Reflections on Testing

By Katie Doyle – Standardized testing is a popular topic in the education world.

The pros, the cons, the confusion… there is a lot of discussion regarding whether or not standardized testing is beneficial to our school system.  My students just finished a 2-week round of state testing that allowed ample time for reflection on the topic.

The weeks (even months) leading up to the state test were tense.  Teachers had countdowns of days until the test.  They used sample questions in their classrooms.  The multiple-choice format of the test became the foundation of the classroom.  When whether your students choose the correct response dictates funding, resources, and in some cases jobs, it creates a high stress situation in the school.

We all agree that teachers should not “teach to the test.”  But when there is so much emphasis on the standardized test, teachers are under pressure to do so.  They spend weeks preparing for the test – using model questions, practicing test-taking strategies, and reviewing the most commonly tested standards.

This emphasis on testing is not just stressful on teachers.  The students feel it, too. Many of my students were under the impression that their scores on the test affected their grades in school.  They were shocked when I told them that scores are not usually received until July or August, so there was no way it could lower their grade in class.

Post-testing, students are burned out.  They are mentally drained and struggle to focus during these last weeks of school.  They know that the big test we’ve been talking about is over, so they don’t see the point in the last four weeks of school.  They don’t care if they finally get to learn about science and social studies because, at this point, they are over school.  Their minds are already in summer-mode, and the school staff is now spending the most energy on having students simply follow classroom expectations.

Can we blame the students for this kind of behavior?  When the whole school year has been a big discussion about the state test, it’s not surprising that finishing the test signals to students that school is over.  We need to readjust how we think about standardized test and how we explain them to students.  Testing should not be the end all-be all of schooling, so why do we treat it like it is?  We need a better solution to measure student achievement and keep school engaging.

Why Devaluing Teachers Hurts Everyone

By Peggy Wuenstel – I have been spending many angst filled evenings over the last two years, trying to get a sense of when things went off the rails.

I have been in this business for 30 years. There are some things that I knew back at the beginning that are still true today. Teaching is hard work. Educating children is a team sport. You will never get rich working in public education if your bank account is the measure of your success. The days will be long and the summers will be short. The intangibles will always trump the measurable in making you feel like you earn your paycheck, and even though it’s not all about the kids, it is certainly mostly about the kids.

Some things have changed radically, at least here in Wisconsin.

Showing up every day, doing the best you can, keeping your skills current, and volunteering for extra duties will not make teaching a secure job anymore. The majority of Wisconsin taxpayers don’t view the public money they spend to compensate teachers as the good investment that they have in the past. In a consumer-driven society where we’ll upgrade our phones, order the pricey wine, and stay in the four star hotel, the adage: “You get what you pay for” doesn’t seem to apply to the education of our children.

There is now a marked difference between what we can afford to pay as a society and what we are willing to pay. Where the stereotype of the teacher in the past was (and certainly not universally true) the patient, kindly public servant who never lost their temper or expressed discontent about their working conditions, today’s image is just as likely to be a militant public employee who is overpaid, with an attitude of entitlement. Neither is accurate.

What has also changed is the way we connect the dots between our democratic government and the aggressive capitalism that drives the American economy. I am married to an economics major, and we have had three decades of conversations on where our money comes from and where it goes. I have come to understand that there are two essential components that drive the creation of prosperity and fuel the engine of American success:  Capital and Labor. Both are necessary for the creation of products, the provision of services, and the rise of small businesses, cottage industries, and multi-national corporations.

We have historically believed that Americans value the labor of their fellow citizens. We express our appreciation for the actions of first-responders in a crisis like the Boston marathon bombing. We covet the skill of the engineer, the cabinetmaker, or the cake decorator that create the items that enrich our lives. We are grateful for and dependent upon the services of those who transport our goods cross country, diagnose our illness and treat those maladies, deliver our mail, and cut our hair. We dream about being in the same league as the pro athletes, musicians, or actors that entertain us in our leisure time.

But things have changed in my lifetime.  We seem to value what people HAVE far more than what they DO. Celebrities like Paris Hilton, the Kardashians, and Honey Boo Boo  are not particularly gifted in actions other than commanding our attention and accumulating wealth. We know more about athletes’ contracts and salaries than we do about their statistics on the field. It is now as important to be the highest paid player as it is to have the most passing yards, home runs, shots on goal, or won/loss percentage.  This appears to reflect the value system of our society in general. Those who have the capital command the respect. Capitalists have so devalued the labor of our fellow Americans that their jobs are exported overseas where they can pay even less so that capital grows at a faster rate.

As you can imagine, this puts educators at a great disadvantage in earning and keeping public respect. We have never, as a group, been about having things. The fruit of our labors does not fill warehouses, power automobiles, heat homes, or satisfy that chocolate craving at the end of the day. We fill minds, power aspirations, kindle fires of enthusiasm and ambition, and satisfy the needs of children to feel loved, valued, and capable of meeting the challenges of the future.  We help parents, clergy, community leaders, and others willing to invest in the future, to shape people who aspire to DO things as much as to HAVE things.

If we still value the work that we do for each other, the communities that we build, the wounds that we heal, and the knowledge we accumulate, then teachers are essential to the future of this country. They deserve the return of the respect, in both financial and standing realms, to this honorable profession. Until we do so as a society, we will undervalue many, many people whose contributions are essential to our collective American dream.

Many of my friends and colleagues remain mystified by what has happened. For the most part, we haven’t changed. We still come in early and stay late. We carry piles of papers home and carry our students in our hearts. We haven’t gotten rich, and we’re not sure of the retirement plans we made when started out as novice teachers. We worry about health care, about students who come from unsafe neighborhoods and homes with empty cupboards.  We try to live the Marquette mission every day, to Be the Difference, all in a time the difference between what our fellow mortals feel we are worth and what we know we contribute to the students we love is as large as it has ever been.

Have a great summer, and I’ll see you on these pages in the fall.

How Are You Different? Tips for the job search

By Matthew Olinski – As we enter the homestretch of the university school year, many people are about to leave Marquette to begin careers in their chosen fields.

Consequently, this time of year makes me think back to my days as an undergraduate student — and the ways in which I built up my own resume.

As a social studies education major–and there were plenty of us from schools across Wisconsin — it was vital that I make myself stand out as the candidate that would be the best choice. I remember going to job fairs and standing in line with copies of my resume in hand, and then sitting in front of someone for a relatively quick interview with a long line of people behind me.

What could I do to make myself stand out as the person they wanted to hire?

To be completely honest, I didn’t succeed in making this happen in the majority of situations.  But, I did put resumes out to numerous districts. Ironically enough, after accepting my first contract as a middle school social studies teacher, I was subsequently offered two other jobs.

The first piece of advice I want to give to job seekers is: do something that makes you stand out and that is important in your field.

My examples included being trained and up to date in CPR.  This is always a beneficial skill to know when working with others. You never know when or if you will need to use it (and hopefully you never will), but it is something I did to make myself more marketable to my employers. I also had experience, beyond student teaching, in instructing both children and adults through a Parks and Recreation class.  I made sure to reference these additional experiences in my interviews, selling them skills that fell outside of teaching social studies.

A second piece of advice: as I learned over the course of my field work and through time talking to administrators, you absolutely need to get to know the school district you are applying to. 

If you are in the interview, and they are asking you questions about specific teaching strategies, apply them to the school district to which you are specifically applying.  Every district and every school has a web page. Look at it a few times to examine their mission statement is and learn about their philosophy on education.  Not only does this information prepare you for an interview, but it offers you a preview of whether or not that school and that district is really a place you want to work.

Third: Get your letters of recommendation early, and get them in order. 

Someday you’ll be a teacher, and students will ask you for letters of recommendation. When high school students ask me for this information, I request that they give me more than a few days notice.  It is only right that you do the same for the people you are asking.  Not only are they likely to be very busy people, they probably have multiple people asking them for letters of reference.  Also try to get a variety of people for your references. Your professors, your field work teacher, and a principal at the school are all good choices.

All in all — get out there. Differentiate yourselves. And put your best foot forward. You’ll be glad you did when the job offers begin to roll in.

Connecting the Dots and Circling the Wagons

By Peggy Wuenstel

There is an exercise, one that I have completed   several times, in several different contexts, that requires you to place your name in the center of a piece of paper. You then proceed to draw increasingly larger concentric circles around the name, labeling each of the groups to which you belong. This might be to increase your sense of belonging, to map the resources at your disposal, or to identify areas for volunteer work.

The largest circles, Living Thing, Child of God, Female, don’t offer much personal definition, but the smaller ones, family, workplace, circle of friends can give us great insight into who we are and who we want to be in the future.

I recently was given the opportunity to join a new circle. Newly re-elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Evers has convened an advisory council of Wisconsin Educators who have been named Wisconsin Teachers of the Year. When these eighteen individuals met last month in Madison to learn along with state leaders in the areas of the upcoming Educator Effectiveness Evaluation system, implementation of Common Core State Standards and the potential impacts of the proposed state budget on Wisconsin’s public schools, I was amazed by the competency and commitment present in that room.

While much of the day was about listening, our questions, comments and sense of direction were also valued. We left with a sense of purpose, which is still coalescing into action on these important issues, but with a sense of obligation to use our collective voices to make a difference in the lives of Wisconsin’s students.

I left with a greater appreciation of the concept of collective voice and the desire to use it more effectively. When we speak alone, it is often difficult to be heard above the background noise and the howling winds of change. When we join together to create a mission statement or speak as one, not only is our voice louder, but the audience who is paying attention is also increased. It is just part of human nature to want to be in on what is happening. No wonder laughter is contagious, and a person staring at the ceiling for no apparent reason is soon joined by others who want to know what is so interesting up there. It’s why our favorite parties are usually the most crowded, busy affairs where there is no room to sit down. It is also why we can be convinced to do things in a crowd that we would never do alone.

That is not to say that this is always a good phenomenon. The cyber-bullying that occurs when students post hateful comments with anonymous screen names seems to encourage a level of meanness that would be unthinkable in face-to-face interactions. The same is true for the comments and personal attacks on websites and in chat rooms that encourage public responses. It is hard to imagine some of those messages being delivered if the writers’ faces were visible and their real names replaced their screen names. Mob mentality, riot level violence and becoming carried away by the maddening crowd are all potential pitfalls to letting the group speak for you and not with you.

That is why it is so essential that our classroom groupings be the right kind of circle for our students to find homes within. With the guidance of a compassionate teacher, students at all levels learn to understand and support each other, to acknowledge and celebrate differences, to mend conflicts and encourage life-long relationships.

Programs such as TRIBES, The Compassionate Classroom, and many others give an outline of setting up these structures in schools all over the country. My Professional Development Plan for this year involved the creation of two social skills groups for students who needed help establishing, maintaining, and evolving within a school-based group of peers. Some are students with special education needs, some are not. Some need help to feel comfortable speaking in a group. Some need guidance on how to let others speak. Our Friends on Friday groups have grown into another circle of support for these students, one that we as teachers helped to draw around them with compassion and skill support.

I participated in a book study group last year organized around the book Creating the School Family by Dr. Becky Bailey.  (Yet another circle to draw.) She offered some outstanding ways to create an oasis of caring and support for students. One of the things that struck home the deepest was her reminder that we must focus on using someone’s name in developing even temporary relationships. It serves several purposes: 1) retention; so that we are less likely to forget in subsequent meanings, 2) acknowledgement; where we demonstrate the value we place on the interaction by personalizing it and 3)  the connection that comes from simply using the personal label that is a person’s given name.

Almost all educators have experienced the increased effectiveness of redirecting behavior by using a child’s name in the hallway vs. a generic “Hey You.” As long as we realize that this school family is an additional circle, not a replacement for the family circle in which the child lives, we are adding to their support system, not creating a competition for the child’s loyalty and attention.

Our abilities to move between and within the circles we inhabit may be a key to our mental health and sense of self. I relish this new circle of educators that will meet several times a year to plan ways to participate in the conversation that must happen if schools are to be supported in Wisconsin. I am truly grateful to have joined the circle of voices that post on the Marquette Educator site. I am a parent, a child, a teacher, a student, a reader, a writer, a thinker, an activist and a dreamer, all at the same time. I am a lover of polka dots. They make me smile, maybe because they represent these wonderful circles of my life.

3 Things We Must Admit (and Do) If We’re Serious About Improving Teaching Quality

By Claudia Felske

What prompted such self-indulgent reflection?

What led me to actually create a pie chart about myself!?

The other day, I read a tweet asking for input on accreditation of Teacher Education programs. In it’s “commitment to transparency and public accountability,” the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP) is “seeking public comment” on their standards for teacher education programs.

“Okay,” I thought, “I have a few things to say about this.”

I took the bait, clicked on their link, and after spending 30 minutes on a labyrinth of online questioning, I had the desire to chuck the shackles of the survey and go rogue, putting in my own words my own thoughts on this topic, an open letter to the CAEP, so here it is:

3 Things We Must Admit (and Do) if we’re Serious about Improving Teacher Quality:

1. We have to admit the Intangibles: Measuring the quality of new teachers based on their Teacher Ed program is fraudulent. (See my self-indulgent pie chart above.) Basing this conclusion on no one else but me (in my defense, I’m the most honest case study available to me), I attempted to quantify  the factors that constitute who I am as an educator.

In good conscience, I can only track about 5% of my expertise to my Teacher Preparation classes. Another 20% to my formal education in general k-12, B.A. M.A.+.  Most of who I am as an educator comes from intangibles: 50% goes to my upbringing, Mom and Dad. It was being raised with high expectations, curiosity, desire to succeed, and an intolerance for mediocrity. I’ll attribute the last 25% to my passion for my subject area (language arts) and my desire to see students succeed. What I realize is that my highly-unscientific self examination undermines the premise of the CAEP Teacher Education Evaluation process. Judging teacher quality based on teacher preparation classes measures 5% of the educator and ignores the other 95%, the all-important intangibles.

2.  We have to attract the Intangibles: If you accept my premise that the most important teacher qualities are the intangibles, then our priority becomes clear: to somehow attract those intangibles into the field of education. To get excellent educators, start with the best ingredients.

We need to attract those with a crush on excellence, an unflappable determination to make a difference, a curiosity bent on incessant improvement. In other words, seek and retain top-notch candidates – the ones that are also highly sought by industry and business. And to compete, we need to pay them an attractive salary (college debt forgiveness makes great sense here too). We need to respect educators, giving them the dignity that befits those who are nurturing the next generation. We need to treat teaching as an art that requires years of practice to achieve an ever-changing “mastery.” A high art, a higher calling, a life well spent.

3. We need to nurture the Intangibles. Once we attract the best and brightest, we need to help them evolve into master educators with an authentic apprenticeship program. We need to identify master teachers currently in the field (National Board Certified teachers, for starters), and then leverage their expertise in an intensive mentor role, allowing new teachers to incrementally evolve into their practice over the course of 2-3 sustained years of intense training under the tutelage of a master teacher.

If we were serious about creating a critical mass of master teachers and making serious improvements in teaching and learning, we’d invest in and insist on such a structure.

• Admit the intangibles.
• Attract the intangibles.
• Nurture the intangibles.

These are not easy concepts to quantify, these are not easy steps to take, but the conclusion of this self-indulgent, case-study-of-one teacher/researcher is that acknowledging and nurturing “the intangibles” would be a far more authentic and productive path to sustained teacher improvement than what’s currently being discussed.

And until such steps are taken, aren’t we all kind of fibbing here? Pretending that we can fatten the pig by weighing it?

Student Teaching: Defining the Lines Between Teacher and Friend

By Dana Berens – In many classes at Marquette, we learn that one of the most important traits for being a good teacher is to have unconditional positive regard for all students.

We also learn to be a custodian of knowledge, a content expert, and a guide through the information we are bringing to or providing for our students. As a student teacher, I have significantly less experience in these three areas than my cooperating teacher. I also have significantly less experience at navigating the difficult boundary between friend and teacher.

One obstacle is creating a trusting emotional relationship with students. From my experiences at day camps, day cares, and babysitting, I can establish relationships with children well. But these settings provide for a more playful authoritative relationship. At school, I still need to maintain a professional relationship while showing that I still care.

My first graders often tell me things like: “you are my friend,” “ I love that we are best friends,” and “you are so nice to me!”

I always tell them that it is nice being their friend too and getting to know them, but wonder if this will make discipline more difficult.

A second obstacle I face, being a young teacher, is that so many students in the MPS system have siblings around my age. They know how to make me laugh, know how to look up to me as an adult, but also how to flip the attitude switch on. When this happens, I can’t help but feel they do not see me as an adult, and the friendship piece has a part to do with this. While I am able to discipline students, how much does “friendship” with student’s blur the authoritative role, especially for a younger teacher such as myself. I want them to know I care for them, but sometimes cooperating teachers feel I come about this in too casual of a manner.

As a teacher, especially in inner city schools, I think it is fundamental that students know you care, and that you will be a constant in their lives day in and day out. I want them to feel comfortable with me and trust in me. I want them to know I care for their academics, but equally for their well-being.

I feel that establishing this relationship is hard, without coming down to their age once in a while, but is this just a naïve notion? Will it hurt me in the long run in terms of discipline?

Avoid Student Teaching Pitfalls and Make a Lasting Impression

By Ryan Krienke – For many college seniors, spring semester is a time to take their foot off the gas pedal and coast to graduation.

In contrast, seniors in College of Education see their college career go into overdrive as they begin student teaching.  I know the coursework and experiences you have had at Marquette have prepared you well for teaching full-time in the classroom, and you have likely picked up some important advice along the way.  (Trust me, your professor was right – do not friend your students on Facebook!)

Yet, I know I wasn’t ready for the overall culture shock that I experienced being a “college student” suddenly placed into a professional environment.  There’s just something about a college lifestyle and that of being an educator that don’t mix.

Here are some quick tips for avoiding common student teaching pitfalls and making a lasting positive impression!

You may need to make lifestyle changes.  It is entirely possible that you have not been in bed before midnight since you left home for college.  Guess what?  Your student teaching jobs likely starts at 7:30.  And unlike past semesters when you could roll out of bed , throw on a sweatshirt and then run to class in pajama pants, you’ll need a neatly pressed shirt and slacks/skirt (See the MU Career Services Center’s Pinterest page for great examples of professional dress).  Change your schedule and wardrobe as needed to accommodate your life as an emerging professional.

Arriving early is on time.  Arriving late is simply unprofessional.  People will remember, even if it happens only once.  Arrive to school 15 minutes before you need to be there and sit in your car if necessary.  Never be the last teacher walking in the building.

Build relationships. If you are like I was, your instincts will be to stick like glue to your cooperating teacher.  While the cooperating teacher might be the best in the building, you can learn from many teachers, as well as administrative staff.  Not only will this time result in professional learning, it will also help you build professional connections.  One word of caution: schools, like all places of business, have gossip.  As you build relationships with the staff, avoid becoming involved in gossip about other staff or talking unprofessionally about students and their families.  And refrain from telling your coworkers about last weekend’s party (hopefully you already knew that one).

It’s okay to make mistakes.   Yes, you need to be professional, prepared and have self-confidence, but you are a rookie and you will make some mistakes.  They key is to be continuously developing.   Your cooperating teacher was trained to work with you and probably remembers his/her own student teaching blunders.  If you act professionally and are prepared daily, you will gain the respect of both your cooperating teacher and the school’s principal.  Embrace this opportunity…it’s the only time in your career you will get your own personal coach all to yourself!

The best thing about student teaching is you get a chance to showcase just how awesome you are. Embrace the above pointers to get started on the right foot.

Remember, principals are always looking for great teachers.  Plus, principals talk to one another.  Being professional, prepared and showing continuous improvement as a student teacher has tremendous potential to land you a job!

A Changing Classroom and a Changing Practice

By Matthew Olinski – Many undergrads finishing up their studies in the College of Education are in the process of student teaching.

I remember my days as a student teacher in the classroom. I was nervous, I thought I knew what to do; sometimes, and then other times, I probably had a glazed over look on my face. I don’t think that changed much even after I started my first real teaching job.

I reflected on my teaching experiences even before it was a buzz word in the education community, sometimes to a fault. I would pain over why certain students didn’t do well on a quiz or a test. I would look back at why I had dead silence in my classroom as I attempted to engage students in classroom discussion, or conversely, why some classroom discussions took a turn for the worse and lost their focus.

I have learned a few things since then.

I can’t claim to be an expert by any means, and I think in large part, that is what it takes to be a truly reflective teacher, and one who is going to be successful. As someone working in the education field, things are constantly changing.  I have overhead transparencies from my first years of teaching. Now, I can’t even find a machine to make one on if I wanted to. (I don’t use them anyway – so no big deal).  I was one of the first to start using an LCD projector for (gasp) power point notes. My principal at the time offered to buy my LCD projector that I bought with my own money. Foolishly, I said no. The bulb went out a year later and a very expensive piece of equipment was now lost.   LCD projectors, SMART boards, document cameras, and even IPads are becoming standard issue in classrooms. These were things not even created when I started teaching only 12 years ago.

The question is, what are you going to do to adapt to the changes made in education?

I have made every attempt to keep up with changing technology.  Who is to say what the future holds for classrooms of the future. At one point, we had a DLL, a distance learning lab in our school. It would allow us to teach a class to students from another part of the state whose school didn’t offer that class, for example Advanced Placement European history or American Sign Language. Unfortunately, budgets tightened and the DLL was shut down, but that to me seems to be a projection into what education might begin looking like in the future.

The education field is changing, in some ways slowly, in others more quickly.  We have more tools than ever before to help our students learn. Are we using them appropriately? What I mean by that is, are we using them to their full potential?  To all of the undergrads who are beginning your student teaching experiences, you have a very large advantage. For the most part, you have been exposed to this technology at an earlier age and in more depth than some of your colleagues.  Take this opportunity to see what options you have available to you in order to best serve your students.  In 10 years, you might be reflecting back on how things have changed as well, both in technology and in your classroom practices as a result.

Finding Balance

By Katie Doyle — The work-life balance is something that is difficult to maintain in most careers.  I’ve found it is especially difficult in the field of education.

I am at school eleven hours each day.  When I get home, I have more work to do for school before the next day.  One hour of prep time during school hours is simply not enough to finish everything I need to get done for the school day, so at times it is necessary to bring work home.  For a while, I got stuck in a rut.  I worked all day, then came home, ate dinner, and worked until it was time for bed. I did that five days a week, and then had more to do on weekends.

It can get frustrating to feel like school and my students consume my whole life.  However, not bringing work home caused a guilt trip.  Am I doing everything I can to make sure my students succeed?  If I’m not doing work at home, I can’t finish everything I need to do at school, and then something is left missing.

Serving as a leader on my team has taught me a few valuable lessons about finding a work-life balance.

• Do a few things with excellence instead of a lot of things with mediocrity.  Right now I’m learning to delegate so that everything is done excellently and we are all only responsible for a few things.
• Take time for yourself.  I made a rule that Saturdays are my day.  I do yoga, spend time with friends, and try not to think about school.  Remember that in order to serve your students to the best of your ability, you need to take care of yourself.
• Don’t sweat the small stuff.  It sounds cliché, but it’s true.  Chances are you’ll probably laugh about how small it was later, so don’t stress about it now.
• Remember that what you are doing is important.  Educators tend to have martyr syndrome.  What we do everyday can seem so mundane and routine.  We forget that some of the things students achieve are amazing.  Every student is important, and every small impact is actually not small at all.  Remembering that what I am doing is important is what rejuvenates me after a long week and keeps me pushing through the year.

I have not found the perfect balance between my work life and my personal life.  It is a constant struggle to remember to put work away and take care of myself first, but I have learned not to internalize my students’ problems and let them take over my life.  Finding some sort of balance is necessary for my health and sanity, and I think it improves the experience for my students as well.

Local After Effects of Sandy Hook

By Matthew Olinski – The horrific event that unfolded at Sandy hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut made people across the country shudder.

I watched the events unfold on the television, as many others did, with the massively inaccurate information coming out, but that is a topic for another time. There were some similar effects closer to home, especially in my home school district which suffered its own tragedy over the summer, at the Sikh temple.

I had and have students in my classroom that were directly involved in the Sikh temple shooting, either through the loss of their parent, by hiding in the food pantry while the whole event took place, or through texting their parent who was hiding in the food pantry, not knowing what the outcome was going to be.

These two events have immediate consequences, the fear that coincides with experiencing an event such as either of these and after the original incident, the rebuilding of trust.  This is a careful activity.  For the first lock down drill of the year, I happened to be in the office while the students who were directly affected by the shooting at their temple were given notice that this was just practice, so they wouldn’t panic when the announcement was made and why rumors that were spread the week of December 17, not even in the Oak Creek community about a potential violent act caused such concern in our student population.

As teachers, we have a special role to fill. We are there not only to teach, but to reassure as well.  I attended the funeral services to let the students know they had people they could trust and could reach out to.  For years, students have asked why I lock my classroom door. I gave my standard response, which was to keep the “riff raff out”, but in addition, it also serves as a classroom management function.

Now the students don’t seem to be asking why I lock the door. It seems like a great idea to them. They’ve asked me questions in the past about “what if” scenarios. I do the best I can to reassure them that they are safe in my room.  I hope, as everyone does, that a day like that will never occur, but I ask myself, what would I do?

Those teachers at Sandy Hook elementary may or may not have deliberately thought about “what if”, but when the scenario occurred, there is no doubt in my mind they did the best they could to insure their students were safe, and now as Sandy hook elementary is reopening in another school, the teachers are going to be there to reassure those students’ fears about safety.

__________________________

Matthew Olinski is a new blogger for Spring, 2013. He has been a teacher for 11 years, the past 10 at Oak creek High School. He is currently finishing his Master of Education in Educational Administration at Marquette, and will receive his degree May of 2013. On a more personal note, Matt was recently blessed with is first child, a daughter, born in July.