If I wanted to read a script...I would have been an actor!

I love teachers. I really love them. When we go to college to become teachers, we know we will never be rich. We know we won't have the luxury of going to the bathroom whenever we need to, and we are clear that we will be buying pencils for our kids. It's part of the deal. And we get it! But...we also thought that we could be creative every day and make decisions that help our students to become contributing members of society.

When I first started teaching...there weren't "canned programs" handed to me. I got a list of standards that I was responsible for teaching and was sent on my way. And TEACH I did. Yesterday I was talking to a couple of my colleagues after a hard day's work and a teacher I value said to me, "I don't want to read a script.

I've said it before and I will say it again...if I wanted to follow a script...I WOULD HAVE BEEN A ACTOR. I am not like other teachers I know. I challenge the rules. I literally cannot follow the "scripts" provided by people that haven't been in a classroom in decades...IF EVER.

Some days it seems like the battle to actually teach again will never be won. My conversation with that awesome teacher I mentioned earlier made me feel pretty good about how I spend my free time. I create things to HELP teachers and kids. I write assessments and develop curriculum that requires NO SCRIPT. Because I know that doesn't work. I want a teacher to be able to download something I created and use it instantly. They say you can sell lots more stuff if you blog about it...or explain how to use it. I don't need to blog about HOW to use my materials...they are all meant to be self-explanatory and Student/Teacher friendly. When I created this argument unit...it was for MY KIDS. And they were all at different places in their writing journey. My intent was to create anything that someone might need to find success. I didn't use all of the parts. I used the pieces my kids need! But I knew I was teaching the standards because I aligned it to the Common Core...and then some. 

This is how I help kids and teachers now. There is no canned program. I certainly didn't create another one. I create things teachers can use easily and have everything at their fingertips that would support their kids. It's not rocket science...

Teaching is an art...but the canvas has been hijacked by people that think they can control what we do in our classrooms each day. I'm looking forward to the day the pendulum swings back in the direction of allowing teachers to create and make their own decisions...for their kids. 

In the meantime...I'll be in my classroom. Going OFF-SCRIPT. 

No Such Thing As a Free Lunch...

I want to make this blog funny. I want to make it relevant. But I HAVE to make it honest. Last week the Secretary of Education stood up in front of a cheering crowd of Americans to say that there is "NO SUCH THING AS A FREE LUNCH." She bragged about being the first person to say these words to Bernie Sanders and pledged to change it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/actually-betsy-devos-there-is-such-a-thing-as-a-free-lunch_us_58afb3a3e4b0780bac2805d4

WHAT??? REALLY??? Are we really in a place where we are going to talk about taking away lunch provided to millions of American children that may not eat otherwise? I wonder if the people in the crowd cheering her on have ever watched a 10-year-old stress out about an upcoming vacation from school, or dread summer because they KNOW food will become their greatest challenge. I have. And I live and work in an affluent community.

So...Dear Betsy...if it isn't too much trouble...could you PLEASE refrain from standing in front of a crowd of uninformed and misguided Americans and demonizing hungry kids? I really don't think this is asking too much of you. If you took the time to read one article about hunger, or one study about poverty and how it has led directly to the decline in test scores for so many of our nation's children, you might not be willing to say these things with such delight in your eyes. Does it delight you that 21.7 million American children have to rely on the Federal lunch program for food? It bothers me a lot. I stay up at night and think about what else I can do to help hungry kids.

But don't worry Betsy. People like me will keep on keepin on. When I see hungry kids...I'll give up my lunch like I always do. I'll bring double because I KNOW someone will need it. I'll keep stashing fruit and crackers and yogurt around the schools I work in...just in case. I'll order an extra sandwich when I order my Jimmy Johns to be delivered to my door so I can pretend it was an accident and give it to a kid I know didn't have lunch...and probably didn't have breakfast either. I'll raise more and more money (www.operationcommongood.org) so I can buy grocery store gift cards for families to use during school breaks. I will continue to do these things because I can. AND because it is the RIGHT thing to do.

I will fight you every step of the way while you work to dismantle public education in the name of religious freedom. Last time I checked...a good Christian is someone that sees a hungry kid and feeds them. I'm not sure what that makes you.

Best. Email. EVER.

Three years ago...I embarked on a mission to learn the Common Core Standards for ELA. I wanted to be able to teach my own kids...and teach them well. I created It's a W.R.A.P because I wanted to have interesting stories for my kids to read while they learn how to analyze the elements of a story. I have sold quite a few assessments, but last week I received an email that was the true evidence of my success.

"Hi Tera. My name is Lana (I changed it to protect her identity!) and I am a sixth grade student in Louisiana. I have been reading your passages and I have fallen in love with The New Girl. In my opinion, this story has a really good theme. My class has been going over theme for a while. I am not trying to say my class is bad at recognizing theme. We just like going over things once in a while. I was just introducing myself and wanting to get to know you."

The subject line said "Author" and it occurred to me later that she meant ME! I responded to her email and I asked her why my story, The New Girl" had such an impact on her. I also asked her what she thought the theme of the story was since that is the reason I wrote it in the first place. Her response blew me away.

"Hi Tera! It's me Lana. Thank you so much for reading my email! The New Girl had an impact on me because the same thing happened to me on Instagram. Someone had photoshopped a picture of me to make me look bad. The theme we discovered from The New Girl was accepting cultural differences is important. Hopefully this is the true theme. I am really glad that Emma stood up for herself and for her new friend Noor."

YES!!!! I just finished responding to her to let her know that the story could have several different themes, but if I had to select just one, I would choose the exact same one that she did. This amazing little sixth grader had the same experience as the fictional "Emma" from the story, and she connected with her as she became friends with the also fictional "Noor" that I wrote about three years ago.

I have received TONS of amazing feedback from teachers all over the country that use my curriculum and assessment resources. And I LOVE hearing from teachers that have found them helpful and useful in their classrooms. It is the reason I have continued to create new things and write new stories. I want teachers to have valuable resources that their students can connect to while they learn all of the different skills they need to be strong readers. But this email, from this amazing young reader in Louisiana, is the VERY best piece of feedback I could have ever received. It's from a KID!!! Not only did she learn to identify the theme of a story, which will make her a stronger reader, but she connected with the characters that way I hoped kids would. I love this. I just love it.

Ironically, this is a story about a young Muslim girl who recently immigrated to the United States from Syria. Who knew how important this topic would be three years later...

Where are the PENCILS??? Seriously???

I don't think you can blog about education right now without politics rearing its ugly head. This week...we watched Betsy DeVos become the most influential person in the world of school. Her first question was, "Where are the pencils?"

Sorry Betsy. We buy our OWN pencils. I get that she has never stepped foot in a public school before...but come on.

We buy our own EVERYTHING, dear Betsy. 

I have to talk about this. This is crazy! We have a woman in charge of ALL public education (the most important thing we have to offer our kids) and she has never been to one. She didn't go to public school. Her kids didn't go to public school. She has no formal training in anything related to education. And she has absolutely NO knowledge of how the public schools work. She can't say she believes kids with disabilities deserve an education....but she DOES think we should have guns in schools, just in case of a grizzly attack. 

Grizzlies are the LEAST of our worries now that Betsy is in charge!

 The world has gone mad. And this is one of the things that must be discussed. I am from Michigan. I have worked for a public school system for 15 years. Before that...I spent four years at a charter school in the city of Detroit. I've seen both sides. I even loved my charter school. But I can tell you the charters that are popping up every day in Michigan are WRECKING the public schools. And their  student achievement data is not better that traditional public schools. In fact. It is WORSE...far worse. 

Buckle up America...Betsy bought herself a position as the Secretary of Education...and it ain't gonna be pretty. 

I DON'T love Lucy...(Calkins)

 Who doesn't LOVE Lucy, you might ask??? Me. Lucy Calkins, that is.

(Everyone LOVES the real Lucy!)

Lucy Calkins and Reader's/Writer's workshop has become something of a phenomenon. When I became an elementary teacher 6 years ago, after a decade as a middle school social studies teacher) I had never taught ELA before. I had no idea what to do. I was provided with a set of Lucy Calkins books.

You might be wondering what I have against Lucy Calkins, someone I assume is a wonderful person. I actually think reader's and writer's workshop is an amazing structure for teaching ELA. My problem with Lucy is that I believe there are numerous ways to teach any subject, and telling teachers to follow any specific program sells teachers and students short. I remember sitting in my classroom trying to figure out how the heck I was going to teach the most adorable fifth graders reading and writing. Every time I picked up a Lucy Calkins book...I wanted to throw up a little. I am not cut out to follow long narratives, or follow any kind of script. Becoming an elementary teacher opened my eyes to the limited autonomy that exists in our classrooms...particularly our elementary classrooms. There were no student materials to go with it. There were just lots of scripts and big ideas. I could see that there were missing pieces. And a lot of them.

There are a million great ideas in these books. But in order to be an effective teacher, you have to be able to adjust for your students and their needs. I remember being told that my mini-lessons shouldn't be longer than 5-10 minutes. And after that 10-minute lesson...everyone should be independent while I work in small groups. HUH? Nobody tells you that the second you tell 30 ten-year-olds to apply this new knowledge to their own "just right books" and work independently....they will have eight million questions.  Let me clarify something here...I have never had a classroom full of advanced level readers and writers. I have never had a classroom full of students that have all of their basic needs being met. I have never had a classroom where kids always have access to great books for independent reading. I have, however, had multiple classrooms full of kids with varying needs. The workshop structure is great for differentiating instruction...if you do it right and allow yourself to stray from the scripts whenever necessary. For me...that's all the time. But I hate scripts. I am a teacher. Not an actor.

I remember wanting to cry all the time. I was so frustrated with the lack of student materials and the lengthy narratives I was expected to make sense of each day in order to deliver my 10-minute-lesson and then magically have 30 independent readers while I work in small groups.

So how did I make it work??? I chucked LUCY and did what I knew to be right for my kids. I studied my standards. I learned every single one. I searched for great books for my kids. Developed my own materials. Wrote my own formative and summative assessments. Created a student-tracking system so that students could track their own progress. I taught. And I taught my heart out.

I thank Lucy for her contributions to reading and writing. But I'll do my own thing...thank you very much.

I went on the teach ELA for five more years. I became obsessed with creating kid/teacher friendly materials that could be used at various levels and were aligned to the Common Core standards. This year I was transferred out of elementary and am back in the world of middle school. But I MISS teaching ELA so much. I continue to create and develop materials that will help teachers to teach and support kids in their learning.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Docs-Shop

This is what I do to help teachers and kids to learn to read and write now. I'm Doc. And this is my shop. 

Teacher Memes = SO FUNNY

Teacher memes rock. They always make everything better.

Teacher memes might just be the best inspiration for blog topics! This...This is just funny! It's seriously true. 

This one just made me laugh out loud. I don't know any teachers that don't feel a little bit like this (A LOT LIKE THIS) most days. We get up every day to go do a job that we set out to love. And we come home feeling like THIS! It feels a little bit like the Twilight Zone to me. When I first started teaching, in the mid-90's, I was given so much autonomy. I loved it so much. I taught in the inner-city, and was a girl from the suburbs. I didn't have much to work with, but I made it work every day. I ALWAYS went home exhausted, but it was the best kind of exhausted I can think of. Fast forward almost 20 years and it isn't really the "good kind" of exhausted anymore. My world of teaching was taken over by initiatives long, long ago. 

Are there other teachers out there that KNOW they could produce even BETTER test scores if everyone would just let them teach? I feel like begging sometimes. Please, stop this madness of crazy teacher evaluations and mandated professional development that may or not be valuable. Stop this frenzy of RTI-SIP-MTSS-PLC's-IST's-PBIS-Assessments-Interventions. Let me teach. 

Teachers seriously shouldn't feel like that every day. They're TEACHERS.  

Me? A Blogger??? I think not.

I am NOT a blogger! I am NOT A BLOGGER!!! Wait...I guess I am. Starting now.

Blogging has always seemed like something OTHER people do. People with cute stories and a need to share their thoughts with anyone and everyone that might want to hear them. It occurred to me this morning...I have LOTS of cute stories. I have some funny ones too. And some HOLY CRAP I CANNOT BELIEVE SCHOOL IS LIKE THAT stories. I also have quite a few things to say about the state of our educational system, and all of the people making decisions about teaching and kids that don't know a damn thing about teaching OR kids. 

Welcome to my first blog post. 

I am a teacher. 

I am a champion for kids. 

I am a nerd. 

I am incredibly obsessed with making sure we change the path we are on in the world of education and educate all kids. Equitably. I remember a quote I used to have hanging on my wall. It said, "Children are always the only future we have...teach them well." That really sums up my entire life. I am the child of educators. My sisters are teachers. My best friends are teachers. My heroes were teachers. I am 44-years-old and am still in touch with my 4th/5th grade teacher. And he is still one of my heroes. But teaching has changed. School has changed dramatically. Politics has infused itself in the educational process to a degree of absolute ridiculousness. 

I am not like most teachers I know. I love data. I align curriculum in my free time and I write formative assessments for fun. I have Excel spreadsheets with more data about kids than almost anyone I know. I love that stuff. I love using it to help my own teaching. I also love using my skills to help teachers that don't want to be curriculum/data/assessment nerds like me. They shouldn't have to be. NONE of this is what makes a teacher great. NONE OF IT. 

I am a teacher. I am a teacher that also happens to be a curriculum/instruction/assessment NERD. Because I am such a nerd, I am clear that the "hoops" educators are jumping through were designed very specifically to take the focus OFF of kids and teaching. The assessments developed likely line a politician's pocket. The punitive evaluation systems being forced on our schools are pitting teachers against each other. (Boy oh boy...do I have some stories for you!) I work in a district where we know ALL of the road blocks set up for us by the state and federal governments. And we choose to add as many extra hurdles as we possibly can. I work in a place where the fewer qualifications you have for a job in leadership, the more likely you are to get that job. When people who have never taught a class before are the very people telling you how to make your scores better (and we know this is all about test scores), and the evaluators have never taught a class are determining the effectiveness of teachers you have a big ol' problem. 

I haven't quite decided exactly what my blog is going to be about. But I know one thing for sure...I am gonna tell it like it is! Welcome to "Talk Nerdy to Me!"