Hit the Ground Running: The Educating Esme Blog for New Teachers

Oh, Oprah! Waiting for Superman

2010-09-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

Did you see the Oprah program that aired on September 20th, "Waiting for Superman: The Movie that Could Revolutionize Schools?" What did you think?

Let me preface this post by noting that I am a huge fan of Oprah Winfrey and respect her as a mentor to American women, a leader and a fellow Chicagoan. I feel that I have gotten so much information from her show that has improved my knowledge and my life; I consider her a teacher. But she is an adult educator. I would never underestimate the influence Oprah can have on popular opinion, and so I am concerned that it seemed to me she was swayed in a almost sentimental way and will in turn sway others in a direction that, for all good intention, will veer us off the path of progress. I have not yet seen the movie that was being promoted (but neither have most viewers, since it is not released until the end of the week), but even out of context there were a few ideas and attitudes being purported that I do not necessarily agree with, were uncharacteristically oversimplified for her show, and that, frankly, perplexed me.

Odd thing number one: Oprah's incredulity that a teacher would not necessarily vie for a a fixed six-figure salary, as was being offered by some charter schools, in exchange for tenure. While the transcripts are not yet available online, I will paraphrase that I recall her response to be something along the lines of "just for maintaining excellence?" She was suggesting to successful teachers, why wouldn't you just want to be paid more for being as successful as you know you are? Never mind that "excellence" is likely going to be narrowly defined by performance on standardized tests, which, while may be an administrator's measuring stick of excellence, it is rarely the kind of measure that intrinsically motivates teachers...threatens, more like it. When is the last time you heard a teacher say "I wanted to be a self-contained classroom teacher to help the kids kick the shizzle out of those ISATS!" Or, "boy, I hope I'm measured by how well a child performs on a standardized test!"

Well, why not? Why don't we? We get better and better at teaching to the test, there certainly are enough materials to support us in that endeavor. It becomes clearer why it still reads like a deal with the devil when we compare measuring performance in education to measuring performance in another profession. Health care, let's say. Would a doctor be willing to gamble his/her licensure or livelihood based on whether or not an unknown group of sick patients gets well? Even a good doctor would probably take a pass, because when the patient gets home, who knows if they are still taking their medicine as directed? Who knows if they have a particularly aggressive form of a disease? Who knows what other variables could interfere with the outcome? Likewise, if, as a teacher, your excellence was being measured by performance on standardized tests, what happens to your "excellence" when you help a child come up two grade levels in a year, but they were four grade levels behind to begin with? When you get a child who just transferred into your classroom a month before the test, and doesn't speak the language or know how to read or who just came from a violent home situation that is creating a distraction? Teachers face these challenges all the time, and often handle them with what could be defined as a form of excellence, but it is not always an excellence measured in stanines. To many teachers, achievement on tests is peripheral to the critical and creative thinking skills that they are trying like gangbusters to impart, and such an agreement could color their best work with a dulling shade of corporate gray. And sometimes children do not "succeed" academically the way we would hope, but they leave us better off than when they came (perhaps akin to the physician's credo, "do no harm"). Regardless, the outcome is not always within the complete domain of the teacher, much to the chagrin of administrators who, like teachers, are perpetually asked to answer for the performance of others. Which beings me to...

Odd thing number two: the creepy panacea of charter schools. "I'm a great supporter of unions, but..." filmmaker Davis Guggenheim began. I couldn't help roll my eyes. As Pee-Wee Herman said, "there's always a big 'but.'" The butts that I know are the ones I remember as child in 1980's Chicago, walking in picket lines for weeks, trying to get the working conditions we can take for granted, and I invite any union teacher to work outside of a union for a year and say how well they like it. I tried it, and I did not like it. I did not like not knowing when my day would end, and neither did my family. I did not like feeling like if I got on the wrong side of a parent, I could lose my job. I did not like taking a pay cut when the school was hurting, or paying so much more for health benefits. Though there are many inspirational stories, I think charter schools as they stand can be impervious to the reasonable personal boundaries of teachers. Many an American has managed to succeed in the world without making and many teachers have managed to make a difference without taking calls at 11:30 at night. All I'll say is, those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it, and there are a lot of young teachers out there who don't realize how hard won the rights of workers have been, and I'm afraid maybe there a few television producers who don't get it, either. Teacher retention continues to be a concern across all strata of school; there needs to be a model that is not poised to take advantage of inexperienced young teachers, working them until they are as fried as scrambled eggs, or until they dare to try to achieve a balance in their lives and then questioning their commitment. I will always remember the sacrifices made by my fellow professionals in my interest. I do not feel I am setting a bad example for children when I appreciate and refuse to forgo these strides. I would want and expect nothing less of my students in their future lives as adults.

Odd thing number three: I can't remember the last time I heard the facile words "good" and "bad" used so often since I did a second grade writer's workshop. "Good teacher," "bad teacher." Know what would be good? More first year teacher support. More professional development. More asking teachers, "what is it that would motivate you to do your best?" "What grade or subject would you really like to teach?" "What works for you?" In determining what is good and bad, what exactly are we measuring? Can we be specific: falling asleep repeatedly in class, hitting kids, yes, not acceptable. Having a transient population that doesn't perform well on a standardized test...would you really fire someone over that? Oh, and one more thing that would be good: impressive as John Legend and Davis Guggenheim and Bill Gates are, how about including a public school teacher on a nationally aired panel on education? That would definitely be good. Oprah tried to represent our best side by saying that there are "good" teachers out there, she certainly didn't mean us when applauding the firing practices of Michelle Rhee, the DC Chancellor of Schools. But I think we are hungry for more representation than that.

A teacher on the panel wasn't the only thing missing. I wonder if we will ever, as a nation (and before it's too late), address the industrial base: if this country doesn't learn how to MAKE things again, we're going to be up a creek. It seems to be a dirty little secret that public education in the 20th century was borne of industrialists, even naughty ones like Ford who wanted to create better workers. It begs the question, what are we working toward now, in the 21st century...and for whom? Who benefits economically as decisions are made about education? Who benefits from the success of children, and from failure? Hard and ugly questions to contemplate, in a time when corporations are legally treated like individuals, economic interests are increasingly short-term, budgets are desperately anemic and we increasingly privatize what once was public, but education was never divorced from industry and economy. It doesn't get easier to know what we are working toward while at the same time we are also missing a national idea of success, another word that was bandied about a bit. Success is a high score on a standardized test. Success is an acceptance letter from a prestigious college (or, these days, having your number drawn in an elementary school lottery). Success is a roof overhead with bills that are paid. But success is also sewing your own clothes, growing or cooking your own food, painting your own picture...if you've ever done any of these tangible things, you know it's true. And that's what real teachers are trying to do: paint a picture of a beautiful year. Teachers need support toward that success as much as children do. They are both artists working on the same canvas.

Though some may care on a personal level, CEO's are not hired to defend children. They are there to protect business interests. They make things look good on paper for investors, and they are good at talking...they have to be. Parents know their children very well, and work from the best of intentions, including film-making parents who drive by public schools and feel so sorry for the kids who go there. The buck stops with administrators, who have to be accountable and so like outcomes they can count. Everyone has a contribution to make from unique perspectives. But until we include teachers as experts and professionals in conversations about education, we've got a soup without salt. A friend of mine put it very well on-line: "Everybody thinks they know best about education because they went to school...There's so much more that goes on in schools than the layman understands. It's easy to criticize, but much more complicated to DO." In this complicated world of practice, naturally, it is exciting and so hopeful for everyone when possible solutions are presented, and when there is the promise of longitudinal change. Oprah is a staunch and tireless protector and defender of the interests of children, and seemed, naturally, inspired by this prospect of opportunity through education. I hope, with Oprah's mighty platform, she will exercise discretion on what she advocates, and is wary of the zeal with which single models may be sold.

Thanks for reading my reflection. Please share your views!

TEN PICTURE BOOKS I WOULDN'T TEACH WITHOUT

2010-08-10T05:56:00.000-07:00

Cathy Mere, author of MORE THAN GUIDED READING and blogger at Reflect and Refine: Building a Learning Community, in cooperation with Mandy at Enjoy and Embrace Learning, invited/challenged members of the Kidlitosphere blogging community to come up with ten picture books they couldn't teach without. What a challenge! Both women shared brilliant posts about setting criteria for choosing books for the classroom, (here and here) pragmatic pearls of wisdom that are better than anything you could read in a textbook, and definitely worth your consideration as someone investing in and creating a collection to be shared with young minds.

Of course, I have so many old favorites and new ones every day (posted at The PlanetEsme Plan), but I tried to embrace the "if you were on a desert island" nature of the project. By thinking of "must-haves" month by month, I managed to cull my list of thousands, though I still managed to bend the rules a little (qui, moi?) with some runner-ups. I know, I know...my rationale is that I come at teaching from a school librarian perspective, and don't I need back-ups, in case the classroom teacher already has the title in her planbook? From a school librarian's perspective, as I rifled through years of lesson plans, I realized I looked for books that:

were seasonal (like fresh fruits and vegetables!);
lent themselves to crafts, discussions, performances and other extensions;
were great read-alouds;
were funny or gently ironic;
could engage a large group, and invited children to join in;
had themes of inclusivity;
allowed children to exercise their empathetic imaginations.

And so, taken straight from the planbook, I present

Picture Books I Would Not Want To Teach Without (K-3):

SEPTEMBER:

1. FALL IS NOT EASY by Marty Kelley
2. JOHNNY APPLESEED by Aliki
Runners-up:
WOLF! by Becky Bloom
THE BIG HONEY HUNT by Stan and Jan Berenstain
THE HARD-TIMES JAR by Ethel Footman Smothers, illustrated by John Holyfield
ONE by Kathryn Otoshi
THE LIBRARY LION by Michelle Knudsen, illustrated by Kevin Hawkes
ONE GREEN APPLE by Even Bunting, illustrated by Ted Lewin
HERE COMES THE CAT! by Vladimir Vagin, illustrated by Frank Asch

OCTOBER:

3. "What Was I Scared Of?" in THE SNEETCHES AND OTHER STORIES by Dr. Seuss (reading all of the book, while I'm at it)
Runners-up:
HECKEDY PEG by Don and Audrey Wood
STELLALUNA by Janell Cannon
THE PERFECT PUMPKIN PIE by Denys Cazet
THE DEVIL AND MOTHER CRUMP by Valerie Scho Carey, illustrated by Arnold Lobel

NOVEMBER:
4. THE BIG ORANGE SPLOT by Daniel Pinkwater
Runners-up:
THANK YOU, SARAH: THE WOMAN WHO SAVED THANKSGIVING by Laurie Halse Anderson, illustrated by Matt Faulkner
SEQUOYAH by James Rumford
THE GRIFFIN AND THE MINOR CANON by Frank Stockton, illustrated by Maurice Sendak
THE GUNNIWOLF by Wilhelmina Harper (another edition here)
STREGA NONA by Tomie DePaola
MISS SUZY by Miriam Young, illustrated by Arnold Lobel

DECEMBER:

5. THE LITTLE MATCH GIRL by Hans Christian Anderson, illustrated by Rachel Isadora
6. THE GINGERBREAD BOY by Paul Galdone
Runners-up:
THE POLAR EXPRESS by Chris Van Allsburg (if it hasn't been shared already)
ANTONELLA AND HER SANTA CLAUS by Barbara Augustin, illustrated by Gerhard Lahr
IN THE MONTH OF KISLEV by Nina Jaffe, illustrated by Louise August
(More holiday children's books here, just FYI)

JANUARY:

7. SNOWFLAKE BENTLEY by Jaqueline Briggs Martin, illustrated by Mary Azarian
Runners-up:
HARVESTING HOPE: THE STORY OF CESAR CHAVEZ by Kathleen Krull, illustrated by Yuyi Morales
HENRY'S FREEDOM BOX by Ellen Levine, illustrated by Kadir Nelson
ROCKS IN HIS HEAD by Carol Otis Hurst, illustrated by James Stevenson
THE MITTEN by Jan Brett

FEBRUARY:

8. LOVABLE LYLE by Bernard Waber
Runners-up:
ANANSI THE SPIDER by Gerald McDermott
TIKKI TIKKI TEMBO by Arlene Mosel, illustrated by Blair Lent
SHOW WAY by Jacqueline Woodson, illustrated by Hudson Talbott
AND TANGO MAKES THREE by Peter Parnell, illustrated by Henry Cole
WHAT'S SO FUNNY, KETU? by Verna Aardema, illustrated by Marc Brown
CAROLINDA CLATTER by Mordicai Gerstein

MARCH:
9. THE EMPTY POT by Demi
Runners-up:
THE TINY SEED by Eric Carle
HARVEY POTTER'S BALLOON FARM by Jerdine Nolen, illustrated by Mark Buehner
THE DOT by Peter Reynolds
A KICK IN THE HEAD: AN EVERYDAY GUIDE TO POETIC FORMS by Paul Janeczko, illustrated by Chris Raschka

APRIL:

10. THE HAPPY RAIN by Jack Sendak, illustrated by Maurice Sendak
Runners-up:
WESLANDIA by Paul Fleischman
THE WRETCHED STONE by Chris Van Allsburg
THUNDERCAKE by Patricia Polacco
THE RAINBABIES by Laura Krauss Melmed, illustrated by Jim LaMarche
EVERY TIME I CLIMB A TREE by David McCord, illustrated by Marc Simont
ELMER by David McKee

Oops, I ran out of numbers before I ran out of months! That's okay, there are plenty in the runners-up lists to supplement. When I look at this list, I see ten highlighted titles and dozens more that if I went through the school year and did not know that they had been shared, I would be dissatisfied that the children had received the best there is to offer. For favorite chapter books for the intermediate grades, please look on the right-hand column of this blog. I also realized, as a school librarian with a responsibility for media literacy, that besides books, there were certain multimedia productions that I would need to show for a joyful K-3 education to seem complete.

Morris the Moose Goes to School (stop action)
The Three Robbers (animation)
Corduroy (live action)
The Adventures of Curious George (stop action)
The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship (stop action)
Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (live action)
The Red Balloon (live action)

What I learned from this exercise is that even though I love new books and movies, there are definitely classics upon which I have come to depend. I also recognized that tastes in titles are very subjective; the books I absolutely must share will likely be different from what another teacher prioritizes. In a way, looking at a list of favorite books is like looking into a mirror. When I shared/brainstormed my list with the fourteen-year teaching veteran who was the model for Miss Pointy in SAHARA SPECIAL, she cried, "oh, how can you not include Robert San Souci's THE TALKING EGGS! Or Patricia Polacco's THE KEEPING QUILT or PINK AND SAY, are you crazy? I'd need THE PAPER CRANE, it's my favorite, and A NEW COAT FOR ANNA is great in the first grade for teaching sequencing. Pinkney's version of THE UGLY DUCKLING is so beautiful. And isn't there some lovely edition of AESOP'S FABLES you could share?" As she rattled off her (very excellent) list, having known her in the classroom, I saw how well-matched they were to her teaching delivery style and what a personal reflection these choices were. Just as she could see my sense of humor and desire for justice in the books I chose, I could see her love of making things by hand and her appreciation of family acceptance and tradition in the ones she picked. There is no way, when teachers have the freedom to share what they love, that teaching can become generic. This freedom is precious. Children with teachers who enjoy this flexibility and spontaneity will be exposed to a wide variety of beautiful and important ideas and images, and be stirred to live a life that mirrors art. In other words, this freedom speaks to the main idea and best advice in the first year teacher's guide in the new edition of EDUCATING ESME:

"Think about why you are a teacher in terms of what you have to share...Infuse your teaching with your unique passions and personality--that's what will make you a teacher the students will always remember and what will inspire your students to follow your lead, embracing life and becoming true learners."

What ten books are you most excited to bring to the classroom table this year? In combination, what do they say about you as a teacher and as a person? I can't wait to see which titles are chosen, here in the comments section and across the Kidlitosphere.

Happy back to school!

It's June!

2010-06-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

"How old are you?" asked Sakiah.
"In human years, or teacher years?" Miss Pointy answered, and then quickly called on someone else.
- from Sahara Special

You did it! Or you are about to do it. Maybe you finished your first year of teaching. Maybe you graduated and about to embark on your classroom--or job search--adventure. Congratulations! Whatever the case, we are older and wiser, or at least older. I think back to when I was starting out. So many fellow students complaining about the content of our education classes, "how is this useful?" So many new teachers marveling in the classroom, "they never told me it would be like this." There was an interesting Op-Ed in the New York Times recently about the dangers of assessing teacher performance through student evaluation. New teachers have a unique perspective, I think, recently having been students but having a special empathy for the educator's role. After your experience and the chance to gain some perspective, what turned out to be more valuable in your preparation than you ever expected? What do you wish someone would have told you?

I know there were many things I didn't fully appreciate until I got into the classroom, such as the value of theory in the context of classroom management, the power of keeping a journal as a way to reflect on practice, the generosity of mentors and teaching veterans, and how important it is to keep loose change in the desk drawer in case kids come up short for lunch money. But here's what I was most glad to learn and know: If you want kids to respect you and pay attention, you don't have to be nice all the time, but you do have to be interesting. You have to have something that they want: knowledge, ability, elegance. Sure, candy in a drawer is nice, too, but they get their fill of that a lot faster.

To that end, what prepared me more than anything else for teaching in the elementary classroom were the years I spent as a children's bookseller. I was well-acquainted with the nonfiction section, and was well versed in the solar system, the explorers, care of small animals, history, holidays around the world, how to make paper mache paste...important things that allowed me to answer questions and enrich content. At the stores, I learned how to read aloud, tell a story, choose books appropriately for individuals, sell a book to someone who didn't realize they needed one. I came into the classroom with an arsenal of stories that I knew with an almost religious conviction that the children would love and from which they would learn, that I could give them like gifts every day. For myself, in these books I always had at hand reminders of what it was like to be a child, in case being on the grown-up side of the desk clouded my judgment. I was never at the mercy of mandated curriculum; I could modify my instruction to meet the needs of the kids in front of me and still meet goals, because my cupboard was full. I marvel at teachers who hazard to enter the classroom without this freedom. I have said it before and will always say it: sending a teacher into a classroom without a knowledge of children's literature is like sending a plumber into the bathroom without a wrench.

But not everybody can work in a bookstore. Children's literature courses are largely undervalued in too many teacher preparatory programs. And with scripted curriculum, standardized testing, corporate influence and mandates that require robotic everybody-do-everything-at-the-same-time malarky, it almost seems like a moot point to learn what to bring in from the world, because there never seems like there will be time in the day to share. But this summer, read all you can from the shelves of children's literature anyway. Universities will never supply you with enough knock-knock jokes, spooky stories or science experiments to do the damn job right. Hold tight to the dream that the day will dawn again when teachers (and students!) can give the best of themselves and what they know about the world in their classrooms, because one of two things are bound to happen: either that day will dawn, or people who are truly accountable, not to scores but to children, will reinvent contexts that will allow it to be. What an exciting time!

As a teacher, what did you learn this year? As you relax on the beach with a slushy beverage that contains a paper umbrella, please take a moment to enlighten, celebrate or vent in the comment section below; one reachable person will be chosen at random at the end of the month to receive a copy of one of my favorite books, ARTIST TO ARTIST from the Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art.

Imagining Sherri Davis: Reflections on the GMA Interview

2010-05-20T12:12:00.000-07:00

"Well, say you're having a problem with a student. How would you deal with it?"
"I would document the child's behavior and try interventions such as using successive approximations towards our goal or home involvement, depending on the individual situation," I explained. After a silence, I added, "I wouldn't call the office every five minutes."
He closed the little notebook on his lap and announced, "You're hired."
- Educating Esmé

When we are preparing for the role of classroom teacher, I think it's safe to say that we don't imagine ourselves in the role of Sherri Davis, the two time "Teacher of the Year" from Texas who lost control and gave her student the beating of a lifetime that was caught on tape. In education, there is a lot of buzz about "accountability." I have no doubt, unless she pleads temporary insanity, Davis will be found guilty and held accountable for beating a child; she would have to be, for the sake of precedent, and on a level, she would probably want to be if she is truly sorry. While clearly Ms. Davis is committing an assault, Ms. Davis' willingness to explain with some candor the circumstances from her point of view offers warrants our reflection, and offers some insights that may be used by the more savvy among us to create some future improvements in our school systems and in our own preparation. Please do share your own reflections in the context of your own experiences. What do you recognize? With which role do you most identify?

Watching the tape, I can't help being reminded of dramas played out at my schools in my own career as an urban educator: A pregnant teacher having a desk hurled at her belly by an angry middle grade student. Pulling out a gun from a backpack and being told by an administrator that the child brought it "just for show," and not to worry. Breaking up physical fights while other adults stood by. I have had friends threatened, their tires slashed. I have heard little boys call their female classmates "whores," I have been called a whore and worse, and dealt with their surprise and ensuing arguments when they were corrected. I think of my own notoriously unyielding Dragon-Lady moments of tough love; not physical, but unrelenting, unmoved even by young tears. And for everything we do right every day, naturally, even for small offenses a teacher questions: what could I have done better? Could I have been kinder? Calmer? Taken a different tack? Teaching is a job with many fluctuations between reward and regret. Knowing this about ourselves as professionals, even for all our sympathies for the child, it is hard to cast the first stone.

I think of my own teacher training at Northeastern Illinois University in the 1990's, where I was miraculously afforded an amazing preparation program with the worst case scenarios in mind: in classroom management, we learned how to put children in body holds to prevent them from doing harm to themselves or others, we discussed protocol for evacuating children from a crowded classroom where violence was occurring. We discussed how to handle situations involving weapons, though we could all feel inside the vagaries of circumstances that would direct our actions on such an unfortunate day. Once I was teaching, we were inserviced on recognizing gang affiliations. But we were not inserviced on what to do when there was shooting outside the building, or when we needed someone to walk us to a car after working late into the night in a school in a rough neighborhood, or when a child threatens or is profane toward another child, or a grown-up, and there's no one in the office who is willing to attend to it while you have thirty-some other children staring and waiting for you to move on.

I also remember my own experiences of watching borderline criminal behavior from a child's point of view. I remember going to a terrible Chicago Public School for sixth grade, walking through the metal detectors, watching the bullying, the fights, the cornering, coercions and threats, pulled hair and screaming, boys inappropriately touching and threatening to sexually assault the girls, the derisive laughter and name-calling, the frustrations of poverty, all in the course of a school day...did the teachers see it? Did they see me trying to be invisible, to disappear from the radar of the children who loomed like terrorists in our own classroom? I almost wrote, "their own classroom," how telling; this school did not belong to me. Did the teachers know what it was like to listen to their hours of berating and correcting these children, as a child who did nothing to warrant such condemnations? And yet, even as a little girl enduring this noise, I remember thinking, "good, try, please, do what you need to do to stop them." Thinking of this, I imagine the scene in Ms. Davis' classroom from the eyes of the girl who was allegedly being teased. To that girl, her teacher likely was a lioness. Was her teacher also a villain? Was she both? In the end, with hindsight being 20/20, Davis regrets that she didn't take the bullied girl and walk away. Realistically, how could she walk away? And go where? And leave the rest of the children alone? Where were the other adults, the emergency buzz on the intercom?

What also comes to mind is a passage from Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder, describing a situation in a frontier classroom:

"These big boys came...to thrash the teacher and break up the school. They boasted that no teacher could finish the winter term at that school, and no teacher ever had. This year the teacher was a slim, pale young man. His name was Mr. Corse. He was gentle and patient, and never whipped little boys because they forgot how to spell a word. Almanzo felt sick inside when he thought how the big boys would beat Mr. Corse. Mr. Corse wasn't big enough to fight them."

The story continues, describing insolence and disruptive behavior in the one-room schoolhouse by the band of boys, led by the teenager "Big Bill," and it is revealed that these boys have caused death to teachers in the past. The other children cannot concentrate on their work, or complete their lessons, in anticipation of the inevitable confrontations. Little Almanzo confides in his father, "I wish I was big enough to fight 'em!"

"'Son, Mr. Corse was hired out to teach the school,' Father answered. "The school trustees were fair and above board with him; they told him what he was undertaking. He undertook it. It's his job, not yours.'
'But maybe they'll kill him!' Almanzo said.
'That's his business,' said Father. 'When a man undertakes a job, he has to stick to it till he finishes it. If Corse is the man I think he is, he'll thank nobody for interfering.'

....Big Bill tore off his coat, yelling, 'Come on boys!' He rushed up the aisle. Almanzo felt sick inside; he didn't want to watch it, but he couldn't help it.
Mr. Corse stepped away from his desk. His hand came from behind the desk lid, and a long, thin, black streak hissed through the air.
It was a blacksnake ox-whip fifteen feet long. Mr. Corse held the short handle, loaded with iron, that could kill an ox. The thin, long lash coiled around Bill's legs, and Mr. Corse jerked. Bill lurched and almost fell. Quick as black lightning the lash circled and stuck and coiled again, and again Mr. Corse jerked."

illustration by Garth Williams

In this frontier memoir, Mr. Corse wins the battle and the war, and regains classroom control in a society where the parental attitude was "if the teacher has to thrash you again, I'll give you a thrashing you remember." The problem of insanely brutal threats to classroom management are not new in the American classroom, nor are the extreme responses of educators. What I hear in Ms. Davis' interview is, if you'll excuse my paraphrasing, If nobody was planning on interfering on my behalf, I needed an ox whip to deal with this level of a discipline problem. And if you're not going to give me a way to deal with a threat, then you had better make sure somebody is there when I lose my temper and my mind.

Davis describes the necessity for more back-up from home, more training, more peer support and Samaritan spirit. (If wishes were horses!) But in the absence of these needs being met, are we permitted to resort to the tactics of the Wild West? We cannot have corporal punishment in schools; I know even if it were allowed, I would not want to apply it. I observed in my own diary, "Why are the children who are beaten the ones I end up fearing the most?" The great pedagogue Janusz Korczak who ran orphanages in Poland in the early part of the last century suggested that a child who can learn by being hit was one who had the capacity to learn another way. That's why the stupidest part of the interview, in my opinion, are the remarks made by the lawyer: "she was not trying to hurt the child, she was trying to get his attention...to say 'hey, we need to act correct, appropriate, and get a hold of ourselves." This rings insincere and hypocritical, a ridiculous suggestion of modeling by brutality, and goes against Davis' own, more honest admissions that suggest she was angry, fed up, unsupported, and lost control, and while there are reasons, there is no excuse. As far as I can tell, Davis is saying, as someone who enjoyed some success in the field, there are conditions with which as a teacher and a human being she simply could not contend. The very vision of a role she had prepared for was hijacked and rendered unrecognizable even to her by the behavior of a little boy who never learned to receive the best in another person or offer the best of himself. She hit because she was in a rage of disappointment, not because it was in the interest of the child. Any other teacher watching this interview can tell that Davis herself recognizes that much.

As a mother, who can't imagine the fury! How dare Ms. Davis! We do not send our children to school for this! Truly, there is no excuse! And last but certainly not least, we must look at the story from the beaten boy's point of view. Cowed and victimized, is what Ms. Davis says about him true? We might imagine that, whether the punishment fit the crime, he might have indeed put that straw on the camel's back. What comes to mind is a quote from L. Tobin's marvelous and inspiring book, What Do You Do With a Child Like This?: Inside the Lives of Troubled Children, "The hurt that troubled children create is never greater than the hurt they feel." It is horrible and nightmarish to be bullied. It is also horrible and nightmarish to wake up every morning and be a bully. It is horrible to be a child without boundaries, whose moral compass is spinning, to feel your own monster or to have your judgment meander through a void where a conscience should be, or to have a mother who makes excuses for you and expresses love through her reactions instead of preemptive actions. To go to a school, perhaps, where children are working on the floor, without desks and supplies, surrounded by weary adults who start each day in anticipation of the wrongdoing which you supply. L. Tobin also explains,

"I have learned that the child who evokes my anger is a gift to me. He embodies the unresolved issues I carry at the time: rebellion, anger, selfishness, self-doubt--the hurt within me. As I work with this child I am invited to confront the passion of our shared struggle. I can respond or attempt to avoid it. But this child will force the issue---that is the gift."

There is a gift in the anger that we feel when we see Ms. Davis at her worst; a chance to examine what we can do in all of our roles...as parents, teachers, coworkers, administrators, students...to prevent these kind of incidents, and to recognize our shared struggle in becoming better than who we are. There was no one in this sad situation that could not have done better. I am frankly surprised such outbursts are as infrequent as they are, especially with so much being asked of teachers and children, and less and less room in the day to form the relationships that can prevent this animosity. This interview might discourage people from entering the field where we are most needed as educators, but it also might stand to help better prepare us so these incidents will not be repeated:

Realistically, expect little support from outside: go into classrooms with your own supplies and resources. Inservice yourself creatively online and through professional reading. Get your rugs, your books, your plans as if you were entering a naked space; apparently, Davis did, and you may, too.
Find mentors in the building who have your back and who may advise you. Find them in cyberspace if you can't find them in your real place.
Make time in your week for conflict resolution meetings between the children (I have a prototype in my book; there are also many models available on-line).
Even in this economy, do not go to work in spaces where your safety and the safety of children is not at a premium. Ask at the interview what measures are taken to ensure the security of all, ask about the protocol for discipline. And if it fails you, you have to leave or make a change before it causes you to fail in a way that can end your career.
Take the time to prepare for classroom teaching; for all the feeling of emergency to do good, do not take shortcuts in training, avoid the trial by fire, and do not expect to be trained on the job. You can't learn everything in teacher preparation, it's true, but in a profession in which children's lack of prerequisite skills, poor parenting, ineffectual mandates by people with agendas outside of the development of children and neighborhood violence are all out of your control, how qualified you are to meet the needs of children is one of the few things that still remains in your control.
Bystanders are contributors to problems. Be an upstander if you see a coworker start to spiral. Little things: holding friends by the shoulders and counting, modeling deep breaths, herbal teas or chocolates in the mailbox, saying "STOP" firmly, task forces to constructively address problems arranged by teachers themselves all are ways to help remind your cohorts "this too shall pass" when you see signs of burnout...or meltdown.
Don't wait until the needle hits the red zone. Express disappointment and deliver consequences before you are really angry. Advocate for your needs and the needs of your charges before you are really angry. Once you are truly furious, you will no longer be able to make good choices. Act angry and organize around about the things you know will ultimately infuriate you before you hit your emotional flash point, and you can emerge as a leader rather than an example.

A New Look at Anne Frank

2010-03-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

Hey, guys, sorry I've been a bit of a flop keeping up with this blog, but I have been updating pretty regularly with children's book reviews at The PlanetEsme Plan, so I hope you've been checking that out!

I did want to let you know that there is a new PBS production of The Diary of Anne Frank set to air on April 11th, and teachers are invited to request free DVD's for classroom pre-screenings of the first hour of the program, as well take advantage of the opportunity to download or register to win more free resources through the Great Books Foundation website. This production is supposed to be "the most accurate adaptation ever," so I imagine it will be very powerful. Hankies at the ready!

Anne Frank is such an important figure in world history, literary history, women's history, and certainly children's history. Some other great resources as you put her life in a both a historical and currently relevant context for the modern classroom:

A link to the Anne Frank House and Museum in Amsterdam;

A link to the American Anne Frank Center;

The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center (Chicago Public School teachers, have you taken a field trip?);

The Teaching Tolerance website, full of great articles, lesson plans and resources for fostering compassion and anti-bias in your classroom community;

Great books like Jennifer Roy's amazing YELLOW STAR, told from the point of view of one of the twelve surviving children in the Lodz ghetto, as told by her real-life niece, every bit as important and readable by intermediate schoolchildren as Lois Lowry's celebrated Newbery winner about children involved in the Danish resistance, NUMBER THE STARS;

KING MATT THE FIRST, by Janusz Korczak, the story of a boy who runs a country of children by a Polish pediatrician and educator who ran children's homes/orphanages during WWII and who wrote this cliffhanging read-aloud for his charges. He was ultimately lost at Treblinka, along with the children he refused to abandon;

Doris Orgel's classic THE DEVIL IN VIENNA, a realistic, relatable piece of intermediate fiction about two best friends who find division and danger grow between them as the war gains momentum;

Susan Campbell Bartoletti's brave and important children's nonfiction offering, HITLER YOUTH, describing how Hitler was able to pull children into his terrible plan, and the brave children who dared to defy his will (another astounding work on this topic, geared more toward adults, is Marcus Zusak's novel THE BOOK THIEF);

HANA'S SUITCASE by Becky Levine, the story of the past and present colliding a Japanese woman's seeks to discover the identity of a child killed at Auschwitz, and bring her back to "life" for the children who visit the Tokyo Holocaust Education Resource Center. The true story reads like a puzzle, solved through diligence and love;

I NEVER SAW ANOTHER BUTTERFLY, poems and drawings collected from children at the Terezin concentration camp, which may be too heartbreaking for young readers but is important background, witness and testimony to the importance for peace for educators;

The movie PAPER CLIPS, an empowering and beautiful true story of children in a rural Tennessee school who create a moving Holocaust Memorial, suitable for classroom viewing;

Educators should also know about DEAR MISS BREED, the story of a librarian who strove to continue to be supportive of her youngest patrons via post during the time of Japanese internment;

And for my young readers, I did write a novel on the subject, VIVE LA PARIS, about an African American girl who first learns about the Holocaust from her piano teacher, and has to use the lessons to be her brother's keeper in modern times.

Even though it's not about WWII, I want to remind you of Ruby Bridges' unforgettable photobiography for children, THROUGH MY EYES, candidly told from the point of view of one of the girls who desegregated American schools, who dealt with terrifying prejudice in her own time. Ruby and Anne...two great young women who fought for a better world! A memorable lesson plan might be to compare and contrast their times and their trials, and to celebrate both of their contributions.

Hope these links are good for starters. The events of the historical period of WWII and any context of injustice are emotionally tough to teach, but as the adage goes, those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it, and that's the last thing we want for our children or any children. In the media, children are increasingly likely to hear degrading remarks in the adult interest of creating "the other." Help fortify children against the disease and dangers of hatred and bigotry with knowledge, and the ability to recognize it where it's born. In honor of Anne!!!

Britain's Smallest Library

2009-12-01T10:57:00.001-08:00

The definition of potato pedagogy (from How to Get Your Child To Love Reading): using what you have to make literacy and learning happen. Which begs the question: how many children's books would fit in a phone booth? Read all about it.

Picture from Associated Newspapers, Ltd.

The Write Stuff

2009-11-12T13:28:00.000-08:00

November is National Novel Writing Month, also known as "NaNoWriMo" to a number of scribes, with the challenge to put your money where your storytelling mouth is and pen 50,000 words in thirty days (and yes, they are supposed to be more or less in the right order, I asked). I participated in a January spin-off of this self-imposed literary boot camp through my regional SCBWI chapter and managed 31,141 words (but who's counting?). On the bright (and teacherly) side, this exciting, motivational program has a well-planned and comprehensive component for young writers, including the free downloads of Young Novelist Workbooks ("100% awesome, non-lame," they aren't kidding, I would have loved these in the sixth grade and I am itching to do them even now). Children are encouraged to set their own word-count goals,and I am proud to be one of this year's pep talkers, in auspicious company! This is a wonderful opportunity for kids to focus and be supported in their most prolific and spontaneous impulses to create! Just like Black History Month and Women's History Month and Poetry Month and Cupcake Eating Month (oh, no cupcake eating month? My mistake...burp!), you don't need a calendar date to celebrate or to begin.

Speaking of putting words in the right order, that's an awfully hard and subjective thing to teach, as you know. My goodness, it seems to take no time at all before children are completely smushed and squooshed up and all they care about is what other people think of what they have to say, writing to impress instead of express. So! I was ecstatic to come across this masterpiece, WHAT IT IS by Lynda J. Barry (Drawn and Quarterly). Some may call it a memoir or an art book but to us it will be no secret that this is a teaching book all the way, and a mighty inspired one, like "choir of angels singing when you crack the binding" inspired:

There are certain children who are told they are too sensitive, and there are certain adults who believe sensitivity is a problem that can be fixed in the way crooked teeth can be fixed and made straight. And when these two come together you get a fairy tale, a kind of story with hopelessness in it. I believe there is something in these old stories that does what singing does to words. They have transformational capablities, in the way melody can transform mood. they can't transform your actual situation, but they can transform your experience of it. We don't create a fantasy world to escape reality, we create it to be able to stay. I believe we have always done this, used images to stand and understand what otherwise would be intolerable. It seems that human beings everywhere understand that a child who is never allowed to play will eventually go mad. But how do we know this? And why do we know this? And what happens when we forget? -- Lynda J. Barry

(Thanks to Parka for the images!)

The first part of the book focuses very on Barry's own childhood and how she and what she learned as a child, and then she speaks to what she learned and unlearned as an adult, especially with the help of an arts educator named Marilyn Frasca who cleverly knew how to teach as much as by what went unspoken as what was said aloud. The grand finale is a generous and wild activity book that will help anyone who reads it squish and smush down anything that's been doing the squishing and smushing. Dedicated primly to a Miss Doris Mitchell (the photo on the last page will make you cry a little, you watch!), this is clearly a tribute to Barry's teachers, but in the process, Barry is revealed as a transformative teacher herself. Would somebody give this woman a MacArthur Grant already?! Seriously, what does it take! In the meantime, I recommend dusting off the ol' opaque projector and sharing some of these pages with kids (you will have favorites) or start saving for a classroom set. Children deserve to see what they are capable of creating. Teacher, read this and see what you, too, are a capable of creating...on paper, in the classroom, and in another person.

(And Lynda Barry, please come over for matzoh ball soup, the best way I know how to say "thanks.")

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween! There just aren't enough days in October to read all of the wonderful spooky stories available. Check out a few of them here! By my third year of teaching, I started reading them on October first.

I wanted to tell you about my favorite tradition I started in the school libraries where I worked: the Haunted House Contest! I ask students to make their own haunted houses out of cardboard boxes and bring them to the library during the weeks preceding Halloween. The only rules are: no blood, and no real food attached. The kids can work with friends if they want. Children come up with some pretty creepy creations, definitely "outside the box" over the years; one was a haunted apartment building (complete with working elevator), another was a haunted baseball stadium, and one was a haunted treehouse! Each day leading up to Halloween, the library grows spookier and spookier, looking more like a museum in Transylvania. Finally, all the children who participate are winners and get invited to a spooky storytelling party, where I fill a jack-o-lantern with a bowl of dry ice and water so it smokes like witches' brew and share some stories (here, I am holding up some Pale Green Pants With Nobody Inside "em while reciting Dr. Seuss's What Was I Scared Of?). Most recently I held this before school started so not to disrupt classroom schedules, so we had "Booooooks for Breakfast," with a full brunch, and they could decorate orange-colored cream cheese and bagels with jack-o-lantern faces using fruits and vegetables. Children also received candy-themed bookmarks and treats as they departed. The first year, I had 16 entries, but the most recent year I did it, I had 75 haunted houses in the library! Thanks again to all the parents who supported the program and helped to make it a success! It's late to try it now (you've been rather busy anyway, haven't you?) but something to keep in mind. Please do share your festivities! I think it is such a special day on the children's calendar. I know the media unfortunately plays up the horror aspects of it, but I look at it as a day when we celebrate children's imaginations, and their ability to conquer fears.

Sometimes people say, "Esme, it's a shame you left the classroom and went to the library." Frankly, that always seems to me like a sad and silly thing to say. Librarians can be teachers, too, and I always felt like in the library, I could be more of the teacher I wanted to be. I just used to the position to extend the language arts and fine arts curriculum. I wish someone had told me that this was possible in teacher training. So I'm telling you now.

Curious about the kind of things that school librarians do? Here's an assignment I just finished for library school that gives a hint. (Pardon the roughness; we are learning HTML coding and haven't hit cascading style sheets yet.)

Happy Halloween! Happy fall!

WRITE YOUR OWN TEACHING JOURNAL!

2009-10-14T07:31:00.000-07:00

"Take a photo of your inner self, for you will not always be the teacher you are now."

- from "Hit the Ground Running: Advice for Elementary Teachers," in the new edition of Educating Esmé

People are always coming up or e-mailing after reading Educating Esmé and saying to me, "boy, sister-girl, I could have written that book." Well, there's plenty of room on the shelf, people! The reason I sought to publish the diary was to begin a conversation about what works and doesn't work in education, so we can stop teaching with our doors closed. Keeping a diary opens a door, as does all of your writing, whether for publication, exercise or mental health. My experiences are different than yours, but together, we can share what's true. With that in mind, here are some starters for your own teaching journal:

Begin: I was somebody's hero today. Or: I was somebody's villain today. Or: I was somebody's friend today. Or: I was somebody's teacher today.
What you learned from your worst teacher.
Reflect: What do I have to share in the classroom that is unique? What will they remember about me?
Make a timeline of your reading--or math--or science--or teaching life story.
Who would you like to thank for where you are on your path?
Poem springboards:

- "Daydreams at a Teacher's Meeting"
- "Before the Day Begins"
- "Rules are Meant to be Broken"

Fantasize how a student's life could be different. What wish would you grant for that child if you could?
Come up with fake awards for the kids (cleanest desk, most nose-picking, most trips to the pencil sharpener?). Don't forget to come up with one for yourself!
Jot down lists:

- What you had for lunch;
- What you read aloud;
- Wish lists, shopping lists, sh*t lists
- What makes you laugh, and what makes you cry;

Two line observations of students.
Write a conversation with a parent or administrator as if it were a page from a play.
Write a "Dear Abby" letter of advice to your future self.
Reflect: "My runner up career." How can you bring that interest or other aspects of that work into the classroom now?
Fantasize: "My day off."
What you learned today!

A few words of advice about keeping a diary: keep a notebook in the bathroom. I know that sounds nasty, but appreciate that especially during the first year of teaching, that may be the only time you have to yourself. The other thing is, it's typical to start diaries and not to finish them, and people often feel bad about that. Don't beat yourself up if you don't have an entry every single day; even if you write something once every few months, over time, you'll be surprised by all that you can know about yourself, and how much change you can recognize. Finally, don't think about an audience. In a time of your life when you are doing so much to serve others, journal-keeping is for you, write for you. When I wrote what became Educating Esmé, I was not writing for publication, and I did not compose entries thinking anyone would read them (except for my great-grandchildren). If I had, the writing might have been very different. I would have been more mannered about expressing my exchanges with administration and and self-conscious about sharing my most personal (and sometimes ephemeral) thoughts. I would have written more about the accomplishments of my colleagues (there were many, definitely enough to fill a book) instead of focusing on my own isolation. I certainly would have chosen to make myself look more...uh...demure. Perhaps my profanity would not be written in caps.

From the real diary that became Educating Esmé

Instead, it is what it is. I can look at it and see an honest reflection of a year, with emotions that blow up to the size of weather balloons. I also appreciated that in writing the diary I managed to capture a fleeting picture of some children that I really came to love. Nowadays, everything is about "getting it out there," everything that's said has to be said to the whole world, immediately. But I'm glad and grateful for the little bit of time I spent using my most honest voice just for me. I hope that's something you'll do for yourself, too, wherever it leads, and whatever portions you decide to ultimately share in the interest of the profession.

This post is dedicated to the late and very great Dr. Ron Saiet, a professor I had at Northeastern Illinois University, who encouraged me so fervently to keep journals during my student teaching observations. Please feel free to share a diary entry of your own (anonymous posts welcome) or a link to a favorite teacher blog in the comments section below! Remember, if you need more inspiration you can listen to an abridged version of my diary for free by clicking here. Don't forget that your students can write alongside you, too; check out the great new children's books about reading and writing, including Esther Hershenhorn's S is for Story and John Perry's The Book That Eats People by clicking here, and springboards for childhood memoir writing for young and old based on my book Sing a Song of Tuna Fish by clicking here.

Give it a try! Nobody has to read it if you don't want them to, and it sure beats lesson planning. Happy writing, all!

Thanks to Vermeer, Cassatt, an unnamed Medieval artist, an unnamed photographer, Joseph Wright of Derby and David Teniers the Younger for the artwork.

FOOTAGE OF HELEN KELLER AND ANNE SULLIVAN

2009-10-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

A little inspiration for today: footage from 1930.

I know, I know...Annie Sullivan had only one student, and you probably have over twenty, maybe over thirty! Every teacher is called upon to be a special education teacher some of the time, and is afforded the chance of making a radical difference in someone's life. Prepare yourself to meet that challenge by checking out the excellent SERI gateway to on-line special education resources, to help you patiently and effectively individualize instruction to meet the unique needs of your students even in a crowded classroom.

MY HERO! THE POWER OF PICTURE BOOK BIOGRAPHY

2009-09-25T07:40:00.000-07:00

Picture book biographies are one of the strongest genres in contemporary children's literature. They can be read aloud across the grade levels, and they don't take long to share. Many focus on peacemakers, visionaries and artists, and so positively supplement a social studies curriculum that often follows a timeline of war. Imagine if you read aloud just one picture book biography to a child every week. By the end of the year, how many new heroes would that child have? How many new mentors? How many figures from history and around the world would that child know? There's only one way to find out! Check out the Biography Break site to discover enough recommended titles to inspire you and your class through an entire school year, reading one life story a week.

In terms of first-year teaching, it's also important to find heroes in history, because their example can serve as a makeshift mentorship when you are on your own with the kids every day. My personal hero is John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed. The anniversary of his birth (September 26) falls this weekend, and is considered a "high holiday" in my family and classroom traditions, but I talk about him all year long (just ask my patient friends). He was a remarkable person, a visionary and an inspiration. Though he was a spiritual man with very distinct beliefs founded in the Swedenborg Christian sect, through a focus on trying to manifest the love of a greater power he was able to share with and inspire the secular world (not unlike another hero, Mister Rogers). He is remembered as an extraordinary storyteller, and I think of him as a pioneer librarian, too; he would take the texts of books he liked, rip them (gasp!) into chapters, and circulate them among his pioneer neighbors. Though the details of his life are sometimes mixed with legend, there is one thing I feel in true: every day, he planted at least one seed, and by doing one small thing every day consistently, he changed the landscape of our nation. I believe that read-aloud is one small "seed" we can plant, and by sharing a book with a child every day, we, too, can change the landscape of our nation. I hope we can all pause for just a moment on this special date and think of what we can commit to doing consistently, in his memory and in the interest of our wonderful country. Each year, we make a "Johnny Appleseed" pledge, kind of like a new year's resolution, describing one small thing each of us can do every day that could strengthen our country, and we seal it with an "apple stamp" from an apple cut in half and dipped in tempera paint. Mine always has to do with sharing children's books, but the children have great ideas: "use less electricity." "Say thank you every day." "Be nice to my sister so my mom doesn't feel bad."

To celebrate a Johnny Appleseed Anniversary of your own, check out these links and resources:

A booklist and activities at PlanetEsme.com;
Great links at KinderArt.com;
A great apple story to tell children with a surprise at the end: The Little Red House;
Apple pie recipe in the back of How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman;
Expand a storytime with women planters celebrated in Barbara Cooney's Miss Rumphius, Janet Anderson's Sunflower Sal, and Jeanette Winter's Wangari's Trees of Peace;
Learn the "Johnny Appleseed" song a la Disney here (hey, that's a pretty clean cut look there, Johnny! I always imagined him more like a sweet, grungy hippie, myself) or a real world chorus here on YouTube. Atheists, agnostics or nervous public school teachers, you can sing "the world is good to me," though in the interest of cultural literacy, it's worth noting that the original lyrics are probably more in line with Chapman's beliefs.

Also, do you know about this amazing apple-peeling tool, often known as the "Apple Machine"? I just love this thing! It has allowed me to make apple pies on Johnny Appleseed days with groups of thirty children or more all participating; you just pop on the apple, turn the crank, and the peel comes away in a long, lovely ribbon. Though a grown-up still should supervise, there are no big, exposed blades. I have two of them, for maximum pie-making efficiency (and more crank-turning turns for everyone)!

Lastly, on a personal note: last year I was inducted as an honorary member of the Johnny Appleseed Society at Urbana University. I was very proud, because this organization does such a wonderful job of preserving the ideals and history of this singular man. I have written a new children's book celebrating what we can learn from Johnny Appleseed in our modern times...with a mystery illustrator! It should be out in a year or so from Greenwillow books, I'm very excited! Until then, hope you can have a little happy Appleseed every day!

And who is your American hero (besides your mom or dad ;-)? Please share in the comments below.

Biography break photo credit to Kent Kriegshauser.
Johnny Appleseed storytime photo credit to Stacy Buehler.

THE FACTUAL (AND FICTIONAL) LIVES OF TEACHERS

2009-09-24T07:34:00.000-07:00

An apple to author Bonnie Becker for writing some of the finest first pages of teacher fiction!:

Ms. Plum had the best class in Springtime Elementary.
On a table by the window in warm, clean cages, Clyde, the hamster, skittered and chattered while a brown toad named Hip-Hop softly slumbered. They were nice animals and let everyone pet them.
On the walls hung posters that showed interesting things like the world's biggest milk shake. It was banana and filled a swimming pool! On the shelves well-loved books lay in cozy piles.
Ms. Plum's desk held a vase of plum flowers, and hourglass with plum-colored sand, and a basket. You can guess what was in the basket!
But the best thing of all about Ms. Plum's room was the supply closet. Inside, the wooden shelves sagged with colored paper, jars of crayons, bottles of glue, comic books, rulers and rubber bands. It smelled of chalk and chocolate and something lovely no one could ever quite name.
On this particular day, the day before the first day of school, Ms. Plum stood inside this closet, talking about her new third-grade students. But who was she talking to?
"Oh, indeed," said Ms. Plum in her practical way to the paper and gum and sparkly markers. "They will be wonderful. Hopers and dreamers, helpers and schemers, jokers and heroes. I can't wait to meet each and every one."
The crayons didn't say anything. The erasers were silent, too. School supplies make very good listeners, but they never say much back.
Even so, there were odd murmurs and rustlings from the very back of the closet, where the dark was as soft as black velvet.

Talk about creating an anticipatory set! The full review of The Magical Ms. Plum is here (along with reviews of other fine classroom fiction, including Andrew Clements' new read-aloud masterpiece EXTRA CREDIT), but reading these pages made me wonder: How are you doing? It's been about a month since school began. Is your closet full of wooden shelves sagging with colored construction paper, or is it full of you, hiding? In my coat closet, I would always keep a glossy photograph of Ann Miller, the lovely, leggy, brassy MGM movie star who was never caught without a smile. No matter how I was feeling, I would try to imitate her enigmatic grin before greeting the children, to get us all on the right foot, no matter what had happened the day before.

Some of the most important pieces of advice in the new section of Educating Esme are to think about why you are a teacher in terms of what you have to share. The new guide talks about creating a time capsule of your intentions that you can refer to when you need to regroup and remind yourself of the teacher you meant to be; a teacher "hope chest" of sorts. A month into the school year, are you bringing to the classroom what you uniquely can impart, or are your intentions already sidelined by management and mandates? Are the children all in their places with bright smiling faces, or almost, except for the one swearing at you, or the one who has been absent for three days and you can't get hold of the parents, or...never mind. Do you think Ann Miller felt like smiling every day? Sometimes you've got to fake it until you make it, as they say. We tell ourselves stories about what teaching will be like, but it takes a lot of work to make the facts match the best of the fiction. As teachers, we appreciate (more than the average bear) the power of a self-fulfilling prophecy, and so we must make sure we continue to expect the best from ourselves as well as the children. So put on those plum-colored glasses (they look so lovely on you!) and be as unrealistic as you need to be in terms of telling the story of the great and beautiful things you expect from yourself and your charges. I hope you are having fun, finding and bringing a little of your true self into the classroom everyday, but when it's rough, remember: you get a new day tomorrow, and another chance to greet your hopers and dreamers, helpers and schemers, jokers and heroes with a smile.

Find some more inspiration in the amazing list of 100 Cool Teachers in Children's Literature compiled by the bookmark worthy teacher/booklover blog, A Year of Reading. Which teacher is your favorite? Which one is most like YOU?

Share in the comments section, and you'll be entered in this week's free giveaway for a copy of How to Get Your Child To Love Reading.
Miss Binney from Ramona the Pest by Beverly Cleary, illustrated by Louis Darling, 1968.
Miss Viola Swamp from Miss Nelson is Missing! by Harry Allard, illustrated by James Marshall, 1985.

HAPPY BACK TO SCHOOL IN CHI-TOWN (AND BEYOND)!

2009-09-08T19:23:00.000-07:00

"I gave them my speech about how mean I was and how I've taught football players and cowboys and dinosaurs and Martians, so a few fifth graders aren't too challenging, but I need the money, so I'd give it a shot."

- Educating Esme, page 26

Mad love today to all my Chicago Public School friends and everyone who started with the children today! So, how did you introduce yourself when you first met the children whom it was your destiny to teach? How did it go? You can introduce yourself here, too, I'm so excited to meet all my buddies in cyberspace (and don't forget, your comments are entries in the How to Get Your Child To Love Reading giveaway). Did you get your apple yet? If not, please take one from this bushel...you deserve it. And if it all didn't go as perfectly as planned, don't worry, you're not alone. Check out the outstanding post at Yeah, That'll Teach You a Lesson: Ten Rookie Mistakes of a First Year Teacher.

TEACHER, TELL ME WHAT YOU SEE?

2009-09-07T07:15:00.000-07:00

It’s the first day of school, and I can hardly wait
To meet my teachers for the year.
I wonder if they’ve heard what I was like before,
What kind of stories did they hear?

'Cuz I’ve had a lot of problems
With some of my teachers in the past.
But this is gonna be a great year.
At least I hope it is at last!

And when I finally meet my teachers,
When that school bell rings today
I’m gonna ask them just one question
And I wonder what they’ll say...

“Teacher, tell me what you see...
Won’t you tell me what you see?
Teacher, tell me what you see ... in me !”

Okay, are you crying? That song always chokes me up. I admit, my iPod is generally populated with Beck and Broadway musicals, but Jerry Mills' meaningful music has made its way into my heart. I met Jerry this past spring at the New York State Reading Association conference where he gave the moving keynote, "Don't Doubt the Dream." He's an incredible speaker, don't miss him if you get the chance, or invite him to your school!

"What You See" is a fresh alternative to Whitney Houston's "Greatest Love of All," which seems to be the reigning anthem of Chicago Public School teachers (though I still think Whitney might win as a choice for teachers at karaoke bars). I also love the PS 22 version of the Velvet Underground's "I'll Be Your Mirror," and the Langley School Project's Innocence and Despair is as necessary to a teacher's CD collection as Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon is to...I don't know, whoever listens to Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon.

What songs are on your teacher playlist? And what do you see when you look out upon your classroom?

SETTING UP YOUR MOST INSANELY BEAUTIFUL CLASSROOM (EVER, OF ALL TIME)

2009-09-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

"The older teachers shook their heads and told me my room looked overstimulating, which means they are totally jealous because I have the most insanely beautiful classroom ever, of all time...I'm sorry, this room is so fun, it's sickening. I feel sorry for any kid who is not is this room."
--Educating Esmé, page 25

This quote makes me laugh a little bit now, for a couple of reasons. After having more years of teaching under my belt, I realize my experienced colleagues were probably right. There is truth in the notion that it may be best not showing all of your cards and pulling out all your stops the very first week. Some children really are distracted by lots clutter or color. Most importantly, an environment should feature contributions by the children, not just be your personal art show. That said, I also met many experienced colleagues who also made "the most insanely beautiful classroom ever, of all time!" I can't help but think of a teacher I met on the road many years ago who advised, "When you set up your classroom, you should set it up as if preparing for a deity." Whatever your faith background, it's easy to appreciate the preciousness of the children we serve, and the hope that the little child shall lead...that potential is part of why we're there, and I do think it is appropriate to set the tone for their arrival with a sense of celebration. It's also a celebration of how hard you have worked to be there, too, you first-year superstar!

Here are a couple of real world teachers who pull their rooms together with panache:

I always think of being a teacher as being a professional sharer, and wow, Mrs. Beth Newingham in Troy, Michigan really is one heck of professional. She created a crazy helpful generous website with tons of photos, clearly using themes to build community in her classroom. Look at her room during last year's sports theme. Who wouldn't want to be on Team Newingham? I do feel sorry for any kid who is not in this room. Visit her themes and then explore the whole site to remember why this is what we decided to be when we grew up.

Look at Mrs. Spurgeon's Kindergarten in Del Lago! Clearly a garden where children grow and grow.

Inspiring, huh? Newbies, you don't have to reinvent the wheel if you check out Mitch Katz's sample classroom floor plans, and you can channel your inner Nate Berkus with this "classroom architect" tool.

As you put your room together, consider the big "reveal" of the incredible chocolate room in the original Willie Wonka movie with Gene Wilder. Do you remember being a kid, saying "ooooh!" when there the camera panned across the whole delicious scene? The opening of the door was the beginning of a world of possibility. Overstimulating? Yeah, maybe. So what? Whether you dress you classroom for success in the spirit of Meis van der Rohe or a disco rave or somewhere in between, let it reflect a piece of your style and your enthusiasm and your welcome. Work your inner Wonka. Build a world using your imagination, and it can only inspire the children to use theirs. And anyone who takes a picture of their classroom and shares with a link or describes their classroom set-up idea in the comments section below will be entered in this week's drawing for a copy of How to Get Your Child to Love Reading. Good luck!

HELLO, HELLO, HELLO AND HOW ARE YOU?

2009-09-03T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hi, everybody! Thank you so much for stopping by this new blog for elementary educators who want to gear up, cheer up and change the world. I'm the author of Educating Esmé: Diary of a Teacher's First Year. This blog is my way of celebrating the diary's reissue this fall, and saying a small "thank you" to all the wonderful, hard-working people who read it. Student teachers, new teachers, veterans and retirees...my community has broadened as a result of the book, and I hope that through this blog, yours can, too. The purpose of this blog is for new teacher support and all-teacher camaraderie, not for personal Q&A (my favorite color is orange), flaming or flattering my books (Goodreads at your service), or any lengthy academic diatribes (unless we feel like it). I know teachers are short on time, so I hope this work-in-progress will be a quick stop for ideas, support, inspiration, links, how-to's, smiles, recommendations, teacher friendship and a place where you can feel free to comment and say, "hey! I did a great job today!"

I do want to use this first entry to answer two of the most common questions I receive. "So what have you been up to since the diary came out? Did you quit teaching?" Even though the book ends after my second year of working with the Chicago Public Schools, I worked for several years in the schools after that. When Educating Esmé came out, I resigned my position in order to work on other projects and realize other dreams, including national advocacy for literature-based learning and read-aloud. I spent a joyful year homeschooling my son, taught full-time at a private, progressive school, wrote several novels for preteen readers and a guide to children's literature, and started the PlanetEsme Bookroom, an independent venture in Chicago in which I opened a storefront salon and resource collection of about twelve thousand children's books and offered free programming for my community. During this time, I also started The PlanetEsme Plan, a blog that recommends the best brand spanking new children's books, and some oldies but goodies as well...I hope you'll check it out, back-to-school books are posted now! Currently, I am in graduate school for library science, and then I will continue my work in education, teacher support and the world of children's books. Vive la lifelong learning!

The second, more important question I am asked is, "do you have any advice for first year teachers?" The answer is "sure!" I have compiled twenty-five of my very best, most pragmatic hints in the new edition of Educating Esmé (as well as a handy-dandy new teacher shopping checklist), and we will be discussing many of my suggestions here on this blog in the coming weeks, so I hope you'll revisit the book with the new material and contribute to the conversation. Speaking of weeks, every week for the next several of them, I will be giving away a free copy of the big honking resource How To Get Your Child to Love Reading to someone who comments on this blog (chosen at random). For starters, I put the question to you: what is the best piece of advice you have for a new teacher, or that you have received? Pros, please share your expertise! Newbies, even if you haven't been in the trenches, bequeath the best advice you've gotten so far, or what you wish you could have told someone else! Homeschoolers, please contribute your unique insight!

And before signing off, may I please share three links of special interest?

Teachers.net, a major, mega, teacher-centered cyber-metropolis that offers chatboards, job postings, lesson plans, on-line mentorship and more. Every first year teacher needs this bookmarked!
Ellen Moir's Phases of First-Year Teaching. Fasten your seat belt...but know you are not alone.
My abridged diary on audio, free for your listening pleasure. Produced by Jay Allison with Christina Egloff for their "Life Stories" series and Chicago Public Radio.

And one last thing: a special thank you to Katherine Paterson, legendary author of classic books such as BRIDGE TO TEREBITHIA and THE GREAT GILLY HOPKINS and the soon-to-be-released DAY OF THE PELICAN for writing the new foreword to the book. I have not stopped pinching myself!

Happy September, everyone! Glad to mark you "present."

Links are provided for informational use. Don't forget to support your local bookseller.
Thanks to friends in Galesburg for the photo and the Miss Pointy artwork.
Thanks to Stacy Buehler for the storytime photo.
PlanetEsme.com poster by Jim Pollock.
Thanks to Melissa Jacot for her assistance.
More Esmé stuff at www.planetesme.com.