It was a week in middle school, no doubt. Highs and lows and everything in between.

The little red headed girl who was so adament that a negative plus a negative was a positive a couple of week ago, and was just going to go home and ask Dad, do you remember her? She is a remarkable student and we have met in the middle together. She is an avid reader, taking an AR test each day, devouring books like other students eat Skittles. In PreAlgebra, she has started asking questions, learning, questioning and participating. Yesterday, on her way out the door, she said casually, "Mrs. George, you might be the best teacher I ever had! You actually explain stuff instead of just expecting us to learn it." Coming from her, I was simply teary eyed to think how far we've come together this year.

My 6th hour class is THE CLASS. The kids come back from electives, in a rush, loud, wired, and having run all the way from the high school to make it in time. Couple that energy burst with this group being my 'low' group, and a high percentage of boys, and it makes for a rough hour. Many of the students in there have such low math skills, I am not sure what to do with them. Trying to help the one little guy, we finally got the equation to the last step, 40-36. He had no clue what to do, even when I suggested counting up from 36 to 40 on his fingers. He started counting, looking at me the entire time with his huge blue eyes, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42... "WHOA! Stop, where are you going?" I asked him.

He shook his head downward and said, "I don't know what you mean by count up."

Sure I can give him a calcutor to use, but honestly, with that little number sense, he is going to struggle all year with the algebraic concepts we cover. How can we change our paradigm in lower grades to insist students know, grasp, and have those basic facts down? It is frustrating to try and teach them strategies such as estimating the answer, checking to see if it a logical answer, etc... all of which require number sense. On a regular basis, I see students who don't see how 40 is an illogical choice of an answer for 100-96.

But back to 6th hour....

Working with this group is a challenge, period. But Friday, I had a small epiphany. There are 2 young men in there who are bright, very bright. While we are doing the first examples on the board of each lesson, they GET it. As I plod my way through with other students, over and over trying to get them to grasp the smallest hint of what we are doing, these 2 are off on their own planets, looking for trouble. THey are not the kind to pursue something independently enriching on their own. They are the type to build paper airplanes and organize a flight school :) I keep trying to come up with things for them to do, differentiate the lesson to their level. Then, I realized the solution - I suggested the boys move to prealgebra!

This will solve a couple of problems. The boys will be more challenged in my class so managing their off-task behaviors will become easier (in theory!!). It will make my 6th hour have 2 fewer students, making it more manageable, discipline wise as well as behaviorally. It will also shuffle schedules separating some of the major trouble makers all day.

Add to all that, the boys were FLYING HIGH, so proud and excited to have the chance to be moved into the higher class!

Next week starts MEAP testing, so we will see how things go with the move, their new schedules, hoping everything falls into place as it does in my mind.

I am struggling with some logic here today. Once a student takes the final assessment (i.e. chapter test) is there a reason for that student to complete the work associated with that assessment? For example, in social studies, once the chapter test is completed, why on EARTH would you have a student take notes, write vocab words, answer section questions, or complete worksheets on that material?

It seems to me, in education, too often we focus on the quantity of work given, not the quality of the work. If an assignment has merit, by all means assign it, require it, assess it, grade it, talk about it, share it,whatever it takes to get that knowledge bouncing around in the students' heads and stick there for the long term, as well as on the assessment.

On the other hand, if the assignment is busy work, or just practice for the assessment, why force them to do it if they can prove mastery in another way?

We had a speaker recently who wanted to completely banish worksheets, likening them to the devil himself. In some instances I agree. Worksheets promote very little in the way of higher order thinking skills, for the most part. They tend to be predictable and rote.

However, in math, I do use worksheets for practice. I believe students need to practice math skills in order to become proficient.

In social studies, I also use worksheets, though more sparingly. For some students, these provide a safe, consistent, predictability they do not experience in the more creative assignments. I find them a valuable tool for basic things, like vocabulary words, or understanding the nitty gritty parts of what we are learning.

Do worksheets take the place of deep thinking writing assignments, class discussions, open ended projects? No! Absolutely not! But that does not mean they are without merit or purpose.

But backing up to the initial concern, if whatever final purpose those worksheets were preparing students to be proficient at has come and gone, why have them complete them after the fact?? That DOES seem like busy work to me, with no purpose or relevance.

The routine of the school year has fallen into place, expectations known, procedures down. We've gotten used to the early morning arrivals, and the long days shuffling through the schedule. I know my students and they know me. The honeymoon is over.

While I have yet to have any marked discipline issues with the "just wait until you get this group" group, I am begining to see their true colors. The boys who would rather draw than listen and participate. The girls who are caught in the boy drama. The ones who don't get enough sleep each night and tend to nod in class. The readers when they ought not to be reading. The non-readers who find every excuse not to read. The bathroom wanderers. The "I don't have a pencil" chronics.

So begins my own training of how to best meet all those diverse needs in an ever changing classroom. I have to capture the attention of those who are determined not to be caught, engage them long enough to hook them, and then drag them along the lesson until the message sinks in. I have to be ever vigilant, wandering, hovering, noticing, redirecting, and complimenting. To me, that is the most difficult part of my job.

In my mind, in my own school experience, the teacher shouldn't have to be the redirector so constantly as some of these kiddos demand. School IS their job, their task at hand, and they should be sticking with it until they meet success. My job is to be their guide, suggesting the direction they should take and remaining close to offer guidance along the way. For many of my students though, I feel as if I am steering a large barge down a narrow canyon of rushing whitewater rapids, unable to waiver even for a moment least I lose them, crashing violently into the craggy rock walls.

Suddenly, it seems like we are cruising at warp speed through the new school year, routines in place, personalities becoming evident, work patterns being established. The start has been remarkably uneventful for all the hoopla surrounding this group of students. I know we are still in the testing the waters stage but I have been impressed at how willing they are, as a whole, to work, to learn, and to try new things. They have their moments, no doubt, but I've yet to encounter a single discipline issue other than missing work.

I sense that this group needs success more than most. They need to feel loved and appreciated and accepted by the adults in front of them. They want to know their teachers want them there, and want them to be successful. I have tried to establish a relationship with each and every one of those characters I recognize from last year, those "hall sitters" who were constantly put out last year because of behavior. By stroking their egos frequently, by talking to them about things they enjoy outside of school, by teasing them and laughing with them, sharing stories and jokes, I hope I am building a bond which will weather the academic trials throughout the year.

The enthusiasm of the group is amazing overall. They are willing to contribute and answer, take a risk of being wrong. I LOVE that in classes. It is so much easier to take them further when they just participate. I have worked to establish the "I don't care if your hand is up or not" law. They are learning to look engaged and put that hand up to avoid being called on. The amazing thing is, when they concentrate on looking engaged and raising their hands, they ARE engaged! I love the comraderie of them as a group when someone gets caught off guard. They have learned to just be honest and say, "I wasn't listening. What number are we on?" instead of hemming and hawing around.

My 8th graders, my group from last year, are still in the visiting stage, coming by every day, telling me how much they miss me, transitioning to their new teachers and their new routine. I love that they are close, that they miss me as much as I miss them.... I don't ever want to teach 8th grade again. I cannot bear them going away to high school. I need them being in 8th grade, breaking away from me, so I can break away from them too!

The routine of the school year is falling into place, and I know, soon, it will be June and I will be sending another group on their way to 8th grade with tears in my eyes. It is a never ending cycle of kids.... each unique in their own way...

THE KIDS ARE COMING!! THE KIDS ARE COMING!! Today is the first day of school and somehow, I managed to sleep last night. Usually I am tossing and turning, thinking of all the little things I should have done, could have done. Maybe I have been at it long enough now I feel more organized, or perhaps, I have just learned that most of those things don't really matter the first day anyway?

Now, here I sit, alone in my classroom, enjoying the last of the clean shiny-ness of the order. Textbooks stacked neatly, students named etched in the front, notebooks waiting for students to write their own names on the cover, a permanent black Sharpie sitting at attention atop each stack, the tables all lined up perfectly, the computer cords all place, the laptops lights glowing green, handouts stacked with schedules, and parent letters, enrollment forms, first assignments. The room is smells right.

In less than an hour, all that will change. Kids will start trickling up the stairs as the buses arrive, one by one behind the school, exploding with students, laughing, decked out in their finest new duds, holding a backpack, some with name brands splattered across their shirts, and rears, others sporting the donated goods from Project Backpack. Today, they are excited, eager, ready to make their mark, thinking, "This is the year EVERYTHING will be wonderful! I am going to make it great year!"

My job is to meet them at the door, and keep that smile on their face for 36 weeks, keep that enthusiasm as fresh in January as it is today, make sure their goal to make this a wonderful year becomes their self-fullfilling prophesy. I hope I am up to the challenge.

Someone on my Facebook friend list said they were having a bumpy day and hoped it would get better. Jokingly, I responded, keep running over bumps in the road, they get smoother eventually. Another friend turned and posted this message as their status. I just laughed and went on with my day.

Later, the message started resonating in my mind, and as often happens, I started thinking how this might apply to teaching, my students, and how I can work to become a more effective teacher.

It seemed obvious: the bumps in the road of teaching are those difficult students, the ones who I struggle to meet the needs of, both academically and emotionally. Would the same strategy work with those students? If I just keep running over them, over and over again, would eventually they get "smoother"?

Perhaps.... therefore, what I need are strategies for running over them, over and over, smoothing those students rough edges. Realistically, though, these students are not the rolling hills, easily smoothed surfaces. They are rough terrain, left too long, neglected at home and even more, by a system they have come to mistrust.

My incoming group of 7th graders is one of "those" groups of students the teachers of previous years take great pleasure in warning the new teachers about. "Just wait until you get THESE kids!" they laugh. I have seen them in the hall, these bumps in the road headed my way, put there by teachers unsure how else to deal with their disruptive behaviors. I have seen them in the office, professing their innocence, as yet again, they are waiting to be suspended. I have spoken with them, warning them, "7th graders don't sit in the hall during class" I admonish them. I have already set them up to be a problem with me, a bump in my road. I need to change that the first day of school, I know.

Working with these "bumps" in the road, requires a different skill set, a different mind set, than working with the average student.

That skill set first off, must have a large bucket of patience on my part, for me as well as for them. I must go into the experience treating them as I always treat my new classes, with excitement over all the things we will learn together and a wonder about what kinds of experiences we will together explore. I must give them space to be themselves, but set strict parameters for their actions, and use logical, patient, predictable consequences when they do not meet my expectations. But I must always assume good intentions on their parts, planning for them to behave appropriately, instead of assuming they will not be able to handle certain activities. I need to go into this treating them as I would any other group of students, with high expectation, academically and socially.

I think maybe I need to develop a clearer view of the road ahead...one without bumps or roadblocks, but just winding curves and surprises around the bend. I need to view the upcoming year not in terms of potential obstacles, but with excitement and anticipation of what can be accomplished with this group!

Becoming a Great Teacher

One of my favorite books is What Great Teachers Do Differently by Todd Whitaker. I blogged about it last fall and how I hoped to use the books ideals to set the course for my school year. This summer, with school looming near on the horizon, I am writing my own steps to Becoming a Great Teacher, with Whitaker as my inspiration.

1. Forget about whose job it is and just do it. I personally often catch myself thinking.... hmmm.. I don't need to THAT, it's the secretary's job, or the principal's, or the custodian's, or another teacher's... I think I have enough to do to fulfill my own job requirements, why would I step outside that box to help someone else. This year, I will strive to help others as much as possible, weighing the cost to me carefully, and if that cost is minimal, things like answering the phone, putting the next person's copies on to run, or grabbing a kid to sweep the hallway when there is a mess. All those take a minute amount of MY time but can make the other party's day run smoother.

2. Focus on the students I do not connect with or particularly like. I know, I know...... you have never had a student YOU didn't like! I confess, I have, usually one or two each year out of the 70 students I teach. There is no real reason I don't like that particular young lady or man, they have done nothing undeserving of my attentions, but for whatever reason, I find myself detached from them. My goal this year is to make the extra effort TO CONNECT ON A PERSONAL LEVEL with those kids. I want them to feel worthy in my classroom, to avoid any chance they sense my dislike for them. I will strive to truly find characteristics in them I appreciate and dwell upon these.

3. Be supportive of other teachers in their goals, their curriculum and their personal lives. I tend to be all business at school, rarely socializing in the lounger, or working with other teachers to coordinate our curriculums. This year, I want to reach outside my own classroom to work more openly with others, encouraging their projects, and finding ways to support what they are doing in their classrooms. Perhaps this will be a way to help those teachers who struggle with classroom management and meeting their curriculum goals?

4. Be a stronger advocate for our students. I am non-confrontational as a general rule, but as the years go by, I have become more and more certain that we as teachers must be the protector of all that is right for our students. We cannot stand by and allow others to slight children when it comes to education. While it may not be "my place" to tell others what to do in their classrooms, that does not mean I cannot be more proactive in making suggestions about teaching, curriculum or classroom management. I can offer articles and books to share, engage in conversations, as well as just gently point out how their decisions may be impacting students and their learning.

If I can attack those 4 goals with gusto and finesse, I think my year will be off to a great start. I will know I am making a positive impact on students, other teachers, and ultimately my own classroom!

I sat today writing our school's Targeted Assistance Plan for our new certification as a Title 1 funded school. It was interesting writing this plan certainly. There is no form to fill in, no template to follow, simply a rubric of what the end product must contain. It gave me a glimpse into what students must sometimes feel like when we give them an assignment without adequate direction.



As my colleague and I sat writing, and thinking, and talking, writing, rewriting, reworking the words, until they flowed the way we thought they ought, it struck me over and over how we were more concerned about the document passing muster with the powers who be who will be doling out the monies, than how our program will actually look and function once school starts. Even when we had a clear vision of how we wanted things to progress, we were cautious to use the right buzzwords, word phrases carefully using 'may' instead of 'will' and 'to include strategies such as...' instead of 'using '.



The document became just that, a document, instead of a living progress towards true improvement of student growth and success, it is a piece of paper with the i's all dotted and the t's all crossed. We made sure we used criteria and criterion correctly (we hope...), that we didn't repeat the same phrases repeatedly, and that our pieces and parts were all copacetic, flowing elegantly with and into each other.

It became a "how many more steps do we have left" document instead of a "how can we best meet the needs of these kids, and best use the funds allocated to us" document.

Often in schools it seems this is the way these projects turn out. Writing school improvement plans, and even lesson plans, the initial goal, the intent coming out of the starting gate, was good, with potential. However, somewhere in the red tape and bureaucracy of the document itself, all the true worth was lost.

These documents, unfortunately, not only become a waste of time for those writing them, but then go on to become doorstop material rather than working breathing pieces of learning. No one reads them except the person checking it off to say, "JOB DONE...check!"

Wouldn't it make more sense to have a document in a 3 ring binder, with many marks of highlighters, and red pens, and green pens, and arrows, and smiles, and sticky notes, and addendums, article clippings and work samples...... showing what worked and what didn't, how we are changing the later, and improving upon the first? Shouldn't we be writing in pencil and changing in pen to show we have grown and learned from our mistakes, that we are ready to move on and up in our quest for educational excellence for all?

When I first became a teacher, I had all these idealistic plans of how perfectly my classroom would always run, how the lessons would always be engaging and active and open-ended, how my students would be perfect learners, always motivated to push themselves to that next level, wanting and craving more, more, more.

After all these years, I have become less idealistic, and much more realistic when planning. I know that interruptions will happen, technology will glitch, and heaven forbid, the occasional student just might not be 100% engaged, 100% of the time.

That knowledge, however, does not prevent me from dreaming this time of the year, as I start thinking about new lessons and units for the upcoming school year. This summer, in particular, I am trying to think about social studies lessons for the upcoming year. This is my 3rd year in a row teaching Eastern Hemisphere 7th grade social studies. The grade level content expectations outlined by the State of Michigan are horrendous, covering enough material to keep college seniors busy for an entire school year, and certainly over the top for 7th graders. This makes teaching the class an additional challenge as I try to hit as many topics as possible from the list created by the state, but still give my students what I consider to be worthwhile, deep thinking activities to provoke them to really become involved in a topic and think how they can use their newfound knowledge to make a difference.

One of my goals is to use video clips more effectively. It is easy to pop in a video and discuss during the scenes, or after the entirety of the movie. I want to become more efficient at using just short clips however. With the help of United Streaming from Discovery Education, I want to find shorter clips that enhance exactly what we are learning about, and use them more often, instead of the long videos that are more overarching for a topic. I think my students will be more engaged with shorter clips, and I will be able to provide more stimulating discussion and writing prompts.

I know how I want this to look in my classroom, and have used in some in the past. Time is the one factor which makes this process intimidating. How do I ever find time to search, preview and think through video clips for each lesson, or even several lessons a week?

Isn't that how it is in teaching..... time, time, time.... If I had more time for planning, I would be able to create more engaging and meaningful lessons!

But enough blogging about what I want the lessons to look like, and back to planning the lessons, including how my students will blog their own reflections!

It is only midsummer but my mind is already starting to think BACK TO SCHOOL, BACK TO SCHOOL.... .

As my thoughts were twisting and turning over topics like math projects, alignment of social studies curriculum, bulletin boards, technology, classroom management and restructuring my assessments, I started thinking about new teachers and remembering the intrepidation I felt before starting my first fall.

This got me to thinking maybe if I structure my own back to school planning into a plan for new teachers, it will force me into my own organization planning mode as well.

Beyond the obvious planning for the school year, like classroom rules, parent letters, opening day activities... teachers should consider the following:



PLAN AHEAD FOR NEXT YEAR (your 2nd year of teaching!):

Start a notebook for each class. I plan to use a 3 ring binder for each subject I teach, full of plastic sleeves. Here I will outline each lesson as I teach it, complete with a copy of all handouts and a key, as well as where these are saved electronically, as well as the file names.

After each lesson, I plan to jot down notes for next year - what worked, what didn't work, why.. ideas for how to improve the lesson. While this all sounds tedious and time consuming, it has to be better than my current method of 'try and remember what I did in the past' that sometimes works, but more often fails.

I am going to think through my lessons carefully, trying to keep the true purpose of the lesson in mind. I've been reading Why Don't Students Like School? by Daniel Willingham. In chapter 3, Willingham gives a perfect example of the importance of doing this. He talks about a 4th grade teacher who was teaching a lesson on the Underground Railroad. Because biscuits were an important food for the runaway slaves, the teacher had his students bake biscuits thinking this would somehow help students remember the lesson. As Willingham points out, however, students likely got caught up in the actual fun of making the biscuits, and completely forgot the connection to the lesson. "Whatever students think about is what they remember," says Willingham. Keeping this in mind as I design lessons will help me focus on what my students are thinking about while we are learning.

If I make notes about the lessons as I am teaching, consider improvements as I am assessing student work, and reflect on how to best improve these lessons, my next year will be much easier.



SPEND TIME PLANNING THE CLASSROOM LAYOUT CAREFULLY:

The key to a smooth running classroom starts with your layout of your desk, the student desks and the location of materials.

~You will want students grouped so they can work together, but you want the flexibility to be able to separate them when assignments are designed for independent work. Try to keep desks/tables in a flexible setup so you can move them for different classes/projects. Sometimes, due to power access, this may not be possible, but think about all the different possibilites of assignment types you will utilize during the year and choose the one best suited desk layout.

~If you have laptops, power access becomes a huge piece of the puzzle. Power strips and cords running across the floor with no thought to traffic flow are a hazard for tripping and pulling computers off tables.

~Students need to be able to see the board/s and/or screens you will "teach" from. It is sometimes acceptable to expect students to turn around but you don't want them to spend their entire class period sitting sideways in a chair!

~The teacher desk needs to be out of the way, in a spot out of student traffic paths. My hard and fast rule is no students behind my desk. I want to be able to ensure students cannot see anything that may be open on my computer screen or miscellaneous papers on my desk.

~Materials you do not want students to access easily need to be blocked. Materials for their use need to be marked and easily accesible to encourage the appropriate return to their home location. I love using open tubs for markers, colored pencils, and crayons. Coffee cans make perfect homes for rulers and scissors.

~Think about where students will turn in assignments, get paper to write on, store notebooks, find special tools for projects, sharpen pencils, grab passes to leave the classroom, and find absent work. Try to organize to maximize the natural flow of walking in the classroom and taking their seats. Practice entering the room as a student would, thinking through the placement of important items.

~Put the desks where you think you want them, pull out chairs and sit in them, leave the chair pulled out and try to walk between them. Can you get to all students to help them easily? Can students move smoothly from place to place without tripping over cords or other students?




THINK ABOUT ASSESSMENTS:

We know that our final grades should be based on summative assessments, not formative assessments, such as homework, and not based on attendance or participation. However, how will you deal with that? Will you allow/require/encourage retakes on tests/assessments? on homework? How will these be managed? How will you report grades to parents on retakes? With a program such as PowerSchool, keeping track of retakes is easy - you can exempt the intial grade, but have it still show so students and parents can see the progress towards mastery.

Thinking through your own philosophy thoroughly can help assure you can explain your methods accurately and effectively to both students and parents. It is acceptable to change if you find the method is not working, but make sure the changes are explained completely to all stakeholders.



YOUR TIME SCHEDULE:

Whether you are a morning person, night owl, or just a middle of the road-er, you will need to spend some time outside the normal school day planning, cleaning, grading, etc. I find it best to come to school early each morning. Teachers at my school are required to arrive at 7:50 but I plan to get to school at 7 each morning. This gives me a good solid half hour before anyone else arrives to make copies, think, plan, etc.. without interruptions. Once other teachers start to arrive, the inevitable conversations start. Someone pops in to ask to borrow a book, looking for a particular website, or just to chat. My first half hour is my most precious one, the silent time, considering whether or not I am ready for the day.



I also plan to spend a few hours each weekend at school, organizing for the upcoming week. I plan out the lessons for the week, tentatively of course, get my assignment calendar updated online, make copies and keys for assignments, or samples of work to share with students. If I know I will be gone one day, I write lesson plans ahead of time so I do not have to do the last minute night before panic.



Those extra few hours a week I spend outside the school day help keep me organzied and calm, avoiding being one of the panicked people fighting for a spot at the copier at 8:20 as the last bell is ringing. Those minutes give me more time on task with my students, allowing more learning to occur. Some teachers can manage without putting in that extra time, but for me, I find it is well worth the committment.



THINK THROUGH YOUR SET DAILY SCHEDULE:

What will students do when they enter your room? Will there be some sort of 'starter' or bellringer on the board?


How will students know what you are doing that day and what materials they need to bring to class?


While the class structure will likely vary from lesson to lesson, some things should be written in stone. Every day when math students enter my room, they KNOW to look at board for their Math Starter, a short activity related to today's lesson. It might tie yesterday's learning to today's, be a hook for thinking about new material, or practice problems from yesterday, but students know to grab their notebook and get immediately to work.

They always know what we are doing by looking at the board for today's schedule. They know what to bring to class by a quick glance at the whiteboard hanging in the hall by my door with materials needed for each class.

How will you wrap up the lesson? Will you use exit slips, a quick question, or a game to end and wrap up the lesson? Other cool ways to end class can be found at: Closing Activities at the End of Class.

Will you give classtime to work on homework? will you assign homework at all? If you do give homework, how will this be assessed?

Some great examples of other ways to make your teaching more effective can be found at the OED's list of Ten Ways to Make Your Teaching More Effective.

However you decide to structure your class period, make it meaningful, both at the start and conclusion of class. The first and last 5 minutes are when you make the most impact on student learning.

Bottom line... planning makes your teaching more time effective and gives it more potential for student learning. Think about your goals, think about the best path to reach them, and go forth and mold those little minds!! With a little thought before they walk in the door, your time spent with them will be all the more enjoyable for you and for them!

An interesting analogy for how to set up your classroom instruction:

Think of your lesson as a peanut butter & jelly sandwich.

Bread, bread, with peanut butter and jelly in between....

First 5 minutes of class is the first slice of bread. Basic, necessary... the backbone of the sandwich..

inside there, the good stuff... the PB & J..... the tasty part

Last 5 minutes of class, the last slice of bread.. to hold it all together!

You start class by telling them what they are going to learn. The nitty gritty, capture their attention, that first slice of bread with its enticing aroma.

Then, you start filling the bread with the tasty parts of the lesson - the activities that will fill their minds with what you hope to accomplish with today's lesson....

At the end of the hour, you slap that last piece of bread on there to hold it all together. Bring the lesson to a conclusion, remind them what they have learned, tie it into their long term memory by showing how it relates to them, to what they have learned in the past, and how it will connect to what they will learn in the future.

First few minutes and last few minutes are most critical to long term storage. THe middle part.... the fluff, if you will. That is when you put the peanut butter and jelly between the 2 slices of bread that are the begining and end of the lesson. The middle is the tasty part, the fun part... but without the bread, you ain't got nothing but a sticky mess with no place to go.

Build strong lessons with sturdy slices of bread at the begining and end of your lessons. Make sure you capture all the essence within making use of your first and last 5 minutes effectively. Fill the minutes between those with good stuff, tasty stuff.... make it engaging to stick and 'sweet'. Smoosh all that sticky peanut butter, and that sweet jelly between those 2 slices of bread...

The sandwich will be complete, as will your students' long term retention of what you set out to accomplish.

This post I would like to share some of the great websites I have learned about this year, or just those I find particularly useful in my teaching.

One of the coolest sites I have seen lately is Wordle. This site takes a list of words and creates a display. The possibilities for use in your classroom are endless: book reports, vocab study, rules, text analysis, fun exploration, creative way to look at grade level content expectations... What could your students create with this tool? For more ideas, check out Thirty-Eight Interesting Ways to Use Wordle in the Classroom.

The next site is geared toward adult learners but has applications for the classroom as well, or could be used by teacher leaders developing professional development for their staff. Adult Learning Principles offers 10 strategies or ideas to consider when developing learning experiences for adults. From A is for Active Learning, to O for Open to Negotiation, all of these are easy, practical and applicable to students as well as adults. I love the simplicity of the site and its suggestions.

Taking Earth Day Literally offers 10 globes to share with students. Some of these are unbelievably cool! I would love to use this site as a springboard for a student project designing globes to meet various learning objectives.

Do you fall into the PowerPoint-less mode with students at times? Ten Ways to Get Beyond PowerPoints with Classroom Projectors offers simple and practical ideas.

A fun site is Let Me Google That for You. Middle schoolers would appreciate the humor in this site that googles a topic for you for all those times someone says they can't find information that would have been the top of a good Google search.

Garr Reynolds offers presentation tips at his site. These are meant for more professional presentations but could easily help students create more effective presentations and PowerPoints following his simple rules and ideas.

Are you looking for quotes to use in your classroom? Try Inspirational Quotes for Students.

For some provocative maps of the human impact on the world, try Human Footprint. The possibilities are endless!

I love The Story of Stuff. This site is a wonderful tool to get kids started thinking about how they can lessen their own personal impact on the world.

An oldie but goodie for writing prompts is Writing Fix:Home of Interactive Writing Prompts. While I do not always use the choices here, I do find it a wonderful springboard for creating RAFTS to use in my math and social studies classes.

A 90 second History of Religion is wonderful for showing an overview of both religion and history in general in the world. How these religions spread, where and when is quickly references.

Crappy Graphs is a fun interactive way for kids to create quick graphs to discuss trends. These graphs are not detailed, but still can be useful for discussions.

World Maths Day is a once a year event where students around the world practice and compete with math facts. My students did it for the first time this year and loved it.

Free Rice is a fun vocabulary game where students work to donate rice to developing nations. Students enjoy the tiered practice. While a grain of rice may not make a huge impact in world hunger, practicing vocabulary in an exciting new way enriches student learning.

Those are a few of my favorites from this school year. Hopefully, you find something useful on the list to share!

All of a sudden, it seems like it is over. We have one more week, 2 full days and 3 halves... but today, I realized, like someone had kicked me in the gut, that these kids are moving on. They won't be mine anymore.

One of the last rites of passage in my room is the turning over of the chalk. I have white boards front and back of the room, and a chalk board along the side wall. I never use the chalk board for anything other than hanging student work on. I don't allow students to just write on the white boards for the heck of writing. Markers and cleaner is too expensive, and to be honest, I hate the mess. But near the end of the year, I drag out the boxes of pastel chalks and hand the chalk board over to the kids to write and draw at will. They can do whatever they want up there so long as they are not mean to each other and it is school appropriate. Some years they write notes to each other, other years, a huge mural emerges. This year, so far, mostly it is little notes to me. It is funny how they can pour out so much emotion in a line or two written in chalk.

Next week will be tough on everyone. The cleaning of the lockers, the last math lessons of the year, the final social studies presentations.... the sad goodbyes.

and another group will be coming in.... "the worst group to ever go through 6th grade...." those teachers profess, just like every year.....

and I look at those faces in the hall, the ones who all know my name..... and look forward to another year!

Back to school for the home stretch... a 4 day week this week and 2 full days next, followed by 3 half days. Wow, then it is over! It already feels like it is over with camp behind us. Camp was great this year, absolutely great. The kids were wonderful, the counselors even better. The weather cooperated for a change!

The best part of camp is getting to see the kids in a different setting and them seeing their teachers in a new role. New leaders among the students emerge when put into new situations. I am amazed at how some of them step up and take charge when there are boxes to haul, litter to pick up, or floors to mop. Quite frequently, it is the ones who are not strong academically who rise to the occasions at camp.

Part of the reason camp was outstanding this year was the massive volume of students who did not attend. Of the 81 7th graders, we took 49 to camp. Of the 32 left behind, about 20 were "not invited" to attend, due to a variety of problems, from frequent detentions to more serious issues - drugs, stealing, alcohol, etc...

It bothers me we cannot take every student along for the experience, because I truly feel this bonding time with the larger group is critical to their future success in school. Camp seems to be a turning point for many students, a place where they can be accepted by their peers as truly being a part of the larger picture. There is just something about sleeping in the same cabin, eating meals together family style, the bus ride, the playing in the water, the goofy classes.... that brings kids together in an entirely new way.

So if being a part of the group is so important, how can we justify not taking all students along? That is the part of the controversy I struggle with often. Is camp a right or a privilege? Do we dare take along all students when some of them would jeopardize the experience for others? How do we decide who is worthy of going and who isn't? We have tried many times to set ground rules to follow but it always seems there is an exception to every black and white line we draw.

The controversy surrounding Accelerated Reader baffles me. Many say this program kills students' intrinsic motivation to read independently. I just don't see it. We have used AR at our school about 8 years now. As I watch my homeroom reading during the half hour slot set aside each day for this purpose, I know students are reading more than ever. Kids are excited about books, authors, series. They talk about books. They beg to go to library together so one can check out the book the other is turning in. The dig through my shelves trying to find one more book by Gary Paulsen or Jean Craighead George.

Our program has seen many changes. Some years, we have awarded prizes for different levels of points earned. Others we simply have students working towards their goal. The prizes seem to make little/no difference in their motivation. Students this year are simply reading, reading for enjoyment, reading for pleasure, reading.... Isn't that wonderful??

Certainly, some students do not read, never make their goal, seldom take a test.... but I see more students than ever choosing to read, choosing to take a book home, utitizing the library.

Sitting quietly while my students take their GLAD test gives me too much time to sit and think, looking at them, trying to do their best as they click buttons on the computers, pressing keys on calculators, scribbling on scrap paper, and looking nervously at the clock.

Some students are trying their very hardest; others will simply click through the questions, choosing random answers in order to finish as quickly as possible. Some of the ones who try the hardest will do the worst. They either do not have the skills to be successful, or have missed so much school this year, or in the past, there are gaps in their achievement. Of the ones clicking quickly, a fair number will be successful, scoring in the top tier among their peers, out of luck occasionally, but more often, due to their natural mathematical abilities.

I wish I could somehow cloak them with a superhero type cape, giving them all my own mathematical knowledge, protecting them from making careless errors. I want to know what they really do KNOW, what they really can DO, what they really have learned from our time together.

Of course, right now, even as a type my blog, the questions are coming. JG who wants me to help him with every question, despite me repeatedly telling him he must do this on his own. MN who did not bother to make sure he had power for his laptop before begining the test, despite my reminder to do that. He keeps hopping from power cord to power cord, with no success, because the group ahead of him did not make sure the connections were complete. And, now SL is done, and feels the need to tell the girl across from him, who is still taking her test, that she has something on her nose.

I wish the powers that be could be here today, watching, and seeing the true validity, or lack thereof, in these tests.....

Tick tock, tick tock... let the countdown of days begin. It seems once the weather finally breaks, some well meaning teacher starts posting the "how many days of school are left" numbers. I really wish they wouldn't do that. As soon as the first number goes up, the kids chalk up the school year to being done, and start thinking about summer.

Myself, I am in a panic, thinking about all the many things I need to cover yet, all the topics I wanted to revisit with students, and all the fun activities I swore we'd do at the end of the year when the weather got nice.

We are at the point in the year where I really honestly like the kids, I know them, quirks, strengths, weaknesses, and all, and like them in spite of, or more likely because of those things. We have worked through the honeymoon period where I liked them because they were new, we've plodded through the time in the middle of the winter where I was tired and frustrated with the things they couldn't do, their misbehaviors, and their rambling stories, and we've gotten to the point where we know each other well. My classroom expectations are ingrained in them. They know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. They are working hard because they want to be successful and want to please me. They are learning because they have seen how it all comes together to explain questions they've been asking.

And I become melancholy... thinking about letting them go to 8th grade, and starting over again with a new group, "the worst group we've seen in a long time". (Isn't it funny how the 6th grade says THAT every year, about every group....)

But then, a 6th grader smiles at me in the hall, and says, "I get to have YOU for math next year!" and suddenly, I realize... it's all going to be OK. By this time next year, I will be sad again.... contemplating letting another group move on.

As the end of the school year fast approaches, it becomes a race towards the finish line, many topics left to teach, lots of activites I want to share, as well as other disturbances creating havoc in the classroom. We are gearing up for 7th grade camp, my first granddaughter is on the way, any day, and spring is in the air melting the last of the snowbanks and causing 7th grade minds to wander randomly.

It is also the time of year I truly feel the most reflective about my own personal growth as a teacher. Looking back over the year I wonder what have I learned?

Today's post will be that: What I Have Learned in Middle School

Patience: Middle school kids simply have NO patience, none for trivialities in lessons, none for boring mundane assignments, not even a twinkling for each other and their mistakes. However, built into their own vast empty vat for patience is an insatiable need for the adults around them to be brimming with the same trait. They want and need for us to be tolerant of their actions, even when our patience has run out. They need us to explain one more time, ask them to stop doing something one more time, they want and crave our approval, one more time.

Humor: Nothing is more important the ability to laugh at yourself. Nothing will take you further successfully in a group of adolescents than being able to genuinely make fun of your own mistakes. Not only do they see the humor in most any situation, your ability to laugh at your own mistakes shores up their own insecurities about themselves. When they realize you are not perfect either, it makes them more confident that their own shortcomings, the ones they feel are so obvious to everyone around them, are less important.

Honesty: Never, ever lie to a middle school student about anything. In the first place, they are wonderful at picking up signals from you. In the second place, if they ever suspect you are lying, or worse, catch you in a lie, they will likely never give you another chance.

Forgiveness: While they are holding you to the highest possible standards, middle schools need to know you will always love them, always forgive them their indiscretions, and most of all, always wipe the slate clean. Once they feel you are holding their past actions,against them, they give up, refusing to try to please you because they feel it is too late, the damage is done, irreparable, so why bother. Even when you do not feel like being forgiving, you must.

Spontaneity: Middle schoolers crave routine, and feed off knowing what to expect from you, but once in a while, let you guard down. Tell a story that pops into your head because of what you are studying; take the class outside to taste the first snowflakes of the season, or to enjoy the first 60 degree day of the spring; bring in cookies just because. Everything during the school day does not have to be curriculum related. Show your humaness as well.

Unconditional Love: If you give it, you will get it. Students need to know you love them for who they are, in spite of who they are. If they do, the love you get back will make anything else thrown you way irrelevant.

I've also learned many other things this year, some of which would change the PG rating of my blog to XXX rated, but those don't matter nearly as much as the ones above :)

Middle schoolers are the most magical people on the planet. If you don't believe me, walk into my classroom and watch the fairy dust generated by their smiles.

I've been thinking a lot about student success, learning and how the responsibility of those two things seems to rest solely with the school in the eyes of the public. Not for one minute I am saying all schools and all teachers do absolutely everything they can to ensure each child has the ultimate opportunities afforded him/her in the classroom. I am not even saying that I personally make every possible attempt to ensure the success of each child I teach.

However, I think we need to look beyond the classroom as well. There are students I have who no matter what I do, simply refuse to be successful in my classroom. While in the room, they are without the necessary materials for learning, despite the fact these are provided for them - simple things: textbook, paper, writing utensil. Daily, they are seated in their chair when the bell rings, with nothing in front of them. These students refuse to participate in the even the most engaging and relevant of lessons. They would rather use their time to sleep or talk to those around them, draw ink tatoos on their arms, or write notes to others. I can pull out all my tricks of the trade to no avail. I can call home, to talk to parents, some of whom talk a good talk, telling me they will have a chat when the student gets home, but in reality, that chat either never happens, or no consequences are attached, so the conversation falls on deaf ears. Other parents make is crystal clear: when that student is in my room, s/he is MY problem, not theirs. Not only will they not in any way be supportive, they don't want to hear about it.

I have students writing notes about having sex, graphic descriptions of their requests of the opposite sex. Those students are certainly not thinking about linear equations!

Forget homework..... these are students who will not carry ANYTHING home with them. I can try as I might to create learning opportunities within the classroom, but reality is that sometimes, students need to practice or think outside the 60 minutes I have them with me.

Perhaps the worst cases are the chronic absences. I have students who, at this point in the year, the 29th week of school, have missed over 40 days of school. I have called, emailed, talked to these parents, but to no avail. It is always some "family emergency" or "allergies" or some other excuse. Those might be plausible excuses if I didn't see the same kid walking downtown in the evening, hear them talking about hunting and ice fishing with grandpa while out of school, or look in the file and see that this is a chronic year after year problem.

Granted, there are students who are struggling in my content I could make a greater effort to reach. I could offer more after-school help, seek them out more often during the day, make more effort during class to sit with and work one-on-one with them. These are the reachable ones.

The ones above, I do not know what to do... I wish I did.

I wish whoever wrote the 100% of students WILL be proficient would come visit my classroom and watch these kids and explain it to me. I want them to all be successful, and I work very hard to try and make that happen. It just seems to me, more and more often, that goal is lofty and out of my control.

On the Teacher Leader Network forum, I have been co-facilitating a book chat around Failure is Not an Option. The conversation has been rich and engaging among this group of educators who have chosen to participate. Some of the ideas there are worth sharing on a larger scale though.

The book, written by Alan Blankstein, is a simply written explanation of a plan to change schools to ensure success by all students. Some of his principles are so basic and obvious I am forced to wonder why schools do not follow his sage advice.

Central to his success plan, collaboration among stakeholders in education. Not forced, contrived collaboration, but true, down and dirty, working together, how can we get this RIGHT work. I wonder though, are schools really ready for this type of model?

What about the holdouts who refuse to buy-in? What about time and money? Are we in public education ready for change? Are we willing to stand strong against outside forces fighting us at every juncture?

Often, teachers use the phrase, "Whatever is best for kids... I'll do it!" Do they mean it??

I am not fingerpointing at all. I question my own intentions as well as those of others. How much time and energy AM I really willing to devote to making sure every single one of my students WILL learn?

Some teachers choose to be a part of the larger educational community, becoming active in professional learning networks. For example, I am a member of National Middle School Association's MiddleTalk listserve, where daily conversations surrounding every aspect of teaching and learning with middle schoolers are carried on by teachers around the globe. I find answers to my pedagogical questions, ideas for lessons, support when the daily routine is rocky, and a sounding board for my own ideas. However, this membership is a choice I personally make.

Having been a part of lesson study groups that were contrived by higher powers, I have been a part of the "great job" detail, as many others have been. No real learning took place in those meetings, no give and take of ideas, no growth, professional or otherwise was seen.

Is the answer then, voluntary membership in these groups? Is that enough?

How can we create learning communities among teachers which are real, viable and continue to build and grow without indictments from above?