On nerdy teacher things...

Lucy Calkins. Lisa Delpit. Debbie Diller. Fountas and Pinnell. Pedro Noguera. Debbie Miller. Marilyn Burns. A few names that may mean nothing to the general population, but whose words and pedagogy have influenced my life in the classroom and out of it.
“The stereotypical images we hold toward groups are powerful in influencing what people see and expect of students. Unless educators consciously try to undermine and work against these kinds of stereotypes, they often act on them unconsciously. Our assumptions related to race are so deeply entrenched that it is virtually impossible for us not to hold them unless we take conscious and deliberate action.”
-Pedro Noguera
 This is what is at the forefront of my mind EVERY DAY in the classroom. Who am I calling out and why? Who am I holding accountable and how? Am I being too lenient, too subjective? Am I noticing certain "behaviors" because they're simply different from the behaviors valued by the culture of power? Every day I'm failing myself because I'm not doing enough to my own standards...but I think this is a good thing. To constantly strive for a better and more just classroom in teaching is IMPERATIVE, I think. Today I called on a blonde girl perhaps 1 or 2 times more than other students in my class. Why? Because she raised her hand more. What am I reflecting on today? Using my equity sticks no matter what at every part of every.single.day. Did we turn and talk enough today? Were my ELLs voices heard, or at least given the access to be heard? Did I use too many idioms without explaining? Were my visuals clear enough for my student hard of hearing? Are my students being purposeful in their work? Are they thinking critically/making predictions/using prior knowledge and text to self connections to guide their reading skills? Can they decode the digraph sh? Do they know what a short vowel is? Did I explain to them WHY we don't wear hats in the classroom rather than bark at them to just take it off? Did I give enough think time, did we I interactively model enough, did I allow for think time, did I provide enough scaffolding and sentence frames to provide for structured, meaningful conversations?
Every day these things are on my mind every single day. Often it's jumbled in my brain, things are ALWAYS left behind, I always want more and better, and at this moment I'm craving more knowledge. I want to know more about the Daily Five, I want to make Lucy Calkins' approach to teaching writing more purposeful and accessible to English Language Learners; I want to incorporate more Total Physical Response and Call and Response.
I want to know more, to research more, to utilize all this knowledge more...