After An Educator's Journey

Out of the classroom & into the universe

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Once upon a time, I taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders. Now I’m retired and working on new ventures.
I taught second, third and fourth graders. Teaching was my passion and joy for 30 years. And it didn’t hurt that they called me “mom” sometimes.

  • Waiting and Watching

    Around 9:00 last night, I got sucked in to watching C-SPAN of all channels. And yes, I was watching the Health Care “Debate” — if you can call that circus a debate.

    I am a supporter of national health care and, frankly, I think this particular round of legislation is a pale shadow of what health care should be in the wealthiest industrialized nation on this green earth.  But putting that aside, my great hope is that the minimal protection provided by the Bill will prevent such health insurance financial fiascoes as happened in my family being thrust on another.

    My suspicions are that this debate was not so much about health care as it was about other changes that some factions — loud ones as it turns out — cannot tolerate.  I felt ashamed and mortified that grown adults lobbed disgusting epithets in the direction of Representative Lewis and Representative Frank. What is wrong with us that we can’t have a civilized disagreement? That once a vote has been taken, those of the opposing opinion cannot accept what the majority has decided.

    Last night’s vote was mesmerizing. But now there is more to come with the Senate debate. Will there be less acrimony? Doubtful. And what happens from here, no one can know for certain.

  • March Madness

    Does it seem odd to you that all year long, we tell our students to use the word wall or whatever else we have available for students to use in a classroom, but when it comes time to do standardized testing we effectively tell them “just kidding” ?

    Yesterday, I was giving my students a practice run at what next Wednesday, our first day of MCAS, will be like. Kids are used to asking for help when they need it, or (even better) using a classroom resource when needed. For some, it is a challenge just to read a text in silence. For others it is a shock that, when they ask for help with a word in a text, instead of working through the thought process for strategizing how to decode the word, I say “I’m sorry, but I can’t help you at all.” Frankly I don’t know why I am apologizing.

    One of my students was stuck on a spelling word yesterday.  Of course if helping students decode challenging vocabulary in a text is outlawed, helping them with spelling is definitely out. He did exactly as he has been taught to do – he went to his personal word wall folder to look for it.  And when I told him he couldn’t use that word wall? He shut down. Completely. From that point on he wanted no part of the whole business – I’m hoping I can cajole him back into positive thinking before next Wednesday. This student, by the way, is one of my most accomplished readers and writers.

    So I have to ask, why in the name of all thing holy are we preventing students from using the tools that they are accustomed to using? What are we telling them – give it up, there’s no way you can be successful?

    As adults, if we don’t know something from memory, don’t we look it up?  Can’t we allow students to do what an adult out in the work world would do?

  • Ed Reform and Failure

    Personally, I’d give most Ed Reform a failing grade. I’m certain that someone reading this is thinking that’s a no-brainer because I’m a teacher (and a union member). But that is not why I think reform is failing students.

    That’s right, I said Ed Reform is failing students – not taxpayers, although taxpayers hold a certain stake in successful schools as do real estate agents.

    As a teacher in a school where many of my students are not successful when the state assessment tools – standardized MCAS and/or MEPA testing – are applied, I am somewhat familiar with “reform”. Lately, most of the talk about reforming schools is that the teachers are incompetent or effective. I am not a statistician, but I am sure that given a group of educators some will be wildly competent, some will be competent, and some will be incompetent. The reasons why are complicated. Afterall, we are not working with widgets; we are working with humans – and humans will have human issues that are not necessarily black or white.

    Now I’m not vain enough to think I have all the answers – or many times even an answer to critics who see my students are under performing. I am open to ideas and I don’t mentally toss out ideas without giving them a trial. I listen when someone thinks outside the educational box because I know I my belief system may sometimes cloud perception.

    Lately what I’ve seen is some underfunded or unfunded mandate requiring one thing or another. Anyone here familiar with Reading First? I’ve been through so many different reform models that claim to be the answer to all my prayers, I can no longer keep them all straight. Honestly, does anyone really think one-size-fits-all programmed education will work for every student? Seriously?

    What bothers me is know-it-all “reformers” who haven’t set foot in a public school classroom since high school graduation. They don’t have a grasp of the problem, but they do have a solution. Usually one that involves lots of cash being sent in their direction.

    In order to analyze what is wrong, shouldn’t you actually know what the conditions or problem might be?Wouldn’t it be productive to know what is already in place?

    So, to those who dare, you are extended an open invitation to my classroom. Come and see what is going on. Don’t make an appointment – just show up at the office and get a visitor’s badge. Someone can direct you to Room 207. And after you’ve looked at what is going on, after you’ve observed what my students have, need, and wish for, then let’s have a conversation about your ideas.

  • BlogCatalog

    Education Blogs - Blog Catalog Blog Directory

  • Art Appreciation

    My husband, Adrien, is a photographer. He actually has been a photographer for most of his life, having started out in high school, but was sidetracked by a career in music and in software.  A couple of years ago, he started renting studio space in a revitalized textile mill building in Lowell, MA, Western Avenue Studios, and has been building his photography business ever since.

    If you’ve never had a career in the arts, it is quite different from the 9 to 5 corporate world. First of all, as I am always fond of pointing out, unlike my career, you can use the bathroom whenever you want 🙂 Just kidding, Adrien!

    What really takes some perseverance is staying focused throughout the cyclical nature of getting commissions and jobs. For example, from the week before Christmas through some time in  late January, not many corporations are interested in scheduling corporate head shot appointments. This creates some down time, which allows Adrien to think about self assignments: photography projects that he works on to develop as a photographer and as an artist.

    In addition to working on a portfolio for an upcoming show at the Loading Dock Gallery in Lowell next November, Adrien has been working with a friend of his, Melissa, to create a video of what happens during a professional photo shoot. Here is a link to the stop-action video he created called 396 Square Feet. I think you’ll find it amazing.

  • Balancing Reading Assessment

    I’ve just started reading a professional book by the Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) called The Cafe Book. The Sisters wrote The Daily Five which I’ve been partially using in my own classroom during Reading Workshop to help manage what the “other kids” are doing while I’m conferencing or working with a group.

    When I began my career, like the Sisters, I was uncomfortable if I met one of my reading groups more often than another. But after being encouraged by my Principal to “get out of the way” of more adept readers and not meet with them so often, I’ve been a bit more willing to let go of the fairness is equal philosophy. What this means for me as a third grade teacher is that my more advanced readers meet with me as a group just once a week. They read longer, chapter-based texts, and I’ve taught them (a painful process I have to admit) to work as an independent literacy circle. The time I’ve carved out is spent on my Safety Net and Below Level students – who need more support in order to become more proficient as readers.

    So now that I’ve divided up my time so that the students who need more of me, get more of me, what’s next?  Well, if you say Assessment and Conferencing, the kind of assessment that lets you know where your students and and what they need help with, we’re in agreement. However, once you’ve conferenced or assessed a student, a teacher needs to actually do something with that information.

    Like the Sisters, I’ve been through a ton of different models and suggestions for keeping track of what my students know and what they need to know next.  Sticky notes seem like a good idea — but like Joan, I kept having to retrieve them from the floor and try to figure out in retrospect who the note was about. Not exactly efficient. Clipboards, file cards, the whole gamut of record keeping is enough to drive one crazy. Trying to find an effective and efficient way to gather information about my students — one that I can sustain when the year’s pace becomes high pressure and crazy — is key for me right now.  I know data gathering is a fact of my teaching life that will probably never disappear.

    And then, once I’ve got all this fabulous data, what to do next? I’m hopeful that the Sisters, who seem to have a practical and realistic handle on balancing assessment with putting the results of assessment into practice, have a few ideas.

  • Sometimes You Must Do What Is Required

    This morning, Al Gore, had a fine Op-Ed piece on global warming published in the NY Times. Global warming has taken a hit recently because of some errors — minor ones — made by scientists who study such things. Despite the errors, the consensus, according to Gore, remains unchanged: Global warming is our legacy to our children, grandchildren and beyond.

    Every time I’ve visited a country outside of the United States, I’ve been blown away by the public transportation options available. On our last trip to Europe, Adrien and I spent 3 weeks traveling from London to Brussels/Bruges to several regions of France (Strassbourg, Reims, Beaune, Lyon, and Paris). We used public transportation the entire 3 weeks with the exception of our flights in and out of London.

    We did not ONCE use a car, nor did we have the need to do so: rail service – whether it was between countries or within the city – was convenient, affordable, accessible.  The high-speed train service from Lyon to Paris (TGV speeds reach 200 mph), Eurostar, Thalys were all more comfortable and less hassle than air travel in the US. No need to use an automobile, public transportation was plentiful. If the trains can regularly get to the small towns in Burgandy, why can’t we get decent train service here in the Northeast?

    However, what I really am thinking about is the ending quote Gore writes in his OpEd which was attributed to Winston Churchill:

    “Sometimes doing your best is not good enough. Sometimes, you must do what is required.”

    What is required of all of us now? We seem to know, but are unwilling to let go of old ways of doing things. The days of changing your own motor oil and dumping the used black sludge behind the garage are long over. The joking about our Northeast snowfalls aside, this is the real thing.  The signs of Global warming are all around us and we must heed them.

  • If you don’t like New England’s weather wait a minute….

    or a day, or a week.  We’ve been experiencing the ugliest winter weather in a while lately.  Off and on snow showers. Snow in some locations and the next town over will have rain. Torrential rains, destructive winds, shoveling and sanding. Grey, cloud filled skies. I don’t remember the last day that I actually saw the sun.

    If I may be so bold as to speak for many, we are sick to death of it.  Ground Hog, damn you, we want spring and we want it now.

  • Everyday Lives of Students

    Monday was our first day back from Winter Break — I suspect this is only a New England school vacation as I never experienced it growing up in northern Ohio.  A week-long escape is a welcome respite from the stresses of teaching – and yes, I am aware that I chose this profession – but it also serves to highlight the stress of teaching students in urban education.

    Our Monday morning meeting brought forward three stories from my 8- and 9-year old students. Stories that are told in such a conversational way that they seem as normal as a visit to grandma’s. Again, Ruth Payne’s fine chronicle of trauma and poverty, A Framework for Understanding Poverty, helps me to see the events outside of my middle-class white Leave It To Beaver upbringing. For these children, life is what it is.

    Story number 1: “my cousin was arrested with his pit bull.” Now sometimes “arrested” takes on a rather broad definition in the mind of an 8-year old. In this case it was true; I verified it by reading the local newspaper online after school: the cousin had been taken into custody after allowing his unleashed and unrestrained pit bull to lunge at people walking in the downtown area, had refused the request of a police officer to leash the dog, and resisted arrest.

    Story number 2: brother – who the student had recently revealed was in jail – was rearrested.  This student reported on the event as if it were an everyday normal occurrence.” Had I seen X’s name in the paper? He’s going to jail.”

    Story number 3: a tenant living in the same apartment complex as my third student triggered the SWAT team to swarm the building after said tenant threatened a cab driver with a gun. The student had lots of details and had obviously seen most of the confrontation – her details matched the newspaper article too.

    Now several things come to mind here.  First of all, the traumatic distractions in these students’ every day life are unbelievable. Secondly, yes school is a “safe place” and expectations for what happens in school remain high. But the distractions and worries these children must overcome to even be close to ready to focus and concentrate are, most of the time, unimaginable.

    This is what stresses out urban teachers.  We come to know the human story, the reality these children deal with.

  • Time Travels Revisited

    For some reason I am fascinated with history – family history. And during school vacations, when I finally have some time to spend on such endeavors, I am able to do quite a bit of research. Not exactly as exciting as skiing or snowboarding or as relaxing as sitting on a beach or by a pool, but something different to occupy my mind.

    This week I came across an obituary – a scrap of newspaper folded neatly into my great, great grandmother’s autograph book. The obituary was for her father, James Cuthbertson Sharron. JC as he is referred to in my family (his father was James Russell Sharron), was a minister’s son who himself became a minister in the Presbyterian church. His life’s travels took him from Dauphin County, PA where he was born in 1810 to Jefferson College and Princeton University, then to a posting in Muskingum, Ohio around 1835. In the 1840s he moved to Iowa, before Iowa became a state. Here he moved from pioneer town to pioneer town, organizing churches in West Point and Birmingham as well as some smaller town. In the 1860s — at the ripe old age of 50-something — JC joined an Iowa regiment as a chaplain for the Union Army. After the Civil War, he returned to Iowa and to his ministry, dying in 1868.

    Now why is all of this interesting? For some reason the connections to the ancestors who make up my family history, make the dusty stories and facts that were taught to me more real. 1810, before the War of 1812…. how odd that one of “my people” went to college (twice)! 1830 was when Ohio achieved statehood – JC was in Ohio shortly after that. And yet, Ohio was too settled for him so he moved on to Iowa when the population of that territory was 50,000. The Civil War – 1865 – this ancestor lived through it.

    Granted that JC had a more interesting life than most of the ancestors I have uncovered. In fact for whatever reason, his story is the most complete of my ancestors’ stories. Reading through my great great grandmother’s autograph book reveals some of the threads of an everyday life — the sadness of having to move to a new town, illness or deaths of friends and acquaintances, the chronicle of a plains pioneer.

    I am at once awed by the strength of character of these people and maybe, just maybe, beginning to understand the challenges of living in another time in history.