5 Safeguards to Grinch Proof Your Classroom this Holiday Season

As we enter the Yuletide season of joy and giving, let's be honest. Every last nerve in our body is about to be tested. Our students are on the verge of eating excessive amounts of sugar for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They will be bombarded with ads for the newest, coolest toys available for a fraction of a cost if they shop online.

Their eyes will glaze over during class with visions of robot toys that shoot lasers at annoying little sisters, or video games that blow up evil empires while simultaneously chatting with an opponent in the UK.

As engaging as we try to make our lessons, they will not be able to compete with the big man in the fat red suit sporting a white beard who owns flying reindeer.  Yes. Whether we want to admit it or not, we are all at risk of becoming a Grinch.

Before it's too late, I've pulled together five safeguards to protect our students, parents, and ourselves.

Safeguard #1: Expand your Heart

During this holiday season, two types of students tend to emerge. The Cindy Loo Who's who are innately kind, loving, and will complete homework and projects in a timely manner. You will love these students. "Who" wouldn't?

But what about the non-Cindy Loo Who's who will fail to complete assignments, push your last button, and then go home and tell their parent that you hate them. Take a deep breath. A mentor of mine once said, "Fake it until you feel it." Act like you love The Cindy Loo Who's and the Non-Cindy Loo Who's and you'll be surprised when your heart catches up!

Safeguard #2. Collaborate don't isolate.

It is easy to feel like you are the only teacher on the planet who is considering early retirement (and
it's your first year) but know that you are not alone! Teachers all across the U.S. and Canada are feeling the effects, as well.

Just as you would never attempt Black Friday or Brown Thursday alone, you should not take on the days and weeks leading up to winter break alone. Go to your team and express how you are feeling.

Chocolate also helps.

Safeguard #3. Be realistic. 

As excited as you are about completing an ice sculpture of the Great Wall of China in your World Geography class, this is not the time or the place. Variables like shorter attention spans, additional carbs to induce sleeping, and inevitable interruptions by your former students coming by to remind you why you love to teach, are very, very real.

Ask yourself. What assignments can wait until these variable diminish? Separate the need to do's from the I want to's and you will become far less frustrated. Taking on too much can make you feel like you are a horrible teacher, which of course, you aren't.

Safeguard #4. Be kind.

Even if you have failed miserably at Safeguards #1-#3, it is never too late to change your behavior. Before sending out the mass email and a bcc: to your principal about the teacher whose students are climbing the walls. Stop!

Before posting or emailing anything ask yourself: Is it biased? Could it be taken out of context? Is it hurtful? If you can answer one or more of these questions with a yes, you need step away from your computer, Ipad, or Iphone and take a deep breath.

This is the perfect moment to engage in a random act of kindness!

Safeguard #5. Be thankful

Hands-down one of the best Grinch repellents is a spirit of thankfulness. Begin making a list of reasons to be thankful. Warning: While you may exude thankfulness on a normal basis, you may struggle. This isn't to say you aren't a grateful person...because you are! Remembering the reasons you are thankful is more about reminding you of the person you truly are. You are NOT a Grinch..so don't act like one!

Confession Reflection:

• How can administrators support teachers who are dealing with "seasonal" behavior issues?
• Why is it important for teachers to stay connected to their PLC or mentor teachers and not isolate?
• What are the benefits of closing the Teacher Evaluation Window the week before a holiday break?

"This I Believe" Experimental Study

Do people remember more by listening to the audio version of texts or by reading texts? This is an experimental study to add to a larger database on ways people remember what they have read. I need YOU to help me with this study, as well as, show how Twitter can be used as a global connector.

My research partner, Ed, and I have chosen an excerpt from the book, "This I Believe" titled Be Cool to the Pizza Dude.  It is an inspirational message everyone should read (or listen to) at least once.

To participate in this research study, you will choose form A or B and either listen to or read this article. You will then answer 20 multiple choice questions. Your choice of forms will need to be random...so even if you prefer listening you may be given a form you will need to read.

On a personal note, I would like to demonstrate to my follow classmates the power of social media to gather responses from a global audience. Please help me in doing so.

Your name and identity will remain anonymous. However, I've added an optional place to put your Twitter handle for us to connect. I ALWAYS want to grow my PLN and connect with other educators.

Thank you!

Tamra


Form A

https://goo.gl/forms/u0Oatnb8pCcadIlh2


Form B

https://goo.gl/forms/n3IQFfiVjbR7KAYs2

Hack in Action: An Excerpt from Hacking Homework

After ten years as a middle school reading intervention teacher and five of those years as a literacy coach, I've heard more excuses for missing assignments than I care to admit. Long gone are the shallow excuses like, "the dog ate my homework." As you can imagine, preadolescents are savvy and seem to know the perfect excuse to use and exactly the moment to deliver it.

Without question the coup de grace of all excuses is the excuse that shifts responsibility from the student to the teacher. The excuse goes something like this. The student looks the teacher squarely in the eyes and solemnly swears that they have already turned in their homework. It is the teacher's fault for losing it.

In a stroke of genius, the responsibility shifts from being the student's responsibility to being the teacher's problem. If you're like me, some days it is not worth going to the extreme to convince the student that their homework is, indeed, missing.

Three weeks later the homework surfaces during a mandatory locker clean up. It is now stuck to another piece of paper by a sticky red substance that smells like cherry.

As a part of my reading intervention classroom, I decided to dedicate the first Monday of every month to teaching organization. (If I had a new student I would schedule a time to meet with him/her one-on-one).
I would have my students bring in their backpacks and every scrap of paper they could find in their lockers, even if the scraps looked like trash.

At a table or on the floor, I would have the students write on three sticky notes: Keep, Trash, or a "?". The first pile was for papers to be kept and organized, including incomplete assignments, study notes, schedules, etc. The second pile was for papers to trash or toss out; students would often find doodle sheets, drafts of paper that had already been written, and even multiple copies of the same paper.  The third pile was for papers that the student wasn't sure if they should keep or toss. Students were taught how to assess the purpose of the paper so they could determine if it should go in the keep or trash pile.

I would literally pick up each piece of paper and ask, "is this to keep, trash, or you're not sure?" I added an extra layer of support by placing the "Trash" and "?" piles in a file folder until the end of the grading period. It never failed for a student to run into my room in a near frenzy because they believed they had thrown away a paper that was due.

Students who are learning to organize often do not have the skills to prioritize what is or isn't important. This was a way to scaffold learning using Gradual Release of Responsibility. It is a best teaching practice a teacher would use if teaching an academic skill like how to multiply fractions or how to write an expository essay.

If students do not have instruction and a workable process, they are not likely to figure it out on their own. Explicitly teaching organization gives the students the skills and processes they need to be successful - author's comment (Connie Hamilton and Starr Sackstein)

You can learn more about ways to teach responsibility and organization in the book,  Hacking Homework. It is now available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/jdjgc84

Confession Reflection:

• Why is it important to teach skills like organization?
• Teaching organization skills and teaching responsibility often go hand-in-hand. Why is this?
• What is the difference been supporting and enabling? How can teachers discern between the two?
• How would explicit instruction on ways to organize assignments benefit students beyond the walls of the school?

Emoji, Selfies, and Memes: Innocuous Terms in Today's Classroom

Unless you've been hiding under a rock for the past decade, you are aware of strange terminology spoken in the halls of your school, in the cafeteria, and even in your classroom. By all accounts, it may sound like jiberish or incohesive chatter: "idk", "lol", and "jk" are just a few. 

You watch in sheer amazement as your student's fingers fly across teensy weensy keys on a "smartphone" sending encrypted messages to friends, while it takes you a full two minutes to write and send one sentence.

If you have experienced this phenomenon, this blog is for you!

Who are Millennials?

Millennials are individuals born between 1982 and early 2000's. The are also the largest social group since the Baby Boomers. To put it in perspective, most of today's students have never physically addressed an envelope, used a hand held map, or used a telephone that wasn't attached to a land line. It is estimated that there are approximately 87 million millennials either in school or in the work force. In other words, Millennials have taken over planet Earth. 

1. All things abbreviated

Have you wondered why the letter "u" keeps popping up in student essays, or the letters LOL or IDK as an annotation? You remind your students to spell out words in their essays, to always use a capital "I" when referred to oneself, and to make a key when using unknown letters like LOL or IDK. If you listen closely, you will notice the written code has become a spoken tongue. It is not unnusual to hear one of my students say "jk" which translates into "just kidding." Here are a few other common abbreviations common among millennials.

IDK - I don't know

LOL - laughing out loud

FYI- for your information

JK - just kidding

TBH - to be honest

IMHO - in my humble opinion.

2. Emojis

Do you remember the yellow smiley face during the late 60's and 70's stamped on t-shirts, posters, and billboards? It was an international symbol of happiness and was called an "Emotican." Texting emotican's begin to appear at the end of messages to indicate how the writer was feeling or to convey the tone of the message. :)  :(  

Today emojis are ubiquitous to our society. Students have the ability to create an emoji of themself using free apps or choosing emojis from their Smartphone. Did you know that McDonald's recently handed out Emoji's in happy meals? 

When shopping for my grandson's two-year-old birthday party I spotted emoji stickers. I thought how cool it might be to use emoji's for polls and surveys and how it would create a universal language (or pictoral) for expressing emotions...until I remembered I teach college students. 

If you are teaching elementary or middle school students, sticker emojis would be an innovative way to annotate as kids read as part of learning characterization or author's purpose. This would be especially interesting during the climax and resolution of the story.

This past week I heard of a large school district near me change discipline policy to be proactive by builidng a classroom community. The school day starts by students sharing as a member of a learning community how they are feeling. There are a gajillion ways to integrate emoji's into building a community of learners. Wow! Think about the possibilities for teaching empathy? Compassion? 

3. Meme

A meme is an image, video, or text that is copied (often with variation) and spread to internet users. memes are easy to make and have the potential for some awesome lessons. There are free apps to create memes. You will also see memes posted by educators on Facebook and Twitter. 

Students could easily make a meme to demonstrate their understanding of a concept. Memes also make great bell ringers or conversation starters.

4. Mash-up 

A mash-up may sound like something you would do when cooking mashed potatoes, but the meaning is far more complex. According to Urban Slang Dictionary a web mashup is a web application that takes information from one or more sources and presents it in a new way or with a unique layout. Mash-ups are easily spotted on the internet especially by aspiring artists and musicians presenting their own rendition of a song by combining two songs. 

As a literacy coach and creative writing teacher, I loved to use mashups around the holidays to teach parody. I would have my students select a holiday song and add new lyrics based on a book they were reading. For example, one year Harry Potter was Mashed-up with The Night Before Christmas. They would record and upload to their private school You Tube account and then we would show their presentation during parent night. 

Here is a Mash-Up using movies to demonstrate hyperboles:

5. Selfie or Snap

What is a selfie? Wikipedia defines a selfie as "a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a digital camera or camera phone held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick." Today, the newest, coolest feature is to add a filter on a selfie called  "snap" using the social media site Snapchat.

When confiscating phones from your students you may have noticed dog ears, or rainbow-like vomit spilling from their mouth, or sparking princess glitter  adorning their hair. I'm still scratchng my head on this one. I'm sure my parents probably felt the same way about some of the silly things I did as a teenager. 

I'm learning that sometimes it's best to relax and LOL, not be too serious and say JK....and that it's okay to admit when IDK.

Confession Reflection:

• What are some ways to invite ideas and social behaviors of millennials into the classroom? 
• In your opinion, is acknowledging and integrating millennial's social behaviors into the classroom a form of culturally responsive teaching? why? or why not?
• What does this statement mean to you: "Let's not throw out the baby with the bathwater?" 
• Why do some educators resist change? 
• How can we equip students with the skills they will need for the work place? What changes would need to be made in the classroom to do so?

Dewey said, "If we teach today's students as we taught yesterday's, we rob them of tomorrow."

Summer Slide Is No Walk in the Park

The streets were littered with potholes. I drove by a house with the doors and windows boarded up and a Private Property sign was nailed to a wooden post. It was clearly abandoned.

The house next door had bars on all of the windows and the next house..and the next house.

There were no bikes or toys in the yards. No furniture on the patios. No one was out walking their dog. No morning joggers.

Where were the people?

A few blocks later, I arrived at my destination and pulled into a graveled parking lot. It was the first sign of life. Adults and children stood in line waiting for the doors of Bethlehem Center to open its arms.

I couldn't wait to see a nine-week summer reading loss intervention program in full swing!

Hmmm. Summer reading loss. What is it? Summer reading loss pertains to the loss in reading skills children experience over the summer months when school isn't in session. It is also called Summer Slide.

Summer reading loss is an epidemic among poor children. In one summer children in poverty lose two to three months of reading skills while children who are not poor maintain or increase in reading proficiency. By 5th grade, children in poverty may read as far as two to three years behind their economically advantaged peers.

The doors opened and I grabbed my notebook and headed into the summer reading sanctuary. I walked through a kitchen with a stove that looked like it was on its last leg. The smell of food wafted from the oven. Water bottles and loafs of bread and peanut butter and jelly were stacked on a counter. The linoleum floor was faded but was immaculately clean.

hot meals every day!

The summer reading loss program took up a room about the size of a normal classroom. All nineteen children ages 6-8 years old were either reading a book, writing about what they read, or talking to a partner about their book. Teachers worked one-on-one with children or taught in small groups.

And books were everywhere!

I really was shocked to see how happy the children seemed. I knew good and well that my own children would have thought they were being tortured if they attended a FULL day of summer school, EVERYDAY for NINE weeks!

Bethlehem Community Center 

I knelt beside a table with a group of boys and was surprised when one of the boys asked, "Am I in trouble?"

"Oh my goodness! I'm here to see the wonderful things you are doing in summer school."

He took a breath and seemed relieved.

"What do you like most about your summer school?" I asked, fully expecting to hear, "I like the teacher or it's fun."

But what he said surprised me. It has also changed me.

He looked into my eyes and without hesitation answered, "I get to eat dinner."

Confession Reflection:

•  In what ways can schools/communities support children who don't have books to read in the summer?

• Why is it important for teachers to receive professional development on summer reading loss? How might this information support lesson design and assessment?

• What are some ways teachers can encourage parent-school partnerships to help prevent summer reading loss?

• Why is it essential to make sure a child's basic needs are met?

To learn more about Summer Reading Loss 
National Summer Learning Association visit their site: http://www.summerlearning.org/

Merry Christmas in July!

It wasn't my idea to have a Christmas in July party, but it happened. Imagine. Red house lights blinking in the heat of the summer. Jingle Bells blaring from the stereo. A lamp post adorned with mistletoe and topped with a giant red bow...and a Christmas tree, tinsel and all, sitting in my driveway. 

Oh, and did I mention the reindeer? 

I'll get to that later.

I'm not exactly the social butterfly when it comes to neighborhood stuff. While I appreciate the occasional Bunko game or Tupperware party, I'm not one to initiate neighborhood festivities.

Outside of my church and weekly Saturday morning coffee time with a few girlfriends, my social life has much to be desired.

When our church Life Group brought up the idea to have a Christmas in July party to get a jump start to support a local charity, I wanted to crawl under my chair. 

I really did. 

Since I was a group leader, I felt obligated to smile and say, "What a great idea!" Inwardly, I was thinking, How will our neighbors know that this is really going to a charity? What if they think we are con artists hording gifts for our own children?

And so we booked our children's pastor, Kelly Welhelmi, to put on a puppet show dressed in her outrageous character, Rudette, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer's sister. We printed off over 100 flyers and posted to every house on our cul-de-sac and surrounding blocks asking neighbors to bring an unwrapped gift. At the bottom of the flyer in bold face type was: All gifts will be distributed through our churches' children's outreach.

Well, a Texas heat wave had hit and my family and our church small group were sweating bullets the night of the party. We had fans blowing and chilled lemonade and enough watermelon to feed an army. A few members from our church small group mingled waiting to be swarmed by neighborhood children. My front yard was a sight to see with a Christmas tree in the driveway, house lights, and even mistletoe over the doorway entrance.

We waited. 

And waited. 

And waited some more. 

Where were my neighbors? I was embarrassed and was secretly hoping we'd printed the wrong date on the flyer. After forty-five minutes, my next-door-neighbor walked his nine-year-old daughter over to get a better look at the lady wearing a brown suit, antlers that dangled tinsel, and a glittery red nose. 

The little girl placed an unwrapped My Little Pony toy under the Christmas tree and planted herself on our lawn. 

I cursed under my breadth. How could it be that only one child showed up?

And so I gave marching orders and sent my three children who at the time were, 5, 7, and 10 years, to knock on their friend's doors. I no longer cared about the gifts, I cared about saving face. 

Between door-to-door invites from my children, and a few phone calls to friends, I counted over fifty neighbors at our Christmas in July party. We had a watermelon spitting contest, a grand performance by Rudette, a puppet show, and of course lots of singing and dancing. Apart from the My Little Pony toy we collected around fifty dollars. By monetary standards, the party wasn't anything to write home about.

But something more important happened that evening. We got to know our neighbors. The couple who had just adopted a new baby from Korea, the man whose dog barks all night, an elderly man who is carrying for his wife who suffered from Alzheimer, and we got to know their names.

Every year when July rolls around, and the heat hits as only it can in Texas, our family talks about our Christmas party. We laugh and feel a closeness only we can feel. Now that I think about it...our party was a hit, after all.

Merry Christmas, even in July!

How to Survive the Dog Days of Summer

The final school bell rings. Overstuffed backpacks and shouts of jubilation reverberate throughout hallways as United States schools release for summer vacation. Starbucks gift cards and handwritten thank you notes from learners-- that would melt any teacher's heart-- are packed up. Good-byes are said. It's June and summer vacation has officially begun for teachers and learners alike.

Tip #1: Celebrate without guilt.

Give yourself permission to let out a whoop! at the top of your lungs. There is no shame in feeling a sense of jubilation for having time away from your classroom. It's okay to admit that you are happy...no elated...to be out for summer!

Think about it. You don't have to turn in lesson plans and you can eat lunch for longer than thirty minutes. Your food will actually have time to digest! If for a minute you start to feel guilty remind yourself that your learners are just as happy (if not happier) than you are to have the summer off. Celebrating will help relieve that pent up ball-of-stress and help get your summer started on the right foot (or paw).

Warning: the rush of adrenaline you initially feel is similar to a sugar-high. Be prepared to hit a slump within the ensuing days. This is normal and in no way implies that you need medical attention. This is a good time to pull out a Starbucks gift card and order a Triple Grande latte to give you a caffeine boost.

Tip #2. Take an excursion.

As badly as you wanted to be a Publishers Clearing House Winner for 2016, it didn't happen. This is an opportunity to do what teachers do best...go to plan B and improvise. Taking a road trip with the kids in tow can make for a fun outing. An excursion might be going to a museum, taking an overnight camping trip, or going to an amusement park.

Don't let disappointment steal your joy just because another teacher on your team is packing to go on an exotic trip to the Caribbean. It's normal to feel a twinge of jealousy, just don't let it consume you. Vacations are about building memories. It can be as simple as taking a one day road trip to someplace new. The important thing is to let your hair down and have fun!

Tip #3: Learn something new.

 You may have heard the adage: You can't teach an old dog new tricks. Summer vacation is the perfect opportunity to try something new. Ask yourself, What is something I've wanted to do but never felt like I had the time?

This does not mean you have to become an expert photographer, for example. It's simply about stepping out of your comfort zone and learning a new skill. Write a blog. Join a twitter chat. Take a Zumba class. Get your high school band instrument down from the attic and belt out your high school fight song.

Caution: Be prepared for your children, spouse, or significant other to ask if you are feeling alright.

Tip #4 Know your limitations

You are up to your eyeballs in laundry, your car smells like French fries, and you've developed an involuntary twitch in your left eye. This is a normal response to "shoulda-stopped syndrome" or triple SSS.

This is normal for teachers who are conditioned to a routine such as morning bus loop duty, morning announcements, rigorous lessons coupled with formative assessments, playground duty, lunch, more lessons, well, you get the picture. It can be exhausting...but it is also structured.

It can be a trap to think that since "school is out" teachers should be footloose and fancy free. Quite the opposite. Follow tips 1-3, but listen to your body and stop when it tells you to stop. Chocolate and wine can do wonders as long as they are consumed in moderation.

Tip 5: Embrace change.

Before you know it, you'll be cheering with your fellow teachers at convocation and welcoming in the new school year 2016-2017. There will be changes in technology, assessments, and perhaps a new educator evaluation system.

I confess that embracing change can be so much harder than it sounds! But then I remind myself that learning is all about growing. And growing is all about change. Being open and willing to embrace change will start the new school year off right!

Confession Reflection:

• Fill in the blank. This summer I want to learn to_______?
• Why is it important to monitor our activity level and take time out for ourselves?
• What are the benefits of stepping out of our comfort zone and learning something new?