Word

As promised, here is my lovely door :)  Look at all of these fabulous words!  I totally forgot about "polychromatic" and "bumfuzzle."  So funny.  I gave this same assignment for the weekend, but I'm thinking this following week to have a vocabulary quiz on what they come up with :D  Can you think of anything more student-centered?  (Well probably...now that I think of it...)

Friday was awesome.  I handed out the Scholastic book order form, which I know takes you right back to your own elementary experience.  We shared what we thought looked really interesting and worth buying, and one item for sale is...

This book teaches the reader how to create their own catapult to chuck (small) pumpkins!  WHAT!  It tied in nicely to something we talked about, which was the increase for STEM jobs available (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics), as featured on CNN Student News on Friday, September 26th.  Some other interesting reads for kids this month in October:

From School Library Journal

"Grade 6–10—Thomas wakes up in an elevator, remembering nothing but his own name. He emerges into a world of about 60 teen boys who have learned to survive in a completely enclosed environment, subsisting on their own agriculture and supplies from below. A new boy arrives every 30 days. The original group has been in "the glade" for two years, trying to find a way to escape through a maze that surrounds their living space. They have begun to give up hope. Then a comatose girl arrives with a strange note, and their world begins to change. There are some great, fast-paced action scenes, particularly those involving the nightmarish Grievers who plague the boys. "

"World's Scariest Prisons will explore the most terrifying prisons of all time. From the Roman Coliseum to the Bastille, the Tower of London to Alcatraz, World's Scariest Prisons will captivate young readers! Each prison will receive its own photo-intensive overview as well as a sidebar, a break out fact box, and a quote. Each prison profile will be followed by a feature spread that explores high-interest topics such as prison slang, prison clothes, and prison food, as well as little known details about kids in prison, famous escapees, and ghost stories. World's Scariest Prisons will be equal parts informative and fun. Perfect for reluctant readers, the text will be simple and engaging." (amazon.com)

"Torrey Grey is famous. At least, on the internet. Thousands of people watch her popular videos on fashion and beauty. But when Torrey's sister is killed in an accident -- maybe because of Torrey and her videos -- Torrey's perfect world implodes.

Now, strangers online are bashing Torrey. And at her new school, she doesn't know who to trust. Is queen bee Blair only being sweet because of Torrey's internet infamy? What about Raylene, who is decidedly unpopular, but seems accepts Torrey for who she is? And then there's Luis, with his brooding dark eyes, whose family runs the local funeral home. Torrey finds herself drawn to Luis, and his fascinating stories about El dio de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead.As the Day of the Dead draws near, Torrey will have to really look at her own feelings about death, and life, and everything in between. Can she learn to mourn her sister out of the public eye?" (amazon.com)

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There were some other really creepy books that sounded suspenseful and intriguing, but I can't remember the titles!  It seems that a new fad in juvenile literature is post-apocalyptic scenarios.  That makes me think of the book Empty; I almost read it in it's entirety during one of my substitute-teaching days.  

   In other news, highlights from my week:

"Ms. McAlpin, I'm sad."

"Why is that Alaina*?" 

"I have to go to the dentist today."

"Oh, you don't like the dentist?"

"No, I do.  But I have to miss your class for it."  

D'awwww. 

*name has been changed

Just one of those days

 
    I thought for sure that today was going to be one of those days where my kiddos were just...off.  It was pajama day, the second day of a very quiet, lengthy reading assessment...it had all the ingredients for students to be nutty.  I wouldn't say they were nutty, but I felt like my brain was all over the place trying to answer everyone's questions.  There was one student in particular that I was dreading having to deal with today because he's one to do ANYTHING to get out of a work task.
    "I have to go to the bathroom."
    "You had break two minutes ago."
    "I have to go to the science teacher to get a pass for..."
    "That can wait until home base."
    "Errrrrrrr...uuuuuugggghhhh....I don't understaaaaand this...." He flops on the floor.
    "The thing is, Sam, (name has been changed) you actually do understand this, you just have to DO it."

    I was trying to find the number to call for our in-school detention-like room.  I couldn't figure out the number, and my 'buddy' teacher wasn't answering--I believe he had a cross country meet today.  I was racking my brain, trying to figure out what in the world to do; the expectations for this task was the same for everyone.  I wasn't going to let him just putz around and do nothing while everyone else was working away diligently.  I finally just decided to walk him through the assignment like I would with a student with additional needs...and strangely enough...it worked.  He was groaning through the whole assignment, but with prompts for each step, he would follow through.  We were down to the last one, and he asked me, "Isn't this good enough?  Am I done?"
    "C'mon man, this is like a marathon and you're at the finish line, you just have to bust through that tape!"  And there was my moment of the day--he smiled.  (He usually has this pouty, tough guy front, so to get him to genuinely smile was huge for me). And then he did the last piece of the assessment.  It was my win for the day.
    The rest of my day wasn't perfect, there were still several students mentally floating around in the clouds, giving me 5% effort on their final assessment that makes up 80% of their grade.  But I focus on the positive, always.  It was also pajama day; which is always a positive.  I wore my matching owl pajama pants (designed by Jean B. Marie) and owl slippers.
     Tomorrow's Friday.  Life can't get much better.

Another fabulous day

It can be easy to be negative as a teacher.  Kids can be bothersome.  You have another district-mandated bunch of paperwork to deal with.  A parent is sending you long-winded e-mails.  You name it.  

Luckily, I'm inundated with so many things that make me smile throughout the day, I don't even have the time to think negatively :)  

If you're a teacher reading this, firstly--thank you.  Secondly--I know you want to slap me.  Don't think I don't groan at the idea of going to another meeting about an acronym that I barely remember (PPG, SLO or PDP?  E3?  Wait...)  I'm on your level.  I just like to celebrate the happy. 

Things that happened today that made me smile:

1.  Students did their weekend homework, which was to find ANY word that they found fascinating, and decorate it, define it and use it in a sentence.  Some of my favorites that were brought in:
   - neurotransmitter
   - convoluted
   - pluvial
   - animatronic 
   - autotonsorialist (a person who cuts his/her own hair)
  - ADHD (displayed with diagrams of an ADHD brain and non-ADHD brain)

2. A girl confided in me today with a very important secret.  I felt very trusted.  Almost motherly.  Maybe cool-younger-aunt-esque?  Yeah. 

3. I got to hand out half of the envelopes for our future dance/cheer team :)  It was great hearing the squeals of delight.  (I then later found out I was supposed to have them wait until they got home...whoopsie)

4.  My co-workers rock. :D

Radishes and pumpkins and beans

The garden is growing....

I have to take a picture of my door with all of the awesome
words on it :)

...and the results are in....

I gave out a test today, but it was me that was getting graded, not my students.  Here were my questions:

My teacher ALWAYS displays the HAWK Pride expectations.  She is always...
a.  Ready  (Y/N)
b.  Responsible  (Y/N)
c. Respectful  (Y/N)

2. Expectations for classroom behavior are ALWAYS clear (Y/N)

3. Expectations for classroom behavior are SOMETIMES clear (Y/N)

4. I feel comfortable coming to Ms. M with a school-related question (Y/N)

5. I feel comfortable coming to Ms. M with a non-school-related question (Y/N)

6.  Ms. M handles arguments/ problems
     a. ...promptly  (Y/N)
     b. ...thoroughly (Y/N)
     c. ...fairly  (Y/N)
7.  The classroom work environment during a given task is always orderly (Y/N)

THE NUMBERS ARE IN:

Of the 74 anonymous surveys I received completed, from across three block classes:

*19 (25%) are not comfortable coming to me with a personal problem (understandable).

*6  (8%) believe that classroom behavioral expectations are not always clear

*7 (9%) believe that Ms. M needs to improve her readiness (with supplies/assignments?)

*8 (10%) believe that the classroom working environment could be more orderly-run

For all other items, it was 99% "Yes, Ms. M is...." respectful, responsible, etc.

Specific written-out suggestions:  

"The classroom is not always orderly."

"Kids are loud/talk while the teacher is talking."

"You're always picking on the same people." (This one is really evident to me and I'm going to actively work to not do this)

"I need silence to work!"

"Explain assignments thoroughly."

"Remember where she puts her stuff." 

And positive feedback (or butt-kissing, not sure? :P )

"You are my favorite teacher I am always looking forward to your class, you're the perfect teacher!"

"You're so amazingly awesome!"

"Keep up the great work!"

"Just always be yourself! =)"

"Just be yourself."

"Keep up the good work!"

"Be more awesome than you already are (though you already are)"

"Keep being who you are!"

"This class rocks!"

-      -       -

I want to give this same customer-satisfaction-survey around three months in, then six months in, and so on and so forth, and see how things evolve.  At three weeks in, things aren't full force yet :)

Just pictures :)

Theme anchor chart

My then somewhat empty nameless board (it is now quite full...)

Buddy reading anchor chart

My anchor chart showing differences in a character's
thoughts, actions and words

A student's visualization of the Gibb Street lot before the garden

Highlights from my week (and it's only Tuesday)

#1 The time a student challenged me

This may sound straight out of a pedagogy book, but seriously.  I had asked a question for the class to discuss in pairs about how we knew a certain character was dynamic.  Two boys, who for some reason in my mind I consider not to ever be completely engaged, turned to each other and instantly agreed that this character was actually a static character, and went on to discuss the textual evidence that supported their claim.  Boom.  Taught. 

#2 When a student enjoyed reading for the first time...in a long time...

This group overall is awesome when it comes to reading.  They were all psyched to go to the library, and every class requested independent reading time upon their return :)  I know you're jealous already and wish you had my awesome students but you can't, they're all mine.  One girl had stated in her introductory "Describing Me" survey that she did not enjoy reading really, as her mom also stated in our parent homework assignment, having them describe their kiddo in "A Million Words or Less."  At some point in my ramblings in front of the class, I mentioned the Choose Your Own Adventure series.  This student asked me in the library to help her find these gems.  Since our visit to the library, I've seen her actively reading.  When discussing an assignment with me, a friend sitting behind her asked what she was reading, and said, "Oooh, I want to read that too!"  I forsee the Choose Your Own Adventure books to soon be missing from the library. 

#3 The time a student was excited to work in my classroom

In my first hour, I co-teach with an awesome ELL teacher.  We decided to split the class to do a writing activity.  When the remaining students were left behind to stay with me, one student said, "Yes!  We get to stay with you."  Now, I guarantee that if this student were chosen to go with my co-teacher, he'd still be excited, but the fact that he expressed his joy out loud still became a highlight of my week.  So far.  

#4 The time six or seven students, that never talk in class, were all eager to share their ideas.

I always try to get kids to share, comfortably-so.  I give chances for them to share their ideas and writing in small groups and pairs, instead of putting them on the spot in front of 27 of their peers.  When my co-teacher and I broke off into two groups, the half of the class I was with was eager to share and chattier (in a good way) than they have been for the past two weeks.  I learned more in 15 minutes about some of my students than I have yet this school year. 

#5 Just the fact that I wake up every morning looking forward to going to work.  It's a great feeling.  

...I've been readin', 'bout game theory...

(Sing the title to the line in Beyonce's "Drunken Love," where she sings I've been drinkin', watermelon......Welcome.  You have entered my brain.  This is how it works...)

My reason to come to Collectivo in Wauwatosa today was not to eat an Avocado BLT, pore over the MKE Film Festival schedule (circling all of the movies that I want to--scratch that--MUST see) and write my blog.  But alas, here I am.  To my three readers out there, I appreciate your weekly dedication to my brain download.  E-fives all around! whap whap whap.  (PS, hi mom!)

I'm reading

....still reading The Survival of the Nicest , Stefan Klein.  Teaching doesn't leave a ton of free time to devote brain power to free reading.  Especially when the reading involves drawn-out hypotheticals attempting to make game-theory more digestible.  For my squirrel brain, it doesn't.  I need someone to hold my hand and walk me through that chapter.  However, I did take some big learnings away from the surrounding chapters.  

#1 "When the gentle of the earth begin to predominate, the unscrupulous see their chance." (pg. 30)  This is obvious.  If everyone on earth was 100% trusting of their neighbor, and only one person was a con artist, the con artist would rule the world.  It makes us forever be on guard, forever be slightly skeptical of everyone we meet.  

#2 What is trust?  "They give someone else something and hope that he will later reciprocate.  But they can neither force the other to return the favor nor punish him if he doesn't.  Trusting means exposing yourself to risk." (pg 39) The more and more I try to reflect and see if I'm modeling trust for my students in my classroom, I also try to consciously  give examples when students are breaking my trust and giving me reasons to be more skeptical of them in the future.  It does put me at risk as a teacher, but what do they say in gambling?  You have to bet big to win big?  I'm hoping to win big with my students this year. 

#3 Colin M. Turnbull learned a lot about trust through the Ik tribe in Western Uganda.  

Colin Turnbull

In Survival of the Nicest, Stefan Klein boils down Turnbull's research into a few pages.  And I will further boil it down so it fits nicely in my blog :)  

     Turnbull lived among and observed the Ik tribe, and found that stemming from the instance of famine, the Ik people were showing behaviors that was uncharacteristic of them in the past.  Things like dishonesty bred (in the form of one hunter killing prey privately, and gorging on the meat just for himself), and mistrust (as women were doing the same, only with berries, the men began to distrust their women).   Read more about this fascinating anthropologist here.  

    This makes me think of all of these situations we were taught to consider in the school of education that at the time we perhaps considered somewhat, but now consider every day in our real teaching positions.  Maybe some students aren't experiencing famine, but a lack of....attention? at home.  Duh.  We've heard this all before.  It becomes more and more obvious though how all kids need attention just as much as they need food.  For all behaviors, there's a lack of something.  The angry student?  Deprived of love or trust.  The disrespectful student?  Perhaps this student is so disrespected him or herself on a daily basis, s/he has thoroughly given up on showing respect towards others.  These are just ideas, and most of them are perhaps obvious to the common teacher or caretaker, but thinking about it for the millionth time, something new has stuck with me.

Do you know the feeling in the air, the taste almost, just before a summer thunderstorm?  An energy is buzzing, slightly tangible, and you just know a large crack is coming that will split the sky and spill buckets of water, slashing left and right in the imminent gusts of wind?  That's where my head is at right now, except instead of a beautiful and refreshing thunderstorm, my head is threatening to produce a severe migraine, and I'm holding on to the last moments of calm before the storm, in order to end this blog post gracefully.  So, I leave you here my three e-friends.  Here's to another beautiful week of inspiring students and learning, always learning.    

The hesitant post....

I am hesitant because I want to jump around like an idiot at how happy I am with my new job :)  And now that I've said that, I guarantee I'll have a terrible day tomorrow...

In the meantime, let me tell you about my fabulous students!  Firstly, they're coming in with a range of skills and interests, which is wonderful and exciting.  One of my second block students asked me on the first day, whilst writing a letter to me, asked how to spell "intuition."  Another one of my students, just today, wrote one of the best flash fiction stories I've seen come out of sixth grade-- OK maybe it wasn't that amazing but it astounded me.  The assignment?  Given a picture of a random person (from a magazine) write a story about their morning from their point of view.  He was given a picture of JonBenét Ramsey--he had no idea who this was...do you?

 You probably remember the heart-wrenching story of JonBenét's death, but having not known this history, he wrote an adorable story about a three-year-old who demanded of her mother to play dress-up-tea-party at 4:00 AM.  The poor, exhausted mother complied--obviously not yet trained to ignore toddler whining-- and ended up tricking her daughter into drinking warm milk, which ultimately put her back to sleep.  That was the very short synopsis of his excellently crafted flash fiction piece; the original work captured the voices of both the young, demanding princess and the exasperated mother so believably I'm surprised it wasn't based on real people.  It was such a sweet story, that is now what I'll think of when I see this little girl's face :)  I almost don't want to reveal the truth to him about her fate, as it would be almost too heartbreaking for an innocent sixth grader.  

Another story from today was from that same block hour.  I passed out the magazine pictures at random, and upon receiving the Duchess of Cambridge, Mrs. Kate Middleton, a boy in the back raised his hand. 

 Since most of the class had gotten to work, I walked over to him to answer his question.  
"So, I don't get it.  Is this you?"
I laughed, and then I looked at him and realized he was seriously asking.  "Oh, no--do you know who this is?  It's..." and due to my lack of knowledge of British royalty, I accidentally said, "It's...it's princess Kate!  You know?  She married Prince William?  Just had a baby?"  (For Americans:  she is actually the Duchess of Cambridge).
Anyway, I was beyond flattered that he thought I could have ever resembled Kate.  


What I'm reading

     I just cracked this open yesterday, after impulsively buying it at Barnes and Nobles.  Knowing nothing about it other than the title, I just knew I had to have it.  My intention at Barnes and Nobles was to ONLY buy a book if it was EXACTLY what I was looking for and to ABSOLUTELY NOT leave the store with anything else.   So of course I spent $30.00 on two books I bought based on the cover alone.  
     The book I was hunting for was a how-to manual for students to step-by-step peer-mediate problems.  For example, if they were quarreling because one student felt belittled by another student during a class discussion, I could send the two to a back table and they would, step-by-step, talk through their issue, guided by the script given in such a book.  The book would be written by educational psychologists with an endorsement from several master teachers around the globe, praising it's effectiveness when  adopted wholeheartedly into the classroom.
      Unfortunately, this book doesn't exist.  I've decided that perhaps I could write this book and make millions.  Until then, I'll do some background information on the why.  Why does it matter if we respect other students in the classroom?  Why do I need to have that skill for my adult life?  Why can't I just be a jerk to people whenever I feel like it?  Additionally, I have some whys to answer for myself; why are people jerks?  How do people see being mean as a more beneficial and productive manner of behaving than just being kind, considerate and tolerant?  Is there a benefit to being a jerk?  Is the general population unknowingly encouraging mean-spiritedness?  
     So far, this book has thoroughly defined what it means to be an asshole.  It's quite interesting.  It describes every characteristic about those from whom I try to steer clear.  I'm eager to turn the page, and unveil more about what we currently know about responses to asshole-ness.  However, at the same time, it's a bit grating to read at length anecdotes about miserable human beings.  Which is a good reason that I purchased the other book of which I'm reading:

    Aaahhh, you say.  You see the connection.  Just like the first book, Asshole* A Theory called out to me in the Barnes and Noble, I walked not ten paces from picking it up before the above book caught my attention as well.  Strange, too, because both books have relatively minimalist cover design and standard title fonts.  One book answers the question as to why are people assholes?  while this answers the question does it even matter if we're nice?  
     I think it does.  In a previous post, I mentioned Managing Your Classroom with Heart, which has fueled my passion to this year teach with heart and the upmost respect for my students in mind.   I can hear hoards of experienced teachers right now, booing my thoughts as if I'm the warrior at the center of the parthenon's coliseum.  I'm not saying I'm being lenient and letting things slide, I'm saying I'm dealing with things in a nice, respectful manner.  I do not call students out for misbehaving in a way that I would not appreciate being called out in a meeting.  I find it hilariously hypocritical when teachers demand silence during a lecture when teachers themselves are the worst culprits of talking whilst a presenter is talking!  I can't tell you how many teacher meetings I've been in (and I'm a...first and half? year teacher) and I couldn't concentrate because teachers next to me were having their own conversation.  I just imagine the presenter giving them a look and snarling, "Excuse me?  I know you're not having your own conversation right now..."  I try to visualize how grown professionals would respond.   I'm not saying this is all teachers, it's probably a fraction of a fraction.  I'm hoping that some teachers read my blog, so to help myself here, it's clearly none of you!!  :D 
     Back to the book, I've also just begun this.  After delving nose-first into the Asshole's book without being completely ready for how sad and slightly depressing it was, I used this to take a break.  However, both are very sociological-theory-heavy, and melded together in my mind as almost one book.  I promised myself to read at least 20 pages of each once I was done with this post, so in order to give you a better sense of my learnings, I must push on and continue reading.  And so, I leave you with a true-story, late-breaking (as in it happened today) sixth-grade joke I heard from a different teacher:  

"Mr. S, have you heard the phrase that you are what you eat?"
"Sure, what about it?"
"Well, I didn't eat a sexy beast today, yet look at me!" 

First day jitters-- A nostalgic analysis of 11-year-old Mary

I should be triple checking everything.  But I know me--no matter how thoroughly I cross check my plans, my lists, my notes....I'm going to forget something tomorrow.  So I'm going to let the tomorrow me deal with that.  Right now I'm thinking about how my sixth graders are feeling!  I'm hoping it's more a mix of excitement and energy than fear.

Image from sheknows.com

If it does turn out to be more fear than eagerness, no problem!  I found an icebreaker where we put fears into a hat, and probably will find some similar feelings of fear.  I'm hoping that will breed an interesting discussion.  We'll see.  I'm feeling more like the little kid with the oversize backpack than the over-confident Language Arts teacher as portrayed by Cameron Diaz.  

Buzzfeed is all about lists, so here's my list of the 10 things 11-year-old Mary would be doing the night her first day of sixth grade--

1.  Triple-checking that every single item on the school supply list is purchased and packed.

2.  Agonize over what to wear on the first day; really adorable brand-new fall outfits or more weather-appropriate clothing?

3.  Practice short anecdotes about how awesome summer was.  Mentally delete all the days wasted indoors; heavily emphasize trip up north and doing water sports with your awesome older cousins.  

4.  Discuss over the phone with friends the ideal makeup of a class--the best balance of intelligent students, class clowns, close friends, etc.  (Be completely disappointed when this doesn't materialize).

5.  Grill older sister on any and all questions about sixth grade/middle school.  

6.  Triple-check gym bag (it's the first year to change for gym) that there's a complete set of deodorant, hair ties, gym shoes, EMERGENCY (unfathomably unmentionable) FEMALE ITEMS...for an event that has yet to occur, and with the powers that be don't let the first event happen in gym class...  Add a backup set of gym clothes in the case of feeling fat/weird-looking in option A.

7.  Debating whether or not to try makeup.  If yes, how much?  If not, will she be the only one without it?  Pack chap stick. 

8.  Practice nerdy-chic She's-All-That-esque hairstyle to make it look effortless

9.  Re-read YM's article about making a good impression

10.  Listen to Savage Garden's Truly Madly Deeply before falling asleep.