Pay attention to signs. They're all arond us.

I am not someone who just gives in to the hands of fate and thinks that everything is predetermined. But I do think there are some things in life that you need to make happen and some things you need to let happen. The trick is finding a balance between the two. I sort of follow Oprah's belief that luck is merely when preparation meets the right moment.

I recently saw a job posting for a teaching position at the school I attended from 5th-12th grade. At first I tried to resist the temptation to apply, but something kept nagging at me to do it. So after many hesitant reaches for the computer mouse, I finally clicked send on the email I wrote to the principal with my resume attached.

The very next day I received a call to come in for an interview.

When I went to the interview, I was amazed at how easy and right it felt. I didn't feel like I was being grilled for a job, I felt like I was just talking with two colleagues about teaching. Next thing I know, I'm being offered a job to teach 8th grade English.

I didn't know how to feel at first. I wasn't expecting it all to happen so fast. So even though I accepted the offer, for the past week or so, I've had doubts about whether this was a good idea.

But then yesterday I walked to the mailbox and noticed there was an envelope addressed to me with the return address from a former student. I opened the envelope and immediately began to weep.

The letter this student wrote was telling me all about how she had just read my favorite book, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and she wanted to share her thoughts with me. She wrote it just like the letters they used to write in their reader-response notebooks in my literature class. She poured her heart and soul into this letter and showed me just how much she understood and pondered the book. It looks like she even tore it out of the same composition book she used in my class.

If I had any doubts about going back into the classroom in the fall, this letter just squashed them. God or the universe or whatever you happen to believe in really does send us signs. We just have to be observant enough to notice them. This sign was hard to ignore. It came at just the time I needed it, and if the letter weren't sign enough, this student will also be going into 8th grade. The grade I'll be teaching in the fall.

My faith has been restored

Last week on Twitter, there was a big kerfuffle because Borough Press, a UK imprint of HarperCollins, commandeered the hashtag that Donalyn Miller created six years ago for teachers to share the books they read over the summer. It's called the #bookaday challenge, and it is what it says: read a book a day during the summer and share it on Twitter. It has been an incredibly useful form of professional learning for teachers, as they can see what others are reading and talking about as a way to know what to bring back and talk about in their classrooms in the fall.

Borough Press didn't bother to research whether the hashtag was already in use, or if they did, they didn't seem to care, and chose to use #bookaday for their own marketing, creating a schedule of book-related tasks for Twitter users to complete such as:

Book I own more than one copy of
Book with a blue cover
Book that doesn't belong to me
Book I forgot I owned

Compared to Donalyn's version of #bookaday, these tasks were all very trivial and muddied the feed of what teachers and librarians were trying to use for the benefit of their profession and their students.

At first, Borough Press would not waver, going so far as to say that because they were using the hashtag, it was trending. Their "apology" had a very #sorrynotsorry tone to it, and so I felt compelled write a poem a la William Carlos Williams, via Gail Carson Levine:

This whole situation felt like yet another example of a big corporation silencing the voices of teachers. But because so many teachers and librarians caused enough of a stir, and Donalyn also brought up the fact that #bookaday is referenced in her copyrighted work, Borough Press finally backed off and created a new hashtag, #bookadayUK.

The result of this unfortunate situation has restored my faith that teachers' voices do matter, can be heard, and can make a difference across the din of corporations muddying the educational waters. We're so used to hearing teachers' voices silenced or sullied that even a small victory like this is still a victory. We might be "small," but we are mighty.

May 2014 #nctechat Storify on Summer Reading

Last Sunday, May 18, Donalyn Miller and Kelly Gallagher hosted #nctechat where the topic was summer reading. There were so many great resources and tweets from this chat that I wanted to compile all of my favorites in a Storify.

Existentialism on a Weeknight

A few nights ago my husband read me the original German version of Monsters Aren't Real (i.e., Monster Gibt es Nicht) by Kerstin Schoene. As we laughed together like we haven't laughed in a long time, we also had quite a deep discussion about the monster in this book who is having an existential crisis. Don't tell me picture books can't produce prolific, literary discussions. Here we were on a Thursday evening talking about existentialism in a children's book. :)

We also compared the English and German versions of these two books and noted that there are many places that did not directly translate. When I first read the English version, I thought the ending fizzled. The original German ending, however, was more substantial, which makes me wonder how many other translated books we've all read and disliked because things get lost in translation.

I clearly need to get back in the classroom if I'm having literary and linguistic discussions with my husband about children's books and existential monsters.

Speaking of getting back in the classroom, a few weekends ago I took the high school English test for Michigan Teacher Certification and I passed! So I'm hoping to get back into the classroom by September. We shall see what new adventures are in store for me in the fall. My classroom library is tired of being chained up in the basement. It has asked to see the light of day and start making its way into kids' hands again.

Finding Inspiration in the Classroom: Danielle Kulawiak and her dog Tonka

On Friday evening I was perusing Instagram when I came across the following photo from friend and high school teacher Danielle Kulawiak:


I was both delighted and perplexed. Certainly bringing a dog into a classroom is a liability issue. How was Danielle able to allow her dog to interact with her students? After further probing, I found out that the beautiful Tonka is a certified therapy dog. I immediately wanted to know more, so Danielle was gracious to oblige my questions.


How exactly do you use Tonka in your classroom?
Mostly he's there as a comfort. Often my kids will hang out with him on the floor while they are reading or writing. He functions as class mascot, reading buddy, and teddy bear. I've seen kids who generally are quiet and sullen come to life when Tonka is in class. It's pretty hard to be sad or cranky when you've got him there cheering you on with a "woo-woo."


This makes me wish that more classrooms had therapy dogs!
Our district has been awesome about it. Last year, one of my student's older brother died while away at college. I brought Tonka in the week before Thanksgiving when many of the kids were talking about how excited they were to have their siblings back from college. This boy spent most of the day sitting on the floor of my classroom with Tonka quietly working. It's easy to forget sometimes with high school kids who are trying to hard to be "grown up" that underneath all that bluster they are simply vulnerable children in bigger clothes than the elementary school kids.


That must be so heartwarming to witness firsthand what a comfort he can be for your students. How often do you bring Tonka to visit?
I bring him in once or twice each month. 


What steps did you have to take to get him certified as a therapy dog?
He has been through obedience training and canine good citizenship training. Each state and organization has their own rules for what training and certification are needed and these rules vary depending on what types of things the dogs will be doing. The one thing that is consistent is the need to carry liability insurance on the dog. I would like to continue Tonka's training so that we can eventually make visits to hospitals. Any teacher thinking of using dogs should first check with their schools and then reach out to trainers in their area.


Did you intend to bring him to your classroom when you were putting him through training or did that idea come later?
We knew when we were looking for a dog that we wanted one who would be suited to therapy visits. I was inspired by seeing how the people in my grandfather's assisted living home lit up when my aunt brought her dog to visit. Then I read about dogs who visit libraries for read alouds and dogs who visit college campuses during exam weeks and it all just clicked.


I would imagine after a while, the kids start to ask when Tonka's coming back. :) 
They totally do! But I try to pick days that work out well for him, since we have a rotating block schedule, some days are more packed than others!


Thank you so much Danielle for answering my questions and for being the kind of teacher that proves education is more than just filling kids' heads with knowledge. You are clearly showing your commitment to educating the whole child and have greatly inspired me! Now I want to look into getting my dogs certified to be therapy dogs.

If you have been inspired by Danielle like I have and want more information about therapy dogs, visit the AKC website which will provide you with a listing of national and state organizations.

 

Finding Inspiration in the Classroom: Jessica Crawford

After my inspiring visit to Sarah Andersen's classroom last week, I was happy to keep the momentum going by visiting my friend Jessica Crawford's 10th grade English classroom yesterday.

From the moment I met Jessica three years ago, her love of books and sharing that love of literacy with her students was almost palpable. Being in her classroom yesterday was an absolute treat for me. I had the opportunity, in one short school day, to bear witness to book talks, sustained silent reading, reading conferences, and class book discussions. But above all the books and the required content,

Jessica confers with a student

what really stood out from my visit to Jessica's classroom was her genuine concern and love for her students. Teenagers are not always the easiest age group to share a classroom with, but even when things go awry as they sometimes do in a classroom full of 15-16 year olds, through it all Jessica still maintains her smile and composure. I witnessed a true joy and heart beating in her classroom yesterday and as a result, my heart continues to beat towards the hope of getting back into my own classroom next year.


Like last week in Sarah's classroom, I also had the chance to do a book talk for Jessica's students yesterday. I talked about the book Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, and as I talked about my love for this book and also the reasons for why Sepetys wrote the book, that feeling came back to me: the one where I'm in my element, sharing my passion for books with students. And the fact that Jess's students didn't just sit there and listen, but responded to my questions and as well as asked their own, made me feel like I was riding a bike: I may have been off of it for a while, but I never forgot how.

So thank you Jessica and Sarah for helping me to get back on the bike.

Finding Inspration in the Classroom: Sarah Andersen

Yesterday I had the honor and privilege of visiting my friend Sarah Andersen's high school English classroom. I have been saying since June that I wanted to spend this year visiting friends' classrooms to get inspired. I wanted to be part of a new conversation: one that celebrates teachers rather than casts aspersions on them.

Well, up until now I've kind of squandered that opportunity. I was taking a graduate class in the fall so a lot of my free time was spent doing research for that class. Then January began the snowiest winter on record in the state of Michigan. There was a new snow storm every week and as a result, schools are now having to scramble to add days to the end of the year due to the plethora of snow days that were being dished out. So needless to say, I wasn't very enthusiastic about making plans to visit friends' classrooms between the months of January and March because I knew I'd probably end up having to reschedule anyway.

So Sarah's classroom is the first one I've visited this year and it was the perfect one to start with. I am almost finished with my last class before I can take the test to add a high school English endorsement on my teaching certificate. Up until this point I've had an elementary certificate with a 6-8 language arts endorsement. I've always wanted to teach high school and now I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Sarah reads Boy 21 aloud to her sophomores

Beginning with her first hour class I could immediately tell that Sarah has an amazing group of students. Sarah began the class with a read aloud of the book Boy 21 by Matthew Quick. I was thrilled to see that despite the fact that Sarah teaches high school kids, she still sees the importance of reading aloud to build community and shared reading experiences. So often teachers stop reading to students once they reach middle school. It was wonderful to see a high school teacher embracing the benefits of reading aloud despite what many teachers of that age group might deem as a waste of precious time.

I was equally impressed with how Sarah's students truly enjoy being read to. When she opened the book and began reading, all students put down their phones, other work, even other books, and just listened to the story. One student in the front row even closed his eyes, as if he was trying to soak in every single word she was reading. I have to admit, it was quite soothing. I'm used to being the one doing the reading, not being read to so that was a nice change.

The rest of Sarah's day was spent with her seniors who were working on practicing their senior exit projects. I enjoyed watching her students present, and was equally impressed with the smart, concise feedback Sarah gave to her students. She wasn't just ticking off points on a rubric, she truly wanted to know more about her kids as people and what they plan for their future careers.

Bookshelves line every wall in sarah's classroom

Throughout the day, the thing that stuck with me the most was that I had the chance to bear witness to such a culture of literacy in Sarah's room, even when books weren't part of the day's lesson. The walls in Sarah's room are lined with bookshelves and baskets of books for students to check out, her whiteboard and decorations all shout "This is a classroom that loves books!", Sarah talks books with her students during downtime, and more importantly, the students talk books with each other.

If I had any apprehensions about teaching high school before yesterday, spending the day with Sarah helped squelch those fears. She proved to me that building relationships with your students and creating a classroom community always trumps content and curriculum. If I was looking for inspiration, I certainly found it. I only wish that the often ridiculous PD that districts force upon teachers could be

Bookish announcements

replaced with observing another teacher for the day. Teaching can be such an isolating job that we very rarely get to see other master teachers in action. So many of my friends are teachers and yet I can count on one hand the number of times I've been able to see them interact with their students.

After yesterday's wonderful experience, I am looking to fill my spring calendar with more classroom visits. I've already got another one planned for next week. At this rate, I will be ready and rarin' to teach come September!