My Own Personal Issues

I have one coat closet in my classroom. For the first part of the year that was sufficient. Anytime my students needed to get into their backpacks it became a bit of a nightmare, but worked fairly well. Once winter hit and everyone was wearing heavy coats, it all fell apart. Students tossed backpacks and coats into our one coat closet and they spilled out everywhere. The coat closet is just inside our door so they were always in the way. It drove me insane. I had to do something about it before I starting throwing coats and backpacks into the hallway, immediately followed by their owners.

I got two big tubs and put them on the sides of the classroom for backpack storage. Two tables put their backpacks into one tub and the other two tables put their backpacks into the other. Sometimes these tubs are neater than this, but they at least contain the backpacks.

That left us plenty of room for coats. I'm slowly training the kids to hang their coats up on the back row of hooks if they are the first ones in. So far we've only had a few coats land on the floor throughout the day. There's also a basket hidden in their to hold hats, scarves, mittens, and other random cold weather necessities.

I'm not sure what it says about me that this was so critical to my sanity. Regardless, it has greatly improved my attitude throughout the school day. That's worth a lot.

More on Educon 2.1

Educon is fabulous and I'm sure I will have many more posts about it in the next few days. However, for those who aren't lucky enough to be here, there are ways to feel a part of the fun.

There are a bunch of pictures on flickr and will be more, I'm sure.

You can follow the twitter stream of all tweets involving Educon.

If you feel really into all the excitement, you can go to the wiki to watch the streams of the sessions. (Click on sessions by title and facilitator and you will see the links to the channels.)

Initial Thoughts on EduCon 2.1

I'm lucky enough to be in Philadelphia this weekend for EduCon 2.1 at the Science Leadership Academy. I spent yesterday afternoon wandering around the school, talking to students and teachers, and enjoying myself.

I have no knowledge of high schools, having taught elementary all my career. My last experience with high school was when I was a student. As a result, I'm sure I didn't get as much out of my time yesterday as many high school teachers would have.

That said, I was beyond impressed with SLA and the students here. Two freshmen girls gave me a tour of the school and their excitement and enthusiasm were contagious. They talked about their teachers and classes the way elementary school students do. They clearly adore their teachers, principal, and school. Students in classes stopped to explain to us the work they were doing. They were completely comfortable talking with us as equals. It was highly impressive.

Chris Lehmann has created (I'm sure he would say, with lots of help) an atmosphere of learning that is unparalleled. Students have been as involved in EduCon as many of the teachers. They are clearly very invested in their own education in a way that, I think, most high students are not. It has given me a lot to think about.

Center of a School

I've recently come to the conclusion that the librarian is a significant hub at any school. In our school of about 750 students, the librarian is the only person who sees every single student every week. That alone is daunting, but when one considers all the other responsibilities inherent in running a school library the job seems exceptionally difficult.

My second year at our school we got a new librarian. She had been at other elementary schools and at least one high school. She was fabulous. Her lessons tied into our content and engaged our students. She invited teachers into the library as equals in terms of looking for new books to order or organization or any host of other issues. When I attended meetings around our district and spoke with other librarians they always mentioned her name with respect and awe. We were blessed!

She retired in December. She was planning to retire last June, but remained for an extra six months so that her replacement could be ready. That would be Tree. She needed one more semester to have enough credits to be our librarian. So our previous librarian stayed. Our amazing principal made it possible for them both to be in the library for that period. Talk about blessed.

I think our new librarian will continue to raise the bar. She's already met with my team to talk about her plans for our students. She's not constrained by the need to do things the way they've always been done. Most importantly, her first thought is always, "How will this help our students?" I am amazed at how much I think a school gains from having a strong, brilliant librarian as a leader.

Repeaters

Two of my wonderful students are a year behind their peers. One precious boy repeated kindergarten last year and one darling girl is repeating first grade. The boy has been struggling all year. He started the year below grade level in just about every area and continues to fall farther behind. We have just recently started the (very long) process of assessing for learning disabilities.

It's the girl that I find especially fascinating this year. I observed in her classroom some last year as I was attempting to gain some clue about life in first grade. She stood out in that room in part because she was a loner. She seemed completely isolated and uncomfortable. (It should be noted that she had absolutely fabulous teachers.)

At the start of this year she was a completely different child. She was confident, outgoing, engaged, everything we could have hoped. At the end of the first quarter I met with her father and he was visibly relieved to hear how well she was doing. He felt the right decision had been made in retaining her. We all did.

Now, halfway through the school year, I have my doubts. She seems to be pulling into herself more and more. She is disengaged during lessons, seeming to space out. She still achieves academically at a higher level than the great majority of her classmates, but it doesn't seem to matter to her. She's starting to resemble the student I observed last year.

I don't know what would have happened had she gone on to second grade. Maybe she would have struggled in the same way as last year from day one. Maybe at some point things would have clicked for her however and she would have soared. There's no way for us to know.

In the upper grades I didn't face the issue of retention in the same way as I will in first grade. It was unheard of for us to retain students at that level and I completely agreed. I was shocked last year to learn how many students we were retaining in kindergarten and first grade. However, I assumed I simply didn't have the knowledge to know what we should do.

Watching these two students has me wondering anew. Is anything gained when we retain students? How do we know when/if it will benefit a child and when it will hurt them?

Generosity

Over the years my school has worked with a variety of business partners. They've supported us financially, they've mentored students, and they've volunteered their time to help on special occasions. This year, however, we had the most visible gift from any business partner yet. Capital One put together gift bags for every child at our school, about 750. The bags differed by grade level, but every single one had gloves and a book. The little guys (kindergarten and first) got coloring books, crayons, bouncy balls, candy, and more. I'm not sure what all was in the bags for the upper grades. It was exceptionally generous.

I was looking through our school newsletter the other day and noticed a brief note about these bags. It said that the employees at Capital One had decided to use the money for their holiday party in this way. Exceptionally generous.

Huh?

As I dropped my class of in the gym today I was told that one of my students (Rubber Band) was leaving early. As she and I walked back to the classroom to get her backpack she asked, "Why am I going home?" I said I didn't know why. She said, "Am I sick?"

I said, "I don't know. Are you sick?"
"I guess so."
"Really? And your dad figured it out before you or I did?"
"Yeah."

Amazing talent he has.

First Grade Private Eyes (with the emphasis on eyes)

I taught a week-long, intersession course on Cynthia Rylant's books. Somewhere in my planning I decided to call it The Case of the Intersession Excitement. As a result, we focused a bit on her High-Rise Private Eyes series. I decided I wanted the students to be detectives some during the week. Of course, I decided this at the last minute and had no time to plan really complex, age-appropriate mysteries for them to solve. So, I headed to Amazon. I found You're the Detective. According to Amazon the reading level is for ages 4-8. I think that's fairly absurd, but I did manage to pick out four different mysteries I thought they could solve. (The book seems perfect for the upper grades.)

Each of the mysteries has a black and white drawing of the 'crime scene' on one page and a short story with prodding questions on another page. Each day I would read them the story, then give them each a copy of the picture and read the story again. I used some of the questions and added questions with hints of my own to get them rolling. Then I would walk away and have them talk in small groups to try and solve the mystery.

First of all, they were really into it. I truly enjoyed eavesdropping on the conversations. However, the thing that struck me the most was their impressive observation skills. As they looked at those pictures they saw things I had completely missed. I think part of this is due to their inability or only fledgling ability to read. They aren't as focused on text when they are looking at a book and they really take in the illustrations. As a result, their skills are much better for noticing details in pictures than mine. They may not have the background knowledge to make meaning of everything they notice, but they don't miss anything.

I've noticed this in my own two girls (a kindergartner and a two-year old). It strikes me when they notice certain balloons (Pooh or Dora) in a crowded grocery store or when they see a family member in the background of a photograph. Their eyes are sharper than mine in this way.

My oldest is just beginning to read. I am watching closely to see if her observation skills begin to decline as her reading skills increase.

Who's Being Bugged?

I'm currently teaching first and second graders during our week long intersession (due to our modified calendar we have these short, optional periods three times each year). Not surprisingly it's the first time I've taught this age during intersession and it's eye opening. I give them more slack during this time because it's not as academic. We're studying Cynthia Rylant's books and having a blast.

One little guy in my afternoon class has been driving me a bit crazy. He's unable to sit still or to focus on anything, including the fabulous books I'm reading to them! He's done a pretty good job of not disturbing others so I've let it go so far.

A few minutes ago he came over and told me about all the bugs in their apartment. He said they keep biting them and they have blood all over, "from us," he said. He said that he has trouble sleeping because they bother him and he's itching so much.

No wonder Cynthia Rylant isn't as engaging as I had hoped.

Halfway to What?

I'm halfway through my first year in first grade. I've said before that it was surprisingly challenging to adjust to the move from fifth grade to first. A lot of it is getting better. The credit for that goes, in great part, to the literacy coach and the special education teacher that I work with. They have been willing to problem solve with me and have been great models for me to watch.

There are so many things that are beginning to feel comfortable. I'm getting the hang of making the content accessible for first graders. I'm beginning to understand how they are learning and how I can help that process. The biggest problem I'm still facing in classroom management. It's painful. For the five or six years prior to this one, classroom management required little thought or effort. It felt natural and I had a huge bag of tricks ready for when things got a little more challenging.

Now, I feel like my responses are all wrong. I'm unable to anticipate quickly enough and head off problems. I haven't figured out how to redirect students in order to help them refocus. And, worst of all, I spend way too much time yelling - not helpful. This is my big goal for 2009. I expected classroom management to be a challenge, but I underestimated how big a challenge.

I'm open to any suggestions of good books, websites, and other resources to help me mull this over.

We're Low on His Agenda

Obama has chosen his Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan. In my mind this is a really disappointing choice. He's not Michelle Rhee or Joel Klein, but he isn't that far off either. He's the CEO of the Chicago Public Schools. Schools that, as it has been pointed out, the Obamas did not choose for their children.

This is a choice that means things will not change in education during an Obama administration. I think it shows that education is low on Obama's agenda (something I don't find too surprising given the state of our economy and Iraq and Afghanistan). I don't have to like it however.

I had my reservations about Linda Darling-Hammond because I don't think she would have been revolutionary enough. I would have like to see Deborah Meier in the job, but she's probably smart enough to turn it down if it were offered. At least Darling-Hammond would be walking into the job with some experience in the classroom and in school buildings. As Alfie Kohn said

Imagine--an educator running the Education Department.

That is what I had been hoping to see. Instead, we'll spend the next few years fighting for funding in an economic recession while we spend more and more on tests, test preparation, and 'research-based' remediation methods. How sad for our students.

Cursing

I don't mean me cursing, although that does go through my head sometimes.

We've implemented a reward program due to some classroom chaos (due, I'm certain, to my less than impressive classroom management in first grade). Students have been able to earn stickers when they are doing a fabulous job. They've earned a variety of different things (lunch with us, small toys, extra recess). It's worked pretty well. Last week I noticed that one of the stickers we used was probably less than appropriate for first grade.

Very Special Student

I've written before about a student who fascinates me. On a recent morning I needed to complete a county-wide math assessment on a few students, this one included. I went over to his special spot in the classroom to get him and he was working on this:

I tried to get him to stop, telling him he could return to it later. He got quite agitated and, after pushing it a bit longer, I stopped to really look at what he was doing. Once I did so I noticed the creativity he was using to make the title of one of his favorite books. I backed off (after taking this picture) and began the math assessment with another student. A few minutes later this little one must have managed to complete this because he joined us to work on math.

Reality Check

I'm not completely naive. I've looked at my students for ten years now and wondered which ones would end up in gangs, pregnant, in jail, etc. I have some clue about the realities of their lives. My first group of fourth graders are 19 now. I think of them as sophomores in college, although that's probably true for only a small percentage of them.

In the past month or so I have learned of the pregnancies of two of my former students. One is a sophomore in high school, the other is a senior. Neither is a shock, but it is still painful. The senior was the one I learned about today. When she was in third grade her mother was pregnant and diagnosed with cancer. Due to the pregnancy there was little they could do. After the baby was born the cancer was so far along there was little hope. She died that year. The father was accused of sexual abuse and the kids were placed in foster care (actually with a staff member at our school who is phenomenal). Near the end of fourth grade, I think, they were placed on a permanent basis with an aunt one county south of us. I was deeply sad to see her leave our school, but thrilled she had found a more stable home.

When my colleague came in today and shared the news I asked her if there was any way to get a letter to this girl. She said that if I could get it to her by 1 today she could pass it on to the girl's aunt. While my first graders did their math centers I sat down to write.

Dear S.,
D. just stopped by my room with a beautiful picture of you in fourth grade. I have, sadly, forgotten the names of many students from the past ten years of teaching but your name has not been lost to me. Your beautiful smile in that picture brought back so many wonderful memories.
She says you are 17 now. I'm sure D. would never lie to me, but it is really hard for me to believe. She also told me about the baby. I have two daughters now; they are 5 and almost 2. I love them more than I can believe possible. I wish you and your little one the very best of luck. You both deserve the most wonderful things this world has to offer.
If there is ever anything I can do to help you, please let me know.

I included my phone numbers and email address. I don't expect to hear from her, but at least it felt like some sort of action on my part.

I'm left wondering what I could and should have done differently for this child. I don't hold myself responsible by any means. I think I am simply looking for some way to control the situation, some way to keep it from happening again. There is little in life that is as depressing as looking at first graders and wondering which ones will become parents long before they are ready.

I Have a Granny and a Grandmother

I've been working hard to improve my guided reading lessons with first graders. I still feel like they are sub-par, but they are getting better.

Recently one of the books we were reading had a girl and her grandmother in it. The girl called her grandmother Gran. I wanted to be sure the students were able to read that word because I figured it was not one they would immediately recognize. So I asked the kids what they call their grandmothers. I expected to hear things like 'grandmother', 'grandma', 'gram', 'nana' and such.

The first child says, "Eyfly". I said, "No, not how you go to visit her. What do you call her?" He repeated his answer. I tried again to clarify and finally realized that he calls her that.

The next child says, "Flower" or sometimes we call her "Mentenuga".

At that point I realized that I teach in a very diverse school. (I did already know it, just not as clearly as I did at that moment.) These students do not lead lives similar to mine at that age. I love that about my students. I just need to remember it so that I can build their background knowledge appropriately.

Sorrow

This is apropos of nothing on this blog but I just discovered that a former teacher of mine died in July at age 100. Now that I've written the word teacher this line of thinking seems more appropriate here but my interactions with her were far removed from a traditional classroom.

She was Alice Chalifoux. I spent two summers studying with her at the Salzedo Harp Colony in Camden, Maine. By the time I was lucky enough to learn from her she was in her late eighties. The mystique around the harp colony was so great for me before my first trip there that a friend suggested I would be studying with the Yoda of harpists. It was a surprisingly accurate description. She was a tiny woman with an impressive force of personality. I was constantly intimidated by her. In spite of that she pushed me to greater heights as a harpist (which probably helped me reach mediocrity).

This weekend I will play for a Christmas party for the seventh (or so) year. As a result, I've actually been doing some real practicing recently. I think this must be what got me thinking about Alice Chalifoux. The amazing power of the web quickly led me to this video of her on Johnny Carson in 1988.

I can't begin to do her justice in this brief post. She was the principal harpist in Cleveland long before women played in orchestras. She taught at three different schools in Cleveland and ran the harp colony each summer up into her late eighties. She was the grand dame of the harp world, something she probably found amusing. The harp is known as a sedate, elegant, classy instrument. Alice could be all of those things, but none would be her natural state. She was strong, outspoken, witty, and often off-color. The harp world will shine less brightly without her.

Reason 835 Why I Love My School

These signs hang outside our bathrooms. Our fantastic math specialists put these up for teachers to use as their students take bathroom breaks. I've played various games with my students during bathroom breaks for years, but this is much better! They've changed the signs over time so that new ideas and activities are available. To me, this just illustrates the attitude at our school that the students belong to ALL of us. We are all working to provide them every opportunity to succeed.

My Special Friend

One of my most fascinating students this year created this.

He has a special spot in the classroom. It's a secluded area between my teacher cabinet and the back of a bookshelf. I had not intended for it to be used for anything - I was just trying to minimize the space around the teacher cabinet. However, it has been perfect for him. When things begin to overwhelm him he can head to that area. We have left a variety of math manipulatives there for him; pattern blocks, unifix cubes, pentominoes, etc. He has created some astounding patterns and designs with these manipulatives. This flag was one of my favorite of his creations.

Results of Art Class

Presidential Election - First Grade Style

Eight years ago was my first opportunity to teach about a current presidential election. I was psyched! My fourth graders and I did a ton of research about the candidates and the idea of the election in general. We even set up to exit poll voters. Some of my students came in on the teacher workday and stood outside the school to ask voters about their choices. Our plan was to do some graphing with the results and compare to the state and country. However, the students arrived the next day and we still didn't know who the next president would be. We wouldn't know for a few more weeks. It was painful. I really had no idea how to explain the electoral college and the fiasco that was Florida to fourth graders.

Four years ago I taught an intersession class in October about the election. (We're on a modified calendar so we have optional breaks in October, January, and March/April. We offer really fun classes to students who choose to come.) I worked with fourth and fifth graders to learn about the candidates and about how campaigns and elections work. We researched the various positions on important issues, created campaign posters and buttons, and wrote campaign speeches. We then invited other classes to come in, learn from us, and vote. It was a blast.

This year I was nervous. I'm teaching first grade now and I had no idea what to expect when addressing the election. However, I was unwilling to ignore it. So, we read Duck for President and talked about the upcoming election. We used some basic resources for kids online to learn about the candidates. I had students write/draw the most important or interesting things they learned about John McCain and Barack Obama. We created a VoiceThread with what we had learned. The other first grade classes watched our VoiceThread and then all of them voted. The results were overwhelmingly in favor of Barack Obama (but we think the fact that they learned he played basketball was a major factor). It was a really fun experience.

I did learn that first graders latch on to some odd things sometimes. One of the sites we looked at (I think it was Scholastic, but I'm not sure) had fun trivia bits about each candidate. It had their nicknames when they were kids. This is how we learned that Obama had played basketball. The site said that John McCain was called Punk or McNasty as a kid because he fought so much. I didn't spend a lot of time on this fact, but I did share it. It seemed innocent enough to me until one of my students asked me, "What was he called when he farted so much?"

Sadly, she was not the only one who had heard it that way. Many of my students asked similar questions over several days. Come to think of it, maybe that impacted the votes for Obama.