Posts Tagged “student”

Grandparents Day!

Students LOVE it when their parents come to school to spend time with them. If a mom or dad decides to be a “room-helper” for the day you can see their child puff up with pride and confidence, because they can show mom or dad the ropes. But that’s nothing compared to Grandparents Day!

Every year Kindergarten and First grades hold Grandparents Day in conjunction with the holiday music program. They work hard to make special invitations to give to their grandparents, prepare a special poem and clean up their desk so it’s neat and tidy to show off. As I move through the classrooms I will hear about which Grandma and Grandpa, Nana and Poppa, Grammy and Grampy are going to be attending. For those students whose grandparents are unable to attend there is a photo wall where they can share pictures and write a little paragraph or two about their grandparents. It is so much fun to hear their stories.

Last year I helped out in a First Grade classroom on the actual day. As Grandparents arrived, each child excitedly introduced their grandparents to the class; “This is my Grampy. He likes to fish with me.” “This is my Nana Peters, she’s my Grandma, but we don’t call her that, we just call her Nana.” “This is my Grandma and Grandpa, they live on a farm.” My favorite introduction of the day was; “This is my Gramma. But she’s not like an old kind of Grandma, she’s still fun.”

I don’t remember having a Grandparents Day when I was growing up. I do remember that my Grandparents often came to my programs and school activities. I was lucky enough to have Grandparents who lived close enough for me to spend time with them regularly. I would have LOVED to show them off at school. My introductions would probably have gone something like this: “This is my Grandma Brown, we create new recipes for ice cream drinks in her kitchen.” “These are my Great-Granparents, Gramma & Grampa Stump. They live on a farm, let me milk cows, gather eggs and ride a big horse.” “And this is Grandma and Grandpa Loomis. Grandma lets us make bread with her and Grandpa built us a go-cart out of a lawn-mower engine.” Of all the special days we have at school, I think this has to be the best one!

Armed with hand-sanitizer………

I made it through the week. The flu outbreak, whether it’s H1N1 or just the normal seasonal flu, has begun to hit our district in a big way. Over 20% of the students in our building were absent for 2 days last week. Teachers have also been ill; so many that they are unable to find substitute teachers for them all. Reading teachers get the call in this case, and I enjoyed a day in a fifth grade classroom.

The major weapon in our fight against the germs, is hand sanitizer. As students come into the room – “Please sanitize your hands.” As students enter the computer lab – “Please sanitize your hands”. As students leave the computer lab – “Please sanitize your hands”. As students leave for art…..well….you get the picture. Hand sanitizer is everywhere! As I spent the day with the fifth graders, it occurred to me, perhaps we need a better weapon – these kids are sanitizing every time they turn around and they are still dropping like flies.

Wednesday morning I was headed to the office to get some supplies. I passed one of my few well colleagues on my way. “Don’t go in the office”, she said in a low growl. HHHHmmmmmm. I had to go into the office, I needed these supplies. As I rounded the little hallway from the teacher work room to the office area I almost stepped on a student! Upon further observation, the principal’s office is full of students, the little hall is full of students, the guidance counselors office more students. The nurses’ office, FULL of students with pans and the office, well, it looked like a triage scene from MASH. As I gathered my supplies, I held my breath, then got out of there as quickly as I could. On my way out I passed another colleague…..yup, I too growled, “DON’T go in there.”

There is hope on the horizon however. Friday they held a flu shot clinic for students and about half of the parents sent permission for their children to get shots. Although the shots were given quickly and few students actually cried, the effects of the trauma were seen throughout the day. One teacher asked a student to hold the door for the rest of the class to go by and got an overly dramatic, “But……I got the flu shot…..I can’t do it”. I overheard two 4th grade girls talking on their way out the door at the end of the day. One must have gotten the shot and the other not. The one who received the shot was reliving the trauma. “First they poke in this long needle, and you don’t feel it right away but then…….this whole thing of PAIN shoots all over your whole body…..and you think you might DIE!” It just makes me wonder how many kids who got the shots will use that as an excuse to get out of their weekend chores.

Excuse me, I need to go disinfect my table, pencils, chairs……..well……my world.

How gullible do they think we are??

Every year, without fail, students try the SAME tricks to get OUT of trouble or to cover up that they do not have their assignment completed. I have begun to address a few of these in my initial meetings with students and most of them seem to appreciate it, learning quickly that they are just better off to DO the work. But there are always a few who just have to try it. These top three “cover-ups” test my patience more than flat out cheating.

Strategy #1 – Hold up your response journal and pretend to be reading from it. Yup, I am actually going to ask to SEE your entry if you try this particular cover-up. When I do, I inevitably get this response, “Well, that’s what I was going to write but didn’t have time.” My response to this is always the same as well – it goes something like “Nice try, perhaps you’ll have the time to get it written while you are in study hall.”

Strategy #2 – Raise your hand and then say you forgot what you were going to say. Early onset Alzheimer’s runs rampant in elementary schools. Normally, I tell the student’s to make sure they have a real answer before raising their hands. No extra credit will be given for forgetting. Besides, everyone knows they didn’t really have an answer anyway, they aren’t fooling anyone.

Strategy #3 – Just guess, if it sounds good enough, she’ll buy it. I am continually amazed at how many different just plain guesses they will try! They just keep throwing stuff out there hoping something will stick. The best defense to this (that I have found) is, “show me where you found the answer.” That statement deflates them immediately as they realize, “oh, she’s not going to buy it.” In fact, just last week in one of my 4th grade guided reading groups a student actually said, “You guys, quit guessing, you know that doesn’t work with Mrs. R.”

After a LONG week, I mentioned this to my husband the other night after a particularly “task avoidant” student pushed all my buttons that day. He assured me that it wasn’t just me. There are those that cannot be rehabilitated. He knows this because he sees adults where he works who will work harder NOT to work, than they would just working. Somehow, his attempt at consoling me didn’t make me feel any better.

Rigor and Relevance

The staff in my district is focusing on Rigor and Relevance, it’s our professional development task this year and the focus of curriculum committees. I like the creativity it gives me as a teacher to develop new lessons or add to one I use annually. I took a leap this semester in the name of Rigor and Relevance, with my 5th grade guided reading group. This particular group is made up of the highest achieving students in that classroom, many are also TAG students. I chose The Monument by Gary Paulsen as their first novel. I had read this novel but not previously used it with a group of students. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it.

As we are reading, the students are creating a “Novel Guide”. We discuss the book, and the students choose what they feel needs to be addressed and how they think other students would enjoy completing the activities. Upon completion, I have spoken to two other classroom teachers who are willing to use the guide with their students and provide feedback. My students are SO into this assignment.

They are pretty creative, and have used illustrating, describing, and real-life connections by finding websites that add to the understanding of the novel. We have had some very interesting discussions as well. When the main character meets the artist the town has hired, she uses the word “pervert” to initially describe him. Every one of them had made a note to use pervert as a vocabulary word, so this meant we needed a working definition. They struggled and finally we looked it up in the dictionary. I don’t recall the entire definition but “deviant behavior, often sexual in nature” was part of it. This brought giggles, of course. They decided their working definition would be “child molester, creep, all around person to avoid”. As we were wrapping the discussion up, with a very straight face, “Trevor” says, “Well, some people have called me a pervert, and I guess today, I learned I really am NOT one!”

A couple of days later, we are discussing a line from the novel, “Well, there’s seeing and then there’s seeing.” This remark was made in connection with art. It didn’t take them long to figure out it the character was talking about emotion. I pulled up a few “masterpieces” on the computer for them to look at, and then to try to see. One of these was an abstract by Picasso. Again it’s Trevor who says, “Wow, that one makes my eye’s hurt. I can’t “see” that one!”

We go on to talk about other mediums that have emotional effects on us, movies, books, and music. Music was a raucous discussion, as they all had strong opinions. I asked if any of them enjoyed “classical” music, since none had mentioned it. Once more, Trevor pipes up, “Is that like “The Beatles”?”

Yup, I can get a handle on the Rigor……Relevance….that’s going to take some time I think.
(By the way, I LOVE this guided reading group! They are so open to new ideas, so willing to try and to learn…..I think their Novel Guide is going to be super.)

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?

Kindergarten Logic and Language

As I have said before, I try to stay away from the Kindergarten rooms in my elementary building. Not because the students aren’t adorable, energetic and fun, but because their verbal filters have very large holes. They will and do say anything. Being the teacher, I have to have an appropriate response. Sometimes THAT is just too difficult for me, the laughter erupts before I can stop it.

Mrs. Mc. has been a Kindergarten teacher for many years. She is a bubbly, practical, patient, down to earth lady and I am continually amazed at her ability to live in the Kindergarten zone. At an after school debriefing last Friday(hot fudge sudaes at McDonald’s) she told our close knit group a couple of stories that had us all chuckling….so I thought I would share.

# 1. She has her students bring in photos of themselves when they were younger and their families, etc. Anything they feel is important that they would like to share with the class. One little guy brought in a few pictures, all just of him. As he showed the pictures, he would say, “Dis is jus me.” “Dis is a picher of jus me.” So, Mrs. Mc. asks him, “What’s the story behind the picture?”

He says, “Nuffin.”

She says, “There’s no story?”

Carefully, he turns the picture around to show Mrs. Mc. the back of it and tells her matter of factly, “Dares nuffin on da back, Mrs. Mc., see.”

Yep, figurative language can be a problem in Kindergarten. She did clarify, and then he spent the next 20 minutes telling a story she was pretty sure had nothing to do with the picture he was showing them.

#2. One of her students got in a little trouble at recess for pulling down his pants and shaking his naked behind at a group of little girls. One of the teachers on recess duty relayed the story to Mrs. Mc. and the second delivered the little offender a few minutes later. Mrs. Mc. says to him, “So what happened at recess?”

“I don’t remember.”

“You don’t remember, well, I guess I have enough time to wait until you can remember. You think about it.”

At that the little offender says, “Well, I do remember.”

“Why did you tell me didn’t remember then?”

“I think if I tell you how bad I really was you won’t let me have center time. But if I can’t member, then you don’t know it’s that bad, so I can still go to centers. But, now I’m just BUSTERED.”

“Bustered?”

“You know, when your mom says, “Now you did it BUSTER.” And you get it big trouble.”

“Yes, you’re right, you are bustered.”

In Kindergarten you learn new vocabulary every day! I sure hope there is a special place in heaven for Kindergarten teachers because they have earned it.

Testing 1-2-3…….

Yep, with the beginning of a new school year comes testing. Scores are required to report to the State; scores are needed to place students in reading groups, math groups and on and on. It’s a flurry of testing – whoops “assessment”! (Oh, the thousands of trees who have sacrificed their lives in the name of assessment!) I am all for assessment, ongoing, authentic assessment that guides instruction in a meaningful way. But assessment for a “number” on a report…..that’s busy work. Regardless of my personal feelings, the assessments are done. They do however provide some chuckles along the way.

A fellow reading teacher was listening to a 2nd grader, “Denise”, read the list of Dolch Words. Denise was one of my Title I students the year before. She excitedly told me that she “hadn’t really learned anything over the summer, didn’t even read a book” when she greeted me on Unpack Your Backpack night. SUPER! Well, Mrs. S. might have guessed that without actually knowing from the lack of success she was having with the list. As the list went on (220 words) Denise started saying, “Um, you can just put a check by that one, I knew it last year, I just don’t remember it right now.” But at least she was being fair! She also said to a few, “I’ve never seen that one before in my life….better not check that one!” I believe I will be seeing Denise in the Title I room this year too.

I was administering the BRI to a new 4th grade student. I explained the test and told him after he read it he would be retelling me the story and answering some questions. He responded to this by saying, “So, can I read slower so I can remember stuff better?” YEP! That’s actually NOT considered cheating on this test. I assured him that would be an excellent strategy to employ.

And finally in 3rd grade, again on the BRI test, I am asking the questions that go with the oral reading segment. (It is about a bear that comes to a cabin looking for honey and wakes up the person who is sleeping. ) The question is, “What would you do to keep the bear away?” The student answers, “I wouldn’t keep him away….I would want to keep him. I would make a trail of honey and put a card with my name on it so he would know who it was from. I am a good animal person like that. We would be friends, and I would pet it.” All I could think was “I am staring at the next Grizzly Man, Timothy Treadwell.”

Can’t we start Guided Reading already????!!

I found this humorous list at http://www.teachingheart.net and wanted to share it with Homeroom. Hope you enjoy it!

You Might be in Education if…

1. You believe the staff room should be equipped with a Vellum salt lick.
2. You find humor in other people’s stupidity.
3. You want to slap the next person who says, “Must be nice to work 8-3 and
have your summers free.”
4. You believe chocolate is a food group.
5. You can tell if it’s a full moon without ever looking outside.
6. You believe “shallow gene pool” should have its own box on the report
card.
7. You believe the unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, “Boy,
the kids are sure mellow today.”
8. When out in public, you feel the urge to snap your fingers at a child.
9. You have no time for a life from August through June.
10. Putting all “A’s on a report card would make your life SO much easier.
11. When you mention “vegetables,” you are not talking about a food group.
12. You think people should be required to get a government permit before
being allow to reproduce.
13. You believe in the aerial spraying of Prozac.
14. You encourage a parent to check into home schooling.
15. You believe no one should be permitted to reproduce without having taught
in a middle school for at least five years.
16. You can’t have children because there isn’t any name you can hear that
wouldn’t elevate your blood pressure.
17. You think caffeine should be available to staff in IV form.
18. Meeting a child’s parents instantly answers the question, “Why is this kid like that?”
19. Your personal life comes to a screeching halt at report card time.

The Learning Community

When I was working toward my teaching degree, building a learning community was one of the new big buzz phrases. There were lots of activities and strategies out there to help you turn your classroom into a community of learners. As a student teacher I diligently tried some with varying results. I did have a wonderful student teaching experience, and felt as though by the end of my time, the class had become closer and more cooperative with one another for the most part. There were still those few misfits, who just couldn’t quite be fully accepted. I felt badly about that, but my supervising teacher told me I had done a great job and she was happy.

I was a substitute teacher for the next semester and I noticed a big difference in the rooms where I taught. It was a great learning experience for me, both what I should or could do and what I would never do(leave a sub with NO PLANS). I had big ideas and plans. However, when my first position was as a reading teacher, not a classroom teacher, I had to rethink a few of those. Instead of a classroom of 25 learners, I had small changing groups of 4 to 7. I got lucky though, one of my first groups that year was a group of misfit 5th grade boys; “Jason”, “Terrence”, “Kirk”, “Derek” and “Casey”. Their classroom teacher, Mr. R. (no relation), asked if I would take this group for the year. Each of these boys had a specific reading difficulty and Mr. R. stated he would like them to have the whole 45 minute period. If I would take this group for the whole period, he would handle the other three groups. As a new teacher, I was willing to try anything.

In the beginning it was rough. Their abilities were varied, their challenges different, and their motivation nonexistent. We struggled together, that group of misfits and I, for the first quarter. They were given assignments, which were completed sporadically. EXCEPT for “Kirk”, a nice, quiet redheaded boy who would rather be outside playing any sport than sitting in my room reading. He had every assignment completed to the best of his ability. I started building him up as a leader and a reader. The others followed, but still, the assignments were hit and miss. Exasperated one day, I had a meeting with them. This they were interested in, anything but talk about the assignment they didn’t have completed.

I explained my dilemma and asked “Kirk”, if he felt it was fair they depended on him for all the work. Then I asked them if they thought it was fair. They all agreed, sincerely, that it really wasn’t fair. So together they decided the next person to show up without their assignment would get a detention – this was their decision, not mine – no assignment = detention, no questions asked. I had my detention slips ready, figuring at least one would need to be filled out. Everyone had their assignment. I told them they surprised me! Explained I had the form right there, and I LOVED that they proved me wrong! I was so proud of this group. That whole week and not one missing assignment!!! I was on cloud nine, this community stuff was great!

On Monday, it happened though, one of the boys didn’t have their assignment. To my surprise, it was “Kirk”, the steady eddy of the group, the leader. Oh how I didn’t want to give him a detention, but that was the group’s rule. I didn’t have to say a word to “Kirk”, he knew, he was already beating himself up. As I started to fill out the form I hear “Casey” say, “Ya know that’s really not fair.” “Derek” and “Jason” pipe in, “Yeah, Mrs. R, that’s not fair, Kirk shouldn’t get a detention.”

“But that’s the consequence you came up with guys, that’s what you agreed on. Kirk hasn’t said a word, he knew walking in here this was the consequence and he is accepting it.”
“Terrence” says, “He should get a pass this one time. We all dumped on him and had him do the work; it’s only fair he gets to dump on us, least once. I say we take a vote. If we make the rules, we can vote on how to use’em, right?” The other boys agreed with “Terrence”.
“Kirk” still hasn’t said a word, he is sitting wide-eyed watching and listening to the others stand up for him in complete disbelief. They called for a vote. I voted he get the detention (I had to – I didn’t want to – but I felt I had to) the rest voted he didn’t, so he didn’t. After the vote, “Kirk” says, “Thanks guys, you didn’t have to do that, but I’m really glad you did.” I was never so proud of a group of misfits in my life, but even more important, they were proud of themselves. I know they learned much more in that group than the plots and themes of the books we read. Mr. R. told me he also saw a huge difference in his classroom after that. The boys who would try hard NOT to be seen were now standing up and participating. At our last meeting I told them they were my favorite group of all time, and I had learned much from watching them work.

In the 9 years I have been teaching, I have had many groups, some make better “communities” than others, but none has touched my heart like that group of boys. They graduated this year, all of them. “Kirk” was a star on the football team. When I run into them, they always stop and speak and ask me how it’s going and if they are still my favorite group. The answer….. Always……. “Yes”!

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.