Jenna's Journey
Follow along as 2008-2009 South Carolina State Teacher of the Year Jenna Hallman travels across the Palmetto State. Hallman, a science teacher from Calhoun Academy of the Arts in Anderson School District Five, will update this page periodically with journal entries following her visits to schools across South Carolina.
Blog Posts Archive: August | September | October | November | December
See when Jenna will be in a school near you, view her calendar.
E-mail Jenna!
December 18 - Oconee Induction Class
With one day left before the start of the Christmas holiday Jason Fulmer and I drove (and drove and drove) to Walhalla to present to their induction class. I was so impressed by the welcome we received. Rob Rhodes, the coordinator of teacher quality, met us in the parking lot and the administrative team from Walhalla Middle met us inside. Everyone was very friendly and made us feel like celebrities. I love that!
Jason and I told our stories about how we came into teaching and our first years in the classroom. The crazy thing is, there are so many similarities in our stories and experiences. We did the advertisement for CERRA and I shared the goodbyeminimallyadequate information. We ended the day with the video "Puppies for Sale" which is amazing and will make you cry every time you watch it. I plan to show it at Winter Workshop so if you are attending bring your kleenex.
My favorite part of the meeting was at the end when everyone was leaving. We had the opportunity to talk with two first year teachers who admitted to having some struggles. I hated to hear their tales, but was glad they were willing to share with us. We gave them some suggestions and a generous heaping of encouragement. I hope they will stay in touch and keep me posted about the year plays out.
I want to include a special reminder here for mentors. The period of time from January to March was always the hardest for me. If I wasn't careful my excitement waned. Please go the extra mile with your mentees during these months. We all know this is prime instructional time and they may need a little extra help or encouragement. You are the ones who will make the difference for these first year teachers!
December 17 Goodbye Minimally Adequate Committee
This morning I traveled to Columbia for the Goodbye Minimally Adequate steering committee meeting. This group was organized by Bud Ferillo, the creator of the Corridor of Shame documentary. Our task was to determine some new and innovative ways to collect signatures on the petition to do away with minimally adequate education. We were also given the new challenge of contacting our legislators and asking them to 
sponsor the joint petition which Senator John Matthews hopes to introduce. This group was absolutely amazing and I was thrilled to be included. Steve Morrison, the creator of the petition, was in attendance as well as several of the people who attended the original march on the capital.
Here are some ideas, thoughts, and tidbits that came out of the meeting. I would encourage you to look them over and decide how you can get more involved and bring the dream of 1 million signatures into realization.
- We need to collect a total of 100,000 signatures by the beginning of February to be on track to reach a million signatures this year. We currently have 29,945. If we break it down by day, we must collect 250 signatures per day!
- One way to encourage others is to put a link to www.goodbyeminimallyadequate.com on your facebook page, school website (ask for permission), or at the bottom of all of your emails.
- Writing editorials for your local newspaper is a great way to get the website out into the general public. I am planning to write one for the Anderson Independent this week.
- Entire school districts and other organizations can pass a resolution to support the change. Newberry County has already done this. You can check out the story at goodbyeminimallyadequate.com under media. Make an appointment with your superintendent and then sign up to address the board at the next meeting. I would suggest you do some background work talking with the board members ahead of time. I am planning to do this in Anderson soon.
- Take the petitions to the churches! They are powerful and their support will really propel us towards the goal.
- Call your legislator and make an appointment to talk with him/her. Ask them to sponsor the bill or at least to support it when it comes up to vote. Since this is a constitutional amendment the vote will be roll call fashion.
- Don't forget that every SC resident five years old and up can sign the petition. Ask permission to have a table at your next PTO event and collect signatures there. Collect signatures at basketball games and other events at your school. You can print copies of the petition off of the website or you can have people sign them online.
December 11-12 - Blue Ribbon Schools Conference
I spent the last two days at Myrtle Beach at the Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence Conference. I arrived just in time to eat lunch on Thursday and then rushed to my my room to get ready to present. Jason Fulmer, Buffy Murphy, Ann Marie Taylor and I were responsible for back to back sessions about professional learning communities (PLCs). We had a great time! Throughout the presentation we shared information about PLCs, their effectiveness, and the impact on teacher leadership. Since we don't believe in "sit and get" professional development we also had the group participate the four corner activity. I ask questions and read statements about PLCs and the group moved to a specific corner (labeled, always, most of the time, sometimes, never) based on their response. This activity really encourages everyone to open up and engage in some honest dialogue about what is happening in their schools and districts. I've said it over and over again - we must spend more time learning from each other. I know I learned a lot during this activity and I think our participants left with some useful information. Ann Marie was in charge of the music and comic relief. She definitely kept everyone laughing and dancing. Jason talked about mentoring, the stages of the first year of teaching, and teacher leadership. I'm yet to see a group that doesn't eat this up! Buffy used her political expertize to talk about legislative updates and teacher leadership. The teachers and administrators that attended our sessions were very passionate about they do and seemed to be excited PLCs. I certainly wish them the best of luck! Here's my commercial: If you are interested in establishing PLCs in your school or district feel free to email me and we can set up a time to talk.
On Friday morning I gave the keynote during breakfast. It's always hard to talk while others are eating! By now you probably know the content of my speech as well as I do. I discussed the path that brought me into teaching, my first year, and why I continue to teach. It was interesting to hear the teachers from China give their reactions to the speech. They certainly had a slightly different take on the teaching profession. Unfortunately, my trip to Phoenix with the Policy Fellows kept me from attending sessions here at the Blue Ribbon Conference. I am looking forward to returning next year and participating in more of the sessions.
This will probably be the last blog that gets posted before the holidays arrive. I am looking forward to the time with my family. We have several traditions that are very important to me that have had to be put on hold so far this year. I hope to catch up on all the Christmas stories, bake all of the traditional cookies, visit a living nativity, decorate our gingerbread house, and spend time driving around looking at lights while listening to Christmas carols in the four days before Christmas. I know that this year has been a tough one. I hope that you take the time to enjoy your family and give thanks for all the blessings in your life. I wish you all the best this holiday season. Merry Christmas! Jenna
December 10 - National Policy Fellows
Today was the last day for National Policy Fellows in Arizona. The day actually ended around 12:00, but I had to leave at 11:00 to catch my flight back to Charlotte. I was able to see two different presentations before I left. The first was titled "Building and Leading a System for Change" and was conducted by Rufus Glasper. Mr. Glasper is the Chancellor for Maricopa County Community Colleges. He described the challenge is creating a system where 10 colleges, 2 skill centers, and numerous education centers across a very wide geographical area could work together as one university. Many of views sounded similar to the ideas in the book Good to Great. He actively sought to get the right people in the right seats on a bus that is pointing in the right direction. People left the organization either by choice or by order. In the end, he has created a unified system that meets the needs of the stakeholders. I hope that I will have the same courage when I decide to go into administration. I know that sounds harsh, but we all know of individuals who are just cruising and who are not making a difference for the children they teach. Our job is too important to allow that to happen.
The second session of the day was called "Connecting the Dots: How Context and Strategy Informs Leadership in Action". Marty Blank from the Coalition for Community Schools was our presenter and he did a fabulous job of describing a true 21st century school. His ideas were right in line with what we are trying to do with the "Inside-Out" school in Anderson county. Coincidence, I think not. His group created the Community Agenda for America's Public Schools and in this publication identified some strategies that work with diverse groups of students. For example the group encourage high expectations focused on high achievement, real-world learning experiences, bridging school and community resources, and developing community-family relationships. You can check out their website www.thecommunityagenda.org for more information. I am so excited about the fact that Nevitt Forest Elementary is going to become the Inside-Out school for South Carolina. I hope to visit with the principal there soon and share some of the information I gain during our discussion.
I'm headed to the airport now to catch my flight back to Charlotte and will then be on my way to the Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence conference in Myrtle Beach.
December 9 - National Policy Fellows
Today was a very long, yet insightful day. I can honestly tell you that my brain is numb and that I am having trouble processing all the information we received. I decided to do something a little different with this blog (because of the overwhelming amount of information). Instead of writing everything out in narrative form I decided to bullet each of the sessions and then document some the high points.
Entrepreneurial Leadership In Education - Thomas Bloch, founder of University Academy in Kansas City, Missouri Mr. Bloch is the grandson of the founder of H & R Block. He worked in the family business as an accountant, and later CEO for a while and came into teaching later in life. Mr. Bloch founded the University Academy, which is a charter school in Kansas City. His speech was very inspirational and his passion for education definitely came through.
Institutional Leadership - George Hynd Arizona State University This presentation focused more on higher education. The one key point that stuck out to me was the necessity of building relationships between local universities and the K-12 schools.
Cross Generational Leadership - Francis Guajardo Llano Grande Center for Research and Development, Edmundo Hidalgo Chicanos Por La Causa, Helen Kim Building a Movement Project This was by far one of my favorite presentations of the day. Edmundo Hidalgo shared his life story - being raised by two immigrant parents neither of which finished school. He discussed the respect that his parents had for teachers and educators, even to the point of having him bow to a teacher on the street! Can you imagine it? He created the Chicanos Por La Causa foundation with a group of his students. These students were children of poverty and according to Edmundo privileged because of it. Those same students are now running the organization. Francis Guajardo shared a similar story. Helen Kim discussed the many different generations that are alive today and the specific needs and beliefs of each group.
Earth II Simulation This was a really fun activity. The premise was that the Earth can no longer support all of the people living on it. A sister planet (Earth II) has been discovered and 1/3 of the population is going to move there. Our job was to create a leader for this new planet considering nationality, sex, age, religion, marital status, education, work experience, leadership styles, and personality styles. Can you imagine the discussion surrounding any one of the criteria? The purpose was to make us see what we value in leadership.
Inclusive, Community-Building Leadership Cassandra Manuelito-Kerkvliet Anitoch University Oh my gosh! This was amazing! Cassandra Manuelito-Kerkvliet is a Native-American woman who despite the challenges, has become very successful. She shared a lot of Native-American culture with us and described how that has guided her in her life. For example, she reminded us that Native Americans believe that inanimate objects are still alive. Your bed, for example, expects to be made every morning. If we leave without making it, it continues to call us back to it.
Ethical Leaderhip Braden Allenby, Joseph Herkert, Caroline Turner Arizona State University Etics are certainly something that we need to consider and figure out how to teach to our students. The internet has created an "ethic-free" world where it is extremely easy to lie and steal. There are even country songs about "being so much cooler online". We must help our students understand ethical behavior and the importance of acting in this way.
Trust me that is just a synopsis of everything we covered today. I'm hoping that the Mexican food we are planning on eating tonight will help my brain recover and prepare for tomorrow.
December 8 - National Educational Policy Fellow Program
Yesterday I drove to Charlotte and caught a flight to Phoenix, Arizona for the National Educational Policy Fellow Program. The flight was LONG, especially since they pumped too much fuel into the plane and we had to wait for them to remove it. I don’t do well sitting, even for short periods, so five hours in my seat about killed me. We are actually staying in Scottsdale which is absolutely beautiful. I can see the mountains when I walk out the front door of the hotel. There are different kinds of cacti everywhere. I really wish I had arranged to come out a day early so that I could do some sightseeing. I may have to talk my husband into spending our summer vacation out here.
Today was our first day of meetings and I discovered something very disappointing. I realized that I am a total nerd. I learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed all of it. In fact, I’m yet to attend a workshop or training that I haven’t enjoyed. That’s why I think I am a nerd. Steven Benson, political cartoonist, was our first presenter. He shared some great stories about political figures and their numerous bloopers as well as some political cartoons. We all suffer from slip of the tongue syndrome and normally can just laugh it off. When you are in the public eye however your mistakes become the ammunition for people like Steven. It was actually a wonderful way to start the day. We laughed for about an hour and without being consciously aware of it began thinking about all the issues currently facing our nation. We then spent some time discussing the issues that weren’t brought up with our table groups. My group consists of the other South Carolina fellows, Kathy DuLaney, Dionne Fleshman, Fred McDaniel, Margie Moore, Bobby Rykard, and out fearless leader Molly Spearman.
Here’s where the nerd really comes out. The second presenter was Diane Deme’e-Benoit and she shared Knowledge Work’s Map of Future Forces Affecting Education with us. I’ve been exposed to the map before but have to admit that I really didn’t understand it. The map is based on six drivers of change will I discuss later. Each driver is then broken down into how it affects family and community, markets, institutions, educators and learning, and tools and practices. Intertwined with this information are trends (major shifts that will affect education), hot spots (trends that will have broad impact on education), and dilemmas (problems that can’t be solved and won’t go away). Are you confused yet? The thing is; they are right on the money. This is 21st century education at its best! I would suggest everyone check out their website and blog at http://blog.futureofed.org/.
The presentation we heard focused on the six drivers of change. The first being our new grassroots economy which is characterized by openness, transparency, peering, sharing, and bottom-up rather than top-down processes. Everyone can now be a part of innovation. For example Fortune 500 companies such as Proctor and Gamble post problems in online communities and allow “scientists” to submit their solutions for payment. MIT became the first university to post their lectures online for other universities to use. The secretive business world has opened up and it is time for education to do the same. Our students are the ones who are suffering when we don’t share ideas and help each other with problems.
The second driver of change is smart networking which basically means we must move from web 1.0, where we use the web to find information, to web 2.0, where we use the web interfaces to connect and solve problems. Our students are already doing this. They use smart mobbing techniques all the time on sites such as facebook, myspace, grassfire.org, and newmindspace. For them, cyberspace and real space are interconnected and forever will be. In education we must move to be more unbundled with open content and curriculum. I am going to make some people mad but they gave me this blog to say what I want and that’s what I am going to do. We need to look at national standards. Imagine the collaboration that could go on nationwide if we were all teaching the same content at the same time. I really don’t believe education can meet this goal until we do away with state level standards.
The third driver of change is strong opinions, strongly held. Believe it or not we are already seeing this education and reacting to it (slowly). Our stakeholders, primarily parents and students, are searching for personalization in our schools. They are tired of the mass offerings and are requiring more personalized services. When they don’t get what they want they have a do-it-yourself mentality and home school their children. Individualized learning plans, magnet schools, and magnet programs are certainly our response to this demand. The problem is we are moving too slowly! Our technology enables us to offer students what they really need. We must change our pedagogy and basic beliefs about education to meet these needs and prepare our students for today’s world.
The fourth driver is very scary. We are a sick herd. Past generations have enjoyed a steadily improving quality of life while the current generation is showing ever increasing signs of distress. The present generation is the first generation that will not live longer than their parents and grandparents. Extreme climate changes, resource shortages, chronic illness, and decreased buffers cause by transient populations are all to blame. The big question here is how much of the responsibility for this should fall on the education system. I believe a lot. We all know that the ills of society are reflected in our schools and that more often than not we are called upon to handle it. This is another example. We must do a better job of educating our kids about nutrition, exercise, and resource protection. Better yet, we must model it.
The fifth driver of change, according to the Map of Future Forces, is the new urban wilderness. We have moved from living in predominantly rural areas to predominantly urban spaces. Many of our cities are feral rather than social cities. Columbia is an example of a feral city. It is characterized by a lagging public transit system, limited access to social services and an overwhelming need for them, flawed safety nets for individuals in crisis, biodistress caused by a lack of environmental conscience, and wireless connectivity only in certain areas. Portland, Oregon on the other hand is a social city. Wireless connectivity is abundant. City sponsored recycling allows most households and businesses to participate in the protection of our natural resources. Public transportation is abundant and well received. If you are interested in this concept you might want to check out ruralchanging.com.
Finally, the sixth driver is the end of cyberspace, which is very much related to smart networking. We must begin looking at how we can capitalize on anytime, anywhere, anyplace learning. Can you see why I was so excited about this presentation? There really is a lot more to it and I encourage you to check out the Knowledge Works website and learn more. Let me leave you with a quote from the presenter. “When the winds of change blow some people build walls and some people build windmills.” What are we doing in education?
Our final presentation of the day focused on leadership at the school house and at the state house. Michael Griffith, the Finance Specialist for the Education Commission of the States, shared some information about the current financial situation. He started by telling us that 30 states are currently in a recession (including SC) and 19 are at risk of a recession. We knew that. His office is estimating that 20089 will have the greatest decrease in national employment in thirty years. This will have a huge impact on our state budgets. Even when we begin to recover, and he assured us we will, it will take 18-24 months for the state budget to begin to show improvement. That’s scary! By his projections, and my understanding, we will be in this budget crunch until at least 2011. The good news is that we are NOT headed for a depression. Also most districts have over budgeted for transportation and construction and these funds may be used to cover other areas. It’s definitely a time to be frugal, to use the knowledge and skills within our districts for our professional development, and to consider stopping programs within our schools that do not have an impact on student achievement.
I am headed out to dinner at a place called the Flaming Fork with the rest of the group. I hope we will get in the bed early as the jet lag is starting to take its toll.
December 5 - USC Salkehatchie College Day
After I watched the sun rise at Edisto, and really thought about playing hooky and staying at the beach, Genie and I headed to USC Salkehatchie for their College Day. This one was a lot of fun because I had both Rhonda Farmer (Teacher in Residence for Region 5) and Genie McDill (Teacher in Residence for Region 4) there to keep me laughing. USC’s location means that they pull schools from both Region 4 and Region 5 so we ended up with two Teachers in Residence in attendance.
I had a great time meeting and talking with the Teacher Cadets. I gave the keynote first thing in the morning (my usual why I teach speech) and then held four breakout sessions. Each one of these sessions ended up being a little bit different because of the time constraints. The first group heard everything about 21st century education and www.goodbyeminimallyadequate.com (Check out the website to sign the petition!) while later groups got a condensed version. Most of the participants were able to complete the change activity which always amuses me (if not them). I am happy to say that there are a number of students who are already committed to teaching as a profession. There are also a good number who are sitting on the fence. I hope that they will have their eyes opened (like I did) and will realize that they belong in a classroom making a difference.
Thanks to Sally Hiers for handling this college day and a special thanks to all the Cadets who attended!
December 4 - Orangeburg Teacher Forum Meeting
I probably have mentioned before that I come from a district that does not have a Teacher Forum. Like so many of you, I am learning about how to start them, how to run them, and the wide array of activities they can be involved in. What I do know is that they are powerful. I would encourage every district to start one.
Today, Jason Fulmer, Genie McDill, and I were invited to come to Orangeburg to meet with a small group of teachers. Orangeburg has a teacher forum, but they admit it had lost its punch. Dawn Starks, the current Teacher of the Year, and Craig King, last year’s Teacher of the Year, are very excited about getting it up and running again. Orangeburg is lucky because they have some of the pieces in place already. For example, they already have a constitution and bylaws as well as the plans for the leadership team. We talked for about an hour about possible events they may want to be involved in and shared ideas for making it happen. I talked about my plans for starting a forum in Anderson Five and then sort of sat back and listened. Remember, I am learning too!
This is some of the advice we offered:
- Start with an informal meeting to outline what the teacher forum and how it will operate.
- Invite the current teachers of the year from each school as well as the past teachers of the year. The more the merrier!
- The leadership team should be compromised of the district teachers of the year. The past teacher of the year can be the chair and the current teacher of the year can be the co-chair.
- Start small! Plan 1-3 events to conquer your first year.
- Develop a three year plan – where are you headed, what does the future hold?
- Begin to form subcommittees who can handle the logistics of the events.
- Have fun, respect and celebrate each other, and remember it is not a gripe session!
Craig – Please don’t forget to send me those copies!
After the meeting Genie and I headed to her house on Edisto Island to spend the night. It was so nice to be “at home” and not in a hotel! We had a great time talking and nothing refreshes my soul more than watching the sun come up at Edisto. Thanks for letting me stay with you Genie!
December 2-3 - Train the Trainer Mentor Training
By now everyone knows that I am a huge supporter of mentoring. I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be teaching today if Kelly Schachner (pictured at left with me) hadn’t entered my life. She made the difference for me. That’s why I was so excited to attend this training. Now I can not only serve as a mentor, I can also train other qualified teachers to become mentors!
Jason Fulmer and Brett Vaughn led this training, and they were phenomenal. They make a great team and their passion for this initiative really comes through. During the two days we revisited each piece of the initial three day training, Sometimes we discussed the activity, other times we actually participated and completed the task again. Jason and Brett led the activities on the first day and invited some of the participants to run the show on the second day. It was great to see some of my cohorts jump in and take over! My favorite activity during this training was the human continuum. I learned a lot about the personalities of the people in the room as we moved from place to place in response to the questions being asked. I am really looking forward to co-training in the near future so that I can be fully certified as a trainer.
I do have a few opinions about the mentoring initiative. Number one: it is ridiculous to believe that we can “poof” something into existence without the proper funding and yet that’s basically what has happened. Mentoring must be fully funded! I know this is a bad budget year and we can’t ask for more when there already isn’t enough to go around. In the future, we must allocate funds to support mentoring; mentor training, release time for mentors, and mentor workshops and forums. Number two: Mentoring should continue through the evaluative year as well. There is no reason why we can’t support and teach while we are also evaluating. Obviously, the mentor cannot serve on the evaluation team but they can still be a support system. Number three: I believe that districts should require teachers to submit an application and go through a screening process to become a mentor. We all know of individuals who are great teachers, but who are also extremely negative. These are not the people we want to impact our beginning teachers. Number 4: We must find a way to match mentors and mentees. Personality plays a huge role in the development of the all important relationship. We need to consider personality traits and interests when we partner individuals up. I am so proud of what SC has accomplished with mentoring. I hope the initiative will continue to grow and develop and that we will continue to retain more of our new teachers.
December 1 - Williamsburg Induction Class
This job is amazing and I am thankful for the opportunity each and every day. I would be lying if I said it was easy however. It certainly takes a toll on your family and can wear you out, body and soul. I do need to publicly thank my husband for everything he is doing to make my work possible. Luckily, the Thanksgiving break provided me with some much needed rest as well as a chance to reconnect with my family. As a result, I was ready to the hit the ground running this morning.
Today’s destination was Kingstree, where I spoke to the Williamsburg District induction class. Paige Brown was responsible for arranging the visit which was held a local barbecue restaurant called Brown’s Bar-B-Q. It was really cold today and as soon I walked in the restaurant I could smell and feel the fire in the fireplace. It was wonderful! I had the opportunity to talk with the Superintendent about the district before the class began. One issue we discussed was teacher absences. We all know that student learning suffers when a teacher is out of the classroom regardless of the quality of the substitute teacher. Also, the financial drain of paying substitute teachers is astronomical. I am not here to beat anyone up about absences. Goodness knows, with two children I have had my share. I am just stating a fact. Williamsburg instituted a new program this year where every teacher has the opportunity to clear (that means after taxes) an extra $1,000 for coming to work. Each teacher is “allowed” one absence per semester. If they do not exceed this number they will receive the additional check at the end of the year. The program appears to be a success. Absences are down this year and the estimated cost of paying the $1,000 to individual teachers is far less than last year’s substitute budget. It is certainly something to think about. I’ll be interested to hear how many teachers actually receive the stipend at the end of the year.
Williamsburg, like many rural districts across our state, has employed a large number of international teachers. My understanding is that they can teach here for three years. I was under the impression that they were only issued temporary visas and at the end of the three year term had to return to their country. Apparently, that isn’t true. I was told that many of the teachers leave after the three years to teach in Georgia. What I don’t understand is why. I’ve heard arguments both for and against hiring international teachers. Personally, I believe it doesn’t matter where the teacher is from as long as they are teaching standards and meeting students’ needs. My only concern is that there is generally a language barrier that must be overcome. I also hope that the districts that hire them spend a considerable amount of time planning effective ways to deal with the “culture shock” that I know these individuals must experience.
The induction class was tremendous! They were very open and receptive to the ideas and stories I presented. I hope that I was able to reinvigorate someone who was feeling worn out and inspire someone who was ready to throw in the towel. Let’s face it; the first year of teaching is hard! We all need to do what we can to help the newcomers in our schools and districts. With that in mind, I headed to Columbia to spend the night so that I would be ready to attend “Train the Trainer Mentor Training” tomorrow morning.