Mining For Hidden Gems

Often at the end of the writing workshop I invite my students to reflect on how they got themselves started writing that day. What was hard? What came easy? This year when I said: Writers, will you join me on the carpet for a little bit of reflection, one student asked: “Why? Are we in trouble?” I was taken aback but I realized that for many kids, reflection is something they do when they’ve messed up. When I was an instructional coach, sometimes I would invite teachers to reflect on student performance data. I would ask: “What do you think contributed to your students’ mastery of this particular skill?”, “Why do you think they are still striving to learn that concept?” More often than not, the answer would be something outside of the teacher’s control. “They came knowing that,” or “They came in pretty ‘high’”, “Well, those are my ‘low’ babies, so I wasn’t surprised by their performance.” I think as teachers we also become defensive when asked to reflect, especially when it’s around ...

The best way to read Kwame Alexander's Crossover is in one sitting from start to finish.  You don't want to take your eyes off of this performance for too long .  The novel in verse tells the story of Josh and his twin brother and that of their relationship with each other, with their father and with the game.  At times the entries made me, a complete ignorant when it comes to basketball, feel as if I was dribbling the ball across the court, performing a crossover and dunking: Dribbling At the top of the key, I'm                 MOVING & GROOVING , POPing and ROCKING - Why you BUMPING?              Why you LOCKING? Man, take this THUMPING. Be careful though, 'cause now I'm CRUNKing                 criss CROSSING   FLOSSING  flipping  and my dipping will leave you   S    L       I...

I know a book is good when: 1.  I find out it is all about baseball and I continue reading 2.  I do not skim over the sport jargon and play by plays 3.  I cry like a baby in front of whomever is sitting in a room when the surprise pinch hitter saves the game and all the pieces of the story come together. Last year I found a gem of a book in  Love, Ruby Lavender.   I loved the language and the rhythm of the story.  The vivid characters and the rich dialogue put the book on my list of all-time favorites.  As a bonus I found out that it is actually part of a trilogy of books by Deborah Wiles about a small Southern community.  I had read  Each Little Bird That Sings  aloud with my daughter when she was in fourth grade and still had time for read-alouds with me before bed.  I just finished reading  The All-Stars  and can't recommend it highly enough.  Besides all the qualities that made  Ruby Lavender  a g...

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” -Einstein My first year as a teacher, I had a student, Jonathan, who struggled with reading and writing.  It was surprising to me as a novice teacher who knew very little about learning differences, because I saw so many other strengths in him.  He was great at math and making astute observations in science.  He just hated to write and struggled with reading fluently.  Often he would call himself dumb and other degrading names.  I forbade him from talking negatively about himself.  His frustrations with learning manifested themselves in behavior that landed him in the office often.  He used inappropriate language and was at times aggressive.  I did my best to show Jonathan that he was smart in many ways.  Almost at the end of that school year, I heard a presentation on dyslexia and immediately saw all the...

It happens every year.  It happens to the best of us.  There comes a day when we ask ourselves is it all worth it. Are we making a difference?  The task seems so daunting; the demands ever-increasing.  As teachers of small children, we rarely see immediate results of our efforts.  Last year, on one of those days I wrote these words and left them in my colleagues' boxes as a small token of encouragement: The sum of our days is a tally of all things good and bad.  Every day, every moment is a chance to add a little bit to the good  or a little bit to the bad.    The choice is ours.  So we show up every day,  see the best in every child,  do the best we can and  hope that we have added  a bit to the good in their lives.    When it’s all said and done,  that’s all that matters.    All that we can ask for  is that we are remembered  because we l...

It seems to be socially acceptable, even among educators, to admit that we don’t like math or are not good at it.  I know that none of us would say publicly that we are not good at reading.  We may say we don’t like reading but that does not mean that we can’t read or comprehend a text if it were part of our job.  So why is it all right to say “I hate math!” or “I am not a math person”? If math is problem solving, logical thinking, drawing conclusions, providing proofs, checking for reasonableness and justifying an answer, shouldn’t all of us learn to be good at it?   Can anyone go through life not needing these skills?   Can we afford to treat mathematical thinking as the domain of only a few, if we aim to have a democratic society where every member is contributing his or her share? We are lucky enough to live in an age where the computational part of math can be done using machines, much faster and more accurate.   Machines can also remember ...

Teachers, like gardeners, are in the business of building beauty.  It's a messy job.  You have to get your hands dirty and you never know if or when the seeds you are sowing will sprout.  But we do it for love and we do it to add something positive to this world.  So why is it that we are so stressed out?  Why do we walk around with the weight of the world on our shoulders? We feel under-appreciated and over-worked. And we forget that this is supposed to be the best job in the world!  I know teaching is complex.  But does it have to be so complicated? What does it take to teach effectively and in a way that is fulfilling?  What kind of attitude will get us through the bureaucratic mandates passed down by those who don't really know our kids and the realities of our classrooms?  Is there a critical lens that we can use to evaluate the myriad resources, tips and strategies that are thrown our way? As I was searching for the smallest set of gu...