TLN Teacher Voices

An Excellent Aid in Teaching Young Students the Art of Writing

No More I’m Done: Fostering Independent Writers in the Primary Grades
by Jennifer Jacobson
(Stenhouse, 2010)

Reviewed by Allison Sampish
Kindergarten Teacher (CO)
TLN New Millennium Initiative

“I’m done!” “Me too!” “How do you spell dinosaur?” “My pencil needs to be sharpened!” “I need another piece of paper!” These are the anthems that so many primary teachers hear during writing time in their classrooms. Creating a writer’s workshop where these young students are truly writing and — most important — SEE themselves as  writers can be a very daunting task.

As teachers, we have been given the curriculums, and we have seen the videos of amazing teachers working with small groups of students who are actively listening and participating. But we still find ourselves wondering, “How would this work in my room? Where do I start? Do you have some sample lessons that I can try?” The book No More I’m Done!: Fostering Independent Writers in the Primary Grades by Jennifer Jacobson has answers to these questions and so many more.

I found this book extremely easy to read and based on the amount of pages I highlighted, tagged and earmarked, I know Jacobson’s book will be referenced frequently as I begin my fourth year of teaching kindergartners the art of writing.

The book is well laid out, beginning with a chapter on how to set up your room and what supplies you will need to have an effective writer’s workshop. Next is a chapter on routines — what to do before, during and after your writing time each day. Many of her suggestions and ideas are easy things that I can quickly tweak, but they can make all the difference between a successful writer’s workshop or a disaster waiting to happen!

Jacobson provides numerous sample mini-lessons laid out for each month, based on topics, writing traits, and common stumbling blocks teachers encounter as we work with primary students to develop the craft of writing. These brief lessons incorporate the teaching strategies of mentor text, modeled writing, interactive writing, graphic organizers, and examination of other writing. You’ll also find extension ideas to help your young writers stretch. The mini-lessons can easily be paired with other writing curriculums, including those by Lucy Calkins, Don Graves, or Ralph Fletcher.

Throughout the book there are also great tips on ways to improve a young writer’s independence and confidence. Lastly, the author addresses many of the common problems and questions that teachers have as they begin the transformation of their classroom time devoted to writing.

As Jennifer Jacobson herself says, “I am a writer and a teacher of writing — each role continually informing and shaping the other.” This book has helped me realize that I am a writer, and by allowing my students to see me as such, and helping to foster their opportunity to see themselves as budding authors of their own ideas, they too can master the craft and emerge as confident and independent writers for a lifetime.

Allison Sampish teaches primary grades at Fall River Elementary in Colorado’s St Vrain Valley School District. She is a member of the Center for Teaching Quality’s New Millennium Initiative in Colorado.

TFA's Secret Teacher Training Toolkit

Teaching As Leadership: The Highly Effective Teacher's Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap
By Steven Farr
(Jossey-Bass, 2010)

Reviewed by Alex Diamond
English Teacher (South Korea)
Teacher Leaders Network

This fall 4,500 teachers will take the same path to their first-ever classrooms. The vast majority of these will come in with no completed traditional coursework in the field of education. All will teach in some of the toughest schools in some of the toughest neighborhoods in the country, where students lag as many as a few years behind their more-privileged peers in reading level and other academic skills. Yet Teach for America (TFA), the organization that selects and places these teachers, believes an intensive five-week summer training institute is enough to prepare them.

Whatever you think of this claim— and there's an ongoing and very much unresolved debate over whether TFA teachers are better than the alternative—Teach for America has spent considerable time and energy studying the most effective teachers to design an impressive condensed teacher-training program. And now they have brought their approach public for the first time in a new book by Steven Farr, Teaching as Leadership: The Highly Effective Teachers' Guide to Closing the Achievement Gap.

Reading Teaching as Leadership was for me likely a different experience than it would be for many classroom teachers. As of this writing it's been less than three months since I finished my two-year commitment to TFA. I've been through TFA's summer training and received ongoing support based around the same teaching principles. Though criticisms of the length of TFA's training are warranted, the principles behind their training have a lot of value and the book is therefore full of helpful, specific and practical suggestions.

The book is organized around six principles that characterize the most effective teachers. They are:

1. Set big goals
2. Invest students and families
3. Plan purposefully
4. Execute effectively
5. Continually increase effectiveness; and
6. Work relentlessly

Some of these may seem obvious (of course you should plan with a purpose) but the book gets into the practical nitty-gritty of how good teachers do these things. For planning, it suggests beginning with a vision of success (what will students be able to do?), turning that vision into an assessment of some form, and only then writing a daily lesson plan. For daily planning they recommend a basic "I do, we do, you do" model as a starting point. Certainly, TFA didn't invent all of these teaching approaches, but the organization has twenty years of experience working with effective teachers to draw on to explain them.

Indeed, the strength of the book is the dozens of teachers' anecdotes sprinkled throughout every chapter that illuminate the practice behind the theory. Not sure how to involve parents? The book includes a diversity of examples, from weekly newsletters and phone calls celebrating high quiz grades to having students keep binders with work to show their family. Not sure what an appropriate big goal would be? You can read a number of examples from different subject matters and age groups, with an analysis of how these goals led to achievement. Not sure what effective execution actually looks like? Teaching as Leadership pairs an explanation with a number of ideas of how to, for example, check for student understanding in the middle of the lesson. As I read the book, there were multiple times when specific ideas jumped out at me and I thought, "I could do that." Perhaps just as important, many of the anecdotes are inspiring (they are usually paired with impressive achievement data) and keep the book focused around students.

In addition to being a source of good ideas, Teaching as Leadership caused me to reflect on my own teaching. There were times throughout my reading (a good example is its insistence on a classroom management plan that is both predictable and consistent) that I had the discomfort of realizing ways my own teaching practice could be improved. As part of continually increasing effectiveness, the book argues that good teachers see teaching as a series of learnable skills, and embrace errors as opportunities to grow. Teaching as Leadership is appropriate for anyone either undertaking a project of teaching self-reflection or seeking a toolkit of specific suggestions for improvement.

Throughout the book, Farr is very clear that these teaching principles, while broadly applicable, are intended specifically for teachers working at the wrong end of the achievement gap. Though the book is full of examples of teachers whose classes make exceptional gains, it makes no bones about the efforts that this may require. Part of working relentlessly, according to the book, is expanding the time teachers spend influencing students. Though this may include inspiring students to study flashcards as they wait in lunch line, Farr also writes about teachers wading through floodwater to teach 12 students in their backyards or spending evenings at the local McDonald's to tutor students/fry cooks during breaks. Though I have observed this level of commitment from fellow TFAers, it's worth asking whether it's realistic to expect it from people for whom teaching represents a lifelong profession rather than two years of intensive service.

While Teaching as Leadership doesn't respond to this criticism, it anticipates at least one other. A large part of the book (including most teachers' success stories, most of the discussions of goal-setting, and the assumed starting points for teachers' self-reflection as they strive to increase their effectiveness) is based on a quantitative, standards-driven measure of learning. Farr admits there is an open debate about the standards movement in education but writes (correctly) that "whatever your view of learning standards, all states and districts now use them to guide instruction, and it is important to think about your role as a teacher within that reality." True as this assessment may be, it is possible that the book will put off teachers who object to the growing emphasis on standardized testing in education.

Whether you are a fan or detractor of Teach for America, the organization has in 20 years become a significant force in public education. Facing the need to quickly train teachers for some of the toughest placements in the country, they have compiled an impressive body of research on what principles hold true for effective teachers. Teaching as Leadership is undeniably oriented toward a specific view of achievement, one based on tests, numbers and state standards. Nonetheless, it includes both teaching theory and specific suggestions that can improve any teacher's practice.

Alex Diamond teaches English at Gyeonggi English Village in South Korea.  From 2008-10, he taught World History and World Geography at Melrose High School in Orange Mound, Memphis, TN as a member of Teach for America. His article “Do I Really Teach for America: Reflections of a Teach for America Teacher” appeared in the Spring 2010 issue of Rethinking Schools. He welcomes email at akdiamond08@gmail.com

With Mike Rose, We Should All Be Asking - Why School?

Why School? Reclaiming Education for All of Us
by Mike Rose
(The New Press, 2009)

Reviewed by Kenneth Bernstein
High School Government & Social Studies (MD)


Teacher Leaders Network

How we think about and voice the purpose of school matters. It affects what we put in or take out of the curriculum and how we teach that curriculum. It affects the way we think about students — all students — about intelligence, achievement, human development, teaching and learning, opportunity and obligation. And all of this affects the way we think about each other and who we are as a nation.

Perhaps it may seem odd to begin the review of a book with its final words. Yet is also appropriate, because to answer the question Mike Rose poses in his title, it is necessary to consider the destination towards which we head. It is especially appropriate for this book, because this final observation explains succinctly the concerns Rose attempts to address in Why School?:

• what is in the curriculum and why
• how we teach
• how we frame what intelligence is, what we value, in school and society
• issues of opportunity for all, including appropriate remediation
• issue of common obligation that should be part of our culture as a democratic society.

Rose is in many ways uniquely qualified to take on this task. He teaches in the Graduate School of Education at UCLA. He has taught at many levels. His personal background is from working-class roots and he has maintained a sense of respect of the requirements — including intellectual — of what too many dismiss as manual labor. He is very committed to the democratic ideal that allows people to rise above their origins as he was able to do. He is a superb writer and an even better story-teller, not afraid to use stories to teach, to help us understand.

Before going on, let me provide some specifics. Why School? Reclaiming Education for All of Us is published by The New Press, which is based in New York City, and which was established two decades ago as a not-for-profit alternative to large publishing houses. The publishing house

operates in the public interest rather than for private gain, and is committed to publishing, in innovative ways, works of educational, cultural, and community value that are often deemed insufficiently profitable.

I quote those words from the page containing the copyright information for several reasons. First, this book definitely meets the test of educational and community value, as I hope this review will demonstrate. Next, the mission of the publisher is very much in conformity with both the purpose of this book and the focus of Mike Rose’s life work, which is to have us committed to a broad sense of common purpose. And finally, I truly think this book may well disprove the notion about being "insufficiently profitable."

On that same page Rose informs us that the essays in the book are reworked from a number of previously published pieces on which he holds the copyright. Had one not read those words, or the words in the introduction where he explains the purpose of the book, one might well think this was a book written at one time with one purpose. In that sense it is consistent with much of the work of Rose in his writing and his teaching.

Setting Young Brains on Fire

Fires in the Mind: What Kids Can Tell Us about Motivation and Mastery
by Kathleen Cushman and the students of What Kids Can Do
(Jossey-Bass, 2010)

Reviewed by Kathie Marshall
Middle Grades Literacy (CA)
Teacher Leaders Network

When I first picked up my copy of Fires in the Mind, the latest of several books written by Kathleen Cushman to bring more transparency to adolescent thinking, I looked first at the appendix where the author lists books by other authors as resources for the reader.

I was delighted to find the names of many authors I’ve learned from, including Howard Gardner, Alfie Kohn, Mel Levine, Robert J. Marzano, Carol Ann Tomlinson, and Rick Wormeli. I was especially excited that she mentioned Carol S. Dweck’s work on mindset and Brainology. I had the privilege of hearing Dweck speak three years ago, and ever since I have incorporated into my first-week activities Brainology and other exercises about a growth mindset that values effort.

As I dug into Cushman’s new work, I had in the back of my mind the fact that over the summer I wanted to reflect on some of my lessons and revise/improve them — especially my yearlong magazine publishing project. I was hoping that Cushman’s book would support that intention, and I was not disappointed. It’s all about discovering what motivates students to seek mastery of something.

Cushman worked closely with students through the “Practice Project,” a program of the What Kids Can Do organization funded by MetLife Foundation. It began with an investigation of whatever skills students felt they possessed, as the first step in finding out “how you get good at something.” Cushman writes:

A simple question, it reverberates at many levels. It matters equally to youth and adults, rich and poor, professional, artist, and tradesperson. Its answers have the potential to transform our schools and communities. And exciting research on the question of developing expertise has emerged in recent decades from the field of cognitive psychology. Powerful new evidence shows that opportunity and practice have far more impact on high performance than does innate talent.

Cushman’s student co-authors helped her identify several key pieces of the puzzle by examining:

• how they got started (it looked fun, others they liked were doing it, they were encouraged by someone to try it),

• why they kept going when the effort was challenging,

• and what setbacks and satisfactions they experienced.

Along the way, students also interviewed other experts to help them more fully understand the process of deliberate practice in order to get good at something. Eventually they were able to compile a list of experts’ habits that are worthwhile in any learning situation, including but not limited to, asking good questions, considering other perspectives, revising repeatedly, persisting, and knowing your own best work styles. These are important concepts for students to understand and apply to new learning situations both inside and outside of the classroom, and we teachers can certainly use them to make our classrooms better communities of practice.

One key statement I made note of was the following: The most compelling school experiences involved hands-on projects in which they could work in teams toward an outcome that mattered to them. (p. 9)  I couldn’t help but think about how, at least in my school system, the total focus on accountability mechanisms is driving teachers away from critical but time-intensive learning experiences for students and toward constant drill and preparation for high-stakes testing.

However, I soldiered on, looking for express ways in which I might improve the magazine project I reinstated last year with my sixth grade English students. In this inquiry learning activity, students choose an area of study and can work alone or with a partner and the contents of the magazine must be tied to sixth grade English standards. It was very helpful to think about our magazine project in the light of Fires in the Mind. I saw clearly what I had done right as well as ways I might revise the project to help students better reach mastery by drawing on the wisdom of Cushman’s kids.

Throughout the book, the author provides a number of questionnaires and checklists, which are also downloadable at this Resources page. These include questionnaires for students to think about as well as for teachers to use in their planning. Later chapters in the book use the lens of deliberate practice to explore homework, interdisciplinary projects, and performance as evidence of mastery.

No matter what stage we’re at as educators, I believe every teacher can mine this book for many helpful nuggets to support student mastery. As a student named Avelina told Kathleen Cushman: “If teachers knew what gave us that driving force to do better, they could apply that, so that everyone can do things to the best of their ability.”

We can help ignite “fires in the minds” of our kids, and this wonderful book makes excellent fire starter.

Kathie Marshall teaches middle grades language arts in the Los Angeles Unified School District. A former school-based literacy coach, she writes frequently about instructional practice and the teaching life. To engage more deeply in the work of the Practice Project, visit the Fires in the Mind website.

Leadership for "Rigorous" Schools

Rigorous Schools and Classrooms: Leading the Way 

by Ronald Williamson and Barbara Blackburn
(Eye on Education, 2010)

Reviewed by Renee Moore, NBCT
English Teacher (MS)
Teacher Leaders Network

Rigorous Schools and Classrooms: Leading the Way is a follow-up to Barbara Blackburn’s 2008 book, Rigor is Not a Four-Letter Word (see Karen Molter’s review here) and to fully appreciate the points, the books should be studied together. Both authors are former teachers (Williamson is also a former principal) whose educational careers run the gamut from K12 classroom to respected university researchers.

While Blackburn’s first book in this set was aimed at teachers and the classroom level, this book is designed primarily to show school leaders how they can navigate an entire school into a more rigorous culture and support teachers as they increase the level of rigor in their classrooms. The authors acknowledge there are many differing definitions of academic rigor in use today, and give a brief summary of those definitions and the many recent reports calling for more rigor in our schools. For Williamson and Blackburn, the preferred definition of rigor, which came from a practicing school principal, is:

creating an environment in which each student is expected to learn at high levels, each student is supported so he or she can learn at high levels, and each student demonstrates learning at high levels (p.28).

As you might guess from that definition, a great portion of the book is aimed at the role of expectations. Years ago, my teacher-researcher friend Joan Cone did a powerful study entitled “The Gap is in Our Expectations.” In it, she examined what happened when a high school chose to end its ability-based tracking program. The hardest part of their process was getting the  formerly lower-tracked students and the faculty to believe those students could do or would even attempt the same level of work as their peers. This same struggle with mindset, according to the authors, is at the heart of today’s push for academic rigor.

Among the many statistics cited in Rigorous Schools is one that reflects student expectations, or rather how those expectations are not being met. It comes from the 2006 report on high school dropouts, The Silent Epidemic, and notes that “66% of dropouts [said they] would have worked harder [in school] had more been demanded of them.”  The authors also reference a 2009 study of “low performing schools in Newark, NJ…where it was found that allowing students to struggle with challenging math problems led to improved achievement and results on standardized tests.” Williamson and Blackburn go on to openly challenge several myths about rigor, as well as teacher and student responses to it.

The book is full of charts and other tools for administrators to use as they both develop and evaluate rigor within their schools. Much of this material is taken from the first book, to which readers are frequently referred. In this second volume, the focus remains on the role of leadership. Quoting another principal the authors assert, “The school leader is most influential in creating and maintaining a rigorous culture. Without leadership, expectations will wane and outcomes will be mixed at best.”

One key chapter addresses “Ownership and Shared Vision” as a requirement for increasing rigor, as the authors rightfully acknowledge that to be effective and lasting, such a schoolwide shift cannot be a top-down decision nor a technique practiced by a few teachers scattered around the building. Another chapter addresses the role of the school leader as an advocate for the institution, building support from outside the school for a more rigorous culture within it.

The discussion around increasing rigor, particularly at the secondary level, takes on even greater significance as the Obama Administration pushes its goal of every U.S. student graduating from high school "college and career-ready." Many wonder how this can be accomplished given the glaring inconsistencies and inequities in American education today. The authors include a sample advocacy chart of facts from one high school that could be applied to schools and states around the nation; for instance:

“The fastest growing part of the high school curriculum at the moment are AP or college level courses. The fastest growing part of the college curriculum is remedial or high school classes.”

“High school tests [state standardized tests] address content that does not exceed the 9th or 10th grade.”

“15% of our students lose their scholarships at the end of their freshman year [of college], due to low GPA.”

These facts could easily have come from my own community in the Mississippi Delta or hundreds of others across America.

Most of the charts and tools in the book are downloadable from the website, including the PRESS Forward action plan and template to facilitate moving towards a more rigorous school. The book also includes very practical discussions of some of the most challenging details of such a school transformation including grading, scheduling (especially to provide time for teacher collaboration), student support, resistance from stakeholders, and suggestions for shared leadership.

There are several things I like about this book. The ideas that the authors are promoting contrast sharply with the test-prep driven malpractices that are being forced on teachers and students in lower performing schools — practices which we know will ultimately short-circuit true learning and sabotage long term academic accomplishment. Another potential benefit is that open, school-wide discussions about rigor do force us educators to examine our own deeply-rooted prejudices about expectations for different types of students.

I have seen educators hide behind a well-intentioned wall of paternalism towards some groups of students until the possibility of rigor for all is broached. I recommend this book, if not as a guide, certainly as an important discussion starter, for school improvement.

Renee Moore teaches in the rural Mississippi Delta. A former state teacher of the year and Milken Award winner, she serves on the boards of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. Her blog TeachMoore is featured at the Teacher Leaders Network.

Teaching Grammar (do I have to?)

Teaching Grammar: What Really Works
Amy Benjamin and Joan Berger
Eye on Education, (2010)

Reviewed by Marti Schwartz
Literacy consultant and teacher (DE)
Teacher Leaders Network

Raise your hand if you want your students to be better writers. Good – now raise your hand if you feel, somewhere in your conscience or your gut, that you should be teaching more grammar. Gotcha!

So — how about a book that will allow you to accomplish both goals at once? Teaching Grammar: What Really Works by Amy Benjamin & Joan Berger could be just the solution. Their (combined) experience of 70 years in middle and high school classrooms suggests that these folks truly know what they are talking about.

The authors’ clear explanations of nominal phrases, clauses, coordinating conjunctions and participial phrases helped make many things clear to me. Mind you, I “learned” these lessons back in 7th grade (in Mr. Galuska’s class, where we diagrammed sentences on chalkboards), and then promptly forgot them because they seemed so irrelevant.

Now that I’m teaching high school English to students who hope to become the first in their families to go to college, grammar matters. Raising the quality of their written language is hugely important. What Benjamin and Berger have done is made grammar accessible through some very interesting lessons, detailed explanations, and handy downloads (accessible via a code in the book) which will further help your students and save you the time of creating them.

An Excellent Teacher Restorative

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teacher Tales
by Jack Canfield, Mark Victor & Amy Newmark  with a Foreword by Anthony J. Mullen
Chicken Soup for the Soul Publishers (2010)

Reviewed by Laurie Wasserman, NBCT
Middle School/Learning Disabilities (MA)
Teacher Leaders Network

I love teacher books that inspire, and was longing for a book that could be read in quick bites that would revitalize and nurture my teacher spirit. Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teacher Tales - 101 Inspirational Stories from Great Teachers and Appreciative Students is the perfect book to pack in your book bag to read at school with lunch during a stressful day, savor with a cup of tea or coffee on a Sunday morning, or read on a plane.

The foreword is written by Tony Mullen, the 2009 National and Connecticut Teacher of the Year, who articulates why we need this book: These stories will restore our feelings of being valued, respected and appreciated, as well as some energy and passion too.

Chicken Soup for the Soul: Teacher Tales is divided into several sections, each written by a 2009 state teacher of the year, a former student wanting to publicly thank a special teacher, or a teacher who longed to share a laugh or tribute to a special student. The 11 sections are titled: “Why We Teach,” “First Year Tales, ”Learning From the Kids,” "Great Ideas,” “Thanks, I Needed That,” “That was Embarrassing,” “Touched by a Student,” “The Teacher Who Changed My Life,” “Tough Kids,” “Reconnecting” and “Reflections on Being a Teacher.” The stories are short, averaging just 3 pages each, but they are so articulate, beautifully written and motivating. They will make you laugh, cry and touch your heart. At the end of the book is a mini biography about each contributor, and some have even shared their e-mail addresses, should the reader choose to contact them.

The book includes several classroom tales written by colleagues of mine in the Teacher Leaders Network. In the reflection titled “Springtime Memory,” Cindi Rigsbee, the 2009 North Carolina Teacher of the Year and National TOY finalist, writes about Brian, a student she had in her 4th period class in 1990-1991 who was killed in Iraq. She reminiscences about the grin he always had on his face and how as his teacher, she has learned to look at her students not for who they are, but for what they will be someday, including possibly a hero. In “Going the Distance,” Bob Williams, the 2009 Alaskan Teacher of the Year, shares his thoughts on Cassidy, his angry student, and his difficulty trying to reach her with the assistance of her equally angry mother. He honestly shares his yearlong building of trust not only with Cassidy, but with her mom as well.

Teacher Tales is candid in its stories shared from the classroom. As teachers we often think back to that special student like Patricia Marini’s Kevonna, a frequent visitor to the principal’s office, who made us tear our hair out, but who we loved and wanted to help. Marini’s story will bring tears to your eyes and melt your heart. There’s a lighter side too, with stories like that of Illah Breen, who tells of being overly confident and having a fourth grader remind her of neglecting her spouse’s birthday. Her student, Jason, wrote a note to her spouse, begging forgiveness for her memory lapse and promised she would take him out for a nice birthday dinner. Or the revelation of Sarah Smiley, when she realizes that she is not just a teacher, but also the shocked parent of “The Naughty Kid” – after her 5-year-old son Owen tells her that “I switch tables every day, Mom. Each time I get in trouble the teacher finds me a new seat.”

Although I had never read any of the Chicken Soup books before, after having a wonderful first experience with this book, I look forward to savoring some of the others.

Outrageous Student Engagement

Teaching Content Outrageously: How to Captivate All Students and Accelerate Learning
By Stanley Pogrow
Jossey-Bass (2009)

Reviewed by Elizabeth Stein, NBCT
Special Education Teacher (NY)
Teacher Leaders Network

I was in my third year of college as a psychology major. The first day of the spring semester began and I walked into my sociology 101 class. There were two students who were even earlier than I was. One student was reading and the other sat slouching in his seat with his eyes closed. After a few minutes the classroom filled up. Class was to begin—but where was the professor?

After about five minutes the murmurs became loud complaints from students who said, “Let’s just go—this is crazy.” I sat quietly, reading and occasionally looking up to observe. I noticed the student who was slouching at his seat was still slouching, but keenly looking around the room. He seemed to be interested in the obvious discontent of students who did not want to wait. He only grunted when approached by another student who said, “We should just leave.” After about 15 minutes of waiting a few students walked out. Once they left, the sloucher swiftly stood up and walked to the front of the classroom. He introduced himself as the professor for this class.

Most students just stared in disbelief. He apologized for putting us through that, and briefly explained his reasoning for beginning a class in this manner. After all, this was a class about human behavior within societies. It left quite an impression on many of us, encouraging us to really reflect on our personal responses and behaviors. Stanley Pogrow, author of Teaching Content Outrageously, would describe this as an outrageous lesson.

  Pogrow, a professor of Educational Leadership at San Francisco State University, clearly places value on the perspective of students when teaching content area material. He is known for developing the HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills) Program for accelerating the learning of under-performing students. His book is all about attempting to engage students at the onset of a lesson as a way to guide their attention and deepen understandings of the content and lesson objectives.

Day of the Teacher: Our Letters of Recommendation

A timely blog post by 2010 national teacher of the year finalist Kelly Kovacic – “Thank You Notes” – celebrates California's Day of the Teacher on May 12 by thanking teachers who were very important in her life and career. Kovacic got the idea after receiving a two-page letter from a student she had in advisory for seven years. "She attached a short note to the letter," explains Kovacic, "saying that, after all the letters of recommendation I wrote for her, she wanted to write one for me because 'you can never have too many letters of recommendation'."

Inspired by Kovacic's example, members of the Teacher Leaders Network daily discussion group set about writing thank-you notes and letters of recommendation of their own. A selection will appear today at the Teacher Magazine website. The rest, which we are sharing here, will be linked to the Teacher article. We encourage you to offer a thank you or recommendation letter of your own!

______________

Tayor Ross is a young first-grade teacher in Birmingham, Alabama. She serves on the Governor’s Teacher Quality Commission and is featured in multimedia that demonstrates state teaching quality standards.

Dear Mrs. Gaffney-Hsu,

When I entered your English class in ninth grade, it was like a dream come true. You were intelligent, thought-provoking, and interesting. You asked us questions that forced us to consider opinions and beliefs outside of ourselves. You helped me recognize a deep appreciation for writing that I didn't know existed. On a personal level, you began to invest in me as a student and friend. Your commitment to my learning, my confidence, and my overall well-being was a testament to your character. So much, in fact, that I remained a student of yours in the Theatre Department for two more years, choosing to stay behind the curtain with props and directing.

I will never forget the many hours we spent after school and on weekends in rehearals and preparations, but mostly I remember how most of us were dedicated because it meant we could share more time with you. You encouraged me to always expect more from myself, to be honest and compassionate when dealing with others, and to use my gifts and talents to make the world a better place. As a student in your classroom, I never dreamed I would end up in the same profession as you..but in all honesty, I don't think I would have if you hadn't shown me the impact one teacher can have. Thank you for being the teacher you are -- and were -- to students who needed you the most.

Cossondra George teaches seventh grade mathematics and social studies in rural Michigan. Her article for new teachers, “Taming the Dragon of Classroom Chaos,” is a perennial favorite at Teacher Magazine.

Kelly Kovacic inspired me to write this "letter of recommendation" for Mrs. Fair, my own 7th grade math teacher. During my years of school, I had many wonderful teachers who touched me in personal ways, serving to create the “me” of today who now teaches middle school. However, of all those teachers, Mrs. Fair stands out as the one who made the most significant difference in my life. When she came to our junior high -- young, pretty, in her impeccable clothes -- all of the girls looked up to her, wanting to be like her some day. She always looked the part of the perfect teacher, and best of all, she smelled wonderful! We were entranced from the start.

Once we got past being mesmerized by her picture perfect appearance, we discovered this wonderful, soft spoken, caring, kind, patient, guiding person who pushed us further than we'd ever been pushed before. Math had always been mundane, something I had done with rote patience, a task to be completed. But with Mrs Fair, math became exciting, engaging, a subject that made my mind twist and turn, thinking about concepts in a new way. I was hooked, forever hooked on math!

Even when I was struggling, she encouraged me. When I was confused, she believed in me. When I wanted to give up, she pushed me harder. Seventh grade was a turning point for me. I learned how to be a student, how to experience success through unconditional teaching. Mrs. Fair was the reason. And the reason I would someday stand in front of 7th graders, trying to impart the same skills to them in the way she did to me.

Review: In Difficult Times, a Positive Message for Teachers

Finding Mrs. Warnecke: The Difference Teachers Make
by Cindi Rigsbee
(Jossey-Bass, 2010)

Reviewed by Gail Tillery, NBCT
High School English & Literacy (GA)
Teacher Leaders Network

Every day in this country, it seems that teachers are being bashed somewhere. Budget cuts are affecting every school system in the country. A Georgia leader was recently quoted as saying, “Teachers will have to make the sacrifice” as the state legislature fought to balance the budget. Entire faculties are being fired in the name of not achieving “adequate yearly progress.” Across the nation, it seems that teachers are being blamed for all the ills of public education. As a result, morale is hitting an all-time low as we struggle to maintain our positive attitude and continue to persevere and do what’s best for kids. Increasingly, we feel powerless—as if our voices are going unheard and our needs and those of our students are being ignored.

In the midst of the angst, a refreshing book has arrived which reminds its readers of the true power and magic of what we do every day. Cindi Rigsbee’s new memoir, Finding Mrs. Warnecke, is a lovely little book which sends a message of the positive power which every teacher can tap into—if only we can learn to find it.

Rigsbee’s story reads like a movie. She went from scoring at “below standard” on an early teacher evaluation to becoming a finalist for National Teacher of the Year in 2009. As a child, after a dismal beginning in first grade, she was rescued from a cold, militant teacher when the principal removed her and several other children from the classroom, one month into the school year. She and her classmates followed her principal to a dank, dark, basement classroom, where she met Mrs. Warnecke, the teacher who would transform her life and inspire her for years to come.

Besides describing her “magical” year with Mrs. Warnecke, Rigsbee also recounts her early career as a teacher. In her first school, she was given five class preparations and three coaching/sponsoring assignments. While this should not surprise any veteran teacher, it still qualifies as teacher abuse. At the end of that year, facing a forced transfer, she resigned and did not return to teaching for seven years. When she did return as a sub, her first class literally left the room and ran away. When she got her own classroom in February, she was the fourth teacher in that position in a year’s time. It would be an understatement to say that she got off to a rough start.

Rigsbee’s determination and perseverance, however, proved invaluable. She writes more than once, “I asked for help.” She tried different methods and lesson plans; she looked for ways to connect with her students, and over time her practice began to bloom. She began to receive accolades (she was twice named a regional North Carolina Teacher of the Year), and she continued to work with students to help them achieve their full potential.

Rigsbee is at her strongest when she writes about her love for kids. The theme that permeates her work is to build strong connections and relationships with all students. She writes about the importance of making the kids feel as if everyone is on the same side. She realizes that making kids the enemy will cause her to lose. She has learned that connecting with students keeps her classroom from being a battlefield, and it is obvious that her students over the years have responded to her unconditional love and care for every one of them.