Invntiv Speling II: The Happy Medium

Inventive spelling is a topic that runs through my head again and again as I continue my journey in the world of education. I am constantly pondering, "How much 'inventive-ness' is too much?" In previous blogs I have already admitted my love for inventive spelling and how I wish I could convince the world that it's okay to miss spell words as long as meaning and comprehension is not lost. Yet, as an educator I am torn between allowing my kids to be creative and run freely with their writing, and the daunting fear of letting them continue yet another year with incorrect information on the proper spelling of words.

Finally-- some answers! Regie Routman's Writing Essentials touches on this topic in a refreshing way. In the last section of chapter 7, Routman state, "While inventive spelling is great for freeing kids to use words they might not typically write, sometimes we accept inventive spelling for words kids are capable of writing conventionally" (Routman 163). He states that it is reasonable to expect students to be able to spell a bank of words. For kindergarteners, the bank includes "I", "my" and "can." Since students at this stage are using words such as "I", "my" and "can" quite often in their writing, Routman believes that they might as well practice them correctly. Inventive spelling is still okay for words that students would not normally be expected to know (or be able to sound out phonetically), but if they are common words in their writing the expectations for conventional writing should be raised.

This is a refreshing outlook because it is the happy medium I have been searching for. Inventive spelling is okay, BUT it is also okay to ask a student to check his spelling on "was" written as "wz". And just as I was thinking, "Great, but how do I do this effectively?", the next few pages are full of practical applications for any classroom.

Routman suggests constructing Word Walls (Routman 165) with commonly used words that you should expect your students to spell correctly. Other Word Walls can specialized to include content from the unit in study, seasonal words, family words, students names, etc. Additionally, using Word Walls to highlight smaller words within long words will help students foster their ability to spell complex words by breaking them down.

I think Routman is very thoughtful in his approach to inventive spelling, finding a balance that makes me feel confident in given students freedom without sending them off to the 1st grade with "wrong" spelling skills.

Wordle: using cool gadgets for education

Bush's Speech on Afghanistan
Obama's Afghanistan Speech

I got this idea from another blog, Moving at the Speed of Creativity. The idea was to take Obama's latest speech on Afganistan and imput into the fancy Wordle program to visual annalyize the speech. Wordle takes text and transforms it into a word graphic, with the text size increasing with the amount of times each word is shown (Jane showed us this tool last year).

I never really put too much thought into how to use the tool, aside from making a fun logo for my myspace account or whatnot. But after reading that blog, I realized that it can be a wonderful annalyitical tool for large amounts of text. I took it a step further and entered in Bush's speech about Afganistan from 2001. Comparing the two speeches using the Worldle designs makes a large visual impact.

In Bush's 2001 speech, 'military' is the big stand alone. In Obama's 2009 speech, 'Afganistan' dwarfs the other words. 'America' is far more present in Bush's speech than Obama's. Obama's visual speech has 'people' in large print, whereas Bush's visual depiction shows many synonyms for 'terrorist' and 'outlaw' verses 'friends' and 'children'. Does this mean Bush is a more creative speech writer? Does it mean Obama sees all people more equally? You cannot tell from the visual graphics a lone. But, using these tools in conjuncture to reading the full text will allow students to gather a better understanding and perhaps an insight into 'reading between the lines'.

And just out of pure curiosity, here is a Wordle of my blog :)

Picking the "just right" book

At this point we have had many chances to pick out books to read to our children. We know what to look for-- repetative/perdictible text (rhyming is always fun too!), big, beautiful illustrations and characters that your children can connect to. It has to be a story that delves into enough depth, but short enough to keep their interest. And if this wonderful, perfect picture book happens to incorporate a theme that the class is learning about, then you might just have found a book that is acceptable for the day.

But now, oh boy. Now we have to pick a book for the STUDENTS to read! Yikes! This, to me, seems so much more difficult. It's not like a read aloud that you can adapt on the spot to meet the needs of your students. You can't replace big vocabulary words with simple kindergarten words, you can't shorten big chunks of text when students begin to loose interest. When you pick a book for THEM to read it has to be just right. If it's too hard, the student will get fustrated and may begin to shut down. If it's too easy, the assessment is useful and the student will likely become bored with the text. It's a lot of pressure.

I hope that this pressure eases with time and experience. I am sure it's just like any other aspect of teaching. With practice it becomes natural. I just hope that I don't miss judge too many students' capabilities along the way.

Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird is almost like a collection of quotable lines and interesting conversation starters. She has a way of portraying so much of her personality (voice) in her writing in an utmost honest way. Just as her story starts off, good writing begins with telling the truth. Lamott illustrates this within her own writing page after page. She also has a wonderful knack for creating colorful ways of describing her concepts of good writing.

This is particularly true on page 110-111, where Lamott recalls an old Mel Brooks routine where a psychiatrist tells his patients, "Listen to your broccoli, and your broccoli will tell you how to eat it." She continues to explain how she would retell this to her students to help them reclaim the innosence and freedom of the childhood mind. She asks them to listen real closely to hear the faint voice of their character and listen to what they want to do next, what they want their next adventure to be.



I think this is a very important concept for young writers to be aware of. As students attempt to write a fictional story they often ask you as a teacher, "What should come next?" It is important to encourage them to push their minds further-- to continuely think of more detail and creativity. The idea of "listening to your broccoli" is a cute way for students to visualize this concept. By taking the time to stop and really just think about what the character would want to do or how they would do it, our writing takes on a life of its own. It is at this point that writing turns from well writen to wonderfully illustrated prose.


Lamott's ability to take extremely vague concepts and approach them with very concrete images is the ultimate key to being a good teacher. In this way she is able to effectively show her students how good writing is achieved.

Is Writer's Workshop Appropriate for All-Ages?

I am one of the biggest fanatics when it comes to writing. I believe that students should be allowed to write about whatever they are excited to write about. Does it matter if their story is about last week's awesome soccer game or that one time that they got a high score on their favorite video game? In my opinion, if the writing is well done then the student should have the freedom to choose a topic that interests them. So many young boys dread writing-- or should I say, they dread writing 3 pages about Thanksgiving Dinner, using descriptive writing about smells and textures to put the reader right at the dinning room table. But allow them to write about that amazing hiking trip they went on with their dad over the summer and watch the descriptive text form naturally as their excitement leads them to describe just how awesome the hike was.

Writer's Workshop facilitates this freedom. And for that reason, I am a fan of the general concepts involved in Writer's Workshop. However, I feel that maybe too much freedom is being delt out in the wrong places. The program requests an hour of writing, generally speaking 'free-writing' every day. Then each day, the student is introduce to one new concept to incorporate into their story. One day it is "how to make a list" another day it is a new prewrite style. And this is all good... almost.

My biggest problem with Writer's Workshop is it's massive attempt to unify how writing is taught across the board-- across schools, districts and grades. And here inlies my issue. How should a fifth grader and a kindergartener be learning the same thing? Some writing skills are transferable, like pre-writing styles. Others are simply not. Teaching a kindergarten how to edit their story when they cannot even form complete words just is not helpful. I understand the idea is that they will be intoduced to these concepts early on in their education and become more comfortable using them as their skill progesses, but it seems overdone at times. Kindergarteners who have a very pre-emergent writing level (as in "I went to the park" reads "Wt to t pk") usually cannot recall what their story says a week later (as opposed to when you ask them about it when they are in the middle of writing it). Having them return to a piece they wrote a month ago and asking them to edit it, is really in a sense having them make a carbon copy of a carbon copy. They basically retell a story with less memory and detail as the original, and we as teachers are supposed to tell them that that makes them a better writer?

I like Writer's Workshop, I just wish that it was used as a guideline (like in some schools) rather than a god-sent cirriculum like the schools I have been in. It has very good concepts that can be (and should be) easily adapted the proper age group. All in all, I wish districts would trust their teachers enough to offer them the tools and allow them to use them to their discretion.

Ideas in Kindergarten

Reading in kindergarten was always a bit of a mystery to me. Some kids come in able to breeze through story books, while others are struggling to learn a handful of letters. I feel like the reading achievement gap is most extreme among all students during this first year of school. You have the handful of kids that spent a year or 2 in a highly academic preschool, others who have spent their whole lives in daycares. Some have a stay at home mom or dad who reads with them daily, others spent their early years running through sprinklers rather than reading books. There is not really any way to tell where a student will be at academically either. It's their first year in school-- no records, tips and samples sent up from last year's teacher, and no way to prepare for the new year's class.

When I first walked into my kindergarten classroom in Ballard, I didn't quite realize this spectrum of learning. I assumed everyone read, all at slightly different levels but all able to get by. When one little boy asked me what color he was supposed to color in the number pattern, I instinctly told him to read the directions. He looked at me like I was dumber than a doornail and stated so incredibly matter of a factly, "I can't read!" I had never worked with someone who was in elementary school and incable of reading (either English or their native tongue). So I decided I must focus in on some of my teachers literacy teaching techniques.

I noticed that she often color codes things and draws little sketches next to very simply written instructions. For other things that students don't necessarily need to be able to read, like the daily announcements, she will write them out and read them aloud with her finger tracing over the words. This way, students with some letter and word recognization skills will be able to become familiar with more words. At the same time, students with little or no reading skills are not left in the dark and recieve the same message in addition to word recognization practice (depsite the lack of comprehension).

When she reads stories, she chooses a mix of simple story books and longer, more detailed stories-- some with beautiful illustrations, others with minimal doodles. When she reads simple books, she traces the words with her finger. More difficult books she will often model "good reading" pausing to show the pictures after she reads the page. I think that it is important for her to keep a variety so that kids do not get bored, either for lack of understanding or becuase the material is too easy.

These are simple strategies that are easy to incorporate into any classroom, but I feel like it is necessary to intentially spot them out to ensure that students at all levels of the literacy spectrum are provided with an education fit for them.

What to do with the next Dr. Seuss in your classroom?

There are two ways to teach writing: teach the skills and allow it to lead to good writing, or teach how to be a good writer and add in the specific skills along the way. In my opinion, the second option is much more valuable. It is easy to teach a student how to create a proper sentance and correctly place a coma. It is much more of a challenge to analyize how a good writer writes and how a student can grow into such a writer.

The 12 Writing Essentials allow teachers to embrace this idea, and allow students to develope their style and skill simualtaneously. The 12 Essentials are important becuase they can be used across the grades. The ideals and practices are transfered from year to year, only the skills taught are more advanced as the students move from grade to grade.

Some of the Essentials are basic and easily teachable. Writing for a specific reader and meaningful purpose (1) is basic enough to teach at the primary ages and quite necessary for any piece of writing. Determining an appropriate topic (2) is impossible to avoid when starting a piece, but it is important to specifically walk students through this essential part. Presenting ideas in a clear and logical way (3) is the meat and guts of teaching writing. It is so, so important for a teacher to give students a variety of tools to help them organize their writing. Other Essentials are just as vital and more or less easily taught, like elaborating on ideas (4), embracing language (5), engaging leads (7), satisfying endings (8), and correct conventions and form (10).

Other Essentials are less simple to teach. Crafting an authentic voice (6) is probably the most important aspect of good writing-- and the hardest to teach. How do you even begin to teach such a huge topic of individuality and style? You cannot teach someone to be creative and true to themselves. You can give them the tools to find their own creativity and provide an enviornment that is safe for them to explore their voice and stye, but it is still a very abstract idea to teach. On top of that, it is even more difficult to teach voice to a student who is just emerging as a writer. Where do you draw the line between voice and inproper grammer and/or poor writing. Is Hunter S. Thompson a good writer with an excellently authentic voice, or is he a poor writer who throws all regards to grammer out the window? How about Dr. Suess and his dictionary of made up words? In these cases, I think it is in the eye of the beholder. Do you stop the next Hunter or Seuss by emphasizing proper sentance structure and correct spelling, or do you let style and voice develope and blossom?

My family made me who I am today, take it or leave it.

Lately I have been getting a lot of flack from some of the higher up people in the program regarding 'my look', 'my character' and 'my lifestyle'. It sucks that I am being judged by people who have met me a small handful of times who feel they are qualified to give my professional co-workers a "warning" about me before I even meet them. What is all this fancy talk about the importance of first impressions if I already come with a 'warning label'.

And for that matter, who the hell cares if I don't fit the mold of the typical sweater-wearing elementary school teacher? I am respectful, responsible and appropriate in the professional world. I have had different experiences that will allow me to be more open minded and better able to help students that may fall through the cracks of a 'typical' classroom. This is my family and a large part of who I am today. Without my family I would not be here today. I would not care to make a difference and I would not have the passion to be a teacher. So to that one particular person (*cough cough* Jon Howilier *cough*), fuck off. Or for the kid's, "He is a meany pants and made me feel sad!"

Enventv Speling: a good idea?

I am quite possibly the biggest fan of inventive spelling. Growing up, I was always a terrible speller (and to be honest, I haven't improved much). I always felt so defeated each and every time I was marked down for incorrect spelling. I knew what I was trying to say, and obviously if the teacher knew enough to show me the right way to spell the word with her evil red pen, then she knew what I was trying to say as well.

As I enter the classroom from the other viewpoint, I love to see children exploring with their language. Watching a child "streeeeeetch out" a word they don't know how to spell or sound out "kaa ahh teh" is seriously so amazing. You can see their brains working, like the wheels are literally turning inside their heads. You can see the letter sound recognition going through their minds. Sometimes they don't have the original pronunciation of the word correct from the get-go and it muddles up their phonemic spelling just a bit. But, at the end of their story, you can understand what they are trying to communicate to you. And if you can't decode it? Just ask! "Hey Jimmy, you're story looks amazing. Do you want to read it to me?" I have yet to meet a kid that was not stoked to tell a story. Listening to their re-telling let's you as a teacher deciefer just how close all those "scribbles" were to the "real" words that they represent.

As much as I champion inventive spelling for students (and adults, as far as I am concerned), I do find it entirely too difficult to tell a student that they spelt something "right" when it is phonetically correct but illiterate to the English language. When my second graders spell out went as "wnt", they GOT all the right letter sounds. How are they supposed to know that went has an 'e' in it when all you hear is the "weh weh + nnnnn + teh teh"? It sounds like a W+N+T to me and if I was socially and professionally allowed to spell it that way I would. Yet the teacher in me feels like I am doing students an injustice by nodding in agreement to a word sounded out so perfectly, yet spelt so incorrectly. I still think that inventice spelling belongs in the elementary schools, but I would just like a little more detail on how and when to start introducing the "correct" spelling of words in the eyes of society. I mean, you just cannot get very far with a resume that says "2 yeers xperiants". 

Literacy in Kindergarten

Emergent literacy in kindergarten is an very unique experience. This is the only year in elementary where students are not expected to already know how to read. Imagine that-- in just nine months a kindergarten teacher is expected to take a non-reader and transform them into an emergent reader. Pressure? You bet!

I was terrified to even touch the subject of literacy. It is such a vital component to all other aspects of education. Although it's only been two days so far, sitting in the classroom has converted my fear in two big ways. Each lesson is very, very simple and focuses very clearly on one small thing. Yet, my teacher said specifically that it is that very concept that makes teaching literacy so difficult. She explained to me how trying to peice every little skill together can only work if you are constantly thinking about 100 at a time when teaching any literacy.

The Emergent Literacy (Mason) chapter on kindergarten literacy sheds light on how multi-faceted the subject truely is. Although I do approach different books with different ways of reading and interpreting the story, I don't think I would have ever noticed it had it not been pointed out to me. I hadn't thought that my teaching style would and should change according to what type of book I was reading. I very much do enjoy being forced to look at different genres of books, and the 'cheat sheet' charts are incredibley useful.

Wed 9/23

Today was a lonnng day. It was my first staff meeting since the school year started. There is nothing worse than getting through a full day of school AND THEN having to sit through a meeting where everyone bickers about every teeny tiny detail. But, oh well. It is mostly neccessary bickering, I just wish it wasn't in the afternoon. Morning meetings would make me much happier.

The school day was good. However, I still can't get over how little time our students have for recess. Their first break isn't until 12:30, where they run out for 15 minutes of recess and come in for a whole 15 minutes for lunch! 15 minutes for lunch!?! The poor kids never have enough time to eat and end up throwing half their lunch away. In the afternoon, they get another whole 15 minutes of recess, most of which is spent cleaning up the classroom from the last activity (science, art and social studies are just before recess). And then today, to top it all off, the Head Teacher took up 10 minutes of their 15 minute recess to discuss 'playground safety'.... poor kids. Where along the way did we decide that 7 year olds don't need to have any time to run around and get their wiggles out? I swear, we had the longest recess ever! 20 minutes in the morning and 35 minutes in the afternoon. Now? Gah, it just doesn't seem fair.

Monday 9/21 and Tuesday 9/22

Monday, Monday, Monday! Aw, I was finally feeling much, much better yesterday and could actually perform at my full potential for the first time in nearly a week. Mondays are still a super shocker for me. Not seeing my kids for 3 days seems like an eternity when I'm trying to learn everything about everyone of them. It's not like I am 4 month into a job and cherish the time off yet, I'm still scrambling to learn the ropes.

Tuesday, however, was rad! Like super-duper rad awesomeness. I showed up at 8:45 to discover that our math teacher was not going to be able to teach the first period math group... our second graders. Elaine jumped at the opportunity and volunteered us to take up the loose ends. Luckily I had gone over the lesson the night before (completely by chance, I usually am not that prepared). Elaine and I kind of took rounds, teaching the lesson one section at a time. It was rocky at first, mostly becuase we didn't know their routine and we didn't know all the students (each of us knew 1/3 of the kids).

But once we got into the new material, it was really a lot of fun! The math cirriculum is pretty scripted, so it's not like we had to think outside the box much (or really make any creative decisions at all). But, it was still awesome to feel in control of the material and run a lesson with fairly decent success considering we were thrown into it less than 30 minutes before.

We did some of the mental math practice as warm-up, then reviewed how to tell time of the clocks (this was the rocky part). Then we had them sit in the seats, which really helped the social control of the classroom. Elaine taught a song that would help us count by 2's and then by 3's. Then I handed out a number grid and we colored in the patterns of 2's and 3's. It was interesting to see how quickly some kids picked up the patterns, and how completely abstract the patterns were to other students. Once everyone finished their patterns, we filled in our own number grids from different starting points (1, 101, 201, etc) so that as a class we would count to 1,000. It was pretty successful and I feel like all but 2 kids walked out of our classroom with a much better understanding of number grids, with nearly half mastering the skills covered today.

Aw, now I am just itching to do more!

3 Things I Know About My Students

Okay, so after reading the article from last week about the “two minutes, two times a week” theory my usual casual chit-chat was given educational value. I tend to get distracted my small talk conversation with a student when there is downtime (like walking in line down to PE), but now I don’t have to feel like it’s distracting from their education.

On the first day of school, I noticed one of my students was a bit of an ADHD candidate. He’s a sweet kid, but he can’t stay still for the life of him. I was talking with him on the second day of class on our way to the playground. I asked him what he likes to do outside of school. His eyes brightened up as he told me all about his electric bass and how his favorite bands are REM and The Cure. At this point, I totally understand him more. He’s the kid with the “cool parents” (read: Laissez-faire) and when he makes comments like, “I have no rules at home,” I really do believe him… for better or for worse.

Another thing I learned about my students is that you cannot judge a book by its cover. One of our new students, a little girl named ‘Soharia’, instantly seemed to be a “below level student”. My MT had me do the reading and math assessments with her to see where she was at within the school-wide assessment program. She was an amazing reader, at least two arbitrary levels above “normal” for her grade. An hour after her test, I learned that she is an ELL student as well. There is no English spoken at Soharia’s home. With such a disadvantage with the English language, she is still ABOVE grade level—and to think I thought less of her?!

One other thing that I learned about my students is that small groups really are more effective for some students. I was able to take 3 students to the back of the class during reading time. These three, normally very low performing students proved to be very interested and connected to their reading. They benefited so much from slowing the lesson down and really dissecting each page of the reading. It was their pace and they were taking ownership of their learning.

Thursday 9/17

I went to school yesterday. I lasted exactly one hour. Then my MT suggested that I head home, and used me as an example to the kids that sometimes we cannot always do our job and that sometimes our job is to take care of our bodies and get extra rest so that we don’t get others sick. It was kind of embarrassing for me, but I adore how she can turn any unexpected moment into a teachable moment. The rest of my day consisted of me, in bed, clenching my tummy in the fetal position.

Today sucked just as much. My tummy felt like it was in a vice grip. But, I missed yesterday and I didn’t want to be publicly embarrassed in front of a bunch of 7 year olds again. So I popped a painkiller left over from my last trip to the dentist and headed off to school. It helped, but I still desired the fetal position. I was pretty useless in the classroom today, but the kids totally understood. They kept coming up to me and asking if I felt any better and giving me ‘feel better’ hugs. It was kinda cute.

I left 30 minutes early so I could get into the doctor’s office ASAP. Yay for Tina, I have a kidney infection. My doctor says it’s the one thing that doctors, truck drivers and teachers all have in common. I’m taking it as learning moment. Even though you are a teacher and you cannot leave your kids alone in the classroom, your health is important. Athena suggested that I should have a partner teacher that I can ask to cover my classroom (and vis versa) when I really got to go. It seems so silly, but oh my god this is the greatest pain I have ever experienced. Aw, my first experience of the real world of teaching.

Tuesday 9/15

So, I had my first meeting with my field instructor today. He is a silly man—I think we will get along just fine. He reminds me a bit of that old guy sitting at the bar, just dying for someone to sit next to him long enough to share his stories of the good old days—and those guys are some of my favorite experiences of turning 21. He’s a wealth of stories, and he loves to have someone to share them to. But, on top of that, a lot of what he has to say is really meaningful and helpful. It’s a good mix between silly and helpful.

Okay, and then the big moment—my first reading to the entire 2nd grade class, all 90 of them, 180 eyeballs dissecting my every word and every nervous body movement. Okay, okay it really wasn’t that bad. In fact, it was a ton of fun. I picked out my super most favorite book ever, I Stink!, an in-your-face, action packed story about a garbage truck. I used to read this story to my toddlers all the time, both via story-tape and the old fashion way. Although I’m not a big fan of story-tape reading, they are amazing tools when you’ve read too much poetry the night before or if you want to hear how wonderfully animated a story can become.

So, I got really into this story. The kids totally helped me out with all the cool onamonapeas and made me look like the best story-teller in the entire world. All day, the 2nd grade teachers kept coming up to me and complimenting me on my job well done. Yes, I am awesome. Ha ha, it was fun. I feel ridiculous that I made such a big to-do about it yesterday.

I don’t know if it’s a coincidence or not, but my MT also asked me if I wanted to help instruct part of the math lesson for tomorrow. She is cute whenever she asks me to help out. We are both kind of control freaks—She’s trying her best to share her classroom, and I am trying my best to stay inbounds of my role of an observer, a learner. She offered me two choices, “Do you want to help talk them through the mental math or go over the problem of the day?” Both options take about 5 minutes or less of instruction, but I understand, its all about baby steps.

Monday 9/14/09

Today was a big leap for Eileen and I. For the first time since our September Experience started, my MT asked us if we wanted to read the story time book. She asked each of us to choose a favorite book of ours and read it to the entire 2nd grade (one today and one tomorrow). I was a bit intimidated --which I am kind of mad at myself for-- so I urged Eileen to go first. As soon as she started reading, I was immediately jealous that I let the opportunity pass me by. But, lucky for me I get a second chance tomorrow.

It was a good lesson learned by yours truly. This wasn’t an end all of intimidation because I have all day tomorrow to buckle down. But what if this wasn’t the case? What if my MT asked me to do a math lesson for her one morning and I shied away from it?! That would just solidify her belief that I should be there to do her photo-copying and paper passing out.

She always says things like, “Oh, thank you so much. It’s so much easier to teach the class with all your help.” Translation: “Thanks for doing all my busy work, now I get to go home at 4pm.” I understand that I am not supposed to be ‘teaching’ yet, but it’s killing me! And if I chicken out to something as silly as reading a story, then I am never going to get anywhere.

I’ve got it figured out for tomorrow though. I’ve got this one in the bag!

First day of school! 9/9/09

I have spent the last 5 days completely terrified of meeting my students. I had this grand expectation of my classroom being stuffed full of 27 students who speak 20 different languages at 27 different educational levels. I was expecting a sneak peak into the hardest classroom to teach within the Seattle School District. I spent the last 2 days trying to learn 27 faceless names from the class list, which neatly categorizes each student by race (wtf, right?).

As the students piled in today, my fears of classroom management worries quickly dissipated. Although the classroom is a crazy mosaic of multicultural-ness (yes, that’s my personal academia lingo), it is totally less scary than I thought it would be. The school intentionally groups students with common languages, but at different levels of English knowledge. The idea is that the Korean/Somali/Hispanic/Ethiopian/etc students will not feel isolated and alone, and at the same time they will also have a built in support group educationally and emotionally.

My kids are all so awesome. We have a couple crazy boys, but not too crazy. We have two new kids that are expectantly quite nervous. There are a couple kids with super hard names to pronounce, and I catch my self avoiding having to say their names. But one thing that I noticed across the board was how quiet and well behaved everyone was in our class, and the entire school for that matter. Every teacher kept asking me, “So, how’s your first day?” I kept responding, “I didn’t expect them to so well behaved.” And every teacher replies the same, “Wait until the second week!” Ha ha, we’ll see…

Classroom Management and Arrangement

Classroom management is hands down the number one aspect of teaching that I was simply terrified to face. 30 students, 1 teacher--- and that one teacher being just little 'ol me all by my self was just the scariest thing I could ever imagine. Lesson planning? Got it. Assessing students? Easy enough. Planning big elaborate projects and end of the unit field trips to places totally awesome? Love it! But getting 30 little squiggly guys and gals to sit quietly and want to listen to me? Yikes!

A year later, I am much less terrified. In fact, I know it will still be difficult, but I am excited to be able to run my own classroom management plan. I have run my own preschool classroom for a year now, but that was mostly assisted with my very hands on boss. It was a step in the right direction, but I am ready for the big challenge.

At Kimball Elementary I am a little bit closer to the real deal. My master teacher, Carrie Hale, has it down to a tee (I'm only a little jealous). She requires her students to be very well behaved in the sense that they must use very quiet voices (our classroom is right next to the library in an open-space school) and she is super against answering questions more than once. At the same time, she respects her students enough to allow them to get up and walk about class on their own. Students can get a drink of water or go to the bathroom without having to ask first, and kids with the jitters are allow to take a quick walk to the other side of the room.

On the first day of class, Miss Hale had her students meet up on the rug ("circle time" rug) for a class meeting. She helped her students create a list of classroom rules. She said that she puts all the ideas on the list, even ones like "We should get extra recess every day" (which, sure enough was one of the first answers). After she gets the looong list compiled, she talks to them about which rules were fair, which ones could work in the classroom and which ones can be combined by a bigger rule (ie no name calling and no fighting becomes 'treat others with respect'). By the end of the exercise, the kids have created and defined the same rule set that is seen in every classroom, but becuase they came up with the rules, it is more personal and effective.

Our classroom arrangement is pretty traditional. My MT has her room set up in 7 tables of 4 (one table is a bit bigger to fit all the students). Her media table is at the front, with the screen behind her. I think it works well, as most classrooms take this look.

What makes this set up work especially well is the way my MT uses her space. There are no walls in our classroom, so space is very precious. She has sight words around the classroom, hanging from the ceiling in posters. When I went in June, the sight words were everywhere. Vocab words were also strewn on everything possible. When I walked in the classroom in Sept, there were none. My MT introduces the words throughout the year. They have an ability to learn the word in context and then keep them in memory by posting them around the classroom.

My First Week and 1st Day Tips

View of the Cedar River Watershed reservior

I officially met my MT over the past week. Last June I thought we were a perfect match, but now I think that we are almost too much alike to be a perfect match. We are both strong personalities that work better on our own, and don’t necessarily like sharing our role with others. I’m trying to be very unlike my usual self this past week, trying to eat lunch with my ‘colleagues’ and show up early to chit-chat before meetings. My MT behaves very much how I usually do. She takes off for her lunch break, shows up just before our meetings and jets out just as they are over. She has been here one day over the paid days—the day before the first day of school! I find myself socializing with a lot of other teachers to learn the ropes and then help my MT when she’s around and willing to put me to work.

On Wednesday, we had this crazy literacy summit out in North Bend at the Cedar River Watershed educational center. It took ages to get out there, but it was pretty and they fed us a nice little box lunch. The talk was nothing special to the location, but it was explained to me as a “welcome back treat” to all the teachers. We got an overview of the school-wide reading assessment. It was really useful as a new teacher, because it definitely caught me up to speed on all of their testing protocols, which are ever so important these days.

Thursday was a “nuts and bolts” meeting. It had really nothing to do with the student teacher interns. It was a lot about teacher committee decisions that we could not vote on, schedule changes that we could not vote on, etc. But it was a good chance to see what I’ll be in for, the behind the scenes of teaching.

Then we had a nice 3 day weekend thanks to labor day, which my MT informed me that she was going to take full advantage of and suggested that I do the same. On the day before school, my MT and her dad were getting the classroom all put together. I kept offering to help with these creative artsy things which is where my talent shines (think: job board, name tags, table numbers, etc), but she kept me mighty busy with her busy work… the things that required no intelligence at all. But yet again, I am trying to be open-minded and take in as much as I can. It is difficult to know exactly what my role is as a student teacher. I know we are supposed to be ‘just observing’ but my principal told us directly that she wants her interns to active participants in the classroom. And then on the complete opposite side of the spectrum, my MT treats me like the room mom. I guess I have a month to figure it out :)

I am pretty scared for the first day of school becuase I have been told by all of the teachers that our school has such a diverse student population. It is quite possible that half my students will not fully understand English, and within those 10-15 ELL students about 6 different languages could be represented. I worked with ELL students in Northern Ireland and I have seen how hard it is to teach a class with at least 5 ELL students that have only months' practice at their new language.

My MT keeps reasuring me that it will be just fine. She is incredibly calm about the first day of school. In fact, she came in just 5 days before the first day of school. Compared to all the other teachers running around the school, I feel like she either has it down or we are really in for a whirlwind once school starts!

My MT says that the first week will be a 'celebration.' She likes to make it fun and the entire 2nd grade won't be running on their usual schedule. One thing that I thought was cute was how my MT was saying how she always plans her first day, then wakes up in the middle of the night terrified that she hasn't done enough! So she usually over prepares and over prepares just in case the lessons go quicker than she expects. She says its better to have more than not enough.

Round 2: Learning to be a student [[teacher]]

An object that describes me? Just one? Hmmm, more difficult a task than one would think.

A sheet of music.

Why would a sheet of music describe who I am? I don't even know how to read sheet music. In fact, I have difficulty even playing music on any kind of instrument, vocals included. It is a bit more symbolic for me.

The first symbolism is the music that is created from the notes on the page. Music represents a huge part of my life. Most of my friends are in local, grimy punk rock bands or (like me) they love the thrill of going to a local show to hear the reverb of guitars and the screeching poetry set to music. These friends have influenced me in many ways, always steering me towards our three golden rules: respect, unity and equality.

In a more abstract form of symbolism, sheet music represents the complete opposite side of my character. Sheet music is taught and learned; it is constant and true. You can teach one piece of music to ten kids and let them add their own flair -- play it faster, play on a up-right bass instead of a traditional bass, or perhaps upstroke on the chorus. But at the end of the day, it still communicates a common idea.

In short, sheet music represents my character because I love the idea of counter-culture rebellion, but it is ultimately important to know and understand the world around us in order to form our own ideas.

Tested makes me wanna scream!

Last week I was reading Tested and I just can't help but feel fustrated by everything I read among the pages. It seems like working in a school like that would be so incredibly difficult. The principal, reguardless of the fact that she is a fellow Tina, would drive me insane. Her over-zealous attitude would destroy me. I fully understand that a low income, low test score school like her's would need someone with that kind of pep and upbeat, yet relentless attitude... but seriously?! I would go nuts.

She seems like a principal I used to work with, only like a million times crazier. It's the kind of principal that acts really enthusiastic when parents are in the office, even more so when speaking to teachers about new ciriculum. But at the end of the day, she has yet to step foot in a classroom during her 8+ hour day. Maybe that is just my lack of understanding, but I feel that a principal that zealous about her school would want to spend as much time in the classrooms, seeing first hand what kind of learning experience is happening within the walls of their school. Again, maybe that's totally not what a principal is supposed to do... but it makes sense to me that way.

Another aspect of Tested that really pushed my buttons was the third grade teacher who "used to be nice" and now "feels like a bitch." I'm pretty sure this is just after 4 years of teaching. Do people really get that jaded about teaching in such a short time, or is the school in Tested really just that bad!?! Yikes!

I did take some personal lessons out of that chapter though. I am perpetually a person who moves every couple of years and begins a completly random new chapter of my life. After seeing how distruptive leaving a teaching job can be for the school, I feel like that has to be somehting that I change about my own lifestyle. I think that I have to be patient in choosing my first school/district so that I am happy there for a very long time. I never really thought of switching schools as distruptive behavior, I mean your kids are gone come June anyways, right? But after reading the after affects of a teacher leaving in Tested, I know realise that there is much more to worry about then just the 20-30 young people in your classroom.

I'm a bit worried about our wonderful essay due next week. How to show that I think deeply and carefully?!?! I mean, I feel like it might as well be asking me, "prove that you are innately inteligent." I guess it's not that I don't understand the assignment, we are just supposed to reflect on what being a teacher means in a deeper level than when we started the class. But having more questions then when I started just makes me more confused, not more deep and carefully thought out.

I feel like I have learned how to analyize my classroom more "deeply and carefully" since the beginning of the quarter. And by more, I most likely mean that I never really analyized it before and now I keep relating my work to my school a freakin lot. Mostly, I learn ideas in class and in our readings and I pull examples from my real life experiences in the classroom. Does that mean I am thinking deeply and carefully? I think it just is easier for me to put things in order if I relate them to what's really going on. Theories in books, I believe, don't do any good unless you can relate them to your life in a real, concrete way.

So my question, I suppose, is do I talk about that sorta stuff? Or is that too specific to my little bubble in one classroom, in one preschool, in one city? My general ideas on teacher haven't "changed" in this big, huge collosal way since I started this course... and I don't think that they really should have. We all come into this program with a different thought of what teaching means, and I think that is what makes us so important. If all teachers had the same monentinous idea of what and how and why we teacher, we would never hear stories of awesome teachers who thought outside the box and made miracles happen. But is pin-pointing my huge deep thought process on one classroom missing the mark?

Sorry if I sound overally fustrated. I have completely loved the unique projects we have been pushed to create this quarter. The image project was simple and fun to create, but the time and thought everyone put into was so huge! You could tell by looking at everyone's project that they didn't just Google "teaching" and pick 5 top hits. It was cool that we all took so much pride in our seemingly simple task. The poems speak for themselves. I think everyone discovered a bit about themselves and a lot about their classmates in a fun, but serious way. Even the metaphor was crazy unique-- not nearly as much fun for me, but I just jumped in feet first and ended up with a pretty awesome metaphor. I guess I am just kind of sad to have to write a reflection on a set of reflective blogs.

Aww, the power!

Mary Anne Raywid's article, A Teacher's Awesome Power, is both immensely inspirational and also a bit frightening. She sheds light on the many ways in which teachers are powerful, despite the legal and professional hiearchy of control over the classroom. It is very refreshing to hear someone speak positively on the power of teachers, especially after enduring an entire quarter of hearing about the lack thereof.

I guess Raywid's insight is not so much a surprise, but more of a breath of fresh air-- a kind of realization of "good, other people do feel the same way as I do." I believe that teachers do maintain conciderable power within the classroom. Yes, there are a million other head-haunchos limiting what is allowed to enter the classroom-- but once it enters the classroom, the teacher is given a lot of room to exercise his/her own powers. I'm not sure "power" is always the appropriate word choice, it's not like teachers are really the power-hungry individuals among our society. But, for lack of a better word, I will continue with Raywid's word choice.

I like that she highlighted the basic power structure within the classroom. From the way the class is expected to act (neat and orderally vs. collaborative and friendly) to the control of conversation (what is discussed and what is rewarded as good responses), the teacher does have incredible power in the classroom. Put on top of that the adult to child power ratio already in place in our society, and the teacher is seen as almost a god among most students. What the teacher values can and often is taken as truths in the "real world" among many students. Casual bias peeping through class discussion may be taken as gospel to student who adore their teacher.

Now, all this can seem very exciting. I mean, who doesn't want to feel like they have the most important and impressionable career on the face of the planet?! But, it keeps me thinking, "Goodness, I hope we allowing good people to be teachers." And then I look at myself-- I concider myself a good person. Am I capable of maintaining this much power? I am very bias on many issues, and I am cautious of this when teaching. But, am I concious of every moment that my bias towards or against a particular issue may cause me to act in a certain way? If a student mentions George W. Bush does my teacher-cheery smile slightly fade for a moment? When a student blames a late metro bus for his tardiness, do I excuse him more easily than the student who was late becuase his mom couldn't find her car keys? It is the subtle bias that fear in my own teaching.

This article has definately opened my eyes to the emmense power we as teachers hold, without actually knowing it. I have always understood teachers control classroom dynamics-- how students are seated, how they participate in discussion, whether or not there is disucssion for that matter. I have also understood how teachers control issues discussed in class-- I spent an entire year studying the Holocaust, another with a rigious routine of country reports. But, it is the intense power of subtle bias that made me think. I feel that as human beings we can never be completely seperate from our bias on a broad range of issues, but as teachers this is the one thing we must do. Raywid's writing has reminded me that our power of being a teacher compells us to be even more aware of our bias. I don't particularly think she wants us to always combat the bias in attempts to provide a completely neutral, unemotional education. Yet, I do understand that the awareness of our bias is vital to preventing it from potentially portraying a false truth.

In some cases, I believe it is okay for teachers to state their bias. Issues like saving the whales, buying locally and riding the bus are the sort of issues teachers are expected to promote. If teachers arn't going to shed light on the loss of tribal lands in Africa, how are the youngsters going to ever know of the issue's existance. Again, as a teacher, the other side should always be presented. But, seriously? Not being allowed to say, "I support green living" is like educating robots. It's the way you go about it, aknowledging your bias and presenting all the facts.

You Can't Say, "You Can't Play"

"You Can't Say, 'You Can't Play'" is such an odd book. Truly, I do not, do not, understand Vivian Paley's style of writing. I love the topic and I love how she portrays herself in the classroom. Paley honestly sounds like a teacher I would have loved to have in second grade. Likewise, reading her story, I am making many mental notes on good teaching methods that I would like to use in my classroom.

But her writing style? Yikes! I mean, I am all for imaginative spelling and not following all the conventional styles of the "right" way to write. But, after a short Googling experiment it looks as if Paley's book is often used in an educational format-- IE, not for personal enrichment or entertainment. If this is her intended audience-- a professional academic audience-- I am very confused on her awkward style. This is not written as a fictional novel where the switch between creative story telling and straight forward narrative is more easily accepted. I am often confused between her two voices separated by nothing more than italics. No transition sentences, nothing-- just a bit of slanted text.

Okay, off my Daily editor soapbox. Content. Content. Content. I LOVE this concept. I had to read the title a few times to "get it," but as soon as I started reading Paley's ideas came to life through the dialog of her students. I work with toddlers, and at two there is little concept of "rejection" in the physical form or any of its euphemisms. Two year olds generally play with themselves and moderately include those who are within closest proximity. Yet I do see the beginning development of rejection. It's not like the 4-6 year olds who thrive on being asked, "Do you want to be my friend at recess today?" But you can see the little boy-- the one who has a hard time separating from mom in the mornings-- more often sitting in his own world, playing all by himself. In my class of 16, there are three boys in particular that I would claim are left to play alone more often than not. So I related Paley's kids to my class under this lens.

The first section of Paley's book is titled "The Habit of Rejection." I read it aloud trying to grasp the understanding. My mother, sitting on the couch next to me said, "Hmmm, interesting. Habit? Like the classroom creates rejection habitually..." I racked my brain, recalling my own schooling. There were times when I was left out of play groups in the classroom. Was that because of some structural, habitual reason within the classroom setting itself? Then I thought of my kids.

There are three teachers in my classroom. We have favorites. It happens. But we hide it, right? As Paley says, "We [teachers] all fawned over the popular children and were impatient with the unchosen." Which comes first? Do our "favorites" become popular among the students who respect their teacher's opinions, or do we as teachers find ourselves swayed by the same character traits that make a child popular among his or her peers? In my classroom, it is the full time, 8am to 5pm kids that capture our hearts. We spend more time with them then mom and dad get to-- we have seen them grow the most. Plus, they are most familiar with the school schedule-- they have grown up with it-- that makes them easier to work with. In my classroom, I think that it is the teachers who have made these kids "popular" among their peers. The "left out" boys are part time, less than 20 hours a week. Are their peers less likely to include them in play because they are less familiar? Or is it because the teachers do not treat them with subconscious favoritism?

I am going to take the blame on this one. Teachers are at fault. So teachers should step in to "fix" this problem, yes? I constantly tell my kids to "play together" when conflicts arise. And, as two year olds do, they are often happy to comply with my request. But what if its not so easy? Last week one of my secret favorites, "Danny" came up and gave the most adorable hug to another boy. I said, "I love it when my friends give such nice hugs!" A quieter, part-time boy named "Luke" leaned in for his hug from the Danny. Both boys were now looking at me, each confused. I said the typical teacher thing, "Danny, can you give Luke a nice hug too!" And Danny gives me a toddler head shake insinuating a "no." A sudden sadness came across Luke's face. Luckily another friend who had gained interest in our activities quickly stepped in and accidentally saved the day by giving Luke a hug. But talk about a sticky situation!!! You cannot force a student to hug another student and likewise you cannot force a student to play with another student. As a teacher you can, and should, highly suggest fair and inclusive playing. But what if the student does not want to buy in? In order to uphold the "rule" of "you can't say you can't play" it must be followed by all students. Distraction or redirection of the left out student does not solve the problem. Likewise, the rejecting student is not learning the lesson. How do you enforce personal policing of the rule?

I am interested to see how Paley's story unfolds. She seems like such a lovely teacher who cares about her students in such an insightful way. She draws on her own experiences in a useful way and battles her personal beliefs with her professional beliefs in a way that truly validates her writing. I know it's not the kind of book that will have a neat and tidy answer at the end, but I am very excited to see what Paley concludes.

Health builds strong community

My classroom has now reached an epidemic level of flu cases over the past week. It's to the point that each day includes sending at least one child home early, followed by me spraying down the entire classroom with bleach at the end of the day. It's brutal.


But, this epidemic has also brought a solid halt to our educational routine. Granite, I work with two year olds-- we don't have a staunch educational program and we definately are not preparing for the WASL. Yet, we have our circle time at 9 am every day. We read the book of the week (which is nearly memorized come Friday), go through our flashcards (animals+sounds, foods, simple Spanish), and do a simple group activity that requires a bit of physicial movement. As of late, circle time is a no-go. When you have two kids crying because their guts are rumbling, one with diahrea and another who's temperature just read 103 degrees, circle time seems kind of fluffy. Physical child care, caring for the health of the child, is a much more immediate need.


So the books are pushed aside. By the afternoon art project, we are down to half our class size as parents come for their ill children. How can you justify hanging art on the wall that only represents 1/2 your students? By the end of the day, I don't even have enough students left to be concidered "school"-- it's more like personal tutoring at that point.


Up until tonight, I've just seen this epedemic as annoying in my efforts to conduct a proper classroom atmosphere. After reading Sapon-Shevin's "Building a Safe Community for Learning" I have realized what is really happening in my classroom. My classroom community is being upheaved. I have one little boy who has been out with the flu for an entire week now. The first few days the other kids would ask, "Tina, where's Lockie at today?" After the weekend passed, nobody bothered to ask about Lockie. It's not that they have forgotten who he is, but as far as their two-year-old mind is concerned he is out of sight and out of mind. Last Friday, one of my little girls, Soledad, was physically frightened after a fellow classmate vomited all over the classroom. The sick girl was then ostricized for the remainder of the day.


The flu has literally been destroying my classroom community, and at this age the learning community is far more important then the physical schooling that happens inbetween all the socialization and exploration. Now, there are many benifits to working with upper-middle class, white two-year-olds. One of which is that this distruction of community will soon be mended. This flu epidemic will pass, most likely never to return until next year's flu season. Within a week or so, my kids will be back in full blast. Their age attention span will allow us to pick up almost exactly where we left off. The little girl who was otricised for puking will be welcomed with hugs the morning. Things will fall back into order and community will be restored.


But, let's say this wasn't a well off community of white toddlers. Let's say perhaps they are your typical inner city middle school, jam packed with poverty stricken students and enough minority students to qualify as a UN embassy. Yikes! Just imagine, all the issues and factors that go into building a strong learning community.


In a school population where many students fall at or below the poverty line, health can become a very burdening truth. Children of poor families are more susceptible to catching colds and other illnesses common among school children. But unlike the more well-off families, a flu season impacts poor families in many more uncomfortable ways. Single-parent households or dual income households may not be able to take a day off from work to stay home with a sick child. Perhaps an older sibling is asked to take care of younger brother or sister, taking yet another child out of school. Or perhaps, there are no other options and the child must attend school—even if it means staying in the nurse’s office all day.


Any one of us who has tried to work a full day with even a slightly meddling cold has first hand experience of the miserable feeling that stays with you throughout the day. Now, translate that same miserable feeling to a seven year old trying to get through a day at school. She cannot even fully express what she is feeling or understand why. Does this miserable feeling make a connection in young person’s mind to school itself being miserable?


To make matters far worse, many families in our country do not have proper health care. This is no longer just a problem for the poor inner city schools—families across all but the top economic, cultural and geographical lines are lacking proper health care. Middle class white families in the suburb and poverty stricken, unpapered immigrants in the country or inner city all suffer from lack of health care. This translates to education in a very direct way. When a child is suffering from even a something as simple as a tooth ache, their family cannot afford to take them to a doctor. Keep in mind a doctor’s visit must also include an available family member taking the day off work to accompany the sick child.


It is so intense to think that a teacher trying to build a safe and enjoyable learning enviornment has work around such a huge national health care problem. I have worked with the difficulties of teaching through the flu season, and it is rough-- but temporary. It takes entirely dedicated individuals to be able to battle health issues in the classroom all year round. Ill children are unable to enjoy school in the manner as healthy children. Likewise, children forced to stay out of the classroom due to illness are further alienated from their educational community.


Aww, the joys of figuring out how to create the perfect learning community amist the horrors of reality.

When I decided to "become a teacher"

I feel like the decision to "become a teacher" should be this big fight against society's values. Then I look at my decision to go into teaching, and it fails in comparison to the epic internal battles and huge convincing arguments with family and loved ones that I hear others speak of. My journey has not been quite as thrilling.

In fact, I went through undergrad with a million and one different careers that I was interested in. Every week I would come to a brilliant discovery of a new career that was just SO perfect. I'd throw myself into it heart and soul until the next brilliant discovery occurred. Come spring of my last year, I decided money was nice but I needed just enough to maintain my student lifestyle, something fun, not corporate or boring. Somehow, that brought me back to teaching-- a career I had long been interested in and often told I'd be good at. I know, I know... it's not easy by any means and I will have to work my butt off to be a good teacher. And, I still hold on to the idealistic thought of summer vacation. I am determined to put in an 85 hr week in June to have one month off. It will happen.

But the epic fights to convince my family that teaching was in fact a career never happened. My family, loved ones, college classmates and even high school dropout friends all knew I would be a teacher before I had even realized it myself (it was kind of like one of those "coming out of the closet" announcements that is wayy too obvious to be shocking). I'm not going to say that everyone is fully supporting me-- most of my friends could care less what I was doing, as long as I was happy doing it. My parents are thrilled that I am off my "I want to be a flight attendant" kick and that I will have a respectable career. I feel like the decision to "become a teacher" was so much more intense for others. Did I do something wrong?

Okay, now on to the readings.
The Delpit article really stuck out in my mind. She is one of those writers that I simply cannot agree with on many points, yet completely agree with on other points. I fundamentaly dislike the way Delpit finds a way to explain everything as a race issue. On a personal level, I believe that people try to "pull the race card" more often then appropriate. When Delpit is telling the story of the 3 year old black boy with "a little crush on a white girl" I would not see the pre-school teacher's comment about lust in any way realtional to race. It may very well be an inadequate description for a 3 year old, but does the fact that he is black really have anything to do with it? Her assumptions of a "black college professor as just a maid in an exlusive high rise" is also a stretch. I think class in this case would play an obvious role in any preliminary judgement. Not to mention when I first read "black college professor" I immediately thought "male college professor"-- the maid comment threw me off enough to require a re-read.

On the other hand, Delpit's discussion of child story-telling was incredibly fascinating. It is so interesting that children from different cultural backgrounds would have such different story-telling styles-- and even more interesting that the perticular style is favored by like cultures even when narrated by one person, without dilect.

And on a completly different note, isn't entirely ironic that the young Irish American teacher treated her new black student as so alien? Is she blind to her own history? Maybe it's idealistic of me, but it seems she would have more power and intent to give those students from "the projects" the best shot at education that she could offer.


Reply to last week's blog:
"Religious differences" in Northern Ireland is very much a psuedoname for race/class struggle. The tricky part is that both races are white and neither class is entirely dominant.

In simpliest terms possible, and I mean super lamen terms: Ireland was a land of Celtic/Catholic villages, farmers for the most part (ie your stereotypical Ireland). The British Crown converted to Protestantism and sent colonies of "proper Protestants" to Ireland to "teach them how to be more British" (ie less barbaric).

So, Catholics = Native Americans,
Protestants = John Smith.

Eventually the two grew into equal size populations, but the Protestants being more proper British citizens had political power. Thus the power struggle.

That's the history, ironically the history everyone in Northern Ireland is trying to forget. Education is tricky becuase the history itself is SO entirely different depending on the culture you hear it from. Catholics have a different truth than Protestants. It's hard for a teacher, obviously trained in one of these cultures of divided schooling (almost all teaching schools are Protestant), to be able to teach without bias. That is, if they can even decide on an unbias history. The general response is to not teach the history. It's just too complicated.

How fustrating is that?!

Tech and school closures;(also) Response to integrated schooling

So last week in class we were asked to “think of how technology has influenced the inauguration”--- it was a very interesting, yet quite simple question. We live in a city that is so obsessed with technology that you almost have to be a hermit to be able to avoid using any of it. I began my observations of the inauguration and it put me in the mindset of noticing how technology has changed many things in education as well. I attended the Seattle School Board meeting the next day and began a new set of observations.

The 15/16 year old boy sitting slightly in front of me was blogging his personal perception of the meeting in nearly real time. As community organizers made compelling speeches in favor of “saving our schools” digital cameras clicked – err, beeped—and flashed. Then I noticed the entire slew of professional cameras throughout the room. I thought it might be local news stations actually reporting on something worth while and relevant to Seattleites. Unfortunately, I was wrong. Of course, school board meetings are entirely too boring for network TV. So who were these cameramen? Digital streaming of the meeting in its entirety was available online! How awesome is that? After checking it out, the streaming video was lacking the emotional appeal that Seattle school board meetings are known for. But, it is a tremendously useful tool for parents and community members who may be too busy to attend the meeting, or perhaps lack viable transportation to get to the meetings. When the Superintendent began showing a very involved PowerPoint presentation, I was assured by the lady sitting next to me that it would be online in a day or two. My notes suddenly went from furious scribbles to thought provoking questions and key themes. How enjoyable!

Back home I continued my observations from the computer chair. I figured there were blogs on the subject. I mean, it’s Seattle—everyone has a blog. But I had no idea that there would be SO many blogs, and nonetheless so many well done blogs. I recognized many of the blog authors from the speaker list at the meeting, which helped put a face to the writing and validate their opinions, knowing that they were actively fighting the closures (no action-less blabby bloggers here!). Further Googling led me to discover many school closure Seattle PI articles available online. One article described how school supporters were using the internet to stay connected and focused during the fear of closure. Open forums are available for all schools on “the list”. Flickr accounts document the closure protests held throughout the city and student activist groups have MySpace and/or Facebook accounts to keep school friends aware of closure and protest updates.

It was fascinating to see just how well technology is being used to fight the school closures. I also noticed that who was using the technology was varied. Young people, needless to say, find the internet an obvious forum for discussion. Yet the school closure debate involves many older participants. Parents and community members ranging broadly in age all seem to be dipping into the World Wide Web to research, discuss and fight the closures. In fact, letters to the school board and other district and city officials are almost entirely encouraged via email. No more snail mail, and no more cute crayon letters from 3rd grade classrooms. Young and old are using email to communicate directly with the school board. Likewise, rich and old are using technology. NPR newly reported that recent times of economic decline show an increase in library usage—namely free internet access in public libraries. Similar results could be concluded about school libraries and computer labs. Economically privileged students and parents still have access to technology regardless if they own a PC or not. The poorer community has also successfully targeted the media, which is then made available online for all. One teacher purchased a website domain for his school’s petition site for a mere $10—blogs and online photo storage are free. Technology (if equal access is available) may be one of the few resources that are able to help close the achievement gap between rich and poor communities.

Examples of technology being used to fight/inform about school closures:

Streaming of the SB meeting - http://www.seattlechannel.org/videos/video.asp?ID=4272
Seattle PI article on the role of online forums in the school closure debate: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/394886_schools06.html
Summit School list: http://www.summitparentgroup.org/web/
Superintendent's Update (powerpoint used at SB meeting): http://www.seattleschools.org/area/board/08-09agendas/012109agenda/superintendentpresentation.pdf
SLOG (one of many Stranger forums on school closures): http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/01/25/the_seattle_schools_going_o
Flickr school closure protest photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctanstfl/sets/72157613004844942/


Responses to Comments:


Jane asked if my two sub-groups of friends (the “punks” and the “college preps”) knew of one another. This is a question that instantly brought a smile to my face, mostly because I have been dealing with this situation my whole life. My best friend in high school – a sweet and gorgeous college bond girl—told her mom upon introducing us that “Tina comes from Gig Harbor (read: upper middle class), but she likes to hang out with poor people.” She was awesome, she loved all my friends… yet she still thought it was “novel” or something that I hung out with what she referred to as “poor kids.” The view from the other pasture was much less romanticized. I was scoffed at for having “rich friends” who “bought into the system”. A few of them were “alright” in the eyes of my punk friends, but not quite accepted as I had been. I never really saw it as an economic issue, but more of a way of life difference in choice. Ironically, many of them want the very same results. Almost all my friends are liberal to varying degrees. They want free health care, money for our schools, etc. Yet some of my friends prefer gorilla warfare tactics over getting a political science degree. They have the same goals, but their means to an end are so significantly different it is indeed difficult for the two types of people to see eye to eye.

However, I personally believe that properly executed education could seriously reverse this trend. My boyfriend is the first generation of Northern Irish who have been educated in acceptance between the Protestant and Catholic communities. Traditionally, education has always been separate in NI. Crazy and unreasonable stereotypes of “the other” form during these years at school, and without knowing the other the stereotypes take hold as truths. My boyfriend was sent to one of the first mixed schools. His mother sent him on an international trip to Boston with 15 Protestants and 15 Catholics from his community. 8 or so years later, you can meet up with my boyfriend (raised Protestant) and his buddies at the local pub in the Catholic side of town and not know the religion of anyone sitting at the table. It’s a true success story. Although no where near perfect (tensions in strongly segregated neighborhoods have not eased since the bombing began) those introduced to integrated schooling have become socially and politically much more accepting of “the other” simple because there is no longer an “other” in their eyes.

Our local version of the story would be economic integration. Both sides hate each other simply because in our world we do not have much contact between the extremes. A rich businessman may see a strung out bum as he calls a cab home from downtown, but neither see each other as human. Interesting, isn’t it?

Discovery through photographs

Last week was a nice experience. I loved how we tackled our first reading. Ayers is a fairly easy read and I appreciated that we did not dissect it in an overly academic approach. The way we discussed the reading was comfortable and helpful. It was refreshing to allow people to relate the reading to themselves and allow the classroom conversation to go from there. You can really learn a lot more from the materials when you learn what it meant to each person and allow others to comment on what follows. Classroom conversation can be so incredibly stifled when teachers try to hard to “stick to the material”—when in reality students are learning so much more about the material when they are able to see it through 20 some odd perspectives and the responses to those perspectives.

Working on the image-ing project was fun as well. I learned a lot about myself just in looking back at all my photos. I wanted to choose photos that were my own for several reasons. First, I wanted the project to be personal. I wanted the emotional attachment and personal meaning to show through. Since we were only using images, I wanted the images to be as meaningful to me as possible. Really extravagant or professional quality images found on the internet may be more universally meaningful, but I thought this project would make the most sense to me if it was personally meaningful.

Secondly, as I dove into the project I began to realize that it is the people in my life that most inspire me. My close friends and family have been vital in every step of my education and a few of my closest friends and most immediate family have been incredibly influential in my decision to become a teacher. While I was in school, my parents were with me every step of the way. Whether it was help editing a huge essay, or a quick last minute review for a biology exam, my mom and dad were always right there, ready to help.

However, when it comes to my friends, it is not quite as simple of a story. I’ve always had two sets of friends: there are my the smart, academic and college-bound buddies and then there are my punk rock, blue-collar, just scrapping to get by, down to earth, friends that might as well be family. This duality in my choice of friendships has truly altered my view of education. My college-bound buddies assume they will graduate college, there was never any other viable option in their eyes. They kept me academically competitive and also provided a sturdy and supportive study group and student schedule. We all had midterms and finals time together—time to crack down on studies—but we also had the same weeks off to celebrate the end of midterms and finals. However, my punk rock family was what gave me the edge on all my university colleagues. Among my true friends, I was one of just a few who was able to experience college. They reminded me daily just how lucky I was to be able to get a college education, and they encouraged me to do the best I could and not just “go through the motions” of getting an education. It is my punk rock family that made me appreciate education, and it was this family that made me wish that all kids could have had an educational experience like mine. How was it fair that I attended a nice elementary school that prepared me for a competitive high school, which in turn prepped me and every one of my peers for university? Why did my closest friends not get the same value out of their k-12 education? Why were some of them so easily allowed to drop out before graduation? I know they are intelligent, some are even quite successful despite their lack of education. But why did they have to work so much harder than I did? This was my first step towards wanting to be a teacher. I wanted to show my punk rock family that education is a wonderful thing. I’d like to believe that if they had been in the classrooms I had, with the amazingly thoughtful teachers I had, that they would have been as successful in schooling as I had been.

As my university years came to a close, my mother was very influential in my choice to get my teaching certification. After I officially announced my plans to attend UWB’s education program, my immediate family was ecstatic and my grandparents were so supportive. At this point, I was the first of my grandpa’s grand children and children to pursue further education past college (and only the second to graduate from a 4 year university).

In addition to family and friends I included a photo of the students I worked with in Northern Ireland. I wrote a lot about how inspirational this was to my teaching career in my educational history paper:

"While studying political conflict and identity last spring in Belfast, Northern Ireland, I volunteered at Botanic Primary School. I worked one-on-one with English as a Second Language (ESL) students from Eastern Europe. This was both my second step towards teaching and a giant step in my own personal growth and education. Having worked with the top 2% of the Seattle School District fifth graders, the experience of working with ESL students was truly unique. Battling strong racism towards Eastern European immigrants, these kids
were often pushed aside by their teachers simply because of their ethnic backgrounds. In Northern Ireland discrimination is complicated. Race, ethnicity, hair color, religion, political affiliation and even physical location are all used in a myriad of complex combinations of discrimination and hatred. Irish
Republic Army ex-convicts hate Ulster Defense Force ex-convicts, peaceful protestors from both sides hate all ex-convicts, Catholics will throw stones at Protestants and red hair and freckles is enough to get a good beating in the wrong part of town. Unfortunately one thing is agreed upon; all Northern Irish residents equally hate the Eastern European immigrants. Determined the most racist place in the western world by multiple studies, not even the teachers are above the ridiculous hatred. After studying the discrimination issues and its effects on children in Northern Ireland for two months, my urge to become a teacher was strengthened. The few precious hours I spent with my students at Botanic Primary may not have taught them the English language, but it made them
feel welcomed and loved. Seeing their eyes light up when I asked them about their culture was more fulfilling than the fact that our entire conversation was being spoken in nearly perfect English. My time in Northern Ireland taught me that just one respectful and engaged teacher can inspire many young minds."

The last photo I choose to include was one of my boyfriend. I felt it neccessary to include Jonny for more than just the fact that he fully supports my decision to teach. He, being Northern Irish, introduces me to a whole new world of experiences which continues to inspire me. In addition, his mother is a nursery teacher in Northern Ireland. While visiting Jonny, I was able to work in her school and share teaching experiences from eachothers cultures over dinner. This multi-cultural influence has inspired me to teach to a wider standard, as I collect effective ideas and approaches used in different countries. What's the same? What's different, and why? What is the most effective aspects to each method? And how can I bring the best of both together?