It truly is a wonderful time of year.  As we look around and see all the holiday decorations, hear the sounds of giggles discussing what the elf has done to each house, and cheerful music fills the air, it’s so easy to become overwhelmed with the lack of time and our lists that are pages long.

Just before Thanksgiving, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity, along with about nine other colleagues, to take part in a regional NCTM conference for teachers of mathematics.  While the timing seemed anything but perfect as we were about to be out of school for a week, I knew this was something that I wanted to be a part of.

As soon as we heard the opening session, I knew I had made the right decision to take part in this conference.  Each session I attended gave me new and exciting ideas that I could use in my classroom.  What I loved was it was easy to come back and apply the knowledge I took away immediately and not just say, “I’ll try that sometime” and file it away never to be seen again!

I say this to simply encourage others to take the time to really look into professional development opportunities.  The timing may not always seem ideal and it may take a bit of planning and creativity with life in general.  However, I can say without any doubt, if I had let this chance slip by I would have deeply regretted it.  Not only did I come away with some wonderful ideas for my teacher tool belt, but this also gave me a chance to collaborate with colleagues that I might not be able to on a regular basis.  It grew friendships, trust, and camaraderie with people whom I see and interact with everyday.  It grew confidence in each one of us to come back and share with our teams how these ideas can easily be applied to our teaching.

Learner, Thinker, Writer:  Erin Collini (@BusyGirlCollini) serves the Trinity School community as a PreK Teacher.

In honor of the Sixth Graders’ school theme and in the spirit of the holiday season, I present…

I believe.

I believe that …

… I was meant to be a mother and a teacher.

… God wants us to love one another, not judge one another.

… the sound of a zipper unzipping will always remind me of Jekyll Island campgrounds.

… given enough time, space, and encouragement, all children can learn math.

… Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was right when he said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

I believe.

I believe that …

… my 6th grade team keeps me going on those hard days (and the easy ones, too!).

… laughter, while it might not be the absolute best medicine, is up there in the top three.

… snacks make a Wednesday afternoon meeting a little more bearable. (Thanks to whoever instituted this new practice!)

… my mindfulness practice and meditations help me each day.

… Anne Lamott’s writing speaks to my soul. She wrote in Traveling Mercies, “Here are the two best prayers I know: ‘Help me, help me, help me’ and ‘Thank you, thank you, thank you.” I pray them EVERY day.

I believe.

I believe that …

… SEC football is SO MUCH FUN!

… being a mother is the best job I will ever have.

… Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year, and that Disney World is the happiest place on earth.

… Trinity is an amazing place to work.

… 6th graders at Trinity represent the best of ALL our work.

I believe.

Learner, Thinker, Writer:  Kristi Story (@kstorysquared) serves the Trinity School community as the Sixth Grade Math Teacher.

 I have always had a love for numbers. There is purity in how it allows us to communicate, to make connections among things, to rank our likes or dislikes, to be precise, to simplify, and importantly to find answers. In contrast, I have to bend my will to feel remotely the same affection for Language Arts. The impreciseness of language, the iffy rules of grammar, and the complex rules of conjugation are obstacles that I am still working through.

My family, without knowing, taught me this bias by emphasizing the importance of helping with chores. Industriousness became a skill, however, it also left me with less leisure time. Reading became required learning and a task much like any other chore. I have often admired voracious readers who do it as a hobby and who have widened their comprehension simply by reading different genres. In my journey to discover my reading interests, I have been spending more time poring over self-help books and, more recently, non-fiction materials that speak to compelling stories about how others who seemingly had one path chosen for them, but influenced a higher path for themselves by sheer force of will.

I firmly believe that how something is introduced matters. In their infant years, my husband and I regularly read to our girls and made it a fun bedtime routine shared under bundled sheets. Ironically, now that our girls have gotten to the respectable ages of 2 and 3, they are the ones who are reading to us! Morgan, the younger of the two, becomes indignant when we cheat her of the opportunity to use her imagination to tell her story from the illustrations she sees. Emma equally impresses us! She is now a voracious reader who can easily go through a book in less than a minute. We are excited that our girls are already exploring their world through reading, making their own minds up about their interests and, importantly, sharpening their curiosity about what they do not know.

Of course, math remains my first love. I have always had a knack for remembering numbers. My family will never let me forget the child prodigy in math that they saw in me. It has always been easy for me to remember phone numbers or license plate numbers. Once I write a number down, dial it by phone, I easily commit it to memory. I remember practicing multiplication tables up to a factor of 12 by 12 just on my own without any prompting. I enjoyed and practiced math often because it came easy for me. The encouraging words from my family in this regard also helped me to become even better.

My high school examination included the elective subjects of physics and geography. These subject choices at the Ordinary and Advanced examination levels were directly linked to my childhood dream of becoming a pilot. While I gained confidence in performing mathematical proofs and solving complex problems, and eventually earned a degree in Physics and Electronics, my epiphany about the power of math and how it could be used to make a difference came to me while I worked as a teacher in the classroom.

A true test as to whether one understands something well is the ability to explain it to others in a way that makes sense to them. Importantly, I am now conscious of an even more powerful truth that I excitedly share with my students and fellow teachers. We open up ourselves to new learning when we can become vulnerable about what we do not know or we can be honest with others about past failures that we either overcame or continue to chip away by sheer will.

Recently, I assumed the responsibility of helping children across different grade levels at Trinity to have fun with math and to build their confidence in their own math abilities. This initiative known as Pi in the Sky Math has reconnected me to something I enjoy. In helping my students to learn, I am also open with them about those occasional moments where I may need to get back to them about how best to explain a mathematical concept. I embrace my classroom experiences and I owe a debt of gratitude to Maryellen Berry for selecting me for this opportunity.

I want my students to understand that we are never stuck at one place. My openness is helping to prepare them for those inevitable moments of uncertainty by giving them the fortitude to push through self-doubt. I smile when I pass Fourth Graders that I recently taught only a year ago. They beam with confidence and they excitedly share their personal journeys with me. These are moments that matter! I love when my students let me know how I have impacted their lives.

Learner, Thinker, Writer:  Kerry Coote (@CooteMrs) serves the Trinity School community as a Second Grade Assistant Teacher.

We have had a busy fall in First Grade- building community and making new friends, learning phonics rules, decomposing numbers, and perhaps the students favorite, a study on the state of Georgia. Known as “The Peach State,” “The Goober State,” and “The Empire State South,” the nicknames could go on, as could all the fun we have had learning about each region through song and dance, slide shows, stories, and field trips. Moving this unit to the fall gave us the opportunity to shake things up a bit from how we have done them in the past, and I took this as an invitation to step outside the box, and the classroom.

We started with the Coastal Plains, focusing on the beaches and the Okeefenokee Swamp, and all the critters who call this place home. Next we moved into the Piedmont Region, learning all about the Atlanta landmarks and the community around us. Saving the best for last (in my opinion!) we are currently wrapping up our unit by studying the Mountain region including the landforms, people, and animals that make this region so unique. Because a backpacking trip along the Appalachian Trail was not in the cards for 80 First Graders this year, we opted for a walk in our very own Discovery Woods, which was a close second. I brought in my favorite backpack, a 65 liter Gregory Diva which has seen mountains ranges from Idaho and Utah all the way to North Carolina and Georgia, and we headed out for an adventure on a beautiful Fall afternoon.

We walked and talked, threw stones in the creek, and followed the imaginary blue blazes as if we were really along the Appalachian Trail. But it was when we got to the outdoor classroom that that real fun began. With each item I pulled from my pack, their eyes grew bigger and bigger. A flashlight made to wear on your head? A stove that can cook ramen noodles in the backcountry? An inflatable sleeping pad with a checkerboard sketched on it? I really got them when I unrolled my sleeping bag from a sack the size of a Ziploc bag. I could sense that the idea of living out of a pack on your back was a bit crazy, but a big adventure! Needless to say, they were captivated, and I was totally in my element telling stories about trips and experiences while sharing my passion for the outdoors. Discovery Woods was the ideal classroom for this type of hands-on learning.

I showed them a little journal I keep in the side pocket and shared with them that you never know when inspiration will strike. As the Scout motto says, always be prepared. It was only fitting to share this little piece of advice with them since Juliette Lowe, founder of the Girl Scouts, hails from our very own Savannah, GA. Giving each student a pencil and piece of paper, we invited them to reflect on what resonated with them as we soaked up the sunshine in our special class in the woods. Right before my eyes, my passion for teaching and connecting with the students merged with my love of hiking, nature, and spending time outside. It was one of those sweet moments where all felt right in the world.

For some kids, it may have been just another walk in the woods, but for others, it was the time they truly learned about the endless opportunities that surround us.

Learner, Thinker, Writer: Sarah Bristow (@BPfuninfirst) serves the Trinity School community as a First Grade Lead Teacher.

As teachers, we constantly give and receive feedback while working with students. However, receiving feedback and teaching students to receive feedback can sometimes cause us to bristle. Like our students, we say we want to learn and grow, but there are times for all of us when receiving feedback is just plain challenging. Stone & Heen explain the challenge: “Receiving feedback sits at the intersection of two needs – our drive to learn and our longing for acceptance” (2015, p.8). Therefore, just as we practice and model taking risks, making mistakes, and learning from failure for our students, we must practice and model receiving feedback.

Feedback is just information. It is a snapshot in time of where we are in our learning and our progress growing into the people we are meant to be. Feedback comes in an abundance of forms. Whether it is the honk of a horn letting us know the light is green, our pants being uncomfortably snug after a fabulous trip to New York, the bewildered looks on students’ faces when they don’t yet understand the distributive property, or the most recent results from a spelling assessment, this is all feedback. Throughout our daily lives, we are constantly receiving feedback. Therefore it is vital we learn, practice, and teach how to receive feedback effectively. The real power in feedback comes in clearly understanding the feedback, reflecting on the information, reflecting on your reaction to the information, and finally deciding how to use that information.

In preparations for student-led conferences and learning how to reflect on feedback, my class read Julia Cook’s Thanks for the Feedback (2013). Through this picture book, we were all reminded of the various forms of feedback and guided on ways to receive feedback. Students thoughtfully discussed how compliments, appreciation, and correct answers are often easier to receive. Then my children truly surprised me in conversations that demonstrated their understandings of receiving, reflecting, and implementing constructive criticism as essential to learning. Together my students and I brainstormed a list of suggestions for receiving feedback. The list sits at the front of the room to remind all of us the importance in learning to receive feedback. This important reminder is just as important for me, as it is for my students.

Learner, Thinker, Writer: Mary Jacob Harris (@maryjacobr) serves the Trinity School community as a Third Grade Lead Teacher.

Cook, Julia. (2013). Thanks for the Feedback. Boys Town, NE: Boys Town Press.

Stone, D. & Heen, S. (2015). Thanks for the Feedback: The Science and Art of Receiving Feedback Well. New York, NY: Penguin Books.

All my life, failure has been a negative thing.  I strive for excellence and failing was certainly not excellent in my opinion.

But in the past few months, I have been seeing more and more examples of how failure can truly make you better– and in most cases, better off than if you succeeded the first time.

As I watch my 19-month old constantly trying new things, she is not discouraged by failure.  The block tower falls over and I immediately say, “Uh ohhhh,” prepared to console my toddler after all the work she put into her creation.  But she looks at me as if she wasn’t so worried about it!  Then she proceeds to gather the blocks and rebuild– this time, with the bigger blocks on the bottom.

She stammers over to her table with a cup of grapes and loses balance, tipping the grapes to the ground.  I hold my breath, feeling sorry for my dear daughter and her favorite snack.  But without a second thought, she picks up each grape, delighting in the fact that she gets to put them back in the cup one at a time. (We have a five-second rule in our house.)

This theme has translated into my work life as well.  Offering challenges where children are going to fail and fail again before they might succeed (and might not!) teach students that failure might be a friend.  The STEAM challenges I have led in my classroom and the activities in their iHub class, in particular, are windows into this type of learning.  Students try to meet the challenge and often fail, have to pick themselves up again, and go down another path.  The lessons they learn from these experiences help them with empathy– they pick up a classmate when his or her project didn’t go as planned.  They also teach students that it’s okay to make mistakes.  Mr. Kevin explained it well a few weeks ago saying, “You want to fail.  If you fail, you know exactly where you need to focus, where you need to improve.”

New opportunities arise when something doesn’t go the way it should.  Failure is our chance to try it again– not something we should fear.

Learner, Thinker, Writer: Kathy Bruyn serves the Trinity School community as a Second Grade Lead Teacher.

Our students come into our classrooms not knowing who we are or anything about us, yet we seem to already know so much about them. We get the opportunity to listen to their parents share detailed information at parent sharing conferences and hear from their previous teachers about what worked well for each child. As teachers, we also give our students plenty of opportunities to share with their peers in the classroom. So what about the more introverted children who may not share as readily as others? They are usually the ones who may need a push to feel safe in order to tell their stories. We are the leaders and role models in our classrooms and have a responsibility to create a safe space not only for learning, but also for the opportunity to find out what makes them “tick.” When we become vulnerable and share our own passions and interests, they not only learn more about us, but also realize the importance of opening up to others.

In my classroom, my students learn from day one that I am passionate about dance and music. I share this passion not by “telling” them, but rather by “showing” the happiness that dancing brings to me. We dance and sing everyday, and soon I find that some of the more introverted students are joining in the fun with smiling faces!

Most recently I became interested in learning more about mindfulness and the importance of using it in my personal life. It has impacted me in a very positive way, so I naturally wanted my students to understand the benefit of being present and mindful. There are many ways to be mindful, including a daily sitting meditation practice. After we all mediate together, we reflect on our practice. We focus on what helped us stay present, and I learn so much from them! They realize that learning never stops, and one can always find new interests and passions to share with others.

I feel blessed to be able to teach in a school where I can share who I really am with my students and community. As I lead by example, my students become more willing and able to open up without a fear of judgment.

Learner, Thinker, Writer: Sarah Mokotoff serves the Trinity School community as a Second Grade Lead Teacher.

Grand Day is one of my favorite events at school for so many reasons, not the least of which is seeing the pride of students, teachers, and grands over the accomplishments of learning and friendships.  Beyond that, listening to grandparents talk to each other about what they perceive as happening with and for their grandchildren allows me to see what we do with fresh eyes.  I don’t know if it is the wisdom grandparents have earned over time or an appreciation for fundamentals now overlooked, but grandparents seem to recognize the implicit learning objectives built into our teaching as readily as they see the obvious, stated objectives.  One grandparent stopped me to ask if we have always given the students “jobs” in the classroom.  I thought, “Yes! We vertically align learning objectives and facilitate interdisciplinary experiences to deepen student understanding while empowering them with skills and strategies all of the time.  Thank you for noticing.”  I did not say that.  After I explained the jobs chart, he was so impressed with the idea of developing academic skills while promoting a sense of personal responsibility and community.  But, I wonder if we think about the depth of learning that will occur each year when those charts are set up.  Or, have we done it so long that we just know “jobs” are what we do?

I have enjoyed the work we do as a professional learning community analyzing our curriculum and teaching practices to consider how we can get better.  One of the things I have tried to do is bridge the perceived gap between early learning objectives and those of more advanced grade levels.  On the surface, there may seem to be little connection between the tactile table and essay writing or color sorting and algebra, but foundational knowledge and skills are critical for future academic success.  Is the connection difficult to see because we focus on the activity/lesson and not the why behind it?  In his book, Start with Why, Simon Sinek says, “It is not just WHAT or HOW you do things that matters; what matters more is that WHAT and HOW you do things is consistent with your WHY.  Only then will your practices indeed be best.”  Are we starting with WHY when we plan our lessons?  How might that look?

1. Why:  We believe students need a firm foundation of early literacy and math skills and habits that include conceptual understanding as well as procedural knowledge.
2. What:  We build number sense and phonological awareness while emphasizing strategies, communication, and flexible thinking.
3. How:  Daily lessons include number talks with subitizing activities and differentiated small groups during literacy block.

One might argue that it doesn’t make a difference where you begin if you end up in the same place.  Only, I don’t think we always end up in the same place when we begin with the activity or lesson rather than with the WHY.  So, I will continue to bridge the gap by pointing out the connections between early learning and upper grades, and highlighting how our WHY is the building of foundational skills/strategies for later success.   I will always work to see what we do with fresh eyes.

(cross-posted on The Possibilities in Understanding)

Sinek, Simon. Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action. New York: Portfolio, 2009. Print.

Learner, Thinker, Writer: Rhonda Mitchell serves the Trinity School community as the Early Elementary Division Head.

I deeply appreciate working in an environment that models and fosters growth and learning. As a summer reading assignment, I experimented with the Word, Phrase, Sentence reflection strategy as I read Doodle Revolution. A new believer in WPS and doodling, I decided to share these methods with my students. What a response I got! They love collaborating around post-its while talking though their thoughts on the book Three Wishes. When they see flair pens out, I hear, “Yes! We get to take notes!” Their notes are beautiful!

How fun it has been to learn along side children. As part of the Sixth Grade experience, students take an Explorations class. The contagious excitement for doodling (and flair pens) made the Sketch Noting Explorations class one of the popular options. In the first class, we used BrainDoodles to aid in our visual literacy. As she enjoyed practicing the visual alphabet, one Sixth Grader said, “Goodbye gel pens, hello flairs!”

Doodling and post-its are just a medium used for students to engage. But to me, they represent the power of modeling. These methods were modeled by (and passed from) administration to teachers to students. That’s what it’s all about.   My professional development and growth should inform my teaching practices. It’s refreshing and necessary to work in a place that the growth mindset is alive and well!

Learner, Thinker, Writer: Julia Kuipers (@jkuipers_3) serves the Trinity School community as a Sixth Grade Associate Teacher