Reading

I finished Educating Esme, it was a quick read. The book was interesting, as was Madame Esme's personality. While I feel my personality and hers are rather different, I enjoyed seeing teaching from the perspective of someone who has such a different take on life. I am once again reminded how amazing it is that each and every person is unique (both people in general and students).

What am I reading now? Miracles Happen by Mary Kay Ash. Autobiographies have always interested me, perhaps because through them a person can see glimpses of that person that might have been rarely shown to the outside world. Autobiographies also fascinate me because often I learn new things about the period of time the person lived in. This helps me relate better to history, and will be especially helpful when I teach social studies.

Resolve to Read

Today I was garage saling and came across a book that has been on my list to read for some time (a couple of years). Since it was a quarter, I got it and decided I was going to resolve to read it within the month. Now, reading is something I haven't done much of for awhile (other than reading the Bible). It's not that I don't love to read, because I do, I just need to remember to make time for it. Rather than watch a rerun of a television show, I could read.

I grew up loving books. I lived on a farm and aside from the animals (which I wasn't a fan of) there was not a whole lot to do. I read a lot. My mom would tell me to go outside and play and I would smuggle a book underneath my shirt and find a place away from the windows to read (so my mom couldn't see)-I know, I was a terrible child :)

I have so many books for my classroom library (my spreadsheet has a few more then 400 and I need to log a few still) that I had to store them at my parents house until I get a classroom of my own (Kumon only allows certain books within their program, but they do purchase them all).

So what book did I buy? Educating Esme Diary of a Teacher's First Year by Esme Raji Codell. I read Part I tonight. It shares her struggles within the classroom with students, administration, motivating both other teachers and students as well as her sucesses, small and large, and the funny moments (working with children always involves those). All in all, the book is a fantastic insight! I love reading what other teachers write, because it gives me a look into their classrooms and gives me ideas (that's why I read other teacher's professional blogs). But I did have some concern with one part.

On page 69 (in the 2001 edition) she states: I was ambitious in the choreography of the dance routine [for a Christmas presentation]. It had many complicated parts, but under the threat of death and homework my thirty-one charges learned them meticulously, baring their teeth in a mandatory smile all the way. I'm exaggerating; I know they kind of enjoyed the rehearsals, the anticipation of performance and success. They know I would never let them fail. That's why they do what I ask, no matter how much they complain.

Although you probably did not need to know quite that much, I thought it would give you insight to her humor and context is important to understand the overarching point. I wonder about the second to last sentence. Is it entirely the responsibility of the teacher whether a child succeeds or fails? Some might say yes, but I don't agree. I feel that if a teacher applies his or herself and helps a student in every way possible, and the student still fails that this isn't the fault of the teacher. Several factors could play into the situation: the student's study skills or lack thereof, life outside of the classroom (including social time within school and out of school happenings), whether the student slept well the night before or is feeling well, the list could go on and on. I sincerely hope that Esme does not hold herself personally responsible for the success or failure of her students. For that is a heavy cross to bear. That being said, there are many things a teacher can do to aide her students, and they should be done so each student is given a chance at success. On a separate note, failure is also a part of life. It is something students need to have happen in order for them to learn and grow from it. If a student never fails, he or she never learns how to recover from the situation and rise to become a stronger person. I fear for the student that never fails.

Life

Today is my first day subbing. I am excited but a little anxious. They are high schoolers, special education, but high schoolers non-the-less. I fit much better with the elementary students, but who knows, maybe this will turn out great and I will love them. We shall see!

I have been teaching in a slightly different area of late. I am a Jr Kumon teacher at Kumon Math and Reading. It is a Math and Reading program driven by the worksheet model, to enhance the students' practice methods. Although this is not how I would teach in my classroom, I am certainly become diversified and learning more about the Indian culture and what the typical parent expects from his/her child-which is very high standards for learning. Although it is not the typical classroom, the typical setting or what I would consider to be typical curriculum, it is good for now, while I wait to see what else God has for me to do in life. He has blessed me abundantly, and for that I give him all the praise!

Quotable

Upon browsing educational quotes, I came across one that really made me stop and think:

"The individual learning model is a foreign territory for most Net Genres, who have grown up collaborating, sharing, and creating together online." ~Don Tapscott in Growing Up Digital

I have not read his book, but it would appear to be that the Net Genres would be the students of today who have grown up with the genre of internet (net) as a key aspect in their lives. Or perhaps 'genres' is an abbreviation for generation, but either way, it refers to the students we are currently teaching.

Some may question how much our students know about and use technology. Allow me to provide you with a few examples. During the summertime I nanny children of a variety of ages. One household I work with there are two boys, ages 3, and 5. Their television is hooked up to an external hard drive, has wireless access, and is also used with a play station 2, a Wii and a blue ray player. Yes, it took me a few times to master switching between the devices. Could I do it, yes, it just took some time and understanding of what wires went where in order for the device I wanted to use to be turned on and hooked up to the right sources of power. The three year old and the five year old can and do switch between systems at a rate much more effective than I can. Do they use technology? Certainly. Another child I sit for told me that he has a time limit of five hours a day of video game and online computer playing time. Five hours?! He is certainly using technology on a daily basis, much more so than I. One of my students asked to be my facebook friend the other day. While I politely declined her invitation I wonder what reason a 10 year old has to have an account on a social networking site. I suppose it is the same reason I have an account-to keep in contact with other people. Our students are using technology.

Thinking back to the classrooms I grew up in, the teacher was lucky to have a computer in the classroom. Many classrooms now have at least three computers, and this is a good thing. But are they being used? Using computers simply for students to take Accelerated Reader tests is a waste of such a resource. There are wonderful sites online that challenge students to learn by making learning fun, and bringing it back to a format they are familiar with. We no longer have to teach students how to read a website, they grow up learning that. We have to teach them how to read a newspaper and look up a number in the phone book, because those are the things teachers grew up learning, but students today lack understanding in.

Blogs are a wonderful avenue to express thoughts and exclaim in wonder over new-found knowledge. Obviously, I am using it as such, but do I take the time to show my students how to effectively blog? I could have integrated more of that into my student teaching. Had I more time, I could have made our blog into a conversation of literature, rather than a method of reporting. A blog can be used for both, that is part of the beauty of it. I would like to try that with my first class, provided there are resources available to do so.

I would also like to try setting up a classroom wiki with my students. It would be a page where parents could track what is going on in the lives of their children while at school, as well as a safe place for students to discuss educational related material with each other. The students of today need to be able to learn in groups, it is how they grew up learning, and will be a stronger method of learning for the majority of them.

Does this mean that individualized learning has no place in the classroom and should be entirely thrown out? Certainly not! Students also need to learn to work on their own, as life will require that of them at times as well (it certainly does in higher education). I value the individual learning model, so long as it is used in conjunction with the cooperartive learning that is likely to become the norm for students. Education needs a healthy balance of both to be effective. Who am I to teach solely one way when my students learn in so many different ways? It would be selfish for me to do so.

Fantasy and Science Fiction

I got a free copy of Fantasy and Science Fiction the bimonthly edition for free with the promise to blog about this issue. I was excited to receive it, as we are currently reading the science fiction genre in my fourth grade classroom, and I can always use more resources. I had never heard of this magazine, until another educational blog pointed me in the direction of their website. I have to say, it has been some good reading.

What is Fantasy and Science Fiction bimonthly? It is a collection of authors who write-you guessed it: fantasy and science fiction! They are short stories, but the bimonthly editions are certainly not. My free edition was 254 pages! Intertwined with the stories are fantasy and science fiction books to read including the authors and approximate retail prices. I was disappointed that the books they chose to showcase were mostly over $25. Although they are new releases within the past couple of years, so I suppose that is to be expected. Nothing I would buy for my classroom anytime soon.

Although I was looking forward to my highest reading group (6th grade level) being able to read a short story in guided reading, I'm not sure this will be a resource to use in that fashion. Although I have not read it all, the ones I have read are at a higher reading level than sixth grade, are graphic in nature and not appropriate for students. A great read for mature adults, or even young adults, but not appropriate for ten year olds. Don't get me wrong, I don't intend to shelter my children, as literature is a fine way to introduce concepts that are difficult to discuss. Some of these stories just do it in a more graphic manner than I am willing to undertake. The vocabulary is the biggest deterrent for using this as a resource. Although I could read it aloud and break down the vocabulary, it would be a long process and I was looking more for something to fit in the span of a week.

Overall, a fine read for ages 15 and up. Not recommended for younger audiences.

Literacy Surprise

I love it when my students surprise me. Like this week after we did literacy STAR quizes. In a nutshell, they are a computer generated quiz to help us determine the reading level of a given student. So when all this was done, my mentor shared our students' scores with me.

It was certainly a pleasant surprise. Whereas you will always have those that are a bit behind the rest, I was amazed at the number of students we had reading above grade level. We even had a few students reading two and three grades above grade level! This was awesome to see, especially considering who these students are in our classroom as a whole. I know that they are the type of students that will be able to motivate others and encourage them to be good readers as well. I love when my students surprise me!