CELEBRATE: It's All About That Joy, 'Bout That Joy- 1/24

Ruth Ayers invites us to participate in a Celebrate Link-Up on Saturdays. Click here to see what others are celebrating and maybe join in yourself, too!
                              

This week I celebrate student voice. 

This year our district is administering a phonological assessment on every Kindergartener and 1st grader at three different points in the year. As our school's K-5 literacy coach, I get to administer this assessment along with our fabulous reading staff and teaching assistant. The toughest part of switching to this coaching job has been dealing with how much I miss the  classroom so I love ANY opportunity to work with these K/1 students...it feels like home. Although I miss the classroom, I wouldn't change a thing! This "change" has been such a great opportunity and little did I know, it was where I first met my #OLW15 long before I even knew that was my word. 

Anyways, as I was hanging out with these awesome primary kiddos all week, I couldn't help but think about voice. 

Voice, as in the literal sense. They really do have cute sounding voices!

Voice, as in opportunity. Having the opportunity to sit down with these students 1:1 to listen, really listen to each child's phonological skills. Amazing what that tells us as educators. 

Voice, as in insight. The chatting in between each of my phonological "games" (or that is at least what I told them in an effort to avoid the 'assessment' word) proved to be just as insightful as the actual assessment itself.

Voice, as in direction. Student voice provides us with direction. Yes, we have standards and curriculum maps, but our work is truly guided by student voice.

So, here's to that little reminder (and celebration!) of slowing down and listening, really listening to student voice. It not only provides us with joy, but incredible insight as well.

#SOL15- Independent Reading 1/20/15

Independent Reading

Thank you to the Two Writing Teachers and the Slice of Life writing community for providing this opportunity to share our "slices." Thanks to Stacey, Anna, Beth, Tara, Dana and Betsy for creating a place for us to share our work. Check out the other slices and/or join in the fun!

Everything I do, read and interact with lately keeps leading to the same same message: Students need to spend more time independently reading.

The first time I was recently reminded of this topic was last March at the TCRWP's Saturday Reunion at Teachers College....my happy place:). I was sitting in on session with Lucy Calkins and she really made me stop and think. We often hear about the importance of independent reading time and think yea, yea we know. But, wait! This time I really stopped to think about her message. She went on to explain that when we walk past classrooms, we really know our teachers of reading because we walk past their rooms and kids are reading! Hmm. She went on to say that we need to increase the volume of reading that students do during their school day. We spend all this time instructing, but when do they practice? Independent reading time is a time for KIDS to collect their own data. All of this really made me think.

I started to think, would the kids in my room be able to answer these questions?
What do they like to read?
How many pages do they read in a typical sitting?
What do authors do on purpose?
What do they notice about genres?
How does all this reading let them grow?

That moment at that time about that topic really spoke to me. I went feverishly back to my second graders last year and gave myself the freedom to let go of a few things that Common Core had me all wound up about. I had always been a "teacher of reading" like Lucy mentioned and I prided myself on it. But, I have to admit, the pressures of CCLS and other day-to-day expectations put upon me led me farther and farther from my true passion. I knew that time to just read was something we were all craving.

Fast forward to a few months ago. I was preparing for a small workshop with teachers in my building. In this particular workshop, I shared a Richard Allington video where he spoke to another amazing, yet grim statistic. He went on to say that our most struggling readers spend the least amount of time reading in school. Hmmmm. Wait. What? Holy moly beans. There it was again.

Finally, this past weekend I participated in a #bproots chat on Twitter. We were discussing the IRA position statement on leisure reading. It was so awesome to be part of an important dialogue centered around this topic. If you haven't taken a minute to check out this position statement, try to squeeze in a few minutes to check it out. It isn't necessarily that we don't know this information, but it is best practice to stop and reflect about the topics we care about in the midst of hustle and bustle of our teaching lives. Once again, I found myself reflecting on the importance of independent, leisure reading.

Do we provide enough opportunities for students to read without a pencil? Of course reading, note-taking, post-its, conversation, and all the other best practices certainly do have a spot in our day--a very important spot! But, so does reading for fun.

With so few hours in a day, how do YOU squeeze it in?

CELEBRATE: It's All About That Joy, 'Bout That Joy- 1/17

Ruth Ayers invites us to participate in a Celebrate Link-Up on Saturdays. Click here to see what others are celebrating or join in yourself!

                                                         

This week I CELEBRATE professional books!

As I mentioned in last week's celebrate post, I love to take handwritten notes and look back at them for inspiration. In particular, I love to look at notes I've taken from conferences, workshops, professional reading, and pretty much all things literacy. I also should mention that I love to buy professional books. My collection started with a few favorites like Debbie Miller's Reading With Meaning and Georgia Heard's A Place For Wonder. I love to read these two books in particular over and over every year before school begins. I look back at my notes and reflect on how I've grown. I think about what new goals I have.

I enjoy trying new strategies, reflecting, and thinking about literacy topics. (Now that I'm actually reading this out loud to myself, I realize this all sounds a bit crazy!) However, I found myself online again this week with my cart full of resources. This time only four titles. 

I knew what I had to do so I started the process of eliminating one. But, I just couldn't do it. I started doing exactly what I always do when I need to make a decision. (I referenced this in my OLW post.) I over-think. I over-analyze. I waste time.

But this time it was different. I knew better. So, I quickly put my OLW to work and thought "What do I want?" 

I wanted them all. So I bought them. Now I have four books on the way and can't wait!


What professional books are your favorite? I could start a new cart :)

CELEBRATE: It's All About That Joy, 'Bout That Joy- 1/10

Ruth Ayers invites us to participate in a Celebrate Link-Up on Saturdays. Click here to see what others are celebrating or maybe join in yourself.

                                                         
This week I CELEBRATE old fashioned notes.

Sometimes while being immersed in technology I forget about the power of handwritten notes. Last year at this time I was anxiously awaiting my chance to check off an important piece of my professional bucket list: attending a spring TCRWP Saturday Reunion. Little did I know, that conscious decision to "just do it" would lead to some amazing changes in my career. Actually, it also led into my bank account because I attended the fall Saturday Reunion just 7 short months later :)

It is a bit comical to see me sitting in the sessions in the midst of laptops, Chrome Books and iPads. There I sit with my notebook and pen. However, I find myself flipping back to these notebooks often for inspiration. Inspiration for ideas, but also inspiration to just carry on in this often challenging profession. I can see the parts of my notebook where I'm neatly printing--taking in the  moment. I also see the parts where my printing becomes a blend with cursive letters, in a mad dash to capture an important thought, phrase, or word. 

I think about the unifying experience of sitting with thousands of colleagues from all over. I think about how that first trip in particular gave me the courage to pursue a literacy coach interview at my very own school. I think about the one tiny idea I picked up from sitting in one chair in just one session that I've used over and over again.

When I came back from both Saturday Reunions I eagerly printed photos, cut, placed, glued, etc. every artifact into my notebook to capture my excitement. But, it is the handwritten notes that truly speak to me when I go back to reflect.

After school one day this week I was in need of that little dose of inspiration once again. So, like usual, I found myself looking in my Saturday Reunion notebooks. I re-read parts that I had underlined feverishly or bolded with my own pen. The parts in quotes, the phrases starred, and the words I had "bubbled." It's the handwriting that conveys the emotion, the excitement, the inspiration.

Here are some pieces from my hand-written notes that applied to me and the work I did this week:

"Simply asking 'How's it going?' invites children to talk in a variety of ways."- Carl Anderson
*That awesome phrase we not only use when conferring with our students, but teacher to teacher as well.

We need to increase the VOLUME of our students' reading and and show them what writing to think is vs. writing essays. -Lucy Calkins

Impale. (Reminds me of our wonderful, yet humorous session with Natalie Louis on a great vocabulary strategy.

Let students notice that there is a short-term goal that if they put in the effort, then they'll notice "Oh I grew in this way!" -Kathleen Tolan

So here's to taking a moment to CELEBRATE handwritten notes and the JOY they bring.

#SOL15- The "To-Do" List

Thank you to the Two Writing Teachers and the Slice of Life writing community for providing this opportunity to share our "slices."
                                                               

And thank YOU for stopping by to read my very own little "slice." :-)

As I mentioned in my One Little Word ( OLW ) post a few days ago, my #OLW2015 is...want.  Today I found a surprising "side effect" of this word that I didn't expect.

As I walked into my classroom today, the usual flood of melancholy feelings started swarming. I now share an instructional coach space with a friend and colleague. I've previously spent the last 13 years as a first and second grade classroom teacher. This year I made a huge change and am now the K-5 literacy coach at my school. As much as I'm enjoying and learning from this new position, I still get little pings of sadness as I find myself missing having my own class of kiddos. As I put down my bags, I successfully managed to replace my melancholy thoughts with those of gratitude. Each day I find my self quickly reflecting on what I've learned in this position that I wouldn't have been able to had I not made this change. It always leaves me with a happy feeling and confirmation that I'm in the right place--grateful for this opportunity.

I quickly began to size up the day and prioritize all the tasks I wanted to accomplish. With my OLW in mind, I began to notice that my "to-do" list is really a list that could be split right in half: one side including things I want to accomplish and the other side filled with important must-do's that weren't necessarily mine :) So, I did something unusual. I started with the side of the list that I wanted to accomplish. I worked and worked feeling happy to be checking off the things on the list that I wanted to complete.

Before I knew it, our classroom space was filled with the hussle and bussle of my favorite part of the job. My new "class." Colleagues. I had put a decent dent into the "other" side of the list and carried on with the day.

It seems so simple, but at the end of the day I realized I actually saved time. That quick decision to start the day where I wanted led me to understand that we sometimes have to fill our own bucket before we can start to help others fill their buckets. Kind of like the flight attendant telling you that in the event of an emergency, you should start by putting on your own air mask before assisting another. Now that led me to think about airplanes which made me think of NYC which will be a whole 'nother "slice" post on a whole 'nother day :-) 

And to think it all started with OLW.

CELEBRATE! It's All About That Joy, 'Bout That Joy- 1/3

Ruth Ayers invites us to participate in a Celebrate Link-Up on Saturdays. Check it out!

                                                       
Well...another first for me. Thanks to my new friend Leigh Ann for sharing the exciting world of blogging with me. However, she may be sorry she found me on Twitter floundering around because, as my inbox can verify, I have already learned so much from her. This one is for you!
                                                  
This week I'm celebrating two weeks. Yup. Two weeks.

This year I'm feeling even more grateful to have had an extended winter recess from school. Due to the way the holidays fell this year, we were lucky enough to have two weeks together at home with family. I'm celebrating small moments that can only occur when give rare moments to do the impossible... s-l-o-w time down. Over the last two weeks I've:

1. shared many meals together with my family, many of which I enjoyed preparing
2. played with our two boys (Michael-6 and Matthew-3)...until noon...in jammies!
3. watched Big Hero 6 with my own little heroes (and oh that popcorn-savored every bite)
4. hosted my book club
5. scored awesome sales especially my Christmas appetizer plates I was stalking at TJMaxx
6. watched through the window while my hubby, boys, and awesome dog played in the snow
7. listened to Christmas music
8. sat by a fire (even if it is a just a fancy new TV stand with fake fireplace as a heater)
9. fallen asleep on the couch...until midnight :)
10. given my mom a hand (she broke her shoulder in 3 places on Dec. 19th-sniffle, sniffle)

and finally {insert drum roll, please} started a blog!

Without these two weeks, I would not be returning to school so refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready to roll! I'm reflective by nature and I am so grateful to finally have a place to capture some of these reflections and connect with others.

Cheers to the New Year and all the CELEBRATIONS to come!
 
 (photo inspiration provided by my awesome secret Santa this year!)