I've mentioned before the abundance of personality in my class and I'm always thinking of and then forgetting stories I can tell to illustrate this. Well here's one from yesterday :).
I'm always impressed by their creativity - at recess one group of girls has taken to digging in the dirt for their "chocolate factory" coming up with disgusting concoctions that do no justice to chocolate and when soccer was banned for a week (too many fights) the boys invented all sorts of games, including a jumping one similar to the long jump.
So I shouldn't have been surprised by anything they do, but even so I couldn't quite swallow my smile when, after recess, SG arrived in line clutching two paper cups of rocks. Now these were not polished, attractive, smooth rocks - they were more like chunks of concrete from the building's foundation. When I asked, "What are those?", she responded seriously, "Oh, that's Ginny, and that's Rocky, and that's Cutie."
Too much. Rock pets. What next?
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Green Dot
Yesterday M passed along this powerful story about a public school in LA and an organization called GreenDot that specializes in revitalizing urban schools. It's a pretty powerful story, offering a perspective on school politics and the teacher's union that make me appreciate what I deal with at my school (privately run and independently owned - no school board, no teacher's union). Of course it only tells the story from one side and the resistance the teacher's union and the teacher's showed to GreenDot makes me wonder what was not being told.
Regardless, it's a fascinating listen.
Regardless, it's a fascinating listen.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Child Soldiers
So, after about six months of teaching I think one of the hardest things a teacher faces is that blank look on a child's face when they simply don't get it. It doesn't matter how many explanations you've gone through, how many different ways you've tried to teach it, the problem remains - if they don't get it what do you do??
This question sounds simplistic: you teach it. That's what your job is. But believe me, it isn't that easy (which is what I was trying to say in yesterday's post, albeit rather uneloquently). Yesterday it was the How To Essay, today it was public speaking and math. No matter what the topic, when those blank eyes stare back at you (at least for me) it's like a little pit of despair opens in my stomach...how can I help you??
This happens a lot with one of my students, AM (the one who struggles in cursive and math) and who I am beginning to think must just understand the world differently than I do - in a way she reminds me of CJ (the boy with possible undiagnosed autism who left in the middle of the year and who I remain convinced simply views the world differently, not any less rationally - for a therapist's perspective on autism presented in novel form I recommend The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night) except that her struggles are much more obvious; if CJ suffered he suffered silently, AM wears her frustration like a very tight jacket, practically writhing to get out of it when it hits.
In my post on fighting with students, I mentioned previous fights - one of the most memorable was with AM. One morning, in the course of teaching, I said something that upset her (I can't remember exactly what it was - I may have told her we needed to move on and I didn't have time to do whatever she wanted, read something, etc.) and it was instant freeze out. I have never had the silent treatment administered so effectively. She simply refused to speak with me for the next 2 hours. This was different from JY's pout, which was much more age appropriate; AM's silent treatment was chilling. To think that so much silent anger (whatever happened between us was not something particularly significant in my view, but obviously not so for her) could radiate from such a little package was very revealing.
AM is adopted. I have been told that she does not get along well with her mother, and I have seen for myself the less than friendly interaction between her and her 6th grade brother (although how much of that can be chalked up to brother-sister relationships generally I don't know). In class, she is constantly seeking attention and often resorts to physical and verbal antics to get it (she was the student who crawled across the floor when the high school students were here working with my class, not something that usually happens in class, although the other day JY did completely bemuse me by lying flat on the floor on her stomach and flapping her arms and legs, I never got a satisfactory answer for that behavior...), continually falling out of her chair, dropping notebooks and pencils, etc. She also makes a practice of telling me I think she's crazy, or I've said she's stupid (she takes pleasure in asking "Am I crazy" when I'm talking to another student, and then claiming my affirmative responses to that other student as a response to her question) and saying she's going to poke her pencil in her eye or kill herself (as I'm writing this, I'm wondering whether I should be taking those words more seriously; should I consider those words a serious threat? My instinct is that they're not, just frustrated words from a frustrated girl, trying to get a rise out of her teacher - we've talked about the seriousness of suicide and I don't think that's what she means, but I don't know - do 8 year olds kill themselvs?? I think AM has too much zest for life to want to leave it.) But those 2 hours of silent treatment from this spitfire of a little girl (she was the student running her International Festival group) made me wonder just what she feels, or rather, how she views the world and her place in it.
Anyway, the fear of rejection (?), failure (?), abandonment (?) I sense makes those times when she does not understand something much more difficult. She responds by claiming she's stupid, then rushing to do a problem and accidentally pushing her books off her desk or making more mistakes because of her rush, then using those incidents to reinforce her negative self image. And I struggle to help her understand, to try to understand myself what it is she does not see, to control her frustration, to reassure her. And to appease the other students, who are clamoring for attention and help, and want to know why I'm "only helping Amika". What can I say: "Amika is only on question 1, she doesn't get, you are on question 10 so back off"? Clearly not. So instead there is a caucophony of voices raised in an ugly chorus of "teacher, teacher, TEACHER!" And if I do leave Amika to help another student, she takes it personally, convinced of her own incompetence and my uninterest.
Rereading this post, I realize it sound like AM and I struggle all day, every day which is completely untrue. AM is a wonderful little girl, full of laughter, pranks, and a passion for life. She's pint-sized but potent. Which just makes these episodes of frustration that much harder - it is hard to see this self-assured little girl struck down by a math problem or a cursive p. Every time we have a frustration episode, I breathe a sigh of relief when she asks me to read with her, or comes to show me a picture she's drawn, or tries to make me laugh. She's still there; she hasn't given up yet.
I just hope for her that day never comes. But my experience with AM makes me wonder about all those other little girls and boys out there dealing with so much (adoption, divorce, a single-parent household, abuse, poverty, etc.) and their valiant attempts to be kids regardless. The ones who succeed are miracles and the one who don't - well, what can we expect? All I can think about is those students in Queens going to school in leaky trailers.
This question sounds simplistic: you teach it. That's what your job is. But believe me, it isn't that easy (which is what I was trying to say in yesterday's post, albeit rather uneloquently). Yesterday it was the How To Essay, today it was public speaking and math. No matter what the topic, when those blank eyes stare back at you (at least for me) it's like a little pit of despair opens in my stomach...how can I help you??
This happens a lot with one of my students, AM (the one who struggles in cursive and math) and who I am beginning to think must just understand the world differently than I do - in a way she reminds me of CJ (the boy with possible undiagnosed autism who left in the middle of the year and who I remain convinced simply views the world differently, not any less rationally - for a therapist's perspective on autism presented in novel form I recommend The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night) except that her struggles are much more obvious; if CJ suffered he suffered silently, AM wears her frustration like a very tight jacket, practically writhing to get out of it when it hits.
In my post on fighting with students, I mentioned previous fights - one of the most memorable was with AM. One morning, in the course of teaching, I said something that upset her (I can't remember exactly what it was - I may have told her we needed to move on and I didn't have time to do whatever she wanted, read something, etc.) and it was instant freeze out. I have never had the silent treatment administered so effectively. She simply refused to speak with me for the next 2 hours. This was different from JY's pout, which was much more age appropriate; AM's silent treatment was chilling. To think that so much silent anger (whatever happened between us was not something particularly significant in my view, but obviously not so for her) could radiate from such a little package was very revealing.
AM is adopted. I have been told that she does not get along well with her mother, and I have seen for myself the less than friendly interaction between her and her 6th grade brother (although how much of that can be chalked up to brother-sister relationships generally I don't know). In class, she is constantly seeking attention and often resorts to physical and verbal antics to get it (she was the student who crawled across the floor when the high school students were here working with my class, not something that usually happens in class, although the other day JY did completely bemuse me by lying flat on the floor on her stomach and flapping her arms and legs, I never got a satisfactory answer for that behavior...), continually falling out of her chair, dropping notebooks and pencils, etc. She also makes a practice of telling me I think she's crazy, or I've said she's stupid (she takes pleasure in asking "Am I crazy" when I'm talking to another student, and then claiming my affirmative responses to that other student as a response to her question) and saying she's going to poke her pencil in her eye or kill herself (as I'm writing this, I'm wondering whether I should be taking those words more seriously; should I consider those words a serious threat? My instinct is that they're not, just frustrated words from a frustrated girl, trying to get a rise out of her teacher - we've talked about the seriousness of suicide and I don't think that's what she means, but I don't know - do 8 year olds kill themselvs?? I think AM has too much zest for life to want to leave it.) But those 2 hours of silent treatment from this spitfire of a little girl (she was the student running her International Festival group) made me wonder just what she feels, or rather, how she views the world and her place in it.
Anyway, the fear of rejection (?), failure (?), abandonment (?) I sense makes those times when she does not understand something much more difficult. She responds by claiming she's stupid, then rushing to do a problem and accidentally pushing her books off her desk or making more mistakes because of her rush, then using those incidents to reinforce her negative self image. And I struggle to help her understand, to try to understand myself what it is she does not see, to control her frustration, to reassure her. And to appease the other students, who are clamoring for attention and help, and want to know why I'm "only helping Amika". What can I say: "Amika is only on question 1, she doesn't get, you are on question 10 so back off"? Clearly not. So instead there is a caucophony of voices raised in an ugly chorus of "teacher, teacher, TEACHER!" And if I do leave Amika to help another student, she takes it personally, convinced of her own incompetence and my uninterest.
Rereading this post, I realize it sound like AM and I struggle all day, every day which is completely untrue. AM is a wonderful little girl, full of laughter, pranks, and a passion for life. She's pint-sized but potent. Which just makes these episodes of frustration that much harder - it is hard to see this self-assured little girl struck down by a math problem or a cursive p. Every time we have a frustration episode, I breathe a sigh of relief when she asks me to read with her, or comes to show me a picture she's drawn, or tries to make me laugh. She's still there; she hasn't given up yet.
I just hope for her that day never comes. But my experience with AM makes me wonder about all those other little girls and boys out there dealing with so much (adoption, divorce, a single-parent household, abuse, poverty, etc.) and their valiant attempts to be kids regardless. The ones who succeed are miracles and the one who don't - well, what can we expect? All I can think about is those students in Queens going to school in leaky trailers.
Monday, February 18, 2008
How to do what??
A sunny Tuesday! Things are finally looking up weather-wise!
I don't know about teaching-wise though. This morning I had to teach the "How-To-Essay" and it's moments like these when I really feel the lack of teacher training and teaching experience.
The "How-To-Essay" is your basic explanatory essay - obviously it is supposed to explain how to do something. Which is fine - the kids understand that. But this essay builds on the building blocks of writing we've been working on all year (my LEAST favorite Language book chapters). And it's not that my kids don't get them (we've learned about topic sentences and details, and descriptive words and pre-writing, and drafting, and editing) it's just that I don't think I teach these chapters very well...I always end up talking too much and for too long, which makes it difficult for them to follow (can you imagine trying to figure out what the teacher is talking about when she keeps saying use details and you don't know what a detail is?). So it's frustrating for me because I know I'm not doing a great job of explaining or demonstrating and I know it's important for them to learn. AND in addition, their English is weak enough that they're struggling both with understanding the structure and organization I want them to use AND the vocabulary and basic grammar of the language they need to write in.
These chapters really make me feel like a second year of teaching would be good because it would iron out all these kinks. If I taught again next year, that second group of kids would benefit from my simply having tried out a few things on the first batch. And it makes me wonder about what I would have learned if I had gone through a teaching program. Can a program really teach you how to teach or is it all theory until you're actually in the classroom? And since different textbooks are different does that make every teaching job different? I wonder if I had taken some classes on language acquisition if everything I see my kids gowing through would make more sense!
Ok I'll have to reflect more on teacher education and the actual process of teaching later! School's over!
I don't know about teaching-wise though. This morning I had to teach the "How-To-Essay" and it's moments like these when I really feel the lack of teacher training and teaching experience.
The "How-To-Essay" is your basic explanatory essay - obviously it is supposed to explain how to do something. Which is fine - the kids understand that. But this essay builds on the building blocks of writing we've been working on all year (my LEAST favorite Language book chapters). And it's not that my kids don't get them (we've learned about topic sentences and details, and descriptive words and pre-writing, and drafting, and editing) it's just that I don't think I teach these chapters very well...I always end up talking too much and for too long, which makes it difficult for them to follow (can you imagine trying to figure out what the teacher is talking about when she keeps saying use details and you don't know what a detail is?). So it's frustrating for me because I know I'm not doing a great job of explaining or demonstrating and I know it's important for them to learn. AND in addition, their English is weak enough that they're struggling both with understanding the structure and organization I want them to use AND the vocabulary and basic grammar of the language they need to write in.
These chapters really make me feel like a second year of teaching would be good because it would iron out all these kinks. If I taught again next year, that second group of kids would benefit from my simply having tried out a few things on the first batch. And it makes me wonder about what I would have learned if I had gone through a teaching program. Can a program really teach you how to teach or is it all theory until you're actually in the classroom? And since different textbooks are different does that make every teaching job different? I wonder if I had taken some classes on language acquisition if everything I see my kids gowing through would make more sense!
Ok I'll have to reflect more on teacher education and the actual process of teaching later! School's over!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Fighting with Students...
Ok, this week has been light on posts, even though quite a bit has been going on, but I've finally found a few minutes to reflect and I want to start with something that happened this morning.
One of the difficult things about being a teacher is that you are constantly dealing with a variety of personalities and behaviors. At one point a friend asked if I had a favorite student and I thought about that for a bit and realized that not only do I have a favorite student (which is bad because you never want to favor one student over the others) but I have a least favorite student (which is worse, because I think it's easier to mask fondless than dislike).
The reason I think favoritism can be a problem is that there is only so much time in a day; I've already mentioned how influential I think a teacher's behavior and actions can be on students' perceptions of themselves and their experience in school, and having a favorite student puts the other students in danger of getting less positive attention, and therefore negatively impacting their self image. However, in a class of 9, I think there is less danger of some students being ignored altogether (which I can only imagine is a huge problem for teachers in classrooms of 35 - there simply isn't enough time in a day to have meaningful interactions with each student) and when I think about YB as "my favorite student" it has more to do with the ways I've seen him grow over the year, and my belief that under his initially quiet exterior there is a very smart, very funny little boy working his way out. And the other students aren't far behind as far as my belief in them and desire to encourage them goes, it's just that for some reason his quietness spoke to me.
However, the real problem is that of my 9 students, one of them, JY, really annoys me. And frequently not just in that expasperated sense, but in that "I can't believe you are treating people that way" kind of sense (she is the one who constantly fights with SG, and as I watch their interactions and her interactions with everyone around her I am struck by the cruelness of many of them, her insistence on calling out other people's mistakes, her quickness to take offense, her refusal to accept apologies, her haughty pouts). This is a huge problem, because it is a real struggle for me to maintain an objective position to ensure that I do not appear to be taking sides. It's also a struggle because ever since the beginning of the year her mother has been coming to me, distraught that her daughter doesn't have any friends. And what can I say? (Your daughter doesn't have any friends because she is horrible to everyone she plays with? I can't make people be friends with someone that mean?? Clearly, I can't say anything like this, I simply addressed over and over in class the importance of community and not letting people feel left out (thanks for the suggestion Mom), and it has become much better during the second half of the year - I would say they are all friends again.)
It is also frustrating because, as a teacher, I feel a responsibility to help these students learn about appropriate ways to interact (our Social Studies book had a lesson on Solving Problems that we have referred to again and again). But how do you teach a child? You can't simply approach her like an adult and say "Hey, you're being a jerk, cut it out". Instead, you have to model and reinforce positive behaviors. And do your best, but it can be freaky and uncertain and they will not always like how you do it and let me tell you, having an 8 year old mad at you can be terrifying.
For example, this morning we were reading about how to resolve an argument and JY raised her hand and asked if it was wrong, if you hit someone by accident for that person to say "He-ey" (in an annoyed voice). Now this is a continual behavior for her, she often points out other people's behaviors labeling them as wrong or bad, and not recognizing that she does many of them herself. During the year I have tried to reinforce the idea that we all make mistakes or do things we shouldn't so pointing fingers isn't a good idea. And today while trying to explain that it wasn't wrong to say "hey" or not want to accept an apology immediately, I chose to use a recent example of a fight between JY and SG where JY had done something similar - BAD idea. JY immediately shut down, head on desk, no response to questions, total block out.
Now as a teacher, or at least as a new teacher, when something like this happens I get a pit in the bottom of my stomach (I will never forget the first time one of my students, ES, went home crying - it's terror, will she be here tomorrow? will her parents freak out? etc.). I worry that I've done irreversible damage to the child, or that I've lost her trust, or that we'll never recover. (I'll save the stories of other fights for another day.) And this morning I felt particularly bad because I know that I often dislike JY's behavior (which, in my worst moods, translates to disliking her) and I wondered if I had been too hard, or if I should not have tried to use that example, or what I could have done to prevent her anger. But I also know that she has a tendency to pout and over dramatize situations.
But now, the question is what to do about it! She's ignoring me and everyone else. I give her an opportunity to talk about how she's feeling, but she ignores me, so I can either force her to talk to me, disrupt class, and give her a stage to vent or I can respond by ignoring her and moving on with class. So I decide to simply move on and see what happens. I pass out the next assignment. I keep the class's attention on me. I keep going, and in my head I'm thinking this is a gamble! What if she doesn't respond? What am I going to do with her? I don't want to fight with her! I refuse to fight with her! Now we're listening to a chapter from our story book, and she shoves her pencil and eraser off the desk. We're talking about the chapter, she shoves her desk toward the far wall. We're listening some more, she throws her textbook off her desk and pushes her desk farther. She's making huffing sounds. We've finished reading and now we're doing science. She shoves her desk into my desk. At which point, I pause, look at her for the first time since she started her pout and say "I am willing to let you sit there, but I am not willing to let you damage school property. I'm moving your desk over here (facing the side wall, back to the class) and you are welcome to keep sitting." She huffs but sits quietly. Finally, while everyone else is answering the science questions, she comes up to me and says, "Teacher, will you change my seat?" with a pout on her face. I move her desk back, and ask if she would like to do the worksheet about the story that the other students did in class now or for homework. She does it now. She then proceeds to answer the science questions with my help and by the time we line up for lunch she's smiling and laughing again. And during journal time after recess she even comes to show me in her journal where she's written "I'm happy today".
Whew.
I have survived the anger of another 8 year old. And I feel like I've been through a wringer! I don't know - I don't know what I should have done initially, how can I help this girl understand and see her behavior? Maybe it's not possible and not necessary. Maybe it's just something she'll grow out of. Maybe the only safe way to do it is through modeling. And then again maybe my example had nothing to do with it, maybe she was just primed to blow - an argument at home, or in school, or some other reason she was feeling particularly sensitive. That's the thing with kids, you just never know...
One of the difficult things about being a teacher is that you are constantly dealing with a variety of personalities and behaviors. At one point a friend asked if I had a favorite student and I thought about that for a bit and realized that not only do I have a favorite student (which is bad because you never want to favor one student over the others) but I have a least favorite student (which is worse, because I think it's easier to mask fondless than dislike).
The reason I think favoritism can be a problem is that there is only so much time in a day; I've already mentioned how influential I think a teacher's behavior and actions can be on students' perceptions of themselves and their experience in school, and having a favorite student puts the other students in danger of getting less positive attention, and therefore negatively impacting their self image. However, in a class of 9, I think there is less danger of some students being ignored altogether (which I can only imagine is a huge problem for teachers in classrooms of 35 - there simply isn't enough time in a day to have meaningful interactions with each student) and when I think about YB as "my favorite student" it has more to do with the ways I've seen him grow over the year, and my belief that under his initially quiet exterior there is a very smart, very funny little boy working his way out. And the other students aren't far behind as far as my belief in them and desire to encourage them goes, it's just that for some reason his quietness spoke to me.
However, the real problem is that of my 9 students, one of them, JY, really annoys me. And frequently not just in that expasperated sense, but in that "I can't believe you are treating people that way" kind of sense (she is the one who constantly fights with SG, and as I watch their interactions and her interactions with everyone around her I am struck by the cruelness of many of them, her insistence on calling out other people's mistakes, her quickness to take offense, her refusal to accept apologies, her haughty pouts). This is a huge problem, because it is a real struggle for me to maintain an objective position to ensure that I do not appear to be taking sides. It's also a struggle because ever since the beginning of the year her mother has been coming to me, distraught that her daughter doesn't have any friends. And what can I say? (Your daughter doesn't have any friends because she is horrible to everyone she plays with? I can't make people be friends with someone that mean?? Clearly, I can't say anything like this, I simply addressed over and over in class the importance of community and not letting people feel left out (thanks for the suggestion Mom), and it has become much better during the second half of the year - I would say they are all friends again.)
It is also frustrating because, as a teacher, I feel a responsibility to help these students learn about appropriate ways to interact (our Social Studies book had a lesson on Solving Problems that we have referred to again and again). But how do you teach a child? You can't simply approach her like an adult and say "Hey, you're being a jerk, cut it out". Instead, you have to model and reinforce positive behaviors. And do your best, but it can be freaky and uncertain and they will not always like how you do it and let me tell you, having an 8 year old mad at you can be terrifying.
For example, this morning we were reading about how to resolve an argument and JY raised her hand and asked if it was wrong, if you hit someone by accident for that person to say "He-ey" (in an annoyed voice). Now this is a continual behavior for her, she often points out other people's behaviors labeling them as wrong or bad, and not recognizing that she does many of them herself. During the year I have tried to reinforce the idea that we all make mistakes or do things we shouldn't so pointing fingers isn't a good idea. And today while trying to explain that it wasn't wrong to say "hey" or not want to accept an apology immediately, I chose to use a recent example of a fight between JY and SG where JY had done something similar - BAD idea. JY immediately shut down, head on desk, no response to questions, total block out.
Now as a teacher, or at least as a new teacher, when something like this happens I get a pit in the bottom of my stomach (I will never forget the first time one of my students, ES, went home crying - it's terror, will she be here tomorrow? will her parents freak out? etc.). I worry that I've done irreversible damage to the child, or that I've lost her trust, or that we'll never recover. (I'll save the stories of other fights for another day.) And this morning I felt particularly bad because I know that I often dislike JY's behavior (which, in my worst moods, translates to disliking her) and I wondered if I had been too hard, or if I should not have tried to use that example, or what I could have done to prevent her anger. But I also know that she has a tendency to pout and over dramatize situations.
But now, the question is what to do about it! She's ignoring me and everyone else. I give her an opportunity to talk about how she's feeling, but she ignores me, so I can either force her to talk to me, disrupt class, and give her a stage to vent or I can respond by ignoring her and moving on with class. So I decide to simply move on and see what happens. I pass out the next assignment. I keep the class's attention on me. I keep going, and in my head I'm thinking this is a gamble! What if she doesn't respond? What am I going to do with her? I don't want to fight with her! I refuse to fight with her! Now we're listening to a chapter from our story book, and she shoves her pencil and eraser off the desk. We're talking about the chapter, she shoves her desk toward the far wall. We're listening some more, she throws her textbook off her desk and pushes her desk farther. She's making huffing sounds. We've finished reading and now we're doing science. She shoves her desk into my desk. At which point, I pause, look at her for the first time since she started her pout and say "I am willing to let you sit there, but I am not willing to let you damage school property. I'm moving your desk over here (facing the side wall, back to the class) and you are welcome to keep sitting." She huffs but sits quietly. Finally, while everyone else is answering the science questions, she comes up to me and says, "Teacher, will you change my seat?" with a pout on her face. I move her desk back, and ask if she would like to do the worksheet about the story that the other students did in class now or for homework. She does it now. She then proceeds to answer the science questions with my help and by the time we line up for lunch she's smiling and laughing again. And during journal time after recess she even comes to show me in her journal where she's written "I'm happy today".
Whew.
I have survived the anger of another 8 year old. And I feel like I've been through a wringer! I don't know - I don't know what I should have done initially, how can I help this girl understand and see her behavior? Maybe it's not possible and not necessary. Maybe it's just something she'll grow out of. Maybe the only safe way to do it is through modeling. And then again maybe my example had nothing to do with it, maybe she was just primed to blow - an argument at home, or in school, or some other reason she was feeling particularly sensitive. That's the thing with kids, you just never know...
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Brrrr!!
It is bitterly cold here and it always amazes me how little kids seem to be immune to the cold! I'm sure not! And yet my kids are running around with practically no clothes on (every day we argue about putting coats on, I insist they do and ultimately persevere, but 5 minutes after they get outside the coats are strewn on the ground...sigh...).
Just another one of those mysteries about kids!
Just another one of those mysteries about kids!
Monday, February 11, 2008
Back from Vacation
So I have taken a short a hiatus from posting while the school has been closed for a quick vacation, but it is Monday morning and we are back in the swing of things!
I had really hoped the weekend away from the classroom would recharge my batteries and it definitely has...using all the patience I can muster is very impotant and a few days away from my kids definitely helps me do that.
For example, this morning I made my peace with AM and her cursive - regardless of whether her difficulty following the cursive pattern is a form of dyslexia or a form of attention-seeking behavior, I have decided that it is more important to let her make her letters however she wants and reinforce her accomplishments, than to make both of us frustrated by going over and over them. I think especially with something like cursive where it's not essential that she get it perfect it is more important that she feel good about herself and her abilities then that she makes the letters in the right order. We can save the frustratingly slow repetition for math where it is absolutely essential. And if it is just an attention-seeking behavior, if I don't focus on it, she may simply stop doing it.
We'll see how it goes! Oh the trail and error of teaching!
I had really hoped the weekend away from the classroom would recharge my batteries and it definitely has...using all the patience I can muster is very impotant and a few days away from my kids definitely helps me do that.
For example, this morning I made my peace with AM and her cursive - regardless of whether her difficulty following the cursive pattern is a form of dyslexia or a form of attention-seeking behavior, I have decided that it is more important to let her make her letters however she wants and reinforce her accomplishments, than to make both of us frustrated by going over and over them. I think especially with something like cursive where it's not essential that she get it perfect it is more important that she feel good about herself and her abilities then that she makes the letters in the right order. We can save the frustratingly slow repetition for math where it is absolutely essential. And if it is just an attention-seeking behavior, if I don't focus on it, she may simply stop doing it.
We'll see how it goes! Oh the trail and error of teaching!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
This article on online schooling is really interesting - I had no idea it was so popular. As an elementary teacher, I wonder about taking elementary school online because I think one of the most important parts of elementary school is the socialisation.
But I wonder, if online school becomes more popular, maybe we'll see a rise in education or teaching "consultants" who come into people's homes and lead their children through online education. I wonder if that's one solution to underpaid teachers - allow parents to pay individuals as much as they think their children's education is worth. Ideally, the more qualified and the best teachers will be paid more.
However, having just watched The Nanny Diaries, I wonder about the actual effectiveness of a system like that. Given the portrayal of the treatment of New York nannies, I hesitate to suggest subjecting already overworked and undervalued teachers to such a system! I think M's observation in an earlier post is quite correct - the parents who pay for or monitor their child's education are not the ones directly benefiting from the teaching.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/education/01virtual.html?ref=education
But I wonder, if online school becomes more popular, maybe we'll see a rise in education or teaching "consultants" who come into people's homes and lead their children through online education. I wonder if that's one solution to underpaid teachers - allow parents to pay individuals as much as they think their children's education is worth. Ideally, the more qualified and the best teachers will be paid more.
However, having just watched The Nanny Diaries, I wonder about the actual effectiveness of a system like that. Given the portrayal of the treatment of New York nannies, I hesitate to suggest subjecting already overworked and undervalued teachers to such a system! I think M's observation in an earlier post is quite correct - the parents who pay for or monitor their child's education are not the ones directly benefiting from the teaching.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/education/01virtual.html?ref=education
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