PS 22 Chorus

If you haven't heard of them, check out the PS 22 Chorus. This Week In Education linked a video of them doing Eye of the Tiger today, and I was hooked. The passion in their voices is incredible, and it shows how powerful the arts can be.... search PS 22 Chorus on youtube... or click the link I put on there :)

Things not thought of

The daily routine of a teacher is one of the least thought of things, at least when it comes to student teaching. As an intern, the focus is on having appropriate instruction during the various blocks of time- and assessment that will inform your instruction. The instruction, while likely not what a 4th or 5th year teacher's might be, has been the least of my worries. Transitioning from one thing to another can be difficult, but so can getting through all of the daily add-ons.

What do I mean by add-ons? Things like picking of jobs, actually doing jobs (mail, recycling, plant watering, etc), getting lunch boxes at 1:00 instead of 3:02, sending out a Tuesday newsletter, and getting homework ready daily. While it is relatively simple for the experienced teacher whose classroom it is, the newbie needs to find a system to internalize/remember all of the little odds and ends that aren't even a part of the planned instruction. I'm using Post-It notes.... although I tend to use too many!

Reading for Pleasure

I just started reading Howard Gardner's Disciplined Mind. My wife is reading it for her book group, comprised of former K/1 teaching teammates. I was struck by a passage in the opening chapter. Gardner said that the purpose of the book was not to talk about ways to change education in the present (the here and now) but to, instead, shift the conversation to what is best for students and learning. Instead of focusing on charter schools and teacher's unions, he wanted to focus on how kids learn and what they learn.

That chapter, as introductory as it may be, finally struck me in my current state. Education isn't about basal readers and assorted activities as much as it is about what is best for kids and their learning. I've been arm wrestling with a reversion to more basal reader usage during literacy time. This was a decision made with my MT, and one that I struggled with. The part where I struggle is that my thought process is going: "I want kids to develop a love of reading" and I am not sure the basal reader fosters that development. The competing line of thought is: "Students need to have the fundamental skills to read, and the basal reader helps develop fluency amongst other things." The question I should be asking is, "What is best for kids and their learning- long term."

When the lights go dark

My apologies for being gone. My intent certainly wasn't to be gone for a week! I've simply needed the break from education related stuff on the Internet- google reader! blogs! news! my blog! All of those things went untouched last week and weekend.

I'm in the midst of week 5 of student teaching. We are required to do 6, but my master teacher and I scheduled out through the 22nd (an additional 3 weeks). Thereafter it will be transitioning back to her control. Having a schedule with beginning and end dates is helpful for me, at least in creating a mental order of events.

So how has it been thus far? Teaching is certainly the profession I want to enter. I've struggled in creating an identity for my teaching in someone's space other than my own. Ultimately it isn't my classroom, but I also need to have the ability to try out some ideas from the academic end. I believe I have a far clearer notion of what my beliefs are about students, learning, and teaching.

The More You Write, The More It Grows!

I started a new routine by accident. My transitioning is sub-par at best. Personally, I feel like it is somewhere between horrific and disorganized. Others have said that it isn't quite as bad, but I am seeking perfection (and always trend lower in my self assessment). Alas I digress.

When the kids come in from somewhere, such as Music, PE, or Recess, I start to write on the whiteboard. I keep my voice off, and just let them read it. What happens, and this is fascinating to me, is that 2 or 3 kids will start to read it aloud. They read it aloud because that is their nature, and they haven't been told to stop, I think it is harmless. Actually it is GREAT! What happens is the other kids think they are supposed to join in, and they ALL start to read it. Kids who are normally stragglers come in quicker as they think they are missing something. They guess on the words as I am writing, and are engaged in the intro process. It sure beats saying, "Ok here we go" or "Ladies join us" etc etc.

Now that I have them, I need to improve in the actual execution of independent/guided practice. I see the demonstration section as being better than I would have expected, and the shared section as at least adequate. The trick is that moving to independent writing, independent reading, or even the exploration in science is difficult. Stamina, which I have mentioned before, is an issue. I have started to question whether the task is too much, but then see that it is a minority of the students. Of those students that are struggling to get moving, they've all shown that they can accomplish the task. Perhaps it is an issue of motivation, and I need to rethink my approach. Alas... another day in the books, and more questions added to the pile.

Just Do What You Do

I had a conversation with a fellow intern on Friday, with the subject being an upcoming observation. She asked what I was going to be teaching, and I replied by saying that 11am was out math time. She responded by asking if I just do what is scheduled, and not worry about the observation, to which I said "yeah, I don't worry about when he (our field instructor) comes. I just maintain the routine as best I can."

Ultimately teaching is about the kids. If a field instructor wants to see me teach science, reading, math, etc, then they need to come when we have it scheduled. Rearranging the day for my convenience doesn't make sense for the kids, as resilient as they may be. Moving parts of the day around throws the kids for a loop. In a weird way, it isn't in our best interest anyway as the change can have the kids reacting oddly, making for a poor lesson and potential management issues.

Photostory

We started recording today. I don't think I can post the kid's work on here, as they aren't really my own students yet. That being said, I was impressed with how the dynamics of writing seemed to change once kids saw what their writing was going to transform into. The format is as basic as it gets: one picture, and their voice reading their writing. There may be one or two that have multiple pictures, but most aren't at that point.

How I got here is a bit of a mystery. Originally we were simply bringing some work to completion, a piece that they chose from a pile of unfinished work ("starts" as my master teacher termed them). Some had starts, some didn't, and the process has been a little bit of a mess. Some like writing, some don't, and their stamina is relatively low.

Somewhere along the line kids wanted to record... with the tape recorders. That got me thinking of photostory, and the rest is history. We have 3 in the books, and the change in attitude towards writing is interesting. Kids are clamoring to record, and will turn their focus to their final draft as they know they need it in order to record. One even said she was done, and got to recording and said "that doesn't make sense," opting to go finish her work! We'll have a viewing session, much like an author's chair in the end.... I'm excited!

Our Own Worst Enemies

Ideally student teaching is collaborative. The intern is watching and questioning the master teacher in order to gain more knowledge for the who/what/when/where/(and most importantly) why of the classroom. In that ideal paradigm, the intern transitions into the classroom and troubleshoots instruction, management, etc with their master teacher.

Unfortunately we are human, and the ideal doesn't necessarily work out. In my case it has been quite collegial, but I am not so sure for others in other schools. Why? Well we get in our own way, and we begin to think that we can do things better than the people before us. Even worse is ignoring the experience of the classroom teacher in favor of your own new world perspective, the first person to see land... "Ahoy!"

Where am I going? Well the two cohorts that are student teaching met yesterday to discussion management issues we might be seeing in our respective classrooms. The phrase told to us before and after, a large small (4 groups of 15+ roughly) group discussion was "You all are your own best resources." We are, we can offer a myriad of experiences as well as the wealth of 40+ different master teachers (likely 200-400 years, collectively, of classroom experience).

I don't believe that statement is meant to mean: you alone are the best resources you have. Instead, we should be troubleshooting from what we have seen/experienced, and with something more than a nod to our master teachers attempts to quell management issues. I doubt that our master teachers are at their "wits end," leaving us to clean up a mess. Perhaps they have in other cases, but I haven't seen it. While I certainly have management issues to work through, I don't see them as much different from those that my master teacher was dealing with.... so you start from what has already been done, you think about the root of the issue, and you work to find a solution that will work for the betterment of the greater learning environment.

Learning How to Line Up

We learned how to line up today. I've let some of the little things go- kids on chairs at circle, some kids sitting at desks at circle, a little less orderly in line. My glossing over those things doesn't help when we flip flop, because when someone else expects them to be in order (or be more than a mob) they won't comply. I need to take stock of my surroundings, and understand that my own looseness isn't helping them in the long run. I their teacher for 6-10 weeks, while this is their home for 6 YEARS. When in Rome, be a bit more Roman, no?

It isn't that I am Napoleon visiting Rome, or even some wee serf. I have been fortunate to try out some ideas, and to have some work fairly well. But I must also be aware of how my classroom, and my kids, are perceived by others in the building. If we walk down to lunch as a mob (more happy and hungry than angry) while others are in lines, I should instill some discipline and get them in a line. My tolerance for noise is another one of those items that is less bothersome to me, but makes me look like I have little to no order.

All of this makes me want to read the Last Days of Socrates again.

Integrating Tech

Writer's Workshop has been a bit of a pain. It was suggested that I have students finish something they have already written. That suggestion was to go before I start All-About books. I decided to give it the ol' college try, believing that we could pick one of our "starts" and work through the process of drafting and editing until we had a finished project. My prediction was 1 week, tops!

Oh how wrong I was! Some didn't have starts (my fault for not checking), and most acted like they had never written anything in their lives! The latter comment I am not surprised by as it followed the pattern of lack of stamina that I noticed in our Reader's Workshop. Writing has been difficult to say the least.

But we are still going, a week after starting this (now in the midst of week 2). What I decided, and I am shocked I didn't determine this before, was that I needed to change the notion of publication. Publication, to them, has been a piece of writing with words on it- nothing more and nothing less. The idea of editing is... non-existent. So I decided that we were going to write it for our outside bulletin board... and we were going to record... oh, not with the tape recorder! We are going to make it into a Photostory project. Tech/Computers + Kids = Enthralled. The paradigm changes a bit... and is a bit more successful.

Ziplock me crazy!

Somewhere along the line I lost the trust in my own ability. I got sucked into wanting to have a science kit, and the thought of not having one made me not-so-pleased. The thought of additional work, particularly in an area where I find myself without significant depth/breadth of content knowledge, scared me. It isn't that I don't like science, but more the fact that I believe I am not much of a scientist.

Once you get over the "How" you can start to move forward, which is where the above quote comes in. (*As an aside, yes I like Photoshop, and yes it came from the Nike wall at their store in Eugene). I have an idea for the route, but will get there in a rather aimless or meandering fashion.

We've got these seeds growing in a ziplock bag. The original hope was to look at the seeds and compare them to other living things. Instead we are going to go more of the plant route. (above is one of the blossoming lima bean seeds). Tomorrow we are going to look at our seed bags, make observations, make a diagram of the plant as it is currently, and hopefully get into some conversation about what happened in our bags- not all blossomed, so why!?!

I {heart} clipboards

Highlight of the day... all of the kids walking around the room with clipboards, asking each other what their favorite ______ was, and then compiling graphs. Well, not everyone was making a graph, but they were all engaged. It was a little loud, a little chaotic, but really awesome! Tomorrow I'm posting pictures of seeds in a bag... oh so cool!

Paper Slicers Are Fun

I almost lost my thumb today in an accident with a paper slicer. Yeah, you read that right. I had a run-in with a paper slicer. I wasn't being careful, maybe the lack of running this morning (it wakes me up) or the noise in the room (there were people talking), but I just simply was a bit aloof. The result was me sliding the paper (and thumb) under the slicer. I brought it down (relatively hard) on my left thumbnail. It left a mark, but didn't draw blood. Lesson learned:
Pay
Attention

Outliers

Instruction improved today... at least the results did. I am not sure if it was being back from break for a second day, or better planning, or simply being used to better weather (an April rarity), but things certainly improved. We'll see if the yo-yo pattern continues through tomorrow, or if it is steady as she goes. I'm hopeful.

Now why is this entitled "outliers"? Well I am curious if my instruction is effective with 75-85% of the kids, but just not working with the other 15-25%. I'm not sure if that is an instructional issue, or if it is a product of the social dynamics in the room (kids who want to be friends, want to talk all day long about what they want to talk about, etc). As I see it, the issue is creating a space for them to have those conversations so that the sidetalk will dissipate. Or... is the issue one of having relevant material? Hmmm.

Tonight I need to craft a letter to parents introducing myself, and giving them an idea that I have a clue what I am doing. What am I doing anyway? Well tomorrow we'll plant some seeds, and continue to improve our writing... amongst other things.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some pictures. That depends on me bringing a camera to school...

Not too hard, not too easy

I did a mini-lesson on just-right books today. I talked about how I thought of them while I was at the bookstore over break, and how I wondered how they would go about finding their own book. So I played the part of 1st grader, and they played the part of private eye. Their job was to watch what I was doing while I looked for a just right book, and then share that with their shoulder partner. My plan was for them to share their partners idea out to the group, and then practice at their tables with bins that I had constructed for them.

Overall, I was pleased. They really haven't been taught how to do think-pair-share together, but have done it (to varying degrees) over the course of the year. Partnering is always a gamble, which is problematic for me as I want kids to work in partnerships as often as possible. But they were able to find my key points (you: looked through the book, looked at the title to see if I might be interested, tried to read some it, tried to sound out words too, compared to things I had read before). Practicing... they were great too. Some great moments of kids saying "this is not just right for me, the words are too hard," and others saying "I have read this before, so I know it is just right."

The biggest issue I run into is the combination of pacing and re-teaching. Partnering and just right books are new for them, and most lessons have tended to be small group through anthologies... so this is all very new! Overall though, I'll take it. Score one for just right books!

6-9 Weeks

My big job for the next few days is to make a plan for the next few weeks. "Few?" you say, "What do you mean by 'few'." Well I haven't narrowed down just how far out I want to go, but I want a working draft of the next 3-5 weeks. At the very least that will give me something to put into my university binder, but it with also give me an idea of what direction I want to take this bus of 1st and 2nd grade learning.

Normally I think a student teacher might be picking up where their master teacher left off. For me, I have been given a blank slate. I asked if I could implement some new ideas, such as having kids independent reading, new writing mini-lessons, etc... and I was given a green light. But in order for kids to read independently, they need to know how to find just right books. Kids also need to be taught what it means to think while reading, and how to talk to partners about the books they are reading. The bottom line is there is much to do.

Now I'm not quite sure how long my student teaching will go on for. Student teaching, solo that is, should go for 6 weeks and end by June 4th. I've gone one week solo, and have at least another 5. I'll teach for as long as they let me, maybe 6... maybe 9 (if it is through the 4th!). There is more planning to be done.

It Takes a Village

I am struggling with ideas for the "Village." Village is a giant project that the school undertakes where each classroom becomes a store. My master teacher has sold plants in the past, and we will be doing that again this year. But I am trying to conjure up other ideas that we can have at our store... Ideally I would have some ideas going forward, and I plan to also bring this to our kiddos... what do they think our class should sell to go with our plant/garden theme? Any ideas would be appreciated...

Recharging

Since I've been on Spring Break, I've made a clean break from school stuff (at least student teaching stuff). I'm running quite a bit, 54 miles thus far (another 37 planned for the other 3 days), and feeling great. I've also been doing some odds and ends in hopes of staying mildly busy. But that was until this morning, and the rain/snow mixture Mother Nature surprised us with!

I decided to get back on the horse today. I took TeacherWife into the classroom today to show her around, and to see what I might need to accomplish in the coming days. I was considering moving stuff around, and having another set of hands would certainly make it easier. Sooo... we moved desks around. The biggest change is that the document camera is closer to the projector screen, and I sit on that side (instead of on the opposite side, leaving a bunch of empty space). I shifted the desks too, and everyone has a good view of the screen. Beyond that... I can see everyone's face when teaching (instead of having 3-4 behind me, and looking at the back of everyone's head).