Innovative Schools Bill

There is currently a bill in debate in our state's capitol about whether or not 10 lucky schools (or districts?) in Kansas can become "innovative." Basically meaning that they are exempt from the same rules, regulations, etc. that all other state public schools are responsible for. It gives these chosen schools a little more freedom, a little more flexibility to decide what is best for their school versus a mandated version.

I teach at a charter school, which in TONS of ways is very innovative. School barn, farm animals, chore boots lining the hallways....things are different. But there are many challenges as well. We are part of a larger district; four other elementary schools, two middle schools and a large high school. Our district still expects (for the most part) us to be in line with the other schools. We still have many district requirements, assessments, meetings, etc. that we are responsible for. A lot of times there are misconceptions about what we are and are not. We are still very much responsible for all state standards, we just teach them in a different way. We integrate as much as possible. We do not get paid more (although rumor has it we do). We do work hard (weekends are a must, animals must be fed, integration takes work, etc. etc. etc.). We truly do want what is best for our students. The path we chose was not an easy path. Curriculum had to be created....by us. We couldn't purchase textbooks to go along with our new charter. Roadblocks were often in our way...and often still are.

Flexibility and freedom to be different would be a very freeing experience. We are different and different is difficult when your school is still expected to be the same.

Winter on the School Farm

For those of you reading this that don't already know, I teach at an agriculture charter school. We didn't begin that way, but chose that path for a multitude of reasons. Our students are thriving and even though it is hard work, it truly is what is best for our school family.

On our school grounds we have a barn complete with pigs, chickens, cows, sheep and a donkey. We have a greenhouse, a wind turbine and a school garden. All of this comes with chores...animals must be fed, plants must be watered and all of this needs to happen regardless of how much snow may be on the ground. Our classrooms rotate being responsible for all the chores, with each class taking a week and the teacher is in charge of the weekends.

Well this week just happened to be my week. 

So while everyone was snuggled under their covers Thursday morning on our first snow day, I trudged out to school (thankful my three girls and our oldest daughter's boyfriend agreed to come along and help) to take care of the day's chores.
The drive out was slow and I have never been so thankful for my truck as I have been these past few days!

Upon arriving the first thing we saw was Eeyore the donkey, looking quite miserable :(

As you can see behind him, he has a perfectly warm hut full of straw to go in to but he preferred standing out in the snow. Silly Eeyore!!!

We then went into the barn where we were greeted with our next surprise! One of our school ewes had lambed during the night and had two new baby lambs to care for!

They were so tiny and so cute!

Now time to bottle feed the dairy calf!

Nothing like a warm bottle on a cold, snowy day!

Earlier in the week when I had been doing chores I smelled the overwhelmingly smell of a skunk and it seemed close. We had been pretty sure that it had burrowed itself underneath the chicken coop, but I was very nervous going into the chicken pen to feed our chickens and even more nervous opening up the coop doors...worried it would be waiting for me in there. 

You can see our friend the skunk has made himself a nice little hole not far from the chicken feeder. He has dragged chicken feed from the feeder into his hole and there are skunk tracks all over the chicken yard. 

So this week has been an adventure. 

Chores have taken a little longer and it has been a little colder but all is a day in the life of a teacher (well teachers at my school anyway :)) The weather man is predicting even more snow beginning tomorrow night, but my week of chores ends tomorrow and I will gladly pass the torch onto the next teacher in charge!

But it sure is beautiful!!!!

Snow Day!!!

Today it snowed...and snowed. For some areas, that may be nothing new, but for us it has been a rarity the past few winters and my students were so excited!!

We even went out for just a few moments to get a measurement of how much snow had fallen so far. At 12:40 our next door neighbor of kindergarten students measured 1 1/2 inches of snow and by 2:00 when we went out to measure it was already at 2 inches.

and tomorrow is an official SNOW DAY!!!!!!!!!! So excited to spend the day at home with my girls!

Officially 7

7 years (and 3 days ago) my husband and I gave each other the best gift on Valentine's Day and now she is growing up so quickly! All three of our baby girls....aren't babies anymore. Today we celebrated with family and friends at a bowling birthday party and all had a great time.

Happy Birthday Brooklynn!!!!

At seven she is getting more and more independent every day and wants to be able to do everything her older sisters are doing. She is reading better and better every day and you can really hear her voice in the stories she writes. She loves Justin Bieber :) and is quite the social butterfly. All three of our girls light up our world in so many ways.

Changing Paradigms

I just finished watching a video on youtube of an event that Sir Ken Robinson was speaking at. It is a long video, but definitely well worth the watch. He outlines in the video that education does indeed need to be reformed, but is the current state of our reform the correct one? I agreed with most everything that he said. He spends a lot of time talking about the reasons education became necessary was solely for economic utility. Students went to school so that they could perform the basic functions needed to work and make money. School was very similar to a factory assembly line. We all sit in desks, bell rings, switch classes, lunch, etc. I feel that our world has changed drastically since the need for this type of education.

We have a new generation with new learners, but haven't made much of a change in our educational systems and can't seem to figure out why are students aren't performing to the level we want. We haven't changed much of anything. Currently our nation is rolling out "common core standards" which I feel like still mirrors the assembly line type of education. All need to learn these core standards and let's put the emphasis on English Language Arts and Math and leave little or no time for any other subject matter. Our students are being forced down paths that they may or may not feel passionate about. I do agree that reading, writing and math are very important, but it belittles everything else in our world. We often put mandates on our students that take away the things they love and turn them into something required.

Currently in my district we are required to do a 90 minute reading block with no interruptions, across the board K-12. Students that love to read and enjoy being read to do not necessarily enjoy a forced 90 minute reading block. We often think that if we require something to happen then our scores will improve and the students will learn more. I really resonated with Sir Ken Robinson when he said people do their best when doing what they love. My own children love to read. On weekends they could spend hours curled up in a chair reading a book of their choosing without me telling them to, but when they are forced to read a book someone else chose in a forced time frame they hate it. We take away the joy and the passion for learning for forcing all students to do what we ask without asking them what they "love to do". Putting all the emphasis on English Language Arts and Math isn't going to ignite passion in our students for the most part...it's going to put the fire out. Students want to be heard, they want to learn about things that are important to them. We put them in a room with other students and force them to learn what we think is most important and don't allow them to be creative or imaginative. We expect them to all learn the same set of information in the same given time frame in the same way.

As a teacher, I see the struggles and the need for change, but when we ourselves our mandated to teach a certain way, at a certain time, with a certain set of curriculum...how do I fix it? It needs to be a complete change in thinking and I feel like until the people that are closest to education are able to help make the big decisions the current state of problems and issues will continue. My own school is a project-based charter school with a lot of flexibility in how we educate, but it is still very difficult with district and state mandates and requirements and assessments that often say what you can and cannot do. Our students are in a changing world with information at their fingertips, but yet we send them to schools that our teaching much like they did fifty years ago. Our students deserve better.

You can watch the video by clicking on the link.Changing Paradigms

Newspaper Pots

Today we made our newspaper pots. The students did an awesome job and really got into the project. Most students made at least 2 pots and some were even able to make 3. They will hopefully dry over the weekend and we will plant next week! We are so excited to (hopefully) have a classroom full of plants. We have also been learning A LOT about how to take care of these plants indoors until they are strong enough (and it's warm enough) to be planted outdoors.

The Winter Blues

Winter is so hard for me. I dislike the cold...immensely and I dislike the short daylight hours. It is hard for me to get motivated to do anything and then add how incredibly busy I am with work and with my family and I am tired all the time.
So I have been trying to figure out ways to be more energetic and more motivated so that I can beat the winter blues. So I think we are going to start spring early in my classroom!!
Today my class began the process to make newspaper pots. The kids loved shredding newspaper! Tomorrow we will line plastic cups with our wet, moist newspaper and wait for them to dry. Then hopefully at the beginning of next week we can remove them from the molds, add soil and begin to plant. Can't wait to have a classroom full of plants!!! Bring on springtime!