I am now OFFICIALLY a teacher!

(I actually wrote this blog post on Dec. 2. I waited to post it because...well, it didn't seem real. Things have finally sunk in...)

I got a job!

Today I found out that I have a job teaching 5th grade.

Okay, Sarah. Breathe for a second.

Slide #1 of my introduction Powerpoint... This one isn't for a college assignment...it's for REAL!

I have a TEACHING job. Oh. My. Gosh. They are actually going to pay me to do this? I would do it for free if I could. I would pay someone to let me do it. But they are going to pay ME. Wow.

It seems like a good time to look back at my journey. How did I get here? Where am I going next?

I'm counting on the fact that when I show the students I was as nerdy then as I am now, they will laugh WITH me, and not at me. I hope this doesn't backfire! :)

When I decided to go into education, I was already about ½ way through an associates degree program at JCCC. I thought I was going to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in English from K.U. and then go on to law school. Friends finally convinced me that I should use my talent for working with kids and pursue a career in education. Their words finally stuck. I went to K.U. and spoke with someone from the education department about their program. Fort Hays ended up being my choice, though. I liked the format of their online program and I read some good reviews. The fall of 2011 saw me begin the FHSU coursework.

My favorite classes...Children’s Literature, Mathematics Methods, Social Studies Methods, and my absolute FAVORITE - Science Methods with Stephanie Muth. I loved other classes, too - but these classes got my creative juices flowing and gave me the opportunity to put into practice everything I had been reading and writing about. My mentor teachers were incredible and so supportive. I didn’t have a bad internship experience. The women I taught with were absolute professionals and loved working with kids.

My student teaching experience has been overall incredible. I will be honest, though. I put a LOT of pressure on myself. I wanted to be perfect and I took my students learning seriously. I realized that I couldn't allow the students to languish while I “got the hang of it.” I had to be ready for them each day, be prepared, be organized, and ensure that they were learning. There is a careful balance between being overly-reflective and too laid back. I leaned towards the overly-reflective side. My spirits soared when I saw growth; they sank when I didn’t. Luckily I had the best Cooperating Teacher I could have possibly hoped for and she saw this overly self-critical side of me. Her reassurance and gentle feedback got me to a place where I trusted myself more, looked at the big picture more, and then I was able to finally praise myself and tweak things a little at a time. I felt like I was fine tuning a violin. Each day I got a little bit better, and just when I felt like I had the hang of it...the internship was over!  I said goodbye to those 3rd graders today. Some of us cried (of course I did!). I told them I would carry them with me in my mind and my heart. That I had learned to teach from them and those lessons would now help other kids.

It has been a joy celebrating this next step in my journey with Andy and Mary Kate. I can't wait to share pictures and stories about her with my students. She is a positive role model for young people and I couldn't be more proud! 

The job search began about a month ago. I applied with 10 districts and have another 10 applications I never finished. I went to a Career Fair in early November and met with many schools. I was optimistic that I would be able to sub after the first of the year. A school about 20 miles from me had an immediate 5th grade job open; I applied but thought the opportunity was too good to be true. No way would this work out. My friend Annette always tells me to, “Ask the Universe for what you want.” So I did. I put it out there that this would be a dream job. And it really is. This is an amazing school with 1-to-1 technology coming down the pike. They are award winning and have a reputation for excellence. I wanted to teach intermediate grades - that was always my hope. When I got an interview, I couldn’t believe my luck. As I drove to the school last Monday for the interview, I kept thinking, “DON’T BLOW IT! DON’T STICK YOUR FOOT IN YOUR MOUTH. DON’T SEEM TOO GEEKED OUT ABOUT TEACHING HERE.” Somehow I managed to get a grip and keep my cool, because the interview went really well. I felt a positive, receptive vibe from the principal. And I walked away from the interview thinking, “Wow. I want this job more than ever because I really want to work for this guy.”

I think  Mary Kate's pet hamster Cleo will offer plenty of anecdotes and could even be a nice creative writing topic. WHY is she missing an ear? Hmmmmm?

And the last week has been agony. Agony! Every day I’ve poured over 5th grade resources, dreaming about what my classroom could be like. What will I do with my students? How will I initiate a relationship ½ way through the year? So, now the agony is over and I get to celebrate with my family. I graduate next week and I have about 8 assignments left to finish in the next 5 days. So I need to maintain a balance of pure exhilaration and calm composure and focus. This isn’t the end of road but I’m almost there!

I'm hoping that by sharing my passions with my students, they will think about the things that are meaningful to them...and share their ideas with me. I can't wait to learn all about them! 

~Sarah

Musing on ADHD

It's so hard to have ADHD. I believe that kids come to school wanting to learn and do their best. When ADHD is at it's worst, sometimes it feels like the thing you know you HAVE to do and is good for you is the last thing in the world you want to do. There are so many other things to think about-explore-do...so that reading worksheet can just sit there because now is a good time to dissect your eraser! That's what it's like. There isn't this willful voice inside these kids' heads saying, "BE BAD. GO OFF TASK. DON'T LISTEN." They want to cooperate and sometimes I think we make it nearly impossible. (Note to self...as a teacher...play more games. Do cooperative learning. AVOID WORKSHEETS.)

I made the meme above today because I couldn't get this quote out of my head. I wish I could remember who said it! It's a guy who has books and videos about teaching students in special education. The thing he hammered home is that he often hears parents and teachers complain about the child with ADHD. They will say, "He just won't focus." That isn't really what's going on. The ADHD child is focusing on EVERYTHING. He is giving his teacher an equal chunk of his multi-tasking mind...but he's also giving time to about 10 other things that he can't let go of. It may be the need to sharpen his pencil, destroy an eraser, pick the mud off his shoes, put her hair in a ponytail for the 50th time today, etc. These things seem to be important too. And if the student isn't at the academic level where they are ready for the lesson you're teaching...forget it! And ADHD goes hand in hand with other issues...depression, anxiety, panic, and obsessive compulsive disorder. That's a lot of baggage for a kid to carry around.

A few things I've discovered that help are things that were easy to implement and are suggested by the leaders in ADHD research and advocacy.

1) Checklists. Make the student their own personal checklist for the day's major activities and assignments. I created a file in Google Docs and updated it each morning. I made copies for my students with ADHD and they checked items off as we went through out day. This kept them on track and prepared.

2) Provide accomodations for organization. If the desk is overflowing, provide the student with an extra bucket or tray to place papers and books in. Every few weeks, ask the student to hang back and spend some time organizing. The truth is, organization will probably always be a struggle. These kiddos will greatly benefit from 1-to-1 technology! But in the meantime, have patience, model good organization habits, and coach the child through their organization struggles.

3) If homework is chronically getting lost, consider talking to parents about sending homework via email. If the child has a tablet or iPad at home they could do their home work using a file sharing app. Just take a picture of the worksheet and send it the child. Then they email/send you back the file. Voila! Search the iPad app for "paperless teaching" and you will see there are lots of options.

4) Frequent brain breaks and movement. I like to provide the students with ADHD a brain break at least every 60-75 minutes of academic instruction. I insert a brain break for the whole class in our afternoon block but I didn't need to do that for the morning block. So the students with ADHD would take brain breaks at times designated on their schedules. This was my cooperating teacher's idea and I loved it. She supplied the students with some activities to do and a timer. They got 2 minutes. This GREATLY helped their focus. Other things that I've done are having the students help pass out papers, allowing the student to stand at his desk instead of sit, using cooperative learning structures that include movement, moving whole group lessons from the carpet to the desks and back again. A change of setting can do wonders!

5) There's never too much positive behavior reinforcement. Whatever your system is - don't be greedy! I learned this from my old school's counselor. Hand out the positive behavior currency like it's going out of style and for the littlest positive things. It puts you in a great mood - because who doesn't LOVE to heap praise on kids - and it reminds students that the little things we do all day are the things that add up to our success. If a student with ADHD raises his hand and doesn't blurt out - I'm all over giving out the PBI.

6) I've also discovered how critical it is to build a relationship with parents. Call them to celebrate successes - no matter how small. When concerns arise, call them for advice. And listen. You see their child for a small fraction of their life but the parents are dealing with these struggles everyday. This can be really hard on them. I remember my mom asking me quite often to PLEASE STOP TALKING. I think I drove her nuts as I wanted to talk to her about anything and everything - from politics and movies to the injustices of human suffering. My brain just was going 24/7 (and still is!). And I can see how it is hard for my husband to try to have a conversation with me when I will suddenly "go someplace else" in my mind and change the subject. These kids' parents deal with these behaviors all the time and you are now someone who can listen, relate and understand. You've - by default as their child's teacher- become a part of their support network. I want to take that role seriously and will do everything I can to protect that relationship, and provide them with support.

Student teaching was an incredible experience for me and I learned so much. More than anything, I saw how special each and every child is and that real care and concern for the students coupled with professional training will steer you where you need to go to meet their needs. I studied at Fort Hays State University. I highly recommend their elementary education program. Find out more at www.fhsu.edu.

The House Cup

Today I worked on a Classroom Management project...The House Cup. Everyone who knows me knows what a huge Harry Potter nerd I am. However, I know that not all my students will be fans...and if my students are anything like my daughter, they may detest Harry Potter (or at least the fantasy genre). I had read something about how Ron Clark sorts his students at the Ron Clark Academy into houses. This is a great way to establish teams, complete team building assignments and work towards a common goal (winning the House Cup!). If you're doing Cooperative Learning - it is VITAL you are doing Team Building. Otherwise, kids are going to fall through the cracks.

What I decided to do for the House Cup was create some house names based on Latin phrases. I created the following table to flesh out the house concepts:

House Name	Latin Phrase	Meaning	House Information
Fortuna	Fortes Fortuna Adiuvat	Fortune favors the bold	Colors: Yellow and Black Animal: Lion Symbol: Star Qualities: Labor, Protection, Victory
Magistra	Historia Vitae Magistra	History, the teacher of life	Colors: Blue and Gold Animal: Eagle Symbol: Chalice Qualities:Intelligence, Peace and Prudence
Paratus	In Omnia Paratus	Ready for anything	Colors: Purple and Black Animal: Dragon Symbol: Horn Qualities:Enthusiasm, Vigilance, Merit
Omnia	Labor Omnia Vincit	Hard work conquers all	Colors: Green, Silver and Orange Animal: Griffon Symbol: Scroll Qualities: Valiant, Hopeful, Hardworking
Tenaci	Nulla Tenaci Invia Est Via	For the tenacious, no road is impassible	Colors: Red, Silver and Black Animal: Ram Symbol: Rose Qualities: Bravery, Perserverance, Fair

Each house has it's own Coat-of-Arms that I created for free here.

When I implement the system, I will choose heterogeneous groups ahead of time - but the kids will think it is a random process. I am planning to use a Powerpoint with voice overs that create the experience of the hat "talking" out loud during the sorting ceremony. I don't want to do a witch hat as I'm trying to distance the process a bit from the Harry Potter world. I was trying to find a good scholarly cap. I'm considering a graduation cap OR trying to find an epic Guinan Hat (Whoopi Goldberg's character on Star Trek: the Next Generation).

Wouldn't THAT be amazing? My second choice for a sorting hat is my uber-fabulous Jayne hat from Firefly. I've knitted a few of these...

And yes, that is my adorable husband modeling his Jayne hat. Maybe I could make one with stripes in all the house colors? Hmmmm.....

I'm pretty excited about the sorting ceremony! I plan to decorate, serve treats, and make it a special occasion. Initially, I will also assign one prefect to each house. The prefect will be the group representative and have certain jobs. Each week another student will get to be the prefect. I've read that some teachers have the students vote on the prefects but I don't know if I love that. I'll have to think it over based on my kiddos, I guess.

The prefect for each house will be announced first and will be given some supplies and treats that are themed for each house as additional students get sorted in. This way the prefect can welcome the new students in, give them something tangible, and in general make the experience more exciting (think Sorority Bid Day). I will encourage cheering and high fives, etc. by modeling this behavior.

Maybe we can play some Pharrell tunes, too. :)

The Behavior Management piece is that once the kids are sorted, House Points will be awarded throughout the day when students are producing positive behaviors. Points can also be taken away. My plan is to award weekly prizes for class points but then also have a bigger House Cup prize quarterly and for the overall semester. I'm thinking about doing jars for each house and using marbles in the jars to represent the points.

Once I implement the system I will post it in my store on Teachers Pay Teachers. I want to work out the kinks first. I can't wait to get my classroom and begin my House Cup contest!

Giving Thanks...MAPA

The very first cast. "Thank You for the Music" started as a Friday night class at the Spring Hill Civic Center. After a few weeks, we decided to produce a variety show and it blossomed into...this. The cast performed at the Chamber of Commerce Business Expo and wowed everyone! 

In THANKSGIVING: This was a milestone week. As many of you know, I resigned from MAPA in September so that I could focus on teaching. It was hard to say goodbye and as the good board members and volunteers from MAPA moved 7 years worth of sets, costumes, props and sound equipment out of my garage I just couldn't help but think about how far we had come. I cleared out my files and closed the door to and organization I've dedicated almost 20% of my 40 years to. A little Friday night rec class that was filled with mostly Girl Scouts turned into a 501 (c) 3 organization serving hundreds of area youth. We produced over 15 shows in these last 7 years. When I see the members of the National Honor Society at SHHS, there are many, many MAPA alumni. The musical this fall had a cast of approximately 50% past and current MAPA participants! Becki Davis, Tara Crotchett, Julie Macey - these friends were there from the beginning and made it all happen - volunteering hundreds of hours, working tirelessly behind the scenes on projects where we didn't have a clue what we were doing...but just kept pushing forward all the same. Kim Gibbs, Brandi Sosa, Kaitlyn Spatz, Michelle Churchill, and Becky Fuchs joined us for a while, and new friends like Amy Castle, Scott & Amy Oberkrom, Sharon Mitchell, Alex Goering and Ashley Stanley came on board. We picked up steam and kept adding new friends to our pool of amazing volunteers. I could go on and on but after year 3, it just seemed we had grown from Becki, Tara, Julie and Sarah to a community of people who cared about kids and could see the value of theatre in their lives.

Performing "A Midsummer Night's Dream" at the Spring Hill Fall Festival. We're bringing culture to our community - while shouting over the generators and bounce houses, LOL! 

Zoe as Tink. Unforgettable. 

There are many youth theatre options in Johnson County, CYT, Culture House, Triiilogy, Tallgrass, etc - all are wonderful and have something different to offer. MAPA created opportunities for our local kids that can't be equaled though...with a smaller pool auditioning we were able to cast everyone who registers. And - there are more opportunities for roles that require more responsibility placed on the actor's shoulders. Musical theatre with dedication to showcasing local talent and incorporating sound technology that impressed our audiences. We invested thousands in wireless microphones to ensure our young voices were heard loud and clear! Those mics created so many opportunities for practicing teamwork, responsibility and patience! It's amazing that a simple device can present vast amounts of learning, but they do. These opportunities also created character building moments. I witnessed young people facing disappointment and finding silver linings. They learned to cooperate, focus, follow through, interpret literature, and perhaps most importantly - HOLD ON TO THE MAKE BELIEVE FAIRY LAND THAT IS CALLED "CHILDHOOD." Actors can always go to that place...and be "Forever Young."

We have had opportunities for young people to write and direct skits, try their hand as a music director, stage combat choreographer, dance choreography, and so much more. Those "Hobbits, Wizards, and Jedi" camps were some of my favorite projects as I was able to collaborate with so many cool teenagers and adults as we produced our wacky show. And when I think of how many kids tackled the Harry Potter and Tolkien books as a result of those camps...I am overwhelmed. Just think about that...theatre did that! we brought these stories to life and while the "trend" of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings was starting to fall by the wayside, here in Spring Hill we breathed life into the series and got kids excited about these works. Wow.

One of my favorites - Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr. What a great show and amazing cast! I had a dream team of directors with Becki as assistant director, Alex as music director and Ashley and Amy doing choreography. Good times! 

Rehearsal for Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr.

In the midst of MAPA growing, our mayor (Mark Squire) approached me and my friend Shawn Jones about starting an Arts Council that would unite area arts organizations and provide input to City leaders on decisions about asthetic improvements to our public spaces. I was blessed to research arts councils, connecting with old high school friends who are working in the challenging field of public art, and I put together more than one City Council presentation to get that project off the ground. I'll never forget Shawn and my discussions about Art Councils, and what the possibilities were for a City that was embracing the arts. The Spring Hill Arts Council is now in its 3rd year and is finding its way. How lucky I am to have gotten to be a part of that.

The hardest part about saying goodbye (for now) is the people. I've really struggled with this and have found myself rather choked up on several occasions. I had a moment with Taz and Hannah at the Ren Fest this fall where I looked at these beautiful senior girls and I thought about the awkward 6th graders they were when they walked in to to our very first rehearsal. They have literally grown up before my very eyes and it has been an honor to know so many of these students who now prepare for their last 6 months of high school. What I love about these kids is it doesn't matter if they did one show or ten, they greet me with hugs, warmth, and recollections of fond memories.

Tigerlily (Macee) gets arrested by Smee (Haley) in "Peter Pan Rocks!" Our stunning mermaids in dresses created by Becki Davis and Amy Oberkrom are getting ready to sing "Too Many Fish in the Sea." So cute! 

Can I pick a favorite show that I've directed? Probably not. "The Little Mermaid" and "Welcome to the 60's" were very meaningful because I wrote the scripts for both of those shows. I'll never forget that my father-in-law came up to me at the end of "Welcome to the 60s" with tears in his eyes. He had served in the armed forces during Vietnam and our final number was "The Flesh Failures / Let the Sun Shine In" from Hair, prologued with powerful monologues by a very young Reagan Smith and Riley Pettit. Gene talked about what a powerful theatrical moment that was for him and that he saw other men his age in the audience get emotional as well. So while we had lots of spectacular performances over the years - that one really stands out. The other moment for me that was like no other happened just this summer. When we worked out the "All the World's a Stage" scene with a monologue delivered by Alex Kaechele that is unequaled, along with the nuanced flute solo by Kira Hephner...when these pieces were put together with the quiet, tragic, and sorrowful entrance of Adam (Ada) played by Lily Kuhn - who could hold back the tears? It was theatre at it's best. Rich layers of themes there for the audience to discover if they took the time to watch and think. Our audiences did just that and Alex's performance was praised by many. He's at KU now, making us proud as a scholar and debater. I'm so lucky to have gotten to work with him and that entire cast! All the casts, really!

The Music Man Jr. was SO MUCH FUN to direct and one of my favorite productions visually. Regina and Jenny rocked those Steampunk costumes and Lisa and Maddison designed an incredible set. 

You see, the thing is...I had no idea what I was doing at the beginning. I grew up in Lawrence, KS. That is a theatre town big time. I tried out for dozens of plays and only got cast in a handful. It was incredibly competitive and I lacked a lot of the self-esteem back then to stick with it when facing rejection. By high school, I had all but given up. As time went on though, I found myself continuing to love musicals and I went to see as many as I could. I listened to soundtracks and sang along constantly. And that was where MAPA came from. I wasn't an expert...but I saw a void in our community. Becki and Tara saw it too. Neither of them were formally trained either. Somehow parents trusted us with their kids and somehow we had just enough knowledge of what we liked to see on stage and we were all able to carry a tune. And most importantly - we loved kids and had time to give. That combination was enough, I guess, but I kind of laugh at how audacious we were to think we could direct and run sound equipment and manage costumes / sets / props and communicate with parents and kids and manage behaviors and and and...WOW. How did we do that!?! Oh - yeah. We loved kids. Plain and simple. Loved kids. The rest... just fell into place.

Our first performance as MAPA at Spring Hill Daffodil Days in April 2012. Prior to that, we had been known as "Broadway Review," a program that operated under the Spring Hill Recreation Commission.

There were growing pains. Not everything was perfect. The people who stuck it out with us from our first show "Thank You for the Music" to our next show, "Peter Pan Rocks" were very brave! But almost everyone came back despite our lack of knowledge about "classroom management." Their parents knew....we cared about their kids. And over time, I started to get the whole classroom management thing. Instead of yelling "Molly- quit climbing on the electrical box!" or "Ali - enough with the cartwheels!" (Names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent) , I would say, "Wow! I love how Mallory is showing me she is ready to sing!" and then all the other actors would straighten up. Little things like that...I later found out this was classic behavior conditioning and a technique used by practically every teacher. While we were working on Pinocchio, I came to the realization that I wanted to be a teacher. I had been working on a B.A. in English with the plan that I would go on to law school. Working with those kids and realizing how much joy and hope and energy they brought me - I knew that my place in this world was in a classroom. I'll never forget that Janelle Carbajo asked me one time, "So, what grade do you teach?" And I said, "Oh no - I'm not a teacher." She replied, "You're kidding. You've GOT to go into education." That was the end of the B.A. in English (I still might get that someday...reading British lit and writing papers about it for 2 years sounds like and utter waste of time - AND pure heaven. But I digress...). Don't judge my typos on this blog as evidence of what I'm capable of either...ha ha ha.

Julie and Sonya at the signing of our Articles of Incorporation; Laura looks on. We became an independent non-profit in March 2012 after operating for 5 years under the umbrella of the Spring Hill Recreation Commission.

The next few years of balancing teaching, school, and MAPA were tough. I also came to realize that it wasn't really theatre that kept me coming back. We had plenty of requests to start producing community theatre and shows with adult casts. I never got too excited about that or explored it fully because for me, it was about the kids. I played Miss. Hannigan in "Annie" at GCT and I found myself typically hanging out with the orphans backstage (and Alex and Amy - who were like children, wink wink). I directed "Miracle on 34h Street" for GCT and my favorite part of that experience was working with my Susan (Kyra Fuchs) and the children's ensemble. I didn't see it then but I see it with perfect clarity now. It wasn't about theatre. It was about kids.

The cast of Pinocchio! We got to go wild with our creativity and make believe during this production. It was pure magic along with MASSIVE BOWS on top of kid's heads! These were by far my favorite costumes. The little French marionette puppets, the boys and girls in the land of toys with the propeller hats and gigantic bows...the crazy maniacal coachman costume, those darling cricket costumes made by Amy Oberkrom...I could just go on and on. 

I don't have a teaching job yet. But I have had 3 interviews (!!!) and I feel very confident that good things are coming. That is because of MAPA. I've talked to so many subs in Spring Hill who have told me horror stories about the dozens of applications they have completed and yet they are coming up empty handed - even for interviews. I know that my experiences with MAPA and the enthusiasm I have for working with kids has given me a distinct advantage in the hiring game. When I attended the KU Career Fair a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of speaking to administrators from schools across the metro area. During each conversation I found myself smiling and exuding energy and passion while talking about the teaching profession. I'm so GRATEFUL that I had all those years to work with families who were patient with me as I was learning. When I screwed up, people forgave me and then I learned from my mistakes. The people who didn't forgive me - I still learned from those mistakes too! I have dozens of anecdotes in my back pocket that I can share at interviews about situations that have arisen when working with kids...situations that didn't always have a happy ending except for the fact that we reflected, learned and moved forward. Every show has brought new opportunities for me to grow as an educator.

As You Like It - the first full-length Shakespeare production. From left, Colby as Orlando, Alanna as Rosalind and Hannah as Celia. Incredibly gifted actors who dedicated their summer to memorizing hundreds of lines and delivering passionate performances. 

I can't say goodbye to theatre forever. I may or may not ever direct a play here again but I know I will use plays in some way to get children excited about literature. There are so many works I want to explore - stories that sparked my imagination as a child. I daydream about directing "Little House on the Prairie," "Anne of Green Gables," "The Bremmentown Musicians," "Ramona," and "Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing" someday...simply to get kids excited about those wonderful stories! Maybe that will happen in my classroom, or future school, or back at MAPA. Who knows? Readers' Theatre is a popular strategy for teaching fluency...I'd like to produce Readers' Theatre 2.0 where we take it up a notch and REALLY get into it! Accents! Wigs! Moustaches! Peg Legs! Puppets!

This is how these kids spend their  nights...singing, bonding, goofing off. I look at this photo and see smart, successful young men and I'm in awe. 

I want to replicate Joss Whedon's infamous Friday night Shakespeare readings and study the texts with teenagers who bring incredible insights about love, loss, tragedy, passion, jealousy, greed, corruption, and power - all through the eyes of high schoolers. The discoveries we made during "As You Like It" about Shakespeare's message to us was like a hidden treasure. Alanna, Hannah, Jason, Colby, Lily, Christian, Joel, Kira, Taz,  Alex, Ellie, Alexa, Fletcher and everyone else each had a moment of discovery during that show...their own little Easter egg sent through time from Shakespeare himself. Those moments...pure magic. I know I may be weird, but that's what I call "fun."

Becki, Me & Tara. Founders of "Broadway Review." We took our girls to Legally Blonde a few years ago and decked ourselves out in PINK - of course! 

Am I in a position to offer sage advice to anyone about theatre? No. But I can tell you that one thing I've learned from all of this is that when you find something you enjoy, and you're good at it, you don't have to do it for a job. Becki, Tara, and I took something we enjoyed, paired that with our love of working with kids, and we filled a void in our community. I'm proud to say we were AUDACIOUS and BRAVE. We had our critics. People asked what made us qualified to do what we were doing. Ummmmm....we have kids? We like kids? That was about it. And as it turns out...that was more than enough. So what that tells me is that when it comes to getting things started and serving your community - just think about what you love. What makes you happy? How do you enjoy spending your time? Can you do that AND serve others? That was how I made community service part of my everyday life without even really thinking about it. I'm honored to serve on the Spring Hill Education Foundation where we award 10 scholarships to SHHS graduates each year. The award is heavily weighted based on community service and I love getting to talk to these kids about the ways they have found to help their community. I'm also eager to take on another volunteer project as soon as I figure out what my "new" life will be like as a teacher. I can't stop serving - it is a part of who I am.

Making memories! The cast party for "Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr." with Faith, Laura and Mary Kate. Seeing my daughter blossom into such a confident young lady had a lot to do with her opportunities in theatre. She met her best friend when we did "Annie" at GCT and then recruited her to come act with us in Spring Hill. We love you Laura! 

Alex and Sara Goering are making me so proud as they take on their 2nd MAPA show. "Annie Jr." is going to be incredible - I have no doubt about that! These kids are incredibly fortunate to be have volunteers like the Goerings, Stevie Morris, Tina Allen, Jennifer Kuhn, Melissa Hephner, and Lauren Baxter who are willing to give so selflessly their time, talent and energy to push MAPA forward. They've taken on a LOT this fall and there were times where I know they were scratching their head trying to figure out my files, my process, etc. as they took over the daunting task of running this organization. They are doing an amazing job. 7 people is far better than 1 - and that is a lesson I wish I had learned a long time ago.

There won't be a day that goes by where I don't think about my experiences with this organization. I can't thank the board members, current and past, enough for all they have done for this program. I will always be around to mentor, offer love, and support. To say I am proud of what we have accomplished would be an understatement. With the exception of my family, MAPA is the greatest thing to ever come into my life and I look forward to the time when I've finished my masters degree and can come hopefully come back for more. I know the program is in excellent hands with the current leadership and I couldn't be more ...

grateful.

I got to be Ching Ho and Bun Foo's "Mama" at the end of Thoroughly Modern Millie, directed by Julie Macey. What a thrill and honor to have been asked to perform that role. Thank you for the memories.

Check Your Ego at the Curb

I’m now officially 1 month in to my student teaching experience. This coming week I will take “full control” of the classroom. The reality is that I will not be in actual full control as my wonderful cooperating teacher will continue to be there to support me, teach me, remind me and guide me. And thank goodness; because without her – I’d be lost.

If you want to know the real truth, while it has been over 3 years since I made the decision to study Elementary Education I never fully grasped the actual role of the elementary classroom teacher until now. The past several weeks I have worked 11-12 hour days at the school then came home and spent another couple hours working. And this is not me writing innovative lesson plans for every subject. This time is not spent researching brilliant new strategies. This is time spent preparing, grading, analyzing data, and most importantly – reflecting. I have 21 young minds that I feel wholly accountable for and I am committed to doing them justice and not letting them down. My hope is that in a couple of years I will be swiftly completing the daily tasks so that I can use extra time for innovation and research.  

Student Teaching brings your faults to the surface like a big, nasty pimple. The first week that I taught I spent 30 minutes going through a PowerPoint I had intended to take 10 minutes doing. Oops. No time for that nifty, fun assessment activity now, friends. Time management has always been an issue for me and now I can see the aftermath of my flaw. So, my CT (cooperating teacher) and I came up with some strategies: use a timer or get a watch. I use both now. Incidentally, I haven’t worn a watch regularly since the 80’s when Swatches were in style. This week’s reality check: the kids don’t treat me with same level of respect as my CT. They are constantly coming up to me, blurting out answers, asking off topic questions and sharing factoids about their life that are waaaaaaay off topic. Great. I’ve become best friends with a gaggle of 9-year olds. That doesn’t mean I’m going to be able to teach them about the life cycle, subtraction algorithms or writing sequences. So, this weekend I get to reflect more on why they are doing this, what things I am doing to create this situation and what am I going to do to improve my classroom management skills to get us back on track.

I wish I had the opportunity to talk to every high school and college student thinking about a career in teaching. Just to have the chance to tell them that you HAVE TO LOVE KIDS to do this. I mean, REALLY love them. Teaching is not an, “I think kids are cute so I’d like to hear the funny things they say all day,” kind of career. From what I’ve seen so far, teaching is a CHECK-YOUR-EGO-AT-THE-CURB-AND-DO-WHATEVER-IT-TAKES-TO-TEACH-KIDS-NOT-JUST-CORE-SUBJECTS-BUT-ALSO-LIFE-SKILLS-CONFIDENCE-SELF-ESTEEM-AND-PRO-SOCIAL-BEHAVIORS kind of career. And when I say check your ego at the curb, I mean really check your ego at the curb. Because at the beginning, middle and end of each day, you should NOT thinking about yourself. You are thinking about the young hearts and minds you are responsible for. And every action, decision and motivation is made with their needs at heart.

And then, if you are able to decide that you do indeed love kids, you ALSO have to be able to accept and respect their parents. You must realize that their parents know your students better than anyone else, EVEN YOU. And you have to be able to let go and let those kids be their unique, creative, bubbly, unorganized, mopey, silly, scattered, reserved, outgoing, and amazing selves. They are who they are and their parents LOVE that about them. Don’t try to change it.

And once you’ve realized all of this…and you still want to be a teacher…despite the warnings of 12, 14, 16 hour days. Despite the knowledge that you will feel tremendous pressure to dress in current, professional fashion (see Pinterest for details), work out at a gym, have your hair professionally cut & colored, decorate your room in the a darling, cohesive theme (see Pinterest once again) – all on a salary somewhat akin to secretarial work WHILE paying off student loans… if you still want to teach after knowing all that, I have news for you: you will love it.

The first time a little girl who struggles with math cries out, “Oh! I get it now!” The first time you grade a paper and see the strategy you taught a student put into action to help them solve a problem – and they get it right! The first time your heart bursts because one of your students reached out to a peer to give support, help, or just a hand to hold. You. Will. Love. It.   

My husband asked me this week if it was worth it. “Sarah, you’re just 4 weeks in. You look miserable,” he said to me as I half-sat, half-laid on the club chair and ottoman beside our bed. I was covered in materials…laptop, curriculum book, a stack of papers, and my grading pen. I mumbled some sort of reply that it wouldn’t always be like this…that I’m just new, I’m learning, I also am studying for certification exams and doing other assignments for my college. My muffled, half-hearted response to him still swirls around my head. Because the truth is: I know it actually always WILL be like this. There will always be college courses and professional development work to do. Being a teacher means being committed to a lifelong learning process. There will always be papers to grade, assignments to plan, new curriculum to analyze, parents to communicate with…and most importantly, the important task of reflection.

So here's my egotistical self talking: I've known for a long time that I would be a good teacher. Kids like me, they listen to me, and I like them. I find education exciting and am really committed to living a life that honors knowledge. But something had been nagging me for a while because I've been discovering that these qualities I have are not unique. There are thousands of other college seniors graduating this December and next May who have degrees in education, who also like kids and kids like them. What makes me unique are my flaws. My mistakes. My would-of, could-of, should-of 's. Because for every mistake I’ve made, I didn’t think about how my error impacted me, my evaluation, my career prospects or my grade. My FIRST thought was how my mistake impacted my students.  

Here I sit, writing a reflection about what I could be doing better, what has worked and what hasn't, and I end up having my own personal "A ha!" moment. I now know that I have the right stuff to be a teacher.

Stay tuned…

Self Efficacy

My daughter is a softball player. She is 15 and plays at the highest level. This summer, she played with girls who were 2-3 years older than her. That would have intimidated most people. For her, she just had a job to do. So every time she stepped on the pitching mound, she did her job. And MOST of the time, she did her job very, very well.

I have sat there at her games in awe at what she is able to do. The kid is 5' 6" - not the tallest girl out there by any means. She has faced batters that are 6' and taller. She just goes out there and does her thing. Some days are better than others. I used to chalk up her ability to "Natural Talent." She hated when I would say that - because she practiced softball and worked hard to learn each new pitch and tweak old ones. But I also knew that she threw twice as well as some girls who practiced twice as much. But that isn't the point of this blog entry. I'll come back to that "it" factor that Mary Kate has...and I've learned it is purely psychological. 

I'm glad I have softball games to keep my mind occupied as something huge is on the horizon...I will be starting my student teaching internship in less than 2 weeks. Unbelievable! It's here! This journey I have taken (starting in 2008) to get my degree is coming to a close and by the time the sun sets on 2014, I will be a certified educator. When I first went back to school, I had no clue what kind of a degree to get. What I did know was that my work history had proven that when I set my mind to something, worked hard and practiced at it - I had success. I didn't realize it then, but that was "self-efficacy" - one of the core characteristics that is required for learning. 

I didn't have self-efficacy as a kid. In fact, I had a great deal of doubt about many of my abilities. Having come from a broken home and being raised by a single mother, things were kind of rough. When I faced failure as a kid, I didn't have resiliency and usually I just walked away. That approach didn't help me with grades, friendships, relationships or work. Things changed when my mother died; I was 21 and she was just 42. It wasn't an immediate change, but I know I grew up a lot that year. 

That same year, I started working at Borders Books, Music & Movies as a bookseller. I loved the job and loved the store. An avid reader, music and movie enthusiast, this was my candy store. The culture of the store employees was very laid back and accepting. For beginner booksellers there was an expectation that you show up, were friendly to customers and learned the computer system/layout of the store fairly soon. Once you had the basics down, the trainers would teach you more difficult tasks that tapped into your personal skill sets. I approached each task in the store with gusto and bravery. When I made a mistake, I had caring mentors who corrected me and gave me heaping amounts of praise when I did something right. The managers freely distributed feedback about what kinds of things they liked about our work. Their praise became something I strived for and I began going above and beyond to receive it. Sounds a lot like teaching, huh? 

I became a store trainer, then an office manager. The promotions were great and the pay was better. I was getting tangible rewards for my efforts. I don't recall ANY tangible rewards as a kid in school (they didn't do it that way when I was in school). Eventually, I found myself in my dream job as the Activities Coordinator for the Olathe store and soon thereafter, Area Marketing Manager for 7 stores in Kansas and Missouri. All the praise and encouragement...and then the promotions and the money...developed my self-efficacy. The skills that were important at Borders: communication, team work, organization, multi-tasking, customer service, merchandising, graphic design, marketing...these were skills I knew I had. I left Borders in 2002 to stay home with our daughter but my self-efficacy stayed with me and it eventually propelled me back into school. 

So, my daughter had some early success as a pitcher. Maybe when she was 9 "Natural Talent" had something to do with her first taste of success, but she practiced as often as she could. The hard work paid off and within her first season as a pitcher, she was racking up numerous strikeouts and helping her team win trophies. Other coaches would come by and compliment her. Those tangible and intangible rewards built up her confidence and self-efficacy to make her who she is today. 

Kids need to hear praise and they need tangible rewards for their efforts. They need to tap into their best parts and use their strengths as fuel for each task. It took me a long time to truly understand the concept of self-efficacy and its role in my life. But I think I finally get it. When we identify a student as one who really doubts there abilities...we have to double down on giving them tasks they can be successful in, piling on the praise for when they are successful, and adding new information to their knowledge bank in small chunks. These are the tennants of Special Education but this method is true for all learners. Our learners need success to feel successful. Feelings of success lead to self-efficacy. And self-efficacy leads to perseverance. 

When I was 15, I didn't persevere.I couldn't - because I didn't believe in myself. That changed for me...and the change came later in life. I'm glad my experience was what it was though. Because now I truly understand the importance of self-efficacy and how I can foster it in my own classroom. 

Science Fair time!

For my Science Methods Course at FHSU I was assigned with the task of creating a science fair project. I was incredibly excited about this project and put hours and hours into the planning and execution. My hard work paid off with an "A" on the project. But even more encouraging, my professor suggested that I share the project with a group of students.

I presented the project to 3 classes of fifth graders yesterday (all at once! Yikes!). They were immediately interested thanks to their teachers hyping up the event (thank you teachers!). We began the presentation by watching a video made by a group of students in Monteray Bay about oil spills. These students, working with the Monteray Bay National Marine Sanctuary, did a great job making a video that really shows the NGSS's at work. 

Next, we went into the classroom pod and I gave some background information on why I had selected this project. I told the students how upsetting oil spill images were to me and that I read some articles about oil spill clean up projects. My research led me to asking the question, "What natural resources absorb the most oil?" as I thought about the impact of using toxic clean-up materials on eco-systems.

The students were eager to replicate my experiments. I briefly covered the scientific method, my variables and controls and my hypothesis. I gave each student a data gathering worksheet and they used their calculators to compute results as select students performed the experiments. I was worried that with such a large group some students may get bored but that was not the case at all. While the math was challenging for some students, overall the group was engaged and responsive.

In my original experiment, I tested mushrooms, peat moss, unrefined cotton, human hair and beeswax for oil absorbancy. With the students, we just did peat moss, cotton and beeswax. 

The students were in awe of how much oil the cotton absorbed and how it repelled water. Once we gathered our data, we discussed how data should be presented in a compelling way through charts and graphs. Next, we talked about how we draw conclusions and the importance of not making sweeping assumptions.

If you would like to view my complete Power Point for this project, you can do so here:
Oil Spill Science Fair Project

We only had about 45 minutes for the presentation - which flew by fast! In retrospect, I could have divided the presentation over several class periods so we could have gotten more detailed with our experiments, data and the math. But, I got wonderful feedback from the 5th grade teachers. One said about my teaching, "You're a natural." This is probably the highest compliment anyone could ever give me. I was on Cloud 9!