Bless Your Heart!

Oh my goodness! I had such an amazing time at the PLC Workshop with Richard and Becky DuFour! This is the first year that my campus has implemented the PLC model, and it has for sure been a learning curve. I was able to get a lot of questions answered at the workshop and I also had some great dialogue with my principal and a fellow teacher who also went. 

The DuFours were so much fun to listen to and it is obvious that they are in love! They were funny and very personable which made it quite easy to listen to them while they presented. I think as a whole my campus has done well with implementation of the PLC concept, but we definitely have some work to do as well! 

Some of the things that really stuck with me from the conference were...

One. Collaboration is not an invitation. 

I absolutely love this phrase! It is so true. I am guilty of this so far during the school year. I will get frustrated and not want to collaborate anymore. However, if I choose to not collaborate, who am I really hurting in the long run? The students, not me! No matter how much I get frustrated, I have to do it because my kids will benefit from it in the long run. 

Two. Common Assessments are the key. 

This is where I want to spend my attention during the remainder of the school year and next school year. This year my teaching partner and I have only created one common assessment on our own. We have also had district benchmarks that we have used and reflected on that data, but there is just something about common assessments that are teacher created. I think what makes me so nervous is that I feel like I cannot write a quality assessment that is to the rigor level that is demanded of my kids on the Texas State Assessment. Do you have to write your own assessments, does your grade level do this together, or does someone at the district level create them for you? Do you all take turns creating them at your school or for your grade level?

Three. Sometimes you just need a divorce. 

When I first heard this I was a little surprised. However, the more I thought about it, the more since it made. There are times when it is appropriate to get a divorce from your fellow collaborators. It is not healthy for anyone involved, and it might just need to be ended. This could be something that is initiated by the teachers themselves, or it could happen through administration.

I hope to continue to share more of my PLC journey during the remainder of the school year as well as next school year. I keep telling myself that it can only get better after this year! 

Professional Learning Communities

I so enjoyed my week off this past week! I was in desperate need of a mini-vacation from school. I was pretty darn stressed during the week before Spring Break. Today was our first day back and I had to do a little re-training with my 6th graders! You would have thought they had never set foot in my classroom before. :)

I actually will not even be at school for the rest of the week. Tomorrow and Wednesday I am lucky enough to be attending a workshop that is being conducted by the DuFours who are the gurus of Professional Learning Communities. On my campus this has been our first year implementing the PLC concept, and for the most part I have really enjoyed it. I like that more teachers are on the same page and that we are all focused on the students. I will admit, at times I still struggle with it, but I think it will get better as time goes on. While in grad school, we read lots about PLC's and research from the DuFours. It is going to be great to finally put a real face with them. I promise to be back later this week and share what I learned with you all!

Do any of you all use the PLC format on your campus? How often do you all meet and who is on your PLC? I love to hear how other campuses implement the model on their campus! 

Five on Friday

I am one happy camper right now because as of 3:35 p.m. today I am officially on Spring Break. Oh wait, but I stayed at school until almost 5:30 today. 

I am excited to be linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday Linky Party!

One. This week was rough and I am so grateful that it is Spring Break. I cried twice this week at school. I have just been so stressed lately and feel like I am working my butt off, but that it is still not enough. With the new STAAR testing and the higher standards I am really freaking out because I have some pretty low students. Our school is currently in AYP mess and I really want us to get out of it. If we meet AYP this school year we do get out and we will lose a few headaches with that. I was pretty bummed with our benchmark results and am going to be completely revamping my classroom when we get back from the break. 

Two. I am so lucky to have an amazing Language Arts coach that comes to our campus once a week from Region 13. She was in the room when I lost it on Wednesday and was ready to help me make a plan to best meet the needs of my students. We decided that I need to move to some additional targeted small group instruction. She helped me to narrow my groups down and to figure out which students I really needed to focus on. We then came up with a plan and schedule for the groups. I know that small group instruction is what they need and am so excited that we are going to make it happen. I am also going to be doing book clubs with my kids so I can meet with the small groups and everyone else is self-sufficient. 

Three. I am proud to be a Texas Teacher Blogger!

Head on over to Fifth in the Middle to find teacher bloggers from your state! 

Four. After crying twice this week I may have decided (with admin approval) to show a movie for the past two days. Best decision ever of my life. We had not watched one all year and the kids were amazing. Since we had been reviewing plot elements, theme, and summarizing, we use Soul Surfer to do it instead. It has to be on my top 5 movie list.

Five. We are gearing up for a Mock STAAR test in both Math and Reading for our 6th graders when we get back to school. I am excited to have some more data, but am nervous about it at the same time too. Creating all of the small groups has been a logistical nightmare!  

I hope that my Texas friends enjoy their Spring Break and get some much needed rest and relaxation! 

Currently...I Need a Break!

It is the beginning of the month, so that means it is time for Farley's monthly Currently link up!

 I have been a sorry blogger lately, but hopefully this will get me back in the swing of things. Things have just been so crazy lately between intervention lessons, tutoring, TELPAS testing and rating training, STAAR training, volleyball tournaments, and did I mention cheerleading tryouts? I am so beyond ready for spring break! Luckily mine arrives Friday at 3:35 p.m. :)

Listening: If you are anything like me you are a reality TV junkie. I am pretty sure this is what keeps me sane during the school week. Some of my favorites are Teen Mom, Dance Moms, The Biggest Loser, Survivor, The Amazing Race, and The Bachelor. 

Loving: Today was an absolutely crappy day at school, but my blog friends sure did make me feel better! It is so nice to know that I can vent to you all and that most of the time your day was just as bad as mine. One of my sweet friends even surprised me with a special treat in my inbox tonight!

Thinking: I can only hope that tomorrow is a better day or I may not be making it to Friday in one piece. I lost it today during one of my classes and started to cry because I was so upset with my students. I know we aren't supposed to do that, but I couldn't hold it in any longer. I won't even tell you how much chocolate I consumed this afternoon. 

Wanting: Have you found a personal assistant? If you have, please send them my way. It seems like I can never get caught up with my grading. I do not even want to think about the number of assignments that I have graded this school year. :( I am so over having 110 kids in class. I want to be double blocked again! 

Needing: At least two weeks off for Spring Break! Oh wait, I kind of have two weeks off. :) The week we go back I am only at school on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday I am going with my principal to a PLC Conference at our Service Center and the DuFours are presenting at it! I am pretty pumped about this! Then Thursday and Friday I am going to be gone because I am on team for a Women's ACTS retreat. I am so excited for that because I know that the time away is exactly what I need! 

Like, Love, Hate: I really like Karen Kingsbury books. If you have never read one by her before you are so missing out! I love my kids, most days that is. If you asked me today the answer would be no. I also really hate ketchup and do not even eat it. I cannot even really stand the smell of it! 

Hopefully I will be back later this week with some new things to share with you all! 

Tell Me Something Good...

I thought I would link up with my sweet friend, Jennifer, for her linky party! Have I mentioned that I have met her in real life?

The rules are easy, just simply share something good that is happening at home and something good that is happening at school. 

Home: I have been doing some serious reading lately. While I was in grad school I had so much required reading to get done, but now that I am finished, I have lots of free time to read what I want! I have recently started reading the Pretty Little Liars series and I am loving the books. I have never watched the TV series, and I do not plan to do so until after I finish all of the books. 

School: Oh there are so many good things going on right now. :) I am loving that we are finally in a good rhythm  We just wrapped up our Persuasion unit and now we are starting to review concepts and skills that were covered earlier in the year and making connections across genres. I have been searching for some good short stories to use with my kids and I have come across several great ones. Today we were reading "Unaccompanied Minors" by Jeff Kinney and they were so engaged! Any other good short story suggestions for me?  

I am a better teacher because...

I truly believe that I am a better teacher because of the collaboration and resources that I have found since starting my teaching blog when I was just a little 'ole student teacher back in the Spring of 2011. Never did I ever think blogging would become such a huge part of my development as a teacher. 

I so wish I would have discovered all of the amazing teaching blogs earlier in my college career because I have found so many great ideas on them. I wish I could remember exactly who's blog it was I cam across first because I owe them a huge thank you!

You all have challenged me to be a better teacher each day that I walk into my classroom. I am not afraid to try new things because of you. I have discovered great resources through you all on Teachers Pay Teachers and Pinterest.

So thanks for helping me to be a better teacher every day. I will never be able to thank you all enough!

Currently...

It is time for Farley's monthly Currently linky! Click here to link up with your own post!

Listening: I just love Say Yes to the Dress! This is one of my Friday night rituals each week! I especially love to watch it with my mom. Now if only there was a man in my life and I could maybe possibly think about planning a wedding! :)

Loving: The upcoming  Teachers Pay Teachers Sale! There are several things that have been in my cart for a while and you can bet I will be making some purchases this weekend! 

Thinking: In my town we run a basketball league for 5th and 6th grade students, both boys and girls. I am excited to get to watch them play tomorrow morning. They have been begging me to go, and I finally have a free Saturday morning. 

Wanting: iPads in my classroom...NOW! This past week we used iMovie to make some persuasive commercials and my kids loved it! I am really hoping to integrate the iPad more, but it is so hard only having one right now. 

Needing: More time to read. I have set a goal to read 75 books in 2013 and currently I have only finished 3 of them. I really need to get to work on this. I know I will read a ton this summer, but I would love to get 25 books in by the end of Spring Break. 

Pet Peeves: These are pretty obvious to me. :) The not coming prepared one is because of my 6th grade friends! I cannot tell you how many pencils I am asked for on a daily basis! I wish I could charge them for a pencil and it could become my margarita fund. :)