TIS the season....

Despite being surrounded by oodles of students all day, teaching is an isolating profession. Often, in the race to lesson plan, run off copies, teach, provide extra help, research new resources, dash off emails, etc., we neglect one of the most important moments in our day – conversations with other teachers.

Case in point.

Today, my colleague Kelly Hanley called me into her room to say hello for a couple minutes. Although we have adjoining rooms, we barely see one another. We talked about general stuff, then she brought up a feature on our class websites – the slideshow – that I had not used before. In approximately five minutes, she showed me how she had been using the feature to showcase group work students had completed in class. Essentially the students created study guides of the information which Kelly could simply upload in this format.

Unbeknownst to Kelly, FIVE MINUTES of her time saved me HOURS of extra work. I was working on THREE different lesson plans involving students creating information which they would share with other classmates in the next couple weeks. She was just being friendly and sharing the latest cool thing she had been doing in her class.

On my way home I realized my chat time had somehow turned into professional development. How cool was that? Could I market this idea? Create T-shirts? Find an excuse to have Starbucks cater frappuccinos? Perhaps I was getting ahead of myself. Edcamps – organized events in which teachers share ideas – already exist. However, they are all day events. (Totally worthwhile though. If you have not attended one before, get thee to one asap. See my blog post on Friday, August 16.) I just want teachers to hang out for a few minutes and “see what happens.” Is that even a concept?

I spend part of my day helping manage students’ time to keep them from socializing unproductively. Will I now lose credibility if I tell my associates to dedicate a part of their day to chill out with one another? No agenda, just drop in and schmooze….For my scientific minded friends, I felt I needed evidence to prove my theory that such time is valuable. Keep reading.

The website Kelly is using is called Weebly. I introduced Kelly to Weebly last year with the website I had created for my classes. I never sat down and “taught” her how to use it. In the course of conversations, I mentioned things I had been doing. She liked the idea and on her own started using it. (At least I think I inspired her to use it…Kelly correct me if I am wrong!)

Of course, I can’t take credit for discovering Weebly. Meredith Macomber, a colleague of mine from my previous school, introduced me to that web site builder. The topic came about when we were talking after school one day about cool technology stuff – such as iPhones, iPads, and all Apple products in general – which had nothing to do with school. In the course of our conversation, Meredith mentioned Weebly (not an Apple product, but still cool), and showed me what she was using it for (along with a dozen other cool technology resources). I became a quick convert to the site.

Yet I would not have been having that conversation with Meredith if another recently retired colleague, Cheryl Nastri, had not told me to get out of my classroom more and socialize with other teachers. (Disclaimer: I LOVE being social, but I tend to get immersed in my work and forget to breathe, let alone talk.) Thank you, Cheryl, for the advice. She noticed that I seemed to be leaving late daily and had stopped in to say “hi.” Did I mention we also talked about yummy places to eat, beach vacations, books, and grammar lessons?

Still not convinced?

Last year, a conversation with my school’s art teacher, Jenny Finan, led to an awesome project in which students visually represented a passage through artwork. That project resulted from us talking about The Scarlet Letter, and some drawings Jenny had done years ago.

Two years ago, chatting with Christy Catsos, a former colleague from my previous school’s history department, led to me doing several activities in which we take old text and change it into tweets. The conversation which inspired the project? A talk about Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook. #RUconvincedyet #studentfavs

Most of the conversations I mentioned were no longer than 15 minutes to a half hour long. The bulk of the conversations weren’t even about the items I ended up using. We talked about how we were doing, movies/books/music, and life outside of school. Yet somewhere along the way, perhaps inevitably with two teachers talking, something cool that we were doing in our classrooms came up that we wanted to share. And as my friend Attorney Tracy Shaughnessy says “sharing is caring.”

So join the TIS movement – Teachers Intentionally Schmoozing  - and hangout with your teacher friends. Give yourself permission to leave the classroom. Chill, chat, loiter, loaf about, decompress, veg out, and take time out to smell the roses with your colleagues. TIS the season to do so….

Open Letter to the U.S. Government

Dear Senators, et al,

Today I heard a story on NPR about a filibuster in which a senator ended by reading Dr. Seuss. I was incensed by this report. How dare you think it is funny to waste taxpayer dollars by throwing away your working hours? I am a high school English teacher. Would you think it was amusing if I wasted classroom time in this manner? How can I teach my students a solid work ethic when this is the example I have to set before them?

Later on I heard another news report in which people moaned and groaned about a potential government shutdown unless blah blah blah happened. I say “Good, shut them down.” Since no one is doing any work, why the hell should we pay you to show up and hang out?

I don’t care what political party you are a part of, nor what your opinion is on a particular matter. I do care that you make your best effort to actually do the job you were elected to do. I tell my students that the United States of America is the best country in the world. I tell them that we have built our country on solid moral principles, a strong work ethic, and the idea that we can always improve for the better. Now for God’s sake, prove me right, or get out of office. I have no patience for you wasting time doing nothing, while I am putting in 15 hour days trying to teach my students that every person should strive for his or her personal best.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Samantha Eve Kennedy

PS – Notice how I signed my name to my document. I believe in backing the documents I create…shouldn't you do the same?

Lessons from EdCamp

I attended my first EdCamp last week. The best way I can describe it is as a big learning love-fest where people (teachers, librarians, administrators, tech coordinators, etc.) show up to share, collaborate, problem-solve, listen, and discuss.

I wasn't sure why I attended other than I heard this was the coolest thing to hit professional development since people began fashionably calling it "PD." After attending three sessions (and the informal BBC get together after), I walked away with 3 major lessons that I can use in my classroom:

1. Take ownership of your learning.

The major premise of EdCamp is that there are no lectures/presentations set up in advance. I was greeted in the morning by a table filled with fabulous goodies, a gigantic whiteboard with session times and room numbers blocked in a table, and huge neon post-it's. 

Participants decided if there was a session they wanted to lead, or a problem they wanted to discuss, and put it up on the board. Hitting my magic bravery button, I placed a post-it on the board inviting people to a technology in the classroom discussion during session 3. Then I picked out two additional sessions to attend (created by other participants).

Take-away: Wouldn't it be cool to test out this concept with a unit? Have students create topics they wish to research further and let the groups sort themselves out by interest.

2. Be open to learning unexpected lessons.

The first two sessions I attended - Flipping the Classroom and Blogging in the Classroom - did not meet my preconceived notions for what I expected to learn. However, they were both packed with great information. So I took notes on applications and techniques which might prove useful in my classroom sometime down the road.

Take-away: As teachers, we plan our units with specific goals in mind. However, there are times when the actual application of the lesson goes in a different direction. Learning is not always a linear process, so be open to opportunities to adjust your unit expectations to meet the real learning happening with your students.

3. Be brave enough to lead the discussion AND to ask questions about what you don't know

Although I walked into EdCamp intending to be a passive participant, I led a session in the afternoon on technology in the classroom. Surrounded by fabulous professionals who had been in this profession longer than me, it was a nerve-wracking standing up and offering my so-called expertise on the topic. What if they laughed? What if everyone already knew everything I knew, thus making my presentation useless? Turns out, my fears were unfounded!

As I shared, it was exciting to realize how much I had learned about this topic in the past few years. Furthermore, as I posed questions to the group, I learned about new resources, and how to use some existing ones in new or better ways. Being open to sharing what I didn't know allowed me the opportunity to meet awesome people who offered best practices too. One very cool teacher spent an hour of her time after the session answering my questions and sharing her resources. (I think we are becoming besties for life!) If I hadn't been brave enough to lead the discussion, these opportunities might not have presented themselves.

Take-away: Students should be given opportunities to become experts and share with their classes. People always say that you learn the material best when you teach it to someone else. So why aren't we helping students to have this same opportunity for learning?

I plan to attend more EdCamps. Fun, innovative, and collaborative, they are great models for the future of classroom experiences.

It had to be said....

“You’re in it for the kids so what does the pay matter?”

“The hours are wonderful plus you get summers off. I wish I could be so lucky!”

“Well eventually it will be easier because you just use the same worksheets year after year, right?”

“Naturally you wouldn’t expect to do it for the money.”

“The benefits may be awful, but those intangible rewards are great. Besides, you get loan forgiveness...so your education was free!”

The ridiculous list I hear goes on and on.

I am a teacher, a professional who takes time to hone her craft, to learn the ins and outs of the profession. I  am on Twitter, Facebook, the College Board forum, the Right Question Institute forum,  Pinterest, Blogger, and other sites to collaborate, share, question, learn, reach-out, and discuss best practices with other professional teachers. I spend my summers attending conferences, developing new curriculum, practicing new strategies, pouring over student feedback, reviewing new texts, and creating new lesson plan units.

I have a Masters of Arts in Teaching. I am paying off the loans for that degree myself. There is no government entity forgiving my loan, no magical inheritance dropping from the sky, and no grant money. I have no complaints about paying for my loan (other than the interest rate), and would love to pursue a PhD should I ever pay off this debt. I do this because I want to be the best, and I expect no less than the highest quality from myself in my career.

Going into my fourth year of teaching, I am amazed at the inane comments I hear about the teaching profession. Notice the word choice ladies and gentlemen – PROFESSION. This is a career choice, not a charity. The fact that I happen to love what I do does not justify the idea that I am poorly compensated. I have never heard "loving your job" used as logic for why you are undercompensated in any other field. No one in their right mind says that to a lawyer or doctor, a businessman or an engineer, so please do not say that to me.

True, I love working with teenagers, but do not make the mistake of assuming I am only doing this for the kids. I am passionate about teaching – the theory, practice, application, and effects. I did not choose any other career working with this age group, I chose THIS ONE because it is the career that I enjoy the most.

Furthermore, the hours are not great. I recently met a career changer who went from being a teacher to being a lawyer. He smirked when I mentioned that I was going to my fifth conference this summer, and was working daily on new curriculum for the coming year. “Obviously, you’re not doing this right,” he laughed. “You’re supposed to have summers off and leave school early…” Yeah buddy, you try doing that and see if you make partner…I may not be up for advancement, but I take my work no less seriously.

So the next time you find yourself justifying a teacher’s low pay with an inane, illogical, or sarcastic comment, think to yourself: 

If this proposition was true, would you really want this person in front of the classroom teaching your kids?

February Vacation

Vacation.

The word conjures up images of tropical sandy beaches, balmy breezes, sunshine, and lots of outdoor activities. The reality is that during the school year, “school vacation” for many teachers does not mean an actual break from work. Yes, we do not physically go into the classroom, but the grading and lesson planning continues even as we are admonished by our administrators to “relax” for the week.

So how can a teacher sneak fun into the school vacation? 

My top 6 suggestions:

• Sleep in. 

My day typically starts at 4:30am, so getting to sleep past this time – even if it is just for a half hour – is an amazingly refreshing way to start the day.

• Watch silly movies and read ridiculous books. 

School vacation is not the time to preview books for students or check out movies to enrich the classroom. Personally I watch all the over-the-top “chick flicks” or dance movies that my husband has no interest in while he is at work.

• Make time for friends. 

Although we are surrounded by students from early in the morning until late in the afternoon, teaching can be one of the most isolating jobs in the world. Often it feels like it is just YOU out there in an ocean of teenage hormones…

(Disclaimer: To any of my students who happen to read this blog, no insult is intended. However, imagine if you never had an opportunity to hang out with your friends. Wouldn't that make you feel a bit cranky?) 

School nights are often too busy to spend time with your grownup friends, so school vacations provide some open opportunities to schedule fun!

• Try something new. 

Pick up that guitar that has been languishing in the corner of your rock-n-roll room, try out those colored pencils you bought for that cool new art book, or learn a new dance move. These hours of vacation should inspire you to be daring – even if it just a small tra-la-la of a Britney song when no one else is around. 

(What do you mean that not everyone has a rock-n-roll room? Doesn't one come standard with every home?)

• Go somewhere. 

If you are like me and can’t get away to somewhere grand for a school vacation, plan a small day trip to a place you have wanted to visit. Museums, gardens (if you live somewhere warm or know of an indoor one), a new store, or even a simple drive down a new street can feel deliciously decadent when done during what would normally be school hours.

• Indulge. 

Buy a crazy colored nail polish, put that nose ring back on, splurge on that extra luxurious hand cream, pick up that Harley Davidson key chain, and make that Starbucks espresso a triple! As teachers we spend our time teaching practical skills, however it is okay to break out of the mold on vacation – a teensy bit…

Even with these suggestions I promise you the lesson planning will get done, the grades will be entered, and you will get ahead on the next unit you are teaching. However your students will be happy to see a relaxed teacher smiling at them on the first day back at school instead of a cranky stressed out monster. After all, we are trying to make the classroom experience fun, right?