Mustache Head, Lego Ears

the journey of a preschool teacher ask // home // about me // my classroom // teacher resources

[thesoulsatisfaction]

Oh, I learn things everywhere I go.

George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones (via thesoulsatisfaction)

[sampaguitagxrl]

A white college student from a private college goes into a poor neighborhood and volunteers four hours a week and that’s considered exemplary. [Whereas] a poor kid who lives in that community and takes care of all the kids in that neighborhood four hours every day is not seen as a volunteer.

Patricia Hill Collins (via sampaguitagirl)

[inevitablove]

Singer to Bullied Kids: ‘Being Weird Is a Wonderful Thing’

Going from self-proclaimed weirdo to unequivocally cool musician, Ed Sheeran encourages marginalized kids to embrace their differences.

this makes me love and appreciate ed sheeren even more!

[inevitablove]

i have spent my summer relentlessly looking for a job. i have face a lot of silence, some rejection, and little success. over the last couple of days that has turned around a bit as i have been in negotiation with some schools and engaging in second interviews with others. today someone from one of the schools i am talking with came to my summer camp to observe a lesson (rather than making me come to the school and do a demo lesson). later in the day, when we had a chance to talk, we debriefed the lesson. she said she wanted to give me some feedback because feedback is an important part of their school culture. after this past year being filled with nothing but negative feedback, i braced myself. she had nothing but compliments to share about her observation and constructive compliments at that. i was plesantly surprised and really needed the positive energy, especially when in relation to my teaching.

[inevitablove]

for the last several weeks at camp i have had a camper who has gotten on my last nerve. he loves camp and loves me. he is incredibly excited about everything we do at camp and so enthusiastic. he is the kind of kid that really throws himself into the things that he does and when something happens, it is all or nothing; it is either the best thing that has ever happened or it is the worst thing that ever happened.

you might be thinking, this kid sounds like the perfect kid. in so many ways he really is, but he is a needs to be the center of attention kind of kid. if he has a thought on his mind, it does not matter what else is going on or who else is talking, he needs to speak in that very moment. if he does not get the opportunity to speak, he break down and gets in your face and screams and whines. he is still extremely egocentric and can not grasps the concept of waiting his turn in whatever capacity that might look like.

back to that all or nothing personality. if this kid had a volume control, it would be permanently broken on max. his normal volume is screaming and his screaming is just more dramatic screaming. it is so hard to sooth him or remind him that he needs to wait his turn or even ignore him because he monopolizes any space he is in with his voice and personality.

over the last few weeks i have had a love hate relationship with him.

today somehow we got to talking about where some of the kids families are from and i told another staff member that his kids family was from iran. the other staff member, also from iran, did not believe me. i told him that the kid had told me a few weeks prior. we called this kid over and started talking to him about his family. the other staff member asked him in farsi if he spoke farsi and this kid turned into a different child. with a huge smile on his face, he suddenly became focused and completely engaged. he spoke at a normal volume and with a sense of calming over him. all the other staff that was sitting with us looked at one another at the same time and agreed, he was like a different person if you speak to him in farsi.

this got me thinking. we are so quick to jump all over a kid that we determine, by our own subjective standards, is misbehaving or socially inappropriate. so often these kids that perpetually fall into this category are english language learners, members of racial minority groups, and/or have a disability. while it is absolutely necessary that kids in all of these subgroups learn to behave in a manner that is seen as socially acceptable and appropriate by the standards of the “majority group” or the socially agreed upon standards, it is important to take a step back and remember for whatever reason, this kid is facing a dissonance with these understood standards. rather than jumping all over this kid, figure out how to neutralize the situation and teach the standards rather than shame for not knowing or practicing the, sometimes foreign, standards.

[mixedupdays]

Yesterday was Where the Wild Things Are day! I started things off with vocabulary, then after reading the story for the first time we charted some story elements and had a brief discussion of whether the story really happened or not. Only one student thought it really did happen, but his only reason was, “Because he was king!” The arguments for “didn’t happen” were a little more persuasive, as they said things like “forests can’t really grow in your room” and “how could there be a boat with his name on it” but mostly about how much time the story took yet Max arrived back home on the same night he left.

Then we practiced a dramatic reading of the story, with the kids acting out all the parts together. This was SO awesome. I let them come up with ideas for portraying things like Max making mischief, showing how the forest grew, and of course, being Wild Things and roaring terrible roars, etc. They were so adorable! We practiced five times before our high school helpers arrived in the afternoon and then performed for them, and it went perfectly.

We also spent time looking at the wild things and the kids immediately noticed that they were “like mixed up animals”. I drew several wild things on a white board, taking suggestions from the group on what to add (horns, wings, scales, tail). Then I had the kids draw their own wild things, first with crayon and then with watercolors, and wow did they turn out beautifully! There is a writing piece that goes with it, but we ran out of time so that will happen tomorrow.

Finally, when our high school helpers were here, they played a trivia game about the book and kept track of points with tally marks. They loved this, and nearly everyone scored over 100 points (I think the highest total possible was 125).

Oh, and I drew a Max with the face cut out and took pictures of all my students! And wow, I was exhausted at the end of the day, but I also felt good. What a great day.

[you-are-another-me]

[bookmania]

Silid Aralan, Inc. is a learning center in the Philippines for children with a mission of helping them figure out their lives’ purpose and love for learning that will inspire and empower them in creating socially responsible innovations.

These children start learning business and arts early with the assistance of the non-profit organization.

Yesterday, I joined Reed Elsevier Philippines to entertain and to inspire these children through storytelling. It was a worthy event.The company gave the children a party and guess what! Thousands of books!

[fritfilter]

This is the first point I always make. Students are under the impression that when they are stuck and confused, they are doing something wrong. Think of it this way. What if you went to the gym to work out but you didn’t get sweaty and you weren’t sore or tired? You would probably feel like you really didn’t get any exercise. The same is true for learning. Confusion is the sweat of learning.

Telling You the Answer Isn’t the Answer - Wired Science (via fritfilter)

[mixedupdays]

Yesterday we learned about tricky Y, that robber guy! I challenged the students to find words ending in Y all day, then we transferred them to stickies and sorted them (not pictured: the list of words with an “ay” ending). We added the poem to our poetry journals, too.

Once we got all the words up, we looked for patterns and discovered that *usually* 2 or 3 letter ‘y’ words have the ‘i’ end sound, while longer words usually have the ‘e’ sound. But we did find a couple of words that break that pattern. Man, they had fun with this. So did I!

[seekelslearn]

[charliecakehole]

These are a great idea!

[mixedupdays]

I love it!

[mustacheheadlegoears]

my class was doing independent book work during math yesterday and one kid holds his book up to the air and starts singing the circle of life from the lion king. i wish i could make up stories this good.

[nprfreshair]

Awesome display in a public library showing why these classics were once banned.

Keep reading, y’all.

via BoingBoing

[mustacheheadlegoears]

if i had my own class, id do a baned book report and as the write up the students have to create a court case for why the book should or should not be read.

[writingprompts]

#761

What the students imagine their teacher’s life is like.

[mustacheheadlegoears]

journal prompt for monday!

[classroomcollective-deactivated]

[mustacheheadlegoears]

i love this, however i do not get the use of the recycle sign for respect.

[awesomepeoplereading]

Unidentified child reads to Avalanche, a therapy dog. Studies have shown that some children with reading difficulties experience improvement when they are allowed to practice reading aloud to dogs.

[mixedupdays]

YES. I had a child last year who struggled and fought but just couldn’t make any progress in reading…until we got her into a “read to a dog” program at the public library. She TOOK OFF like a reading rocket after that. I wanted so badly to get every one of my struggling readers (heck, even the non-struggling readers) into that program, but of course there are only so many openings…I would love to have a buddy reading dog program at school.