End of Year Reflection

As the end of the year approaches it gets you thinking about how your students did this year. I was listening to NPR this morning (as I do every morning and I highly recommend doing so) and they were talking about all these education issues coming up such as holding teachers for accountable for student success. This got me thinking about how my students have grown and how I would be judged professionally. As I look at my students and where they started at with reading in math everyone made substantial growth. Then it made me think well what is substantial growth. What is expected growth for a student who came in a year behind. I can't even imagine how third grade teachers do it with some students coming to them at a 1st grade reading level. So my question to all of you is how do we reflect on student growth in a data driven way in this new philosophy of teachers being solely responsible for student academic success? Do we look at growth? Is there an expectation to get all students at grade level even when several start a year behind? And if we do reflect on ourselves professionally....what is appropriate growth for a student starting so far behind?

Grade Level Meetings, Curriculum, and Sped

A barrier we, as a special education team, have been struggling with is how to best collaborate with teachers/allign with curriculum content in our small group settings. This year we have been attempting to attend every 2nd and 4th grade level meeting to discuss curriculum and data. However, scheduling has proven to be a big issue (i.e., IEPs, evaulations, and feedback meetings). The sneek peek has been VERY useful for where exactly classrooms are for the given week of instruction. One struggle we are having is being able to identify when one of our students are low within a content area that we do not provide service. For example, we may see them for math instruction. But, their reading begins to dip in relationship to standards and reading is not on their IEP. Any brain storm ideas for communicating these areas of weakness when it may not be clearly identified on the IEP.

I know that communicating the area of struggle is the straightforward answer. But, frequently we do not hear about it....until the problem becomes significant.

Consequences

It is getting that time of year when students know what consequences will come if they choose to be off task. I have been doing my best to be patient and continue my love and logic strategies. At this time of year I find myself trying to get through all the testing and often choosing the consequence for them. I need to keep remembering that consequence won't have as much impact or meaning if they don't come up with it. I am going to try my best to stay patient. Anyone else have trouble with this at this time of year? Any ideas?

3D Shapes

One of our math expectations in Kindergarten is identification of shapes.  These include 6 of the basic 2D shapes as well as 4 of the 3D shapes: cylinder, cone, cube, and sphere.  I'm finding that many of my students who were not exposed to these in preschool or at home are struggling to remember the vocab.  If I say a shape name aloud, they can identify the correct shape, but if I hold up a shape and ask for the name, I get blank stares.  Most of them have got "cone" down (thank goodness for ice cream), but I would love any tricks that you have for remembering the other 3.  Any ideas?

Team Collaboration

Over the past two months, Sarah and I have been working with some of our teammates to create units, math stations, and creative writing projects for next school year.  As a team, we sat down and looked at our standards and objectives in each content area.  We each took a few units/projects to create and enhance meaningful lessons/activities that meet the standards of first grade. 
We have been meeting weekly to plan out next year, month-by-month.  Although, this process has been time consuming and at times overwhelming, we have accomplished more in the last two months than we have in the last two years.  We have found that collaboration is key to success in many ways.  As professionals, we are able to bounce ideas off of each other.  We are also working on accomplishing our goals that we set on our professional development plan at the beginning of the year.  We made a goal to use technology in our classrooms, and we feel that we have exceeded that goal.  Collaboration has helped us become a stronger team and better teachers.  All this collaborating with benefit our future students!
~Heather and Sarah

Literacy in PE Continued...

I had posted earlier about working on incorporating literacy into PE. I had my 5th, 4th and 3rd grade students complete a fitness work scramble. For my 1st and 2nd grade students, I gave them a worksheet in which they had to read a list of PE words and circle the words that were verbs. I found that the 1st and 2nd graders had a much more difficult time. Not all of them, but there was a handful of them that couldn't read the two sentences I had written for directions.  I noticed the reading aspect was difficult for some. I thought my directions were simple, but maybe I will have to look at simplifying the wording more. I met with our Literacy coordinator to discuss some strategies for incorporating literacy into PE. I was told by our LC that 1st and 2nd graders should know what a "verb" is. I worked with them on how to eliminate a word, or to ask themselves, "can I do that?"  I also had the polar opposite, and there were students that flew through the worksheet, so I am trying to think of a way to make it more challenging for them.

The word scramble was a little difficult for 3rd grade. I modified on the fly and made a little word bank poster and posted it on the wall. If they needed a clue, they could lift the flap to see the word bank. I found that this made it too easy for them and they were looking under the flap for help before they had even attempted to figure out any of the words. I need to find a balance between the two.

Overall, I liked doing the literacy worksheets. I also liked the fact that PE has several verbs or activities that we "do" so it made it fun!

Testing Rewards

I have really been working hard with my kids to get ready for their MAP test the next couple weeks. We have been working on reviewing how take a test and some strategies that we might use on the test. I will continue working with the students until testing is finished. I will be meeting with them over the next couple days to go over their test scores and their goal that they need to meet. I feel that they should be reminded and be aware of their goals on their tests. In past schools that I have worked at, testing and reaching their goal has been a bigger deal. I had kindergartners pledging at the beginning of the year to try to get a certain score on their NWEA test during the year. Each time they took the test, which was three times a year, they were able to win a reward if they passed the score or meet their goal. This reward was worked into the grade level for each time we took the test. The students could win things from happy meals to a picnic at the park depending on what the teachers chose for the year. I am not sure where this money came from for the students to receive this reward, but the principal always made it happen. I am planning on giving my students who make their goals in reading and math a reward. I have not come up with one yet, but might have the students come up with ideas and then have a vote. I do understand that all of my students are working towards their goal, but I feel there should be a reward for those who made their individual goals. Does anyone have any ideas or suggestions on this topic?

Literacy in PE

Today I've incorporated some literacy activities within our fitness stations. The 3rd, 4th and 5th graders will be doing a fitness word scramble. As the day has progressed, I've noticed that the third graders would have had more success if I would have provided a word bank. That will be a change for next time. For the 1st and 2nd graders they will be given a list of physical education words, in which they have to circle the verbs. I was informed that both grades should know how to do this. We'll see how it goes!

THANK YOU

Since my student teacher left, as I've been "taking back the reins", I have really found myself falling back on a lot of the classroom management tips we have been trading here.  My student teacher had a very different tolerance level in regards to chaos - especially squirmy little bodies and blurted comments.  Now that I am back at the front of the classroom, I find myself frustrated and asking myself WWED (which usually means "What would Emily do?" or "What would Erin do?" depending on the situation).  Rather than getting upset with the students for blurting out or losing control, I have learned to calmly say, "I only respond to raised hands," or "I will begin when your bodies are still."  It helps me stay controlled, which in turn helps the students stay controlled.  Thank you for being such great Love & Logic role models, both on here and in the hallways at school!

Testing Blues

Do your kiddos have the testing blues?
I often find myself feeling guilty after our first graders sit for 45 minutes on their test. I find myself finding creative ways to make the day more active to compensate for all that sitting during testing. My test scores and motivation to do well has been much better this year. One new idea I implemented is to make sure our morning is very active. We did lots of exercises and review games that involve our body. This year I also did a much better job of expressing why we take these MAP tests. What I explained to them is I know that they are smart but this test it a way for them to show their family and second grade teacher how smart they are. They seemed a lot more motivated to take the test. I also explained that I want them to ask questions when taking the test because sometimes the question is confusing or they heard it wrong. We discussed how great test takers check their answers twice. All these things really helped. We also did a lot of slow breathing in through our nose and out our mouth on the way to the test which got them focused and ready to go.

Earth Day

Earth Day is fast approaching again this year. I have started teaching my students about what Earth Day is and why we celebrate it and why it is important. We are also building a "Trashosaurus" (dinosaur made out of recyclable items) and writing a story about how they taught them about recycling, reusing, and reducing. I have done this the last 2 years. The kids really enjoy this project. My question to everyone else is, does anyone else have any good projects or lessons that focuses on Earth Day or the 3 R's? Thanks for thinking about it!

Sped. Instruction and Testing

A large barrier that we, as a special education team, have been dealing with is the difficulty of meeting both testing needs (ie., small group testing) and maintaining consistant special education instruction. Inevitably, students need to miss their small group Sped. instruction because another student requires small group testing. This is a big barrier, as (by law) we are required to meet the minutes allocated on student IEPs. The same barrier arises in my room (EBD Resource) when I am scheduled to meet with a social skills group while another student is acting-out or requires my full attention. Scheduling becomes very difficult to make up "missed" minutes. This is more of a stating the problem out loud thing :), I am not sure what the answer is. I konw that rescheduling missed time is probably involved. However, we can't take students out of their core content areas to make up this instruction.

Expectations

This is my first year teaching Kindergarten, and I was a bit surprised to find out that we teach inferring.  This is a skill that my third graders struggled to understand, so I was dreading the first few lessons with five-year-olds.  They have far exceeded my expectations, though.  Sure, I'm using simpler texts and focusing more on basic inferring skills, but they are doing great.  It was a good reminder to avoid underestimating my students' capacity to learn and demonstrate deep thinking.

Does anyone have any good recommendations for primary level books to practice inferring?  We've used Knuffle Bunny books, Llama Llama books, and Bear is Scared so far.  I'd love some fresh ideas!

Motivation

I have been working with a little kiddo all year on working efficiently and staying focused. I have tried to use different techniques to keep him on task to get his work done. I have become very frustrated! It gets to the point that if I don't sit right next to him and "hold" his hands he will not get the work done. I am trying to back away at the this point in the year, to get him ready for next year. There are several times that I have given him the time to finish and extra time also I have told him the time that he needs to be finished and then if he is not done then he will get a grade done or not. This may or may not be the right thing to do, but I have gotten to the point many days that I have to let him fail. I do worry that in third grade he will have a very hard time and will not make it. Does anyone have suggestions on how to help get these types of kids for the rest of this year and to help get ready for next year?

SPARK-MIND BODY CONNECTION, CONT.

I was reading the book SPARK and come across this interesting tid-bit. "Exercise also boosts dopamine, which improves mood and feelings of wellness and jump-starts the attention system. Dopamine is all about motivation and attention. "

When I think about this in our classrooms, how beneficial would it be if teacher infused physical activity within their typical classroom day? That extra boost to engage kids, get their bodies moving all while increasing their attention! I'm sure when we think of our own classrooms, we could all probably name a few students who struggle with being able to pay attention. In a technological world that is full of constant stimulation; when not using technology some students struggle to sit still. Why not use their own energy to bring them back and get them focused?

My challenge for the week for classroom teachers is to infuse some sort of physical activity into your daily routine. Let me know if you get your students' attention!

CLICKER TESTS

In PE we've been using the clickers for student cognitive assessments. Just recently we've had some major problems with the software (or maybe user induced-not sure). My colleague and I were administering our quarter 3 assessments this final week of the quarter. We had each class one time before spring break. My colleague attempted to load the test in Turning Point, but it wouldn't allow him to pull up that classes participant list. The next test he administered, the computer froze half-way through the test. Just yesterday, I was on the final question of the clicker test in a different classroom, and the computer froze. All data and test responses were lost. Being that the end of the quarter is near, and we only see each class 4 times out of a ten day cycle, we're stuck with figuring out what to do for the test. For the classes that had the opportunity to complete almost the whole test, I used correct answer indicators after each question; therefore, I didn't think administering the test again would be valid because they were basically handed the answers.

My question is, how should we handle these technology glitches when they occur? Do we need to print a paper copy of the test each time or choose to not use the correct answer indicators? I like that my students receive instant feedback after they answer the question, so not telling them the correct answer isn't something I personally want to get rid of.

Consistency

As the year progressing I often find myself struggling with consistency. I especially notice it around the time that grades are due because we need to get through so much testing. I try to make it a point to by honest and tell the students that I made a mistake and I would appreciate it if they help me with my goal as a teacher to only answer raised hands. So far it is going pretty well, but I still slip up sometimes and answer a question of someone who walked up to me or didn't raise their hand. We discussed as a class why I only accept raised hands: only one of me, hard to teach if there is a crowd around me, equal amount of turns to share ideas, etc.

Do you have any good tricks to stay consistent?

Tattle Bug

It seems like this time of year the tattle bug is out in full force. With 120 some days together they start to get frustrated with the small things that bug them about their classmates. I sat my tattle kids down last week and we had a very straight forward conversation about what tattling does to the person who is being tattled on and the person who is tattling. We discussed how when you tattle on someone they often hear you tattling. Then I asked if they think the person is more or less likely to be willing to solve the problem calmly. Then we discussed how I listen to tattling at recess and after school and would be more than happy to discuss it then (Love and Logic idea). We decided as a group that we would do our best to solve them problem calmly on our own or let it go and solve it at another time. We of course discussed appropriate times to let the teacher know; when someone is in danger or getting hurt. We will see how it goes.

What is your tattling remedy?

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I'm not sure what is going on with our students lately, but it seems like they're really struggling with respecting each other as well as teachers. The trend is not only in PE, but is occurring in other specials and within the classroom. Generally there is the assumption that they're all itching for spring break, but I feel like that vibe is present much earlier this year. It seems that no matter how many reminders or how many times we ask them and explain to them why respect is so important, it still seems to be an issue.

My question is, what are some strategies you use when dealing with these of issues in your classroom?

How do we find balance?

At the end of the day yesterday, I felt like I was rushing to get my students out the door.  Many hadn't finished the art project we were working on and needed to bring the pieces home in a bag.  Very few had the chance to get to center time.  I've spent much of the last 12 hours thinking about the fact that I'm always pushing my students to hurry to get things done.  I keep asking what I could have done differently yesterday, but as I think about my plans and the work that we did, I just don't see anything to get rid of.  In fact, I didn't even get to everything that I had originally planned.  A half day just never seems like enough time!

I've had this conversation with a few other teachers recently, and the interesting thing that came up was the connection between our tendency to rush kids through things and our frustration when kids rush through testing.  All day long, many of us push kids to work efficiently, walk places quickly, transition quickly, etc.  We have a lot that we want to teach them, and we want to get to as much content as possible.  But, when we ask kids to take a test, we want them to slow down.  I remember getting incredibly frustrated when a student would finish the whole MAP test in 30 minutes (or less) because I felt like she wasn't doing her best work.  How confusing for students!  Go, go, go, go, go, slow down! 

What do you do to allow students to delve deeply into topics and do their best work while still balancing the amount of content that we are expected to teach?

Social Media

At what point do you think elementary students will start facing social media challenges? 6th grade, 5th grade, 4th grade? I am not sure if Fbook and other social media will whole heartedly reach the 10 year old, but in our teaching lifetime it would not surprise me at all. In my opinion social media sites are here to stay, so we should try to embrace them as best we can. When I say embrace, I mean use the positives of these resources to reach our students. I know these ideas might scare some people that do not believe young students should be on Fbook or twitter. My idea is that we should try to use these as resources to teach our students and use it as a way to connect to our students in a way that they enjoy and is motivating. I know one example of a teacher using Fbook for his class. Although, he teaches high school AP US History, he has students creating historical profiles of US historical figures and influential people on Fbook. Students then are constantly asking questions and posting messages all year long. Believe it or not it is part of their overall grade at the end of the semester.

What is your opinion on the social media revolution and its place or lack of place in education?

Evidence Based and Practical Application

I am currently finishing up my certification in applied behavior analysis at the UofM and running into a road block between research/evidence based interventions and how to apply them in the classroom. When I attempt to design behavior interventions that have "high fidelity" (i.e., strong validity and reliability in implementation through a research design) for application in the classroom, I realize that there is no way I could practically track the data or ensure 100% of the time that the intervention is being followed according to the plan; this leaves me in a kind of limbo wondering if behavior spikes are due to events that happen outside of school or low reliability in the plan.

I am sure we come across this all the time in education; we recieve an intervention/program with strong research base. But, we can't implement it completely at school as the research suggests. Is this just when we "take what we can get" out of the intervention?

Distractability

I have been sitting through many new evaluation planning meetings and feedback meetings and there seems to be a common theme that has been occurring more now than in years past. Many students are struggling with staying on task and being easily distracted. Is it due to more stimulation at home with video games, computers and TV? Whatever the reasons, it has become a much bigger problem and I am trying to figure out how to help students try to stay focused on their work. If it is not ADHD, what is causing this increased distractability and lack of focus in the classroom?

Hartman/Borgen Monthly Blog

This month we went a different route than we planned. We met and discussed communication with families and how to handle parents that require more time and attention. With normal communication we send home a bi-weekly (Hartman) or monthly (Borgen) newsletter to keep parents informed about curriculum and upcoming events in the classroom. We also update our website so parents get all the information they need. Needless to say we offer parents multiple resources to get their information. We have both found that parents use email frequently before checking the newsletter and/or website.

One problem we have been trying to figure out is how to handle parents who type literally 2 page emails. We have been given the advice to go through and highlight questions and respond only to the questions in the email. We are both big communicators and we drowning in emails from parents this year more than ever. It has gotten to the point that we don't check our emails over the weekend because of the time it takes to respond to all the requests, updates, and issues. Has anyone else had this problem this year? If so, do you have any more advice on how to deal with these issues? We understand that email is an effective way to communicate but it has been taking time away from planning and preparing well thought out lessons for our students.

Induction Meeting

It was very interesting talking about our educational philosophy this morning. I ended up being in Group 5 that focused more on the feelings of students and teaching to their individual learning styles. When I was in college and graduate school, I had to write my educational philosophy and it was similar to where I fell this morning on the chart. I think that being in special education, I am constantly aware of what learning styles my students have and how they feel towards what I am teaching and what they are learning in the classroom. A lot of what I do depends on how each student is feeling on a particular day. One of the women in my group felt that she fell in two different categories depending on what class she was teaching. I found that fascinating and reassuring that we do teach to individual classes and students and that sometimes our approach is different for each student.

MCA

We are now in the process of getting ready for statewide assessments. This year (like last year) students will be taking the MCA Math test online. A new twist this year is that students will have the opportunity to take the MCA Math test up to 3 times, but must take it a mandatory 2 times. My personal belief is that if the state is going to offer the test 3 time, then once a student meets or exceeds the standards then they should not be required to take the test another time. What are everyones thoughts on this new system? Also, this is the second year students will have taken the MCA tests online. I plan on going through several tutorials with them in the class and have them take practice tests in the computer lab. Furthermore, does anyone have any other strategies or tips I could have my students use while taking a computer based assessment? We will also have the MAP tests as well, so these strategies could be carried over to those assessments as well. What are peoples thoughts on the idea that we are asking 9, 10, 11 year old students to take 5- 7 major tests in 3 months? Does this limit our ability to teach, or teach to the test? All thoughts are welcomed.

Raising the "bar" with expectations.

I tried something new this year to see how it worked going of my new knowledge of love and logic. With love and logic you talk about what you will be doing not what you expect the student to be doing. For example, I will accept work that is completed on time. So, I thought I would incorporate this into my writer's workshop. I was a little nervous at first because I want to encourage a love for writing and inventive spelling in first grade, but I also want to be sure to have high enough expectations to ensure students are moving forward in their writing ability. So, starting third quarter I have told them "I only accept your best work. I accept writing that has capitols at the beginning, end marks at the end, spaces and words with vowels." I also told them that "I only accept work that you can read to me and I can read back." It was amazing to see how many of m y "lower" writers stepped up and really put their best work forward. Several of them showed me writing I didn't think they can do. It was a great note to self for next year to expect more out of students earlier in the year. It was so fun to see that when you raise the bar on expectations, students will go out their and reach for it. It was a great lesson for me, especially for me struggling students that when you expect more of them they begin to believe in themselves and build that confidence because you are showing them that you know they can do it. So excited to see how much more they grow as I keep raising the bar.

Student Teaching Dos-and-Don'ts

I have a student teacher starting with me tomorrow, and I'm a little nervous.  I am concerned that my schedule will be overwhelming, with all of the crazy travel, even though his college supervisor thinks it will be good for him to experience (since these are the kinds of jobs music teachers often end up in when they first start working).  I also remember LOVING my cooperating teacher when I was student teaching, and I want to make sure I offer the same valuable experience to the guy coming to work with me.

Do any of you have suggestions, either for me or for my student teacher, on how to create the best possible experience for him?  What are some of the qualities you most appreciated in your own cooperating teachers?  (Or things that drove you CRAZY about them?)  What are things you wish someone had told you when you were beginning your student teaching experience?

Reading Break Through

I have a student who has struggled with decoding words this year. I have been using the Sonday reading system to work on his phonics skills. Many times, he would be able to individually sound out words but then struggle with blending the sounds together into a word. This week, a light bulb went on and he is able to decode words with more fluency. He has a greater confidence when he is reading and is not attacking words with the hesitation that he had done before. I am so excited that he has moved past his roadblock to decoding. The issues he had with decoding impacted his ability to comprehend what he read so I am hoping that that area improves as well. This is the part of my job that I love the best - success!!!!!

MA $CASH$

For the second half of the year I install a banking system with my students called MA CASH or "Mr. Aleckson Cash" for long. In essense it is monetary system of checks and balances. Students can literally earn MA CASH for doing anything. I tell the students that they can earn the cash by "doing what is right?" We talked about all those different types of behaviors and about what "the right thing" is. Students can also earn cash through participation (not everyday), weekly trivia, planner signatures, and their weekly jobs. The only time I take away their cash is on Friday's when the rent is due. I told the students that they are renting their desks, chairs, and lockers from the school. Therefore since they do not own those items there is the possibility of fines for lack of cleanliness or free rent for extreme organization and cleanliness. All their work culminates at the end of the year when I have a real auctioneer come into the classroom and talk about what an auction is and how it works. This is also a great math lesson, because we work on skip counting and cutting things in half. The auctioneer sells of all kinds of healthy things for the students; pop, gatorade, candy, chips, books, games, toys, posters, and anything I can buy at the dollar store. I usually have the auction during the last 2-3 days of school. Last year it worked out really well and the students had a blast. Every students gets a prize no matter how much cash they collected over the year. Let me know your thoughts about my system. Good? Bad? Ugly? Any improvements I could make?

SPARK-MIND BODY CONNECTION

I was reading Spark today and I found this interesting...

"Less than 3% of adults over the age of 24 stay in shape through playing team sports."

This is interesting to me because in physical education we teach a lot of team sports, when in all actuality, our kids won't be using them as their primary means of exercise in their mid-twenties and beyond. I think it is important to expose our students to these activities, but I think we need to do a better job of incorporating the fitness aspect into all activities. Grade them on effort, instead of skill. Herein lies the heart rate monitors.To be continued...

Genres

I have really been looking over data this last week from my Winter MAP test. As I have been looking over the data, I have sat down with my big binder for small groups and assessments and really looked at the key ideas they should be working on to get to the next level. It was really interesting that especially those higher kids how much they need to know about genre. It is confusing to me at times as an adult the difference between all the genres and how they fit into the categories. Does anyone have a good idea for teaching genre to the younger grades?

Observation

I was just observed for a lesson in which I was teaching the concept of time: hour, half hour and quarter hour. The students who I teach will sometimes learn a concept but then the next day, not appear to have retained what was taught. For the first time during a lesson with them, there were moments where they understood the concepts and other moments when they had no idea-all in a 30 minute period of time. It was so frustrating! Usually, if they understand something, it is for the whole 30 minute period and vice versa. With most of my groups, I just have to repeat things over and over again. If anyone has any ideas about how to teach time, please let me know. I used many hands-on activities and touched on all modalities of learning styles but for one of the kids, nothing seemed to matter.

I'm Done!

Each day, toward the end of our schedule, the kids have "table time."  They work on various skills they've been practicing throughout the day such as letter printing, a math practice page, etc.  In both classes, my first students finished feel the need to announce it to everyone.  Most of the time, I don't feel that my kids are doing sloppy work to get done first.  They are proud to be the first ones finished.  The problem is, the rest of my kids then feel slightly rushed or like they are not as good.

We have talked about the fact that being done first isn't what counts--everyone does their best work in different amounts of time etc.  Does anyone have other strategies that have worked to help kids keep their accomplishments to themselves?

Differentiation Ideas

I just had an opportunity to be observed by a different principal than my own and I got some great feedback and i would like to pose the question to all: I do feel that I work hard to differentiate in the classroom as much as possible but I find it difficult in first grade when we are doing up to 8 subjects a day which would make it 8 times 5 so 40 lessons a week to differentiate. I know that is not the expectation but I am wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to make differentiation more manageable. For most lessons I offer an extension for the lesson but I know my high kids are ready for something more engaging. I am not sure if I should start by just focusing on one subject area such as writing or if anyone has any other ideas. Reading I will be starting book clubs with my higher students, which will help, but I would love any other suggestions. Thank you.

On a lighter note:

This question was shared on the professional growth blog; thought I'd bring it up over here; what do you do to de-stress/de-compress after work?....I'm always looking for ideas; its very important for me to define work time/me time/ and family time... I like to write about some of my experiences (just kind of let them flow out of my finger tips):

Despite the slight hinge rust, Dudley Dew's box
was a beaty. Its factory stamped clasp locks
snicker-snacked up and down with ease. Its green
and blue paint was mint, no knicks, rubbed and preened
to a soft glow from the liniment oil
rag tucked in Dudley's pocket. The frown-soiled
rows of envious lunchroom moguls glared
and watched Dudley Dew sit down with his brand
new Brady Bunch lunchbox. Across the bare
metal, factory grins, Dudleys stubby hands
caressed the top and rested on the clasps.
Classmates leaning in, he flicked the lid, grasped
the sides expectantly and found a note:
"lunch is on the counter, don't forget your coat."

Dual Relationships

In my EBD program I am responsible for problem solving with students as well as developing a positive relationship with them. Our building's Love and Logic philosophy speaks to the idea that, as teachers, we guide the students toward identifying the problem and guide them to fix the problem for themselves (we don't "punish" the students). However, many of my students have false attributions about sources of punishment, problems, and how to fix problem situations (i.e., it is always someone else's fault).

Given this dichotomy.. I am seen, with many of my students, as the "discipline teacher;" this makes it very difficult for me to foster a meaningful relationship with my students, a relationship in which they can share feelings and work towards increasing their problem solving skills.

When I am seen as the "punisher" and need to develop meaningful relationships at the same time, I feel I am struggling in a duel relationship. Sorry for the longer post; I am wondering if anyone has ideas on how I can foster the more meaninful relationship side of my job :). Thanks!

Small Triumph

Over the last few weeks, I have been struggling to get some of my students to write during Writer's Workshop time.  At the beginning of the year in kindergarten, we focus on telling our stories through detailed pictures.  Eventually we begin to add labels.  At this point in the year, though, all of my students should be writing at least 1 sentence as well.  Because it used to be okay for them to just draw a picture, though, many are getting stuck there.  I found myself getting extremely frustrated.  I know that writing is difficult and requires kids to orchestrate a lot of different things, but I also know that every single one of my students is capable of doing what I'm asking them to do.

Yesterday during my writing lesson, I didn't guilt them or tell them that they had to write (though I was tempted to).  Instead, I put a checklist on the back of some of my students' writing folders.  It had a picture of a lightbulb, a clipart picture of people, and then a sentence.  I introduced it as a reminder of what good writers do.  They get an idea, they put it in their picture, and then they write their words.  I pointed out that a few kids seemed to be getting stuck between their pictures and their words, and a lot of the kids agreed.  I told them that I knew that every single one of them could write their words because we do it during interactive writing.  I hear them calling out the letters they hear.

All of a sudden, a little boy raised his hand and said, "I told my mom I don't want to write at school."  I asked him what she said.  "She said I have to."  I just smiled and asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up.  "I want to be just like you," he told me.  So, I got up and got my plan book and showed the kids how much writing I do as a teacher just to plan out one day of school.  They all gasped.  I asked them if they think I needed to write in kindergarten in order to be a teacher and they nodded.

All but one of my students wrote yesterday.  I don't expect that to happen every day. I'm sure it will wear off, but it reminded me that I just have to keep trying different things until something clicks.  It was a very encouraging day! 

Observation reactivity

As part of my documentation process, I need to conduct observations for some of my students. When I enter the room, however, their environment changes, now I am in it :), and I feel that my data gets skewed. I am looking for any thoughts that people may have on how to reduce this reactivity element when I am performing observations... thanks!

Parent Volunteers

I wanted to share a small success I have had this year. Last year was very rough for me as far as fitting in school and my life at home. I found myself spending the whole evening cutting or tracing or some other project for the classroom. This year I decided to ask for help (which is often hard for me) and I put out a sign up sheet that asked parents if they wanted to volunteer at home or at school. It was great to see that parents were willing to volunteer at home. It has been great to send home small group intervention games and resources that parents can put together. I have so many more resources this year to pull from. I felt guilty at first, but parents mentioned that they enjoy it because they get to feel a part of the classroom even if they work during the day and can't make it in. So be sure to use those resources out there.

Also, as a random side note: check out www.pinterest.com. You need to get an invite from a friend but it has some great teaching ideas. I got several literacy center ideas. Hope everyone had a great break!

Class Websites

Hey all! I am in charge of facilitating a professional development session on the 16th. I would love some feedback. Please list the things you are most proud of on your website. Or things that parents have mentioned they enjoy. Thank you!

SPARK

I've begun reading a book called Spark which details the connection between exercise and the brain. While reading I found an important note that couldn't have explained physical education better..."What we teach is a healthy lifestyle." Who could argue that healthy living isn't a crucial component of life! I think about schools that do not have physical education or that are cutting PE time to add more or to lengthen "core academic type" courses, and it saddens me. Think about the way in which we function as adults throughout our professional day. Imagine those days in which you are tired, have a cold, the flu, but you still show up to work functioning at minimal capacity. We do not function the same on those days as we would on our healthy days. We don't think the same, we don't process the same, nor to we interact with others in the same way. Being healthy is the foundation for ALL aspects of life and the quality in which we live it. It is our goal as physical education teachers to introduce kids to a variety of activities so they can fall in love with being active and maintain this lifestyle for a lifetime. We don't teach "content" we teach a lifestyle. To be continued...