Friday, April 27, 2012

Sunday, April 22, 2012

Loved this organizational tidbit.  In my student teaching my cooperating teacher had a writing folder for each student.  On one pocket there was a label that had a stop sign and said "STOP! I'm finished."  On the other pocket it had a green dot and said, "Go!  I'm still working."  I loved this idea but now I have something to add, a little tip I got from the Write Tools e-mail list call it: "The Little Red Writing Folder!" Cute and the kids will remember!


Check out The Write Tools!

Dr. Seuss

Dr. Seuss was a pretty amazing guy tackled HUGE themes in a way students could relate to and understand.  (You may have seen this on Facebook).


Saturday, April 21, 2012

Very memorable eyelashes

As I was walking in Thriftway I saw one of my students bounding along with her mother.  I waved and she gave me a puzzled look for a moment.  "Oh!  Mrs. T!"  She ran over and gave me a big hug.  "I almost didn't recognize you outside of school, but then I recognized your glasses and your eyelashes."  I guess my eyelashes are very memorable.  (Not to mention visible from far away :)  Gotta love working with children.

Recreate

This pseudo-first year has been the most difficult year of my life despite the support of my two co-teachers.  Between screaming parents, unbelievable behavior, and students with baffling academic challenges, this year has been more than enough to make a lot of newbies quit.  And how do you go home, let it all go, and return the next day with a purpose and a smile on your face, knowing it's a new day and your best chance to make a difference?

A professor and brilliant educator once said "the most important thing you can do as an educator is to recreate."  He used this as a sort of double entendre: utilizing both meanings re-create (to create again) and recreate as in recreation (a activity done for enjoyment).  Things are always more eloquently stated by their original founder, but here is my interpretation.  Your passion for teaching is like a fire.  Right now it is fed by youthful enthusiasm, injustice, love of children, creativity, desire to change the world... etc. etc.  Some day along the line there will come a day when you tire, children treat you with disrespect despite your efforts, you work in a school where your creativity is stifled because of a emphasis on closing the gap, or whatever the case may be.  Your fire will dim, and it is your job to know how to rekindle that fire.  Recreate.  Recreate the passion and feed the fire: find others like you and join a discourse community, go camping, read a book in the sunshine, walk on the treadmill, drink a margarita with your girls, whatever it is that makes you happy and rekindles your fire.  The work will always be there, and no matter how proactive you are, it will never be done (if you are a true educator), so take a moment to take care of yourself.

Let me use another metaphor.  On an airplane the stewardess that gives the safety spiel always says this (or some form of this): "Mothers, put your oxygen mask on first.  Your child cannot take care of him or herself in the event that something happens to you, so take care of yourself first and then you can be assured of your child's safety."  The same is true in education.  We can work ourselves to the very bone staying up all night and working weekends, keep ourselves propped up with caffeine, and become estranged from our family and friends but this pace can't keep up forever, and you and your students will suffer.  So take the time to recreate.  Our students need passionate, rested, enthusiastic educators in their classrooms.  This advice has kept me alive and enthusiastic this year.

Thank you Dr. Ronald Beghetto

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Keep at it, your time will come!

After submitting well over 150 applications in cities all over from tiny to huge, low income to high, desirable and undesirable, I finally landed my first teaching job.  And while it is not the traditional first year teaching position, I am excited about the possibilities.  (In case you are wondering, I will be team teaching a third grade class that has 56 students).  For next year's application process, as interview questions go for behavior management, it can't get much better than describing a behavior plan for 56 students.

Another Gem

Oh, another one of those days.  One of those days where teaching seems to be the hardest, most thankless thing in the world to do.  On the humorous side, a quote from a student's behavior plan today under 'apology': "I don't do apologies."

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

"Check Out These Buns!"

Yesterday was one of those days where it was necessary to stop everything and regroup, reteach, and reflect.  But in the moment where I felt like pulling my hair out because everything seemed to be going wrong, I was reminded why I love working with children it the STRANGEST way.  During this classroom meeting one student was sharing a mistake he made that day and this is what he said in the most lamenting voice:
"Today at lunch I took my hamburger buns and put them on my butt and yelled, 'look at these buns!'"
I don't know why but this comment caught me hilarious, but I couldn't stop laughing.  I laughed, my kids laughed, and then we had a serious conversation about what is appropriate at school and what is not.  Ok, so this seems like a weird moment for my career choice to be reaffirmed, but...  In this moment I simultaneously realized that kids are hilarious and I love working with them, and it became clear that the kids appreciated that I'm human.  I may have made a mistake, but it brought me closer to my students.  Always a give and take.