Beginning of the Year Planning in Full Swing

Well, here we are, t minus six week days until the official first day of school. It seems to be that as a teacher, no matter how much you plan, how much you try to do in advance, your to do list mysteriously becomes ten times longer over night with all the little things. I am pretty sure that there is a to do list gnome that roams around at night with the monster that eats socks from the washing machine. Like most teachers I didn't spend my entire summer doing nothing. Sure, we (teachers) take a break but we are thinkers, researchers, and analyzers by nature, spending the summer sitting around isn't in us. By the time summer comes to a close teachers have taken a few moments to breath and then delved into research, classes, curriculum development, conferences, and planning in an eagerness to pass on our newly found knowledge to our students. Having settled on some back to school activities to introduce students, routines, and expectations the next step will be to figure out how to arrange the classroom. Classroom arrangement is one of those things people take for granted. I always hear from friends and family who aren't teachers "does it really matter how the classroom is arranged?" As teachers we know the answer is yes. A classroom arrangement is just as important as seating at a concert, sporting event, the stock market floor, a business office, or an operating room. How items are configured in the classroom can effect the entire flow of the room and create that sense of comfort. I put quite a bit of thought into my classroom arrangement. I like to have a library area for students to chose books and a quite space to independently read in. A space for projects and extra supplies is important, as is a small group area. And, let's not forget how one decides to configure student desks themselves. I am off on a mission that will allow my students a collaborative feel but afford them the ability to feel independent when necessary. Still stuck on this idea, I feel a couple hours of pushing furniture around in my future . . . Stay tuned for the decision.

Rocky start . . . or Maybe a Chance to Figure Out How to Swim.

A new school year is about to get into full swing. I had planned on blogging at least once a week last year and in the craziness of taking on a new school, a new position, and new responsibilities I was just barely keeping my head afloat. I hit my stride just as school ended . . . . . So, when we fail we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and we try again. We learn from our mistakes and move forward. With that said I am going to try a new goal of every other week and if I fit in more than that, then, hey, I will take it.
I am looking forward to a new year. Even though there are more things sitting in flux for the beginning of this school year I feel more settled. Schedules still aren't finished, the tech department may or may not have everything installed and ready to go, we have two new teachers in our grade level, and a whole new group of exciting new faces to look forward to. I plan on hitting the ground running this year. I would like to see, well more like hope, that this year my students will be trying to keep up with me instead of me keeping up with them. We will see.
School starts two weeks from today and I still haven't seen the inside of my classroom since we were released for summer break, this will not be the week with trainings to attend to and the beginning of next week. I foresee spending some weekend time . . . That's okay. As I have said, I feel more settled this year, check back with me next week and we will see.
My hopes for this blog is a place somewhere that I can share my classroom experiences and tools with other educators.

First week of school

The first week of school officially ended on Friday at 3:10pm. It was a crazy week with new students, returning students, and new challenges. I have to say though, I am happy, very happy with the choice I made to stay in the computer lab. At the end of last school year I struggled with whether or not I wanted to be in a "regular" classroom or remain in the lab. After seeing so many familiar faces and how those students grew over the summer the decision to stay was the right one. As a fellow teacher in the fifth grade said to me "I was bummed when we heard you were staying in the lab and not applying for the open fifth grade position but then when I thought about how you would be affecting all the students instead of one group, I thought the school will benefit." I wanted to hug her for her faith in my abilities to affect the students but also for helping me put into words what I had been feeling those first couple days of school. As a "regular classroom teacher you have a group of students that you become familiar with for one year, when that year is over you see them in the hallways but your relationship has faded with the beginning of summer. As a "specials" teacher you get to see those students year after year until they leave the school. You get to watch a student grow from Kindergarten to fifth grade (maybe sixth, depending on the school). Your relationship is a six year adventure, learning who they are, seeing glimpses of who they will become, and watching them grow.
On another note the first week for "specials" teachers in an elementary school is much like one for teachers in the middle school or high school level. Explain and review expectations and rules to each class for several days in a row for each new period until a repeat in the rotation occurs. The first day of school happens several days in a row instead of a one shot deal.  I know there are necessary evils and rules to be reviewed but their has to be another way. This year I had repeat students tell me what the rules were, and what my expectations were. When they touched on something I had altered or the school had altered a little I stepped in and explained the new process but as we know students don't learn as much if we stand in front of them and talk talk talk, they learn more when they are a part of the process. Two goals are met, students are part of the process, talking and sharing the first day(s) of school, and I feel like I am talking with them instead of at them.

    I will be starting my second year in a full time teaching position and I am just as nervous as I was my first year. I could re-write and use the same lesson plans I used last year but how does that benefit my students? Since I am a technology teacher and teach school wide once the students have seen it, well they have seen it. Of course we will be taking on some major review of concepts especially for the littles but with the quickly changing field of technology the older students deserve an introduction to some of the elements they will be seeing in life. Thus I am nervous about the new lesson plans I am working on and whether or not the students can meet the challenges. They surprised me a little last year when they met each challenge I set for them, especially when I knew some of the concepts I was teaching they had never been introduced too and other concepts they were familiar with seemed yet so foreign. The positive side, I taught them last year so I know what they learned, except of course for those transfer students and new kindergartners.
   With the new year I am also going to try and get some of the teachers into the new "extra" lab and train them on some of the great programs they can use with their students.  There are so many neat websites and programs out there that can help students be creative, and learn classroom content. I am hoping that I will not see this wonderful lab sit mostly empty again, for another year. We will see.
   I am going to try and be better about sharing my ideas a long with classroom success and yes failures, with you, fellow teachers. Who knows, maybe we can teach each other something. Happy new school year!

How hard, is it really, to be a teacher?

First thing first, I haven't blogged in awhile. New teaching job, in a new content area, taking on my masters, and life . . .  Anyway, to the point of this blog and the title. I was asked this very question over the weekend by someone very close to me. "How hard, is it really, to be a teacher?" I though about it, and I wasn't sure how to answer. Some people believe that teaching pales in comparison to the traditional high profile positions but after the events of this week and discussing this very question with fellow teachers, here is my answer. Teaching is hard. Teaching is wipe myself up of the floor hard. People have this rose colored vision of a teachers life. Teachers work 8-3, they stand in front of students giving them basic skills, grade a few papers, and get to call it a day. Teachers do not work eight to three. We may have to be on school grounds from eight to three but papers don't grade themselves. Those papers often times go home with the teacher and turn into a several hour project, and no, we aren't getting paid for that time. Students grammar, punctuation, spelling, and sentence structure doesn't just get better by itself. Mathematical equations, computations, and memorization doesn't happen overnight with a voice recorder tucked under the pillow. The ideas of motion, tectonic plates, the atmosphere, and scientific reasoning doesn't seep in through the bite of an apple. Social Studies isn't learned through the observation of a teacher just standing in front of a classroom. Students don't learn how to sing, read, and play music through the radio. Physical Education isn't learned through hanging out in the backyard. 21st century computer skills don't come hardwired into children, no matter how much we think that they do; and I haven't even touched on the arts.
Not to mention the social skills, life skills, and societal moralistic ideals expected to be taught by teachers. So, how hard is it to be a teacher? How hard is it to make an employee work when they don't want to? How hard is it to teach an employee a new skill? How hard is it to get an employee to complete a task when it isn't something that interests them? How hard is it to teach moralistic values to someone? That's right, think about those answers you just mentally came up with and then remember as teachers we can't fire our students, we can't turn our backs on them, we can't dismiss them. We have to continue on, trying with all our might to, wait for it . . . . . . . .teach. If we fire our students, if we stop trying to teach, we are letting our future down. As teachers we are providing a disservice, not only to the student but to the future society. At this point I haven't even touched the fact that teachers have to answer to state standards, and national standards; all being tested and in some states a contingency on teacher pay rate based on said test scores. Or, the fact that teachers have to answer to the parents, the students, other teachers, the principal, the vice principal, and the super independent. Or the fact that a long with the content areas teachers also teach those wonderful life skills I discussed earlier. What students learn in a classroom is so much more than reading, writing, and arithmetic; so much more than science, and social studies. Teachers are responsible for molding students into who they may become. So you are asking yourselves, why then be a teacher? For those wonderful moments when you see the light bulb come on, when there is an aw ha moment, when you see a student connect the dots, when the one kid who couldn't figure it out all year finally gets it, when a student figures out the moral standing, when someone stands up for themselves, when a kindergartner who hasn't showed any emotion all year quietly takes your hand and whispers I love you, seeing all those little faces still wide eyed and full of possibilities. With all those things laying at rest on your shoulders everyday, being responsible for no less than at least 18 lives everyday, making command decisions, in the moment that will affect those lives in both content knowledge and life skills, forever, I ask you: how hard is it to be a teacher?

State Posters

In grades 3-5 we have spent the last two weeks creating posters to celebrate our states birthday. Nevada day falls on October 31st and not being a big halloween person myself it works out well. I can spend time with students working technology skills, writing skills, and social studies skills. We used Microsoft word to create the posters, following a guideline, and turned the completed assignments into Edmodo. The students had to use the internet to research at least three facts about the state of Nevada and use the facts on their poster. My students in grades 1-2 created word and picture webs of Nevada using Kidspiration and imported pictures of Nevada. The kindergarten students used Kidspiration to make a collage of Nevada pictures.

Example of student made Nevada Poster

After school tutoring

Okay, so it is honesty time, I like what I am doing right now. Working in the computer lab and getting to know all the kids but I miss those days or those moments with the awhah's. I volunteered to be a part of my schools after school program that gives students that extra leg up and offers homework help. I have one student in particular that I also see during the week for computer class, at first he just seemed to be a handful but today both he and I had an awha moment. Since I am not with my students for more than forty five minutes once a week it is harder for me to get to know them as individuals and how they learn best. Working with this student today I learned that he is as much a visual learner as you can get. He was having a hard time understanding how to divide and multiply. So, instead of going around and around again with a paper and pencil explanation I took out some manipulatives, showed him how to group the manipulatives, and how to use the groupings to get an answer. We then walked through it together, and then I let him start working on his own. The student became more and more confident with each math problem and I learned something new about the "difficult" student. It is moments like these, no matter how few and far between, that remind of why I wanted to become a teacher.