Ms. Issippi

Best and Worst

2007-05-27T15:13:00.000-04:00

The best and worst parts of first grade, as written by the 2/3 of my class that showed up on the last day of school. (This year I forgot to say that parties couldn't be written down as the best part of first grade. Last year I believe that I told them they could only write down learning activities...)

The best part of first grade was when we had a Dance Party because I like parties.
The best part of first grade was when we had a party. Do you remember when we had a dance party? I liked when we had May Day Play Day. I liked when we put the names on the reading board.
The best part of first grade was when we planted flowers.
The best part of first grade was reading. I like Sir Small and the Dragonfly.
The best parts of first grade were when we had a party and when I read a book.
The best part of first grade is when we do calendar. Calendar is my favorite thing.
The best part of first grade was when A-- and me made the purple paper. I liked when we planted some flowers. I liked when we sounded the words.
The best part of first grade was when we had a party. I was so happy we filled up our marble jar.
The best part of first grade was when Ms. Hayes did a silly dance to Tooty Ta.
The best part of first grade was when we had the party. It was a great day at the party. We had chips and juice.
The best part of first grade was planting flowers. I like: taking AR tests, reading books, making 100 on tests, having a dance party, putting words on Ms. Hayes’s desk and on the walls, reading word wall, and having a costume party.

The worst part of first grade was word wall, because it takes too long.
The worst part of first grade was when we ate some hot chili. The worst part of first grade was when ms. Hayes do some silly dances.
The worst part of first grade was when we were at the Planetarium. I couldn’t hear what she was saying.
The worst part of first grade was when we do not read. I like to read so my brain can get bigger and bigger.
The worst part of first grade was when we went home from school.
I don’t like word wall.
The worst part of first grade was when Ms. Hayes yells. The worst part of first grade is when children talk.
The worst part of first grade was when we were doing math.
The worst part of first grade was when we was doing word wall.

Zoo Trip!

2007-05-16T23:00:00.000-04:00

Thank you so much to everyone who donated money to help fund the first grade's trip to the zoo. Everyone had a fantastic time. The favorite animals were an enormous python who was in the process of shedding his skin, the monkeys who ran up and banged on the windows of their enclosure when the students got close, and the baby giraffe (and his blue tongue.) We also stopped by the "aquarium" part of the zoo (only one room, but it had a catfish in addition to the tropical fish), and the "farm" part of the zoo, where a goat came close enough to be petted. The zoo class was also a big hit. The kids got to see and touch a snake, a chinchilla, a hedgehog, and a chicken. Here are a few pictures from the trip...

Integration

2007-04-23T23:34:00.000-04:00

I just saw a link to this article about the integration of prom in a town in Georgia. There are some absolutely stellar quotes from (white) students rationalizing their separate proms.

(Sorry for all of the links lately... I'll update with class news soon.)

Thank You!

2007-04-22T13:22:00.000-04:00

A great big thank you to anyone who contributed to my DonorsChoose Grant to take my kids to the zoo in two and a half weeks. I'm so excited to go, and I know they are going to have a great time!

In other news, check out this New York Times article about infant mortality in the South. They talk almost exclusively about the Delta. And it is totally true -- at least two of my students have had baby brothers or sisters who died.

The health of the people in my area is very poor. Proper nutrition is a large part of the problem. Mississippi is the fattest state, in large part because people primarily eat junk food. My students are normal-sized because of the high metabolisms of childhood, but my friends who teach middle and high school say that many of their students are over-weight. I find some of my students sneaking candy during class. I've pulled melted chocolate bars from pockets. I have to keep my reward candy out of reach because otherwise it disappears into sneaky, sticky fingers. My assistant has taken over two drawers of my file cabinet with her junk food -- generic-brand cheetos and oreos and powdered-sugar mini-doughnuts, which she sits and eats in the back of the classroom. Her school bag frequenty contains gallon-ziploc bags of Kit-Kats and Butterfingers. As you might expect, this, and inadequate dental care (all of Mississippi is considered to be lacking dental care professionals), also leads to tooth decay, as I've mentioned before.

Exploring Animals

2007-04-11T18:42:00.000-04:00

DonorsChoose just posted my third proposal on its website. I would like to bring the whole first grade to the zoo at the end of the year, but since the closest zoo is over an hour away in Memphis, costs (especially for the busses) are prohibitively high. Please consider giving a few dollars to help fund this trip!

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=88440

Important Things

2007-03-26T23:12:00.000-04:00

Today was "Parent Conference Day." We had a half day, but I had four kids who didn't come at all and two who came who needed to go immediately home (C- had a crick in his neck, I've never seen him cry in two years before, so it must have been pretty bad; J- was complaining of a stomach ache.) So my class was at the enormous size of 11. Instead of teaching everything again tomorrow, we did some other useful and interesting activities.

One thing we did was read the book, "The Important Book" by Margaret Wise Brown. Then my kids got to write their own paragraph about an object. Their answers were GREAT and completely their own (except in that they were following the format and we discussed describing words ahead of time.) I have fixed the spelling and some of the grammar, but here they are.

*****
GRAPE:
The important thing about a grape is that it is sweet. And it is
green. It tastes juicy. It is good. It has a stem at the top. But
the important thing about grapes is that they are sweet.

ORANGE:
The important thing about an orange is that you eat it. It tastes
juicy. The color is orange. It is bumpy. But the important thing
about an orange is that you eat it.

LEMON:
The important thing about a lemon is that it is really sour. It looks
like an oval. It smells good. The color is yellow. It feels bumpy.
But the important thing is that it is sour.

QUARTER:
The important thing about a quarter is that it is shiny. You can buy
something at the store. It has an eagle on the back. It costs 25
cents. But the important thing about a quarter is that it is shiny.

RING:
The important thing about a ring is that you wear it on your finger.
It sounds like ding-a-ding ding when you drop it. A ring is sparkly.
But the important thing about a ring is that you wear it on your
finger.

JUICE:
The important thing about juice is that you drink it. It is orange.
It makes me happy. It is wet. Sometimes it is made out of fruit.
But the important thing about juice is that you drink it.

SOCKS:
The important thing about socks is that I put them on my feet. The
sock feels good on my feet. It was fresh when you get it out of the
wash. It was stinking when it was on my feet. But the important
thing is that I wear the sock.

CAT:
The important thing about a cat is that it scratches. It is soft and
it is different colors. You can touch it and you can see it. You can
smell a cat. You can not taste it because it might be nasty and yucky
and gross. A cat can smell like anything. If you smell a cat the fur
will tickle you. It smells bad also. But the important thing about a
cat is that it scratches.

PLUM:
The important thing about a plum is that it has a nut in it. You can
eat a plum. Juice comes running down your face. It tastes juicy and
it is purple and it is sweet and it is a fruit. But it is still a
plum. The important thing about a plum is that it has a nut in it.

CORN:
The important thing about corn is that you put salt on it. It is
yellow. Corn is good to me. You buy corn at the store. But the
important thing about corn is that you put salt on it.

HAIR:
The important thing about hair is that it grows. When somebody pulls
your hair it hurts so bad. You hair is so soft and beautiful. You
hair is brown or black. Your hair is so pretty. But the important
thing about hair is that it grows.

Mmm, Juicy Plumps

2007-03-19T18:15:00.000-04:00

I struggle with my students' lack of vocabulary sometimes. Today I was frustrated by their apparent unfamiliarity with adjectives besides color words, good, bad, and words I've previously taught (like fantastic, sticky, and long). I had brought in a few objects and I was trying to elicit words about how they felt. Nobody could give me the word smooth, or any synonyms for it. They could tell me that the book was not rough or bumpy, but all I could get beyond that was that it felt good. As in,

K: "This book feel good, Mi' Hay'."
Me: "Why does it feel good?"
K: "Because I like for to touch it."
Me: "Why do you like touching it?"
K: "Because it feel good."
Me: "In what way does it feel good? Is it soft? Furry? Bumpy? Squishy?"
K: "No."
Me: "How does it feel?"
K: "I like to read books? They be helping you learn?"
Me: "Can you feel that with your hand?"
K: "Squishy?"
Me: "No..."

A few minutes later, we were discussing taste words. I described biting into an apple and having the juice run down my chin, and someone suggested juicy. Since some of the other students were unfamiliar with the word, I asked the class to name things that were juicy (and suggested some un-juicy things of my own to highlight the difference, like bananas.)

Rk-: "Plump."
Me: "Plums?"
Rk-: "Yeah, plumps."

Rv-: "Pear-ple?" (apple eating motion)
Me: "Pear...? Pineapple...?"
Rv-: "I mean pear. It look like an apple?"

Ken Light

2007-03-05T21:36:00.000-05:00

This was on Mr. Frailich's blog a while ago, but in case you didn't see it, a photographer took pictures of the Delta in the '90s that look as if they could have been taken 100 years ago... or yesterday. Check them out here.

A Crazy Afternoon

2007-03-01T22:11:00.000-05:00

My classroom was infested this afternoon, by a veritable army of winged ants. They were mostly not flying, but they were crawling around on the floor. R- noticed first. "An ant, Mi' Hay'!" she squealed, pulling her feet up off the floor (unlike in Massachusetts, where the ants are mostly innocuous, Mississippi ants almost all bite.) I stomped on it and showed her its little dead body. (We save the crickets by putting them outside, but I draw the line at ants.) And then I stopped thinking about ants.

For about ten minutes.

Then D- raised his hand. "There are some ants all over the floor," he told me. There were indeed. I decided that we would ignore it and continue with our nine-weeks science exam, with one modification: J-, who normally takes her tests on the floor by my desk (because otherwise she cheats), would sit in her seat instead. I was feeling creepy-crawly, the way you do when you see ants even if they aren't crawling on you, and I could see that my kids were feeling that way, too. And then I felt a sharp pinch on my leg. And then another one.

I got my assistant to take over test-reading duty (she's been remarkably helpful this week, after being very little help at all last week, and moderately helpful the week before that) and hightailed it to the restroom, where I stripped off my pants to shake out any ants and check on my welts. Then I went to the office to find the janitor (who has very toxic-smelling ant-killing spray) and the principal (to ask if we could relocate to the cafeteria.) Neither one was there. The principal was at a meeting at Central Office and the janitor was on his lunch break.

So I went back to the classroom and gathered up my students, our journals, and our pencils. We went to the cafeteria, where they were finishing mopping from lunch, and sat down at a table, much to the annoyance of the cafeteria staff, who informed me that they were not going to clean up after us (all we were doing was writing in our journals???) Instead of wasting the last hour of the day, we spent most of it revising our drafts of some stories. We were going to work on the collages we are doing to go with the stories, but the third graders came in for their "planning period."

Basically, that means that a class of third graders sat at a table in the cafeteria for the last half hour of the day, with nothing to do, basically unsupervised. They call it their "planning period" because that is what their teachers call it, although I don't really understand why the third grade teachers need a half hour more of "planning time" every day, especially if it means their kids are not doing ANYTHING (every class has a half hour per day of either computer lab or library.) Anyhow, the kids were already hyper because it was the end of a testing day during a testing week, and one of their teachers is (unfairly) suspended. An assistant teacher sat with them for a while, then he left for a while, then he came back and WRESTLED with another assistant to the cheering of the students, then he left again. I tried to get them to play the "quiet game," but it was really just too loud. By then the janitor had come back from his break and sprayed the room, so we went back for folder-passing and stamping and to read a little Charlie and the Chocolate Factory amid the ant-killing fumes.

United Female Empowerment Workshops

2007-02-25T21:10:00.000-05:00

For the past couple of weeks, I've been helping set up some workshops in Clarksdale for this Saturday. Yesterday, 52 kids from 4 counties gathered in Clarksdale and spent 6 hours going to 5 workshops on things they don't necessarily learn in school: nutrition, fitness, health (on puberty and STDs), gender stereotypes, body image and healthy relationships. Here are a few pictures:

Cutting Up Fruit in the Nutrition Station

Working Out in the Cardiovascular Health Class

Stretching after Cardio

Eating the Results of the Nutrition Station (Fruit Salsa)

Acting Out an Oprah Show on Body Image

Girls from the QC in their UFEW Shirts at the end of the day

Our Nine Weeks Tests

2007-02-20T20:06:00.000-05:00

I have pretty much reconciled with the fact that I give exams at the end of every quarter to my first graders. That means every nine weeks, I test my students on what they have learned during those nine weeks. I've even swallowed the fact that it has to be 25% of their grade for the quarter (like a final exam in college! absurd!).

But you can not tell me, during the 7th week of the quarter, that instead of being in the 9th week of the quarter, the exams will be during the 8th week of the quarter. To clarify, a memo was sent home to parents (note: teachers were not informed, except for the letter to parents we were supposed to distribute) that exams were moved up to next week instead of beign the week after that, as originally scheduled. Ummm... I still have a week's worth of material to cover! An eighth of my material for the quarter! Reading and writing and grammar are ongoing, but it is interrupting a 4-week math and science unit on measurement.

There has been no word about making tests, either. I went ahead and made a third nine weeks exam and a fourth nine week pretest (I create the math tests for the grade), because we won't hear about that, it seems, until the day before.

This craziness is not even close to the craziness in tested subjects and grades. From second grade upwards, all skills for the year are supposed to have been taught by this Friday, which will be the 126th day of school. In other words, teach 100% of the material in 70% of the time and then review for the last 30% of school. If you gave everything the time in merited in the first place, you wouldn't have to review for 30% of the year! Also, upper grades don't make their own tests, which means that teachers have no idea where to steer their students in order for them to perform well. It also means that testing timeliness is entirely dependant on Dr. R-, a former superintendant of another district who now oversees several struggling districts including mine. And she's not so timely and not so good at making tests that actually test what was supposed to have been taught.

Skin Color

2007-02-16T23:10:00.000-05:00

I've been trying to explain the terms "African-American" and "Black" in the context of our unit on Black Musicians, Writers, and Artists for Black History Month. We've talked about our unique differences and referenced grandma's grandma and so on. Every time I mention "black," D- raises his hand and tells me that he is brown. In January, we made a bulletin board for Martin Luther King's Birthday where each student picked the color construction paper that he/she thought best represented his/her skin color and cut out a hand for the border. We had red, pink, yellow, orange, white, light brown, dark brown, and black hands.

Anyhow, here is a very interesting video, written and directed by a 16-year old girl. My friend T- sent it to me. It talks about the perceptions African-American girls have about themselves, including their skin color. It is well-worth watching, and it's only about 7 minutes long. Watch it here.

PTO What?

2007-02-15T23:09:00.000-05:00

There was a PTO meeting tonight at my school. It wasn't much of a meeting, though, seeing as I was the only person there. Not the only teacher there, not the only white person there, the only person there.

Normally, the school sends home two or three reminders about PTO meetings and gets 6-10 parents. This month, they didn't send home any reminders, so they didn't get any parents. Not even the president, secretary, treasurer, etc.

I called the principal to see what the deal was, and he said there was supposed to be a meeting. The janitor was there to unlock/relock the doors. But nobody showed up.

I proposed, seconded, and unanimously passed a few binding resolutions, just for the fun of it.

AAVE

2007-02-11T16:18:00.000-05:00

I hear "Who that is?" and "On tomorrow, we be going..." and "I'm ain't touching her!" and "I can use it?" and things of that ilk all the time at school. And I'm torn between correcting and allowing that kind of talk in my classroom. On one hand, what I do doesn't really matter because next year, their teachers will not only not correct it, but they will use the grammar incorrectly themselves.

Here are two of the questions on a ten-question spelling test that I was supposed to give this week:

1. The girl's _____ is big. a. fete b. feat c. feet

2. She sits ____ by the chair. a. loaw b. low c. loow

On the other hand, it is important that the students learn conventional grammar. Or is it? Most likely, they will never leave the Delta, and people don't use conventional grammar in the Delta. I do want them to be able to function outside of the Delta, though. And I think that conventional grammar is important.

It's hard to teach it without putting down the way my students talk. I don't want them to think that they are speaking in a way that is wrong. It isn't wrong. It just isn't how the white majority talks. African American Vernacular English (AAVE), or whatever you want to call it (Ebonics, jive), is a complete grammatical system with as many, if not more tenses than standard English. (See the Wikipedia article on it.) I want them to know how to switch to standard English without marginalizing or losing their own way of speaking.

There was a whole big controversy with teaching AAVE in classrooms in Oakland, California, in 1996. The thing is, teaching children to read in their native tongue and then switching them to standard English actually was shown to improve reading scores in studies. It's a very touchy subject, though.

And where do I come in? I don't know or speak AAVE. I don't mark students down on reading tests if they read "He's my friend," as "He my friend," because that is a pronunciation issue with standard English that stem from fluency in AAVE (and not in Standard English.) But I can't teach the translations, because I don't know AAVE. And I can't teach in AAVE for the same reason. Also, I don't have any AAVE or brige books (books in a mix of AAVE and SE). And I won't have my kids for the rest of their school career, just for another short few months.

This past week

2007-02-11T15:59:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the long absence. I'm working on lots of different things right now, including a day of workshops for Delta girls, making my classroom even better, and getting a job for this summer and next year. And, of course, my taxes. Hurrah!

Here are a few moments from the past two weeks:

Reading:
I've beefed up independent reading time in my class. All but one of my students can read, and I would like them all to be reading above grade level by the end of the year. Right now, four are reading at or above the end-of-first-grade level. On the other end of the spectrum, K- isn't reading at all, and four students are reading at beginning-of-first-grade level. When my assistant or I meet with each student to check on how their reading is going and review the books they have been reading, I always have the students read me the title of their book and point to the author (since author's names are typically not on a first grade reading level.) But on Friday, D- was telling me about "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish." She told me proudly, "I know who is the author of this book! Dr. Soup!"

Math:
We began our unit on measurement this past week. Students were measuring around the classroom and even up and down the hallways using their feet, and they were very insightful about why different people were getting different measurements.

Music:
Because February is black history month, I decided to teach my students about some famous African-Americans. This past week, we studied some black jazz musicians (Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, and Billie Holiday), this week we are studing some black poets and artists, and next week we will look at some black sports stars. I decided not to focus on anyone from the civil rights movement because I know they will get that later on, and we already spent a week on Martin Luther King (and touched on Rosa Parks and Ruby Bridges) last month around his birthday. When I told the class that this month was Black History Month, and so we would be learning about some famous black people, D- looked at me and said, "I'm not black. I'm brown!" We can't really get into the discussion on the arbitrary nature of race assignments because they don't know enough about different races, so we had a little talk about how strange those titles "black" and "white" are, since the 3 "white" people in the class (me and two little girls) are not really white, and the 15 "black" people in the class are not really black, and they are not even the same color brown. On Tuesday, we listened to some Charlie Parker, I read the story "Charlie Parker Played Be Bop," and we tried to write real or make-believe words that sounded like Charlie Parker's music. On Wednesday, I asked who we had studied yesterday, and K-, the little boy who is so far behind and who has hearing difficulties, shot his hand into the air. "We listened to Be Bop!" he told me. "And who played it?" I asked. "Charlie Parker!" he responded. Score!

Feelings

2007-01-27T16:12:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to teach my children how to express their feelings more productively, which means that I have to teach them to identify their feelings first. Most of my students identify two emotions: happy and bad.

"Bad" can mean anything that isn't happy. When my students use mad/sad, they use them incorrectly about half the time. As in, "How would you feel if someone stole your crayons and then broke them on purpose?" "Sad." "G-'s grandma died. How do you think she's feeling today?" "Mad."

I want them to be able to identify the four major emotions correctly so that they can not only express what they are feeling, but we can work on different solutions for the three "bad" emotions -- scared, angry, and sad.

So after reading a story about a giraffe who is laughed at by his friends because he can't dance, I asked the students to write about something that made them sad. And after reading their responses, I don't know how *I'm* going to deal with this uncovering of feelings. Many didn't really understand, and just wrote things like, "Sometimes I feel happy. Today I am feeling happy because I am on superstar. Sometimes I feel sad." But others wrote about their parents fighting, their father dying, being left alone in their houses, and being hit by other adults.

Delta Dental

2007-01-24T22:27:00.000-05:00

We were making patterns today in math, with fruit loops. I gave explicit instructions not to eat the fruit loops. When we finished making patterns, I checked mouths for fruit-loop colored teeth so that I could let non-tainted teeth have some as a reward.

I was horrified.

Many of my students have completely rotten teeth. Caved in, cracked, brown. Or, on the flip side, coated in silver -- not fillings, silver back teeth. At seven.

There is a push, it seems, at the federal level, to provide health insurance for un-insured children. Does that include dental coverage? Because they don't have it now. I was shocked by the state of my kids' teeth today. I've never seen teeth that bad -- I'm surprised kids have teeth by the time they are 15, with mouths like that. Or that they can concentrate in school. It must be very painful. Two of them have broken their front teeth already this year (not in class, thank goodness.)

It turns out that "Give Kids A Smile Day" is a week from Friday, on February 2. I am, of course, too late to sign my class up to get free toothbrushes and toothpaste. Who knows if they would use them, anyhow?

Add it to the list of things to fix in the Delta.

100th Day of School

2007-01-18T19:35:00.000-05:00

Students in their vests, decorated with 100 objects.
Dancing for 100 seconds with 100 balloons.
My kids wearing vests (if they made them) and necklaces of 100 fruit loops.
Writing what we would do with $100.
Making fruit loop necklaces.

Walking through the number 100.

Food at School

2007-01-17T21:01:00.000-05:00

At the Parent-Teacher meeting last night, sparsely attended by about 5 teachers, 5 parents, and 5 administrators of various levels, the new "Wellness Plan," was unveiled. The wellness plan that Mississippi created focuses mainly on what will be served in our cafeterias, but evidently (there is a little confusion on my part here) it also carries over to food that can be served in class.

There was a list of approved vending machine snack items which my district seems to believe are also the only things allowable in classrooms. I completely agree that the breakfasts and lunches served in schools should be nutricious and balanced, and that candy should not be a daily treat. But I also think there is a time and place in every diet for a treat, and such treats are frankly quite useful in the classroom.

I give treats as follows: Fridays at lunch, anyone who scored a perfect score on their spelling test gets a piece of candy (a single Jolly Rancher or mini Tootsie Roll, for example.) If you have 5 days of perfect behavior, one of your choices for a reward is a piece of candy. Fewer than 25% of children choose this (most pick to have lunch with me.) When we fill up our marble jar: some sort of party. We have had 3 parties this year, two for marble jar fill-ups (one with cookies, juice, and chips, one with popcorn and cocoa) and another for the holidays (cookies and chips and juice.)

This really annoys me because tomorrow is the 100th day of school, and I'm not allowed to have cupcakes! I'm sure this will fade, as most of the more rediculous of district policies do, but as it has just been introduced, everyone is all about enforcement.

Last night, what annoyed me was our food services director telling us that we (the teachers) couldn't eat anything in front of the students that they could not have. Her example was eating a steak for lunch when they had hamburgers. Basically, it seemed, we are not supposed to eat anything except for school lunch in front of the kids. Well, I'm a vegetarian, and although she claims there are "3 fruits, 3 vegetables, and 3 meats" as choices at every lunch, I just don't think I should be forced to pay for sub-standard food that doesn't meet my dietary requirements. I do not ask that they serve me vegetarian main meal options, I ask that I can bring my own sandwiches and leftovers to eat. Also, those 3 vegetables are tiny containers of overcooked canned veggies or powdered mashed potatoes, and those 3 fruits are usually underwashed bruised apples or tinned peaches. And as for the "3 meats" -- it usually seems that there are 2 choices at the most. Today every single child in my class had a hamburger patty in liquid in a styrofoam bowl. Mmmm. No bun or anything. What is that?

Reading Buddies

2007-01-08T23:28:00.000-05:00

Last week, during "pretesting," when we weren't supposed to teach anything and the third grade didn't rotate teachers, Ms. C- and I arranged to have her 3rd graders read to my 1st graders (and help the 1st graders read to them.) It was so great, and all of the kids loved it, and they read non-stop for almost an hour, that we did it again the next day (for a little less time, though.) Hopefully it will be come a regular occurence, maybe for 1/2 an hour a week.

Dear Santa

2007-01-08T22:59:00.000-05:00

Better late than never, right? Here are most of them. I'd put pictures but they have names on them. Most of the coloring is nothing special, though. My kids this year just don't love to color like my kids last year did.

Dear Santa Claus,
Santa Claus and you please bring me a XBox 360. Santa Claus I be good. Santa Claus we learn in school. Santa Claus we learn, learn, learn, learn, learn, and learn. Santa Claus I want to be on the good list. Santa Claus wear a red suit and a red pair of pants.
(He was so interested in how much he was learning he forgot to sign it.)

Dear Santa,
We saw you on the fire truck. We missed you so much. You are nice. We love you so much. I like your sweater. Will you come at the front door.
Love, K
(Fire was spelled "fiy" which would be pronounce "Fie-yah" which is exactly how the kids would say it.)

Dear Santa,
I been good. I want a dog please. Plears give Mr. Hayes a car. My mom want a Expedition (SUV) please. I want some bling bling. I want a XBox 360 please.
Love, J
(Mr. Hayes? Bling bling is flashy jewelery. This is from a boy.)

Dear Santa,
How are you Santa? Santa I want a computer and a baby doll that turns around. I was good today. I want a bike. Santa I want 6 rings.
Love, A "hoho!"
(The hoho is hers, not mine.)

Dear Santa,
Could you bring me a sled? I want a scooter and a angel necklace and a chalk board and a table set and four Cinderella chairs and a trampoline. Have a Merry Christmas, Santa.
Yours Truly, R
(Trampoline = chumplean)

Dear Santa Claus,
I want for Christmas six rings for me. Then I wish I have a new Dictionary. We work really hard. My teacher help me learn. She help us with our work.
Love, R
(The way she puts words together is just... odd.)

Dear Santa Claus,
How are you doing today Santa Claus? I have a tree in my house. Please give me computer and a princess. I do not look at my presents. Can you bring me a purse of a princess? M- wants a ball. I don't going to open my presents. And I want Dora.
Love, Y
(Someone told her not to look for her presents before Christmas!)

Dear Santa,
I want a star. I been good. I want a dog. I want a ring. My I have a present? I want 5 rings. Thank you. Will you bring me a ring?
Love, L
(I think she may want... a ring?)

Dear Santa Claus,
I been good this year. I want it to snow today. I want a star. Please give me a star for Ms. Hayes. Santa Claus I want a car. I want six rings.
Love, D
(The car is for her dad.)

Dear Santa Claus,
Can you give me a baby doll? I was so good please can you put me on the good list. Ho ho ho here he comes. Can you give me some rings.
Love, R
(She has trouble with question marks.)

Dear Santa,
Please give me a Dora Talking Kitchen. Please give me a baby doll. Please give me a umbrella. Because I am nice I play with my brother and sister.
Love, T
(She looked up how to spell umbrella in the dictionary.)

Dear Santa Claus,
I want a playstation 2 please. I work really hard for you and Christmas. I want to be on the nice list. I will love you. My family want the presents beside my couch so I can see it. I live in Shelby. Brick house.
Love, D
(Couch=kowch. Playstation=playstashun. So good!)

Selling Stuff

2007-01-07T14:22:00.000-05:00

A couple days ago, some vendors came to my school. The principal came on the loudspeaker to the teachers to ask them to stop by on their "free period" (aka planning time, where you are supposed to be working on your room, or tutoring, etc.) Anyhow, the vendors were in the cafeteria, so it was impossible to avoid them at lunchtime.

This is the fourth or fifth time this has happened this year, and I really resent it. If I worked at a mall, I would expect to be solicited by those vendors in the middle of the hallway while I walked to my store. But I work in a school and I don't get paid very much money.

Previous vendors were trying to sell school-related-ish things like personal art kits or educational video games (neither of which I could imagine using in my class, because we need industrial-sized art kits and video games they get enough of at home.) Those vendors sat on the stage and were only minimally bothersome (because the kids were asking about them.)

These vendors interrupted my lunch, one of the only times during the day when I don't need to be interacting with anyone, to try to sell me scrapbook albums and halogen lanterns. Neither of those things is remotely connected to teaching. The school is not offering to buy things for us. I do not think it is at all appropriate to allow people into the school to sell things to the staff unless:
1. It is school supplies and the school will be paying.
2. It is a fundraiser (like donuts) for a school event for our students.

I should not feel even a little pressure at school to be spending my money. Peddle your wares a place where people go to shop. Not where people go to work.

Letters

2006-12-20T01:09:00.000-05:00

We've been learning about writing letters in class. First, I wrote them a letter. Then they wrote me letters. Then I wrote them each letters back and they identified the parts of the letter. Then we wrote a letter together. Then they wrote letters to Santa.

Here are some excerpts from their letters to me (as written):

"You my favrit tesher. You make me get smart every day. Every day my bran get bigger. this is my favrit class. I love this class so mush."

"We rad a book. Sometimes it is hot in the class room."

"Ms. H- gives us homework. I love homework. I like homework to do at home. Ms. H- is a good techer."

"I like going to the movies with Ms. H- but she said on Sunday on the 10th but I can weight until Sunday."

"I want to be a funny people. We have air so we can breeth. I will come to school. I will gives some milk."

"I will give Ms. H- a car. I will give Ms. H- a dog. I love school so muth. I will fix Ms. H- ded cat. I will be a nis boy and I will sta on sup sr every day" (super star behavior)

"Ms. H- like to play with us. Sometimes she put an A at us. I like her shos."

Coming soon... letters to Santa.

I'm Is Proficient

2006-12-20T01:03:00.000-05:00

(J- was in my class last year.)

Me: "How did you do on your 9-week tests?"
J: "I'm is proficient!"
Me: "'I'm is?'"
J: "I... are... proficient!"
Me: "You... are."
J: "I... am."
Me: "Good..."

Christmas Assembly

2006-12-16T17:09:00.000-05:00

We had a Christmas assembly on Thursday, where the Kindergarten presented. Kindergarteners are cute and all, but they should never be the focus of an assembly. Their memorization and performance skills are... limited. But it was pretty cute, and kept mostly to the cutesy-Christmas stuff, although we did delve into the Scripture and definetely got to hear a few songs about baby Jesus.

But what else could I have expected? I still find it completely inappropriate for the school to be doing anything religious without either including various religions (still iffy) or just avoiding religious altogether. As I said at Thanksgiving, not everyone everyone is a Baptist. And not everyone attends church. The principal keeps reminding us (in the wak of the abuse scandals) that we can't do anything to a kid that we "wouldn't want done to our own kids." Well, I wouldn't anyone to try to instill religious beliefs that were not my own into my children.

The first grade will be presenting the "Spring" assembly. After the Christmas assembly, it dawned on my that this meant the "Easter" assembly, which in turns means we're probably expected to talk aobut the rising of a certain J. C. I don't know how the first grade teachers will respond to this. We have two teachers who fall into the church-going Mission Baptist crowd, but the other two don't. I am not particularily religous and I oppose any religious instruction or celebration in secular schools, and one of the other teachers is a Jehovah's Witness, so she doesn't celebrate things like birthdays and holidays. However, I'm pretty sure all 4 assistants are part of the MB crowd.

In the meantime, I'm looking for "spring" songs and possibly some lifecycle skits (maybe we can act out the hungry caterpillar book?).

How Many Wreaths is Too Many Wreaths?

2006-12-10T22:48:00.000-05:00

It's a little hard to see in this picture from my camera phone, but this house has 3 wreaths in every window...

Bowling!

2006-12-10T22:46:00.000-05:00

We were able to go bowling instead of to the movies, and the two children that I managed to bring seemed to have a good time. We were bumper bowling, and it's really hard for the stronger person not to win at bumper bowling, but I managed to come in last through a concerted effort in our second game.

No Movies for You

2006-12-10T12:17:00.000-05:00

It's take-a-trip-with-the-teacher Day. So I called the movie theater so that I would know which movie we were going to, in case parents asked.

The movie theater has gone out of business. Sh*t.

There is a movie theater in Clarksdale, where I live, but it doesn't show movies in the afternoon, and, from what I've heard, it's not a safe place to go anyhow. Besides, it only has 2 screens and it doesn't waste them on kid movies. The next closest movie theaters are over an hour and half drive away. One in Oxford, MS, where Ole Miss is, and one in Greenville, MS, the biggest city in the Delta and the 6th biggest city in MS (at about 40,000 people).

So I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Bowling, perhaps? Evidently there is a bowling alley in Clarksdale, and I know there is one in Cleveland, but I don't know if they are open on Sundays. The other option, I guess, which is the current forerunner because I know it is an option, is to take the kids to get ice cream and then just go to the library in Clarksdale. But it really seems kind of lame compared to going to the movies.

Last time we went to the movies, someone asked if my kids had ever been to the movies before. I think about half, if not more (you can't really trust what first graders say) have never been. Now that there is no movie theater for them to go to within an hour's drive, I expect that number to plummet. I feel like it is a slap in the face to the people who thought the Delta was improving, even a little bit, to lose the only movie theater in the area. Cleveland is supposed to be a city that is maintaining, if not growing, because of the college. But I guess that is not the case.

Incidents

2006-12-08T23:39:00.000-05:00

The other TFA teacher at my school, who taught at the middle school last year, was suspended for 2 days this week because she pulled a hysterically laughing child who was rolling on the floor in her room out into the hallway. The mother wanted to sue for child abuse, which makes me nervous because the sister of the offending boy is in my class, but since the child was not injured in any way, no dice.

The superintendant even admitted that the teacher is a good teacher, with high test scores and very few discipline problems. The problem, it seems, is that she is white. The black teachers at my school can (unofficially) paddle, swat, push, pull, curse, threaten, and pinch. But when you are white, you had better watch yourself.

Another "incident" happened the same week that the TFA teacher pulled T- out of her room. This one was with a black teacher, who actually did hurt the child. And her punishment was almost exactly the same as the punishment for the white teacher who didn't hurt the child at all. The upshot is that behind-closed-doors paddling/pinching/cursing out has now been officially ordered to stop. The principal, they reminded us in two long faculty meetings, is the only one who can paddle (or otherwise injure or insult small children.)

Always, Sometimes, Never

2006-12-07T21:10:00.000-05:00

One of our math benchmarks is "explores sometimes, always, and never events." After we had discussed some as a class, I had my students write and illustrate one sentence on an Always-Sometimes-Never paper. These were the responses...

Always:
We do not play in the classroom.
I do live in a house.
I will always take my shirt off when I get in the bath.
Butterflies always fly in the sky.
I always have a chin.
I sit on the blue team.
My teacher teach me.
My mom bake cookies every week.
I always have a name.
I can read a book.
I got a eye.
I have hair.
I always learn at school.
My sister's name is Marisa.

Sometimes:
I go to my grandma's house.
My mom makes some cookies.
My teacher takes me to the movies.
Sometimes I read the chart.
I go home after school.
I go to school.
I am going to throw up.
I have a chain.
I pull my shirt off sometimes when I get home.
I miss my Dad.
Sometimes people like to get in the pool and sometimes people don't.

Never:
I never eat worms.
I have blue eyes.
I can't walk on a horse.
I never eat R-.
I fly in the air.
My friends don't live with me.
Mrs. Butler never fly in the hall.
I never hit C-.
Never play with that dogs because it got fleas.
I never take my shirt off when I go to school.
I eat a big bug.
I never bite my arm but sometimes I do.
My hairs are green.
I play in the mud.

Pillow Party

2006-12-03T22:40:00.000-05:00

The Pillow Party was a tremendous success. I only had to discipline one student, and that was just for excessive talking (she had to sit at her desk for the second half of the party.) We only had one cocoa spill (K-, of course.) My fabulous students shared their pillows and blankets with those who had not broght any, passed bags of popcorn around, and picked up the carpet without being asked afterwards. They were a little chatty, but it was a party, after all.s

Marble Party Number 2

2006-11-28T22:24:00.000-05:00

My class filled the marble jar for a second time last week, and so we voted on what to do to celebrate. This Friday, we will be having a "Pillow Party." They can change into their PJs, bring a pillow, and we'll have cocoa and popcorn and watch a movie.

Actually seems like it will be a lot of fun.

A Thanksgiving Prayer

2006-11-18T00:26:00.000-05:00

Today was the last day of school before a fabulous 9-day break for Thanksgiving. Since school in the Delta starts so early (beginning of August) we get a week-long break in the November and another in March instead of the February/April ones that we Northerners are used to. I have to say, it is exciting, though.

The second grade put on a "program" for the school in the afternoon. When I think of Thanksgiving, I don't really feel like it is a religious holiday. Sure, the Pilgrims were escaping religious persecution. But they weren't really celebrating their freedom from the Church of England on Thanksgiving, they were celebrating finally having enough food to eat. Thanksgiving is a day that we can take to reflect on all the things we are lucky to have in our lives. Okay, I guess for a lot of people the thanks is directed at God. But it doesn't have to be, and again, I don't think it is a religious holiday.

But it was at my school. We had a reading from the scripture (I think he said Psalm 100), and then we had a scripted "kid-friendly" explanation of the Lord's Prayer. ("Our father..." "Oh, like my daddy?" "No, Cornesha, it means God. The Bible says he is a father to us all." "Oh, okay." "Our father, who art in heaven..." "Like a painting?" "No, art is an Old English word that means 'is'." "So it is just saying, "God who is in heaven?" "Yeah, like that." etc.) Then we all said the Lord's Prayer together. There were some songs, all but one religious, and then a play.

I thought, okay, this will be about turkeys or Pilgrims or something like that. Nope. It was about 3 kids at an orphanage who are unhappy with their lives and feel like they have nothing to give thanks for at Thanksgiving. Then another kid comes and joins them at the orphanage, and he keeps talking about his Father. Well, the other kids confront him, because if he believes his father will take care of him, why is he at an orphanage? He explains that the Lord is Father to us all, and that we will be taken care of if we believe. The kids convert one by one, and it makes their spirits healthier and they become more polite, so they all get adopted.

Ummm. Separation of church and state? I have so many bigger things to tackle in my job that I try not to be bothered by the things that I can't change. If I was frustrated by administrative glitches, oversights, basic disregard for statutes; the Delta-wide issue of punishment and rewards; the instituntionalized mediocrity; or the blatant disregard of some parents for the interests of their and others' children, I would be stopped dead in my tracks every day. My job is to teach the children. Just teach them. Our classroom is our island, our sanctuary from the craziness. And when that sanctuary is breached, we pick our battles. And then the waters around us are in turmoil -- well, as long as you aren't splashing my island...

Anyhow, teaching effectively won't happen if I alienate myself from the community by opposing "religion" in any way, even if it is appearing in places that I think it should not. But I do firmly believe that everyone should be free to worship as he/she pleases, which also means being able to choose the time and the place. School is neither the time nor the place, because students have to come to school, and have to attend the assembly. If the parents chose a religious school, that's different. But I know for a fact that not all of my students attend church, and that probably means their parents don't either. And I certainly wouldn't want my child's school preaching religion to my child. Debating or discussing multiple religions is fine in high schools, where students can engage in an intellectual debate. But a K-3 elementary school, students are not at the developmental level to be questioning their lessons.

Progress Notes

2006-11-16T00:03:00.000-05:00

My foot-cramper was taken to the doctor about the foot-cramping yesterday. I need to check in with the grandma now and see if there were any physical problems.

My little K- has been progressing. He can almost write the whole alphabet legibly and he is beginning to understand the difference between letter names and sounds. He is also doing just fine in Science and Social Studies if I am very patient and read and write all of the work for him (all he does is the thinking.)

The SPARK coordinator (who could potentially give me lots of money) came by today to demand some ridiculous, time-consuming paperwork that she had given me on Monday (which I had completed, even though it is ridiculous). The SPARK program, which is designed to improve early-childhood education and home care, has hired this coordinator whose behavior is not aligned with their mission. She is rude and interrupts my class whenever she pleases, and she gets very upset if I don't immediately drop what I'm teaching to speak to her right then.

Should I name her Robbie Beautiful?

2006-11-15T23:53:00.000-05:00

On a suggestion, I asked my students what I should name my kitten. Here are the suggestions (and how they spelled them.)

Nicky (LFRY)
Lola
Robbie Beautiful (Robbe Broduful)
Beautiful (Betiful)
Little Princess (Little Princes)
Elida (Elda)
Dora the Explorer (DORA SPLOR)
Quita (Quuit)
Ciona
Baby Girl
Jicka (Jick)
Princess (Prises)

I think I'm going to pick my own name, thank you very much.

A Cancellation

2006-11-13T23:43:00.000-05:00

After school today, our principal informed us that we would not be having school tomorrow, due to the passing of one of our senior high teachers. So I will spend tomorrow observing in some classrooms around the Delta, and I'm very excited at this prospect.

Trip to the Movies

2006-11-12T23:49:00.000-05:00

Last year, students had to get 30 stars on a chart to get a present (a book) and 60 in order to win the special prize (come on a trip with me.) I only had one child make it to two trips in the course of the year, and some children who never even got the book.

So this year, before school started, I modified my behavior plan. This year, it only takes 25 stamps to get a gift and 50 stamps to get a trip. If students stay on SuperStar behavior for the day, they get a stamp on a chart in their own individual manila folder, which they keep in their desk. As of last Friday, which was the 63rd day of school, I had my first 50 stamp-er. By this Friday, I had my 3rd 50 stamp-er, and I will most likely get my 4th tomorrow. At this rate, those four students could win 3 trips with me this year!

I took two of the 50 stamp-ers to the movies this afternoon. It was the first time either of them had ever been to a movie theater. I let them pick between "Flushed Away" and "The Santa Clause III," and Santa won hands down. We shared a small popcorn. The movie theater smelled like urine. A good time was had by all. Here are my girls in front of the poster for the movie (mimicking the characters.)

Working Hard

2006-11-11T00:22:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I think that I don't push my students hard enough, that they don't take me seriously, that they don't work for me like they would work for someone else. And that is probably sometimes true. And then sometimes something happens and I realize: these children are six or seven, and ninety percent of the time ninety percent of them are working as hard as they can, some because they would work that hard for anyone, and some who are working hard just because they want to please me.

This afternoon we had our math test on number patterns. And they are getting there, but they still don't have it how I want them to have it. I want them to be able to explain the rule behind a pattern of addition or subtraction, to recognize it and be able to tell me that in this pattern, we are adding 3 each time, and in this other pattern, we are subtracting ten.

This may be too hard for first graders. Perhaps continuing the pattern is all they are really capable of doing and even more, all they need to know how to do. The benchmark is, "Explores patterns of addition and subtraction."

They were not doing well explaining the rule on the test (for example, looking at "3, 13, 23, 33," and saying, "We started on 3 and added 10 each time.") So I was frustrated with them because I was questioning the validity of the assessment I had chosen. So they went to computer lab and I created another one. I took off the "rules" part and I had some where they had to continue a pattern following a given rule ("start on 3 and add 3 each time") and some where they were given a pattern and they had to continue it ("4, 7, 10, 13, ___, ___, ___.") And they came back from computer lab and got to work on it and worked, solidly, for 45 minutes. They brought me the tests when they thought they had completed it, and I circled what they had gotten wrong and sent them back to try it again.

And, except for one student, who really didn't understand at all, and K-, who is still learning his numbers, so was not given the test, they worked. And worked. And worked. And I didn't realize how hard I was pushing them until I was checking the answers R- (one of my smartest students) had fixed. I checked them off, told her she had fixed them perfectly, and wrote 100% at the top of her paper, and she leaned over my chair and hugged me, and held on for a moment.

Field Trip!

2006-11-04T16:25:00.000-05:00

Friday, we went on my first ever field trip as a teacher. It was a trip to a planetarium which is remarkably only half an hour away from our school, at a local college. The trip itself went without a hitch, although the planetarium program itself could use some serious help -- it was alternately way over the children's heads and then way under them.

We took the whole first grade, which is about 70 students, in two school busses. The presenter, a professor, had limited English fluency. She would ask questions and the students would stare at her blankly. She showed a video that she and her department had made that starred two white preschoolers who went on an "adventure" to the solar system (they sat in a box in front of a green screen and flashed photos of the planets behind them.) Then she showed some constellations (the kids got a little rowdy in the dark) and then she took them outside to try to make them "orbit" like planets, which they tried really hard to do, but were basically unsuccessful. Then we went home.

But we took the kids somewhere, and now they have been to a planetarium and seen some big pictures of the planets, and gotten a little feeling, I think, for how far apart they are. And that's pretty cool.

My Feet Hurt, Too

2006-11-02T23:10:00.000-05:00

I have a crier. Well, I have two criers, but one is not nearly as bad as the other, who cries every day, multiple times.

She cries if she gets a wrong answer.
She cries if she is even a little bit confused.
She doesn't raise her hand and ask for help -- she cries.
She cries if I don't pick her for something.
She cries if she doens't like the lunch choices.

But most annoying, she won't stop once she starts, she won't do it quietly, and she lies about why she is crying (after I waste five precious minutes calmly trying to coax a reason for the tears out of her sobbing, scrunched up little face.)

I don't like humoring criers.

The only legitamate reason I can see for a child to cry is when they are hurt.

So my crier has figured this out, and now whenever she is crying, she tells me that her feet are cramping. It has nothing to do with not getting to write on the board -- her feet are cramping! No, it's not because she doesn't understand the math problem and won't even try it -- her feet are cramping.

Maybe her feet are cramping.

I doubt it.

I called home today and talked to her grandmother about the cramping feet, and her grandmother promised to take her to the doctor. It's an expensive way to weed out a lie, though.

Maybe it is psychosomatic (?) and her feet hurt when she's not using her brain enough.

Kinder Update

2006-10-27T23:49:00.000-04:00

The law, and not the desire of the parent, the recommendation of the teacher, or the best interest of the child has prevailed. K- is going to remain one of my students.

Supposedly, he will be pulled out (along with his brother, who is in another first grade class) for approximately 3 hours per day. This is of course, pending the adjustment of the special ed teachers' schedules. So who knows when it will happen and how long it will last. Or even if it will happen.

Last year, I had 6 special ed students, 3 of whom had pretty severe obstacles to learning. Unspecifically diagnosed, of course. I got a special ed teacher who took them out an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon about 70% of the time during the first nine weeks. Then inclusion really kicked in with upped supervision from the state department, and I got a special ed teacher in my room for an hour in the afternoon 3 times per week. I used him for centers. Then the state really came in, and changed the focus to only 2nd and 3rd grade, tested subjects, and I never saw my special ed teacher again.

Side note -- inclusion is fine if the staff is properly trained on how it should work and everyone tries to make it worka dnthe student is not too far behind. None of those things are true at my school. Pull the kids out, make your own lesson plans, and work at their actual level.

If K- is ever going to make progress, he needs to be taught one-on-one or in a very small group, at his level. Actual teaching. Like kindergarten. I hope that will happen in special ed. But I know for a fact that the teacher I worked with didn't make lesson plans, he just worked on "whatever he thought they needed." Which was good to some extent, because I'm sure he can tell, but also not good because when you don't plan your lessons they are poorly taught.

And he will still be in my room for 3 hours a day. Which means him arriving and departing at inconvenient times (because the sped teachers aren't strict about what times they arrive) and so even if I disciplined myself about my schedule, even a 2-minute discrepancy is too long. In 2 minutes you miss the most important parts of a first grade lesson or you don't have time to finish your work.

Drug Free Rally

2006-10-27T20:51:00.000-04:00

Today was the drug free rally at school. Every day this week we have had some sort of paper to wear. Tuesday was headbands that proclaimed I Won't Let Drugs Go to My Head. Wednesday was monkey masks that said Don't let drugs make a monkey out of you. (So now we have a bunch of elementary school kids thinking that if they smoke crack they will grow hair all over their bodies and like bananas a whole lot more.) And Thursday was a fake report card with all A+'s (which we don't even give at our school) and the slogan, Too Smart to Start (if you get some B's are you dumb enough to do drugs?)

I guess someone decided that kids needed to be bombarded with "drug free" messages as early as possible. But things that are learned as mantras, without question or explanation, things that are drilled in -- aren't those the same things that kids question and then experiment with later? Like all the crises of faith my friends had in high school? Anyhow, I'm not arguing that it is important to talk to children about the hazards and illegality of drug use, I'm just saying, let's do that instead of bombarding them with catchy slogans that they don't have the vocabulary to comprehend beyond the simple call and response: Who's Drug Free? We're drug free!

Not that I did much of that. I think we all did a little of that, but really, if Mississippi wants a useful drug-free program starting in elementary school, they should incorporate it into the curriculum framework so that it actually gets taught. Something in Science for first grade like, "Looks at pictures/videos of diseased organs and healthy organs and discusses basic causes of organ degeneration (drugs, disease, malnourishment.)"

Anyhow, for today each class had to prepare some sort of skit, song, poem, etc. Last year mine were sort of duds. And since I still don't have any rhythm (have I mentioned that when I go to church I have to watch the choir to know when to clap during the gospel songs?), I decided to do a song. So I taught my class about how there are many different kinds of drugs that people use, most of which are against the law, which have averse physical and mental effects. I showed them a picture of a diseased lung and a healthy lung. We talked about how drugs can make you think it is okay to do crazy things and act strangely and not only does it make it harder for you to learn, it hurts your family's feelings when you don't act like yourself. And we sang (to the tune of "Do You Know the Muffin Man?"):

Did you know that we're drug free? (Shrug.)
We're drug free, we're drug free. (Point to selves.)
Did you know that we're drug free?
Star learners in 1C! (Make 1C with hands.)

I'm drug free so I can learn, (Point at head.)
I can learn, I can learn.
I'm drug free so I can learn.
Those drugs, they hurt your brain. (Wobble and hold head.)

I'm drug free so I can breathe, (Deep breath.)
So I can breathe, so I can breathe.
I'm drug free so I can breathe.
Those drugs, they hurt your lungs. (Cough, cough.)

I'm drug free because I love, (Hug self.)
Because I love, because I love.
I'm drug free because I love,
I love my family.

Clap your hands if you're drug free. (Clap on "drug" and "free".)
If you're drug free, you're drug free.
Clap your hands if you're drug free.
Star learners in 1C!

They did a good job. We won the prize for first grade and my students got water bottles (for the girls) and mini plastic footballs (for the boys) with the slogan Drug Free Begins With Me emblazoned on them.

So, hurrah for no drugs!

At a loss

2006-10-26T00:07:00.000-04:00

I got a new student for the second time today. Not a second new student. The same new student, for the second time.

About a month and a half ago, I got a little boy who looked, spoke, and acted way too young for first grade. Early-elementary kids grow so quickly that after a little time around them, you can sort them by age fairly accurately. Kindergarteners, for example, look, act, and speak differently from first graders. So I asked him how old he was. "Five," he responded. I asked him his name but I couldn't understand the answer. So I asked him to write it. He scrawled some letters, backwards, upside down, across an entire sheet of paper. It spelled his name, but barely. I took him to the principal and told the principal that he was too young for first grade and that there was clearly a mistake and he should be in kindergarten. The principal said that there was no mistake.

I went to visit his mother, and I found out that before coming to Mississippi, he had been in a special school for hearing impaired special-ed students. He has partial hearing loss, but evidently it fluctuates from ear to ear. Also according to his mother, he didn't speak until he was 3. Although this is consistant with hearing loss, the boy seemed to be able to hear fine. His mother told me he can hear regular volume, but he can't hear yelling. Um...

Anyhow. I was prepared to accept all of that. Evidently in his old school, he had already completed the equivalent of kindergarten. But he just should not be in a regular first grade classroom. If he had completed kindergarten at my school, which is by no means a paragon of high standards, and emerged with his current skill, set he would have been retained. But since his old school was only through age 5, they had decided to pass him to another special school for older students. And then his family had moved. But since he was supposed to pass in that state (to another special school! based on age alone!) the principal told me that they have to put him in first grade here.

I told his mother that she should fight to put him in kindergarten. I had special ed students last year. I had six of them. Skills-wise, they were low. Some of them were very low. And one of them was emotionally very young as well. But not nearly to the same extent as this boy. She told me that she would do that, although she might take him to another city where he had gotten into a special school.

He came to my class 2 days. And then he was gone. I assumed he had gone to the special school.

Today, he came back.

I do not want him in my class. Even to me, this sounds incredibly selfish. I teach at a public school. That means we take everyone. But this little boy will get nothing out of my class unless I create totally separate lessons for him. His speech, behavior, attention span, everything is light years behind even my lowest student. This little boy doesn't know how to hold a pencil or follow directions. My other students are writing sentences with ease. They are reading. He doesn't know all of his sounds. I don't know what to do!

It sounds easy. Just go ahead, make lessons on his level. But we are talking all subjects. Not just math, reading, and writing. Science. Social Studies. He can't do any of it. And while I am teaching him these lessons, what will my other students be doing? First graders don't sit and do work. Every single child needs to be acknowledged within a maximum period of ten minutes. Unless we are in centers, I suppose, but I can't totally neglect 16 students to spend the entire centers hour teaching K--. That's our guided reading time, which is the only way those 16 students are going to become proficient readers. And even so, an hour a day isn't enough. And I can't tutor him after school. I already tutor 3 days a week. The lowest students in the grade. He wouldn't even fit in with them.

I'm at a total loss.

This is not something I know how to deal with. I am not this good of a teacher. I am not good at differentiating to this level. I can differentiate reading. Even math, to some extent. I can't differentiate school.

Parent Conference Day

2006-10-23T21:54:00.000-04:00

We didn't have school today because it was "Parent Conference Day." In the elementary school I attended, this meant that parents signed up for conferences and the teacher met with every parent. Or at least, that's what I think happened. In the elementary school where I work, it does not work that way. Even remotely.

I sent a letter home last week: SIGN UP FOR A CONFERENCE TIME! BRING YOUR CHILD! I told them we would talk about their child's progress, behavior, grades, and I would GIVE THEM things to do with their child at home. It is 5:30. There is an hour and a half left before this day is over, and I have seen 2 students with their families. Out of 16. That's 1/8. Or, 12.5%. No good!

Last year, parents had to come to "Parent Conference Day" to pick up their child's report card. This year, report cards were mailed home. So there was no need, in the parents' eyes, to show up. In my class, everyone was passing everything. So there was not even a need to come harangue me about the grades. Last year, for the record, I had about a 50% turnout rate, which was pretty good. This year, it is absolutely dismal.

The only way I can rationalize it in my head is that my parent contact in general has been much better this year, so parents know their child's strengths and weaknesses, grades and behavior already. Three I can forgive: they have little babies (under 2 months old) at home. One other contacted me to schedule a makeup for Friday because she's working today. So four are excused, 2 were present, and that still leaves 10 unaccounted for. 62.5% unaccounted for. Three of those parents I've never been able to meet or get on the phone.

Overall, 29 parent showed up in the school (I know this from the sign-in log.) That is about a 10% average turnout, so I guess my class is on par. What is up with these parents? There must be a better way to get them motivated and involved.

Shelby Fest in the News

2006-10-23T21:47:00.000-04:00

Bolivar Commercial article on Shelby Fest

Shelby Fest Was a Blast!

2006-10-22T17:13:00.000-04:00

Shelby Fest '06 was a huge success. Thank you to everyone who helped us out, financially or with their labor. What made me the happiest was to see the TFA people working together with the citizens of Shelby, black and white alike, to make an event for all of Shelby to enjoy. And Shelby enjoyed it! Over 500 people turned out. The activities were mobbed (more than 2000 game tickets were sold!), the music was fabulous, the food was prepared and delivered and delicious, and we earned enough money to fully cover the two field trips for the fourth grade.

Here are some pictures.
Rev. Pitts and Mr. Frailich help set up the banner with the schedule of events.

Some booths, such as this bouncy castle, were run by TFA volunteers.

Others, like this bracelet making stand, were run by community volunteers.

And a few were run almost entirely by students.

The volunteer fire department lived up to its name by volunteering to fire up their grills and cook the food.

And Shelby Women United united to serve that food.

The kids had a great time bouncing in the bouncy castle.

We went through 10 dozen donuts at the donut-on-a-string stand.

Even the littlest Shelbyites loved to play the football toss game.

And everyone enjoyed the races that Save the Children ran, which included a crazy clothes race, a three-legged race, an egg-and-spoon race (shown here) and more.

Even Mayor Grimm showed up for a brief speech.

Everyone pitched in to clean up, also. Fourth graders collected bags of litter in exchange for a free hotdog, and clean-up and take-down was completed in about an hour.

All in all, lots of work, but a great time.

Why You Should Wait to Carve Your Pumpkin

2006-10-22T17:02:00.000-04:00

Ms. S-- Visits

2006-10-18T23:55:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine visited recently. I made her take a reading group (they discussed problem/solution and made pumpkin cutouts) and read to the kids before dismissal. Here is a picture from that.

Pluto

2006-10-17T00:14:00.000-04:00

This week in Science, I am teaching the benchmark 4a: names the nine planets. Oops! There are only eight planets. For those of you not up on your science, Pluto has been kicked out of the planet club.

Last year, around this same time, it was announced that a tenth planet, Xena, and its' moon, Gabrielle, had been discovered. My students had a fabulous time making up a new verse to our planet poem and smiling knowingly when worksheets referred to the "nine planets." I guess this year they'll smile knowingly for a new reason. I'm planning to teach the eight planets and discuss both Pluto and Xena.

I think that this is very exciting. I want it to give my students the early understanding that science is still evolving, and hopefully open their minds to the idea that they, too, could one day discover something that expands, refines, or explains part of our current body of scientific knowledge.

I'm sure teachers are capitalizing on this all over the country. What a great research topic for an informational report: "What makes a planet a planet." Or an interesting and relevant timeline project: "Pluto, from unknown to planet to dwarf planet." Or a fantastic topic for debate "Pluto, Planet vs. Just Another Space Rock?" The list goes on. If my kids were a few grades up, we'd be doing all of those (time pending and Curriculum Overseer vanquished.)

Bug Poems

2006-10-16T00:58:00.000-04:00

I was about to go to bed and I opened my closet and interrupted a cockroach climbing on my laundry basket. This is only the second roach I've seen in this apartment, but any roaches are too many roaches. Unfortunately, they are extremely common in Mississippi. (Unlike in Massachusetts, they can survive outside all year round, so even if you get rid of them, they can just walk right on back in.)

I pretty much gave up poetry in middle school, but now I'm wide awake, so I wrote a poem about my cockroach experience. While I was thinking about bugs, I also wrote a poem about my ant experience (which I wrote about here earlier). Since I know these poems will make my mom laugh, I'm going to post them here.

Cockroach in my Closet
There’s a cockroach in my closet,
And it’s climbing on my clothes!
There’s a roach, and where there’s one
You know there must be droves.
Two weeks ago I saw one,
Belly-up, dead in the kitchen.
I hoped it was a loner ‘cause
I don’t want to be b*tchin’.
I don’t like those nasty creatures!
(I know, no one’s in awe.)
But a cockroach in the closet?
That should be against the law.

Ant Experience Limerick
My class, they were playing a game
And I was engaged in the same
‘Til I stepped on some ants
And they ran up my pants
And practically rendered me lame.

Busy Week

2006-10-15T23:43:00.000-04:00

This week will be a busy week.

First of all, Shelby Fest is this coming weekend, and the primary organizer keeps giving me more things to do for it. Second, it will be my second week of tutoring, and I'll really have to lay the foundation for the rest of the school year of tutoring. That means being on top of both behavior and curriculum. And those are both not even in-school activities!

This Saturday was one of our Teach for America professional development days. It hurts to give up a Saturday, because it's my only non-school filled day (Sundays are preparing for the coming week), but I always find them immensely useful. This week, I spent a lot of time talking with T--, another first grade teacher here in the Delta. T-- is incredibly sweet, motivated, and hard working. She runs the first and second grade learning team and she is taking the same course as me.

In our course, which is on unit planning, we worked together to improve the way we plan for, assess, and teach math. Then in the learning team, she told me how she runs her guided reading groups, and I think I am going to totally switch what I am doing now to emulate her system. Basically, instead of running centers in the morning, her students read for half an hour to forty minutes while she meets with reading groups and focuses on comprehension strategies. Then in the afternoon, she runs her centers, which includes her reading center at which she might do phonics or decoding or phonemic awareness for struggling readers. The other centers are cross-curricular, so some are math, some are science or social studies, and some are reading. Fantastic! Now I have to figure out how to implement, and then I jump in!

Phonemic Awareness

2006-10-12T19:31:00.000-04:00

Phonemic awareness is the ability to recognize and manipulate sounds in the spoken language. It is a prerequisite for phonics, which is associating those sounds with letters, and then manipulating them. I just started working for our after-school tutoring program, which means I'm helping a dozen of the most struggling readers in first grade (3 from each class).

The students at my school were tested using DIBELS at the beginning of the year, which measures phonemic awareness (breaking spoken words into their component sounds, like "fan" is fff-ah-nnn,) phonics/decoding (reading nonsense 3-letter words like "div"), and letter names. So when I got these students, I tested their phonemic awareness again, since they had all passed letter naming and it is the next skill step they need to master before going on to be able to read.

And (I'm going to brag on myself a little bit) my three students jumped from being able to segment between 4 and 8 sounds in a minute to being able to segment more than 30 sounds in a minute, which is to say, they are almost on grade level for phonemic awareness now! I was thrilled. It is the first real proof I have that I am a better reading teacher this year, and it makes me really happy. I will have a more complete picture after I also retest their decoding skills, but I feel like they are a mini-barometer for the class. (You are only as strong as your weakest link, right?)

Devil Drill

2006-10-12T19:22:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, the school set off a practice fire drill, only they got mixed up and rang the tornado bell. All the students went out in the halls, got by the walls and covered their heads, and the principal ran up and down the hall shouting, "Get outside! The fire would have gotten you!" Poor little T- was so scared she started to cry!

We went outside in fire formation (line holding hands) and were released back inside by the bell. Altogether a little bit of a fiasco, although much better that it happened during a drill and not a real event. It would definetely be fatal to crouch in the halls during a fire, but even more fatal to get confused the other way and go outside during a tornado.

Anyhow, after we were all back inside, the principal came on the intercom and clarified the bells and sounded them for us: a long buzz for tornado, a long bell for fire, and three short buzzes for an earthquake. (For real, we're in a mid-continent seismic zone.)

As the students left for the day, K- asked, "Mi' Hay', when are we going to practice the devil drill?" "The what?" I asked. "You know, the devil drill. Because when he comes up, he sure is going to burn us all up." "Um," I answered. "I guess we'll treat that just like a fire drill, and hold hands... and go outside."

Playing on the Playground

2006-10-08T23:57:00.000-04:00

The playground at my school has been under construction with no progress for a month now. Before school started, someone paid to have low wooden barriers put up around the playgroupnd equipment. Around these wooden barriers, they put stakes and string, which I found very hazardous to running children. It also wound up looped around the jungle gym, just waiting to strangle a student. I cut all of the string down. A few weeks into school, someone dropped off a load of dirt to fill in the barriers under the swings. The same day, someone wrapped the swings around the top of the swingset to get them out of the way and a bulldozer came in and began to shovel the pile of dirt under the swings and jungle gym. But it didn't finish. And now it has left it unfinished for a month.

So there have been no swings. And no jungle gym. Because it is now even less safe because the ground is wildly uneven and there are mounds of dirt everywhere.

We have compensated by playing games. My students are now proficient at several kinds of races, tag, blob tag, Red Rover, and duck duck goose. I can't think of any more games. And there are still no swings and no improvement. Why start a project you can't or won't finish? The playground is worse than it was.

Last week, I stepped on an ant hill on the playground. I didn't realize until I felt a pain and looked down to see my foot covered with ants. I brushed them off as quickly and completely as I could, but there were very many and some had gotten inside my shoe, so I suffered several more bites. My foot swelled to twice its normal size and was very itchy. I used this as an excuse to wear flip-flops to school all week, since my foot didn't fit in any of my normal shoes.

My suggestion to the school: Finish what you started, or at least smooth it out and unwrap the swings, and while you are at it, get rid of the ants.

Any ideas for equipment-free big group playground games?

Grading Woes

2006-10-04T00:25:00.000-04:00

The end of the first quarter of school is drawing near. Wow! 1/4 over already. I still really like my students. Anyhow, today we got a memo giving us the breakdown for grades (3o% classwork, 40% tests, 5% homework, 25% nine-weeks exam). I'm annoyed.

We are required to do grade-level multiple choice testing in each subject every week, and the final exam is, of course, multiple choice. I just feel like multiple choice is not developmentally appropriate for 6-year-olds. They don't understand how to evaluate answer choices to find the best one -- they see an answer, they pick it. I've spent some time teaching them how to do it, but honestly, I'd much rather spend my time teaching the material and giving my students performance assessments or at least open-response tests (like 2+2=__ instead of 2+2= a) 3 b) 4 c)2). But now, according to district policy, 65% of their final grade is based on these "MCT format" tests.

First graders don't even take the state tests. (I'll save my thoughts on those unhelpful things for another time.)

Our principal also told us that we have to have proof of every grade we have given if we fail a student in anything. Now, I understand the logic behind this, but don't you think it would have been better to tell us that at the beginning of the year? I have sent almost everything home, because I think it is much more valuable for me to show the parents what their child is doing in class than to cover my @ss with a paper trail. Also, if I can get the parents to sign off that they knew their child was failing, there is no need to prove the paper trail -- the parents have seen it, and if you give me the child for 10 minutes, I'll show you that he or she doesn't know what I say he or she doesn't know. Why would I lie about these things?

My last principal told us that we were the teachers, the bosses of our classrooms, and if we felt that a student was not mastering the objectives, we had the full and complete power to fail them, or to adjust their grades up or down as their performance merited. We would, of course, have to be reasonable, but as long as we could show -- somehow -- why they deserved the grade they got, all was good. This new principal has told us he has no qualms about changing our grades.

So now I don't get to decide what is important in my classroom (I would weight classwork higher and the end-of-quarter test lower), how to test my students (more performance assessments, especially in reading, where multiple choice tests tell me about phonics skills and listening comprehension but nothing about reading comprehension, fluency, or decoding), and I can't give the parents full access to their students infomation without a classroom visit.

It's Your Last Chance

2006-10-01T21:07:00.000-04:00

You know you want a Shelby Fest shirt. Scroll down to buy one. Wednesday I'm going to take the link away...

Paddling

2006-10-01T21:03:00.000-04:00

Mr. F- alerted me to an interesting and informative NY Times article on paddling. I had no idea it was that prevalent in the country, outside of the Delta.

Paddling for my class has gone way down this year. In fact, I have only sent 2 children to the office so far. It happened on the same day, about 2 weeks ago. R- stuck D- with a pencil, and then C- was in a bad attitude and got his clip moved all the way down. I must have been way off the ball that day. Most days are pretty smooth sailing, and my biggest problem is some calling out or putting heads down on their desks.

Interesting Tidbits

2006-09-18T23:47:00.000-04:00

Today, we made necklaces of 30 fruit loops because it was the 30th day of school. One of my little boys tripped in the hallway and smashed off some of his fruit loops. At lunch, I asked how many he had lost, and he said he didn't know. I asked his to see if he could figure it out. With another little boy, he counted the fruit loops left on his necklace: 27. Without any help from me, and after quite a bit of figuring, they arrived at the correct answer, 3, by counting the fruit loops and then counting on to 30, touching K-'s necklace where the loops should have been. I was very impressed with their problem solving, so I shared it with the class, especially since it coincided with the beginning of our math unit on other ways to add and subtract.

It was a short day, so we had "professional development" in the afternoon -- really just time to work on our nine weeks tests and our intervention forms, except that we were required to be in the library so we couldn't use our computers. We did have an interesting conversation about paperwork, though, after our principal gave us the new rules for lesson plans: turned in 2 weeks ahead of time, with indications of the students who will be receiving additional help each day and an indication of any other remediation or enrichment that will be taking place. A teacher who used to work at the penitentiary compared the paperwork with the paperwork she had to do there. "There is so much paperwork," she said, "That you spend all your time writing and then you don't have any time to do what you're writing about." I agree with the sentiment. Lesson plans and interventions' primary function should be a planning aid for the teacher, instead of what they have become, which is a way to cover your behind and "prove" that you taught what you were supposed to in appropriate ways and that you remediated with students who you will later refer for special education.

NOTE: PLEASE CONSIDER SUPPORTING THE 4TH GRADE IN MY DISTRICT BY BUYING A SHELBY FEST T-SHIRT (SEE BELOW.)

Shelby Fest '06

2006-09-17T14:23:00.000-04:00

I am helping a friend plan a festival in the town of Shelby, where most of my students live. There will be live blues music, food, and lots of family fun. The point of the festival is two-fold: to build community-school spirit & involvement, and to raise money to send the fourth grade on two field trips. The festival will be during homecoming weekend, in late October. If enough money is raised, the fourth grade will be able to go to Jackson, to see the state capital and the science museum, and to Hattiesburg to see a play. One way we are trying to raise money is by selling t-shirts. You, too, can have a little slice of Delta pride right in your own closet. The shirts are $12 plus shipping, and, lucky you, you can buy one right here!

*** UPDATE 10/09/06 ***
T-Shirt sales have been shut down.
***

Dance Party!

2006-09-14T00:04:00.000-04:00

The Dance Party was a huge success, apart from the fact that 3 students in my normally perfect class behaved badly and lost their privileges and didn't get to come to the first half of it (I felt bad taking away the whole thing). Actually, the whole class was poorly behaved and I think I need to be getting more sleep or something so that I don't lose control.

Four students cheated on their tests. We've talked a lot about how you need to use your own smart brain, but pressure for A's from home usually neglects to mention that. Parents don't advocate cheating, but I think many forget to expressly condemn it. We did better when I expressly said before we began tests that you needed to use your own brain and that the point of testing is to show the teacher what you know so that I can see what I need to teach you again so that you know everything from first grade.

Anyhow, the party.

We did the hokey-pokey and the chicken dance, then we ate some snacks and drank some juice that the students had brought in, and then we danced some more. The party itself went very smoothly.

Here's a picture. Note the Christmas lights, which added some sparkle and the kids just loved.

Two Four Six Eight, Touch Your Nose

2006-09-13T23:54:00.000-04:00

I briefly introduced rote counting by twos today by teaching the rhyme, "2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate?" We went around the room, doing the cheer for each person. My assistant was out of the room at the time, so when I asked if we had done the cheer for everyone, the students quickly pointed out that we hadn't done it for her. I told them that when she came back in, we would do the cheer for her. However, I don't like being interrupted mid-sentence by a child going, "Mi' Hay'! There's Mrs. B!" (it's just rude and dont' want to encourage it) or worse, calling on a child for an answer and getting "Mrs. B is back," as the answer, to, for example, "What day of the week is it?" (Totally breaks the flow for everyone.) So I told them that they could remind me about the cheer by touching their noses when she came back in the room.

A few minutes later, we were solving a pattern when there was suddenly a rustle of movement. I turned my head back from the child at the board to see the rest of the class, perfectly quiet, all with their fingers on their noses, eyes expectantly wide, looking from me to the now-present Mrs. B. M--, drawing a square on the whiteboard, didn't notice. We finished the pattern and clapped for M--. Then we did the cheer.

So now I know their memory for following directions is perfect.
Also, they are really cute.

Marble Party

2006-09-12T22:31:00.000-04:00

We filled up our marble jar yesterday and voted on our prize today. The class earns marbles when they are very well behaved, and my class has usually been great. We are often complimented on our line when we are in the hallway, and we have not even had one office referral. (I'm trying to avoid sending them this year, because I don't support corporal punishment. I did refer them last year because my management was not good.)

So this afternoon we voted. Some ideas the class had brainstormed were: a pizza party, a dance party, a cake party, a cookie party, TV and popcorn, extra recess, races, playing a football or baseball game, and a "superman party." As they left today, they handed me the post-it with their choice listed. And (drumroll) we will have a... DANCE PARTY!!!

Actually, a "cake party" won, by one vote, but isn't a cake party just a regular party at which there is cake? So I will bring some cake to our dance party and we'll have a swingin' good time for the last 40 minutes of school on Friday.

I have to ask the principal tomorrow, though. And I'm a little nervous. After all, he nixed the rat (I just shouldn't have asked. My school is definetely one of those places where it is easier to ask for forigveness than permission.)

So I drafted a letter listing the phys ed, dance, and music objectives met by having a dance party, including:

Physical Education:
5d. Respect the physical and performance differences of others.

4c. Engage regularly in moderate to vigorous activity*, emphasizing muscular strength*, flexibility*, and cardiovascular endurance*.

Dance:
3b. Respond to a musical beat and changes in tempo while traveling through all
levels of space.

4a. Perform different movement choices.

Music:
3b. Improvise a response to the beat and tempo of various music examples with
appropriate movements or dramatization.

Signs Around Clarksdale

2006-09-11T22:52:00.000-04:00

Seen on those plastic marquee signs that churches and schools often have (for real):

At a used car shop:
On judgement day, will you be sitting in smoking or non-smoking?

At a tire shop:
Need money? Try working.

(Ouch, man.)

Lost

2006-09-07T00:21:00.000-04:00

I lost a child today. We were doing map skills, it was the afternoon, and we had gone outside to mark the place on our maps. I led the line back in so that nobody would be in the classroom without me, and forgot to watch the end of the line. I mean, I watched it, and nobody was fighting or talking., but I didn't count. We had all been in line, after all, and my class is very well-behaved.

So we returned to our seats, put away our maps, and came to the carpet with our partners. "Everyone raise hands with your partner," I said, to make sure they were sitting with their partners. T-- didn't raise her hand. "Where is D--?" I asked.

"He stayed outside," they told me, innocently. "He decided not to come in."

"He WHAT?!?" I gasped. "Sit perfectly still," I ordered, steam-rolling out of the classroom. So much for not leaving kids unattended. I rushed down the hall to see D--'s head peeking over the window of the door.

According to him, he got "locked out." Since I didn't really know what happened, I let it slide. I figured not being able to get back in when he wanted to was enough of a scare. Besides, what would I tell his parents? Your child is in trouble because I didn't check to make sure he was with the class and didn't notice for a full 3 minutes?

Missing the Kids

2006-09-04T20:44:00.000-04:00

I taught for 1.5 days last week, and I feel really guilty about it. Nobody else at my school seems to think I should feel guilty about it, but I do. I had the flu. Sunday and Monday I huddled miserably in my bed. Monday afternoon, I called my friend Lin and he took me to the hospital where we waited for 5 hours before I got into an exam room and another hour before the doctor came by and gave me an IV of fluid and a prescription for TamiFlu. Tuesday I did a little planning and slept and slept and slept. Wednesday I went into school, but didn't really feel well, so I left at lunchtime. Thursday I had a follow-up appointment with the doctor at 9:30 in the morning, so I called my principal and took a half day. After all, even if the doctor is running a little late, 1. how late can you get by 9:30? and 2. that gave me 2 hours to get checked out and get to school (a 20-min drive.)

I arrived at 9:20 and filled out my paperwork, and then I joined the crowd in the waiting room. And I waited. And waited. And waited. At 11:00, a full hour and a half after my SCHEDULED APPOINTMENT, the waiting room was down to 3 patients and 2 drug saleswomen. Then, they called in the drug saleswomen. That was the last straw. I was very upset. I went to the window and inquired about my appointment. She told me I was next and that she just had to find my chart, which she must have set down somewhere... just hold on a couple more minutes... I sat down and fumed internally for another 5 minutes until she called me into an exam room. Then I waited another 25 minutes for the doctor to come in. In my head, I watched my students walk down the hallway to lunch, eat their lunches, pack up their trays, leave the lunchroom, and head towards recess. While I sat waiting for a stupid follow-up appointment I didn't need for a virus which can't be cured by medicine anyhow.

The doctor came in and did a cursory heart-and-lung listen and told me that he would write me a note to take the rest of the week off. I told him thank you very much, please write me a note to go back tomorrow. As soon as I had my note, I headed to school, but it was almost 1:00 by the time I got there. Reading and writing were over, math was over, and all that remained was science and art/music/phys-ed (which I ignore for the most part anyhow.) I figured it wasn't worth my staying to teach science and dismiss the kids, so I picked up my paycheck and went home. I taught on Friday and only had to take one little head-down break while the students took a quiz (I had my assistant proctor it.)

And now we've had three days off! So, after my very short week last week and my very nice restful weekend at the Gulf coast with some TFA friends, I'm raring to go to school.

Bring on the learning!

Presidents

2006-08-25T21:03:00.000-04:00

Today was the fifteenth day of school, so we were trading coins on our chart: 5 pennies for a nickel, add that to the dime that is on the chart, 15 cents. I pointed to the coin cutouts hanging above my head. "Which is bigger, a nickel or a dime?...That's right, a nickel is bigger. But which is more money?...Good, a dime is more money because a dime is 10 cents and a nickel is 5 cents." It was good, we were looking and connecting.

"The nickel has a picture of President Thomas Jefferson. He was our 3rd president a long time ago. On the back is a picture of his house, Monticello. Does anyone know the name of our president today?" Last year, they knew. This year, no clue. We got off track for quite a while, because I was sure I could get it out of them.

Kid 1: Thomas Jefferson?
Teacher: He was president one time, but that was a really long time ago. He died a long time ago and we have had lots of presidents since him. Does anyone know the name of the president now? He's a very important man.
Kid 2: Martin Luther King?
Teacher: That is a good guess. He was a very important man. However, he is dead. Also, we haven't ever had a black man be president yet. Does anyone know who our president is?
Kid 3: My grandma died one time.
Teacher: That is sad, when someone dies, isn't it? But we're not talking about dying right now, we're talking about presidents.
Kid 4: I was sad when my daddy died. That was a long time ago, too.
Teacher: It is sad when someone we love dies. We're going to talk about the presidents now, though. Does anyone know our president, the one who is alive and in office right now?
Kid 5: Georgia?
Teacher: Georgia is a place, not a person. But you are close because our president has the first name of George.
Kid 6: Martin Luther King?
Teacher: We already talked about him and I told you he is not the president. I really bet you know this, guys. The president is very important. He runs the United States.
Kid 7: God?
Teacher: Um, good guess. God is very important, but he runs the whole world. Our president only runs the United States, which is our country. And he is a man, that you can see.
Kid 8: Jesus?
Teacher: Remember, I said his first name is George.
Kid 9: George Clooney?
Teacher: That is a famous George, but George Clooney is an actor, in movies.
Kid 9: George Washington?
Teacher: You're on the right track. He was our first president. But he was president a long, long time ago. Our president now is George W. Bush. (blank stares) Let me find a picture on the internet...

It was a bit of a detour from coins, but I do think that knowing who the president is is important, even if I don't particulary care for some of his policies. I think I may write him a letter and ask for a picture so that I can show my kids.

Parent Visits

2006-08-23T23:39:00.000-04:00

I've been doing parent visits to discuss my students' results on the pretests and diagnostics and I'm pleased with the response so far. Of course, I've only gotten to 6 of my 16 astudents, and probably the most parentally involved ones. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

Test Scores

2006-08-20T23:07:00.000-04:00

State test scores were officially released on Thursday. You can access the info for my school here.

Across the state, scores remained about the same, which is to say, low. "Proficient" on the MCT is really failing -- I believe you only need a 50 or 60% to be proficient. Advanced is where it is at; advanced means you get it. A look at the state reading tests scores is bleak. The students shift slowly from 40% advanced in 2nd grade down to only 12% advanced in 8th grade, while the other numbers shift accordingly. Only 6% of 2nd graders fall into Minimal, the lowest category, while about 19% of 8th graders do. it is as though Mississippi teachers are only teaching most of what they should be teaching in a given grade, and he few things that get left off each year never get added back, and the students just slip further and further behind.

I wonder about cheating, too. In the book Freakonomics, the author discusses cheating on standardized tests. The hardest to catch are the teachers who cheat. There was a big investigation of teacher cheating in Houston several years ago. They pinpointed many suspected cheating teachers and retested their classes and some control classes and uncovered exactly the results they were expecting; the classes with suspected cheating teachers' scores declined while the scores in the control classes went up slightly (since they had a few extra weeks between the original test and the retest and had continued teaching.

First graders aren't tested, so I had nothing to do with the MCT at my school. It would have been hard to cheat, though, because there were State Department monitors patrolling the testing classrooms. But the middle school, there weren't as many monitors. One teacher there had a tremendous leap in scores. Almost all of his students were proficient or advanced. When the administration praises teachers for their hard work and their improvements in test scores, I hear that they do not praise this teacher. I think they may be suspicious.

The only reason that my district had monitors was because we were under state control. Other districts did not have the same level of scrutiny. It would have been easy for a teacher to cheat -- change a few answers on some tests before she handed them in. It would only have taken a few minutes.

Read another article on teacher cheating here.

SPARK Mississippi

2006-08-17T20:02:00.000-04:00

There is a program in Mississippi called the SPARK program. Thirteen of the children at my school are "SPARK" children. SPARK stands for “Supporting Partnerships to Assure Ready Kids." The program supports partnerships of selected communities, schools, state agencies, and families to ensure that they work together effectively for children’s early learning.

The SPARK children in my class are the first generation of SPARK kids in Shelby. They have had an extra year of head start, and their teachers have had extra money for supplies and extra requirements for child-friendly classrooms. I don't know the exact mix of things that have prepared these students for my classroom -- including the switch to the Trophies reading program, and the current class size-- but they are better equipped to deal with school, reading, and each other than the students I had last year.

Evidently, parents of SPARK children have had workshops on parenting and school-readiness training for their children. The head start teachers got additional training, funded by SPARK. I will get additional training and assistance with parent contact, facilitated by SPARK. I'm pleased. I'm hoping to get a bigger, more colorful carpet for my classroom with some of the money that they give me to use on the children, so that our on-carpet learning time (which I'm doing more of this year) can be more comfortable and thus more productive. The carpet I like is 9'x 12' and has some sight words and big rulers on it. Alternatively, there is one with a map of the world on it which would also be neat & useful. Right now, I have two 5x8 blue $20 Walmart carpets next to each other, and they fit us sitting in a group nicely, but they are barely big enough for a circle and they are already (!!!) starting to fray. I'd also love to get some learning music -- I had already written a Donors Choose proposal to fund the music, but if I could get it through SPARK, so much the better, and more funding to teachers who don't have other options.

I'm amazed by how much my teaching experience has improved this year, and most, if not all of it, unrelated to my development as a teacher. I think my teaching skills have been kicked up a level as well. Here's hoping all of this can be channelled into fabulous gains in reading and math for my students.

Quotes of the Day

2006-08-15T19:49:00.000-04:00

Two cute(?) quotes from today:

We were brainstorming words that rhyme with map.
Kid 1: "Cap."
Teacher: "Good. Cap rhymes with map. Anyone else?"
Kid 2: "Crap."
Teacher: "That is a rhyming word with map, but it's not a word we use in school. Anyone else?"

(This reminds me of a story about my little brother when he was in first grade. The teacher called home one day because G- had said "ass" when she had asked for a short-a word. Just like crap rhymes with map, ass is a short a word. Can you really get upset at them for that?)

We were taking our math pretest. One question has a group of stars and the students had to count how many stars and bubble in the number (the choices were 17, 27, or 37.)
Teacher: "C--, count the stars and mark how many there are."
C-- begins to fill in the bubble next to 37.
Teacher: "Did you count them?"
C--: "No, I just know."
(There were 27.)

A Not-So-Hairy Situation

2006-08-14T19:35:00.000-04:00

My hair is falling out again. (The last time it did this was last fall.) Maybe it is seasonal? Lack of sleep? I'm certainly not as stressed out, by far. I adore my students and they give me quite a bit of delight, unlike last year, when I usually liked them and they gave me small doses of delight and large doses of frustration.

***

In other news, this morning I installed our air conditioning cover that we painted with our handprints on Friday. It is quite fetching, if I do say so myself.

The Scratchy Show

2006-08-13T12:39:00.000-04:00

The rat goes in to school on Monday. It was finally named last night by my friend Jared. We were at the blues festival, and he mentioned that he had heard one of the most difficult words to spell correctly was the word "scratch." Just look at all of those consonants! So, Scratchy the Rat will be coming in to school on Monday. For those of you who are Simpsons fans, I know that Scratchy is actually the extremely violent cat on the show-within-a-show, but I'm just hoping the kids don't pick up on that.

Improvements

2006-08-12T13:52:00.000-04:00

Directly after school on Friday, we had a brief faculty meeting to discuss the materials we need in our portfolios (easier for K/1 because we don't have state testing) and our test results. The results, of course, had been announced previously in a meeting held by our state superintendant, but our principal wanted to clarify things.

Evidently, schools are rated on a scale of 100-600 points. Schools whose scores fall between 100-199 are level 1 priority schools, as we were last year. Schools whose scores fall from 200-299 are level 2 schools, and so on. Our school got a score of 355, which puts us right in the middle of the level 3 schools. However, our official rating is a level 4. Why the disparity? The state awards an extra point for extreme improvement. That means that even if we improve, say, by 40 points this year, our rating would still fall to a level 3.

The district's goal is to have every school a level 5. That means that we will have to have an increase in test scores equvalent to the jump we had last year. This seems like a very, very lofty goal to me, but maybe it can be done.

I don't know if it is simply my increased confidence in my teaching abilities, but I perceive the whole school as actually having improved this past year. Behavior is more controlled, people are more on the same page. One example of our improvement as an elementary school is our library and computer classes. They are the only special classes our students get (no art, music, or pe outside of the classroom), and last year only computer lab was valuable because they watched TV in library. This year, my students came back from library thrilled because the teacher had read them two books. Excellent! That is a 100% improvement right there, from 1 useful special to 2 useful specials. Also, my class size has gone down, our copy allowance has gone up (it was prohibitively low last year, and I am not a worksheet-giving teacher) and, to put the cherry on the sundae, we are officially allowed a 15 minute recess after lunch -- for the whole first grade together!

I'm also more pleased with the school this year because we will be allowed (even encouraged) to go on field trips, which I think are really valuable for building prior knowledge from which students can build, and we will have some plays by the students and some assemblies. It just seems more elementary.

My students also came in at a higher level than my students last year. As I wrote before, I don't have any Special Ed students, but beyond that, their reading diagnostic scores are higher across the board. We use DIBELS, and my students are starting our approximately 2 months ahead of my students last year. In fact, they are almost on grade level this year, only a couple points off!

The Room, The Kids

2006-08-09T19:17:00.000-04:00

I am very pleased with my class so far. They have soaked up my systems like so many little sponges, and I'm going to work hard to keep them performing well. I really want them to like school...

Here they are:

Head, Shoulders, and Torso

2006-08-07T19:21:00.000-04:00

This day was head and shoulders, maybe even torso and hips, above my first day of school last year. (Check out the posts from the beginning of last August to compare.) I don't know exactly what the differences were, and I don't know if it will last, but I think there are several reasons for the turn-around.

1. I had 14 students instead of 22. Huge. This is probably the biggest difference.
2. I had 1 repeater instead of 4. All but one of my students this year are actually the correct age for first grade, which means they get excited more easily, don't have the attitudes, and are little. Tiny, some of them.
3. I am more experienced. Although I don't know if I changed what I did that much...
4. I don't have any classified Special Ed students, and anyone possibly classifiable is certainly more capable than 4 of my Special Ed students from last year.

The 14 students I have so far are small, inquisitive, and excitable. One cried two times -- once because I made her wait to go to the bathroom and once because she didn't know how to tie her shoe. Another cried once, of a tummy ache. I had her lie down and told her she could rejoin the class when she felt better. We were having fun; she was back within minutes. Most of them were on their best behavior and I can tell I have a few smarties.

We went to breakfast and the bathroom, we read a story about the first day of school, we went over our rules and consequences and classroom hand signals. We went to lunch. We did calendar and some activities around 100's day -- we are on day 1, of course. We read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and another book called Ten Black Dots. Then the students glued little pieces of paper to a sheet I made with the numbers 1-12 on it to show 1-to-1 correspondence while I brought students to my desk 1 at a time to listen to them count orally. About half can get all the way to 100! I had a parent observe the math lesson, and I think she enjoyed it. We also wrote down all the words we knew (very short lists) and began to learn our 5 sight words for the week -- the most basic: a, I, am, it, the. And that was about it. But it went well. And I am tired but happy.

Thank goodness. I was a little bit worried, a little bit dreading this teaching thing.

Moved In

2006-08-05T15:26:00.000-04:00

I am sore all over from all of the moving I have been doing. Books to school, books from school, books back to school again. Cabinet here, cabinet there, cabinet turned, cabinet scooted out to plug something in, cabinet scooted in again. Tables to the room, desks from the room, desks up on the stage, tables down off the stage, tables right side up, tables upside down to put little pads on their feet, tables right side up again, tables in groups, tables in rows.

My room is set up, though. It looks great, if I do say so myself. My principal stopped by today, and said, surprised, "You did it! You're all set up," as if he had believed I'd start class with boxes and supplies strewn around the room. Now I'm just working through what will actually happen in that room, when the children come in. I have set up seats and folders for 18, I am expecting 16. A--, who has moved from her school to my school and who will be teaching 3rd grade math, science, and social studies, is expecting two classes of 14 each. The poor kindergarten teachers, now down to three, are expecting 21 apeice.

I'm disappointed in the response rate to my question: what should I name the rat? The current forerunners are Rizzo (approved by my sibs), Magnolia/Maggie, and Fritter (suggested by my friend L- from Cornell). Again, let me know what you think.

Name My Rat

2006-08-02T23:48:00.000-04:00

Here she is, in all her glory: the rat of 1C. Before school starts, this little squeaker needs a name, preferably one which will help my first graders learn some sound-spelling conventions. Here are the current suggestions -- please comment with your thoughts or ideas.

Wheezy -- she sneezes quite a bit, and this would teach "wh" and "ee" and "y says e"
Chopstick or Chapstick -- E's idea, teaches "ch" "st" and "ck"
Lilly -- the name of the mouse in a storybook
Squeaker -- teaches "squ" and "ea"
Cocoa -- because of her coloration, teaches "oa says o"
Sniffles -- teaches "sn" and double consonant and "le says /ul/"
Molly -- M's suggestion
Whiskers
Charlie
Maisy -- a mouse on a TV show for young children
Rizzo -- the name of the rat on the Muppets

Please help me out!

Home Improvement

2006-08-02T00:23:00.000-04:00

I'm in the middle of several projects to improve the comfort levels in my classroom, to make it a better learning space. Today I went in to school and worked on project #1, Setting Up Stuff in the New Arrangement. I started to organize things on my shelves (I had to clear them all off in order to move them around.) I put up one set (of three) of curtains and finished papering and bordering the outside of my door.

Then, I went to Southaven, a big town near Memphis, to equip myself for projects #2 and #3. Project #2 is the Pet Project. Most of my students are too poor to be able to afford pets like suburban kids often have (gerbils, fish, etc.). Some of them have dogs or cats, but most are pet-less. So this year, we will have a classroom pet, and it will be a rat. Don't cringe -- I did quite a bit of research, and I found out that, as classroom pets go, rats may very well be the best. They are more interesting than fish or hermit crabs, more cuddly than centipedes or hissing cockroaches, more intelligent than... well, than anything else that you might have in a classroom, cleaner than any other rodent, more disease free than a turtle (known to carry salmonella), and, unlike hamsters and gerbils, they don't bite. So I bought a rat and all the fixin's.

Project #3 took me to Lowe's, where a very friendly salesman helped me find supplies to make two benches for the room and to cut some plywood so that I can create a baffle around my hideously ugly air-conditioning unit. I am going to assemble it this week, prime and paint it, and then during the first week of school, have the students decorate it.

Read All About It!

2006-07-27T23:42:00.000-04:00

Check out the article about the announcement in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger... It's listed under the "North Bolivar School District" links on the right side of the page.

Exemplary, Baby!

2006-07-27T23:17:00.000-04:00

In a "community meeting" tonight in Shelby, the news was announced (finally, after much thanking of people, stories about the difficulties in the district, and clapping): Brooks School (my school) moved from a level 1 priority school to a level 4, exemplary school. Shelby School, the middle school, did the same; and Broad Street, the high school, remained at a level 3. Although the auditorium was only half-full, and only about 20 of those present were parents, the spirit was high and the hearts were in the right place.

We began, as we always do, with a prayer. The head of the school board spoke, highlighting the board's many prayers for the district (3 board members are ministers and the other two are "strong Christians"). She spoke glowingly about our conservator, who entered the community and got into "every crack and crevice; he was like a little roach." Another administrator compared our district to Humpty Dumpty, who had a great fall, except that the "king's men" were the members of the State Board of Education and they did put Humpty back together again. Finally, after the band played a rousing version of the Broad Street high school alma mater, which happens to use the same tune as the Cornell alma mater and thus always throws me off guard at school assemblies, the State Superindendant of Education revealed the ratings and terminated our state control. In closing, the director of some district program mentioned three positive signs in the school community that she had noticed that night: there were so many parents present to show their support and unity with the board (20 parents, out of... over 500?), we are producing stellar graduates (such as the one who won a state contest and gained admission to... Jackson State), and the band director, who was playing with the band, demonstrating strong teacher involvement (without his trumpet bleating the melody, you might have mistaken the band's songs for their warming-up noises.)

I'm happy for the district, I really am, but I felt like there was a lot of smoke blowing tonight. I do have to say, though, that people's hearts are in the right places. There was a spontaneous "G-O-O-D J-O-B, Good Job, Good Job!" after the announcement of the ratings, there were many standing ovations for administrators and state staff, and the mood was very positive. The crowd seems pumped to try hard again this year in order to keep/improve our rating, and I am thus far pleased with my new principal and excited to see how he runs the school.

Setting Up

2006-07-27T02:45:00.000-04:00

It was a good day for getting work done in my classroom. I moved out all of my old desks in favor of some 2-seater tables, and I put felt pads on the feet of all the chairs and desks. Hurrah! I am so excited to have tables, although now I have to figure out where we're going to keep all of those things that were originally in the desks (like Reading Books and Journals). I also met one of my students-to-be, who is just cute as a button and was very helpful today.

All of this has conspired to make me a little bit of an insomniac tonight, though. It is almost 2 in the morning and I have been up doing a little set up of my new house, a little thinking about setting up my new classroom. I'm not so good with estimating sizes, but I made an attempt at drawing a setup in Excel of how I think I may want the class to look. I wish I could show it to you all to get feedback, but alas, I don't know how. I'll take a picture once I have it all worked out.

Fingers Crossed

2006-07-25T23:15:00.000-04:00

I went to school today, and a new set of class lists was posted. A set of class lists in which there are not three, but four first grade teachers! I am thrilled, and hoping wildly that it will stay that way -- the fourth teacher has been pulled from kindergarten, and the other three kindergarten teachers are not to pleased to have 21 kids each. This morning, I had 19 kids on my class list, but by this afternoon it had gone down to 16 kids, because the administration moved up all four of the Special Ed repeaters to 2nd grade. I'm not writing names on anything yet, but I did go ahead and switch my 26 desks for the tables I've been coveting (that only seat 22 max).

Also today, the new principal assured me that he didn't want to lose any teachers because of a lack of discipline in the school, so he will be prowling the hallways with his paddle at the ready. He addressed his stature, which is much smaller than that of our previous extremely imposing principal. "I may be small," he told me, "But I am very tough." It is worth noting, I think, that the new principal is also a Reverend.

Spiders

2006-07-24T19:28:00.000-04:00

I've spent the last week packing and moving all of my things to my new apartment in Clarksdale and welcoming/helping/hosting the new Delta corps members. There were three '06 corps members who stayed for a few days with M- and me in Shelby while they found housing. Two of them will be teaching at the middle school, and I'm very pleased about that because I like them both very much. The other one, also a sweet girl, was originally placed in our high school. However, she declined the position in favor of another one more her flavor in Arkansas (math instead of sciences.)

Anyhow, at one of the potlucks (hosted around the Delta the first week the first years are here to introduce them to each other and to the 2nd years who have returned), I happened to mention how many spiders there were at my Shelby house. I'd been swatting or ignoring them, depending on their location, as I'd been packing. My friend E-, a native Mississippian, warned me to be careful. It turns out that spiders in Mississippi, unlike spiders in Massachusetts, can be very poisonous. In fact, northern Mississippi, where I live, is smack dab in the middle of the territory of the brown recluse spider.

The brown recluse spider is one of the two most poisonous spiders in the United States. The other one is the black widow. Brown recluses can be recognized by a violin shape on their back and they like to hide out in dark places. Its poison kills the cells and tissue around the bite. Fortunately, they are not antagonistic and will run away from humans unless put between skin and a hard place, accidentally or not, in which case they bite.

Learning this information freaked me out. So I looked up a picture. And, you guessed it, the plethora of spiders who live in the house in Shelby are almost all brown recluses, nickel- to quarter-sized brown spiders witha violin-shaped spot on their backs. It is an infestation. I must have killed at least a dozen just while I was packing. Luckily, I have not been bitten -- yet. But as the spiders like to hide in dark places, like the insides of boxes, I'm sure I brought a few here to Clarksdale with me.

Rumors

2006-07-20T11:44:00.000-04:00

Since school has not started, and in-service training (pre-school teacher school) has not started, and teachers are not even in their classrooms setting up yet, the only contact I have had with school news has been through the rumor mill.

Some is innocuous:
- The lead teacher for my grade got married over the summer.
- Another white teacher's daughter will not be in my class this year because she has been accepted to the white private school and her mother feels better about sending her there because of the other students, even though she herself works at the school.

Some is exciting:
- Although test scores are on lockdown, I heard 3rd- and 4th-hand rumors about the test scores in my district. The word is that they are good, especially at my school, and that Brooks might go from being a level 1 priority school (the worst) to a level 4 school (a solidly good school, since the rating is 1-5). The middle school evidently did pretty well also, and might move up to a level 3.

And some is disheartening:
- There was one "administrator" at my school last year who did not, in my opinion, do her job. I'm not exactly sure what her job entailed, but it included some watching children (she made them sit silently in front of Teletubbies), some newletter creation (she made a huge fiasco among my students' parents by messing up my class's honor roll because she didn't ask me and another teacher for a simple clarification), and some power of the press. Any time that something at the school could give her an excuse not to watch children, she took it and sent them back to their classrooms, stealing the precious little planning time teachers were afforded. This administrator was going to be moved into a more powerful position at my school for this year, but, according to the rumors, her salary was cut when she was promoted. So she found another job in the area and is now a PRINCIPAL in another elementary school. An unfortunate example of institutionalized mediocrity.

And some is about TFA:
- The new corps is evidently pretty wild. That'll be interesting, I think, and might liven up the social scene in the Delta a little.

And She's Back!

2006-07-18T00:37:00.001-04:00

I have returned to Shelby from my summer vacation, refreshed and (almost) ready to teach again. I came back early in order to move, meet the new corps members, and prepare my classroom.

Today I stopped by my school and saw my class roster. I'm super excited about my class, including the 3 students who will be joining 1C for the second time. Happily, the school took my advice and held back not only the 3 who were just not developmentally ready to move on, but also the 3 who have fairly severe learning disabilities. I really felt that putting them in second grade when they were not reading at all (even though they had made progress) was not appropriate.

Today I also picked up 3 2006 corps members from Delta State, where they have their orientation. They will be staying at my house in Shelby until they find houses of their own. Two of them are placed at the middle school, one in 4th grade Science/Social Studies, and one in Special Ed. The other one was originally placed in the high school but was not offered a position she was comfortable teaching, so TFA is currently trying to find a new placement for her.

I was thrilled when I originally got the list of new corps members because there was one placed in my school, in first grade. It would have been fantastic. I was ecstatic. Someone with the same training as me, who I could really plan with beyond the basics... Unfortunately, he was switched to a position in the middle school, and not replaced at my school. So this year, there will again be 3 first grades and 4 classes in all of the other grades. The third first grade spot, which was open, will be filled by a wonderful woman who has been an assistant at the school for many years while she attempted to pass the PRAXIS exam. Evidently she made it this year. I think that she will make a wonderful first grade teacher (she was a sub two years ago for about half the year after the teacher left and evidently did really well). The teacher who is losing her as an assistant is devastated, though (even though she is of course happy for Mrs. W-.) You can imagine, i'm sure, how much easier it would be to teach with another fully competent, dedicated almost-teacher in the room.

The new corps members seem to be a wonderful group of people. I would expect nothing less from TFA, which is still growing furiously. The optimism and enthusiasm of the first years is reinvigorating. I was a little shocked to find myself part of the jaded corps of second years welcoming the new teachers. Not shocked to be part of the welcoming committee -- I knew I would be, and had been looking forward to it -- but to realize how much my naive optimism has been replaced with positive but slightly less bubbly realism. I had to remind myself to be positive and to truly believe that they may not have the same difficulties I had. It is no good to warn them of things that may not happen (you will want to cry almost day for the first nine weeks), and far better to prepare them for things that certainly will happen (you will have wonderful children who will be rowdy). After all, they will find their own difficulties, but going in full of optimism is a good thing.

Pictures of Me and My Students by My Students

2006-05-24T18:21:00.000-04:00

Best and Worst

2006-05-24T18:07:00.000-04:00

In the morning of the last day of school I had my students write and illustrate the best and worst parts of first grade.

Best Parts of First Grade:
I like when Ms. Hayes tells us the first part when we do our math.
The best part of first grade is when we were reading Junie B. Jones and Flat Stanley and the Wild Animal book. (Shout out to Mrs. Sandler for the donation of the Amazing Pop-Up Wild Animal Book.)
The best part of first grade was when we played games and we read the word wall and when we played and when Ms. Hayes made silly faces.
The best part of first grade was reading Junie B. Jones book.
The best part of first grade was marbles.
The best part of first grade: math switcharoo, reading the beginning blends, giant cookie, reading Flat Stanley, learning the sounds, the Wild Animal Book, and saying the pledge.
The best part of first grade is sharing the giant cookie.
The best part of first grade: marbles, centers, penpals, making the planets, getting stars, ladybugs, butterflies, Hi My Name Is Joe, and Ms. Hayes Says.
The best part of first grade was doing the stars.
The best part of first grade was doing the calendar, bathroom sticks, giving stars, saying the pledge, marbles, Wild Animal Book, doing tests, learning sounds, awards day, painting butterflies, playing games, and learning about tadpoles.
The best part of first grade was the math switcharoo. (Incredible that two people put this down –the math switcharoo is when you write a horizontal math problem vertically.)
The best part of first grade was playing games.
The best part of first grade was reading Junie B. Jones.
The best part of first grade was the trip Ms. Hayes took J-, E-, and T- on.

Worst parts of First Grade:
The worst part of first grade was taking a time out.
The wosr part of first grade was taking away marbles.
I was furious when Edward sat on my feet.
The worst part was when we do a lot of work.
The worst part of first grade is when you act bad and you have to sit out of activities.
The worst part was when it was a sunny day and we went outside.
The worst part of first grade was when she gave the big test.
The worst part of first grade is was when I’m on yellow. (The colors in our consequence chart are superstar, green, yellow, orange, and pink, in that order.)
The worst part of first grade was reading in our reading book.
I was really mad when a girl spit on my foot.
The worst part is when you take points away.
The worst part of first grade is when I get on pink. I get angry and I be screaming loud.
The worst part of first grade was when Ms. Hayes slammed down the book and when I get hot.
The worst part of first grade was computer lab and library.

I also let them write me letters if they finished their best/worst early.

Some letters (I am typing the spelling as they wrote it, because they did such a good job.)

My seacrite is that nobody know that my nickname is Big Baby. You is the nices teacher I ever saw.
***
Ms. Hayes is very swet like a butterflies.
***
Dear, Ms. Hayes. When are you getting mared? and when are you haveing a babby? who is your boy friend?
***
Roses are red volet are blue I no you are the best teacher and the class no’s to.
***
I am is ging to miss you when I go to secind grade. I love you. You is the best. You is the best teacher.

Last Day

2006-05-24T18:06:00.000-04:00

It’s over. My first, tumultuous year of teaching is now completely over. I have to stop by the school tomorrow to tape a sheet of paper over my last bookshelf before I turn in the key to my classroom, but it’s over.

Yesterday was the last day of school. We had written letters to parents about the plays that we were doing and I was hoping for a good turnout. I got six parents. My roommate says that it was a pretty good turnout (about 25%!) because I probably got all the parents who have access to a car and who weren’t working or high.

The plays went passably well. Five Little Monkeys and Hattie and the Fox went very well and Click Clack Moo went quite poorly. I guess I expected more from those children because they are my best readers.

I had hoped it would be an easy day. The last day of school should be, I think. Kids should want to be good, teachers don’t need to be strict because there will be no repercussions from lax management in the ensuing days. That attitude lasted all of five minutes until I turned my back and R- punched R2- in the stomach so R2- punched R- in the nose and drew blood. They weren’t even mad at each other. It was the first blood ever drawn in my class from violence. No, the second time – once D—scratched K-‘s face because he touched her on her booty.

The whole leaving process has been very anti-climactic, though. On Tuesday, the kids came to school. On Wednesday, they didn’t come anymore. There was no last hurrah. As my kids left for the bus they made their habitual choices (hug, high five, or handshake) as though it was just any old day. They didn’t seem to feel the difference between this and any other school day any more than I did.

Early-Elementary Mandatory Supplies

2006-05-12T22:00:00.000-04:00

List of mandatory early-elementary classroom supplies:
bandaids and neosporin (even if there are no falls, you'll use a bunch -- they like to pick at bug bites and wail for a bandaid at the teeniest dot of blood)
hand sanitizer (most schools down here do not have working sinks, soap, or paper towels)
paper plates (infinitely useful for art projects and impromptu snacks and fraction circles and word family wheels)
a heavy-duty pencil sharpener that no children are allowed to use (I've gone through 3)
chocolate (for you, not them)
smarties (kids love candy and one smartie is not enough to give a sugar rush. Also, what a great name.)
stickers (for papers, incentives, tracking charts)
dry erase markers (most schools have dry erase boards and no markers. Also, they die quickly if you let kids use them.)
sparkle sticks (wooden dowels of assorted sizes with sparkly fuzzy balls hot glued on the end. Great for pointing at things like the board and big books when reading together.)
hot glue gun (it's the only thing that will make anything stick to a painted cinderblock wall in Delta humidity for more than a day)
masking tape (it's the only thing you can tape things to the whiteboard with without getting gunk left over.)
packing tape (ghetto lamination)
copy paper (for drawings and for when the school copier runs out a month into school)
comfortable shoes (the kids don't care, but you will)
popsicle sticks (for a word cup, individual pointers, calling names randomly, art projects, stirrers, etc.)
cups (for planting plants, juice, water for painting, holding manipulatives)
tupperware (for art supplies and manipulatives)
goo gone (cleans up almost everything)
broom (cleans up almost everything else)
sharpies
stapler and staples
manila folders (for centers and files)
post-it notes (multiple usages, including instant graphs and quick checks)

Ringworm

2006-05-08T22:23:00.000-04:00

I have ringworm (which is a fungus, not a worm) on my face. You get it from getting too close to the kids. I had my chin on top of a kindergartener's head the other day as he told me his letter sounds and how to spell cat and dog and I even thought to myself -- I know J--'s been sent home for ringworm before, I hope that's taken care of. But I guess not. So now I have a ring-shaped red patch on my chin about the size of a nickel that I have to treat with a cream. It's like athlete's foot... on my face.

Roughed Up

2006-05-08T22:14:00.000-04:00

My school is a rough place for little kids. This continues the trend from their homes, I suppose. They get roughed up at home, they rough up each other, they get roughed up at school. If I had a nickel for every time I heard the phrase (from a teacher) 'I'm going to tear your butt up,' or, 'He needs his butt tore up,' I could buy a whole class set of books with the money. There are a lot of kids 'getting thier butts tore up' in the office at my school. And a lot of kids 'getting the sense knocked up into them' at home.

They're rough little kids. Tough little kids. Already, in first grade, desensitized to pain, raised voices, and bad language.

I had a talk with one of the assistants today. "I couldn't say the things I tell the kids in front of you," she told me. "And you couldn't say them to the kids, no how. Because of the way things is, their parents would be calling the office.. 'That white b*tch said X to my child...'" She told me how she takes the kids in the room next door and paddles them herself instead of taking them to the office. In class, she pops them on their hands with a ruler and threatens them. It just shows you that you don't know what goes on behind closed doors, even in schools.

All My Children

2006-05-08T21:56:00.000-04:00

My students had to take the second grade semester exams last week (I don't really know why), and since it was given to the second graders in January, the open response question was: In five sentences, describe your favorite Christmas present.

My super-smart S-- began: My favorite present is a TV, so I can watch All My Children.

Peacocks

2006-05-02T07:41:00.000-04:00

The peacocks are mating. Or at least, the one fully-feathered adult male is trying really hard. He arches his back and pops up his colorful, enormous tail, fans out the rusty-colored feathers underneath, shakes his pouf of butt fuzz, and scans the area like a radar dish. When he catches sight of the female, he makes a clicking sound and shakes his feathers at her. She ignores him. Occasionally, he'll rush at her, which seems to annoy her even more (wouldn't you be annoyed?)

On the other hand, the mating season has made them less skittish and they like to eat pieces of cookie that people throw to them.

Snippets from Today

2006-05-01T20:58:00.000-04:00

My school has gone into MCT lockdown. The MCT (Mississippi Curriculum Test) begins tomorrow. My superstars will not be taking it, but the second and third graders will be. My students will be taking (who knows why) the second grade semester exam. So while we are not in lockdown, we did spend today... solidifying some concepts (read: reviewing.) Anyhow, the hallways and second and third grade classrooms are papered with bright butcher paper, since there is NO ENVIRONMENTAL PRINT ALLOWED during the MCT. It looks very strange.

***

One of my little girls came in today with a black eye given to her by a relative. I just want to get that person and string him up. She's only an eight year old little girl, for goodness' sake.

***

Another little girl, who I have a hard time getting to do anything, was thrilled when I put on a compound word song today. She boogied down and clapped together snowman and doghouse and bathtub like a champ.

A Superstar Who Is Black

2006-04-27T18:28:00.000-04:00

The assignment: write in your creative writing journals. You can write whatever you want, but you need to have 4 sentences and at least 3 describing words.

S-- wrote:

I had a dream that Ms. H-- got married to a superstar who is black. They love each other very much. She wore a peach dress at the wedding and the best man had a suit that was gold and tan. It was a good time.

*****

I picked 9 of my superstars (who are black but not marriage material for at least another dozen years) to perform at our MCT rally. The Mississippi Curriculum Test begins on Tuesday and because of the whole state takeover thing, the focus has been exclusively on preparing our second and third graders for the test since about January. Since it is such a big deal, we are having an RAF book giveaway and a rally at which each class is supposed to perform (or, have one child or a group of children perform).

I picked my most outgoing students and they helped me write a little cheer to perform. Four of them (the small ones) are being first graders and five (the big ones) are pretending to be second and third graders. Hope it goes well... Every other time, my class has been outdone in spades.

In Class and Next Year

2006-04-25T20:11:00.000-04:00

Teach for America told us, at Institute, that the most effective way to teach is through units. I have yet to really teach in solid units, but I have been moving in that direction as the school year progresses. I'm still not tying my units together cross-curricularly very often, though. It occasionally happens with our Book Of the Month work, but because of our scripted reading program, I have no leeway in what I teach or read in the mornings. I try to tie in the independent reading bin -- so when we were learning about animals, we had a bin of animal books out, and when we learned about dinosaurs, there was a book of dinosaur books out.

Next year, I hope to be able to integrate a little bit better. Now that I know the reading program, I can schedule some of my math, science, and social studies objectives to align with our Basal reader stories (hopefully).

We're doing a unit on plants and animals in Science right now. I was gifted a butterfly kit and I bought a ladybug kit, so we are growing butterflies, ladybugs, and marigolds. The kids love it, and I can have them write about the changes that they are observing. I printed up and stapled some "bug journals" and some "plant journals." Every day, little T--, who is lost in ever subject, asks me, "Mi' Hay', can I go look at my plant?" I told them that plants grow better when you love them and now their plant journals are filled with "I love my plant," and "My plants is the best most beautiful plant in the whole wide world,"s. I also like long-term projects because they work with time really well. Extra ten minutes? Let's write about our plants and bugs. No time today? That's okay, we'll look at them tomorrow...

For the end of the year, I'm going to have them learn and perform several Reader's Theaters. Typically, reader's theater is just acting out a story impromptu, with no props. In upper grades, it could be the dramatic reading of a play, in younger grades, it ranges from things such as students chiming in for the speaking parts, to children acting the story out as the teacher or other children read it, to the more elaborate style, like what I'm setting up now. I typed up three books. They are on three different levels -- one is a big book that we read often in class (Hattie and the Fox), one is a repetitive rhyming book (Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed), and one is a more complicated, funny story about a group of cows with a typewriter that request electric blankets from their farmer and go on strike when he refuses (Click, clack, Moo.) I presented them to the groups today, and all were very excited to perform them as plays for the kindergarten later this year.

Anyhow, what this all leads down to is an idea I've been turning over in my head for a while. I'm thinking of doing book units next year. I'll pick a book related to something we're learning in Science, Social Studies, or Math. In the half hour of literacy time where I can design my own activities, and in our reading centers, we'll read the book or do activities related to the book (sequencing, book reports, related writing, reader's theater). In our other class time, I'll try to tie the book in to the curriculum to foster a more cohesive understanding of the things we are learning. For example, we recently read "Down the Road" as our book of the month. In the story, a little girl goes on a walk to buy some eggs. As she comes home, she stops to pick apples and inadvertently drops all of the eggs. We were learning about coins at the time, so I have the students a coin amount to figure out, cut out, and glue to "Hettie's Pocket" to buy the eggs. Voila, integrated math. We're learning about coins, and one way they are used in the real world is to buy things. We'll be able to do author studies or subject studies to compare books, and so on and so forth. What I would really love (although I doubt it could happen) would be to be able to give each child a copy of the book at the end of the two or three week unit (or at least, at the end of some of them.) Most of my children have very few books at their houses, and even fewer that they can read. However, most of them can at least "play read" all of the books we've read a few times in class.

It's still just a seed of an idea in my head right now. I've heard of other teachers doing units like this with great success and I'd love do do more reading to and with my students. They also love being read to and pick books at our RAF rallies that we've read in class (for example, my class picks more Junie B. Jones books than anything else.) I really enjoyed most of the principal's Books of the Month and would definetely use them (for example, Where the Wild Things Are, Down the Road, Guji Guji, Love You Forever, the Giving Tree). I would supplement them with other books I've read and the children have loved, and others that tie is really well with units (The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday, Click Clack Moo, Caps for Sale, Miss Spider's Tea Party, Whose Mouse Are You, Why Mosquito's Buzz In People's Ears, and so on).

What do you think?

School Improvement

2006-04-24T23:04:00.000-04:00

Last Thursday, I went to a meeting for “concerned members” of my school district. Of the 50 or so concerned members present, about 25 were state or district staff and faculty, 15 or so were parents, and the rest were their children, babysitter-less and bored silly. The State Superintendent of Education, Hank Bounds, spoke, expressing his belief that our school district will be the first to have (ever? anywhere?) improved under state control. He told us he was of the opinion that we would pull out of Priority status and be left, again, to our own devices. Each of the three principals spoke, highlighting their school’s progress in the face of numerous obstacles.

Not to be pessimistic, but I think that the whole meeting was the wrong way to go. Undersell, I would urge the principals. Your results may very well be erroneous, because the tests that you gave were the tests you have been teaching for the past nine weeks. But they didn’t. They declared that we are doing well. I hope we are.

I also have a sinking feeling in my gut that the state will leave no matter what. Here’s why. I think there are four possibilities:
1. We do really improve, the state leaves, and we continue to improve in the future.
2. We improve our test scores, adopt the “test-prep” method of teaching, remain a passable district in Mississippi’s eyes, and really only teach our children through multiple choices, and they grow up never having to support their beliefs or think of original ideas.
3. We don’t really improve. The state doesn’t leave. We continue swimming through muddy water towards the supposed light and continue to not improve.
4. We don’t really improve. The state leaves anyway. We continue to not improve, they consolidate school districts and we cease to exist. They never have to admit publicly that they failed to help us in any way.

The only good option is option one. From the state’s eyes, though, the only bad option is option three, where they show that they are worthless. Option 4, they maintain that we are no good, or they sweep us under the carpet. Numbers one and two are the same to the state, which is supported by the fact that they are eliminating open-response items from their tests.

I do think the takeover has helped because it has been a kick in the behind to the district. I hope they leave because we actually improve, and the kick leaves a bruise that makes us keep running.

These are just kids. My kids are as smart as your yuppy suburban kids, and I’ll prove it to you all yet.

Soup for Easter

2006-04-24T23:02:00.000-04:00

Me: Oh, and what did you wear to church on Easter?
E- (proudly): A soup.

The River

2006-04-24T22:20:00.001-04:00

Yesterday I convinced my roommate to drive with me to the levee, which is about 10 miles west of us. We brought our dinner, thinking we'd eat and look out over the river. It turns out that the levee is, at points, four or five miles inland from the river. We walked along the top of it, thinking that the still little lakes must somehow be part of the big river.

I was quite confused.

Then we met W-. W- and his girlfriend had been out fishing on the lakes around the river. At first, they thought we were poachers (except they decided I probably didn't have any guns in my little sedan). It turns out that the land on the inside of the levee is mostly privately owned by hunting clubs. W- and his girlfiend belonged to one of the clubs, and in fact, W- had moved permanently to the camp six years ago. He now sells irrigation equiptment, hunts, fishes, and "parties hard" on the weekends, at the hunting club, in the most Southern place on Earth (the Mississippi Delta).

He led us in towards the river on rutted dirt roads. We passed his house, up high on stilts to keep it safe from the nine-foot floods that come most every spring (and are stopped by the levees way inland.) He stopped for a moment to drop off his catch and returned with a few cans of beer. We drove on, in through the camp, for quite a while. When we stopped, we were at the edge of the river in a small clearing. The sun was just beginning to set and there was a rainbow shooting up out of the water.

Another car of club members, friends of W-'s, pulled up after us a few minutes later. This load included a young boy with a good arm for throwing rocks in the river, a lawyer from Greenville, and another twenty-something reedy-looking man. You can belong to the club if you buy the land, they told us. Land in their part is about $1800/acre and their hunting club has, I believe, about 20,000 acres. Up North a little land is more expensive because it's better for hunting on, but they seemed to like this area just fine.

We left soon after the sun set, so that we would be able to find our way out before dark settled. Since we had spent the sunset at the river talking to W- and his friends, we hadn't eaten our dinner, so we stopped up on the levee and watched the stars instead. In my small town, the stars are bright and fill the sky. Out a few miles from settlements, they were even better.

The Delta really is a gorgeous place. Now that spring has set in, the weather is amazing and the bugs have yet to hatch (knock on wood.) And again and again I am startled by the genuine openness, friendliness, and generosity of the people that live there. I thought it wasn't true when I lived up North, that Southern hospitality was a farce. It really isn't, though. It seems to be the norm rather than the exception, and it is guileless and completely refreshing.

Hi Again

2006-04-12T00:35:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the delays in posting. This past weekend, I went out of town. Wow, it is so different in the real world. Actual buildings, well-maintained infrastructure... fantastic. On another note, don't fly Continental. They lose bags.

***

Today, during lunch, a little girl told me that the middle schoolers were talking about me. "They said you look like a white panda," she said. "But I think you is pretty." I thanked her, and commented that maybe they just mean I am white. "You don't even look white," she responded. Umm... I'm about the palest white person you could find. I guess that means pretty is out the window as well.

***

We are going to have penpals for the end of the year. One of my training group members from TFA Institute teaches a first/second grade split in Houston, TX. His class wrote us a wonderful letter and my little hellions are tickled pink to write back. We're goingto type the letters on the computers in the computer lab so that they are a little bit more legible (first graders reading other first grade writing is just asking for trouble.) However, typing is turning out to be a big hassle, because they have never done it before. I think it is worth the trouble, though. Got to start them on the computers young.

***

My principal is looking for a great teacher to teach 3rd grade math. I kind of want to ask for the job. I really do enjoy teaching math so much more than reading. However, whenever I start to think seriously about it, I think, but now I really know how to teach first grade so much better! I'm actually going to be an okay teacher next year... Besides which, Mr. R-- really wants a male teacher. He told me that the boys in our school are falling behind in math because they no longer consider it something that men need to know.