Day 25: Add to my Toolbelt

Hilde and I were talking about things I want to bring to my classroom and we had some pretty good ideas.

1. Parent Communication
I want to call 2 or 3 parents every weekend and tell them something good their student did that week. I got this idea from my first cooperating teacher and it seems like such a fabulous idea that I had to add it to my toolbelt.

2. Student Best Work
Save the student's best work to show off at parent teacher conferences. Hilde said a week before the conferences she goes through all of the work with the student and they pick their best work for each of the subject areas. My idea was to have a best work folder, the students pick their best work from each subject area that week and put it in. Then right before conferences they go through all of their "best work" and pick their favorites from those. Then there is not an entire semester's worth of assignments in there but the student is not sad about having thrown something away a long time ago.

3. Parent Teacher Conferences
I want to have student lead conferences, not matter what grade I am in. But I am not sure how I am going to do that if I am in a younger grader.

4. Brag Board
Have a board where students can brag about something nice their friends did. This board would need to have correct spelling and punctuation, but we would have 5 minutes after lunch to fill it out each day.

5. Spot the Mistake
Have a spot the mistake board where I find articles or books that have mistakes and early finishers get to go and try and find the mistakes.

6. Early Finishers
I would like to have a file of early finishers work. They can go over to this file when they are done, pick the subject we are doing and then do the activity. This could be something as simple as a worksheet or even a project that spans over a few days. Whatever it is, many students may want to participate it and so will work to finish their work.

Day 18: Musings on Effectiveness

As I continue to become more comfortable in my place here, I am finding it easier to loose track of time. It is easier to appreciate how much I am learning and how I would not be able to learn these lessons any other way.
This weekend I was contemplating the effectiveness of placing American student teachers in a Norwegian school. I can immediately see the benefits for the teachers and students of the school. It is always helpful to have a native speaker when trying to learn a language. But what about for the student teacher? The lessons I am learning here are not how to best incorporate the standards into my teaching, how to prepare the most elaborate lesson, how to show my classroom management skills, or even how well I can give a lesson. I have practiced these things for years in my study, and these are not the skills I am practicing here. On that hand, it looks like I am not getting a very good student teaching experience.
But on the other hand I am learning how difficult it is for a someone, child or adult, to be surrounded by people who speak a different language. I know first hand how an English language learner feels. I am immersed in a different culture, and though people explain some parts to me, there is much that I have to discover on my own. I am experiencing a way of life that is deceptively similar to my life at home. This is an experience I could get in no other way. I am learning how another country runs their education system.
While I may not be practicing all of the things I have been pounding into my head for 5 years, I am learning how to open my eyes to new possibilities. Education here is different in good and bad ways. But I can take the good ways and incorporate them into my teaching in America. My experience here will be another tool in my toolbox, one that not many teachers have access to.

Why do I want to be a Teacher?

A question I have been asking myself lately.

My original reason was:
"I want to make a difference, I want to be around children, I want to have a challenge."
As I dissect my reasons I find I need to reevaluate why I want to be a teacher.

- I want to make a difference. -
Teaching is not the only place I can make a difference. However it is a good place to make a different. I just wrote a paper on George S. Counts who wanted to reform society and schools together to create a better society. He said “We are convinced that education is the one unfailing remedy for every ill to which man is subject.” And in some senses it is. Education is how we shape the future generation, and I want to be a part of it. I do what to help shape the children of the future and I want to be an active force for change in our world. Yes, I can do that in many places, however teaching is the place it speaks most to me.

- I want to be around children. -
Yeah, this reason could be tossed. There are so many other professions out there where I could work with children, and be significantly less stressed, and have significantly less work to do. However a teacher and her student have a unique bond, and that is something that I want to experience and cherish forever.

- I want to have a challenge. -
And this reason is the cake topper. "I want a challenge"? There are SO MANY other fields of work where I would be constantly challenged. If I chose a career in Mathematics, I would be challenged from the very start. If I chose to be an artist, I would be challenged to create different works of art on a regular basis. But teaching provides its own challenges, and those are the challenges I want. I want to puzzle over how to help a student and discover what is going to work for that child. I want to grow with the students as we learn together how to get along with one another. I do want the challenge of teaching, specifically.

On this blog I have been posting some lesson plans, and how I thought they went, which I think is a great way to evaluate myself. Also doing this post was helpful, reminding me why I am here in the first place. Since I have been in the Teacher Education program I have found several educational blogs that I love to look at. Some are more sophisticated than others, but all have great material.

Literacy Blog from Edutopia

Blog where Students can post their work

A blog to tell the hilarious things you hear in class!

Religion in the Classroom

Everyone has some sort of religious belief, whether they are atheist, christian, muslin, Jewish, occult, or any other religion. There is some belief system for everything any one person does.
Yet in our classrooms we are supposed to keep our religious beliefs out of our teaching. We are taught to teach with a democratic approach.
On page 28 of this Kappan Magazine there is an article titled "When Missions Collide: Theological certainty and democratic education" I have an Introduction to Exceptional Learners course this semester and we read this article at the end of class.
I have always known that I want to try to integrate my religion into my teaching style, because I feel that my students will be able to learn from it. Though I have never wanted to dictate my students response to my feelings. I want them to take what I teach them, decide what will work for them, and then use it in their lives to make their own decisions.
In the beginning of the mentioned article Jackie wouldn't participate in a discussion because it challenged her belief. Ms Jennifer Hauver James commented "I was, however, disappointed. I saw her withdrawal as a missed opportunity for Jackie to share her opinion with others, to experience democratic  dialogue, and to develop respect and tolerance for diverse points of view."
There are 3 examples of students in this article who voice their opinions, but are not willing to see them challenged or to defend them against those challenges.
I have a friend who frequently challenges what I think I know to be true. But his simple comments spark my brain into action and require me to think of things I had not thought of before that can either change or set my belief deeper into my soul.
Ms James brings up the questions "What might we learn from exploring different understandings of an individual's responsibility and freedom to act in the world? How might history help shed light on the issue? how might exploring these different perspectives deepen our own?"
When we allow others to scrutinize the details of our belief and help us to broad our horizons and see more of the big picture, either our belief will be uprooted and we will know that it was a fragile one to begin with; or that belief will be pounded into our foundation even more than it already was.
Why should their be fear from speculation when it will help you in every way? To get rid of improper beliefs or to strengthen them.
So how can we keep our beliefs, strengthen them or toss them away, but also teach our students to gain opinions and testimonies of things they know to be true? How can we teach our students to question things until they find the truth, to talk things over and to help others figure things out?
We model for them.
Just like the fashion models of Paris, we must put on a new set of clothing and show our students how to really wear it.
Put on the t-shirt of democracy and show your students how to respect others opinions, defend your own and come to the knowledge that though "I dissaprove of what you say, [I] will defend to the death your right to say it."

We Are Teachers of Children

In a classroom setting there are many things that children need to learn, but those are common in most classrooms.
I have idea's about what I think will help children learn better.
Some of these idea's are from sources, some are from my own imagination, but either way I believe they will work for the good of the children.

Here are some idea's:

Have a thermometer that goes up to 1,000 (or  more)
Every time a child gets an A (100%) the red line moves up.
for every 100 mark the class reaches, the class can choose a reward from the reward jar.
These rewards should be something simple and fun, but something that is not done every day such as "Extra recess."
Every 25 mark (or 50) give out a small candy or prize, such as a single starburst or one army man.
When the 1000 mark is finally reached a huge reward is in order.


I have been thinking recently about the obesity epidemic that is spreading rapidly across the country.
Part of this has to do with poor nutrition at home, which the children and I have no control over. Schools have tried to remedy this by providing three meals a day.
But another part of this is the lack of exercise.
Children and adults alike are spending less and less time keeping their bodies healthy and more time keeping their minds occupied. not every happy, just occupied.
"Enjoyment and skill development are the two key factors given by children and adolescents as reason to engage in and maintain programs of physical activity." (Children Moving, Graham, Holt/Hale, Parker. 8th edition Pg 45)
PE is a resource to be used to help children learn what sort of physical activity they want to pursue, to lay the foundation of a healthy lifestyle. But too often it is put off as some unneeded period of time where all the children do is play dodgeball, not really learning anything.
So many schools are pushing for less and less PE time, But it is physical activity that wakes the brain up from a stupor.

An idea for helping children feel comfortable with my at the beginning of the year, and for helping me to understand the living situation of my students:
Visit each student at their home during the summer before school starts.

Idea for helping students embrace the joy of running:
During gym time, before school, after school, some other time, whenever there is time take the kids out running. But I don't stand at the starting line and wait for them to meet me again, I run with them, changing my pace to meet with the fast kids and the slow kids, making sure they all know the pace they are going at is just fine.