A Week Full of Visitors

A week in the Media Center is nothing short of crazy with a circus act. Always.

Monday morning we put the Media Center back together from Friday night's coffee house,  I had a book celebration/makerspace day with my favorite ESE kiddos (we celebrated 3 SSYRA books they've read, built whales and boats with Playdoh, made Popsicle bookmarks, and built tree houses), delivered Chickfila lunch to the winner of our campaign sign contest, and I had some pretty important visitors. Our Assistant Superintendent and my School Board Representative showed up at the end of the day to announce that I've been selected as a District Finalist for Teacher of the Year. There were six teachers chosen: one elementary and one secondary from the north part of our county, the central part of our county, and the south part of the county. I'm the secondary south area representative. Six chosen out of over 4,000. That's CRAZY!!! I can't even begin to fathom how I ended up on that list. There are so many incredible teachers here in our very large county. I'm so incredibly honored.

Tuesday I had Ms. Ross's classes scheduled for book check out and we were disguising gingerbread people as book characters. In the middle of the day, this group of professionals show up and sit down and get comfortable and our tech guy tells me the room is his from 12:30-3:00. Wait...what!?!?!?!
Yes, we had to relocate to her classroom and send kids two and three at a time to check-out books. Which means I had to tell those kids from memory where the books they wanted were and make suggestions for them off what I *thought* we had in. There was a South Area Tech Training scheduled in the Media Center that NO ONE told me about and was not on my calendar. It's was a misunderstanding and some miscommunication and everything is good, but it was definitely a curve ball. The worst part is that I have an autistic student that comes to see me everyday during his lunch and he couldn't find me and got really upset. I always warn him when I won't be there so he is prepared and knows but in the midst of all the crazy, I forgot to let him know. He had a meltdown and I felt really bad because that could have been avoided. I failed to take pictures of their gingerbread people but they are decorating the Christmas tree that's in the Media Center right now. Also, check out Ms. Ross's book log for this year. #readersgonnaread

Wednesday I had our amazing Tech Integrator and hosted Ms. Rich's Civics classes and we went on Google Expeditions to see all the places Alexander Hamilton was based on what they've been learning about. We traveled to Boston, Philadelphia, and New York. The kids LOVED it and thought they were so important that they were the very first group of students at our school to get to use this equipment this year. I was also able to get all of our administrators in there and participating throughout the day so they could see what a valuable educational experience it was. In the middle of the first group we also had to run an infrastructure trial for the testing platform. I was a little worried about a big group coming in for me to run a testing trial with them while the other group was doing Google Expeditions but it worked and it was smooth sailing.

Thursday was another infrastructure trial and set up for Career Day. I also got updates on the next steps for the Teacher of the Year process. Yikes.

Friday was the 31st Annual Career Day at The Great Southwest. We invite people into our school to speak to our students about their careers. We have so many guests that there is a speaker for every single classroom. All of our guests gather for breakfast and coffee and then a Keynote in the Media Center that is pumped out through video feed to all the classrooms. Once the Keynote is over, the speakers are escorted to their classroom location and the speak to the classes about their career, what they do, and what it takes to do that. We also treat them to lunch cooked by Chef Poole and Mr. Thorstensen and served by our students. I had a former NFL player, our School Board rep, a City Councilman, Police and Fire Rescue, Kona Ice, chefs, real estate agents, doctors, pilots, and all kinds of amazing people in my Media Center for our Keynote and then I got to host the Youth Pastor from my church and his intern, Dario. It was so cool for the kids to find out what kind of training you need to have a job like that and how he choose his career. It was so interesting!

So what's next?

Monday (!!!!!!!!!!!) a committee of people will come watch me teach for 45 minutes, interview me, three of my peers, and my principal to see if I'm what everyone says I am. I was told that there has never been a winner from my school and I don't think (but I might be wrong) that there has ever been a Media Specialist win. Someone came in and mentioned to me that I have one shot to show them everything I do. It's a lot of pressure. A lot. How on earth am I supposed to show them everything I do with kids and teachers in one 45 minute lesson and some interviews? I can't. That's the answer and I'm not going to worry about it. I'm going to teach exactly how I normally would and answer their questions as honestly as I can. I've chosen three teachers that I think can show the collaboration that my position allows and that I'm a real teacher too. It will either be enough or it won't. I'm not here to prove I'm better or worse than anyone else. The only thing I care about them seeing is engaged learners. I want them to see what a Media Center really looks like. I want them to see the classes in there, the collaboration, the random stray students that come in for all kinds of things throughout the day, the teachers that stop by and need me on their planning. I want them to know that WE (not just me) work hard and are doing good things for kids. I want them to see I have the greatest job at my school and why Southwest is The Great Southwest and not just another middle school.

Tuesday I'm on a field trip with our music students (yay!!!!!). Wednesday I finish and submit our Follett Challenge video and application. Thursday I have a SAC committee meeting and Lara's kids for checkout and makerspace. Friday I have the GAPP kids again for checkout and a Jason Reynolds story contest, and our front office luncheon. Oh, and District Communications is coming to video me teaching Friday. It's also my oldest daughter's #EpicEleventhBirthday next week which has nothing to do with school but definitely impacts my week.

I told you. It's a circus, always. But it's my circus and I love it!

Also, if you could be so kind as to let me know how one dresses super professionally but in a way that you can still crawl in the floor with robots and not have the kids ask why you are dressed so fancy, I'd love to know.

FAME: I'm Gonna Learn Forever

I've been a little absent from the blog.

Thanksgiving week we only had school for two days. The kiddos that came to me disguised turkeys as their favorite book characters. They did a really incredible job and I love that they can be inventive and creative while tying it to literacy.

That same week I submitted two proposals for next year's AASL conference and I also submitted an article for our FAME Quarterly issue.

This week I had 7th grade classes doing maker space activities and I scored about 300 students's 20 Book Challenge submissions.

Wednesday through Friday I was at my state Media Specialist annual conference. It is my favorite thing I go to all year. I love being around so many other energetic Media Specialists to learn from them and grow.

Wednesday I did an 8 hour Makey Makey training and it was awesome! I learned how to complete a circuit, how to play a piano using a drawing and my Makey Makey kit, I drew a book review in four parts and used Scratch to code voice into it, and worked on an awesome group project. I also made several new friends and got to hang with one of my fellow Brevard County Media Specialists.

Right after my training we did Speed Dating with an Author which is one of my favorite parts of the conference. You sit at a table and an author comes by every two minutes to tell you a little bit of the back story of why they wrote their book(s) and to allow you to ask questions. These are always some pretty big name authors so it's always a thrill.

Wednesday evening I had the privilege of going  to  dinner with the other SSYRA committee members and some of the authors. It was so incredible! I sat and spoke with Peter Brown, author of The Wild Robot, and so many others.

Thursday I had breakfast with two of my favorite people and then got to watch a powerful Keynote by Elizabeth Acevedo, author of Poet X. I got some books signed by Elizabeth and Neal Shusterman, and then I got to present on diverse books with one of my fellow Media Specialists, Ana Woodbrey. We talked about the importance of diverse books, how to find them, how to promote them, and why all of this even matters.

I attended a session about the #readwoke movement and then I got to present another session on curating resources through Collections by Destiny with our amazing Follett rep and my fantastic District Media Resource person.  I also went to an SSYRA session, an SSYRA book meeting, and had a quick stop by a special leadership event for up-and-coming FAME leaders.

After that some of my Brevard peeps and I went and had dinner at Disney Springs and laughed and laughed so hard. We did the Christmas tree trail and made it back in time to watch Late Night Library Games.

Friday morning I had breakfast with someone I admire so much, Jennifer Underhill, and she taught me all the things I need to know for the upcoming year, and we had the pleasure of being joined by the hilarious James Ponti. I chatted with some people in the vendor hall, went to Jenn and James's awesome session on author visits, back to the vendor hall, and then lunch and our closing session with none other than Jennifer Lagarde, Library Girl herself. She armed us with how to fight the zombie librarians and be awesome for our kids and staff.

I always leave this conference full of great ideas and so inspired to go back and do great things to boost student learning and engagement.

It's been a pretty great week!

Less Than Awesome

One of my biggest goals for this year has been to make sure I did something really cool with the kids at least once a week. To step outside of my comfort zone or try something new. To build on something I've done before but make it better.

Up until this past week, I've succeeded at that goal.

This week I didn't.

We didn't have school Monday in observance of Veteran's Day.

Tuesday I had scheduled for us to do a massive pull-out for Learning Ally to get all of our students who qualify set up and make sure they knew how to use it. Due to some miscommunication, we weren't ready for that and instead spent the day as a team cleaning up accounts. We deleted duplicate accounts and made sure every kid who needed an account had it and printed their log in information. Learning Ally is a really amazing tool for students who struggle with reading for a variety of reasons. It gives them access to something like 80,000 titles of audio books. It is really incredible.  It was a day full of doing things that needed to be done, but not what I was expecting. I did get a phone call from Follett and they want me to present at a national conference next year. That's pretty stupid cool but the deadline for my application is coming up in a HOT minute so I really need to get on it.

Wednesday I took the day off because I was feeling really worn down from all the things I've been doing and I had my interview to be considered for Teacher of the Year for Brevard County in the afternoon. I knew I'd be much better prepared if I was well-rested. I didn't sleep in because I still had to take my kids to school. I spent the morning tackling a "to do" list instead of resting like I should have done. Right after my interview, I got several missed calls from my daughter's school saying she was sick. One Urgent Care visit later and we found out she had Strep.

Thursday = no school to stay home and take care of a sick kiddo. I also delivered some food to my kids's school to help contribute to a Thanksgiving Feast for the teachers and staff that the families of our church put on each year. I thought I could get some school work done from home but that did not happen.

Friday I could have been on an awesome field trip to the Miami-Dade Book Fair to see Jason Reynolds with our Reading students but I didn't know if I'd need to be with Ansleigh (my daughter) so I didn't go. My husband stayed home with her so I wouldn't miss another day of school. I thought I'd have a day of scoring 20 Book Challenge responses and working on my conference presentations (coming up soon and the new one requested by Follett) but instead I was asked to cover for a teacher because we were short on substitutes. I brought them all to the Media Center and let them check out and read. It was an early release day and they all needed books so that's what we did. I also had a meeting with someone to help her with research she's doing on how Media Specialists choose resources to promote diversity.

I literally didn't do anything cool with the kids this week except share what book I was reading with some students who were curious why I was so into my book when I sat and read with them. I'd love to share something incredible but I just don't have it.

I would like to tell you about my TOY Interview. I promised I'd be transparent about it and I want to.

My interview was blocked off for 30 minutes in the afternoon. There were 10 other secondary teachers being interviewed for the south area of our county (where I teach) and 8 of them went before me. When I walked into the room, it was my former principal who always runs this committee and hosts the interviews plus last year's south area finalists. I expected to see more people so I was kind of relieved that there were only four people plus me. I was told they'd ask me 10 questions and I could take a few minutes to look over the questions before we got started. What a gift! Although, honestly, I was so worried I'd run out of time answering the questions that I didn't want to spend a lot of time looking at the questions. I read through each one quickly and tried to think of a quick response I could give when they got to that question. I didn't spend nearly enough time on it. Once they started asking the questions, I tried my best to speak from my heart and not repeat the same answer over and over again but I honestly don't know what I actually said to them.

They asked me why I chose to go into teaching which gave me an opportunity to talk about my dad, which then lead me to start crying right on my first question. It wasn't ugly crying but I definitely teared up a lot. I was able to share his story of how he grew up and how he always impressed on me how important it was to be there for these kids. I also got to share how he passed away right as I was starting as a Media Specialist (literally, he passed away during pre-planning) and how hard I've worked to make him proud. I think I did well on that question.

They asked me several others about how I differentiate instruction, how I am part of school-wide initiatives and what leadership roles I have in that, how I collaborate with others and how I used project-based learning, how I participate in professional development (participating and leading) across the district and state, and how I involve the community. I honestly don't know if I even really answered their questions. It's so hard to tell. I spoke about the specific things they asked me and tried to give them new information for each question they asked. I tried my very best to impress up on them how much teamwork it takes to make any of this happen and how it isn't all me. I tried to make everything about the kids and what they are doing. I saw a lot of head nodding but couldn't really get a feel for how receptive they were. They were definitely hard to judge.

They asked me two other questions that I felt good about. They asked me something about stakeholders. I don't even remember what the question was but I got so excited. I started sharing with them how we have involved the community in our 20 Book Challenge, our City Councilman who participates in our Project Lit Book Club, the Mayor and our School Board Representative being at our event, the authors I share with on a regular basis, and how I use social media to share with the companies of products we are using (Nearpod, Ozobot, Follett, etc.), publishers of books our kids read, and other teachers and librarians across the globe. I even got to share about flying to New York to be on Bookish to share with not just our stakeholders, but Kwame's stakeholders as well, how awesome our kids are, how hard they are working, and how much they love his books. I told them that all of those people are ALL stakeholders because our kids have the power to change the world and all of these companies and authors are involved in that process. I was so excited to share my passion about why I work so hard to let the world know what we are doing. I may not have answered what they asked, but goodness gracious, I gave them an answer!

The other question I felt really good about was when they asked me if I could tell them about a specific student who had been impacted by what I do. I thought of S.C. who had never finished a book in his life until 8th grade and *almost* finished the 20 Book Challenge. He read every book we had by Kwame and Jason Reynolds. I thought of T.W. who hated to read and then started reading Kwame's books and in a few months his Reading Plus scores jumped several grade levels. I thought of A.C.T. who came to us as an English Language Learner and didn't like reading. I gave him The Red Umbrella in Spanish and asked him to read it for me and let me know if it was worth putting in the library. He loved it so much he asked for another copy to send to his family. He read all of Christina Diaz Gonzalez's books and finished our 20 Book Challenge in ENGLISH!!!!!! I didn't tell their stories though. I knew once I started telling those stories, I wouldn't be able to stop and all of those kiddos are in high school now. Instead, I told the story of M. B. who is a 7th grader right now. Her sister reads more than I do (and that's a lot!) and her mom mentioned that I wouldn't probably see M.B. as much because she never reads...ever. She's been trying for YEARS to get her to read and she doesn't like it. I convinced her Reading teacher to start the year reading The Crossover as a class and since then, homegirl can't put down a book. She's logged 9 books so far this year! 9!!!!!!!!

I ended up answering all of their questions with some time to spare (which is a miracle straight from Heaven because I'm always long-winded) and I was able to take a few minutes to talk about the state of our Media program when I took over and what kind of work we had to do to get it from where it was to where it is now.

I left not really sure of how well I did or if they cared at all about what I had to say. I do know that I had the opportunity to share how our students shine and how I get to be part of that.

The next step in the process is that they will choose three finalist and notify those three somehow in the next two weeks or so. The committees will go watch those teachers teach in December or early January. Beyond that, I'm not really sure what happens. I'm not too worried about it. I have no expectations to make it any further than I already have. I'm just thankful I got the opportunity to sit in that seat and represent my school to the best of my ability.