Top 4 Reasons to Not Feel Panicked by the Common Core Writing Standards - A Reader's Response

If I were to pass on one word of advice to any other teacher or administrator faced with the challenges of the new Common Core State Writing Standards, it would be the same advice I gave to myself, penciled in the margins of Pathways to the Common Core by Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman: Don't panic! 

Perhaps this is easier advised than actually done, and easier still for a teacher in my progressive private school setting which is already structured to provide space for the type of critical thinking and extensive writing and reading demanded by the standards. Reading the degree of excellence mandated in the Common Core for any one grade will doubtlessly be overwhelming for even the most seasoned of writing teachers, but Calkins et. al. remind us that "implicit in the CCSS is the presence of a spiral curriculum. A child who has been learning narrative craft for thirteen years should, by the end of twelfth grade, be extraordinarily skilled..." (p.109). To understand the trajectory of this spiral, the authors advise reading across the curriculum rather than down your single grade, seeing how the writing expectations contain the same base that is added on to little by little as the student progresses through the grades.

Here are a few things to keep in mind about the CCSS in order to not panic:

1. The writing and reading standards are not intended to be demonstrated in the language arts setting alone. In fact, "authors of the CCSS often refer to the writing standards as a shared responsibility within the school that all subject areas support" (Calkins et. al., 2012, p.110). Science and Social Studies teachers must also embrace the Common Core standards in their classes, giving students the ample time and practice they need and reflecting the type of writing integral to success in this modern era. As Calkins et. al. put it, "Whether our students become scientists, engineers, activists, or analysts, they'll need to be able to write well to do well" (p.110). With this balance between nonfiction and narrative writing styles, the writing teacher need not panic knowing the students will be trying on writing standards across the content areas.

2. Not every single piece of writing produced by students needs to meet every standard. It may be intimidating to see the list of expectations lengthening as the grade level increases, and to see the impressive, thoughtful, and skilled narratives provided as sample pieces. It may lead a 4th grade teacher to weep, thinking, "how on Earth am I going to get my class writing like professional novelists by the end of the year?" but panic not. Calkins and friends soothe us with the reminder that "this is a list of skills that fourth graders should be able to demonstrate, but this doesn't mean that every narrative must contain all of these characteristics... no one piece does everything listed in the standards for that grade" (p. 117).

3. You are not alone! It can feel a little scary to be the ones at the front line of this revolution in reading and writing, suddenly having to serve students who ideally would have been instructed in the spiral from kindergarten but in reality are seeing this style of thinking and learning for the first time in your class. Take this with the consideration that the CCSS "detail what students should know and be able to do and do not specify practices that teachers should use to teach students the skills they need to meet those expectations" (p.108), and it's no wonder educators are feeling lost at sea! Know that life rafts exist. While the standards themselves do not detail methods, there are wonderful curriculums already written, such as the Lucy Calkins writer's workshop used at my own school. There are also some pragmatic steps to getting started detailed in the Pathways book, like on page 123. Additionally, the role of a strong community cannot be overemphasized when facing any kind of big change in a school's culture. The authors of Pathways advise again and again that teachers and administrators build a strong web of support and open communication, comparing notes and planning collaboratively as much as possible. Surround yourself with a support system of fellow educators embarking on the same journey, and you are sure to feel less like a lone rower up the creek without a paddle and more like an efficient member of a crew team.

4. Teaching the CCSS is going to make you a better teacher! And it's going to vastly improve the learning and future lives of your students! I know I sound like I'm really drinking the KoolAid now, but you can't fail to be impressed with the level of critical thinking implicit in the Common Core writing standards. Teaching the art of argument, for example, truly empowers students to think deeply about any topic that matters to them, and prepares them with the skills they need to think through problems and advocate for the solutions they believe in. In the writing standards, "there is a push for logical reasoning, analysis of claims, and reliance on clear evidence and evaluation of sources throughout the grades" (p.127). Compare this level of interacting with language and text to the traditional method of filling in a bubble from a provided list of answers, and it's clear which one will position students for the greatest success in University and in their adult lives. For teachers, this means raising the bar for themselves as well as for their students. In other words, they must "become accountable to teaching whatever they are already teaching in ways that accelerate achievement" (Calkins et. al., p. 121). This can be done by examining the learning progression within the standards, and "seeing ways in which a clear trajectory of progress can inform their plans for units of study, their minilessons, their choice of mentor texts, their feedback on student writing, their conferences, and their small-group work" (p.121). The Pathways book says again and again that to help elevate student writers to these new levels, teaching will need to include "explicit instruction, opportunities for practice, centrality of feedback, assessment-based instruction, and spiral curriculum that have all been hallmarks of rigorous writing workshop instruction" (p.112).

There are probably hundreds of more reasons to calm your worries within the pages of this trusty little guide, but hopefully this small sampling will be a good beginning to chipping away at those fears. Fresh from an educational system that honors the agency and judgment of teachers less and less, teachers who suddenly find themselves holding the reigns may be a little bewildered at first with how to proceed with all this newfound professional respect, but it is a respect we deserve and have fought for for years. It may be a bumpy and uncharted path ahead for our school systems and our children, but it's also a thrilling ride taking teachers and learners alike on the right path to higher achievement and higher quality thinkers and problem solvers. If you're still feeling panicked, or you'd just like to read more, pick up a copy (and maybe a few copies for colleagues and administrators), of Pathways to the Common Core. It's sure to help you feel ready to take on the challenges ahead and blaze a path to better education for all students!

Theory in Practice: Breaking Bread

This month's growth is marked by efforts in our community. Very fitting considering the upcoming Thanksgiving holidays which have a lot to do with coming together as a group. In history, the survival of Early colonies depended on good collaboration, and today, we collaborate by sharing a community meal and showing gratitude for each other. This month I worked hard to decenter myself as the holder of power and the knower of knowledge, and to support the students in relying more on each other and their work as a team. I know that to get students thinking critically, I have to get them thinking together, because “In classrooms that promote thinking, students and teachers co-construct meaning in large groups, small groups, and conferences; through discussions, book groups, and partner work. Everyone gets a chance to weigh in with meaning” (Harvey and Goudvis, 2007, p.35).

One of the ways this has been challenging, however, is that not all students care to "weigh in" in the manner I imagine when I read this picture-perfect quote. Many of my circling thoughts from my reflections this month focus on the quieter members in our group engagements and feature questions like, "how do I know if those kids are even getting anything out of this?" I was so excited to read aloud the book Stranded at Plimoth Plantation, but the discussion that followed was disappointingly dead. We were working to fill out a class anchor chart on text clues and inferences, and each time I stopped to pose a brilliantly phrased and probing question, I was met with a few answers and more glassy eyes crickets. Did they not feel responsible for thinking because another student would surely pick up the slack? Did they not find it interesting? Did they not understand what to do? Frank Smith argues that “The right to ignore anything that doesn’t make sense is a crucial element of any child’s learning—and the first right children are likely to lose when they get to the controlled learning environment of school” (Smith, 1998, p.19), but I struggle to know where to draw the line with this. I mean, if you ignore TOO many things that don't make sense, you will never get a chance to understand them, right? What about productive struggle? Clearly, something was lacking in the way I was presenting this activity or in the outcomes I was expecting. It wasn't until I had a heart to heart with one of my mentors, Dr. Fisher, that she reminded me of what I already know: not all kids are going to exhibit understanding in the same way. This has been drilled in us over and over again from the beginning of this grad program, but for some reason, I just needed to hear it from her in relation to this real in my community for it to click. Of course I want to see their understanding taking place in a verbal exchange because that's how MY brain is wired. The obvious problem with this expectation, though, is that it does not honor the myriad of other ways different types of learners may prefer to engage with their understanding. Verbosity does not come naturally to everyone. After this talk with Dr. F (and how fitting that I would make a revelation like this via talking), I've made it a point moving forward to provide other opportunities for kids to engage in these whole group settings beyond verbal response. I hope to open the floor to more students by letting them respond through drawing and using their bodies, and yes, talking, because “Critical thinking and dialog go hand in hand” (Cowhey, 2006, p.90).

Related to these reflections is another theme swirling in my mind, and it's what to do with this clear divide amongst the verbal and not-so-verbal personalities/learning preferences of my students. I would say about half of them are as jazzed up about talking as I am, eager to discuss their way to understanding and share their thinking with the group. But while these 5 are busy with this, the other 5 are like little lost ships at sea, floating further and further away, needing constant anchoring and reeling in to stay present, which naturally drags at the flow of the rest of the conversation. A clear solution, which I have seen results with this month, is doing things like this in smaller groups. But that requires doing everything twice, which obviously means things take twice as long, and by the end of the year, I have only been available to each group half as much and have only covered half as much ground as I could have by the end of the year. But then again, is there any point in moving full steam ahead as a whole group if half of the kids are going to get left behind? What good is that? Is that serving those kids drifting off in the life raft? It's become clear to me that I need to guide this group in finding each member's strengths and teaching them to support the community in the best way they can. But that requires each individual student to see his or herself as part of a larger community. And seeing as some of us aren't quite there yet, that's where I am starting.

One new thing I tried this month to beef up the sense of community and collaboration going on in our room is to divide the students into two teams, an "Americas" (New World) team and a "Europe, Asia, and Africa" (Old World) team to create a multi-disciplinary info-wall project on these regions prior to the Great Exchange of the 1490s. I gave them each a packet with the assignment laid out and a rubric, and let them know they would be completing this project as a team and that at the end, they would be grading each other on their collaboration skills. I hoped this would decentralize me as the judger and grader, and refocus them on their work with their peers. There were some growing pains the first few days as the kids found their feet in this new style of workshop, but by Friday, my heart was bursting with pride to see them independently getting out their materials and checking in with their teammates on their progress, and figuring out what they needed in order to get to the next step. Not to pat myself on the back too much, but I really think this project and its execution indicate tremendous growth for me in my goals of organization and being explicit with expectations for the students. Hopefully, I provided the right balance of being available for guidance and redirecting them back to their group when appropriate. This busy week of teamwork culminated with a soup making project, using ingredients found only in their region prior to the Great Exchange. They absolutely loved it, and every single one of them came away having accomplished a first-time in something. I overheard one of my sweet cheeky boys remark that we hadn't had to do any learning all day, and when I suggested otherwise he responded "that wasn't learning, that was FUN!" Interestingly, the success of this collaboration experience would not have been possible without my own collaboration with my mom who came in to help on soup day, and my co-teacher who jumped right in to support us. This project revealed SO much valuable information to me, which I now know how to collect as useful data about where each kid is with their collaboration skills, as well as which kids work well together, which kids took on leadership roles, and which kids still need a little more support in this area.

On the heels of this celebration, is this pressing feeling of not having enough of me to go around, which I spoke about in my last Theory in Practice post. This frustration has only been heightened by being pulled every other week to be the "bouncer" in band and chorus for the entire morning, taking me out of the classroom and putting me into a purely behavior management role during this prime instructional time. I know that this is just part of being a team player in a school setting like mine, but it hasn't helped that the band and chorus consist primarily of middle schoolers, whom I am not accustomed to working with. I wrote several times about my climbing blood pressure as I observed these students' poor attitudes. The music teacher says "Please stand up everyone," and the tweens heave deep long-suffering sighs and reluctantly slouch to their feet. The music teacher says "please put the candy away," and the munching student glares indignantly back, roles her eyes, and thrusts the candy away in a huge show of inconvenience. The incessant chit-chat between songs slows the whole class down, and they JUST. DON'T. LISTEN. (Not to brag, but my few kids here are the exception). Observing these behaviors makes steam shoot out of my ears like a cartoon character with poor anger management, and for a futile while I was jumping down their throats at every single instance of teenagery-ness, casting around meaningful glares and trying to shame them into compliance. You will not be surprised to learn this was not too effective. Collaboration again being the theme here, I discussed my frustrations with their teacher in a "how do you deal?" moment, and she helped me see the situation differently. The bottom line is teenagers are supposed to behave in these maddening ways. It's actually 100% developmentally appropriate to feel challenged by them at every turn and for them to feel angsty and drained by the demands of the adult world. Becky Bailey advises, “Let go of your expectation that children can give up what they want in order to follow your wishes and still be happy about it. Stop trying to control children’s feelings in hopes this will control their behavior. Children have a right to all of their feelings" (Bailey, 2000, 191). With this in mind, I'm not so scared to face bouncer duty next time around.

Attitudes are something I worry a lot about, with certain of my students in particular. One child has been so incredibly anxious that he has spent entire days spiraling out about whether his mom would remember to pick him up. This is the same child who is constantly pushing buttons and the limits of our class expectations, and I want to be sensitive to the stress he is under emotionally while also remaining consistent and clear with our boundaries at school. After all, “Your style of setting limits teaches children how to set and hold boundaries in their future relationships” (Bailey, 2000, p.99), and these skills will also serve him in learning to manage and regulate his anxious thoughts. He told me a few weeks ago on our way in from the playground that learning is boring and he hates it. It crushes me that he feels this way! This comment sounded a lot like another one of our friends who has the mindset that everything is adults versus kids and all adults want to do is make kids work work work all the time and never catch a break. I'm trying so hard to help him overcome this rigid mindset where he is a passive object with unwanted expectations being inflicted upon him by outside forces. He speaks to us and to peers in a very rude and short way, and like with the first child, I want to let him know there are limits, but I want to do it without making him feel punished and powerless to the will of the adult. I'd love to sit down with him and talk about his responsibilities with the understanding that “There may be another way of looking at discipline. It can be what we do with kids rather than what we do to them” (Fay and Funk, 1995, p.66). I think both of these kids feel stuck on the idea that their education is happening to them and not with them, and while I know that they don't really hate learning, the fact that this is how they associate with it troubles me deeply for their futures. I believe there is a connection between their feelings and the observations I made about their lack of involvement in group collaboration and signs that they see themselves as part of a community.

Perhaps I am leaving this blog post with more questions than answers, but I will say that despite the challenges that continue to give me pause, I still see evidence of progress all over. A stronger community is slowly but surely taking form, and while we all still have a long road ahead of us, I’m pleased to celebrate our strides, and to break bread with these incredible companions as we pause and take stock along the way. I can’t say it better than Frank Smith, who writes, “The classic kind of learning is…growth. It is growth of the mind analogous in every way to the growth of the body” (Smith, 1998, p.12). If that’s the case, then we have learned so much already!

Intentional Inequities - Dr. Jeannie Oakes on American School Systems and the Achievement Gap (Mays Lecture 2014)

I was so pleased to find the themes of civil rights and equity continued from 2013’s Mays Lecture with Mr. Bryan Stevenson. While Mr. Stevenson was a powerful storyteller, I felt that Dr. Oakes brought impact to her talk through the incredible data she shared from her research. I think the listeners couldn’t help but have a visceral response to seeing the data displayed visually, and it made the pattern of inequity in schools impossible to ignore. I was alarmed at the notion that continuing inequity is part of a “cultural compromise” in American society. Dr. Oakes points out how “Americans find ways to rationalize” the achievement gap, of which the major concern is that it’s a racial and economic gap.

It definitely rang a bell when Dr. Oakes pointed out the issue that “Schools serve capitalism as well as democracy.” I instantly thought back to The Book of Learning and Forgetting by Frank Smith, and how he describes the evolution of schooling into an industrialized process, saying “The teacher was no longer the collaborator or even the guide. The teacher became the official in charge of work and the collector of the scores, chained like the students to standardized instructional procedures” (Smith, 1998, p.56). I think Dr. Oakes would agree that the issue is how society sees schools that are not performing/students who are not learning as bugs in a system that need to be fixed, rather than seeing the system itself as the problem. In other words, “Systems as a whole were not examined for fundamental flaws (like the official theory of learning) that might explain why problems arose. Rather, problems were regarded as extraneous glitches, as bugs in the system, which could be eradicated by generic procedures” (Smith, 1998, p.68). Dr. Oakes adds an even darker note to this situation of a flawed schooling system by pointing out that the privileged and powered may actually want to keep schools unequal to benefit their own kids, that “There’s not enough excellent education to go around” motivating those with political power to safeguard it for their own children.

            

Therefore, we need to recognize that “Educational inequality is intertwined with other forms of inequality” and in fact that “the popular reforms focused on improving ‘low performing’ urban schools actually perpetuate inequality” (Oakes, Mays Lecture, 2014). This notion that inequality is actually institutionalized is the same thing Stevenson was pointing out when he shared about our disturbingly disproportionate representation of African Americans among those incarcerated, and that there is a 1/3 chance of prison or jail time for a black child born in the year 2000 (Stevenson, Mays Lecture, 2013). As Frank Smith says, “Schooling, and circumstances outside school, may result in what might be called ‘abused learners’”(Smith, 1998, p.37). Perhaps these abused learners are the traumatized marginalized members of society who end up incarcerated, which are probably those same kids stuck in the cycle of failing schools.

            

These are all disheartening figures and facts when we think about the future of our schools and society as a whole, pointed out by these numerous intelligent people. So what’s to be done? Interestingly, the solutions suggested are echoed amongst all of these incredible people, and seem to center around a theme that has been emphasized from the very start in this graduate program: Community. As Dr. Oakes says, “We require a social movement above market forces or expert engineering; citizens and community members must make demands for change” (Mays Lecture, 2014). In Smith’s words, “Changing the minds of [people with authority or influence in education] will itself need a massive educational effort. And if their minds can’t be changed, which will often be the case, then community and political action will be required” (Smith, 1998, p.83). This is echoed in Stevenson’s “intentional discomfort” and call for proximity in the communities that need visibility the most, and again in Margaret Wheatley’s essay Willing to Be Disturbed. She says, “We’re comfortable with our lives, and if we listened to anyone who raised questions, we’d have to get engaged in changing things. If we don’t listen, things can stay as they are and we won’t have to expend any energy. But most of us do see things in our life or in the world that we would like to

be different. If that’s true, we have to listen more, not less. And we have to be willing to move into the very uncomfortable place of uncertainty” (Wheatley, 2002, p.3).

It seems they all call for us to take notice, take part, and speak up, to deny the existing narrative in favor of one that benefits our entire society top to bottom. Smith puts it, “The solution is not for teachers and students to do better in the circumstances that are imposed on them but for the circumstances in which teaching and learning are supposed to take place to be changed” (Smith, 1998, p.69). It might seem like an insurmountable challenge, but Dr. Oakes advices we take heart in the data that shows that most Americans are uncomfortable with the existing inequities. Stevenson and Wheatley would push these Americans to not turn away from this discomfort, but to harness its power to bring progress. Any movement for change takes work, and discomfort, and pain, and even sacrifice. I’m thinking now of the Latino women Dr. Oakes mentioned whose marriages suffered when they took on the activist roles in their communities. I’m also thinking of Bryan Stevenson’s description of the Civil Rights Movement as a time of terror, and Frank Smith’s warning that “Teachers who try to change will often run counter to the established practices of their school and entrenched beliefs of their colleagues—and of parents and others outside school… Once again, teachers will need to have and to provide support. Introducing change is best done collaboratively” (Smith, 1998, p.92). So what can we small teachers do to impact our own communities, as asked during the Q&A portion of the Mays Lecture? “Get tenure and speak your mind!” says Dr. Jeannie Oakes.

Theory in Practice: The Juggle

As I look back over my very fast-paced month, one theme I observe over and over again is this feeling of having way too many balls up in the air. Or for drama's sake, let's make them butchers knives, because that feels like it better matches the stakes should one be fumbled. And I have been fumbling A LOT. 

Of the many things to keep track of are the personalized things for specific students. I have one student who manages to bring a backpack, homework folder, AND a lunch about as often as Halley's Comet orbits the Earth, and have written several times about my co-teacher's and my developing phobia of sending anything at all important home with him. (I know this sounds like something that should be easy to fix but there are a lot of factors at play with this student's situation that I won't get into here). We have tried to establish a system where he can get the work done in class time, but he really needs an adult to sit and work with him and one is not always available. On another front, we have a student who is working on shortening his "start time" and complying with directions the first time they are given. This is a student with a remarkable gift for making 20 minutes disappear without having made a single mark on his paper. This month, he has been given a special and wonderful folder developed for him by his Speech and Language Pathologist to target these goals, but it really requires one of us adults to remind him to bring it out and track what he needs to track in it, and more often than not, we have forgotten to do this until practically the end of the day. These situations, not to mention the needs of my 8 other students, leave me with a discouraging "not enough of me to go around" feeling. Serious hats off to all the teachers in classrooms of 20 and more. I have absolutely no clue how you juggle it all.  

While we're on the topic of my growing edges, here is one which I have rehashed on this very blog again and again. Basically it has to do with taking my exciting and varied ideas and converting them into a thought out action plan. All through my TIP chart this month I can see evidence of my 'big idea' brain getting excited with notions like making a group timeline or a class book of local plants and critters with their families and genomes. Then comes the part where I would actually have to break this down into the steps I would present to the students and my mind is a blank. Again and again I have reflected on and gotten feedback about the necessity of thinking through all of the steps before trying to launch ideas. It leaves me a bit frustrated with myself. It might be a little generous to call this edge "growing." Although, that being said, as I zoom my lens out and look at myself from the very beginning of this grad program, I have improved in this area a lot. I just have a lot further to go before I will be satisfied that I've made it.

Resources that have helped me a lot this past month have been Positive Discipline's Mistaken Goals chart and Pathways to the Common Core by Calkins et. al. The former is a very simplified chart that helps the adult or educator identify the motives behind behaviors that may be challenging him or her. I like it because it recognizes the teacher's response emotion and you can use the chart starting right there. For instance, when I find myself feeling irritated or annoyed, I can find that emotion on the chart and see what the child's "mistaken goal" is, which in that case is "I count only when I'm being noticed or getting special service. I'm only important when I'm keeping you busy with me" (Positive Discipline). Seeing the behavior in this light suddenly changes my whole perspective and enables me to feel more empathy and less at the mercy of my own emotional responses. It helps me remove myself from the scenario and refocus on how to actually help the child.

One of my highest highs from the month, which I was definitely NOT expecting, was Halloween week. Despite all my fears Halloween was NOT a disaster! Our kids did such a great job all day long managing the madness and I can’t think of one instance of a kid exploding or fighting or being inappropriate with their costumes. They were able to enjoy the costumes and the festivities while also remaining within the expected boundaries. I think I have to thank our regular Class Meetings for the success of the day. If we hadn’t taken the time to talk about the procedures and expectations of Halloween practically every Morning Meeting for weeks leading up, I don’t think things would have gone as smoothly. In the Morning Meeting book, Kriete does say that discussing what is to come (news and announcements) with students contributes “to students’ sense of safety and being cared for by letting them know that the teacher has prepared for the day and is ready for them” (Kriete, 2002, p.96). The topic of Halloween was brought up by students in our meetings so frequently that it kind of made my head spin, but ultimately I am glad I honored their voices and their need to talk about and verbally process this extremely exciting day for them.  

Speaking of highs, while I am not yet perfect, I am pretty proud of myself for the way I have learned to streamline the taking of anecdotal notes. Both in my TIP and in my notebook and in pre-made charts I have created, you can see my habit of taking notes and reflecting on individual students and events forming. I feel like this process is becoming more natural for me, and the more I do it, the more I see patterns emerge and understand how to streamline this process to serve my teaching needs. Reading Pathways influenced my confidence a lot as the authors helped me see how the anchor standards actually look in a classroom and what I should be looking for in my student's words to learn about their learning. This has helped me focus the types of notes I take on students, which used to be all over the place and are now less so. The process is becoming almost second nature to me, which is exciting all on its own. Perhaps that's some of the muscle memory coming into play as I learn the art of juggling. 

Pushing Forward - Blazing a Pathway to the Common Core (Book Club Response)

As Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman put it in their book Pathways to the Common Core, "There is a way of talking about hard work as if it is a fascinating challenge," (2012, p.72), and I must say, I am suddenly fascinated by the challenge of doing the hard work of embracing the Common Core. I feel amazingly energized as these authors help the concepts unfold in my mind and my new understanding of these controversial standards begins to blossom. I'm not a curmudgeon anymore. I'm extremely excited to get started.

That being said, I am also utterly panicked. Since when is Text-to-Self out? Was I not just last week lauding the "connections" my readers were making during our read aloud and encouraging them to identify things they could connect to their own lives? Was that this humble teacher saying something like "Does this remind you of yourself? Wonderful! You are making the kinds of connections strong readers make!" I want to slap my forehead. Little did I know I was leading them AWAY from the type of deeper analysis the Common Core is trying to push them towards, as “the Common Core deemphasizes reading as a personal act and emphasizes textual analysis” (Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman, 2012, p.25). Those poor misled souls!

Luckily I'm the kind of teacher who can put the breaks on, reverse, and swerve the other way when we reach a dead end. I'm already seeing the kids rising to the challenge as I raise the bar even higher. The other day as I began our read aloud, I gave them a pep talk not unlike the one I alluded to from Pathways, where the authors suggest “you may want to consider the overall tone and approach you’ll use as a community. There is a way of talking about hard work as if it is a fascinating challenge, and there is an alternate tone that makes it seem as if hard work is put on us by outside forces, which is deadly”(Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman, 2012, p.72). I told them how they have clearly mastered Text-to-Self connections and were ready for a higher level of thinking. I told them they had to turn their brains way on, and I saw kids licking their lips, readjusting themselves at the carpet, sitting up straighter, ready to take on whatever challenge I was about to throw at them.

Something else the book emphasizes that made my stomach sink a bit was the sheer volume of time students need to be spending reading. The authors assert that “In order for students to make the necessary progress, they need at least forty-five minutes in school and more time at home to read books that they can read with 96% accuracy, fluency, and comprehension”(Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman, 2012, p.18). We definitely don't do this. Yet. One issue I have seen developing is that students only read during transitions after lunch or fruit break. That means slow eaters are getting less time than their peers. Those who do read, don't spend time in the same books to completion. They leisurely float between books, and while I like to see them socially engaged and excited about a book, they spend too much time three heads to a Captain Underpants book laughing over the same pages every day. Now that I see this, what do I do? Calkins et. al. offer some practical suggestions to drum up productive reading time. They share, “We have found that it helps if classroom teachers have a hypothetical plan for how each student will advance, and it helps if that plan is written (perhaps onto a calendar) and shared with the student and is public so that each student (and sometimes the student’s parents, too) can work with resolve toward these clear goals” (Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman, 2012, p.44). I like the sound of this, but it's somewhat intimidating to imagine doing this for each student, and I only have 10 of them! I can only imagine the challenge this individualized planning would pose for teachers with 20 or more kids.

Some of what the authors point out is familiar and seems like common sense at this point, like that students need choice and interesting texts to choose from. I was already convinced of this, but hadn't quite made this same connection to their nonfiction reading lives. It seems so obvious now that they need lots of high quality nonfiction texts to choose from as well as coaching in the strategies necessary to read them. It's all too familiar the image of a nonfiction article turned neon by a heavy highlighter hand. The authors of Pathways describe another scene I recognize, explaining that “students may accomplish only limited amounts of expository reading because they may be reading with pen in hand, taking notes about information they could look up with ease or that they don’t even know yet will be significant once they read more. They are recording ‘the facts,’ as soon as they encounter them…” (Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman, 2012, p.90). It's clear that they need more time and more targeted instruction on how to tackle nonfiction and monitor their comprehension, but even more importantly, that they are interested in the work. I want so badly to provide students with all the texts that will ignite their passions, but it's not that easy to get these books. Calkins et. al. understand this difficulty well, saying, “The first challenge is to supply students with the high-interest, just-right informational texts that will be necessary if they are going to develop CCSS skills in informational reading” (Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman, 2012, p.91).

One of my major questions, briefly touched on by the authors, is how to interpret these standards for students with cognitive difference. I'm thinking in particular about students on the spectrum for Autism, who typically occupy a very concrete space in their thinking and struggle with subtleties and abstractness, the "reading between the lines" skill necessary for navigating many social situations as well as critical thinking. I really resonated with the warning “We caution that it is not enough to simply do this work in shared experiences such as through read-aloud or whole-class novel discussions-- too many kids hide during that work, and you don’t know if they can really do the high-level work on their own, in independent reading” (Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman, 2012, p.68). As I have worked to collect anecdotal notes during these discussions, I see the same kids talking and the same kids floating away in their minds. I can only spend so much of this group time reeling the floaters back in, and often this inattentiveness is not disruptive, but it does make me cringe wondering if they are getting anything at all out of these group literacy experiences. I worry about students on the spectrum measuring up in the Common Core and that their other wonderful skills and multiple intelligences will not be appreciated. What if I can't get a student with Autism to infer and synthesize and embrace the idea of hidden messages beyond the plot of a text? Is that child then not on grade level? Assuming the Common Core measures college preparedness, is that child technically never going to be University ready if he or she cannot master these deep thinking skills? I'm worried the individual strengths of these children are not being honored if we over-emphasize abstractness for very concretely wired brains. I hope that in the next few years of getting settled into the Common Core, more research will be done on how to support different types of thinkers in reaching these standards.

It's no secret, as the opening of the book playfully relays, that the Common Core has some ways to go before anyone can call it perfect. There may be some things that have me questioning, but questioning is part of thinking as the Common Core emphasizes only too well! Despite my questions, I can get behind the overall message of the giant leap these new standards are attempting to make, and am excited about the progress in the right direction. Calkins and friends put it best when they say, “Instead of continuing to provide the vast majority of students with a skill and drill education, the United States needs to provide all students with a thinking curriculum, with writing workshops, reading clubs, research projects, debates, think tanks, Model UN, and the like. The Common Core Standards offer an absolutely crucial wake-up call” (Calkins, Ehrenworth, and Lehman, 2012, p.9). Well I am awake, and I am ready for the hard but fascinating work that lies ahead as I guide my kids to the next level of thinking that awaits them.

Map it out! First Theory in Practice of the Year

Has it really only been 6 weeks since this new adventure began? I feel like I have lived entire lifetimes in these few weeks, and watched an entire civilization form and crumble and form again before my eyes. There's a lot of newness to these weeks. New students, new co-teacher, new layout for grad school, new role as a lead teacher. It's been wonderful and terrifying all at once, a sensation of drowning mixed with the elation of learning to doggy paddle. I think I'm going to make it.

I think ones of my major growth points came from acknowledging that my expectations and plans were not necessarily going to be matched by reality. As I carefully laid out all the parts of my classroom, including a sensory box and a "quiet space" complete with beanbags and ottomans and star lights, I envisioned kids who would be eager to comply with the expectations of respecting these materials and spaces. Instead I came out of week one frazzled by policing beanbag usage (please don't pull them between each other, please don't jump on them, please don't bury yourself in them) and proper respect of the "quiet space." I had to go back to the drawing board and be more intentional with how I presented these privileges, and involve the community of kids in these decisions. Similarly when I had a science exploration time including wires and motors with the fun challenge "see if you can get this motor to start." I almost pulled my hair out when I came back to the station to find wires jammed into unimaginable places of the motors and wrappers being peeled off of batteries. I had to take a deep breath and remind myself that I can't assume what kids do and do not know. I learned to be more specific about my expectations of how I wanted materials treated. Two motors in the trash, but a wealth of experience gained!

I also had to deal with the new pressure of parents who on week two were already wringing their hands and wondering when homework was going to pick up. It's a little frustrating to get this type of feedback when I feel like I've climbed mount everest in our interpersonal and social structures in the span of 2 weeks, but again I learned the importance of communicating with families about what we are doing and why. I feel only slightly panicked that I'm only in about week 4 of my curriculum design plans, because the actual human kids I am working with differed from the fantasy in my head. I have rolled with it, made adjustments, and am finding what we create together to be even more exciting because of their involvement.

Part of my design was focused on incorporating the students' cultures by studying ourselves through mapping and observing. I thought this would be a meaningful way to engage these kids in social studies skills while also getting them acquainted with each other and the concept of their classroom community. I also wanted to create several points of access to these concepts by making them concrete and visual, so that kids with all sorts of strengths could participate in the thinking and observing.

I  have had such a great time teaching social studies, even though it hasn't unfolded in the exact way I had planned. It has been exciting to put sources directly into the hands of students and to guide them in dialoguing about their inferences. I wanted to frame them as critical thinkers and historians, and “To read and think like historians, kids react and respond to photographs, pictures, journals, diaries, and other documents” (Harvey and Goudvis, 2007, p. 210). I was surprised at how challenging it was for many of them to master the distinction between observations and inferences, but I have worked to consistently use the language through multiple contents such as science, reading, and social studies to help drive the point home. When Dr. Lynch visited as my coach, she gave me a lot of helpful feedback on how to support some of my students in developing this concept. One thing she suggested that has done a lot of good is pointing out to the student when he or she is inferring or observing during conversations, and making things concrete and bounded as much as possible. I gave them their first project based homework on a specific Native American culture region and can't wait to see the projects this week!

My lows are somewhat reminiscent of what they were in past journal entires. They include various examples of losing my cool when dealing with challenging behaviors and personalities. As many of you know, I serve kids with lots of cognitive differences including Autism spectrum and severe ADHD. This year, at least 4 out of my 10 students are working with these cognitive differences, and it can sometimes make our community feel rocky or chaotic in dealing with these different needs. Re-reading Becky Bailey has been helpful, and I have shared with my co-teacher some bits of wisdom to get us through challenging moments, such as “composure is a choice we can make, regardless of how crazy the outside world appears to be” (Bailey, 2000, p.25). And in our class, there are moments when the outside world seems really, REALLY, crazy. Certain personalities clash with one another, there is intentional button pushing, and emotional explosions occur. We have dealt with these challenges by carefully grouping our students and utilizing the excellent backup resources my school offers. More than once this year, my principal has come in to talk with the students about issues facing our community, such as violent or inappropriate topics in conversations and playground play. Watching her work is amazing, and I have picked up so many tips on how to use language to be direct and clear with expectations, and to be firm.

Sometimes I oscillate between the two extremes of management style between overly permissive and child-pleasing, and then overly domineering and kurt to try to elicit more cooperation. I have found Jane Bluestein's Powering Approach to be SO helpful in unpacking these behaviors of mine, and have used this language with the kids as well. The idea is that all of us have needs, kids, adults, and the community, and none of us has the right to put our needs above another's. Bluestein helps me think about establishing a cooperative environment where the kids take care of each other and themselves, the way I had envisioned a democratic classroom in my summer plans. Keeping in mind the importance of composure and cooperation, I think I am arriving more closely to my goal. I encourage you to check out Bluestein's powering model here.  It could transform your community!

While we are still certainly a work in progress, I feel very positively about the direction our community is moving, and about my growth these past 6 weeks in my new role as a lead teacher. We may be only in week 3 of my plans, but the groundwork we have done on our community will make all the difference in the world in establishing the kind of environment where we can learn, be safe, ask questions, think critically, and enjoy each other. I may have had one path carved out on my map, but I look forward to seeing the less-traveled roads my learners are pulling me out on.

Helpful list of tribes and regions for teaching the graphic novel, "Trickster: Native American Tales"

(Image source: Trickster ed. Matt Dembicki 2010)

Reasons to be excited about teaching literature and social studies this year: GRAPHIC NOVELS! I'll be researching how they can be used in the classroom to enrich and enhance learning, and integrating them through multiple content areas. I love this genre for the way it brings in multiple learning styles and draws in all sorts of readers, reluctant and ready alike. One novel in particular I have been enjoying exploring in preparation for the year is Trickster, compiled and edited by Matt Dembicki. It's a collection of 22 Native American trickster tales depicted by a variety of authors and artists. It is going to be an awesome supplement for exploring Native American cultures and comparing and contrasting the different regions. Kids will be able to use comprehension and inferencing skills to draw conclusions about the different cultures and their values and practices, based on the text AND the wonderful images. We can also discuss the differences between oral, written, and now graphic storytelling. There are just SO MANY exciting possibilities when dealing with this high-interest format! Let the planning frenzy begin!

One drawback to the text I quickly discovered, however, is a lack of a quick and easy reference for teachers to know which tribes and regions produced which trickster tales. It has been tedious googling the details of the different stories trying to figure out which tribes and areas they come from in order to use them as teaching tools. Thankfully with a little searching, I found this interview with Dembicki on BlueCornComics.com which includes a list of the authors, stories, and tribes each story in Trickster is sourced from. I used that list to compile my own, organized in the same order as the printed text with a few corrections and page numbers added.

List of Tribes and Regions in Trickster ed. by Matt Dembicki

1. (Washington) "Coyote and the Pebbles"— Dayton Edmonds, Micah Ferritor (p.5).

2. (Alaska) "Raven the Trickster"— John Active, Jason Copland (p.19)

3. Abenaki (New York) "Azban and the Crayfish"—Joseph and James Bruchac, Matt Dembicki (p.33).

4.Winnebego (Nebraska) "Trickster and the Great Chief"—- David Lee Smith, Jerry Carr (p. 47).

5. Laguna/Tewa/Hopi (Texas) "Horned Toad Lady and Coyote"— Eldrena Douma, Roy Boney (p.55)

7. (Massachusetts) "Moshup's Bridge"— Jonathan Perry, Chris Piers (p.71).

8. Choctaw (Texas) "Rabbit's Choctaw Tail Tale"— Tim Tingle, Patrick Lewis (p.79).

9. (Washington) "The Wolf and the Mink"— Elaine Grinnell, Michelle Silva (p.89).

10. Cowlitz (Washington) "The Dangerous Beaver"— Mary Eyly and Jimball (p.103)

11. (Texas) "Giddy Up, Wolfie"— Greg Rodgers, Mike Short (p.111).

12. Creek (Oklahoma) "How the Alligator Got His Brown, Scaly Skin"— Joyce Bear, Megan Baehr (p.123).

13. Catawba (South Carolina) "The Yehasuri: The Little Wild Indians"— Beckee Garris, Mark McMurray (p.137).

14. (?) “Waynaboozhoo and the Geese” – Dan Jones and Michael J. Auger (p.143).

15. (Oregon) "When Coyote Decided to Get Married"— Eirik Thorsgard, Rand Arrington (p.149).

16. (Hawaii) "Puapualenalena, Wizard Dog of Waipi`o Valley"— Tom Cummings, Paul Zdepski (p.161).

17. Ioway/Otoe (Kansas) "Ishjinki and Buzzard"— Jimm GoodTracks, Dimi Macheras (p.173).

18. (Montana) "The Bear Who Stole the Chinook"— Jack Gladstone, Evan Keeling (p.185).

19. Cherokee (North Carolina) "How Wildcat Caught a Turkey"— Joseph Stands With Many, Jon Sperry (p.194).

20. (Maine) "Espun and Grandfather"— John Bear Mitchell, Andy Bennett (p.203).

21. Navajo (Arizona) "Mai and the Cliff-Dwelling Birds"— Sunny Dooley, J. Chris Campbell (p.215).

?Seminole (Florida) "O-pa"— Moses Jumper, Allen Freeman

? (Alaska) "Box of Daylight"— Gene Tagaban, Ryan Huna Smith

*Mentioned in original source but not found in print copy

(Source for list: BlueCornComics.com)

Mapping these stories on actual maps with kids can give them yet another visual source from which to draw conclusions and formulate questions. Assign them each one of the five regions and have them choose a trickster tale from that region to explain and respond to. Note that several contributors identify as Native American themselves, which may be an interesting way to include some diverse voices in the classroom. Share any other ideas on how you'd use this text, or what other great texts you'd pair with it!

Rumi, perhaps on the exquisite pain that is the thirst to know, AKA, on teaching

There’s no way out,

no cure but death.

Last night in a dream

I saw an old man

standing in a garden.

It was all love.

He held out his hand and said,

Come toward me.

If there is a dragon on this path,

that old man has

the emerald face

that can deflect it.

This is enough,

I am leaving myself

-Rumi

You coulda been a ____. Why choosing to teach is choosing to be an artist.

The other day a dear old friend, in the kindest, most genuinely loving way, asked me (in so many words) if I felt like I wasn't living up to my potential to be an actor/comedian/writer/creative. His question gave me pause, and to be honest, it's one I have posed to myself on more than one occasion. The responsive teacher's life can be a grueling one, sometimes thankless and undervalued in our society, and in the aftermath of No Child Left Behind and increasing de-professionalization of the field, even considered a talentless job that "anyone" could do. I'm glad he asked it, because hearing this question from someone else forced me to confront these truths and consider my stance.

Do I feel like I shortchanged my chance to be an actor or a writer? No, not really. In fact by choosing to teach, I have done just the opposite. Getting to the raw essence of what it takes to be an artist, I assert that in order to truly act or write, one must commit to living in the nitty gritty thick of human experience. There's no greater character study, no probing of the secret depths of the human spirit, than teaching.

I act every single day. I'm a celebrated comedian as I crack jokes with my kids (which never fail to hit their mark). My facility and joy in words is validated each day; a knock knock joke isn't just a knock knock joke. I'm teaching wordplay, idioms, and the craft of language through laughter. I must convincingly perform the roles of "curious thinker", "problem solver", and "good citizen" to model friendship skills, kindness, patience, the drive to learn and creatively face problems, etc. Even when I don't want to, the show must go on. I must submerge myself in my assumed character. I must fluidly shift between characters in response to the unfolding scene, the ultimate improv arena. To be the teacher-artist is to take on the most demanding performing arts role out there. It's to see through the eyes of the most gifted satirists, combining humor and a sharp vision of the world to assist others in critically seeing it.

I use my talents as a writer and an actor by compassionately unpacking the actions and motivations of the characters that surround me and assuming their points of view. It is a wonderful gift to give your fellow human, to get to say every day, "I see you. You're welcome here, every part of you, flaws and quirks and all." This next part is top secret, but behind closed doors, I do lovingly spot-on impressions of my students. My performer's heart swells when my audience laughs, requests old favorites or demands an encore. Like a true artist, my greatest joy is to see that I have brought joy. Perhaps impressions can be perceived as "making fun" but I focus on the "fun" and the intrinsic love and enjoyment this word implies. I assure you the skill of impersonation is rooted in my responsive teaching values: careful kid-watching, talking less and listening more, and truly striving to see students as the distinctive and wonderful individuals they are. How can you recreate peoples' defining mannerisms and imitate the cadence of their voices without having SEEN and HEARD them thoroughly?

Face it, fellow wordsmiths, who ache to tell the stories of our humanity without ever having spent time alongside 8 year olds. You should envy me. I am positioned at the well of human creativity, ankle deep in the overflow whether I like it or not. Kids are the brightest shining, unabashed thinkers and poets this world has to offer. An artist's craft depends on the company she keeps, the depth of her collaboration with the greatest minds. I keep the company of the most unselfconsciously original people alive today. And the feelings! Who else gets to bear witness to the glorious spectrum of human emotion, to watch epic dramas unfold every hour? In the life of a child, elation is followed by utter devastation and despair, which can quickly be replaced by a moment of slapstick comedy, and perhaps a bit of toilet humor depending on your inner circle, and I am RIGHT THERE in the thick of it all, drinking it all in.

Of all of these glorious examples of human feelings, my very favorite has to be the child's capacity for genuine and open awe. That's where my artist self meets my teacher self, as this latter persona quietly enters stage left. It's her job to set the scene, prepare the props, and yell "cut" and "action" when the actors need. That's how we provide experiences of authentic discovery that can spark such curiosity and wonder. Is there a nobler definition of art?

Reflective and socially conscious teachers, the next time someone asks you how you feel about not becoming the famous artist you dreamed of in your youth, your answer should be obvious.

We are the music makers,

And we are the dreamers of dreams,

Wandering by lone sea-breakers,

And sitting by desolate streams;—

World-losers and world-forsakers,

On whom the pale moon gleams:

Yet we are the movers and shakers

Of the world for ever, it seems.

(Arthur O’Shaughnessy, Ode, 1874)

Every day I strive to be a mover and a shaker, to encourage my kids to take less-trod paths and wander “lone sea-breakers” and pursue their own hearts’ callings. I propose there is no purer way to answer the wild call of the artist's life, the call to see ourselves and each other with clarity, and to create. My friend, I am proud to be walking the only path that ever really existed for me. My friend, I assure you I am already an artist. I am an artist because I teach.

Theory in Practice; The Leap!

I think the above image is a pretty fitting description of how I feel as we near the final stretch of this first year in grad school. Imagine that this dog hasn't been fed in days. It's low on energy, running on stomach acid, and can barely inspire itself to stand up and respond to the its master's whistle. If it can only summon the energy for one last heroic leap through the flames, overflowing food dishes, warm fluffy beds, and lots of pats and admiration await it. This is what pushes it through that ring of fire, despite the risk of being burned should it fail.

As anyone who has followed this blog or my teaching saga knows, the word logistics haunts my waking nightmares. Well let me just toot my own horn here for a second and share a LEAP this humble teacher took in this area! Taking to hear the advice of my math coach, I spent some time really thinking about the groupings of my students and the order in which I wanted to introduce them to things in workshop settings. I applied this same logic to a language arts engagement, and observed thrilling results.

Wanting to help the students form a more solid understanding of the slippery definition of "theme" in literature, I decided to use a book that is relevant to our civil rights discussions and contains powerful themes. It was actually recommended by a peer in my cohort! The book was Minty by Alan Schroeder and Jerry Pinkney. Stealing yet again to craft this patchwork that is becoming my practice, I took the Alphabet Box shown to us by Dr.K (or Dr. Fisher??), and had the kids pull what they considered powerful or theme words as we read. I thought carefully about my groupings and decided to go heterogenous in age and literacy development. The first week, I read the book three times over three days to the three different groups. I intentionally left some of my less confident language arts students in the later groups, and the impact was better than I could have hoped for. Naturally as I read the book to the small group, other kids working independently around the room couldn't help but listen in. The next day, when it was their turn, the kids in the second group felt confident about facing the new challenge. Group three was the last group intentionally, and it was perfect. They had TWO eavesdropping experiences to process the story and the activity and what “theme” is about, so they were ready to rock and roll when it was their turn.

If that's not enough to make any teacher proud, get this: the second week I met the same groups in the same order to create Found Poems from their alphabet boxes. I showed them a few mentor poems as examples of freeform poetry, and set them loose. I was actually shocked with how game the students were to take on the found poems, and how beautifully they manipulated their found words with their own and explored the heavy themes of Minty. They BLEW ME AWAY with their poems and I think you will be blown away, too.

My two youngest students produced my two favorite poems (shhh) which are as follows:

The Fire
By I----- M------

Eight ashes go up and down.
When the sun comes out,
fire burns in the valley,
rips the trees souls.
The birds screamed
Hide, Hide!
Minty bites down her
lips with every whip.
Out with the sun,
in with the moon,
and freedom is the
sweet tune.


The Listening River
By C------ S------

The glossy river runs away
South just another feeling
to Minty. “I wonder is the
North Star trapped like me”
And the muskrats “don’t
struggle to escape. Soon you
will be in freedom just like
me.” The quiet river flows
like the cold cold wind.

And while I am proud of them, I am also proud of myself. I not only planned, but followed through in implementing a plan that spanned over two weeks. This is serious growth for me. Not that I am cured of my flighty ways, but this experience proved to me that I can not only do it, but that taking the time to do it can yield exciting results.

Similarly, the in-the-moment responsiveness I excel at has not gone away, proven by a fun and unplanned teaching moment that is probably my favorite one of the year. We had a costume day, and I threw together a last minute Amelia Bedelia outfit. Yes, I have a big floppy black hat and an apron lying around, doesn't everyone? Without even intending to, my impersonation of Amelia Bedelia turned into a fun and lively review of idioms as my students tried to help explain some basic ones to poor baffled Amelia. When I went for my session with the K-1 class, I found they had no idea who Amelia Bedelia was, so I HAD to read them the book. As I was reading, I changed the pronouns around so it sounded like I was telling about my own story. I positioned it as "people get so mad at me and I don't know why. I only follow directions! Maybe you can help explain it to me." They were crawling over each other to look at the pages and set Amelia straight on her many confusions. I think it was an introduction to figurative language they will remember! I certainly will!

I know I sound like I am patting myself on the back, but 30 minutes before I began composing this, that was the last thing I was thinking of doing. Keeping up with all of my responsibilies as a student and a teacher and a human being needed by friends and loved ones has left me feeling defeated and on the brink of giving up. Words like "worthless", "typical", "pointless", and "why bother" were floating through my head as I questioned my right to even be in this profession. Shout out to my fellows in this cohort for helping me turn my attitude around. I am so glad I took the time to read their blogs before starting mine, because their words helped renew my own energy and motivation, and help me realize that seeing myself in deficit will get me no closer to my goals. So like this dog, I am taking one last deep breath, zeroing in on my prize, and leaping.

Response to the Year Two's Sources Conference Presentations

It was very exciting getting to see the year twos present their projects at the conference! I was struck at how legitimate they seemed and how impressive they were up in front of a group like that. It filled me with wonderment about my own trajectory: will I REALLY ever be able to put something like this together, and what's more, present my thinking as a respected, valued voice? It sends a delightful shiver of anticipation, slight nervousness, but also excitement all the way through me. The scope of the projects had me daydreaming on the many paths I would love to explore when it's my turn to think about these things.

All of the presentations under "Taking Action for Change: Kids and Teachers Reshaping Aspects of School Communities" helped me to really envision the directions I might take in elevating my students' thinking about social justice issues. I could tell the presenters were very passionate about the topics and could only imagine the infectious effect this must have on their learning community. It makes me take to heart the importance of finding my voice in this learning experience and making sure to honor what ignites me personally. I am specifically looking more deeply into the U.N. Rights of a Child that Joy Harrison focused on with her students. I think this might fit in very nicely for what I am already contemplating for my curriculum design. I was also really moved by Laura Arce's clear passion for providing her students with a user-friendly and exciting library, and got lots of ideas for how to incorporate the community in kid-centered action plans. I thought it was too bad that we didn't get to see Margaret Dantzler present her project "Working Towards School Wide Happiness and Safety: First Graders Take Action" because she has inspired me in the past when she has spoken to our group, and I think many of us would have benefited from seeing how these critical pedagogical ideas can be implemented in early grades.

All in all I thought the year twos did a fantastic job and held their own at this very professional conference! I can hardly believe I will be standing in that position in a year from now. I have a lot of work to do if I am going to be able to compare with these awesome projects.