Sudden insights

I'm putting the wraps on SY 2010-2011; it's proving to be deceptively difficult. I'll have a year-end review and a summer to-do list up, probably next week.  In the meantime, a few random thoughts:

1.)  In my Spanish classes, I'm shocked to discover that a great deal of my assessment of comprehension is in fact an assessment of production.  This is not a new problem for me; I seem to remember having written about it before.  I wonder why I haven't done anything about it yet.  Maybe it's because writing tests is hard. (/whine)

2.) This from my friend Qandeel:

I told her she was confusing coffee with crystal meth.

...and that's a year.

Yesterday was the last day of school.  As last days go, I thought it was a great one.  The students participated in a wide variety of really fun, creative activities, designed, set up and executed almost single-handedly by my friend and colleague Preston.  Jeff the Science Teacher and his Experiential Sciences class built a trebuchet and spent a good chunk of the morning throwing softballs the length of most of a football field.  There was a slip-and-slide 60 feet wide and 80 feet long, a dunk tank that the principal dutifully sat in, face-painting.  The superintendent grilled hot dogs.  It was a real carnivalesque occasion.  (Hopefully I'll be able to steal some pictures from people with more foresight than me, or at least students who had their cell phone cameras on.)

It was also very sad for me and for several of my colleagues.  My position has been suspended, and I was laid off.  Kris, our instructional coach, will return to being our high school ELA teacher, which means that John (whose position was funded by ARRA money) is out of a job.  Jami, an amazing teacher with whom I've worked closely on the MiBLSi project, and was deeply loved by the students and parents, will be doing education outreach and missionary work in the Dominican Republic.  Gregg is continuing his education; instead of hiring another full-time art teacher, the administration is looking for an art/music teacher (or a part-time art / part-time music teacher; I was never clear on which).  Another colleague won't be returning for reasons which aren't mine to share.

I'm still writing a post to my students, thanking them for the four great years and encouraging them for the future.  The landscape of the school will be very different for them next year.  Children and young adults are flexible, but at least 5 and as many as 8 people they know and love (to varying degrees) will not be there. 

I'm also drafting one to the staff of our school, which I will probably never share with them.  I want to tell them to make the most of the time they've bought themselves at such great sacrifice.  I want them to know how good things are in their school, and how great they could be.  I want them to know what an honor it was to work with them.  But I couldn't tell them anything they don't already know, so maybe that little blurb will be enough.

There will, of course, also be a great deal of hand-wringing self-reflection over the year once the dust settles.

I have a great deal to say to our state legislators, and I have been saying it at length in a variety of formats.  I'll continue doing that until things improve.


I'm looking for a position now.

And at the end, there's nothing to say, except, Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the Burr Oak Community Schools year of 2009 and 2010.

Happy New Year! Things done, and things yet to do

Well, that's 2009 down.  (In my mental calendar, it's not so much one year--2009--as half of SY 2008-09 and half of SY 2009-10.)  And as always, it's worth reflecting on the successes of the year.  In accordance with tradition, these reflections will take the form of a top ten list.

TOP TEN MOMENTS OF 2009

10.  I began my 4th year of teaching--I'm no longer officially a rookie!  Now, all I need is for my craft to show that.
9.  SY 2008-09 was our first full year of Positive Behavior Support.  The students have strong opinions about it.  Very strong.
8.  I modeled literary analysis for my sophomores by ripping Twilight a new one.  A good time was had by all.  (Later I made it clear that reading anything was better than reading nothing.)
7.  We've formed a professional learning community at school.  After 10 meetings, we're just about ready to stop complaining and get down to business.
6.  I wrote more on this blog last year than in the previous two years combined, and increased my readership by 50%.  Now 3 people read it.
5.  The professional development days.  SOOO many professional development days.  If I'd done this much work on applied behavior analysis in college, I'd have my minor in psychology.
4.  I reorganized my curriculum.  Again.  Only not really.  Again.  Still, it's better than it was, in the same way that a lean-to shed provides better protection from the elements than a pile of sticks.
3.  For the school's winter assembly, 5 of my co-workers and I walked like Egyptians, while 4 others showed off their entirely too-good Bangles impersonations.  Later research suggested that most Egyptians don't actually walk like that, and probably dance better.
2.  One of my students of bygone years--one of the ones I never thought liked my class very much-- came into my classroom wearing some amazing pajama pants.  He said to the class, "These are pantalones en español.  ¿Te gustan mis pantalones?"  Grinning from ear to ear, he waltzed back out.

And the number 1 moment of 2009 in school-related topics was.... (brrrrmmmmmm.....)

Working with the Amazing Staff and Oft-Imitated, Ne'er-Duplicated Students at our school.  You're the reason I keep getting out of bed at 5 AM, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy New Year, all!  (I'll leave the "things left to do" in the title for a later post.  I'm too busy doing some of them right now.)