Reflection 29: Changes

The teacher I was 13 years ago wouldn't recognize the teacher that I am today. In so many ways. The combination of experience, age, training through International Baccalaureate, and understanding of student learning has moved me from a teacher-center expert imparting knowledge to a guided explorer focusing on critical thinking and application. Focusing on outcomes provides students the opportunity to make personal connections, learn to question and apply critical knowledge and understanding. Most importantly, the teacher I am now focuses on the positive. More than greeting the students when they enter the library or kind words, the change involves how I evaluate student assignments. Digital tools allow me to identify what the student has done correctly as well as answers or aspects that are incorrect. To me this connects to the growth mindset, showing students that the brain, or intellect, continues to gain knowledge with use.

Reflection 28: Curriculum and Technology

Technology is a tool. And tools should never drive curriculum. Did the pencil drive curriculum? The overhead projector? Tools allow educators to deliver instruction of the curriculum in engaging ways that connect learners with opportunities for creation and demonstration of understanding. For instance, this week my new IB Diploma students are beginning the Theory of Knowledge (TOK) course. As an introduction, they are given a letter from me that provides an overview of the course, what will be studied over the next two years and the assessment requirements. From this letter students need to create a visual presentation of their interpretation of TOK. This is a fun way for students to begin thinking about the course and also a formative assessment for me to understand each student as a learner. Interpretation of written information and how each student expresses himself are two pieces of information I learn from this activity. Students aren't directed how to create their visual representation. Some choose poster board. Some create Prezi's or Google presentations. Technology is a tool.

Reflection 27: Weekends and Holidays

Like many educators, weekends and holidays include more hours engaged in work than most people outside of education would believe! The reality is that most are used to either engage in long-term lesson planning or catch up on evaluation of assignments. What I want to do with my weekends and holidays? Read and get outside. In all weather! Striving for balance in my life, I have made the last two a priority. The rejuvenation the activities I love give me actually make me more productive when I return to my work responsibilities.

Reflection 26: Ideal Student Collaboration

Student collaboration, ideally, should be an organic occurrence that comes from a learning environment that encourages active thinking and application. However, some time (perhaps even considerable time) may need to be spent creating the culture in the classroom for collaboration. This can be done by encouraging partner sharing as formative assessments, creating opportunities for group work where the process is recognized instead of the product and providing feedback that identifies the positive aspects of collaboration you are witnessing more than what students need to do differently. In the best scenario, student collaboration would be:

• More student driven than teacher assigned
• Represent thinking and creating
• Allow students to share their expertise
• Stretch students to assume new roles

Reflection 24: Blended Learning

Blended learning is the learning trend that captures my attention the most. My belief is that it is not just a trend, but the way instruction will be delivered for the foreseeable future. Blended classrooms harness the best of face-to-face instruction with online components that allow students to have a choice in the pace, place and time instruction and learning occur. My belief is that this delivery method allows for the educator to personalize for students while supporting them in the learning process.

Reflection 23: Meaningful Connection

One way that I involve the community is by having our School Board President, Mr. Andy Goulet, speak to my library science and TOK students. This week, as students learn about Banned Books Week and the issue of First Amendment freedoms as applied to school libraries, Mr. Goulet spent a day discussing the role of the school board and policy when books are challenged. An avid reader, Mr. Goulet then shared passages from books he has donated to the library collection, connecting with students his love of history and books.

Reflection 22: My PLN

My PLN begins with the amazing #MichED Community. What I have learned from the community and the chat team have influenced me as an educator and instructional leader. Beyond Twitter, we have made it a priority to support one another in instructional practice, conference facilitation and educational thought and practice. I receive the most "push" from this community.

MichED "UnPlugged" July, 2014

Beyond #MichEd, Twitter in general has connected me with educational leaders and instructors around the world. I know of no other way to connect and have a professional book club with a teacher in Hong Kong, discuss educational theory with people in Australia and New Zealand, or confer with experts I admire like Kevin Honeycutt and Ginger Lehman.

Reflection 21: Bringing hobbies/interests to the classroom

One of the passions that I bring to my classroom is the belief that service is a societal responsibility, not something that is done for required hours or recognition. Often students look at service as a way to be recognized (ie. National Honor Society or Student Council) or to build a resume for college application. I believe that if given the opportunity, students can participate in projects that connect them to real people, real situations and develop service as a reflection of how they live their lives.

At AHS, part of our mission statement includes "compete, thrive and philanthropically contribute within the the emerging global society". It is important that this concept is not limited to those groups with required service hours. One way that I have modeled my belief in service is to share the Wrapped in Love project I coordinate with my sister. It is a very personal story and connection, and I also share that aspect with the students. For the last two days I have scheduled a work day in the library space. Students learn how to knit, crochet and sew as they make items for donation. Adult volunteers help students and teach them the skills. This year, I had two teachers include their classes in the project and we connected via Google Hangout with my sister, who shared her experience as a NICU and CICU mom, as well as the latest research on the rare disease ACD (Alveolar Capillary Dysplasia).

We have extended our project to include art and toy notebooks, leg warmers and lovie blankets. The video is a recap of our first donation, but we are working on our 2nd donation to St. Louis Children's Hospital and 4th donation day at DeVos Children's Hospital.

Reflection 20: Curating Student Work

There are two ways that I curate student work. The first is Google Drive. I remember the filing cabinets in the English storeroom, filled with writing samples from a student's four year tenure. The idea was to present them with the file of their work as they graduated. Students rarely were interested and I can't recall a single incident where a student used the writing sample. Google Drive allows students access to a body of their work, not dependent upon teacher distribution or access to the school building. Google Drive offers the opportunity to build a K-12 portfolio and curate more than just the assigned research or essays. They have access to the research process, notes, warm-ups for classes and almost any type of assignment that can be imagined.

The second way I have begun to curate is student work is through Twitter. I love to feature student work and ideas and share out with the greater community. Last year I partnered with the art department, supplying books that had been deselected from the library collection to the art department as art supplies for book art creation. As students shared their pieces, I tweeted them out in celebration and shared the images on a Pinterest Board created for just that purposed. This year, I have created a library Twitter account to allow students to recommend and review reads. More than curating, this provides students with an authentic audience of their work.

Reflection 18: I Am A Warrior

My philosophy has not shifted much in the past 15 years. When asked to create a philosophy for my teaching portfolio as I completed my teacher preparation program, I came across the poem "I Am a Teacher" by John W. Schlatter. While the full text can be found on the Appleseeds website, I was drawn to the "Teacher as Warrior" stanza. At the time, I had just begun practicing yoga. The warrior pose was a pose of strength, aligning the body, centering thought in a way that brought an empowerment of body. The emphasis, to me, was that a Yoga warrior is physically prepared for battle, but follows a path of strength found not in physical ability but focus and strength of the connection between mind, body and spirit.

This also pushed me to create my first meme! So many benefits to this reflective challenge.

Reflection 17: The Education Challenge

There are many challenges in education, but in the U.S. the most challenging is the perception that schools and teachers are not well-prepared and do not know how to educate. The general feeling that as the majority of people ATTENDED school, education is not a specialized field. Everyone understands, knows how to educate. Respect for educators is our greatest hurdle. Every day there are reports of doctors who abuse their power, do not practice ethically or harm patients. Yet, there is still a reverence for the profession. People understand that the medical profession may attract individuals who do not live up to the ideals of the profession, but it is not a reflection of the majority or the profession itself. Why is it different for education? I think people want to a reason, people that are held responsible. Instead of looking at the complex issue of disparity in homes, income, value of education or financial resources, the educators are the constant, easy target.

This attitude is confirmed in the recent Gallup Poll of the public's attitudes toward public schools. The majority of the public are satisfied, or even happy, with what THEIR local public school is accomplishing. But the REST of the public schools, or public education in general does not. How can this attitude be explained? To me it represents a targeted effort by legislation and media forces, especially those that have an economic interest in controlling public education.

But...the real questions is what are we going to do with this challenge? Because educators don't have the option of giving up. We must move forward. This is why I love the PLN I continue to grow on Twitter. It connects me to educators around the world, exchanging ideas and resources. But most importantly, it connects me with my #MichED community. A community dedicated to a positive, collaborative, supportive approach to the message of what we do in education and how we will shift to continue to meet the challenges of our ever-changing world.

Reflection 16: My Superpower

Sometimes I feel like just the requirements and expectations of educators require a teaching to be a superpower! This feels like a wish from a genie....how do you choose wisely and not waste your wish? Because I believe that success in education begins with building relationship, I would want my superpower to be CONNECTION. This could be used in so many ways. Knowing what to connect with students based upon their interests, passions, personality and needs can change apathetic students into enthusiastic learners, non-readers into readers and apathetic students into leaders. Truly, I think that this is a reflection of my job responsibilities as library media specialist and IB DP Coordinator. I have to connect through relationships; connect students to books and information; and connect students to appropriate pathways.

Reflection 15: 3 Strengths

My greatest strength as an educator, I believe, is that I am still a learner. From organized study, such as my current pursuit of an administration certification, to tech tools and current events, I share with students what I have learned in an enthusiastic manner that models a love of learning.

Another strength that continues to develop with experience is the willingness to look beyond data and standards to the person that is represented. I truly believe curriculum content can be covered and students successfully prepared for college and career while still allowing personalization of learning.

My third strength is that I am collaborative. I truly believe that we are better together than we are on our own. I model this for students and teachers, working to building collaborative relationships, offering my expertise and support. But I also am happy to be the person in the collaborative team that is being directed.

Reflection 14: Feedback

Feedback is an area that I concentrated on improving the last two school years. It began with our PBIS strategy of 3:1 (positive interactions between teacher and student should have a ratio of 3 positive for every negative interaction). By greeting students at the beginning of each class with a smile, recognizing their accomplishments outside of the classroom and thank them for their contributions were all part of more normal routine. So I thought about how to move it to a deeper level, to connect positively in different ways with my students. Considering that most "negative" interaction between students and school staff is related not just to behavior, but also to assignment feedback had me evaluating how I assigned points and addressed areas where students had not met mastery standards in my classroom. Now, I treat point gathering and assignment feedback with the same 3:1 strategy. Most often, my conversation, written or recorded feedback begins with what the student did well. I then continue to address areas that need to be reviewed or redone. Including suggestions for remediation if necessary remove the "wrong" stigma and reinforce the concept of mastery.

Reflection day 13: Favorite edtech tools

I love tools! Not for the tools sake, but for what they allow students to create, organize or interact.

1. Ed tech tool = Google apps. From collaborative work to content sharing and submission of assignments, Google Drive can revolutionize interactions in education. Customizable, the apps within Drive create a custom ed tech experience for every teacher in every content area.

2. Online forums/discussions. I use Moodle for my platform, in large part because of my love of the Q&A forum. Online discussions give reticent participators voice, allow introverts to participate in a way that values both the contribution and the person contributing and allows students "digest" time (way beyond "wait" time) for valuable contributions. The Q&A format requires students to post a reply before they are able to see responses from other students. Teachers can use this as a formative assessment for students and themselves, gathering information that comes from each student instead of "copy cat" responses after the first 2 or 3.

Reflection 12: The Next Five Years

This is a timely question as I am in cohort 14 of the MASSP Path to Leadership program for administration certification. I do envision myself in an administrative position in the next five years. Whether that means an integrated approach as the IB DP Coordinator or, eventually, an assigned administrative position is the questions. My love of blended learning and personalizing curriculum through technology serve me well currently and, I believe, would serve me well as an administrator.

Reflection 11: Favorite part of the school day

As a morning person, my favorite part of the school day is actually before school! My routine has me in my office early. I am most productive in the morning and schedule my time accordingly.Morning is a time of possibilities (before reality sets in!). It's also the time that students "hang" in the library learning space. Some just gather with a group of friends, some are taking advantage of the available technology. I have experienced intense chess matches, heard gossip I would have preferred not to know and engaged in many book discussions with my readers.

Reflection in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.....

 random facts:

• Oldest Child
• Swim mom
• Can't stand feet touching me
• Start my day with green tea
• Walk faster than I can run!

 things from my bucket list.

• Hike (part of) the Pacific Coast Trail
• Hike (part of) Appalachian Trail
• Travel Europe
• Ecological tour (bird tour in South America or Galapagos Islands)

things I hope for this year

• Balance
• Direction
• Connection

 things that have made me laugh or cry as an educator.

• Students who have no one come to sporting/academic events 
• a horrified student, early in my career, who thought I was paid to sit and read all day in the library (if that job exists, give me a call!)

I wish more people knew about me.

• If I wanted you to know, I'd tell you! If you don't know, I probably prefer it that way 

Reflection 9: Greatest (little known) accomplishment

Working in a small district means official titles often do not represent actual responsibilities. So much of my day has moved from traditional library media duties. But the accomplishment that I feel is my greatest is the collaboration with the special education department. While this has shifted in the last couple of years with the move to co-teaching and retirements, I LOVE the change that occurs between 9th and 12th grade. 9th grade special education students do not feel comfortable in the library space. Years of struggling with reading, and lack of success follow them through the door. With consistent programming, contribution to library selections, and the option to choice read ANYTHING, has them walking through the library doors as if they own the space by the senior year. Not all of them are readers. Most still struggle far below grade level. But they belong.

Twitter "book talk" activity with Read 180 class.

Reflection 8: Desk drawers

I'm supposed to be reflecting on a desk drawer, but I have 5. Each is organized differently (ie. some not at all!). I was grateful the reflection was on a desk drawer and not the desk top! I'll leave the comments to the top drawer only. Mostly, it's supplies. Not of the paper kind (I have a large cabinet for those items). Pens, pencils, keys to miscellaneous locks, former student senior pictures. It is somewhat of a "junk" drawer. What does this mean? Well.....I don't have a lot of these items on my desk because my work has become very digitized. But I still have use for the tools occasionally. Hmmm....I think there is a teaching correlation there. Also, while the drawer is full of miscellany, it is somewhat compartmentalized in organization, using plastic trays. I would say that this not only summarizes my work habits, but also me as a person. There is a system that allows for transitions and effective work, but not one that is highly structured.

Reflection 7: Most Inspirational Colleague

My most inspiration colleague is a community: The #MichED community. Comprised of diverse members that range from administrators to ed tech specialists, MDE employees, University employees and, of course, classroom teachers. Teachers from all grade levels and subject areas, from urban schools and one building rural communities. The perspectives and experiences of the collective community not only inspire me to be a better educator, but keep me positively focused on the mission of education as we strive to prepared 21st Century learners.

#MichED is moving beyond the Wed evening Twitter chat (8-9 p.m.) to include more f2f connections, inclusive social media (join the #MichED facebook page!) and collaborative learning projects. The #MichED website (MichED.net) is undergoing a major facelift that will be rolled out soon. I'm looking forward to learning from more inspirational colleagues this year as the #MichED community grows.

Reflection 6: A Good Mentor

I was blessed to have a great mentor as I started my teaching career. Mentoring a library media specialist is different than mentoring a classroom teacher as our roles and responsibilities are different. My mentor, Denise, not only preemptively addressed issues such as grading, conferences and evaluations, but made suggestions for lesson planning and offered her class as a model for collaboration. As I learned how to work with a classroom teacher, the feedback and suggestions she provided were invaluable. Mostly, she mentored through example. Providing leadership but also demonstrating how a teacher leader continues to be a learner. As I work with staff in professional development and collaboration for literacy, research and tech integration, I remember the skills that she used. It has served me well as I facilitate PD and professional courses for teachers. Like any good teacher, a good mentor models learning.

Day 5 Reflection: A picture of my classroom

While officially my titles are the high school library media specialist and IB Dp coordinator, I also teach library science, Theory of Knowledge (IB Core) and an online European Lit and Comp for 11th grade students with schedule conflicts. In order to complete the duties I am assigned, I began using blended instruction several years ago, with Moodle as my learning platform. Every year I continue to refine the online environment as I become more aware of the pedagogy of online instruction and strive to create an inclusive environment for students with disabilities.

Library Science Course

European Lit and Comp Course

I see progress from my first course creations in how I use the assignment options and lead students through expectations with weekly agendas. What I would like to see is a better theme choice, with more images and recorded readings. As we were 1:1 with iPads last year, I did not create audio to accompany text. Instead I worked with students to use the assistive features built in to the iPad, especially in regard to reading text. This year it will be a challenge to create audio files for instructions and assignments.

Day 4: What I Love the Most

As soon as a question is phrased as "the most", it becomes more difficult. I suppose that is part of the reflective process, the narrowing of thought. So my thinking took a winding path. It begins with enjoying young adults. The teen developmental years can be frustrating to parents and educators, but it is also an amazing process. Part of being an educator is the ability to see a student over time, seeing the growth and development emerge. The 9th grade student who enters our door is not the same senior who walks the stage, receiving a diploma. And during that time of transition, I am witness to struggles, joy, ups, downs and the opportunity to see a focus begin to develop that will lead young adults into their future. Many people lament the "youth of today" (although, I've been hearing that one since I was a youth.....a long, long time ago!), but I for one am hopeful and excited. Their world will not be the world we would have wanted for them. It will be something better, because they are gaining confidence in the opportunity to push beyond the boundaries that were set to create something previous generations could not have imagined. The push back, the independence of spirit, all so frustrating to those trying to lead them, will serve them well as they forge a new path.

Reflection 3: Evaluation Focus

When I review the evaluation tool my district uses, it is difficult to focus on "one" area of improvement as I think that I need to be highly effective in every area! However, I did decide that I need to consider "Communicating with Stakeholders". The evaluation tool defines a highly effective teacher in this way:

     The teacher communicates frequently and sensitively with administration, colleagues, parents and students-and successfully engages them in the educational program; students are accountable for participating in communicating with families.

As an elective teacher for seniors, there has been a disconnect with parents and communications. I made changes to address this the last two years by creating student-led digital conferences. This increased my conference participation to 100%. But as I reflect on the start of the school year and the importance of building relationships, I have decided that I need to find the balance between student accountability or communication and my direct involvement. I will continue with student-led conferences, but have also began the school year with a form for parents/guardians to complete.  Titled "All About Your Student", I ask for information that goes beyond the typical information card to a parent perspective of their child as a learner. My hope is that if there are difficult conversations that must be had later in the year, I will already have established my desire to see the student success.

I also plan to follow up with parents, either with e-mails, notes or phone calls, thanking them for their participation in activities that are designed for the whole family.

New Technology

The second reflection challenge is to write about a technology that you would like to try this year and what is

hoped to be seen as a result of the integration. I use a lot of technology tools already, so this was a tough one for me, especially as we are no longer a 1:1 school. However, I have been kicking around the idea of creating units in iTunesU. Originally this was to support teachers in our 1:1 iPad environment, but even with our move to iPad carts I can see the benefit. To me, creating iTunesU courses represents a first step to supporting blended instruction. Often teachers lack the time necessary to create good content in a digital environment. If the content is available, teachers can focus on how to personalize instruction and incorporate blended learning instead of struggling with how to find the time for the transition.

Reflective Teaching Challenge Day 1: Goals

Setting goals at the beginning of a school year feels a bit like a new year's resolution to me. For students and educators, our calendar runs a bit differently! And I've never been much of a resolution person. I'm inspired by the creative workings of Soul Pancake, and specifically Kid President, so my first goal is to BE MORE AWESOME!

As I strive to be more awesome, I will:

• Make relationships with students and staff first priority.
• Show my students how to take risks.
• Create opportunities for reading across the curriculum.
• Give students more voice in their learning.