Reflections

One of the newest ideas we implemented this year in our middle school is our advisory program. It's not the typical advisory program. As a PBIS school, we have added to our menu of interventions for students with behavioral needs at the Tier 2 and Tier 3 levels. Last year, we knew we still had the top "5%" we needed something more for. Enter advisory. We have academic AIS courses for ELA and Math that usually meet every other day for 45 minutes. We added an additional AIS course, called Advisory to that list. Students selected for advisory were identified based on needs in the following areas: motivation attendance behavior Some of these students had skills in ELA and/or Math but were not sharing those in academic settings. There were other barriers we needed to work through to reach them. Using our minor incident report data, discipline referrals, and attendance records, we were able to identify students most "at risk" in the building and schedule ...

New students are always surprised when they come to our school. One of the biggest surprises is when they find out they have recess. Eyes open wide. "Wait, we have recess?". Yes. Yes we do.  We have a split period for lunch and recess. Students eat for 22 minutes and then have recess for the other 22 minutes. Grade 6 students have recess first, lunch second. Grade 7 and 8 students have lunch together first and then recess second.  I am fortunate to have outstanding teachers and teaching assistants who proctor lunch and recess. Our recess period has evolved over the last four years and we now juggle multiple options for students.  Each day, students choose which they will attend. Options include: Active Recess : This is the most popular option and occurs in the gym or outside on the playground when weather allows. Quiet Recess : We have quiet recess in our computer lab. Library : Recess is always a good time to find a new book!  Makerspace : Our m...

We were asked to think about the purpose of grading. One of the participants (whom I had never met before) "joked" his purpose was to make his students cry. I cringed and said something about being sure the teacher wasn't being serious. I'm pretty sure I used my "all business" teacher voice to say it. The group quickly became quiet. I suspect the other two members of the group could read my face and could see the joke fell flat. Groups were changed again and we circulated to different groups. Days later, I am still thinking about that one interaction. It occurs to me that I've been taking for granted the progress we have made in our building. Sometimes when you attend a workshop, you gain new ideas to use back in your practice. You might even struggle with how to fit new learning into existing learning. Yet, some workshops don't necessarily bring new learning. Some workshops force you to reflect on your own practice in your own building. Th...

Winter break is always a good time to catch up in the office. It allows me time to reflect and readjust at my own pace. I have to work hard at being organized. My mind works faster than my body and my thoughts and ideas can take me on tangents.  Keeping a physical space organized and kept up is important to me. In the book, Explicit Instruction (Archer and Hughes), the authors devote an entire chapter to " Organizing for Instruction ". They write: "Have you noticed that when you step into certain classrooms, you get a feel for the "climate" of the room that is mirrored in the teacher's enthusiasm and students' engagement? The climate doesn't occur automatically(109)". I feel the same way about an entire school. I took a walk earlier this morning around the building. I created a quick bulletin board to fill an empty space. (It's one I like to keep up to date with student photos throughout the year.). I fixed posters and student work ...

I really like the "On This Day" memories feature that Facebook has. I enjoy seeing flashbacks to past thoughts and ideas. Mostly, I enjoy the walk back in time through photos of my son. I am guilty of using Facebook as my personal family scrapbook.  I can remember when Sam was little and I'd hear people say things like: Don't blink. Time moves so fast. You're going to miss these days. It will get better. I'd listen and nod to the well meaning speakers of advice but in the back of my mind, I didn't fully believe them. My son hasn't followed the general path of development for a child, much less a boy. He's never fit into boxes and because of that it hasn't been always been a smooth or linear ride.  He's half way through 8th grade as I write this and I've become more and more aware of how much he has grown up over the last few years. I've noticed how much his confidence has bloomed. Fewer of the worries I had before can be f...

It was an especially good day and I was feeling positive about some interactions and steps forward. I had the chance to talk to one of my teachers about one of the events and tried to explain how much I appreciated her hard work and support. I explained: As a teacher, likely your greatest reward is knowing you are making a difference with kids. You want them to remember you as the one that helped. I see my role, as an administrator, the same way except my "kids" are my teachers. Of course, I care about my students and work hard to support and interact with them each day. But, when I began this administration journey, my first "boss" explained to me how each layer of an organization should support and compliment the work of the next layer. One of my main responsibilities is to make sure my teachers have what they need to support students. Think of the phrase "hurt people, hurt people". If we flip that, we can say that supported people support peopl...

He started the workshop by asking us to reflect on a part of our childhood and share that out with strangers. I'm forty five years old but I suddenly didn't feel that old anymore. I was able to remember, in an instant, very specific memories of growing up. Some of those memories were bright and positive and some of them were sad and lonely.  When it became my turn, I spoke about second chances and people believing in me. At my very core, I still bring those experiences to my interactions with others these some 30 plus years later. We can pretend we don't, but we do. There are still words, on a singular level, that can trigger a response from me. Said even in isolation, these words cause an internal reaction. The response isn't even just related to that ONE moment when the word was spoken. Instead the word acts as a key that opens up all the past memories I have associated with that word.  That doesn't necessarily have to be a bad thing.  It could be a good t...