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1. sleeping in during Spring Break
2. finding out the sex of my baby!

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Ready for spring break...and being close to the end of the school year!

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Looking forward to Summer and Spring Break!

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Looking forward to putting teaching down for a few days and getting some vitamin D

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I am looking forward to spending LOTS of time with my family and friends over my break. And I'm looking forward to feeling rested and recharged.

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I'm feeling exhausted honestly. I've had a lot added to my plate at my school, so it's been a tiring few weeks. I'm really looking forward to break and when things start to calm down a bit after PSSAs.

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I'm looking forward to upgrading to my level II. I'm also looking forward to spring break

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Crawling to Spring Break...

1. My husband and I are going to London in June, right after the school year.
2. In August, we'll go to the Outer Banks, too, for a week at a huge house with a pool by the beach.

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Chicago and Atlanta for Spring Break!
Finsihing the year with solid relationships

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I feel Ready For Spring Break.

Looking forward to finding a grad school program, looking forward to time off, and finally having energy to socialize again!

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Looking forward to spring break, site selection, and being officially done with induction :)

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I try to really disconnect from work stuff. That has become increasingly more difficult as more and more things are added to our plates as the year progresses.

I try to plan something fun for when I get home from work each day so I have something to look forward to.

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I have become good at remembering that for me, feelings of burnout and exhaustion come in waves. So when things feel dark or terrible (which sometimes happens), I remind myself that it WILL NOT stay that way. Also, I find joy with my students each day. The kids are the respite from the BS and insurmountable pile of work. Those things really help me, but they took me years to cultivate!

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I don't have any solutions to burn out outside of only working contract hours and leaving work at work as much as possible. I am always amazed that the district refuses to listen to teachers and gives us PD on self care instead of giving us extra planning/ work time.

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I definitely have not managed this. I find it more helpful to manage the expectations of others when I need to.

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When I'm feeling burnt out, I like to prioritize non-school life/interests. It's nice to step away and refresh yourself, and I find it's a good way to rebuild boundaries (which break a lot for teachers, I've noticed).

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Stress eating (unhelpful but it works).
Long walks with my pup (helpful).

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Leave work at work, when I leave at contract hours. No work on the weekend.

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Wine...
Survivor...
Real Housewives...
Wine...
Did I say wine?

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Running really helps my mental health.

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Anna - I have only had one ESL student so I have little to no experience in this area. This student spoke no English and also did not know how to read and write in his language in order to be able to utilize translation services. He was moved to a school with a full-time ESL program. Google translate would be helpful, especially with common languages. 

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Anna - I have only had one ESL student so I have little to no experience in this area. This student spoke no English and also did not know how to read and write in his language in order to be able to utilize translation services. He was moved to a school with a full-time ESL program. Google translate would be helpful, especially with common languages. 

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At my school, ~12% of our students are classified as ELLs. We had a recent Tier 1 MTSS meeting and through the analysis of academic data we noticed that 89% of students receiving ESOL services are currently in the Intensive Intervention category for reading based on STAR assessments. So as a whole, we are facing significant challenges for these students. Some things we've put in place so far are encouraging teachers to think about accessibility by providing lot's of visual resources and language acquisition strategies to help support students with gaining access to the academic language that we're using in our classes.

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I only have had a small few in the past two years - with two of them in different years, I liked journals and note-writing - it seemed to really work for them. And even this year, we were able to get one of my ELs a Spanish-language copy of the novel that we were reading - my ESOL push-in was able to get her a copy. She was engrossed it was great. -Bill

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I have the beginner ESOL section this year. It has been quite complicated thus far, as our school's ESOL module was not well-suited for the group of ESOL students that we have in 8th grade. The kids are fantastic and I love being their teacher, I just wish SO much that the plan for the class had been more thoughtfully put together. It drives me crazy that it's all been so haphazard.

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We actually do not currently have any ELL students at our school.  In the past it has been difficult to connect the students with the services they need (frequency of service, location for services to be provided etc).

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A lot of my ELLs don't want to interact with any of the other students. I also have a couple boys that kind of have a learned helplessness thing going on where they don't even want to try/think they can't do anything.

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write your response below here

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I have been using a workbook I purchased that is meant to mediate interpersonal violence. I modify it for middle school, obviously, but, unfortunately too many of them have experiences with interpersonal violence. We have started the Clarifying stage, where community members (teachers included!) all try to honestly recognize what harm is done to who. I'm in the early stages of implementing, but I'm hopeful!

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I'm trying to build empathy in my students. To be honest, I'm not really having any significant behavior issues this year (yet) so the main thing I'm trying to do is have students try to understand any issue that does come up from the perspective of another person. It takes a lot of honesty and conversation, but it seems like the kids are buying in.

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I think active instruction and a diversity of activities with a good amount of visual and video material is a good way to manage your classroom - don't let kids get bored or want to avoid engagement -BC

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I rely heavily on relationship-building and creating intrinsic motivation among the students.

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We try and do some conflict resolution techniques with our students and the Relationships First program. I try to have conversations with students and hear them out, whether its in the hallway or during lunch and have a brainstorming session.

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Unfortunately my school does not have a community wide conflict resolution/positive behavior management system. Our middle school team does a good job of fostering relationships across grades and implementing our discipline system. But it's up to us to create, implement, and follow through on this system with little administration support.

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I hate talking about behavior "management." Just feels like we aren't allowing kids to be kids when we say that. But with that said, there's two things that stand out for me. My school uses restorative practices, and that's really helpful for conflict. I've been trying to use a "push-in support" model when I'm responding to an issue that a teacher calls for assistance with where instead of just pulling the student out of class, I try to join the student in class and give them some more 1:1 support to keep them engaged and/or focused. I think the two best ways of "managing behavior" is having strong relationships with students and having quality instruction that engages students in a way that's accessible for them.

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We talk about this a lot in the middle school. I try not to get upset and too yelly and too loudly redirecting over minor frustrations. But generally, I'm always trying to pull a student out into the hall for a discrete conversation about their behavior. My students HAVE expressed being "scared" of me, which I'm not necessarily mad at - I want them to be a little intimidated by me as an adult. :) -BC

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We use PBIS at my school, which I have a lot of mixed feelings about. It can be hard to create buy in, especially for middle school students. In my own classroom I use the PBIS system but I also try to use restorative practices and just honest conversations with students to manage behavior.

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The Eagles are 6-0.

I love my students, teaching them has been wonderful/challenging/fun/chaotic/wacky/deep... soooooo many things. I feel really lucky to have found my passion.

Some of my colleagues are driving me insane... and it sucks.

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we are a restorative school. I have quite a bit of training in this, but not a lot of the staff does. It is definitely hard to implement without a ton of buy-in across the board. I am working with some teachers on positive behavior plans, and thinking about how we can have restorative conversations.

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Tough start! Working my way through some tough dynamics, but I think I am beginning to see the light of the positive relationships I have been working very hard to build.

Really liking my work with the ELA units, although that has been a huge lift!

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School Update: All 3 classes are super thoughtful and caring. Our community meetings have been working wonderfully. I feel really close to my homeroom this year.

Life Update: I'M ENGAGED!!!

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Giving choice, having conversations with students and asking them about their learning, looking at their classwork, homework, journals etc.

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Multiple methods of showing what they've learned.

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Choices and options to allow students to use their strengths to demonstrate knowledge and mastery.

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Continual formative assessment.

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differentiation of assessment, allowing choice, creating engaging assessments

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Consider a wide variety of assessments- STAR data, TDAs, anecdotal notes, journals, etc. This is more of a holistic picture of the student.

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Options for demonstration. Differentiation.

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By providing choice in how they demonstrate understanding, flexibility in what that demonstration looks/sounds like, and paying close attention to what students are doing through to provide coaching and scaffolding as needed on the fly.

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By providing them with lots of choice so they can be proud of the type of product they create

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Breaking down tasks into steps

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In my experience, student choice and extended time are effective and allow students to make the most of their abilities

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1. Differentiated choice boards
2. Access to tools and resources for all and allowing students to determine which ones they use
3. learning "playlists"

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Graphic organizers and exemplars. Timelines. Student choice.

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Student choice and options, really naturally differentiate.
Menus of possible products.
Must do/can do

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Using writing frames and sentence starts, modifying the level of the text that the writing is based on (NewsELA, CommonLit make this easy).

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independent high-interest work; different text delivery methods ( audiobooks, group reads, silent reads ); student leaders

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Student choice, options to write assignments in home language, oral projects vs written projects, chunking, use of graphics

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Talk to teacher -> teacher writes -> you write.

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Particularly with writing, I have found success with chunking assignments. Larger writing tasks can be really overwhelming (for many learners), so providing smaller tasks for students to accomplish in order helps them see a writing piece take shape. I also want students to realize they can do this chunking themselves, using the writing process as well as their own skills in time management and their own preferences.

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At my school, we don't really do IEP meetings for the gen ed teachers. I try to show up, but most other teachers don't. I sometime am not sure of what exactly is needed for my students with IEPs due to extra barriers. such as language.

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Another challenge is what to do when the school doesn't have the infrastructure to meet the IEPs needs.

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Going from IEP goals to planning to assessment. Making sure that every step of the way is handled correctly.

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Figuring out how to differentiate well

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When the IEP does not adequately meet the student's needs. I was late to get the IEPs. Shortage of Special Ed teachers to support teachers in implementation.

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I feel pretty comfortable in reaidng an IEP. Sometimes the recommendations feel like things that I implement as like good teaching practice and some times they feel like WAY out of my scope.

Also the science of these things changes faster than the training.

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I have had trouble in the past making sure that the IEP is implemented correctly, that the work or tasks I create are meeting the requirements. That said, I've had great SPED partners over the years.

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Keeping track of all the necessary accommodations when you have multiple students per class can be difficult. I also don't feel as though it was covered enough in either my undergrad or master's program.

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I find the dearth of information to be challenging. I always try to talk as much as I can with my SPED co-teacher in order to learn more about each student's needs.

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I think one of the biggest challenges I've faced is what to do when you get an IEP that isn't well-written. While some IEPs are very detailed, with lots of information that can help support teachers in supporting their students, others may have information that's lacking or inconsistent with what we may see in the classroom in the current year. Also, I think the system for accessing IEPs here is unnecessarily complicated (compared to other districts).

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My school as a whole struggles with implementing IEP modifications/accommodations. There is a lack of staffing to fully service students, and as teachers, we are not equipped well with the resources and training that I feel would be appropriate. Experienced Gen Ed teachers do what we can, but it's still a struggle.

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Challenges: IEPs not readily available to view at the beginning of the year. Teachers aren't always included as much in the IEP process as I think they should be.

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I fully don't have much/any experience with IEPs. It's really frustrating that it wasn't covered much in my Temple masters or in my building and I had a really curmudgeonly Learning Support teacher who wasn't very friendly or supportive - I was so upset all year that I wasn't meeting the needs of my IEP students.

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We should always be pushing students toward independence!

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At the swtich from LOT to HOT I think is when they are most ready and eager to be independent.

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When you have successfully scaffolded up to a student's ZPD! Using structures to model and gradually release the instruction throughout the lesson--as well as through the unit. This happens best at the end of my units, when students are combining all that they've learned into a final writing project.

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At the point where a student is able to understand the topic/are confident. It helps if we boost their confidence/self esteem throughout the year by using TPT and a culture of mistakes not being a bad thing

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For me, it's when a student shows an understanding if the skills we'd been working on collaboratively. Once this happens, I ask the student to see what they can do on their own.

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Using student data to inform when to gradually release towards independent learning. It's not a race and students may be working at different paces and that is ok.

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I do, we do, you do!

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I actually don't think the two need to be exclusive of each other. I feel like all of the work we do towards fostering a learning alliance should aid in helping them be independent learners. That's how we're going to help them use these skills throughout their lives.

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I think it's an ongoing process, and that we are often doing both at the same time. It's a years-long process and can be observed in a single class period as well.

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Plant the seeds early on - self-esteem/trust in the process.

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I use journaling with questions related to whatever we're reading and then open up a socratic seminar

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This question is tricky. The idea: get students to hold themselves accountable for rich questioning? Try to put a bit more "lift" on the students themselves, instead of you being the only one doing the questionin.

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Reading through a particular lens and annotating for that particular lens. Then using those annotations to develop open-ended discussion questions to bring to student-led discussion. Also, finding ways to "anonymize" the share out- like doing it on chart paper and then doing a gallery walk.

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Allowing students multiple ways to show what they know. This can be a discussion, writing, thumbs up/down, hold up a finger, Kahoot/learning games, post-it notes, exit tickets, etc. This holds each student accountable because they need to participate, but it also allows you as the teacher a chance to quickly assess where students understanding on a particular question is. This will help you plan a reteach or lets you know it's time to move on.

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To combine talk moves & accountability- Think/Write/Share. It makes sure all students can independently form their own ideas before participating in a discussion.

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Collaborative group work with rubrics

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Peer Review/Edits

Moderated Group Discussion (with roles assigned)

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Student choice, rubrics, conferencing with students, peer-review