The Grinch Comes to Chets

I have often been called a Pollyanna, because I usually see the glass half full.   It's true that I have spent most of my professional life climbing mountains and basking in the view on the mountaintop, but this week I seem to be spending my days walking in the Valley of Discontent.  I haven't spent much of my time here over the past fifteen years because I teach at a school where teachers are mostly sheltered from politics, and the focus at Chets has been on living in a state of gratitude, striving for continual self-improvement with a mantra of children first.  It's not just an idea.  It's the culture.  It's a lifestyle.

After Thanksgiving we come back to three weeks before the winter holiday.  I usually love December's short month.  It is usually a time of holiday joy and good cheer.  We have a hilariously fun Book Exchange and enjoy the "Twelve Days of Cookies." Classes prepare a "Season of Giving" project so they can practice giving instead of just getting.   Holiday music can be heard in the hallways and 2nd graders prepare a holiday play for all to enjoy. Teachers finish up units of study and make sure they have a handle on where the children are before they leave and make goals for what they want to accomplish in the new year.  You can watch the children's hearts leap with excitement as we move closer to the break and their eyes begin to twinkle... except this year...   This year is different.  This year the Grinch came to Chets Creek... in the form of TESTING!

This type of mandated over testing (in Reading, Writing, Math AND Science!)  is like a suffocating fog that so masks the view that it is hard to see anything clearly.  It's just too much for the children.  Even Rudolph's bright red nose couldn't light the way through this clog of frustration.  Changing the name to "scrimmages"  is just putting a wolf in sheep's clothing!  It's still TESTING and in its worst form!  The idea to get some data so that we are ready to hit the ground running when we come back in the new year seems like such a good idea... In fact, it's one we have embraced for years.  It's one we prepare for way in advance at the school level,  but this year the county's new mandated implementation has been short sighted, last minute and disorganized. A perfect dream may start at the top but as it reaches the reality at the bottom, it's more like the perfect storm. I could go on and on and on and on... about all the problems, but it wouldn't solve anything now.  The worst part is that we have wasted one of the most beautiful times of the year with our children and this time can't be made up. It's gone forever...

We will continue testing through early next week, because we have no choice.  Wonder how many children are really going to have writing prompts, numbers and science experiments in their heads next week instead of the sugarplums that are usually dancing this time of year? We will NOT let the Grinch steal the joy of this Christmas season! Of course,  we have to work with that which we cannot change, but some way, some how we still have to make these last days special for the children we care about so much.  Maybe it's the rigor of our commitment to children and the accountability of our love that is really being tested... Hmmmmmm...

P.S. - A few days after this blog was posted, second grade teacher Christy Constande pulled some of the K-1-2 teachers together.  Since they had not been effected by the testing, she suggested that they each take a 3-4-5 class and do something holiday-ish for our students that had missed so much of the holiday joy because of testing... Every single primary class adopted an intermediate class!  And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why this IS the greatest school on earth!

Testing Rant

I have already ranted about the excess amount of testing in our county at the beginning of this school year for our youngest learners.  In our sixth week of school this year, our district finally revised its testing calendar and dropped the Science, Music, Art and PE pre and post tests that they had originally required of Kindergartners.  They also dropped the Reading, Math, and Science tests they had originally required at the end of each nine weeks and only required post tests in Reading in Math.  Hallelujah! However, they added  post tests for the computer programs we have been using... when we were able to get to the computer lab, as we worked around the computer testing program (we have one lab for 1300 students!)  To say this year was full of disorganized chaotic testing is an understatement.  The amount of hours of instruction lost to a ridiculous testing schedule is disgraceful.

Lucy Calkins made a statement about testing being the Titanic of the Common Core, and I think she is right. I'm not sure how testing got tied to the Common Core because there is nothing in our new standards that require the type of testing that is being done today.  Certainly we need to understand where our students are at any given time so that we know how and what to instruct, but it seems we've just gotten into testing, as if by simply testing students, they can improve!  We miss the point entirely.  Assessment completes the prescriptive cycle of identifying through assessment, writing a prescription, selecting the appropriate resources to instruct, instructing, and then assessing again to identify the new targets.  Testing without engaging appropriate instruction is simply wasteful. It's malpractice.

As I was leaving school this afternoon, I caught this picture outside the Test Administrator's Office.  Fifty-eight boxes were taped and labeled, ready to go to the District's Testing Office.  That's not the state required high stakes test that was given in the Spring but 58 boxes of required county tests given to our K-5 students at the end of the year.  These will be used for performance pay for teachers, eventually, although the inaccuracies are mind boggling.  I know that the intent is to move the county forward, but it just seems like the implementation has been boggled at every turn.  We were fortunate to have a Test Administrator who was able to shoulder the enormous time and responsibility of organizing the distribution and administration of such a massive testing schedule (I guess you could say her part time job was being the only Assistant Principal at our very large school!)  Her talent and perseverance were noticed and appreciated by all.

As for my school, we tried, as we always do, to carve a course through the mine field and to just keep doing what we know works.  We gave the assessments that we absolutely had to give, although it is difficult to trust the results of a new test - we were not able to depend on it for anything.  We did the best we could in a "red" school (meaning we do not have the technology infrastructure that we need to support the expectations of computerized testing) and tried to soothe the hysteria of high performing teachers  who often were on the verge of tears knowing how hard they had worked and how much they wanted to prove it. The principal continued to work on relationships and easing the stress and pain, instead of playing into the panic.  She continued to assure our faculty that if we continued to keep our eyes on our students, we would prevail... and we have.

With a population that is changing (our second language and free/reduced numbers continue to climb) our results continue to remain high (we had the highest writing scores in the county!)  Our teachers are collegial and continue to depend on each other.  We are not always in charge of our own fate, but we are in charge of our destiny. We continue to see through the fog into the eyes of the children.  Now that is leadership.

It's a new Science year!

Our county has a new curriculum in Science.  While we still haven't had our first day of professional development to overview the materials (and with the lack of planning time, I wonder when that time might finally come!) I am fortunate to teach with our grade level's Science lead, so... even though the grade level hasn't had the training, our Science lead has. Now, to be fair, the standards have not changed - only the curriculum. 

There has been a push in Science for several years - since the state began to test Science in fifth grade.  It is obvious that our children can't learn all the Science that they need to know in 5th grade unless some of the foundation is built in K-4th.   However, we know that most primary teachers do not consider themselves Science experts.  Most would consider themselves reading experts and maybe a few, Math experts, but very few have an extensive Science background.  They took the standard Science Methods course that was required, but unless they just have a natural interest in some area of Science, their knowledge is generally rather shallow.  Once again I am lucky to teach with a second career teacher who has an extensive Science background.  I realize everyday how much more she knows than I do when she expands on the Science "word of the day" that is introduced every day on our school-wide television "wake up" program.  Off the top of her head she can  expand on the word  and its use in a Scientific context.  Often I learn as much as the children.

Today we had our first investigation around a Five Senses unit.  Items were put in a sock and then the sock was knotted so that the students had to feel the object, describe it and then try to identify it.  This is the kind of activity that our children love.  The new curriculum comes with workbooks which I normally am not a fan, but in this case where the investigations are new to teachers, the workbooks form a support of how to work through the investigation.  I would think that after using the workbooks this year, that we will be able to transfer to Science journals next year.

This Science curriculum also comes with readers that are at, above and below the expected first grade reading levels.  I'm not sure exactly how they are meant to to used but the idea of having the readers opens lots of possibilities!  This is really going to be a great year in Science!

Do we overtest kids?

Recently our county mandated that the Guidance Counselor could no longer be in charge of testing.  So, as a Leadership Team, we began to talk about what the Testing Coordinator job for our very large school entailed and who in our school could pick up that responsibility.  Although I have known for some time that we are testing our children to death, I had no idea that 60 days of our Guidance Counselor's 180 school days involve TESTING - the county's three times a year benchmark testing in Reading, Math and Science to monitor our progress toward FCAT, the week and a half of actual FCAT testing, gifted screenings, annual testing of ELL students, annual testing for Music, Art, and PE, and the list goes on and on.  60 DAYS of testing! All mandated!

I certainly realize that Guidance Counselors should not shoulder this responsibility because they give up actual counselling and small groups to push paper, but I wonder just who in the school the county thinks has an extra 60 days to unpack, dispense, report, and pack up assessments!  Coaches are non-existent, at least at our school, which means we have already given up the professional development needed to make the testing and results really beneficial to instruction.  We gave them up with class size.  We don't have an Assistant Principal, even though we have over 1200 students, but even if we did, how could he spend 60 days with testing.  Should he just let the school's discipline wait while he packs and unpacks papers?  To think it could be a teacher, who this year added lunch supervision to her responsibilities and gave up all of her common planning and half her planning overall, is not even a consideration.  In a school this size, the testing for a single grade level can completely paper a small office.

Maybe the answer is to take a better look at the ridiculous amount of testing that we are doing in our state and in our county.  It is changing what teachers teach.  It is changing attitudes toward learning in our classrooms.  Children who once loved reading now dread it because we test everything that they read. They can't just read for the thrill of getting into the story of a good book.  Teachers are changing as they are forced to teach in a way that they don't believe is good for children. There are certainly teachers who are holding to their beliefs, but even they are getting beat down.  I do feel fortunate to be in a school where people still believe in the possibiities but as we are asked each year to do more with less, I begin to feel the edges get rough and in some cases begin to unravel, even in this Camelot...  We MUST make our thoughts known... before it is too late...

Taking a Look at the Data

We are so fortunate in Duval County to have Early Release Wednesdays every other Wednesday of the month.  These days give us an extra hour and a half for professional development every other week.  Usually we spend the time with our grade level and work on the work, but this past Wednesday the entire school worked on data.  The county has finally figured out a way to give us data that is user friendly.  Of course for 3-4-5, it's based on benchmarks that, in my opinion, are still questionable.  I would hate to see us put ALL of our faith in those tests but at least it's a starting point.  

In K-1-2 we had state-wide FAIR data to peruse. This past Wednesday we looked at the data against our lists of free and reduced lunch, lists of second language children, Hispanic students (which will probably be a high stakes assessment sub group or us for the first time this year) and other identifiers.  

So what did I learn?  Of course I know who my strugglers are by now (it's the end of the first nine weeks!) and I already had small groups and specific interventions in place.  I did notice that a much higher percentage of my strugglers are also on free and reduced lunch.  That has long been a trend but it just means that I have to work harder to make sure that they catch up in these early years.  It means that many of them are in homes where they are in survival mode and the children don't have the same type of support as their more financially comfortable peers have day in and day out.  That group continues to grow as our economy struggles and I want to give each child a fighting chance. 

I also identified which of my strugglers that I can touch at our tutoring center and want to make sure to  target those children and get them there for the extra service after school every week.  I also realize that I have a pocket of my Special Education students that have strong academic skills and will need to continue to be challenged at a more advanced level! Nice problem to have.  There is a responsibility to make sure that they continue to grow even though they are working above the aim line.  All in all it was a good reflection time - something that all teachers need on a regular basis.

What are they thinking?

Last week, out of the blue, we received an e-mail with an "invitation" or rather a command appearance at an in-service.  I teach in a very large county and the leadership had decided that ALL K-2 teachers would attend a half day in-service conducted by the state.  The time was to be spent learning about the FAIR, our state K-2 assessment and how to plan for instruction.  I was actually excited.  I have been to several state workshops and in-services over the years and they are usually presented by very knowledgeable presenters.  I figured if the county was making EVERY teacher go then it must be something new and cutting edge.  Why else would the county take on the expense of substitutes for every single teacher and moving so many teachers in and out of the city over the course of an entire week?

So... today I sat through three hours of the most basic in-service.  I think the presenters were very knowledgeable but the information presented was not that different from the information that we were presented three or four years ago and every year since then.  Will the county ever quit presenting on beginning professional development? In my county, performance pay for K-2 teachers will be based on this assessment so I can understand why you would need to have every teacher have a basic foundational knowledge of this assessment but the focus was "using the data to focus instruction, to differentiate for groups".  The presentation was one PowerPoint slide after another with a couple of demonstrations - several Elkonin box examples (are there really K-2 teachers who don't know about Elkonin boxes?)  It was... boring...  It scares me to think what must be going on in my county that that was the level of presentation someone in our leadership thought we needed...

One of the things that I have learned as a presenter is that if you want teachers to really "get all it" then you need to model what it is that you want them to do.  There was a lot of talk about explicit instruction today but surely they also know the research on basic lecture methods and their ineffectiveness.  Of course, they did throw in a couple of "turn and talks."  In my opinion, if you want teachers to differentiate in their instruction with kids then the presentation itself should have been differentiated.  It doesn't seem to me that it would have been too hard to give a quick assessment that teachers could have used to self-assess and then choose a workshop that was appropriate to their need and interest. There were certainly enough instructors from the sate in the room that the session could have been divided into many smaller groups.  For example, I would love to have asked these real state experts about some of the questions that we are wrestling with such as how to best use the FAIR data in the RtI process or how better to use the vocabulary percentiles and what the best interventions might be that match the data or exactly how to group students using the comprehension data in the early grades.  Instead we spent time looking at the same basic scores that we were taught to analyze three years ago. I hate to say it was a waste of time, because maybe it wasn't for some teachers.  But... for me, I could have been much more productive working with children in my classroom this morning.

I REALLY HATE complaining... but I hate wasting my time even more...

Spirit Week

Although our first graders above don't take our state test, they do get into the action by supporting their intermediate friends. At Chets Creek the week before our high stakes assessment (FCAT) is Spirit Week. On Monday we came dressed in support of our theme - farmers!  Tuesday is was mismatched clothes. On Wednesday it was wacky hair and socks. On Thursday we pulled tee-shirts from the back of our closets from any year and then finally on Friday, the big finale. The students and teachers came dressed as rock stars! The primary students lined the halls to watch the 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders parade to an outside assembly featuring skits by their teachers and some of the Jaguar cheerleaders (one of them a former Creeker!) The idea is to rock out and relax before settling down for the BIG test.

I don't know if our first graders really get all that is happening, but if they have older brothers and sisters, they certainly know about "the test." Each primary class adopts an intermediate class for FCAT week. They prepare signs to pump up the intermediate students and provide morning snacks. All in all I hope our first graders get the idea that "the test" is absolutely fun! We'll see...

March Madness

I'm not sure what "March Madness" means in your part of the world, but at Chets Creek it means that the Principal is coming for a read aloud. Susan Phillips does one of the best read alouds in the building. She was a kindergarten teacher and you can tell the moment she starts to read aloud. She dropped into my class to read the 2001 Chets Creek Book-of-the-month, Apple Batter, yesterday. Not only was the book a delightful story about perseverance that the children LOVED, but the Principal guided my students through a question and answer session to help them think deeper about the characters and the story line.

As a Leadership Team we have identified read aloud as the starting place to deepen our children's comprehension skills in our building. While we want children to think deeply so that they are ready for our state assessment beginning in third grade, comprehension is about so much more than the ability to answer tricky questions on a state assessment! We want our children to fall in love with stories. We want them to beg us to finish reading a story that we have started in class. We want them to sneak books home and read them under the covers after lights out. We want them to speed through breakfast so they can get to school and share the latest adventure with a friend that they read the night before. In other words, we just want them to leave elementary school in love with reading. We believe we can do this by talking about books and choosing books that make children emotional - whether the book makes them excited, happy, sad or boiling mad! That is why Mrs. Phillips is spending time with every single classroom of students. Besides, she really likes spending time with kids! It's one of her favorite things to do!

Listen to a piece of the story to see just what the Principal is doing during OUR March madness!

The Test Quest

Today I spent the day with a group of eight first and second grade teachers who were committed to writing first grade assessments that: 1) close the gap between first and second grade, 2) include the appropriate new standards, 3) guide instruction by deepening oral read aloud comprehension with questioning of higher complexity, and 4) are written with our high stakes test in mind. This is not the first time we have undertaken this work. The first time was probably six to eight years ago when we selected weekly reading passages and wrote questions. Then again a couple of years later we gathered sample leveled text and wrote questions to be used with our DRA assessments because our second grade colleagues felt that the oral retelling of the DRA did not reflect the comprehension that was required in weekly written assessment as students entered second grade. Then again two years ago we looked at the last assessments in first grade and the first assessments in second grade to make sure there was a smooth transition. Once again today we tackled the idea of doing an even better job. I imagine that a few more years down the road we will again take a look at assessments! After all, in a few years I expect our state to adopt the Common Core standards and I also expect the pendulum to swing more to the middle as we de-emphasize high stakes testing for a more comprehensive view of assessment. We must always take a look at how we assess our students so that we get the best information possible and in this time of test frenzy, we actually seem to have the opportunity to perfect our understanding of how a multiple choice test might inform our instruction, as limited as that might be.

What is the most amazing about the work that was done today was the depth of knowledge, background work that had been done before the meeting, and the level of collegial conversation. The day was led by first grade lead Maria Mallon, second grade lead Carrie McLeod, and Special Education Teacher Debbie Rossignol under the direction of our Standards Coach Suzanne Shall. The amount of work these ladies had done BEFORE our day together was amazing. It took them half the day to explain all the background work of looking at the first grade standards, identifying the standards that could be on our state assessment, and then taking each standard and looking at the benchmarks, test attributes, context limits, stem/excerpts, distractor attributes and samples of FCAT released items for each standard! Even with all the background organization, it still took my small group of three teachers three hours to complete a single test! However, the conversation and the learning that took place was well worth it and makes us all better teachers in the end! This kind of time and this level of conversation embedded in our day-to-day work is what great professional development is all about! How I wish this was the norm in all our schools!

Wondering of a Mad Scientist

When I think of myself as a Scientist, there's not much there! I did LOVE Biology in high school, but it had nothing to do with the content. I did well in the class because I had a terrible crush on my teacher, Coach Fisher DeBerry who was also the baseball coach (later the head Football Coach at the Air Force Academy). He treated us like adults and had very high expectations. I ADORED him so I studied harder and worked harder in his class than any other class that I had. I remember how crushed I was when he told us that he was going to get married! Unfortunately my crush on the teacher did not instill in me a love for Science. In college I took the mandatory classes including an astronomy class with a lab on top of one of the dorms that was held at night so we could look at the night sky. I don't remember ever learning to use the telescope in a way that was useful! One of the reasons that I have to work so hard to understand the first grade Science curriculum is because I don't have a strong Science background. It is my hope to do enough study now to find the doors that will engage my students in a way that I never have been. It's not easy to teach something that you don't really know well and that's why I relish having a co-teacher that has a strong major and interest in the Sciences. She can often fill in the interesting little tidbits, the vocabulary and the explanations that the children find so amazing. As we expect stronger and stronger content in lower grades to prepare a foundation for our 5th grade state assessment, it will require all of us to dig deeper. It will require administrators to stretch their professional development dollars to take teachers like me and make them the type of Scientists that can move a generation of children. Quite a challenge!

Science Instruction

Being back in the classroom full time this year means that I have taken on Science and math instruction for the first time in many years. This week I was responsible for planning our first grade Science instruction and I found myself in charge of a unit about the Earth's Structure and how the land and water of the surface can change. I guess it sounds simple enough, but I realized for the first time why Science in the primary school has not moved further along. First of all, the District has done some work giving us Resources in the form of a District curriculum aligned with state standards and we do have an adopted series that isn't very aligned... but that's it. There are no lessons to teach. You only have the standards, some resources and a pacing guide that tells you when to teach what.

Our first grade Science lead teacher recognized this right off and so we have had our grade level teachers organize and write some lessons. The problem, of course, is that many of us do not have strong Science content backgrounds and we are not really familiar with the depth of the content, so we don't understand the continuum of the content K-5. Although we know that our students will learn better by experiencing labs and experiments, we don't really know how to best set those up, so the lessons that we write are just a beginning. As I looked at the lessons for this week, I had to really think about if the lesson REALLY taught the concept I thought I wanted the students to understand. It didn't. So I spent probably three hours a night for three or four nights trying to understand the big picture and looking for a lab experience that might engage the students - time I surely did not have! Finally I felt like I had an idea for a lab that might work - didn't really know for sure! Next, I needed to find or buy the materials for the lab. About $15 later I had everything I thought I needed for a 20 minute lab demonstration! This was one week's lab.

So why hasn't Science moved forward in primary classroom? In my opinion, it is because

• teachers lack the Scientific background knowledge that they need
• teachers lack "outside the classroom time" to gain the knowledge that they need
• there is not sufficient "on the clock" time and professional development for teachers to learn what they need to know
• Science money and supplies are not readily available in the school. It takes both the money to purchase the supplies and then the time to buy them off the clock

I don't think anyone at my school will be surprised by my observations. I think by forming a Science Council and by having a lead Science teacher at each grade level they have recognized the needs, but I'm not sure it's enough to roll out the type of instruction that is needed in K-2 to support a 5th grade state assessment. The 5th Grade certainly can't be expected to build ALL of the knowledge in a single year. They have to expect teachers in the lower grades to build a foundation for them to build upon. So what's the answer? I am sure with the creative and dedicated people that I work with, that we will figure it out. In the meantime feel free to leave your suggestions!

The scores are in! The scores are in!

As much as I hate the idea that so much depends on a single day of testing, I have to admit that the day the scores begin to come in is an exciting time! As the Principal sprinted into her office today (she rarely sprints!) she called for the Leadership team and a pack of highlighters. We waited impatiently as she powered up her computer to pull up the school scores. At this point we simply get the scores of each third grader from the state. It's up to us to figure out the rough percentages and then to figure out which kids will not count in the school score (because we didn't have them in both attendance periods or because they are active second language learners or Special Education students). We will get a final score from the state much later, but we simply cannot wait! Each of us takes a list and we figure the grade level percentages and then the percentages for each homeroom in both Math and Reading before the Principal calls the grade level together. Of course, during the hour that it takes to figure it all out, the buzz has run through the building that the 3rd grade scores are in! As the grade level gathers, teachers look stressed. Some are anxious and others look like they might get sick. A few are really excited! As soon as the percentages are unveiled with the grade level, you can hear teachers talking among themselves, congratulating themselves on their successes. They are both proud and relieved! Very few disappointing scores come as a surprise. We did notice for this grade level that of the 16 or so students who scored a Level 1 or 2, over half of those students live in the community that we have just decided to target for some intensive academic support!

There's nothing like a young teacher who has 100% of her students score 3 or better or the seasoned inclusion teacher who will spend hours tonight going through the scores of every single student to decided what worked and what didn't and how to tweak instruction for some of her most needy students. Many teachers will look at when the children came to Chets Creek because historically, it's the students that come new to us that are the ones that struggle the most. I'll never believe that the one test should determine passing and failing or should ever be the largest factor in a teacher's pay but there is something very satisfying and validating about seeing in black and white that all of your hard work has made a difference! Wow! What a day!

A BLACK Day!

It's a BLACK day for Florida schools as we wrestle with the news that is coming out of our state capital each day. Rumors are flying and "doom and gloom" is spreading among teachers who hear the message as a lack of confidence in their abilities. As a teacher it seems that all of the woes of the world have been heaped onto our shoulders. In the worst case scenario it looks like pay will be mostly dependent on test scores. How sad is that? Can you imagine teaching with a goal of making sure that your kids do well on a test instead of a goal of teaching children to love reading and writing? That really makes my heart hurt! While test prep seems to be creeping over every inch of our state, it's a cancer that our school has really resisted. However, if teachers decide that the only way they can improve their pay is to drill and kill, then that's exactly what they will feel like they have will do. Can you blame them?

A letter from our Superintendent's Office today says that "In order to pay for this new requirement (which refers to the $42 million in unfunded mandates), districts will have to turn current salary scales upside-down, severely reducing salaries for experienced teachers." The bill also prohibits any compensation be given for experience or for advanced degrees! What does that say to how our state values its experienced teachers?

Also on the chopping block is teacher tenure. Now I have never been a proponent on tenure. I have long believed that it has protected some really bad teachers over time, but I'm also not a proponent of teachers having one year contracts with principals having the ability to fire without cause. Can't you just see how that might be abused?

It seems everything coming down right now is stuff that makes your blood boil. While I am sure there are arguments on both sides that are sane and well meaning (at least I hope there are!), the interpretations that we are now hearing are unreasonable and absurd. It's hard to find the truth and the real intention in all of the hysterics. In the meantime, how many hours of quality instruction are lost as teachers worry about their job, their security, their family's security? Is this really what we all signed up for? When we decided that we wanted to make a difference in the lives of children, did we think we would have to justify our very life's work and sacrifice our families? What do we say to our students when they tell us they want to be just like us - they want to be teachers? What a sad time to be an educator...

Just for the record, on April 15, 2010 Florida's Govenor Charlie Crist vetoed the education reform bill!! Hooray!

Writing Science Lessons

Today Kindergarten teachers met together for a day of professional development. We are coming to an end of the third nine weeks (can you believe it?) and the teachers are getting together to write new Science lessons for the fourth nine weeks. They were also reviewing and revising lessons that they had already taught The county has adopted the state's Big Ideas for Science and essential questions - a philosophy of teaching concepts in the 5 E format - engage, explore, explain, expand/extend and evaluate. Of course, there are very few lessons and the adopted kindergarten Science text doesn't cover the same standards! Makes you wonder just what other teachers will be teaching? I'm afraid that in some schools the big ideas will simply be skipped! But, of course, that has never been an option at Chets Creek. We take Science very seriously and believe that the foundation for the 5th Grade Science state test is built on the shoulders of what is done in the lower grades.


Debbie Harbour, our Science Lead teacher, began the day by reviewing the 5 E model so that we would have it fresh in our minds as we began to write. Then the team divided into pairs and chose lessons of interest - some to write new and some to review and revise. As the day came to a close, teachers explained to the rest of Kindergarten what they were working on and what they expected to have complete.

Florida Writes!

While kindergartners don't take our state writing test, the Florida Writes (thank goodness!), I was involved anyway this past week as a scribe for a 4th grade Special Education student. I had practiced with my student many times in mock assessments to get ready for the big day. As the children who had scribes gathered in the Media Center, Special Education teacher Debbie Rossignol was there to give each child a little squirt of "attitude spray"! Although she actually sprays a little water through a squirt bottle with a fan, the children are convinced that the squirt gives them the extra confidence they need to write a "6" paper. Then she sprinkles a little magic dust (glitter) on each child's head for good luck! Tammi Sani, another Special Education teacher was there to give out peppermint gum to "stimulate the brain"! It's all in fun! I'm sure all of the children would have done just as well without all the fuss, but it did drive any stress right out of the room as the children tried to hide their smiles as they walked to their writing place. All in all, it was a FUN day! Think 6!

Performance Pay

Performance Pay is one of those ideas that I have endorsed over the years. I do believe that teachers who go above and beyond should be rewarded for their work, but in order for Performance Pay to work it has to be fair. TLN did an excellent report "Performance Pay for Teachers" that was written by 18 highly accomplished teachers suggesting ways that performance pay could be used to make that crucial difference.

Unfortunately very few of their models can be found in our county's program. Our system was a collaboration between the county and our Union and is approved by our state. Extra money, a one time $2330 minus taxes, is paid to the top 25% of teachers in our county. As I understand it, teachers are placed in different "silos" depending on what they teach and then the top 25% in each silo receive the extra compensation. While the system is designed around student achievement and teacher performance evaluation, unfortunately that means the weight is on a single day of testing. FCAT, our state test is used for teachers where it is possible. Other assessments, such as the DIBELS for K-2 teachers or county-made Music, PE, Art pre- and post-tests, are used in the elementary school and I'm sure any number of other assessments so that every teacher can put their name in the pot. That every teacher has a shot at the bonus is one of the positives.

With only 25% of teachers compensated county-wide, I'm glad to say that about 50% of the teachers at my school will receive the bonus. We are an A school and one of the few in our county that met AYP. However, these are some true, but strange circumstances.

1) We have a first grade classroom where two teachers team taught the same group of students all day. One took two months maternity leave during the year. The teacher that took maternity leave got performance pay. Her team teacher, that was with her side-by-side including teaching the class during the maternity leave, did not get the compensation.

2) We have two kindergarten teachers who team taught side-by-side the same group of students for the entire year. One got performance pay. The other did not.

3) Our second grade teachers are departmentalized. That means that one teacher teaches the Language Arts and her co-teacher teaches Math/Science/Social Studies. Each teacher has a homeroom and they switch classes mid day. Because most 2nd grades in my county are not departmentalized, there is not a silo for 2nd grade math teachers, so our 2nd grade Math teachers got their performance pay depending on how their homeroom did on the Language Arts DIBELS - no Math involved! Mind you, they never teach a single period of Language Arts but their performance pay depends on what is taught by someone else. If you are the Language Arts teacher in 2nd grade, your performance pay depends on your homeroom. In other words it only depends on what you do with half your students. I guess the other half don't count!

4) Or take this final example. Two fourth grade math teachers teach side-by-side. They have two sections of Math. One section includes a homeroom for each of them. Because of the way the class size amendment information has to be inputted into the computer, they each have a list of their own students in their homeroom, although they never have the homerooms divided for Math instruction. They always teach together. Two other homerooms (headed by two Language Arts teachers) make up their other section. So when performance pay is distributed, the Language Arts teachers and one of the math teachers gets performance pay and the other Math teacher didn't. Understand that these two Math teachers have worked with the exact same children in a room together all year, but because the children were required to be divided in the computer, one homeroom made the mark and the other didn't! One teacher gets the money, the other doesn't!

Does this sound as ridiculous to you as it does to me? Can you see where this could be divisive? Let's face it, the economy is tough. Teachers are not exempt from the financial stresses that are seen throughout our country. We have teachers whose homes are in foreclosure, whose husbands have lost there jobs, and money, especially right now, can be a dividing issue. Of course, really nice things happen too. I overheard the teacher in the first instance say to her partner that if they couldn't figure out how to get the money for both of them, then she would split hers. Such a generous gesture, but how ridiculous that they would even need to have that conversation. I am sure the first two will appeal, but if history is any indicator, it won't make any difference (if it does, I'll post a comment). They will be told there simply is no more money. It's all been given out.

One of the most disturbing trends over the years in my small sampling at my own school is fewer inclusion classes and Special Education teachers getting the bonus than the regular population teachers. That's not to say that none of the inclusion teachers ever get the extra money but it seems to be a lower percentage. I am bothered about how this will effect our inclusion teachers over time. Will they begin to feel that all the extra effort that they give in taking the most difficult children in our school is not worth it?

I decided to try to help figure out how compensation for Special Education teachers was designed so that our Special Education teachers could see why they are falling short (4 of the 7 are Nationally Board Certified). If at least 25% of Special Education teachers were getting better results than we were, I wanted to know how we could improve, but it was one brick wall after another. First of all the list is not published so you can't go to the high performers to search for strategies to improve your own student achievement. When I e-mailed our Special Education Department for information, thinking that there must be someone looking at high achievers and how to replicate their work, I received no response at all. And when I tried to question the process (Which children counted for me? If a child was in both Survey periods in my school but did not transfer to my class until the end of the second survey period, did that child count for me? Did all of the special education kids count for the general education teacher? How about those students who were on special standards? Who else was in my silo? Was I just considered with other inclusion classes or also with self-contained classes? Were all special Education teachers, regardless of what they teach, lumped together? and the list goes on), I was sent from person to person and really never got accurate answers. For the most part, it really seemed like they didn't know the answers, which begs the question, "Does anyone have their finger on the big picture?" When I went to the Union I was sent generic answers that basically said "see the web site." I yearn for a system of performance pay that would be an incentive to improve student achievement, instead of a mysterious system where teachers say, "I have no idea why I got it," and "I have no idea why I didn't get it." Transparency would go a long way.

With all that said, I am glad that some of our teachers will get a bonus because I believe that teachers certainly deserve it, but this is such a flawed system that you have to begin to ask, "Is it really worth it?" There are so many better ways to distribute performance pay, but our pay is so entwined in the political process, I wonder if it's possible to ever get it right? Our children deserve better!

P.S. - If any of my facts are incorrect, it is because the system is so cloaked in mystery and misinformation that it is difficult to get accurate facts. If I have misquoted in any way, I would be more than happy to write a retraction.

That four letter word - FCAT!

The rest of the elementary FCAT scores came in this morning, our high stakes assessment. Writing came in a couple of weeks ago and 3rd grade came last week so 4th and 5th, the last to come, were in today. The 4th and 5th grade teachers anxiously walked straight into the conference room as they arrived this morning. You could see the stress on their faces as they sat down to highlight the students in their classes. They were serious and focused. You heard celebrations - Oh my gosh, Joe got a 4! - Can you believe Sammy got a 3? Woo hoo! Look how many 5's we had! You also heard the sighs and the questions - I knew he wasn't focused when we took the test - What happened to Jerry? Could she have missed a page or bubbled in incorrectly? Just as soon as they completed their highlighting, you could see them turn to their teaching partner and begin to celebrate, question, discuss and reflect.

Although teachers stress, we have been and continue to be a very high performing schools.  We have little dips and we have spikes and peaks but if you look at the trend, we stay in the top 50 schools in Florida an at the top of the pack in our county.  Still teachers worry about every single student.

As I watch this scene every year, I hate the visible pressure that teachers feel... but on the other hand, it is a time of deep reflection. I heard a teacher who had 100% of her children reach 3 or better this year say, "After 24 years of teaching I think I finally found the answer in using small groups to make the difference." For teachers that didn't do as well as they expected, I saw their devastated faces but also heard that many of them came back down to discuss their results with the principal, trying to figure out how to change their results for the next year. Isn't that the promise of assessment? Can we really change student achievement through instruction if we are not brutally honest with where we are and what the problems are? We need to know what works and what doesn't work.

Don't get me wrong. There are so many things I would change about testing - especially the weight that is put on a single test, the fact that the measures are not the same across states, and who can be exempted from taking the test at all - but there is also much about the accountability that helps us improve our practice. And isn't that the point?

Big Chicken: March Book-of-the-Month March 2009

This is a time of the year when we talk about fear and risk and being brave. As teachers and students face our state's high stakes assessment next week, we often do a book-of-the-month that has to do with worrying such as The Worrywarts. This year Principal Susan Phillips introduced Big Chickens authored by Leslie Helakoski and illustrated by one of our favorite artists, Henry Cole. (Henry has been to Chets Creek a couple of times and we are expecting Leslie Helakoski next month!) Beside our Principal loves chickens and it seems that at least once a year, we have a Book-of-the-Month About chickens!

Of course, taking risks and being brave is more than a skill we practice for the high stakes test each year. It is also part of our theme, "Around the World in Technology in 180 Days." This year teachers are taking risks and overcoming any fear they feel about integrating technology into their classrooms. The challenge this month is to use technology as a response to this book of the month and then to post a blog about it! Melanie Holtsman has set up a separate blog for the posts! We have learned about so many different techy tools this year and we are all at different levels of integrating the tools into our classrooms, so this project will provide the ability to differentiate by the breadth of opportunities!

The whole purpose of the books-of-the-month this year is to give us, as teachers, an opportunity to try out technology so that we feel more comfortable with it. It will not become embedded in our daily practice unless we can use it quickly and comfortably. We are, of course, frustrated, as all schools have things that they need that are blocked by our county for our own protection but there is still so much that we can use to make our teaching more visible, more timely, more authentic. How I appreciate the "opportunity" to be pushed to think beyond my comfort zone and to embrace the digital natives that I teach. Stay tuned as this project unfolds in the weeks to come and then is opened up to the world wide web.

Writing scores are in!

Late this week - in the midst of Mother's Day celebrations and an author visit and 13 principals and teachers visiting from Texas - the 4th grade state writing scores came in. As always, the Principal covered classes so all of the 4th grade teachers could come immediately to her office and be the first to see the individual scores of their students and their class scores. There were hugs and high fives and pats on the back all the way around. With 92% of students scoring 3.5 or better, the school saw a 3% increase over last year! This includes all Special Education children! This year, for the very first time in Chets Creek history, no student scored below a 3.0! This is certainly a celebration - especially for our Special Education students and teachers and for Kindergarten teachers!mmThe amazing scores that our children post are the result of Writers' Workshop that begins on the first day of kindergarten. Our children have been steeped in writing daily and choosing their own topics. They've had many lessons on genres and author's craft and have mentored themselves to many professional writers over time. Great test scores are a reflection of depth and breadth in the writing program across the grades! Every single teacher - K-5 - was part of this celebration! Way to go Chets Creek!

Where Kindergarten and High Stakes Assessment Meet

I know this is a blog about Kindergarten, but I don't care who you are, this next week is about our state test, the FCAT! Kindergarten, of course, is not a tested grade, but it doesn't mean that we don't get involved. Each primary K-2 classroom "adopts" an intermediate classroom during FCAT week. We really do believe that testing results reflect the entire school, regardless of if you are teaching in an accountable grade or not. Primary classes do all sorts of fun things to relieve stress and to let the teachers and children know that we are all pulling for them. Below is a partial list of some of the fun! The following little ditties were written by a second grade teacher, Beth Young, and shared with all the primary teachers as one suggestion that they could do for their adopted class. The primary classes will deliver a different basket of treats each day to their older peers with one of the appropriate poems.

**Individual boxes of candy hearts with the words “Put Your Heart into it!”**Sure, you’ve heard this test is big,
but your HEART is so much bigger!
When you put your HEART into it,
From the start, you’re the winner!
**A river rock colored with sharpies and then googlie eyes and a smile added with the following poem.**
Mr. ROCK-ROCK is such a cutie!
To be strong is his duty,
But you are even stronger still,
And ROCK the FCAT? You totally will!!!
Mr. Rock-Rock says, “ROCK THE FCAT, DUUUDE!” and “ROCK ON, MAN!”
(So we do!!)
** Plastic Easter eggs filled with Smarties.**We are so very EGG-cited!
Actually we’re delighted!
It is what’s INSIDE of YOU that counts,
So hear our confident shouts:
You’re gonna do so EGG-cellent,
EGG-cellent, EGG-cellent!
You’re gonna do so EGG-cellent,
EGG-cellent, EGG-cellent!

**Since it is March, I found (at JoAnn’s) plastic St. Patrick’s Day coins with clovers on them.**
Ok, you’ve heard of luck before.
That’s what this CLOVER COIN is for.
We figured that it couldn’t hurt,
But you need it ‘bout as much as dirt.
You’re smart AND serious, it’s true .
You’re best is all you’ll need to do!

We already KNOW you’re smart,
Remember they want to see how SERIOUS you are!
Show ‘em!
**Bear Stickers**These stickers are to remind you
Of everyone in your life who
Is so ‘Beary’ ‘Beary’ proud of you!
Like us!!
Do your ‘Beary’ best!
At-risk students all over the building will receive positive postcards at home this week from previous primary teachers letting them know that they believe in them. These same teachers will stop by to speak to their previous charges letting them know that they care! Primary classes all over the school will deliver banners, motivational signs, cards and individual letters to the intermediate students that encourage the children to do their best this week! One class made a necklace for each student in their adopted class with each bead representing something such as concentration and strength to never give up. Another primary class is buying lunch for their adopted intermediate class.

Some classes writes short one-liners to attach to a little sweet treat for each student in the class each day such as:
Chocolate mint sticks that say, "Stick it to the FCAT!"
Red and white peppermints that say, "Here's some encourageMINT".
Peppermint Patties that say, "You are MINT to be a star today!"
Pack of gum that says, "CHEW up the FCAT!"
Extra Gum that says, "You are EXTRA special! Stick with it!"Tootsie Rolls that say "You're on a ROLL! Keep working hard!"
100 Grand "Fun Size" candy bar that says, "You're worth 100 GRAND".
Chocolate eggs that say, "You will do EGGS-celent on the FCAT!"
Chocolate Hugs and Kisses that say, "Hugs and kisses to you today!"
Smarties that say, "You are such as SMARTIE! Keep up the great work!"
Bubble gum that says , "Don't forget to fill each BUBBLE completely!"
Bubble gum that says, "Blow out the FCAT!"
Starburst that says, "You're our STAR! We're so proud!"
Nestle's Crunch that says, "CRUNCH the FCAT!"
Blow pops that say, "BLOW the test away!"
Pixie Stix that say "Here is a little Pixie Dust! Give it your all!"
Plastic eggs filled with candy that say, "CRACK the FCAT!"

In some intermediate classes the primary class will start the day by performing a rap, song, or poem to encourage the students ... and teachers! Performances will include this song, "Beat the Test" written by Cheryl Dillard and performed by her kindergarten class to the "Adams Family" tune.
Beat the Test (snap, snap). Beat the Test (snap, snap).
Beat the Test - Beat the Test - Beat the Test.
The FCAT is finally here.
There is nothing to fear.
We will give a cheer.
Because you are the best!
Beat the Test (snap, snap). Beat the Test (snap, snap).
Beat the Test - Beat the Test - You’re the BEST!

As I was walking upstairs taking pictures for this blog, one of the intermediate teachers stopped to tell me that Kindergarten Teacher Karen Meissner has sent a little treat each day of the test to one of her fourth graders who had been in Karen's kindergarten class. The intermediate teacher said it made the child's day and made all the difference in the child's attitude and confidence. You see, FCAT really is a family affair!