After An Educator's Journey

Out of the classroom & into the universe

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about

Once upon a time, I taught 2nd, 3rd, and 4th graders. Now I’m retired and working on new ventures.
I taught second, third and fourth graders. Teaching was my passion and joy for 30 years. And it didn’t hurt that they called me “mom” sometimes.

  • Teacher as Learner

    I have long gotten past being the “sage on the stage”. If educational gurus hadn’t already convinced me that students learn best from peers and self-exploration – constructing the meaning of something themselves from experience – anecdotal evidence from the classroom would have.

    This week I arranged with our school’s Literacy specialist/coach, Pat Sweeney, to have her model peer writing conferences.  Knowing how much language we need to build into any speech-based activity with English Language Learners, help in supporting my students is always welcome.

    Pat started by engaging my students in thinking about why an author may want to ask a peer  for advice. First Pat laid down the ground rules for the author (read your work and listen to peer input), the peer group (listen and then offer 1 compliment and 1 suggestion).  The rule of compliments (always start the sentence with “you or your”) and suggestions (“I think…..”) was next.

    Then kids then looked over and clarified a list of compliments and suggestions that Pat had placed on anchor charts. Having previewed some independently written narratives my students were working on, Pat selected two students to be the first to try out peer conferences in a whole group.

    I was pleasantly surprised at the level of constructive criticism my students had. They offered compliments and useful suggestions about the plot of a story, the beginnings, the endings, descriptive languages. Pat wrote down up to 3 suggestions for each author – fitting them on a 3×3 stick-on note – and then instructed the author to keep the note with their original work so when they later conference with me, we can both see which suggestions were incorporated into their pieces. Self accountability – brilliant!

    Several days later, when Pat led our peer conferences a second time, she gradually released the conversation to the students. And the students were much more willing to sit in the author’s chair or offer suggestions and compliments. As we continue this process, my hope is that students will move eventually to arranging with a smaller peer group of 2-3 students or even with a critical friend.

    As for me, I’ve learned that I have a habit of offering a compliment but linking to the suggestion with the conjunction “but” – which negates the power of the compliment. I’m also going to need to do some work to remember beginning compliments with “you” and not “I think”. I also was delighted to see the authors who had been through the peer conference check in with me (“Do you think I should rewrite this or just write this part on my draft?”) — how many times have teachers given students a writing suggestion and then notice it never makes its way in to the final copy?

    Having a valuable critical friend for my own teaching is not a luxury, it is a necessity. We learn from each other – just as the students do.

     

  • The Places We Write

    When we returned to school this week, I knew I would need to revisit some of our routines. The first week in January always seems like a good time to do such things. One thing I knew I wanted to clarify was where to put writing.

    In my third grade classroom, there seem to be 4 categories of writing activities – Reading Responses, Writers’ Notebook captures, Genre/project based writing, and Free Writing.  So this week I set out to redefine these 4 with my students through the creation of anchor charts and practice. As we work to refine the kinds of writing we do in  the four places, we created an anchor chart for each.

    Our Writers’ Notebooks in particular had become a mash of full-blown stories – not simply observations, ideas, snippets of conversation that might later turn in to something more substantial. We’ve started with a new notebook this week, a notebook that students are expected to keep on their desks during the day just in case a new writing idea comes to mind. While that spontaneity has not yet been achieved, I hope my message is clear: writers need to be ready to jot down ideas at any time.

    Organization, as any teacher can tell you, is where we succeed or stumble. If the structure for keeping track of materials and tasks doesn’t make sense to me personally, it probably won’t be helpful for the students. For me, and hopefully for my students, this past week’s activities has helped us to clarify and to organize tasks more logically.

  • New Traditions

    As the parent of an adult, the holidays are kind of odd for us. The old and comfortable ways we used to celebrate have morphed and changed to be less child-centered. We have never been big party people – Adrien used to play gigs on New Year’s Eve. Once you have had to work a New Year’s party, they kind of lose their luster I think. Most New Year’s Eves we share a glass of wine, cook something together – and continue the family tradition of watching the Three Stooges marathon. Not that exciting, and this “tradition” is definitely is starting to feel tired.

    I don’t know if it’s the light deprivation, the glum overcast that seems to be our normal weather, the cold (and anticipation of the utility bills), whatever… winter just gets to both of us.

    On a whim yesterday – before we even ate breakfast – I suggested we drive in to Boston to see the ice sculptures left from First Night.  And so we did.

    Trinity
    Trinity reflected in John Hancock Building

    New Year’s morning, as it turns out, is the perfect time to drive in to Boston. First of all, there was barely any traffic – even at 9 am. We found on street parking at Clarendon and Comm and could even be picky about where to put the car. And (bonus), no feeding the meters on Sundays and Holidays – both applied to this day.

    Yesterday was one of those anomalies of New England winter: it was 40 in the city and sunny. Hardly a person was out and about yet – just a few runners – it felt good to be walking around Back Bay.

    Copley Square, Jan 1, 2012

    Starting at Copley, where Trinity Church services were just getting underway, we strolled around the Square, down Boylston – stopping for coffee of course – through the Public Garden and on to the Common.

    By the time we reached the Public Garden, families were beginning to come out to enjoy the morning. The Frog Pond wasn’t open for skaters – yet – but the Zamboni was making the final sweep to clean up the ice, Children were enjoying the playground nearby.

    Boston10
    Tadpole Playground, January 1, 2012

    Boston is definitely a city for walking. And on this first day of 2012, I think we’ve discovered a new way to celebrate the advent of a new year.

  • Assumptions that aren’t always bad

    I subscribe to Responsive Classroom’s newsletters and blogs. They usually help to ground me, help me to see and understand my students better.  This week’s entry was about Questioning Assumptions. And as a teacher, I know there are too many times when I’ve jumped to a conclusion about a student’s behavior or motivation. And then been surprised by the wrongness of my assumptions.

    But I’m here to say that making assumptions in an educational setting is not always a bad thing.

    I assume my students are smart – brilliant mostly. And given the chance, I know they can achieve everything in life that any other student can achieve. I assume they want to do this. Of course, my third graders come with lots less baggage than middle- or high-schoolers and a fraction of the peer pressure to not look too nerdy. That makes this assumption a lot more easy to keep.

    I assume that when I believe in my students, the expectation that they can and will succeed becomes a cornerstone for learning – one that both of us are responsible for.

    Angela Maiers tells us that two words – you matter – make a world of difference. I believe that. Through my thoughts and actions toward my students I believe that they will also believe it and come to find their inner strength, their core.

    And I assume that when students believe they matter, they can achieve whatever they want in spite of or because of things that happen outside of school.

    I assume, that given a chance to become involved in their child’s learning life, a parent will do just that. Each September, I ask parents to tell me what their goals are for their child. Those goals are not that different from more affluent families. Just sometimes there are unique challenges that need a little work.

    I agree that stereotypical assumptions block us from helping our students to be all that they are destined to become. But the next time someone tells you to re-examine your assumptions about students, don’t throw it all away. Keep on assuming those things that make expectations high.

     

  • Vacation is a time to…. THINK!

    This is a *short* vacation week as school holiday weeks go. I know that thought doesn’t elicit much sympathy from the dreaded private sector 🙂

    Usually I spend a lot of time being my compulsive self and trying to do all the school work I think I need to do while I have some time away from kids. I plan, I research, I read….. I obsess.

    This year, however, it has been different. I did not actually pick up a teacherly activity until this morning. This morning I worked on long-range Writing Workshop plans and short range weekly lessons for our return to class next week. I suppose I could obsess about some reports or research, but I’m going to play against my instinct and try to be less freakish about anticipating every nuance.

    I think I’ve got a game plan to last me for a bit. What got written seems reasonable. Instead of reacting or working quickly, I have a chance to consider and be more reflective and thoughtful about how to teach this, that, or the other.

    This week away is passing quickly; there are many projects to be completed around our house before the routine of school takes over again. And even in doing those mundane chores that I’ve put off since the Fall, I can spend some time in thinking…. about school, about learning, about being less nudge-y.

    Vacation for me, is a time to think.

     

  • Faces of poverty and trauma

    This time of year – this time of year when commercial excess is encouraged and expected. A time when non-stop advertisement reminds us that in order for it to truly be the “most wonderful time” of the year, we need to open those wallets and warm up the charge cards. This time of year is filled with sadness and lost hope.

    It is a time of year that is filled with resentment and sometimes anger for some of my students. It is a time when life is just not fair.

    I can generally gauge the economy by the numbers of children in my classroom who seem hungry. This year, there’s not much guesswork or hypothesis involved. They don’t just seem hungry, they clearly are hungry.

    While these students are generally beneath the radar – free and reduced lunch status is not commonly known among teaching staff – there is no hot list of who pays for lunch and who doesn’t. This year, on several occasions, I have been struck by the matter-of-fact, almost accepting manner of parents who have run out of money and who are falling through the social safety net. And who, in desperation, approach me – the teacher of their child – to see if I have any resources they can tap in to.

    If this year is any indication, the economy is really bad.

    For these children living in poverty, there is no “most wonderful time of the year”. There is only the reality that there will be nothing under the tree – in fact, there won’t be a tree.

    In the last week, I have had children acting out and then melting in to tears because they are hungry (I ask now, no sense in hinting around). For several children, whenever a classmate is absent, we tuck the extra bagel, or cereal or graham cracker package into their backpacks.

    My mother knits mittens for my students – I have given out every pair, about 10 so far this year. One child came to school so cold he needed to keep his winter coat on (a gift from a generous school benefactor) for more than an hour to ward of the shivers.

    These are not the pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps families that some disparage. They were the working poor, have seen their jobs disappear, and now watch helplessly as their family begins a descent through the cracks in our safety net.

    And the children? These are children for whom the “most wonderful time of the year” is a cruel joke.

  • Whose Expertise Is It Anyway?

    Recently I heard the most incredulous piece of a conversation that makes me wonder.

    One of my developmentally delayed students – a child who has a very low frustration point, low self esteem, and the ability to either poke himself in the arm with a pencil or bite himself when that low threshold has been reached is slated to be assessed using an alternative assessment (a portfolio-based work called the ALT).

    Believe me when I tell you that the special education teachers who put these things together work extremely hard to match goals on students’ ed plans (IEPs) to demonstrated achievement. However, someone higher on the Special Education chain of command recently commented that this child should be taken off the ALT assessment and be allowed to “experience MCAS” – our standardized test here in Massachusetts.

    Now I will admit that I was not present during this conversation; it was relayed to me.  If there is a shred of truth to it, I have to wonder “what is the point?” Actually the comment I made when I first heard it was more like, “are you freaking kidding me?”

    For I can tell you – I, the teacher working with this student 6+ hours each day – that this student a) is unable to read aa texts, b) is significantly delayed so that behaviors are similar to a 2- or 3-year-old, and c) already self-injures when frustration level is reached. This child is already frustrated with life, himself, and learning in general and doesn’t need a grueling standardized test to confirm that he/she learns differently and at a different pace.

    I do not understand this at all. I am frustrated by it. And as the child’s advocate for what he needs academically, I will fight this tooth and nail.

    Sadly, I think it will be for naught.

  • Third Grade Giggles

    Anyone who has ever taught a third grader knows it’s true: there are certain words that just send these kiddos into hysterics. Think of it as a Seven Words You Can’t Say on TV for 8 year olds.

    For example: toilet paper. As in, “If we don’t get some tissues boxes in class soon, you’ll have to blow your nose of toilet paper.”  Bird poop is another prime example. Recently one of my students wrote a personal narrative about a bird pooping on her at the beach. Definitely the highlight of the sharing celebration. Forget irony; 8 year olds love butt humor.

    Yesterday – one of my less stellar academically driven days – with a week full of interruptions, a full moon, Christmas-on-the-brain, and a very tired teacher (parent conferences!) – the kids were as silly as could be. Unfortunately we were close to being out of tissues so I asked for some donations before we…. well you know what I had to say.

    After that laughter died down, one of my more impish students asked me if I knew buttocks was a compound word. Hey, I’m game for anything when I’m tired. So I confessed I did not know that particular piece of information.

    He repeated it again.  And finally in exasperation said, “You know…. butt-talks.”

    Even teacher couldn’t hold a straight face on that one.  I think they’re rubbing off on me.

     

     

  • Revisiting Critical Friends

    This year I have a group of students who, most of the time, try to work together.  So far they don’t seem to get on each others nerves very often. Mykids range from highly independent, self-motivated students to those with pervasive developmental challenges.  Some days we exhaust each other.

    I made a decision to revisit narrative writing again this month to see if we could improve on our first attempt in this writing genre.  One of those improvements is that I have assigned each student a “critical friend”, a writing partner.  This afternoon we used the 10 steps toward independence (thanks Gail and Joan!) modeling what a conference with a critical friend should look and sound like – and how it should not.  I guess we’ve done this routine enough times with other parts of the Daily Five that it was no big deal to follow a good model with a poor model with a good model.

    And then I asked the newly formed writing partnerships to go off and talk about their ideas for this new narrative writing project and offer encouragement and suggestions.

    I  often like to step away from the children  and become an observer. Oftentimes I am amazed at how things roll and today was no exception. I could hear each author explain the five narrative ideas they had thought of, why the idea was important to him or her, and then listen as the partner either encouraged or gently offered a suggestion or clarification of the idea.  The partners were so sincere in their responsibilities to their writing partners; how powerful it must have felt to get some feedback from a peer, not only from the teacher!

    When I think about making sure my student writers have peers to support them, I sometimes find myself hesitating – wondering if the students have the skills (social) and judgement to offer constructive criticism to a peer. I wonder if I am asking too much of them.  But today, I observed I have very much underestimated my students. They are most definitely up to the task of working with a writing partner, a critical friend.

    I won’t under-estimate them again. Critical friends are here to stay.

  • Adventures in Technology

    It was a chance discussion that brought it on. My sister, a newly minted teacher from Oregon, pointed me to a blog written by one of her instructional technology professors, Barry Jahn. It was the post on an $80 SmartBoard that caught my interest.

    Working in cash-strapped urban school districts generally means technology is way down on the list of priorities.  I have two iMacs in my classroom – 1 is nearly 10 years old and no longer can be updated; the other newer model (3 years old) is shared by my students and me and now has been given over entirely to the students. Getting a picture here?

    So I am always on the look-out for some technology applications that I can a) afford and b) use meaningfully. As a former instructional technology specialist I firmly stand on the side of tech teachers who think technology should be one of the tools students use — not some stand-alone flash-in-the-pan.

    So when the idea of making a SmartBoard out of a Wii-mote appeared, I was intrigued. I already had the Wii-mote — gathering dust as those things are apt to do. I had my old Dell XPS laptop that I was in the process of designating for use in school as “my” computer.  I had a projector already in the classroom. So all I needed was a bluetooth dongle, the software, and an infrared pen.  Sounds easy – right.

    Well not so fast. There is Murphy’s Law to consider here – if anything can possibly go wrong it does (and did).  First I needed to get past the hurdle of getting my Dell to connect to the school’s network. Can I tell you that Fort Knox does not have such stringent security?

    Then the bluetooth was not plug-and-play technology; that took about a week to figure out the ONE WAY it would recognize my Dell and the Wii-mote. The projector and Dell had a little tussle with each other and wouldn’t “talk”. And finally, it turns out WHERE you place the Wii-mote has a lot to do with whether or not the pen gets seen by the system and can be calibrated.

    Oh and the software, no longer free – but a free-trial, didn’t much care for working either. It felt like every hurdle that was overcome had another one waiting to take its place in the line of “technology prevention”. It probably didn’t help that I truly was trying to do this on the cheap by using my 8-year-old laptop.

    However, persistence paid off and 2 months later I have a SmartBoard. I rolled it out with my students this week when we introduced the concept of similes with the students, using an already made SmartBoard file from Smart Exchange. Even though the calibration on the pen still needs a tweak, the silly thing worked. And honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever had an easier time getting kids to understand the concept of figurative language.

    A perfect reason to use technology in the classroom! Can’t wait to find some others.