One Teacher in the City

I got back from my lovely spring break in Washington D.C. happy, revived, and ready to teach again. When my students came in they all sat down and I told them the stories of my adventures in the nation’s capital and showed them the pictures I had taken. I then gave my students a chance to tell a couple of things that they did on their Spring Break. Everyone had a chance to share, but one little girl, E (my foster child student),  didn’t feel like sharing anything. This surprised me, because she’s usually a talker. About a half an hour later, I received a note from E that read:

Dear Ms. Henderson,

I did not have the best spring break. Could you please adopt me? I love you. Do you want to? Circle yes or no.

Love, E

To be honest, I would adopt her in a heartbeat if I could!

On Friday, one of my students came in with a card for me. She seemed really happy to give it to me. I got everyone settled into their morning tasks and opened it up. It was a simple enough card, with a picture of a church on the front, surrounded by pink hills, and pink hearts with crosses. The caption across the top read:

May God be with you in your time of sorrow.

Needless to say, I was a bit confused.

I called the little girl up to my desk and showed her the card. I asked her innocently, “what is this for?” Hoping she’d enlighten me as to why she was assuming I had had some sort of tragedy in my life. I mean, yes, I’d had a bad week, but still…
She said, “My grandmother said I could give it to you. I wanted to bring it last week for Valentines day but I had forgot.”
It was then that it dawned on me she had seen the pink hearts and had assumed it was a Valentines day card–and had appropriated it as such.

I couldn’t decide to be pleased because my student had thought of me and given me a card, or discouraged because she had failed to read and/or comprehend the caption, which is in fact one of the key concepts she is trying to work on.

It’s the thought that counts.

Looking at this incident another way, however, you could say she was more informed than I’d be comfortable with–I mean, I did spend this Valentines day without a special someone. I think from now on I’ll be giving out Sympathy cards to my single friends from now on–puts sorrow cards in a whole new light!

What is the deal with January and February?
My kids have been so good with the rules and the behavior all year. Then Christmas break comes and destroys everything we built.

I’ve had my sweet, caring, obedient kids turn into chatterboxes overnight.
I had a student throw a screaming temper tantrum in my classroom (I have it on video).
I had a student write a sexually explicit not directed at me, calling me a “b—-” (I teach 2nd grade!!)
And of course we can’t forget the fighting. Always the fighting.

So what do I do?
Cry? And show weakness? Absolutely not.
Scream at them? Doesn’t work.
Give up? Not a chance.

I’m just trying to remember that they watch everything I do and say. Even though they’re testing me so much, I still have to remain as consistent as I was at the beginning of the year. I drink lots of water, try to make my lessons engaging and fun, so they’re motivated to listen, and look for things to praise, look for reasons to smile, and find a way to laugh.

And then I go home and run until the stress is gone.

I’ll make it.

Sometimes, administrators are out of touch with teachers.  We all are aware of this. They can’t help it; they’ve been out of the classroom for awhile. We take this into consideration when we respond to their many sometimes outrageous requests. Well, this one was out there.

The administration wanted all K-2 teachers to attend a guided reading training (see my previous blog for more information on that). But I’m assuming they didn’t want to expend the money for substitutes because of this solution: Each 1st grade class was paired with a 3rd grade class, and each 2nd grade class with a 4th grade class. The upper grades were told to have some activities prepared. I suppose the upper grade teachers didn’t like this, because the day before the training we were told we needed to prepare some work for our classes, even though the entire two weeks before we didn’t have to.

Today, I took my class down to the 4th grade hallway to drop them off to their paired teacher. I saw a couple of different responses to this mandate. One teacher, when told she would be paired with a younger class, had her students bring pillows and blankets. She moved her desks to the side. Each 4th grader was paired with a 2nd grader. They worked on reading together, with the older child being a lead reader. They also worked on addition and subtraction, where the older kids were teaching and supporting the younger children. This helps reinforce the concepts for the older children, and the younger children get new perspectives on the topics.

On the other side of the coin, I saw another teacher, when the class was brought to her, frown deeply and pointed to a corner of the room where the 2nd graders would sit on the floor all day. She didn’t greet the children and the only thing she said to their teacher was “Do you have enough work for them all day, because I only see math.”

I guess I see both sides. I can see how the day was just as much of a waste for those upper grade teachers as it was for the primary grade teachers. But, with as much time as they had to plan it, I could also see how they could have easily made a difficult situation into a character building and teaching moment for all students involved.

A lot of times teachers are too busy being upset by changes to their routine to think of the actual children sitting in their classrooms. They are too distracted by the lesson plans, the TEKS, the benchmarks, to think about what is most important: the students!
So instead of my students having a good day where they got to look up to the older students, and the older students having a day where they would have someone looking up to them, something they may never experience any other time, both parties had a distracted wasted day.

Last word: Instead of constantly being negative and complaining about administrator requests, accept them and try to make the BEST of the situation. Support teachers on your campus, not just yourself.

Does more training make you more highly qualified?

The answer to this seems obvious. Yes. The more you are trained by those who are in the know, the more able you are to meet the needs of students. The more you know, the better you are.

I am aware of this, and maybe I am just still in that whole, “I’m a recent college graduate, I know everything” phase. I can’t deny that I did get some good ideas from the training today.  However, about 95 percent of the 6 hour training today was repetitive to me. The principal and teachers at my campus are adamant that we don’t have any idea how to use guided reading in the classroom. They keep bringing in people from the district to explain guided reading, literacy stations, how to take running records. Yes, HOW TO TAKE RUNNING RECORDS.

I already knew what to do. From day one, I used the resources on my campus. We have a guided reading leveled library in the back room. Sure, it’s small, sure it’s not complete. But it’s there. Some teachers are insistent that it doesn’t exist. I leveled my students using the books in the library, which were leveled from the Fountas and Pinnell database. I took running records and formed my reading groups within the first week of school. I realize this was going about it the hard way, but my campus did not have some kit to level students such as DRA or W.R.A.P.  So I found my own way. Now had I not begun to team with someone, I would have been doing GR for the entire first six weeks. It is now November, and many students in other classes have either not been leveled or are being leveled now (I understand that TPRI is used as a leveler, but for Guided reading, TPRI isn’t accurate enough; students have to be leveled for the Fountas and Pinnell system).

I had to take all day today away from my students (and what they had to do today, that’s a whole other post) basically reiterating everything that was drilled to me in college. You want to give me a useful training? Teach me how to use a Basal. Because I have no idea how to do that effectively. Guided reading, though? I could be giving that training. Of course, that would mean administrators actually have to accept the fact that new teachers are intelligent, capable human beings who have something to contribute.

Last word: Don’t train me if I don’t need it.  Don’t waste my time when I could actually be teaching–what I’m paid to do. If I could be giving the training, I don’t need to be sitting in it.

I find it fascinating how enthralled kids are by puppets. They have such vivid imaginations. How can we keep this ability to suspend disbelief and pretend into our adulthood? I think if we can figure this out we will have much more interesting lives! I brought two recently made puppets to school today. A one Ms. Barbara Queakerschtopp (Ms. Q for short), an East-Texas school teacher with a penchant for teaching Social-studies. I also brought out Cilantro Juarez, a migrant-worker who wants to be a top-forties recording artist, but I think he may be a little much for the students. We’ll just stick with Ms. Q for now. They LOVED her though, and were more than willing to sit quietly when Ms. Q asked them to.

Last Word: Keeping kids motivated is the key to successful learning, and I’ll do whatever it takes, even if that means bringing in reinforcements of the sock-kind!

I may have my first fight with an angry parent next week. I have been accused of taking a child’s pencil sharpener and refusing to give it back. This is true.  My classes in the past have had problems with pencil sharpeners. They play with them. Instead of just using them when the pencil is actually broken, I find the pencils being repeatedly sharpened, and other students’ pencils being sharpened, not to a point, rather to a needlepoint. These pencils become lead syringes, really.

I measured a tip once, it came to .017mm. 

In short, the pencil sharpeners become distractions. So I told my classes this year if I see them I will take them and stomp on them. I never actually stomp on them; I give them back at the end of the day and tell them never to bring it back. I haven’t had any problems yet. This particular time, my forgetfulness was the problem. I left the sharpener in my pocket and forgot to give it back to the little girl. I still had it in my pants pocket when I got home. The next day I got a note from the mother asking for the pencil sharpener. I realized I’d left it at home, and I told little girl to tell her mother I’d left it at home and would bring it back. Then today the mother came into the office, “cursing up a storm” so I heard. My co-teacher and I were called into the office during our conference period.  When we got there I immediately sensed a feeling of hostility. I don’t do well with confrontation so I was from then on defensive and on edge. This woman was loud and she was belligerently complaining about how we as teachers aren’t treating her fairly. She went on for a few minutes on the other teacher about how she hadn’t returned her phone calls or notes. Not true, because the teacher had record of calling her back. While the teacher was trying to defend herself the woman kept interrupting her and saying her piece again. The teacher got annoyed and looked away, frustrated. The parent then exclaimed, “Look at me when I’m talking to you!”
Later, the teacher told me she was about to go off on the mother at this point so she just had to hold her tongue. Finally after what seemed like 20 minutes the assistant principal let us go back to our classrooms and the parent, as we were leaving said, “No, Ms. T (the other teacher) is fine. It’s that one I have a problem with (referring to me). I just turned and walked out like the AP was gesturing for me to do. I don’t look forward to Wednesday.

Also later that day when the little girl was in my classroom, she told me after I’d left her mother had said I gave her attitude. I told the student, “well, your mother kind of gave me attitude too.” and she responded, “Well, she had been drinking the bad stuff.”

Last Word: Just as you wouldn’t drink and drive, please don’t drink and have a parent-teacher conference!

What to do, what to do?

The work of a public school teacher never ends. In fact, more and more keeps getting piled on to the infinite mountain of tasks. Here are some of the jobs I feel like are a part of my teaching degree:

Teacher
Mother
Psychologist
Warden
Nurse
Probation officer
Janitor
Secretary
Actress
Magician
Data entry clerk

There are more, I’m sure. I’ll add them as I remember them. Anyway you look at it, I don’t get paid enough for all the jobs I do! A teacher wears too many hats. Why can’t the focus for a teacher be on teaching? Why do we have to focus so much on grades, tests, paperwork, and data?

Don’t get me wrong, I think data is great. I have been working in a school district that emphasizes, adores, and obsesses over data. I know of its importance! Teachers can really glean a lot of information on their students’ progress through assessments and data analysis. In fact, assessment and student self-assessment is a crucial key to that progress. I think the important thing to remember is there is a point when assessment goes from being a helpful tool, to being a time-devouring hindrance.

We’ve crossed that line.

Let me just tell you what my school year has looked like since the first week.
Week 1: I began my running records to assess where my students were in reading. I created my reading groups the first week of school. I’m not complaining yet. Running Records are valuable tools for teachers.
Week 2:  Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS). This test is supposed to be a marker to see where the students are when they come into the classroom. I have several issues with the ITBS test. Since when is it a good idea to give students a test that takes the entire week, all day, everyday? I’ve lost an entire week’s worth of instruction for a test that I don’t see the results of until around January, if that early. It’s a difficult, time-consuming test that I feel doesn’t accurately test student knowledge and experience. I want to know the research behind it.
Week 3-4: TPRI. We just finished ITBS last week and now we get another “four-letter word.” This one is a bit more useful to me. I administer it myself, and I directly see where my kids are struggling in reading. This test helps me group my students for reading, that is, if I were teaching reading this year it would be helpful to me. However, I find the test, for lack of a better word, illogical. The students are placed in a story based on their knowledge of about 16 words. If they know more of the words, they read a higher story. The fluency is horrific every time, because I have students who may know those words (really you only have to know 7 of them to get placed in an advanced story) but once they start reading they stumble hopelessly over each and every word. Many of my students have a fluency rate of 30-45 WPM. This doesn’t help me. What helps me is guided reading leveling. Seeing what level they really are on in book form will guide my instruction better than any random “read this word and read this story” test ever will.
Week 5: Campus assessments. As if we haven’t had all this time consumed by the OTHER tests, our campus decides to test the students with our own test before the district does. Lucky if we actually had time to teach everything in the what seems like 8 days of instructional time. We have a reading and math test for our campus.
Week 6: District benchmark assessments. And to top off the 6 weeks, the district is sending a test in Math, Reading, and Science. Thanks for being so understanding… 

I had a colleague once who said, “You have to fatten the calf before you can weigh the calf. We’re spending too much time weighing the calf we don’t have time to fatten it up!” This concept leads me into my 
Last Word: Assessment should guide instruction and drive curriculum improvements. Instruction should be meaningfully and not unduly assessed. 

Happy teaching!