What makes a great colleague?

“I do not have the button that you have to add another page!” 

Panic is settling in as I look at the Adobe reader pdf document before me.  It is the PSOW (What does that even stand for?---OK, I just googled it: Practical Scheme of Work) form.  I am required to record every lab I have done in the two-year IB Biology course including the date conducted, the hours required, the topic associated, and the criteria assessed.  An old PSOW form has been diligently attended to over the years, labs being recorded as we completed them.  However, there is a new form and I can’t just simply cut and paste.  Oh no.  I have to download the form from the IB site, using Safari (I’m a Chrome user), open it with Adobe Reader and then cut and paste each cell (date, titled of lab, topic, hours, etc.) separately – no, it’s not possible to cut and paste the entire line.  Cell by cell I must work.  Now I’m trying to figure out how to add an additional page to record all the labs we’ve done.  An all-nighter is surely before me. 

Lilting laughter soothes me, “Everything will be fine”.  My colleague patiently describes where the magic "add-a-page" box is and waits for me to attempt locating it.  I position my mobile phone between my shoulder and ear and with tilted head, scroll down to the location she is referring to in the document.  Sure enough, there it is, plain as day.  How did I miss that?  My heart rate slows again.  Maybe I won’t need all night after all.  My colleague assures me it’ll be OK and shares a couple more pointers that she struggled with but figured out, hoping to save me some time.

I end up calling her two more times.  Each time she alleviates my frustration and aids me in quickly interpreting the form.

Right now I’m genuinely grateful for my valuable comrade who is actually an ideal individual with which to work.  Then, in my imagination, I walk down the hallway at the school (my room is at the end) and I realize that exceptional colleagues surround me.  I am considering what identifies someone as a superb co-worker.

Here is my list of 10 Great Qualities in a Colleague:

1)   Collaborative in getting things done and sharing ideas

2)   Hard-working, carries own weight

3)   Trustworthy

4)   Intelligent

5)   Helpful

6)   Embracing of differences

7)   Open to new ideas

8)   Caring

9)   Enjoyable to have a chat with

Will you help me complete the list?   What should be #10?  Please share in the comment box below!

Getting Distracted

I always wondered if teachers know when they are getting distracted or off topic.  My children joke at the dinner table about how easy it is to get some teachers to completely derail from their lesson plan.  I have often puzzled as to how this is possible and just figured that things are somehow inherently different in the science classroom compared to other classrooms.  Does Science just not lend itself to distraction?

Today, however, I discovered how diversion happens.  I took my 6th graders outside to collect data for their ecology unit.  They were making observations to determine the organisms in our local neighborhood in order to ultimately build an energy pyramid of the surrounding area.  It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day, which is highly unusual for the Netherlands.  What a joy it was to walk out in the sun.  All of us were relishing the opportunity to be outside on such a perfect spring day.  The students were so engaged in discovery and recording their findings.  They were looking high and low, far and wide, and with the use of their magnifying glasses, they were also looking close-up.  Their tables were filling with useful information for their forthcoming energy pyramids.

I was scanning the group when I noticed a pair intently bent over their magnifying glasses.  I approached them eager to see what small creature they were studying.  Well, I must admit I was slightly amused when I realized these boys were trying to start a fire on a dried up leaf with their magnifying glasses.  While I appreciated the science they were immersing themselves in, I decided our ecology data collection time was drawing to a close.  So, I gathered the students and we headed slowly back to the school, savoring the sunny day as we strolled. 

A couple of boys who were a bit ahead of the group engaged in the fire making process again.  We came upon them as the threads of smoke curled up underneath the magnifying glass.  Other students asked for a magnifying glass and then I just couldn’t resist them anymore.  Maybe I didn’t want to go inside either.  So I made it official.  I gave them all an additional 5 minutes with the magnifying glasses and the sun.  Each and every student, girls and boys, reached for a magnifying glass and eagerly attempted the fire making process. The moment was glorious.  The students were so excited.  The sun was warming our skin.  It just felt so good.  I knew we were distracted.  I knew this didn’t have anything to do with energy pyramids but I just had to let them continue.  I was additionally surprised at how effective those little plastic student magnifying glasses were.

Finally, I told them it was, indeed, time to go inside and they obliged me.  I managed to get them through the gate when someone noticed the bark from the playground and the fire making inquiry started all over again.  Again, I knew we were distracted.  I knew we were off task.  I knew we were totally off track.  I looked at the time.  I weighed the pros and cons.  I decided to give them the additional moments in the sun. 

After another ten minutes we finally returned to the classroom, several children clutching pieces of bark engraved with their initials by the sun.  I was amazed at how quickly the students returned to our lesson topic and immediately entered their data into the class Google shared document.  They actually had more data than the previous year’s class. It was satisfying to see the data fill in. By the end of class we had reached my minimum goal for the day. 

So, I did it.  I succumbed to distraction.  And why, you might ask?  Because it was fun.

Should a teacher answer the phone during class? At a small school like ours, the answer might be “yes”.

No one calls my phone during the day.  All of my friends are either associated with the school or keenly aware of my job as a teacher.  Plus, in the Netherlands, I just don’t use my phone much.  As such, I never bother to turn it off.  It sits quietly and happily in my bag all day long.

However, recently, it rang during one of my classes.  I was in the middle of guiding my IB students through some activities and they were working independently on and off.  My ringing phone was such a curious incident that I decided to check who could possibly be calling me.  I looked at the caller ID and noticed it was a parent from the school I know quite well because I teach one of her daughters, my daughter is friends with another of her daughters (who I also had as a student last year) and my husband has coached her youngest daughter.  I knew she would not be calling my phone during school time unless there was a need.  My students were working independently so I answered the phone.

Apparently, her daughter had left her sports uniform in the locker room at the school before the team had departed for an out-of-town basketball game.  This parent was on their way to the game but time was of the essence and they had not planned to stop by the school.  She was wondering if there was anyway I could help orchestrate getting that uniform to the front of the school.  No problem.  I sent one of the students, who was furthest along in her independent work, scurrying to the locker room to find the abandoned uniform and then take it to the front office where the parents picked it up a few minutes later and still make it to the game in time for their daughter to play.  All went smoothly and my student returned to the classroom within 5 minutes.

I realized such a scenario could only happen at a small school like ours.  We are located in the Netherlands so already the rules are different than in U.S. public schools based on cultural and political differences in the school systems.  Our high school student population is under 50 students.  We are a family.  Everyone knows everyone and they all are “there for each other”.  It felt absolutely good and “right” to have answered my phone that day during my lesson. I am so glad to be part of a school family such as ours.

Where's the Contents page?

“Look at this!  There is this huge picture on the front and yet this magazine is nothing about that!”  Two students approached me with the same observation almost simultaneously.  I responded, “You need to check the contents page to determine on what page the article is printed” 

“Where’s the Contents page?”

I felt hopelessly dated as my students thumbed through the National Geographic genuinely clueless as to how to find the cover page article embedded deep within the monthly periodical. 

I had instructed students to take a “National Geographic” from the stack of science-based issues situated on the shelf beneath the fish tank.  They were to leaf through a magazine searching for any article that might be linked to global warming.  My intentions were to have them see how pervasive the effects of global warming might be by immersing themselves in some great photography and evaluating whether the scenes/people/organisms in the images might be affected by climate change.  I didn’t think it would evolve into a lesson on using a magazine! 

I actually had to explain that they needed to look at the first couple of pages of the magazine, locate the Contents page, and search for a title that matched the cover on the front of the magazine.  This task required several seconds of processing to make a connection between the images on the cover accompanying the headline “Saving the Alps” to the title of the article listed inside as “Meltdown in the Alps”.  It was fascinating.

It was evidence of how the world of reading, education, and knowledge acquisition is rapidly evolving.  My students know the power of the Internet and the method of finding the newest and latest information.  Why would they ever have need to refer to a magazine?  Well at a minimum, they were enthralled with the images and the turning of the pages today.

Soaking Students

Today I took my IB Environmental Systems and Societies (ESS) students outside to collect some water and soil around our school grounds.  The plan was for the students to perform pH, nitrate, ammonia, and dissolved oxygen tests on the samples to ascertain the health of the surrounding canal water and soil.  Additionally, they will determine the Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of the water.  Furthermore, they will calculate the Trent Biotic Index of the canal water.  Thus, they will have personally experienced every aspect of Topic 5.2 of the ESS course.  Sounds reasonable, right?  I thought so!

So, we eagerly headed outside equipped with labeled containers for their samples.  The students divided the labor equally and set to work.  One student jokes, “I’ll collect the water because maybe I’ll fall in again”.  I am not amused because he actually did “fall” into the canal water in the autumn when we were doing another experiment.  I recollect seeing him stroll towards me on the wooded pathway that fall day.  I wasn’t sure what I was observing so I turned to the other students and appealed, “Please tell me that David is not walking towards me in his underwear”.  The students solemnly confirmed that David was, indeed, walking towards me in his underwear.  I did not want a repeat event. 

Fortunately, we collected the samples without further ado and returned to the classroom for testing.  However, upon viewing the test instructions, the students realized that they actually needed more canal water.  Guess who volunteered to round up more water?  That’s right, David.  I hesitated but a colleague who had stepped into the room volunteered to accompany David to help him retrieve the water.  I felt assured with this plan and stayed with the other students while they prepped the rest of the lab.  A few minutes later, my colleague returned with the pitcher of water but not the student.  “David fell into the canal”, she reported, “and has gone to the shower room to clean up”.   Really?  Really?  Really?  Should I laugh or should I be furious?  I was battling both reactions in that moment.

Shattered beakers, cracked test tubes, broken thermometers, fractured syringes, splattered solutions, spilled powders, all kinds of random, unthinkable messes and even fires can be part of my job.  However, today, the drenched docent was my limit.  Thankfully, it was Friday afternoon.

Will I return on Monday with a full lab agenda for the week?  Of course! Despite the untidiness and chaos associated with guiding MS and HS students through the scientific method, it’s worth every minute!  Will I return to the canals for further investigations?  Absolutely.  But without David.

Teachers are doing their best

I just spent two days in a workshop by Dylan Wiliam on Assessment for Learning.  The focus, in the end, was formative assessment and we were left to choose from a list of over 35 strategies to improve formative assessment in our classrooms.  We were challenged to select one to three techniques to focus on and develop over the next year in our classrooms.

I am excited to try a couple of new techniques in my classroom (and report on them here), however, a message delivered in the workshop that continues to ring true for me is that teachers are doing the best that they can and they are doing a good job.  After all, there isn't one teacher that is deliberately participating in activities that inhibit learning.  All teachers, are, however, inadvertently applying techniques that aren't most effective in increasing achievement of their students.  Additionally, the nature and role of being a teacher is constantly changing as students and learning styles evolve over the years.  We have no idea what kind of world our students will actually be entering when they leave the workforce.  We don't know what options for jobs they will have.  There will probably be jobs and opportunities available to our students that don't even exist now.  We don't even know what we are preparing students for!  Given these variables, we as teachers, even the very best, always have room to become better and to find ways to most effectively help our students to progress in their learning.   

If I focus each year on just three strategies for increasing learning I gained this weekend, I have ten years of improvement before me.  And there are over 300 such strategies! How incredible it would be to have teaching learning time built into our schedules where we could learn about new strategies and plan to implement them in our classrooms.  If we had the opportunity to reflect regularly, make adjustments, and constantly improve our teaching, imagine how amazing we would all be!

While yes, curriculum, methods of reporting (i.e. digital), web sites, technology, schedules, course offerings, etc. are all important, if I owned my own school, I think I'd focus on teacher development.  Developing the best possible teachers who are always increasing their skills would make an incredible school.  If teachers were constantly becoming more skilled the results would be better education, happier more fulfilled teachers, and students who are learning.

Why does professional development feel like a sacrifice?

Why must professional development sometimes feel like a sacrifice?  I really enjoy professional development and I select ones that I’m particularly interested in.  However, either you must miss teaching days and go through the hassle/stress of arranging your classes for a substitute.  Or, you must take weekends and/or holidays to complete your professional development and you are left feeling somewhat robbed of needed “time off”.  Either way, it’s a sacrifice.

It’s Friday night and I just drove 4.5 hours with a colleague to get from the Netherlands to Luxembourg for a conference on “Assessment for Learning”.  I am enjoying the trip with my colleague and I am eager for the information to be gleaned from this conference.  However, I have missed two basketball games of my teenagers and I will be working all weekend.  We drive home on Sunday evening following the conference, just to get up early on Monday and face our regular week without having had any recovery time from this week.  It will be a bit rough!  However, hopefully it will be worth it!  I’ll report tomorrow.

Caught in the Middle: A Teacher's Time

"That's not my problem" she exclaims as we watch the boys run down the basketball court.

I’m somewhat confused by what my friend and fellow parent means.  After shouting, “rebound” to our team, I try to argue my colleague’s case.  "Well, in her mind she doesn't feel she should have to look at or answer emails after her 'work day' late at night or on the weekends"

I am attending the game as a parent but often I end up fielding questions as a teacher, as is the case right now.  We clap and cheer some more as my friend continues, “Well, that’s a teacher’s job.  That’s what she signed up for."

I turn my eyes to the court to mask that fact that I'm stunned to realize during this staccato exchange that some parents expect teachers to be available 24/7, to respond to every email regardless of when it was sent.

 My colleague had approached me about this very situation earlier in the week.  She had told her students in class that she would postpone the test and allow them more time to prepare for the exam if they communicated this need to her.  She claims to have told the students they needed to decide that day.  Well, the next night a student wrote her at 9:30 p.m. asking for an extension.  She read the email the next morning only an hour before the scheduled test. She felt the request had been made unreasonably late.  She felt it wasn’t fair to postpone for this one student while the others sat the exam.  She also realized it would require writing a second test on short notice.  She was torn but in the end decided to not grant the student an extension.  Though I probably would have made a different decision, I understood her view. 

 As I listen to this parent’s plea during the basketball game, I also see her point.  However, I am a little "put out" at the expectation that teachers are expected to dedicate their entire lives to their jobs.  It’s one thing that we already do that by default.  We care about the students, we try to plan engaging and well thought out lessons, we seek fair assessment, and we want to be up-to-date.  As a result, we spend a ridiculous amount of non-work hours at our jobs.  I do so because I enjoy what I do and I sincerely care about the quality of education I deliver.  My income does not reflect my education level, the thought I give, nor the time I sacrifice. Suddenly, it feels different, even painful to think that what I do is expected.  I think if it is expected, then it should be compensated for.  Would this parent be willing to pay double the tuition for her child to attend the school?  In the States, would taxpayers be willing to pay higher taxes to have their teachers paid according to what they really give to the educational system?  Somehow, I think not.

 In any case, I’m glad that I have the clause clearly written on my website “I am happy to answer all of your questions.  Remember if you have a question, someone else might have a similar concern.  I will answer emails as quickly as possible, however it could take me up to 24 hours to respond, due to my duties.”  I feel like I should have the option of not checking my emails when I am involved with my family at home or attending to my personal needs and wants in the evenings and weekends.  It has been confirmed to me that for sure as teachers we have to be exceedingly clear in our communications and expectations.  We must leave no room for interpretation for students or parents.

Why do we have school vacations?

We currently have a week off of school for Crocus Vacation. I’ve googled every combination of “crocus”, “Vacation”, “holiday”, “school” that I can think of but do not understand what this vacation is really supposed to be for.  It makes me reflect on the more general question what are school vacations for?  Do students benefit from a break?  I’m not convinced they do academically.  At international schools world-wide students are whisked away by their families to all sorts of interesting corners of the world during school vacations.  From the Netherlands just this week I know of students headed to Dubai, Sweden, France, Cuba, Curacao, Prague, Russia, London, Paris, Morocco, Thailand etc. Often they leave school 1-3 days before the vacation, missing out on classwork, assignments, and even assessments.  So, in a sense they trade schooling for traveling.  But traveling can be educational too.  Some teachers also use the time to travel, especially the younger ones without families. Though I thoroughly enjoy my days as a teacher and I sincerely love the students, I still find myself looking forward to the days off.  I also have been known to occasionally use vacation time to see the world.  However, the reality is that I simply relish a week of no schedule, no alarm clocks and the ability to do what I want when I want.  For example, this morning I went on a 5K run at eight in the morning.  Later I walked the same loop with a friend. It felt like such a day of luxury.  Additionally, I am grateful for extra hours to do some needed planning, research, and grading.  The break in the school routine does energize me and refresh my enthusiasm.  So, regardless the purpose of vacations, they do benefit me!

The Biology Bus, Holiday Labs, and the Emergency Fire Blanket

It is the Crocus Vacation but several students have requested that we have a lab day so they can work on their internal assessments.  Two of the six students happen to be my own so, of course, I drive them in with me.  Another student is from our neighborhood and another lives on the way.  So, because we are part of a very small school with a family environment, we pick everyone up and I’m feeling very much like I’m driving “The Biology Bus” on the way to the school. Two other students meet us at the school.

We all enter the chilled classroom and within minutes there is a buzz of activity as everyone sets up his or her lab.  I am happy to be there with them and once again feed on their energy and enthusiasm.  The environment is considerably more relaxed considering that it’s a holiday week.  At one point the students whip out some marshmallows and roast them over a Bunsen burner while they are waiting on their experiments.  OK.  It’s a bit “on the edge” but I let it slide as they are so responsible and they’re working hard on their experiments.  I turn back to my work.

Suddenly, I hear an urgent, “Mom…..Mom…..Mom, what do we do about this fire” from behind me.   I swivel around in my chair to view my son with his outstretched hands motioning to a gigantic flame on the lab bench. The flame is spreading across the bench, enveloping the gas and electrical outlets.  I have the immediate thought, “This is a huge fire that we might not be able to contain”.  I push the thoughts of requiring the fire department aside as I do what initially needs to happen.  The students have, wisely, already turned off the gas.  It is an alcohol fire (spontaneous combustion of ethanol) and we opt for the fire blanket rather than the CO2 fire extinguisher.  Together we unfold the blanket and drape it over the monstrous flames.  We press down on the blanket and feel the heat beneath.  My son lifts a corner and observes flames licking at the blankets’ edge.  “Don’t lift it.  Don’t lift it,” he advises.  So, we let the blanket do its work of smothering the fire.  An awful stench fills the room, the result of the melted rubber tubing connecting the Bunsen burner to the gas outlet.  Near the blanket, a bottle of methylene blue sits strangely deformed from the heat it’s been exposed to.  It’s a surreal moment as I look at the aftermath of the event and the relief replacing the shocked looks on my students’ faces.

I learn that a student had taken his experiment from the fume hood (!-what !) to the Bunsen Burner, attempted to pour the alcohol into a larger beaker, experienced the spontaneous combustion of the alcohol as it was being poured, and proceeded to drop the beaker.  The result was the rapid spreading and growth of the flame.

Fortunately, all are safe, no major damage has occurred, and we are able to easily erupt into laughter as the students reenact the near disaster, my son’s persistent summoning of me, and my apparent slow-motion response. 

The students finish up their experiments and clean up the lab while I collect the turtle and his supplies to come home with me for the school break.  We work together to place the chairs on the tabletops with hopes that the cleaners will do a more thorough cleaning of the floor. The students perform a final check on ongoing experiments.  I turn off the lights and we exit the Biology room, the 3rd floor, and the school itself.  The magic school bus then begins its ride home, dropping students off at their destinations and wishing them a happy holiday.

Valentine's Day

Roses by the dozens sit in buckets on my classroom tables.  The student counsel sold roses all week and I ended up buying a ridiculous amount.  Initially, I purchased for my family members, some close friends, and my fellow science colleagues.  However, the student counsel had so many roses left over that I ended up buying even more just to support “the cause”.   After all, I have two children on the counsel and all the remaining student counsel members are my students.  I just couldn’t resist them.  So now I can spread Valentine’s Day cheer to my neighbors when I go home tonight.

It’s 6:30 p.m. on Friday evening.  My classroom is finally emptying itself of students who have been here all afternoon working on their self-designed experiments, internal assessments (IAs), for their International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma.  While many test tubes, Erlenmeyer flasks, the foaming yeast, the elodea and other supplies have been carefully cleaned or disposed of, other ongoing experiments remain.  There are two plant projects under the fluorescent lights, a sprout project on the lab bench, Daphnia awaiting their caffeine experiment, and a cucumber prepared for an osmosis experiment.

I check my email as I’m waiting for the students to finish up.  There is an email from the IB with the announcement that I have been appointed to be an IB examiner.  That’s a nice piece of news at the end of the day.

My students claim to be “almost done” so I water my plants and tend to my turtle and the fish.  I tidy up around my desk and pack up my bag.  I notify my husband and youngest son that we’re finally about ready to go.  We gather up our coats and bags and all those roses.  It takes three of us to lug the flowers downstairs.  We wave to the cleaners who are the last ones in the building and exit out into the dark and rainy night.

Today was an 11-hour day at the school.  IB Meetings, an Open House, Parent-Teacher Conferences, Basket Ball Games, and IA’s meant I spent between ten and fourteen hours each day at the school this week. Needless to say, it’s been a long week.  How will I celebrate Valentine’s Day?  With a quiet movie night at home.  However, tomorrow I’ll have a Sushi Dinner with my husband.

Achieving Balance

Lesson Planning.  Unit Planning.  Curriculum Review.  Going Green Initiative.  Differentiation for HS, SL, and HL students in my IB Biology class, Internal Assessments, Staff Meetings, Science Dept. Meetings, Managing the research expedition to South Africa, Juggling parent emails, helping students with missing work, Lab Planning, Lab Preparing, Lab cleanup, developing IMYC curriculum with rubrics and assessment, Standards based Grading focus group --- oh, and grading.  Actually, this isn’t even a comprehensive list.

Last semester I found myself powering up my computer right after dinner and working through the evening and night until at least midnight.  Then I was at the school at 7 a.m. the next day.  My job had officially consumed me.  I had given up my life.  As a teacher, that is the easiest thing to let happen, as the demands are endless.  Of course, this is probably true of any job.

Well, I decided this was no longer in the best interest of my family, my students, or me.  I mean, who wants a tired, burned out wife, mother or teacher?  And I was headed down that path.  So, this January I turned over a new leaf.  I have committed myself to my life.  How have I kept this resolution?  Well, I started this blog for one and am committed to writing each night.  I do not work at home until I have had dinner with my family and played a game with my youngest son.  I make sure to have a one on one discussion with both of my teenagers each day.  I started Dutch lessons again on Tuesday afternoons after school.  This Friday begins a regular after school practice session with our staff choir which I have decided to join.  I am so much happier.  I love my life again.  And, I am STILL getting all those things done in the first paragraph.  I was just reviewing my schedule for this week and realized I signed up to make Chinese dumplings in celebration of he Chinese New Year last week.  I am really looking forward to that!  I am so glad I have little perks in life to keep my work as a teacher balanced.