My writing battle rages on. I am happy to report that I finally have completed HALF of my writing entry. I missed my first self-imposed deadline, and have April 9th set as my next deadline as it is the last chance I will have for any support providers to look over my writing. Over the last few days I have finally felt the urge to write, after I sorted through my inner demons regarding this subject. I found an odd moment of inspiration as I read a story to my son tonight. I read him a Dr. Seuss story that I had purchased for our new iPad. I have downloaded several Dr. Seuss books for our iPad for him to enjoy, but he only ever picks "Green Eggs and Ham." So tonight I decided to pick my favorite for him "Oh the Places You'll Go." I first heard that one at my high school graduation and found it surprisingly appropriate. So I chose this one to read to him just for kicks and found that it was quite appropriate to my writing situation at the moment. Particularly this part of the text...
I'm sorry to say so
but, sadly, it's true
that Bang-ups
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.
You can get all hung up
in a prickle-ky perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You'll be left in a Lurch.
You'll come down from the Lurch
with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then,
that you'll be in a Slump.
And when you're in a Slump,
you're not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.
The story goes on with adversity being overcome and good winning out in the end of course, and I found that to be just the right pick-me-up to get this second part of my writing entry done. I have two more parts to go, and I think they are easier than the first two...or maybe that is my long lost optimism talking...I don't know, but what ever motivation is behind that statement, I am embracing it, finishing this writing and reclaiming my life! Thank you Dr. Seuss!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
I WILL Win...
Ok so I had hoped to get this writing monkey off my back by the end of my Spring Break. Sad to say it still clings to me. It seems this writing project is a deep seeded battle raging inside me. I have made peace with it on this last day of my break and I have a new deadline. I MUST be done with the writing of this my April 9th. That day I have my last support meeting and I could really benefit from having a complete paper for the support providers there to look at and give feedback on. I am also taking an assessment center exercise on reading, so one the writing is done I must focus on doing all the reading and reflecting I can on best practices in teaching reading and assessing reading issues for students in grades 3 through 7. Thankfully I can take my assessment center exercise as late as June and I can pretty much schedule it when I like. It is easily the less stressful of the two things.
So in the end I have learned something about myself. When I really don't want to do something, I REALLY don't want to do it, so forcing the writing only stressed me out. I know I need to do it, I know I can do it, but I have to do it in my own time. Now I realize doing something in my own time AND having a deadline can be problematic. But I am hoping that with the first deadline missed and a new deadline in place before the REAL deadline (April 15th) that I can conquer this and crank out some writing. I am going back to teaching tomorrow so that will give my days more structure, but after that I just need to be able to do as I will, writing where and when I feel I can. I let various things stress me, and really it is my own fault. So I am giving myself license to do what I will in order to get this done. I will not fail.
So in the end I have learned something about myself. When I really don't want to do something, I REALLY don't want to do it, so forcing the writing only stressed me out. I know I need to do it, I know I can do it, but I have to do it in my own time. Now I realize doing something in my own time AND having a deadline can be problematic. But I am hoping that with the first deadline missed and a new deadline in place before the REAL deadline (April 15th) that I can conquer this and crank out some writing. I am going back to teaching tomorrow so that will give my days more structure, but after that I just need to be able to do as I will, writing where and when I feel I can. I let various things stress me, and really it is my own fault. So I am giving myself license to do what I will in order to get this done. I will not fail.
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Goals and Objectives
I can't help but think of being evaluated by my principal as I typed the title of this post. I am being evaluated this year by the way, but that is a post for another time. Tonight's writing focus was on the Goals and Objectives of my writing instructional plan. I have never had to really put it into writing before, as so much of that is done for us by the district, but it was interesting to do it for this entry. Here is what I came up with...
My writing instructional plan:
Utilizing the 6+1 Traits model of teaching writing in conjunction with the Open Court Reading language arts curriculum, I will develop the innate desire to write that all children possess, giving them a strong foundation by teaching the traits of writing so that they are able to think and write for different audiences and purposes.
Goals of my writing instructional plan:
My students will:
Create a paragraph that has a topic sentence, supporting facts and details
Progress through the stages of the writing process
Write compositions that describe and explain familiar objects, events, and experiences
Use grammatically correct sentences and proper conventions in writing and speaking
Understand and use a variety of complete, correct sentences in both writing and speaking (e.g., interrogative, declarative, exclamatory)
I feel some more goals are in order as I think on what my students need in writing as a whole. And you can't have goals without objectives, so those of course are still missing. But it is a start I am feeling good about, it is something I can work with. I look forward to what the new day brings. I am hoping for the less resistive and angry mood of this evening to carry over. For now I must rest and dream of teaching writing and writing a fabulous report on how I teach writing...
My writing instructional plan:
Utilizing the 6+1 Traits model of teaching writing in conjunction with the Open Court Reading language arts curriculum, I will develop the innate desire to write that all children possess, giving them a strong foundation by teaching the traits of writing so that they are able to think and write for different audiences and purposes.
Goals of my writing instructional plan:
My students will:
Create a paragraph that has a topic sentence, supporting facts and details
Progress through the stages of the writing process
Write compositions that describe and explain familiar objects, events, and experiences
Use grammatically correct sentences and proper conventions in writing and speaking
Understand and use a variety of complete, correct sentences in both writing and speaking (e.g., interrogative, declarative, exclamatory)
I feel some more goals are in order as I think on what my students need in writing as a whole. And you can't have goals without objectives, so those of course are still missing. But it is a start I am feeling good about, it is something I can work with. I look forward to what the new day brings. I am hoping for the less resistive and angry mood of this evening to carry over. For now I must rest and dream of teaching writing and writing a fabulous report on how I teach writing...
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
I am not resentful...was Garfield resentful?
Ok...so I have NOT been motivated to write. I have been caught between stressed and angry that I still have to do this...and on my Spring Break no less. I have been doing a lot of self talk...the rational side of my mind telling the angry side of my mind that anger will get me nowhere. That I must write and finish so that I can achieve what I have wanted for so long. That I am worthy of National Board certification and so very close to it now. That to give up now would be more aggravating than anything. I don't want to spend my days agonizing over this anymore. I just need to write. So while I have toyed with taking down the previous post in case the National Board police see it or something, I am going to leave it up, but not post the rest of my entry in such a detailed way. Why not take the previous post down you ask? Well I like it. It is part of the picture of my frustration and struggle to achieve National Board certification.
So I finally starting writing to the second part today. I didn't do it yesterday because I had a lot going on and didn't want to think about it. I had a wisdom tooth pulled, my son had a cavity worked on, we has soccer practice, I had various other house related things interrupt...so ya, no entry writing. I find I enjoy the late evenings to write when everyone is asleep so I can just write without interruption. So here I am again at nearly midnight, working on part two of my entry... Planning and Teaching Analysis ... YAY!
I carry around a binder with my notes and such on this entry. Often times I don't even look at it while I am out. But I have odd childhood flashbacks when I do this. For some strange reason I recall a poster from my youth...a silly poster sold either at a book fair or from a book order form...I may have even had this poster...but it is Garfield the cat, with a book on his head, and the printing on the poster said something like "I learn by osmosis." Perhaps you know the poster of which I speak, perhaps you even owned it. But I feel like Garfield the cat with the book on his head...maybe if I carry around my National Board binder long enough, a fabulously written, national board certifiable entry will be produced by osmosis. I imagine me instead of Garfiled...National Board binder on my head..."I write cohesive, insightful reflections on my teaching practices by osmosis."
[After I wrote this I went to see if I could find the poster online and I did! So here it is for you to enjoy if you didn't know what I was talking about!]
So I finally starting writing to the second part today. I didn't do it yesterday because I had a lot going on and didn't want to think about it. I had a wisdom tooth pulled, my son had a cavity worked on, we has soccer practice, I had various other house related things interrupt...so ya, no entry writing. I find I enjoy the late evenings to write when everyone is asleep so I can just write without interruption. So here I am again at nearly midnight, working on part two of my entry... Planning and Teaching Analysis ... YAY!
I carry around a binder with my notes and such on this entry. Often times I don't even look at it while I am out. But I have odd childhood flashbacks when I do this. For some strange reason I recall a poster from my youth...a silly poster sold either at a book fair or from a book order form...I may have even had this poster...but it is Garfield the cat, with a book on his head, and the printing on the poster said something like "I learn by osmosis." Perhaps you know the poster of which I speak, perhaps you even owned it. But I feel like Garfield the cat with the book on his head...maybe if I carry around my National Board binder long enough, a fabulously written, national board certifiable entry will be produced by osmosis. I imagine me instead of Garfiled...National Board binder on my head..."I write cohesive, insightful reflections on my teaching practices by osmosis."
[After I wrote this I went to see if I could find the poster online and I did! So here it is for you to enjoy if you didn't know what I was talking about!]
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Entry 1: Writing - Thinking through the Process [Instructional Context]
What is the point of this entry you ask??
"This entry captures your ability to demonstrate your use of writing to develop students’ thinking and writing skills for different audiences and purposes."
So these are the questions I have to answer for this part of the written commentary (there are 4 parts)...and in the end it is only to be ONE double spaced page...
My reply...
I teach third grade at a public elementary school in a large, predominantly Hispanic, middle-class, suburban community. My school educates preschool through 5th grade. My class consists of 28 students, 14 male, 14 female, ranging in age from 8 to 10 years old. Multiple subjects are taught, with the emphasis placed on Language Arts, Math, and English Language Development as mandated by the district.
A bit of advice I got from another teacher...don't say you do things because the district says so or state standards dictate it...hard not to say that when it is true. More true however, is that I set all that aside to do what I know is good teaching. Essentially that is what the National Board is after...good teaching...go figure.
My reply...
My instructional strategies have been influenced by the grouping of students I have been assigned. The class has been clustered with ability level in mind. My class is considered the “challenge” group, as the class is mostly made up of students who have demonstrated themselves to be “gifted,” “proficient,” or “advanced” per district guidelines. My class consists of 10 challenge students, 10 benchmark students, 6 strategic students, and 2 intensive students. I have three identified GATE students (Gifted and Talented Education) as well as one student with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). I also have 8 English Language Learners (ELL), three of which are at the early advanced stage of English fluency and five that are at the intermediate level.
Personality of the class? Not sure how to answer that. They are great kids, eager and excited to learn. They have their issues like we all do, but in the end they are your typical 8 year olds...curious, imaginative, recess-loving...
I'll be honest and say up front that I struggle in answering this one. Not sure why, but here is my reply...
My students are able to write grammatically correct sentences, but struggle with cohesive paragraph writing. They are very creative and imaginative, and have no difficulty expressing themselves verbally, but struggle when it comes to capturing that same creativity on paper. Aside from minor difficulties with grammar and conventions, their writing often lacks voice and organization.
My reply...
There are two very relevant features of my teaching context that influenced the selection of "Money" as the theme for my writing instruction. First, I am to use a prescribed Language Arts curriculum mandated by my district. Secondly, and more importantly, money is a huge area of interest for my students. They are quite aware that money is a necessity and that they often need more of it to acquire the things they desire. Through the exploration of this theme, my students had the opportunity to strengthen their foundation in reading, writing, listening and speaking.
What particular instructional challenges do the students chosen for this entry represent? Explain the particular dynamics of the class an assessor needs to know to understand how you involve students in establishing a supportive and stimulating community and how you used your topic of discussion to assist students in accomplishing this goal. This might include, but is not limited to, a description of your students’ skills, knowledge, and previous experiences that relate to your teaching.
My reply...
The students chosen for this entry represent the gifted English Language Learner and the English Only high achiever in my class. I have observed over the course of my teaching career that writing is an area of weakness for most students, and the two students I have chosen to highlight in this entry are no different. The gifted ELL student has demonstrated mastery of third grade standards in both Language Arts and Math consistently all school year. While he is quite able to compose a grammatically correct paragraph, he is unable to properly harness his humor, leaving his writing feeling rather disjointed. The high achiever consistently scores well in both Language Arts and Math as well. When it comes to his writing specifically, he struggles with voice, and development of his ideas. He quite often rushes through his writing, just to get it over with. The instructional challenges they present are in their ability to express themselves clearly and in a way that their audience will understand and enjoy.
Whew! This is the most complete this section of my writing has been. I would like to thank those friends of mine to whom I have complained to about this...and who have been patient and caring enough to guide me. You know who you are... *wink wink*
STAY TUNED!
Tomorrow Melanie will have to... provide evidence of her planning and teaching, and of her ability to describe, analyze, and evaluate student writing to develop students’ writing ability, and use
student work to reflect on her practice!
I am sure you cannot wait for that one...neither can I...
"This entry captures your ability to demonstrate your use of writing to develop students’ thinking and writing skills for different audiences and purposes."
So these are the questions I have to answer for this part of the written commentary (there are 4 parts)...and in the end it is only to be ONE double spaced page...
What is your school setting (e.g., preschool, middle or high school, or alternative school)?
What are the number, ages, and grades of the students in the class featured in this entry, and what is the subject matter of the class? (Example: 32 students in grade 5, ages 10 and 11, Social Studies)
What are the number, ages, and grades of the students in the class featured in this entry, and what is the subject matter of the class? (Example: 32 students in grade 5, ages 10 and 11, Social Studies)
My reply...
I teach third grade at a public elementary school in a large, predominantly Hispanic, middle-class, suburban community. My school educates preschool through 5th grade. My class consists of 28 students, 14 male, 14 female, ranging in age from 8 to 10 years old. Multiple subjects are taught, with the emphasis placed on Language Arts, Math, and English Language Development as mandated by the district.
A bit of advice I got from another teacher...don't say you do things because the district says so or state standards dictate it...hard not to say that when it is true. More true however, is that I set all that aside to do what I know is good teaching. Essentially that is what the National Board is after...good teaching...go figure.
What are the relevant characteristics of this class that influenced your instructional strategies for this theme or topic of concern: ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity; the range of abilities of the students; the personality of the class?
My reply...
My instructional strategies have been influenced by the grouping of students I have been assigned. The class has been clustered with ability level in mind. My class is considered the “challenge” group, as the class is mostly made up of students who have demonstrated themselves to be “gifted,” “proficient,” or “advanced” per district guidelines. My class consists of 10 challenge students, 10 benchmark students, 6 strategic students, and 2 intensive students. I have three identified GATE students (Gifted and Talented Education) as well as one student with an Individualized Education Plan (IEP). I also have 8 English Language Learners (ELL), three of which are at the early advanced stage of English fluency and five that are at the intermediate level.
Personality of the class? Not sure how to answer that. They are great kids, eager and excited to learn. They have their issues like we all do, but in the end they are your typical 8 year olds...curious, imaginative, recess-loving...
What are the relevant characteristics of the students with exceptional needs and abilities (e.g., the range of abilities and the cognitive, social/behavioral, attentional, sensory, and/or physical challenges of your students) that influenced your planning for this theme or topic of concern? Give any other information that might help the assessor “see” this class.
I'll be honest and say up front that I struggle in answering this one. Not sure why, but here is my reply...
My students are able to write grammatically correct sentences, but struggle with cohesive paragraph writing. They are very creative and imaginative, and have no difficulty expressing themselves verbally, but struggle when it comes to capturing that same creativity on paper. Aside from minor difficulties with grammar and conventions, their writing often lacks voice and organization.
What are the relevant features of your teaching context that influenced the selection of this theme or topic? This might include other realities of the social and physical teaching context (e.g., available resources, scheduling of classes, self-contained classroom, etc.) that are relevant to your response.
My reply...
There are two very relevant features of my teaching context that influenced the selection of "Money" as the theme for my writing instruction. First, I am to use a prescribed Language Arts curriculum mandated by my district. Secondly, and more importantly, money is a huge area of interest for my students. They are quite aware that money is a necessity and that they often need more of it to acquire the things they desire. Through the exploration of this theme, my students had the opportunity to strengthen their foundation in reading, writing, listening and speaking.
What particular instructional challenges do the students chosen for this entry represent? Explain the particular dynamics of the class an assessor needs to know to understand how you involve students in establishing a supportive and stimulating community and how you used your topic of discussion to assist students in accomplishing this goal. This might include, but is not limited to, a description of your students’ skills, knowledge, and previous experiences that relate to your teaching.
My reply...
The students chosen for this entry represent the gifted English Language Learner and the English Only high achiever in my class. I have observed over the course of my teaching career that writing is an area of weakness for most students, and the two students I have chosen to highlight in this entry are no different. The gifted ELL student has demonstrated mastery of third grade standards in both Language Arts and Math consistently all school year. While he is quite able to compose a grammatically correct paragraph, he is unable to properly harness his humor, leaving his writing feeling rather disjointed. The high achiever consistently scores well in both Language Arts and Math as well. When it comes to his writing specifically, he struggles with voice, and development of his ideas. He quite often rushes through his writing, just to get it over with. The instructional challenges they present are in their ability to express themselves clearly and in a way that their audience will understand and enjoy.
Whew! This is the most complete this section of my writing has been. I would like to thank those friends of mine to whom I have complained to about this...and who have been patient and caring enough to guide me. You know who you are... *wink wink*
STAY TUNED!
Tomorrow Melanie will have to... provide evidence of her planning and teaching, and of her ability to describe, analyze, and evaluate student writing to develop students’ writing ability, and use
student work to reflect on her practice!
I am sure you cannot wait for that one...neither can I...
Monday, March 21, 2011
I am my own worst enemy
I have a confession. I am an avoider. If there is something I just don't want to do, even though I HAVE to, I will make it soooo hard on myself. National Boards for example. It is the latest thing I am avoiding. I have done the teaching required for the entry I am redoing, but I just don't want to write about it. So I think I have to trick myself into it. It is only one entry. The teaching was awesome. I was ONE stinking point away from passing last time. I CAN do this. Yes, that is me pep-talking myself...but as I have titled this post, I am my own worst enemy, so I have to be my own cheerleader as well. I have to counter-act the negative self talk going on in my head right now. I have avoided writing ALL DAY. And here it is 8 minutes to midnight. I told myself I will not sleep until I write something significant, something I can use. A rambling, ranting blog post doesn't count. So I think I am going to use this blog to help me sort my answers to the questions. Feel free to interject! I hadn't realized until tonight that anyone was leaving comments on the blog itself rather than just Facebook, so I will be sure to read them. So I am about to collect my thoughts and try to get something meaningful written in the following posts...
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Writing
Spring Break is finally here...well after Thursday it will be. I have been hard at work on my National Boards. While the process of it can be quite grueling, the teaching it requires of you is amazing. I have had some powerful writing lessons with my students these last several weeks. The things I have seen in my classroom from both my students and myself remind me of the things I was taught in my teacher credentialing program, but didn't fully get to see in my "scripted" classroom. I will say openly that in order to teach writing they way best practices suggest, to teach writing in a way to support, encourage, and strengthen student voices and communication, I have made our mandated Language Arts curriculum second to teaching writing. I was worried about this at first, but once I saw my students responding, and writing, I found it thrilling and worth whatever risk it might carry. So with one teaching day left before break, my class remains a writing room, where my students enjoy expressing their creativity and discussing their work not only with me, but with their peers. I will be compiling their work into a class book and am thinking on making it virtual as well so it can reach a broader audience.
Over the break I must finish the bulk of my write up on this experience for my National Boards. I have hoped to write the entire thing up over break, but a bit more teaching remains to be done after the break. Teaching writing cannot be rushed.
I realized yesterday when I spoke to my colleagues about my writing project and eventually to my principal, that so much of what we do in teaching is regulated or monitored in some way that it is easy to go on auto-pilot and not think outside the box. For the first time in a log time I felt passion for something...passion for teaching my students to create art...in writing.
[This blog post was posted from my phone.]
Over the break I must finish the bulk of my write up on this experience for my National Boards. I have hoped to write the entire thing up over break, but a bit more teaching remains to be done after the break. Teaching writing cannot be rushed.
I realized yesterday when I spoke to my colleagues about my writing project and eventually to my principal, that so much of what we do in teaching is regulated or monitored in some way that it is easy to go on auto-pilot and not think outside the box. For the first time in a log time I felt passion for something...passion for teaching my students to create art...in writing.
[This blog post was posted from my phone.]
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