Teaching Tommy...Another Day, Another Way

I am mentally drained at the end of each day.  Tommy continues to require all of my attention. 

For example, today we were working on one of our first writing assignments.  This is a typically difficult assignment since writing with first graders is tedious to say the least.  Take this process with a child who has problems with letter/sound correlation and phonics in general, and I am spent!  Many of the students in my class can independently sound out words, but there are a handful that still need me to say the word slowly and stop at each sound so they can write the letter.  While I'm at one child's desk, Tommy becomes a behavior problem.  Then when I'm with him, he has such issues that I end up spending the bulk of my time with him.  This isn't fair to the other children who need and/or want my attention.

I think I will assign him a "buddy" to help him s-t-r-e-t-c-h his words.  I will train one of my higher leveled students who work at a quicker pace.  This way he won't have too much time in between my attention and he won't get into too much "trouble" alone.


I'm willing to try ANYTHING!

Bucket Filling ~ A Way to Teach Kindness

Over the past couple of years in my first grade classroom, I have been using a new way to teach kindness.  A colleague of mine came across a children's book that does just this. 

The premise to this ideology, founded by Donald O. Clifton, PhD, is that everyone carries around an invisible "bucket" with them all day.  You can either "fill" buckets by doing and saying nice things, or you can "dip" into buckets by doing or saying unkind things.  

Having this type of "visual" for children helps them to understand that what we say and do can effect the happiness of others. 

In my classroom, we begin the school year by reading the various children's books that explain the theory in child friendly language.  We then create our own class book of ways to fill buckets and dip into buckets. 

On a designated bulletin board in my classroom, I have a sand pail that I have sawed in half.  This is the whole class bucket.  When the class does something that fills another teacher's bucket (eg. walking quietly in the hallway, behaving appropriately during a special area class, etc.), then the class gets "warm fuzzies" (pom poms) in the bucket. 

Each child also has an individual bucket on the board.  At the end of each day, the students can share times when others in the class "filled their buckets" by being kind.  The ways vary like "Sam helped me pick up my crayons" or "Annie tied my shoe for me."

When the class bucket is "overflowing" with warm fuzzies, the class gets a reward of their choice.  When an individual bucket is "overflowing," the bucket is emptied and a sticker goes on the outside of the bucket and the child gets a special certificate for being a bucket filler. 

Want your students to show kindness?  How about your child at home?  Why not try and introduce the bucket philosophy?

The Teacher I Will Never Be

Once upon a time, an average high school student in constant competition with her above average friends, sat in an oh-so-boring History class.  

Mr. Smith was the teacher.  He sat at the front of the room, "large and in charge."  He lectured to us with his cup of coffee in hand.  He always used terms like "Smoke 'em if you got 'em."  Really?  The room was so plain and boring and the topic was exactly the same.

I've never pretended that History was my favorite subject.  And I did mention that I was average.  But what happened one day in that class, was anything but average.


It was the day of a test.  I sat in my seat with my book open hoping for some last minute information to leap into my head long enough to get on the paper.  That's when Mr. Smith walked in with his usual "I'm the best thing since sliced bread" attitude, asking us all if we were ready for our test.  Then he turned to me and said, "Benty, what are you doing?  It's not like any amount of studying would help you." 


WHAT?


I got up and walked out of the class. 


That's the teacher that I will never be.


Alexis

Teaching Tommy...A Journey

The names in this post, and every post hereafter, have been changed to protect the innocent...

The school year has begun and my classroom is filled with 15 excited first graders.  All are eager to learn and to please.  Tommy is one of those students.  


Tommy loves his friends.  Tommy loves to laugh.  Tommy is having a hard time at school.

You see, Tommy is a second language learner.  He repeated Kindergarten because of language.  He also has a speech impediment.  The cards are stacking against Tommy.  Throw in an issue with the sounds of letters, simple addition and a label of ADHD, Tommy is truly struggling in first grade.  


That's where I come in.  I am his teacher.


At first meeting, Tommy seemed like a lot of other students I've had in the past.  A challenge, but nothing I can't deal with.  Now it's only been 3 weeks and I'm reaching for ANYTHING that will help him to succeed.  


I give Tommy his homework ahead of time in order to get a "jump start" on his learning.  I also give him all of the math lessons before I teach them so that he can achieve some success during class time. 


I'm laying a lot of trust in Tommy's parents to work with him.  He has a tutor, but he really needs more.  I'm worried. 


I will follow my journey with Tommy weekly and hope that I can dig deep in my educational bag in order to Teach Tommy.

Alexis

Before It All Begins

Do you know what went on before your child went to school on the first day?  Do you know how many hours went into getting ready for that day?  Do you really understand the preparation that occurred? 

Your child's teacher probably spent 8 hours a day IN the classroom and about 12 hours of their OWN time at home planning, cutting, gluing, making, and creating the many things that will entice your child to learn each day.  Your child's teacher tirelessly organized and plotted the various nooks and corners of your child's home-away-from-home.  

Getting a classroom ready is more than setting up desks and putting up a bulletin board.  It's buying bins, labels, markers, Ziplocs, colored paper, borders, pocket charts, and sentence strips.  It's making the classroom cheerful and bright.  It's designing the set up in a functional, yet fun way.  It's organizing books, materials and children's spaces in such a way that works...and if it doesn't work, reworking it all again.

Teachers spend a hundreds of dollars of their own money in order to provide all of this for your children.  Did you know that?  Not many do.  All teachers....public school teachers, private school teachers, preschool to high school.  They all do it.  

So when your child goes into their classroom for the first time or the one hundred and first time, think of all that your teacher does behind the scenes.  And thank them!

Alexis

Literacy At The Dinner Table

Since my oldest was in pre-K, we have been playing games with sounds and rhyming.  One of the family's favorites is a sound game that we play around the dinner table.

While we eat dinner, someone will say a letter and everyone has to think of things we can eat that start with that sound. 

"What can we eat that starts with B?"
"b, b, bananas!"
"b, b, brocolli"
"b, b, brownies"

And then my little one gets silly and says something like "b, b, books!" Hey, at least he recognizes the sound!

We will also get them guessing about their dessert.  "Your surprise starts with the sound like C."
"candy?!"
"cupcakes?!"
"cauliflower?!" 

This helps with sound recognition, yet they think it's just fun!

What sound games do you play at home?

Teaching Is Like Football

I feel like a sideline coach on the verge of a coronary!

My day consists of yelling out plays with no one listening.  I want to take off my headphones and thrust them to the ground!

CAN YOU HEAR ME?  GET IN LINE!   WHAT DID I JUST SAY?  FOR THE LOVE OF PETE!

My little players are all over the place.  Sometimes their questions come out of nowhere and sack me hard in the chest.  Were you even listening to the question I just asked?

But there is always one...the quarterback, who looks my way and takes in all I have to say.  That one child is ever present.  That one child just...gets it.

That one child makes my whole day worth it.  That one child is the reason that I came into this thankless and highly underpaid profession.