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This is the latest in a series of blogs by a partnering cohort teacher.
-- By Shawna Safreed Education is being shaped by test preparation. It is a stark reality that every educator is faced with each year. While we try to move forward and teach students how to think, read, and write critically, we always come back to the reality that we must prepare our students to take standardized, mostly multiple choice tests. In doing so, we, unknowingly, are contributing to the fact that we are leading students to a deterioration of a love of reading and a decrease in a love of writing. Even knowing this, we continue teaching the same way because the standardized test reality looms in our classrooms and the influence of scores weigh on us. We choose cookie-cutter stories coupled with mundane multiple choice questions because it prepares them for the test. Reading is the absolute foundation for future learning, but are we neglecting developing life-long readers in our classroom? As a result, authors like Kelly Gallagher, author of Readicide: How Schools are Killing Reading and What You Can Do About It, and Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisper, sheds light on the issues and requests a transformation in the way we teach reading and writing. So, I pose a dire question as we take on this shift to form a love of reading and writing again in our students’ hearts: HOW do we transform our students from test-takers to life-long readers? 1. Teach students how to find a good fit book. When students tell me that they do not enjoy reading, it is truly because they have not found a good fit book. They are used to standard reading material that is found in a literature book. They have not found a book that interests them, so of course, they do not enjoy reading. Line your classroom with books, and have students “shop” for a book. Have a book pass in your classroom, take a field trip to the library, and know their interests. Spark a new love of reading in your students by igniting a new passion of reading in your classroom. They feel our enthusiasm, so get excited about reading yourself! 2. Be passionate about reading and writing in front of your students. Our students feel our enthusiasm each and every day, whether we realize it or not. When our students can see how much we love reading and writing, we inspire them! Share with your students about what you are reading! Each week, I place the novels I am reading on the board. We have conversations about them, and they can sense my passion and enthusiasm for reading. In doing so, they then will tell me about what they are reading. We become excited together, and I become a role model for them as they develop a love of reading. They are eager to tell me about their novels just as I am eager to tell them about what I am reading. 3. Create the reading experience in your classroom. Reading should be comfortable, relaxing even. Encourage your students to move from their desks to a cozy nook or corner in your classroom. The culture of reading at individual desks needs to be broken. Encourage your students to read under a desk or on a comfy chair. Most importantly, as the teacher, YOU should be reading too. You are the reading role model, and I assure you that your students are watching you! 4. Ditch the literature book! We have formed our reading instruction by routine, mostly ordinary literature that does not aid our students to develop a love of reading. We couple that literature with traditional graphic organizers and questions that are uninspiring because, again, we know we must prepare our students for a standardized test. Encourage students to read on their interest level, introduce novels of substance, and empower student choice. It is time for a dramatic shift in education in the way we teach reading. It’s time to think outside of the literature books and inane multiple choice reading comprehension options. Ultimately, we are preparing our students for life--to be lifelong learners outside of our classroom walls, so we must think and act differently. Learning is a direct correlation of reading; reading is the foundation of learning. It is time to move forward, take a stance, and create and nurture a love of reading in our students’ hearts and minds. Shawna Safreed graduated from West Liberty University in 2008 with a major in English Education 5-ADULT. Immediately after, Shawna pursued a master's degree in Technology Integration from West Liberty University. Shawna began a career as a teacher in Ohio County School district in 2009 teaching 6th-grade reading and writing. Shawna has been engaged in learning more about the history of Wheeling and leading reading strategy groups within the county to help transform reading instruction in the county. She currently is a member of Cohort 3 of The Data and Technology Fluency Project with West Liberty University and the CREATE Lab (situated in Carnegie Mellon University). Shawna’s special interests include spending time with family, reading, and running half and full marathons.
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This is the latest in a series of blogs by a partnering cohort teacher.
-- By Sandra Wiseman As I write these words, I have been out of my classroom for three weeks, learning to teach in a virtual environment. No one could have predicted just a month ago, that schools all over the country would be in this position. Teachers are very quickly learning new ways to communicate with their students and re-defining what education looks like. Concerns about the digital divide and how to meet the needs of our special education students have filled our digital staff meetings. For some this has been an easy transition. They jumped right in with Google Classrooms, virtual office hours and creating tutorial videos. Others have struggled, they are not comfortable with this online world and what to do or what tools to use. But everyone is coping in their own way and learning is taking place. Many companies have made their paid services free so teachers are able to play with tools they would not have had a chance to experience before. They can compare things and truly find what works the best for them. One of my techie friends said she feels like a kid in a candy store as she gets to play with apps and programs that are now available to her. However, she is trying not to fall in love with anything because she knows her school won’t be to afford many of them when things return to normal. I have to wonder what long term effect this will have on American education as we move forward. Will we go back to the way things have always been or will this great social experiment be the catalyst to make meaningful change? Will we truly reflect on this experience and change the way we interact with our students and how we incorporate technology? I hope that as these days go by, we are paying attention to what we are experiencing and really transform our classrooms and instructional design. We need to look at what grade levels mean and how kids progress from one level to the next. We are looking at a year with no standardized testing and student will have had just ¾ of a year of face to face instruction. We will need new ways to determine what they have mastered and on where they belong. Teachers need to look at their content and instructional methods and take what’s good from this virtual experience and incorporate it into the physical classroom to provide the best learning environment possible. Teachers will have a better knowledge of educational tools and what works best for students. Hopefully they will be able to use this information and have more of a voice in what is purchased. We will also need to look at what we are asking kids to produce to show their learning and how we can use the tools we discovered during this virtual experiment to add variety to the face to face classroom. I have been a member of the Fluency cohort for less than a year. Each session I’ve attended has left me energized and ready to go back to classroom, ready to collaborate and give my students new ways to grow and learn. I know the members of the data and Technology Fluency Project are ready to lead the way for meaningful change hopefully the rest of the education community is now ready to go with us. Sandra Wiseman graduated from West Virginia University in 1983 with a major in Elementary Education specializing in Library Science. She has also earned a Masters Degree in Communication Studies from WVU and a Masters degree in Library and Information Science from the University of South Carolina. Mrs. Wiseman is Nationally Board Certified in Library Science, PreK through young adult. She started her current position at Woodsdale Elementary in 1988. She is responsible for teaching library skills, technology and STEM based activities to the PreK – 5th grade students. She currently is a member of Cohort 4 of The Data and Technology Fluency Project with West Liberty University and the CREATE Lab (situated in Carnegie Mellon University). Sandra’s special interests include reading, coding, robotics and video production. This is the latest in a series of blogs by a partnering cohort teacher. -- By Olivia Berry Maybe it’s the new mom in me, but lately I’ve been lucky enough to experience many moments that have me wishing I could freeze time. You know, when something is happening that is so good, brings so much joy, that you feel like you could live in that one moment forever. Ultimately, these are the times that we all live for. In preparation for my return to teaching after 14 weeks of maternity leave, I started to wonder what moments my students wish they could push pause on, both personally and academically. Furthermore, I wondered if I was creating learning experiences that would be remembered, ones that left some amount of lasting impact on their lives. I decided that upon my return to the classroom, I would ask my students just that. I came up with a “Push Pause” page for students to write their responses to these questions (one side for personal moments, and the other for academic): What moments do you wish you could push pause on or go back and relive? What made that time so special or different from other times? How did it make you feel? Who was involved? Unfortunately, I have not been able to complete this activity with my students due to the global pandemic that we are currently experiencing. However, I look forward to reading their answers and finding themes in their most significant moments. I predict that those times will be ones that allowed them freedom to create and be themselves alongside people that they care about. The Fluency Project has taught me a lot, but above all it has motivated me to create more meaningful learning experiences for my students and remember that it is okay to s l o w d o w n. Through this “Push Pause” activity, I will be able to collect valuable data on what my students themselves consider “meaningful.” I plan to use what they share to design better lessons with components that ignite and instill a love of learning, because even though the thought of having a real life pause button seems pretty neat, the only true way to live longer in those special moments is to create more of them. Little did I know when I started writing this blog, I would soon be given many extra moments with my sweet, new daughter. Though these times are uncertain and worrisome to say the least, I sure am thankful for the silver lining this storm has provided my family. Olivia Berry graduated from West Liberty University in 2012 with a major in Elementary Education and a minor in Special Education. She was valedictorian of her class and named Elementary Education Major of the Year. Olivia began a career at Woodsdale Elementary School in the fall of 2012 as a Behavior Disorder Specialist. After one year, Olivia moved to third grade and has been teaching this grade level at Woodsdale since 2013. She attained her Master’s Degree in Reading Education in the spring of 2018, also from WLU. Olivia is an active member of Woodsdale's Positive Behavior Support team and Curriculum Adoption Committee. She also organizes the schoolwide Science Fair each year. She currently is a member of Cohort 3 of The Data and Technology Fluency Project with West Liberty University and the CREATE Lab (situated in Carnegie Mellon University). This is the latest in a series of blogs by a partnering cohort teacher.
-- By Jaclyn Kiedasch What are your thoughts on challenges? Do you welcome them? Do you hide from them? I LOVE challenges. I tend to seek them out. No matter how busy I am in my everyday life, I look for ways to challenge myself or others to be better. Oh, of course, I am only talking about challenges at work. Challenges as an educator. Challenges in areas where I feel confident and know I can conquer. Challenges at home or in my personal life? NO WAY! I am a coward. I will do just about anything to avoid them. This makes me wonder, does anyone else have two personalities like me? A confident, idea-sharing, problem-solving, go-getter, hug-insisting, extrovert at work and a not motivated, anti-social, could sleep all day, anxiety-ridden, introvert at home? No? Well, that is me. So, you can imagine when my two worlds collided, and I must now educate my students from inside my house. There were tears, frustration, uncertainty, excuses, confusion, and lots of wine. My extroverted, never stressed, and technology efficient husband, had no problem jumping into teaching, interacting, and socializing with his students. I envied the way things were so easy for him and how much he was accomplishing without even considering this to be a challenge. I blamed his successes on having students old enough to read and use technology without assistance. I compensated my failures with blaming any obstacle that I thought stood in my way. Deep down, I have always known that the obstacle was a challenge I wasn’t sure I could overcome successfully. Wait! Aren’t I always babbling on about Growth Mindset to my students and parents? Begging them to understand that failure is the best way to succeed? Oh, the guilt! I realize now that I am forced into a challenge and am terrified to make a wrong move. I am terrified to make a mistake and in front of others! DING! DING! I do this. We do this. Every day. We ask our students to be vulnerable and take on new challenges every minute no matter their comfort level. How can I not practice what I preach? So I ask myself, how can I keep my first graders engaged online with a screen and miles between us? How can I enrich their learning and keep them from falling behind? How can I build on everything I have already taught them this year to prepare them for next? It’s simple... challenges. We have been preparing them for this every minute of every day. Being asked to do something out of their comfort zone is normal for them. Being asked to make a mistake and learn from it has become natural. I have spent many lessons working with them to think outside the box or to try something new without fear, but with excitement for new knowledge. It is now time for them to teach me to not fear the unknown and the challenge that lies before me. Once again, the impact my students have on me is far greater than anything I can give them. Challenge accepted. Jaclyn Kiedaisch graduated from West Virginia University in 2014 with a Master’s in Elementary Education and a specialization in Early Childhood Education. Jaclyn began her career as a teacher at Steenrod Elementary School in first grade. She attended Steenrod herself as a student and always wanted to return to teach. Currently, Jaclyn is a member of Cohort 3 of The Data and Technology Fluency Project with West Liberty University and the CREATE Lab (situated in Carnegie Mellon University). This is the latest in a series of blogs by a partnering cohort teacher.
-- By Chante Adams and Sharon Liston Throughout our fluency journey, compassion is a value that we have felt very passionate about. Fluency has allowed us to make deeper connections with our students and within ourselves. We strive daily to bring compassion into our classrooms through modeling. Further we aim to foster this through student collaboration. Even though one of us teaches first grade and the other third, our classrooms are right next door to one another. At our last Fluency gathering, Sharon and I collaborated to create a learning opportunity focused on compassion for and with our students. We brought both classrooms together and began with a conversation about feelings. We wanted our students to know that no matter the age, everyone has different feelings that they experience each day. Further, we discussed how certain events can change these feelings throughout the day. Next, we followed by sharing the book “Today I Feel Silly and Other Moods That Make My Day” by Jamie Lee Curtis. We used our smart board for this and tied in how books can be read over the computer. Once the book concluded, the first grade students were given the opportunity to collaborate with the third grade students to create “feeling faces” to show how they were feeling. In addition to the art, the third grade students helped the first grade students put their feeling into words on the back of their plates by creating a sentence about their feelings. During this time, we walked around as facilitators. We noticed that the third grade students stepped into a leadership role. These students exemplified compassion with their patience, guidance, and kindness towards the younger students. For example, one third grade student was working with a first grade student who is below grade level in reading and writing. The third grade student helped this student put his thoughts into words and helped them record those thoughts by sounding out words for them to write. In the beginning, we had planned to focus the collaboration on compassion. However, the students transformed this lesson into a lesson that exemplified equity and agency as well. This experience was not only a learning experience for our students, but also to us as teachers. This example shows how fluency can work with students at different grade levels and with students who have various academic abilities. We look forward to providing our students with more opportunities to learn and grow with the core values of the Fluency Project. Chante Adams graduated from Ohio University Eastern in 2008 with a major in Early Childhood Education. Chante continued her studies to earn a 4th and 5th grade endorsement along with a K-12 Reading Endorsement following graduation. Chante began a career as a teacher at Bridgeport Elementary School in third grade and continues in that position today. Chante has been engaged in leadership programs within her district including the District Leadership Team, the Building Leadership Team, and monthly after school learning opportunities with fellow teachers and administrators. Chante’s special interests include spending time with family and friends, watching sports, and reading. Sharon Liston graduated from Ohio University Eastern in 2001 with a BSED. She graduated from Muskingum in 2005 with a master’s in special education. Sharon began her career as a 5 through 8 special education teacher at Bridgeport Middle school. She is currently teaching first grade regular education. Sharon is on the District Leadership Team, Building Leadership Team. OTES committee, and is the Program Coordinator of our RESED program. Both Chante and Sharon are currently members of Cohort 3 of The Data and Technology Fluency Project with West Liberty University and the CREATE Lab (situated in Carnegie Mellon University). This is the latest in a series of blogs by a partnering cohort teacher.
-- By Ana Klemm According to my mother, my passion for technology began very early in life as a kindergartener who was “magnetically attracted to the computers” in the classroom. The year was 1996, so computers did not do nearly as much as they do today, yet I was enamored with them. Sure enough, I grew up with constantly improving technology, and was fortunate enough that my parents created access to multiple types of computers and devices at home. When I graduated from high school, I knew I wanted to work with computers and I was encouraged to try education, which I had never even considered before. I came to the realization that the whole purpose of going to school for this emerging world of digital citizenship was to LEARN how to do it, so I enrolled at West Liberty University (WLU), and never looked back. I quickly found that, not only could I dive into my newly found love for education, I could also pursue my passion for technology. I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to work in the WLU Center of Arts and Education right after graduating with my Bachelor’s degree. While pursuing a Master’s Degree in Technology, I had so many amazing opportunities to work with technology. I developed skills I could use in my future experience in teaching and I started my career in a position where I led STEM activities. Integrating these technology tools was new to the students, and with time, the digital tools we used were natural to implement. This was across schools of varied socio-economic situations. Our success with technology implementation occurred with most, if not all, students in multiple school sites. I never really thought this development was significant until I changed teaching positions. After 3 years of teaching, I began my “dream job” as a Digital Citizenship and Project Lead the Way (PLTW) App Creators teacher. I teach computer ethics, skills, coding language, and a PLTW curriculum designed to engage students in building their own apps. I was beyond excited, my two passions merged into one: technology and education. I enthusiastically came to my new classroom ready to bring and implement my life experiences with technology. What I learned quickly was that my students came to the classroom with varying levels of technology fluency, were very adept at logging into their own domains on the computers, accessing their files, and at logging into their emails. When I began, I decided to do things the way I knew how to do, and I asked students to submit work digitally. These were computer classes I was teaching, surely that made sense. I began the year showing students how to login and set up the course just as I had in past years. However, I noticed that my students were struggled immensely getting everything set-up. Now, I certainly have had my fair share of struggles logging students into e platforms, but this was abnormal. All students, even those who were listening and following directions, were not figuring it out. I tried again, this time I created their logins for them, all they would have to do is get into it. This worked to log in, until I assigned them to do something. I asked them to complete an assignment on the platform and again, it was like I was speaking another language. I have had issues and struggles, but nothing to the magnitude I was facing. I could not figure out what was going on. I sat back and used my resources to help myself reflect on what I was doing wrong. Why had this worked before in prior situations, but was failing here? As I was reviewing notes from Fluency, I came across the word “Equity” and the meanings behind it. I then realized, my students came from far different backgrounds than the students I had worked with before. I conducted an interest inventory with them, and my suspicions proved accurate. Though there were students from suburban backgrounds like mine and those of my former students, there were many that came from rural backgrounds with whom I had little experience. These students had interest in video games and sports like I was used to and I found there were a large number of students who don’t have internet access at home because they live in geographic areas with no signals. I realized that I was not being “equitable” in my approach. Many students had probably only used technology in their schools, not at home. I decided to scrap everything I knew about submitting assignments. Instead, I acquired notebooks from the school and gave them to my students. I explained to them that they would still, of course, be accessing their course and their app creator’s software with the computer, but the questions, the thought process, and the journaling would be done in a notebook that would stay in the classroom. When I did this, I saw a dynamic shift in my classes. Students were focusing on the content and less on figuring out the e platform. Also, I encouraged them to draw in it and make it their own, so that it would help them in their thinking process. The students loved this, and I was able to get a lot of quality visual thinking from them as they designed their apps. It was definitely much harder for a technology focused person like me to go back to paper and pencil, but I saw such a positive change among my students, it was well worth it. One student stands out in particular, she was new to the school and was incredibly disruptive while I was trying to get the digital platform set-up and had several attention-seeking outbursts. After we switched to notebooks, not only did her behavior dramatically improve, but she even brought her own colored pens to organize her thoughts in color-coded fashion. She went on to take the app idea she had built in my class to a competition for another class where she won an award for it! It was this moment that made me recognize how crucial really looking at making sure to evaluate students’ backgrounds before implementing anything. We, as teachers, need to be equitable in our approaches if we want our students to succeed. It is important to note here that I had a pretty rough start to the school year. The first day of school, my grandmother, with whom I was very close, passed away suddenly. Just a few weeks later, my husband (a football coach) experienced a horrible injury which required major surgery. Therefore, he was immobile for a long time and unable to attend his school to teach. My work-life balance was disrupted as well. At that point, I simply was not prepared with access to the resources I now have. However, the more I reflect back on this, I still do not think the outcome would have been much different. I faced struggles which brought me to this conclusion. What matters is meeting the students where they are, not where I assumed they would be. Though, as I mentioned before, I have a rich technology background, not every student I work with does or will. There may be classes in the future when I can implement my online platform submission style, but that may come after working with this group, learning their needs and preferences, and develop my work to truly meet them where they are. By doing that, my future students may become even more technology literate than even those who I have taught in the past with more technology-based experiences. My goal is to ensure every student feels comfortable working with technology and be ready to use it in the 21st century world in which they will live. This may require some more “primitive” technology AKA pencil and paper, but that very well may be the exact technology they need to be successful with the more “high-tech” ones they will use in the future. Anastasia (Ana) Klemm, a member of the Data and Technology Fluency Project, Cohort 3, graduated with a B.A. from WLU in both Elementary Education and General Science (5-9). She furthered her studies with a M.A. from WLU in Technology Integration. She served as a Graduate Assistant in the Center of Arts and Education, a CREATE lab Satellite, for two years focusing on science education programs and technology education. Ana has been teaching in public school settings for 4 years, specializing in STEM, Middle School Science, and Computer Science. She currently serves as a leader in Digital Citizenship, App Creators, and is a Project Lead the Way Teacher. She ascribes to the following teaching philosophy with amazing results, "Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results." ~John Dewey This is the latest in a series of blogs by a partnering cohort teacher.
-- By Bennett McKinley Since my last blog post, I have entered my student teaching semester. I am now, to the best of my ability, utilizing the amazing innovative teaching techniques that I’ve learned from the FLUENCY Project (not a project). However, I have come to a harsh and inescapable realization; it is incredibly difficult to both meet standards and experiment with beneficial, but time consuming, teaching strategies. Despite that harsh realization, finding my passion and career path in life is still so very rewarding. The students in which I’ve had the benefit to work with, are all amazing kids and they further cement my decision to follow this path. I would be remiss to leave out my cooperating teacher, she has been both an outstanding mentor but also shares much of my beliefs in the world of education. My classroom utilizes technology in some unique ways, as well as the traditional formats. I would love to integrate more; my aspirations will always include utilizing 360 panoramas and virtual tours. I have found so much value to those tools and will be trying to use at least one in my upcoming Teacher’s Performance Assessment. I was so very fortunate to travel with my mentor teacher and several other teachers from my school to visit North Elementary in Morgantown, WV. Similar to any and all of the FLUENCY meetings, I left feeling invigorated and energized in all things educational. Now, how to channel that to my current students and future classroom? Unfortunately, I don’t have an answer to that one yet. However, allow me to fill you in… To call North Elementary unique does not give the school justice. For lack of a better term though, it is incredibly unique! As a part of our visit, we got to sit in on several classes that have been utilizing innovative strategies to teach. Which meant no standardized testing, and no assessments really in general besides benchmarking. Emphasis was placed more on a constructivist learning style; students shaped their own learning and lessons were distributed across standards and across curriculums. To be honest, it kind of all just made sense. It made me reconsider how I have been taught to view our current system. Now, that said, obviously there were hang-ups and nothing in this world is perfect. There were several times throughout the day where I wondered just how effective certain aspects of their strategies were in comparison to more traditional ones. The biggest takeaway from my trip, and those that don’t enjoy hyper-positivity may want to stop reading now, was that I am so very fortunate to be entering this field with so many amazing human beings. The teachers at North all seemed to be phenomenal people utilizing their school system to create an awesome classroom environment. My classmates, of whom I’ve been with for the last few years, are all unique, talented, and anxious to enter the educational field. I absolutely cannot wait to see what kind of teachers they become. The soon to be colleagues, mentors, and cooperating teachers in which I’ve worked with are all exceptional. Each teacher that I’ve had the fortune to work with have bestowed some amazing tidbits of advice and opinions. I have taken each to heart. Finally, the administrators that I’ve worked under have helped shape my understanding of what it means to be a teacher in an educational system. I am so lucky. We are so lucky to be in this field. There are downsides, I’m not blind, there are days where I am exhausted in literally all sense of the word. There are absolutely days in which I don’t know if I’m good enough, or if I can meet expectations. However, I’m willing to overlook many of those negatives for the overwhelmingly positive amounts of moments where I have been thankful to pursue this career. From this bit of positivity, I have one bit of advice that I, myself, will try and follow: Go and be the best you that you can be today. Better yet, teach your kids that lesson. Bennett McKinley, a member of the Data and Technology Fluency Project, Cohort 3, is currently serving in his teaching placement in Second Grade at Steenrod Elementary School with a very supportive co-teacher. He is passionate about his future as a teaching professional and has already demonstrated exciting and innovative strategies to introduce and reinforce student voice using appropriate technologies. Bennett will graduate from West Liberty University with a Bachelor of Arts in Education during the Spring Term of 2020. Retreat Intentional, Reflective Pause, Breathe, Connect Heart, Mind … Hands, Voice Rush, Keep Moving, Worry Alone, No time Hurry Up! We are on a journey to educate and inspire the whole child through kindness, compassion and respect. At the beginning of the year, before we met with our students or did any logistical school planning together, our staff met at Sandscrest Retreat and Conference Center for a retreat. In its simplest form, to retreat means to draw back. As we were closing the relaxed pace of summer, we did not need to withdraw from busy-ness. However, we did need to draw back into ourselves and reconnect with who we are as educators. The time together gave us an opportunity to name and reflect upon our personal and shared values. These values came from an activity in which we participated at the end of the previous school year. As we sorted and grouped, our challenge was to come up with a list of 10-15 core values which we believed should be at the heart of what we do each day. Once we named our values, we created a school mission statement which would better reflect our fundamental beliefs about what we do each day. We left that retreat day with powerful words as our guide. How did those words come into the school as actions? How would this retreat, and what we learned about ourselves, frame our daily routines? In the book, The Triple Focus, Daniel Goleman states that by teaching children to “tune in to what matters to them most”, we are able to tap into an “inner reservoir of motivation and engagement.” (Goleman, p. 18). I would posit that the same is true for adults. We spent our time retreating into ourselves, and we put some thought into how we would implement values-added activities that are school wide. The next day, we got back to work. The poem at the beginning of this article was accidentally inspired by one of my colleagues. At a recent professional learning experience while discussing poetry, I mentioned that I had not yet completed this article and I should just write a poem. She encouraged that idea. The poem above summarizes a bit of the transformation from our retreat to our lived reality in a school. Just writing the words made my heart beat faster and induced feelings of anxiety. However, if we notice this happening, we can do something about it! Right before break, our staff engaged in an intention setting activity. We mindfully considered – who do I want to be, how should I treat others, what skills am I working on right now, and how can I serve in a way that makes me feel engaged and fulfilled? This meditation led us to choose words to put on a bracelet which we can wear to remind us of our intention for the year. Once again, we were able to draw back to ourselves to rediscover our core values as educators. Hurry Up! Alone, No Time Rush, Keep Moving, Worry Hands, Voice … Heart, Mind Pause, Breathe, Connect Intentional, Reflective Retreat We are on a journey to educate and inspire the whole child through kindness, compassion and respect. This journey is paved with our intentions. Michelle Dietrich graduated from Bethany College in 1994 with a major in Elementary Education and a specialization in Math 5-8. Her graduate work includes a Masters in Educational Technology, Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Phoenix and a Masters in Educational Leadership from Wheeling Jesuit University. Michelle has served as a Director of Religious Education, has taught Title I Math, K-5 and was a fifth grade teacher before serving as Assistant Principal at Warwood School. She is currently serving as the Principal at Steenrod Elementary School where she has been since 2015. Michelle is involved in her church and in the life of her children. In her free time, you’ll find her nose in a book. Michelle currently is a member of Cohort 3 of The Data and Technology Fluency Project with West Liberty University and the CREATE Lab (situated in Carnegie Mellon University).
This is the latest in a series of blogs by a partnering cohort teacher.
-- By Stephanie McKenzie At the beginning of this school year I decided to take a leap from my very comfortable position as a 2nd grade teacher to Special Education. I had spent the first 5 years of my teaching career in Special Education, but regardless this was a leap that required a good deal of thought and faith. I was nervous, anxious, and very overwhelmed at first, and believe me there are still days of these same feelings, however, most of all I was excited and ready to rise to the challenge. I thrive on challenges and I love working with students in a small group setting, as I do in my resource classroom. It enables me to really get to know the students, to develop a great understanding of their needs and their passions, to help them develop a love for learning, and most importantly to build relationships with them so they feel they have a support system when needed. What I didn’t expect was the resistance that came as I began to meet my students. Many of my students had been taught by the same resource teacher for the past several years. The educator that was previously in this position is amazing, truly an inspiration to me and so many others. She had formed relationships with these students that allowed them to feel comfortable even through their struggles and challenges. At first, I couldn’t understand why I was unable to make them feel comfortable and form the relationship that is necessary to allow students to succeed. I was striving to get to know everything I could about them, I had read all the IEPs, talked to their current and former teachers and felt like I had an overall picture of each of my students. Creating a welcoming classroom atmosphere had never been an area of teaching that was a struggle for me. What was I doing wrong? What I didn’t realize is that my students were about to teach me just how important it was to let students know they are valued members of the learning community. During several lessons students would ask to play games they had used in the past. I would often answer, by saying we would do that another day so that we could continue with the activity I had planned. However, I never returned to their request. I did not ignore their thoughts on purpose, I was learning, I was trying to figure out what worked best for my new groups of students. Then one day as I sat trying to plan a new lesson, I started reflecting on what I had done and decided to try one of the students’ ideas. The next week, I did just that. Their excitement when we played a game they had suggested was a surprise to me. In the same week, this group of students began to share things about their family and friends. They began to talk to me about what they thought was easy and what was challenging. They were finally opening up to me. What had changed? I had showed them that they can trust me. I showed them that when they talked, I was listening attentively and considering their ideas. I showed them that I trust them as learners who have an understanding of their own needs. Teaching includes so many components. Constantly we are planning lessons, make decisions, managing behavior, grading, etc, however, what my students taught me is above all that we need to be listeners and we need to gain their trust so that we can work as a team. I also knew relationships were important, but this year has been an eye opening experience to their true value. Stephanie McKenzie graduated from Wheeling Jesuit University in 2007 with a bachelors degree in Elementary Education with a specialization in Multi-Categorical Special Education and a minor in psychology. During her senior year she was awarded Student Teacher of the Year. She then began her teaching career as a Special Education teacher in Hampshire County, WV, where she taught for 4 years. Here she was awarded Teacher of the Year for Augusta Elementary School. She then returned to her hometown of Wheeling, West Virginia and has been teaching at Woodsdale Elementary for the past 8 years. During this time, she has been involved in many leadership opportunities, including Trainers of Trainers, Local School Improvement Council, and Diversity Team. Stephanie is a member of Cohort 3 of the Data and Technology Fluency Project. Her special interests including crafting, teaching dance, and spending time with husband and twins. This is the latest in a series of blogs by a partnering cohort teacher.
-- By Megan DeGrava The Fluency Project (not a project) has opened my eyes to what teaching needs to be. When I began with Cohort 3 I had no idea what I was getting myself into but I am so glad I jumped in. I am currently in my tenth year of teaching and I learn something new every day, whether it’s an app, a tool, or something about a student. Since joining the Fluency project I have had the opportunity to work with colleagues in new ways using technology that was unfamiliar to me. I have had the opportunity to encourage my students to take charge of their own learning and to share what is important to them. I have spent the first half of the school year learning about the students, getting to know them, and helping them get to know themselves. We have created a classroom culture that is safe and cooperative. Don’t worry… the classroom can be filled with noise and chaos as the students are creating, experimenting, learning, and growing but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Over the last year and a half I have taken more chances in the classroom and allowed for the students to jump in with me. We have successes together and we have had failures together. The most important thing to remember is to take the chance and jump in to trying something new. You will never know if it would have been a good learning experience unless you try. I have spoken to colleagues and the struggle is real to jump in… so much pressure, but if you jump in - you will find a new and rejuvenated love of teaching and learning together with your students. Megan DaGrava teaches second grade at Madison Elementary School on Wheeling Island in West Virginia. As a lead member of the Data and Technology Fluency Project Cohort 3, she and her students are currently collaborating as they digitally record distinct elements of their home and school environments, neighborhood mapping, and report on historically important events and places both near and far. Megan also coordinates student learning to build relationships across school locations to form second grade student partnerships with Woodsdale Elementary School in Ohio County Schools. |
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