waiting

fabulous friend's mother is having a baby.

fabulous friend has a difficult time waiting while you turn the page in an exciting read-aloud.

fabulous friend has a difficult time waiting for you hand out materials to everyone.

fabulous friend has a difficult time waiting for her turn in dramatic play.

fabulous friend is having a really, really hard time waiting for the baby.

it's due in march.

it's going to be a long winter.

cold, wet, tired & happy

This morning I dragged myself out of bed at 6 on a Saturday to participate in Girls on the Run. 6am the morning after our staff Holiday Party. 6am on a Saturday after a really long week. 6am only to spend an hour standing in the rain, 50 minutes running in the snow, and 30 more snowy minutes helping girls find their parents. My buddy runner is lucky I like her so much.

I LOVE the Girls on the Run program. It's a nation-wide program that gets elementary school girls involved in running. For an entire semester the girls train for the race, meeting two days a week after school to do motivational activities, build their self esteem, and train for the 5 k. They learn to set goals, work hard, push themselves, set personal goals, and feel proud when after all that work they cross the finish line. At the end of the program the girls run a 5 k with all the other GOTR teams in the area. Each girl has a buddy runner (an older runner) to encourage them to make it through the grueling 3 miles.

When I started being a buddy runner with the program almost 5 years ago it was much, much smaller. A friend asked me to be a buddy runner for a girl at her school. The race was small-all the girls fit inside an elementary school cafeteria. 5 years later the program has grown considerably- I heard someone say there were 5,000 runners there today.

Now it's such an event you have to plan to get there an hour in advance to have any chance of finding parking and navigating traffic in time for the race. As it's grown it's definitely changed it's attitude a bit. The program itself hasn't, but it has brought with it the ubber competitive parents this area is known for (but that I never deal with at my school since those families do not live in our district).

A few years ago, stuck trying to get into the exit lane on my way to the race, I witnessed quite the fight between a Mercedes and a BMW- both with their runners in the back seat. On the way to a race that isn't about winning or losing. After making many attempts to cut the BMW off- (every time the Mercedes tried to cut into the exit lane the BMW scooted up ) the Mercedes rolled down the window and yelled what I can only assume was extremely rude because the BMW replied by forcefully putting her hand out the window and sticking up her middle finger. Don't you love how we are all such good role models for our children?

Those are the parents who come to the race in their own racing gear, yell at their children to run faster, announce that they are extremely embarrassed by their daughter's desire to walk, and- my personal favorite heard today- "Fine! You want to run this slow? No hot chocolate for you!" no less than half a mile into the race. Or later, "I never want to hear you say you want to play in the snow again- What do you think you're doing now? It's snowing! This is playing! Stop complaining about being cold!" I'm sure her daughter really felt the playful spirit at that very moment.

Whenever I get frustrated trying to get translators for conferences I think of those parents. At least my conferences, as difficult as they are to arrange, are lovely, and most of the time end with the parent thanking us. I love my school. I love my school. There is no place like home.

I wont lie- running with a buddy runner is painful. The first time I did it we did the 3 miles in about 2 hours. I didn't know it was possible to walk 3 miles in 2 hours. Let me tell you- running it in 20 minutes would have been less painful (and a lot more fun).

I ran cross country in high school and college. I know how to run a 5k. Running a 5k- running it fast and well- is something I take pride in. Running a 5k with a 10 year old? That's a whole different ball game. You swallow your pride, slow your pace, enjoy the experience of introducing someone to the sport of running, and find ways to cajole them into running a wee bit faster without breaking their spirit.

Some parents just don't manage to understand that. The girls I ran with today eyed me oddly every time we ran behind a parent giving the "How do you call yourself a Smith if you run like that?" We slowly ran around them, eyes down, wishing the girl was running with one of her teachers who would happily encourage her to run faster. I picture those girls in high school sports, applying for the "best" colleges, taking AP tests. Those girls have a long life of not meeting high expectations ahead of them... And so, my little group ran faster, back to our happy little world of "We can do this! Don't walk now! We're awesome- you don't' need to walk!"

Today we ran, walked a bit and then ran again, in sleet that slowly changed to snow. At one point I looked over through my foggy glasses and noticed that one of my girl's eyebrows was frozen inside a patch of ice. The bottoms of our pants were soaking wet with freezing water. Our fingers could barely move individually. We were cold, wet, and tired.

It was fantastic.

As we finished I heard a little girl behind us squeal with utter delight- "I did it! I didn't think I could! But I DID IT! 3 miles!" With that my two runners and I looked at each other and smiled- We'd done it too. Despite the wet coldness seeping into our bodies we had finished the 5k they'd been training for since September. For one of them it was her first 5k. Their big smiles made rolling out of bed so early worth it.

Of course, as soon as we could we headed to the nearest Starbucks. Because it was cold and wet, we were covered in snow, we were tired, and we deserved it.

Why I love my job: reason # 5,489

While my fabulous co-teacher was teaching a whole-group reading lesson I sat on the carpet near one of my special friends. Clearly overwhelmed with the excitement of the lesson, my special friend continued to call out, mumble to himself, and repeat what the teacher was saying.

I showed him the 'quiet' card I carry on my badge to give him a silent, visual reminder of what he should be doing, along with my very best "I mean business" teacher look.

"Oh yeah!" he exclaimed, loudly. "QUIET! I forgot- sorry"

I think he was actually quieter before he decided to be quiet.

Internal monologues don't always work properly in first grade.

what a day...

I just realized I forgot to eat lunch today. But no worries- I had two cups of coffee and a sugar-filled scone from Starbucks. Perhaps that's why I'm shaky...

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
mrs. lipstick, have you read twilight?

yes- yes- i have (wishing I didn't have to admit that to anyone)

how did that author do it? don't you think her hand must have gotten tired???


~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

mrs. lipstick, why did the author put such hard words into the book?

well, he wanted to teach you new words like 'insect' and 'pollen'.

oh. what about barrack obama?

what about barrack obama?

does he write?

yes...

does he work hard when he writes?

yes.

ok!

~~ ~~ ~~ ~~

smoking, lead, and what we guessed all along

I love this blog because it's really the only place that keeps me up to date on current studies that otherwise I wouldn't even know existed now that I'm out of grad school. Clearly I don't read the whole study, but this blog does a great job posting the important snippets.

The current study being discussed is one that shows exposure to lead and maternal prenatal smoking are linked to a diagnosis of ADHD when taken as individual factors, but when taken together have an even greater correlation to a diagnosis of ADHD.

I don't think any of us are surprised.

Here's the thing though- I knew very little about lead exposure before a few years ago when I had a student with significant special needs due to lead poisoning. I went and read everything I could google on the subject and learned a few interesting facts:

1) Lead is sweet. They used it as a sweetener in Ancient Greece until someone made them stop because it was literally making them stupider.
2) No matter how many times lead paint has been painted over, once the top coat of paint cracks, the lead paint underneath will crack and fall off as well.

Picture a baby crawling along the floor, putting everything that crosses his path into his mouth because, well, that's what babies do. Somehow a small paint chip ends up on his hand as it makes its way to his mouth. One small taste- but it tastes good. Sweet. So why not go back for more? It's not that your mom isn't watching you- or that your house hasn't been repainted- or that you're allowed to suck on a lead-painted toy. It's that you are a baby, you explore with your mouth, and when something tastes good you're going to put it in your mouth again.

That year I also learned that a child needs to have a certain level of lead in their blood for it to be considered significant. But other children in my class also had high levels of lead in their blood, but because their official level was a point or two below the cut off the lead was not considered to be a problem.

I'm not a doctor, and I only know my facts from google, and not somewhere professional so I could be way off base. But I think lead exposure occurs more than we think it does, especially in schools where children grow up in subsidized housing. As this study shows, when combined with other factors like prenatal exposure to smoke, it can lead to significant problems that interfere with learning.

what the brain said

We spend a lot of time encouraging children to justify their thinking. I must say, "How did you figure that out?" "How do you know?" "Why do you think that?" 100 times a day. When we hear kids explain how they found their answer we get a true picture of their abilities. This is especially helpful to us when they give wrong answers- we know a kiddo is wrong, but finding out how they got that answer tells us about what to teach next and how to clear up any misconceptions they may have. And, if a student got the right answer by chance, or by guessing randomly, well, we know that too.

Before we can really expect them to explain their thinking we have to plant the language in their heads. Otherwise we get a lot of "my brain told me", or "I just knew" when we question their answers. Sometimes we plant the language when we praise them. I do a lot of "WOW- you were so smart back there! You saw the 'at' chunk in that word, and you know that says 'at' so then you put the /m/ sound in front. WOW. You used a chunk you knew. Smart readers look for chunks they know, just like you!" At this point the child, who may or may not have known they used the chunk, is beaming and practically falling out of their chair with pride. The next word they get stuck on- I can guarantee you they are going to look for chunks they know to show you, once again, that they are awesome.

Another way we plant the idea of justifying their thinking is through whole-group lessons when we explicitly teach the strategies we expect them to use. Today I attempted to teach a kindergarten classroom the strategy of checking the picture when you're stuck on a word.

I had my Mrs. Wishy Washy book all ready with sticky notes over the animal names so the children would be forced to check the picture. I'd never done this lesson with kinders before- but it's one of the first lessons we do every year in first grade so I figured it would be a snap.

"Oh, lovely mud!" said the" I read. "Oh no! This word is covered! How will we ever figure it out?"

"COW!" someone screamed for the carpet.

"WOW! But there is no word there- just a sticky note! How did you know that was cow?" I asked, waiting for the obvious answer of, "the picture is of a cow you moron teacher, of course the word is cow"

"It has the /C/ sound!" the child proudly explained.

"Where? The word is covered! There is no /c/ sound! How did you know?" I asked again, calling on another child.
"C-O-W" the child said proudly. I checked to see if my sticky notes were see-through. Ok, we are still having trouble writing our names, how on earth did this kiddo learn to spell cow from memory.

I ignored the spelling. "You know what you did?" I asked, as though it was the most amazing feat ever. "You checked the picture! Smart readers CHECK THE PICTURE!!"

silence.

Next page.

"Oh lovely mud! said the"

DUCK! DUCK! everyone called out.

"How did you know?" I asked, sure that this time, after I'd given them the language, they were sure to say "check the picture"

"/d/d/d/" they all said proudly.

My head banging into the wall since the D was covered up and there was a large picture of a duck covering the whole page.

It went on and on. In the end maybe 10 kids were able to express "check the picture" when asked, "How did you know?"

10. Even after the child before them said the same thing. Even after we all used our deep professor voices and made ourselves sound very important when we said "check the picture".

*sigh*

Later that day I was working one on one with one of my first grade friends with special needs.

"Why do you think that?" I asked, after he'd told me there were 9 dots on the card I'd just held up.

"My brain told me" he replied quickly. My head banging began again. Please- no more "my brain just knew" explanations.

"What did your brain tell you?" I asked, hoping for more.

"Oh! My brain said, well, there are 5 in that row because there are always 5 in that row, so there isn't a dot there- which means there are only 4 dots in that row, so one row has 5 and one row has 4 and when you put them together you get 9"

Smart Brain.

coming off the island

The other day one of our awesome guidance counselors posted on facebook that she felt she was expected to fix the kids sent to her. The tone of her post was so down, frustrated, and helpless. It killed me because it meant that even here at the Think Tank we don't always collaborate to the best of our ability.

As I read Solving Thorny Behavior Problems I'm thinking a lot about collaboration. Crowe writes numerous times about the importance of getting an outside perspective to help you understand the full nature of the problem. I think we all know that's important, but sometimes it's a hard thing to do.

The Think-Tank always has a lot going on. We're always learning new methods of teaching, we're piloting a new report card for the county, we're bursting at the seams with new students registering every day. Trailers line the field behind our school. There is always someone reading a new theory and wanting to try it- someone discovering something new they can do with technology- someone trying to develop a new classroom initiative. It's what I love about my school. We're always looking beyond ourselves to find answers. We never assume we have all the answers.

Except when we do.

Sometimes I think in all the push of new initiatives we lose the attitude that we're collaborating together for the students and we begin to think we're on islands alone, trying to show everyone else that we're awesome teachers too. There are days it's hard to work at a place where everyone is always moving really fast. Nobody wants to be lost in the shuffle. Nobody wants to be seen as the weak-link surrounded by powerful others.

Fortunately I don't think this shift in thought from collaboration to island-teaching happens very often. There are too many chances for collaboration at my school- too many teachers involved with each child to let anyone be an island for long. But the days when you feel like an island- it's a lonely place to be. I know other schools, that don't push collaboration as hard, have a lot more islands. A lot more lonely, discouraged teachers.

It's a mix between feeling there is no support for you and feeling that even though there is support you shouldn't need it- you should be able to fix it yourself. I love that Solving Thorny Behavior Problems really pushes the importance of another perspective. It really addresses the fact that we need another view point- despite all the thought we've poured into a student's problems, someone else can say just the right thing to give us another idea- another perspective to really help the student. Asking for help- getting another opinion- coming off the island- doesn't mean you're not a great teacher. It doesn't mean you're giving up- it doesn't mean you've failed. It means you're a wise, thoughtful teacher who wants every interaction with students to be meaningful.

When we're island teachers and we finally feel we're maxed out we push the child/problem/issue to someone else to fix on their own. We don't search out another opinion to make our own work stronger- we seek out another person to take the problem off our hands.

For the most part this isn't my school. Most days we're always asking someone else to come in, take a look, give an opinion, listen to our thoughts and offer suggestions. Most days nobody worries being perceived as a bad teacher for asking for advice. People frequently come to me for advice or another perspective on a kiddo in their room. I try to do what I can, listen to what they see, look for what I see, and frequently ask for yet another opinion to weigh in. The more heads working for the child- the more likely we'll get a full 360 picture of the child's needs. Success comes from collaboration.

Everyone, at some point in time has their island moments. Whether it is because we want to feel we can solve the problems on our own, whether or not we feel we need to prove something, we don't want to add to someone else's busy plate, or if we're just discouraged and overwhelmed. We all do it. Taking time to look outside ourselves, whether for managing a specific child's behavior, thinking about a lesson, or collaborating on a new initiative will only make us better teachers, and will make our kiddos more successful.