Positive Postcards

Since Dr. Stahlman's first year at Chets Creek, positive postcards have been a part of our practice.  A postcard, "News from School," is placed in your school mailbox on Wednesday morning.  You choose something incredible that has happened during the week, write a short note to a student, and then drop the postcard in the Principal's box sometime during the day. I think the Principal has always enjoyed reading the cards (it keeps her up on things that are going on in the building)  and she adds the stamp.  Of course, recognizing that each of us has a different style and pace, I'm sure the Principal knew that all of the postcards wouldn't all appear in her box by the end of the day!  For those of us that were slow to get postcards written, at the mid-term she would usually send a friendly reminder that you owed her some postcards and that this would be a good time to catch up.  She sent another reminder at the end of the year and sometimes highlighted a list of teachers who were keeping up with their postcards or occasionally highlighted well-written postcards in her weekly Memo.  Although the expectation was that teachers would write the postcards, there has never really been a penalty for non-compliance.

The idea originally was that over the year you would send at least one positive postcard to every child in your class.  A few teachers made once-a-year labels for their entire class that were a "you're gonna do great on the big test" booster that they sent right before testing time that met the expectation but certainly not the spirit of the practice.  Over the years, teachers also began to send cards to parents and to their colleagues.  I know I was always delighted to get a postcard at home and both the children and parents at school would remark how excited they were for their child to get a postcard. It was just such a small, but effective way, to highlight individual successes and to promote positive communication.

As luck would have it, last year the Union negotiated a paperwork reduction and like lots of other good and bad practices, positive postcards came under fire.  Principals were no longer able to "require" teachers to write positive postcards.  So the idea came to our Shared Decision Making Group to decide if this was a practice that was worth continuing or one to let go.  I'd like to say that the group decided that it was such a worthwhile practice that we unanimously decided that we couldn't possibly live without it.  But...that's not what happened...  While some teachers hardily endorsed the practice and gave many examples of how postcards boosted self-esteem with individual students and positively affected communication, some teachers just didn't see the value added for the time they required.  The decision was made that the postcards would continue to be placed in every box and then put in the Principal's box to read and stamp but that she wouldn't hold teachers accountable.

The Principal has often remarked that the teachers that are diligent about postcards and communication in general, are the ones most likely NOT to have problems with parents!  But it's more than that.  Can you imagine the household pride when a postcard arrives in the mailbox?  I can just imagine the child's chest swelling with pride and parents who show off the card to each other and anyone else that will listen.  I have had parents come back years later and tell me that their child kept a postcard that I wrote for years tucked in the mirror in their bedroom or put it in a picture book to keep for always.  I know I have kept every single postcard that I have ever received in a bowl with other "feel good" notes from parents and children, and when I'm feeling particularly down, I go through and read every note and card. It's an immediate "pick me up" and reminds me why I do what I do.

I guess I'm writing this blog to the teachers who don't write post cards to their students and colleagues because I want them to carefully reconsider this practice as one of those "tried and true" activities that is well worth the effort. I know that not every teacher is a writer and they would argue that they do other things to boost self-esteem and to work on relationships, and I am sure that is true. But I would also like to think that there are many other teachers and administrators who have written notes and cards to their students and colleagues on a regular basis and see the immediate benefits and also see the benefit for years to come. Would love to know if you have ever tried this practice and if it's made a difference for you!

Tricks for Herding Cats

Our Principal, Susan Phillips, who was a Kindergarten teacher,  says that the first days of kindergarten are a lot like "herding cats."  It's a apt description of trying to get the class to work together when they are so used to doing their own thing.  While VPK has made a huge dent into the first days of kindergarten, there are still children that come to school on that first day who have never been away from mom. There are always anxious kids (and moms) and there is always at least one child that cries and another that you have to "peel off" the parent.  When you put all those children together, it really is like herding cats.

One of my favorite new kindergarten teachers asked me for my "tricks" for the first few days.  My first thought was, "I don't have any tricks!" but as I thought about that question I realized that what she called "tricks" were those little things that we have all learned from experience.  They are part of our tool box.  The trouble is that, with any list, the teacher using it has to have "with-it-ness." She has to be "reading her room" and know which "trick" is required in which situation and which "trick" might just work with which child. After thinking about it for a while, I decided to sit down and try to write a few hints that she (or any kindergarten teacher) might use, especially if they get "that" class.  As I was writing, I thought of all the really GREAT kindergarten teachers and behavior interventionists that are at my school.  So... I asked them to pen a few of their own "tricks." Not surprisingly, many of them were similar.  The following list is the result of many combined years of experience.  Thank you Susan Phillips, Elizabeth Conte, Melanie Holtsman, Maria Mallon. and Lourdes Smith.   

So... Kindergarten Teachers, these are just a few things that you might try if you happen to get that group of kids that makes you feel like you are really herding cats!

1. Give the "busy hands and body" child something important to hold and take care of as you transition around the school for lunch, recess and resource (aka- a job like clip board holder). It keeps his hands busy and most kids love to be a helper!

2. Put the  "busy" student is charge of something “very important” where she gets the opportunity to set a good example for others, like door holder, folder hander outer, flag holder for the pledge, etc.  - something she can take pride in doing.  Also, gives you something positive to write home about to start off with a positive interaction with the parents.

3. Make the most disruptive kid your line leader so you can keep him close to you. Close proximity can be a key.

4. Use upperclassmen (or patrols) as partners, helping you get to the room in the morning or to dismissal in the afternoon.  Two upperclassmen for each "busy" kinder will make the upperclassmen feel good and will give the "busy" kid someone to engage.

5.  Use a hand held or a computer with earphones and have the "busy" child watch a video such as Leap Frog's "Letter Factory."  This needs to be kept mostly out of sight of the other kids as to not be too distracting to the rest of the class, but it will give you, the class, and the kid about a 15 minute break. 

6.  Find something the disruptive student knows a lot about or interests him and have that child “teach” the class or a small group all about it.  Finding specific books on that topic will help engage the student as you begin independent reading in those early days, "I bought this book especially for you because I know how much you LOVE Thomas the Train!"

7.  Do a morning and an afternoon recess.  Two short breaks instead of one longer break can provide just the break (you and) the students need.

18. Use lots and lots of verbal praise, using the child's name. "I like the way Johnny has his eyes on me."  "I love how Johnny is reading his book.  Look how he's sitting with his book open and his eyes on the book."

8. Calm the environment before dismissal.  Plan for a quiet activity at the end of the day because if you are in a frenzy, the students will be too. 

9. Use more songs  (If You're Happy and You Know It, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star,  Wheels on the Bus...) and more motion games ( 1-2-3 Do what I Do) than usual - the ones most of your students know - especially between transitions to get the wiggles out or even during a mini-lesson if you see you are losing them. 

10. Send the "busy" child for a walk on a "pretend" errand, if you have an extra adult to walk with her.

11. To settle the class have them take deep breaths.  One favorite is to have the children take a deep breath and hold it... then put up 5 fingers and have them blow out their "pretend" candles.  Do this about 3 times to calm everything down.

12.  To calm an individual child have him/her think about hot soup.   Tell the child to think about the soup that is hot like he is hot right then.  Then tell him to close his eyes and smell the soup taking in a deep breath through the nose to sniff the soup to inhale. Then blow on the soup to exhale.  Sometimes the visual can be very helpful. 

13. When you choose a signal to get the class' attention, choose one with motions so they actually have to watch you, such as "silent P.E."  Tell the students that if you start doing "silent PE", they should follow.  Do about 8 counts of an action and then switch to another action for about 8 counts and then a 3rd, if needed, to get everyone's attention. Wait... and wait...  until you have everyone's attention.  Usually even the active kids will look around as the room gets quiet and they usually enjoy actions.  Then... follow the actions with a whisper voice of instructions. 

14. Choose an individual signal for the "busy" child that you can give her throughout the day without disrupting the class to let her know that she is doing a good job.  Make eye contact with the child and then give the signal such as a wink and nod, the "okay sign" or thumbs up sign.  Let the child know often that you are watching and noticing her good behavior.

15.  A silent signal can also be used to let a child know to stop a behavior.  Make eye contact and then give a frown and a stop sign with the hand.  You can give silent signals almost without missing a beat and interrupting the flow of your lesson.

16..  Try having your most disruptive child sit between two students that know just what to do.  Sometimes the good behavior just rubs off.

17.  Consider sitting on the floor with your students having the busy child sitting close to you.  Close proximity can do wonders.  A gentle hand on her knee if she gets too wiggly without even a hint of disruption of the lesson can sometimes quiet a wiggly child. 

18. If the child literally cannot sit still or keep his hands quiet for group time, give him an area on the edge of the group (make a square or circle with duct tape).  Tell the child that he just has to stay inside the shape.  Ignore whatever he does even if the child  stands on his head.  The point is that the child is not roaming the room and touching other students.

19.  Sometimes physical things help the "busy" child get some energy out,  like stacking and then unstacking chairs or moving chairs from one table to another.  For instance, have the child stack all the chairs before recess and lunch and then have her unstack them after.

20. Get the parents involved as soon as possible. This will help you decide how much help they can be.  Sometimes that is all it takes, and, sometimes, you will decide that the behavior plan will be all on you, because the parents cannot or are not able to help.  It helps if you have already called the parent on the first day to make general contact and to say hello so that your first contact with them is not negative. Remember that no matter what the student has done, she is still their most precious child.

21. With a particularly difficult kid, pick your battles.  You can't change everything all at once.  Pick the most important behavior to work on first.  For instance, "keeping hands to self" is more important that "staying in seat." 

22. Start a behavior program quickly when you see a behavior that needs to be molded and needs extra intervention.  Fold three pieces of copy paper in half, staple as a booklet and invite the child to decorate the front.  Choose one focus to work on at a time, such as walking directly to the table after the mini-lesson, coming in the morning and putting backpack away and getting backpack in the afternoon, raising hand to speak, keeping hands to self...  When the child has 5/10 stickers on a page, she gets to pick a prize from the treasure box.  Then start a new page. Keep the plan out for the child to constantly see and let the student put on the reinforcer (sticker, smiley face...).  Have the child remind you why he is getting the reinforcer each time.

23. If stickers or stars aren't enough to motivate the child, figure out what that student's "currency" is.  What motivates her?  If you can't figure it out, ask the parents for hints about what she really likes to do or receive.  Make a personalized behavior plan to earn toward that currency.  The key is no matter what has happened before,  there is always an opportunity to earn.

24. Counting down (from 5) can be helpful.  Make sure the child can actually count down from 5! But this gives the child something to  concentrate on instead of how angry he is and the child can actually picture the anger coming down.  You can use this and teach the child to count down when he gets angry before he reacts and you can also use it when you want to give the child a minute to comply, "I need for you to sit in your chair now - 5...4...3...2...1...  If you count down and the child, doesn't comply, then there has to be a consequence so think about what you are going to do BEFORE you start the count down!  This is not a "gotcha!"  You want the child to comply.

25.  Have little talks during the day with the targeted child, such as "You are trying so hard.  I saw you get right in line when I called your table and I really admire that."  " I was watching you during the mini-lesson and I noticed that you really tried to follow every direction. Wow!" High five!

26. Enlist the help of another teacher as a "check in" teacher.  The child reports to that teacher at the beginning and end of the day.  In the morning, the teacher goes over the goal of the day and let's the child know she will be checking.  She then checks again during any free time during the day.  Finally the child checks in again with the teacher at the end of the day.  Sometimes this helps a child know that other people care about him.  At our school this is often the Media Specialist, "Miss KK" or the "Miss Julie" in the front office. 

27.  Read books about behavior.  No David is a great series.  Collect specialty books about cooperation, respect, bullying... to read at the beginning of a new year.

28. If a child is grumpy, show him how he looks in a mirror or take a picture on your phone to show how the grumpy face looks.  

29. If a child is really having a "fit,"  just ignore it until it is over.  In the heat of the moment the child is not rational and cannot reason, so trying to talk to him in the midst of the anger is a waste.  Stay very calm (even if your heart is racing) and reinforce the other children for ignoring the tantrum.  When the child is calm, go over how the child will handle the situation differently if it happens again (and it probably will!)

30. Sometimes you just need a break (or the child does).  Develop a relationship with another teacher.  Work out a plan with another teacher on your grade level or a completely different grade to either switch one student for 30 minutes to give each other a break or as a "reward" visit to the other class.

Hope this helps!  I am sure you have your own "tricks."  Please feel free to share them in the comments!

Finding Mrs. Warnecke

Kindergarten teacher, Maria Mallon, has started working on her Masters Degree. She allowed me to read an assigned paper connecting her own remembrances of learning to read with the research on reading at that time. Maria remembered her teacher having three reading groups - Mary, Jesus and St. Joseph (Catholic School, of course - in my first grade it was the red birds, blue birds and black birds - or buzzards as we sometimes called them!) and how the reading group she was in had shaped her vision of herself as a reader. Her writing connected me with a story from my own past of vividly remembering the day in first grade that I did not know the word "see" and called the word "look". My teacher was furious, furious, furious (as I remember it!) and pulled me up out of my chair by my ear. I was so afraid that she was going to make me wear the baby cap (which was a baby blue crocheted cap with a satin bow she made the "bad" boys wear to lunch) that I was practically trembling. Of course, I had a second grade teacher that changed my life and is the reason I went into teaching - thank goodness! Maria and I decided that if any student was ever going to track us down or write about us, we wanted it to be about something amazing that we had done to change their lives! As teachers, don't we always simply want to make a difference?

This week I finished the inspiring story of Cindi Rigsbee, a former North Carolina Teacher of the Year (and fellow TLNer!), and her first grade teacher, Mrs. Warnecke, who had a positive impact on Cindi's life. Cindi began first grade with an emotionally abusive teacher who had teacher "pets." However, two months into the year half the class was moved to a basement room without windows with a beginning teacher. That beginning teacher, Mrs. Warnecke changed Cindi's life as she made her magical classroom come alive. Cindi was introduced to writing and poetry which became lifelong passions. Cindi eventually became a teacher and tried to track down Mrs. Warnecke because as the years went by she realized more and more how much Mrs. Warnecke had changed the direction of her life. She finally realized that it wasn't Mrs. Warnecke she was trying to track down but it was the Mrs. Warnecke within herself that she was trying to become.

In the Fall of 2008 Cindi and Mrs, Warnecke were reunited on a tearful segment of Good Morning, America. This book chronicles Cindi's life beginning with that life changing year with Mrs. Warnecke to Cindi's decision to become a teacher and her disastrous first few years teaching, to the outstanding teacher she has become. The book is also sprinkled with other teacher's stories of teachers that made a difference in their lives. This is a must read for every teacher!

A Sense of Belonging

Jennifer Allen makes me want to pack up and move to Maine! I am not a cold weather gal, but her new book A Sense of Belonging, is a new resoucre packed with suggestions for sustaining and retaining new teachers. I would love to live in a state that not only spouts the statistics but actually does something about them. "17% of educators leave teaching after one year, 30% after two years, 40% after three years and hearly half after five years." We know this to be true so Jennifer Allen, Literacy Coach, presents many possibilities for intensive, sustained professional development for the new teachers at her school: observing the coach, teaching how to administer and analyze assessments, offering in-class support, meeting as a group of new teachers, observing peers, using student work to guide instruction, offering on-going professional development on curriculum planning, and study groups. She presents each idea with "tried and true" experience and suggestions. Some of the ideas are not possible in our situation and many we already have embedded in our weekly Teacher Meetings but the validity of each makes me want to figure out a way to make sure each happens in my own school setting.

For instance, she suggests making sure that new teachers are allowed to observe their peers. In her case, the stumbling block early on was teachers opening up their rooms for the observations. In our case, our school is very open. Teachers welcome observers and they have many. We have always allowed new teachers to spend a day observing teachers of their choice. Just last week, new teacher Mary Beth asked to observe four different teachers on her grade level. She wanted to see Carrie's Skills Block, Tenean and Danielle's Readers' Workshop, Laurie's Writers' Workshop and Deb and Michelle's Math Workshop. She was proactive and knew what she wanted to see and who she wanted to watch. She just sent an e-mail after her day observing: "I cannot thank you enough for today. It was a WONDERFUL learning experience. Each teacher was so helpful and professional. Carrie even changed her schedule for me and let me video tape her doing her sound cards. Now I will have time to reflect on all I saw over the long weekend." While that's a good start, one of our frustrations has been that we want teachers to see more demonstration lessons and we'd like for them to have some choice so they can guide their own learning - much like Mary Beth did.

One of the things that Jennifer suggests is that teachers go in a group so that they can debrief with teachers who have seen the same lesson. As I am trying to see how this would look in my school, I am thinking that we could offer once a month demonstration lessons. We would schedule a demonstration lesson. Guided reading comes up every year as something teachers want to know more about, so suppose we schedule a primary observation so a teacher could see three guided reading groups - one in K, one in 1st grade, and one in 2nd, back-to-back. While this is designed for new teachers, any teacher that is interested could sign up for the opportunity to visit. They would have a guiding sheet that would ask them to list things they wondered about and then ways they could use what they see in their own classroom. Their committment would be to meet with the group after school for a half hour and debrief what they had seen or maybe that could even be worked into the half day. To take best advantage of the subs we would have to get, we would offer a similar opportunity in the intermediate school in the afternoon. In this way teachers could choose the topics that they wanted to know more about. Now this has possibilities!

She's the Apple of My Eye

I have mentored new teachers for the past ten years while I have been a Literacy Coach at Chets Creek. It's part of my job as a Coach and also as a National Board Certified Teacher but it is also a part of my heart. The older I get the more I realize that I have an obligation - a moral reponsibility - to share what I have learned. In fact, it's one of the reasons I felt so compelled to begin this blog. I have always felt like I am part of an amazing school that is different from the norm in so many ways and that we must share what we learn, that we must be transparent and honest, and that we are called to use what we know to train up a new generation of teachers. Maybe it's a little sappy to think about legacy but I do feel like we are forging a path for others to follow and eventually lead.

This year, I have the opportunity to mentor my own daughter as she joins the profession for her very first year. When I approached her about writing a "she said/ he said" sort of blog as a teacher and mentor but also as a mother and daughter, Courtney never hesitated. We have begun that path and I hope you will take a moment and visit our blog, will leave a message for Courtney supporting her first attempts at blogging, and will recommend the blog to any beginning teachers that you might know.

This is a journey that truly touches my heart! Join me!

Welcome New Teachers!

Once again it is time for Summer Orientation for "New to Chets" teachers. This year is a little different than other years because for the first time in many years, we have a more seasoned group of "new" teachers. Of the five "new" teachers, two are returning to Chets Creek from the "mommy track" - both have previous experience teaching kindergarten and first grade at Chets Creek. Two are transferring to Chets from other Duval County schools and one is a first year teacher but did her internship at Chets Creek. As always there is no money to pay these teachers for their time, but they are usually anxious to get a feel for their new home, so they never seem to mind. This year, as in every year, they seem genuinely excited for a peek into their new assignments and new colleagues.

Susan Phillips, the Principal, begins with an entire day of getting to know the new teachers. She gives them a tour of the facilities, but she also gives them a tour of the school's philosophy, its rituals and routines, its traditions, and its rich history. She explains why there is an urgency to our teaching, our data story, what it means to be immersed in standards-based education, and what it means to thrive in a collaborative professional learning community. This year's overview was shortened in respect to the experience of this group.

After the day of "getting to know you," the teachers are invited to the Principal's home for an evening social with the Leadership Team. The group enjoyed dinner and fellowship together and this year, Media Specialist KK Cherney was skyped (using a video conferencing feature) into the meeting!! The group was then given a demonstration of Second Life, which is a 3-D virtual world that some of the Leadership Team learned about at a recent technology conference. What a hoot! The evening ended with a game of "tell us one thing nobody in the room knows about you!" What was told at Susan's house, stays at Susan's house!

All of this fun and fellowship provides the new teacher with the essential elements of knowing other new teachers as her own cohort and also getting to know teacher leaders, but it also reiterates for the new teachers the important part that relationships play in the culture at Chets Creek. We work hard, but we play hard. We depend on each other. We like each other.

New Teacher Orientation

One of the ways that you stabilize a faculty that continues to have new entries is to make sure that each new teacher is quickly immersed into the school's culture and then is supported throughout her first few years. That includes teachers who are new to the profession but also those that are new to the school. One of the ways that Chets Creek does this is by starting all teachers new to Chets with a three day summer orientation. Of course, there is no money to pay new teachers for their time, but they are new, anxious and excited, so they never ask. They seem as genuinely excited for a peek into their new assignment as we are to give up our own time to provide the training!

Susan Phillips, the Principal, begins with an entire day of getting to know the new residents herself. She gives them a tour of the facilities, but she also gives them a tour of the school's philosophy, its rituals and routines, its traditions, and its rich history. She explains why there is an urgency to our teaching, our data story, what it means to be immersed in standards-based education, and what it means to thrive in a collaborative professional learning community. Each new teacher is given a copy of Roland Barths' Improving Schools from Within, the same book that all teachers at Chets have studied, to help them understand the process of genuine collaboration. All of this sets the schema for the next two days when teachers are divided and given an overview of their grade level and subject area. Grade level information includes, among other things, Non-negotiables written by the new grade level of what they all agree to do this next year. Teachers are then divided by subject areas and given an overview of Readers' and Writers' Workshop and/or Math and Science Workshop by the coaches who will support them throughout the next year. These sessions include general information about the Workshop model, Pacing Guides, information about grade-level homework, common assessments, progress monitoring information, resources including professional books that teachers are expected to read, and a wealth of information on getting through the first 30 days. Since we know that teachers often find classroom management one of the most difficult parts of initial teaching, time is also allocated to explain our school-wide behavior plan with suggestions for individualization. The three days end with an evening social at the Principal's home because our bottom line belief is that "it's all about relationships" - relationships with our students but also relationships with each other. The new teachers and their mentors are invited to join with the Leadership Team for dinner, fun and games - lots of fun and laughter! All of this provides the new teacher with the essential elements of knowing other new teachers as her own cohort, but also the players on her grade level and subject teams and the people in Leadership who will be the scaffolding her experiences as a new year begins.

This cohort of new teachers will meet throughout the next year to provide the support they need to make their first year one of their best years! Here's to the 2007 new cohort of teachers at Chets Creek (pictured above). Here! Here!