To My Congressional Representatives

I know that I have only one voice. But I have one, and I am determined to use it.On the four month anniversary of Sandy Hook, we are reminded that nothing has been done to prevent yet another shooting of this nature.  Listen to the family members of the victims in this tragedy. They live the aftermath of our society's inability to do something. 60 minutes 4-7-2013Today, family members of the victims of this tragedy will be in Washington, DC. I implore our representatives in Congress to listen - do not rush by arrogantly and claim you are "all set" as one insensitive Connecticut representative does in the video.  Listen, listen to these people who will live with the aftermath of this tragedy for the rest of their days.We cannot afford to be complacent, afraid of controversy, or stubbornly one-sided in these discussions. This is a complicated issues -- along with gun control, we can no longer ignore those who face mental challenges, and yet, through stigma and misconception, are outcast from receiving meaningful help and assistance. We cannot allow, as the NRA has suggested, our schools to become armed bastions.Something needs to change here. It's not just Sandy Hook - violence impacts families and communities every day. Read, or at the very least, look at the graphic of mass shootings found this article from Mother Jones.My own students sometimes come to class - third grade - with stories of guns going off in their neighborhood. They know the difference between a car backfiring and the sound of a gun. Is this the kind of childhood we want for our children?Please contact your own congressional representatives.  I have. 

Go Ahead.... Make My Day

My students started their state testing yesterday.While it continues to aggravate me that my kids are getting tested as if it were the end of the school year (which, believe me it is not!), the test is here and we need to deal with it. By the way, did I mention the test is scheduled before the second trimester has ended? And that this year the students will have had a week's less of instruction because of the snow days we've piled up here in Massachusetts?In the end, all I can do is ensure that my students have some strategies under their belts: strategies for decoding those challenging words - especially important for my English Language Learners, strategies for deriving word meaning within context, strategies for understanding what they're reading, and strategies for making the best out of this testing situation.I have no idea how my students did on yesterday's test. I am not allowed (by law!) to even take a look through students' completed test booklets to see that they haven't skipped a question. I do know that I saw children who are 8- and 9-years-old diligently reading (read the directions, read the italics, read the questions, THEN read the selection), and underlining, and rereading, and writing.If effort and persistence were something we were assessing, every single one of my kids would be proficient. And that makes my day.

February 3, 2013

I live in the Center of an Old New England town.  The wide stone walls that used to mark property lines or separate fields from farmhouses still stand in this part of town.  This wall still marks a border and delineates our property on nearly 2 sides.

Unlike the more roughly made stone walls that ran through property my parents owned in New Hampshire, this wall is massive - several feet wide in most places and about shoulder height.

On our side of the wall, the stones appear stacked with randomness, yet in the hundred or so years since the wall was built, they have stood strong. But on the other side - the side that faces an abandoned clearing of what used to be the estate for one of the town's more upright citizens, the wall is precisely assembled so that it forms a sheer wall of stone, carefully pieced together.

I like to hang out back near our wall. It is quiet there, through now overgrown with bittersweet vines, wild roses, and other herbage that was never purposely planted.

I wonder at the strength and the purposefulness of the builder of this wall. assembled long before machinery would have lessened the load.

With Gratitude

Teachers have taken it on the chin for quite a number of years. If the media are to be believed, we are a collective bunch of incompetents who need to be whipped into shape. And then Newtowne happened. A curtain lifted on the noblest of colleagues, who placed their own safety and protection secondary to their students.What really made me start thinking about all the teachers who have helped me was this Story Corp segment. Wow, would that every teacher could hear from just one student who remembered what their teachers did that inspired them even into adulthood!So here's my thank you: Miss Buell, Mrs. Keefe, Ms. Brown, Mrs. Nichol, Mrs. Harrell, Mrs. Garten, Mrs. Hoffman..... thank you for inspiring me to love learning so that today I can try to teach my own students to love learning too!

Joyeux Noel!

I am not certain exactly when the idea occurred to us, but this past week, Adrien and I celebrated our anniversary with a quick trip to Paris. Nevermind that I now have a deeper understanding of my immigrant grandfather's voyage to the new world after spending 12 hours on planes without being able to wiggle! Airline to remain anonymous.We planned this trip to coincide with Christmas and so, we did as many tourists and some Parisians do - we went to Mass at Notre Dame cathedral. 2012 marks the 850th anniversary of the cathedral; I couldn't help but wonder at that thought - that 850 years earlier people stood in this same spot to celebrate Christmas.The giant pipe organ, bellowed the strains of Adeste Fideles while we waitedfor the procession. Soon the start of Mass was signaled by the sweet smell of incense, a smell of unmistakable intensity. A young boy carefully carried the Christ child in procession, and with a cue from the priest, gently laid Him in the empty creche, a tradition that is repeated in many Christian churches across the world. And so, the first Mass at Christmas began.And after Mass, we made our way through the mixed crowd leaving Notre Dame and those awaiting the beginning of the next Mass to the far edges, roped off in some hope of making order of the chaos.Joyeux Noel!

Snowflakes

Every child can relate to the anxiety one feels when you enter a school building for the first time. So can any teacher.We feel helpless to comfort our colleagues and their students. Their grief and sense of loss is unimaginable. And they will naturally feel anxious when they return to a different school building in January.So when this project, Snowflakes for Sandy Hook, started circulating through email and twitter, it seemed like a way we could offer support.The simple act of creating a paper snowflake, a most child-like gift, resonated with my students. They had all heard of the shooting, they had noticed that a patrol car now monitors our arrivals and departures, they had questions about their own safety. And they wanted to make the students from Sandy Hook feel more comfortable in their new school building.If you are a teacher, maybe you and your students would like to add your snowflakes too. 

In the dark of winter...

There is a pall hanging over us. We want answers to the unanswerable. We need to put our anger and sadness  somewhere, but there is no place.Tomorrow is a Monday that will be unlike any other. Tomorrow I need to try to reassure my 8-year-olds. Many of them will have watched too many reports on television, or overheard snippets of adult conversation.  While some of my students live with traumas, nothing like this has ever happened before. I pray that nothing close to it ever happens again.I have no idea what I can say, except to reassure them that, while sometimes the adults in their lives have been unreliable, I am here to keep them safe.  As a teacher, I imagine that is exactly what passed through the minds of the teachers and administrators of Sandy Hook as they made split second decisions to shelter their own students. Six times that instinct to protect children from harm resulted in the ultimate sacrifice.We will need to be together.

Chipping Away

This is the longer version of Adrien's short documentary about an extraordinary group of young people and the United Teen Equality Center (UTEC) here in Lowell. Take a moment to see what overcoming adversity to hope and to dream about a future really look like. And then,if you are so inspired, support UTEC's programs and efforts by going to their website.[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJDkEJ8XgNE]

The Joyless Pursuit of Excellence

Last Friday as I watched one of my favorite weekly shows (Greater Boston's Beat the Press segment), I heard panelist Margery Eagan describe the atmosphere at the Boston Globe as the "joyless pursuit of excellence". In our local newspaper world, there is no doubt that the Globe is a superb paper and even when I don't agree with their editorial positions, the articles are well-written and in-depth.What I didn't know until Eagan's comment, was this phrase is commonly associated as the motto of (former) editor Marty Baron.The more I considered this phrase, the more powerfully I was struck by its connection to the educational environment today. So often educators - and administrators - talk about the stress of preparing students for assessments, or adhering to standards of achievement. I  don't know anyone really who isn't committed to their students and to helping those children learn, yet we are all always feeling as if what we do does not measure up.Even the joy of seeing a student who is (finally) "getting it" becomes overshadowed by the fear that it wasn't on the time schedule thought up by some faceless bureaucrat in a faraway place well-insulated from actual children.Certainly we all want to be excellent educators, and more to the point, we want our students to be excellent too. But as to joy? Those moments seem elusive.I don't have a solution except to become more cognizant that, along with the stress, we all need a lot more joy. I need to make my journey a more joy-filled pursuit of excellence.

Where dreams intersect

Several years ago, my husband Adrien was working in the corporate world as a software engineer.  For a long time, he had worked for large and small software companies and enjoyed both the work and the camaraderie.... and the pay wasn't bad either.But some time about five years ago, he had a moment when staying with his engineering job was overshadowed by the desire to do something more creative, to return to his early interest in photography. And so he did. It has been an exciting journey of hard work and worry and determination.This past summer, he connected with the staff at UTEC with a proposal and a hope that he could explore creating portraits and a film documenting the UTEC program's young people.Capturing the hope and resilient spirit of youth who have had some tough breaks, but who are determined to break out of cycles of trauma generated from varied socio-economic factors, has been a journey of enlightenment. While we both were aware of UTEC's existence, I don't believe either of us knew the depth of this program's impact.These young people also have dreams and goals. How eloquent they are in the expression of where they have been and where they are going! I want my own elementary-age students - the ones who could easily take a misstep - to listen, to learn from you.Serendipity has put these young people, so determined to overcome challenges, and Adrien, determined to tap into something more,  in each other's pathways.It is the place where dreams intersect.To see the images and the film, click on the following links:UTEC PortraitsVideo "Chipping Away"  

Power of Positive Thinking

Many (many) years ago, I read nearly all of Norman Vincent Peale's Positive Thinking books. I read them during a dark time: I was struggling with the career for which I had trained (which turned out not to be a match); a spiritual life that was unfulfilling. In need of an epiphany, I ended up watching Phil Donohue where I learned about positive thinking and its impact.Positive Thought has sustained me many times over the years. It helped me over a career bump. Eventually I found something fulfilling that I felt passionate about. It helped me through a scary illness. It helps me to stay away from the dark side, the part of me that would like to throw in the towel most days.As a teacher, I've found Positive Thinking is a profound impact on my students and their parents, whether or not they know it is applied.  When I start a conference or when I am writing report card comments, I try to begin with something positive that the student can do. Doesn't every parent want to hear something good - I know I always did.  Simply providing a laundry list of what a student can't or won't do is never met with any sense of partnership between parent and school and the resulting disconnect is hard to repair.Our students, our families, and our selves - we all respond to positive thinking, positive talk. In our current educational climate, that is becoming more of a rarity, isn't it?But positive thinking is also a necessity. It is the essence of moving forward. 

Are we the Borg?

I have to touch the third rail: is education today more assimilation into a one-size-fits-all or is it about reaching a baseline of standards for learning? [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZEJ4OJTgg8]I ask this because lately it seems that there is an underlying expectation that we plan or are given one lesson and asked to apply it to every student in a grade level or a district or state. Sometimes even the teacher's dialogue with the students is scripted.But my teacher self - the skeptic that I sometimes am - says this makes no sense. How can a lesson applicable to one set of students work flawlessly with another? The students who make up my classroom change from year-to-year. so shouldn't the instructional delivery also change? The ability to assess where students enter a lesson and how I deliver the instructional supports those students need - shouldn't that be as student-driven and tailored as possible? Wouldn't the teacher in front of those students be the best at reading the room and knowing what to do -- isn't that what you pay me to do?Levels or distrust, disrespect, demonization. Those trends in our popular culture seem to drive the rush to a scripted, and lock-step curriculum. Silly me, I thought a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction and a 25-year career might provide me with the tools to at least figure out how to move students from point A to point B.Students deserve more than a scripted curriculum, one that is often developed by profiteers lurking on the edges of education ready to swoop in and make a profit by manufacturing a crisis in education that often is not real.Resistance may be futile - for now. But as long as I'm allowed to teach, I will covertly or overtly continue to resist those one-size, scripted curricula.

We're in the weeds now kiddo!

A colleague of mine once referred to No Child Left Behind as No Teacher Left Standing.  We laughed - later we cried - and now, speaking just for myself here, we are just plain depressed.It matters not how diligent an educator is about keeping up with research and data, the stream of new initiatives is never ending.  My professional interest in developing curriculum notwithstanding, absorbing the Common Core standards in BOTH English Language Arts and Mathematics, locating resources for teaching - resources that are high quality and (with a nod to my own personal finances, free) are very seldom available, all takes time.Instructional planning takes thought and consideration. This often means inventing something from the ground up, something tailored to help meet the needs of very diverse learners. I don't mind that part as much as I mind getting the curriculum guides a weekend before I actually need to teach the unit.I work with some terrifically talented grade level colleagues who willingly share - thank goodness!  We often meet on our own time and collaborate. If one of us finds something, we share with the others.  How lucky I am to work in such an environment.Because what is happening in education now is putting such stress on teachers, that frustrations and emotions are nearly always at the surface.  And that feeling that we are all "in the weeds" just will not go away. 

Standing up for what is important

It was at the end of our school day yesterday when one of my students matter-of-factly asked if I had heard about "the shooting". Knowing about the violent incident this past weekend on a street near my elementary school, I waited for her to continue. Which she did. As if it weren't something out of the ordinary, this 8-year-old described how her mother brought my students and her sibling to an upstairs bedroom where they would be safe from further gunfire. And this revelation led another student to share that he lived on the next street and also  heard gunshots.Can I just be on the record that no 8-year-old should have to deal with this?A few years ago, one of my students was nearly hit when a stray bullet went through the front window of her family's apartment on the same street. When I asked what she did next, she told me she just got on the floor. Simple as that as if a bullet going through the front window was not that unusual.So yesterday, when I heard about a walk, a community response event sponsored by several city neighborhood groups and UTEC (United Teen Equality Center), I felt the need to walk in support of my students, many of whom are exposed to violence and trauma in ways that are normally quite easy to shut out.As the walkers traveled from City Hall in silence, I realized how easy it is to detach from the violence my own students deal with. This simple act, made it real - as one speaker said, tonight we would not be driving by, we would stop and reflect on the recent city violence.I don't have many answers for my students; they live in an environment that I, a product of white, middle-class upbringing, can hardly begin to imagine.Eight-year-old or eighty-eight years old, violence is never an answer. Walking with those whose lives are highly impacted by such events made turning away impossible.

Am I Better Off?

If you listen to the pundits, the coming presidential election is boiled down to a single question: Am I better off today than I was 4 years ago?I think it's more complicated than a "yes" or "no".Certainly my family's monetary worth is not better, however, I do not blame presidential policy for this. The damages were done long before the 2008 election.Speaking of my own income, compensation has not increased much over the last several years. After 4 years of Mitt Romney gutting Massachusetts education funding (through state aid, etc.), there were and are draconian cuts to local school budgets. At one point in the last contract negotiations, a school committee negotiating member proposed a NEGATIVE raise. Several years lapsed with either a 0% raise or without a new contract, effectively a 0% raise as teachers worked at salary levels negotiated 1, 2 or more years earlier.But that's only the obvious. As school budgets were cut and personnel essential to supporting students disappeared, every line item was slashed. That includes supplies - supplies that teachers need to implement the very curriculum that we are held accountable for. Does this sound like Catch 22? The materials had to be procured somehow; guess where the funding came from? If you said out of my personal money, you would be on target.In the last year, I've seen some improvement to school funding. There is a price to be paid for that - some of that policy I disagree with - but some positions have been restored. And for this change, I can say I am better off. Not restored to what things should be as there is much work to be done - but the fiscal improvements toward funding education are a step in the right direction.My opinion is that the state of our country's fiscal health was well-hidden by the previous administration.  The recovery process is only in its beginnings; the US economy - tied as it is to world economy and coming from a state of near collapse 4 years ago - is going to need a long recovery.A simple yes or no answer to "Am I better off" really isn't that helpful.

And so it goes.....

In the first few paragraphs of her commentary, Joanna Weiss made me laugh right out loud.  In the "old days", 32 years ago for example, we used to take snapshots of our kids and then make multiple prints to send out to all of our interested or not so interested family and friends.  I know we personally spent THOUSANDS of dollars on prints of a particular only child who will be unnamed in this post.With our news-in-an-instant technologies (that's you Facebook), sharing any kind of news is done at the click of the mouse. That makes technologies like unbaby.me, well..... funny. I'd like to propose it might be time for a whole product line development: uncat.me, undog.me, unfood.me, unpolitics.me. What ever triggers one curmudgeonly persona to appear could be re-mediated and life as we know it would continue stress free.Seriously though, reading beyond the unbaby.me reference, Joanna Weiss makes the logical connection to what is at the root of the attacks on social services, especially attacks that come from those who "have". Having sat at umpteen Town Meetings packed to the rafters whenever new school spending is on the budget, I know there is much truth to the sentiment "what's in it for me"?For me, those "haves" making every effort to prevent "have-nots" from the same benefits (SSI benefits, Paul Ryan?) just speaks to what is a lost empathy.

August

Some people watch for the Back-to-School advertisements to gauge how near we are to the end of summer break. I use crickets.When I can hear the crickets, I know it's time to give some extra attention to planning for the Fall.  It's a bittersweet sound for me; the mornings where I can linger over morning coffee are coming to a close.If you are like me, it is a time when that to-do list becomes ever so much more desperate. The things I put off because I was "on vacation" have piled up. If not careful, I will get sucked into the swirling vortex of wasting every minute of my last unscheduled weeks on errands and chores.For those of us who begin school before Labor Day, it feels like summer has ended - August is not really time off, it's the time before.

Thank You SCOTUS

Thank goodness I reside in a state where it has been illegal to deny health care coverage for pre-existing conditions for some time (should I say "thanks" to Governor Romney?).  As of a few hours ago, the Supreme Court ruled that insurers cannot discriminate for pre-exisitng conditions nation-wide. For someone like me, that is truly good news.It means that I don't need to limit my retirement living options to Massachusetts - as much as I love the place.  As a cancer survivor, I have had coverage denied by a traditional insurer, who will remain nameless for this post. I had to carry my own coverage through COBRA and pay for coverage for anything else that might crop up "new" on the new insurance my husband's company had switched to.  Trust me when I tell you that it was a financial hardship as well as a stressful situation.As I understood the rule at that time - pre-Massachusetts healthcare reform - if I was treated in any way, shape or form for my pre-existing cancer diagnosis, I would have the start the clock all over again.  I don't remember the time requirement any more, but whatever it was, the denial of coverage was wrong.So I am celebrating today because no one should ever have to live in fear of wondering how to pay for treatment of an ongoing illness or condition. Treatment and medical factors should provide all the stress anyone ever needs in that regard.Thank you Supreme Court. By not declaring these Health Care Reform unconstitutional, you've taken a step toward justice in health care. 

Is This The New "Common"wealth?

The talking head on our local news broadcast announced it as if it were just an everyday thing - no big deal. I however, nearly fell out of my chair.Apparently the City of Boston is considering - seriously - opening a portion of the Copley Branch for retail.  Don't believe it? Neither could I, so here's a link to the Herald report and the Boston Business Journal report. The overall reaction seems positive "as long as it's tastefully done."Is there no end to the commercialization of our public and shared resources?

Advice from the Peanut Gallery

Here's some advice from my experienced third graders to my incoming students:

• Rase (sic) your hand because you are being rude if you are talking and it's someone else's turn.
• Raise your hand because there is no blurting 207.
• Pay attention because you might know what to do.
• Follow directions so you get smarter.
• Be persistent (which means keep trying), stay focused in third grade and take your time to do things because these are important things to be a third grader and to be ready for the MCAS.
• Listen to Mrs. Bisson because then you would know what to do when you go back to your seat.

There you have it; how to get through third grade without a hitch.