Lambs to Lions

First off let me apologize for taking so long to write.  Second let me apologize for how how long I sense this post is going to be…it is winter break and I have been up since 4 am and the coffee is warm and Christmas music is playing because Ally fell asleep to it on the couch in the living room.

This year I worked with both Hamilton Southeastern and Fishers High Schools as a judge and unit adviser; plus had my own team at Fishers Junior High School.  I believe in this program.  I believe in the power that this education brings to the students.  My beliefs in education is an amalgam of the 18th and 21st century with a little Socrates mixed in; We the People speaks to my beliefs.

Fishers Junior High We the People Team

I love these kids.  They are a great and powerful group who are masters of their fate and captains of their souls.  In the end they came up short, finishing second in the state to the great Brown County team.  Below is the email I send to the staff about them:

Well we finished second again to Brown County. The race was close again, but Brown County was just better.  Indiana has the strongest middle school program in the country because the Indiana state legislature funds the program.  The benefit is that everything is first class and over 100 middle schools participate.  The downside is that the best team in the country, Brown County Middle School, is in Indiana.  Brown County has been the state champion every year since 2009 (the first year) and until FJH arrived last year there was never a contest.  In addition to being Indiana State Champion, they have won the National Championship twice and were runners-up at Nationals last year only to a Washington DC private school dedicated to civics and government.  They are led by a great teacher, Mike Potts, who is a friend of mine.

Our kids did great.  We had great rounds.  We improved from last year, but we have some more steps to take.  Congratulate the kids if you see them.  They are disappointed, but they showed grace and poise the entire day.  They are a credit to Fishers Junior High and our district.

After analyzing scores (which some of you know is something that I loved to do) it was obvious how much we improved in the eyes of the judges from the previous year, but Brown County did the same thing.  They won 4 units (one by one point) and we won 2.  They won 7 rounds and we won 5.  So very close.

We were asked to compete at the National Invitational.  It was tempting; as the Equality of Outcome is always tempting.  I sent the below email to the powers that be to explain why will not attend Nationals until we finish first in the state.

Thank you for the reminder.  Our stance is unchanged on our attendance to the Invitational.  We hold fast to the idea that if we do not win Indiana we do not attend.  Our reasoning comes to the argument of Equality of Opportunity versus Equality of Outcome.  If we attend without winning it is Equality of Outcome and then we (I and my students next year) do not have in incentive to work harder the next year.  Our school looks at Brown County’s dominance in Indiana as a good thing.  After raising our game in our second year we laid out our plan for next year and my principal has even rearranged our schedule next year to provide me more time with the kids.

I know this is a long explanation, but I want you all to realize our thought process.  Meg, I cannot wait to work with you one of these years on planning our trip.  I hope to  see you when I travel with the Fishers High School team in April.

We will spend the rest of the year working to be better; it says a lot about these kids that they want to get better.  Both Fishers and Hamilton Southeastern High School are going to receive great kids ready to compete.  All year and during state we read William Earnest Henley’s poem:

Henley’s words were their credo.  I cannot be more proud of them.  Their names are etched on to my heart.

Hamilton Southeastern High School We the People Team

These kids also finished second in state.  I only knew one person on this team (Nailah), but their teacher is someone special to me.  Janet Chandler’s team was a joy to judge on Sunday’s (put many a NFL game on delay).  These kids are talented and have a genuine love of learning.  Each week they grew; their arguments improved and their ability to converse with thought and poise stood out.  They won two unit awards at State and neither award surprised me.

My Unit 6 kids (Nailah, Matt, and Jenna) were great.  Wednesday after school became our day and Taco Bell became our meeting spot (free Wifi and soda refills).  What always struck me about them was that they were always running to the next obligation.  I don’t know how they kept everything in balance. They all speak with passion and are models for civic involvement.  I will look forward to watching how each will change the world.

There is no doubt in my mind if these kids were to earn a wild-card invite to Nationals that they would finish in the Top 10; they are that good.

Fishers High School We the People Team

Team Indiana!  Now this is a team that I knew a little better.  Some I helped recruit as they were counselors for me and they were a great fit for We the People.  Morgan joined Halley Rose as my former Students of the Year who will take a team to Nationals in Washington DC.

These kids are wildly talented.  Judging them each week was a joy (except when Timers called time on me when we were in the middle of great arguments–a few objects were tossed).  The month prior to State is where they morphed into a championship team.  They pushed. They learned.  They got better.  This team has a good chance to beat the Indiana record that the Fishers team from two years ago set with a 4th place finish Nationals. Oregon is their Brown County.  I look forward to watching them work towards their goal.

My Unit 2 kids.  Tuesday night was our night.  At my house with coffee and hot chocolate.  Editing papers and talking for hours (sometimes past my 9 o’clock bedtime).  They were never Unit of the week at practice, but when it counted they earned Top Unit at State!  Emma is holding their hard earned Unit award at state.  I have thanked Liz many times for these kids.

Foolishly, I promised my 8th grade team that I would not retire until I took them to Nationals their Senior Year.  This extends out my plans and delays my application to law school.

We the People is the best educational program in the country.  I will quote from one of my kids who wrote the following to me in her Christmas letter:

This past semester I’ve definitely found out how much work your class can be, but I’ve also found out that I don’t even mind all the extra hours of homework, because I love the homework.  I don’t think I would have fell in love with a class like I have this year.  So I guess to sum it up, I would just like to thank you for making We the People possible this semester.  It has given me a reason to look forward to going to school.  It has given me a life path/passion, because I have never loved doing something so much, not even swimming.

25 Things That I Am Thankful For

1. Caitlin; her hard work at college and laughs she brings to the house when she is home.
2. Ally; her musical talents and her willingness to share music and movies with me.
3. Laurel; for being my workout and life partner.
4. Tony Sturgeon; appreciate my educational brother in crime.
5. Dave Broviak; my writing sounding board and the guy that held me to my basketball goal and made me play in September.
6. Kevin Stumpf; workout inspiration who has joined me in my goal to getting healthier.
7. My health; at the end of last school year I changed my diet and started exercising (thanks to Laurel for being my workout partner).  Gone is my high blood pressure, acid reflux, and blood sugar imbalance.
8. The ability to play basketball again; I set my goal to play again and for 7 of the last 8 Sundays I have played basketball with Broviak’s Sunday bunch.  I love running around and playing again.
9. Teaching my 7th grade students; their energy is motivating.  I love watching them grow as students and people.
10. Rachel Smith; she fulfilled the promise that I saw in her years ago.
11. The New England Patriots; I have loved watching them this season (except the Kansas City game), I appreciate the reign of TB12 and BB
12. FJH; I love my school and appreciate the staff and students.
13. HSEHS and FHS We the People teams; Janet Chandler and Liz Paternoster have been generous enough to let my service as a judge for their teams.
14. Geoff Tease, Robert Dyson, and Taylor Schueth for helping with my junior high We the People team.
15. My 8th Grade We the People team; the kids have been a real sense of joy for me, they have worked so hard and so want to be great.
16. Amazon.com; thank you for being able to keep me away for the mall.
17. The ability to DVR shows; during the school year I am never caught up on my shows.
18. My Mom; I love that you answer the phone when I call on my many trips to Lowe’s.  I cannot wait to see you on December 16th!
19. My annual BFM trip; it is fun planning for our next adventure; #BFM2015Boston, #BFM2016GreenBay
20. The holiday season; it is a great time with family and renewal.
21. The Northland Street friends; we continue to do life together and celebrate each milestone together; can’t wait to see everyone at the Hamer Christmas Party
22. Books; I love that there is an endless supply of books that fuel my desire to know more
23. Social media; thank you for connecting me professionally and allowing me to keep in contact with people from my past.
24. My truck; every time I need to haul something, I appreciate that I don’t have to find someone to borrow their truck.
25. My life; my family, friends, and job bring me joy and a purpose.  I am so thankful every day.

I miss having time to write.  It is cleansing to my soul.  One thing that those outside of teaching do not understanding is the demands on a teacher’s time.  As a matter of full disclosure, much of the demands of my time are things that I volunteer to take on.

The Great:

Last Monday (November 3rd) my inaugural Middle School We the People team competed at districts and they killed it.  They won five out of six unit awards and won districts by a good margin.  The best part is was that they realized that they can improve and are willing to work to be great.  I was thankful the Kevin Stumpf and Rachel Smith for going with me.  Qualifying for state was our team’s goal at the start.

The Tough:

I am serving on our district’s redistricting group; I felt the need to serve to try to balance the inequities in our district that have impacted our school for nearly a decade.  I feel the pressure to help my school.  The frustrating thing is that it seems like it should be easy; but there are so many competing interests and many of those interests are not about justice.  The government teacher part of me wishes that we had a council of grandmothers that would put aside the individual motives with a view on what is best for our district as a whole.

The Reminder:

My school is special and it does not get the recognition it should.   My school spends so much energy in creating opportunities for students that it does not have time to publicize our efforts after the fact.  Last Friday our school held its International Fair; we easily had 500 community folks show up to watch our kids perform and show their knowledge through displays and extras.  As much as I enjoyed the Fair it was telling to me that at 8:30 at night there were five teachers with a couple family members cleaning up the mess so that the custodians would not be burdened because of our efforts.  It captured our building in a nutshell; extend opportunities to kids, involve our families, love our students, and don’t burden others because of our efforts.

The “Why Can’t Things be Easy”:

We received our information about the We the People Middle School Nationals and; of course, it is during Tecumseh week.  What are the chances?  It will break my heart to put my kids on the bus to Washington DC without me.  Luckily, there are people out there that will step up to take my kids.

The Legacy:

Friday was my student teacher’s last day.  The reality is that Rachel will be my last student teacher.  She did a terrific job and deserves a chance to have her own classroom.  She fits our building because she loves to teach and she loves students.  Rachel worked hard to learn the craft.  If Rachel is part of my legacy that will give me comfort. I am aware that I will only be a teacher for a few more years.  It seems unbelievable that this is my 18th year as a teacher.  For many teachers that would put them at 40 years of age; not so for me.  Starting teaching at 37 years of age will not allow me to teach for 35 years like some of my peers.   I will not want to give  up any more of my classes to a student teacher: I want to savor every second of my time with my students.

As I have mentioned before I have a student teacher, Rachel is special and has those elements that I think set great teachers apart from good teachers.  There are tell tale <excuse me I need to go kill a fly> signs that I am right.  This week she was discussing the Nile River and she witnessed that students cannot comprehend river flowing north because they associate north with up, some might remember the Fassold Rule that “all rivers flow downhill”.  Well in 2nd period she spontaneously had 3 kids join her in height order and asked the question if they represented the elevation of the land which way would the river flow; nice.  However, by 4th period she was on a roll and she decided to jump up on to my round table to increase her “elevation”; well…my round table is not support by four legs, it is supported by a single post in the middle of the table.  <dramatic pause> Yep, she jumped up on the edge of the table and over it goes; papers, books, pencils, student teacher go crashing to the ground.  It is in this moment much is revealed.  After gravity finished its work, Rachel jumped up in her best Olympic gymnastic “sticking the landing” pose and said “Ta da”.  Rachel FTW. She has her first week under her belt and she is ready to take the next step of building lessons that build to her strengths and not just teaching my lessons.  It is a big step for every new teacher.  It is one of the many reasons I believe scripted education is a disaster; the transference of passion of learning and subject cannot be read from a script on a page.  Transferring passion is organic and requires intrinsic motivations and inspiration.  I will quit teaching the very day someone comes to me to teach like someone else.  I have told Rachel that she is my last student teacher.  The reason for that is simple; I want every second with my students.  I have only a few years left before I retire and I want to milk every chance to do what I love to do.

My wonderful principal said something to me this week that I look renewed; and I guess that is true.  Some of it is physical after a tough couple years, but it is teaching 8th grade US History under the We the People model that has my blood pumping.  These kids are amazing.  We have our own social media site on Edmodo and the kids are leading the charge to generate discussion and learning to converse in civil discourse.  They are becoming aware and engaged.  They have been so impressive that I dropped them into groups much earlier than I anticipated and they have started their breakdown of their units in preparation of their district papers.  We have started using Socrative for our quizzes; it is great.  My kids just bring devices and I keep borrowing a couple I-Pads from Tom Modglin.  The kids were shocked at the power also of Google documents and the fact that they can all type on the same document at the same time.

I needed the 3-day weekend to catch up on grading and my exploding in-box.  Have a great weekend.

Week 2.  For my 7th graders, this is the time when the gloves come off and my academic lambs take a beat down.  My class is a BIG change for my new students because I am frustrating in my lack of perceived help; they don’t want help, they want me to give them the answer.   On the day that I issue textbooks (never to be used again after this activity) I give them a little longitude and latitude review (simple); BUT the last 3 questions cause them a lot of problems.  I asked them why lines of longitude are basically the same length and why lines of latitude are different lengths.  Most get those two questions; some needed my Winnie the Pooh ball to help understand.  On the last question I asked them to draw the EXACT representation of 90 degrees North; to set it up we talk about Ockham’s Razor.  Days, it takes days for them to get this right.  I am little help, short of telling them that they are not completely accurate.  There is frustration by them and a little taunting by me.  My rule is that until one student gets it that the question will go unanswered and even then I only recreate lines of longitude intersecting at the poles with string to provide a hint.

There is a sense of “do it for me” in some of my kids that is frustrating.  It is not from a lack of capability; it is a learned helplessness.  For example, I gave my students a class guide that contained pictures and written instructions to complete the simple task of taping papers into our interactive notebooks.

As I walked around class there would be about five kids that were dumbfounded by the task and looked at my with puppy dog eyes and asking for help.  For those you that know me; this was not going to go well.  I would ask them to read the first task and then look at the picture; then I would ask them what they thought they should do and walked away with an “L.A. Law lawyer pivot”.  I hate self-imposed helplessness.

My We the People 8th grade history class is going pretty well, even though the period flies by and I never get to everything.  This came to a head last Monday I tried to force 2-hours of learning into 42 minutes.  I had to apologize to the kids on Tuesday and put one of my best kids in charge of calling me out if I sacrifice understanding for coverage.  I have to confess that I feel the time racing out of the hour glass as we compete in November and we have so much to learn.  I count my blessings that we did a good job and identifying kids; they bring an energy to the class.  I joked after we talked about John Locke that we should tattoo “life, liberty, and property” on our arms as a reminder of the state of nature; the next day some of my kids had their tattoo.

Back to school night is always interesting to me because we have it so early that there is not a chance that I know their child’s name; however, I can always tell which classes will have my better students; those are the classes that are standing room only.  Needless to say that my We the People class was full; even though they were 8th grade parents who do you attend B2S night at the same rate as 7th grade parents.

Our first week of school is only 3 day; thank God.  This year offers new opportunities; I am teaching one section of 8th Grade Social Studies under the We the People Civic Education program, I have a student teacher for the first time in a LONG time (but it is someone that I know), and my six 7th grade sections are squished into five sections.

I was motivated to start a We the People team to our FJH after traveling with the Fishers High School We the People team to Washington DC to compete in Nationals.  It was not without some challenges; establishing a program, finding kids, getting approval, making schedules work; you know just a few challenges.  Thankfully, our building is led by Crystal Thorpe and opportunities for kids are always encouraged.  Jackie Wolf, our guidance director, made the schedules work and the BFM helped recruit and identify kids.  In the end 31 kids took the challenge.  Our first week was about setting the tone; we played, we got to know each other, and we got ready for the next grueling month of building a foundation.

I am excited to have student teacher; not because I like giving up my students, it has everything to do with WHO is my student teacher.  Rachel came through our building and she was in NJHS, a student-athlete in our building, a 3-year Camp Tecumseh counselor, and my cadet teacher during her senior year.  She burns to be a great teacher.  We will work on her journey of honing the craft and art of teaching.  She also gets the added benefit of having me as her classroom aide in a couple periods where our kids need a little more classroom support.

All my Summer Lions were recognized and they have their own place in my classroom.  Thanks to Dave Broviak for helping teach me how to make buttons.  In all 17 kids took the challenge; which was terrific for the first year of the idea.

This year is also about technology.  I have added Remind to both of my courses, Edmodo into my 8th grade class, and I built a green screen (Chinese lanterns are not pictured; they provide diffused light) to create “enhanced” classroom videos.  I am also looking into writing a grant to create a Google Chromebook lab for my We the People class as we use Google Docs to collaborate on the writing of papers.

I was glad to finish my summer challenge of writing 30 “Summer of Thanks”; it was a lot of writing, but worth it.  I find myself wanting to write more of them because of the people that I did not thank; like Steve Baney, Brent Farrell, Mike Beresford, Tom Quellhorst, Robert Heinlein, and a couple others.

The first week was filled with challenges associated with the start of the school year; anxious parents and kids, a little drama, and more than a few stuck lockers.  But I end this week with hope and optimism; now on to our first full week.

My last summer of thanks goes out to the most important person in my teaching career.  Tony Sturgeon is the best teacher that I have known and he has been a major reason for any success that I have achieved.  In short, my career would have contained a major void without my partner of the last 18 years.  Tony is my colleague, foil, friend, and brother.  I count him in that small group in my life that will forever be part of my being and heart.  There will come a day when I retire and Tony will stay teaching; that is not a day that I relish facing.  The following is an excerpt from my book:

Teaching can be a Robinson Crusoe existence …. students aplenty just like coconuts, but peer interaction and support is not always found.  My greatest blessing in school has been my teaching partner-in-crime, Tony Sturgeon.  We have been teaching together for 16 years…we started together at first year teachers and despite the 14 years that separate us age-wise; he has been my friend, confidante, sounding-board, grounding wire, and educational brother.  Tony holds me accountable.  He is simply the best teacher in our district.  We have been an effective team, because our strengths compliment each other and our personalities push each other. 

Tony co-directs Camp Tecumseh with me <along with Maureen Randall who we call ‘mom’, because she takes care of us at camp> and part of our most enduring traditions is counselor and teacher skits.  There is a skit called Banana where one person plays the magician <the straight man> and the other plays the doofus volunteer; Tony plays the magician because he can stay on course is in the middle of chaos…I play the doofus because unscripted chaos is my area of comfort.  This is a metaphor for our teaching relationship.  We both have ideas, but Tony always handles the mechanics and keeps us on track.  Luckily for me, we still teach on the same team.   Our “Globetrotter” team used to be the four core subjects; last year the team was down to just English and Social Studies, but the core of our team has always been Tony. 

 Tony and I play the foils for our kids; he is Yankees and I am Red Sox, he is Star Wars and I’m Star Trek, he is pop music and I am power folk music, and we make fun of each other.  On the other hand we support each other’s classes and assignments.  We could grade each other’s work because we see education the same way.  We share professionally and keep each other on the edge.  He is my brother in arms.  There is no one that I trust more.

Over the years our group has expanded to the group called the BFM.  Educationally we are all very different from each other.  The bonding factor is the desire to do right by kids.  This group brings me joy, but more importantly brings so much to the school.  These guys have a love of kids that manifests into so many kid-first programs, for example the BFM has:

1. Started our district’s first National Junior Honor Society that requires 50 hours of community service, high grades, and role model behavior. Nearly 25% of school is a member of NJHS.  This is not just a paper distinction.  These kids are the real deal.  We have seven staff members who volunteer for no pay to make this chapter vibrant.
2. Started our school’s metal and paper recycling program that funds scholarships and other school project needs. We recycle 4 tons of paper each month on average and during the school year we will recycle 1000s of  pounds of aluminum cans.
3. Sponsor our Charger Integrity Awards that recognizes the kids with the best character in every sport, extracurricular, and teaching team. We just finished recognizing these “menschadictorians”
4. Created the Charger Challenger Competition between teams that is composed of a combination of Minute-To-Win-It games and a Jeopardy competition. The competition is held every 9 weeks and is an exciting event for students and teachers alike.  Students must have a “C” or better and be “referral free” to compete.  A traveling trophy is held by the winning team and a hallway wall records the winning team.
5. We also created our Tri-Charger Cup competition that awards points on a system “loosely” based on the houses in Harry Potter. Students earn points by getting involved in extracurriculars and teams.  They also earn points by getting on the honor and high honor rolls.  Every good thing earns points and bad choices can take away points.”

I remember the day that Tony won our district’s Teacher of the Year.  The pride that I felt was akin of a father watching his son homer in Game 7 of the World Series to win an extra inning game.  I jumped up so fast that I pulled a muscle in my back.

So, my friend “thank you”; if I teach more than 5 more years it will be because of how much I value our friendship and working relationship.

When my teaching career began I was completely unprepared for the sense of loss that occurs when your students leave to continue their life journey.  Starting with my student teaching year at HSEJH (HSE Class of 2002 which I already thanked) to my wonderful students from last year’s class it has never left me.  I have shed my man card more than once on the last day of school and in the hour after school that I normally sit by myself and wipe tears from my face.   I have written before about my lack of love for the beginning of the year; but to recap, the new kids who occupy the desks in August are trespassing on the desks that I have loved from the previous year.  I know it is not logical, but there is nexus of feelings where my loss intersects with a touch of irritation that squatters have taken up residence in the house of my beloved neighbors.

As tough as letting my students go at the end of year, one of the greatest joys in teaching is when students come back or contact you.  I cherish every note (I have saved every one).  Look forward to the chance to visit and have shed a tear to two with an “out-of-the-blue” email.  Social media has been a blessing in this regard and it is fun to watch folks that I remember their 12-year-old self announce the birth of her fourth child, get married, move to an exotic country, or just enjoy a good meal at a mom-and-pop hole-in-the-wall.

So to those of you that have thought of me and dropped me a note…thanks.

Maureen Randall has been like a sister to me for my entire teaching career.  Tony, Maureen, and I all started together at HSEJH 18 years ago.  For a time we worked in the resource room together; an interesting experience for all three of us filled with stories that still bring smiles to us.  In was a blessing from God how we all ended up starting our teaching careers together.  Tony was hired first to teach Social Studies on the HEROES team; I was then hired to teach Social Studies on the Globetrotter Team; the English teacher on the Globetrotter team left for greener pastures; Tony and I conspired to move Tony to the English position on the Globetrotter team if Maureen was hired to take his Social Studies position.  Roger Norris who I have already thanked agreed and the three of us continued our link.

When Fishers Junior High School opened Maureen came over in the caravan and a year later she became the third director of Camp Tecumseh with Tony and I.  She would fill that third co-director spot for over a decade.  She kept her two “boys” in check and in line.  Kids may have starved and been forgotten without her reigning the two of us in during those early years of us having no clue what we were doing some of the time.

On a personal level Maureen has always been someone I could talk to about family, teaching, and life.  She is my other sister (not like I don’t have enough of them already).  She taught both of my girls and I appreciated how she treated them and so many other kids with a motherly love.  She has put up with 15 years of being the only female in the department and has been a voice of reason for the various Central Office edicts that I thought was a waste of time.

So thank you Maureen.

Now my family is a BIT confusing; as I have four natural sisters, two half-brothers, and a half-sister.  To add to the confusion there are also two ex-step-sisters that were part of my life for a while.  One of my half-brothers grew up in my house, but he is 14 years younger than me.  So Joel and I did not do life together; when I left home he was a high-energy 4-year-old with a mess of blond curls on the top of his head.  My other half brother and half sister were not raised in my home and grew up with a father than kept no contact with his other children; so we are related by blood, but not experience or memories.  I also had an older sister that only lived a couple days.

Now that that is cleared up.  I did 16 of my 18 years with my three sisters before I left to join the military.

My sister Melanie was my closest friend in my early life.  We were only 19 months apart and Mel was my playmate.  I always enjoyed her love of life.  In her youth she lived life like sleep was a delay to the adventures of the day.  I was always a bit jealous of the fact that during our junior high years she was a better athlete than me.  Life has not always been kind to her, but she refuses to complain.  I am always amazed at her artistic talent.

My sister Melissa was five years younger than me.  As a child she was a typical younger sister and we did not have many experiences together.  We became closer when she became an adult.  In fact for many years we talked on Wednesday nights.  I enjoyed her love of life and plans to “become more”.   Way too early she was taken from this world in a tragic accident.  It is a hole that has never been filled in my heart; even after nearly 30 years.

My baby sister Marcy is one-of-a-kind.  What she lacks in height, she makes up in backbone.  She is a spitfire who loves her family.  We have so much in common, from the shows we watched, to our love of antiques, to our sense of humor.  My girls always giggled at the cuss words that flew our of her mouth when we would be bantering back and forth.  Her family is the only one that has ever lived close to us; so we have visited over holidays.  I loved when her family lived in Ohio, because we would see each other.   Her kids are cousins that my girls have spent time with and are close because of it.

So thank you for being part of my life.