Between reminiscing about family memories around the Thanksgiving dinner table and hanging up tree decorations that I made in elementary school in the early 80s, I have been thinking about how different my 1st grade, 2nd grade and 3rd grade experiences were compared to our students' experiences. I remember walking to my neighborhood school in 1st grade. In fact, I was allowed to walk home and have a PB&J lunch and then walk back to school, and I thought that was so cool. I loved my 1st grade teacher, Mr. Page. Our desks were always in rows, but he was kind and seemed to love his job. I am sure you will be surprised to hear that I didn't fit into Mr. Page's color labeled reading groups. I presented a challenge for him since my mom made sure that I was able to read well before I entered school. He did the best thing he thought he could do with me. He sent me down the hall to the school library. I spent most of my days reading through the shelves. And I loved it. Talk about engagement! Although it was a little hard to foster collaboration and community when my only companions most days were fictional characters on a page. At one point, Mr. Page assigned me a "book report." What's a "book report"? I thought. Not wanting to disappoint my teacher and not knowing what to do, I proceeded to begin copying the book Freckle Juice word for word. After about three days of my mom scrubbing the grey pencil stains off my hand (I was a leftie), my mom explained what a "book report" was and helped me complete the assignment. Still amazes me that no one seemed to notice a 7 year old spending hours in the library by herself, but I am so glad Mr. Page fueled my love of reading on accident. Did he know he was giving me choice, helping me become an expert learner, and letting me design my own learning? Not sure, but I am grateful that by chance my first grade experience was one that contained early signs of UDL. Too bad the rest of the class spent their year in rows and color labeled reading groups. After 1st grade, we moved to a farm in Alliance, Ohio. It's a good thing neighbors were miles apart separated by cornfields and cow pastures because one of our neighbors was Mrs. Watson, my 2nd grade teacher. She always wore apple core earrings, made children cry, and everyone was afraid of her. Once again the desks were in rows and this time, I was not given the option to escape to the library. I actually don't remember reading much in 2nd grade, but I do remember tons of worksheets and even more odd and even math problems in a math textbook. At some point in the year, I walked into a stop sign and broke my left hand. Did I mention that I wore thick glasses and an eye patch. Yep, I was something. My parents (including my dad who ran a hospital!) didn't think I had actually broken anything so they sent me to school. There was no sympathy from Mrs. Watson so I spent the day writing in pain. The next day I showed up in a full cast. What did Mrs. Watson do? She made me write with my right hand. There was no option for someone to scribe for me. No voice to text. No allowing me to express myself using multiple means of expression. For several weeks, I was forced to write and complete assignments with my non-dominant hand. The ideas behind UDL, the thought process of creating expert learners and meeting the variety of needs had certainly not made it to Washington Elementary School in Alliance, Ohio. When I moved upstairs to 3rd grade, there was some promise of a new and better school experience. For starters, finally the desks weren't arranged in rows! In my new classroom, the desks were set up in groups of four. This was an exciting change. Mrs. Buckey, my 3rd grade teacher, was strict, but we weren't as afraid of her and occasionally, she smiled. Still lots of worksheets, but we did have some opportunities to collaborate with our desk groups. Unfortunately though, one memory that sticks out for me was a math lesson on telling time. The teacher had written some problems on the board. Remember, I was still wearing my coke bottle thick glasses and an eye patch. Where my desk was, I had to lean closer, or at least I felt like I needed to lean closer to see the board which meant I was leaning onto my peer's desk. When Mrs. Buckey saw me doing that she didn't offer assistance or give me an opportunity to come up to the board to read the problem. She didn't offer me alternatives for visual information. Instead, she accused me of "cheating" in front of everyone, kept me in from recess, and called my parents. So much for universally designed instruction to meet my needs! It's interesting for me to think back on my elementary experience through the lens of UDL now. I am glad that our students won't have the experiences I had. (I promise I did have many positive experiences!) Think back to your elementary years. What were they like for you? Did you have teachers that were beginning to show signs of universally designed instruction? It's hard to have one experience of being educated in one way...how most of us were educated. And then to have to educate our students in a very different way than we were educated. As I continue to share information about UDL with you throughout this year, my hope is that I can help educators see that so many of the UDL components are already a natural part of your daily instruction and planning. And thankfully...our students have very different teachers than the ones I had back in the early 80s in Ohio. I am including a graphic down below about the UDL components. You will see several of the components that I mentioned in my memory sharing above: providing options for communication and expression, providing options for recruiting interest, and providing options for perception. While I was technically taught by Mr. Page, Mrs. Watson, and Mrs. Buckey, I am not sure how much I learned from them. But I do feel like we have a lot we can learn from them. We can do better about meeting the needs of all of our students within our classrooms, instead of sending them somewhere else. We can do better about providing options for our students, whether they need those options temporarily or whether they need them on a regular basis. We can do better about understanding that utilizing different tools and resources is not "cheating," quite the opposite, it's actually empowering our learners. I challenge you to continue to look at the UDL components. Focus on one area. Think about what you are already doing. And then think about ways to scale up UDL within your classroom. I finished Full Cicada Moon, a novel written in verse that takes place in 1969 as the first astronauts were landing on the moon. The main character is a brave girl who moved from California to Vermont, and struggles with people accepting who she is, a half Japanese, half black girl who would rather take shop class than home economics and dreams of someday becoming an astronaut. I am still listening to and enjoying the memoir Shoe Dog about the man who created Nike. I am also trying to finish reading another memoir called Everything Left to Remember: My Mother, Our Memories, and a Journey Through the Rocky Mountains. It's one that hits a little close to home, but also seems to be cathartic for me to read.
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With Thanksgiving this week, full plates are certainly on my mind. I love hosting the family at our house, and every year we end up with so much food. We are able to fill plates and leftover containers, and I am certainly grateful for that. But this time of year, I also think about the full plates that we have at school. As an educator, we have so many things that we are responsible for, so many little faces that we need to answer to, so many tasks that we need to complete. In fact, I often have this image of myself trying to keep all of the full plates (there are definitely many full plates in my life) balanced and spinning... Slight problem with that image...first of all, heels?! Second, doubtful that I am wearing a dress and no way my hair looks perfectly styled. But the plates...yes, those are definitely there, overflowing and spinning, sometimes in all different directions. But I am actually grateful for all of those plates. We all have a lot going on in our lives. We all keep our plates full. As educators, we keep those full plates spinning and spinning. And this time of year, it's important that we stop and appreciate those full plates. We have so much responsibility as educators; we have all these little humans counting on us and all of the parents of the little humans counting on us. It can be overwhelming to think about all of that responsibility, but I choose to be grateful for it and to let it inspire me and fuel my fire to keep at it. To borrow and adjust a quote from a favorite little blue fish character...I am going to choose to just keep spinning, just keep spinning. I love this video that I came across where the father in the family recognizes that we have so much to be grateful for, so many gifts that are a part of our lives every day. I am truly grateful for my plate-full life. How about you? What are you grateful for? Some years I make a list, sometimes 10 things, sometimes 100. Here's a list of 50 things I jotted down that I am grateful for. What would be on your list? 1. My loving, supportive husband 2. My crazy, awesome kids, the one I gave birth to and the ones that I didn't 3. Parents who have always loved and supported me and still do! 4. My sister who will always listen to me 5. My two brothers who always make me laugh 6. The amazing family that I married into 7. My home 8. My pets, Dash, Cleo, Brownie, and Lucky who help me de-stress when I come home 9. Books! 10. Really great friends 11. My career in education 12. The ability to work with dedicated, caring staff 13. Twitter connections across the country 14. Jelly Belly Jellybeans 15. Cinnamon crunch bagels at Panera 16. Power recliners on my couch 17. Mornings when I can sleep in - rare but they sometimes do happen 18. Dinners where my kids and I can't stop laughing 19. Overseas trips that I have taken 20. My ability to swim 21. My obsession with writer's notebooks 22. My positive outlook on life 23. Being a strong, independent woman 24. Hot tea 25. Baking 26. Being able to listen to my husband sing 27. College friends who I am still close with 28. My mom's honeycomb coffee cake that my dad now makes 29. Items in my hope chest 30. Camping trips with family when I was growing up 31. Massages 32. Pedicures 33. Writing 34. My best friend who lives in Paris 35. That I had a chance to get to know my grandmother before she passed away 36. That I had the chance to drive across the country for a month with my mom 37. Getting cards in the mail, instead of bills 38. My 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Simmons, who recognized my love of writing and encouraged me to do it as much as possible 39. My awesome nieces and nephews 40. Public libraries 41. Bookstores 42. Being able to go back to Virginia Beach to visit family and vacation 43. Photographs from my childhood 44. Quiet moments 45. Thoughtful conversations 46. Fires in the fire pit 47. A roof over my head 48. A bed to sleep in every night 49. A fridge and pantry that always have food in them 50. That I get to do what I love I finished listening to Jennifer Nielson's book Lines of Courage, all about several children from different countries living during World War I. And I had another book on Audible all ready to go...Now I am listening to Shoe Dog, a memoir about the guy who created Nike. I am also reading a new novel written in verse called Full Cicada Moon. It takes place in 1969 and is about a young girl who is half black and half Japanese, moving to a predominantly white town in Vermont. I am also excited to dive into a new professional development book that I purchased after attending a great virtual session by the author. It's called Think Big with Think Alouds, all about building comprehension skills K-5.
Anyone out there American Idol fans? We are Idol fans in our house. Hard to believe it's been 20 years since Kelly Clarkson was the first winner. I came across a video montage of her during that first season and I went down the rabbit hole of listening to performances from that first season. Loved watching her perform "A Moment Like This" on the night she won. I was thinking about the word and the concept of moments last week after Cardboard Creation Day and Play Day.
Are you ready for another book recommendation from me? Several years ago, I read this amazing book called The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath. It's not an education specific book, but it is one that had a big impact on me as an educator and a school leader. In the book, they share, “Our lives are measured in moments, and defining moments are the ones that endure in our memories.” It's interesting to stop and think about all the moments that make up a life. Do you remember every moment? Of course not. But 'defining moments...those stick with us. When 4th graders come to pick out their birthday books, I tell them one of my defining moment stories that my mom created for me. On the morning of my 10th birthday, I woke up to find all of my panda bears lined up wearing party hats. And hidden behind them was a tape recorder (I have to usually explain to kids what that is!) playing a recording of people singing "Happy Birthday." It looked and sounded like my pandas were serenading me. Then she had made a special shirt with an iron on 10th birthday graphic...this was back when the only cricuts were actual crickets! And she made homemade pizza and lemonade and brought it into school so that my whole class could have a birthday lunch with me. Do I remember my 9th birthday or my 11th birthday? Nope. But I will never forget turning double digits. All because my mom created a defining moment for me. The authors of The Power of Moments explain what "thinking in moments" means: “But for an individual human being, moments are the thing. Moments are what we remember and what we cherish. Certainly we might celebrate achieving a goal, such as completing a marathon or landing a significant client—but the achievement is embedded in a moment. Every culture has its prescribed set of big moments: birthdays and weddings and graduations, of course, but also holiday celebrations and funeral rites and political traditions. They seem “natural” to us. But notice that every last one of them was invented, dreamed up by anonymous authors who wanted to give shape to time. This is what we mean by “thinking in moments”: to recognize where the prose of life needs punctuation.” I would argue that in the prose of school, we need punctuation. Do you remember the math lesson you taught on the third Tuesday in September? How about the science activity that you did during the last week of May last year? Or maybe your students remember every detail from the reading lesson from 2 weeks ago? I would guess not. A handful of people said to me last week...the kids are going to remember this day for the rest of the year. That was after Cardboard Creation Day. And walking down the hall on Thursday during play day, I overheard a 2nd grader shout to no one in particular..."This is the best day of my life!" We managed to create some pretty incredible defining moments for all of our students last week. I would say we provided some serious exclamation marks in the prose of school! I had the pleasure of watching every grade as they entered the gym last week. As an adult, I worried that kids would see the cardboard that had already been used or the torn pieces and be discouraged by the image. But watching their eyes light up...that's not what they saw. They saw more cardboard than they had ever seen in one space and they saw something else...In that moment they saw potential. As adults, we need to spend more time looking at situations through the eager, engaged eyes of kids. Similarly, as adults, we might have looked around our classrooms on Thursday and seen Pokemon cards (everywhere!), a mess of toys and games, unstructured wasted time where we weren't getting through the scope and sequence. But if you looked closer, and looked at the day and the spaces through the eyes of eager, engaged kids, we would see kids teaching other kids new games. We would see kids who never played together before, asking each other to play. We would see kids problem solving and designing. Building and creating and laughing and happy. One of my favorite scenes, a defining moment I won't forget...third graders playing school. On a day when they could play and do whatever they wanted, they chose to be you, to teach. And clearly they have had some great models because their schedule and their lessons were awesome! We can learn a lot from those two days last week. But for now the lesson I hope we walk away with is how to think in moments, in particular, defining moments. Of course, our students aren't going to remember every lesson and everything we do each day. But how can we punctuate the prose of school? How can we embed some of the those defining moments in our classrooms? It doesn't have to be a whole day of play or it doesn't require a gym full of cardboard. Think back to the defining moments that happened for you in school. What made those moments stand out from the other moments? It might help to take the perspective of our eager, engaged kids...see the lesson or activity from their viewpoint. You just never know what is going to become a defining moment for a student. I actually ran into an 8th grader this weekend who was once a 4th grader at my previous school. She made a point to tell me that she still had the birthday book I gave her and that she remembered that day when she got to pick out her book. I didn't remember that moment, but she did. Four years later that was a defining moment embedded in her memory. You might not know that the experience you create in your classroom or the activity that you plan or even the conversation you have with a student is a defining moment for them, one that will not be forgotten. Every day in school is made up of moments; let's make sure we are embedding defining moments whenever we can. I wonder what defining moments from this week will be remembered by our kids long after their time at Clough? I am excited that we are going to experience a Play Day this Thursday! I know you will be a little tired and recovering from evening conferences, but I hope you will enjoy watching what happens when we allow kids to play. Why do I support play and playful learning so much? When I made my way into education, I didn't take the typical route of getting a degree in education. My focus was on child development, and so from very early in my career, I shaped who I was as an educator and as a school leader through the lens of child development. And what I know from child development is that all children learn and develop important skills that they will use throughout their lifetime...and they learn those skills through play. At the Better Together Summit, during a session focused on play, they shared this graphic... Think about that amazing fact for a minute. 400 repetitions...that's a lot of solving math problems or writing something until that new synapse is formed. But only 10 to 20 repetitions...well that seems a little more like it. If it is done utilizing play and playful learning. I have seen many of you incorporating play as an instructional strategy. I have walked into classrooms playing math games. I have seen classes doing phonics games. We need to continue to think of ways to embed playful learning throughout the day. I feel like that quote above is reiterating the idea that we need to work smarter not harder. If we can effectively embed playful learning into our instruction...just think of how much better we will become at changing those neural pathways in the brain. When you are observing our students on Thursday, think about the different competencies of Portrait of a Learner. I predict that you will see quite a few of those skills being demonstrated, practiced, worked on...all while kids are having the freedom to play. Will you see solution seekers? Solving problems while building forts or figuring out how to win a game. Will you see effective communicators? Actively listening to their friends as they do dramatic play or sharing ideas clearly when they build together with legos. Will you see skillful collaborators? Compromising to decide what to play or persevering when the game doesn't seem to be going the way they hoped. Will you see inspired innovators? Problem-solving a new game with new peers or adapting to a new school experience. Will you see mindful learners? Making constructive choices based on their needs and the needs of their peers or evaluating potential outcomes based on what they are playing. Will you see global citizens? Developing positive relationships with peers who may be different from them...all while playing. Be observant. Watch and listen. Notice and wonder about their interactions and decisions. Let them play! I can't wait to talk about what you learn about each child. Peter Gray is a psychology professor at Boston University and an advocate for play and education. Check out his Ted Talk talking about the decline of play. And I added in the video clip I shared at our October staff collaboration time with the group that focused on play. It's focused just on integrating play into literacy instruction. I was skimming through a book by one of my favorite people, Donalyn Miller. She is a literacy expert who I love to hear speak and read what she has to say about literacy. One of her newest books is called The Joy of Reading. I love that this book has "book stacks" throughout the book where she shares an image of a pile of books under different themes such as graphic novel memoirs or shorter read alouds. It's full of so many book recommendations and is also all about teaching kids to "read well without killing their love for reading in the process."
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