Great Gooney Bird Book Club

We did it! We had a kids' book club meeting tonight!

It was small, only three kids. But it was great fun. Before our meeting each of the kids (and their folks) read Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry. They seemed to all enjoy the book, thankfully.

We talked a bit about the main character and then I gave each child an outline of a paper doll so that they could create an outfit for her. They had identified Gooney Bird's clothing as one of the things that was especially distinctive about her. We also had a bunch of necklaces, ribbons, rings, bracelets, and such so that the kids could dress up like Gooney Bird. As the kids worked on their drawings and dressed up they were laughing about different parts of the book. It was fun to listen to their thoughts.

After eating dinner we discussed the other students in Gooney Bird's class. After listing as many as we could (their list was much longer than I expected!) each talked about who they were most like and why. Listening to each others' thoughts, of course, made them change their mind frequently. We also talked about Gooney Bird's favorite word (at least in our opinion): Suddenly... She uses this word in all of her stories at least once. We thought about things we might say following 'suddenly...' At the very end we looked at a list of all the stories Gooney Bird told and talked about the order they happened in her life and our favorites.

As a school we are talking about hosting kids' book club evenings two or three times this year for first and second graders. (I think family book club would be a better term.) I'm very excited about the possibilities, especially after tonight. One thing I did decide based on tonight is that we won't use this book. It was wonderful for these kids. But we want books that we can use in translations for many of our families and this one has so much fun with language that I'm not sure it will work as well in translation.

Our first book will be a wordless picture book in the hopes that everyone will find it accessible and will draw people in. No final decisions have been made for the one or two other titles for this year. I'd like to use beginning chapter books because first and second graders think chapter books are special. But I also want books that have a lot of meat to them. There is still a lot to iron out but the possibilities are exciting.

CMK - Still More Deborah Meier and Alfie Kohn

As a first grade teacher (and the mother of a six year old) I am well aware of how strong the need to be first is in children of that age. Others have noticed it as well.

I think six year olds are not the only ones with this urge however. As a country we are constantly trying to be first in any positive comparison.

At CMK Alfie Kohn pointed out that anytime we want to be first we are hoping that others will do poorly. Hearing him say it felt like a slap in the face. As with many things Kohn says it seems so obvious now.

We are connected in so many ways to our allies, enemies, and everyone else that hoping they do poorly not only reflects badly on us but may also hurt us in the long run.

I spend a lot of time every year working toward a community of learners who work together, support each other, and learn alongside each other. It seems a worthy goal for everyone, not just first graders.

CMK - More Deborah Meier and Alfie Kohn

Rereading my notes from Constructing Modern Knowledge (something I should do more often) I am struck by the connections I see between various conversations and presentations. Those connections did not jump out at me during the conference. I'm glad to have the time to review and notice.

In an earlier post I wrote about Gary Stager's remark that if we want kids to be good at learning they should spend time with good learners.

Now I notice that Deborah Meier said, "I want kids to keep company with strong and powerful adults so that they grow up to be strong and powerful adults."

Teachers (and educators of all sorts) are role models for students. They spend a significant amount of time with us. It certainly makes good sense for teachers to be good at learning and strong and powerful. As is often true, what makes good sense to me doesn't seem to be the popular opinion.

Legos, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Education

Thanks to all the Lego fun at CMK a couple of weeks ago we've become a family obsessed. We've collected a ridiculous number of Lego pieces of all shapes and sizes from ebay, craig's list, and the Lego store. We've already built a robot with our Pico cricket set (from craig's list).

Today we decided to head into Washington, D.C. to the National Building Museum for their Lego Architecture exhibit. We'd never been to this museum and it was a wonderful experience.

The Lego exhibit was small but astounding. It was a collection of buildings made from Legos, including the World Trade Center, Fallingwater, and the Empire State Building. Adjacent to these creations was a space full of Legos and room to build. Folks of all ages were hard at work creating and a city had been growing on the tables all day.

There were quotes and fun facts all around the space. (Our six year old had more fun reading these than she did with any other aspect of this exhibit.)

This Frank Lloyd Wright quote struck me. I've long admired his work and this quote did not surprise me at all.

Today, however, it struck me in relation to education. We are constantly trying to design curriculum, schools, lessons, etc. before we've met the people who will be using them. How foolish of us.

Book Club Practice Run

Last month I wrote about wanting to start a book club for first and second graders. I then proceeded to completely drop the ball for weeks. So, we are on to meet next week for a practice run, just my daughter and a few of her friends. We're reading Gooney Bird Greene, thanks to suggestions on that previous post.

Now I'm back with a new request. I want to structure this book club meeting with some talk about the book but also with some activities. Any brilliant ideas for activities we can do with Gooney Bird Greene? Thanks!

CMK - Deborah Meier and Alfie Kohn

As I review my notes from our time with Deborah Meier and Alfie Kohn I expect I will have a few more posts coming.

After my last post about our time with James Loewen, this quote from Meier (or Debbie as she was called at CMK) hit home: "If democracy is what we are training children for we can't tell them ahead of time that there are right and wrong answers."

It's amazing to me how even first graders have already got this figured out. From a very early age children have determined that the adults in their lives want the right answer to things. (I know Dan had a post about how his facial expressions sent the message to students and his attempt to create a poker face, but I can't find it now.)

One of my big goals all year, every year is to ask students to explain their answers - right or wrong. It's something I try to remember with my daughters as well. However, quite often I realize I have reinforced a 'correct' answer or cringed at a 'wrong' one.

I recognize that we (my students and myself) learn more from a wrong answer than we do from a right one. I know that focusing on right answers reduces the risk taking my students will attempt.

In spite of that knowledge I default to looking for right answers. I appreciate Meier's idea of why this focus is detrimental to our students. Hopefully it will serve as a reminder for me this year.

CMK - Jim Loewen

The first day of Constructing Modern Knowledge was spent with Jim Loewen. He is the author of Lies My History Teacher Told Me and several other books. He was a delightful gentleman to spend time with (we had dinner with him Sunday and lunch on Monday) and interesting to hear.

Early on in his talk to us he said something that struck me and stuck with me: our job as citizens is to bring into being the America of the future.

Think on that for a moment. It's a powerful concept. It's a big responsibility for all of us. Especially for teachers. We have that job both as citizens and as those teaching the next generation of citizens.

How differently would we lead our daily lives if this were a guiding thought? Would it change how we teach and interact with children? It seems to me that bringing into being the America of the future requires a bigger vision and more long-term thinking and planning than we see happening in education today.

Loewen's point about this included the idea that history is intensely relevant to this purpose. I think he is right. Sadly, history is getting pushed to the edges of our schools as reading, writing, math, and science dominate, solely because they will be tested.

Summer Book Club (for work!)

A bunch of teachers from my school are reading A Place for Wonder by Georgia Heard and Jennifer McDonough. We are meeting three times throughout the summer to talk about it. Of course, not everyone can make it to every meeting, so we set up a wiki to share our thoughts. The added bonus to the wiki is that anyone can join us. So, if you have read or want to read A Place for Wonder please share your thinking! I added all our notes from our first meeting and I will do so again after we meet tonight.

Big Ideas from CMK10

After four full days in Manchester, NH I am still overwhelmed. I have so many notes from James Loewen, Deborah Meier, and Alfie Kohn's sessions that they will need posts of their own for me to process them properly.

Gary Stager began our time together and one of the first things I wrote down has stuck with me, even after four days of amazing, thought-provoking work. He said, "If we want kids to be good at learning it's not a bad idea to have them hang out with great learners."

As teachers we are often (in fact almost always) so focused on our teaching and what we do in front of the class, whether that is the class as a whole, a small group, or an individual student, that we have lost sight of ourselves as learners. How can we truly help students to learn if we don't learn as well.

In addition to the amazing thinkers and learners with whom we spent time, we also had time to work on projects. Brian Silverman took a bit of time to talk to us about computers and their history (he has been involved in aspects of computer programming and educational computing for decades). At one point he was asked, "How do you respond to people who say technology is just a tool?" Brian seemed genuinely perplexed by this question. He responded by saying that technology is a tool, so is writing. He continued, "I'm not sure I understand the use of the word 'just' in that sentence."

That's by far the best response I've ever heard.

Others have written more thoughtful, clear reflections on this experience than I have managed so far. See Chris Lehmann and Brian C. Smith's posts. Also, if you have a ton of free time you can check out the pictures and videos on flickr from the event. There are some great ones!

Constructing Modern Knowledge 2101

Genius. Passion. Kindness. Humility.

Those are the four words that have flown through my brain again and again for three days now. I will write more about this conference. It's the only way I will manage to even begin to process everything I have heard, discussed, and talked about.

I am grateful for the time I had with all of these people.

ISTE Sessions

I discovered at last year's ISTE (or NECC) that the sessions were not the best part for me. I did attend some but was ofter disappointed. So this year I left myself plenty of time for conversations and other fun.

The best session I attended, by far, was Let's Do It: Planning for Technology in the Primary Classroom by Kathy Cassidy, Maria Knee, and Amanda Marinnan. These three educators have been guides for me since I moved to first grade. (They have also been wonderfully kind and generous.) They talked about what they do in their classrooms and why. You can get the basic idea from their wiki.

There were some good poster sessions for K-2 or K-5 but there were not a lot of options. I don't know if there are not too many proposals for sessions at these levels or if ISTE is not accepting them. However, the demand is there. Every session I attended was packed.

Two sessions were fine but very focused on tools/websites. I would guess that 95% of the audience was thrilled with this. Teachers, especially in elementary schools, are desperate for ways to get their students involved with technology. I was a bit disappointed because I was hoping for more depth. There were plenty of tools/websites shared that I will use. However, I would like more information on why to use certain things and what it will do for my students.

I hope to get some of my thoughts from the best parts of the conference, the conversations, together soon.

(For those interested, this wiki has an extensive list of websites for use with primary kids.)

ISTE 2010 Presentation

We (myself and two other fabulous teachers from my school) are presenting at ISTE in about 8 hours. We are discussing the real world application of web 2.0 tools in K-5 classrooms. We have a delicious site with links to the examples we are sharing.

I'm really excited about it, but it also signals the end of the fun. We're heading home early tomorrow afternoon.

I miss my daughters and my husband greatly. Still, I'll be sad to leave. Not sad to go home, but sad to leave ISTE. That may not sound like it makes sense, but it is perfectly clear to me.

This has been five days of jam packed fun, thinking, and some chaos. Hopefully I will manage to make some time to seriously reflect and post some thoughts.

Book Clubs for All

Every Mother's Day our music teachers do a tea for the mothers of all the first graders. The kids learn lots of songs about mothers and each class writes a poem to read. It's a fabulous event that was made more special for me this year as my oldest daughter is in first grade.

Her class's poem consisted of a series of lines that began with 'Some mothers' followed by various things the kids came up with. The line submitted by my daughter was obvious: "Some mothers go to book club and do work at dinner time."

I do go to book club, once a month. I don't work at dinner time and have no idea where that came from. It's been over a month and this line is still haunting me a bit.

This same daughter has requested a book club of her own. Initially I dismissed the idea but as I thought about it I came around. This would be a great event for our school. So, my daughter, a few friends, and I are trying it out this summer.

I'd like to use some chapter books that are appropriate for first and second graders. I want them to be meaty books with some depth. Cynthia Rylant's Van Gogh Cafe is one I have been considering. But I'm not coming up with much else. Advice please!

The Big Bad Teacher

The last few days of school are always crazy. This year is no exception. I've had quite a list of things to finish or accomplish before the end. Today we did a big piece.

Weeks ago my students read several versions of The Three Little Pigs. After reading them the students recorded the setting, characters, main events, complication, and resolution. From that, they worked together to plan their own story. They chose to write The 17 Little ExploreOrrs and the Big Bad Teacher. I was so impressed with the story and the creativity and cooperation needed to write it, that I wanted to make a movie of it. However, we got into other things in writing and time got away from me. Now, with only a few days left we managed to make it happen.

I explained to the students that we would take pictures and then narrate them for the movie. I read their story to them again and had them think about how to stage the pictures. Immediately they were on top of it. Their ideas were awesome. They could see it.

I did have to ask them who would be The Big Bad Teacher. They all hollered, "You!" I agreed and then asked who would be the real teacher at the end. They all hollered, "You..Ohhhhh." Then they decided it should be another teacher we've worked with this year. I said I didn't know if she was available right then but I'd check. As I was looking for her office number one student said, "You could wear something different."

Aha.

I pulled out our dress up stuff and grabbed a hideous hat and a boa. I put on my old denim jacket and the kids said, "Take off your glasses!" They had the idea. Off we went.

The result is their first movie.

Tables, Tables, and More Tables

This year I took the advice of another first grade teacher and made some changes in the tables in my room. I have one tall table at which students can stand and work, two normal size for sitting in chairs, and one low table for sitting on the floor. As the year has progressed I have noticed that my students use the low table a lot and the random tables I have around the room. The normal sized tables are not as popular.

Right now my students have netbooks from our library and are working all around the room. Only three chose to sit at our regular, round tables in chairs. Four are at the table I use for guided reading, two are at our little blue table, two are at a small table in a corner, three are on the floor and a couple are at the low table. Next year I may just have one regular sized table for chairs. That would free up more room for the piano I recently moved in.

Thank You, Sarah!

Recently (although not as recently as I'd like it to have been) Sarah over at Confessions of an Untenured Teacher passed on to me a lovely award. I've kept the post open in a tab for more than two weeks now, both to help me remember to pass it on and because it just makes me happy to see it! Sarah constantly makes me laugh and think. That's hard to beat.

I follow hundreds of blogs so choosing just five to highlight is a tough job. I've decided not to note all my fabulous co-workers because picking only five would be completely impossible. So, here are five of my favorites!

Science Goddess at What It's Like on the Inside has done a variety of different things in the education world and she writes about anything knowledgeably. I especially enjoy it when she writes about grading.

Kathy Cassidy at Primary Preoccupation is one of several primary teachers who have been incredible guides for me as I moved from upper grades to first grade. She is one of the most generous, thoughtful teachers around.

Tom at Bionic Teaching frequently makes me laugh which I appreciate as I am being pushed to think about how to improve what I do in the classroom.

Doyle at Science Teacher is brilliant. I learn science and philosophy in every one of his posts. Plus, when he shares bits about his past as a doctor I see into another world.

Jim at Teacherninja is about to be a school librarian. He writes about books, critical thinking, current events, and just about anything else. And well.

When these folks' blogs show up in my reader with new posts I know I'm in for a treat.

Measuring Teacher Effectiveness

Jay Mathews has a new post up about measuring teacher effectiveness. I read it last night and I can't stop feeling frustrated. Oddly enough, not that much by Jay as by some of the comments.

I think teacher effectiveness is invalid term. Or at least the idea of measuring it is invalid. Teachers don't control too many of the factors that effect their effectiveness.

I teach first grade. I teach children to read. When we assess their reading ability they need to be able to decode words fairly fluently and to have understood what they read. So far, so good.

However, if kids have no background knowledge of topics or ideas then it is unlikely they can read the words and understand them. If you have never heard a word it's hard to read. Imagine trying to read a text on computer languages, literary theory, atomic particles, or some other topic completely foreign to you. You will struggle with the words and certainly the understanding.

That's true for so many of our children because they haven't had the exposure to the things we expect them to read about. I'm not suggesting they have limited knowledge, because that is not even remotely true. They know a lot. It's just that the things they know are not in the books we expect them to read. Their experiences to do not match up with middle class society's experiences.

If no one has talked to kids about using money to pay for things, the plants they see around them, the stars in the sky, voting for president, measuring to cook, and on and on and on then these kids come to school less prepared. My daughters have a ton of these experiences. It doesn't make me a better parent than my students' parents. But it does mean that my daughters have a leg up. And so do most middle class kids.

I don't think I've voiced this very well here. I needed to get it off my chest. However, it is something I will keep thinking about and working on to better understand the complexities and, hopefully, to think about what we could be doing to improve the situation for these students.

Another Hidden Cost of Standardized Testing

Our school (like so many others) is in the throes of standardized testing. That's less of an impact on my life now as a first grade teacher than it was as a fourth or fifth grade teacher. However, the testing we do have to do is time consuming and really throws us off.

I've been giving the (fairly) new Mathematics Reasoning Assessment to my students in small groups over the past week. It will take us another week to finish it. It's a pretty good assessment, all things considered. That's not my issue here.

I work really hard for months and months to build a learning community with these students in which they can take risks, talk about their thinking, share their ideas, and learn from one another. Then all of a sudden, I tell them to shut up.

Not in those exact words, but that is exactly what I'm doing.

The only time during our day when we don't talk at all is independent reading. In the beginning of the year this lasts about five minutes. By now it lasts 20-40 minutes (depending on our reading workshop schedule). And even though they can't talk during their independent reading time, they get the chance to talk about their thinking when we share at the end of workshop.

With standardized assessments they never get to talk about it. Well, I guess we will talk about it when everyone is finished and they have all been scored. But that won't be too meaningful for six and seven year olds.

I'm not convinced that the level of achievement on these standardized assessments truly matches my students. They are being assessed in a way that is too foreign for them. I know I could offer them more opportunities for this type of assessment throughout the year, but time is precious and I'd rather offer them as many opportunities for genuine learning together.

Hidden Teacher Talents

About a month ago (boy have I been out of it) Organized Chaos tagged me to list skills that are not on my resume. I didn't make time to think about it before now, and I think part of the reason for that is that I was so intimidated by the lists from other bloggers. So, you might be better served to visit these lists: Kindergarten Chaos, Sneaker Teacher, Kiri at Elbows, Knees, Dreams, and Miss Brave.

My special skills:

• I can act sympathetic over the most imagined and invisible boo-boos.
• I can read picture books time and time again with equal drama and flourish.
• I can encourage kids to write about their trip to the carnival at K-mart as though it is the great American novel.
• I can carry on three or four conversations at one time.
• I can listen to kids read the same repetitive beginning reader books and celebrate every right word.
• I can find fun, educational ways to fill any period of time from one minute to an hour at the drop of a hat.
• I can, and do, remind any child of proper behavior anywhere (even rolling down my car window to holler at some boys on their way to school recently).
• I can link math to health to social studies to a recent field trip to my kids' lives
• I can remind students to stop picking their noses and putting their hands down their pants a dozen times without losing patience (mostly)
• I can head to work everyday eagerly expecting the joyous successes

Moving Forward Finally

Today is the first day in several months that I've felt successful in various parts of my life. We had a fabulous field trip to the Kennedy Center to see Knuffle Bunny (more on that soon) and I feel as though I had planned things pretty well for my kids and, as the one who made the arrangements for these tickets, I felt like a success as a colleague. Then I spent the afternoon with my girls, at the playground, dinner, baths, and books. We had a wonderful time.

It felt good. For a variety of reasons I've had a feeling of failure for months now. I've felt that way in every aspect of my life (parenting, teaching, working with others, as a wife) and I'm glad to be over it (fingers crossed).

Of course, my girls are in bed but not asleep so this could all fall apart before the night is over.

Teaching is my Job, Teaching is my Job, Teaching is my Job...

I can not save children. Sadly, I have to remind myself of that fairly often.

Recently there was an intern teaching in my classroom. As a result, I had more free time than usual. One of the things I've did with that time was meet with my little mentee more often. As a classroom teacher it is hard to find free time in my day that also fits in her day to meet. So for a few weeks I was seeing her a couple of times a week. She was in my class last year and it was an exceptionally rough year for her personally.

Working with her and talking with her teacher has me struggling with questions that have always nagged at the back of my mind. When is it reasonable to hold children accountable? How do we draw the line between all that is weighing on them and the expectations we have for them at school?

This little girl is not meeting benchmarks in school. Given the situation in her life I don't find that even remotely surprising. Her behavior does not meet our expectations. Again, I'm not surprised by this. Any adult would struggle with their daily life under such circumstances.

At some point this little girl has to become responsible for herself and her actions, regardless of the trauma she has endured. When does she cross that line? Age 12? 16? 18? 21? How on earth do we set a date by which she has to pull herself up and do what society expects of everyone?

And how do we, as a society, sleep at night knowing that we are, in many ways, failing our most vulnerable?

Life Goes On (I Hope)

This morning I walked out of my classroom before the kids arrived. A friend who was walking down the hall remarked, "You look mad."

That's not good.

Today is our principal's last day. We've known she was leaving for only two weeks. Plus, the past two weeks have been a bit stressful for personal reasons so I haven't really processed her leaving.

She's only the 2nd principal I've had here in 12 years. The first was a once-in-a-lifetime principal. That principal hired this one as our AP 11 years ago. The transition from one principal to the next was as seamless as one could hope for.

This school has grown, improved, molded to the (changing) needs of our community quite a bit in those 12 years. The majority of the credit for that goes to these two women. A principal can make or break a school. They have made this one.

We are an exceptionally strong staff. I feel lucky everyday to work with these people. I know we will continue to do our best for kids and their families.

I just hope we get another principal who gives us the freedom to do so.

Making Time for Play

I had a conversation one Friday afternoon with another first grade teacher. I said that I reserved the last 20-30 minutes of our day for 'free choice', basically play time. She said that was what she had planned to do, but was rethinking it because the students had been behaving poorly.

I think often of the fine lines we walk as teachers. They are everywhere. This is one I have been struggling with a lot lately (as a parent as well). When children are having trouble listening, sitting still, following directions, yadda, yadda, yadda, what is the best response for us to have? Should we take away privileges in order to get them to get it together? Or should we make that time for play because it is important?

Sometimes a play break might help students refocus. They might be exhausted (quite likely by Friday afternoon) and truly unable to control themselves the way we want.

I have stopped taking recess away from students for any reason. I stopped it years ago.

How do we know what is best for kids?

Top 100 Books

I can't help myself. I had to jump on this bandwagon for my own knowledge. Here are Fuse #8's top 100 books, based on nominations and voting. The ones I've read are in bold. It seems I've read just over half. I did err on the side of caution so if I can't be sure I've read it I didn't mark it. There are quite a few here I've been meaning to read. I'll have to start my summer list.

100. The Egypt Game — Snyder (1967)
     
99. The Indian in the Cupboard — Banks (1980)
    
98. Children of Green Knowe — Boston (1954)
    
97. The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane — DiCamillo (2006)
    
96. The Witches — Dahl (1983)
    
95. Pippi Longstocking — Lindgren (1950)
    
94. Swallows and Amazons — Ransome (1930)
    
93. Caddie Woodlawn — Brink (1935)
    
92. Ella Enchanted — Levine (1997)
    
91. Sideways Stories from Wayside School — Sachar (1978)
    
90. Sarah, Plain and Tall — MacLachlan (1985)
    
89. Ramona and Her Father — Cleary (1977)
    
88. The High King — Alexander (1968)
    
87. The View from Saturday — Konigsburg (1996)
    
86. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets — Rowling (1999)
    
85. On the Banks of Plum Creek — Wilder (1937)
    
84. The Little White Horse — Goudge (1946)
    
83. The Thief — Turner (1997)
    
82. The Book of Three — Alexander (1964)
    
81. Where the Mountain Meets the Moon — Lin (2009)
    
80. The Graveyard Book — Gaiman (2008)
    
79. All-of-a-Kind-Family — Taylor (1951)
    
78. Johnny Tremain — Forbes (1943)
    
77. The City of Ember — DuPrau (2003)
    
76. Out of the Dust — Hesse (1997)
    
75. Love That Dog — Creech (2001)
    
74. The Borrowers — Norton (1953)
    
73. My Side of the Mountain — George (1959)
    
72. My Father’s Dragon — Gannett (1948)
    
71. The Bad Beginning — Snicket (1999)
    
70. Betsy-Tacy — Lovelae (1940)
    
69. The Mysterious Benedict Society — Stewart ( 2007)
    
68. Walk Two Moons — Creech (1994)
    
67. Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher — Coville (1991)
    
66. Henry Huggins — Cleary (1950)
    
65. Ballet Shoes — Stratfeild (1936)
    
64. A Long Way from Chicago — Peck (1998)
    
63. Gone-Away Lake — Enright (1957)
    
62. The Secret of the Old Clock — Keene (1959)
    
61. Stargirl — Spinelli (2000)
    
60. The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle — Avi (1990)
    
59. Inkheart — Funke (2003)
    
58. The Wolves of Willoughby Chase — Aiken (1962)
    
57. Ramona Quimby, Age 8 — Cleary (1981)
    
56. Number the Stars — Lowry (1989)
    
55. The Great Gilly Hopkins — Paterson (1978)
    
54. The BFG — Dahl (1982)
    
53. Wind in the Willows — Grahame (1908)
    
52. The Invention of Hugo Cabret — Selznick (2007)
    
51. The Saturdays — Enright (1941)
    
50. Island of the Blue Dolphins — O’Dell (1960)
    
49. Frindle — Clements (1996)
    
48. The Penderwicks — Birdsall (2005)
    
47. Bud, Not Buddy — Curtis (1999)
    
46. Where the Red Fern Grows — Rawls (1961)
    
45. The Golden Compass — Pullman (1995)
    
44. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing — Blume (1972)
    
43. Ramona the Pest — Cleary (1968)
    
42. Little House on the Prairie — Wilder (1935)
    
41. The Witch of Blackbird Pond — Speare (1958)
    
40. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz — Baum (1900)
    
39. When You Reach Me — Stead (2009)
    
38. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix — Rowling (2003)
    
37. Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry — Taylor (1976)
    
36. Are You there, God? It’s Me, Margaret — Blume (1970)
    
35. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire — Rowling (2000)
    
34. The Watsons Go to Birmingham — Curtis (1995)
    
33. James and the Giant Peach — Dahl (1961)
    
32. Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH — O’Brian (1971)
    
31. Half Magic — Eager (1954)
    
30. Winnie-the-Pooh — Milne (1926)
    
29. The Dark Is Rising — Cooper (1973)
    
28. A Little Princess — Burnett (1905)
    
27. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass — Carroll (1865/72)
    
26. Hatchet — Paulsen (1989)
    
25. Little Women — Alcott (1868/9)
    
24. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Rowling (2007)
    
23. Little House in the Big Woods — Wilder (1932)
    
22. The Tale of Despereaux — DiCamillo (2003)
    
21. The Lightening Thief — Riordan (2005)
    
20. Tuck Everlasting — Babbitt (1975)
    
19. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory — Dahl (1964)
    
18. Matilda — Dahl (1988)
    
17. Maniac Magee — Spinelli (1990)
    
16. Harriet the Spy — Fitzhugh (1964)
    
15. Because of Winn-Dixie — DiCamillo (2000)
    
14. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban — Rowling (1999)
    
13. Bridge to Terabithia — Paterson (1977)
    
12. The Hobbit — Tolkien (1938)
    
11. The Westing Game — Raskin (1978)
    
10. The Phantom Tollbooth — Juster (1961)
    
9. Anne of Green Gables — Montgomery (1908)
   
8. The Secret Garden — Burnett (1911)
   
7. The Giver — Lowry (1993)
   
6. Holes — Sachar (1998)
   
5. From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler — Koningsburg (1967)
   
4. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe — Lewis (1950)
   
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s/Philsopher’s Stone — Rowling (1997)
   
2. A Wrinkle in Time — L’Engle (1962)
   
1. Charlotte’s Web — White (1952)

Thanks teacherninja and MotherReader for getting this rolling.

The End

I've been quite cranky lately (just ask my husband). I blamed it on a bad night's sleep Saturday night, I blamed it on feeling overloaded with some last minute things, I blamed it on crazy children, and who knows what else.

Today, I finally figured out the real cause. Today is the last day of our last intersession.

Due to serious budget cuts everywhere, our school is losing our modified calendar status. Next year we'll go back to being like everyone else. This saddens me (and obviously makes me cranky) for numerous reasons.

1. Many of our kids will lose a lot over a long summer. Especially our beginning readers in kindergarten and first grade. Many will not speak English for the entire summer, much less have opportunities to practice their reading.
2. Intersessions offer our students myriad opportunities to learn about different things. This is a perfect chance for us to help expand their background knowledge. They learn about different sports, foods, hobbies, etc. all through skills they need. Losing that is going to hurt them in reading, writing, and being able to make bigger connections in their learning.
3. These times build significant community in our school. We have over 800 students and there is no way to get to know them all. However, we get to know other kids during intersession and that is good for everyone. We can share our thoughts with other teachers, offering a fresh eye on their students. We can greet those students throughout the year and continue to build relationships.
4. As our old principal used to say, "We are running sprints instead of running a marathon." If a teacher needs a break s/he doesn't have to teach intersession. If families want (and are able) to keep kids home or to travel during that time they can. It gives us fresh starts throughout the year rather than running ourselves ragged by March (or December some years).
5. Personally it gives me a chance to clean some things up. Intersession is less intense than the rest of the year and kids can work on projects or activities while I spend a bit of time cleaning out some of my teacher closet or a filing cabinet drawer or just sorting through the piles that grow on my desk in no time.

It doesn't seem that our test scores have reflected any positive impact from our modified calendar. I find that both hard to believe and not surprising. It's hard to believe because the benefits to kids seem so clear to me. It's not surprising because we have a 40% mobility rate and we've nearly doubled our population since we began on this calendar. It's hard to get meaningful test scores when the kids are different all the time.

As I write this our intersession coordinator is beginning the final dismissal process. The students are wrapping up their last big art project created out of repeating, growing, and number patterns. And I'm ready to cry.

(Some of us did make an effort back in the fall to gather DRA, Developmental Reading Assessment, scores for first and second graders. In previous years we have not done this assessment in the fall, we have simply used the spring assessment from just a few weeks before. We gathered the data this year in order to compare it to next fall when the students will have had a much longer summer. It will be interesting to see if this gives us a smidgen of hard data to show our district.)

Proactive Policies

I stopped last night for a quick trim of my bangs. The salon I use has a policy that they will trim their customers' bangs for free. Their reasoning is that they would rather spend two minutes trimming bangs than fifteen minutes fixing them after someone tries to trim them on their own.

My husband and I have been thrilled with our family's health insurance. All through both pregnancies all my appointments were free. With our oldest daughter this was a lot of appointments as they were concerned about the pregnancy and it even included an amniocentesis. All of it cost us nothing. Our daughters' regular appointments have also always been free. Again, the reasoning is that they don't want people to miss appointments because they can't afford them. The 'well baby' appointments are too important.

This all got me thinking about education (of course). We are not proactive in our public school system. I'm not sure this should all fall to the schools. I believe our society should be more proactive when it comes to children.

I look at my own daughters (who by no means have perfect parents) and think how lucky they are to have all they do. The exposure to books and language from day one, the time to visit museums, nature centers, science centers, and such, child care providers who are loving and knowledgeable about stimulating their minds and exercising their bodies, grandparents, aunts and uncles who lavish love and attention on them, etc., etc., etc. I feel the same way about my own childhood.

When I compare this to my students I feel sad. Not that they don't have parents who love them and do many things for them. They do. However, their parents often don't have the financial resources to offer their children some of this. They may work two or three jobs and not have the time to do these things. They may not have a car and therefore have limited options for getting around. Due to circumstances beyond their control these children don't have the opportunities for learning that my daughters do.

Why aren't we more proactive? Why do we wait until children are in elementary school before we begin supporting their learning and intellectual development? In the long run wouldn't it be cheaper (and better) if we started sooner?

Afraid of Change?

A recent post from Dean Dad has me mulling over some of my past. I noticed signs today at a central office in my district about interviews for instructional coach positions. Some years ago I applied for one of these positions and went through the second round of interviews. At that point I decided that I wasn't ready to leave the classroom and the environment wasn't quite right for me. A few years later a position opened up in the social studies central office. Again, I went through the process up to (almost) the bitter end before pulling myself out. I was pregnant with our first child and didn't think I could handle two major life changes at the same time.

Now I'm left wondering if I'm afraid to move on to something new. I have taught three different grade levels, worked with classes full of English Speakers of Other Languages students, special education students, and gifted students, and done a variety of extra activities for my school and county.I've earned a master's degree, achieved National Board Certification, added an endorsement in gifted education and nearly finished an endorsement in supervision and administration. I would have said I push myself and take risks professionally. Now I'm not so sure.

I don't know if this matters. It is something I feel I need to be thinking about. My parents have long told me that I will regret more those things I don't do over those things I do. I don't want to miss opportunities out of fear, especially if I don't recognize it as such.

Update: Apparently I shouldn't write blog posts as I'm doing other things. This clearly came across as me wondering if I should attempt a new path right now and I didn't intend that at all. I was simply ruminating over options from my past. Right now I am perfectly content where I am. I just want to be sure that I don't let fear rule my decisions in the future.

Penny Drive for Haiti

Just after the earthquake in Haiti our school decided to do a penny drive. This is a school with about 65% of our students receiving free/reduced lunch. The money poured in for the week and a half we ran the drive.

Lucky for us, this happened just as we were studying coins. So we brought in donations from other classes and figured out how much money was there. We started by sorting the coins (great practice for those students who were still struggling with identifying the different coins). Then we counted each type. We used hundreds charts to figure out how many of each coin was there. Students then had to figure out how to count (by 1s, 5s, 10s). It was an interesting challenge for some.

The few quarters were saved for groups up for the challenge!

This was an amazing learning experience for my class. Eventually they did count groups of pennies, nickels, and dimes. I was quite impressed with them.

Also, the school brought in about $2,200 for the relief efforts in Haiti!

(The penny drive was suggested by a third grade class and my first grade daughter. Honestly, I couldn't be prouder.)

Reason #829 Why I Love My School

I've got a student who is pushing me and I'm failing in my responses to her. She's made such progress since pre-school, but that isn't helping me as much as one might hope.

I've started the paperwork for child study/local screening to get some help because I'm at a loss. But that's a long process. It will be a month before we meet.

So, I pulled together my own 'child study' committee. I sent emails to some fabulous primary teachers and asked if they would be willing to meet with me to talk about this little one. One morning, in the brief half hour we have before kids arrive, three teachers sat down with me to brainstorm about this child. It was fabulous.

These are teachers with their own classrooms, their own students, their own responsibilities. However, they were generous with their time and energy. They had brilliant ideas and we've been trying some new things. I feel so lucky to work with such amazing folks.

New Golden Rule

There are students who drive me crazy. That's not something that teachers are supposed to admit, but it's true. However, I've been mulling this over quite a bit.

I respond differently to those students who annoy me. If they are tapping a pencil I assume they are doing it on purpose. If they are humming I assume they are trying to disrupt those around them.

But, when I stop to think, I don't believe these things are intentional. I teach first graders. They tap fingers, hum, whistle, wiggle, squirm, etc. It's not intentional, at least not the great majority of the time. They are simply being first graders.

When I recognize that students are doing these annoying things subconsciously without an attempt to annoy or disrupt I respond to them in a very different way. I respond with patience and care. Not surprisingly they then react with respect.

My reminder to myself is to respond to students as I would want my daughters' teachers to respond to them. (I think that's my new golden rule of teaching.)

Put a Fork in Us

Spring break is next week. We all need it.

I teach first grade and I am the mother of a first grader. I see the lives of six year olds all day. I know they are tired. Of course they are tired. We work them. We make every second of every day count.

But here's the thing. I'm tired, too. Making every second of every day count is a bit exhausting.

When I'm on top of my game I can help students who are tired to find strategies to cope. I can modify and accommodate to keep them learning and get them through the day.

I'm not on top of my game when I'm tired.

When we're all wiped out, how do we keep first grade going?

Failure

Maybe it's that I'm still tired from losing that hour of sleep this weekend. Maybe I'm cranky because it's Monday and I have a 3 hour class tomorrow night that amounts to jumping through a hoop. I don't know.

Regardless of all that, I'm sick of hearing about how our public schools are failing.

I do believe our schools can do better. I do not believe they are failing.

There are areas in which we desperately need to improve. We must do more for children living in poverty. We must help students learn to problem solve and be creative rather than follow directions and conform. We must be willing to question the status quo. I believe schools could work better with significant changes.

However, I'm a product of public schools. Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Richard Feynman, and Katie Couric are all products of public schools. Most of the people crying that our public schools are failing are products of those same public schools. Most people are happy with their local public school. It's 'public schools' they don't like.

We educate everyone (not always perfectly but we take them all). We attempt to offer options to meet the needs of gifted students, students with disabilities (physical, emotional, learning, etc.), and those who just don't fit in.

We're not perfect, but to say we're failing (and to say it from the highest offices in the land and on the covers of magazines and newspapers and on the daily news and on and on) is a slap in the face. So far we're turning the other cheek, but at some point we're likely to give up, give in, and walk away. Then our public schools will fail.

We're Not Diagramming Sentences, Part II

Our fascinating discussion of sentences continued on Friday. After talking about what sentences are and what they are not and then the parts of sentences and what sentences can be a part of, we moved on to how sentences are related to other things.

As I mentioned I was a bit nervous about this piece. It's hard for me to make clear connections about relationships in abstract ideas so I'm never sure what the kids will do.

However, I'm always willing to throw it out there and see if we sink or swim. And, almost always, we swim, thanks to the kids. This was no exception.

They started with some basic relationships - sentences are related to books because books have sentences. Sentences are related to words because words are in sentences.

Then they began to stretch a bit. They mentioned that sentences are related to names because both have letters in them. Then, sentences are related to what we say because they both have ideas. They were genuinely thinking about sentences in the world around them to consider the relationships.

Every time they would mention something they believed sentences to be related to, I would hold my breath. Usually the idea sounded absurd to me, until they explained their thinking. Then, as usual, it sounded brilliant. I try so hard not to underestimate my students and I think I fall short everyday.

TEDxNYED Reflections

There have been so many thoughts flying around the blogosphere about TEDxNYED I'm not sure where my own thoughts begin. I'm not going to get involved in the critiques of the format; I can accept that different conferences have different set-ups and leave it at that.

When the videos get posted on the TEDx channel on YouTube I'll watch most, if not all, of them again. Trying to process 14 live talks and 2 videos in an eight hour day is beyond my capabilities. Add to that the excitement and joy of talking with and meeting folks I've only known virtually or not known at all and the day was exhausting. In the best possible way.

Michael Wesch's presentation was fabulous. I have to admit that having seen the videos his classes have created I was a bit hesitant about him. I had some fears of his being cheesy or condescending or something (I'm not really sure what). My fears were completely unfounded. He began with a hilarious story that will make watching his video completely worthwhile for it alone. My big take-away from him is the idea that we need to honor students' interests and passions. It was intriguing to feel such a connection regarding goals for our students when he is a college professor and I teach first grade. It suggests that the differences between the various levels are not as significant as we may think.

David Wiley was someone with whom I was completely unfamiliar. Of all the new-to-me faces at TEDxNYED he may have been my personal favorite. He spoke on the idea of 'openness' in education. This section of the conference was the most challenging to my thinking. In theory I agree wholeheartedly with the idea of openness. In reality I'm not sure where we should draw the line or how we make this work while still honoring everyone's efforts. It's something I will be thinking more about. Wiley also said, "Technology always plays opposite its nemesis, policy." I thought last weekend that I needed more time to think about that sentence and I still do. I think it's the 'always' that makes me uncertain.

George Siemens was another I did not know before TEDxNYED. He spoke about connections and transparency in education. This is another talk I need to watch again (and maybe again). I was really struck by this, "We want to disrupt what it means to be a teacher and to be a learner." I don't think we will be able to enact any sort of meaningful change without disrupting that. Siemens also earned immense respect for me when he said, "We drop so much on the educational system it's amazing it functions as well as it does."

The final batch of presenters was one I had been really looking forward to. It began with Dan Cohen of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University (just down the road for me). I had never met Dan but was familiar with him through my husband, a college professor who has worked with Dan in a variety of ways. Dan's talk was fun, interesting, and exceptionally well done. I highly recommend watching it when these are posted soon.

Dan Meyer was another in this final group. I have read his blog for some time now and appreciate the ways he pushes himself and others. His talk was not new to me (for which I was actually pretty grateful by this point in the day). That said, it's the first talk I'll be pushing people to watch. He's a high school math teacher with the mantra, "Be less helpful". I've been talking about his presentation all week with others at my school. He's an engaging presenter with an important message. At one point in the talk he said, "I'm going to retire into a world my students run." That's something teachers need to remember everyday (as does everyone, really).

Finally, the day ended with Chris Lehmann. I've been familiar with Chris since attending Educon last year and I am convinced he is one of the brightest, most charismatic, important voices in education today. Again, this was a talk that was not new to me. Chris had mentioned concerns that many folks in the audience had heard him say these things. I firmly believe they are worth hearing often. Everyone at TEDxNYED spoke with passion, but no one is quite like Chris. He can barely contain himself when he begins talking about education and it is inspiring. Watch this one.

There are many great reflections on TEDxNYED out there. Shelley Krause has wisely and generously set up a wiki collecting them. There are a few I highly recommend:
Chris Lehmann
Will Richardson (Reading this one will give you a real sense of what the day was like.)
Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach
Jose Vilson

My reflections just cover the talks, and only a few of those. I met and talked with so many amazing educators that day from breakfast through to dinner. I hope to spend some time thinking deeply about that aspect as well, because it was equally important to me.

We're Not Diagramming Sentences

In thinking about our focus for writing my co-teachers and I decided to look at sentences. This is a surprisingly difficult concept for first graders.

We decided to tackle the idea through the patterns of thinking. Yesterday we talked about identity/other, what is a sentence and what is not a sentence. It was a pretty basic discussion. The most interesting piece of it, in my mind, came when one student said that one word is not a sentence. We put in a thinkblock, charted it, and moved on. A minute or two later another student took us back to that, saying, "I think one word can be a sentence. Sometimes we just say hi." So we added a thinkblock to what is a sentence and added the idea that one word could be a sentence to our chart.

Today we discussed the parts of a sentence. (In the picture I was trying to draw a thinkblock to include the parts we were putting in our actual thinkblock. I'm not an artist.)

The students came up with the things we would have expected: periods, words, letters, question marks, etc. They also mentioned spaces, an idea that is still challenging to some first graders and one that had not occurred to me. The idea that pictures can be a part of sentences was mentioned in reference to books for young children that often use pictures for some of the more difficult words (think Highlights magazine).

Finally, we talked about what sentences can be a part of. This is always a bit of a challenge at first. But, pretty quickly, students began spouting ideas: books, stories, poems, paper, speech bubbles, etc. The surprise for me was a student saying boxes. When I asked him to tell me more, he pointed at a box with instructions on the side. I was thrilled. If my students begin noticing sentences everywhere then we are making good progress! They also mentioned the idea that sentences are a part of talking. Success!

Tomorrow we will discuss how sentences are related to other things. I'm always a bit hesitant to tackle this pattern because it's not as easy for me to see. This could be fabulous or it could crash and burn, we'll see.

I have thoughts about TEDxNYED but not enough time to put them into any meaningful order. Maybe this weekend I'll manage it.

TEDxNYED

At this moment I'm sitting in the auditorium of The Collegiate School in Manhattan awaiting the first speaker of TEDxNYED. The past couple of weeks have been so busy I haven't even had time to get excited about this. I am now.

You can watch the live stream at the site. There are many great folks presenting today. Enjoy!

Parent Support is Critical

One of my more challenging students has really been giving us a run for our money recently. A couple of us went to her home to meet with her folks a few weeks ago. It was a good talk and, while I didn't think it would cause an overnight change, it felt hopeful.

Since then I've been writing a note in her homework agenda about her day each afternoon. Yesterday was a rough day and she was really rude so I wrote about that. She takes the note home and returns it to me the next day with a parent signature.

This morning it came back with a note. It says, "She promised me that she is going to be rude again."

I hope this is an issue with English not being the native language. If not, we're in trouble.

How Long is Too Long?

During a class this evening I chatted with a teacher from another school in my district. I asked about her principal because I was uncertain if he was still there. He is. He has been for 20+ years. She had mostly good things to say about him, although she did admit he is not much of an instructional leader.

My principal has been in place for about seven years and was an assistant principal at our school for four years before that. I'm in no hurry to see her leave.

Why does a principal being in one position for twenty years strike me as a problem? Should we expect principals to change more often than that?

Do I like having my principal remain because change is hard? Or is it because she is helping us do great things? Both?

I'm surprised at how much this brief conversation got me thinking about the role of the principal and how it does/should change over time. I've come to no conclusions at this point and I'd love to hear others' thoughts on principals and their tenure at a school.

Really? Seriously?

This picture was taken on the way to school about a month ago. We pass this strip club everyday. In the afternoon (even as early as 4:30) the parking lot is full and the bouncers are out. In the morning it's just another spot in a quiet strip mall.

However, on several mornings over the past few months this bus has been there. It's from an elite private school. One morning there was a BMW there as well and it appeared that a child was moving from the car to the bus.

Wouldn't one expect a family that drives a BMW and sends their offspring to elite private schools to have a better plan than meeting the bus in a strip club parking lot? There's a bank just two doors down.

Educon 2.2 Reflections

As always I've gotten completely caught up in life and not taken time to reflect on the wonder that was Educon (it's really pathetic because we're on our fourth snow day in a row, so I have no good excuse).

For me the overwhelming take-away from Educon was passion. The importance and value of that word and idea started for me at the panel on Friday night at The Franklin Institute. The panelists, a fabulous, diverse group, were asked to answer the question, "What is smart?"

Initially the answer that struck me least was the one from Loren Brichter. He spoke about helping students get motivated to find their passion. The more I thought about the different responses the more this struck me as critically important. However, I think students find their passion just fine. We need to figure out how, as educators, to get out of their way.

The idea of passion continued to resonate with me throughout the sessions on Saturday and Sunday. Even if the word was never mentioned, the idea was there. These presenters were there, leading discussion, because of their passion around education and a specific question or issue (the value of play, technology and teacher education, leadership, etc.).

I think that is the power of Educon. Everyone is there because of their shared passion for improving education. There has been much talk since the conference about action. Many folks are concerned that we are doing a lot of talking but not making any change. Those concerns are valid. But I'm grateful for the conversations and for the opportunity to see so many passionate educators gathered together. It gives me hope.

If you are interested in others' thoughts post-Educon, Shelley has collected many here.

Drowning at Educon

I'm at Educon 2.2 this weekend. I went last year (see here and here) and found it to be just about the best, most thoughtful, most thought-provoking conference I have been lucky enough to attend. This year I've dragged my husband along.

Yesterday we toured Science Leadership Academy and attended the panel discussion on "What is Smart" at the Franklin Institute. It was fabulous and I've overflowing with thoughts, ideas, and questions. Hopefully, I'll actually manage to post some of that. I'm sure I'll be tweeting frequently at least.

Disclaimer: Not Directly Related to Education

NPR had a story this evening about the absurd number of people sitting in jails because they can't make bail. These people are poor; they may only be needing to pay a bail of $150 but they don't have that money. Studies have shown that people who make bail serve much less time than those who must remain in jail. On the outside they have the chance to show they can do the right thing or to get into rehab. Biding their time in jail they can do nothing. Most of these people committed non-violent crimes.

I'm reminded of the opening of Les Mis. Is it really possible that this is how we treat people?

Not long after hearing this story my daughters and I spent $70 at Target, $45 to fill up our minivan, and $12 to go through the car wash. I didn't have to think hard about any of that. How can I live such a privileged life while others lack so much? How can we as a society accept this?

(My husband's immediate response to my comments about this at dinner was, "What can we do about it?" I'm not clear on anything we can do about it, but I appreciated the question.)

Who Would You Put on a Coin?

My students are learning about money and coins. The first grade next door is doing the same. The other teacher and I were looking at some large, paper coins to use in lessons and the set included a Sacagawea dollar coin. This teacher sighed a bit and I asked about her reaction.

Basically, she said that she felt a better choice could have been made for a woman on the coin. Or at least a better image could have been used than one of her and the baby. She felt it presented a very specific view of what a woman can be.

I'm not sure I completely agree with her, but it did raise a really interesting question for me. If you could choose an American woman to be on a coin who would you choose? How about an African-American to place on a coin?

I'd love to hear folks' thoughts on this. I'm also interested in why. How we prioritize individuals in history fascinates me. And, so far, I haven't been able to decide who I would choose. I'll have to get back to you on that.

Don't Ask Questions if You Don't Want to Know the Answer

I sat in our team meeting this morning aware that there was some teasing comments and quiet giggling about something I had completely missed. I don't like to be left out (I figure that sort of personality flaw helps me better understand my students).

After the meeting I couldn't help myself and had to go and bug another teacher to find out what was causing all the rumblings.

Yesterday a first grader brought a condom to school.

I have no more details than that, except that it was discovered because it was being passed around. I don't know if it was open, but I hope not. I don't know if the child discovered it hidden away and knew it must be exciting or if she had it for less innocent reasons. I have no idea if she has any idea what a condom is. So many questions.

As a result, I feel slightly uncomfortable making jokes about it, but they pop to mind so quick. I want the whole thing to be innocent so that I can joke guilt free.

Being Bossy

We just read this last week. I have Bossy Bear at home and love reading it. So when I saw Just Like Bossy Bear in a friend's classroom I couldn't wait to read it to my class.

The kids loved it just as much as I do. After we finished they talked a little about Bossy Bear and his best friend and how they changed throughout the book.

Then they started talking about how they want to be bossy when they grow up. I don't think they got the message David Horvath or I wanted them to get.

Student Teaching & Learning

Our class has an intern (long-term student teacher) for this semester. As a general rule there are things I love about having an intern and things that drive me a bit crazy.

- I love having another set of competent hands.
- I love having someone else who knows my students well.
- I love being forced to think about and explain why I do what I do.
- I love (mostly) having to be my best teacher self all the time (no slacking off).

- I miss having a bit of me time.
- I never like any extra paperwork.

Obviously the positives far outweigh any of my frustrations. This current intern is a career changer and not a young-un. I think this is one of the reasons she is comfortable jumping in, getting to know the kids quickly, and asking lots of questions. I love the questions! I'm always worried that I'm spending my time explaining the wrong things. I also really appreciate another perspective on the students and on the constant choices I make as a teacher.

I hope she is learning a lot in our classroom because I always learn and grow when I work with an intern.

Mo Excitement

I can't believe I haven't written about this. I wrote about my students writing a pigeon book, a la Mo Willems.

I did not write about the exciting twist that story took. Somehow Mo found our fabulous book and blogged about it himself! I was so excited when I read it that I emailed it to everyone I could think of.

Later that day I shared it with the kids. I showed them other posts on his blog first to help them understand the medium (they have no understanding of blogs). Then I showed them the post about our book.

Their response was not what I expected. As soon as they saw our title they all started screaming out, "He took our book!", "What's he doing with our book?" and such. I immediately set about reassuring them and telling them they should be excited. After a bit I think I convinced them and they were thrilled.

Later I realized that we had been working all week on writing new books. We were researching topics and trying to put things in our own words. In some small way I feel like they learned a great lesson (which I may have undermined with Mo's blog post).

Confession

I am inherently lazy. I'm not proud of that fact but I know it to be true. In my classroom I have to constantly fight my natural tendency toward laziness. During intersessions, I indulge it.

I plan my intersession classes to be as little work for me as possible. I do read aloud to the kids everyday. I do have to give directions for activities. But I really aim for most things to be as independent as possible. (It seems wrong that I get paid for this.)

One of the activities we did this week was to trace three-dimensional shapes to try and create a pattern to build our own copy of it. I modeled this for the kids and then gave them all paper and cubes. It was tough. They struggled.

Eventually one or two managed to make it work. The pride and excitement was strong enough to touch. The motivation for the rest of the group was unparalleled. They went at the task.

I put out pyramids and rectangular prisms. They grabbed them up. Those that were still struggling turned to the ones who knew how to do it for help.

My presence was only needed to celebrate the achievements. Kid after kid would bring their patterns to show me that they worked. "Wow! Awesome! Way to go!" And off they go with another shape. This is pretty close to heaven for a lazy teacher.

Open Eyes

I love getting to know other students during intersession. I also enjoy the break from my own students. However, sometimes I get to see something completely new in kids I know well.

I've got one of my own little darlings this week. She is a hard worker and my amazing co-teacher works with her in reading recovery. She is always raving about this little one. While I am glad to hear such news about my little darling I haven't seen such quick learning in quite the same way in the classroom.

This week we looked at two-dimensional shapes for a couple of days. At one point students were discussing shapes based on the number of points each has. This little darling could not accurately count the points. She and I worked together on several shapes practicing. Throughout the rest of the morning she would bring shapes to me and show me how she counted the points. It was great!

Today we are using three-dimensional shapes. The kids are tracing the faces to try and create a net (pattern) to build their own. It's a challenge but they are working hard. My little darling has noticed that these shapes also have points. She has counted them for me. Accurately! I am amazed.

Insanity & Adoration are Closely Related

Intersession means I work with new kids for a week. Some of them I know from previous intersessions. However, many are completely new to me. By the end of the first day there are some I adore and some that are driving me crazy. (Sometimes those categories would surprise their classroom teachers.)

I often try to learn something about the ones that are driving me crazy as quickly as possible. I only have a week or two with them so I don't want to waste it. If there are effective strategies I should be using or important details I should know, I want to learn it quickly.

This week one boy nearly drove me out of my mind the first day. I spoke to some other teachers after school and learned just a bit about his home life and emotional issues. I was able to be more patient with him yesterday.

Today we are worked with geoboards. I gave them time to play with them, we talked about making shapes and finding other shapes in them, and I gave them shapes to try and copy. They all enjoyed it. This one boy was especially engaged. He showed me shape after shape he created and things he noticed about them. He nearly jumped out of his chair with excitement when I put shapes on the table for them to copy. I sent kids to him when they were struggling to create a certain shape. He was able to be a leader and role model.

I don't think I've changed his life. But he's changed me. I needed the reminder that I have the power to make school successful for kids. I also needed the reminder that kids are so complex. The behaviors that were driving me crazy are not gone but there is so much more to him. He's become one of the kids I adore. And that's my constant goal, to have all the kids be kids I adore.

Graduate School and Life

I took two classes in the fall for my endorsement in Supervision and Administration. I enjoyed the classes, but I have to admit that I didn't work as hard as I should have (or, really, hard at all). I'm not very invested in the courses because I don't want to be a principal but I'm almost finished with the endorsement so it seems worth finishing.

I got my grades yesterday and I received and A- and an A in the classes. How is this possible? My husband (a college professor) believes it is because these classes are basically a joke. Some co-workers think it is because an A is the standard and you have to do a really bad job to earn less. I want to think it is just because I am that brilliant. (But I think their theories are more likely.)

There is no way I could do a master's degree or an endorsement full time. I work for financial and emotional reasons. I need to be able to take classes around my work and family life. However, I want those classes to be rigorous enough to warrant the degree or endorsement. Is that possible?

In An Ideal World

We're having intersession this week (explained at the end of this post). I'm teaching a geometry class to first and second graders.

For the past few weeks I have read about geometry in several fabulous books about math (Teaching Student-Centered Mathematics, Grades K-3 and Math Matters and Navigating through Geometry in Prekindergarten-Grade 2). These books gave me a great foundation for geometry and for how children learn and understand geometric concepts.

Next I went through our district's curriculum expectations for first and second graders to begin to determine our focus for the week. Finally, I browsed through a variety of books with activities and ideas to begin planning.

This was all fairly time consuming. However, it is how I would like to plan for everything I teach. I want to have such a deep understanding of the theory and the curriculum and be able to see the big picture. I just can't find the time.

Should I tackle one subject area each school year until I begin to have a handle on them all? Should I work on one area for a few weeks and them move on to another? Should I just keep trying to figure it all out at once?

How do others deal with this?