The End Justifies the Means....Right??? November TIP

I hate to say it, but I'm glad this month is over.  I'm wiped.  I'm tired. I need a break.  That being said, as I reflected on this past months highs and lows, I have to say I'm quite impressed with my accomplishments as a teacher, in my practice, and our collective progress as a classroom family.

There have been a few key moments that have made me smile that I would like to highlight:

Small Groups:

We've made a lot of progress in our small groups in the way of mathematics and literacy.  I wanted to really amp up our math engagements and have them be fun and entertaining for the kids--but also meaningful to them and useful to me.  So I developed and replicated some math games that were taught in teacher directed small groups. The idea was that they would learn these games and the concepts behind them so well that they could play them independently with a partner.  This would give me the opportunity to spend time in smaller groups working on things that students needed a teacher for.  I also believe that kids are some of the best teachers, and so I knew that if some of the kids learned the game really well they could teach their partner if they were unclear.  Competition and sheer self-determination is a huge motivator! For the most part, this was successful.  Of course there were still a few hiccups, some students just didn't like the game, or were unsure of how to play so they made up their own game.  Usually consisting of throwing counters/dice at each other.  I knew this wouldn't fly when it came time to do rotating math centers, so I asked a few kids that I knew were struggling with the concepts of the game and asked them to play a few games with me during centers.  I also asked those there knew how to play really well to play next to me with another struggling student and this was helpful because the students that needed to learn got the support they needed and my "expert" players were teaching their peers.

Another small group engagement we did was a re-write of Falling For Rapunzel which was something we did last year.  This year however, I made rhyming a huge deal in almost every part of our day.  From reading books, to calling kids to the lunch line, to phonological awareness time. This re-write was so fun because I explicitly taught the kids to generate rhyming words that were real because they needed to illustrate them (like real illustrators).  Because generating rhyming words is an extending skill, we brainstormed rhyming words in a group and then picked the ones we liked the most to illustrate.  This was so much better than making kids generate a word on the spot and they learned that they needed a real word.  I was really impressed with their re-write and I think I almost like it better than the real book because THEY came up with it!



One of my lowest of lows has been managing one of my students that has a VERY difficult time transitioning.  Sometimes he has a total tantrum and screams (very loudly), "I don't want to clean up" and then proceeds to cry for some time. Often these screaming fits prevent him from participating in the next engagement because he's still recovering in the cozy corner from his frustration.  I've really struggled with finding patience and grace in my heart for this part of his development.  I go from one extreme of appreciating him where he's at and finding ways to supporting him to the other extreme of thinking, "what is wrong with him?...all the other kids are able to transition smoothly...why can't he?" And although I feel guilty thinking this way, I can't help but acknowledge that this has been a weak part of my teaching practice this past month.  Sometimes I ignore his outburst, or I try to rationalize, sometimes I even give him the squeeziest of squeeze hugs--and still the screaming, crying fit continues.  A few times I've warned him that we are about to clean up and he's responded by cleaning up appropriately, but other times the warning backfires and screaming and crying ensues.  My next step with this student is to create a frustration/transition book with him filled with his own strategies of what he could do if he gets upset.  I'm hoping there will be some progress from this, however, I would LOVE any of your ideas on how you help students who struggle with transitioning???

And finally, I've found myself shrinking back into a teacher that threatens and gets onto students on a regular basis. I'm really struggling with finding the balance between boundaries and negotiating power of students.  They are so young and impressionable and need guidance and support in the ways of respect, responsibility, kindness, and peace.  I need a quick Becky Bailey refresher or maybe just a week off from school to recoup.  Either way, I'm seeing the need for some personal change in my classroom so that I can be the best teacher that these kiddos deserve.  Here's to hoping for a delightful December!

If you haven't checked out my Tumblr that I keep for my classroom, please check it out! It's been so helpful for daily reflecting on what our day looked like and celebrating the beautiful kids I get to teach.

Here's a few awesome kids:

Pathways Blog 2

 "It is not surprising that the standards emphasize writing often.  Writing is just like any other practice--playing piano, running, knitting.  The more opportunity you have for practice, the better you get" (Calkins, Ehrenworth, & Lehman, 2012, p. 106).

What I'm continually struck by as I read through Pathways to the Common Core, is their devotion to writing.  In the past, writing has been tiered below reading, and acknowledged as lesser in the standards.  However, Common Core places writing almost equally next to reading. And this makes me excited.  As I dive further into the standards, I love how the authors always go back to writing across content areas and encourage teachers to work together with other subjects to use the 3 types of writing.  One thing I was not aware of is, "The balance tilts more in favor or narrative writing in the elementary grades and then tilts toward argument and informational writing in high school" (p. 105).  When I think about this, I resonate with what I've heard a lot of high school teachers say about a lack of creative writing in upper grades.  One of my friends teaches middle school and says he feels pressure to teach more informational--specifically argumentative writing above anything else.  I guess I tend to think that as long as children are writing, they are becoming better writers.  However, Common Core suggests there is a definite need for children to specifically be informational and argumentative writers in ELA portions of the day.

One thing I loved about Chapter 7 (Composing Narratives) is how they talk about narratives as the most common form of knowing.  They give examples of TED talks and informational texts as argumentative texts that tell stories.  I'm convinced that narrative writing is one of the best types of writing because of the way it echoes real life.   In Chapter 8, I was initially surprised at the way the authors presented argumentative writing as a BIG DEAL.  Upon further reflection and a bit of convincing from the authors, I'm inclined to agree that argumentative writing is huge.  Although it doesn't seem so important until 2nd grade on up, the idea that arguments are part of the culture of college and career readiness is important to notice.  The authors argue that argumentative writing is so important to university success, that it should be made a huge deal in elementary school as well as high school.  I feel like in Pre-K we don't have a lot of writing that is argumentative--however, I feel like I support my students with a lot of verbal experiences to argue their ideas and opinions.  I wonder if this will be helpful for them when they start formally writing and are expected to write at this level?

October High/Low

 Happy November! What a complete whirlwind October has been! When I look over my highs and lows for this months I'm surprised by how much we were able to fit in! We were a very busy Pre-K classroom!

This month, I found myself trying to find a consensus for my highs and I found quite a few things that I would like to highlight:

One thing that made my month with the kids so enjoyable and interesting was the incorporation of  so many activities that the kids loved and I loved doing with them.  I've been inspired by Nurturing Inquiry a lot this past month, because the weather has been amazing and my school is lucky enough to have an awesome playground with a lot of opportunity for kids to explore their surroundings.  In his book Charles Pearce discusses hands on learning opportunities, "at last, with the hands-on philosophy spreading among educators, children have been able to touch, manipulate, and see close-up many of the amazing things previously reserved for the teacher herself" (1999, p. 4).   It's been so cool to see how the kids respond to getting outside and doing some hands on learning.  From the beginning of the school year I've had a lot of worm scientists.  Every day, a bunch of kids would bring me a handful of earth worms, eager to explore and observe the worms.  I'm a big believer in protecting and honoring living things, we we made sure all our exploring and observations were worm-friendly.  Another cool thing we did outside, was take a nap outside.  CRAZY RIGHT?! They LOVED it.  Check out this video of the SILENT nap we took outside!

Finally, we delved into more mathematical areas and I'm beginning to see the need for more engagements with my students.  Even though they are just 4 and 5, I think they still need to have a lot of support and opportunity to interact with math on a productive struggle level.  My hope is that students would begin to see math in all parts of their world and that it wouldn't become this unattainable area, but rather an area of interest.  

Counting different sets of items

Will a big pumpkin float?

Counting

My lows are some of the same things I struggle with, but in a different way.  I have students that have huge social/emotional needs and I want to be able to work with them and help facilitate healthy interactions with their peers.  I have one student in particular that struggles with coping mechanisms and if there is a conflict, it generally takes 15-30 minutes to help him calm down.  However, I'm a teacher of 23 four and five year olds.  I'm really struggling with the tension between helping my less capable students and working with those students that don't have a lot of conflict.  There just simply isn't enough time.  I worry that I'm not giving enough attention to my students that are performing at a more developed social/emotional level.  Sometimes the balance is off and I feel as if I've neglected helping a student work through a problem by telling them to take a break in the cozy corner to help another student work on writing skills.  Becky Bailey says, "anger management requires teachers to implement stress reduction activities in the classroom"(2005, p. 35).  I wonder if I am providing enough opportunities for students to learn about relaxing, focusing, and breathing.  I want to revisit some of the ideas Bailey suggests in the chapter on composure, so I can support all my students with conflict resolution.

As I look towards November, I'm excited to engage more with my students in mathematics instruction, more focused and explicit literacy instruction and a general excitement for the upcoming holidays by bringing in family cultures and traditions to our classroom.  Onward!

Also, check out my tumblr if you want to see how I photo-post almost daily to communicate with parents!