Hey, Miss S!

I try my hardest to be a perfectionist.  I really do.  Honestly.  But no matter how much I try, I know that I simply cannot make every piece of work that I do perfect.  The same goes for planning for STARS and teaching.

I recently had a conversation with my CT about perfection and planning.  She had figured me out and told me that I wasn’t a perfectionist.  Well, yeah, totally.  I always like to give myself a little wiggle room when I plan (be it for STARS, a class, or hockey practice) because if I completely script out the entire thing, I get stressed out when I deviate it in even the slightest bit.  This is a little strange considering that the million page document called the Warner Lesson Plan requires that you think about every tiny detail about your lesson.

I digress.

At first I was put off by the idea of backwards design.  I want really fun activities during class and then my kids should be able to ace any test I give them, darn it!  But, after planning by backwards design, I can’t imagine planning any other way.  How else can I plan my activities for the day if I don’t know what my assessment will look like?  You have to know where you’re going before you can make a plan to get there!

This doesn’t mean that this path is the only one you can take to determine student understanding.  Today, I was able to put an idea from STARS into practice in my CT’s room by putting up an “I wonder…” board on the front of the room.  DB is great at taking tangents and answering them without wasting 20 minutes or telling the student to save it for when we reach *this particular topic* in the unit.  Today, she had Hayley write a note to herself to talk about types of diseases (like diabetes or hepatitis) when we get to the immune system.  I took this opportunity to present DB with the “I wonder…” board idea as a way to listen to student voices so that we actually do remember to address that topic when we finally get to the immune system in a couple of weeks.

This is what planning is about–making sure that your students have every opportunity to understand what you want them to and also allowing them the opportunity to determine what they want to learn.

Most people who know me are well aware of my obsession with my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.  No matter where I end up next year, it has long been my plan to eventually make my way back to Cleveland to teach in any urban, suburban, or rural district.  (Really, I’m not picky.  I just love Ohio.  More on this at a later time.)

A couple of days ago I was scrolling through my blog reader and came across a press release in Cleveland Scene magazine stating that Teach for America has been cleared to come to Ohio.

Awesome.

This had been in talks for quite a while already, but I hadn’t heard any updates on the subject for some time, so I had assumed that Ohio had been put on TFA’s back burner.  Apparently I was wrong.

Some may fail to see why having TFA in Ohio is not the most positive thing in the world.  Allow me to elaborate:
1.) TFA places college graduates in classrooms after giving them five weeks of training.  FIVE WEEKS.  These placements displaces professional teachers with education degrees that required much more work than five weeks of training.  It is near insulting to the profession to say that anyone can teach with five weeks of training.  For some people, the ability to teach comes naturally.  To those, I applaud you.  But, if you have a natural talent for teaching, and you want to be a teacher, why in the world are you in Teach for America?  Why not continue your work in a graduate program or bachelors program and help craft your art of teaching?
2.) TFA teachers only stay in their placements for two years.  I will not make the sweeping generalization that those in TFA only joined so that they would have a job after college, for that is unfair.  But I will say that I cannot believe that those in TFA can swoop down and save failing schools in a single classroom in two years.  ”Saving” public schools requires whole school reform.  There is a lot that a single teacher can do, but that single teacher must be in it for the long run.  (Hint: the long run is longer than two years.)
3.) From a Cleveland schools standpoint, the Cleveland district laid off a large amount of teachers last year.  This is a strange time to be bringing in TFA.  I don’t have all the details on this, but something about bringing in TFA after laying off so many teachers doesn’t sit well with me.

All in all, I don’t know what this means for my future goals of returning to Ohio.  Will my preparation, I know that I will be prepared to make a difference in the lives of students, in Ohio or in any other state.  My biggest goal is to change lives, and through that, change the world.  I would love to start in Cleveland.