"Every child you encounter is a divine appointment."

It’s May! What!?! This past month has been amazing.  I’m not sure where April went, but there was so much packed into this crazy month that I’m not sure I’ll be able to document it all!

 I would like to really start by celebrating my kiddos.  First of all, they’re amazing!  They have really taught me so much and I’ve learned so much through them.  This month specifically, they have given me a lot of freedom to teach them they way they need to be taught. I realize that maybe doesn’t make much sense, but, I guess I’ve just realized that I can give them more freedom and they will blow my expectations out of the water.  This was actualized a few weeks ago during small groups when I decided to incorporate a short instrumental video on the life cycle of monarch butterflies.  I had my kiddos watch the video once and then draw while we re-watched it again.  It was awesome because while we were watching it they were coming up with questions and dialoging with one another.  I was there, but I was a participant in this interaction.  It was like ACTUAL real learning was unfolding right before my eyes and they only thing I really did was find a wonderful YouTube video and allow my students the space to explore video learning.  The only thing that could have been better would be if we watched the life cycle of butterflies in real life—AND THEN WE DID!

Other highs to celebrate include two of my favorite BFFs having so much conflict throughout the day/week/month and culminating in one huge blowup over a silly headband.  But then we sat together and they hashed it out for 10 minutes with me facilitating and worked it out.  At the end Clover said, “good work, Meagan!” and it literally brought tears to my eyes! They are real people with real feelings and their upset and passion and triumphs are so very real.  The realization of this fact about my students was huge for me this month.  I think one of the greatest things about being a teacher is getting to be a witness to so many beautiful parts of humanity.  I’m amazed at the human heart every day. 

One of my favorite discussions we had this month came from a simple LGL (List, Group, Label) exercise we did about plants.  After listing a lot of words, we were ready to group them.  After a few groupings, one student came up and put “butterfly”, “beautiful”, “roses”, and “dirt” together.  When I asked her to justify why she put all those words together she said, “Because they’re all beautiful”.  One of my more interactive students jumped in to say, “dirt isn’t beautiful!” and it created this wonderful discussion on beauty being in the eye of the beholder.  You know, these are the kinds of conversations I still have with my friends/family on a regular basis.  Again, I’m simply amazed and in awe.  Reflecting on these truly beautiful moments makes me realize why I love this job. 

Of course, it’s not all roses and dirt.  There are still some flaws in my teaching style and our classroom culture that I wish I could change in the blink of an eye.  I wish I could not get so frustrated when my whole class starts talking during a read aloud, I wish I could keep better records of assessment, I wish I could get my students to stop saying put downs to one another.  Although we’re still a work in progress, and there are only 20 school days left—I’m confident that as a Pre-K family, we will diligently work and endure with one another until that final day. 

Which brings me to my final point.  I’m sad about these students moving on.  They own a piece of my heart and I’m so proud of them.  As the end of the school year winds down, I’m ready for them to move on, but I desperately want them to stay just a while longer.  I wouldn’t have learned anything this year if it wasn’t for them, and for that I owe them so much gratitude, grace, and kindness.  I can’t help it, but I love them.

***This final blog post is dedicated to the smart, kind, helpful, risk-taking, brilliant, fun, loving, GENIUS Pre-K class of 2013-2014 at Suburban Nursery School and Pre-K***

This is one of my favorite songs from Wicked and it attempts to sum up my feelings for my wonderful kiddos:

"For Good" --Kristin Chenoweth

Like a comet pulled from orbit, 
As it passes a sun. 
Like a stream that meets a boulder, 
Halfway through the wood. 
Who can say if I've been changed for the better? 
But because I knew you, 
I have been changed for good 

It well may be, 
That we will never meet again, 
In this lifetime. 
So let me say before we part, 
So much of me, 
Is made of what I learned from you. 
You'll be with me, 
Like a handprint on my heart. 
And now whatever way our stories end, 
I know you have re-written mine, 
By being my friend... 

Like a ship blown from its mooring, 
By a wind off the sea. 
Like a seed dropped by a skybird, 
In a distant wood. 
Who can say if I've been changed for the better? 
But because I knew you, 
Because I knew you, 
I have been changed for good.”

Sources Conference 4/19/14

While at the SOURCES conference, I was so honored to get to hear the presentations by the year twos.  I enjoyed hearing about how they are using their students and their community to get kids to think about how they can help their world.  I think it’s a powerful thing when students can feel empowered and come up with their own ideas on how to solve big world problems.  

One of my favorite projects shared was Joy’s.  I love how she started the year by getting the Mayor of Roswell to come and talk with her students.  I was surprised by how she said her students questioned and interacted with the mayor. Sometimes, I know I don’t give kids enough credit.  I’m amazed at how she took this project and gave it to her kids and allowed them the freedom to come up with how they could address it and gave them the power to change their community.  Although I know the reality is that these problems probably still exist and will continue to exist, I think it matters that the kids did something about it.  It reminds me of Black Ants and Buddhists when Mary Cowhey talks about all the things you try to do and how sometimes—it doesn’t make much of a difference for the situation. But it DOES make a difference in your heart.  

I also loved hearing about Laura’s endeavors to improve the library. One thing I want to improve upon next year is helping the kids LOVE books.  I’ve been so devastated this year when my books get ruined and messed up.  It’s SO sad.  I want to find a way to instill honor and respect for books and literature and the art of reading next year.  I think by involving her kids in this project on improving the library, she made them care about reading.  She gave them something to love about books and reading.  

Finally, I don’t know what to even say about Coach Powell’s talk.  It was interesting.  Some of the things he talked about, such as knowing your history and embracing who you are as a person were wonderful.  On the other hand, I’m not so sure I agree with his linear message about sex and women and how they treat their bodies.  I agree that women should honor and respect their bodies, but I think that means something different to everyone.   I honestly would have loved to hear more about his thoughts on hip hop’s subculture and the nature of pop culture in general.  

Black Ants Reading Chapters 5, 6, 12

“If we are to teach real peace in this world, we shall have to begin with the children” (Ghandi).

While reading through Mary Cowhey’s chapter 5 of Black Ants and Buddhists, I’m loving her devotion to peace and how she gets her students to dialogue about how to go about creating and living in peace.  I’m struck by how her simple methods of opening up discussions and conversations led her students to actually participate in a peace march in their community.  I connected with her when she said, “they didn’t do it because it was in a lesson plan.  They did it because they are used to learning through and engaging in dialog” (Cowhey, 2006, p. 93).  This is so powerful to me because she made dialogue and critical thinking a part of her classroom culture and community.  I think one of the biggest reasons this works in her classroom is because she (along with her students) created an environment where inquiry and questions could happen safely.  When she says, “But how can we assess their critical-thinking ability? How do we know if they are making sense of the stories we tell and the things we do? I wonder if the social justice element of my teaching carries over beyond my time with my students, whether first and second graders do “get it” in the long run” (Cowhey, 2006, p. 87), I immediately thought of my students and if what I am doing with them is actually working.  Is it sinking in? Does it even matter if I teach to them this way? I think she makes her point in the end of the chapter when she says even if their actions don’t immediately have a tangible effect on their world—it just matters that they did it.  I think as teachers, sometimes we have to come to terms with the fact that not all of our kids are going to “get it” the way we teach it.  But even if some of them are affected by our teaching—that matters.

I loved reading through chapter 6 of Black Ants and Buddhists on teaching through activism.  If Mary Cowhey thinks her 1^st and 2^nd graders have a hard time dealing with the hard issues and discussing things like landmines and slavery with her kids—then I definitely am going to have a hard time! However, like Cowhey—I’m up for the challenge.  I don’t believe in avoiding the difficult questions in life just because I don’t have the answer.  I find that most of the time, the things my kids are asking questions about are the things I am asking questions about.  One of my male students asked me why I have boobs.  First of all, I don’t really want to have a conversation with a 5 year old about my private body parts, but I also didn’t want to shut down his question because he was genuine in his wonder.  I told him it’s because I’m an adult female and most adult females have them.  He said, “well what are they?” Which of course made me laugh.  I told him they were mostly fat but there was some muscle too and that males have muscle on their pectorals too.  Another girl was listening in on our conversation and said she hoped she never had boobs because she didn’t want to be fat.  Hearing her say this made my heart so sad.  I wondered if a 5 year old was capable of hating their body (or their future body) and where she got this notion.  We continued our conversation on having fat on our bodies and why having some is good.  I say all this because this was a really hard conversation for me to have.  I wasn’t sure if I was going to far or saying something out of turn or inappropriate, however, I didn’t want to avoid it.  A lot of times, we’re afraid of speaking out or talking about issues that seem taboo—this chapter of Black Ants and Buddhists reminds me that I never want to be afraid of myself of my teaching style.  Of course I always want to be respectful and honoring to my students and their families, I just don’t want to operate out of fear. 

The Morning Meeting Book (part 2)

Wow, reading through the rest of The Morning Meeting Book was great! I really enjoyed hearing the authors perspective on what a Morning Meeting with middle schoolers looks like and how I can translate that to my Pre-K kids.  One of the things that was emphasized again even with middle school children was the need to share.  I like how Kriete talks about the teacher's role in sharing, "Teacher sharings can be used as a springboard for lively conversation and debate" (2002, p. 117).  I often like to share things with my friends and family, so why should't I share with my students too! Sharing stories or interesting encounters with them is a great way to model what sharing looks like.  And I know that when I share my students are always shooting back questions or comments that relate to them.  I think this somehow gives us a common bond and it's relationship building!

The other idea about sharing Kriete brings up is focused sharing.  Although my students don't always need a topic in order to share something, this is a good way to facilitate their thinking and guide their thinking in a certain direction--possibly related to what we are studying.  I think I would think about doing focused sharing maybe once a week since my students are always itching to share their own personal stories! One thing with focused sharing that I would like to emphasize is, "the responsibility of each student is to find a way to connect in a brief way to the topic.  The responsibility of the group is to receive each student's comment openly and with respect (2002, p. 117).  This is one thing I really want to work on with my students over these last few weeks of school.  I want my students to be able to respond with respect and kindness to their peer.

I'm OBSESSED with all of the ideas in the appendices of this book! Although I got a little bit of a late start implementing some of these greetings, or sharing methods, I know that the time we have left in school will be well spent incorporating them into our morning meeting.  I'm extremely excited to try this out with my next class of kids from the very beginning!