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!

Exciting New Study

So, I have the opportunity to participate in a study on an new intervention program.  One of the local universities has teamed up with another large university in the mid-west to develop an ELA intervention program.  This week I went and got trained in the program and will start implementation this week after some testing.  The program is for small groups of struggling readers and focuses on phonemic awareness, phonics, and comprehension with a few other components as well.  It is exciting to be on the ground level with a study like this.  If things go as planned, then this program will be opened up to the public.  Maybe I will be famous some day!

... The sub said the students were a picture of good behavior and that she had no problems with them at all... I don't believe here.  One talk with one of my students confirmed my suspicion!  Don't know why subs feel like they need to say stuff like that.  Maybe they feel like it reflects back on them in the kids are rowdy??  I would rather have a honest answer.

So... after a bit of silence I am back in the blogging saddle.  This time I am in a different school district in a different part of the state, but, I have the same desire to reflect on what I am doing and how I can better meet the needs of my students.  I am looking forward to the reflective process here at my new school.

So many things are different about my new placement.  After 15 years of doing things the Woodcrest way, I am really feeling the change in simple things from how kids line up at the playground, to the format of district testing.  One thing I take comfort in, is all the time that I have working with kids.  Our systems may change, our way of teaching may change, but that kid in front of you is still a kid that needs what they need.  A better way to phrase it may be that the tools change, but the job remains the same.

Here is goes!