I absolutely loved the process!  I’m very proud of the product.  Sign me up for more!

You know how new parents, particularly new parents of child number one, take many pictures of their beautiful new (and often deeply asleep) newborn and then want to share them with everyone?!  They flip through the photos (that often look remarkably similar to everyone but the proud parent) and go on and on about their little one without seeming to notice the disinterest of their audience?  Well, I am that new parent of a solid, hyper-tabbed, five-week plus unit in bound form.  Wanna see?!  Well, I knew you would!!

Isn’t it lovely?!  And absolutely thorough!  I mean, there are fifteen lessons in this baby, complete with unit rationale and overview, a detailed plan for each lesson, and all the support resources the classroom practitioner could imagine wanting as they help their students navigate the study of Salem, MA in 1692 and today!  (By the way, that is the backside of my second bouncing baby boy – superimposed in a pic of NC’s Salem.)

I think the analogy is just!  I labored over this baby in a totally different kind of pain.  I was excited by the prospect of delivery, yet was screaming, “Get it out of here!” by the time its due date was approaching.  And, just like the preparation for each of my four precious children, I needed assistance along the way.  I had a team of other expectant mothers, each working on their own ELA delivery, who were willing to share their process and challenges.  They provided insight into how the unit would be received and how to organize the chaotic preparation into a cohesive whole.  They shared their own discoveries about what worked and what didn’t as they compiled their units.  I also had a mentor who asked importantly difficult questions and sent me back to the “drawing board” at several key junctures.  Finally, I had a cheering section at Kenan who read the drafts and provided the incentive to keep on “growing the baby.”

The hardest part of the process for me was honestly the videos.  I didn’t want my childbirth labor videotaped and I was equally reluctant to tape the implementation of my unit.  I wanted to privately navigate the process and reflect and refine without video-graphic evidence.  However, I was inspired by the videos I saw in our PD sessions that focused on the students.  I realized I needed to keep my mind from focusing on my part in the whole process so that I could enjoy being part of my students’ process.  It was SOO much better than I expected.  Although I haven’t really received a lot of feedback on the whole package, I am satisfied with the results.  I have shared my work locally and found the unit well-received.  It is already being implemented county-wide.  I look forward to getting feedback locally, because I know I will, so that I can continue to refine the unit that I implement in my own classroom.  I know it will be disseminated statewide through DPI, because that was the point of the project, but I don’t know if I’ll receive that valuable feedback from the broader audience.  That would really be wonderful.  Well, and challenging.  I mean, who wants to hear that their baby is not the glorious creation that you’re so openly sharing?!

And, just to complete the analogy, and for completely gratuitous satisfaction, here are my real babies (and their daddy) as of Thanksgiving 2013.