What Motivates Us?

As a Florida educator, my life's work has been dedicated toward providing children with a quality education in which to build a prosperous life full of options. As a classroom inclusion teacher, I worked tirelessly with each of my students, regardless of their exceptionally, socio- economic situation, or home life to reach their fullest potential. And, as a current Instructional Coach, I dedicate my time toward guiding professional growth and learning amongst our nearly 90 teachers to improve classroom practice and student achievement. My work and that of my colleagues matters. In fact, it may be the most important thing we ever do.


The fire that was ignited in me as a young teacher still burns strongly. I continue to think that anything can be changed and decisions in the best interest of students and teachers will prevail. Some are cynical, they have lost hope, but in the interest of my own two boys and the thousands of children that walk through our school doors each year, I simply can't and won't give up. Maybe, I'm acting like a cornered pitbull ready to fight, but I have hope for the future of public school education in Florida.

I don't move with a blindly optimistic attitude toward the future. I will admit that I'm fearful of poor decisions left in the hand of politicians which could cripple our profession. The writing appears to be on the wall with Senate Bill 6. Legislators without any classroom experience, never walking a mile in our shoes, will likely make a decision this year that will push the best, brightest, and most noble out of our profession. The bill erases teachers' pay on years of experience and advance degrees, and proposes to pay teachers based on their students' state test scores collected in just a few days of the 180 they are in attendance. Wanting to hold teachers fully accountable for their students learning, they overlook circumstances beyond our control.

Merit pay would rid the profession not of the poor teachers but of the exceptional ones. Some who serve our neediest learners, our learning disabled children, our non-English speaking students. Teachers who tutor on their own time, offer Tiered Interventions at every turn, buy classroom supplies when the schools can't afford to supply them, and spend hours upon hours on weeknights and weekends planning quality lessons. These are the teachers that will be most frustrated and dishonored.

For the past thirteen years, I've been serving at Chets Creek, and some of our most amazing teachers never receive the small portion of merit pay that is currently passed out. dayle timmons, a life-long Special Education teacher and 2004 Florida Teacher of the Year has never qualified for merit pay. The current merit pay system is broken and unfair. Senate Bill 6 will only escalate and intensify the problems. Educators see the glaring flaws; Senate Bill 6 may destroy the Florida teaching profession.

I work in a school with transcendent purpose and complete collegiality; We set out each and every day to change the world, one child at a time, having no doubt that we can and will achieve our goals. Embracing every child regardless of their circumstances is our moral calling, and we have the creative and innovative teachers, that with the right level of support, can reach them all. A learning organization led by a principal who implicitly trusts her teachers as professionals and gives them the autonomy needed to produce impressive qualitative and quantitative results. Just looking at our state test scores only marginally gives you a picture of who we are and what our teachers and children can achieve. Looking five years down the road, I wonder if this will be the same learning community utopia of today. It seems like our funds are drying up and our hands are being tied. Will a school like mine, full of passionate dedicated and exceptional teachers, be here for the unborn child of my principal? Or, instead will the best and brightest flee local private schools or other professions?

Politicians pass laws every year, they claim to base decisions on research. I'm wondering whether they would be supporting Senate Bill 6 if they watched this Daniel Pink video which highlights the conclusions of studies done by economists and psychologists who explain, "When the profit motive gets unmoored from the purpose motive, bad things happen." If you really want to make a change in an organization, pay people enough to take money off the table. When money is off the table that is when people can think about the work. The research shows that the best results are achieved by people who are motivated, and what they are motivated by are autonomy, mastery, and purpose. Our Florida children deserve teachers who are motivated to improve student achievement by these motivations. Merit pay will not promote the collegiality our profession needs to make significant improvements.

This video is worth every minute and I hope you will leave me a comment with your thoughts or connections.

Developing Young Mathematicians

As an educator, my math classroom is significantly different from the one in which I was raised. I think many of our students’ parents feel the same way. In fact, during conferences, I’ve had several parents proclaim, “That’s not how I learned math.” To reassure them, I’ve explained my perspective as an educator and a parent. Many times, the explanation starts at the beginning-what they know to be true about their own math experiences.

Rewind twenty-five years to the math classrooms of my youth and most likely theirs; Situated neatly in rows, desks faced the front of the room. A math textbook lay open. On the left side of the page, there were step by step procedures for solving problems, and on the right page 25 or 30 practice problems with one or two word problems at the bottom. The teacher’s lesson began by working out the practice problem step by step while the students watched and memorized the procedures. Our task during class was to mimic perfectly the procedure and to work out the other practice problems independently. At the end of the period, we would pass our papers to the front of the room for the teacher to assess our progress.

I was a good math student, always able to follow the teacher’s directions and mimic the procedures. And, it didn’t take me long to realize that I didn’t even need to read the word problems at the bottom of the page, I just needed to pull the numbers out of the paragraph and use the same procedure for solving.

Does this scene sound familiar? It’s the way most of today’s teachers and our students' parents were taught math. Fortunately, it’s not the way our children are learning. Instead, based on research like TIMSS (Trends in International Math and Science Studies), and teachers’ professional development through organizations like the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, educators are learning to better prepare students to think mathematically.

Thirteen years ago, as a beginning teacher, I learned about this shift in math teaching and learning at a national conference. Phil Daro, a Senior Fellow of Mathematics, helped me understand the need for change as he explained the three-pronged math approach . A conversation that I’ve replicated with parents and colleagues throughout the years. He began by drawing a triangle on the board and printing the word SKILLS at the top. Then, continued by creating the mental image of the typical classroom of my youth. Teaching and learning, decades ago, was focused on skills as the top and sometimes only priority. All too often concepts and problem solving were omitted, creating a deficiency that students struggled to overcome as they moved on to more advanced mathematics.

To illustrate how to prevent a gap in mathematical knowledge, and create a well rounded math student, Daro drew another triangle rotated 180⁰ so concepts and problem solving were now on top. Daro explained that math is three-pronged and, “Teachers must teach for conceptual understanding, build problem-solving skills, and strengthen basic skills.” Urging educators to tip the triangle upside down and select curriculum tools with an emphasis on concepts and problem solving, and then embed skills was the way to improve math instruction he assured. The connection I made to his simple explanation was immediate; Classrooms of my youth were skill driven classrooms; I didn’t learn to understand or connect concepts, generalize my learning, or problem solve. I learned to imitate my teacher. In that moment, I vowed, as a math educator, to teach my students to think mathematically, and as a parent I committed to helping other parents understand the need for this shift.

To accomplish my goal in the classroom, I piloted a conceptually based math curriculum tool, implemented internationally benchmarked math standards along with my state standards, and embraced the three-pronged approach using a sixty minute Math Workshop format and a fifteen minute Interactive Math Skills Block. Confidently, I set forth to create a culture of student collaboration and dialogue. Growing competent and fluent young mathematicians, who understood concepts, could strategically and flexibly approach problems, were procedurally fluent, and could articulate and justify their answers captured my full attention. And, trust me when I say, teaching myself to learn in this fashion was exhausting; There were days when I was only minutes ahead of my students’ learning. However, in the end, I captured the most amazing rewards. I, with the assistance of a few colleagues, helped paved the way for my peers by creating a shift in our practice.

Now, over a decade later, this passion still consumes much of my time and provides me with just as much satisfaction. Currently, as a staff developer, I chair our Math Council to lead with our vision and mission in constant view and assist to grow math leadership capacity in others. At the same time, I embrace my role to get new math teachers started on the right path from the very beginning. I continue to share my story with anyone who will listen. After all, I have the unique pleasure of teaching children and teachers to think mathematically.

Fuel Up to Play 60 with Mojo!

To a cheering student audience, Jacksonville Jaguar player, Maurice Jones-Drew took the stage. He was at Chets Creek today to speak to third, fourth, and fifth grade students about a special program, Fuel Up to Play 60 which emphasizes healthy eating and sixty minutes of physical activity every day. A grant written by our P.E. Coaches, Estrella Bailey and Ray Robinson funded the memorable assembly which will surely be a highlight of the kids' school year.

Jones-Drew not only spoke to the kids but eagerly answered oodles of questions. Just a few of the questions our students wanted to know:
What are your favorite foods? How much time do you spend working out during the season? What do you feel like in the five minutes before you take the field? What does it feel like to score a touchdown? Who do you think will win this year's Superbowl? Who is your favorite college team? Who is your biggest opponent?

My son took the stage to ask, "Who was your childhood hero?" to which Mojo answered, "My grandfather." Later my son remembered being told that Maurice's name was Maurice Drew, but in college while playing in the Rose Bowl, Maurice's grandfather died of a heart attack. In tribute to his grandfather he added his grandfather's surname, Jones, to his own name becoming Maurice Jones-Drew. What a great lesson for my young son to learn about honoring your lifelong heroes.

In the final minutes, our Principal, Susan Phillips asked, "What was your favorite subject in school?" Of course, he got a round of applause when he answered, "I am a mathematician!"

Here's to you Maurice, for not only sending the stay fit and healthy message, but also for reminding students to continually work toward their goals because anything is possible.

Purple Cow Standards Board of the Month

When you walk into our building, it's clear that we have a strong academic focus. Almost everywhere you look you see celebrations of student achievement, and unlike the holiday themed bulletin boards of yesteryear, our bulletin boards display student work samples with teacher commentary. Classroom instruction becomes transparent because of this visibility of student performance in reading, writing, math, science and social studies. Our only regret is that we've had no way of cataloging and keeping the boards for future reference, until now.

With nearly 50 bulletin boards at CCE, there is no feasible way to digitally warehouse all of them, so we've started by capturing two a month, one primary and one intermediate. After the new boards go up, teachers submit Purple Cow nominations for their colleagues' boards. A team gets together to read all nominated boards and selects one intermediate and one primary board that stands out above all the rest. The competition is steep because the boards are so creative and well done, but usually the Purple Cow is chosen because it presents a new idea that others may want to implement in their classroom or does an exceptional job capturing a moment of time in their classroom.

It's unlikely that every teacher will have the opportunity to read every board each month, but with the Purple Cow highlighted, we are hoping that every teacher will at least read the two Purple Cow Boards that can't be missed. So far, the idea has caught on and one teacher even teases that she's wearing her Purple Cow ribbon in her hair!

I'd love for you to visit our Standards Based Bulletin Board blog created and maintained by our Tech Coach, Melanie Holtsman, to read our highlighted boards. You'll see the start of what we hope will become a long tradition. Make sure you click on pictures to enlarge and print the items. I'd love to hear your comments. Stay tuned for more...

Academic Family Nights

Several times a year, we hold academic Family Nights to communicate grade level expectations with parents and answer frequently asked questions. Earlier in the year, Second grade teachers held a 2nd Grade Math Night, and this week Third grade teachers hosted an FCAT Reading and Math Information session while Fourth grade teachers held their FCAT Writes Night.

The session topics are selected with that grade level’s specific needs in mind. Typically, 2nd grade parents have many questions about the transition in math. They are curious about how math is being taught conceptually and what that means in reference to skill based teaching. They also want to know if their child will learn the standard algorithm for addition and subtraction the way they did. We begin the conversation with an overview of the three prongs of math—concepts, skills, and problem solving and explain how we use our math resources of Math Investigations, Every Day Math Counts, and Envisions to meet grade level Sunshine State Standards while teaching within each of the three prongs. Then, our teachers concentrate on explaining the strategies of addition and subtraction so parents have a better understanding of how we are teaching number sense and flexibility of thought. The session wraps with an open floor so all parents leave with their questions answered.

Third grade parents are always full of questions about FCAT and its implications. 3rd grade is the first year that students take the state standardized test in Reading and Math so this session is often packed with curious parents. The Third grade teachers provide an overview of the many facets of FCAT as well as show parents some sample problems. In addition, they discuss the embedded ways we are preparing students, like spiraling homework and formative assessments, and we clarify how we don’t stop teaching at any point for FCAT prep. Sharing strategies that parents can implement at home to help their child is a part of this gathering. Again, the evening ends with a questions and answers session.

Fourth grade parents are old hats at FCAT so just when those questions dissipate, they are curious about the state writing test. What do students have to score? What does meeting the standard look like? How are you preparing students for success on the test? How is a prompt different from the Writers’ Workshop? Is my child going to do well? These questions drive the evening’s conversation. In addition, teachers hold a fish bowl mini Writers’ Workshop with students to give parents a bird’s eye view of what is happening to prepare students in the classroom. Explaining the logistics of the 45 minute prompt write is something new to parents, and we hope they walk away feeling good about what we are doing to prepare their child. Teachers field questions as the session concludes.

Nights like these provide the platform for a deeper parent understanding of our curriculum, standards, and state assessment expectations. We hope that they leave with peace of mind and comfort in knowing that we thoughtfully and strategically prepare their students not only for the state assessment but for their future.

Word Walls

What is the first thing that pops into your head when I say--word wall? Did you envision a list of high frequency words assembled neatly under their beginning letter on a long abc...xyz chart in a classroom?

That is actually the most typical visualization, however it is only one type of word wall. The mental image you created of a spelling word wall is the most common word wall tool in the primary school used as a visual reference for students of high frequency words. The spelling word wall is used to support the growing number of words students should be able to read and spell correctly. They are introduced gradually with explicit instruction before being added to the wall. When done well, activities are built around the word wall offering extended exposure and chances for repeated practice are consistent until the words are mastered with great efficiency. The other type of spelling wall I envision is one centered around spelling patterns... -at, -ike, -ake, etc... Below are examples of some of the spelling word walls displayed and used in classrooms at Chets Creek.

Spelling Word Walls

A second type of word wall you would encounter in our classrooms is a writing word wall. Most commonly, our writing word walls are displayed as a tool for students to use during their Writers' Workshop to enhance the level of vocabulary used while writing stories. The typical writing word wall includes simple words, like said, that can be replaced with more descriptive or sophisticated terms, like squealed or whispered. In addition, as children learn about sentence structure and offering sentence variety in their writing, they might find useful words displayed by part of speech. On several occasions, I've also seen students with independent word walls on the back of their writing folders. These words are individualized and typically words most often misspelled in that student's writing. The personal word wall is used throughout the writing process.

Writing Word Walls

Reading Vocabulary is another universal word wall used in CCE classrooms. In Kindergarten through Third Grade, we use Scholastic's Text Talk series for explicit vocabulary instruction through children's literature read alouds. Several words per book are introduced with explicit instruction and activities using the words are taught. Furthermore, you will find reading vocabulary word walls that are built as students are introduced to words in the context of other reading. For example, one of the word walls below is from the chapter book, Because of Winn Dixie.

Reading Vocabulary Word Walls

Content Vocabulary Word Walls in Math, Science, and Social Studies are frequently displayed in CCE classrooms in K-Grade 5, too. Just like spelling, writing, and reading vocabulary word walls, content word walls are used not only as a display but as a reference tool, too. The primary goal is for student mastery and understanding of each of the terms. Some content word walls have the definition displayed with the word on the front of a card, others have the term printed on the back and are secured with velcro to a chart or stored inside a pocket chart making them easily removable by students. Also, other displays are a list of the words that teachers use for specific activities. You can see a few examples of each type below.

Math Word Walls

Science Word Walls

Social Studies Word Walls

Print rich classrooms full of resources including word walls are important to promote student learning and achievement. Word walls make words visible, usable, and accessible to our learners. I'd love to get a comment about the way you use word walls in your own classroom.

Reflective Conversations

The world of a coach, just like a teacher, gets busy on the first day of school and never slows down. "Is this your busy time of the year?" Is a question that always bewilders me, because truth be told, all 196 teacher days are a busy time of year. Something, I've come to believe only an educator can fully appreciate. Boarding a Lear jet on the first day of school depicts the typical momentum that begins on Day 1 and ends when the last bell has rung, the classroom is packed up, and we emerge on the other side for a blissful few uninterrupted weeks. Until, once again, the planning begins for the upcoming year, if it truly ever ended in the first place.

Hurling at mock speed, we often forget that a critical component of growing professionally is to reflect on our practice. Where have we been? Where are we going? Questions like these allow you to reflect, refocus, redefine, and reembrace your work. The answers certainly aren't fancy but get at the heart of strategic planning. For me, this type of reflection comes easily now, but in my early teaching years, it took a leader asking me these questions and listening attentively as I answered them.

This year, I'm trying this reflective practice with our new teachers. Each of them is meeting with me this week to answer these questions:

• What are you most proud that you've accomplished so far this year?


• What would you like to work on as you move into the second half of the year?


• What do you need for me to do for you?

The reason for the conversations are two fold. First, I want new teachers to get in the habit of reflecting and second, I want to know, from their point of view, what they need to learn next. Each conversation has been intriguing. I've learned from them about their professional celebrations and their needs. The dialogue has captured a plan for me to move forward in supporting them. As we move into the new year, I'll be gathering some important content resources, setting up a couple of observations, demoing a few lessons, watching and giving written feedback, and teaching about wikis and Gizmos to name just a few things. What I like most about this process is that I am really getting to know each teacher better and I feel like I'll be able to meet their specific needs. This is definitely a practice I'll continue in the future. Stay tuned...