Oh really?

Here is a little levity and at the same time some evidence of how well we are being prepared.
We all know about and have experience with Differentiated Instruction.
Not only that but many of these things we have already experienced due to the programs integrated approach. I like this video, not because it is particularly funny but because it make me feel more prepared to enter the workforce as a professional educator.

Does that seem weird to you?

In my dyad placement there is a high spectrum autistic boy, we'll call him Sam. This is a second grade classroom and the kids are getting to that age where some of his unusual behaviors are beginning to stand out. What I was told by the teacher is that in kindergarten and first grade some of these antisocial behaviors don't stand out as much, but as the children get older the behaviors begin to stand out.
His therapist and parents are asking for us to help them implement this technique where they label the behavior. When Sam does something antisocial the therapist and parents give him a red stick and say, "That's weird." The teacher told us that the parents and therapist have told her that this is having good benefits for Sam and they want us to do it in the classroom. We wouldn't be handing out red sticks, but if we saw him doing something antisocial we would walk up to him and say, "That's weird."
I'm not sure how I feel about that. Far be it from me to argue with this kids parents and caregiver, but the way we are being told to say it gives me pause.
I'm a big believer in the idea that it is not what you say, but how you say it. I'm wondering if this is the best way to let Sam know that this behavior is unusual.

Educational Opportunity at Bellevue Regional Library

Visit the Bellevue Regional Library on December 6, 2008 between 10am and 2pm to take part in TechConnect, an interactive open house to showcase the many ways King County Library System technology can be used in your professional, academic and recreational pursuits.

Community members of all ages are welcome at this free event suitable for everyone from the tech-challenged to the tech-savvy. Click on the image above for additional details.

Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Schoolhouse Rock

Schoolhouse Rock is a timeless resource for educators of all grade levels. Its colorful animation paired with catchy lyrics reinforce key learnings by appealing to auditory and visual senses.

This particular piece, Interplanet Janet, supports 4th grade science EALR component 1.2. requiring that students understand how components, structures, organizations, and interconnections describe systems. Look for the special encore at the end which allows you fto search for old favorites.

A Perfect Circle

This sure would be a fun way to keep kids awake in class! I'm wondering now what skills I might have to share with a class...

Holiday celebrations in the class?

With the holidays coming up I think it is a good time to think about to what degree would we be willing to celebrate in our classrooms and schools. What do we celebrate, if anything? What do we teach our children about religions and the celebrations that they partake in?

I believe that much of this is governed by the culture of our community and school. Given that, it is my belief that when we say that we will not be having any references to Christmas I think we are doing the kids a disservice. Look around and we see holiday decorations all around us. They permeate our culture. If we try to eliminate this and censor ourselves in the classroom, I think we are alienating ourselves from one another. The holidays can be approached with in a secular manner. In fact the Supreme Court has ruled as such, saying things like Santa Claus and Christmas Trees are indeed secular symbols. A teacher can and in my opinion should teach about the spirit of family and giving that permeate the holiday season. It doesn't have to, and in fact shouldn't be an indoctrination in a religious point of view. But I think that pretending the fact that the holiday break and Christmas occur at the same time is some kind of happy coincidence is folly.

As I mentioned before the culture of your classroom should be your guide as to what you do in the class. Take time to teach about how other cultures may or may not celebrate during this time of year. Show other perspectives and validate them for kids because I truly feel that one of the best things we can teach our children is respect and compassion for all others. This however should not be at the expense of what we have come to celebrate.

Parent-Teacher Conferences

I observed a few parent-teacher conferences this week at my 4th grade main placement, and there were many aspects I had overlooked going into the process. First, the conferences my teacher held included both parents, the student, me, and the master teacher. Every conference included both parents, which I did not expect (and know I should not expect for every student), and I also did not expect the student to be present at parent-teacher conferences. The conferences were also not just an assessment of the student, but an assessment of the parents as well.

"Jimmy" excels in math, but the problems he misses are almost always due to his tendency to not fully read the question being asked. My mentor teacher pulled out a quiz from earlier in the year, where Jimmy had answered a 3-part question: trapezoid, hexagon, rhombus. The question asked which of the following are a trapezoid, hexagon, and parallelogram. The teacher brought a few similar missed questions to the parents attention, and they discussed placing an emphasis on Jimmy taking his time and fully reading through questions.

Jimmy is behind the curve in his reading and writing skills, but the improvement he has made over the last year has been much higher than his classmates. My mentor teacher praised both Jimmy AND his parents for the tremendous improvement, because the improvement is a family process.

The parent-teacher conference with "Ralph" also showed me how these conferences are not only an assessment of the student and parents, but also the teacher. At the end of the conference, my teacher would ask the student to wait in the hall for a few minutes while we discussed a few more points with the parents. Ralph's parents asked if my mentor teacher could help Ralph when it comes to social awkwardness. Ralph is the kid who sees bullying out on the playground and reports it to the teacher. There is nothing wrong with this, but he has been called a tattle-tail. Ralph does not see anything wrong with tattling on bullies, but 4th and 5th grade is when a lot of students let bullying happen by shutting their mouths. His parents are concerned that Ralph's high moral fiber will cost him friends in the next few years, but do not know what to do. They asked my mentor teacher to try and impress upon Ralph the social aspects of his decisions.

This was a very weird conversation, because it seemed like the issue Ralph's parents were concerned with will solve itself over time. Some kids choose to always tell the truth at the expense of being friends with some of their classmates--and they make friends who value that truth-telling trait. Other kids are more concerned with the social aspect of school and would rather make friends than report bullying. In this case, it seems like Ralph's parents are concerned with the social aspect, but Ralph is not. My mentor teacher said he would try to make sure Ralph understands what his actions mean in the eyes of his classmates, but I'm very interested to see what, if any, changes he will make in the classroom. I doubt he will change much, but I think it was important for him to tell Ralph's parents that he understood their concern.