The Challenging Ones

This week was the 3 year anniversary of when I brought my little turkey Ruby home from the shelter. She was 3 months old, cute as a button and I would soon find out extremely challenging. The drive home she nipped and scratched at me. Any time I would sit down, whether it be in the grass with her or on the couch, I would get the same treatment. I called my mom the next day to ask her if they do exorcisms on dogs! :)

I think I was meant to find Ruby. At least one person had already given up on her (she was in a shelter). My family's advice was a well-intentioned  "take her back and get another one". I called in a trainer recommended by my vet and I will never forget her assessment. Because Ruby never curled up in my lap or fell asleep next to me she decided that "she will never be the dog you want her to be". I had paid for several lessons already, but told her I didn't want her working with my pup anymore. As a teacher, I know if you don't believe they can learn, they won't learn.

We went to 3 other trainers before we found one that understood her. All the others told me I wasn't being tough enough with her, I had to show her who was boss. That was exactly the wrong advice. Ruby gets stressed out whenever anyone even raises a voice, she shuts down or acts out. She needed someone who saw how incredibly smart she was, how praise in the form of food works wonders! How she needed time to build up that trust. 

Today she is a fabulous companion. She sleeps in the doorway of my bedroom and stands in front of me when a cat walks by-all I think in an effort to protect me. She makes me laugh on a daily basis. She will go get a toy that I put peanut butter in and literally drop it in my lap as if she is asking for a treat. I can tell her "over" and she jumps puddles! Last year, I injured my knee and she would consciously slow down her pace when I did. I treasure our time in the evenings where she sits in the grass and watches the world go by and I read a book.

What does this have to do with teaching you ask? A lot actually. I am teaching summer school right now and have a student who many people, unfortunately, had written off. Many warned me about him-he can't learn, he doesn't listen, has a bad attitude, etc. He has a lot of difficulty with reading and writing, and I could see his frustration with that right off the bat. During the school year his teacher sent him to Kindergarten as punishment, because that's what his level was anyway *sigh*. He would take home no folder, no homework. Was ineligible for tutoring because of his behavior.

Fast forward to this week. My strategy going in was sticker charts and stickers and told him he had a blank slate with me. He could earn the rewards for hard work. The first day I read Patricia Polacco's Thank You Mr. Falker (there are others who could benefit from that message, but I could tell it spoke to him-it's her own story with enormous difficulty in reading and now she's a famous writer!). Telling you he has stepped up is an understatement! We started practicing his high frequency words, I made some flashcards-he asked if he could take them home to practice! He takes books home to read every day. He shares the soap in the restroom and offers to stack up the chairs at the end of the day. I have had this kid for several days and already just see a different child. He's really good at math-I'm not sure anyone even took the time to realize that before, maybe because he can't read the problems. 

I have a t-shirt that says "If a child doesn't learn the way we teach, then we need to teach the way the child learns". I wholeheartedly believe in that fact. Kids are not always going to fit into that mold that many think are the ideal student. I actually find working with the challenging kids more rewarding. 

My point is sometimes it takes time to figure out what works for a kid, but we have to take that time. If kids get written off by their teachers year after year-imagine how frustrating that is, how much that makes the problem worse. It takes time, but the rewards are so worth it!

Now More Than Ever---Advocating for GT Kids

So our district, like many others faced with the call for teacher accountability, has moved to a model where 50% of our yearly evaluations are based on student test scores. Yes, that's even for early childhood *sigh*. I think almost everyone in education has a soapbox (or at least anyone who still has passion for the profession)-mine is those GT kiddos. My biggest fear is that teachers, fearful of losing their jobs, will spend all their time trying to get those who are struggling up in scores and those who probably can already pass the test will sit on the sidelines.

I already see 2 things happening. One is that some teachers don't want the GT kids. If a child enters 4th Grade with 7th Grade skills, it's hard to show growth on a common assessment, especially one standardized for 4th Grade skills. They may be growing, but the measure has a ceiling, so that growth just doesn't show. We are a society that caters to mediocrity. The other is that lessons are planned for the middle/low students. So even if they aren't officially GT, these advanced kids have to sit through lessons on sight words when they can already read Horrible Harry books!

I often hear critics say that teachers complain a lot and don't give solutions. So I am going to make some suggestions:

1) Don't forget those high kiddos! No matter what level they are on, they can always improve their skills. I talk to teachers who do small group instruction (a must at the elementary level), however, they meet with their high group, maybe once per week, their low groups get individualized instruction every single day. A Kinder student who can already read sentences can benefit from lessons in fluency and comprehension. You could even do a literature circle (I call it "Book Club" :) or read a chapter to the group from a chapter book and have them do a separate activity-maybe related to vocabulary. They have the ability to grow as much as the other groups-but we have to help them get there! That's our job.

2) I've been doing a lot of reading on Blended Learning or Flipping the Classroom-using all the technology tools many schools have to differentiate. Recording lessons yourself (it is summer, I'm going to do some of this while I have the time) or using already recorded lessons (between YouTube, TeacherTube, BrainPop, Discovery Education, Khan Academy--there are many out there) to differentiate your lessons. If my whole group lesson is about counting to 10, for example, and I know that Johnny can already compose and decompose numbers to 10, then I can set him up on a computer or give him homework to watch videos of something more at his level. Maybe introduce a concept not in our standards or work from something he's interested in.

3) Peer tutoring is NOT differentiation! I hear this in meetings and workshops all the time and it just eats my lunch! There is nothing inherently wrong with peer tutoring. I think it could even be an effective tool, especially if you are talking about a before/after school activity. But asking the student who finishes their work first, to go around and help those who are not yet finished is not forwarding the instruction of that advanced student. Now, I've heard the arguments-when you teach something you learn it better. My point is that these kids don't need to learn what they already know better, they need to learn something new! I could teach a colleague how to use powerpoint, it doesn't make me a better powerpoint user. I would much rather be learning a new program I could implement.

Just imagine going to school every day, stepping off that bus ready to learn. A great curiosity, many questions--only to be relegated to whole group instruction that you already know how to do, small group instruction where you are told to "go read a book". And independent work that really isn't challenging, you get it done in 2 minutes, then are told you have to go "help your friends". What new thing did you learn that day? If this happened day after day, would you really be growing? But it is important to differentiate for those kiddos-even if they can already pass the test used for our evaluation!

Ethics in Children's Literature

Since I'm usually posting about activities from class, it's hard for me to think of some topics to post during the summer. I thought I might post some ideas for stories to use when incorporating the concept of Ethics. This is actually an easier concept for the kiddos than I had imagined. The hard part is getting them past the part of wanting to give you the "right" answer. When we have class discussions about it, I usually play the other side and ask needling questions and they don't know how to answer because it's like they are trying to predict what answer I am looking for. They apply the concept pretty readily after that. I had a student who took something from the backpack of another and instead of getting mad at her the victim announced that this was "ethics"! It was wrong for her to do that.

Some ideas for books that provide fodder for ethical discussions:

The little boy is told by his father not to go in the water or away from the lion he drew in the sand. He wandered quite far but made the lion's tail very, very long so he wouldn't stray from the animal. Sounds like a loophole to me, one of those moments where the child knows what the parent means by their request. Was this the right thing to do? What are some examples of ways kids blur the lines a little bit when listening to their parents.

Now some people in education do not like this book, but I think it's a perfect example of karma in action! The princess is a complete brat and asks for pet after pet because they don't live up to her expectations. If she doesn't get what she wants she throws a complete fit so the nanny tries to pleas her. In the end (and this a spoiler, just FYI) the last choice of pet eats her. Somehow you don't really feel sorry for her. It can easily fuel a discussion on right and wrong.

I know, a classic! So much is wrong in this story though. The kids let a stranger inside, he trashes the house, they may not tell their mom. When you talk ethics the kids actually do sometimes see the other side and that is the children had fun. An interesting discussion can ensue.

Oooh-lots of right/wrong going on here from throwing the bucket of water on the Wicked Witch to the Great and Powerful Oz being a phony.

However you feel about this book it amazes me how the kids see it. They will agree it's wrong to take and take and take but many will point out (which may have been Silverstein's point to begin with)-that it's right in the eyes of the tree.

There's a lot of grey area when it comes to ethics and it's fun to see the kids really start to understand that. Their world is really black and white until they start to think about other factors that may influence a character's decisions.

Inspiration Struck Sunday

I love how some of the other blogs that I read have a weekly post topic. I talk a lot about how we should try to inspire the kids, I decided to one to show things that I think are inspiring me right now. I'm going to try to do it every Sunday because when school starts up again, that's when I need the most inspiration! :)

So here goes-some things from Pinterest:

I'd love to be able to have this on my wall-Winnie the Pooh has so many quotable moments!

http://www.controllingmychaos.com/2010/09/vinyl-tutorial.html

http://maluna.tumblr.com/post/380452292

 :)

http://marlenemccune.blogspot.com/2011/08/pinterest-ii-adventures.html?showComment=1314316719931#c7859207709949904283

I stumbled across this on YouTube. It just reminds me that we should never write off a child because of their experiences. Everyone has gifts. Everyone has the capacity to overcome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewRVWdzEpC0

Encouraging Creativity

Kids today are not as creative as they have been in the past. Chalk it up to mindless video games and cartoons (did you know that 74% of all infants and toddlers have watched TV before the age of 2!) or maybe because imagination is not something that can be measured by standardized testing, therefore is not encouraged in some schools. I can remember my sister and I making up crazy games to entertain ourselves  when we were little-once we made a whole cadre of paper dolls and played with them on our staircase for hours. Unfortunately, (and I know there are exceptions), most of our students don't have that same creative way of thinking. We had a hurricane a few years ago that took out power across the state. My friends who had children said the worst part was-not worrying about enough supplies, not being without information about what was going on---but trying to entertain the kids for a whole week with no electrical devices!


Anyway, I think it's really important to lay that foundation for skills in creativity. It can be applied to all different subject areas and I think is particularly important in creating effective writers. A few ideas for incorporating creativity in the classroom. (Just a sidenote-sometimes we have to even be creative in the objectives we attach to these activities because sadly, creativity is not typically in our standards. You can always bring it back to a writing activity-we painted, but then we wrote about it; we wrote a script then made the Claymation to go with it).


1) Divergent Art-love this! I will do this activity with them as a morning warm-up/bellringer activity at least once per week. You give them a shape, any shape and they have to use that shape in their design. It often takes awhile for them to really comprehend what you are asking them to do and I often consciously teach them to try to come up with something different than anyone else thought of. A few examples-- the black line is half of a square:

2) Invent things! If you are doing planets, use what you learned and invent a new one. If you are learning about mammals, create a new mammal. This is a great way for them to apply what they are learning in a different way. You can assess what they have learned-mammals have fur, but it also gives them a chance to really put that imagination into action.

3) Vary the medium for self-portraits. Many teachers, especially in the younger grades so some sort of self-portrait as school begins, maybe something to hang up for Open House. Have the kids draw one or paint one, but then use different materials as well. Have them walk outside and find things in nature to use. Or food is a favorite-they really have to think about how they are going to represent their features using what is given to them.

4) Digital storytelling-there are plenty of programs out there for this. I use Pixie 2 -the kids draw their illustrations, type the text and then can narrate their feature. It incorporates so many skills! I wish I could show examples of this-I just can't get those files to upload correctly here.

5) Take the old version and make it new. Instead of a family tree-what other designs could we use? Instead of a Gingerbread House, what could we make? If we had to design a new American flag, what could it look like?

Anything you can do to encourage the use of imagination will help take these kiddos a long way. If nothing else maybe they will be able to better entertain themselves when the electricity goes out! :)

Grouping By Multiple Intelligences

When I first learned Gardner's work-I didn't put much stock in it. But the more I thought about it, the more I was fascinated by the distinctions between how people learn. I've had classes where the students were dominantly visual learners-getting them to listen to a read-aloud was like pulling teeth. You would think that all young kids like to get up and move around and that would make them kinesthetic learners, but you'd be surprised, there are always 3 or 4 that will sit out and another group that will do it to please me, but their heart is not in it. I can tell you I am definitely a more visual learner. When I was a kid, we would be grocery shopping and I was notorious for having to come back to my mom and say "what did you tell me to get again?". I can be truly listening to you and not catch a word you just said. I thought it was really interesting when I read they added the Naturalistic style and was probably the only person in the world watching the movie based on the book "Into the Wild" who was thinking--that guy is a perfect example of the naturalistic learner! What can I say am admittedly a teaching nerd!

I was talking to a colleague who is taking a class for her master's (and I thought I was tired :) where they talk about grouping kids this way for small group instruction-and I am in love with this idea! We do small group twice per day-once in reading and once in math. We have always brought the kids to work with us based on where they were on the academic spectrum. Are they working on letters and sounds, are they already reading fluently? We work with those kids together on the same reader or math activity. And I think I will still have to do that because I'm not sure the powers-that-be would go for an extreme makeover of our small group system. However, I think I am going to start grouping kids to work together in their stations by learning styles. There are lots of surveys out there to determine what their style is or I think I could easily create one that's early childhood friendly with happy/sad faces to circle. 

We'll see if that makes any difference. Has anyone ever grouped their kids this way before? I'd be curious to hear how it worked.

My Humble Opinion of The Book Whisperer

After seeing many, many recommendations, I finally finished the book The Book Whisperer. Reading and I have had a very fractured relationship over the years. I started reading at 2 1/2 and put most of the credit for that on a combination of watching Sesame Street twice a day ( they played the same episode morning and afternoon but I'm told I would cry if I couldn't watch it both times :) -and the fact that my mother was an avid reader and read many whole series of books to us when we were little. I can remember the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as well as many Beverly Cleary stories.


I read incessantly growing up. I was one of those kids who always had their nose in a book-on the bus, in the hallway before school started, study hall. I devoured summer reading lists and would read easily read 100 books in a summer to enter some school competition. I can still remember a 7th Grade teacher upset that I was reading Carrie by Stephen King. "Does your mother know you're reading that?" she asked one day. "She's the one who gave it to me." My father in particular would often check out Stephen King books for me, because he was one of my favorite authors. He actually just gave me one of his newer books for Christmas this past year. So I was definitely encouraged at home and discussions often drifted over to literary themes.


After college, that love of reading dwindled a bit. And when I started teaching, it practically faded away altogether. I read so much daily for work, it's much more relaxing for me to settle in and watch a movie than to read a book. Maybe it's getting older, but it takes me longer to finish a book these days-even the good ones. I did start listening to them in car though and have finished several books in a few months that way (very surprised by how much I loved the Hunger Games, right now it's Peace Like a River-a novel I have started about 12 times in the past few years). Better than all those commercials on the radio anyway.


Ms. Miller inspired me as a reader with her book. Her passion for stories is so contagious-I loved reading about her feelings about literacy and it allowed me to really reflect on mine. I am making a conscious effort to read more myself. My beloved puppy's favorite thing to do in the world is sit in the front lawn and watch the world go by. I have a bench out there and will often brave the Texas heat and just bring a book or a magazine out and read for awhile in the evenings. Right now I just started A Thousand Gifts, which might be the most poetic prose I have ever read. I'm sure my neighbors have been sufficiently deceived into thinking I'm a very literate person-always out there with a book, but the truth is I have volumes of stories in my to-be-read pile and on my Amazon wishlist.


As it pertains to the classroom-the main gist is of her book is to give the kids time to read independently. Let them choose what to read. I will definitely try to implement this more as well-but I think a little tougher in the lower grades where they are just emerging with their reading skills. I always chuckle to look over in the library and see a kiddo very engrossed in a tale turning the pages one by one, not even noticing the book is upside-down! But believe it's definitely important to lay a foundation of passion for not only stories and characters but for words themselves. I am always talking about how a word is one of my favorite words and was struck by a student's question this year "Miss Trayers are there words you don't like?" I had to think about that one.


Kids of all ages should be having conversations about stories-what they like/don't like, what they think about a character's actions. Miller also points out it's important to let kids know they don't have to like every book they are required to read. I run a book club for older kids at my school and hear their gasps every year when I say how I didn't like one of the books from our list. It's ok not to like a book! How many conversations I've heard and Facebook posts I've read from people who started reading a story and couldn't get into it. People can have different opinions, that is allowed!


I did like this book. I was inspired by this book. I do think the specific ideas pertain more to upper grades-even middle/high school. But definitely included ideas that I think can help make more passionate readers, even out of ourselves!