Popular when I don't want to be...

One of the hardest parts of teaching is being on the inside of issues. Up until this point in life, with a few minor exceptions in college, I haven't exactly been in the inner circle of social, academic or otherwise issues. I'm an easy person to leave out of gossip or interesting conversations.... hard to believe I know but it happens. Something I found especially being on an athletic team is that when cliques form, they tend to not break. Particularly with girl cliques. Being a teacher is like automatically joining THE most popular clique. A clique I'm learning, I'm not processing well. Knowing things about my students is like being popular in a way I totally didn't mean to be or really want to be. I'm pretty sure I found out why I did a good thing in not becoming popular today.(Read, it never would have happened and I'm totally ok with it) It makes life hard. It makes your actions conflicted. In my personal life, I don't tolerate things like what my kids are doing. But this isn't my personal life, this is my professional life and I have to see these kids every. single. day. I have to give them a clean slate no matter what. no matter how upset I am with them or what they did out at recess. Once 2:30 hits and they leave, it's over. Done. I'm not the kind of person that can do this easily. I don't know how to "forget". With my "good" kids, its so easy to forgive the little things they do like talking in the hallway because I know they'll make it up to me in class with their learning. With my not so "good" kids, its so much harder. What I learn they do out at recess affects their learning and the learning of the other kids because they are trying SO hard to make it up that they end up just talking or because they missed the instructions distract other students from their work. I don't get this balance. I don't get how to treat them like nothing happened. There is a reason I never should have been popular and I get it now. It has to do wit the fact that I shouldn't have this insider knowledge. It scares me, it's unknown and I don't know how to leave it at the door.....

Field trip back in time....

So today was a moderately awesome… Not just because we got to go on a field trip but also because I got to see how excited my kids were to see “living history.” Living history makes it so much easier for them or anyone really to understand what it really was like to live in this case in the 1860s/1890s… One of my favorite parts of the day which Mr. A and I got a lot of was “Is this what it was like when you were growing up?” Now if my father were the teacher he would say, “Yes, kids, it was, we also had to walk up hill BOTH WAYS to get to school AND we invented fire!” Instead Mr. A and I would say things like, “if we are looking at things from the 1860s and I was born in 1974/1988 do you think I was alive then?” Typically the answer was “yes” and then quickly “no” when they looked at our faces. I loved watching them, granted it was crazy at times and I finally get how… hmmmm, hard, difficult, stressful etc.; field trips are on teachers. They totally aren’t easy on those who are in charge and I apologize for all those who took my fellows and me on a field trip. We had so much fun going around to the houses and barns and seeing the animals… The sheep in particular were a big hit as you can imagine considering they roam freely around the property. The packet we gave them maybe didn’t so much get done but honestly, I don’t care. They were so happy and I loved it. All 4 of the 5th grade classes mixed during lunch and it was great to just let them take a breath and relax/play without fear of anything…. But of course, all good things must come to an end so when we got back to school… they had to finish their packets, independently read and then… DUM DUM DUM math assessment… rough rough rough…. Kind of a sad way to end the day but you gotta do what you gotta do… After school we met with John Barry, the superintendent of APS to hear what he had to say….

Take away message: TOLLGATE IS AWESOME AND Y’ALL SHOULD MOVE TO AURORA.

Be Infectious.. In a good way

Inquiry. Ask the right questions. Look deeper into the problem. Ask a friend. Ask three and then me. This week and the next we are beginning to think about how to be better learners and using Inquiry and the ability to ask questions since we start our expedition very soon! We need to get the kids into thinking more and being able to look at things with a more critical eye in the hopes that when they get started on the Revolutionary War they will have many many questions to ask and many many things to learn! For the most part today was uneventful minus a little breakfast blip… The blip being Jack, our favorite kid, was slurping Ben and Jerry’s Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream… Yes, you read that right. Ice cream for breakfast and NO this isn’t a dream… It was real. We had to discuss the nutritional value of ice cream for breakfast and how important it is to actually eat breakfast. It was amazing to me because having a conversation like this was totally new. We never had one like this when I was growing up. It was assumed everyone had eaten breakfast before coming to schoo. I took for granted being able to have breakfast at all; there were at least 5 of my kids who didn’t have breakfast today. I’ve been so blessed in my life all I could think about was how lucky I was and how being able to be in these kid’s lives will hopefully make them realize that they too can do anything. They are all so wonderful and I know they really will do great things as long as they stay in school. I wish there was more I could do for them. They all deserve so much support from everyone. Every kid in a troubled area needs support. We as a society need to realize that education is one of the most valuable tools we can give our citizens. Without it, it is nearly impossible to make the changes necessary for the world. We have a constitutional right to education and that means keeping our kids in schools, making sure they come to class with food in their bellies so that they can focus, and giving them the education THEY DESERVE. We need to have them realize the potential in all of them and not give up on that potential. These are the people who will inherit our pollution, our political policies, our international relations, and our culture. Do we want to show them that they can simply discount one of life’s most important keys? Sure there are some people who are able to accomplish incredible things without a formal education but they are the exception to the rule. And if there is one thing I’ve learned it is that you cannot teach the exception. It happens rarely. Instead you need to teach to the rule so that everyone has a fighting chance to stay out of jail, to not be a Teen Mom on MTV, and to be the change in the world that they see. Despite this only being week 3 these kids have stolen my heart, yes all of them, even Jack. It’s hard to when you see how excited they get just for multiplying 28x10 correctly, or identifying a poetry device well. They know they are special… do we as a society want to kill that or foster it so that it can grow into the next Internet or the next fuel-saving car? Give them a chance, give my kids a chance, and give EVERY kid a chance. Even if it’s just rounding up on the dollar at Whole Foods, somewhere in the US that $.34 is making a difference. It might be at my school and it might not be. Think back on your life, at some point someone gave you a chance, someone said you were special… Isn’t it time you gave that feeling back?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Grh32BcjIRY

You can't always get what you want...

So something I learned today was that you as a teacher don’t always get to be the good guy… It was kind a sucky lesson to learn… But we’ll get to that part of the day in a bit. The beginning of the day was great, and is what I need to remember when the going gets tough. I was out on morning duty with my kids and my little boys wanted to share with me “The best thing ever” called “Takis”. Now to my understanding a “taki” is a tortilla chip rolled up drenched in flavoring, which I was told is not too spicy. However, it was SO spicy and I was dying… So naturally it made the kids laugh a lot with the promise that on Monday they would bring me the “guacamole” flavor, which isn’t as spicy. Needless to say I'm a little scared mostly because I had the flavor of regular Takis burning my mouth for the rest of the day... We had another bonding experience with our buddies after school got started and we worked with the kindergartners on Haiku poems. It was hilarious and adorable, we had haikus on zombies, mac & cheese, cats, dogs, anything you can imagine, the little ones wanted to write a haiku on. It was also so great to see our 5th graders work with the little ones and teach them about syllables and how to write a haiku. I felt like a proud mother! We then had our special friday recess and since Scott and I are on early duty we had no idea what kind of a situation we left out there. Remember our good friend "Jack" well he and this other kid, we'll call "John" both got brought in from recess for bullying and saying inappropriate things. Jack was saying this that I won't repeat online but know that it's not OK for 5th graders to know that or to talk about it. And John bullied this one kid by telling him that he "effed" Santa up and killed Santa etc; etc;. Needless to say that was the last straw for Scott and I. After we sorted this mess out came back and Scott and I quickly threw together a "lesson" on idioms... Now please imagine Scott saying idioms and me being the less intelligent person who directly acts the idioms out.. Like "kill the lights" for example had me jumping and punching the lights in our classroom... It was hilarious and the kids love it. This lesson on idioms while not something the CSAP will test for is great for second language learners and lets them get a little more comfortable with the language. As it was friday at lunch the 5th grade team leaves campus to have lunch somewhere together. It's so awesome. I could not have asked for a better group of people to work with. They are a wealth of knowledge and simply amazing. In the afternoon Scott and I drafted an email to Jack's mother and let the kids finish their awesome idioms. It was definitely hard to really recognize that I was writing an email home... When did I become someone who could do this? I sometimes forget I graduated 3 months ago from college and that this program is my life now... It's the start of my career, not just a summer job. Writing an email to a child's mother about his difficult behavior definitely slapped my reality back in my face. I'll be interested to see how it affects his actions this upcoming week. After school the staff headed to BJ's for happy hour and it was amazing. Everyone was there, and I really got to understand how much a community the staff at a school is. It was a nice way to start the weekend, I left feeling excited about these next 3 months knowing I would get to spend time with these people.

Adulthood

Here is when I get really honest with you. Today I'm not really going to talk about the kids but more about where I am right now.... I'm tired, like just sleepy slash I totally get why my dad goes to bed at 9:30... I'm spending all day actually working and it's hard. Much harder than I expected... I honestly can't even imagine doing this with more than just me to feed... The idea of even getting a dog right seems like too much.... maybe even a fish. That seems like a commitment. I'm finally understanding what it means to be an adult and be on my feet all day and be giving so much of myself. I care so much about these kids and I'm understanding how we, as teachers, can get caught up in their lives. I want so much for them and want so much for them to succeed in life. But, the reality of our world and our time period is that not everyone will succeed. I hate that. I can see the amazing things my kids will do and I just want those things to happen. I'm just trying to navigate through all of these crazy changes I'm experiencing that apparently make up adulthood. Living on my own, managing my own life, trying to keep myself floating, studying for my masters and working with kids... It's a big step... Well a lot of them. And I guess I'm just trying to navigate through all of them. It's not easy, and I'm learning.... Any advice I'd totally appreciate!

Actions speak louder than words…

We started the morning with a little wake up it’s a school day “morning math” quiz. May not seem like the best way to get a day started but really nothing gets your brain working like a little math! We sent them away to technology and planned for the day. When they returned we went over their quizzes and helped them iron out a few problems. Leading this really gave me a chance to see from the kids who would be honest about their confusion and who would act like everyone else in the class and just play along faking the answer. I found it interesting to see who, of the 4 kids who got the answer right, was willing to really slow down and help their fellows and who simply let the others take charge…. Who was a “Passenger” and who was “Crew” really stood out to me. We transitioned into what has to be one of the most challenging Crew initiatives we’ve ever done… Now when I explain it you won’t think so but I promise you, it will be difficult when you try it in a group larger than 10. The first task was to “blind” count to 10. Easy enough… 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 right? Wrong. Everyone had to close his or her eyes and simply hope that someone else hadn’t said the same number. The rules were if they opened their eyes or if 2 people said the same number we started over. The other thing was there was NO discussion time. They simply had to go round after round with a simple “start over” The frustrations became really clear and those who were willing to step up and help the group really impressed me. There were at least 3 students who had the answer of collaboration but because of the way they act in class, and the way their fellow classmates viewed them no one would listen. Scott and I were totally intrigued by it because the answers were there! When they finally accomplished this task we transitioned into the second half… The instructions were do as I do, and all you have to do is clap. Then Scott said, “One, two, three” CLAP “GO”… And all the kids clapped. He repeated “One, two, three,” CLAP “GO” and the same thing happened… everyone started talking at the same time, utter insanity broke free and one person had the answer. We tried again, “1,2,3” CLAP “GO” The kids struggled again, fighting through how to work this difficult task. Not really remembering what exactly the instructions were they continued to clap at different times and being confused. After about 20 minutes they finally got it. I’ve never felt prouder of my kids… They all got it; they worked together to complete a really hard task. It was so awesome to see how proud of each other they were as well. They high fived each other and there were tons of “YES’s” that echoed around the room. Afterwards we talked through and wrote about some prompts that I had written earlier in the day. One of them was (well something along the lines of) “what do you think the old saying ‘actions speak louder than words’ means in the context of our Crew and how can you apply it?” I was fascinated with their reactions and with one kid in particular who said, “Sorry isn’t enough, you have to really show you’re sorry.” Amazing, a 5th grader can recognize that sometimes you have to work to make sorry mean something. It really made me realize that there are so many wonderful ideas in the world. There just needs to be someone out there willing and caring enough to listen to them. Even just 5 minutes with some of my kids will make you realize the future is much brighter than many people will make it seem. The transition into descriptive writing was easy and we prompted the kids to talk a place that they could really describe. All of the senses would be present in this memory so that we, as readers, could get there. I of course, wrote about Aix and Scott wrote about Red Rocks… The kids were great listening to each other and helping each other with descriptive words and phrases. After lunch we broke into independent reading and Scott led a small reading group and it was so cool to watch him. He gave them all the tools to make connections in the material and to feel confident in their own right. I’m looking forward to starting my own reading group on Friday! Hopefully I can get them as excited as he did! He definitely used great modeling or actions to show me how to lead a small group... Check in friday to see how I do!

You HAVE to be kidding me

This morning started out with my outside duty aka watching the children before the bells ring to ensure they don't go totally crazy... My boys were telling me all of these stories about snakes... yup, snakes... Totally my favorite subject... However, despite the topic I found it was a great way to start my day, hanging out with my kids before we had to get serious about learning and school. It was nice to be on their level and get to know what interests them. Then came the disappointing news, despite it being BEFORE school and about 7:57am we already had a kid who had been in trouble… AND had been sent to the office. I tried to let it go and hope that today would get better but I should have known then it would go on to set the tone for the day. The kids went off to art and it seemed we could forget the morning drama and move on to a great day… NOT… We had to have a talk with the kid that had already been to the office… Let’s call him Jack; well Jack isn’t exactly putting his best foot forward everyday. There is most definitely room for improvement. After we talked to him the Crew headed outside to do our Crew initiative for the day, which was “string shape”. String shape is basically 21 pieces of string, one per kid (we had one absent) and they have to make a shape with the string and be able to stand inside it. But of course, there is a twist! We have “rounds” of this game and every round Scott or I would take away strings! So of course then there is sharing and collaborating involved and forced upon the children. It forces them to listen to each other and to hold each other accountable by ensuring they are inside the shape with BOTH FEET… It ends up with one 8-foot long string and all 21 of them… The task is to not fall out and to make sure everyone is there. Now according to our handy dandy teacher guidebook it says everyone should sit down and put his or her feet in. I totally disagreed with this but went along with it anyways... thinking they could simply all squish in… When they had played through and failed twice Scott and I gave them 2 minutes to talk it out, with the same leading questions “What worked, what didn’t work, how will you change it, where were you in all of this?” Then insanity ensues… THEY ALL TALK AT THE SAME TIME…. Finally, one listens to another and it catches like wildfire before they realize they have the answer… sit down! So Mr. A wins this round with his super smart book… But I shall be right too someday… maybe… well hopefully. Minus one little more incident with “Jack” the morning went smoothly. I taught a mini-lesson on nouns, adjectives, and verbs then set the kids loose to create a list of them. Then Scott and I taught the kids the magic of haikus.

Yes, you read that right.
We gave our kids THE haiku.
Haikus are true blue.

It was so much fun to see them struggle through working with syllables and ensuring they had the right form. 5-7-5… Simply magic. After lunch we did a mini lesson on book genres because today was THE day… THE day Scott and I have been talking about for weeks… Classroom library day… Now in our heads this played out in a well organized, contained mess kind of way… In reality it was more like a book bomb went off and we let our kids put it back together… We let them brainstorm how they would organize the books while we, the ADULTS in the room, dumped the books on tables. It’s right about now I realize, all that “let your kids be independent” talk I had heard was about to become real. We were not going to take part in anyway with this whole classroom library thing. They were going to do it all… Hold on, IS THAT A CELLPHONE RINGING?? YOU HAVE TO BE KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW… NO WAY. NO PHONES IN SCHOOL. Yup, let’s call this kid “Jake” received a text message right about now in the day. Scott and I were not happy as you can imagine. Cellphones have not only been discussed before with “Jake” but it is school policy that they remain OFF, or SILENT in backpacks… So why exactly his was ON and making NOISE was so beyond me. You better believe I took that cell and started marching my way to the office… Except that, well, you see… I couldn’t get it to stop making noise!! Yes, that’s right, me a child of the golden technological age had trouble turning off an 11 year old child’s cellphone. Finally about half way to the office I got it off. There is nothing like the silence knowing you’ve turned a kid’s cell off... Seriously, everybody, right now, go turn a kid’s cellphone off. Straight up, it is a step towards adulthood. Anyways, when I returned Scott and I watched the kids take our classroom library from totally disarray to utter beauty. Categories like “series books, science, math, food, vehicles (*Right Scott?)” It was so cool to watch them get there. They were rewarded by being taken to our school library to see how it was organized and to check books out... All I can say is some kids might have Beiber Fever but our kids have Book Fever.

Unfinished business...

So today I came in looking forward to week 2… Thinking about all the fun and excited things the kids would do, who would make me laugh, would that one girl ever get my name right… You know, the usual teacher questions. For Crew today we did the “tie your shoes” initiative where the partners need to tie each other’s shoes but can only use one hand… So one hand behind your back and one hand of your partner and tie your shoes… After a goody model done by Mr. A and myself we set the kids loose on the shoes… It was sooooooooo interesting to see who could handle the challenge and went for it, advancing quickly into the next steps of the task (switch hands, 2 fingers, 1 finger, etc;) and who didn’t listen, who cheated and used both hands thinking Mr. A and I didn’t see… For those who got it, they excelled and listened to each other and found a great way to collaborate. When we finished Crew we transitioned into literacy and worked on descriptive paragraphs. We gave the kids pictures from magazines and asked them to use their senses (only 5 since, I hope, none of them can see dead people)… It was again interesting to see who got it and who didn’t. In the afternoon we worked on multiplication with 2-digit factors… It was a struggle, and I found that I learned multiplication differently than anyone else in the room… I tried to get into the heads of my kids and once I did, the math talk was easier. We then broke the kids into smaller groups and gave them 35x28 as a problem. Their task was to a) solve the problem and b) come up with a word problem for the numbers and c) clearly explain on a piece of chart paper how they got the answer they did… As is with everyday, there were simply NOT enough hours in the day and before I knew it… the kids were out the door…

Quote of the day comes from a Think, Pair, Share moment when asked to describe what multiplication is “It’s something you need to get into college, and to get a job. And well yeah if you’re a cashier.”

Happy Birthday big brother...

I wrote this for Tommy's birthday since I've been so inspired by kids...

Brother
....... is like a hug on saturdays.
Brother
.....is the smell of salt and fish.
Brother
.....is footballs and video recorders.
Brother
...is like Bean & Berry grits.
Brother
....is DQ, CU, TMD, MIB.
Brother
.....is cookies and friends.
Brother
.....is always having the answers.
Brother
....is weights, running and tired.
Brother
....is music in the car.
Brother
....is like being protected always.
Brother
.... is mine.

My color poem...

Pink Is


Pink is when I take my first sip of coffee in the morning....
warm, sweet, caffeinated
Pink is watching the sun set with my dog...
hot, cold, wet nose
Pink is climbing into bed to take an afternoon nap...
cozy, comfy, sleepy
Pink is like hugging my mom when I haven't seen her in a while...
soft, giggles, loved
Pink is hearing my dad call me "scooter" when he needs me...
endearing, special, embarrassed
Pink is having my brother say he is proud of me...
excited, butterflies, hug
Pink is dancing with my friends even with no music playing...
silly, goofy, rhythm
Pink is playing field hockey just for fun with the 5 star and little...
fast, slow, exhausted
Pink is everything to me and always will be...
All Day, Every Day, Toujours

It's FRIDAY FRIDAY

The day started with some fun bonding with our kindergarten buddies. Being that we spent all week working on poetry, our 5th graders brought them poetry books to enjoy. It was the cutest thing EVER… I cannot even tell how adorable it was. While they finished reading I went into the classroom and set up our Crew activity for the day which was mind trap… Yup, we did it as a field hockey team last fall during our “team bonding” sessions… hopefully it works out for my 5th graders. When they came in for Crew it was SOOOO exciting to see all of the cool things Ms. Detmer had put out for them… Picture: 22 kids in a candy store and little to no super vision... It felt CRAZY… So I did like any good Stanley Intern and used a transition in a super super soft voice so they really had to listen “if you can hear me touch your nose. If you can hear me clap once…” You get the idea. They all stopped dead in their tracks like deer in headlights on I-70 late at night… I could see the same reaction on their face… This is going to be the COOLEST thing we’ve ever done… When Mr. A and I modeled the initiative the kids were literally chomping at the bit to get started… So we let them at it… It was wonderful to watch because they totally collaborated. This whole week’s worth of Crew has come to this moment… They called each other by name to clarify through all the confusion, they used “big, small, and medium” steps and bend down slowly etc; etc; I was so impressed with them. After we wrote in our journals about this experience the kids moved on to finishing up their color poems, which we had been working on all week. This is when I got a re-lesson in peer pressure and the need to be cool... In case you missed my awkward years, I wasn't exactly on the "inside" of life and found peer pressure to be a particularly difficult lesson. One boy in our class had done this awesome color poem and created it into the shape of an R for a wonderful visual affect in his poem, suddenly got jealous of all the kids using the computers to type up their poems and decided against Scott and my's advice to type his poem. Needless to say it didn't turn out the way it had started and I felt like he had let me down in some way because he was so desperate to be like his fellows and use a computer... Not realizing his poem stood out from the rest because of his shape... When all the kids finished we let them all share since there were so many wonderful descriptions of words that everyone needed to hear. The class definitely deserved some high praise. We followed up by putting all the poems in the halls for the other kids to see the cool poems.. Some were typed, some hand written, some had pictures, some were small, some were big... It was a wonderful display of their work. The transition into math went smoothly, I think their confidences were boosted because of their poems in the hall.. They knew they needed to perform well for that to happen again....

Do I really have to leave Mr. Alverson?

So today I started today thinking about the afternoon, which was our first “Thursday seminar”, and not so much focused on the kids… It didn’t continue on very positively as we had a student in the office before school even started… Oy vey…Not the best way to start the day I would leave them… Knowing how the day started I would go on to worry about them and Scott all day. When Scott and I (what felt like years only being 10 minutes) dropped them off at P.E. I realized why he’s the coolest teacher ever… He got there and started dancing, shooting hoops, dunking, and just generally being awesome… Obviously following his lead I let loose and just went crazy… As we left the kids I felt so excited and energized… Then I remembered I only had the morning with them… OH… Yeah… For Crew we did “pass the hula-hoop” which was fun to watch the kids come up with strategies I never would have thought of… After floundering a few times they came up with two really great strategies: line up by height and have the shorter people go through 2 at a time in the hoop… They set a time goal for themselves of 47seconds… And every time they went they shaved 3 seconds off … Unfortunately, as in life sometimes, they didn’t complete their goal. 53 seconds was their best time. It was so hard to not let them try for hours so they could have that feeling of accomplishment that everyone always searches for. The transition into poetry felt pressured since the kids had unfinished business with the hula-hoop… It was just one of those days when I felt like I was letting the kids down because of then knowing I had to leave them… Thursdays are going to be difficult. With the progress they were making in their poems I did not want to go. When the time came for me to leave, knowing I had to but not wanting to. I felt like I was caught in such a catch-22... I didn’t want to leave the kids but I knew if I were late there wouldn’t be any pizza left. I wanted to spend the afternoon with them doing puzzles and being so excited but I left anyway. Hurrying myself along to Stanley. I found myself checking my watch periodically and thinking about what they would be doing and after 2:30 feeling relieved because I wasn’t missing anything… Scott would be at home too… I wasn’t falling behind in my relationship with the kids or missing lessons from Scott.

Is it Misdemeanor or A felony?

So this morning I showed up ready to leave yesterday behind me… Trying the new day new attitude thing… Not letting yesterday dictate the rest of the week… All that kind of positive attitude… In the morning after the kids were at Technology (another special) Scott blew up balloons for their initiative while I wrote the definitions of Simile, Metaphor, Onomatopoeia and Personification for the kids. When they came back for Crew we played “balance the balloon” where the kids break into smaller groups and try to keep their balloon in the air… More collaboration of figuring out a strategy of tipping with their fingers, holding wrists to free hands and generally working together. It was great to see the progress they had made with each other. We then started to time them to see who could keep it in the air longest… There is just nothing like competition to get 5th graders going… The noise level went up, their concentration went up and the fun level got blown into outer space. We then challenged them to keep the balloon up as a whole class…Not as successful since they all wanted to be silly and goofy and generally, well 5th graders. After each failed attempt Scott and I would have them talk about what worked and what didn’t work in the hopes of them making more progress. At the end we let them have all 5 balloons and just go for it. It was so much fun to watch them, it just made me want to jump in and keep the balloons up with them! We transitioned easily into poetry and lunch. After lunch Scott had me read aloud to the kids a book (Pictures of Hollis Woods) that I had started reading on Monday… Knowing we had a limited amount of time for reading I tried to get the kids totally drawn into the story… When it was time to transition into math there was a collective “AHHHhhhh mannnnn”. The sigh of sadness from the whole class literally made my heart jump in excitement and happiness! All I could think was they love me! They love me! They love me! When math got going I was so jazzed and so pumped… About half way through… I hear “Miss! Miss” As I’m turning I hear “Miss Demeanor!”… Holding my laugh in I tried to process being called “Misdemeanor”… I said, “Close! My name is Ms. Detmer” When I finally got to laugh about being called that it seemed like a whole other life. I’m beginning to realize that my days are going by so quickly and it’s because I’m so caught up in my kids. They are so lively and wonderful and creative... It’s hard not to love them… Everyday will be such a joy as long as I get to have little moments like “misdemeanor”…

Is there such thing as a Tuesday Slump?

Today didn’t quite start with the same high as the day before… We started the day with a meeting about a girl in our class who had been bullying girls in another class… Funny how differently this was handled than it was “back in the day” when I was in 5th grade… Oh memories… Anyways, the girls involved were split between my class and the other 5th grade intern’s class. Your basic “she said- she said” drama with someone in between stirring the drama pot. When the kids headed off to Art, the other intern and I stayed behind while our mentors sorted through the girl drama. Then came Crew time… At Tollgate we have a philosophy that the kids, the faculty, and the community are all “crew” and not “passengers” in the journey of education. So everyday we have “crew” instead of homeroom and during that time we, as a crew, complete an initiative. Not a game, an initiative because there is some kind of goal we are attempting to accomplish or something that is driving our initiative. This week the kids are working on collaboration… Not the easiest thing to accomplish at any age by any means. So today the kids were attempting to “flip the tarp”. An initiative that require ALL of the class, yes all 22 of them, to stand on a tarp and flip it so that the bottom is on top and the top is on bottom…. Pretty easy right? OH, that’s because I forgot to mention that if one person touches the ground they start over… So imagine 22 5th graders all screaming at each other with the “best way to do the task… It was so incredibly hard to sit and just watch them in the words of Scott “flounder”. The number of times they tried and failed to flip that tarp…. It was getting painful to watch when we suddenly realized more classes were coming outside… FIRE ALARM… oooooops… somehow we had missed that memo or announcement … We lined the kids up, counted and just waited… When all this was over and done we returned to Crew as the kids had not yet accomplished the task. 20 minutes later Scott and I decide to split the kids by boys and girls… The girls flipped it in under 3 minutes… Then it was the boys turn… Now there isn’t much a difference in terms of size 12 boys and 10 girls so it was pretty even however, the girls did the one thing the boys didn’t seem to really get… Listening. On their last try the boys flipped the tarp… though the girls say they didn’t quite make it… We returned to the classroom to have a group discussion of the initiative and it was so interesting to hear what they had to say… Things I would never have expected to come out of 5th graders mouths…. “Collaborating and listening go hand in hand”, “collaboration helps you work with someone you may not always like”. Makes you wonder if you 5th graders could solve the world…. As the day continued it was just a day with a lull... Math was much harder today, the kids struggled and it was difficult to watch them... One of those days were you can't give them the answers and you just have to watch them struggle through. When the day was over we were informed of another bullying incident... One of our boys bullying a boy in another class... Seems like I need to brush up on my conflict resolution notes....

Monday Monday Monday.... Day 1

So needless to say this morning I was totally full of jitters and just so ready to start the day. But of course, I hit…absolutely every single red light between my apartment and Tollgate…. Which of course doesn’t help my nerves. At all. When I arrived it was wonderful to see the kids and just dive head first into the day. We first went straight from attendance/ homeroom to helping the kindergarten buddies with their backpacks and to play with ladybugs. Then the kids went to music class while Scott caught me up on everything and helped me get ready for when the kids came back. The rest of the day felt like a blur… We worked on color poems for what felt like 5 minutes but in reality it was 2 hours then they were off to lunch… Where is this day going?? Did I just blink? While eating lunch I tried to test myself and think of all the names I knew or didn’t know… Math was possibly the best it has been since kindergarten when you get to count M& M’s and eat them…. The kids were working on math puzzles and they were so excited trying to solve them... It was like watching popcorn pop in a kettle… Ms. Detmer! We solved it! One group after the next throwing their hands in the air sure of their number answer…. Truth be told it was right about now when I realized…. I was sweating… I was getting so flustered with them having the answers and me having to quickly catch up that I had… well begun to perspire… Luckily they didn’t notice… I however realized why all teachers have sweaters to take off and on… DUH dress in layers! I took off my super stylish blazer and kept on with the kids… Before I knew it… 2:30 hit and they were gone… Out the door with a simple see you tomorrow Miss! My mentor and I walked to the front parking lot to watch the insanity that is trying to get kids onto busses, parents picking up, the pick up line of cars… and other general CRAZY… It’s right about now when I’m beginning to get that uncomfortable feeling again when I hear, “let’s go inside and plan”… YES MERCI DIEU, escaping into the quiet of our room was just what I needed… We talked about my first day, planned for Tuesday and with a simple high five… I was sent back home… Where I proceeded to get dinner from my parent’s house, come back to my apartment… write this and go to bed.