The Hardest Thing

Harder than the lesson planning
Harder than the classroom management
Harder than the politics 
Harder than the IEP's 
Harder than the differentiation
Harder than the early mornings and late afternoons
Harder than the standardized testing and structuring curriculum
Harder than the patience and understanding
Harder than the tears and the struggles


The hardest thing is seeing them walk out the door.


I am going to miss the students at Escalante Elementary. 


Shine bright little ones and stand tall.

I can't find the sum!!!

Growing up, you could say that math and I were not friends. Math was a mean bully that kept shoving me down and calling me names. 


Within my head numbers got jumbled, equations were fuzzy, and my answers were somehow wrong, always. When I first began my studies to become an Elementary school teacher my greatest fear was that I wasn't smart enough, that the mean math bully would come around again and not let me succeed. 


With time however (and with the help of a very dear and gifted professor) I learned to look at math in a different way and began to understand how to turn my weaknesses into my strengths.


Today, I find myself sitting across from two 3rd graders who have similar sentiments about math. "Why is math SO CRUEL!?!?", "I can't find the sum!!", "I don't get it Ms. H!!!"


But the amazing thing is I KNOW how they feel. I can dive right into their minds and help them break it all down and build it up again. Together, with our minds combined, we can somehow enter into the world of numbers and make it manageable. 


And I find that, ironically, my biggest weakness as a student has proven to be one of my greatest strengths as a teacher. :)

My math buddies: Emma and Itzel

Rashad

He challenges 
and stretches 
my experience as a teacher.


It is exhausting, 
yet
filling.


Every small task is a huge milestone.
From listening, to sharing, to being kind, and respecting others.


We are starting from square one, but everyday we make progress.
And I leave knowing that I may never see the end result, but that together, we are learning how to be better. 


"You are who you choose to be"

A work of art

Rambutan

The tropical fruit, Rambutan, from the tree family Sapindaceae proved to be a big hit at snack time today. The consistency of this fruit can best be compared to a grape, but the process of eating one is slightly more complex.

Tillie and I took one look at this furry fruit and decided to do a quick lesson before shocking our taste buds. We gathered the kiddos around and explained where the fruit comes from and what part of the fruit you eat.

The 1st graders were fascinated, and so was I. Something as simple as taking time to research a snack item can be thrilling and adventurous. 

Some kids said "YUM" while others made faces that resembled sucking on lemons. Regardless, it was a learning experience for everyone and a teaching moment that could not be passed up. 

Ants

Everyday at 10:45 a.m. I walk into the 2nd grade classrooms and pick up the most endearing little readers. 


They each have their own little quirks, special details that make them so much fun to work with. Reading, for them, is like a maze, starting at the beginning, then trying different paths to finally reach the end. What's amazing to see is the progress they make just by practicing. From ants to words they gain autonomy as readers :)


Read
by Ann Turner

Do you remember
learning to read?
That book full of squiggles 
like ants, escaped.
the teacher's big thumb
on the page,
your heart beating inside
afraid that all you'd ever see
was ants---
Then a word popped out.
"See," and another, "cat,"
and my finger on teacher's
we read "I see cat."
I ran around the room
so happy I saw words
instead of ants.

Never Will I Ever...

Don't stress, Reeeelax

Faces of Morning

Faces of Morning

preceding daylight.

This is a new day.

Synthesize,

Explore,

Create.

A Time for Hunting

Let the job hunt begin!

Yanick

This boy melts my heart. 
His thick African accent, his goofy mannerisms, his mischeivious smile. 
Every aspect of him is endearing.
Yanick is quick to remind me of the splendor that is youth. His energy spreads through the walls, pulsing through this place of learning. A rhythm that is uniquely his own. 
It's kids like him that make this profession the best kind out there.

John Henry John Henry!

The benefits of readers theatre:
 - Causes readers to work more closely with text to project and interpret meaning into the reading experience.
 - Students gain improvement in vocabulary, comprehension and retention. 
 - Reading in a small group provides reading role models which is also proven to improve reading skills in students.
 - Research has shown that Reader's Theatre can improve reading fluency, word choice and comprehension.

Makes Me Smile

Conversations with Onay

She shares stories of her past,

Her most intimate funds of knowledge.

I sit and listen.

Horrific events of losing her home to flames,

Escaping violent streets.

Making a journey to America.

She possesses a courage and wisdom I will never have.

And I feel so privileged that our paths have crossed and I am able to learn from her.

A day in the life (intervention style)

6:30 a.m. - Rise and Shine!

7:00 a.m. - Ok, really. Cannot keep hitting the snooze button... must get out of bed!

7:30 a.m. - Drive to work (while simultaneously munching on honey toast and sipping tea)

8:00 – 8:30 a.m. - Read Naturally intervention with 20 energetic 2^nd and 3^rd graders

8:45 – 9:15 a.m. – Early Steps intervention with Onay and Alessandro

9:15 – 9:45 a.m. – Next Steps intervention with Karina, Miguel, Juan Carlos, and Brian

9:45 – 10:15 a.m. – Imagine Learning intervention with 11 goofy 1^st graders

10:15 – 10:45 a.m. – Early Steps intervention with Yanick (coolest lil’ guy from Cameroon Africa)

10:45 – 11:15 a.m. – Read Naturally intervention with Malik, Jonathan, Tylee, Josh, Ahmed, and Ridwan (the giggliest 2^nd graders around)

11:15 – 11: 45 a.m. – Quick Reads intervention with Robert, Ivan, Carlos, and Evelyn

11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. – Story Town intervention with 6^th grade

12:30  – 1:00 p.m. – Lunch Time

1:00 – 1:35 p.m. – Math intervention with Emmah,  Jose, Joseph, Itzel,  and Cesar

1:35 – 2:00 p.m. – Math intervention with 1^st graders Camila, Cesar, Karen, Leandro, and Alessandro (“Ms. H. When is it going to be recess??”)

2:00 – 2:15 p.m. – RECESS!!

2:15 – 3:00 p.m. – ELD intervention with 1^st graders

3:00 – 3:15 p.m. – Planning (so I can do it all over again!)

What we do today matters most

My students work hard, REALLY hard. School is no stroll through the park for these kids. They face challenges that are well beyond their years. They are forced to cope with things that no child should face. 


Many students begin to slip. They slip because they live in a world that sometimes shows nothing but greed, pain, and chaos. It is a harsh reality, and many don't understand how to survive it.


As spring break approaches, I see many of my students crumbling. They are tired physically, mentally, and emotionally. They need and deserve a break. A lot of them are showing signs of giving up. In recognizing this, I have made an effort to make our intervention sessions brighter than normal (literally and figuratively).


Singing. Candy. Prizes. Flowers. Bright Colored Copies. Bold Fonts. Crazy Math Manipulatives (including a new beanie baby named Gumbo). Games. Cheering. Encouraging. Hugging. Trips Outside. Movement. Laughter.


While all of these things are fun, they are really just fluff. In doing these things, I attempt to show my students that each day is new and bright. "It is what we do today that matters most."

Ridwan

Over the past two months working at Escalante, I have am realizing that one of my students is having a profound impact on me, not only as a teacher, but as a person.

Ridwan, a young 2nd grader who I work with daily doing reading interventions in a program called Read Naturally has slowly been teaching me in immeasurable ways.

This is a girl who has faced, and will continue to face obstacles. Yet in the midst of chaos, she approaches life like a young warrior who tries her very hardest, and doesn't forget to laugh along the way.

Every time she practices her reading. Every time she greets me with a smile. Every time she beams and rushes to the computer lab with a glorious energy.

She shows me- dedication, perseverance, grace, gratitude, and joy. 

Her name, meaning good will, captures her spirit completely and wholly.  

This girl has a good heart.

And she is teaching me, everyday. 

Small acts to transform the world

This week, my 5th graders (who I give extra support in reading comprehension and fluency)  took a field trip behind our school to a facility called Green Gables. Green Gables is an assisted living center for the elderly and for people with mental trauma. 


All week my students practiced a book of their choice to take and read at the center. Reading is something that is a struggle for these students. Giving them the opportunity and responsibility of reading outside of a school setting is something they can take pride in. At first, they struggled through their books. But by the end of the week, they could read swiftly with ease and confidence. 


The day before our field trip, students decorated Valentines Day cards to give to the people at the center. I watch as students paste pink and purple hearts, spread glue widely, and cover their cards (and the room) in glitter.


With books and Valentines in hand we head over to the center. Upon walking in the door, you are struck with the magnitude of loneliness. These people have been forgotten. They are  longing for a hand to hold or even a face to gaze at. The students can recognize this too. I watch as they find someone and begin reading. Some engage in conversation with the students and even read their books back to the them, others sit quietly and listen, some just sit and gaze (seeming to be trapped in their own minds). 


What's happening here is an act of love. A group of 11 year olds changing the world by reading to a stranger. Stepping back, I am truly amazed by these students and their ability to connect with these people. Our trip reminded me of the following quote by Howard Zinn:


"And if we do act, in however small a way, we don’t have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world.” 

Equality Over Excellence

Very worth reading. "The Scandinavian country is an education superpower because it values equality more than excellence."


http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/12/what-americans-keep-ignoring-about-finlands-school-success/250564/#.TwiVzhql0TJ.facebook

‎"The main driver of Finnish education policy has been the idea that every child should have exactly the same opportunity to learn, regardless of family background, income, or geographic location."

EDU Acronyms

My everyday is a giant conglomeration of acronyms:


RLA, RTI, AYP, ELL, ESL, IEP, IDEA, UALPA, NAEP, NCLB, USED, SBE, DIBELS...


A constant stream of speaking and interacting with abbreviations. Each one holding significant meaning to my work and the lives of my students. 


As I immerse myself further into the world of education, I begin to peal back the layers of what these acronyms stand for and more importantly, what purpose they hold within the realm of education. 


When the clutter and sometimes confusion of it all is set aside, I am left with the foundation of what these acronyms ultimately attempt to accomplish (or what I dream of them accomplishing): Motivation, Mastery, Purpose, and Autonomy for each student. 

Response to Intervention

I am now a full time interventionist at Escalante Elementary. (Cheers and applause welcome) ;)


I feel so fortunate in getting this job the semester after finishing my student teaching. More than anything, I'm thankful the staff at Escalante has the faith in my knowledge as an educator.


While I have my degree in Elementary Education and a minor in ESL, doing intervention work is still right up my alley. 


What I love about my job:
-I get to work with all age groups (1st-6th grade)
-I get to move around the school
-I have made more connections with other students and teachers
-I work in smaller group settings (no more than 6 kids in a group)
-I get to practice my skills at quick math (Dibels testing)
-I have the privilege of working with creative and diverse students 
-I get to randomly substitute when needed
-I get to uplift students who need extra support in learning

Girls Count.

If you want to change the world, invest in an adolescent girl.

An adolescent girl is at a turning point. She has big decisions to make, just like everyone does.  But that girl holds a power that she doesn't realize (and a power that we choose to ignore). The decisions of our adolescent girls (in every space of our world) are changing the future...for EVERYONE. 

-Today, more than 600 million girls live in the

developing world. (Population Reference Bureau, DataFinder database, http://www.prb.org/datafinder.aspx [accessed December 20, 2007].)

-More than one-quarter of the population in Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and sub-Saharan Africa are girls and young women ages 10 to 24. (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision,” http://esa.un.org/unpp, and “World Urbanization Prospects: The 2005 Revision,” www.un.org/esa/population/publications/WUP2005/2005WUP_DataTables1.pdf.)

-The total global population of girls ages 10 to 24 —already the largest in history — is expected to peak in the next decade. (Ruth Levine et al., Girls Count: A Global Investment & Action Agenda [Washington, D.C.: Center for Global Development, 2008].)

Girls and the ripple effect:

When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children. (United Nations Population Fund, State of World Population 1990.)

An extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages

by 10 to 20 percent. An extra year of secondary school:

15 to 25 percent.

(George Psacharopoulos and Harry Anthony Patrinos, “Returns to Investment in Education: A Further Update,” Policy Research Working Paper 2881[Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2002].)

Research in developing countries has shown a consistent re- lationship between better infant and child health and higher levels of schooling among mothers.

(George T. Bicego and J. Ties Boerma, “Maternal Education and Child Survival: A Compara- tive Study of Survey Data from 17 Countries,” Social Science and Medicine 36 (9) [May 1993]: 1207–27.)

When women and girls earn income, they reinvest 90 per- cent of it into their families, as compared to only 30 to 40 percent for a man. (Chris Fortson, “Women’s Rights Vital for Developing World,” Yale News Daily 2003.)

So how does this impact us? How does this change the future of our world?

If girls stay in school, they have an opportunity to make a higher and safer income (meaning they are not selling their bodies for money). When girls have an opportunity to make their own income, they now have choice. They can choose who they will marry and when. They can decide if they want to become a mother. They are in control of their bodies. When women are in control of their bodies they can prevent the spread of diseases like HIV.

When girls receive an education, they have power to change their world. They become knowledgeable about ethics, science, education, law, medicine, etc. They can use this knowledge in their own communities to make a sustainable and equitable way of life for everyone. 

When we invest in girls, we are investing in a healthier, safer, fuller world.

The key is education, and ensuring girls have access to this life changing element in their lives.

So how can you get involved? Here are some ideas (including organizations, websites, and volunteering opportunities)

http://www.care.org/about/index.asp

http://www.globalvolunteernetwork.org/2/

http://www.bgca.org/Pages/index.aspx

http://www.dove.us/Social-Mission/

http://www.unicef.org/education/

http://www.girleffect.org/video

Go BIG or go home

With my official teaching license in hand, I head over to the school where I will be working for the next 5 months. After a long, relaxing Christmas break, it was refreshing to return to the verve of an Elementary School setting. The moment I walk in I am reminded why I decided to enter this profession. Kids bounce around the halls, their energy pulsing and rushing through the walls and floors.

I meet with the principal and finalize hours and scheduling, then head over to room 142 where for the next 3 hours I do observations of Early Step, Next Step, and Read Naturally interventions. During what I thought would be my lunch break, the principal calls and says that one of the teachers is very sick and went home. They need a substitute to step in immediately. “Could you sub the rest of the day?” she asks in a nervous tone. “Sure!” I say, “What grade?”

And so I head upstairs to teach 3^rd Grade, not knowing what I will be teaching or what their schedule looks like. I laugh at myself inside my head thinking “As long as their not doing those dreaded fractions, I’ll be fine.”

For the afternoon I have 30 amazing, energetic, and very talkative 3^rd graders. We went with the flow and had some fun along the way. 

My afternoon was a validation of the true art of teaching. As an educator, your art is to be inventive, create something out of nothing, turn a boring worksheet into an adventure, all while juggling a cracked tooth and a barfing kid. This is a true art. I haven’t mastered this by any means, but today was a look into what can be.