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.

Election Day and a Trip to NYC

Last Tuesday was Election Day and I had Ms. Ross's classes on Tuesday and Mrs. Vargas's classes on Wednesday.  We spent those days learning about the importance of voting, what we were actually voting on, what a responsible voter looks like, and how effective and powerful campaign signs can be. From there I taught them the design basics of a good campaign sign and then the students created their own campaign signs for their favorite book.

To draw the students in and really get them to give me their best effort, I offered a prize. I told the kids I'd post their signs on our school social media page and the sign with the most votes would be the winner. The winning artist would win a lunch of their choice from me. They did a really great job and their posters have been getting a lot of votes and compliments.

Thursday I woke up at 2:30 am (!!!!!!!!) and hopped on an airplane to fly to New York City. I've never been there before but when opportunity  comes knocking, you don't say no. I took the words right out of my favorite author's mouth and said YES.

My husband took off and went with me and Thursday after landing, we explored as much of the city as possible, starting with the World Trade Center Memorial so 1) we could experience it and 2) so I could show all our Project Lit students who read Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes. It is such a great book! We hit all the major sights, including Central Park (my favorite!), and had authentic  New York Pizza.

Friday I had the opportunity to be park of Kwame's show Bookish . I got to meet two other incredible Media Specialists (one from New Jersey and one from Virginia) and a really awesome ELA teacher from central New York. I even had the privilege of seeing not one, but two episodes filmed for season 2. It was insane and such a dream come true! I was super nervous all day but Kwame and Randy are so much fun and they make everyone laugh. Even if my part comes out as really terrible, it was such a great experience that I will never, ever forget!

Friday night we saw the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall which was incredible.

Saturday I got to go to the New York Public Library which was just so amazing. So. Very. Amazing. Please take note of the look on my face in some of these pictures. My husband is a gem for capturing all these moments for me. I'm a lucky lady!

It was a pretty amazing week!

Author Visit, a Big Honor, & Daddy

This past week was actually pretty low-key for the Media Center.

Monday: double classes for book check-out
Tuesday: afternoon book celebration for our self-contained ESE students who just finished the 3-5 SSYRA book Wish. We watched a book trailer, had a discussion, and made lunchbox notes for each other because the main character always wanted to get a note in her lunchbox. It was pretty awesome!
Wednesday: I was supposed to have Girls PE but they rescheduled so I didn't have anyone and ended up covering for a teacher who had to leave early. I got all caught up on 20 Book Challenge responses and we were able to get the report run. I mean, look at these amazing numbers! We are almost 300 books ahead of where we were this time last year and we broke records last year.

Thursday: I got to take some of our students to Hoover Middle School to see author Pablo Cartaya who wrote our SSYRA book The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora and he also wrote Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish.  Mrs. Watkins teaches a Reading class that has all of our ESOL students in it and most of them primarily speak Spanish. She read Epic Fail with them which was really cool because it is a bilingual book. I got with our ESOL District contact and told her about the opportunity to take these kids to go see Pablo and why it was so important and she helped me find the funding to take them. You see, how often do these students get to see someone who looks like them, speaks like them, and writes characters just like them who is very successful in person? How often in our school system do they have the opportunity to ask questions in their native language and get answers in that same language? How often do they miss out on opportunities because of the language barrier? I knew it was important to take them but I didn't realize until we got there what a life-changing moment it was for some of these students. They were SO engaged! Pablo is really funny and a great storyteller. He switches back and forth between English and Spanish. Our students asked some really amazing questions and all of them made it a point to tell me how much they enjoyed the visit. A few of the girls told me their favorite part was when Pablo had me dance with him. Our book club kids also got to go with us and they had a blast too. It made me so happy to see how an author can deeply impact kids who are so different and come from different walks of life. It was a powerful day! I'm so thankful to Ana Woodbrey, Hoover's Media Specialist, for putting such an awesome day together!

Friday: My sweet GAPP kiddos were there for book check-out and it was such a relaxing day. Fridays are short days because of early release so we returned books, renewed books, checked out books and then the kids could either work on their 20 Book Challenge (logging or correcting responses) or they could sit and read. I got to sit with them and read too! I finished Lu by Jason Reynolds! It is SO good! Definitely my favorite one in the Track series. I always have such great conversations about books with these kids. I always walk away encouraged and with a full heart!

The other big thing that happened this week is that on Monday, my admin team and all the front office people came in with flowers and a balloon and made an announcement over the intercom that I had been voted (by our staff) as the Southwest Middle School 2018-2019 Teacher of the Year. It's a really, really big honor. So many teachers and so many students stopped by to congratulate me. I've never imagined what it would feel like to win but it is so surreal. I'm so very honored and at the same time, I feel a bit like I'm taking credit for everyone else's hard work. Everything I do is part of a team effort. I don't do anything alone. We do some cool things but we do it together. I work with the best people!

After finding out, on my way home from school I called my husband and then I called my mom. As I was talking to my mom, I got upset because it was such a punch in the gut that I couldn't also call my dad to tell him. I've always been super close to my dad. Always. Two years ago, right as I was starting out in the Media Center, my dad died of Cancer only 4 weeks after diagnosis. My dad is the one who convinced me to be a teacher. I didn't want to be a teacher. I wanted to be anything BUT a teacher. He is the one who sat me down and told me that I was made for this and that he would support me no matter what, but that teaching is what he thought I should do. When I graduated college, he was clapping the loudest and cheering his heart out as I walked across that stage as the first college graduate in my immediate family. When I got my first teaching job, my dad built me a bookshelf for my classroom, helped me move all my stuff in, and bought team bags for the Girls Basketball team I coached. He came to their County Championship game and was so proud. Both of my parents have always, always supported me and pushed me to do my very best. My dad was a really hard worker. If there was something to be done, he wouldn't rest until it was done. If a kid needed something, he didn't care what it took, he would make sure they had it. My dad grew up in extreme poverty in a single parent home and made sure I knew what it was like to live like some of the kids I teach everyday. He told me to make sure that I was their champion, to be the light for them; that I was there fighting for them every day because some of them wouldn't have anyone else that would do that for them. He is the reason I'm so driven. He is the reason I give everything I have to these kids. He is the one who told me that if anyone could make being a librarian cool and get kids to read, it would be me. It is bittersweet to be given such an incredible award and not be able to share it with him.

I used to think that winning Teacher of the Year was an award you win and then that is it. I'm learning there is so much more to it than that. I had an application due early this week to be considered for Brevard County Teacher of the Year. I had to give a description of my job responsibilities, list all the awards and recognition I've received in the last 5 years, explain how I demonstrate all 14 traits of an excellent teacher in 250 words or less (they were serious! Have they met me? I don't say anything in under 250 words), and I had to write what I love the most about teaching. That was my favorite part. Not this coming week, but the following week I'll have to go sit in front of a big committee and interview. I also have to schedule to go have my photo taken. I've heard some teachers complain about everything it involves, but I'd like to share my thoughts with you. I don't have expectations of winning anything, BUT if I'm going to do something, I'm going to do the very best I possibly can because that is who I was raised to be. I want to represent my family well. I want to serve my school well--they choose me for this and I plan to give it my best. I want to represent my profession well. It is a job that is always on the chopping block by politicians and board members because they seem to think that all we do all day is check out books and anyone can do that. My job is so much more than that and I want to do it justice.

This coming week is going to be a really big week! I'm doing something so cool I couldn't have ever even dreamed it was possible. Stay tuned for details!