Changes over Time

I find it hard sometimes to see where I have been and where I am now. Life is ever changing and I am that onion, peeling each layer as time goes by.

My son is not so little anymore! He is a teenager! How does that happen I hear so often! When you have a child you realize time flies and you only get so much time to be in their life.

They start out by needing you constantly. They need you for survival. As they grow, they test every boundary you set, that is if you have a child like mine! I love my child dearly and would not change, well let me rephrase that, I might change a few things.

The one who has changed in this relationship is me! He has pushed me to be a better version of myself and at times totally change my thinking. What a true blessing for me to continue to change. He gives me my highest highs and lowest lows. I can’t parent him the way my parents parented me. Believe me, I have tried and it turned out horribly!

What is not horrible is the way he thinks. The way he sees the world. The way we can talk about the same thing with different perspectives. I have lived a lot of my life, he is just beginning his. What a blessing to watch him. I can only watch him is I stay in the present. I can’t project into the future, well, I can, but I won’t.

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Just do it!

Last year I was so connected with the world out side my classroom.   This year, not so much!   Why?   I could go into a million reason or excuses, but I am not going to.   I just have to change it.  

I want to get back to being connected to other educators outside and inside of my building.  I want to find the excitement inside of me!  

One could blame, but I just got tired.  That is just what it is,neither good or bad just tired.  I do know what to do and only I can find it in myself to do.   Jump in!  Do the Nike commercial, Just Do It!   Then deal with the consequences.     

Get excited about learning  and it will become contagious.  The kids will want to come to school and so will I.  Rather then thinking about how many days we have left this year.  I want to dread the end.   

Change

Ninteen years ago, my classroom had tables.  I taught kindergarten then.  The space was small, very little storage, and packed with 24 five year olds.   The table were neatly arranged.   Half way into the year I got three computers.   They had one program and I thought I had the world!   

Today, I have a Smartboard, 13 iPads, one MacBook Pro, and one chrome book.  My classroom is huge.  I have tall tables and short tables.  I have bean bag chairs and pillows.  The children are now 8 years old, 21currently, as I have moved from kindergarten to first grade, to second grade.  

I am on my second math curriculum.  I am looking at my third reading cirriculum. I no longer teach science. I am on my second principal.   I now have an SLO, PPG, and lord only knows what else.

I have taught at the same school for all, of my nineteen years.   We have a new school that was built in 2000, I think!  

Change is always.  That is the one constant in my life.  I how have a five year old son.  I live in the country!  My life is good, no it really is Great.  



Two weeks off

What a wonderful time if year for just taking a break! I get this week to just be me! I am not a teacher this week! Well, I am to my son, but not a group. I have made several hats and several scarves. I have watched a lot of television. My brain for the most part is mush!
I wish, I could just take the time, but I am always thinking about how to teach better. How do I help them be their best! How do I push without pushing them over the edge!
Here comes the word, “balance” is the way to go.

First Quarter Done

The first quarter of the second grade class of 2025 is in the books! Literally and figuratively their grades are posted. I struggle each time I have to fill out these reports.
Someone works hard and studies all weekend for a test on Monday. They do their best and get a 76%. When I was a kid that was a “C.” Today it is a “basis.” I know it is what it is, just a grade. And no the one test does not determine the grade on their report card.
With the Common Core Standards do we need a report card? Why not, if I could just put something out there, just have a check list. Once you master a standard, you move to the next. Simple in my mind.
In the business world do people get grade like advanced, proficient, basic, and minimal for their work every quarter? I do not know as I do not work in that world. My world is filled with; He says he’s not my friend, She looked at me and I didn’t want her to! Also, my tummy hurts!

Fast and Faster

Wow, the school year is off to a flying start. The kids are ready to learn and as a teacher I am on the move. The assessment are getting done! I feel like I am moving at a break neck pace! If I feel that way, can you imagine what it might feel like to be 7 years old. Or my 5 year old son who really doesn’t get why he can’t just go back to the daycare he has been in all his life!

Can I slow down! Yes, I have to or the kids and I will go nuts! If it not fun, then why do it? We have to have conversations about what we are learning or I feel like I am moving from one thing to the next.

Just reading the above paragraphs makes me feel a bit perplexed! Monday, ah Monday is international Dot Day! The book is so wonderful. Please sign your name, all artists sign their name. Can I pull it off? Can I incorporate Dots into my whole day?

I am not sure, but as I tell my student, if I do not try you will never know! You may never know what you might learn. So, Monday will be Dot Day. I will wear Dots on my shirt. I will slow down and breathe! I will take my son to visit his friends at daycare. I will sign my name on my work!

Day of Practice

Today is the day before my son starts kindergarten and I return to school as a second grade teacher. So today is official known as a day of practice. The first thing this morning, I asked my son, do you want to practice for tomorrow?

Of course I made it sound exciting! It is rather easy to make anything exiting to a five year old. We started by choosing what he wanted for breakfast. Lucky Charms and a GoGurt. We talked about eating all the cereal not just the charms! It is the same conversation my mother had with me, many years ago. Guess what, it still does not work. There are many oats left in the bowl, but NO charms!

While he was eating we chatted about making a chart for this week about what he would eat for breakfast each day. I know this may sound a little obsessive and it could be, but this will be the first time my son eats breakfast at home. He has always eaten at daycare prior to this. The list is done!

Next on our practice agenda, getting dressed. We talked about getting our clothes out the night before. That way we don’t have to make any decisions in the morning. He seemed to like this idea and quickly choose his clothing for the day. Five minutes on the Wii and he got dressed. Then he went to brush his teeth! To my total dismay there was no yelling, screaming or crying! I guess I am growing up!

We will practice getting into the car with our backpack, iPad, and his blanket later. Today went extremely smooth! Tomorrow, I hope will too!

WOW

Wow,is all I can say after the night of Open House! Our school was a buzz with the sound of laughter. The spectacular sound of children’s laughter. The kind the pulls you in no matter what is going on with you and makes you smile both inside and out! I love that laughter!

Now the challenge of teaching! Keeping that laughter, innocents, and passion alive in all that I teach and work with. I ask myself, is this really a challenge of teaching or rather of life? Maybe it is some of both, but I digress and must get back to the topic at hand, kids!

How do I keep that laughter inside of them going? I think and reflect on my day and know that I can give something I do not have. If I don’t have the laughter in me, I can not give it. They give it to me and my friends give it to me. A gift given to share!

Laughter, is this what this all about! Being able to laugh at myself? Oh, when I make those mistakes, and I do make them, will I be able to laugh? I sure hope so! When they miss the whole point of my perfectly planned lesson, will I be able to laugh? When they do not get the math lesson even after I have retaught it three different ways, will they still be able to laugh?

Maybe, it is not the laughter I strive to keep in them, rather passion and love for learning that I feel inside of me! Can I give them all pieces of me! Yes, and they will give pieces of themselves to me!

What a simply amazing job of I have and how blessed am I?

Ready to Go

I have spent the better part of this summer making educational connections. It has been great. Now it is time for the rubber to hit the road.

I have my class enrolled in Edmodo, kidsblog, and I am looking into khan academe. I have relationship building activities for the first week. I have written my Welcome Letter. I have mailed that letter along with my student and parent questionnaires. I have all their names on a chair. I have a cabinet or crate for each of them to put their belongings into. Their names are on their cubbies.

I feel like I am forgetting something! I can not put my finger on it! The first book is picked out. Then there is always my favorite book. Oh, I have my video to introduce me done. I plan to have to students work with a partner to make their own videos.

Water, I do not have water in my mini refrigerator. That I can do today! Anything else? I know all 22 students by name. I have studied their pictures. I know I will mix them up, so I have name tags made for the first three days. I should make them for ten days. I will do that!

I have my outfit picked for the first day! Another first day of school. I have had several, but now I a so excited! I am the teacher who gets to learn from a new group of children. I wonder what they will teach me this year?

Bring on the LEARNING!