Tally Ho!

Week one is in the books. The first week of school is odd because of the amount of community building and assessment you need to do. Instead of diving into content, you are teaching procedures and trying to foster a sense of community. How well did I succeed in meet those ends? Fairly well.

I have a group of 21 kiddos, but 19 were there this week. It is a great number, allowing us to really talk to each other. The number of kids gave me a good chance to know each one's name, and know a little bit about each one. I was successful in cycling through, checking in with each one, and monitoring students. I'm not sure how successful I would have been on the first day of my first year with a much larger group. Could I have do so? Probably, but this was great.

I've already started the Writer's Workshop. We started with a letter to Mr. Hanson, allowing them to tell me things about themselves. We also started in on the small moments section, which is a starter for personal narrative. I realized early on that I did a poor job of modeling on the first day of small moments, but the following days were better. I was clearer in teaching what a small moment was, and how to zoom in to make those moments clearer from our minds eye.

The community building went well also. I had a kiddo say that the best part of the first week was that they got to learn the things they had in common with their peers. Yet another talked about meeting new friends, talking to old friends. No arguments, lots of kids on task, fairly good modelling.

This week we are doing some reading comprehension with non-fiction. We'll be looking at how texts bold words, and why those words are important (and how they help us understand the text). We'll also take our reading and apply it to labelling a blank world map. It is something that one of my partner teachers has done, at least the labelling, but I am going to use the map info and the reading comprehension on my own- thinking it provides context and solid teaching points. Oh non-fiction how I love thee.

Don't Quote Me

I have gotten myself back in the groove of reading for pleasure. Well, pleasure tends to be education books so I suppose I am reading for professional development as well. Alas... I am still in the midst of To Understand. I found myself nodding my head along today and writing a few great passages down...

• "When we assume that kids aren't doing high-level thinking we may need to consider whether the conditions we create are conducive to high-level thinking." -p 77
• "I want to change our emphasis from the number of kids participating to the quality..."- p 78
• "What we have in many schools is a whole lot of disengaged kids slogging through the essential skills in the right order, but who are starving intellectually."-p 79

Granted those are just some from a small section, but they are indicative of the remainder of the book. I find myself reflecting on my own practice, and the types of questions I have asked and who I asked. Was I being equitable? Was I trying to go for a myriad of ideas instead of simply going deep with one? Vice versa? What type of classroom environment did I create or establish, and how did it impact the learning my kids were doing?

In many ways I wish it were fall and I had a position already so that I could get moving. The creative juices, and the intellectual energy is starting to spin. Onward to applying and working through the process. One word descriptor? Arduous.

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.