Use Sparingly

I am 5 days from ending my student teaching. Most of the heavy lifting is over. Have I finished all my observations? Check. How about getting your final check-out meeting with your field instructor? Yep, check! You've been observed by your principal and master teacher? Most certainly. How about submitting your portfolio? Yes, although I will admit that I probably spent more time on the actual teaching than the portfolio itself, part of my field on what is the most important thing (teaching or photocopying and compiling?).

This past week also marked my 9th week of student teaching, and the beginning of my handover of responsibility. I've still taught math, writing, and science, which means I've been teaching quite a bit. But I am ok with that. The more experience the better. The only downside is having the kids seeing two very different styles/tolerances. Noise is one of those things where I am ok with a reasonably loud bubble, and my MT isn't quite as keen. You'll remember that I posted on this previously, and need to remind myself of that.

Now I have new found time! I can blog a bit more, which is great. The second thing is that I can go through my Google Reader, chalk full of 196 posts. Some of the best are...

• Brian at Learning is Messy was reflecting on his current (soon ending) 1:1 student/laptop ratio, and what that has meant for his kids and in his practice.
• The Reading Zone had a post about grading in the reading/writing workshop, as well as how to curriculum map. Both of those are things I am starting to think ahead to. Both posts have some books worth checking out (I can speak to the quality of the Strategies That Work book)
• I absolutely love seeing Dy/dan's posts come through my google reader. I think he inspires me to think about how we can use a variety of content to get kids thinking about math in real-world contexts. This looks at a music video where you can mute instruments, and what would that mean to the number of combinations that could be created. This one looked at a comparison between two very different math classes, and their interest level. I think one can read a ways into it, particularly from a class point of view and the notion of gatekeeping.
• The Doc is In had a pie graph that made me laugh, but not in the "ha ha ha ha ha!" sort of way, as I think it (sadly) ends up getting it right.
• I also read some running/sports blogs. The Science of Sport goes a little deeper into running, thinking a little (well, a lot) more critically about things. This looked at performance enhancing drugs in sport (sport being running, as they are non-US), and this looked a little deeper into pacing at the London Marathon vs the World Record. For me, it is like Dy/Dan's posts, but in a running context.

My last note comes in reflecting about an email I had with a principal friend. We were talking about the end of my student teaching, what was next, etc. Finding a job is paramount, but it will be a hurry up and wait type of situation as we had a RIF's all over the state. I mentioned how I was also running a marathon in Portland on the fourth of July. I told her I was hoping to be around 2:35, maybe a little more or less (certainly 2:30's). She was surprised I was able to manage both things- training (heavily at that) and student teaching. I hadn't thought about that. It is just what I do, and there wasn't much of a choice.

Board Games

Teaching in a split class is interesting. They are classes put together out of monetary convenience for the school district, not for the kids' learning! The funny thing is that I love multiage classrooms, and think that is how a split needs to be taught (not as a 1st grade, 2nd grade with divider down the middle!). I think the range can be wide, but it is going to be wide in any classroom. The benefits of having older students and younger students working together outweigh the range, at least to me.

As we use Everyday Math, and like many math curricular materials, teaching a multiage for math is very difficult. So we don't. That is right, we don't, or at least our class doesn't. My master teacher has the 2nd graders with the math specialist, and we take the 1st graders. Class size becomes ideal (10-13 each), and we can focus on what we need to focus on... except on Fridays! Fridays are when the math specialist isn't in, so we are all together.

I've tried to stay away from simply playing math games. While they are fun, and can reinforce concepts, I feel like they end up being 50 minutes of filler, the mathematical equivalent of empty calories. Today I've got a different plan, meshing the ideas. Both groups have worked on fractions, and both like playing games. How about using pattern blocks to make a board game? We are going to add in CHANCE spots where you can take a chance to move ahead a spot by answering a math fact question, and we are going to do some writing. The fractions come in as we identify the fraction of the total pieces (ie 5/12 pieces were blue pentagons). Identify shapes, identify fractions, creating math facts. We'll see how it goes.

Run. It's Good For You!

Exercise is essential to the brain function of our kids. Vigorous physical activity has been linked positively to academic performance, although the fact sheet with that info escapes me currently. When I have my own classroom I want to do a 10 minute outside whole group game time. I've seen it done with teams of classrooms (upwards of 50+ kids), and it has been great. Start the day with exercise, get the brain ready for the day. Instead we have kids come in, get a sugary breakfast (or no breakfast), and sit around a bunch until recess. Sure they move... to the carpet... then to get a book... then back to their chair... 50 steps? Maybe....

Tomorrow, even as I don't feel all that great, I'm bringing the soccer ball out to recess. Last time I had 8 kids join up for a game, and they ran like crazy. Let's see what tomorrow brings... For me it is a morning 7 miler followed by an afternoon of 8 miles in the sun!

Something to Shout About

I'm not sure what it is about the Spring, but something is driving the kids batty. Maybe it is me, maybe it is the pollen, maybe it is something happening at home, but they've gone a little haywire if you ask me. Fuses are short, and most folks are quick to turn on their neighbor for even the littlest thing.

For example, one student turned backwards in their chair (hand on the top), and another pushed back to smash the first student's fingers. There was a little "Owwww" to be had followed by, "You always do this to me." I love the use of "always," as it captures the essence of how 1st and 2nd graders feel- it doesn't happen just once, it ALWAYS happens, and will continue to happen (when it rains it pours?).

Kids have gotten on each other's nerves, and we might need a little more community building. I've thought of bringing everyone together to give a compliment to another student at the end of each day... turn the tide on the negativity a bit. We'll see.

Too Many Items...

One of the issues I seem to run up against is having too many different balls in the air. Yesterday the kids started a short poem to go with the piece of art they had created (also started yesterday- to go with the story Thunder Cake by Patricia Polacco). I wasn't there, so I came in a little blind to it today. I thought that the art was done, and that the poem was almost tied up and ready to have a proverbial bow put on it. Ahhh, but not so fast Daniel-san.

I had a few kids who weren't here yesterday, some who hadn't finished their art (crayon resist), and some who didn't really know what was happening with the poem. The flip side to that would be a quarter of the kids who just needed to write it on final draft paper. Oy vey! What to do, and how to ensure that all needs are met? Well I opted to take the ones who hadn't gotten going on the poem (simple Adjective/Noun/Verb format) and grouped them together. We worked on going over what an adjective, noun, and verb were before transitioning into practicing with putting them together.

From there it looked a bit like triage, as we also have All-About books being written too! Those were the "when you finish with your poem" writing today. Really I wish I could have shifted priorities, as everyone needs more writing instruction for their All About books. Time is ticking away... 2.5 days to get everything done.

Happy Accidents

I have enjoyed reading To Understand thus far. Since I started student teaching, back in March, I have been going through some of the books my wife and I have.... Growing Readers by Kathy Collins, Reading (and Writing) Essentials by Regie Routman, Study Driven by ??? The past 3+ weeks I haven't really tried to read much of the school related ilk, so this has been a wonderful change (if only for the past day or so).

Keene writes about the "happy accidents" that occur during the school year. That is, we have students who get totally immersed in a topic or book. When this happens we become elated, as the student has just realized the potential that we have seen since Day 1. The problem with the happy accident is this: why can't it happen everyday? The same child may have been pushing us to wits end the day before (and the day after), so what caused this change in their learning?

As someone who wants to create lifelong learners, how do I make those happy accidents less accidental and more regular? That question is something I'll be pondering for a while.

The Way You Ask Questions

Last week took a huge toll on my body. I came through the weekend with clogged sinuses, and some sort of cold. It is the same thing my wife had last week, so I am hopeful that it will be gone by tomorrow. I felt pretty awful on Saturday and then raced Beat the Bridge with a fever and all that jazz yesterday. Today I went in to school to get some things ready, then asked my Master Teacher to let me head home and sleep (to which she kindly said yes!).

Between sleeping, coughing, and fixing the bathtub drain (the chain broke on the plunger), I started to read To Understand by Ellin Oliver Keene. Keene was one of the co-authors of Mosaic of Thought, which has been recommended to me by quite a few folks. To Understand has been on our bookshelf for a few months now, as my wife bought it when I was purchasing school books in January. I figured that I didn't have much to read right now, why not take a look?

I'm not far along, but one thing is stunning: Helping kids to understand is a difficult job. She starts the book with the story of Jamika, and asking her (in an informal reading conference) if she understands the book she is reading. The reply was one that makes total sense- everyone asks me if it makes sense or if I get it, but no one ever told me what "making sense" means. That stopped me in my tracks, as I had to think about what it truly meant to understand something... and why that is important to the students we teach.

Additionally, Keene writes about holding high expectations for our students. That, I thought to myself, I am on board with, and is something I feel like I do a good job of. That was until I read how she posed a question/issue, and talked about expectations often be embedded in our language. For example:

1. See if you can think of a question about the story...
2. Think about all the questions you have as we read the story, and then pick one or two that you think will help us understand more about the story.

Seems silly no? But I did something like this last week, also on questioning. The first one poses the question as though they might not all get it, whereas the second one expects that all have questions. Don't we expect that all of us will have questions? As Keene writes, "showing high expectations for literacy learning is a far more subtle and precise process and requires far more consistent attention to the ways in which that we interact with children (15)."

Happy Weekend

I am not sure I have ever been as excited for the weekend as I am right now. 7 weeks in to student teaching, and another full week ahead. I just needed to get through today, as today was Village. Village is like a carnival or county fair that has rolled itself out inside of a school. The only difference is that the pain is self-inflicted, as the classrooms become stores and the kids work at them.

My legs have never felt as tired as they do today, and I am at marathon runner. Standing in the same spot for 3 hours, roping kids into tasks, was a little crazy. Alas I have survived, will head out for some pizza and look forward to 2 days of sun. I'll race on Sunday too. For now though, I am happy to be at home.

Goodbye Mr. Chair

I have some kiddos who like to tip their chair. I was a young boy once, and I actually tipped my chair some myself. I still do, from time to time, as an adult. When I was younger I actually tipped back and hit my head, gashing my head open. It probably seemed worse than it was, but I still tell people that I split my head open.

Where am I going? Right, chairs in class! So I have given reminders upon reminders about 6 legs on the floor, four for the chair and two for you. But that got tiresome. Following the idea that the punishment should fit the crime, I decided that you'd lose your chair if you tipped your chair after being warned (got all that?).

I took a chair away yesterday at 1:30, and then had to do it again this morning... at 9:06am. No problems thereafter. After the first 2-3 times of him asking, he stopped asking and was on his knees by his desk, or working under his desk. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Hopefully he keeps his chair.

What does it mean to succeed?

The kids need to fill out job applications for the store on Village day. I didn't do a very good job of explaining the process, or the application. I should have put it under the document camera and had them read with me. Instead I had them on the carpet, and read it to them. It doesn't have too much text, but enough to confuse some kiddos...

One of the questions was "What skills do you have that would make you successful in this position?" or something like that. I got lots of kids who said, "what does successful mean?" Ummm, my lesson was not very successful, how ironic.

Caterpillars!

There seems to be an abundance of things happening right now. We have Village on Friday, and there is a ton still to be done. I am in the midst of a "reading is thinking" unit, and get observed on a lesson from that unit tomorrow. We're finishing a unit in math, all the while trying to figure out what an equivalent fraction is without calling it that (1st grade... more seeing the equivalency than naming it). Plus... caterpillars came on Friday afternoon! Oy Vey!

Back up a few weeks. Originally I was planning to teach a science unit on Organisms like the other 2 first grade classes. We didn't get a kit, and we were going to be planting plants for Village... so I went it without the kit. After a few weeks (as we do science once a week, and flip flop with social studies) I got a little stumped, as I am A) not a brilliant scientist and B) not much of a scientist at all. In talking with TeacherWife I elected to get some caterpillars. The overarching idea behind the Organisms kit is "What do living things need to survive?" and this seemed to fit perfectly.

Well, it has (perhaps) made for a little too jammed of a day. Between butterfly/caterpillar journals, lavender sachets, sticky notes for reading, and small cut outs of paper (representing 1/8ths), we've got a ton happening. Perhaps that is just the way it is supposed to be.

making it smell good

The school I am at has a giant (and I mean GIANT) project called Village. It is fantastic, and would be a wonderful problem-based learning opportunity for the kids. For us, and I mean student teachers, it is a little bit of treading water. This is a project that has been going on for years, and it just runs with teachers talking via phrases and sentences unknown to the uninitiated. The process of learning the information is very much like knowing a second language and then stepping into a conversation with 10 native speakers. You tread water and try to keep up!

Well today we had an afternoon of Village workday stuff. Kids were making the envelopes for the seeds we are selling (as part of a Plant in a Box product), they were creating Lavender sachets (think potpourri), as well as shucking so much Lavender that the whole school smelled like Lavender (and it is a big school).

High expectations, and giving them enough instructions that they can succeed, coupled with asking them to solve their own problems works. For some that meant actually talking respectfully to each other and taking turns. When I heard "Mr Hanson, we are taking turns" just after another kid said "Jennie, its your turn" I knew it was working out well. You'd think it is common to treat each other respectfully, but sometimes it gets lost in just trying to be a kid (and having needs you need met!).

Questions

We have gone through a weird transition in our reading block. We started reading from the Houghton Mifflin anthology, but it wasn't a whole class thing. Many other groups were reading different books (Junie B. Jones, DragonSlayers Academy, Frog and Toad, and the Secrets of Droon to name a few). I decided, with my MT's blessing, that we would work on learning how to find just-right books. After that we started into the idea that "reading is thinking."

Well a few weeks have gone by, and we are still toiling away in the reading is thinking area. It is a little different now though. Some kids are back reading the anthology, and some are reading different series' of books. Many (and I mean MANY) are reading Junie B Jones. The reading instruction, as a whole, hasn't been what I would have hoped.

That being said we are going forward with the idea of questioning. The idea that we ask questions while we are reading (and before, and after, and ALL THE TIME!) is an essential one to me. Without questioning we lose focus on what we are supposed to be reading. Questioning is a way for us to wonder about what the author is saying, make predictions (in a backwards sort of way), and make connections to other parts of our life.

For example, I recently read Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union (great book by the way, really enjoyed it). Before reading I was wondering if the book would be anything like his last book (Adv of Kavalier and Clay)? I wondered what Alaska would be like (it is set in Sitka)? I wondered what the title meant? Once I started reading I was wondering if this was historical fiction (did this kinda, sorta happen)? Were Jewish people as close as they seemed to be in the book?... and on and on. While I didn't read a ton everyday, my questions kept me engaged as I plodded along. Without questions... well it would be like many other books on my shelf: stuck there with a bookmark between page 40-70.

All About...

Tomorrow is a big day for my writers. They get a chance to share their All About Me book with one of the 1st grade classrooms. Most are done, or just about done, so tomorrow will be a bit of a scramble to finish it up. By 1:30 or so we are heading downstairs to share... will the deadline be met?!

Why the rush? Well we've spent a week and a half on them, and the task of writing about themselves has run its course. Most have gamely taken to the task. Some... well, not so gamely. Sentences like "I like candy. It tastes good" accompanied by cries of "I'm done" are not what I had envisioned. Moving to revise and add to our writing has not been met with joy, which is understandable. My expectations for writing are a bit different than my MT's, to which they are adjusting.

For the most part this has worked out well though, and will serve us well going forward. We are going to get a chance to start an All About book on something we know/like after this. If you like soccer, and know enough to write about it, this is great for you! How about comics? Same! My hope is to learn from my earlier adventures in How-To writing, and steer people to topics that they A) have enough information to write about and B) are broad + specific at the same time (broad in that it isn't "Snickers candy bars" but more specific that "Vietnamese"- I can see both being possible topics coming my way!). At any rate, I am excited for us to celebrate tomorrow!