Tending the Eclectic Kinder-Garden

**The following was originally posted by me at In Practice**

It’s that time of year for kindergarten teachers: planning to meet “next year’s” (August’s) kindergartners. After Easter and spring break, school districts nationwide hold their Kindergarten Roundups, encouraging enthusiastic parents and usually eager-yet-nervous children to start making their immunization, school shopping and pep talk plans in the hopes that the first day/week of kindergarten is emotionally survivable for all involved. I have to admit, I’ve never been able to keep the image of lassoing five-year-olds-that-yes-have-made-the-cut-off-date out of my mind during spring registration, and in fact, several of my former administrators have even suggested that my colleagues and I “troll for kids that look old enough” as we drive through the school’s neighborhoods before work each morning. Each administrator has wanted our numbers to be as close to accurate as we can have them before school staff sizes are re-evaluated over the summer due to increases or decreases in enrollment- very understandable.

Teaching in schools with larger student and family populations that fall within lower socio-economic levels means that I have had my share of hosting kindergarten “sneak peeks” involving myself, my students, future students, and their preschool or Head Start teachers, and not the students’ parents. Typically, preschool teachers contact me and my colleagues in advance, asking us to look at calendar dates to find a morning or two when they can bring their students over to see what kindergarten is all about. They ask to sit in on storytime, centers, and participate in snack and possibly recess. I of course, give my Super Stars the heads up that younger visitors will be spending time with us during the week, and each year we inevitably agree that we should do what we can to help them feel comfortable during their stay.

Three or four students per preschool teacher arrive for their sneak peek, usually wide-eyed, and not at all reluctant. I purposely revisit old standby stories such as Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See or Green Eggs and Ham for storytime, and my Super Stars teach their guests the motions to our fingerplays, “Two Little Sausages,” “Once There Lived a Quiet Mouse,” and songs like Shake My Sillies Out. The preschoolers visit the learning centers they are most interested in, and can tour the classroom and its materials on their own, with a friend, or with one of their teachers. Painting, playing with blocks, dressing up in the pretend center, counting/sorting/classifying with math manipulatives, pounding and rolling clay, putting puzzles together, working on the computer, playing musical instruments, or quietly looking at books…are some of the activities that I will watch my future students exploring during their visit. *

Why am I watching instead of putting myself front and center, vying for their attention? For one, I might not be their teacher in August. Two, I feel it’s important that the children make this transition successfully in their own way(s) and in their own time. It’s not important that students *like me* when they first meet me, it’s important that they feel welcome, and that they feel safe. And finally, yes… I’m taking mental notes, sometimes scribbling thoughts and observations down about each of the children as they familiarize themselves with their future environment.

~Does the child wear glasses? Hearing aids? Appear to have physical limitations that differ from his/her peers? What is the child’s size, and how does s/he use physical space? Does the child squint, or say “huh” or ask for directions to be repeated again?

~ I listen to them speak…is there an accent? Is the child bi-lingual? Is only English spoken in the home? Does the child speak English at all? Understand it without speaking it? Are there pronunciation issues separate from language comprehension and expression? Regardless of oral language, does the child prefer to use sign language of some sort, gestures, to communicate rather than speaking?

~ Does the child interact with others? Others of the same gender? Opposite gender? Does the student only demonstrate parallel play? Does the child recognize and choose to acknowledge and cooperate with transitions?

~ Is the child passive or aggressive? How about passively aggressive (that one usually takes time to observe once the new school year has started, unless parents, a previous teacher or daycare provider tells me in advance)? Allergic to anything?

~ Is the student a watcher or a do-er? A little of both? How long does it take him/her to come out of a comfortable shell?

~ Is the student aware of his/her own needs and wants, and is s/he capable and willing to be in control of belongings, potty issues, and sharing resources? Does the student ask for help?

~ Left handed? Right handed? Ambidextrous? Knows how to cut, hold a pencil or crayon, and move objects and materials from hand to hand smoothly?

~ How does the child move? Running? Jumping? Climbing? Walking, skipping? Does s/he have good balance?

~ Does the student appear well nourished, clean, wearing clothes that fit? Does s/he appear well rested? Is the child lethargic, or a bundle of excess energy?

~ Does the child like to complete one task before moving on to another, or does s/he flit and float, moving between activities and projects, dabbling a little bit here, a little bit there?

~ Are hands and kleenexes used when the child sneezes, or are sneezes wide open and shared with the classroom? Does the child still put objects like toys, pencils, crayons, rulers, scissors in his/her mouth?

~ I also listen to our guests, what I call “professional eavesdropping.” Do my students shout out “Hey, we have that book at our house!” Do they question what paint or clay is? I can learn a lot about my future students’ prior schema just by listening in on their stories and interactions while they’re in my room.

Colleagues at each of the schools I’ve worked have asked me if I can tell with just one visit which students have had prior exposure to a school-type setting or structured learning environment, if I can tell which students have been read to nightly at home, which students have experienced hands-on learning, which students have made mudpies with real dirt and water and which have only made them by drawing or painting them with a computer program.

Yep. I can. While I hope that Kindergarten Roundup leaves each preschooler with a good feeling and anticipation about the upcoming kindergarten experience, it gives *me* my own sneak peek, providing me with vital information that I feel better about having long before the DIBELS test booklets arrive in the building in the fall. Recognizing and appreciating the wondrous diversity, strengths, needs, and potential that each new class represents makes essential relationship-building happen more smoothly and naturally for our youngest learners.

Welcome to kindergarten! Bienvenido!

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* Yes, some schools include preliminary formal assessments for incoming kindergarten students during Roundup . I’ve worked at one that did, and two that did not. My own preference is to refrain from putting barely-five-year-olds through additional performance stress on a day that should be about discovery, bravery, inspiration, anticipation, and belonging. Of course, that’s just me.

Tags: kindergarten

Oh, how I wish I was referring to chocolate, cookies, anything other than teaching. I’ve been a bit torn lately in fact, because I’ve found I’ve been spending more and more time reflecting upon home, family, creativity, emotions, and craft explorations than I have on teaching as our year-long stay in the Bordertown stretches on. Totally natural, I’m sure, but I’m going to have to dive head-first back into the Land of Public Education when I return to teaching kindergarten (hopefully this fall), and that means I’ll be back to inservices, professional development days, collegial groups, and trying to pep-talk myself into demonstrating a rah-rah mood about the new learning community to which I will belong. School number four, back in Oz. Which hopefully will be pro-student, and pro-teaching, not pro-Kill-and-Drill-for-the-State-Assessments.

Baby steps, baby steps. So I’ve gone back to listening to podcasts related to education, visiting the blogs of some of my favorite teachers (their moods don’t help, most are bummed out, burnt out, sick and tired), exploring web sites and blogs featuring actual kindergarten classrooms, and trying to leave meaningful comments at the posts that speak to my inner-teacher. Staying on top of my game requires that I continue my own education, formally and/or informally. This year, podcasts, online essays, e-books, and visits to Barnes and Noble to follow up on recommended reading suggestions have been the affordable way to go,and have kept me from having to choose a subject of study for a Master’s program.

With NCLB and the attacks on students, teachers, and public education as a whole, I cringe at the thought of one day growing up to be a principal… of being a curriculum coordinator whose job it is merely to buy the the sole program and products approved by the government-approved corporations that have no scientific basis for their claims to fame and success…or the education professor at a university rehashing this whole nightmare for future generations of teachers. Nope, sorry, I’d rather do crafts. Make wreaths. Figure out how to read stories to blog visitors via podcasts. Learn more about digital photography. Lose myself in an antique store or flea market. Or wow, just TEACH.

I’d like to introduce my students to new forms of expression, to new authors, new voices. Encourage them to sing, to question, to discover, and to help others. To take chances, to forgive, to problem-solve. To laugh at knock-knock jokes, to encourage their friends, to persevere when an answer doesn’t come easily. To try something new, to enjoy something not-so-new. To paint, to plant, to pretend. To read, to write, to communicate with a diverse group of people, to know they have value. It’s wonderful when students realize that LMNOP is really “L-M-N-O-P,” five letters, not one. It’s even more rewarding when my students help one another celebrate an accomplishment like learning how to tie one’s shoes, writing both first and last names, or reading a story. Sharing wonderful stories with parents about those moments they miss as a result of allowing me to spend so much time with their children is something I’m happy to do. Offering longer conferences, sending silly emails, keeping parents in the loop, inviting them to spend time with us.

Time spent actually teaching and guiding is a gift, not a chore to tolerate or endure. But the careful activism that seems to be required right now, advocating for my students, advocating for their future, advocating for their parents, advocating for my own children, advocating for my colleagues, and frankly, advocating for my job is a heavy burden. They’re worth it, we’re worth it, I’m worth it, but it is difficult. Unpleasant. And it takes away from what I feel I should be doing: opening finger paints, helping cut yarn, vacuuming sand out of the carpet from our sand table…whatever it takes to give my students an environment rich in kinesthetic, emotion-imprinting discoveries and inspirations.

Here’s what I’ve been reading- some of them are lengthy, in-depth… all provide important information and viewpoints of which more parents should be aware…of which more new teachers should read up on if they ever hope to be “real” teachers and not just script readers and assessment administrators:
Drop Out Explosion: Wonder How Come:

“…teachers and principals are blamed and held “accountable,” which reinvigorates all over again the inhumane and immoral practices that the Bush kind of tough-love exacts from educators turned into brutal bureaucrats. In order to keep their schools from being shut down or taken over by charter outfits or EMOs, the just-following-orders educators make sure the losers are shoved out, encouraged out, and pushed out in order to avoid their negative effect on school test performance.”

A Nation at Risk: Burn in He** (outlines the scare tactic that has been used to great success to destroy public education):

“From an irrational faith in the ability of standardized tests to inspire greater learning, and from an unwillingness to finance more expensive tests that would sample critical thinking as well as basic skills, we’ve again narrowed the curriculum to “minimum competency,” precisely the 1970s standard that A Nation at Risk denounced. From a belief that an alleged decline in student achievement must be attributable to a decline in teacher quality, at best, or to malfeasance (‘low expectations’) of teachers, at worst, many districts have attempted to overcome this teacher incompetence by implementing scripted, or nearly so, curricula. We’ve attempted to focus teachers’ attention by a testing regime so rigid that it threatens to destroy teachers’ intrinsic motivation and their ability to address the full range of student difficulties that can only be diagnosed by creative teachers, student-by-student.

Again, this does not suggest that teachers are as well trained as they should be, as well-motivated as we would like them to be, or as student-oriented as they must be. But it is hard to defend the proposition that teachers, especially those of minority and disadvantaged children, have been sitting around making excuses for poor performance when these children have gained a full standard deviation in test score improvement in a single generation.”

Mike in Texas posted “Get Those Test Scores Up or I’ll Kill You” at his blog, Education in Texas (and oh yes, I left a comment):

“Of course, it had to have happened in Texas, where the drive to destroy public education began via high-stakes testing. A principal has threatened ‘I will kill you all and kill myself.’ if TAKS science scores don’t improve.”

(What galls me is that parents decided to pooh-pooh the teachers, when those same parents would have been the first to worry about and report the incident if it had happened in their own workplaces, or if their child had come home and told them that another student had made a similar threat. )

Endure. Teach in spite of the ever-increasing-list of obstacles. The students need me. Their parents need me.

I’m going to need a LOT of coffee.

Tags: kindergarten, links, NCLB

Before becoming an Army Wife, images of herding large groups of five year olds to and from centers, art lessons, the gym, lunch, and recess were the only ones that popped into my mind when I heard the term “transition time.” After receiving the latest version of our latest orders (military families will understand that one), I’m preparing for my family’s next move. It requires us to get back into the all-too-familiar yet not-at-all-convenient preparation mode, and it lasts for months.

Our “transition time” involves evaluating every personal belonging…is it a needful thing, or a wantful thing? Then sorting, yard saling, donating… We do enjoy knowing that we help each local Goodwill or Salvation Army with our clothing, bedding, and household items before we move, and yes, having a weight limit on our household items certainly does keep packrattiness at bay. But it’s a PAIN. This will be our fourth move in five years. Our first move was from Alaska to New Mexico done in two trips as my husband had to report to duty six months before the family finished up the school year. Our next move was to be back to Alaska, only Uncle Sam decided we’d take the scenic route through Kansas first. After one year in Oz, Uncle Sam decided my husband needed to see the desert firsthand while the kids and I stayed in Tornado-ville. Upon his return, we were told we were moving to the Bordertown, for a one-year-only stay. We arrived over the fourth of July weekend last year, and more than likely, we’ll be leaving over the fourth of July weekend *this* year.

*IF* our orders hold, we’ll be returning to Oz, though a different post, two hours away from friends we made during our first assignment. I’d appreciate any good thoughts and positive energy in regard to getting hired- a year off at home with the toddler has been terrific, but I’ve got that itch to teach more children and be surrounded by kindergarten magic again. I’ve peeked at the websites of the school districts in the area we’ll be living, and I’ve been pleased to find phrases like “developmentally appropriate practice” used regularly to describe the teaching methods used by kindergarten and primary teachers. Hopefully they’re not all whistling Dixie for PR purposes while really inflicting NCLB atrocities upon children behind closed doors.

Future possible employers, I’ll be bringing a classrooms’ worth of materials, manipulatives, books, and even computers with me, though my most effective and important resource is my appreciation of children, how they think, how they learn, and how they share. Hire me. I make good cookies too, just ask my previous three employers! Yes, oh yes, GOOD cookies are important, very important- just ask any teacher sitting through yet another staff meeting, redundant professional development seminar, or lunch time in the teachers’ lounge on that last crazy day before winter break. Cookies…good.

Who knows, by August, perhaps this blog will return to its original kindergarten focus- just another transition.

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While digging up my “flagged” list on NetNewsWire to share with you, it registered to me: once we’re on the road again this summer, it will probably be a few weeks before MY computer arrives, is hooked up, and I’m back online. I will have a TON of reading to do! It seems I’ll have to scale back my subscriptions- yet one more sorting chore before the movers arrive (see how my mind has already started with the listmaking?!?!?)

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Moving right along:

~The Secret Recipe Blog has come up with yet another recipe for me to try, though I think I’ll have to save it for chillier months: Copycat Starbucks Gingerbread Loaf

~Cakespy cracked me up with its Interview with a Cadbury Creme Egg, apropos, no?

~Inspireco is making me rethink paper mache techniques with these beautiful “Surprise Eggs…”

~Dr. Jim Horn over at Schools Matter has been sharing, posting, and sharing some more… interesting stuff for parents and teachers alike that we should all really be aware of NOW, not later. Time to get fired up, think, put aside our lethargy and social exhaustion, and solve these problems:

Higher Teacher Pay: How To Kill a Great Idea

Opting out of Testing

Exterminating Public Schools

~And thanks to Ireland’s Eye, I have more than enough recipes for Monday’s St. Patrick’s Day meal!

(Illustration by Jennifer E. Morris)

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Tags: family, links, military life

Jim Horn at Schools Matter discusses Testing and the Death of Play, quoting a Morning Edition Story on NPR:

“Guess what? Play is required for the healthy development of children. Imagine that.”

“It turns out that all that time spent playing make-believe actually helped children develop a critical cognitive skill called executive function. Executive function has a number of different elements, but a central one is the ability to self-regulate. Kids with good self-regulation are able to control their emotions and behavior, resist impulses, and exert self-control and discipline.”

Parents, teachers, administrators, “behavior specialists,” this is a *must read*.

Go.

Now.

Here.

Tags: behavior, developmentally appropriate practice, Early Childhood, kindergarten

I’ve been home since Monday evening. I have re-cleaned areas of the house that the family *thought* they had cleaned before my return (our techniques for dusting, mopping, vacuuming, laundering and disinfecting don’t exactly match), and I finished reading The Other Boleyn Girl last night. I baked some cookies that are perfectly accompanying my coffee this morning, and I’ve just made it through all of the blogs I missed reading while I was away. Wowzer, was NetNewsWire *full*! I’ve emailed friends and family, sent photos of my trip, and fast-forwarded through most of my recorded t.v. shows on DISH. Catching up, catching up.

I’m not certain what inspiration will find me today, but I’m guessing grocery shopping and re-thinking the seasonal decor in the house will occupy some of my time this morning. Of course I’ll be working up tomorrow’s Show and Share blog, with more photos of some of the goodies I bought while in Oz this past weekend, and will keep my fingers crossed that our internet tech is able to find the source of our internet connection woes sometime today.

I’m looking forward to Shannon’s visit next week as is Dear Daughter. Having moved four times in five years by this summer, time spent with our family and friends who are family helps us to stay connected in between our travels hither and yon. No, still no news on where we’ll be stationed next- I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed that we will NOT be staying here in the Bordertown. Thank you for your good thoughts!

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Clarification:

For those of you who followed the link in my Knowledge is Power post, and were wondering if I was advocating that all parents pull their children out of school during mandated assessments, the answer would be “no.” I do encourage and am an advocate for parental involvement, LOTS of parental involvement in the lives of their children, but I believe that in our country’s present state of turmoil, not many parents have taken the time (for whatever reason) to really sit back and look at the long-term effects of decisions they’ve allowed others to either make for them or scare/convince them into making themselves in regard to NCLB. When I provide links that I’ve found interesting and thought-provoking, I share them in the hopes that their content will somehow engage others, get them thinking from another angle, or provide another detail or interpretation that will help with the bigger picture for those readers who are spending time to survey the terrain outside of their own backyard.

Remember, I’m not only a teacher (who has the year off, is not presently employed and is therefore not representing any state or any school district) but a parent as well. I don’t believe that my own children will get “do-overs” once NCLB and its testing malpractice(s) are shown to have succeeded in obliterating both the pros AND cons of our public school system. My children will be out of school, and hopefully in college, surrounded by other problem solvers, knowledge-lovers and big thinkers who survived in spite of NCLB, while younger students still in junior high and high school will be doing all they can to just make it through. How many students that reach basic proficiency through today’s drill and kill testing practices are really going to be motivated to attend or adequately prepared for a college’s or university’s rigorous curriculum?

Looking to the future, it’s probable that should my children decide to study Education while in college, they’ll take classes on the history of education, education reform, testing and assessment, etc. I suspect that college professors and other education analysts will tell future teachers that NCLB (and all of its programs, those based on punitive measures AND rewards) was one of the biggest and most successful tools used to control our country. Maybe my crystal ball is a bit cloudy, maybe my vision is a bit off, maybe I’ve had too much coffee… but WHAT IF…

What if the NCLB machine was engineered to make sure enough children failed? No, not every school, or every child. When enough students fail, the school puts canned programs into place that are not only endorsed but mandated by NCLB. When students continue to fail (and some always will, sorry to burst your Pollyanna bubble), for whatever reasons, school environments are taken over and restructured completely, and parents, if they so choose, can move their children to schools that have made AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress). “But what about those schools that have received accolades and rewards and who proudly advertise their school’s report card that PROVES they’ve made adequate yearly progress? Doesn’t that mean that at least those schools are succeeding thanks to NCLB?” Uh, maybe.

Let’s assume those beribboned and shiny gold star schools are accurately reporting their test scores. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the teachers are providing your child with the most comprehensive and well-rounded educational experience possible: it means that students have been taught enough to pass a single test. And guess what, if that gold star school honestly continues to do well while neighboring schools fail, the students from the failing school get to overcrowd Gold Star Elementary, increasing class size, bringing their less-than-proficient scores with them, thus increasing the chance that the school will lose ribbons and gold stars in the future. Yep, in giving schools those fun little awards, the government goes out of its way to make it more difficult for those schools to continue to succeed, though somehow most parents feel placated when told, “don’t worry, your child can go to the good school now,” and don’t think too much past their own reassurance. For those who need an analogy:

Imagine a weight lifter. Strengthening his body, monitoring his diet, trying to make it to the next competition. He pushes himself, hopefully safely, by adding more weight, making his muscles stronger over time. He can bench press two hundred pounds, two hundred twenty five, two hundred fifty, three hundred, three-fifty, four hundred, success after success. Five hundred, six hundred, more. Believe it or not, there will come a time when someone puts enough weight on the lifter that no matter his training/development or his previous successes or trophies, he will not be able to lift it. Ever. Pick up the truck. Pick up the house. Pick up the weight equivalent to a neighborhood block. You can’t. You failed! YOU FAILED. Gee, how did *that* happen? Guess you need us to take over.

Tsk, tsk.

Another thought that today’s intake of cookies and coffee have fired off in my brain is this: If the NCLB machine has indeed been created to guarantee that all schools eventually fail, wouldn’t those beribboned and gold starred schools that continue to blatantly “succeed” no matter how much weight is dumped onto their own weight bars be easily spotted and eventually identified as deserving of investigation? Of, perhaps, misreporting their assessment scores? Of altering test administration? Of cheating? It would certainly be a red flag to me if I made sure everyone would fail (gradually of course, don’t want to tip people off), and one little upstart continued to succeed no matter what. In fact, if I were a real mastermind, I would have made sure that ribbons and gold stars were mandated as rewards BY ME, as my failsafe catch-all. Everyone would be on my radar, easy and clear targets.

Maybe my children will choose to study architecture in college instead. Maybe I should try a more well-balanced breakfast in the morning. Maybe it’s time for that grocery shopping I’m supposed to be doing today.

Tags: education, family, NCLB, rant

Potato soup this morning for breakfast. Thick, hearty, peppery (added by me) with a toasted onion bagel and my sore throat is feeling soothed. I have some water on to boil for the preparation of green tea and honey, suggested by a friend after my ever-persistent cough forced me into pleading for a remedy, any remedy. No, it’s not a “productive” cough, merely a dry, barely-there-but-there-enough-to-not-be-able-to-ignore-it annoyance. Sleep brought me relief until last night, when the dreaded hacking decided to come out in full force for my daughter and husband. No cough syrup or cough drop could provide relief for them. You can probably tell from my complaints that we’re typically a very healthy family. A week or two (please not more!) of being inconvenienced by germs really throws us off-kilter.

I’ve done some sewing,

and the toddler has had fun stickering (probably not a word, but an incredibly accurate description) one of his coloring books, the coffee table, the carpet, and himself.

After school today I’ll be taking Daughter up to the university campus so she can set up her science fair project for judging. The campus happens to be my old stomping grounds from pre-kindegarten age. I still have vivid memories of safari animals on display, a huge train engine encased in glass, rolling down green hills, wearing red shoes, and being the one who broke open the pinata during a kindergarten Halloween party. I’m guessing if the safari, train and hills still inhabit the university, they’ll appear much smaller now. I’ll take my camera, to document Daughter, her project, and to what extent time has changed things.

Inspired by Daughter’s science project, this weekend we’ll be enjoying “That’s Not in My Science Book,” by Kate Kelly (and I’ll read part two, chapter six, “How They Learned Why We Get Sick: The Origin of Germ Theory” with great interest!).

Some suggested web reading:

Cakespy adds….. BACON and Sour Patch Kids to brownies!

Paper-and-String has made very cute felt iron-on patches…

Doug reminds us as teachers, administrators, and parents that there really *is* an art to teaching, and that our inherent nature that provides us and our students “multiple ways of knowing” shouldn’t be set aside or ignored just because someone else wants teachers and students to spend hours, weeks, or months filling in little bubbles on ineffective and inaccurate assessments.

Don’t think you can get fired up about your child’s education? What if someone told you that your child’s school funding was going to be cut, oh, say, $9000-$400,000, while the *consulting agency* hired to crunch the numbers off of the students’ failing assessments didn’t lose any funding at all? Taking money away from schools, and giving it to testing corporations…all while making sure no child is “left behind.” Uh huh.

And while some of my wool and polar-fleece-lovin’ friends in Alaska will try to tell me “fashion things” don’t really matter to them, we’ll see this spring and next fall, or even in their annual Christmas card photos, whether or not they’re hip with the forecasted color palette (thank you Decor8) that we’re to be seeing in clothing and home decor lines everywhere. I’m having flashbacks of The Devil Wears Prada (movie)…

Miranda Priestly: [Miranda and some assistants are deciding between two similar belts for an outfit. Andy sniggers because she thinks they look exactly the same] Something funny?
Andy Sachs: No, no, nothing. Y’know, it’s just that both those belts look exactly the same to me. Y’know, I’m still learning about all this stuff.
Miranda Priestly: This… ’stuff’? Oh… ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don’t know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you’re trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don’t know is that that sweater is not just blue, it’s not turquoise, it’s not lapis, it’s actually cerulean. You’re also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn’t it, who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it’s sort of comical how you think that you’ve made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you’re wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff.

(Quote found here.)

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, sans germs! I’m off to sip some more soothing tea…

Tags: family, links, sewing, toddler

Like most teachers, I have many wonderful memories of each year’s group of students I’ve taught. Those funny moments, hysterical stories, soul-searching questions and eager explorations could fill a book effectively mapping my teaching career. They are more milestones to me than any of my teaching evaluations could ever be.

As a kindergarten teacher, I don’t always feel that I’m teaching lessons or concepts in the traditional sense. What I do feels more interactive and social in much the same way I find myself operating when I’m in “military spouse mode.” Meeting new people, making introductions, following social etiquette, trying to put people at ease, guiding the audience to feel welcome… the same format applies when I’m seated with five and six year olds on the floor, ready to sing or share a story.

Each year, one of my favorite “introductions” is between my Super Stars and Martin Luther King Jr.

My students enjoy some background stories and information, Weekly Reader or Scholastic usually provide take-home fliers, posters and activities, and then we listen to the “I Have a Dream” speech. In its entirety. And every year that my students have listened to the speech, you could have heard a pin drop on carpet. The wigglers, the blurters, the most animated of children, all transfixed, for the entire speech.

There’s something about listening to a message that has purpose and truth behind it- even children can intuitively feel the speaker’s intent. Some of my favorite student comments:

“Teacher, I like that man. He said I could go to school with my friends.”

“He has a big voice, but he’s not scary or mean.”

“Did his dream come true, Teacher?”

Introduction made. Talk amongst yourselves.

Tags: Martin Luther King Jr.

A former colleague of mine is now on maternity leave after the much-anticipated arrival of her daughter. My friend has been preparing her classroom, materials, and students for the long-term sub for months now, hoping that she and her students “get a good one.” I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed for her too.

For all of the wonderful substitute teachers, classroom aides, and paraprofessionals out there, thank you for all that you do. And thank you for all that you try to do.I was raised “a teacher’s kid,” and was therefore privy to the inside track of public education from a very young age, but I still had to “do my time” as a substitute teacher before I was given the chance to teach my very own group of students. And Ladies and Gents, I never had it as difficult as many of you do simply because of my upbringing and exposure to the world of teachers, inservices, and educational training. I knew which substitute teachers my mother would request by name and why she would request them, and I knew why some substitute teachers had their names crossed off of sub-caller lists after their first visit to a school. I had my mental file cabinet full of tricks and could navigate the “Yay, it’s just a SUB” minefield that miraculously appears whenever someone other than the classroom teacher enters a room.

Subs, aides, and para-professionals have to deal with so many issues when they step into another teacher’s classroom. The biggest one being that they are not the regular classroom teacher. It’s obvious for all to see, and the usual response from many students when a stranger enters the room is to assume all of the rules, limitations, allowances, and expectations of the classroom teacher were just thrown out the window. In response, many subs tend to choose one of several paths: they try to exactly follow whatever schedule or routine that has been left for them, attempting to don the costume, tone, mannerisms and authority of the teacher they are covering (while failing miserably on the classroom stage); they try to call down the thunder in their very best Viola Swamp impersonation, somehow failing to gain the compliance of the students as effectively as she; or they sit behind the desk, warming the teacher’s seat and letting the students run the show for the day, merely looking up to check that no blood is left on the linoleum. But the exceptional substitute teachers, aides, and paras, are all able to leave a positive mark on our students, encouraging the academic learning process to continue to motor forward, and giving students some valuable social experiences as well.

Here are some of Amazon.com’s recommendations for substitute teacher handbooks. I can’t tell you how glad I am that I haven’t come across a “Subbing for Dummies” book… or “Teaching for Dummies” for that matter.

As for my colleague’s sub? Please do a good job. Enjoy your new students as much as she does. Laugh with them, sing with them, read to them, share with them, encourage them, listen to them, guide them, teach them.No pressure.

Tags: education

My own teacher tendencies have been on sabbatical while we spend this year in the Bordertown, but I still feel that familiar *tug* when I stumble across the following:

Bulletin board trimmers:

(all available at BK’s Schoolhouse)

Classroom organizers:

(available at Calloway House)

and school-themed quilts:

(Dori Hawks at the Quilter Community)
(Ginger’s Needlework and Quilting)
(at The Quilting Cupboard)

Only-five-more-months, only-five-more-months, only-five-more-months…

If you’re like me, issues, ideas, and questions that stay with you for some time become your guide when it comes to life’s little explorations and discoveries.

Due to my own “high mobility rate” thanks to Uncle Sam’s repeated relocations of my husband and our family, my attention has been focused on diversity. Moving from a twenty-four year residency in Alaska to White Sands, NM for a year, then Kansas for two, here in Texas this year, with another move slated in July 2008, the visual and cultural terrain has done nothing but change in front of my eyes. Don’t get me started on how long it’s taken to acclimate from wind chill to the heat index- apparently you can take the girl out of Alaska, but can’t take the Alaska out of the girl.

With each move to a new state, our relocation includes living in new military communities that provide amazing multi-cultural experiences because of the ethnic and cultural diversity found in not only this country’s Armed Forces, but in the Armed Forces of other countries who allow their soldiers to participate in “exchange” type training programs here in the States. Communities surrounding each military post have had their own “flavor” too, and so far we’ve managed to live (and I’ve managed to teach) in communities that don’t deal with diversity as a distraction. Many public school teachers with whom I’ve worked have only recently begun to complain *not* that they have to “celebrate all holidays or celebrate none,” but that thanks to the demands of assessment schedules, there isn’t enough time for their students and families to share their cultural traditions year-round as learning experiences for classmates and teachers.

Though holidays occur throughout the entire year, many schools seem to recognize Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas as prime art project and “class party” times. My students (so far) have been lucky, as kindergarten mediums still include glitter, play dough/clay, paint, beads, string, construction paper, food, etc. Their learning is hands-on, so in December, parents are happy to help my students make potato latkes for Hannukah, Kwanzaa necklaces, and glitter-nosed Rudolphs for Christmas. Poinsettias have been donated to my room and pinatas made for Las Posadas, and parents have helped my students make clay lamps to sit in a row (lit in the classroom with a string of electric lights) while learning about Diwali.

My students have been much more….bonded… to eachother when they’ve been able to share cultural experiences, and have enjoyed not only finding similar interests and practices, but learning about new ones as well. Kindergartners have a way of working cohesively, being tied together almost like family members when an inclusive environment is maintained around them, no matter their cultural background. Diversity is interesting to five year olds, not threatening or weird. Learning that Nancy is Chinese and celebrates Chinese New Year is as cool as learning about chlorophyll in plants and how some birds can fly while others can’t. Learning about our immediate environment, and then spiraling out from there, with some tangent branches, “grabs” at new information that has caught their interest thrown in for good measure, is what young children do. Nancy really enjoyed learning about Hannukah by the way, as it helped her to understand and feel closer to her best friend, who is Jewish. Thankfully, the kindergartners I’ve taught haven’t sorted and classified their peers with judgement on who is “right” or “better” based on their physical, cultural, or even socioeconomic characteristics, though I’m sure birthday invitations or play dates have been selected carefully by their parents behind the scenes.

Tim Graves’ “We Can’t Talk About That” is what had me reminicing this morning, and his article caught my eye because of the recent questions, opinions, and dialogues that have been taking place amongst the other blogs and various articles I have been reading lately. Ultra-conservitive rants worry me, especially when ethnicity and multi-cultural issues in this country turn into a “them versus us” schpiel when in my mind there is no ethnic-group-du-jour. “They” ARE “us.”

One of my students last year told me he was glad that his (very diverse group of) friends could all “see the light” during the winter.

I’m wondering what will happen when our next family move takes place, especially since we could end up in Washington, Colorado, New York, Hawaii, Japan, Germany… though if we end up back in Alaska (it’s considered an overseas tour, did you know that?), fry bread, here I come!

Happy Thanksgiving to you, and quyanaqpak for reading.