#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! 

Next #D100bloggerPD Announced!

Just announced!! 

The newest #D100bloggerPD will be a blog study on the book What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali.

If that name rings a bell, it's because he is very well-known for his "What Teachers Make" poem- which, speaking for myself, motivates me every time I hear it!

A schedule is coming soon along with a list of the fabulous educators and administrators and the dates for the study. Everything will begin with Colleen over at Literacy Loving Gals on Thursday, July 21, 2016! That's right- a SUMMER edition of #D100bloggerPD! The learning never stops with us!

If you want to follow along with our book study- pick up your own copy of the book and get ready to join in on the fun (and learning)!