A Little Formative Assessment ... On Myself*

I'm going to have to administer a self-assessment right now on my ability to keep up with my blog. Just as I've learned with my students to praise good points in addition to pointing out areas that can be improved, I'll have a "list" of pros and cons.

First off, the fact that I've actually been blogging is already a big step for me. As a notoriously incapable computer "techie," any extension of my Internet usage beyond checking e-mail and updating my status on Facebook is an improvement. So for stepping out of the box, I give myself an A! :-)

But then I have to think about the important characteristics that make it necessary to have a good blog. On these, I've been less than successful. For instance, I told myself I was going to keep up with this blog on a regular basis, but alas, as the school semester has progressed and I've begun adjusting  myself to married life, it seems that blogging has often found itself at the bottom of my list. Although I don't think I was necessarily incorrect in my priorities - usually paying bills, laundry and a project due the next day all fall under the category of "important" before writing something about my day for people to read for entertainment - I do think it's unfortunate that I didn't assert myself a little more. Something to work on, I suppose.

Then there's the issue of making my blog readable. What do I want to see when I read something on the Internet? Links, pictures, videos, headings - anything to break up the monotony of words streaming down the page. While there's obviously nothing that can substitute good writing, I know for a fact that my life is nowhere near the amount of exciting it would require to captivate a large audience, so I have to compensate with a little razzle dazzle! **NOTE: Although my life might not be as entertaining, I did find someone (or some animal's) that is. You. will. love. this.**

As made evident by my past few posts, I have yet to consistently incorporate little "extras" into my blog. Summer project? Yes! With the multiple "mini breaks" coming up this summer, I'm thinking we might at least see some Fun In the Sun shots coming up in the next few months! So look forward to improvement in this area!

Overall, I've had an amazing time exploring the world of blogging, and I've really enjoyed seeing what my friends have to say in their blogs, as well. I hope others keep up with their blogs as I'm planning to do with mine, and hopefully my next "assessment" will demonstrate more positive areas!

So, my personal grade for the semester in my blogging abilities would have to be a B. Average. 

I did what I needed to do for the most part, but I can definitely (and I want to) do more in the future! So this last "call to writing" is to myself. 

Alright, Margot. Ready, Set, WRITE!

Never Ceasing to Be Amazed*

It's spectacular to me that students are not only blogging, but that the things they're blogging about are remarkable and just as good as (sometimes better than) blogs written by adults. It's been a privilege getting to look at some of the things these kids are producing in their classrooms - it's also been so refreshing to see teachers using the things we've talked about in our college education classes in the "real world" of teaching.
Enjoy!

Zoo Project Idea
Trip to the Opera!
Class Project
Bullying Prevention Piece

My Life: The Musical*

I'd thought of creating this post since I began blogging, but it stayed hidden in the backlight when life sort of took over, leaving me very little free time to reminisce about my random thinkings. But this week's assignment was to write about anything we wanted, so I was left to be creative. Not a good thing. Thankfully my students, once again, saved my butt.

Last week in my classroom, my students were watching a video about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and I mentioned to my teacher, "Talking about FDR always makes me think of 'Annie' - there's this whole song about Herbert Hoover and how his campaign promises fell through, and a whole scene with Roosevelt's cabinet ..." and then I started thinking about how helpful musicals and music in general can be in teaching students about history. And, as usual, I am now finding my silly ramblings reinforced as I sit watching 'Hairspray' on ABC Family.

Things like the cultural, political and social issues revealed through musicals like those mentioned above and others like Rent, West Side Story, In the Heights, and still countless others offer so many entertaining opportunities to educate children (some, yes, are more appropriate for younger ages than others, but I'm just making a point) - why not take more advantage of them?

I recently watched a documentary-type film discussing the failings of the American education system called Waiting for Superman (my wonderful husband was so kind to take his one free night off this week to make dinner with me and watch a documentary - that's true love). While it made some interesting points, there was one small piece of the film that I'm choosing to focus on (at least for this post - expect some more about this movie later): one of the "good teachers" presented in the film taught her children by rapping information or rewriting words to popular songs. Couldn't musical songs serve a similar purpose? I wonder ...

What's more, I began thinking about my students at my school and the things that they enjoy and relate to. I have three girls who sing and dance to the same song on the playground at least twice a week, girls who freak out at the sound of Justin Bieber, and boys who were completely shocked when I recognized the song "Black and Yellow." Could I use this as a way to breach that huge gap that I feel exists between children of that age and the adults that often tend to lecture rather than relate to them? Have them make a playlist of songs that mean something to them and  then have a piece of writing explaining its importance. That could be fun.

So I made my own soundtrack. Not representing my life necessarily, but music is so near and dear to my heart that's it's literally permeated into every aspect of my life. So I've included some of my favorites, as well as a couple of places where you might hear me "belting them out" (well, at least that's what it feels like in my head ... having the stereo volume at maximum helps drown out my sometimes less-than-worthy vocals). Enjoy!

1. "Forget You" by Cee Lo Green
          As of right now, this is my favorite driving down the road and jamming out to song. Also makes me feel like I'm a shoo-bop girl from the 50's whenever they "Woo who WHO!"

2. Anything from Legally Blonde: the Musical
          The ultimate girl-power musical. Really helps when I'm sweeping or cleaning in the kitchen. "Keep it positive ..."

3. "Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding
             This song makes me want to go to the beach, sit back and enjoy a nice, cold adult beverage ;-) Must-have summer music. Good for driving with the top down, too.

4. "You Can't Stop the Beat" from the musical Hairspray
           Great dance AND singing tune! You gotta shimmy your shoulders while you belt this one out - I think I've been caught a couple of times doing both of those things while driving down the road before. (I sing in the car A LOT. Let's face it: I sing everywhere a lot.)

5. "Orange Colored Sky"
             This song really serves as a shout out to jazz music, which I love; but I definitely sing this one in the shower all. the. time. Love it.

6. "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey
             Obvious ultimate karaoke choice tune. Everyone knows the words whether you want to admit it or not. Only appropriate that it should be followed by ...

7. "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
               Yet ANOTHER awesome karaoke/car belting tune. And whether you know the words or not, we all make them up and it's still fun.

8. "Tightrope" by Janelle Monae
                My new favorite workout song (along with "Dynamite" and "DJ Got Us Fallin' In Love Again"). It's just so much fun, and she has a fantastic voice!

9. "Wannabe" by The Spice Girls
                Can't be complete without at least one awesome 90's flashback song. Ultimate sing it with your friends anytime, anywhere song.

10. "Hallelujah" by Leonard Cohen
                 One of the most beautiful pieces of music I know! My ultimate I-love-to-both-play-and-sing-this-on-the-piano song (the chords are super repetitive).

11. "Desperado" by The Eagles
               If you're ever feeling "down" or in a mellow-type mood, this is the song for you (well, at least it is for me). Yet another gorgeous ballad that if it pops up on the radio or a Pandora station, I have to listen to the whole thing.

Okay ... this is probably getting old pretty fast for some of you, but that's okay. Music for me is something I could talk about all the time, whether anyone is actually listening or not (very similar to my husband when he talks about Family Guy episodes or the timbre of different opera singers' voices). Although I'll leave the reminiscing for later, I definitely want my students to share in my love of music (perhaps not necessarily love for the same type - I still can't bring myself to like the Jonas Brothers - but a love nonetheless) and maybe this post can be a prompt for you to see your own love of music.

This list is nowhere near completion, and I will probably be editing my selections over time, but it's a start. So, let's see what you've got. Hit me with your best shot (wow - that might be the lamest musical pun ever, but I teach 3 year-olds, so nothing's too ridiculous for me) and Ready, Set, WRITE ... and tell me some of the tunes you can't live without.

Long time, no see, everyone! *

Wow - a two week hiatus and we're back! Although I'm ashamed I didn't decide to keep up with my Internet writings, I am glad for the much needed break!
Well, after a wonderful week with my 3rd graders followed by an even more wonderful week of NO SCHOOL, it's back to business! So let's get started, shall we?

Maybe it's the fact that I've had a week off so I'm officially lazy, or maybe it's the craziness that goes along with enacting a week-long unit plan. Either way, the readings we had over the break hit very close to home in terms of teacher planning. Yes, a week is manageable. I say that, and yet I found myself making last-minute changes to each day's plans, specifying activities to work better for my students, or improvising pieces that I hadn't anticipated. It's all very exciting (especially when things go well!) ... and also somewhat chaotic!
So thinking about planning across the year - whether it be a for a multi-genre writing project or a writing workshop, or even a math unit - is extremely daunting to me.

The Allen and Swistak article mentions over and over again how the two teachers alter their plans as they go through this process. Over time, they say, they've eventually developed a plan that works well for their students. Even the chapter in our writing workshop mentions that their unit plans for upper and lower grades are just suggestions - you can and perhaps should make changes based upon your experience and what your students need. So after a few tries, I should have a nice plan ironed out.

Great. So in 4 - 5 years I might have everything sorted out. Does this learn-by-trying process intimidate anyone else?

I know it's somewhat of a negative attitude to think about the length of time it will take to feel even remotely comfortable about teaching. Even this is assuming you're in the same teaching position over the next 5 years. But I promise I'm not trying to be a downer. Just stick with me. :-)

I really enjoyed the quote at the end of the Allen article contrasting "planning" with "preparing": "Preparing is different ... In preparing we always expect diversity of outcomes. In preparing we enlarge the future in our imagination ... [and] we work to make ourselves ready."

This one quote validates everything that our education cohort is trying to accomplish in four semesters of college. At this point in the semester when I - and I'm sure other students will join in this with me - am ready to throw in the towel and be done with this whole "school thing," I'm reassured that I'm where I need to be. All this lesson planning, writing down observations, reading hundreds of pages of other teachers' observations (Thanks, Paley), and last but not least vacuuming the glitter off the carpet from where I spent hours making a poster for a guided reading lesson that will last 30 minutes - these all mean something.

It's all a part of preparing.

So now I'm a little more ready to get back into the semester. Bring on those focus lesson drafts and the reading assessments. Ask me to fill out another worksheet of things I've contributed to my mentor classroom. (Preferably not all at once, please.) While I might groan occasionally, I understand that it's all important and pertinent to what I will be doing all by myself in less than a year.

Okay ... maybe not all by myself. There will be 59 other new teachers out there going through the same thing. We can help each other. Not to mention an entire school of experienced teachers and personnel that can also help a first-time teacher. Slowly but surely we will all move from that "prep" stage to the "perform" stage.

Can't say I'm totally ready, but hey, I've got the rest of my life to learn how, right?
Whew. Okay - let's do this: ready, set, WRITE! (especially if you have any suggestions for a future teacher)

An Online Thesaurus Concept Map (aka the coolest thing I've seen this year)

"What's another word for ... ?"

How many times have I heard this question and how many times has it been my own voice ringing in my ears?

Well, no more! I have discovered via my LLED4120 class a new tool to substitute the worn out Shift+F7 function on my keyboard that I've used so many, many times for a thesaurus. 

This is Visuwords.com - it gives you synonyms and definitions via a concept map of connections with other words, uses, etc. It's AH-MA-ZING! Okay, it's amazing for dorks like me. 

Anyway, check it out. I recommend writing in "teach" and seeing what pops up - needless to say, I like it. :-)

Cut the cord already!*

Okay - so you know how there are those parents that won't let their kids do anything for themselves? "Oh, here, honey - let me tie your shoe!" and the kid's like 12 years old? Or that single bachelor with a steady job whose mom still comes over to his apartment on the weekends to straighten up, do the laundry AND restock the refrigerator? (But man, don't you want to be that guy's roommate.) 

You know ... ridiculous stuff like that.

Well, apparently teachers are having a similar "epidemic" in regards to their teaching time. Some of us find it really difficult - I'm talking emotionally and physically painful - to let go of our instruction time and let kids do something they are in charge of. I'm not talking worksheets that students solve on their own; I'm speaking of authentic student-run thinking and doing ... and in many classrooms this comes in the form of writing workshop. 

In writing workshop there is a great deal of time left for the students to be doing independent work - actually, a majority of a writing workshop should be just this! But some teachers hear the word "independent" and imagine screaming, disorganized, completely off-task paper-throwing monsters taking over their classroom. To allow students to think on their own as to what they would do could be nothing short of a small calamity, right? They have no idea how to use their time productively, right?

Let's hope both of these assumptions are wrong - otherwise the future workforce of America is in big trouble.

I liked especially what the book had to say about this: It's not that we should be concerned about what might distract students (i.e. games, being around friends, boredom), but that we should put things in place that will 

attract those students in order to prevent the prior from happening (i.e. materials to help, quiet areas, plenty of space).

Now, I'm certainly not trying to point fingers at anyone (okay ... maybe a little bit of gesturing in the direction of those parents that can't let go, but that's a whole other issue) because I'm as guilty of this "my way or the highway" as much as anyone. A great example, yet again, comes from my job as a dance teacher:

So the big end-of-the-year event at our dance studio is a dance recital put on where every class represents what they've been working on in a dance/musical theatre piece performed at the Classic Center in Athens. It's considered kind of a big deal, especially for a 3-year-old who's used to singing in the car with her mom. My students work all year to put together these pieces - usually I let them choose between a couple of songs they'd like to use, then I choreograph it, and the students perform it by themselves at the end of the year.

Well, needless to say, that "by themselves" part for the recital takes some preparation time. They have to practice remembering the steps throughout the process of learning it, and ultimately I shouldn't have to do the dance with them at all several weeks prior to the recital. But this step, which can either be a time of great excitement at showing what they know or a time of some anxiety for those who don't catch on as quickly, is a nightmare for me. I always joke, "I think I'm gonna be in this number this year," with my kids and co-workers, but in my head I'm really thinking - Could I be? Please?????

This is not that I find my students unworthy of facing this task - not at all. I'm continually impressed by what my kids bring to the table and how amazing their growth can be from September to May. There may be a little influence from my obsessive compulsive, perfectionist tendencies that makes me cringe when someone doesn't point their toe or yet again forgets the same part every time in a dance; but I've learned that if I don't let them try it on their own, that final performance can turn into catastrophe. Similar to those kids who never learn to tie their shoes. ;-) (Or in the classroom, those kids who never get to choose or have a say in what they write.)

Part of it stems from the fact that, as a performer, I just really want a chance to be onstage again and dance my 22-year-old-but-still-probably-more-like-13 heart out in a sparkly costume!

But the majority of the issue stems from me feeling that they need  me to be there as a support. Just like in the classroom, a teacher might begin to think, "These kids need me to be an example. They need me to look over their shoulder in order to succeed. They wouldn't know right from left if I wasn't there to tell them." 

Starting to sound like those crazy parents I mentioned earlier? To an extent, it is. If we can't learn to trust in these kids to think for themselves or do something independently, then they'll start to think they can't do it on their own either. But are they not the same kind of capable human beings that we are (even at a young age)? We only have one year in the classroom to influence a student for the rest of his/her life, and it's our job to help them prepare for what life will be like when the classroom is the real world and not a school building. What kind of teacher are you going to be: the kind that helps them now and ultimately harms them later, or the kind that offers direction when necessary but encourages them to figure it out for themselves? (Side note: I apologize to my 8th grade language arts teacher for putting a colon after a verb. It couldn't be helped.)

Your answer to this question might reflect a great deal on whether your writing workshop is affective or not. I hope my answer will fall close to the second kind. I hope yours does, too. So let's be brave for both ourselves and our students and "cut that cord" that ties them to needing our help every step of the way. Let's see what they have to say about things they want to talk about, not essay after essay of regurgitated facts we've handed them. 

So this week, say this to your students with little to no direction. You might be surprised what happens and the genius they come up with!

"Ready, set, WRITE!"

My Current Dilemma

So this IS supposed to be a blog about writing and teaching, but if you've been "keeping up," you'll know I'm in a bit of a rut and I've promised to write SOMETHING every day this week either here or in my writing journal for class. Well, here is the best I could come up with for today: my hair.

My hair is one of the few things that I will pay full price for and invest a lot of time in. As of late (i.e. since I started college in 2007), any time you find me at school, it will probably not be in the best of shape, however, on a normal basis I like to make it somewhat presentable (i.e. I might blow-dry it ... if I like you a whole lot). My favorite thing to do is get my hair cut or color it, or do SOMETHING different. See below for the most interesting hair cuts I've sported in my life thus far:


Not to be confused with my two GORGEOUS sisters, but I'm the one in the middle

 Above is how I've been sportin' it since last February when I got engaged. In true bride-to-be fashion, I grew my hair out (in addition to coloring it dark) so I would have something to work with on the big day!
Prior to that, I permed my hair and chopped it off for Locks of Love, giving me this sort of look:

Also pictured is the single-best drink I've ever had from the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. Plus, it was free. Thank you, awesome business guy in Vegas who had had just enough drinks to buy 2 rounds of drinks for 5 complete strangers!



I have to give credit to my best friend for letting me totally pose on her for this one, but in my defense, I've wanted curls my entire life, and instead I ended up with ...



One of my other "besties" - this was taken at Legally Blonde in NYC!



Description: Long. Brown. and STRAIGHT.

But, undoubtedly, the best hair experience I've had - and this speaks volumes for what I like to do and how much I like to do it, was this:

Yes. Sadly, it's true. If you can't tell, I have a weave put in my hair and braids.
(I refused to do my entire head though. Way too painful.)
This was definitely not my best look, but it was for a show I was in, which, for many years, was the only time I changed my long, brown, straight look. I've dyed, cut, and now corn-rowed my hair for my love of theatre for years, and after I started seeing less of the stage, the "change your hair on a whim" bug stuck with me.

Which brings me to my current dilemma: what do I do now?
Wedding is over, I'm not in a show, and after this weekend, one of my friends will have gotten married (Congrats, Ashley and Michael) - meaning I can do whatever the heck I want with my not-so-golden locks.

Exciting, right? Well, true ...

...

But what should I do? I've done long, I've done dark, I've done blonde (both natural and dyed), and I've done "fake." My split ends are aching for a chop session with my hair stylist, but I'm drawing a complete blank. Much like my writing. Wow - my life is so fascinating.
HELP!
Here's a couple of ideas I've found that might work with my still-somewhat-permed hair, and hopefully with my crazy-lookin' face, too. :-)

So, apparently, I'm feeling the short look, considering my hair's been more than 2 feet long for the past 10 months. But all I really want is some sort of structure - and probably some sort of bangs. I'm feeling a lack of inspiration, especially considering the best hair gurus I could come up with were a ditzy pop-turned-sort-of-country singer who makes edible foaming lotion and the girl who left the family-friendly 7th Heaven show to do not-so-great movies and a less-than "family friendly" spread in a magazine. Hmm ... I need a new muse.

Therefore, I'm putting it to you who bother to read this and want to listen to my selfish rantings on hair stylings: HELP! Give me some ideas and feedback, and I'll be sure to post the "winner" and the results as my new blog pic - I know. What an honor and accomplishment. Don't get too excited.

So, people of the world, if I can write, so can you.

Ready, set, WRITE~

My Writing Workshop Conference*

As teachers of a writing workshop, we're told that one of the best parts of the workshop comes through conferencing with your students. So, as a "new" and learning blogger, I thought I'd conference with myself and figure out how my writing is going so far. The questions in italics are going to be me as the teacher and the response will be me as the student (a little role-playing, if you will :-) )

Margot, tell me about what you're writing. (This is the "research" portion.)
 Well, to be perfectly honest, it's been really hard to write over the past few weeks. I can't name the number of times I've sat down to try to blog and come up with nothing. Absolutely nothing. I've even made a list of topics via "Post-It" on my computer that I'd like to write about, but as of late, they've offered no immediate solution - they just sound boring. And goodness knows that if I don't want to write about it, people probably won't want to read about it, right?
 But the writing I have done has been about what's going on in my life. People have yet to see these because they're posted in the "draft" section of my blog and thus, have yet to be published. I've written about my job, about being married, about all the craziness that's happening between work, school, and my friend's wedding this coming up weekend. Where do people find the time to do all this stuff? Overall though, I'd like to find something that I care about writing about. And I want to make it more interesting - post links, add pictures, etc. But it's so hard to find the time!

Well, that's very interesting. Now since you're life's been so busy as of late, why do you think writing has been so difficult in terms of time? Do you write down ideas as you get them?
 Mostly I write down ideas when I'm on my computer - or if I have my planner. :-) The latter is the most frequent. Maybe if I had a journal I carried around, or a notepad, I might be able to add some more stuff and write it down as it happens, then I won't forget all the ideas that I have.

I think that sounds like a good suggestion. Also, if you're intimidated about writing an entire post, why not shorten the length and write small segments or a "mini"-post? Blogs don't have to be as long as Moby Dick, you know? And if you need other ideas, there's plenty of blog "challenges" that suggest you blog about certain things on certain days - like the 30-day challenge, I think is what it's called.
 Alright. I think I'll make a commitment to try to post something either on my blog or in my journal each day this week. One of my friends is doing something really cool that I like, too: she's posting a picture for each day of the year to document her life. It's so cool and even the "simplest" picture can say so much about your day. I would love to do something like that one day. Maybe I'll try to take pictures and post those with my blogs.

Maybe try to focus on one thing at a time, but I think you've got some good ideas. It's great that you're learning from others around you, too. Try and work on writing in smaller portions but more often this week and we'll talk next Monday.

... and "Scene!" (Okay, dorky theatre reference. I couldn't help it.) To "assess my situation," I'd say that while I really want to write, it's been difficult to find time and ideas that I think are interesting enough. So my self-evaluation on that 1 - 4 scale in our textbook (p.221 if you know what I'm talking about), would probably be between a 2 (just OK) and a 3 (good). When I do write, I think it's fun, but I'm going to challenge myself - thinking of my history in regards to the future - to write more often and in shorter segments so I don't get overwhelmed. So for one week, I'm going to either write and post something here or work on my journal in short segments to see if I get any inspiration from it all.
Okay, I can do this. I think ...

Ready, set, WRITE!

"Focusing" on focus lessons (ctnd.)

If you were interested enough to read my last post about my connections between my dance/musical theatre teaching job and the proposed set-up of a writing workshop, then I'm here to offer a bit of an extension to that ...

In my writing workshop class, we are currently (like as I'm writing this post) working on an amazing website - Piclits.com. You choose a picture and then write whatever text you'd like (they offer suggestion words, too) to go with it. It's so entertaining - and I can definitely see myself 1) using this in my classroom for my students and 2) wasting a lot of hours I should probably be doing homework or grading papers (in the future) on this website. Both great personal goals, right?

Well, if you'd like, here's one of my ideas about what a focus lesson looks like to me, personally. A little cheesy, I'll grant - but I really liked the picture. ;-)

"I just made a connection!"*

The title of this post can be attributed to my adorable kindergarteners from last semester. In their reading instruction, the librarian and teachers had told the children to make connections to the literature (this later extended to connections with other people, as well) and say the above statement, accompanied by a hand gesture that points from the speaker to the object of connection - basically, the "surf's up" symbol but gesturing back and forth with the thumb and pinky. This symbol became a norm for me and my teaching partner last semester, and every once in a while, we still joke about "connections" we make in class.

I know. Things only teachers would find funny.

Here are some of my kids from the Fall - I miss them so much!

So in my readings for 4210 this past week, I found myself connecting with what the author was telling us about the elements of writing workshop - environment, demonstration, direct instruction, inquiry and homework (Or as the author calls it "the potential of the world." Although what she describes is not traditional homework like this, the term listed above is a little too "PC" for me to use without wanting to laugh. Let's put it this way, if my teachers in school asked me to view a 15-20 page homework assignment as a "potential of the world," it wouldn't make me any more thrilled about having to do it.)

And although I could very easily sit here and write about the connections between the classrooms I've observed in and the writing workship process described in the book, I actually related this topic to something else: my job.

I work as a dance and musical theatre teacher (okay, so it technically is going to relate to teaching) throughout the week, and one of the best parts about musical theatre is the games. I know this must sound like a "cop-out" to many of you, but drama games are a time for students to try something without fear that they're being graded alongside their peers and without having to worry about doing all the steps in a dance "just right."

While the environment of a dance studio can be somewhat monochromatic - all yellow walls, hard wood floors very similar to the color of the walls and mirrors reflecting the all yellow walls and yellow-tinted floor - I would consider it a blank slate of sorts; kind of like the early pages of Harold and the Purple Crayon (one of my favorite books from when I was younger). It holds potential for creativity and imagination ... and most importantly, it offers no distractions for the students. :-) However, with certain games, I must bring in props - costumes, hats, slips of paper and pencils, etc. - and this sets the tone for my students.

Next comes direct instruction: I stand (or more often than not, if my students are sitting, I sit with them) and explain what we'll be doing and what is required of them. Often I'll throw in some theatre jargon like "improv" or "standing profile" to help focus the kids on what their mission for the game is, however, many times I wait until the end of the game so they can tell me what they were working on via this game. This, like the book describes, mostly consists of me talking, yet it is (usually) brief and to the point so we can go on with our game!

The next part is my favorite: demonstration and inquiry at the same time! I have a couple of the students come up and try a game with me and it's my favorite part of class. It's awesome to see them think up their own ideas and also to see them improve week to week with their stage presence. I try to model for them not only as an example during a game, but also when I address them in class. An actor/singer should always be expressive, articulate and direct to their audience, so I always speak loud enough to be heard and express what I'm saying through my gestures and facial expressions. As for the articulation, I'm not always so great at that, but I try not to get too tongue-tied. :-)

Then, students can practice the game by themselves - further inquiry and trial & error: they get to see what works, what doesn't, where they can apply different theatre terms that we've talked about (i.e. In improv, one of the major rules is to never say no. If someone suggests something and you say, "No, I don't want to do that," not only have you stopped the action of the scene, but you've made the other actor have to figure out something entirely different to do. One of the best games to practice this and other responses is "Change of Heart." Students go about a scene talking to each other and when the teacher "buzzes," the actor who just spoke must completely change the line they said before. Once students understand this game, they tend to come up with some hilarious scenarios.

Finally, the best part is seeing these things translate elsewhere. Students will constantly come to class one week and say, "Guess what I saw this week ..." and tell me how they saw a musical at the Fox or how they taught a dance step to their best friend. It's so cool to see them actually absorbing this material, and very reassuring to know that they certainly don't need me to guide them all the time in order to learn. Whew - what a relief, right?

Through this mini-analysis, I've found that my dance teaching and my school teaching are more connected than I originally imagined. Hopefully some of my 5 years or so "in the field" at work will  come in handy in a couple of months when I get my own school classroom. Let's hope so.

To Be or Not to Be ... a Writer?*

* For future-reference, these blog entries with starred* titles are for assignments for class. :-)

If you've been keeping up with me thus far, first of all, God bless you! But secondly, you may remember one of the first things I mentioned in my initial post: how scared I was to start doing this (but also excited). As I read from my textbook for one of my school classes tonight, I began to think about this fear and anxiety I had/have (I haven't decided if it's gone away yet. Maybe by the end of this post, you and I both will know!). Why did I think I would be a bad writer? What made me believe what I would write might even be good? How will people's reactions to my writing determine my identity as a writer?

So I may not have all the answers to these questions, but they at least helped me think of something to write about! Enter this story:

When I was still a journalism major, I decided to take anthropology as one of my electives. I have never struggled so much with a class in my life. Literally, it was the most difficult class of my life - too many dates, scientific names and other things that I happen to be extremely bad at. So after a not-so-perfect test score on the first exam in the class (okay, it was a B, but I had worked my butt off for two weeks studying for that exam, plus I read some of the professor's critiques of my answers and thought I had actually fulfilled some of the suggestions within my answer), I asked to meet my teacher during his office hours to talk about it.

I promise this is not going to be all about my anthropology class. Please bear with me ...

To cut this story slightly short(er), the one thing I really remember about that meeting - and that class for that matter - was something my professor remarked after hearing I was a journalism major.

"I had a friend who was a writer. He told me that his advice for anyone who writes was to write everyday. You should keep a journal and write something each day. It doesn't have to be important or anything, just good practice."

This seemingly off-hand comment actually stuck in my head and I started journaling later that week. Unfortunately, as with many of my off-chance commitments, this did not last long, and it definitely hasn't lasted me through my journey towards becoming a teacher. I thought writing was for writers, not teachers. And yes, teachers can write, and many of them do. But it wasn't a necessity.

I believe perhaps two of the things that have kept me from writing consistently include (1) my uncomprimising certainty of ultimate failure with no room for growth and (2) how writing has been presented in my life, particularly in my schooling.

I'll start with the first.

Cynthia Rylant said in a 1990 article that "not everyone can be a writer." For a long time, I believed her. It's not that I don't necessarily enjoy writing or that I can't put together a decent paper; it is that I felt as though I had nothing important to say or impart, and I certainly had no way of figuring out how to voice such opinions even if they did exist. I lived under the impression that writing is something that I did when necessary and although I was successful at it, I had no reason to bring it into my "outside" life.

Which brings me to my second point. (That would make sequential sense, right?)

In school, I never remember doing writing workshop. And when I started reading my textbook a couple of days ago, I maintained the idea that writing workshops were nice, but not necessary. Yes, it would be great, but are we really harming our students if we don't include it in our curriculum? Then I started to think about how school influenced my identity as a self-proclaimed "non-writer." In school, I could write papers in a matter of hours and be successful at it. But that's all I did. If school required it, then I could bring myself to throw something together. Imagine how much better my papers would have been 1) if I'd actually cared about what I had written about in those countless reflections and essays (this was not always the case, mind you, but 97% of the time, I simply completed an assignment because I needed to) and 2) if I'd practiced writing outside of these many, many papers. Hm ... Maybe then I wouldn't be so afraid of something as simple as blogging.

So what do I want my students to think of themselves when it comes to writing? Do I want them to think writing is simply something that they have to do in order to get through school and holds no important place outside that arena? Not really. That would make for a pretty crummy writing environment in my classroom. Sounds like time for some perspective changing!

The author of my textbook mentioned how the label of "writer" was similar to any identity label. If someone asked whether you were a "cook," your definition of what a cook is determines your answer. For me, I would not necessarily consider myself a good cook, but do I cook a lot? Yes. Do I enjoy cooking? Yes. Do I plan on trying to become a good cook? Yes. Hmmm ... so maybe I am a cook afterall. Just because Jamie Oliver could kick my chocolate-loving butt at cooking, does that mean I'm not a cook? Not really, right? Even if I'm a bad cook - the noun "cook" still describes me.

So what about writing? Why had I been so determined to not be labeled a writer? Why the anxiety that my blog was going to be insignificant and unworthy of reading? (Not that this might not ultimately happen, but still ...) Just because I might not be the best writer - I might even be a bad writer - does this mean I still can't label myself as a writer?

Well, maybe I can ... In fact, maybe I should if I want this "blogging thing" to work out. And this "teaching writing thing," for that matter. If I can call myself a writer, just as if I call my students writers, then as I would want them to feel confident and take chances, I might do the same. It's all a process. It takes practice. Just like I had to practice piano, or singing. Or how I'm trying to practice cooking.

So know that these posts are not going to be perfect. I certainly won't consider them as such, and I know you won't either. But I'm trying. It's all practice to get better. So maybe if you stick with me for a while, this silly blog might turn into something of better substance. :-) Let's hope so.

I'll finish with my favorite quote from my recent readings: "[I]f we engage in any activity over time, we develop an identity related to that, whether we label ourselves 'a cook' or 'a writer' or not."

So - to be or not to be a writer? Well, why not? Let's give it a shot ... here goes nothing.

Welcome to 3rd Grade!

So today was a day of firsts for me - all of which were very exciting and only some of which were also very nerve-wracking.
First of all, I had my first day of school with my field placement class and my new mentor teacher for my Block 3 classes. As much as I wanted to stay in the fetal position at 6 am this morning, the feeling that I would be sick due to nerves stirred me and up I got! On my way to the school - which is sort of out in the middle of Nowheresville - a flood of anxious thoughts were buzzing through my mind : Am I going the right way? Am I going to be late? What are these kids going to think of me? What am I getting myself into?  ... and for once (another first), I didn't feel like listening to music.

In case you don't know me, you must learn this first and foremost (a first for you, let's say): music is EVERYTHING in my life. I live, breathe and if I could, I would eat it, too (and I like eating - that's another thing you can learn, but I'll talk about it later). I listen to it in the shower, when I wake up, while I'm cooking, when I do homework, when I workout - you name it. So me specifically choosing to not listen to music is kind of a big deal. Yeah ... I was definitely a little scared. :-)

But, of course, there was nothing to be worried about. As soon as I walked in the door to see the class eating some very good-smelling chicken biscuits, the teacher greeted me with a cheerful "Welcome!" which sounded a little muddled between bites of his own chicken biscuit! He immediately calmed my butterflies and made me feel at ease.

And then came my next "firsts"- two at once this time: "Hi class, this is Mrs. Hitchcock."

Oh my. Who???
Not only was my last name different (made even more apparent because I was wearing a nametag bearing my maiden name ... confusing much?), but what was this "Mrs." business? Hmmm...  This whole being married thing has definitely taken some adjusting to - most of which has been fun. I'm so happy with every aspect of my life, except that I still need to hang curtains in my house ... and a couple other house-keeping issues ... but really - if that's it, then not bad, right? And just like all the other adjustments,  after about the 50th time of hearing it throughout the day, I kind of liked the sound of it. Except for the fact that it makes me sound like I'm supposed to be a full-grown adult. Yeah, right. ;-)

By the way, did I mention I was working with 3rd graders this year (aka Did you read the title of this post?)? Cuz I am! I'm super excited because I've had only a little exposure to the upper-grades in elementary school - a couple of weeks with an absolutely phenomenal class and an even more amazing teacher - but an entire semester? Ah!! Well, let's just say the first thing I learned about them is that they have some great attitude ... and I mean that in every sense of the word! There is such a range of learners, too; anywhere from a handful of special ed students being helped and those on an RTI plan (response to intervention) to those performing at very high levels and all those in between. I'm curious to see what sort of insights these students will offer me and how learning about their lives will help improve my teaching. And hopefully, I can do something for them, too!

Needless to say, I'm super-duper excited (obviously, since I saw fit to add a 'duper' in there - woah.) about this upcoming semester, and I'm looking forward to what I'm going to learn from my teacher (who, by the way, used to be a music teacher and plays in a band - right up my music-lovin' alley!!!) and my students. So, welcome to 3rd grade, anyone who's listening! And stick around for the ride because it's going to be quite a journey! Ready, set .... !

Define "good," please ...

The thought of starting a blog as a class assignment came with many feelings on my part: 1) excitement because I would finally have to start blogging - something I've wanted to try for ages, 2) frustration because it meant that it was something else I would have to keep up with throughout the year and thus something else I will ultimately procrastinate on, and 3) fright because now I'm expected to present something that anyone can read whenever they want, and I'm expected to be thoughtful and entertaining? I don't know about this ...

First of all, I should start by facing the reality that probably not many people will want to read a class-assigned blog, so feeling 3 shouldn't be much of a problem. Also, hopefully feeling 1 will continue, thus making feeling 2 non-existent (please please please ...). So all-in-all, I'm left feeling ... nothing? Oh well, I'll figure that one out later and get back to you. :-)
On to what prompted me to put aside my not-so-exciting reading material and begin the arduous task of putting together this blog. What makes writing "good"? If feeling 3 bothers me so much, how can I go about ensuring that my ultimate failure as a blogger will not come about?

In reality, this question began with an assignment I had for school where I was to reflect on what writing meant to me (If you're thinking it's the same class that wants us to practice writing by blogging, you would be correct! Must be a writing class, right?). I began blabbing about how words are powerful and can carry meaning and how song lyrics, poems, and newspaper articles can stir emotions and actions in people through the arrangement of letters representing words in order to ultimately convey ideas. While I certainly believe all these things to be true (yes - I tend to romanticize things), I began wondering why I happened to like Pride and Prejudice and A Tale of Two Cities but (many) others - most of them my high school classmates - do not. Or why I might think Justin's Bieber's music is ridiculous and unimportant (but I will give him catchy), while it causes another girl to become hysterical and ultimately meet her teen idol on late-night television. Either way, the best I could come up with was that critique is objective ... and really, didn't we all know that already?

I would be denying you another several paragraphs of inconclusive rambling if I didn't tell you another instance that happened only moments ago that led me to further ponderings (No, this is not a word. I checked. While this would usually bother me to the extent of needing a stress ball to calm down, I tend to make up words when I converse normally, so in an attempt to sound "natural" and conversational in my writing, I'm allowing it.). While attempting to read a school book (yes, the same mentioned above in the second paragraph), I could not help but try to figure out why this author thought the first four paragraphs (which turned into two pages, which turned into four) were worth including in a textbook and what value they offered me as a teacher-in-training. Then I began to think about all those textbooks (and pleasure books) that I'd "read" throughout my life (I use "read" loosely because the literature of which I'm about to speak often ended up either being put aside or lightly skimmed and marked with a pretty highlighter so I could pretend it offered something of substance to my learning experience) where I'd sat there and thought, "Why am I reading this?"

I know you know what I'm talking about. We've all encountered some form of literature where we've been completely dumbfounded as to the point (Some of you may consider this to be one of those examples ... and in some ways, I would definitely agree with you. Yet, at the same time, I would argue that the Internet is not necessarily known as the most credible source for valuable information, so that's your fault.) of its existence in print. You know those books where you sit and try to read, but find yourself reading the same page over and over again and you still haven't understood what's going on? Ding, ding, ding!

So while "reading" this book, I wondered if this author considered their writing "good." And I'm certainly not trying to discredit this author; you'll (hopefully) see my point in a minute. Let's look at it this way: this author has succeeded in not only comprising a little over 250 pages all concerning something they find important to education, but in getting a publishing company to realize a similar importance of these pages and the words they contain and as a result, it prints them in mass quantities. Then, one of my teachers must have heard about this book or come across it and deemed it worthy to represent the class I'm about to take and the objectives we're to accomplish throughout the semester. Wow. Quite an accomplishment.

And yet, so far I can barely make it through five pages without wondering why this is going to help me in my future classroom. Now, I would need to gather the opinions of others who've read this book by questioning my classmates, reading book reviews, etc., so my question of whether it is truly "good" or not has yet to be even remotely touched upon.
But, I thought I'd at least raise the question. So next time you're reading a book, see if you can figure out why someone thought it was worth being selected to help "educate the masses." And maybe decide whether you think that reason is applicable to you and the things you want/need to read. Because the words in that text might not matter much to me, but that doesn't mean my opinion can determine a piece of literature as "good." So what do you think? What qualities should a piece of literature possess to make it truly "good"? Think about it. Then, (ready, set) write me back.