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.
Showing posts with label Language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Language. Show all posts
Monday, October 4, 2010
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Monday (on Tuesday)
Yesterday was a pretty smooth day. Kati did the Second Great Lesson in the morning, and we followed that up with math and language group lessons. She did math with two groups of six, and I did language with two groups of six. Today we'll switch. It went swimmingly, and even my kids who are loathe to write wrote down the lesson without complaining. Then came writing time.
NL is a delightful kid. He's deaf and has a cochlear implant, but he's bright and sweet. He doesn't really get human emotion, though. He wouldn't do the writing yesterday. Immediately after the clip ended, he claimed to have forgotten what happened. I didn't believe him and thought he was just being difficult. Power struggle ensued. Nice, Shel. Did I look for ways to diffuse the problem? Nope - there's me, fanning the flames. Not my finest moment. I don't understand him sometimes, and I'm sure he doesn't understand me. He didn't get that I was frustrated, or he didn't care. He just stares blankly back at me the whole time. I kept him back after class and told him he had to at least start. I asked if watching the clip again would help - he said yes, so we watched it again. Still, he did not write. GAH!
So, how do I not engage him? How do I get him engaged with other kids? A person who has no emotional connection to anyone around him is a sociopath in the making. How do I connect this kid? I don't know what to do.
NL is a delightful kid. He's deaf and has a cochlear implant, but he's bright and sweet. He doesn't really get human emotion, though. He wouldn't do the writing yesterday. Immediately after the clip ended, he claimed to have forgotten what happened. I didn't believe him and thought he was just being difficult. Power struggle ensued. Nice, Shel. Did I look for ways to diffuse the problem? Nope - there's me, fanning the flames. Not my finest moment. I don't understand him sometimes, and I'm sure he doesn't understand me. He didn't get that I was frustrated, or he didn't care. He just stares blankly back at me the whole time. I kept him back after class and told him he had to at least start. I asked if watching the clip again would help - he said yes, so we watched it again. Still, he did not write. GAH!
So, how do I not engage him? How do I get him engaged with other kids? A person who has no emotional connection to anyone around him is a sociopath in the making. How do I connect this kid? I don't know what to do.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
First Field Trip
I took my class to the Kennecott copper mine today. It is the largest open-pit mining operation in the history of the world, and it's pretty freaking amazing. I had invited Even to bring his class along, so it was a big group. We had a good time.
It was obviously the first field trip of the year, and it may have been Even's first field trip in, I don't know, maybe ever. He wasn't as organized as he will be someday, and it made me feel like I've really got my act together. Woo, go me!
But it was a hard day too. Field trip days always are, right? There's the stress of making sure everyone gets off OK, and - even though you've got chaperons - making sure everyone gets back to school is kind of stressful too. I rode with a parent - Even had ended up with WAY more drivers than he needed, so I rode with Jennifer Knapp (who I'm a little shocked to learn is a churchgoing Mormon - I guess you just never know with Walden folks) and SIX little boys. When we got back to school I had the biggest headache ever. There was only a half-hour of school left, so we told the kids to find something quiet to do, and we called it good.
After school I learned that some parents are giving Even a hard time for not being academic enough? WTF is that all about? They complained on the SECOND DAY OF SCHOOL that there weren't enough academics going on in the classroom. Give the guy a freaking break already! Then last week the mom came into my class and says, "There is always so much going on in here - they're so busy with work. So what are you using for trackers this year . . . " and so forth. I knew something was up. Problem is, their child was one of SJ's little pets last year, and so they have this very skewed idea of what Walden is or should be like. We're not heavy on the academics - yes, we are concerned about testing and want our students to do well, but that is not the end all be all of what we are about. Fortunately, Lois is not the kind of administrator who would try to solve things by moving the child - b/c you KNOW they'd want their child in my class, and I don't really want to deal with those parents.
Tomorrow Kati is doing the Second Great Lesson. LIFE is coming to our classroom. How exciting! We'll also do a punctuation KE. I've got several kids who are really balking at writing their key experiences - not sure how to address that, except to collect the cards and hand them to each child in turn, "OK, now go write these down . . . " I didn't really have this problem last year (or the year before - except for JJ), so it's new.
I hope to finish the leveling for spelling tomorrow, and I'll probably be staying late at work to get the readers ready to go out in the take-home folders on Friday. It'll be a busy day.
It was obviously the first field trip of the year, and it may have been Even's first field trip in, I don't know, maybe ever. He wasn't as organized as he will be someday, and it made me feel like I've really got my act together. Woo, go me!
But it was a hard day too. Field trip days always are, right? There's the stress of making sure everyone gets off OK, and - even though you've got chaperons - making sure everyone gets back to school is kind of stressful too. I rode with a parent - Even had ended up with WAY more drivers than he needed, so I rode with Jennifer Knapp (who I'm a little shocked to learn is a churchgoing Mormon - I guess you just never know with Walden folks) and SIX little boys. When we got back to school I had the biggest headache ever. There was only a half-hour of school left, so we told the kids to find something quiet to do, and we called it good.
After school I learned that some parents are giving Even a hard time for not being academic enough? WTF is that all about? They complained on the SECOND DAY OF SCHOOL that there weren't enough academics going on in the classroom. Give the guy a freaking break already! Then last week the mom came into my class and says, "There is always so much going on in here - they're so busy with work. So what are you using for trackers this year . . . " and so forth. I knew something was up. Problem is, their child was one of SJ's little pets last year, and so they have this very skewed idea of what Walden is or should be like. We're not heavy on the academics - yes, we are concerned about testing and want our students to do well, but that is not the end all be all of what we are about. Fortunately, Lois is not the kind of administrator who would try to solve things by moving the child - b/c you KNOW they'd want their child in my class, and I don't really want to deal with those parents.
Tomorrow Kati is doing the Second Great Lesson. LIFE is coming to our classroom. How exciting! We'll also do a punctuation KE. I've got several kids who are really balking at writing their key experiences - not sure how to address that, except to collect the cards and hand them to each child in turn, "OK, now go write these down . . . " I didn't really have this problem last year (or the year before - except for JJ), so it's new.
I hope to finish the leveling for spelling tomorrow, and I'll probably be staying late at work to get the readers ready to go out in the take-home folders on Friday. It'll be a busy day.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Monday, Monday (la la, la la la la)
Good day today. Not just saying that. I did small-group lessons in grammar with everyone - EVERYONE. Did Logical Agreement - Verbs and Random Placement - Verbs with 1st and 2nd years and Length of Action - Verbs with the 3rd years. It was GREAT. Know how I decided what to do? The new tracking software. Yep. Love that thing. I'm going to mail out progress reports here in a few minutes. Good times.
Had SJ bring in a student today. Project "Undermine the Authority" is officially underway. Not two seconds after she left the room I pulled my chair up to this kid and asked if he wanted to do something else. He picked compound dominoes, and he was DONE in a matter of minutes. Awesome! Then he did a vocabulary/spelling work. He was in my room for a half hour, and then we went back to his room. I told the assistant that he had done some great work, but that the work he came in with didn't seem to appeal to him all that much. She thought what he *had* done was great. SJ not so much. She said something about how he is resistant to copying work.
WELL OF COURSE HE IS!!
Gah! So annoying. Would YOU want to sit and copy lines of poetry for no other reason than your teacher told you you had to? No sir.
_____
Case Study
JS came in this morning and did the sentences on the board - without any prompting! Sure, she picked the one-star sentence, but she analyzed and symbolized the grammar correctly AND WITHOUT BEING HASSLED TO DO IT! Wow. Just. Wow. She later took a spelling test, which she passed, and then she spent some time doing math on the computer.
She came in with cool shades. I complimented her look, and then asked her to put them in her box. She did so without fuss. Same thing after recess. No drama, just, "please put those away." And yeah. Also, she has this tiny bottle (old bubble bottle?) that she keeps water in. She likes to take tiny drinks, but today she was leaving the room, and it was distracting her. So I told her that I might need to tell her mom that she can't bring it to school any more (in retrospect, seems kind of like I went overboard here). She kind of got upset and sputtered some half-sentences, seeming on the verge of a melt-down. I attempted to soothe the fuss, telling her that it wasn't the end of the world, when it came out that she hadn't brought it from home - it had been at school for some time. This is why the freak out - because of a misunderstanding of where the tiny bottle of water came from. I calmly asked her if she would mind taking it home then, and leaving it there. She assented.
She seems to have a strong sense of "things must be as they are." I slight misunderstanding - or even the wrong preposition in a sentence - and she'll become upset until the confusion is resolved. Even if the confusion seems insignificant to others - small things are important to this child.
Had SJ bring in a student today. Project "Undermine the Authority" is officially underway. Not two seconds after she left the room I pulled my chair up to this kid and asked if he wanted to do something else. He picked compound dominoes, and he was DONE in a matter of minutes. Awesome! Then he did a vocabulary/spelling work. He was in my room for a half hour, and then we went back to his room. I told the assistant that he had done some great work, but that the work he came in with didn't seem to appeal to him all that much. She thought what he *had* done was great. SJ not so much. She said something about how he is resistant to copying work.
WELL OF COURSE HE IS!!
Gah! So annoying. Would YOU want to sit and copy lines of poetry for no other reason than your teacher told you you had to? No sir.
_____
Case Study
JS came in this morning and did the sentences on the board - without any prompting! Sure, she picked the one-star sentence, but she analyzed and symbolized the grammar correctly AND WITHOUT BEING HASSLED TO DO IT! Wow. Just. Wow. She later took a spelling test, which she passed, and then she spent some time doing math on the computer.
She came in with cool shades. I complimented her look, and then asked her to put them in her box. She did so without fuss. Same thing after recess. No drama, just, "please put those away." And yeah. Also, she has this tiny bottle (old bubble bottle?) that she keeps water in. She likes to take tiny drinks, but today she was leaving the room, and it was distracting her. So I told her that I might need to tell her mom that she can't bring it to school any more (in retrospect, seems kind of like I went overboard here). She kind of got upset and sputtered some half-sentences, seeming on the verge of a melt-down. I attempted to soothe the fuss, telling her that it wasn't the end of the world, when it came out that she hadn't brought it from home - it had been at school for some time. This is why the freak out - because of a misunderstanding of where the tiny bottle of water came from. I calmly asked her if she would mind taking it home then, and leaving it there. She assented.
She seems to have a strong sense of "things must be as they are." I slight misunderstanding - or even the wrong preposition in a sentence - and she'll become upset until the confusion is resolved. Even if the confusion seems insignificant to others - small things are important to this child.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
New-found love of project work!
I can see that this transition is going to be a bit rocky, but I think it'll be worth it.
I put up language tasks on the board today. I put three sentences for analyze and symbolize - one real basic, one mid-level, and one advanced. I think about three students chose to do the work, which is fine with me, but what they're not grasping is that whether or not they do the sentences on the board, they need to do grammar, at some point, during the week.
But right now it's all about FREEDOM and this recent liberation from assigned tasks. I feel a little bit like I'm staring into the maw of the beast, but I know it'll work out.
So Kati and I are going to undermine someone's authority. Heh. Yeah, SJ sent three boys into my room today to do their work, "because they just won't do anything!" Um, the thing she was insisting they do: copying poetry into their notebooks. Why? I have no idea, but that was the task, and by golly these boys were going to do what they were told!
After school Kati and I talked about the ridiculousness of the whole thing, and we decided we're happy to host these boys in our classroom, but we're not going to make them do what she wants. Oh, we'll have them work, but we'll let them CHOOSE what to do while they're in our classroom. Ain't no one copying poetry against their will in my classroom.
I went to Diana's office to give her a heads-up, because it's probably going to piss SJ off. And that's just fine with me.
_____
Case Study: JS copied down ALL THREE SENTENCES on the board without any encouragement. In fact, it was entirely her decision to do it. She didn't analyze them, though, but I don't care. The fact that she did so much writing (ok, it wasn't *that* much) of her own free will . . . that's eye-popping. Some kids WILL do language works out of sheer desire. Even the JSs of the world. Wow.
I put up language tasks on the board today. I put three sentences for analyze and symbolize - one real basic, one mid-level, and one advanced. I think about three students chose to do the work, which is fine with me, but what they're not grasping is that whether or not they do the sentences on the board, they need to do grammar, at some point, during the week.
But right now it's all about FREEDOM and this recent liberation from assigned tasks. I feel a little bit like I'm staring into the maw of the beast, but I know it'll work out.
So Kati and I are going to undermine someone's authority. Heh. Yeah, SJ sent three boys into my room today to do their work, "because they just won't do anything!" Um, the thing she was insisting they do: copying poetry into their notebooks. Why? I have no idea, but that was the task, and by golly these boys were going to do what they were told!
After school Kati and I talked about the ridiculousness of the whole thing, and we decided we're happy to host these boys in our classroom, but we're not going to make them do what she wants. Oh, we'll have them work, but we'll let them CHOOSE what to do while they're in our classroom. Ain't no one copying poetry against their will in my classroom.
I went to Diana's office to give her a heads-up, because it's probably going to piss SJ off. And that's just fine with me.
_____
Case Study: JS copied down ALL THREE SENTENCES on the board without any encouragement. In fact, it was entirely her decision to do it. She didn't analyze them, though, but I don't care. The fact that she did so much writing (ok, it wasn't *that* much) of her own free will . . . that's eye-popping. Some kids WILL do language works out of sheer desire. Even the JSs of the world. Wow.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Four day weekend - not quite long enough
Tomorrow we're back at it. Does that put us at 18wks to go? I think so. If the school year were a pregnancy we'd know if it were a boy or girl and would be *almost* at the viable stage.
I don't think I can take that metaphor anywhere. It's kind of weird.
Tomorrow I'm planning on doing the Adverb KE with madlibs playing cards instead of handwritten strips as outlined in the manual. It'll be superfast b/c I'm ALSO doing the Homonym KE. Lots to get through yet, and I'm going to cover it all dangit. I have typed up some homonym riddles (to be mounted and laminated, natch) to be used in a matching work/game. I think it'll be fun, and the kids will like it. I've also got this cool grammar game I found online called "Grammar Ninja" that I'm sure some of the kids will LOVE. I've been playing it, and it gets *me* sometimes!
So I'm down to one blue reader - everyone else is green or beyond. I'm thinking I'm going to drop phonics from the list of morning tasks. Most of my students are beyond the green reading level and are not taking very much away from the green reading task. However, seeing as the green reading boxes are so quick and simple, I'm going to hang onto them as a go-to work. As in, when a student is having a hard time settling, they might be directed to this work.
Kati and I have talked it over, and we're going to drop math and language groups to once a week. It's too disruptive to have formal group lessons going on virtually all day, and if we miss a day (or if a student is absent) it's very difficult to make up the lessons. So we'll do math groups on Mondays and Tuesdays and give students a week to complete their journal tasks. Language groups will also be Mondays and Tuesdays but in the afternoon. If school is out on Monday, like this week, we'll switch the Monday lessons to Wednesdays. Problems solved.
_____
Case Study - I'm keeping an open mind about what the week may bring. Long weekends sometimes result in cranky kids. Will keep my eye on JS to encourage productive working. Considering backing off on singing - she likes to sing while she works, and if it keeps her focused, it could be beneficial. Will discuss it.
I don't think I can take that metaphor anywhere. It's kind of weird.
Tomorrow I'm planning on doing the Adverb KE with madlibs playing cards instead of handwritten strips as outlined in the manual. It'll be superfast b/c I'm ALSO doing the Homonym KE. Lots to get through yet, and I'm going to cover it all dangit. I have typed up some homonym riddles (to be mounted and laminated, natch) to be used in a matching work/game. I think it'll be fun, and the kids will like it. I've also got this cool grammar game I found online called "Grammar Ninja" that I'm sure some of the kids will LOVE. I've been playing it, and it gets *me* sometimes!
So I'm down to one blue reader - everyone else is green or beyond. I'm thinking I'm going to drop phonics from the list of morning tasks. Most of my students are beyond the green reading level and are not taking very much away from the green reading task. However, seeing as the green reading boxes are so quick and simple, I'm going to hang onto them as a go-to work. As in, when a student is having a hard time settling, they might be directed to this work.
Kati and I have talked it over, and we're going to drop math and language groups to once a week. It's too disruptive to have formal group lessons going on virtually all day, and if we miss a day (or if a student is absent) it's very difficult to make up the lessons. So we'll do math groups on Mondays and Tuesdays and give students a week to complete their journal tasks. Language groups will also be Mondays and Tuesdays but in the afternoon. If school is out on Monday, like this week, we'll switch the Monday lessons to Wednesdays. Problems solved.
_____
Case Study - I'm keeping an open mind about what the week may bring. Long weekends sometimes result in cranky kids. Will keep my eye on JS to encourage productive working. Considering backing off on singing - she likes to sing while she works, and if it keeps her focused, it could be beneficial. Will discuss it.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
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.*
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!
"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?
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.*
Saturday, January 9, 2010
20 Weeks to Go
THAT is a number that blows my mind. Not that I'm keeping track; we just happened to count how many weeks are left in the school year because we redid the classroom job chart, and then we counted to see if every student would have a chance to cycle through each job. They will - just barely.
The first week after break is done and gone. It was a good week. There was a lot of good work that got done, and the mood in the classroom was upbeat. I got key experiences done for the conjunction, the exclamation mark and synonyms. I also got a cool little language manual created for my students. I have a set of seven manuals that cover grammar topics (only for now - other topics to be added soon) spanning grades 2-4. What I love about it is that I'm going to split the kids into three groups and we're starting language circles. Each group will use the SAME MANUAL, and we'll all cover the same topic each day, but I can customize the lesson by having the students turn to different sections of the manual. It takes away the feeling of being more or less advanced than other groups. I'm tickled by the stealthiness of my plan.
We are also starting back up with our math teams on Monday. Each team gets math twice a week, and we will be giving workbook assignments, but they are to be completed in school - the workbooks won't be going home most of the time.
In the cultural curriculum, I introduced US history and geography and also did a key experience for the amphibian. Kati introduced desert habitats. After Kati's lesson Thursday, the class was very chaotic. I came back into the room and found overwhelming craziness, so she finished up and I called loudly, "OK, I want everyone to lie down on the floor! Just lie on your back and close your eyes. Make sure you're not touching anyone else." Some of them held onto the silly, but I eventually got everyone on their backs. Then I talked them through a yoga savasana (corpse pose). In a soft voice I talked them through giving their breath a color and feeling that color fill their bellies and flowing through their whole bodies. I talked them through letting their minds go blank and shooing away intruding thoughts like dry leaves being blown away by the wind.
Peace came back into the classroom.
I held them in savasana for about five minutes, and it was a beautiful feeling. After a few minutes I told them I would come around and touch them gently on the forehead. When I touched them, they were invited to *very quietly* get up and get their journals or DEAR books. It was a lovely end to the day.
SPEAKING OF DEAR. I had a revelation in training yesterday: MORE THAN ONE BOOK! Yes! I will have the students choose at least three books at the beginning of DEAR time, and then they *stay put* the whole time. No more up and down and up and down. No, they will sit and read. What a concept.
______
Case Study: JS, seven years old, 2nd grade. Non-traditional family.
This is the button child from last post. I have chosen to do a case study of this child so that I may better address her needs in the classroom. I will likely have her in my classroom for one more year at least, so I need some better options when it comes to encouraging her to make progress.
The first week after break is done and gone. It was a good week. There was a lot of good work that got done, and the mood in the classroom was upbeat. I got key experiences done for the conjunction, the exclamation mark and synonyms. I also got a cool little language manual created for my students. I have a set of seven manuals that cover grammar topics (only for now - other topics to be added soon) spanning grades 2-4. What I love about it is that I'm going to split the kids into three groups and we're starting language circles. Each group will use the SAME MANUAL, and we'll all cover the same topic each day, but I can customize the lesson by having the students turn to different sections of the manual. It takes away the feeling of being more or less advanced than other groups. I'm tickled by the stealthiness of my plan.
We are also starting back up with our math teams on Monday. Each team gets math twice a week, and we will be giving workbook assignments, but they are to be completed in school - the workbooks won't be going home most of the time.
In the cultural curriculum, I introduced US history and geography and also did a key experience for the amphibian. Kati introduced desert habitats. After Kati's lesson Thursday, the class was very chaotic. I came back into the room and found overwhelming craziness, so she finished up and I called loudly, "OK, I want everyone to lie down on the floor! Just lie on your back and close your eyes. Make sure you're not touching anyone else." Some of them held onto the silly, but I eventually got everyone on their backs. Then I talked them through a yoga savasana (corpse pose). In a soft voice I talked them through giving their breath a color and feeling that color fill their bellies and flowing through their whole bodies. I talked them through letting their minds go blank and shooing away intruding thoughts like dry leaves being blown away by the wind.
Peace came back into the classroom.
I held them in savasana for about five minutes, and it was a beautiful feeling. After a few minutes I told them I would come around and touch them gently on the forehead. When I touched them, they were invited to *very quietly* get up and get their journals or DEAR books. It was a lovely end to the day.
SPEAKING OF DEAR. I had a revelation in training yesterday: MORE THAN ONE BOOK! Yes! I will have the students choose at least three books at the beginning of DEAR time, and then they *stay put* the whole time. No more up and down and up and down. No, they will sit and read. What a concept.
______
Case Study: JS, seven years old, 2nd grade. Non-traditional family.
This is the button child from last post. I have chosen to do a case study of this child so that I may better address her needs in the classroom. I will likely have her in my classroom for one more year at least, so I need some better options when it comes to encouraging her to make progress.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Better!
Two posts in less than a week! I'm on a roll. This would have come last night if I hadn't gone to yoga. I'm so glad I'm making time for that, even though it takes up time I could be working or, you know, writing in my journal. It's so good for me to take care of myself. I'm a better teacher for it.
Yesterday was a great day at school. TOWER TUESDAY! I love tower Tuesdays. Tower Tuesdays are new - just instituted last week. So many of my students were avoiding tower work - language and math both - that I decided that one morning a week we would do nothing BUT tower work; thus tower Tuesday was born. It was awesome. Almost everyone got at least three towers done, and there were students who completed six, seven, eight in the morning. It was amazing, and the students, for the most part, thoroughly enjoyed it.
In the afternoon we had story on line and then music. While all that was going on, I put a tree up in the hall - kind of mosaic-like out of butcher paper. It looks dimensional and cool. When the students were ready to go back to work, I reminded them of the winter works on the shelves. There are several black line outlines of holiday items - an ornament, a gift box and a stocking - that the students fill in with free-verse poetry about winter or Christmas and then color. The gifts go under the tree; the ornaments go on the tree; the stockings go over their hooks. I also got out the snowflake templates for the students to create adjective snowflakes. Then most of the students spent the remainder of the afternoon working on holiday projects. Afterwards, we decked the hall. I'm rather pleased with how it is turning out.
Finally, before I left for the day I spoke with Diana about the math teams. RB's mom had asked me to tell her about "the whole math team thing:" what her daughter is studying, when and how much homework she ought to be bringing home, etc. My answer: "I don't know; she's not in my group." THAT IS RIDICULOUS! That I, as a child's teacher, can't answer such a basic question as, "Does my kid have homework tonight?" is absolutely ridiculous. So I went to Diana. I told her I wanted to touch base about math teams, that things were going fairly well, but that I have a huge concern. I told her that I hate not having my students in my classroom, that I hate not knowing what's going on with them, that I feel disconnected from them. I told her about the conversation with RB's mom. I asked what the thinking behind mixing students from the different classes is and why we can't do math groups with our own students in our own classrooms on our own schedule. She seemed receptive to change and asked if we can have a meeting on Thursday to talk about the teams.
After that I was walking on air. We're going to get rid of math teams! Woo! Of course, we'll still do math groups, and we'll be stuck with Everyday Math for the foreseeable future, but it is going to make mornings so much more manageable. YAY!
Yesterday was a great day at school. TOWER TUESDAY! I love tower Tuesdays. Tower Tuesdays are new - just instituted last week. So many of my students were avoiding tower work - language and math both - that I decided that one morning a week we would do nothing BUT tower work; thus tower Tuesday was born. It was awesome. Almost everyone got at least three towers done, and there were students who completed six, seven, eight in the morning. It was amazing, and the students, for the most part, thoroughly enjoyed it.
In the afternoon we had story on line and then music. While all that was going on, I put a tree up in the hall - kind of mosaic-like out of butcher paper. It looks dimensional and cool. When the students were ready to go back to work, I reminded them of the winter works on the shelves. There are several black line outlines of holiday items - an ornament, a gift box and a stocking - that the students fill in with free-verse poetry about winter or Christmas and then color. The gifts go under the tree; the ornaments go on the tree; the stockings go over their hooks. I also got out the snowflake templates for the students to create adjective snowflakes. Then most of the students spent the remainder of the afternoon working on holiday projects. Afterwards, we decked the hall. I'm rather pleased with how it is turning out.
Finally, before I left for the day I spoke with Diana about the math teams. RB's mom had asked me to tell her about "the whole math team thing:" what her daughter is studying, when and how much homework she ought to be bringing home, etc. My answer: "I don't know; she's not in my group." THAT IS RIDICULOUS! That I, as a child's teacher, can't answer such a basic question as, "Does my kid have homework tonight?" is absolutely ridiculous. So I went to Diana. I told her I wanted to touch base about math teams, that things were going fairly well, but that I have a huge concern. I told her that I hate not having my students in my classroom, that I hate not knowing what's going on with them, that I feel disconnected from them. I told her about the conversation with RB's mom. I asked what the thinking behind mixing students from the different classes is and why we can't do math groups with our own students in our own classrooms on our own schedule. She seemed receptive to change and asked if we can have a meeting on Thursday to talk about the teams.
After that I was walking on air. We're going to get rid of math teams! Woo! Of course, we'll still do math groups, and we'll be stuck with Everyday Math for the foreseeable future, but it is going to make mornings so much more manageable. YAY!
Friday, October 23, 2009
I am a horrible person
We went to lunch today and received less than stellar service from the burger joint we visited. After we ate (after a 30 minute wait for our meals), I went in to complain. After I unloaded my frustration on this sweet blonde girl, she interrupted and informed me that they were short handed because their coworker died last night.
And then she started to cry.
What does this have to do with school? It was a clear reminder to me that I don't always know what is going on behind the scenes and that I am sometimes too quickly bothered, too easily angered. The behavior of the shop employees was frustrating to me, but there were extremely extenuating circumstances. How often are there extenuating circumstances with my students that influence their behavior, triggering my ire, yet I don't consider that the students have a life outside of class.
And now I'm babbling.
School went well this week. Tuesday I was back to work, and we did the verb key experience (that I was going to do on Monday). It went really well, and we're now analyzing whole sentences for grammar. In the afternoon I introduced Earth Studies and we talked about the layers of the earth. Wednesday Kati introduced our study of Biomes and Habitats, and Thursday I did the Kingdoms of Life lesson. I was well prepared for that lesson, and it went well. I also introduced our classroom microscope, to an audible GASP, from the students - that was exciting.
The new academy period started today. The students are enjoying their classes, and I'm looking forward to another four weeks of relaxing Fridays.
And then she started to cry.
What does this have to do with school? It was a clear reminder to me that I don't always know what is going on behind the scenes and that I am sometimes too quickly bothered, too easily angered. The behavior of the shop employees was frustrating to me, but there were extremely extenuating circumstances. How often are there extenuating circumstances with my students that influence their behavior, triggering my ire, yet I don't consider that the students have a life outside of class.
And now I'm babbling.
School went well this week. Tuesday I was back to work, and we did the verb key experience (that I was going to do on Monday). It went really well, and we're now analyzing whole sentences for grammar. In the afternoon I introduced Earth Studies and we talked about the layers of the earth. Wednesday Kati introduced our study of Biomes and Habitats, and Thursday I did the Kingdoms of Life lesson. I was well prepared for that lesson, and it went well. I also introduced our classroom microscope, to an audible GASP, from the students - that was exciting.
The new academy period started today. The students are enjoying their classes, and I'm looking forward to another four weeks of relaxing Fridays.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Sick
Ugh, so sick. The whole world has the flu - swine or otherwise, no one really knows - and it has caught up with me. I knew it was only a matter of time, really. Both my kids have it, and today I woke up with the achy body, chills and nausea that heralds the onset of the yuck. Of course, I can't not go. So I pull myself together and head off to work. Where I sit and am a nearly useless lump. Awesome.
I got the rest of my students from yesterday leveled on reading comprehension. I'm finding this leveling process so fascinating. I can't wait to really get into reading comprehension work. I'm planning on sending reading packets home with students and doing round robins with students on similar levels and doing LOTS AND LOTS of comprehension work. It so needs to happen.
I was going to do a key experience for the verb and language lessons and an introduction to earth studies - movement of the earth - in the afternoon . . . none of which happened. I just didn't have it in me to do ANYTHING that required more than a modicum of energy.
Tomorrow is a half day and the jog-a-thon starts at 11:00. It'll be a pretty pointless day.
I got the rest of my students from yesterday leveled on reading comprehension. I'm finding this leveling process so fascinating. I can't wait to really get into reading comprehension work. I'm planning on sending reading packets home with students and doing round robins with students on similar levels and doing LOTS AND LOTS of comprehension work. It so needs to happen.
I was going to do a key experience for the verb and language lessons and an introduction to earth studies - movement of the earth - in the afternoon . . . none of which happened. I just didn't have it in me to do ANYTHING that required more than a modicum of energy.
Tomorrow is a half day and the jog-a-thon starts at 11:00. It'll be a pretty pointless day.
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