5 Ingredients for Kid stew (MADE WITH REAL KIDS)

My five:

1. Patience Patience with yourself and the children. Not just patience in
realizing that each kid works at his/her own pace and may not get things as
quickly as others, but more so consistency in your demeanor despite rising
stress. Raising your voice and being firm is definitely not the same as letting
sheer frustration and personal annoyance come across in a laps of
attention--it's so important to keep tabs on your temper. I think especially
with high-needs children it's important to not let your emotions govern your
teaching--which for me is a lot more difficult when I'm low on sleep or feeling
lazy and opt for the easy way out. Gotta be careful there.

2. Creativity Duh. The coolest teachers are the ones with the craziest ideas!
But as that "big idea" article from science, and the integrating the arts book
said, you can be the cool teacher that brings ice cream, or you can be the
brilliant teacher that not only gets to eat ice cream in class, but has been
creative enough to incorporate it into lessons, and let it spawn whole other
productive digressions. It's much more straight forward to follow a curriculum
from a teacher's manual, but definitely the pay off comes from inventively
transmitting knowledge in an interesting way that grabs the kids and gets those
brains cooking and making connections.

3. Collaboration Making relationships with other teachers that can provide an
exchange of ideas, share materials, and support with your students.
Collaborating with the administration for support and teamwork. Working with
parents to create a collaborative plan for the child's education, making sure
you're on the same page at school and at home, or at least so you understand
each other even if you don't agree. AND collaborating with the child! Working
with them to get things done and showing a feeling of respect for what the
child can bring to the table.

4. Trust (Tying into observation, restraint, delegation, and simply letting go
of the reins) Clearly a little hazy on what word to use for this. Maybe it's
all the recent readings fresh on my brain, but I really see eye to eye with
this whole "give the kids the lead sometimes, and watch them soar" idea.
Simply, the ability to let go of the reins and not micro-manage the kids. Give
guidance but let them do their thing. It's how they can flex their creative
muscles and stretch their brains, creating independence, testing their
abilities and setting them up to work with their peers and learn to ask for
help if they need it.

5. Organization You can have a flexible classroom where you're not stuck in the
rigidity of a schedule and stubbornness of instructor lecturing, but you still
gotta have a game plan. Planning and anticipating will be saving graces and a
solid frame work in which you can dally a bit. You can't just come to school
thinking the kids will dictate what happens the whole day. You have to have
materials ready, and have the classroom in order to set a good example to the
chilren.

Children need...To feel empowered. They have to feel they are capable of things
and have some wiggle room. They need to trust you to help them, guide them, and
make sure they don't go monkeying everywhere, but they also need to have faith
in their own abilities and learn self-advocacy.
Teachers should...Be focused. You have to be strategic in your navigation of the
system, and keep your eye on the prize if you're fighting for something, whether
it be a new policy or figuring out how to help a certain child. This doensn't
mean having blinders on, but keeping a goal keeps you from being bogged down.
Schools should... Recognize the community around them. Be a part of it.
Contribute with local projects and cleanups that can tie in with lessons.