52 Weeks of Service in Maryland's Project Change

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Week 1: The Begining

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Week 44: Gear Shift

This week has mostly been about getting ready to assist with Summer School.  I’ve attended and organized different training sessions.  I’ve looked over the curriculum materials.  And I’m going through my work bag, taking out the errata of that school year and last semester in an attempt to get ready for the new adventure that starts next week. I’ve even looked over the class lists in anticipation of meeting my new students next week. 

Everything right now seems to be in anticipation of that next step along the path and what it will take to get ready for it.  And of course, there has been a lot to work on and do to make that transition possible.  This includes trying to get a technical issue involving access to online resources sorted out, which has consumed way more of my time than I could have imagined or would have liked.  But I think we finally have a workable solution, so I am hopeful that when Summer School starts next week all of the kinks will have already been ironed out.  Here’s hoping!

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Week 43: Rest and Regroup

I’m Grateful I am having the chance to rest and recenter after last week.  And I’m getting to visit family at the same time.  This is a much-needed interlude.

As wonderful as it was to see my 8th Graders have their promotion, last week was a very emotional one.  The kind of week that leaves you more tired than you realize it will.  And it’s nice to have a chance to rest, recharge, and regroup before I continue my Service by Supporting Summer School in July.

But I really did need a respite to regroup and recenter myself.  My Mom’s impromptu offer of a week in the Carolinas seems to be just what I was needing.  There is something truly magical about time spent with family and time spent in nature.  A week on the beach and exploring gardens with my Mom is thankfully both.

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Week 41: Last Week of School?

It’s the last week of school before the start of summer break and the energy in the classrooms this week is something different than it’s been all year.  There's a degree of excitement, but there also is a sense of accomplishment.  We’ve made it!

8th Grade is practicing and getting ready for promotion.  Their school year officially ends Wednesday with their promotional ceremony marking their transition from Middle School to High School.  I find myself reflecting on my own 8th Grade promotion.  I hope it goes well for my students, even though I fear a few of them may be in for a rude awakening when the realities of High School and all it means and entails kick in in the fall.  I hope, my worst-case scenario predictions do not come true.  I honestly wish them, well and am truly excited on their behalf.

A few individuals for various reasons have seemingly chosen this week to make all sorts of new and troubling choices for themselves.  But in spite of this, the week is going well.  The classrooms are a buzz.  Movies are playing in lieu of instructions as Chromebooks are all but gone from the scene.  And yearbooks have made their appearance.  

For the first time in my teaching career, I’ve been asked to sign multiple Student Year Books.  This is also the first time I’ve received heartfelt Thank-You notes from my Co-Teachers.  It truly has been a year of firsts.  And I am gratefully glad of that.

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Week 40: Winding Down

We officially have a little over a week left in the school year and instruction is winding down.  My 8th Graders are mentally checked out ready for summer and the excitement of High School that lies beyond.

The energy in the classroom is weird and wired. The students are all a bit squirrelly and ready for summer to officially be here.  And so it seems are most of the adults as well.

I’ve been oddly tired all this week, mentally dragging as the last few days seem to drag on.  And yet even through that fog of fatigue I cannot help but feel that sense of excitement that seems to be ever-present bubbling just beneath the surface.  We’ve just about made it to the end of another school year.

But more than that, for some this ending, marks a new beginning!

[52weeksofserviceinmaryland]

Week 26: Good Groove, Troubling Times

With everything going on in the larger world, this week has felt very disjointed.  On the one hand, I a glad our little school community for the most part seems to be isolated and feeling safe despite the troubling events unfolding on the world stage around Ukraine presently.

This has prompted the possible versus probable discussion. As students see everything going on in the larger world start to see all the possibilities for how things can go during what could be a modern war and then share what they are seeing and fearing with me.  One thing I have found productive and helpful is to break down with them the probability of those possibilities.

It in an odd way provides a way to help the students connect history and things that happened in the past that may seem very far away and distant to the present.  And it also helps by putting all these worrying things in perspective.  Which I believe benefits my-self as much as it does my students.

I really do learn from the students as much as they learn from me

[52weeksofserviceinmaryland]

Week 11: New Marking Period, What this?

We made a push this week to remind the students that we are starting a fresh new marking period. And that they can make choices to keep or start doing things to help them be more successful.

We even used this idea with my 6th Graders to introduce the MyScore tool. And the results of that first MyScore check-in have been both informative and intriguing.

It’s been a reminder that some times the way that a student can present themselves to others doesn’t line up with how they actually see themselves. And that at times we as educators have to hold onto a story or dream for the student that they might not yet see for themselves.

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Week 10: Assesments Galore

This has definitely been a week full of assessments. The end of the Quater tends to be that way of course. But it sure felt as if every class I am a part of had some kind of major Test or Assessment this week.

The 8th Graders’ test was on Monday. And then they had Tuesday and Wednesday to finish up those under-the-wire last-minute assignments. Tuesday was the day for the 6th Grade’s test since they needed to do their review on Monday. Thursday we had off. And Friday, while I was at training, kicked off the start of a brand new marking period.

You can almost feel the breath being let out as the new Quater begins.

[52weeksofserviceinmaryland]

Week 9: Countdown to the End of Marking Period One

The end is in sight and it’s clear the students can see it. We’ve been making that last push to encourage all assignments to get turned in so that they can be graded before the end of the Marking Period. Most students seem to at least on a surface level be responding well to this.

Of course, there are always a few individuals who seem to want to make completing any work into a fight or an argument. But I am making the choice to not focus on their desire to be negative as I try to redirect them to channel their energies into positive outcomes and choices.

This, of course, is not always easy. So far I have managed to keep my own frustration in check when working with the students. But there have definitely been a few moments with individuals that tested my resolve.

I keep repeating song lyrics to myself as a sort of mantra:

“Woah, halfway there. Woah, living on a prayer. Take my hand and we’ll make it I swear”

[52weeksofserviceinmaryland]

Week 8: Calm Before ...

It’s been an interesting week on several levels.

While last week was the real rush to get things done for the end of the Quater this week is feeling more like the calm before something. Students are working, and grades are getting put in. It’s not quite the last week of the Quarter and not yet the start of something new.

I’ve also started working on the assignments for my Professional Development Course. Including having the kick-off Zoom Meeting which again felt like something in the calm before sort of space.

Everything just has a sense of almost there-ness. Or of not quite readiness. And all of that makes sense when you realize the end of the First Marking Period of this School Year is right around the proverbial corner.

[52weeksofserviceinmaryland]

Week 7: Meat and Potatoes Assignments

This week the students were working on some larger graded assignments. My 8th Graders were delving into primary and secondary source documents to make a conclusion about a historic event, the Boston Massacre, so that they would be ready to write an essay about that same event. And my 6th Graders got to start learning about Ancient Mesopotamia, real history, something they had been waiting weeks to get started on.

So for me, this week was a lot of reassuring, answering questions about 18th Century English Usage, helping with pronunciations of Ancient City State names, and the other nuts and bolts of hardcore learning taking place. It was wonderful seeing the students knowing they could come to me with their questions, confusion, and for assistance.

I also ended up taking on some meat and potatoes work of my own. I’m developing some extension videos driven by my 8th graders questions that I am super excited about. And I’ve signed up for a few Professional Development Courses as well.

I figure if my students can conquer pronouncing Mesopotamia and the weird phrasing the Founding Fathers used; I can at least meet them where they are and try to enrich their education through extra resources and becoming a better educator myself.

[52weeksofserviceinmaryland]

Week 6: Trials of Testing

We shepparded the students through a week-long session of state-mandated testing this week. It was a bit grueling and trying, yes. But I was determined to have a positive attitude about the process.

Whether adult or student, testing has a way of leaving you to feel drained. The students have to sit near-silent and still attempting to concentrate on their testing devices, their Chromebooks, for long stretches of time with minimal breaks while dealing with their anxieties about the test materials and their answers. We, teachers, monitor the room unable to provide the advice and guidance the students look to us for.

And then after all that, we are expected to go through a normal slate of classes on a shortened schedule. It’s no wonder that testing can put everyone on edge even under the best of circumstances. Of course with Testing that uses technology, there were glitches and issues, so it was not exactly the best of circumstances.

We found ways to help the students decompress, whether it was stretch breaks before classes started or the ever-popular allowing them to zone out with a movie or short video at the end of testing before classes started for the day. And most importantly though we could not help students with the test, I kept a positive attitude that I hope helped students know they were not alone.

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Week 5: When Time Flies

This week has seemingly flown by. Monday feels like it was another month or something. It’s been a flurry of getting stuff done and making sure students understand what we’re going over and doing. Honestly, most of this week felt like a blur. And the memory of it is already fading behind the challenges of the new week.

It feels like I blinked and suddenly it was Friday and I’m not quite sure how we got here so fast. Even my students were commenting on Thursday about how fast this week seems to have gone. I definitely heard “Wait that was only Monday?!” more than once.

Maybe it’s because we’ve all sort of hit that grove of being back in school after a year and a half away. Or maybe it was just one of those weeks where so much seemed to happen that the time just sped up around us all. I’m not really sure which.

But I do know that there will most likely be other weeks that seem to be over in a blink this year. And that it makes it that much more important to slow down and reflect.

[52weeksofserviceinmaryland]

Week 4: A Series of Small Victories

The theme for this week for the students and myself seems to have been those every day little accomplishments. And ways we can celebrate those small victories.

I gave a lot of encouragement to students this week over the little things that just make their everyday learning lives easier, their small accomplishments, and first time understanding something moments. I felt a little bit like a cheerleader. But I know it’s vitally important for a child to have someone cheering them on.

Not every victory or accomplishment is going to look like some monumental thing. Sometimes it looks like a student finally understanding how to act in class to achieve better results. Sometimes it looks like a kid asking for help on a day that they're struggling. Sometimes it looks like a teacher remaining calm and positive when the world seems to be crazy and overwhelming.

Life happens when in these little everyday moments and in the little everyday struggles. These victories over the everyday need to be celebrated as much as the big accomplishments, the world-changing accomplishments, and the life marking accomplishments.

[52weeksofserviceinmaryland]

Week 3: Hitting My Groove

So it’s my third week in the program and my second week with students. Last week was short because of all the Holiday and In-service days. But this week I feel like I’m starting to hit my stride and find my place working in the classrooms with the teachers and students.

I was part of helping a student get organized. The result of which was that they realized they in fact did not need to carry their book bag from class to class, they really just needed their binder.

I also helped a student with ADHD find a positive way to get attention by contributing to the class discussion. It may have only lasted for one day this time, but it’s definitely a move in the right direction for this student.

I feel like I am actually being of service again. And that’s a wonderful feeling. I am happy to celebrate the little everyday accomplishments and small victories with the students. I am enjoying getting to know them as individuals and starting to see paths to assisting them with their Social-Emotional Learning.

To this end, I have been asking students quietly while they’re working on independent assignments how they are doing. This provides an opportunity to have a conversation about the current assignment that is more student-led. And I hope over time, as we continue to build rapport, will become an avenue for students to open up about other things they may have going on and want to talk about.

I am looking forward to getting to introduce the MyScore tool to the students, to help them gauge and track their own Social-Emotional Learning. And in the meantime, I will continue to build rapport as I provide steady, consistent, caring support as needed.

[52weeksofserviceinmaryland]

Week 2: First Week Back with Students

So with the Holiday Weekend, it was a rather short week. I actually only got to spend two days this week in the classroom directly serving the students at the Middle School I am assigned to. However, it still felt amazingly wonderful to be finally back in a classroom working with students to help them reach their goals.

After a year of sitting around and waiting of going from odd gig to odd gig; I was finally feeling useful again. Here I was back in the classroom actually being of service to students.

The first day was spent mostly feeling out my place in the classroom, how best to support the students, and which students might be in need of extra or additional supports. This was of course in addition to building rapport with the students. Getting them used to seeing me in the classroom, and showing them that I am there to help them succeed.

My only hiccup of the week was technology-based. I am supposed to be getting access to an email address and the classroom website that is used to share assignments with students as well as track their progress. By Friday, I had not yet received the email from the county school system that I will need to set all of that up, however. Hopefully, I get it soon so I can have access to all of that. As that access will definitely help me serve the students.

All in all, it’s been a short but terrific week. I can’t wait for Monday and to see the students again.

[52weeksofserviceinmaryland]

Week 1: Welcome to AmeriCorps

From the very beginning of the day on Monday the 27th of August, I felt like I was professionally coming home.  And that feeling has lasted through the week. I want to soak up this feeling and this energy and carry it forward with me for the rest of the year and beyond.     This first week has been powerful.  I’ve already learned some lessons about myself that I had not known I needed to learn.  That’s the wonderful thing about being in a room of intelligent, driven, caring people with a common goal.  Sometimes it inspires, sometimes it pushes us to do better, and occasionally it challenges us to face truths about ourselves in order to become a better person.     I find myself learning from the perspectives and experiences of my fellow members; and hopefully able to teach or inspire them with my own experiences. I have a feeling this is going to be a very good year, if only for that reason.  And yet, there’s more.       The list of planned excursions and professional development sessions through AmeriCorps has me excited for the weekly training days on Fridays.   I also received a book on Culturally Responsive teaching on the very first day of training.  I am referring to Zarretta Hammond’s Culturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain which I am mining for all its shared wisdom.  And jives very well with both the concept of Narrative Change and the MyScore tool for Social-Emotional Learning that Project Change has developed to help students identify and track their own Social Emotional-Learning with our support.     I truly feel inspired by all of this and the support I will be receiving.  I can’t wait to dive in and get to work with Students again.