What Every Parent Should Know #2

There are many things parents should know before sending their kids off to school.

#2. Creativity Works Both Ways.

Most parents try hard to cultivate creativity in their children, as do teachers. I am often amazed at how creative some students can be if given an opportunity to explore something. Each year with my 4th graders during our “whole group” days I do a writing activity with them that allows them to fracture a fairytale. Some of their stories and illustrations really should be published I think, they never cease to amaze me. But on occasion creativity can also work against you. Here is a little story about a fellow teacher and friend of mine Mrs. D.

This past school year Mrs. D. had a challenging class. She knew at the beginning the year that 3 of her students had some interesting behavior issues and often caused disturbances in the classroom. But, when it was revealed that 2 other students, new to the district, who were placed in her room also, had behavior issues, life in Mrs. D’s 2nd grade classroom got very interesting. In fact a substitute teacher left her a note after spending one day with her class telling Mrs. D. if she had to teach in this classroom on a daily basis she would probably be drinking her lunch. That same substitute teacher told the principal that Mrs. D. deserved combat pay.

On this particular day, she had 3 of the 5 spinning. One of them, “Tim”, had been under his desk and torn up his work more than once that day. She informed him because he didn’t have his work completed he would be staying in at recess to complete it. This sent him under his desk again. She ignored this behavior until she noticed him playing with the case to his eyeglasses, so she took that away from him and placed it on her desk. Later in the day, she also took away his glasses and put them in the case – as you can tell neither his day nor hers had improved.

The next morning he arrived in a much better mood and things were going well, until he needed his glasses. Mrs. D. opened the case on her desk to give them to him and noticed a little drawing on the inside of the case. Inspecting this more closely she realized “Tim” had drawn a picture of a hand “flippin’ the bird” then drawn an arrow pointing to the words “Mrs. D.” She looked up at “Tim” and before she could say a word he very calmly said, “Weeeellllllll, I was mad at you yesterday.”

She shared this story with me later in the day, and showed me the actual “artwork”. Mrs. D. said she really did appreciate his creativity on a certain level since he hadn’t literally expressed this during class which would have caused a major disruption, but she had to contact his parents about it anyway. Let’s just say his parents didn’t quite have the same feeling about Tim’s creativity.

Mentors
In my district, as in most now, we have a mentoring program.  It was just in the beginnings when I was hired, so in the 3 years of mentoring that I and all new hires are required to complete, each year was unique.  Although I didn’t always find the information or assignments helpful, my actual mentors were, well, quite honestly, priceless.
  
My first mentor was Mrs. B.  She had been teaching for well over 30 years.  She had been a special education teacher, classroom teacher and reading teacher.  She was the only Title I teacher in the building where I began my teaching career as a “guided reading teacher”.   (It was a part time, 9/10ths, position – you know where they get you full time really but don’t have to give you full time benefits)  Mrs. B. was a soft spoken, low key, small, gray haired grandma type lady.  She was kind and extremely patient with the students, and with me!  I have since lived on some pearls of wisdom she gave me my first year.  “You can’t save them you know, you can give them strategies, tools, and encouragement, but you can’t save them.  They have to do that themselves.”   I have recited that quote to myself numerous times, as I struggle to “save” one.  “Some are just hardwired different, dear.  You have to figure that out, that’s your job.”  Man, if that isn’t the truth.  Funny thing about that though, the ones that are hardwired differently are the ones that I end up enjoying the most!!  Imagine then, that after you are so impressed by this dignified, upstanding, master teacher who never raises her voice, you are walking by her room one day and hear, “Well, shit, shit, SHIT!”  My head spun ‘round, and I peeked in and said, “Mrs. B.  are you OK????!!!”  Her answer, “Sure, why do you ask?”  I sputtered to explain why I’d asked and she laughed…..laughed long and loud.  She said, “Yeah, I’m a teacher, but that’s just my day job, the rest of the time…..I’m human!”  Probably the most important pearl of wisdom she ever gave me.  As I continued that year, I learned she was very human, smoked like a chimney, drank like a fish and told the dirtiest, funniest jokes you ever heard.
 
My second mentor was also a Mrs. B.  She was different from the first but just as good.  She told me, “Administrators come and go, and you get to jump through new hoops each time.  But, kid, the students stay the same, so just shut your door and teach.”  She gave me OLD stuff.  Old basals, old games, old lesson plans…..and you know what I figured out, for my strugglers, they often WORKED!  That slow building repetition, it was just what they needed.  She LOVED the students and they knew it.  They worked so hard for her.  She most often got those with the biggest behavior issues.  It didn’t matter how quirky they were, they were just another student in the class, expected to follow the rules.  You know, it took some of them the first semester to figure that out, but once they did, she rarely had behavior problems.  She had over 30 years in the district, taught in 4 different buildings, taught reading, classroom, and special education, and survived half a dozen superintendents, and more principals.   Her best piece of advice, “You gotta start where they are and find something about them that you truly like.  They don’t care until you do.”  That was true for academics and behavior, and I remind myself of that almost every day.
 
Both of my mentors have since retired and I miss them both, immensely, if for no other reason than they reminded me to “keep it about the students”.  There is so much other, well, crap that you deal with as you sit on committees and go to professional development and get new administrators that it can be easy to forget why you are really there.  So on those days, I find myself asking not “What would Jesus do?” but rather “What would Mrs. B. do?!” (Either one of them).   After I ponder that for a minute, and pull up one of their pearls of wisdom, I just shut my door and teach.

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Partners

I dreamed I stood in a studio,
And watched two sculptors there.
The clay they used was a child’s mind,
And they fashioned it with care.

One was a teacher; the tools used,
Were books and music and art.
One, a parent with guiding hands,
A gentle and loving heart.

Day after day the teacher toiled,
With a touch both deft and skilled.
The parent labored side by side,
And all the values filled.

And when at last their task was done,
They looked at what they’d wrought.
The beautiful shape of the precious child,
Could neither be sold nor bought.

And each agreed it would have failed,
If one had worked alone.
For behind the parent stood the school,
And behind the teacher, home.

Connecting
In today’s instant, ready-made, immediate gratification world, students are used to where interactive things react to them with the flip of a thumb, and books seem like too much work to understand. Struggling students often give up before they even get started. Because of this, I make all of my guided reading students a promise on the first day we meet. “I promise we will only read GOOD books.” That’s my promise, it’s easy to make and it’s easy to keep. I have some real aces in my pocket that get pulled out regularly, “Crash” by Jerry Spinelli, “Riding Freedom” by Pam Munoz Ryan, “Dead Man in Indian Creek” by Mary Downing Hahn and “Summer of the Swans” by Betsy Byars are just a few that are always big hits with my fourth and fifth graders. I know the real reason these books work for students is because they can connect to them, to the characters, to the situations and to the messages.

In my district, a reading teacher co-teaches in a classroom with the classroom teacher during the guided reading block. This normally means I will see two groups of 4 to 6 students for a 20 minute period each day. I LOVE guided reading groups, LOVE them! I am passionate about reading and this is my best opportunity to pass that passion along. In the end, you get moments that make all of the struggles of the year worth it, and I got two of those this year when I saw struggling students get excited, and become active learners.

The first “yes this is why I teach and why I am still paying those student loans” moment happened with a fourth grade group. We were discussing vocabulary and the students had to create definitions using just context clues. The word we were defining was “cajole”. None of the students arrived at the right definition independently, but as we started to discuss what was happening in the book, one student said, “Oh, I know now!!! It’s like that word from “Terror at the Zoo” (another staple), you remember don’t you Noah, you know, that word, “coax”.” My teacher’s heart soared!!!!! This group then went on to bring me a visual example of a “brand”, after that was also a vocabulary word. I drew a poor visual on a white board, and they felt the need to bring a “good” picture of a brand to have in my folder for next year’s group. They also found more biographical info on Wild Bill Hickok, the main character of the story we were reading, to add to my file again. All of this, not assigned, not suggested, but very exciting from the “buzzard” group – you know the diehard strugglers, who come to the table already defeated – well, look out world, they have just realized they can own what they’re reading AND help out next year’s groups too!!

The second came from a fifth grade girl, “Shelby”. Shelby had actually been a special education student, had received Title I services and although she “graduated” out of both programs, she still struggled. Her group was working with the “Lit Circle” set up as we were reading “Run Away Home” by Patricia McKissack. This group of 3 girls and 2 boys was particularly cohesive, and I enjoyed their mix of personalities immensely. They certainly never let each other get away with “doggin out” on their jobs, and pushed each other to excel. Shelby came to group one day, ahead of the rest, clutching something to her chest and breathlessly these words tumbled out of her mouth, “Mrs. R, I know I am not the connector today, I’m the summarizer and I have my summary but I have the best connection, a better one than anyone ever had, even Aly, who is the connector today, has and I just want to know if after she does her connections I can share mine even though I know it’s not my turn and if I can’t share it then I really really really really want to be the connector tomorrow because I have the BEST connection, you aren’t even going to believe and I found it all on my own, nobody even had to help me so can I please please please share it today?! PLEASE!!!” YES, of course, you may share your connection today; I am certainly not going to put a damper on that enthusiasm! What Shelby had made was a text to text connection. In the story we were reading, a female Apache Indian warrior, named Lozen, was mentioned, quite briefly actually, as well as Geronimo. What Shelby brought to group was the book, “Cool Women”. Lozen was discussed, and a picture of her with Geronimo was included. Shelby was right, her connection WAS pretty spectacular. Spectacular enough that not only did she impress her teacher, she impressed her group as well.

It’s all about connections….between students in a group, between students and their teacher, between students and the book; but mostly it’s between students and themselves

I pulled this article from ABC’s news section…thought it was interesting and would share.

“The Calif. Gov. Wants to Save Money by Dumping Printed Books for Online Texts; Is it Feasible?

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking a page from high school science books in an effort to shrink California’s $24 billion budget gap.

In fact, he wants to take the entire book — and do away with it.

By next fall, Governor Schwarzenegger intends to make free, open-source digital textbooks available for high school math and science classes throughout California, a move that he says will help reduce the more than $350 million the state spends annually on educational materials.

Some critics doubt the idea will result in any immediate cost savings — and question a plan that might require investment in technology and teacher training at a time when schools face deep budget cuts.

But if California embraces open-source materials, which are now increasingly used on college campuses, a nationwide debate over traditional textbooks is bound to follow.”

Just curious as to what different teachers feel about this and what states you are from.

How do you get legislators to understand this??????

The end of the school year always brings a flurry of testing, much of it fairly high stakes.  In my district we have always done school wide testing regarding reading to track overall growth.  In my current building we just use a “fluency” test.  Which I don’t find particularly helpful, for me it does not give a true picture of a child’s reading ability.   This opinion was only strengthened when I had a student ask me if I was going to ask them questions about the passage or if they were “just reading it”.   (If a 4th grader can figure this out, why can’t our government or administrators.)

In my previous building we used a different test, the DRA.  This test gives a more accurate picture of a student’s ability, in my opinion, but it also takes more time if you do it school wide.   (Since my current building houses over 640 students, time is an important factor according to administration.)  Even though this test was “better”, I had some memorable moments while administering it.  My most memorable was a 5th grade student, “Amy”.
 
Amy was one of those students that everyone in the building knew, not because she was naughty but because she was such a character.   She came into my room and sat down, smiling, informing me – “I am a great reader Mrs. R!”  Super!  I give her the directions, part of which essentially say – “please read carefully because when you are finished reading you will be retelling me the story”.   We complete the first part of the test, and she silently reads the rest of the story.  When she is finished, I say, “Please tell me about the story you read.”  At this, she slaps her forehead(in true I-coulda-hada-V8 fashion) and says with great enthusiasm,  “What?!!  Well, I wasn’t thinking about the story, I was just READING it!!!”

As I contain my chuckles, I tell her to just start at the beginning and tell me what she can remember.  Amy starts off very well.  She remembers the characters names, and is doing well with the details and the story line.  Then all of a sudden, she takes a hard left turn, and I think, “what is she talking about?”  It must have been written on my face because Amy pauses and says, “Oh, by the way, I am just making this part up – it wasn’t in the story.”  Well, that time, I couldn’t contain my chuckles.   I apologized for laughing and asked, “If you know it’s not right, why are you making it up?”  Amy replied, “I couldn’t really remember the ending, so it must not have been very good.  I am just giving it a better one!”

 
How do you get legislators and administrators to understand this - that there are Amys in every set of test scores.

This email was being sent around and I thought it was cute and wanted to share with you all. Enjoy!

A Child’s View of Thunderstorms….

A little girl walked to and from school daily.
 
Though the weather that morning was questionable and clouds were forming, she made her daily trek to the elementary school.
 
As the afternoon progressed, the winds whipped up, along with lightning.
 
The mother of the little girl felt concerned that her daughter would be frightened as she walked home from school and she feared the electrical storm might harm her child.

Full of concern, the mother quickly got into her car and drove along the route to her child’s school. As she did, she saw her little girl walking along.
 
At each flash of lightning, the child would stop, look up, and smile.

Another and another flash of lighting followed quickly and with each, the little girl would look at the streak of light and smile.

When the mother’s car drew up beside the child, she lowered the window and called to her, ‘What are you doing?’

The child answered,

‘I am trying to look pretty because God keeps taking my picture.’

I am currently a Title I Reading Teacher in a small rural district that is experiencing big growing pains.  My job is actually two parts, I teach guided reading as a “push-in” in classrooms 1 thru 5 in the morning and have “pull-out” Title I Reading groups in the afternoon for at risk students in the grades 1st and 2nd.  I absolutely LOVE my job.  I came to teaching 9 years ago.  My first degree was actually in Social Work and I did that for 11 years before I finally decided that wasn’t what I really wanted to be when I grew up.  Back to school I went, and the rest is history….being a teacher is definitely what I want to be when I grow up.  I must admit, I do use many of the counseling skills I learned as a social worker with both the kids and their parents, though.  Old habits are hard to break.  There are 3 Title I teachers in my building, and 5 sections of each grade K thru 5, plus a “Jump Start” Kindergarten and an “At Risk Preschool” class.  Each day is the same, but each day is different……that’s the best part!

There are actually many things parents should know when they send their children off to school, this is just a story about one of them. 
 
#1.  What goes on at home, shows up at school.  This is particularly true of Kindergarteners, which is why I will not teach that grade level.  They truly scare me.  It’s not that they aren’t cute, oh no, they are all adorable little cherubs with big grins.  It’s because they will say ANYTHING at ANYTIME and as a teacher, you must have a quick and appropriate comeback.  I have a tendency to laugh….because they are hilarious, which is not normally considered an appropriate response. 
 
First graders aren’t too far removed from Kindergarteners, so their filters have some pretty big holes.   They often come to school and regale me with stories about their siblings getting into trouble, their parents fighting, why they can’t ride their bike this week and the fact that their mom is going to shoot their cat if it poops one more time on her carpet!  Some of their stories can break your heart, but others put a smile on your face for the whole day.  This is one of those stories. 
 
A couple of years ago, when the “Curious George” movie was about to come out, we did a unit about monkeys and Curious George.  Our local movie theater offered to let our entire K-2 classes attend a showing for free!  Small rural towns are nice to be in for just this reason.   To make the movie a little more meaningful, we had the big build up ahead of time.  This meant lots of Curious George read alouds.  The first grade class I worked with and I discussed George and described him, before reading a story.  In this particular story, George goes along and gathers up all the newspapers that have been delivered.  After I read this particular section, I stopped and asked the students, “What do you think the people are thinking or saying when they can’t find their papers?”  Lots of hands immediately started waving – first graders are never shy about putting their 2 cents out there.  I got a good variety of answers; “They probably think their neighbor took it.”, “They might think the dog tore it up.”, “They might think the paper person forgot.” all plausible answers.  Then I noticed a boy in the back, with his hand raised and a big grin on his face.  You can just tell he KNOWS the answer.  So, I called on him and he responded, “ Well, my dad would just say – F**kin’ monkey, stole my paper again!”   I stifled a laugh…which about killed me, and in my best teacher voice I said, “Let’s call him a naughty monkey instead, naughty is a better word for school.”,   and quickly went back to reading the story. 
 
Close call and I don’t doubt a bit that his dad would probably say that.   As uncomfortable as it was at the time it happened, it did make me smile and chuckle for the rest of that day and for many days since.