End of the Year Reflection

This was my first year teaching middle school. There were many firsts and tons of learning and growth for me along the way. This is one of my favorite memories, as well as a first. 

Standing in my classroom explaining something of great non-importance, I heard a knock on my wall.  My entire class and I  looked out into the hall, through the 8’ x 10’ windows that line the back wall, only to see a squatted figure run by my room with a soft plastic pool draped over its head.  Sighing in defeat, and trying not to smile, I knew I had to address this.

Earlier in the day, John had come into my room to ask if I wanted to go swimming after school. I looked up to see him pull a wadded, blow-up plastic pool from his backpack.

“Ummm, no. But thanks for the offer,” I replied with a grin. John came by my room to visit several time a day. Almost like my room was a homebase where he could come and get a quick reprieve from “school-life”. Maybe it was because he knew I thought he was funny. (I have been accused of having the sense of humor of a middle school boy. Several times.) Maybe because I believed in him even though he wouldn’t perform of put much effort into anything by drawing. Or maybe it was because I was at the end of the hall near the water fountains.

Knowing who it was who had performed the “drive-by pooling”, I slowly walked out of my classroom and down the hall. Before I even turned the corner, I heard “Did she react?” With a smirk on my face, I confronted John and his sidekick, Henry.

“Let me have it,” I murmured.

“What?” they asked, not so innocently.

“You know what.”

“I don’t have it!” John replied, continuing to shove something into his backpack and trying to get it zipped. “Henry took it! He has it.”

Looking at Henry, I saw that he didn’t have anything big enough to hide a wadded up plastic pool.

“Dude,” I replied with my brows raised, “I’ll have to drag y’all to the office. Just give it to me.”

With a small shrug of defeat, John unzipped his backpack and pried to pool out. As he handed it to me he said quite proudly, “I bet you’ve never taken up a pool before, Mrs. Smalley!”

I just walked away shaking my head, trying not to let them see me grin. I have a reputation to keep up.

SOL: Hike Your Own Hike, an #NCTE14 reflection

Everyone has to hike their own hike.

I first heard this phrase when reading Jennifer Pharr Davis' Becoming Odyssa, a memoir of her first through-hike on the Appalachian Trail. If you've not heard it before, the context is simple: go at your own pace, don't compare yourself to others, and do what works for you so that you can make it to the end.

It's become a bit of a private mantra of mine in the nearly five years since first reading her book.

Hike your own hike.


It's permission to live my life according to my own beliefs and guidelines, without feeling less than or guilty because I am not in the same place as those around me.

Gae and some poor mismatched homeless chick...

Combined with my other heartsong, First Do No Harm, I'm often able to ride out storm-tossed waves while people around me are capsizing in miniature anxiety-boats. Not always. Not even with a whole lot of grace. But I'm learning, and that makes me happy.

My Teacher Twin and Co-Ninja!

It's empowering, knowing you're right where you're supposed to be -- that your place on the mountain is equally as important and meaningful as those both above and beneath you, and every traveler that has walked a thousand footsteps more than you or is only just now stepping foot onto their path has no more and no less worth. We're all just hiking along, doing our best as we go.

Best roommates ever! Had so much fun with these two!

These words swirled around my mind repeatedly in the last five days while walking the labyrinthian corridors of the NCTE Conference. It's packed with so many sessions, events, author signings, and get-togethers that attempting to try to do them all could make a person go a little loopy -- especially when factoring in a bunch of roomies all interested in different things. That's why the hiker's mantra is so powerful; do what you need to best sustain your own experience, and give others the space to do so as well.

Alan Sitomer literally changed the way I think about my writing.

I took it easy at this conference. Slept in a couple mornings. Hung out talking to old friends and made some new ones. Went to sessions by authors and gleaned meaningful and sometimes life-changing insights that I may not have experienced had I simply gone to the sessions everyone else was attending. I spent my evenings sightseeing and writing and relaxing. Perhaps for the first time at one of these huge mega-conferences, I felt like I was really experiencing each moment, not rushing and worrying over inconsequential things.

One of my favorite nights at #NCTE14!

When it comes to teaching (and learning), the same outlook holds true. Teaching is an art. Educators need room to find their own style and deserve the opportunity to spend time on professional development that matters to them. After all, how can we empower students to be their best personal self if we aren't given the opportunity to grow into the most enlightened version of our teaching selves? I think that's one reason I love the NCTE conference so much -- while my colleagues are at a session learning about using Shakespeare in the classroom, I am listening to authors discuss the importance of revision, and still others are sitting in round table discussions about how to change the way grammar is taught.

Light is my One Little Word for 2014. I love how it weaves through all I do...

We're all hiking our own hike, every day, and somehow we're doing it together. And I think that makes us all stronger. I'm so thankful to be a part of this vast network of brilliantly different and passionate educators.

See you on the trail, friends.

5 Reasons To Use Evernote When Conferring With Students - NCTE13

I won't bore you with tons of wordy paragraphs about what Evernote is. If you're here to read this post, chances are you already have the app downloaded on your iPad. If not, go here and get started learning all there is to know. You can read this post while you setup your account. Why should you listen to me?

Well, friends, with Evernote you can....

1. Organize your thoughts with purposeful tags: I don't know about you, but helping students grow their writing skill is not the only thing I have going on in my classroom -- or my life. Don't get me wrong, I love speaking with young writers about their work. But keeping everything straight in my head is not easy. I need to be able to quickly assess who I need to conference with and what piece they were working on last. Evernote has definitely come through to help.

Some of the Reading and Writing tags I used last year.

By creating tags specific to my students and the skills we work on, I can easily decide on mini-lessons for upcoming lesson plans or simply recall all the notes I've taken on a specific student to help prepare me for our next conference.

2. Use notebooks to categorize large groups of notes: I work with more than one group of students, especially now that I am in the library. Instead of having a huge pile of notes all jumbled together, I've found that it helps me to create a tag for each student that matches the notebook I keep all their data in. This way, I can look at the whole group as well. Whether it is a writing club, classroom, tutorial group, or even a teacher writing group -- everything has a place!

Group A and B are classroom notebooks

Inside each notebook "stack" is a notebook for each student with the same tag.

 3. Say it with pictures: Sometimes a picture isn't just worth a thousand words -- it's also made of a thousand words! One of my favorite things about Evernote is the ability to snap and tag photos of student work. I can refer back to these photos during student conferences, data meetings, or anytime a student wants to look back at older pieces. At the end of the year, I have an entire collection of work all stored in one digital location to serve as their writing portfolio. (And I haven't even mentioned the audio recording!)

Student work showing my sticky note feedback.

Photos of response to reading of The One and Only Ivan

4. Be a Follower: There are a multitude of helpful tutorials already out there explaining how to set up your very own Evernote wonderland of organization. You don't have to come up with a system all on your own. It's been done for you. Check out some of these great tutorials--

Russ Goerend's site was the first I used to start my Evernote journey!

The Together Teacher on Evernote as a conferring tool

5. Share the love, because sharing is caring: You can share your notebooks, people. Share. Your. Notebooks. How awesome is this? Beyond sharing with parents, this opens the door to teacher to teacher collaboration -- not just what is happening in your writing conferences.

Jason Frasca on Sharing Notebooks

So. How ya like Evernote now, friends? Ready to give it a whirl in the classroom? 

Conferring with Inquiry in Mind - #NCTE13

I love the way my peers in The North Star of Texas Writing Project challenge me to think deeply about the decisions I make when working with young writers. Here is the thinking I've been sifting through about conferencing with students:

Writing Teachers (Re)Inventing Literacy Instruction by Following the North Star

What? 

I believe student conferences are the heart of writing workshop, but how do I guide conversations to encourage student growth without doing the work for them or squashing the young writer’s voice or desire to write? There is a Don Murray quote in Write Beside Them that embodies my goals when conferencing with a writer: “you should always leave a conference excited to get back to the writing.” I want to create contagious enthusiasm in an environment that encourages writers to take joy in the risk of playing boldly with their craft.

So what? 

Lucy Calkins said, “Helping [students] take themselves seriously is crucial for them as writers and as maturing human beings.” I believe daily modeling through mentor texts helps students identify what works in a piece of writing, which is essential to scaffolding their ability to discover both what works and does not work in their own writing. Mentor texts and conferencing work hand in hand. I also know a student’s decision to share their writing heart with me is dependent on how I treat them -- as a person and as a writer. Don Murray said, “I must create a climate in the writing conference in which students can hear what they have to say so they can learn to listen to their own writing.” I must be purposeful in my planning and my words each time I work with a writer.

Now what?   

I invite writers to share their work with me, and sometimes offer to read back their writing to them. This seems to help them hear their writing as their audience will receive it, and gives them the opportunity to write down what they notice about their own work. I’m learning to wait on writers when they are contemplating what their writing needs. My silence gives them space to think, and my “I notice” and “I wonder” statements help them look for their own answers, building their writing confidence. Research shows that writers grow best from receiving feedback, not evaluation. In fact, in The Essential Don Murray, he states it so eloquently :

"How do you motivate your student to pass through this process, perhaps even pass through it again and again on the same piece of writing?

First, by shutting up. When you are talking, he isn't writing." 

So my job during a writing conference is not to correct or change their work, but to listen and guide through gentle feedback and the silence that allows self reflection. I praise what has worked, and invite them to experiment with these techniques in other ways.

Takeaway: 

As a writing partner, it’s my job to be prepared when we sit down together. In this way, I show respect for the writer and their work. This means knowing where my learners are in their writing journey. I need strong organization and notes on each writer. I have found Evernote to be indispensable tool helping me efficiently organize my conference notes. By creating folders for each student, I can tag their work and include photos, my own conference notes, and audio files on the work we do together. This also allows me to keep a digital writing portfolio on each writer to share with parents, in data meetings, and for the student to reflect on their work throughout the year.

The Art of Conversation - #NCTE13

Our students need a champion.

They come to us so often with voices screaming in their head, "I can't," after a lifetime of teachers and tests whispering try harder in their ears. And if you think a lifetime sounds like an exaggeration, consider the struggling readers and writers that have been trying harder since they were just four years old. When I first meet my young learners, they have been trying harder for half their lives, or more.

Young writers have a voice. They were born with it. Brilliant, beautiful, true words that sing of who they have been, who they are, and who they want to be. Somehow along the way - struggling through family issues, peer pressure, test trauma - they become detached from what is meant to be natural.

After all, we've been telling stories since time began.

I say to my students, my young readers and writers: "It's your story. Who better than you to tell it? Who better than you to know the perfect words to shout your story from the mountains? Who better than you to share your genius with the world?"

They already have the story. It's our job to light up the path, to put the tools in their hands and cheer them on, to be there when they need reassurance, saying, "Now, go forward. Be brave. You've had it in you all along."

Photo taken during a North Star of Texas Writing Project Teacher Training session

When we step into a classroom, sit alongside our  students, and invite them to share their writing, we have important choices to make. We can become either their greatest champion or an unknowing saboteur of their voice and desire to learn.

When I sit down with struggling writers to discuss a piece of writing, I first ask them to read the piece to me. Often I find that they tell me the idea of the story instead of reading the actual words on the page. When this happens, I ask if they mind if I read it to them, exactly as it is written. I suggest that they listen to hear if the story I read is what they feel like they have written. I ask them to listen like a reader, noticing what they love and what doesn't work for them. They've done this before with mentor texts I've shared in class, so adapting this skill to their own writing isn't difficult.

Almost always, they are magnificent at discovering exactly the things I noticed when I first listened to them read. They are the drivers in these conferences. I am merely there to help navigate the path. We go over their list, and I praise both what they have done well as a writer and as a reader -- their ability to notice is a key to improvement. When I help students hear how their audience will experience their story, their perception of their work changes, and they are open to experimenting with revision. They want their message understood with the same passion and enthusiasm they feel for it, so the work of revision becomes an authentic means to reach their goal.

Conferring with young writer during a Saturday Writing Camp

Although I feel there is no magic formula for the perfect conference -- conferring with students, much like writing, is an art -- my conversations with writers do have some common elements. Here you will see my inspiration comes from the teachings of Donald Murray, Lucy Calkins, Donald Graves, Penny Kittle, Mark Overmeyer, Ruth Ayers, and countless other masters of writing instruction, so I've tried to share some links that point to their work, along with my thoughts on what makes a successful writing conference:

• Community: we write and share as a group every day, playing with words and celebrating one another for having the bravery simply to explore our craft.
• Listen - what is the message you are trying to share with your audience? What is the truest sense of the story you want to tell?
• Notice - elements in the writing that work, and places that make the reader stumble.
• Wonder - guide the process, wherever the writer is at, asking questions like, "I wonder what this piece would be like if..."
• Wait - give writers time to think, don't jump in to solve their problems for them, choose words sparingly - don't be afraid of silence.

But mostly, I follow my heart. I speak with my young writers the same way I would want anyone to speak with me about my writing: gently, with great compassion, and a desire to help. In this way, I am able to help them build trust. Not simply trust in me as a teacher -- that isn't enough to sustain their growth as writers. These conversations build the trust they have in their own abilities. Each word I choose is specific to the writer and focused on what they do well. By modeling these conversations daily through our conferences, they are able to read closely for themselves when working alone or when revising with a peer. Our classroom becomes a space open to respectful conversations focused on growing every writer to their full potential.

Video from Stenhouse Publishers

Hold Fast to Your Professional Learning Network

Quite often this year I've found myself feeling a bit like an island marooned out somewhere just beyond the Bermuda Triangle and the Twilight Zone.

I know, I've talked about this before.

I'm so sad, I've said.
All these procedures are so different, I've groaned.
Nobody understands my pain, I've wailed.

And on and on. I know. Change is hard. But change without adequate support is akin to emotional amputation.

So what has made a difference for me in the last six months?

• A dear friend whose timely phone calls and text messages keep the embers burning. (Thank you, Jenny. I'm positive I wouldn't have made it this far without you.)
• The professional network of friends I meet with throughout the year as we collaborate and plan together. My friends in my local NWP site, the North Star of Texas Writing Project, inspire me to grow more, know more, and do more all the time.  (Thank you Carol, Joan, Dr. P, Amanda, Audrey, Heather, Janelle, Amy, and all the many other movers and shakers that keep me on my toes!)
• Twitter. Oh yes, you heard me right -- Twitter is one of the best things that has happened for my professional development. I urge every teacher I know to test it out -- it's not just celebrity brawls and teenage angst, I promise. (I would not be the teacher I am today without the ability to peek into the minds of educators such as @dogtrax, @donalynbooks, @teachingwthsoul, @TechNinjaTodd and @AngelaMaiers, to name a few.
• Blogs. Delicious, mind-feeding, passion-inspiring blogs. (Kudos must go out to Cynthia Alaniz over at Teaching in Cute Shoes, my pals over at Three Teachers Talk, and Deb Day over at Coffee with Chloe. Your words move me to scribble down my own, on days when writing would otherwise feel like plucking bees from the air.)

There are so many more minds, authors, teachers, speakers, and fellow learners-in-crime that I have not mentioned here. You each deserve a standing ovation that you watch with tear-filled eyes from the stage in Madison Square Garden. If no one else has told you today, I appreciate you. Thank you for helping me to continue growing.

As teachers, I think we often fall into the trap of thinking we can't ask for help. We're professionals, so we must know it all already. Right? For goodness sakes, people have trusted us with children!

Well folks, I don't know it all. I'm trying, really -- I am, silly as it may sound. But until then, I'm thankful to know this much: I need my Professional Learning Network like I need air. Or M&Ms (don't act like those aren't a necessity). And I am indebted to the knowledge they freely share, every day. My students are too, they just don't know it.

Maybe I should change that. Maybe they also need to know the importance of leaning on and learning from one another -- even after they are all growed up. So hold fast to your friends, teachers. Hold fast to your network of educators, professionals, and thinkers -- for if these go, learning is "a barren field, frozen with snow." (And a final thank you, of course, to all the poets of the world, including the lovely Langston Hughes.)

The Differences That Matter

Magic is happening in the Ninja Writer's classroom this year.

It's week 10, and we're about halfway through our read aloud of The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. I fell in love with this book over the summer, so I was thrilled when I found out it was the Global Read Aloud choice for 2012. Both my classes are simply eating it up -- daily as I read, my students are scribbling notes and drawing sketches while they think about what is happening in the text.

This morning as I read, a hand shot up and before I could even respond, a small voice piped up from a boy sitting in the back of the group gathered around me, "I just noticed that word has more than one meaning!"

He was talking about the word "trunk." The story had just referenced Ruby, the baby elephant, using her trunk. We paused for a minute to discuss the many variations of the word, and everyone seemed excited -- both because of what happened in the story (I won't ruin it for you!) and because someone had noticed something significant. We've been talking a lot about multiple word meanings, and the importance of understanding which meaning is right in the context of the reading.

After we finished our reading for today, I showed my students how to use the "Someone...Wanted...But...So...Then" method for summarizing a piece of text. More hands shot up.

"I noticed a preposition!"
"I noticed you used a FANBOY (conjunction) to join those two ideas together!"
"I just used a metaphor from the story to explain the problem in this chapter!"

And on and on it went.

Needless to say, this teacher was beaming from ear to ear.

This year has been difficult for me. Most of the ideas and teaching methods I've brought along with me to my new school aren't generally accepted here. I spent the first several weeks hiding in my room behind a closed door hoping nobody would notice my rebel teaching style. When it was noticed, it was questioned, and even scoffed at as "too much work." Eventually, I realized I was causing more stress by holding to my vow of silence.

So I spoke up. First, in a timid, shaky voice. But each time I spoke up, I grew a little less timid and lot more bold. Eventually, I put my foot down. I will not follow nonsense instruction (thank you, Nancy Atwell). More recently, questions are being asked, but in a different way. Teachers are curious about the blogging, the brain research, the books I've been reading. It made me realize that there is a lot more than stress-reduction that happens when you stand up for what you believe.

I keep following my heart, listening to my wise friend and unknowing mentor, Jenny, and plowing hopefully forward. Surely, I tell myself, surely... this is the right way.

Last week my students took their first 9 week unit exams. Three stories, one selection of paired poems to compare, and one stand alone poem. 32 questions.

My students are (in my opinion) oddly grouped. My morning class consists of students that struggle to read anywhere near grade level. Reading is hard for them. But oh my goodness, they work hard; they are so eager to learn, to improve. Of the 19 students in that class, well over half receive some sort of modification or special services. Half of those need almost constant one on one attention to complete their work. Because of this, most of them haven't had much of an opportunity for peer work or small group collaboration before this year. We've spent much of our first weeks together just learning how to have conversations, how to make eye contact, and how to use what we know about how our brains work to help us learn. Due to cutbacks in the budget, none of them receive as much help as they really need. I stand in the gap as best I can.

My afternoon class has several students in the gifted and talented program. Those that aren't in that program are still typically high-achieving students. This is my squirrely class. High-kinesthetic need, low ability to attend to their behavior. We're working on metacognition and having an intrinsic locus of control. But they are also hard workers, and want to learn -- they soak up everything I throw at them, and surprise me daily with their insight.

The fact that these students are separated makes things more difficult for them. The students that really struggle don't have peers to learn from. The students that are excelling don't often have the opportunity to teach what they know. I feel we're missing out on some huge learning opportunities.

Today we received the data from last week's exam. Our guys have the highest reading scores in the district. When I arrived here, I was told to be prepared to "work my butt off" because of the high number of special needs students in our grade level this year. I was told to stick to the district  directives for instruction. I was told many things.

I did what many of us do. I chose what worked for me, for my students, and for our unique needs. I tossed out the rest. I gave (and will continue to give) my students ample time to read and write each day. I try to stay out of their way as they learn, and I guide them in the direction we need to go.

So far, I think we're doing just fine. And I'm glad to have some data to keep the naysayers at bay. I know that reading makes a difference. Choice makes a difference. A positive, happy influence makes a difference. Children that know how their brain works, how they learn best, and how to use that information -- that makes a difference. These are the differences that matter. As my friends with Human Systems Dynamics would say -- these are the differences that make a difference.