First Day in My New Kindergarten Classroom at Spann

This week Marisa and I started our first week at Spann. There is one last thing I will say about my experience at SES before putting it aside and moving forward. I learned that in my classroom, I am always going to acknowledge and make visitors feel welcome, whether it is a new student, a faculty member, or a parent. I recently was reading a book that a professor I am working with gave to me, "The Essential 55". One of the 55 rules discusses this. Children are very perceptive and can pick up on hostility and stress that a teacher is projecting. I want to make sure that I am creating a warm, nurturing, and inviting classroom for all that come in.

I got this immediate feeling when I went into my new Kindergarten classroom at Spann. My teacher walked over and welcomed us with smiles and excitement to have us in the classroom this semester. She also had the children wrap up early what they were doing and meet on the floor so that she could introduce us, explain what we would be doing in the classroom over the next few weeks, and so that they could introduce themselves and say one thing they have learned so far in Kindergarten. There is a lot of pressure for teachers to stay on schedule and to get everything covered that they have planned for the day. The reality when your teaching five and six year olds is that things don't always go according to plan and that you have to learn to "roll with the punches" or you will get so stressed out. Our teacher was explaining to us that they had had a fire drill in the morning which had thrown their schedule off, so rather than doing what they usually do after special area, they were continuing differentiated reading groups in the afternoon and that they would make up what they had planned to do within the next few days. I think this is an important lesson to learn as someone that is going to be a first year teacher next year. We want to make sure that all the standards are covered and the children learn what they are expected to, and the path getting their might take a few turns.

I was lucky to be able sit with our cooperating teacher as she worked with her low group of students in guided reading groups. She even felt comfortable with me working individually with a couple of the students, which made me feel confident that she trusted my ability. Two of the students in this low group are ESL students. Building these children's' vocabulary is very important. The students were reading a very predictable book that concentrated on the word "the" and taught the skill of looking at pictures to help decode what they are reading. After reading the book several times as a group, broken apart so that each student reads a page, and individually, Mrs. Patterson used the stretch it strategy. The book was written from the point of view of a little boy getting ready for school. Mrs. Patterson asked what other characters were in the story. The kids first looked confused, but after giving them a little bit of time the students soon realized that the boy's cat and mother were in each of the pictures of the book. She also asked where is the boy going. When a student said "school" she asked him how he know that and he said because their was a school bus in the picture. I thought this was a great way to get the children to think on a higher level. She also was able to integrate other content areas into the lesson by asking such questions as "what color is the school bus", "what shape is his lunchbox"...

This morning I watched the president speak on the state of education in this country on the Today Show with Matt Lauer. There are many things I could talk about from this conversation, but there is one that I will mention. A comment from a viewer mentioned the responsibility of parents. There is so much talk now about bad teachers and failing schools, but rarely do you hear about the parents part in this equation. Like may of the parents in the Weiss book, parents work really hard, often long and stressful hours. However, I feel that if your going to make the conscious choice to have children, part of your job, whether you are getting "paid" for it or not, is to take the time and help educate your children. Families talk so much less now then they used to. Simple conversations whether its at the dinner table or in bed settling down at the end of the day are opportunities for children to learn. I saw some of the children in the new class I'm in not know their colors or shapes, and honestly, I was quite shocked. These are simple things to reference throughout the time you are with your child starting very early on. Perhaps the parents don't know what their child should know at various stages of the early childhood? Who is responsible for educating them on that? The idea of having longer school years was another topic that interested me.