an either or situation. There has to be a way. I don't blame Henry's teacher for forcing him to learn the test material. Her job probably depends on her students doing very well (gifted class, remember). I don't blame the Kindergarten teacher working so hard to get her student to behave. She has testing requirements and curriculum too. And he takes a great deal of her time to control. I don't blame my daughter's teachers for not making school more than test prep. They are doing what they have been told to do.

But I think all of us need to push back just a little. Maybe just once or twice a year, do something different. Make your students happy. Let them be the artists, clowns, gymnasts, writers, readers, talkers they really are. We might all be amazed by what they can accomplish when they are allowed.

AFTERNOTE:
A parent, whose child was in my class last year, just sent me this podcast with a note - "It's the one about Zack Booth Simpson...he goes on to make the point that you do need education and schools, but some people learn in different environments." Then she writes, "I also wanted to let you know that, in summer camp,D... chose to write for the newspaper. He is starting to get a bit used to sixth grade."

Image: 'wince'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33163914@N04/4673090335

Image: '5 of 8 Girl dances at water's+edge+on+Morro+Strand+State+Beach'
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Image: 'Nestle KitKat ice cream cone'
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The Times They Are A-Changing

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 13:09:00 +0000

I've always been a teacher who relishes change. I have volunteered to have my grade changed four times, my room changed three times, and my district changed three times. I changed while I watched others do the same thing year after year after year.

At first, I thought it was wrong. I remember a teacher who worked in my school when I first started. I walked into her room one day right before school started. She reached into her desk, pulled out her plan book from the year before, opened to the first page and announced, "I'm ready." Wow, I thought. I can't wait until I am that good. I happened to mention my desire to my principal who told me, "You don't ever want to get that way. Keep growing and keep learning." I didn't really believe him at the time. I believed that there was only so much to learn and once you learned it, you were done and ready to just keep doing what works.

Well, I obviously learned, over time, that this just isn't true. The learning never stops. I haven't hit my limit yet. I am a good teacher...I'll even say I am a great teacher. But each year brings more challenges I need to overcome. Those darn kids keep changing on me. LOL

So here I am, 25 years into my career. I have watched many ideas come and go. I have embraced most of them, until I realized (usually long before the administration did) that things weren't working. Whole Language, Lesson Study, Math Their Way, OrtonGillingham. While all of these ideas have great benefits, they also all have great detriments. As an educator, I truly believe that it is my job to reach everyone. And if the programs don't reach everyone, then something needs to change.

Whole Language, for example, replaced a phonics based program which was boring and taught only decoding skills. Whole Language made learning exciting and meaningful. Comprehension was key. The problem? Kids with difficulties needed phonics, too. In fact, most of the kids needed phonics, too. But it wasn't built into the program. So, while I continued presenting at conferences about Whole Language, while I continued teaching colleagues in district about Whole Language, I began to build a program incorporating phonics back into the reading program. And every time I demonstrated my program at a conference, participants would breathe a sigh of relief. They knew it too.

We are now learning about Teacher's College writing and reading in my district. It is being fully embraced by the administration. We have trainers coming in. We are being sent to TC for workshops. We are being given multiple materials, lots of in house support, and dicta to meet frequently with other members of the grade level to coordinate our work.

And, as usual, I see some great benefits to TC reading and writing. The language used makes teaching the steps to crafting simple. The kids are reading and writing much more than ever before. At least that's what they say. And it's very individualized, sort of. (The initial lesson is whole class, the majority of work is partner work, and conferring with kids occurs as quickly as I can make it around the room.)

But I also see detriments. It took me too long to get to conferring with one child. By the time I got to him, he had almost finished his book but couldn't tell me anything about it. I was angry. With the program and with myself for allowing this struggling reader to get by for so long reading alone or with a partner.

The whole class lessons, while short and sweet (8 minutes is the goal) still only reach about 50% of the kids. So I am losing 8 minutes of valuable instructional time with 50% of my students.

There is a literacy block we were given to ensure that no pullouts were to occur during reading and writing. My literacy block is one hour. I come back from lunch, have one hour of literacy, and go home. I need more than that. One hour is too long for either reading or writing and too short for both. So the timing doesn't really work for me. Plus, that precious 2:00 - 3:00 time is the only time I am in school at the same time as our partners across the country. We need that time to collaborate synchronously.

Okay. In the past, once I saw detriments, I would change up the program. Keep the good, get rid of the bad. And I have ideas. After all, language arts is something I have always been really good at teaching. And I have the data to prove it. So I want to keep the TC language, maintain the amount of time spent reading and writing each day (I always did that anyway), keep the celebrations, keep the partners. But I want to step in often. Small groups allow me to meet much more frequently than individually. I want to group kids according to need and meet with them daily to help them jump the hurdle and move on. I want my literacy block to be 1 1/2 hours and in the morning. That gives me a good 45 minutes for both reading and writing. I want to keep coordinating reading and writing. We are writing fiction and reading historical fiction. I like that. Makes sense. Can talk craft in both reading and writing.

The problem? For the first time in 25 years, I am getting push back. I am being told I cannot change my literacy block time, I must coordinate with the other fifth grade teachers, doing what they are doing, when they are doing it, and I must keep the format of mini-lesson, partner work, individual work with conferring, and ending mini lesson. For the first time, I am being pushed into a lock step, spoon fed program. I am not able to use my wisdom and knowledge of my students to change things at all. I am not able to keep the good and get rid of the bad. The belief is that, once I really work with it and learn it, I will love it and see the benefits. But I already do see the benefits. I just see deficits, too.

For the first time, teachers in my district are told what to teach, when to teach it, and how to teach it. We were always told the what but had so much leeway with the how and when. Not so anymore. And it makes me not want to teach anymore. The times are changing but I am not comfortable fitting into the mold. Thanks, Barack Obama and Arnie Duncan for pushing Race to the Top. Thanks, NY for buying into it. Thanks, administration for accepting it. Thanks, colleagues, for falling into it. Because of RttT and the fear of accountability, I am being held back from doing what I know will help my students. Hold me accountable. But let me do it my way, failing or succeeding on my own terms. I will pay the consequences if my way fails. But I will not accept the consequences if your way fails.

I am sad. Maybe it is time for me to go. I hope retirement age comes quickly.

'X is for...340/365'
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'Lost on stairs'
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'Paris Clocks'
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'Ouchy'
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Meet the Teacher Night

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 20:38:00 +0000

Last week I had the opportunity to meet Ali's teachers at Meet the Teacher Night. Ali is now in 10th grade and most of her classes are AP (advanced placement) classes. Apparently, AP means "just like college". They use college textbooks, college vocabulary, have college requirements, and, when it is over, should receive college credit. Nothing like pushing things a bit.

Now, Ali has not really liked school much...um...ever. She has her moments. Lunch is usually fun. Phys. ed. is always a favorite class. And any class with a friend is worth staying in. So this year, I was quite surprised to hear some positive things about her teachers. I was actually looking forward to meeting some of them. And then I got there.

Each teacher has 8 minutes to talk. They have 8 minutes to tell us their goals, get us excited about the class, present us with the most important information. And then it's off to the next class. I began in math. Ali likes her math teacher. She says she's funny and hands out candy. Anyone with candy is a hit with my daughter. So I was looking forward to meeting Mrs. C. She started by telling us she has 32 students in the class. It's packed and she doesn't have much time to help anyone during class. Extra help is after school. Then she told us her goal...prepare for the regents. This class is not an AP class. It is Algebra 2/Trig. So Mrs. C. spent a great deal of time telling us how the children would find it difficult to pass the regents but she would work with them all year and they would eventually do well. When is the test? Late May. So all year, they will practice for the regents.

Other nuggets from Mrs. C.: "I'm much older than the other teachers who teach math. I've been doing this a lot longer. Your child will never come home and say I am cool. But I know what I'm doing and they will learn." (She was younger than me!) Another nugget: ready math teachers...."Tell your kids to study every day. You will not be able to help them cram for a test. You don't remember this stuff because you took algebra and trig so long ago and nobody uses it in real life." Sigh. Since Ali likes this teacher, I can only assume Mrs. C. needs to work on her elevator speech. She needs a new one.

On to Spanish. Ali's take on the Spanish teacher - she has a great style and great hair. I agree. I also found her funny and sarcastic. Oh...her goal for the year...practice for the regents. That was it. She did reprimand me, in a joking way, about texting during class. I was texting Ali. Oops.

Next came AP Euro...European History. Ali hates social studies but this year, she loves it. She loves her teacher, finds it relatively easy to understand, and enjoys the class. Mrs. R. gave her goals in 8 minutes. "My goal is to inspire your children to travel. And I want them to learn how to analyze and evaluate history so they learn to love it." Will they take the AP exam? Yes. Did she talk about it as a goal? Nope. She said they'd be ready and moved on. I LOVE THIS TEACHER! (Yes, I told her so. And I told her how much Ali loves her class.)

AP Biology was next. Mr. S. spent the entire 16 minutes (double period) telling us how he was running the class exactly like a college class. He lectures and they take notes. He will not go over notes. He will not go over chapters in the book. They must read the chapters and outline each one, study each night, and be prepared for ....you got it...the AP exam in June. Guess how excited Ali is with this class. When I asked if there were any labs, he answered, quite sincerely, yes. "In fact," he said, "we have one tomorrow. There are twelve throughout the year." I thought the university biology teacher parent who was sitting next to me was going to fall off her chair. So this class, apparently, is designed to prepare them for the AP exam and turn them off of college. Well done!

I gave up at this point and went looking for the principal. He was wandering the building and couldn't be found. I did find an assistant principal who listened to my tirade and gave me a story about how New York State does require a lot in the regents and AP exams. I told him I was a NYS teacher and knew all about the exams. I also told him that teaching to the test meant children were turned off. "There has to be more to school than preparing for a test that comes in June," I complained. "There is much more going on in class," he countered. "Well then why didn't I hear about it?" No response. Finally he told me he would relay my message to the principal.

So here I am. Blogging my frustration, once again. But I have no solutions. My daughter is staying put in public school. Money, time, and geography do not allow a change. I will continue to keep her excited about learning, separating it from school as much as I can. And I will continue to play down the tests when I talk to parents. Learning is so much more important than passing a test. And I will continue to hope that next year will be better.

Image: 'Superbokehtheorie' http://www.flickr.com/photos/37977505@N00/2421129047

'8minutes'
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'Milady, did you enjoy the museum?'
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'I don't dig texting.'
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In the Clouds'
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'bored during my Management class. |:'
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'frustration'
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My Dreams for School

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 00:54:00 +0000

Education Nation is NBC's attempt at fixing the American education system. We'll talk about it, invite in all the best and brightest (except educators, but let's not go there now) and find all the solutions. So I watched the Teacher Town Hall on Sunday with bated breath. We even cancelled Conversations so it wouldn't interfere with the Town Hall meeting. What did I hear? Same old, same old. Get rid of bad teachers, get rid of tenure, throw money at the system, be more equitable in educating our children. How are we going to do that? Ummmmmm. Yeah.

Now, I'm not saying I have all the answers. In fact, I'm not saying I have any answers. But I do know what I want for my child and my students. I do know what I want for my future leaders.

1. I want my students to want to learn. I want them to love coming to school, not wanting to run out or run home at the end of the day.

2. I want school to be more available. Does someone need help finding a quiet place to do homework? Stay in school until it's done. Need more time to finish up a project? Come in early. Don't have a working computer at home and want to blog about a class? Come to school early or stay late and use the school computers.

3. I want homework to be only what is necessary to complete a project. It should not be homework for the sake of homework. It should not be homework given because the teacher ran out of time to cover all the curriculum. It should be work the child wants to do to prepare for his group the next day. It should be work she wants to finish because she was working on a problem she couldn't put down.

4. No tests. Assessments should be meaningful and directly related to learning. The children should be assessed on how they work, as well as what they learn. And all assessments should be used to further instruction, not to penalize a child or put a grade on a report card.

5. I want children to move through school as they are ready. Not pushed because the year is over. Not held back while all their friends move up. Doing advanced math in first grade? Work with children who are on the same math level...not necessarily first graders.

6. I want all children to feel successful. That does not mean I do not want all children challenged. School should be challenging...but in an exciting, enriching way, not in a boring, nerve-wracking way. But we need to find ways to allow children to express their understanding in a variety of ways. And we need to find a multitude of ways to allow children to access information. Disabilities do not always relate to intelligence. But in our school system, it sure seems like it does. Let's get rid of this idea.

7. Along with #6, I want children to be compared to themselves, not other students their age. How much progress has the child made in reading, math, writing, social skills? Compared to last year? Compared to two months ago?

7. I want all learning to be integrated and periods to be untimed. Learning should not be done by the clock. If you are engaged in a massive math project and just have to work a bit more on it before you stop for the day, then, by all means, go right ahead. That's not to say there shouldn't be things that all children learn at some point (curriculum) but let's keep the curriculum broad and based on how to learn, more than facts.

8. I want, I want, I want. I just know school can be better. I want my daughter to bounce home every day excited by what she learned. Instead, she comes home each day telling me what an awful day she had. I want my students to know that, when I am kicking them out at the end of the day, it is only because the bell has rung and buses are waiting, not because I don't want them to stay. I want to love every second of school, not keep saying "Oh, time for a state test now" and "No we can't keep reading our books because we have to go on to math." I love math but sometimes we really don't want to switch subjects. We are too into blogging, or reading, or working on projects, or solving math problems, or playing a game, or....

I know what I want. But I have been stuck inside this box so long that I can no longer "think outside the box" to find solutions. Can you? I don't think NBC can.

Image: '139 rose tinted glasses'
http://www.flickr.com/photos/99757245@N00/3546899246
Image: 'Exams_by_Majeed'
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mage: 'ÙØ§Ø², ÙÙ Ø ÙØ§ØªÙ Ø¥ÙØ¬Ø§Ø²'
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Image: 'veritum dies aperit'
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Why I Became a Teacher or My Experience in School

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa Parisi) — Sun, 26 Sep 2010 23:00:00 +0000

All my life I wanted to be a teacher. Really, all my life. For as long as I can remember, I read my books to my "students" who looked amazingly like my stuffed animals and my poor cat. I got my best gift when I was about 4. It was a blackboard. I spent hours giving math problems to my students. My older sister got into the act, "allowing" me to use her homework as my assignments. So I did her homework with my class and she copied the answers off the board and got the credit for doing homework. We were both happy.

My first real experience with school was nursery school. No preschool then. Just a cooperative nursery school in the local church. Each day we would play and build and run and laugh and sing songs. And once a day, Miss Helen took me into a back room to read with her. Apparently I was the only child in the class who could read. I thank my sister who let me do her homework. I loved nursery school and really looked forward to heading off to kindergarten.

Kindergarten lasted for about one month. During that time, the school psychologist (he was a huge man who just walked in one day and told me to come with him to his office to talk) tested me, found out I had a high IQ and decided I needed more than kindergarten. They wanted to move me, a 5 year old, into second grade. My parents said no only because my sister was in second grade and they didn't think we should be in the same grade. So off to first grade I went.

My first grade teacher, Mrs. O, was near retirement age when she got me pushed into her room. She made it very clear from the start that she did not think I belonged in first grade. Whenever I did something "kindergartenish" the kids would laugh at me. Her response, "Remember, she's just a baby." That title lasted with me throughout my whole 12 years of schooling. She also allowed the kids to roll their eyes when I was the only one who knew the answer. It was not cool to be smart. I hated first grade.

Second grade, Miss P. She was beautiful...a true flower child. I remember absolutely nothing I learned but that The Partridge Family was THE show to watch and David Cassidy was a dream. I loved second grade.

Third grade....nothing. I remember nothing. Not my teacher, not my classmates, not any curriculum. Must have been a hell of a year.

Fourth grade I had Miss B. She was strict. She did things that when I look back on them were horrific. She told poor Ross that if he could not sit in his seat, she would tie him into it. He couldn't. She did. We all laughed, including Ross. But it must have been humiliating. Just as humiliating as it was for me to have my desk dumped out on a weekly basis because I couldn't keep it clean. But I do remember her reading aloud to us each day. She'd sit in her big rocking chair, we'd sit on the floor around her and she'd open up our world to Peter and Fudge.

Fifth grade was the last grade I had a teacher I remember. Mr. C. was my first male teacher. He told my mom at the beginning of the year that he knew I knew all the curriculum so it was fine with him if I sat in back and read all day. I was thrilled. But, thinking back on it, that was a disgrace. And it certainly isolated me even more from my classmates.

Junior High was torture. I was bullied daily, started meeting with the guidance counselor, and got into things no junior high student should get into. The funny thing is, I still wanted to be a teacher. But at this point, I had no idea why.

High school was another nightmare. I did my best to disappear. I got Cs in most of my classes, making sure people forgot I was the smart one from elementary school. I barely graduated. But I did. And moved on to college where I got my education degree.

I haven't regretted a single moment of that decision. I love teaching. I make sure that my brightest students get the enrichment and challenges they need to be engaged in school. I make sure that teasing and bullying are completely unacceptable and not allowed in my classroom among my students. I make sure that my hyperactive students can stand up if they want to without being laughed at or tied into their seats. And I make sure that I read books that open the world for my students. I love teaching. I didn't have any good role models but I sure had some bad ones to help me figure out what not to do. I love teaching and can't imagine doing anything else.

Why did you become a teacher?

Image: 'blackboard easel'
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Image: 'DSCF1394'
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Image: 'The Partridge Family Shopping Bag'
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Image: 'I Heart Flickr Pink Purple Nail Polish+in+Heart+Bottle+Creative+Commons'
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