Almost Time

It’s the end of July. The start of the school year is looming ever closer. We’ve done our best to rest, to prepare, to not overthink it all. But I still feel like I’m missing the mark on so many things. 

I was asked yesterday by a parent how the teachers felt about the start of school. While it was just a natural part of the conversation I paused. I was overwhelmed with thoughts. How should I answer? I’ve been asked about teacher(S) - so I’m now representing us all! This is a chance, maybe my only, to set the tone, calm a parent, express my concerns, excitement...see that overthinking thing. But I did pause, because as simple a question as it would normally be, nothing about this year seems simple. 

Plans for where we will teach and how we will teach are still being adjusted and likely will be everyday. My school has a plan. Our administration has spent countless hours adjusting and readjusting, but no plan is perfect in the current pandemic. Keeping kids apart won’t be easy. Teaching at a distance doesn’t feel right. So many of the natural processes of teaching have to be adjusted to adhere to safety guidelines, but nonetheless we are heading into August. 

So I hope my answer conveyed all my feelings, calmed a parent, and helped set the tone. I want “my kids” back. I want to be able to teach. I want to be able to interact, be genuine, supportive and encouraging. I want to calm their fears (remember they’re just kids), I want to support and be supported by parents, and I want the education my kids receive to be engaging and rigorous. I want normal back. 

But in reality, nothing will be normal for a while yet. So we head into August and do what educators do. We make the best of the situation at hand. We adjust, we help each other, we make a plan, and then another, and somehow when we look back we see how much we’ve grown and we are better for it. 

So to my fellow educators - whether it is your first year or approaching your last - be true to yourself and your profession. We wish you the best, and remind you to give yourself the grace to not be perfect, to take a few moments each day for yourself, to remember that some of the best lessons aren’t part of the curriculum, and to remember that you are enough!

Why So Uninformed?

In preparation for the 2020-2021 school year and whatever it brings, we’re trying to plan for every possible instructional method. Just the number of possibilities is exhausting. We’re still about three weeks away from when our students are scheduled to return to school. We have a rough idea of what to expect, but we know that is very likely to change several times. So we’ve spent our summer reading and learning. We’ve tried to correct the misinformation we have learned over our lifetimes, look closely at the current events and make connections to historical situations, and build a path that will allow our students to start the year asking the difficult questions. 

We know that the first few days will be critical, perhaps more than ever. We have to set the tone of a safe space from day one. We have to ask the hard questions on day one. 

In this process of reading, I (Terri) am amazing at the amount of misinformation, usually by omission that occurs in our textbooks. I’ve always taught using primary sources, media, current events, but have found that my students like a textbook. It makes them feel comfortable with the content, but history textbooks are riddled with errors, implications, and just plain failure to address the issues directly. As I’ve looked more closely at history from a variety of sources I see it more clearly, and I see that it leads to a large amount of history that is being misunderstood at best by our students. 

So from day one this year we will be looking at history more directly, settling in with the uncomfortable. This year our first week of school lines up with the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the US Constitution. It seems to be a natural place to begin tying past to present. We will look at the process of women’s suffrage, the protests, the hesitation, and the inspiration for the women’s movement. We’ll use this topic to springboard to present day to identify groups still unequal. Yes, we’re going to talk politics - then and now. I will admit, political discussions make me uncomfortable, but in this election year combine with this anniversary and current state of the country - I will do my best to remain non partisan as a teacher, to encourage students to think critically about a multitude of issues, to let them lead discussions, and to learn with them.

AMI and the Pandemic

It’s been a while since we’ve posted, far too long really, but we’re still here. Like every
other educator in the country, this year has been one to remember! We’ve been asked
to flip our classrooms with very little notice. We sent our kids home thinking we would
see them again before summer. We embraced the change and even thought it was
nice for a while. But the sustainability of AMI was difficult. We felt the distance between
work and home slip away, we struggled to find ways to keep our kids actively engaged
without seeing them face to face, to keep the academic rigor strong while having to
explain everything virtually, and we balanced ever-changing directives and expectations.
I’d like to say we managed it all with grace, kept every ball effortlessly in the air, and
sailed through it all, but in reality, it was a messy business. We tried new things, some
worked, some did not. We learned very clearly the value of just seeing our students,
and how important that morning greeting is to them and us. By the end, we were
exhausted! 

Now, we are in the midst of summer. Somehow the exhaustion seems still just a breath
away, but we are preparing for an uncertain fall. Daily the number of COVID cases is
rising, causing us to doubt the plans for reopening while longing to return to normal.
We are balancing the desire to plan with the uncertainty of how we will need to teach
in the fall. 

To add to all this we are in the midst of a crisis in our country. The news is overwhelming
us with news every day of another protest, violent crime, inadequate civil or political
response. This fall will be a challenge like none we have ever experienced as educators.
the moment we set foot in the building or post our first virtual lesson our students will
once again be looking for us to set the tone and help them make sense of the world
around them. In a time where the good news seems often a distant hope, we need to
be prepared to help them live in the present, understand the past, deal with the
uncomfortable, and still maintain hope for the future. This is no small task! 

So how? How do we prepare for the ever-changing landscape before us? We have
to learn. Read, analyze, question - all the things we ask our students to do. We have
to do the difficult work of self-analysis and not be afraid to be real first with ourselves
and then with our students. We have to share openly our presumptions, shortcomings,
and bias, and we have to encourage and participate in uncomfortable conversations. 
These conversations need to present a more accurate historical account of our country.
They should empower students to question things they don’t understand. Is it easy?
No! Is it necessary? YES! For their future and ours.

So our goal is to be more consistent with reflecting this year and making a stronger
effort to document our thoughts and results by posting here to not only help ourselves
make sense of the uncertainty that surrounds us but hopefully to help our readers as
well. We have some ideas for some new cross-curricular units that will of course
highlight social justice, but we will be bringing more current events to the forefront
of our lessons. We will have to adjust our tried and true Refugee and WWII/The
Book Thief units because we have found some activities that work better since we
last posted about them and because the state of education will be different this fall.
We will have to accommodate for social distancing/virtual learning, and whatever
else may surface as a result of this pandemic. So, stay tuned . . . more will be
coming your way as we attempt to plan and prepare for a school year that will have
to be one of the most flexible and changing years that current day educators have
ever experienced!

Back to School Community-Building Activities

We started back to school last Wednesday in a new school year with an unfamiliar group of students; however, we began building community and getting to know them on day one. The “Student Shoes” lesson that we developed for Innovation Institute guided us on day one and with a few additions we are already beginning to feel as though we know a little bit about these teens. I (Heather) usually have to have some connection or know a personality before remembering a name, so the sharing we all have done over the first three days of school have resulted in me being able to put a name to a face for all of my 119 junior high students. We decided to precede the shoe lesson with what we called a name sketch, so we gave each person a blank piece of copy paper and asked them to write their name prominently and then divide it into three sections. While you could require anything in these sections as a “get to know you” activity, we chose personality characteristics (we had to explain that we did not want physical traits), three goals (academic, fitness, and a goal for something outside of school), and finally we asked them to list their strengths. This was intentional to get them thinking about what they are good at so that after the shoe activity we could reasonably ask them to pick a strength to use this year.

I (Heather) feel that there were two really good springboards for conversation that these activities produced. The first was, after the students decorated their shoes (see above link) with colors and visuals explaining how they felt in that moment on the first day of school, we asked those who were willing to share with the class to do so. One of the best segues came when one of my students said she chose the flip-flop because she was sad summer was over, and she drew a sad face because she did not want to be back at school. I asked her why and she said, “because learning new things is hard.” Knowing we were going to discuss growth mindset I then asked how many people in the room agreed with her. Shocker . . . all hands went up. We were then able to talk about how the brain creates new pathways when you learn something new, and exercising that muscle is, in fact, difficult. I wrote that phrase on the board, and I tied it into my other three classes so that we were all able to admit to each other that we all have a hard time trying new things.

My other favorite thing that came out of this activity was in the follow-up the next day when we asked students to write down on an index card one strength that they had that they promised to bring to the classroom every day to contribute to the community we are building. I told them they would be displayed on the bulletin board at the front of my room, so to think hard about what they wrote down, because if at any time this year I feel that I am missing something from them, I will check the board to see what it is they listed as their strength. I loved hearing the different gifts they each offered, and while some of them were repeated, there were some that stood out. Oddly enough, in two of my classes, someone claimed “weirdness,” (I told them we also need quirks to make the world interesting) and I was thrilled to hear some kids say creativity, while another mentioned problem-solving. It was great to talk about how we would all be better together than we would be alone.

Here are some pictures of the shoes in the hallway:

Here are a few examples of name sketches:

Striking a Balance

In my (Terri) time as a student development professional and faculty member in higher education, I became familiar with the education theorist of that development stage. Much like Erikson, Vygotsky and others we learn of in our teacher education programs, there are theorists who have extensively studied college student development. Of these Nevitt Sanford’s theory has always greatly resonated with me. Sanford’s theory is built on the idea that students need both challenges and support in order to develop and become successful. When challenged too greatly without adequate support students become frustrated and give up. When supported without being adequately challenged students fail to learn and develop. While designed for higher education, I feel this is applicable to students at all levels of education.

How many times as a classroom teacher have I seen students quit before they fully begin a task, only to dig in and work harder when they receive acknowledgement for their efforts or additional support and encouragement? Conversely, how many times have I allowed students to skate by with the minimum effort and questioned what they really learned from an assignment.

Like everything in this profession, embracing a challenge and support mindset takes intentional thought and planning while keeping all students in mind. The challenge for one student, may for another, be done with little effort. Additionally, not all students need support in the same way. You have to know your students, know what motivates them. For junior high students sometimes this is even more of a challenge. The stakes are higher for them, and the motivation or excitement for school is sometimes declining, but I believe we who teach the middle year have a unique opportunity. We have the ability to help motivate and engage each and every student in way that inspires and challenges them, to reach those to whom the education system has not been so friendly and give them a sense of hope.

As a teacher, it may seem like just one more thing, but it really is the only thing. At the core of our profession is the goal of helping our students develop. In reality this takes place in a multitude of ways that don’t always follow the “standard curriculum.” As we look forward to the beginning of another school year and count down the last of summer, I challenge you to refocus and let this notion of challenge and support lead you to the end of the year. I challenge you to challenge and find supports for yourself as a professional, and see what a difference it can make in your life and the lives of your students.

Refugee Unit: A Cross Curricular Journey with English and Geography

So far this summer has been filled with things of which summer should consist: great reads, good PD, productive brainstorming sessions, sleeping later than normal, and time spent with friends and family. Amidst all of these things we have gotten a little behind with posting, so we decided to get back to our promise to you about our Refugee unit.

We previously mentioned that this unit came out of the requests of our 7th-grade students to build a unit just for them after they saw what our 8th-graders were doing with our WWII/Book Thief unit. Student engagement is the best encouragement to push harder and not quit, so we really had no choice but to meet their request.

Throughout the unit students worked extensively in groups in both English and Geography class to research, create, and collaborate on the themes presented. The set-up of this novel allowed us to easily connect with current and cultural events facing our own government and the governments of the world, while also discussing the social justice issues of immigration.

Refugee is a YA novel by Alan Gratz that was recently published that tells the story from three different perspectives, countries, and time periods. The experience of a Jewish refugee (Josef) from WWII Germany intermingles with the stories of both a girl (Isabel) escaping from Cuba in the 1990’s, and a modern day boy (Mahmoud) who is leaving Syria.

In geography this meant that I (Terri) had to toss out my rough plans for the remainder of the year in April and start over. I was not planning on focusing on the geographic locations of the novel, but saw this as an opportunity to deepen the learning of our students.  The main projects from the unit for geography were a group Google slides presentation on immigration policy in which students researched an assigned time period and location corresponding with one of the character’s journeys, and an annotated mapping activity in which groups plotted the characters’ journeys, created a timeline, and summarized major plot events. This activity helped bridge the gap between the curriculum of the two classes. Along the way, the students learned relevant historical information on the events that motivated the asylum seeking of the characters.

One of the ways in which the seamlessness of this unit between the two subject areas was apparent came very early when working with the students. For example, in English I (Heather) had originally planned on my kids doing some work with the characters and plot, but I quickly realized that when Terri had the students plot their journeys on annotated maps, the plot details were being covered. We discussed the social justice aspect so much that the characters were talked about in depth in class, so my project went to more of a geography-themed one in the form of a culture project. Students worked in groups to teach their classmates the culture of the country from which their assigned character originated. We had students dress up, learn about new religions, bring samplings of food, and share literary and art from each country.

Finding this novel and realizing that Terri saw the potential of using it as well was perfect for English for several reasons. One is because I really wanted to teach a unit with her for the 7th graders even before they asked for it because I believe that the more connections kids can make, the more the lesson sticks in their brains. Since 7th moved to Geography this past year, we threw out our previous year’s cross-curricular because it no longer fit. Another is because of my long-held belief that YAL is a perfect medium for teaching social justice issues. The fact that the format of this novel gave us something more to talk about from a literary standpoint was almost trivial because the life-lessons and social justice issues were so engaging and important.

The final piece of the unit was a joint reflective research paper by the individual students. This required the students to use their knowledge from the unit on current immigration policy and to integrate their knowledge of the church’s teaching on immigration to formulate their own opinion on immigration policies as well as support those opinions with research. Since we are teachers in a Catholic school we felt that this component was crucial to pull together everything we try to teach: geography, social studies, English, church teaching, and critical thinking.

We attempted to present the paper as a PBL, giving them the scenario that they were each members of a group in Washington forming new laws on immigration, and they were responsible for explaining their views, while taking the Catholic Church’s teachings about immigration into account. Ultimately, we are not sure that this part went as smoothly as we might have hoped from a PBL standpoint, but the students did come up with some well thought out ideas on immigration. With such a quick turn around from concept to presentation to the students (about two weeks), there is certainly room for us to grow and improve the unit for the upcoming year. A greater focus on the PBL component for instance, but given the timing overall we feel this was a successful unit to help keep engagement and authentic learning high at a point in the year when many students begin to lose focus. Jumping right in and making this unit happen allowed us as educators not only to push ourselves, but to show the kids that we were working up to the end of the year right along with them. They watched us adjust assignments and re-evaluate things we originally wanted them to do, thus proving to them that failure is a part of our journey. It is our hope that they took much more away from this unit than we originally intended.

When You See Student Development

I (Heather) was lucky enough to get a glimpse of my students’ empathy with our first activity related to our Refugee unit.

I was introduced to one of the founders of The Syrian Emergency Task Force by a parent, and found out that this organization has an office right here in Little Rock! While speaking with Natalie Larrison of the SETF to see if she would come and speak to our students about the crisis in Syria and what they are doing to help, she made me aware of a program that they have started, called “Letters of Hope.”  To participate in this program, all one must do is write a letter of inspiration, write a poem, or send an uplifting picture to a Syrian refugee. The SETF travels to Turkey every three months or so, and distributes them. We asked our junior high students to write letters for the upcoming trip that was going to take place the following week, and also asked those who were willing to meet at the SETF office to help package the letters for travel. In an effort to ensure that all the letters were respectful and appropriate before turning them over to Natalie, I read all 118 letters our kids wrote. I was overwhelmed with two things. The first was the difference in the writing between the kids I had taught for two years and the kids I have only had for one. I was impressed with the writing skills that most of the 8th graders showed in their letters, but not only that; they had depth. They had empathy.  They contained all of the things that I hoped that they would and more. In fact, I was so touched by the things they wrote that I felt compelled to send the following parent e-mail when I finished reading them (and finished wiping my eyes from tearing up - okay crying):

Good Morning All,

I have been proof-reading the letters the kids wrote yesterday before I take them to drop them off this afternoon, and I want to share with you how proud I am of these kids.  I can tell from what they wrote that they not only paid attention to what we taught them about the issues in Syria, but that they were truly empathizing with these people that they do not know, and will never meet.  I was amazed at the depth of some of their letters, and most of them were so heartfelt I knew I had to share this with you. As not only a teacher but as a parent of one of the members of this "talkie, rowdy class," reading the letters reminded me that despite the many issues this class went through this year,  and the many difficult teenage moments we as parents share with them in our homes, these are great kids. I am honored that I was able to get a rare glimpse into their hearts through this project. I will miss them all next year when they move on to high school.

Thank you for sharing your sons and daughters with me.  It has been a privilege.

I received several responses back from the parents thanking me for sending this e-mail because I took the time to share something good about their kids. Sometimes, a simple e-mail that goes out to parents when an individual or an entire group does something well means so much to a parent, especially if you write it in that moment when you are overwhelmed by something a student has done. Take the time to share these thoughts with your parents. Please share these stories or you will be the only one that knows them.