#EDnado: The Breakfast Club?

This past Saturday I attended #EDnado at Middletown High School South in Central New Jersey. Here is the description of the event from their website: "Ednado is about promoting innovation and inspiring educators to try new things in their classrooms.  At Ednado, educators from Monmouth County and beyond will be able to learn and share what WORKS in their schools." A unique characteristic of #EDnado was the inclusion of parents and students.

This was a wonderful event! I was not intending to go until a friend, @nataliefranzi, mentioned it to me and "volunteered" me to be a part of an administrators panel discussion on the topic of innovation.  I am so glad that I went because I am a huge proponent of #edcamp, so much so that I have been on the organizing team for #edcampNJ for the past 4 years. This was a chance to be a part of a Saturday professional development opportunity that was different than the traditional unconference model.

One thing is very clear to me... Educators who choose to use a Saturday to participate in professional development without pay or compensation are some of the finest educators out there. It is so

Universal Pictures (1985)

interesting to me to think that when I was in High School, it was quite a stigma to get assigned to Saturday School detention and something to be avoided at all cost.  However, now I eagerly seek out school on Saturday!  I feel like we've developed a new Breakfast Club.  Just like those characters (a brain, an athlete, a basket case, a princess, and a criminal) we are all different and bring our varied experiences and points of view to these days of learning. Additionally, we too, are misunderstood. Some in our schools and districts can't fathom "giving up" a Saturday to go to a conference; but we know better. We've found something that is too valuable to pass up. The connections that we make on these days can't be quantified. Whether it is connecting with people from Twitter, Google+, etc. who are in our PLNs or meeting colleagues for the first time, we share a common desire to continually improve our craft.

#EDnado is another fine example of one of these opportunities for connections. I connected with many familiar faces on Saturday and met some new ones. I learned about Classroom Blogging for beginners from Stephany Hesslein (@MissHesslein) and Marla Weinstein (@Miss_Weinstein). Their excitement and enthusiasm regarding blogging, and something I had never heard of called "quadblogging," was contagious!  Their presentation can be found here.  This was a wonderful way to start the day.  There were participants in the room who had classroom blogs and those who had never blogged before. It was clear at the end when the presenters took a pulse of the room that most were eager and ready to dip their toes in the blogging waters.

After this session, I was part of an administrator group that discussed innovation in education. This session was led by Middletown Superintendent, Dr. William George (@DrGeorge_MTPS). Once again, this was a room filled with positive people who wanted to learn from one another about how to move schools and districts forward. I encourage everyone to take a look at the crowd-source notes document from this session. There are great resources and people listed there.  If you are in a district that is resistant to innovation, I encourage you to contact any of the people in this session for advice. 

#EDnado offered two lunch sessions so that people could choose to eat when they wished and go to

sessions when they wished. In fact, the lunch even offered some choices for learning. Of course, there was the opportunity to connect and talk with other educators. There was also a "Student Tech Team" set up at a table in the cafeteria.  Each student had a sign by their laptop indicating a tech tool that they could teach.  All you had to do was sit down and the students were eager to demonstrate and explain! This was a fantastic way to get students involved in the event. There was also a makerspace set up in the cafeteria that offered opportunities for educators to engage with the concept, see a 3d printer at work, and discuss ways of setting up such a space in schools/classrooms back home.

After a learning lunch, I attended a session run by Dan Alston (@dalston411) and Natalie Franzi (@NatalieFranzi) on Google Extensions for Efficient Administrators. You must look at the notes document from this session. There are so many extensions for Google that I never knew existed.  I am excited to try them out. Don't be fooled by the title; you do not need to be an administrator to find helpful and time-saving tools on the list.

I culminated my day of learning in a session conducted by Melissa Luell (@bayview_luell) entitled "The Power of Podcasts." This is an area that I have often thought about, but never actually tried. After this session, it is very possible that you may find a podcast or two on The PrincipalArc in the future.  You can check out the notes here. 

I cannot stress enough how important these days of learning are for me. They remind me that my school, my district, my county, and even my state are artificial boundaries that don't really exist when it comes to personal learning. Connecting with educators is universal and if you have not done so, do it soon! Here is a link to the schedule for the day. If you see a session title that you like, click on it to see the notes from that session.

"So, you may see us in the simplest terms, in the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a principal...and a third grade teacher...and a superintendent...and a math teacher...and a parent...and a student.  Does that answer your question?"

Thank you to the #EDnado Organizing Team!

NJASCD/MSU New Teacher Bootcamp Presentation

Below are my slides from the NJASCD North/Montclair State University New Teacher Bootcamp Keynote.  It was a wonderful morning and the prospective teachers at MSU were a great audience with some thought provoking questions.  I truly enjoyed my visit.

#ISTE2014 Newbie: With A Little Help From My Friends

image from https://www.isteconference.org/2014/

I just attended my first ISTE Conference & Expo!  Did you hear me? I just attended my first ISTE Conference & Expo! Sorry, I'm just very excited and energized after my time in Atlanta. So much so that I wrote this post in the airport as I waited for my flight home and on the plane. If it rambles a little, bear with me.

Over the past few years, since I started building a PLN via Twitter, I have been watching the stream of tweets with the #ISTE conference hashtag as my school year would come to an end.  As I read all of the tweets going by with links to amazing resources and nuggets from thoughtful sessions, I knew that eventually I would have to go myself. This year, I was able to attend in Atlanta and it was an exhausting, rewarding, learning, connecting, type of experience.

image courtesy of clker.com

Fortunately, I got by with a little help from my friends. I was able to hook up with members of my PLN from the moment I got there and they helped show me the ropes. A big thanks to Billy Krakower (@wkrakower), Kyle Calderwood (@kcalderw), Liz Calderwood (@liz1544), Kate Baker (@KtBkr4), and, of course, Jerry Blumengarten(@cybraryman1).  There were many people that I met and had the opportunity to talk with because the folks above took me under their wing and mentored me during my time at #ISTE2014.

Everyone told me that the informal conversations are as valuable as the sessions themselves and I truly understand what they meant now. The learning and connecting can take many forms; a brief chat with Nathan Stevens (@nathan_stevens) and Jenny Grabiac (@techgirljenny) at a social event, a conversation with Jessica Allen (@jessievaz12) over dinner, a dialogue about a project from one of the poster session presenters (they are GREAT) in the Galleria, a warm, wonderful hug and words of encouragement in the Blogger's Cafe from Paula Naugle (@plnaugle), a

me and Paula Naugle

great opportunity to go to lunch with Jerry, Billy, and Kathy Bloomfield from Readworks, or a quick conversation in the conference hallway with Angela Maiers (@AngelaMaiers) to remind that "You Matter!"  These real life connections are part of what make the virtual connections via social media so valuable. 

#ISTE2014 was also filled with fantastic sessions. The biggest problem was deciding which ones to choose because there were often several sessions of interest to me at the same time. I came away with some great ideas from Kyle Pace (@kylepace) and Michelle Baldwin's (@michellek107) session "Full STEAM ahead: Cultivating connections with the arts." I learned that I can start a maker space in my school and classrooms and I don't have to break the bank from the folks at Digital Harbor Foundation's (@DHFBaltimore) session: "Classroom Makerspace: Your Guidebook to Inexpensive Making in the Classroom". I was inspired by the session

Levar Burton speaking to a packed room.

with Levar Burton (@levarburton) whose Reading Rainbow has helped so many children over the past decades. That barely scratches the surface of what I have learned (fodder for more posts).

You never know what opportunities will present themselves at #ISTE2014. I arrived on Saturday and that evening received a message asking if I would help out in a session as a Twitter Mentor. So my first professional development opportunity at the convention was actually working with Elana Leoni (@elanaleoni) from Edutopia and Kyle Calderwood in their session "Saved by Twitter: 10 ways to use Twitter to Connect" (#savedbytwitter) as they worked with a room of 150 new Twitter users to show the power of the social media platform for connecting and professional development. Awesome! The next night I went in to support Jerry Blumengarten and Susan Bearden (@s_bearden) in their session "Twitter 101: Build Your Personal Learning Network" and was asked to do something similar. 

I'm going to stop now because now that I have my initial thoughts down I need to process them a bit more. I am sure there are more posts coming when I collect my thoughts.  Stay tuned...

So, a few takeaways from this post....

1. Go to #ISTE2015 in Philadelphia if you can

While there:

2. Talk to people, they will talk back

3. Take a risk and leave your comfort zone

4. Take the time to explore the Expo floor. There are some wonderful things there and a great deal to learn (I didn't even mention that above!)

But, Right now:

4. Get on Twitter and start to connect with the amazing folks out in our education community.

5. Follow all of the people I mention in this post, you won't regret it!

6. Leave a comment and let's start a conversation here or on Twitter

P.S. Thanks to all of the educators with whom I've interacted during the last several days. It has been wonderful.

Me, Nathan, Kate, Aaron, Liz, & Kyle

Related articles

• ISTE Day 1 Reflections
• ISTE Day 2 Reflections (thankfully I brought sneakers)
• Thoughts from ISTE 1

Integrating STEM in the Classroom: Resources

This past Tuesday, February 25th, we held our weekly #NJED Chat at 8:30pm EST. Our topic was: Integrating STEM in the Classroom. I was very excited about this topic because we are in the planning stages of opening a 4th Grade STEM Magnet Class for our district at Bear Tavern Elementary School.  I will be writing various posts about our progress as we continue to move forward; however, after the chat I received this tweet:

The easiest method seemed to be on my blog. So here is a list of the hyperlinks that were shared during our chat. It is a pretty good list of resources for anyone interested in STEM Education; HOWEVER, if you have others, PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE share them in the comments below so that we can all benefit.

Why Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy went MAD!
Framework for 21st Century Learning
Don't Squelch the Creativity #SAVMP
Falling isn't Failing
Infographic: The Value of STEM Education
12 Steps to Great STEM Lessons
If school is supposed to prepare students for real life, then why doesn’t it look more like real life?

4 TED Talks for Educators Interested in STEAM

National Girls Collaborative Project

STEM Curriculum/Resources from the NV STEM Coalition

Goldie Blox and Rube Goldberg YouTube Video

Maryland K-5 STEM Resources Page

NEA 10 Best STEM Resources

Technology & Children: STEM, It's Elementary! (Entire Journal Issue)
Engineering for All

PBS Teachers: STEM Education Resource Center

NASA Explorer Schools


Also, here is a link to the entire chat archive. I encourage readers to peruse the chat because the interaction between the participants was rich with insight, suggestions, and ideas.

"Integrating STEM in the classroom" #njed Chat 2-25-14

Please join us each Tuesday evening for our weekly chat. Our topics are varied and focused on what we do as practitioners. We welcome participants from all over the country and all over the world!

Evernote, Backchanneling, and Tabs, Oh My!

George Couros

I just read a short post entitled, Stating the Obvious, by George Couros on his blog, The Principal of Change. Basically, the post is about the penchant of adults to complain about how kids are so distracted by their devices, yet when it comes down to it, they are simply doing what adults do when they are bored. I agree with the sentiment that this is stating the obvious; however, it is amazing how many people complain about this phenomenon and don't realize the hypocrisy of it. I guess my post is just expanding upon the idea in Stating the Obvious. By the way, if you don't follow The Principal of Change blog, you should start. I have learned a great deal from reading it.


All of our minds have wandered at meetings and we've opened up our email on our handheld device, tablet, or laptop. When I do that I am generally not engaged in the content of the meeting or session. But, I also want to note that I often use a device and may look as though I am distracted or not paying attention when, in fact, I am actually more engaged than others who may appear to be listening and attending to the teacher or presenter.

First, there is simply using an electronic device to take notes. I hate writing with a pen or pencil. After about the third word, my hand cramps up (likely psychosomatic) and I stop. So, when I am typing on a device, there is an excellent chance I am taking notes in Evernote. This is evident from the blog posts that I have written from my notes after sitting in sessions at Teachers College during their Saturday Reunions. (#TCRWP Saturday Reunion - March 2013 - Laurie Pessah's Workshop, #TCRWP - Cornelius Minor Session on the BYOT Movement, or Depths of Knowledge (DOK) is More Than an Acronym!)


Second, there is backchanneling! Generally, when I am at an #edcamp or #TCRWP session (or any other for that matter) I look for others who are having a conversation about the topic behind the scenes. I find that backchanneling  has provided me with a renewed ability to focus on the points that a presenter is making. When I can tweet out or use some other backchannel to converse about the topic as it is being presented, I am able to better digest the material, wrestle with it, and ultimately engage with it in a deeper way.


Third, I am often finding resources that a presenter is mentioning. There are sessions that I have attended where I have actually ordered a book from Amazon as the presenter had it up on the projector screen. When presenters mention other thought leaders, bloggers, and researchers on the topic being presented, I generally like to pull up a tab in my web browser immediately with the blog or connection so that I can easily find them when I get home.

While I realize that our students in school may not be doing the things I mention above. I think that we should find out what they are doing before we get upset. If they are productively engaging in their own digital way, then we should probably let them keep doing what they are doing. If they are just playing around and doing other things, we should probably try to figure out if it is our instruction that is lacking before we blame the devices.

How do you "pay attention" at meetings and conferences?

Unannounced Observations

A strange phenomenon is occurring in my school at the moment surrounding unannounced observations. This year, the NJDOE has instituted a new teacher evaluation system for all teachers. One component requires at least one unannounced observation of the three required for tenured staff. This is a departure from past practice in our district. We have generally scheduled our visits. There was never a real sense of urgency to do unannounced observations because administrators work to be in classrooms for walkthroughs anyway, so "unannounced" informal observations were happening fairly regularly.

Our first round of observations completed before the New Year were all announced, but our second round of tenured observations have all been unannounced. This has created a different vibe in the building than I have been used to for the last 11 years. I remember back when I started teaching 20 years ago in a different district where all observations were unannounced; the principal would walk out of his office with his leather portfolio and news would spread like wildfire through the building that he was on the move. It was crazy because usually when he came to your room, you were already teaching and never got the message in time anyway, so you just did your thing and got observed.

Now, I am the principal and over the past several weeks every time I leave my office, I notice people looking to see if I have my iPad in my hands. It has actually become somewhat of a joke where I either hold up my hands to show that I am not "carrying" or I politely remind the teacher looking at my hands that, "my eyes are up here:-)"

Here is the crazy part, I am seeing some great lessons!! I am beginning to think that when teachers have advanced notice of observations they tend to over-think it. I have a wonderful staff who are dedicated to student learning and success every day. Conducting unannounced formal observations has only served to reinforce my belief that our staff "gets it" and that our children are being served well through their efforts. Can all of us improve in some areas? Yes, and that goes for me, the teachers, and anyone reading this post; however, I think that the shift to including an unannounced component to our observation system has been a positive one. I realize this may not be a revelation for those who have always conducted unannounced observations, but it was a wonderful reminder for me!

What do you think? Are your observations announced or unannounced? Which do you prefer? Why?

Twitter Saves a Life! (Sort of)

A short post tonight...
Although it is fiction, I think that this 5.5 minute clip from Grey's Anatomy provides a real example of the power of Twitter as a teaching and learning tool.  Check it out!



Thanks to Tom Whitby (@tomwhitby) for posting this on the Educator's PLN website. As a school principal, I am always thinking about the ways that social media can enhance communication. The first step is being open minded and this video shows the progression of a twitter skeptic to a twitter supporter. While it may not save a life every day, the connecting power of Twitter provides us all with support from around the world in our chosen fields.

If you haven't already, give it a chance and get connected. What is the worst that can happen?

Related articles

• Connected Educators (clairek44.wordpress.com)
• A Short Guide on Twitter for Educators (educatorstechnology.com)
• Ten types of edTweeps you meet on Twitter #PLN (clouducation.wordpress.com)

#NJED - A Great PLN!

Many of you know that I am a co-moderator of #njed chat on Twitter which takes place every Tuesday evening from 8:30-9:30pm during the school year. I encourage anyone who enjoys interacting with other educators to punch the hash tag into twitter and follow along on any given Tuesday.  It may be for you or it may not, but one thing is for sure, you will see passionate educators from all over New Jersey, and around the world, discussing topics relevant to educational practitioners of every kind.

Last week we kicked off our year with a discussion of all things related to getting back to school for the fall. (for those in other areas of the country, NJ starts school after Labor Day) It is reaffirming to see how we all have common hopes and dreams for our school years and that we all struggle with the same issues. #njed chat is an avenue for opening up the school walls and finding a connection with others who are eager to improve their craft (teachers, supervisors, student teachers, coordinators, principals, superintendents, etc.).  We are all on equal footing in this arena. There is no hierarchical chart on Twitter. Everyone's contribution to the discussion is valued.  We may not always agree with one another, but that often makes the discussion more rich.

Another amazing thing that has sprung from #njed is #edcampNJ. Last year was the first one and it was an amazing success.  If you'd like to learn more about last year's event, please read my post about it in my year end post from 2012 entitled,2012 - #edcampNJ and so much more! This year's #edcampNJ will take place on November 23rd and it is being held at Linwood Middle School once again.  If you would like to register to attend, just go to the #edcampNJ site and it will only take you a few seconds.

If you have been looking for professional connections and want a great place to start, check out #njed chat on Tuesday evenings.  You won't be disappointed.  Here are some of the amazing  New Jersey educators that you can find regularly on #njed chat:

@wkrakower
@sirotiak02
@TeacherCast
@AngelinaShy
@iSuperEit
@MissCass22
@WHS_Principal
@kcalderw
@bcurrie5
@spaul6414
@mrfigurelli
@SOMSlibrary

This is just a few. Please add anyone who I have omitted in the comments.  There are so many!

Related articles

• Personal learning networks - notes and resources (purplelineassociates.com)
• How To Manage Your PLN Using Twitter Lists - Edudemic (kwhobbes.wordpress.com)
• How To Get More Out Of Your PLN Using Twitter - Edudemic - Edudemic (edudemic.com)
• A Principal's Reflections: A PLN Quick Start Guide (ecolemctavishedtech.wordpress.com)

ClassCharts - A Classroom Management Tech Tool Worth a Look

If you have not checked out ClassCharts yet, it is worth giving it a look. This past year in my school my special area teachers were looking for a mechanism to provide consistency with behavioral expectations across all classes.  ClassCharts is a tool that can give them that consistency in a unified fashion without unending meetings and set-up time.  I intend to suggest it to them when they return for next school year.

I had an opportunity to test drive the Website with a free account. ClassCharts is a free teacher tool created by teachers in the UK. As one who finds visuals very appealing when working or learning, this tool is well suited for my needs.  The ClassCharts interface provides teachers with a data-rich seating chart that provides  flexibility and customization for various classroom needs and functions.

At its core, ClassCharts is a seating chart, into which you can import pictures of the students and arrange them according to your classroom layout.  The system then allows you to add specific data about your students that can appear on the seating chart.  Some of the built-in fields include, behavior data, aftercare status, free meals, gender, group, literacy target, and reading age.  Fields can be added to meet the data needs of your classroom.  A teacher can then have the 4 most pertinent pieces of information visible on the chart, which can be printed or viewed on the computer or mobile device, while all of the other data can be seen in reports or other views on the computer.

It is a rather simple set-up and the knowledge base section of the website is quite well done. There are video tutorials for some of the main functions and informative descriptions to help with most questions. There is a digital brochure that discusses some of the major components, but I suggest setting up a free account and taking it for a test drive.

Two of the features that I was most impressed with include the collaboration tool and the ability to upload students via excel spreadsheet. Collaboration allows teachers to be consistent over the course of a day, a week, a month, etc.

By sharing students with colleagues teachers can have a fluid view of various data, including behavior.  This enables them to respond appropriately. The system allows teachers to award points for positive behaviors and subtract points for negative behaviors. Depending upon your philosophy with this type of information their are also functions that allow for giving access to real-time data to parents and the students via individual accounts. From a practicality perspective, the ability to upload a spreadsheet of students is very important since most districts can provide teachers with a CSV file that would be easily uploaded from Excel.

I can't stress enough the flexibility of the tool and its visual nature. It makes the data easily accessible and user-friendly. The long and short of it is that I recommend taking a look at this versatile tool.  It will be a wonderful way to manage some key classroom data, collaborate with colleagues, and provide substitute teachers with printed visuals that they need. Also, as a teacher created tool, using it supports innovation among educators world-wide.

Also, if you are an edmodo user, it is currently (as of this post) the #1 free app in the edmodo store and can be downloaded right into edmodo! (Note - you do not need to use edmodo to use ClassCharts)

After you try it, I'd love to hear your comments below!

A Few Words About 50 Years of Learning Together

On June 27th, on his blog Evolving Educators, @ScottRRocco invited other administrators to share their speeches as a resource for one another.  This sharing of resources is the foundation of PLNs and helps us all to become better educators.  This year Bear Tavern School had its 50th Anniversary and as principal I had the great honor of speaking at that event.  Below I printed my speech.  I hope that it is as inspiring and helpful as the school for which it was written.  Enjoy!

So here we are, near the end of our ceremony celebrating an anniversary for an amazing place of which I am humbled to be the lead learner.  I am celebrating my 10^th anniversary as principal of this fine, fine school and couldn’t imagine it any other way.  You have heard about some of the history of this place.  I think that it is ironic that as this school went into its first year of existence there was a natural disaster that delayed the opening and caused the community to pull together to educate the children and get this school opened, a little later than the other schools in 1962, but open nonetheless.

As we came into our 50^th school year we also had an unfortunate vandalism disaster befall our beloved school.  It was one that brought tears to many of our eyes and caused us to fear that Bear Tavern may not open in time for the children.  I’ve come to learn over the course of my life that sometimes the most beautiful things come from something painful.

 John Steinbeck used the metaphor of the pearl to describe this in his book of the same name.  Pearls are formed when a foreign substance, like sand, gets caught inside of an oyster and as a defense against the pain, the oyster begins to coat it with a substance that eventually becomes the beautiful and rare pearls that we enjoy.  This is a simplistic description; however, I think it is appropriate for how our year began. 

Our community was shaken and had choices to make.  We chose to make something beautiful.  I don’t just mean that we got our school back to its pristine appearance, which we did.  What I am talking about is the beauty of spirit that was shown by this community as it banded together for our children and our school.

I saw the best in people.  I saw families adopting bulletin boards because teachers would not have time to complete them before school started with only days to prepare for their school year.  I saw community organizations and businesses offering support through the resources available to them.  I saw a community come out for a grand reopening, not just to rejoice in the fact that the doors were open, but to roll up their sleeves and work together, yes to work Better Together to get our school ready and so much more.

Our school theme is “Better Together.”  It has also been a theme throughout our day.  During the gazebo dedication this morning I spoke about how that wonderful structure is the product of students, teachers, parents, and community organizations working together.  During the Art Unveilings I discussed how the partnerships that we have made with our neighboring corporations, colleges, and community organizations result in the beautiful works of art that we proudly create and display on our walls.  Better together really kind of sums up life.  When you think about most areas of your life, aren’t they more joyful when you can share them with others?  Aren’t the difficult times more tolerable when there are others there to help you through?

As an elementary school community it is our mission to educate the children of Hopewell Township; to develop strong minds, strong bodies, and strong character.  This school has been built on a foundation of community that goes back to the day that it opened.  I received a letter yesterday written by a teacher in the audience today.  Her name is Jeanette Frantz; the letter and the picture she sent with it can be found in the cafeteria, but I can sum up her whole letter with her final sentence.  “Good memories of Bear Tavern School remain in my mind, but most of all – the people of Bear Tavern School will always be in my heart.”

The people of Bear Tavern School; that truly is what we are as a school.  Mrs. Frantz’ memories of her 20 years at Bear Tavern boil down to the people.  I would have to agree.  My memories of the last 10 years at Bear Tavern School have been about relationships, community, and the people.  We educate the children in a safe and comfortable environment in which they know we care for them.  Prior to my arrival, Mr. Scheetz (my predecessor) and the staff embarked on a journey to become a Responsive Classroom School.  This approach to educating children is rooted in the idea that children learn best in a place where they feel comfortable and empowered.  We use the acronym CARES to remind ourselves of the type of environment we wish to provide for the children.  The letters stand for Cooperation, Assertion, Responsibility, Empathy, and Self-Control.  You’ll find this represented in the cafeteria, as well.

I don’t want to go on much longer, but I do want to leave looking forward.  As we move further into the 21^st century our world and society is changing.  This is a fearful thing for many among us.  We feel comfort in the things that we had and experienced when we grew up.  Our challenge is to balance the solid traditional foundation that we have created here at Bear Tavern with the innovative spirit that continues to make our country great.  These boys and girls before us will live in a world that we can’t even imagine. 

If we could go back to 1962 and tell the staff and students that in 50 years having a telephone in your pocket everywhere you go would be the norm, what would they say?  Or if we even tried to explain the Internet or Apps? What would someone say if they were asked to “just Google it?”  I think that they would see it as science fiction, not as fact.  As we move forward at Bear Tavern we need to be sure that we are working together as teachers, parents, and community to educate the children for their future by learning from the advances of our past.

I am committed to working with the people of this community to provide children with the modern education that they require; we will utilize the technology at our disposal to do so whether it is chalk or an iPad.  Please continue with me on this journey.  Our work can only be Better Together.

I will end with words from a favorite book that I have read to many classes over the years.  The book is entitled, A Fine, Fine School and was written by Sharon Creech.  Mr. Keene, the principal says, “Oh! Aren’t these fine children? Aren’t these fine teachers? Isn’t this a fine, fine school?”  Thank you all for working with me to make this such a fine, fine school!

Thank you. 

So Much to Say…

  

My last post was over one month ago.  I have to say that I have missed writing blog posts during that time, but I also think that it has recharged me for writing more this summer.  Our school year in New Jersey went until June 25th  and the last month was very busy, so I took a break from writing (I don't know that it was a conscious decision).  During that time so much has happened that I will be writing about over the summer in retrospect.

We had our school's 50th anniversary celebration; we had HVAC crews in our school displacing classrooms and installing HVAC; we have begun work in grades K-2 with new Readers and Writers Workshop units and curricula; we have done work on teacher and
principal evaluation systems; we have improved our home/school and community connections; we have had a very positive year and ended strong.

I have begun graduate work again; I have lost 30 pounds; I have started running; I have been reflecting upon my successes and struggles; I have committed to a new digital book club with 5th graders next year; I have worked to schedule greater amounts of PLC time in my school next year; I have started delving deeper into the Danielson Frameworks; and I have committed to writing more this summer.




So, you see, I have so much to say this summer!  I look forward to sharing and reflecting with you over the next two months as I prepare for an amazing 2013-2014 school year.


  Stay tuned!

Bear Tavern staff and students show their age