Tending the Eclectic Kinder-Garden

Kindergarten is an interesting age/grade to teach, *all* of the time.  It can become even more dynamic when a child with special needs or undiagnosed issues is part of the group.  Working in my fourth school district in my third state, I’ve been a member of  S.W.A.T/S.I.T./S.N.A.P and plain ol’ “intervention” teams, working to accommodate the needs of each of my students.  Most of the strategies, meetings, suggestions, and plans implemented have been productive, efficient and successful, with one classification of student need a notable exception: the ADHD/Behavior issue child.

For ADHD/Behavior children, kindergarten can be a blessing and a curse.  With all of the hands on activities and manipulatives available, not to mention shorter time spent on most activities (at least in the developmentally appropriate classroom and/or at the beginning of the school year) children can get up and move, interact, build, sing, read, play, paint, create and listen.  Having to sit still and pay attention for longer amounts of time can be torture however, since the visual, auditory, olfactory and kinesthetic stimulation of these children doesn’t diminish just because it’s story time or a visitor to the class is sharing a special presentation.  The reactions of classmates can create hurt feelings, confusion, and anger, especially when an ADHD/Behavior child feels singled out or targeted for avoidance.

Thankfully, many parents give me a “heads up” before I meet their ADHD/Behavior child.  They share their family’s history and coping skills, along with information from their doctor or child psychologist.  I’m able to put some strategies to immediate use (modifying seating assignments, limiting visual and auditory distractions, stockpiling attention-getters and visual/auditory reminders and cues) and I’m able to create an initial intervention “loop” between other staff members, in case further strategies and resources are needed.  I contact my principal, intervention facilitator(s), parents, the school nurse, and those teachers and staff the student will work with on a regular basis.  Then, it’s all back to me.  I spend much of my time at the beginning of the school year developing a safe and nurturing relationship with my students.  Students accept guidance, correction, and take a chance at following new suggestions when they trust me.

From day one, I document, document, document.  Notes on observations, assessments, strategies tried, successful and not-so.  Dates and durations of interventions utilized, and copies kept of e-mail, conference, and phone correspondence with parents.  In kindergarten, there is no immediate solution, no quick fix for a child who is both distractable and distracting.  I’m assuming by second or third grade, the documentation and work done by kindergarten and first grade teachers is used as the foundation for maintaining a child’s successes at school, and should new problems arise, is used to help identify previously successful strategies, or point to a new direction after previous interventions have failed.  But in my class, there is no magic wand.

I ask for help when I feel it’s necessary, which is probably the most subjective element of all when it comes to utilizing a school’s intervention team.  I believe since a child spends most of his or her time with me and classmates in our group’s environment, that most, if not all strategies and accommodations have to be tried and tested under my watchful eye.  If parents are effective advocates for their child, then they usually already have child psychologists, doctors, and counselors with whom they work (this isn’t always the case, especially when 1) children come from low-income families and are without the resources or 2) parents of any socio-economic group aren’t ready to believe their child’s behavior is out-of-the-ordinary.)  But here’s the rub: I have a high level of tolerance when it comes to working with ADHD/Behavior children. I do not believe they wake up each morning and *decide* “Hey, I think I’ll mess with Mrs. Sommerville and the other Super Stars today.  Yeah, I’ll knock things over, blurt my thoughts out during quiet times, interrupt constantly, fidgit for no discernable reason, AND top it all off with a whining and crying fit.  Now *THAT* sounds like a plan!”

Intentions matter to me, as do the emotional and physical reasons behind why a person does what s/he does, the direct result being that I don’t send an ADHD/Behavior child out of my class the first, second, or even third time a problem is experienced.  How will sitting in the office for ten minutes help teach a young child how to take turns, use an indoor voice, or negotiate for a toy?  How will missing recess help a physically busy child release some of that pent-up energy?  While an ADHD/Behavior child *might* have been diagnosed prior to kindergarten, most often than not, he or she hasn’t been, leaving it to me to document the behaviors exhibited, how they affect the student emotionally, physically, academically and socially, and how his or her personality impacts the learning and socialization of the other students.  Students who have been diagnosed usually start behavior modification and/or medication just prior to school starting, so keeping a record of the transition and effectiveness of the treatment and management has to go hand in hand with acclimating to the new school environment and the expectations of the many new people with whom the child will come into contact.

But I worry.  Specialists see all of the school’s students each day…how thin might their patience be by the time my ADHD/Behavior kiddo gets to them in the afternoon?  Some schools and staffs view the actions of ADHD/Behavior kids as disciplinary problems, and respond with punishments and consequences designed to force children into immediate compliance, instead of helping students understand and properly manage their impulses.  While confidentiality is key for students, children go home and talk, and as a result, so do their parents.  Scenes not witnessed by parents or caregivers can be mis-communicated and mis-interpreted.

Thoughts?

Tags: kindergarten, RTI

The Science Goddess tagged me a month ago (I know, I know!  A month?  Thankfully she knows I’ve been back to school, in a new state, a new district, etc.) for a meme started by Nancy, Teacher in a Strange Land, addressing what educators wish policymakers understood about the public school system.  Another teacher/blogger tagged me too but now I can’t find her comment~ Let me know who you were so I can link back to you, pretty please?

Here’ s my kindergarten perspective on Five Things Policy Makers Should Know About Kindergarten:

1)  While preschool and early childhood programs usually offer wonderful and diverse hands-on play/learning/socialization experiences for children, requiring *testing* for three, four and five year olds to determine whether or not they’re “ready” for kindergarten is ridiculous.  What’s next, IQ tests in utero via a two-way sonogram?  Children get to be children.  They’re not “allowed” to come from diverse backgrounds, they DO come from diverse backgrounds. One-size-fits-all fits no one.  Nothing like having to beat a dead horse.

2) Kindergarten teachers wish you would stop approving and paying architectural firms that offer a one-seat-toilet bathroom for girls and a one-seat-toilet for boys for a classroom of 12+ children…or TWO classrooms of children as their innovative design.  Take teacher feedback seriously, and require that the architect go back and rethink the blueprint, please.  The same goes for storage, cabinetry, and learning spaces.  Ask…the…teachers.

3) Playtime IS learning. Authentic assessment is more relevant, accurate, and applicable than DIBELS scores could ever be.  But authentic assessment doesn’t create cool flow charts and numbers to crunch… I know, I know.  You like number data.  You like number data more than you like children apparently.  Time for a change.

4) Kindergarten is NOT babysitting (though if you’d like to fund kindergarten teachers at the same rate a babysitter makes, I’d be more than happy to take that check).

5) Kindergarten entrance age requirements that vary from state to state don’t tend to help children at all: they merely serve to 1) replace expensive day care costs for parents who are able to get their children in to a kindergarten program in one state for a week or two, then move to another state or district that is required to enroll the student since s/he was already in public school elsewhere, 2) feed the ego of parents who think that trying to teach their one year old to read is the way to make sure s/he is ahead of everyone else and 3) frighten parents with less material wealth than others into believing that they can’t provide developmentally appropriate experiences for their children.  Most children aren’t ready for kindergarten at age four, though their parents ARE.  Some children aren’t ready when they’re a “young five” when the school year starts.  There is nothing wrong with being an “old five” starting kindergarten.

Kindergarten encompasses a certain stage in a child’s development.  It’s a stage to experience, not a race to try to win.

*****

Feel free to grab the meme and address it in your blog- let me know if you do!

Tags: kindergarten, meme

What wonderful cabinetry.  And I know what’s going behind the doors on the upper level: Books. Dear Daughter and I opened fourteen boxes of them, finding even more surprises left by the last crew of packers that prepared our belongings for the trip from Texas to Oz. Despite some bent corners and torn covers, it was good to see my favorite stories again after taking last year off from teaching.

Kindergarten teachers often teach concepts and skills organized into thematic units. “Autumn,” “Animals,” “Counting,” “Colors,” etc. I organize my books by how I USE them throughout the year. In August, books like Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten, Blueberries for Sal, Timothy’s First Day of School, and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, are within easy reach for reading time. So are books about autumn, colors, numbers, and friendships.  My winter holiday books can all be found on the same shelf as my snow themed stories, and fairy tales are grouped together for the spring.

I also group books by author.  Norman Bridwell’s Big Red Dog Clifford keeps company with Marc Brown’s Arthur, and I love featuring Leo Lionni and Patricia Polacco as favorite storytellers too!  It’s my system, books sorted by theme, and also sorted by author, and it works for me.  Come October, I can pull down an entire stack of books featuring Halloween, bats, spiders, growing pumpkins, monsters, fire safety, and silly rhymes, and put them in the hands of my students.  Each November, family stories, Thanksgiving tales, harvest, and Indigenous Peoples pique my kindergartners’ interest.

Do you have sets of books, providing multiple copies so groups of students can read along with you or one another?  Try sorting them into easy-to-grab tubs (mine are on the bottom row of the next set of shelves):

Big Books need to be stored either flat (making it difficult to find exactly the one you’re looking for), in a book display specifically made for oversized stories, or in their curriculum kit box for easy access.

Find a system that works for you and your students- books are treasures!

*****

Don’t forget to organize your professional library too (mine is full of books and binders):

Tags: books, classroom, kindergarten, organization, tips

Yay! Good for you!

On the first day you can get in to the school (and presumably, your classroom), make sure to take your digital camera, a measuring tape, a notebook and pencil, your lunch, snacks and drinks for the day, and your calendar. If you have supplies, books, and other teaching gear you’d like to drop off, go for it, but don’t plan on opening them!

Here’s why: there are a few things you need to do before you wave your magic wand,*poof*, producing the world’s greatest kindergarten classroom in cloud of glitter.

If this is your first year teaching at an already established school, chances are you’re not the first teacher to use the classroom.  You  might walk into a completely empty room.  You could walk in to find a mish-mash of furniture, equipment, and curriculum materials.  You might find that your classroom has served as the storage or catch-all room for the rest of the school for the past five years.  Or you might walk in to a fully furnished, fully equipped, almost completely developmentally appropriate  teaching space, like I did this week:

ACK!  What?  Before you have a stroke, let me point out a few things.  1) As a teacher new to this district, I’ve gone to school before many of the “regular” teachers have returned from their summer vacations.  The summer cleaning staff is still dusting, washing, repairing, and vacuuming the rooms in preparation for the start of school.   2) Take a looksie at the bookcases along the back walls.  Everything sitting on TOP of the shelves…is MINE.  And those shelves make a full “L” along two walls in the room.  All of the items on the lower shelves were already in the class.  3)  All of the furniture has been moved to the center of the room so that the janitorial staff can clean the carpets around it.  Once several more furniture shifts take place, the carpet will hopefully be shampooed.

Dear Daughter and the Toddler came with me to inventory what was in the room on Day One.  You need to inventory your room as well.  The inventory might be difficult to do because previous teachers will store the classroom’s curriculum materials and supplies, but they won’t organize it or return everything to its original location and condition.  If the last teacher liked to keep half of the language arts books at the reading table and the other components of the curriculum kit at his/her desk, or in small tubs for individual students to use, chances are, you’ll find that “system” still in place when you arrive.  The best thing to do is to open every cabinet, cubby, and drawer.  If you find items that seem to go together or have matching storage boxes, pull them all out and place them together in an easy-to-get-to location.  Here’s a photo of the math, science, and language arts materials and curriculum “kit” items I’ve found so far:

It’s a “rough sort,” meaning I haven’t opened up all of the boxes or checked to see if the workbooks or flashcards, assessment booklets or supplemental activities are in order, much less present.  I still have big books and flip charts to find and add to this pile so that I can reassemble the kits as much as possible.

You can sort your classroom items pretty easily for your inventory: furniture, curriculum kit elements, math manipulatives, language arts materials, puppets, computer equipment, stereo/headphones, toys, workbooks, arts and crafts supplies, classroom/school binders for policies, procedures, a professional library, etc.  Doing a rough sort lets you know what you have, the condition of your classroom furniture and supplies, and points you in the direction for creating your to-do and wish lists.

I sorted paper products:

Then determined what I had for crayons, glue, kleenex, etc.:

A majority of my afternoon was spent sorting math manipulatives and language arts materials.  The blue tubs and the clear containers with white lids are ALL math items:

These two sets of shelves are full of puzzles, and ONLY puzzles (ignore the storage bins up on top, that’s part of my seasonal decor, which I’ll try to get to on Monday):

These clear and yellow bins are all fine/gross motor activities (Legos, building blocks, lincoln logs, etc.):

The bins already available in the classroom come in primary colors and are perfect for storage on the shelves.  Blue will be for math, the yellow is for fine/gross motor, and next week I’ll sort language arts/literacy items into red bins.  Green will house science materials, and orange…who knows?  Dear Daughter will get a treat from Dairy Queen on Monday afternoon after she peels every sticker and label off of the bins in my class.  If you don’t have children to be helpers in your room, consider asking a colleague if s/he has teens for hire who would like to earn their favorite fast food meal for lunch in exchange for doing the little things.

*****

Before you leave for the day, measure your room.  Photograph it as well.  Photograph the ceiling, the insides of cabinetry, the bathrooms, where your windows are located, your furniture, everything.  You’ll want the photos to refer to later, possibly in the wee hours when inspiration comes to you in a dream, waking you!  Take notes too.  How many staple boards or corkboards do you have for display?  How many windows might you have to make or purchase curtains for?  How many electrical outlets do you have and where are they located?  How about computer jacks?  If you have open storage shelves like I do, and you’re considering covering them with curtains to reduce the visual noise (and possible temptation for more impulsive students), measure, measure, measure so you know how much fabric to buy (and purchase plain ‘ol clearance material, okay?).  Make sure to ask your principal or building administrator if you’re ALLOWED to staple items into the walls, hang decor from the ceiling, or affix hook and loop tape to hang curtains before you do it!

*****

Your calendar will help you remember when your new teacher orientation will take place, teacher inservices too, and you can set goals for each day you’re able to spend in your classroom setting up.  You’ll want a day for inventory (and requesting furniture/materials if necessary) and your “rough sort,”  a day for furniture arrangement and the setting up of centers (with materials located where they will be utilized the most), another day for bulletin boards and classroom decor, a day for lesson plans, your parent newsletter, and grade level planning meetings, and another day getting your first week’s activities, materials, stories, and required school safety drill practice planned and prepped in full.  Make sure to ask if your school will host an Open House before school starts, or if you need to prepare for initial observations and assessments of your students before they arrive for their official First Day.

*****

If you have the time or just feel the urge to lay claim to YOUR classroom before you leave on Day One, you can set up your Essential Three that will help you through the rest of the week:

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Tags: classroom, kindergarten, organization, tips

… because it’s just around the corner!

*****

If you have a kindergartner gearing up for the first day of school, it’s time to put yourself in his/her shoes in regard to LUNCH.

*Soggy sandwiches aren’t fun to eat, so try coating both pieces of bread with peanut butter with some jelly in the middle to avoid jelly-soak-through.

*Orange chips stain clothes. Yes, kids still wipe their hands all over their shirts and pants, ignoring the cute napkin you included in their lunchbox.  Lunch time is social time so kids are too busy chatting, visiting, and listening in on conversations to remember the good manners you taught them.

*Those little plastic wrappers on the straws for juice boxes don’t always have a slit cut into them.  Juice boxes tend to be easier to punch straws into than the pouch style drinks.

*Though teachers discourage it, food bartering/swapping still takes place at lunch or snack time.  Please remember that some students have food allergies, occasionally severe. It’s important that your child knows he/she is still a good friend even though s/he won’t share peanut butter cookies (or offer “just a taste” of some other treat) with classmates.

*If your child likes to save leftovers for a snack later in the day, please practice fastening those plastic storage lids or ziploc baggies NOW, otherwise, be prepared for very messy spills and mountains of crumbs in backpacks or lunch sacks.

*If you send a thermos with lunch, make sure your child knows which way is “up” when it comes to putting the thermos back in the lunch box, otherwise s/he will be back in Leak-and-Spillsville.

*Not every classroom has a refrigerator available, so if you live in hot climate, plan on skipping the mayo and milk.

*Snack packaging (the wrappers on cookies, chips, graham crackers, trail mix, fruit snacks, etc.) isn’t always easy for little hands to open.  Cut a small slit in the top of each to help ease your child’s frustration. The same goes for the tips of bananas, or the peels on oranges.

*Yes, teachers are happy to help your young ones learn how to open milk cartons and lunch wrappers, but children feel such a sense of accomplishment, independence and helpfulness when they can do it on their own and teach their friends the “tricks of the trade” as well.  Small milk cartons are available at most grocery stores if your kindergartner would like to practice before school starts.

*Not every child knows that you’d rather not open a lunchbox full of wrappers, banana peels, or used juice straws at the end of every day.  Additionally, kids don’t always know that you might want their plastic containers returned home!  Decide and discuss which items morph from “food wrappers” or containers to disposable trash, and which don’t.  You’ll keep a lot of  your Tupperware collection intact if you address this sooner rather than later. Ditto for silverware!

*Make sure you write your child’s name on that lunch box or lunch sack, because there’s always at least one classmate who will have the same one, or one similar looking enough that mix-ups will occur.

*If your child will purchase lunch at school each day, make sure you find out the “routine” in advance and see if you can prepay so your child won’t panic or experience a meltdown if lunch money has been lost on the playground.

*****

Do you have any tips or helpful hints for lunch time?  Please share by commenting!

Tags: kindergarten, school

Are you a parent of a soon-to-be kindergartner? Whether you’re dreading August (and cutting those apron strings) or can’t wait for stores to fill their aisles with back-to-school essentials and watching your neighborhood streets for signs of new-bus-driver-route-practice, knowing your young student’s kindergarten schedule is going to be essential in planning your time (and his or hers) for this very special school year!

Will your child be easing into a new academic routine by participating in a half day or extended day program, or does your school district offer full day kindergarten? You might hear arguments for and against any or all of these choices (and whatever other program schedules that might exist), but in my opinion, what makes or breaks any kindergarten schedule are the expectations, intentions, and knowledge (or lack thereof) of developmentally appropriate practice of the adults involved and their resulting respect or disregard for the world of young learners.

Here are some helpful references:
* The Top Ten Signs of a Good Kindergarten Classroom

* Kindergarten Readiness: Is Your Child Ready for School?

* Helping Young Children Start School

**********************************************************************

(image: Jim Gordon)

Half Day Kindergarten: (my classroom sample schedule)

A half-day program typically lasts three and a half to four hours, though I’ve heard of some districts offering kindergarten classes that are only two hours, forty-five minutes long. Most teachers will have a morning class and an afternoon class that follow the same daily curriculum schedule. Depending on the district’s transportation budget, morning students will typically ride the bus to school in the morning with parents or babysitters providing their own transportation home before lunch, while afternoon students will be dropped off at school by parents or day-care providers at lunch time, and then ride the bus home at the end of the school day.

*8:00 – 8:30 Arrival; Put backpacks/coats away; white/chocolate milk choice chart for snack; activity at desk after bathroom, washing hands, etc.; correspondence from home to teacher; attendance taken, Pledge recited; finish desk activity (this is also a good “chat time” for students to communicate and catch up with one another before having to focus their attention on the teacher)
*8:30 – 9:00 Calendar/Morning message/Story/Songs and Fingerplays
*9:00 – 9:30 Writing/Language/Literacy (journals, environmental print, new vocabulary, phonemic awareness, etc.)
*9:30 – 9:50 Recess
*9:50- 10:20 Math with math manipulatives/technology/exploration
*10:20 –10:45 Learning centers with curriculum concepts/topics integrated: books, painting/clay, computers, one on one time with teacher, math manipulatives, pretend play, blocks/building, puzzles, creative construction zone, puppets, writing, listening (cd or tape player), and weekly poem. Students will have free choices as well as “must try” centers, and students will straighten up centers before moving to their next activity.
*10:45 – 11:05 Center and classroom clean up, washing of hands before snack. Snack.
*11:05-11:30 – Storytime, Show and Share, Songs, Concept Review, prep for home (students empty cubbies, pack backpacks, straighten desks/chairs)

I have an hour for lunch, prep, and whatever lunchtime duty I might have for the upper grades, and then repeat the above schedule for the afternoon class, typically from 12:30-3:30.

Extended Day Program Particulars:

When I taught in Alaska, the extended day schedule alloted four and a half hours for students, with teachers working with two groups of students each day, with both groups of students “overlapping” for shared recess, lunch, and “special” time (PE, Music, Library).

Group 1 would attend school from 8:30-1:00, while Group 2 would attend from 10:30-3:00 (the overlap time when both groups of students attended class and activities together was 10:30-1:00). The academic portions of the schedule for each group were slightly expanded and could include computer lab time (though that was another “large group” option), and both groups had their own snack time halfway through their activities. Calendar activities and an additional story could take place with both groups together at 10:30 which freed up each individual group from redundancy.

The transportation situation was the same as the half day program.

Full Day Kindergarten: (my sample schedule)

*8:00 – 8:30 Arrival; Put backpacks/coats away; white/chocolate milk choice chart for snack; school lunch/home lunch chart; activity at desk after bathroom, washing hands, etc.; correspondence from home to teacher; attendance taken, Pledge recited; finish desk activity and chat time with peers.

*8:30 – 9:00 Calendar/Morning message/Story/Songs and Fingerplays
*9:00 – 9:30 Writing/Language/Literacy (journals, environmental print, new vocabulary, phonemic awareness, etc.)
*9:30 – 9:50 Check out books at the library (it was a daily option at my last school instead of a once-a-week visit)
*9:50- 10:20 Math with math manipulatives/technology/exploration
*10:20 –10:35 Snack
*10:35- 11:15 Learning centers with curriculum concepts/topics integrated: books, painting/clay, computers, one on one time with teacher, math manipulatives, pretend play, blocks/building, puzzles, creative construction zone, puppets, listening (cd/tape player), writing, weekly poem. Students will have free choices as well as “must try” centers, and students will straighten up centers before moving to their next activity.
*11:15-11:30 Center and classroom clean up, bathroom/washing hands before “special” (PE, MUSIC)
*11:30-12:00 PE/MUSIC
*12:05-12:45 Lunch and Recess
*12:45- 1:15 Bathroom/washing hands, then Storytime, Show and Share, Songs
*1:15- 1:45 Rest and Relaxation (some students take naps, others look through books quietly)
*1:45-2:15 Art or Computer Lab time

****2:15-2:45 Round two of centers, or explore science/social studies concepts in large group lessons, though some students need a second snack at this time as well.
*2:45 Concept Review, prep for home (students empty cubbies, pack backpacks, straighten desks/chairs)
*3:00 Dismissal

**** The second round of centers (with materials focused on curriculum topics) provides students with extra time to explore and work with manipulatives and other equipment or resources to expand and solidify their understanding of concepts introduced. Many parents think that a full day program means that students will cover MORE curriculum topics, stretching into first grade material…”working ahead.” This is NOT usually what happens, rather, the kindergarten curriculum is experienced more in-depth by students during the extra time in the classroom, enhancing comprehension and facilitating further exploration with concrete, “real” experiences and reflection.

**********************************************************************

Remember, the schedules I shared above are only examples- and your transportation situation will be determined by your district. Take advantage of any Kindergarten Round-Up/Registration opportunities your child’s school offers, pick up information packets or check the school’s web site for schedule information and a sneak peek at what you and your child have to look forward to!

**********************************************************************

In case you’re interested, here’s the link to my post about Kindergarten Round-Up and the observations I make when I meet new students for the first time.

Tags: kindergarten, links

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a complete popsicle stick advocate when it comes to classroom and home crafts, or, go figure, for making popsicles. But when these creativity-inspiring, cool-snack-enabling pieces of wood are used for classroom “discipline,” I can’t stand the little buggers.

Discipline: training that corrects, molds, or perfects the mental faculties or moral character; control gained by enforcing obedience or order; orderly or prescribed conduct or pattern of behavior; a rule or system of rules governing conduct or activity; a form of punishment.

Have you witnessed a student being told to go “pull a stick” in a classroom after demonstrating behavior that a teacher doesn’t like? Have you heard a student be told by classmates “oooh, you’re gonna have to go pull a stick!” Or “uh oh, if you lose another stick you won’t get to go outside for recess!” Are you a teacher who routinely warns students about their “stick status?” Substitute the words “card” or “face card” for “stick” in any of the above examples- it’s the same concept: using public humiliation as a form of behavioral control. Sadly, popsicle stick discipline pocket charts are popular “classroom management” tools.

Excerpts from “Public Humiliation” at Wikipedia: “Just like painful forms of corporal punishment, it (public humiliation) has parallels in educational and other rather private punishments (but with some audience), in school or domestic disciplinary contexts, and as a rite of passage. Physical forms include being forced to wear some sign such as… a “Dunce Cap”, having to stand, kneel or bend over in a corner, or repeatedly write something on a blackboard (”I will not spread rumors” for example).” “In some cases, pain or at least discomfort is insignificant or rather secondary to the humiliation…” “Even when not strictly public, humiliation can still be a psychologically “painful” aspect of punishment because of the presence of witnessing peers, relatives, staff or other onlookers, or simply because the tormentor witnesses how self-control is broken down. This is also true for punishments in class.”

In my mind, classrooms are not prisons. I am no warden. As a teacher, I am employed to educate, guide, and serve the academic, physical, and emotional needs of my students. To fulfill my job requirements successfully, I take the time at the beginning of each year to build a positive repoire with my students and work with them to establish a safe environment in my classroom. This means I observe my students at length, I interview their parents (personally and in surveys/questionnaires that are sent home), and I constantly model appropriate behaviors and reactions to most, if not all, of our classroom experiences. No yelling, no threats, just explanations, questions, and role playing appropriate reactions for “next time.” Praise, praise, appreciation, and more praise.

 

“You must feel so good inside. You accidentally spilled the glue, but you told me and helped me clean it up. That’s terrific!”

“Thank you for showing J. what a good friend you can be. You hurt his feelings, but then you apologized. I think he feels better now, I hope you do too.”

 

” I’m so glad you remembered how to move safely during free center time! You didn’t run, so you didn’t get hurt/hurt others today! Good job!”

 

“Thank you for letting B. have a turn to talk with me. When I’m done talking with her, your turn will be next. Thank you for waiting nicely, you’re being very polite.”

Perhaps such phrases sound Pollyanna-ish, and I admit, I go home with a sore throat and sore face every day for the first month of school because of how much I verbally communicate and smile with each of my students. It’s become apparent over time that the fact that I actually enjoy talking to and WITH my students has set me apart from some of my colleagues in the past, as have my beliefs about children in general.

*****

~ Just-turned-five-year-olds are not experts on issues of self-control. Neither are many adults. Ever see an adult burst into tears, “vent” in a less-than-appropriate venue, or behave in publicly embarrassing ways? Of course you have. No one is perfect, though adults have years and years and YEARS of experience built from successes, mistakes, and regrets that young children can’t and won’t possess, no matter how many time outs, cards pulled, or whistles blown that you inflict upon them.

~ First graders tend to be a little more acclimatized to school than kindergarten students are, while second graders demonstrate a bit more familiarity with the choreography of the classroom environment than they did the previous year. No, fifth graders don’t have “it” all mastered, just because they’re older than kindergarten students. No, tenth graders don’t have “it” all mastered just because they’re in high school.

~The need to guide and respond in meaningful ways to our students is so great, but it’s one of those essentials that many teachers and schools ignore because they believe “there isn’t time.” Popsicle sticks are faster. Embarrassing a student is faster. But it’s not better.

~ Too often teachers forget that their students are children, no matter what they wear, how they behave, or what they say. While children aren’t social savants, they are certainly masters of observation, and they have emotional reactions to and an elephant’s memory for interactions, good and bad, with the adults in their lives. You are making an impression on your students, and your treatment of them will determine their reaction and responses to you.

~ Students are not sent to school in order to make a teacher’s day brighter, more cheerful, or to feed their ego. It’s amazing to me that a classroom full of children “complying” by sitting in their chairs, completely silent, demonstrating no interactive or inquiry-based behaviors is considered a successful model of classroom management, a successful model of teaching. No questions are being asked, no ideas are being explored, no communication is occurring, but teachers receive atta-boy or atta-girl praise that they enjoy from their administrators and colleages, which reminds me…

~ Children aren’t adults, nor are they robots, no matter how much some teachers and administrators wish they were. Information is exchanged with students, not just dumped into their open skull caps, lips zipped.

For my initial month’s worth of teaching, guidance, and constant communication, my students work in an atmosphere that frankly, throws people for a loop for the remainder of the year. Month after month, observers, parents and colleagues come in and sit at my reading table, just to watch and listen, and take it all in. They hear children, those “uncontrollable and impulsive” kindergartners talking, apologizing, encouraging, laughing, singing, and debating. They witness students approach me with questions, not interrupting, waiting until I’m done speaking to someone else. They hear explanations of feelings, expectations of how someone can help, negotiations between peers, instead of tattles and screams and cries. They hear productive noise, which many had previously felt indicated mayhem, a “lack of control,” a “zoo,” proof that this teacher has no “classroom management skills.” Funny the things visitors hear when they stop to truly listen, what they see, when they truly observe.

Because I’ve listened respectfully, because I’ve shared without force, I’ve modeled and therefore taught kindness instead of humiliation. I’ve appreciated my students for who they are and what they do, and in turn they reciprocate when I indicate it’s time to transition from one activity to another. They respond appropriately, they enable each other, they cooperate. They help me create and maintain a positive learning environment, their ownership and sense of belonging being the essential foundation upon which the rest of our learning is built.

I invest in my students, their feelings, and their potential to learn. I do not believe their first and foremost responsibility is to learn how to comply, Pavlovian in nature. If you can only “control” your students through threats and public humiliation, it’s time to rethink your purpose, teaching philosophy, and moral compass. How would you feel if your principal, administrator, or spouse put you on a popsicle stick chart? Go ahead, imagine it… you talk out of turn, to your grade level partner during inservice (pull a stick!)… you arrive late to a staff meeting because your potty break could only happen as soon as the bell rang and you had bus duty (pull a stick!)…you accidentally forgot to stop at the store and pick up milk (pull a stick!). I’m betting it wouldn’t take long before you’d categorize such behavior as emotionally abusive. How long would you tolerate it? How willing would you be to perform your best? How long could you perform your best while suffering from repeated overdoses of humiliation inducing fight-or-flight adrenalin?

Working with a staff made up of mostly popsicle-stickers can be excruciating. You see your former students squashed into compliance, their new teachers finding fault in their questions, their exuberance, their anxiety, their need to adapt- everything that demonstrates that students are children who require guidance, instruction, experience, and time to reflect on situations that might occur outside of the math or reading curriculum. Relationship-building is seen as a chore, a “touchy-feel-y” approach, instead of as the foundation to which I referred earlier, an essential “safe” zone where students can re-evaluate and recover from natural mistakes. Teachers don’t invest in it because it’s not a quick fix, and it isn’t “done” after a particular grade, though many of them have no problem doing everything possible to ensure that public humiliation goes hand in hand with public education, year after year. Why invest in embarrassment? Invest in reasoning, invest in valuing, invest in fairness, and invest in an attainable and attractive ideal that enables the best kind of learning to take place.

In my classroom you’ll find popsicle sticks in our Creative Construction Zone, math calendar counting chart, or classroom refrigerator, three places they absolutely belong.

Tags: classroom management, discipline, kindergarten

**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!

---

* 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

I’ve posted over at In Practice again- this time about Kindergarten Roundup. I’ve included a list of topics I contemplate as I make observations of the preschool students that visit my classroom each spring as an introduction to what kindergarten is all about. If you’re a new kindergarten teacher who is interested in what kinds of information to be gathering during preschool visits or if you’re a parent who is enrolling your child at your school’s upcoming Roundup and you’d like to know what we teachers are looking for or quickly assessing when we meet your child, check it out!

Tags: In Practice, 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