Top Ten~ish Takeaways from 2014 - 2015.

1) Apparently having a passion for teaching reading and math is still considered weird.  I'm extremely proud to have both my Math classroom certification and my Academy of Orton Gillingham Practitioners and Educators Classroom Educator certification.  It is amazing how when I'm tutoring in math my OG training comes out:

• "What is this word?" 
• "Hundr... umm... I don't know that word."
• "What does 'th' say?"
• "/th/... oh hundreths..."

Most teachers I come across love one or the other.  I can't see one without the other.

2) It is amazing how much growth my students show on standardized tests when I'm just allowed to teach.  I wonder how my other placements would have gone if I wasn't as micro-managed.

3)  On that topic, I'm still amazed we live in a country where 100% of teachers need to prove that 100% of the students in their class showed over a year of growth.  No other profession is held to that standard.  No doctor has to have a 100% patient survival rate,  no police officer has to have a 100% crime free district.

4) Even after 18 years of teaching I still do not have a 'set' curriculum.  Each class is different, each year leads down a different path.  I have material that I integrate, but my lessons always change. This is not a bad thing.  It could also be because for the 9th time in 8 years I'll be changing classrooms.

5) Connecting to a Personal Learning Network  has been amazing.  Using twitter as an educational professional development tool allowed me to grow in ways that no other medium could have done. I was able to give and get feedback and ideas nearly instantly.  I went from never using twitter to hosting #MSchat discussion in less than one year.  Check out links on the right to see at all the awesome educators you should also be reading!

6)  I'm very thankful to the Association for Middle Level Educators to provide such a wonderful conference, as well as Marburn Academy for providing me the opportunity to go there!  I made so many professional connections, saw amazing presentations, and met truly passionate middle level educators!

Some #MSchat members at #AMLE2014

7) I LOVE presenting at conferences.  AMLE 2014 was my first national conference and I loved being able to share my ideas, thoughts, and techniques.  I loved getting feedback from participants and especially loved getting e-mails saying how they incorporated my ideas into their classroom.  Unfortunately it didn't work out for AMLE 2015, but this is a role I want to expand in the future. [ ADVICE ON HOW TO DO THIS IS HIGHLY REQUESTED :) ]

8) Teach a student how to solve a rubik's cube and their confidence in EVERYTHING goes up exponentially.  I have yet to find any exceptions to this rule.

9) Apparently I have a knack for coming up with a game for any topic and any grade level.  I seem to be the go-to person when someone needs a 'fun way' to do this topic.   What can I say, I like games!

10) I'm still incredibly proud of our division's Hunger Games Food Drive. Arguably one of my best memories as a classroom teacher.

Positive use of competition

11) Lessons are better when you teach like a pirate.  Get the students wondering about what is going on instead of 'what are we going to learn' :play some music, come in costume, rearrange the room, make up stories... use mystery and intrigue.  The learning occurs naturally from there.

12) After a dozen and a half years I'm still as passionate about teaching as I was when I started. I'm already reading PD books and planning big picture ideas for 2015-2016.  It's like it never turns off!

Thank you all for reading my blog this year - it has been quite an experiment for me.  I'm not the type that usually publishes my writing, but I hope you have gotten something out of it.  I really loved getting the comments, e-mails, and tweets about how my ideas helped you in your class.   I'll be posting a bit over the summer and will be back full time in the fall!

Michael :)

An Attitude of Gratitude.

One of the wonderful things about being a teacher is that I get two times during the year (December and the end of school) to truly look back and reflect.  It is almost like a mid-year do-over twice a year where I can see if I need to adjust my heading.

Today, though, is not about changing course. As I was on my run today (one of my two resolutions that I kept this year) I was thinking about my end-of-year blog.  As I was composing these words in my mind (or thinking about my chocolate milk and pumpkin cookie that I promised myself for finishing all 10k) I noticed most of my thoughts were about how grateful I was for everything this year.   Being a more educational-themed blog, I am going to really stay focused on reflecting about my professional life over the past year.  That being said, I do want to take a moment just to say how thankful I am for everything in my personal life as well - a wonderful wife, two amazing children, incredible friends of all genres (hockey, gaming, professional, parents) - you each could get a post of your own and I'm thankful for each of you.

Professionally I have so much to be thankful for.  I am at an amazing school with a brilliant middle division team as well as fantastic leadership.  I have worked at schools where I got observed twice a year (maybe) for twenty(ish) minutes and was expected to put on the classic dog-and-pony show to ensure that all the little boxes on the clip board got marked off. Now I work at a school that encourages me to push my limits - to remember that we are here for the education of the whole student - to remember that teaching 'safe' lessons does not equate to good education - to remember that if I'm bored giving the lesson, the students will be spiritless in receiving it.  My administration encourages me to try new ideas, be creative, and challenge the students.  I'm not allowed to give formulas, can't provide reference sheets, or just hand out extra credit.  They back that encouragement with weekly planning time, development time, and collaboration time as well as financially supporting the staff to attend professional development workshops and conferences that apply to our individual professional growth goals.

That leads me to my second topic of thankfulness - The AMLE2014 conference.  I had the amazing experience and honor to both attend and present at this year's Association of Middle Level Educators national conference in Nashville. It kicked off with some great footwork from Dru (@DruTomlin_AMLE) and a live twitter feed.  During the three days I attended more sessions than was physically possible (I didn't bother eating lunch as the lines were crazy long) and learned so many new ideas and techniques that it would take me another decade of teaching to implement them all.  But just as important as the learning that occurred were all of the professional connections that I made.  I was so grateful that I attended a twitter session hosted by #mschat guru Todd B (@blocht574).  His session really showed me how to build a professional growth network through twitter.  Before his session I had a dozen followers and about as many tweets.  Now I'm in two to three twitter chats per week and have made more professional connections than I ever could have without this amazing resource.

Todd was not the only amazing educator I met while I was at #AMLE2014.   I attended Jackie H's (@jbhanlon) speed session on "Literacy Gone Wild" and was enamored by her energy and ferver.  I also got to be her plus-one at the #mschat meet up that evening where I met even more devoted teachers.  I am now a weekly regular at this chat for many reasons.  On top of the brilliant ideas that get shared on #mschat, the spirit and energy from the educators that post refocus me on my passion for teaching.  I'm also thankful for my other weekly chats: #ecet2, #edchat, #txeduchat, and of course Teach Like A Pirate #tlap - designed around the fantastic book written by Dave Burgess (@burgessdave).  Dave was one of the keynote speakers and amazed the crowd with his energy, magic, and math.  I attended his Teach Like A Pirate session as well and have implemented many of his concepts in my lessons.  I'm really thankful for his immense list of questions to help me truly cook my lessons perfectly.

I'm going to brag about my teaching partner for a bit for I'm really thankful for her as well.  She is one of the hardest working teachers I've ever seen.  Her lessons are creative, well planned, scaffolded, and thoughtful.  They are engaging and play to each students' strength while challenging the students at a perfect level.  She recently completed a "Survivor Island - Explorers" simulation that I will be blogging about next week which could be used as the template for getting students hooked and engaged for any social studies activity.  If you are having issues with student engagement, this is a post you'll really want to read.

There can be but one winner of Survivor Island

I really have so much more to say - but I'll just finish with this... Thank you to all that have made such a positive impact on my 2014.  Those that read the blog, please let me know how your year has gone.  I'd love to know what have been your highlights of 2014.   Have a save and happy new year!