Wow. What an amazing, crazy and busy week!

My husband was out of town, I had a meeting or other event after school Monday - Thursday and we still made it through the week whole and complete :)

It is crazy hard to believe that in just two weeks, our first marking period is over! It's feeling a bit like crunch time for some of the students who realize they don't have much time left to get things turned in so turned in before grades are due.

My afternoon tutoring session tomorrow is packed! I've never had more than 2 kids in at a time and I think I have either 6 or 7 scheduled! That's a good thing because it means we can get these kids up to where they can be passing.

Last week we had conferences on Wednesday and Thursday and thus had Friday afternoon off in exchange for working those late nights.

Never in my 14 years of prior teaching experience have I felt so good and positive coming off of conferences. I know for an absolute fact this virtual teaching and learning situation is not ideal for my learners. Many of them are really struggling to stay on track, get their work done and stay focused. They get to the end of that third class and it feels like "wheeee, the afternoon is mine!" because they are young and forget they still have afternoon work to do. It's been rough on them and on me as I have to nag them often (I am kind about it, but firm because I do care about their success).

Being able to share with families at conferences is always interesting. You see a side of kids you usually don't get the benefit of seeing. This time it was really interesting as we were holding conferences virtually. I had a mom tell me she absolutely loves me because it's clear that I hold high expectations for myself and her son and she appreciates that. Made me feel super good as I have worked hard to build this relationship with this student.

On the second night, I had a mom who just didn't look happy when our call first began. She wasn't mad, to be clear. She looked defeated. At one point, very early in the conference, she said, "I just feel so sad and depressed. I don't know what I'm doing wrong."

And I interrupted and said, "whoa, hold up momma. Let me reassure you that you aren't doing anything wrong. First and foremost, you are attending this conference which tells me that you really care about and love your son. Secondly, please know that this is my job, it is my passion and life's work. This is what I do, I teach students to read and enjoy books. If I can take that burden off of your shoulders, please let me. Because it will NOT be a burden for me. It's your job to love [student name] and it's my job to teach him and I'm happy to take that responsibility."

I helped mom get him all signed up for tutoring (and he's one coming in tomorrow!) and by the end of that 10 minute conversation, it was like I was talking to a whole different person. Mom was smiling and looked like a huge weight had been lifted off of her.

At the risk of sounding egotistical, I know I am a good teacher. I have years of positive evaluations and feedback from families to back that up. However, never before in my life have I come away from conferences feeling like several of these families needed me this year. Several even commented that I'm not like the other teachers their sons have had (I say sons only because all of the parents who mentioned it have sons that I work with). I told one mom that I was an elementary teacher for 13 years and she snapped her fingers and said, "that's it! That's what makes you different. You really care."

To be fair, no one (including me) is implying my colleagues don't care. But I have always worked with kids in trauma and I was one myself. I get it on a level that many people do not. I know this situation really sucks for a lot of the kids and their families. If I can ease that burden even a little by being positive, taking their (virtual) hand and walking across the street with them, by golly I will. And if this helps some of these boys, most of whom have well fallen through the cracks before now, finally realize what success can feel like, then I also will.

I'm so grateful that this shift in position fell into my lap this year because on the daily I am affirmed that this is really the position I am needed in. If I can boost a child's confidence and make them realize that I am there for them and will bend over backward to help them be successful, then it is my pleasure to do that.

I just realized I missed week 6. Oops! I think I was in a perpetual state of fog last week and it just slipped my mind.

We have started our second unit (each unit has 2 cycles). While I have some students who refuse to even log in and take their tests, the students who did take it are starting to realize why I harp on those rubrics so much.

We have a half day this coming Friday (conferences this week and thus Friday afternoon is our comp time for that). I plan to spend the shorter class periods on Friday really going through the rubrics again and having students rate themselves on their progress so far. It is the only thing I really dislike about the virtual model with the program we are using. If we were in person, I'd have plenty of time built-in to spot check and coach and that's so much harder to do virtually. While the students are in their breakout rooms, most of the time the coaching I'm doing is tech related and I can't really get to to heart of where they need support. That's frustrating but it is not something I can do anything about. This program was not designed to be done vitually. In a perfect world, we would have been able to hold off on our adoption until next school year, but we wouldn't have had anything to replace it with so it's what we have to use.

Alas, I think taking advantage of a shorter schedule, wherein I don't want to try to cram in a whole lesson, and instead providing specific feedback and support will help in the long-run. We shall see.

This week was good. It warmed up again and it was quite difficult to see the beautiful sunshine mocking me through the wall of windows in my classroom where I was stuck inside teaching. But content-wise things are cruising along. I'm really grateful that each cycle gets a little more interesting for the students. One kid, whom I have had trouble getting to complete things, even declared a lesson was "low key fun." I will take that as a success.

Each cycle I have also tried something different. We started with a Google Slides notebook style lesson and the kids liked it but felt it got overwhelming to keep track of what slide we were on. So we switched to Nearpod and they really liked that. The embedded games were super nice. However, this cycle we have to create graphic organizers so I switched to a Hyperdoc style format. So far that seems to be working better but the graphic organizer part is tougher on the students as they don't have a mouse to use. I am going to have them try the next G.O. in Seesaw and see if that helps.

One thing I have learned this year is that it is important to continue to try new things and switch things up to make it functional for the scholars. I do not like it when I hear teachers complain about having to try new things -- this whole year has been a total crazy mess. If we aren't willing to adapt and try new things, how can we expect our kids to do that either?

It is unbelievable that we've finished 5 weeks of school! It has gone so quickly.

I have to admit that I am increasingly grateful to be working where I do. I think our model is very reasonable and doable and so far, it has been going well. It's not without its issues but it is getting easier with each passing week.

The students are also getting used to it. They are really making me proud. Of course, there are always unmotivated students that it's so much more difficult to get to do anything; that is exacerbated with the virtual model. Alas, we have an incredible admin team in our school and they, along with our youth advocates and coaches, are really providing wrap-around services to help us support our students.

I had some students join me for virtual tutoring this week and a couple of students for in-person tutoring. That was funny because my projector system is not working so we Zoomed from in the classroom together so I could share my screen with them. #whateverworks

One of the students who came in person really got off on the wrong foot: total attitude, not completing work, etc. But after spending an afternoon with me and seeing that yes, I would absolutely help her get caught up, she's been as sweet as pie ever since. #RelationshipsMatter

I began to use Nearpod exclusively this week for delivering my content. Each lesson is split into two days and with the games and features in the program, my reading lessons are so much more engaging. Our cycles are 8 lessons, lessons 1-4 are the reading content. The first half of the lesson is mostly direct teaching, the second half is where they demonstrate their understanding and answer questions about the reading. At the start of the second half of the lesson, on day 2, I included the Time to Climb game from Nearpod and they love it!

On Friday, my first hour class had a student who won by 1800 points. I mean, this scholar kicked butt. But in 2nd hour, the first and second place winners were only 5 points apart! 3rd hour's first and second place winners were 7 points apart. They were so into it. (I think my 1st hour scholars might have been half asleep haha)

I invited my reading coach to observe me this week. I sent her the video recording for the first part of the lesson (which I taught Thursday) and she popped into my live Zoom on Friday during 1st hour. It was so awesome to have someone else there to help monitor the chat and answer questions. She told me later she thought the lesson was awesome and well paced. :) Our coach from SFA is coming next week and i'm excited to hear her feedback.

I know this program was not well liked by my colleagues and while I recognize that there probably were other programs we could have chosen that might be better, I am making the most of what we have. My excitement about it is spilling over to the kids and they are starting to recognize their effort makes a tremendous difference.

I'm stoked to complete the reading portion of this cycle this next week and see how their growth shows in our next test.

It's crazy that we just finished our fourth week of school!!

My classes finished our first cycle in our new reading curriculum. I'm really excited to see how they do as we move into cycle two now that they are a little more familiar with the curriculum.

I was just upgraded to a Pro Nearpod account on Friday so I am going to use Nearpod for our second cycle. I'm already seeing how much  more beneficial it will be for the kids to use as I can put in .pdf pages of the reading, I can insert games and I can really help guide them in a more interactive way. (My favorite element so far is putting in a video we are supposed to watch and being able to stop the video and have them answer questions before we move on. It will help me make sure my virtual learners are on task with me [because I can't see them all at the same time anyway] and it will help me to see if they are understanding what we are doing.)

Interestingly, I asked my scholars this week if they were enjoying our book and all but three students (across all of my classes) said they liked it. I am confident they will like the next book even more as it's about a competition as men race to be the first ones to visit and study the South Pole.

Each week gets a little easier in terms of delivering content across the screen. I would still much rather be in person where I can interact with more of them at the same time, but I feel better knowing the kids are starting to get into the rhythm too.

As I am a principal licensure student this year, I have 300 hours of internship to do. One of the first big projects I'm going to do is create and produce a video showing our families what their scholars should be doing on their "school day." I think many people think school is just 8:30-12, but they are not recognizing that their scholars will need to utilize 12:30-2 or 2:30 to do the afternoon work they are being expected to do.

In retrospect I think we really did a disservice by not having them begin those afternoon lessons the first week of school. We will be going into our second month and suddenly kids are going to have this extra work that should have been there all along. Nothing to do about that now but it's definitely something we need to keep in mind if this ever happens again. We have to provide the kids with the tools to be successful, not just toss information out there and hope they figure it out.

I cannot believe I just typed that into the title spot! How have 3 weeks gone by already?? We're already 1/3 of the way through the first quarter! Insanity.

This week we started our SFA/Reading Edge curriculum. Add in some tech issues and middle school students who aren't super jazzed about being in the breakout rooms and it was an interesting week. Fortunately my scholars have been really quite awesome and except for their hesitation with the breakout rooms, they have really taken all of the bumps in stride.

They are getting more used to the breakout rooms and it's interesting because some of the students have said they are really enjoying them now and some students are saying they hate them. The students who don't like them seem to be in groups where no one is talking. I will keep surveying and keep tabs on who is working and who isn't and when we switch up groups, the "non-talkers" will be together so everyone else gets the benefit of being in the group. I know in my heart the group work is really going to be the heart and soul of this program so I don't want to let it go, but I also don't want anyone to feel like they won't earn their points if their group isn't all participating.

I offered some 1:1 virtual meetings this week and several students took me up on them (and honestly some signed up and forgot to come back lol). It is really fun to even just spend 2-3 minutes with a student and see how they are doing. They have been really sweet and some kids are really letting me know where they are struggling. Of course the ones who really need to meet with me aren't, but I'll keep on it.

Someone told me today that they just don't care anymore. (This was an adult.) My first thought was "please stop teaching then." I get it that coming from teaching honors high schoolers to teaching 8th graders is a huge change....but if you don't care about the kids, they will know. I have kids confiding in me, asking me about things not even relevant to my content area and more. They ask me because I've already made it clear to them that I do care. It makes a difference.

A student whom I didn't have last year but who knows who I am because I pushed into his English class for one of my EL students is in my class. I know for a fact that his English teacher last year doesn't like him. She didn't try to hide it. If I could tell, you better believe he could tell. He didn't come to class the first week and I was really worried. But then he showed up last week. I made a point of saying how happy I was to see him in class and left it alone. As this week went on, he kept coming back and while he didn't say much or participate as much as I would have liked at first...each day he did a little more. Today I got him to actually turn on his microphone and provide an answer to the class. It made me so happy!

What makes this story so amazing in my eyes is we were clarifying if our class answer was right. He kind of hesitated and said he felt like it might be right but that it could also maybe use more. I said "so are you unsure if we need to add more?" and he said "yes." I couldn't have planned it better if I had tried, because it gave me an opportunity to remind everyone that it is 100000% OKAY to not be totally sure yet. That's why we are here and that's why you have me.

Building relationships is something I strive to do. And you better believe it is paying off in spades. One of my ELs from last year told me this summer (before we knew we would be virtual) that he didn't think he needed my support anymore. I said that was cool but that I'd always be there if he needed me. And low and behold, today he asked me if it was too late to be transferred back to my class. Oh my heart.

I told him that because I'm in a dual role this year and we are virtual right now, I don't have the EL class like I did last year but that he is welcome to come to tutoring and I'll help him. He even jumped on Zoom with me today and we had a really nice chat. He said he is going to try his best to catch up in his classes but he promised to reach out to me again if he needs my help.

That relationship has been built over the last year. I really strove to get to know my students and I constantly reach out to them to let them know I'm still around. It makes such a difference! Having a reluctant student realize I do care about him allowed him to answer a question in class even though he wasn't sure and a second student to realize he can swallow his pride and admit he needs some extra support.

I have long felt like God has guided me to where he wanted me to be. I spent more years than I should have in my old district because I felt compelled to be there. But now, however, I know I am right where I am needed. These kids need and deserve someone who will love them and make them each think that they are my favorites. I'm convinced that 8th graders are really just big kindergartners at heart. They want to be accepted and acknowledged. If I can provide that, so be it.

It's hard to believe we have ended our second week with students! Each of the first two weeks only had three days with students but we packed a lot into those 6 days!

I focused a lot on procedures and getting to know you type of activities the first week. This second week I was really intentional with teaching the students how to utilize some of the things at our disposal for virtual learning. We practiced the breakout rooms and team talk procedures, we learned how to use Google Keep, we talked about the face-to-face tutoring option coming up and went over the at home reading requirements.

It was a great few days. They are really coming along with procedures and getting more used to the online environment. On Wednesday we did a reading activity to practice the breakout rooms and talking to their group (which is SO AWKWARD for so many of them so definitely necessary to practice with something much less high stakes). I had a student let me know his Zoom kept disappearing when he was going to Google Classroom. This matters because he was trying to see what I was doing and follow me in Google Classroom but realized that his setup wasn't great. So I offered to stay on with him a few minutes after our class ended to help. Several other students stayed to see how to do it too.

It bothers me a ton when I hear other people assuming the kids know how to do this virtual thing. We had such poor attendance and participation in the spring because we weren't allowed to really hold them accountable. Now that we are doing the live Zooms, it is so important that we listen to them about what THEIR needs are and help them to navigate this system. Yes, they have all used their Chromebooks before but they haven't had to simultaneously use Zoom and have Google open and potentially their email and blah blah. It's new for them. I have had to learn a lot about how to really keep things on my screen so I can best serve my kids during this time as well.

I think one of my favorite things so far is that the students really are showing me and each other grace. Much moreso than I think would be happening if we were in traditional school; so many Americans are selfish people who only really think about themselves (I mean, there is a reason why we have "Karens") and it's heartening to see these young people really step up and be kind. Not only to me when something on my end stops working but also to each other. I really feel like they have come to appreciate school in a way they didn't before; it's their haven and they do miss it.

People constantly make comments to me about how "it takes a special person to teach middle school." It makes me kind of sad and mad at the same time. I love these kids. I want them to have the best future they can possibly have. Someone has to believe in them. I will volunteer as tribute. <3

Even though the first week with students was really only three days (and the second week is also only 3 days), it was a good week. Man, I realized how much I miss being with students. Of course, I am not with them; they are on the other side of the screen from me but it's so nice to have some interaction with them.

We have done a lot of getting to know you and procedural type of things this week. It's always hard the first few days when the students really want to get into learning (even if they won't admit it) but we really need to lay out the parameters for what that will look like. They keep asking me, every single day!, when they get to come to school. I wish we could be in person too but I know deep down it really is not safe enough for us to do that. (Plus I really can't imagine teaching all day with a mask on!)

At any rate, some key takeaways from week 1:
1) Middle schoolers are definitely a special group. I have only 7th and 8th graders and boy can I tell the difference! The 8th graders want to be "tougher" while the 7th graders definitely still have a sweeter side.

2) I taught elementary school for 13 years. After about 6 years, one of my colleagues said she always addressed her students as "friends" to help set the tone for cooperative learning and whatnot. Many of us began to do it also. it is HARD to break that habit after years of doing it! I said it the first day and said, "Oops! I'm sorry!" and then explained why I had said it. I have been doing my best to replace the word friends with the word scholars.

3) I am not a fan of Zoom over Google Meet. I don't know why we switched (I'm sure there is a reason; many of my colleagues and I speculate it is partly because Zoom already has breakout rooms and can be set up to record automatically). I prefer Google Meet. The students were all used to it from the spring and the teachers learned some tricks for making it work when we had to. The switch to Zoom has not been ideal; there is only so much room on my screen and I can't see all of the things I need to see at the same time. I am hopeful there will be some solutions for that coming soon.

4) At Home Learning is not ideal for most of my students. They are distracted by family, siblings, strobe lights in their room (not kidding; I have a student who has them on and I have to shut off their camera), pets, etc. Many of them don't have a quiet place to work except their bedroom so that is also hard because it's distracting in there!

5) It's really hard not to be able to connect with my students face to face. I miss that so much! Some of the students I don't even really know what they look like because I do not force them to keep their cameras on (at least not yet) because it actually makes their Chromebooks run better without the cameras on and I know some of them just are really shy about having them on.

6) The students probably would never admit this, but they are excited to be in school. I've had kids say they love their classes so far, they are happy to be in school and can't wait to actually be AT school. They are probably so bored from being at home most of the time. I've done a lot of getting to know you type things and I'd say 95% of my scholars have completed them all and I've learned a lot about them, probably more than I would have if we were traditionally face to face.



What I think is the most interesting about this whole job switch is this: before I accepted my ESL position last year, I had an interview in another district for a middle school position. One of the interviewers asked me if I thought I could connect with middle school students. I thought it was an incredibly odd question. They are just kids! They want to be liked, respected and listened to just like any other kid does. Showing up on the first day of virtual school this year with my crazy blue hair gave my students a glimpse of my silly side, but we've been all business since (with a few random jokes tossed in). But they know I have it in me to be silly and they seem to be enjoying that. (Might be a different story in person; they might be like "good lord Wood, would you just STOP IT?! lol)

Alas, I always think about that question. I have students emailing me to ask questions, commenting on their things they have turned in to make sure it was what I was looking for and more. I even had a student say he hoped he filled out his student survey correctly because he didn't want to disappoint me. Their anxiety is high from all of this uncertainty. Another student wrote on his daily check in that he was having a real hard time with COVID right now (not meaning that he's sick but meaning that it is preventing him from coming to school and seeing his friends and teachers).

I would like to think this first few days I have already shown myself to be a support for these scholars. I hope they see that I am there for them. I will bend over backward to help them because that's just who I am. I want them to be a success. If that isn't the first step toward connecting with scholars (of any age), I don't know what is.

Today was our first day of (virtual) school for 2020-2021!

We had some technology glitches (mostly in 2nd hour for me) but almost all of my students got to class and I am so excited to work with them.

I decided that Wednesdays are going to be WACKY WEDNESDAYS so I wrote a blue colored wig and just acted like that was normal. Oh my gosh. The reactions were hilarious (both from my students and my colleagues!).

I had the students do a virtual check-in and I've already decided to see if there is another and better way I can engage them in those starting tomorrow. We also practiced with Flipgrid today and I am having so much fun listening to their videos.

Seriously, people who think middle schoolers aren't cool just aren't people for me. It's only been one day and I am just thrilled with this assignment.

Can't wait to see what the rest of the week brings us.

Someone recently said to me that they felt like the 2019-2020 school year was the school year that never ended. What a great way to phrase it! I totally agree. We didn't really have closure from last year because we ended virtually and it was without any parties or the usual celebrations we have to mark the end of a great year.

This year, my district is heading back on August 26 (with students). We are starting virtually for at least 9 weeks. I would love nothing more than to welcome my students into my classroom and see their beautiful faces, but I know that going virtual is going to be the smartest we can be for the time being. We will be offering some in-person tutoring (on a sign up basis) after Labor Day which will be exciting and allow us to still connect with our families and students face to face.

I was all prepared this year to jump back in and support my English Learners to the best of my ability in a virtual environment because it's tough to be an ELL online. Even if you have the best, most dedicated teachers ever, you still have to be really self motivated and that can be so tough for students who are also grappling with learning English.

Well, this morning, I got an email and subsequently made a phone call...and I will be teaching middle school language arts this year! It is bittersweet. I LOVE my ELs and I have always supported English Learners. However, teaching middle school ELA is like a dream come true. I've always wanted to transition to the middle school level. Last year was, in retrospect, a perfect buffer year for me because I still had my foot in elementary school (which is what I know so well) but I got to get my other foot wet with middle school.

Some people think I'm insane, and they aren't wrong, but I L-O-V-E middles. They are sassy and can be mean and meaner, but they are also so much fun. They will tell you how it is one minute and the next draw you a picture and say you are the best ever. (I filled in for a sick colleague once and I still have the dragon picture one of her students drew me after she had finished her work.) I just think they are fun. Plus, I haven't forgotten what it is like to be an angsty 11-13 year old (despite the fact that my calendar just rolled me into my 42nd year). I can be sassy and fun and silly too. And most of the time, the kids dig it. (To be fair, sometimes they just think I'm insane and they laugh because they don't know what else to do.)

It is, in some respects, sad because I won't be working with my EL team as closely this year and that's a bummer because they are amazing. It also means I have to go pack up my elementary classroom (I spent two days sorting out and cleaning everything out of that room in June and now I have to go remove all of my own stuff).

BUT...I won't have to travel between schools anymore. I will get to teach my absolute favorite subject. I won't have to teach math or science or social studies (none of which were ever really that enjoyable for me). I will have my own HUGE classroom at the middle school all to myself. Did I mention I will get to teach my favorite thing??

Plus, it was so sweet today when I got the call and made a couple other calls after it was made official...the ELA coach totally vouched for me to be put into this position and said I would be amazing at it and that they should just do it. That made me feel so good after only being there a year; they have the confidence in me to know I can and will do the best I can for these kiddos.

Another really nice thing is, we are moving into a new curriculum this year so all of the English teachers in our middle school will be in the same boat. All of us will have a mix of 6th-8th grade because our students will be grouped by level. It will make the so-called playing field so much better for our students; they won't have to worry about being left behind because they are reading at a lower level than the rest of their classmates. My coach even said my experience as an elementary teacher is really going to serve me well with this new curriculum because it is so similar to what I've probably done when I taught elementary. (I was not part of the elementary schedule for the reading program because it's a dedicated block and you can't pull kids out of it for tutoring or EL support or anything like that.) I did observe this block a few times and really the only difference I saw was that because the students are leveled, you don't have to do small groups -- the class is the group. So that will be the only weird thing but otherwise they do partner reading and choral reading and all kinds of other things I have always done as an elementary teacher. Now I'll just be doing it with bigger students (and hopefully with texts that are more interesting for middle grades).

I'm excited. I think this year is going to be incredible, despite the uncertainty with Covid-19 and being in a new situation. We are all going to be in a new situation and having an amazing team to walk that journey with me is going to be fantastic.

It will be fun to document this year and see how my impressions of middle school vs elementary really are now that I'll have middles full time.

As if 2020 wasn't already the weirdest year ever....

This summer just seems odd. Usually my summers are so full. Trips, professional development workshops and lots of relaxation in between.

This summer was supposed to be similar. I had a big writing workshop I was going to be part of that was 6 weeks long. I was supposed to finish up my SIOP trainer training and lead our final PD on that. Instead, all of that has been pushed back and/or flat out canceled because the pandemic is not nearly over.

It's surreal. This summer I have been working on the first class toward my principal license and doing a lot of reading. We still really don't go anywhere because it's not really safe. (Too many people continue to disregard masks and social distancing.)

My husband and I are supposed to head up north for his birthday in a couple of weeks and I'm hopeful it is still safe to do that. We really just need to get out of the area and relax for a bit.

It's just been a weird summer. No one knows what will really occur for fall 2020 (although there is a ton of speculation). No one really knows if we will be able to STAY on the plan they make anyway because things seem to change at random.

We just need to keep pushing forward and taking it one day at a time, even if it is incredibly weird to do so.