Looking back at the events of the past week I can honestly say that I am thankful for my students. I often tell my friends and colleagues what great middle school students I have in my building, as most are middle school-phobic.

The most amazing thing happened last week to solidify my beliefs.

Last week was the birthday of a special needs student in my building. This student is one of the sweetest children in my building, however he does not have a “group” of friends, due to his disability.

As I was wandering the halls, I ventured upon a group of eighth graders putting a birthday sign on one of the lockers. This custom allows students to write polite birthday notes and wishes to that student.

This sign was marvelous, it was by and large one of the most creative and decorative signs I have seen. There was student art work on it as well as some color prints, all congratulating this child.

Every word written was positive and pleasant.

To add to the reason for my being thankful, the entire cafeteria sang this child Happy Birthday during lunch. It was touching.

The most gratifying thing came at the end of the day as the child carefully folded the sign up to bring home. A memory to cherish.

I am thankful for my students, they reflect the best that kids of this age can be.

As I look back I guess I am a writer because I do write almost every day.

I have moved beyond the research papers of my college days (which I have to admit I thoroughly enjoyed doing) to writing for the purposes of communication. In my job as a Middle School Principal I mostly write memo’s, business letters, and friendly letters.  If it wasn’t for computers-email and word processing-I would struggle, as pen and paper writing is not pleasant to me.

Creative writing is daunting for me, I even took a course in college in order to improve this style of writing.  It was harder than Calculus!  I still dabble in the creative realm, writing a poem or two, but I don’t share those pieces.  The technical end of writing is what I enjoy the most.  Give me a research paper any day.

In the past couple of years I have begun to write in a different manner, which came about when a friend of mine introduced me to blogging.  I enjoy writing blog entries but always wonder if what I have to say has an audience, and moreover if I am presenting my thoughts well.

Despite my reservations I continue to blog, and to my surprise there are people who read my words and even a few who comment on my writings.  I would like to develop a better sense of voice but that takes time.  This blogging challenge has been my inspiration and has given me a reason and topics to right on (thank you for that).  It seems I am always late, as I struggle with the deadlines.

Me, a writer?

Yes, I think I am.

When, as a middle school principal, I have one of those days and they do happen there is a place I love to go to get that pick me up.

Believe it or not, it’s my cafeteria during lunches. I know it sounds crazy but lunch duty is a smile maker and a stress breaker.

Walking around and chatting with any number of the sixth through eighth graders, about almost anything does my soul wonders. Perhaps it is the sixth graders who still have a sense of elementary innocence and talk about everything. Maybe it’s the seventh graders and their silly, playful nature. Then again the eighth graders have a more sophisticated sense of humor and converse in a manner that foreshadows their transition to adulthood.

Either way I love the energy, the joyous noise and just being with the young adults in my building.

Lunch duty is the little thing I need to just make my day!

• I walked into a classroom Friday and noticed the students doing some sort of theatrical play in short takes. I was so intrigued I went back today and learned it is called a Frozen Tableau. This class of Middle School Social Studies students were working from a summary of text and information and doing still life plays with a narrator. Every one was engaged, even those students who are not regularly involved. It was amazing.

• Further down the hall a group of Middle School ELA students were learning using IPADS, guided by a Literacy Coach working in collaboration with 2 teachers. The students were eager to use this cutting edge technology, and were quick to adapt. This was all taking place in a classroom where, only three years ago, the teacher preferred not to employ technology. Truly uplifting.

• As I moved upstairs I found groups of students sitting in the hallway reading books and working on tasks within their literature circles. Inside the room the teacher was just finishing her conference with one group of students who were deeply involved with their discussion. Reading for enjoyment and yet working on a series of comprehension and writing activities.

• One of the Social Studies classed were making Pop up books to help them summarize their learning. It turned out to be a great hands on way to incorporate writing, and images to solidify students learning of the big concepts.

I am a mathematician, really I am.

I went to college and received a degree in Mathematics, so that makes me a mathematician.

For 15 years I shared my knowledge and love of math with students, as I taught math (and loved everyday of it). Now that my time as a math teacher is done I still use mathematics.

• I use logic and problem solving strategies when I write the master schedule for my school. These same skills come into play whenever I need to plan events that alter the normal schedule.
• I use math (mostly arithmetic) when I develop and manage my yearly budget. This actually takes up a great deal of my time during the middle and end of the school year.
• Given the large amounts of data and statistics I get from the piles of tests we are required to give the students, I use my knowledge of statistics, analysis and prediction a lot. I have to understand what the numbers are saying and how to develop plans to improve the learning and achievement in my school.

There is more….I use math at home as well. When I do home projects I usually rely on some geometry (imagine using something that is 3000 years old to solve a problem today!). I also use arithmetic and a bit of algebra now and then as well.

Background:

As I begin another school year I ask my staff to set professional learning goals and I set a few for myself.

My goals are:

1. To utilize technology to enhance collaboration and communication among the staff in my building.
2. To learn more about Content Area Literacy in order to lead the change in my building to have a culture where it is in the forefront.

The Question:

Regardless of your profession, career path or education–What are your goals?  What are do you hope to learn this year?

I really enjoy Science Fiction and Fantasy. I have read nearly everything Issac Asimov has written, loved Dune by Frank Herbert and enjoy almost everything Terry Brooks has written.

As a balance I read professionally as well. Most recently it is blogs, I probably follow too many! I read Educational Leadership and try to read a book on education each month or two. Currently I am becoming more fluent in my understanding of Literacy in both the tradition sense and in the sense of 21st Century Literacy.

I cannot imagine not reading.  In my building (I am a middle school principal) I enjoy talking to the kids about books they read and offer titles.  They also offer titles to me, which of course I read and enjoy.  I have found that I have immense power and influence over their reading habits, by simply chatting about books.  I mentions Maximum Ride, by James Patterson, and the books flew off of the library shelves, no pun intended.

The app allows me to create electronic documents to use for data gathering as I walk around my building.

Pluses:

• Highly adaptable (pull-down, timers, checklists, text boxes)
• No need for Internet access (it resides on you iPod touch or iPhone)
• Results can be emailed

Minuses:

• You cannot load staff names in by import, they must be hand entered
• The data emailed is delimited text that must be imported into excel or some other program.

All in all it works out well enough. The negatives aside it gives me a flexible data gathering tool that can work in schools or in any other are data might need to be gathered on a hand held device.

It turns out that they were working on a project for a friends grade 10 English project regarding Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.

The friends, all boys dressed in red or blue, had their play weapons and a small flip camera on a tripod. Their task was to reenact, and interpret, one of the final scenes of Romeo and Juliet.  The boys created a alternate ending where Juliet dies in a terrible fire, and the final battle (orchestrated by the Friar to end to life long fued) is down with their Air Soft guns.

In the end we have 8 boys totally engaged in an activity that shows comprehension, understanding, uses current technology while working with classic literature.

I had to search Youtube.com to find the video and found a wide variety of student created parodies.

If you are interested the link is Romeo and Juliet Reanactment/Parody.

Imagine that, boys engaged in Romeo and Juliet!

Many districts across New York have had to come to grips with either massive staff cuts or massive tax levies. This is due to the fact that the state has cut our aid and has yet to pass a budget so districts know what they are working with.

I have had the privilege of working with a superintendent, board of education and union who were able to work together to create a budget that the community should be able to shoulder, trim so costs and avoid layoffs. unfortunately this seems to be the exception, not the rule.

I am confounded with those who want and believe education will get a bailout. In today’s local paper the president of the city teacher’s union is expecting a federal bailout to save jobs. Although I am all for preventing layoffs to preserve class sizes and educational programs I have a few questions.

Have they not learned from the last one? Another temporary bandage will not do. What do we do when the money goes away, who will pay those bills?

If the government, federal or state, does come up with another bailout it better be done in a purposeful manner.   It should be focused on those districts in dire need, the poor, under achieving districts that may be gutted by cuts. A plan should be required from the districts  making them more financially independent and secure.