Day 127 - dramatic positive shift

I'm afraid to talk about the dramatic positive shift and change that has occurred in my US History class, because I don't want to jinx it.  My more rambunctious students are finally understanding situational appropriateness and correcting their own behavior often.  But better than that they are just behaving appropriately more often.  The change I think has to do with 1) lots of parent contact 2) help from admin 3) my consistency and 4) they are really enjoying the WWII project we are doing.

A-ha:  I can learn 100 different things from the same situation, so sometimes the universe hands me the same situation over and over again, so I can learn as much as possible.

Reminder:  We all hear what we need to hear when we're ready.

Day 126 - Wednesday(trying to catch up)

As students work on their community action projects, some are thriving and others are flailing.  The planning and organization comes more natural to some and vice versa.  As my anticipation and anxiety is growing, I'm sure the students is as well.  I am trying to stay focused in vision and possibility and still not try to etch out exactly what it is supposed to look like.  That whole trusting the universe thing and letting go.  When I say "let go", I think some people get scared like I'm just going to let whatever happen, happen.  "Letting go" for me, is actually very conscious and purposeful.  I must stay in the day to day necessities-what is right in front of us- what the kids need right now- while not holding on too tightly of how I think everything is supposed to turn out.  This takes a lot of work.  There is nothing passive about "letting go".  And watching things unfold and grow is much more interesting...

A-ha: I can only see so far...

Reminder: The possibilities are endless.

Day 124 & 125 : Conference time

Professional development and new ideas are things I need to keep me in a creative, growing space for the practice of my profession.  This annual conference(Educating for Careers) takes place in Sacramento and is based around bettering school Academies- which in California are SLC's(small learning communities) funded by the state. We have 7 at my school, wall to wall.  Most schools have 1-3, and then the rest of their school. The goals for these academies are to keep students in a smaller group with familiar teachers and students for a better sense of belonging, to have students learn about content material that is tailored more towards a career pathway sector, which ideally, would make all of their classes relevant to want they want to learn about and become in the future.  Easier said than done.  We work very hard at my school, but there is so much more which can be done.  Thus, this academy conference every year.
This year I also presented about the Community Action Project at my school and all of my ideas and resources about the power of any 20time project- especially if we as academies are to help students gain real world skills and be career and college ready.  It went well and many folks had never heard of 20time projects before or Kevin Brookhouser's book, 20 time project.

A-ha: Teachers want to be inspired by other teachers, and we need to be.

Reminder: Always check every link in my presentations on someone else's computer before I present.  My feedback link was not accessible.  That was good feedback.

Day 123: Friday before a conference

Kids want to learn.  Knowing I was going to be out Monday and Tuesday, the kids expressed dissatisfaction.  Of course, the surface part, my ego, feels good about this, but really the good news is that they want to to learn.  Without their teacher, students feel school isn't as useful. I hope they were kind to the subs (I'm sure they were), and managed to complete some assignments.  The prep it takes to leave is always way more work than the actual return of the students completed work.  Inevitably, I will have to re-assign or re-teach whatever was to go on a day that I was out.  I guess sometimes when the boss is away....

A-ha: Even when it doesn't feel like it, the kids count on us and expect us to be there every day.

Reminder: Keep the plan simple on sub days

Day 122- Celebrate the victories

I'm tired, this will be short and sweet. My 11th graders were more productive today than I have seen in ,,,,ever.  All the hard work I put into the WWII Webquest assignment paid off and maybe they are finally believing all the praise about their capabilities.
After school a student was wondering why I stay there so late and another student quickly chimed in "because she loves us!"  I'm glad they know it.

A-ha:  Every set of kids is different, I just can't believe my heart just keeps making room for them.

Reminder:  Celebrate the victories.

Day 121 - observing ourselves

Today my students were proud of themselves, and they had every right to be. We discussed our Socratic Seminar and their reflections, along with watched some exemplar clips.  They praised each other with specific examples, clearly articulated ways they would like to improve the seminars and resoundingly said- "we should do this more often".  The most surprising twist, they all wanted to watch themselves on the video! I loved telling them how proud I was to share the video with my CSET Hollyhock group from Stanford and how impressed the group was with their skills and knowledge. Letting kids share their thoughts in a supported academic setting is quite a moving experience for this teacher- especially as I see them observe and direct their own growth in the process.

A-ha: Having kids watch video of themselves learning helps them just as watching videos of my teaching, helps me.

Reminder:  Be sure to enact one of their suggestions.

Day 120 - Like riding a roller coaster in slow motion

I keep thinking its Thursday but it is only Tuesday!!!  I feel like I have exerted four days worth of energy already, and tomorrow should be Friday!  But its not, and I have a phone appointment at 6 am!
OH well, in brighter news - the semester is flying- which is good and bad.  I have to try to let it go fast without it feeling like it is going fast.  Like riding a roller coaster in slow motion - that's what I would like the rest of the year to be like.
Self- care is down this week- no gym since Sunday and tomorrow may not be possible either.  There is a conference next week in Sacramento which helps me accept the busyness of this week, knowing next week I will be working with adults only for Monday and Tuesday.  Getting ready for next week is part of my busyness.  But I still must care for myself.  I left school way to late and not only didn't gym but didn't go to choir either.  Neglecting my spiritual and physical well being.  Cannot make a habit of this.  By Thursday, I think I'll feel caught up.

A-ha: The students are posting videos of me when I do funny things in class, like make up raps or sing songs, or dance...or...

Reminder: ask for the link next time!