The Teaching Life

Getting Back the Feel in the Classroom

Last year, on the first day, I was new to my school— a stranger. This year I got hugs. Yahtzee!

 

The dust is settling in my room from a nerve-addled, lightning-fast first day of class. For each 100-minute block of my 11th and 12th graders, I’d planned a farrago of activities— a literary scavenger hunt in teams, a PowerPoint presentation/extravaganza on conducting high-level discussions, the Obama speech with a writing prompt…

 

In each class, we barely got through the introductory sharing and mandatory syllabus review. The period wound up being a sit-for-100-minutes talkfest.

 

On no other day of the school year would this okay, but I milked the “honeymoon period” leeway and we got through it. My rationale is that the good will we're currying will set a good foundation for our learning environment.

 

Over-planning isn’t necessarily bad, but I’ll be a more effective teacher when I get into a rhythm of more clearly visualizing how my classes will play out. This will take a few weeks, but I’ll continue to err on the side of over-planning.

 

During my first days ever as a teacher, I was woefully under-planned. What a nightmare. I allotted 45 minutes for a writing activity that took 25. I planned a “class rules” activity for 20 minutes, but it took 10. I invented stuff on the fly and it showed, setting a disastrous tone for the year.

 

I think teachers should meet with a colleague or supervisor every couple weeks to talk lesson planning. Just talking it though and stepping out of the isolation of one’s plan-book can shape things more effectively and realistically within the allotted class time.

 

Over-planning is safe, though not ideal. Under-planning or boring-planning-- especially by new teachers— must be protected against.

And Then I Got to Dewey . . .

Classroom Conversations: A Collection of Classics for Parents and Teachers
by Alexandra Miletta and Maureen Miletta
(2008, The New Press)

Reviewed by Marti Schwartz
Novice-Teacher Educator (Rhode Island)
Teacher Leaders Network

Reading the articles gathered together in Classroom Conversations: A Collection of Classics for Parents and Teachers by Alexandra Miletta and Maureen Miletta (a mother-daughter pair of teacher educators who comment on each article) was a fascinating walk with many of the giants of education thinking who have shaped our path over the past century. Each article offered up wise words, grouped into five broad topics: Understanding Children, What’s Worth Learning, The Work of Teaching, On Equity and Issues of Social Justice, and The Final Word: Purposes of Education in a Democracy.

I picked this book up eagerly, squeezing it into early summer reading, seeking just the right one — or two — or even three articles which would illuminate the most important ideas for my novice teachers when we met in late July. As I read the introduction, I was reminded of one of my third grade students who wrote that “Ribsy by Beverly Cleary is a book that has stood the test of time because it has been read a lot and it has great words that everyone can use. Also they would be happy in the end because Henry finds Ribsy.”

So, too, Miletta & Miletta comment: “For our own well-being and in order to forget ahead, we often turn to our favorite writers, whose wise words and thoughts fill our bookshelves and files. These are people whose work stands the test of time. As educational fads and jargon come and go, we feel a strong connection to these great thinkers who have shaped our beliefs and practices in education and who continue to have an influence in the field.”

And these articles, these thinkers, from Vivian Gussin Paley and Eleanor Duckworth advising us to listen and learn from our students, to Peggy McIntosh and Sonia Nieto who seek to open our eyes to the cultural realms of our students in order to help us to understand their needs — all have wise words for us. Focusing on the arts — teaching the whole child (including both moral and intellectual attentiveness, according to David Hansen and so many others) — developing creative and critical thinkers, echoed and reechoed by so many writers within this text…confirm what (hopefully) most educators know and live by.

Each article is prefaced by an introduction written by one of the collection’s authors, with a conclusion offered by the alternate partner. Their comments summarized key points, quoted the highlights, gave background on the article’s author, and put forth the big ideas. Sometimes this made reading the actual article almost redundant.

In terms of article selection, it was not until I got to John Dewey (whose article was written between 1899-1906) that I became excited. YES! I shouted, over and over again. Maureen Miletta introduces his words with these:

When I read this essay, I am moved by Dewey’s faith in the ability of the teacher to make decisions about what to teach and how to teach it. When he talks about decisions of that nature being made by people outside the school system who have no expert knowledge of education but are motivated by non-educational motives, I am struck by its applicability to today’s headlines. The restrictions placed upon the teacher result in the flight of the truly intelligent and imaginative person who might be attracted to the profession were it not for the imprisonment of the spirit that the lack of freedom implies.
 

It is amazing to me that educators faced many of these still-familiar concerns more than a century ago, and yet we now face national standards (with little educator input) and increasingly scripted curriculum, both of which unfortunately illustrate the continued lack of faith in the practitioners to whom the education of America’s children has been entrusted.

Many of these articles in this collection are well worth reading and re-reading. Many of the problems persist, and obviously will continue to vex those who believe that “schools should offer what students need to take part in a democratic society and its culture — a complex package for everybody’s children that would equip them for full participation in work, culture, and liberty.” (Joseph Featherstone, p.287). Unfortunately for my purposes, Classroom Conversations doesn’t open any new doors, or particularly extend our thinking on these issues, even with the comments from Alexandra and Maureen Miletta. In seeking solutions, my novices will need to look elsewhere.

Misdirected Fury at NYC’s Rubber Room

Bad teachers! Evil union! Foiled heroes!

 

Steven Brill’s incendiary rubber room article in The New Yorker, a dyed-in-the-wool “can you believe this?!” shock piece, unequivocally blames teachers’ unions for obstructing quality education. Brill does this with sensational picture captions (“Randi Weingarten would protect a dead body in the classroom.”), superficial stats (top quartile teachers get better outcomes than bottom quartile teachers), and the presupposition that Joel Klein and Michael Bloomberg are protagonist “reformers” while the UFT and its members are howling defenders of the failed status quo.

 

I want to scream.

 

Yes, the rubber room— where several hundred accused teachers on full salary wait years for their cases to be processed— is an abomination. Yes, there are many people in the rubber room who should find a new profession. Yes, performance evaluation of teachers needs to be retooled. However, the rubber room’s most outrageous facet, and the one that Brill and his counterparts consistently seize on— the extraordinary wait time for cases to be processed— is not exclusively the union’s fault.

 

A 2007 Village Voice article explains:

There are currently only 18 hearing officers handling misconduct cases. Each officer is contracted to meet only five times a month. The backlog of cases is immense.

"We have been saying for years that we want these people out of these places much more quickly," UFT president Randi Weingarten says. "There is no reason for them to be sitting six months or longer without charges being filed."

Hearing officers are chosen jointly by the DOE and the UFT, but are paid for by the New York State Education Department. With New York City officers making up to $1,900 a day, it's a lucrative part-time job, which some critics say leads these officers to overly compromising opinions. "You make a lot of money," says Julia Cohen, a lawyer who specializes in education law. "You want to satisfy both sides."

 

So why does the union take the brunt of The New Yorker’s wrath?  For the casual reader, it’d be a no-brainer to view teachers as self-interested monsters. The few rubber room teachers Brill mentions come off as losers. One teacher in particular triggers reflexive disgust when she claims that she is “entitled” to every penny of her $85,000 salary.

 

The UFT is then demonized for pushing a law that bans the use of student test scores in determining teacher tenure. Anti-union talking points there are no-brainers (teachers are afraid of accountability, teachers refuse to use good data to protect their incompetent asses). However, the reporter utterly fails to describe a culture of high-stakes testing in New York which, under Bloomberg, Klein, and No Child Left Behind, has run amok. Test scores are the be-all and end-all under Bloomberg and Klein, and so many schools have been contorted into counterproductive test prep factories. I’ve seen it happen, as I documented in The Great Expectations School.

 

When a child’s entire year is reduced to a single test score, the effects for the student and teacher are deadening. The union resisted measuring teachers solely by student test scores because it’s inauthentic and destructive. This relentless fixation on standardized testing also denudes the eye-catching stat about top-quartile teachers getting top test scores out of kids. (Testing is a game, not a holistic measure of a teacher’s true effectiveness. Since education is a long-term, human enterprise, such conveniently reductive data may not be as accurate as the testing-advocates think it is.)

 

Teachers’ unions are nowhere near perfect organizations, but bashing them on this issue is misleading and precludes an important conversation about getting more learning and accountability in schools. Unions don’t have to be the monsters here. In fact, maybe they’ve got even better ideas than some of the self-styled “reformers” that The New Yorker et al. trumpet so surely.

 

A key example: in March 2008, the UFT put forth a four-pillared proposal for a new accountability model in New York City. The pillars are Academic Achievement; Safety, Order and Discipline; Teamwork for Student Achievement; and— a great idea— Department of Education Accountability to the School. The plan describes a smart, measured system that includes test scores but does not deify them. It makes a lot more sense than “counting” only the isolated, all-important minimum proficiency test score.

 

But there is so much money and power behind Bloomberg and Klein’s wings. They’ve got the news media, the billion-dollar test-making companies, and the policy-makers. Barack Obama has embraced what they’ve done in New York. Joel Klein has a roadshow with Newt Gingrich. These guys are running away with education, and slowly but steadily gutting the unions fits perfectly into their vision of privatization. The UFT accountability model was swept aside.

 

The rubber room is a soft target for ginning up revulsion, but it shouldn’t be aimed at a falsely exaggerated stereotype of lazy, fat-cat unionists. Instead, the string-pullers ought to focus on streamlining the cases for the accused and developing comprehensive teacher evaluation methods for all. Plenty of models that don’t disproportionately worship test scores exist. Then we can start to have a serious conversation about teacher quality.

 

 

Okay, High-Stakes Testing is Bad… But What Else Is There?

"Alright, I agree. The
overemphasis on standardized testing is not good. I see it. So what are the
alternatives?"

Earlier this week I spoke
to a group of thirty food and drug lawyers as a guest in a speaker series. It
was a friendly room, and a few of the attorneys had kids considering Teach
For America.

I gave my spiel about my
stumbling into teaching, what pulled me in for the long haul, and a more
policy-oriented description of why I write about teaching. Inevitably, the
conversation touched on high-stakes testing.

This was a politically
diverse crowd, unlike the typically left-leaning teacher circles I usually talk
to. However, there was widespread agreement that excessive focus on just one
test was counterproductive. Yes, you needed data, but getting it only through
one end-all, be-all week of marathon testing was not in children’s best
interest.

So what are the
alternatives?

This key question, posed
in different forms by several of the lawyers, is the crucial one for the
education community as we move forward. But it’s not one that’s getting much
time on the docket. Indeed, the steamroll of Big Testing is on the march, with
its billion-dollar publishing companies protecting their interest, politicians
who want short-term data that fits election cycles, and a national trend toward
bottom-line-obsessed business models in schools.

Big Testing wields so much
power that the phrase “merit pay,” which has found firm grounding in the
education discourse, is able to exist with barely a question—let alone an
argument—over what “merit” in the classroom actually is. It seems a given that
“merit” equals “test scores” and that’s that. The implicit message across the
board is: if you want to be paid more, prepare to obsess over bubble tests.

But wait. There are better
ways to assess—and not demoralize— students. (See Heather Wolpert-Gawron’s
great piece on what administering the high intensity test is really like.)  We need, amid all the No Child Left Behind-inspired handwringing, more
discussion about alternatives to this brand of testing.

Here’s one idea:

The Coalition of Essential
Schools has developed an amazing program called National Exhibition month, in
which students work on long-term projects that they present to the community.
It’s a “performance assessment,” like a thesis project with a defense. The
standards-based projects involve teamwork, self-directed inquiry, presentation
skills, real interaction with the community, and a tangible product. It’s
meaningful work, and it reveals a heck of a lot more insight about a student’s
education than his reading paragraphs with multiple choice questions. (You can see a four-minute documentary about the exhibition projects here.)

Why shouldn’t classwork
(projects, portfolios, presentations) count? They do a much better job of
activating students’ finest efforts and measuring 21st century skills. The only
real argument against “counting” classroom work is that teachers can’t be
trusted to implement and support quality assessments. That kind of mistrust of
teachers is a suicide pact for public education; teachers are the lifeblood of
the whole operation.

FairTest.org is an advocacy organization dedicated entirely to more
comprehensive, accurate, and supportive assessment of students. Their website
is jam-packed with actionable information and research on how to achieve
authentic accountability through performance assessments. Standardized testing
can still be in the mix, but it just isn’t the only ingredient.

Too many people—teachers
included— don’t know about alternatives to high-stakes testing and are thus
limited in their ability to participate in a solution-oriented discussion. It’s
well-worn ground that high-stakes testing is over the top; let’s talk about how
to really get students to show us their true capabilities.

Frank McCourt’s Lasting Impact

Writing about teaching for
the eyes of non-teachers is important work. Frank McCourt did it more
successfully in the past decade than just about anyone else I can think of.

I read ‘Tis in the spring
of my first year teaching, and his frenetic passages on the suffocating
minutiae that dominate the school day set off fireworks in my brain. This is
exactly what I’m going through! I
thought. And there I was teaching fourth grade in the Bronx in 2003 and he was
writing about a vocational school in Staten Island in the sixties. Our
experiences are all connected! Who knew?

I’d had no idea, trapped
in my classroom box, that my everyday anxieties, fears, and successes were
parallel to that of so many teachers around the world. This realization,
boosted by Frank McCourt’s writing, was the central motivator that kept me in
teaching. You’re not alone, and what you’re doing matters.

McCourt’s latter two
books, ‘Tis and Teacher Man, aren’t perfect, but they are great material for
sparking discussion on classroom life for teachers and non-teachers alike.

Mr.
McCourt passed away earlier this week, but his legacy of writing authentically
about teaching is one that buoys TLN members and so many
educators across the country.

The Importance of “Going Public”

There is a singular
exhilaration in seeing your name and your words in print. It’s thrilling and
motivating. It’s terrifying and liberating. It’s something every student should
experience many times.

My small 2009 senior
class—only 20 students— published a paperback literary anthology as the
culminating project of 12th grade English and the experience, while messy, was the most empowering of the school year. Our book of raw poetry and
impassioned prose, Truth Be Told: Diamonds in the Rough, has become a hit in
the school community and fired up future classes to outdo the Class of ‘09.

I was introduced to the
importance of “going public” with student work in a “Teaching of Writing” class
led by Erick Gordon at Teachers College, Columbia University. Erick is the
founder and director of the Student Press Initiative, an organization dedicated
to partnering with classes to publish books of student work. The SPI website
explains:

“SPI is built upon the
premise that writing for publication provides young people with authentic
audiences. When students realize the power and potential of an audience of
their peers and the community at large, writing becomes purposeful thereby
inspiring them to produce their best work. We believe that when a young writer
finds an audience, she will find her voice.”

Amen. Students need more
than just their teacher to be their audience in order to unlock their finest
potential. In my grad school class with Erick, the teachers-in-training
composed our own book of New Yorker-style profiles of educators. It was a brilliant assignment; I knew
that both my peers and my profile subject would be carefully reading every word
I wrote, so it had to be good. The accountability was built-in and the project
was fun. Our final product was The Questions Themselves: Profiles of
Educators, a cool-looking paperback with a cover designed by a class member. It sits on
a shelf right next to my desk.

Organizations like SPI are
popping up, tapping into this often dammed-up wealth of student capability. In
San Francisco, 826 Valencia was so successful it expanded to become 826
National, with sites in several
cities across the country. In Washington, D.C., Capitol Letters connected celebrated
novelists Edward P. Jones and George Pelecanos with students at Cardozo High
School to publish the student anthology The Way We See It: Complete Coverage
of the Nation's Capital From the Inside Out.

But here’s the magic part:
you don’t need to partner with a team of experts at a nonprofit to publish a
book. The secret weapon is available to all, and it's lulu.com. This website is
a miracle. Intended for self-publishing authors, lulu.com is a one-stop shop
for assembling, printing, and selling professional-looking books. (I promise
I’m not on their payroll.) Two weeks after my students handed in their final
drafts to me, we were holding gorgeous, shiny paperbacks in our hands. (Who knew a back-cover barcode could stir such excitement?) Next
year, I’ll be better equipped to scaffold the publishing unit and hopefully the
improvements will be seen in our tangible product. (A bonus: my
administrators loved it.)

It’s hard to find ways to
share stuff; publishing a book often isn’t practical. I’m guilty of letting my
assignment inbox become a vacuum where my students hand in writing they may
have worked extra-hard on and I end up being the only one to read it. But after
the success of Truth Be Told: Diamonds in the Rough, I’m going to seek ways for every unit to have
some sort of community tie-in, whether it’s on a class-to-class level,
school-wide, or outside the campus. Kids perform at a higher level when their products are
seen. Adults do too.

This spirit of “going
public” is in direct conflict with the culture of test prep, in which students
are expected to work their hardest on assessments that they will never again
see, and graded by people they will never meet. Yet this is a front where
teachers have to lead.

What are some of your
greatest successes—or blunders—in going public?

TLN Book Reviews and Interviews

Members of the Teacher Leaders Network regularly comment on professional books that may be of interest to colleagues. Below you'll find links to our most recent reviews, as well as several author interviews conducted by TLN moderator John Norton.

______________________________

REVIEW: The Book Whisperer – Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child (Donalyn Miller)

This book is chock full of literacy wisdom that I myself would like to
see schools embrace as they look for strategies that will boost student
achievement in reading but also bolster students’ reading dispositions. — Cindi Rigsbee, reading specialist


INTERVIEW: Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer

"I think that my credibility with other teachers lies in the fact that I
am a classroom teacher... Without the constant interaction with children
and my own responses and reflections about my teaching, my contribution
is not as valuable."

REVIEW: Making History Mine: Meaningful Connections for Grades 5-9 (Sarah Cooper)


The entire book offers teachers the opportunity to gain a fresh approach to teaching strands of history…Through her use of diverse examples, the author is able to keep readers thinking about how they might apply strategies in their own classrooms. — Patrick Vernon, middle grades social studies

REVIEW: Timesavers for Teachers: Book 2 (Stevan Krajnjan)

Any book that can save a busy teacher time is worth some attention. This is not a typical teacher book to be read cover to cover or scanned for lesson ideas. It’s really more of a tool kit, and its usefulness will depend on what you teach and how you go about your work. — Laurie Wasserman, special needs


REVIEW: Never Work Harder Than Your Students and Other Principles of Great Teaching (Robyn R. Jackson)

Jackson builds her work on the premise that the most effective teachers have what she calls “the master teacher mindset.” This mindset is built around a set of seven principles that Jackson says master teachers use to guide their practice. — Gail Tillery, high school English/mentoring


INTERVIEW: Anne Jolly,
author of Team to Teach: A Facilitator’s Guide to Professional Learning
Teams

"Effective PLTs are teacher leadership hothouses. They’re places where teachers increase their professional knowledge and leadership skills – and they can also serve as perfect vehicles for teachers to begin to put leadership into action at several levels."

REVIEW: Successful Single Sex Classrooms: A Practical Guide to Teaching Boys and Girls Separately (Michael Gurian, Kathy Stevens, and Peggy Daniels)

This book is very useful for all teachers, in that it really describes
excellent instruction, with one of the best summaries of techniques and
strategies for teaching and classroom management I have seen in a very
long time. — Laura Reasoner Jones, technology teacher


REVIEW: Better Answers: Written Performance That Looks Good and Sounds Smart (Ardith Davis Cole)

The “Better Answer” protocol is straightforward enough to work with younger age students in elementary school and yet sophisticated enough to work with high school students. It has worked in diverse classroom settings from all over the country. — Marsha Ratzel, middle grades math/science


REVIEW: Rigor is NOT a Four-Letter Word (Barbara R. Blackburn)

I often find that professional reading simply affirms many of my current practices in the classroom. Here, I was not hoping for affirmation but for something to improve my instruction at this advanced stage in my career. I was not disappointed. I found this book to be both realistic and respectful. — Karen Molter, high school English


REVIEW: Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Helping Teachers Develop as Leaders (Marilyn Katzenmeyer and Gayle Moller)

The new edition of Awakening the Sleeping Giant...continues to stand as a practical and effective foundation for the work of developing leadership in teachers — a kind of primer around the basic rationale for paying attention to teachers' craft and collegial knowledge, and a self-help plan for teachers interested in building their own leadership skills. — Nancy Flanagan, music education


INTERVIEW: Gayle Moller, co-author of Awakening the Sleeping Giant

"School system leaders have begun to acknowledge that they’re not getting the results they would like. And many realize that mandates and limited professional development are not effective ways to improve results. The perceptive district leader is now turning to teachers who are competent and can work with their colleagues at the school building level."


REVIEW: Building Teachers' Capacity for Success (Pete Hall & Alisa Simeral)

The framework of peer coaching and formative evaluation outlined in Building Teachers’ Capacity for Success certainly seems to provide a promising structure for elevating discussions about teacher quality above the usual frustrated tones that tenure clauses can create. — Ellen Holmes, Distinguished Educator, Maine Department of Education

Classroom Credibility: In Interview with Donalyn Miller

It was barely two years ago that Teacher Magazine invited sixth grade Texas teacher Donalyn Miller to offer advice to colleagues about "creating readers" for TM’s  Ask the Mentor feature. Back then, the editors described Miller as “a self-proclaimed book whisperer (who) says she has yet to meet a child she couldn’t turn into a reader.”

Miller’s three-part mentoring series proved wildly popular and led to an offer from Teacher to become a regular blogger at the TM site. Her blog, irresistably titled “The Book Whisperer,” overflowed with ideas about how to ignite the flame of reading in the hearts and minds of the most reluctant kids. Which led to another offer from TM’s parent organization, Editorial Projects in Education Inc. (which also publishes Education Week), for Miller to author EPE’s first practice-oriented book, to be published as part of a new partnership with Jossey-Bass.

This Teacherella story came to its picture book ending in the spring of 2009 with publication of The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child. The book has sold more than 13,000 copies in six months and will have a third printing in September. Miller will return to her classroom this fall and once again share the joys of reading with a new passel of Texas tweens.

Donalyn has been a member of the Teacher Leaders Network since 2008. After a busy summer of book signings and presentations, she answered several questions we put to her via email.

* * * * * * *

Here's a question we know will be of interest to other teachers with an urge to write. How do you balance authorship and teaching ? Will there be a point, do you think, when you will have to choose between one or the other?

Honestly, I don’t think I am balancing my various roles as author, blogger, teacher, mother, wife, and friend that well at times. I was not prepared for the success of The Book Whisperer and the overwhelming number of e-mails, comments, and requests for interviews and presentations I have received.

This is a great problem to have, of course. I am grateful that summer arrived so that I could focus on the book, and the response to it, without the daily demands of my classroom. As an advocate for powerful changes in reading instruction, I have a responsibility to support those teachers who grapple with their own teaching situations as they try to incorporate more free choice reading, discard ineffective practices, and reflect on their own reading lives. Right now, I want to answer every e-mail, conduct every interview, and accept every speaking engagement.

I believe in what I am doing and the importance of it for children. My family and friends are incredibly supportive: my friend Carol and her husband Neil designed my upcoming website. Elizabeth Rich, my editor at teachermagazine.org, shamelessly promotes the book and sends me articles to read, and my husband Don reads blog feeds during his lunch hour.

I can’t keep up this level of effort forever, but I can commit to it today. I recognize what an incredible opportunity this is. How many of us really get a voice? A national forum to share our ideas about teaching? An opportunity to engage in dialogue with colleagues in the hopes of sparking real change?


As a highly visible "book champion" and blogger, do you feel some responsibility to speak out about national trends, policies, or controversies in the area of reading and books? And how might other teachers who share your professional passions use their voices?

As I have said many times, I am not a reading policy expert. I write about what interests me and affects me and teachers like me. My audience is largely composed of other teachers, and while I see the need to use my experiences outside the confines of my classroom to inform others about larger educational issues, I always keep the needs and interests of my fellow teachers in front of me when choosing topics for the blog. Sometimes I explore federal policies like funding for Reading Is Fundamental or consider how the use of stimulus money might affect teachers and children. Sometimes I write about the books I have read.

When it comes to teachers using their voices, I think about the other teacher/bloggers I regularly read like Heather Wolpert-Gawron from tweenteacher and Sarah Mulhern at The Reading Zone. We all write about the issues that impact our classrooms—great and small. I would encourage other teachers who are interested in blogging or writing to do the same.

Write about what you know—working with children, reading wonderful books, the inner workings of your school and district, and your own reflections about teaching. Join local, state and national teaching organizations, attend conferences, go back to graduate school—keep your brain fed and connect with colleagues outside of your school.


What's next for you, both in education and in book-authoring? What ideas are swirling in your head that you want to organize into chapters? How do you use your blog to develop and test ideas for books? How important is having your own classroom in this regard?

I do not have any plans to leave the classroom. My passion and my heart live in that little room, surrounded by my books and the children who I love. Outside of my family, my students are my first and only choice. All else fades into the background once school begins.

This is as it should be. I think that my credibility with other teachers lies in the fact that I am a classroom teacher, not a consultant or a college professor who may not have worked with children in years, although educational professionals of every stripe add meaningful perspectives. My role is as a classroom teacher. Without the constant interaction with children and my own responses and reflections about my teaching, my contribution is not as valuable.

I suppose my publisher would like it if I already had plans for another book, but I am enjoying the here and the now. I want to savor the experience of writing The Book Whisperer and how teachers are responding to it. As an avid reader, I am often disappointed by sequels, hastily written to capitalize on the success of a first book. It took me years of teaching, learning and reflecting to decide what I needed to say.

The opportunity to write a national blog gave me a platform, but my opinions were already there inside me. I did use the responses of readers from my original “Creating Readers” column to formulate topics for the book, but I don’t test book ideas via the blog. If anything, when I write a post, readers’ responses influence my thinking. I am not sure how the blog will lead my future writing efforts. Just like I do in my classroom, I prefer to let the magic unfold, and see where it takes me.

My next book will spring from my interactions with the children in my classroom, like all of my writing does. Some things I’m thinking about:

I am extremely interested in the needs of gifted readers and how these needs often go unmet in classrooms where instruction is pitched toward developing readers. I think many children who love reading when they are small slowly lose this passion as they advance through school. I keep revisiting these children in my mind and wondering what I can say about them.

I have spent some time this summer talking to parents about how to motivate their children to read more at home. Many of the ideas that I promote in classrooms: time to read, role modeling, access to books, and choices in reading material, translate to reading habits at home.

While presenting staff development sessions, many teachers ask me for my schedule, my reader’s notebook sheets, and my lesson plans. I am not really enthusiastic about writing a book about these components because one of the messages I try to relay in The Book Whisperer is that we all have to move past this search for the perfect lesson plan or the perfect schedule and design our classrooms around our core beliefs about teaching reading. I might change my mind if I can figure out how to write an interactive text, where teachers reflect on their own needs and design their own schedules, notebooks, and lessons. Still thinking about it . . .

In the immediate future, The Book Whisperer will appear as the featured book for Jim Burke’s English Companion Ning group in October. I am live-blogging at the NCTE Convention in November, and I will spend 180 glorious days reading and writing with my students this school year.

Teaching Secrets: Great Advice for New Teachers

 What new teacher, fresh through the classroom door, wouldn’t welcome a wise and experienced voice, ready with practical advice? This selection of “Teaching Secrets” articles were written for Teacher Magazine by members of the Teacher Leaders Network. For the price of free registration, novices can take advantage of several hundred years of accumulated wisdom. We’ve tried to arrange them in priority order, but jump in anywhere you like.

And thanks, experts, for this teacher leadership.


Teaching Secrets: FIVE TIPS FOR THE NEW TEACHER
Cindi Rigsbee, a finalist for 2009 national teacher of the year, shares her five favorite comments to new teachers in her middle school. Rigsbee begins with "Hit the floor running and breathe when you leave" and ends with "Don't hide your light under a bushel." Other veteran teachers are leaving additional tips in the Comments section.

Teaching Secrets: THE FIRST DAYS OF SCHOOL (PART 1)
Veteran elementary teacher and Milken award winner Jane Fung looks back on her first years in teaching and thinks of all the things she wishes she had known then – and wants to share now. In Part I: Quick pointers, school procedures, surveying your first classroom.

Teaching Secrets: THE FIRST DAYS OF SCHOOL (PART 2)
Elementary teacher and mentor Jane Fung looks back on her first years in teaching and thinks of all the things she wishes she had known then – and wants to share now. In Part II: Adjusting to a new grade level; working with parents; when you’re feeling overwhelmed.

Teaching Secrets: HALLWAY HINTS
We put this scenario before the Teacher Leaders Network: It’s the first week of school... You’re a veteran teacher who’s rushing toward your classroom with the last armload of materials from your car. You spy an impossibly young adult, apparently frozen in place in the hallway. Your quick diagnosis: NTSS (new teacher shock syndrome)... Your heart reaches out. But your head says you can spare only two minutes right now. What’s your best advice? Read some of what our K-12 experts had to say.

Teaching Secrets: MORE HALLWAY HINTS
Even more quick advice from TLN’s K-12 experts, including: “Let students do the work,” “Plan, plan plan,” “Take time to marinate,” “Remember kids will be kids,” and “Don’t take it personal, but make it personal.”

Teaching Secrets: TAMING CLASSROOM CHAOS
"My classroom is not neat and tidy and shiny like some," writes math and social studies teacher Cossondra George. "It has that homey, lived-in, loved look. The tables are never quite in perfect straight lines…and my teacher desk looks like a recycling center exploded on it." So how does the semi-organized teacher hold the Mighty Dragon of Chaos at bay? In this article, Cossondra shares 10 "stolen" strategies that help her and her kids stay focused on learning.

Teaching Secrets: HOW TO SMILE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
When Kathie Marshall entered her first classroom nearly 30 years ago, “I found myself running to veteran teachers at the first sign of trouble, asking ‘What do you do?’ Without fail, she remembers, someone would say, “Don’t smile until Christmas!” Their advice to assume a “grim and commanding presence” didn’t square with Kathie’s vision of an inviting teacher. Her alternative? Early in the year, she and her students work together to develop class rules and routines. It’s worked for three decades, says the Los Angeles teacher-coach.

Teaching Secrets: TAKE CHARGE OF YOUR CLASSROOM
As mentoring coordinator at our large suburban high school, writes Gail Tillery, “I’m in charge of inducting about 25 teachers a year. Usually, these novice educators are very young—most have just graduated from college... Suddenly they may find themselves standing in front of a room filled with 35 seniors, some of whom are only three years younger than they are. In many cases, the disaster is coming on fast.” Dodge the disaster with this National Board Certified Teacher’s advice.

 
Teaching Secrets: ORGANIZING MIDDLE SCHOOLERS
Special education teacher Laurie Wasserman shares time-tested methods that can help even the most “organizationally challenged” sixth grader find his or her way. “It’s hard sometimes to realize that students don’t deliberately misplace papers, forget pencils, or lose track of assignments… It’s our job to teach them the tools and strategies for getting organized and feeling successful.”

Teaching Secrets: STUDENTS BEHAVE WHEN TEACHERS ENGAGE
Anthony Cody began his teaching career in inner-city Oakland CA almost 20 years ago. It was a rough first year, with many lesson preps. “My credential program had not really dealt much with behavior issues. The idea was to deliver a rich curriculum, and the management would take care of itself. If you are already teaching, you know this does not always work.” After floundering the first year or two, he got some good advice from down the hall. Follow his tips and you won’t have to way a year or two to establish a harmonious classroom environment.

Teaching Secrets: THE PARENT MEET-AND-GREET
Parent nights send "chills up the spine of many teachers," says NBCT Marsha Ratzel. Her article is aimed at helping novice educators prepare for a successful parent meet-and-greet experience. Filled with practical tips and survival strategies. Don't get lost in the details of your classroom, she says. Most parents want to know two things: (1) You're going to treat their child fairly; and (2) You are committed to teaching both the curriculum and other skills well. “Parents want reassurance that you'll listen to them as a valued partner in their child's school year."

Teaching Secrets: USE LEFTOVER CLASS TIME WISELY
This July 2009 article by high school teacher Larry Ferlazzo got 10,000 hits the first 48 hours after posting. It's filled with good ideas about making the most of those leftover minutes between the end of the planned lesson and the bell. Many of the ideas will work with middle and elementary kids, too. If you like what you read, link up to his popular teacher resources blog, Websites of the Day.

Teaching Secrets: ASK THE KIDS!
Fourth-year teacher Ariel Sacks has spent her short career in the inner-city NYC schools. In the middle of her second year she had a revelation, triggered by once-excited eighth graders who were now "yawning, poking one another, throwing paper balls, and complaining during class." Ariel's first reaction was to bristle. Then her a-ha moment arrived. Why not ask the kids what they wanted that they weren't getting? Teacher and students began talking -- and negotiating -- and a new, more positive atmosphere emerged.

Teaching Secrets: THE MIRACLE OF CHOICES
Stubborn two-year olds respond to choices, why not adolescents? That was the thesis Mary Tedrow began with, some years ago, when she devised an engagement strategy that allows her high school English students latitude in selecting assignments. Which are, of course, carefully designed to produce the same learning effects – whatever they choose! As you’ll see in the Comments section of this Teacher Magazine essay, middle schoolers like to be choosy, too.

Teaching Secrets: PRIMING THE STUDENT LEARNING PUMP
New-teacher mentor Kathie Marshall tells the story of a novice middle school teacher who learns some important lessons about student engagement. One reader commented: “As a first year teacher, this was a refreshing article to read and relate to. I know that engaging students is the key to their success, but I, too, became overwhelmed with the curriculum and ignored the most important factor of teaching.”

Teaching Secrets: WHAT KIDS WISH TEACHERS KNEW
When NBCT Laurie Wasserman sat down with Talia to reminisce about the high school sophomore's middle school days, she soon found herself jotting down "candid insights from the other side of the teacher's desk." Wasserman's report on what middle school kids want teachers to know about their learning preferences includes useful reminders for any educator who hopes to reach and engage adolescents.

Teaching Secrets: BRIDGING THE GENDER GAP
Laura Reasoner Jones says it can take some self-scrutiny to determine whether boys and girls are being treated equally in your class. An NBCT with a background in both early childhood and elementary grades, Jones lays out a series of strategies that teachers can employ to avoid unconscious gender bias.

FINALLY, while this isn't part of our Teaching Secrets series (yet), TLN member and TweenTeacher Heather Wolpert-Gawron has a great "Top 10" blog post titled "How to Take Control of Your Teaching" that has advice for newbies and veterans alike.

Turning a Critical Corner

In summertime, I usually go through some version of the following stages:

(1) Overdrive. I can't stop thinking and dreaming about the past year, the good, bad, and especially the way it ended.
(2) Escape. I let it all go and think about anything but teaching.
(3) Observation from Afar. Having taken a big step back from the daily realities of teaching, I reconsider my position as a teacher with a measure of detachment, before it's really time to gear up for the new year. I ask myself, "What's really going on here?  Where do I fit?"
(4) Judgement: Inevitably, I experience frustration over my relative lack of power in the face of a huge dysfunctional public education system. I judge the system for doing harm to students and also teachers in many ways. I am angry when I see the limitations of what I can accomplish under such conditions. (See my two recent posts, The New NYC School System and Old Attitude Problem About School for signs of this.) 
(5) Inspiration: I recognize that I limit myself even further by staying angry. Soon enough I refocus myself on the most important thing, my own students and my own teaching, and find something to get excited about. This year I am excited to reinvent the East Harlem study I conducted with students 3 years ago at my previous school as a Crown Heights study at my current school. I also have ideas about how to improve the aesthetics of my classroom, and how to make use of the class set of laptops that is supposed to be in my room this September! (Stay tuned for more on these developments.)
(6) Focus the Fight: Once I regain inspiration to teach and have focused my attention on what's good in my teaching life, I am better equipped to position my work within the bigger picture of public education.  Instead of wasting my time railing on standardized tests, this year I will take on the challenge of how to assess the skills and understandings I believe are most important for my students to acquire.  
In a recent post at Get in the Fracas, my virtual colleague Dan Brown has just faced a similar challenge. Through an interesting anecdote, he illustrated that many people, including policy-makers, admit that that there are limits to what standardized tests show about student learning and quality teaching--but they also admit they are lost as to what other measures could be used.  Dan offers an overview of what else is out there.  
This year I hope to address this macro issue of "How do we know when kids are learning?" at the ground level in my classroom.  This week, I met with my AP, who is on board with me designing and piloting assessments in a number of categories that we know are important but currently don't measure.  Some of these are critical thinking, ability to participate in a student-centered discussion (face to face and online), and literary understanding (distinct from basic literacy skills).  
My English department is also on board with trying to make a shift from grading according to a mishmash of task completion, class participation and performance, to a more productive, student-friendly assessment system based clearly on growing mastery of standards and learning objectives. 
I have my work cut out for myself and a good chunk of research yet to do, but the good news is I'm excited about it, I know it will improve my teaching, and I'm doing something to solve a problem.

[image credit cloopco.blogspot.com/ 2009/02]Remove frame 

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