Lesson plans, again October 21, 2009

Today in our leadership team meeting we discussed lesson plans again, and looked at the samples I copied — a lesson plan I wrote before we had the big discussion about what makes a good lesson plan, and one from after, with lots of detail, that references the standards.

We didn’t get much further, although it does appear that there are actually three kinds of lesson plans we’re talking about — and that teachers probably need all three.  One is a schedule — what you will teach, when you will teach it, and in what order.  The second is a detailed plan for each lesson that lists standards, objectives, your plan for differentiation, the questions you will ask, etc.  The third is a curriculum plan for the whole year that shows what standards the kids need to learn and when you will teach each one over the course of a year.

We ran out of time, but it will be interesting to see where we end up going with this.  Apparently some people at our school don’t even write lesson plans, and at a bare minimum, we need to make clear the expectation that everyone writes a daily lesson plan.

rites of fall August 18, 2009

I went to the teacher store this morning.  I spent $102, which actually shows restraint on my part.  Usually it’s $140.  Picking out labels for the cubbies for me and Ms. Mellow was really hard; I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to find nametags that were a) attractive, b) color-coded (I’m green and she’s blue), and c)small enough to fit in the cubbies.

I stopped in at the office this morning and managed to cajole our secretary into giving me my class list; this afternoon I’m going to mail out a letter about school supplies and our ice cream social next Tuesday.

And I went to my physical therapy appointment; so far, so good.  I’ve had no migraines for 2 1/2 weeks!  I think I’m ready to go back to work.

more parent conferences February 27, 2009

I’m done with parent conferences, sort of.  Yesterday I had a cancellation and a no-show, and today I had a cancellation and a no-show.  Both cancellations were rescheduled for Monday, so now I need to come in early and stay late.  Plus evening conferences were cancelled due to inclement weather, so now I wonder what is going to happen with the four conferences I missed.

Princess’s mother came.  I couldn’t believe it, but I was delighted to see her.  I figured since Mom is so skittish, I’d keep things really positive, and there were plenty of positive things to say.

My favorite conference was the one I did with Lola’s mother.  She barely speaks English, and I barely speak Spanish, and no interpreters were available when she arrived.  We went ahead anyway, and it was easy to show Lola’s mother her work, and praise it.  Lola is a sharp little cookie, and I learned from mom that they read every day, and practice with scissors, and review the letters and sounds!

Finally an interpreter showed up, so I was able to talk to her mom about the fact that Lola almost never speaks English, and she really needs to be braver about trying.  She’s really bright, and not speaking English is kind of holding her back.  Mom agreed, and said she would see what she could do to encourage Lola to speak up. 

When she left, she said through the interpreter, “I really enjoyed our conversation.”

Me too, Lola’s mom, me too.

Princess is learning and growing February 9, 2009

Princess is a totally delightful — if chatterboxy — child.  She just doesn’t know a lot of things.  Speaking in coherent sentences is one of those things, yes, but also colors, numbers, letters, etc..

So it was a wonderful surprise today when I taught the kids the letter Gg and the sound it makes, and then when we went through the letter cards and I got to capital G, Princess was the first one to call out the sound.

She was like that all day.  She actually started paying attention (instead of chattering to herself or her neighbor all through morning meeting) and listening and remembering.  When we sang our new counting to four song, Princess was right there with us.  When we counted the days we’ve been in school (92!), Princess hung in there valiantly.  When we listened to construction noises and had to guess what they were, Princess was the first to identify the hammer sound.

Miss Slinger and I talked about her after the kids went home, and were both so proud of her and the great day she had.

Meme: Five things policymakers ought to know August 3, 2008

I’ve been tagged!  This is the first time someone has reached out and tagged me to participate in a meme.  Thanks, Science Goddess.  This meme originated with Teacher in a Strange Land.

So, as a teacher, what do I wish ed policymakers understood?

1. What they do affects us.  People with power make decisions about education, testing, funding, and it comes down to our level and often makes our lives much harder.  Our governor cut funding for the prekindergarten program I teach, and since then we have cut classrooms and been able to reach far fewer children.  Meanwhile, in my building, budget cuts have meant 45 kids in a 5th grade classroom, no more small reading groups in kindergarten or first grade because we no longer have money for resource teachers, and we have one adult supervising one hundred children at recess.
2. What they do doesn’t affect us.  People with power decide that we need to use this curriculum or that philosophy or undertake this reform, and really, what happens is we go back in our rooms and close the door and teach the way we always have.  If policymakers want real change to happen, they’ll have to back it up with funding, make sure what they want us to do is reasonable and logical, and provide us with thorough training, mentoring, and support.
3. There’s nothing harder than working in a high-poverty school.  One year I got a lot of pressure from the district to make my kindergartners jump through hoops and reach a certain level by the end of the year, and I did want to succeed.  I wanted to close the achievement gap for my students of color, and I worked myself ragged teaching and assessing.  However, I lost a student every few weeks, gained a new student every few weeks, and by May I had gotten TWENTY-FOUR new students over the course of the year.  Here are some of my stories:  One boy arrived and left and came back and left again — I was both his 2nd and his 4th teacher that year.  One boy came to school grey with hunger; Mom was lost to drugs and then Dad succumbed and none of their money went to food anymore.  Another one had no mom, a dad in jail, and moved from relative to relative each week.  One boy aspired to be a pimp, just like the guy his mom worked for.  Another boy whispered to the girls in my class, “I want to rape you and cut off your breasts.”  And the girls in the house corner played “call 911, my boyfriend is coming over to kill me.”  Yeah — this was kindergarten.  If we are going to teach children, we need to take care of them, and we need to provide both children in poverty and their teachers extra support.
4. Maybe they should take a look at our schools of education.  I hate to say this, because it seems disloyal to my colleagues and also to the place where I was trained, but our schools of education are sub-standard.  If we want to improve our schools, we need to improve our teaching, and to do that, someone should really take a look at the places where teachers get their training.
5. We need universal preschool.  That doesn’t mean every four year old has to go to preschool, it means every four year old who wants it or needs it, gets to go to a high-quality preschool program.  If we are ever going to close the achievement gap, we need children in poverty to have access to great preschools.

Now, I get to tag some teachers.  I’d like to hear what Teacherninja, Mrs. V. , Splatypus, Michaele, and Mister Teacher have to say about what ed policymakers ought to know.

Not really looking forward to September July 22, 2008

When I heard that Wonder Woman was moving on to a better school, I emailed the principal (let’s call him the Prince, shall we?) telling him my concerns and asking for some reassurance. 

That was a month ago, and no, of course he hasn’t responded.  The Prince probably doesn’t have email underground where he’s buried his head.  Ostriches probably don’t really DO email. 

I bumped into Nan on the street yesterday, and it was wonderful to see her.  At least I have her.  In September:

•  I’m going to have a new assistant, and it could be someone terrible (someday I will post about “Marlene,” the world’s worst assistant teacher)
• I’m going to have a new teacher for my special ed students, since Ali is going off to teach her own preschool class
• Wonder Woman is gone (and her replacement can’t possibly be that good)
• our good AP is gone and the replacement has been demoted from principal (!) and makes people raise their eyebrows when you say that she’s the new AP….

In September I am going to work really hard on the art of LETTING GO and will do my work as mentor teacher professionally and with as little stress or emotional involvement as possible.

And mostly I’m just going to go in my room and SHUT THE DAMN DOOR and concentrate on four year olds, who can be a lot more wonderful than most grown-ups.

The kids who need preschool the most June 26, 2008

This article in the San Jose Mercury News reports that only 15% of preschool-age children living in poverty are in high-quality programs.  This is where I want to tear my hair out and rant that we should more like the French and the Italians, and have universal preschool.  This is where I want to run around and shove yell, “Wake up, people!  We are missing an incredible opportunity to reduce crime and poverty and illiteracy!”

I used to teach kindergarten in high-poverty areas.  Every day I went home feeling like a failure, because it was so hard to give my students everything they needed — but had not received — in their first five years of life.  I needed to go backward and get them through preschool, but then to have enough time to get them through kindergarten and ready for first grade was almost impossible.  Now that I teach preschool, I can take a child who has missed much of what he needed in his first four years of life, and take him through a year of rich preschool experiences, and yes, get him completely ready for kindergarten.  It is amazing the difference a year makes.