#D100bloggerPD on #WhatTeachersMake

If you have been following the #D100bloggerPD hashtag this summer, you noticed that we have been very busy with our latest blog book study- a close look at Taylor Mali's What Teachers Make- In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World. This blogging experience started way back in the end of June when, on June 28, we held a special edition of #D100chat and featured Taylor Mali as our special guest. In case, although I'm not sure how it would be possible, you are wondering right now who is this Taylor guy I keep talking about- better watch this amazing video before we go any further.

Here's the thing- I've seen that video at least 20 times- nothing in comparison to the millions of views it has- but the point is- every single time this video pops up on my Facebook newsfeed, I must watch it. And let's be honest, around back to school time, this video probably does pop up more often, making a strong comeback into the limelight.

Now that you know who Taylor Mali is (and no doubt love him as much as I do!), let me make sure you are caught up with this edition of #D100bloggerPD. If you are reading my post as the first in the #WhatTeachersMake series, here's what you missed- and let me tell you- some really amazing teachers/administrators/instructional coaches came together for this edition and Colleen (my #teachertwin and co-founder of #D100bloggerPD- PLUS the brains over at Literacy Loving Gals) and I are so proud and thankful for them all!

Literacy Loving Gals: Kickoff plus the Introduction and Chapter 1

Teaching and Learning Redefined: Chapters 2 and 3

Miss Kaczmarek's Classroom: Chapters 4, 5, and 6

BigTime Literacy: Chapters 7, 8, and 9

Learn Teach Grow: Chapters 10, 11, and 12

The Bazz Blog: Chapters 13, 14, and 15

Miss G Does 5th: Chapters 16, 17, and 18

Responsive Literacy: Chapters 19, 20, and 21

Grammar Mamma: Chapters 22, 23, and 24

*Which brings you to me for Chapters 25, 26, and the Epilogue!*

It's almost the middle of August as I type this, and teachers have been on summer vacation at this point for about 2 months, give or take. Which, to teachers and those who love them, are married to them, or simply try to keep up with them know that "summer vacation" is really just code for 'work from home while maybe getting to go out to breakfast on a weekday' sometimes. Sure- I've enjoyed my summer vacation- but rarely a day goes by where I wasn't thinking about school, actually working on school things, shopping for my classroom, writing and rewriting my curriculum, or pinning ideas on how to make this coming school year the very best. Being a teacher is not a 'pick up and put down' kind of job- it's always on your mind.

I feel like I owe it to my readers to fess up to something right now. I wrote, rewrote, and erased that paragraph about ten times. Because in those deleted words, I allowed myself to fall into, by trying to defend, the negativity surrounding teachers (and I know I don't even have to get into examples for you to understand) but then it occurred to me that I am not that person and I won't let them steal my joy. In case you haven't heard of #edujoy, it is a shortened term for educational joy and if you are ever feeling 'down' about education, go look it up on twitter. It's positively motivational. It reminds me about my core values as a human and as an educator- many of which are the exact same. 

Here's a few:

I believe in good and in always trying to see/bring out the good in others. 

I believe in the people who go to work everyday and give the best they can.

I believe that there is power in being positive. 

I believe in students. All of them.

Not just the ones who can sit politely in a class and play school. 

I believe, in place sometimes of their own ability to believe, in the students who struggle. 

The ones who's biggest concern in life is FAR GREATER than my latest homework assignment.

I believe that together, we are better. After all, a rising tide lifts all boats.

I believe in second, third, and fourth chances for those who are eagerly and honestly trying to improve. That mistakes are signs of growth and not failure.

I believe that being a teacher is a challenging, rewarding, emotional, and high-stakes job- 

but that if I go into school everyday with 

a smile on my face, determination on my mind, kindness in my heart, and guts in my belly- then 

I believe that I really can change the world.

I believe, as Taylor Mali says, that I make a difference.

Phew! Sorry (#notsorry) for that rant, but I'm telling you, every time I watch that Taylor Mali YouTube video, I get so pumped up and I just had to get that out! Ok, now onto my reflection!

I had two very short chapters and one epilogue to read- all of which were the perfect end cap to this amazing book. The first of those chapters, The Quest for One Thousand Teachers is a great little piece about how Taylor Mali realized that his words and works were impacting and imploring others to become educators.

 Finding this neat (of course!), he figured he would try and keep a tally how many people actually became teachers because of him- and to top it off- he set a goal of inspiring one thousand teachers in six years. Spoiler alert: he didn't meet this goal. Not even close. Instead of just giving up and throwing in the towel, he decided to take a closer look at this quest and how he was approaching it. He made some tweaks and got some help, and finally about a year later, he was making steady progress toward that goal. Like all good teachers, he reflected on his practices and realized that, partly, this new growth was because, as he says, "I was finally ready for it to do so." (What Teachers Make, Page 180). If you open yourself to opportunity, it will likely come, If you remained closed and believe it won't happen, it probably won't. I really appreciate how Taylor Mali was able to admit that his original path didn't work and that he had to rethink and revise it before he achieved success. 

My next section, and the last 'chapter' of the book, is called There Can Never Be a "Lost" Generation. While quite possibly the shortest of all the sections in the book, it gives me two of my most favorite quotes from the entire book. The first: 

I feel like it goes without saying (although I guess I kind of already said it during my I believe rant up there...) but we can't give up on kids. We just can't. There's simply too much at stake. Yet somehow, even the most positive and hardworking people feel beaten down sometimes. Wait, I take that back. It's not somehow. I know exactly how. Back up to my rant- being a teacher is challenging! It's downright hard and some days, it's wholeheartedly exhausting. So yes, people get beaten down. People get lost on their path. But in the end, we must never, ever take that out on students. We must always believe in them and their successes.

The next of my favorite quotes from that section comes immediately after the one above. Here it is: 

I just love it. This is the goal. This is why we are here. So whether or not you are a new teacher, a "middle" teacher (like me, hello 9th year!) or a veteran teacher- remember that promise. Remember why you became a teacher in the first place. I highly doubt it was for summer's off, discounts at the local coffee shop, or even your love of school supplies (though I suspect those may have played a role!), it's the kids. It's always been about the kids. Don't ever forget that.

I want to make sure that I thank Taylor Mali one last time for being so amazing during this entire process. He was kind enough to participate in a Twitter chat with us as well as offer his help in any way we needed. All of us at #D100bloggerPD truly appreciate you and everything you have done for us and, of course, the field of education. Keep fighting the good fight!

P.S. Speaking of kids, I'm following my passion for teaching middle schoolers back to the middle school classroom. This will be my 9th year of teaching- the first 6 of which I spent at Freedom Middle School before moving (within district) to Pershing Elementary School. I loved that position and am taking everything I learned about the literacy set-up of our wonderful district and bringing it back to Freedom as the new Strategic Reading teacher. This is a position that is going to be challenging and exciting all at the same time. I am more than ready to work tirelessly to improve the reading of my students and instill a passion for reading in their hearts at the same time. I can't wait to get back in front of full classes and (shockingly) I even can't wait to get back to the complicated and imperfectly perfect lives of middle school students. My heart is happy and my mind is racing. 

It's going to be a fantastic year.

If you enjoyed this #WhatTeachersMake blog study, be sure to follow the #D100bloggerPD hashtag on Twitter for all the latest news and announcements of upcoming studies!

If you enjoyed reading my blog, be sure to click the Bloglovin' link on the top to follow and never miss a post! Or follow me on Twitter at @MrsKRichey!

As always, I love reading your comments or thoughts- so please feel free to leave some responses!

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!

A Bibliophile’s Favorite Things

As a reading specialist (and lover of books), I get asked OFTEN to share with people my favorites.  As a person who is literally addicted to books, I wish people knew how impossibly hard it is to answer this question. But I hate to feel like I’m not giving them an answer- so I have been thinking for a while the best possible way to formulate my response to this question. Here’s what I came up with: 

Because it is impossible to pick just one book- I settled on three. More than that, it’s also impossible to pick just three books out of every category in the library- so I broke it down into three. First- I picked my top three educational books. These are books that have impacted me as a teacher- whether it be in philosophy or practice. Next, I picked books from my teaching career that I have loved either reading aloud or recommending to students. Last, I picked my top three books as a parent that my kids enjoy. I feel like these three categories give a great representation of the sections of my life.

Before I begin these lists, I feel the need to write a disclaimer. These are the books that are always on my mind. These are not, by any means, the best three books for everyone everywhere. Books can be a uniting force and also a divisive one. This list of for my life only- put together as sort of road map to what made me who I am today. 

I have been wanting to write this post for a very long time but I’ve never known how. I hope you like the method I chose and I apologize in advance for the length of this article. To make this massive post easier to navigate, it’s sectioned and bulleted for your convenience!

Category 1: Educator Books

In terms of educational books, there are so many books that have guided me to become the teacher I am today. So many, in fact, that picking a top three is truly impossible. So for this list, I am picking the three that are currently influencing me the most. These are in no particular order.

1. The Reading Strategies Book: Your Everything Guide to Developing Skilled Readers by Jennifer Serravallo
2. The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child by Donalyn Miller
3. Hacking Education: 10 Quick Fixes for Every School (Hack Learning Series) (Volume 1) by Mark Barnes and Jennifer Gonzalez

The first book on the list, The Reading Strategies Book, is a favorite because of it’s amazing helping capabilities. I feel like that book has been a guide for me whenever I’ve been stuck with my reading groups about what to do next. Sometimes I feel like I’ve exhausted all my “tricks” and need direction. This book, first of all, is massive, so I know that I can find whatever I need in it. Second, Serravallo is SO bright on this subject that I know I can count on everything she writes. It’s like she knows exactly what I’m thinking and needing in  my reading classroom. It was helpful, though, for me to thoroughly study this book when I first got it. This is not the kind of book that you can buy because you think it will help but then never open. You must know the content of the book in order to apply it. For this reason, I participated in a blog book study about the book and wrote a reflective blog post on each section. If you’re interested, you can view this blog post which has a link to every single reflection I wrote. It has become an invaluable resource for me this year.

Next up is The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. I read this book when I was in my third year of teaching, after just finishing my reading specialist masters degree. I have to say I am a huge numbers person.  I like when things follow routines and when data makes sense. This book, in my opinion, is the opposite of that. This book throws out the idea of a perfect plan and quite simply requests that people read. If you want to be a better reader, then read. If you want to become a deeper reader, then read. If you want your students to become smarter, have them read. Just read. That’s it. Don’t stress about the details, don’t deal with the logistics, just carve out and keep a definite time to read. I loved this book so much because whenever I got to feeling beat down by the system, I knew that, when all else fails, we can always just return to the basics. Just focus on the reading and everything will be ok. We also read one of Miller's other books, Reading in the Wild as part of our #D100bloggerPD adventure. You will want to check out those posts, as well. 

Last up for impressionable educator book is Hacking Education by Mark Barnes and Jennifer Gonzalez. I must admit, I have just started this book, as it is the current focus of my #D100bloggerPD blog book study. I’ve read the introduction and reflected on it- and now it is the turn of the members in my crew to read and reflect on their parts. I then read the book as i go through the study. If you’d like to learn more about this concept, read this previous post. It explains why I am so excited about this book and it’s implications in the field of education.

Category 2: Elementary and Middle School Books

In my teaching career, I have spent 6 years in middle school and 2 years in elementary school. During these 8 years, I have spent countless hours reading books. Whether it be in small groups, out loud, book clubs, or just based off recommendations from students- it’s safe to say I’ve read tons of books. Like I mentioned above, it was hard to narrow this down to 3- but these three definitely stand out in my mind. 

1. Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life by Wendy Mass
2. Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac
3. The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

The first book, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, is my all time favorite book for students (5th grade-8th grade) to read. Admittedly, I love everything by Wendy Mass, but this is far and beyond my favorite. I first read this book during my student teaching year and I have read it many times since. I just think this is a book that every kid should read- because it teaches them to live and have fun and learn about life. It stresses the importance about being a human while telling a humorous and exciting story. The book was made into a movie, and I waited so long to see it because I didn’t want to be disappointed, and even though it wasn’t as good as the book, it was still cute. It’s just a fun-loving story about two kids just exploring the world and discovering themselves. That sounds so cheesy, and I’m sure the back of the book says it better, but trust me, you have to read this book.

Next is Skeleton Man by Joseph Bruchac. This book made the list because it is my all time favorite book to read out loud to students. I would say it’s best for students grades 3-8- and yes-that span is big- but the book is awesome. It is just so captivating and exciting. I love reading to students and I love even more when they hang on every word. I remember, when I was younger, I visited my mom’s classroom when she was reading Witches by Roald Dahl. I remember vividly her voices and reading- and I also remember the looks on the faces of her students and the palpable suspense in the room. It was magical. Skeleton Man is my Witches. It’s an incredibly quick and short read- but I promise you won’t regret sharing it with your students. And side note, it does have a sequel, which is good- but nothing is as great as the original.

Last is Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. Having taught middle school for so long, I have to admit I don’t have as much expertise with these younger level texts. I came across Rainbow Fish a few times and thought it was cute, but it wasn’t until I read it, on Read-a-Thon day, to a group of Kindergarten and First graders. It was an unforgettable experience. To read to little kids is an experience that gives so much joy. So I read it, which was amazing, but then they had this adorable discussion about the fish and sharing and caring that it just touched my heart. I love the experiences that reading provides for kids. It’s irreplaceable. 

Category 3: Mom/Toddler Books

These books made the list because they are the current favorites of my kids and one of my all time favorites to read out loud to them. As a mom who loves reading, my kids spend an awful lot of time reading and being read to. Safe to say their “favorites” change often- but as of this post, here are the go to books!

1. The Octonauts and The Only Lonely Monster by Meomi
2. Daniel Goes to the Potty (Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood) by Maggie Testa
3. You Are My Miracle by Maryann Cusimano Love and Satomi Ichikawa

First up, Octonauts. Since I don’t have cable, when my kids want to watch TV, they get Hulu or Netflix. One day, maybe 6 months ago, Brayden, my oldest, discovered Octonauts. Ever since then, we have been on every single deep sea adventure with this crew that they have to offer. As far as kids being addicted to TV shows, this really isn’t the worst. It’s pretty educational, in a marine biologist kind of way, and the main characters don’t play dumb or act ridiculous- one of my biggest mom pet peeves. Plus, there’s a super catchy “creature report” at the end of each episode where Captain Barnacles (he’s pretty cool) tells about the animals and even gives real pictures. I’m pretty proud to say that all this Octonaut watching has resulted in some pretty cool connections at the Shedd Aquarium and Brookfield Zoo. How many other kids strike up a conversation about the Mariana Trench? That’s right. Mine does. 

Next up, Daniel Goes to the Potty. Now, you can clearly tell that this is time sensitive- as I live with two toddlers- but really- thank you Daniel Tiger for potty training my youngest child. I really appreciate your help. Of course, I could’ve picked so many Daniel Tiger books as my favorite- because they all accomplish the same thing- teaching my kids about being nice humans while having fun with their favorite characters. I can’t tell you many songs I have memorized from Daniel and his show. “Gro-o-wn ups come back” and “See what it is, you might feel better” are just two that come to mind right away. Oh, and how could I forget, “If you have to go potty, stop and go right away!” That’s a definite favorite in my house! Anyway, I love Daniel Tiger and you should, too. That’s pretty much it.

So those two books were each of my children’s favorites. This last one is a me favorite as their mom. Ever since they were in my belly, I have read both of them the book You Are My Miracle. I know there are tons of books out there about parents loving their kids, but this one happens to be my definite favorite. It’s just a sweet story about love and faith and in my case- these kids really are our miracles. The story couldn’t be more on point for my family. If you haven’t read this one, I highly recommend grabbing it from the local library- but you might as well buy it because I’m sure you’re going to love it just as much as I do. We still read it often at bedtime and I’m sure it will continue to be a staple for a long time.

I realize that was a lot of writing. And a lot of reading. But honestly, I’ve known these books have been favorites of mine for a long time now and this post has been a long time coming- but sitting here writing and reflecting on them has really taught me a lot- about myself and about my life. I love how books have this unique ability to tell not just stories but to tell moments in my life. The books in these lists have created memories in my life, in my students, and in my children. All because I opened a book. 

A Blooming Reflection

Like most students of education, I learned about Bloom's Taxonomy in college during one of my many educator prep classes. As a person who loves rubrics, routines, etc.- I immediately jumped on board with this idea of Bloom's Taxonomy. I love the structure of it, I love the concise but ambiguous nature of it, and most importantly, I love how it always seemed to be pushing me to go up, up, up with my students and my instruction. Recently, I came across the image below- which I have made huge so you can see all of it, but in case you can't- access it here where I found it on Dartmouth.edu. This image represents so much about me as a teacher that it's almost scary. Let me walk you through how Bloom's Taxonomy and I have evolved in my time in education.

On the far left, you have the traditional Bloom's that we all know and love- starting at Knowledge and going all the way to evaluation. This is, as the visual shows, the created in 1956 version and is probably what most people think of when they hear Bloom's Taxonomy. However, times began to change and as you can see in the middle- Anderson and Krathwohl revised the original version in 2001. There are some significant changes- most notably the base level of knowledge is now referred to as remembering- a change that I was a bit resistant to at first but have come to appreciate. The other big change is that it seems like synthesis and evaluation on the original became just Evaluating on the revised- leaving space for the new top tier of Creating. I love this change mostly because when students are capable of creating something new then does that not show a true ability to evaluate and synthesize? Not to mention the shift in thinking that students who can regurgitate information can be masters of it. This is just not true anymore. We have to provide more opportunities for our students to make their education just that- their own.  Sure it probably seemed scary at first- and I'm guessing that in 2001 this was probably a polarizing issue (meaning some probably loved the idea of Bloom's Taxonomy changing and some probably didn't) but I'd be willing to guess that in the field of education- the kinds of changes that cased the most waves were the kinds of changes that needed to be made. 

Moving along the image to the right, you see that in 2008 Churches came out with Bloom's Digital Taxonomy- no doubt to fall in line with the ever-changing educational climate and match the increasing use of technology in the world. But here is what strikes me as interesting. I graduated college and started teaching in 2008. I can still remember using the original Bloom's Taxonomy with my students. I remember the exact activity in fact- it was a worksheet with six cubes on it. Starting at the bottom, I had a box for each of the original levels of Bloom's Taxonomy with a sentence starter (including a Bloom's verb) in each box. I then assigned this worksheet to my students for whatever we were doing at that moment (my guess is some type of literature study) and had them complete the worksheet. I thought I was being clever and ensuring that my students were working their way up the pyramid of understanding. 

Now, I'm not here to debate whether or not that was the best way to incorporate Bloom's into my classroom- but the intention was there. I was sending a message that simply hanging around at the Knowledge level with verbs like define, duplicate, and recall was not going to be enough to prove to me your understanding. Even during my 1st year as a teacher, I knew I wanted more. 

Which leads into why it's interesting that, in 2008, I was still using the 1956 version when the subsequent two new versions had already come out. My gut reaction is to say "if it's not broken, don't fix it" because my Bloom's worksheet crafted from the 1956 taxonomy was certainly helping students. But if I was using that worksheet to get more out of my students, why wasn't I also aware of the "more" that was out there for me!  It wasn't until maybe 2010 (yes, I'm behind the times apparently) that I even knew that the new 2001 version of Bloom's had come out. Like I said above, I embraced the changes in the pyramid- I thought they made sense and made things a little more clear for students- which is always a plus. 

Right around 2011, my school district made a big change to incorporate 1:1 technology into every classroom K-8. This was a huge and significant undertaking that we took on for the betterment of our students and to prepare them for their undeniable future in a different world than we grew up in.

Take for instance, this quote from Tom Leonard (who happens to have been my high school principal!) that he said at iEngage Berwyn last year. My district saw the need for incorporating technology into the lives of students and acted on it. Because of this, and our desire to continuously push students toward better, we now need to start working on that far right column of the visual above- on the Bloom's Digital Taxonomy version. This version allows for traditional teaching to be mixed with modern and current ways of learning. What I find interesting at that this digital version came out in 2008- the same year that I started teaching and using the original version. It just goes to show that you will use whatever you are ready for- but please, be sure to make sure that you, as the teacher, aren't monopolizing the need in the classroom. It shouldn't be about us. It shouldn't be about what we are ready for. It should be about the students. What are they ready for and capable of? What can they accomplish if given the tools to do so? 

This is where the SAMR model (Ruben Puentedura) came into play in our district. When you get to know the SAMR model, you will see that it has 4 levels-

 Substitution: the technology acts as a strict substation and there is no functional change- for example: reading a textbook on your iPad instead of reading the paper version.

 Augmentation: technology acts as a substitute but with some functional improvement- for example: reading that same digital textbook on your iPad but being able to click on a word to find out the definition or extra information.

 Modification: significant task redesign is taking place- for example: you are able to annotate your reading in notability and begin to create an iBook of your own.

Redefinition: new tasks which were previously inconceivable- for example: making the iBook that you were creating interactive and sharing it with other classes, schools, and even countries for commentary and collaboration. 

As you can see, technology plays a role in making the ways we teach better- but we need to harness it. In my district, we have created SMARTD100- which is a committee designed to work with teachers to help bring their teaching up the SAMR ladder. We can't afford to hang out at Substitution anymore- just like we can't afford to hang out at Knowledge (now remembering) on Bloom's Taxonomy. We must be doing more for our students and constantly reflecting on our teaching to do so. Here's a (very overwhelming but) fantastic image that combines the digital taxonomy, the SAMR model, and iPad apps. It's definitely a lot to take in- but I think it's pretty fantastic. You can find the original post here- called A New Wonderful Wheel on SAMR and Bloom's Taxonomy and view a much better and more detailed PDF version of the image if you go to that site. I highly encourage it.

Notice in the middle you have Bloom's levels and how they correspond to SAMR levels- all while including iPad apps, action verbs, and activities to accomplish it all. It's a daunting yet incredibly helpful resource!

I want to sum this up with a quote from Albert Einstein. I think it explains perfectly the need for this blog post. Thank you for reading and if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below.

Courtesy of kmsleadership.com