Summer Fun on our Road Trip!

 

Easter Sunrise

The Power of Home Reading

I am struck again with the importance of really working with parents to read with their kids at home.  I met with a parent earlier this year to talk about their student who was a bit behind.  We talked and then I gave her a stack of leveled phonics books to work through with her child.  She came back a couple weeks later very excited about the progress that her son had made.  It was just having him sit down every day for a bit and work through the words and pages one by one.  That little bit of focused practice went a long way!  I can see it in my own kids at home as well.  We spend time in books every night, often reading the same books.  Their little minds soak up the words that they hear and when it is time to begin reading, there is so much already in place for them to pull from.  Reading every night is important!

Teamwork

I have had a student in my classroom this year who has been a bit of a handful.  I won't go into all the issues, but if you have been around teaching for any length of time, I am sure you know exactly what I am talking about.  Every classroom has some sort of system in place to monitor behavior and keep the kids focused and motivated.  But, for some students those systems are just not enough, you have to do something else as well.  I put this student on a behavior contract the second week of school, I had to do something fast!  The system worked ok for a period of time, but after a while the behavior was so out of control and I realized I needed some outside help.  I talked to the principal and the school psychologist and let them know what was happening.  I took lots of data and what the behaviors were and when they were happening.  But the very best thing I did was talk to one of my partner teachers about it.  She agreed to have her classroom be a bail out place if things were just too intense and there needed to be a break.  It also helps that she rules her room with an iron fist, but in a velvet glove.  So, when the big blowouts would happen, I would send him down for 20 minutes.  It worked like magic.  It was a break for him and got him out of the situation which really helped him with the kind of behavior he was having... it was very tied to what was happening around him.  It also allowed the room a break as well and some time away to be able to focus on finishing the lesson.  I am sure this kind of thing happens all over the place in many different schools.  But, with this student, I was reminded again of how powerful that classroom teamwork can be!

Our Kids, Not My Kids

I had a meeting with my principal this week and we talked a bit about the two different mindsets that teachers can sometimes have... I'll call them the "my kids" and the "our kids" mindsets.  I think they can certainly be understood as being two extremes and that most teachers fall somewhere in the middle of the continuum.  But, I think there are some real benefits to understanding the two, and making a conscious choice as to which camp you are going to belong to. 

The "my kids" kind of classroom usually functions a little more autonomously from the other classrooms at the grade level and certainly at the school.  Possibly there is even some competition between rooms for test scores and who has to take the "tougher" kid that year.  Maybe the teacher feels a little bit like a independent contractor that needs to take all the responsibility for every aspect of their classroom and the learning of their kids, and really does not branch out much to either give or receive much help from others, except for the mandated help from an RSP or speech teacher.  The idea of being a buddy room with another classroom and helping out with things that are going on in that room might seem to be outside of the job description and undesirable with so much riding on one's own performance in one's own room with one's own kids.  When there is a problem with some kids that are not part of their classroom, the "my kids" teacher might choose to not deal with it justifying the inaction by saying that the kids are not theirs and that the other teacher should be the one dealing with the problem, after all those are there kids, not my kids... and so it goes.

The "our kids" classroom in one where the the mindset of a teacher is broader than just their own room.  They feel a sense of ownership and responsibility for all the students, not only in their classroom and at their grade level, but for all the students in the whole school.  Although they might not know all the names, they know the common expectation for all the kids and are active participants in meeting those goals.  The "our kids" teacher might be willing to voluntarily swap kids during a leveled reading or math time with another teacher, understanding the success of those kids in another classroom is their success as well.  They even might be willing to go to another teacher who has seen success in a certain area and ask them for advise on how they can improve their own practices, a step that might mean swallowing some pride.  But, when they are all "our kids", a step like that seems more like teamwork, rather than losing the "best teaching practices" competition.  Grade levels become more collaborative, and a teacher becomes a teacher to every student on campus working together to solve problems and shore up areas that need attention.  As the giving to each other goes up, the receiving goes up as well.  Both your problems and my problems become our problems and we'll all work together to solve them.

Which kind of classroom would you rather teach in?

Find The Balance

One of the most helpful tools that I have found, especially this year with SO VERY MUCH going on is this.  In that moment when the panic alarms are going off and there is just too much in front of me to deal with.  I stop, take one big breath, think to myself, "this is not as bad as it feels" (Colon Powell), then I find the one thing I am going to focus on in the next moment and move forward with that...

Get Your Head in the Game

I was reminded this week that the perspective I have in the classroom is so important and affects everything else.

This has been a busier start to the year.  We moved from down south and then I jumped right into a different school in a different district.  There were a lot of factors that I had to deal with in this last season...  new baby in the house, finishing up a master's degree, moving details, selling our old place, adjusting to life in a new house....  Busy time!

I found myself slipping into survival mode at times, just doing what I needed to do to make it through.  But, one quickly realizes that with that perspective it is hard to really be present in all the little details of the classroom.  It is helpful to be thoughtful in the small things, paying attention to the smaller details of the classroom and needs of the students.  Instruction can go forward if you are giving your lessons well and maintaining the systems.  But, when you are able to do the little things like sit and really watch a struggling student work through some problems, you are much more able to think through the smaller things like what exactly it is that the student needs next.  It is hard to do those sort of things when you are just hanging on and maintaining through the days....  got to keep my head in the game!