Update: I am done

I cannot believe how quickly student teaching began and ended, but as of last Friday I am done. It was really hard leaving my second graders who I have grown to love very deeply, but I told them that moving on is part of growing up for them and for me. I cried because it is so sad to leave this amazing group of children, half the students cried to.
It was important that they were given an opportunity to write thank you notes to me, because we found that gave them the chance to process what was going to happen when I was gone. One girl in particular needed that writing opportunity to express that she was sad and did not want this to happen.
I told the class that I will be back to say hello next semester, and anytime Kathy needs to be out for the day I will come to take care of them, and anytime another teacher in the building calls me to sub I will walk down to their room and peek in to say hello.
Finding a teacher job at this time of the year is not out of the question, but I am not up for the uncertainty right now. Instead I have decided to spend the rest of the school year dividing my time between nanny work with a few local families, and substitute teaching. In the mean time I will continue preparing myself for the job that I pray I will find at the start of the 2011-2012 school year.

Book Share -Teaching with Love and Logic

Teaching with Love and Logic, by Jim Fay and David Funk is part of the love and logic philosophy (learn more at loveandlogic.com), they believe that to get the best out of children we need to teach and discipline out of love, understanding, and compassion.
The book is an easy read with concrete examples of how to use this philosophy in a classroom at any grade level. One thing that I really like about this book, is that the authors are asking the readers to try what works for them and not to overturn everything that has worked in the past. They are not out to make every teacher feel badly about everything they have ever done to their students, rather they are inviting the teacher who wants the best results out of students, and is not yet seeing them, to try some ideas that have worked for others.

I agree that not every rule needs to be written out to the letter, and I agree that when we do that students will find loop-holes and tell us that we have been unfair when disciplinary action is required on something not clearly and fully laid out. I am also very freed by the idea that I do not need to apply consequences the moment I am offended. In fact according to the authors it can be more effective to wait until you have the time to deal with a consequence, because in the meantime the student will worry about what is coming and will be seeking a way to make it better, they will also have an opportunity to cool off so that you are not trying to consequence someone who is ready at the moment they did something wrong to fight over it.

I am also taken by the idea of empathy. Whenever there is a consequence I can say to the child, “I am sorry that this is happening to you” and they will learn that I am not just out to fight with them, but I am actually hoping they will not have to suffer.

What I have applied most of all to my regular life is the plan to give choices with more than one option that I like. I have often stopped myself from getting angry and having a fight by asking myself what options I can allow here. For example, “you may change into a Pull-Up, or you may choose not to listen to a story tonight. The choice is yours” in this example he chose not to change and he was very upset not to have a story. I needed only to tell him how I would live my life, and the next time we had a question about this, he chose to put on a Pull-Up.

I recommend this book to any teacher who is looking for the freedom to teach students who want to be taught, I will keep it in my parent library and I expect to refer to it myself from time-to-time.

Book Share - Yardsticks

One of the books that student teachers in under my supervisors direction are required to read is a wonderful book about the ages of our students and the importance of educating in a way that is age-appropriate. Yardsticks: Children in the Classroom Ages 4-14 by Chip Wood gives a fairly brief introduction to child development and makes an argument for the need to teach children at their level even as they are grouped at different ages in a single classroom. Wood points out that at any grade level in any school there will be most often three different ages. For example a second grade classroom may have older sixes, sevens and young eights. Add to this the fact that a child could have been held back and there is another whole year to that group of children. Not only are the students different ages grouped together, but they will also be maturing at different rates.
The book gives age-by-age expectations we can have for our students, but it begins by teaching that there are four Principles of Child Development:

1. Development follows predictable patterns.
2. Children go through predictable stages in the same order, but they will not all go through them at the same rate.
3. The aspects of development do not proceed at the same rate.
4. Growth is uneven.

So from the start Yardsticks it was made clear, (or if you already know it is brought home) that even a group of children at the same age will have a wide range of needs and will be developed at different stages in different aspects of development.
Wood goes on to stress the need for students physical needs to be met and to be made a high priority in the classroom.
After introducing some facts of development, and some of the ways that teachers and parents can help their children to develop, Wood goes on to have a chapter for every year. In these chapters he explains what is normal at the age.
This book is a valuable tool for parents and teachers to know what to expect of their students. To gain some understanding for the variations in development, but also to be aware of what is normal, and what they might be concerned about.

Sub Plans

I am thinking about what I will put in my bag of tricks while subbing next year. Thanks to my in-laws I have a gift card for Learning Resources, and I am thinking about the best way to spend my money that will be productive in the "right away", so while I am subbing and looking for a full-time position.
What occurred to me is that I need decks of quiz cards. Any old games that have quiz questions (such as Blurt, or Outburst, or Trivial Pursuit) that need some new life can go into my bag of tricks, so I will be going to thrift stores looking for the old games that need new life.
I was also thinking about the valuable resource of Brain Quest, which has decks of questions at any level and are right now on sale on Amazon. With decks of questions in my bag I can follow the sub plans that are left behind, but also add something to do with the class if the plans left do not fill enough time. It will be as simple as selecting a deck that is on-level for the class I am in on any given day.
If there is just a little bit of time I can use a KooshBall to toss as students try to answer the questions, and if there is a lot of time to fill I can set up a climbing game and teams on the board.
I am really excited to have found a fun way to pass time when I sub, because the most nerve-racking thing when subbing is the possiblity of unhappy kids and nothing to keep them occupied.
At the same point if I have a class that is truly unruly I can pull out a question and tell the students that since they don't want to work with my they will sit quietly at their desk and answer a question.
Brain Quest has a question of the day widget that I have added here to my blog (for the time being) so check it out and let me know if you have ideas about what I can do while I am subbing and stuck in unexpected situations. Do you have any stories about subs?

Learning to Blog?

I spent last Friday at the in-service for making a website. The presenter was Rebecca Hines, who is from Florida, and teaches about meeting the needs of all the learners in the classroom. It was a lot of fun for me.
The goal set for the day was that every teacher would leave with a blog they could begin using right away for whatever purpose they chose to set - parent-teach communication, in-school tool for students, or individual site designed to meet the needs of an individual student. Of course I already have a blog and was familiar with the basics, but I was able to learn a bit about the practical applications for a teacher, and all the teachers were sharing some sites that they have found useful for students. It was a really good day.
Because I already have a blog, my goal was to help Kathy set up hers, and along the way to pick up what I could about the internet and schools, and to network a bit. I introduced myself to other teachers as I helped them trouble-shoot their blogs.
In at least one of my college courses I have already made classroom a web page, but the idea of doing the classroom web page in blog format was a new thought to me. One option for setting it up is as an in-depth asassignment to be worked on at home or school. For example I may have found a marvelous video on National Geographic Kids that I want my students to view. I could make it the entry and follow it up with a questionnaire that was made in Google Documents so the children will have accountability for watching it.
A flexible option for homework could be to link an educational game related to what the class is learning in a given link and tell the children that as one option for their "Give Me Twenty" (free-choice-homework) they could go online and play the games. As an example we found the website SpellingCity where students can type in their weekly spelling words to practice and play with.
Another option for the classroom web page is a substitute for the newsletter. Make an announcement to parents that a feild trip is coming up, party where volunteers will be needed, or just letting them know what is going on in the room; make it private and include photography of what is going on in the classroom to give parents something concrete to engage students in conversation. This is of particular value when helping with special education students who are included in your classroom. They may have particular challenges telling parents about their day in school, but provide the parents with some starting points and you will have increased the language opportunities for your students at home!

To make this parent website important to the students you can assign special projects when the students will be "guest writers" and they can tell parents about what is going on in the classroom. Parents will be able to respond to whatever goes up and in this way they model for the children that school is important, and that model is one of our most valuable teaching tools.
The last way that I mentioned for using a blog in the classroom is to set up a specialized learning plan for special needs students. Again the main thought is students with IEP's who are doing work that is in some way different from the rest of the class. The work that you present on their personal site may not be on grade level, but will be appropriate to the ability of that student.
The gist of what I learned is that there is a lot more to be done in the blogging format than I had thought. I am looking forward to designing some blogs that will meet the needs of my classroom, and I hope that other teachers will be inspired to think up wonderful new ways to tap into the Internet.

Confidence

Yesterday I was again reassured that I am in the right profession. I love children, and I am a good caregiver.
I spent the day babysitting two little ones (9month old girl and 11month old boy), who were strangers to each other and to me. The parents were in town from Chicago and Toronto to see the U of M game, and these two were not old enough to be away from their mommies all weekend. A friend of a friend put them in contact with me to babysit for the day and some how they felt confident enough in that judgment to leave their treasures with me.
It was a fairly long day with the two babies, but I was able to handle it and give the parents a positive report of how the day went.
The big confidence booster came from the Toronto mom, who had never left her baby for that long before. She told me that with an older child with special needs and the little one being a handful, she was not comfortable leaving them to go back to work, or even for short periods of time so she and her husband can go out. She said from the instant she met me she was comfortable, she enjoyed her day at the game without worrying about her baby. I am very honored that a complete stranger would be so comfortable with me, that she would leave her baby for the first time, in a strange environment, and feel like he was safe and she could enjoy the game. She even joked about how nice it would be if I lived in Toronto and they could get out more often.
I know that I am good with children, but I am not all that great with adults. It is very comforting to know that protective parents find me a safe person to leave their little ones with, even with only a few minutes of meeting. This gives me comfort for how it will be when I go to interviews and need to impress all sorts of adults (parents, administrators, teachers, school board, and whoever else is invited to sit in the interview), I can stand firmly on the knowledge that I know what is good for children and it shows.

Is this hopeless?

Last night at my student teacher meeting our supervisor told us that our university has over seven-hundred student teachers this semester. Today at our staff meeting the superintendent made it very clear that even as much as the staff feels the need for more support, there is no money in our district for employing more staff. It is easy to draw from this that the same must be true all around this area.
I have been hearing since before I began college that I need to be ready to leave the state when I graduate, if I really want to teach. I have been hearing for so long that many many teachers are graduating with their teaching certificates and not finding work in the field. I believed it all, but have been holding out hope that maybe I will find work in Michigan, but now I wonder if I even want a job around here where I will be at the top of the list for layoffs if I am so lucky as to find that job.
It is a confusing time right now for me, and for many teachers around the area. I don't know where I will be in a year from now, all I have time to think about is where I will be tomorrow - it should be another great day with my second graders.