Hello All. I’m happy to be a guest blogger this month. If you like your blogs laid back and passionate about education, you might dig what I’ve got for this month. Enjoy and thanks for reading!

While Forrest Gump’s momma might have told him that life is like a box of chocolates, my momma told me, “There’s no such thing as I can’t”. All the time, I hear people say “I can’t spell,” I can’t use technology,” “I can’t do math,” “I can’t sing.” We say it like it’s something to be proud of, but would be frustrated as all get out if we heard our students say it. The same care and encouragement that we give our students should also be taken for ourselves. Just as we crawl, stumble, fall and play as infants, we must take the same steps as adults to learn, become confident and proficient.
Does your tech department, in all of their excitement, introduce the latest and greatest thing to you while you sit back overwhelmed wondering how the heck you’re going to incorporate something more on top of all the other “stuff”? Before you say I can’t, remember that it’s okay to PLAY with all the resources available and discover it for yourself before you even attempt use it in the classroom.
Has your music teacher told you it’s Music in our Schools Month? Is he/she eager to give you resources, songs and CDs you can use in the classroom? Don’t say you can’t sing! Even if you never sing a single note in your classroom you can STILL incorporate music. Always know that any music is better than no music.

• Reading aloud together (choral reading) reinforces rhythm in words and helps with fluency of spoken word.
• Rhyme and meter in poetry build skills neccessary for recognizing form. With St. Patrick’s Day coming up, Limericks would be super!
• Piggyback songs are a great way to learn content using a song you already know. One of my favorites is the Nations of the World set to The Mexican Hat Dance from Animaniacs.

Play around with anything you try to incorporate into your classroom. Go out and see it happening in other classrooms or in the community. Learning is exciting “stuff”, so don’t say I can’t. I might accept I can’t yet.

Looking for a music outing?

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Scripted Teaching – yuck! But is it part of our everyday teaching routine. Our reading and math series are so planned out, that it is rare that I make an actual lesson plan. The editors have given objectives, procedures, warm up activities, enrichment ideas, projects, games, material lists, materials and extra practice, to name a few. Sure I tweak the lessons to fit the needs of my students, but do I dare stray from the book?

Well, YES sometimes I do. In fact, it happened this week and I am so glad I did!

The topic was main idea in the reading series we use and I decided to call on an old favorite of mine – bringing in a guest teacher, “MI”. This character (that I become) talks funny, acts funny and gets the point across. MI talks about what he wants to talk about and then asks the kids to come up with reasons why he said what he said. For example, if MI says “Dogs are cute!” One student may give a reason (a supporting detail SD): They tilt their head when they look at you. Then that student comes up and holds up (supports) MI’s arm. This goes on a couple more times until the other arm and a leg is being supported by the details for the main idea. There is more to this lesson, but in short:

The kids love it and always ask for more, “When is MI coming back??”

The arts – in this case, drama – bring ideas alive, give life to lessons and help students to gain a deeper understanding of a concept. I can guarantee that these kids will remember MI for years!

Better than a worksheet, huh??

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I just attended a workshop about assessments and in particular, we looked at the results of our state’s high stakes testing (MCAS). We scanned, compared, looked at the challenges and weaknesses of our students in terms of what is tested and then our principal asked us to create a list of other ways we can show growth in our students aside from the MCAS.

So we broke up into groups and created a list – a list of ALL the other assessments we have and do with our students each year to help us show the growth in our students from year to year. All the while I sat with a burning question: what about the non-paper and pencil, non-timed, non-quantified assessments.???

Finally, one woman spoke up. She asked if we could put authentic assessments up on our list. (YES!) And then we spoke for the last 5 minutes about the true growth we see each day in our students: when they speak in front of the class for the first time, get excited about learning, dance joyfully, write a great story, participate in class. When are THESE things going to “count” as a true means of assessment?

I guess it could start with us – the teachers. We can’t hold these stories in, but must share them and in doing so express the importance they carry. It’s not about the score, it’s about the whole child!

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