The Power of the Written Word when Problem Solving

For the past few days we have picked up our students from their specials and gotten the same report. Students (not all but many) had trouble following directions, focusing, listening, and getting work done. As a teacher you are often disheartened when you hear this because you know the potential of your students. Our specialists have precious time with our students, and that time should be maximized with learning versus redirection of class behaviors.

In the past I have had students write notes to the teachers about the problems they saw with potential solutions. This time I decided to have discussion with the students about what happened. Sharing their observations with each other was an engaging! Students had clear ideas of what was working and what was not. So, I turned this into a narrative writing experience. Students were tasked with the assignment to create a narrative story about a specials class. They could choose the setting (art, music, physical education, or health), characters, problem, and solution. We discussed prewriting strategies such as making a table to identify their narrative story elements.

We shared potential problems that could occur in their other class, some of which were based on actual life experience. One student discussed that she wanted “equal rights” in her classes. When I asked her what she meant she told us she needs a break. We discussed strategies for taking a break with other classroom teachers.

Students then got to work writing their narratives. To help students build their writing skills they had a conference with one of their teachers. We were able to support them with revision and editing ideas, building on their work. Students discovered looking at crayons helps get more descriptive with using colors. Saying his face was red versus his face was violet red or red like a fire truck can enhance their pieces. Meeting with each student was a vital part of his or her success. It also shows them their teachers believe in them, believe in their work, and truly care about what they are doing.

We were able to take a problem and turn it into an engaging writing experience where several students asked to write a second narrative while others were still working on the third page of his or her first story. We could have just had a conversation and been done with it, but it was more important to dive into problem solving through the written word.

Social Media for Storytelling in the Classroom

Being out of work 12 weeks I learned more about the value of social media as a tool to connect to the classroom community. Whether it was creating a support group on Facebook, making the Wakelet for #positivesignthursday, or Facetiming with former students I was able to continue to build relationships while going through medical challenges. Using social media allowed me to be part of things despite hospital stays.

Often people will tell me they are afraid of using social media when I talk about having professional Facebook and Instagram accounts. They are worried about repercussions from administration. I think the best place to start is a conversation with administration. Show them how educators are using social media for good. Explain the story telling power it has to get in front of information! It is also a great way to connect a community of learners.

Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are all great places to start! Parents love seeing kids in action during the school day, and it provides ways for parents to probe their child about the school day beyond How was your day? What did you do? Monosyllabic answers often follow these questions. By sharing posts of the school day parents can reframe their questioning.  I have had grandparents and extended family members follow our accounts too! Former families can also engage in the conversation of what they remember from their experiences. Our current student population is also engrained in Tik Tok and Snapchat, so those are also tools to consider exploring as the social media platforms evolve. Our class has social media ambassadors for room jobs. Students handwrite posts for me to tweet out or put as a status update.

Adobe Spark is another great tool to create ways to share information with families. Due to data privacy laws my current students cannot use it. But they can help with week in reviews, which are short videos of photos and text about our week for families. They are all curated using Wakelet. I have also used Spark to create advertisements for things going on in the classroom that can be shared on our social media channels.

By modeling how to use social media for good students are learning about the tools and how to use them to tell a story and connect with a global audience. This is engaging, authentic, and promotes student voice. They begin to see the world as their classroom rather than the four walls.

Hitting the Pause Button for Colon Cancer

On September 19, 2019, I woke up thinking the worst part of my day would be having a liquid diet while doing lunch duty. I went to work, had a great day with my agents, and told them I would see them Monday. Many friends wished me luck for the colonoscopy I was having the next day for what we all thought was confirmation of what doctors felt was mild colitis. My bloodwork was stellar. My lower CT scans were good, though the second one I had showed inflammation in the colon. 48 hours later life had changed abruptly. I had to make calls I never thought I would make. I created two Facebook groups to bring together my community. 72 hours later my Superintendent kindly drove me to school on a Sunday to help me prepare for the unknown for our agents. Three weeks later I began the third clean out of my body in preparation for what I thought would be the biggest surgery I have had to date. Three weeks later it was me being virtually brought into the classroom.

Having colon cancer has meant life has made some unexpected plans for me. Someone once said to me not long ago that she could never imagine me just stopping my work schedule as I am so passionate about it. Something I learned through this is when life causes you to hit the pause button you dive in. I needed to rest, have a stent put in, and drain myself of toxins I had been carrying around for a long time. I dropped 16 pounds in less than 2 weeks because my mass had been blocking my entire colon. Once the stent was put in it did its job. Positivity and my people have carried me through on some dark days where I thought I would have to move into the bathroom.

Though no one ever really wants a situation in life to truly learn who stands with them I have been humbled by the outreach from friends all over the country and the Mansfield community. The messages, posts, check ins, texts, cards, and positive signs have helped me each day. I am glad I have a large network who stands with me. My colleagues at work, MassCUE, and my PLN from afar have stepped up in a time I needed them the most. The friendship and love I have felt from everyone have been appreciated every day. I will forever be grateful for the woman who stood in front of our agents each day, teaching them and bonding with them so I could take care of myself and have zero worries about our students. My sister had shown up every weekend she could to be with me, even for less than 24 hours. My parents have shown unwavering strength even when I am sure we all want to crumble. Falling apart has not been an option. I had a fabulous medical team at the Brigham, so I was in good hands.

My former agent 13, Colleen, was there every step of the way. She was my nurse the first week post surgery and was there to check in on me when I ended up needing emergency surgery for an obstructed bowel and hernia. As we walked around the Brigham sharing stories she would often remind me of life advice I gave her in the 3^rd grade. You never know the power of your reach, but our kids need us! Trust me.

Building relationships with students is something I pride myself in. The night before I went in for my initial surgery 20 years of agents and families sent me #postivesignthursday photos. It was those faces I carried into the operating room with me. I knew I had to get back to our classroom. So, on January 2 I walked back into our classroom part time. My co-teacher and I discussed with the students what was going on with me, shared my schedule, talked about cells and cancer, and created a stronger classroom community in that moment together. We referred to my chemo days (as I will be going through early May) as medicine days I will be out. Then we jumped right back into learning. The heartbeat of a classroom lives on no matter what. Our students carry that torch!

I know I have colon cancer. I had surgery to remove part of my colon where a tumor had been living for too long. The recovery was not easy, but I had people surrounding me to cheer me on. I saw the value in social media used for good throughout this experience. Dana Farber is studying me due to my age since we are the fastest growing group to get this kind of cancer, and they do not know why. My team is still unsure if my food allergies were actually caused by the colon cancer. The unknowns in this journey have far outweighed the knowns, which is a bit scary. But I knew I had love coming from all over the place, and that was enough for me. Thank you to everyone for being part of this journey. We got this. I am doing my job. I am on to my 4^th round of chemo. We are all in this together. And I encourage anyone reading this to remember to take care of yourself and consider checking your colon. Sometimes we need to take a deeper look at things, even if it means putting things on hold. Hitting that pause button is important.