Reason 843 I Love My School

Support.

I teach fourth grade. Today, as I was rushing into a meeting, I stopped in to talk to a fabulous teacher of first grade (used to be fifth and fourth as well!). I am desperately seeking assistance, and Jenny instantly came to mind. In my few moments, I spouted out my agony over one student in my class for the sole purpose of opening a dialogue, selfishly hoping to leach out any grand ideas she may have to help with my current concern, er, opportunity for growth and learning.

I have a sweet new student from Honduras. In the past few weeks I have gotten to know him a bit, and in my broken spanish I have managed to direct him on our classroom procedures and typical American customs such as how it's not okay to tickle people while in line for specials. He has grown socially, and through that growth has become more willing to accept his learning deficits and successes with pride and a sense of accomplishment. So far.

As we have been working with this student, we made observations....

- he will mimic those around him, answering using the same word or thought

- he claims he's 11, no, 10, no, 11....

- he can't tell us when his birthday is

- he can not read to you, but is very good at echoing as he is read to

I decided, one day, to pull out some calendar words that were written in Spanish to see if I could solve the birthday mystery. I had a calendar, and sentence strips with the words written on them - in Spanish. To begin, I asked him to read some of the words.

This is when the emergency brakes screeched. I pulled out picture flashcards I have, and had him identify the picture verbally. Then I showed him the word under the picture and asked him to read it. Silence.

I found out, in this moment, that Mr. November can't read. Or write. In Spanish or English. In fact, he wasn't able to identify the letters of the spanish alphabet. I wanted to hug him and tell him that we were going to try our best to help, and how on earth has he gotten this far without something, someone, anyone... asking him to read. Or write. Someone, something, some system has failed him.

So I could step back and think, I pulled up a great website that has the spanish alphabet, and when you click on the letters it says the name of the letter out loud - which he was happy to repeat, and had a wonderful time listening to and repeating...

and all the while I was thinking.

He is in fourth grade. I'm his fourth grade teacher. I desperately want to help him. But he is on the older side of our usual "age." I'm looking for activities, lessons, games, anything and everything that can help him, but will also not be a blow to his ego. He is very conscious of surroundings and wants to be doing what everyone around him is doing... so even if it's not all of the time, I want him to be sharing in our classroom experiences...

Thoughts?

The Pick and Nag

Brace yourselves. Let me set the scene.

My current classroom is in a new "quad" trailer set up, about 200 fourth grade steps, or 8 minute fourth grader walk, to the nearest bathroom and hand washing station. 8 minutes. If they're efficient. And by efficient I mean they AREN'T tempted to peek under our trailer (which is currently uncovered, so you can see all of the support beams and cinderblocks holding us up). The peek will lead to another, and before you know it you have half a class of fourth graders peering under the trailer with their bodies slithering far too close to the "no no zone."

This means that we wash our hands, on average, 3 times a day. IF we're lucky. Otherwise you have a germ-a-phobe teacher chasing you around the room with hand sanitizer... which has been banned at our school because of a few unfortunate incidents involving a teacher's drink and (separate) incidents of students licking the hand sanitizer off of their hands, and thus, becoming ill and negating the purpose of the application of the hand sanitizer in the first place.

So, the other day I'm minding my business doing one heck of a bang-up job reading a book aloud to the class. I look up during my dramatic pause, and there it is. I count one-two-three-four fingers on a student. Where is the fifth finger, you ask? Three-quarters of the way up one nostril. I think I can see him going cross eyed. Too far, too far! And then, when I made eye contact with the student, he pulled the finger out (YES!) and then stuck it in his mouth (NOOOO!!!!) And then, while still holding my eye contact, he DID IT AGAIN!

No shame. The worst type of nose-picker-and-licker.

I was calculating, in my head, how many minutes, hours, days, this student would be missing from my classroom because he'd be in the bathroom. Sent there by his teacher to scrub his paws.

I made the obligatory "no no no" shake of the head and then the silent mouthing of "go wash your hands."

Ten minutes later he was back at his desk. And for just a moment, I thought he had kicked the public habit. Just for a moment.

Home Visits

Inspired. Drive surrounds. Ambition abounds. The hallways. The rooms. The brains.

Leaking. Bleeding learning into homes. Homes bleeding life into the classrooms.

Pumping, growing, giving life a new meaning inside of my small four walls.

No Quiero Decir Adios

Among the members of my class I have a few who are new to our school, and two that are new to our country. One student in particular is from Bolivia. He speaks minimal English, but man does he have this amazing drive and potential. I believe that of all of my students, of course, but this little man is just a pleasure to attempt to communicate with. In my out of practice best impression of a person who knows spanish, I have been able to tell him where the bathroom is and where to go in case of a fire (And no, Dept of Ed, these are not in our standards. Take that). He can label our state on a map, play place value math games, and, and this one I love, he finally mastered my name (which, I have to say, is not easy for native spanish speakers). His mom and baby sister came to back to school night, and at the end they had me pose for a picture with the family. His strides in just 2 weeks were so marvelous - even he sensed his accomplishments and showed his pride through his smile and adorable fourth-grade puffed up chest.

I have grown attached to this one - perhaps because when you are trying to mime "Where are your library books, you need to return them here," you become connected in a Helen Keller and Teacher sort of way.

I found out yesterday that our new family is moving back to Bolivia. I'm not sure of the exact reason, perhaps the pressure of a single mother in a new country with two little kids and no money... who knows... but all I do know is that my Bolivian friend is leaving. And today I found out that his last day is tomorrow.

How do you express sorrow and well-wishes in mime and broken spanish?

The New Class

I am about a week and half behind in sharing about my new classroom family, and I have to be honest, I am still gathering my thoughts about them.

At first I had this "I'm subbing for this new class" feeling, where they didn't really belong to me. I would walk past my students from last year in the hallway, standing outside of their new classrooms, and I would want to gather them up. Tucking them into my pocket, I could carry them with me into the new year. This must be why some teachers loop with their class.

This is a big transition year for me, not because I'm changing grades or anything, but because I moved out of my current classroom on top of the whole "who are these little kids in my classroom" thing. My school is growing. Seriously growing. Our population is up, as well as our teaching staff. More people everywhere! So, in order to accommodate our growth, we had to spread out into EVEN MORE trailers. We have singles, doubles, quads, and mods. Oh, my! My adventure began when I volunteered to move out of the Modular building (10 classrooms and an office, bathrooms, and workroom) into a new Quad (bare bones, brand new!, 4 classrooms).

After a rough start, we are getting settled in nicely, the Strangers and I. There are still some kinks to work out, but for the most part we are making our transition to the new building very nicely. I have to say, the biggest downfall is the lack of a restroom nearby. A bathroom break for a pair of students takes a minimum of 8 minutes. Add up all of those emergencies, and that's a lot of time lost. That's our biggest ripple right now... but we're working through it.

As for my new group, well, I will reserve my comments on most until I get to know them a bit more. I have some wonderful students, I can see that already.

The one student I will mention is new to our school. She is so sweet, her face, her demeanor, and her voice. She moved to the US just a short year and a half ago with her mother and 3 siblings. In speaking with her today, I found out that they came to the US "to study," as she puts it. In the last year and a half she has made incredible progress, learning English for the first time, and even learning some Spanish as well. She spoke with me today about her mother, and how hard her mother worked to teach the children about the US, reading, writing, and speaking. I can not wait to meet her mother at parent orientation. And I have to come up with a nickname for this one, as I can already tell that I will be sharing about her frequently.

Stay tuned for Season Two!

NECC

Or National Educational Computing Conference, version 2009.

I was asked by a co-worker to "co-present" with him, and along with another experienced teacher, at the NECC conference this year. During my internship I did that e-partnership with the school in Beijing, so he wanted me to be there to represent. I, of course, jumped at the chance, recognizing this as a great opportunity. Jenny documents our presentation in words that express my feelings as well, so you can find her synopsis here. Please use the links she provides to generate ideas on how to go such grand things in your own classroom.

I couldn't help but feel way out of my league. Jenny and Clairvoy, the "head" presenter (as he is the only one of us that got the red "presenter" ribbon on his ID), are both very experienced and have done wonderful things through integrated technology in the classroom. I am just beginning, and feel that I spent the last year just treading water. While my visions for future instruction are right with them, I was still in awe at the way in which they were able to not only integrate, but also explore and share with other teachers in such a professional capacity.

Now, in my elementary interpretation (har har), here's my take:

Wow, this room is big.

Hm... there are people arriving. Yes, Clairvoy, I'm focusing on what you're saying. Sounds good. Yep. You've done good.

More people. Yes, I'm still listening, Clairvoy. Yes tech man working on our sound, I do have internet. Thank you. Microphone? No, we won't need those. I need a drink of water. Clairvoy is still talking through the presentation. I think.

Ah-hem. Rooms crowded. Is there someone talking to me?

The room is packed, the doors are closed. And we begin. Calm. Collected. I will not drop the microphone that we ended up having to use.

I'll skip ahead to after the formal presentation, when there were about 50 adult teachers sitting on the floor listening and watching as Jenny shared some of her classroom examples.

Then I met some amazing people and made some great contacts. I made contact with a Robotics teacher from Canada who wants to do a blog with my class next year on what it means to be a citizen in different parts of the world. Then I met a teacher from Vermont who wants to Skype with my class about something else... they just kept on coming!

The whole thing is sort of a blur - a smiley happy blur. I thank Clairvoy and Jenny for giving me the opportunity to share this experience with them, and to get my foot in the presentation-giving door. I want to do wonderful things using technology in my room this year, and the possibilities of being able to share it in such a way is just inspiration to keep the wheels turning!

Blank Slate

Quite literallly.  The following pictures are from my brand-spanking new classroom.  The current downfalls are:  no power.  no occupancy permit.  no bookshelves.  

I'm excited about the possibilities.  I'm nervous about the lack of storage.  I'm a little frightened that not all my boxes will make it out there.  And I'm curious to see how the tornado drills go, seeing as how my door backs up to an open field - and the furthest point from the main building.  This is going to be an adventure. 

An image taken from the outside corner towards the middle of the building.  This is my co-workers room, as mine was filled with building supplies.  My room is through that door on the right.

A view from the entrance.
I call that parking spot right in the front.  My room is on the back left corner, not visible in this pic.