RT3 Winners and Losers

Posted on September 25, 2011 by sutterlearn

I was recently reading an article about how states who won Race To The Top (RT3) funding awards from the federal government are now struggling to create appropriate models that evaluate teachers using 40% student achievement data and 60% observation data.  In short, a handful of states went so far as to change and/or create legislation to satisfy requirements of the RT3 application for a piece of roughly $4 billion from the 2009 federal stimulus package.  Eleven states and D.C. won out to split various allotments of this money.  The article didn’t mention the states (i.e. Michigan) that also changed their teacher evaluation requirement laws when they applied for this money…but did not win the money!  All the winners and losers from RT3 are now legally bound, by their own doing, to create fair and equitable evaluation systems.

The problem I’ve seen with this is that most of these states changed their laws, but did not even have plans for how they would measure and align teacher evaluation and student achievement.  Who does that?  Are we that greedy?  Are we that desperate?  Evidently. There’s an old bumper sticker that says, “Lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.”  As it turns out this isn’t true and now while the states flail to find the right mix for a decades-old conundrum of teacher evaluation, it is up to districts to create their own models that will satisfy the now-in-place laws, submitting those back to the states for approval.  The optimist in me hopes that some savvy state DOE will accumulate so many models and synthesize one that is dynamic and replicable. Lemonade from lemons?

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I’ve said it here before and here I go again: the federal government relegated public education to the states to manage in the U.S. Constitution.  Dangling carrots that detract state education departments from their primary purpose of creating and managing efficient, effective learning environments seems unnecessary and suspiciously micro-managing.

Posted in Leadership, Politics, School Reform | Leave a comment

The Ms. Alice Files

Posted on September 24, 2011 by sutterlearn

As I struggled to find my legs in this new role of Instructional Coach, I remembered Ms. Alice.  Ms. Alice was a teacher who retired from my building after forty-years, the year before I started teaching.  Unannounced or introduced, she showed up in my new classroom during my first week teaching.  She made her way slowly from observing at the door, to sitting beside a student, to standing next to me, to inserting herself into my rough lesson presentation.  Later as I lined up the kids, she returned to provide specific pointers of the things in her opinion that this new teacher was doing unacceptably wrong.  It was an ego boost to say the least.

This scene repeated for about three days when I realized that if I listened, I could probably learn a lot from Ms. Alice, but she might benefit from knowing me too.  I ended up giving her a notebook and requesting her to allow me to teach lessons on my own, but to come often and pass the notebook back and forth to share her observations of my teaching and my students’ learning.  I could then respond with questions or alternate theories that we might make a better whole together.  This notebook came to be known as “The Ms. Alice Files” and travels with me today as I learn ever-evolving good teaching.
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Though my classroom door has always been open for critique and continuous improvement from the outside, I recognize that’s not the case in every room or building.  This made me a bit uncomfortable of this aspect of my new gig.  However in the first few weeks, I have received numerous invitations to be a part of many classrooms from observing for specific teaching behaviors, to co-teaching and modeling lessons that enhance routines and curriculum for kids, to simply discussing tools for managing and organizing student progress.  I am grateful for these teachers who have shown me the value of my role through their action and for their gratitude that my outside opinion improves their teaching for kids.  Ms. Alice, though unorthodox in her approach, inadvertently taught me that significant self-awareness can grow from unexpected places and uncomfortable beginnings.

Posted in Leadership, Teachers | Leave a comment

Football Apologies and Thanks

Posted on September 24, 2011 by sutterlearn

To my daughter and the other eighteen daughters on your cheerleading squad, you deserve an apology.  You are learning synchronization, how to smile in a crowd, the rules of football.  You are proud to put on matching uniforms, to make new friends, to stand in the crisp, fall air.  You are all beautiful with rosy cheeks and swinging ponytails in the autumn sun.  You push yourself to finish push-ups for each point, no matter how high the score gets for your team.  You do not deserve to hear the overzealous father behind me denigrating your hard work and pleasure, by yelling to his son, “If you can’t knock him on his back, there’s an extra set of pom-poms for you on the side!” You girls are strong, worthy, and your sport makes me proud.

To my son and all of the first- and second-grade players on his The pills are safe, modern and effective remedy of finding relief from male disorder. cialis 5mg sale This food is quite rich in antioxidants which can restrict the cialis soft tab formation of free radicals in body. Infertility is caused when the person is not having an enough amount of mature sperms to make the women sexually active. buy viagra italy Rotunda Sperm buy generic tadalafil Bank, is one of India’s largest human sperm banks and is on par with any comparable International bank. team and the opposing team in flag football, you deserve thanks.  You are learning the rules to a game while tackling fundamental coordination skills of running while holding an object bigger than your head.  You are excited to giggle with teammates on the sidelines, completely ignoring what is happening on the field.  Your carefree stares and proud grins at the throngs of parents yelling cheers as you all run in a herd, the wrong way, are enviable. Each play takes longer because once you pull an opponent’s flag, you sprint around the field, playing chase to politely return the flag to its owner, then struggle to help each other reattach it to the belt. We have not yet demanded you trade in your humanity for shoulder pads to tackle one another, then walk away.  You are vibrant, energetic, and your sportsmanship should make you proud.

Posted in Parenting, Students | Leave a comment

First Day Reflections

Posted on September 7, 2011 by sutterlearn

Yesterday was the first day of school, but the last day of something subtly sacred to me as a father, something that me as a teacher never realized I would miss. This is why it took me a day to recover enough to write of it.

When my daughter was just three months old, we began being carpool partners as I would drop her at daycare in the baby carrier before heading to the land of cubicles and corner offices.  I can still see the double-mirror reflection of a grin as she faced backward in the rusty, hand-me-down minivan I drove.

Not long after, I upgraded to Blue Car, what we came to call our Dodge Neon.  The morning ritual came to be packing a sippy cup of milk and a cereal bar so that we could have breakfast on the road together.  During these toddler days, we made the “Blue Car CD”, which was a collection of shared favorite songs we would blast on the radio together.  She still favors that CD.
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Soon enough, and too soon, we started elementary school together.  Her first day of kindergarten was my first day as a teacher.   As we developed our own unique first and last-day traditions, I never experienced walking her into her classroom, but each morning we rode in and even walked into our new school together, sharing wonders, arguments, songs, and silence.  She was always a good carpool partner.

None of this dawned on me as she excitedly prepared for her first day of Middle School. Her school bus was to arrive at 8:04a.m.  It was about 7:52 when it hit me that after having her in my backseat every day for her entire nine years of life, I would be driving to work without her for the first time.  I conspicuously tried hiding my tears on that cloudy morning behind sunglasses, sitting in Blue Car across from her first bus stop, watching another first step, this time her grin was painfully, proudly not in my rearview mirror.

Posted in Parenting | Leave a comment

Learn and Serve

Posted on September 1, 2011 by sutterlearn

It’s been almost three months since I’ve written here.  To be honest, I needed that time to step away from the intense schedule I’ve run for the previous nine years.  Quite literally, I have been a formal student, full-time employee, active father and doting husband…the latter two roles not to my own personal satisfaction (I have not acted or doted nearly enough)…and so I took a breather in life to honor those important duties.

It happened that my assignment as a classroom teacher took a simultaneous turn into the role of an “instructional/transformational coach”, so it’s good I had a break before starting something new!  The questions I’ve heard most often from colleagues and community members alike are, “What is that and what do you do?”   Lately, I have realized that what my new role is and what I will do are merely an extension of who I am as a person and what I’ve always done in any organization, that is in the spirit of continuous improvement, to learn and serve.

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Foremost, as a coach I hope to soften this new beginning and defining shared growth together with fellow teachers in my district by building relationships, suppressing ego, extending capacity, and candidly addressing what we do well and what we want to do better.

Posted in Leadership, Teachers | 4 Comments

Chasing Squirrels and Dreams

Posted on June 8, 2011 by sutterlearn

I’ve lost count of how many people have tried the derail my dreams and ambitions throughout life.  Perhaps it’s because I never kept count of them, but I’m sure I can keep it on both hands if I counted those who genuinely and sincerely encouraged me to dream and reach.  This brings me to my deck, overlooking my lush, suburban backyard, with my two kids playing and my wife standing by…a series of realized dreams themselves.

My daughter and I watched curiously entertained as her younger brother crept up on a fat, furry squirrel.  My son, with a minnow net held intentionally high above his head, apparently knew that to catch a squirrel you really need that arc for a solid swoop.  The squirrel unknowingly gnawed on a nut on the opposite side of a tree.  My daughter waited until the net missed and the rodent moved unthreatened a few feet away, then she went into a quite smart monologue to her brother about how the beast could eat through the net, if it would even fit into such a small thing, and if caught would probably bite off my son’s nose, or some series of misfortune based not upon squelching his ambition, but on her growing understanding of reality and the world we share.
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About then, I realized my role as a father was to support the reality my children’s dreams, so I balanced her honest assault with a few birds-eye tips to him of where the squirrel was headed and cheering him on to accomplish what those of us watching from the deck thought might just be impossible.  Not wanting to ignore her maturing response, I commented that sometimes a trip to the ER and some rabies shots are the price you pay to catch a good squirrel.  Dreams don’t come cheap, but they’re a lot sweeter when you feel someone else knew you could do it.

Posted in Leadership, Parenting | 11 Comments

Spelling is Impotent…

Posted on May 30, 2011 by sutterlearn

Surely, I noticed the erroneous error in this title, but spellcheck didn’t!  I thought it was a clever intro to this heartwarming story direct from our classroom last week.  I sat with one of our young writers reviewing her “About The Author” section from a book each child is creating.  Her section was about two pages long telling the reader about everything from her In addition to this issue, this herbal remedy can be the best choice for men suffering cheap viagra pfizer from impotence. Kamagra tablets are the generic counterpart of cheapest cialis without prescription http://appalachianmagazine.com/2017/11/30/mountain-lingo-where-did-ma-maw-and-pa-paw-come-from/, a popular brand in the treatment of erectile dysfunction. Although you always should consult viagra 25mg your physician prior to using Kamagra. It cialis tadalafil is true that organs such as the liver and pancreas produce alkaline bile and pancreatic juice, which are the most common reason for a visit to a pediatrician in the U.S. siblings to her favorite color.  You’ve got to love the honesty and depth of the fourth-grade mind.  Near the end, I read her words almost too fast to catch:

“I will never forget the smell of my dad’s colon.”  My brain read exactly her intent, but C-O-L-O-G-N-E is not intuitive spelling of this fragrant word.  Children keep us laughing and laughter keeps us alive.

Posted in Students, Teachers | 2 Comments

I Felt Annie There

Posted on May 15, 2011 by sutterlearn

A few weeks ago I wished for a lever as I blogged about our team’s experience during a weeklong nature trip.  The culmination of that week was a lesson on songwriting where we analyzed some of the songs we’ve learned in the classroom this year.  We then set out to a quiet pine grove to reflect on our week in nature with the intention of writing a tribute song to the late Annie Mason, a nature lover whose family created the organization “Annie’s Big Nature Lesson” that provided us this experience. 

After a few hours of puzzling lyrics from 42 kids and a few parents and finding a melody that worked, we had a song that the team learned in no time…probably because they each felt ownership for the work and the shared experience.  There was such beauty in watching this creative process, but more in watching our students revel in the outcome of their work. 
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That ownership is authentic learning, but it gets better!  A parent in our classroom is a journalist for public radio and was able to record us singing in the classroom, then we found that our village has a recording studio (Epiphany Sound Productions) that graciously invited us for a session there.  Needless to say, our small song lesson turned into quite a technology project that I think will stick with these kids as long as their nature week.  The kids’ song and lyrics are on this slideshow.  If you see one of our kids, honor their deep thinking and great singing!

Posted in Students, Teachers, Technology | 6 Comments

Earth In Good Hands

Posted on May 10, 2011 by sutterlearn

In a reading group today, I was helping two boys read through an article about floods.  The gist of their synthesizing was that the Army Corp of Engineers had to make a hard decision, to either flood 130,000 acres of farmland that included 200 homes, or allow the flood to overtake a town of 3,000 residents.  I must have presented the dilemma five different ways, emphasizing points not written in the article to help them infer and make an informed decision; things like, towns are harder to rebuild than farmland, towns have businesses that would be ruined, people work in towns, etc. 

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Posted in Students, Teachers | 3 Comments

Sunday at Five

Posted on May 10, 2011 by sutterlearn

I am convinced that five-years old is self-actualization.  After five, life gets complicated, complex, and downright unfair, but at five we are old enough to function independently, enjoy life fully, and question endlessly…all while running.  Here’s an example of what I observed my little boy doing last Sunday:

We rode bikes to the school playground, no brakes, full speed, after he’d been riding up and down the sidewalk all day long.  The training wheels just came off, literally four days prior.  Upon arrival, he asked for permission and a playmate on the climbing wall, then this is what I heard through his grin, “The glider!  Can you lift me up?!  Dad, climb up this ladder! Oh, can I do the monkey bars?!  TIRE SWING!”  Each statement separated only by the time it took his little legs to run from piece to piece.  On the way home, “I can’t wait to fire up the grill!”  His words, his excitement about my ritual of summer!
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Later we headed out for our inaugural spring trip to the village ice cream shop.  After noticing and discussing each piece of bubble gum bitten from a dripping, pink cone, it was time to go home.  He skips, seriously, skips through the parking lot, remainder of a cone in his right hand while his left arm does continuous reverse windmills and he doesn’t miss a beat of rhythm.  Who has such stamina and zeal for life but a five year old?  I’m glad he’s there to inspire me and maybe share a little of his energy.

Posted in Parenting | 1 Comment