Podcast Ponderings

In case I wondered if I had managed to overextend myself lately, I have proof of it here. Three weeks ago I was a guest on ASCD's Whole Child Podcast on early childhood education. I did manage to listen to it, but never managed to share it here. Hmmm....

 A few things struck me when I listened (and didn't have to worry about what my next contribution would be):

• Thomas Armstrong talks about 'structured play vs. free play' very early on. I've been thinking about that for a while now. When we talk about play, which we do a lot in early childhood, I think we need to keep this in mind.
• "It's a vicious circle with the noose being tightened around the child." I'm not sure who said this, but the phrasing is so evocative and perfect. 
• "Good teachers are really able to integrate powerful learning experiences into play." I believe it shouldn't be up to good teachers to make this happen. It should be built into the structure of our early childhood classrooms. It should be expected.
• "You can crunch things down until it finally lands on five-year-olds." Like the vicious circle quote, this one is powerful. I wish I could turn phrases like these.

I feel really lucky to have been a part of this and glad that ASCD made the effort to have a teacher's voice included in the conversation.

The MTBoS has Amazing Resources

This week's challenge for the MTBoS is related to numerous resources created by math teachers out there. I've spent some time reviewing the ones that either intrigued me greatly or seemed likely to be relevant to my first grade classroom. 

I started with Dan Meyer's 101 questions site. I've been there before and it's a fun place to while away some time. Teachers post images or brief videos and anyone can respond with the first question that comes to mind. It's a way to crowd source ideas for engaging, puzzling math lessons. (In many ways, Dan is the godfather of the MTBoS.)

The next site I checked out was Visual Patterns, started by Fawn Nguyen. I had the pleasure of meeting Fawn at a conference in D.C. back in the spring (I think that's when it was). I greatly enjoyed the little bit of time I got to spend with her. She (like Dan) is another one of those brilliant, fun educators who lives completely across the country from me. Visual Patterns is fascinating. Teacher submit the first three steps in a visual pattern (shockingly enough) and you try to figure out the 43rd step. Very challenging.

Another site worth seeing is Mathagogy ( mix of mathematics and pedagogy). Again, teachers submit (this is quite an amazing community collaborating in all these ways) something to share. This time it's a two minute video showing how they teach something. I may give this a try soon focused on introducing fractions to first graders. I think the process of creating the video would help me reflect and process my thinking in ways that would be immensely helpful.

For sheer wonderfulness, I think my favorite site is One Good Thing. Here teachers share something good that happened in their school day. The tag line is "Every day may not be good, but there is one good thing in every day." Looking at days in that light can drastically change one's attitude (as I noticed last year when I was posting positive school moments on Facebook regularly).

The place I spent the most time was another one new to me, Math Mistakes. Like the others, this is a collaborative project. Teachers post student work samples and folks share their thoughts on the errors. The conversations about student thinking are fascinating. Here is one example that I enjoyed.

On the whole, I am immensely impressed with math teachers. Does this sort of community and collaboration around student learning and teaching exist around science or social studies or reading and writing? Could it (if it doesn't)?

More #MTBoS- Focused on the T

This week's mission in the #MTBoS was focused on twitter. Sadly, I kept forgetting about it so now the next mission is up and I'm behind. Sigh.

So many of the folks participating in the various missions are middle school and high school teachers. Reading their tweets proves to me how much I have forgotten from those years. It's good for me to see this.

It is really fun to see the work samples and ideas from those levels of math content though.

Rose Colored Glasses

One of the greatest things about my school is that we are a full-inclusion school. That means that our ESOL and special education teachers come into classrooms to work rather than pull kids out. There are many, many reasons why I feel that is fabulous. Right now, I just want to focus on one.

We plan together. Every week I sit down with the special education teacher who co-teaches in my classroom and the other first grade teacher for whom that is true, and the three of us plan together. We discuss the things we see that are struggles for our kiddos and brainstorm ways to address them. We celebrate successes and moan about challenges. It’s helpful academically and emotionally.

I’ve noticed the other classroom teacher (an amazing woman who looped up to first grade with her class) and the special education teacher (also fabulous) don’t always see the kids the same way. It’s not a problem. In fact, frequently it’s humorous. The classroom teacher will talk about things that are going well, things her kids can do, things that have improved, and the special education teacher will give her a look. That kind-of over-your-glasses stare (even though she doesn’t wear glasses) that clearly shows she doesn’t buy it. She then gently points out the students that are struggling, the problems they still face, and the things that have remained the same.

Typically, they’re both right.

The classroom teacher has said, “I don’t see my kids the same way other people see them.”

In my mind, that’s a really good thing. The classroom teacher who lives with these kiddos all day, every day, has to see all the positives. It’s the only way we can stay sane! But also, it is important to see what is going well.

The special education teacher, who gets to leave the classroom for part of each day, can focus on what still needs to happen. It makes for a great balance. The two perspectives together mean that we are much more likely to see our kids clearly.

Just a note, this isn’t about special education kiddos. Another great benefit of being a full inclusion school is that our kids are our kids. Labels are much less important on a day-to-day basis.

Thank You, Kirby Larson

Kirby Larson, the author of Hattie Big Sky and Hattie Ever After, among many others, has offered teachers a voice on her blog. Every Tuesday and Thursday she posts a piece from a teacher in a series she calls From the Office of the Future of Reading. Teachers have written about using technology to facilitate ongoing literacy discussions, engaging boys in reading, Banned Book Week, and the power of picture books.

I am so grateful to Kirby (who I now call by her first name after meeting her at the National Book Festival) for giving teachers this wider audience. I'm also grateful there are so many teachers willing to speak up about what they believe as educators. Initially Kirby was hoping to find enough teachers to run a Teacher Tuesday series. Instead, she got enough response to run posts twice each week. Teachers are willing to share and speak out. It is so heartening.

I've been meaning to mention this for a month because I wrote one of these posts back on September 19th.

Exploring the MathTwitterBlogosphere (in primary)

Some dedicated, thoughtful, and busy math teachers have set up a structured challenge to support folks in blogging and connecting about math. I'm never certain I have much to add to the conversation about math as a first grade teacher (where basic counting and number sense are a big focus). But I'm highly intrigued and I learn a lot from these folks.

One option in their first mission is to write about something that makes your classroom distinctly yours. I've been thinking a lot about my classroom (the physical space and what is in it) quite a bit recently and writing about it is the next logical step.

I love my classroom space. I find it welcoming and comforting and a place I genuinely enjoy being. I hope my students feel the same way.

The most noticeable thing in my classroom is that we never have the overhead lights on. I find them jarring and overly bright. Instead, we have four different floor lamps, one in each corner, two small table lamps and Christmas lights strung along two walls. It's a lot to turn on every morning and off every afternoon but it's worth it.

The next thing folks notice is that there is a couch in my room. A regular, living room sofa. (It was my parents' sofa until my mom couldn't figure out why she bought a floral sofa.) It's not institutional or sharp, it's comfortable and welcoming.

I painted one wall of my classroom dark blue. It's another way to keep the room from feeling so sterile.

We also have a piano (it's an electric keyboard but a really nice one so it seems closer to actual piano than keyboard to me).

I only have one table that looks really like a first grade classroom table. I have another table just like that one, but it's only about 18" off the ground and one more big table that is extra tall. The rest of my tables are coffee tables or end tables scattered around. We've got big pillows and bean bags also. Lots of seating choices.

Often I forget that my room looks different from most classrooms. It's been such a gradual evolution to get here that it just feels like normal.

These two pictures were taken by students but they're the best ones I have to see different parts of our classroom. (My first graders do take some great pictures!)

Trust Matters

I've got a little friend in my classroom this year who is cuter than a button (of course, that's actually true for so many of our little friends). This little guy broke my heart yesterday.

When he was younger, about two or three, his parents divorced and it was contentious. He and his brother live with dad and mom lives several hours away. They see her some, but it doesn't seem to be truly regular.

Yesterday he said he would be out today because they were going to his mom's. He was pretty whackadoodle all day, which I attributed to the upcoming visit. (The last time they were supposed to go, mom called and told them not to come. It's not clear to me why, as things are often not completely clear when one hears them from six-year-olds.) So I think my little friend was probably dealing with a lot of mixed emotions.

At dismissal my students were all ready on the carpet and I noticed this little darling was twisting up the bottom of his t-shirt. I guessed he was hiding something and asked him about it. He let go and said there was nothing. So I dismissed him and told him to have a wonderful long weekend. As he stood up he held on to his shirt again and I decided there had to be something there after all. I quietly asked him to come see me, around some furniture from the rest of the class.

When he let go of his shirt a glue stick fell out. Immediately he said, "I didn't know that was there. I wouldn't take that."*

I told him I was so sad he wasn't telling me the truth. His eyes immediately filled up with tears and he couldn't look at me. I tried to talk to him about how I wasn't upset about the glue stick, that I would happily give him a glue stick if he wanted one. I was only sad that he had lied to me.

As I stood there I thought about this little guy's history. I thought about how he probably has a lot of trouble believing in adults because so often they have let him down.

I sat down and pulled him on to my lap. I asked him if he had a project he wanted to do with the glue stick. It took a while of me asking, listening, and showing him that I wasn't upset. Eventually he told me that he wanted to make a birdhouse. I managed not to laugh as I pictured attempts to make a birdhouse with a glue stick and told him that he might need better tools. I promised him we would see what we could do to make a birdhouse. (It totally fits with our new science curriculum and I love to have my kids build but this is a new idea. We'll be doing something with it though. I made a promise.)

The bad/good news is that my little friend is here today. He said mom had to work and they're still going for the weekend. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

*I immediately thought of I Want My Hat Back. We'll have to read this soon.

Benefiting From My Failing Memory

I don't know if it's because I teach first graders or if it's just who I am, but I am constantly on the watch for anything off balance with my class. (Honestly, I think it's me, sadly.) As a result of this, I feel a need to reprimand my kiddos frequently. This might be for dragging their hands along the wall and the artwork on said wall, crawling on top of a friend on the carpet, running in front of the swings on the playground, and such. Most of the time, I believe I have a good reason for redirecting a student or reminding them to pay attention to what they are doing.

Sometimes, however, I think I respond too quickly and chastise or redirect a child who wasn't really doing anything wrong.

Lately I've noticed that I often can't remember my students' names in the moment when I am ready to reprimand them for something (jumping down the hallway, getting up off the carpet in the middle of a read aloud. etc.). Luckily, that turns out to be a good thing sometimes.

In that second that I pause to think of the name, I also think about what I am about to say and realize I shouldn't say a thing. That child jumping down the hallway is staying in line and not bumping into anyone. Why shouldn't he jump? That child getting up off the carpet needs a tissue. I certainly don't want to discourage that!

I'm grateful that my memory failing me at times turns out to rein me in. Hopefully it will also bleed over into those times when their names are quick on my tongue. Hopefully I'll be less quick to call a child out and more likely to reflect before acting.

Gotta Love the Internet

Just before school started someone shared about redditgifts for teachers. I can't remember where I saw it but it was the day before sign up ended and I quickly threw my name in there.

Surprisingly shortly thereafter I received an amazing box of goodies. I was floored.

When I checked out the redditgifts for teachers site I found that many, many teachers had received equally amazing packages.

I love the internet. Even more though, I love the fabulous people out there who will generously and anonymously support teachers in this way and so many others.

Family Portraits

One of the activities my students did in the first few weeks of school was to draw a portrait of their family. I actually worded it as drawing all the people who live with you. Many of our students live with a wide range of people and I want to be sensitive to this. It's easy to refer to having mom or dad sign something or to tell kids to make sure mom or dad is with them at an evening event. I want to be inclusive. Plus, it's helpful for me to have some understanding of their home lives.

Their pictures were awesome. They also had to label the people in the pictures. I wrote any words they wanted up for them to help.

This one surprised me but I've followed up and it's accurate. (Although I believe an aunt and two cousins also live in the apartment.)

This one cracked me up with how tiny the people are.

These are pretty well-drawn bodies from a six-year-old. 

Originally this picture only had my student and his brother (who was in my class last year). I sent the boy back to add the adults who live in his home!

Another one that made me laugh. All that space and the tiny people and tiny labels.

One of the things that fascinated me was the different ways students drew people. Some had so many details and some were more basic. I learned a lot from this.

This one warmed my heart. Her mom doesn't live with her but she told me she wanted to put her in the picture. The girl was really thoughtful about the skin color for everyone in her house. Her parents are of different races and you can see the various shades here. This was really important to her.

Another girl requested that I spell a name. I wrote it for her and then asked who that was. She told me it is her baby sister whose in her mommy's tummy. She then drew the little one in the tummy and labeled her. Beautiful.

It's so easy in a first grade classroom to feel like one is on a hamster wheel, just going, going, going. I love what I see and learn when I slow down to watch and listen.

Students and Mental Health

A week ago Valerie Strauss, of the Washington Post, wrote about the impact of mental health issues on students. Nothing there is shocking but it is still eye-opening and worth reading.

The statistics she shares are interesting, but leave a lot of questions:

Over 70 percent of students diagnosed with mental illness and behavioral health problems by middle school exhibited warning signs by second grade.

• Almost 25 percent exhibited red flags during pre-kindergarten years, including developmental and health issues, adverse social factors and exposure to trauma.

• Twenty-five percent of the children studied had documented traumatic experiences in their records.

So, I would guess that the warning signs exhibited by second grade are exhibited by plenty of students. Noting that students later identified with mental illness or behavioral health problems had such symptoms doesn't mean we should have been able to identify it early. It's much more complicated than this makes it sound.

That last statistic, about the children with documented traumatic experiences, hit hard for me today. We had a practice lock down this morning. I explained the procedure to my first graders, attempting to keep it not too scary but understandable about why we do it and how. After I finished a number of students wanted to share. The first one told a story about a time her family had to lock their doors and call the police because a person downstairs had a knife and killed someone (not sure if someone actually died because she also said the person who was killed was put in an ambulance). Others shared times they had to call the police or get an ambulance, although no other stories were quite as scary to me.

I know many of my students over the years have experienced traumatic events. I'm not sure I know how to help them. Recognizing that they have these experiences or that they have symptoms of mental health issues doesn't mean I have any knowledge about what to do next. I'm lucky enough to be in a district with lots of resources. That's not true everywhere. Our kids deserve the best we can give them. All of them.

I Promise, I Really Don't Like Testing

A couple of days ago Diane Ravitch wrote about California and Texas requesting that the Department of Education allow them to administer fewer tests. The two states had different reasons for their requests and both were rejected. I didn't pay that much attention to California's reason, although I'll be curious to see what happens there (as it looks like they will go ahead and do what they were told they can't do).

The Texas issue, however, really struck me. Both Diane Ravitch and the post she quotes fully support Texas in its efforts to reduce testing. I can't believe I'm about to argue against that.

Texas requested permission not to test every student every year. Apparently students there take 17 tests before they get to high school. That seems to be shocking to some folks. Of course, when I count, our kiddos in Virginia take 11 tests in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. 17 doesn't seem like a stretch before high school at all.

I firmly believe that's too many tests. Way, way, way too many.

Texas is asking to not test children who have passed the previous year. For example, a child who passed the reading test in 3rd grade would not have to take it in 4th grade. If a child passes the test in 5th grade they should not have to take it in 6th or 7th. The reasoning is that students who have previously passed a test are significantly likely to pass the next one.

Well, duh.

It seems like students who didn't pass the test are significantly likely not to pass the next one as well. But Texas wants to keep giving them tests.

I have two issues with this. One is that if children are not passing the test I don't understand how giving them more tests is the best use of their time in school. Every time we administer a test we lose learning time. The kids who are not passing tests need that learning time the most but Texas wants to continue to deny it to them. In these moments I'm always left with the old saying in my head about how weighing a pig doesn't make it fatter (somewhere in there you've got to spend time feeding the pig well).

My second concern is that this would set up a two tiered instructional system (one that is, in many ways, already in existence). Students who pass the tests, overwhelmingly students from middle and upper class backgrounds, would be able to spend their time in school focused on genuine learning, questioning, and exploring while students who do not pass the tests, overwhelmingly students living in poverty, would continue to spend their days with drill and kill like instruction and more tests. (John Spencer had a fascinating piece about this exact issue not too long ago.)

I don't really blame Texas here. Not giving so many tests is a wonderful goal, but I don't believe it should be done in a way that will add to our educational segregation.

Visually Amusing

Yesterday I found myself amused numerous times throughout the day (which was fortunate because it wasn't a highly successful day in my classroom, mostly because of me).

It began on our drive to school. We passed a sporty little black car that had been pulled over for a traffic violation. It's license plate was F-16 Jet. If you're going to drive a car like that and even draw more attention with that license plate, you might want to be extra careful about your speed.

At school another first grade teacher shared a piece of her student's writing that made us all laugh out loud. First graders often inadvertently write things that crack us up as they write down the sounds they hear in words. English is tough.

At recess I watched another first grade class line up. This class has some tiny little cuties in it and one shirt caught our eye. It said 'My game is super sized' but the super sized part was written in big font and really stood out. I snapped a quick shot of that little guy beside one of his classmates.

Finally, watching one more first grade class walk back from lunch I saw a boy with an ice pack on his head, nursing a boo-boo. Right in front of him in line was another boy, this one wearing a shirt with a bat on it that said, 'I may be small, but I still bite.' I'm sure that was just coincidental, but...

Dot Day!

Last week we read Peter H. Reynolds' The Dot for the first time. I don't think my class found it too different from any of the myriad other books we've read in the first two weeks. We read it again before the week was over and then again this morning. Today I asked them about Vashti (the main character) and they talked about how she was brave in the book because she didn't think she could draw but she tried anyway. (Be brave is one of the class rules they created this year.)

So we tried to be like Vashti in a lot of ways today. We made individual dots using watercolors, markers, or colored pencils. Or even all three!

We made our mark on our white board in the hallway (and invited the class across the hall to do so as well).

We created a dot all together. I covered a round table with white paper and we rolled paint on it. Honestly, I had hoped we would cover even more of the white space but it looks pretty nifty as is.

We used FableVision's Big Screen Books to put pictures from The Dot in the correct order. The final time we did, when the whole class was involved, there was much cheering at the end of it.

We made pictures by stamping dots with pencil erasers.

We tie-dyed dots (drew on fabric with permanent markers and then dripped rubbing alcohol on it to bleed the colors).

By the end of the day we had made dots, made our mark, been creative, and taken risks. As an added bonus, we grew more as a community as well.

When we gathered on the carpet for dismissal I asked the students how they had been like Vashti today. Some gave the expected answer that they had made dots like she made dots. Others said they had been brave because they had tried things that were hard for them - with specific examples, no less.

It was a beautiful Dot Day and the beauty from it will continue to shine on display around our classroom. I love it!

Favorite Friends

Oh my goodness the first two weeks of school have knocked me out. Completely. There are at least eight ideas bouncing around in my head that I've had no time to write about. It's wrecking my whole reflection plan.

Last year I wrote speech bubbles for a bunch of Mo Willems' characters hanging around our classroom. This year, thanks to the brilliant suggestion from our librarian, I had the kids do them instead.

I shared the ones I had created last year that couldn't be erased with the students. I talked about how I had looked at the characters and thought about what they might be thinking that would be about first grade. Then I sent them off in groups of three to do the same. I was concerned that this was a bit of a stretch. I was completely wrong.

I'm an especially big fan of the mom and Trixie from Knuffle Bunny. In case it's hard to read, mom is saying, "Why don't you like first grade?" Her facial expression is perfect. 

Trixie looks exactly like a younger sibling who is desperate to go to school with her older sister. 

It took a bit for us to get the spelling, upper and lower case letters, and punctuation correct, but they stuck with it and worked together. It was a highlight of the start of our year together. 

First Grade Photography

I did it! For a couple of years now I"ve wanted to give a camera to a different child each day and have them document our day. But something has held me back.

This summer, at the Northern Virginia Writing Project summer institute, we kept an ethnographer's report throughout the four weeks. Each day a different person wrote what we were doing throughout the day. It was such fun to read and an inspiration to me for my classroom.

So, these are all pictures taken by my student photographer today (except the top one of him taking a picture).

I'm really excited about the possibilities here!