October

Fall is here. Really. With a vengeance. The rain today was intense, but the class was beautiful. It was so quiet and calm in the morning - so much work going on. We have changed up tracking just a bit. Instead of a daily tracking page, they've got four pages in their notebooks marked off for the week - one page for each area: language, math, science and practical life. Throughout the week, whenever they do a language work, they mark it on the language page. No need to mark time or day - just the work. Really makes it easy to see, "Oh, you haven't done any math yet this week. You should focus on that today . . . "

What do I do about the kids who constantly leave the room? The ones who 'have to go to the bathroom,' and 'need a drink real bad' pretty much all day long? I had one boy come into class an HOUR late this morning b/c he was in the bathroom. Really? You can't spend an hour in the bathroom, bud. You just can't. And then there's REB's drama, "You have NO IDEA the pain I went through yesterday!" Yep, and right now I don't care. Oh, that's harsh - tell me what happened so we can move on. Oh, you got smacked in the face with a swing? And you got a bloody nose? And it left a bruise? That's horrible. Now let's go one.

Sometimes I need to work on my compassion.

I think tracking a little differently is going to be a good thing.

I taught the 4th GL today, and the exclamation mark key experience. Both went pretty well. Tomorrow I'm going to finish out the 4th GL, and we're doing the 5th on Thursday. We're only a week behind schedule. I'm not super happy with how the Great Lessons were covered this year, but they're all going to be done, so there's that. I'm supposed to do Weather tomorrow (right? - yep), and I'm going to do the Suffix KE. I'm just plugging ahead.

Oh, and CB - what a firecracker. He's still working the anxiety attacks pretty hardcore - not to imply that he's putting on a show, or anything; they're definitely the real deal. Today with the storm, well, you can guess how he did. At recess he went outside even though the storm clouds were still present. What did he do though? Yoinked the ball from a little 1st grader from another class and ran across the field with her screaming and trailing behind him, only to THROW IT OVER THE FENCE on the other side. Seriously, buddy? WTF?

He got to hang out with me for the rest of recess. Maria Montessori would not have approved, I'm sure.

Ch-ch-ch changes!

I have a new student in my class. My daughter, CG has joined us, and I couldn't be happier. See, there has been huge drama at school. There is a teacher, I'll call her CMIP, who is new and who is not running a Montessori classroom. All year there has been drama with people (us) trying to help her, get her training, show her lessons, etc. but she has been more and more obstinate until finally going completely cracker barrel in the last few weeks.

Well, she was my kid's teacher.

We had parent teacher conferences earlier this month. Hubs and I went in for our conference, and I was quite disturbed when it was over. CMIP has been all about the math this year, but when she says 'math' what she means is 'addition facts.' My kid - 2nd grade - has NO IDEA how to do dynamic addition or subtraction and has not been introduced to multiplication at all. Yeah, she's done tons of memorization work, but geez.

So I conveyed my concerns to Diana via email over the weekend (this was a week ago), and at the same time CMIP sent Diana a horrible email flinging all sorts of ridiculous accusations my way. She accused me of *screaming* at my students to 'Get away from me! Get as far away from me as possible!' and of taking over the Christmas music program and of talking smack about *Diana* and of basically being a horrible person. Diana asked me about it - showing me the actual email - and I told her it was a lie, that nothing she said was true. Fortunately for me, Diana has known me a long time and knows that CMIP is chock full of crazy . . . she believed me. That day was really crappy. I was sad and filled with stress. When the day was over I could talk with Hubs, and we decided to pull CG from CMIP's class. Not because of the interpersonal issues per se, but because of the glaring holes in her schooling. The fact that I'd never have to talk to CMIP again is merely a bonus. I called Diana and told her what I wanted to do, and she was supportive. She also said she'd convey the message to CMIP.

The next morning, CMIP comes over to where the rest of us are having our morning chitchat and goes on and on about how they're going to make GOOP in her class today! It's going to be so FUN! My kid is sitting right there, see, and come to find out later that *she already knew* that CG had been pulled from her class. What a horrible thing to do! It made me really mad.

Anyway, we got her into my class on Tuesday morning - just in time for TOWER TUESDAY! She completed four language skyscrapers in the morning - the first language skyscrapers she's completed ALL YEAR. In the afternoon I had Kati work with her on math and find out where she's at there. Kati says she's doing really well with static addition and subtraction, and that she caught on pretty quickly to dynamic addition but that she said she had never done it before. Nice.

I know I'm in a honeymoon period now, but the week went really well. CG has flourished in the classroom and hasn't been prone to clinginess or whining like I was worried would happen. She's good at self-directing and has yet to come running to me as *mommy* to resolve her problems. I'm sure it will come, but I'm not going to hurry it along.

There's so much else to talk about. I had a really good interaction with JS this week - that child has grown up so much! - and I got to go observe at another school. I've got a really cool spelling program in the works, and I don't carry around a bowling ball of stress anymore. I'm really feeling good about school these days, but I'll have to post again this weekend, maybe a couple of times, to get it all down. This posting is long enough already!

Trying out new tricks

I finished reading Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful over the weekend, and while it kind of freaks me out (optimal class size 28-35 students?!), there was much in it to inspire me. I have decided to give some of it a go. I don't know how much of it I can implement right away, and in a perfect world and all that . . .

But at least I'm trying.

Today I tried (key word: TRIED) to establish proximity before talking to anyone. I taught the pronoun KE without requiring a lot of writing. I gave a very open-ended morning task (which ended up being far too advanced for some of the students, but it was that way on purpose. I needed to learn what they know and don't know so I can focus.) I tried to harness the power of the community to help students who came to me with questions. I don't know how many times I called out, "Children! One of your classmates is struggling with __________! Who will help?" Every time several children jumped at the chance to help.

I also talked with the students about challenges and how we as a community will help anyone in our group overcome our challenges. Specifically we talked about CB. He seems to get picked on and singled out because he is an energetic boy who needs to move and make noise with is body and his mouth. It seems as though children (and myself, honestly) are forever calling him out and telling him to be quiet. There's one boy in particular who seems to be bothered by the very existence of CB - even though they appear to be great friends. I wonder how come that is? Anyway, BF sat next to CB on line and with an exasperated and annoyed tone whispered to CB to stop this and stop that and now he's raising his hand to complain that he can't hear the lesson because CB is drawing in his notebook and the sound of his pencil is distracting??? It seems so unreasonable and over the top. Same boy later complained that it was too loud during a DVD viewing when the group had been *very quiet* and again during the discussion afterward when there were the softest of side conversations. He has recently been seen by an audiologist who indicated to the parents that he may have an auditory processing disorder, but C'MON! Expecting perfect silence because one kid can't calm his brain enough to listen is unreasonable, but I don't know what to do. Also I get the feeling that the parents must have told the boy what the doctor said, because his final complaint this afternoon sounded like parroted medical-ese.

I need to talk to his mom.

ANYWAY. With CB I brought up the fact that this is his struggle. He has a powerful need to be noisy with his body and his mouth, and he needs to be in motion. The community then brainstormed ways we could help CB overcome his challenge. Is it possible he doesn't even *know* when he's making noise with his mouth? Might a simple touch on the shoulder and a kind mention bring it to his awareness so that he can control it? Might there be times when he so much needs to make noise that he could go outside or somewhere where the noise would be less distracting? It was a good community discussion, and I hope it is the first of many to come. I also hope to see some fruits from this effort.

Another child, RB (redhead) came in late, and I made the effort to smile and greet her - to Behold. She has her own way of being. She drifts through her days as though nothing is worth doing and repeatedly has revelations - real or feigned - about the most basic of expectations. Me: "Please remember to sign out when you leave the room so we know where you are," (a rule that has been in force all year). RB: "Oh yeah!" She completed one work and got halfway through another before disappearing into the hall because "her brain hurt." Kati told her she could take a few minutes to practice her calligraphy, but that same moment was when cleanup started. Every day I fight the urge to take her and shake her and holler in her face that she MUST WORK! That school is work and she cannot sit around doing nothing forever. One and a half works in a full school day IS NOT ENOUGH! Sigh. I know that would be counterproductive, so I don't, but yeesh. Maybe eventually the time will come when I won't even feel the urge anymore. I'm so not there.

_____

Case Study

JS struggled mightily with the morning task and repeatedly forgot to ask her classmates for help and kept coming to me. I called students to her aid on several occasions, but she still finished the day with only three works completed (I think). She did her green reading phonics without being prompted, though, and wrote the pronouns lesson without drama - both great achievements. During a lesson she wanted to lie down so she could write better but in so doing she was kicking people behind her. The solution, to me, was obvious - she could move to the edge of the circle and ask the rest of the students to shift over. To her there seemed to be no solution. She has a tendency to slip into a very narrow way of thinking and has a hard time seeing past the barriers she sets up for herself.

Faith in the Establishment

I love my boss. Couple of years ago it was hard to believe I'd ever feel that way about an employer, but I freaking LOVE my boss. Just when you think you've got her pegged, she goes and does something so blazingly awesome that you have to stand back and revel in her amazingness. Today was such a day.

The drama of yesterday had subsided - in my circle, anyway. We had talked - Teresa, Jenessa, Kati and I - at the beginning of the day, but then nothing more happened. After school I went to Diana to thank her for her reassuring response yesterday, because it really meant a lot to me. She was sweet and brushed off my thanks. I pressed again, saying, no, really, it was exactly the thing I needed to hear, but she chuckled and brushed it off again.

Then she said that Buzz had come to her today and said he wanted to have a meeting with all the elementary teachers to talk about the 2-grade classrooms. I guess he was hoping it could be put to a vote or something silly like that, and since he, Missy and SJ are all on the "Montessori is lame" team, and me and Jenessa are the only 6-12 teachers who aren't, he thought he could pressure Diana into a change. Her response to him just made me so happy. She said no, she wasn't going to call a meeting, but that she wanted to have a meeting with *just him.* I reallyreallyreally hope she can be perfectly blunt and tell him that he's got to stop skulking around the school trying to change the nature of what we are. Stop trying to stage a mutiny!

But I love Diana. I am so glad she's in charge of the school and that she's seeing this behavior for what it is. Someday soon, we'll be a true Montessori school again.

_____

In class things went nicely again. I felt a bit more pressed for time, and Tower Tuesday was not the raging success it's been in the past, though it went well. There were math groups in the morning *and* afternoon, and there was a language group in the afternoon. It made it just a bit more difficult to keep my finger on the pulse of what's going on in the classroom. I'm sure I'll adjust.

There is a student I don't like much, and I'm trying to change that. She's the oldest of four children, and mom is expecting again. She always has a look on her face that is not endearing - like she's afraid I'm going to haul off and smack her. And she's spacey. So I haven't built a strong relationship with her. I'm working on it. I'm consciously trying to smile and connect with her when she talks to me. I want to like her, and I want her to *feel* that I like her. It's one of those, "fake it until you make it" things, I guess.

_____

Case Study

I didn't keep JS on my radar as well as I would have liked today. There was so much more going on in the classroom, that I frequently lost track of her. To her detriment, I must add. She didn't get much of anything done this morning - spent a good chunk of the morning drawing. No surprise there. In the afternoon she enjoyed music class and had her first math group. She seemed to enjoy it.

At lunch there was an altercation with CB. I didn't see it, but the aftermath was unmistakable. Another teacher brought the two of them to me, and she was screaming and crying, and CB seemed a little flustered by it all. He was saying, "She said I got out of line, but she *pushed me* out of line!" She would respond by leaning into his space - into his face, really - and SCREAMING, "You DID get out of line!" This was followed by huge gulping sobs and loud hysterical wails. I put them at a table to work it out, but it quickly became obvious that method wasn't going to work today, as the above conversation was repeated two or three times. I intervened, and tried to calm her down so they could work it out. She responded by grunting loudly and again more loudly. I sent CB to get his lunch and told JS she needed to calm down, and we'd talk when she was ready. I went back to my table to give her some space, but that didn't work. Her loud grunts continued until she finally put her hands (or was it her feet?) on the table in front of her and shoved it away from her. It hit the wall.

I knew I had to take another angle on this. I don't remember exactly what I did or said, all I know is that I got a little silly, and the silliness helped. It pulled her out of her grumpy place, and she laughed a little. Then I asked her if she was ready to talk to CB. She said she was, so I told her I was going to go get him, but I first talked her through how the conversation *might* go.
"You could say, 'You got out of line!' but he'll just say, 'No I didn't! You pushed me!' It could go back and forth like that all day! /silly grin me, giggles her/ Do you think that conversation will help?"
"No."
"So maybe you'll say, 'It *looked to me* like you got out of line,' or 'I *thought* you got out of line,' and he'll say, 'I didn't know you thought I got out of line. I felt like I was pushed.' Maybe it will go something like that? /silly questioning face me, giggles her/ So you think you're ready?"
She said she was, so I went and got CB. Moments later they were both dashing back across the lunch room with smiles. They had worked it out, and all was well. I don't know exactly how it was resolved, but they did it *on their own.*

I Believe in Montessori

I do. I believe that Montessori works, that it can work, and that it takes training and hard work for Montessori methods to pay off. It's a shame some people at Walden have decided to take the easier way. I will never set Montessori aside for something "better."

I don't understand when "doing Montessori" became optional at Walden.

I had a great day today. Math teams went swimmingly, and my language circles went beautifully. We had great work cycles in the morning and afternoon, and I taught a lesson about the Revolutionary War that had the kids wide-eyed and engaged.

In the afternoon I went into Jenessa's classroom to talk to her about math groups with second graders, and Buzz came in. There was chitchat for a few minutes, and then he got down to the business that had brought him down: would we be interested in having two grade classrooms instead of three grade classrooms.

I spoke up and said that I was opposed to the idea because it would completely mess up our three-year curriculum, and it's also a fundamental shift from what Montessori is.

The thing that has me all frustrated right now was the way he prefaced his question. I don't remember the exact phrasing, but the general idea was that there's a split in the school between the people who want us to be a Montessori school and the people who don't think it's all that important. Obviously, he has me, Jenessa and Sarai in the first group, and I got the feeling he thinks our position is seeing the world through rose-colored glasses, and that if we just *understood* how difficult it is to teach the state core using the Montessori method and materials we would jump off the bandwagon.

Thing is, I've already taught in a school where Montessori had been deemed less-than-good-enough and pushed aside for other methods. I would be sick if we ended up going that way because I know Montessori can work, that it does work, and that it will work when we have teachers who are trained to use the materials and the method. At some point some of our teachers stopped training to be Montessori teachers, and I feel like we are in danger of losing our way.

I was having this absolutely great day, and now all I can think about is this conversation.

____

I am feeling better about this because I emailed the above to Diana, and she responded very lovingly and was supportive of my feelings and concerns. Right now I'm researching 9-12 certification programs, and I am doubling-down on my 6-9 certification. I want to be done by the end of May so that I can go to a summer 9-12 program. I don't know what I'll do with my kiddos (Leo works and is probably not up to being a single parent for a month . . . ), but I'm thinking about it more seriously than ever before. I don't really *want* to teach in the 9-12, but I will if that's what is best for Walden.

And the rest of them, well, get trained or find another job. Seriously.

_____

Case Study
JS arrived early again today - she shows up 10-15 minutes early each day. Today's morning task was to complete a grammar box. She started with her green reading, which took her far longer than it needed to due to the fact that she illustrates all of her writing. I have tried to talk her out of doodling all over everything, but she doodles with great determination. It has proved difficult to move her past it. I am trying to find ways to encourage this creativity that do not derail her academic progress, but so far I am stymied. Between her green reading and her grammar box, she spent two hours on language work this morning. She barely got to her problems on the board before recess. She was on task most of the afternoon, and she completed her classroom job at cleanup time without being asked (she is a waste management officer - takes out the trash and recycling).

The Swing of Things

2010 has started off nicely at Walden. I went around on Monday to talk to the other lower elementary teachers about calendaring and how the students would be reading the date. I suggested that "Twenty-ten" is the proper way to read the date, but Teresa was not having it. She said, "I'm not going to teach them, "twenty-ten;" it's "two thousand ten." I responded with a weapon no Montessorian can withstand:

Nomenclature.

Oh yes I did. I totally went there. I told her that, OK, she could teach the 3-6 class to read the date "two thousand ten," but that she'd be teaching her children improper nomenclature for dates. Historically, dates in English are read as a pair of two-digit numbers. Ask any historian when William the Conqueror invaded England, and every last one of them will tell you, "Ten sixty-six." No one says, "One thousand sixty-six."

She blew me off, and I went off to class. About 20 minutes later she came into the room with her whole class in a line - we were on line at the time. She said her students wanted to show us what they had learned. Holding up a card that read, "2009," she asked the students to read.

"Two thousand nine," they all responded in chorus. She held up the next card.

"And what does this card say," she asked.

"Twenty-ten," the all replied.

Ah, my heart swelled with pride. I got Teresa to change her mind about something. Go me!

Tower Tuesday was a raging success. That's got to be one of the best ideas I've ever had. They get SO MUCH DONE, and everyone is feeling that awesome sense of, "Check out what I did!" I love it. Many of them have discovered that certain towers; the 'S' drawers, the 'D' drawers, the 'F' drawers; are really simple, and they're racing through four, five, six of them in a morning. It's so fantastic to see the light that shines in their eyes when they're really cooking.

I had an enlightening experience this afternoon. One of my students, JS, has had kind of a rough week. She has been lost in her own world - not motivated to get anything done, distracted, etc. Her mom came in this afternoon, and I mentioned this difficulty little miss has been having. This evening I get an email from her mom. Seems they talked about it, and her mom asked what has been going on. Little miss responds that she's had a BUTTON in her mouth for the last three days(!!), and she was so focused on it that she couldn't do her work.

Seriously? A button? A BUTTON?! Three days I've been trying to pull this kid out of her Christmas break visit to la-la land and I find I've been playing second fiddle to a button.

But I'm thinking there's a lesson to be learned here. What might I be overlooking? What other "buttons" might be keeping my students from being their best selves?

Brings a whole new meaning to "pushing my buttons."

Rambling now.

When to Suspend?

I suspended a student today. Well, the boy's dad made the call, but I supported him 100% and would have pushed for it if he hadn't already called for it. CB is an adorable little 2nd-grader who doesn't have a malicious bone in his body but has no concept of how his actions might play out in the long (or even short) term when it comes their effect on other people. He's also starting to crush on older girls. So at lunch he took a swing at a girl he likes and hit her harder than she cared for. They took it to the peace table, and I didn't see the need to pursue it further.

But then there was choir practice. AAAAAAAAAAH! I will be so glad when this program is behind us. Our music teacher is great - for music class, but she isn't a choir director. She hardly directs the students at all, and they're up there with no guidance, so they're coming in whenever they think they should, bouncing around like a bunch of barely restrained monkeys and singing terribly off key. That's a different posting, though. AFTER choir practice, the music teacher asked for the students with solo parts (don't get me started on how embarrassing this is going to be) to hang back and practice for a few more minutes. I took my students to class, thinking that someone should probably stay with her in the gym. Should have gone with my gut on that one, because it wasn't two minutes later that students were running into the lower elementary wing shouting that "CB had pushed EK!"

I left the class with Kati and went into the gym to investigate. What I found was kind of appalling. Several students were RUNNING AROUND the stage and climbing under and on the risers bought specially for this program. Serious tag-like behavior. What the heck?! I called for CB to come up and talk to me, and of course everyone wants to holler out their version of what happened. CB was obviously ashamed of what had happened, and he initially tried to weasel out of it saying he "didn't know" what would happen and even kind of trying to pin some of the blame on the other kid. However, when I asked him quietly, "Did you pull him off the stage?" He answered very softly, "Yes."

I told the music teacher that he didn't get to practice with them today, and I took him out of the gym. In the main hall we turned to the south stairs rather than heading north to our classroom. He asked where we were going, and I said we were going to his dad's classroom since his mom was already gone. He knew he was in trouble big, and began to protest, but I kept him moving. We ended up in Diana's office where his dad was doing some work. CB wouldn't tell what he was there for, so I ended up explaining what had happened. It was his dad who spoke first, saying that he was going to call and have CB picked up and that he was suspended.

Given the severity of the injury suffered by the other child, I felt that the suspension ought to carry over into the next day, but because of the fact that both his parents work at the school, and that his mom has an infant in the office already, Diana was concerned that logistically a suspension just wouldn't work - not this time of year, anyway. I was concerned that he had already been told that he was suspended for a second day and didn't want him to get the idea that we had caved b/c he was so sad and pathetic in the office. However, I want him to know that there is kindness and mercy in the world, so tomorrow in the morning - early on, around 9ish, I am going to go to the office and get him. I will invite him back to class and let him know that we still love him and that we trust that he can control his body and keep his silly in check.

It's a compromise I feel good about.

This week is a mess, Maria. Last week of school before break. Everyone is already shut down and checked out. I can't wait for 2010.

I hate state mandated testing

It is so pointless.

Especially the IOWA test. It is timed, and for my 3rd graders, it is the first bubble-sheet test they've ever taken. They don't know what to do with the darn thing. And kids who I *know* know how to work the problems asked are freaking out because THEY ONLY HAVE X-NUMBER OF MINUTES!

I have to read these stupid instructions - word for word - reminding the kids that they only have five minutes, that many of them probably won't finish, to work quickly yet carefully . . . and we expect them NOT to panic? Ugh.

It's been an all-week thing, and I hate it. Every year I hate it.

_____

So there's drama in the room, again. However, Maria, this year it's the boys. Yes, I have a wannabe alpha male. BP is a 4th grade boy - small yet stocky - who struts around the room asserting his dominance over all of the other boys in class. The little boys he picks up and swings around. The bigger boys - closer to his age and size - he is more aggressive with. He will grab things out of their hands - notebooks, journals, that sort of thing - he harasses verbally and physically . . . he is aggressive. I don't know how to describe it otherwise. He does it all, though, with a smile on his face. I'm reminded, though, that in primates the smile is a sign of aggression - the baring of the teeth and all that. He doesn't come across as malicious and mean, but he is behaving rather bully-like. I'm not sure how to deal with it. I'd like to help him turn his need to dominate outward into a need to nurture. Fact is that he *is* bigger/older/academically advanced. He could be using all of those things to the advantage of the other students instead of simply reinforcing the fact that he is all of those things.

I think I'm rambling.

I also had a hitting incident this week. Not with aggressive boy, but with not-normalized girl. RB is one of the more spirited girls in the school. When she started as a 1st grader two years ago she ran away from school on a regular basis. For the last two years she has pitched fits, screaming and hitting and disrespecting materials, but this year has been relatively calm. She still acts a lot like my three-year-old son in a lot of ways - grunting or scowling her displeasure whenever something does not go her way, snapping angrily at classmates for minor infractions and dissolving into tears over trivialities. Yesterday she hit a classmate (BP actually). I immediately escorted her from the room and took her upstairs. She came along without protesting, although she did try to point out that it wasn't HER fault the boys were squishing her on line . . . We sat down and talked with Miss Amy about the hitting. Amy was ready to call her mom and send her home then and there. I suggested that since it was her first incident of the year we ought to call it a warning and leave the suspending for the next time. We asked RB if she felt like she could apologize for hitting, and she thought she could. With me moderating, she apologized, and I suggested to BP that maybe he ought to consider whether or not he had something to apologize for as well. He then apologized saying, "I'm sorry we wouldn't let you in [the circle]."

I really feel like this little girl is growing up. She has had many an incident where her emotions were high, yet this was the first time they got away from her. She is getting much better and reigning in her reactions and keeping herself on track. I don't think it's me, I think I just got her at a good age. Just like so many of my other 3rd graders, she changed over the summer. I just got lucky.

The weather changed today. Cold and wet - lots of rain in the valleys, and snow on the mountain peaks. The thunder last night was impressive. It seems fall has arrived (winter, some would say). I wonder how the students will react to the changing seasons? It is sure to be a roller coaster!