Zoom out, Zoom in

Friday, Friday. I’ll never understand why 4-day weeks seem as long as 5-days. But it’s Friday there’s a beautiful sky and I have a plan for my Read 180 class. I consulted with Joe, who is one of our special education teachers. He gave me great ideas, so I am ready with a seating chart that divides the 8th graders up and allows them to be mentors to tables of 7th graders. Also, since we can’t use computers yet, don’t have a stable class list, and, therefore, can’t do much of what we need to do. Joe said, “Don’t try then! Play games, throw candy, build a happy classroom team, and throw more candy.” To nonteachers that may seem ridiculous, but if a class can’t work together as a team, they won’t be successful as individuals. As our slogan for this year goes – Teamwork makes the dream work! It’s kind of like this picture of a flock of birds in the sky. They moved together in a circular pattern through the sky over and over. When they land in the grassy field between this gas station and the dentist’s office, they wander individually. Even then, though, some are alert and watching so the others can relax and eat. Teamwork, big picture.

I, also,need to never ever lose my awareness of my students as individuals with unique skills, strengths, weaknesses, and baggage. One young man, for example, has such problems focusing! He wants to do well. He is not mean-spirited. BUT at the end of the day when he hits my 2-period-long class, - he can’t sit still for long, can’t be quiet for long, and says everything LOUDLY, loses his temper very quickly, and wants ALL the attention. But he loves to be the teacher, to help others, and he’s pretty good at it. I have to find a way to narrow my focus to guiding this child toward success or the whole class has a hard time. The individual child, zoom in.

Water under the Bridge

Fresh start, fresh day. Today I’ll use the Book Pass activity we learned in our workshop. I hope the reading classes love it as much as the reading teachers did. We wanted to spend the day doing Book Pass. I’m starting with  books that are all Realistic Fiction. It’s accessible for the kids and easily understood. A lot of TV shows and movies are realistic fiction. Works for me.

Read 180 is another issue. i don’t know how to deal with the I-don’t-want-to-do attitude of the 8th graders. I’m going to try to set up rotations without having computers yet. If they have their groups and get to move through activities… maybe our problem behaviors will be water under the bridge!

Focus. Come on, stay focused!

I just can’t seem to stay focused this morning. I have parents to call second period to tell them their children made so much growth they don’t need to be in reading support. Then I have to notify the appropriate person to change schedules. I really want to just curl up with a cup of coffee and read.  I’m not sure how long classes left-over presentations will take, so not sure how to plan class. Read 180 has testing, so no way to create an orderly class since they are crowded in a lab and get done at various times. Some kids there today are moving out. Others are coming in. I’m really enjoying rereading old Hercule Poirot mysteries. Maybe we can all just read. Ha-ha! I have a meeting period 3. Another after school. Ah, well. I’ve arrived. I can’t wait to put the students pictures on the wall tomorrow – and I know my Reading classes will be full of smiling faces ready to go. I have a lot of great ideas to try out from Notebook Connections by Aimee Buckner. I’m going to use her “What I know about reading” today.  I’ll take a picture from my balcony and write my posted learning objectives! Happy Good Morning!

Presentation Day

Today all my excited 7th graders will be presenting the results of their inquiry studies. I am quite thrilled at how engaged they all are. They created the questions about reading. They researched online or by doing surveys and interviews. Today they share what they have learned, so much fun! It feels so good to be heading for school confident that students are prepared and feeling pleased to share what they have discovered. My biggest problem is how to get the 8th graders in Read180 as willing to jump into learning. I UNDERSTAND why they feel defeated and that there is no point in effort. I do. If you haven’t been able to read the work in your classes for years, you don’t expect success. But without the buy-in to giving your best, they are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. With no effort they will not make growth. This will back-up their feeling that they are going to fail so why try. Equally bad – The 7th grade students in Read180 believe they can do well, but the 8th graders attitudes can convince them other wise. This is the tough stuff, for sure!

Water Main Monday

I took pretty flower pictures on the way to school. I was thinking about a form I needed to create when I got to school…Why is there so much water on this sidewalk? If this is all from the sprinklers, then we need to cut back on that. It’s like a river. Then inside – water up to ankle deep in some classrooms. After the official calls were made and the decision was made to cancel school for the day, the staff began dealing with the problem. Parents dropping off students were informed and took their kids home. Walking students passed the news to each other, but many stayed for breakfast. Students on buses were dropped off. Parents were called. We escorted kids out and checked ids. It was interesting and parents seemed to feel very reassured that we were taking such specific care of their children. It made me stop and take notice. As educators, we spend much of our time concerned with creating lessons and building students skills. At times like this we, also, remember that parents are trusting us, trusting that their children are safe.

Fresh Concrete

August 23: The first Friday of the year.
I feel so well prepared this morning. That's very comforting. (I wonder what be running through my head if I wasn't an Eagles fan. "The sun's comin' up and I'm ridin' with Lady Luck..") I'm so excited at the way the seventh grade classes are totally engaged by their inquiry projects. They just bubble over with questions.
"Can we do a Prezi?"
"Can I do a survey?"
"Look at this color-word puzzle! Can we share it?"
"I found a whole timeline of the history of reading!"
So great to be saying, "Yes" so much.
Read 180 is another proposition. The 8th graders are so uninterested and don't see the value in effort. I guess reading at a 5th grade level does that to you. I WILL convince then that they are entirely capable of growth... somehow.
The picture today is of our new concrete on the play pad. I just smile walking across it, because it HAD been cracked and pretty sad. Clean and new demonstrates that students here matter. Our floors are shiny and polished. New technology. I think it sends the right message!
                                             

 

Starting the School Year

When I moved to my little house several years ago, its most important selling point was that I could walk to school. Well, that and the big yard for a garden. The walk to school and the garden are both just as important to me now. My walk in the morning is always a time to get my body moving, my thoughts percolating, to feel the wind and look at the sky. Right now I am walking into the sunrise. Kind of wonderful. My goal in this blog is to post a picture daily and record my thoughts during the walk. Because today is actually the fourth day, I will review my weeks thoughts.
August 19: WooHoo! I will meet my seventh graders today. It is fun to enjoy a day without the eighth graders. So nervous that I will never learn their names. I'll have so many since I will be teaching 3 sections of grade level Reading - almost 30 students each and 1 section of Read 180 with 21 students. But the sun is coming up, I'm enjoying the cool morning, and I feel like running.
August 20: I'm am so excited to move on with my seventh graders. They are so excited, eager, and ready to show what they know. My lesson yesterday was pretty much throwing out an idea and stepping out of the way. Several remembered I was the one in the Carnation Festival Parade with the cute dog - Gotta love that Coco! I will be meeting the few 8th graders in my Read180 class today. Can I rise to that challenge? Yes. I can!
August 21: My birthday...Maybe the air conditioning will be fixed. It was record breaking heat yesterday and 180 kids had to test in the HOT computer room. Fingers crossed.
August 22: The air conditioning was fixed yesterday!! Today I will review the Dress Code with students. It seemed cruel to do it before the rooms were cooled off. Nasty to say "No shorts shorter than knees and no tank tops" when I was actually - really- wiping dripping sweat.