Reflecting on High School

Although it seems like a lifetime ago, high school was the time in my life where I truly learned how to be a learner. This would not have been possible had it not been for teachers that inspired me and pushed me to always learn more. My favorite subject was always English, although it was quite a challenge for me. Science and history were always a challenge for me, so they were never favorites. In fact, my freshman English teacher tried to convince my parents that taking AP English might not be the best fit for me. This only made me persevere and try harder. Reading and writing were both subjects I enjoyed but had never been given time to explore these subjects and learn how to apply myself.

Once I stepped foot into my sophomore year English class, I knew it was going to be different. My teacher was full of passion and energy for teaching. She was everything that you would want in an inspirational teacher and you could tell she was so passionate about her content. Not only was she an expert in the field, but she knew that building relationships with her students was crucial to student success. She took an interest in me and found ways to differentiate her instruction so I finally felt like I could keep up with the AP course demands. Although she had high expectations, I was eager to please and meet those expectations. I felt safe in her classroom and knew that if I struggled with something, I could go to her for guidance. Although I'm sure there were negative things about her classroom and that school year, I can't recall any major negatives. She was the definition of an effective teacher and the one that I try to emulate while I am in the classroom today.

In my classroom, I work hard to build relationships with my students and find out what ignites their spark. A lot of times my struggling readers or ones who don't have an interest in reading leave my classroom realizing what types of texts they enjoy. I have found that by focusing on literacy and providing variety of text choice, my students are more engaged. This is something that I learned from my sophomore English teacher but also my professors. Similar to my high school teacher, I believe that every student can learn and it is a teacher's responsibility to meet the different learning needs of each child. I have had many teachers throughout my educational career, but only the master teachers stick in my mind. I can only hope one day a child feels the same way about me as their former teacher as I do about some of mine.

Reflecting on the Semester

I have always had a passion for teaching literacy, but I had never quite explored the world outside of my primary level comfort zone. I spend my days teaching readers' and writers' workshop and conferencing with my students in order to build their love for reading. This class completely opened my eyes to the world beyond my classroom walls and into the world of secondary literacy. Through Randy Bomer's book, Building Adolescent Literacy in Today's English Classrooms, reading and exploring young adult novels like Wonder and Speak, and getting to research and learn about effective reading and writing strategies, I have an entirely new perspective about teaching literacy at the secondary level.

Through our textbook, articles, and our class discussions, a major theme has been to allow students the freedom to find their own reading and writing life. I believe this class has helped me find my reading life again. It is our job as educators to help our students build this life, as it doesn't always happen naturally for them. This is actually something that helped me greatly this semester. Once I started to carve out more time for daily reading, I started to get my reading groove back. I learned that if I don't make a conscious effort to do so, reading for pleasure just simply won't happen. I also discovered that audiobooks are a great way to enjoy reading. If I want to foster an environment of reading for my students, the good habits have to start with me.

When we were given the choice to pick a book, I was so glad to be a part of the Wonder book club. It had been a long time since I had found a book that I wanted to finish in a day. It was even better to get to discuss and share with my colleagues. If this is the kind of reading experience we want for our secondary students, I love that we got to experience book clubs ourselves. Exploring the multigenre research paper also allowed for endless creativity and an experience to delve deeper into the text. Both of these experiences I look forward to bringing back to my students.

I have just begun my graduate degree work and I am so thankful that this was my first course. I leave feeling excited to work with older students and continue the work I am most passionate about which is molding lifelong readers and writers.

In Honor of National Poetry Month

I Scream, You Scream…

Inspired by: Pregnancy cravings

Eyes gazing through the cold freezer door

Belly tempted for some sweet, frozen goodness

Chocolate, vanilla, mint chocolate chip

“I’m eating for two,” I try to convince myself

Sliding down my throat

So refreshing and smooth

And I’m instantly taken back

To the taste of childhood

Summers at the beach

Chocolate dripping down my cone

All over my smile and my arm

Making a beautiful, delicious mess

Memories that soon baby girl will enjoy
All with the start of a single scoop

The "Wonder" of it all...

This week, I am in charge of kindness week at my school. This program is a part of the No Place for Hate movement through the Anti-Defamation League. The program since its launch has been extremely successful at providing a safe school where students combat bullying and spread kindness. 
It also has the mission of making sure all students have a place to belong.

I can't help but smile as I see elementary students spreading acts of kindness and writing sweet notes of encouragement to one another. One of my students asked, "Why do we only do this for a week? Shouldn't we do this all the time?" Of course, the goal is for these lessons to stick and for students to incorporate the core value of kindness in their lives consistently.

As I spend time reflecting on the book, Wonder by R.J. Palacio, I think about kindness, inclusion, and acceptance. Wonder is a testament to simple, basic kindness. It tells the story of Auggie who was born with a facial deformity who attends school for the first time. Although he is brave, he combats bullies, pressures of fitting in, and people making fun of him because of his appearance. It takes so little kindness to make such a big difference. I wonder if there was a kindness week at Auggie's school if it would have made a difference in acceptance? Unfortunately, bullying is not an issue that I believe is going away overnight, but it is my job as an educator to continue to model the right behaviors and advocate for my students. 

"If every single person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary—the world really would be a better place. And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God." -Mr. Tushman from Wonder

Another Slice of Life

One, two, three, pop! An explosion of confetti filled the sky and quickly started to fall to our feet. For just a moment, the air above our heads was like a stream of cotton candy and our voices all let out shrieks.  My dad and some of my nieces and nephews still struggled to open their popper. I stood in disbelief as I hugged my husband and he shouted, "I can't believe it's a girl!" I was so sure we were having a boy. So sure that I would tell people how strong the boy vibes were. Joke was on me though - the streamers were pink. Our families surrounded us and we hugged a cried (happy tears) together.

A baby girl will be joining our family in late August and I could not be more excited. These special moments that we share as a family make this journey so fun and memorable. I don't know if there is anything more exciting to me than bringing a tiny human into this crazy life. For now, bring on the bows!

Slice of Life

Convertible. Top down. Open road. Nothing but wind in my hair and the sounds of God's beauty all around me. The road trip I took with my husband through California last week brought such rejuvenation to my life. It is amazing how calm and stress-free a simple car ride can be. No deadlines, no agenda. We decided to stop whenever we drove by something beautiful. Fresh air, ocean breeze, birds chirping. Our world is extraordinary and it is so easy to get caught up in the busy, mundane everyday life. Taking some time out to do something as simple as driving with the top down made me feel more alive than ever. Road trips (especially with a convertible and a beautiful background) should become a mandatory part of life. 

Reading is Thinking

One of the very first anchor charts I made when decorating my first classroom was titled "reading is thinking." Everything I learned about teaching reading during my undergraduate experience emphasized this main point. At an early age, we try to teach readers that reading is more than just decoding words on a page. It is the most complex of processes that involves doing multiple things at once. Although this looks a little different for each reader, every reader should be thinking and responding as they are reading.

Reading comprehension is so much more than simply understanding what you read. Starting at the primary level, we teach students how to find their "inner voice" as they read and respond to texts. We model constantly through read alouds and think alouds to show students how our brains respond. "This makes me think..." "This makes me feel..." "This makes me wonder..."

Readers have to think about what they read. They have to think about the setting, characters, plot, mood, or theme. Readers have to do a variety of juggling as they read. They have to figure out new vocabulary, remember what they read previously, make predictions as to what may happen next, and make connections. In today's classrooms, students are taking notes about their thinking and then we encourage our students to talk about their books in clubs to share their thinking with others.

Over time this becomes a more automatic and natural process, but it is something that takes lots of practice and modeling. Learning how to do all of the juggling is difficult and it is no surprise that this is an issue we see in our secondary students.