September in Review: A Photo Blog!

My goal this year is to post two or three insightful, English teacher-y (yes, I know "teacher-y" is not really a word) blog posts a month.  The additional blog post will be a photo blog where I recap some of the great things I've seen and experienced in education during the month.  These blog posts will include some pictures that I may have posted to my Twitter or Facebook accounts, but that did not make it into a longer blog post.  Enjoy seeing how excellent North Carolina public education is!

Eating Dinner with Past North Carolina Teachers of the Year after the State Board of Education Meeting

Excited to Visit Apple Valley Middle School in Henderson County, Where My Husband Went to Middle School!

Dancing at My First EPFP Meeting: the Leading to Change Presenters Found My Weakness--The Twist!

Chatting with Bob Etheridge and Rev. Nelson Johnson while the Wonderful Musicians Played at  Rockingham County Moral Monday

A Pleasant Surprise--I Ran into an Awesome Former Co-Worker Right before I Spoke at a Regional Roundtable Meeting!

The Northern High School Band Was Wonderful at Guilford County Schools' Celebration of Excellence 

Introducing One of the Outstanding Finalists for Guilford County Teacher of the Year, Cheryl Cobb, a Teacher at Haynes Inman Education Center for Students with Special Needs

The Big Moment--Guilford County's New Teacher of the Year, Southeast High School Math Teacher, Eugene Grant!

Wake NC State University STEM Academy's  Students at the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Speaking to Professors from Teacher Education Programs at NC-ACTE

Celebrating North Carolina's Graduation Rate of 82.5%

Celebrating with the Nine Guilford County High Schools that Were Recognized for Graduation Success

Enjoying My Visit with UNC-Pembroke Teaching Fellows

The Principal/Teacher Advisory Council Meeting with Dr. Atkinson and DPI

Two Regional Teachers of the Year at the Advisory Council, Carrie Morris and Jill Francis

Celebrating Post-Race Success with the Parent of a Former Student at Miles for Matthew, a Race to Find a Cure for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

 Richmond County Schools and 3D Systems:  A Robotic Arm that Provides Tactile Feedback As You "Sculpt" 3D Designs (this technology is used to make everything from Barbie dolls to medical prosthetics)



Flexing Our Common Core Muscles

“One, two, three, four, exercise your Common Core!”

There has been a lot of controversy lately over the Common Core Standards that have been implemented in many states across the nation.  I’ve read articles about businesses increasing their support of the Common Core, politicians decrying the Common Core as federal overreaching, and parents who are unclear about what exactly the Common Core is. When I served on a Common Core panel at a PTA conference a couple of weeks ago, the parents had great questions, but their questions showed that due to all the “eduspeak” and reform talk going on in North Carolina right now, many are confused by what the Common Core and Essential Standards are. 

A recent Gallop poll found that more than sixty percent of the public has no idea what the Common Core actually is.  For educators, this might seem almost impossible to imagine since we hear the standards discussed all the time.  Check out this video from Scholastic to see what people have to say when asked what the Common Core Standards are! 

 

Hilarious, terrifying, or a little bit of both?  My favorite response from those questioned were  those that thought it was an exercise plan, which got me thinking about the Common Core and the Race to the Top.

 

In many ways an exercise plan is a good analogy for the new state standards.  First of all, we need to make sure that everyone knows what the Common Core Standards are.  The Common Core Standards are clear, consistent standards for math and language arts education that indicate the skills that students should be able to master upon the completion of each grade level in order to be competitive in an increasingly global world.  What is exceptional about these new standards is that for the first time in our nation’s history they ideally will be the same in every state.  That is great news for our students who exist in a much more transient world than the generations before them!  With families moving away from their home communities more frequently than ever, we need to ensure that our students do not get lost in the shuffle from one school to the next.  We also want to match up more evenly with other countries—countries that for the most part have national standards to ensure success across their nations.  For a quick explanation of the purpose of the standards, check out this video from the Council of the Great City Schools:

 

In spite of the focus of the Common Core, it does not mean that there are not standards for the rest of the disciplines like social studies, science, the arts, foreign languages, or healthful living.  These disciplines can be found within the Essential Standards.  These new Essential Standards, like the Common Core Standards, are more rigorous and are working to push students towards higher levels of critical thinking, problem solving, and college and career readiness.  Like the Common Core, they are not a predetermined curriculum that designates what books and resources everyone should be using.  Instead, both sets of standards focus on the skills that students should be able to master.  They are the desired outcome.  The curriculum, or the lessons and materials that are used to achieve these standards, are created by individual school districts, schools, and teachers.  In many ways, by focusing on these specific skills, which include project-based learning and technology integration, teachers have the opportunity to create more innovative lessons than ever before.  Additionally, because these teachers are in the classroom with their students, they have a great deal of flexibility in selecting the resources and the strategies that are most appropriate to help their individual group of students achieve ultimate success in their academic fitness levels.

Think back to the exercise analogy: when you exercise, in order to help all your other muscles stay strong and to prevent injury, you must develop your core muscles along your abdomen.  In order to be fully healthy and developed, you still must exercise the other body parts, paying attention to cardio and strength training, but the core muscles help the rest of the body move.  The same is true for the Common Core Standards.  By strengthening our Common Core muscles, all of the other disciplines that are part of the Essential Standards will become much stronger.  Math and language arts help the other subjects “move.”  Math facilitates understanding lab results in the sciences, examining the economy, calculating data in vocational and engineering classes, and even counting calories in health classes.  Language arts skills help students read important content in all classes and establish the grammatical foundation that they need in order to learn a second or third language.  Math and language arts are also important in the arts: knowing scale for a work of art, learning art history, reading music, and producing a play all depend on both math skills and language arts skills.  Don’t think of the Common Core as eliminating the other very important aspects of a well-rounded educational  workout; think of the Common Core as creating the common ground and skills that the other subjects need to grow stronger. 

The Common Core Standards also “up the ante” in terms of the education that our students receive.  As mentioned before, the standards are much more rigorous than the previous standards.  Take for example, calculating the area of a rectangle in a math class.  (Now, bear with me as I attempt to leave my English teacher ways and enter the frightening realm of math!)  When you learned how to calculate area, you were told, “Just multiply width times height.”  You knew to perform this mathematical function because you were told that it was what you needed to do.  You simply memorized the formula.  Now, look at the standard for third grade math from the Common Core:

Students recognize area as an attribute of two-dimensional regions. They measure the area of a shape by finding the total number of same size units of area required to cover the shape without gaps or overlaps, a square with sides of unit length being the standard unit for measuring area. Students understand that rectangular arrays can be decomposed into identical rows or into identical columns. By decomposing rectangles into rectangular arrays of squares, students connect area to multiplication, and justify using multiplication to determine the area of a rectangle.

That’s a huge difference, right!?  It might sound a little confusing upon first read, but all it states is that students should understand (through hands-on manipulatives, illustrations, or visualization) that the total of the individual unit squares make up the total area, thus mutliplication will give you the total number of unit squares.  The shift in this basic mathematical procedure, like the shift throughout the Common Core, is that it does not just focus on teaching content, but instead it focuses on teaching skills.  No longer is the student answer, “I calculate this or write this because my teacher told me to” a valid academic response.  Now when asked why they perform a certain calculation or use a specific rhetorical device in an essay, students have to have a much more precise answer for why they do something.  As someone who always asked my math teachers, “Why?”, I love this new way of thinking about learning.  It would have helped a very inquisitive, analytical young me develop a much stronger appreciation for mathematics!  I’m sure there are many other former students who feel the same way.  Instead of letting our students reach an academic fitness plateau by focusing on rote memorization, by teaching them how and why, we are able to empower them to take the skills they learn and use them in a world much larger than the classroom.  We are teaching them how to be the next generation of innovators and problem solvers, and that will open up doors of economic and personal opportunity for our students.

                Finally, there is one more area that must be addressed as it relates to the Common Core—accountability. When you ask teachers how they feel about the Common Core, almost all agree that the new standards have the potential to make a strong impact in the quality of learning for their students.  What the teachers do not like is the continued expansion of high-stakes testing.  I’m not going to state all my opinions on testing and grading, as I’ve already done that in a previous blog post (which you can read here), but I want to make one thing clear: The Common Core Standards do not necessarily mean that we have to have more standardized testing.  We do need to measure the gains of our students, but we do not need to do this every time through a high-stakes test.  There are so many opportunities for other forms of assessment within the Common Core that are more directly relevant to college and career readiness: projects, portfolios, presentations, etc.  We need to examine some alternative forms of assessment before relying too much on primarily multiple choice tests.  If you look at the twenty-first century education model, it includes “multiple measures of mastery” as part of its assessment requirements.  We need to think seriously about how we can assess our students in more than just one way to see if they are academically fit.  You wouldn’t expect a sprinter and a long distance runner to beat each other in their respective sports, but it doesn’t mean that one is less “fit” than the other.  We need to look to how we can fully assess our students’ learning, and that does not always come in a one-size-fits-all race.  The overall skills (standards) needed for success can be the same, but the ways that success is demonstrated (assessments) may be different.

                While the Common Core and Essential Standards are a significant moment of change in North Carolina and are still a work in progress in terms of their implementation, there is much about them that should be applauded.  Personally, I love the new standards and saw exponential (another math term!) growth in both my high-achieving students and my more struggling students last year.  I hope that I was able to clarify some misconceptions about the new standards here.  I would hate to see us give up the race altogether because we aren’t yet in the best shape to win, especially when the victory involves our students’ success.  Instead, we need to examine where we need to improve, create a conditioning plan that starts with the core but gives a full workout, and keep flexing our Common Core muscles until our public schools are stronger and faster in the global race than they ever were before.

"Do One Thing Every Day that Scares You"

The Magnet on My Fridge

               There is a magnet on my fridge that boldly proclaims Eleanor Roosevelt’s words of wisdom to “Do one thing every day that scares you.”  I’ve had it on my fridge ever since I started out on my own as a teacher.  I love that magnet.  I love it because it is something that I need to be reminded of daily. 

                  I was raised by loving, supportive, but cautious parents.  They taught me always to look both ways four or five times, to question how my actions would be perceived by others, and always to think about the consequences.  These are great tips to live by, but as I got older and went to college, I found that some of the self-assuredness that is naturally a product of youth was starting to slip away.  I began to be more cautious to take risks, afraid to put myself out there.  It wasn’t until a college professor in my master’s program at the University of Glasgow told me, “If you will let yourself go, then your writing will truly be great” that I started to see the need to take risks again.  That is when I purchased the Eleanor Roosevelt magnet.  I use it as a reminder to take risks with creative lessons in my classroom, to take risks with my own writing, and to encourage my students to take academic risks in the classroom.

                  Yet, when I agreed to speak to continue on the path to rediscovering my voice (click here to read more about finding my voice) at a Moral Monday gathering back home in Rockingham County, I felt myself become increasingly more terrified as the date approached.  While I usually love public speaking, returning home and giving a more politically minded speech was going to be a first for me.  I grew up as a drama kid, and I’ve always loved to have an audience.  However, speaking back home in front of people I know and opening up my beliefs and emotions on stage was a whole new ballgame.  When I shared deep emotions on stage as an actress, it was through the guise of a character; I never had to put my full self out there—emotionally and intellectually— for all to see.  As the hours ticked away on Monday, September 16, I found myself more nervous than I had been in a long time.

The Crowd

Chatting with Other Speakers during the Welcome Music

                  When I arrived at Rockingham Community College and saw the attendees start to slowly gather (many of them wearing red in support of public education), I began to feel a little strength return to me.  While meeting the strong leaders assembled, including former State Public School Superintendent Bob Etheridge, Minority Leader Larry Hall, and the well-respected local doctor, Stephen Luking, I became proud of my decision to take a risk—to do something that scared me that day.  As I heard motivational speakers and leaders from the NAACP and the Beloved Community Center ignite the desire to move North Carolina forward in the crowd, my heart began to pound with excitement.  When it was my turn, I stepped onto the newly constructed plywood stage and stood firmly planted between the North Carolina flag and the flag of the United States of America.  As I looked out into the crowd of several hundred concerned citizens, a few faces stood out to me.  I saw the faces of my mother and her friend, both retired schoolteachers.  I saw two family members standing up in support.  But, even more assuring, was the sight of several of my former schoolteachers in Rockingham County.  Thinking about the fact that I was just down the road from where I graduated from high school and where many of these educators inspired me and gave me a solid educational foundation, I knew what I had to do for them: for all retired educators, for the over 92,000 teachers in this state, for all future educators, and for all of our students.  I placed my hand on the podium, looked out at the crowd, took a deep breath, and stated the following:

Starting My Speech

"Good afternoon.  You know, as someone who grew up in Rockingham County, it is always great to come home, but I can honestly say that I’ve never been prouder to come home than I am today.  To see so many concerned citizens that care about all people is a truly inspirational experience for me.  While I am here today in support of all the topics that are being addressed, I will focus on recent cuts to education from a teacher’s perspective.

                  Last year marked my seventh year as a teacher in North Carolina.  As the daughter of a public school teacher, I have always been raised to value the importance of a quality education. As a product of a strong public education, both here in Rockingham County and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, I am well aware of how much of  a difference a public education can make.   I work with students from an array of backgrounds every day.  I know the challenges that they face, challenges that many cannot even begin to imagine, and I know innumerable teachers who spend countless hours both inside and outside of their classrooms and countless dollars to make sure that their students are successful.   Teachers care deeply about the students in this state, and they invest their summers, their money, and their time to make sure that North Carolina children can achieve more, even when they have been given less.  But something has to change. 

Recent legislative changes make me question if public education is still valued in our state—a state that constitutionally states in Article 1 that “education shall forever be encouraged” and promises in Article 2 that it will provide “a uniform system of free public schools.”  With cuts to educational spending, elimination of master’s pay, and the introduction of Opportunity Scholarships that siphon money away from public schools, are we truly showing that education is “encouraged” and are we creating a “uniform” and “free” system for all the citizens of our state?  What message are we sending to our schoolchildren if we make it seem like we are devaluing education?

                  Perhaps my biggest concern lies in the development of the voucher system, now called Opportunity Scholarships.  I am concerned that the Scholarships will only serve a small group of students whose backgrounds predispose them to gaining access to vouchers or other means to attend private schools.  When I think of some of my most struggling and most impoverished students who would never have had the parent support or resources to be able to benefit from these scholarships, it only confirms the fact that we need to continue the opportunity for all students in the state of North Carolina to succeed, and not just a select few.  And, with North Carolina ranking 48th in per pupil spending nationwide, why would we take millions of dollars away from the majority of our public school children?  

                  Additionally, numerous studies show that high-quality teaching is the single most important school-based factor in the educational success of a student.  We need caring, well-educated teachers and assistants in classrooms to provide interactive, nurturing environments for our students.  We also need these educators to earn enough of a comfortable salary so that they do not have to work evenings and weekends when they should be planning engaging lessons and providing invaluable feedback to their students. 

The best teachers are lifetime learners, and they seek the opportunities to keep learning and to help their students by studying for a master’s degree.  We should encourage teachers who want to improve their craft, not discourage continued education in the field of education.  That makes no sense.  By eliminating master's pay, we are only providing one more blow to teacher morale and sending a message to our schoolchildren that education is not valued.

A young colleague of mine in his second year of teaching told me that of his graduating class of 25 at UNCG, 15 have already left the profession and several others have left the state of North Carolina.  NC State University revealed that the number of students enrolled in their teacher education program dropped by 17% this fall.  Furthermore, I have had several parents of the most talented high school students tell me apologetically that even though their children want to be teachers, they have discouraged them from entering a profession where they will not be valued or make a comfortable living.  When teachers at my school have to go on food stamps to support their families, it is difficult to make a valid argument against the concerned parents of my high school students that want to become teachers. It saddens me greatly that some of our potentially best teachers are either leaving the classroom or never entering it, but that is our current reality.  If we really want to see our students grow into the future leaders of our state and nation, we have to invest money in education.  If we want our educational system to be the best in the nation and the world, we have to invest in our schools.  If we want our schools to be the most effective in educating our students, we have to invest in the resources that our students need daily--both academic materials and the teachers that want nothing more than to see their students succeed.

If money must drive legislation right now, which seems to be the current trend, then shouldn’t we start to value our most precious goods, our students, and our most precious commodity, education, as the keys to a successful future in our state?  It is only with the collective efforts and voices of people like you that we can work together to move education forward for all of our students!" 

Discussing the Value of a Public Education for ALL Students

As people began to leave after the speakers presented, I had the opportunity to speak with several Rockingham County residents, many whom I had never met before.  I was hugged by so many people and thanked by so many people. People told me personal stories of their teachers, their family members who are or were teachers, and, if they are teachers, of their students.  My former teachers told me how proud they are of me.  In that moment I understood why Eleanor Roosevelt once encouraged others to “do one thing every day that scares you.”  It is when you stop debating about what everyone expects you to do and decide to focus on what you know you should do that the biggest risks occur.  And when you take that risk, it’s scary, it’s terrifying, and it’s exhilarating.  And when you confront what scares you, take a risk, and find your voice, the outcome is often the most gratifying of all.

Bob Etheridge's Outstanding Speech on Public Schools

The Long Way 'Round

“I’ve got my ticket for the long way ‘round
The one with the prettiest of views
It’s got mountains, it’s got rivers, it’s got sights to give you shivers.

[North Carolina I do adore] you."

-last line modified from Anna Kendrick’s “Cups”

I’ve been on the road a lot lately.  As the school year kicked off, I kicked off my travels around North Carolina: visiting schools, speaking to education majors, to teachers and retired teachers, to administrators, to parents, and to support staff.  Since I haven’t quite figured out how to sync the music on my phone through the audio system in my state car, I’ve spent a lot of time listening to the radio.  Anna Kendrick’s song “Cups” seems to be in constant rotation.  There are other songs and artists that I hear almost every hour, including Robin Thicke, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, and others, but I can’t resist singing along to “Cups” whenever I hear it.  When she talks about the beauty of the journey ahead of her in the second verse of the song, I always think about our beautiful state, North Carolina.  

From the front of my state car

On the road to meet public school supporters, I’ve had a chance to see some of North Carolina’s beautiful sights.  North Carolina is so beautiful not only because of its natural beauty, but also because of the kind, generous people I’ve met across the state.  I’ve had the opportunity in the past three weeks to meet some outstanding people who are working hard to see our children succeed.  I have seen some truly exceptional teaching in the schools I have visited.  North Carolina educators should be proud of the way they are dealing with and adjusting to change—change in the curriculum with the Common Core and new technology, and change as it affects their standards of living.  I’ve also met dynamic people in universities preparing our future educators, and I’ve talked with people working in our communities to make public schools as strong as they can be.

Enjoying my time at Alpha Delta Kappa, an educator sorority, in Henderson County

 The one thought that constantly resonates in my mind as I travel is how proud I am to be from North Carolina and to be a part of public education in our state.  While many are frustrated about some of the recent legislative changes in North Carolina, myself included, sometimes we need to take a moment to look at the positives in our state and to think about what makes North Carolina such a wonderful place. 

Below are some of my positive observations during my past three weeks of travel:

On the Road

-I would like to issue a thank you to the late Lady Bird Johnson who realized that flowers along the highway can lift the spirits of a traveler.  I can’t begin to describe the rush of joy I experience every time I see a vibrant patch of flowers along the road.  I have to resist the desire to stop my car and frolic through them!

-When you have to stop on the road beside another car, people tend to look at you a little strangely when you are singing in a state car at the top of your lungs.  Even if you are singing Anna Kendrick’s “Cups…”

-While drivers on the highway can be aggressive, most North Carolina drivers are incredibly kind.  When they see that you need to merge, most people move over for you and show true Southern hospitality.

-Speaking of Southern hospitality, I’ve seen so much of it in the small towns where I have to stop along the way to my destinations.  I rarely ever eat fast food at home, but I’ve had to eat much more of it lately.  I’ve had some truly hilarious conversations with fellow North Carolinians at McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Cracker Barrel, and Jason’s Deli.  Thanks for making me smile, North Carolina!

-There are some sights that are too beautiful for me to describe and do them full justice.  North Carolina sunsets fall into this category.  The sight of the sun setting in your rearview mirror as you drive to the east coast or the view ahead as you drive west and the sun sets behind the mountains is something that can take your breath away.

I wish I had a photo of the sunset, but since that wouldn't be very safe while driving, here is a picture I took of the beautiful NC mountains instead.

            Back to School

-The schools I have visited have also shown true Southern hospitality.  They have welcomed me with open arms and shared great, innovative ideas with me.

-I saw one second-year teacher become a “living movie” for his second-grade students.  While he read a Native American short story, he played Native American music in the background, turned off the lights, and circulated the room with a walking stick.  To see the students simultaneously lean in and jump back at different moments in the story was truly inspirational.

- I was so excited to see the self-directed learning of elementary school students with iPads at Bruce Drysdale Elementary.  Each small group was working at their own pace with excellent teacher-created, differentiated questions based on their ability levels.  Students were using the language from the standards and were even creating their own goals for improvement and strategies to meet those goals!  While the students completed their checklists, the teacher was able to meet with students one-on-one to facilitate reading instruction.
 

-I love the innovative ways that magnet schools in North Carolina are reaching out to their students.  Whether with aeronautic programs, firefighting academies, mechatronics, STEM programs, or other modern vocational skills, these schools are doing their best to offer school choice and to see ALL students succeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Educational Partnerships

-I’ve met college students who are passionate about becoming teachers.  When you walk into a room of college students (or even communicate with them via a Google Hangout!), the collective energy and potential they have for making North Carolina schools great is palpable.

-The professors of these students are equally passionate.  They care greatly about educating their college students so that the children in North Carolina will have the brightest futures possible.

-The parents in PTAs I’ve met show a desire to ensure a great education not only for their own children, but also for all children in North Carolina.  They really do embody the National PTA slogan of “Every child.  One voice.”  As they talked about advocating for students and teachers in response to recent legislative changes, I was encouraged by the grassroots support for public education that I see in our state.

I’ve seen many more beautiful sights, both geographically and educationally, during the past three weeks, and these are only some of the highlights.  I encourage anyone who is frustrated with public schools and/or North Carolina to take some time to notice all the beauty our state has to offer.  Thank you, North Carolina, for the adults and children who inspire me and make me smile and for “the [beautiful] sights [that] give [me] shivers.”   Though we might be on a road that is “the long way ‘round” until we get to where we all want to be, I am confident that North Carolina has all the human resources to make it happen.  We just need to keep loving our state, speaking up, and wanting to see it move forward.  If we do, we can move mountains for our children and give them futures “with the prettiest of views."