Teacher of the Year

Being A Brighton Teacher

It is the last week of school and as I put on my bright yellow-gold Brigthon t-shirt with burgundy lettering, I thought about how many months I had this shirt before I wore it to school. I really can not explain why I did not wear the shirt since purchasing it last fall because on Fridays most of the teachers wear a Brighton t-shirt. I remember the many Thursday nights I looked at this shirt hanging in my closet and thought I just can not wear it yet. It was not that I was not proud of my school, but I thought the teachers would resent my wearing “their” shirt. I felt so out of place and considered that by wearing the shirt I was somehow forcing myself on the faculty; a faculty I had brought more attention to than I ever intended. I finally got up the courage to wear my Brighton shirt. I was so relieved when several of my colleagues commented that the shirt was a good color for me. I know they meant this comment literally, but I hope it also meant I was finally becoming a Brighton teacher.

I have learned much about what it means to be a Brighton teacher this year. I have learned you have to be realistic about having a failing label and accept accountability for the academic needs. Brighton teachers are asked to work long hours and adapt to new programs and schedules with little input. Brighton teachers have to be extremely flexible as our school is in a state of constant change to find the best practices that work. Brighton teachers are often called on to defend our school and the longtime unjust reputation. Brighton teachers have to strive to maintain high expectations and not yield to the negative culture of poverty and failure. Brighton teachers have the awesome responsibility of being a stable force in the lives of Brighton children.

Two weeks ago, our school had our Southern Accreditation Five-Year Review. In the final conference with the visiting team of evaluators, the chair of the team shared with the teachers a very positive report and concluded with what the students had said in their interviews. The chair looked at the teachers and said “Your students love you.” She went on to say quite passionately that each child’s response about what they liked best about the school was -their teachers. As I looked through my own tears at my colleagues, I saw the same reaction to her statement. One teacher had tears streaming down her face, others had tear filled eyes and a few had shaky smiles. It was one of the most emotional moments of my teaching career because this is why we do what we do, it is for the children and the hope that we can bring. At Brighton, like in other high-need populations, school is so often the very best place for our students. At school our children are safe, warm, fed, and nurtured as well as taught. This is truly the calling of a Brighton teacher to make a difference in the life of a child that maybe no one else will or can make such efforts. It takes a special person to become and remain a Brighton teacher. I am so proud to be Brighton teacher and to wear my yellow-gold Brighton shirt with the burgundy letters.

This year has been the hardest year of my professional career. I do not think I have ever been on so many emotional roller coasters. I have learned so much and I know I am a better teacher today than I was last August on the opening day of school. Our school is ending with a positive note due to several events. Our young children have shown significant gains on the state mandated reading test. One of our kindergarten classes benchmarked at 100%! This has been so exciting to see the rewards of hard work. In our Five-Year Review, the committee stated that our school should be a model demonstration site for school improvement. This has been my vision from the first day I walked inside Brighton School and I now see this becoming a reality. I look forward to continuing this upward journey next year. I have high expectations for what will be accomplished at Brighton. I plan to remain at Brighton for the last four years of this part of my teaching career. I will continue to use my teacher voice for the inequities in education. I have adopted a new quote for my philosophy that all children deserve an equal chance. The quote comes from the book,Whatever It Takes, the authors quote Rick Stiggins who states as educators, our motto should be “Do not deprive of hope.” I am going to take this on for all the “Brightons” as simply, “ Do not deny hope.”

Last year, I had the most incredible year in my travels as National Teacher of the Year. One day last May, I was sitting in a beautiful, corner room at the Ritz Carlton in New York City, eating my room service lunch, and enjoying the view. I thought next year when I am back in a school, I will remember this day. Well, I am back in the lunchroom eating grilled cheese, watching the antics of young children, and it feels so good to be home because Brighton is where I belong.

This is my last post and I want to thank you so much for your comments. So many of you have spent your careers in high need schools and I felt very driven to represent your years of work in a deserving manner. I am very appreciative of the opportunity to be a voice for teachers. I wish you continued success in your work and thank you for the difference your making in the lives of children all across our country and in other parts of the world.

Growing Our Own

In my first entry, I wrote about my choice to work at Brighton was based on my belief that we need to recruit our strongest teachers to our most needy schools. I still believe this, but realistically I realize we need to consider other options. I now see the need as some would say “ to grow our own”. The reality of recruiting teachers to schools labeled failure is very difficult. I know we have a need for highly accomplished, veteran teachers. However as one teacher responded to my previous entry on recruitment, established teachers do not easily pull up stakes and change schools.

In the last few weeks, I have watched our faculty come together for our Southern Accreditation Review. Although this process is tedious, it has been a good time for our teachers to come together for a common cause. I have seen real teacher leadership evolve. As I have watched this take place, I have realized this group of educators could really make this transformation happen. I know it will take continuing the practices we have implemented this year and adding more next year. In other words, the hard work will be long-lasting. However, I believe most of these teachers because of their investment in the school have the desire to do whatever it takes. There are several teachers in the school who have expressed to me that they were as we say in the South, “called to come to Brighton”. I share this calling.

I am very pleased about one program we are going to pilot next year. The first National Board Certified Teacher in our school system has agreed to pilot a National Board Pre-Candidacy Program she created. Four young teachers in my school have already committed to this program. Going through the NBPTS process was truly a turning point in my teaching practice. This process of analyzing and reflecting upon my work as a teacher and understanding the impact my work had on student learning enabled me to become the professional educator I so aspired to be. The NBPTS core propositions have become embedded in my own philosophy of education. The National Board set new standards for me that challenge me every day in my work. I know what this can mean to the young teachers in my school to become NBCT. Hopefully by providing a meaningful pre-candidacy experience, they will decide to complete the entire process. This will help grow teacher leaders in my school.

Last week, our school was visited by twelve administrators from another school system. They heard of our success with one of our new reading programs and wanted to see this first-hand. I was so proud to show off our teachers. The teachers have worked so hard to learn this new program and it was so affirming for their efforts to be recognized. In one class, the visiting group gave a round of applause for an outstanding lesson and absolutely amazing reading responses by six-year old children. What wonderful way for our teachers to be acknowledged!

Maybe, we will recruit some very strong, veteran teachers for our few openings. Realistically, we may not, but I am now convinced of the possibility of growing our own to lead our school.

I continue to be challenged and encouraged by your comments. Please continue to respond. I would love to hear from National Board Teachers about the possibility of growing our own.

Sense of Urgency

Last week, I had the privilege of presenting at a conference in the northern part of my state. This not only is a beautiful part of Alabama, but the schools in this area are outstanding. During my presentation I stopped several times to ask the teachers if they were involved in some of the efforts that are ongoing at my school. Their responses were no to most of what I asked. As I looked out at this very energetic group of teachers, I felt a twinge of jealousy. This group looked as fresh as they did when I spoke to them at the beginning of the year. While I on the other hand, look frazzled and exhausted and I am not alone in this. A topic of conversation in our school office this past week was our current state of exhaustion and what vitamins we all need to take. Very simply, our staff is worn out.

I am not saying this outstanding group of teachers in these highly successful schools are not working hard because it is quite evident they are. However, they have something our school lacks and that is the tradition of success rather than a sense of urgency. It must be a wonderful relief to go to work and know that you are going to be successful that day. I have not often had that feeling this year, instead I live with a burden of urgency about the academic needs of our students. In my school, we are probably on improvement plan “one hundred and one”. This year, the teachers in my school have really been troopers as we have revised schedules, implemented new programs, deleted old programs, changed instruction, followed state mandates, while continually being observed and evaluated. This is very hard work and the hardest part is not knowing if we are truly on the right path.

One thing I can say is that I am a better teacher now because of all of the training our school has engaged in this year. For instance, I thought I knew a lot about teaching reading. This year I learned more than ever through explicit training from reading program consultants and our reading coaches. There is one advantage of being labeled low-performing, you get a substantial amount of money for professional development. Our school has used this money wisely this year. I have also had the privilege of attending conferences focused on school improvement. In March, I attended the Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory’s Forum on School Reform. I was so impressed and renewed as I listened to school superintendents from across our country share the reforms going on in their districts and the enthusiasm they had as instructional leaders. This was quite inspiring to me to see school leaders so involved in daily classroom instruction in their local schools and to hear them share the types of professional development their teachers are offered. Unlike the mind set that still exits in some districts that effective professional development is to bring in an over-priced, motivational speaker to give teachers an hour pep talk. This an insult to those of us who are so intensely committed to school improvement and an embarrassment to our profession. There are so many educators across our country who are engaged in significant work that is changing schools and teachers are hungry for this new knowledge.

My hope for my school next year is that our sense of urgency will be replaced with a sense of success. I see success scattered throughout our school. I witnessed this in a first grade class as the students cheered for a classmate after learning she had benchmarked on the state reading test. This was an substantial accomplishment for this student and a result of her hard work and a dedicated teacher. I glimpsed success as I watched several kindergarten students leading center time in their classroom by helping their classmates decode words and encourage each correct response. I celebrated the joy of success as I observed two teachers applauding for each other as they successfully blended words using a specific strategy new to them. Their smiles acknowledging this accomplishment were contagious. These successes are what we can build on to encourage our staff as we continue to improve our school. I do not think we will ever completely lose this sense of urgency and this can be a good thing to keep us motivated to discover the best practices. I just hope next year this sense of urgency will be balanced with the feeling of victory.

Today is Mother’s Day and I would be remiss if I did not pay tribute to the women in my family who have had such a profound influence on my life’s work. For years, the story has been told how my grandmother taught in the hills of Alabama at the age of sixteen. Her two sisters followed her into the teaching profession. They all three had to quit teaching when they married because of the regulations of the times. They continued to use their teaching skills in their church work. My mother joined their ranks as a Sunday School teacher, teaching seven and eight year-old children for over 50 years. As a child, I spent many hours attending their Sunday School planning meetings. Their commitment to provide quality and inspiring lessons in a caring environment for the many young children they taught in Sunday School greatly influenced the standards I have set for myself as a teacher. I think my grandmother and great aunts would be pleased to know where I am teaching today. This family tradition continues as my oldest son is a first year teacher at Whitwell High School in Whitwell, Tennessee. This makes me a very proud mother.

Please continue to send in your comments.

Keeping Good Teachers

Last week, I wrote about recruiting teachers to my school. This week my thoughts are turning to how do we keep good teachers in my school or any hard to staff school. One word comes to mind - support.

As I reflect on this year and the support that has been given to our school, it is a very mixed bag. From our State Department of Education, we have been given significant support. As a result of our school’s label of low-performing, our State Department of Education sent a Peer Assistant to our school. This veteran teacher has been a powerful and positive force in our school this year. Even though, she was the deliverer of the state mandates, she was able to present these requirements in such a way that she created a strong sense of assistance for our faculty. Our school was also visited by our State Superintendent and our Deputy Superintendent. These visits meant so much to me personally and demonstrated the interest and concern our State Department has for our school.

From my own district, I had dreamed of a team effort from our content area supervisors on how to best improve our school. However, this did not happen. In defense of my school system, it is a very large system and due to a financial crisis a few years ago, our district office has a staffing shortage. Our school received tremendous support from our Federal Programs Director and those who work in her department. I do not know how we would have survived if it had not been for the intense assistance from our district’s reading coach. In addition, our District Superintendent gave a strong verbal commitment to address the needs of our school for next year. This is very encouraging.

Our school has received effective outside support from local universities, civic organizations, educational companies, and other schools. All of this has contributed to a feeling that many people really care about our school. However, there have been many days I have felt like I was on an island and I am sure my principal and fellow teachers share this feeling. I have watched my principal become so discouraged after being denied the support she needed to carry out her hopes for our school. This hurts.

The area of support I feel is most lacking is the support that comes from within the school; the support you receive from your colleagues. I may feel like this because I am still on the outside looking in. However, I do not sense the collegiality I had in my former school. Seven years ago, I suffered the most traumatic event of my life when I lost my 46 year-old husband to a massive heart attack. I will never forget the reaction of one of my colleagues as looked me straight in the eye and told me, “We will get you through this.” I am not sure if the role of your co-workers needs to be an aide to your personal trials, but I have often seen others depend on this comfort. I do know how important it is to have the support of your colleagues in order for your professional life to grow and flourish. I had hoped I would be this type of benefit for our school this year. Instead, I have felt more like a first-year teacher leaning on my colleagues, than a veteran teacher offering help.

I never cease to be amazed at the people that come into our lives at the right time. This year I was asked to be a part of the Teacher Leader Network (www.teacherleaders.org.)led by John Norton. I can not tell you what this online conversation with teachers across our country has meant to me. Not only has this group inspired me with all they have accomplished and the passion they share for their work, but they have allowed me to vent my frustrations, encouraged my work, and have echoed my beliefs. This experience has been quite reaffirming as well as challenging. The option to have this type of support and intense dialogue among educators available through technology is incredible. These are the conversations we need to have at our school in order to support and uplift each other’s work. It is my hope that next year this will happen, but I do not see it happening automatically. I believe it will take training on how to discuss our work and the work we are asking students to engage in. There are several options available in our state to have this type of professional development. I am hopeful my colleagues will embrace the idea of creating a true learning community.

Your comments have also been very insightful and encouraging to me these past weeks. I hope you will continue to comment and share how your faculty supports each other and how to create collegiality in our schools.

Recruiting Teachers

Testing is over and we are now looking to next year. Like every year, we are losing teachers. Some are going because circumstances have changed in their lives; marriage, divorce, and family needs. Some may be leaving because they find this work very stressful. I understand the need for some to leave and I would never encourage anyone to stay who felt it was time to go on. Now the problem is how do we get accomplished teachers to come to our school?

Recruiting in hard to staff schools is a major issue across our country. I am a part of the Teacher Leader Network and this is an ongoing topic of our online conversation. In some school systems, like Miami -Dade, National Board Certified teachers are volunteering to go the most needy schools. In this school system teachers are offered incentives that are tied to extra duties and a specified number of professional development hours. In my own state, Mobile County transformed five schools last year completely changing out the faculty and staff. Teachers and administrators were offered monetary incentives to go to these five schools. The incentives are given in part at the beginning and the rest at the end if goals are met. Incentives tied to performance is a concept many of us will have to grow accustomed to, I am not sure how I feel about this yet.

My current concern is recruiting to my school. It is difficult because of the school’s longtime reputation. So many times when I tell people where I work, they gasp and ask if I am afraid to work there. I have never been afraid at my school nor do I think any of the others teachers have felt any fear at Brighton. How do you change a reputation that is so unjustified?

When I first came to Brighton, my principal and I recruited a counselor we had worked with in our former school-Georgia James. Georgia is the most outstanding counselor I have ever worked with in my many years of teaching. Georgia’s area of expertise is Parenting Programs and coordinating testing. This year she has brought new life to our Parenting Program and according to the teachers testing never went so smoothly. When I called her to come to Brighton, I told her it would be just like our old school which I called “Camelot”. Well, Georgia and I will agree we do not quite have “Camelot” yet, but we are on our way. Georgia and I also agree these are the best children we have ever worked with in our careers.

Last week, in honor of the great effort demonstrated by our students during testing, our principal provided sack lunches for a picnic on campus. Georgia and I share an office and we were mesmerized as we watched our eighth grade students have their picnic outside our window. It was the most idyllic scene. We watched as the students ate their lunches while the teachers sat on a bench eating and talking. When the students finished, they gathered into small groups to talk and a few did some cartwheels on the grass. Georgia looked at me and said, “I love this place!” This was the exact same feeling I felt the first time I came to Brighton, “I love this place!”

I just do not know how to sell this idea to other teachers. Our working conditions are very good; no class has more than 20 students, resources are plentiful in terms of materials and people, and we have many hours of outstanding job embedded professional development. On the whole parents are very receptive to suggestions and work well with the faculty. It is stressful in the sense that we are under many State and Federal mandates. Lesson plans, weekly tests, benchmark testing, and seven month plans are strictly scrutinized. The greatest downside to the job that I have struggled with for most of the year is falling into the negative climate that that existed for a such long time. At this point, I truly can say I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it is a slow change. We need a few experienced and dedicated teachers to replace those leaving to help us completely reform this school. We are so close.

I welcome your comments on teacher recruitment in hard to staff schools.

Testing Time

It that time of year-testing time! My fever blisters have returned, my principal has very dark circles under her eyes, our testing coordinator’s face is drawn with anxiety, the teachers’ faces show deep lines of worry, and the students have rarely smiled during the last two weeks. This is my first testing experience in a school where our test scores determine so much of our future.

During the past two weeks, I have watched the tension and the effort of the entire school as grades 3-8 go through a battery of tests. The students did a wonderful job and for the most part worked so hard. Our school had 100% participation in the younger grades and 99% in the older grades. It was a complete school effort to achieve this participation rate from offering daily student incentives to making phone calls to homes. One morning, one student was late and our school secretary called her house and told her parents they had three minutes to get her to school. Believe it or not, the student was at school in three minutes! This is the advantage of having a school secretary who lives in the community and knows everyone!

Prior to testing, our school initiated a program called, “Encourage a Kid”. Each teacher in our school along with school secretaries, aides, and custodians, adopted a student to seek out daily and give extra encouragement. Teachers recommended students for this program based on need. Many teachers took this assignment to heart and really made a special effort to make daily contacts with these students. One of the students I was assigned to would seek out me before the test if I did not get to see her first thing in the morning. This confirmed to me one of my beliefs about the importance of building relationships with students. We also had some outside support in encouraging our students. A local high school’s Key Club adopted two grades in our school and wrote personalized notes to each student. The younger students loved these letters. In a thank you letter one of our students wrote back,” Thank you for helping me not be so nervous.” Some days students were very anxious. One day two classes did not finish the test in the allotted time. The teachers were almost in tears over this and after school one of the students came up to me agonizing over not finishing. I tried to reassure her all we asked was for her to do her best.

I am not one of these people who whines about testing. I have accepted this is the age of accountability for our schools and as a classroom teacher, I welcome accountability. However, when I was going thought the test booklets to erase stray marks,(one of my “fun” jobs during the past two weeks) one student’s test booklet struck me as I turned the pages of the immaculately bubbled in test. This was the test of one of our special education students. I had been told how hard he had worked during the tests. I thought about him and the effort he gave to completing this task of these many tests. I do not know what his scores will be, I just know he gave 110%.

I hurt for our students who are giving their very best and yet by our testing standards may never have the reward of high scores. I wish policymakers could see this student’s face as he worked so diligently for the many days of testing. My concern is how we measure student achievement. Somehow we must find a way to reward all students for the growth they make each year and give every child a chance for success.

I welcome your comments on this subject.

A Few “Bad Apples"

I had really planned to address the issue of teacher quality later on in telling my story. However, since this has come up on the comment page. I would like to share what I have learned this year.

What I have seen at Brighton is like any school, there are teachers at different levels of their career not only in terms of years of service, but in expertise. I really like Kappa Delta Pi’s book,Life Cycle of the Career Teacher because we are all at a different stages in this journey. It is my contention that in order for teachers to grow and improve through this process certain factors must be in place. There must be a professional climate to work in that is saturated with meaningful professional development and role models who are dedicated to the craft of teaching.

To establish a professional climate, as teachers we must first view ourselves as professional educators with a teaching practice. I taught almost 20 years before I really understood that I had a professional practice. This revelation came to me in the wee hours of the night while working on my National Board Portfolio. The questions continually referred to my practice and it finally dawned on me that, “I had a practice!” (in my mind only doctors and lawyers had a practice). I loved this concept and I used the phrase throughout my portfolio, “In my practice...” I used it so frequently that my colleague who did much of my proofreading would scratch it out every time. Maybe he did not know he also had a practice! Teachers must have this sense of professionalism.

In my school, I see a need for models of how this looks at various stages. I was blessed to have mentors along my way who demonstrated to me what it is to maintain a professional manner even in difficult circumstances, never start the day without being completely prepared, were actively involved in professional development, constantly strived to improve their teaching, and not embarrassed about being passionate about their work. I strongly believe it takes a critical number of accomplished teachers in a school to lead the others. I worry about a group of really strong, young teachers in our school and wonder if they will reach what The Life Cycle of the Career Teacher refers to as “The Emeritus Teacher” without sufficient models.

Professional growth also takes additional training. I am proud of the fact that this year our school has been deeply involved in hours of professional development that has actually changed many classrooms. Our improved assessments are the evidence that this works if the training is embraced by the classroom teacher. In my travels as National Teacher, I met a retired teacher from Warrior, Alabama. She told me when she was packing up her thirty-plus years of teaching, a note came around to sign up for a summer reading workshop. She registered for the workshop. Her colleagues questioned her for doing such by asking her, “Why are you doing to this, you are going home?” Her answer, “ Next year I plan to come back and volunteer to work with students in reading. Therefore, I want to learn the latest strategies and methods to help the students.” Now this is an accomplished teacher, trying to improve her teaching practice to the very last minute. This should be the standard for all teachers.

Yes, there teachers who never reach this level of proficiency and for a variety of reasons. I do not think any teacher enters the field with the intention of becoming ineffective. I agree that possibly somewhere along the way they became too overwhelmed by lack of support, too isolated or did not have the needed skills to become an effective teacher. Our schools must be places that have the type of climate where teachers can grow and improve by providing appropriate teaching tools, meaningful professional development, and models of teachers who are intense about their work. This year it has been quite an inspiration to me to watch a young teacher in our school voluntarily mentor a first year teacher. This young teacher has taken on a responsibility that many will not and she has given freely of her time and knowledge. I have wondered two things as I have watched her diligence. First, does this first year teacher truly appreciate the gift she has given ? My first year of teaching was in an isolated trailer and on the first day of school the lead teacher told me she did not work with first year teachers. Secondly, will someone be there to mentor her to the next levels to become a “teacher emeritus”? This is part of our role as teachers to give back to our profession and seek ways to support our colleagues in their growth so that there are no “bad apples”.

I continue to welcome your comments and discussion of the comments. Your comments are very thought provoking. I also hope that wherever you live you are enjoying a lovely spring. This is my favorite time of year in the deep South.

Brighton's Children

I am often asked how the children of Brighton feel about their school and what they know about our school having the label of low performing. I spend most of my time in the K-4 building and I really do not think many of the young children have any knowledge of this label. The older children I am sure know of Brighton’s reputation. I was told that years ago when Brighton High School was closed quite unexpectedly, one student told someone from our district office he planned to drop-out because he knew he did not have the background to make it in the other school. The inequity of standards we have for our schools is of great concern to me and I believe this is the most blatant discrimination our children of poverty and color face.

Discrimination comes in other forms. I have found discrimination can be unintentional. For example, we took our fourth grade students to a County-Wide Science Field Trip. Several things happened that day that made me feel very defensive about our students. We were the first school to arrive and the facilitators were not quite ready and we were not given t-shirts to wear.Even though we were given our shirts at the end of the day, this made us the only school at the event without matching shirts for the day. Students asked me about why they did not have the same shirts as the others.Then when they dismissed us by schools, our school was the last to be called. A child sitting next to me asked me why we were last and I replied it was probably the bus order. There was nothing intentional about any of this, but when you already feel you have been slighted this adds to your defensiveness.

Other times this discrimination is more blatant. Our principal invited the cheerleaders from the high school most of our students will attend to come and cheer at an Academic Pep Rally. My first reaction when I saw the cheerleading squad was there were no cheerleaders of color. For a high school that is 37% African American with a growing Hispanic population, I was surprised. I thought what message is this sending our students. I was further upset when a teacher from this same school said to me, “I guess our school does pretty good considering we have students from your school with your low test scores.” Our school sends less than 50 students a year to two different high schools. I do not think our children are the problem in this school. However, our students have the label of “those Brighton kids”.

In the afternoon as we load the buses, I often look at the faces of “these Brighton kids” silhouetted in the bus windows. Their faces haunt and inspire me because I know that someday Brighton children will have to compete with the students from the highest performing schools in our area for the same colleges, scholarships, jobs, and opportunities. I also know our school is the best hope for our students to have an equal opportunity for success. Therefore, our school has to be of the very highest quality to give “these Brighton kids” the education they are so deserve.

I encourage your comments about your experiences and opinions. I appreciate the comment from my State Superintendent of Education, Joe Morton. Dr. Morton has been very supportive and encouraging of my choice to work at Brighton. He actually made a surprise visit to our school on opening day. Dr. Morton has a personal interest in our school as he began his career as a teacher at Brighton. I am very appreciative of having a State Superintendent that has a very hands-on leadership style with schools in Alabama and has such a great heart for Alabama’s children.

A New Day

As I continue to share my journey, I realize I have had very few positive things to say about my first year at Brighton. To be honest, I felt there was not much to smile about during the first semester. In fact right before Christmas, one of our teachers told me I had lost my smile and they needed it back. This truly broke my heart. To add to this pain, my principal told me that the teachers did not want me at Brighton. As harsh as this seemed at the time, I needed to understand that much of the attention I brought to the school was more hurtful to the faculty than helpful. I also had to acknowledge to myself that “my dream” for Brighton may not be the correct path for the school and I may not be the right person for this job.

Then during January, there was a break in this negative climate. This bright spot came about as a result of the state mandated reading test scores for our Kindergarten and First Grade Classes. Our Kindergarten students benchmarked at almost the 80 percentile and our First Grade students benchmarked at 87% with no students labeled needing intensive instruction. This was an incredible gain for our school and placed these two grade levels at the top of our district’s scores and ranked them fairly high at the state level. There were shouts of joy and tears of happiness in our school that day.

Even though I was thrilled at this news, I was not totally surprised because I had been watching changing instruction taking place in these classrooms. Many Early Childhood Educators may not agree with what has taken place in our school, but we were given a very systematic and structured reading program to pilot in grades K-2. When I asked the teachers why they thought their scores had so improved, they replied the new reading program and intervention groups. One day I observed an hour of reading instruction in one of our first grade classes. During this lesson, I watched the teacher take this scripted program and bring it to life with her personality and the culture of the children. I was mesmerized as I watched her engage every student in the classroom with her energetic lesson. I was amazed at the amount of knowledge about reading the children had acquired in such a short time. I was also envious because I knew I could never teach this lesson with her rhythm and beat. My favorite part of the lesson was when she said in a very loud, expressive voice, “It is time for blending!” The students immediately threw up their hands, waving them in the air, and shouted, “Hallelujah!” I got my smile back on that day along with a few tears of joy.

I do not believe it was just the reading program and intervention groups that brought about this improvement, but a collaborative effort to focus on a need. Often what I have seen and heard about schools labeled low performing, they have many programs thrown at them with little direction. I heard of one such school that had thirty initiatives going on at the same time. This year with the help of our new reading coach, our district reading coach, and the company who piloted the reading program, our teachers have been involved in many hours of job embedded professional development for this reading program and for the strategies and methods of the Alabama Reading Initiative. This training has enabled the teachers to create a balanced approach to reading in their classrooms. This model of professional development to study, observe, demonstrate, and practice followed with feedback has been outstanding. I have watched the teachers in our school embrace and use what they are learning. I believe we have finally given the teachers some real teaching tools, not just another kit! This has been very exciting for me to grow and learn with our teachers and celebrate their successes. I think it is the beginning of a new day for Brighton.

I encourage those of you who have experienced similar successes in your school to share what are the teaching tools that make a difference? What is the most effective professional development you have been involved with during your career? What is it that can really make a difference in our classroom instruction?

Conversations and Accountability

I can not tell you how much I have enjoyed reading the many comments to my last post. I so appreciate your words of encouragement and I am especially grateful to hear form those of you in similar situations. It has taken me longer to write this week as I mull over a verbal response I had to my last post. I was asked, if I acknowledged there is a need for accountability than how do you not label schools?

I remember the day my principal shared the just released test results with our faculty. The results were not what we had hoped to hear. I watched the faces of the other teachers during the discussion that followed. Their expressions ranged from frustrated, disheartened, to almost angry. My principal said very little except nothing would change if the teachers were not willing to change. I have heard teachers from other schools in an alike situation tell about how the news of low test scores actually united the faculty. I have not seen this in my school except at grade levels. This is probably due to the fact that our K-8 school is housed in two buildings that are not connected. These buildings are in walking distance, but not situated in a way that allows the teachers to have contact on a daily basis. This makes ongoing conversions very difficult.

I wonder about these conversations. My former school had a green sofa in the in the hall and this is where the teachers in this building hung out after school. We had some really great conversations and most of them genuinely pertained to our teaching. One of my sons called me one day to see why I was staying at school so late and I told him, “It was green sofa time”. I am looking for a “green sofa” for my new school because we need to have these continuing conversations.

Here are some questions of concern. Can we as a profession talk about our weaknesses without finger pointing? If your school is not making the needed progress, do we hold each other accountable or just ourselves? Are teachers really ready to accept accountability? If so, what does this accountability look like without labeling schools? I so often wish the format and the standards for accountability had come from educators instead of policymakers.

Please continue to send in your comments. It would be great to share your thoughts on professional conversations and our current standards of accountability.

Labeling A School

Joe’s comment to my last post is a perfect intro as I continue the story of my metamorphosis. If any of you are of my generation and remember the cartoon Mighty Mouse, you will understand I came to my school with the Mighty Mouse attitude, “Here I come to save the day!” This created much resentment for my being there in spite of what I could bring to the school because I really did not have a clue about what it meant to work in a school labeled failure and the teachers knew it.

My first reality check came the day I had to attend a meeting of schools labeled Tier I. Previously this label had been High Priority School and before that Low Performing. When I was sitting in this room with the others from the area schools, I had several reactions. First, I was embarrassed to be there. I wanted to stand up and say, “This is my first year at this school, I did not do this!” Then I felt this great sense of frustration and I realized this how the teachers in my school have felt for so long. I do not know how they have survived. I felt ashamed of what I expected from the teachers because I do not know if I could have continued to work with this burden on me. Labeling a school as failing is devastating to one’s soul and creates such a depressed climate that I began to feel like I was drowning. I realized this is the culture the students and teachers at Brighton have worked in while trying to make significant gains in achievement. I began to understand this negative climate takes its toll on you physically as I started to have constant headaches, fever blisters, and sleepless nights. I have discovered these physical symptoms are shared by many of our faculty members. This anxiety and stress is increased by the overwhelming sense of urgency for the academic needs of the students. In my journal I wrote, “My sense of frustration and failure is killing me. It is overpowering.”

One gray morning as I was driving to work, I realized I was the only one on my side of the road everyone else was going in the opposite direction into town. I asked myself, “Am I going the wrong way?” Daily, I question myself, “Am I the right person to work at this school? Can I really help and have impact? Do I have what it takes? Can teachers who have been recognized for their work be accepted in hard to staff schools?” I do not know the answers to the questions, I just know that I want to be in this school. I want to help create a positive culture that will enable the students and teachers to overcome this label of failure. I also have learned the key to this change of climate lies within the teachers at my school, not me.

Please continue to send in your comments and questions.

First Challenges

In a comment to a recent post, I was asked “What assumptions about how schools succeed made you believe that you could make a difference in a "failing" school? My answer is the same reply I a gave a very savvy third grade boy at my school who asked me, “Why are you at our school?” I told him I fell in love with your school when I first visited two years ago and I want to help your school be the very best it can be because you deserve the best. I believed my eighteen years of experience in an award winning Title I school along with two years of traveling across my state and our country visiting schools and meeting teachers had given me a wealth of knowledge I wanted to share. In addition, much to my surprise, I was able to bring to the school over $70,000 in programs and materials that I felt could improve instruction. Plus, my college, Samford University, had agreed to form a partnership with the school to aide and assist in a variety of ways. In essence, I thought I could bring help to this school.

The first week of school brought many surprises. In talking to the teachers, I was told they had tried to have a morning routine for starting the day, but it had never lasted. The teachers agreed they would like for a student to lead the pledge and they shared with me a Brighton Bear Code that had been written for the school. It was decided this would be done on the intercom every morning. Fourth grade students immediately began practicing since they would be the first to lead this morning exercise. I amazed how quickly our children learned all of words to the pledge and Bear Code. My former school had a very high tech television studio with an outstanding student led morning show. At Brighton, I hold the intercom button every morning while the students go though the program with hopes that someday we will have the technology to have a TV program. This morning ritual has become quite popular with the students and by the end of the year almost every child in the school will have the chance to lead this school exercise. The teachers also appear to really like this part of the day. After the first week, a teacher said to me, “This is like a real school.”

The other morning routine I had hoped to establish was improving our bus duty and starting school on time.This has not been so successful. In the past, students sat in the lunchroom after they ate breakfast. I was determined the students would read silently at this time. I brought in crates of books and assigned seats. One of the veteran teachers told me this would not work. She also told me starting school on time would not happen. After several weeks of fighting the noise of this crowded lunchroom, I went to this veteran teacher and I told her I was waving the white flag, she was right about reading in the lunchroom. With teacher input, a new schedule was made to have the students sit outside their rooms and the teacher on duty reads aloud to the children. I stay in the the lunchroom and handle breakfast duty. Currently, in the lunchroom we are working on our math facts and we watch Multiplication Rock every morning with multiplication fact cards covering the lunchroom walls. School is starting on time and I am learning many valuable lessons about teacher leadership.

I appreciate your comments and encourage your continued input and questions.

The Snake of Brighton

Normally, I do not sleep the night before school starts because I am so excited about starting a new year. This year, I did not sleep the night before because I was so worried about how school would actually open the next day because I felt we were so ill-prepared. I quickly realized there were very few routines and procedures in place from record keeping to starting the day. In a meeting with the teachers, I referred to our district policy on student transportation and I was introduced to a phrase that I hear too often, “This is Brighton and that does not work here.” I call this dysfunctional attitude the snake of Brighton.

Two years ago, when I first visited Brighton, there was actually a kindergarten classroom that had a problem with snakes. I was in this room one day with a teacher from Federal Programs when we begin finding small snakes. After we found the fourth snake, she and I looked at each other and said we are closing this room. We went to the office to talk to the principal and discovered she was at a meeting. We told the school secretary our plans and she informed us that the snakes had been a problem in this classroom for two years! We found the custodian, who actually had a snake catcher for one of his tools, and the three of us went to the room where we began to sack up everything. Over a period of two days, 16 snakes were found in this room. I was relieved when I was told the snakes were not poisonous. However, this was not the issue, the issue was that children do not need to be in classrooms with snakes! Someone said to me “ I guess it took the Teacher of the Year to do something about the snakes.” This annoyed me because this should have been taken care of two years earlier for the sake of the children not because I was there. District maintenance workers came that day and repaired the hole in the wall where the snakes were entering the room. An exterminator was called to come set off a snake balm and children were moved to the music room. The children stayed in the music room for three weeks with no chairs and tables. I am astonished when people wonder why the children in this school are not achieving at the expected level.

The snake situation is very symbolic of the gap in the standards we have for schools with high poverty. I live in area where we have four very affluent school systems nearby. I am sure if there was ever a snake in any of these schools, the problem would immediately be addressed. Parents would simply not allow this situation. Yet, in my school this was tolerated because- “This is Brighton.”

Ironically this year. I was placed in “the snake room”. I felt like this was probably my just reward for telling this story. However, I was moved the third week of school because we added an additional kindergarten class and I am happy to report it has been a snake-free year.

Please continue to send in your comments and questions.

Bright Beginnings

Brighton School has been under the mandates of School Improvement for the last four out of five years. For two years, the school has offered school choice as an option. As a result, we have lost about eighty students a year to other schools. Supplemental Services have been added and this year the first phase of restructuring the staff began as a new principal was hired. There was great difficulty in finding a principal for the school and it was ten days prior to school starting before a principal was in place. The teachers and the community became very frustrated with this process. I am sure this is a common problem in hard to staff schools. By some very unique events, one of my former principals was finally hired. I can not tell you how glad I was to hear Margie Curry’s voice on the phone when she called and told me the news. As I recorded in my journal, “A miracle-Ms. Curry is going to be my principal. Oh me of little faith!”

On the downside of this good news, Ms. Curry immediately asked me to change from my teaching position in Second Grade Teacher to Curriculum Coordinator for our K-8 school. I was really looking forward to having my own classroom again. I had recruited my son to come from Tennessee and help me get my room ready. In fact, we were both covered in paint when I received her call. At the time, I did not feel I could refuse her anything knowing how far behind we were in being prepared to open school. Furthermore, I thought this could possibly be the opportunity I had searched for to use the knowledge I gained in earning my Doctorate in Educational Leadership with the emphasis on Teacher Leadership. Maybe now I would have a chance to really see if a teacher without becoming an administrator can become a true school leader.

I started my first day at Brighton full of high hopes and lots of positive energy. I am one of those people who usually sees the glass half full. I inherited this “pie in the sky” attitude from my father who at 88 years-old wakes up everyday and says, “It’s a new day!” When I reflect on how I must have appeared to the faculty on that first day, I know now many of the teachers would echo what my brother said about my father’s cheery outlook, “Can’t he just wake up one day and not be happy!” I am sure I totally irritated the teachers as I gave the morning inspiration about how happy I was to be a part of their school and how I had made a special trip to the Shrine of the Sacred Hearts in Hanceville, Alabama to pray for our year. It is not that prayer is not valued, but this is really the last thing you want a pious newcomer say to you when you have been trying to survive in a school labeled failure. I really owe the faculty and staff an apology. I had no idea the stress involved in working under these conditions. I actually thought I had the answers needed to turn this school around. The afternoon of the first day, I began to understand how little I knew.

I will be posting updates about my experiences at Brighton every week and I would like to hear your comments and questions.

My Choice

Several years ago, I went with my son's church on a mission trip to rural Alabama. Even though I had been a teacher in a Title I School for many years, I was not prepared for the poverty I saw that summer. When I returned to my classroom in August, I looked at my students and I realized there was one role as a teacher I had neglected and that was the role of being a voice for children, especially children in poverty. This information became my burden and I knew I had to do something with this new knowledge. I just did not know where to start.

A few months later, my colleagues at Leeds Elementary nominated me for State Teacher of the Year. This was the first time our school had ever participated in this program. At the time,I was not sure my being singled out was a good thing because my colleagues were such outstanding teachers and I had learned so much from each one of them. However, my co-workers seemed very excited about the possibility of my being named State Teacher of the Year. One question on the application asked what issue do you consider to be most important in education today. I liked this question because it was an opportunity for me to use my teacher voice. I wrote about equity in education. After being named Alabama's 2002 State Teacher, this became my platform and the issue I addressed in my speeches. I continued with this theme during my term as the 2003 National Teacher of the Year.

While traveling as State Teacher, I learned that not only was local funding inequitable in Alabama, but also the teacher quality in our most needy schools was often lacking. I became convinced we had to have our strongest teachers in our weakest schools. I knew after my term as National Teacher, I would return to my school system and go to the most needy school in our district--Brighton. So, on August 4, 2004, I began my work as Curriculum Coordinator at Brighton School with very high hopes of making a difference and following my conviction.