After you've practiced strategies, what test prep is best?

During this last week before our high stakes ELA statewide assessment, we are on Spring Break.

Hello planning people?  What were you thinking? The kids are at Disney or playing in backyards or in day camp playing in the sunshine and having lots of fun.  They are tuckered out so they crash at night!

We've practiced the format and talked about the importance of just doing your best....
We've practiced bubbling in dots and determing the best answer from close choices...
We've practice graphic organizers and taked about the importance of reading questinos carefully...

AND NOW?  They get the week off before the test?  They might forget everything we've taught them?
What were you thinking when you made this schedule? 

They're ready with strategies and getting a well deserved break before the days they will need to demonstrate their reading and math proficiency.  I'm sure many of them will use this time to read some really wonderful books on their shelves.  I'm sure they have ones they have been too busy to read!

Were you thinking that reading and resting might be the best thing for all of us? You might be right!

Easter, Spring, Break, Family,and Jelly Bellies

Each of these words conjures up a positive image, 
The promise of a new beginning,
It's what this season is really about.
I'm glad
For a few days off,
For jelly bellies on my table,
For this season of hope,
That long ago,
Grew from unimaginable sadness,
This season of hope,
Even when there is sadness,
Was promised us.

 

Choices

Long ago,as a "newbie" teacher , I used to get on the Beltway around Washington DC to head to school in the morning,  My class was hard and I was often overwhelmed with the responsibility of teaching the 39 first graders in my care.  I imagined staying on the Beltway - not getting off at my exit - just driving around that big circle all day long!  I never made that choice, but I vividly remember thinking about making that choice!  I'm glad that I made the choice to head into school every day...even though it was very hard some days...glad that I stayed in this profession...even though it is very hard some days..... 

We all make choices numerous times during every day of our lives.  There are big choices and little choices. Some are hard choices and others easier.  Sometimes we choose to put others first and sometimes we put ourselves first.  Some choices have positive and some have negative consequences.  Some choices impact those around us in big ways while other choices impact how we look and feel about ourselves.  Some people choose to share their joys and sorrows in a very public forum while others tend to hold their happiness and concerns closer to their heart.

I've been thinking a lot lately about the big and not so big choices we make as we go through life lately. Perhaps it is the stage of life when I realize there are big changes all around me.  Sometimes, those decisions seem so big and foreboding at the time...to take a job...to get a phone...to have a child....to get a dog....to get a car...where to live.....what to wear...who to have dinner with....yet each of theses choices, when we look back, was the right choice for us at the time.... just like when I decided to get off the Beltway in Oxen Hill each morning.  Retrospect is easier than prospect I guess! 

  

Teachers do not work 9-3 and they don't work M-F either

On Saturday, I was at school working on curriculum.  We came in jeans and sweatshirts and labored over the common core all day.  It was great to reflect on all the wonderful curriculum we have in place; it was hard to acknowledge all the gaps we need to fill, but we did.  I did moan and groan quite a bit as I left in the icy, early morning cold and even had a bit of a a "pitty party" as I drove down the parkway; but, those thoughts were honestly pretty short lived as I reflected on the fact that is was certainly not the first nor the last time I worked outside of regular teaching hours!
I thought about how when my kids were little, I often went into school on Saturday so that I could get home a little earlier in the afternoons.  Now, I am on my computer every night and every Saturday and Sunday either answering emails or planning or working on something school related.  It's a lot of work to engage diverse students, meet the diverse standards, and differentiate instruction! 

I thought about our busy school days where we hit the ground running with last minute copying and bus duty and emails.  We typically start any hint at socializing in the hallway, after the kids have left. At that point, we do what other professionals do during "coffee break" or around the proverbial water cooler!  But, we don't do if for long.  We plan, we organize and we meet to discuss kids after the kids leave.  We discuss what we did and how we can do it better.  We call parents and answer emails and fill out book orders.  We mentor newer teachers and we coordinate instruction across grades and buildings to assure alignment and continuity. 

I thought about teachers who are already teaching every Saturday morning to help kids make up their gaps in neighborhoods with the most needy kids of all. In big cities, like NYC, this is already part of the program - and it is helping.  I thought of those who work every day after school, like my son, making big impressions on kids as their coaches. Coaches give their Saturdays, summer days and many a vacation day too.  There are theater and music teachers who put in countless hours supervising hormonal kids and guiding them into actors and musicians.  While we get some monetary compensation for our extra time,  I suspect the hourly pay rate would be startlingly low for many who give so much. 

I really cannot complain....about my Saturday even though I had a little less time to clean and shop.  I do have a deeper respect for those teachers who work lots more Saturdays than me....in fact, my "pitty party" turned into a "bumper sticker" or "t-shirt logo" of sorts:
                                                                       

Teachers

Don't work 9-3

                            Don't work M-F

                                                   Work during vacations

                           Shape the future

                             

                     

April's Fools

"Mrs. F., did you know you got a hole is your shirt? " 
"Really?"
"Yeah you put your foot in it!"
"Really? Do you mean I put my put my head in my shirt?"
"No I mean you put your foot in it!"
"April Fools"

I just realized that kids won't be in school today, and thus the jokes of kids who are still just trying to  understand "jokes" will not happen this year!  Sigh...I'll miss it....

SOL 31 Reflection

At first,

 I was

Curious
Could I do it?

Scared of being noticed

Sure I would get distracted by life

Afraid I would not have enough to say

Worried that no one would like my writing

Concerned that there would not be enough time

Anxious that my writing would not be as good as others

A month later,
I am

Energized

Excited about writing

Empowered by other writers

Proud that I wrote every day!
Aware of the little events of my life

Sure about the need to write regularly

Transformed into a more confident writer

Very happy that I completed the challenge

Cyberfriends with writers all over the globe
Confident that we all have writers inside us
Grateful that I decided to give this a try
Ready to start finding a publisher
Ready to catch up on laundry!
Looking forward to Tuesday. 

Anxious to write again
A SOL survivor
Proud
 

Tomorrow
Begins a new challenge
April's Slice Off Me (SOM)! 
Exercise my muscles every day
Work on getting in shape
Lose a few pounds
I guess, I like
Challenges

SOL 30 Giving Up and Giving More

For many years, I used to "give things up" during Lent. I grew up in a home where my parents usually gave up alcoholic beverages and married into a family that typically gave up dessert (except on Sundays when it was OK to have cake) in preparation of Easter. I just followed without thinking critically about my practices.  One day, a sermon changed this and I stopped giving things up and started consciously giving more during this season of preparation. Some extra change shared here or a little extra into the envelope. Paying for the next person's coffee. The gift of happiness or even a goodie for someone. 

Last night, I walked out of the university where I work as an adjunct invigorated as always by the students, their energy and their questions.  I taught all day, attended CSE meetings, pondered APPR, mentored teachers, taught grad school, modeled how to make any text a readers theater, and then talked to students.  I should have been tired...but I wasn't.  In the past, teachers have asked how I find the energy to teach grad school at night, and I really didn't  have an answer.  Through some miracle that happens every week, I seem to get energized by giving more. 

While I might still go out of my way to donate a bit more during this season (eg. change into the March of Dimes container), giving happens every day all year through.  Maybe the message all along has been...as it should be...that giving up and giving more are both ways to reflect and ultimately get more! 

SOL 29 It's Readers Theater Time

My sister-in-law was full of advice - but most of time she did not tell me what to do - she showed me. She showed me how to put a Sunday dinner on the table for 15 people in 20 minutes without having a breakdown.  She showed me how to recycle stale bread for hungry teenagers. She showed me how to do a butterfly bandage and avoid a trip to the ER.

I think of her..

When I talk to my young writers.
I need to show them.
I remind then to show me with details.

When I talk to my grad students.
I can't just lecture.
I need to show them what an engaged classroom looks like!

Tonight,
There will be a host of grad students
Crawling around the floor
Acting as if they are the characters in a story.

It's readers theater time.
I will show them how it feels to be engaged in learning!

SOL 28 Lost and Found

                                                   Lost and Found
In my school,this catch-all place is in a corner of the cafeteria.  It's filled with sweaters, hats, gloves, lunchboxes and more.  I wonder what parents think when a sweater, hat, glove, or lunchbox does not return home?

In my kitchen, it's the first drawer after the pantry where odd pieces of string, twisty ties and paper clips intermingle with scissors and pencils.  It's where you put stuff because you don't really have a place for it until you need it!

In my computer, there are deep recesses disguised as folders that suck up files.  "Download CQ78Rcg," it said the other day...and it might of well have said..."you'll never find me again," unless you save me to your C, D, A, and B drives.  I usually have to call in my husband, the great hunter, to find missing files; thus, I TRY to avoid losing files!   

My new tablet computer, Monet, is tiny and barely a centimeter thick; however, she appears to have the biggest lost and found in the world.  Incredibly, she saves things in the clouds! 

That book that went missing the other day?  It's been found!  I guess it got lost as I searched the virtual stores in the clouds.  I must have shopped in the Google Play "store" even though I THOUGHT I was in the Amazon "store."   In some ways, this tablet might even make finding lost books "easier" as they are not hidden in the couch cushions nor are they lost in the blankets.  They are not mixed in with the daily news papers; they are just lost in the clouds.  In some way, that all seems very appropriate....when I am reading a really good book, I often get lost in the clouds!

SOL 27 Half Full or Half Empty

We see it differently.

My mom says that her perception as half empty protects her a little from the bad things that happen. She's had a lot of sadness and stress in her life and does not want to be let down when things she hopes will happen do not. It means, however, that she often has trouble enjoying whatever she has at the moment out of fear for the future.  She's been predicting the frost that came overnight as inevitable after our unprecedentedly warm spring. She's been warning us that is could still snow. "We're gonna pay for this," she admonisned on one realy lovely day last week! 

It's not easy, but I try to find the potential each day has to offer. I've seen my share of sadness and loss; however, I am sensitive to the finite number of days all living things have to make this world a better place. I realized last night as the temperature plummeted that frost was likely; so, I spent a few extra minutes enjoying the flowers and budding trees on my way home.  As I write this in the early morning hours of darkness, I do not yet know what he impact will be; however, I am hoping the frost will have limited impact on the plants and life that are trying to spring from the earth.  I'll pull out the scarf that is now at the back of the closet and grab some gloves and a winter coat when I head out.  If I see this..............

I will not be jumping for joy; however, I am confident that the real spring is still closer today than in was yesterday. 

Early this morning, the SOL link was not up and I was doing my customary reading of yesterday's blogs...and I came across Christy who blogs at Living. She wrote about the same topic from a different but wonderful angle. I love the term, "landed safely." and plan to keep it as my own. Thank you, Christy for sharing http://readwriteinspire.blogspot.com/2012/03/safe-landing.html