Conferences! "Listen, listen, and listen . . ."

Conferences begin this week! What a great opportunity to meet with families. Conferences are too short, too rushed, and too packed with information to feel natural, but there is something you can do. Prepare everything you're asked to prepare, and go into the conference following the advice of mentor Jim Hiller: 

"Finally, I would listen, listen, listen during the conference. If we were running out of time, I would schedule another meeting to continue our discussion and approach it with an open, learning and collaborative attitude."

Read more about Jim Hiller's Conference Fail in this quick article. Learn from his mistakes so that you can make fewer in your first round of conferences.

Another great quote:

"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk." -Doug Larson

Finally, two years ago The Washington Post published this fabulous article: About THAT Kid. It's well worth the 4 minutes it will take you to read it and will reset your mind for these next few days of conferencing with families.

Have a great few days building further partnerships with those people who are most important to our students: their loved ones.

Becoming a Better Multicultural Educator and Using Affirming Language

Gorgeous fall tree near Midvale Elementary School

As we enter the fall season, we are inundated with planning, classroom management, content, meetings, conferences, data collection, as well as learning about and loving our students. We have fabulous teaching moments each day, and we have opportunities for learning from our mistakes each day.

One big question is:

Am I meeting the needs of each of my students?

We have many ways that we are responsible to our students. The resource linked below by Paul Gorski is a great reminder of how we can meet the needs of our students. Gorski describes 20 Things I Can Do to Be a Better Multicultural Educator. Some are things we can do for ourselves as professionals and humans; some are things we can do for our students. All are vital. Which strategy will you focus on?

Click the image above to
read the document

In addition to the challenge of meeting students' needs, we often begin thinking about our teacher language:

Am I consistently using language that builds children up and validates who they are?

It's common to fall into patterns of language that are easy and comfortable. Without intending to, we might use language that devalues students, or places us at the center instead of our students. While we strive to be proactive, sometimes it's just not possible; we are often reacting to moments in our classrooms throughout the day. This, too, can be done in a way that values the student and stresses the deed instead of the doer.

In the document linked below, from Developmental Designs, you can see examples of "raindrop language" -- this is what we want to avoid. There are also great examples of desired language(Reinforcing, Reminding, Redirecting). Changing our language has a profound impact on children and our relationship with them. Think about the language you use with students. How can you focus on Reinforcing, Reminding and Redirecting language? Challenge yourself to be conscious of your language choices with students.

Click the image above to
read the document

Helping Children Master the Basic Facts

Math Facts. We give children fact interviews as a standard summative (and sometimes formative) assessment, and we expect them to reach certain benchmarks by certain grade levels. But how in the world do we teach them to master these facts? To use efficient strategies? To retain what they have learned?

In Madison, each classroom has the following book (or the 3-5 version): Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics by John Van de Walle.

This book contains some of your Common Core Learning Experiences (CCLEs), so you may have cracked it open once or twice. I'd love to highlight some of what Van de Walle has to say about math facts for you. So, grab your Van de Walle book and maybe a beverage, and sit down to explore some new information about Math Facts. 

(Note: the page numbers and activities refer to the K-3 book. The 3-5 book will be similar, just Chapter 3 instead of Chapter 4)

Big Ideas (p. 94)

1. Number relationships provide the foundation for strategies that help students remember basic facts. For example, knowing how numbers are related to 5 and 10 helps students master facts such as 3 + 5 (think of a ten frame) and 8 + 6 (since 8 is 2 away from 10, take 2 from 6 to make 10 + 4 = 14).
   
2. “Think addition” is the most powerful way to think of subtraction facts. Rather than 13 “take away 6,” which requires counting backward while simultaneously keeping track of the number of counts, students can think 6 and what makes 13. The might add up 10 or they may think double 6 is 12 so it must be 13.
   
3. All of the facts are conceptually related. You can figure out new or unknown facts from those you already know. For example, 6 x 8 can be thought of as five 8s (40) and one more 8. It might also be three 8s doubled.

How to help students master facts (p. 95)

1. Help children develop a strong understanding of number relationships and of the operations.
   
2. Develop efficient strategies for fact retrieval through practice. An efficient strategy is one that be done mentally and quickly.
3. Provide drill in the use and selection of those strategies once they have been developed.

Two approaches to Fact Strategies (p. 96)

*A strategy is most useful to students when it is theirs, built on and connected to concepts and relationships they already own.

1. Use simple story problems designed in such a manner that students are most likely to develop a strategy as they solve it. (5-10 min to start math class, as an example).
   
2. A lesson may revolve around a special collection of facts for which a particular type of strategy is appropriate. How are these facts alike? Possibly suggest an approach and see if students are able to use it on similar facts.
   

** Read "Practice Strategy Selection or Strategy Retrieval" on page 97.

** When do we drill? Read "Drill Established Strategies" on page 98.

It's helpful to page through the following sections as you read the overview. You'll gather a great understanding of these facts according to Van de Walle, as well as see many visuals and charts to help you make sense of the information. 

Strategies for Addition Facts (p. 99 - 106)

One-More-Than and Two-More-Than Facts

Activities 4.1, 4.2, 4.3

Facts with Zero

Activity 4.4

Doubles

Activities 4.5. 4.6

Near-Doubles

Activity 4.7

Make-Ten Facts

Activity 4.8

Other Strategies and the Last Six Facts

• Doubles Plus Two, Two-Apart Facts
• Make-Ten Extended
• Counting On
• Ten-Frame Facts

Strategies for Subtraction Facts (p. 106 - 111)

Subtraction as Think-Addition

Subtraction Facts with Sums to 10

The 36 “Hard” Subtraction Facts: Sums Greater Than 10

Activities 4.12, 4.13, 4.14, 4.15, 4.16

Strategies for Multiplication Facts (p. 111 - 116)

Doubles

Activities 4.17, 4.18

Zeros and Ones

Nifty Nines

Activity 4.19

Helping Facts

Effective Drill

Do not subject any student to fact drills unless the student has developed an efficient strategy for the facts included in the drill.

What about timed tests?

Teachers who use timed tests believe that the tests help children learn basic facts. This makes no instructional sense. Children who perform well under time pressure display their skills. Children who have difficulty with skills, or who work more slowly, run the risk of reinforcing wrong learning under pressure. In addition, children can become fearful and negative toward their math learning. (Burns, 2000, p. 157)

Coming Soon: Report Cards!

Welcome back from what I hope was a relaxing and energizing winter break. I know some of you stayed in Madison, traveled home, enjoyed time in Germany, Mexico and Spain, visited sunny places, and many spent quality time with friends and family. Now we're back, and ready for a wonderful 2016!

For those of you who have felt as though you're experiencing the Disillusionment Phase of beginning teachers, the good news is that soon, very soon, you will begin to feel the Rejuvenation Phase (see this article). This month can be challenging as we are faced with assessments, limited time, cold weather, less sunlight, and looming report cards. Beginning in February, we have 2 months of relatively uninterrupted instruction and an opportunity to conference with families again in March. It is a beautiful part of the school year when distractions are minimized and you get to do what you came here to do: teach our children!

But, first, we need to be successful in January. Here is what you can expect:

Important Dates

• Friday, December 18 - the grading window is open and you may begin to enter grades
• Monday, January 4 - Welcome Back! Are you registered for the PDP Seminar?
• Thursday, January 14 - PDP Seminar (for teachers in the 1st and 2nd year of their Initial Educator's license who have not yet submitted a PDP goal)
• Monday, January 18 - no school - Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday
• Friday, January 22 - end of Quarter 2. Early release for students so teachers can complete report cards.
• Tuesday, February 2, noon  - the grading window closes; you may no longer enter grades.
• Friday, February 5 - no school - PD Day

Grading Window

• You can work on grades and comments as soon as the window opens! Report cards take a long time; don't wait until the last minute. 
• How do I enter grades? Here is a link for Entering Scores, Comments, and Concepts. Use this resource, and ask teammates if you're unsure. Remember to save your work!

Assessments

• You will likely need to assess students in order to have updated information for report cards. Check with your IRTs, team members, and principals about specific school information so you know what assessments to complete.
• Remember - we have a Comprehensive Assessment System here in Madison. This means that we use all types of assessment to decide where a student is along the way to mastering a particular standard. A one-point-in-time assessment is not, and should not be, the only way to determine a student's mastery. 

English Language Learners

• Do you have English Language Learners who speak a language at home that is different from the language in which you're teaching? Check with your school for deadlines for these students' comments. The Bilingual Resource Specialists at your schools will translate comments, and the due date for these particular comments is probably earlier than January 29.

Standards-Based Grading

• We grade students based on their achievement of the Common Core State Standards. These are end-of-the-year standards, so we have Grading Guides to help us figure out how to give grades in January. You will need this resource to complete report cards.

Grading Scale

• We grade students using a scale of  4 - 3 - 2 - 1 for each standard. 
• 4 Advanced: Exceeds expectations for grade level at this quarter
• 3 Proficient: Meets expectations for grade level at this quarter
• 2 Progressing: Meets some expectations for grade level at this quarter
• 1 Emerging: Not yet meeting expectations for grade level at this quarter

Resources in this Blog Post

• Phases of a Beginning Teacher Article
• PDP Seminar Flyer and Registration Information
• Entering Scores, Comments, Concepts
• Comprehensive Assessment System
• Grading Guides

Due this week: Educator Effectiveness Plan

As if you don't have enough going on as we near the end of October, this is a reminder that your Educator Effectiveness Plan is due on Monday, October 31, 2016 to your evaluator. What does that mean?!

Your Educator Effectiveness Plan consists of:

• Student Learning Objective (SLO) - choose baseline data and a subgroup of students, set a goal for what they'll achieve by the end of the year. 
• Professional Practice Goal (PPG) - complete the Self-Review, and choose a component of Danielson's Framework to focus your attention in order to better your own practice. 

If you haven't already, you'll have a meeting soon with your evaluator to go over these goals.

What else happens with Educator Effectiveness this year?

• Observations: Your evaluator will observe you in action a few times this year. One formal, announced, planned observation (45-60 min), one formal, unannounced observation (45-60 min), and at least one drop-in, unannounced observation (10 min). 
• Meetings: You'll meet with your evaluator to talk about these observations and to track progress on your SLO and PPG.
• Collecting Evidence: You'll start to collect artifacts (I can help you!) to show evidence of meeting the standards for teachers as laid out by Danielson's Framework. Evidence of teamwork, lesson and unit planning, and student records are the majority of this, and you're already doing it!

Want some links? 

The Educator Effectiveness website is amazing and contains everything you'll ever want to know!

• mmsd.org/ee 
• SLO worksheet
• Self-Review worksheet
• PPG worksheet
• My Learning Plan
• Danielson's Framework for Teaching

More questions? 

Contact me or your school's Educator Effectiveness Strategist (Jorge Covarrubias, Dan Davidson, Sue Gorud). We're all here to help! 

Juggling!!

So, I decided to recycle and use the same blog post I wrote about a year ago at this time.
I'll see you tomorrow evening at our Seminar!

Are you feeling like this octopus, juggling a million balls at once?
You're not alone!

This is the time of the school year when teachers realize how overwhelmed they actually are. Demands seem to come from many people, including principals, teammates, students, parents, and more! You're writing your SLO and PPG, meeting with your teams, and scheduling conferences. You're attending IEP meetings, coming into work on Saturdays, and staying up late planning the perfect lesson. New teachers (and veteran teachers) are forced to prioritize when they realize that they cannot possibly do everything for everyone.

This is, for most people, the Phase of Disillusionment.

*See Phases of First-Year Teachers for more information.

Can you relate to any of these?

• "New teachers begin questioning both their commitment and their competence."
• "Many new teachers get sick during this phase."
• "They are faced with back-to-school night, parent conferences, and their first formal evaluation by the site administrator."
• "At this point, the accumulated stress of the first-year teacher coupled with months of excessive time allotted to teaching often brings complaints from family members and friends."

Here is the good news . . . you're doing it! 

You're teaching, you're changing lives by the day, and you're making a difference. 

You have teammates, colleagues, friends, and families to support you. 

You have students who look up to you. 

Remember why you became a teacher, how your students are learning and growing, and don't be afraid to say, "no" or let some things go. 

Share your insight in the comments below:

• What do you think teachers should spend their time and energy doing at this time of year? 
• What are YOU spending your time and energy doing? 
• What have you decided to postpone for a while (or not do at all)? 

Seminar and Required Online Trainings

You're now into your third week with MMSD and things are cruising along. Congratulations! You may feel excited, overwhelmed, nervous, confused, energized, and any combination of these. It's all normal!

This blog is for YOU. I'll use it to post resources, updates, and important information. Feel free to browse last year's posts, too. You may find them helpful.

Register for Seminar One

First, I want to make sure you register for the New Educator Seminar on Wednesday, September 30. Here's a link to the official flyer. You can register by clicking here. There will be lots of colleagues, awesome learning, and a fabulous light dinner. See you there!

HR Online Trainings

Secondly, I want to make sure you all know what you need to do for your employment from Human Resources.

Below are three trainings you need to complete:

• Mandatory Reporting DPI training (must complete)

• Must complete within 6 months of hiring
• when finished, print "Completion Certificate" and send to Human Resources
• to access training:
• Go to www.dpi.wi.gov
• Search for "Act 81"

• Bloodborne Pathogens Training Session (strongly encouraged)

• your school nurse may have led this training already, or is planning to lead one. Check with the nurse or . . .
• complete the training online
• Go to www.dpi.wi.gov
• Search for "bloodborne pathogens"
• 20 minute video + quiz (must score 4/5 on the quiz)
• when finished, print the quiz results, add your b number, and give to your school nurse

• Mandatory Anti-Harassment Inservice Course (must complete)

• Must complete within the first year of employment
• Takes about one hour: online course, review materials, take 4 quizzes
• Go to http://moodle.madison.k12.wi.us/
• Your username is your b number (example: b123456)
• Your password is your regular MMSD password
• Having trouble? Call Joleen Welborn (228-9415)
• When finished, click "Click Here to notify the course facilitator". This tells Human Resources that you've completed the course. 
• Questions? Call Heidi Tepp (663-1742) or send her an e-mail

Let me know how I can help. You can post questions here, send me an e-mail, or call/text. 

Summer PD Opportunties

Hello all!

Summer is a great time to advance your own professional learning. It's also a great time to relax and recharge before the next school year. In the spirit of professional learning, I am recommending some courses for you this summer. Scroll down for full descriptions of the classes. Click on the PD Catalog link on the right to register!

CCSS Implementation of CCLEs

PD Catalog: 1318, 1319 Summer Session 1: June 25-16 Summer Session 2: August 13-14

Targeted Math Instruction

PD Catalog: 1350 Summer Session: August 17-21

K-5 Writing Seminar

PD Catalog: 1371, 1377 Summer Session 1: July 13-16 Summer Session 2: July 20-23 

Responsive Classrooms

If you're interested in this, ask your Principal. There are limited spots available!

CCSS Implementation of CCLEsMMSD Teacher Leaders will lead analysis and planning for CCSS-M through the CCLEs and MMSD Developmental Guidelines, K-5. 

In this 2 day course, teachers will deepen their mathematical understanding and 
instructional skills through practicing, analyzing and digging deeper into CCSS-M 
with the MMSD Common Core Learning Experience (CCLEs) and the Investigations 
curriculum. 
Teachers develop a deep level of content knowledge along with professional 
reflection and planning. Time will be dedicated to active exploration, modeling 
and planning to support the Great Teaching framework. The course is designed for 
teachers to first learn the content, how to practice ongoing formative assessment 
and then practice effective instructional activities in a culturally relevant context. The course focuses on the Danielson Framework’s domains 1, 3 & 4.

Targeted Math InstructionUnderstanding Number & Operation Development for Effective Differentiation, Intervention & Targeted, Asset Based Instruction

Day 1-3: Teachers will study how students develop important early concepts about
number and operations including counting, ordering and sequencing numbers,
composing and decomposing numbers, place value, addition facts, and strategies for
solving story and number problems. Using this developmental knowledge teachers
will assess students' understanding of number and use assessment information to
plan for differentiated, targeted instruction.
Days 3-5: Teachers will study how students develop important concepts and
strategies for the four basic operations. Participants will learn how to assess
students' concepts and strategies in addition, subtraction, multiplication and
division and use this assessment information to plan for differentiated,
standards-based instruction in mathematics, within Tier 1 of the MTSS Framework.

K-5 Writing Seminar

MMSD has adopted new writing curricular resources to support writing instruction

with the Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts in order to provideevery student with well-rounded, culturally responsive and coherent instruction
that leads to college, career, and community readiness. Great Teaching Matters,
the Teacher Team Toolkit, and the 3-Year CCSS Plan frame the K-5 ELA Writing
Seminar. This four-day seminar supports participants’ deep learning around
standards-based instruction and assessment within a workshop model (Day 1),
narrative writing (Day 2), informative/explanatory writing (Day 3), and opinion
writing (Day 4). Participants will be able to create a classroom environment that
fosters student independence, identify grade-level expectations for writing,
understand how to scaffold instruction with research-based instructional practices
and strategies, use engagement techniques to support all learners, and use
components of a comprehensive assessment system to monitor, measure, and inform learning. Participants will apply their learning as they engage in instructional planning and will leave each day with ready-to-go resources that they can use in their classrooms. Participants will need fully-charged laptops and the recently adopted MMSD writing resources.

Growing Roses in Concrete

Tupac Shakur writes:

The Rose That Grew From Concrete 

Did you hear about the rose that grew 

from a crack in the concrete? 

Proving nature's law is wrong it

learned to walk without having feet. 

Funny it seems, but by keeping its dreams, 

it learned to breathe fresh air. 

Long live the rose that grew from concrete 

when no one else ever cared.

The conference I was at last week, New Teacher Center Symposium on Teacher Induction, was informative, inspiring, and empowering. We had the great privilege of hearing from Dr. Jeff Duncan-Andrade, a classroom teacher in East Oakland, CA for 21 years, and current Associate Professor of Raza Studies and Education at San Francisco State University and Co-Founder of the Teaching Excellence Network. Don't know much about Oakland? Google it. It's the definition of urban teaching and Dr. Duncan-Andrade was beyond inspiring to listen to.

One quote from Dr. Duncan-Andrade that stuck comes from his conversation around Socratic Hope ("show the sermon, don't preach it"):

Are we reflective enough to be on the painful path with our students?

Not just, "Do we care about their pain?" or, "Are we ensuring we understand their pain?" Are we willing to truly walk with them, each and every step of the way?  Because that, my friends, is what this takes. 

I want to share this 14-minute video clip with you. It's one of Dr. Duncan-Andrade's speeches, called Growing Roses in Concrete, and it illustrates how absolutely vital it is that we know and love the children we spend each day with.

I do hope you take the time to watch this video and allow yourself some space to think about it.
Do you believe in and love your students? Do they know that you love them? What do you do, each and every day, to prove to your students that you're on their path beside them? How does each of your students know that you believe he or she is important? And why does it matter?

http://rosesinconcrete.org/

Dave Chappelle's interview with Maya Angelou (5:35 - 8:26)

Kindness Chain Video

Sometimes we need a little (or a lot!) of kindness in our lives. As important as - and some would argue more important than - the academics we spend our days engaged in, is kindness. We need to teach our kids true kindness, respect, and love. Two of you amazing teachers showed this video in class today, and it inspired me. Take 5 minutes to watch, and if it fits, show it to your kids. I'd love to know what conversation it initiates.

Educational Privilege: I live it. I am disgusted by it.

The Washington Post is doing a great bunch of articles about education lately. Here's a recent one. You can link to the original HERE or you can read the text that I pasted into this blog post.

What does this make you think about? How have you seen educational privilege play out in your classroom and school? What are you doing about it?


Teacher: I see the difference in educational privilege every day. I live it. I am disgusted by it.

By Valerie Strauss January 29  

Children are served lunch at Broad Acres Elementary School in Silver Spring, Md., in 2012. Of the 708 students at the school during that year, 95 percent qualified for a free or reduced-price lunch because of low family income.  (Matt McClain for The Washington Post)

Here is a post by a Colorado teacher who vividly explains the difference in the lives of fortunate students and the less fortunate students whom she teaches. Her last post on this blog was a nuanced look into the psyche of some students of color who live in poverty, which you can read here. This public school teacher often blogs anonymously under the name Shakespeare’s Sister at Daily Kos. She teaches 11th grade AP Language and Composition in the Denver area.

Here is Shakespeare’s Sister newest post for this blog:

Recently, events in Ferguson and New York have reminded us there are still two very different Americas. What I wish more people were talking about is that there are two American educations: One for the affluent, and one for students living in poverty.

Many of the reports focus on numbers for free and reduced lunches, which is, some say, a “rough proxy for poverty,” but those labeling it in such a way have probably never set foot in a classroom.

Almost every day, I slip food to one of my students. Both of his parents are in prison. Or, one of his parents is in prison and the other is dead. We can’t quite get the full story from him. He lives with his older sister, whom he refers to as his mother because he doesn’t want to explain anything. Or he doesn’t live with her. He won’t say where he’s staying. We’ve attempted home visits but can never get anyone to answer the door.

A senior from a nearby high school spoke at the Colorado Association for Gifted and Talented’s annual conference in Denver this past October. Poised and polished and wearing a suit, he told the assembled teachers and administrators about how he had recently received a $25,000 grant from a company to allow him to continue to develop a thumbprint-activated gun prototype. He takes a special class in a public school—a scientific discovery class—in which he is allowed time to process through his scientifically based ideas. He works with a special adviser from a corporation that helped him set up his own corporation, and continues to help guide the research and development of his prototype. He admitted openly to taking many days off of school in order to work on his projects. He laughed it off, though, because his teachers make a special exception for him because they know he’s gifted, and they know what he’s working on.

My students take several days off of school also. They do it when they have to care for their brothers or sisters because their parents are working. They do it when they have to work so their family can eat. They do it when their parents are in the hospital receiving emergency medical care. Instead of a special exception, my students will eventually get a date in truancy court.

Another student who spoke at the conference, a fourteen-year-old “Indigenous Environmental Activist,” is “committed to standing up and protecting the Earth, Water, Air, and Atmosphere.” He attends a private school on a full-ride scholarship, and travels around the world—by airplane, I should mention—to perform with other activists, fight for the environment, and encourage other people to do the same. He and his siblings have released an album of rap songs about fighting for the health of the planet. My kids fight for the chance to break the oppressive cycle of poverty.

My student comes to school hungry every day. He wears size XXL shirts to hide what we all know is an emaciated frame. A couple of weeks ago, he used a plastic bag—stretched out to its full length—as a belt. He says he doesn’t get to choose the size of clothes he gets so he has to make do with what he has. He tells me I don’t have to buy him food, but I do anyway, because he needs it. He always takes it.

Why do I do it? Is it because it hurts me to see when my students are hungry, to know that they are wanting? That’s one reason, yes. But another reason I do it is because, deep down, I am ashamed of an educational system that provides such privilege to some students, while willfully and purposefully denying it to others.

I am angry that when I attend a conference for gifted children—which, make no mistake, I do have in my classroom, though they do not have the same opportunities as their more affluent counterparts—I see such a stark difference between the opportunities afforded to students in affluent areas, and the opportunities afforded to students in my classroom.

There has been plenty of talk about privilege lately: the difference in racial privilege, the difference in gender privilege.

There’s a difference in educational privilege, too. I see it every day. I live it. I am disgusted by it.

Where there is money, there is education. Where there isn’t money, there is excessive testing, lack of curricular options, and struggle. There is the struggle to give students the tools they need to fight their way through a system that is designed to hold them back from the moment they take their first breath, from the moment they try to write their first paragraph. As The Washington Post report states: “A growing number of children start kindergarten already trailing their more privileged peers and rarely, if ever, catch up. They are less likely to have support at home, are less frequently exposed to enriching activities outside of school, and are more likely to drop out and never attend college.” They are, overall, less likely to succeed.

When I was at the conference, I heard confidence in the voices of the two students that spoke; their words were steeped in the self-assuredness of privilege.

Instead of self-assuredness, my teenage students’ voices are already wracked with weariness.

So what do my students need, then? Access to the same funding, opportunities, and “exceptions” afforded to privileged, affluent students.

They need a society and educational system designed to actually meet their needs, instead of a society that passes laws to keep them constantly underfoot and an educational system designed to test them to death and tell them how they are inadequate instead of educating them.