So, I really like Linden Waldorf education. I got to have a tour of the school in Nashville last year. And it's beautiful. Only natural materials are in the classrooms, so the desks are wooden and the toys wood or cloth. There is no technology in the school. There is art everywhere, and the classrooms are painted peaceful pastel colors. Waldorf dolls and other toys allow for students to use their imaginations. Students go outside even when it is raining. Teachers loop with their students--so one class has the same teacher for grades 1 to 8. There are few textbooks as students make their own study books based on teacher lectures. Students take music and handiwork and language.
I had the chance to shadow a first grade classroom this week. And the day was so peaceful. It started out with students asking questions and sharing anecdotes about bunnies--the class was about to get bunnies. Then a few students presented their structures they had made during "morning work". Two students showed a zoo they had made out of blocks. Throughout the day students had multiple opportunities to share with their peers and their instructor. The instructor was truly attentive, and she made an effort to allow students to make choices about activities. They spent about half the day outside, practicing counting jumping rope and also writing numbers with chalk on the pavement and then skip-counting (literally, skip-counting). At one point students were released to make their own play in groups of four. That is all the instruction they were given, and they ran to the task and each group successfully made, rehearsed, and performed a short play. I left the school thinking this is what I would want my own children to attend.
And Waldorf students in general turn out very intelligent--what they do seems to work. It is child-based and uses the imagination and appreciates nature and inquiry.
But, after more reflection, there are some parts of Waldorf education that seem a little iffy. The founder, Steiner, was definitely a mystic. And I get the feeling many of teachers in the Waldorf schools are still mystics. But does this mean the Waldorf education system is itself mystic? After looking into various articles and reflecting upon my own visits, I would say maybe. Imagination is excellent and important, and a rock may be more than just a rock. But it is definitely a rock. There is some idea among Waldorf folk that everything has a deeper and more complex meaning. And while this may be true in some sense, I want my children to know that reality is real. And I'm not sure Waldorf endorses that. But officially Waldorf also does not teach spiritualism to children. Students thank Mother Earth and nature and God for their food. This may be fine depending on what they mean, but what does it mean? And this question of "what does it mean?" seems to be a question often evaded by Waldorf educators, and the question itself is even discouraged. And that worries me.
So, all to say. Waldorf presents itself as secular, child-based education. And I like imagination and free-play and calm with freedom and colors and working with one's hand (also--there's a garden on the school!) I also like critical thinking. I also don't like mysticism. So, I think there is a lot to be gained in the methods of the Linden Waldorf alternative education, but the underlying underlying philosophy may need to be approached with caution.
The Linden Waldorf school in Nashville is extremely nice, and I do not think they mean to have a secret agenda or deceptive facade. It is a good school. I am still be slightly concerned about the teachings about the spiritual at the school. But don't take my word for it. If you are interested you should try to look into it for yourself.
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Imagination in the Classroom
A complaint or comment I have heard from a few different young elementary teachers is that children do not know how to use their imaginations. They make comments like, "But kids don't play like that anymore," or, "They can't really even use their imaginations like that."As a child imagination was a big part of my life--imaginary friends and stories, playing Oregon Trail, and all that. According to some educators, children today are not able to entertain themselves like this.
Now, I think this is probably exaggerated. Children will do what is natural to them, and imagination is natural. I still see students making pretend soups or pretending they're cops and robbers. I think the concern is that our current society and even educational system tend to discourage such imagination in children. An emphasis in society is watching TV, and at school we teach children to be quiet and on task. And by on task we mean doing some directly academic work. And I think this may cause children to lose their imagination and sense of play earlier than they should. Play has been found to be a key asset in bringing up intelligent students.
So, I would encourage us all to try to incorporate imaginative play into our classrooms. I'll give some random ideas for doing this in the classroom, and I would love to hear other ways to encourage and nurture students' imagination.
Instead of coloring pages, blank pieces of paper for drawing.
Student-created plays.
Free play blocks as a math center.
Imaginative "worksheets", such as ones that have students make 'recipes', using letters as ingredients to make words as a food. Or worksheets that allow students to arrange a room in a house or pretend to be a knight or an astronaut or teacher.
Books! Reading aloud books that are good literature, even and especially at the young ages.
Encouraging classroom discussion where students respond to each other.
Allowing students to resolve conflicts instead of teacher immediately giving the verdict.
Creative writing, such as "what would it be like to be a rock?" for the rock-cycle
Et c.
Now, I think this is probably exaggerated. Children will do what is natural to them, and imagination is natural. I still see students making pretend soups or pretending they're cops and robbers. I think the concern is that our current society and even educational system tend to discourage such imagination in children. An emphasis in society is watching TV, and at school we teach children to be quiet and on task. And by on task we mean doing some directly academic work. And I think this may cause children to lose their imagination and sense of play earlier than they should. Play has been found to be a key asset in bringing up intelligent students.
So, I would encourage us all to try to incorporate imaginative play into our classrooms. I'll give some random ideas for doing this in the classroom, and I would love to hear other ways to encourage and nurture students' imagination.
Instead of coloring pages, blank pieces of paper for drawing.
Student-created plays.
Free play blocks as a math center.
Imaginative "worksheets", such as ones that have students make 'recipes', using letters as ingredients to make words as a food. Or worksheets that allow students to arrange a room in a house or pretend to be a knight or an astronaut or teacher.
Books! Reading aloud books that are good literature, even and especially at the young ages.
Encouraging classroom discussion where students respond to each other.
Allowing students to resolve conflicts instead of teacher immediately giving the verdict.
Creative writing, such as "what would it be like to be a rock?" for the rock-cycle
Et c.
Student to Teacher Ratio
My field mentor once made the comment that any student being gone makes a big difference in how the day feels. Even just one of them being gone makes the classroom easier to manage and calmer. The feel in the classroom when some of the class are in pull-out for reading or for ELL is much more relaxed and on task. When visiting classrooms this week the teacher-student ratio has been much smaller, and the atmosphere has tended to be more relaxed. I visited one kindergarten classroom with only 9 students. Over a summer I taught 18 months to 36 months old toddlers. When there were six I could manage, but when there were nine it became extremely difficult to control the class. Also in college I have gained a lot more from classes that have a 12 to 1 student-professor ratio--classes larger than this, even in a college setting, are harder to learn in. All this to say, while student teaching and in observing classrooms I have noticed the number of students in a class affects the atmosphere of the class. I wonder what decreased class size could do for the overall performance of our nation over time.
I know this is not something teachers can directly control. But I wonder if our policy makers and long-term plans could look at the benefits and costs of making the student-teacher ratio smaller across the country. Would it be worth it? All the teachers I have talked to are still fairly exhausted, and classrooms will also take effort to manage. Are the benefits of a low student-teacher ratio worth the trouble of providing teachers and classrooms for such a ratio?
I know this is not something teachers can directly control. But I wonder if our policy makers and long-term plans could look at the benefits and costs of making the student-teacher ratio smaller across the country. Would it be worth it? All the teachers I have talked to are still fairly exhausted, and classrooms will also take effort to manage. Are the benefits of a low student-teacher ratio worth the trouble of providing teachers and classrooms for such a ratio?
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Last Day Excitement!
I know we're all in the same position with this, but my "Goodbye, Miss. Seltzer" party at the end of this placement was a very exciting experience after having missed the real end of out first placement. Of course I went in to say goodbye to my students last time and they all gave my hugs and wished me luck, but my second placement had a whole celebration! It was really really sweet and a great way to end my time in their classroom. We all shared some of our favorite memories from my time in the class, and the class presented me with a book where they had each drawn a picture of me teaching and written "five reasons why my student teacher will be a great teacher!" We had brownies and juice and all the kind words definitely made me tear up. I have had such amazing experiences in both of my placements, and this was a great way to wrap up an incredible semester! As my mom pointed out when I shared this with her, these are great things to remember for if you ever have a student teacher in your classroom down the road :)
Does anyone else have cute stories about their last days? I would love to hear how the rest of you all ended your time in your classes!
Does anyone else have cute stories about their last days? I would love to hear how the rest of you all ended your time in your classes!
Friday, April 24, 2015
Job Hunt
I know everyone is going through the epic job search right now and I wanted to hear about some of your experiences with that. I have been trying to navigate everything recently and it has been a bit overwhelming so I'd love to hear about your feelings on the matter!
I had an interview with Haywood Elementary last week. It was super rushed because she wanted to get me in before the Teacher Fair on Saturday. The interview was strange because I had a weird reaction about the school--it seemed enormous even though I had been in other similar schools. It just didn't seem like my niche, but the demographic was what I wanted and the position was for a grade I wanted, so I considered it. She offered me the job a couple of hours later and said she'd see me at the teacher's fair.
Then, I went to the teacher's fair and was incredibly frustrated. I did all of my preparation: looking for schools with my demographic (high ELL) that were within 40 minutes of where I'd be living next year. I weeded down the list, visiting the schools with the most ELLs first and then slowly moving down. It was the most exhausting experience...anyone else agree? First, it seemed like no one had positions open and then those who did were not conducting interviews. Haywood was conducting interviews but I had already had one. I made sure to stop by their table, though, and remind her that I was interested. She said that she could send me a recommendation through MNPS that day and wanted to know if I would like that. I said sure, thinking it would be wonderful to have a potential offer that I could choose from!
Luckily, after the teacher fair I realized that it was not for naught. I got two interviews: one with Napier and one with Cole Elementary. The one with Napier was the worst interview of my life...the principal pretended to be an angry parent and yelled profanities at me while I tried to figure out how to get her out of my classroom. I left that interview certain that I would not have the job. She called me back in and offered it to me.
Then, I went to Cole Elementary and immediately fell in love with the school, the staff, everything. However, they had no openings. The principal said that I could be the top on his list, but that every opening I saw on MNPS' Applitrack was actually already filled. He said that they might have something come up in the next few weeks and that he'd give me a call if that was true.
After much thought, I declined Napier because I do not think that I could survive an urban school, especially during my first year of teaching. That felt weird, but luckily the principal understood where I was coming from. However, then I had the big question: do I accept Haywood and have immediate job security? Or do I hope for something better to come along at somewhere like Cole that I loved immediately? I bounced back and forth on this for days. Meanwhile, my offer had not arrived from Haywood and the principal was e-mailing me every day asking about it. Finally, I e-mailed her back asking for a few days to finalize my decision because I had other possibilities. She immediately called me back and said that she had thought that I had accepted the position at the teacher fair--yikes!! If I was pursuing other opportunities, she had to revoke the offer. So, on the one hand she made the decision for me and I don't want to work at a school where the principal is that aggressive about things...but at the same time, now I'm offer-less and that sucks. I'm hoping that after TCAP ends, more opportunities will crop up. But I feel pretty strange now playing the waiting game. Is anyone else in the same/a similar boat?
I had an interview with Haywood Elementary last week. It was super rushed because she wanted to get me in before the Teacher Fair on Saturday. The interview was strange because I had a weird reaction about the school--it seemed enormous even though I had been in other similar schools. It just didn't seem like my niche, but the demographic was what I wanted and the position was for a grade I wanted, so I considered it. She offered me the job a couple of hours later and said she'd see me at the teacher's fair.
Then, I went to the teacher's fair and was incredibly frustrated. I did all of my preparation: looking for schools with my demographic (high ELL) that were within 40 minutes of where I'd be living next year. I weeded down the list, visiting the schools with the most ELLs first and then slowly moving down. It was the most exhausting experience...anyone else agree? First, it seemed like no one had positions open and then those who did were not conducting interviews. Haywood was conducting interviews but I had already had one. I made sure to stop by their table, though, and remind her that I was interested. She said that she could send me a recommendation through MNPS that day and wanted to know if I would like that. I said sure, thinking it would be wonderful to have a potential offer that I could choose from!
Luckily, after the teacher fair I realized that it was not for naught. I got two interviews: one with Napier and one with Cole Elementary. The one with Napier was the worst interview of my life...the principal pretended to be an angry parent and yelled profanities at me while I tried to figure out how to get her out of my classroom. I left that interview certain that I would not have the job. She called me back in and offered it to me.
Then, I went to Cole Elementary and immediately fell in love with the school, the staff, everything. However, they had no openings. The principal said that I could be the top on his list, but that every opening I saw on MNPS' Applitrack was actually already filled. He said that they might have something come up in the next few weeks and that he'd give me a call if that was true.
After much thought, I declined Napier because I do not think that I could survive an urban school, especially during my first year of teaching. That felt weird, but luckily the principal understood where I was coming from. However, then I had the big question: do I accept Haywood and have immediate job security? Or do I hope for something better to come along at somewhere like Cole that I loved immediately? I bounced back and forth on this for days. Meanwhile, my offer had not arrived from Haywood and the principal was e-mailing me every day asking about it. Finally, I e-mailed her back asking for a few days to finalize my decision because I had other possibilities. She immediately called me back and said that she had thought that I had accepted the position at the teacher fair--yikes!! If I was pursuing other opportunities, she had to revoke the offer. So, on the one hand she made the decision for me and I don't want to work at a school where the principal is that aggressive about things...but at the same time, now I'm offer-less and that sucks. I'm hoping that after TCAP ends, more opportunities will crop up. But I feel pretty strange now playing the waiting game. Is anyone else in the same/a similar boat?
When Your Student Scares You
Hi friends! I just wanted to share something intense that happened during my second placement so that you can be prepared for if--actually, when--it happens in your classroom. One of the girls in my class has a pretty tragic back-story: her mom is a heroin addict and kidnapped her at the beginning of the year for ten days. She spent that time in a drug house in Alabama. Finally, the police found her and returned her home to her father, who I'm sure is a lovely man. However, he lets his daughter watch horror movies (she's five) and has an intense love of guns since he used to be in the army.
This little girl has had several outbursts since I have been in the classroom--all to me, in fact. Today was the final straw and I realized that I had not anticipated this type of behavior beforehand so I thought I'd share! The first comment she made came up during morning work one day. She created a series of animals and had written the number 100 by the daddy animal. When I asked her about it, saying that 100 was a bit old for a daddy, she mentioned that her pop pop had been 99. I told her that 100 was a great age for a grandpa, but not so much for a dad with a little kid. Then, she asked me if death hurt. Since she had just been talking about her pop pop, I was worried she'd have a breakdown or something. So, I said no. Her response? "Oh. I wish it did because I like getting shots (like at the doctor)." I immediately went to my teacher and he mentioned it to the school counselor. She didn't have time to drop by and see our friend, but kept that comment in mind.
A few weeks later, we were building pictures out of shapes. I had given the class a variety of little shape manipulatives for them to trace to create pictures like in the book Mouse Shapes (check it out if you haven't read it--fun resource!). This little girl had drawn a face and used an upside-down trapezoid to make the mouth. When I complimented her face, she thanked me and started to color his mouth in red. She murmured: "that's blood." When I asked her why he was bleeding, she said it was because he had just eaten someone! I mentioned that to my teacher and finally the counselor came to speak with her.
But today was the doozy...we were having a plant party where the students got to try eating a variety of raw fruits and veggies because we were talking about how the food we eat often comes from plants. We were using the data from our tasting to make graphs and write opinion pieces, but in the middle of the tasting session my teacher used a knife to cut open one of the bananas. The little girl then said: "(Mentor teacher's name) is going to kill us all with that knife." I didn't hear her say it but another student did and mentioned it to me. I immediately told my teacher and he sprung into action, removing her from the class, reprimanding her, and then bringing her to the office where they spoke to her and called her father.
I have never had a student say these types of things before and so was shocked when it finally happened...have y'all ever experienced anything like this?
This little girl has had several outbursts since I have been in the classroom--all to me, in fact. Today was the final straw and I realized that I had not anticipated this type of behavior beforehand so I thought I'd share! The first comment she made came up during morning work one day. She created a series of animals and had written the number 100 by the daddy animal. When I asked her about it, saying that 100 was a bit old for a daddy, she mentioned that her pop pop had been 99. I told her that 100 was a great age for a grandpa, but not so much for a dad with a little kid. Then, she asked me if death hurt. Since she had just been talking about her pop pop, I was worried she'd have a breakdown or something. So, I said no. Her response? "Oh. I wish it did because I like getting shots (like at the doctor)." I immediately went to my teacher and he mentioned it to the school counselor. She didn't have time to drop by and see our friend, but kept that comment in mind.
A few weeks later, we were building pictures out of shapes. I had given the class a variety of little shape manipulatives for them to trace to create pictures like in the book Mouse Shapes (check it out if you haven't read it--fun resource!). This little girl had drawn a face and used an upside-down trapezoid to make the mouth. When I complimented her face, she thanked me and started to color his mouth in red. She murmured: "that's blood." When I asked her why he was bleeding, she said it was because he had just eaten someone! I mentioned that to my teacher and finally the counselor came to speak with her.
But today was the doozy...we were having a plant party where the students got to try eating a variety of raw fruits and veggies because we were talking about how the food we eat often comes from plants. We were using the data from our tasting to make graphs and write opinion pieces, but in the middle of the tasting session my teacher used a knife to cut open one of the bananas. The little girl then said: "(Mentor teacher's name) is going to kill us all with that knife." I didn't hear her say it but another student did and mentioned it to me. I immediately told my teacher and he sprung into action, removing her from the class, reprimanding her, and then bringing her to the office where they spoke to her and called her father.
I have never had a student say these types of things before and so was shocked when it finally happened...have y'all ever experienced anything like this?
Pleasant Surprises
I've always known I was more interested in the younger grades, but I always thought kindergarten would just be a little much for me. Especially knowing that a lot of kids in Metro don't go to preschool, so kindergarten really is their first "school" experience. I definitely didn't want to deal with beginning of the year behavior, and I thought teaching kindergarten standards would be mind-numbing.
But... oh my goodness, I LOVE kindergarten. I mean, I was right to be concerned about those things, and of course I haven't had kindergarteners in August. But now, I really think the positives outweigh the negatives, and I would be really excited to teach kinders in the fall. I've been pleasantly surprised by how much I have truly loved this placement; I even enjoyed writing some of my lesson plans, and that's saying something! And although I was exhausted anytime I wasn't at school (that's inevitable with student teaching, right? Also regular teaching, probably), I always felt energized and excited around the students.
Which is not to say it hasn't been challenging; I have learned SO much, and not just about kindergarten. I'm so thankful for this placement because I was genuinely passionate about it, but I also know that I will be a better teacher in any grade because of all the things I learned from teaching kindergarten. (Cheesy but true!)
Has anyone else been pleasantly surprised by something you did for student teaching this semester? A grade level, subject, teaching method, etc?
But... oh my goodness, I LOVE kindergarten. I mean, I was right to be concerned about those things, and of course I haven't had kindergarteners in August. But now, I really think the positives outweigh the negatives, and I would be really excited to teach kinders in the fall. I've been pleasantly surprised by how much I have truly loved this placement; I even enjoyed writing some of my lesson plans, and that's saying something! And although I was exhausted anytime I wasn't at school (that's inevitable with student teaching, right? Also regular teaching, probably), I always felt energized and excited around the students.
Which is not to say it hasn't been challenging; I have learned SO much, and not just about kindergarten. I'm so thankful for this placement because I was genuinely passionate about it, but I also know that I will be a better teacher in any grade because of all the things I learned from teaching kindergarten. (Cheesy but true!)
Has anyone else been pleasantly surprised by something you did for student teaching this semester? A grade level, subject, teaching method, etc?
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