5 months old
Can't wait to see her (and hug her) again!
Spilling My Guts
Blogging is one of those great outlets, like writing in a diary, when you can spill your guts. Especially in my case, because most people who read this blog don't really know me!
I posted awhile back about how pumped I was to have gotten accepted into the doctoral program at PSU to get my Ed.D in Educational Leadership. My ultimate goal is to teach at the university level in a teacher prep program. I did not find that my teacher prep program truly prepared me to be in the classroom, so I would like to help implement some changes so that future teachers have a better idea of how to meet the needs of ELL students, students of poverty, students of color, as well as students with various special needs.
Anyway, shortly after I received my acceptance letter, my husband received a call from headquarters in Germany indicating they are interested in having him take a position in their office....in Germany. At first I was so upset and cried my eyes out because I have a hard time leaving people, places, routines and plans. I was all set to embark on this great path for my own personal/professional journey and this definitely put a huge kink in that!
Now that I have had some time to think about it, I am actually pretty excited at the prospect of moving to Germany. I think teaching in an international setting would be a phenomenal experience and I know that I would have fun experiencing so many things that I have yet to experience in life.
The problem now is that everything is still so up in the air. We are going to Germany for 10 days to have some meetings and get more information, but in the meantime I am finishing the school year not knowing if I will be back next year. I have told the team of teachers that I work with and many of my friends on staff, however I am not planning to make the principal or district aware unless/until I have a for sure/final answer. It has been so challenging to "make plans" for next year, all the while knowing I may not be there to carry them out. Because I will not know before school lets out, I feel like there is no closure and that sucks!
I had a whole schedule of courses set up that I was planning on taking this summer, but now I am not sure what to do because I don't know if I will be here this summer or not.
I got chosen to teach at a really cool summer program for ELL students through my district, but again I don't know if I will actually be able to do it.
Last night I attended an informational session at PSU and it was bittersweet. I felt so proud that I was sitting there among the chosen, yet sad because once again, I have no idea it will actually come to fruition! After the presentations were all done, I spoke with the program coordinator and basically explained my situation and told him I really don't want to give up this great opportunity I have to participate in this program. I asked him if there is any way, if I move, to complete the program (or parts of it) remotely from Germany.
To my surprise, he said he would actually consider it....
He told me that they have been trying to add more online components and that we can schedule a meeting to discuss possibilities. I was thinking that I can still purchase and read the textbooks, follow the syllabus, and complete assignments and perhaps use a format like a blog to interact and discuss with my cohort and classmates. I think there would be extra work involved because of the class time I would be missing, but perhaps I could add an international perspective to discussions that would be an interesting element.
I am really excited to think that maybe I can have my cake and eat it too!
I will be terribly sad if I have to leave my current school and wonderful staff. I have learned so much from the other teachers on my team and I will miss them tremendously. Goodbyes are hard, especially when you are surrounded by such good people.
Another challenging aspect is moving out of a classroom. It is like a small apartment and I have soo many materials and books that I can't even imagine the process of moving all of my stuff from school as well as packing up our whole house. Challenges that arise with a move seem all the more complicated when it comes to moving abroad. Not to mention the fact that my hair straighter will not work in Germany!
All of this uncertainty has pretty much been eating away at me and driving me crazy for the past month or so. I know that good things come from change and I welcome challenges and new experiences, but I have such a hard time not having any sort of plan.
Once school ends next week, I have no idea when I will work again, whether I will take classes this summer or pack up my life and what the next few months will bring. It is both exciting and scary at the same time.
I am crossing my fingers that my husband gets the job because I know that is what he truly wants and I guess we will just have to take it from there, one step at a time.....
Check it out!
I decided to start a new blog which will be more about my husband and our adventures together as opposed to my professional life and teaching.
I am still going to post on sneakerteacher, but I may have more interesting stuff to post on Team Toppel since summer is coming and school is almost out! My first post is up!
Layoffs and Budget Cuts
We recently had many of our staff members laid off due to budget cuts for next year. Six teachers from our school were laid off and one was moved to another school because our full day Kindergarten program was cut to half day (with one tuition full day class). Those teachers included our PE and Music teacher because the district is cutting those programs so that instead of having full time PE and Music teachers, two elementary schools will share 1 PE teacher and 1 Music teacher. Also many instructional assistants and our Library assistant were laid off.
What do you say to a co-worker that has been laid off?!
Our number one concern (besides how crappy it is that GREAT teachers lost their jobs) is that class sizes will increase for next year to possibly 27 kids and over 30 kids in 4th and 5th grades.
We recently found out that 35 of the 100 or so teachers who were laid off will be hired back due to increases in the projected funding for next year. Nothing is official yet, but it is great to know that so many excellent teachers will not be out of work. We are hopeful that our PE and Music program will run the same next year as it has in the past with specialists at each school. I feel like change is very hard and even if some teachers are hired back, they will not necessarily get positions at our school.
I am happy that summer vacation is almost here, but at the same time, I feel like a lot of farewells are approaching and that is always hard for me. I get really attached to people and I will be sad to have certain teachers leave our staff. We are also losing our principal to another school in the district and are awaiting the announcement of our new principal. It seems like next year will be very different and will take some getting used to.
It is always hard to watch certain kids get on the bus on the last day of school. I have several kiddos this year that I adore and I wish I could teach them next year as well. As much as many days can be frustrating, I will truly miss some of my students over the summer. Each year of teaching has gotten a little bit easier and each group gets a little more dear to my heart.
7 days left...hard to believe!
I PICK Good-Fit Books
By Gail Boushey & Joan Moser "the sisters"
I got my new books from Amazon yesterday! I started reading The Daily Five and so far I am enjoying it. I read 4 of the 7 chapters at my husband's softball game...(I know I am such a good fan). I at least looked up and took a reading break every time he was at bat. I always enjoy reading about teachers who have these amazing strategies and systems in place in their classrooms. I picture what it's like and get excited about having a classroom where the kids all adore reading and quietly manage themselves, moaning when they have to stop reading.
The problem is, when I read about their classrooms and their students, I can't but thinking that they just don't sound like my students. The ideas are great and it would be my job as a skilled teacher to figure out how those ideas would work best in my classroom with my group of children, and I can do that, but at the same time, given an adopted reading curriculum that I have to follow, I don't have the ability to simply teach kids how to read in whatever manner I please. There are protocols that I have to follow.
With the daily five system, as I am learning, it seems like the strategies and expectations can be used in conjunction with an adopted curriculum, but I do think that I would need more TIME (and what teacher doesn't). Even though it can be frustrating at times, I do think that I continue to get new ideas and even if I can't use the specific ideas from a given book, I always find reading about teaching to be inspiring.
The one part that I loved the most from what I read so far was using shoe selection to teach kids about Good-Fit books and book selection. The authors discuss using IPICK:
I chose a book
Purpose-Why do I want to read it?
Interest-Does it interest me?
Comprehend-Am I understanding what I am reading?
Know-I know most of the words.
I think this alone is a great tool to help kids select books that are appropriate for their personal interests/abilities. The authors extend the lesson further in a way that is really cute.
The mention bringing in a bag full of different kinds of shoes-- running shoes, golf shoes, rain boots, dress up shoes, and a pair of their husband's shoes that are much too large. They discuss with the kids how each kind of shoe has a different purpose. We would not wear ballet slippers in the rain! We certainly could not go running in the rain!
"Just like choosing which shoes to wear for which activity, we also have a purpose when we choose a book."
They broaden the discussion by mentioning a type of shoe that they do not have in the bag-- maybe soccer shoes-- because they do not like soccer. This helps to explain how being interested in something makes it right for us. Kids should select books that are interesting to them.
Finally they state, 
I know how important it is to relate new ideas to schema that kids already know. The shoe analogy is such a fun way to get kids to see how important it is to choose Good-Fit or "just right" books. They already have the skills to properly choose appropriate foot wear so why not extend those judgement skills to selecting books that will help them become better readers.
"We pull out our husband's much-too-large shoes, put them on, and proceed to try to move around the room. Amid giggles and peals of laughter we point out that these shoes are too big, so they don't fit. This is just like a book that is either too easy or too hard to read or that we don't understand. The shoes don't fit and neither does the book."
I know how important it is to relate new ideas to schema that kids already know. The shoe analogy is such a fun way to get kids to see how important it is to choose Good-Fit or "just right" books. They already have the skills to properly choose appropriate foot wear so why not extend those judgement skills to selecting books that will help them become better readers.I will definitely use that lesson with my class next year!
Beyond the Bake Sale
Beyond the Bake Sale- $16.50 at Amazon.com
The presenter at my last Courageous Conversations workshop mentioned this book as a great resource for teachers to help in fostering better parental relationships and involvement. I have read through the first 4 chapters so far and I really like it.
Contents
Section I Why Partnerships are Important
chapter 1 Introduction
chapter 2 What Is a Family-School Partnership Supposed to Look Like?
Section II Getting Started: Building the Relationship
chapter 3 Ready, Set, Go! Do You Know if You're Really Open to Partnership?
chapter 4 Developing Relationships: How Can You Build Trust Instead of Blaming Each Other
- checklist- How family friendly is your school?
Section III Guidelines for Action From Research
chapter 5 Linking to Learning: How Will Involving Parents Help Your Test Scores?
- checklist-How closely is your school's parent involvement program linked to studentlearning?
chapter 6 Addressing Differences: How Can You Deal with Issues of Race, Class, and Culture?
- checklist- How well is your school bridging racial, class, and cultural differences?
chapter 7 Supporting Advocacy: How Can "Problem Parents" Become Partners You Can Work With?
- checklist- How well does your school support parents as advocates?
chapter 8 Sharing Power: Who's in Charge Here Anyway?
- checklist- How well is your school sharing power and practicing democracy?
chapter 9 Scaling Up: Why Can't All Schools in a District Create Strong Partnerships with Families?
- checklist how well does your district support family and community engagement?
Section IV Resources and Tools
chapter 10 Help! Where Can You Find Useful Resources to Build Your Partnership?
chapter 11 Tools to Support Your Work: Where Do We Start?
- attitude check
- conference checklist
- developing a code of conduct
- district policy on family-school partnership
- family involvement coordinator
- family welcome questionnaire
- homework survey
- needs assessment survey
- parent review
- parent volunteer survey
- school climate survey
- tips for developing a school family involvement policy
This book is a great resource for teachers who want to help parents understand how to become more involved in their child's school. There are many great checklists to use to determine what ideas/systems are already in place and where a school/teacher may have a need for further development.
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