Posts Tagged “parent”

Welcoming Spring with a Few Funnies

Spring Fever has hit the students in a large way. They have become bouncy and loud and though we attempted to corral them in the classroom, their minds are really outside in the sunshine. I have to admit, I’m kind of out there myself, it’s pretty contagious. So, just in case the fever hasn’t hit you, here are a few funnies to help lighten your mood.

In 4th grade, Mrs. K’s student “Jeanette”, who receives special ed services, had been helping to sort papers after she finished her assignment. She was still diligently working away when the Guidance Counselor, Mr. E., entered the room for his class lesson. Mrs. K remarked to “Jeanette” that she could put that work down for now, so she could pay attention to Mr. E. Jeanette turned and with a huge smile on her face said, “It’s ok Mrs. K, I can still do it cuz I’m MULTITASKIC! You know, that means I can do more than one thing at a time!” And she continued to sort, occasionally glancing up at Mr. E. (I do believe Multitaskic needs to be entered into the next edition of Webster’s. )

Also in 4th grade, Mrs. S had been working individually with “Maya”, reteaching a math concept that “Maya” was really struggling to understand. It was just about time for lunch, so Mrs. S invited “Maya” to get her lunch and bring it back to the room, so they could continue to work while they ate. Since eating in the room with the teacher is a pretty cool thing to do in a 4th grader’s mind, “Maya” was all for it. As she left, Mrs. S told her to think about any questions she might have that they could work on when she returned. A few minutes later, “Maya” returned with her lunch, sat down and looked at Mrs. S. Mrs. S. had the math work ready to begin where they had left off, and before she returned to it, she looked at “Maya” and said, “Did you think of any questions we can start with?” “Maya” looked at her very seriously and said, “Yes, Mrs. S. I have a question.” Mrs. S asked what that question might be. “Maya” looked at her very intently and asked, “How does the bus driver get on the bus?” Mrs. S has determined that next time, she’ll clarify that questions should be about the subject at hand!

And from my own Title group of second grade girls, “Denise” looks at me one day and says, “Mrs. R you look like my aunt “Sandy”. “ I smiled and jokingly said, “Oh, is she old too?” “Denise” said, “No, she’s not old, she’s DRUNK!” Really, I promise…..it’s just SPRING FEVER!

Professional Development

It’s part of every teacher’s life, professional development. In the past, in our district you had two kinds, the piece the district chose for everyone to follow and your own goals, that you chose(you know the one that really pertained to your teaching). Recently, in our district this has changed. The personal goals are now tied to the district wide goals (in other words, they are choosing both).

Since this change, we have embarked on a few new “next best thing that will increase student performance and test scores” adventures. First the focus was on vocabulary. All grade levels developed a list of pertinent vocabulary word and determined their importance to the curriculum. These lists were compiled, dispersed and I am sure filed. It was a bunch of busy work that is now on a shelf or in a drawer. Strategies for teaching vocabulary were also taught. That piece of the instruction was relevant and teachers are continuing to use it. Personal goal for this district wide goal – put an example of a vocabulary lesson you use in your portfolio. (Um, ……I already had one actually)

There was supposed to be more to the vocabulary adventure, but it was cut short. For some reason it was imperative we move on to Reading Comprehension. Again we were told it was the next most wonderful thing to improve student achievement and test scores. Seemed logical to us, so we shelved the vocabulary materials, and willingly grabbed the new reading materials. The trainer informed us that we would be learning a series of strategies that can be utilized with all students, no matter their reading level to improve their comprehension and lead them to using print. Let’s see…..we learned a total of……you guessed it…..ONE. The read aloud, is the only strategy we learned before the next switch was made. Personal goal for this district wide goal – put and an example of a read aloud lesson plan in your portfolio. (Ok, so I didn’t have that one.)

There was supposed to be much more to the reading comprehension adventure, in fact at the beginning we were told that it would take a few years to complete. BUT….the next year, we were on to the gold seal lessons of CORR. It was also touted as the next most wonderful thing, something that would be part of our professional development for more than a year. (is anyone else no longer hearing “RAH RAH RAH”…..but instead “BLAH BLAH BLAH”) Of course the personal goal was to create a lesson and get it gold sealed (and guess what…..you could put it in your portfolio!) I wrote up and submitted a lesson I do every year with my students, without any changes. It was gold sealed and my world was happy. (and yes, it was already in my portfolio) BUT WAIT – everyone did that….and now we are moving on again.

This time the professional development is “differentiated instruction”. We are just getting started; the first meeting was the prerequisite pep rally. “It’s not a strategy, it’s a philosophy! You won’t complete an assignment and put it on your shelf (or in your portfolio), you will integrate it into your teaching. This isn’t something we can cover in a year, this will be a long term journey, lasting 3 to 4 years. It will benefit students, improve their performance and in turn, improve test scores.” Wait, I have heard this before, and not just once or twice, but EVERY TIME WE START! I am afraid, now, my enthusiasm is not what it should be.

As a teacher, I really do want to learn whatever strategy or philosophy I can to help my students be as successful as they can be. I think every teacher does. There has to be a better way. If your professional development has been spectacular, please share! Those of us in mediocre land would love to hear about it.

*pulled from the Los Angeles Times and written by By David Kelly

Dictionary definition raises ruckus at Menifee school

The school district pulls the Merriam Webster 10th Collegiate editions off classroom shelves for study by a newly formed committee after a parent complains about explicit definitions of sexual terms.

It may be the last word in spelling bees and Scrabble, but Merriam Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary now faces a new if unlikely notoriety: being too sexy for its own good.

That was the verdict from at least one parent in Menifee last week who called the principal of Oak Meadows Elementary School to say that entries describing oral sex in the dictionary were too explicit. The books were immediately pulled off the shelves and “temporarily housed off location” until a committee could determine their suitability for children.

Holiday Funnies

There are many “extra” activities that go on around the holidays. Due to this, the normal daily schedule gets massacred and that is a recipe for chaos. In this chaos are always a few humorous moments….

#1 Mrs. Mc., the Kindergarten teacher, was trying to get her students lined up in the correct order for their music program when one of her students called her over. When she got there he motioned for her to bend down, like he needed to tell her something in confidence. As she bent down, he quickly put his hands on her chest and then turned to the student beside him and said, “Yup, she’s a girl! I told you.” Mrs. Mc. is now considering new hairstyles, clothing choices and perhaps even some plastic surgery.

#2 Mr. K is now under suspicion……he was walking by a group of (yes again) Kindergarteners when one of them said, “Yeah, that’s my dad.”
Mr. K said, “Who is your dad?”
The student said, “You ARE!”
Mr. K smiled at the student and said, “No, I’m not your dad.” and walked away.
As he was walking away another teacher saw the student turn to the one he had been talking to and say, “He really is my dad, but sometimes when he’s drinkin’ he forgets.”
And we all thought Mr. K. was the proud father of only 2 children, now we are wondering how many others may be out there and whether or not we need to do an intervention.

#3 In 5th grade this time (they are really no better than Kindergarteners) I stopped in to Mr. K’s room (different Mr. K.) because he always does a big gingerbread house geometry project. As I walked around the room and talked to many of the students about their houses I was amazed at the creativity. Some students were having no problems building while others were really struggling. One girl had been attempting to get a roof piece on for quite some time when Mr. K. took pity on her and fixed it. I asked the student what she was doing and she blithely answered, “Watching Mr. K. do my work. Isn’t he doin’ a good job?”
The look on Mr. K.’s face was priceless. He then removed the piece he had just secured and handed it to the student. She then hurriedly said, “No, I meant, I was watching Mr. K. help me so I could do my work better!!!!”
Mr. K. just smiled at her and walked away.

If you had any holiday laughs….please share….

Character Counts…at school…..

On Friday, my elementary school had the first of 6 total “Character Counts” assemblies. We couple these with a “pride” activity. Each teacher has a small group of students from grades K thru 5 assigned to them. I have 13. Each month, my pride group and I will get together to do some activity relating to one of the 6 pillars of character that is part of our “character curriculum”. The character traits we focus on are Trustworthiness, Caring, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, and Citizenship. This month was trustworthiness. As we were talking about this in my group, and as I thought about it on the way home, I wondered how many of them hear this message any place but school.

Trustworthiness – I have heard many students say, my mom or dad just signs my read at home/planner/homework, even though I don’t always do it, so I won’t get a bad grade. Are they going to be there when to do the same when their child doesn’t want to do their real world job??

Caring – gets set to the back burner daily. I watch as students push and shove each other to be first in line for just about anything. I see parents pull away from the school with their children unrestrained by a seatbelt. Small things become such big things.

Respect – I could go on for days about this. The lack of respect teachers are shown by society as a whole is astounding. “You wanted to be a teacher because you get summers off.” (Yes, I couldn’t have wanted to make a difference or contribution to a child’s future…that surely wasn’t the reason. I am tens of thousands of dollars in debt with student loans, JUST so I could have summers off. ) Students are disrespectful to teachers, but what amazes me more is when I see them acting the same way to their parents. As a parent I would be appalled if any of my children told their teachers to “shut up”, or “f off”. I teach elementary students, I have heard and seen both.

Responsibility – is almost a lost commodity. Students don’t complete and return homework because their mom didn’t put it in their backpack. Parents don’t attend conferences because no one reminded them that it was this week. In the public realm, people sue at the drop of a hat because after all, it wasn’t their fault….whatever “IT” is. The bigger fallout from this is that students don’t believe they have any responsibility in their learning….as a teacher, I should spoon feed them, just pour it into their heads while they sit and maybe “guess” at the answer rather than look it up. It’s a struggle to motivate students when they don’t believe they have any responsibilities at all.

Fairness – THAT is one all the students talk about, but don’t really understand. It’s not fair they get that….never mind that “they” earned it. “What do you mean we don’t all get a sticker, just the winner does?” The world is unfair, the teachers are unfair – it’s only fair when I get what I want. We hear a great deal about the lack of fairness, but not so much about behaving fairly.

Citizenship – is a big concept. It comes in all sizes, school, city, county, state, country, and world. What does it mean to be a good citizen? Following laws when it’s convenient or helping clean up the park? Even those important citizens in the eye of the media, politicians and community leaders have trouble with this one.
Now don’t get me wrong, I do not think I am perfect at all. I have failed all of these traits, and probably will again. I don’t mind the dialog with my students and they seem open to the ideas. I’m just wondering if maybe we shouldn’t invite the parents too?

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.