Lead Day

My first lead teaching day is in the books!  Prepare for a long post, folks. 

I felt fairly confident coming into the day because I am so familiar with our routines and our kids.  I am at the point where I can predict how each kid will react to certain aspects of a lesson or of the day as a whole.  I knew that The Wanderer would likely be back to wandering because one of his stable adults wasn't going to be in the room.  As predicted, he left the room three separate times without asking or telling me where he was going.  None of them were serious and he returned in 5-10 minutes as he usually does.  When I confronted him about one of these times while the other kids were working on something, he got defensive and argued that his cousin NEEDED his help across the hallway in the LMC to find a book. (I have to laugh a little bit at this- this kid comes up with the funniest excuses.) I told him that it's not safe for him to leave the room without asking because I need to know where he is all the time.  I also reminded him that when he leaves the room, he misses out on instructions or work time.  As his teacher, I don't always have the time to check back in with him when he decides to mosey back to the room.  This is still an issue on my plate because I don't think I said anything that convinced him to stop leaving.  I'm making a mental note to get this ironed out before I start my lead weeks.

At the beginning of the morning, my CT asked me what my goals for the day were.  The three things that immediately came to mind were:

1) Having eyes all around the room.  I noticed while watching my TPA videos that I'll get so into a conversation with a student that I miss other students who go an entire 30 minutes without actually getting anything done besides chatting it up with their neighbors or doing karate in our large group space.  Not okay, kids!

2) Being able to manage student behavior.  As I've said in previous posts, the biggest issue that I have in terms of classroom management is how to handle small student conflicts while also teaching a class of 17 kids.  So often our kids play the "he said, she said" "she looked at me funny, he called me mean" game throughout the day.  I try to ask "Is this a teacher problem or a kid problem?" in hopes that they will just drop it and move on.  When they respond with, "I'm really sad.  I want you to help me talk to them." how can I just walk away?  This happened several times today.  I am still working on how to handle little student conflicts like this because instead of just taking the kids into the hallway for a talk like I typically would, I had 14 other kids that needed my attention at the same time.  I was proud of myself though because a few times I was able to pause the issue with kids, get the others working on something, and then return to the issue.  It's a start.

3) Less teacher talking, more kid work time. Sometimes I think I'm the queen of connections.  My brain feels like it is going 100 miles an hour sometimes and constantly thinking about ways that I could extend a lesson or celebrate something awesome that a kid says.  Unfortunately, there isn't enough time in the day for me to acknowledge every thought that me or the kids have that's awesome.  I was able to stick to the schedule for the most part today.  Things got pinched at the end of my math lesson, but I kept my directions and modeling of a math game to just FIVE minutes!  It's a new record.  And you know what?  The spent the last five minutes of our math time totally playing the game correctly. 

The Silver Lining
One of my favorite parts of today was something that I came up with "spur of the moment" over the lunch hour.   Last week, the kids wrote down a list of five nice adjectives about themselves on a note card.  On the opposite side, they wrote five nice adjectives about everyone that sits at their table.  I was trying to think of a clever way to have them share, when I remembered the "laying of the hands" activity that I had done at my church.  We used it to pray about one another, but I've also done it in workshops where we shared "warm fuzzies" about each other.  I talked it over quickly with my CT and she suggested having the students just stack their hands instead of placing them on shoulders, arms, etc.  This turned out to be a good call.

I modeled what it should look and sound like and then I let the kids go to work.  It was the afternoon, so predictably, the kids were a little high strung and silly.  I wish I would have emphasized that this activity is meant to make people feel good and respected and not meant to be silly or playful.  Regardless, they got it done and it seemed to have made kids feel the way I had hoped.  Back in the large group, I had them share one feeling about the activity.  They said things like, "There were so many drips in my bucket that it overflowed and I needed another one!"  (See 'Have You Filled A Bucket Today?' by Carol McCloud if you have no idea what I'm referencing here.)  Another student, one who is often negative and down on herself, said, "I felt special.  I felt like it was my birthday or something, like it was a special event just for me."  I was so happy that they felt how I felt when I had this same activity done for me.  Everyone deserves to be the center of attention sometimes!  

Then I asked kids how it felt to have their hands on one another's hands.  They gave a resounding response of, "It was weird."  Then I asked them, "Why do you think I had you touch the person that you were talking about?"  Blank stares.  Decided to try a different approach.  I turned to the student next to me and said, "Kind, honest, funny, hardworking, brave."  Then, I said them again, but this time I looked her in the eye and put my hand on her hand.  I asked the kids which one of them they thought made her feel better.  They said the second.  I then briefly explained that we often use our hands to make other people feel noticed, loved, or appreciated.  I said, "When you guys are having a hard time or needing some attention from me, a lot of times I'll come to you and do something like this."  I patted a student's leg and rubbed another one's shoulder.  The Wanderer said, "You do that for me.  When I'm having a hard time you always do that for me."  I have SO much love for that kid.  I'm so glad that he realizes that I care about him!  I think the kids had a good takeaway from this lesson and I think it made them feel good. We are taking the adjectives and making them into Wordles for each kid.  I want to find a way to make them into t-shirts!  What's better than wearing a t-shirt that says all the reasons why you're awesome?  I'm all about building confidence.


I think that's my longest post to date.  My hands are tired!  Still have to work on my TPA commentaries yet tonight.  I would so much rather tire my typing fingers on a blog post about my kids than answering redundant TPA questions...

So long for now,
Brittany 

My kids are too cute.

I was apprehensive coming into today because my students had a long four-day weekend.  It had been a while since they were in the school routine, and one of our instigators was back from a Florida vacation.  However, when they rolled in right away in the morning, I knew we'd have a good day.  I was greeted with lots of smiles and hugs!  During morning meeting, I only had to tell them once to make a circle (and it was actually a circle... crazy!) and they did a WONDERFUL job of listening and not having side conversations.  For our activity we played a game called "Martian, Tiger, Politician, Salmon" that required them to do an action, make a sound, and play a game similar to Rock, Paper, Scissors.  They rocked it!  Everyone understood the game, we smiled, we laughed, and it was awesome.  :)

The rest of the morning continued to go well.  We worked on a project for "Square 1 Art" which is a fundraiser that our school is doing.  They had a great time creating nature scenes from torn construction paper.  While we were working, we played our class playlist- the list of all of their favorite songs.  It was awesome to see them light up when their song was played.  One of our boys chose "Beat It" by Michael Jackson.  Soon after his song came on, he proceeded to share with half of the class how Michael Jackson died.  He said, "His heart had been beepin' too hard, too hard.  He had had a heart attack and he died."  It doesn't sound nearly as cute typed out, but the way that his cute little voice said it and the actions and facial expressions that he made along with it were priceless. 

I realize that I am redundant with the word "cute" in this post.  I had an early childhood professor who told me that you shouldn't have kids do projects that are "cute," they should be projects that mean something.  I try to avoid calling kids cute just because I want to respect them as learners and not patronize- but honestly, it's the only word I keep thinking.  I am feeling good about my decision to be a teacher today.  How lucky I am to spend so much time with these awesome young people! 

Stay tuned for an update tomorrow night.  Let's hope this love can carry over into my first lead day tomorrow!

-Miss T

Brief Update

I have spent nearly my entire day working on this darn edTPA!  It got to a point this afternoon when I had to go to Target to escape the screens.  Frankly, a TV, a laptop, and a phone that I am almost literally connected to for hours on end is toooo much!  When I got back from Target I got a quick workout in (and I didn't turn the TV on like usual- I just couldn't do it!)  I did a little bit of stress cooking and baking (baked garlic chicken, quinoa, steamed veggies, and an apple crisp) and then got back to work. 

One of my biggest frustrations with this whole assessment is that it comes from Pearson.  Our mandated math lessons are produced by Pearson.  This company is taking over the planet- the planet of education, that is.  I don't understand how a huge company like that has the ability to sell curriculum and standardized testing to schools EVERYWHERE.  So many of our state and federal funds are going to them that there should just a be a direct line from the bank to their pocketbook.  I am scared of a nation where a public education means a Pearson education.  Do they really know what's best for our kids?

It should be a good week ahead.  Tomorrow we have individual planning time after the kids are released early.  Tuesday I will be doing my first lead day!  It's a little scary but mostly exciting.  I'm curious to see what the little rascals will throw at me! 

Much Sunday Love,
BJT

Perspective

Tonight, I had to stay a half hour late at work. 

There is a single mom who brings her two kids to the center that relies on public transportation, the city bus, to get to and from work and also to drop her kids off.  The older son is in my 2's classroom and she has a 4 month old daughter who also comes to this center.  The kids are sweet as can be and she has always been respectful and kind to us.  Tonight, she called to say that she was going to be late.  She was on the bus, there was an incident involving other passengers, and the police had to be called.  On the phone with us, she explained the situation, said she'd be 20 minutes late, and that she'd get there as soon as she could. 

While I cuddled her baby girl and played with her son, I thought about what it would be like in her shoes.  The city that I am in is fortunate to have a public transportation system that can get you just about anywhere in the city.  However, it isn't without issues.  There aren't car seats on buses and there isn't anyone in the back to control any issues that may arise among passengers.  Buses are often five minutes late or five minutes early, and passengers have to wait outside in all kinds of weather.  I think it's inspiring that she can manage it and get her kids and herself where she needs to be every day.  Remembering this story will hopefully help me to keep my head on straight when I'm feeling lazy about cooking myself a real meal or stressing about finding a teaching job.  I have a reliable vehicle, no one depending on me to care for them, and an incredible education.  I am a woman in a powerful position. 

Thursday and Friday our students have off of school and the staff will be meeting to do professional development.  I am looking forward to a day of talking with colleagues but I'm sure I'll miss the kids... at least a little.  :)

Brittany 

My Kids

I realized today that my students really feel like "mine."  On Monday, three of them were running around the lunch room to get to the BBQ rib sandwiches as quickly as possible.  The other teachers glared at me like I was the mom at the mall who's letting their kid destroy a store display.  Without any hesitation at all, I sprang to action and had a conversation with them about it.  It feels good to be responsible for them because with that responsibility comes a whole lot of pride!  :)

Speaking of pride, tomorrow ALL of the kids in my class will finish their non-fiction books.  (And I will have finished teaching my TPA material.)  We (they) have been hard at work for almost two weeks.  They all found a topic that they were an expert on and haven't stopped since.  Besides the kids who have changed their topic three or four times (including two today who wrote first drafts that were completely unrelated to their previous work), they have moved through almost the entire writing process.  It has been fun to have those clarifying conversations where they ask you a question, you answer, and their face shows that they TOTALLY get it.  It sometimes means that you gave convoluted instructions in the first place (pretty sure I do this far more than I realize) but it always makes feel like a good teacher.

It seems crazy that it's almost November!!  How is that even possible?  I feel like my life has been busy and calm at the same time.  I have a lot to do but I can almost always do it on my own time.  I've had weekends filled with friends, family, and Badger football.  Can a girl ask for anything more?  Perhaps my rose-colored glasses will fade away over time, but for now, I'm rockin' em! 

PS.  We got our school pictures back today.  I had mine taken so that I could get a class composite picture, but it turns out teachers get a whole lot of them to take home.  Perhaps I'll be gracing the desks of my family members sometime soon ;)

All my love,
BT

Everybody's A Little Bit Something

Wednesdays are by far my least favorite day of the week.  I have to leave my students at lunch time and head to campus for my seminar.  Not only am I frustrated with the content of the seminar and lack of community discussion, we talk about the edTPA for the first half hour.  Every time I go to seminar, I change my whole TPA schema.  I rethink everything I've done and it's absolutely tiring.  So, while I was gone, my CT and my students had a discussion about culture.  What is culture?  Where do we come from?  Can someone really be American?  They had a lively discussion around the fact that most of the people that live in America have relatives that were born somewhere else.  She mentioned that the kids might want to ask their parents where their family comes from.

Today in our morning meeting circle, our share was telling the class where your family comes from (or saying that you'll ask your family and let us know later).  So many kids were excited about the conversations they had had with their family the night before!  It was awesome to hear.  What I learned from the circle is that we have students who are Cambodian, Puerto Rican, Polish, Irish, Dutch, Yugoslavian, Filipino, etc.  Kids said that they were "a little bit Polish, a little bit Irish" or "I am half Cambodian and half American." This conversation has always been a hard one for the black students in my classroom.  Because of the history of African Americans in our country, most of the kids I've worked with can't name a country that they call their own, other than the United States.  It's a powerful conversation to have with students and to reflect on as a teacher.  One of the boys in my class raised his hand in the circle.  He said, "I know that I'm a little bit Atlanta." 

I was awestruck.  He was totally right.  When we asked him about it later, he said that he talked to his dad (who lives in Chicago currently) on the phone last night and his dad told him that he was born in Atlanta.  While most of the discussion was centered around a country of origin- coming from Chicago and Atlanta IS his culture.  He was totally on-par with the conversation and had no idea that his answer was so different from the rest.  I was so thankful that none of our smarty-pants students said, "Hey!  That's not a country!" and made him feel bad.  Although, I would have relished in the opportunity to have a discussion about culture and what REALLY makes us who we are, instead of just where our ancestors came from. 

This discussion was really a precursor to the whole day.  Things went much more smoothly than they had previously this week and I was so grateful.  I am halfway through my TPA writing lessons now.  I had a breakthrough with a couple of students that feels amazing!!  I re-worked my standard so that instead of making every student have 1) an intro 2) facts 3) definitions and 4) a conclusion, I am letting them have more freedom.  After all, the whole reason why I wanted to teach informative writing is because I know that these kids are experts on things.  Some of them are more knowledgable about things than most adults I know.  The point of me teaching them is for them to feel like strong, powerful writers- not someone who can fit the mold.  They are still writing informatively: their books are on one subject, contain real information, and teach someone something.  The beautiful part is that they get to do it on their own terms.  :)  More on this later, but I'm feeling good!

I'm spending the evening at my brother's house.  It's been awesome to chat with them and play with their kids!  They are a blessing in my life. 

So much love today,
Ms. T

Math Mishap

Today got off to a good start.  Morning meeting was fun.  We had a brief reading time because a group of local firefighters visited and spoke with us about fire prevention and safety.  I taught my first "official" TPA lesson and I felt like the kids actually "got it."  I ensured that they each had at least three things written down before I started the lesson, and then moved them through the process of rating their topics.  The topic got one star for each of the following:
             -Do I enjoy it?
             -Could I teach someone about it?
            -Do I know a lot about it without doing extra research?
Kids that had topics that tied with three stars came up to me multiple times.  I stopped the group and did a little deviating from the lesson plan.  I said, "Which topic makes you excited?  If I asked you about the topic you chose, you should be able to talk and talk and tell me all about it."  I saw eyes light up- my favorite part of teaching!  Tomorrow, we'll have more time to finish our brainstorming and writing as much as we can about our chosen topic.  I hope to also introduce several types of graphic organizers to help them sort their vast knowledge!

After recess and lunch, we had a short amount of quiet time- kids working quietly on their own, resting their brains, drawing, etc.  I found out that morning that I'd be teaching math that day, and my assumption was that we would be teaching problem solving situations.  On Monday, we did a problem where there were three kinds of cake and three kinds of ice cream in a cafeteria and students were asked to come up with the possible combinations.  Today, however, we upped the ante with a problem about the possible number of firefighters in three types of firetrucks.  The problems started because although I had been given the teacher guide on the problem, I only briefly skimmed it before it was time to teach.  What I didn't realize is that the students would be given a worksheet that detailed the problem.  I knew what the set-up was, but I had no idea what the end goal or product would be.  Sounds like creative, divergent teaching, yeah?  Absolutely not.  The kids were frustrated, I was trying to solve the problem while I was teaching, and I was afraid to show them too many strategies.  What we were doing was allowing kids to come up with their own strategies, even if they arrived at the wrong conclusion.  For fear of doing this again, I only brought them so far with the problem.  Had I worked it out ahead of time, I would have known that this time they would have really benefitted from knowing a good starting place or at least what their ending place should be.

 Though I was incredibly frustrated with myself as a teacher at the end of the lesson, I sat the kids down.  I asked them to rate, fist to five, how they felt about this math time, fist being awful, five being the best.  Half the class was fists or ones, and the other have was fours or fives.  I am used to a couple kids saying things are awful, but never this many.  I admitted to them that I felt like I didn't do my best teaching today.  I said that it is hard for me to teach this kind of math and that I should have had a better plan coming into it.  I apologized to them for not making things clearer and shared with them that teachers make mistakes, too.  I plan on re-teaching it tomorrow.  I always give my kids second chances, so I hope they'll do the same for me. 

Love,
Ms. T

New Beginnings

Today was a big day in Room 29. 

We began our reading groups and our new reading rotation.  In most classrooms I've worked in, students rotate to literacy stations in their reading groups.  The trouble is, most of their reading groups have been with "instructional level peers," AKA leveled reading groups.  Even though the "Blue Triangles" and "Orange Circles" have ambiguous names, the kids in those groups know who is "higher" or "better" and who is "lower" or "less smart." Most educators would argue that this is the way it has to be because student's need to work on strategies with their peers who are working on the same kinds of strategies, comprehension, etc.  While I certainly agree with this sentiment, I also feel like all of the kids in the class should have a chance to work with one another at some point.  Just because you're an incredible reader and I struggle with it doesn't mean that we can't bond over listening to "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs" with our cute headphones on.  Am I right?

What I enjoy about this team is that while our reading groups are based on instructional level, we have spent A LOT of time planning out rotations that break these reading groups.  We've worked it out so that any child in the room has an equal chance of doing Word Work, Buddy Reading, Listening to Reading, Reading to Self, or Literacy Games (on Fridays).  I was nervous about how today would go because the kids have been accustomed to rotating to just four areas- Read to Self, Buddy Read, Respond, or Listen to Reading.  Not only were we throwing at them a personalized itinerary for the reading hour, we also introduced Word Work, formerly known as spelling.   The stellar part about this Word Work, though, is that the students get to pick their six words for the week.  We give them a list of words that possess a certain quality (this week it was long and short vowels) and they get to choose which words are best for them.  We modeled how to choose things that weren't too easy or too hard.  It seems like a pretty slick system- but then again, it's only day one.  I'm curious to see how things work out in the long run.

I also lead my first two book groups of the year!  I can honestly say that leading book group and teaching writing are my two favorite parts of being a teacher (besides hearing cute stories and getting hugs all day long).  I absolutely love to read, infer, predict, compare and contrast, and synthesize information.  It's hard to know where you should start with a book group or where your goals should be.  I have the information from their fall PLAA assessment which lets me know whether they need to work on monitoring, decoding, comprehension, etc.  which helps.  It's also nice because we, as a team, decided to start with non-fiction across the board.  So, not only am I teaching non-fiction to the whole group in writing, I'm also getting to work on non-fiction strategies in reading.  I've realized that I'm a huge literacy nerd.  Too bad we can't just read and write all day long... :)

Actually going to work on my TPA tonight- planning on teaching the first "real" lesson on it tomorrow.  I can't wait to get it done and just focus on my teaching.

So much love,
Ms. T

Rainy Sunday

Yesterday morning I spent a lot of time organizing my apartment.  I put away clothes, did a load of laundry, did my dishes, and baked a DELICIOUS batch of Baked Pumpkin Oatmeal.  It felt good to sleep in and do things on my own time, but I still had my TPA work lingering in the back of my mind.

I got to spend last night babysitting my 3 1/2 year old nephew and 18 month old niece.  I love getting the chance to go over and play with them!  It always reminds me how excited I am to have kids of my own and that I can wait a looong while to do so. :)  

This morning I have been busy writing a paper for my seminar.  My task this week was to observe other teachers, reflect, and apply things from them to my own teaching.  While I see this as a valuable task, I also feel like there are 23,984 other things that I'd like to be doing today.  I have an Intstructor magazine that I have yet to read and I have two reading groups to plan.  I need to read through my students' writing journals to plan my writing lessons for this week.  And yet, what is on my mind?  Getting my TPA project done and making sure I have everything done for seminar this week.   I wish that I could simply focus on my students and what their needs are for the upcoming week instead of writing pages upon pages for my supervisor to read.  I feel like I'm just spitting out the same words that I have since the beginning of my time in this program.  I check the syllabus weekly to make sure that I'm staying on top of things and then I do them to get them done.  Maybe it's my negative mindset on my final class as an undergrad that's holding me back, but honestly, which is more important?  Planning and reflecting on things that I'm teaching my real students, or getting things checked off a seminar to-do list? 

I'm taking a break to have lunch with a friend this afternoon- perhaps that will refresh my mind and keep me motivated.  When I come back, I'm going to dive head-first into TPA work.  My beloved Packers play on Sunday Night Football and my hope is to have most of my work done by then.  Crossing my fingers!

-Brittany

Questions

Yesterday was a crazy day. 

So crazy, in fact, that I wanted at least 12 hours to collect my thoughts before posting them for the blogosphere to see. 

I'm not talking unexpected schedule changes or emergency visits to the nurse- I'm talking a serious behavioral backslide from my students.  I had to remind them of expectations more times yesterday than in the last two weeks combined.  Do we lay with our body flat on the floor and our eyes out the window while the teacher is leading morning meeting?  Nope.  Do we shout across the room to teachers or fellow students during reading to ask what we are supposed to be doing?  Don't think so.  Do we push a kid because he turned off the lights and we wanted to be the one to turn off the lights?  Negative.  Do we have a conversation with our neighbor about Ninjago while the teacher is beginning to give directions?  Probably not.  Do we ask to use the restroom right when we get inside from lunch and recess?  No.  Do we argue with another student for a full 30 seconds during a fire drill because we want to be the last one in line to shut the door?  Definitely not.  Do we get up out of our chair to yell in the face of a partner during a math game because she called us out for lying about what number we rolled?  No. 

My Friday was an entire day of telling kids what they should NOT be doing.  That is exactly the opposite of the kind of teacher I want to be.  I want to be able to say yes when a student asks me to do something and give them opportunities to decide what their school day looks like.  I don't want to spend most of my time rehearsing with students the ways that we should behave around other human beings.  I used to think that my ability to see multiple perspectives and be rational about how others might be thinking in any given situation was a common trait.  What I've learned in my adulthood, however, is that there are a lot, I mean A LOT of people (all the way from my two year olds at the daycare to grown adults) who don't have this skill.  Having knowledge of human development and the egocentric stages that all kids go through usually allows me to take a deep breath and teach the right behavior instead of getting angry about the behavior that is displayed.  On days like today, though, the calm teacher inside of me was nowhere to be found. 


I have heard a few times this year that teachers need to "Assume nothing, teach everything."  This is a great rule of thumb, particularly for teachers who hold high expectations for their students.  There is nothing wrong with expecting the best from your students as long as you teach them how to get there.  The thing is, though, that we've taught these skills.  We will continue to teach these skills.  But when you've asked me every day for the last ten if you can go to the bathroom right when I begin to give directions, do you think my answer will change?  Each time I have explained that work time or free time is the best time to use the bathroom.  Is this work time or free time?  Nope.  If you leave now, will you be able to hear the directions?  Negative.  Will you know what to do when you come back from using the bathroom?  No.  This is the kind of thing that I am talking about and the kind of thing that drives me crazy.  I don't know how to get through to my kids when it comes to things like this. 

Monday is a new day.  Monday is the beginning of a new week.  Monday will be better.

-Ms. T

Mucho Aloha Bro

Today was a long day. 

My CT was gone all morning at meetings, so today was our first day with a substitute teacher.  No sweat, right?  I've been with these kids all year.  I felt totally prepared.  What I didn't prepare for, though, was how a few of our kids would react to a new adult in the room and a lack a second adult that they knew.  I realized today how much team teaching we really do and how well we worked together.  During morning meeting, the Wanderer was all over the place.  He wouldn't sit in the circle (no big surprise there) but was SO loud about it.  He kept walking in and out of the circle, making loud noises, and interrupting whenever I wasn't giving him attention.  I try to focus on the positive with him but it's hard!  When you're trying to lead 15 kids through an activity and one of them wants and sometimes needs your undivided attention, you get stuck.  We got through morning meeting and moved to reading.  I taught a new literacy game- Word Snag which was awesome!  It's sort of like Scattergories but far more kid-friendly. 

I taught the first lesson (well, the first part of the first lesson) of my TPA tonight.  I realized that writing out all of my lesson plans in advance is foolish and a waste of my time.  I made an outline of the things I want them to learn about informative writing and I am going to follow that.  I will continue to research and find creative ways to teach, but have decided that much of my work will be done retrospectively.  I know where I want my kids to go with their writing, but I am going to let them help me decide how to get there.  I feel like in the past, I've been SO stuck on the lesson that I jstu continued to plow ahead even though I knew that things weren't working for my students.  One of the big things I'm focusing on this semester is doing what I mentioned- setting goals for them but letting them have more say in how we get there.  I couldn't be more excited!  The lesson I taught today went really, really well.  I'll be finishing it up and starting a new one tomorrow. 

We went to a Youth Farm today that is organized by Community GroundWorks.  SUCH an awesome opportunity!  The kids rotated around to five stations: salsa making, playing with chickens, planting garlic, taking out broccoli plants, taking down tomato trellises.  I was glad that the kids were able to work for a while, rather than just being talked at, which tends to happen on field trips.  Things weren't all rainbows and butterflies though, because the Wanderer was having an off day.  He got into a physical altercation with another student, continued yelling and interrupting, and would not stop moving his body.  I was almost concerned about his mental health- it felt like he wasn't entirely in control of his body.  I also had a student punch another student twice because one lost the "garlic planting challenge."  Woof!  To top off my day, I went to work at the daycare and one of my two's bit me in the thigh because I wouldn't pick her up. 

There is a silver lining on my day though- one of my second graders wore his "Mucho Aloha Bro" graphic tee today.  Who makes a shirt like that?!  Just cracks me up.  It's the little things that keep you going :)

Love,
Ms. T

Monday, Monday

Hola amigos,

Today was an exciting Monday in Room 29.  We began our study of non-fiction texts, learned a math card game called Odd/Even, practice cursive, and the 3rd graders finished their second round of MAPS testing.  It was an extra special day for me also because my parents stopped by to meet my students and visit my school! They brought in my niece and nephew and stayed for about 45 minutes.  It was nice to have my two favorite worlds collide. 

The biggest "incident" of the day today was one that I didn't even realize was occurring in the classroom until a student told me about it afterwards.  I was up in the front of the room reading a non-fiction book (at his level- thumbs up for quality, leveled non-fiction texts!) My CT was in the hallway finishing up some reading assessments when this happened.  A student came up to me a while later and said, "Ms. T.  Do you know what P did to me?  She had stole one of my books and then yelled at me and then pushed my head like this (he used three fingers and pushed his head to the side) and called me "boy" and I didn't do nothing."  I then asked him when this happened, because typically, I can see and hear whenever there is a moment like this in the classroom.  He told me that it happened during the last rotation.  I retold the story the way I had heard it to ensure that I had his side of the story straight. I then said, "You know, C, I'm really glad that you told me about this.  It's important to let teachers know when things are happening in our classroom that make kids feel unsafe.  Next time, it's important that you tell me right away so I can help you fix it."  C nodded and then asked if I was going to talk with P.  I said that I would.

At the end of our reading time, I asked P to come into the hallway with me.  I said, "Hey P, can you tell me about what happened on the carpet during reading?"  P began to tell me about an incident that happened with her and another student during morning meeting.  So then I said, "I know that we had some problems during morning meeting today and if you'd like, we can talk about that another time.  Right now, I'm wondering about something that happened on the carpet that might have made C feel bad."  She then told me, "Well, the two are related to each other."  I had her explain further and it turns out, as I suspected, that they were not indeed related.  Sometimes I wish I could get inside a kid's head.  She immediately knew what I was talking about and said, "Oh, yeah.  Well I was sitting on the carpet and he just came over to me and said, "Hey, that's my Gingerbread Man book!" and took it.  I told him to stop because that was my Gingerbread book. Then I went to check and see if it was in my book box and it wasn't so I knew it was mine.  I told C that it was my book."  I replied with, "So what did C do after you told him that you thought it was yours?"  P said, "He wouldn't give it back so I said I was going to go tell you about it.  He didn't want to get in trouble so he gave it back to me."  I repeated what she said in that last statement to make sure I had it correct.  Then I said, "Did anything else happen after that?"  P said, "Yeah, A told me that we made a rule not to call people "boy" or "girl" anymore."  It was then that I remembered we had a conversation about that last week while P was gone.  I needed to catch her up before I moved onto what she should've done instead of what she did.

Last week, our students got really bossy with each other.  The sass they were producing towards their peers was over the top.  During these times, students would go at each other and say things like, "Boy, get out of my face!" or "Don't touch me, girl!  I'll mess you up!"  and so on.  My CT got fed up with it and stopped the class before lunch one day.  She told them that referring to people as "boy" and "girl" was not respectful because people have names and that they needed to stop the bossiness.  When I recapped this with P, I added that calling people just "girl" or "boy" is like me calling her "kid or "student."  I said, "How would you feel if I wanted to get your attention and I just said, "Hey, kid!  Come over here!"  or "Student!  What do you think about that?"  She said, "It wouldn't feel very good." 

Essentially, P never admitted to doing any of the things that C said she did.  He asked me later if I had talked to her.  I told him that I had talked to her, but also reminded him that he needed to tell me right away when there was a problem he couldn't solve with another student.  I was torn because both of them acted like the storm had blown over and they had already forgotten about it.  I didn't want to keep pushing and accuse P of something that she may or may not have done.  There are so many issues like this coming up on a daily basis.  Things can be handled on a case-by-case basis, but so many times I find myself listening to both sides of the story and then moving on.  We do have behavior referral sheets to document serious incidents as well as support staff to help us with behavioral and social issues.  In general, though, I feel like I have the hardest time dealing with the minor issues that arise.  Nobody is hurt physically or feeling awful emotionally, but I know that little things like this take dips out of their buckets.  Even though I know kids are resilient, I also know that they sometimes have a hard time articulating their needs and feelings and they need the help of teachers to problem solve.  How far should teachers go?  How can we make sure that all of our students are being supported socially and emotionally?

In social studies, we have been working through a series of approaches that encourage students to be advocates for themselves in problem soling.  We have talked about how to observe what is happening before evaluating, like saying "She pushed me" rather than "She was mean to me" which has been somewhat helpful.  We aren't quite through with it yet, but I am hopeful that it will help students to independently problem solve as well as be kinder to one another overall. 

Whew.  Had to get that one off my chest.  I'm off to work on my TPA stuff... informative writing lessons, here I come!

Mucho amor,
Brittany

Still around!

Hello,

I apologize for being so late in my posting.  It's already Thursday and this is my first post this week!  Let's hope it's not a trend.  Regardless, I have been crazy busy this week and that has prevented me from updating. 

Monday night
I had some things due for my seminar on Tuesday that kept me occupied on Monday night.  I started work on my edTPA (I'll post more about this later- essentially it's my big project of the semester.)   I also updated a copy of my educational philosophy and developed a "Community Action Plan" that will help me get to know the community where my students live.  I think that it will be valuable in the end, but thinking about adding visits to a community center, after-school sports, and PTO meetings to my already busy calendar is keeping me up at night!

Tuesday night 
On Tuesday night, I went out to dinner at the Melting Pot to celebrate a good friend's 23rd birthday.  I knew I needed to write a lesson plan this week to turn into my supervisor for my first observation on Thursday, and I was able to get the format typed up before I left.  We met at 7:30pm and I didn't walk out the door until 10:30pm.  While we had a great time, I was absolutely exhausted!  I hammered out the lesson plan, e-mailed it to my supervisor, and was in bed over an hour later than my usual time.  

Wednesday night 
My plan for Wednesday night was to work on my edTPA and prepare for my lesson on Thursday.  Even though I have been teaching these kids since day one, it feels different to be observed!  I wanted time to think through things and feel more confident in my plan.  However, I got an email late last week that the School of Education Honors Banquet was taking place that night.  I was selected by my science methods teacher from last spring to receive a science teacher's scholarship from a generous benefactor.  I was told that she and her husband would be in attendance, so I asked to leave my work at the daycare early to be on campus for dinner at 6:30pm.  While they ended up being unable to come, I was glad that I made the time to go.  It's amazing to hear the stories of alums who give back so generously!  I felt very, very blessed to be a Badger last night.

Thursday night 
Well, tonight was comprised of typing up a lesson plan reflection from my lesson today and continuing to work on my edTPA.  The lesson went okay, but there is certainly room for improvement.  I am looking forward to planning another lesson (one that didn't come out of a specific math curriculum) to teach later on in the semester.  Also, lead teaching is just around the corner.  It's already October!  How did that happen?!  I looked at some sample TPA's tonight and I feel more comfortable with my plan.  I did some more brainstorming tonight and will continue to write about it through this weekend. 

Friday night plans?
The most important thing on my schedule is spending some time skyping my best friend who is currently attending optometry school in San Antonio.  I've never had a glass of wine with someone over skype, but that certainly sounds like a relaxing way to end my week.

Hope you are well!
Ms. T