Monday, October 23, 2006

This was a huge week! ( I skipped writing in this blog last week because my time in the school was mostly spent dealing with administrivia--there was a magazine sale and I spent the week helping the fourth grade teachers turn in their numbers, dole out prizes, etc. I didn't see much of the classroom.) This was an absolutely incredible week, chock-ful of observations though...

Tuesday was a short day, but it was really full of things. Gift came in, but before she arrived MissTeacher told the kids what to expect for the morning. She reminded them "Let's don't waste a single minute.!" While Gift was working with the kids, who were reading a poem about "Willow and Ginko" (More similie and metaphor work), MissTeacher and I had a discussion about the kids' math boxes. A lot of the children are having trouble with the math work and simply turning the worksheets in unfinished. She is going to try out some new strategies for this new round of math boxes and vary different factors until she finds out what works.

Something I noticed with the girls today especially was the amount of physical affection that goes on between girls of a certain age. The girls in this class are constantly holding hands, leaning on each other, putting arms around each other, and playing with each other's hair, clothing, etc. It has been in my line of vision since I started, but today for some reason it was very out in the open for me. I wonder when that switches and becomes less and less "appropriate" for the female students to show that physical affection towards one another. I am sure that in high school, these girls would be at least looked at strangely for this behavior, but for some reason, in children it looks so natural. This is something that I might keep more of an eye on from now on and see how it changes over time.

I worked on my project for StoryMan this week. I chose several students, figured out their nicknames, rated how well I thought I knew them from (1-10), then I listed one thing about them that impressed me, and one thing that I felt they needed to work on. Here are the results from the seven students I watched today.

Maniac (so named because of his obssession with homocidal maniacs everywhere--this kid can barely spell his name, but he can spell homocidal backwards and forwards) I'd say that I know him probably about a 5. This kid has an incredibly, richly creative mind, but he should probably try to diversify and find more positive outlets for his creativity.

Dynamo (my "naughty" boy, but a definite ball of energy and one of the most outspoken children in the class) I'd say I know this child on about a level 7. This child has an inexhaustable supply of energy-but, he needs to raise his confidence in school issues.

Mantis (named for his similarly sounding name) I'd say about an 8. This child makes a conscious effort to behave in class, even though sometimes it makes him an outsider to his friends. He should work on his frustration levels--he tends to get frustrated pretty easily.

What! (don't ask, he just says this a lot, and always with an exclamation point) is probably a level 4 for me. He likes to laugh and he's good at making other people laugh, too, but he is, by far, the most disrespectful child in the class.

Layla (based on the Clapton song) is also about a 4 for me. She speaks her mind and is not afraid to make mis-takes, but she needs to work on a productive way to make her voice heard--she speaks out of turn and interrupts a lot.

Ned (who is a girl with Asperger's syndrome) is about a 7 for me. She is an excellent student (a great speller!) and she works very hard on her social skills in class. However, she tends to respond to insults with physical aggression and is not great at holding her temper.

Wicked (who we've met before) is another 4. She seems very self-assured for a student of 9 years of age and seems to be a true individual already. I'd like to see her speak out more in class.

So moving on to Wednesday-I played hookey on Wednesday and spent my time at Central Crossing High School with one of my colleagues English and Drama classes. Her students have been studying poetry, and she invited Sneak, a spoken word poet and a rapper to show her classes some of the different faces of poetry. The whole day was beyond wonderful--but here are some of my specific observations about the time. Wise (the teacher) starts her first period class with an incredible amount of energy. She told me later that this was necessary for this particular class. After the first performance, Wise opened up the floor for questions, and when the students weren't yet comfortable asking, she came up with some really insightful questions of her own. "You want to tell us a little bit about your creative process? I'll bet some of you (the audience) are wondering where he came up with that?"

Sneak also said some pretty awesome things that I wanted to take note of: "Writing gives me a sense of my past." He also suggested that to get themselves started on writing they should write down the last 20 memories they have...or 20 random things, and try and construct a poem out of it. He says, "just write and write and write and write and write...." He also talked about the possibility of several interpretations to one piece of work. He says, "You write something, and someone latches on to it, and it's a part of them now, instead of being a part of you."

In the acting class later that day, Sneak turned it into a bit of an open forum. One kids came up and told jokes, a girl sang and then beat-boxed to Sneak's rap, and then we played some theatre games. First they played the genre game, which is where you take a well know fairy tale and tell it through song---the audience gets to choose the style of song the story is told in. Then the machine, which is where one student starts with a noise, then each other student joins in when appropriate with a corresponding noise, so soon everyone's noises all blend together. Then Wise's class play a game that I was unfamiliar with--the ABC game. The students line up in two single file lines facing each other, and the student teacher gave them a situation. This time it was two people breaking up. The first student has to start their line with A, the next with B, then C, and so on. When the front pair messes up, they are moved to the back of the line and then next two must pick up with the same situation at the letter the first two left off with.
Later that day, I got a chance to talk to Wise a little bit about how she built her program (she was hired on when the school opened and built her own program from the ground up) and I got to chat a little with her stage manager for their upcoming show.

The whole day was a nice change of pace for me. The 4th graders are growing on, there' s no questions about that, but it was nice to be back in an environment where I felt completely comfortable. I know how important it is to challenge myself and step outside of my comfort zone, but sometimes it's just nice to go home, you know? I spent all of my undergrad immersed in my love of all things costume, prop, set, lights, Shakespeare, moments, emotion, and now I teach multiplication facts. And picture books. Which is fine, in its own right, but I miss theatre. I got into this program to share my love of theatre with others, and so far, this is first chance I've gotten to do that. It made me long for spring to come.

Thursday I was back at Indianola, and I had two attempts at drama throughout the day. This was the first time that MissTeacher and I were going to expose these specific kids to drama, and so off we went. I'm interested in starting a drama of The Composition with some of the kids that get left behind when the majority of the class goes to choir on Thursdays. I started out by telling the kids that we were going to be look at the book and I started with the cover. The first problem was that the children were promised fifteen minutes of free computer time that day, and they wanted that right away---as opposed to my want that we start the drama. The second problem was that the teacher was out of the room--dealing with a situation in the bathroom with one of the students. We began by talking about what a composition was--Maniac reminded me that it meant, "an essay." Once that was established, we moved on to discuss the cover of the book. Mantis told me that there were soldiers, like in the Civil War, where the black people fought the white people for their freedom. I asked him if that's what the people in the Civil war fought about...he said, "No, I know that the North people fought the South people about freedom, but my mom says it's kinda funny because some of the people who were fighting for freedom actually owned slaves." I thought that this was a great observation for one so young, but right after that point two boys got into a wrestling match on the floor. There seemed nothing I could do to stop it. I asked them to stop. I told them to stop. I raised my voice. I threatened to send them both to PEAK (which is the disciplinary room in the school). I then told them to go to PEAK. Nothing I could do, probably short of phsyically tearing them off of one another, made a difference. They weren't fighting--it was playful, but no one was interested in the drama after this was happening. MissTeacher entered the room and said, "I don't think these kids are ready for this--let me prepare them more for what we are going to do, and we'll move onto something else for now." She separated the two boys with a single word, (which amazed me after everything I had just tried to stop them--the power of being the teacher instead of just the teacher's helper) and let them go to the computer, where they spent the rest of their time playing. I think that I had such a low level of success because my planning was not adequate. Since this time, MissTeacher and I are going to discuss some real strategies and find a "hook" for these kids and we'll continue the drama another time.

When the rest of the class came back from choir, we started the second attempt at drama. MissTeacher prepared the group by telling them about drama and what was expected of them. She told the kids that she uses a lot of drama in her classroom, and it can be very fun and very useful for learning, but only if they offered complete cooperation. She made sure that they understood that they hadn't yet started drama because they had all been working together to create a classroom environment and community that would support drama for learning. Everyone wanted to participate except for the child who had the issue in the bathroom earlier. He sat on the outside of the rug at the kidney table and was instructed to listen quietly. The basis behind the book we chose for the drama, Goose Moon, was to get the kids to think about the passage of time while something migrates. The kids had spent a lot of time learning about the experiences of their butterflies that were released as they travelled to Mexico. What kinds of things happnened to them along the way, what kinds of dangers they faced, what did they eat, etc. Now we wanted them to think about what happens to them in their own lives during this time. It takes the animals about two months to reach their destinations and then it is almost a year before they return. The book chronicles the activities of a young girl and her grandfather while they wait for the geese to return and summer to begin. We read for a while, stopping to discuss and ask questions, talk about the pictures and such, and then we reached a page where it is the first snow of winter and the girl plays outside. The kids seemed interested in winter activities, so we stopped to make tableaux of things that happen in the winter. We allowed the children to choose their own groups an dplaced any extraeneous child in different groups. Bug boy didn't have a group that day, so we asked three girls who are all friends if he could join their group. They welcomed him into the group and immediately began arguing about what scene to represent. Bugboy wanted to have a snowball fight, but the girls wanted to be having a holiday party. I suggested they might be able to do both, and they all nodded at set off to work. Bugboy is one of the "fringe" kids. He doesn't ever seem to interact willingly with the other children, and so it wasn't a real surprise to me that we had to find him a group. Their scene ended up being the girls having a holiday party while he stood outside and threw snowballs at the window to disrupt them. A real statement on his outsider status, I thought, which they were able to portray while still including him in the group and all coming to a decision together.

Looking around the room, it was pretty noisy. MissTeacher came up to me when she saw the slightly panicked look on my face and reminded me that if I listened closely, I would see that it was loud, and admittedly chaotic, but everyone was engaged with the task at hand. She doesn't usually let them run around the classroom, but since everyone was focused on the task she forces herself to be okay with the chaos...this is something that I definitely need to work on! I noticed the Qman-who didn't want to participate, edging closer and closer to one of the groups, trying to hear what was going on...so I went over to them and asked if he could join their group. He jumped right in, and at that point, we had 100% engagement. It was AWESOME!

Then we asked the kids if they wanted to have us come around the room and look at their scenes or if they wanted to show them to everyone. Everyone wanted to see the other's, so we set up a small stage on the rug. MissTeacher reminded the students of good audience behavior, and the first group got up to show us. I counted down 3, 2, 1 click with my imaginary camera and the students froze. We asked what they saw. Some of the students tried to guess what the scene was representing, and some had no idea what might be going on. I thought it might be fun to see what was going on, but I didn't want them to just tell us, so I explained that I was going to enter the picture, and see what was happening. I instructed the frozen students that I was going to touch them on the head, and when I did, I wanted them to tell me what the person in the picture would be saying if there was sound. This was quite successful and we did this with each group. After all of the groups had gone, we asked the kids to do some writing about waht might happen in their lives over the next six months, which would be when the geese would come back in the story. Everyone got to work, and it was amazingly quiet (more so than usual) as the kids wrote. The only problem that I saw was BugBoy, who has a bit of a problem with writing. He thinks on a very deep level, but can't seem to translate the words to the page. MissTeacher asked him to write what he was thinking, but he just told us "I don't like writing" over and over again. He turned in a blank journal. Hopefully we can work on this.

One thing that I noticed while the kids were doing their still photos for us was that a girl who had informed us that the young girl in the story who had been breaking off and licking the icicles from the room shouldn't be doing that. It's bad for you, and those come from rain and rain has chemicals and dirt in it. She was the only child in the still photos who was happily licking an icicle. What a powerful way to show that drama is a place where you can experience things that might not be safe or allowed in real life!

At the end of my day, when I was packing up and leaving, I noticed Dynamo out in the hall. We had just completed a spelling exercise that was a challenge for him, and he had gotten very frustrated and upset while we were working. I asked him why he was out in the hall and he informed me that he was supposed to go to PEAK, that the teacher had requested it. I was skeptical of this, so I said, "You know, Dynamo, I can always go and ask her if that's true." So we went along to PEAK and she informed that he had told her he was sent there. So we went back out in the hallway and I tried to get him to reenter the class. He resisted, saying, "I don't want to go back in there, I always fail at everything." As my heart broke a little, I suddenly seized him and said, "No, you don't! I can think of at least three, and probably a lot more examples of how you were a success today. Remember this morning, when I asked you to go and get your lunch stick and you said, 'Oh, okay' and went right away? And you worked so hard with your group on your still photo, and it was excellent! Everyone in the class loved it, and you were so still with a straight face! You were the only kid in the class who was able to pose in the photo for so long without laughing or moving. I thought you did great work today, and I'm not about to let you say that you're a failure when I saw success all over you today!" He seemed to brighten only a little at this, but he allowed me to lead him back into the classroom. I'm not sure what happened afterwards, because I had to run to class, but at that point, all I could do was tell MissTeacher what he had said, and know in my heart and in my head that she'll take care of it. She's made for that kind of support. I'll ask her tomorrow when I return...and more adventures to come...

Monday, October 09, 2006

This week started off nicely. MissTeacher started off the day by having the children sit on the rug and asking them to "sit where they could listen and learn." One of the girls was still chatting with her friend, so MissTeacher made her move across the rug, "Please move quickly." Then we started the day off as we always do, with a proper good morning (in sign language) and a request for a peaceful day. Then we all took a deep breath, let it out, and "spelled P-E-A-C-E in our heads." This is something that we return to at many points throughout the day. I love this, spelling peace in our heads. It's a very simply assignment, and it generally works. Later in the morning, MissTeacher pulled Dynamo (one of the 'naughty' boys) aside to remind him to behave throughout the day. She spoke directly into his ear, like she was sharing a secret with him, and reminded him that if she had any problems with him throughout the day, she was going to send him directly to PEAK. She had been pretty lenient with him thus far, and today she was going to try something different so that he wouldn't be such a distraction to the other children.
The next activity (and the activity for the rest of the morning) was to make the children responsible for checking their unit folders to make sure that they had all the work that had been amassed so far and that it was all complete. I liked the way the children were made responsible for this.

Wednesday was kind of a hectic day because of the open house on Wednesday night for the parents. Some of the comments that MissTeacher made throughout the day really caught my attention. She uses language like "you need to be here to learn" and "your job is to..." "I'm waiting on __________ to do what I said." She is very direct in her comments, whether or not she names the offending party. I wrote down early on in the day that she seems to only call on kids who have their hands up, and I wanted to ask her about that. Immediately after that, she called on a boy that she knew wasn't listening. We talked about that later, and she explained her rationale for who she called on. Sometimes if she knows that someone knows the answer, and she doesn't have a lot of time, she'll call on them to speed along the process. She also notices who doesn't put up their hand very often and makes sure that if they do, she calls on them. That made sense to me, and I was glad I asked her, because I didn't notice that until she pointed it out.

Today there was some problems with transition, which is something that the students have been working on. MissTeacher simply reminded the students, "Transition" with a smile. That seemed to speed along the process. The students are really starting to respond with minimal prompting. I am amazed at the difference between these kids and the kids I met my first day.

Wednesday evening, MissTeacher and I had our first planning session for my using drama in the classroom. We picked out a book, Goose Moon, that I will incorporate into it. Each student is going to pick a student that migrates and learn about that animal. They are going to come up with questions about the animals and find answers to their questions. We're going to use the book, which chronicles a season in the lives of a family while the geese are gone off at their migration sites, to start the kids thinking about how long the animals are gone when they migrate. We might do some tableaux of the day in the life of the people in the story and we're still planning some other things. Then she said we should always do a reflection, maybe in this case writing about what their lives are like while their monarchs are travelling. We're going to have another planning session next week and then we'll do the drama the week after. I'll keep you updated to see how it goes.

Something else I did this week was take one hour and mark down all of the times that MissTeacher spoke to each individual student during that time span. She and I went over the data, and she was quite surprised by what I found. I'm not quite sure what I should be taking away from the exercise, but as soon as I talk to Storyman to find out why, I'm sure I'll understand. Until next week!

Monday, October 02, 2006

This week was a turning point for me in my process of observation so far. I'm sure it had a lot to do with Storyman coming in and observing with me on Wednesday, and then discussing it with me outside of the classroom. So nice to have someone else (who actually knows what they're doing) as opposed to my fumblings.

Tuesday started off pretty well. Gift(the gifted teacher) came in and taught a lesson on poetry. We introduced similes and kids wrote fill-in-the-blank poems for their use of similies. I was surprised at the level of comparison the kids were capable of. Qman-the writer in the class, wrote an incredibly advanced poem (which he asked me not to share online). He had me read it to the class so that no one would know he wrote it (although the kids are sharp-they knew anyway). The kids are going to acquire poetry pen pals from a neighboring school. The letters will culminate in a poetry jam. Gift gave us just enough info about what that is to keep me and all the kids intrigued with the promise to reveal more later.

Some things I noticed about the kids today--
Bugboy has a serious block about writing. He has no problems with reading or math, but when it comes time to write, he just spaces out and stares until the time is over, then turns in a blank page. When I asked him about it-he claimed "I don't do poetry." He has a similar statement for each writing assignment. I worry about that, and will discuss it with MissTeacher and co. tomorrow. There has to be something that I can work with him on to help him with his writing.

I noticed MissTeacher making exceptions to the "chair day" rules today, and she actually pulled me aside and told me about them. The kids have days that they can sit in chairs during rugtime, but two boys can sit in chairs always because otherwise they have trouble focusing.

Wednesday's comments are a mesh of what I wrote down and what Storyman and I discussed. The day started off kind of wonky because our very last caterpillar is hatching into a butterfly. I was actually out of the room when it happened, but the morning was spent watching it. We waited and waited, but eventually we had to put the cage up and focus on the lessons.

Some of the boys are making cards. Those Pokemon and Dragonball-z cards are all the rage right now, and some of the boys are making their own sets. I'm not exactly sure what they do...are they a game? Are they just collectors items? I will do some more research and report back. These are the same boys who refuse to read anything during independent reading time other than anime. As Sneak (my colleague) says, "At least they're reading."

Today we read a story about a migrating goose. His name was Luck. MissTeacher did a great job of engaging the children into the story, and Storyman pointed out later that she had at least 80% engagement at any given time. I noticed her using some of the conventions we learned in 644--stopping and asking questions throughout the text, pointing out metaphors and similes. Starbright, who always qualifies her answers with "I don't know but..." or "This is probably wrong but..." started to answer a question as "This is just a wild guess but..." MissTeacher jumped right in there with "I LOVE wild guesses!" This was an incredibly powerful teaching moment. In that little sentence, MissTeacher was able to encourage this child and any other who was listening to take risks, and not to be afraid of getting the "wrong" answer. It was such a beautiful moment that even I caught it. Throughout the reading of the story, she used different tones and inflections, repetitions of important lines, and wonderings in order to draw the students farther into the story. It was pretty cool. Storyman also noticed that MissTeacher takes the time to affirm everything that each student says. She might correct something, but she always validates each student's comments.

As for discipline during the day, I noticed that MissTeacher can ignore a lot that goes on. When something isn't directly affecting learning, she can just let it roll over. I am admiring of that, and hope that is something I can develop in my teaching style. Right now, I feel the need to quell every minor distraction, which, as I learned in classroom management, can sometimes take more time than the distraction itself. Something she said is "Don't let anyone take your learning time." This is very cool language. It stresses that your learning time is precious, and it belongs only to you, so don't let anyone interfere with it. She also smiles and laughs a lot, but can be authoritative when it is needed. She always says, "Stop talking, please."

Some things that Storyman wants me to look at in more depth. Make a chart of my students...give myself a score on how well I know them (from 1-10). List one thing about them that's really impressive and one thing that they need to work on. Also mark down how many times MissTeacher talks to each student in an hour (which is something that she also said that she is extremely interested in). I should also follow Irving Goffman (sp?) and look at everything through the lens of how it will make me a better teacher. I am also going to pay close attention to the kinds of questions that are being asked in class, by both the students and the teacher. What kinds of follow-up questions are being asked?

Those are some things to come in this blog as I spend my time in the fourth grade. He also wants to me to visit some of the younger grades, too. Maybe I can get out of that...(wink). We all know my tolerance level for young children. Maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised...a few more weeks, and I'll be able to go into it with a completely open mind. See you next week!