Open Doors

by Leslie Lucas, Hoggard HS

I’m so comfortable cloistered in Room 228, venturing out only when necessary.  But when I read the recent blog post by Xan Mays & Taylor Thomas entitled Making Space for Today's Poets: The Role of The Beatles, Beyonce, & Bruno in the ELA Classroom about engaging students with song lyrics, a visit to Xan’s room became necessary.  Two days later she and Florence and the Machine were shaking up my classroom.   

Students whose voices I’d never heard discussed how a buried horse symbolizes letting go of the past and how the author’s tone evolves from overwhelmed and rebellious to optimistic.  After the lesson, students volunteered to help me find song lyrics rich with imagery, metaphors, parallelism, personification, tone, and symbols that help convey the theme(s). Later, I’ll gravitate to my choices (Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Jackson Brown), but Xan showed me that I need to meet my students where they are.  And if that means I have to listen to Taylor Swift, well, I’ll make the sacrifice.  

Making Space for Today’s Poets: The Role of The Beatles, Beyonce and Bruno in the ELA Classroom

by Xan Mays (Hoggard HS) & Taylor Thomas (Ashley HS)

It’s common in ELA classrooms across grade levels for groans and feelings of dread to arise when poetry is mentioned. Students tend to see poetry as confusing and boring, which immediately puts them at a disadvantage when they are asked to read and analyze any poem. Rather than forcing more poems from the textbook down the students’ throats and hoping that this time it will click, why not take a more inventive approach--one that meets students where they are and reveals to them how they are already more familiar with poetry than they realized.

Ms. Xan Mays (Hoggard) and Mr. Taylor Thomas (Ashley) have been using popular song lyrics as poetry in their classrooms for years. The two educators presented a session on the topic at 2017’s New Hanover County School's Summer Institute for Instructional Innovation conference. Below, they discuss their thought process behind the activity:

Navigating the Teaching Roller Coaster: Bringing Your Inner Hero to the Rescue

-by Susan Hitt

Superman. Wonder Woman. Spiderman. All to the rescue! Except, we as educators can’t rely on fictional characters to save the day. We are the superheroes of the classroom. As we hit the mid-year mark, it’s easy to fall into that post-holiday slump. The festivities have come and gone, and springtime’s long, warmer days seem forever away. So how can we speed past the disillusionment phase and soar on into rejuvenation and on into reflection?

Instead of...Try This

                                                                       -by Andrea Raines, BT & Staff Development Specialist 

This post originally appeared on the blog Aligned on October 3, 2017 by Andrea Raines.

Each year as I set up my ELA classroom, I always strive to arrange it so that it allows all students to be successful. As educators, we are continually exposed to new strategies and research to implement in our classrooms. Over the last few years, I have found several strategies that help me encourage my students to be successful within ELA standards.

6 Word Resolutions

by Susan Hitt

Every January, as I settle into the New Year, I enjoy reflecting on my personal and professional goals from the previous year and determining goals for the new year. While many like to make their resolution on December 31st or January 1st, I myself like to take my time. Like with shopping, I tend to browse and try on different options, determining what I think best suits my life now and what I think I would most benefit from in the future.  

Top 5 Blog Posts of 2017

by Susan Hitt

As 2017 comes to a close, I thought I'd take a moment to highlight the top 5 Education Celebration blog posts from 2017. So without further ado, let's take a look at the top 5 posts of the year:

Leadership Roles: A Siren’s Song

-by Taylor Thomas, Ashley HS

Becoming a leader as a classroom teacher is a challenging road to navigate, one that requires finding balance in how you devote your time because, as we all know, our role in the classroom reigns supreme. Or, at least, it should. This is a realization I had to learn the hard way.

How Choosing One Thing on Which to Focus, Makes the Rest Fall into Place

by Susan Hitt

As educators, we are often our harshest critics. We hold ourselves up to the "Pinterest-teacher" standard where classrooms are perfectly decorated and there is never an item askew. But we all know learning is messy. Teaching is messy. From uncapped highlighters rolling around to a whiteboard covered in 30 different handwritings, we know evidence of learning is not "picture perfect." But that's okay. In fact, that's what we as educators embrace. We have to learn to pick and choose where we want our focus to lay, and I, for one, long ago gave up on the idea of perfection. 

Building Teacher Advocates: An ECET2NC Reflection

-by Kylee Maarschalk, New Hanover HS

Ad·vo·cate noun 1. a person who publicly supports or recommends a particular cause or policy

Teacher advocates are few and far between in today’s culture.  When the opportunity to tell someone my pride of working in education arises, I happily take it on without question; however, the responses that teachers receive from the public as we share our joy in the profession is one of “Oh, wow! How do you do that?!” or my favorite southern expression, “Bless your heart!” which the last time I checked, meant I was a little more than left of center on the crazy scale. All too often, the teaching profession is viewed as glorified babysitting, regardless of grade level taught.

Remember Your Why: A Dyslexic Teacher's Journey from a Student to a Teacher

Note: I spent an amazing weekend at the Elevating and Celebrating Teachers and Teaching conference in Charlotte, NC last weekend (ECET2NC). I was asked to give a Cultivating a Calling Speech, which I decided to also publish here (with a few edits) as this week’s blog post. -Susan Hitt

Let me begin introducing myself. I was a high school English teacher for 10 years and I am currently the Lead High School English Language Arts teacher in my school district. I am passionate about education. I am an avid reader & tweeter. I am a planner. And I am Dyslexic.

When I was first approached to give a Cultivating a Calling speech, my immediate reaction was while I was honored to be asked, I couldn't help but wonder what in the world I could share with a room full of educators. Plus, if I’m being honest, I was very intimidated by the idea of speaking in front of such a large group. But never one to shy away from a challenge, I accepted the challenge.

Let’s talk about that for a minute. Challenges. My life has been one challenge, after another. I think it’s important to recognize that everyone faces challenges. Some of the challenges we might be going through are easily seen by others, but other challenges may be deeply personal and hidden within.

The Power of Paideia Part II: Paideia in Practice

-by Alex Schaivone, New Hanover High School

Catch up with Part I of Alex's blog post here: (The Power of Paideia Part I: I'm a Believer)

After a month of anxiously waiting to dive into my first Paideia seminar, I struggled to find a text that would do the process justice while also appealing to my students. I perused the Paideia Institute’s website (which is a fabulous resource if you’re just starting Paideia seminars for the first time), scouring the lesson plan archives for just the right seminar for my students. As a teacher of seniors, I knew that this lesson had to be good. It was the beginning of their last year of high school and I was determined to start the year off on the right foot.

Teaching: Beautifully Imperfect

-by Leslie Lucas, Hoggard HS

In the middle of July, it’s easy to imagine that we’ll be perfect teachers with perfect plans. Our students will be perfect students with perfect attitudes. They’ll have zest, grit, and growth mindsets.  And to top it off, we’ll  be able to make as many copies as we want. I call it July bliss. The July bliss before the August abyss. The calm before the storm.Literally.

Pineapple Potluck: Your Invitation to the Table

-Susan Hitt

Last February when I first decided to create this blog, I spent much longer than I’d rather admit trying to come up with the perfect name. My favorite contender was Pineapple Potluck, but I found over and over I had to explain the name to people. I couldn’t have a blog with a name no one understood, so back to the drawing board I went and finally landed on Education Celebration. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the name Education Celebration because to me it symbolizes all that I want this blog to be--a place to celebrate all that you as educators are doing in your classrooms.

3 Key Takeaways from the Core Advocates National Convening

-by Susan Hitt

No one understands the life of a teacher better than another teacher. This knowledge helps form instant bonds between near strangers when opportunities to meet and discuss our profession arise--like at conferences. I had this opportunity just a few short weeks ago at the National Core Advocates convening in Denver, Colorado. It was an incredible weekend of learning and networking.

For me, after attending any educational conference, I return to work excited to share with anyone and everyone all the helpful tips, tricks, and tools I learned. It was hard to pick just three from my most recent conference, but I narrowed it down to the following as my favorite, most impactful sessions:

Musings from a First-Year Teacher

Today's post is written by Alex Schaivone, an English teacher at New Hanover High School. To learn more about Alex, check out the section entitled Educational Contributors.

During my internship, I was blessed with a wonderful partnership teacher who taught me more about teaching than I could possibly learn in any education class. In that year, I learned how to teach my content, but I also learned much more. In the first few months of my internship, my partnership teacher passed along a wonderful essay from the blog Cult of Pedagogy, “Find Your Marigold: The One Essential Rule for New Teachers.” This essay centers around the need for new teachers to find their marigolds, or those teachers who are “encouraging, supporting and nurturing growing teachers on their way to maturity.” It warns of walnut trees, those who may have become bitter or hardened over the course of their careers, and instead encourages young teachers to seek out those who provide support and positivity. The ideas presented in this essay have stayed with me through this year and have proven to be both true and incredibly valuable.