Sometimes, generous donors to the Kindle Classroom Project can’t help themselves! They just keep giving and giving!
Toni (Cary, NC) is one of these kind people. Last year, Toni donated three Kindles. Today, she made a large donation to complete funding on my 52nd DonorsChoose project.
Her comment on DonorsChoose was also very touching: “I am a long-time fan of Mr. Isero’s efforts to help kids learn.”
Well, Toni, my students and I are long-time fans of you, too! Thank you again for caring about my students and their reading lives!
Ed. note: Marni Spitz teaches U.S. History and Reading Lab at City Arts and Technology High School in San Francisco. This is her second post for TEACHER VOICES. Donate to Marni’s classroom!
Today was that most magical of days, when anything is possible, when copies are ready days in advance, when your outfit is picked out the week before (or is that just me?), and when music is on in the front lobby to welcome you! Beyonce! Rihanna! Well, good morning to you, too!
I like to think I’m not the only teacher that has a summer alter-ego. In July, Ms. Spitz exits, and I become the super-fun, extra-social, late-night-talking “Summer Marn.” I stay out past 9:30 pm on a school night, I can hold a conversation during dinner time, and I’m not afraid to attend a social event on a Friday night. I may even watch TV during lunch. Gasp! It’s hard to say goodbye to Summer Marn, but then the first day of school comes along and makes you so excited to welcome back Ms. Spitz — cardigan-wearing, clip-art-loving, cheesy-quote-finding and all).
I may be a grown woman and eighth-year teacher, but I still get the same butterflies on that first day that I did when I was a student/first-year teacher/attending a Justin Timberlake concert. In fact, I’d like to take a moment to compare the school year to a Justin Timberlake concert. If the school year is a concert, then the first day is the opening song. When Justin (we’re on a first name basis) opens his concert, he chooses a song that gets everyone on their feet, so excited to see the rest of the show, and so in love that they want to buy T-shirts with his name on it for $45. Similarly, as a school, we’ve got to make that first day one that gets our kids on their feet (well, in their seats), makes them so excited to see the rest of the show (“I love this syllabus! I can’t wait until Unit 3!”), and so in love that they want to buy T-shirts with our name on it (but only for $10). With so much pressure and build-up, the first day is exhausting. It’s exhilarating. It happens. And then just like that, another school year is underway.
For me, that first day/opening song of the concert was today. It’s over. It happened, and I am tired. I am happy. Some might even say thrilled. I also realized that Ms. Spitz is completely out of teacher shape. Summer Marn has not completely left the building and I need to do something about that.
Currently, I’m in my classroom, and as I sit here reflecting on the day (by reflecting, I mean staring off onto my beautiful new bulletin boards, sparkling with their new trims and posters that have not weathered a school year), I’m thinking that you know it’s the first day of school when:
1) Your throat hurts.
Turns out, teaching on the first day requires you to use far more of your vocal chords in seven hours than you have all summer. Also-the first day is lot of me talking. Like-a lot. I need to work on that.
2) Your handout speed is a lot slower and your handout counting is off.
Oh wait: There’s ten of you in this row? You didn’t get one? Sorrrryyyyyy.
3) Your whiteboard writing is slanted.
It’s embarrassing.
4) You forget that cute shoes are not teacher shoes.
It’s the first day back, and you want to look your best. So perhaps you decide to wear, say, cute ankle boots to tie your adorable back-to-school outfit together. This was a mistake, one you will be paying for by lunch. Ankle boots are not orthopedically sound nor are they designed for someone who is on their feet all the live-long day.
5) You are wearing an outfit that has no marker stains.
It’s amazing what time away from the Crayola can do for your wardrobe. Oh hi, stainless green dress! It’s so nice to see you again!
6) Students are saying “hi!!” to you super-enthusiastically in the halls.
In fact, some may even be running up to you (yeah, RUNNING!) because they are THAT EXCITED to see you! (“Oh hi honey! I could’ve sworn you hated me last year, but look at you! You loveeee me!”)
7) Your desk is clean. Impeccably, irresistibly clean.
Want a highlighter? Sure–it’s right in my super-organized Highlighter Bin! Need a paper clip? No problem. Please see the drawer labeled “Paper Clips.”
8) The copy machine is available because everyone had their first day lessons printed.
Over-prepared might be the MVP of day-one lessons. Syllabus? Check. Weekly agendas? Check. Surveys? Check. Bathroom passes? Check. Copies for tomorrow? Don’t be ridiculous.
9) There are bagels in the teachers lounge!
Free breakfast?!?! Today must be special!!! And…there are donuts! And a variety of cream cheese flavors! And wait-orange juice!! What?!?!?!
10) Your face hurts from smiling so big because you are so darn excited to be back where you belong. **
Ed. note: Michele Godwin is beginning her 14th year of teaching high school. She’s back at Leadership High School, where she taught from 2001 to 2008. An English teacher by training and experience, Michele has changed her focus to build a library for Leadership. In addition to her fundraising and library organizing, she is an 11th grade adviser. These are her musings from the first few weeks back at work.
Monday, 8/4 – 8:46 am
Back to work already! When did summer end in July? I can’t complain much, though: my summer lasted three years. But August 4? Really?
Tuesday, 8/5 – 10:08 am
Over my resentment about the short summer, and excited to be someplace that feels so much like home, even with all the new faces. It’s a bit of a shock to be one of the oldest people in the room, however. It didn’t use to be that way!
Wednesday, 8/6 – 3:47 pm
Another day of excellent professional development. I’m reminded how fortunate I am to work in a place that takes the education of its staff so seriously. I’ve learned more about how to recognize my privilege and better serve my students in LHS PD meetings than anywhere else.
Friday, 8/8 – 9:10 am
A day of work/rest. Don’t have to put a classroom together or plan a lot of curriculum, so I focus on rest. Off to Tahoe for a camping trip with friends, a good way to remind myself the importance of maintaining balance in my life, especially as the school year kicks in. Only working 80% while I finish up my Master’s degree this year – AND I’ve got to keep being a mom and a partner for my family. MUST MAINTAIN BALANCE!
Friday, 8/8 – 5:37 pm
Finally make it DL Bliss State Park after a long drive. Enjoying a drink with friends when I witness my 8-year-old do an end-over the top of his bike a mere 15 feet away from me. When I try to run to him, I trip on a tent wire and go flying, landing on the ground with my rump in the air. Wearing a skirt.
BALANCE. MUST MAINTAIN BALANCE.
Saturday, 8/9 – 3:32 pm
A day at the beach. Jumping off rocks into Lake Tahoe from a 12-foot-cliff, and I can’t help but make the experience into a metaphor as I watch my little boy agonize over the decision whether or not to jump, actively working to overcome his fear, having seen all his camping friends take the plunge already. He has lots of support, with everyone assuring him of his safety and encouraging him to take the risk; his father waits in the water below, arms ready. He finally jumps and is met with shouts of praise, like something out of Rudy. I am reminded of how privileged he is, to be in this beautiful place and to have a whole network of people around him to help him take this risk. I want the same thing for my advisees.
Wednesday, 8/13 – 4:15 pm
First day of three days of retreats with advisories. My group is 15 or so juniors, several of whom have had multiple advisers in their time at LHS. The first day does not go well. They are angry, and I am rusty. They need me to be strict but not rigid, to know their stories but to make no assumptions about them, to be committed to them and to not allow them to push me away. I almost cry after they leave, I am so stressed out. Almost, but not quite.
Thursday, 8/14 – 3:48 pm
Field trip to Berkeley with three of the four junior advisories. The adults are unorganized and unprepared, and it comes through: the kids don’t understand the point of the trip and complain. A lot. They want to leave campus to buy lunch, even though they’ve been told they won’t be allowed to. Lots of pushback and argument. Two of my girls fuss and fuss, and then change their approach to calmly and rationally explain why they need to buy lunch from the pizza place down the street. I am angry and hot, and ready to dig in my heels, when I call my principal for some advice. Do I let them go, and send the message they can do whatever they want? Or do I stick to my guns and watch them get hangrier and hangrier? My principal talks me down. I take the girls to the pizza place down the road, and they tell me their life stories. Turns out, they have every right to be angry.
Monday, 8/18 – 2:47 pm
First day of school. Two kids who didn’t come to retreats join us, and it’s nice to finally see their faces. The group is worked up and restless, after a full day of classes, and they just want to get through this last hour twenty and go home. I tell them we are going to talk about what is going on in Ferguson, and they loudly exclaim that they’ve been hearing about that all day, that it has nothing to do with them, that it just makes them angry and sad and scared. I understand. But we forge on, and it feels like I’m swimming upstream, as they talk over me, talk to each other, talk about who didn’t show up today, talk about who’s getting her eyebrows done after school. I send them out into the hallway to come back in and start all over. One never comes back. At the end of the day, though, we have a short list on the board: WAYS WE CAN DO SOMETHING TO EMPOWER OURSELVES. It’s a short list, but it’s a start.
Ed. note: Marni Spitz teaches U.S. History and Reading Lab at City Arts and Technology High School in San Francisco. This is her first post for TEACHER VOICES.
There’s a lot that can be said about today’s teenagers. Yes, they love selfies. True, they really want more followers on Instagram. And I know, What’s with keeping stickers on their hats and texting in three-letter abbreviations?
Most of what we read and hear about today’s teenagers (we being the non-teenagers, and dare I say, “adult” members of the population) has very little to do with their love of reading. Some might argue that this is because kids these days just aren’t reading as much. With so much technology and so many distractions, young adult readers just aren’t what they used to be.
Yet as someone who has the distinct privilege of working with teenagers every day, I feel a responsibility to tell a story that highlights just the opposite. Teenagers ARE reading. And guess what? They’re actually loving it too! Although our world has changed quite remarkably, the power of a good book has not.
I’d like to tell you about a student, who like other teenagers loved selfies, Instagram, and kept stickers on his hat. Let’s call him Alex. This past school year was Alex’s second time in the ninth grade, and his second year in my class (lucky him!) :). Alex failed every single one of his classes the previous year. Alex was charming and popular, and clearly very bright. Yet here he was again, not doing a darn thing in my class, and completely fine with that.
Although an Independent Reading Program was, is, and always will be a cornerstone of my class, Alex had not finished one book in the 12 months he had sat in my classroom. In fact, Alex had never finished a book in his entire life. His reading level was at an 8.6 grade level, making him one of the better readers in the ninth grade. So how was it that a strong reader like Alex wasn’t finishing a book?
I would give Alex a book, which he would take, leave in class, and never take home. Little progress would be made on the book despite 15 minutes of Sustained Silent Reading every day, and eventually, I got sick of it. Alex was failing the ninth grade again, and on top of that, he wasn’t reading, AGAIN. As his teacher and advisor, I felt hopeless. I of course didn’t want to give up on Alex, but I had run out of options. I had conferenced with him countless times, given him countless book recommendations, given incentives (pizza party if you finish your book!), but up until about February, nothing seemed to work.
Alex remained respectful and charming but insisted that he just didn’t like reading. That is, until everything changed. EVERYTHING. I like to think that it was book destiny that landed a copy of Tears of a Tiger in my classroom library that fateful February day. A book like that was guaranteed to always be checked out. But…a student had just finished it, and like the students before her, she was raving about it and begging for the sequel. I told her to tell Alex how awesome it was (which she did), and then I figured I’d give one last teacher attempt to convince Alex to check out this book and challenge him to finish it by June. (Squeaky wheel gets the grease, right?) By this time of the year, we were doing a grade-wide competition to see which advisory could read the most books. I told Alex that our entire advisory was counting on him to finish his book. He smiled and said, “Okay, Ms. Spitz, I got you,” and when he walked away with it that first day, I sensed something was different.
The next day during SSR, I gave Alex his book and he READ IT. HE READ IT THE ENTIRE FIFTEEN MINUTES. Usually, Alex requested to leave his book with me at the end of class because he insisted that he would never read it at home and thus feared it would be lost. That first day, however, Alex asked if he could take his book with him! Excuse me?? You want to read MORE OF IT?!
As the days went on, I noticed that Alex was moving through his book at an incredible pace, and I made sure the rest of our class knew it. Alex reveled in this public praise, and within six weeks, he had finished his book. He FINISHED HIS BOOK. This was a big deal. Arguably, the biggest deal ever. The entire class cheered, and clapped, and laughed, and chanted “Alex” when he turned to that last page. I truly wish everyone in the world could have been in my classroom that day because it really did make you feel so grateful to be a person.
I had promised Alex that if he finished his book, I would make him a cake. He must’ve thought I was kidding, because when I came to school the day after he finished with a personalized cake (with images of his book cover toothpicked into the center), you would’ve thought I was giving him a check for a billion dollars.
Here’s Alex with his cake:
The entire advisory cheered for our new reader and the crowd went exceptionally wild when Alex got to place his “book post-it” on our advisory’s Finished Books Thermometer.
We cut the cake together as a class, and Alex shared why he liked his book so much. When asked why today was a big day, Alex replied: “I finished a book. I’ve never done that before.” When asked why he finished that specific book, he replied: “I like reading now.” In the middle of his second piece of cake, he asked for the sequel. A reader had been born in front of my very eyes. I’ve seen some pretty amazing things in my life, but this, dare I say, takes the (reading) cake. 🙂
Here’s a quick video of the celebration:
After this reading celebration, I noticed that Alex was making waves in his classes as well. His grades were improving, he was turning in homework, completing projects, and before long, was passing all of his classes (and even getting some Bs). He was emailing teachers for help, staying during lunch for tutoring, and in the midst of all this, Alex was READING.
That one book changed everything for Alex. At one point, the school was considering alternative options for Alex because it seemed he would fail the ninth grade for the second time. However, by the time June rolled around, Alex had not only passed all of his classes, he saw himself as a reader. He asked me what books he should read over the summer. He wrote me a letter explaining how finishing a book made him believe in himself and enjoy school more. He is now entering the tenth grade more motivated than ever, and while he loves his selfies, his Instagram, and his stickers on his hats, he is a reader. While I have countless copies of Tears of a Tiger, in thinking about Alex, I also have countless copies of tears of a teacher. 🙂
Sometimes, generous donors to the Kindle Classroom Project can’t help themselves! They just keep giving and giving!
