Chipping Away

People sometimes ask me why I choose to stay in public education. I started teaching because of the undeniable call on my life to do so. I tried to run from it, and I was miserable. Even when I'm totally spent, emotionally exhausted and mentally drained, I find joy in small spaces. And sometimes I'm reminded that God has a plan. He likes to remind me quite often, in fact.

I've taught advanced 8th grade and on-level 7th grade English for three years now. I enjoy the advanced classes because I can push the kids a little harder and most of them are just a little eccentric, like me. 

But the biggest heart moments often come from those on-level kids who are, in actuality, mostly struggling students.

August. I had a seventh-grade kiddo who started out day one this year sitting in the back of my classroom (his chosen seat) with his head on his desk. DAY ONE. I went back to check on him, thinking maybe he was having some trouble adjusting to Jr. High or something was wrong. He looked at me and said, "Miss, I hate reading." I told him I would change that. At the end of that day, I opened his file, and it read like the stereotypical script: English language learner, underachiever, low socioeconomic background, stagnant standardized test scores year-over-year… the hits just kept coming, and I started to understand why this kid hated to read.

The next day he was more bold with his declaration. He said it in a playful, defiant way so everyone in the class heard it. I looked at him with my very best serious teacher face and replied, "Game on." There were lots of “oohhhs” and “ahhhhs” from other kids, and I cracked a smile. He asked what I meant, and I told him I was going to make him my new best friend, to which he reacted about how you'd expect any 7th grade boy would, with lots of protesting and defiance: “Oh, no, no miss!”

I went about the business of breaking down his walls, all the while remembering Dr. Olga Fischer's assertion that teaching is a subversive act. I chipped away, removing little more than tiny pebbles from the enormous cinderblocks that securely encased him...tink, tink, tink… I chiseled away. Most days it felt like a losing battle. When he didn’t quite understand what we were doing in class, he’d act out, clearly thinking the diversions he created were better than feeling the frustration of not “getting it” again.

...tink, tink, tink…

November. We had a heart-to-heart when he received a failing progress report in my class. I told him very plainly, and maybe with a tear or two, that I loved him and it broke my heart to see his behavior getting in the way of his learning. "You love me, miss?"

And I told him if he didn't straighten up, he would probably end up sitting in a different 7th grade English teacher's class next year. And I assured him I didn’t want that for him. He expressed his lack of belief in himself and his abilities, and I assured him if he would put forth the effort, every teacher in that building would help him move mountains, but we would not move them for him.

...tink, tink, tink…

January. Essay prompt: "Discuss the best decision you've ever made." He wrote about deciding to take his grades seriously and ask for help when he needed it. Apparently our chat came at a time that he was struggling in several classes because he wrote an eloquent (for him) essay with several examples of how he had chosen to work harder, and it paid off.

...tink, tink, tink…

March. He volunteered to read a part in a play. Out loud. In front of the whole class. Without hesitation. I chided him a bit after class, reminding him that he doesn't like to read. He looked me in the eye, straightened his shoulders, smiled, and walked out the door without a word.

...tink, tink, tink…

April. Our focus turned full-force from writing to reading. His insecurities flared and his self-destructive behaviors returned. He served a detention… or two… I didn’t let up. And neither did he, at first.

...tink, tink, tink…

May. We finally had an opportunity to read a class novel after state testing was over. I chose a book I usually reserve for my 8^th graders, partially because they were reading it, too, and it made logistics much easier as I switch back and forth from 7^th to 8^th throughout the day. He was engrossed from day one. In a historical fiction novel. With extremely complicated epigraphs taken from primary sources at the beginning of every single chapter. I didn’t have to ask him to follow along as I read. I didn’t have to encourage him to *want* to read. He missed a day of class and was distraught that he’d missed out on important stuff from the chapters we read.

...tink, tink, tink…

The bell rang at a particularly pivotal moment: “Oh man! Why’d the bell ring? Can I take the book home?”

...tink, tink, tink…

“Miss, you got me addicted to reading. I don’t think it’s good when a teacher gets a kid addicted.”

...tink, tink, tink…

“Mrs. Bonner, can I take a copy of the next book home over the summer?”

YES!  This is why.

If you keep chipping away, eventually the walls come crumbling down. This is why. This is why.

Literary Enthusiasm

As this year has progressed, I'll admit that I've found it, at times, difficult to adequately challenge my advanced English classes.  At the same time, I have struggled with how to get them more engaged in authentic, voracious reading.

Over the Christmas holidays, I searched my mental catalogs for ideas, and my mind wandered to my undergrad work in adolescent literature.  After thumbing through my literature journal, I decided I'd challenge my kiddos to create their own.  Of course, I created a number of guidelines and scaffolded the semester-long project with interim due dates to help ensure their success.

The basic journal entry requirements include the title, author, publication information, a plot summary, personal analysis and reaction, and a discussion of theme(s) in each book, plus a peer review of each entry.  In an effort to encourage my kids to also read more news and explore current events, I decided to require journal entries on current news articles as well as books in various genres.

I presented the project when we returned to school on January 7th.  My kids seemed a little nervous, but many of them also seemed excited at the prospect of having a challenge.  Aaron told me in a very respectful tone, "I think it's a little much," to which I replied, "You're in pre-AP."  He dove right into reading some new books that day without another complaint.  (I also created a less demanding project outline for my academic English classes.)

As the first due date draws near, I've watched something very interesting and exciting happen.  My kids are helping one another with their entries.  They are doing honest peer reviews for each other, and they are talking about what they are reading.  They're doing it without prompting, and their discussions are passionate.  Real.  Engaging.

One of the seeds of literary zeal was planted in the form of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars.

I had a student who came in super excited about having read this book over the Christmas break.  We chatted briefly in class that day, and that evening, I realized I had read another of his books, Paper Towns, last summer.  So the next day, I suggested that book to her.

Over the next week, I started researching books for next summer's pre-AP reading assignment, and I ordered Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley.  In the meantime, I learned that many of my students were passing around copies of The Fault in Our Stars.  Once I finished Where Things Come Back, I realized it wouldn't be a good summer read  because it is too mature and has too much objectionable language for me to feel comfortable requiring it.  But it is a fantastic book - smart, well-constructed, and genuine.  

 So the movie trailer for The Fault in Our Stars debuted yesterday, and the student who first introduced me to the book came in to first period super excited this morning.  Like any good teacher, I seized the opportunity to engage my students.  I showed the trailer to the class  (there is one very brief part I censored), talked about how much those who had read it enjoyed the book, and encouraged them to read it before the movie debuts in early June.  This started a really enthusiastic dialogue since several in that class have now read the book, and I took heart in the fact that my suggestion to read the book first was met with the ardent commiseration of my fellow bibliophiles.  :)

Anyway, as we discussed John Green, I decided to introduce my 8th grade students to Whaley, and I had several ask to borrow my copy of Where Things Come Back.  I also talked to them about what I had observed evolving among them over the past few weeks.  They seemed really connected and interested in the idea of authentic reading.  Reading the way REAL PEOPLE read.  Not reading for a test or because something was assigned, but because they find a connection with literature.  And they are so impassioned by that connection that they want their friends to experience it. 
So they share.  Fervently, earnestly, and wholeheartedly. 

On the flip side...

After school I had a 7th grader who is an English language learner and who sometimes struggles ask if he could stay after and get help with his journal entry.  I sat with him and helped him locate the copyright information and other details in his book.  Then I helped him navigate Microsoft Word as he wrote his summary and his analysis.  Finally, we talked through his grammatical edits.  When he finished, he just sat there smiling at his computer screen.  Then he printed his journal entry and asked if our principal was still there because he was so proud of what he had accomplished, he wanted the principal to read it! 


By the end of the day today, I had emails from several parents saying their kids had called or texted asking them for books.  And I borrowed The Fault in Our Stars from one of my students.  I'm 20 pages in, and I'm thinking I might stay up all night reading if I'm not careful.  Pretty sure you couldn't wipe this smile off my face if you tried right now!

And so...
I fervently, earnestly, and wholeheartedly implore my fellow teachers to read The Book Whisperer and Readicide and In The Middle and anything else you can get your hands on that emphasizes the importance of getting kids to connect to literature in authentic ways.  Internalize their messages and then make them your own and put them into action in your classrooms.  I did not come up with these ideas on my own.  I have spent years reading other teachers' accounts of how they got kids engaged in reading and reciprocal discourse and talking to fellow teachers about what works for them (and what doesn't), and I've taken it all and cobbled together something that will work for me - something that will complement the way my crazy mixed-up brain works.  And I have to tell you, it's simply amazing what can happen when we persevere through the frustration of trial and error that's necessary to figure out how to make these ideas work for each of us.

Poetic Triumphs

We dove into poetry headfirst last semester, and it was quite an adventure!  I thought I'd share my technique along with better pictures of some of the anchor charts you might have noticed in my classroom photos.

My introduction technique for poetry came from Genre Connections: Lessons to Launch Literary and Nonfiction Texts by Tanny McGregor, published by Heinemann:

http://www.heinemann.com/products/E03396.aspx

I loved the "jar" idea for introducing poetry.  Here's how it went down:

I started by asking how poetry is like a jar as I held up a jar for the class to see.  I then gave a very bland, factual description of my dad.  Next, I talked about my dad in emotional terms, describing the way he shows his love and the kind of personality he has.  As I gave these descriptions, I wrote them on slips of paper and dropped them into the jar.  I then asked my students how poetry is like a jar.  They started to make observations about the way I described with emotion and more description, then put those words in the jar.  I told them they were on the right track and to keep thinking, then I asked them to discuss with their groups.  It took a little work, but we eventually got around to the class deciding that poetry is like a jar because it is a vessel for holding emotions and feelings.

We created these charts after a collaborative activity where I distributed a number of poems in various formats.  I gave the kids about 10-15 minutes to work in groups as they explored the poems and made observations about the format, content, meaning, and anything else they noticed.  I drew the basic outlines on chart paper with the "Poetry  Can" text ahead of time.  I put them up on the wall and wrote their responses as we discussed what everyone had noticed during their discovery activity.

When selecting the poems for the discovery activity, I purposely chose some poems that didn't look like traditional poetry, and some that had distinctive traits that I hoped my students would key in on.  For the most part, it worked!  There were a few observations that I sort of steered, but overall, I was really impressed with what my students contributed.

One very interesting thing that I noticed about these is the difference in some of the more insightful observations made by my students.  I have two 7th grade classes, and in one of the classes, over 2/3 of the students are struggling readers or students who perform below grade level in reading and writing.  In addition, a number of them are ELLs.  The other class is much more balanced with a proportional mix of academic abilities.  Guess which class revealed deeper insights?  I'll give you a hint - it was the class whose chart is shown in the second photo.  Yep, my class with mostly lower-performing students! 

I think the most exciting moment for me through this entire lesson occurred after we had completed this activity and debriefed.  I turned to the class and asked, "So, if poetry doesn't really follow any rules, how can we tell when something is a poem?"  Students in my higher level class immediately started blurting out guesses.  None of them were wrong, per se, but nobody really hit the sweet spot with their answer, either.  When I asked the same question of my "lower" class, I got a bunch of blank stares and a few thoughtful looks.  Mindful of the ever-important wait time, I waited.  And waited.  And waited.

After what seemed like an eternity, one of my more gregarious boys widened his eyes, shot his hand up, and very nearly hopped out of his seat.  I called on him, and he looked me straight in the eye, clutched his chest, and said, "You know it's poetry because it hits you right in the heart, Mrs. Bonner!"

Oh. My. GOODNESS!!  I'm fairly certain tears welled up in my eyes.  He got it.  And his classmates chimed in their affirmation.

So very, very cool!

Lemonade

This Christmas break was by far the most relaxing vacation I've had in YEARS.  I brought lots of things home to work on, and then made the conscious decision to not work on them.  I enjoyed relaxing, spending time with family, and just "being" each day.

I knew I'd have a big job when I got back in today because I got new flooring in my classroom over the break.  What a blessing to have a fresh, new floor to start the year off!  My room wasn't exactly as I'd left it.  In fact, it was in such a state of disarray, I might have felt quite a bit of despair. Still, I wasn't quite prepared for what I found.  When I arrived, my neighbor was moving his things out of my room and surveying my textbooks stacked atop his desks in his room.  :)

Random stuff in random piles

Notice the nice, straight rows of desks.  LOL!

 











 I have fabulous coworkers and many offered to help reclaim my classroom, but honestly when tackling a job like this, it's best for me to just jump in and work alone.  I have awful spatial reasoning skills and need to see things in place before they make sense.  As a result, I often don't even know what I want, so asking someone else to help me would just be plain rude.




 I decided it was a perfect time to rearrange a few things that weren't working as well as I'd hoped the first part of the year.  It took all day to get things in order, and I still have papers and files tucked away in filing cabinets, but the room is functional and ready for my kiddos to return tomorrow.

Somehow, 1/3 of my Greek & Latin Roots word wall (on the left of this photo: black background with green, yellow, orange and blue) got ripped off during the reflooring.  I hope to have that repaired by the end of this week.

 

 

I like to move my desks around frequently depending on what we're doing in class.  While I have them in rows right now, they may be in groups of three or four next week.  I'll post some close-ups of some of my anchor charts and word walls later this week.

My room has a fresh, new floor and a layout that should work well for us the remainder of the year!  Lemons = lemonade

Resurrection

(of the blog, that is...)

My last post announced that I had officially gone off the deep end and applied for graduate school.  And it was pretty deep.  I jumped right into grad school at the end of my first full year of teaching, continued through my second year of teaching, and finished during the beginning of my third year.

It seems only fitting that this post should announce that I FINISHED graduate school!  I earned a M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on reading.  I enjoyed my courses and feel like I learned a lot, but I keep wondering when I'll start to magically feel like an expert.  LOL!  I guess my perfectionism won't allow that to ever happen.  I have learned that I will almost always second-guess myself, and if I fail to do that, I will certainly be very critical of my abilities.

This blog was originally started as a way to share my jewelry making pursuits.  That was many, many years ago.  And while I still own all of my tools and most of the supplies I had on hand when I stopped making jewelry, that's just not who I am any more.  I finally listened to that inner small voice that has always told me I am a teacher, and I have fully embraced my profession... my true calling.  Because this blog chronicles so much of the journey that got me here, I didn't want to start a new blog and leave all this behind.  It just seemed more genuine to revamp this one. 

So here's my philosophy:  I work to make my classroom a welcoming, inspiring place for both my students and other teachers.  I think we work best together, and I often gain inspiration from other teachers and students.  Guided by this philosophy, I have renamed my blog "The Inspiring Classroom."  I hope that by sharing my trials, successes, and struggles, others will laugh with me, rejoice with me, and learn with me.  Learning is a lifelong pursuit, and we are immensely enriched by a diverse community.  I look forward to sharing and learning with you!

Heading Back to School!

Yup, I really am insane.  :)

I have been fully accepted into a curriculum and instruction graduate program at my alma mater, UT Tyler.  I will start classes in May, and I am so giddy that it almost feels like when I went back to school in 2008.

So, what will I study?  Funny you should ask. . .

I originally considered programs that I thought might open up opportunities for better paying positions within public education.  I stressed myself out and worked myself up and agonized over the decision for weeks.  I declared special ed as my focus, seeing the great need for special ed services, but after researching the opportunities possible via the curriculum and instruction path, it became evident that pursuing a master's in special ed curriculum would not do much for my career.  And as much as I'd like to be very noble, I have to be honest and acknowledge that I am just not cut out to give those kiddos what they need for 7+ hours a day every single day.  Special ed is probably not the place for me.

I was discussing my angst over making a decision with some fellow teachers - all more seasoned than me - and one of them asked, "Well what do you want to do?" while another suggested I do what I makes me happy.  Novel idea, huh?  So what should I choose, then?  I love reading.  I love teaching reading.  I love when kids get excited about books and want to share their thoughts.  I love discovering new worlds and practicing escapism through reading.  But what should I choose as my cognate?  

I.Love.Reading.  When I was offered a position teaching reading, I could not believe how blessed I was.  It's what I wanted.  It's what I mentally prepared for as I was taking my college courses.  It's exactly what I had wished for and what I had dared hope for, even though I knew with the current economy I better just take whatever job I was offered teaching whatever subject I was offered (if I was even offered a job at all).  I remember driving home with tears rolling down my face after being offered a job teaching reading because I could not contain my joy in knowing I would be teaching READING.  I remember thinking, "Wow, He really does give us the desires of our heart."

So what should I choose as my focus for my Master's degree?  

"Reading, stupid." 

That's what I told myself when I finally consciously made the decision.  durrrrrr...  I'm truly giddy now that I've admitted that I WANT to do my Master's in reading.  And it's okay that maybe it's not the most lucrative or noble or selfless choice.  It's the right choice for me.  And besides, I LOVE reading.

Small Town Perks

Living in a small town is hard.  I know, I grew up in one.  The cliquish mentality of the always-haves can be oppressive to the never-hads.  Your business is everyone else's business, 24 hours a day.  There's little opportunity to grow into your full potential, unless you stretch your wings and break free of the small town.  And yet for those of us who grew up in small town USA, there is no place better.  A sense of community, security, and belonging are there for anyone willing to settle down and make a home.  There is a certain comfort in knowing that if you hit a snag, someone will be around to offer a hand.  You know if your car dies in the middle of the road, not everyone will zoom past, angrily honking at your misfortune.  Somebody will stop and offer a tow, a phone, or a ride.  Even if they don't know you.

If living in a small town is hard, moving to a small town and trying to find your place is even harder.  We wanted to raise Aaron in a small town similar to the one we grew up in, and we've always felt drawn to Kaufman.  We ended up building a house just outside of Rockwall in 2000 instead of moving to Kaufman because the drive seemed too far.  In 2007, Rockwall county's growth was pushing in around us and we decided we had to get out of the chaos and pandemonium.  So we put our house up for sale and started preparing to build on the land we had purchased in Kaufman county the year before.  After realizing building was not our best option, we sold that land and bought an existing home in the country.  The adjustment was tough (for me - notsomuch for Pressly, who would do without people altogether if allowed).  We had very few neighbors and didn't really know anyone in town.  Several people invited us to visit their churches, but beyond that, no one really reached out or even seemed interested.  We were just outsiders encroaching on their small town, not worth a second glance, because who were we, anyway?

We've been here 4 1/2 years now and we have made a place for ourselves.  We know a few people, either by name or at least by familiar faces.  I have a job teaching here, and am getting to know more and more people through work.  I can get from home (7 miles outside of town) to anywhere in town in under 20 minutes.  Traffic is nonexistent, and our vet is level-headed and super cheap.  One of our few neighbors is a precious woman whom we've grown to love like a grandma.  We help each other out.  Yesterday she called me in a panic because she'd locked her keys in her car at the grocery store, so I ran to her rescue with a spare key.  She picks Aaron up from school and hangs out with him when I have meetings.  Our other neighbors own the feed store.  When I called today to find out if they had de-wormer for our dogs, she not only told me my choices, but offered to stay at the store late to meet me or bring it to the house later this evening so I wouldn't have to drive back into town for it.  I love living in this small town!