Is Linden Waldorf education a cult?

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.

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.

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?

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!

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?

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?

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?

Becoming Anything He Wants To Be

Currently, my students are reading an anchor text (from Journeys) titled Becoming Anything He Wants To Be. It’s about a blind man named Erik who has climbed the seven summits, and is known as a world-class climber despite his handicap. It’s a sweet message for certain.

This morning, one of my students, K, (who has been retained before, in the first grade) told me he was going to have a bad day. Right from the start! When I asked why, he replied, “Why bother? I’m not going to fourth grade.”

I would be lying if I said the teachers hadn’t discussed retaining him again and making him repeat the fourth grade. It has been a subject of contention for a little while now during staff, grade-level, and data meetings.

With, I believe, the intention of motivating K to improve his behavior in the classroom, my mentor teacher pulled K aside one afternoon and told him that the other teachers were considering keeping him from going on to fourth grade unless he ‘got it together’.

Therefore, this morning, I was really sad about K being so defeated. At first I was annoyed that he would use that as an excuse to just start the day off poorly, but then I realized -- he really HAS been told by an adult that it’s pointless. I know that wasn’t my mentor teacher’s intention. But, to me, it seemed to almost exacerbate the issue instead of turning it around.

I feel so bad for K. And if I were being honest, I would say I really disliked the way that my mentor teacher handled the situation. I don’t think I would ever tell a child something like that as a teacher, because it makes the ‘dire’ situation seem really inevitable to the child, and out of his own hands.

When K shared his nihilistic attitude with me, I took him aside, and told him that - just like the story we were reading - he could do anything he wanted to do and be anything he wanted to be if he tried.

The problem is -- did he believe it?

"My Child Is Special..."

I recently got a new student at my second placement. He transferred to this school because he and his mother recently moved here so that his mom could teach at this school.

At the risk of sounding superficial...he's a cute kid. Honestly, he has such a rosy, sweet face and long curly hair, that when he stood at the classroom door on his first day, I thought he was a little girl at first.

This student is rambunctious, a little dramatic, and very creative. He LOVES to dance, and he constantly craves attention (which often leads to issues with his behavior). He frequently speaks or shouts out of turn in order to get attention from adults and students alike, and will say silly, bathroom-humor jokes, or just wonder random thoughts aloud.

Yesterday afternoon, his mother approached me after school. She said that, since he was born, she had known 'her boy was special'. She said she’d always known he was ‘special’. (She kept using this word like a euphemism…as if she were searching for a more fitting term but couldn’t think of the appropriate word.) She said that because of this, she had always encouraged him to be true to himself. I wondered where this was going….

Mama Bear:

“I don’t think it was you, actually, so I would love if you would pass this on to [my mentor teacher], but the other day [student who is her son aka BearCub] got into the car and said that he had mentioned to other students, ‘I wish I was a girl’. So they started making fun of him because he said that, and he said that when he told the teacher, the teacher said, ‘Well maybe you shouldn’t have said that.’ And I just wanted you guys to be aware that BearCub is special and I don’t think he should feel bad or try to hide who he is.”

So here is what I’m thinking. Clearly I was not involved in this exchange that BearCub had reported to his mother. I do know that BearCub enjoys ‘the shock factor’, but I do agree with Mama Bear that her son should not hide who he is.

I responded with some of these thoughts, saying that I wasn’t aware of the exchange, but what likely happened was that my mentor teacher was trying to ask BearCub to work on not shouting out when he shouldn’t be talking in class more than trying to stifle his individuality. I thanked her for sharing her feelings and this personal information about her son, and said we would be vigilant and aware of his individuality, and reinforce her encouragement for him to be exactly who he is.

I think she was happy with my response, and I tried to maintain professional and respectful language, but it WAS an awkward exchange!

I’m still unclear what she was referencing by saying that her son was ‘special’. My guess is his sexuality? Or orientation? Something that, I honestly do not think is quite relevant for 9 year olds, but do seriously respect.

I’m just curious to see if any of you guys had situations like this (probably with older students) during either of your placements. It can be a really sensitive subject, so I’m curious to see how other people handle it, and if they think I handled it appropriately in turn!

Pre-Observation-Day Observation Day!

I am phasing out of my solo teaching by giving up about 30 more minutes of teaching each day this week. I've found that this is a nice transition for my students as well as my mentor teacher this close to TCAP.

Because of this, my mentor teacher suggested I take the extra time to go observe other classes around the school that I might not otherwise get the chance to see! Through this extra 'observation time', I was granted the afternoon to go and observe Ms. Kellum - the pull out service teacher. GiGi is actually a previous Vanderbilt grad student, certified in Exceptional Ed. She pushes into to my mentor teacher's classroom each morning with three of the students with exceptional needs, but I have never seen her in the academic (not morning meeting) context.

This afternoon, I observed her in the small group setting doing math with three students with different exceptional needs (all in third grade). One of the students is not able to produce any speech at all.
The students were in a very open area, without their desks touching.

In the first task I observed, they took turns participating in an online math game using the SmartBoard. The students were able to physically touch their answers to the addition games using the electronic pointer and SmartBoard, while also practicing social skills by taking turns. The integration of different skills was very transparent to myself, but clearly not to the students (which I think is a good thing!).

For second task, the students placed dots on different numbers according to the value of the number (i.e. one dot on the number 1, two dots on the number 2, etc.). During this task, the students worked independently. GiGi allowed the students choice by allowing them to choose which color marker they could put the dots on the numbers with. She also put on soft music in the background, which I think helped set a calm and focused tone after the interactive and physical math game. The para pro working with the student without any speech asked him if he wanted help before guiding him through the independent activity. One of the students was talking across the classroom to another student about what they wanted to play after school. In order to refocus him, GiGi prompted him by saying, "I know what you have to say is important, but right now you need to finish this". This was such a constructive way of validating his personal life without distracting him from the task he was supposed to be completing.

The third task required the students to use their mini white boards. When giving the directions for the activity, GiGi calmly stated simple instructions, and then had the students repeat back what they shouldn't do. She wrote an addition problem on the overhead whiteboard (which was projected on the wall in front of them). The activity scaffolded off of the second activity, because it required the students to put the correct number of dots on the numbers, then count the total number of dots to solve the addition problem.


All of these tasks took place in such a short span of time, and yet every single thing I noticed was intentional and meaningful.

I have said to many of you how often I wish I had more instruction (courses, practicums, methods classes, etc.) regarding exceptional education. It has never been more true than in my second placement - so many of my students have exceptional needs and receive services. However, their instruction by my mentor teacher when they are in the general classroom is so scarce and hardly differentiated/scaffolded. It has been hard and sad to observe. I am so glad that I got  to observe this classroom and instruction this afternoon, to really get a more clear picture of the kind of services that pull-out offers.

My Future Business Career...

JUST KIDDING! I'm definitely going to be a teacher. But, I had a really great business idea this morning.

I don't know how many of y'all are familiar with 'the Skimm'. It's an electronic, daily, 'skimmed down' version of current events. Basically, if you subscribe, you get an email every morning with global and national news that is current. It's fabulous.

Anyway, I was reading it this morning, and there was a fabulous little blurb about Common Core and standardized testing in public schools. As student teachers at MNPS, and many of us in older/test-taking grades, this is super relevant! The Skimm even included the link to a more in-depth article on TIME (which I actually posted as a comment on someone else's blog entry!). I got so excited that this was being talked about in a venue other than our little seminar meetings and at school, that I forwarded the article to my entire sorority. And then I started thinking....do my students know about any of this? Do they know that some states have an 'opt-out' option for standardized testing? Do they know that people are talking about this? Do they know that these kind of decisions affect politics?

I spent all morning thinking about how I could talk about these things with my students - relevant news that could be put into kid-friendly terms that they understand. AND THEN, I thought: "HOW GREAT WOULD THIS BE DURING MORNING MEETING?!"

Which is when I came up with the greatest business idea/teacher idea of all time (probably). Somebody needs to email the ladies that run/write the Skimm and tell them that they need to create a kid-friendly version. This could be something that teachers could use during morning meeting or to integrate reading/writing/social studies, OR older students could even get it sent directly to their emails. Parents could even use it to form a common ground for current event conversations at the dinner table!

I think that I might take this idea and run with - a 'Skimm' for my classroom! Maybe as a future teacher, I will rewrite the Skimm that I get every morning (it definitely comes early enough, at around 5:30 am every day) using kid-friendly language. There are endless possibilities, and I feel like their are tons of benefits.

Gifted Certification

As I mentioned before, one of my students has dyslexia. However, she is unable to get an IEP for this because of legality issues etc. Therefore, the family is trying to go the "gifted," route in order to receive certification. To do this, my 2nd grade student had to create some sort of research project that tackles certain social studies standards. The majority of this project had to be completed during school hours and with complete guidance by the 2nd grade student. 

My mentor teacher and I had many concerns and problems with this. First of all, there is 0 time in the day for this to be completed without taking away time from other learning. Second, my mentor teacher was uncomfortable and unsure of her role in the matter. This was supposed to be "student lead," but it is almost impossible for a second grader to come up with a research topic, plan of option and presentation on their own. 

Today, my student presented her project in front of the committee. I almost could cry watching my student present because she was so nervous and could barely speak. This is completely normal because she is a second grader. The presentation did not show that she was gifted at all because she was so nervous and overwhelmed that she forgot most of the things that she wanted to say. 

I am really curious to see what the result will be and if she will receive gifted certification. It is such a shame that she needs to go through all of this stress and work to receive the services that she genuinely needs. 

Worms!

I loved this last week at Hickman--we were working on life sciences and scientific observations.  My teacher had ordered fish, worms, and some type of bug for our classroom.  I was grossed out by the bugs (luckily they're still in the box), but I loved helping with the fish!  My kids have completed several observations since then about seeds they planted, the fish, and worms.  It was so much fun to see the kids squeal at the fish as they swam around the container.  I loved hearing how the guppies had to be baby fish because they were smaller than the goldfish.  They ooh-ed at the fish that swam upside down in circles and were very sad when one of the guppies died, calling him a "small grandpa fish".

The best part was the worms, though!  In I-time, I had the kids create their own imaginary worms, talking about where they like to live and how they look.  Then, I let them hold the worms.  I was so proud of myself because my mentor teacher refused to touch them.  He lifted them up with a fork, but then I took over and gave the kids each their own worm!  Since I knew they would be afraid to touch the worm if I didn't show them it was okay, I jumped right in.  I immediately had flashbacks to my own elementary school days playing in the mud.  I loved seeing the kids react to the squirming worms the second they touched them.  Some of them even flung the worms out of surprise!  On Friday, I then had my students describe their experience holding the worms.  It was hilarious how many of them described the worm as yucky and disgusting but said they loved holding it.  Several of them even asked me if they could take some worms home with them.

The whole worm experience reminded me about how much I love giving my students new experiences.  I adore seeing them try new things and watching the shocked amazement on their faces.  To me, that is one of the best joys of being a teacher.  What are some fun things you have seen your kids do for the first time?

S-Teams and SPED Diagnoses

In honor of World Autism Month, I wanted to write a post about something interesting I never thought about until my second placement.  During my first week at Hickman, I noticed one of the students in my classroom acting differently than the others.  He often rocked back and forth with stilted movements, became overly anxious about simple things, struggled with loud noises, and more.  I started to wonder if he was autistic, but my teacher had only told me about two students in our class with IEPs--one with Down Syndrome and one with a speech impediment.  I assumed I must have been wrong.

A few days later, my mentor teacher told me about this child's situation.  He was an only child and his parents had not noticed that his behavior was abnormal.  All of the teachers suspected he might be autistic, but they couldn't recommend him for diagnosis/an IEP because he was not showing a discrepancy in his grades.  He was performing on grade level and therefore did not need special accommodations.  When my teacher explained that to me, I was initially shocked--how can someone suspected of a disability not be referred to SPED?  But then it began to make more sense; if you can achieve on grade level, why would you need supports to help you perform academically?

This year the kindergarten teachers met with this student's parents so as to prepare them for potential academic struggles he may have in the future.  They were not allowed to tell the parents that they believed the child might be autistic because that would be a fraudulent diagnosis and they could get sued.  Instead, they emphasized that while his behavior was not harming him now, it could become more extreme over time.  They just wanted to make his parents aware of the situation since they had no idea and none of his pre-K teachers had mentioned anything.  It still blows my mind that his parents do not realize how much their child struggles in basic social situations!  I learned from the entire situation that we as teachers can sometimes know more about our kids than even their parents!  I was also reminded of how careful we must be to phrase things appropriately and move through the proper channels.  Without deliberate care, we could get sued.

Have you experienced anything like this in your classrooms?  I did not have much experience with students with disabilities besides learning impediments until I came to Hickman.  Do you have more insight?

Kindergarten Troubles

I am having a lot of trouble with my students not keeping their hands to themselves.  I have officially told them that they are not to touch each other period. Not in nice ways or mean ways. They like to step on the back of each other's shoes, give flying tackle/hugs, and hitting. I always have felt like kids were going to touch each other, no matter what you tell them. However, today I had a child bite another. I did not witness it, it happened on the bus. All of my students who were on the bus decided to come in and tell me. The biter was suspended from the bus and had to talk to the principal. I also told him that he had to write the child he bit an I'm Sorry note. I just don't know how to handle it. Is there a right and wrong way to address a kindergartener's need to be physical? Is it just their age? Or should I be concerned?

Field Trips

I have had the opportunity to go on a field trip with each of my placements: 4th grade went to the Nashville Symphony and kindergarten went to see Cat in the Hat at the Nashville Children's Theater. I was nervous about both of these, because the teachers at both schools seemed to slightly dread the field trips ("dread" is probably a strong word, but they kept saying how exhausting field trips are), and I just imagined that any field trip would be complete chaos. However, I thought that both trips went pretty seamlessly. The Symphony and the Children's Theater both clearly have field trips visit often, because they had systems in place to make sure we were in and out efficiently. In both cases, we loaded the buses quickly at school, went straight into the building, got seated quickly, boarded the buses immediately after the show was over, and then came back to school for lunch. There was, in fact, very little chaos and I thought they both ran like a well-oiled machine.

Have y'all gone on field trips with your placements? How were they?

Second Grade Life Expectations

Recently, I’ve let my second grade students down because they have some crazy life expectations for me. I thought their expectations were really funny, and it just shows what crazy ideas they have about adults.

When I first got to my classroom, some of the students were really disappointed that I wasn’t married. (Maybe because I couldn’t tell them funny stories about my husband like my teacher does?) After we returned from Spring Break, one of my students asked if I was married now. I told her that I was not married. She gave me a look like, “You were gone a whole week…why didn’t you get married,” before telling me, “You should at least get a boyfriend.”

Earlier this week, I was talking to one of my students about the day that I was leaving. She asked if I was coming back to the school next year. I told her that I was going home to Wisconsin. She said, “Oh, you’re going home to be a mom.” No, no I am not. I realized afterwards that a lot of her teachers leave the school and stay at home for a while when they have babies, so her comment made sense. However, I thought it was really funny that she expected me to have a baby in a month because I’m going home.

Senoritis

As the end of the semester approaches, I find myself off in LaLa land thinking about graduation, summer, Rites of Spring, Beach week, and all the other exciting things we have going on in the upcoming month.  When we started first placement, I felt like I was on my A game. I had all my lesson plans written during the weekends, worksheets ready to be copy, and really was ready for anything. I had my lunch packed and scheduled in time for the gym and even, if I was lucky, a nap. My schedule was so neat and everything had to get done. Now, I’ve hit a wall. I am flying by the seat of my pants when it comes to making lunch, getting dressed, planning my weeks. Lesson plans seem never ending. I am getting lesson plans in 24 hours in advance, but I feel like I’m always playing catch up between work, student teaching, and trying to live up my last month as a senior. Does anybody else feel like they got the dreaded senoritis? How are you handling it? Any words of advice on how to keep myself on task or reduce the extreme amounts of procrastinating I find myself doing? 

My Favorite Part of Teaching

I love bulletin boards. End of story. Since I’ve been in second placement, I have had the opportunity to create two “bulletin boards.” Funny thing is, neither of them are actually in a designated spot or actually on a board. During Read Across America week, I created a Dr. Seuss themed display on a door. I have zero idea were the door leads or what is behind it, but I put up the paper, picked out the boarder, and then put everything on. Today, I got to create a display for a unit on plants. I was able to create the dirt, grass, and sky out of bulletin board paper and then put up the “I can” statement. We then decided it would be cute to write “The best kind of garden is a Kindergarten” on a poster and put it up there too! Being in kindergarten is so great because we can put all those punny things around the room or outside without feeling like a fool!

I always was into arts and crafts as a child, but never thought that creating these boards would be my favorite thing to do as a teacher. I love coming up with crafts and creating unique ways for the students to keep showing off their hard work and knowledge. I also am finding that I really enjoy working in small groups. In the Struggling Readers practicum, I found that working one on one was difficult for me and I really questioned. However, now that I have had the chance to work with small groups during literacy centers, I am finding that I love it! Are you all finding particular parts of teaching more enjoyable? Are they what you thought you would be enjoying? Are you disliking anything that you thought you would love?

"Cry Babies"

Now that I am in Kindergarten, I have a lot of students who turn on the water works when they are caught doing something wrong or do not get their way. I have a particular student, who we will call Brian, who cried around four times a day. If he doesn't understand the work, he cries. If someone skips him in line, he cries. If he gets a problem wrong, he cries. If I don't call on him during morning meeting, he cries. I can honestly say that there has not been a day where this students has been completely dry.
Then, I have a little girl, who we shall call Mary, who throws these temper tantrums that make me want to pull my hair out. She puts on this nasty, mean mug and cries aggressively. She makes all these strange sounds and grunts while she cries. This student even goes as far as throwing herself on the ground, kicking other students, and kicking classroom objects. She knows what she does is wrong and does it anyway. Our resolution for this problem thus far is removing her from the classroom, making her walk the perimeter of the playground during recess, and we even had to give her a referral and send her to the office.
My question to ya'll is how would you handle these obscene behaviors? Anybody have any similar experiences?

Observations about First and Fourth Grade

Having had a sufficient amount of time in both fourth and first grade at this point, I have seen very interesting differences between teaching in different grades (and very different schools!). I had always pictured myself in a younger classroom, and I was surprised by how much I liked working in fourth grade. The departmentalized structure made it a more manageable day, and the students were old enough to follow directions. The challenges in fourth grade were mostly related to finding appropriately challenging tasks to incorporate into my lessons, and TCAP stuff. I was excited to work in a first grade room where those issues were less prevalent. However, there are other challenges in a first grade classroom that are hard to explain until you have the experience of working in a kindergarten or first grade classroom. I love teaching reading and I really love the content in the first grade curriculum, however, the management in the younger grades is a whole other ballgame. The students need explicit directions for every single thing they need to do, not just academic tasks, and they need directions repeated often. They can't all read, so written directions or written assessments are time-consuming and only helps some students. I am much more used to how to address these challenges now, but when I first got to my second placement, I struggled to adjust to this change and spoke to my MT often about designing appropriate tasks. What other differences have you all noticed between the older and younger grades? Does anyone have any helpful advice for adjusting to new grade levels?

The notorious first grade meltdown

Today, I had my first experience handling a student's meltdown on my own. My MT was not here and the substitute was helping with some management issues but essentially deferred to me to handle the class. I felt very prepared going in, but it is hard to manage the whole class especially during times like guided reading when I am working with a small group. One of the students in my class who has behavioral problems was having a difficult afternoon. I called him over to join his guided reading group at my table, and he literally responded "no." This is not typical at all and it is a very establish routine in the classroom when to move from centers and go to the guided reading group. Being on my own in the classroom, I calmly replied, "Ok, you need to make a choice. You can choose to come join your group, or you can choose to be clipped down" (on the behavior color spectrum hanging in the classroom). He still didn't come over, so I followed up with, "Ok, you have made your choice. I'll go move your clip down to yellow." Instantly, he began screaming and throwing a fit. I reminded him one more time that I gave him choices and he made his choice, and if he were to come join us I could move his clip back up. He then threw himself on the floor and curled up in a ball behind the garbage can and screamed and cried. Of course, being first graders, everyone needed to raise their hands and inform me that he was behind the garbage can. I responded to the class to worry about their own work and I did not give him attention. Eventually he calmed down and walked over to our group (halfway through the book), but it was crazy! He has had issues before, but it was an interesting challenge to deal with him on my own. 

Does anyone else have any crazy stories about kids throwing fits? Does anyone have any good ideas for how to handle situations like this?

Charter Schools

After the job fair on Tuesday, a recruiter from a charter school in Nashville (whom I'd talked to at the fair) called me and asked if I'd be interested in visiting their school. I know next to nothing about charter schools, and I was intrigued, so I went on Thursday morning. I was there for about an hour, from 7:45-8:45, so I saw students (or "scholars," as they are called at this school) coming in, going to the cafeteria for breakfast & morning work, and a school-wide morning meeting. Then, the students went to their homerooms, and the head of school walked me in and out of about 6 kindergarten & first grade classes to observe what they were doing.

I definitely saw some positive things while I was there. For example, I liked that each student was greeted personally by the principal when they walked in, and the morning meeting was full of energy, which seemed like an empowering way to start the morning. Also, in the hallways, there was a picture of each student and excerpts of their writing from the beginning of the year until now, and I have to say, their most recent work is pretty impressive for kinder and first-graders.

But honestly, what I saw reminded me more of the military than an elementary school. The students wore uniforms--which I have no problem with--but they also had to sit a certain way in the cafeteria and in class. All of the chanting during morning meeting struck me as a little cult-ish. And I couldn't help but notice that all 6 of the teachers I observed were teaching in the exact. same. way. Which was not a bad way, necessarily, but I got the impression that there was a very specific teaching method that all of the teachers had to adhere to. I saw a lot of energy from the teachers, but not a lot of warmth. Basically, everything felt a little...robotic. It was definitely not the "Peabody way" and I could never see myself teaching the way I think I would be expected to at this school, even if it seems to be working for them.

So... I'm wondering, are all charter schools like this? (I told my FM about it, and she said she's heard KIPP schools are the same way.) Has anyone else been to a charter school and had a similar (or different) experience?