One way to collect ideas

I was babysitting last night for a couple cute preschool girls when I happened to glance up at their fireplace mantle. There they were looking down on me – a couple of handmade paper turkeys.

As I was commenting on how cute they were to the girls, it occurred to me. I could use those turkeys! Not those exact turkeys, mind you, but the idea that they presented to me. Here were two different crafts I had never seen before that represented different skill levels. I could use them in different grades or as different choices in one grade. Looking at them, I could determine what needed to be done to remake them, but how would I remember all of the details without taking them home? I could write a detailed description of them – or I could take a picture. I only have a basic cell phone. It’s not a smart phone and doesn’t have many megapixels, but it does take pictures! I now have in my craft file two new crafts that I can pull out for my future elementary school class.

Writing Purposes

I feel as if I am learning two somewhat opposing ways to teach writing. One is to teach writing for a specific purpose in a specific way. The other is to teach writing for the reward of writing itself, a somewhat cathartic experience. Our class is reading two very different books about these views. One is by Regie Routman called Writing Essentials. The other, by Anne Lamott, is Bird by Bird. Now, I think one can tell by the titles themselves which one is conventional and which one is not. I admit, I tend to be a conservative and go more with the conventional text, such as teaching the actual skills of writing, but I have bitten my tongue and resolved to find some gems of worth in the other, and I think I have found some.

Lamott is admittedly a bit crude for my taste, but I do agree with her that good writing should be “about telling the truth” (p. 3). Sometimes I think she could use a bit more reserve in her descriptive powers, but I have to admit agreeing with her about her characters. Sometimes it is best to not save them but let them suffer the consequences. Her story about a “frazzled, defeated wife of an alcoholic man who kept passing out on the front lawn in the middle of one night,” was one such example. The wife kept dragging him in each morning before dawn to avoid the neighbor’s view until finally an old black woman from the South advised her saying, “Honey? Leave him lay where Jesus flang him” (p. 46). That was inspirational.

Voting Day

Tuesday is voting day. I was one of 11,000 King County residents informed that my ballot was inadvertently not mailed on October 19th. As I was reading the assigned chapter in Walter C. Parker’s, Social Studies in Elementary Education this week, entitled “Democratic Citizenship Education,” my missing ballot came to mind. I began to see the connection. Children must be taught about civic responsibility, or they won’t know what they are missing. This includes teaching students about deliberation, what it means to vote responsibly, but another factor that Parker introduced was getting students to care.

I liked the way one teacher took care of this. Tarry Lindquist started her school year off by having her students brainstorm all the ways they could make their classroom a “terrible place, a place where no one would want to come, a place where we could guarantee no learning would occur,” (p. 85). Following their description, she then asked them how they would feel having to be in that kind of classroom all year. Her students couldn’t wait to reverse their list to create the opposite of that classroom.

Parker addressed voting, stating that elementary teachers should take every opportunity to involve their students in the voting process, including deliberation (p. 95). It continues to boggle my mind when I think that women, like myself, only received the right to vote less than one hundred years ago. I remember as an 18-year-old being so excited that I was part of the first group of 18-year-olds that were eligible to vote for the U.S. presidency. It made me feel so grown-up and excited to be given the privilege to vote.

Unfortunately, today I often see more apathy than enthusiasm, regarding the right to vote, than I did back in 1972 when I first voted. Parker brings out that a crisis often is the catalyst that diffuses apathy. In 1972, it was the Vietnam War. This last week my mini-crisis was realizing that if I did not receive my ballot, I was not sure if I would be able to vote. Needless to say, my family received our ballots a few days ago, but what if the error hadn’t been found, or what if it was intentional and never corrected? We teachers have the great opportunity to encourage democracy when we continue to make civic responsibility one subject we will always include.

Making Research Happen

There were six of us, and we signed up to research and present how teachers would use a resource guide to teach a third grade Social Studies lesson. Each group chose a different ethnic group to research. My group chose Hispanic Americans, but where would we start? Isn’t that often the hardest task, just beginning? One of our group members suggested opening up a Google Plus Circle so we could communicate with each other during the week, so we did. We did something! Now we could bounce our ideas off of each other in an open forum from anywhere at any time. We next checked out the third grade standards and found that in third grade, students learn that a community is made up of people from different cultures. That would be our focus – Hispanic American culture.

Our next task was to understand what a resource guide was. As we began, we realized that this was harder than we first thought. Does calling a resource guide make it one? What about sites that resemble a resource guide but are not called resource guides? We decided that calling a site a resource guide does not make it one. Our professor suggested a definition that made the most sense to me. It is a one-stop shop. A resource guide might contain primary documents that have been scanned, as well as secondary documents trying to explain those primary documents. There would definitely be links to other websites, and you might also find pdfs, pictures, graphs, maps, speeches, lesson plans, films, music, or even virtual field trips. The Internet has once again made an impact as it offers almost instant information at the touch of one's fingertips.

When we chose group roles, I volunteered to focus on finding appropriate EALRS and ideas for lesson plans. It turned out finding enough information was not a problem. Resource guides are filled with them. The problem seemed to be to limit the information and filter out the wealth of information one finds. I chose to focus on Jose Alamillo’s resource guide. Alamillo was born in Mexico but is currently the Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Chicano/a Studies Program at California State University Channel Islands. He’s also an author and researcher of Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans.

With Halloween approaching, I thought a focus on holidays might be appropriate and looked for two in particular, Cinco de Mayo and El Día de los Muertos. I was not disappointed. Not only did I find examples of celebrations, I also found commentaries on the commercialization of the holidays and an interdisciplinary lesson plan about El Día de los Muertos, including studying the bones of the human skeleton to go along with the art of skull etchings made famous by Jose Guadalupe Posada.

My research helped me to see more clearly how one culture can influence other cultures. Civics EALR 1.1.1 informs us that students need to learn how communities benefit when including people from diverse cultures. How do they learn? It might begin with talk. When teachers talk about what we value, students notice. As students see teachers valuing students’ different skills and strengths, students begin to appreciate them as well. Our little group demonstrated this as we chose different roles to do our research. One person explained who Hispanic Americans were and where they came from. Another explained different things that resource guides offer. Another showed examples of different kinds of resource guides, and yet another talked about the pros and cons. Our group worked together using our different strengths and skills, and it became a better presentation.

Utilizing each others’ strengths not only lightens the load, but the whole group benefits. The Bible compares this arrangement to being members of a body and asks us to consider what would happen if we all wanted to do the same thing. What if everyone wanted to be an ear or an eye, for example? We wouldn’t accomplish much; would we? We need all the parts working together to be a whole body (I Corinthians 12:14-20). Communities work the same way. We are a stronger community if we accept what we have to offer each other and work together. That became the focus of our presentation on Hispanic American culture.

Beginning to teach

I did it! I taught my first lesson in a junior high school. I admit I was quite nervous planning it, but ironically I kept hearing the song “Courageous” on the radio leading up to the experience, and the lyrics were becoming a mantra of sorts for me. Pastor John Hall and Matthew West wrote, “We were made to be courageous. We were made to lead the way. We could be the generation that finally breaks the chains.” Music has always been the modem that inspires me, and it was working.

My assignment was to choose an appropriate book to read as an interactive read-aloud to the eighth grade English class that I am currently working in as an intern. After talking with the teacher, I learned that they were going to be entering a unit on ethics, and he suggested I pick a short story that would be about a contemporary issue involving an ethical choice teens sometimes have to make. It wasn’t easy to find a short story like that, I found out. I checked the libraries and the Internet, but it began to look as if I would not be able to find an appropriate short story in time. I finally found it, though, and the way I found it seemed as providential to me as the song “Courageous” was.

I was driving home and saw a sign advertising a garage sale that was giving all of its profits toward pancreatic cancer research. Having lost my mother to pancreatic cancer, I couldn’t resist stopping. Sure enough, while there I found a large collection of books, one of which was Taste Berries for Teens. Somehow, I knew that this was the book I was looking for and bought it. Inside I found the story “Party On!” by 15-year-old Susan Hinkle, and it was just what I had been looking for.

Meanwhile, I knew that this was the last week my local movie theater was showing the movie the song “Courageous” was based on, so I decided to further prepare myself and went to see the movie. Sure enough, I found it even more inspiring than the song alone and knew I was ready. I wrote my lesson plan, organized some questions, and waited.

The class seemed to listen and respond well to both the story and my discussion questions, but I still had some doubts until I saw their papers. I had decided to give them a post-writing exercise as an informal assessment, asking them to respond to the question if they would be able to be like Susan, the main character in the story, and stand up to their friends if their friends were trying to get them to do something that they knew was wrong. To more accurately gauge them as a class, I asked them to not put their names on their papers, telling them it would not be graded. I just wanted to know what their responses were. I am a firm believer that it helps a person’s resolve to follow through with an action if they take the time to determine what that action will be ahead of time, like the “stop, drop, and roll” fire-safety technique. I hoped this would lead to similar positive results.

I knew I had accomplished my purpose when I read their papers. They showed that not only did they seem to grasp what it means to be an ethical person, but their comments made me feel like I had made a difference in their lives as well. The majority read something like these two: “Yes, because friends are people that stand up for you and that means you have to stand up for them and help them if they make the wrong choices,” and “I would be able to. My friends would listen to my ideas, and they wouldn’t be my friends if they didn’t.” Yes, there were a couple who said they would still go to the party, even when knowing their parents would not approve, but by far the majority felt they would make the ethical choice to do the right thing. Regardless of their choice, I knew the class had listened to my lesson about ethics, and I believe that is all a teacher can do, to be courageous, to lead the way.

Is Blogging Life Changing?

Google wanted to know. Can learning how to blog change 12-year-old Makeal’s life, or anyone’s life for that matter? I wonder the same question for myself. Why do I blog? Will blogging have lasting ramifications for me or those who read my blogs?

Makeal, a 12-year-old boy living in E. Oakland, was part of a study to determine if learning how to blog can have an impact on low-income kids. He and his class were given the opportunity to be bussed weekly to the Google office in San Francisco to be taught how to blog. Did it make a difference in his life? Makeal says it did. For one, he got to pick his own topics, which excited him from the start. He chose his favorite past-time, skateboarding, but it was just one of the subjects he actually blogged about. It turned out blogging made Makeal realize he had thoughts about other things he’d like to share as well. Gaining confidence as he went, he began to share those other thoughts too.

Blogging did seem to have lasting ramifications for Makeal. He comes to school more regularly now and is recognizing he is learning useful skills, like the blogging, to open up new possibilities for his future. Currently, he can see himself as an architect, a skateboarder, video-game designer, or a firefighter. I love the way he doesn’t limit himself. He knows he could be any of those, because Google has already begun to teach him about succeeding in life.

Blogging may not be the cure-all, but it can open our lives to new possibilities, as Makeal is demonstrating. I will continue my blogging but can’t help but wonder, after seeing what Google did for Makeal, can Google help me too?

The Learning Gap

Autumn quarter has arrived and with it more opportunities for me to blog. In my tech class, we were asked to respond to a couple of videos showing the effect of technology on learning. The first one, The Machine is Us/ing Us showed a recent evolution of written communication. Beginning with stationary written text, it went on to become digital text with the invention of the computer, text able to be moved around within a document. The Internet then brought more changes, such as additional opportunities for movement with the invention of hyperlinks, interactive web sites, and blogs such as this one.

This progression reminds me of how excited I was years ago when I first noticed a shift in technology that affected me. I went from having a manual typewriter where I had to physically push the arm back to the left side when I reached the right margin of the page, to being able to push a button and see it done automatically. It was a huge advancement at the time. When the computer came, and all I had to do was continue typing for it to begin the next line, it was revolutionary. Technology has advanced quite a bit since then, and I feel that one advantage to becoming a teacher is the opportunity to continue to learn about new technology and move on with the times. I liked the video’s conclusion that technology now links people, not just information, but what about the people who are not computer savvy?

The second video, Sugatamitra: The Child Driven Education was fascinating to see in that it brought the focus back from the machine to the people, when it showed the power of children’s minds to learn how to operate a computer without having a teacher to teach them. This seemed to me to be an example of critical thinking in action. The children took creative risks and were able to master how to do things I have never even attempted to do. It made me realize a disadvantage I continue to live under. I wait for people to teach me technology. Why do I do that? I remember a teacher telling me in one of my first computer classes not to be afraid of the computer, that I wouldn’t break it. That is the way many of us digital immigrants (those who have not grown up using computers from childhood) have acted, and some of us continue to do so. I am working to overcome that fear, but it remains a struggle.

William Ayers brings up a related problem in his book, To Teach: the journey of a teacher. He calls it “working the gap” and describes it as a more difficult but necessary way. I have begun working as an intern in a public school and I am beginning to see the gap he describes. There are “too many kids, not enough time, too few resources,” etc. (pp. 137-138). But, we teachers can’t give up and take the easy path. If the children in the Sugatamitra video had ignored the computers that were left with them, and never put forth the energy and initiative required to learn about them, they would have remained ignorant and missed out on the joy of learning new things. I want to be the kind of teacher who doesn’t settle for passivity. I want to challenge my kids as Sugata Mitra did when he enticed the children by placing a computer in their midst. Whether there are English language learners, children having special needs, or even just those wanting to learn, I want to create an environment in my class that will nurture all their needs. Can it be done? Just as the written text has evolved, I hope my teaching will do the same.

Food journal reflection

In our health and fitness class, we kept a food journal for two weeks and wrote down everything we ate, as well as our physical activity. Because I have been part of Weight Watchers since August, I already had experience doing this and knew its value. I knew that writing down what is eaten also makes one more aware of the quantity eaten, especially regarding snacking. A taste here or handful there adds up. Because I had reached my weight goal before this activity, I continued maintaining my weight loss and succeeded. My written goal was to exercise for three to four times a week for at least 30 minutes at a time. The irony of this is that I have been a regular jogger for the last thirty years, but the schoolwork this quarter has kept me busier than normal and reduced my jogging time. Because of this, I have tried new methods to keep active, believing that any action is better than no action. One way I changed was to do some of my required readings while walking my dog. I found securing them to a clipboard helps, especially when windy. I glance up frequently to avoid accidents and have found that this also helps my comprehension, as I am less likely to get sleepy while reading when walking. I usually read for about an hour at home, head out to walk and read for the next hour, and then read the rest when I return or save it for a later time. It has helped me to stay active and achieve my goal.

I can see myself in the future assigning my students to keep a similar food/fitness journal and encouraging them to think about what they are able to do and do it. If I do not have dedicated time to teach health, I could use this as an interdisciplinary activity. For science, I would suggest they take hikes or walks with their parents so they can draw pictures of wildlife and nature and write about their observations or learn the names of local flowers and trees. For creative writing, they could write imaginary stories of the wildlife they observe, such as a day in the life of a squirrel or bird. Even math can include a neighborhood walk to find different geometric shapes, such as people’s houses and yards, or estimate the percentage of a house in relation to its yard. If journals are kept for a month or longer, one can concentrate on long-term goals and their progress. For instance, if one could do five push-ups, that child might work up to doing twenty after a month. The teacher should help the child determine reasonable goals and approve them before the child begins. These should also be pre-approved by the parents. Whether they walk their dogs, ride bikes, play sports, or take walks with their family or friends, I’d teach them what I have observed, that physical activity increases cognitive performance.

Presenting a group micro-teaching

This was the last day of my health class, and I was part of a group that led a micro-teaching on the short-term effects of alcohol geared toward an eighth grade class. Four of us presented the lesson. We all had strong opinions of what should be taught, which became challenging at times, but it managed to come together as a presentation representative of each of our teaching styles. I think this made for a good variety of information, and the class seemed to enjoy it. My responsibility was to lead a discussion to pre-assess the class and help them to think about what it means to be drunk. I asked them to think about someone they may have observed in person, on TV, or in a movie and describe what they noticed about that person. They came up with descriptive words like “silly,” “vomiting,” “erratic behavior,” and “loud.” We mentioned that being drunk often looks different in real life than it does on TV and defined drunk as being affected by alcohol to the extent of losing control over one’s body and behavior. Our group followed this up by having everyone wear special goggles that simulated being drunk. All had difficulty walking a straight line, and some were noticeably wobbling as well. This helped them to see what being out of control was like and helped the issue to be more real to them.

I enjoyed leading the discussion and felt very comfortable in that role but wondered how much freedom I should allow the students in their discussion. When one student began sharing that she had observed her dad being drunk, I felt that that shouldn’t have been shared with the class but didn’t want to embarrass the student by admonishing her. I felt instead that that was my fault for not having warned the class to not share personal details. Later, when the class gave their feedback on my presentation to this make-believe eighth grade class, one of my classmates brought that up and clarified for me that I should have told them at the beginning to not share personal details with the class. This was very helpful to me, and I will try to remember to do that in the future when we will be discussing issues where students might be tempted to share personal stories. I might also add that if they do want to share a private story that they would need to use pseudonyms when discussing events that others might prefer to keep private.

Teaching Sex Education

In class today we started our class with an unusual ice breaker. A few volunteers were asked to pick a card from the professor’s bag, read it and say the word loudly. Words picked were “semen,” “cervix,” “erection,” and “ovaries.” If the students did not speak loud enough, our professor would say, “What? I can’t hear you.” It seemed absurd at the time, but the professor’s explanation of using this in a classroom helped. It was to get some of the giggles out and help the students listen more effectively. From there we were asked if we considered ourselves prepared to teach about different aspects of sex education. What we thought we were confident about became less so when we later chose some questions about sex education to discuss in pairs and then micro-teach to the rest of the class.

As adults, most of us felt fairly confident about our sex education, especially since many of us in the class are already parents, but this class exercise showed us that teaching others requires a different set of knowledge. We needed to think about our vocabulary choice to make sure our choice of words was not only accurate but would not make someone feel that they or their family were abnormal. We were cautioned to think what a parent’s reaction might be if their child shared what they had learned in school that day, especially regarding cultural or controversial issues. The example given was abortion. We were encouraged to be honest in our teaching but to accompany it with sensitivity, recognizing that the strong feelings many have on this issue is the basis for what is called the abortion debate.

Mindsets

Our class discussed some excerpts today from Mindset by Carol Dweck. There are two different mindsets, the fixed mindset and the growth mindset. The fixed mindset focuses on there being only one solution and has a fear of failure, whereas the growth mindset learns from failure, and even replaces that word with words like redirection or new opportunities. I believe that I have a growth mindset, as one of the reasons I am becoming a teacher is because I love learning so much, but I always try to do my best and feel badly if others feel that what I do is not good enough for them. I like the strategies used in Mindset to not praise others for their natural talents and abilities but for the work that they have put in. On the other hand, I am not sure I agree with the author when she apologizes to her students when they found the work too easy and then promises to give them something they “can really learn from!” (p. 179). I think sometimes it is good to have some easier assignments instead of only having challenging ones. Perhaps I am feeling that way because of the strenuous work load in my classes right now, but I can’t help but feel the need for a balance in life. I think sometimes it is good to have less challenging assignments that may be more enjoyable than challenging.

When to report abuse

Today our class heard a speaker telling us that certain professions, such as school personnel, must report suspected incidents of non-accidental physical or sexual abuse or they can be charged with a gross misdemeanor, since most abusers do not abuse only one time. They continue abusing even after typically promising that it will never happen again. We also learned that abuse can be negligent treatment, such as malnutrition, or mental abuse, another type of abuse that should be reported as well but is harder to prove. We were given sample scenarios to determine which ones would be defined as abuse and the State Government Social Health Services, at 1-800-562-5624, would need to be notified.

It will be a big responsibility for me to recognize and report abuse, but I am glad that schools are being proactive in this by assuring we understand the law. Our class talked about some ways to recognize possible abuse in kids, such as a child who is withdrawn, or shows fear toward his parents, or shows inappropriate physical or sexual behavior toward others. Often times the victim becomes an abuser, because the victim has a need to feel in control. The rule of thumb is if you suspect abuse, you must report it.

I think the most important thing I learned was that just because something sounds far-fetched doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Examples of previous abusive punishments were one child having to walk on mousetraps and another having to kneel on uncooked rice for fifteen minutes. One of the class members felt these sounded more like torture to her. I also learned that it is important to speak the child’s language back to them, not to paraphrase what they tell you. We learned that soft tissue, like the cheek, upper arm and torso do not typically bruise by themselves. If a person falls, that person will try to catch him or herself and should also have marks on their hands and possibly knees. The marks would match the scenario of the injury.

Class Drama

We are continuing to have microteachings, about 30 minutes each, in our health/fitness class. I am really enjoying these presentations and am learning by first observing and then hearing the feedback that the rest of the class offers after they have concluded their teaching. On this day, these lessons were designed for both the third graders and the first graders. The third graders went first. They learned what constitutes an emergency and when to call 911. Our presenters divided the students into groups of six and gave each group a different scenario to determine the outcome and then act out. In my group, I played a mom who accidentally cuts herself severely with a knife as she is washing dishes. This wound was so bad that I could not stop the bleeding and went into shock. Fortunately, my “daughters” were nearby and rushed in and called 911 when they saw my condition. It was a fun exercise, and later as I watched the other skits acting out their different scenarios, I felt this was a good way to assess the class to see if they understood the material and was something I might attempt in my future class as an assessment.

As the next group began, they immediately welcomed us as first graders and invited us to come and sit on the floor in front of them. Being in that position, several in the audience started to act as if they really were in the first grade. They even challenged the teachers, such as when the class was asked to refer back to the coloring books that they had been working on earlier, and one girl remarked that she had lost hers. It was good to see how the teacher redirected her and others with responses like, “It’s okay. You can have another.” The patience shown them was as it should have been in a real class of first graders. Being put on the floor below the teachers made me wonder, though, how first graders feel when they are asked to sit on the floor with the teacher looming above them. It can be an intimidating position looking up at teachers, and when you are asked to sit on the floor, it reinforces that position. I am learning this quarter that just because something has always been done a certain way does not mean that it cannot be questioned.

To sweeten or not to sweeten

Today our class had two groups presenting our first microteachings. Both groups did a great job involving the class and demonstrated the importance of class interaction. The first group led us in an activity checking our heart rates both at rest and then after jogging in place for a minute. This showed us how fast the heart rate can change, while we were also taught what our maximum heart rates should be: 220 minus our age. It was helpful to see how including physical exercise with a lesson makes the lesson easier to pay attention to, as well as easier to remember later, but the second group totally amazed me with their activity involving sugar.

The students in the class were told to pick a partner to work with. The one was to stand up with her arms straight down by her side and her palms facing out while the other would try to pull her arms upwards. I volunteered to be the one to keep my arms down and surprised my partner by being able to resist her best efforts to raise my arms. Afterwards, those of us who were holding our arms down by our sides were asked to eat a tiny bit of sugar and repeat the exercise. After the sugar, I was no longer able to resist my partner, and she raised my arms almost effortlessly. I was amazed at the difference. We were told that because our bodies were now trying to metabolize the sugar, it robbed our bodies of some of our strength.

This exercise made me realize how important it can be to grab the class’s attention with something that can involve them personally. As a participant, it made me want to know more about additional side effects of sugar, and I think it would affect elementary students in a similar way. It was brought out in the feedback that in classes of children fifth grade or younger that it may not have worked as well however, due to some boys tendencies to wrestle and play tough. It was presented to us as a fifth grade lesson, but would it have been better for seventh graders? It also made me wonder if presentations without experiments or activities will be as interesting to the class.

The race

We divided into groups, went outside, and had a relay race which ended in putting together paper skeletons. The goal of our activity: to see how an activity may be included within a lesson plan teaching on the skeletal system. This came out of a lesson plan for fifth graders from The Great Body Shop curriculum. We observed that when the class travels to another location, such as going outside the building, it may give the students an energy boost, but it can also be time demanding. This made me wonder if this was an effective learning tool. It was fun, but did it teach?

I think if I had done this within a class, I would have spent some time teaching the class about the skeleton structure before the race, rather than wait until we were in a competitive race and have them learn by trial and error how the bones fit together. We learned that not only do lesson plans need clear learning objectives, but for every learning objective there should be assessment criteria describing how this should take place. Looking through the grade level expectations (GLEs), I saw that this would be applicable for GLEs 1.1.1, 1.2.2, 1.2.3 and 2.2.1. In other words, by participating in this, 5th graders would be engaging together and showing appropriate cooperation skills to complete the relay within the rules/parameters of the event.

Health Education

I will be writing over the next six weeks about a class I am currently taking on health, fitness, and issues of abuse. The class began with us being shown a sample concept map, and then we were asked to create our own map about health education. After being given post-it notes, we were asked to create individual “sticky-notes” with each one highlighting a different category of health education. After a few minutes, we shared our notes with each one at our table and worked together to combine them to create a group concept map.

Our group focused on nutrition, fitness, and the mental and physical attributes of the body and the way they connect with each other. I was amazed to see how broad a subject health can be to teach. It encompasses so many different areas and the sub-categories often cannot be limited to just one field. For instance, exercise is important to maintain fitness but also is important to both physical and emotional health, as well as requiring proper nutrition to be in peak form. When we presented our map to the rest of the class and compared theirs with ours, we saw that each of the other groups had similar struggles of where to place the subcategories and surprisingly, there seemed to be no right or wrong method.

I am wondering if all concept maps will be as challenging to create as this one was and if this will be a good concept to use with elementary students. Our group went through some confusion and frustration trying to come to a consensus and finish the project in the amount of time we were given, and when we could not decide at times, one of us would make the decision to write something down in order for us to finish on time. Perhaps if the subject were not as broad as health education, or we had more time to organize, it might be an easier group project. Our class was told that we will have an opportunity in the future to create a different group concept map, and I am thinking that it might be easier now that we have done one. Seeing the other groups’ concept maps also helped me to see how we could do a better job in the future. We will see.

Recognizing Change

In one of my final classes this quarter, we were placed in the same small group of five students that we were in on our first night of class when we first met. What was our purpose? We were to spend about 20 minutes quietly reflecting on a poster we had designed together that first time, about what we felt the purpose of schooling was, and then we were to recreate the poster with any additions or changes we would like to make.

Reflecting on the original poster was quite revealing, as it clarified changes that had occurred in us. We had all been so proud of this poster, but now we thought we had gotten it all wrong. It was a picture of a huge tree with the roots being the subjects that children study: history, mathematics, science, reading, writing, art and music. At the time, we thought we were being creative and interdisciplinary in our approach. We had shown two children talking to each other using old fashioned tin-can phones, one while sitting on a tire swing hanging from one of the tree branches and the other sitting on a branch higher up. A big question mark rested on a different branch; a magnifying glass looking at a bug on another; and a paintbrush and musical note on another. At the top of the tree was a tree fort with a window looking out to a beautiful view. What was the problem? There were only two children, and they were passively talking to each other from a distance. The children were passive, and nothing about the children’s backgrounds was mentioned. We had a lot to change.

We began with the roots. We now realized that children bring their ethnicity, race, and family background to school with them. Those became our new roots along with their abilities, social class, culture, and gender. Then we added more children. Our small group was unified that we needed to make this an example of inclusion and interaction. A child was drawn sitting in a wheelchair painting the structure while high in the tree on a platform with the pulley in plain sight that made this possible. I drew several children that were in the process of building new additions to the tree. One was sawing a piece of wood on a sawhorse inviting others to “create” with him. The others were girls. One sat on a branch building a platform saying “join me.” Another was carrying a piece of wood asking “why?” and the other was carrying a hammer asking “where?” I also drew another child looking at some mathematical equations trying to compute the next step needed. Someone else drew a couple sitting on the top platform of the tree taking turns looking through a telescope.

Previously, though we had all talked about what would be in the poster, only one person drew it. This time, we all drew it. I am not skilled in drawing but it didn’t seem to matter to anyone. The goal was to draw different kinds of people and to show them actively learning both by asking questions of each other and working together collaboratively. We drew pink, purple, blue and green children of various sizes and abilities, and all of us were much happier with the revised poster.

Remember to play

William Ayers in his book, To Teach: The journey of a teacher, has continued to remind me that learning is not passive and that teachers should learn from their students just as students learn from their teacher. When I made the decision to go back to school in order to become a teacher, I needed to find a part-time job to help pay tuition. My oldest son suggested I seek work through a babysitting service online. Seeing this as being close to my career goal, I decided to take his advice. It has turned out to be an amazing opportunity. For one, it has encouraged me to play more. In fact, I now consider playing to be one of my greatest strengths as a baby-sitter. Whether playing board games, ball games or make-believe, I am becoming more creative again, and I think Ayers would approve.

Babysitting has also given me the opportunity to observe children in their home environment. One of my families has two girls. One is in second grade and the other in kindergarten. Sometimes the girls like to play school with each other while I am caring for their younger brother. They model what they have seen in their school. One becomes the teacher, and the other is the student. The main role of the teacher is to hand out worksheets to the student and then correct them after they have been completed. The teacher stands up in front of the student while the student sits at a table or desk to do the worksheet. I have observed that the coveted role is being the teacher and that the teacher is the powerful one in their role playing. Should I leave them play or encourage them to be more creative with their teaching and attempt something new? The good thing is that they alternate being the teacher.

A poem of self-reflection

In my class I was given the challenge of composing the following poem and enjoyed reflecting on some of the experiences from my youth. I am thankful for having had them and look forward to the new opportunities yet to come.

Where I’m From

I am from guitar lessons and sheet music,
From records and cassette tapes,
and Casey Treat’s top 40 on the radio.
I am from daffodils yellow and sturdy in the wind
returning each year in full force.
I am from evergreen trees,
tall and strong,
steadfast through the years.
From the weeping willow tree with its wide circumference
providing shelter beneath its leaves,
while I waited for the school bus.

I am from my grandmother’s crocheted doilies
and her embroidered frilly pillowcases.
I am from the large family Bible,
With its legacy of names remaining from years past,
I am from picture albums overflowing with pictures of long ago,
hopeful faces, enduring dreams
and long-term struggles.
I am from fried eggs sunny-side up,
sprinkled with salt and pepper.
From hamburger helper casserole and Campbell’s chicken noodle soup,
guaranteed to fight any cold.

I am from my dad’s renovated homes,
From sleeping in the attic in the heat of summer.
I am from climbing trees and neighborhood softball,
joining other children running through the sprinkler,
the sun warming my wet towel and body.
I am from favorite storybooks
like Curious George and Charlotte’s Web.
From posters on the wall and scrapbooks filled with
The Monkees, David Cassidy and Bobby Sherman.
I am from a family tree filled with English pilgrims and Irish immigrants,
whose legacy continues,
whose choices continue to shape my life.

Memories of Jeremy

It was my husband’s birthday, and we were on our way to celebrate at a restaurant a little ways further than we normally traveled to have lunch. Because I had several readings to do for my classes, I began reading one out loud to him as he drove. Normally, my readings are quite academic and, though interesting, not very emotional, but this one was different. It wasn’t very long before my voice could not continue because of the tears that were filling my eyes. To my surprise, this one was personal. “Holding Nyla,” by Katie Kissinger, was described as “lessons from an inclusion classroom,” but I had not known the social class of children it would be talking about was the handicapped.

Many years ago, in a previous marriage, my first son was born – severely handicapped. My husband had met him before he died and, understanding my emotions, waited patiently as I struggled to continue reading. Jeremy had a rare metabolic disease that left him unable to walk, or talk, or even sit up on his own without the assistance of a wheelchair. His feeding needs also required special training, as he often needed to be tube fed as he grew older. Nyla sounded a lot like Jeremy.

I have often told people that I am the person I am because of Jeremy. Before he came into my life, I had no previous experience with the handicapped. In caring for him, I realized that all people have worth. To the observer, Jeremy could offer nothing. People felt sorry for us as they watched me push him in his wheelchair and either watched his lack of response or observed his body contort as he had one of his daily grand mal seizures. What they didn’t see was the respect for human life that grew in me while caring for him. As Nyla’s teacher discovered while learning to care for Nyla, special-needs children often give more than they receive. Life is no longer as self-centered.

Isn’t that what teaching is all about? I did not decide to become a teacher to get others to serve me. A true teacher finds joy when helping meet the needs of others. I continue to miss Jeremy. He only lived four years, but the perspective I gained while caring for him continues to live on. As Nyla’s mother allowed her daughter to remain in the inclusion classroom after seeing the love and acceptance that had developed in Nyla’s classmates when they got to know her, the same thing happened to me. I watched my love and acceptance of Jeremy spread beyond Jeremy. I also discovered something else. We all have needs. Some are just more visible than others.

What kind of value are we talking about?

This week I watched a video of Sir Ken Robinson speaking at the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts. Robinson had been awarded the 2008 RSA Benjamin Franklin medal and was speaking about changing education paradigms. He determined that the value of arts in our society is being determined by their economic potential and not their value to productivity. Art addresses aesthetic experiences and promotes creativity. Schools that eliminate the arts stifle uniqueness and leave students anesthetized by routine rote learning. Their dulled senses lead to unproductive individuals lacking originality, not the best to offer society.

Robinson went on to describe that society has lost the power of imagination. He illustrated this when he talked about divergent thinking - the ability to see different interpretations, or having multiple answers for the same problem. I liked his example of seeing how many uses one could find for a paperclip. An average person might find ten uses, whereas a genius like Albert Einstein might find 250 uses. It was most extraordinary, however when he revealed that there is a specific group in our society that are actual genius divergent thinkers - 98% of current kindergartners! The decline in divergent thinkers after kindergarten is a sad commentary of our current schooling structure. Between the ages of eight to ten, children were retested and the percentage of divergent thinkers dropped to 35%. Five years later it dropped even further, this time to 10%, and at twenty-five years plus, only 2% of the population were considered divergent thinkers. This makes me wonder if I should become a kindergarten teacher!

As Robinson shared, it reminded me of my past artistic experiences, having been involved in both music and drama in high school. I believe they deeply enriched my school experience and see their continued influence in my life today. They may not have increased my earning potential, but using them makes me happier in my work. Currently, I am working as a part-time nanny for a couple of families and often bring my guitar with me. I find the children love to hear me play and often break out in spontaneous dance as they hear the music. I intend to use music and drama when I become a teacher as well. The last couple of years I volunteered in a second-grade class and when the teacher learned I played the guitar, she asked me to lead some songs. One described the antics of leaf-cutter ants. We sang it to the tune, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again.” I was amazed how fast the students learned the words as they sang, and we all had so much fun.

As Robinson noted, the arts stimulate the senses and make it easier to learn. It saddens me to think that some schools no longer offer these opportunities to their students today and that some are considering eliminating those programs because of school finances. Art provides a tangible benefit in our schools. It makes learning fun, and when learning is fun - more learn!

Lack of Money = Lack of Choices

Dr. Donna M. Beegle, in the chapter “Understanding Poverty” (2007), writes of the inequities that exist between social classes in schools. This makes me more aware of my current privilege being a university student. Last week, a friend of mine made the decision to drop out of graduate school. She was single and acquiring too much debt with student loans. She had recently received a Bachelor of Arts degree and was planning to get her masters in order to become a mental therapist. Because she was an older student, however, she was advised that it was not economically feasible for her to continue as a student. She was fortunate to have been able to get a bachelor’s degree, but unfortunate that her finances prevented her from continuing to reach her dream and receive the full education that she needed to obtain the career she desired. This was an example Beegle could have used to dispel the myth that education is available to all people (p. 28). Beegle might have added that my friend was fortunate to have ever had her dream, as many in poverty do not dream. They live in the present, focusing on their basic needs being met, like food, shelter and clothing. Education, even high school, is considered a luxury. It’s hard to focus on education when you’re hungry, or even worse, if you have children who are hungry.

I never thought before about the differences between generational poverty and temporary/situational poverty. I once experienced this second type, having grown up in a stable environment but put into a financial crisis through a divorce. As typical of a temporary crisis, I did not internalize my financial situation as my fault, but blamed it on my husband leaving me. I became proactive and was able to receive enough resources, including welfare for a short time and then a job to support me and my children. Beegle pointed out that if I had not been successful in getting a job or making it out of poverty, I would have eventually internalized this as my fault, due to my personal deficiencies (p. 37). What would I have done if there had been no welfare to help me pay my mortgage and I had lost my home? This is a very difficult question for me, and I am disheartened to realize that many families do experience poverty through no fault of their own.

It was enlightening to read that poverty is listed as a major reason why some children do not like school. Rather than school being a safe place, many feel judged and condemned because they may not wear the right clothes or bring the right food (pp. 47-49). What can a teacher do in this situation? There are so many needs in our society, from getting enough food to getting a job that pays enough to support oneself and possibly a family. I hope my friend will be able to get a job that uses the education she worked so hard to get, but I also hope my future students will be able to get enough food and services so they will not internalize their poverty and feel stigmatized because of the situation they may be in. I want them to have more than just the ability to survive.

Becoming multi-cultural

I continue to learn how important it is for a teacher to familiarize oneself with different students’ cultures. Author Lisa Delpit (1995), in the book I just want to be myself: Discovering what students bring to school “in their blood” , gave her readers a very practical tool when she mentioned that her daughter’s preschool invited several African American grandmothers to help in the class (p. 42). Hearing this actually brought a sense of relief to me as I realized that an expert does not have to be a professional. These grandmothers were probably average older African American women, but this same averageness may have been a better means to observe what daily life is like for an African woman than an expert’s viewpoint might have been. I wonder, however, if all schools are as willing to allow teachers to invite laypeople as this school was? I am wondering as well how this would be best facilitated. Should they come in after the class has begun to study their culture, possibly initiating a stronger class interest in their presence, or from the beginning, giving the class a reference point for their studies?

I can understand why Delpit was dismayed when the class put on a program to honor Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday and did not include any of their African American grandmothers, or any other Black people in fact. I appreciated Delpit’s insights when she shared that this gave children the implication that “white men had all the knowledge” (p. 43). This concerned me personally as I considered what my mistakes of omission might be when I begin teaching. How encouraging it was when Delpit added that a positive attitude was more important in the end than always using the correct curriculum or inviting the right speakers. I suspect I will have many unfortunate omissions, but I hope I will also have a positive attitude and encouraging spirit for my future students. I appreciated the question that the class was asked when watching Bill Clinton’s presidential inauguration, “How many of you think you could be president?” (p. 43). If I raise that question and no one in my classroom raises their hands, I will know that I need to immediately begin examining stereotypes and focus on recognizing individual strengths and cultural heritage (p. 44).

Gender and math

I am a product of my time. As author Jo Boaler implied in her writing, there was a price for being “sugar and spice,” and I paid it. I was raised by a father who believed I was not college material and discouraged me from attending. I had two strikes against me: I was a girl, and I could not grasp the concepts of higher math. After reading Boaler’s article in Improving Access to Mathematics, I have come to a better understanding of why math was harder for me than the other subjects. Even though I was an honor student, I struggled to maintain a “C” in algebra and geometry. My father could not understand my inability to understand his basic explanations and gave up on me. My math teacher was also not helpful, and I grew up feeling I was incapable of math and only took what I was required to take.

Years later, when I convinced myself that I was college material and had to take Algebra I and II in college, I was shocked when my teacher told me I was good at math. It’s true I was now getting A’s, but I believed it was only because she was a great teacher and had worked so hard explaining everything to me. Boaler’s article helped explain this to me. My college teacher’s patience with my questions and her ability to explain the concepts in detail caused me to understand them at last, and when I understood those concepts, I enjoyed math and did well in it. Boaler helped me to realize that I am a living example of the theory that girls/women need to understand the concepts, not just follow the given steps to do the problems (pp. 31-32). How many others of you feel the same way? I was fortunate enough to have a teacher in my life to help me believe that I could understand math concepts. I hope I can do the same for my students someday.

The purpose of schooling

I believe school should be a time of discovery and learning from diverse opportunities. In class, we discussed the purpose of schooling and came to the conclusion that learning is not the same as being taught. Learning is multi-dimensional, and worksheets or lectures are often not the best way to reinforce learning. Yes, students do learn in schools, but sometimes they learn in spite of the schooling they receive. It’s sad that schooling often loses its appeal to children the older they get. Two sisters that I sometimes care for love to play school. They take turns playing the teacher and assigning worksheets. Unfortunately, as children get older, worksheets often lose their charm. A teacher must be alert and creative enough to include activities to reinforce and optimize learning. I believe this is best done in a safe and creative environment, including playtime.

After reading this week’s readings, primarily chapter six from Why Race and Culture Matter in Schools (Howard), I came to the realization that teachers are also responsible for developing cultural competence in their classes, encouraging better communication and understanding amongst diverse groups. I had previously been under the assumption, as the average person might still be, that children are color-blind and that if a teacher treats everyone the same the students will reciprocate. Unfortunately, the readings point to a different interpretation, even with young kindergarteners. “Seeing Color,” by Lisa Delpit, summed it up when she stated “What you value, you talk about.” If a teacher never talks about race, children will mimic what their parents say, or what they have seen on television, not always the best model.

Ironically, diversity is one of the main reasons I chose the teacher certification program I am in, rather than a private college I was considering. I realized my limitations as a white female and believed that a public university would teach me more about diversity than a private college could. That is also the reason I chose to add Spanish to my course load this quarter. I realized learning more about other cultures would help me better relate to a wider group of students. I am beginning to see, however, that my lessons about diversity will not stop after I leave this college. To be culturally competent, I must become a student of my students and continue to learn from them and their experiences.

Beginning

In beginning this journey, I will attempt to respond to the foreword in the book To Teach by William Ayers. Sonia Nieto writes, “It is obvious that no one becomes a teacher because of salary, respect, or prestige” (p. ix). Why then am I beginning this endeavor? I find myself not entirely in agreement with Nieto. It is true that I did not choose this career to make a lot of money, but I have to admit I will enjoy the respect and prestige of being a professional teacher, rather than as a homemaker who previously homeschooled her children. Just as I was thrilled when I became a college graduate, I consider this to be the next step in my journey. I want to make the most of my life and feel that I can do that best by both teaching children and continuing to learn along with them - and even from them. I can think of no better way to spend and enjoy the rest of my life than to live it through the eyes of a child.

In the introduction of To Teach, Ayers offers George Orwell’s explanation why people become writers, which Ayers considers the reasons many enter the teaching profession as well. I do not believe I am entering this profession because of “sheer egoism,” “aesthetic enthusiasm,” or “historical impulse” but do concur with his reason of “political purpose,” as Orwell uses the word "political" (p. 1), to make a positive difference. I have traditional, conservative values and do not want them to be forgotten in this time of societal change. I am no politician but believe I have both the passion and commitment required to commit to the “moral universe” that Martin Luther King Jr. envisioned in his mission toward justice (p. 2).

In my opinion, children’s rights are often forgotten in America's current culture of self-seekers. Humanity needs more teachers who care about children as respected individuals. I hope to empower children to become responsible thinkers and positive contributors in their communities by helping them incorporate moral values into their foundation. I do not understand the savage inequalities that I have heard exist within schools and do heartily condemn such and hope to work towards more equality in schools, but in doing so I will not forget the value of the students as individuals and commit toward serving the needs of the ones I will be assigned to teach someday. This blog will contain my thoughts while preparing for that task. My prayer, inspired by Ayers (p. 13) - let my life not mock my values.