Back to the Classroom

The 2014-15 school year was a transitional one for me. It was my first year working in a role outside the classroom since I began my career in education in 1998.

My role this year as an instructional coordinator in the nation's largest universal pre-kindergarten program roll-out provided me with a lot of insight and knowledge about the behind-the-scenes work at the DOE. It also provided me the opportunity to expand my scope of work beyond one class and one school. My favorite part of this role as compliance officer, thought partner, supporter, resource fetcher was the time spent in classrooms watching teachers interact with students, and having conversations with 4 year-olds while they built block structures or painted a portrait.

I was excited to broaden my work scope and engage with teachers and students at multiple school locations. I was motivated to get out there and be in classrooms, but as the year progressed I realized how much I missed the classroom. Although I only spent one school year in this role, it was a great learning experience for me.

Due to life changing at a pace that sometimes I can barely keep up with, I am thinking about how I have already left this role I really wanted to be in, to go back to what I think is my biggest passion and enjoyment - teaching. Stepping out of the classroom made me realize how much I still wanted to be in it, but needed a change of scenery. Knowing me and my desire to keep things changing and moving, I know I will transition in and out of the classroom again as I progress through my career. So my new adventure of heading back into the classroom in August is extremely exciting to me. New school, new environment, new part of the world. The opportunities available are unlike any I have participated in so far. The world is at my fingertips! To say I'm excited is an understatement. This opportunity has been in the works for some time, and it's finally coming to fruition.

Looking forward to sharing the experiences!

Professional Reading

In my ASCD Voxer PLN, someone was asking about some good ASCD reads. We found ourselves recommending books so I thought, why not write a little about reading.

My routine - I tend to read a professional book simultaneously with a non-preofessional read to balance my mind between work and imaginary. Since the fall I've read a few professional reads, and unfortunately my pile of books never gets smaller, it keeps growing and growing. Sometimes I choose the book that seems the most relevant for the moment in my role, and others I chose because of interest.

1. Eric Jensen's Engaging Students With Poverty in Mind 

What I learned from the book: The discussion of the "seven engagement factors" was helpful as were the practical actions and solutions to engage students living in poverty. While the structures and suggestions are geared for students living in poverty, I'd use many of the actions and solutions with any students.

2. Richard Dufour & Michael Fullan's Cultures Built to Last: Sytemic PLCs at Work 

What I learned from the book: Zeroed in on the difference between accountability and building capacity, and the reasons why systemic change is hard but necessary.

3. Pete Hall & Alisha Simeral's Building Teachers' Capacity for Success: A Collaborative Approach for Coaches and School Leaders

What I learned from the book: Learned about a continuum for teacher practice and a practical approach for offering feedback to teachers. A valuable read for building a safe and positive culture of professionals who can trust an learn from each other.

4. Marilyn Chu's Developing Mentoring and Coaching Relationships in Early Care and Education 

What I learned from the book: Suggestions around specific mentoring and coaching strategies for early childhood educators. Great reflection questions and informative coaching/professional development plans.

5. Derald Wing Sue's Microagressions in Everyday Life (currently reading)

What I'm learning from this book: Wow, what am I not learning. A very informative read about society, how we judge people, and how the unintentional judgmental looks or comments we make can have a profound physical and psychological effects on groups of people.

What are you reading?

Growing Your PLN

Why is it that having a personal and/or professional learning network even important? Well, particularly as educators, we signed into this deal to educate. And that includes educating ourselves. Let's face it - most of us are obsessed with learning, we are that dedicated. Learning pushes our practice forward, and our lives in general.

www.educatorstechnology.com

As you can see in the graphic, there are so many ways to be a #connectededucator with an active PLN. So if you're new to education, or not - maybe just new to PLNs, here are three places you can start growing your PLN, and also some ways to sustain it!

1. Workshops - Let's face it, we've been to tons but generally don't make the most of them. At every workshop there is another teacher who is bound to be someone you should stay in touch with for practical daily classroom advice. Many times you go to the workshop, you learn, and then leave. No, no, no! Stay in touch with this person so you can plan together via email, FaceTime, or a GoogleChat.

2. Conferences - When you spend a few days with the same group of people at a conference that you all share an interest in, you will definitely find a group of people you will want to stay in touch with. Remember it's not enough to get names, you have to set up a communication plan like I did with my ASCDL2L group. We didn't want to lose the connections we created at our first conference together in July 2014 so basically the next day Brad setting up a Voxer group where we communicate with each other almost daily. Can't imagine life without my Voxer group now!

3. Twitter - Isn't Twitter just for putting a status update? No! Twitter is a network full of educators from around the world. Start following chats with hashtags like #edchat and start following some of the zillions of educators. Edchats are structured conversations guided by questions on a particular topic and followed with a conversation hashtag. You can jump on these daily conversations whenever you want and they will help you get connected to many educators from the same or different regions, and give you a lot to talk about with like-minded people.

Some of the value I gain from my PLN:

hacklibraryschool.com

How do you stay connected? And if you are not, get to it!

Why Write?

Why not?

But as a leader in education, who has the time to write? Well, in order to grow professionally sometimes you have to carve out that time at first until it becomes part of your routine.

Writing is an integral part of teaching and learning. To me, writing is one of the best ways to share not only expertise, but what you have been learning, what would you have read, what's happening in your classrooms or districts. I value the blogs that so many educators write to reach beyond their immediate community and get their ideas out to other educators.

I've met a lot of educators in recent months who are writing to be published, or have already published works. To say I'm envious is an understatement. But the only person who can make me write more is me. For me, it's about getting my ideas sorted out and sticking with it. I often have so many ideas to write about, I start many pieces and never finish any. The good thing about that is, I can always go back because the ideas really never become obsolete, and sometimes sitting on a piece for a time enables me to get a clearer picture of what I actually want to say.

In all honesty, writing is a great outlet to reflect and decompress from our busy days in classrooms, with teachers or principals. It's about becoming more and more reflective as your career progresses, and that says a lot about someone.

www.bushagenda.net

EdCamp=Awesome

This weekend I went to my first EdCamp.  The place - Roslyn Heights, New York.  Lovely venue, great networking, wonderful vibe.

If you haven't been to an EdCamp, please find one and go.

Edcamp is place where educators go to share their ideas, thoughts and expertise with other educators in a semi-structured format.  Anyone can present or lead a discussion on a topic of choice and sign up for a time slot to share.  Presenters may or may not have prepared beforehand, it's completely up to them.  Sessions are a place of sharing and learning from each other.  No need to sign up for a session either, you go to the ones you want in part or whole.  What a concept! Going to a professional learning event to learn what you want to learn, ideal.

My take-aways included learning how to make an app and how to transform professional learning for teachers.  To me, that's huge for being there for only a few hours. Definitely time well spent.  Looking forward the next one!

http://edcamp.wikispaces.com

The Importance of Being Prepared

Have you ever been to a meeting or workshop where the presenter was unprepared? Or you thought you were prepared to teach or present at your workshop but you missed some details in your planning, forgotten copies or props? I think we've all been there at some point.

The last couple of days I've been visiting school sites to make sure they are prepared for their little ones to arrive. What I saw was amazing. I can't tell you what a treat it was to walk into classrooms and see how prepared administrators and teachers were to begin their work with their incoming children.  Those little 4-year olds were engaged in activities and structured play right on day one.

Preparing programs, lessons, professional development sessions and workshops take a lot of time and energy, but it's valuable and necessary energy.  Being prepared shows you are invested in what you are teaching or presenting, and that you are passionate about what you do.  Investing your time and sharing your expertise is always worth it when you are educating children and their teachers.

www.mannaexpressonline.com

Building Your Team

Monday was the beginning of a new chapter in my career in education.  I started a new position, working with a growing team on a huge new initiative in New York City schools.  Walking in Monday meant meeting 25-30 new people in one day, not to mention those in other offices that are working on the initiative with us.

Knowing half of our team was new, Monday was planned as a team building day.  We participated in a number of getting-to-know-you activities, ones I'm sure you have also participated in at some point in your careers.

Why are these activities important?  Well, as leaders, taking time to get to know your team both personally and professionally will provide you with information about the strengths of your team players.  These activities will an able you to observe interactions among your team.  This is crucial information in developing a sustainable and productive working environment.  Regardless if most of team is new or not, convening after hiatus is an ideal time to strengthen your team.

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." - Plato

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How can you build team relationships and morale when there is so much work to be done in our field?

There are a number of ways.  Here are some:

1. Come into each meeting with a smile and a positive outlook.

2. Greet your team daily by thanking them for their dedication and work.

3. Treat your team as the professionals they are. Give them flexibility in their schedules and trust their judgement. There's a reason you hired them.

4. Surprise your team with treats or lunch on occasion.

5. Check in with your team members by simply asking how they are feeling about what's going on.

6. Establish a culture for sharing feelings.  We are all human.

7. Ask questions that elicit thoughtful conversation, rather than provoke judgement.

8. Take a few minutes once in awhile to participate in a new team building activity together.  

9. Take pleasure in working together as a team. Enjoy the time.  Remember - you share a vision.

These ideas are simple, but you will be surprised how such simple ideas will create a culture of positivity and trust in your team.  It's all about building relationships.