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?