Visit to the Homestead

Temps in the nineties down in Double Adobe feel pleasant after Tempe's wet 110's for weeks on end, and teaching in my "sustainable" eighty-degree classroom. Brother Bill took us out on my sister's quads and we found paths through the green grasses, gourds, wild flowers and thorny clumps of Mesquite. The mesquite, usually lacy, low and and semitransparent, is woven with vines of what must be an invasive plant with small purple flowers. Woven so tightly that the taller stands are almost unnavigable and we find ourselves backing out of surprise dead-ends over and over again. What is usually all red dust and ferny thorns is damp and jungle-like. We pass over the horse tracks from time to time, but don't see them until we pass by the feeding trough at the fence on our way back. We pass the bones of dead pets and the debris of our family's history. We eye the extent of our domain. The clouds pile on all horizons around the valley, but not above us. The sun moves lower and the breeze feels cool on our foreheads.  After making sure the rusty barbed wire holds the gate at least tentatively, we lead a trail of dust back up the road to the front driveway and head inside.

Sites and Resources for Reading Endorsement AEPA

I'm gathering websites and resources to study for my AEPA reading endorsement exam (More materials available here).  I'll add more as I find them, so check back.

1. Professional Standards. 

• Here are the NBPTS standards (though they are for early-middle childhood): http://www.nbpts.org/sites/default/files/documents/certificates/nbpts-certificate-emc-lrla-standards.pdf
• The IRA also has its standards of course: http://www.reading.org/General/CurrentResearch/Standards/ProfessionalStandards.aspx
• The American Federation of Teachers put out a statement about what reading teachers should know and be able to do: http://www.aft.org/pdfs/teachers/rocketscience0304.pdf  This one is from 1999, but most of the concepts should still be valid.

2. Theoretical & Research Foundations. 

• This is a VERY cool interactive cognitive framework for learning to read, created by SEDL: http://www.sedl.org/reading/framework/welcome.swf.  This theory of adolescent readers seems like a good complement: http://www.adlit.org/article/19751/
• Center on Instruction Effective Instruction for Adolescent Struggling Readers. It has been difficult to zero in on good resources for adolescents in particular. Yay!  Lots of research meta-analysis and info about implications for practice.  If you want a brief overview of effective practice, you can skip to this doc: http://www.centeroninstruction.org/files/Practice%20Brief-Struggling%20Readers1.pdf
• This article "Learning to Read Words" helped me understand some of the researched approaches to learning to read words and build vocabulary. 

3. Flashcards and Study Sets. Here are some sets of flashcards various people made (I already noticed some spelling errors...):
A.

B. Then, the Reading Specialist Praxis II flashcards.

C. And these flashcards.  I stole 136 of them from someone else and have been adding and editing.


4. Study Guides for Other Tests. Here is a downloadable study guide for the Teaching Reading Praxis test:

Teaching Reading - ETS Home

powered by GoBookee.net

5.  Glossaries:

• From Florida Center for Reading http://www.fcrr.org/curriculum/glossary/glossaryOfReading.pdf
• From Education Oasis: http://www.educationoasis.com/curriculum/Reading/glossary_reading_terms.htm
• A glossary of adolescent literacy which looks very useful, considering that most of the resources so far focus on the younger grades.  Thanks, Adlit!  http://www.adlit.org/adlit_glossary/

6. Practice Tests & Test Questions:

• Arizona AEPA (Elementary, anyway.  Lots of overlap?)
• RICA practice questions
• Oklahoma OPTE/OSAT practice test
• TExES Reading Specialist practice questions
• Colorado's PLACE assessment
• Praxis Reading Specialist practice questions: 0300

7. Other Sites:

Big Five-- Anita Archer-- RTI

• Dr. Archer's workshop handouts from MiBLSI http://miblsi.cenmi.org/MiBLSiModel/Implementation/ElementarySchools/TierISupports/ArcherHandouts.aspx
• http://oregonreadingfirst.uoregon.edu/inst_big_five.html

Developmental Stages of Reading: Chall's six stages of reading development. http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/collateral_resources/pdf/r/reading_bestpractices_assessment_red_c1_L02_tr_alookrsrch.pdf



Other Resources Recommended in Online Chats:
Beating them All (book)

RIP Prop 204. Anyone Hiring an Idea Person, Highly Literate, Excellent Work Ethic?

So much for Prop 204.  And the funding it guaranteed for Arizona schools.  I don't think most people fully appreciate how essential that money is/was for our state's schools.

I will most likely be on the job market next year, and I am cringing at the idea of being out there under these circumstances, with so many other teachers looking for jobs because class sizes will most surely be increased to save money.  Entire schools will close.

I am honestly frightened. 

The future, for me and for my kids' schools, is very uncertain. 

Maybe I should go into durable medical equipment sales.  I have skills.  But, at least right now, the idea of committing myself to any other career is heartbreaking, because although I can imagine being decently good at other jobs, I can't imagine throwing myself into those jobs as wholeheartedly.  And at 41, I'm learning that I am a person who has to be able to fling myself completely into what I am doing. I have to have a drive for it.  I have a drive for teaching English.  I have my strengths and weaknesses as a teacher, but I think my drive to innovate, learn and connect with my students makes me a good teacher. 

I was a real estate agent for a while, on the side.  I could be good at that.  And it was good to feel like I was helping friends and family learn better how to negotiate the hairy business of house-hunting, helping protect their interests.  My efforts were sincere.  But I'm just not a real estate agent at heart. You know?

I could maybe throw myself into working for a nonprofit, or something else where I could come up with ideas and try to implement them.  I am honestly at a loss.  What if I can't find a teaching job next year?  What if I have 40 kids in each class?  I spiritually can't do it.  Of course, I can do it, but it is essentially different.  Teaching demands infinite hope and innovation. But the idea of innovating and assessing for even more students is just demoralizing.

And what about my own kids?   The mental health of their teachers? Their ability to meet the needs of the little boy and girl that come home to me each night?

The whole picture frightens me.

Voting for Education: Resources in Arizona

Please register to vote before October 9.

If you've read my blog at all, you've probably seen some of the entries that express frustration and exhaustion surrounding my work as a teacher.

While teachers have always worked hard and sacrificed personally in order to teach students, working conditions for teachers (and other support staff in Arizona's districts) have come to a tipping point.  No longer do we have the support structures in place to do the job we need to do to prepare students for their futures and workers, learners, informed citizens and happy human beings.  

Working conditions for faculty and staff are learning conditions for students.  

1. When we work second and third jobs to keep up with the rising cost of a middle-class lifestyle, and to provide our own families with health care, transportation, multimedia communications, college educations, and healthy lifestyles, we reduce our ability to meet the needs of our students. 
2. When we lack librarians, teachers' aides, admin assistants, school nurses, copy clerks, security monitors, custodians and disciplinary support (such as parent liaisons at the high school level, a position which was abruptly cut in recent weeks in TUSD), we either take on extra responsibilities or ignore important aspects of creating a safe and responsive learning environment for students.  
3. As a parent, when district services such as after school programs are centralized (to be more "efficient"), the ability of school staff to be flexible and work with parents on payments is limited; tuition money goes back to a central pool instead of back into the schools where those parents' kids attend.
4. When we lack technical support, equipment, software and training, we use less technology in our instruction.
5. When we lack money for copy paper, students spend more time copying what is on the board and less time learning.  This is not why districts have purchased sophisticated tools such as Smartboards.
6. When class sizes are larger, we lack the time and energy to learn about and respond to our students' needs; we lack the time to give good quality, timely feedback on the complex assessments that are required by new more rigorous standards.  

These and many other changes are happening which have VERY concrete and observable impact on schools and classrooms.  As a parent, I wish that I had even more time to invest in researching and advocating for all the issues, especially at a local level.

Here are some resources for voters in Arizona who want to learn more about the issues and who want to vote for propositions and candidates that will support strong funding and a drive for excellence in Arizona's schools.  Of course my agenda here is to support both excellence and to FUND excellence in AZ education.  I'm sure my list is biased toward that goal.

• Voting information for supporting education (AEA fund for public education).  Includes candidates and propositions.
• Quality Education and Jobs Act-- Prop 204.  Information.  Vote for this, please.
• Expect More AZ -- A broad-based organization devoted to supporting excellence in education in Arizona
• Arizona Education Association's Legislative Issues page
• Arizona Education Network  
• [Please send me more if you've got 'em.]

TUSD/ Southern AZ issues/ candidates:

• Vote this woman onto the TUSD board: a teacher, and a teacher of teachers.  A Southern Arizona Writing Project fellow. Kristel Foster for TUSD board!  I have met her in a variety of contexts, and completely trust her intelligence, knowledge and judgment. She will help to change the conversation.
• TEA's endorsement for Cam Juarez and Kristel Foster.

Blogs about teaching in Arizona:

• www.storiesfromschoolaz.org  Arizona K12 Center runs this blog about how policy affects practice.  See my entries there, of course, while you're there.

Send more resources if you have them!  This is just a start.

Two Completely Unrelated Videos

I'm probably a little mental right now from grading papers.  But what better time to blog?

One video features Jan Brewer, our state governor.  She's been in a tiff with Obama over state's rights in terms of immigration policy.  He dismantled her dear, dear SB1070, and she still hasn't forgiven him, and yet here's what she had to say at the RNC:


The other video is a bit longer, but apparently it is the most popular TED Talks video, and it features Sir Ken Robinson speaking about the importance of teaching and nurturing creativity in our schools.  He holds it on par with literacy.  Great talk.  I love what he says about children being willing to take a chance on an idea, even when they don't know or are wrong. "If you're not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything original." Please watch:

NaPoWriMo Will I ever catch up?

Way, way behind.  But here we go...   Ginsberg, Goldberg, etc. all say first thoughts are best thoughts so maybe quick, quick poems will somehow lead to something, right?

Quick, Quick Poem...

Tombstone Heritage Ranch

On High Lonesome
along a long two lane road
through the high desert scrabble
of what used to be grassland
and now is tufts punctuating
mesquite
four stone signs
false oracles of the American dream
a development that never developed
lots that appear as the unbroken mesquite lands
parcelled out in imaginary acreage
the roads literally lead nowhere
and metaphorically as well
but those who do not travel on the roads
but across and among the mesquite and grass-tufted high desert
have paused next to, behind these false stone oracles
that proclaim Tombstone Heritage Ranch
and have opened bean cans with pocket knives
drank water from gallon jugs
and have left behind the refuse
and travelled onward toward a new American dream
punctuated by other oracles
who may prove false

Links for Backpacking Aravapa Canyon Wilderness

I'm in the middle of planning a backpacking trip for me, my brother Bill, and three little boys.  Springtime fun in the desert!

• Camping Responsibly at Aravaipa
  tags: aravaipa backpacking hiking
• Aravaipa • Canyon • Arizona • HikeArizona.COM
  tags: canyon hiking arizona trails guide backpacking camping outdoors Aravaipa
• Hiking Arizona: A Guide to Arizona's ... - Google Books
  tags: hiking arizona trails guide backpacking camping outdoors Aravaipa
• Hike the wet wilderness of Aravaipa Canyon
  tags: aravaipa wilderness canyon backpacking hiking hike
• Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness | GORP.com
  tags: aravaipa wilderness canyon backpacking hiking
• Aravaipa Canyon-- Todd's Desert Hiking Guide
  tags: aravaipa canyon backpacking hiking
• Aravaipa Canyon
  tags: aravaipa canyon backpacking hiking
• Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness (AZ)
  tags: aravaipa wilderness canyon hiking backpacking

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Laptops for Learning-- Please Donate!

Please consider donating to my current Donorschoose project. It is my most ambitious proposal yet, and if it doesn't get funded I will have risked 4 of my hard-won points (earned by completing other successful projects) for nothing.

Laptops for Learning



The idea is to get some laptops for use in my classroom at Tucson High Magnet School, to support the writing process as well as our online learning community (a Ning site.)

This proposal will get us 10 mini Dells with wireless internet capability. Sweet.

Our local TUSD override election, props. 401 and 402 failed in November, which, paired with crippling budget cuts at the state level, means that there will likely be few to no computer upgrades and inadequate maintenance for years to come. However, the techs at our school know that I created this proposal and they have offered tech support for any computers I get for my classroom.

Please help if you can, or at least spread the word!

Thanks!

ACT TODAY TO SAVE AZ PUBLIC EDUCATION NOW!!!!! Contact your legislators.

TODAY the AZ state legislature could potentially pass a resolution that would cut K-12 spending for the CURRENT YEAR by $133 MILLION.

I know I have waited too long to post this, but it is EXTREMELY easy to e-mail or phone your representative and senator and tell them to save public education.

From the perspective of TEA/AEA (from what I gather) this is an ideological battle-- many of our state representatives don't truly believe in public education and will take every opportunity to chip away at what is an essential part of the American Dream. We are already a national embarrassment in educational spending. It HAS to stop.

To find your AZ legislators, go to:
Hyperlink to How to Contact Your Legislator

I have received an e-mail from our new TUSD superintendent stating that AZ was, in effect, also about to "tear up" a check for $500 million from the U.S. government.

PLEASE ACT NOW. AND SHARE THIS NOTE!