11/2 Katherine's class

Here are my notes from the Brain Research presentation we had in class on Tuesday.

Brain Research – From Filler to Fulfiller

Rick and Sally Doughty

How to read brain scans

Cerebellum has to do with balance and coordinates the thinking in your mind

· Normal cerebellum activity is in the back of the brain

Hole generally means that there isn’t much activity – dead brain areas

Head trauma – brain damage to front of her brain – prefrontal cortex… normal childhood but had trouble making good decisions

Prefrontal cortex is the last part to develop - works, but is very slow for awhile, is the part that helps you make good decisions

· Gives you focus

· Forethought

· Judgment

· Impulse control

· Organization

· Planning

· Empathy

· Learning from mistakes

PFC Problems

· Short attention span

· Impulsive

· Procrastination

· Disorganization

· Poor judgment

· Lack of empathy

· Bad at learning mistakes

PFC exercise

· Goal setting/problem solving PFC function

· One page miracle

o Relationships

o School/work

o Money

o Body

o Mind/spirit

o http://www.amenclinics.com/my-brain-health/brain-health-club/fifteen-days-to-a-better-brain/the-one-page-miracle/

Emotions come on-line before good decision makings come

Many times murderers have problems in the limbic system – make bad decisions…. Pre frontal cortex has less neurons – pre frontal cortexes aid with empathy

The more you exercise your brain areas, the more it grows.

Filler to Fulfiller

Kids are generally on track developing if they’re 18 months ahead or behind

Filler – 0 to 3 yrs approx.

· brain develops back to front

· mirror neurons

o mirror what you do

· atmosphere of home key

o safe, secure, loving vs stressful, chaotic, rude

o ladies usually gifted in this

· attunement and implicit learning

· TV bad…

Follower – 3 yrs to 12 yrs approx.

· want to emulate or follow something or someone

· add in explicit learning

· being actively involved, directing, teaching

· school readiness

· control exposures – who influences

· give choices to the children

· goal setting/problem solving

· how to help:

o evaluate and encourage ability to

§ function apart from mom and dad

§ direct attention

§ follow directions

§ interact socially

§ take turns

§ make choices

§ be self-aware

o when you talk to kids, show – don’t tell. Ex. In line when kids are all crazy say “you look like this” and show them.

o When kid is being fussy… “you are doing this… show… what you mean is ‘down please.’”

o Be a role model they can follow

o Goal setting/problem solving

o Provide physical activity

§ Book like Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers are good to read

Finder – 12 to 20 years approx,

· Explosion of neural connections and pruning

· Key new areas of the brain come on-line

o Novelty seeking, risk taking, oppositional, emotional

Fulfiller – 20+ years approx.

· Brain not fully developed until about 25

· As with all the years good nutrition is important

· Be a part of the support system without rescuing

10/20/09 Social Studies Notes

Here are some of my notes from Social Studies on Tuesday!

Though the class was three hours long, this is pretty much what I got out of it...

Group Work

We started out by talking about how to build a cooperative community in the classroom and that group work can help this. We were split up into groups and given a bag of paper cups that we had to use with our group to build the tallest tower of cups possible, and we couldn't talk.

After we did this activity, we debriefed it and discussed if there were leaders in each group or if everyone shared the responsibility, if there were ever frustrations, etc. We talked about the difference between being a leader (delegates responsibilities, is kind, etc) and bossy (usually ends up doing everything his or herself, usually isn't kind).

Discussed how you could do activities like this and then talk with class about what being bossy looks like and what being a leader sounds like. You could ask the class what someone in their group said that really helped them get to their goal.

Then we moved onto the readings and got into small groups to answer the questions "What is the role of history?" "How do you get history into the curriculum?" and find a short interesting passage from the reading.

My group discussed how you can use debates, guided discussions and primary sources to look at history. That there is a great importance in authenticity and looking at different perspectives. We discussed in our large group how history can be incorporated into the classroom through acting, dramatizations and really trying to get the students to experience the history so that it connects to their lives.

We looked at one another's posters and that was neat. We didn't really do much with that besides look at them...

Then we watched a video on a classroom at Santa Domingo Elementary with a male teacher teaching a history lesson to his class (I think they were first graders...)

The students had read a book on modern farming titled Heartland the previous week and drawn a picture with something that would only be used in modern times. Then they read the Ox-Cart Man and looked on the timeline, which had other dates and events on it, such as the birth of their parents, grandparents, great-great-grandparents, etc., and placed the time that the Ox-Cart Man takes place, on it. Students listened to the story and drew another picture of something that would only be around in past farms and then a final picture of something on a past and a modern farm.

The goal was to try and show how things change, or stay the same, in a certain area throughout history. Because the children had a connection to farming in their community and homes, the teacher chose to look at farming, but it could really be about anything.

Hmmm that's all I got, hope it helps!

ESOL Notes 10/20

Lao vs. the Board of Education

This is a landmark where Chinese speaking community members in San Francisco challenged the school board for equal access to education and won. Now, every school district in the country must have a "Lao plan," a strategy to provide equal educational access to ELLS

Schools receive Title III funding to assist in this. As a result, ELL students are audited to test for proficiency and progress. The general expectation is that students will advance one proficiency level per academic year (for example Early Intermediate----Intermediate). If stundents don't pass the audit, schools will lose funding.

Express Placement----If the student tests high in English, s/he might get monitored.

Susana Dutos's Systematic English Language Development curriculum is the ELD curriculum that is most commonly accepted nationwide. The scope and sequence of this curriculum tends to dominate these audits and therefore, schools that utilize other curriculums sometimes fail to measure up.

Another commonly used ELD program is Rigby's "Into English" program. However, it is less popular than Dutros's.

Students are assessed on:

Oral Language Development

Purposes of language use (functions)

Grammatical structures

Structured oral and written language proficiency

This is aligned with language proficiency standards.

Mortar words= connecting words (of, for but, and, etc.) These are often the most difficult words and structures for ELLs to master.

Different forms of assessment: Woodcock, SOLOM, ELPA

*Assignment: find out which assessment your site uses.

Susanna Dutro's home page has some info on scope and sequence. However, she carefully guards a lot of her information!

The ELPA test is available online through a website. Students use a computer and headphones to complete the test.

For the case study next week: bring in SOLOM and all artifacts (writing samples, etc.9

Math notes for 10/19

Multiplication:

You need to start out concretely, not through abstraction or memorization. It helps to start by teaching with arrays (more on that later, it's hard to post the diagrams on the blog!)

Younger students can use tiles and manips. for starters, but should be weaned off later.

Cindi diagrammed various methods of multiplication strategies. I can show you them later.

To multiply effectively, especially in algebra, you must remember the:

Order of Operations

Please (parentheses)

Excuse exponents

My x multiplication

Dear division

Aunt addition

Sally subtraction

Different strategies kids use to multiply:

Repeated Addition

43 x 6 = 43 +43+43+43+43+43

Count bys: 43,86,129,172, 215, 258

Make an easier problem: (43x5) + 43x1= 215+ 43= 258

Base Ten

(40x6) + (3x6) = 240+18= 258

Expanded notation

27X34= (20+7) (30+ 4) FOIL this (FOIL= multiply first, outside, inside, last)

600+80+210+28=

Partial Products 27

x34

28

80

210

600

Total= 918

My division notes are not as sweet and neat, so if someone wants to add those...

Literacy notes for 10/19

These are a little sparse. Feel free to add on in the comments section!!!

Maika mentioned that if any of your students need appropriate clothes for school, check out or refer them to the clothes closet at Marshall High School.

Syntax= does it make sense?

Semantic= does it change the meaning?

Julia brought up a great way to teach silent 'e' It's called the bossy 'e'. Any time e comes after another vowel in a word, it forces the vowel to say its name (example: bit...bite, cat, cate)

We broke up into small groups and brainstormed ways to help students that struggle with reading strategies. I didn't get all of the info down, but we will revisit the posters we made next week. Here are some of the categories and details:

If the student struggles with:

Sight words: you can start a word wall, ring or dictionary so students can easily access these words.

Encourage students to look at the picture or surrounding text. Is it possible to determine the word from that context?

Student loses motivation:

Resasses the books the student is reading. Is it a "just right" book?

Give students movement breaks when possible.

Try to find and introduce books of interest to students.

Student struggles with vocabulary or context: use madlibs or other games.

Frontload vocabulary. Play with words and meanings (for example, the book "Eats shoots and leaves" Talk about different meanings of the same-sounding word (i.e. two/to/too)

Student lacks interest or parent support:

Teacher can pick an interesting book and do a book talk on it. This often triggers student interest.

Try to build and foster a community of readers and learners at school through book clubs, etc.

Suggest that the student brings home the books they're reading at school. That way they always have a book to read at home.

Give a lot of strategies, support and positive feedback!

Website Resources

Hey all, I've been muddling around on the good ol' internet and have found some of these websites helpful...

http://www.omsi.info/teachers/k8chemistry/resources.cfm

This is a part of a science curriculum that OMSI puts out. I know that none of us probably have the actual curriculum, but these resources seemed liked they might be valuable for doing science stuff later on. (If we ever really have science time... Oh Kip... I feel as though I've failed you.)

http://www.donorschoose.org/

I'm sure many of you have heard about this website, but it's pretty cool and I definitely plan on using it when I'm a teacher!

http://www.life.com/

I've had some teachers/books suggest this website to look at for photos you can share with your class or to make things like those emotion cards we read about in some book.

http://legacy.lclark.edu/dept/ccps/courage_future.html

I definitely plan on attending this during one of my first five years of teaching.

http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/AtHomeAstronomy/

I liked some of these ideas as send home things that can be addressed in the classroom, but make science fit in somewhat! They would probably need to be adjusted and differentiated depending on your classroom community.

http://www.sandia.gov/ciim/ASK/documents/fsn-homeactivities.pdf

More easy at home experiments... Maybe send some home and have kids share their findings in class? If more than one kid did the same experiment, you could graph and write out the similarities and differences of what happened?

http://www.nonamecallingweek.org/binary-data/NoNameCalling_ATTACHMENTS/file/90-1.pdf?state=&type=antibullying

I have mostly looked at this in terms of the adaptations for lower grades and like the walk through idea. I think it depends on your classroom and school, but my mentor and I have done similar things with our class and it's been responded to really well. My mentor has made a big point when talking about bullying and other things that we're talking about "what happened" not "who did it" because one is appropriate for the whole class and one is appropriate for telling a teacher or adult who can help. Lots of discussion and role-playing has made activities like this pretty awesome.

Anti-bias in the classroom

Well, I don't know about everyone else feels, but today's social studies class brought up a lot of questions in my little brain about thinking, dealing and organizing an anti-bias classroom. Too many news items are coming up these days that highlight a need to talk about race and bias in America. I don't want to work in a classroom where these issues go unexplored. Yet I feel I lack the tools and vocabulary necessary to facilitate positive discussion.

An incident came up in my class last week during Reading Workshop. The children had just listened to the story "Amazing Grace" and were asked to rate the story. Many of the children were asked to rate this store on a scale of 1-5, the majority giving the book a low rating. However, the reasons they gave for their marks were rather lame, and my mentor teacher was trying to brainstorm more in-depth reasons with the students. At one point, she suggested that maybe some boys were not interested in the story because it was about a girl and maybe they weren't interested in girls. While this statement in itself was not intended to breed bias, it opened the door for biased response. One boy stood up and said "I know! Maybe people didn't like the character because she's Black and they don't like Black people. The children in the group were surprised by this comment, some shouting "that's racist!" My mentor teacher and I were both dumbfounded, and while she move on at that moment, so mentioned to me later that she would think about what to do.

Now, I feel this is a time when we could separate the statement from the child. He wasn't stating that this was his opinion. Yet there was something about the statement that pushed the comfort zone for a lot of people in the room. While we didn't have any African American children in the class, there were others who looked visibly shocked and upset. And anyways, just because there are no African American or Black children in the room, it doesn't mean this issue should go unaddressed. So basically, I'm wondering what you, my cohort mates, would have done in this situation.

If anyone is reading this and is interested in organizing some sort of round table/anti-bias workshop, let me know. I'd be glad to offer my house as a potential meeting spot. Also, does anyone know a person in the field who can give us some real, hands-on ideas on how to address anti-bias? I'm tired of talking about these things in abstract. It would be great if we could organized a speaker or workshop leader. Is there funding available for this???

let me know what you think, or if you have any stories to share,

Thanks!

Andrea

And We All Went To Heaven In A Little Rowboat...

...and there was nothing to fear, and nothing to doubt.

Thanks

I'm not sure if people will continue to look at this or not, but I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for being so supportive yesterday, and I that I really enjoyed looking at everybody's art yesterday too. What a talented bunch!!!! It's so neat to see the many different ways people can take and interpret an idea. I felt like we were able to break some new ground and open up a bit more yesterday. Thanks to Zalika for giving us the opportunity to do this.

It's a bummer that we'll be all split up next week, but we will reunite in the fall!!!!!

!

I am so blessed to be surrounded by all of you amazing people and having an instructor like Zalika. I know we're her favorites! ;) I feel like I have learned to be more patient with myself over these last few weeks. Having a child has helped too but I must say I am really impressed with everyone, really every single person in our cohort. I think we were grouped together for some special reason!! I haven't felt very supported in the professional field, and sure some of that is me (I am still acclimating to middle class culture) but a lot of the patience I am feeling is because I think of you, yes you, and I realize that we are all doing the best we can with what we have, where we are at now. I skated out a little fast for fear of crying in front of everyone. Tears of joy. I am excited about the fall and getting back to our group. I am sure the next two weeks will be a grand adventure but somehow, I think we would have had more fun if we had stuck together as a cohort! Anywho! Thank you all for all that you are. I am learning so much from everyone. Ditto to Zalika, see what a difference one person can make?

Thanks!

I just wanted to say that it's been really wonderful having all of you as classmates over the last 5 weeks. So many of your comments and blog posts have inspired me and challenged me to really examine and think deeply about my beliefs, values and ideas about education and society in general. So, thank you for that. Thank you for taking risks and supporting me when I got brave enough to take them. And a special thanks to Zalika for guiding us and giving us so much of yourself through your teaching. I really hope that we can continue to use this blog to support each other throughout the year and we can continue to discuss how to apply the things we have learned in this class to our future classrooms.

Bee bop bee bop bee bop boop

Yup, it's 3:19 am and I am still working on homework. This is indicative of many things. The first - I poorly planned my homework load for tomorrow and have therefore been spending many the hours homeworking it up. The second - the (evil) television has had many a great programs on demand this week. The third - the (sometimes evil?) internet has a plethora of interesting websites to peruse. 

Therefore for this blog post I shall not lament the passing of our time together in Zalika's class, but rather harold in the new classes, knowledge, homework, board games, alcoholic beverages, and fun that we shall have together with some of my late night findings. 

http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/ 

My favorite thus far is Miss Debbie's "Daycare."

https://www.schoolhousesupplies.org/teachers.html

This kind of seems too good to be true and I'm interested in how it really works...

http://scrapaction.org/

Neat, neat, neat.

Okay, so I actually am done with homework and now can't sleep. Hmph.

What is this? A center for ANTS!?

I've been listening to the adult alternative rock station on comcast for the past 678 hours that I've been portfolioing and arting and reflectioning and it just occurred to me that my work is TOTALLY being influenced by the sappy love songs. Hopefully for the better since I'm working on a poem of epic proportions right now.
On a serious note....I just wanna say, I love you guys. And no, I'm not drunk on white russians but I wish I was. True story. I feel like we are a great group of aspiring teachers who are striving to do more than just open a center for kids who can't read good and want to learn how to do other things good, we have higher expectations than that. And that's awesome! Keep going cohort 3, keep on keepin' on.


See you on the other side...aka tomorrow morning for some awesome puppet shows that will be serious and should be taken as such.

P.s. there is a fly that is just taunting my exhastion. It keeps landing right next to my hand and walking reallllly slowly cause it knows I don't have the energy to swat it. Stupid fly.

Too Hot To Be Creative With A Clever Subject

So a big ditto to what everyone has already said about this class and/or the weather being hot. I've really enjoyed getting to know all of you and am looking forward to spending the next year of my life with you guys/girls. I've heard a few people lately doubting their ability and "having what it takes to be a teacher". I just want to let everyone know that I know we will all make great teachers. Lewis & Clark knows we will all make great teachers (they won't admit anyone you know). I know some of these classes can be hard and make us think so much that we start over-thinking and making weird poems about the weather...but I just want to be clear that I think everyone in this class is Awesome and will make a great teacher...alright then. Carry on...

Beelzebub Has a Devil Put Aside for Me

Party On, Cohort Cubed!

Its hot

I have enjoyed reading everyones responses on the blog and I agree with a lot of what everyone is thinking and feeling. I have really enjoyed this class and have learned a lot. I am really excited to see everyones art reflection and classroom map tomorrow. I think everything I had to say I have already poured out into my art and my final reflection so I will keep this short, besides that, its really hot! It’s really weird for me that this class is coming to a close, in so many ways it feels like it just started. Like Michelle, I enjoy quotes so here are two:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

“Can I ask, what do you mean by the whole giraffe?”
Julia

I love quotes

I agree with what everyone has been saying. I loved this class and there was a lot of information thrown our way. I liked the way the class was structured, a good model for my future classroom, and I thought through much discussion I hopefully absorbed a least the most important points and overall big picture. The ice breakers were something that I formerly disliked but learned to like. The "I am from" poems were also very powerful. Here are a few quotes that I found helpful from this class, I think they are all Zalika's words:

"Purposeful goal, flexible paths."

"Choose the bridge you are going to die on."

"Memorization is not the same thing as understanding."

"Be Safe and Be Kind. Kind is different than nice, it requires more than what might feel comfortable."

"Power in love not in fear."

"Self-identifies as black."

(When talking to parents about their child's transition issues) Child has a flexibility muscle and needs to work, that is what we are trying to do in class.

(From the Boys of Baraka) "The war is here." "My boy isn't gonna be a statistic." "Try to make a difference."

My thoughts and emotions have been a roller coaster ride these past few days. I have acquired a load of information, a group of wonderful friends who have been like mentors with each and everyone's diverse backgrounds. It has been enlightening through our experience with teachers who have enhanced our awareness it such a short period of time. I couldn't imagine this program with out anything we've covered in the past few weeks. I love the drastic change from Jan to Zaher, it has been uplifting and alarming. Thank you to Zalika for helping us find our balance between these courses and offering so much to our futures as teachers.
It's funny because we've only skimmed the surface and with all I've absorbed I still feel like I am constantly rummage for more!

p.s. Let's make a pact to use this for the rest of the year!?! What do you say?

Wow! What a Term!

I often find my head just swirling with all this new information that I've gained from not only Zalika's class, but also all our classes. I wonder how will I ever process all this. It's been intense, but for the first time in a long time I feel that I actually learned. In Zalika's class particularly, between the workshops, fishbowls, blogging, and reflections I took away more information than I ever imagined was available.

I now know myself much better, I've made at least 22 new friends, and information about child development that seemed intuitive to me was brought into focus. I now have tools to know the 'why' behind what I chose to do in my classroom. Can't wait for more!

Why Be A Teacher?

To change the world --- one child at a time. I want to make an impact on this earth. I want to serve other. Next to parenting, I can not think of any other possible way for myself to accomplish these goals. Because it is through teaching that we provide others with knowledge to make them successful - whatever that might mean to them.

Teaching has been a life long goal for me. I knew since I was ten that I wanted to be a teacher. The only question was when. Because I needed to serve my county and myself in other ways first - in order to be ready - truly ready - to impart on children knowledge that could help them.

I chose early elementary teaching because it seems that at times I am like the pied piper of young children. I always have children I don't even know striking up a conversation with me. So I feel more like they picked me then I picked them. And the most important skill I want to teach is reading because I believe that reading is the gateway to anything else you may want to do.

Teaching is a calling. It's not a job. It's not even a profession. It's truly a calling. I've heard mine.

Pondering Privilege

I never pondered privilege to the depth I have in this class. In fact, I don't know that I have even used the word 'privilege' to describe those that hold power. But twice this week I've had the privilege to speak to an African-American mother and her daughter about privilege and the codes of power.

First, the mother called my house looking for her daughter. It was almost 11:00 p.m. and she knew that her daughter had taken care of my child earlier in the day. She was quite worried because she and her daughter had a fight the previous night. And it wasn't like her to not check in. So the mother and I chatted for almost an hour (upon which her daughter had come home). But what we talked about most was privilege.

For they reside in West Linn, where I live, and have been surrounded by white middle to upper class families. She felt it was a privilege to live and educate her children here. This comment struck me. Why didn't she think it was her right? So we talked about our class discussions and the code of power. I expressed that she provided her children with an incredible gift - they learned the code of power. They can speak, write, dress, and interact in ways that make Caucasian people feel very comfortable. Thus, her children will have a better chance at becoming what they want to become in this country. The mother had never thought about this 'privilege' either.

The second instance was during a discussion today with the daughter about her experiences in college and high school. Although she was one of four black children in the high school (her sister and brother were two of the other three) she never felt discriminated against. When she went off to college, she often found herself ostracized by other black people for being too 'white' (even though she has very dark skin). She didn't talk, write, dress, or interact with her black peers in a manner they felt was appropriate merely based on her skin color. So we talked about privilege, codes of power, and how it might feel to not have access to these.for the rest of their lives. I impressed upon her that she should try to help teach her peers. Help them come to terms with their own thoughts about privilege. Help them understand that learning how and when to use the 'methods' that make up codes of power will actually give them a pathway in to power. And once in, then they are in a place to make changes. Unfortunately, this is the reality at the moment….even though it appalls me.

In her book Other People's Children, Lisa Delpit eloquently stated a similar idea. "They seem to believe that if we accept and encourage diversity within classrooms of children, then diversity will automatically be accepted at gatekeeping points. I believe it will never happen….No I am certain that if we are truly to effect societal change, we cannot do so from the bottom up, but we must push and agitate from the top down. And in the meantime, we must take responsibility to teach, to provide for students who do not already possess them, the additional codes of power."

I think Ms. Delpit is not asserting that only teachers are responsible, but in fact, we (or anyone who knows the codes) are to use every opportunity to pass them to those that don't. I hope I planted a seed in the daughter's head. And I hope to continue mentoring her so she can become what ever she wants and make the societal changes that are in such need of changing.

I am shocked that our first sets of classes are already over. Its amazing how time flies by when your having fun (: Having fun indeed but there were definetly a few days where I had some breakdowns, which is expected in this intense program. Not only in this class but also in all of our classes there is so much valuable knowledge that I want to absorb it’s hard with the total amount. My mind hasn’t worked this hard in awhile and it feels liberating. I guess I am just worried about retaining all of the valid info and being able to apply it within a classroom. Although, I am excited to start interning and being able to gain more experience working within a school and utilizing the resources I have gained. (Off subject…it is HOT!! I came to my parent’s house to get some loving from the A/C and I swear its not working! AHH!)

Anyways, as I was saying...I am impressed with the classes and professors that I have had so far. I would love to see Zalika in action with her students. (Can I?) I truly learn more through observation, which allows me to file through my memory bank to bring up past material. I have to say that accumulating all of this debt has so far been worth every penny. I am enjoying my journey through Lewis and Clark.

A Summer Poem

Hello Friends,

Since my brain is melting from the heat, and there is much more work to be done tonight, I thought I would share a poem with you all for my final Blog post this week. This poem is titled MELTING

It is just to hot
I can not think.
my brain is melting
I really stink.
Books to read
papers to write.
The heat continues
into the night.
I love my program
I love my School.
I have fallen asleep
I am starting to drool.
I have woken again
but it is still to hot.
My mind is twisting
into a Knot.
I will stay up late
I will study hard.
even though
my brain is chard.
Good luck my friends
and try to stay cool
I would rather be
in a swimming pool!


Good luck with your final work my friends!

See you tomorrow!
Ryan

Five Weeks

Everything Abbie said, ditto. It's too hot to put two thoughts together, but when I think of the last five weeks, I think for me it all boils down to community. What a daunting task we have ahead of us! I am also terrified of my own little class, and I'm so grateful we get to spend a whole year with another teacher because if I had to do it by myself after a short stint in an already established classroom, I'd have no clue. 

I also appreciate how Zalika's worked so hard to build community and have that be what encourages and supports our learning. Would we have drawn so much from our readings if we hadn't felt such a bond with each other? I don't think so. For me, what's made this class so amazing is that we've worked through some helpful texts but at the same time, Zalika modeled for us what a purposeful, thoughtful, engaging teacher does so students can learn and thrive. I will treasure this experience.

A verbal group hug!

To continue on with the theme that Julia started, I would like to say that this has, indeed, been a pretty amazing 6 weeks. I feel like I have been doing this teacher school thing forever, but at the same time it feels like no time at all. I too am amazed at how much info has been in most cases lovingly but perhaps in one case angrily shoved into our brains. I am touched by how many of my classmates toss around names like Dewey or Montessori as if we are all pals that go way back, and I am especially joyful that we can now all claim “scaffolding” as our own and use the term with authority. I am still terrified, however, of actually having my own classroom of 20 to 30 charming little people to look after and educate all on my own (or at least it feels that way). Being touched by all this knowledge has made me see how little I actually know and how badly I could potentially screw a whole bunch of kids up, but that’s how we are supposed to feel, right?
I too would like to thank Zalika for this wonderful experience and for being patient, understanding, knowledgeable, inspiring, real, realistic, caring, and not altogether scary. In addition to all the book smart stuff, I feel like we got to know each other as a cohort on a much more intimate level through the icebreakers, workshops, blogs, and personal exercises such as “I am from” and I feel like we would not be where we are now as a community if it weren’t for these wonderful activities.

So thank you and good night and good luck.

The Amazing Brain

I just want to take a moment to thank the lovely workshop people for all the hard work and effort you put into organizing the workshops today! It was highly valuable information for me, and you have definitely inspired me to seek out more information on ADD and brain development.

In fact, I discussed the workshops with Tina after class today and a lot of interesting questions and tangents came up. For example, how do you define a learning disability? Does ADD follow under this category. How does a lack of basic needs fit into this? Would we be seeing such a dramatic number of kids diagnosed with ADD/ADHD if their basic needs were being met? Now, I know many other factors contribute to this, and nobody has all the information yet. I just wonder if, in today's busy society of fast food, overworked parents and constant media exposure, we are"hard-wiring" kids' brains for these conditions?

Another interesting topic that came up was how we define learning disabilities and mental health issues. Do we need to be precise, or is it possible to view all of these brain-related states on a continuum? After all, I truly believe that most people experience dramatically altered states of being throughout their lifetimes.

Finally, I'm not sure if this is the final blog or not, but I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for a great term. I certainly learned a lot from you, and appreciate all the support you have given.

Because Nursing involves too Much Blood

I, like many of you, had never had any intention to become a teacher. When I entered into undergrad I had planned on graduating prepared to embark on a glamorous career in journalism. I wanted extravagant trips, dangerous adventures, and perhaps a spot on the local news station (keep in mind I was much younger and perkier then). By the time I graduated, that dream had just sort of withered and died on its own and I was left with a whole lot of confusion and a wicked Carlo Rossi habit.

Because I have a brother 8 years younger than myself, I had always been surrounded by and cared for children. So throughout high school and undergrad it was only natural for me to continue to nanny. Then, after college, with my liberal arts diploma tucked under my arm, I marched off and found that nannying was really still the only job I could quickly and easily obtain. I did it full time for a year to save up money, got certified to teach English, and then lived in Nicaragua for a year teaching English to children, adolescents, and adults. At some point, while preparing lessons, grading exams, and teaching, I realized that I had found my zone. For the first time I felt like I was doing something that I totally loved and felt very enthusiastic and excited about.

For me, though, teaching is more of a selfish thing. I love children, so much that I usually prefer the company of children to adults (or at least in a day in day out working environment), but I am not setting out to be a teacher with a huge goal of changing the world or turning some kid’s life around. I’m not saying that I’m not going to try, but after I worked in the group home for emotionally disturbed teenage girls, I sort of let that go. How I began to see myself in relation to the kids that I work with is that I am just one more of the adults on the good team. I see every kid as having a series of pluses and minuses in their brains: good adults and positive interactions as the plus signs and bad adults or bad interactions as the minus signs. I don’t necessarily expect all the kids I encounter for a year of their young lives to remember me, I know from experience that they don’t, but I would like to make one more plus sign. I would like to leave a vague sense of warmth, safety, and love. I mean, of course, that I would love to change a child’s life for the better or influence her to be the next president or maybe even help change NCLB or the public school system, but mostly I just want to love what I’m doing every day and become very good at it.

I’ve always known that I could never work at a desk in an office, I’ve always known that I’m going to need to be able to be creative and in one sense or another my own boss, I’ve always known that I’m going to have to be able to play at my job, and I’ve always known that my job would have to be fulfilling. All signs lead to teaching; and so that’s where I’m heading.

Here we are...

I'd say what a long journey it's been, but DAMN these summer classes pack in a lot of material in a short amount of time. I guess that's what surprises me. I feel like over such a remarkably short amount of time, my thought process has been stretched and pulled with all this reading and discussion. It's not that i'm thinking a new direction...LC is pretty in line with my own approach to teaching, but there have been some very subtle and significant advances in my thinking. Now and again I think we need a reminder from our peers, or even from a notable theorist simply putting it down on paper to call our attention again to certain iniquities that exist in our society. That we have to acknowledge how differently people have it. That we need to learn how to approach different situations with students, parents, administration or legislation with unforgiving commitment, level-headed objectivity, and grace even in the face of stubborn or rude opposition, or aggressive attitudes (hello, Kathleen...). I'm grateful for all the opportunities we've had in this class to try on the shoes of being a real teacher, albeit in little skits riddled with laughter and superheros and bratty kids. It's been a real window into what life might be like for all of us in an unbelievably short amount of time. It's been a very enlightening first taste, and I'm really glad this energetic and eye-opening class was one of our first at Lewis and Clark. Thank you to Zalika, and to all the energy that each of you brought to the class. We easily could have opted for embarrassed timidity, but instead we took on our roles and helped teach by doing and watching. It was really nice to be a part of a class that actually exemplified the theory we've been learning, and not just sitting through lectures on Dewey. I'm sad it's over!

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's overcommitted Febe!

For as long as I've known me, I've had my hand in too many plates or too many plates in hand? Expressions elude me. Then last year, about five months after my son was born, I took a job at my daughter's school as the Bilingual Parent Liaison, and suddenly, the stars aligned and everything I had ever experienced became meaningful and useful in my work with elementary age students, teachers and parents. I realized I had found my calling. 

I chose elementary education because I believe we can make a real difference when our students are young and their families are still deeply involved in their care. I wanted to make a difference in the lives of children, particularly immigrants or those living in poverty. I'd been teaching college for the past 10 years--teaching is a family trade--but I realized that the most impact could be made in early childhood. 

So, I got my "Developmental Milestones Chart" out, decided the best time to start working full time for our family was when my youngest was two, and here I am.

 

Teach for Money!

I got into teaching for the money! Although it sounds funny it is true, at least in the beginning it was. Where shall I start? Let me begin by saying, I think inside, I always wanted to be a teacher but my cousins made fun of me when I played teacher as a kid, and my mother loathed them. So, anyway that sets the stage.
Well, I started out as an art major. Although I was interested in history, I hated learning the facts of war. Art took me places that I had never been before and was something that I was good at. After a few years of ceramic study at the University of Wyoming I decided I wanted to become a studio potter and off to Woodstock, NY I went to try it out. I was an Artist in Residence and spent 6 months throwing pots that led up to my first show. I loved living in the woods and having access to gas and wood fired kilns, but it was a little lonesome for a social cat like me. So,one day I was taking a walk with an older wiser friend of mine and when I mentioned my background and how no one in my entire (including extended) family had not been to college, she turned to me with big eyes and said very matter-of-factly, well you must do that. You must finish your degree. She went on to say how it would change my life forever. So, I tucked that thought in my back pocket and worked in NY for another year while picking up some computer skills too. Then I decided to move to Colorado. Well the programming and other computer jobs were out sourced that year, so I couch surfed at a gracious friend of mine while I continued to search for a job that wasn't there.
Then --CRUNCH---- I was in an accident and was boom-a-ranged back to Laramie, WY (the local paper is called the Boomerang). I moved in with my boyfriend of all of two weeks and he nursed me back to health. So, I decided to stay there and get a job. Well, lo and behold, there was a pottery shop next to the coffee shop I worked at and she needed a pottery instructor. That was my first teaching gig. I loved it. I taught all ages and had a load of fun. I then realized, hey, I am back in Laramie and should finish my degree. I had realized that to make money as an artist, one needed serious connections and I had none, so I thought, if I become a teacher, atleast I know there is a job at the end of it, and I loved teaching ceramics. So, I entered the College of Education. After taking a couple of classes about the history of education and learning styles, theorists and best classroom practices, I was sold! What I learned was how I learn and why and how I could learn more. It was a great moment and is when I decided to learn again! (If you happened to read an earlier blog- it was about the day I stopped learning -5th grade 10 years old!). I was inspired to teach in a way one of my favorite teachers in high school taught and through my own understanding, wanted to teach integrated subjects or project based education. Then upon finishing my undergrad and with art training only, I accepted my first job as a project based teacher in a blended class of 4th - 8th graders. It was everything I wanted (I am a powerful visualizer!) I taught there for two years and loved it. I was surprised how my whole life did change after graduation and am still surprised to find that I underestimate my skills and experience because of sheer ingnorance of not seeing the varied opportunities around me. However, I recently realized a need for certification in this state and that having a mentor teacher is invaluable. So here I am and yes, getting my undergraduate has changed my life forever and my family now thinks I am loaded with money!

teacher mcteacherpants

A response to why I want to be a teacher could go on for pages and pages. It is constantly growing and morphing with all of the new things I learn and experiences I have. Yet, I can generally put my reasons for wanting to go into education in a few categories:

I want to go into education because…

1.     of the teachers and mentors I have had

2.     of the inequities in our educational system I want to try and address as an agent for social change and justice

3.     of the students I have met who have changed my life

4.     it requires me to constantly grow, reflect, change and look critically at myself and the world around me

5.     I can’t imagine doing anything else

Almost every story or reason would fit under one of those main groupings, but in an attempt to shed a little more detailed light, I’ll tell one quick story.

About two years ago I began to work at Bellingham Cooperative School in Bellingham, Washington. When I first started there I worked with the before-and-after-school kids. Two kids who came nearly every morning were G and A. G was A’s older brother, and needed to be walked to the nearby public elementary school every morning. A had never been away from her older brother (she was a few years younger and stayed at BCS during the day), and to make matters more complicated, G and A’s parents had just gotten a divorce and the two kids were being shuffled from house to house on a frequent basis.

Perhaps against my better judgment, I allowed A to walk to the public school with G and I every weekday morning and then I would walk back to BCS with her. This started in September, and nearly every morning until December, A would be fine on the walk to school, when we were dropping off G and as we were leaving the school. A few steps off of the school grounds and A would collapse in a heap, crying and screaming. Knowing that I needed to get back to BCS so I could drive to my classes, and that A needed to join in morning circle for her class, I would hold her in my arms every morning as she kicked me, cried and pulled at my hair for the 8 block walk back that felt like miles. Sometimes I would set her down for a minute and she would instantly start running back towards the public school – setting us back a few blocks, and we would start again. 

Every morning we went through the same routine. Most mornings when we got to BCS, A would run into the woods and hide. I would sit outside at a nearby tree –sometimes talking to her and sometimes just sitting – as she cried and eventually would come in. While our interactions sometimes looked bizarre to those passing by – parents in cars passing by looked mortified as she kicked me, or would slow down and ask if I needed any help getting my child out of a tree – it wasn’t strange to me. In her own way, A was testing and learning to trust me, and I wasn’t going to go anywhere.

It was one of the first days of December when A was curled up under a tree that I came near her and sat down. Some mornings she would run when I came close, but this morning she stayed. I was having a hard time of my own – there had been a death in the family and while I was trying hard to concentrate on my job when I was there, feelings of sadness, missing and loss kept creeping up. When I came over to A it was obvious that she had been crying; her eyes were red and watery, her body was so little and huddled together, and her chin was shaking. We didn’t say anything at first, but after a few minutes I blurted out something about how I was really sad and missed my family. I told her about how I was sad that I didn’t get to see my mom and dad every day, and that it was hard to be at school when I just wanted to be with them. A put her head into her arms and started to cry again as she told me how she missed her parents and didn’t like all of the changes going on.

While that wasn’t that last morning A and I ever had any breakdowns on the way to or from school, it was the last time that she ever ran away, kicked or screamed. It was also the day that I realized I absolutely, positively work with kids for the rest of my life.

How my dream of being a teacher began...

Since I was a little girl I always wanted to be a teacher. I’m the oldest child in my family. I had some responsibilities to help my youngest brothers and sister with their homework. When I was in a fourth grade, I met a Mrs. Tipikina. She became my favorite teacher. She worked as a language arts teacher and was my classroom teacher till high school. It is different than in US schools, in former USSR republic classroom teachers were thought of like a “second mother.” They were responsible for not just their students’ educational achievement, mentoring and advising but taught how to be a good person in general.

After high school graduation and I have enjoyed volunteering in her classroom. This helped me realize how fortunate I was to discover how fun learning is when I was at such an early age. Mrs. Tipikina’s lessons were authentic, colorful and interactive. I remember when I was her student and we learned how to write compositions, Mrs. Tipikina made a lot of comments on the margins of my homework papers and always returned with stickers, stars, and words of praise and encouragement. Memories like these bring a big smile to my face. I also remember Mrs. Tipikina when she read a chapter to us from a storybook. She would change her voice with the characters and use gesticulations to add to the events in the story.

In addition to appreciating learning as an ongoing process, Mrs. Tipikina taught me that discipline, hard work and having fun are all a part of learning and teaching. These are skills and traits I plan to instill in my students and have them benefit from my passion for education similar to how I benefited from Mrs. Tipikina’s passion. I admired her eagerness to teach her students. I witnessed the growth that her students experienced. I know that her students learned much more than the words in their textbooks. I witnessed how every lesson was carefully planned, every student was taken into account and how she made every effort to give her students the very best education.

From these experiences, I have learned the joy of teaching and educating others. As I continued through school, my dream of teaching grew stronger and I felt myself being drawn to positions where I was around children. This sentiment has led me towards volunteering and teaching activities where, for example, I worked as a Teacher Assistant, camp instructor, Russian Literature Teacher, and had the benefit of working with children for the past seventeen years. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with so many children and look forward to working with them on a daily basis.

In spending time with children, I have experienced and observed how important the relationship is between the role model teacher and the student. Mrs. Tipikina planted the initial seed to inspire me to emulate her. This combined with other great teachers I have had and my own teaching experiences have reinforced and further strengthened my desire to be a teacher. I am eager to share my passion with my students to better shape their futures.

Becoming a teacher has been an important part of my life for many years. In fourth grade, I met the person that would inspire my career path – my teacher. From her, I learned so much more than writers’ biographies and proper sentence structure. Thanks to Mrs. Tipikina and other great teachers I have had, I know that there is more to learning than what the teacher writes up on the blackboard. To future students of my own, I plan to pass on the principle that education is invaluable and help them create dreams of their own. A skillful teacher can inspire, motivate, stimulate, and develop the minds of students. He or she must be well educated; be able to work with a diversity of students, parents, and other teachers; and be highly competent in presenting subject matter.

I want to live a life of service to others, especially children. I want to nurture them and be the person that lifts them up. I want them to feel like they could fly if they put their mind to it. I want to show them the beauty, power and courage inside them, even if they don't always see it in themselves. I want my classroom to be an exciting adventure land but also a safe haven all at once. I want children to leave my class with more confidence, compassion, and enthusiasm for life and learning than they entered it. I will teach them the skills they need to know to succeed academically, and the skills they will need to love themselves and others. Perhaps I will only plant seeds that I may never personally see flower, but I will not ever give up. As a teacher I will have great power to change lives. This power will be humbling, exhilarating, overwhelming, frightening, but exceedingly worthwhile. That’s why I decided to be a teacher!

While reading other people's post, I find that a lot of why you all wanted to become teachers rings true for me as well. Like many of us, I initially resisted my inclinations for teaching because I refused to follow in my parent's footsteps and fall into everyone else's expectations for my life. However, every job and almost every volunteer opportunity I have ever had seemed to revolve around children and I loved (almost) every minute of it! I enjoy their company so much more than adults and can't understand why everyone doesn't want to surround themselves with children all day and get paid for it! But I have come to realize that this says something about me and what I am meant to do. I have found my time working in day care and elementary schools to be some of the most amazing and illuminating times of my life and now understand that teaching is what I want/love to do.
I have had the opportunity as a special ed. assistant to observe an array of teachers in different grade levels and have learned so much from my time in the classroom about the kind of teacher I want to be. It has been a great way to see the amazing ways a teacher can touch the life of a child and to get great ideas for my classroom. On the other hand, I have also learned so much about the kind of teacher I do not want to be. In fact, I think my biggest inspiration to become a teacher has been my exposure to so many negative experiences in the schools I worked in. I have witnessed firsthand how a teacher's negligence in getting to really know and appreciate their students can allow children to slip through the cracks for yet another year. I have seen too many teachers use the same standard lesson plans year after year, even when they are obviously ineffective for most of the class. And most disappointing, I have witnessed negative stereotyping and discrimination and have seen the way it can affect a child's attitude about school and their sense of self-worth.
Being a witness and sometimes a part of these classrooms has ignited a passion in me to make a difference in education. I can't wait to work with my own students and to make all the positive changes I have been thinking about for so long. I am also excited to implement my LC education and my continually evolving educational philosophy in the classroom. I will continue to push myself to be the best teacher I can be and work to create a place for my students to excel where they all feel a sense of belonging and pride.

Influences by fate....

I moved to New Zealand in 2006 and the opportunity to work in a pre-school presented itself. Something inside me said do it. I had an amazing time working with these children and watching them progress over the year. It was inspiring to watch them connect with me and see the influence I alone had on them.

Prior to my year in New Zealand I had recently graduated college and had been working as a freelance graphic designer in Portland. When I returned I worked for a small company in SW Portland as a designer, which I enjoyed but found myself comparing it to my experience in the pre-school. I found it stimulating contributing to these children's learning and I had a hard time finding a days work as a designer to be as rewarding.

Both my parents are teachers and I have quite a few friends in the Portland area who teach and love what they do too. After some time and reflection on how remarkable it felt while working with children I started spending time in 2nd and 3rd grade classrooms. When I was younger I wasn't keen on following in my families footsteps, I wasn't sure if it was my calling. But after entering a classroom full of young people I felt the impact I had on them and could see the difference I as an assistant could make. That's when I got started filling out applications...

I feel so fortunate to be here and to have been placed in cohort 3. I truly can't imagine a different group of people to be working with. After these few weeks and the amount of material we've digested, I know there is much more to learn and consider. The most important part of my future will be to find a way as a teacher to make a difference. My goals are to hopefully make a lasting impression on my students that will eventually grow into something more among families, fellow teachers, even communities. I know this will take time but that is why I am here.