How do you say goodbye?

This week is going to be hard. VERY hard. I told the kids last Tuesday that this was my last week and I have had several of them come up to me and ask if I will please stay. I have gotten a couple of cards and one little angel even promised me that he will behave himself better if I don't have to leave. Of course I love all their attention, but the reality is that RM is ready to have her classroom back and these kids will simply ADORE her once they adjust back to her! She is an awesome teacher who will help them bloom like never before. I look forward to visiting them and seeing her in action- they are going to do so well!
But before that all happens, they have to say goodbye to Mrs. Leece. Oy- just thinking about it makes my heart hurt. I'm so used to seeing them every day and giving them my "all".
I have been thinking about different ways I can honor our time together and show them that they mean the world to me- without spending a lot of money (since I'm not getting paid to do this-- and had to quit my paying job to student teach- I have to be frugal) I picked up some bookmarks and am writing a note on the back of each one to personalize it. Then I wrote each of them their own letter from me. I will put these in their backpacks on Tuesday when they are in specials so they won't have to read them in class. I went to an art fair this weekend and met an author of a children's book that is set in the Traverse City area- so I purchased that book and will give it to the class on Tuesday- so a book and bookmarks. Plus their little notes. I hope this will show each of them in some small way what they have come to mean to me!

Parent Teacher Conferences

So I survived my first parent/teacher conferences. Most of them went really well and I enjoyed spending a couple minutes talking to each parent about their awesome children. There were two that weren't very comfortable though. And I think those were the two that I learned the most from. I don't like confrontations. I never have. And I never will. I have learned over the last 40 years how to handle them and how to effectively prevent them most of the time. RM had told me that she loves conferences because she likes getting to know some of the parents that she normally doesn't see. I agree- that was a great part of it.
I had been talking to one of my peers from UoP about conferences and how he liked them. He is going through student teaching with me and we have been on several learning teams together through many of our classes through this master's degree. He had conferences several weeks ago (Washington state starts school in August) He told me that he learned things about his students that he didn't expect and that there were some very sad things he learned too that were disturbing. I remember saying to him "Oh, that won't happen to me-- we don't have those kinds of problems in our community" (I was saying this in response to his statement about a couple of specific things that he learned about students that saddened or frustrated him) Unfortunately, I too learned some things that I didn't see coming and that made me sad or frustrated. It simply amazes me how children can have some issues at home that they are dealing with (not necessarily the fault of the parent- just life circumstances) and yet they are still there at school and still doing their work. I found a new admiration for a couple of my students for sure!
But mostly I enjoyed the conversations. Mostly. I did walk away from one conference frustrated at the parent but I'm sure that will happen with most conferences.
We had our conferences on Thursday evening and all day Friday. Even though we didn't have kids at school on Friday- I was whipped by the end of the day!

Abandon ship!

Last week was a short week due to conferences. So that meant that we had to get everything we normally get done in five days- done in four. This also meant that we had a lot of assessments on Thursday- which made the students rather unhappy with me! I would have been unhappy too if I had three assessments in the  morning and one in the afternoon- but it was what it was.
On Wednesday I had tried to assess them in their math. We had been working on coins for over a week and I was confident that they would do well. HOWEVER when I passed out the assessment and was walking around looking at their papers, I realized that I had not been clear to them about something in the assessment. The longer I walked around and thought about it, the more I realized we needed to abandon ship and reteach what was missed. I had looked over the assessment of course before we handed it out, but to be honest, I had made the same mistake my students were making- which was an obvious sign that I needed to pull those assessments and reteach. So that's exactly what I did. I had them put their pencils down and took the assessments. Then I retaught what the confusion was about and told the students we would assess the next day. Unfortunately, that meant an additional assessment on Thursday, but it was better to do that than to have them not do well on the money assessment when they did indeed know the material!

I had a student make me a necklace last week. It was a very sweet gesture and it made me smile like nothing in a long time! He said that he was playing in his mom's craft stuff and wanted to make RM and I something. He took some pearl string and some apples... yes, you can imagine what it was like :) He taped the pearl string together to make a necklace (scotch tape of course) and then taped two apples onto the necklace. The picture I have of it is crude- but you get the jist of it. Of course the apples fell off within a couple hours (they were taped onto the necklace) I had said how much I loved the necklace and was wearing it- so when the apples started jumping ship, I had to fix the problem. I got a paper clip and attached the apple to the paper clip and then that to the necklace. My neck was itching like MAD from where the scotch tape was holding the necklace together, but I was not about to take it off.

I wore that necklace all day- and when it came home it was hung in my office proudly so that every time I look at it I will think of that kind gesture and my sweet class from student teaching. 

I'm still alive!

Wow- I can't believe how long it has been since I have blogged! I have been very busy with my students and finishing up my student teaching experience. Not to mention the university is still demanding all kinds of crazy assignments for me to finish up my master's degree!
I have done so much since my last post! Most importantly, I have experienced parent-teacher conferences and we are finished with our science unit on plants and will assess this week.  I finish on Tuesday with the kids and then have professional development on Wednesday before I finish up.
I can't even THINK about being done without tears welling up in my eyes! I know this may seem silly, but I have grown seriously attached to these students and don't want to say goodbye! I know I will be equally attached to my own classroom of students, but these are different I guess. They learned right along with me. Luckily I will get to still see all of them because my two kids go to school at the same school- so I'm not going "cold turkey" from them. I have to find a job though- so I won't see them regularly like I would like. Hopefully I will get a long-term subbing position soon. I learned one of the teachers at my school is expecting and due in April- so maybe an opportunity will open up there. That is a long time away though. Next week after I'm done I will pursue all the paperwork to sub at the school and get myself situated. First though, I'm going to sleep a LOT ;) (well, except for Black Friday- where I will not sleep at all!)
Ok, so to catch up....
I'll post a few posts so that it isn't one huge post.

Our plant unit is nearly complete. The students have observed their plants several times and the plants are nearing the end of their life cycle. We planted brassica seeds which have a fast life cycle so that we can see everything during the time we are doing the unit. The kids have been so excited about it all- and I have loved seeing them excited to learn and doing all the activities! 

We included in our unit a rather large writing assignment as well. I taught them about the life cycle of sunflowers and read several stories to them about sunflowers. Then I had them write an expository paper about it. Oy- THAT was a challenge! Some of the students got it right away- some... well, it was a learning experience for us all! We spent several days learning about what a topic sentence is and how to compose one; what a conclusion should include and how to write one. Then I gave them three different graphic organizers and had them start writing down what they wanted to say as well as what they needed to include to meet the requirements for the assignment. Of course I want them to be able to do great things and write like pros... so I had to realize that they have never done something this big before and I had to slow down. This was a learning experience for me! After they had all their information in several different places, I wanted them to put it all together in a rough draft. We did the rough draft, proofed it with peers, used a checklist to make sure we had all our requirements met, and then after a final time with proofreading, we wrote our final draft. Most of the students submitted it on Wednesday of last week. I am still waiting for two of them, but I'm sure they will come tomorrow. The final papers are very intimidating to score! I mean, I created the requirements and I lead the students to their writing, but I'm still intimidated in how many different aspects this assignment covered!

Election Day!

Today our nation voted for President of the United States. And so did our class! I had prepared a lesson over the weekend for the students about voting and participating in the process. Scholastic News had a magazine (of course) about it and I wanted to make sure the students understood about everything. 

We had a student shout out some rather inappropriate comments about the opposite candidate that they supported (because second graders should have such a strong opinion!) so I timed the entire class out at that point and talked to them right then and there about respect and not giving our opinion about things like that if people aren't asking for it. I showed them a video published by Scholastic and had them read their magazine. Then I had a flipchart that I had found and altered that gave some additional information about everything and then had them vote. I read online over the weekend that Scholastic News has had kids voting since something like 1986 and only two times have the "kids vote" been different than the actual president results. Our class was very close, but 56% voted Barack Obama and 43% voted Mitt Romney. The Scholastic News results were also Barack Obama so we'll see what happens. The polls are closed at this point but they are still counting.

We  observed the oat seeds today for the first time. They were doing NOTHING up to last Friday even though we planted them over a week before. Honestly, on Friday I was going to just throw them away. I got distracted though and ended up forgetting. Yesterday when we came into school I was shocked at how much they had grown! The kids were really excited about it too- seeing a new thing growing. We are moving along in our science unit. Things are slowly progressing. I am having them write a descriptive paper on the life cycle of a sunflower. I had found a great book online about sunflowers and the Belleville Library was supposed to have it. Unfortunately I went there tonight and couldn't find it. I'm disappointed but I did find the Magic Schoolbus "seeds" episode that one of my students keeps talking about and wanting me to show the class so I'm going to squeeze that in somewhere and show it to them. 

Tomorrow we have a big assembly in the morning for Veterans Day. The whole school is in the gym and they are honoring vets. I read that the assembly will take over an hour- hopefully this is NOT the case but I have backed down my plans if it is. I fill my days with things I want to teach them and can't lose sight of the goal of keeping them on target and within the curriculum! 

My 10th day solo

Our plants have GROWN! 

Last Friday we still had one friend who had nothing in his cup. I had planted my pinto bean seed from our field trip that finally germinated and had told him that he would use that plant for his observations instead of the seeds the rest of the class was using. It was this little bitty shriveled up bean and I wasn't exactly sure it would SURVIVE, but I wanted him to have something! When we came in today we had two wonderful surprises! Not only did my bean survive, but I really am growing a bean stalk! That thing is HUGE considering I just planted it on Thursday! It was well beyond the top of the cup and  by far the biggest plant under the light! Plus our grass was really long and the other plants are all doing great. How fun for the students! And.. the lonely little cup with no plant is no more! There was a teeny tiny little seedling standing proudly there showing it's face to the world! Yay! Everyone was able to observe their plants and make notes about any changes. Tomorrow we are going to do more with the plants but not observe the little ones. 

In math we are working on counting money and understanding how to make change. There really isn't a lesson in the book about it so I spent the weekend going through websites and trying to find different manipulatives to address the needs. I printed a lot of different things and came in early today to laminate and get them ready. When it came time for math today, things went reasonably well, but I don't think the students are grasping the idea that they should make their change to be the least or fewest coins possible. We are working on it though- they will get it!

In writing I had them write a friendly letter. We had talked about friendly letters last week. I showed them a video about it, gave them samples, and had them do a couple of drafts. I had originally planned on having them write a friendly letter to a penpal that the teachers from another had organized but this idea was tabled for a while. Since I had already set them up and taught them this concept, I decided to keep going with it and have them write to someone today. They took this idea and RAN with it! I am going to offer them the idea of giving the letters they wrote to the person they wrote them to- but first I get to read them all! These letters were SO sweet! They were to show gratitude (that is our moral focus word for the month) and thank the person for something. They had to have all the parts of a friendly letter (which none of them needed additional help with- they really understood this idea!). I was walking around reading their responses and smiled many times reading what they were writing! 

We were late today getting to specials. Oh- I was so disappointed! I really am working to get them to specials on time- time just goes so fast during the day!

It's Friday!

What a long week this has been! School has been insane with being the last week of this first seminar and trying to get everything done within it. Then throw in Halloween and crazy assembly schedules at Keystone, and it makes for a stressful week.
We had a long assembly this morning to honor the girls volleyball and boys soccer teams. Then we had an hour assembly this afternoon about the Detroit Red Wings. I just felt like the day flew by and I didn't get anything done in class. We really didn't lose a lot of instruction time this afternoon since half of the time we lost was to specials.
I don't understand why we have to do so much for the university when obviously we are crazy busy and have plenty to do. It is frustrating when you feel like the work you are doing is "busy work" and not something that is actually teaching me anything. I have talked to several of my peers all along this experience who are going through the same student teaching experiences and I'm not alone here. We are all living, eating, and breathing school in some sort of way- which is fine; we expect to be busy. But we had hoped to be doing things that benefit us in our student teaching experience.
This week I have felt like it started out great and ended in turmoil. Turmoil is probably harsh- but that's how I'm feeling. With so many things going on and behaviors to address, it was very difficult to finish what I had planned. I'm a wee bit of a control freak and don't like when I'm feeling like I'm not in complete control.
Honestly, I know this is supposed to be a challenging time- I'm learning hands-on experience I could never get in a classroom. And I know I'm not expected to be great during this time. I don't like feeling inadequate though- and that is how I'm feeling. I just seem to have lost my groove and need to figure out where I left it!

8th day solo

Can I just say that there is something really sad that a teacher has not only written a lesson plan survival guide to the day after Halloween, but the fact that it is sought after by MANY teachers really says something! I had a day where I needed this lesson plan for sure!

I was not warned that today would be such a challenge. Not that anyone should have "warned" me, but I had no idea how crazy some of the kids would be! I did walk around at lunch and survey some of the lunchboxes and see what was deemed "good" for their lunches and I saw a LOT of candy. 

There were several color changes today. It makes me sad when a student has to change their color- that isn't why I am there- I am there to TEACH them not change their color. But if they are refusing to listen or be respectful, then change their color I must. This is something I know I have to work on- I am told this often by RM.

Today was what I'm am reading as a "typical" day for after-Halloween. The kids were bouncing off the walls and of course, when it came to lunch time and they opened their lunches, most of them had huge amounts of candy and sugar waiting for them.

I changed several colors today- and a parent working lunch even had to change two colors! You can certainly tell when they have too much sugar, that's for sure!
Our plants are coming along- we had a surprise for a couple kids today- they have sprouts! (or, as we are calling them for our unit- seedlings) The smiles on those faces was priceless! I have one left- and I planted extra in his so hopefully we see something soon! 

I'm still confused about math and what I'm doing there. I have solid lessons from the teachers math book this week so that is a good thing! I tell ya- those teacher's edition books are incredible. You could stand up front of a group of kids and just read what they tell you to say and the kids would learn the lesson! Well, maybe that is a little exaggerated, but seriously- they tell you everything in there! 

In math we have been working on base-ten blocks and place value for quite some time. We are adding money next week, but this week we are finishing up expanded notation and then will assess on it. 

I'm still struggling with getting students to put their names on their papers. I don't want to say they are being defiant but I DO think they are being somewhat lazy. I tell them non-stop for 4 or 5 minutes when I first pass out the papers and today I got back 4 math papers with no names on it! GRRRR

All this month I have been telling the students that their October journals are due at the end of the month and that this one is for a grade. I have repeated this at least a dozen times and make sure that all students understand this. So when I said yesterday that they were due, I was surprised (not really) that so many students admitted that they were not finished. One student pulled his out and put his name on it for the first time! I told many that they had to finish them last night and then today when one of the students came in and didn't have it finished, he was told that he would be doing it at lunch. He spent his recess time working on his journal and getting it started. Of course he will NOT finish it in time for the school day but he will be taking it home and working on it. I know there are a lot of other students that need to get these done- I haven't gone through them yet to see how they were done and who is missing one, but I'm sure I will be adding to my list of students who  need to complete them. 

Happy Halloween!

Oh boy- this week started out so good! I was in control of my class, they were doing what they needed to do, things were great. But then throw Halloween into the situation and all of a sudden I have lost them! 

I started a new "behavior management" system on Monday having the students earning beans each. How many beans they earn will depend on their behavior. I start out at 50 each morning and then each time they are chatty I will start counting backwards from 50. When they stop talking, I stop counting and write the number down. Then when there are issues again, I start counting again from the number I left off at. At the end of the day, what ever number they are at is what amount of pinto beans I put into a vase. Now, I was going to do this with marbles, but quickly realized that that would be QUITE expensive to purchase all those marbles. So I switched to pinto beans. I don't love the beans, but until I find bulk marbles at a very cheap price, we are using beans! 

I have a few ideas to do if they fill the jar- but I'm worried that they won't fill out jar until after I leave- so I'm going to find a smaller jar to use- so that I can "guarantee" that we can celebrate before I leave!

Well, tonight is Halloween. I know we have a few friends out there in the yucky weather Trick-or-Treating so I hope they are safe and keeping warm!

Day 6

Today was a very busy day- of course they all are. I just don't know where the time is going during these days!

Today I made it on TIME to specials! Now, many people might think this is no big deal and "yay for you weirdo" but seriously- this IS an accomplishment. We have specials the very last thing of the day. At 2:35 we go and students finish at 3:15. Which is when school gets out. So we are scooting back to the classroom, putting coats and backpacks on and running out the door to the parents. So that means we have to do planners and stack the chairs- pack backpacks and get everything ready- so that when they come back from specials they are ready to leave with minimal delays. This is a huge challenge for me. Truthfully, it is a huge challenge for all the 2nd grade teachers and NOT just me- so that makes me feel better. But today- we were on TIME. It was for Art and our art teacher looked shocked that we were there on time. I was like a proud new father too- this was my goal yesterday and we hadn't met it so today I was determined.

I have started getting gifts from my loved ones related to teaching. I'm sure in time I will get "tired" of such gifts and beg them for Target gift cards instead, but right now I'm loving it! My sister and brother-in-law gave this little dude to me when I saw them in early October. He sits on the top shelf of my desk right now staring down at me as I type- and I have to say he makes me smile! There are some things that will definitely go into my classroom and he is one of them! Thanks for the smile Mari and Cory! 

I have established a routine with the students for their weekly lessons to review vocabulary and other activities we do every week. One of those routines is that we play Tic-Tac-Toe with our vocabulary words. I have laminated sheets of tic-tac-toe boards and have the students write their vocab words in each space. Then if there are additional spaces (which there always is because we never have 9 vocabulary words) then I have them fill in reading comprehension skills or other words I want them to focus on and we play tic-tac-toe.

I will tell them to start off with an "X" and then give the definition of one of their words. They are to figure out what word I am defining and then cover it with an "X". Then I have them draw a circle around the next word and read it's definition. This was a rough start at the beginning of the year but at this point the students are not only used to this routine, but they love it! This week I was able to use it as leverage. Yesterday I had students writing the definitions of their vocabulary words in a notebook and then writing them on note cards to study at a later time. Normally, students take a LOT of time to get this done. Last week I gave them a limited amount of time (which really upset some of them) and then after a second time with the vocabulary, I told them whatever wasn't done they had to take home for homework. THIS did not sit well with them! When Tuesday morning came and we were ready to play the game, I had a large handful of disappointed friends who could not participate because they did not take the vocabulary home and wanted to still play the game. I stuck to my guns though and enforced the rule that they had to be completed with both flashcards and definitions in their notebook and only then could they play tic-tac-toe. 

So this week, yesterday I gave the assignment and was surprised when I saw this assignment on desks several times during the day- students were working hard trying to finish up so they didn't have to take it home- or worse-- not be able to play tic-tac-toe! This morning when I passed out the familiar blue sheets, I had a lot of smiling faces who were working diligently yesterday to complete their task. I love that I have something they want to do so much and it motivates them to complete a not-so-fun task!

Day 5 100%

I have come to the conclusion that the main objective for coordinating teachers is to break their student teachers down and having them beg for mercy to determine if they are "good enough" to graduate and become certified. Not that RM is doing anything terrible or horrible to me, but I will honestly be relieved when this is all said and done and I can have my own classroom and own rules and policies.

Thankfully after a painful math lesson today she has agreed to my not doing the math workshop the way she is envisioning it. In all fairness, it wasn't set up until a week and a half before I took over and even then the groups were not established. RM went to a big professional development training over the summer to do workshops so I know she is eager and excited to see that come to fruition, but the truth is that I have no idea what she sees in this for her "big picture" and with not having the groups established, it is just not working at all. So we abandoned ship and she will return to this concept after I'm gone. Whew- now I can teach some math lessons and stop fretting about what I'm doing!

We have continued with our plant unit. Our plants are growing nicely- though admittedly we have a few student's whose plants have not sprouted yet. There were some tears this morning when we came in and some of the cups were still bare of anything green. I encouraged those students and told them that maybe their seedlings were just taking a long rest before growing. And then, promptly after school, I made sure I added seeds to those cups and extra fertilizer! I know- that's cheating- but I don't care! I don't want any tears in my class over some dag gone seed that chose not to germinate!

Other than the actual planting, my science unit is going painfully slow. There is just no time for science at the end of the day. I know I have to get this down- and I will- but I need school to be about 2 additional hours a day in order to fit everything in!

OK, so for those that know me personally, they know that I'm a bit of a prude and a wee bit protective of my children. My 11 year old son, however, is allowed to carry a pocket knife (where appropriate- never school) and has a flint and steel in his pocket all the time as well- he is responsible and has been taught proper behavior with them- that they are NOT toys and shouldn't be treated as such. My girls have never carried anything like that and I doubt any of them would ever want to. So I understand- boys are different. I get it. I have a good friend who would refuse to let her sons play with guns- she would come to my house for a play date and insist that Alex's Buzz Lightyear radar gun be put up because she didn't want her children exposed to shooting things. That's fine- I did as she asked and respected how she wanted to raise her children. I wasn't surprised though, when her oldest son was six and was sitting at the breakfast table eating his toast when he proudly proclaimed, "Look Mommy! I made a gun!" and "shot" her with his toast that he bit into the shape of a handgun. Boys are special breed. We get it.

But even with my "boy mommy training" I still encounter things that take me off guard and really unnerve me. 

For Good News today I had a student proudly exclaim that he was able to play with his Christmas present early this past weekend. When I looked at him surprised about this and asked why he would get a Christmas present so early, his response was "because it is huntin' season!" His response when I asked what his gift is going to be was simply "a 12-gauge" 

OK. Um, did he just say what I think he just said?

So here is where my "you must have and maintain a poker face when students tell you something that shocks you because you don't want them to catch you off guard" lecture came into play. My facial expressions are easy to read I have been told (but I'm working on it). I clarified with him that it was a 12-gauge shotgun he was talking about and he sheepishly said it was. He was getting an idea that Mrs. Leece was not as thrilled about his Christmas gift perhaps as he was.

Now, I can say all kinds of things here but I will hold my tongue. Do I know for sure that he was actually telling me the TRUTH? No. Do I know he wasn't? No. Do some students grossly exaggerate the truth or even make things up hoping that their friends will think they are "cool" oh yes. I have learned quickly that what one parents thinks is "ok" for their child might horrify another parent. We all choose to raise our kids our own ways. But given how often this student talks about going hunting with his grandfather, I honestly think he probably is getting a shotgun for Christmas. Do I think this child has violent tendencies? Oh no- not at all. He is a gentle soft spoken good mannered little boy and I think he is just having some fun with his grandfather. A grandfather who I think is a wee bit loony for his choice in Christmas presents, but I digress. 

My point of all of this-- how do I respond to this "good news"? "Oh yay Timmy! Have fun shooting your 12-gauge shotgun" or how about "Oh yay Michael- shoot a couple times for me!" I don't remember exactly WHAT I said, but I know I didn't have a good poker face on at that moment and I will bet my life that I said something about him being careful and safe and making sure he never touched that gun without an adult right there with him. Yikes!

Oh, and of course as is almost always the case- when one student starts talking about a topic, they all want to share their knowledge about it- so then I had a couple more students wanting to share their hunting and gun stories. Oy- why can't we always talk about bunnies and flowers!?