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Jami Holbein Swanson March 7, 2012 rch 7, 2012

Appendix A

TEAC 930A Observation 1

Goodfun Middle School Friday Morning Teacher Breakfast Observation 1


February 24, 2012
Goodfun Middle School For two years the Goodfun Middle School student population combined with the Dundee Middle School neighborhood student population to become Goodfun at Dundee Middle School. They occupied the Dundee building for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years while the Goodfun building was under construction for remodeling and expansion. Due to severe budget cuts, many teachers in the district were surplussed last fall. Neither Goodfun nor Dundee would be big enough for all of the teachers in the combined building to stay together. Teachers who wanted to teach at Dundee had to apply and interview. Teachers interested in returning to Goodfun began moving back into the Goodfun building in July of 2011. Most teachers moved in completely by the time school started, others were still learning to manage their space, nesting, and creating a positive learning environment for students when the school year began. Because the Goodfun Middle School students returned to their home building, there are many fewer students at both buildings, each with an estimated population of 325 students. The past few years the enrollment at Goodfun at Dundee has consistently been near 700 students. Half of the students at Goodfun at Dundee Middle School considered themselves as white when filing out demographical information for the district. Hispanic students make up the next largest group with 20% of the student population. Seventy-eight percent of students qualify for free/reduced lunches. English language learners make up almost 4 percent of the population. AYP Status Decision for Consecutive Years of Progress: 2009 - 2010: NEEDS IMPROVEMENT 2010 - 2011: NOT MET

Improvement Goals provided by the school building for 2010 2011 1. All students will improve their academic achievement. 2. All students will leave Goodfun proficient in math, reading, and writing. 3. All students will improve their engagement and improve their attitude toward school and learning. History of the weekly Friday Breakfast Club Shirley has taught middle level art for more than 30 years. During this time she has spent a significant amount of time mentoring new teachers either as a paid position or as a non-paid experience. Since she mentored me when I started at Pound Middle School in 1996, Shirley has had a breakfast club held Friday mornings. This custom followed her from Pound to Goodfun where she has taught for 9 years. Since her tenure at Goodfun, Shirley has started a Friday Breakfast Club for all Goodfun teachers who would like to participate in the teachers lounge. Physical Description of Teachers Lounge Because the building was recently renovated, the large L-shaped lounge is freshly painted with new sinks. Drink and snack machines line one of the walls. Repurposed furniture likely to have been scrounged from garage sales or donated by teachers getting new furniture lines the longest wall. Round tables that were stored during the renovation is where teachers sit and visit while they eat a breakfast Friday mornings before classes begin. Nobody seems to sit in the bottom part of the L. Sunlight comes in from the frosted atrium like windows above. All of the food is laid out in the room where the people congregate. Teachers rush in and out dropping off juices, doughnuts, bananas and oranges, breakfast rolls, and corn chips and salsa.

3 On the wall above the food tables is a sign up sheet for those who want to participate in the Friday Breakfast Club.

Names and Roles of Participants Shirley Mentor Amanda New Spanish Teacher William New Chinese Teacher Amber New FCS Teacher

Present Not present Not present Not present

Who is Shirley? Shirley has taught middle level art for 27 years. She taught at Pound middle school for 17, and is presently teaching at Goodfun Middle School. Shirley has worked with new teachers for the most of her career. I became aware of her interaction as a new hire in 1996. Since that time I have lost contact with her. When I inherited the program in 2006, I reconnected with her as a mentor for new hires. One of the ways Shirley connects with new hires on a weekly basis is inviting them to a Breakfast Club. She brings the first week, and has teachers sign up for future Friday Breakfast Clubs. Having three new hires at Goodfun in the elective areas, Shirley asked her principal if she could be the mentor for each new hire. Why does the Friday Breakfast Club matter? FBC matters because it is a time for new elective teachers to come together to discuss the week. Instructionally what went well, what did not, why and what the next steps might be. When I started planning my observations, the elective teachers all had first period plan. Many stories of the week are shared along with successes and failures. Often Shirley relates a similar situation and how she managed it with

4 advice for next steps. Relationships are built during this time that support new teachers emotionally as well as instructionally. Despite the fact that Goodfun is a building with a challenging student population, teacher turnover is quite low. I have come to eat breakfast with the new hires many times in the first semester. The teachers were not aware of my project when I invited myself to join them on Friday, February 24th. Observations of Teacher Breakfast Parent Teacher Conferences 2/23/12 the night before observation 4 teachers brought food 12 teachers met in teachers lounge for breakfast 7 teachers came for food and returned to rooms Room gets louder as teachers arrive Lots of accolades to those who brought Food Teachers expressing high levels of Exhaustion due to highly needy students and parent teacher conferences L shaped lounge full of tables and found, mismatched chairs Bought breakfast rolls, doughnuts, juice, teachers run in and drop off food, run to rooms, some return for fellowship ACES classes start Wednesday Conferences Thursday 6th grade schedule - teachers dont know students yet very few parents very tired teachers Conversation parent teacher conferences Core classes vs electives Turn in folder at table before going to ACES (academic connections/electives) Shirley became increasingly concerned about the new hires as time passed. She had specifically invited the Chinese teacher as she modeled how to manage a difficult classroom incident The warning bell rang, teachers left for Interpretive Commentary Teachers look forward to celebrating the end of a rough week and enjoy sharing stories of the week. Other weeks have enjoyed homemade treats.

Teachers didnt have time to cook with PT conference ACES teachers are at a disadvantage because they have to turn in the folders students use for the student led conferences. All of the artifacts students put in the folders to share with parents were turned in before parents left the area where the core teachers had conferences. The Chinese teacher never did come to Shirleys class. Shirley and I went to his room during g his class second period to check on him. She checks on him

5 classrooms, I went with Shirley to her classroom to observe and to see if the Chinese teacher would come as well. regularly. To have her arrive at his door is normal and does not raise his level of concern. To have me there as his district supervisor did cause a high degree of disequilibrium for William as he ran out of the room as we walked away to see if there was anything specific I wanted to talk to him about followed by an email asking me if he missed anything. Email correspondence attached as an artifact.

Review of Friday Breakfast Club Observation This breakfast was not what I was expecting. I assumed all of the elective teachers would be at the breakfast as they had been in the past. Shirley and I visited about the mentor program and her work with teachers between introduction to other Goodfun teachers and conversations around Parent/Teacher Conferences from the previous night.

Observations of Shirley working with mentees during plan time Shirley has second period plan so she often goes and checks on the new teachers. After observing her class I go with her to visit each classroom. Shirley and I discuss the successes/challenges each teacher has experienced. Amanda Still not at school. She teaches part time. Arrives at 9:30 with new schedule William He was super nervous. W wanted to be sure I was not upset with him. He was invited to watch Shirley talk to her students about stealing string and dispersing it throughout the building. W did not come to breakfast or to see Shirley teach. He left his room to see if there was something specific I needed. Amber in FCS room. Getting ready to pump (new mother, just returned to

Interpretive Commentary Shirley loves the social aspect of mentoring. She loves to help new teachers and constantly pushes and pulls them to be better instructors.

William is aware he is not attending to his Chinese classes as well as he could be and he is nervous. The email exchange I had with him follows.

She looks great and seems to be managing her new family and new job

6 work). Hurried. Tired from PT Conferences. Stops long enough to share about Chinese teacher coming to FCS to talk to students about how children are raised in China. OK.

Email Correspondence with Chinese teacher in regard to missing breakfast From: "William" To: "Jami Swanson" <jswanson@lps.org> Sent: Friday, February 24, 2012 11:30:42 AM Subject: Missed breakfast today Jami, Sorry for missing today's breakfast today because I got tired yesterday after the parent's meeting and forgot to check my email. Sorry for that. Did I missed anything? William

From: "Jami Holbein Swanson" <jswanson@lps.org> To: "William" Sent: Monday, February 27, 2012 3:16:30 PM Subject: Re: Missed breakfast today Hello William, Thank you for the email. Yes, you did. Classroom management is difficult for you, and I understand Shirley invited you to watch her handle a classroom management issue last Friday during her first period class. It would have been a great opportunity for you to see Shirley's excellent classroom management. As students entered the room there was a sign hanging in the doorway telling them not to get out their projects. After the bell rang, she held what she told the students was a "class meeting" addressing misbehavior. She is a master classroom manager. She was firm with her expectations for students and that was clear to everyone in the room. She used her relationship with her students as she shared her concerns about the misbehavior. She explained to them how much she trusted them, allowed them to use her materials (many of them her own personal supplies), and asked for help from the students to stop the behavior. Those who knew what happened and saw it happened could talk to her at a later time. Those who actually stole the string and

7 took it out of the room were asked to stop. Without singling out anyone: those who participated in the misuse of her materials, those students who saw inappropriate and those who did not even know it was happening all heard the same message. The conversation was about 2 minutes in length and very effective. I understand that you are tired, and I also understand why. Teaching is exhausting. Taking 9 hours at UNL is exhausting. Doing both at the same time will mean that something has to give. Your LPS students will suffer during the day from your lack of preparation and your UNL studies will suffer at night. It would be wise for you to consider a less rigorous schedule at UNL next fall. I will be at Goodfun this week and will stop by to see you. Jami

From: "William Zheng" <wzheng@lps.org> To: "Jami Swanson" <jswanson@lps.org> Sent: Friday, February 27, 2012 11:30:42 AM Subject: Missed breakfast today Hi Jami, Thank you for your letter and demonstrate what Shirley did and I did learn a lot from her. When I comes to a problem happened in my classroom, the first reaction is to go to ask Shirley. I still struggled with classroom management but I felt way better than when this school year just begins. I knew what I should do and how to deal with the problem in my class most of the occasion instead of the beginning of the school year. When something happens in my class, the students even looks like know more than I do when I start my 1st class. And I observed other experienced teachers class and learned a lot from them. Before I thought about taking class in UNL and working on my master, what in my mind is I truly need some knowledge about how to teach in an American school, thousands of knowledge. And I was struggling with it in the very first weeks but I am doing better now. Actually, I even did more teaching materials than last semester to support my teaching because I knew now what I can do to help my students. But I can not agree you more that I should take less class from UNL and I will do that at fall. A good new is my mom will come to Lincoln this summer and stay with me the whole school year to support me. I will always treat my teaching in LPS as my priority.

8 In addition, I heard that students at Goodfun and Lux have already finished their enrollment next school year. And I am curious about how many students I will teach next semester. I was thinking if you know it and if it is would you tell me? Thank you! Looking forward to seeing you at Goodfun! William From: "William" To: "Jami Holbein Swanson" <jswanson@lps.org> Cc: "Shirley Sent: Friday, March 2, 2012 12:54:24 PM Subject: Any suggestion for my class? Jami, Thanks for talking with me today and I also really appreciate your concerns about my UNL class. I will take less class next semester. And also thanks for visiting my 3rd period exploratory Chinese today. We were learning our final project toady, Chinese version Brown Bear story. Because we learned numbers, colors and animals in this quarter, and this story can perfectly combined all these contents together. I was thinking if you have any suggestion for my class. Since I am really struggling with this group this quarter, I have several tough kids in this class. I know you are a expert of classroom management and teaching. So do you have any suggestion of my class? Thanks! In addition, I talked with Shirley in today's lunch time, she said you concern about I am not at Goodfun early, which occurs I have no time to talk with students. Actually, I call my students I need to talk with or they struggle in my class lunch time or morning. And if they come in the morning, I will be here early. And I can be at Goodfun early everyday if needed. I would love to know if you have any other suggestions that I can do to make my work better. Anything. I really appreciate your help and have a good weekend! William

9 From: "Shirley To: "Jami Holbein Swanson" <jswanson@lps.org> Sent: Monday, February 27, 2012 03:30:24 PM Subject: Missed breakfast today Good job and gee, thanks for the compliments! I even had a girl from that class come to me during lunch duty and point out another student who had the string in another class!!! HA, hope Zheng gets the message.......;o( Shirley

From: "Jami Holbein Swanson" <jswanson@lps.org> To: "William" Cc: "Rachel Bcc: Shirley Sent: Friday, March 3, 2012 03:24 PM Subject: Any suggestion for my class? William, I did not intend to run out of your room at the end of the period and not have time to give you feedback about what I had observed in your classroom. I do not think you are aware, but I went out with four minutes of class left to find the student who slipped out of the room while the students were lined up for the conclusion of the Brown Bear, Brown Bear activity. It was the same student who went to the restroom earlier in the class. She did not go to the same bathroom. She went to a different one, I assume knowing that I would come find her again. When I arrived in the bathroom, I looked under the stalls to see if she was in there. She was. Her feet facing the corner, away from the stall door. It would not be possible to use the toilet from the way her feet were pointing. I waited just outside the bathroom door, and talked to a couple of students. As I looked under the stall again, I saw her long hair as she too was beginning to look under the stall. She must have heard my voice, and wanted to know if I was looking for her. I stood up quickly so she did not know I was checking on her. A few seconds later, I looked again. While her feet were in the position necessary for using the toilet, there we no sounds associated to using the restroom, she did not flush the toilet. The bell rang to release the students from class, and she emerged from the stall. Here eyes were extremely red. There were no tears. I am not sure what she was doing or why her eyes were so red - but it is a grave concern. I asked her to go with me to the office. She did, but only after telling me she didn't need to go talk to anyone and I used my BIST line, "Can you go with me to the office even though you don't want to?" She did go to the office with me. I talked to Mr. Keech and he took it from there.

10 As I was leaving the office to visit with you, my Teammate's little brother was waiting for Mr. Henninger. Apparently Louis made some pretty poor choices in third period based on what happened between him and some other students during second period with a sub. I would not be surprised if he is not welcome back at Goodfun for awhile. It was important that I made time for him as well. At any rate, I know you are well aware of the challenges that students at Goodfun bring to your classroom each day. I am also aware that this class in particular is the most challenging for you in terms of behavior. Not knowing when students leave your room is a serious issue that could bring devastating consequences. Your lesson was well designed. Your challenges on Friday were in your classroom management. I do not believe that there was one time in the 30 minutes I observed (and I know I was in the restroom bringing back the student who was in there way too long for at least 5 minutes) when all of your students were engaged in your lesson at the same time. Students do not learn if they are not engaged in the activity. The tall, perhaps Sudanese student, I think her name begins with an "N" should have been moved to the safe seat as soon as she chose not to stop eating in the classroom. She will continue to do as she pleases along as you allow it. Since BIST is the behavior plan for you building, I would recommend you ask for more support from Mr. Henniger or Mrs. Apel. I know the BIST expert comes to your building. Might she be able to help you with classroom management? The main reason I wanted you to watch Shirley manage her students when she learned they were stealing string is because it was an excellent example of why relationships with students matter. If you had better relationships with your students, you would not have so many problems with classroom management. While I very strongly believe you cannot learn HOW to build relationships by reading alone, here is a very brief article with some references about relationships with students. There is LOST of research out there about relationships with students, and why they matter. Two of the things from this article I think you could work on are: 1. showing interest in students' lives (for example, Do you know that "N" does in her free time? Do you have casual conversations with her before and after class?) and 2. acting friendly (not that you are not friendly, but it feels to me as though this class is frustrating for you....so you are perceived by your students as frustrated rather than friendly). I also know that teaching in the US is very different than teaching in Taiwan or China. Here you have to earn respect from students. It does not come automatically just because you are the teacher. In terms of when you are available to process students who misbehave, I know you are part-time, and that in terms of the contract you have with CI and LPS that you are contracted at .6 FTE. If you are going to follow BIST well and process with students you need to be available for them at some time, and from what I understand, the only

11 time you really have is before school since you have to go to LUX in the afternoon. That really puts you in a tough position. I know you are working very hard to improve, you are receptive to critical feedback, and for that I applaud you. But you also have to know that you have lots of work ahead of you. Teaching is seriously the most difficult job there is. It takes most teachers 10 years to really be good at it. We will have more opportunities to talk about teaching and how to improve. Don't give up! We will visit again soon. Have a good weekend, Jami Capacity building is not just workshops and professional development. It is the daily habit of working together, and you cant learn this from a workshop or course. You need to learn it by doing it and having a mechanism for getting better at it on purpose. Fullan

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