National Board for Professional Teaching Standards...I'm sure if you have been through the process, you probably felt a little sick just reading those words, but then you reminded yourself of all the benefits you now reap because of your certification! If you haven't obtained your National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certification, now is the time! Here are three, solid reasons why you should pursue NB Certification:

#1 Growth: When you are in the middle of the process, you swear you aren't learning anything, and you would like to pull all of your hair out, particularly eyelashes. You also hate watching yourself on the videos because you have weird mannerisms. Oops, maybe that was more of a personal experience. BUT... When you are on the other end of the process, you understand that even though it might have been a bit painful, you grew and learned so much about who you are as a teacher. Here are some things I learned: A. How I'm not as great of a teacher as I thought I was; B. How to collect data on students both academically and personally and identify needs; C. How to effectively assess students and break that data down to the nitty gritty to inform your teaching;
D. How to differentiate instruction to not only further support students but to challenge them also; E. How to effectively collaborate so teachers, students, and other stakeholders benefit; F. How to vary instructional strategies and formats to foster an environment where students are engaged and thrive. I could go on and on, but I really need to get to #2 and #3.
#2 Connections/Relationships: If you decide to pursue NB Certification, you will absolutely need to join a cohort. Northern Nevada offers one of the best, maybe I'm biased, cohorts around. Being a part of an NB Cohort provides you with an opportunity to be supported through an arduous process, and it also builds relationships. As a member of the cohort, you will be exposed to teachers and candidate support providers (CSPs) outside of your own school building. You will bond and collaborate with these teachers and CSPs and in doing so, you will learn an abundance from them, and they will learn a lot from you. These bonds will never be broken because going through Boards in a cohort is like having a baby, (I know since I've had four); it's excruciating but the payoff is amazing. Since this is something you go through together, these connections and bonds will last forever. You now have contacts from multiple schools, who you can commiserate, I mean collaborate, with for a lifetime.
 #3. Raise: Woot, woot! If you work for the Washoe County School District, you will obtain an 8% increase in salary for getting your National Board Certification. Do you realize that's larger than most steps/raises on the WCSD Teacher Salary Schedule? It might feel like endless hell while you are smack dab in the middle of pursuing your certification but that 8% increase in salary feels pretty damn good. Think of what you could do with that increase in salary; you might be able to afford cable, go out to eat every once and awhile, or you could maybe save up for 10 years to go on a vacation! I kid, I kid!

If you are at all interested in pursuing National Board Certification and live in Northern Nevada, you should think about joining the Northern Nevada Cohort or contact Nicolette Smith (the guru)!

Keep on Stressin' On,

Seesaw... no, not the kind you find on a dilapidated playground. I'm talking about the Seesaw  Website/App. This website/app was recommended to me by our librarian who is uh-mazing! This resource can be used in many different ways but most teachers use Seesaw for feedback, reflection, assignments, and assessments. Here are a some ways you can use it in your classroom:

1. Flipped Classroom: Seesaw allows teachers to post a recording of themselves instructing on any particular subject. Teachers can then use this recording and post it as an “activity” and ask students to watch it and take notes at home. When students return to class they can focus on what they’ve already learned from the video and move forward with an activity. This minimizes the time the teacher spends “instructing” and leaves more time for discussion, questions,  and/or important activities during the small amount of time in a period/block.

2. Technology Gallery Walks: This is my favorite way to use SeeSaw. I use it a few different ways when it comes to gallery walks. When my students study imagery in poetry, I assign them to bring one line of imagery to life from the poem Thou Blind Man’s Mark. The students create these beautiful presentations of a line of poetry and then use Seesaw to record themselves answering the following questions: "What line of imagery did you choose and why? Why is it impactful or important to the rest of the poem? How did you go about bringing this imagery to life? Tell us about the most important elements of your creation." Students record their answers to these questions and post their recording to the "class journal." The next day, the students bring in their creation and set them up around the room in a huge circle. Next to their creation is their name and the title of their creation. All students have an iPad from our rented iPad cart, and they walk around with headphones and listen to their peers' explanation (recorded in Seesaw) of their creation as they are looking at it. Once they have listened to their peer's recording, they must comment on the journal. Their feedback should be more in depth than just "good job." I ask them to comment on the artist's choice of colors, symbols, images, etc. and to engage their peers in conversation about their creations. This activity gives all of the students a chance to understand how each student came up with his/her creation. This also gets rid of the sometimes eye-gouging experience of one at a time presentations that take an eternity and force the teacher into a boredom-induced stupor.

The other way I use Seesaw as a resource for a technology gallery walk is through a sort of speed-dating novel review. Each quarter, my students are required to read an outside reading book of their choice. At the end of the semester, they choose one book they absolutely loved. Using Seesaw, they are assigned to record a review in the "class journal" section for their class. In the recording, they must include the title, author, genre, brief summary (no spoilers), and a recommendation. When they come to class, we set up the desks in two long columns and place the books on the desks with the student's name right next to it. Students once again grab an ipad, slip on their headphones, and go book to book listening to their peers' reviews figuring out what their peers have read and what book they might "date" next quarter. The students really enjoy hearing what their peers have read and almost always choose their next outside, reading book from this activity.

3. Discussion Thread: Seesaw can also be used as a discussion thread for important questions tied to something you did in class to help further understanding, or you can use it as a formative assessment as students work through a required reading. A teacher can post the discussion question(s) in the activity section of Seesaw for the class. You can be the one asking the questions, or the students can be the ones creating questions and answering their peers. I would highly suggest discussing levels of questioning if you want the students to ask the questions. Discussion threads can be a hot mess, but when properly set up, they can be truly beneficial for everyone. Ways for the discussion to be effective can be found here .

4. Exit Tickets: Finally, teachers can also use Seesaw as an exit ticket. Of course this depends on your students' access to technology, but the teacher can post the exit ticket on the app under "activity" and students can answer the question using their phone, ipad, etc. This is a quick and easy way to collect information from your students.

Hopefully, this didn't throw you into the boredom-induced stupor I previously mentioned! I'm always looking for new technology for the classroom, and this has been one I've thoroughly enjoyed using. Try it out!

Keep on stressin, on,

Controversy...I love controversy just as much as any Real Housewife from Bravo TV; wait that's drama not controversy. Anyway, controversy in a classroom can be an eye-opening experience for students, but it takes an abundance of scaffolding before students can have meaningful, civil discourse. So where do you start?

Before one can dip her pedicured toes in discussion strategies like Structured Academic Controversies, one must first teach her students how to listen and talk to one another (click here). I think some people have this idea that we don't have to teach children how to listen, but have you been around any children lately? Why do you think we are now teaching SEL strategies? Moving along, students need guidance when it comes to what active listening is. Before even getting into the discussion part, introduce your students to active listening: "pay attention, show that you're listening, provide feedback, defer judgement, and then appropriately respond" (mindtools.com).  Your students can't have a worthwhile discussion or conversation if they don't know how to actively listen. Heck, I know adults who don't know how to actively listen. Now we move on to the discussion part. As silly as some people may find it, accountable talk is a great way to start students off with having meaningful discussions. Accountable talk shows students what it means to "carefully listen to each other, build on each other's ideas, paraphrase and seek clarification; and respectfully disagree" (educationcloset.com). We can't expect students to know how to talk to one another when most often the only way they communicate is through a screen, not face-to-face, so in the age of millennials we must teach this skill set. BTW, no offense to millenials, I'm actually one! Don't stop reading... Once you have done a few practice discussions with your students using active listening and accountable talk, you must teach norms and expectations of small group and class discussions. You can come up with these norms and expectations as a class, such as "Allow your peer to finish his/her thought before you speak; remember to use accountable talk, especially the discussion stems, etc." Having these norms and expectations in place will help the discussion go smoothly. Now let's talk about more rigorous discussions like structured academic controversies.

SACs, yes most kids laugh at that acronym; come on they're teenagers. Where was I? Yes, SACs are a great way to have students use all of the aforementioned skills sets like active listening and accountable talk, and it also teaches students to find common ground on controversial topics. Most often we see SACs in history like this one (click here), but SACs can be used in ANY classroom. A SAC is a method that helps students move from a mindset of debate by shifting the goals from winning a classroom discussion to understanding alternative positions and coming up with a consensus. There are five basic steps to a well-organized SAC:
1. Organize student into four-person teams made up of two pairs.
2. Each pair reviews materials that represent different positions on a charged issues. For Frankenstein I use "Is genetic engineering a good or bad thing?" For Fahrenheit I use "Technology has more pros than cons." The teacher assigns the positions in order for the students to prepare for the SAC. Students may not agree with the side you assign them, but that is part of teaching them to see all sides. I provide the materials for them but also ask them to do their own research outside of class.
2. After reviewing, annotating, and filling out a pre-SAC handout, each pair comes together as a four-person team; one pair acts as presenters, the other as listeners and vice-versa.
4.  Rather than refuting the other position, the listening pair repeats back to the presenters what they understood. Listeners don't become presenters until the original presenters are fully satisfied that they have been heard and understood.
5. After the sides switch, the pairs abandon their original assignments (or sides) and work toward reaching a consensus. If consensus proves unattainable, the team clarifies where their differences lie.
(adapted from Teachinghistory.org)

As an extension to the lesson, I use the SAC as a basis  of evidence for an argumentative essay. After completing a SAC, I usually have students turn all of their research and discussion notes into an argumentative essay, where they get to decide what side they choose to write about throughout their essay. They already did the hard part, now they have to write about it!

Keep on stressin' on,

Standards...I'm sure that caught your eye (insert sarcastic tone); it most likely prompted an eye roll, but we all know how important standards are to our teaching. So I ask you these questions: How do you know what you are covering when? How often are you covering the same standards, and what standards are you not consistently covering? And finally, how effective are your units in being the vehicle to help your students become proficient in these standards? Now I got you thinking, or maybe now is the time you go back to Facebook and begin scrolling or trolling again. Well don't because I'm about to make your life easier!

Art in English...Say what? Years ago, when the Common Core Gods created the standards, they placed the "Integrations of Knowledge and Ideas" strand under Reading Literature. Part of this strand states students should "Analyze the representation of a subject or a key scene in two different artistic mediums, including what is emphasized or absent in each treatment." For years, I just ignored this thinking to myself 'What good could analyzing art be in English?' Stop booing me; I realized I was wrong!

After having a come to Yeezus moment, I realized that teaching students to analyze different artistic mediums involves a similar skill set related to closely analyzing literature. When analyzing literature, we tell students to read closely looking for specific details  to better understand the text. We also ask them to consider an author's craft and structure and how the craft and structure helps to reveal important elements of the piece.  Analyzing art can function in the same way and can be used to help further our understanding of the texts we are reading. For example, my 12th grade students read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (cue the Gothic music), and I incorporate an art analysis activity when we finish the novel. I accomplish this activity by having my students analyze different artists' creations of the monster, and they have to relate the artist's interpretation to a theme in Frankenstein. I place my students into seven different groups, and each group is given a different artist's portrayal of the monster (click here). The students first begin by individually analyzing the image using a guided image analysis sheet (click here); this handout asks students to describe, infer, inquire, and connect this information to a major theme of the novel. Then after they have individually analyzed the image, they discuss their findings in a small group. Working together on their analysis, the students come up with a 2-3 minute presentation about what their image reveals about a theme in Frankenstein. They present their ideas to the class. My students enjoy seeing the different portrayals of the monster, and how each of those portrayals reveals something different about the novel. This is such an easy activity to put together, and it lends itself to conversations not only about the novel but how we can analyze art and literature in similar ways.

So, are you ready to turn your regular students into art connoisseurs? Ha, that's wishful thinking, but we should definitely be exposing them to art and its connections to literature. See, I told you I realized I was wrong.

Keep on stressin' on,

I-n-d-e-p-e-n-d-e-n-t, do you know what that mean, mayne? If not, I'm talking about independent reading. It's BAAAAACK... I think there was a time in my career when I felt like silent, independent reading in my classroom looked like I was taking a 15-20 minute break, and I didn't want my evaluator to walk in and see the students just reading! How dare I let them read in class, but I don't care how it looks anymore because it is soooooo good for students.

There are sooooo many websites out there that teachers should know about, but there is one in particular that I just can't get enough of right now. Let's talk about Teachers' Discovery. No, they aren't paying me to say this, but yes I will gladly accept money if they decide to do so. The Teacher's Discovery has amazing resources that I've actually tried in my own classroom. For example I love their literary tic-tac-toe cards as well as their info-text tic-tac-toe cards. I use the literary TTTCards when my students do literary circles. You can find that assignment below. I use the info-text TTTCards throughout the year during our non-fiction Tuesday activities. What's so great about both sets is that each set easily allows for teachers to differentiate. What the students don't notice or know, is that every card within the set has a certain color: light green cards are for students who are "developing;" orange cards are for students who are "meeting;'" and blue cards are for students who are "exceeding." Not only does this allow for differentiation, but each card also allows for student choice. The students enjoy the assignments, especially because they decide which ones they want to do. You can easily use these cards for independent reading or with a whole-group novel. They are awesome!

Another great resource from Teacher's Discovery is that they offer weekly current events with great questions FOR FREE. All you have to do is sign up here. Each week they will send you a hot-topic, current event. The current event also comes with "questions using close reading and critical thinking." You can have your students independently answer the questions and then work in small groups to go over their answers and discuss where they agree and/or disagree. Speaking of writing, they also offer writing prompts books. I use these writing prompts with my students every Thursday; it is their writing warm-up. My favorite part about these writing prompts is that they ask students to change their mode of writing depending on the prompt. On the left corner, they have what mode students should use: narrative, explanatory, or argument. They also ask the students to use new vocabulary words within their writing and provide a list of those vocab. words that relate to the topic. I made my own writing warm-up sheet to accompany their prompts (see below), and it works really well for my students. The students enjoy writing on the topics because they are normally controversial and engaging. We usually share our responses from the writing prompt, and the discussions are interesting and most often cause a civil debate in class. This is when we practice using accountable talk if we agree and/or disagree with our peers. The students don't realize it, but they are practicing writing and speaking and listening skills. Two birds, one stone!

Sometimes, I feel like my email is inundated with useless websites all promising to make teaching easier, but Teacher's Discovery really does. They have everything from literature to social emotional learning. Go check them out!

Keep on stressin' on,