A (School) Year in Review

I am about to wrap up my 8th year in education- a number that frankly seems impossible, because the time has flown by.  Although I have worked at two schools (soon to be three- but I'll get to that later), I have spent all 8 years in Berwyn South School District 100. I consider this district to be my little niche of happiness. I am allowed and encouraged to be myself and to flourish- and yes- teaching is hard- but I get through it with the amazing friends and work family I have created over the years.

I like to consider myself a very reflective teacher- it's something that I consider vital for growth in any field- but especially the land of education. Because of this, I wonder why, until this post, I have yet to sit down at the end of a school year and record my thoughts. Getting ideas down on paper is so powerful, and maybe because this year has been so full of changes (good and bad), I am excited to embark on this journey.

This blog, which I only started last year, has given me so much. It has provided a place to grow, learn, share, be vulnerable, be excited, make connections, and more! It has given me an audience to listen and share with, that in turn, I have read blogs and learned with and from people around the globe. Things I never would have stumbled upon before have entered my life because of blogging- and I am forever grateful for that.

So without further ado- I know you’re dying to actually get down to the nitty gritty and hear about this school year. SO much has happened, some things are changing, and some things will always stay the same.

Let’s start with some really positive and exciting events. This was the inaugural year of #D100bloggerPD, which I co-founded with fellow D100 Reading Specialist Colleen Noffsinger. Safe to say that if you have read my blog before, you know about #D100bloggerPD.  This is where we select books (from all areas) and do a blog book study (kind of like a jigsaw) with other members (both teachers and admin) from around D100. We have done 3 books this year: Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller, Move Your Bus by Ron Clark, and Hacking Education by Mark Barnes and Jennifer Gonzalez. Each one has gotten better and better and the impact of #D100bloggerPD has been amazing. We have involved so many teachers, from within D100 to all the way across the country, and we are all learning and growing together. Even though the school year is ending, #D100bloggerPD will keep going- in fact, we just announced our next blog study, and it will be on the book What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali. Even better news: Taylor Mali heard about our blog study via Twitter and had reached out to help and participate in a Twitter Chat. Hello, power of Twitter! And the power of good people getting together to learn and improve themselves. Not for pay, not for recognition- just for the purpose of learning. 

Also exciting this year was I continued doing something I love- presenting at #edtech conferences- and this year I got to bring my husband in on it! We co-wrote a presentation called “Educator Expectations in the 21st Century” and were able to share this with audiences at Illinois State University’s T21CON (Teaching in the 21st Century Conference) in

September, Waukegan Google ’n More in January, and ICE (Illinois Computing Educators) in February. I love this presentation because it’s not about one buzzword in education. It’s about motivating people to be the very best they can be while fusing in some 21st century skills along the way.

There is no “trick” to teaching. There’s just good teachers who never give up and surround themselves with a PLN (professional learning network) of other like minded individuals, and then they all make a vow to never stop improving. And yes, that is as hard as it sounds. But you work at it. Constantly. I also attended EdCamp Chicago- which was held at my husband Peter’s school (Churchville Middle School in Elmhurst, IL) back in April with some D100 friends and some of my extended D205 family. It was a fantastic day of learning and growing (organized by the amazing Ben Hartman and his EdCamp Chicago Team) and days like that make it very obvious why EdCamps are so popular! 

Speaking of conferences, I get to knock something off my bucket list next year thanks to my proposal acceptance to present at the IRC (Illinois Reading Council) Conference. As a reading specialist, this conference is the top of my ladder. All the best voices in reading attend and present at this conference- and I am MORE than excited that this will be me next year. I will be presenting on Using Technology to Improve Reading Instruction- a presentation geared towards Pre-K to 3rd grade teachers that will focus on infusing technology into the core building blocks of reading instruction.

To keep the trend of getting good news going, I found out early May that I will be awarded the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the Illinois State University College of Education in the fall during the Homecoming festivities. This is a HUGE honor and one that I am more than humbled to receive. My husband won this award two years ago and wholeheartedly deserved it- so to not only follow in his footsteps but also blaze this trail of my own is amazing. I consider ISU to be my home- a place that molded me into a student/teacher/person who never gives up and keeps growing. The motto, Gladly We Learn and Teach, sums it up perfectly. We must always keep learning in order to be the best teacher we can possibly be. I just really can’t put into words everything this University and the College of Education has done for me.  If you are a regular on my blog, you also know that Illinois State is where I met my husband (an amazing educator who I talk about ALL the time- sorry!), which is just another reason to love my alma mater. Plus, being able to be ‘lovebirds’ (the ISU mascot is the Redbird) is pretty adorable!

Speaking of my husband, being married to a teacher has its perks. And this year- the perks lined up (for only the 2nd time in 8 years) and we had the same spring break.

We were able to take our baby birds (get it…lovebirds have baby birds…) on a spring break road trip-visiting various museums over the span of five different states. I know what you’re thinking- those poor kids get to go to a bunch of museums while other kids get to go to Disney! But seriously- they loved it! Being the kids of two teachers has definitely shaped them into little adventure-loving learners. We are so proud of the kids they are growing up to be. This year, more than ever, I have noticed them growing up way too fast. 

Brayden (our oldest) just finished Pre-K and therefore starts Kindergarten in the fall. This is impossible. My baby just can’t be turning 5 and going off to elementary school. I just don’t get it.

And Olive….our feisty, take charge, run the world 3 year old- she’s keeping right up with her older brother.

It’s hard to believe (but wonderful) that we are over and done with with all things baby. No more bottles, diapers, cribs, making baby food, and sadly, no more sleepy baby snuggles in the middle of the night. Those days might be gone- but I know I can speak for Peter and say that we cannot wait to fill those days with new memories and new adventures. Watching your kids grow up is a pleasure I didn’t fully understand until now.

So many positive things happened this year that it’s hard to remember them all. I almost forgot to mention the amazing #edtech conference that my district hosts- iEngage! This is an amazing event that just wrapped its second year- both of which I was in charge of all things registration.

This includes the registration website, the schedule website, the logistics of how much food to order (eek! can’t mess that up!), and how many seats to lay down. I wrote a reflection post last year which sums up a lot of the emotions and craziness of organizing this conference. This year the conference was, again, a huge success- due in large part to the fantastic iLead team led by Jordan Garrett. We all had a role and worked together to execute the conference beautifully- of which hundreds of educators from in and out of Illinois came to learn. 

This year iEngage was a little rough for me because, unfortunately, my grandma was admitted to the hospital on the Thursday before the two day conference which happened Friday 4/29 and Saturday 4/30. I spent the evening of that Thursday in the hospital with my family, left late and arrived in Berwyn at 5am to get ready for Friday. Friday was a huge success and at the end of the day, I drove back to the hospital. Stayed late again and was back in Berwyn by 6am Saturday for day 2 of iEngage. Once again, a huge success and then my husband and I drove back to the hospital. This time we spent the night with my family in the room, and sadly, in the middle of the night, surrounded by her loved ones, my grandma passed away. I couldn’t even write in this blog post the millions of things this woman has done for me in my lifetime. I couldn’t possibly put into words the feeling you have when you experience the first death of someone close to you. I have learned to look at this in a positive light. I was only born with 2 grandparents living and I made it until I was 30 years old before they both passed. Another positive- my grandma got to know my kids and vice versa.

This lady who had such a hand in raising me got to enjoy my kids growing up. She will forever be in their memories- in fact- they talk about her often. About her love of corn dogs, banana shakes from Culver’s, playing with toys at her house, and getting to hug and kiss her goodbye. Those memories are priceless. 

After her passing, I was so fortunate enough to be able to lean on so many friends and family to get me through this hard time. Being surrounded by people who love you is a blessing- and I am lucky to say I have a lot of people who love me. A husband who is my rock, kids who, while crazy, are my world, a family of strong people, and friends who would drop anything for me. A lot of those friends are people I work with, and have come to consider family, after working at Pershing the last two years. Being able to work in a school and a district that cares about you is not something I take lightly. 

This brings me to my last change. This is, likely, my last post as a Pershing Panther. I will be moving next year to Hiawatha, another elementary school in our district. I’m excited for change and the new opportunity, but it goes without saying that I will miss the people I have gotten to know these last two years. But I’m really only going about ten minutes away- so hopefully they won’t forget about me and we can grab lunch sometime!

If you’re still reading this- wow! That was so much! When I started out, I didn’t think I had much to reflect on this year. Turns out A LOT has happened. I didn’t intend for this post to get this long, but I’m kind of glad it did. Like I said, reflecting is key to growth. Writing everything down has a sort of healing power to it and it allows me to clear my mind for summer and next year. 

I can’t wait. 

What’s next? I’m going to go enjoy the end of the school year and summertime. You’ll see me back here at the end of June when we start to promote our next #D100bloggerPD- and that will begin July 21st! 

#D100bloggerPD: Hacking Education- Hack 10 & Conclusion

Back in March, here on my blog, the #D100bloggerPD crew kicked off our newest blog book study- which focused on the fabulous Hacking Education by Mark Barnes and Jennifer Gonzalez. If you have reached this post without seeing any of the previous posts- or if you are unsure of what a blog book study is- you’ll definitely want to check out my introduction post- which you can access here. If you are a follower of the #D100bloggerPD crew, then you know that

my teacher-twin Colleen and I brought this idea of "blogger professional development" to our district at the beginning of this school year. Ever since then, we have had so much fun sharing, learning, and growing with fellow teachers/administrators as well as new members of our PLN. 

Since the beginning, #D100bloggerPD has tackled blog book studies on (1) Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller (2) A "What Inspires You?" Series and (3) Move Your Bus by Ron Clark, and this Hacking Education study has been the most recent. I know I talk a lot about how Colleen and I got this movement going in our district- but we wouldn’t be able to keep it going without some of our most faithful #D100bloggerPD regulars- all of which took part in this study and you’ll want to check out each of their blogs as well! We are so fortunate to all be connected and share this love of being a lifelong learner and I just hope they all know how much I appreciate them! 

Here's a link to all those wonderful people's blog posts as part of this study- and each one of them definitely merits your attention:

Reading and Owl of the Above: Introduction

Pershing Principal Blog: Hack 1- Meet Me in the Cloud

Responsive Literacy: Hack 2- Pineapple Charts

Ginny from Hiawatha: Hack 3- Teacher Quiet Zones

Cool Cat Teacher: Hack 4- Track Records

Miss G Does 5th: Hack 5- Student Tech Gurus

Literacy Loving Gals: Hack 6- Marigold Committees

Learn, Teach, Grow: Hack 7- The In-Class Flip

Big Time Literacy: Hack 8- The Book Nook

Miss Kaczmarek’s Classroom: Hack 9- The Glass Classroom

Reading and Owl of the Above: Hack 10- The 360 Spreadsheet &Conclusion 

The last hack in the book, Hack 10: The 360 Spreadsheet: Collect a Different Kind of Student Data, focuses on something I really love- which is data. I am such a geek when it comes to the collection and analyzing of data and it probably gives me more joy than it should- but this hack really puts things into perspective for me. I collect a lot of data- and I’m not exaggerating- but is it always the right data for instructing my students? Sure, I have the required data points- weekly progress monitoring, three times yearly benchmarking, daily anecdotal notes, formative assessment data, and so on and so on forever- but after reading this hack, it is clear there should be more attention to detail and effort put into one more aspect of data- which is really devoting time getting to know my students. It’s not that I don’t get to know them-of course I do- we have the tried and true interest inventories, small book talks, and general conversation- but this hack really made me stop and wonder that, if I spend so much time collecting, organizing, and analyzing the data I mentioned above- why am I not devoting the same time to gather other information to really complete my picture of that child? 

In this chapter, Barnes and Gonzalez touch upon the “I wish my teacher knew” movement that began in 2015 where Kyle Schwartz, a third grade teacher, created a lesson but the results were more than she could’ve ever imagined. Soon, this lesson went viral and teachers everywhere took part. It was quite simply amazing. Teachers began to open doors that they never knew were even there with their students and the student answers to “I wish my teacher knew…” changed the lives of students and teachers forever. Not just in Kyle’s classroom, not just in Denver, CO where she is from, but all over the world. You can read  (and watch!) more about this lesson here. One lesson. One teacher. One huge change in the way we look at our job (read: our lives) as educators. This reminds me of a quote I like to look at in the beginning of each school year to give myself a little perspective.

So quite simply put, the hack is, as Barnes and Gonzalez say, to “collect data on the whole child” (Hacking Education, Page 121).  In order to look at this whole child, the authors give plenty of examples of where to look for data- things like student passions, family, and activities. My favorite that they mention is academics. At first, you think, well yeah, I’m totally covering the academic side- look at how much data I have! But then you read it and it says, “Here’s where you can put things a standardized test won’t tell you about a student’s academic needs and preferences” (Hacking Education, Page 123). Well shoot. Are you thinking what I’m thinking right now? Because I’m thinking…well…that’s everything.

 What can I learn about a kid that isn’t on a standardized test…just about everything! Once you frame your thoughts around this concept- I swear this hack makes so much more sense and the need for it becomes so much more immediate. 

The book goes into steps you can take right now to get this hack moving- things like “gather the data, build your spreadhseet, and use the data” (Hacking Education, page 125). I mean, how easy does that sound. Being the paperless person that I am, I instantly envisioned a beautiful google doc with all these columns and rows and color coding.

(See, I told you I get geeked out over data!) It’s not like this new chart of data has to be completed tonight- or even tomorrow- but just knowing it is there- with spots to fill with important information about students- just that thought alone inspires me to fill it out. Can I also just point out that I love how one of the steps they mention is to use the data. How true is this?! As educators, we collect so much data. So, so much. But how much of that data are we using (really using) to guide our daily instruction. Time for some honest reflection here. (Which, side note- if you aren't regularly being honest with yourself and reflecting on your teaching...start now!)

I’d be willing to say that if you are collecting a piece of data that you aren’t using on a day to day basis with your students, THROW IT OUT! Stop wasting your time! Everything we do needs to have a direct impact on our students learning. If not, question it. If it isn’t valuable, ditch it. If it might be valuable, revise it. If it is valuable but you aren’t using it, revise it but also give it a good hard look for why you think it is valuable in the first place. Teaching requires so much reflection- it really is a nonstop flow of questioning and thinking and changing. And it is, after all, for a great cause.

So that brings us to the conclusion of this (I’m just going to say it) life-changing book. The conclusion opens with this beautiful Julian Casablancas (an American Musician) quote. It just puts everything into perspective for me. We don't have to go this path alone. We have each other. Everyone has an at-the-ready PLN if they want it (hello, Twitter!) and everyone deserves someone reach to for help when they need it. This book is just the starting point on that. If you read this book and something in it doesn’t change your life- read it again. If you are looking for a little refresher on why you love education and some quick fixes to make your day-to-day life more manageable and better for your students- you have to read this book. It’s a no brainer.  I'll leave you with this last tidbit from Mark Barnes and Jennifer Gonzalez.

Please, if you have any questions, comments, etc., please do not hesitate to leave a comment! All of us in the #D100bloggerPD crew love to hear from our readers!

Also- if you enjoyed following along with us on this study- be sure to pick up your copy of Hacking Education: 10 Quick Fixes for Every School (Hack Learning Series) (Volume 1) ! I got mine through Amazon- gotta love free two day shipping!!

                                                                     

*If you want to be sure you don't miss a post from me in the future- check on the upper right side of my blog and you'll see a "bloglovin" button- just click that, subscribe to my blog, and you'll be updated in the future anytime I create a new post! It's the best way to guarantee you won't miss a thing!

#D100bloggerPD: Hacking Education: Introduction

I'm moving these links up to the top of my post now that the study has started so you can access them easier and follow along with our study. As each new one is posted, I'll hyperlink it here!

Pershing Principal Blog: Hack 1- Meet Me in the Cloud

Responsive Literacy: Hack 2- Pineapple Charts

Ginny from Hiawatha: Hack 3- Teacher Quiet Zones

Cool Cat Teacher: Hack 4- Track Records

Miss G Does 5th: Hack 5- Student Tech Gurus

Literacy Loving Gals: Hack 6- Marigold Committees

Learn, Teach, Grow: Hack 7- The In-Class Flip

Big Time Literacy: Hack 8- The Book Nook

Miss Kaczmarek’s Classroom: Hack 9- The Glass Classroom

Reading and Owl of the Above: Hack 10- The 360 Spreadsheet  

If you have visited my blog before, you have probably seen the many posts that I made (or linked) as part of the #D100bloggerPD crew. My teacher-twin Colleen and I brought this idea of "blogger professional development" to our district at the beginning of this year. Colleen (check out her amazing blog here), as part of the Reading Strategies Crew past summer, put on an amazing blog book study of Jennifer Serravallo's The Reading Strategies Book, which I was thrilled to participate in. I love the idea/professional growth potential so much that I talked to Colleen about bringing it to our district, and poof, #D100bloggerPD was born! Since then we have done blog book studies on (1) Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller (2) A "What Inspires You?" Series and (3) Move Your Bus by Ron Clark. Having just wrapped up the Move Your Bus study, we are now ready to launch our next blog book study on Hacking Education: 10 Quick Fixes for Every School (Hack Learning Series) (Volume 1)  by Mark Barnes and Jennifer Gonzalez.  

If you've never seen or been part of a blog book study before (whether a participant or audience member), it's really quite simple. Here's what to expect.  Notice the schedule that I opened this post with. You see all 10 hacks (plus this introduction) planned out twice a week over a 5 week period of time.  All the members of this book study are fellow colleagues in Berwyn South School District 100- a town right outside of Chicago, Il. There are 10 total participants and we will all be reading and reflecting on one hack each from Hacking Education.  

Still unsure? Here is an amazing Periscope/katch.me video by Jennifer Gonzalez as she explains, in her own funny way, what this #D100bloggerPD adventure is all about! Can I just say- to hear someone as smart and awesome as Jennifer Gonzalez call you out by name in a periscope- it's pretty much the coolest thing....ever! Thanks again, Jennifer!

Now back to the plan. The date listed on the schedule is the date the new reflection will be posted- and the name listed in the schedule is the blog where the post will appear. To make that even easier, if you keep this post handy- I will continuously link every new post at the bottom of the page. Also, each post will link to the next person who is set to post. For example, at the end of this post, I will link to Marilyn over at Pershing Principal Blog for her reflection on Hack 1. Then she will link to Leah at Responsive Literacy, and so on and so forth.  Another way to keep track of this study (and any others) is to follow the #D100bloggerPD hashtag on Twitter. Anytime a member of our crew posts, they will always use this hashtag to keep our followers and fellow learners informed. 

Now that we’ve gotten the logistics out of the way- let’s get into the book! To kick off this study, I am doing a brief reflection on the introduction of the book.

 The introduction serves as a set up for the purpose of the rest of the book- introducing why we need to hack education and ultimately providing the answers or guidance along the path to hacking education. I love how the authors point out that they are not taking ownership of these hacks- just that they have compiled them, sometimes improved on them, and otherwise are promoting them in order to get these hacks into the hands of the right people- the teachers who need them the most! This rings so true for me- the world of education is so tough already- it's difficult and stressful and challenging- so why not help each other? Why, as the saying goes, reinvent the wheel every time you need to create something? In the last couple years, thanks to the internet and websites like Pinterest and Teachers Pay teachers, we have been introduced to a wide world of resources to help teachers save time and lean on each other in a time of need. And that's not even taking into account the cool things I find on Twitter! Hello, Social Media!

 I can't tell you how many times I've quickly looked up something on Pinterest to get a fun idea- or checked out my PLN on twitter to get more #edtech ideas to use in my paperless classroom. Once I check out these sites, find a tiny "seed idea", I take it into my own brain and morph it into something I need. All I'm saying is that every idea doesn't have to be freshly minted by me for it to be awesome. Share with each other. Learn from one another. Grow with each other. The educational climate is ever-changing and evolving- let's not go at it alone.

This idea of taking ideas and making them into something you can use is also something talked about in discussing how to use this Hacking Education book. The authors write about the idea of "iteration" as you can see in the quote to the right. Not everything in the book (or life, for that matter) is going to be a one size fits all solution for your classroom.  That's the important part about knowing your classroom. You probably won't be able to just take a hack out of the book and start using it in your classroom right away. You'll need to see it with an editing eye and make it appropriate for use in your classroom or setting. This is what will make the hack valuable. Not to mention, this is what will make the hack have longevity in your classroom. If you don't make the experience personalized to you and your students, it's not likely to work or make a difference. But if you make the change/hack fit your needs, it's more likely to be successful and have that transformative power you're seeking.

I came across one of my new favorite quotes as I read about iterations in the introduction.

 I love this because it helps me remember that education is always evolving- but that we don't have to forget the past. I recently resurrected an idea that I used my very first year of teaching to try and help my current students with deeper thinking. Now, even though I've only been teaching for 8 years, this idea seemed so old and outdated that I couldn't possibly use it again. However, when I began to think of my current needs, I saw this quote and thought perhaps I could dig that old idea back up and work with it. And alas, it's working out amazing! All it took was a little creative editing and revising of my previous idea and now it's "fresh" again! So now I am renewed in my thinking and my students are benefiting from my new outlook. It's truly a win-win for all involved!

 This is what I am most excited for as we go forward in the Hacking Education book- the idea that I can take the hacks that I am about to read about, apply them to my own classroom, and transform my teaching because of it.  And as a little more inspiration in the right direction, I'm going to end my reflection with this quote:

That's all for now! Be sure to check out Marilyn's post at Pershing Principal Blog on Monday, 3/7 for her reflection on the first Hack: Meet Me in the Cloud. And in the meantime, I’ve linked each blog that will be featured in this study- you can check them out now- and later, once they have posted their Hack reflection, I’ll also link that as well! 

Pershing Principal Blog: Hack 1- Meet Me in the Cloud

Responsive Literacy: Hack 2- Pineapple Charts

Ginny from Hiawatha: Hack 3- Teacher Quiet Zones

Cool Cat Teacher: Hack 4- Track Records

Miss G Does 5th: Hack 5- Student Tech Gurus

Literacy Loving Gals: Hack 6- Marigold Committees

Learn, Teach, Grow: Hack 7- The In-Class Flip

Big Time Literacy: Hack 8- The Book Nook

Miss Kaczmarek’s Classroom: Hack 9- The Glass Classroom

Reading and Owl of the Above: Hack 10- The 360 Spreadsheet   

Please, if you have any questions, comments, etc., please do not hesitate to leave a comment! All of us in the #D100bloggerPD crew love to hear from our readers!

Also- if you'd like to follow along with us on this study- be sure to pick up your copy of Hacking Education: 10 Quick Fixes for Every School (Hack Learning Series) (Volume 1) ! I got mine through Amazon- gotta love free two day shipping!! I look forward to reading and learning with all of you!

*If you want to be sure you don't miss a post from me in the future- check on the upper right side of my blog and you'll see a "bloglovin" button- just click that, subscribe to my blog, and you'll be updated in the future anytime I create a new post! It's the best way to guarantee you won't miss a thing! And if you're not already following me on Twitter- be sure to check out @MrsKRichey and join my PLN!