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?