Homework, Assessing, Programs, Baking, Sports, Dance, Shopping, Shopping Shopping...oh my!

I am just posting today as mostly a reminder to me to slow down, breath and enjoy the season. Christmas is truly my favorite time of the year. I love all the time spent with my three girls and my wonderful husband, but it seems every year things get a little busier and a little more chaotic so today is my reminder to enjoy the little things. So here is a random post about the little things...

*sisters shopping for each other and making this momma proud :)
*shopping with my husband and treasuring those few hours together as just the two of us
*working on my homework with the family all helping out
*winning basketball games and those proud mom moments (GO M! GO B!)
*5 more student days until Christmas break
*students making wonderful progress this school year
*hand written cards, lots of hugs, and smiles from students
*new winter coat
*husband taking care of supper
*Christmas decorations
*Christmas lights
*Christmas music
*morning that the girls get up without a fuss
*outside recess
*hot chocolate with marshmallows
*finding the perfect gift at a good price

I have so much to be thankful for this year and today is my day to slow down, breathe and be happy about it all :) Merry Christmas!!!

A Vision of Students Today

Students Today...a must watch

Teaching Today's Learners...a must read

I came across this publication and was amazed at all the information it provides about today's learners. It is mainly targeting "Millennials," which would be a student born between 1980-2000 (which would even include me)...but I feel like the information applies to our current students as well. My students this year were born mostly in 2007, which only means technology has only become more of a influence on their everyday lives. The article is a little long, but has some very pertinent information for teachers today.
Learning in the 21st Century: Teaching Today's Student on their Terms

A Thanksgiving Feast...for 85

There is a Thanksgiving tradition in my class that started when I was student teacher and continues many years later. We have a feast so that we can make a connection between the historical events that helped create the holiday Thanksgiving and the current ways we celebrate today. Every year our feast looks a little different, includes different classes, but is also an amazing experience (despite the chaos) for all involved.

This year was no exception. We had two kindergarten classes and two first grade classes that were involved and we split the feast up so that each class had a contribution. Mine was the bread. I make the bread every year. I have a wonderful, kid-friendly recipe that I received as a student teacher and even though I have made it 10 plus years it will be a tradition I will continue for many more to come. We begin the bread making process the day before (so the bread can rise overnight in the refrigerator) and finish the process the day of the feast.













This year we had a small dilemma as to where we would have this feast. We always want to do it somewhere a little different to make it special. Many years, we have crowded 40-50 kids in one classroom, we had it in our school barn another year, but this year there was no way we were fitting 80 plus students and then another handful of adults in a classroom and our barn isn't big enough. So we thought and thought...line a hallway with tables? hmm....then a fellow teacher and friend (who is always so creative and wonderful) wondered if we could use the church down the street. So the church was called and arrangements were made and the day before our feast I went and picked up the key and got the instructions and the gentleman that showed me around was so generous and appreciative that we had thought to use the church. He was so excited for us to be there. WE were so excited and appreciative that they were allowing us to be there. It had an amazingly spacious basement area with a kitchen and worked wonderfully.

So we spent the majority of our day there, preparing, cooking, creating, baking, eating and cleaning and it may have been the best school feast yet!!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!!

...now I am off to cook another feast (for my own family)...for 6

Overcoming Barriers

As I have begun to form my idea of what I would like to focus my master's project on I have really tried to be subjective. I want the positives and the negatives, the advantages and disadvantages, the pros and the cons...so I am trying to use an open mind about everything.

This article really lines out some of the reasons why integrating technology is so difficult. It also possibly doesn't give all the reasons why it isn't integrated more. Implementing Technology

The one statement I continue to say over and over in my head is that we are teaching 21st century students in a 19th century style. They are not growing up in the same world that many of us did...so why teach them the same way we learned? They are different learners. Technology has changed the way we do things, but teaching has been slow to change. I am hoping to work on that personally...now starts the hard work!

Moving Forward

This was a long week and hoping that next week goes much smoother. I started off last weekend with two sick kids at home and then I got it on Tuesday and it took much of the week to recover. Then once I went back to work, it has taken me until today to feel somewhat caught up.

But, the point to all of that is that this week we also started having discussions about the future of our school. We are a rural elementary school located in the small town of Walton, KS, but we are a part of the Newton USD 373 district. The majority of our students are bused to us. Several years ago we made the move to a charter school with a project-based agriculture focus in order to keep our school viable. Our enrollment has since exceeded our space and now we have to figure out what we need to do next and what we can do next. Every inch of space is being used at our school. We have no more room for any classrooms, but have a waiting list of students waiting to get in. Students from our district and many students from other districts. At this point, our district has made no commitment to help with additional space or funding. Everything we are doing is completely on our own efforts and with the help of some parents and community members. We have visitors often...from other schools, districts, other towns, from families, from other states and even from the United States Department of Education who shot a video at our school on best practices. We aren't real sure why our own district is taking more of an active role but nonetheless something is going to have to happen soon and so this week I have started pondering and worrying about the future of our school and then deciding that my efforts need to be on my current students and their best interests and that the worrying will not help anyone.
So stay posted for more on moving forward...

Gorgeous Day at the Patch

Today was a field trip day!!

We loaded all the students of our school on three buses today and headed off to a fun filled day at the pumpkin patch. We could not have ordered better weather for the day and the patch was not too crowded. All our students got to pick a pumpkin with their admission cost (paid by our school PTO) and as long as it fit through the hole in the chair they were able to pick any pumpkin they wanted. Then we spent the rest of our day playing on all the wonderful things that Walters Pumpkin Patch had to offer. Even though our whole school was there (along with a few other schools and other families) there was plenty of room to spread out and explore all the areas without feeling crowded. We played, explored, had lunch, climbed, jumped and ran, then we loaded all the pumpkins in my truck, loaded the kids and teachers back on the buses and headed back to school...a little dusty, a lot tired and with some great memories!

Thanks Walters, PTO and all the parents that helped out!

Challenging All Students

After our assignment on life chances and the pygmalion effect this week I thought this article was fitting. Sometimes I feel that expectations are not always a positive thing in the classroom. Now don't get me wrong, I definitely think we should have high academic expectations of our students, but my post this week is about something else entirely. I teach kindergarten and always have and one of the things I love about teaching this grade level is I have no incoming expectations of my students. I don't know their behavior, their academic levels, their family background, etc. I get to start with a blank slate and I get to spend my year challenging all my students equally. The difficulty though is maintaining that all year and preventing the students from becoming a label. We feel out reports at the end of each school year that are passed on to the next grade level teacher and on these reports we list important academic information, but we also list behavior issues and any other pertinent student information. I can see where these would be helpful to upcoming teachers, but I also see where it could be extremely harmful. The teacher has the potential to form an opinion before having the student...good or bad. What do you think?

A Tale of Two Teachers

Life Chances

Max Weber used the term 'Life chances" to say that you are generally a victim of circumstance and that social class and status can and will affect your life outcome. (reference).

Personally, I can relate to this. I grew up in a single parent family with four younger siblings and had to work very hard to get to the point I am today. I had to be motivated to keep going even when things were hard and things were expensive. College was going to have to be done on my own, but I am not sure that was a negative thing either. Yes, I am STILL paying for my own education, but I also feel like I appreciated the experience in a completely different way than someone that may have had the means to go without the financial responsibility. I didn't have your typical college experience. I didn't live in dorms. I didn't party (I didn't have the time or the energy :)) I started at a community college, graduated with an associate's degree and then transferred to a university and I worked a full-time job plus did on-campus work study while going through school, but now I have a degree and a career that made it all worth it. So did I miss out on some things? Probably, but I did what I needed to do to get it done.

I think a lot of times we let ourselves be victims of circumstance. Yes, it is more difficult for someone with limited means to get to all the places they may want to go, but they shouldn't let that limit them.  A lot of times I feel that personality and drive plays into all of this quite a bit too. It is difficult to not want to give up when things are harder for people and it is also difficult to not take things for granted when things are easier for people. As a kindergarten teacher, my students believe anything is possible and their dreams are limitless and it is unfortunate that the older they get that their big dreams begin to fade and reality sets in. I often think about the dreamers they once were. My first students are now high school students and I wonder if they continue to have high expectations for themselves and believe they can achieve anything they work hard for.

As teachers, I feel we should encourage our students to do whatever it takes to achieve their dreams and goals. Motivation can be very powerful.

I found a true story that is an example of life chances that I felt was worth the read. Inequality and Life Chances: Going to Law School or Going to Prison

The Effect of "The Pygmalion Effect"

As I started researching this topic I couldn't help but think of my own personal life experiences in addition to my experiences as an educator. The Pygmalion Effect, which was coined the term after a case study in 1968 by Rosenthal and Jacobsen (reference) basically states that you perform according to expectations.

 I think that a lot of times it may depend on the person placing the expectations on you and the relationship you have with the person. In this particular study the students ranged from 1st to 6th grade, but the biggest difference was with the younger students (reference). As a kindergarten teacher, I feel my students do try very hard to please their teacher. I also feel that sometimes people (teachers, parents, support staff) lower expectations for younger students because they aren't sure what they can accomplish. I find myself saying a lot that they are capable of more than we give them credit for...just give them a chance. I do try to have high expectations for all my students, not only with academics, but also with behavior. I didn't read much about behavior as I was researching this topic, but if we assume a child is going to misbehave or be a problem child, then generally they end up fulfilling your expectation. I think we need to go into any situation with a clean slate and assume the very best out of everyone. I have had a couple of classroom instances where a child has transferred to my class from another school or district due to issues and the issues were non existent once the expectation was removed. I am not sure this is always the case, but I feel a lot of times the problem is not just with the student.

As a parent of a daughter in high school I often see the expectations we place on older students as well. High performing students are encouraged to do more, are sometimes graded harder and also encouraged to take more challenging classes. I think sometimes the students that appear not as motivated are also not encouraged and therefore struggle through classes. We should try to encourage and motivate all students and not let anything be an excuse to let a student just get through.

 I remember watching the movie "She's All That" that was released in 1999. The movie was adapted from a play "Pygmalion" and a 1964 film "My Fair Lady." I haven't seen the play or the '64 film, but enjoyed watching "She's All That" as a college student and feel that it is exactly what this topic is about. In the movie a very popular, attractive, soccer star is dealing with the break-up from his very popular, attractive girlfriend and boasting to his buddy that she is replaceable by ANY girl. The buddy disagrees and they make a bet on whether or not he can turn ANY girl into a homecoming queen. The buddy gets to choose the girl and chooses an extremely nerdy, unpopular and seemingly unattractive girl. It takes some attention, a make-over and some newly found popularity, but she does in fact get nominated for prom queen.

 We all too often live up to our expectations and our students also do that. In our society, we expect people to act and behave a certain way and a lot of times it is based on their economic status or race or gender, which is not always fair to stereotype. Does this expectation of behavior determine more than it should? We should make sure our expectations are always set high and that we don't assume anything, which is often easier said than done. (reference)

It Clicked!

I love watching my little students when "it clicks." I feel like in a kindergarten classroom I get to see that so often and they are so excited to discover new things. Well today it clicked for me. I keep looking at other people's blogs and how exciting and interesting they are and trying to jazz mine up a bit to make it more interesting. So I saw this thing called a blog hop on one of my favorite blogs to check out and decided to try and see if I could figure it out and I think I did! Well I hope I did. Maybe I didn't do it quite right, but I see my blog listed on her blog list and her button is on mine so I think that is how it is suppose to work. Sometimes old dogs can learn new tricks :)

Blog Hop

Life

We have a four day weekend because of parent/teacher conferences. I am hoping to spend a lot of time relaxing these four days, but then I remember my busy life and feel like any relaxing is going to be better than none!

Today is a day to relax. I plan on staying in my pajamas longer than I should, but spending some time getting organized for the next couple of months of school...planning lessons, projects, making sure I have cleaned up my email, etc. I might clean some of my house if I am feeling motivated, but then again, maybe not. Tonight I will watch my favorite show...Grey's Anatomy...right when it comes on and not have to DVR it and watch it at some later date. 

Tomorrow I am taking the girls to the pumpkin patch. We love the pumpkin patch and I think it may be the first year that we are going without dad, but he is just too busy to go along this year.
Saturday I am going with my daughter to an ALL DAY gun safety class for 4-H because her dad has to work. Completely out of my comfort zone, but maybe I will learn something.
Sunday will be church and preparing for the week ahead.
Our oldest daughter is leaving Tuesday morning to head to Indianapolis for 5 days of FFA Nationals. The house is always so different with one of the girls gone and five days always seem so long. But, she loves going and I am excited that she has the opportunity.

Now, I just have to hope that all the things I want to get done, get done and prepare myself that life always has a way of surprising me with twists and turns I hadn't planned on. That's life!

Technology in a Project-Based Primary Classroom

Technology keeps running through my head. I know that I don't do it as well as I could or should. Often times, I don't know where to start or have a valid reason as to why I should, but then I remember how excited and how engaged my students are when we do something interactively with technology. They love using our tools. I need to remember that it is just a tool and should be used when it will effectively help the students with the learning process. I also want to take on more of a role of a facilitator of the technology and allow the students to be able to interact with the tools more. This article has some wonderful ideas on how to use technology in the classroom to make it a more effective tool...instead of just an add-on. Meaningful Connections
I was so excited to find this article. I really think it helped me understand my own thinking into what I want to happen in my classroom. Ultimately, I want learning to be more meaningful to my students. I just need to do a better job of figuring out how.

Teacher Evaluations

Teacher evaluations being based on student test scores has been a hot topic and watching Romney also discussed it in some detail recently during the Summit on Education Nation: Decision 2012 Part II. I didn't realize that Kansas was one of a very few number of states that are not currently using test scores to evaluate. As a teacher, I do feel that our evaluations should be based on student performance to a certain extent, but not the way that it is currently being done. I do not feel that all students will ever all be at the same level and being evaluated as a teacher by having all students at a 100% doesn't seem reasonable or realistic. A lot of factors go into a students test score, besides just the teaching and learning that went on in the classroom that particular year. I think it should more based on student progression or student growth. Expecting perfection makes it difficult in the classroom, not only for teachers, but also for students. This article from the New York Times discusses parents that are boycotting the test, because they are so fed up with the process. What are your thoughts?

Education Nation

I have spent the past two nights watching videos we were assigned on Education Nation. Two videos on the Summit...one featuring Obama and one featuring Romney and part I and part II of Teacher Town Hall. I am copying the comment I posted on the Teacher Town Hall video, but haven't quite figured out how to carefully comment on either of the Summit videos so that will come later.
Teacher Town Hall

• Watching the "Teacher Town Hall" inspired me to want more for my students, my school, my community. I teach kindergarten in a rural school and a lot of time we may know what we are doing well and what we could be doing better, but we don't often get to hear ideas and/or success stories of other teachers and schools around the nation.
  Teachers are often one of the most misunderstood professions. We work very hard for our students, are very passionate about our jobs and put in more hours than many realize to educate all the future doctors, lawyers, astronauts, inventors, creators, etc. Networking among each other is very beneficial...sharing ideas, lessons, what works and doesn't work so that we are not all "reinventing the wheel". As a kindergarten teacher, I often feel that teaching is one of my many roles that I take on with these young beginning learners.
  Inspiration from time to time is good for all of us

Staying Focused

My life is BUSY (as I am sure most of your lives are too)! I am finding that I need to figure out a way to be more organized and more focused so that I can get more done in a day.
 October feels overwhelming and then I see all the Christmas decorations up at EVERY SINGLE store and feel like there is going to be no way I will have time this year to prepare for my favorite holiday.
All day kindergarten started last week so now my lessons need to be more organized so we can accomplish more. My three daughters keep me running in the evening with school projects, 4H & FFA activities, basketball, soccer, girl scouts, dance and whatever else happens to come up during the week. I have a difficult time saying no...so I have my own fair share of meetings, commitments, etc. I have my own homework now that I am working towards a new degree. Plus at some point my family needs to eat, laundry needs to be washed, the dishwasher needs to be unloaded and loaded and I could go on and on. Every family is busy, but I am realizing that I am so busy that I am beginning to worry about the things in my life that are going to suffer because of it. I don't want anything to suffer!

So now that I have completely vented my next blog posts are going to be dedicated to my homework assignment. I don't want to make this a political statement, but I guess I kinda am. Please make sure you know what the candidates stand for before you vote. I honestly didn't pay much attention, wasn't interested and figured whatever happened would happen...then I had class last Wednesday. We were instructed to watch videos on Education Nation and now I cannot believe I didn't pay more attention before. So please pay attention...even though I didn't...until now.

A Village to Raise a Child

This article focuses on one particular school that had a need and a parent, among with many others that stepped in to fulfill the need with countless hours and fundraising efforts. I feel that this may be one of many stories that show what some people may be willing to do in light of continued budget cuts. How do we tap into these resources at our schools to get help with all the shortfalls we are facing, if education continues to be underfunded? Parents Pitch In
Budget cuts are a serious situation that affect everyone. Our school is bursting at the seams currently and we can't seem to get the money to add on classroom space. Our art room doubles as the music room. Our gym is also our lunchroom. Our computer lab is also a hallway to get to three of our classrooms and it is also our tornado shelter area. Our speech room is in a storage closet. Every space at our school is being used, which creates a scheduling nightmare. For the first time since I have been teaching, I do not have a classroom aide to help during math time, science time or social studies. Things will look different in my room this year because of it and it is unfortunate. Projects will need to be things I can manage on my own with my kindergarten students. Trying to figure out how to give my students everything they need, in a fun and engaging (and hands-on, project-based) way, knowing I need to manage it alone will be a task I will work on constantly this year.

Why Technology?

I keep coming back to technology and its importance in the classroom. This article outlines some of the positive benefits of technology. I also realize how much work it takes to be able to properly integrate technology into a classroom. A lot of the time we may have the tools, but aren't sure (as teachers) how to use them effectively. It takes time and energy, but I do think the students benefit, which is what should matter the most. Technology isn't going anywhere...we need to be able to embrace it. Our districts need to invest in training for teachers to help figure out how to effectively use the tools we are given to aid in teaching and learning. It is time to reinvent the wheel. This article explains a few reasons why. Why Integrate?

Looking for Inspiration

Today has been difficult. I need a project for my Master's program. I really am wanting it to be technology based. Technology intrigues me...I like learning new ways to use technology and I feel passionate about our students needing more technology.

Our world is vastly different now than it was even ten years ago. Technology is so important and just continues to increase in importance. Teachers today did not grow up with technology as prevalent as it is for our students. Our students are growing up in a different world and need to be taught differently as well. Technology is everywhere. It is changing the way we do things. I got the new IPhone 5 (thank you to my dear husband!) on Friday and now I don't need to print boarding passes when I get on an airplane...they just scan my phone using Passbook. Movie tickets, gift cards, coupons...all they need is to scan your phone. Twitter and Facebook has changed the way our children socialize. Google is a household name. There are few questions you can't answer without the use of technology. Siri tells me just about anything I would wonder about. I know our world is different. Why would we teach our students the same way we have always done it?

Now for my dilemma, I do not know how to put that thought and reflection into a project and now I am starting to panic a little (actually a lot) that I won't have a project that is worthwhile and close to my heart. I want to use technology in my classroom more. I want my students to learn using that method more then through the traditional method. I learned that way, but I want better for my students. I dabble in it. I try. But, I feel I could be better. I want my classroom to be more interactive for the students. I feel students learn more by doing. New standards are encouraging us to use technology more with students, even primary classes. But, I feel like I need more direction. I have been reading articles, searching for answers. It all seems so overwhelming. I am stressed!!! Hoping that tomorrow will feel better.

How Many is Too Many?

I have been reading about the Chicago teacher's strike this morning and trying to figure out what was the last straw for them...that forced them to take to the streets versus their classrooms. As teachers, we (speaking for everyone although although it may just be me) get frustrated over the politics A LOT, the paperwork, the testing, all the blah, blah, blah when all we really want to do is teach...be there for our students and do what we were hired to do ~ help our students reach their full potential and learn a few things along the way. I LOVE seeing the lightbulbs come on for my students, love being in the classroom, love my students. BUT I do not love all the other stuff and it seems there is a lot more stuff every year.

As I was reading, I realized how large some of the Chicago teacher's class sizes were...40 students in kindergarten. I cannot imagine how much I would love my day if I had 40 I had to try and teach everyday. It gets to a point, once you reach a certain number of students, that it becomes behavior and class management entirely instead of learning and teaching. Today, they are back in the classroom without having resolved the class size issue. I hope that enough attention was brought to the forefront of class sizes that something happens. Every district, every school should think about how many is too many! You can read a little about the strike here.

Technology in the Kindergarten Classroom

I found this article from a kindergarten teacher regarding using technology in the kindergarten classroom during writing time and felt this was something I am struggling with right now. Now with our new common core standards the writing standards for kindergarten are the one set of standards that I am finding it difficult to figure out how to manage in the kindergarten classroom. One of the common core new writing standards states "with guidance and support from adults, explore of variety of digital tools to produce and publish writing, including in collaboration with peers."

That whole statement scares me a little as I think about implementation. What does guidance and support look like? What kind of digital tools? What is considered a variety? Collaboration with peers? In kindergarten? Yikes! 

Then I stop and think about our day to day world and how much we all do together in the classroom and feel like maybe I do hit that standard more than I am realizing, but then again maybe not. This article shows how one extremely creative teacher uses it in her classroom. I am hoping that we have the software available at our school to try something similar. I am excited to at least give it a try…

 Technology and Kindergarten. Is it Possible?

Parents Divided

Both articles I am posting tonight deal with free play in a primary classroom, but this article deals with the parent side of things a little more. Every year I have parents that are completely divided on what is best for the students' in the classroom. Every year, I am continuing to learn and grow about what is best for the young learners' as well. Some parents want more (of everything), some want less. Ultimately, I want these young learners to enjoy coming to school, to explore this new world they have stepped into, to create and to learn. Everything we do is and can be a learning experience!
So what is the answer? This article addresses one school where parents took action. A Push for More Play Time

Do we let them play enough?

As a kindergarten teacher it is often difficult to find the balance between too little and too much play. I can definitely see the benefits of play in my classroom and love my housekeeping area, my block section and reading corner for the students to use their imaginations. It is incredible how much they can learn from those free play moments. More and more primary classrooms are removing all of the play areas in their classrooms to make room for more literacy and math centers as we have begun the transition to common core standards and a required 90 minute literacy block. I think sometimes we lose sight of the fact that they are coming to us as five year olds and creative and imaginary play is still a very large part of their world. Are we stifling that too soon?
This article addresses those issues briefly. The Value of Play 

Finally Friday

This was a short week with Labor Day on Monday and then we had a district professional day on Tuesday so only had three student days, but for some reason this week felt exceptionally long.
I started home visits on Thursday and am so eager to go and visit all my students. Kindergarten home visits are not common in our district and in fact, I think that Walton may be the only school that they are done. They are an opportunity for me to get to know my little student one on one in their own element. I come over for a 30 minute "play date" and they get to "run the show." They show me how they ride their bike and where they sleep at night, I get to see where they keep their toys and I get to know so much about their personality in that short amount of time. That short period of time helps us form a bond that lasts for months and years to come. I have high school students that remember when I visited them in kindergarten. I learn so much from my home visits and couldn't imagine giving them up even though it does make September difficult for my family. It is truly a wonderful feeling after a long day, to pull up to a kindergarten students' home and see their little faces waiting at the door for me! I love my job!

So this weekend I will relax and recharge. Tonight we have home football, tomorrow I will work on homework and spend the day with my girls and Sunday, we are headed to the Kansas State Fair because our little girl is a state tractor pull qualifier (placing first twice in our county!) GO BROOKLYNN!!!

Is Project-Based Learning Possible in Primary Grades?

I teach at a charter school that integrates agriculture into our project-based curriculum. We have a barn, chicken coop, greenhouse and a wind turbine. A lot of our learning is centered on projects. There are lots of challenges and it takes some work, but the students seem to thrive in this learning environment. This is a brief article regarding this wonderful way to educate young learners. I am sure this will be one of many posts I will make about this topic so close to my heart!

http://downloads01.smarttech.com/media/sitecore/en/pdf/smart_publications/edcompass/feature_articles/success_stories/edcompass-featurearticle-nov09.pdf

My Philosophy

As I set down to write my THIRD posts of the day, I began to worry that people reading this blog (if anyone is) are going to think I am boring, that this blog is boring and then I started to panic a little about how I am going to jazz this up so I can have followers. I then quickly remembered that this is not the point. The point is that I am getting my Masters and this blog was a part of the process. So bear with me and I will try to get better at this as I go.
Today, I took a short online quiz to determine what they thought my philosophy of education was. After taking the quiz, I wasn't surprised with the results. I most closely aligned with the philosophy of Progressives, but Existentialism wasn't far behind that. I teach in a charter school that is project-based, I teach kindergarten students, and I am very passionate about my job. The word that I kept reading over and over that summed it all up for me was "whole child." Well, of course I teach to the whole child. They have an entire world beyond the confines of our classroom and my job is to make sure I understand that, so that I can reach them where they are and with what matters to them. But, as I was reading article after article defining what it means to be a progressive teacher, I realized that there are a lot of misconceptions of what it is (and isn't). I am a very organized person so a lot of times that carries over into my classroom, but ultimately if my students have a desire to learn something we will go that direction that day. I enjoy structure and routine, but it works differently in my classroom. I have standards to teach and they do get taught, in a way meaningful to the students in my classroom.

For example, last week, the students caught a frog on the playground when another teacher was on duty. They brought it in and put it in an unused aquarium and then we needed to decide what to do. In my class, we took a little of the afternoon off from our traditional lessons to learn about frogs. Needless to say, the frog was let go. We read way too many sources that said a wild frog in captivity would die and the students did not want that. We learned a lot that day, just in a non-traditional way. Did I know that frogs was the direction I would go that day? No...but the students had a desire and a need so that's the direction we took.

Digital Native vs. Digital Immigrants

Technology is often something I struggle with the most in my classroom. I teach the youngest kids in the school, but often feel that should not exclude them from anything. Technology is something that intrigues me, that I am anxious to learn more about, interested in and always trying to help my students experience since it is such a major part of our world. 

This article was emailed to me by a friend & co-worker and I was amazed at how much it resonated with me. Definitely worth the read!

http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20-%20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part1.pdf

Distractions...distractions...distractions

The sunset at the lake was a beautiful distraction!

I knew I had homework that needed to be done. I also knew that I had a long weekend due to Labor Day. So I have plenty of time to get it all finished...right? WRONG!

Friday was our first home football game. So the girls and I headed to that while my husband worked late. Distraction! 

Saturday, my girls and I loaded in the truck and drove to SE Kansas to see my family. My baby brother has been in Japan for a year and just got back with his new girlfriend so we all met at Elk City Lake to reunite. So spent the day at the lake, the night in a hotel and most of Sunday at the lake again. Distraction! 

Drove home Sunday and decided to go to the movies with the family. Distraction!

Today is Monday and I am trying to get motivated to work on homework. Read through articles, took a quiz, took lots of notes...but something that should take a couple of hours at most has so far taken me most of today. Why? Because of distractions. My children have not quite figured out that mom has homework and needs to focus and not only that, but my husband has also not quite figured that out either. So now I am realizing that this is not just a learning process for me, but for my family as well. Come Wednesday everything will be completed and prepared for class...well because that's just how I am, even if I do stay up all night the night before making sure of it!! Bring on the distractions :)

My girls with their cousin Brock and
my little brother's girlfriend, Miyu from Japan.

Overwhelmed

I started this journey (getting my Master's) with some excitement and a lot of nervousness!! Worried that it would be too much. This week I am already starting to feel that a little as I realize I have class tonight and this week has already been a very long week and it is only half way done. I knew there would be weeks like this...I just hoped they wouldn't happen so soon. This has been a very busy week!!! We had parent night at our school on Monday night, then I had an appointment in Wichita on Tuesday night and now class tonight, so three evenings away from my family so far.
My class today must have sensed my stress levels because they have been so wonderful today!! They have made me smile and laugh more times then I have felt like and have just been great. Kindergartners always seem to know just the right things to say :).
So my attitude is improving as I go into the day and now my school day is almost over. Staff meeting after school and then time to head to class night number 2.

Day 1

Entering a new journey today as I entered into my first class to begin working towards my Master's.  As a full time teacher, mother of 3 busy girls and wife, my hope is that this new journey does not overfill my already full plate.

I am excited, anxious and scared as I begin this new venture. It is exciting to be a student again and I am anxious to tell my students that I am also a student now. I think that my kindergarten students may find that funny. It is all a little scary as I try to fit one more thing into my life, but feel very passionate about my future work towards my Masters Degree.

On our first night in class our assignment is/was to create a blog on blogger so here I am trying out this "new to me" program and hoping that there will be some helpful hints headed my way on how to navigate this program.