As I plan what lessons to start the school year with, I am intrepid about the skill levels of my students. Knowing the class is a resource room/pull-out class, I know the average child in this class will be below grade level, and require remediation, both of skills and strategies, to become competent in math.

However, I also know that due to the state of Michigan's graduation requirements, these same students must be ready for Algebra 1 when they enter high school 1 year from now. Herein lies the balancing act. How much remediation CAN I do, and how much fast can I forget forward into new territory without losing them?

Luckily, I know a couple of the names on my roster and have had them in class before. Others though, are just a face in the hall that I have nothing concrete to attach their skills to in my own mind. I know for some, it is a matter of lack of personal motivation and parental support that place them into the resource room setting. For others, it is a true math disability.

Another balancing act - trying to find ways to motivate the uninspired, while working the shore up the missing foundation pieces for all of them, while working individually with the true math disabled students to create new learning paths to overcome their weaknesses.

Looking at my teacher's guide, looking at the grade level content expectations for 8th graders, I wonder how far back in instruction I need to go before we head into new material. How many days will it take realistically to get to the real nitty gritty of 8th grade material?

Digging deeply for fun, motivating activities to review concepts, I hope we can glide through the first few weeks, me trying to herd them into the realm of grade level material, before too much of the school year has gone by. Sketching out lesson plans, hitting the high spots, not knowing what to expect, I know to write these in pencil!

As my room comes together, starting to look and feel more like home, as I plan for these first few days/weeks with my students, I feel the excitement building, knowing that THE KIDS ARE COMING!! THE KIDS ARE COMING! and knowing that once they walk in the building next Tuesday, everything somehow just falls into place, and I am looking forward to another school year :)

I've spent a lot of time with my granddaughter this summer. Rylie turned 16 months old yesterday and is no doubt the light of my life. As I watch her grow and learn, celebrating every new word, every milestone, I am reminded that each child that walks through my classroom door has people in his/her life who feel that same way about them.

It is easy to get bogged down in the rigors of 'educating' the child and lose sight of the actual child. That is my goal for this school year: Find ways to celebrate each student, their personal successes/gains throughout the year, and share those with their families so they may also celebrate.

Schools have become more about test scores and standards lately, and less about the child. I think until we regain our focus in the individual student, we will continue to flounder trying to boost our scores by shoving more and more curriculum down their throats. We need to take a step back, look at our students as individuals, and focus our efforts on where they are, and where they need to be, as well as how we can bring that child along the educational continuum effectively, as an individual. Then, and only then, will we meet our 'benchmarks'.

In the meantime, I have one week left with Rylie this summer. One more week of cooking pretend food and feeding it to monkeys, one more week of playing in the sandbox and swimming pool, one more week of picking flowers and tossing rocks, one more week of reading and rereading about silly monkeys and itsy bitsy spiders....hoping that someday, when she goes to school, her teachers make her feel just as special as I think she is.

Someone on a listserve I was on once made the comment, "We are but part of their journey." I wish I knew who made the comment, but the name has long since escaped me, though the quote lingers in my psyche.

When we work with adolescents, we truly are one small step in their long journey of life. It is easy to get frustrated with them, their immaturity, their irresponsible nature, or their impulsivity, taking those things personally. As adults, we've often forgotten what we were like at that age, and are certain we ourselves never acted like that.

Remembering that quote helps me put their behaviors in perspective, knowing that in that given moment, that exact time and place, what that young person is doing is simply one tiny blip on their radar of life. They are most likely not trying to be annoying, not intentionally trying to make my life miserable, but are acting/reacting in the here and now.

Years later, students remember us for how we treated them, how we made them feel about themselves, long after the lessons we taught them have been forgotten or replaced with new knowledge. We run into them in the oddest of places, and find out they turned out just fine, in spite of us, in spite of the terrible adolescent things they may have said or done. They look at us and smile, simply remembering the good we gave them.

So as you begin this school year, this part of your journey in the journey that is your students' lives, remember to make a positive blip in their memory. Be one of the places they enjoyed visiting, one they want to see again.

The school year is closing in on us quickly and with my upcoming new position, I have been thinking about what makes some students successful, while others struggle. Being a special ed inclusion teacher puts me in the position to try to find ways to help some of those strugglers overcome the obstacles to their success.











For many students, the road to success simply requires a different attitude towards school in general, realizing that right now, school is their job, their real purpose. In elementary school, and sometimes even middle school, it is possible to coast along, doing little or no homework, just scraping though in classes, learning only what was forced upon you. But high school opens a new door of responsibility for students. Suddenly, classes matter, grades count, and the shift for accountability falls on the shoulders of students more than ever before. For the 'coasters', this is often a rude awakening, a realization that failure means repeating a class, and too many repeats means no graduation, or at best, a delayed walk in cap and gown.

Simple changes can make success more likely for these students:

• Show up every day. Don't let a little cough, or headache, or belly ache keep you home. Be there unless you are truly desperately sick.
• Show up on time, every day, for every class. The first 5 minutes of class are often the most critical. If you miss those first 5 minutes, you've wasted the entire hour.
• Listen, pay attention, even if it is boring. Take notes, draw pictures to help you remember what the lecture was about. Be actively engaged with what the teacher is doing. ASK QUESTIONS, make comments, draw conclusions.
• Smile, be friendly, be respectful, be polite - to the teachers, other students, everyone you encounter. If you need help, you will have established yourself as likable, which goes a long way in getting people to go the extra mile for you.
• Study a little all along. Don't wait until the night before a big test to try and cram 2 weeks or more) worth of material into your brain. Set aside a few minutes each day to review in each class. If you have questions, ask the next day. When test times comes, you will only need a short study session to remind you of all the things you already know.
• Determine how you learn best. Do you need to write and rewrite your notes until you remember them? Does saying them aloud help? How about recording them and playing the notes back for yourself? Find a strategy or two that work best for you and practice them religously.
• Come to class with what you need. It sounds obvious... I know! but when you don't have a pencil to take notes with, you don't have your book or yesterday's handout, you are spinning your wheels trying to scramble to be ready to learn. Make it easy on yourself to be engaged.
• Find a mentor who will help you study. It might be a friend, or just someone in your class who also needs a boost. Bounce questions back and forth until the material is second nature.
• Save television, computers, video games for AFTER homework. Right now, your most important job is school. Reward yourself for a job well done with time spent on your other pursuits.
• Remember: your teachers want you to be successful. Really, honestly... we didn't go through all those years of school just to torture you. Do your part to be successful and we will bend over backwards to help you. But don't break all the above rules, and expect us to cut you slack when you fail your final. If you are doing your best to pass our class and still struggling, we will find a way for you to be successful.

School is such a big part of a student's life. Making it a successful journey can be easy :)

It is official. My old room is no longer *my* room anymore. All of my things are out of there, the cupboards are the cleanest they've been in 10 years with labeled boxes of materials awaiting the new teacher's arrival.

My *new* room is just that... new... with piles of stuff, not sure of where it belongs, not sure what the overall plan is to be. I've gone from tables to individual desks, from classes of near 30 to a class size of 12, and from needing everything, to mostly needing nothing, but hesitant to let go of anything.

Without a window to park my desk in front of, I have it by the door, out of the way of students, easily accessible should I need to pop in and grab something.

I have student tables, scrounged from here and there, a mix-matched hodgepodge of old heavy wooden, to newer laminate tops, perched around the room's perimeter for easy power access for laptops. No more power cords twisted and tangled, duct taped to the floor and tables, in an effort to provide constant power for a class set of computers.

The cupboards are shoved with supplies, the few items I took with me to my new position. The tables are piled high with assorted items, not sure yet where they will land permanently. In my old room, I had finally 'perfected' my floor plan, everything had a place, the perfect spot for whatever, from library books, to hall passes, to paper for students to grab, to the pencil sharpener... all those locations had been tested and tried over the years until the best one was found.

It is like moving into a new house: full of promise, a clean slate... but a little scary at the same time. I know it won't be long and it will feel like home. But for now... it seems like I am squatting in someone else's space, longing to go back home.

The time is here.

Tomorrow, I move out of my classroom I have been in for the past 10 years. The books, professional readings, student novels, books from here and there; boxes of manipulatives from math series I never taught; folders reused year after year, with names of students of years past; posters, math & motivational, maps and student made; parent and student letters and postcards collected and saved/savored; markers, crayons, colored pencils. All of it must be sorted and boxed, moved, tossed or left for the person taking my position.

The first few years I taught here, I shuffled from room to room year after year, never settling too long anywhere, certainly not long enough to hoard. But once I moved into this room, Room 204, the middle room in the middle school, I planned on staying there until they chased me out or I retired. It was the perfect room, despite its flaws. Its location is convenient, right across from the office. It has a window, a sink, and even double cupboards for storage. It isn't huge, but is just one of the normal sized rooms. But I loved it, I longed for it before it was mine. It was destined to be MY ROOM.

But with decisions, with choices, come consequences. And.. with my move to special ed, one consequence is giving up my room. The room I am headed into has the exact same dimensions, but no window or sink. It has a white board, a HUGE bulletin board, and is still close to the office. But somehow, it won't be the same. It won't feel like home.

Oddly enough, the room I will now occupy was the very first room I was assigned when I started teaching here. I moved out almost as soon as I was unpacked, but a year later, I made my way back spent several years in there, some years sharing with other teachers, others, having it all to myself.

I cannot imagine going through all my stuff. I am the world's worst packrat. Throwing teaching materials away is like a sin to me. Who knows when you might need that last drop of glue, or those scraps of construction paper, the last of that roll of brown paper, or those strange 3-D shapes I never did figure out what were meant for. The deciding of what to take, what to leave, and the letting go of an era will be difficult I know.

But even as I dread the move and the packing process, I look forward to the fall, the excitement of a new position, the chance to see students I had years ago in a new setting, and a challenge of making waves in the still waters of our high school. I don't intend to tread water in my new position. While the journey may be upstream and often without a navigation system, I plan to arrive at my destination :) Wish me luck.....

Every teacher started their career wanting to be a great teacher. Sometimes, it works out; other times unfortunately, the stress of the job, the politics of the position, less than supportive adminstrators/colleagues, all those factors can taint even the purest soul in education.


A great article on Aolnews.com cuts to the core of what it takes to be a great teacher. Opinion: What Makes a Great Teacher lists the top traits students feel it takes to be a great teacher.


The list seems obvious:
-Know us personally, our interests and strengths -Let us know who they are as individuals -Smile at us -Encourage us to participate in school activities -Spend time beyond class time to help us be successful in their class -Give us descriptive feedback on assignments -Tell us why -Share how what we learn is connected to real life -Apologize when they make mistakes -Give meaningful work -Are energetic, enthusiastic and enjoy their job

One of my favorite books is Todd Whitaker's What Great Teachers Do Differently . I revisit this book each fall before school begins and keep it on my desk as a daily reminder throughout the year. (See a previous blog post about the book) When I saw this list on Aolnews.com, I was anxious to compare the student list to Whitaker's. It was no surprise to me to find many similarities between what students want from us as their teachers, and what Whitaker suggests makes us great.

In a nutshell, both lists want teachers who love their job, care about their students, and take their job seriously, giving work that is meaningful, relevant and appropriate, and planning intentionally to help students experience success with that work.

It was no surprise to me that the two lists have much overlap. Simple enough strategies, simple enough ideas.... But both the article and the book serve as a boost reminder as the new school year approaches. Kids will be kids, but deep inside, all they want is us to love and respect them, every day, no matter what. Then, and only then, will they give 100% in our classrooms.

I tend to be a black and white kind of person, making decisions rather easily and accepting the outcome and consequences in stride. When faced with a choice, I make my pro con list and forge forward. My most recent decision has proven to be more complex.


When I started teaching, I was a special education teacher. I worked with primarily learning disabled students in an inclusion setting. I loved what I did for the most part but parts of my job left me feeling out of control and needing a challenge. When my principal called me and asked if I was interested in teaching 8th grade history the next year, I jumped at the chance. Then one year later, a 7th grade math position opened, and again, I made the change, never looking back.


My new position was tougher than special ed in many ways. I found myself constantly bogged down in grades and lesson plans, parent contacts and designing new projects. When social studies was added to my list of responsibilities, the To Do list grew. I didn't mind. I love/d my job. I love/d the kids. I love the challenge. I loved sharing my love of math and the world with my kids.


Our district is shrinking. When I came here in 1995, there were nearly 1300 students, K-12. Now, we are just under 800. There are no jobs. People come, people go. But few stay. It is still a great place to live, a terrific place to raise a family, and has become home to me. But the reality of the smallness means that each year, teaching positions are cut, shuffling occurs, and people end up teaching out of their comfort zone.


When a special ed position opened up for the fall, I was torn. I really love what I do. But the thought of someday getting shuffled to elementary, where I might be assigned a different grade each year, is terrifying. I really do NOT like little kids! I cannot imagine teaching kindergarten. The new position would be all inclusion hours, mostly inthe high school. But in the future, I could have more control over where I was put, helping carve out my own schedule. I would not be subjected to the constant shuffling that is sometimes the case in the elementary. I would have some security in what I would do each upcoming school year.


This job would mean less time at school, more time to spend with my granddaughter. It would be an opportunity to work with kids who need me, need that extra oomph to make it to graduation. It would give me a chance to work with other teachers, some of whom I would be excited to share that responsibility with, others, not so much. It could lead to designing the middle school math special ed program to what I think would work best for those struggling students who seem to get lost in the shuffle.


It would mean leaving a job I love, a job where I have every 7th grader who comes to our school, where I know them all, good, bad or ugly, and they know me, good, bad or ugly. It would mean letting go of the 7th grade math program I have worked so hard to design, and letting go of the 7th grade social studies curriculum I have grown to have an intense love/hate relationship with.


Taking the job would most likely mean packing and moving from the classroom I've been in for nearly 10 years. It would mean playing 2nd fiddle in classrooms, sometimes just a figure head of a teacher, no real teaching, just a secondary role player, trying to help my kids as I could.


But... I applied for the position, and now.. I wait. There are some politics going on that may help or hinder my decision, things out of my control, that leave me hanging in limbo as the school year presses ever closer..... and here I sit, still not knowing what the right decision is, what I really want to happen. All I want it to know, a decision made, so I can move forward and get on with my teaching life.

Today is one of those muggy rainy dreary summer days. I decided to tackle more of the Algebra curriculum I will be teaching this fall. I usually don't mind teaching a new class, and actually, find the challenge exciting, but the prospect of THIS class gives me butterflies in my stomach.

It has been so long since I even thought about some of these concepts - weighted averages, quadratic equations, the boundary line of an inequality.... I am sure the information is all up there somewhere, but it's pretty rusty, dusty and cobweb covered. And.. I have NEVER taught any of these concepts.

I feel a strong sense of obligation to the particular group of students I will have as well. While having students for 2 years in a row will be fun, I know that this is the cream of the crop group, the upper cut, the college prep type kids. They will progress onto higher math classes both in high school as well as college, and this Algebra 1 class will be their foundation. I want to be sure I am giving them as solid a foundation as possible.

In high school, I LOVED algebra. I had Mrs. Carter for both Algebra 1 and 2 and loved her as well as the subject matter. Algebra was easy, straight-forward, black and white, pure and simple. I enjoyed all my classes, but algebra required no thought, nothing like reading and interpeting The Canterbury Tales, or memorizing the body parts of the frog we were to disect. Mrs. Carter showed us how to do it, I did it, and I aced the tests. I remember in particular the final exam in her Algebra 2 class. I had a perfect 100% going into the exam. I finished the exam in record time, breezing through the problems, wondering as always what was taking everyone else so long. Mrs. Carter smiled when I turned the paper in upside down on her desk, asking me if I wanted her to grade it right away. I shrugged and told her sure, but I was completely confident in my perfect paper. She poured over it, checking not only the answers but the steps of each problem, looking with her microscope eyes for errors. As she wrote the 100% on top, her smile told me she was as confident as I had been in my perfection.

Now, I am the teacher. I want to ask her how she did it. How did she make Algebra so easy, so simple, so straightforward? Can she give me her magic wand? Would she be surprised to find me at the front of an Algebra 1 classroom? Would she be proud?

But for now... back to the book, back to solving inequalities and creating graphs. I have to polish my memory so be ready for this group of young minds headed my way in a month!

I recently received a copy of Engaging Mathematics Students Using Cooperative Learning from Eye on Education publishing. Even though it is summer, and many other things were calling to me, somehow, this book kept making it back to the top of my To-Do pile. Upon reading it, I was not disappointed. As a matter of fact, I had difficulty putting it down.

Strebe does a great job of engaging the reader with his writing style that moves quickly from item to item leaving you with just enough information to understand the topic, without bogging you down with too many details.

There are many ideas in the book I plan to implement in my classroom this fall. I love his descriptions of many interchangeable ways to use cooperative learning to help students better understand mathematical (or any subject matter) concepts. His Think-Pair-Square-Share is one I am excited to use. It is easy to implement, and I can see my middle schoolers loving the social aspects of the process.

Strebe also advocates the use of various interrupters to refocus students when they inevitably begin to drift from your lessons. Many of these are the obvious - passing out papers, getting supplies, etc... - things we all MUST do in our classes. However, Strebe suggests using them at PLANNED times to change up what students are doing to help refocus them. Well, duh... why didn't *I* think of that?? I know now!

Another fun idea Strebe gives is using team competitions to encourage collaboration for learning. I have tried to use some competitions in the past with some success. Strebe's ideas gave me some great ideas about how to better structure these competitions for more effective outcomes.

All in all, I was thrilled with the book. It was easy to read, engaging and quick paced. I'll let you know how it works out this fall! :)

On another person's Facebook page this morning, the question was posed," "What is the purpose of public education in the life of a middle school student?"

My response:

To help guide them through the tramatic years between childhood and adulthood, giving them the skills they need to cope with any situation that will come their way. It is also about bridging their knowledge from the concrete to abstract, teaching them to analyze, question and solve problems for themselves. Middle schoolers need to see the relevance and potential application of what they are learning in order to truly absorb the material. As middle school educators, our job is to guide them through this bridging process.

Thinking more about my response, and trying to hone my answer to the intial question, I focused on the bridge analogy a bit more in my mind. Middle school truly is a bridge... a bridge across the gap of many aspects of a young person's life.

On the one side of that bridge stands a child, innocent, eager and vulnerable. Across the chasm spanned by middle school, a high schooler lurks in the shadows, not quite an adult, but no longer innocent, no longer as embracing of everything new and exciting, and most of all, independent, fiercely independent, in actions, thoughts and determination.

Somehow, the journey across the bridge has changed that child into the near adult, along the way, leading them to a clearer understanding of themselves, the world around them, and most importantly, how they can change that world.

Elementary students depend on their parents as well as teacher, to tell them what to do, how to do it, and to hold their hand throughout the process. They are concrete thinkers in most aspects, needing to see, smell, and touch something to understand the process. They are eager learners, still excited about the newness of learning.

High schoolers are adult-like, able to grasp abstract concepts, determined to find answers on their own, reluctant to be lead by the adults in their lives. They want to find their own way, or follow the path of their peers. They are often untrusting of anyone over 25, thinking these people are too old to 'get it'. High schoolers LOOK like adults, want to be treated like adults, and deserve the privileges associated with growing age.

Caught in the middle however, kids in grades 6-8, are a special breed all their own. They are begining to look the part of their high school counterparts, with attitudes to match their growing sizes. They are begining to understand abstract thoughts, begining to realize their role in changing the outcomes of their lives, and begining to make choices based on their own thoughts instead of those of their parents and teachers.

Middle schoolers love challenges, love to problem solve, love to be given a chance to think outside their comfort zone. They enjoy being pushed to excel, given responsibility to think, and being led by adults who demonstrate having faith in their ability to accomplish great things.

Middle school teachers have the greatest job in the world. At the one side of the bridge, we are holding the hands of little children, helping them, guiding them, across the span. At the other end of the bridge, we're far behind them, waving from the distance, watching them in their new bodies, racing into adulthood. We have to constantly find the balance between holding their hands, and pushing them across the bridge.

This summer, thanks to a millage renewal which passed this spring, our antiquated heating system at school is being overhauled, new boiler, new units in the classrooms, and hopefully, a consistent heating system will be in place before winter strikes. Work is progressing slowly but surely.

Last week, however, a rumor started circulating in the community that the start date of school was being pushed back from the Tuesday after Labor Day, our traditional 1st day, to sometime the end of September, even sometime in October.

I wasn't too concerned when I first heard the rumors, knowing I'd heard nothing official from school yet.

But the excitement of the rumor got me to thinking. Is it realistic to think students are excited at the prospect of going back to school? Sure, for some, it is the social aspect of school which sparks their interest and draws them into the anticipation of that first day. The opportunity to see friends they've not seen all summer, new school clothes and supplies, new classes and teachers will lure some of them into the anticipation.

However, for other students, is school really something to look forward to?

If you were a struggling student, one who works consistently below grade level, always overwhelmed by the work, the material itself, the quantity of work, the expectations.... would you be excited to return to those hallowed halls?

If you were returning to school wearing the same worn out hand-me-downs that didn't fit last year, and fit even less this year, knowing your classmates would be showing up with name brand logos splashed across their chests, new sneakers squeaking on their feet, and bookbags full of cool new school stuff while yours hangs empty from a broken strap, would you be excited to meet that new teacher?

If you had spent much of last year sitting in the hall or office, kicked out of class for your misunderstood actions, your unsquelchable enthusiasm, would you be looking forward to more of the same again this year?

If you spent last school year being teased, bullied and tormented, despite the fact you get good grades, wear all the right clothes, and follow the rules, would you be in such a hurry to don those new clothes that first day?

How can we, as educators, make school someplace ALL STUDENTS want to return to?


The solutions seems easy to me:

• Make schools safe for all learners. Create curriculums that engage and excited all students at all levels. Stop focusing on test prep and turning the page, and find ways to let students be responsible for their own learning paths.

• Work to provide additional services to our students, counseling, medical, clothing, food, hygiene, whatever it takes to help them fit in. Realize that school is not just about the curriculum, but about creating citizens of our society.

• Welcome them all with open arms, come they dirty, poor, obnoxious, smart, slow, athletic, clumsy, fat, fit, popular, nerdy.... Make a special spot for each student, each type of child, at our table of learning.

Then.... maybe they will all be disappointed when they hear the starting date of school is pushed back.... maybe they will all be there early, excited on Day One!

Today, I am unpacking my Angry Eyes. The day started out innocently enough, with a phone call full of good intentions.

The middle school secretary called me to chat about a few things about school. In the course of the conversation, she mentioned she'd been cleaning out the office closet and found some items she thought I might need, and had stuck them in my classroom. Just basic kind of leftovers from here and there, markers, colored pencils, nothing spectacular, or earth shattering.

However, I was THRILLED, thinking, "WOW!! I won't have to fork out the $$$$ to buy those things on my own now."

As the day has progressed, the more I found myself excited at the prospect of not having to purchase these basic supplies for my classroom, the more a feeling of anger took the place of the excitement. Why should these basic tools be in such short supply in a public school? Why should I have to buy anything for my classroom out of my own pocket?

Do you think the White House has to scrounge for a pen to sign a document? Or, duct tape together a broken stapler because there isn't a replacement? Do you think our Congress people, at the federal or state level, are pouring over back to school sales, adding and re-adding the totals on their lists, making choices about what they purchase to make it through the year at their office desk?

But here I am... thinking if I don't have to purchase those Expo markers, maybe I can buy enough notebooks to give each student one in both social studies and math class. Maybe I can afford to order a few new atlases, instead of trying to make do one more year with those with all the missing pages. I wonder if I could get enough post-its to use for that activity I saw at a conference about helping students dissect text?

Education, quality education, needs consistent, adequate funding. Teachers are consistenly being asked to do more, and more, and MORE, with less and less and less. Once again, a slap in the face about our priorities in this country hits me broadside.

Back to School

A new school year is a clean slate, for students, as well as teachers.

Here is my list of back to school tips for getting your classroom & yourself ready for your best year ever:


1. The classroom itself:
Look at the room arrangement. Since my tables stay in the same place all year because of the computer cords and the need for access to electricity, making certain the placement works well is crucial. I like students to be able to talk to elbow partners, work in small groups, and have room for large projects, so grouping tables together makes sense for me.

I use bookshelves to block places I don’t want easily accessed by students, like my storage cupboards. I surround my own desk with shelves of professional reading materials so they are easy for me to grab, in addition to giving the image to students that I read and learn as well. Shelves with places for assignments to be turned in, absent work to be collected, paper, pencil sharpeners, art supplies, etc... need to be in easy traffic areas for students.

Another consideration is ability to easily see all the boards as needed. On the back wall of my classroom is the Daily Assignment Board, where I write the day’s lesson, any work due today or upcoming reminders. On the side wall is the small board with today’s date. In the front, the main board where I teach, use the projector and document camera. Students obviously can’t see all of these at the same time, but I try to ensure all three boards in easily in range.

While I am far from the type to have exciting up to date bulletin boards, I do like to start the year with something eye catching and worthwhile.
My favorites include:
· Why Do I Need Math – with pictures of a variety of occupations showing math skills at work
· All About Me – pictures of me throughout my life, including those dorky middle school pictures, my family, dog, house and yard
· Pictures and cards from past students
· Newspaper Collage – This is the most difficult. One summer I clipped every picture out of the local newspaper that had students in my incoming classes – playing softball, showing animals at the fair, at the 4th of July Parade.
With a little thought and planning, you can tweak your classroom to best suit your needs and the needs of your students.


2. Curriculum:
· Aside from the obvious aligning your curriculum to the state expectations, start thinking about integrating other subjects and topics into your lessons. For example, Talk Like a Pirate Day is each year on September 19. What a fun, engaging beginning of the year way to hook your students, regardless of your subject matter! Students will love the corny pirate one liners and you will have the opportunity to teach them about maps, language, travel, morals, unexpected outcomes… the possibilities are endless.
· Beyond incorporating fun topics into your curriculum, strategize your attack plan. Rethink how you grade, assess and report learning to students and parents. Set up your plan for test retakes, extra study sessions before/after school, and how you will accommodate students with Individualized Education Plans.
· Talk to your librarian or media specialist to get ideas on how you can best utilize their services.
· Dig through the support materials that come with your textbook series. Chances are, there are some cool, easy to use ideas in there you’ve overlooked in the past.
· Work on generating one unit you’ve never taught before. Find websites, interactive online activities, and support materials, NOW, while you have some extra time.


3. Communication:
Think about your plan to communicate with parents and students. Does your website need some fine tuning? What changes do you want/need to plan?
Think about:
· Daily assignments
· Long term projects/tests
· Contact information
· Online links for materials, both daily work as well as supplemental materials


4. Yourself

If you are like me, every school year, you say this year you are going to eat healthier, exercise more, all those good things you know will make you feel better. Plan NOW. Buy that refrigerator for your classroom to keep cold drinks and healthy snacks close by. Make a list of healthy snacks to pack for school. Cook a few dinner entrees and freeze them so those first few weeks won’t be so overwhelming when you come home at night.
Plan to use part of your lunch or prep period to walk outside. Use this time to regroup, clear your head, and get ready for the next period. Strategize your mental health!
Take care of any last minute doctor or dentist appointments before the school year starts so you don’t have to write sub plans! Come back to school polished, healthy and ready to go!

It really is a clean slate for you as well as your students. Make this year your best teaching year! Get off to a great start, before the students ever walk in the door.

Middle School & Adolescence....

2 words that send shivers down the spines of parents and teachers alike.

From a middle school teacher's perspective, all those shivers are unnecessary. Making the most of your child's middle school years is quite simple: Send them to boarding school and change your phone number, email address and any other means of contact.

Seriously? Middle schoolers are a difficult crew to navigate with at times, but these years can also mark some of the best times you will spend with your child. Caught in the balance between childhood and adulthood, these kids are searching for their identity, looking for support, help, and most of all, unconditional love and acceptance.

The first step to successful navigation through the storm is flexibility. Middle schoolers need and crave rules, but need to feel as if they have a say in these rules. Be ready to negotiate, change, and bend the rules to fit the circumstances. That doesn't mean letting go of your family values and ideals, or letting your teen run the show. Just be ready to listen, rethink and reconsider how rules are enforced. If school night bedtime is normally 9, but there is some MUST BE WATCHED show in tonight until 10, negotiate - You may stay up and watch the show, but you must still get yourself up and ready for school on time. If you aren't ready when the bus comes, no TV for a week. (or whatever consequence you choose) Put the power in the teen's hands.

The next step is teaching responsibility. When your child starts middle school, you need to buy them 2 items: an alarm clock and a laundry basket, and teach them to use both. Don't rush to rescue them when they don't get up on time. Skipping breakfast to catch the bus, wearing dirty clothes to school, will not kill them! However, it might teach them to become more responsible. Helping them learning to manage their time, learning to think ahead, will not only take the getting them up and doing their laundry responsibility from your already busy life, it will ultimately help your teen when they are out on their own.

The last key to success ties in with the last one. While you are teaching responsibility, teach your child that failure might be an option. Don't be a helicopter parent, swooping in to drive them back to school to get a forgotten book every day, calling or writing the teacher to get an extension on a project, or finishing homework for your child. Middle school is about building good habits. Have clear cut expectations about work completion, grades, behavior and effort, along with clearly outlined consequences when those expectations are not met. Then, let your child take the lead, either meeting the expectations or not. It is difficult to step back and let them fail, but in the grand scheme of life and school, the middle grades are the time to let them flounder and learn to deal with the consequences.

Middle schoolers aren't just big KIDS and they aren't just littler high schoolers. They are unique creatures, interesting, intelligent, and on the cusp of adulthood. With a little creativity and perserverance on your part, you can make these the BEST years of their lives.

Nature versus Nurture

My granddaughter, Rylie, is 14 ½ months old now. I spend as much time with her as possible. Of course, I think she is the cutest, smartest, sweetest, most perfectest little girl ever to walk the planet.

But watching her grow and learn makes me realize the many disadvantages students come to school with. Rylie has someone constantly at her beck and call, teaching her about her world, helping her grow and learn.

We chart Rylie's progress on those milestone charts you can find online or in any baby box, highlighting her accomplishments one by one, leap by leap. At 14 1/2 months, her milestone chart for babies 12-18 months is almost completely highlighted. While I would like to attribute that exceptional ability to the genes she inherited from me, I am quite certain these milestone are flying by quickly more because of the way she is being raised than by anything inherent in her DNA.

Granted, some children are born with some learning difficulty, something went wrong somewhere along the way. But for the average normal baby, if they were raised in a rich environment, I truly think they could all soar.

Today was just another Rylie day, but all the things she saw and learned today were soaked up in the magical sponge of her brain, stored there for the next learning experience she can tag with the same information.

All parents need to be made aware of the importance of experiences for their children. It isn't about money, or education, it is about time and effort.

The picture of Rylie above shows her at Tractor Supply Company this spring when the baby chicks arrived. She was mesmerized by the soft fluffy chirpy balls that had scratchy claws and sharp beaks. Letting her kneel there and see them, picking them up for her to touch, patiently waiting for her to be done soaking up all that experience, all that cost nothing.

Today, Rylie went to visit her newborn cousin for the first time. Rylie's mom and I went to visit, taking her along, like we do no matter where we go. Knowing a 14 month old would get bored in the hospital room quickly, first her mom went to visit the new baby on her own while Rylie and I wandered the hospital. Other than the yogurt I bought her in the cafeteria, the experience was completely free. But in the hour's time, we touch the rock and brick walls, rubbed the smooth paint, the textured wallpaper, played in the water cascading down the fountain, sniffed the fake flowers, the scented candles, looked at the myriad of paintings and photographs adorning the walls, discovered automatic doors, perused the gift shop through the windows, watched an electrician fixing the wiring, and learned that Rylie CAN open the bathroom door all by herself, regardless of what Grandma is doing at the moment.

Rylie goes for walks in the woods, touches trees, leaves and dirt, listens to birds sing in the trees, watches them fly above, tosses rocks into rivers and lakes, lays down to watch ants crawl by. She 'reads' labels in the grocery store, gazes longingly at fish in the aquariums at Walmart, tries in shoes in every store that has them. She walks in my yard and sniffs (and picks...) flowers. She reads books with everyone in her life, most of them bought at garage sales for 25 cents each. Just from books, she can identify an amazing amount of things she has never encountered in real life. She goes and does, and learns along the way.

When Rylie goes to school, she will be ready, her brain full of information to start her formal education, linking together all those little bits and pieces she's already stored to the new information.

Somehow, we need to educate parents better. We need to convince them the importance of early experiences for their children. Don't plop them in front of the television. Don't hand them a video game. Take them outside. Take them to the library. Take them to the grocery store. Don't strap them in the seat. Let them walk and explore, look and learn. Take the time to be patient, let them do things on their own time, talk to them, explaining everything everywhere.

Nature versus nurture?? Nature wins, hands down. Rylie's 18 month chart is nearly complete because she has a mom and dad and grandparents who take the time to let her learn, now, while her little brain is the most absorbent it will ever be. And.... I am sure a tiny tad is because of the DNA from grandma too :)

Michigan schools are hurting like many in other places, no doubt. Last year, the state cut per pupil funding $165 per student, regardless where in the spectrum of state aid your school fell. This cut was devastating to every district.

Now, it looks as if districts will get a raise for the upcoming school year.

Woohoo, let’s celebrate.

Oh… wait… they are giving us back $11 per student. No, that is not a typo. ELEVEN dollars PER STUDENT.

There are many ways to look at this generous gift. For my district, our student population of just under 900 students, this generosity will grant us nearly $9900. Wow… the possibilities of what to do with that much money are endless. Transportation costs are just under $3000 a day, so we can keep those busses on the road for 3 days! Or, we can fund a third of a beginning teacher’s wages (not benefits, just wages).

If we look at this gift per student, it breaks down to just over 6 cents per day per student. I CAN afford to give each student a pencil every day after all!

Or maybe, I can pool the $11 per student for the ones I teach – about 55 7th graders and 25 8th graders next fall – and with that $880 I can…. Hmmm… math books are about $80 each so I guess I could buy 11 of those. It will be interesting trying to share those among all the kids, but we can be creative. If your last name starts with A – L, you get a book to take home on Monday and Wednesday, M-Z, you get them on Tuesday and Thursday. Friday will be reserved for those absent on their appointed day.

Oh, you say, textbooks are not needed with today’s technologies? OK, I will just use that money to buy new laptops. Hmmm… maybe I could get 2, or even 3 netbooks for that sum? Sharing 3 netbooks won’t be tough at all. Hopefully, the network itself is in decent enough shape to keep us going every day.

Forget the problem that they other teachers who have those students will want their own share of the bankroll. Forget the heat bill, the water bill, building improvements, art supplies, classroom furniture…

Again, it seems, we are destined to show the children of our country they are not a priority. As a nation, we’ve spent over $732 BILLION dollars on the war in Iraq. If you add the cost of the war in Afghanistan, we are WELL over $1 TRILLION. (http://costofwar.com/)

We spend over $113 billion dollars a year on illegal immigrants. (http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/illegal-immigration-a-113-billion-a-year-drain-on-us-taxpayers-97879144.html)

Even more outrageous, the city of Philadelphia cut their budget for fireworks from $3 million to $2.1 million this year. Oh how sad for them.... Boston spent $2.5 million, and DC won't even release the information on their show. (http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/the-most-extravagant-fireworks-displays-on-july-4th/19535837/)

Tiger Woods will earn $110 million this year, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan and Kimi Raikkonen will all earn $45 million each. Even Dale Earnhardt will bring home a cool $34 million. (http://www.gkmen.com/sports/north-american-sports/who-are-highest-paid-athletes-2010190210)

And here I sit counting that $11 a kid.... rolling in the money.... counting my blessings...

“Be Real!

Color outside the lines.”

This quote is on my favorite t-shirt, one I purchased at the Crayola store on my one and only visit to the legendary Mall of America. Such a simple quote, but to me, it is all about teaching middle schoolers. Middle school kids live outside the line all the time, never quite fitting the mold of what their parents and teachers think they ought to be.

Middle school age kids are trying on their personalities, trying to figure out who they want to be. They want to fit in, desperately; at the same time, they want to be themselves, express their own personalities and make their own mark on the world.

It is a narrow path they walk and one which we, the adults in their lives, need to cultivate with care and patience. It is our obligation to help them discover their true indentities, their individual colors, and encourage them to indeed, COLOR OUTSIDE THE LINES!"

Be a best friend, tell the truth, and overuse I Love You

Go to work, do your best, don't outsmart your common sense

Never let your prayin knees get lazy

And love like crazy

from 'Love Like Crazy' by Lee Brice

What a great message for students, those words that echo in the chorus of this popular country song. It seems to me it covers everything we want for them to learn to be successful in their lives, every goal we as educators ought to have for our students.

Be a best friend:

If we can teach students to approach each person as if they were indeed their best friend, we could eliminate much of the hurt and bullying in schools today. Acceptance is the first step to peaceful interactions. Best friends tolerate each other's shortcoming, quirks and failures.

If each child had a best friend, someone they could turn to in their life, someone who loved them no matter what, think how much stronger our students would be as individuals. We need to work with students to find and forge strong bonds with each other.

Schools need to focus more on building the child's inner strengths, teaching them skills to cope and grow. In today's educational world, with budget cuts and teacher layoffs, too much focus on high stakes test scores, we are losing sight of what our true underlying responsibilites are to the future generations. It isn't all about book learning, it is about helping them grow into people we want to live next door to.

Tell the truth:

Teaching middle school is an adventure. Kids do dumb things ALL the time. I tell them that's OK. Just be honest. I can much easier deal with the kid who constantly screws up but fesses up, "Yes, Mrs. George, I was talking and I know I shouldn't have been." than the one who lies and denies. I am a clean slate person. Chances are, once I tell the student to stop whatever it is they are doing, the dirty deed has escaped my radar. All I want is for them to move on as well.

We live in a society where truth does not always trump. Our students watch their heros dodge the truth, watch politicians get caught in deceptive circles of untruths. In school, we must make sure to value truth above all else.

Overuse I love you:

Our students need to know we love them, unconditionally, whether they are smart, or popular, have the right clothes, come to school clean or dirty, have friends, follow the rules.... They need to have the assurance that we, their teachers, hold them special in our hearts, regardless.

If we can model that kind of unconditional love for our students, we can help them become more tolerant citizens, more kind to others, and more accepting of differences.

Go to work:

At least half of the determining factor in whether or not you will successful in any venture is do you actually show up, physically and mentally for the challenge. Students, and often parents, do not understand the importance of being in school day after day, arriving on time, and really BEING THERE while they are there. School is not a passive sport. Learning requires participation and hard work, and most of all, the physical presence of being there, in the classroom.

I am always at a loss when parents pull students out for extended periods of time for a family vacation. How can I possibly give them work to make up for all the class experiences they will miss while they are gone? Learning is about working with others, problem solving, trying, trying again, exploring, failing. That cannot be replicated on a worksheet copied and sent along to be completed in the backseat of a car ride.

Our students need to see us at work, day after day, doing what we should be, being "there" for them from the minute they walk in the door, until the final bell rings, accepting responsibility for all the hats we are expected to wear each day, doing it with a smile and an acceptance of our job.

Do your best:

I don't care if my students are "A" kids or "C" kids, as long as I know they have given their honest 100% effort in whatever they tackle, whatever I give them to try. It frustrates me to no end to see how willing many students are to settle for 'good enough' though. Instilling a sense of pride in students, a feeling of they have given it their all is tough sometimes.

One way I have discovered to help encourage 100% effort is to display student work. When they know their project will be hanging in the hall, students are more likely to care about the final product. It is all about an authentic audience.

Don't outsmart your common sense:

Teenagers have great instincts, about themselves, about others, and about life in general. We, as their role models, have to encourage them to go with their gut instinct, trust themselves to make the right decisions.

Often, we as adults are so centered on being the 'police force' to keep them out of trouble, we take away their responsibilty for learning to listen to that little voice of reason they all intuitively know is right. We spend so much time and effort keeping them under control, we force them to lost their own ability to think for themselves.

Never let your prayin' knees get lazy:

We are a nation founded on religious freedom, but we've come so far from that belief in our society, that schools are afraid to even mention a child's spirituality. If we embraced each different belief system, encouraged students to accept and learn about others, we could create a more accepting generation.

It isn't about teaching religion in schools, or even praying in school. It is about acknowledging the need for each child to have a belief system in place.

And love like crazy....

We need to give our students a zeal and zest for life, for learning, and for each other in our classrooms. We need to teach them to be spontaneous, unpredictable, flexible, boisterous, and to laugh. We need to love them all unconditionally, and teach them to love us back.

I don't expect students to give me gifts at the end of the year, but sometimes, they do. Often, it is a flower, sometimes a hanging basket, or another flower to plant among my other annuals. The best ones are the perennials though. I tuck these flowers into the bed along my patio, a hodgepodge of mismatched flowers from years gone by, a reminder to me of each student who gave me those gorgeous gifts years ago. My yard is full of flower beds, rock gardens, perennials spilling over ponds and streams, all my "pretties" I've planted and tended with care and thought. But somehow, the mismatched beds of student gifts are always my favorite.

This morning I woke up to a yard sparkling from fresh rain, and an incredible red lily opening in that bed. This plant was given to me 2 years ago by a young man, I am certain, picked out by his mom. Kyle was a memorable kid, funny, immature in that charming 7th grade way, smart. The kind of kid who drives you crazy at the time, but that you remember always having a smile on his face. He was always in the center of whatever goofiness was going on, but easy to rein back in. He was the kind of young man you knew was destined to do something innovative someday.

So this morning, I blog in thanks to Kyle and all the others who have given me those lasting gifts of beauty for my yard. I love to anticipate those blooms every year, remembering you and your classmates. Lilies here and there, an array of spectacular colors, a metal pink flower made in metals class by a group of girls, dianthus that spreads and spreads, various bulbs of early spring bloomers, thank you to all who've made my garden a memory of the job I love.

NOW.........Won't you all please come over and weed for me??

I’ve been thinking about money and school, and realistically, how would more money change my teaching, my classroom, and of course, ultimately, the learning of my students.

Some of the more miniscule items – paper, pencil, art supplies – really wouldn’t change anything other than the amount of money that comes from my own pocket. As a matter of fact, having an unlimited supply of materials might actually lead to making students more dependent on me supplying it, resulting in their own lack of independence and personal responsibility for coming to class prepared. Still, it would be great to not have to worry about assigning posters, or colored coded graphs, or expecting students to have index cards for note taking. Having all the materials available would allow for more flexibility in many ways.

The big stuff is where I see money making the biggest impact in my classroom. I would first buy new tables and chairs for my classroom instead of the mismatched, broken legged wobbly ones I have now. How sad is that?

Would that change how I teach and how my students learn? Maybe not… However, when students come to school in buildings that are out of date, it gives them a feeling that they are not valued in our society. They see the difference in other places they go and how decrepit the school building and its furnishing are, and they, albeit it unconsciously, understand the prioritizing of public funding and the many discrepancies.

If we could open school buildings that look inviting, with kid-friendly structures, large classrooms, fresh paint, adequate furnishings, students would not feel despair when they enter our halls.

In my own classroom, given money, I could create a learning environment more welcoming, with a variety of seating options. The hard plastic and metal chairs I have now hardly lend themselves to a comfortable resting spot for anyone for 60 minutes, much less for an active growing adolescent. I would give them beanbags, rocking chairs, and other more kid friendly choices. Not only would these be comfier seating choices, the constant interruption of them scraping across the floor would be eliminated.

Beyond the chairs and tables, my classroom could have a neater and tidier appearance, with matching bookcases, storage space in closed cupboards, white boards with plenty of markers and erasers and cleaner. Instead a conglomeration of mismatched homemade tables on which to put things, my room could look like a classroom with real furniture! My walls would be painted with stripes of bright colors, instead of the boring drab off-white.

I could have new laptops, with logical power sources, instead of crisscrossing extension cords and powerstrips, duct taped hither and thon. The laptops would ALL work, always! I could have a SmartBoard to share websites and notes with students. I could have some sort of student response system, to engage them electronically, each student responsible for giving answers, in a safe, non-threatening manner!

Nooks and crannies for reading, art projects, and other creative ventures would beckon students to their corners, intriguing minds to create and produce, think and innovate.

There would some sort of reliable temperature control, keeping us on an even keel, instead of the highs and lows from 55° to 95° we experience now.

I would create spots for student storage within the classroom, places to keep portfolios, supplies, and even personal belongings.

A comfortable place to view videos would be there as well, almost an actual media center, where students could curl up and watch the occasional video I show in luxury, instead of craning around the heads of other students, straining to hear the words from the cheap reject speakers.

All that sounds wonderful ….. but in actuality, would it change my teaching? Would it change the learning of my students? I’m not so sure. But it is kind of like winning the lottery. You always read that winners aren’t any happier once they’ve won the BIG BUCKS, as is often creates a new set of problems. But I always think, give ME those problems!

Give me the magical classroom budget, the perfect setting, and let me see if it COULD make an impact on student learning. Let me just give it a shot?

Outside the physical nature of my classroom, with more educational funding, I would create a learning environment where teachers have time to work together, create together, and support each other's endeavors. This time would be built into the actual school day.

Time for teachers to really look at student work and assess it, then provide feedback to students and parents would be built into the school schedule as well. I would eliminate multiple choice tests, and have teachers using more meaningful tools to analyze student progress.

I would create learning communities made up of teachers, adminstrators, and parents, all working together to design learning goals for students in our school. Then I would work to help students take these goals and chart their own course of study, finding ways to meet these goals.

I would have my school be a community center, offering after-school support, programs, academic support, athletic programs, food programs, medical care, whatever our student body needs. We would support the whole child, completely.

School would no longer be an 8-3 venture, but a lifestyle for our community........

Teacher Summer To Do List

Many people assume the best parts of being a teacher are June, July, and August. I will admit a sense of euphoria when school lets out, a release of tension, a settling in of a relaxed feeling. Then the reality of being a teacher sets in with summer projects, classes, and other professional development endeavors.

Spread across my dining room table, gracing a spot it will stay most of the summer, sits my mountain of school work. One pile is Algebra 1 books, CD’s and other support materials. These all beckon to me, reminding me I am teaching this class for the first time, and should probably hone up on my own skills. Another pile is for my 7th grade social studies class, the class that always seems to get pushed to the back burner, and I end up resorting to reading the chapters in the textbook and copying worksheets, because time is too short to plan another project, write another rubric, research another current events issue. Summer gives me a chance to delve into the curriculum and plan another unit to supplant or better yet, replace, the book work.

The last pile is for professional reading, books I want to read this summer to broaden my own teaching horizon. Six books are sitting there, waiting for me to read or reread them. Building Literacy in Social Studies is on top of the stack. I’ve read and actually reviewed this book before, in 2007, but I want to look a bit closer at how to use some of the ideas given to improve how I teach social studies. The chapter on textbook literacy in particular interests me. Our students, as often is the case, struggle with informational text so I am hoping to get some ideas about helping them become more effective at looking for key concepts in what they are reading.

Alongside that, Ignite Student Intellect and Imagination in Social Studies sits. This book is filled with cookie cutter project ideas, some of which I hope to mine for ideas for my class. I like the idea of developing activities with choices for students, but often struggle coming up with equitable choices. I once had a pyramid model, and would like to use this book and its ideas to revisit that activity.

The Forest and the Trees will also be a book for my social studies class, as I try to find ideas for looking teaching the skills of finding important ideas in text. I am especially interested in the part of this book that addresses the skills students need for taking multiple choice tests. In today’s educational arena where so much rides on those high stakes test scores, teachers have a responsibility, unfortunately, to not only teach content and offer opportunities to develop high order thinking skills, but we must prepare students to think like test takers.

The last two books address teaching writing and reading in content areas: Teaching Reading in Social Studies, Science and Math and Content-Area Writing . I am a firm believer in the power of having students write for learning. I want to explore ways to use more writing in math class to have students understand and discover their own misconceptions.

Beyond the reading, and the lesson planning, there are the special projects. While I said no to many things I normally do in the summer, I did get suckered into two so far. This week I will be attending a workshop called MORE Alignment Workshop. The idea seems to be getting a sprinkling of various discipline teachers to look at online resources and align them to the state standards. The idea intrigues me because anytime we can use technology, students are immediately more interested in what we are doing. I am hoping by working to create alignment links for others, I discover many online resources I can myself use.

The last thing I have agreed to is a simple 2 day workshop in August that is part of a grant I wrote for a team of 3 teachers last year. We received a MACUL MI-Champions grant to attend last year’s conference, next year’s conference, and this 2 day summer workshop, all dedicated to technology integration. The agenda has up looking at wikis, blogs, and other simple ideas to more effectively integrate technology into our curriculum. It sounds pretty straightforward and uninspired but who knows? Maybe I will come away with some cool ideas. At the very least, I will have written a unit plan to use in my classes! A win-win scenario no doubt!

And before you know it, it will be time to be back in school, rearranging furniture and plugging in power strips, making copies, hanging posters, writing parent letters, and setting up my gradebook for fall. The halls will be empty, the floors shiny, all waiting the arrival of the KIDS!!!

Today's Education Week article, Districts Equipping School Buses With WiFi describes a program in Vail, Arizona where busses will be equipped with WiFi so students can access the internet on their bus ride to and from school. A worthy venture, no doubt. However, this article, and the money this district has for such programs enrages me as my own district struggles to keep the doors open and the lights on.

My comments posted at the article:
The inequity in public education in this country is appalling. While some districts are struggling to keep their doors open, to simply provide transportation for students at all, districts like this are able to give their students WiFi access on the bus?

I teach in a rural district in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Our district covers over 1,000 square miles (larger than the state of Rhode Island) with only just over 800 students, K-12. Our students ride the bus up to 2 hours to AND from school, not total. We have a population density, in the primary county of our school district, of 8 people per square mile. We bus students from 4 counties to our school. Vail School District in Arizona is a megapolis compared to us. The nearest traffic light, Walmart, and town with a population over 10,000 is over 65 miles away. Our students are isolated and for the most part, poor. They do not enjoy the luxuries other places and schools provide.

Since our students do not have school issued laptops, and many of them cannot afford personal laptops, providing WiFi would be just another way to waste taxpayer money. Outside the village limits of the one small town in our school district, there is no access to internet other than through a dialup connection or satellite.

Good for Vail, good for its students. This is just one more indication that public education in this country is for the wealthy, not all Americans. We talk a good talk about equal opportunities, but in reality, the divide between the haves and the have nots in this country continues to widen each day. It is sad to see my students miss out on the opportunities afforded children schooled other places simply due to geography.

Until we even the playing field of education, providing truly equal opportunities for all students, I fear for our future, as we create generations of children unprepared to compete globally.

This saddens me deeply, thinking of my students, many who are economically disadvantaged already, coming from homes where education is not valued, where college is not even considered an option, and thinking of the great divide between districts. It simply is not fair. It starts my students out in the world behind those in other districts. It sets them up for failure before they graduate high school. I simply do not understand why we allow this to happen in our country?

Good for Vail. Good for all those districts that have money to spend on great ideas like WiFi on their busses! Why can't it be that way in EVERY school? Why aren't MY students just as worthy as those other places?

There’s nothing sadder in June than an empty classroom, an empty hallway with lockers standing open, the last remnants of students scattered on the floor. In August, that same hallway and classroom will still stand empty, but the freshly waxed floors will emit a feeling of hope and promise for the upcoming school year. But for now, it is all about what has been, the good, the bad, the memories.

Packing the classroom is bittersweet. As I tuck away the notes from students, the pictures they have drawn me, the cards from them and parents, I find the ones from years gone by, and linger over those, remembering other smiling faces. Teaching really is a journey, a trip carefully orchestrated. All the stops along the path are the students you meet each year. Just as on vacation, some stops are enjoyable, ones you wouldn’t mind visiting again. Others, you leave with a ‘been there, done that’ feeling, knowing you’ve grown somehow from the experience, but don’t need to repeat it.

When I taught 8th grade, watching those kids leave the last day was sad, knowing they would disappear to the high school. Most of them I would never see again except in passing here and there. A few would wander back to the middle school halls to visit on occasion, those visits getting scarcer as the years went by. Letting them go was difficult and heartbreaking.

Teaching 7th grade is easier at the end of the year. The kids will be back, just around the corner. They won’t be ‘mine’ anymore, but I will see them every day in the hall. In September, many will still congregate by my room before school, causing a bottleneck in the hall, telling tales of summer, of their new classes and teachers, whining they wish they were still in 7th grade. As the year goes by, the start to wander away, finding their new hangout location, usually by the boys’ bathroom, causing a new bottleneck in traffic. My new 7th graders start to migrate to block the traffic outside my door, leaving behind their 6th grade memories.

Ending this year was different though. I will teach one section of 8th grade next year, so some of those students will be MINE again next year! It was a weird feeling, seeing them go, but knowing they will be back. Next year will be a journey we travel together, with me teaching Algebra 1 for the first time, learning alongside the students. I feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility to this group, the top of the top, the cream of the class.

Algebra 1 is always a tough class for kids. Many students end of taking it again as freshmen, they first experience with failure. How will I handle that experience? Failing a student I know has worked as hard as possible…

When I first starting teaching, an E I gave out bothered me. I thought every student should strive for the A. But as time has passed, I have come to reluctantly accept some failures as unavoidable.

The failures in Algebra, will they be avoidable? Will I be able to break the trend of having many students repeat this crucial class? I feel like a new teacher all over again, butterflies in my stomach. It will be an entirely new journey, with familiar faces along the way. I embrace it with trepidation and anticipation, and even a bit of dread.

For now, the Algebra 1 book sits on my dining room table, my summer homework project. Armed with the teacher’s manual, the exams, the support materials, I am determined to be ready when the empty hallways and lockers beckon in the September.

After the following essay I wrote several years ago was mentioned at Larry Ferlazzo's blog in his recent interview with Renee Moore, I decided to post it here:

Wonder Teacher:
I was talking to a friend the other day who is also a teacher, in a school much like mine, but far away. We laughed about the similarities of our situations, the kids, the administrators, the politics, and the unpredictable nature of our days. As I went down the litany of what I had done in the course of my day, my friend said to me, "You must have worn your cape today! Who are you? Wonder teacher?"


Knowing his day had been of the same intensity, I laughed at his comment. But later it started me thinking about our jobs as teachers, how much is expected of us, the wide range of skills we must possess, and how little we are rewarded in return for our efforts.

Maybe instead of the mundane teacher postings most districts advertise, they might want to consider the following:

Job Opening:Wonder Teacher
Qualifications:
1. Must have own cape and able to use it to fly to ubiquitous locations at any moment.
2. Ability to mold (not the fuzzy green kind) small minds.
3. Able to change actions mid-stream and head in an entirely opposite direction without a paddle, canoe or any flotation devices.
4. Make do financially on less than any other professionals and use a portion of those funds to supplement necessary classroom materials.
5. Work long hours, with summers and holidays off but devoted to additional training/professional development at your own expense, despite the fact you already have earned a Masters degree.
6. Deal with irate parents who think your main goal in life is to hinder the progress of their child.
7. Deal with administrators who have either never taught or have simply forgotten what it is like to be "in the trenches" on a daily basis-be subjected to their whims, mood swings, and half-baked ideas.
To apply, please contact your local school district.

That job description was written in jest, initially. Then I started thinking about each of the individual components of the "posting".

The first qualification: Maybe teachers don't need an actual cape to perform their daily duties, but they certainly need to be able to be in more than one location at a time In starts with hall duty, separating students in a scuffle at one corner as another student chats about their night, and four more ask what assignment they missed when they were absent. Two students are seeking a band-aid as another one strolls by in severe dress code violation—all before the day actually begins. And when the day does begin, it only gets more complicated, with six students in the class on task, four more finished early and bored, 12 needing additional help, three who were gone yesterday and are lost, one with ADD, one with ADHD, one with OCD, one with ODD, and a few others as yet unclassified. Does Amazon sell capes in my size?

The second qualification: Able to mold small minds. Teacher preparation classes at universities attempt to provide students with the necessary skills to teach all youth we will encounter by giving us a repertoire of lesson strategies, assessment tools and classroom management skills—most of which, once teachers are in a real classroom with real students, seem woefully inadequate. Think of a forest fire and a bucket. No matter how hard you try to put out all the flames, they just keep popping up. There is always one more student needing one more thing. There is always another stack of papers to be corrected, another parent phone call to make, another lesson idea to work on. It seems all those mundane tasks of teaching suck up more time than the time actually spent "molding young minds" until the teacher's mind is the one covered in a furry green substance.

Band concerts, fire drills, IEP's, intercom interruptions about the next dance or bake sale, schedule changes, observations, knocks at the door, guest speakers, unannounced assemblies, snow days, and on and on. The best-planned lessons are interrupted; the most well designed schedules disintegrate without a trace. It feels like you're on a torrential whitewater river, crashing downstream in a $4 blowup raft from the Dollar Store, bouncing over sharp boulders, with no steering device or safety equipment.

The third qualification: Teacher pay is simply not comparable to the compensation in other careers that require similar education and levels of professionalism. It begins with low starting salaries and it's compounded as you find you're required to pay for your own continuing education, all the while climbing up the salary ladder at a turtle's stately pace. I just heard about General Motors cutting back on a program that previously paid employees up to $10,000 a year for graduate classes. Now they must settle for $6500 a year (the same amount offered to employees working towards their bachelor degree). Holy cow! Imagine $6500 a year for graduate school tuition. I'd dance naked in the streets (trust me, not a pretty sight) for that kind of tuition reimbursement. Teachers everywhere would be overjoyed with such a support system. Keep in mind that continuing education is required for maintaining teacher certification, and the classes are offered either nights, weekends, or in the summer. While this makes it possible for teachers to take the classes, it cuts into time with our families. Few other occupations require as much commitment of outside time to keep your current position.

The fourth qualification: In the course of many years of teaching, most parents I have dealt with have been terrific. They are positive, supportive, and yes, even appreciative of my efforts on behalf of their children. However, somehow all it takes is that one irate, irrational parent to negate the entire positive past interactions. Every teacher has dealt with parents who are of the opinion that from 8 until 3 each day, their share of the responsibility for raising their child is zero. We've also had that parent who defends the actions of their little angel regardless of the evidence. We've had parents threaten us with physical violence, with lawsuits, with rumor and innuendo, seemingly thinking we get out of bed every morning with the sole purpose of picking on their child.

The fifth qualification: Having the support of your principal and your superintendent makes the job bearable-or not. Knowing that when things are rough, you have someone who will support you, stand with you, and acknowledge your efforts, really can make all the difference. When administrators don't listen to the professionals upon whom their own success depends, the teaching life can become pure drudgery.

Maybe the title Wonder Teacher is appropriate after all? When you look objectively at the job, sometimes it does make you wonder why anyone chooses to become a teacher.
For me though, objectivity has never been a strong suit. Waking up each morning, thinking about the day ahead, the smiling faces I know will be there to greet me, the enthusiastic questions, the wonder at learning something new, the perseverance through rough times, the laughter, the note passing, the corny jokes, the smell of markers, the chalk dust in the air, sound of lockers slamming, the cafeteria cuisine, the forgotten textbooks, the missing pencils—all that makes up for the anything the parents, the administrators, or the school board can toss my way. Most days, I just can't believe they actually PAY me to come here, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Does that make me Wonder Teacher? Not at all. Just your normal, typical everyday American classroom teacher.

By the way, do you have to dry clean these capes?

As I think about cleaning and packing for the summer months, I am saddended at the thoughts of next school year. With the overwhelming budgets and staff shuffling, our middle school will no longer be the same, with no hope on the horizon to restore it. When the dust settles, there will be but 5 people who teach only middle school. That leaves 5 teachers for this vulnerable group of kids to turn to, to identify with, and to bond with. The rest of their day will be with teachers who teach a random section of this or that in middle school, but spend the rest of their day teaching high school or elementary. They will have no real ties to the middle school or the students here.

Middle school students are at such a crucial time in their lives, with physical and emotional changes constantly happening to their bodies. They need consistency, caring, competency, and most of all, a knowledge that they are accepted for who they are, the ever-changing thems from day to day.

I understand that our school finances are in dire straits. I really do get that. I don't know that given the magic pen to make the schedule myself, I would be able to create something more supportive of our students.

However, I am greatly saddened to imagine the impact this is going to have on our students.

On top of the staffing changes, budget cuts to supplies are such that my pitiful allotment of $100 will barely cover the basics of markers for my whiteboards, let alone things like lined paper and pencils for students who cannot/will not supply their own. What about things like poster board for projects, markers, graph paper, glue? Forget new posters for my classroom walls, or new atlases to replace the ones in shreds from being used for the past 5 years. Forget tape, staples, white out, the simple basic office supplies to run a classroom. Forget construction paper, tagboard, new math manipulatives. Forget highlighters, index cards, and postit notes to help students organize their social studies learning. Don't even consider replacing the tables in my classroom that wobble and creak when a student bumps against them. Don't imagine things like SmartBoards, or electronic response tools for students. Always, I have forked over money, as all teachers do, to buy classroom supplies for general use or for needy students. However, with my own salary being slashed next year, where will THIS money come from? I certainly won't be able to make up the missing items from my own funds.

Can you imagine a hospital in the United States that did not supply its emergency room or operating room with sterile bandages, tape, disfectancts, or sutures but instead expected the doctors and nurses to bring in their own supplies? Can you imagine a corporate office where the CEO had to carry in his own box of Kleenex for his desk? Can you imagine telling the engineer at the aeronautics lab providing his own soap for the restroom? But routinely, we expect teachers to do these things!

I am saddened by the state of education today. I am saddened to think how little the legislature thinks of my job, the child who walk through doors, and how far reaching the impact of their decisions will be.