Final Post of the Quarter

As a blogger, I've begun to tend favoring writing about my own real experiences in classrooms. When I started this blog, I was writing about theory and important, relevant books, and about what I envisioned my classroom would look like, etcetera. I think I do my most interesting blogging when I'm writing about what really happened to me. Real experiences > hypothetical future situations, as far as writing interesting posts goes. Then I compare those real experiences to themes we're learning from our classes.

My blogging has become more interesting because I've put myself out there a little more, and write really honest pieces. I definitely do a lot of picking and choosing topics, and I feel restricted in my writing and wont write about every experience I've had in my placements (which is good! Teachers ought to have a good, sturdy filter). 

I think one of the main things that makes some of my blog posts more accessible than others are the use of PICTURES! I know I'm certainly drawn to blogs who have photos on the posts. I think including pictures makes the blog posts more accessible, more interesting, and therefor something that will be more likely commented on. One best post that really highlights this is my post Update on Real Students, Really Blogging. I included some student work (without names) that cracks me up. It's fabulous! It was a topic I was really jazzed about, and I wanted to showcase the students creativity and humor. Which reminds me- I need to check in and find out who won that competition!! 

Real Life Situations 101

This week, I've been waging a war with the flu, while juggling my school work and impending final projects as our quarter comes to an end. Stress! As life happens, the day that I had a fever and felt at my most miserable was the same day that I was teaching the lesson that would be formally observed for our dyad requirements. Real life situations 101!

I survived, and actually enjoyed the lesson. I spent the day conserving all the energy I could muster to be as enthusiastic as possible during the lesson because I was teaching a DREAM topic- using descriptive writing through an illustrated metaphor! Did I mention I love language arts?

I'm writing about this for my blog this week because I learned so much from teaching this particular lesson. This was the first time that I was able to facilitate a whole class lesson, and it was sink or swim. Our cooperating teacher vowed not to step in at any point. There was some swimming, and there was definitely some sinking. I think we, as teachers, really tend to focus on what we could have done better or what we would do differently next time, but I think it's a helpful part of the process of learning. If everything had went well in the lesson, what would I have really learned? So that is why I'm focusing on this for this blog post- so I can really devote some time to reflecting on this experience.

I started out the lesson by reviewing what metaphors they had covered in Chains from a few weeks prior. They remembered the metaphors, and quickly came up with the definition of what a metaphor is (a comparison between two unlike things!), the difference between a metaphor and a simile (a simile uses "like" or "as"! Sorry for all the exclamations, I just have a passion for metaphors and similes), and then I gave them a few examples of some of my favorite, well-known metaphors. One was this:

"Memory is a crazy woman that hoards colored rags and throws away food."

-Austin O'Malley

After quickly modeling what writing a metaphor would look like (I went from brainstorming, to comparing to an unlike thing, to writing), I gave them a challenge list of nouns they would have to work with to come up with 2 of their 5 metaphors. I went through the rest of the instructions, asked for any other questions, and then it was go time!

1st roadblock: Many of my students were asking the same questions that I thought I had already said. This told me that I needed to be way more explicit in my instructions. I called the whole group together again, tried to say my instructions in a slightly different way, and then they went back to writing.

2nd roadblock: Halfway through the period, I realized that hardly anyone realized that these were going to be illustrated metaphors. Oh dear. That was a pretty major component to the assignment... So I called the class back together again, reminded them of this, and asked them to raise their hands to see where they were at. How many students had 3 metaphors? 2? 1? (Oh, dear!) I revised the lesson and told them to stop at 3 metaphors, and to chose the one that they were most proud of to get checked off by me before illustrating. I also realized a few students were really struggling, and I walked around to those students, and gave them a little more support getting started. Such as, "try using ____ word. What could you compare it to?". I've learned from my cooperating teacher that some of the hi-cap kids need more direction to get started.

These were not the only two roadblocks, but these were some ones that I've really been reflecting on. I know in my practice I am going to focus on being very clear in my instructions. I know from personal experience how frustrating it can be to be in a class where the instructor is unclear about expectations. I'm also going to make it a point to tell students about how much time they have to do a task, because these students in particular are pretty good about managing their time if they know specifically how much time they have for a task. From there, I can assess whether or not they will need more (or less) time to complete said task. I feel like, had I focused on those two additional things, this lesson would have been improved.

Today students turned in their finished illustrated metaphors. I was completely blown away by how much care they put into this assignment, and to how creative these students are. Also, this was the first time that I collected an assignment that I had assigned students. From beginning to end, this lesson was the first one I created, taught, and collected the end result. Is there a way to say, that isn't cheesey, that for as much as these students have learned from me, I'm learning so much from them? No? Oh well! I'm learning so much from these students and this experience.

Photos of their original illustrated metaphor work: coming soon!

Learning about Teaching & Writing from Stephen King

At the beginning of the year, I met my wonderful cooperating teacher who shared her summer experience of going to a writers workshop in New York City. She shared with me how much she had learned about herself as a writer and how much it taught her about her students as writers and furthermore what the purpose should be in having them write daily.

These past few weeks I've had my own experience in coming to know myself as a writer while working on our vignette assignment. I sat down and forced myself to write- no matter how terrible the writing is. I'm one of those nit picky people about word choice. I enjoy my flowery words. Something I've learned is to stay true to the content and the meaning of the story you're writing, and to worry about word choice later. Stephen King seems to think it will come naturally, later on. He wrote something rather blunt about writers who overuse the thesaurus, 

"One of the really bad things you can do to your writing is to dress up the vocabulary, looking for long words because you're maybe a little bit ashamed of your short ones. This is like dressing up a household pet in evening clothes. The pet is embarrassed and the person who committed this act of premeditated cuteness should be even more embarrassed."

Did I mention I dressed up my dog as a pumpkin for Halloween this year?

One of the things that got me more excited about my vignette is that we are writing about something personal. This makes it both more interesting and more of a challenge. We should have a clear purpose for what we're asking students to write and why. Just like my cooperating teacher found, through practice in writing, and in drafting writing, I'm becoming a better, more conscious writer and teacher.

Update on Real Kids, Really Blogging!

A few weeks ago I posted about something really wonderful that I was seeing in my dyad placement which was students blogging reviews for books they've read this quarter. Students post to the blog and also search through it to find books that others students have read and reviewed to help them decide what to read next. It was fabulous, and I looked forward to seeing how the blog developed and also if students were using it regularly.

Most students were posting to the blog frequently, but as the weeks went on, it seemed that some students were forgetting to post. This wasn't really surprising, just as some students will forget to turn in assignments or will turn them in late, they will forget to post to a blog.

So, this past week, our dyad teacher started up a book reading competition! Students were in groups according to their table group, and the table group to read the most pages by a specified date get a prize of their choosing. This gave plenty of buy-in for some of those students who were forgetting to blog. Groups chose a team name (they were hilarious), what their page number goal was, and what prize they wanted (also, hilarious). If the teams don't update the blog of their page numbers, they don't count for the competition. This encouraged the kids to start reading and posting to the blog like crazy.

I snapped some pictures of the posters they made for their teams. I am so impressed with these kids, their high goals, and their creativity! It's amazing how a little competition can be so motivational.

Big cupcakes with candy on top! A scrumptious prize. Paper Knights are in it to win it!

This was the only group who didn't ask for homework passes or some sort of treat- they want to be called "Sir" for a month! They crack me up. They've been reading nonstop!

Shampoo the Orca Search Party with very specific gummy worm specifications. I love the artwork on this poster! You can do it, STOSP!

The most talented of all the goldfish! Go team Rainbow Goldfish!

Touring the Educational Apps on iTunes

This week I was busy downloading education apps for my iPad, and I found some useful ones for my students.

Speech with Milo is fabulous. It is a speech therapy tool for children, but it is also a good tool for teaching language development and reading skills to children. I think it would work well for students who are hard to engage or for teaching concepts that are difficult to articulate. It helps students develop basic language building skills, and it ties in well with what we're learning in our literacy class. It also emphasizes storytelling, which is great because it teaches sequencing and it's interactive! Did I mention that the little mouse acts out adjectives and verbs? I'm a pretty big fan of this app.

I'm wondering how I would use this app in the classroom. I can see the benefit for one on one instruction with kids, but if every student doesn't have an ipad in front of them, how would I make this work?

I also discovered some Special Education Apps that can really benefit students with visual, hearing, and/or speaking challenges, and they also account for different learning styles. They have apps in categories that are broken down for communication, emotional development, seeing & hearing, language development, etc. What is completely baffling to me is the price tag of each app. The first one listed is close to $200. Not doable on a students salary, and I suspect not on a teacher's salary either. I wonder why is it so expensive? But, how big of a difference might this make for students with learning or social disabilities who aren't getting the one on one support they need?

I'm currently browsing through the Apps for Teachers and I'm seeing plenty of whiteboard apps that are reminiscent of Mrs. North's portable whiteboard tool. Also, Toontastic is a tool where students can create their own stories, and narrate the stories themselves. It has a few rave reviews from teachers, but it also sounds like they work in schools where each student has an ipad. Again, I'm wondering how this might work if we didn't have enough ipads to go around- but it's still fun to think about the possibilities and the potential for apps in the classroom.

Education-Focused Political Ad for Rejecting Referenfum 74

There is a new political ad about rejecting Referendum 74, from a campaign opposed to same-sex marriage. This ad features a family from Massachusetts who claim that "same-sex marriage could be taught in schools", also assuming that it would be a negative thing to have happen. The ad tries to conjure up negative images of what could happen in our public schools if Referendum 74 is accepted.

I am a LGBTQ activist, a feminist, and a teacher intern- so this ad resonated with me for many reasons. I am constantly balancing my own beliefs with the responsibility of being trained to be a state employee. As soon as I walk into the classroom, I keep my beliefs of myself, which I truly think is crucial for teachers to do. Children really look up to their teachers and we have so much influence. I think it's paramount for them to figure out what they believe in and come to their own conclusions.

This ad references a school in Massachusetts, that was actually sued by multiple families for teaching that boys could marry boys. It was in contradiction to the families religious beliefs.

In reality, many schools are already teaching about all kinds of different families. Families that are headed by single parents, grandparents, and families that are of mixed race or religion are all talked about in schools. We hear many lessons about families in kindergarten, first grade, and higher classrooms. Occasionally, schools are talking about families headed by parents of the same sex.

Based on what I've seen, in my visits to different schools, it seems to me that teaching about families headed by parents of the same sex has become this grey area.

I would be curious to find out if anyone has seen any instances of families with parents of the same sex being brought up in classrooms. More and more children's books are being published that celebrate families who have two moms or two dads, but in my experience, I'm just not seeing them in classrooms.   

So what does this mean for us as we enter our careers as teachers? Is this okay to talk about in the classroom? Is it not? Will it depend on the outcome of Referendum 74?

Charter Schools in Washington?

This election has so many momentous issues on the ballot, and one that strikes particularly close to home for soon-to-be teachers: Initiative Measure 1240. Lately, everywhere I go, I've been confronted with this question of whether or not Washington State should adopt the initiative to create charter schools.

Side note- literally, as I am typing this, a "Say Yes to 1240" commercial is on my television, trying to persuade me to vote YES ("for our children", as the man says. Oh, political ads...). Perfect timing for this blog post!

I feel like this is a really significant issue. If approved, it could have a dramatic change on public education in our state.

The point of my blog post this week isn't whether or not I think it would be a good opinion or what I voted for. I really just want to take the chance to delve into this issue further, and see what is being said about it across the interwebs...

An article titled "Big Money is Behind Charter Schools" begins the article by writing, blatantly, that,

"Voters in Washington state will have a chance to direct public funds toward private bank accounts if they adopt an initiative to create charter schools this November. Who are the bajillionaires behind the campaign?"

This article brings a few important things to mind. These schools would serve less than 1% of WA students (but could that be because they are only proposing the creation of 40 schools? This article does not specify), students from charter schools haven't been proven to do better on standardized tests than students from regular public schools, and corporate sponsors of this initiative have raised millions in support and stand to gain a pretty sizable profit should this initiative be passed.

The Stranger's Election Control Board had this to say,

 "There's a lot of money to be made off of I-1240, hence the $8.3 million backing it got from the likes of Alice Walton, the Bezos family, Paul Allen, and Bill Gates. (The idea that Bill Gates, who never set foot in a public school as either a student or a parent, should tell us how to run them is doubly insulting.)"

A site that was decidedly in favor of approving charter schools for Washington State wrote that charter schools "are free from regulations that dictate curriculum and design", and are therefor more flexible in their curriculum and design. They also wrote that "charter public schools can be laboratories for innovation" and are committed to improvement.

This is what people are writing about this issue. What do you think? What might this look like?

Real Students, Really Blogging!

We've been talking and discussing and questioning the integration of technology in our classrooms and how we might best utilize technology to get it into our students hands. This past week at my dyad, I observed students blogging!

These eighth graders were blogging up a storm by contributing to the classroom blog of student's book reflections. My cooperating teacher has them read books from different genres every quarter, and they write a reflection of the book after they are finished and post it to the blog. When looking for a new book, they can select a genre that they would like to read next, and can use the reviews from past students to give them an idea of whether or not they would like to choose that book.

I've been asking myself about students blogging in the classroom, and what would that look like? With little funding, would that be possible? In this instance, it seems to work really well. Students are blogging for a purpose and are writing about books that are important to them. In my opinion, blogging in this case is better than the alternative. Instead of writing for the teacher as audience, these blog contributors are writing for the audience of their peers. Instead of handing in a paper copy of a review to a teacher who would keep it, grade it, and return it, a whole community of readers and writers is being maintained by this blog. Pretty neat, if I do say so.

Unnamed 10/16/2012

• Dear Teacher, Johnny Isn’t Sick. He’s Just Boycotting the Test. - NYTimes.com
  "Ms. Chajet’s objection is not to testing itself, but to the way tests are being used to evaluate schools and teachers. "
  tags: Blog

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

A Few Lessons from J.K. Rowling

 I came across this today and it resonated with me for a few reasons. J.K. Rowling talks about the "importance of failure" and "the crucial importance of imagination": two things that have been really important themes for me this morning.

The video I found can be accessed here.

J.K. Rowling talks about how she had to experience "failure" to realize what she wanted to do. She persevered through many struggles in her life and wrote some of my favorite fiction of all time. It reminds me of Carol Dweck, who wrote about the importance of praising children for their efforts and perseverance. Instead of saying "you're so smart!", Dweck's research suggests that we should be saying something more along the lines of "it looks like you worked hard at that!" or "good job putting so much effort into that!" This article was really interesting, and showed how children who are praised specifically for effort are more willing to try harder tasks and are not as anxious about making mistakes.

First Successful Diigo Post!

• Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com
  Testing out my diigo skills
  tags: Blog

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Week One in Dyad Placement

Going from kindergarten to eighth grade...

I was overwhelmed the first day, trying to wrap my mind around how different this placement is from my main placement. It would be easier for me to list the few ways that they are similar than to go through the many, many ways that they differ. And how would I remember all of their names when the class period keeps ending, and there is a whole new set of students each hour! I went home, reflected on everything I'd learned, and really let the day sink in.

The second day, our CT had us "jump right in!" and we each taught a lesson on a different period. It was fantastic. It gave me a lot of ideas, I was able to do some constructive reflection on my own lesson, and now I feel much more at ease in front of our silly, smart, and enthusiastic class.

I'm thinking about how, this week, we really started from scratch and jumped right in- knowing very little about the classroom dynamics beforehand. We each taught the same lesson, but they were both so unique. The purpose and the format of the lesson were the same, and even so, each time it turned out differently. I think it's something to think about, especially because I was thinking about the  many districts that require teachers to use a set curriculum. Even in a set curriculum, aspiring teachers can make lessons their own, and that realization was comforting.

Reflection on my Reflection (Paper)

It was hard to go all the way back to my May 30th frame of mind- so much has happened since then! I started out that reflection by discussing classroom communities, how that was a novel idea for me, and how inclusion was such a central aspect to building a good classroom community.
Since May 30th, I've actually seen a classroom community in-the-works. From the very first days of school, until the end of September, I've been there while 24 kindergarteners (some who haven't been to school before) learn what it means to be a part of that classroom community and really grow together as learners. Inclusion was an important idea for me in May, and it still resonates with me today.
Another thing I wrote about in my past reflection was Sir Ken Robinson's "Changing Paradigms". I'm so intrigued by all of the divergent thinkers in my kindergarten placement. They are still so imaginative, and willing to try, and so creative. The first piece of art I received from one of them appeared to be different shades of pink scribbles made into the shape of an arch- and I had absolutely no idea what it was but didn't want to ask. I thanked them for it and said it was wonderful and I like the color pink, etc. The student told me it was "an all pink rainbow!" and I still think that was such a cool thing. Rainbows, in her mind, don't yet have to be ROYGBIV. In my reflection, I also wrote a little about Greene's ideas about the importance of imagination. I hope I can foster an environment where my students can be imaginative, and one where they can apply those ideas to build up their creative genius.
I'm still seeking for a balance between what I wish I could do and be in a classroom, and the reality of the situation. I will be working with a set curriculum, and there is very little wiggle room. I'm so focused on the light at the end of the tunnel (finding a job!), and upcoming challenges (TPA! Affording this! Finishing homework with what time?) that, sadly, there isn't much else that is getting attention. Lately I've been wondering more about classroom management, and how to capture the attention of 24 kindergarteners, than much else.

Food Journal Reflection

The Food/Activity Journal was really beneficial for me to take an analytical look at what I was eating, drinking, and how much exercise I was getting. I think one of the most important things I did in my Food/Activity Journal was to look at how much sleep I was getting each night. Not enough! I noticed that my eating habits were sporadic. If I would have put a time next to each time I eat, it would have shown that I go long periods without eating anything. And usually during those times, when I do eat something, it isn't a well planned, nutritious snack or meal. My work schedule during the weekend has a lot to do with that- I'm a barista and usually work long shifts without a break.

My job also helps contribute to what I'm now referring to as my coffee addiction, which is one of the things I wanted to change as my goal for the last week of my journal. The other thing I noticed was that I have terrible sleeping habits. Almost every night, I would fall asleep on my couch instead of my bed. I usually wake up about half way through the night and then sleep a few more hours in my bed. The poor sleep quality and far less than eight hours per night of sleep were a bad combination, and something that I wanted to change as part of my goal.

I feel like I've made baby steps towards my goal. The easiest goal for me to change was to alter my sleeping patterns. I've actually fallen asleep in my own bed for the last week, and slept at least (and sometimes longer than!) eight hours a night, with a few exceptions. At work, I've learned to drink water instead of making myself coffee drinks (with the exception of my cup of drip coffee when I get there, which is completely necessary for me in order to wake up and actually be nice to customers, I've found). I have another goal for myself, and that is to do more planning for what I'm going to consume during the day. If I stock up my apartment with healthy snacks and meals for the upcoming day, I will be less likely to eat what is around and available, and not necessarily nutritious.

This activity helps reinforce that what we put in our bodies have a paramount effect on us. It goes back to that old saying- you are what you eat. On the last day of class, the point was brought up that there are certain, crucial nutrients that our bodies need that we can only get from certain foods. Antioxidants found in lots of fruits and vegetables play a vital role in keeping our whole bodies healthy. In a class, we could investigate the effects of antioxidants on different systems in the body. Something I was thinking about doing with a project like the Food/Activity Journal is to have students look at what kinds of foods they are eating, and then further delve into where those foods come from, how they're processed (if they are), and look at what affect that food might have on the human body. For a math project, students could calculate the distance and gas mileage that was required to transport the food (i.e. an eggo waffle would probably start in a corn/wheat field somewhere, be transported to a processing plant, to another factory, to stores, and so on). If we had time for a project, they could even visually represent their work via a map. This was just one broad idea, and I think that there are just so many applications that a food journal could have. It makes it personal to the student, and brings up bigger ideas about where food comes from, what is done to processed food before we consume it, and what effects that may have on them.

Last day!?

How could it be the last day already??

Today had a great "the brain is amaaazing!" theme. I was also so excited/terrified to see real, human organs. It was the highlight of my day. It's not every day you get to hold a human brain... and once I willed myself to actually hold it, I was so surprised by how dense (and how big) it is. The cerebellum was ridiculously interesting looking... Right now, I'm enjoying some antioxidant rich food, and appreciating my brain a little more than before.

I think this really speaks to how we ought to be role models for our students, and how being excited about something can make others excited about that thing too. The day started off on that note of being excited to explore more about the brain, and throughout the class it was actually very exciting! That's saying a lot for the morning of post fourth of July celebrations.

I wish we had more time to reflect and wrap up the last eight days (the running theme of this quarter). They went by too quickly.

Sexual Health and Reproduction Day! Yay!

I can't believe that this class is nearly over!

Today was so interesting. The microteaching lesson regarding the differences between healthy and unhealthy relationships was really useful- I can't remember ever covering that in middle school (or even school in general) and it is such a paramount topic. Especially considering what relationships are portrayed in the media.... I mean, twilight? Talk about your unhealthy relationships...
I had so much fun doing the creative activity from the second microteaching group as well. I think students would take away the importance of using protection (if they decide to engage in sexual activity- I liked that abstinence was often brought up as the only 100% safe method). Accurate knowledge could be a very empowering thing for students of that age, especially considering some of the misguided things I've heard 6th graders say...

Also! I really enjoyed the reading for today. It gave me a good example of something I could go to as a reference for a "how to" talk to certain age groups when they ask one of those (dreaded) questions. Like the "what is sex?" question. I think the reading gave a very appropriate, accurate response to that question. Something I'm continuing to think about is how much teachers are obligated to share with students when students have questions like this that come up. I would need to be sensitive to a diversity of cultures and what would be appropriate to disclose depending on varying beliefs of different families, etc. Just something I'm still wondering about.

TPA and Dove

This morning really ended on a TPA note, and when I think back to this morning's class, that is the main thing on my mind. Probably because it is overwhelming to think about the very end result (and the cost involved), but it's also very nice to have an idea of what the end result is so we can start building the foundation we need to be successful right now. I'm also just curious about pearson's role in this and in other assessments of teacher candidates. It seems like they have a monopoly on the whole thing. I wonder how much money they make doing what they do?
Though, to be fair, I do think the TPA (much more so than any West B/E) will be a much better assessment of what we know and if we will be successful at helping students learn. I also think it will give me a push to think critically about everything I do as a teacher... seeing as I'll be writing a mini novel by the end of it (50 pages? Whew!).
Other take-aways I had from today were thinking about the importance of covering issues of body image. It's a shame we only had a moment to cover such an important topic. But that's kind of the theme in a class where you only get to meet 8 times! I really like Dove's Real Beauty Campaign (awesome message)- however, I just want to throw this out there, I think it's interesting that the same parent company who owns Dove also owns AXE brand body spray. Anyone recall the AXE commercials of hypersexualized women chasing down men after they spray themselves with AXE? Amazing that one company could own such polar opposite brands!

Mr. Yuk Box & Assessments

Phew! Today was a full day. It's good to have a few minutes to reflect on class this morning, even if it feels like it was days ago already.
We had our presentation and I feel like I took away a lot from it. One thing I wasn't expecting to experience were those "teaching moments" that come up. I think our class did such a good job of putting themselves in 1st grader mode that they actually had some very realistic questions that, in a real life context, would have been very important to answer. For example, in my small group, I think it would have been helpful to go over what to do in an emergency if the emergency is still happening. If you're drowning, your house is on fire, etc, you clearly don't want to call 911 first- you want to make sure you're safe, and then call 911. I wasn't anticipating a lot of that, and it honestly just threw me for a loop. It definitely kept me on my toes! Overall I had a good experience with the micro teaching lesson and I appreciated all of the constructive feedback.
Another thing that really stretched my thinking today was going over all the different ways to assess students. Originally, I mostly thought of assessments being at the end of the lesson- i.e. how much did this student take away from this lesson or what did they learn. Then, I thought about assessments from a two-pronged approach, where students ought to be assessed before a lesson to see what knowledge they already have about the subject, and then later determine what they learned. Now, I'm thinking about assessments as a constant, integral part of lessons, which really makes sense to me. Especially when you think about those teaching moments that I wrote about above, it's important to gauge what information students are understanding and what is still unclear so that you can use that moment to help clarify what students will need to know to be successful.

So many good ideas

Looking back on this morning's class, there are so many fun activities that get kids up and running about! The activity where the foam noodles were germs was probably my favorite. I think being able to incorporate lessons about germs to an activity like that was genius! Fun and we learned something. I'm sad that I didn't catch the whole day's lessons due to re injuring my knee injury. I did catch the beginning of the lesson about creating a jump rope rhyme, and I can't wait to hear the winning rhyme tomorrow!

Day 3

Last night I started delving into "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down", and this morning we had our class on issues of abuse and neglect. It fit well for me to think about these issues this morning, after reflecting on the issues in our book for this class. These issues can sometimes have a pretty significant grey area, and sometimes culture has a lot to do with that...
Another take away for me this morning was how seriously important it is to know each student in your classroom. When you're getting to know each student so well, it becomes easier to see when something isn't quite right with them. If they're behaving in a way that isn't normal for them, you'll be able to be more attuned to seeing that. We have such a paramount responsibility, as teachers.

Day Two

The relay race was so fun today! Such a rush! Who knew competitions could be so fun... The middle school learners class from last quarter stressed over and over again the importance of getting students up and moving. This was another way I'm planning on implementing that into my lessons. Relay races! I was so much more interested in the bones in the lesson after the relay race than before.
Another thing I'm thinking about after class today are our lesson plans. The differences between learning objectives and how we assess those outcomes are still a little foggy for me. It feels awkward to search through the EALR's before planning an activity, but perhaps that was because our microteaching group already had a set activity in mind for our lesson before trying to match it to a state standard. Luckily, we found an EALR that fit perfectly with what we wanted the class to learn. I think there is a lot of value to using the state standards first and then planning the lessons around them. It gives me a more clear idea of exactly what students need to grasp from a lesson.

First day of BEDUC 423

Class this morning spurred a lot of ideas for me about some concepts of health education. One of the most significant ideas I left with was that health education is about health and fitness for the body and the mind. Also, developing invaluable life skills such as leadership and team work. Remind me health classes are being cut again? I'm also excited to read our course book for this quarter. It was recommended to me by a friend, who is a nurse, a while ago and I never made the time to read it. It's completely serendipitous that I can read it now!

I'm also so excited to get started on lesson plans. This excitement might go away after stumbling through my first one, but it should be a good example of the trial, error, and sometimes frustration that goes with learning something new. And perhaps inevitable frustration with Google Docs formatting as well.

Pondering the West E

Last week's Ayers readings reminded me of my experience in taking the West E recently.

"Two thoughts filled my head as I mindlessly checked off the answers. First was the thought that whatever it was they were testing for, it had no relation to what I understood teaching to be. I might get a perfect score, or I might fail the test outright, but neither result would be helpful in determining whether I would succeed or not, whether I would be a good or rotten teacher." (Ayers, p. 123)

I passed (!) but I was left with the thought of- how will knowing what the secondary purpose of a foxes ears mean anything even slightly related to how I will be a good teacher? Even if they had opened it up to a short answer essay, I would have better been able to explain my answer, and my reasoning for why I thought the purpose was this certain thing. Multiple choice assessments leave little room for different interpretations of questions. I wonder what Sir Ken Robinson would have to say about this... Goodbye, divergent thinking! Then again, it is necessary for teachers to have academic breadth, and the biological function of fox ears certainly fits into academic breadth.

I'm studying for the next West E I take in about a week, and after the last one, I have no idea what to expect. I'm looking forward to the more individualized assessments we'll have later on in this program. It's a huge opportunity to be able to reflect on what you're doing and how effective it is. Assessments used to sound a little frightening but now I think they would be helpful. I want to be comfortable reflecting on myself so that each day think about what could be done better, and then improve. Teaching is a reflective process.

Post watching Waiting for Superman

Amidst the reading, highlighting, and note taking I'm doing for the upcoming week, I had Waiting for Superman playing in the background. This is a documentary I've been wanting to see for a while, and is totally relevant to topics we've discussed in our classes.
For all the positive praise this documentary received, I was really disheartened by the end of it. I thought teachers were very negatively portrayed in this film. I can't say the film accurately captured what I felt like going through public school, but I wonder if it is a fair portrayal for some students experiences, other than my own. I'm also unsure if the film was anti- teacher's union, or if that was just me. I felt like much of the film was highlighting serious problems within public education today, citing a lack of funding, but then saying, without hesitation, that bad teachers are the problem.
So, I watched the credits roll and I was left with a really hollow feeling. But also a question of how could we make our public education better? I would suggest alternatives to the gymnasiums of tearful children and adults who were not drawn from the lottery to get into the charter schools. That was just awful. I thought there were a few elements of charter schools that I thought were beneficial to the students- small class sizes and individual attention to students was definitely a positive element to charter schools. This also made me think about where the schools are, and what the community members and parents have to say about the public school where they live. I wonder if it would help if they (parents, teachers, community members) had more influence on what the school could be, and should be, than on politicians who may or (most likely) may not have ever visited that particular school. Creating democratic societies outside of the classroom, having teachers, parents, and the community have more say in the classrooms? Or having a select few politicians create sweeping changes to reform education across the country? I could be missing other options, and I think my first question is pretty idealistic. I'm just grappling for some sense of "what if" answer to satiate my hollow feeling after watching Waiting for Superman.
I'm also curious to find out what others think who have seen the documentary. If anyone thought there was a paramount message to the film that I missed, I definitely welcome your insight. I came away from watching the film with a very, very biased opinion of it, and I want to make sure I'm giving it a fair chance. Especially after all that hype!

Where I'm From

Phew! Busy week this week! I meant to post this last week, and time has just flown by! I really enjoyed listening to all of our Where I'm From poems. Was anyone else intimidated by writing a poem? I was before this. I was surprised how doable they were, and how much I enjoyed writing mine. This is definitely something that I would love to incorporate in my own classroom when the time comes. 

My Where I'm From poem:

I am from all kinds of painted rocks,
frogs, gnomes, grasshoppers, and cottages,
and half-empty acrylic paints, Golden brand,
from stained, wiry brushes and paper mache,
air-drying and exhibited on the porch,
next to Lipton’s sun tea.

I am from bleeding hearts,
honeysuckles, tulips, forever pink hydrangeas,
lofty bird houses with no vacancy,
from sour then sweet, hen-pecked raspberries,
growing, by hook or crook,
too near our chicken coop.

I am from stacked boxes of bees,
angrily stirring, or diligently pollinating,
strategically placed on top of the hill,
over bottomless rows of trees blossoming.
From months later, after the bees have disappeared,
and Grandpa’s voice sounding over the walkie-talkie,
I’m driving this load to the warehouse, and
don’t let the cherry bins get hot.

I am from Crazy Mike’s Video Hut,
and epic fights with my sister, pleading
because you picked last time!
my little-sister-death-grip on Rainbow Brite.
I am from coupon shopping,
is it a want or a need?,
or many times, Mom’s optimism,
I think we can make that at home.

I am from the smell of Grandma’s rhubarb pies,
crusts from scratch, and salty beer-can chicken,
from family gatherings, and never enough chairs,
I am from welcome mats, caked in mud,
and Mom’s wooden bookends,
declaring Live, Laugh, Love.

Adventures with Caterpillars and Mini Field Trips

I'm taking Math for Elementary Education this quarter to fulfill some academic breadth requirements, and what is fabulous about that is that I not only get to create pictographs (!) but I get to volunteer more time in classrooms for the service-learning component of the class. Last week, I was busy helping out in an elementary classroom, and we were moving tiny Caterpillars to little containers that held this rancid smelling plant paste (that I'm sure the little critters are just devouring). I was helping out each student to very carefully take the caterpillars from the big container to the smaller ones, trying to make sure those escape artists didn't succeed at getting out of the big container, and listening to the questions from the students. They had so many good questions! Are the caterpillars girls or boys? I had no idea. We researched the answer together and found out that the only way to tell is to dissect them. So now I'm referring to the caterpillars as "they" or "them" in an attempt to avoid pronouns, and of course to avoid dissecting them. One was accidentally flicked across the room, and crawling on hands and knees I found them. That one is now designated as mine, and their name is Harry Houdini.
There is a lot of collaboration that goes on in the time between classes or during recess. I was surprised by how much of what we talk about in our classes is also talked about in this particular school. It's encouraging! We were talking a little about inquiry-based projects and about how great the caterpillars have been, and how excited the students are to work with them. Some students had never seen a caterpillar before this, except for maybe in a book or on TV. I was reading a book with a few students that had a character who is a blue jay, and no one knew what a blue jay was. That may have been due to young age, though. We (teachers, teacher's aids, and I) started talking about the great resource that this school had right outside, and how they could do an inquiry-based pseudo field trip outside where they get to explore the natural environment outside. Maybe a scavenger hunt of the plants, animals, and insects? A teacher and I actually went and took a walk out to explore what was out there. We're thinking maybe field journals using specific terminology, researching native and invasive plant species, insects and birds. There is quite a bit of potential there for experiential learning grounded on concrete experience from right outside the classroom.
An article I'm reading for another class pointed out that "today's children lack experience with natural ecosystem complexity. In all, 83% of the U.S. population lives in metropolitan areas." (Blair, D. 2009) I think that statement is pretty fair, but I'm sure there are some exceptions. The data the article cites is from the US Dept. of Agriculture. All in all I'm encouraged that discussions like the one I was participating in at a real school are happening and that teachers are creatively collaborating, even when they're only given 5 minutes.

A little random inspiration

I'm doing a project for the middle school learners class and it's getting me all excited about the possibilities of school gardens. I want to include a quote I just found that I think is pretty nifty.

"[G]ardening changes the status of food for all involved. When one gardens, food can no longer
be viewed as a mere commodity for consumption; we are brought into the ritual of communal
goodness that is found at the intersection of people and plants. Food that we grow with our own
hands becomes a portal for personal transformation." (Thorp and Townsend, p. 357)

The articles I'm reading about the subject are encouraging. There are so many benefits to implementing a school garden! And, gardening can be implemented across so many subjects: Math, Language Arts, Science, History, Art, Technology... the list goes on!

Our project is, of course, designed without any mindfulness of a budget at all. But the more I think about it the more do-able this idea seems. Many of the items could be donated. They don't require new space- they can transform unused space. Anyone heard of vertical gardening?

Seriously. How cool is that.

After having our autobiographies returned this past week, I've been pondering a few things about my own experience in a K-8 school. How do we imagine our schools looking different than they are now? And how was my own experience unique? And beyond that, I wish I knew more about everyone else and their autobiographical experiences. Luckily our cohort has the next year, and after, to share.
When I imagine schools rethinking their structure and design, a lot of my ideas come from my experience in a slightly out of the ordinary school. It was a very small, public school that had limited funding. It was a new school that was unofficially called a "lab" or experimental school. It was basically a bunch of portables, plopped out in a grassy field, sans playground equipment or anything else that would have been expensive. And it was one of the most remarkable places to grow and experience school. Thinking about new ways to structure schools always reminds me of me experience there, because we were grouped with multiple grades in a given classroom. I wonder now if I knew how little funding the school actually had? I think I knew that regular schools had play equipment for recess, and that ours didn't, but we made due with what we had. I'm still friends with many of the people I went to school with then, and we can still laugh about creating games with what materials we had- rocks, dirt, grass, etc.
There was a big emphasis on project based learning, and projects that involved the community around us. We didn't have enough money to actually take field trips places, but we would as a class walk the mile or so to a lake for environmental science projects, and walk to a nearby assisted care facility to interview the elderly. I remember so much of what we did, and what we learned. I think that's a huge advantage of project based learning. I certainly don't remember completed worksheet assignments I've done, but projects? Somehow I do!
One of the things I've been wondering as I've been reading the assigned readings for this week is about poverty and how that affected the learning environment we had at our small school. As a school, we were poorly funded, but as students we came from different socioeconomic situations. Kids are really perceptive and I'm sure I knew that my family was struggling financially. Because of this, my mom, sister and I moved in with my grandparents around my middle school years. I definitely couldn't afford that prada backpack I had my eyes on, but luckily I think I was somehow exempt from bullying. If I would have went to another school, where all the students didn't know each other from going to school with one another for however many years, it may have been a different story. Is that another reason to consider a K-8 model of schooling? Maybe. I had a great experience. I still joke about how poor I was growing up but it impacted me in a very real way. The poverty readings from this week are really great, I think. I'm excited to hear what our class has to share.

Thinking about Buchmann

I took a weekend to go to Eastern WA, to see family I haven't seen since Christmas (!) and while I was there I was pretty much internet free. I had this weird feeling like I was disconnected, because I was offline. In the back of my mind I was thinking "I should journal about this!" and then I came home and sadly forgot most of what I wanted to blog about. The pitfalls of not having the internet on hand, all the time.
One thing I really wanted to blog about last week was my reaction to Buchmann. I had to reread parts of it, because the first time around I read what she was saying completely wrong. I thought she was for standardized tests and shaping young minds to be robotic. I really read into it incorrectly. I actually think I might have ripped into her a little bit in my journal last week, so I wanted to take the chance to reflect on what she was actually saying, and why I interpreted it the way that I did. Buchmann had the interests of students in mind when she was writing that piece, and in a nutshell, she wanted to make sure that it was understood that what is taught ought to be determined by what is in the best interests of the student. I think I interpreted it in the way that I did because I interpret standards as just being a given. Maybe because of my own experience in schools, but I always assumed that all teachers had to teach the same things, and that subjects were fulfilled by requirements that are necessary to graduate. It never crossed my mind that there was the potential for certain teachers to decide to teach or to not teach certain subjects based on their own likes/ dislikes/ comfort level of subjects. So I didn't considered that, and I assumed that Buchmann was very pro standardized testing and anti project based learning. Sometimes it's good to do a reread.
Another thing I was thinking about this weekend is gardening! I did a lot of that this weekend (so many types of tomatoes! Yes!) and I remembered a class I took through Pipeline at UW Seattle where we were able to volunteer in elementary classrooms where we had a guest speaker come in from a school that had a garden that they incorporated into the curriculum. It was amazing! There were elementary school students and middle school students learning to garden, learning where food came from, doing hands on fun activities, etc. It was something that the students really, really enjoyed doing and they were learning from a plethora of subject areas. I also remember that our guest speaker had a blog, and it will be my mission this week to find it again!

Excerpt from my Journal, Week 3

After reading chapter two of Ayers this week, I finished my journal entry. I did a lot of journaling this week and I was surprised what came up! This is an excerpt of mine from this week's journal:

  I love the questions that Ayers poses to his audience. Who is this person before me? What is the measure of her hope and hurt? What are his interests and areas of wonder? How does she express herself and what is her awareness of herself as a learner? What effort and potential does she bring? (pg 42) Those questions are so significant to making each student in the classroom visible. I think that I was given that luxury as a student. Each teacher seemed to focus on my strengths (because our school was so ridiculously small that everyone knew just about everything about everyone- it was easy to know who was struggling with what, but also who had strengths in these areas, etc.). I agree with Ayers when he proposes breaking away from the deficit-model of teaching. Narrowing in on perceived weaknesses of the students can be a very discouraging approach- for the teachers and the students. It also seems like it isn't the most nurturing model for teachers to take. This chapter reminds me of an experience I had volunteering in a 2nd grade classroom- the teacher asked me if I would type up each student's story they had written for an upcoming parent-teacher conference. I was instructed to type the stories exactly as they were written. Grammatical errors and all. The stories were absolutely fabulous! And I just remember learning so much about each student that I had previously had no idea about. One girl wrote a story titled "When I Lost My Fifth Tooth". Specifically fifth. I thought it was great! I started reading the story, and I was amazed by how much information I could get from reading this girl's story: a story that I thought would be a tale about the tooth she had lost, but it turned into this amazing tangent on pretty much every activity she had done that weekend, who she was with, where they went, and what they did. These were the things that were really important to her in her life and I was amazed by how much more I learned about her from reading her story. There was also another student who, instead of writing, did his entire assignment in pictures. It was like looking at a very detailed graphic novel. When you asked this student to tell you the story, he could point to each picture to describe what happened at that increment of time. The way he chose to complete this assignment expressed a lot about the way his mind works and how he can express himself best. On page 54, Ayers noted that, "The strongest source of knowledge about the student remains the student herself, and tapping into that knowledge is not so difficult.". I think knowing that, and knowing that there is always more we can learn from students is important as well. Students are multidimensional persons, and I want to keep in mind that, for all I learn about them and their stories, there will always be more that I do not know about them.

How do you deal with racism in the classroom?

Up until now I wasn't really sure what I would blog about first, but after reading this week's assigned readings, I am spurred to writing down some of my thoughts. One of my majors in my undergraduate career was Women Studies, and having that background of study has really affected my lens for the readings each week. One of the reasons that I chose to pursue my teaching certification through this program was because of the commitment to diversity and multicultural education. But can I just say that in week 3 of this program, I am both excited (and terrified) to encounter the topic of cultural competency in the classroom. I'm excited to learn about cultural competency, and to have some way of applying the knowledge and the countless readings that I've had in a way that makes a positive difference. However, there is this gripping fear that I have for when I encounter a situation like this in the classroom. For real. Will I be prepared enough to handle the situation when it arises? It helps to feel fairly solid in the theories, but... knowing the best way to handle a situation like this, especially with young children, is so important.

I appreciated the Tenorio reading from this week. Having a Do's and Don't's list was especially clear, straightforward, and much appreciated. In particular, the "Do apply consequences to the attacker in accordance with school policy (etc)... Don't humiliate the attacker when imposing consequences" as the attacker may feel like a victim too. And I think that is a pretty paramount point in this subject. One of my ultimate goals as a teacher is to create a safe space for all students. We can't ignore racist or prejudiced remarks from students in the classroom by any means. And we also can't ignore those remarks or let them go unchallenged. If the student who made those remarks is publicly embarrassed or humiliated by the teacher, that student becomes victimized as well and you loose the potential for teaching valuable lessons to everyone involved.