St. Patrick's Day FUN!

Every year in kindergarten, we read books about leprechauns and then set leprechaun traps to try and catch the mischievous little things! Some of my students had me as their kindergarten teacher and excitedly asked, "Do the leprechauns come to 2nd grade, too?!?". I sadly explained, that they usually only came to the kindergarten classrooms, because 5 and 6 year olds do not set very good traps and they could easily be escaped. On March 17, I decided that I would not "destroy" the room as the leprechauns had done in kindergarten. I would simply move desks. As I started to turn desks around I had an idea - spring cleaning!!! The leprechauns would empty out their desks! This was a great opportunity to get everything out of their desks (including orange peels and other assortments of food - gross). The kids were so excited. No matter what grade I teach for the rest of my career, I will find a way to incorporate the leprechauns. Many of the students probably don't believe, but I realized for many of them that this was one of the few opportunities they had in a day to be a carefree child. Unfortunately the reality is, as it is in many elementary classrooms today, I have students that come to school without their basic needs being met. They are often tired, hungry, and unclean. They do not experience an abundance of joy and carefree time at home. Again, this is the case in many of our classrooms. I am going to continue to be conscious of it and address it the best I can in my room. We did do some educational things about St. Patrick's Day as well on March 17. For example, we made a really neat Flip Book. Each page had a different language arts activity on it. I originally had pictures of the flip book on this post, but quickly deleted them and added the picture of our classroom as I reflected on student impact. While the process to obtain National Board certification was a tedious one, it truly taught me to reflect on everything I do and how it will impact students. The leprechauns coming was the most impactful thing that happened in our classroom on March 17.

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

In honor of Dr. Suess' birthday on March 2, we read "Oh, the Places You'll Go" by Dr. Suess. The kids loved it. We also listened to it on the Smartboard. We have been talking a lot about goals and reflection this year in 2nd grade. These have been hard concepts to teach to such young students; however, I have been trying to do more of both myself. I feel that it's important to start talking with the kids about goals, and reflect on not only what we are doing, but why we are doing it. This was a great little lesson about setting a goal about a "Place You'll Go." It was interesting to read their responses. Some had very detailed and specific plans. For example, I will go to Antarctica to study animals. Others wanted to go to a zoo. The kids (and other classes!) loved seeing themselves floating away, just like in the story!

Twitter!

I have used Twitter as a professional development tool. I have connected with hundreds of educators (and others) all over the country and world. This past year, I have delved into Twitter "chats" and learned even more!

I constantly think of ways that I can connect with parents and the community about what is happening in our classroom. I began to think about how much Twitter has helped me connect and thought I would try it with my 2nd graders.

Note...I did try a daily "Kinder Tweet" in my kindergarten class. It was great writing practice for the kids, but they did not understand the concept of Twitter at all. I also found that parents were not connecting. For this particular class and group of parents, they did not use Twitter. 

I decided that since Twitter has helped me become a more global and connected educator, that I would try to use it to help create more global and connected students in my classroom. This especially resonated with me due to our geographical area.  I did not grow up in the "north woods"; however, as I live here longer and longer I realize that many of the children and families that I work with do not have the opportunities to travel and have "cultured" opportunities (for lack of a better word). 

Little did I know that my students would not only become more connected, they would become excited and LEARN! 

We created a class Twitter account on the Smartboard. I thought I would "teach" the kids all about Twitter, how to use it, internet safety, etc. What I did not anticipate was how engaged the students would be. The most genuine and engaging learning took place during that discussion. We also had an incredible discussion about internet safety, what information to share and not to share, etc.

So far, the kids absolutely LOVE Tweeting. We are also following other 2nd grade classes around the world. We have met some of them via Skype - amazing! Students also think it is "so cool" to follow their favorite sports teams (even though some of them like the Bears...) and pop stars. I hope their excitement continues!

NO Homework!

My list of important ideas in education to advocate for:

1. Build Relationships with Students

2. No Homework!

I strongly, strongly, strongly disagree with homework being assigned at the elementary level. I have only taught elementary school, so I do not feel that I can make an informed decision on middle and high school (at least not publicly!). I work 7:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. 5 days/week. We all know that educators put in far more hours than that. I am only referring to those hours because at 3:30, I am tired! I spend countless hours (of my choosing) after 3:30 p.m. creating, planning, and learning myself. For the sake of this position though, I will reiterate - I am exhausted at 3:30 p.m.! I have worked hard, put in 110% effort to help each and every child in my room emotionally, socially, and educationally. I expect the same out of my students - put in 110% effort each day. At 3:30 p.m. they can be done. Our classroom rule is, "Try your best!" Kids need to be kids. The kids who have caring, available, and quite frankly, able parents at home will practice their math facts, they will read, they will be read to. Unfortunately, not every child has even one parent at home that is caring, available, able, or any mix of the three. Requiring them to do any type of homework adds stress and anxiety to their already not "perfect" lives. This past week, I was told by a 3rd grade teacher in my building that, "Even 5 minutes of homework a night will teach them responsibility." No, no, no! We have these children for 7-8 hours per day. We have plenty of opportunities to teach them how to be responsible. I have 2 daughters, 3rd and 4th grade. By the time we get home from school (barring any after school appointments or activities) our night looks like this:

4:00 p.m. - Get home, unpack lunch boxes, backpacks, folders, and all other items acquired from the day!

4:20-4:30 p.m. - Start cooking dinner, clean up kitchen, take care of animals (combined mommy, daddy, daughters collaboration).

5:00 p.m. - Eat dinner, clean up after dinner.

5:45/6:00 - 7:00 p.m.  - Girls shower/baths. Forever reason, they take unreasonably long baths. I suppose that is the closest thing they have to the beach and warmth when you live in Northern Wisconsin and experience what feels like 9 months of winter (and sometimes is!).

7:00-7:30 p.m. - FREE TIME

7:30 p.m. - Start getting ready for bed.

Again, this is a night without any after school appointments, meetings, or pit stops - which is typically twice per week. From 7:00-7:30 p.m. I do NOT want to do homework, nor do I want my girls to. They need a break! I need a break! This is FREE time. If kids can do the homework assigned, they don't need to do it. If they can't, it will only cause struggle and stress. I love, love, love the below article that I found. I am going to use this post/blog to continue to add articles and information that I found to support my cause - stop the unnecessary stress, tension, and hell that is known as homework!

http://www.educationrethink.com/2011/09/ten-reasons-to-get-rid-of-homework-and.html

Motivation!

I saw this on Facebook and immediately thought about Friday's conversation in our elementary school's teacher's lounge....We had a lively discussion about homework and classroom management systems. Homework is an entirely separate discussion. I strongly do not believe in token economies in classrooms. That does not mean that I don't believe in classroom management or a classroom management systems. I believe in relationships and natural consequences. I want students in my classroom to "behave" and follow directions because they respect me, and they know that I respect and care about them. I do not want them to do it for a reward. I genuinely care about each and every child in my room and in my care. It is my job to make sure that they know that. I have had my share of tough students. In these cases, I set up individual plans for their behavior - just as I do for their learning.  I found this "letter" and LOVE it! Thank you Jen Bradley! Children do not behave badly to upset us. They don't want to be in "trouble". If we as teachers have those relationships with them, we can help to determine why these behaviors are occurring and help the child, not punish or shame them as Ms. Bradley refers to.

Dear Teacher,

Before you hang that stoplight up for the new school year, please put yourself on red for a minute or two.  Rethink the idea that hanging a large paper traffic light in the front of the room, dotted with magnets or popsicle sticks displaying each student’s name is ok.  Rethink the concept that publicly tracking behavior and doling out consequences based on whose behavior moves them off of green each day is fair, kind, or appropriate.  Please rethink.

 I recognize myself in you.  I once believed that giving students a “visual” for where their behavior stood in my class would enable them to control it, that all childrencould control their behavior, and that controlling behavior was one of the most important tasks on my teacher to do list.

 As a first year teacher, I remember ‘writing names on the board.’  That’s what I was told to do, and that’s what my teachers did when I was in school.  But then I started paying attention to the hurt, the shame, the frustration, and even the apathy in the eyes of those students whose names appeared in chalk day after day.  They were six and seven years old, and I knew they deserved better.

 I absolutely understand why you want it to work.  It’s a very big and very unwieldy job to be in charge of educating dozens of young children for six hours/day.  But we both have to admit that a major part of the stoplight equation, even if it works, is shaming.  And shaming children simply isn’t what we educators are supposed to do.

 We also know the predictable pattern the stoplight creates.  Think about how it feels to see your name, day after day, moving towards that red circle, broadcast to your peers and anyone who walks into your classroom.  Those are the very children who struggle with “school behavior,” and they deserve our support, not embarrassment.

Or you could think about how it feels to be 5 or 6 or 7 years old and to worry daily about your name being moved from its perch on green.  I promise, there are more authentic ways to get children to think about their behavior and more compassionate ways to help children to develop those executive functioning skills.  There really are.

I know you can put a halt to it because I did, and it wasn’t even that difficult.  We simply started talking things out.  I know you can do it because my current work takes me into so many wonderful classrooms of K-3rd grade children, both public and private, urban and suburban, with amazing teachers in each of those categories who don’t use the stoplight or anything like it.

What they use, and you certainly have this too, it’s just not as visible as the stoplight is right now… is respect.  They teach and practice and brainstorm and model and discuss and live respect.  Respect for the teacher, yes.  But respect for children, too.  The stoplight used this way does not respect children, their feelings, or their struggles.

So please leave that stoplight in the supply box.  Don’t use your crisp new class list to construct more names to move from green to yellow to red. Your students are so much more than popsicle sticks or magnets, and these events in your classroom are learning opportunities for all of you.

 The school year is fresh and new.  Ditch the stoplight and adopt an approach that helps every child in your classroom feel supported, not just the ones who are most able to control their behavior.  All of you will feel better at the end of the school day.  I know my students and I did.

Thank you,

Jen Bradley, Ph.D./mom to four/former chalkboard shamer

I am going to use this blog as a reflective tool for myself (apparently I need to say things aloud or write them to hold myself accountable!) and as a place to collect articles and information that I would like to reference.

http://missnightmutters.com/chuck-the-chart

http://beyondthestoplight.com/?blogsub=confirming#blog_subscription-2

https://www.facebook.com/beyondstoplight

President's Day

This year, my 2nd graders each picked a different president to research. We used www.pebblego.com on the iPads and in the computer lab to research. Pebblego is awesome! Very easy for the kids to navigate and also reads the text aloud to the children. Students then completed a graphic organizer: Name, Number (i.e. 32nd President of the United States), and 3 facts. Next time, I will make a more specific graphic organizer and also model finding interesting facts. The kids did a great job finding and recording their facts; however, some were lacking interest. For example, fact 1: date of birth, fact 2: wife's name, fact 3: date of death. I was able to sit with some students, read through the information, and help them determine what was interesting or different. The kids then searched for a picture of their president. We used Chatterpix to import the pictures and the kids then read their paragraph. The only downfall of Chatterpix was the time limit of 30 seconds. This was a downfall, but not for all students. For some. this was the perfect amount of time. We saved the videos to the camera roll and easily uploaded to Youtube. I made a newsletter on www.smore.com that was easily shared with parents via email. The smore newsletter was also shared on the NPSD FB page and tweeted by NPSD and myself. President's Day videos via www.smore.com. It was a great project and I will definitely do it again! 

President's Day via www.smore.com

Really Going to DO IT This Time...

I believe that this is my third attempt to start blogging. I am not sure why I have failed so far... Not sure what to blog about? Not sure if anything I write will be interesting enough? Hopefully I have my blog settings set to "private". I am going to use this blog as a reflection tool - at least to start! This will not only help me to reflect, but also to keep track of fun activities and projects that I do in my classroom. To start, I am going to set a blogging "goal" of once per week. Not sure what to call this blog? Last year I taught kindergarten and have joked that I was "moving on up" to 2nd grade. "Moving on Up", done! Would love to have a cute, catchy blog name. Going to work on that... Will ask the 2nd graders tomorrow!