Floating down the Delaware

Year 2 Student Reflections: K and J

ms210 — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 02:53:19 +0000

so I thought there was no better way to really reflect upon and wrap up my 2nd year of teaching than to write a mini reflection about each of my 15 pumpkins from the year. They made me smile, they made me laugh, they made me frustrated, upset, and sad. They knew how to push my buttons but also knew exactly what to say to brighten up my day. But most importantly, they shaped me and helped me become the teacher that I am today.

so here’s part one of my 2nd year student reflections, looking at K and J.

K: K was my little sweetheart this year. She was always the first to partner up with A when no one else wanted to, with the patience of someone beyond her years (sometimes more patience for him than I had). K was a strong reader, but her math and writing skills were below grade-level throughout the year. K did everything at her own pace, sometimes going slower than molasses on a cold winter day, erasing and re-writing, and erasing, and re-writing, and erasing… well you get the drift. I definitely spent a lot of the year cheering her on and encouraging her, butting heads with K when I encouraged her independence and productivity in a timely manner. K was one of the more sensitive children in the class, often breaking down when she didn’t know something or had trouble mastering a concept. K taught me how to find the balance between being stern but also being nurturing. K made me a better teacher, constantly forcing me to find ways to make myself a more effective teacher to those learning below level.

Best K moment of the year definitely happened after she had been sick for a day and came back to school the next day. I told K I was so upset and sad that she wasn’t in school and spent the whole day crying. K looked at me and said, “Ms. Smith, I wasn’t grumpy or sad I couldn’t see you yesterday because I had a beautiful picture of you in my mind all day so I was happy!”

J: Oh J! My little class clown and Spongebob fanatic. J was always the first one to crack a joke or find someone a way to make someone smile. She had an uncanny ability to relate everything to a Spongebob episode and really showed me how purposeful interest-driven instruction can be. Watching J walk into school in the morning for the before-school program was always a show and full of melodrama. I have never seen someone walk so slow or sluggish before in his or her life. Pretty sure I could have done at least 10 laps in the hallway before J got her little butt down to my classroom. J was one of my top 3 strongest readers, devouring books like it was her job. The stories she wrote always included her own little J twist and while reading them aloud, it was hard not picturing J in my mind. Math was more of a struggle for J, often taking her more time and energy. She enjoyed rushing through her tests without asking for help, teaching me the importance of taking the extra effort to read test questions to those who need it. Towards the end of the year J tried to test me and “the system” with her temper tantrums, turning into a statue and curling into a ball when she didn’t get her way. Providing J with an outlet to express herself and feelings before she broke down and had a tantrum worked wonders and she was tantrum free for the last month of the year. While other teachers at first saw it as a way for J to remove herself from the whole group lesson to write down little things, after using it for a week the novelty wore off and J only used it when really necessary, and by the end of two weeks J no longer need to use it, instead seeking me out to tell me how she was feeling to avoid a tantrum. J taught me how to respond to the ever-changing emotions and needs of my students.

My favorite J moment that just truly captured J in all of her glory happened early one morning before school started. I was getting breakfast ready for my pumpkins in the before-program when I turn around to see J passed out, face down on the carpet. After the initial sheer panic and terror left my body (not every day a child decides to sleep face first with her arms and legs spread out on the carpet, emulating a dead body perfectly) I asked J what was wrong. She told me that she had to get up early and was tired, so tired that she fell asleep in the bathroom while brushing her teeth. Yup, that was my J!

nytimes, what, whaaat

ms210 — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:54:58 +0000

the few, the proud :)
it’s okay to be jealous

New York Times article

Year 2, FINISHED

ms210 — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:09:00 +0000

year 2 has come and gone.
lots of good things to reflect upon and write about, most likely about each of my 15 pumpkins, but that’s for later in the summer once I’ve had time to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING and relax.

but really, the whole reason for this post is to announce to the world that I am TEACHER OF THE YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

also, year end data:
89% math mastery (goal: 80%)
2.18 years growth in reading (goal: 1.5 years growth)

all in all – it was a fantastic year :)

Day 171…

ms210 — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 23:48:54 +0000

one more week. I can make it.
report cards: check
portfolios: semi-check
student narratives: semi-check
final reading levels: check
final math mastery: semi-check
final writing levels: ummmmmm

3 full days, including field day which shouldn’t count as a day
3 half days

I can do this…….

Oh NCIS:LA

ms210 — Fri, 14 May 2010 11:46:55 +0000

while watching NCIS:LA this little beauty of a quote came up

“Mina, you have a degree in early childhood education, you must love children…”

haha, if only you knew NCIS:LA script writers, if only you knew.

Day 147: Seen and Heard

ms210 — Thu, 13 May 2010 01:12:10 +0000

Seen and heard in 1st grade today

D: Today, when I was the numerator, and I was reading the story….

I’m pretty sure he meant narrator, but hey, at least some math vocabulary from last month stuck around

Day 144: I’m Broken

ms210 — Sat, 08 May 2010 02:57:44 +0000

Well, not really broken, but I’ve got a nice sprained ankle.
I’d really like to say that I hurt myself doing something hardcore and intense, but nope, that’s not the case. Instead, I hurt myself stretching with my kiddos in math class on Tuesday. We were doing some count-by-2′s “reach for the stars” where stand on our tippy toes and reach up into the sky. On my way down, I swerved to avoid one of my children and rolled my ankle. I’m fine. It’s tender but I have full range of motion and I can do pretty much anything, including playing hockey on a field trip with my students, which I conveniently left out of my story to the doctor this afternoon.

Moral of the story: compression wrap brace for 2 weeks, follow-up appointment in 2 weeks, no running for a month.

Day 134: A generation gap

ms210 — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 20:39:33 +0000

When I was little, I remember playing on the playground in kindergarten, chasing my friends around playing “Peter Pan.” Katie D was Captain Hook (if you knew Katie D, you’d understand why she was Captain Hook…she made a perfect Disney villain). Matt and Eric alternated the roles of Peter Pan or Michael. And I, of course, was Wendy. We used to climb up the big, blue, twisty slide on the playground, sliding down singing “I can fly!” There was no violence or sword fights, and the only danger we ever faced was trying to run across the playground fast enough, without tripping on our untied shoelaces, to hide with the lost boys in the tree house before Captain Hook could capture us. We were young, innocent, naive, and carefree. We rocked out our jean oshkosh-b-gosh overalls, and wore pink hightops with mutlicolor dinosaurs. Pigtails and high ponytails were all the rage. It was a time long before the days of Spongebob, Wizards of Waverly Place, and iCarly. Our heroes and role models were Grover, Eureka, and Mr. Conductor. There was never any concern over us growing up to fast. We weren’t over scheduled and spent our school nights scraping our knees after falling off of our bikes.

Flash forward 19 years.

The playground innocence is gone. Kids run around the playground discussing who likes who, teasing one another, trying hard to hold their crushes hand. All at the tender age of 5, 6, and 7. There’s talk about “girlfriends” and “boyfriends” and the oshkosh-b-gosh overalls and dinosaur hightops have been replaced with super short shorts on girls, crop tops, and overally sexualized children.

Enter Friday on the playground.

Two of my children were playing vampires on the playground, thanks ever so much Twilight. Still cognitively unable to determine right from wrong, or realism from fantasy, one of these two children decided that she was going to bite the other on the arm (thank goodness it wasn’t the neck) because “she was the vampire, he was the human, and she had to because that’s what vampires do” and honestly thought that this was a legitimate reason for her choice.

Yeah, it was a simple game gone wrong, but still. What ever happened to the innocence of youth?

Day 130: End of an era

ms210 — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:43:47 +0000

So it was an end of an era in my classroom today. I survived, no one died. Just barely. Sadly, our streak of going 129 days without calling a classmate a mean name ended today. The era of good feelings is over. My children have been replaced with monsters.

I may acting just a little melodramatic.

Today they were acting out action verbs and it was the word “smells” and then use the word in a sentence. After A was finished acting out the word J said to A that he smelled like a “poophead” Next thing I know everyone at that center starting yelling, “J we’re not suppose to use bathroom words in school. ms sssssssssss!!” Needless to say, our classroom kindness flower lost a ton of petals.

Life Update

ms210 — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:06:03 +0000

I’ve been incredibly busy with school and teaching these past few weeks. But, my thesis is finished!!! And after 8 hours of parent-teacher conferences I’m exhausted, but lesson plans for next week won’t write themselves unfortunately.

For this month’s edition of why I teach moments:

1. During parent-teacher conferences A’s mom told me that he started to cry after hugging me before Spring Break because he was going to miss me so much. A immediately got out of his seat and gave me a hug and I started to cry.

2. Walking down the hall today after recess today all of the 2nd graders were outside waiting to go on the playground. I felt like a celebrity from all of the hugs and “Ms. S!” I heard. UPDATE: comment from kid-sister: “and just think, next year you’ll have TWO grades of kids shouting your name. you’re going to be bigger than justin bieber”

3. While acting out the life cycle of a chicken today, A carefully pecked out of his shell and raised his wings and started to sing, “I beeeeelieve I can fly”

4. We’re learning about natural resources and conservation in Social Studies. I’m raising a whole new generation of tree huggers. It’s fantastic :)

I think that’s it for now. My brain is shot and I need to lesson plan. ugh