8 Random Thoughts

Long time, no blogging!  I seem to hit these hiccups where life gets in the way of blogging as evidenced this past month.  So, in a random segue, here are some random thoughts on random things.

1.  Convention Anyone? I've been toying with the idea of going to the International Reading Convention in New Orleans.  First of all, New Orleans?  Yes!  I've never been but have always wanted to visit.  Second, I've also always wanted to go to an IRA convention.  There are some amazing workshops that I would love to attend.  Even better, there is a long list of AMAZING speakers such as;  Douglas Fisher, Nancy Frey, Debbie Diller, Richard Allington, Gail Bushey, Joan Moser, Jeff Kinney, Dav Pilky, and more.  I also want to be around professionals that know literacy.  I want to learn more and bring it all back to my classroom.

So, what's the hesitation?  Well, the expense makes for a definite pause.  I figure it will cost me about 3 grand in all to do this between registration, air fare, hotel, meals, and more.  It is a lot of money for a working vacation.  And, it certainly isn't something my district will pay for.  While I can afford to do it, there is a big part of me that is a cheapskate and hesitates.  The other thing that makes me hesitate is that I would be going alone.  I don't have any colleagues that would take this trip and I would feel bad dragging a friend or family member when I would be leaving them alone all day long. I don't mind traveling alone, but I'm not sure what I would do with myself each night when I don't know anyone there. I guess I have until April 14, when the early bird registration ends, to decide what to do.  What would you do?  Any advice?

2.  I have a CRAZY teaching schedule.  We have 8 period days making a 40 period week.  Five periods are lunch, six periods are prep, and the other twenty-nine are teaching period.  Here is the breakdown of my twenty-nine teaching periods:

• 6 periods are teaching Scholastic's Read 180 intervention reading program.  
• 2 periods of small group, pull out remedial literacy
• 17 periods of push-in basic skills guided reading groups in five different classrooms
• 4 periods of small group, pull out enrichment literacy

In all, I have to keep track of sixteen different groups of children.  And, my schedule is not consistent across the week.  Every day follows a different schedule, often with days between seeing the same group again. As you may imagine, planning is everything!  You should see the hard copy of my lesson plans.  There are notes all over it!  If I don't annotate what we completed each period I would be lost.  I'm used to it now, but it took a while.  I do like seeing so many different children at different grade levels.  Still, CRAZY teaching schedule! :-)

3.  I'm reading some great books with my friends!  Between some of my classes, we are currently reading Stone Fox, The Sign of the Beaver, No Talking, and  Heroes for All Times.  All really great books!  I was very happily surprised by Heroes for All Times.  My friends reading it are loving it.  What got them hooked is that the first chapter is all about Florence Nightingale and talks all about her work in hospitals during the Crimean War of 1854.  Some of them immediately connected it to what is currently happening in Crimea, and I heard from a couple of parents that they were impressed with how the book connected to current events.  Totally not planned!  The book was in the plans for a while, but I have not control over when and where countries invade! My friends were also blown away at the lack of knowledge at the time regarding germs, hospitals, and sanitary procedures.  Easy way to hook a nine year old into a nonfiction book?  Start out with something a bit gross!

4.  Loving Read 180!  I posted a while back that mid-year my district implemented this new intervention program.  Three months in the kids love it, and I am seeing some real progress!  I actually hope my district will expand the program and offer it to more kids next year.  

5.  Looking forward to the new blog design!  I am next on the list to be done by A Bird in the Hand Designs.  I'm excited to see what Megan comes up with.  I love what I see her doing with other blogs.  Part of getting the new blog design involved some homework.  I had to complete a survey of likes, wants, and more.  It was much harder than I thought it would be.  I had to really put some thought into what I wanted.  Overall, I'm looking for a more modern-ish design. I think I might throw up a picture of myself, too.  I know I always like when I can see the blogger that writes the blog I'm reading.  I'm sorry to report I was really late in turning in my homework to Megan.  Sorry, Megan!!! If you need to push me back a bit because of that, I totally understand! Honestly, here I am a teacher turning in homework late!  Sheesh!

6.  I just completed my second observation.  We get three twenty minute observations each year, two unannounced and one announced.  This second one was my announced.  It went well, but I have to say this new observation model we use (the Danielson Framework) is soooo involved!  There is a ton of pre-observation questioning and uploading of documents to be done and then more of the same after the observation.  Not sure I agree with all components of the evaluation as in some areas it seem to be impossible to achieve their highest rating when you work with particular populations.  However, my observation went well so no complaints! But seriously, if you don't know anything about the Danielson Framework, click on the link and take a look.  You will see just how involved it is, for better or worse.

7.  Common Core Gaps?  I have noticed lately that in doing my lesson plans, I see some gaps in the common core standards.  There are things I need to teach that are not addressed in the CCS for the particular grade level.  I then look across grade levels but don't see it anywhere else.  It then becomes a stretch to say, "Well, this could fit this standard. . . "  Nothing terrible, just wondering if anyone else has noticed some gaps in the CCS as you have been teaching.

8. Enough with Winter!  Spring starts tomorrow!  I could happy dance all over the place!!  I am so tired of winter.  We used five snow days this year, had a few delayed openings, and one early dismissal.  Thankfully, we had four snow days built into our schedule, so there was only one day to make up.  They took back the Monday after Easter.  I'm good with that as Easter is an early day holiday in my family.  Plenty of time to regroup and get ready for the work week.  I saw that some schools are having their staff come in on Saturdays to make up the missed days.  I would so not be happy with that!  At this point, I'm just really looking forward to Spring Break. We will have the whole week before Easter off.  Yipeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Were these thoughts random enough for you? :-)

Any thoughts or suggestions on the convention?  

Should I stay or should I go? 

Because, this indecision bugging me!

Day 10 - Tis the Season!

It's Day 10 of the December School Day Photo Challenge!

(I just realized that I keep changing up the name of my own photo challenge in all these posts!)

Day 10 - Tis the Season!

Today's post is going to be short for a couple of reasons I will explain at the end.

Tis the season for. . .

Decorating and Germs!

 

My room has a minor snowman theme this year.  The snow sculpture above I found in Goodwill for a dollar.  You can't tell in the picture, but it is huge!  And, I'm all about snow days which this always reminds me of.  The snowman in my door window is one of those jelly-sticky window clings.  I can't even touch it because the texture of it grosses me out so.  I had to have one of the kids put it up in the window!

 

Then there are germs.  It is cold and flu season, but our school has seen a lot of stomach bugs this year.  That is the very large bottle of hand sanitizer that is next to my bathroom sign-out sheet.  It has been there since September.  Notice the level of the sanitizer?  It's like new!!!  Those germy critters just won't use it! Ugh! I know they know it is there because they are fascinated by the Lego blocks in it.  Granted, I travel to a lot of different classrooms so it wouldn't get as much use as if I had a homeroom in there.  But, still!!  I have to be more diligent in telling them to use it.  My luck, I will catch some crazy bug the Friday before winter recess! :-)

 

So, why a short post tonight?  Two reasons:

 

1.  I have plans and need to get moving!  No time to write a long post tonight, especially since the time I did have was cut short by a comment in another post.  Which leads me to number two.

 

2.  A teacher-reader posted a comment tonight on a previous post I did about teacher observations.  The teacher was observed under a new evaluation model, and it didn't go as well as it could have.  The teacher explains the situation a bit and asks for some advice.  I spent some time offering my thoughts, but thought I would open it up to you.  Please stop by and read the comment.  It is down toward the end (around comment #44) and you will see my advice below it.  Perhaps you can help a fellow teacher and offer some ideas.  CLICK HERE or on the link above to go to the post.  Thanks!

 

Gotta go fa la la la la now! Bye!

Teacher Observations

Teacher Observations. . .

picture source

Last week I had my yearly classroom observation by my principal.  Normally, not a big deal. Prior to this year, I have had the same principal for the past 14 years.  After 14 years, you know what he/she wants to see.  You know what he/she likes and don't like.  If you are lucky, as I was, you have a trusting and comfortable professional relationship.  I can honestly say that, perhaps with the exception of my first year teaching, I have never been overly concerned or nervous about my yearly observation.

However, this year we have a new principal.  We are all still trying to feel him out, as he is us.  I think this must be how it feels to start dating again after a long term relationship! ;-D  Having said that, I have to admit to being a bit nervous about my observation this year.  Had I gotten too comfortable?  Did I rely too much on knowing what my previous principal wanted to see in the past?  What would this new principal be looking for?  It can be a bit disconcerting. 

I'm happy to say that I actually felt relieved when he came in.  I just wanted to get the whole thing over with.  Happily, once I started my lesson, it all just fell into place and I was actually able to forget that he was even there.  I think it all went well, but I haven't gotten my observation back yet.  So, I guess we will have to wait and see!

What got me started on this post was a posting I read by Lindsay on her blog My Life as a Fifth Grade Teacher.  She wrote a post called It's Time to be Formally Observed.  As I read it, I started comparing her observation with mine.  She was writing about scheduling her formal observation with her AP.  What?!!! What is this "scheduling" she speaks of?!!  Sooooo different from my observations.  In my district, untenured teachers have four observations a year.  Three are unannounced with just a post conference and one is scheduled (it might be two of the four scheduled, but I think it's just one) with a pre and post conference.  Two of the observations are done by building administration and the other two are done by district administration.  Tenured teachers have one formal, unannounced observation with a post conference.  That's the category I fall in.

There was something different about my observation this year.   My principal observbed me for 90 minutes!  That is a looooooooooong time to have someone watch your every move and monitor your every word!  In the past, we have always had 45 minute observations.  If you know me, you would know that I don't believe in putting on the dog and pony show.  It is what it is! But when I looked up and noticed that after an hour he was still there,  I have to say that towards the end I was sort of thinking, "Okay, what else can I do here?"  It just seemed to go on forever.  

He also did a couple of other things that haven't regularly happened in my past observations.  He walked around and examined everything in my room, from walls to desks, and very carefully examined each activity my friends were working on.   He also questioned the kids about the lesson. None of these things are bad, in fact it probably makes for a more thorough evaluation.  I just haven't seen it in a while, so I was a bit surprised.

Havng just been observed and then reading Lindsay's post, I got to thinking about how different observations can be from state to state, town to town.  So, just out of curiosity's sake, I have some questions for you.  Esentially, what are observations like in your neck of the woods?  I would love to hear from you.

1. How many observations do you have a year?
2. Who does your observations?
3. How long are they?
4. And, anything else you are willing to share about being observed!

In our district, we have to get our observation back within ten work days and at least one day prior to our scheduled post conference.  I'll let you know how it went when I get mine back.

*****Update:  I just posted this a few hours ago, but had to come back and update.  I have been reading and replying to some of the comments.  I have to say I an absolutely floored at just how varied  teacher observations are across the country.  It really is astounding that they can be so very different!  Some of  you seem to get slammed with lots of observations while others are in districts that don't seem to view them as the be all and end all.  Please, keep the comments coming.  They are really interesting to read.  I may not be able to comment on them all, but know I'm reading them all as are many others.  Thanks for your input and thoughts on this topic.