September musings...

Everyone is talking about teachers and accountability. A woman asked me at church today, "why don't teachers want to be held accountable?" and that started a whole conversation about how I believe we are very much held accountable and why.

It's good that we are talking about assessments and ways to help students learn in the school day. The achievement gap is something real, with success in school often tied to economic level and parental ability to support their child's learning.

Despite all economic differences between students, though, teachers can and do make a world of difference to students. Effective teachers matter because we open doors in the mind.

My students come charging into my class on the first day. It is as hot as a sauna in my room and I try to keep cool while jumping around with our warm-up activities. I look around - every kid is somebody's baby and some of them have had siblings in my class.

"You had Andrew in your class, Maestra," said a perky girl with a very familiar face. "Yeah, and you had my cousin Joe!" said another.

On parents' night, I see their moms and dads take their childrens' seats. They have expectant faces with bright eyes.

I wear the same suit to meet the parents that I wore to meet the president even though I am roasting in long sleeves and my face is bright crimson by the end of the night.

"Aren't you awfully hot?" says a worried mother.
"Hey, if I wore this to the White House, I should wear it for you!" I answer.

Everyone laughs.

Even though the news often seems to paint teachers as public enemy number one, the atmosphere in room 115 and all over the school is jubilant.

And just like us, all the other neighborhood schools have shining floors and lesson plans ready to launch.

September is like this.

The secret is that teachers look forward to the start of the school year. We like to meet our new students to try out the latest and greatest strategies. We want to get better at what we do and we know that our students' success, is the greatest accountability ever.

I got an email the first week of school.

"Hey, Maestra," it read, "College is going really well. I wanted you to know that I placed into the highest level of Spanish and I got an "A."

It sometimes takes a few years to know whether what you are teaching has sunk in and sometimes it takes the student himself a while to realize it.

Learning is gradual and at some point, the light goes on.

As a teacher, sometimes you get to see it, up front and personal, and sometimes you are lucky enough to hear about it years later.

Now that's accountability!

The first day of school

I'm in room 115 and am attempting to make this room ready for my students.Today is the last day before they come in.

Why does it always seem, at this time of year, like I've never taught? Will it be o.k.?

My husband, Joe, says, "It's like getting on a bike. You'll know what to do. Once you see the kids, it'll be fine."

And I know he's dead right. It happens every year and it's a great thing about this profession. We get to see those fresh young faces coming into our rooms, ready to make learning happen. A new community will be formed. The students will learn Spanish and I'll have the opportunity to get to know and learn from them.

The kids will assess my success and will certainly let me know when I am striking out.

"Awwwwwwwwwww..............no, not that!" "Ay, Maestra, no vamos a hacer eso..."

I've been touring the state for 8 months and now, that part of my Teacher of the Year job is over. I still have responsibilities and conferences in Princeton and New York and I won't pass my "crown" till October 6th, but coming back into the classroom is a dramatic change.

My colleagues were fabulously welcoming and the administrators did a great job of sharing the fruits of their summer of preparation. We ate some donated sandwiches and shared summer stories.

I resisted the chocolate chip cookies, but now I'm sorry. Wish I had one right now.

I'm excited about my classroom and students. It's waiting for them and for that magic chemistry to happen once again. Who will they be? How will I change as a result of knowing them?

NEA Teaching Excellence Award!

Here's the official link to the NEA Teaching Excellence Award! What an honor!


http://www.neafoundation.org/pages/educators/teaching-excellence-awards/

Finding my shadow

Dr. John Medina

I'm writing from Portland, Oregon from the Education Commission of the States, National Policy Forum. A lot of national education policy is decided here and it's only the 4th year that the Teachers of the Year cohort has been included in the discussion.

The National Education Association sponsored our visit to include teacher voices in this event. This past year has exposed all of us to a great deal of educational policy and information and it's a chance for us to weigh in, from the educators'perspective.

One of the highlights of the conference was meeting and hearing Dr. John Medina, author of Brain Rules. Dr. Medina is a firecracker of a speaker who has seen how we need to exercise, solve problems and explore to be as smart as we can be and live long. He suggests that it would be a good plan for brain researchers and educational policy makers to get together so that what is learned in the lab can help inform our practice.

John Medina says that our brain was developed to work best when we are moving and solving problems outside. If you wanted to design an environment which would be as different as possible from what the brain needs, create a classroom or a cubicle in an office.

People need challenges, questions with no answers and the time to solve problems. We take ten years to solidify information and need to hear it over and over again for the connections to become permanent.

Besides, John Medina, there was a lot of talk about the "Common Core Standards" with much excitement and some disagreement. Each state brings what they call "Commissioners" which are what I understand as official delegates who participate in the votes and conversations about national policy. In New Jersey, our former Governor, Corzine, appointed our current "Commissioners."

The Teachers of the Year don't have a formal role so we have to just try to jump in and make our comments when we can.

I had the chance to chat informally with representatives from the NEA, the People to People organization, New Jersey Principals and Supervisor's Association and Educational Testing Service. Bringing people together from 46 states in the country to talk about education is quite a feat.

Most Educational Forum participants welcome the Teachers of the Year, but I look forward to the day when teachers have a more active role in the panels and discussions. One of our colleagues - Our Louisiana Teacher of the Year, Holly Broffy - is on a teacher effectiveness panel tomorrow. She's the only one of us who has been given a formal role in the event. She'll represent us well, but how strange a world it is when the people involved in education, at the grass roots, don't have a natural role in the formation of the policies that govern this work.

It doesn't make sense.

Still, it's great to be here to have elevator conversations with legislators from around the country, to grab the mike when we can and to promote the best practices we care about.

For the last eight months, I've been flying around the state of New Jersey and the country talking with a wide variety of stakeholders about education. I've been learning a great deal about how decisions are made, who the players are and how I can best advocate for my profession and make a difference in my field.

In a couple of weeks, I'll be back in my classroom, teaching high school juniors and seniors Spanish.

I keep thinking about Peter Pan and his shadow. Maybe you remember that Peter lost his shadow and then, later, he found it.

Maybe that shadow is what connected Peter to reality and what showed the impact of his flight on the people and things of his world.

When I was walking on the South West 5th Avenue in Portland today, I suddenly saw my shadow appear. It's coming into focus and I'll do my best to let it connect me to my family, my students and my colleagues.

This year has shown me that I'm part of the world of the real teachers who are working with everyday kids. What I do happens in time and space and it matters to the people I interact with. Any high flying ideas I might have, must win success in my classroom.

If not, the kids will let me know.

The Teacher of the Year Recognition year is coming to a close. On August 26th, we choose our new state teacher and then, there is "Next Steps Beyond" conference in New York. At that conference, we'll bring all the teachers of the year, from every state in the nation, together to talk about how what they have learned this year will influence their teaching. What will each of our roles be?

That's where I'll sew my shadow back on, for good.

International Space Camp 2010 - Parade of Nations

This was the "Parade of nations" from International Space Camp." I am wearing an old time bathing beauty costume with striped stockings, a bathing bonnet, bloomers and a bathing dress! I am highlighting the New Jersey Shore for my costume!

Space Camp!!!!

Cutting out tissue paper to make a hot air balloon!

My group, "Harmony" before our mission in space!


I have just returned from Space Camp where the the teachers of every state and many nations gathered to learn science and bond together across national and international lines! And so we did!

When you arrive in Huntsville, Alabama, space is written on the landscape. Posters, ads, space t-shirts.

Why? After WWII, 118 German scientists surrendered to one American Soldier. They came to Huntsville with vision and the dream of space. First, they were put to the task of making missiles, but then, space exploration began. Kennedy wanted to put a man on the moon and every heart in Huntsville beat a little faster to get the nation on that track.

Space Camp is a place where children and adults come to learn about dreams. How can I fly? What is the proper balance of my machine and my body? What does it mean to work in a team and what is my role? What can and should I expect of myself?

You are up early and go to bed late. You do missions that feel real and in between, you make hot air balloons, rockets and do Martian math. You see why your design for thermal protection was the best or the worse. You learn to appreciate different kinds of minds.

One day, Christa McCauliff's mother comes to visit and each teacher cries for Christa, that teacher who won the "Teachers in Space" competition, trained at NASA to become an astronaut and perished upon take off, along with her crew. Turns out that Christa wrote letters of recommendation the day before she went up in the Challenger when NASA had her in quarantine. Figures. Teachers do things like that.

Christa wanted to bring ordinary people to space with her. She was a history teacher and she figured she could make it easier for people to understand what kinds of things she was seeing.

You go girl! Your message lives on in each one of us.

You also learn that astronauts are funny people who horse around in space. You learn about the challenges of a space toilet and the kinds of food people eat that gives them the necessary high calorie meals each day.

Space camp. A place where everyone is a scientist, if only for a week.

When I returned home to Newark Airport, the faces and words of my Teacher of the Year friends and International teachers were still with me. A family for a week.

A plane roared overhead. I admired its slick tubular body and the fins that kept it gliding through the open sky. I wondered about its balance, weight, materials and fuel.

Once you touch space, you are never the same again!

World Cup, DC and life

I am in Washington D.C. right now. I am a semi-finalist in the NEA Teaching Excellence Awards so I have flown in from Spain to give a sample lesson and have a conversation with some very prominent panelists. All I know is that I will do my best.

Spain was something else. To be in a country thrilled with World Cup fever. I spent time with friends, had some choice wine and strolled with my husband, daughter and granddaughter on the magnificent streets of Salamanca.

These are the days that you think about when times get tough. Olyvia at one year old wandering down the cobblestone streets. Thinking about how my husband Joe's face lit up with joy when I came out of the gate at Barajas airport. My daughter Melynda's ideas on how to help the students in my husband's program better adapt to Spanish culture. Little bits of treasure.

You've got to savor it all.

Last night, I had a fabulous dinner with my former student, Adam Nathan, who is working hard to help the world through important policy work about education and business. I was so proud of the things he was telling me about - socially conscious investing, the creation of a non-profit, the high cost of poverty. It was so great to learn from a former student - wonderful to be in a totally different city - DC - and get together with Adam, five years after his graduation. I felt happy that he wanted to. I know I did.

Tomorrow, I'll give a lesson to the good people of the National Education Association and will teach them a bit of Spanish and talk about what I believe is important in education.

Wish me luck! I'll do my best to represent New Jersey's finest teachers. Send me a bit of your strength and knowledge. I know that I'll need it!