Hang in there, baby.

Today was exhausting. I kind of anticipated that it would be. It IS the day after Halloween after all. 


But in my corner of the world, it's not just the holidays...it's everything.


This is my 13th year of teaching. I'm no rookie. I've actually been teacher of the year at one school and made the final 3 at another school. I had gotten to the point where I could just 'wing it' day to day and do a darn good job because I knew what my job was. I taught reading to fourth graders and I was good at it. 


I requested a transfer just before this school year started and as a consequence found myself in first grade. The last time I taught first grade was 16 years ago during one small part of my student teaching. After a year of second grade the rest of my years experience have been in either 4th or 5th grade. 


So here I am feeling like a new teacher all over again. So many of the skills and techniques I used for 4th grade don't even come close to transferring to these little people. 


To top it off, this is a Title I school with a high percentage of Spanish-speaking students. Of all the things I've received training for ELL/ESOL isn't among them. 


So what am I doing well??

• I love my students. Perhaps this really is the most important thing, but I can't teach them to read by love alone.
• I'm getting along great with my new teammates. Again, HUGELY important, but they can't teach for me - they're fighting their own battles.
• I have high expectations for my little people. This a BIG frustration for me though, as I continue to fail to raise these guys up. Expectations aren't enough.
• I'm persistent. I continue to pull myself up by my bootstraps and try again.

Looming in the back of my mind?

• How do I structure my reading time so that students are engaged and on-task and learning to read and enjoying great books?
• How do I teach 21 individuals during math time since whole group efforts of any sort have failed miserably?
• How do I help them discover their talents as writers?
• How do I manage the standards-based grading without going insane with the paperwork involved?
• How do I get them to sit down and listen (for even just a few minutes would be okay with me!!)?
• How do I teach the students to show respect and courtesy to one another?
• How can I keep them from running in the hallway?
• How can I help them realize that this is OUR classroom and when they break and/or damage our supplies and resources it hurts all of us?
• How do I inspire them to want to learn?

Ignorance would be bliss at this point. At least then I wouldn't feel so inadequate all the time. 

Tomorrow is another day. I will focus on being present with my little people. We will enjoy a good book or two and share some writing. I will smile at them and hug them and tell them how proud I am of their hard work. 

Anyone else out there struggling with transition from one grade level to another? I'd love to hear about your trials and triumphs! Words of wisdom are appreciated too. 

Until then I'll just continue to hang in there, baby.

Speech?

My principal offered me the microphone and I should have humbly waved it away and just said, "Thank you." However, I am a bit of a ham and couldn't resist the chance to address our faculty. 

I've worked at this school for only a month and a couple of fantastic co-workers nominated me for this month's Crystal Apple Award. I didn't even know what the award was when the AP was soliciting nominations. Apparently teachers write nice things about coworkers and the AP reads the nice things at the meeting and then a decision is made on which one person receives a lovely little crystal apple WITH their name engraved on the base. Sweet, right??


I was super surprised to hear the AP read one nomination for me, but then when she read the second one I seriously teared up. 


I approached the principal who offered me the microphone, which I took. So....what I said was something like, "I love this school, it isn't like this everywhere, I've worked at 5 schools, I love my teammates." Really eloquent. NOT.


What I meant to say....
     
     In my relatively short career of 13 years, I've taught at 5 very different schools. It is apparent when you walk into a building where the focus is. From the moment I darkened the doorway at this place I have felt the love for the children. It's everywhere you look, but it is especially evident in the way the adults treat the children. 
     
     I noticed teachers hugging kids in the hallway during the first week of school and figured they were just glad to see each other after the long summer break. But no, this happens every day still and we're five weeks into school. At dismissal, it is difficult to exit the building because the teachers line the sidewalk and hallways and hug kids as they leave for home. 


     The principal is like a rock star - the kids absolutely swarm him wherever he goes. They hug him AND most importantly he hugs back and he looks them in the eyes and speaks to every one of them. 
     
     I've had to step up my game in order to live up to the standards set by these amazing teachers and administrators. One of the things mentioned in the nominations was that I'd been working on weekends and even Labor Day to be ready for my students. I put in the time because I would hate to let these people down. I'm not doing anything special or different than any of these other fine educators - I'm just trying to be one of them. 
     
     So, I thank you for the award. I cannot put into words how much it means to me to be recognized by my peers, especially when they're rock stars.

Facebook Locally, Tweet Globally!

It's Sunday evening and like me, teachers everywhere are working on lesson plans and preparing materials for the upcoming week. As I reflected on my first two weeks with 1st graders I realized that I need to tighten up my literacy block - I had too much transition and lag time between activities as well as not enough movement for restless 1st graders.

In the process of reflecting and planning for the upcoming week, I sent out a Tweet asking for opinions on what I felt was slow progress in our Read to Self block. Immediately (like within 2 minutes!!) I received super helpful feedback from @qldteacher in Australia as well as from @MsHoughton in Seattle. Both were encouraging and informative. I tweeted back and forth with @qldteacher for a few minutes and she reassured me that her experiences had been similar with her first graders in Australia.

After sharing information with my Tweeps, it hit me how wondrous it is that when I have a question any time of day about anything I can simply ask and, more often than not, get immediate help and encouragement from a real person. Seriously amazing!!

In response to people who are resistant to the idea of using Facebook and Twitter, I offer this metaphor. Think about your kitchen. You probably have a spatula and a whisk. You could use these items for some of the same tasks - there's a little overlap in their usefulness. However, you wouldn't flip burgers with a whisk and you wouldn't beat eggs with a spatula. Facebook and Twitter can be used in similar ways, just as spatulas and whisks can be used for some of the same jobs.

Personally, I use Facebook for keeping up with people I know in the flesh. These are my close friends and relatives. These are the people whose vacation pictures I'd take a minute to look through and care about seeing how much little so-and-so has grown. I also have a group for former students so that I can continue to reach out to them even after they've left my classroom.

I use Twitter to know what's happening in the world. It's more of a professional learning network as demonstrated in my situation today. I follow a wide array of people on Twitter, although a majority of them are in education.

(Another striking difference is that when you're home sick for a day, Facebook is pretty boring because all those people that I'm friends with are at work like I normally would be. Twitter is still a happening place though! I've got friends in my Twitterverse from all over the country and several from other parts of the globe.)

I urge you to consider using both. What about you? Are you involved in more than one social network? Feel free to share your amazing experiences and uses in the comments!


My philosophy is: Facebook locally, Tweet globally!


PS: A huge "THANK YOU" to @qldteacher & @MsHoughton. If you don't follow them on Twitter, please do so now! :)