I'm baaaaaaaack

I just finished putting Cotsen meeting dates and admin cohort classes in my calendar for next year. In September I'll only have one free Saturday! And I should spend that one in my classroom! :) I'm pretending like I'm complaining, but really, I'm so excited for the future I can hardly contain myself! Thank God next year's not my evaluation year...if I could barely find time to blog this year IMAGINE next year??

The End of Winn-Dixie

My kids love read alouds. They do not object when I drag them all to the carpet next to me. I do this for easier class management, but also because I really like having them close. I like watching their facial expressions as they listen to me read or listen to another classmate reflect on an idea from the book. I like them close because I wish I could somehow wrap them up in my love so they will feel secure and safe enough to share and take risks. It is safe to say that I love read alouds as well.

For the past 5-6 weeks we've been reading Because of Winn-Dixie. I love this story because there are so many layers to the characters' feelings and actions. It's also a very sweet and at the same time sad story-one it seems the students can really relate to. We finished the book yesterday. I couldn't help but feel sad it had ended-and it seemed that the kids agreed. Afterall, they had been so endearing in their responses to the text. I hadn't yet read read many chapters when all of a sudden 9 or 10 copies of the book popped up around the room. A little cheer would sprout up each day when I announced it was read aloud time. Kids without their own copies would cluster around those that did. A real sense of community could be felt as students readily shared books.

My favorite part of the past weeks' read alouds were the discussions after. Their work in Reading Workshop really transferred over-they were voluntarily using the conversation moves we had taught them. As each chapter would come to a close, I would open with, "Thoughts about this chapter?" One would share. Another would then say, " I want to agree with what ____said." This student would then say more about that thought. Or another would say, "I agree with ______ and I want to add _____." Or, "I have a new thought." Each day I would gravitate between getting the goosebumps from their responses and feeling sentimental at their sweetness and earnestness. They began to use new words in their vocabulary, such as vulnerable, empathy, and melancholy. It felt like more than just a comprehension lesson, it felt like life lessons.

As I held onto the book after our final Winn-Dixie conversation, I couldn't help but hope this momentum will continue as we begin our next story.

Alvarado Observation

Today my fifth grade colleagues and I were given a wonderful opportunity to observe two fifth grade classes at Alvarado. We were able to observe two different reading workshop lessons taught by two different teachers. It was SUCH a great opportunity, for so many different reasons. I felt really good about how our reading workshop is moving along in my class after observing. These students at Alvarado have been effectively utilizing reading and writing workshop since third grade, so certain procedures and understandings were already in place even before they reached 5th grade. Considering that, I think my students are really doing a fantastic job of managing the procedures and doing the important reading work that is being asked of them. I also saw some great ideas that will enhance our workshop time. In these classes, students meet in their partnerships first (at the very beginning of reading workshop) and create a plan for that day's independent work time. This is beautiful-it gives them a focus and holds them accountable to somebody else besides me. The next day when the partners meet-they will expect each other to share their findings. My students really love working in their partnerships, and they are good at it. So I am thinking this will be a very useful management piece. By observing these two classes it was like somebody took the dirty glasses off of my face and wiped the smudges clean-I walked away with a much clearer version of how my minilessons, anecdotal notes, and conferences should look. We now have better ideas of long-term planning, connections to make to writing, and we even plan to go back and visit during our off-track time. We also all got to go together-now we have an even playing field, sharing the same vision. I see good things in our future!!

The Hankins Dollar

One of our goals in Reading Workshop has been to both have students working independently reading and taking notes about their reading, in addition to hold meaningful discussions about that work with a partner. Ms. B and I decided to model how an effective partnership discussion might look. We used an article that the students were already familiar with, discussing American money and the famous faces used on the bills. At the end of the lesson we connected our main idea to an inference-notice how it's all American MEN on the bills? That's all we said.

Steffanie and Sophary picked up on our inference model and ran with it. The next day they presented me with a small, dollar-sized slip of paper. The paper was green, of course. In the center of the paper was my face...and on top it said HANKINS DOLLAR.

"Now you're famous too, Miss Hankins!" Steffanie exclaimed.

Awww....the kids make the hard work worth doing.

Peer Pressure

Since the first day of class there has been one very dominating personality in my class. His heart is usually in the right place and 97% of the time he does his best in school. Unfortunately, he has a tendency to bully and be a negative influence on a few of my other students.

Christian is one of the "other" students. He is a very intelligent kid, but is frequently lazy and very much under the influence of the afore mentioned student. For several months I have struggled to get him to make his own choices, but wanting to be cool has won out most times. Until the week that Anthony-oops-I mean that afore mentioned student was suspended for a few days. The transformation in Christian was remarkable. Before he would never participate-now he was readily volunteering intelligent responses. Before he would sit and stare at a blank page of paper until I nudged him to write-now he surprised me at the beginning of a school day with two pages-front and back-full of details about his character. Before during community circle he would refuse to share or wait for his idol to share a response and then copy his. Now he eagerly shared the news of his newborn baby brother with his classmates. It was like teaching two different students.

Since Anthony's return, Christian's classroom work ethic has continued to excel. The playground, however, is another story. The very day his buddy returned, Christian was persuaded by said buddy to blatantly defy a student teacher and leave the recess line once the bell had rung. I was so shocked at both his lack of self esteem and Anthony's powers of persuasion. In a private conversation several minutes later, Christian admitted to me that he didn't like the way he felt inside after defying the teacher. We discussed some different ways he could avoid the situation in the future. I hope he can find it in himself to stand up for the good choices...otherwise, I'm afraid he's in for some hard times next year in middle school.

Of Pride and Confidence

These past several months have been very lucky for me. I am not sure if I was finally able to cash in some good karma points, but not only do I have an awesome class this year, I also get to work with Ms. B. She is just an amazing, amazing teacher who is always humble and unassuming. I am not certain how she chose me to work with, but I know one thing-my life as a teacher will be forever changed as a result of this work. She has truly pushed-and is pushing- what I knew to be good teaching to the next level. Most people would be happy to accept this gift and move on. But I, however, am the Queen of Overthinking. Did Ms. B choose me to work with this year because I am the one who needed the most help?

Before Ms. B. started working with me in my classroom, I thought of myself to be an above average teacher. Especially when that teaching involved reading and reading workshop. As a child, my grandmother always taught me to not be too prideful...I think I was becoming too prideful with my teaching. Ms. B. and her expertise and finesse came in and burst away all of that hot air...and some of my confidence too. All of a sudden, I was aware that I had A TON of learning to do. Of course, logically, I realize that this is the nature of our teaching profession, that to continue to be successful we must always be learning. Logically, this is also the way that we grow both as people and professionals; we open our hearts and minds to new ideas and methods. Of course I also know that once I open my mind and heart I will truly grow in my own teaching expertise. But I have to admit-it's hard. It's hard to get out from under the weight of my pride and realize my way wasn't the best way. And in my experience, it's when I am struggling with my pride that I allow that little voice of self-doubt to step in. After struggling with this pride for the past few weeks, I think I may be close to its defeat.

It could be that this struggle has been another bit of good luck. Perhaps this is the natural progression of change, to realize you don't know it all, to doubt yourself, to open your heart and mind, and finally, to challenge yourself.

100%

I think I must be incredibly sentimental...or maybe I've just really missed teaching after a 6 week break. But today, I am feeling quite humbled at the enormous amount of trust that is placed in me each day by my students. The smiles on their faces, the expectant look in their eyes as they looked up at me this morning...what a gift it is to teach. The love I see in their faces, their eagerness to learn and please. It's such a fragile gift that has been placed in my hands. I don't want to waste one single moment. Of course as I write this, I can't help but think of Jasmine. When she was living...if her thoughts turned to me or her first grade year, did she have positive memories of me? Did I do all I could for her? Did I give her my 100%? These are the thoughts that influenced my sentimental feelings this morning as a I saw each little face, standing out on that ramp.