on managing space.

My husband and I stream everything and got rid of cable years ago.  Being home for the holidays, the wintry mix of slush and gray mist has encouraged us to snuggle up with family and friends on a fantastic voyage of cable television and coca-cola classics.  I’ll be honest, sunny skies or not, HGTV is addictive.  We’re starting to refer to Chip and Joanna as if we’re old friends and I spent way too much time googling Tarek and Christina’s divorce today.  Hey, it’s vacation, we’re allowed to do nothing.  

The before and after shots are what really pull me into home improvement reality tv.  You get the feeling that the periwinkle blue shutters and subway tiled backsplashes provide these families with a sense of security and serenity they’ve always wanted.   

This got me thinking about maximizing classroom spaces-not just the physical, but also the emotional space.  Next to the new school year, the new calendar year is prime time to refresh your space and reset your students.  Why not take some DIY renovation tips from your friends at HGTV?  

DIY-Renovate your space!

1. Find your design style.

Are you vintage/thrift or contemporary/modern? But seriously, your classroom is your home away from home, so feeling cozy in your space is essential. Find inspiration by pulling images of your dream class space and revisit your pinterest boards.  The biggest enemy of a successful renovation is a wishy-washy designer.  Take stock-what do you love or hate about your classroom now? Hit the thrift shop on your time off and prepare for your 2017 reno!  

2. Lay a solid foundation.

Beyond the ambience, your classroom must have functionality.  Your primary job is to uphold a safe space where students thrive and learn.  In terms of class environments, enforcing and modeling strong values and managing basic systems is our responsibility, but beyond that, it’s on the students. We’ve all had that micro-managing boss that does everything short of manage our wardrobe.  Other than being annoying, that teaches us nothing.  Don’t micro-manage your students and their minute-by-minute actions.  SLANT? SWAG? C’mon, people.  Kids aren’t robots and neither are teachers.  Soon enough, they will be expected to contribute to society and read social cues, self-regulate and think for themselves.  The solid foundation (coupled with lots of love) you provide now can encourage a level of independence that I wish upon all of my students.  As we approach the new year, lay the groundwork and encourage the kids to do the heavy lifting.  

3.  Stick to the plan.

The welcoming of the new year is the perfect time to rehab your management systems. Take this time to lay (or relay) down the laws of the land.  I know, firsthand, that poor student choices can make a teacher lose her freaking mind.  Much of this stress can come from trying to convince students to behave.  Don’t do it. Lecturing students on misbehavior is ineffective and an extreme energy sucker. Just pick a management plan and stick to it. Leaning on “the system” will give you a sense of order in the moments of chaos. Private and restorative conversations can happen after the dust settles.  

4. Call for backup.

Whether it be pride, fear of being questioned, or momentary apathy-sometimes we just don’t ask for help. The classroom setting must be safe and cater to learning.  Be honest about doing your part first, but if someone or something is interfering with class safety and student learning, then leadership has to step in. Remember, there’s a fine line between being a whiner and being a squeaky wheel.  Good leaders will respect you for asking for help and for advocating for your students.  Together, you might find a solution for your 30 x 30 fixer upper and the family inside it.  

Happy New Year!

on passion.

The extended caffeine release from day-old black coffee trickled through my bloodstream.  Lauryn Hill’s voice on the speakerbox, dim lights, students trickling in with mostly chill demeanors, pencils sharpened, buses on time. Clicking through my recently refined morning slideshow, proud of my preparedness, click, click, I smiled.  I had a good feeling about today.  

Within fifteen minutes, I was Michael Scott.  Michael Scott running a meeting. My students were now a bunch of Pams, Jims, Angelas, Kevins, Stanleys, Kellys, Merediths and Creeds, slumped in their chairs pretending to care what I said, just because I was the boss.  Thankfully, I had a few Dwights holding on, but not enough to persuade the others to listen.  

So much for my good feeling.  Clearly, the crispy, clean morning routine and class discussion I had planned went out the window.  “Okay, ten minutes of silent reading.”  That bought me some time to regroup and drift off.  Creative writing, that’s it.  Creative writing is the sweet spot that will get them back on track. The great escape- far from test prep and data trackers. Freedom. 

“Okay guys, check out the photograph on the board...”  Daily doses of creative writing would be my new passion project.  My students love creative expression and I love teaching creative writing.  In those Michael Scott moments, I can turn to creative writing to shine light on a defeating situation.  More importantly, I know expressive writing can improve mood, well-being, and reduced stress levels for students.  Later that week, I set aside some time for reflection on this new idea.  After a few reruns of The Office and some chats with friends, I had a plan for creative writing.  

What’s your next passion project?  

1. Why did you become a teacher? Social justice? To spark curiosity in youth? To teach kids how to use their voices to make change happen? Do you love books and wanted to open the doors to the magical world of reading? Did you have an impressionable teacher and you wanted to pay it forward?  Whatever it was, are you doing it?  Getting in touch with your purpose and mission as an educator may help bring more value to the work you do each day.  You are a teacher for a reason.
2. If you could impact one element of education right now, what would it be? First, think about your realm of control. The system is the system and though some are broken; focusing on what you can change right now is better energy spent.  Do you want your kids to be more independent thinkers? Do you wish your students had greater access to the arts? What if your class projects directly improved the local community? Identify one element you want to change and set out to change it.  Team up with like-minded educators and unite!
3. What are your special gifts? Looking beyond your “teacher-self,” what are your strengths? Master chef? Dog lover? Green thumb? Film buff? Bringing your own interests and talents to the classroom engages not only your students, but it will ignite you.  Teaching should be fun!  Projects, research tasks, or informational articles on your passion topic can spice up any set of standards or prescriptive materials.  Lack of autonomy can be stifling, but sharing pieces of you in your work is empowering.  Just be sure to keep it standards-aligned.   Imagine what the students will gain by having an expert (yes-you) on the topic.

So what’s your thing? Take your passion and make it a real live thing. Your thing could become your new passion project for 2017.  Be faithful and loyal and love on that project daily.

You are a teacher for a reason. 

on judging.

Peeling my back off the sticky pleather folding chairs in the fluorescent lit cafeteria, I pretended it wasn’t happening. Teachers talked small talk, and gripped the bottom of their seats, while the emcee hushed us quiet.  As a coach, my classic clammy palms showed up to the party right on time, on this occasion, the cold sweat dripped for the teachers on blast.  Transparency was my district’s cornerstone, and the quarterly teacher rankings were making an unwelcome appearance that day.  We all knew it was coming.  Distracting ourselves before, during and after was one of the few coping strategies beyond tears and unfair judgments.  Coaching teachers at that time, left me off the hook for the “transparency” of my benchmark scores next to my colleagues.  My name was nowhere on that projector screen and I still couldn’t stomach it.  This was education though, the great reform to make education great again.  

Today, changing the narrative about test scores is tough.  Hard data smacks us in the face with one swoop of a bar graph.  It’s easy to read, easy to compare and easy to judge.  Digging deeper into the complexity of student growth is necessary, yet often overlooked.  The judginess though, can get out of hand.  

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover.  Don’t judge a teacher by her test scores. Stop judging yourself.  

1. Embrace realities. Your classroom’s gumbo pot of personalities, experiences, and abilities can have dramatic effects on student achievement.  The “no excuses” school reform bus would say I’m wrong and that the class makeup is irrelevant.  It’s not an excuse, it’s reality, and facing realities helps us grow.  This year, it’s your gumbo pot and you have what it takes to help them succeed.  Even in their own special way.

2. Triangulate, then judge.  Data triangulation is when a teacher collects evidence of student learning from three different sources. Not one benchmark, or one state test, but three sources. Basically you are cross-verifying your data to make sure it can provide a reasonable conclusion. Think- student work samples, performance tasks and observations. Sounds so logical, but, often,  we are making snap judgments on teachers and students from just one piece of data.  One type of data.  These singular snapshots are barely fair measures of a teacher's influence that year, or a student’s progress.  Think three!

3. Think about the best teachers.  It probably only takes a minute to rattle off the best teachers in your school, the best teacher you’ve had, or memories of yourself at your best with kids.  Now name some of their best qualities. Compassionate, creative, smart, influential, resilient, has high expectations.  What does it look like and feel like in their classroom?  Surely you feel the culture of learning and see the quality of student work.  I’m guessing no one imagines their favorite teacher giving pep talks about test scores.  The best teachers inspire.

Student data is valuable, no doubt.  We use it to make decisions to individualize instruction.   How we approach student data is up for debate.  I challenge you to stop judging yourself, your students and other teachers by high stakes raw test data.  We are educating the whole child, and you are a whole educator with multiple teaching talents and an undeniable impact on your students.  

on energy.

Rage pounded my ears, my jaw tightened, my motherly voice turned to a hiss.  These were all signals that I needed him out.  Now. The boy donned his 4T Christmas plaid jumper, paired with his darling mushroom brown corduroy pants.  There he goes! He plummets from the Fisher Price stove top to the bean bag chair and launches himself to the play-dough center, smashing his classmates’ creations.  His eyes dart to mine and he grins with the entirety of his sweet four-year old face.  Oh no.  Ohhhh no.  Snaps unfasten, shooting me another smile, he squats...and...yep.  That happened.   I don’t know what hit my nose first-the tears or the stench. His mushroom brown corduroys matched the mess on the floor.

My headmaster appeared as the initial shock settled.  

“Oh dear, you just need yourself a hot cup of tea,“ her Mrs. Doubtfire-esque Scottish accent calmed me.

“He did it on purpose, you know.  He smiled at me.  Before he, you know...”  Fighting it, my eyes welled up with tears.  

“My dear, he’s just a wee baby.  We have to teach him.  Go take yourself a break and we’ll talk about it more later.”  She guided me to the lounge and left me alone.  

Just a wee baby? He’s four! He knows how to read.  He tears apart the classroom and picks on other kids and now he takes poops on the puppet theater carpet?!? On purpose!  Ok, calm down.  You can do this.

I cradled the porcelain cup in both hands and bent my head forward into the rising steam.  Tears fell into the cup and I wondered if the tea shop near my flat hired expats.  I would be a tea connoisseur! Stroll into work at 10am in my “presentable” comfies, burn incense, perfect the chai latte and engage in compelling conversations about music and travel and books.  I could always go back to teaching.  

“Hey Kel.”

“Monika, thank God.”

“What?”

“I’m having the crappiest day.”

“Wanna go to Radost after work?”

“Girl, yes.  See ya.”

Was Mrs. Doubtfire right?  I mean, he is a child.  I’m an adult.  But I’m allowed to get upset.  My hand began to feel clammy against my bouncing knee. I can’t believed I cried in front of the kids.  And in front of my boss.  I’m so tired.  Maybe I’ll just take a nap instead of meet Monika.  I guess I could workout.  I dunno.  I’m tired.  

“Ok, my dear, are you better?”  Mrs. Doubtfire hummed.  

“Yes, thank you, I’m on my way back.”  

Choosing to spend my first year as a real teacher, teaching abroad in the Czech Republic was a journey in itself.  Pre-K classroom, thirteen different home languages, British curriculum, and thousands of miles from family and friends presented life lessons and reality checks amongst the daily bouts of culture shock.  

I sometimes reminisce about that day a kid pooped in the puppet area on purpose.  So much negative energy spent on an otherwise hilarious situation.  It’s tough to step outside ourselves as teachers, especially with such an emotionally laborious job.  Preserving our energy as teachers, however, is crucial.  

Tips for Preserving Energy Throughout the School Day

1. Find your elixir.  Tea became my cool down elixir for a few years.  More recently it’s La Croix, and for my students, it’s a sour patch kid during testing, but whatever your magical potion, keep it on hand and sip slowly.  It can be therapeutic.  
2. Inhale the negative, exhale the positive.  Breathe in whatever has you at your breaking point.  Hold it in, allow it to exist, then breathe out.  Harnessing it can be dangerous.  That fire in you can be transferred to creative energy.  Use that fire inside of you as an opportunity to create a solution.  
3. Practice gratitude.  When you feel yourself raging up or on the verge of tears, try to remember to count your blessings.  You are fortunate to have a full time job, with medical benefits and a uphold role that inspires and impacts human beings.  Beyond teaching, what are you thankful for?  I actually keep photos of my family posted in various areas throughout our school building, reminding me that there is more to life.  Just gazing up at a family photo in moment of frustration puts me at ease.  
4. Consider the context.  You shouldn’t have to apologize for having feelings.  Trying to understand all involved parties, though, might help you cope. Did your student just tell you to f-off when you asked him to stay on task?  Maybe his crush just rejected him.  Did a colleague just snap at you for asking a simple question? Maybe she’s at her breaking point, too.  Did you send a kid to the office and he returned five minutes later?  Perhaps there was some miscommunication regarding the incident.  These are not excuses, but not taking it personally might brighten an otherwise poo poo day.
5. Get by with a little help from your friends.  Monika saved me on that crappy day in Prague. Venting to that trustworthy teacher friend can be quite refreshing.  Just make sure not to fall into the Negative Nancy circle.  Seek out the solution-minded crew. Need to be alone? Make friends with your music. Although my prep times are currently filled with breast pumping and Facetiming, I used to find solace in a hidden hallway nook, listening to Spotify playlists, plugged into headphones, grading papers, just me and Usher.  

And just think-holiday break is knocking at your door...

on travel.

As I crawled up the dusty mountain, my sweaty palms turning the California dirt into mud, I stopped myself suddenly to catch the view.  Trying out the Chakra breathing technique I’d been practicing in yoga, I grabbed my husband’s hand.  Ahhhh.  This is life.  We were eleven weeks pregnant and no one knew but us.  Looking through the perfect coupling of two mountain peaks, with the Big Bear Lake filling the space between, mother nature reminded me that we were on her turf and for all she cared, we could take it or leave it.  I’ll take it, I thought.  The school year had just wrapped up and I left my principalship for a new beginning as a classroom teacher.  We were going to be parents and I was going to be a teacher again (insert chakra breathing and a cool summer breeze).  The great unknown was lying before us.  Feeling my internal reset button kicking into gear, I knew I was ready.  Thank you, mother nature.  

We all know the benefits of vacationing. Rest, replenishment, rejuvenation. You get to explore new cultures, taste local dishes, meet interesting people and gain perspective on life.  It’s a no brainer that teachers need vacation, but for some reason, we aren’t taking advantage of our time off.  

Why don’t teachers travel during vacation time? 6 Excuses Debunked

1. Travel is too expensive on a teacher’s salary. Start small.  Take a quick weekend road trip to the next hot city.  Stay with a friend or Airbnb a shared room, many run as low as $30 a night.  If you choose to fly, choose your destination based on the best deals.  Budget to eat out for dinner but hit the grocery store for breakfast and lunch.  It’s doable. Plus, once you set the date, it all becomes real; you will save, save save.  

2. I’m so tired, I just want to sleep all week/weekend.   Then book a beach vacation! One of those cheesy all inclusive resort spa types where you can shuffle from your room to the scorching hot folding chair and sip spiked smoothies while dipping your toes in the sand.  Sleep you will get!   

3. My family lives out of state, I want to use my time off to go home. I can relate to this one.  Our families reside in the Midwest, a long haul from New Orleans.  Feeling the weight of missing family and friends, multiplied by work stresses can be tough.  Holidays are sacred for my family.  But why not use non-holiday vacation time to bring your family or friends with you?  Even just one week per year? Your homegirls or homeboys all deserve time away, and y’all just might start travel traditions of your own.  

4. I could use the week off to get ahead on lesson planning, etc. so I can feel more relaxed after break.  Are you really going to relax when you return?  Come on.  Teachers are blessed with time off and should take advantage of it.  Once you cross these tasks off your list, more will surface and so the cycle begins again.  Imagine what rich lesson plans you could bring to the table with photographs and anecdotes of your travel experiences?  

5. I keep meaning to book something, but I get so busy, and before you know it..it’s vacation time!  Book now.  Book now.  Book now. Once you’re committed, you’re in.  No one to join you?  Go solo.  Also, the sooner you book, the sooner you have something to look forward to.  Especially on the hard days.  You have a countdown to explore the great wide open!

There is such power in switching your brain to vacay mode. No laptop required. You’ll also be reminded of how great it is to be in a career that affords tons of vacation time!  Plus summers off.  And if you don’t plan on retiring as a classroom teacher, now is more reason to take advantage.  

Learning about new people, cultures and subcultures develops who you are as a person and who you are as a teacher.  Also, the hiccups that travel brings will not only grow your character, but just might improve your teaching. In stressful moments, I often drift off to that mountain top memory in the California wild; reminding me that there’s a world outside my four classroom walls.  

Teachers, invest in yourself as a human being.  Happiness may not be a “S.M.A.R.T” goal, but your students will feel the change in you.  So get to booking!

Looking for long term travel? -Teach abroad!

International Teacher Job Fair-San Francisco Feb 2017

Want to travel for free?  Check out grants that fund independent PD!

Fund for Teachers-Application deadline Jan 31, 2017

on relationships.

Four o’clock on a Tuesday and I’m home.  H.O.M.E.  Home and chilling.  I didn’t used to be like this.  I used to be a workaholic.  Depending on my job role, my students or my teachers came first.  I mean, they were human beings, not products, how dare I live any other way?  After college, I left Michigan to teach abroad and since then, I’ve lived and fought the good fight all over the country in the charter school world, until I met my now husband.  Late nights in hotel rooms in Fort Myers prepping PD so as to be engaging, yet purposeful, yet cram in a bunch of PD objectives into three hundred minutes.   Hours on end at the round table in South Bend, analyzing benchmark scores and comparing line graphs and bar graphs and scatterplots.   Choreographing dance rap battles to teach fractions in Chicago.  Writing song lyrics to Drake’s Once Dance, to teach central idea in New Orleans. Vetting classroom environment walkthru checklists in Los Angeles.  (Yeah, I said classroom environment checklists.)  Lesson planning parties over wine.  Grading parties over huevos rancheros, pinterest parties over Gossip Girl marathons, report card party potlucks, you name it.  Eat, sleep, breathe, education.  And if I ever questioned it all, I would throw myself into guilty educator mode.  “Don’t be selfish.  Your students need you..or..your teachers need you. No excuses.  You are young, this is education, change takes sacrifice.”

Everything changed recently.  Maybe the change happened the moment she was born, or maybe it happened gradually after nights I slept exactly ninety minutes following a baby sleep regression, but it happened.  The fact that it took 34 years for me to realize that the people in my life are what matter most, or that maybe I knew that, but didn’t act on it, either way, was now a reality.  Suddenly writing a whole paragraph feedback response on my student’s persuasive essay seemed irrelevant.  Making sure my anchor charts were pinterest perfect and color coded seemed like a waste of time.  Racking my brain over recent student test data and why so and so performed this way and how the essay question wasn’t fair, blah, blah, blah, appeared to be a worry of my past self.  

Did I still care about education?  Of course.  Did I care about my students?  Of course.  Am I selfish? Maybe a little, but that’s okay.  Did I still stay up late at night, breastfeeding my little girl in one arm, while researching the most engaging text to teach author’s claim in another?  Yes.  But did I also think that as my husband slept soundly next to me and my baby let out a precious baby sneeze, that my life was bigger than the classroom?  Yes.  It was time to let go a little.  I was left wondering, though, why did it take having a child to put relationships first?  Furthermore, did I ever put myself first?  

Culture shock set in after recently returning to the classroom after seven years of leadership. I chose my school wisely and am blessed to have a principal that gets it.  Other than the anticipated struggles of classroom management and feelings of crazy spent energy as I eased back in, I was quickly reminded of the lack of teacher sustainability in this profession.  It is a profession, let me remind you, a career, a job, a slice of the pie chart next to family, friends, health and leisure.  Somewhere along the education reform ride, we forgot that teachers are human beings and not robots.  Students first, yes, but teachers are burning out fast and the really good ones are leaving the profession in droves because they are smart enough to realize that this life isn’t sustainable.  Grading and planning and attending sporting events and parent conferences and IEP meetings and filling out paperwork and paperwork and paperwork.  The charter world’s no excuses mentality.  Eight hours with kids.  Amazing kids that change lives, and teach you more than you teach them, but still.  Not worth your sanity.  I may have survived this long because I sidetracked to leadership or because I had great mentors that motivated me to persevere, but either way...something has to change, people.  

And for now, I say...Teachers...care less.  Don’t wait to be a mother to put relationships in your life first.  Hell, put you first.  Go to yoga and tell your boss you can’t make that data meeting this Tuesday at 5:30 because there’s only hot yoga scheduled once a week.  And you are G.O.I.N.G.