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.