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CatBells
Tales from Room 4

31 years in. I should know what I'm doing by now. No matter, I always have an opinion about how things should be done.

 
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Pressure Time!
by: CatBells, 03-21-2010

I've been blessed with a pretty smart group this year. I do have four SWDs, but their test scores do not count for or against me. So, my challenge is to have a 100% pass rate on the up-coming tests.

Only four of my students have not met the mark on all of the benchmark tests we've taken this year. I really believe that two of them have all the academic skills needed. I just need to be sure they have the testing skills necessary for success. These two guys have passed some of the benchmarks, but not others.

The other two students are bigger puzzles to me. They do fine on classwork, but seem to have attention issues. So my premier strategy for them will be preferred seating during the test. In other words, they will sit at the back of the room so I can keep them under my thumb the whole time.

We started working on curriculum review and testing strategies last week, but I seem to be constantly interupted. This week doesn't look much better. It tough to keep all the students on schedule, much less when adults keep thinking up other things for us to do!

So, twelve days to go...I'm ready!

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I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends
by: CatBells, 01-23-2010

One of my favorite sayings is "great teachers are made by the teacher next door." This was a catch-phrase for a teacher resource company many years back, but I have found it to be very true.

Throughout my lo-o-ong teaching career I have been blessed to teach with some wonderful women. This blog entry is dedicated to them and all the things they have taught me, materials they have shared with me, and ways they have cared for me.

Tiffany
Tiffany is my team-mate, across the hall co-teacher, confidant, and trusted ally. She is very nearly matches me for being overly concerned about what goes on in the classroom. Tiff is young enough to be my daughter, yet she and I think alike in so many ways that I simply see her as a valued friend. From Tiffany I have learned to make things up as I go. She doesn't need a DOL book or Mountain Math or any other bought review book. She just makes her own. And because she does this (and shares with me), she is able to target the skills her class is weakest in.

Our team worked hard last year to create Morning Work review sheets. We saved most of them, and I assumed we'd just use them again this year. But this year's students are different from last year's. So Tiffany lead the way and began creating new sheets designed to meet their needs. On my week, I used one of the recycled sets, but it was obvious that it didn't meet the standard we are trying to achieve. So, this week, I wrote a new one. When Tiffany comes into school on Monday, brand new, designed-for-this-year's-students, morning work sheets are awaitng her.

I can't even begin to count the reading, math, and especially health lessons Tiffany has shared with me. But she is one of my touchstone teachers because she grows with me. When we need to vent about changes being forced on us, she hangs with me. But we are always able to support each other in adapting these changes to suit our ways of teaching and our beliefs about what's best for children.

And finally, Tiffany has taught me how to see children through loving eyes. She works hard to have a positive relationship with each child in her class. I hope I won't be judged if I say that length of service combined with a few knock-abouts in my school/class assignments had left me a bit jaded. This year, I love my class. Some of the little stinkers can annoy me, but for the most part, I can stay pretty happy with them.

Marcia
Through the magic of Facebook, I have been fortunate to reconnect with another touchstone teacher. Marcia and I wandered out on a journey along with a couple of other teachers. We were working on creating developmentally appropriate classrooms. As we explored new ideas about teaching reading and math we kept coming to the realization that one year with a child wasn't enough. So be began to dream. We were lucky enough to have administrators who encouraged our dreams and our K-2 multiage classes were born.

When we first began the multiage journey, I was not in a classroom. I had a supporting role, but I like to think that my passion for researching and abilities to asimilate and adapt the research into everyday classroom practices allowed our dreams to become realities. Marcia was the teacher who saw this ability in me. She was my greatest cheerleader.

Marcia will always have a special place in my heart, too, because she was my DD's teacher for three years. She treated Emily like a princess and was always amazed at how wonderful she was. (She still is!) She nurtured my little girl and helped her to grow. In Marcia's classroom, Emily was able to challenge herself and develop the foundations for an amazing education. (Marcia would not mind me pausing from praising her to praising Emily for a moment. Emily graduated from high school with over a 4-point average. She graduated from college Summa Cum Laude. She is now in her final semester of her Master's Degree at the Boston Conservatory. Indeed, this incredible young woman, who would have succeeded in any field she chose, followed her heart and has studied to sing opera.)

Marcia and I made a school change together in the middle of our multiage experience. At that point I went back into the classroom. School politics changed, so we were not able to support our multiage classrooms and Marcia and I grew in separate paths. She retired early; I moved on to a different school and higher grades. I will always count those years in multiage as my finest teaching times. We taught children. We respected their backgrounds and their rates of growth. We nutured them to become independent learners.

Margaret
I'm going to be brutally honest here; I didn't care for Margaret when I first met her. Margaret is a "take-charge, get it done" kind of woman. I often felt left out or left behind in Margaret's wake. As I continued to work with her, I learned a new respect for her and her teaching style.

Margaret was old school. When we first met she could cover an entire blackboard with seat work in about 15 minutes. She even had a notebook dedicated to seat work assignments. Not only that, but if you were out, she'd fill your board, too. Margaret could run a first grade classroom with her eyes shut. The kids knew they'd better stay on task while she taught reading groups. If any child stepped out of line, Margaret had no qualms about placing an immediate call to their parents. And you know, those parents always responded. Margaret was just that down-to-earth kind of teacher that would give it to them straight and they appreciated it.

At one point (when I was on my way to those multiage classrooms), I was charged with working with Margaret to help her make some changes in her teaching style. The only problem with that was that her teaching style worked. Why do administrators always think they need to fix what "ain't broke"? Margaret's students always scored well on standardized tests. Her parents were happy. Her students loved and respected her.

Now you may wonder why I count this woman as one of my touchstone teachers. Her style and mine are almost completely opposite. Margaret had about the biggest heart of anyone I ever met. She was there for me through some very rough years. Indeed, Margaret shared anything she had with me, including her personal time. We had our second children a few months apart. The babies grew up together. At times we even confused people by interchanging them!

I went through a divorce with Margaret's care. She was my rock. She was always willing to babysit for me so I could take a class or join in Kiwanis activities. She was my sounding board when I was overwhelmed with some life decision. She was my rock. Through it all, she supported me completely. I could never repay her for all the good she did in that time of my life.

The Others
Well, this entry is long enough. There have been lots of other women that I have had the pleasure to teach with and the good fortune to know. Donna, Tiffany, Nicole, Sarah, Ginny, Nat, Blaire, Susan, Kathy, Lisa, and Ginger to name a few. Without their openness and willingness to share, I would never have become the teacher I am today. This is my tribute to all my "Teachers Next Door."

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What Is In Their Heads?
by: CatBells, 01-19-2010

Today was the first day of After School Remediation. I am teaching fifth grade, so many of these students were in my class last year. It's nice to work with many of them again.

The first activity was a Math pre-test. I felt the items on the test were very appropriate. In fact, most of my fourth graders could have been successful if they had taken the test. The fifth graders, however, put down some really strange answers. One problem was a story problem involving two five-digit numbers. One student put down 6 as the answer. I asked her how she arrived at that solution, and she told me she didn't understand that problem, so she just guessed.

As I graded the tests it was frightening to see just how incomptent these students are with Math! On one fraction number line a student had filled in 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/5.... On the one hand I thought, that explains quite a bit about that child's thinking, but on the other hand how scary that a fifth grader would think that way.

The frustrating thing is that I know I could help any or all of these children if I worked with them one-on-one. But there are 18 kids in this group. Really this whole program is a joke. We all know it. It's a band-aid on a bleeding wound. It won't make a difference for these students. The handful that are actually serious and who will try will be overwhelmed by the ones who will misbehave. I know they misbehave because they can't even connect with this material and they are tired. As long as there's an audience, they will act out and try to be funny to cover up what they just can't do.

I will continue to do my very best to engage and encourage the students with the hope that some of them may master some math skills. Mostly, I'm there so that I can buy my daughter's wedding dress.

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You Can't Always Get What You Want...
by: CatBells, 01-14-2010

Well, I wanted it. I dreamed, planned, plotted, crossed my fingers, followed my superstitions, and just plain hoped for that snow day and we got it.

Now here I am worrying about how to compact the curriculum to make up for that day. Already the time for learning feels rushed, so to take a day away puts me right on edge!

In Science we are supposed to make telescopes. We can do that on Monday, but I have nothing to grade. I suppose I could give a participation grade..... The rest of the week is Day and Night. We have a passage to read and then the students will work in small groups to demonstrate the cause of day and night. I will provide a variety of objects for the students to use for their demonstration. Then they use a Flip camera to record their demonstration. I did this last year, but it didn't work out very well. There was way to much arguing and the groups were choosing too many objects to include in the demonstration. We have three days to complete this task. I can certainly devise a rubric to grade each group's presentation. I also have a short poem for each student to copy into his/her notebook and illustrate. I guess that gives me two grades.

For Math we are learning about fractions. I just don't have a good grasp of how well the students are understanding equivalent fractions. I have a practice set worksheet on my desk ready to copy on Monday morning. I suppose I will find out then! Our new learning will be mixed numbers and improper fractions. I had several students who were very confused about this last year. Since we already worked with decimals, I'm hoping this group will get the idea of mixed numbers quickly.

Our current Reading story is "Happy Birthday, Dr. King." On Thursday, the students began reading the story. It is such a simple story that I had them read it in small groups. Now, I guess they'll need to start over.

I can't begin to tell how unhappy I am with my reading instruction. I hate using this reading series. I really hate using the formatted lesson plans the county has thrust upon us. I want to challenge my students, not bore them to death! I had begun a pretty good workshop at the beginning of the year. However, I couldn't get enough grades to keep it up. Other than the resource boys, my students are great readers. All but 3 met their second quarter AR goals. I'd just like to have more meaningful reading experiences. Next year, I hope to use interactive notebooks similar to the ones we use in Math and Science now.

OK, so the things I do today will help me be ready for tomorrow. Thank you notes, report card comments, checking two sets of papers, and planning details of reading, math, and science lessons should get me off on the right foot!

Thanks for stopping by....

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Sweet Revenge
by: CatBells, 06-04-2008

My school year is over, but I am having a hard time winding down. I really worked hard at not bringing home a lot of school work, but I know that I will still do some summer work. I'm just made that way!

All in all I had a sweet class this year. Toward the end, however, four of my little girls began forming a clique. I could see it happening and did what I could to keep the girls working with all of the other students in the class. They were all nice girls, but they were starting to leave others out.

When my students make their AR goals, I treat them to a cupcake party. The students are allowed to come back to the classroom for lunch and I treat them to a cupcake.

The last full day of school (Thursday) I called out the names of the students who were invited to the cupcake party. Three of the four girls in the group had made their goals. I was really looking forward to having lunch with them as they are quite entertaining.

As I was getting my lunch two of the girls came up to me and asked if they had to come to the classroom. I told them no, but they would not get their cupcakes. They turned and left and as I exited the cafeteria, I noticed they had sat at a table with the other two girls from their group. Their faces were so sad.

When we got back to the room, I asked the other students why the girls didn't want to come to the party, and they replied that the fourth girl told them that she would be lonely if they left her and went to the party.

My heart was broken. The fourth girl has been a problem student (i.e., has some issues at school and a mother who hovers), so my first reaction was to be angry with her. But then I turned it around to how sweet those other three were to sacrifice the reward they had earned to stay with their friend.

The sweet part happened on the next day. Our students only come for a half day. No one discourages any student who decides to stay home on the last day. As the day began, none of the four girls was at school, but about 10 minutes after the bell here comes the fourth girl. The look on her face was priceless when she realized that she was the only one from her group at school! She made it through the half day just fine. The other students included her in their activities so she wasn't lonely.

So I got the end the year remembering how sweet the three girls were and feeling just a bit too happy that the fourth girl got her just rewards.

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